A/N: Wow, I'm updating quickly! I would like to offer everyone my condolences vis-à-vis the birth of OutlawQueen and the abundance of CaptainSwan in New York City Serenade; I'm not really liking it at all. So, it seems the only way to make SwanQueen canon is to convince ourselves that is is, even if it isn't. Thus, I present the next chapter of my fanfiction.

DISCLAIMER: Don't own Once.

Thanks to everyone who has responded to this story, it will keep updates quicker and me happier!

Chapter 7

"We'll leave tomorrow, then. It'd be stupid to travel at night." Declared the pirate. Emma, though eagerly anticipating the next step that brought her closer to her goal, begrudgingly agreed.

"I have a room here for the night if you two ladies would like to share..." He suggested, his smirk implying that he might not be completely joking.

Emma didn't even flinch. "No thank you, Killian. Though I appreciate the offer."

"Perhaps next time then, Swan." His grin was lecherous.

"We'll get a room," she said, indicating to Regina "And meet you tomorrow morning. How far away is your ship?"

"It's moored in the harbour not two miles from here." He replied.

"Ok, that shouldn't take long then. We'll get the map then set off right away."

Hook nodded. "Sounds good to me." He stood up and rolled his shoulders back; apparently he'd been sitting in the same position for a while. "Well, if you ladies don't mind, I have some business to attend to." He polished his hook with the edge of his shirt.

He winked then sauntered off through the tavern towards the door.

Emma exhaled heavily. "Right, we'd better find a room, princess."

"Oh, an actual bed surrounded by solid walls, you're too generous, Ms Swan." Said Regina.

Emma rolled her eyes at the sarcasm but the corner of her mouth quirked in a smile.

The inn above the tavern had one room available, and so Emma agreed to take it and handed over what appeared to be all the money she had. Regina would have felt guilty at this, thinking of her bulging vault back at the palace, but remembering the reluctance she felt at the situation, she couldn't bring herself to.

Handing over the keys, the innkeeper cast a curious glance between the two women before directing them towards their room.

In hindsight, she should have asked about sleeping arrangements, but being the only room available, there was nowhere else to go. Turning the key in the lock and swinging the door open, silence elapsed as they regarded the double bed in the middle of the minimalistic room.

"Well, I hope you enjoy the floor, Swan." Said Regina. Emma rolled her eyes, but noted the amiable shift in attitude.

"What gives you more right to the bed? You're not back in your palace now, princess."

The sudden silence from Regina went unnoticed as the blonde entered the room. She took her satchel off and threw it on the lone chair in the room, walking over to the washbasin and filling it with lukewarm water from the jug accompanying it.

"You gonna stand there all night?" She called back to Regina, splashing water over her face and washing her hands, ridding herself of the dirt she'd picked up in the forest.

Regina walked through the door, observing her surroundings critically. She perched awkwardly on the edge of the bed while Emma washed herself as best she could, then taking her turn with the remaining clean water. She missed royal comforts, that was for sure.

Peering out of the single small window, she observed the rest of the town, watching as the moon dodged in and out of banks of clouds. This journey was certainly taking it out of her.

Both were exhausted but neither wanted to take the first step. The noise from downstairs drifted up through thin floorboards; distinct but muted. Emma sat on the bed, leaning against the headboard, fighting against dropping eyelids. She knew she had to stay alert, as trust was definitely not present in this room.

Eventually, the goodness in her, waning as it might be, won over.

"You take the bed. I'll sleep on the floor." She heaved herself off the mattress and went to remove the two blankets from her satchel.

Regina internally fought between a sense of victory and her conscience. She wanted nothing more than the bed to herself, being the least accustomed to sleeping in the forest, but she knew she couldn't just take it after Emma had paid for the room. Ultimately, she didn't have to decide which voice to listen to, as reason won out.

"I'm afraid I can't. You're my protection and guide out there," she admitted begrudgingly "And you need to be well rested to be as alert as possible. You take the bed."

Emma shook her head "I'm used to sleeping on the floor; it won't be a problem."

"Then in that case you should take the opportunity to sleep on a bed for once, especially since you paid for it."

"It's fine, princess, I'm not bothered."

"Well I owe you this much, come on."

"You've repaid your debt by coming with me to help, you needn't do any more."

"I'm trying to be nice here! I'm very rarely nice, Swan."

"Doesn't surprise me."

"You can talk!"

Emma sighed. "We're arguing again. We've got to stop doing that."

Regina nodded, muscles relaxing. "Agreed. We're hardly much of a team, we're supposed to be working together."

Emma chewed the inside of her cheek. "Ok, first team-building exercise then. We share the bed."

Regina looked shocked, then affronted.

"What?"

"We'll share the bed. It's big enough." Shrugged the blonde, completely casual.

"That's a stupid idea."

"Well have you got a better one?"

Regina paused to think; it would solve the problem of who would have to sleep on the floor, and she was so tired that she was pretty certain she would collapse within minutes.

"And it could be worse," added Emma "you could be sharing with Hook."

Regina considered that and masked a shudder.

"Fine. If you think it's a good idea..."

"I didn't say it was a good idea, just the lesser of two evils."

Regina conceded defeat and took her hair down, combing it through with damp fingers in an attempt to wash it as best she could.

"How have you lived this long without a hairbrush?" She asked.

Emma laughed. "The state of my hair matters very little to me. Where my next meal comes from is higher up my priorities list than looking pretty."

Regina couldn't help but feel disheartened at the wasted potential. She supposed Emma had her own sort of flare, however, a sort of carefree appeal, tough and hardwearing; attractive, if you liked that sort of thing.

