Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. More's the pity.

A/N: I'm sorry that it took a little longer between updates this time but work is kicking my erm ... lower posterior at the moment, sucking out any creative urges I might have.
Thank you for the reviews, faves and follows and to each and every one of you who is reading this. This story has come to mean a lot to me, and I'm glad I'm not only writing it for myself. :)

A/N: One detail in this chapter was inspired by one of Trouble with Trebles' reviews - thank you, maybe you recognize it when you get to it. ;-)

Chapter 10: All Through The Night

Regina swallowed hard as she stood in the doorway to their room, trying desperately to keep her suddenly sweating and trembling hand from dropping the pitcher.

Emma was wearing nothing but what had to be the smallest towel Granny owned, or so Regina suspected. And she was leaning over the chair in the corner, rummaging around in her duffel bag, offering Regina a view that racked up her body temperature several degrees.

Shakily, Regina put the pitcher down on the dresser by the door before turning around and closing the door, feeling strangely overdressed in her pajama top. And here she thought she could get a reaction out of Emma by returning to the room like that. But instead of throwing Emma off-balance, she was the one who ended up feeling decidedly shaken.

Regina cleared her throat when Emma didn't show any signs of having heard her entrance. "Ms. Swan." It came out croaky and strangled, and not just due to the state of her throat. She poured herself a glass of water with one hand, the other still clutching the bundle with her pants and hardware to her body, and gulped it down before trying again. "Ms. Swan."

Emma looked over her shoulder and straightened quickly. "Oh, sorry," she squeaked, and Regina couldn't tear her eyes from the way a blush spread over Emma's pale body. "I didn't hear you come in."

Regina pointed towards the towel while also desperately trying not to stare. "I can see that," she said.

Emma looked down her own body, letting out an embarrassed chuckle, which came out low and enticing after all the smoke she had inhaled. Wordlessly, Regina poured another glass and handed it to Emma. "Thank you," the pilot said, taking the glass from Regina and emptying it in one long gulp. Her other hand kept a firm grip on the towel. She gave Regina a sheepish smile. "I really didn't mean to walk around like this," she explained, "but I forgot a change of clothes when I went to the bathroom and …"

She trailed off with a half-shrug when she saw the expression on Regina's face. She wondered if this was the last thing a gazelle saw before it was pounced on by a lioness. She swallowed hard, arousal shooting through her at that look, and lifted her glass again, dismayed when she found it empty.

Regina couldn't tear her eyes away from Emma, no matter how much she knew she should behave better. She shouldn't keep staring but Emma wasn't making it easy for her to look away. Regina knew she had been caught when Emma swallowed audibly and then, surprisingly, stood up a little straighter, exuding an air of sexy confidence.

Jesus. Regina suddenly found it difficult to follow their rather simple conversation. What had Emma been saying? Oh, yes … "It's not like we have a lot of choices after the fire," she muttered sadly. "At least you seem to have your bag," she mentioned, a frown crinkling her forehead.

From one second to the next there was a niggling sense of suspicion she just couldn't help. Had Killian been right? Had Emma been prepared for the fire? It certainly looked that way. That would mean he was innocent after all, and she was in this room, half naked, with someone who had tried to kill her. "How did you get your bag from the house?" she asked casually. "I don't remember seeing it when we ran outside."

Emma gave Regina a strange look at the sudden change in tone in her voice. There was a distance there that hadn't been there a moment before, an almost forced sense of obvious casualness. "I tossed it out the window so I would have my hands free in case I needed to help y— … someone," she explained simply, injecting as much sincerity into her tone as she could. "When I woke up and the house was burning, I just grabbed most of my stuff, crammed it into the bag, and tossed it." She shrugged as if the idea was nothing special.

"Are you in the habit of never leaving your bag behind?" Regina asked, suspicion not yet gone. "There must be something very important inside. Tell me, Ms. Swan, what would I find in your bag if I looked inside?" Her voice was low and silky, and twice as threatening because of it.

Emma shivered at the dangerous tone, even though she was slightly offended. After all, she was the one who had gone to save Regina, she was the one who was in a situation she had no control over, a situation at the center of which she suspected Regina and whatever she and her boys were up to. Throwing suspicion her way? Now that just made her angry.

"Feel free to take a look," Emma growled, tossing the bag over to Regina, who caught it on reflex, dropping her bundle to the floor in the process. Regina quickly dropped Emma's bag and bent down to retrieve the items that would betray who she really was. At the moment she really wasn't sure she wanted to share that information. Maybe she should have sent David in here to talk to Emma, she thought with a sigh.

