This has been kicking around my desktop for a while, and I felt it was finally time to get it together and get it posted. I'm a little stalled with The Greatest Thing You'll Ever Learn at the moment, so in the mean time, here's a little fun to add to the madness that has somehow become somewhat of a series...

Anyway, hope you enjoy - part 2 to follow ASAP. And as always, I'd love to hear what you think!

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"I'm curious…"

Emma tensed where she sat on the couch, Regina's head in her lap as she stroked her fingers through dark locks. It wasn't that she was uncomfortable talking openly with Regina. In the beginning, yes, but they had both vowed to be honest and had worked on keeping to that. Still, she felt she was entitled to feeling a little tense when Regina opened with such vague words and accompanied them with that smirk.

"How exactly Ruby knew what was happening at that party."

The blonde sucked in a deep breath. They hadn't properly discussed the issue past a brief mention that night before they had tumbled into bed and then to acknowledge Ruby's statement in the diner the next day. Emma had been hoping she was safe from further interrogation on the subject, her moment at the last Charming family dinner having taken precedent. No such luck, it seemed. "Er…I uh…"

"I mean, was it just the wolf thing, or…" The brunette looked up into green eyes tainted with fear. "Emma?" She had a feeling that that had happened at the party hadn't quite been coincidence. No, in fact, she had the slight suspicion she had been set up by the very woman currently looking at her like an unfortunate rabbit caught in the headlights. "Do you know something?" she prompted, trying to get the blonde to speak up and confirm or disprove her suspicions. If she was right, she intended to let this little conversation create the lead up to a suggestion she had been going to make for quite some time, but had never found the right way to bring up.

"Regina," started Emma, her eyes silently pleading with the brunette not to be angry.

The former Evil Queen remained where she was, her expression open, encouraging Emma to continue.

"Ruby…she might have known what we were doing," mumbled Emma.

Regina only smirked.

"She uh, she realised we were up to something and she kinda used her wolf senses…" Emma trailed off, wondering how exactly to go on. "She thought I might have got you high or something…then she realised how excited we were, you in particular."

"Am I to surmise from this that she smelled it off of me?" asked Regina, her tone amused. She had to give the wolf credit where it was due.

Blushing violently, Emma nodded. "She realised I had a remote and figured out what it was for."

"I'm glad you're mother is more innocently minded when it comes to 21st century sex toys," chuckled Regina, recalling their little mishap during the weekly Charming family dinner.

"Don't remind me!" groaned Emma.

"Sorry, sweetheart," smiled Regina, leaning up to press a gentle kiss against pouting lips. "Now, you were saying…"

"Do I have to go on?" asked Emma, hoping she had already said enough.

"That implies there is more to this story. Do carry on," smirked the brunette.

Cheeks turning deeper red, Emma was looking anywhere but the woman cradled in her lap. It occurred to her then that Regina had planned this, making sure to ask her when she couldn't run. "She threatened to tell Snow why you were acting so weird when you were talking to her, and I kind of made a deal so she wouldn't."

"Little Miss Lucas blackmailed you?" asked Regina, once again giving silent credit to the young woman. "And you agreed?"

"She was threatening to tell my mother I was controlling a vibrator in your pants!" exclaimed Emma before falling suddenly silent and looking over the back of the couch to reassure herself Henry was still upstairs in bed and so out of hearing range.

"Emma, who do you think would have been more embarrassed?" smirked Regina.

The blonde shook her head. "You are impossible." She paused. "So you really don't mind Ruby knows?"

"Emma," said Regina softly, knowing her use of the blonde's first name always melted her a little. "If I really did mind, I wouldn't have hesitated in telling you. You know that."

Emma had to admit, she did. Regina was rather good at telling her in no uncertain terms when she was mad with her.

"What exactly was your deal with Miss Lucas?" asked Regina, wondering how much of what happened was coincidence.

"Oh, that," stuttered Emma. "Um, she…shewantedtoknowwhatyoulookedlikewhenyoucame."

The former Evil Queen chuckled at Emma's childish tactic of running her words together. "What was that, darling?"

"Don't make me say it," pleaded Emma.

Regina raised an eyebrow. "Emma," she said sternly.

Taking a deep breath, Emma spoke. Regina hadn't been mad before, but when she found out it had been planned…well, Emma was fairly certain she was on the couch for the foreseeable future. "She said that if she got to see what you looked like when you came she wouldn't say anything."

"She wanted to see me come?" asked Regina, unable to hide the note of excitement in her voice. Emma was the one she loved and adored both mentally and physically, there was nothing wrong with a little lustful exploration.

Emma nodded. "She said something about 28 years and being curious…"

Flattered, the brunette smiled up at the flustered blonde. "Have you ever been curious?"

At this, Emma smirked, some of her usual confidence returning. "I don't have to be curious, I can see that face whenever I want."

"Whenever you want?" asked Regina, eyebrow raised.

"You're not going to deny I'm good," said Emma, in mock offense.

