"Do not presume to know me Miss Swan," Regina snarled as she advanced upon the seated blonde, "because I can assure you, you have no idea what I have lived through." She couldn't believe the nerve of this woman, to come into her home and attack her in such a way, it was ridiculous and she would not stand for it.

Emma however, being as stubborn as she was, took no warning from the fire burning deep within Regina's eyes, in fact it only seemed to spur her on. Standing, she was now only inches from the brunette and could feel the sharp puffs of air as they hit her cheek and caused odd strands of her hair to blow back lightly. "Don't give me that crap Regina, you cursed an entire realm all because you couldn't stand the thought of my mother being happy and for what?" she was right up in the other woman's personal space now but this was nothing new for either person. "Because some girl was prettier than you?"

The slap that followed Emma's words was like an alarm ringing through the deathly silent office in Regina's house, she was shocked at what she had unconsciously done but never let it show. There was no concern or apology in her tone when she spoke again, her eyes never leaving the raging blonde's, "get out of my house."

She remained where she stood for a moment longer, just looking into the cold brown eyes boring into her very soul. The slap wasn't particularly hard but the pain that drove it was clear to Emma, it was obvious that she had completely missed the mark with this woman yet she couldn't calm the anger bubbling within her. How dare she touch her like that, how dare she then go on to tell her to leave. Who the fuck did this woman think she was? "You know what?" she spoke softly now but her steely determination was still evident as she stood strong, "I don't think I will."

"You…what?!" Regina's brow was furrowed as she took a step back from the blonde before her, "You do not get to decide that Miss Swan, I have told you to leave and I suggest you do so before I really lose my temper"

Emma had the audacity to openly laugh at the threat, "and do what Regina?" she revelled in the way the brunette's jaw dropped open in pure shock. So many times had they come to blows with it ending up as a walk-out, one or both would leave the scene in a rage and bottle their feelings up until their next meeting, well Emma was simply sick and tired of doing that and so she fell back down with a thud onto the couch before throwing her feet up on top of the coffee table, "you'll use your magic? Because I don't know if you've forgotten but you made a promise to a certain little boy that you wouldn't do that anymore."

She wanted to slap her again, to wipe that smug grin off her idiotic face. It was moments like this that reminded her of why she hated the Charming family superiority complex so much. They all assumed they could barge in wherever they wanted and just take anything they pleased, including her son and now this woman dared to dangle his love in front of her?

"And they call me evil."

Her grin faltered as she straightened up slightly with a frown as she took in the brunette studying her from across the room now, "I'm sorry, what?"

"You, Miss Swan, have come into my home unwelcomed, have provoked me to the point of violence and then proceed to taunt me about the things I am attempting to do in order to gain my son's love and trust back. The same son who I have raised with only love and kindness for the past ten years, only for it all to be thrown back in my face once someone better comes along…I suppose I should be used to that kind of thing by now but the sting never goes away, it only seems to intensify with each person…" she had gone off on a tangent without meaning to, her emotions getting the better of her as she allowed herself to appear weak to the one person she had never wanted to.

Emma's booted feet had since dropped from the coffee table as she took in the woman before her, the way in which her strong shoulders had dropped upon revealing a part of her she hadn't meant to, the small tear that had escaped unnoticed as she opened her heart a tiny crack in order to show who she actually was beneath the façade of the Evil Queen or even just Madame Mayor. This was Regina standing before her, a complete enigma to her that she found she wanted to unravel. "Regina, I…"

"Just go." She had turned from the blonde now to face the window; her eyes had fallen upon a flash of yellow that could be seen between the hedges lining her garden. It confused Regina as she couldn't understand why a woman who shied away from any kind of attention, strongly denied her role as the Saviour and hero of this town and kept her emotions tightly bottled away, would chose to drive a car painted in the brightest, most attention grabbing colour there could be. Another mystery surrounding the insufferable blonde yet Regina found herself wondering about the history of the vehicle…where had Emma gotten it from? How long had the woman had it?

