Emma was lucky because she worked in an office where she was not only the boss but also the only employee. Which meant that she could take off without having to come up with a bullshit excuse.

"Hey, Leroy!" Emma slammed her car door shut angrily. Leroy was lounging on deck chair in the front of his yard with empty beer bottles decorating the patchy grass around him. He had on his duffle coat, dirty blue baseball cap and fingerless gloves. It was Autumn and definitely not the weather for sun bathing.

"What ya want she-sheriff?" Leroy asked gruffly taking a shot of his beer.

"She-sheriff-cute," Emma gave a joyless smile before she grabbed a handful of Leroy's coat and yanked him up from the deck chair. "Heard you've been spreading rumours."

"It aint a rumour if its true," Leroy glared at the rough handling.

"Peeping in windows is a crime Leroy," Emma threw him to the ground and stood over him menacingly.

"Hey!" Leroy turned lying on the grass one hand up to stop Emma advancing. His blood shot eyes and alcoholic blush made his face slack and weak but there was real indignation in his voice. "I aint no pervert! It's not as if you and the mayor are fucking subtle when you get together to have your little orgy!"

"You rat-bastard!" Emma went to grab him but Leroy hit her hand away.

"I did you a favour blondie!" Leroy scrabbled to his feet puffing himself up indignantly as he pointed at the ground sharply to prove his point. "I could have told the whole town that you all have been fucking like whores on overtime-but I didn't! I didn't tell anyone that you were involved," Leroy drew back and brushed the grass off his coat. He seemed genuinely hurt, "I owe nothing to either the mayor or Kathryn but we're friends or at least I thought we were."

The anger drained out of Emma and she felt like a right bitch. "I'm sorry Leroy, I shouldn't have taken this out on you," she slumped to the grass suddenly exhausted.

"No, you shouldn't have," Leroy snapped going back to sit on his lounger. He opened another beer and pointedly didn't offer Emma one. "So if you've heard about the rumours that must mean the cat's out of the bag, huh?"

"Not completely," Emma rubbed her forehead. This was such a mess. "They still don't know that Regina and I both know that we're each screwing Kathryn."

"That's confusing," Leroy rolled his eyes.

"Tell me about it," Emma sighed. "Regina is going to flip out and Kathryn..." she didn't know how Kathryn would react but it wasn't going to be good.

"You got feelings in this thing?" Leroy eyed her levelly over his bottle.

Emma laughed and pushed herself to her feet. "Me? Feelings? Come on Leroy, I thought you knew me better than that."

"I know no one comes on to a man's property ready to lay a beat down if there aint no feelings involved," Leroy shrugged and leant back to put his arm behind his head and look at the clouds. "But hey, what do I know? All my feelings are drowned in alcohol, not that you would know about drowning your feelings in something-or someone."

"You're a right bastard Leroy," Emma snorted as she walked back to her car.

"What's that she-sheriff, couldn't hear you with all that water in your lungs," Leroy called after her as she slammed her car door shut.

XxXx

Regina was finishing late at her office which left just Emma and Kathryn for the night. Emma had cleaned her bedroom and was leaning on the back of the couch staring at the door. This would be the first time that she had seen Kathryn since Ruby let the whole diner in on their secret. Emma leapt at the door and opened it before Kathryn had even finished knocking.

"Hey," Kathryn said but she brushed straight passed Emma looking worried.

"What's up?" Emma asked guardedly as she took Kathryn's coat and bag.

"Nothing, I'm just being paranoid but..." Kathryn went to fiddle with the wedding ring she no longer wore before her hands fell away defeated. "Do you ever get the feeling like everyone is talking about you?"

"You've seriously asking the new comer to a small town that?" Emma forced herself to laugh.

"I guess," Kathryn gave her a small smile. She shook her head as if the physical action would sweep away her doubts. God knows Emma wouldn't be the one to do it.

"So, I've been thinking about you all day," Emma slid closer to Kathryn pulling the blond up against her and kissing her neck. She had been thinking about Kathryn all day but not in this way but lying had never been hard for Emma.

"All good I hope?" Kathryn sounded amused which was not the mood Emma was going for.

