A/N: and on with the fourth chapter. The plot is finally starting do develop a bit. Thanks to everyone for your comments/suggestions- you guys are great! Also, I took Granny's first name from another fic I've read. It has become headcanon to me, because it fit her so well, but unfortunately I don't remember the story title. If you do, please let me know.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my laptop and a few crazy plot bunnies.

The soft, monotone sound of the shower running in the next room was pulling her from her dreams. Even burrowing deeper into the covers didn't do any good. Reluctantly Emma opened her eyes to the dim light filtering through the window. God, she groaned, that girl was killing her.

It couldn't be much later than 6 a.m., her sleep addled brain insisted. She quickly grabbed her phone and was surprised to see that it was in fact closer to 7.30. But still, would it really have hurt them both to have a lie in? At least Katie was safe and busy in the bathroom, giving her a few minutes by herself.

She really dreaded the day to come. Yesterday felt like a very, very strange dream, and all she wanted was some normalcy. A wish she could kiss goodbye for the nearer future, she mused. Grumbling to herself about the unfairness of it all, she fell back against her pillow. Might as well check her emails, while she was waiting for her turn in the shower.

She punched in her PIN, and laughed out loud at the new home screen greeting her. The photo from yesterday had been changed to one showing her profile while sleeping, her mouth wide open. She had also received a new text message from a certain up to no good, phone swiping, sneaky little someone. It was crammed with smileys and exclamation marks and informed her that at last they had definite proof that Emma was not Sleeping Beauty. And just like that her world felt a little more normal.

From the other various voice- and emails she gathered that her landlord wouldn't return her lease, her boss was not happy with her for quitting on such short notice and that Jenny- their next door neighbour- was going to box up their belongings over the weekend and send them to Storybrooke. So far, so good. At least everything seemed to be working out on that end. She supposed the first thing on the agenda today should be finding a place to live. -After her shower, and another visit to Granny's.

She had just left her bed and started to tidy up a bit when someone knocked on her door. She was still only clad in her underwear and tank top, but she figured that whoever couldn't wait until a more decent hour had to deal with it. Mrs Lucas was standing on the other side, clutching a Daily Mirror in her hands and looking like she really wanted to be anywhere but here.

"Miss Swan, I'm very sorry, but I have to ask you and your daughter to leave."

Really? What on earth had happened now? She was fairly certain it couldn't be because they were such obnoxious guests. Her confusion was written all over her face, and the older woman hastened to continue;

"This is out of my hands; see with this article about you in the newspaper today,"

she thrust the Daily Mirror at Emma who quickly scanned the front page. Underneath the bold headline:

Emma Swan- ex convict and new Deputy of Storybrooke: Will the crime rate go up or down?

was a large mug shot of her at 17 and a long article about her supposed lifestyle and tumultuous past in great detail; and questions about the possibility of social rehabilitation in general.

Whoever was responsible for this must have gotten top grades in creative writing, she thought just as her eyes fell on the reporter's name. Sidney Glass!

"You gotta be freakin' kidding me!" she burst out loud. If Mrs Lukas found offense in her colourful expression, she didn't lead on.

"Miss Swan, I'm really sorry. Everyone knows though not to take everything in this newspaper at face value and if it hadn't been for someone informing me that there was a town ordinance against renting out rooms to people with a record…"

"Let me guess," Emma cut in "the Mayor's office just called to remind you."

"Again, I'm sorry. There is no law though against you being my private guest, so if you wanted to, we have a spare room upstairs, or Ruby told me she had already spoken to you about Mary-Margaret."

"The friend who's looking for a roommate?"

"Yes," Mrs Lucas sounded relieved, "here's her number. She's already expecting your call."

"Thanks." Emma took the proffered note, slightly amused that this almost demure appearing woman apparently used to run around with a crossbow glued to her side. At least that was the way Katie told it.

"Is it ok for us to finish getting ready, or do you need us to leave right now?" she wanted to know.

"No, no, take your time. I have to get going now, but once you're all packed up you can return the key to me at the diner. Call her now," she said pointing to the note in Emma's hand, turning to leave "And if it doesn't work out tell me, and we'll come up with another solution."

