Adrenalize Me

No love (No, no love)
I made the promise
No love (No, no)
No cryin' or worries

-No Love, Maruv-

A/N: Had a bit of trouble writing this chapter. Not for lack of ideas, but for having too many. There were so many routes the Lily plotline could go down and I wanted to use all of them at once, but I couldn't or else it wouldn't make much sense. I hope the one I settled on is enjoyable somewhat and ramps up the action in the story a bit. It's going to be evolved over the span of a couple of chapters.

"Swan," the name twirled on Lily's tongue as if she was tasting it, tipping her head back a bit to swallow the satisfaction of saying it down. "Even your name hasn't changed. Tell me, how's your life going?"

"Fuck you," snapped out of Emma's mouth. "You know how my life was going to go after you left me cruelly!"

"I didn't expect for me to be so important to you. Were you anticipating us to actually last? With you as a sex worker and me an upcoming politician?" Lily rolled her eyes, words disgustingly thick in smugness and disaffect. "Please," she scoffed, rife with derision.

"I don't know why you're back here but I'm not putting up with your shit again," Emma said sternly and with fire raging in her veins she span around and stormed out of the room, heels carrying her to Ursula's office. She didn't bother with knocking, just slammed the door right open.

"Swan, what the hell!" Ursula snapped, jolting out of his chair. He dropped the papers in his hands.

"I should be asking you that!" Emma pointed back in the direction she came from. "You wanna tell me what the hell Lily is doing in my room? With an appointment?"

"Lily?" his brow furrowed up in confusion, a bit slow on the sudden uptake.

"As in the fucking woman who broke my heart!"

Realization flashed across his brown eyes. "How did she-" he cut himself off here. "That sly bitch must have used a false profile!" he got up and opened one of the metal filing cabinets and began to pull out folder after folder until he got to the right one. He opened it up and showed it to Emma. "This is who signed up for your last minute appointment."

Emma snatched the file away rudely and looked it over. Fake name, fake picture. Of course. "Why the hell would she go through all this effort just to have me dominate her? Why the fuck is she even back in Storybrooke?" She shook the file, taking out her rage on it.

"I don't know, but she's sure as hell not stepping foot in my establishment ever again," he growled out and rolled up the sleeves of his long sleeved shirt. He side stepped around Emma and went to handle the situation. Emma stayed where she was, just trying to calm herself down. To keep her breaths even, to stop her body from shaking.

She sat down on Ursula's chair, raking hands through her carefully made hair and mussing it up. Why the hell was Lily back? Why now? And what did she want from Emma?

Emma knew now that Lily was a manipulative asshole, so if she was here than it certainly wasn't just for a quick hello. She hoped this would be the last she would see of Lily, but oh, how wrong she would be.

"Is she gone?" she asked Ursula when he came back.

"Yes."

If only it would be that easy to get rid of her every time.

Even though the town was big enough that Emma and Lily shouldn't reasonably run into each other, they did.

The first time had been in the local grocery store, the one Emma always shopped at. Emma had seen the brown haired woman in an aisle, ducked past it, and left her basket of groceries before ducking out. The second time had been at the park, when Emma had gone on a jog and seen Lily jogging down the same path as her and she did an about face and raced down in the opposite direction. She didn't know if Lily had seen her but she hoped she hadn't.

The third time had been at a bar on Friday night, when Lily had spotted her and waved, making to approach her. Emma had ducked out without finishing her drink. And the fourth time had been on the street, the two of them bumping into each other almost violently as they rounded the corner.

"Sorry, didn't see you there," Lily had smirked, catching Emma. Emma had rightened her balance, and slapped Lily's hands off of her. "I bet you didn't," Emma growled out, side stepping her and rushing away.

And after the fifth time they ran into each other in the course of one week, Emma was getting fed up.

