Chapter three

As Snow could be fairly idiotic when it came to a lot of things, Regina truly hoped that this was just one of those occasions. As soon as she had hung up from their phone call, she had jumped into her Mercedes – leaving Henry by himself yet again – and raced across town, her hands gripping onto the wheel so tightly that she was certain she was about to rip it from the car.

She told herself over and over again for the entire journey that Snow must have made a mistake. There was no way that, after the conversation they had had that morning, Emma would have ignored Regina and gone for dinner with the Evil Queen.

And when Regina arrived at Granny's, she realised that she hadn't. She'd gone for drinks instead.

The two women were perched at the bar, surrounded by empty chairs and a room full of uneasy eyes. Granny herself was behind the counter, wiping glasses clean with her suspicious gaze fixed on the queen. The queen, however, could only look at Emma.

Regina paused outside the building, her hand resting on the door handle and her heart pounding in her throat. The nerve. The complete audacity. She couldn't tell who she was madder at – Emma, for being even stupider than normal and choosing to hang out with this woman against everyone's wishes, or the queen, for being deliberately goading and seeking out the one person whom she knew would truly hurt Regina.

Regina paused, blinking to herself as she realised exactly what she'd just admitted to herself without meaning to. The thought had come from nowhere, startling her.

Pushing it from her mind, Regina straightened her spine and let her anger wash back over her like a cloak. She shoved the door open. For the second time that day, every person in the room looked up as she stalked in, her eyes flashing.

Emma had her back to the door, but the queen spotted the new arrival at once. Her face cracked into a sneer.

"Regina, dear," she chimed, raising her glass by way of greeting. "I was hoping you'd show up at some point."

Emma swivelled around in her seat and, in the split second where she realised who was standing there, her face lit up. Then she caught sight of the rage that was evaporating from Regina like steam and faltered, swallowing down her greeting.

"What are you doing?" Regina asked in a voice that was low and rumbling.

"Having a drink," the queen said, but Regina ignored her. Her eyes were fixed on Emma, and she repeated the question.

"Emma. What are you doing?"

Emma wetted her lips. "She… invited me for a drink."

"And you didn't see the problem with that?"

If she hadn't been so angry that she could have throttled Emma then and there, the confused expression on the sheriff's flushed face might have been slightly endearing.

She watched as Emma swallowed, gently placing her glass back onto the bar.

"No. Not really."

"Emma, you can't—"

"Oh, Regina, please," the queen sighed, cutting her off. "This is the second time today you've interrupted a perfectly pleasant conversation with your shouting. Can't you just calm down for a second and join us?"

"No, actually, I cannot," Regina said. "How about you pack up your things and leave instead?"

"I don't think so," the queen said, raising her glass to her lips. "I'm starting to enjoy it here."

Emma offered Regina a weak smile. "It's okay, Regina. Really. You don't need to keep worrying about me."

"I am not worried about you," Regina snapped, relishing the wounded expression on Emma's face. "I'm worried about what your selfish actions are going to do to this town."

She was expecting Emma's cheeks to redden further, but instead her expression turned cold.

"If you want to talk about selfish actions," Emma said quietly, "maybe we should discuss that time when you ripped your evil half out because you couldn't be bothered to deal with her anymore. We wouldn't even be here if you hadn't done that, would we?"

The warm chuckle that came from the queen should have encouraged her, but it didn't. Because at once Emma saw the way that Regina staggered back half a step, the shock breaking through her like she had been shot. She regained her composure in a flash, but the hurt expression on her face that had barely lasted a second was enough to make Emma's whole body go numb.

"Miss Swan," Regina said in a deep, dangerous voice that Emma recognised all too well. "Can I speak to you in private, please?"

"Um," Emma stammered, looking round at where the queen was watching her expectantly. "I don't…"

"Now," Regina snapped, and before Emma had a chance to argue, she had stormed off into the back corridor of the diner. Emma sighed, looking back at the queen.

