- Things got steamy between the Evil Queen and her Prince Charming!
- Changed Emma's male name to Lionel. Note for those who read the fic before I updated it.
- This is how it should have gone, OUAT in my pants!

AN UNEXPECTED QUEST
Chapter 2

"Are you insane?" Regina shook her head in disbelief. "We just met and this is… Don't think this is ever going to repeat." Regina got up from bed and summoned a red velvet dress to cover her body." This was just a meaningless game and you can stop pretending to care about me." She stopped to catch her breath.

"But, Regina, I genuinely care about you. I wish I could make you feel what I'm feeling inside here." Emma brought a hand to her own chest and Regina raised an eyebrow incredulously. There was a moment she wanted to believe his words and feel she could still be loved after everything she'd done, but her toy for the night didn't know her and neither did Regina know much about this mysterious prince from a land unknown to her. It's all lies. The words echoed in her head.

"Don't think your skillful tongue will save you from spending the night in my dungeon and meeting your punishment tomorrow." Regina summoned purple smoke and transported him back to his previous cell, without giving him time to talk but at least he was dressed.

"No one can love the Evil Queen." Regina muttered and went to her balcony to wish upon a star for resolution, but she had lost her fairy godmother years ago and there was no light magic powerful enough to redeem her darkened heart and make it worthy of a love like this. "Love at first sight." Regina chuckled. "That's so out of character, Regina." She told herself.

"What was I even thinking?" Emma smacked her hands against the cell bars. "She just met me and it isn't like I could stay here by her side." She huffed and dropped her weight on the ground. "I didn't come here to rescue Regina. I'm here for my parents." Emma continued mumbling, she leaned against the wall and then heard some noises in the other occupied cell.

She looked at the other prisoner and noticed the woman was trying to ask something, but she couldn't articulate a word because her voice was still missing. "You were right. She's not going soft." Emma told her. "Although she felt rather soft for a while." Lionel mumbled and the other lady grimaced at the unnecessary comment.

Emma noticed a wooden spoon with a metal string tied around it. She uncurled it and used it to unlock her gate and then went to release the prisoner next to her. They made it slowly outside of the dungeon and met with Hook as he came to save his damsel -or current prince- in distress. "I'm the only one who saves myself." Lionel told him proudly and Hook rolled his eyes. "Okay, let's go then. But, wait… Who is this?" He asked privately and Emma told him it was someone who needed their help and brought her with them against his judgment.

"When I told you to enjoy the night, I didn't mean it like that." Rumplestiltskin said to Emma as they came to his castle. Hook looked at both of them with confusion but paid it not much mind, as he was still carrying the woman Emma hit in the head to make her more portable.

A crimson smoke swirled around their bodies and returned them to their normal, modern time, looks.

"Well, you didn't warn me about the side effects of your makeover." Emma muttered. "Because there weren't any, princess." Rumplestiltskin spit back and Emma blushed lightly and looked away. "Let's just hope you didn't change anything else, Savior." He told her and threw a black wand her way. After Emma caught it, he made her and the others appear inside his vault.

"Only those who traveled through the portal can make it open again. Unless you wield magic, you're going to have to spend the rest of your days inside my vault, so you don't taint the future any further." His voice resounded in the cove and Emma held the black wand in her hand.

(Present Time)

When Regina entered the diner, Emma felt a flutter in her stomach, which quickly turned acidic when she saw Robin was accompanying her. "Who the fuck is he and what is he doing with Regina? She asked inside her mind but tried to ignore the strange sensation in her gut. Was that jealousy? She hadn't really felt that in her dating life.

After Robin went to sit in an empty booth with his little boy and a little girl, Emma walked slowly in direction of the Mayor and felt her hands begin sweating. She looked at Regina's elegant and conservative attire and then her gaze sat on red lips. She licked her own dry lips nervously and, for some reason, that sight evoked a memory in Regina that she had been trying to erase for the longest time. "Thirsty?" She asked Emma after the awkward silence and the blonde blushed a bright red and even Regina felt uneasy with the familiarity of that scene. Deja vu?

