A/N:Excuse the shortness of this chapter and the longish wait. This was supposed to be a vacation project,and my time off ended prematurely. I hope the next weeks will be kinder and leave more time and space for writing and inspiration. These chapters are a bit rocky, I hope you like them anyways:-) Thanks for your kind reviews of the past chapters!

The mayor had spent a small fortune on the mayorly mansion and its furnishings.

An investment that certainly paid off now, that the early morning sun found its way into the windows.

Emma awoke with her head still on the armrest and her arm draped about the woman that lay snuggled up against her.

She was tired beyond words, and nothing sounded more alluring to her head in that moment than to just keep listening to the mayor's even breathing and allow for sleep to reclaim her.

But she had stayed true to her promise and spent a good part of the last night awake and thinking.

There were a few things that she needed to ask the queen,and a few things they needed to do.

She shifted from her position and was positively surprised to find her neck not hurting.

This really was one awfully comfortable couch,the blonde figured.

Her movement got the mayor to stir as well.

Dark eyes opened, and in a moment of desorientation fixed on her own green ones.

Emma could see the mayor take in the situation.

"My house."Check.

"Living Room."Check.

"Lying on top of something breathing."Check.

Uh oh.

"Clothed." Thank Goodness. Check.

"But what is Emma Swan doing here?" .

The mayor had obviously been drunker than Emma had expected the previous night.

Well, now this gave the word awkward a whole new definition.

"Hi!" the sheriff said with a little smile and a wave of her free hand.

Of course, the little unnecessary gesture only made it that more obvious where her other hand was resting, right on top of the mayor's shoulder.

And really, there was no other place for it in the confined space of the couch, so,by necessity,Emma left it there.

The Dragonslayer's daughter felt as though she had awoken with a beast on her very chest,and at any moment,Regina would start breathing fire at her.

Her already dark eyes could turn a very disturbing shade of brown and black, that made them almost gleam red.

But thankfully, the mayor's really was the best memory in town, and she finally remembered the extended version of the previous evening.

"Made out with the archnemesis."Check.

She looked down to collect her thoughts for a moment,before she asked a lot more human,than she had at first looked,"Did you rest well?"

Emma gave her a small,still insecure, smile,amused at the choice of wording.

Even half asleep, Regina was still regal,all queen, while she wouldn't barely have managed half a grunt in a semi somnolent state, "Rest well,I did. Thank you."

And suddenly there it was again.

The mayor was surprised by something,the gratitude, her smile, the twinkle in the green eyes...there was something...she couldn't place it,couldn't name it, but it upset the queen,somehow, made her very still and very agitated at the same time.

And very sure,that she had lingered in this compromising position for far too long.

The mayor uncurled herself from her sleeping pose and stretched, turning, by necessity fully onto the blonde.

"Sorry," she breathed briefly,as her weight settled fully onto the sheriff, before she lifted herself off and over her in one smooth move.

Emma blinked twice, releasing the breath she had innocently taken just moments before,and which then had become inexplicably stuck somewhere in her throat, as Regina had turned towards her.

"Hot as a volcano.." her thought from the night before returned to her in a slurren memory.

Her eyes followed Henry's other mother,as she sauntered into the kitchen, straightening her skirt as she went.

Emma Swan shook her head to clear it from the cobwebs of thoughts lingering at the edges, unthought.

This was neither the time nor the place to be perusing that particular Pandora's Box.

She was suddenly very grateful for the sunlight of an early day to be falling into the room through spotless windows.

"I'm going to call into the office and make breakfast. You are welcome to catch some more sleep, if you prefer." the mayor called from inside the kitchen.

She sounded matter of fact, tried to be back up to her nonchalant style,but Emma, who had had a taste or two of snarky Mayor Mills, of hurt and angry mayor Mills,of desperate Mayor Mills, wasn't really getting tricked by her that well anymore.

The woman was still hard to read,but the sheriff could tell two things right off the bat:

That Regina needed a moment to herself, and that there was an urgency in her voice,that was most likely related to her worry for Henry.

"No,thanks," the sheriff shouted into her general direction.

"I'm just going to quickly grab a shower, we have work to do."

At this, Regina poked her head out of the kitchen door, portable phone already in hand.

"We do?" she asked,almost hopeful.

And Emma was, for the first time this morning, genuinely happy, that she hadn't gotten that much sleep the previous night.

"Yes,we do." this time her smile was easier, it spoke of deeds,of things to do, of progress and hope.

She had an idea. A hunch.