"Why would I want to talk to David?" Emma asked, obviously confused, as Regina realized she had muttered the last bit out loud. "Why can't we talk to each other, Regina?"

Regina closed her eyes. "Because, Ms. Swan," she said softly. "I for one have a very hard time talking when you're standing there like that." She wrapped her gun and badge in the pants again, hiding them from view, and put them on the dresser. "If you want to talk, I suggest you put on some clothes," she added hoarsely.

"Says the woman who is threatening to give me a heart attack by walking around in shirt." And no matter how much she agreed with Regina about the state of their undress, she couldn't stop herself from uttering a challenge. "What if I don't?"

Regina breathed deeply several times. "Then I'm quite afraid not much talking will get done here tonight," she finally admitted in a growl.

"Oh?" Now that sounded interesting. Emma took a lot of pleasure in knowing that she had the same effect on Regina that the other woman had on her. But while every cell in her body urged her to just grab Regina and pull her body against her own, she knew she would regret it in the morning. She had to know what was going on first.

"Yes, oh." Regina really tried to look away from Emma who was taking a step towards her, and then another. "Please, Emma …"

Emma pretended to look innocent. "You have my bag," she said nonchalantly. "And my clothes are in there."

Regina held out a hand to stop Emma from coming within touching distance. "Stay where you are," she ordered. She kneeled down and looked into the bag, determined to toss Emma something to wear. Anything would do at this point. What she encountered, however, stopped her immediately. Hand still buried in the bag, she looked up and gave Emma a tender, if somewhat confused smile. "You saved the dresses?" she whispered roughly.

Emma lost her breath at the soft look on Regina's face. This was a look that made her want to get down on her knees and swear forever after to the woman in front of her. This was a look that didn't make her stomach clench, but her heart. She knew right then that it probably wouldn't matter much who Regina really was, what she did or didn't do when she wasn't singing in her club. Emma could get burned badly by this woman but it would probably be worth it.

"I couldn't let them burn." Emma returned the soft smile, unknowingly eliciting the same response in Regina that she had just experienced. "I liked the way you looked at me when I was wearing the dress tonight, no matter how doggy I felt."

"You looked breathtaking in it, dear," Regina admitted before adding, "It's my favorite dress." She pulled said dress out of bag, trying not to frown at the state of it.

Emma noticed. "I'm sorry," she said quickly and more than a little sarcastically. "There wasn't time to put them away in an orderly fashion." Not that she had the first clue how she could have prevented the material from ending up the way it did.

Regina made a face. "It's all …" She didn't finish, grateful that Emma had thought of doing this for her at all. But then … "The seam is torn," she realized sadly.

Emma couldn't help but grin. This woman had some strange priorities. "Are you really complaining about the way I saved your favorite dress?"

"Well, at least we won't have to resort to a gooseberry lay in the morning." Regina saw Emma's raised eyebrow and the teasing smile around her lips, and found herself unable to keep a straight face. She dissolved into laughter right there on the floor, clutching the dress to her chest, wrinkling it even further. After a second of confused hesitation, Emma joined in, successfully breaking the tension that had risen between them ever since their arrival at Granny's.

"I think I needed that," Emma gasped once their laughter had died down. She pulled a wife beater and her jeans from the bag and walked to the door. "Let me just go and get dressed," she said as she opened the door. "And when I come back, I think it's time we talked."

"Yes, it is," Regina agreed.

o o o

Not ten minutes later Emma and Regina were sitting on the bed, Regina leaning against the headboard, bare legs hidden beneath the covers, and Emma sitting cross-legged at the foot of the bed. It was a distance they both seemed to deem safe for their talk.

But there was no talking going on. It was obvious that as soon as they allowed some actual physical space between them, awkwardness crept in, frustrating them both. Regina was waiting for Emma to ask questions, afraid to reveal too much if she was just going to start talking, while Emma was hoping Regina would simply explain the things she wanted an answer to.

"Are you ever going to start spilling?" Emma finally asked with a huff.

Her tone immediately put Regina on the defensive. "Spill what, Ms. Swan?" she rumbled deep in her throat. She wished they had booze instead of just water.

"Back to that, are we?" Emma rolled her eyes. "Look, I don't even know where to start, dammit," she huffed. "Why did I almost die tonight? Who are you that somebody would try to kill you? I don't think the fire was an accident, and I think I have a right to know what I landed in here."

"Literally," Regina muttered.

"Yes, being a smartass is so helpful," Emma grumbled.

