Aaand its finally here! Sorry for the wait, real life and some fandom fuckery had me distracted. This chapter has more of a focus on plot development than prompts, but your regularly scheduled program will return in the next chapter. Once again, the response to this has been incredible and I thank you all for it!

Somebody asked me when this was set, timeline wise. Given that Baby Neal exists (still really hate that name, I should change it to Daniel like I wanted), I've decided that it's placed after Season 3, but the finale never happened.

Enjoy!

Emma didn't really understand what had happened. Regina hadn't been the happiest over the past few days, but she had allowed Emma to hold her after the screeching woman had left. But when Emma had later walked into the room with the moving pictures, the brunette's mood had instantly turned sour. She had tried to grab her hand and had to dodge a flying book. Even their son, who was distracted by the glowing picture screen, had noticed.

Regina had retreated to her study soon afterwards and Emma had been left to her own devices. Henry refused to go outside with her, shouting something over the booms coming from the sky. He went back to playing with a short white stick in front of the flashing light screen and Emma wandered around downstairs. She had already been shouted at several times for touching things, so she wisely kept her hands to herself - fireballs had a tendency to appear when she didn't.

But soon that became boring. Checking one last time to see if Henry would follow her outside - he wouldn't - she headed towards the room where her mate often spent evenings hunched over stacks of paper. She hesitated before opening the door, but soon stood up straighter and puffed out her chest. It was her job to care for her mate, even when she was a bit scared of her.

Opening the door quickly to give Regina no time to react, Emma paused at the doorway, now unsure. Regina was surrounded by books that shimmered faintly in the dimly lit room. "I should have guessed you would find your way up here. You never could take a hint Ms. Swan." While Emma wasn't completely sure what Regina was saying, the exhausted tone of her voice worried her.

Hurrying forward, she tried to pick up the woman and had her hands slapped away. Letting out a high pitched whine, Emma desperately grabbed at Regina's hand and examined the dark circles underneath her brown eyes. Her skin didn't feel clammy, so Emma didn't think she was ill. Leaning forward, she cupped the brunette's cheek so she could examine her face easier.

Regina really should not have let Emma touch her given the slippery slope that bath time had turned into, but she blamed it on the lack of sleep. She barely reacted as Emma drew her face in closer, the blonde letting go of her wrist and gently smoothing out the stress lines on the brunette's face with her other hand, running her thumb across Regina's bottom lip.

Later, Regina would blame Snow for putting ideas in her head, as she didn't protest when Emma drew her in even closer. Faces inches away from each other, Emma's eyes flickered down to Regina's lips, then back up to her eyes, repeating the gesture multiple times. Leaning forward a bit, the blonde waited for the reprimand that usually followed any attempt at contact.

Not hearing one, she slowly leaned in, keeping her eyes on Regina's to ensure that she was okay with it. She paused once more, close enough to inhale Regina's soft puffs of breath, before continuing with her eyes slowly falling shut.

*Ding-Dong*

"F-…" Regina swallowed her frustration in a growl, unsure if she was mad at the interruption or herself for needing it in the first place. She watched Emma's head jerk up and her lip curl. Sighing, the brunette decided to shelve the events of the last five minutes to panic about later.

- SQ -

"David. Of course… Well don't just stand there, come in before my house floods." Regina ushered in the man, grimacing as a small puddle formed in front of her door - more clean up. "What brings you to my home? I assume Snow told you what happened earlier. Come to accuse me of corrupting your daughter?"

The prince raised an eyebrow and just looked at Regina for a moment. The comment had lacked her usual fire and she appeared paler and less regal than normal. "Regina, are you sick? You look... tired?"

Regina raised an eyebrow right back. "Emma cannot speak, clean, or feed herself, and rarely listens to directions given to her. I've been stuck dealing with her all day, and I'm trying to figure out exactly what spell she used so I can get her out of my home. It hasn't exactly been a vacation."

