David spent the rest of what was supposed to be his evening off looking into Sidney Glass. He found a long criminal record on the man and he also discovered that he had spent many years in various mental institutions. The records showed that he had suffered several mental breaks that usually involved him getting overly attached to a woman that then led to him stalking that woman. This had been going on for years and years, he was obviously a very disturbed man and his time under the care of medical professionals had done nothing to curb his problems. He seemed harmless enough because there was no record of him ever actually hurting anyone and his methods of stalking hadn't been very sophisticated. He was a sick man, not a criminal mastermind. David was pretty confident that the threats in the letter to Emma were nothing more than that, threats. He didn't appear to have the intelligence to cause any real harm.

David sighed in frustration, Sidney's time spent in the mental institutions hadn't seemed to do him any good but he was obviously in need of more help than he received. He gathered a couple of the guys from his department that weren't working on the Gold case and set a few things up before heading over to the address Regina had provided him with. After reading through the reports of the troubled man's history he felt pretty confident that Sidney would have no idea the cops would be calling, but he still didn't expect him to come easily, they never did.

Within an hour David was being driven in the back of a black SUV with blacked out windows to Sidney's home. One of his guys, Eric, was sitting in the backseat with him as backup in case Sydney tried anything funny.

As they pulled up to the address Regina had given him, Philip, who was driving, pulled up alongside the curb and stepped out of the car in full chauffeur outfit, then he confidently strode up to the house and knocked on the front door. The plan was to lull Sidney into a false sense of security by turning up in the same way Regina would have been delivered to him.

It worked because David could see from his position in the back of the SUV, how Sidney glanced between the curtains of an upstairs room and then answered the door a few seconds later. He obviously believed the rouse.

He answered the door with gusto and a smile on his face, "she's here?"

"Are you Mr Sydney Glass?"

"I am, bring her straight in." He ordered, still believing his crazy demands were being met.

"Sidney Glass, I am arresting you on suspicion of blackmail and harassment," he pulls his cuffs from his back pocket and pushes Sydney against the wall and takes his hands around his back where he begins cuffing him, "You have the right to remain silent. If you do say anything, what you say can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult with a lawyer and have that lawyer present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you if you so desire."

Sidney was in too much shock to say anything, he'd been through all this before but he hadn't expected it to happen this time, he really thought that Emma would back down to his crazy demands.

Philip guides him to the SUV where David and Eric get out from the backseats so Sidney can be put inside.

"We are going to have a look around his house, take him down the station and get him booked. Then send a car for us and we'll be back down there later."

"Sure thing, boss," he agrees before getting in the driver's seat and driving away.

David and Eric enter the home and begin to look around, at first everything seems pretty normal. That is, until they open the door to a back room, they turn on the light, which is red, they can see the walls are covered in what looks like black bin bags, and hanging across the room are developing pictures. On closer inspection they can see they are of Emma and Regina.

They continue upstairs, there's nothing strange, nothing that gives away what kind of man lives there, but when they enter the second bedroom that's where they find a shrine dedicated to Regina. Pictures of her cover every inch of the far wall, some of the pictures had Emma in them, but they had a big red cross drawn over her face. The creepiest thing they discover is a pair of panties pinned to the wall amongst all the photographs. They took pictures of everything and then bagged up the panties as well as his laptop, phone and a camera they found.

They left with all the evidence when a patrol car came to pick them up. Back at the station they were able to properly catalogue all their evidence, once the electrical devices had been examined by the tech team, which took for the rest of the night to do. The morning was breaking and now all David needed to do was to get a full statement from both Emma and Regina.

He drained the last of the now cold liquid from his coffee cup and grabbed a doughnut from the box at the reception before calling Emma. It was almost eight so he figured they would be up already and he probably wouldn't be waking them up if he called. Once he got their statements he would be able to go home and get some sleep.

He dialled Emma as he made his way to his car, she was in fact already awake and he informed her that they had arrested Sidney and nothing had been leaked to the press and he was on his way over to take their official statements.