"Emma," Regina whispered. "This isn't easy for me, you have to understand—"

"Regina," Emma interrupted. "Listen, I know what it's like to be in a difficult situation, I'm certainly no stranger to it myself." She ran a hand through her blonde locks.

"I grew up on the streets of Chicago," she continued softly. "I know from experience how quickly you can end up on the wrong side of the tracks." She met Regina's eyes. "So just tell me what's going on, okay? Are you guys grifters? Hiding from the law? Is the club secretly more than just a gin mill? Are you laundering money for the mob? Making sourdough in the basement? Who did you piss off … and what's Gold's part in all of this?" She sighed. "Just give me something!"

By the end of Emma's increasingly impassioned rambling, Regina's jaw was hanging open. And then she did something Emma didn't expect at all.

She laughed.

"What's so funny?" Emma was really not amused.

"Nothing," Regina said with a smile. "Just … you and me, you know."

"No, I don't know. What's that supposed to mean?"

"You think we're with the mob," Regina pointed out. "And I thought you were working for Gold."

"What? Why would you think that?" Emma asked, sounding offended.

Regina waved her hand. "Never mind," she said. "If I still thought that, we wouldn't be sitting here, having this conversation."

Emma blew out a frustrated breath. "But we're not having a conversation," she hissed. Regina nodded and got up from the bed to walk over to the dresser. Emma couldn't tear her eyes away from her legs, nor from the patch of skin she could see peek out through the gaps between the buttons of her pajama top. "Where are you going?" she asked once she felt confident it wouldn't come out in a moan.

Regina ignored her as she picked up her pants and unrolled them. She picked up the badge with her left hand and the gun with her right, hiding the badge behind her back before turning around to face Emma, gun pointed straight at her.

"Woah," Emma jumped off the bed. "Seriously, Regina?"

Regina immediately lowered her .38 Colt PPS. "What? No," she cried out. "I'm sorry, it's just a habit."

"You have a habit of pointing guns at people?"

"It's in my job description, Ms. Swan," Regina replied calmly and just a little condescendingly. She held out her left hand and revealed the badge hidden in her palm. "Take it," she said softly when Emma made no move.

"You're a copper?" Emma made it sound as if Regina had just told her she was a fairytale character.

"Special agent, actually," Regina replied as she took Emma's hand and dropped the badge in her hand. "Division of Investigation."

"This looks brand new," Emma murmured. "Is this even real?"

Regina sighed. "Yes, it's real," she said patiently. "And it looks brand new because it's a new design and we just got these."

"You're G-Men?" Emma ran her thumb over the words on the badge. "But how? I thought there weren't any women agents."

"There aren't, apart from me." Regina took the badge back, and put it and the gun back on the dresser. "I'm a bit of a special case … this is a special case."

"And David and Killian and—"

"All agents." But there was a faint trace of hesitation in Regina's voice. "We're here undercover …"

"But you think one of them betrayed you," Emma stated. "Killian?"

"I think he was turned, yes," Regina confirmed her suspicion. "I think he started the fire tonight to destroy all the evidence we've collected so far."

"That's why he tried to put the blame on me …" Emma growled. "You're after Gold, right? What made you think I'd be working for him?"

Regina smiled. "He's planning something big for this week, and having a plane conveniently show up when he needs to transport contraband was just too much of a coincidence."

Now it was Emma's turn to laugh. "I think I should take you to meet the Lady tomorrow morning, so you can see her for yourself," she offered. At Regina's confused look she added. "The Lady is my airplane, and it's good for a lot of things but not transporting anything bigger than two people and a couple of bags."

Regina took a step closer to Emma, ending up just a few inches from her. "So you're really just a pilot," she whispered with a smile.

Emma swallowed at the close proximity of the half-naked woman she found so irresistibly attractive. "Test pilot, yeah," she rasped. "And you're a copper."

"Agent," Regina murmured as she inched even closer, not taking her eyes off Emma's.

"Flatfoot." Emma's hand wandered to the lapels of Regina's pajama top without her conscious choice.

"Charming," Regina muttered as her fingers ran up Emma's arms, making the tiny hairs stand up and a shiver run down Emma's spine.

Emma gasped. "Gumshoe." She licked her lips, her eyes flicking from Regina's eyes to her mouth.

"Agent," Regina insisted once more, one hand moving into Emma's hair, the other fisting the front of her wife beater. She saw Emma open her mouth to call her something else and growled low in her throat. "Don't you dare."

