When she returned to the living room, Regina was sitting forward, her elbows on her knees as she sipped the remaining wine in her glass and looked lost in thought. Automatically, Emma went to the dining room and eyed the remaining wine in the bottle, wondering if Regina would make it worth her while and stay so she could open another.

She was now alone with the woman on her comfy couch, it was approaching 9:30pm on Saturday night, and Emma was feeling excited and also a tad bit of dread about what to do next. Last time she was alone with Regina on a couch she received a massage and a tempting invitation. Though it had caused awkwardness and a bit of weirdness between them, luckily most of that had dissolved and the air was clear from the wine and Henry's great attitude as a buffer.

"Hope you plan on sticking around for a bit even though the superstar has made his exit for the night," Emma joked, from the kitchen where she uncorked a second bottle of wine and sauntered into the living room to refill Regina's glass without giving her the option.

"Thank you," Regina watched as Emma filled the glass up almost to the brim with deep purple colored rich wine. She commented mischievously, "Quite a generous pour."

"Yeah, I opened the bottle so we might as well drink it," Emma filled up her own glass, and scooted by Regina's knees, unapologetically sliding in very close to Regina. She wasn't sure even what her plan was: if she was trying to seduce her, or show that she was attracted to her, or if she just craved her sweet scent and her warm body. She didn't want to miss out, and if Regina had no objections she was prepared to drink, talk and cuddle up to her closer than Henry had. She just didn't plan on calling Regina, 'mom' Emma thought blithely.

"What's so funny, Ms. Swan?" Regina was curled into herself, her knees pressed together, with her palm wrapped tightly around her wine glass.

"I was just thinking that this is nice. I'm glad you came over, and not just for Henry's sake," Emma licked her lips and moved her leg a bit closer. Regina's eyes were fixed on Emma's lap and she could practically see the conflicting thoughts passing through her mind.

"Yes, thank you for having me over, and the dinner was lovely," Regina nodded slightly, lifting her chin to meet Emma's eyes. She didn't shy away this time, instead, deliberately placing the hand that was formerly wrapped around her wine glass just above Emma's knee. They both looked at it for a minute, Emma absorbing the touch like a cat soaking up the afternoon sun. Then she placed her hand over Regina's and held it there.

Emma decided to make her move, setting down her wine glass and taking her free hand she wrapped it around Regina's shoulder, pulling her down so she was snuggled against Emma's side. "That's better," Emma took a deep breath, and waited for Regina to react. She was rewarded with a smile as she relaxed sleepily against her.

"It's nice," Regina agreed, sounding like she wanted more, and yet still apprehensive. "I don't often allow this sort of contact, and never with… not after I had a bad experience with someone I met at the hospital."

"If you're not comfortable with this we can stop…" Emma choked out, biting her lip as fear swelled in her chest. All the feelings, buzzing tingles and sexy fantasies she'd experienced regarding Regina from the moment she'd entered Henry's hospital room were all pointing towards an unprecedented attraction. It was a level of chemistry that Emma had never felt before, and she was certain Regina was feeling it too.

Regina remained quiet, but she didn't move from Emma's embrace. Carefully, Emma began stroking over the red material of her turtleneck, lightly and swiftly up and down her arm and across her back. She reached up into silky black hair and petted it down encouraging Regina to tell her how she was feeling.

"Don't stop," Regina breathed out in a long gasp, her side pressed hotly into Emma's, face buried against Emma's chest. "I really like you, Emma."

"Yeah, I like you too," Emma spoke plaintively, with a smile. She wondered why that had been so hard for either of them to admit up until now. "Is it…are you nervous… because of Henry?"

Emma braced herself for the rejection even before the question had left her lips. Regina lifted her head and peered up into Emma's eyes. "No, I adore him. I quite admire your parenting skills."

"I think you've said that before," Emma hummed when she felt the fingers against her jean clad thigh slide up and down in time with the caress Emma was administering to Regina's back. The touch, combined with Regina's body, steadily breathing in and out so that she could fill the rise and expanse of her lungs, was turning her on considerably.

She let herself think ahead and threw a little prayer up thankful for Henry's habit to wear earplugs. She had an intense desire to see Regina let go and open up to her in all ways: body and mind. She anticipated when she did finally see Regina's carefree side, she was going to be blown away.