"Uh… no. Regina, there's someone I'd like you to meet." Emma told her as she beckoned her to come by the bar. She told her she had brought someone from the past but she still saw her as… "The Evil Queen." Regina said for her and Emma frowned in discomfort. "Well, yeah. Maybe if you spoke with her, or helped her recover her voice, she would see who you are now." Emma looked at her with hope and Regina nodded. "I understand."

Regina went to meet with the other woman and she kind of remembered her face from somewhere. She waved a hand in front of her and the lady recovered her voice. "Thank you." The dark skinned woman told her nervously and then her eyes noticed her husband sitting in one of the booths beside them.

"Robin?" She asked and he couldn't believe his eyes. "Marion? I thought you were dead." He cried as he held her and their little son came shyly to their side. "Mama?" He asked with hope and she recognized her slightly bigger child. "Roland!" She exclaimed and went down to pick him in her arms.

"You did this?" Regina asked with a broken voice as she witnessed the family reunion Emma promoted and how her second chance shattered before her eyes without anything she could do to stop it.

"I didn't know." Emma's lips curled downwards after seeing the broken expression in Regina's face and she felt even worse because it was something that, deep inside, gave her hope because it meant Regina would be available again. But how could she even stand a chance with her if she was just… Emma?

"You're just like your mother. Never thinking of consequences." Regina said bitterly and ran outside the diner to clear her mind and just avoid watching the happy family now completed with someone other than her.

"Regina, wait!" Emma went running behind her. "Please let me explain."

"Stop it." Regina barked and turned around slowly. She began walking dangerously in her direction and then stopped just a few inches from the other woman's face. "I don't know what gave you the right to tamper with my life and still have the nerve to pretend to care about me." The brunette inhaled deeply and didn't let Emma speak.

"Just, who do you think you are, Miss Swan?" She confronted her and then it was Henry who came out of the diner. "Ma! Were you really Prince Lionel in the ball?" He came holding his old book and showing the page to his birthmother. "Shit." Emma muttered and her eyes looked everywhere else but the Mayor's face.

Regina snatched the book from Henry's hands and went through the pages showing the pair of princes that helped Snow White escape from Dark Knights in Mida's castle. "Could you please answer our son's question?" Regina faked to be calm and Emma knew she couldn't lie because Henry would know and so would Regina. "I… ah… Yes."

Regina's face distorted in a wide array of colors. First there was shock, then it was anger, and disbelief quickly followed behind them. But then came realization. "Henry, could you please leave us a moment to discuss something in private?" Regina asked him and he shrugged. "Uh, sure." He went back inside with the book in his hand and quickly joined the party.

"Why?" Was the only word that left Regina's mouth and Emma didn't really have an answer. She evaded brown eyes and wondered. Why did I bring back Marion or why did I turn into prince Lionel… Or why did I make passionate love to her while being him? "Why what?" Emma decided to ask. Hopefully, Regina wouldn't even remember a one-night stand from like bit over thirty years ago. The Queen had told her it was meaningless and never to repeat again, right?

"Am I a living joke for you to continue playing and finding it humorous to constantly mock me? Did I not deserve the slightest amount of respect in your behalf after having raised Henry and continuously proving myself worthy of him?" Regina's wall broke again and she started weeping. "Regina, it's not like that. I-" Emma tried to soothe her but Regina cut it.

"You know what, forget it. Let's just forget about all of this and…" Regina blinked eyes in realization. This is the answer to my problems. She thought. "Actually, I will just forget about this all." She mumbled and Emma felt something bad inside her gut. "What do you mean?" Emma asked nervously as she approached warily. "Nothing that concerns you. It never has and never will." Regina answered with a strained voice and purple smoke engulfed her body and made it disappear.

"Shit!" Emma kicked a chair from outside the diner and made it fall to the grey asphalt. "Wait. I know where to find her." She then made it to her bug and drove to the cemetery where Regina kept her vault of magic relics.

