Chapter 2
Regina placed down a plate of bacons and eggs in front of her new companion with a small smile on her lips.
"Thanks," said the blonde enthusiastically as Regina took the seat next to her, "Looks great."
The mayor smiled, "Dig in," she nodded as she picked up her own cutlery.
Emma couldn't help but return that smile every time the brunette flashed her white teeth; she was happy. Regina had taken good care of her guest, only leaving her alone in the mansion to strengthen the shield and dispose of the yellow car that Emma had crashed through the town line.
Regina left a sleeping Emma on the couch; the woman's body and mind was still recovering, and quickly made her way to the basement. She couldn't afford to leave the woman alone, so she had broken her own rules and stored her heart in a new fashioned vault in the basement of her mansion. It was risky, but necessary.
This too was where she had been working on a solution to readjust the entire town's memories in one foul swoop. After all, she couldn't let Emma leave the house until this had been done or disaster would strike. Emma's memories had been replaced with one's of Storybrooke; now it was time to replace Storybrooke's memories with those that included Emma.
She pinched the smallest of extracts from the young woman's heart and placed it in a beaker as she combined it with various liquids, talking quietly to herself the entire time until she was ready to cast the spell. She took a step back, waved a hand and the beaker exploded into a purple smoky mess. Regina smiled as the smoke curled and flew out through the window, ready to wash over the town and it's people, content that she had achieved her plan. Waving a hand quickly, she cleaned up the remaining beakers and grinning proudly to herself spun around –
"What…How…What did you do? I thought you didn't like using magic? You told me you were trying not to use magic," Emma blinked, looking concerned before her eyes fell on the glowing heart a few feet from her.
Regina tried to keep her cool; she had told Emma she wasn't using magic, she still needed that to be kept secret, even to her new pet. It would be dangerous to have anyone around who knew too much about the going's on of Regina's hold over Storybrooke.
"Emma, I'm not using magic," she said calmly, taking a few quick steps towards the woman, "It was a one off, that's all. I told you, I would not use it unless it was absolutely necessary."
Emma frowned, "So why was it necessary?" she persisted.
"Emma, don't worry about it. Please, just trust me," she held the other woman's face in both her hands and fixed her with that heavy gaze.
Emma looked back into those chocolate brown eyes and after thinking for a moment, nodded, "I do trust you," she whispered.
"Good girl," Regina whispered huskily, relieved but scolding herself for being so careless.
Emma smiled before her eyes diverted from the older woman's face and onto the glowing heart sitting beside them, "What…is that?"
Regina almost cursed aloud, instead clearing her throat and picking up the heart lightly, turning away from the blonde and opening a drawer inserting the heart back into it's case, "Nothing," she said, waving a hand dismissively, "Come, why don't we go upstairs?"
Emma didn't know what it was about the brunette, but intrinsically she seemed to know when she should stop questioning her. She didn't like to discuss magic; Emma supposed that was why she had been hiding in the basement doing it. She was sick of being stuck in the house though, it almost felt like Regina was hiding her here; claiming that she was sick, and she was feeling ridiculously tired, maybe she was sick, she didn't know; she just felt weird.
"Can we go into town today?" she asked Regina.
Regina hesitated, before smiling, "You're not too tired?"
Emma shook her head, "No, I'm not too tired. Please, can we go?"
Regina's eyes showed her panic for a mere moment before she composed herself, "Why don't we stay in today? We can watch that show you like."
The blonde woman looked disappointed but nodded, "Okay," she said sadly before shrugging and looking Regina in the eye, "You don't have to be scared, you know. I won't leave."
Regina felt the breath catch in her chest; why was this woman able to read her so well? Was she really that obvious? She wondered if she should let her go and try to find another companion, a less observant one perhaps. But no, she liked Emma. She would not give in either, she needed the power, the control.
"I know dear, but you still look peaky to me," she held Emma's chin with a thumb and forefinger, "I just want to take care of you. You know that."
Emma bit her lip, "Of course I do," she nodded, "I want to take care of you too, you know."
And just like that, with that look in Emma's eyes and those words fallen from her mouth, Regina's expression softened and so did something inside. She could not replace Emma, she felt something shift in her heart, the echo of a feeling that she hadn't experienced in so very many years, and somehow, she forgot about the fact that Emma's heart was in fact in a drawer in her basement, and managed to fool even herself that this woman cared just as much for her, out of free will and not a magic spell.