"Tell me," Emma prodded gently. Clearly there was something weighing on Regina's thoughts holding her back and her cryptic clues weren't going to cut it.

Instead of speaking, Regina kept staring into her eyes, with shiny lust drunk pupils until she leaned forward just an inch so they were breathing the same air. Emma was the one rendered speechless when Regina looked down to her lips, just an inch away and whispered in a hoarse sexy voice that infiltrated Emma's cells, "I want to kiss you so badly right now."

Emma tried to hold her breath, her body was overheating, and Regina was all over her, somehow amidst the distraction of admission of wanting to kiss her, Regina had shifted and sitting on Emma's lap. Breast to breast and the black button of her grey slacks was pressed against Emma's abdomen along with Regina's belly.

She was only human and Regina was overwhelming in her sexiness. She was drowning in sexual tension, and not able to withstand the onslaught for another minute. If Regina stated she wished to kiss her, Emma was more than willing to play the part of the wish granter in this scenario. Her hands fell naturally to Regina's hips, holding her possessively in place, and when she dug her fingertips in, Regina closed her eyes and bounced in her lap, moaning in utter delight.

The last bit of self-control flew out of Emma's being as she leaned in and kissed her lush red lips. She was rewarded with a kiss returned with passion; Regina was forgoing the softness and hesitancy from their previous interactions and hungrily devouring Emma's lips. She both arms resting on her shoulders, fully straddling her lap and grinding herself against Emma's stomach.

Emma felt great with Regina kissing her with a fierceness and urgent need that seemed the exact opposite of their previous cat and mouse, playing coy game regarding their attraction for one another. Emma appreciated a woman who knew what she wanted and went for it, sometimes she was like that and in some situations she regrettably let opportunities pass her by.

Regina was not going to be one of those opportunities. While she had not expected the night to take this particular sensual and heated turn, she was going to seize the moment because God only knew if she'd get another day to live. The threat of imminent yet hypothetical death was all the justification and rationale her over stimulated brain, and other overstimulated parts, needed to take the bull by the horns, in the form of untucking the turtleneck from Regina's waist band.

She slid her hands up smooth toned skin over the slight ridges of ribs she encountered on Regina's heaving sides and over her neatly encased breasts, rubbing her thumbs over the lacy fabric she felt to find the hardened peaks of Regina's nipples. Now Regina was rolling her hips faster, and moaning into Emma's mouth, clearly torn between wanting to get loud and nasty and worried about the sleeping boy down the hall.

With some effort, Regina slowed down and placed a palm against Emma's chest as if she had to physically push her away in order to stop her horny self from continuing. They were both breathing fairly hard, and Regina's lipstick was adorably smudged, her eyes shiny in the dim light of the Emma's shabby living room.

"Henry?" Regina glanced nervously between Emma and the hallway like he was a sleeping dragon ready to awake and attack him.

"He won't come out here, he's sound asleep…wearing earplugs," Emma leaned back against the couch, she could feel her own desire overwhelming her, her hands were still slowly and thoroughly massaging Regina's breasts under her shirt. She wanted to take it off. "Would you like to go to my bedroom?"

Nodding, open mouthed Regina moved off of Emma's lap and stood up on trembling legs, forcing Emma to remove her hands from under the brunette's top.

"Yes, I'd like that…" Regina stuttered, and it was cute how off kilter she seemed when all lusted up and needing. The idea that Emma caused this reaction and the dawning fact that the beautiful, unbelievably sexy Regina Mills was about to have actual sex with Emma of all people felt rather surreal. She hadn't really thought their flirtation would go this far, but looking back on it, it did seem rather inevitable. They had been flirting ever since they had met over a week ago.

Emma took Regina by the hand, and even that simple action caused another flood of arousal to course through her. Her sex was pulsing with every step and her mouth was watering with the need to take the red turtle neck off of Regina like she was unwrapping a Christmas present and see for her own two eyes what those glorious breasts she had been feeling up looked like.

There was one problem; Emma hadn't really cleaned her bedroom. There were clothes strewn everywhere, simply because she had been indecisive on what to wear for a non-date in her own home, but Regina didn't even look around the room. Her eyes were fixed on the object of her desire and that was Emma.

