A/N: Just wanted to give a quick s/o to beautifullife0 who suggested the bathroom scene in this chapter a while back. Mostly this chapter is just comedic, but I think it helps to solidify these characters as well as the direction of the story. Hope you all like it, and remember to drop me some feedback.

"Now, dear, it's your turn." Regina sat up, pressing herself against Emma and pushing her backwards. The Sheriff smiled widely, offering no resistance and allowing herself to be reclined on the sofa. Plump, red lips pressed against thin, pink ones, and Regina's tongue swiped inside Emma's parted mouth, drawing a gasp from the blonde. Emma wrapped her long, slender arms around Regina's small waist, pinning her against her as they kissed. Trailing down from her mouth, Regina's lips found their way to Emma's jawline, then further down to her neck. She kissed lightly, careful not to leave any marks that would be visible to outside eyes. That last thing either of them wanted was for anyone to get curious.

The sweet, soft scent of vanilla met Regina's nostrils as she sucked along Emma's clavicle, and she sighed into her skin at it. Of one thing, Regina was certain: no one smelled better than Emma. Her tongue dashed across the blonde's collar bone, and she smiled. No one tasted better, either.

The sound of a muffled phone ringing made them both jump, and eyes shot to the blonde's pants lying in the floor where Regina had magicked them off. The vibration of her cell phone could be seen inside the jean's pocket. Emma looked back to Regina, chewing on her lip.

"I should probably..." She began.

"Don't even think about it," the brunette growled, resuming her kisses along her lover's chest and shoulders.

"It could be important," Emma breathed, eyes closed and mouth open as Regina's masterful tongue navigated its way across her skin. How was it possible that tongue knew every single place that drove her crazy? "Could be Sheriff stuff."

"It can wait," the mayor insisted, her hands slithering towards the inside of pale, toned thighs.

When the phone stopped ringing, Emma began to agree with Regina. Certainly it couldn't be too important. That was her personal ringer-if anyone had needed her for an emergency, they would've called the emergency hotline, which had a different, more urgent-sounding ringtone.

A sound that resembled a foghorn blaring out into the night made the two women nearly fall off the sofa they were so carefully perched on.

"Oh, my God!" Regina gasped, eyes wide. "What the hell is that?"

"Emergency hotline," Emma frowned. "That one I really should get."

"They'll leave a message," the brunette insisted.

"Regina, I'm the Sheriff," Emma shook her head. "That's the emergency number. I have to answer it-it's my job."

"Isn't Ruby at the station tonight?" Regina asked, hands on her hips.

The blonde's frown deepened. "Yes, but-"

"But nothing," the mayor said, placing a finger over Emma's lips to silence her. "She's there, you're here. She will handle whatever emergency it is-probably just Miss Howard's cat stuck in a tree again-and I will handle you tonight." She smirked, leaning back down and replacing her finger with her lips. "Got it?"

Emma couldn't even think straight with the intoxicating woman pressed so firmly against her, much less argue. So, she nodded. "Got it."

Another kiss on the mouth, and Regina continued her work down at her chest. One hand kneaded an attentive, firm breast while another ghosted around the apex of the blonde's thighs, eliciting sharp, frustrated sighs.

"Didn't we say no teasing?" Emma grunted.

Regina smiled. "This is not teasing, dear. This is just a preview of what I plan to do to you." Emma shuddered as the fingers slid up and down her folds, collecting her wetness.

The loud ringing began again, and Emma groaned.

She extended an arm out for her jeans. "I have to answer it, Regin-AH!" She yelped when the woman above her sank her sharp teeth into her clavicle hard. "Goddamn it, Regina, don't do that shit!" The brunette sat up, straddling Emma's waist, with a triumphant smile.

"I'm sorry?" She said. "Do what?"

"You know what," Emma grumbled as she grabbed her jeans and extracted her phone. "We've talked about this before, you fucking sadist."

"Really, dear, I have no idea to what you are referring," Regina said innocently, though her smugness only grew when she the red teeth marks forming on her lover's collarbone. It wouldn't be visible under clothes, so long as the Sheriff didn't wear a shirt with too deep of a neckline, and it would most likely fade away in a matter of days. Still, Regina was glad to have made her point.

Emma retrieved her cell phone and answered the call, still glaring up at Regina. "Hello?"

"Emma!" Her mother said breathily on the other line. "Thank God you answered! I called you twice before, but it went to voicemail."

"Mom, this is an emergency-only number," the blonde sighed, and Regina rolled her eyes. Of course it was the idiot mother. Snow White was the biggest cockblocker imaginable.

"Well, this is an emergency!" Mary Margaret insisted.

