Disclaimer: Still don't own any of these characters.

A/N: A chapter focused entirely on Emma and Regina for a change. :) Thank you all for reading and commenting on/reviewing, following and favoriting the story.

Chapter 9: Catch Me If You Can

Regina materialized and looked around in surprise. Why had she transported herself to her house? Must have been a reflex, she mused. She had thought of home and was transported to her bedroom instead of her cabin, and for a second she wondered if her magic was trying to tell her something.

She was beginning to feel her exhaustion from doing magic more and more now, with the revitalizing effects of her walk in the woods vanishing quickly. Her bed looked really inviting but even as Regina considered a nice nap in her own bed, she saw her closet door standing open and realized with a start that Emma had not only been downstairs but also in her bedroom when she had been looking for her here.

Regina tried to dredge up some righteous anger but found that she couldn't be bothered to spend the energy. Instead she started to walk downstairs to the kitchen to fix herself a protein shake, which she had one day realized helped with rebuilding her energy levels. As soon as she left her bedroom, however, she heard a crash and a groan from downstairs, followed by a loud curse that did a perfect job of revealing the intruder's identity.

Emma Swan. Again. Regina shook her head, never noticing the soft smile on her face. So the Savior had figured out how to find her with the help of her own innate magic. She refused to let her heart lead her to the obvious conclusion that sprung from this revelation, deciding instead that it had something to do with Emma being the Savior. If only Regina could make her heart believe that.

In any case, it proved that Emma was indeed determined to find her, just like she had promised after their encounter the night before. Suddenly, a devilish grin blossomed on Regina's face. Let's see how determined you really are, Ms. Swan. She retrieved a small notepad from her bedroom and quickly jotted down five words. Then she placed the note at the top of the stairs, certain that Emma would find it. And from the noise and the sound of footsteps coming from her study, she would find it sooner rather than later.

Regina flicked her wrist, sighing softly at the immediate drain she felt, and transported herself away.

o o o

"Ow! Fuck!"

Emma rubbed her ass and lower back as she looked around to figure out where her magic had taken her and, more importantly, to find Regina. She recognized Regina's study immediately, even from her position on the floor, feet stuck in the fireplace, head and upper body in the remains of the coffee table she had destroyed when she had landed on it.

"Need to work on positioning," she muttered. She looked around the room, expecting to see Regina or at least a trace of her, but the room was empty. "Looks like my Regina GPS isn't working right either."

Emma slowly got to her feet, suddenly realizing how tired she felt. Magic is energy, she heard Regina's voice in her head, and energy is a finite resource, especially for someone not used to using magic.

"Yeah, thanks," Emma told the desk in the corner but the desk ignored her and her snarky comment. I'm talking to furniture, great. "Now where are you, Regina?" Her body's reaction gave her the feeling that the other woman was at least in the house or, given her luck, had been and was already gone again, but she was still trying to figure this connection thing out. Legwork it is, then, just to make sure.

She left the study as quickly as she could but her body registered every step and reacted with pain. Her side and arm hurt from the tree she had crashed into, and now her back and butt were complaining as well. She definitely needed to work on her landing technique but something told her she would get more practice soon enough.

Regina was nowhere to be found downstairs, so Emma walked up the stairs to check there, already knowing deep down that the house was empty. She spotted the piece of paper on the floor as soon as her line of sight hit the top of the stairs and she crawled the last few steps until she could reach it. She sat down heavily, leaning against the banister, and read the note.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now, Regina?" she yelled once she had read it.

Catch me if you can

"Catch you if I can?" Emma repeated incredulously. "You think this is a freaking game?" She took a deep breath to try and gather the energy in her body, and there certainly wasn't much left. She tried to focus even more ending up as close to Regina as she could this time, so she couldn't get away again, knowing full well that she didn't have the energy for too many more of these poofs around town.

What she had in spades, though, was determination. She tightened her fist around the note and focused once more.

Game on, she thought as she disappeared.

o o o

Regina leaned heavily against the wall of her secret room in the vault, trying to fight off the lightheadedness that made it hard for her to stay on her feet. She had jumped from her mansion to the stables, taking only a second to breathe in the scent of the horses inside before transporting away to the well in the woods. The always lingering magic there had given her a small but much needed boost that had allowed her to transport to the vault but now the waves of exhaustion running through her body were back in full force.

She hadn't taken much time between jumps, mostly because she could feel by the tingles in her body that Emma was close on her heels. It really did seem that Emma was as determined as she had always been about everything else. With each jump from one location to the next, Regina felt herself open up more and more to the idea that Emma really might see their encounter as more than just a quick, one-time thing to get rid of any lingering attraction between them.

