Now they were even.

Emma had saved Regina's life—she had pulled her out of a burning building. Regina had saved Emma from suffocation. It may not have been as heroic, but it still counted. They didn't owe each other any more favors; things could go back to normal. They could go back to the antagonistic relationship that was familiar and comfortable for them both. They did not need to talk about how Regina cried over Emma's unconscious body in the hospital, or how she stopped her from going out with Stanley, or how whenever they were in a room together, they felt the need to stand a foot or less apart from each other. No, they didn't need to talk about any of that, because things were finally back to normal.

The play had been a disaster, what with the main character fainting and all. Emma had been taken to the hospital again, and made to stay another week, because apparently the nerves and over-exertion of acting had made her ribs tense up, which had caused her to pass out. Emma decided to thank the Mayor for saving her, even though she wondered why exactly Regina had to give her CPR. She could have just poured some cold water on Emma's face; that would have done the trick. That's what Emma would have expected Regina to do. But no, she had chosen to do something a lot more—intimate. Why? Emma did not understand this.

And she wouldn't let it go. When her week at the hospital was up, she tried to focus on going back to work, reading the utterly pointless paperwork that littered her desk. Emma almost wished that Storybrooke was riddled with crime, because being Sherriff was no fun if she was going to sit at a desk all day, filing stupid cold cases and other shit that didn't matter. So she did what she usually did when she was bored and needed something to entertain her. She went to the Mayor's office. The Mayor pretended to be busy; Emma could see right through that act. As soon as Emma entered the room, Regina bent her head over her paperwork, determined to ignore Emma's presence. She was just hell-bent on making this as hard as she could for the blonde.

Emma cleared her throat. "Madame Mayor—"

"Sherriff, anyone with eyes could see that I am busy. I have to write up a report for this month's city funds, and I would appreciate it if you would let me get back to it. Set up an appointment with my secretary if you must."

Emma rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry—I just came by to thank you for saving my life, but I guess you don't give a shit anyway. Why didn't you just let me lay there until the medics arrived?" The question that had been bouncing around the Sherriff's brain spilled out.

Regina's first reaction was shock, but she recovered quickly. She frowned next. "Do you really think I'm the type to just stand by while someone suffers?"

"Um, yeah!" Emma said, her tone spelling out DUH.

"Henry would never forgive me if something happened to you. I had to make sure nothing would."

"So that's why you gave me unnecessary CPR? What were you trying to do, cop a feel or something?" Emma was being bold, she knew, but she couldn't help herself.

The look on Regina's face was priceless. She was, for once, utterly speechless. It took her body several seconds to stop tingling, and as soon as she could find her voice, it came out scratchy, deep. Nothing like her own.

"As—as you can see, Sherriff," she began, hating where the conversation had gone, "I have a lot of work to do. So if you would be so kind…" She trailed off, and turned back to her desk, hoping the Sherriff would not see the blush creeping onto her cheeks. Her hip accidentally hit the corner of the desk and she winced. She was becoming nervous. She was turning into a clumsy, love-crazed hormonal teenager, all because of the woman standing in front of her mahogany desk, who was smirking like an idiot.

"Right, okay. See you around then." Emma turned and walked out, unable to keep the grin off of her face.

So much for things going back to normal, Regina thought. She could not believe what had just happened. Sherriff Swan knew. She had called her out. She KNEW. This was terrible. It could not happen. What happened to all of Regina's self-control? She had controlled everything and everyone in the town, until the blonde tornado showed up. Now all of the rules that Regina had constructed for herself were being broken. She had promised herself she would never fall in love again; she would never feel anything for anyone, because it was just too painful. And for all of the people in the world who could challenge that rule, it just had to be Miss Swan.

What had she ever done to deserve this? Oh, right. Cursed a million people. Killed her own father. Killed Graham just so he wouldn't date Emma. Made Snow White suffer immensely, in this world and the other one. Kept her apart from her true love. Screwed the Mad Hatter out of being with his daughter. Lied to Rumpelstiltskin about his girlfriend. Was that it? No, there was more. Lots more.

But that still didn't explain why she deserved to be humiliated by someone as infuriating as Miss Swan.

"You guys are so cute, it's making me sick. Get a room before I puke." Emma complained with a playful twinkle in her eye.

