A/N: And we're moving on to the jealousy portion of the fic, though Emma doesn't know it yet. ;)

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Emma's gaze shot up to see the Evil Queen sprawled out over the couch in the living area. "I came to pay a visit and there was no one home! Thankfully you showed up, I was getting bored," The Queen continued. Her voice was raspy. Damn, Regina did a number on her vocal chords.

Emma swallowed thickly and returned to her task, ignoring the Queen. She won't hurt me, she thought dumbly. She's Regina, and Regina wouldn't hurt me. She grabbed another suitcase out of the closet and laid it on the bed beside the shirts. With shaky hands, she began to pack it with David's belongings.

In a split second, the Evil Queen was sitting on Snow and David's bed, legs crossed over the edge, leaning back on one arm. Emma continued to pack, and the silence grew to almost deafening levels. Emma finally finished her task and looked up at the Queen to see a strange look on her face. It was almost…fond.

"Hello there, pretty Savior," she purred when their eyes met. "Are you quite finished?"

Emma maintained eye contact and tried to quash down her fear. "What do you want?" she asked. Whoops, her voice shook. Way to play it brave, Swan.

The Queen grinned widely and Emma was struck by the beauty of it. Even this Regina was stunning, in completely different ways than her-than the other one. "I wanted to get my hands on your parents," she explained. "But you're the only one here. So let's have a chat. How are you doing, Em-ma?"

"Fine," Emma said through gritted teeth, balling her fists. If the Queen wanted to talk, maybe she could get some information out of her. "You?" she asked lamely. Oh, this day has been a clusterfuck, and now I'm chatting it up with the Evil Queen. I just want to go home and eat pizza with my family.

The Queen grinned even wider and rolled over onto her back, putting her hands behind her head and staring up at Emma through long, heavily made-up lashes. "Oh, I'm fabulous! I'm home where I belong, I've freed your poor, poor prisoner, scared your entire family into hiding and managed to rattle my meek little counterpart all in one day. It's been grand."

With the Queen stretched out like she was, Emma could see that her neck was marred with dark black bruises in the shape of Regina's hands. Regina's neck had bruises as well, but not this bad. The Queen hadn't been trying to kill her.

Struck dumb by that revelation, it took Emma a minute to process the Queen's words and respond in kind. "Yeah," she said. "Our day's been pretty good too, all things considered." The Queen laughed then, and sighed. "You're full of surprises, Emma Swan. Everyone else in this town panics or tries to kill me when they see me. And then here you are."

Emma, filled with courage she didn't even know she possessed, moved the suitcase off the bed and sat down next to the Evil Queen, folding her legs Indian-style as she turned to face her. There they sat, the strange pair they were, and stared at each other for a long moment. Emma studied the Queen closely. She was wearing an extravagant blue dress, heavy makeup, and her long hair fell in waves down her body from an up-do on the top of her head. A heavy silver necklace adorned her damaged neck, and Emma could see where it had cut into her skin during her struggle with Regina. Emma's eyes skimmed quickly past her ample cleavage (because, holy shit) and followed the line of her body down to her high heels.

"See something you like, Emma?" The Queen taunted, grinning like the Cheshire cat. Emma brought her eyes back to her neck and cleared her throat. "Regina hurt you." The Queen's eyes widened in complete, genuine surprise. "She's hurt me in more ways than one, Savior," She murmured. Leaning up on her elbows, the Queen peered closely at Emma. "You're really not afraid of me, are you?" she asked.

"Wh-why would I be?" Emma asked, staring into all-too-familiar dark brown eyes. "You're still Regina. You might have been split, but you have all of your memories up to that point, right?" The Queen nodded. "Oh yes," she confirmed. "And every dark thought, dark urge and impulse that came with those memories that she was always holding me back from doing. You should be afraid, Savior. I'm not the Regina you know."

"Neither is she." The words came out before Emma could even think, and it was then she realized the truth in them. The Queen's eyes had widened again. Was she really surprising her so much? The thought was almost comical. "It's true," Emma pressed on. "Without you, there's a fire gone from her. Without you, she's unsure of herself. And I don't think you're any different. You feel just as incomplete as she does, don't you?"

The Queen sat up then lunging toward Emma until their faces were inches apart. Emma could smell her perfume, which was nothing she'd ever smelled on Regina before, but underneath was the scent of Regina. This was still Regina. "What do you think, Miss Swan?" she sneered. "How would you feel if you were nothing but the dark part of yourself, ripped away and tossed away?"

"I'd feel like shit," Emma said honestly, not backing away from the Queen's face. She looked at her dead on, the courage in her growing by the minute. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry she did it, and I'm sorry we urged her to kill you once her mind was made up. We were supporting her in the wrong decision. I know that now."

The Queen's lashes fluttered as her gaze drifted from Emma's eyes to her lips and back up. "I'm going to rip this town apart, Emma Swan," she whispered, "like she ripped us apart. And Hyde is going to help me."

"What will that get you, though?" Emma prompted. The Queen stopped, blinking. Emma couldn't believe her luck. She'd stumped her. Pressing on, she continued, "What will destroying everything and everyone get you? You care about people too, you must. You're still Regina. What about Henry?" Yes, Swan, play the Henry card.

