Things are starting to look up, yeah? I'm excited about the next few chapters.

Enjoy!

Breaking the Ice

"Emma, we have to be on the same page with this or Mr. Gold is going to have both our necks. He will eat us alive if we can't agree on everything." Regina sat amidst a mountain of paper work sprawled out around her on the floor of her office. Emma was sitting in one of the office chairs outside of the circle of papers exhausted because they had been trying to figure this out for almost a week. Thankfully the work load of this project had sort of kept their minds off of everything else spiraling around them. August had gone home a few days before, despite a well-executed plead from Henry for him to stay. As for Regina, staying late at the office was keeping her mind of the fact that Daniel had still not come back home after he walked out that last Friday.

"How long are we going to argue about this? It's been a week. And we still have to actually start tutoring kids." Emma slapped her knees and stood up out of her chair, frustratingly pacing the room.

"I don't know." Regina sighed. "I'll just have to take this all home this weekend and work on it." The brunette started piling the paper work up around her. Emma propped herself up on the back of the chair and watched her.

"Well Daniel is probably not going to like that." Emma commented slyly. She could feel Regina roll her eyes and the blonde smiled a little at the motion, knowing she could still get under her skin.

"I'm sure he would be fine with it seeing as he won't even be home and it is my job." Regina hesitated, realizing she had said too much. She waited for a bombardment of questions from Emma, but none came. She turned to find Emma looking through a couple of papers Regina had left on the ground and figured she may not have heard what she said. Regina watched her from the corner of her eyes, hoping not to draw attention to herself or get caught for staring. The blonde's hair was falling from its normally perfect braid, and a few lose strands had fallen into her face. It had been a long time since Regina had seen her like this. Working hard late into the evening in her office like they had done on many occasions in the past. It was a famous past time for the two women when they were closer, but now that just seemed like a distant dream.

"You know, I hate to have you work on this all by yourself." Emma handed the last few papers to Regina. "Maybe we can meet somewhere… public… and work on it." She threw out the idea, hoping Regina would catch on. And maybe she did, but it didn't stick.

Regina's chest jumped a little at the offer, and as much as she probably did want some alone time with Emma, she wasn't sure when Daniel would show back up and she didn't think it was such a good idea for them all to be in the same room. "Thank you Ms. Swan, but I don't think that's a good idea."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Emma waved the question away, more than a little disappointed.

Regina sighed. "Look, if it makes you feel better, if I happen to get stuck on something I can call you."

Emma lit up a little and tried to hide her blushed smile but it was no use.

"Oh wait, I have a new phone, so I need to give you my new number. Seems my other one was everything but wall resistant." Emma chuckled at her own joke. Regina raised an eyebrow at her, slightly curious about what she meant.

"Well here, write it down and I'll put it in my phone when I get home." Regina handed her a paper and fished out a pen from her drawer. Emma smiled a little as she wrote her number down.

"What are you so giddy about?" Regina asked pulling her purse over her shoulder.

"Oh nothing. I was just remembering the first time I gave you my number. Just a little déjà vu."

"Yeah well don't get used to it." Regina raised an eyebrow and snatched the paper from the blondes hand and shoved it into her purse.

Emma held up her hands in defeat and grabbed her bags off the floor. She headed out into the hallway and waited for Regina to lock up her office. They were the last ones to leave the school for the last few days since they had been really crunching to work on this tutoring project. If anything, Emma was actually glad to be working on this project with Regina. Being around her so much had suppressed some of the anger that had built up from not spending time with her.

They walked out together still talking about the project, and bouncing around ideas and possible students that would need some tutoring. Emma wasn't really paying attention though. She just liked the sound of Regina's voice, and realized she missed it.

"Uh, Ms. Swan?" Emma snapped out of her thoughts and realized they were standing at Regina's car. "I need to get home, so if you will kindly excuse me." Regina opened her Mercedes door and sank down in the seat.

"Oh yeah, sorry. Um, call me… yeah if you need to work things out." Emma awkwardly smiled and shut the door to Regina's car. She figured standing there and watching her pull away would be weird, so she hustled to her own car and jumped in. She shook her head, knowing she was trying too hard to get attention. This was going to be harder than she imagined. In only a week she had seemed to move past most of the anger, and their little debacle in Regina's office Monday gave her a new wind toward their relationship. Slow and steady wins the race.

Her drive home was quiet. Emma decided to keep the radio off this time so she could think about all the things she needed to do this weekend. Henry had a basketball tournament out of town, and he would be staying overnight so she had the apartment to herself. She should probably clean and do some laundry, maybe head to the grocery store for some food. Henry was only one kid, but God did he eat enough for four.

Home was pretty quiet too. She had gotten used to the noise of two boys running around the house and today it seemed quieter than usual. She didn't have anyone to cook for or make sure she got to bed on time. Tonight was a night to treat herself. A nice glass of wine and a bubble bath really sounded like something that would hit the spot.

Regina let out a sigh as she pulled into the driveway. Daniel's car was still gone and she wondered if she would ever see him again. She wanted to hate herself for wanting a divorce, but she couldn't. She knew that it was best for the both of them. Daniel wasn't the same man she remembered before the war, and she surely wasn't the same woman. He had been gone for so long that she simply forgot how to live with him.

