The Wrong Lion

Emma and Regina woke up exhausted, only getting a few hours of sleep. Regina was anxious to talk to Tinkerbelle, but Emma convinced her they needed to stop for coffee.

When they got to the walkway outside Granny's, Regina abruptly stopped. Emma had taken a few steps before she turned around and looked at Regina curiously. "You okay?"

Regina looked through the windows to see Ruby waiting on the Charmings at one table, Granny serving several of the dwarves at the bar and then turned to Emma. She walked up to the blonde and half smiled. She reached out and took Emma's hand softly.

Emma just looked at her in surprise and smiled. She knew this was a huge step for Regina, and squeezed lightly in encouragement. With one nod, she led the way toward the diner, Regina in tow.

Emma pushed the diner door open and held it open for Regina to follow her through. When Emma let the door close behind her she felt Regina squeeze her hand nervously.

The bell on the door had alerted everyone that someone new had entered, and Regina felt as if every eye in the place was on her. The Charmings and Ruby did look over, and Granny peered up over the brim of her glasses. Several of the dwarves were curious as to what Granny was looking at and turned around.

Noticing how uncomfortable the two women were, Mary Margaret put her hand on David's, encouraging him to follow her lead. "Morning Emma, Regina," she said kindly. Then she turned back around and returned to her breakfast.

David cleared his throat after smiling at the two and returned to his plate.

Ruby winked at Emma as she walked back toward the kitchen.

Granny noticed the dwarves staring and smacked a few on the arm. "Hey. Mind your own business," she said gruffly under her breath.

Emma and Regina walked toward the bar to order their drinks. Leroy had seen them enter and was still staring wide eyed and slack jawed, holding his mug of coffee. He rudely gaped openly at them as they stood in line.

Emma smiled at Regina and shook their hands lightly. "You good?" She looked as Regina had a strange look on her face.

Regina thought that she would feel embarrassed and uncomfortable at her and Emma's subtle display of affection. But she found she felt quite the opposite. She realized she felt the same way Emma did, that she was not ashamed at all, but proud. The savior was in love with her. This beautiful, strong, confident, remarkable woman loved her. Not only that, Regina found that her love of shocking those around her, at doing the last thing people expected was still alive and kicking.

Emma was a bit concerned until Regina looked at her and smiled. Then Regina completely shocked her by leaning in and offering a sweet kiss to her lips.

It was brief, but a huge step in their relationship. Emma smiled in surprise as Regina pulled back and just looked at her. Both women sighed happily.

A huge shattering crash from behind them caused them to spin around. The entire diner turned to see what the cause of the noise was. There was Leroy, face in utter shock, shattered coffee mug on the floor in front of him.

He stared back and forth between Regina and Emma, mouth and eyes wide. After a few moments of complete silence from the room he finally spoke up. "That was the hottest thing I've ever seen!"

Another moment of awkward silence ended when Granny leaned over the counter and smacked him hard up the side of his head. He let out a loud "Ow!"

"Come here," Granny cried as she grabbed him by the ear, turning him away from the two women.

The rest of the diner shook their heads at him and continued on with their breakfasts. Emma and Regina rolled their eyes as they smirked at each other.

XXXXXX

Emma walked into the convent and asked Blue for a meeting with her and Tink. Emma had to tell Regina to take a deep breath as Tink walked in nervously.

"Regina, Emma. Blue says you're here to see me?"

Regina took an aggressive step toward her. "You're a terrible fairy."

"Regina!" Emma chided as Tink looked at her in shock.

"What?" Tink choked out. "I thought we were past this."

"Your fairy dust? The stuff that led me to Robin? It was wrong. Robin's not my True Love."

Tink tilted her head to the side. "Regina, I know you're disheartened by all that has transpired, but-"

Regina cut her off. "Robin's not my True Love."

"What makes you say that, Regina? The pixie dust clearly-"

"If Robin were my True Love, then how could I break the Dark curse over Emma with True Love's kiss?"

Tink stepped backward in shock, looking from Regina to Emma who nodded. "B-But I thought Hook-"

"No!" Emma exclaimed in annoyance. "Why does everyone keep saying that?!"

"Well, it's no wonder, the way you went around town sticking your tongue down his throat," Regina said.

Emma scoffed and hit Regina across the arm. "You're one to talk!"

Blue crossed her arms and smirked. "I see the whole True Love thing hasn't changed things much."

Regina shot her a killer glare.

"So you're..." Tink pointed at Emma and then back to Regina in confusion. "But, that doesn't make sense! The fairy dust-"

"Was wrong," Regina spat in annoyance.

Emma stepped forward. "Tink, has this ever happened before? The dust leading to the wrong person?"

Tink shook her head. "No, never."

Regina let her arms fall to her sides. "Figures. The one fluke happens to me."

Emma gestured to Tink again. "What about if that person's True Love hasn't been born yet."

Tink shrunk up her face in disgust. "I don't know. That's kinda creepy."

Regina scoffed. "28 year curse, suspended in time, remember? It's not like Emma's a toddler."

Emma shrugged her shoulder. "Come to think of it, you are kinda old for me." The Evil Queen returned to the surface for a minute, shooting daggers at Emma. Emma laughed softly and turned back to Tink. "What about if they were, I don't know, in a different realm. That's happened before, hasn't it?"

Tink shifted her weight and nodded. "Yes but if that's the case then the dust doesn't go anywhere. It kind of, forms this looking glass kinda thing giving a glimpse into the other realm and shows the person we're looking for. It doesn't just go picking people at random."

"But in this case it did," Emma scratched her head.

"Not necessarily," Regina said, looking at the two fairies. "Emma has a lion tattoo."

Both fairies looked at Emma in surprise. Tink finally understood. "The dust wasn't leading to Robin. It was leading to the tattoo!"

Blue shook her head. "There's probably many people who have one of those. The dust wouldn't just pick someone with a lion tattoo. Unless..."

"Unless the tattoo was enchanted," Regina declared. "Even then someone was conspiring against me finding my True Love by leading me to the wrong person."

Emma folded her arms across her chest. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Regina scowled and nodded her head. "Yes. You don't get an enchanted tattoo and not know about it."

Blue and Tink just looked at each other as Regina pulled out her phone and dialed. When the person picked up she pursed her lips.

"We need to talk."