"I'm just here to use the gym like an other person here," Lily answered, tilting her head and blinking at Emma like she was crazy. How the hell did Lily know where Emma was each time? It was like she was stalking her. But how? She didn't have enough time to do such a thing. Surely she was here on important political business. So then had she hired someone to do it for her? To keep tabs on Emma?

The thought creeped Emma out. She felt unsafe enough to even leave her apartment and when she did it was always in disguise. At least the woman hadn't violated the privacy of her home yet.

The sixth time this meet up happened- Emma coming home at night from the gym and predictably running into Lily when she went to go buy a water from the cafe- she was fed up. She glared angrily at Lily and stormed out, the woman following after her.

"Where do you think you're going?" Lily asked, her heels clicking loudly on the concrete. They sounded like evil creatures chasing down Emma.

"Away from you," was the spat response.

"Can you just stop and talk to me a second?" Lily pleaded and it was the pleading tone that managed to slow Emma down until she looked at Lily. Such a weak tone wasn't usually what came from Lily's mouth unless it was during their sessions. And damn it, now Emma was thinking about their sessions.

"What could I possibly have to talk about with you?" she asked, squaring her jaw. They stood under a lamppost, several moths fluttering about. The weather had gotten warmer, winter turning to spring, but not just warm enough and a chilly breeze made Emma shiver when it blew across her sweaty back.

Lily ran her eyes over Emma's form. It was a look Emma knew well. One the brunette did when naughty thoughts ran in her head. Emma felt stripped in that moment, and she wished she could cover herself. She didn't enjoy Lily mentally stripping her. Once upon a time, maybe. But not now.

"About a lot of things. I wanted to apologize for what I did to you. For leaving you like I did. It was immature of me. I panicked." Lily let out a blustery sigh and her voice sounded honest now. Gone were the traces of smugness in it. She took a step closer to Emma who stiffened up at the intense look in Lily's eyes. "I was involved in a relationship with a...trade worker, and I was getting too attached for someone who needed to become a politician. Who was supposed to marry a man and live a happy life with him. And I did a terrible thing and left you in the lurch. And I know my apology is five years too late but I wanted to say it. And I wanted to make it up to you."

"And you're doing that by stalking me?"

Lily flushed here. "I'll stop that. You just weren't making it easy for me to contact you."

Good. Hopefully no one would be following her- whatever private eye Lily had hired, now dropped.

"Like you said, your apology is five years too late," Emma said flatly. She honestly hadn't expected the woman to apologize and it had thrown her off her tilt. "But better later than never."

Lily cracked a smile, a small tentative thing. "Good. And I know I can't ever truly make it up to you, but will you let me invite you to dinner?" She ran a hand up and down Emma's arm. Emma didn't like that touch- it reminding her of how they had shared casual caresses before, before Emma had been left with a bleeding heart.

"Um, I don't know-" because Emma didn't want to interact any more with Lily than she had to.

"It'll be a small thing. And you won't be alone. My husband will be there, and a couple of my new co-workers."

"I suppose that's fine," Emma gave in. What could be the harm? Dinner, and then Lily would leave her the fuck alone after. Hopefully.

"Great," Lily smiled. "I can't wait to see you there."

Emma found herself on the stoop of Lily's house Thursday evening. She had on a nice dress and had even curled her hair, yet she couldn't stop from feeling nervous. She wanted to run. But if she got through this, if she endured it, than she wouldn't have to see Lily ever again, was what she kept telling herself.

Lily's husband opened the door. He was a young and decent looking man. A bit thin and scrawny and with nerdy glasses on his nose. His attire was a plaid shirt tucked into black pants. "You must be the close friend Lily mentioned. I'm August, her husband."

"Emma Swan." Emma shook his hand.

"Come in. Dinner just started," he said, leading her into the house. The place looked like it had been recently moved into, with some boxes of belongings still unpacked. The smell of ham wafted over to Emma and her stomach growled while she was thrown back to the time when Lily would cook for Emma. Her specialty was smoked and glazed ham. She could always make a mean one.

