Hello Dovies! I am sad to report that there will be only 2-4 more chapters to this story, depending on how long they become. I won't continue to the Greg/Tamara stuff because it just doesn't fit anymore. If I do a sequel, I'll use what I have planned for that story. Which let's face it, I love writing this story as much as you seem to love reading it, so there will probably be a sequel, but they will both be stand-alone stories. I won't drag this into a cliffhanger; there will be resolution!

Thank you for all of your wonderful reviews and follows! Enjoy Lovelies!

Songs: I'm in Love with a Stripper by T-Pain (for whatever reason, this is the only song that would inspire me during the fight. Weird.) Crushed by Lesley Roy, Say Something by Great Big World and Christina Aguilera


Regina stood outside the door of Granny's and breathed deeply. She needed to go in. Emma arrived any minute now under the guise of parking the car. Snow wasn't kidding about gathering a large group for the little show they prepared. Half of Storybrooke must have came for lunch today, and vehicles lines the street. Her fingers touched the doorknob, and she braced herself. A few people looked up when she came in, but mostly everyone enjoyed their lunch and conversation.

She and Emma worked out the bigger details and relied on their early relationship for the rest. Ruby met her eyes, and Regina moved behind the counter to greet her. She turned her back from the full dining room and indicated that Ruby should do the same with one finger. When the wolf sidled up next to her, Regina slid a hand across her lower back and then dropped it to rest on the back of her hip and the swell of Ruby's ass. The wolf's eyes widened and she jerked involuntarily in surprise at Regina's brazen touch.

"Where's Henry?" Regina asked, leaning her lips so close to Ruby's ear they actually brushed the shell when she spoke. Ruby returned the gesture.

"Upstairs in the apartment. Emma?" Ruby's voice raised on Emma's name, enough to catch the attention of the man across the counter. They glanced around and noticed a few other people studying their interaction.

"She's parking the car," Regina answered, allowing a slight tremor as she sank into her role. "Ruby," she turned into the wolf, not quite pressing their fronts together as they both knew she would have Emma. No one else knew that. Her hand remained on her lower back, and the other clutched her shoulder.

"Regina, you should probably…" Ruby started, trying to follow the game but unsure where it was leading.

"No, Ruby, she knows. She's coming. You need to go, now, before she gets here." Regina led her as best she could. Ruby's eyes softened as she understood exactly what she and Emma would fight about.

"What do you mean? How did she find out?" Ruby whispered harshly as she grabbed Regina's elbow and moved her towards the kitchen door when she noticed a customer taking particular interest. This was supposed to be a semi-private conversation between two forbidden lovers after all.

"I'm not sure, but you need to go, Ruby. Please, she's got her gun with her. I guess when I put my heart in her yesterday, some of my darkness stayed. I'm not sure she'll be able to stop herself. Darling, please." Regina laid it on thick, wide scared eyes, slightly quivering voice. Her hand pressed into Ruby's shoulder intimately. She began to feel the anxiety of Emma's arrival even though she knew it was all an act and she was not in any actual danger. Regina was good.

"Look, it's just Emma, right? I'm sure she won't even make a scene. Plus, wolf remember. I'm strong enough to take her if it gets physical," Ruby assured her the way she might Belle. This was the weirdest thing she'd ever done, and that's saying something for someone who spent three nights of every month as a canine.

"I won't let her hurt you. We have been through too much. We kept this town from blowing apart. You are too important, Ruby. I don't care if The Evil Queen is supposed to be saved by the child of Snow White and Prince Charming. I won't give you up," Regina pressed herself into Ruby, tucking her head beneath her chin and wrapping her arms around her tiny waist. Had Ruby lost weight?

The bell jingled, and Ruby's heart pounded. Gods, this felt real. Regina needed to teach her some queenly tricks to pull off such grand schemes. Regina slid around the counter, letting her go easily. One hand stretched before her as she crossed quickly to Emma. She grabbed Emma's shoulders, halting her process in the middle of the diner.

"Emma, please. Let's go home and talk about this," Regina started, glancing around at the blatantly staring eyes of the citizens of Storybrooke. Emma nearly lost her focus when she realized that Regina had the entire room eating out of her hand.

