So I finally added the remaining chapters, now the story is fully updated on here. This one is only focusing on Emma and Regina. Feedback and input - from you - is much appreciated. I hope you guys like it!

Have fun and enjoy.

Emma scratched nervously her neck, as she watched Regina taking off her jacket. "How's Henry?"

"He is better than I thought he would. Still shaken up though, he is with Zelena right now and your team is guarding the house, oh and...You are now his hero." Regina explained, her eyes traveling to Emma.

"Look, it was very dangerous to come here unprotected. I could've called you." Emma said, locking eyes with her brunette friend.

Regina sighed, when she pulled a chair closer. "I know...However, I believe I owe you an apology."

"No, listen...I get it, you're pissed at me, and it's even understandable." Emma started to explain, when Regina raised her hand to silence her.

"No, it is not. All of this is a very emotional situation and I...It got to my head, learning all of this - about you. It was too much at that moment and I am truly sorry for what I said." Regina swallowed, wiping some tears away.

Emma's eyes went wide and she rushed over to Regina. "Hey, don't cry because of this, okay? Your reaction was normal. To you I was always Emma Swan; your childhood friend, who couldn't even tie her shoes without tumbling over."

A little smile crept up on Regina's face, as she continued to look at her blonde friend. "Yes, that is true. But I did realize that I reacted out of line."

Emma sighed, as she plopped onto her bed. "Like I said it's fi -" "Would you let me just apologize properly to you?" Regina remarked, rolling her eyes.

"You are still Emma and I should not have doubted that a second. I always should have believed your sincerity and good motives. You are a lot Emma, but not a liar. It must have taken a lot to keep silent about what is going on and your real job." Regina let out a little breath, when she finished her speech.

Emma squeezed her eyes shut, keeping the tears at bay. "I need a drink, you want one too?"

Regina brow furrowed in confusion, but she nodded.

The blonde got off the bed. She walked to the mini fridge and retrieved a bottle of scotch.

"How did you get that scar on your face?" Regina's voice appeared from behind her.

Emma swallowed, while she poured two glasses. "It wasn't really a part of a mission, if that's what you're wondering."

She handed Regina a glass of scotch and sat down on the bed again. "We were in Mexico, where another mission took place. I met this woman - we were a brief thing. It is really hard to have a sense of normality if you do what I do, so I really craved something normal and I dated her for the time being." Emma took a sip of her scotch and sighed quietly.

"What I didn't know about her was that her brother had been a member of a local drug gang and they were desperately trying to partner with the Mexican cartel. The man got wind of me and heard that I am an American and so he wanted me to smuggle drugs to America. Of course I refused and he had me pinned down, threaten to peel off my face with his knife, starting with my eyebrow. That's when my survival instinct kicked in." Emma's eyes flickered to Regina, whose face was pale.

"I...have no words, Emma. This is terrible, horrifying even. I'm so glad you got out of there almost unharmed." Regina rasped her-voice raw with emotions.

Emma smiled genuinely at the brunette, while she toyed nervously with her glass. "I've been lucky over the course of time."

"It's not just luck, Emma. You are a fighter, always have been." Regina smiled, as she took a big sip of her scotch.

"I've seen a lot of horrible stuff; I have spent days and nights lying in mud, observing men that are actually monsters. However, at the end of the day, when you see families reunited or little villages freed because of you, it is all worth it." Emma traced the rim of her glass, as she stared thoughtful into the amber liquid.

Two warm hands grasped her shoulders, pulling Emma back into the present. "You are doing a remarkable job." The brunette whispered, while she sat besides the blonde on the bed.

"And yet, I'm a killer..." Emma breathed, shaking her head slightly.

"No, that was wrong from me to say, Emma. You do kill these people, so they can't harm innocent people anymore." Regina stated the obvious, searching Emma's eyes for any trace of resistance.

"And at least it makes sense now that you never called or visited all these years. I mean you kept your distance from everyone; Ruby, your parents, me." Regina added after a few moments.

"I couldn't risk anything, Regina. I knew if I came back here, I'd never leave again. I was such a coward, for running or not calling when I saw you at Harvard." Emma pleaded, while she jumped off the bed. "Let me show you something."

Emma opened the closet and rummaged through it. She pulled her tactical jacket out. "Look, I've been carrying this one for years with me; it grounded me - made me calm."

She handed Regina the old crumpled picture.

Regina squinted at the picture, while her thumb traced the old photo. "You kept it?"

"All these years, yes. It's my talisman." Emma nodded, while she tried to swallow the lump in her throat.

Regina continued to look at the picture, as her heartbeat sped up a little.

The brunette's silence made Emma nervous and she started fidgeting with her jacket.

"Is that creepy?"

"What? No...I am just really moved, Emma. All these years, I thought you hated me." Regina explained, her voice wavering.

"I could never hate you, Regina." Emma whispered, as she strode towards the bed.

"I know I'm just processing all of this." Regina answered, smiling a watery smile. "Take your time; I'm going to refill our glasses." Emma grinned briefly, as she took both empty glasses.

Once the blonde was back with two full tumbler's, the brunette took her hand. "We should also discuss the situation between the two of us."

Emma swallowed hard, while her eyes flashed to Regina. "Should...should we? Is there a situation between us?"

Regina raised her eyebrow Emma, regarding the blonde with surprise. "I thought there is?"

"Well...I'm...in love with you and oddly enough you kissed me - several times," the blonde cleared her throat. "However, the last thing I want is, you to feel...obligated to reciprocate my feelings, just because you fear I'd leave you again." Emma bit her lower lip, while she looked with guarded eyes at Regina.

The brunette Mayor opened her mouth and closed it again, processing Emma's words.

"That is very thoughtful of you, but I do reciprocate your feelings, because I want to and I denied myself this for too long. You were not the only coward in this, Emma," Regina briefly closed her eyes, to focus on her following words. "Back when you confessed this, I felt the same, but could not admit it. I was too afraid, you know my mother...she would have ripped all my life apart. I also did not want to risk our friendship, so all in all I was just as much a coward as you - even a bigger one, if I am honest; at least you had the guts to actually address this." Regina let out a long sigh, while she rubbed her sweaty palms together.

Emma's mouth went dry, during Regina's semi - love - confession. She tried to calm her racing heart and the jumbling mess that was her brain.

"I'm," she croaked, shaking her head so it would clear the haze a little, "I...I'm really at a loss right now."

"I understand, Emma...How would you like, if we...explore all of this, after the situation with Robin is solved?" Regina carefully proposed.

"Yeah, yeah...we could do that," a goofy grin started spreading across her face," does that mean I'm not allowed to kiss you though?"

Regina raised one eyebrow, while she looked at Emma. "I don't know, Miss Swan?" She husked, playing along.

The grin on Emma's face didn't leave, as she leaned a little bit closer. Her nose brushing Regina's skin above her ear, as the blonde woman whispered, "You could tell me to stop, if you wanted to."

Regina closed her eyes, her breathing growing deeper and heavier. One hand grasped desperately Emma's hand, as she felt the blonde's lip on the side of her neck.

She was almost incapable of swallowing the moan that was forming on her vocal chords.

"Do not stop!"