The dining room was full, and Lily rose to her feet as soon as she saw Emma come in. "Emma!" she pulled her into a hug and kissed her on the cheek. All done so quickly that all Emma could do was awkwardly pat her on the back and smile crookedly. "So glad you could make it."

"Yea, uh, me too," she responded with as Lily tugged her by the elbow and sat her down in an empty seat. An empty seat right next to Robin.

What was he doing here? He smiled at her and as Emma let herself do a scan of the other guests, she felt a ball grow of unease in the pit of her stomach. Regina was there, staring at Emma with a sort of appalled and questioning look. Other than that, Emma didn't really know any of the guests but she guessed they must be politicians. They were all men, about three of them, one with his wife and the other two without.

Emma avoided Regina's gaze and focused on her plate, which had already been fixed for her, just the way Lily remembered. A lot of meat and carbs and little to no veggies.

"Lily, who is this stunning young woman you have brought to our meeting?" phrased one of the men in such a way that it sounded nice but Emma really knew it was something like, why the fuck is a dumb blonde here?

"She's an old friend of mine, and I haven't had any time to catch up with her. I figured dinner would be a great chance to do that, and, she might even provide great feedback to our discussion on re-zoning laws."

"She has a political science background then?" asked the same guy before. Emma was going to call him fuck face for his annoying questions. He was making her feel more uncomfortable than she already did. She knew she was out of her element here.

"No," Lily waved that off.

"You went to school together?" asked another, this one with a thick white mustache.

"No. We know each other from mutual hobbies. We both like to exercise a lot and we clicked upon first seeing each other," Lily said and Emma wished she would be a little less coy about the subject she was talking about. Emma could feel a glare concentrating on her from the right side where Regina sat, and so she sipped her water and ignored it.

"So Emma," asked August. "What do you do?"

"Uh, I'm a personal trainer," she quickly fibbed. She regretted coming to this dinner so much already. Why had she been stupid enough to agree?

"You should train me again someday. I could really use a nice workout. Sitting behind bureaucratic desks all day can be unhealthy," Lily suggested, a smirk sliding onto her face as she looked at Emma. Emma ignored her look too, training her eyes solely on the ham on her plate.

"Same here," mustache man said.

"Back to our political talk," Fuck Face interrupted, thankfully saving Emma from further discussion of her pretend job. "What can we do about the school? Too many parents want Storybrooke high to be rezoned into the public sector so that low economic socio classes can attend the school as well. But parents of high social class don't want that. They want their school to remain private so that buses can't bring kids from other sectors over."

"I intend to make a section of the government here dedicated to education only. Which is something that should have been done a while ago," Lily shot a sharp look at Regina, no doubt this a barb at the current mayoral office.

Regina did not miss a beat in response. "Given our limited budget, I wish you the best of luck in finding enough funding for that."

"I happen to have a lot of financiers from an out of state pool. Perks of being able to work in several sphere and levels of government as opposed to being dedicated to one stale position," Lily shot back. "That's why Cora Mills hired me to the chief administrator spot, so I could oversee the allocation of money and resources to different departments."

Wait. Hold on.

Emma might not know a lot about politics but it seemed like Lily had a high ranking job here. A permanent job. Which meant she had moved back to Storybrooke to stay.

Oh no.

Emma found she couldn't find her appetite. She quickly excused herself from the table.

In the bathroom she ran the tap and leaned into the sink, trying to catch her breath. She had thought Lily was only here to visit family or something. Not for work. Emma had been foolish to not realize this before.

Shit. What did she do now? Maybe she was being a bit childish, but she really didn't want to have to see her ex around, especially when that ex knew what her job was and such. Inhaling deeply she shut the tap off, unable to even splash her face because she had make up, and steeled her nerves to go back outside. She had the rest of an unpleasant dinner to go through.

