Warning: Mild Language

The story takes place after The Miller's Daughter. Gold visited Cora's grave but there is no talk of love spell right now.

There was a time when Regina could hardly wait to wake up and explore her curse, blooming in the form of Storybrooke. The excitement soon faded away, sooner than she could have anticipated. Now the mornings had reached a point where they literally threw light on everything that was wrong with her life. Resentment came naturally and today felt no different. Except with the added bonus of her head threatening to split open. All night she had been plagued with erratic dreams, blurs of red and gold, dolls and wax figurines. As sleep tapered, awareness seeped through.

She was not on her bed.

She was not comfortable.

And she was definitely not in a good mood.

The sleepy witch moved but groaned at the sensation. Tired brown eyes peeped opened.

'Oh yes.'

The graceful events of the previous day flooded her mind. Regina closed her eyes and tried to stand up but her body ached, rejecting any change from its current position on the floor. Too tired to make a real effort, she magicked herself to her bedroom. Magic truly was her only friend.

As soon as her head touched the soft pillow, a very tired Regina Mills moaned in comfort. Even with the light flooding her surroundings she found herself quickly falling back to sleep. It wasn't like she had a busy schedule to adhere to. Perks of being a social pariah. She got more comfortable inside the covers embracing the silence of the empty mansion.

Unknown to her she was not alone, the mansion was not empty and the lone house guest was not happy.

No, the house guest was angry. And scared. And five god damn inches tall.

'Dammit Regina.'

The Previous Evening

Gold had preached Regina's intention of revenge to the Charming clan like a new development in the town charter. If Emma could alter the course of events which had led to Snow depositing the cursed heart in Regina's hands, she would. Hell, if some higher power was that kind to the blonde princess, this was only one of the few hundred things she would happily change. But like those hundred things, this one had indeed happened and there was nothing left to do but deal with the consequences.

Glancing at Snow snuggled inside white covers with David hovering over her, Emma scoffed, 'This was not dealing with the consequences.'

Bitter as she was, she was also afraid, afraid that Regina might do something in a fit of rage. Wasn't that her style? Losing her mother again was not an option for Emma. But she was also not exactly thrilled with the sharpen-ye-pitchforks routine Gold had suggested. She really needed to have a talk with David about the people he was letting into their house.

Honestly speaking, Emma really needed to talk to the brunette foremost.

Henry had insisted on meeting his mother after learning about the unfortunate events surrounding Cora but Regina had become a shadow, invisible in daylight, unseen at night.

As she left her house Emma wondered if she hadn't been making a good enough effort in contacting Regina. It had been hard, watching Henry call his-Regina's home line every day only to hang up after a series of rings. But she hoped the boy would get over it eventually, seeing how keen he had been to stay with Emma all year. But it was rather surprising that Regina hadn't shown up. Wasn't Henry the one thing she wanted? She could understand avoidance when it came to Emma and her parents... but negligence when it came to Henry?

Maybe Emma had been a little too late for this talk. Truth be told she wouldn't even have tried today if it wasn't for Gold. But she reasoned with herself that you don't show up at a magically volatile woman's house after their mother had just passed away.

'No. Not passed away. Murdered', Emma bitterly thought, 'she was murdered.'

Emma stopped momentarily and groaned; her head felt like a war zone, every thought fighting with the previous one. She didn't know what she was supposed to feel. Should she feel guilty for keeping Henry away from Regina, disappointed that he still missed Regina, angry that Regina had teamed up with Cora or that Snow had killed Cora? But wasn't her mother trying to protect her family, wouldn't Regina have done the same for Henry if it was Snow instead of Cora? Never in her wildest dreams would have Emma considered that a time would come when there would be so many people in her life that she would be connected to.

As the mansion came into view, the flaming ball that was her mind extinguished slowly as she took in the dulled lustre of the house. The feeling of concern that she usually fought when it came to Regina surfaced.

She was the saviour wasn't she, she was just going to go ahead and fix it. What that it was she wasn't sure but she was going to fix it even if it was the last thing she did.

Emma knocked a couple of times but there was no answer.

"Sorry Regina, you don't get to play hermit-hermit today." Emma grumbled under her breath.

Low knocks turned to angry blows accompanied by vocalised cries of the brunette's name. She feared the door would come off the hinge when a pair of footsteps halted her actions. The door swivelled open and there she was.

Then, exactly after 6 days, Emma stood face to face with Regina Mills.

Emma felt her chest lighten as she took in the person scowling before her, looking her impeccable self; why was she dressed for work? Emma was suddenly aware of the clothes on her skin; she had picked her red jacket in her hurry. The scene felt oddly familiar in her mind, like the Sheriff had come to meet the angry Mayor. Like nothing had changed. She made a note to dwell on understatements later.

Emma forced her way inside praying Regina wouldn't exercise magic on her. She held some misplaced confidence that though Regina had tried to choke the living out of her in Gold's shop not a week ago, she wasn't going to try anything today. It was there and she had no explanation for it, except maybe the slight slump of those proud shoulders and dimness of those brown eyes. True to her intuition, Regina gave her five minutes of her supposedly busy time, begrudgingly.

They both proceeded to the study and Emma noticed how the insides reflected the outside of her house. The house was not sloppy, not to a stranger. But Emma could sense it, those many tiny disturbances. She shook her head and chose to focus on the brunette instead. As she entered Regina was making herself a drink standing next to the table which used to be littered with documents and files. Now it was more like an open bar, where only one guest was being catered to. What shocked her was that gone were the sofas and chairs, like Regina was sure no one would be stepping into her house.