"Some of it was very good," Emma said with a grin going in for a kiss.

Kathryn kissed back but didn't come close to matching Emma's passion. She pulled away and rested her head on Emma's shoulder. "I'm sorry, today was just a little weird. I swear I heard Ruby growling at me on the way home...do you mind if we just watch a movie and cuddle on the couch?"

Kathryn pulled away and gave her a soft smile that melted Emma's insides. Emma forced herself to step back because this couldn't work. "I don't want to watch a movie," Emma said lightly "but feel free to stay as long as you."

The smile Emma had put on Kathryn's face was slowly vanishing. "Okay, so do you want to play on you game thing? I can watch."

"No, I don't want to bore you," Emma grabbed her leather jacket off the back of a kitchen chair. She shrugged it on and tugged her hair out from the back. "Go ahead and relax for a bit. If I'm not back by the time you leave just shut the door, I'll have my key with me."

"Where are you going?" Kathryn started to get annoyed. "And why are you leaving?"

"Well, you're tired and we both want to do different things," Emma smile making her tone as friendly and understanding as possible. "I'm just going to find someone who wants to do my thing for tonight. The bar should still be open."

"Wait," Kathryn put up her hand and her eyes narrowed in growing anger. "You're leaving because I don't want to have sex with you?"

"Yeah," Emma deliberately let her smile wobble as her shoulders did a half shrug as if she couldn't understand what Kathryn's problem was. "Isn't this what our arrangement was about? I know we still hang out when we're not having sex but I'm really in the mood for some action. You understand right?"

"Wrong, I don't understand," Kathryn snapped angrily. "What I understand is that you're punishing me for not having sex with you."

Emma did laugh at that and allowed a little twist of a sneer to form on her lips. "Kathryn, I'm hardly punishing you. I just want sex and you don't, I'm being nice and not pushing you into something you don't want to do."

"You're giving me an ultimatum- have sex with you or you won't stay. I'm not sixteen you're not going to blackmail me into sex," Kathryn looked like she really wanted to slap Emma's condescending face.

"And I'm not your damn girlfriend!" Emma snapped back "I don't mind doing movies and cuddles when I'm in the mood but I don't have to wait around for you to dictate when I can and can't have sex."

"So you're just going to cheat on me?" Kathryn retorted.

"Cheat on you?" Emma gave a harsh laugh. She tilted her head to the side. "How the hell am I cheating on you? We're not together, we're friends with benefits. You're the one that screws another woman regularly and doesn't admit are we do anything more than friendly. You want to be my girlfriend Kathryn? Then asked me out! Come on, let's go to the proper movies on a date. We'll hold hands and feed each other popcorn."

Kathryn looked stricken at the thought. There was panic in eyes and even a little horror at the thought of anyone knowing about them.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Emma didn't have to fake the bitter laugh. "We're friends, and a little more but, that's not enough for you to demand those things off me. You don't get to do that when you're ashamed to be with me."

"I'm not ashamed," Kathryn said quickly reaching out for Emma.

Emma pulled back "oh? Really? Then am I your girlfriend?"

Kathryn stopped short and the panicked look returned. "I-I, I'm not...no, I don't..."

"See?" Emma forced her tone to be light hearted as she swept her keys off the kitchen table. "Your not that way. We're not that way together and so let's not ruin our friendship. Now wish me luck, I think I'm going for a redhead tonight, mix it up a little."

Kathryn looked torn as she bit her lip. "Good luck," she whispered unable to look Emma in the eye.

Emma stared at her for a moment longer. She didn't know what she was waiting for but it didn't come anyway. She turned and walked away.

XxXx

"And you cleared my being here with your mother?" Emma asked Henry for the tenths time.

"Yes," Henry rolled his eyes and answered for the eleventh time.

"Okay if she kills me then I am going to be so mad at you," Emma warned him as he took her hand and pulled her deeper into the school gym. "You do know this is a bit silly? You're teacher is my best friend I don't need to go to a Parent's Night to know how you're getting on in school."

"I know but I need you there so my mom is more mad at you than the B that I got in English," Henry grinned at her.