Just as soon as Emma had closed the door behind them, Regina locked it for good measure, "The things I plan to do in here would be highly traumatizing for a ten year old to accidentally stumble into."

"Okay," Emma agreed with an over eager nod. Locking the door was a smart idea, but Emma hadn't had any lover in her own home that she could recall since she'd had Henry, so such things hardly occurred to her.

She pushed Regina up against the door for leverage as she happily tugged the turtleneck up and over her head, pulling it off her arms and tossing it haplessly across the room to join the pile. While she was busy soaking up every inch of revealed skin, her hands on Regina's sides, and her mouth busily teasing the rose colored nipples that she could just make out beneath the transparent black lace, Regina was shakily unbuttoning Emma's jeans.

She slid down the zipper and used both hands to tug them down over her butt, squeezing it hard in the process. Emma slammed her whole body against her, and they both let out a very needy sounding cry. Then more kisses which distracted them both from the task of divesting one another's clothing items.

"Is this really happening?" Emma sighed out the question, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment to clear her head, but when Regina's cool fingers skimmed her lower abdomen and dipped under the waist band of Emma's underwear and skimmed downward further, finger pads gently parted her labia and skimmed over her pulsing clit, her eyes jolted open as her hips jerked forward into the touch.

Regina licked her lips her eyes were bright, "I think we're well on our way to this happening, yes." She looked upon Emma's face with such wonder as she circled her fingers over her clit again, slipping her fingers further through wet folds. "Very nice," she appraised in a breathless voice. "I can tell you want this just as much as I do."

With reluctance Emma grabbed her wrist to still the progress before Regina was able to go inside. "I…yeah, really, really want this, but…I just…" Emma blew out a breath, trying to gather her thoughts before things went too far. Although, when Regina's hand popped out from her boy shorts they were coated in arousal and Emma realized perhaps they already had.

"You want to stop?" Regina sounded almost whiny and incredulous at the prospect. Her forehead wrinkled in disappointment as she stepped around Emma to get some distance and perspective.

"No, I think maybe we should…" Emma swallowed and cringed, afraid she'd hurt Regina or made her feel rejected, which was not her intention at all. "…Talk?" Emma squeaked, as Regina regarded her with suspicion and apprehension.

"What kind of 'talking' did you have in mind?" Regina asked standing next to Emma's bed in the semi-darkness. She sat down on the edge and crossed her legs, in the process leaning forward and pressing her breasts together, displaying her ample and enticing cleavage to Emma's hungry eyes. "Would you like me to tell you how I feel about you, Emma? Perhaps what I plan on doing with you once you take off the rest of your clothes and get in bed with me?"

"Oh, okay," Emma stuttered, nodding as if she was in thrall to Regina's seduction. Emma had a serious fear of commitment, she wasn't ashamed to admit it, and something Regina had said earlier about not dating anyone from the hospital had her feeling concerned and confused. She wanted to express her intentions, because Henry was already attached and Emma was majorly afraid she'd mess up, or Regina would inform her that she didn't intend to make this attraction or physical relationship a recurring experience.

Emma needed the reassurance before they took this step and she had just enough high thought process to think before she acted on her desire, but Regina was currently in the process of making that extremely difficult.

Then she took off her bra, and threw it at Emma's head. The lace hit her face like a veil over her eyes; it smelled of Regina's perfume and was body warm. She tossed it to the side, eyes widening at Regina's bare chest in front of her. Emma knew she now had a straight up stupid grin on her face, and a little gay beep went off in the recesses of her brain informing her that despite the fact that she had dated both men and women in the past, she was indeed very, very gay for the woman who was easily seducing her.

Then Regina crawled onto the bed, her grey slacks unbuttoned all the way as she got on all fours and tossed her hair over her shoulder, her booty up in the air as she wiggled out of her pants and with the practiced flawless movements of a stripper pulled the slacks off of each leg until she was solely clad in a matching sheer pair of black lace panties. They were either a size too small or Regina's butt was a size too large because half of her ass cheeks were exposed.

Regina started to pull them down too, as she began to speak. Emma took a step toward the bed, reaching like a kid for a toy on the top shelf, her actions screamed, "gimme, gimme" as her palm opened and closed in open air. Then she felt frozen in place lulled by the low sultry tone of Regina's voice. "Come here, Emma. Be with me…I've been waiting for this."