Emma read the urgency in her tone and propped up on her elbow. "What are you talking about? What kind of emergency? Is it Henry?" Regina's eyes widened, and she clenched her hands into fists. Looking down at the blonde, she mouthed "What's going on?" The Sheriff shook her head blankly in response.

"No, Henry's fine," her mother answered, and Emma sighed in relief. Regina read the expression and shared it. Henry was okay. "It's not Henry... It's Regina. Uh, younger Regina."

"What now?" Emma groaned, letting head fall back on the sofa and closing her eyes in annoyance. If she was going to have to leave this Regina-in this state-to attend to another one, it was going to have to be for one hell of a good reason.

"She's kind of freaking out," Mary Margaret answered. "She's locked herself in the bathroom, and she won't listen to any of us. She just keeps yelling that she wants you. I'm afraid she's going to hurt herself, Emma. Or, possibly, destroy everything in my bathroom. Please, come and talk to her. She won't listen to anyone but you."

Emma lay there a moment, deciding if she could stay with this Regina and leave her family to deal with the younger one in good conscience, before sighing heavily. "Alright. Fine. Yeah, I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Thank you, sweetie. Try to hurry, please."

"Uh-huh." She hung up the phone, then peeked a glance up at the woman sitting above her. Sharp, angry brown eyes burned down on her, leaving her skin practically smoking, and she winced.

"Regina, I-"

"You're leaving," the brunette growled. "You're really going to leave right now?"

"I have to," Emma sighed. "It sucks and, believe me, I don't want to go, but I don't have a lot of choice in it."

"What exactly is the big emergency your mother needs you for?" Regina crossed her arms. Emma would never figure out how she still managed to look so intimidating bare-ass naked.

"It's you," she sighed, and the mayor frowned. "Younger you. She's freaking out for some reason. Locked herself in the bathroom and won't let anyone talk to her. Apparently, she just wants me."

"That needy little child," Regina clenched her teeth. Maybe Snow White wasn't the biggest cockblocker anymore.

"Anyway, I've got to go calm her down," Emma said. "So, as much as I really don't want to, I'm going to have to ask you to let me get up and get dressed."

Regina arched an eyebrow at her. "And if I don't?"

"Then you're forcing our son to have to deal with a panicked, scared version of his mother all night long," Emma said. "Are you okay with that?"

Regina hesitated. "Well, I did spend many nights up with him as a baby..."

"Regina," Emma scowled, and the brunette sighed heavily.

"Fine," she said, sliding off the woman and standing. Emma stood to her feet and quickly pulled her underwear and jeans on. "But this isn't over. You owe me."

"I know," Emma nodded, hobbling on one foot as she struggled to get her boots on. "Hopefully, I can get her to calm down and asleep in no time, and I'll just come right back. I'll think of some excuse for my parents. Late paperwork or something."

"Oh, this will be dealt with quickly," Regina said and waved a hand over herself. In a cloud of purple smoke, she was dressed. "I will make sure of that."

Emma stopped fighting with her boots to gape at her. "You're coming?"

"Indeed," the mayor nodded, flipping her hair back. "I want to make sure you handle this as time efficiently as possible."

"I know how to do my job, Regina," Emma scoffed, hands on her hips. "I'm pretty damn good at it according to everyone else."

"Of course you are, dear." Regina waved her hand, and Emma was fully dressed. "Now, let's go and deal with this."

Regina magicked the two of them right outside of Mary Margaret's door, leaving Emma staggering slightly upon arrival.

"Still not entirely used to that," she muttered, gathering her footing. "I told you to give me a three-count before you use magic on me."

"Well, if you would practice your magic like I told you, you'd be able to do it yourself," Regina scolded her.

"I kind of need a teacher for that," Emma snapped back. "And lately, every time you try to teach me, we just end up naked."

Regina smirked slightly. "I'm not sure what you mean, dear."

"Yeah, right," the blonde rolled her eyes and opened the door.

"Moms!" Henry jogged up to them, eyes wide with a look of pure panic on his face. "You're here."

"What's up, kid?" Emma asked him. "What happened that freaked her out so much?"

"Grams took her to the bathroom and showed her how to use the toilet," he relayed to them. "Like, how to flush and stuff. You know, in case she needed to go in the middle of the night. Then, she just freaked out. Said it was a monster or something, and Snow White was trying to kill her. So, she locked Grams out, and now she just won't come out."

Emma looked over at a frowning Regina and grinned widely. "Wow, Regina. Younger you really is something else, isn't she?"

"She is not me," the mayor crossed her arms with a scorn. "Just go handle this already."