She caught how the woman started slightly upon hearing her voice once more, "look, I know you're trying to change…Henry does too it's just…it's hard to trust someone you don't know"

"What are you talking about Miss Swan?" she turned to face the woman with angry confusion written all over her face, "you've been here for over a year now, of course you know me!"

The blonde only shook her head in reply for a moment, "not really Regina, all I know is that you are a mother to my son, mayor of this town and a former Evil Queen…that and the fact that you're wicked powerful, but that's it, that's all I know."

"So what is it that you suggest Miss Swan?" her perfectly sculpted eyebrow lifted in question as she subconsciously wrapped her arms around her frame, "slumber parties in which we can braid each other's hair and share stories about how dismal our lives are?" a hollow laugh escaped from her lips, "I highly doubt that."

"Do you seriously have to be so difficult all of the fucking time?" Emma threw her arms out in exasperation, "all's I'm saying is that we should at least get to know each other a little more…if only for Henry's sake."

"And there it is again," deep brown eyes narrowed in accusation, "exploiting the love I have for Henry to fill your own needs. It's always the same with you."

She looked to the ceiling as if praying for strength from some higher power, there really was no getting through to her. "I'm not trying to gain anything from you Regina, except maybe trust enough to know that I will never take Henry from you and will not use anything you discuss with me as any kind of ammunition but no, I think you like things the way you are – I think you're enjoying the drama, you are a Queen after all."

The 'Evil' handle of her title was left absent but it didn't matter to the brunette, she still saw red as the woman's words sunk in. "Enjoying the drama? Are you deranged Miss Swan?!" she raged, "do you think I enjoy knowing that after all of the years spent looking after and loving the boy now living in my enemy's apartment with her idiot of a husband, that I may never have again the love I once shared with him? Do you think I enjoy watching him turn from me only to want to find you instantly? To know that when he falls ill, it's no longer me that he cries out for? When he awakens scared from a nightmare it's no longer me that can chase the monsters away?" Her eyes had filled with tears once again as her emotions took her further than she meant to go but she couldn't stop, "I shouldn't even bother trying to compete with you for my son's affections because I'm fighting a losing battle but no matter how many times I tell myself that I cannot seem to stop and it is breaking my heart a little bit more every time he pulls away from my touch." Her chest was heaving now as tears streamed down her flushed cheeks, the blonde had been left utterly speechless and, if she saw correctly through the blur of her own tears, her eyes had glazed over slightly.

"You can see yourself out," her back was to the woman once more but she stared only at the ground by her feet, the harsh reality of the world she lived in was too much to cope with.

Emma inhaled a shaky breath as silently as she possibly could before nodding to the back of Regina's head and retreating from the office. As the door clicked shut behind her, she couldn't help but feel suffocated from the weight of the older woman's words and the pain she could still feel radiating from within the room.

This had all stemmed from a fly-away comment from Emma about Regina's vanity concerning her mother and casting the curse, it was now clear that it couldn't have been further away from the truth but what surprised Emma wasn't the fact that she wanted to find out the real reason behind Regina's pain to figure out her motives…it was that she wanted to attempt to bring some comfort to the woman who was so clearly broken and burdened by her past.

XXX

As she lay her head down upon her pillow later that night she thought only of the brunette, the hurt in dark brown eyes was haunting as she closed her own to sleep, the cracking of the deep voice as Regina broke down was her own kind of lullaby as exhaustion began to take a hold of her. The last thought that entered her mind before she finally succumbed to sleep was of finding a way in which to help Regina, to get her to open up and allow Emma into her world enough to form some sort of civil relationship, friendship even. It was a ridiculous notion but it filled her mind all the same as she finally fell into a deep sleep.

XXX

Her back ached as she slowly woke from her dreamless sleep, the smell of straw and grass filled her senses as she frowned due to the scratchiness of the surface she lay upon. Didn't she fall asleep in her bed? Yeah, she definitely did so…where the hell was she?

It took a few blinks to focus her vision causing her to gasp as she came face to face with a horse.

"What the fuck?!" she scrambled backwards to move away from the creature until her back collided with the wall of the building she was in.

