And so Regina did, Emma went to her own chamber to fetch bedroom attire, cleanse herself and acquire clothes for the following day whilst Regina prepared herself for bed. Regina slept soundly that night, comforted by Emma's presence although she told herself that she was just worn out from the day. Emma did not sleep well, she kept glancing over at her sleeping queen, she looked beautiful and peaceful and Emma wondered how long it had been since someone had seen her so. When Emma did close her eyes all she could see were images of the queen in the bath. Emma hadn't intentionally looked, in fact she had tried hard not to look and she thought she had been successful but in the darkness of night her mind let the images filter through the barrier she had set up. Emma repeatedly jolted herself out of her slumber before her mind got too carried away.

Emma was already awake, the Queen noted with surprise as she opened her eyes in the light of a new day, it had been so long she had almost forgotten since she had slept the night the whole way through, she felt refreshed and much, for want of a better word, happier for it. Emma smiled over at her. "Good morning Regina."

"Good morning Emma." The queen returned not caring about the lack of formality, it felt right. Well Regina assumed it would probably weird to have someone who had just stayed the night in her room only to refer to her using formality. In fact it was just weird to have someone share her room with her without bedding them, but she was glad she hadn't, this puzzled Regina but then again lots of things puzzled the queen when it came to the blonde.

Emma tailed the Queen out of the room only to find that she was going to her bathroom so she stopped outside the door, Regina turned and smirked. "What are you waiting for dear? Surely you can't be nervous?" The queen teased, though the term of endearment was not lost on Emma. She hesitated before following the queen.

"Why don't you have any maids to help you?" Emma ventured.

"I don't need them." Regina waved her hand and filled the tub to demonstrate herself. "I can dress myself." She added wryly smirking at Emma as she let her sleeping robe cascade of her body as she looked at Emma over her shoulder. Emma's face heated and she took a seat, careful to avert her eyes. "Come come Emma, it's not like you haven't been in this position before." Emma could swear from the playful glint in Regina's eyes that she had read her thoughts from last night.

"I kinda was a bit more concerned with other matters." She quickly quipped to cover her emotions.

"Look at me." The queen commanded. Emma turned and locked eyes with the queen refusing to allow her eyes to wonder like she wanted them to. Regina's eyebrow twitched. "Properly Emma, head, to, toe." Regina pronounced her words clearly, Emma did as she was commanded and the brunette revelled in the way Emma tried to repress a shiver of excitement. Finally the green eyes pierced back into her brown ones and she nodded, showing her satisfaction at the blondes' obedience before turning to get in the tub.

"So tell me Emma, how old are you?"

"Twenty and eight years. And you?"

"Not talking like one of the guards yet then? I have two years on you. Why did you not leave earlier, and why are you not yet married?"

"True love, it can be a pain in the royal ass but at least it gave me an excuse for not having an arranged marriage. My parents couldn't exactly force marriage upon me when they champion true love. As for escaping, well I've had many failed attempts before. The most successful had me hiding in the woods for a week before I was discovered, and still the guards were foolish enough to let me go to the bathroom by myself whilst out on a ride." Regina laughed.

"No true love then? No one captured your heart?"

"Far from it. And what of you, everyone knows of your arranged marriage but have any of the men you have bedded meant anything to you?" Regina tensed at the mention of her deceased husband who had been one of the figures haunting her recently, along with that of her dead beloved. Emma sensed the tension. "You aren't obliged to tell me."

"I never bedded the man I wanted to. He was taken from me." Regina's eyes threatened tears on her so she blinked slowly and averted her head. She felt Emma's presence close up to her.

"I'm sorry, Regina. What was his name?" The blonde enquired softly. It had been years since she had mentioned his name, although all her acts of vengeance were done in his name. And it had been even longer since she had talked to anybody about him. Part of her wanted to blast Emma through the wall but she found the name slipping between her lips in a choked sob.

"Daniel." Emma rested a comforting hand on Regina's bare shoulder and suddenly she couldn't contain herself, all these years she had kept her emotions bottled up and now they spilled forth through gasps forced through a constricted windpipe. "He was our stable boy. I loved him. He loved me. We were engaged. But I saved a princess and the king wanted to marry me. My mother said yes. We were going to elope. Then she killed him. He died lying in my arms. She never should have known. I took my vengeance so long ago but there's still a hole in my heart."

"I heard you didn't even have a heart." Emma joked.

"My mother" Regina spat out the word "ripped out Daniels heart."

"OK, that joke was in bad taste, I'm sorry." Emma visibly cringed as she absorbed this new piece of information about the brunettes life knowing it largely contributed to the person she was today. Emma moved back to her seat and they both were silent as the brunette bathed.

Regina stepped out of the bath to be enveloped by a towel and the blonde's arms. Emma rubbed the towel on Regina's skin and held her close, trying to convey the feeling of inexplicable warmth she had for the queen. The queen was stiff at first but eventually relaxed as Emma towelled her dry.