Chapter 7

When she opened her eyes again, their surroundings had changed. Mouth wide open she gazed around. Apparently they had been warped from the vault directly into Regina's sitting room. "But…how did you do that? I thought your magic was pretty weak in that state?"

Regina smiled, smitten by her success. "The reason for this problem lies in the separation between body and soul. As to the originally intended switch with Snow, I doubt I could have accomplished magic, regarding the resentment I harboured against her. But with the two of us being…", she threw her a sceptical eye. "…well, at least some kind of allies, we managed achieve enough propinquity for body and soul so that the magic could start to flow."

Amazed, Emma smiled. "This is awesome!"

Regina returned the smile. "I too believe that this is a great achievement. It certainly will bring us a step closer to breaking the curse." She seemed to consider something. "What would you think about a little drink to celebrate this little success? I really could use one after this day…"

"You're not the only one…", Emma agreed, rolling her eyes.

Regina poured them the drinks and they sat down on the couch. For a moment, the two of them just enjoyed the silence after the long day. Then Regina remarked: "You seem to be kind of exhausted Emma. Was it a rough day for you?" Her voice was bare of hostility or the usual sharpness.

Emma first hesitated, then she admitted, a little bashful: „To be honest, I didn't believe how hard being the mayor is after all… Just in one day I had various people shouting at me for no reason at all or asking my help for things even a five year old could handle by himself. Just because the name plate says mayor they seem to believe I am kind of a maid to them. People actually can be quite annoying."

Regina laughed. „Tell me about it! First thing in the morning I had to climb a tree without any ladder or magical assistance to rescue a cat! Than I spent the whole afternoon driving around town with popsicle princess looking for a person who clearly isn't in town right now. And when I got home Snow tossed me her baby to go shopping… From time to time I had to pinch myself just to make sure I wasn't dreaming all of it."

The saviour raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "Really, Susan got stuck on a tree again?", she asked. "Sometimes I do believe the old lady chases her up there so she can call for help… Honestly, old ladies can be strange sometimes. Granny showed up in the office today trying to, I don't know what, intimidate me?"

"She's just too impatient. You have to be strict with her if you don't want to be bothered everyday" , Regina replied, waving her hand in an annoyed gesture.

The two women went on sharing their day's events and laughed about the different and also similar experiences they had made. Reliving even the insightful moments, Emma noted after a while: "Regarding our argument yesterday, I have to admit, I was pretty wrong about your life. You do have a really stressful job to fullfill and a lot of other issues to deal with. Oh…", she added after a moment. "…and I really wanted to apologize for calling you evil queen yesterday. That was … totally inappropriate."

Regina stared at her, flabbergasted. "I… appreciate your apology, Emma.", she said. "And I, too, have to confess that I had been mistaken about your activities. Your job is - as well as your family - quite demanding as I have experienced firsthand today. And maybe I have been… overreacting about your lack of punctuality."

Emma lifted her glass. "To our stressful and complicated lives..."
"To finding a solution for our other little problem." They chinked glasses.

After a while they found themselves too tired to get back to the vault and their cars, so they decided to stay at the mansion for the night. Emma went to the guestroom while Regina was looking forward to waking up in her own bed again.

The next morning, Emma was woken up by Henry's voice. "Mom? Hey mom, what are you doing?" She turned around and tried to wave him away. "Just five more minutes, come on kid!"
"But, mom… why are sleeping in Regina's bed? And…where is she?"
Emma opened her eyes. Emma? Did he just-? She jumped up, her blonde hair falling into her face. Yes. Blonde rules! "Henry", she laughed, "this is a long story. But let us wake Regina first; she is in the guest room. Don't ask why…"
Her son looked sceptical. "I have never seen you waking up so cheerfully… But okay. Then I guess we will have breakfast together?"

Later the three of them were sitting in the dining room, the two women in particularly high spirits, Henry still a little wary. "I know its Sunday, but why on earth are the two of you so extremely happy? And why have you been sleeping in the wrong beds? What has happened yesterday? You two have been acting so strange…"
Emma looked at him a little ruefully. "To be honest Henry, Regina and I had a little fight on Thursday. I think, that is the reason we have been a little weird the last day. We didn't want to worry you, so we tried to conceal it."
"Oh." Henry thought for a moment. "And now you made up again?" The two nodded in unison. "And about what did you argue?", he further interrogated.
Emma looked at Regina. The brunette sighted. "It was nothing, dear, just a little quarrel about punctuality and we took it a bit to far."
"But you know what?", Emma said. "I think I'll take a vacation next week, so I can make up for hiding it from you. I anyway wanted to recover from work. Is that okay with you, Madame Mayor?", she asked, addressing Regina.
The former queen nodded. "It will be a little inconvenient though. The town folk will have to do without the Sheriff and the Mayor at the same time, because I also will be taking a few days of."
Henry smiled. "Awesome! You should quarrel more often if the solution is both of you getting free afterwards!"
The two women shared a tortured smile. "Rather not, Henry…", they answered in unison.