She was unsurprised to see the door open and silently made it downstairs, until she came to see Regina about to drink a potion from a glass. "Regina, don't!" Emma run to her and slapped the glass away, making it fall from her hand and shatter in the cold stone floor.

"What the hell were you going to do?" Emma asked her with worry and feared the worst. Could Regina have reached her limits and think about suicide? She didn't want to believe that.

"I was going to forget you… and Henry." Regina answered tiredly while trying to pick up the pieces of glass. "Henry? I understand why you would want to erase me from your life, but, Henry?" Emma asked as she came to help the brunette with the mess.

"I can't continue living like this. Ever since you appeared in my life, everything has turned into a living nightmare. I can't do this anymore." Regina answered and accidentally got a cut in her finger. "Let me see that." Emma grabbed her hand and looked with honest worry at her and Regina was confused.

"I'm sorry I've only brought unpleasant memories into your life, when it was quite the opposite what I wanted to provide." Emma said with sincerity and her gaze met with Regina's for a long moment. "But, please, don't forget Henry. I will go back to New York and he can stay here with you." Emma sighed deeply and her own tears began falling.

Regina stared in disbelief and thought maybe this was just another of Emma's jokes. "As if you would let me live my happy ending." Regina muttered and tried to retrieve her hand but Emma didn't let her.

"Regina…" Emma looked into brown eyes with pain. "That night… I truly meant it." She told her and placed a kiss in her knuckles at the same time another of her tears came down the side of her cheek.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Regina tried to fake amnesia but Emma knew whenever the Mayor lied and she was sure now that Regina did indeed remember their passionate encounter a lifetime ago, but which was a fresh memory in Emma's mind and heart.

"I love you." She looked for Regina's lips, just like that night, and the brunette evaded her attempt, just like before. "I loved you then and I love you now and I fear I will always do, but I can't stay by your side if I can't be with you." She sighed deeply and released Regina's hand to start her way toward the exit. "It would be the worst torture." She turned around to tell her.

Regina was perplexed, it was too difficult to digest but the sight of Emma walking away gave her more pain the one she could endure ever again. It was worse than saying good-bye to Daniel. It only equaled her sorrow after giving up Henry to undo the curse. Why is this so… painful? Isn't this what I always wanted? She asked herself.

"Lionel." Regina called softly and Emma turned around slowly with glazed eyes but a grin in her lips at remembering her prince chapter. "I could never fall in love again after that night with him." She confessed and Emma got curious. "Huh?" She just uttered.

"All that time, I told myself I had to remember Daniel and get back in track. I knew he was gone but at least he was something I could try reaching. You, Lionel, how could that even be possible? I didn't believe anyone could love the Evil Queen and I held on to the only person who knew me as Regina in that cold world." She told her as she came to sit with Emma by the stairs.

"I've always seen you as Regina. Even in the Enchanted Forest, I couldn't see you as… you know." Emma slipped a hand over Regina's and brought it to her lap. "I know. You had a difficult time calling me by my royal title." The brunette chuckled at the memory and how she had just allowed Lionel to continue calling her by her name during their private meeting.

"It was hard for me to… to acknowledge these feelings. Meeting you, the real you, in Storybrooke reminded me so much of that reckless man I ran into in Mida's castle. Now I see why I continued looking for the truth behind your eyes. I knew I had seen that green gaze before, but I would have never imagined that my prince charming was standing right before me." Regina squeezed her hand and Emma smiled shyly.

"Does that mean?" Emma looked with hope into dark eyes. "Would you give me a chance?" She asked in a whisper and Regina felt a flutter in her stomach. "I don't know. I'm still having a difficult time believing. Henry clearly didn't get that trait from me." She chuckled nervously.

"Then try me. If there is any way I can prove to you my feelings, I will make sure I leave no space for doubt in the future." Emma said with resolution and Regina narrowed her gaze on her.

A/N: I changed the name from "Leo" to "Lionel" because it reminded some of Leopold, but it wasn't my intention. I chose it because I was in between both options, since I love Emma as a lion and it sounded very resembled to "Leia", the name she chose in the original episode. Ok! :D