DISCLAIMER:: do not own
A/N:: another update because i had a pretty awesome day and i wanted to pay it forward. thanks to all the reviewers. i greatly appreciate it. makes me smile.
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"I still haven't quite figured out how I'm supposed to break it." Emma looked uncertainly at Henry.
They were at his castle. It had become their go-to place to discuss Operation Cobra.
"Well, how'd you break it with Graham?"
Emma frowned. "We… Oh God."
Henry frowned. "What?"
"Kid, I care about you, and the people here. But if that's how to break the curse then everyone's going to be cursed for a very long time. I'm not going to walk around kissing everyone."
"Maybe it wasn't the kiss itself. Maybe it was Graham forming a connection with you. Maybe you just have to connect with someone, on whatever level."
"Great." She had never been good at forming connection with people. Every time she tried, something went awry. "So the way to break the curse is to do the one thing I've been horrible at my entire life. No problem." She sighed. "I think I would have been better off if I'd had to kiss everyone."
"Maybe you just need to practice on someone."
Emma's mind flashed briefly to Regina. They already had somewhat of a connection, through Henry. And it couldn't hurt to make an effort to strengthen their truce. "Practice… I can do that."
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"What are you doing here Miss Swan?" Regina didn't even deign to look up from the paperwork she was sorting through.
"I…" What was she doing here again? She couldn't even remember. Not that Regina gave her the chance.
"I'm a busy woman Sheriff. I don't have time to deal with your inept musings." Regina glared up at her.
"You don't have to go off on me, okay?" She narrowed her eyes at the dark woman behind the desk, anger making her remember the item in her hand. She strode forward. "I just came to return your shirt." She set the garment in question down on the desk and turned, stalking out of the room just as fast as she'd come.
Regina stared after her. Once she was sure the blonde was gone, she looked at the shirt. She leaned forward, reaching across the desk and plucking the muted blue silk from its spot. She brought the fabric to her nose and inhaled, smiling as the smell of Emma filled her nostrils. She turned her chair towards the window and watched as Emma Swan exited the building and strode angrily down the pathway.
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"Ugh! She infuriates me!" Emma paced across the length of their small living room.
Mary Margaret watched her from the couch, back and forth, back and forth. Finally she sighed. "Emma, don't you think she's getting to you for a reason?"
"Yeah, she's Henry's evil adoptive mother."
"That's not it and you know it. Short of giving you joint custody, she's completely loosened up about you seeing Henry."
Emma couldn't argue with that. She now saw Henry for a couple hours everyday after school. Sometimes they even seemed as if they were, albeit dysfunctional, a family. "It makes me mad that she almost seems to… let me in and then just as quickly, she's pushing me right back out. I'm getting no traction."
Mary Margaret smiled. "Tell her you want to be in her life too."
Emma stopped abruptly and stared at Mary Margaret, her mouth hanging open. "Excuse me?"
The brunette rolled her eyes and got up off the couch. "The mayor may be oblivious to human emotions Emma, but it's obvious you want Regina in your life."
Emma frowned. Was that true? Did she want to be something more than just "the other mom" to Regina? "I don't know what to do."
Mary Margaret shrugged, moving into the kitchen. "Show her she doesn't hold all the cards." She grabbed the tea kettle to fill it with fresh water. "Do you want some tea?" But when she turned around Emma was gone and the front door was wide open.
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She looked up at the stars as she came through the front gate, almost asking them for guidance. This was bold; she knew it. But she'd never lived her life on the easy road. With purpose, she strode up to the door. She rang the doorbell before she could convince herself that this wouldn't work. She'd just tell Regina the truth. What's the worst Regina could do? Be cold and cruel? Nothing she hadn't faced before when it came to Storybrooke's mayor. Luckily, Regina answered the door, not Henry. "Miss Swan?"
"I need to speak with you. It's important. Can we talk privately?" She shifted uncomfortably.
Regina raised an eyebrow. "Sure. Let's go up to my office."