Emma glared but had no time to answer as Regina was standing next to a wall display filled with kids drawings. Kathryn was standing next to her looking slightly out of place and unsure. Emma gave them both a wave. Regina ignored her like usual but Kathryn seemed surprised at Emma's happy mood.

"Which picture is yours Henry?" Regina asked.

"That one," Henry pointed to a picture at the top of the board filled with people. All the drawings were supposed to be about the child's family but Emma knew there were far too many in Henry's drawing. "Hey Kathryn, you want to see my Art sculpture?"

"Oh," Kathryn looked startled for a second before she smiled. "That sounds wonderfully Henry."

"Great," Henry smiled before turning and whispering to Emma, "can you call my mom fat or something? I need her to be mad at you so she won't kill me."

"What makes you think I love you enough for that?" Emma snorted.

"Because I'm adorable and you have to make up for the ten years you abandoned me for," Henry gave her an innocent smile.

"Little shit," Emma mumbled as Henry dragged Kathryn off. A crowd of moms burst into poorly muffled laughter as Kathryn passed. As the other woman looked at them they turned away laughing harder.

"It's nice that I'm actually in the picture this time," Regina said still staring at Henry's drawing. Emma turned to give it a look. Henry was in the centre because just like Regina he assumed he was the centre of the universe. The blond figure directly to his right was obviously Emma judging by the sheriffs star and crude leather jacket. Mary-Margret was next to her with a blue bird on her shoulder and the taller guy must have been David. Even Graham was there on the edges. To the left was Archie with his dog and then came Regina a thin figure in full black but she did had a smile on her face which was something. There was also another blonde figure beside Regina and it took Emma a moment to realise that Henry had also drawn Kathryn.

"Of course you're in his picture. You're his mom too," Emma tried to be comforting but Regina just bristled at the 'too.'

"Maybe if you stick around for longer than five minutes you'll also lose your place," Regina glared and stalked towards Mary-Margret.

"Didn't even have to call you fat," Emma mumbled to herself.

"Ms Swan."

Emma turned to see the blonde guy she vaguely recognised as Henry's football coach. "Hey, Mr...?"

"Fredrick," he helpfully supplied.

"Mr Fredrick, right," Emma nodded like she had known that all along. "How's Henry doing?"

"He's much better. He said you've been taking him to the park to practice? That's really cool. It's really good for kids when they're parents get involved and i love to see girls playing sports. They're never encouraged enough. He might even make it on the team at this rate." Fredrick smiled. He seemed really enthusiastic when it came to kids.

"That's great," Emma felt her pride swell a little at Henry's progress.

"I just wanted you to know that the school doesn't hold well with bullies. We have a zero tolerance policy," Fredrick said more seriously.

"That's good to know," Emma wondered why he had told her this. Did he hear the rumours too...?

"And between us, if any of the kids give Henry trouble on my soccer pitch, I won't hold it against the kid if he tackles them extra hard," Fredrick nodded seriously. "Although I didn't say that."

"What are you getting at?" Emma rounded on him in full sheriff mode.

Fredrick stepped back in surprise but didn't back off. "Hey, having two mommies isn't something a kid should be persecuted for. He has people that love's him and that's all that matters. What you and the mayor do is no one else's business."

"Me and the mayor?" Emma said shocked "not me and Kathryn?"

"I had heard those rumours but they just seemed so unbelievable," Fredrick shrugged but there was a blush that spread right to his ears that said there was more to this. His gaze sought out Kathryn like a magnet finding her without trouble in the crowd. As his eyes softened realisation hit Emma.

"No one told me about the unbelievable rumours that gets started in small towns," Emma smiled much more friendly now as she patted the gym teachers elbow. "Why don't I reintroduce you to Kathryn and you ask her out?"

"What?" Fredrick looked startled at the suggestion like he had never heard of dating before.

"She's single and you're a nice guy. I want my friend to be happy," Emma said giving him a little push. "She loved Italian food, so i would go with that."

"O-okay," Fredrick took a deep breath to gather his courage before nodding at Emma. He looked like he was about to do battle.

