We may not be anywhere near it post-wise, but I thought you guys might like to know that i just started to write the closing scenes of this fic. Does it make you sad, it makes me sad, but then again I'm biased. With that tidbit, enjoy.

Emma sat in her throne room two days later when the new mine safety inspector walked through the door, all charisma and working class charm. Emma knew immediately why Cora had chosen him out of whoever knew how many men she had at her disposal. Not only would the men in the mines listen to him, but she could almost see Cora's face, pleased as punch as she thought about Emma being impressed with him as well. After all, he was a charming peasant, and Emma was just so softhearted, why wouldn't she take to him immediately?

She ground her teeth at the image. Cora was trying to play on her perceived weaknesses. Fine, all was fair in war, but gods damn it all if liking peasants was a weakness. That didn't mean that she couldn't spot a spineless weasel, and the man in front of her, bowing much too low even for a peasant, was a spineless weasel if she ever saw one.

Oh, he was charming, said all the right things, had all the right looks, but there was just something about him that Emma was sure would have set her on edge even if she hadn't known that he was one of Cora's men. It was that kind of charisma that screamed that the person behind the attitude thought they deserved everything. And everything meant everything, money, goods, women, be they willing or not. In choosing what she thought was the perfect peasant to trick Emma, Cora had inadvertently circled back around into the attitude that she hated from all nobles. Emma wondered idly how it had even happened. Cora was always so careful about planning these things.

It hit her like a freight train. The man was test. Of course he was, he had to be. There was no other reason that Cora would pick someone she knew Emma would hate. But what kind of test was he, and had she already failed it? If he was a test to see if Emma had someone reporting back to her in the mines, then she'd already failed, but that was a stupid test. Cora had to know that she had people in the mines reporting to her. It was still her kingdom after all, and those who worked in the mines were employed by the crown. No, it had to be something different.

She thought about it as she regarded the man in front of her silently for a minute. He was still talking, going on about how honorable the men in the mine were and how honored he was to be working with them, how grateful he was to Emma for allowing him to work there. He should have shut up a good two minutes back, Emma thought. Now he was just laying it on too thick. It was pathetic really. But she supposed without court training you never quite learned that subtly might be for the best in some situations. Peasants were much more straightforward.

He had to be a test to see what Emma would do with him. If she banished him from the mines Cora could claim that she was not holding up her end of the contract and then could rightly force her way into the mines. If Emma didn't banish him, then she would still get the added benefit of the mines being opened faster, no matter if the mines might not be as safe as need be.

Emma bit the inside of her lip. If that were true, then Cora only needed a limited supply of diamonds, she didn't care about a sustained supply, or at least she didn't care right away. But why?

It had to have something to do with her plan for her and Regina. That was the only plausible explanation at this juncture. Emma was sure there were others, but it seemed like Cora's entire focus was taken up by Emma and Regina. She had left her own kingdom for months at a time just to see whatever this plan was through. So she needed the diamonds for the plan.

But what kind of magic was so powerful that Cora, a powerful sorceress in her own right, would need diamonds to help power up her magic? Emma swallowed hard at the thought. She didn't think she would like it, no matter what. She would ask Regina later, to see if she had any clue, but chances were it would be the same as always. Regina would not know for certain, she could only guess.

Dread pooled in her stomach as she held up a hand to stop the mine safety inspector's spiel. He looked at her with a charming smile pasted on his face, looking like he was hanging on her every movement. Emma resisted the urge to glare down at him and instead returned his smile with a fake one of her own, leaning just enough forward so he could catch a glimpse of her cleavage. Her smile turned to more of a smirk when he glanced down and didn't look up for a long moment.

"Anden, was it?" she asked, voice light and airy.

The man nodded, tearing his eyes away from her. "Yes, your majesty."

"I find myself rather…" disgusted, enraged, sickened, "charmed, by your speech. Perhaps if you're so honored to work in the minds would wouldn't mind taking on a special project for me?"

She batted her eyelashes just a tad.

"Of course, your majesty, whatever you need." He stood up taller and puffed out his chest.

"Great, you see I've heard some rumors from old mine men that there was a branch within the mines that was showing signs of a huge vein just about to open up before the mine closed. As it is now, it will be one of the last ones to be secured and one of the last ones to be checked for active pockets. I know that Queen Cora is rather anxious to begin our trading, and I'd like diamonds to be available as soon as possible in as large a quantity as possible. You understand?"

The man nodded. "Of course, I will have diamonds for you before you can blink."

Emma smiled again. "Good, good, the C branch of the mines, was where this rumor was centered. You know I only entrust this task to you because of your reputation for fine work and your kind words."

"You won't be disappointed."

Her smile widened. No, she wouldn't be at all. Not with this nitwit in front of her running the show.

"I'm glad to hear it. If you could get to work just as soon as possible I'd be grateful."

"I'll ride out today then and be back to work by afternoon tomorrow at the latest."

Emma nodded. "Thank you."