David cleared his throat. "Right. Thanks for that. You know, caring for Emma." He eyed his daughter, whose face was hovering over Regina's shoulder, glaring at him in a very clear warning. He wondered if this had been a good idea, but he was used to seeing his daughter on a daily basis. It had been very strange to arrive at work that morning and not see his barely awake daughter guarding the coffee machine.

Regina had also been observing Emma, and what she noticed really didn't shock her. The blonde was far calmer in the presence of her father than she had been when Snow had visited earlier. Not only had the man been calmer during their initial meet, but Emma had a much smoother relationship with David than she did with Snow, bonding over video games and police work.

The man in question took a few steps forward, watching for a negative reaction from Emma. She just continued glaring and snuck an arm around Regina's middle, holding onto her. He looked between the arm and the Queen, taking note of the uncomfortable look in her eyes. He very wisely kept his comments to himself, although his large smirk irked Regina. Dipping into a bow, David gestured grandly to his right and mockingly asked "Shall we, your Majesty?"

"Watch it Prince. You're not nearly as charming as your nickname suggests."

Nearly an hour later, David sat in the living room playing video games with his grandson and watching as his daughter attempted to metaphorically charm the pants off the grumpy Queen. Standing guard as she worked through her books, and occasionally darting off - after growling at David - to get the brunette a snack or drink.

Much of the charm was unfortunately lost, as the drink was lukewarm water cupped in Emma's hand and the snack a handful of crushed strawberries that leaked red juice over some spell books.

David's silent laughter drew the attention of Regina, who glared at him. "I don't know why you're laughing. You're paying for the damage."

He laughed out loud this time, completely unfazed by her anger. Abandoning the game to Henry, he went over to the table and looked at the variety of books. He couldn't understand most of the symbols in them. The notebook that sat in front of Regina was mostly blank. "Any luck?"

Letting out an aggravated sigh to let her annoyance with his presence known, she pushed the book that was open in front of her to the side and grabbed another one. "There is plenty of information in these books about physical transformation, including the manipulation of minds. However, because I am not currently completely sure what type of spell Emma used, I can't find the appropriate reversal spell. I'm not even sure if it was a spell or a curse."

"Is it possible to curse yourself?"

"She's your daughter."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that if there was one person who could possibly curse herself accidently, it would be your hasty and usually uncoordinated daughter. Honestly I'm slightly surprised she hasn't blown herself up yet with how undisciplined she is with her magic."

David opened his mouth to defend his daughter, but shut it with a click as they watched Emma attempt to eat a fake plant, spitting out the plastic and scraping wildly at her tongue.

Swallowing his words in a cough, David awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "Yes, well… I thought that's why she's been spending time with you. To learn control."

Regina didn't like his tone - as if magic lessons were the only reason Emma would want to spend time with her. "Given the number of times Emma ended lessons within minutes of her surprise arrivals, I assumed that she had simply grown tired of listening to a screaming infant and was seeking peace away from the worshipful townsfolk."

Regina said all of this very absentmindedly, her attention captured by a passage about accidental spell casting. She lowered her head to focus, hoping this would be the end to her problems, but quickly realized that the reversal spell required the original spell caster to speak the incantation - not possible. Pushing the book to the side in disappointment, she looked up when she realized that David hadn't responded.

Taking in the strange look on his face, she snapped "What?"

David grabbed a nearby chair and sat down in front of her, leaning forward. "What do you mean by 'worshipful'?"

The brunette scoffed in disgust, and refocused her eyes on the books in front of her. "The peasants treat Emma like some sort of deity. It makes her uncomfortable."

His eyebrows furrowed. "She's never mentioned this. When did she tell you?"

Shrugging, Regina replied "She didn't have to. Whenever we eat at Granny's for our weekly dinner with Henry, she's obviously very uncomfortable with everyone's stares. The other week one of the braver ones paid for her meal - I thought she was going to magically sink into the floor."

David paused a moment in thought. "Well, she is a member of the royal family. It makes sense that people stare or try to give her gifts. It's not going to stop anytime soon, even if we remain in Storybrooke for the rest of our lives."

