Author note: Sunday's going to be too busy to post, so I'm adding this week's chapter a day early. I hope you enjoy. ~ LZ

Chapter 9

It was barely sunrise, a time too early for the tousled blonde to be fully awake. However, Emma walked to meet Regina at the top of the staircase and gave Regina a toe-curling kiss.

"These are for you." Emma showed her fist full of stemmed flowers that looked decidedly familiar: gladiolas, antique cream roses, heather…

"They are mine," Regina acknowledged dryly.

Emma laughed. "It should be the thought that counts. Moe French's shop isn't open for a few hours yet."

"You don't have to buy me flowers," Regina objected.

Emma took the flowers from her. "Good thing I didn't buy them, isn't it?" Regina chuckled. Emma kissed her again, before taking a step back and returning the flowers. She walked down the staircase a step behind Regina. "What's the plan today?"

"As long as my stomach cooperates, I should probably get some work done at the office."

Regina sorted through the refrigerator, collecting items for Henry's breakfast, and ingredients for a stew she decided would be good to put in the slow cooker for tonight's dinner.

Without prompting, Emma poured three juices then nudged one glass toward Regina while she cut up the dinner items.

"Will you be here for dinner?" Regina asked.

"If you want," Emma said, her tone a question.

Of course, Regina thought, Emma would never presume. Even after their evening together. A flutter in Regina's stomach made her aware she no longer had energy to deny her own feelings. She turned to catch Emma's gaze so there'd be no misunderstanding. "I want."

Emma's cheeks turning red made Regina smile.

"All right." Emma glanced at her watch, which gave Regina her first opportunity to really see her attire: a tan leather jacket thicker than her red one, was already on over a blue button-down shirt tucked into her belted jeans. "I should probably spend the day on rounds with Dad which means I should leave now," Emma said. She started to turn away and then turned back. "If I'm not wrangling Mrs. Potter's cat out of a tree, would you like to have lunch together?"

Emma really was committed to dating her, Regina realized. She nodded. "Ye-es," she managed, around the clog in her throat.

"Great," Emma said. She leaned forward. After checking with a gaze that darted between Regina's eyes, Emma pressed her lips tenderly to the corner of Regina's mouth. Emma then stepped back and smiled. "I'll text when I can get to city hall. Ask what you're in the mood for."

Stomach fluttering pleasantly, Regina nodded. "I'll make certain my calendar is clear."


Emma pulled off her gloves, unzipped her jacket, and pulled off her wool beanie after entering the building. Spring had definitely blown in, the winds were high and had chilled the temps to make for a frosty morning. Once inside the double-glass doors of the Sheriff's office space, she looked up to see her father leaning over Leroy, aka Grumpy, at the radio.

Walking up, she spoke to their backs. "Good morning, Dad, Leroy. What's up?"

Her father David straightened, turned, and wrapped her up in a hug. "Hey, sweetheart." He kissed her temple and pulled back, dropping his hands. "We dispatched the cutter to motor out to a foundering lobster boat that ran aground."

"Injuries?" Emma asked.

Leroy, who had a radio mic in his hand, answered. "According to the captain, they're taking on water through a sizeable gash, but his crew are all accounted for."

Emma pondered. "Did they get blown around in the wind? How'd they run aground?"

David said, "According to the captain they were normally positioned in the channel this morning before dawn and headed toward the open sea. The water level dropped suddenly, rose fast, and shoved them sideways."

"I'm no maritime expert, but that's not usual tide movement, is it?"

"Beats me," Leroy said.

David suggested, "If Hook hasn't left yet, he could give us a hand."

Emma bit her tongue on the words that immediately formed in her mind, sounding remarkably like Regina: Of course. He only has one. Emma smiled as she envisioned the brunette's accompanying eye-roll. Firmly reining in her lips attempt to twitch with humor, Emma finally answered her father. "Okay, we'll ride out to the docks. Maybe Killian or his men saw what happened."

David patted Leroy on the shoulder. "Keep on the radio. Update us in the cruiser."

"Will do."

"Let's go." Emma pulled her beanie back on, zipped up her jacket. Grabbing a set of cruiser keys from the wall box, she led the way. David followed quickly, grabbing his own coat off the rack by the door.

