Okay, so here's the next chapter. It was suggested that making you all wait, knowing I had the next one ready to go was cruel. I thought I was being fun lol. For the anon reviewer who seems to be bothered by Ruby… Well, firstly, this is indeed a SwanQueen fic. That doesn't mean there can be no other interactions with other characters. Ruby is not going to become a third, but she will be involved otherwise at times. Second, if you're going to ask a question, that's fine, but give me a way to respond. I'm happy to interact through PMs. Enjoy! Review, if you please!

I don't own anything to do with OUAT.

"I'll get it. You'll scare her."

Regina rolled her eyes. "I'm not forcing her to show up. She came here on her own," she called after the blonde. She situated herself on the black couch and crossed her legs. Part of her was nervous. She wasn't used to this with anyone other than Emma. "Stop, Regina. It's the same technical process," she scolded herself.

At the door, Ruby was somewhat relieved to be greeted by her friend.

"Hey, Rubes." Emma chirped sweeping her arm toward the foyer.

"Hey," she replied, accepting the invitation in. Emma grabbed her hand and pulled her along toward the living room.

"Wait, Emma," Ruby whispered pulling back, "I'm sorry for getting you into trouble."

The blonde shook her head, "You didn't... I knew what I was doing, Ruby. I made that decision." She gave her friend a tug, "its best just to get it over with."

The brunette gave a labored sigh and allowed herself to be pulled into the living room to face the music. As they rounded the bend, she saw the mayor on the couch and her stomach jumped into her throat.

"Miss Lucas, I'm glad to see you." Regina said honestly. She waved toward the couch opposite herself, "have a seat, please."

"A Queen who says 'please'," the young woman joked weakly as she sat on the couch and Emma settled herself across the room respectfully.

Regina's brow arched as it always did, "Ruby, if I stop saying please, you will know there's a real problem." She sat up a little straighter. "Now, young lady, why are we here?"

"Well, I guess because I stole a magic bean from Gold's shop and then I recruited Emma into my plan to use it."

"You guess?"

"No, I mean, that's what happened."

Regina leaned forward, "To be clear, I am not punishing you because of Emma's involvement. She made her own decision in that regard, and she received the consequences to go along with that decision, isn't that right, Emma?"

"Yep." The blonde called from the other side of the room.

The mayor looked up at her and narrowed her eyes. Emma knew exactly what she was supposed to do.

"Yes, Miss." she corrected herself for Ruby's benefit.

The bartender picked up on that immediately.

"Miss Lucas, you are here now for stealing a magic bean from Gold, a risk for anyone, certainly, and for intending to use it in a very poorly thought out and dangerous manner that could have hurt you and everyone else in this town."

Ruby nodded, lacing her fingers together in her lap nervously.

"And for that," Regina continued, laying it all out bluntly so there could be no ambiguity, " I plan to put you across my lap, take your pants down, and spank you until I feel you have been suitably punished. I will use my hand only."

In her corner of the room, Emma swallowed hard. To hear those things directed at someone else gave her chills, but mostly, she felt bad for her friend because she knew Ruby wasn't prepared. There was no being prepared, ever, for this measure of discipline from the mayor. It always managed to be more unpleasant than one would imagine. Regina was strong and thorough, without exception. She had expected to feel a bit possessive, but she didn't. She felt secure.

"Do you understand exactly what I mean to do, Ruby?"

"Yes...um, Miss." The younger brunette mumbled. "

Regina gave her the faintest, gentle smile of encouragement, "and you agree to this discipline?"

"Yes, Miss."

Regina nodded and leaned back. She straightened her blouse before patting her lap, "Come here, please, young lady."

Emma pulled her knees to her chest. The tension she was suddenly feeling was jarring. Or maybe it was suspense. She was about to see an angle of Regina she hadn't ever seen before and was simultaneously grateful it wasn't her right then, and nervous to see Ruby in such a vulnerable way... there wasn't any coming back from that if Ruby took it poorly.

For Ruby, none of the ordeal, not even going to the mansion in the first place, had been harder than picking herself up from the couch to approach the mayor. Somehow, where she had been skeptical that this punishment would be all that bad, she was questioning her judgement. The nice side of Regina Mills was far more intimidating than the Evil Queen. Maybe because she wasn't in the wrong, and was actually the one doing the correcting. The bartender wasn't excited about her friend being in the room, but she was oddly comforted that Emma knew what she was about to experience. As she lowered herself over the mayor's thighs and tried to anticipate what might happen. She imagined, as Regina shimmied her skinny jeans down over her ass, that the first strike would produce that warm, mild, itchy sort of pain that was kind of pleasant... the kind one felt when swatted firmly on a clothed posterior... and she thought it might even be somewhat easy to endure.