"No, Regina, I do not want to go home," she spat and swiped Regina's hands from her shoulders and then crossed her arms. "I want to talk to her," Emma's voice was calm and cold. Good girl, Regina thought. Build slowly. It's more believable.

"Later Emma, when you've had time to think and accept this. Please," Regina begged. "Please, let's just go home. Our son is only upstairs," Regina pleaded, informing Emma at the same time of Henry's location. She put a hand on Emma's crossed arms, and Emma recoiled.

"In a minute, damn it!" Emma jerked away from her and then pushed her out of the way with her shoulder as she moved towards Ruby. Her hand rested dangerously on the firearm at her side.

"Is that who you are, Ruby Lucas?" The diner was silent at this point, and despite Emma's lowered voice, her words here audible to every ear. "I was in a coma! For ten days. I almost died to save her life, and all this time you were banging her behind my back!" Emma pushed Ruby's shoulders roughly as she settled into her character. Her voice cracked with emotion, and Ruby snarled.

Regina covered her hands with her face, pulling her tears forward intentionally. Snow watched from a booth in the back with an open mouth, almost believing the scene. David stood slowly, and she grabbed his hand.

"I'm sorry that you're hurt Emma. I really am," Ruby started gently and then drove the point home. "But Regina and I connect in a way that you could never understand. Let her go," Ruby pleaded. It was an act, but there was truth in the words. They smacked into Emma harder than expected, and genuine jealousy and anger pulled into her heart.

Ruby's head snapped back when Emma decked her unexpectedly. Her eyes flashed yellow as she wiped blood from her mouth on the back of her hand and then loosed her fist onto Emma's. It was enough to bust it but nothing close to full wolf strength.

"Stop this!" Regina yelled and situated herself between the two women fighting for her affection. She jerked Emma back with a hand on her shoulder and continued to Ruby, touching her cheek gently.

Emma screamed and flung herself at Regina and Ruby. Regina ducked below her arm and pushed her backwards, knowing that she caused Emma pain with the pressure on her stomach, but Emma had settled too deeply into the role and the real emotions it evoked. She'd been shot. She nearly died, and she hadn't dealt with that yet. It bubbled to the surface.

"Emma stop! Just stop! This is madness. I chose Ruby. I'm sorry," Regina continued, nearly slipping as the very real urge to comfort Emma floated to the surface. "Please, you're making a scene."

"I gave you everything! I gave you my heart. I almost gave my life for you! Look!" She jerked her shirt up and displayed her scars. "This was for you, and this is how you repay me? Fucking the wolf who almost sent you back to your psycho mom. What the fuck are you thinking, Regina?" Emma paused and cocked her head to the side, appearing to put the pieces together just like they'd planned.

"That's it, isn't it? You've been working with Cora the whole time," she accused and widened her stance as her momentum grew. "After all, it was Ruby who she supposedly killed, but she was with her for four days. You both were. You've been in on her plan from the start. That's why you gave up so easily yesterday," Emma drove the stake in, jaws clenching. The actions could have been perceived as anger, but guilt pooled in her stomach at Regina's dejected expression.

"Everyone hear that! Regina Mills, Evil Queen and brilliant actress! She had me fooled," her last words were quiet, meant to hurt Regina, not intentionally, but they stung nonetheless.

"Well, I got you figured out now. You haven't changed. You never will, you evil bitch." Emma stepped forward menacingly.

"Do you think Henry will love you when he finds out what you're planning? He's going to spit on your name and then I am taking MY son and leaving Storybrooke forever. No one is going to stop me." She spread her arms emphatically, indicating the unmoving citizens taking in the scene and then backed away arrogantly. It wasn't enough, and Regina followed her.

"He is my son, and you will take him nowhere," Regina's voice went icy. Time for the big finish.

"He is not! He's mine, and you will never see him again! And neither will you," Emma glanced at Ruby pointedly. "I'm going to put you down for real this time," she pulled her gun from the holster.

She and Regina had planned this, so she knew what happened next, but it still caught her off guard. Her whole body crackled with static when Regina immobilized her. She'd done it a few times at the mansion so the shock wouldn't deaden Emma's brain and pull her out of character, but it still hurt. She fought against it instinctively, but her body ignored her commands. She felt a new sympathy for Regina's aversion to restraints if this was what Cora used to do to her.