"No, thank you, my Queen." He bowed and all but ran from the room.

Emma's smile disappeared the second she was alone again. She fought the urge to throw up. Slimy bastard. She felt tired all of a sudden, though it was still morning. Gods, her rule was going to be so very, very long at this rate.

Three weeks, it had taken that idiot three weeks open up the C branch of the mine. Her own mine safety inspector had barely cleared the junction between the branches in the same amount of time. He wouldn't let any of the men in his charge even approach the C branch, let alone go in it. So when Emma had received word that the man was holding an opening ceremony she politely declined, stating that she had far too much work, but that she was pleased with his results. She was sure that Anden was seeing a knighthood in his future. All Emma saw was the possibility of banning the name Anden from the kingdom. Too bad that was a little too dramatic an action for the circumstances. It was a pity.

She did, however, forward the invitation to Cora and took far more than a little pleasure in the act. Let the woman risk her neck if she wanted to, it was no skin off her back. It was wishful thinking, but she hoped that Cora went and got smashed by a particularly big boulder. Cora wasn't that stupid, though, so she supposed sending the invitation would have to be enough.

Even if she wished for Cora to meet her untimely end at the hands of an unstable mine, she didn't wish for her men to as well. She sent word to Anden that work may continue on as long as there were regular safety checks before each shift, to be done thoroughly, with no corners cut. He could spare one man from a shift for an hour to save the rest of them. To make sure he did as she instructed she sent word to Joseph as well, telling him to check up on the other man and check his figures, no matter how he had to do it.

And so work started in her mines, though she hoped it was a long while before diamonds were actually found. She needed as much time as possible to find out what Cora was up to. She had fed her suspicions to Regina, but as she predicted, Regina had only guesses to what her mother could be up to.

Now, with winter showing the first signs of breaking its grip on the land, Emma was busier than ever. Trade agreements were being hammered out anew with other kingdoms, road repairs were being catalogued and planned, crop prospectuses were being put together, preparations to get the fields ready were being worked out. After the relative quiet of the winter in terms of administrative work for the Queen, preparations for the first signs of spring were overwhelming. Emma was almost glad the Cora had forced her to put more responsibilities on her council members. She could hardly breathe as is, she couldn't imagine what it would be like if she had kept up her former level of involvement. It scared her more than a little bit that Cora's advice, at least in some way, had been helpful, even if it hadn't been gone about the right way. But there was no time to think about that.

She needed the rest of her council back, really. Ten men plus her and Regina were not a sufficient force to run the kingdom. But at the same time she did not want to call them right back into danger. No matter what she wanted, as soon as winter cleared, people who had fled in the face of Spring Haven and the Dark Army would come flooding back to their homeland, and Emma knew it. It looked peaceful on the surface now with such a powerful ally on their side, no matter how unnerving they happened to be. She was going to have to deal with it no matter what. Better to have the work force to deal with it, than not she supposed. If she was worked to the bone just to keep her kingdom afloat there was no way she could stop Cora.

She sighed and shuffled another stack of papers in front of her. She would bring up the possibility at the next council meeting if Cora wasn't there. After the first few weeks of being completely absent she had started to show up sporadically again, almost invariably when Emma had news from the mines, though there were a few times when she had showed without the impetus of the mines. Emma had tried unsuccessfully to figure out what the common denominator between the other times had been, but had come up with nothing. Perhaps it had just been Cora keeping her on her toes, though she highly doubted it.

Regina walked into their rooms, shedding her armor quickly and dropping it off in the doorway to their rooms before returning to their sofa. She took some of the stack from Emma and flopped down beside her, smelling of sweat and the icy tang of winter. Emma scooted over so she was leaning against her wife and sighed. Regina wrapped an arm around her for a second and squeezed, taking it back a second later to begin writing on the paper in front of her.

"What's todays work about, farm animals, seedlings, how much gravel will be needed to patch the main highway?"

Emma groaned and leaned against Regina's shoulder. "Taxes of the Southern province."

Regina let out a long breath and went back to writing. "Then it seems I lucked out and got the expected expense report of the royal orchards."

"Hey! No fair, that sounds a lot easier."

Emma made a weak grab for the paper. Regina twisted out of her way and smiled smugly at Emma. "Your loss for not getting to it sooner."

Emma groaned loudly and flopped her head back dramatically. "I knew being a Queen entailed a lot of paperwork, but gods I didn't know it was this much. How many trees have we killed in the last week alone? I'm going for an entire forest."

Regina hummed out her amusement. "Sorry, dear, but I think it's a little less than that."

"So you say."

Emma sighed and worked for a few long moments, reading over the numbers in front of her that were starting to all blur together. She needed a break. Tax reports in her kingdom had to be perfect with just how empty their coffers were. The money from Spring Haven had helped immensely, but almost all of it had gone to paying war debts. Only the barest portion had gone back to replenishing the gold they had lost fighting against the bigger kingdom. So the numbers in front of her were much too important to work tired.

