Emma sat in front of a roaring fire. She was comfortably basking her toes in the warmth of the flames several feet from her chair when she heard a rustling of fabric. She craned her neck around the luxurious, high backed chair to see nothing. Shrugging it off, she turned back to the flames licking the logs decadently. Suddenly a chillingly familiar voice sounded in her ear.

"Just can't stay away."

The blonde's heart leapt to her throat and she whirled to see the Queen standing with hands on her hips and garish (if enticing) cleavage thrust forward. Emma fought to master her emotions and anxiety as anticipation trickled into her veins. "I believe these are my dreams you are crashing. Isn't that breaking some sort of magic code or something?"

The Queen shifted to settle into a chair opposite of Emma's that had not been there before. She arched a brow and pursed her lips much in the way her less threatening counterpart was apt to do. "When does evil play by the rules?"

"Fair point." Emma conceded. She was hoping to keep the mesmerizing woman talking long enough to awaken herself before she could actually get her hands on her. "But why are you still visiting me? My body isn't having fever anymore; I'm not hallucinating. Why are you still interfering?"

"I couldn't come calling on you if you didn't want me to."

"Is that part of the magic code?"

"It's simple magical physics. Like gravity or inertia. I wouldn't have the ability to do so if you were to completely block me out."

"I have!" Emma shouted rising to her feet and stepping back. "You nearly raped me!"

"Nearly? I believe I successfully violated you…but as I recall…" the Queen hummed in humor. "You weren't entirely unresponsive."

Emma blushed but hoped the dim light cast by the fire would mask her humiliation. "Well, you can leave now. I have no need for you."

"I disagree." The woman stood and stepped toward her. "I believe you need me desperately."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because I'm the closest you'll ever get to crawling between your mayor's thighs." The remark was crude and crass and typically evil. Emma growled in her throat. "That's what you want isn't it, dear? To bed the illustrious Mayor of Storybrook? To wrap your fingers in those dark tresses and press your lips to that," She raised a hand and Emma couldn't help but follow it with her eyes as it stroked down her neck, over her collar bone, and into the soft swell of her breasts. "tender flesh?"

"You don't know what I want." Whispered Emma in horror as the woman stepped forward and her own feet were glued to the floor. The brunette raked her hands up Emma's body and the blonde fought against the emotions rising to the surface.

"Yes, I see it in your eyes. Lust is something I understand better than anyone. It's something that your beloved Regina understands as well. Do you think there is any tenderness to be had in her arms? Gentle lovemaking is not her Highness's style at all." The brunette smirked and leaned into the blonde's shivering body. She wrapped her red lips around the delicate flesh of her collarbone and bit down as she sucked, causing the blood to rise to the surface and bruise the creamy skin.

"You don't know her." Emma found her voice against the Queen's neck as she continued to lick and suck painfully at the pulse-point next to her throat. "She's not like you."

The Queen cackled. "You're a fool, Emma Swan. She's exactly like me." Dark eyes captured green for a moment and Emma could feel her pushing against her mind. Her tone softened slightly and the brunette backed up. "A bigger fool than I thought." She took another step back as apprehension and confusion leapt across her striking and cruel features. "You don't just lust after her; you care for her."

Emma awoke, twisted in the sheets as her alarm clanged loudly in her ear. Sweat sheened on her body as she fought her heart rate. What the fuck was that? She thought. How is that woman still in my dreams? She didn't know how much more of the nightly visitations she could take. The blonde grumbled as she shut off the alarm and rose to get her son up and get ready for work.

Regina hefted the stack of papers and entered the police station. Her heels clicked purposefully in the hallway as she stepped through the door, "Sheriff…" she began but stopped when she took in the sight of Emma slumped over her desk, head on her hands and soft breaths fluttering her disheveled blonde curls. The brunette froze; unwilling to wake the slumbering blonde but equally unwilling to miss a chance to speak with her. Wait, what? Since when did Regina Mills seek out a conversation with Emma Swan? Since I woke up in bed spooning her, her subconscious answered for her. Pushing the thoughts away she slammed the door behind her and Emma sat bolt upright, spilling her coffee all over her shirt.

"Damn!" She hissed and stood, wiping the lukewarm liquid down her front and succeeding in spreading the stain.

Regina smirked. "Jumpy?"

"You slammed the door." Emma accused and went to the closet in the room to shuffle aside clothing as she looked for another shirt as hers was now dripping.

"You were sleeping."

"Yeah, well…." She rubbed her mouth to make sure there was no drool. "I didn't get much rest last night." Her voice darkened and Regina stepped into the room to drop the paperwork on her desk and sit in the chair opposite.

"I would have thought you would be recuperating from your illness."

"Me too." Emma pushed aside a few oversized shirts. "But…alas, it was not to be."

Regina considered her carefully. "Did you have company?"

"Yeah, I didn't tell you?" Emma looked at her over her shoulder. "My dating life has really picked up since the curse broke."

"Funny." The brunette returned without humor. "But I was referring to the Queen."

"I know what you were referring to." Emma finally settled on a sweatshirt and pulled it from the closet. "Yes, she can't seem to leave me alone."

Regina frowned and knit her brows. "But you're fever is gone."

"Yep."

"So you're not hallucinating?"

"I wish." Emma sighed. "Why is this happening, Regina? Is it magic? Because I'm pretty damn sure it's not normal whatever it is." She swept a hand through her hair and mopped her desk off with crumpled Granny's napkins left over from her hasty breakfast.

"Perhaps they're just nightmares?" Regina offered as her brain whirled and clicked, trying to make sense of all that was happening.

"Nightmares, huh? Do nightmares leave love bites?" Emma pulled her coffee stained shirt over her head and stood in her tank-top. She was somewhat startled by her own boldness and hadn't exactly planned on changing wardrobe in front of the Mayor but the look on shocked look on the brunette's face was priceless.

