DISCLAIMER:: do not own. just borrowing for purpose of creative expression. no profit obtained.

A/N:: sorry about the little bit of a wait on this update. been busy packing and dealing with family drama. already halfway through the next update so it should be finished sooner. enjoy and review.

SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN

-Chapter 29: What's The Reason We Can't Fall In Love?-

"Morning Emma." Henry jumped down off the stoop and rushed past her towards the car. They hadn't even been at this a whole week and already the kid was acting as if this had been a daily occurrence for years. Emma had to admit that there was a shocking familiarity to it all, though she of course knew why. She was meant to be with Regina and as much as this "cursed" world wanted to fight against that, love was slowly winning, breaking down the curse's defenses little by little.

Regina stepped out onto the stoop. "Miss Swan."

Emma smirked. "Madam Mayor."

Regina didn't break character even though Henry had passed the hedge and was in the car already, beyond both visual and auditory range. "I have some paperwork I'd like you to look over. It's upstairs so we'll have to do it on my lunch hour. Will you be available?"

Emma seemed to mull it over for several moments though they both knew very well that she would respond in the affirmative. The rest was just to keep up appearances. "I guess I can manage that. Barring any emergencies of course."

Regina smirked. "Of course. Wouldn't want to have a cat stuck up a tree while you're otherwise occupied."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "I will see you at one." She turned and headed for the car to take their son to school.

SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN

"What do you and my mom always talk about?" Henry stared at her from the passenger seat.

"Mom stuff."

"Like what?" His curious and slightly suspicious expression had yet to waver.

"Like about how much we love you and PTA meetings and what's an appropriate amount of television for you to watch in the evenings." She poked his ribs teasingly.

He shoved her hand away and rolled his eyes. "It doesn't seem like the White Knight and the Evil Queen would have much to discuss."

Emma frowned. Obviously he was not content to just let the subject drop. "I thought we established that I wasn't going to slay your mom?"

"But that doesn't mean you can be friends with her!"

Emma sighed. "Listen Henry. I know your mom very well. We go way back to my diaper days and her… well, she was the same age she is now, but that's not the point. I know there's good in her. She's not who she used to be. And that's not just my cloudy judgment alright? I know her."

Henry crossed his arms. Obviously ten year olds were infuriatingly short sighted.

SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN

"Where do you think you're going?" Graham raised a questioning eyebrow.

Emma looked at the jacket and keys in her hand and then back at him. "Um, to lunch."

"The diner?"

Emma shook her head. "The mayor wants me to look over some paperwork and I figured I better not do it on the clock."

"Do some paperwork? So that's what the kids are calling it these days?"

Emma sighed and rolled her eyes. "As amusing as this line of conversation is, I need to get going."

"Wouldn't want to keep her waiting, huh? Oh how the mighty have fallen."

Emma narrowed her eyes at him.

He frowned. "For someone who disapproved of how I was being used as a plaything, you sure took up the torch readily enough."

"It's different for me."

"Because you love her?" He looked at her sadly, her sudden silence telling him that he'd hit the nail on the head. "Loving her means this whole situation means more to you, but you do realize it means the same to her?"

"What are you getting at Graham?"

He sighed. "Look Emma, I care about you. You're my friend. And you're also the only person in this town who's ever been able to stand up to Regina. You give us all hope. Just don't let your love for her destroy you."

Emma frowned, taken aback by not only his statement, but by the thought of it. Regina couldn't do that, could she? Sure, it was obvious that was what she was trying to accomplish with these daily trysts, but could she actually go through with it? "I'll be fine. I know how to handle Regina."

"I hope you're right."

SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN

"Let's skip the pleasantries Miss Swan." Regina opened the door less than a second after she knocked and pulled her in, closing it behind her. "I only have an hour for my lunch and I do not wish to waste it on small talk." She practically pushed Emma up the stairs. Once they were in the bedroom, the brunette pushed her down on the bed. She kicked off her heels and stalked forward with a predatory grace, removing Emma's jeans with swift efficiency. She hiked up her own tight pencil skirt so she could crawl up and straddle Emma's lap.

The blonde groaned when she felt Regina's bare sex against the skin of her thighs. "You were prepared I see."

Regina chuckled. She ground down against the blonde's thighs. "I aim to please."