"Go ahead," she said, her purple lips twisting into their usual amused smile. "I'll get you another drink."

With a groan, Emma heaved herself off her stool and followed Regina into the hall. She could feel her palms starting to sweat.

Regina was waiting with her back perfectly straight under her long black coat and her hands folded in front of her. Her face gave nothing away, but Emma could feel the annoyance scorching from her like heat from a faulty radiator.

Emma stopped in front of her and swallowed.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have said that. I don't think that."

"I don't care what you think, Miss Swan," and the disappointment on Emma's face should have made her feel better. It didn't. "I care about why you came here with her, after I explicitly asked you not to."

"You told me to stay away from her, and I told you that I would," Emma clarified. "But I said that if she came to see me, I wouldn't push her away. And you agreed to that. I haven't done anything wrong."

"I agreed because I didn't think even you would be so stupid to come and do shots with her," Regina snarled, stepping closer to Emma. Emma's eyes automatically fell to look at the angry downturn of her lips, and she snapped them away again as soon as she caught herself staring. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that she's actually kind of fun," Emma shot back at her. "And she's nice to me."

"She's the Evil Queen, you fool! She isn't nice."

"Oh, come on, Regina – name one evil thing she's done since she got here."

"Well, I just had your mother on the phone telling me that she'd seen her casting your boyfriend off into a different realm."

"She sent him to the forest," Emma rolled her eyes. "He'll be fine."

For a moment Regina just gaped at her. "You don't even care? How do you know that's where he really is? She could have just said that to keep you quiet – he could be anywhere."

The heavy pause that followed told Regina that Emma hadn't even considered that. She groaned.

"You really are an idiot."

All at once Emma snapped, her last remaining shred of patience disappearing into the night like a wisp of smoke. "Why do you even care?! You hate Hook! You've always made that perfectly clear. And now you don't like her either – it seems like you have immediate animosity towards anyone who wants to be my friend."

"She only wants to be friends with you because she's trying to get close to me, you idiot."

"Well, you said yourself that you and I aren't close, so there's no danger there then, is there?"

Emma's shoulders were heaving up and down as she struggled to contain a hundred other words that were threatening to come tumbling out of her mouth. It took a moment for Regina to realise that she wasn't just angry – she was hurt.

Regina opened her mouth to respond, but Emma was done listening.

"I'm going back to my drink," she said, turning away. "If you still want to make sure that she's not secretly trying to recruit me into her dark cult, then feel free to join us. Otherwise, go away and stop interrupting everything."

She stomped off with her blonde curls flying behind her. She'd taken off her jacket and Regina could see the lines of the angrily tensed muscles in her arms. Her eyes lingered on them.

Emma sat back down at the bar and immediately the queen reached out a hand and rested it on her shoulder, checking she was okay. Emma nodded curtly, and the queen leaned into her ear, whispering something that, against all odds, made Emma laugh.

Something solid and frozen dropped in Regina's stomach, nearly knocking her sideways. She stayed there, welded to the spot, unable to take her eyes off of them.

There was a back door right behind her. She could easily turn around and walk out, leaving them to it. This had nothing to do with her.

But instead she reached up and fluffed up her hair, turning to check her lipstick in the nearby mirror. She unbuttoned her coat with trembling hands.

"For god's sake," she muttered to herself as she strode back into the diner, ignoring the dozens of eyes that were on her as she walked towards the woman whom she knew she absolutely should not care about.

The queen slid another shot glass towards Emma before gesturing to Regina.

"You're sure you wouldn't like one?"

Regina glared back at her, her lips pressed tightly together.

"No thank you," she said coldly, watching as Emma threw the drink down her throat. "Some of us have work in the morning."

"I have work in the morning too," Emma protested, turning to face her. Regina looked like she was sucking on a lemon.

"Outstanding," Regina drawled. "I'm sure our town will be in especially safe hands tomorrow, in that case. Perhaps it would be better for everyone if you just handed the patrol car keys to Leroy for the day."