Emma gave her an evil grin. "Di—"

Emma never got to finish as Regina's lips claimed the sound, turning it into a moan instead. Emma's hands clenched in the silken fabric of Regina's top, pulling the other woman as close as physically possible. Their kiss started out soft, a gentle taste, a soft reconnection, but turned hot and wet within seconds. Emma moaned into Regina's mouth as their tongues met again and again, teasing softly, playing hard to get, discovering the best way they fit together in their dance.

Regina wrenched her mouth from Emma's before she was entirely unable to control herself. "Do you … don't you think … do you think this is a good idea?" she panted, voice breathless and raspy, mouth pressed against Emma's throat.

"I don't know," Emma replied with a small moan, and she really didn't. "I just know that I've never wanted anyone the way I want you." She captured Regina's lips again, the kiss burning them both with its passion.

Regina was entirely helpless against the onslaught of feelings Emma's words caused in her body. Her insides clenched, and from the throbbing of her core she suspected that her center had a direct link to her eardrums. Heat rushed from her belly outward to every cell of her body, causing her to clench her fists in Emma's shirt and hair. She knew in that moment that this had the ability to destroy her if it turned out that she and Emma weren't on the same page. This was the moment when she realized that David had been right: she was falling in love with this woman.

"I want to make love to you," Emma murmured in her ear, gently nibbling on Regina's earlobe. "Please."

It was Emma's choice of words that allowed Regina to let go, to give herself permission to feel it all, to let this happen. With a growl she grabbed the hem of Emma's wife beater and pulled it up and over Emma's head, almost ripping the fabric in the process.

The ferocity of the action almost caused Emma's knees to buckle as her arousal climbed impossibly higher. Her fingers began pulling at Regina's top, threatening to just yank it off.

"Please don't," Regina whispered with a small smile. "Right now this is the only shirt I own."

Emma pressed a kiss to Regina's jaw as she set to working the buttons one by one, a task made so much more difficult by the way Regina licked and nibbled on her throat, right below her ear. When the final button was opened, she pushed the silken top to the floor, not caring where it fell or what happened to it. All she cared about was the sight before her.

"You're so beautiful," Emma breathed, almost inaudibly. "So damn beautiful."

Regina empathized with the awe in Emma's voice as she felt the same thing when looking at Emma. "You're magnificent," she whispered, running her hands over Emma's torso, watching goosebumps erupt where she touched. "Absolutely magnificent," she added with a small flick of her thumbs against Emma's nipples.

That proved too much for Emma's patience. With a groan she turned Regina and gently pushed her onto the bed, then crawled after her, slowly covering her body, dropping kisses from her navel all the way up to her mouth. Her hands tried to touch everywhere at once, wanting to do everything to Regina, and all at once.

Her hands cupped Regina's breasts, fingers teasing the dusky nipples until they were impossibly hard. Regina's continuous moans were her reward and she sucked one nipple into her mouth to see what other noises she could coax from Regina's body.

Regina groaned as Emma's mouth covered first one breast, then the other, flicking back and forth between them. Regina's arousal was growing steadily, exponentially, embarrassingly quickly. Needing to get some control back, she flipped the over and offered Emma's nipples the same treatment before working her way lower.

All coherent thought fled Emma's mind when Regina began her slow descent down her torso, trailing her tongue, lips and teeth over every surface, running over the dips and curves of Emma's stomach muscles. When she reached the jeans still covering Emma's lower half, she paused and gave Emma a look from beneath dark lashes. Wordlessly she tugged at a belt loop.

"You were the one who wanted me to put them on," Emma reminded her with a chuckle and a raised eyebrow.

"I've changed my mind." But Regina didn't make a move apart from running her fingertips slowly over Emma's skin just above her hipbones.

Emma had enough of waiting. Her fingers flew to the buttons of her jeans, ripping them open and pushing the fabric down until Regina finally took over and pulled them all the way off, leaving Emma suddenly very naked. Oh, forgot about that, Emma thought.

Regina didn't miss the way Emma looked suddenly self-conscious. "You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen," she said softly as her eyes freely roamed over Emma's body.

"Your mirrors must all be damaged then," Emma quipped. She reached out and tugged on the waistband of Regina's panties. "Off?"

Regina nodded, holding her breath, even more so when Emma sat up and oh so tenderly removed the last piece of clothing from her body. The second the offending garment was gone, Emma pulled Regina into her arms and reclined again, pulling the other woman on top of her. They both groaned at the feeling of their naked bodies meeting from head to toe for the first time, and kissing again seemed like the next logical move.

"Touch me," Emma begged between kisses. "I can't wait to feel you."

