Double Trouble 47

Chapter 47 'Morning'

It was the weekend so of course Regina found her son sitting in the den in front of cartoons with a bowl of fruitloops for breakfast by the looks of it. That was an unfortunate liking that he'd picked up while he was living with Emma. Regina now had two people to try to convince about the importance of eating a healthy breakfast (or perhaps it was three, if Emma and Em were counted as different people). She had to put up with it because she'd installed the weekend-only rule herself and now had to follow through on it. It was intended as a compromise between her stricter parenting and Emma's laissez-faire style.

Henry looked up when he noticed her. "Hey, Mom."

"Good morning, Henry. Did you sleep well?"

"Yep."

"I'm sorry your mother and I weren't home in time to say goodnight. I hope the three of you managed to do some sleeping at your little sleepover last night. Were you good for the girls while we were gone?"

"Yes, Mom," he droned.

Regina was going to leave him to his cartoons when Henry paused the TV and called her back. Something in his tone made her think he wanted to talk or ask her something so she sat down next to him on the lounge.

"Mom? Where's Emma?"

"Upstairs. She's still asleep. I think the girls are too."

"It's just us then?"

Regina nodded, wondering where the conversation was going to go. She had her answer when he started to ask her all manner of questions about her relationship with Emma. He seemed particularly keen to hear whether she was really in love and whether she was really happy, but some of his questions skirted anxiously around determining whether she thought Emma was going to be around permanently. When she asked him if he missed his father he said that he did and seemed disappointed that Neal left. Emma had told her about her conversation with Henry, so she knew her son was worried about feeling abandoned. Apparently that was a common issue for children when their single parent started dating again.

"I like Emma living here with us," said Henry. "You never dated anyone before her. How come?"

"I didn't want to. I was - " Regina paused. "Afraid."

"But you're-" Henry's surprise turned sheepish. "You're the Evil Queen. I thought you weren't afraid of anything."

The truth was quite the opposite. Regina had never been so afraid in all her life as the day Emma Swan turned up in Storybrooke, ready to break the curse and take her son away from her. A fear which only grew as Emma and Henry got closer, both to each other and to the truth. The ground started crumbling under Regina's feet but she'd taken too many steps down a bad road to turn back. Realising that she felt something for the irritating new Sheriff had been too much to bear. Just the idea of potential happiness was fear-inducing in itself, a reminder of the last time she'd been happy in that way… and lost it all in an instant.

But everything had changed now. She'd found a way to have everything despite being afraid.

"You and Emma remind me why I'm doing this," said Regina softly.

Henry admitted in a small voice that he'd been afraid too. When he'd gone to live with Emma and everyone was saying that Regina was evil again. He hadn't wanted to believe it. He'd thought that his whole family was falling apart. But now it was ok because they were together.

"It's good to be home," said Henry. "I missed you when I was gone and living at Mary Margaret's. Nobody was awake when I used to get up early and it felt like I was alone."

"I missed you too. More than you can imagine."

"I had Emma though and you didn't have anyone. But now we both have her, don't we?"

"Henry, it might be hard for you to understand because of everything that's happened. But Emma is very important to me. I love her dearly."

Henry smiled in his particular lopsided way. "I told you she'd help you get your happy ending."

"Yes, you did."

Regina smiled too, especially pleased when Henry tucked himself under her wing for a hug. He asked question after question about Fairytale Land and life in a castle and was awed when she said that she used to ride into battle herself. He quizzed her about her magic too. It reminded her that she and Emma still hadn't sat Henry down for a talk about magic, but she was enjoying her son's company too much to spoil it right now.

Ri had been awake for a while, but she was still laying in bed with Em waiting for her to wake up. She toyed with the idea of waking her with a kiss but Em was lying with her back to her. As soon as the sleepy teen fidgeted, indicating that she was awake, Ri snuggled up against her back. Em was still half-asleep though and less than enthusiastic about it.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," said Ri.

"Yeah. Hi," said Em. "Yay for mornings."

"It looks like it might be a lovely day out. Maybe we could go for a walk with Henry later. Are you hungry yet? Do you want to get up and have breakfast? I'm sure Regina would make you those piggy strips if you want them."

Em groaned, stomach roiling at the thought. "Bacon? Ugh, no. Yuck."

"Oh, I thought you liked them."

"Not right now."

"Ok, something else then. Or maybe..." Ri trailed off softly. "Do you want to stay in bed a little while longer and do something else?"

"It's still early. I want to sleep."

"You've been tired a lot lately. Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine," said Em impatiently. "I just want to sleep."

She did sound rather tired and cranky. Em wasn't much of a morning person at the best of times. Ri thought she'd better not push it with more questions, but maybe a quiet cuddle was in order. She slipped her arm around Em's middle and accidentally pressed against her breast.

"Ow!" Em complained and curled herself up.

"Sorry," said Ri. She drew away, not entirely sure what she'd done wrong. "I didn't mean to. Are you sore? Is it time for your monthly flower?"

Em growled. "Ri! You're being annoying. It's too early for this. I should be asleep like all normal people. Go get your breakfast or find something to do until it's actually daytime."

"Okay, Crankypants!" Ri sang and threw off the covers on her side. "I'm sure Henry will be awake. He likes me better than you anyway."

"Good for you."

On her way out the door, Ri looked back at the bundle in the bed where the only visible part of her was long blonde hair. Apparently there was only so much coddling the other girl could take and Ri realised that she had been laying it on rather thick since the car accident. She knew Em wouldn't have fallen asleep again so quickly, especially in that kind of mood, so she left a few parting words by way of apology.