Emma rubbed her hands up and down the mayor's thighs, running her nails across the flesh. She wanted her and she could see in Regina's eyes that the brunette knew it.

Regina leaned down, resting her hands on either side of Emma's head to keep herself propped up. She scooted up just a little further until her centre made contact with the blonde's. It felt sinfully good and she couldn't stop herself from grinding down once more onto the body beneath her, eliciting a moan from the other woman almost identical to the one falling from her own lips. She wanted it, wanted Emma inside of her so bad that she had to use every last ounce of will power she hand to keep herself from reaching down and guiding the blonde's fingers into her herself. And that was precisely why it could never happen. She had to be able to control this. If she was the one doing the pleasuring, she had say over what emotions were involved, but if Emma were moving over her… if Emma were moving inside her, she'd be unable to stop what she knew with certainty would happen. That look of… love, of unrestricted devotion, unconditional adoration… it would be in Miss Swan's gaze and in that moment this would become something more than fucking. And Regina couldn't handle something more than fucking right now. No, this must, at all costs, remain distant. She felt hands fumbling against her chest and looked down to see the blonde trying to unbutton her blouse. She pushed the hand away. "Not today."

Emma pouted, not looking truly hurt, but also looking like she might just refuse letting Regina taste her.

Regina reached down between them, running a finger along the length of her own centre, getting wetter by the minute. Maybe she wouldn't allow the blonde inside her, but she'd give her just enough to keep her interested. She smeared the wetness across Emma's pouting lips, much to the blonde's obvious surprise.

Emma sucked on her lips, cleaning them of Regina's essence before grabbing Regina's retreating hand and sucking on the finger early, cleaning it of what little remained. It wasn't enough to satisfy her appetite, in fact, it only increased her need for the woman ten fold, but it did cause her to acquiesce to the mayor's demands when she settled herself between Emma's legs and took her own taste. Her head fell back as the brunette's tongue dipped into her.

Regina's hands slid up Emma's thighs to her torso, slipping under the thin fabric of her tank and to her bra. She palmed the blonde's breasts through the fabric, cursing herself for not taking it off prior to this moment.

As if sensing the brunette's dismay, Emma slid her tank off and tossed it aside, reaching around to unhook her bra, all without so much as a jostle of her lower half. She grabbed one of the mayor's hands, splayed across her abdomen and slid it back up to her now exposed breasts.

Regina smirked against the deputy's sex as she felt the silky skin beneath her fingers. It felt good to have a lover as intuitive as Emma Swan was turning out to be. If she had taken her as a lover before the curse, and she was truly starting to believe she had, then she could definitely understand why. Emma read the little clues like an old pro. She was much more adept in the bedroom than Graham had ever been. He was adequate enough and, let's face it, hot as hell, but he was never quite what she wanted. Miss Swan however… Regina would never admit it outside the confines of her own mind, but when she was with Emma, she felt more connected to anything than she ever had before in her life.

SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN

"Do you really have to go back to the office?" Emma couldn't keep the whine from her voice as she stared at the mayor, sitting on the edge of the bed. She herself was still laying with the sheets draped over her naked body.

"Don't tell me you expect a cuddle and an exchange of feelings Miss Swan? I thought we were past frivolous expectations like that."

Emma sat up, running her hand up Regina's back. "I want to return the favour." She leaned in and planted kisses along the column of the mayor's throat, nipping softly at the junction between neck and shoulder.

Regina shrugged her off. "Unfortunately for you Miss Swan, not all of us have the luxury of having so easy a job."

Emma rolled her eyes. It wasn't even that bad of an insult. Emma herself often complained about how slow paced her job as deputy was. Crime was extremely limited in a small haven town like this. Except for the occasional lock up of Leroy for his drunk and disorderlies, it was pretty much just a lot of rubbish bin basketball. "How come you won't let me touch you?"

Regina turned partially to face her. She reached out and grabbed Emma's hand, which she then forced into her shirt and the lacy confines of her bra. She sighed contentedly as Emma's fingers brushed her nipple and it instantly became erect. Finally, just as Emma started to play with the sensitive bud, she pulled the woman's hand back out. "See my dear? I have no problem with you touching me, when there is the time for it. But unfortunately, today, there is not." She stood and straightened her skirt.

