Emma had faced a lifetime of you can have her.

Long after the beloved blonde's departure, those were the words that kept Regina company. Sleep was an elusive creature, dancing beyond reach. Ire grew in her breast. The only thing that quieted it was Emma's scent left behind on the pillow wrapped in the brunette's embrace.

Discarding her, Hook had made it look so easy. Pushing by them and out the door of Granny's. Emma didn't acknowledge his existence at all, throughout their dinner. It was unlikely that she would say anything, Regina knew that. Somewhere in the back of her mind though, it was unlikely that Emma would ignore those words. Regina had no idea what bothered her more. That they would not discuss it, or that Hook had uttered the phrase, to begin with. Knowing what the words could do to Emma.

Careless to it entirely.

A woman he had proclaimed to love. That he had put aside all things to pursue, and once he had captured, released with so little fight. Half-loving someone was not a damn option for Regina.

It had never been.

On the nightstand light appeared, and Regina reached for the phone on it. The picture of Emma and Henry danced on the screen for her as she huskily answered.

"You're beautiful too." Blurted Emma.

"You arrived at that conclusion at 4 a.m.?"

"I arrived at that conclusion about a decade ago but I didn't have the balls to say anything."

"I couldn't tell from the way you had the balls to say and do anything else you desired."

Chuckling through the phone, Regina could hear Emma's smirk in her voice.

"There is a part of me that cannot fathom it was real, even though I still smell you on my skin, and can taste you on my lips." White sweltering heat, spread through Regina's core at Emma's confession. "I can feel the nuances of every curve of your body. Taste the starvation in your kiss. Marvel in the way it felt when you surrendered to our passion."

"I do not surrender."

"Oh, but Regina you did."

"Come over."

Silver and white materialized the woman in question. "You could have the real thing, you know?" she teased.

"Only recently. "Kneeling beside the bed, Emma moved brunette locks out of the way, even as her eyes shifted. "No?"

"I've never known anyone like you. Me being who I am, and you being well, Regina…"

"Allow me to clarify one tiny detail." Lifting Emma's chin, and fiercely claiming her lips. "I want you."

"Since you asked so nicely," and the blonde began to strip but Regina pulled her down by the hips and straddled her.

"No Emma. I," pressing a kiss to soft lips. "Want" and then another. "You."

"You've been replaying the diner scene all night, haven't you?"

"Have you?"

"Mostly the parts where you defended my honor and asked if you could hit Hook." Sitting up on her elbows, Emma ran her fingertips over the curve of Regina's hips. "I did go Dark to save you. Maybe you're the one saving me."

"I thought you didn't need saving."

"It's a lot harder to run from the thing that frightens you most when it's sitting on top of you."

"What would that be Dear?"

"My Happy Ending." She could hear the breath Regina sucked in. "Please don't freak out. I'll still do everything I can to annoy you."

"Turn in your paperwork late?"

"Like two weeks late, half completed, missing pages."

"Turn up your nose at vegetables."

"Unless you made them."

"Leave your boots on the stairs?"

"Henry said that was your favorite crime, growing up."

"Someone could get hurt."

"Nah, you would fall and rise again. You always do."

"I would like to fall one last time." Pinning Emma's hands beside her head.

"You know what else you can do one last time?"

"Hmm?" Brushing their lips, lightly. And then a little less so until each kiss breathed new life into their passion and Emma's musing died beneath the flames.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

The Intern

"Your 4 O'clock is here Madam Mayor." Tinker Bell informed, allowing the interviewee to pass by.

Running Storybrooke had increasingly been encroaching on Regina's duties as a mother. Something that was completely unacceptable, as her son had joined the soccer team. He wasn't the best or the fastest but Henry had found immense joy at the inclusion on the team. The camaraderie now that the children had begun to age with him was priceless.

The golden goddess standing before her in a heather gray pencil skirt and tucked-in blue blouse wet her appetite. Her feisty blonde waves, further punctuated by black rimmed glasses. Briefcase in hand, the woman stood awaiting acknowledgment. Smiling Regina rose to shake her 4 O'clock hand.

"Regina Mills, Mayor of Storybrooke."

"Emma Swan, Sheriff of Storybrooke."

Taking an appreciative view of the sheriff turned intern hopeful, Regina sat slowly.

"You look exquisite."

"That's a bit unprofessional don't you think?"

"I run this town, Miss Swan. Nothing happens unless I will it to be so. Shall we begin?"

"If you will it." Emma sassed

Glancing over papers on her desk Regina grinned. "May I call you Emma?"

"You may call me whatever you want."

"Perfect. What do you hope to accomplish here today?"

"The utter disruption of your day."

"Consider that a success."