"Why am I in the stables?!"

The air around her was warm, too warm for Storybrooke. It didn't sound like Storybrooke either…she could hear something distant, muffled slightly from her position in the stalls. Her muscles screamed in protest as she rose from the ground and walked around the horse, eyeing it suspiciously as she went. It merely watched her for a moment before placing it's head back down upon the ground with a swish of it's well groomed tail.

The sawdust and straw crunched under her feet as she peered around the seemingly deserted stables in search of the sound. The light some way away from her indicated an exit and as she moved towards the doors, the sound only grew in volume until it could be identified.

It was laughter…it was sheer, unrestrained laughter and it most certainly belonged to a woman…a young one at that if the high pitched squeals of delight were anything to go by. She had to squint momentarily upon stepping out of the stables into the open air as her eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight. A vast green clearing stretched out endlessly before her and she soon realized she was stood upon a moderately steep incline.

The sound remained and was actually causing the corners of her own mouth to rise slightly in response to it, there was something so captivating about it and she felt drawn in. Her eyes searched the field below until she spotted them.

A young man dressed in colours of beige and brown was running after a young woman whom the laughter belonged to. Her hair seemed to have been pulled back into a tight braid that flowed down to the middle of her waist but whipped out every time she changed her direction. She was dressed in what looked to be riding gear yet it was fancier than any Emma had ever seen, even in any of the movies she had ever watched. The royal blue of her jacket suited her tanned skin beautifully and hugged every curve as she sprinted from her chaser; the tanned jodhpurs accentuated her toned legs until they ended where her riding boots encased them.

The blonde couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight and hadn't noticed she was moving towards the brunette until she had reached the bottom of the incline. They were still further away but she was now able to make them out in more detail. The young man was handsome by definition, his features rugged enough to be seen as manly yet soft in order to call him attractive. His smile widened with each step he came closer to claiming the squealing girl. They both had their backs turned as Emma drew nearer, she almost laughed along with him when he let out a cheer of success as he spun the woman in his arms.

"Okay, okay…you win!" that voice…

"And what, my lady, will my prize be?" the man asked the woman he was facing, if he would just move to the side slightly she would be able to see the girl he had claimed.

Small hands could be seen gripping onto muscled arms as they stroked up and down them, "I think just having me in your arms should be reward enough…" her laugh was melodious as he used sharp fingers to prod her side, "I think I have something for you…"

Both heads came together at the same time, it was a movie worthy moment and one that Emma would have promptly turned off for being too sentimental, too cliché to be real but standing here now she found she couldn't look away. As they pulled apart Emma noticed the brunette grabbing the young man's hand as she moved to walk back towards the stables, the blonde almost fainted on the spot as she was revealed.

There in front of her, real as the day is long, was Regina Mills…only she wasn't the Regina that Emma had come to know, she was…well she was something else. Her dark eyes shone like the blonde had never seemed before; they were so soft and open as she shot a smirk to the man holding her hand, interlacing his fingers with her own. She looked to be much younger also, gone were the faint lines indicating many stress filled frowns that Emma had picked up on during one of their many confrontations. There was no hardness at all to her features…she looked happy.

She moved backwards as they did forwards, neither had even looked in her direction.

"So, are we to ride today Regina?" the young man asked as his thumb brushed across the top of her soft hand, her smile mirrored his own as she watched also.

"I think we may be able to find time to do so Daniel yes," she replied as Emma's brow furrowed, Daniel? Why did she know that name? It shouldn't be significant but she couldn't help the feeling of foreboding as it continued to rebound around her mind.

Daniel…Regina and Daniel…Regina's Daniel!

"But…he's supposed to be dead isn't…" her brain practically shut down as it finally caught up with her surroundings, if Daniel was supposed to be dead yet here he was standing before her breathing and smiling down at a young looking Regina…no, correction, young Regina then she most certainly wasn't in Storybrooke anymore…she wasn't even in her own time… hadn't she fallen asleep wishing she could understand the brunette's past? And now here she was actually seeing a part of it?

"Holy shit, what have I done?!"