She set aside the paperwork and flopped onto Regina. It amazed her how Regina predicted her movements quickly enough to stop writing every single time. Whenever Regina decided to lean on her too hard her paperwork always had stray lines on it. Knightly reflexes were something to be feared, she supposed.

"What are we going to do? By the time we refill the coffers of the kingdom we'll be old and grey. I mean, a lot of what I wanted to do as Queen required at least a little cushioning just in case it didn't work out as planned. Providing that we survive your mother we will be just scraping by until we have children, maybe longer. Not exactly conductive to sweeping change."

"If you look at it another way it's a perfect time for sweeping change. There's almost nothing to lose." Regina looked down at Emma slumped on her side. She signed the paper she was working on with a flourish and set it aside.

"True enough in a way, but we can't just risk everything. There are the peasants to think about. The nobles could survive well enough on their own elsewhere with the money they have, but we could be taking away what little stability the peasants have. It's a mess."

Regina hummed noncommittally. "If we survive my mother, darling, I suspect we will have less than nothing. She's never lost, but if she does, she will make sure we suffer in return first."

Emma sat up. "Yeah, well, it takes money to build schools for the peasants. It takes money to build plumbing to reduce disease. It takes money to do almost everything. I want a council made up of only peasants to advise what the common people need, but I can't expect them to work for no pay, they would starve."

"Cut the salaries of the regular council. Gods know they don't need the money. Reduce the palace decorating budget, we don't need that either, not if you truly plan on starting to buy our own kingdom's wares. Find some way to do it. I know you can if you think about it." Regina looked over at Emma fondly. She reached out and cupped Emma's cheek. "You have a brain, use it."

"But will the nobles even let me do any of that stuff?"

"You have final say on the decorating budget. There are a great many things that you have final say over."

"But you always taught me to worry about the political fallout of my actions."

"Emma, there are ten men in the council who did not run when the going got tough. Those are the ten men's opinions you need to worry about. Keep them on your side and they will persuade everyone else. If they can't, then they will be by our side come what may." Regina ran a hand through her hair. "If we survive my mother, then perhaps I'll revise my rather conservative outlook on risk because risk is the only thing that will get us through this."

Emma bit her lip hard. For the first time in a long while she did not taste blood at the action. It seemed in the last few weeks her lip had managed to heal. Huh, she hadn't even noticed.

"Well, if it's for the good of the kingdom…"

Regina smiled at her. "Exactly."

She looked back down at the tax report. "But what about the trade contracts with your mother? I know a great many people are excited about the new market open to them. When we take down your mother that market will be closed off to them once again."

Regina shrugged. "There will be other kingdoms that will trade with us, especially now that the diamond mine is running again. They will trade anything you wish with them to get ahold of the diamonds."

Emma thought that over for a few seconds, frowning. "But don't we have at least some responsibility to make sure the diamonds don't go into the wrong hands?"

"The beauty of a monopoly, dear, is that you do have control. We can pick and choose with who to trade. We can pick only trustworthy kingdoms to trade with. Though that does not guarantee that the diamonds won't find their way into the wrong hands now and then, but that is a risk no matter if we trade them or not."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Regina laughed. "Of course I am, darling. I'm your wife. Wives are always supposed to be right."

Emma knocked into Regina lightly. "Hey! I can be right sometimes too you know."

Regina smiled warmly at Emma. "Of course, dear." She leaned forward and kissed Emma lightly. "You did marry me, after all."

Emma snorted. "Sometimes I wonder why." She smiled, eyes twinkling in jest.

Regina rolled her eyes and looked down at her stack of paperwork. "Worry about the trade contracts later, we have to get through today first. Don't forget that. People will make money while the trade lines are open and we'll come to the rest when we get there."

"Yes, dear." She righted herself on the couch and pulled up the tax report again. The numbers weren't blurry anymore, thank the gods. But… "Regina, is there any way I could persuade you to take this tax report off my hands." She turned to Regina and gave her the best puppy dog eyes she had.

Regina considered it for half a second. "No."

"Regina," she whined. "Training our army is a noble cause and all, but that gets you out of all the nasty paper work, pretty please?"

Regina just smiled at her again. "No."

Emma glared, but then had an idea. She set aside the work again, crawling across the couch and grabbing Regina's stack of paperwork as well. She set it aside and then set herself in the paper's place, right on top of Regina's lap.

"Is there really nothing I can do to persuade you?" Her lips were a scant inch from her wife's.

"I'm listening."

Emma smirked in triumph and kissed Regina, lightly at first, but escalating quickly into something much more passionate. A few minutes of heavy petting on the couch and Regina was carrying her into the bedroom, paperwork forgotten.

When they finished up just as the sun was setting over the kingdom, naked, sated, and sweaty, Regina turned towards Emma.

"I'm still not doing that tax report."

Emma laughed and laughed until her stomach hurt. Of course she wasn't, but that didn't seem to matter now. She just pulled Regina into another kiss, still laughing.