"Wait," Emma called, "why are you doing this?"

Eugenia smiled at her, "I'm doing this, because I don't agree with the way you have been treated, and because something tells me that you're exactly where you're meant to be. You and your girl just fit. And don't even think about making some silly joke about delusional old people, girlie."

Giving one more nod Eugenia Lucas walked done the stairs, leaving a slightly befuddled looking Emma behind. Who was still in nothing but her underwear, in the hallway. Crap.

Katie finally emerged from the bathroom as she was on the phone with the teacher, who sounded thrilled at the idea of the two newcomers moving in despite the fact that they had never met before. This town and its people were so fucking strange. She just hoped the kid would recognize her and be able to comfirm that she was not some sort of psycho.

Once they had loaded everything into the bug, the two blondes decided to get some breakfast, and generally hang out at the diner until they would meet their future roommate there for lunch.

Walking over to an empty booth Emma smirked at the girl.

"Ok, out with it. What's with the sudden, barely contained energizer bunny act?"

"Huh?"

"You look like you are about to bounce from the walls, or start squealing, or I dunno, do something equally disturbing." she commented.

"Me?"

"Really, that's what you're going with? A pathetic little 'me?' "

"A sweet and innocent little 'me'!"

They both sat down and gave Ruby their order.

"If this is about this morning and your little phone manipulation, I should tell you- you shouldn't be excited, you should be nervous."

"Oh really."

"Yes- really. Just imagine what would happen to your bad-ass reputation if I posted your lovely school uniform photos on Facebook, for all your friends to see."

"I could just post your newspaper article from this morning and no-one would dare say a thing because they'd be too scared of my convict mom with her tumultuous past."

"Unbelievable," Emma grinned, throwing a napkin at her unrepentant daughter.

Half an hour and a big load of sugar later, Katie had managed to convince Emma to go to the Arcade until it was time to meet the teacher. They played through all the games, Emma wiping the floor with Katie playing Birdie King. Which resulted in a victory dance and a few more dollars spent on ice cream in order to heal the girl's bruised ego.

As it was time to leave for the diner Katie turned serious all of a sudden.

"Emma?"

"Hmm?"

"Can you wait for a sec? There's something I need to tell you."

"Would that have anything to do with your sweet and innocent little me behaviour earlier?"

"Maybe," the girl replied looking sheepish "It's just, I'm not sure, and I didn't want to tell you, cause I could be wrong, or maybe right, and then you might not like it, but I think it would be great and…"

"Ok pixie, just out with it. We're a team, remember? You can tell me anything."

Emma hoped her face showed calmness and patience- there was no way the kid would spill if she felt pressured, but she couldn't ignore that small bubble of anxiety swelling in her chest.

"I think I recognized Mary-Margaret's voice when you were on the phone with her" Katie blurted out, eyes shining with excitement.

"Really, but that's good, isn't it? Who do you think it is?"

"Emma," the girl whined, "who was I calling Mary when we were hiding from the Queen?"

"Oh fuck. You mean…" Emma, suddenly feeling paranoid glanced around before moving closer to her daughter; "You mean that she's Snow White?"

"Uh-huh."

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Emma raked her hands through her hair.

"Are you sure?"

"I just told you! No, I'm not." Katie hissed, clearly frustrated herself.

"Well why the hell didn't you tell me earlier?"

"'Cause I'm not sure! And I knew you'd freak!"

"Of course I'm fucking freaking- if you're right that means we're going to move in with my mother!"

Bloody hell! She so couldn't do this! Her mother! She might be living with her mother!

A sniffling sound snapped her back to the present. Tears had started to spill down her daughter's cheeks, and just like that her own little crisis ceased to be important.

"Oh honey I'm sorry," she apologized, wrapping Katie in her arms. "I'm not mad at you; you just caught me of guard, ok?"

"Ok," she sniffled, still crying softly into Emma's shirt.

"You really want this, don't you?"