August and Ruby were entangled in each other's arms, not listening to a word Emma was saying. They were all sitting in Granny's diner, and Ruby was on one of her frequent breaks. Emma had to wave her arms around her head to get the new couple's attention, and when she did they both had smiles the size of Jupiter on their faces. Young love, Emma thought. How annoying.

Emma had played a weird sort of matchmaker in Ruby and August's case. The fact that Emma had landed in the hospital two times in one month made them realize that life was too short. August had admitted his feelings for Ruby and now they were going out, casually. It had only been a week, so they were still very much in the honeymoon phase.

"What crawled up your ass and died?" Ruby asked, noticing the glum look on the blonde's face.

"Um…nothing. I just had a long day at work."

"Yeah, sure. Okay."

"I think Regina has a crush on me." The words slipped out, and Emma covered her mouth in astonishment.

August's mouth went slack and he started to laugh, thinking that Emma was just screwing with them. "Yeah, right."

Emma sat up straighter and looked around, uncomfortable, in case anyone would overhear. It was later in the evening, so not many people were left in the diner. Leroy was sitting in a table near the far side of the room, so Emma figured she was safe.

"I mean it. She got all weird when I was at her office yesterday."

"And why were you there?" Ruby interjected.

"To thank her for saving my life."

Ruby laughed. "Right, because that's what she was doing when she decided to practically lie on top of your unconscious body and lay one on you."

Emma looked at her, relieved. "So you see it too?"

Ruby rolled her eyes. "The whole town does. Except for him, apparently." Ruby nudged her new boyfriend in the ribs.

"Yeah, well, how do you know, though? I mean, she could have just been shocked and didn't know what else to do. She could have thought that CPR was the only option—"

"The better question is, how could I NOT know? You two have so much chemistry, it's insane. The fact that neither of you sense it is even more insane. Why do you think Gayle casted you as Cesario and Olivia in the play? It was BECAUSE YOU TWO EYE FUCK ALL THE TIME!"

Leroy definitely heard that little exclamation. He sauntered up to the trio, his eyes bearing a mischievous glint.

"Who eye fucks all the time?"

"None of your business, Leroy. I got to go home and get some sleep. Ruby, don't say anything." Emma gave her a final glare and walked out.

Leroy watched her leave and turned sipped his beer. "It's her and the Mayor, isn't it?"

Ruby shrugged. "She told me not to say. But hell yes."

Emma could not sleep. Thoughts of Regina hammered inside her head until it was too painful to breathe, and she couldn't get into a comfortable position no matter what she did. She had to fix this, and make it go away. The things Ruby said kept scampering to the forefront of her mind. BECAUSE YOU TWO EYE FUCK ALL THE TIME. Emma couldn't believe that. When did she and Regina have time to eye fuck, as Ruby put it, when they were so focused on hating each other's guts? This couldn't be real; it was just Ruby reading too much into things. But Emma would not leave it up to chance, so she decided to do something about it.

Regina was settling into her nightly routine: a glass of wine with a book in her study, when she heard a faint knock at the door. She put down Paradise Lost and went to answer it, grumbling to herself. She was surprised to see the Sherriff standing there like a deer in the headlights, and she hated to admit it, but she got extremely uncomfortable.

"Sherriff, it is ten o'clock. You had better have a good explanation as to why you come knocking at my door at such an ungodly hour. Henry is asleep, so I assume you—"

"Can you just shut the fuck up? For once?"

Regina had to give it to the Sherriff, she certainly kept surprising her. She said nothing.

"Thank you. Look, I just came by because I wanted to…um…" Emma was losing her courage. Why had she come here again? This was a stupid idea. "I'll just go, it's nothing."

Emma turned to leave, but Regina reached her arm out and grabbed onto the blonde's. "No, you don't get to run this time, Miss Swan. You came here for something, some reason. It has nothing to do with Henry, so it must be about me. What is it?"

