Greetings, Sweet Doves! So, this one is rather short, but the previous and next chapter are too dense as it is, so I decided to give it its very own chapter. I would have posted it last night, but I needed to clean a few things. It is my gift to you as the next two chapters require a bit more maneuvering and consideration than most, so it will probably be a few days before they are ready for viewing. Plus, I am overseeing the training of a new night auditor at work, so I must begrudgingly give my time to numbers and percentages rather than words and will not have the luxury of my downtime this week for writing.

Enjoy, Lovelies, and much gratitude for the reviews and follows!

Song: Snuff by Slipknot.


Emma groaned as her bare back ripped away from the leather sofa as she rolled over. Her shirt must have slid up during the night. She flipped the blanket over the back of the couch and sat up, scooting and pulling at her jeans until they twisted back into place. She picked at the corners of her eyes, removing the crust stuck there, and then glanced over to the other sofa. Regina wasn't there, and Emma's heart clenched painfully. Had the mayor run away in the middle of the night?

She cursed herself and grabbed her gun from the coffee table. She paused only to slip into her boots and then was off through the house like a shot.

"Regina!" She called and squinted into the bright sunlight peeping through the windows. Something banged in the kitchen, and Emma jumped before sprinting towards the room. She skidded to a stop on the ceramic tile, weapon aimed but her finger carefully placed away from the trigger.

Regina gasped softly and dropped the tongs in her hand as she raised them both to shoulder. She still wore the rumpled clothing she'd had on yesterday, and her brown eyes were wide with fear and surprise and moved back and forth between Emma's face and the gun pointed at her chest. Emma would be the one to kill her after all, then. When Regina closed her eyes, a tear slipped down her cheek. She lowered her hands and held her arms out to her side, gracefully accepting her fate. She should have said goodbye to Henry yesterday.

"Regina, what the hell are you doing?" Emma asked as she holstered her weapon. Had Regina truly believed she was about to shoot her?

"Dying with dignity?" Regina's eyes opened in confusion when the shot never came. Emma stared at her with raised eyebrows, wide eyes and crossed arms.

"You aren't executing me? Why aren't you executing me?" Regina blurted, eyes flicking to the gun now safely tucked away and then back to Emma's eyes.

"It's too early for an execution," Emma joked and shrugged her shoulders. At Regina's unbelieving eyes, she continued, "I heard something in the kitchen. You were gone. I was just being cautious." Emma explained as she collapsed onto a stool at the island and propped her head on her hand.

"Oh," was the only response Regina gave and then moved to the coffee pot. She sat a steaming mug in front of Emma and then turned back to the stove.

"I made you bacon and eggs. I wasn't sure how you liked your eggs. So, scrambled." Regina uncovered a plate on the back of the stove and sat it in front of Emma. The portions of food were huge, and Emma raised her eyes in question. Regina simply turned her back and switched off a burner, dishing out her much smaller serving onto another plate.

"Do you want toast?" Regina asked when she sat her plate on the island on the opposite side from Emma. Was she going to stand and eat?

"Uhh, I think this is more than enough." Emma crunched happily into a piece of bacon. It was extra crispy, and she sighed into its salty bliss.

Regina daintily cut into her omelet and lifted her fork to her mouth. She only had two pieces of bacon on her plate, still almost white in color. They would be chewy as hell, Emma thought. Regina said nothing at Emma's questioning expression, and the blonde took a moment to study Regina's face. Pronounced purple circles rimmed her eyes, and the life lines around Regina's eyes and mouth seemed deeper, harsher. She was still beautiful in her obviously exhausted and makeup-less state, but she'd always been stunning. No, there was something different, something very human about her appearance this morning, something very touchable.

"Regina, I need to talk to you about something," Emma said suddenly around her eggs, and Regina sighed in frustration.

"Swallow first, Miss Swan. I would very much like never to see your half-masticated breakfast again." Regina berated, and Emma smiled.

It wasn't perfect, but if Regina was bitching at her, it meant that she felt secure enough to do so. She realized that Emma wasn't leaving, not even after her late night, drunken confession of rape and torture. Emma dutifully swallowed her eggs and then rinsed her mouth with burning coffee before continuing.

"I ran into Archie yesterday when I went to your office. He asked me to speak with you about possibly seeing him." Emma's hands paused as her eyes searched Regina's face for any indication of emotion. There was none, but Regina stopped fussing with her omelet for a pregnant stretch.

"I'd like that," Regina finally said and then turned her eyes back to her food. "I assume he told you that I have been seeing him for a while now?"

"He was worried about you. I won't tell anyone," Emma gushed, preparing for the backlash of the perceived betrayal.

"It's quite alright, Miss Swan." Regina reassured despite the hard edge in her voice. She raised her dark eyes to Emma's, and the quietly tense moment stretched on.

Emma jerked when her cell phone destroyed whatever they had been sharing. Emma stood and fished it out of her back pocket. Skinny jeans: good for keeping your phone where it is supposed to be while you crashed on the evil queen's insanely comfortable leather sofa.

"Sheriff Swan," her voice was thick as the adrenaline of their staring contest faded away. She propped one hand on the edge of the island and cocked her hip to one side.

"Oh hey Stacy. No, no it's not too early. I'm just having breakfast." Emma listened, and Regina quietly finished her breakfast as she watched the different emotions playing across the sheriff's face.