Emma sighed.

The usual questions commenced: How are you, where have you been, Henry has been missing you, why aren't you answering his calls?

The answer was consistent, silence.

Questions continued till Regina tried to put a stop to this one-sided discussion. Clearly irritated, Regina motioned towards another drink when Emma tried to reason with her. But something she said made the older woman snap. Why was the woman so distrustful to the idea that someone would care for her? Her inner voice supplied she should know why.

There were a few things less painful than the following conversation that unfurled. Burdened by the weight of her words Emma closed her eyes to shield herself. That was till suddenly Regina had in all means shouted her tendency to run away making Emma jump into attention.

"What do you mean she always runs-" Emma angrily shouted as she tried to stare down the woman.

The breath in her lungs left her body as she found herself facing a giant standing in front of her... Regina?

"What in the name of..." Emma's voice trailed off as she craned her head upwards slowly taking the whole of the brunette's body.

Mechanically, Emma looked down to see herself. What the hell happened? What the hell did Regina do to her?

Suddenly she heard a huge cracking sound. Her hands flew to her ears to cushion the assault on her ear drums.

'Dammit Regina.'

Regina, fuck, she needed Regina's help. And Regina was coming towards her. What she needed to do was catch her attention. Emma was still trying to figure out her best plan of action when she saw Regina tumble down.

"Regina", Emma cried out.

Fear took a backseat to worry as she ran towards the woman for rescue. By the time she was in close proximity Regina seemed to have passed out. Huffing she bent over trying to catch her breath. She looked back to the spot where she had been standing. And had been normally sized.

It couldn't have been that far. That or she should start exercising more.

A loud gasp followed by her name made her jump. She sheepishly turned to Regina who seemed to be staring at her in disbelief.

"Hi."

And there she went again.

'Dammit Regina.'

Emma immediately tried to wake up Regina. As she went closer her senses were filled with the strong scent of liquor. That didn't stop her from tugging the raven hair to rouse the woman. When that proved futile Emma's wired mind went with the first thing she could think of, she decided to scale the mighty Mills.

'How the mighty have fallen', she thought at the sight as she rubbed her hands in preparation for the climb.

Emma used the silky locks to pull herself up slowly careful to not hurt the sleeping body below her. Emma figured she could crawl up to her ear and scream Regina into consciousness. As she stood with her knees bent slightly trying to find a stable position, the woman below her stirred making the poor Swan lose her balance. Emma flailed her arms around for some support to magically appear but ended up falling behind. Thank god for Regina's earring that she had caught in the nick of time otherwise the fall may not have been pretty. Emma took a deep breath, with one hand holding on to the gold earring, resting her head on a bed of apple scented hair; definitely the most absurd position she had ever been in.

'Pathetic, some saviour I am. Henry would be so proud.'

She drew in a deep breath to calm herself. Now was not the time to risk injuries. She decided to wait for Regina to wake up.

Slowly sliding down till the end of the strong black tendrils she landed right under the Regina's nose. She looked up and noticed the dried tear tracks on her cheeks. The long black lashes still held onto some dew. Regina was beautiful, that was nothing short of common knowledge. But from this angle and magnification she looked breathtaking. Maybe she shouldn't think that a tear stricken woman who was scowling even while asleep was breathtaking. Emma shook her head in mirth but something caught her eye.

Regina's lip scar.

'How have I never noticed that?'

Emma stood up slowly closing the distance with a childish notion to touch it; a weird fascination to feel it, just to see if it was real. Spellbound, she stopped an inch away from the scar and stretched out her hand but apparently an unconscious Regina Mills was also miffed by the sheriff's presence.

Regina's lips parted and she let out a long sleepy sigh. It wasn't strong enough to blow the saviour away, as she half expected trusting her sound cartoon knowledge, but it did manage to make her fall on her posterior.

"I'm going to buy her an year's supply of breath mints when she gets up", Emma growled ducking her head inside her jacket.

Before Emma could whine some more about drinking habits, Regina's hand, the one nearest to Emma, twitched and the blonde's mind recalled every fly swatter and rolled up newspaper she had used against all those unfortunate bugs crossing her path. She jumped up on her feet to get away from the brunette. Emma sprinted till she reached the end of the rug and then dragged her feet till she reached the wall so she could sit down supporting her back.

Emma estimated the time must have been around eight or nine judging by the darkness outside the windows and would have noticed how hungry she was if there weren't a hundred thoughts swimming through her mind. She could see the brunette was uncomfortable in her sleep and as she kept looking at her till slowly exhaustion overtook her little body and she dozed off.

Hours passed before a loud grunt that jumped her into consciousness. It was morning already. And more importantly Regina was waking up. Finally. Now was her chance. Emma quickly got up on her feet, flailing her hands trying to get the brunette's attention. Before she could reach halfway a cloud of menacing purple engulfed the brunette and just like that, she was gone.

Emma slowed down watching the wisps of the cloud dissipate. As the air cleared over the now empty spot, anger filled her tiny body.

Yup, Emma was angry. And scared. And five god damn inches tall.

'Dammit Regina.'

TBC

Next time: Hungover Regina meets tiny!Emma.

...

Intentional A/N:

Thanks for the follows, favs and reviews x

I like lengthy chapters but I can break them up further if I'm able to. Yay or nay on long chaps?

Unintentional A/N:

I went with 5 inches because it was easier to use a phone as Emma when I'm trying to picture her in proportion to the room, furniture or Regina. Weight is a tricky aspect so I'm assuming due to magic she is as heavy as the phone as well. Gotta love magic.