Just a one shot I wrote, getting ready for sunday! ahhhh!

not really a way to intro this one, just read xD

tell me what you think!

xo~hayleynymphadora

She's A Parasite, Yet a Host.

Regina Mills was a parasite.

The woman would kill to get what she thought she deserved, didn't care who got in the way or who was harmed as long as she benefitted, and that bothered Emma to no end. The two would fight incessantly, day in and day out. Regina wanted her son, so Emma couldn't have him and Henry felt trapped. Regina wanted Sidney to be Sheriff and she fought dirty—tooth and god damned nail—to get him that position just so Emma couldn't.

She was cocky. She was overly confident in her abilities and she knew what she was doing, how she was going to do it, and she had a plan for everything. Aware of her boundaries and mindset, she was determined to get her way. When someone said she couldn't do something, she proved she most certainly could do whatever the hell she pleased, whether it harmed someone else or not.

Regina was stubborn. God was she stubborn and just when you thought she might be lenient—she might let you get your way for once in your life—she stands her ground, stiffens, making you even more frazzled than you were before. Of course, that was her plan all along—to catch you off guard. Your vulnerability was her gain.

That was another reason why she and Emma clashed so much—they were both equally stubborn, the only difference was how each woman handled said stubborn-like qualities.

"Please just let me have the kid for one more night!" Emma begged. "He was SO looking forward to that movie marathon with David."

"I've explained to you a million times Miss Swan, Saturday nights are for myself and Henry to spend together. You've had four nights with him already." Regina rolled her eyes as she walked down the street, Emma trailing at her heels like a desperate puppy.

"But the weekend was the only time they could do this! They really wanted some grandpa-kid bonding time, ya know? I just don't want to disappoint him again."

"Hmm, well perhaps you wouldn't have to if you just stuck to the rules we set at the beginning of this whole agreement, now would you? Miss Swan—"

"My NAME is Emma." The blonde practically growled.

Regina rolled her eyes and sighed. "Emma," she stopped walking and turned around to face the Sheriff, who was wearing her signature red leather jacket despite the cold (for some insane reason, Regina did not believe that coat to actually give off heat, to which Emma always countered with the fact that it was leather and leather was always hot, especially if you're in the sun, to which Regina usually responded that it was cloudy) and was looking very upset with the Mayor of Storybrooke. "If you spent half the time you spend arguing with me, with Henry, you'd have whole extra days with the sweet child. But you don't and tonight he is mine. Have a good day." She turned back around, ignoring the heat coursing through her stomach at the heated look on Emma's face. Blonde curls bounced away angrily, (Emma usually did not go quietly after an argument with Regina) and Regina let out a slow, even breath, and her heart beat pulsing. That annoyed look on Emma's face always managed to make her day and make her insides flip inside out all at the same time. It was the main reason why she did it, however nobody was aware of that and nobody was ever going to find out in her book. Her little thing for Emma was personal and obviously impossible, so she chose to keep it to herself.

Regina was independent. She knew her goals, she kept to herself mainly because nobody wanted contact with her and for a while that was the way she liked to live. But ever since that damned Emma Swan waltzed into town she'd felt something…different. Something…not right. Regina no longer felt like she could live alone or by herself. Any day that went by that she didn't see Emma, she hurt inside. It broke her heart to see Emma upset, but it also made her feel better. The more she upset Emma the more Emma stayed away and the more Regina could push those feelings for the blonde down deeper until she couldn't feel them anymore. For a while, at least, until the next day when she saw Emma again.

She was in denial and she knew it but as long as nobody else did she was perfectly okay with the routine she had started up with Sheriff Swan. They would see each other, they would bicker about something foolish, Regina would walk away smirking and Emma would walk away fuming and looking absolutely adorable when she was angry, and Regina would shove her feelings deep down inside of her. Day after day things carried on like this and the entire town believed that the women hated each other.

Hell, as far as Regina was concerned, Emma did hate her.

But that was just the way things were going to have to be, because that was the only thing Regina was comfortable with. She wasn't going to be dependent on anybody.

She was independent.

Independent.

"Why do you always have to be so rude?!" Emma yelled, having had about enough. "Here's the thing, Regina, you're a parasite! You feast on everybody else's anger and pain to make yourself feel big and I'm sick of your crap!"

Regina kept an amused expression on her face, though her heart ached immensely. A parasite. Emma had stooped so low as to call her a parasite and the sad part was that it wasn't false.

But what Emma didn't know was that she was not only a parasite, but a host. True, she tortured the Sheriff into insanity, but she did a lot of little things to help her out as well. If not for Regina, Emma wouldn't have gotten that bonus the month before and she would not have been able to take Henry to that comic convention he wanted to go to. Had it not been for Regina, Ruby wouldn't give Emma lunch "on the house" every Friday, nor would her hours be cut short on Thursday nights so she could spend an extra three hours with Henry while Regina stayed late at work, working on documents that didn't have to be done for weeks.

Besides Henry, Emma was the only person Regina actually cared about—maybe even loved—in the entire town of Storybrooke. So yes, to hide her feelings for the Sheriff, sometimes it was necessary to be a "parasite", but she wasn't a total bitch. She was a host to feelings and emotions, a host as in a helper. That was the most she could be, and she was comfortable that way.

Regina Mills was a host.