Katie looked up at her, wiping her eyes. "Yeah. You would already know each other; you know when you break the curse. And I know she'll like you, even if she doesn't remember you right now. It could be really, really good," she finished in a small voice.

Emma could come up with a thousand reasons why this could turn out anything but good, but it wouldn't help them if she upset Katie even further. And as she saw it, they didn't have much of a choice anyway.

"Well," she said, drawing her daughter into another hug, "then let's just do this, ok?"

"Ok," the girl nodded, glancing at Emma. "Sorry I got your shirt all wet."

"Hey, what's a little snot between friends, huh?" The older blonde grinned, interlinking their arms as they resumed their walk.

She had known nothing this morning when she had assumed that yesterday had been weird. Emma was lying on her new bed, in her new bedroom, unable to move even an inch. She hadn't felt this insecure since being a very young girl, ending up in yet another new foster home.

Everything about her afternoon was a blur. As it turned out, Katie had been right. Mary-Margaret was actually Snow. And she was lovely. Warm, affectionate and gentle, and Emma had felt a sweet pain exploding in her chest. Still slightly dazed she raised her hand to the spot, rubbing gently.

The apartment itself was really nice. It was a loft, and had a slight run-down yet romantic air about it. The big kitchen/living room area was downstairs, along with Mary- Margaret's bedroom and the bathroom.

A steep iron staircase led to the second floor landing from where you could reach the other two bedrooms. They were both really small- Katie's couldn't even fit a closet- but they were bright and clean, and gave them some privacy.

After been given the tour and working out some details the three of them had lugged all their stuff upstairs. Feeling overwhelmed, Emma had sent her daughter to her room in order to unpack, and had declared that she would do the same. That had been over 40 minutes ago, and still she couldn't move. She turned her face towards the door as it was opened slowly, and managed to coax a smile on her lips as she saw her daughter standing there.

In a flash the girl was on the bed next to her, hugging her tightly, whispering "I love you."

"I love you too, pixie!" she whispered right back.

"You ok?"

"I will be."

"-…-"

"I promise."

"Ok, ok. You want some help unpacking?"

"That would be great, thanks sweetie." Emma sighed, grateful that she had to get moving now.

Once they were settled and made their way downstairs Mary-Margaret was waiting for them with hot chocolate and cookies. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all.

The rest of the afternoon passed uneventfully, Katie had parked herself in front of the TV, with Emma joining her and Mary-Margaret was grading papers. Emma had insisted on inviting her new roommate to dinner at Granny's as a thank you, so the three women made their way over there, once no-one could ignore Emma's grumbling stomach any longer.

Emma was relieved that they hadn't run into the Mayor at the diner. Relieved obviously because Katie still refused to even talk about the subject; plus she hadn't told her yet about their "chat" the other night.

Still, a small part of here couldn't help but feeling a tad disappointed. Regina Mills had managed to get under her skin. Amidst all the turmoil that today had been her mind had been wandering back to their argument, and to the woman who had looked so fierce and threatening and powerful that it had taken her breath away.

Mary-Margaret and Ruby- who had joined them- kept them entertained with town gossip and stories about their own lives. Katie was listening so intently that she let her burger go cold- a serious offence in her mother's eyes.

After the third teasing reminder to finish eating had resulted in an extremely emotional teenager hiding in the restroom, Emma decided to call it a night and get Katie to bed ASAP. She could really sympathize; the last couple of days had gotten to her as well.

Returning from the bathroom an hour later she had to find out that her bed was already occupied. Trying not to wake her, she gently pushed Katie over to one side and climbed in next to her. She might not be Sleeping Beauty, but her daughter could well be Goldilocks, she thought as she succumbed to sleep as well.

The weekend passed quickly and Monday morning came too early for Emma's taste. They had spent all of their time with Mary-Margaret and she was reluctant to leave this little bubble they had created.

But now it was time to face the real world again- well as real as it would get in a town full of fairy tale folk. She wasn't so much worried about herself. She would be fine, but she really felt uncomfortable with letting Katie out of her sight. Neither of them had even once mentioned the curse, or anything related to that.

