A week passed and Regina was pleased with her progress. She could remember most of the dances fairly well and despite being unable to walk with grace, she seemed to be better at dancing with it.

"You're doing well" Emma said "your body remembers the movements and your mobility has improved too. Do you feel stronger?"

Regina didn't know. She never thought about it. She was taught to monitor her looks, her skills, her posture etcetera, but physical strength was never something she was encouraged to have.

"I suppose so" she said, not wanting to disappoint her teacher.

Emma stretched her calf muscles, using the wall to prop her foot against and leaning into it.

"Went a bit hard last night, did you?" Pip asked

"Hard is the only way to go" Emma replied, switching legs.

Pip chuckled and tightened the strings of his bow.

Regina didn't know what they were taking about. She wanted to ask but she just watched Emma. The noises she made were of mingled pain and relief. She looked out of the window while she stretched. The morning light turned her blonde hair golden.

Regina felt something she couldn't quite identify as she observed her. Envy?

She watched her stretch out her limbs gracefully. She could see the muscles in her legs and heard the crack of her arms when she reached up. The bodice was gone now and light shone through the loose shirt she wore, silhouetting her torso against the fabric and Regina could see her slender form clearly.

She felt the thing again but this time instinctively looked away. Whatever it was, it wasn't good. She pushed it down.

Emma tied her hair up and they began their next lesson.

"Ok, we're going back to the waltz today" Emma said "so you need to hold on and steady yourself against me when you need to. Any decent dance partner knows that it is about give and take, and consistency. If you're always the same, they will always know how I respond."

Emma took Regina's hand and led her to the floor as always. They had argued over the best way to approach the floor. Emma hated the one-arm-floating-behind walk that some adopted. She said it looked like she was walking through a moat. Regina had quite liked it but that had ruined it for her. She thought that might have been Emma's intention.

When Regina danced at the ball she would essentially be Emma's business card, so she understood her investment in this.

"You overreach here" Emma pointed to the arm that rested on her shoulder. "You don't have to hold your partner's shoulder. Assuming they are as tall as me or taller, they all wear heeled boots anyway, you won't be able to reach and dance properly."

Regina wondered what she was supposed to do. Wear taller shoes?

"This ache I'm guessing you feel…" Emma slid her hand up Regina's back and she suppressed a shiver "…here" she pressed into a spot just next to her shoulder blade. Regina gasped at the pain and automatically thrust forward, away from it and into Emma.

"Yep" Emma smiled down at her. Amusement tinged the sympathy in her green eyes "that's from overreaching"

Regina stared up at her for a moment. How had she known exactly where she hurt? She realised she was staring and drew back. Emma still held her in position for their dance.

"You can rest your hand on their chest" Emma drew Regina's arm down until the base of her palm rested just above where her breast should be. Regina suddenly became very aware of every nerve ending in her hand.

"Oh I forgot" Emma stepped back and Regina's arm fell quickly back to her side.

"In an effort to be realistic, I'm wearing this" Emma unbuttoned her shirt. Regina felt she should definitely look away now, but instead of bare skin Emma showed her she had wrapped a cloth tightly around her chest.

"See, there's nothing there" she brushed her hand over her flat, covered chest and buttoned up her shirt again.

"Ok" she drew near again and Regina rested her hand where it felt comfortable. Regina tried not to think about what was underneath her palm, separated from her skin by a few layers of fabric.

"Good" Emma smiled "I love it when they listen to me"

Pip laughed and began playing.

One morning in the dance room tensions seemed higher than usual. Emma and Pip seemed to have figured out everything they needed. A disused chaise lay under a window. A mirror was propped up near the door and Pip had acquired a trestle table to arrange his instruments on. The room was set up just fine, there was something wrong with the people in it.

"This part. Stop" Emma said to Regina and Pip stopped playing. "This is supposed to be all you. You can balance; you're strong enough to hold this. Try again"

Her tone was more forceful than Regina was used to from her, but she didn't say anything, her own irritation bubbling just under the surface. They began again and Pip started up.

"Stop" Pip stopped "do you know which part I mean?" Emma asked, frowning

"Yes" Regina replied "but it's hard"

"Yes" Emma said "that's the point. The point of all dancing is to do something hard and make it look like the easiest thing in the world. Again" she clicked her boot heel on the other in impatience.

Pip started again. Regina turned when she was supposed to, took Emma's hand again and took the step she kept messing up. She lost her balance. She hit the floor hard on her good side.

"Ow! You could have caught me!" Regina said from the ground.

"You could have caught yourself" Emma replied "I'm here to teach you, not coddle you. You are going to be exceptional when we are done, you're just not taking this seriously" she turned away from her, without offering a hand up.

"Not taking it seriously?" Regina raged as she climbed to her feet and dusted off her deep red dress "this is my life" she snapped

"I know" Emma said turning back to her, hands on her hips "which why I don't understand"

Regina could have throttled her, she was so angry. Fierce responses whirled round her mind.

"What could you possibly know about my life?" Regina demanded "about this ball, and what it means. It's dressed up like a celebration for me, as an opportunity when really it's an auction and I am an object to be bought with a kingdom"

Emma watched her for a moment. She had never met anyone, princess or otherwise, who was not excited about a ball being thrown in their honour. She cynically knew that was the purpose of most of the dances thrown by the nobility, but she had never met anyone who didn't buy into it before.

Regina's eyes were dark and blazing. Emma felt she was seeing a version of Regina that rarely came out. She had kept this in for weeks and Emma had finally gotten to the heart of what was mentally blocking Regina from improving at the pace she was capable of.

"I am going to help you make the best of this" she said after a while. "Dance well enough and you will have your pick. Find someone you have chemistry with and you may even find something you don't expect. Like happiness"

Regina's expression softened at the response she hadn't expected.

Emma held out her hand to dance with Regina again. Regina took it slowly and Emma drew her into position.

"I am never going to go easy on you" Emma said quietly. Regina looked back at her, her eyes still wide from their exchange. "You deserve the best from me, and I am going to get the best from you"

After a moment she turned to look at Pip who had been staring at the ground, not listening. Regina's eyes slipped down the curve of Emma's jaw, her smooth neck and onto her clavicle. Regina had never paid any attention to her own, but she thought Emma's was nice.

"You ok?" Emma asked Pip. He sprang into animation once again.

More than ok, Regina thought to herself as Emma turned to her again, dimples and all.