I apologise now for the names of the original characters in this chapter (and future chapters). I couldn't help myself.


Chapter Two: Shifting Paradigm

Regina sat on the plush couch with her son and tried to focus on his relaxed chattering as she also honed in on the conversation happening in the kitchen beyond the hallway.

After summoning tears and anger again to play the part of the scorned employee, she'd gone home as instructed and packed a bag each for her and her son. As she understood it then, her mother was up to her old tricks and Emma was trying to fight back, but her confusion and frustration only mounted as the day went on. By the time Henry was due to leave school, she had a call from her bank to tell her that her account had been frozen and a visit from the building manager to issue a notice of eviction. If it hadn't been for Emma warning her that these things were going to happen, she would have fallen into a catatonic state or throttled somebody within an inch of their life.

Ruby arrived with Henry shortly after three o'clock, hugged her tightly and then drove them across town to a women's shelter. Regina registered at the desk and then waited an hour with her son in the tv room before someone came to fetch them, leading them through a fire exit at the rear and into the back of a simple, black sedan. Only the familiar, bearded face in the back seat made her get in. Without the gentle giant, she would've refused to go anywhere.

"Swannie told them she wouldn't put you through this without a few friendly faces along the way," Ragnar told her after pulling her into another hug, this one more crushing than the last.

"I don't suppose there's any use me asking where we're going or what the f…" She glanced at her son, who seemed entertained by the whole adventure now that they were with his favourite big-buddy. "… or what's going on?"

The Viking offered an apologetic shrug. "You probably know more than I do at this point. I was just told to be here so you wouldn't freak out." He noted her unconvinced expression and sighed. "Whatever this is all about, you know she's gonna take care of you, right?"

Regina nodded stiffly. "But who's taking care of her?"

From the front passenger seat, a face partially hidden by standard-issue sunglasses turned to look back at them. "We are, ma'am."

Other than Emma's, the voices were too calm and too far away for her catch clearly what they were saying and her irritation grew with each muffled utterance. That's it! she screamed in her head. That's enough!

"Henry, I'm going to fix something for dinner, ok? Will you be a good boy and stay here for me?" she pleaded.

"Ok, Mommy," he replied easily. "Can I have juice?"

Regina narrowed her eyes at him. She usually only let him have juice with breakfast, but he obviously sensed that he could push the boundaries a little more today. "I'll see what they have in the fridge. No promises." She kissed his head and wandered towards the kitchen, where the two strangers from the car stood talking to Emma. As she got closer, their voices became clearer, particularly Emma's, which sounded increasingly angry.

"Need to know. Is that all you can say?" the bounty hunter complained from where she stood against the sink. "If anyone needs to know, Regina does. I've been jumping through your hoops for weeks now, keeping my mouth shut 'cause you said it'd be dangerous for her if she knew more. Well, now you have what you wanted; proof that Cora Mills is blackmailing her daughter. I'm not hiding anything else from her. I don't care what you threaten me with."

Regina was tempted to stand out of sight and eavesdrop, but she could tell that this situation was hard on more than just herself. Emma's anger on her behalf helped her to breathe a little easier and she stepped into the kitchen to stand next to her friend. "So, you're FBI?"

The two agents looked at each other and then accusingly at Emma. "Don't look at me. I told you she'd figure it out. Though to be fair, you guys don't make it hard when you dress like that and act like everyone around you is an idiot."

Feeling the tension building again beside her, Regina placed a hand on the small of Emma's back and offered her a reassuring smile. "The cloak and dagger trip to get here kind of gave it away too. Emma, would you mind seeing what they've given us to eat? Henry will be getting hungry soon."

"Sure," the blonde replied. She was worried that she was going to get the silent treatment for the entirety of their stay at the safe-house. Ever since the black car dropped off its precious cargo, her business manager had barely spoken a word to her. But Regina had apparently decided to give her some lee-way now and she was happy to comply with any and all requests if it kept the brunette from being angry with her.

Regina faced the two agents and weighed her options. For years, she'd felt helpless each time Cora resurfaced, and even when the woman was absent, there was always the worry at the back of her mind that refused to let her completely relax. She'd suffered a childhood of emotional abuse, she'd lost her father and husband in mysterious circumstances, and she'd fallen to the brink of homelessness and starvation. Fighting her mother alone had always been an impossible endeavour, but here there were actual authorities with the power to do something she couldn't.

"If you're investigating my mother, I have a few things that might be able to help. How about you show me yours and I'll show you mine?" She saw Emma's head spin round from the corner of her eye and met the raised brow with a wink.


Agents Brookes and Zauberwald agreed to exchange information with Regina and took up use of the kitchen for most of the afternoon, leaving Emma to cook for and entertain Henry. Being generally reticent with their own information, the FBI agents were slow to give up what they knew before knowing that they had information worth having from their new source, but in the end, they left happy – or as happy as Regina could guess based on their closed expressions as they departed for the night.