"Henry will always be my son," the Queen said. "And when all is said and done, he'll be mine for the taking. I'm going to finally get my revenge on the Charmings, and Hyde will get his wish as well. All of the Untold Stories will play out, exactly as he wants them to. There's nothing you, or Henry or anyone else can do about it. He's going to help me play out my story as well."

"So Hyde's just the resident evil good guy, helping out all the villains change their stories? Wasn't there already someone like that we dealt with, like, you know, the Author?"

"You will not defeat us, Savior," the Queen breathed, her face now almost touching Emma's. Emma felt her heart start to pound, as it always did when Regina, any form of her, was this close. "You can hide all of your mirrors, put up all of your little spells, and we will still win. We have a few tricks up our sleeves, Miss Swan."

"So do we, Your Majesty," Emma breathed right back, a dangerous feeling coursing under her skin. The Queen threw her head back and laughed harshly before grabbing Emma's face in her hands and pressing her lips to hers.

Fireworks exploded in Emma's brain. She was frozen as the Queen's lips moved against hers, and jerked violently when she felt a tongue pressing into her lips, demanding entry. With that violent jerk came a gasp, which opened Emma's mouth and granted the access the Queen had been wanting. With a feral growl, the Queen kissed her deeper.

Regina was kissing her. No, it wasn't her Regina, and yet it was….

And before she knew it, the Queen had pulled back. Her lipstick was smeared and she was breathing heavily. "My my, who knew Swan was so sweet?" she rasped. Emma could do nothing but stare at her. Her brain was fried, frazzled, cooked. The Queen smiled softly at her. "I look forward to your tricks, Emma. Just remember, sweet Snow has wronged many. I'm not the only one with a vendetta against her. There are many untold stories left to uncover."

With that, the Queen disappeared in a purple cloud of magic, leaving Emma alone and trembling for a whole new reason on the bed.

Holy shit. Regina had kissed her. No, the Queen. Regina. It was all muddled in Emma's head, and she could still taste lipstick and feel the softness of the Queen's lips and tongue against hers. Heat began pooling low in her belly and she squirmed. It's time to shake it off and go home. She was playing with you, trying to rattle you. Don't let her.

With that thought, Emma grabbed her father's suitcase and poofed back to the manor.

"Swan!" Killian yelled when she materialized in the dining room. "We thought you got lost! Come have a seat, we're still feasting."

And a feast it was. The table was lined out with three different large pizzas and a gigantic bowl of salad. The Untold Story people had left, and just her family and Jekyll sat at the large table, all digging into their meal. "I tried to make them wait," Snow said regretfully, "but it's been quite a day and we all skipped lunch." "Sorry guys, I struggled with touching David's underwear," Emma joked weakly, bringing forth genuine laughs from everyone in the room. Pushing David's suitcase against the wall, Emma joined the table, sitting between Hook and her mother. Glancing down at their plates, she noticed that Regina, who was sitting at the head of the table, was the only one who hadn't yet touched her food. Upon Emma taking a seat, she finally picked up her fork and began to eat her salad.

Should I say anything? Emma wondered. She took a look around the table and saw her family's tired eyes, slouched shoulders and tense faces. No, the Queen hadn't given her any useful information. Telling them would do nothing but worry them. Emma shoved away all thoughts of her encounter with the Queen as best she could and grabbed a huge slice of pepperoni pizza.

About three bites in, Henry asked, "What's that on your face, Ma? It looks like lipstick."

Regina's fork clattered to her plate and the table got quiet as they all peered curiously at Emma's face. Turning red, Emma swiped at her face with a napkin before any of them could get a good look. "Don't be ridiculous, Henry, I don't wear lipstick," Emma said, forcing a laugh. "I must have just smeared the pizza against my face a little too hard. I'm starving."

The excuse was weak at best, deplorable at worst, but Henry and the rest of the table seemed to buy it…until she met Regina's eyes. Regina's face wore a completely unreadable expression as her eyes bored into Emma's until Emma had to look away.

The rest of the meal passed without incident, and wordlessly Emma, Henry, and Snow helped Regina clean up the dishes while Killian, David, and Jekyll made their way back into the living room. When the dishes were done, they joined them. And when Emma saw the scene in front of her, her heart melted.

Regina was holding Neal, bouncing him lightly on her leg as she clapped his hands for him and smiled gently, cooing "You're getting so big, yes you are," while he laughed and squealed. David sat beside her, smiling at them both. Jekyll stood awkwardly in the corner, clearly uncomfortable as always.

Then Emma's gaze turned to Killian, who was sitting a chair and looking sour. Of course.

Settling in on the arm of the chair next to Killian seemed to cheer him up. He looked up at her with a smile and offered her his hand, which she took. Out of the corner of her eye Emma saw Regina glance at them, and then back down at the baby.

Snow sat on the other side of Regina on the couch, while Henry sat in the second chair. "All right," he said. "I know that everyone just wants to relax, but we have more work to do and it's still early. So here's the stories I gathered today…."