Regina saw no reason to deny Emma her wish and trailed one hand down Emma's body, taking her time to linger here and there. By the time she reached her goal, Emma was trembling beneath her, one hand curled around Regina's body, the other gripping the sheets so hard her knuckles were white.

Regina leaned on one elbow and gently freed the sheet from Emma's fierce hold, coaxing the hand open and lacing their fingers instead. Emma's fingers tightened painfully around hers when Regina ran a finger of her free hand through Emma's wet curls. She stopped at Emma's entrance and looked at up for reassurance, which she got immediately. "Please," Emma moaned.

Regina kissed Emma deeply as she pushed a finger into her, both of them groaning at the feeling. She quickly picked up a rhythm, half dictated by Emma's rising and falling hips, half by her own body as it pressed itself against Emma's thigh to get some relief.

"More," Emma cried hoarsely, "God, Regina … more."

Regina added a second finger and repositioned herself a little to add the power of her thigh to the thrusts of her hand. Emma wound her free hand into Regina's hair and pulled her in for an open-mouthed kiss that curled Regina's toes and tore a growl from deep within her chest.

Regina's body was on fire. She was sweating as her fingers were pushing ever harder and faster into Emma, in a rhythm that Regina could feel deep in her heart and her own center, dripping with need. Every push against Emma sent her closer to the edge as well. If Emma touched her now, she'd be a goner. "Come for me," she coaxed in a whisper. "I'm so close. Come for me."

Emma felt like she was floating on a cloud of arousal. She tightened her grip on Regina's hair and hand in an attempt to find more purchase for her body to push up against Regina. She was so close, close, close to the edge, blood rushing through her veins, the noise so loud in her head that she almost missed what Regina was whispering. With her last remaining bit of focus she ran her hand down Regina's back and entered her from behind, glad for her long arms and Regina's slightly smaller frame.

Regina bit her lip to keep herself from screaming out loud at the unexpected but very welcome move that pushed her up a little, pushing her even harder into Emma, and they both let out a raspy moan. "Yes, God, yes." Regina's voice was hardly recognizable, deep and guttural. "I'm so close," she ground out, trying to hold back a moment longer. "So close. Come for me." Emma, Emma, Emma.

Emma loved hearing Regina speak, loved how her voice was dripping with raw sex. She sounded far away, lost in desire, and Emma's arousal jumped yet another notch. And when Regina ordered her to come? That's when she came hard, Regina's name on her lips in a joyful cry.

Regina felt Emma's orgasm from the tips of her fingers to her toes, but it took hearing her name being shouted loudly from those perfect lips to push her over the edge right after Emma with a cry of her own.

They lay together quietly after that, Regina with her head resting on Emma's shoulder, hands still clasped in a loose grip. Every few seconds, Regina nuzzled closer against Emma's neck, pressing a kiss against the skin beneath her lips, until Emma pulled her close enough for their lips to touch in a series of tender kisses.

They kissed for a long time, simply trading little touches ranging from hot and heavy to sweet and tender, simply basking in the afterglow, both feeling content and sated. Their kisses slowed down naturally as the day caught up with them and they began drifting off.

Regina's breathing became even and regular, and Emma didn't have the heart to move her to the side. When she was sure Regina was asleep, just a second before she followed her into the land of slumber, Emma pressed her lips to Regina's hair.

"I think I'm falling in love with you," Emma whispered into the night and promptly fell asleep.

Missing the wide smile on Regina's face and the way her eyes lit up in wonder.

Annotations:

doggy — being well dressed but feeling self-conscious about it
gooseberry lay — stealing clothes from a clothesline (the expression comes from hobos making a living by stealing clothes from clotheslines, preferably on a Monday morning; if they were in need of money, they would wait until the housewife had put out her wash, then would descend on the clothesline, pick up an armful of clothes, and scurry away to sell them)
grifter — con artist
gin mill — place that serves liquor, usually illegally
sourdough — counterfeit money
copper, flatfoot, gumshoe, dick — police officer

The chapter title is a song by Cole Porter, written in 1934 for his musical Anything Goes.

Regina's gun is a standard issue .38 Colt Police Positive Special, a gun built especially with law enforcement in mind as the target group. It was produced from 1908 to 1995 and is the most successful of all Colt models with over 750,000 built.

Regina's badge: When the Bureau of Investigation's name was changed to Division of Investigation at the end of 1933, special agents voted for a new badge design. The new design retained the same style of badge but had its size slightly increased and was cast with a slight curvature. The badges modeled in this fashion first came to be used in April 1934, but were in use for less than two years before changing a final time after the DOI was changed to the FBI (also see not on the prologue).