Henry took longer to settle than usual with being in a strange place and after the exciting day he'd had. Both Emma and Regina had to read to him three times before his eyes began to drift shut, so when the adults found themselves child-free, they were exhausted and collapsed onto the couch simultaneously.

Though wishing that she could just go to bed, close her eyes and sleep until this whole situation was sorted – preferably with her mother behind bars of some sort – Regina knew that sleep would not come. She'd woken up that morning thinking that she knew her life, but now there were so many unknowns and she just wasn't prepared to let them go unsaid any longer. With effort, she pushed herself up and faced her blonde companion.

The bounty hunter was slumped low in her seat, her eyes closed and her brow scrunched together like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. Regina was very tempted to change her mind and leave their pending conversation 'til the next evening, but she never had been very good at procrastinating.

"Emma?" she prompted and shook the woman's shoulder gently.

"Yeah, I'm here," the blonde responded as she snapped out of her stupor and scrambled up to a sitting position. She rubbed her eyes and faced her friend. "Oh, right."

"We don't have to do this now," Regina backtracked, feeling guilty now that she'd obviously woken someone who had worked so hard on her behalf.

"No," Emma protested and shook herself. "I promised answers. And honestly, Regina, I can't wait to get them out. But I need caffeine first." She stood up and stretched. "I think I saw some coke in the fridge."

Regina followed her into the kitchen and made herself some tea while Emma slurped noisily from her can. When she finally sat at the table and looked up at the blonde, she saw a shy smile looking back at her. "So… I guess you need to bring me up to speed on the last few weeks?"

Emma coughed and smiled to herself. "Yeah, I do, but… I kinda need to go back a few years too."

"Years? Emma, I haven't even known you one year yet," Regina replied, feeling suddenly unsure of the situation again. "You haven't been following me for years?"

"No, no! God, I'm sorry. I don't really know how to say this, so you need to bear with me, ok?"

Regina breathed a little easier, nodded and sipped her tea to help calm her. "Ok."

Emma slipped into the seat beside the other woman and wiped her sweating palms on her knees. "I hadn't seen you for many years, but I recognised you that day you collapsed at the fund raiser." Seeing the confusion in brown eyes, she rushed to explain. "You saved me, Regina. Twice. That day someone pushed me into your mother and she wanted to tear me limb from limb – the 'dirty little street rat who was going to take her for all she had', and not long after that in the park; you gave me your sandwich and protected me from my foster dad."

Enlightenment dawned on Regina's face and she set her tea down with a wobble before her hands came up to cover her mouth. Her wide eyes looked the blonde up and down, trying to reconcile this strong adult with her memory of a skinny, frightened child. "Emma?" she asked in a tone that suggested she didn't believe what she was hearing.

The now grown-up street urchin smiled with a mix of sadness and pride. This is it, she thought. She's forever gonna see me as a helpless kid. "That's me."

Regina sucked in breaths through her gathering tears. "I can't believe it," she whispered wetly. Her eyes continued to traverse the healthy, confident woman in front of her and a laugh bubbled up from her throat. "I gave you that sandwich."

"Yeah," the blonde responded shyly. "I'd never tasted anything so good."

"I suppose we're even now then," she added and laughed again at the absurdity of what she was beginning to understand. As the shock began to wear off, she thought about all the weeks that had passed without Emma telling her the truth. "Why didn't you tell me that day at the fundraiser?" she suddenly wondered. "Or at any point after that?"

Emma shrugged and played with the hem of her top. "I kept thinking about how I would tell you and then I'd see you and I'd let other stuff get in the way. I guess, I just worried that you would treat me like a kid if you knew."

Regina's sardonic expression came out to play at that comment and she rolled her eyes. "There are many reasons for me to treat you like a child, Emma." She lifted a hand and began counting on her fingers. "You eat like a child, you sometimes dress like a child, you play make-believe with Henry far longer than I ever could, you climb all over the soft play at the centre, you instigate dare competitions that involve chocolate far too often… should I go on?" She watched as the blonde tried to supress a grin and shook her head. "Emma, I could not feel the way I do about you if I thought of you as a child. Knowing who you were then doesn't change knowing who you are now. I'm sure it's a long story, but some day I'd like you to tell me how you got from there to here."

"Sure. It's not exactly a pretty story, but I'd like that." She was quiet for a while, her thoughts going over and over a particular phrase until she could stand it no longer. "How do you feel about me?" she asked with her heart in her throat.

Having half expected the question, Regina drank most of her tea and then took the cup to the sink to rinse it. She dried her hands and turned to face the blonde again, and all the while, Ruby's voice rang through her head, telling her to just 'lay one on her'. Slowly, so her intentions couldn't be misinterpreted, she stalked closer to Emma and stood over her. She lifted a hand to stroke one side of the blonde's face and then leant down to capture Emma's lips with her own.

They kissed gently, each afraid to burst their perfect bubble if they moved too fast. Emma's hand rose to crumple around the hem of Regina's shirt and they stayed that way until they were forced to come up for air.