"You want me to drive?" David said.

"I got it." Emma's response matched her actions, dropping quickly into the driver seat of a department cruiser. She had the engine on and the heat started by the time her father moved around to the passenger side and had belted in.

As the cruiser passed in front of Granny's on Main Street, Henry waved, holding his mother's hand as they exited the diner. Emma caught Regina's questioning look as the cruiser continued without slowing. Her cellphone in her coat pocket rang a second later.

"Yes, Regina?" Emma answered.

"Anything I should know about, Sheriff?"

"Lobster boat hit the shoals in the harbor."

"Anyone hurt?"

Emma smiled, hearing the concern in the brunette's voice. "Not as far as we know."

"Keep me apprised."

"Will do, Madam Mayor." I love you, Emma thought.

"Thank you." I love you, too, Emma heard from the woman's tone. Wait a minute...

"That wasn't…" Emma trailed off and shook her head. Though she heard Regina draw in a breath, Emma ended the call. They'd reached the harbor. "We're here," she said to her father.

David didn't immediately get out. "Something wrong with you and Regina?" he asked.

"No, why?"

"That was an awfully business-like tone you used. I couldn't hear her side…" He trailed off.

"No, actually it was… it's fine. As mayor she wanted to know where the police were headed. I told her."

"All right." He got out of the car. Emma stayed inside, staring a moment at his back.

"Dad?"

"Yes?" He started to lean back in.

"Are you okay with… with Regina and me?"

His green gaze held hers as he asked, "Are you happy?"

Emma's smile came quickly with thoughts of the previous night. "Yeah, yeah, I am."

"All right then."

Getting out of the car, Emma looked at her father across the top of the vehicle. "Thanks, Dad."

"No need to thank me, Emma." He closed his door as she did the same. "Let's go see what we can do to help."


Henry walked alongside his mom on the sidewalk, his head ducked against the wind and hunched with his hands in his pockets. "Boy it's cold," he murmured.

Abruptly he no longer felt the wind. He looked up just in time to see his mother lowering her hand.

"Did you really just…?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I happen to agree with you."

"But…"

"Do you really want the wind back? I appreciate that you no longer hunch like Quasimodo, dear."

Straightening even more, Henry laughed. "I love you, Mom."

Her fingers twitched against his where they gripped. "I love you, too, Henry."

"You're really happy, aren't you, Mom?"

"I am. I have you back safe."

"It's more than that. You… glow a bit," he said.

"According to the research that's because my blood pressure has increased a little, more blood flowing to the baby."

Henry glanced down to her stomach. "You and Emma did research after I went to bed last night?"

His mother's face flushed more deeply red, becoming really apparent on her dark skin. "Yes, we did. We want to do things right."

They had stopped at the end of the walk up to the school. Henry looked up at his mom and reached out to take her hand again. "I'm glad you're happy, Mom."

"Thank you, Henry." She cupped his cheek and kissed his hair. When she stepped back, he felt the wind against him once more. She'd removed the spell. "Have a good day."

"Meet at Granny's after school?" he asked.

"The office today. I have to get some work done."

"All right. Love you, Mom."

Her brown eyes filled with her smile. "I love you, Henry, so much. Have a good day."

Henry turned and ran to join Grace who had just passed on the walk up to school.


Emma frowned. The lobster boat was within view, but the shoal area where it had gone aground was too rocky for the police cutter or other boats to get close enough to ferry off the crew. They'd already looked up and down the pier, and it seemed the Jolly Roger had departed during the night. No one recalled seeing Killian since he'd left a bar nearby after "last call" around 2:00 a.m. Everyone David talked to assumed he'd headed for his ship. And they hadn't been able to locate Smee, or any of Hook's other crew in a search of the nearby lodgings.

She was wondering if the two events were somehow connected. According to the information relayed by Leroy the grounded ship had started out during the dark pre-dawn hours around 4:00 a.m. "Could a portal have caused the wave motion?" she asked aloud.

Next to her, David shrugged. "Possibly, but we came flying back in on the Pan-powered sail, right? No one has any beans."

"Maybe Killian had a bean he didn't tell us about." Or he could have stolen one. "Weren't you and mom working on growing beans before we left for Neverland?"