"Alright, alright." Emma made her way up the stairs to the bathroom. Her parents stood camped outside the closed door, and they both turned upon hearing her arrival.

"Emma, thank God," David sighed. "She's freaking out in there. The toilet spooked her."

"Henry told me," she said. "I'll take care of it." They moved back, allowing her all the room needed, and Emma pressed herself against the door. She heard the sniffling cries through the wood and frowned. "Regina?"

"Emma?" The voice was full of both hope and fear.

"Yeah, it's me," the blonde answered. "Can you open the door for me?"

There was an unexpected hesitation. "You left me here alone. You told me you wouldn't be long."

Emma frowned, forehead resting against the door. "I know. I'm sorry about that. I got held up at work. We're pulling doubles here to try and figure this mess out. I'm just trying to get you back home."

"You said you wouldn't leave me." The pain and betayal in her voice hit the Sheriff like a ton of bricks.

"I know," she said in a low voice. "I know I said that, and I'm not going to leave you. I'm here now, aren't I?" There was silence. "Please, Regina. Open the door. Let me in."

At first, there was no answer. Then, the sound of soft footsteps on the tile floor sounded followed by the click of the lock. The door wasn't opened, so Emma pushed it open on her own. Inside, she found Young Regina curled up inside the bath tub, her knees hugged to her chest, teary eyes trained on the toilet in terror. It would've been funny to Emma had it not been so pitiful.

Emma moved to the tub and crouched down to eye-level with Regina. "What's up?"

"The monster," she whispered, and Emma fought a smile. "It makes roars awfully and creates whirlpools. It's terrible."

"Actually, it's not," the blonde assured her. "It's a toilet, and it's a pretty great invention. I guess you're used to, like, chamber pots, or something, but this is a big improvement upon that." Young Regina furrowed her brow at her. "It's not going to hurt you, Regina. It's not even alive. You just do what, you know, you have to do, and then you push that lever, and it gets rid of it. Eliminates the chore of cleaning the pot. A lot more sanitary."

Regina sat there a moment longer, chin resting on her knees. "Where were you, Emma? Why were you gone so long?"

The Sheriff sighed heavily, realizing she wasn't getting out of this so easily, and sat down on the floor. Round, glistening brown eyes moved their gaze to her questioningly. "I told you. I was trying to figure out how to solve this." It wasn't entirely untrue. That had been what she was doing originally when she and Regina went to talk to Gold. And, technically speaking, the... activities that occured afterward were meant to clear Regina's head, which could only help them fix the problem. So, it wasn't a total lie. "How to get you home."

"You left me with these strangers," she frowned at the wall. "With Snow White. She's even worse grown up."

Emma snorted with laughter, drawing those eyes back on her. "For all your differences, there is one thing all three of you Regina's have in common: you all really don't like my mom." She softened her expression and placed a hand over the girl's. "I'm sorry if you felt like I abandoned you or if you were scared. You've got to undestand: it isn't practical to expect the two of us to be together all the time. It's just not going to work that way. I mean, I have a job, and I'm trying to fix this whole thing. I can't be available to you all day, every day." She smiled. "But I can promise to dedicate a portion of every day to you." Young Regina perked slightly at that in interest. "And I promise that, whenever you need me-really need me, like, in the case of an emergency-I will be there as fast as I can. Does that sound fair?"

She nodded. "Yes. I like that."

"Good," Emma smiled. She stood and offered her hand. "Am I forgiven now?"

The young woman took her hand and allowed her to help her out of the tub. She beamed at her. "Of course you are." She threw her arms around the Sheriff, burying her face in her shoulder. "I can't be mad at you, Emma."

"Good to know," the blonde said with a small smile. "Although, I think you might be the only Regina of that opinion."

From the open doorway of the bathroom, Regina stood and watched as Emma soothed her younger self. She saw how gentle the Sheriff was with the girl, how caring and compassionate. How she held her so carefully as if out of fear of breaking her. It was a side of Emma that she rarely let show. The maternal side. The soft side. A childhood of cruelty in the foster system had tried to stomp that side of her out, but it had only taught her to keep it hidden. In that moment, Emma Swan seemed to glow, and Regina couldn't deny a warmth that rose in her chest.

"Magnificent, isn't she?" The voice that Regina recognized as her own made her frown, the warmth dissipating in a second, and she rolled her eyes to her side. The Evil Queen stood there, her eyes on Emma, with a wide, almost ravenous smile. "Such goodness and kindness." Her smile faltered slightly when she saw Emma instructing the younger Regina how to use the toilet, flushing it for her to see it wouldn't hurt her. "What is that beastly contraption? Some kind of torture device?"