"Good," Emma managed a smile.

XxXx

"She's on a date!" Regina barged straight past Emma and into her home. She rounded on Emma as the blonde was shutting the door. "This is entirely your fault!"

"It's Kathryn's choice to see who she likes, she didn't marry us," Emma crossed her arms and cocked a hip standing in front of her door. It was obvious that Regina wasn't leaving anytime soon so Emma could not go back to shooting people on the Xbox. So, maybe she was a little frustrated and annoyed too but she took those feelings out constructively by committing virtual genocide not barging into peoples homes.

"Just because you think you're worthless doesn't mean I think I am!" Regina glared. "I deserve to be happy, I deserve Kathryn."

"She's not an award!" Emma snapped back "you don't get a mayor of the year certificate and a blonde fuck buddy!"

"Normally I'm happy to watch you crucify yourself with your own self-sabotaging ways but this time I've been dragged onto the cross as well," Regina snarled " so whatever you did, whatever you said-fix it. Now!"

"I'm surprised you didn't stamp your foot as well," Emma scoffed as lightly flung her door closed and crossed to the fridge. She grabbed the last of her beer and made her way back to the couch without offering Regina anything. "Kathryn is a Nice Girl. Nice Girls eventually go back to Nice Boys and have Nice Children. Our arrangement was nice while it lasted but it would have come to the end regardless of what I've done. Nice Girls don't end up with woman like us."

Emma spun as Regina yanked her around so that they were facing. Emma kept the unconcerned look on her face because she knew it would piss Regina off even more. "Woman like us? Oh, we are nothing alike you and I. I'm more than a dirty little orphan with abandonment issues and an inferiority complex."

"Apparently you're a part time psychologist with a degree from Cosmo magazine. Too bad that degree didn't come in handy when raising my kid, he wouldn't have had to come looking for his less fucked up parent to replace the empty loveless domineering husk he was left with," Emma sneered.

Regina shoved her over the back of the couch and Emma tumbled headlong into her Xbox. The pause screen on the TV cut to black as the power cord was ripped out as the Xbox went hurtling across the floor. Emma's beer bottle smashed on the wall leaving a dark splatter like the impact from a bullet.

"I took Henry in after you left him. No doubt he wasn't the first or last in a long line of people you've driven away, because all you are Swan, is a pretty package. Nothing beyond your bluster but issues and regrets, certainly nothing worth sticking around for. I'll credit you with more intelligence than I previously thought, you're at least smart enough to drive people away before they see how worthless you really are," Regina gave Emma one of her faux sweet smiles that didn't reach the cold steel of her eyes. "But I know exactly what type of woman you are. Useable, serviceable and ultimately? Disposable."

The words hit home in a way that unleashed the anger that was Emma's defence mechanism. Her tight self control snapped and Emma used the couch seat to launch herself at the mayor. Regina surprised at the speed and ferocity of the attack tensed instinctively instead of dodging and they collided with the floor of Emma's kitchen. Her head rattled as it smacked against the cold tile but she immediately fought back. The wild punch Emma was about to throw collided gracelessly with Regina's arms as they surged upwards to attack Emma's face. Regina heaved and bucked forcing Emma to roll and lurch as she fought to stay on top.

They kicked, hiss and bit at any part of the other they could reach their hands trying to land more dangerous assaults but getting in the way of each other. Emma slammed Regina against the tile floor repeatedly. Her single minded focus to smash Regina into a red puddle allowed Regina to get her right arm free and with all her force she slammed Emma's head against the side of the kitchen island, once, twice. The impacts made Emma reel back and Regina threw her off. Emma started at the blue birds painted on the ceiling and for a second actually thought they were flying.

Regina straddled her both hands around Emma's throat. She looked mad. Not angry but like her mind had snapped. Her hair was sticking out in every direction, her crisp white blouse was ripped and missed a few buttons not to mention stained. What was left of her make-up was smeared and one strand of her pearl necklace dropped into her cleavage. But the look in her eyes was broken. There was just rage and hate as they tried to burn through Emma. Regina seemed to loath her more than Emma loathed herself.