Regina leaned her whole body back against the wall, needing the support. Her hand went up to her face when she noticed a warm feeling on her upper lip, and when she looked at her fingers she realized she had a nosebleed. "I think the game is over", she mused aloud, voice slightly raspy. If her body was reacting this way, she didn't want to know what Emma's was going through. She had wanted to test Emma's determination but she didn't want the other woman to kill herself by overdoing it.

Time to go home. Her new home.

And if Emma followed her there, she'd just have to deal with it. She vanished with a slow, tired move of her wrist, unable to ignore the tiny grain of hope that Emma would indeed fi- join her.

o o o

Emma landed on her knees in the vault and for one moment blackness threatened to overwhelm her. She keeled over to one side, resting against the cold stone floor, hoping it would revive her a little. She could feel her body tingle, could feel Regina somewhere in the vault but she didn't have the energy to get up and walk around to try and find her. She barely had the energy to draw another breath.

Her whole body ached, and not just the parts of her body that had crashed into various things. She was getting better about that though, she figured. At least she hadn't landed on or in or against anything here in the vault.

Emma sat up with a groan, slowing her movements to a crawl when her insides protested the movement. She saw a few drops of blood on the floor in front of her at the same time as she realized that she was bleeding out one ear and her nose. "Okay, that's not good," she croaked, wiping away the blood and wondering if this hunt was Regina's subtle way of trying to get rid of her once and for all.

She knew it wasn't. She knew it was probably a test of some sort, a test Emma was determined not to fail, but she also realized from the way she felt that if she didn't find Regina on her next jump, she wouldn't find her any time soon because she probably wasn't going to be going anywhere for a long while.

Emma got to her feet with the help of the wall, biting back her exhaustion with an iron will she hadn't really known she possessed. The tingles in her body had lessened, so Regina had gotten herself to some new place already, a place Emma fervently wished was the final place of their little game.

By now, her thoughts focused easily on her goal, and she felt herself dissolve, biting back a groan. Gods, I hope this is worth it.

But she already knew it was.

o o o

Regina stumbled as she materialized in her cabin, barely able to prevent her fall by throwing herself back against the door. The irony of being there again wasn't lost to her but she was fighting too hard to stay upright to really be able to appreciate it. She hadn't felt this exhausted, this drained in forever. Shouldn't have done this, fun though it was. At least not on top of an hour's worth of very advanced magic around her border.

Regina pushed herself off the door and staggered into the kitchen. She needed fuel, and she needed it now. She devoured a banana in four large bites, chewing like she hadn't had food in years. Once that was down, she grabbed her blender and started getting ingredients together for a protein drink, adding a few drops of a restorative potion she had saved for a day such as this.

She made two drinks, just in case.

She downed one of the drinks, put the other in the fridge, then sat down in her armchair to wait.

o o o

Emma materialized with a groan, curled up on the floor, knowing straight away that getting up without help would be a monumental effort she just wasn't capable of at that very moment. Not only was her energy almost fully drained by this point, but she also felt like her body had crashed through a sheet of ice to get here, her skin still ice cold and feeling prickles like tiny shards of ice were piercing it. She couldn't even open her eyes to see where she had ended up this time around, even though she knew she should probably take a look on whose floor she was going to be hanging around for the foreseeable future.

Emma tried to raise her head to look around but she stopped cold when even the slight movement almost caused her to black out. For a frightening moment, all she could hear was her heartbeat rushing in her ear, wild and erratic, as if trying to tell her that yes, you managed another poof around town but also that and as a reward you're going to die now.

She felt her body relax almost against her will, fully expecting her head to hit the floor hard because she just didn't have it in her to slow its way down, but to her surprise something stopped it before she met cold stone again. Her eyes were still closed, so she could only feel a soft hand in her hair, guiding her head to rest on something warm and firm, and Emma let out a soft sigh at the sensation of being so unexpectedly taken care of.

"Here, drink this," a very familiar voice said gently as something cool pressed against her mouth. "It will help."

Emma obediently opened her mouth and swallowed, drinking down the thick, cold liquid in a few gulps. She felt its effect almost immediately, a little of her energy returning. Not enough to allow her to jump up or shake this incredible weariness, but at least enough to make her stop wondering if she was going to drop dead this very second. She might even manage to open her eyes and lift her head now, and so she tried.

"Relax," the same voice said, a gentle murmur, soothing her. "Give it a few minutes." Then Emma felt a cool, wet cloth running along her face, no doubt cleaning up the blood she could feel clotting below her nose and ear.

"'mfine," Emma managed to mumble after a few more moments.

"No, you're really not, Ms. Swan," Regina replied in a whisper that sounded just a little choked to Emma.

Must be after-effects of the last jump, making me hear things, Emma thought. She opened her eyes, needing to see Regina. It still took way too much effort, but when her vision finally cleared, she met a sight that surprised her. Her head was resting on Regina's outstretched leg, the side of her face almost touching the other woman's shirt. Her gaze traveled upwards and soon met Regina's eyes, looking down on her with an unreadable expression. If Emma were forced to describe it, she would probably use the word haunted.