Dinner, finally and tortuously was over in about an hour, with dessert and drink served at the end. Emma had to keep herself from drinking down the whole bottle and it certainly didn't help that she could feel Regina's eyes on her from time to time.

They talked about more politics, golfing, the weather, upcoming tax breaks and that sort of thing. Emma mainly kept her mouth shut until finally they began to leave one by one. Emma would have offered to go first but Lily had whispered into her ear that Emma needed to stay behind because Lily needed to give her something.

Emma felt cautious at that idea but reluctantly stayed, because Lily's hold on her wrist had been tight and claw like. At last it was only Lily, August, Emma, Regina and Robin. They all sat on couches facing each other.

"Emma, you've been awfully quiet this whole evening," Robin unhelpfully pointed out.

"She probably feels out of her element," Regina murmured to him.

"It's kind of funny is all. Given that Emma is friends with you and Lily-both politicians- you'd think she'd known enough about politics second hand." He chuckled.

The look Regina sent him was purely murderous and Emma would have sent him one too if she could glare as good as Regina could. Instead, the ball of unease in her stomach tightened.

"Oh," Lily made an intrigued sound. "I didn't know you knew Emma, Regina. You exercise with her too?" she asked and Emma was mutely panicking for Regina, because they both knew Lily didn't mean actual exercise. Emma was about to spit out some fake story- when Regina beat her to it.

"I actually know her through my sister. Zelena's here visiting, for who knows how long, and she meet miss Swan at some bar. The two of them became friends and as a result I sort of know Emma through that method." Regina said coolly, though there was a little tick under her eye that belied her upset nature at this question. Emma let out a sigh of relief, almost sagging against the couch. They had dodged a bullet there. What the hell was Lily even doing, questioning Regina about such things? Maybe it had been an innocent question? Maybe she was just trying to get to know the mayor better? She was going to work under her after all.

"I see," Lily said, clicking her tongue. "And once you meet Emma, it's kind of hard to shake her off. She has a way of burying deep inside you and staying there."

Emma felt the tip of her ears burn, flushing on such an innuendo. Regina's face remained stoic but there was a hint of color to her cheeks that hadn't been there before. "I suppose. Though I don't know her all too well."

"Regina's hard pressed to admit anyone's her friend," Robin joked, touching Regina on the knee. "Even if said person is bringing you food when you're sick and lying in bed."

Robin shut up! Emma's and Regina's face were matching masks of frustration at the man's loose tongue. Though it wasn't his fault. He didn't know about their secret arraignment behind his back.

Before Lily could comment on that, Emma spoke up. "Lily, I actually don't know much about how you married August. Tell me about it." Half of that was a salty barb to Lily up and leaving Emma behind, and the other half was a panicked attempt at steering the conversation to safer grounds.

"I'm afraid there's not much romance there," August explained. "It was a bit of an arraigned match. Both our families wanted us together and the two of us decided it would work out since we shared many similar interests and so we got married."

"And we're happy. You would think arraigned marriages couldn't work in this day, but they do, as long as you're both willing to compromise and learn to live with each other," Lily finished, leaning over to peck her husband on the cheek.

"How did the two of you meet?" August asked Regina and Robin. Robin was all too happy to launch into a gushing rendition of how they first met. Regina smiled and nodded along but Emma could tell that her heart wasn't really into this conversation. Her eyes kept sneaking back to Emma's form, wordless questions in her eyes as to how the hell Emma kept managing to get herself into such situations. Emma herself had to wonder. It wasn't like she intended herself to end up like this.

Eventually chatter died down and Robin and Regina had to go. "It was lovely to have you over for dinner," Lily said in goodbye and then it was just August, Lily and Emma.

"I'll be in the den," August said, rushing out to go there and leaving Lily to do the washing up. Emma decided she might as well lend a hand too. "Shouldn't he help?" she couldn't resist from asking.