"Oh, do stop being such a killjoy," the queen said, throwing back her own drink. She was already on her fourth, but for some reason the alcohol didn't seem to be having any effect on her at all. Emma, on the other hand, was already sporting flushed cheeks and a glazed look in her eyes that told Regina she wasn't really listening to anything either of them was saying. "I don't understand why you decided to join us if you're just planning on sitting there with a face like sour milk."

"I joined you because someone needs to stop you from corrupting the saviour just for your own personal amusement," Regina shot back at her.

"The saviour seems fairly willing to be corrupted," the queen smirked, waving Granny over. The old woman approached them and, without a word, poured out two more shots of tequila. She glanced over at Regina before she walked away again and, for the first time in their lives, they shared a look of mutual concern.

As Granny disappeared, the queen slid the refreshed glass towards Emma.

"Drink up, Miss Swan. We don't want you going thirsty."

"Don't you think she's had enough?" Regina snapped. To her dismay, Emma groaned at her.

"Regina, I'm a grown-ass woman," she said, but she couldn't hide the slurring of her words. "Give me a break. I can handle a few shots."

"Five shots," Regina corrected as she threw back the latest drink. "On a Thursday evening."

"Thursday is the new Friday," Emma shrugged.

"I really don't recommend that you drink like this on any day," Regina said, a wobble of anxiety breaking through the coldness of her voice. Emma didn't hear it – but the queen did. It was written all over the dark smile on her face.

"You need to loosen up a bit," the queen said, her eyes slowly moving back over towards Emma. They trailed down her body. "Like Miss Swan here. She's nice and loose now."

Regina gritted her teeth so aggressively that she thought she heard a crack. "Loose enough for all of us, it would seem."

"Certainly enough for me," the queen said. "But you'll have to wait your turn."

Emma looked blearily round at her. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't worry about it, dear," the queen said, reaching out for her empty glass and waving a hand over it. It refilled on its own, and Emma giggled.

"Regina never thought to teach me that."

"I can't say I'm surprised," the queen said, refilling her own glass. Granny glared at them from across the room. "Regina isn't one for having a good time, it would seem."

"Because you would know all about having a good time," Regina said coldly. "What does that involve, in your mind? Having a few drinks, murdering a few civilians, maybe taking a few men back to your palace and then disposing of them in the morning?"

"Not exactly," the queen said coolly. "I've gone off men. I find that they lack the excitement I'm seeking."

As she spoke, her eyes settled on Emma once more. Regina felt her toes curl.

Emma, meanwhile, just laughed.

"She doesn't like Hook," she explained to Regina.

"Finally, something we can agree on," Regina replied, and Emma rolled her eyes.

"He's a good guy," she muttered, staring down into her glass. Her face had darkened at once, and not through offence: something far more complicated was bubbling below the surface of her words, and it was like all the joy had been sucked from her. For a split second, Regina and the queen shared a look.

"Such enthusiasm," the queen said after a pause, prising Emma's glass from between her fingers and refilling it with her empty hand. Across the diner, Granny tutted loudly. "I wonder, Miss Swan, if 'good' is good enough for you?"

"It's better than 'evil'," Emma shot back, and the queen chuckled.

"True," she admitted, handing her the refilled shot. Her fingers brushed against Emma's as she did so. "But 'he's a good guy' isn't enough. You can't stay with someone for a reason as paltry as that."

"And what reason are you looking for, your majesty?"

"Well," the queen sighed. She reached out for a strand of Emma's hair, tucking it gently behind her ear. It was such an intimate gesture – and such a casual one – that it took Regina a moment to absorb it. When she had, she was left with a bitter taste in her mouth and a sick feeling in her stomach. "Does he excite you? Do you miss him whenever he's gone, no matter how long it's for? Does the very thought of him make you feel a little bit breathless? You must want him, surely?"

Emma just blinked at her.

"I guess."

