Author's Note: Rumors of my demise have been greatly over-exaggerated. I have returned and hopefully regular updates will also return soon! HUGE thanks to everyone who has followed, favorited and/or commented upon the story, you guys are amazing! I welcome and and all comments, commentary, criticism and prompts can be reached by PM here, or my Ask Box on Tumblr (same user name).

Chapter XII

The Mayor

Her office was exactly the same as it had always been. Which shouldn't surprise her, but somehow it did. Regina felt herself relax a little when she sat down behind her desk and saw a stack of very familiar paperwork waiting on her. The familiarity of her job calmed her a little. She could use something familiar right now since her entire life had been turned sideways and upside down. The trigger had detonated, and Emma Swan had kissed her, the town was cursed again, and Emma Swan had held her, her mother was back from the grave again, and Emma Swan had spent the night spooning her. Regina's pen stilled mid-letter into her signature.

She was distracted today. Distracted was probably not the word for it. She was a mess, and knew it. Regina Mills loathed messiness, especially when it pertained to her. She needed, to quote Emma she was sure, to get her shit together. She laid her pen down and rested her head in her hands. So much had happened, it felt like she hadn't had a moment to process. She had been with her mother, Henry, or Emma or a mix of the three every moment. Not that she was complaining, because she definitely was not. Having Henry back home, even if he did hate her, was more than enough to make her happy. Then, there was her mother. Her mother with a heart. Cora had never had a heart in her chest, not for as long as Regina had been alive, perhaps longer. She was decidedly different. She was softer, warmer, and she cared. Not that she had changed completely. She still had a caustic attitude and was quick to anger and slow to apologize. She didn't seem to like Emma very much.

Emma. Now that was another issue. She had been at odds with herself from the very beginning. The first time she had seen Emma she had felt a spark deep in her coal-black heart. She had ignored it, or had tried to at least. She had wanted Emma gone, but the blonde wouldn't go. She had been pig-headed and rough and stupidly brave. Saving people, righting wrongs, being a nuisance and a temptation all at the same time. Oh she hadn't realized it was lust at first. It was hot and poignant, but she had assumed it was a side effect of her loathing of the blonde. She had told herself that, anyway.

She hadn't admitted, even to herself that she was in lust with the woman until the day at the mines. The terrifying, heart stopping day when she didn't know if she would ever see Henry again. She had allowed herself to trust Emma that day. Trust her to save Henry. The sight of Emma with her-their son wrapped around her had been immediately burnt into her memory. They had looked so right together. Which was why she had pushed Emma away, because she was going to take Henry. She had taken Henry.

Only after you cursed him. The caustic, bitter and dark as night voice in her head, the voice of The Evil Queen, reminded her. The memory of that day haunted her. The sight of Henry's tiny frame in the hospital bed with tubes and wires attached to his pale skin, the sound of the heart monitor flat-lining, and the scent of death. That moment, the horrible handful of heartbeats when she had been guilty of killing her own son, played over and over in her nightmares.

Emma had saved him. Her love had saved Henry's life. Pure and unadulterated true love for her son. Regina wanted to believe that her kiss would have saved him, but knew better. Her heart was too dark, too corrupted and too evil to help anyone anymore. Emma's words floated through her mind again, like ray of sunlight in a dark cave. You're not the Evil Queen anymore.

She was startled out of her thoughts by a knock at the door. Regina blinked and slid a hand over her hair to ensure that it was smooth. She opened her mouth to tell whoever it was to enter, but whoever it was, they didn't wait for permission. An eyebrow rose when Kathryn Nolan walked through the door with two cups of coffee in her hands and a Granny's bag tucked under her arm.

"Kathryn."

She hadn't seen the other woman since before the curse had ended. The willowy blonde was dressed in crème slacks and a sky blue shirt that was tailored to her trim form. Her blonde hair was carefully styled in a French twist and a smile graced her face.

"Hey I heard that Hurricane Cora hit Granny's yesterday."

She placed one of the cups in front of her. "I thought you might need a little coffee and-"She leaned against the edge of her desk, opened the bag and removed an oversized red velvet cupcake. "a pick me up."