They were just about done with their breakfast when he turned up. It didn't take too long and once he had everything he needed he left them alone, promising to update them whenever he had any news about Sidney or Gold.

"So, nothing has been leaked, that's good news," Kathryn confirms with a weak smile, not looking entirely happy about it. She thought that now there was no chance of Emma and Regina's relationship being leaked there wasn't any reason in them going to the game, now they could keep their secret.

"Don't worry, you can still come to watch the game tomorrow," Emma promises, knowing exactly why Kathryn didn't look happy, "if you still want to?" She looks to Regina for an answer to that.

"You know I want to, but do you really think it's a good idea? If anyone ever found out what I am… what I was," she quickly amends as her shoulders slump and her head drops in shame, "it could still ruin you."

"What you were?" She asks with pained eyes as she takes the brunettes chin in her hand. "You have only ever been Regina. You were forced into an awful situation but that wasn't you. It's not you. I will tell you this as often as I need to until you believe me. I want you to be there with me tomorrow. It's going to be one of the most important days of my life so far and I want the most important person in my life to be there… and her crazy best friend." She throws a wink at Kathryn as she says the last bit.

"Only if you are really sure," Regina concedes.

"Of course she is," Kathryn interrupts. She doesn't want to miss the chance for a day out, but she also knows it will come out about them eventually, at least it will if they want their relationship to work in the long run.

"I am. I'll call my agent and give her a heads up so she can spin it whatever way she needs to so we can protect you and give you a backstory, okay?" Regina nods her agreement and Emma kisses her chastely, happy that it was settled once and for all. "I had better get going, I'll see you later, Sweetheart." After one more kiss Emma leaves for her last training session before the big game, this was her final chance to impress the team doctor and get a starting place in the squad.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The training had gone well and she completed the full session, but by the end she could feel the painful twinge from earlier in the week return to her ankle. She received more anti-pain injections and treatment but her place in the starting line-up still couldn't be assured.

Emma had tried calling Cruella when she was on her way to the training ground but it had gone through to voicemail so she had left a quick message asking her to call her back. That call-back came just after she had showered and was changing into her normal clothes. Thankfully, because of all the extra treatment she had received after the training session, she was the only one left behind, so she was able to talk freely without the worry of anyone overhearing her.

"Cruella, thanks for calling me back." She can tell she is on speaker phone and that her agent is driving.

"I had been meaning to call you anyway, darling. How is your knee?"

"It's my ankle and it's not too bad," she says with an eyeroll.

"Oh yes, your ankle. Well I am glad." Of course she was glad, if the Slayers won tomorrow Emma would get the juicy bonus that was in her contract and Cruella would get fifteen percent of that bonus. "So, what was it you wanted, darling?"

Emma takes a deep breath, knowing that Cruella wouldn't be happy with what she was about to say. "I have a girlfriend and she's coming to the game tomorrow," she quickly gets out.

"A girlfriend? That may do you some good, maybe now everyone will forget your various discretions before you joined the Slayers." She spits out the word 'discretions' as if it burns her mouth to say it. She was still pissed at some of the deals that had fallen through in the immediate aftermath of that shitstorm. "Who is she? Please tell me she's a model or an actress at least."

"Yeeeeah… not quite, and there's a little more to it," her gut clenches at the thought of having to now unload this on her agent, she was well known for having a volatile temper. The image of taking Regina in her arms in front of the crowd after the winners medal has been draped around her neck soon settles her nerves. "You know that big court case in the press at the moment, the one about the women being used as escorts?"

"Yes…" Cruella answers, her voice having dropped a few octaves lower in suspicion.

"Well…urm… she is one of the victims." The line goes quiet but she doesn't say anything else, she waits it out as her stomach knots up again.

"How did you meet her?" Cruella asks, already sure of the answer.

"I was… urm… I was using the agency. The escort agency. I had no idea what was really going on behind the scenes though," she's quick to protest her innocence.

"YOU BLOODY IDIOT! YOU DAMN FOOL!" She was beyond pissed and her knuckles whitened due to her fierce grip on the steering wheel of her car. "I risked my reputation by keeping you on as a client after all the crap you pulled. Then after promising me you would behave yourself you go and do this. I could bloody throttle you."