"For this?" Emma echoed like a dumb idiot.

"For you…for us… to be together. We have all night to explore each other. I want to touch you, I do. I want you to touch me," Regina was writhing around, rolling her hips up and off the mattress in a hypnotic and rhythmic way. It was a sight to behold.

"Oh, shit…" Emma whispered, moving like a lead balloon toward the bed, she yanked down her jeans and tight black underwear in one pull, not nearly as smooth as Regina had stripped. Her plaid blouse was ripped away and the tight white undershirt beneath was pulled up and over her head in a second. Her gray sports bra took an extra annoying and precious beat to get off. Then she half tripped over the clothes littering the floor and practically fell onto the bed, her elbows landing at Regina's feet.

She looked up, just as Regina slowly opened her thighs, all while looking straight down the center of her body, propped up on her elbows and down to meet Emma's appreciative gaze. "Now, is there something you want to tell me?"

"Um…you're single, right?" Emma stammered to get out. That wasn't how her little speech was supposed to start, but she had to condense it to the important parts to get it all out before she pounced on Regina. The memory of her fingers circling her twitching clit and the warm, wet talented kisses they had shared earlier were filling Emma's mind, and all she could think about is how she wanted so much more of that, and then some. It was all there wrapped up in the exciting wonderful, entirely too hot package called Regina Mills: wish granter.

"Is that what you're afraid of?" Regina was on her knees, her hand softly brushing the stray hairs displaced by Emma removing her clothes behind her ears. That was the wonder and beauty of Regina: she was multi-faceted. In one moment she was seductress and now she was tenderly addressing Emma's concerns. She felt the same two fingers that had touched gently beneath her underwear, now touching her chin gently to nudge her to look up.

When she did, she was meant with wide eyes, sparked with lust and understanding. "I'm entirely single. I promise."

She smiled, cupped Emma's cheek and leaned down to kiss her sweetly, sealing the deal.

Emma's first inclination was to pull away and ask "Why?"

There had to be something up, as she couldn't figure out how this generous and gorgeous woman was single. Secondly, what did she see in Emma? Except that question was a bit more difficult to ask, because it required a certain amount of vulnerability, inherently implying she wasn't as confident and worthy as she liked to think she came off.

Simply, Emma deepened the kiss, sliding her tongue against Regina's in a way that made her ears tingle as a fresh warm flood of desire swept over her like she was lying on the beach when the tide came in.

Regina broke the kiss to breathe and pulled Emma on top of her rolling her hips up against her. Their breasts were pressed together, and Emma was stunned into silence as she felt wet heat from Regina pressed deliciously up against her naked body.

"Are you going to tell me about your policy of not getting involved with people you meet at the hospital?" Emma asked snaking her palm in a slow zig zag from Regina's neck over her collar bone and down to cup each breast and run her thumb over each hard nipple delighting in the needy draw of air that came from Regina in response.

"Right now?" Regina stiffened and forced her eyes open and her head up from the pillow to look at Emma in a perturbed way at the pesky distraction of such a heavy question. One that would require an actual story as an answer, and Emma had only meant it as a joke. A bad one in Emma's estimation as Regina was rapidly disengaging from her. She pushed her hands off of her breasts and glared at her

"No, please, stay here," Emma felt a painful shiver run through her entire body when Regina shoved Emma off of her and left the bed entirely. She was searching the dark room for her clothes, and Emma was up and off the bed next to her, tugging her hand in attempt to coax her back down.

"How dare you make me feel cheap," Regina spat at her in accusation. Emma recoiled at the admonishment, tears automatically springing to her eyes.

"I didn't mean anything by it; I just wanted to make sure before we…went too far," Emma admitted in defeat as her shoulders slumped and she crossed her arms over her naked breasts feeling suddenly cold in juxtaposition to the intense heat she had felt a moment earlier.

"Well, congratulations, Ms. Swan, you have definitely gone too far now," Regina was working to pull on her panties, and Emma found her anger frightening yet somewhat adorable as she struggled to keep her balance, hopping on one foot as she threaded her foot through the leg hole and shimmied into her underwear. Emma grabbed the nearest pair of shorts from her dresser and got dressed as well. She knew now that she'd gone and ruined everything she had to make things right and she wasn't going to let Regina walk out until they had a mature, adult conversation.

