Miraculously, the shift held off. Emma fumbled her way into the jeans and sweater Ruby left for her while Regina drove home and by the time they reached her grandiose house, Emma's bones had re-solidified back in human form. All she had to do was sleep off the pain.

Which was how she ended up passing out on Regina's couch while the other woman perched regally beside her to keep an eye on her. Most of her day was foggy memories; soft hands caressing her skin if she awoke from a nightmare, kind chocolate eyes smiling at her as they coaxed her to eat, a warm voice soothing her as a blanket was tucked around her gently. Her memories from the shift were in icy clarity. How close she had been to being a wolf, how lucky she was that Regina found her.

Her eyes snapped open in an instant. Oh God, she had let Regina touch her. The one person, it seemed, that her heart belonged to had held her during a shift. While she was naked none the less. Minor detail aside, she drove her mind back to that moment, trying to piece together what the scattered wolf thoughts drifting through her head meant. Each one had said the same thing, driving the simple concept through her like a mantra; escape, escape, escape. She gulped and tried not to think about if she had not been able to hold off the shift. But still, the what-ifs circled in her head. What if she had shifted in Regina's arms? What if in the wolf's blind panic she reached out and attacked? What if she had killed Regina?

She shook her head to clear it of the last thought. Her wolf was reasonable. As long as nothing threatened her space, she was fine. She just didn't want to hurt anyone by accident.

Before she could ponder the issue more, a familiar face appeared in the room. Henry's face split in a smile of joy a second before he rushed over yelling, "Emma!"

She didn't know how to react as the teenaged boy leapt on her, wrapping his arms around her neck and squeezing tight. Emma squeezed back just as tight, her eyes closed as she breathed in the comforting scent of her son, one that she hadn't seen in three months. "Hey kid," she croaked.

He leaned back and smiled his perfect, happy smile at her. "Where have you been? We've been looking for you. Or at least we were until Gramps called off the hunt. Everyone thought you were dead. But mom and I, we knew the truth."

"Oh?" Seeing Regina leaning against the doorframe, Emma shot her a look of concern. Regina shook her head, relaxing Emma's worries with a calming gesture. She turned back to the boy, who was searching her face intently, as if memorizing all it's minuscule details. "What's the truth then?"

"That you had something on your mind when you were sick and that you needed to figure it out. It's okay, Ma, I don't blame you for hiding. But next time you up and leave, can you at least tell us so that we aren't worried about you?" Before she could even reply, he frowned at her face, just below her eyes. "How did you get all these scars?"

"Long story, kid," she sighed, starting to get up. "I will tell it to you one day. Now don't you have homework or something to be working on?"

From the doorway came a luxurious chuckle. "Who are you and what have you done with Emma Swan?" Regina asked in mock shock. Emma snorted and shot her a grin while Henry rolled his eyes good naturedly.

"You two and your strange obsession with me getting my homework done right when I walk through the door." He clomped over to his bag in the other room and pulled out his math homework. Emma sauntered over and leaned up against the threshold, very conscious of the woman just inches away from her. Oh, God, I am in love with Regina Mills.

"Is it such a bad thing that we want our son to succeed in school?" Regina pointed out, hand on her hip as she stared at the thirteen year old skulking at the kitchen table.

"Plus, once it's done you have the whole night to do whatever you want," Emma added, arms crossed over her chest.

Henry muttered and his brunette mother bristled. "Don't talk back to your mother." She cast a swift glance over to Emma. "Or your mother."

"Easy," Emma whispered, reaching a hesitant finger out and drawing it down Regina's bicep closest to her until the tense muscles relaxed. As she leaned towards Emma's touch, the blonde remembered the car incident—how close she had come to kissing Regina, how insecure she felt—and shrunk away. She saw that the rejection stung for the mayor, but Emma wasn't confident with her grip on the wolf and didn't want Regina's touch sending her into a tailspin and losing control on the animal within. She wasn't sure just how her shifts were regulated just yet.

I refuse to kill someone I love. The thought shook her and Emma took a step back, aware of Henry's eyes on her.

"You'll stay here a bit, right, Ma? I'll have my whole family here in one place?" His voice was vulnerable, his hazel eyes large and soft.

I am a monster. I have to get out of here.

Emma threw on a smile.

"Of course." Her eyes darted to Regina's. "Unless I have over stayed my welcome?"

"You are always welcome here, dear," Regina replied. There was no fire behind her words, however, and her eyes looked through Emma rather than at her.

"Then I will stay right here. I promise." She willed for Regina to sense how much she cared about her in her words. But the brunette didn't even look up.

Monster.

You just sentenced them to death.

Henry beamed at her again and then pulled out a pencil and began to tackle his homework. Regina quietly slipped out of the kitchen to hide her disappointment. The woman she loved sat beside their son, painfully oblivious to how much Regina cared for her. She didn't know what was worse—Emma missing, or Emma here but undeniably unreachable?