"Yeah, Regina stole one then burned Tiny's field, remember?"

Emma recalled, "We used that bean to go after Tamara and Greg when they took Henry."

"Right."

"Maybe the field wasn't fully burned."

"I can check it out," David agreed, "but that still doesn't tell us how to get the lobster boat or her crew back to shore."

Emma sighed. "Yeah."

Her phone signaled a text message. Pulling it from her pocket she read silently then put the device back in her pocket.

"Something wrong?" David asked.

"What?"

"You read the message then frowned."

"Regina sent me her lunch request."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I'm taking her lunch at City Hall."

David glanced at his watch. "It's almost eleven now."

"It is?"

"Time flies when you're having fun," he said.

"This is more frustration than fun," Emma said. She pulled out her phone and texted Regina: Sorry, lunch is going to be a little delayed. The situation at the docks is still a mess.

No sooner had Emma tucked her phone back in her pocket than the air in front of her and behind David, was filled with lavender smoke. Regina appeared facing her and spoke as soon as she materialized. "What's the problem?"

David walked forward a few steps and turned around. Emma shook her head then explained, "You didn't have to come out. There's a grounded boat on the shoals. We can't get another boat close enough to get the crew off."

"Why not just bring the boat back to the pier?"

"We can't get close enough," Emma repeated.

"Magic, dear," Regina replied. She lifted her hands.

"Stop." Emma stepped forward and grasped her gloved fingers. "You should be taking it easy."

"This is an easy spell."

"Then teach me how to do it," Emma suggested.

Regina sighed, but she put down her hands. "Okay. Picture the boat tied alongside the pier."

Emma lifted her hand toward the harbor waters. "Just as simple as that?" she asked Regina, who nodded. Closing her eyes, Emma concentrated.

Cacophonous creaking filled the air, at decibels loud enough she covered her ears. Behind her closed eyelids Emma saw a huge flash of light. She opened her eyes to the sudden - and even louder - sound of wood cracking and crashing and men screaming.

She had indeed managed to move the lobster boat from the shoals, but now the boat sat on the pier, with its hull cracked, bow in the water on one side and stern in the water on the other side. Some of the crew had been pitched into the bay.

She and David, and all the men still around from their own boats, rushed to pull the sailors from the cold water. Someone had the forethought to call for blankets and an ambulance.

The boat vanished and reappeared cradled in a dry dock at the far end of the pier, no longer a danger, and no longer taking on water. Stumbling on the sand, Emma turned away from the sight of the boat. Regina sat primly on a bench. She flushed and grimaced. The brunette had fixed her mistake.

"Thanks for the hand," Emma said.

"I believe you would benefit from a few magic lessons following our lunch."

Emma shook her head when she heard Regina's most polite "I told you so" ever. "Yes, ma'am." She looked around and called out to David, "Dad, I'm going with Regina. I'll leave the keys to the cruiser on the seat."

Her father smiled at her, too busy helping someone to wave. Emma walked over to the bench, Regina grasped her arm, and they vanished in a cloud of Regina's magic.


Regina reached for the door of the stairwell where she had materialized them, only for Emma to reach past her and put her palm and weight behind holding the door closed. "What?" Regina asked, looking up into Emma's gaze as she came closer.

"Before we go out there, I do have something to say to you, Madam Mayor."

Emma kissed her lips, soft and steady. Regina resisted reacting for as long as she could, wanting to hold onto her exasperation regarding Emma's haphazard magic, but desire slid up her chest, coming through her throat as a hum and then she moaned. Grasping the sides zippered front of Emma's jacket, she fervently returned the kiss. Emma smiled into her mouth and Regina reveled in the emotions flowing between them and the press of the blonde's body against hers and the steel of the door at her back, feeling only secure rather than trapped.

When the kiss ended, Regina breathed in deeply. "Was that all?"

"All I can do in a stairwell. I would happily take this back to your place," Emma murmured. The hum of the blonde's voice against Regina's ear sent more waves of excitement through Regina's body.

Emma pulled out her cellphone and pressed a couple buttons. "Storybrooke dispatch," came through the speaker.

"Sheriff Swan here. Since we had all that excitement this morning, I'm going to take the afternoon." She hummed; Regina's belly quivered in reaction.