Damn this woman. Damn this whole situation. Emma grumbled. She was groping in the dark, and that was a scary feeling in and of itself. "When we were in the play, you—you were nicer. I mean, I saw times when you were softer, more vulnerable. I didn't want to see that, because it was harder to hate you then. But it made me think that you and I were not that different. But now…now I guess I was wrong, the whole time." Emma took a breath

Regina donned an evil smirk. "Good speech. I can assure, you Sherriff, all you and I will ever be—" she got into Emma's face, just to taunt her, because this was just too tempting—"Is enemies. It is foolish for you to think any different. Good evening." Regina moved to shut the door in her face, but Emma was too quick. She shoved her way into the house, and before Regina could say anything, Emma's lips crashed onto hers.

It was aggressive, that kiss. Regina stepped back, determined to end it, but Emma pushed right back, stepping forward. Her hands slipped up behind Regina's back, and they stepped together into the study. Emma shut the door with her foot, her lips never leaving Regina's. Regina could not stand this. She had to fight it, but found that all the efforts she made to end the kiss were overridden by the blonde staunchly forcing her lips onto hers again. She would push her back, saying that it was inappropriate—but she would get cut off midsentence. She soon learned it was futile to try. She let Miss Swan have her fun. To her horror, she was enjoying their kiss as well. Emma's lips tasted like beer, which would normally be disgusting to Regina's senses. But it mixed nicely with the taste of wine still lingering on her tongue, and the way that she was holding her, like she would never let her go, made Regina's knees go weak.

Finally, they broke apart for some much needed oxygen. Emma's pupils were dilated to twice their size. "That was…holy shit."

Regina laughed, a deep, lusty chuckle. "Yes, I am a good kisser. You are not so bad yourself."

Emma looked at her, unsure of what to do next. "I would love to um…do that again, if you like."

Regina nodded. She would like that very much. "I think something could be arranged." Regina smirked. She could handle this. A casual fling with the Sherriff would be very pleasing to her. Sex was a great stress reliever and Miss Swan would be perfect for that. She took a breath to list her stipulations, but was cut off by Emma.

"I have rules, though." Emma started. Regina stepped back, curious.

"Number one: You have to call me Emma. If you call me Miss Swan, or Sherriff Swan, I will ignore you." At the skeptical look on Regina's face, she added, "I mean it. I'll pretend not to hear you.

"Number two: You and I have to go on a date. In public. I will not sneak around with you, so you can forget about that." Regina sighed audibly. Damn it.

"I think that's it. I'll call you later for our first date." Emma couldn't help feel weird as she said that. A good weird, though.

Regina had had enough. "What makes you think I don't have rules, Miss Swan?"

Emma ignored her, turning to leave, which just pissed Regina off more. "Miss Swan, get back here!"

"That's not my name, Regina."

Oh, right. The stupid rules. "Fine. Emma, get back here."

The Sherriff walked reluctantly back into the study.

"Sit."

Emma sat, getting the odd sensation that something bad was going to happen.

"If we are going to be involved, Miss—Emma, we are going to do it my way."

Emma's face fell. "So that's it. You use sex as a weapon, to make people submit to you. That's all sex is for you, isn't it?"

The blonde continued. "I mean, heaven forbid you actually feel something. No, that can't happen for you. Well, I hope you enjoy being lonely, Madame Mayor. I should get going. Good night." Emma stood up, striding over to the door.

"Wait!" Regina couldn't keep the desperation out of her tone. She sighed. She would probably end up regretting this, but…she could NOT let Miss Swan—Emma—walk away. She had felt something deep stir inside of her during their kiss, and if she was being honest with herself, she had felt it so many times before. Times when she and Emma were arguing, and they stood a little too close, or their gazes lingered a little too long. She decided to let her feelings guide her, and so she took a leap of faith.

"We can play by your rules, Emma." Regina winced. She would have to get use to calling the Sherriff by her first name.

The joy emanating from Emma was almost childlike. "Cool. Good night, Regina. I'm going to take you some place extra special for our date. But I think you should tone down your wardrobe a bit, because where we're going isn't exactly classy." Emma clasped her hands excitedly, gave Regina a peck on the cheek, and dashed out of the door and out of the mansion. She knew that if she said much more, Regina would have a heart attack.

As Regina watched her get in her bug and drive away, she folded her arms around herself. A part of her already regretted this. But a huge part, the more powerful, emotional part, did not. Not at all.

She was excited for her date, even though she had no idea what it was. And what the hell was she supposed to wear?