"He already cooked all of this food, except for the ham, of course. And he's busy doing quests for this video game competition. Who am I to say no if it brings in some extra cash?"

Lily washed the dishes and Emma dried them, silence falling over them. This was so domestic, just like it had once been between them. But Emma knew better than to fantasize playing house.

Once they were done, Lily told Emma to wait while she went to fetch something. Emma hoped it wouldn't take too long because she needed to head home. It was already 11 at night.

Lily took her time coming down and when she did it was with a small red box.

"I wanted to give you something. To slowly add to my ever growing apology," Lily said, holding out the box in front of her. Emma took it with tentative fingers, opening it up to reveal a Rolex. Feminine and slim so it wasn't too clunky, it was a light pink and encrusted with crystals. Emma's eyes bulged out. This was an expensive gift.

"Lily..." Emma didn't know what to say. So she didn't say anything.

"I had a lot of time to think and grow from our break up and I know I hurt you deeply. I treated you like you were nothing when that wasn't the case. So please, take this watch as a sign of the time we spent apart but also the time I spent mentally berating myself for my rude actions."

Emma looked at Lily now. Really looked at her. Took in her straight brown and long hair. The respectable clothing she wore. The light make up on her face covering bags under her eyes. Her face had matured. Grown more sharper and her eyes while containing a spark of mischief in them, were toned down.

Perhaps she had changed. Perhaps she was better now. And maybe having her in the town wouldn't be too bad. Emma shouldn't judge her too quickly.

"Thank you," Emma said, a strange lump in her throat.

"Let's start off the right way, Emma. Let's start off as friends." She pulled Emma into a hug. And this time Emma didn't resist her touch.

"You'll never guess whose back in town," Lily told Neal and Belle while she dealt out the cards for their game three days later. They were playing Uno.

"Who?" Neal asked, slurping on his beer.

"Lily," Emma answered as she finished dealing.

"No, really?" Belle gasped out.

"I thought I saw someone who looked like her walking around town but I wasn't sure," Neal said, picking up his cards. "What is she doing back here?"

"Get this. She's working for the city government. Right under the mayor."

"How the hell did she get this job?" Belle asked as she placed down a card on the growing pile.

"She got it from this woman named Cora or something. So this means she's pretty much here to stay."

"Oh, sweetie, that's going to be hard on you," Belle said sympathetically, rubbing Emma comfortingly on the knee before putting down a draw four. Emma scowled and picked up the four cards.

"That's not the strangest part," Emma added, using a reverse and then a skip. Neal stuck out his tongue at her. "What's weird is that she spent a good chunk of two weeks finding me around town before she came up to me and apologized for the way she treated me five years ago."

"That is weird. Why would she do that?" Neal asked.

Emma shrugged. "I don't know. At first I thought she was only fucking around with me, because I know she can be manipulative, but she seemed sincere this time. She seemed like she's grown up into a better person."

"Or maybe that's what she wants you to think," Belle offers because they remember all too well how broken Emma had been after Lily ran out on her.

Emma shrugs, not sure what to do. "It's not like I'm jumping to be her friend. Or even truly happy she's back in Storybrooke. But maybe it's time for me to move on from that hurt that she's instilled in me."

"Uno!" Belle shouts and slaps a card down.

"Be watchful that she doesn't play all her cards," Neal warns and whether he's talking about Belle or Lily, Emma doesn't know or think on, because she's too busy trying to get rid of her excess cards.

A ringing cell phone wakes Emma up and she doesn't even have to look at the caller ID to know who it is that is calling her.

"How long are you going to stay in this town?" Emma groans at Zelena when the woman rings her up on a dreary Sunday morning. She's too tired and annoyed to even offer a hello.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" Zelena gasps, not offended at all.

"I thought you hated this place," Emma explained, rolling over and trying to suffocate in her pillow. Maybe that way she wouldn't have to talk to Zelena at this ungodly hour. It was six in the morning.