That wasn't going to happen if they were nude and locked in Emma's bedroom. Regina was fumbling with her turtleneck, shaking in anger. Emma had to stop her. "Hey, you can't really be thinking about leaving…it's so late and you've been drinking."

And I want you to stay with me…Emma thought but didn't say.

"I'll have my driver pick me up," Regina mumbled as she finally drew her turtleneck over her head and pulled it on. She hadn't bothered with her bra and her nipples were still hard Emma noticed.

"Come on, at the very least answer my question before you storm out of here, and please hear me out. I didn't mean to make you feel cheap or even stop what we were doing…" Emma widened her eyes and tried to play on Regina's big heart to get at least a little bit of sympathy to plead her case.

"Very well," Regina sat down on the very edge of the bed in her panties and turtleneck and didn't meet Emma's gaze. She let out a pained sigh and brushed her hair behind her ear, pursing her lips together and sadly looking extremely uncomfortable. Regina started speaking quietly, "Only if you put a shirt on."

Emma looked down at her naked chest and remembered she had stopped dressing after she pulled on the shorts. She grabbed a clean tank top from her top drawer and pulled it over her head stretching it over her curves. "It's probably a good idea if we get dressed anyway because in the morning Henry will try to barge in here to remind me to make him breakfast and us being all naked and stuff would definitely raise some questions that I'm not ready to answer."

"Oh," Regina seemed to be thinking, her eyes were darting back and forth from the floor to the door, and her hands gripped tightly to the bed covers. "I didn't think about what would happen in the morning, and if I am still here when Henry wakes up, and in your bed no less…"

"He'd probably be jealous that I got a special sleepover with his new idol Regina, but he'd quickly get over it when he got to eat breakfast with you… but don't worry about that right now, just tell me how you're feeling," Emma didn't dare touch Regina, even though she desperately wanted to stroke the hand that was gripping the cover so tight her knuckles were turning white.

Finally, Regina twisted her torso to face Emma, "This happened a year ago, but I'm still dealing with the repercussions…I was visiting one of my wish kids at the hospital and I met the sweetest little boy. He was only four years old, and he'd managed to get lost in the hospital. He was wandering around by himself and crying. He was scared to talk to strangers, but I approached him carefully and learned he had accidentally gotten separated from his father when he ran off the elevator on the wrong floor. I took him to the information desk and waited with him until his dad came looking for him."

Emma listened to the story so far, eager to hear what happened next and why it was relevant to their current semi-nude bedtime situation/dilemma. Already, several questions popped into her mind, but she refrained from asking anything that might offend Regina, grateful she was still in her bed even if she wanted nothing more than to show her how much she wanted her to stay all night.

"His father was handsome enough and he was so grateful that I had looked after his boy he invited me out to dinner as a thank you," Regina stole a glance at Emma and looked ashamed. "His name was Robin, and I grew quite attached to his son. It wasn't long and we started a relationship."

"Okay, that doesn't sound horrible yet," Emma felt anxious, her stomach twisting in knots at just the thought of Regina with someone else. It confirmed her belief that she was bi-sexual and Emma started wondering if she'd only had previous relationships with men and where Emma fit in to her concept of sexuality. She was surprised when Regina laughed bitterly. The sound rang out sharp, high and hopeless.

"Did I say something funny?" Emma asked nervously, she was already on thin ice with Regina and she didn't want to offend her further. She hated hearing about exes and really hoped that this nighttime sharing session wouldn't include quid pro quo where Regina inquired about Henry's father or any of Emma's previous relationships. Then a sinking thought hit her when Regina remained quiet.

What if Regina was still with this guy? That's what she was trying to tell Emma, but she had promised she was single. Emma doubted everything and still feeling cold physically and mentally, she shifted on the bed. She needed some distance from Regina, but also wanted her close.

"I need to lay down for this," Emma crawled backwards and got under the covers. She didn't expect Regina to crawl in beside her, but she was so glad when she quietly shifted off the bed and then laid down on the other side, keeping an arm's length between them.

"I'll tell you the rest of the story, but I want to be clear: we're not going to have sex tonight, so don't tempt me or I will resort to physical violence and have my driver at your door in an instant," Regina whispered the threat in a way that had Emma's heart pounding.

"No touching," Emma confirmed.