"If you want to see The Evil Queen so badly, Savior, then here she is," Regina stepped into her personal space, face an inch from hers.

The door banged open behind Emma with a flick of Regina's chin. She stared into Emma's eyes, sneered and grabbed Emma's cheeks with one hand. She pressed a kiss to her lips, and Emma knew it was Regina's way of apologizing for what was about to happen. Emma flicked her tongue against Regina's lip, knowing she couldn't risk breaking the scene by moving her lips against her lover's.

"Stay away from my wolf, little girl," Regina threatened and pushed both hands in front of her, holding them there as Emma flew through the air. The vein in her forehead popped as she controlled Emma's fall. Her still healing muscles would be sore but no worst for wear in the morning.

"Hey!" David yelled and broke free from Snow's grasp.

Regina's eyes turned to Ruby's and told the waitress that time for their exit had arrived. She flung a hand towards David, freezing his movements as Ruby moved to her. Others began rising as well, ready to defend their prince. Idiots. She'd have burned this place to the ground by now if she were actually evil and wanted to hurt them. Ruby wrapped her lanky arms around Regina's chest and waist from behind, and they both disappeared in a swirl of purple smoke.

The diner shifted and stirred. David nearly fell forward, evidence of his struggle against the restraints. He glanced at his wife and then immediately rallied the crowd with outlandish accusations against Regina, even though she'd not injured anyone. Snow fought the urge to roll her eyes. The town immediately railed against the idea of Regina roaming free, and it turned her stomach.

Regina worked so very hard for redemption, and she'd begun winning over the town. She'd be forced to start all over again, even though she'd done everything for them, to save everyone. They never saw her vulnerable and begging to sacrifice her own life to save them from Cora earlier this morning. She had seen it, the change, and now fought the urge to lash out at the gullibility of her people. Had they not seen Regina's softness, her love for Emma? Had they not noticed how her eyes track her daughter across a room? She only returned a little over a week ago and noticed immediately.

She brushed past her husband and walked out the door. Emma groaned and held her head in her hands on the stoop. She seemed relatively unharmed, rattled, but fine. Snow pulled the door shut behind her, blocking out the crowd. She sat beside Emma, knees pointing towards her daughter. Emma glanced over at her, and Snow gasped at the unshed tears.

"Please go get my son," she pleaded with her mother. "Take him out the back way. He doesn't need to see that," she jerked her thumb over her shoulder.

"I'll be back in a minute," Snow promised and set a hesitant hand on her shoulder.

Emma closed her eyes and dropped her head again. She hated not knowing where Regina had gone. Perhaps they should have deigned some sort of rendezvous point for secret meetings but knew they hadn't because they needed to be parted until this ended. She allowed herself to wallow for one more minute and then stood as Henry and Snow rounded the building.

Emma wrapped an arm around his shoulders and fell into step beside them. The apartment was only a block away. Henry pressed into her, scared though he knew little of what just happened. She promised Regina that she would allow nothing and no one to brainwash him against her like before. It was a risk they both took willingly, knowing their son kept secrets well. Snow followed a step behind.

When they arrived, Henry asked to go up to Emma's room and read. She allowed it and slumped onto the couch, feet immediately finding the stained and chipped coffee table. She'd never have gotten away with this at Regina's. Mary Margaret ambled around her apartment aimlessly and finally dropped to the other end of the sofa.

"That almost felt real, and I knew it was fake," she said to the floor and wrung her hands.

"I think some of it was," Emma answered. The other woman studied her compassionately and then moved to the middle cushion, not quite crowding her but close enough to reach out for comfort if Emma needed her.

"What do you mean, Sweetheart?" Snow asked carefully, trying and failing to keep her voice neutral.

"I was shot. I almost died. I don't know how to move forward from that, and Regina keeps touching my damn scar. She doesn't know how it gets to me, and I don't say anything because I know that she's trying to deal with it in her own way. She said that it's her way of accepting it, touching the scar I mean, but she still sees me as that person who is close to death in a hospital bed. I know that's why she'd not sleeping." Emma gushed in one breath.

"Emma," Mary Margaret tried to find words but came up short of her daughter's name.