Desire-filled eyes gazed down into dazed green as Regina finally answered the question and whispered, "I am most definitely falling in love with you, Emma Swan. Now, rinse out that can and come to bed. I don't want to be alone tonight."


Emma Swan couldn't think of two other people who she would rather be stuck in a house with; her now official girlfriend and Regina's son were as precious to her as family. But, being trapped in a house for three days while the FBI tried to track down a psychotic witch was beginning to take its toll.

Regina was good at being patient. Though she was fairly useless at relaxing when there were jobs to be done, she could bide her time and conserve her energy when circumstances were out of her hand. While Emma paced and cursed the authorities for being incompetent, Regina kept Henry busy and made plans. Plans for dinner; plans for their next fort; plans for Henry's school work; plans for Emma's reading; plans for escape in case of an emergency; plans for how she might keep Emma busy after Henry was in bed; plans for their first date; plans for their first anniversary… and plans for how to keep her family safe if her mother managed to evade the authorities and came after her. Again.

Because, until that woman was either dead or behind multiple layers of bars with no access to the outside world, Regina wouldn't feel safe. Emma had told her how the foster parents who'd taken her from her place of birth to Arizona had died, and Regina couldn't help but feel a little envious. She didn't truly want her mother dead but she did want a life free from the constant worry – the threat of having every good thing stolen from her by the one person who was supposed to love and protect her.

"Emma, stop pacing and come to bed," Regina said as she removed her reading glasses and closed the lid of her laptop.

The FBI agents had taken their phones and any other devices that might be easily tracked, but she'd been allowed this one concession as long as she kept all of the data services turned off. Since they'd pass-locked all of the administrative functions anyway, it wasn't an order she struggled to follow.

"I'm restless," the blonde replied. "I thought when they went to DEFCON 1 with this thing, they'd have a plan to take her down. What the hell are they playing at?"

"I'm sure they're doing everything they can. She has a long history of paying off the right people to get what she wants, and you can bet that she knows someone high up who she can blackmail," Regina noted evenly.

Emma groaned and dragged her fingers through her hair. "How are you so calm about all this?"

The brunette sighed and rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. "I'm not, Emma. Inside, I'm a mess. But living with that woman for so many years taught me to put a mask over anything that might make me appear vulnerable. The difference this time is that I have you, and I have people in a position of power who believe me." She shook her head as she thought about all the years spent defiantly fighting alone. "Daniel… he couldn't fight her, much as he tried to support me. I've been on my own with this for so long that I don't know what else to do but wait to see what the next step will be."

Her girlfriend's explanation and hidden distress gave Emma reason enough to rein in her own frustrations. She climbed onto the bed to kiss Regina and try to offer some reassurance. "I'm not gonna let that witch get her claws into you or Henry."

Regina smiled at the certainty in Emma's voice and pulled the blonde's face down to her own. "My hero," she muttered between kisses and gradually manoeuvred them so she was straddling one of her girlfriend's legs. With most of her weight resting on one elbow, she allowed her free hand to explore until it found an exposed patch of skin at the hem of Emma's tank-top and elicited a moan. "I don't suppose you'd know of any way I could distract you, do you?"

"I think you're already on the right track," Emma replied a little breathlessly.

"Hmm… You mean this…?" Regina asked as her hand disappeared beneath the fabric and found the shape of a breast. Emma said nothing – mostly because her mouth was too busy dancing with Regina's.

For an extended period of time, they remained locked together, their clothes occasionally finding their way to the floor of the bedroom. With their relationship still so young and little else to do after Henry was asleep, they'd fallen naturally into a pattern of chatting about their lives and making out. They were like teenagers again, but up until now, they'd been mostly content to stop when it looked as if their amorous activities were about to cross a line.

Tonight, there was no such effort. A look, a nod, a kiss, and then they were under the covers and the last layers of their clothing disappeared.

Regina stood in front of the bathroom mirror the next morning and grinned at the memory of Emma Swan's hands on her body. She'd done her best to map out every inch of the blonde's pale skin, to remember which areas were ticklish and which made her arch and moan with arousal. She wanted to master her lover's body like an instrument and know exactly how to play each string to hear each note sung sweetly in Emma's most unrestrained tones.

When the blonde wandered in behind her and placed a kiss on her neck before stripping off, Regina felt herself melt. She turned in Emma's embrace and met the lips that fell on hers. "I should get breakfast ready," she groaned with regret as they parted.

Emma nodded. "I think I heard Henry moving around. I'm just gonna grab a quick shower."

"Hmmm…" Regina replied and leaned in for another kiss. Reluctantly, they had to part but it didn't stop her from catching an eyeful of delicious curves as her lover climbed into the bath and pulled the shower curtain around her.

It wasn't until she was in the kitchen, pulling out all of the breakfast paraphernalia, that she remembered the tiny, vertical stripes lining the blonde's waist and realised what they were. Why would she have stretch lines? her inner voice wondered. It was a question she would have an answer for sooner than expected.


A little dramatic irony here. We know where those stretch marks have come from, don't we!