Regina lifted her eyebrow. Emma raised both of hers in reply. Regina's chest and face warmed and she knew she was blushing. She fumbled her own phone from her pocket. Pointedly, she huffed, ignoring Emma's smirk as the blonde watched her press out the number.

"Jeremy," Regina said. "I'm taking lunch out. Please cancel my afternoon."

"Yes, Madam Mayor," her assistant replied.

She closed the call and replaced her phone in her pocket.

"I think I'm properly motivated to get my magic right this time," Emma said.

"At least I'm here should we end up in my tree," Regina said.

With a smirk, Emma grasped her hand. Regina closed her eyes, trying not to let a smirk play on her own lips at the sight of Emma's flushed and aroused face. The tingle of the blonde's magic sent a flush through Regina's body.

Regina still cupped her abdomen to savor both warm comfort and sharp arousal when she felt Emma solidly behind her, arms cradling her against her chest and nuzzling Regina's throat. Warm hands covered hers and massaged. Regina opened her eyes to find they had safely rematerialized in the foyer of her home. The mirror by the entry reflected them pressed tightly together.

"Damn stuff is its own aphrodisiac," Emma muttered.

Regina agreed. The flush of Emma's magic radiated outward from Regina's stomach, making her nipples and groin tingle and throb, demanding to be touched. She kept Emma's hands from slipping inside her pants, though the woman had managed already to undo her thin belt.

"Your magic is very powerful. All the more reason," Regina said, taking deep breaths as she slowly disengaged from Emma's hold. "All the more reason for you to dedicate yourself to learning to control it."

She turned fully to find Emma had stepped back, hands behind her back, but the hunger for Regina glittered in her green eyes. The blonde licked her tongue across her own pale lips.

Regina felt a twitch so sharply in her abdomen that she quickly clapped her fingers over Emma's mouth. "Stop that."

"Not doing anything."

"Well, your magic baby is doing a dance inside me then."

"Too early," Emma said. "Maybe you're just turned on by thoughts of me ravishing you. We should go upstairs so I can do exactly that."

Regina chuckled. "I'm rather hungry for lunch though. I need to eat for two after all."

Emma's green eyes glittered and Regina was once again swept up, this time for a breath-stealing kiss. When she was let go, Emma followed her to the kitchen.

After checking the stew she'd set up that morning continued to happily cook, Regina cut up a variety of cheeses and olives. Emma helped, cutting tomatoes and sweet peppers. Once all had been added to a bed of arugula, spinach, and romaine, Regina tossed it together with an apple vinaigrette (though she sniffed it first to assure it would not turn her stomach).

"You've felt pretty good all day," Emma said. "Maybe sex is a way to prevent morning sickness." The blonde sounded teasing, loving, and cocky.

Regina leaned across the salad bowl and pressed her lips to Emma's. "I will certainly take that under advisement, Doctor Swan." Collecting bowls from a cabinet and forks from a drawer, Regina served herself a small salad and passed the tongs to Emma. "Take however much you'd like."

The blonde looked at Regina's serving, then the remains in the bowl. The deep consideration said to Regina: I don't want to take too much in case she's still hungry.

"I meant it, Emma. I'm fine."

"I didn't say anything."

"But you were thinking I might want more."

"I was," Emma agreed. "Exactly that." She served her salad but remained deeply in thought. "Earlier today when you called me to find out what was going on, did you-?" Emma cut herself off and shook her head.

"What, Emma? I was concerned you were headed into a dangerous situation."

"I felt your care in your words, but…" Emma frowned. "I thought I heard your thoughts too. And just now –"

"I can read you very well, my dear. I always have. Your every thought shows on your face."

"Yeah, I suppose." Emma shrugged.

They stood side by side at the table, eating, shoulders occasionally brushing. Both women felt their peace increase with every bite and quiet breath.

This is really nice.

I agree. Wide eyed, Emma turned to find Regina's own eyes wide.

"I could be wrong," Regina said, filled with shock. She glanced down at her stomach. Emma's hand brushed hers on her waistline. She felt as though her insides fluttered the slightest bit at Emma's touch, in a way that was different from her arousal. "I think we need to do some more research."

"On the internet?"

"In my magic books."

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