"I thought that I was falling in love with him," Regina's voice sounded raw and strained as she whispered in low tones in the dark. "But looking back on it, I wasn't in love. I just wanted to fall in love so badly that I ignored all of the red flags."

"I understand how easy that is, when Henry first started showing symptoms of fatigue, occasional nose bleeds out of nowhere, I didn't want to believe that something was really wrong with him. I thought his symptoms were from too much school work or playing too much….I-I regret waiting so long to take him to the doctor," Emma realized she was making her own confession in the ease and cover of the dark. There was something about Regina that she found so easy to confess to, but she stopped talking. She hadn't meant to make Regina's story all about her.

"How did you end him up taking him for his diagnosis?" Regina asked softly and Emma felt her hand slide across the mattress and wrap around her wrist, rubbing soft circles. She didn't want to talk about it, and Emma shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut before finding her words, "One night he was inconsolable. Nothing would calm him down. He screamed and cried for hours and hours, he couldn't even verbalize what was wrong…He was just howling."

Emma swallowed and blinked back her hot tears. The memory was distant, and not something she thought about often, but it felt as clear and fresh as if it was happening all over again.

"That initial doctor in the ER that night tried to tell me nothing was wrong with him, that I was overreacting. He told me that to my face calmly while my son was—my son was screaming like he was dying, but I knew something was wrong…I knew the whole time intuitively, I didn't want to believe it," Emma admitted for the first time to anyone, and Regina turned onto her side, closer. Emma could hear Regina sniffle and realized she was crying too.

"It would have been easy to believe that doctor who said that Henry was just tired and needed to stay home for a few days from school because I had been telling myself the same thing for months. I hated myself for only taking him in because I couldn't ignore it or deny it anymore," Emma's voice shook and Regina reached out for her and pulled her close, wrapping her up in a loving hug. The wracking sob that came from deep within Emma seemed to take both women by surprise, but Emma couldn't stop the cries and Regina couldn't let go.

"I denied my son's health because it wasn't convenient for me: emotionally, physically, financially…"

"You're being too hard on yourself, that's not true. You didn't know what was wrong, and now…I've never seen a mother work as hard to make time for her son than you do," Regina soothed her, holding her and rocking her, but Emma couldn't relax into the touch because she didn't feel like she deserved it.

"I'm sorry, Regina, I hijacked your story and made it all about me."

"Don't be sorry, it's okay," Regina rocked her gently, and Emma wondered again why Regina wasn't a mother. She had a natural touch and felt like cool water on a blisteringly hot day."

"No, please…tell me what happened between you and the guy, what were the red flags?" Emma needed the distraction, even if the story wasn't one she wanted to hear, she knew she needed to know so she could understand Regina better and the emotional place she was coming from.

"He went to the hospital a few times a week. I had told him all about what I do with Make a Wish, but he always vaguely muttered something about volunteering," Regina's tone was flat as she loosened her grip around Emma, but didn't leave her side. She settled in next to her, and Emma took the chance to wrap her arms loosely around Regina and burrow her nose into her silky hair as she soaked up the heat from her body, damn the turtleneck covering her arms and chest.

"So he wasn't really volunteering at the hospital?" Emma asked curiously, exhaustion settling into her mind like a heavy weight. Letting go of long held emotions was mentally challenging for her. She could barely stay awake, but she couldn't sleep either. Not when she was holding onto something as delicate and precious as the tenuously forged relationship with Regina.

"No, he wasn't really volunteering at the hospital," Regina repeated softly. "He asked to move in with me, and I was so caught up in our 'perfect' relationship and my new insta-family I agreed. It was too late when I found out what he was really like. He was always all over me, ignoring his son and acting relieved that I was always watching Roland so he could go out with his buddies or sit in the den watching football and drinking beer."

"What about Roland's mom?" Emma asked innocently, she was frowning and getting a bad feeling about where this story was headed. If Regina was about to tell her that this guy had gotten violent or hurt her Emma was mentally preparing to hunt him down and cut his goddamned balls off. "Where was she?"

"Robin told me that she had died a year ago prior in a car accident. I was at the hospital talking to a couple of the social workers who I was friendly with and occasionally we would get coffee together. It was a big day at the hospital and all the staff was talking about a coma patient who had woken up after a year. We chatted about that and then they asked me if anything was new and I told them about my relationship and Roland, and asked if they might know him since he volunteers all of the time," Regina had recovered from sounding sad and vulnerable, now she just sounded neutral as she told the rest of the story.