She leapt out of her chair and strode to the blonde. Taking her chin in her hand she jerked her head away to stare at the hicky on her neck. "But how…?"

"You tell me." Emma huffed. Trying to ignore the gentle but firm pressure of Regina's hands on her skin.

"She marked you." The words sounded dangerous and husky coming from the brunette and a shiver crept up Emma's spine. "That bitch marked you as hers." Was that jealousy that Emma heard?

"I wouldn't say I'm her's-" The blonde began.

"No, you are most definitely not." The brunette ran a finger over the bruise and then released her before stepping back. "You don't belong to her."

"So how do I stop this?"

"We need to figure out how it is happening to stop it."

"Alright." Emma's voice was muffled as she pulled the sweatshirt over her head. "So how is this happening? Is it anything like the 'burning room' that the victims of the sleeping curse go to when they sleep?"

Regina winced at the thought of Henry's nightmares and her hand in their origin. "Perhaps, does this happen every time you go to sleep?"

"No, just when I'm sleeping deeply."

"When you're most vulnerable." Regina confirmed in a quiet voice. "She's getting past your defenses somehow."

"But what is she?"

Regina stepped back and sat down in her chair again as she watched Emma pace. "She's not real."

"Not real?!" Emma rounded on her in agitation. "She gave me a fucking hicky! She literally sucked my neck with her luscious little mouth until she burst blood vessels!"

"Luscious?" Regina couldn't hide her smirk.

"Not funny, it's an expression." Emma mumbled. "The point is, she's real enough to really hurt me. What if she actually…you know…tries to…" she trailed off with a shiver.

"That's not going to happen." Regina's voice went hard and cold as she stared deeply into Emma's eyes and the blonde remembered the evil woman doing the same to her last night. "As I was saying, she doesn't exist outside your mind. She's real, but not with an actual sense of physical embodiment."

"Right. So how do you fight a dream?"

"There are ways." Regina said vaguely.

"It didn't work out so well for those kids on Elm Street." Emma muttered. "So she only exists in my mind, attacks me when I'm weakest, and can do me real, physical harm. But how did she get there?"

"Perhaps she's an embodiment of your version of the Evil Queen." Regina said quietly. "You possess magical ability; that makes you more sensitive and aware of the intangible things in life. Perhaps she does exist in Storybrook and the Enchanted Forest but only as an idea or a pure form of energy."

"Like a ghost?"

"Like an amalgamation of everyone's perception of the Evil Queen." The brunette shrugged. "Why she is targeting your rather than your mother or Henry, however is beyond me."

"The magic thing?"

"Perhaps," Regina cocked her head to the side and stared into space. "But she has some connection with you; she seeks you out specifically."

"Couldn't be my animal magnetism?" Emma joked nervously and Regina stared. "That was a joke, Mayor."

"But it could be true."

"The Evil Queen wants to seduce me?"

"If she thinks that you and I are…involved, I could very well see her desiring that. It would make her marking you make sense. She thought it would bother me." Regina pursed her lips in thought. "Does she ask about me?"

Emma looked down to hide the blush creeping up her face. "She mostly just harasses me, but yeah, she talks about how you two are similar-."

"-We are."

"-and I defend you." The blonde finished over her.

"I bet she doesn't like that. I'm sure that only eggs her on. If she believes that we…care for one another, it would only serve to rile her even more."

"What do you suggest I do? Renounce you and throw myself at her?" Emma snorted in exasperation.

"Of course not." Regina snapped and glared. "But we need to find a way to deter her from stepping into your dreams so candidly." Emma watched the face of the older woman with interest as a shiver of apprehension ran up her spine. What was the brunette planning? The blonde seriously doubted it would come with no heavy price from herself.

Emma tipped into the sofa and popped a beer as Henry sat and finished his homework quietly. He looked up and regarded her for a moment. "Ma, you still look tired."

"It's been a long few days, kid." She returned. And nights, she thought to herself.

"If you need another vacation at Mom's house, I'm sure she would like the company. I know I had a great time over there with both of you. Maybe we could start doing dinner all together or something?" his hopeful voice made her smile and his wistful grin made her heart ache for him.

"Yeah, Henry. I think we could work that out with your mom."

He looked up at her slyly before proceeding. "I think she doesn't hate you anymore."

"Good, I don't hate her either."

"She actually laughed the other night and it wasn't that Evil Queen laugh she used to do around you to make you mad."

Emma remembered the throaty rumble that Regina had treated her to and grinned a bit. "Yeah, she's funny. Who knew?"

"She used to be like that, ya know?" Henry ducked his head back to his homework. Almost talking to himself. Emma didn't press.

"Well, maybe she's getting back to that. She seemed pretty relaxed the other night during the movie."

He looked up and she winked at him. "Yeah, I've never seen her lean on someone. It was weird. You two were fighting kinda during the card game and then she was cuddled up-"

"I don't know that cuddled is the right word." Emma felt her face flush but Henry shrugged.

"Anyway, you both seemed to have a good time. I think you actually like one another; you just can't admit it."

Emma smiled at her son's presumptuousness. Just like Regina. She pushed the thought away as he smirked up at her. She narrowed her green eyes. "I do enjoy spending time with your mom. She's smart and has a wicked sense of humor and she's really fast on her feet."

"Her feet?" He asked.

"It's an expression. It means that she can joke back with me really quickly and catch me off-guard. Not many people can do that to me."

"And that's a good thing? Her catching you off-guard?"

Emma's mouth twisted up again as she failed to suppress another smile. "Yeah, it's not fun to joke with someone that can't get you back." She took a sip of her half-full beer and checked the clock. "Bout finished with homework? It's almost bedtime."