"That's great. Yeah, I'll be down as soon as I can. Tell Marco he's amazing for me," Emma smiled.

"Miss Swan?" Emma glanced at Regina's outstretched hand with scrunched eyebrows.

"Hey Stacy, hold on a second. Regina wants to talk to you." She jerked the phone from her ear as Stacy's excited squeal echoed through the kitchen. "I think she's excited." Emma deadpanned, and Regina rolled her eyes knowingly.

"Stacy?" Regina said as she pressed the phone to her ear. "Eat," Regina ordered, and Emma dutifully resumed her perch on the stool, absently munching bacon as she watched Regina interact with her assistant. It's something, she realized, that she'd never seen Regina do before.

"Calm yourself, Miss Cochran," Regina snipped and then waited impatiently for the secretary to settle.

"Yes, Dear, I am fine. Sheriff Swan has performed her job impeccably. Now, I need you to draw some papers up for me. Yes. Her name is Belle French. She will be our new librarian. Yes, those are the correct funds. She will reside in the loft above the library. No, that's not necessary. She already has the keys. When Sheriff Swan and I arrive, we'll pick up the contract and obtain Miss French's signature and return them as soon as possible." Regina smiled at something Stacy said.

"There's one more thing, Miss Cochran." Regina eyed Emma and then turned towards the stove.

"I will surely be asked to step down as Mayor. Before that happens, I intend to resign. According to the town charter, I may appoint an acting mayor in my stead if I should resign for any reason. If you are willing, I would like to appoint you. You're the only one who knows how the office is run, and with your effort of caring for the refugees, I am certain the rapport you've built will afford you little resistance."

"Yes, you should send out the word for an emergency town meeting. We need to reach as many people as possible with this information. You can do this, Stacy." Regina encouraged the young woman. It was a huge responsibility she'd asked the maid to undertake, but Regina's confidence in the woman who had been loyal to her for decades never wavered for a second.

"Absolutely, we'll see you in two hours," Regina confirmed and then snapped the phone shut. She set in on the counter as she turned around and slid it towards Emma.

"That took a lot of guts," Emma commented, keeping her voice as even and casual as possible even though her heart pounded in her ears. She swallowed some more bacon and then hid behind her coffee cup, hoping Regina missed her heightened emotions.

"She is the logical choice in the absence of Snow White and Prince Charming. We need to tell them before this gets out of control. They'll listen to you if you endorse Stacy," Regina thought aloud and then hid behind her own coffee cup.

"I'm not sure I can do this," Emma admitted quietly.

Without thinking, Regina reached across the island and touched Emma's hand in silent support. Emma jerked back, coffee cup tipping over and clattering against the marble counter in her effort to remove Regina's touch from her skin. Belle's haunted blue eyes as she clung to the sheriff in the dusty mines flashed through Emma's mind as she slipped from the stool and struggled to regain her balance. Regina snatched her hand away, hips hitting the counter painfully as she forced her body as far from Emma's as she could get.

Guilty brown eyes met green and held them. Emma's spilled coffee spread over marble and dripped onto the floor. Neither moved to clean it, simply staring at each other. Emma's reaction to her touch had been unexpected and painful, but Regina felt she deserved it. Emma wouldn't leave her, of that she was certain, but she had also lost any physical comfort the sheriff may have offered in the future. She was a monster, and Emma finally saw it, too.

Sadly, Regina dropped her gaze to the sticky mess in her immaculate kitchen. Pulling a towel from the oven door handle, she stepped forward and righted the fallen cup. Emma's rejection hurt, and she swallowed her anguish as she mopped up the dark brown liquid. Emma only watched her as she calmed her racing heart. Regina rung out the towel at the sink and then ran water over it. The plop, thunk of water hitting stainless steel as she twisted the towel seemed unreasonably loud in the quiet kitchen.

Her eyes followed Regina as she swiped the wet towel across marble and tile, removing any sticky remnants, before she snagged the carafe of coffee from its hot plate and refilled her cup. Finally, with nothing left to do, her eyes returned to Emma's.

"Finish you breakfast," she said gently. "I'm going shower. You can put your dishes in the dishwasher, or just leave them, and I'll get to them after you've finished breakfast." She limped from the room without waiting for a response.

Her gimp was much more pronounced than it had been yesterday, and Emma wondered if she had pulled some stitches last night during her drunkenness. She made a mental note to call Granny later and ask her to check them, knowing Regina wouldn't ask for help from her now.

Emma really wanted to beat herself up for her overreaction but didn't. She had asked Regina for time to deal with the firsthand knowledge of her dark deeds. What she'd done to Belle had nothing to do with magic. It spoke of something far more sinister within the soon-to-be former mayor. While Emma desperately wanted to reconcile Regina's evil deeds with the seemingly gentle and broken woman who had made her breakfast and raised her son, she couldn't. Not yet, anyway, maybe not ever, but she'd made a promise to Regina and to Henry. She refused to allow any harm to befall the older woman if she could prevent it. That didn't mean she had to be comfortable with Regina's touch, and certainly didn't mean she was obligated to reciprocate.

She returned to the stool and stared at her half-empty plate. The strong scent of bacon made her stomach roil and clench so she pushed the plate away in disgust. She sipped at her coffee and stared into the black liquid for the answers she knew she wouldn't find. Was a broken savior strong enough to save a broken evil queen?