Regina felt her mouth water. Granny's red velvet cupcakes were her Kryptonite. The blonde sat down in one of the visitor's chair and removed a lemon meringue cupcake for herself. "And God knows I need something sweet after this morning."

Regina licked the decadent frosting rather than comment. Outside of Maleficent, she had never had a friend. Of course she and Maleficent had never had coffee, cupcakes and gossip sessions. Their friendship had been rooted in a mutual love of power and loathing of princesses. She had been properly socialized as a young woman, of course. Mother had presented her at every ball, garden party and tournament, but the shark's pool of princesses and ladies-in-waiting had not been a place to bond with other girls. She had not known what to do with Kathryn the first time she had decided they were friends. Kathryn hadn't wanted anything from her. She'd had no ulterior motives that Regina could figure out. She had genuinely thought they were friends.

Then she had kidnapped and faked her Kathryn's murder. Of course she had also imprisoned Maleficent in her dragon form for the better part of thirty years and then had Emma slay her. Being her friend came with a very high price. Too high, it seemed.

She should shove Kathryn out before she hurt her again. It was only a matter of time, after all. Yet, Regina mused as she took a sip of the coffee Kathryn had brought, she couldn't force herself to do so. She was going soft.

"Are you okay, Gina?"

Regina blinked at the nickname. No one had ever called her anything but Regina. She was not sure if she liked it or not.

"Uh Oh. I know this look. This is the I-got-trashed-and-threw-up-on-your-bed look."

Regina choked on her coffee, "I beg your pardon?"

Kathryn grinned behind her coffee cup. "Just because you say you don't remember it, doesn't mean it didn't happen. Freshman year at Yale. Big Bad Regina Mills found out that being the Queen Bee of Storybrooke High hadn't prepared her to party with the Connecticut Townies. I still can't stand the smell of tequila. Honestly, it haunts my nightmares."

Flabbergasted, Regina had no idea what to say to that. She had a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science (minor in Economics) from Yale. It hung on the wall behind her, in fact, but she had never given it any thought. The curse had provided her with the knowledge and pedigree to go with her Storybrooke identity, but she had no memory of actually going to Yale University.

"Don't worry, Madam Mayor, the secrets of your wild college days are safe with me." She took a dainty bite of her own cupcake, "You have far too much knowledge and possibly pictures of my own misadventures to risk upsetting you."

Regina smiled because she had no idea what else to do. This was quite literally uncharted territory for her.

"So are you okay? I heard you passed out. You haven't been in the tequila again, have you? There is a reason we have a rule about that. The same reason I'm never allowed to go near Jaeger again."

Regina put her cupcake down on her blotter and swept the crumbs away with an absent minded sweep of her hand. "No. I just got a little light headed and Mother over-reacted a tad."

Kathryn let out a very unlady-like snort. "Cora Mills over-reacting to something? Surely not! She's been like that your entire life. Remember that time that she drove all the way to New Haven because you got a B-minus in Biology 201? I thought she would literally kill you when you told her that you were changing your major to Political Science." Kathryn smirked, "But she didn't. She got used to the idea of you not being a doctor and she'll get used to whatever it is she's upset about now."

These memories, college and beyond, confused Regina. The Dark Curse had never provided such things. The past had always been a fuzzy nebulous of monotony for the citizens of Storybrooke. This reset curse came with extra memories and experiences. Memories that she didn't share. She wondered what Emma would think of it all.

The thought of Emma brought a small smile to her face.

"That. What is that?"

Regina's eyes flicked up to Kathryn's face. "What was what?"

Kathryn put her coffee and primly wiped the last pastel smudge of frosting from her lips, "That little smile. What are you not telling me, Gina?"

So much.

"It's nothing, K, really."

Regina blinked, the single letter nickname rolled off of her tongue without thought. She had never called Kathryn that before.

"Oh denial. It's definitely something."

Intelligent blue eyes looked her over, "or someone."

She could feel the traitorous tingle of a blush rising in her cheeks. She was the Evil Queen for God's sake, surely she could manage a little denial.

"Are you seeing Graham again?"

Her eyes widened, no one had known about her and Graham's arrangement, or how it had ended. Except, apparently, Kathryn. How much did the woman know? Had they really been friends in this recursed world? She wished she could remember, now more than ever.