"I did. Still do. It's just not that bad anymore. It kinda grows on you. Like a fungus."

"Gross."

"Anyways, I was calling you because I want to go fishing."

Emma thinks the woman is joking. When she figures out she's not, she groans out a "What? Fishing? Are you serious?"

"I am."

"You're not the fishing type."

"Does one have to be a fishing type to go fishing? What does that sort of type even look like?" Zelena questioned and it was too much for Emma's sleep deprived brain to handle answering those questions.

"Fine. I'll be there. But don't expect me to actually catch anything." And she hung up and got dressed to meet Zelena at StoryLake which was a good thirty minute drive up the mountains. Zelena was already waiting on the rocky shore with a pair of galoshes on and fishing equipment laying by her side.

"So what kind of fish are we looking for?" Emma asked wearily as she trudged up and put on the offered pair of shoes. Why or why did she do the stupid things Zelena asked her to do? She supposed that was what friends did. And she knew the green wearing woman could use a good friend in this town.

"Well, it's hard to find. Small. Hard. Round. And kind of golden colored."

That's not like any fish Emma has heard of. "What's it called?"

"It's a ring. We're looking for a ring," Zelena blurts out, ditching the fishing pole and wading straight into the water.

That finally jolts Emma awake. "A ring? Why the hell are you looking for a ring in the lake?"

"Because Mulan gave it to me," is the casual-too casual- answer.

Emma needs a second to process this. "Wait. Mulan gave you an engagement ring?" Hadn't they known each other for only three months at this point?

"Yes."

"How?" How had Zelena enchanted the normally stoic woman to propose so quickly?

Zelena flashed a cocky grin. "I'm just that good."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Than why is it in the lake right now?"

At this she actually looks sheepish. "I may or may not have taken and thrown it off in a fit of uncertainty as if to I really wanted to be engaged. But I do want to. Thus, I need you to help me find it."

Emma rubbed her eyes. "You are unbelievable."

"Just help me look. And if we find it, I'll buy you coffee for a whole year, each morning, twice a day if needed."

"I'm holding you to that," Emma said and then waded into the water after the woman.

They searched long and hard, long enough for the sun to rise to the top of the sky before Emma finally sifted through the pebbles on the shore and found something looking like a ring. "Found it!" she exclaimed and Zelena dropped the fish she was trying to cut open to see if it held a ring inside.

She rushed over and clutched it to her chest. "Finally. I found it!"

"Technically I found it-"

Zelena cut Emma off with a hug. "Thank you." she seemed to really mean it.

"Don't forget my coffee," Emma reminded but Zelena was too busy putting on the muddy ring and enjoying it on her finger under the burning midday sun to respond.

Emma definitely needed to hear the story behind Mulan's proposal to Zelena. She was sure it would be worth a few eye rolls and laughs.

Emma doesn't expect Regina to show up at her apartment unannounced one Sunday morning. It's getting harder for the mayor to disguise her appearance when the weather is becoming warm, and she looks very uncomfortable to be standing outside the door.

"Took you a while," she snapped out when Emma finally let her in.

"Well excuse me," Emma mutters blearily, reading the time and seeing it's six in the morning. What the hell is with the Mills' sisters and them waking her up at ungodly hours? Especially on weekends? "Not all of us get up at the ass crack of dawn. And couldn't this wait until later?"

"No. It couldn't," Regina snaps out. "Do you think Lily suspects us?"

Emma is not ready for that question. "Suspects us? Of what?"

"Of...meeting up," Regina says obliquely.

Emma shakes her head, her curls bouncing. She scratches her stomach where her sleeping shirt has ridden up and moves past Regina to the kitchen where she can make some coffee. "You want some?" Emma asks, and glances over her shoulder to see that Regina couldn't resist at looking at Emma's boy shorts covered ass.