The queen's perfectly stencilled eyebrows slowly lifted. Her hand had come to rest on Emma's shoulder, and though she wasn't looking over at Regina, she could feel her vibrating with fury.

"'I guess' isn't good enough, princess," she said, leaning close to Emma's ear. "If you aren't mad with desire any time he's around, then what's the point?"

And suddenly Emma wasn't looking at either of them. Her gaze fell into her lap, and in that moment it was painfully obvious that she'd been thinking the same thing for quite some time. It had just taken nearly six shots for her to admit it to herself.

As if on cue, she grabbed hold of the latest drink and lifted it to her lips, sinking the golden liquid without a word.

After a pause, the queen said, "I didn't mean to upset you."

Emma snorted. "Right. I'm sure you're really concerned about that."

"I am," the queen replied, reaching out to squeeze Emma's knee. She felt Regina's eyes follow her movement, and she left her hand resting on the tight denim. Emma didn't even seem to notice it was there. "I'm saying this for your benefit, Emma. If you're only staying with him because you're afraid you won't find anyone else, then that's ludicrous. I'm sure there are plenty of people here who would take better care of you."

Regina couldn't be sure if she'd imagined it or not, but it looked like the queen's hand slid slightly higher up Emma's thigh as she said this. She had to physically restrain herself from reaching out and slapping it away.

And right then, the queen looked up at her.

"Don't you agree, Regina?"

Emma turned to look at her, her eyes wide, and Regina realised that she was actually waiting for her opinion. On any other day, the sheriff would have bitten her head off for so much as breathing negative air in Hook's direction, but today – six shots down and another one probably on the way – she felt watery and weak, and she didn't know what to do.

Regina wetted her lips, ready to offer the most constructive feedback possible. Then she glanced down, saw the hand that was still resting on Emma's thigh, and stopped. She sat up straighter.

"It's not my place," she heard herself say, and Emma's face crumpled.

With a smirk, the queen lifted her hand off of Emma's leg and waved it across her glass, refilling it once more.

Granny hollered from across the room, "Can you stop that? Some of us are trying to make a living."

Without looking around the queen flicked her hand in Granny's direction, causing her to fall silent. The old woman grasped at her throat, her voice suddenly out of her own reach. Emma rolled her eyes.

"Don't do that," she said flatly, and the queen raised her eyebrows at her.

"Excuse me?"

"I mean it," Emma said, gesturing to where Granny was now wordlessly yelling across the room at them. "Give it back."

The queen pursed her lips with annoyance. She was all but ready to laugh in Emma's face and snatch her voice away too, just to make a point. Then she looked over Emma's shoulder and saw that Regina wasn't even paying attention to the situation – she was staring at the back of Emma's head, looking like a child whose puppy had been taken away.

The queen remembered that look all too vividly – she remembered being in the stables, watching Daniel working only feet away but not being able to talk to him. She remembered the way her heart had reached for him.

She shuddered. Pathetic.

She looked back at Emma, who was still watching her expectantly, and shrugged. "Fine."

Her hand reached back over her shoulder and she flicked something in Granny's direction. At voice the woman's voice returned to her.

"Don't make me regret doing that," the queen called across to her, and Granny scowled, stomping into the kitchen muttering curse words under her breath.

When she turned back again, Emma was watching her with an amused expression on her face.

"Thank you," she said, and to everyone's relief, she was smiling again. "Not that I don't want to do that too, sometimes."

"You must have the patience of a saint for refraining on a daily basis," the queen said with a coquettish smile. "Don't forget your drink, dear."

"I think I might have had enough," Emma giggled, pushing the full glass away from her. She turned to look at Regina. "Do you want this?"

"No, thank you," Regina said flatly. The queen caught her eye and immediately smirked.

"I won't let it go to waste," she said, leaning her body close to Emma's and snaking the glass out of her hand. Pressing her mouth against Emma's ear, never taking her eyes off of Regina, she added, "If you don't mind?"