Three nights after Emma arrived, she awoke in the oily blackness of a time between midnight and dawn with the sickness of an imminent shift looming over her head. She hardly had time to comprehend where she was—the guest bedroom of Regina's house—before the wolf took over and shredded her sleep shirt and panties as it made it's appearance. For a blessed few minutes she held onto her human mind.

You're safe. You are in a house. It is Regina's.

She repeated the mantra in her head as the wolf paced along the room. She felt the edges of panic trying to grip her rapidly changing brain, but she fought back, repeated the words until they began to lose meaning.

You safe. In house. Regina's.

Safe. House. Regina's.

Safe. Regina.

Regina

She growled softly, clawing at the creamy white walls. Her ears fanned back and the air whistled through her muzzle. She didn't understand the human words stuck in her brain.

Regina

An image formed in her animal mind, a fuzzy picture of a she-man. She didn't understand but she felt drawn to this woman and her dark hair and her sharp eyes. She felt the warmth of an emotion wolves do not have a word for. But with it brought a snapshot of safety, warmth, and comfort.

Home.

Regina home.

Regina

She had to find Regina. The wolf nosed the white slat where fresh scents drifted in from under it. Luckily the door wasn't shut tight, so she had no problems pushing her way out to the hall. Once more the wolf quaked at all the humanness around her, but once more the word pushed forth her bravery.

Regina

She took a deep whiff of the air, sorting the scents in her brain. There was the woods-and-rain scent that belonged to the man-cub who fed her in the winter. An alluring smell of food coming to her from down the half-planks—"stairs" she remembered—almost sent her careening off her planned path. But as she took a step, another trail crossed her radar. The sharp, warm smell of the man-cub's leader. She froze instantly and lined up her eyes with the smell.

Regina

All thoughts of food vanished. She had to find Regina. Her brain was yelling at her, telling her Man! Not safe! Death, destruction! Run! but she was being tugged along by something that she didn't recognize. Her paws dragged forward, unwillingly at first, then more so as she pictured the woman in her head. She ignored her instinctual fear of humans as she followed the scent, wanting to cure this incessant pull.

Regina woke to muffled noises echoing down the hall from the guest bedroom where Emma was staying. Regina was familiar with her mutterings and usual slumbering sounds—how could she sleep with a ghost under her roof?—but these were new. There was a thump, then silence. Then something reverberated through the house. A growl.

The mayor sat up in bed, wondering if she should go check on her guest, when there was the creak of the guest room door being opened. It was followed by the unmistakeable tick-tack sound of claws on the floor. Regina's heart sunk. Emma was a wolf again. She lay back down on the bed, wondering what to do. She and Emma often talked about what it was like as a wolf, but they had never discussed what to do should she shift in the house at 2:30 in the morning.

Regina froze as her bedroom door swung open, letting a sliver of dark blue from the house in to her black cave. She saw a large shape lope into the room and heard it snuffle around, headed closer for her. The musky scent of wolf overpowered her nose and she closed her eyes, willing her heart rate to slow down. She had never been afraid of the wolves in the Enchanted Forest, and enjoyed watching their fleeting shapes flicker in and out of the trees occasionally. But it was a different story when the wolf was in her room and her slumbering son was a room away.

Something cold touched her cheek. Regina simultaneously shrunk away and leapt out of bed, reaching for the lamp. There was a scramble of claws as a soft pool of light illuminated the room and in the blink of an eye, Regina was staring at Emma's eyes reflected back to her in the body of a wolf. The wolf leaned away from the light, ears at the side, long limber legs tense, tail tucked. Her long muzzle was pointed towards Regina while the rest of her body was angled away.

"You really shouldn't sneak up on people in the dark, Emma," she sighed, sitting down on her bed. Her voice and movements combined sent the wolf jumping back a fraction, but then the golden animal perked her ears and sniffed intently at the air. Regina watched in amusement, able to see for a moment a scared stray dog instead of her beloved turned wolf. Not thinking, she held out her hand, palm up and extended away from her. The wary wolf watched intently. "Well, go on, I won't hurt you."

Her ears were pointed forward in interest. She crept closer to the human and tentatively reached out her head, sniffing Regina's outstretched hand. The mayor reveled in the experience, staring in wonder at Emma's pine green eyes—sharpened with the knowledge of a predator—as they examined her hand. Her fingers where tickled by the delicate black whiskers growing around her muzzle. She memorized the swirl of colors that made up Emma's pelt—the golden blonde that mixed with white around her legs and shoulders, the intricate black markings around her eyes, the black tipped tail, the beautiful small silver hairs by her muzzle and down her back. Emma was a beautiful wolf.

She smiled as a pink tongue darted out and lapped at Regina's hand.

"What a strange wolf you are," she whispered, lying back down. Emma whined softly, then gathered her legs and leapt onto the bed. She curled up pressed tightly to Regina, who could feel the warmth radiating through her fur and the blankets. Again she smiled. Just this once, she thought. She turned off the lamp and relaxed. Her eyes closed and she fell asleep with a wolf keeping watch beside her. She never felt more safe.