"It turns out they did know Robin. There was some confusion as they didn't know him as a volunteer, but as the man whose wife had been in the hospital's coma ward for a year," Regina said keeping the same overly cheerful fake tone as she finished the story.

"Wait? What?" Emma tensed up and asked in confusion. "Robin's wife was the patient who had just woken up from the coma?"

"Yes, miraculously she woke up from her coma and made a full recovery," Regina added almost believably happy for the woman.

"I went home, and made dinner as usual. Robin returned with Roland and acted like it was just a normal day," Regina was getting angry, and Emma took her turn rubbing her arm and stroking her hair in effort to keep her calm, even though Emma herself was feeling extremely furious.

"I confronted him and told him the story about the woman who woke up from her coma, and Robin didn't even react. He acted like he had barely heard me, 'that's nice,' was all he said as he chewed his meatloaf. "I was so disgusted with him and he acted oblivious, he even tried to have sex with me that night, and had the nerve to act offended when I declined."

"Why didn't you kick him out that night?" Emma asked as she tried to keep her breathing even, despite feeling agitated by the thought of the adulterous pig having sex with Regina.

"For Roland…Robin hadn't renewed the lease at his apartment, he would have nowhere to go and I couldn't allow that sweet little innocent boy to go spend the night in the car or at a shelter," Regina admitted, shaking a little as she curled up into Emma's side. Her cheek was pressed against Emma's chest. "Keep playing with my hair it feels good."

Emma obliged happily, running her fingers through her hair to the ends and lightly massaging Regina's scalp. She was rewarded with a low satisfied moan from Regina that made Emma's sex clench from unfulfilled need. Her body was still primed and expectant of sex, even though Emma had shut down mentally.

"The next morning, Robin confessed everything. I think he knew I was onto him since I was giving him the cold shoulder and his number was up. He didn't apologize; he just said he was going back to his wife and that he was still in love her. He said everything we had was a mistake and that I had just as long as it took for him to pack to say goodbye to Roland forever," Regina's voice broke at the mention of the boy and Emma finally understood why she seemed so torn about getting close to Henry and dating Emma.

Emma was also starting to understand why Regina had felt like she was calling her cheap when she brought everything up right before they started to make love. She was oversensitive from getting hurt and being the unwitting mistress with a man who was cheating on his coma stricken wife and mother of his child.

Then for him to just pack up and leave after using Regina like that to go back to his wife was a low blow. He had taken away the child that Regina had clearly come to love as her own and pronounce her nothing more than a glorified babysitter and meal ticket.

"That guy was an unbelievable asshole," Emma didn't think about it she naturally pressed her lips to Regina's temple and gave her a sweet kiss.

"I didn't mean to get so angry at you before, but I had promised myself that I wouldn't get attached to charming blondes with sweet little boys that I met at the hospital ever again."

"Yet here you are, wearing nothing but a long sleeve turtleneck and panties in my bed," Emma tried to lighten the mood, stealing another kiss: this time placing it on the apple of Regina's cheek.

"I said if you tried anything…." Regina started off sternly, but when she twisted her head and Emma met her eyes, she trailed off. Her lips curled upwards into a soft smile and the warm comforting cuddles and late night confessions caught up to them both. This time Regina was the one who startled Emma by craning her neck to kiss her lips gently in the sweetest most truthful kiss Emma had ever experienced.

"I thought you were going to hit me, not kiss me," Emma said when their lips parted with a wet pop.

"Careful, dear…you're lucky I find you so irresistible," Regina admitted shyly and Emma was thankful that the dark room hid her bright red blush.

They were both quiet for a long time. Emma heard Regina's breathing even out, slow and steady, and felt her relax fully as Emma tried to do the same. She was just drifting off when she heard, through the haze of sleep, "Are you sure I should stay? It might be confusing for Henry."

Emma pulled her close and turned from her back onto her side, trapping Regina's bare legs between her own, gliding her arms underneath her to hold her like a koala bear on a tree. "You're not going anywhere, and neither am I."

In the dark and quiet room, they both slept peacefully for the rest of the night.