"Yes. I would," the mayor says, eyes still on Emma's ass. It's almost like she wants a piece of Emma instead of the coffee, which probably wouldn't be too far off. She probably thinks she's being discreet Emma chuckles to herself. She finds it adorable.

The coffee pot goes on, and the sounds of brewing coffee fill the kitchen. "So, what do you think?" Regina asks impatiently. She's still waiting on an answer and she crosses her arms over her chest. There is so much Regina doesn't know about Lily's history. So much that Emma feels is private and should not be shared because Emma happens to be a part of that less than stellar past.

"I think we'll be fine. She was probably curious about how a commoner like me knows and calls the mayor a friend."

"We're not friends," Regina grits out and it shouldn't hurt this much to hear it being said.

Emma tries to not let it sting. "Robin seems to think otherwise."

"Robin thinks everyone is a friend because that's the type of person he is. I'm not like that."

"Yea, no shit," Emma chuckles humorlessly. She pours two mugs. "You're like allergic to friends. Sugar?" she asks.

"Just black," Regina responds.

"Like your soul," Emma hums back, and no one would dare to talk to Regina like this to her face, but Regina enjoys it when Emma does it and so she lets her get away with it with only a mildly irritated eye roll. Besides, it's not like it's not true somewhat. Emma gives Regina the mug. The brunette has followed her into the kitchen and is standing closer than she should to Emma. This close and Emma feels her senses roar awake without the help of coffee. Her heart is thumping in her chest and she can smell the mayor's perfume. It wraps around Emma, blanketing her in it and she swallows down longing that lodges in her throat and nearly spills forth from her lips.

Regina sips her coffee in silence and Emma can't help but take in the mayor's appearance. She's not wearing her mayoral clothes for once. She's only wearing a light sweater over some tight jeans. She looks more approachable like this. And her curves are flaunted by the pants on her.

"Checking me out?" Regina asks, arching a brow.

Emma snorts. "Like you weren't doing that to me seconds ago," she retorts.

Regina's cheeks flush and her mouth drops open. "I did not-" she sputters while Emma grins.

"You totally did. And I can tell you, my ass looks ways better without underwear on."

Regina lets out a defeated whine, knowing that she's been caught. It's so nice to be able to fluster the mayor in ways other people can't. "Who knows, maybe my underwear might just, oh I don't know, accidentally slip off?" Emma teases playfully as she hooks her fingers into her underwear and slowly inches them down. Regina's eyes hungrily follow the motion. "Don't tease me," she rasps out as Emma slowly approaches her, and Regina backs up until she is against a counter top, Emma leaving just an inch of space between them while her hands pause on her underwear. They're just low enough, sitting right above her curls.

"Don't tease you?" she says in a low husky voice, tipping her head coyly to the side. She grabs one of Regina's hands and nips with her teeth at the thudding pulse there.

"No," Regina begs. Rasps. Her eyes have grown darker with want and Emma relishes in seeing it there. The mayor has become far gone on her. Comparing it to the first time they met, Regina didn't so much as even want to look at Emma during their aftercare parts of the sessions.

And now, she couldn't stop looking at her. Such heated and heavy gazes. She wonders what has changed for Regina to become like this. Emma is well aware of her own foolish heart beating only a pulse for Regina.

Emma was tempted to lean in and kiss the mayor and see what she would do. But they're not in a session and she doesn't want to ruin the precarious balance they have by pushing. So she steps back and drops Regina's arm so she can pull her underwear up. "Alright. I won't tease then." And smiling like nothing had just happened, she went back to drinking her coffee.

Regina didn't seem to expect this and she glared evilly at Emma for tricking her. "I hate you," she hissed out, hands curling murderously on the mug like it was Emma's neck.

"Someone's cranky when they're horny," Emma sang, enjoying annoying Regina too much. The mayor had admitted to enjoying frustrating Emma, so why couldn't Emma get her own kicks in.

Regina shot Emma another murderous glare but didn't refute Emma's words.