Emma nodded and practically bolted up the stairs to Regina's home office on the second floor. It was a second before Regina caught up to her and closed the door.
"What's this all about?"
Emma wrung her hands together nervously, pacing without noticing she was doing it. "I… would like it if we could have a better relationship. All the warring in front of Henry is not good for him. We called a truce and it's time we start acting like it."
Regina moved to the front of the desk and crossed her arms. "Really? That's what you're bothering me with?"
"I want this bullshit to stop right now Madame Mayor, or else!" She stopped pacing two feet in front of Regina.
Regina stepped toe to toe with her, invading her personal space with such ease it was as if she belonged there. "Or else what? Don't presume to threaten me with an empty arsenal Sheriff Swan."
Upon later reflection, Emma wasn't sure what made her do it. One moment she was crafting the perfect verbal bitch slap in her mind, the next she was literally bitch slapping the brunette.
Regina's hand flew to the red spot on her cheek, her eyes narrowing once the initial shock had passed. She slapped Emma right back with such force that Emma's head felt as if it would twist right off her neck. Her mouth fell open and she smacked Regina right back yet again. This time when Regina was about to smack her back, Emma caught her wrist mid-swipe, and leaned in, crashing their lips together with a ferocity that forced Regina back against her desk. Her arm fought against Emma's seizure of it, but finally, defeated, she stopped resisting and Emma released her grip. She easily lifted the mayor onto her desk, her hands sliding up and down lean thighs. Regina's hands were weaved in Emma's golden locks.
Finally Emma pulled away. She smirked. "It seems my arsenal isn't as empty as you assumed." It took every ounce of will she had left to turn and walk from the room as nonchalantly as if nothing had just happened between them.
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Emma knew she'd seek her out eventually, though whether to bring hell down upon her or to just say how inappropriate it'd been, she had no idea. It took her until noon the next day to do so. She entered the station quietly, looking very unlike the normally straight-backed and dignified Regina.
"Rough night?" Emma got up from her desk and strode out to meet her near the deputy's desk, the place that used to be hers.
"I couldn't really sleep after you left."
The silence stretched between them for several long moments, neither making eye contact or speaking.
"I don't think I'll ever understand why you hate me so much." Emma sighed.
"I don't hate you Miss Swan."
Emma laughed dryly. "If this is your idea of how to treat someone you like, I'd hate to learn what you do to people you hate."
"I resent you, there is a difference."
Emma stopped and focused on Regina. "Why resent me? What are you jealous of? You have everything."
"I have nothing! I have wealth, sure, but it means little. I give Henry the best of everything, yet he still prefers your company. And Graham… you waltz into this town and within a week everyone loves you more than they've ever loved me for nearly three decades! They don't remember who I am, but somehow they still treat me the same. I resent you, Miss Swan, because you have what I want… happiness."
Emma frowned. "If it makes you feel any better, I don't understand it any more than you do. Until I got here I was a loner; I didn't have friends or lovers. I went to work, did my job and then came home to an empty apartment. I've never been happy! Until now."
Regina finally met her gaze head on. "You like it here? The arrangement?"
"It could be better, but it's the happiest I've been in a very long time."
"It'd be better if you had custody of Henry, right?"
Emma could see she was losing this vulnerability from Regina; she was retreating again. "No. I wasn't cut out to be a single mother. I'm not as strong as you."
Regina eyed her warily. "Why'd you do it?"
Emma smiled. "Kiss you?"
Regina nodded. "Was it just to mess with me?"
"Because I wanted to."
The two women stared at each other for several drawn out moments.
She looked away from the younger woman. "What am I doing here?"
She had said it more to herself than to Emma, but the sheriff answered regardless. "You don't want to feel alone anymore."
Emma's finger traced Regina's bottom lip lightly and she took a chance at a connection and leaned in, kissing her dizzily.
Regina pulled Emma down flat against her, deepening the kiss.