Regina rolled her eyes at his misinterpretation of the problem and her scorn was evident in her reply. "It's not because she's a princess. It's because she's the Savior. They don't treat her like a human being and she's afraid of disappointing them."

"And how do you know this?"

"Well I… I mean I just-" Regina struggled to stutter out an answer and David's smirk grew. Regina wasn't quite sure what to say - the signs of the blondes discomfort were subtle but very evident. "I-it's probably just because Emma and Henry share several mannerisms. I've raised him for 12 years, it's not a huge shock that I could pick up similar signs of distress on Emma." That sounded logical, right?

David's smirk turned mischievous and he leaned forward. "I don't think that's why." Regina swallowed harshly and tried to control her reaction, her eyes finally flicking upwards to meet his. "I think you know all of this because you -"

He was cut off as Emma decided that she was bored with the current conversation and came over to them, wrapping her arms around Regina and squeezing her tightly with a high pitched whine.

David almost fell off the chair laughing at the image that was presented to him. The former Evil Queen was stuck with her arms trapped at her sides by Emma's arms, the blonde leaning over the back of her chair and nuzzling their cheeks together. The look on Regina's face was utterly flabbergasted, not prepared for the assault and momentarily stunned speechless.

That quickly passed and she gritted her teeth, rumbling out "Miss Swan, I feel like I've been repeating myself for the past two days. Get off of me." At Emma's pitiful whine, she responded "I don't care. Release me. Now!"

Grumbling vague sounds under her breathe, the blonde released her and plopped down next to the chair, leaning her head on Regina's thigh. The blonde raised a hand and clumsily patted the leg next to her head and huffed out a breath, which probably meant something along the lines of "It's okay that you're grumpy. I don't mind."

Avoiding his eyes, Regina growled out in David's direction "I think our talk is over. Its nearly suppertime and I need to cook… Thanks for stopping by!" She added sarcastically.

Sides still hurting from laughing so hard, David stood and nodded towards the two women, stopping to ruffle Henry's hair on the way out. Though he and the Queen had grown closer over the past year, they could only stand to be in each other's presence for so long before one of them needed their space. So he took no offence to the abrupt dismissal.

However, this time Regina's voice stopped him before he made it to the door. "What did you mean earlier?"

He turned around and raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"When you said that there was a different reason for why I knew what Emma was feeling. What was it?" Regina's hands unconsciously curled into fists as she awaited his response, tugging on the blonde hair currently strew across her lap.

A soft smile came onto David's face and his voice was uncharacteristically gentle as he spoke to the damaged woman in front of him. "I just think you know Emma so well because, despite your extreme reluctance, you actually like Emma. The two of you have become friends, and I don't think you want to admit that."

Regina nodded, and forced herself to maintain a blank face as David walked out her front door, the slam echoing back through the hall.

She was oddly disappointed. She was hoping that by some miracle, the man would give her some answers that would soothe some of her confusion. Now she was left with more.

Were she and Emma friends? She wasn't sure. They spent a lot of time together, but most of that was related to either magic or Henry. She hadn't killed the blonde women yet, so she supposed some part of her wanted Emma around. That would also probably explain why she paid enough attention to Emma to notice her discomfort in the first place.

Did Emma consider her a friend? Did she want something more? Did she think Regina would want something more? Did Regina want Emma to think that she would want something more?

Ugh. Regina let her head fall forward and hit the table with a small 'thunk'. She felt Emma jump at the sound, and untangled her hands from the - distractingly silky - blonde hair.

Things had been so much simpler two days ago.

Poor Regina has no idea what's going on anymore, and it's about to get worse in the next chapter. Her confusion won't go away for a little while, mainly due to the fact that Emma can't actually speak in full sentences. Communication is key, and that's not possible right now.

I've been rereading A Series of Unfortunate Events because I am a mature adult, and there was an itty bitty reference to Lemony Snicket's writing style in here. See if you can pick up on it.

Alright, reminder that I welcome any and all prompts, my Tumblr is sammy431 if you wish to follow, and pretty please with sugar on top - Leave me a Review to tell me what you think!