"Hey," she greeted with a small smile.

"Hey." Regina let out a short, dark laugh, her head shaking back and forth, but Emma could see the tears gathering in her eyes. Regina's voice was hoarse and deep and even in her completely drained state, its effects hit Emma right in her core.

Emma pressed her face closer against Regina's stomach, mostly because she figured she could get away with it in her state. The hand running through her locks let her know she was right. "Where are we?" she muttered after a few more minutes in which she felt more and more of her energy returning. That was no normal shake, she figured. "What was that stuff you made me drink?"

"That stuff, Ms. Swan," Regina replied in a voice that sounded much more normal now, "was a protein shake."

"Like hell it was," Emma replied with a small chuckle. "What else was it?"

"I added a restorative potion," Regina admitted with a slight roll of her eyes. "It highly accelerates the energy regeneration of your body."

"A magical upper, huh?" Emma looked at her hands, one of which was still curled into a tight fist. "So you weren't actually trying to kill me with this little exercise?"

Regina looked stricken. "Why would I want to ...? No ... I ..."

"Okay, okay … I thought so actually," Emma said softly. "Just wanted to make sure, you know." She stretched a little and sat up, testing what her body could do. "That stuff you gave me was good," she said once she sat upright, facing Regina. "I actually feel better already. Still tired, but not ready to keel over."

Regina nodded. "That's good," she said, getting to her feet in a mostly graceful movement, but there was a slight hesitancy to her movements which told Emma that the other woman was feeling about as good as she did. She was just hiding it better. "Because I think it's time you went back."

Emma scrambled to her feet, not even half as elegantly as Regina had. "Are you kidding?" she asked incredulously. "You have to be kidding me. I didn't chase you all over the place just for you to send me off again." Emma's stance was determined. "If you send me away, I'll just turn around and get myself back here again. And again and again, however long it takes for you to see that I'm serious as fuck."

Regina studied Emma for a moment, considering her options. She knew Emma was stubborn enough to actually go through with her threat, and she couldn't let Emma risk her life just because she had no idea how to deal with this situation. She nodded with a sigh. "Since when have you been able to port yourself anyway?"

"Not sure," Emma replied with a shrug. "About an hour maybe? It's not like you gave me much of a choice," she added with a small smirk. "I wanted to talk to you, so I thought of you and it … just happened."

"It just happened," Regina repeated flatly. Magic never just happened. She wondered if Emma had any idea how remarkable it was that she had been able to do what she had done, how rare it was … how it possibly was a lot more than just magic ability. Regina bit her lip as she made up her mind not to point Emma in that particular direction. "Your magic must be stronger than we all thought," she said instead.

Emma shrugged again. "Maybe … but I don't think it was just my magic …"

Regina's heart skipped a beat, surprised. Had Emma figured it out? Did she mean …? "What do you mean?"

Emma looked around, finally realizing where Regina had led them. This was Regina's hideout. The last time she had been here, it had been a lot darker but there was no mistaking the general layout of the room. Unbidden, her eyes fell on the door, and her mouth curled into a fond smile. She remembered what they had done against it, and it seemed her body remembered it too, as the tingles along her spine became stronger once more.

"Ms. Swan?" Regina tried to get her attention, reminding Emma that she hadn't answered the question.

"Oh yeah … magic or not," Emma muttered. "It just … feels different, you know," she said hesitantly, still not used to talking about magic as something that existed, something she could do. "I never felt these tingles in my body when I did magic before, for one," she explained. "And I think everything was amplified because I was thinking …"

Emma trailed off when she saw the expression on Regina's face. It was unguarded, for once, telling Emma that Regina knew what she was talking about. "You feel it, too, don't you?" she stated more than asked.

"Feel what, Ms. Swan?" Regina's eyes and features struggled unsuccessfully to hide her feelings behind strong walls again. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't lie to me, Regina," Emma whispered. "The tingles that I get when I think of you … you feel the same thing when you think of me."

Regina felt overwhelmed. The thing she had dreamed of in long, lonely nights was happening right in front of her eyes, the woman she was so desperately in love with was actually sharing her feeling. That was the only explanation for them both feeling the connection. Rumplestiltskin had already confirmed on the trip to Neverland that Emma was Regina's true love, but the old weasel had let her believe that she was bound for eternal misery because Emma could never love her back. He had been wrong, apparently, or he had lied, which was much more probable. Emma did love her, whether she knew it yet or not.

And Regina had no idea what to do now. "I … I'm …"

Emma watched the struggle behind Regina's eyes, not sure how she could suddenly read the woman so easily. She knew that Regina felt all of this too, and could sense that there was more to the tingles, the connection Ruby had hinted at, than Regina wanted her to know. She saw how Regina's emotions played out in her eyes, in the way her nostrils flared, and how her jaw finally set in a determined line. Emma would take any bet that moment that Regina was going to deny it. Deny them. So when Regina started to speak, hesitantly and softly, Emma did the only thing she could think of.