"You will take no more from me," Regina promised Emma as her hand tightened around her throat.

Emma's hands grabbed at Regina's her face going red as she used all her strength to fight her. There was no way Emma would give her the satisfaction of beating her. Emma managed to contort enough to drive her knee into the small of Regina's back. It wasn't enough to throw the mayor off her but it launched her far enough forward that Regina had to let go of Emma's throat to stop her face from smashing against the floor.

Emma struggled for breath but the new position sat Regina on top of her breasts with her stomach over Emma's face. Not exactly the most ideal position to regain her breath. Regina seemed to regain a little sense as the murderous rage decreased. There was no way she could actually kill Emma and get away with it. She would be the number one suspect and there was no magic to take care of the body. Regina sat up and sneered at Emma grabbing a handful of her hair. "Maybe I should use you for your primary purpose," Regina pulled Emma's head towards her rucked up skirt meaningfully.

"I'll fucking bite you," Emma growled grabbing the hand in her hair.

Regina got off Emma when it looked like the blonde intended to do exactly that. She kept a hold of the fistful of hair and dragged Emma up. Emma grabbed the hand that was swinging towards her face. They knelt in a stand-off glaring at each other. Emma probably looked just as bad as Regina right now.

"Let's be honest here," Regina's had the balls to be condescending right now. "You're right in that Kathryn would have eventually got tired of the threesome thing. You knew that at the start, you only really did this for the sex and the opportunity to take someone else away from me. Maybe you do or did or whatever you don't define it to yourself, come to care about her but you know that she would never choose you. That's why you really set her up. Not to make her happy but just to keep me from winning."

"Get over yourself," Emma growled and the hand in her hair tightened as Regina's smile grew sharper.

"She care's more when I'm upset, she picks my side in fights, she spends most of her nights at my house and we both hate Mary-Margret. I bought her a house, I helped her with her divorce, I'm the one she told about wanting to go to law school-oh surprised? Did she not tell you that?" Regina laughed in Emma's face. "You know she's going to pick me."

"Then why is she out with the gym teacher?" Emma's barb was a desperate attack.

Regina surprisingly let go of Emma completely. She waited for Emma to free her captured arm and gave Emma a smug smile that ramped up her rage. "Simple, dear. You pushed her away but I'm going to be there to pull her back. Without you."

"You don't love her," Emma said filled with conviction.

Regina snorted "and? I want her and my bed needs filling."

"Stay away from her," Emma ordered and Regina let out a bark of laughter.

"Make me," Regina taunted.

Emma surged forward and crashed their lips together. It was more of a battle than a kiss. Emma tried to force Regina onto her back but Regina turned and they ended up on their sides with Emma slightly over Regina. Emma shoved up Regina's skirt and ripped at her panties.

Regina laughed in her ear a hot scornful sound as her fingers raked down Emma's back managing to make her twist in pain even through the cloth. "You have nothing I want."

"I know you're type," Emma panted with her own sneer. "Innocence is nice for a bit but you don't have the patience to break them in. You want someone used that knows what they're doing so that you can be fucked and fuck as hard and as much as you want without worrying you'll break them too much."

"You're already broken," Regina bit at Emma's lips as she spread her legs a little wider.

"Not completely," Regina wasn't that wet but Emma's still slid her fingers instead and fucked her. It made the mayor hiss at the burn but she started rocking her hips with a sneer on her face. "And not in the way that you want."

That made Regina gasp sharply and her eyes narrow. Her walls clenched around Emma's fingers pulling them deeper inside. She was wet now. "I'm going to destroy you," Regina promised her hips rocking faster and faster.

"You're going to try," Emma snarled. Regina came like an ambush- a surprising and overwhelming attack. She dug her fingers into Emma's back and bit her shoulder as her insides squeezed Emma's fingers like she was attempting to break the bones. As soon as the last spasm stopped Regina tossed Emma to the side and stood up. She straightened her blouse and shirt and wiped her face on a tea towel.

"Leave Kathryn alone," Emma croaked her voice as worn as the rest of her.

"Make me," Regina taunted as she slammed the door behind her.