"Don't worry about your silken locks, princess, we'll find somewhere to wash it soon." Said Emma, sliding her jacket and boots off and reclining back on the bed, the vision of nonchalance.

Regina glared half-heartedly at her. She tied her hair back up neatly and, having run out of things to do, cautiously approached the bed as though it were a resting dragon.

Emma snorted in a rather unladylike way. "Sleeping in your clothes, are you? Good move, you evidently learnt nothing from our conversation last night."

"Well forgive me if I'm not ready to strip down to my underwear in the presence of an almost total stranger." She retorted, surprising even herself with her bluntness.

"Well, once again, if you remember last night I've already seen rather a lot so I wouldn't worry about your modesty, princess. Especially since Hook'll be around for the foreseeable future, you better abandon that delusion pretty quickly."

"Well I'm sorry that one of us has some basic dignity!" She snapped, but reached round to loosen the ties of her dress nonetheless.

"Do you need-"

"I'm fine." She cut the blonde off shortly.

Stepping out of delicate black leather boots and thick red velvet, she begrudgingly took a seat at her own side of the bed. Without the cold bite of rainwater, her petticoat billowed out around her and she felt surprisingly more exposed than she had the night before. Green eyes were not judgmental, but Regina felt like she was being surveyed.

Emma reached over and extinguished the lamp on her bedside table, leaving the only light source as the lamp on Regina's side.

"So you're staying fully clothed then?"

Emma glanced over. "Why? You want me in my underwear?" She said with a raised eyebrow.

Regina didn't blush as the blonde had expected her to. "No, you're just a bit of a hypocrite, that's all."

Emma regarded her suspiciously for a moment, before clicking her tongue and shrugging out of her trousers and sliding under the covers immediately afterwards. Regina fought the urge to laugh.

"Well now we're in our underwear I think we should go to sleep and never speak of this again." She settled for saying.

Emma allowed a small smile to crawl across her face. "Good idea."

Regina extinguished her lamp and pulled the covers over herself. They lay in the dark, staring stiffly at the ceiling, making certain no part of their bodies were in danger of even coming close to touching. Emma sighed heavily and leant further back into the pillows, Regina rested her hands on her stomach.

"How do you know the Captain?" The brunette asked suddenly through the darkness.

Emma shifted slightly. It was a few moments before she answered rather reluctantly.

"He's...an old friend."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"I don't want to answer your question."

"Well I'd like to know in whom I'll be placing my trust for the foreseeable future."

"...Fine." She settled more comfortably. "Hook and I met a long time ago. He's a lot older than he looks, the perks of time spent in Neverland, but I met him when I was only just out of childhood. He helped me when no one else did. He fed me, clothed me, let me join his crew until I made my own way, and has since proved a useful ally. I live in anticipation of the day when he asks me to pay back the massive debt I owe him for everything he did for me."

Regina processed this new information. "Are-were you two...?"

"Hook is complicated and difficult to understand, but he's still just a man: men want things, men get bored, men get lonely. The details are none of your concern, I'm not delving into my past." She said.

"Did you love him?" Asked Regina without stammering.

"No." Came the reply.

"Do you love him now?"

"No."

They were definite negatives, but Regina wondered if they were honest.

"Can we trust him?"

Emma paused. "I've know him for nine years, and I still don't trust him. He's not a man of his word, but he has some goodness in him. I wouldn't have agreed to his conditions if I thought he was a serious threat, I would've found another way to get what I want."

Regina gives a nod that Emma doesn't see, and the blonde suddenly picks up on the use of "we" in Regina's last question, thinks on it but says nothing.

Regina wondered why Emma so openly answered the two highly personal questions on her relationship with Hook and yet was so closed off with respect to other areas.

"Why does he want revenge on the man who has your son?"

"Wow, that's a lot I questions in quick succession, princess. Since we're obviously not getting to sleep right away, I'll make you a deal. A question for a question; you ask me then I ask you. Complete honesty."

"What if I don't want to answer your questions?"

"I won't ask overly invasive ones then."

"Fine. I go first. Answer my question."

Emma pulled the blanket up to her chin against the rapidly cooling air.

"The man I'm after knew Hook a long time ago. Hook had an affair with his wife; true love he called it. She abandoned her son and husband and ran away with Hook. After gaining powerful dark magic, the man I seek confronted Hook, killed his lover, and cut off his hand. Hook's been going crazy for vengeance for his lost love ever since."

Regina inhaled deeply. "Ok, that's actually understandable."

"My turn." Said Emma. "Why are you here? What made you agree to my deal?"

Regina took a moment to think, twisting coarse bed sheets between slender fingers. "Because I wanted I escape so badly that I jumped head first into a dangerous quest with a complete stranger in the hope that it would get me far away. I don't know, my life hasn't been all I hoped it would be, it's almost like the call of adventure couldn't be ignored. I thought if there was anyone in the forest who could guide me and defend themselves then it would be you."

Emma took this in. "That's the first compliment you've paid me."

Regina chuckled quietly at the low standards. "It's true; you're mildly terrifying, and that's not something I'd usually admit to."

Emma laughed in response. "That doesn't surprise me."

Silence fell, but it wasn't as awkward as before.

"I'm glad you agreed."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Otherwise I'd be scouring the kingdom for some grouchy magic dwarf to help me with only Hook for company."

Regina smiled. "Well you're welcome."

She turned on her side to face in the other direction while Emma cast a pensive glance her way before turning to face the window, blonde hair fanning out across the pillow.

"Goodnight, princess."

"Goodnight, Ms Swan."

They were asleep within minutes.