"No!" She was most definitely not seeing Graham again. Though it was somewhat ironic that she was still romantically involved with the Sheriff.

"So it's someone new then?"

Having a friend was all well and good. Regina genuinely liked Kathryn. She was one of the very few people that Regina felt guilty about manipulating. She would go as far as to say that despite her treatment of the other woman, that she cared for her. Talking about her personal relationships, though, was a tad overwhelming. Especially since she and Emma hadn't really figured out what was happening between them.

"Did you say something about your rough morning, Dear?"

She none too subtly changed the subject, and though the blonde didn't seem to like it, she allowed it. Regina picked up her cupcake again and regarded Kathryn. The blonde's smile twisted into a scowl. "More of the usual. David bought me the same cup of coffee as he does every morning. We had the same conversation about the same weather and the same baseball scores. He pretends not to look at Mary Margaret Blanchard and I pretend that it doesn't hurt." She sighed, "When I married him we had such dreams and now it seems like we're stuck in this gray and shapeless place in our relationship."

Kathryn sighed, blue eyes locked on some distant point over Regina's left shoulder, "So I told him that I wanted to go to Law School this morning and he grunted like it was nothing. I have been working for Daddy at the bank for years and I hate it. You know I hate it. David, though, he just doesn't see it."

Law School, they had talked about it once before, right before she'd had Sidney kidnap the other woman. She had used Kathryn as a pawn in her revenge campaign against Snow. Only the blonde didn't remember that and Regina blinked, she had a chance to do things differently. She had an opportunity to make things right.

"He's an idiot."

The words flew out of her mouth without a thought. Perhaps she was not cut out to be a friend.

Kathryn didn't get angry, though, she laughed. "He's the idiot I took vows to love until death do us part."

"Do you want me to kill him, then?"

Regina blinked again, shocked at her own words. Where was this coming from and why did she want to laugh?

Kathryn snorted again, "You've been listening to Henry's wild stories, Your Majesty. Do you know that he thinks my Dad is King Midas and that I'm a princess?" She pushed a loose tendril of golden hair out of her face, "Which makes sense, because if you're an evil queen then I'm a pernicious princess."

Regina's jaw dropped at her very casual treatment of the curse and her role as Evil Queen. Had they actually talked about this?

"I mean I'm Henry's Godmother and I love him to death, but he thinks David is Prince Charming. I've lived with the man for years and he is not that charming. Slaying dragons and rescuing damsels? David can barely find his keys and cellphone in the morning without my help."

"He's never been good enough for you." Her comment was quiet and, Regina realized with a start, completely true. David Nolan was very much Prince Charming, but Kathryn had her own True Love, and though she had never met Frederick outside of Storybrooke, she knew what it was like to have someone so precious to you be taken away.

"But I love him?"

Kathryn frowned when she realized that she had made the statement into a question.

"I think I need another cupcake."

Regina swallowed the last bite of her own treat, "and a better friend."

Kathryn stood and slid her empty cup into the now crumpled paper bag she'd brought with her. "Oh stop that, Gina. You and I have been friends since we were kids. Yes, you're snarky, bad tempered, controlling and a little on the manipulative side, but that's why I love you." She grinned, "And what would you do without me here to keep you honest?" She turned to leave, "And don't think I've forgotten about this new mystery date of yours." She walked to the door, "To be continued, Gina. This conversation is to be continued."

The door shut behind the blonde and Regina sat stock still, shocked by what had just happened.

She had a friend. Their friendship was based on false memories that would eventually be revealed as such, but for the moment, she had a friend. Regina smiled when she realized that in a few short hours she would be able to tell Emma that she had a friend. The world was upside down and sideways, but she was the happiest she had been in decades.

Her heart dropped into her stomach as she realized that the happiness she felt would come to a screeching halt as soon as the curse was broken again. She had her son, her mother, a friend and a lover. She was finally happy and she didn't want it to end. She finally had her happy ending, Regina realized, and it would not last. The curse would end and everyone, probably even Emma, would hate her again. They would leave her and she would be alone. Always alone. She wasn't sure she had the strength to break the curse and live with the consequences.

"I need" she echoed Kathryn's earlier sentiment, "another cupcake."

AN2: Next Chapter - Emma and Gold have a little chat.