Both Regina and the queen saw Emma blush at the warm tickle of breath against her ear.

"Help yourself," she said, her voice trembling.

Still smiling cruelly at Regina, the queen pulled away, lifting the glass to her lips and draining it with a grace that startled them all. Emma watched her admiringly as she replaced the tiny glass on the counter.

"Very nice," she said, and then queen smiled back at her.

"I'm glad you approve," she said, leaning towards Emma and pinning her with her most intense stare. "All I want is to impress you, princess. Is it working?"

As she spoke, her eyes trailed down from Emma's face to her throat, down to the edge of her tank top and finally settling for just a second on the faint shadow of her cleavage. When her eyes snapped back up again, the sheriff's cheeks were pink.

Emma swallowed against the sudden dryness in her mouth and tilted her head to one side.

"Maybe," she admitted, then paused. She opened her mouth to say something else.

Suddenly there was a crash from behind her, and Emma spun around in her seat. Regina was on her feet, her chest heaving up and down and her cheeks burning. She had stood up so quickly that her stool had gone flying backwards, knocking into the nearest table.

"Regina?" Emma asked, her head swimming slightly from the sudden movement.

"It's time to go, Miss Swan," Regina snapped back at her, beginning to button her coat up once more. "Get up."

Emma blinked. "Why?"

"I don't need to give you a reason," Regina said shortly, looking expectantly at the jacket hanging from Emma's chair. "Just do as you're told."

"Regina, I'm having a—"

She stopped talking when Regina suddenly leaned into her, her voice low enough that the queen couldn't hear, but sharp enough to turn Emma's blood to ice. "I swear to god, if you are not up and out of this diner in the next 10 seconds, you will never see Henry again. Now do as you're told for once in your damn life."

Emma blinked, too surprised to be angry, and shakily stood up. The tequila hit her at once and she stumbled to one side. The queen caught her, taking her wrist with one hand and pressing the other against the small of her back. Regina growled. She reached past Emma and snatched the queen's hand off of her wrist, gripping it tightly enough to crush the bone beneath her fingers.

"Get off of her," she hissed, tossing her arm away. The queen just smiled at her, her eyebrows raised. "Coat, Miss Swan. Now."

Emma was blindly trying to pull her jacket off of the chair behind her, her hands shaking with alcohol and confusion and frustration. When one sleeve got caught she groaned and pulled harder. Suddenly Regina was beside her again, tugging the jacket free and thrusting it against Emma's chest.

"Out," she snapped. She wanted to press a hand against her back and push her towards the door, but she couldn't bring herself to touch her where the queen's hands had been moments before.

"Just a second," Emma mumbled, struggling into her coat. "I just want to say goodbye to—"

"No," Regina cut her off, taking hold of Emma's now leather-clad elbow and turning her towards the door. "Out."

Emma staggered through the door and out into the sharp night air without another word. Her fingertips felt warm and swollen from the alcohol, and any time she tried to think of a word to say, the final syllable seemed to disappear into the night before she could reach it. She closed her eyes for a moment, feeling the breeze on her burning cheeks, and took a deep breath.

Then Regina was behind her, one hand on her back, guiding her down the stairs. She didn't say a word, but Emma could feel the anger coming off of her. She swallowed.

"Regina," she slurred, somehow turning her name into a one-syllable word. She turned to look at her, but Regina was staring straight ahead, her lips pressed firmly together. "What did I do?"

"I shouldn't have to tell you what you've done."

"Well, maybe you shouldn't, but I need a little help here," Emma said. Some perverse part of her wanted to giggle, and it took all her self-control to force the sound back down into her chest. "It was just a few drinks. I don't know what the problem is."

"The problem," Regina snapped, and Emma realised then that she was being guided towards Regina's car, "is that you seem to have completely lost any regard for your own safety, or anyone else's in this town. You've been constantly warned against befriending this woman – who, I should repeat, is not called the Evil Queen just because the name has a nice ring to it – and yet you still ignore our advice and do as you damn well please. I don't know what you were thinking."