She slumped out of her coat and threw down her bags as soon as she walked in the door. No use in keeping the house up for anybody. And she surely didn't want to disturb all the skeletons in the closet just to hang up her jacket. She walked into the kitchen, her heels clicking on the tile floor, and opened the fridge. She could only starve herself so much before she became too weak to care. She decided a sandwich would cause the less amount of stress in making, and since she hadn't been to the store in over a week, she was depressingly out of wine, and figured Daniel wouldn't mind if she had one or even a few of his beers.

After eating about half of her sandwich she left it sitting on the counter and walked into the living room, the beer still cold in her left hand. She stood at the entrance of her kitchen, her open living room sat empty in front of her. Her eyes wondered around the room, the pale white walls giving her a headache. Her line of sight stopped at her bags where she remembered the little slip of paper that Emma's number was written on. She headed that direction and dug through her purse to find it. She took the slip of paper in her hands and headed over to the couch, plopping down casually, almost spilling her beer. She took a chug of it and stared at the ten numbers written on the paper. God, Emma had really bad handwriting.

She pulled out her phone and fixed Emma's contact information in her contact list. She forced herself to not push the call button, seeing as they had only been away from each other for about an hour today and that would just be too weak of her. She had to be strong. She already made her move Monday morning and now she needed to wait it out and let Emma figure herself out. She didn't want to rush into things, especially now with her relationship with Daniel hanging by a thread over a bottomless cavern.

Her eyes no longer could stay open and she started to doze off on the couch. She set the empty beer bottle on the coffee table and shuffled off to her room. Her empty queen sized bed looked more comfy than it had in months. She slipped out of her suit and put on an oversized t-shirt leaving her legs uncovered. She pulled back the covers and slid into the bed, allowing it's warmth to take over her body. She didn't realize how cold she was until she was engulfed in her comforter, and before long she was gone. Sleep had become something of a lost art the last week, and it had finally caught up with her. If only her dreams were a better place than reality she may have missed sleeping. As her luck would have it, however, they only seemed to be a reminder of what could have been. The missing links in her life hid way beyond her dreams, in a place her mind had dug up for her. If there ever was a happy time in Regina Mill's life, it was long before she had the good sense to hold onto the things she loved most.

Emma woke up to her phone ringing off the hook. She checked the clock to see what time it was when she realized it was still dark. 3:00am.

"Who the hell…?" She stretched over to her cell phone and saw it was Regina. "Really?" She sighed. She answered nonetheless.

"Hello?" She huffed as she laid back and stretched her free and above her head.

"Emma! Emma!"

Emma immediately sat up in her bed hearing the desperate tone of Regina's voice. She sounded like she was out of breath.

"Regina? What's going on…?"

"Shhh Emma, someone is in my house!"

"What?!" Emma ripped the covers off her bed and immediately headed to the closet for a pair of boots.

"I don't know, I think it's a burglar."

"Where are you right now?" Emma fell back on her bed trying to put on her boots in frustration and then grabbed a jacket from her closet. This would be much easier with two hands.

"I'm in my room." She whispered into the phone.

"Have you called the police?"

"Of course, I'm not stupid."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Okay, stay there, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Where else am I supposed to go?" Regina smarted back.

Emma hung up the phone without answering and sprinted out of the door, almost forgetting to shut it behind her.

Her yellow beetle felt like it was crawling down the street despite Emma forcing the gas pedal to the floor. She didn't know what she was going to find when she got to Regina's house. Hopefully the police got there before she did, because she didn't trust herself not to beat the shit out of whoever was in her house.

She could see the red and blue flashing lights before she turned down Regina's street, and a wave of relief swept over her. She parked a few houses down and jogged up to the police cars out in front of Regina's house. She saw a few of the neighbors standing outside, obviously disturbed by the bright lights in their windows in the middle of the night.

"Graham!" She spotted the sheriff talking to another officer on Regina's front porch.

"Emma? What are you doing here?" He met her in the middle of the yard in an attempt to keep her a good distance away from the house.

"She called me. Where is she? Is she okay? What happened?" Emma felt herself becoming flustered. She started to push past him but he stopped her, grabbing her arm.

"She is fine, she is inside." She looked at Graham puzzled.

"Um, can you let me go in?" She tried to pull away from him.

"I don't think that's a good idea." He kept his grip on her arm.

"And why is that?"

"Well it seems that Daniel came home a little intoxicated and decided to take out a little bit of anger on the living room."

Emma's face went heavy and she felt the anger growing inside her. "I'll kill him."

Graham quickly stuck his arm out blocking her sudden advance toward the house. "And that is exactly why I cannot let you go in. I've sent an officer in to arrest him and I'll be personally taking him to the station. As for you, I need you to stay out here till we have him. Can you do that?" He gave up on trying to hold her and decided just to keep his distance and keep her at bay.

She rolled her eyes and eyed the front door as an officer entered the house. She knew she didn't like Daniel because of the obvious, but right now she hated him with all the passion in the world. She wanted to go in there and beat him senseless. What gives him the right to show up drunk and go on a rampage through the house?