Plus her daughter had made the newspaper clipping her constant companion. Emma new she kept it in her jeans pocket during the day, absentmindedly running her hand over it when she seemed lost in thought; and every night she had to pry it out of the sleeping girl's hands. She always put it on her nightstand, trying to work the creases out. But it was never mentioned by either of them.

Whether or not she liked the fact, she had to go to work and Katie had to go to school.

"Don't worry, Emma, she'll be fine." Mary-Margaret said out of the blue.

"What?"

"You're worried about Katie, aren't you?"

"Why would you think that?" Emma asked slightly apprehensive. Please no weird 'mothers always know what their daughters are thinking' crap.

"You've been staring at her lunch like it might leap out of its bag and attack her any second" the brunette smiled. "Besides, she has your number, you gave her mine and Graham's and Ruby's. She'll be fine."

Emma had the grace to look a bit embarrassed. "Yeah I know." She mumbled.

Nine o'clock came around, Katie had been dropped off, she had entered the Sheriff's Station, and the world was still turning.

So far, so good she thought as she allowed herself to relax over some light- hearted banter with Graham about whether or not she would have to wear a uniform. Relieved at having won that battle she clipped her new badge on her jeans when all of a sudden a tremor shook the building, sending her to the floor.

Why on earth had she agreed to take this job in the first place, she thought several hours later.

That's right, it had been offered to her on a silver plate. Should have really raised some warning flags.

A sinkhole had opened at the edge of town, near some old mines sending the shockwave. Thankfully no one had gotten injured and she took comfort in knowing that she hadn't been the only parent calling their child in class as soon as she had managed to find her own two feet again.

Soon what looked like the entire town had gathered at the mines, watching their Sheriff and Deputy securing the site. And to make matters worse, Katie and Regina had turned up as well.

Emma could understand why Regina was here, but she had explicitly told Katie to go straight home after school. Frustrated, she rubbed her sweaty forehead as the Mayor, looking like she had just stepped out of a fancy magazine, swept past her with a haughty smirk in place.

She delivered her little speech with practised elegance, easing the people's minds, placating everyone with plans of burying the old mines once and for all, thus utilising new space for the community's benefit until a young voice interrupted her.

"Why? Why do you want to bury them?"

All heads turned to the person who had dared to interrupt the Mayor. Regina for one looked as though she had just swallowed an entire lemon, and Emma desperately wished for another sinkhole to open up and make herself disappear. This would only come back to bite her in the ass, she just knew.

Katie on the other hand merely continued, her eyes never leaving the Mayor's.

"Why? What's down there?"

Regina, finally snapping out of it replied coldly- her tone conveying her extreme irritation;

"Nothing dear. There is nothing down here. I am ordering this because I am worried about the safety of our citizens."

She smiled tightly at said citizens, turned and barked at Graham to ensure that nobody could enter the mines.

The Deputy was levelled with another lethal glare- for good measure she supposed- and Regina made her way up to the ground level again.

Emma quickly went over to Katie who was still tracking the Mayor's every movement.

She crouched down slightly in order to meet her eyes and asked quietly,

"What are you doing here pixie? I thought I told you not to come?"

"I was worried about you. Everyone's been telling me today that nothing like this has ever happened before. And now we show up, and I thought maybe it's because of… you-know-what."

Bright eyes pleaded with her not to be angry. With a resigned sigh Emma put a hand under her daughter's chin, squeezing affectionately.

"So you came here to check on me and decided to have a stand-off with you-know-who in front of the entire town?"

"She's not Voldemort, Emma!"

"Clearly not, she's much better looking." The older blonde replied, looking over towards where the Mayor was standing, talking to several people.

"But seriously, are you ok? Because for a second it looked like you were about to keel over."

"I'm fine- I think. I mean the thought of finally seeing her again was actually more scary than seeing her, you know?"

"Yes pixie, I know," Emma said softly, "I felt the same when meeting Mary-Margaret."

"We are sooo messed up."

"I know, believe me. But we have the advantage. Everybody in this town is, but we are the only ones who are aware of that."