Emma isn't completely surprised by the reaction she is receiving so she simply sits on the bench in front of her locker and holds her phone a few extra inches away from her ear to save her eardrums from imploding due to the screeching aim at her down the line.

When the shouting has stopped and all she can hear is the huffing breaths of Cruella. She then tries to give her agent what she thinks is good news on the subject, even though it sickens her to think of all the years Regina had lost from being help captive. "She was kept by Gold like a prisoner for all of her adult life and she isn't even originally from Storybrooke so no one knows her and it would take a lot for the press to dig up anything on her. I thought you might be able to make up some backstory for her and feed it to them so they won't have to do any digging. You'd be able to control it all."

"I'm coming over to your place now so we can sort out this bloody mess." She hangs up before Emma could even let her know that she wasn't home yet. She gets dressed in record time so she can try to get home before Cruella gets there. She didn't like the idea of the pissed off woman getting to Regina without her being there.

Regina rushes to the door when she hears a car pull up, she couldn't wait to find out the news of whether or not Emma would be in the starting line-up tomorrow.

She had no idea what to make of the woman dressed in furs with six inch heels on, who was making her way up the steps to the mansion like a woman on a mission.

"Hello, you must be my new headache," Cruella nastily spits as she dashes past Regina and into the house. Regina is frozen to the spot as her mind tries to catch up with what is happening, when it does she closes the door and follows the woman through the house and finds her pacing in the kitchen.

"Who are you?" Regina finally voices when she catches up to her.

"I'm the woman that has to deal with Emma's mess when the shit hits the fan. I think her bloody toilet has a direct line to the fan, considering the amount of crap she brings my way."

"Ah... you're her agent," Regina says out loud.

"Yes, and you're her harlot," Cruella says when she stops pacing and looks her dead in the eyes.

"I'm her girlfriend," Regina tries to confidently state but fails miserably.

"What's all the shouting?" Kathryn asks when she enters the kitchen, looking suspiciously at the crazy eyed woman that was obviously behind all of the shouting.

"Jesus Christ! What is this, whac-a-trollop? How many more of you are going to pop up?"

"Listen, Lady, I don't know who you are but if you keep spouting nasty shit you'll be leaving with less teeth than you arrived with," Kathryn threatens the stranger with the bad attitude.

Cruella raises an eyebrow, not used to being challenged. She then looks towards Regina, obviously the weaker of the two, "gin and tonic," she commands.

She's not sure if it's because Kathryn has stood up to the woman or because she can hear the front door opening, signalling Emma's arrival, but she firmly answers, "sounds lovely, make mine a double."

Cruella's lips angrily twitch at being defied, especially by someone she considers so far beneath her.

Emma's heart races when she notices Cruella's car parked in her driveway. She rushes in the house and follows the voices to the kitchen where she catches her girlfriend's voice sounding a little shaky. "Hey," she cautiously greets as she enters the kitchen. Hey eyes immediately go to Regina, as they always do, no matter who else is in the room. She walks up to her girlfriend and kisses her cheek, "I missed you," she whispers so only Regina can hear her. Her arm instinctively goes around the brunettes waist to comfort her but also to comfort herself, she knows it won't be easy to face Cruella but she feels infinitely stronger when she's with Regina.

"You had better start explaining yourself, Swan," Cruella demands when she notices the lovestruck smile on the blondes face.

"I've told you everything," she resolutely responds. "Both Regina and Kathryn are going to come to watch the game tomorrow. I know it's going to attract a lot of attention so I was giving you a heads up."

"A heads up? You have given me one day to come up with a backstory for this… this…" She's trying to pick the nastiest word she can find in her vocabulary to describe Regina as her eyes burn through her.

"You had better think carefully about the next words that come out of your mouth or I will fire you and you can kiss goodbye to the big fat commission cheque you would get if I win tomorrow. Regina is part of my life now. I don't care if you can figure out a backstory for either of them or not, they will both be at the game tomorrow and I will deal with the consequences, no matter what they are." Her chest is heaving from the force of her words and the anger inside of her. As much as Cruella could be a great help in avoiding more scandal, she wasn't going to let anyone speak about Regina disrespectfully.