"What is it about this hairdo that has made you lose your mind?" Emma leisurely walked around the edge of Regina's desk, leaning against the corner. Damned if those black high heels didn't make her calves look positively delightful. Every muscle in Emma's legs perfectly lean and punctuated by the high risers. With two fingers Emma redirected Regina's eyes. "I'm up here Madam Mayor."

"It's like you shed your last bit of armor. The hair was Savior Emma and you're still a hero but I think for the first time in a decade you've allowed yourself to be something other than that. You shed that awful pirate, then you cut your hair and with it the weight of whatever seemed to be holding you down as well."

Despite the redirection, Emma smiled as Regina's eyes began reverse scanning all the way from the top of her head to her ankles and back up.

"Are we dating or just sleeping together?"

"Dating. Any other questions?"

"Just like that?"

"Yes."

"You didn't ask me if I wanted to date you."

"Do you want to date me Em-ma?"

"Ooh, come on you can't use that voice."

"Why ever not? "

"Something about that octave just…" Emma sucked in a breath and nearly jerked away at the sensation of fingertips up the slit in her skirt. "does the thing."

"The thing?" Regina inquired with a cocked eyebrow.

"Stop with the face too." Emma kissed her and then pushed her hand away. "Madam Mayor this is highly unprofessional!"

"Are you yelling at me in my own office?"

"I'm not yelling, I raised my voice."

"Tomato, tomatoes. Was it unwanted My Swan?"

"Not gonna lie the hand surprised me." Emma leaned down to capture nude colored lips. "Didn't mean to yell. I do, however, have some very important news for you."

"Do share."

"My Mother set me up on a blind-date this afternoon."

"She what?"

"Aladdin, lunch-time."

"Is that all?" shuffling papers Regina redirecting her attention from the urge to throttle Snow White.

"I had to leave to prepare for my interview."

"You realize she has to suffer?"

Laughing, Emma slid closer to Regina's seat. "I love it when you get territorial."

"When it applies to you."

"C'mon, we're both Alpha Females in our own right. We've had our moments."

"I don't own you Emma, and I don't want to. We have chosen to come together as more than the sum of our individual parts."

"What do you say our alter-ego's come together and have a bit of fun at Snow White's expense?"

"I would say that sounds like just what the Doctor would order."

"Where you were when I went for that powdered white bun bullshit though?"

"No one could help that Dear."

"You didn't even try."

"I was a little more concerned with the long-term implications of your…situation."

"So," Emma summoned an apple to her hand and indulged in a bite. "you're in, the powdered bun is out. What next?"

"The Evil Queen gets a wardrobe update befitting the 21st century."

"Honestly, all I can think about right now is how these heels mean I can see perfectly down your shirt."

"Step one complete."

"You're wearing too much color. I'm thinking crimson blouse and the deepest shade of black ever invented for the pants."

Regina nodded as the colors of her sensible pantsuit changed as her aura morphed into something else entirely. "What shall you be wearing Dark Swan?"

"The black dress I actually wore during my time as The Dark One."

"Perfect."

Standing Emma wiggled her eyebrows, "Ever had sex in here?"

"No," Regina answered as if that were the most preposterous idea she had ever heard.

"A waste of these fine, sturdily built surfaces."

Waving her hands over Emma, the blonde found herself immersed in purple smoke. When the smoke cleared, she was in her form fitted black dress from her less than stellar days as The Dark One. "Another time Dear. It seems I still have some lessons to teach your Mother."

XOXOXOXOXOXO

Watching Snow White exit Storybrooke Elementary was easier by the fact that it was the last day of school before summer break. With a town like Storybrooke no one ever truly had to say goodbye. The kids left under a wall of their teacher's arms but no one dallied as they raced to their buses, bicycles or the awaiting parents. The teachers bid their adieu's and in the rearview mirror of the Sheriff's car, The Evil Queen and Dark Swan were waiting.

"She's almost there," Emma stated, a twitchy smirk adorning her lips. "Wait for it…"

"We're not inconspicuous Dark Swan. She has to know we are here…."

Snow White made her way to the parallel parked station wagon, taking an appreciative view of the beautiful day. The blonde snickered and glanced at Regina.

"That's not the point. Wait for it…"

"What am I waiting for?" The Queen snapped as her Swan pointed to the sky.

A flock of birds was overhead, heading South of their current position. "Do it now."

"You never told me the plan!"

Swishing her hand Regina marveled at what took place. "Watch and learn."

Turning to get an enhanced view of the situation, mahogany eyes met with the simultaneous view of the entire flock pelting the station wagon with bird shit. And in no small amount, as Snow dove into the vehicle to escape becoming a target. Her wide eyed, open mouthed expression through the window caused The Dark Swan to cackle with glee.

"Well done, My Swan," Regina said, arresting her cohort by blonde waves and pulling her in for a fierce kiss.