"They are not messed up, they are cursed."

"Same difference," Emma grinned, "So tell me, is she like you remembered?"

"Well, yeah. I mean kinda. Her hair used to be long and she seems to be taller."

"Taller? Shouldn't she seem smaller to you since you have grown?"

"But she doesn't."

"Alright. Will you be ok waiting for me with Ruby over there? I need to see whether Graham still needs help." Emma pointed to where Ruby was sitting on the fire truck flirting with a handsome fire fighter.

Seeing as Katie was doing as she was told Emma made her way back to Graham hoping she would be able to go home soon.

27 years. She had run this town for 27 years and had never had one problem. And if it wasn't even bad enough that she had to deal with the new Deputy until she found a way to get rid of her, now she was also challenged by her obnoxious little offspring. Who clearly had never been taught good manners. Not that she was surprised.

Regina furrowed her brow as she felt the waves of a new headache coming on. She had been nursing her bad mood since her altercation with Miss Swan on Thursday night. That had been even more embarrassing than her temper tantrum in front of Benjamin.

Still, the way Emma Swan had stood up to her had been stimulating. Not that she could allow that woman to continue treating her like that- like she was her equal- but the way those green eyes had held hers, never once thinking of backing down had excited her.

It was almost too bad she had to go, Regina mused as she saw Katie making her way over to sit with that little tart from the diner. Time to learn a bit more about her adversary.

Plastering her most saccharine smile on her face the brunette stepped up to the girl. Green eyes- just like her mother's- shot open in surprise and she took satisfaction in the nervous twitch of the girl's hand.

Oh this would be so deliciously easy. She knew very well the effect she had on the people around her. A mere child stood no chance against the Evil Queen. She could feel her smile turn slightly more wicked as she addressed the blonde.

"You know dear, I found myself extremely surprised when I heard you interrupting my speech just now. I am not used to being treated with such disrespect and for a second I couldn't make sense of the fact that anyone living in this community would think that this was in any way acceptable behaviour."

Regina made a tactical pause, watching with delight as the girl seemed unable to meet her gaze.

Everyone around them –apart from Ruby had slunk off as soon as they had noticed trouble brewing, and even the waitress seemed hesitant to get involved.

The Mayor stepped a bit closer to the girl and continued, sounding almost conspiratorial:

"But then I looked up and I saw you. And suddenly it was obvious to me that the one person displaying such a blatant lack of manners could only be the Deputy's spawn."

"Foster spawn!" the girl spat, all traces of nervousness gone.

Regina squared her shoulders, ignoring Miss Lucas' amused snort and went on coldly;

"That in itself explains so much. I suppose I can't really expect better from a child who was most likely given away by her parents in favour for drugs or booze."

Taking the waitresses outraged cry as her cue to leave while she still had the upper hand she shot the girl one more patronizing smirk and swept away.

Yes, this was how it should be- she thought later that night in her study watching the cider swirl in the tumbler. Intriguing or not, Miss Swan better realize quickly that she had meant business.

Sidney had played right in her hands with this article of his on Friday, and intimidating that little brat tonight had been almost too easy.

It felt good to get some control back. Nothing had seemed to be going her way since she had first laid eyes on the two blondes Thursday morning, and for one terrifying moment today- as the shockwave had rippled through her town- she had thought her curse had been broken.

Trying not to dwell on that unsettling thought Regina downed the rest of her drink and decided to call it a day and go to bed.

Her night was fitful- courtesy of the recent stress and the alcohol she had consumed, no doubt.

In her dreams she became the Evil Queen, standing over a small blonde girl who was looking up at her brokenly.

The power she felt was intoxicating, until she turned around and saw her reflection in the window.

The woman staring back at her, eyes cold and cruel- a wicked gleam in them- wasn't herself- it was her mother.

A/N: I know, Regina had been way over the line with this one, but she tends to have this unfortunate habit of blowing everything out of proportion:) Especially when she feels challenged or cornered. But don't worry, Emma has no intention of letting her get away with that. Reviews feed the muse, and I'm very interested in your ideas and suggestions:)