She thought, as the mayor pushed her purple, satin panties down, just enough to expose her naked backside, that the shorter woman might not even hit that hard.

She thought until Regina's open palm came down against her bare skin. Her breath caught in her throat and she gasped. The sharp, searing sting wasn't so painful as to be enough punishment alone, but it was far more painful than she had thought it would be. At that very second she knew she wasn't getting off easy.

Emma jumped a little at the first sound. She had closed her eyes just before the first contact, but now that Regina had begun a steady rhythm, she felt like she could watch.

Her girlfriend was as beautiful as she ever was and she was focused intently, her eyes shifting from her target to Ruby's face, almost constantly, checking and rechecking to make sure the younger woman was okay. Emma watched her palm fall. It wasn't as stiff as Emma always imagined. It was, at times, slightly cupped, and other times, it was slightly more relaxed. Every time, it made a vicious snapping sound, and Emma could see Ruby wriggling around at each slap. Regina's left arm was clamped around the brunette's thin waist, steadying her, and creating leverage.

After a few moments, Ruby's discomfort became audible and Emma diverted her eyes.

Regina's palm began to sting, but judging by what she could see, Ruby wasn't quite ready. She shifted her grip and grabbed the younger woman's hips, scooting her up a bit, which pushed her backside further in the air. Ruby voiced her displeasure with a frustrated whine, the mark of a brat, at least in Emma's case, and they were fairly similar at times, and Regina understood that she could speak.

"I trust I can count on you not to go around stealing powerful magical things, especially from Mr. Gold, Ruby Lucas."

The bartender whimpered her agreement, her hand itching to cover her burning ass. Her legs were all over the place.

"Good. Because if it comes down to this again, you will not like how it goes...If you-kick me, Ruby..."

The threat wasn't finished, but it didn't need to be.

The younger brunette struggled to control her legs and began reaching back instead, attempting to shield herself with her right hand. Regina simply grabbed her wrist and pinned it to her right hip.

"It is not acceptable for you," Regina gritted out through the effort of throwing her right leg over both of Ruby's, as she continued her administrations, "to take such actions that are dangerous to you," she blew some hair out of her face. Ruby wasn't easy to restrain. "Not to mention, everyone else in Storybrooke," she finished, emphasizing her point with a series of harsh slaps before shaking her hand out.

"Is that clear, Red?"

Ruby hadn't heard that affectionate nickname in quite some time and though she was more than a little distracted, she understood it to be the mayor showing a small soft spot.

"As. A. Magic bean... Miss." she squeaked out in the small gap of time Regina gave her to answer.

Regina let her hand flop down limply on the bartender's backside, "Ruby... trying to be funny won't save you." Her voice was stern, but Emma saw her fighting a smile. She began again in earnest, endeavoring to finish on a serious note.

The blonde suppressed a small laugh. The tension had gone out of the room in less than a minute. Ruby wasn't going to be broken by a spanking. She just wasn't going to enjoy it, and it was really only fair. She slipped her phone out of her pocket and held it out of view. She had received a text from Mary Margaret.

Emma, open the door. Henry left the spare key inside.

"Shit." Emma muttered.

Come back in 10, please?

AGAIN?!

Stop! No! Just come back in 10.

No. I'm taking Henry back to mine.

Come get him when you're done doing

whatever crazy thing you two are doing

because it sounds like someone is getting punished again.

Mom, seriously...

I hope you're not texting me while it's happening.

Emma could feel the blush creeping up her neck. Even rolling her eyes at the stream of texts from her mother couldn't stop it. She crammed her phone in her pocket and tried to refocus. By that point, Ruby had just finished receiving her punishment. Regina looked up at Emma and gave her a questioning look. They didn't need to speak for Emma to know that the Mayor was asking if she was okay with Regina administering her kind of aftercare to Ruby. The blonde nodded subtly and hugged her knees again as she watched.

"If you want to stay there for a few minutes, you can, Little wolf. I hope you've learned something today." Regina murmured, running her hand over Ruby's upper back.

The bartender was crying. Silently, but still, tears streamed down her face. The physical discomfort was one thing, but Regina had made the entire experience something that made Ruby feel safe and cared for. Like, she wasn't allowed to put herself in danger. Being a werewolf, it wasn't often anyone really looked out for her wellbeing like that.

