If you have any suggestions of trouble you'd like to see Emma and Regina get into, feel free to post them in the reviews. I can't promise I'll take all suggestions, but I would love ideas… I'll keep this going as long as people keep reading, no reason to make them grow back up too quickly, right?

Chapter Seven

While Regina seemed perfectly content to sit at her vanity table and fidget with perfume bottles and hairbrushes, Emma could feel herself growing restless, quickly.

"I'm soooo boooored," she whined, getting up and walking across the room, only to flop herself across Regina's giant bed. "This bed is so soft," she commented, curling up in the middle.

"What would you normally do?" Regina asked, walking over to the bed, but refraining from getting on it.

"Right now, I'd be at school. Otherwise, I dunno, watch TV or something," Emma shrugged. "There's more fun things I would rather do, but unfortunately for us, we have a babysitter."

"Do you really think we'll be allowed to go out in your car tonight?" Regina asked. Emma had to laugh at the innocence of that question.

"We're not allowed. That's the point. We're gonna wait till everyone is asleep, and go do it anyway," Emma grinned.

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"You're going to disobey your parents?"

Emma sat up at that question, studying Regina's perplexed expression for a moment before speaking. "Look, those people, they might have made me, but they're not my parents. They ditched me on the side of the road. I don't owe them anything."

"They seem to want you, now," Regina pointed out.

"Well, that doesn't really change how much my life has sucked to this point, does it?"

"I suppose not," Regina admitted. "I just couldn't imagine disobeying my mother. If she caught me she would…"

"She would what?" Emma asked.

"I… I don't want to talk about it," Regina sighed.

"That's alright, I know what it's like to have a shitty life," Emma smiled, sympathetically.

"Can I assume that 'shitty' is not a good thing?" Regina asked.

Emma burst out laughing again. "Oh, wow, I have never heard anyone say 'shitty' so politely. And yeah, it's definitely not a good thing."

Regina looked at Emma in confusion, but decided against asking for further elaboration. 'Shitty' didn't sound like a word she wanted to add to her vocabulary, anyway.

"So, did you hear Tinker Bell say you're the mayor?" Emma asked, suddenly. "You're the mayor and I'm the sheriff. You and I basically run this town. How wild is that?"

"I highly doubt they want us running the town in our current states," Regina said, finally deciding to sit down on the bed.

"No?" Emma laughed. "I bet you have the keys to the city, though, somewhere. You must have an office. You think Tink would take us there?"

Regina just shrugged.

"You should ask her," Emma suggested. "Say you want to see your office. I bet she'll take us there!"

"Alright, but…" Regina started, and made sure she had Emma's attention before continuing, "I don't want to get in trouble."

"Fine. I promise that if we get in trouble, I'll take all the blame. I'm sure everyone will blame me anyway, since you're sweet and innocent, remember? Plus, I'm used to it. David and Mary Margaret don't seem like the type who would take a belt to my ass, so I'm not that worried."

Regina scrunched up her nose. "What are you planning?"

Emma shrugged. "Haven't decided yet. Let's go find Tinker Bell."

Emma and Regina headed back downstairs to find Tink sitting on the couch, watching TV.

"You're kind of a crappy babysitter, you know," Emma remarked. "We could have climbed out the window and been long gone by now."

Tink shrugged without looking up. "I put a spell on the whole house. You couldn't get out if you tried."

"Smarter than you look, I see," Emma laughed.

Tink smiled and shook her head. "Funny girl. Where's Regina?" she asked, finally looking over at them. Regina was staring in awe at the television.

Emma glanced at her and smiled. "I'll explain TV later," she said, before turning back to Tink. "Regina wants to ask you something."

"Yes?" Tink asked, looking at Regina expectantly.

Regina's eyes widened, and she looked back and forth between Emma and Tink for a moment. "I… uh… I'm the mayor, is that correct?"

Tink nodded slowly, clearly wondering what was up.

"Do I have an office?"

"Yes…." Tink said, narrowing her eyes on Emma, who tried to look as innocent as possible.

"Can we, um, see it?" Regina asked, fumbling on her words a little.

"Why?" Tink asked, standing up.

"I'm just, um… interested?" Regina stammered, looking at Emma for help.

"Yeah, we're bored, can you take us there?" Emma stepped in.

Tink looked back and forth between the girls for a moment, pondering her options. "You two better not be up to something." She mentioned both of them, but Emma could tell it was directly only at her.

"What could we possibly be up to at a mayor's office," Emma asked, "with our babysitter?"

"Ok, one, stop calling me your babysitter. And two, I don't know what you could be up to, but whatever it is, don't. Three… yeah, I guess I can take you."

Emma grinned. "I call shotgun!" she cried, heading toward the door.

"Whatever she wants you to do, Regina, just don't do it," Tink advised, as she headed toward the door.

Regina just sighed and followed behind. Her instincts told he to listen to the adult in charge, but Emma was so exuberant and magnetic, Regina had a hard time not wanting to follow her, no matter what she was up to. This was her first time having a friend, and she kind of liked it. And for once, she didn't have to worry about Cora breathing down her neck and correcting her behavior at every turn.

Emma seemed so carefree, and Regina badly wanted to know what that felt like.

When they got outside, Regina was surprised to see Emma sitting in the back of the car. "I thought you said 'shot gun'?" she asked, as she opened the passenger side door.