"I told you – she came and found me, and I don't see the point in—"

"Chatting to her is one thing," Regina interrupted coldly. "But letting her take you off somewhere and get you drunk is something else entirely. Didn't you notice how much alcohol she was forcing onto you?"

"She was matching me."

"And yet she was stone cold sober when we left," Regina said. "She was trying to lower your inhibitions, Emma. You don't realise how dangerous that was?"

Emma blinked. She knew Regina probably had a point, but the rage – and, weirdly, the hurt – in the mayor's voice didn't seem to match up to what she was saying.

Emma staggered to a halt and, with a sigh, Regina let go of her. Emma stumbled to one side, clutching onto a lamppost to stop herself from falling into a nearby hedge, and turned back to look at her. Regina paused – Emma's eyes were large and watery, and she could see her jaw trembling from two metres away.

"Are you going to cry?" she asked uncertainly. Emma shook her head fiercely.

"I just don't get you, Regina," she said, her voice gurgling against the tears at the back of her throat. "Why does this bother you so much? So the Evil Queen has taken an interest in me – so what? Why can't you just be happy that actually, she's not completely wicked after all. It's a good thing, isn't it? She's less of a threat now."

"She's just tricking you, you silly girl," Regina sighed. A flash of the queen's face ricocheted through her mind – her hand on Emma's thigh, her eyes on Emma's lips. She flinched.

"So what?" Emma sniffed. "At least she's nice to me. That's more than I can say about you. And it's not like you even like me so I really don't see what the problem is – if I get hurt, so what? It makes no difference to you anyway."

Regina swallowed. Emma was looking straight at her, drunk and hurt and angry, and God, all Regina wanted to do was reach out and hold her close to show her just how much of a difference it would make to her.

"Emma," she said slowly, taking a step forwards. She could feel her pulse thundering in her throat. "Look – I lied, okay? I was mad at you and I lied. We are friends. We are, and I do care about you."

Emma looked curiously back at her, the golden warmth of tequila still swirling around her in a haze. Then sudden clarity struck her, and she sighed.

"Oh. I get it," she said quietly, disappointed. "You've seen someone else playing with your toy, and now you want it back."

Regina opened her mouth, a protest ready on her tongue. But she was interrupted before she could begin to tell Emma how wrong she was.

"Swan!"

They both turned toward the source of the voice and found Hook staggering towards them, mud caking his boots and leaves stuck to his knees. His hair was sticking up in a hundred different directions and in any other situation, Regina would have cackled with glee. But he was looking at Emma with a murderous glint in his eyes, and her laughter dried up in her throat.

"Killian," Emma replied, blinking rapidly. The closer he got, the madder he looked. "Are you okay?"

"No, I am bloody well not okay!" he shouted. "Where the hell have you been? Why didn't you come and help me?"

Emma tried to think of an excuse, but the alcohol had softened her brain. She wetted her lips.

"I…" she stammered, looking back to Regina for help. For once the mayor was as wordless as she was. "I'm sorry. I tried, but I didn't know where you were, and—"

"Are you drunk?" he hissed, looking at her more closely. "Oh, that's bloody perfect. I'm out in the woods, freezing my arse off and still believing that you would actually come and find me, but instead you're here having drinks with Regina. I bet you were having a great old time, weren't you?"

Emma swallowed. "No, I wasn't. It… it was…"

Hook didn't wait around to find out what it was. With a final glare towards Regina, he turned his back on them and stomped off down the street with his long coat whipping behind him.

Emma watched him for a moment, her feet feeling suddenly heavy. She didn't want to go after him. She didn't have the energy to.

After a moment she turned to look back at Regina, her forehead creased. Then she sighed and turned away once more. She disappeared into the night, following Hook down the road, and Regina was left under the watery light of a street lamp, not wanting to leave.

A/N: I'm starsthatburn over on tumblr too if you want to drop by for more swan queen ramblings x