She pulled Regina close and kissed her.

She kissed her softly, with a tenderness she rarely showed in her kisses, she kissed her with all the unspoken emotions swirling around in her heart and mind, trying to say the things she had no words for yet, but that needed to be said.

The kiss ended way too soon for Emma's taste but at least it lasted quite a bit longer than she had expected it to last. And Regina withdrew from it slowly, not by pushing her away forcefully, and there was no slap either, all of which made Emma count this as a small victory.

"What are you doing?" Regina's voice was slightly shaky.

Emma took a deep breath, keeping her hands on Regina's arms. "Stopping you from lying to me," she whispered, unable to raise her voice to normal speaking levels, "… and possibly yourself. Please don't lie to me, Regina," she pleaded again, her eyes focused on Regina's, willing the other woman to see, to accept.

"If you really don't feel anything for me, I'll have to live with that," Emma continued. Although it wouldn't be a life worth living, she added in her head before continuing, "But I think we both know that's not true." Emma used one hand to point between her and Regina, indicating the connection she felt, imagined or not.

Regina felt as if her heart had stopped beating the moment Emma had kissed her with so much unspoken feeling, only to start up again, beating rapidly, fueling the butterflies in her stomach, insisting she let her own feelings show. To hear Emma pleading to be heard, to be accepted? How could Regina resist?

"Emma," she started, surprised she could get even that one word out through a throat that was constricted by emotion, but that was as far as she got because the look on Emma's face stopped her cold.

Emma was shaking her head, convinced Regina was going to deny them. "Please don't reject me just because you think you should for some reason, because of Henry or Neal or … Snow," she demanded, her voice breaking a little on her mother's name. "I can't take any more rejection today."

Regina's hands flew to Emma's face, cupping her cheeks. "Oh, Emma, I wasn't going to … I'm not going to …" She stopped when Emma still looked forlorn. Regina pulled her into a firm embrace and pressed a kiss to her temple. This was about more than just them, she realized. "Emma, dear, what happened?"

Emma let herself be wrapped into a surprisingly strong hug, letting out a shuddering breath and burrowing into the crook of Regina's neck. Haltingly, she explained what Snow had pulled earlier that day, the way she had just told Emma that she wasn't going to be sheriff anymore, that Snow wanted to take away her job, her life as well as Regina's. Regina kept stroking her hair, and Emma relaxed more and more into the embrace and into the feeling of being with someone who got her.

"That self-absorbed idiot!" Regina felt her blood boiling more and more with every word Emma said. How could Snow do this to her child? She wasn't surprised that she wanted to take over as mayor, and Regina had already resigned herself to the fact that she had no real position in Storybrooke anymore, which is how she had been able to justify disappearing. But Emma? Emma was a good sheriff, a good leader, and the people loved her. She growled deep in her throat. "I should—"

She was stopped once more by a pair of insistent lips on her own, and for one second Regina had the feeling of being caught in an emotional whirlwind. "Huh?" she stuttered when Emma pulled back a little, utterly surprised. "What—?"

"I like you speechless," Emma said with a cheeky grin, before turning serious again. "Thank you for understanding, for being there … for being you , threats and hugs and all. Thank you for making me feel so much better."

Regina let a small, wicked smile play around her lips, sensing that the intensity needed to be brought down a few notches. They were both exhausted, physically and, Regina assumed, emotionally as well. She thought longingly of her bed and suddenly found just the right thing to say. "Oh, Ms. Swan," she drawled huskily, "I think you know I could make you feel so much better than this."

Emma's knees actually buckled at the sound of Regina's voice and the images her mind brought up at her words. All she could manage in reply was a dopey grin and a short waggling of her eyebrows. She didn't actually know if she could manage anything else in her exhausted state.

Regina smiled, reveling in the effect she had on Emma and letting herself enjoy it. "Yes," she purred. "By making you take a nice, long nap."

"Awww." Emma pouted but she wasn't all that unhappy. "Are you going to take a nap with me?"

Regina wordlessly led them into her bedroom and started to take most of her clothes off, leaving her in her shirt and panties. Then she crawled under the covers and held them open as an invitation to Emma. "Does that answer your question?"

Emma nodded with a bright smile as she undressed quickly and got into bed in her underwear, snuggling close to Regina in the middle of the bed. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she felt her exhaustion take over completely. "Don't send me away while I sleep," she asked drowsily.

"Don't worry, Ms. Swan," Regina replied around a small yawn. "You're not going anywhere for a while."

"Good," Emma slurred, already mostly unconscious.

Regina pressed a kiss to her hair and fell asleep a second later.