"Yeah, well, it's kind of bitchy for me to take the front every time. It's your turn," Emma shrugged. Tink smiled at her as she got in her seat, and Emma sat back, feeling pleased with herself. She hoped that this small gesture would help convince Tink that maybe she wasn't the delinquent the fairy seemed so intent on believing she was.

Even if it was all for show.

Emma noted that Tink seemed to have a real soft spot for Regina, and she wondered what the history there was. The fairy didn't seem to care deeply about Emma one way or the other, which didn't bother Emma in the slightest, but she seemed to have genuine concern for Regina. Emma was glad for that, because it meant that Regina had at least one person on her side, who wasn't Emma or Henry.

When they pulled up to the town hall, Tink took them around back to go in, rather than using the front door. Emma thought this was strange, until she saw Regina's face light up at something in the court yard.

"My apple tree!" Regina exclaimed, practically running to it.

"A piece of home," Tink commented, when Emma looked at her, confused.

Emma wasn't sure what that meant, but she headed over to where Regina stood, smiling under the tree.

"I still have something left," Regina said, once she noticed Emma approaching. Her eyes were shining and she looked genuinely happy. "I've tended to this tree since I was a child. It looks much bigger now, and something happened here," she said, running her fingers over a limb that looked like it had been cut down, "but it's the same tree."

Emma just nodded stared at the tree.

"You must think I'm so strange," Regina commented, as her face changed. She looked at Emma as if she were seeking her approval.

"Nope. Well, I do, but not because of this. It's a nice tree," Emma shrugged.

Regina smiled again, and looked back at the tree, proudly, for a moment longer, before finally turning to rejoin Tink at the back door.

"I thought you'd like to see that," Tink said, as she held the door open for the girls. Once inside, she lead them down the hall to Regina's office.

"Wow, this is a lot of… black and white," Emma said, looking around.

"You really do have a knack for stating the obvious," Tink laughed.

For her part, Regina was distracted, looking at a horse statue on the mantle. Tink went over to talk to her, apparently about the horse, and Emma set about looking in drawers, as quietly as she could. It didn't take long for her to find a key ring full of keys, and jam it into her pocket, with time to spare before Tink turned around to check on her.

She pretending to be looking at a paperweight on the desk, as Tink raised an eyebrow at her. "Mayor's office is more boring than I expected," Emma said, with a shrug.

"Right," Tink said, narrowing her eyes. "How about lunch?"

"Yes!" Emma exclaimed. Regina just nodded.

"Ok, we'll go Granny's," Tink said, leading the way back out. Regina couldn't help but notice the impish grin on Emma's face as they left the office, and she wondered if she had found what she was looking for. She wasn't quite sure she really wanted to find out.

Once they were in the diner, had looked at the menus and placed their order, Tink got up to go talk to a fairy she called 'Blue', while they waited for their food.

"She looks shady as fuck," Emma commented, eyeing up Blue from across the room.

"The Blue Fairy," Regina said, quietly, "she's supposed to hear your wishes and come and grant them."

"Oh yeah?" Emma asked, turning back to Regina.

"Supposedly. But she never came for me," Regina said, looking down.

"What did you wish for?" Emma asked.

Regina just shook her head, clearly not willing to offer up that information just yet.

"Check it out," Emma said, pulling the keys out of her pocket, and showing them discreetly to Regina.

"Those are the keys to the city?" Regina asked.

"Shhh, not so loud," Emma said, shoving the keys back in her pocket and glancing around to make sure no one had heard. "But yeah, I think they are. What else could they be?"

"So, now what?" Regina asked, her curiosity piqued.

Emma shrugged. "Well see when we go out tonight. I still gotta get my car keys from Tinker Bell, though."

"How are you going to do that?" Regina asked.

"No clue," Emma admitted. "But if I can't, then I guess plan B is to go back to your house and find the keys to your car."

"You're sure I won't want to kill you when I return to normal?" Regina asked, thinking back to what Tink had said earlier about the credit card.

"Honestly, Regina, I don't think you have it in you," Emma laughed.

"Do you think…" Regina started, as she fiddled with a napkin. Emma was quickly realizing that Regina always seemed to need to do something with her hands. "Do you think we can still be friends when we return to normal?"

"How do you know we weren't already?" Emma asked.

"Because I don't have friends," Regina reminded her.

"Maybe you didn't have friends, but we were together when whatever happened, happened. I think we were friends already," Emma replied.

"Alright, but, just in case… will you promise to still be my friend after?"

The desperation in Regina's dark eyes made Emma want to cry. She thought again to Henry saying that she was one of the only people Regina had left in life, and she intended to make sure she stayed in her life. This girl so clearly needed friends.

"I promise. Pinky swear," Emma said, holding up her pinky finger. Regina look at her, confused as ever. Emma grinned and grabbed Regina's hand, linking her pinky with Regina's. "Pinky swear just means I promise, but… more… than just a promise, I guess."

Regina smiled. "I like it."

"You have to promise to still be my friend, too, you know," Emma pointed out.

Regina nodded. "Pinky swear."

Emma grinned as she released Regina's finger. She couldn't see how they possibly couldn't be friends in their regular lives. This girl practically felt like her soul mate right now.

She thought maybe she was getting a little ahead of herself, since the only other friend she'd ever had in the world was Lily, and that had ended badly, but something inside her felt drawn to Regina, and she wasn't about to let that feeling go.

She just hoped the other girl felt the same way.