"You hate anything good," Regina said, ignoring her question. "I'm surprised you're not wretching in the corner."

"I do typically hate such virtue," the queen admitted, "but Emma makes it look quite good. Don't you agree?"

"You'd be smart to leave her alone," Regina tossed back, turning her attention back to the Sheriff. "She may be the Savior, but there's a dark side to her as well. Emma makes a great ally but a terrible enemy." She snorted. "Trust me, I know. I've been on either side of her, and I much prefer being on her list of friends."

"I'm well aware of her darkness, dear," the queen smiled. "I've seen her heart, remember? It will be oh-so enjoyable to help that darkness spread."

Regina's eyes nearly bulged out of her head, and she spun on her heel to face the smirking queen. "You stay away from her, do you understand? I will not allow you to corrupt her and make her into a monster like you!"

"Ooh, touchy," the queen teased. "You're awfully sensitive about the Savior, dear. Why do you care so much?"

Regina hesitated. "That... Emma is Henry's birth mother. When you hurt her, you hurt him, and I won't let that happen."

"Nice save, but you can't hide that you care for her."

"Of course I do. For all her faults, she's my friend."

"Friend." The queen's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Of course. Friend. You know, dear, you looked awfully flushed this evening when you and the Savior arrived here. Tell me, what were the two of you doing together tonight anyway?" Regina glared at the smile on her counterpart's lips, wracking her brain for some kind of excuse. The pause was too long, though, and the queen cackled. "Ah. I see."

"You see what?" Regina growled. "I don't care what you think you know. Emma and I are friends, and, soon enough, it won't matter what you say. I'm putting you back wherever the hell you came from."

"Oh, you mean here?" She gestured to the mayor's head. "I'm apart of you, dear. Inside of you. I am you, and you'll never change that."

"You're wrong," Regina frowned. "I'm not the same woman I used to be."

"You can hide me under blankets of self-assurance all you like," the queen taunted, "but I'm still there. I will always be there. Your heart is black, dear, and that's something you can't change even if you try." She grinned. "See you soon." She disappeared in a swirl of smoke, leaving the mayor with a frown and a heavy mind.

Emma walked out of the bathroom with the younger Regina glued to her side and smiled at the mayor. "Hey. Can I ask a favor?" No response. "Regina? Hello? You home?" She snapped her fingers and caught the mayor's attention at last.

"What?" She said with a frown, looking up. "What is it?"

Emma furrowed her brow in concern. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Regina nodded absently. "I'm fine, of course. What do you want?"

"Well, this apartment's pretty full as is," she said. "I mean, with my parents, me, and Henry here. I know this may be a lot to ask, but could she stay the night at your place?"

"You'll be with me, won't you?" The younger woman questioned, and Emma looked down at her then back to the mayor.

"Well, that's up to Regina," she said. "It is her house, after all."

"You can both stay the night," the mayor answered.

Emma smiled at her. "Thanks."

"It's no problem at all," she waved her hand dismissively.

"Why don't you go tell Henry goodnight?" Emma suggested to the younger Regina. "I'm sure he'll be disappointed to miss out on a slumber party with you."

"Alright," she nodded and moved off to find the boy.

Emma looked at Regina apologetically. "I'm sorry. It doesn't look like we're going to be able to finish what we started earlier."

"It's alright," the mayor sighed. "Another time. Though with the way she hangs off you, it may not be until after we resolve this issue."

The blonde grinned. "I had a little talk about it with her. She understands that we can't be together all the time so long as I make a certain amount of time for her everyday. Which means my schedule just got a little bit freer." Regina smiled at the mischievous glint in the Sheriff's eyes as she wagged her eyebrows suggestively.

"You're quite ridiculous, dear," she said but couldn't stop a small laugh.

"Probably," she shrugged, "but, I mean, we do live in a magical town with a bunch of fairytale characters. So, ridiculous is pretty much the name of the game around here."

Back at Regina's house, Emma tried to get the young woman to fall asleep in the guest room alone, but every shadow scared her. So, resigning to her fate for the night, Emma crawled into the bed beside of the girl. The younger Regina curled up next to her, arms locked around her waist and head resting in the crook her lifted arms. Emma glanced down at the smile on her face as she closed her eyes and began to drift to sleep, and she couldn't stop the slightest smile of her own. Maybe this Regina was irritating, but she was pretty adorable, too. Like a puppy. Lowering one arm, she snaked it around the young woman's shoulders warmly and closed her own eyes.

The mayor stood against the doorframe in the darkness, staring in at the two women lying in the guest bed with a frown. If there was one thing she'd never learned how to do well, it was share.