Emma sat quietly, enjoying this new peek... it was almost like an out of body experience. While the love Regina had for the blonde wasn't present, there was the same strong undercurrent of tenderness and care in the way she stroked the bartender's back and laid her arm around the younger woman.

Apart from her darker side, Regina had a capacity for care-taking beyond even what she would have guessed of herself. She felt as at home in a role of caring authority as she did in any other facet of her life in which she had confidence. She looked into Emma's eyes across the room and hoped to convey her love quietly.

As Ruby came out of the moment, she sat up let the mayor pull her head onto her shoulder. "Are you okay, Ruby?" Regina asked.

"Yeah... I'm good," the young woman whispered back, closing her eyes.

Emma shuffled across the room and sat on the couch across from the other two. Now she felt she wanted her lover back a little, but she wasn't going to ruin the moment for either of them, though she couldn't help but stare a little too longingly.

Regina rarely used her magic, and especially on Emma because she hated when Emma used hers back, but it was called for. She closed the distance between them with a flick of her wrist and the blonde appeared on her other side in a cloud of purple smoke. She put a hand on Ruby's leg as the younger woman shifted as if to get up. "You stay here as long as you need, little wolf," the mayor commanded gently.

"Really, I'm okay," Ruby insisted, reaching over to hug the mayor and give Emma's knee a squeeze before she buttoned her jeans, "I actually have to get home, but do you think we could talk about all this sometime tomorrow? I'm closing the diner, so we could eat or something..."

"We'll be there." Regina nodded.

Ruby let herself out and Regina wrapped her arm around the blonde, pulling her in for a cuddle. "And how are you? You did really well with this."

"Well, it was hard to watch because I know how she felt, and it's something that seems like it should be private."

"I agree, but you weren't intruding. I think she felt better with you in here. You didn't feel any jealousy?" The mayor asked, sort of hoping she had.

Emma broke into a wide grin, "I was definitely not jealous of Ruby at first... I think," she admitted," that when I saw you holding her and consoling her, I felt a little for a moment, but I realized pretty quickly that she needed that, and that you needed to have that moment with her, and honestly, it went away. I know who I am to you."

She snuggled into Regina's arms.

"Oh, shit." She said, breaking the silence, "we have to go get Henry. My mom texted..."

"Oh, great." Regina rolled her eyes, "what now?" Regina loved Mary Margaret, but the woman could be a plain pain in the ass.

"They came up while everything was happening. She heard again. She texted that she heard and-"

"Hold on... is that knocking?! Is she... she's out there, Emma. I know it's her." The mayor hissed.

"Emma?" Came the call from the foyer.

"Mom?"

Snow rounded the corner into the room and sat down across from the two women. "Okay, what the fuck?"

Regina raised a brow from her seat on the couch, "I'm not used to hearing language like that from you, Snow."

"Yeah, good." the woman snapped irritably throwing her hands up, "what in the hell is going on? Regina, do you do this to her every day? I can't just sit by and let you beat my child every time she annoys you. The magic bean was one thing, but what now? What NOW?!"

Regina leaned forward and crossed her legs, appraising the woman levelly, "Are you done, Mary Margaret?"

"Yes." The woman huffed. Emma burrowed her face into her palms.

"Again, what Emma and I do is between she and I, but if it makes you feel better, it wasn't her in the... hot seat. How else would you have been exchanging texts? Do you think I let her scroll through her messages when she's over my knee?"

"Oh my god, Regina, stop!" Emma moaned into her hands.

Snow's eyes widened when she realized she had passed Ruby Lucas on the sidewalk. "Ruby! Why?"

"Why do you think? I'm not giving you details, Snow. Emma is fine. Ruby is fine. I am fine. We will come get Henry."

Snow just stared at Regina hard for a moment.

"Unless you're waiting for a demonstration, which I would be happy to provide at this point, Mary Margaret, I would suggest you let me finish my conversation with my partner in private and stop barging in. I'm not going to do irreversible harm to Emma, ever. She is an adult and she can speak to me at any time about anything. You do not need to advocate for her unless she asks you to."

"Fine." Snow conceded angrily before showing herself out in a fit of smoldering rage. She hated not being in control of everything.

Regina plopped back against the blonde's chest and exhaled forcefully.

"Regina, you can't threaten to my mother demonstrations." Emma laughed, slightly worried that her mother was not okay.

"I can and I did. You know, I was responsible for her once, a long time ago. I remember what she looked like when she was in the single digits. Her face is basically the same."

"Yes, I know... but for my sake... please, never again."

Regina let out a rare giggle, "Alright, my love." She pulled Emma to her and held her close. Being the mayor of Storybrooke was a lot less mayoral lately.