Cruella stands straighter, pulling her shoulders back, as if her posture could help her regain control. Never in her life has she been the weakest person in a room. "Be a dear and pour me a gin and tonic and I'll come up with a plan," she says to Emma as she takes a seat at the kitchen table.

Emma does exactly that and then she leads Regina and Kathryn to the lounge, leaving Cruella to come up with a plan.

"Well, she's a complete bitch," Kathryn says as they all sit down.

"Yeah, but she's really good at what she does. If anyone can smooth things over with the press, it's her. Ooh by the way, I got you both something for tomorrow," Emma remembers as she jumps up from the couch and hurries to grab her bag from where she left it at the bottom of the coat stand in the hallway. She pulls out a plastic bag from within the holdall and pulls out two jerseys, giving one to each woman. "I thought you might like to wear these at the game."

They both hold out the Storybrooke Slayers jerseys in front of them but Kathryn was the first to notice the print on the back of the shirts.

"Bit of an ego, Emma, making us wear your name?" She teases with a raised eyebrow. Regina quickly turns hers over to find out what Kathryn is on about. The white jerseys have one simple light blue stripe running down each side and on the back is the blondes surname above her shirt number of seven, in gold print.

Emma hadn't thought anything of getting the shirts with her name on them, it was the done thing amongst her teammates when their family and friends came to watch their games, they all had shirts with the name of the player they were there to support. But Kathryn questioning her, even though it was only a joke, actually kicked her brain into gear. She had just given them something with her name on it, like they were her subjects, the two women who had been kept like they were nothing more than property for all their adult lives. "Shit, I didn't mean anything by it. I can get you some plain ones tomorrow." Her face flushes beet red because of little error and she goes to take them back, hoping to quickly discard the offending items.

Regina can see the years of insecurity pour from Emma at what she perceives to be a grave error. "I love it and I couldn't be prouder to wear it," Regina gushes.

"Yeah?" Emma coyly questions.

"Absolutely." Sometimes she forgets that Emma struggles with the notion of anyone being proud of her, the blonde was always so strong and stoic when it came to defending Regina that it was easy to think that Emma didn't have any problems of her own.

"I'll stick with this one as well," Kathryn happily chips in.

"So, did you make it into the starting line-up tomorrow?" Regina finally asks what she has been wanting to know for hours.

"Hopefully, but I may have over done it a little in training so I had to have some more injections and treatment. I won't really know until the final assessment before the game. I will at least be on the subs bench though."

A little while later, after sending off a few emails and making several phone calls, Cruella informs them of the backstory she has ready to drop to the press after the game, when there will no doubt be a media frenzy over the two women who will have occupied Emma's VIP box.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The final day of the season had arrived and the day had started off in the best way possible for Emma, she woke up with Regina laying curled into her side, a tanned arm thrown over her stomach. If she could wake up like this every day for the rest of her life she would be a very happy woman. She can see from her alarm clock that she still has plenty of time to sleep but the excitement of the day ahead had her internal alarm clock going off early. She gently strokes Regina's hip as she looks at the beauty slumbering against her, ignoring her tented boxers and the usually pulsing need within. Just to make a point after the gift Emma had given her, Regina had made sure to wear one of Emma's old jerseys to bed, which she also knew was a massive turn-on for the blonde.

She wiggles her bad foot, relieved to feel no pain, she kicks out her whole foot, and thankfully, even that only causes her a little discomfort. "Did you score, sweetheart?" Regina asks in her sleep laden voice.

"Huh?" Emma asks in confusion.

"The way your leg is moving I thought you were practicing for later," the brunette answers with a little chuckle.

"I was just seeing how it feels. Sorry for waking you."

"That's okay, how does it feel?"

"Pretty good. With a bit of luck I should be starting the game."

"I'm so excited for it. I can't wait to be there and see you in action," she says as she kisses her shoulder and moves so she's laying on top of her.