The sheriff left her outside pacing the lawn until he came back out of the house with Daniel in cuffs walking next to him, flailing and cursing at the officers trying to subdue him. She refrained from running up to him and giving him a piece of her mind, and more likely a piece of her fist. Thankfully Regina came out of the door wrapped in a blanket with another officer and took Emma attention off of him. She ran up to her on the porch.

"Regina are you okay?" She forced herself not to get too touchy, still unsure of how things were between them, plus she noticed Regina had tensed up a little bit at her sudden approach.

"Emma!" Regina was startled a bit at the sudden approach of the blonde but was grateful to see Emma there. She needed someone to take her mind off of her night.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Emma pointed toward Daniel who was being pushed inside of a police cruiser by two officers, her anger obvious in her tone.

"No he didn't touch me. Just my living room." Regina pulled Emma inside the house, knowing the blonde was capable of doing something she would regret. One last officer passed them as they stepped inside, and notified Regina that he was sorry for the disruption and the insurance agent would be by the house soon. She thanked him and shut the door as he left.

"Holy shit." Emma looked around at the room. There was not a thing in there that wasn't broken or thrown across the room. "Why did he do this?" She asked as her eyes wondered at the mess.

"Well truthfully it's probably mostly my fault." Regina admitted heading into the kitchen. She was thankful he didn't hit that room too hard.

"How could this be your fault, you were asleep." Emma followed closely behind the woman into the bright kitchen.

"No, not directly. More indirectly."

"So are you going to beat around the bush or just tell me?" Emma smarted sarcastically.

Regina sighed and rolled her eyes, her brain tired from tonight's debacle. "I told him I wanted a divorce." She admitted softly.

Emma's eyes widened at the notion. Regina and Daniel getting a divorce?

"Wow. Um, I'm sorry." Emma tried to sound genuine. She was, but deep down she felt a slight flutter of happiness. Maybe that was selfish, but she didn't care.

"Yeah well… it just wasn't like it used to be. He was so different, I… am different." Regina swallowed hard shooting a glance up at Emma and then quickly back down to the island she was leaning on. She didn't really need to reveal too much right now. This was neither the time nor the place to talk about this.

Emma didn't know what to say. I mean she knew what she wanted to say, but she figured that if this relationship was going to stay tame she probably shouldn't say anything. What she wanted to say was better left unsaid.

"So what are you going to do?" Emma asked nervously.

"Well, I have the divorce papers already. But Daniel hasn't been home since I told him, which was last Friday. So he hasn't signed them. I'm hoping that he will sober up a little and I can go talk to him in the morning. I'm sure he knows after this that we are definitely not going to work out." She walked over to the fridge and pulled out a beer.

"You drink beer now?" Emma looked at her like she had seen a ghost.

"For your information, yes, I do. I've acquired the taste and it's not that bad." Regina popped the cap and brought the cool glass to her lips.

"Since when?" Emma protested. "I've been trying to get you to try beer since we met, and you've always said no."

"Since last night actually." She smiled childishly. Emma couldn't help but laugh.

"What's so funny?" Regina pulled one out for Emma.

"You. I just never thought I would see this day. I'm going to have to get used seeing you like this." Emma popped the cap off and shook her head as she took a swig.

"And what makes you think you'll be seeing me like this on a regular basis?" Regina raised an eyebrow at the blonde.

"I don't know. Will I?" Emma shrugged and played back.

They stared at each other for a moment, sizing each other up. Emma liked this game. It gave her a chance to stare at her for a good reason. Not that there was ever not a good reason to stare at Regina. It's just now, she was allowed to and it felt good to be allowed.

"Maybe." Regina eyed Emma as she walked past the blonde and made her way around the island toward the debris covered living room.

God, Emma could have died right then and been happy. These little hits from Regina were going to drive her crazy if this didn't move along. She wanted to rip that blanket off her and see what was underneath. She had almost forgotten about the curves and the soft skin and she needed a pick me up. She was burning for the brunette and there was no denying that at this point.

"So, seeing as your house is destroyed…" Emma quickly followed Regina into the living room. "You need a place to stay?" Emma nervously pushed her free hand into her pocket and chased her question with a large gulp of her beer.

"My living room is destroyed. Not my bedroom, Ms. Swan." Regina pointed out.

Emma looked down at the floor shyly, and pushed her hair behind her ear. "Well sure if you want to get technical. But I would hate for you to wake up to all of this mess. I got a free, not… murdered couch." Emma motioned to the ripped and fluff covered couch that littered the living room. She didn't want to look at Regina, but she did anyway and met the woman's intoxicating stare.

"Are you inviting me to your apartment?" Regina questioned bluntly.

"Just a friendly invitation." Emma threw up her hands in innocence. Though her innocence was only a cover for what she was really thinking.

Regina turned away from the woman and headed up her stairs. "I'll pack a bag." Regina called back. Emma couldn't hold back a smile that stretched from ear to ear and her teeth shown bright in the dirty room. She pumped her arm like she had just won a game. She did win. She was winning. Regina was coming to her apartment. After months of wondering if this would ever happen again, she did it. Score one for Emma!