"The best," purred Regina, sitting up to nuzzle her face into the blonde's neck. "But I don't mean curious about me."

Emma pushed Regina back to where she could see her face. "What…what are you saying?"

Regina said nothing, pushing herself up to straddle Emma's lap. "Have you ever been curious, about exploring…"

"Exploring what?" asked Emma, confused, and distracted by the brunette's familiar weight on her thighs. Then, suddenly, it struck her. "You mean, curious about other people?"

Regina smiled softly. She wanted to let this idea form slowly in Emma's mind, and let the blonde come to a conclusion without any prompting from her.

"About Ruby?"

Regina shrugged. While after much musing, the young waitress remained her first choice, she wouldn't object if Emma's curiosity extended in another direction.

Emma's mind was officially blown. Regina, the most possessive lover in history, was asking if she was 'curious' about other people. This wasn't a trap, was it? "Why?"

"Why what?" asked Regina innocently.

"Why are you asking?"

Sensing her lover's excitement fade and become replaced by apprehension, she smiled warmly. "I'm only asking if you've ever thought about it."

"I want you," said Emma honestly. "Always you."

Regina wrapped her arms around the blonde's neck, touched by the words. "And I you, but that wasn't exactly what I meant…" She watched as Emma frowned, before her eyes went impossibly wide as realization dawned.

"You mean…"

"How do you ask someone something like this?" mumbled Emma as she sat next to Regina in a booth in Granny's diner.

Regina shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. It's not something I have much experience in."

"Oh god, there she is," gulped Emma on seeing Ruby appear through from the kitchens. "Should we do this?"

The brunette turned to Emma, taking her fidgeting hands in her own. "Emma, we spoke about this. We agreed to only do this if you were comfortable." She leant forward, pressing a kiss to pouting pink lips. "And I told you, this doesn't mean that I don't want you. I will always want you, and love you. This was just meant as a little fun. But it can only be that if you're comfortable with it."

Emma smiled at the reassurance from her lover. Regina, for all people warned her off, telling her stories of her past, had never been shy of making Emma aware of her feelings for her. And for a girl with abandonment issues, this never ceased to comfort the Sherriff.

"Hey you two, can I get you anything?" asked Ruby with her normal bright smile.

Regina turned to regard the young waitress with a smirk. "Perhaps…"

Regina stood silently in the kitchen doorway, watching Emma pace relentlessly, a frown marking her features. Clearly, something was weighing on her mind. "Anything I can help with?"

Startled, Emma jumped at the sound. She turned, a small smile finding its way onto her features as the brunette approached and wrapped her arms around her. "I'm just not sure."

"Then we won't do it," said Regina without hesitation, knowing without having to ask what Emma was talking about.

The blonde shook her head. "No! I mean, I think I want to. I just…I have questions."

"Any I can answer?" asked Regina, hoping to reassure her love.

Emma let out a sigh. It was stupid that she was getting so nervous. This wouldn't be the first time she had been in bed with more than one person, but never before had it been with people she loved and cared about. Before, it had been something she had almost stumbled into, after one too many drinks. "How does it start? I mean, I get that we invite her here, but then what?"

So Emma wanted logistics. Not sure exactly what she could provide, Regina took a deep breath and pulled on her experience as Queen and Mayor to try and fabricate a viable answer. "I imagined that once Ruby was here, we could perhaps have a couple of drinks, talk for a while and then see what happens, and follow our instincts. It's not something I can answer definitively, though. I have no idea what Ruby will bring to the table." She rubbed her hands up and down Emma's bare upper arms. "If you don't feel comfortable at any point though, or you feel the connection isn't there then we can just stop. Nothing has to happen simply because we've invited Ruby."

Emma nodded. She could deal with that. Pressing a sound kiss to painted red lips, she smiled into the comforting contact. She loved that Regina was always giving her an out. Always supporting her through her little bouts of nerves.

"Anything else I can do?" asked Regina, pulling back and looking deeply into green eyes. The worry had cleared from them, she was glad to note.

"Dinner?" suggested Emma.

Regina nodded. "Lasagna?"

Grinning, Emma nodded.

"Fine. Why don't you and Henry play some video games until it's done?" She watched her lover's face light up even further at the suggestion. Chuckling, she pressed a quick kiss Emma's lips. "And remember, ask me anything. I don't care if you feel it's ridiculous. Just ask, and I'll answer as best I can."

"What about sleeping?"

Opening her eyes in the dark room, Regina rolled over to face her lover, feeling the blonde adjust her arms around her. "That's what I was trying to do."

Emma chuckled. "Sorry. But I didn't mean now. I meant…"

Regina wondered if the blonde would ever directly name what they were doing. "Again, I can't say for sure, and it'll depend a lot on what happens, but I don't mind. Henry will be with your parent's so there's no worries of him seeing anything and asking questions. She may want to go home, or she can take a guest bedroom, or…"

"You'd let her sleep here, in our bed?" asked Emma, surprised.

Regina smiled, her white teeth visible in the darkness. "I intend to sleep with you in my arms whatever happens."