"You know what I meant. Why won't you let me inside you?" Emma crossed her arms across her bare chest and stared up at Regina. "Every time we find ourselves in bed together, you're all over me, but the second I make a move to do anything for you, you stop me. Don't even try to act like you don't want it."

"And how do you possibly have any idea of my desires? Just because I wanted you back in the days before the curse, it means little now. You may remember me Miss Swan, but I do not remember you, which translates to me no longer wanting you quite like I used to."

Emma's brow furrowed. "You do, somewhere, hidden behind that wall you've put up around yourself, you do. You want me and it must be terrifying for you to not remember who I am, what I am to you. Am I just some peasant? Something you allowed into your bed because I'm a good lay, or am I something more? Was this curse about revenge, or was it about protecting something that you cared for?"

At this Regina laughed. "Protect? From what?"

"From yourself. You are the Evil Queen after all."

The tension hung thick between them, a tangible barrier between them. "That is precisely why you and I will never be more than a few stolen hours in the confines of a bedroom Miss Swan, because in your eyes, that's all I will ever be."

Emma was the one to laugh now. She shook her head. "That's where you're wrong Regina." She leaned in and despite the older woman trying to avoid the contact, she kissed her cheek. "In your eyes, that's all you will ever be. If you saw yourself the way I see you…" She shook her head, took a deep breath and then got up, gathering her clothes.

"If I saw myself the way you see me what Miss Swan?"

Emma looked at her for a long moment. "Then maybe you'd be able to forgive yourself enough to let someone in."

SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN

"Where have you been?" Mary stood in front of her as she closed the apartment door, her arms crossed and her best scolding teacher look on her face. Unfortunately for her, it looked more cute than intimidating.

"I went for a walk to clear my head."

Mary frowned. "August called. He said he wants to discuss more of what you guys did at the lake, whatever that means. I told him you were probably still at the station. Which is the same message I gave the mayor when she called, however, she called me back to inform me that you weren't and then lectured me about keeping better tabs on my roommate."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Says the woman who doesn't know where her own son is half the damn time." She strolled past Mary and into their kitchen. "What'd she want anyway?"

Mary shrugged as she followed. "She didn't say for sure, but I think it was to invite you to dinner."

Emma scoffed. "Of course she wants to play nice now."

"Now?" Mary raised an eyebrow.

Emma sighed. "I told her I wouldn't be attending any of our 'meetings' any longer."

Both Mary's eyebrows shot up to her hairline. "And how'd she take that?"

Emma shrugged as she opened the fridge and reached for a bottled water. "Not very well I'd assume. I don't know. I didn't hang around to find out."

"Well good for you. Knowing Mayor Mills, she was just using you anyway."

Emma sighed. "Yea, but at the same time, I don't know how else I'm planning to break through her walls. At least when we're sleeping together, she's forced to be alone with me. I get time, however brief, to chip away at her armour. Without that, what do I have? A couple seconds in the morning when I go to pick Henry up for school? It's not going to be enough."

Mary frowned. "Did you ever consider that maybe it's not supposed to be enough? Maybe you're not meant to break through to Regina. Maybe this is the universe's way of telling you that you're not doing the right thing."

Emma froze. What if that's exactly what this was? Maybe she wasn't supposed to reunite the two halves. Maybe this was the cosmos telling her that she was supposed to chose the Enchanted Forest and be done with it. Yet the thought of losing Mary, Henry, and even Regina Mills made her chest constrict painfully. Why did she have to love her too?

The phone rang, breaking her thoughts. She stared as Mary reached for it. "Whoever it is, I'm not here."

"Even if it's her?"

"Especially if it's her."

Mary picked the phone up. "Hello. Oh good evening Mayor Mills. No, I'm sorry, Emma still hasn't returned home. Can I take a message?"

SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN SWAN QUEEN

Regina ground her teeth as she sat in her car, staring up towards the second floor apartment where she knew Miss Swan was. She'd watched her walk into the building not fifteen minutes prior. "Please tell Miss Swan, when she gets in, that if she'd like to take Henry to school tomorrow, I expect her at my house at precisely six thirty." She listened as Miss Blanchard assured her she'd give Emma the message the moment she got in and then hung up before closing her phone. So Miss Swan was avoiding her now? She'd just see about that.