This chapter is for AlphaLuna87 with the prompt: "Regina and Emma fuse together, due to a magical faux pas, and become one body. Being able to read each other's thoughts /emotions eventually leads to SQ."

"You are insane," Emma hissed, walking into Regina's office and shutting the door. "How in the hell do you expect to be able to pretend to fit into the Queens of Darkness? They'll figure you out in no time!"

"No, they won't," Regina said calmly. "So stop freaking out. It's easy enough to pretend to be the Evil Queen once again."

"And if you can't?" Emma asked. "What if they ask you to kill someone? Then what are you planning to do?"

Regina winced. She hadn't thought of that. "I see your point. But I'm still going to them tonight and joining them. I need to earn their trust, or nothing is ever going to happen."

Emma sighed. She didn't like the idea of Regina putting herself in danger just to win over the trust of some villains. For several reasons.

"Just, think about doing something different to win them over," Emma said. "Sleep on it maybe."

"I don't need to," Regina said stubbornly. "I have my mind set, and I don't plan on changing it. I need to gain their trust, and the only way to do that is to pretend to be one of them."

"That's putting yourself directly into harm's way," Emma argued.

Regina shrugged. "Nothing that I can't handle."

"Why can't you see my side on this?" Emma asked.

"Why can't you see mine?" Regina countered. "I will be fine. Nothing is going to happen to me. I don't know why you care so much anyway."

"You're my friend," Emma said, her voice wavering slightly on the last word. "Friends care about each other."

"I see," Regina said. "Well, if you wouldn't mind, I have some work to get done before I meet the girls for whatever test they have for me."

Emma sighed in defeat before leaving Regina's office. This wasn't a battle that she was going to win by any means. As she left, Emma couldn't help but feel as if something was wrong with Regina. Shrugging, Emma left the building. Regina could handle herself.

Regina, meanwhile, had blacked out completely onto her desk merely seconds after Emma had left her office. Just suddenly collapsed. She blinked her eyes, lifting her head up from her desk. Why was she sleeping?

Shaking her head, Regina picked up her papers and walked past the mirror. She froze as she saw a flash of blonde hair. Turning around, Regina walked quickly to the mirror, where she screamed and dropped the papers at seeing her own reflection.

Her face and body was still hers, but she had Emma's green eyes and blonde hair. What in the world?

"Glad you've noticed our little problem," Emma said.

Regina whipped around to face her, but didn't see anyone. "Emma?"

"I'm here," Emma said. "I'm just in your head somehow. Our bodies merged, and now we're one person. Any cures come to mind?"

"Ummm, I, um," Regina sputtered. She had no idea what to do. She hadn't heard of this happening to anyone before. What if there wasn't a cure? Then what?

"Will you calm down?" Emma asked. "Geez. You're going to make my head explode, which at this point, is our head."

"That's not funny," Regina said. "What are we supposed to do about this? I can't have you in my body forever."

"But I like it in here," Emma whined. "Smells like apples."

Regina rolled her eyes. "Whatever it smells like doesn't matter. What matters is that I can't have blonde hair and green eyes when I go to meet with the Queens of Darkness, or they'll definitely know that something is off."

"You have this amazing thing called magic," Emma said sarcastically. "Just change my features to look like yours."

Regina hit her forehead, hoping that the action would cause some pain to the annoying part of Emma living in her head. Emma did nothing but laugh. "Nice try."

"Thought it was worth a try," Regina said. She tried to use her magic to transform her looks back to her normal self, but it wasn't working. Nothing was changing.

"I would tease you for not trying, but I can tell that you're trying," Emma said.

"Thanks," Regina huffed in annoyance.

"Maybe we could try working together," Emma said. "Like with the diamond. And the lunar eclipse. Our magic worked together then, why couldn't it now?"

"Something like this will require a lot of magic and emotion," Regina warned. "With the diamond, we both wanted to save the town. The lunar eclipse got rid of the moon so we could save Henry. There's no emotion this time."

"Maybe there is," Emma said.

"Like what?" Regina snapped. "Disdain at having you in my head?"

"No," Emma said. "But I've heard that love can be a powerful thing where magic is concerned."

Regina froze. "Are you implying that we need to use love to get ourselves out of this mess?"

"You said that you needed an emotion," Emma said. "I'm just pointing one out."

"One that is illogical," Regina argued. "I don't love you."

"We both know that that's a lie," Emma said softly. "I'm in your head, remember? I can feel everything you can, past and present. You could do the same to me if you're tried."

"Regardless of whether I want to do that or not, that still doesn't mean that I love you," Regina said. "You have no proof."

"Our magic would only work so well together if we had some kind of connection," Emma said. "I read about it in a book shortly after we got rid of the diamond. We're connected somehow, and I know that it's not as enemies."

"And how do you know that?" Regina asked.

"Because I do have feelings for you," Emma said. "And whether or not you want to admit it, I know that you have them for me too. But you're scared to love because of what it has done to you in the past."

"Get out of my head," Regina growled.

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" Emma asked. "Our magic won't work together until you've admitted it."

Regina sighed. "Fine. Yes, I have feelings for you. And yes, I'm scared to love. Now will you get out of my head?"

"I'm not in your head," Emma said. "I'm right here."

"What?" Regina asked.

"Wake up," Emma said, her voice growing louder. "Regina, wake up. Wake up!"

Regina sat up with a gasp, looking around at her surroundings in confusion. She was still in her office, but it was now dark outside. What had happened?

"Oh thank goodness," Emma said in relief as she walked back into the room. "I was afraid that you were never going to wake up."

"What?" Regina asked in confusion.

Emma chuckled. "I came back into your office to apologize, and found you passed out on your desk. I just went to grab some water for you."

"Oh, thank you," Regina said. She took the water from Emma and took small sips. She looked over at the clock and nearly spit out her drink. "I was supposed to meet the girls an hour ago!"

Emma looked down at her feet. "Yeah, you were. I tried waking you up, but you were really asleep."

"I was in the middle of a very strange dream," Regina said. "I've never had a dream like that before."

"Yeah the bottle said that could be a side-effect," Emma said, eyes widening at the slip.

Regina glared at her. "What did you just say?"

"Nothing," Emma said quickly. "You know, I think I should be going."

"Emma," Regina warned. "What did you do?"

Emma sighed. "I put some sleeping medication into your drink at lunch that would kick in at just the right moment that you would miss your meeting with the Queens."

"Emma!" Regina exclaimed. "Why would you do that?"

"Because they're going to figure you out, and I can't let that happen," Emma said. "I care about you too much to see you get killed by them."

Regina sighed. Emma could be infuriating when she was being protective. "Thank you for caring about me, but-"

"I don't think you realize how much I care for you," Emma interrupted. "That thought of losing you to one of those monsters is as painful as the thought of losing Henry or my parents. I can't lose you."

'Why?" Regina asked.

"Because," Emma said. "Like I said, I care about you. Now come on. Since you're not meeting with the villains, we should take our son out to a movie."

Regina rolled her eyes and smiled. "Very well. But I will have to deal with them at some point."

"I know," Emma said. "And I'll just pull out another dose to make you sleep."

Regina sighed. One day she would tell Emma that she not only cared for her as well, but also loved her. Perhaps later tonight during the movie even. Fate had a strange way of moving things along.