"Thing is," Emma continued, staring straight ahead like she'd not heard her mother. "I'd do it again. We both know I would. She kissed it for a long time the first time we made love. It kind of freaked me out, and when I asked what she was doing, she said accepting me, who I was born to be. She's trying to come to terms with the fact that I'd do it again a thousand times if it meant she or Henry or Ruby or you or a perfect stranger wouldn't be injured. It's who I am," Emma finished when tears stung her throat and spilled onto her cheeks.

"You're a hero, Emma. A protector, a guardian. It terrifies me, too, but I couldn't be more proud to call you my daughter," Snow said softly, hands jerking in her lap.

She ached to touch her grieving daughter but knew that decision remained with Emma. She'd lost her right to presume anything when it came to Emma when she'd abandoned her and rejected Regina, tried to kill her. Emma's eyes slowly raised to hers as the words slipped into her heart. Her mother was proud of her.

"Mom," Emma whined, her voice tight and high with emotion and the involuntary act of crying. Snow melted and pulled her daughter into her arms.

Emma allowed it, simply accepting the comfort at first. Her shoulders and chest quaked violently, and she wrapped her arms around her mother's waist and pressed her forehead into her neck. Snow's eyes slipped shut and sighed silently as one hand settled against Emma's hair reverently. She knew their relationship hadn't been repaired, but this was the start of that. She'd earned her daughter's respect and love again and vowed to protect that no matter the cost. She called her Mom.

Snow's confidence expanded the longer Emma stayed tucked against her. Her fingers played with tangled golden tresses, traced soothing circles on her back. She even rocked her at one point, and still Emma clung to her long after the tears dried and her breathing evened out. Snow's back ached from her efforts, but she determined that she'd comfort Emma until she found her strength again.

They jerked apart when the door to the apartment banged open, revealing a very pissed off David and the dwarves. Emma retreated into herself again, and Snow cursed her husband silently as she marched to the door. She halted their progress into the apartment with only her angry glare.

"You need to get a room at Granny's or stay with one of the dwarves," she ordered her husband.

"I need to be here to protect our family, Snow," he protested and then started towards Emma. Snow stepped in front of him again.

"You forget that I am Snow White and our daughter is the Savior. We have all the protection we need. Regina won't harm us while Henry is here," she added for good measure. He listened, a glimpse of her husband poking through the angry exterior.

"Please, David. She thought Regina was her true love. She needs time to process what's happened and listening to your plans to murder her lover are not going to help that. Please, leave, now," Snow pleaded gently, telling her husband with her tone that she was doing what was best for their daughter.

"Okay," he conceded after a long moment of staring between her and Emma's bent form on the couch. "I love you, Emma," he said to her back with no indication that she'd heard him. "I love you, Snow."

"I love you, too, David," she said quietly and kissed him, hands rested on his muscled chest. "Now, go be a hero," she whispered. Even though it was a fake fight, she loved watching him take control.

"If you need me…" the sentence hung in the air as he departed quietly, leaving them alone once more.

"Thank you," Emma's quiet voice called from the couch.

"You're welcome," Snow answered. "Would you like some lunch? I think I've got mac'n cheese," she asked suddenly, moving to the kitchenette without waiting for a response.

She'd never tell Emma that Regina had sent her a text earlier. It was one sentence, and she hadn't asked for an elaboration. If Regina felt strongly enough about it to text her personally, it was important enough without explanation. Make sure she eats.

On the opposite side of town, Regina and Ruby materialized in her foyer, both breathing heavily. Regina's hands shook from the adrenaline, but a smile pulled at her lips. They'd done it. This was going to work. It had to. Now, they waited for the angry mob to come for The Evil Queen. David surely had begun developing a plan and mobilizing his troops for action, and when they arrived at her door, she'd run straight back to Cora's arm. She shivered at the thought, and Ruby loosened her grip but kept her arms in place.

"No!" Ruby yelled into her ear. "No no no no," she whined in a voice similar to a child's.

Ruby's arms fell away. Something thumped behind her. A hard object collided with her temple as she whirled around, the momentum of it pushing her backwards a few feet as she crashed to the floor. Her hands pressed against the wooden planks in attempt to push her to her feet, but she gained no height. Blood droplets slid down her jaw and splashed in front of her, and then the world went dark. What happened to Ruby? Who had been waiting for them? She collapsed to the floor.