"Good morning, beautiful," the blonde says before giving her girlfriend a quick kiss and wrapping her arms around her, "I can't wait for you to be there either. It will be weird to have someone there to support me. It's exciting."

"Very exciting," Regina replies as she slowly grinds her pelvis against Emma's hardness. "I'm going to make us breakfast," she continues, before rolling off her and getting out of bed, like she didn't just short circuit Emma's mind.

"Did you just tease me, Miss Mills?" Emma calls after her as the brunette leaves the room. A deep chuckle is the only answer she receives. She shakes her head but has a wide smile on her face at how comfortable Regina is becoming, every day seems to reveal a new piece of the woman she loves.

She gets up and goes for a shower, a cold one this time, as desperate as she is for relief, she would rather just go downstairs to Regina and to the undoubtedly incredible breakfast the brunette will be preparing.

Since Regina had started taking over doing the cooking, she had made sure everything she made was suitable for Emma's needs as an athlete. She had even ordered books online all about health and nutrition. Emma had never eaten so well in her life, even the specially prepared meals at the training ground didn't compare to the delights that Regina would prepare for her. She still thought part of the enjoyment was because someone was taking care of her just because they wanted to.

She is greeted by the smell of waffles and coffee as she enters the kitchen, but the sight of her girlfriend cooking, in her jersey that barely covers her panties is by far the best greeting. There was no way Kathryn would ever get up this early so Regina wasn't overly concerned about her state of dress, even so, after sharing a room with her friend for years, there wasn't any shyness between them.

"Something smells amazing," the blonde says as she wraps her arms around Regina from behind and starts lightly kissing her neck.

"Mmmm," Regina hums as she leans back into the blondes ministrations. "It's only waffles and egg white scramble."

"The best waffles ever!"

Regina smiles at the compliment and directs Emma to the fridge for the spirulina smoothie she had prepared earlier for the blonde.

After eating their hearty breakfast on the terrace, they sit out on the loungers in the morning sun, just chatting, their fingers entwined as their hands hung in the gap between their loungers.. They never seemed to run out of things to talk about, even when they weren't talking about the case or the big game.

Just after ten a.m. Kathryn joins them in the garden, still in her pyjamas and cradling a steaming cup of coffee. "Morning bitches," the blonde says in lieu of an actual greeting. "Are you nervous about the game?"

"Not really. As long as I get to play, we will win." She states confidently, knowing just how good she is at what she does and it was one of the few things in her life that she wasn't insecure about.

"I can't wait! What time do we have to leave?"

"I have to leave at eleven to see the physio but the game doesn't start until three so I can always send one of the club chauffeurs over to fetch you at two if you'd like."

"If we leave at the same time as you will we be able to go to the VIP box as soon as we get there?" Kathryn wants to know.

"Yes, and the champagne and the rest of the mini bar will be fully stocked and ready for you." Emma answers with a laugh, knowing what Kathryn was trying to get at.

"Then I think we should leave with you. What do you think, Regina?"

"Sounds good," Regina agrees.

The rest of the morning passes quickly and before long Emma is driving them all to the stadium. She is wearing her club tracksuit which is protocol on game days and Regina and Kathryn are wearing the jerseys Emma had gifted them the previous day. Regina had paired her jersey with light blue stonewashed jeans, a light brown leather jacket, and red stilettoes with a matching red purse. Kathryn was wearing black skinny jeans and black wedged sandals and a silver purse, she deemed it to warm to bother with a jacket.

Emma slowed down as she approached the players entry to the stadium, it was earlier but the press were already there, waiting with their cameras and microphones. The windows of her car were blacked out but that didn't stop Regina from feeling a bit anxious as they had to wait for the security guard to open the gate and let them through, flashing lights coming from every angle.

Emma checked her rear-view mirror as she drove through the gates, checking to see how Regina was holding up. She was happy to see that Regina only appeared to be a little anxious and that she looked more awed that anything else.

"Are you ready, ladies?" She asks as she pulls up into her parking spot.