Henry broke into tales of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, who had seen how his tale was going to end and thus had run off to the Land of Untold Stories. And another tale of the Goose Girl, who had run from her evil lady-in-waiting. And yet another from some minor character no one had ever heard of. Each had run from their stories because a villain had been winning, and Henry had worked on convincing each of them to have the courage to play their tale out, despite their fear of an ending, and of Hyde.

Finally the conversation switched to the Evil Queen. They tossed ideas and plans back and forth, each one met with a reason why it wouldn't work, to the point everyone got increasingly frustrated, until finally Regina spoke up. "Jekyll," she said in a low voice, quieting everyone down. Jekyll perked up from his place in the corner of the room, probably glad to finally be needed for something. "I know what needs to be done, and I think together, you and I can accomplish it."

Silence engulfed the room as she went on, "The serum you made that split you from Hyde, and split me from the Queen…I need you to reverse it."

Jekyll shook his head violently. "I've tried! Don't you think I've tried? Every serum I've made has joined us back for a moment, no more, and torn us apart again even more painful than before. It doesn't work!"

"I'm a witch, Jekyll," Regina said calmly. "Whatever ingredients you need to make the serum effective, we can find it together. I will help you as much as I can. But I think the key to ending this, all of this, is to willingly take our other halves back. I see no other options. We can't kill them, and we can't subdue them for long. Time is running out and lives are at stake. You must prepare a list of ingredients you need from me, and I guarantee you I have everything we need in my vault. I came to Storybrooke with my entire stock. I'm nothing if not prepared for situations such as these."

With a nod of agreement from Jekyll, the conversation ended. Hook was the first to stand up, stretching. "I didn't sleep well last night, mates," he said. "Am I welcome to a room or is it back to the Roger for me?" He directed the question at Regina, who leveled her gaze at him and deadpanned, "You are in no danger, and you reek. Go back to your ship, pirate."

"Regina," Emma warned softly. "He's in as much danger as the rest of us. We don't know who Hyde and the Queen will go after next. They might try to use Killian to get to me."

Regina's features softened and she lowered her head. "There's a guest room just up the stairs and to the left, at the very end of the hall. It's not finished, but there is a mattress you're welcome to use," she ground out through gritted teeth, and Emma could tell it pained her to think of Killian sleeping under her roof.

The rest of the sleeping arrangements were hashed out (Snow, David and the baby would take the guest room, after moving the mirrors under the bed into Regina's closet-just in case-) and Jekyll would take the couch. Emma was welcome to share a mattress with Killian or help herself to Regina's chaise lounge once more.

Before making that difficult decision, there was only one thing on Emma's mind. "Regina," she asked, "would you mind if I took a shower? I haven't had one in a couple of days and I feel…grimy."

Regina gave a nod. "You may use mine if you wish," she said quietly, and began to make her way upstairs. Emma followed behind her, and was taken by surprise once they entered the bedroom, when Regina closed the door and then grabbed Emma by the shoulders, turning her and slamming her body into the wall. A wave of pain and unbidden arousal crashed over her-and the Queen's words we always did like it rough, didn't we-as she hissed, "Jesus, Regina, what-"

"She kissed you."

Oh. Oh.

"What are you talking about?" Emma tried to deflect, giggling nervously. Regina shook her by the shoulders and growled. "Don't play dumb with me, Emma Swan. You saw her again, and this time she kissed you."

"Is this about what Henry said at dinner? I told you guys, it was pizza sauce."

"Pizza sauce doesn't come in that shade of red."

Regina was livid. The vein in her forehead was protruding and pulsing, her eyes were wild and her lips were drawn up over her teeth in a grimace. She was shaking. Why was she shaking?

"Okay, yes. Yes. She was at the loft."

"What. Happened?!"

"Regina, chill. Nothing happened. She just tried to get into my head again, and I played her game right back at her. I guess she liked the challenge, because, yes. She-she kissed me."

Regina growled and pushed away from Emma, turning away and burying her hands into her hair. "Why didn't you tell us you'd seen her? That's something we need to know, Emma!" she hissed. Emma shrugged pathetically. "I don't know. She didn't tell me anything new. I'd much rather everyone got a decent meal and focused on other things rather than riling everyone back up."

"She kissed you."

Regina seemed to be stuck on that point more than any other, though why, Emma couldn't or didn't want to fathom. "Regina, she was playing."

"Did you kiss her back?"

Emma's jaw dropped. Regina had turned around and Emma could see that her eyes were lined with red, like she was fighting back tears. "Answer me," Regina whispered, stepping closer to Emma. "Did. You. Kiss. Her. Back?"

"Of course I didn't!" Emma whisper-screamed.

"But you didn't fight her off," Regina stated, crossing her arms. "Why?"

Emma scoffed, "I was kind of shocked, Regina. It was unexpected, and I locked up. It was over before I knew it. It was like kissing you, fuck, it was you kissing me. Why would you, any form of you, kiss me?"

Regina recoiled visibly, grimacing. "Get your shower, Miss Swan. Towels are in the cabinet by the sink." With that, she wrenched the bedroom door open and practically ran back downstairs, leaving Emma standing alone, confused, and wondering, what the hell is going on with her?