"I love you, Em, but I don't love how you're treating me right now. You've obviously woken up a bit cranky so I'll leave you be. I'll see you in a few hours when you're feeling better."

Emma stumbled sleepily into the kitchen with only one eye open where Regina and Henry were already dressed and apparently waiting for her to rise. She'd woken up alone in bed and had come downstairs to investigate the sound of dishes being clanked together. She had been tempted to sleep more but she was already awake now and lazing around without her bedmate would be too boring.

"What is all the noise?" mumbled Emma.

"Emma, you're awake!" said Henry. "Finally. We've been up for ages. We had breakfast without you."

Emma peered blearily at the microwave clock and let out a disgusted groan. It read 6.58am. "What the-? Why am I even awake. What are you guys doing up before seven on a Saturday?"

"Slept in," said Henry. "I usually get up at six for cartoons. Mom does too."

Emma plopped down at the kitchen bench, too sleepy to even process her disbelief at her progeny's being an early morning person. He'd woken up at some ungodly hour every morning when they'd been living at Mary Margaret's apartment, but she assumed that was just because his routine was out of whack and he was taking advantage of being outside the reach of his Mom's rules and schedule.

Regina smiled in amusement at her. She and Emma had gone to bed at a reasonable hour last night but they didn't do much sleeping at first.

"Coffee?" said Regina innocently.

"Yes," groaned Emma, holding her hand out. "Gimme."

Seeing as how Emma was reaching for the packet of coffee beans and would probably have eaten them raw, Regina snatched it away and went to the coffee machine to make it. But the steaming and grinding added a whole new cacophony of noises to the early morning.

Emma laid her head on arms on the bench. Her voice came out muffled. "This what you meant by torturing me, Regina?"

"What are we doing today?" asked Henry.

"Having breakfast, kid. That's as far as I've got planned ahead."

"I thought we could go for a walk to the park later," said Regina. "The weather is nice."

"Of course you have a plan for the day already," said Emma. "Can't we just see how it goes?"

Henry piped up. "Evil has to rise early and get a head start on the day. They always have to plan everything really carefully because no matter what they do Good always wins. That's why they need a good plan or else the story would never get off the ground. Isn't that right, Mom? Didn't you make a Convoluted Plot from your Evil Lair back in the olden times?"

"Yes, dear."

"Lay off calling your Mom evil, Henry," said Emma. "Although waking someone up this early on a Saturday morning definitely counts as evil in my opinion."

Regina placed a mug in front of Emma, who took it into her hands and sipped it eagerly.

"Ahh! Thankyou, milady, for this most appreciated gift. I knew there was a reason I loved you. You should've just asked me to go for a coffee date when we first met, instead of picking a series of fights with me to show off your big bad self. You've got a way to go before I forgive you for the early mornings though."

"You're weird, Emma," declared Henry.

"Why."

"You're really grumpy in the mornings."

"As if," Emma scoffed. "You guys are the weird ones. It is unnatural to be awake let alone to be so cheery at this hour on a Saturday. Normal people are still in bed."

"Nope." Henry shook his head triumphantly. "You're outnumbered. Mom and I are both up so you're the odd one out, Emma."

"Kid, you must've got switched at the hospital on me. He's all yours, Regina," Emma joked wearily.

Ri skipped into the kitchen looking every bit as bright-eyed as the other two Millses. Not only was the teen was already dressed like the others, she was dressed like Regina as well. They were both wearing black skirts and Ri's sweater was almost the same colour as her older self's blouse. Dressing similarly happened regularly between the two fashionable ladies, but the other two doubles often had fights in the morning over who got in first and was going to wear a particular shirt. Em and Emma had taken to hiding their favourite ones, but the trouble was they were both good at finding things and they both went for the same hiding spots anyway.

Ri said good morning to them all and then draped her arms around Henry's neck to kiss the top of his head.

"Hi Ri!" said Henry.

"Good morning, my little prince," said Ri. "What shall we do today?"

The two of them started chattering happily about the weekend and a trip to the park seemed to be on the agenda. Apparently Ri and Regina both independently came up with the same plan for the day.

"Now I'm really outnumbered," grumbled Emma. "No fair using your clone to gang up on me, Regina, especially when Em's not here. Hey, maybe we could have a Clone War between the girls! We'll throw them in a ring and have them fight it out. Em's a punk, but I bet Ri gets scrappy when she's mad. It'll be a good match."

"You're silly," Henry declared.

"Where's the Emma who's less annoying?" Regina asked Ri.

"Too grumpy to get up. She's gone back to sleep." Ri sounded a little hurt when she said it and it made Emma suspicious.

"Hey, don't worry about her," said Emma. "Teenagers need a lot of sleep. They grow out of it."

Regina raised an eyebrow at her pointedly. "When exactly are you going to?"

About an hour later, when she was dressed and much more awake Emma found Ri sitting outside in the yard. She went over to sit down next to her. The teen looked pensive and lost in thought as she picked and played with blades of grass. They sat together for a little while, enjoying the morning sun.

"Hey Ri," said Emma. "You ok? Or do you want some time to yourself."

"I'm ..." Ri shrugged, still looking at the ground. "I don't know."

"You can tell me if there's something bothering you."

Ri's voice was small. "I feel a little homesick I suppose. I've been here for quite a number of weeks now. I miss home. Oh, I love being here with all of you - with Em and Henry especially - but I miss my family too. Most of all I miss things making sense. This world is so confusing, every day I feel like I'm so behind everyone else. I don't know where I fit in."

"Yeah, that's what comes with being a teenager. Just a part of growing up I guess. You'll find your special place in the world one day, Ri. For now, we love having you here with us. Someone has to keep Em out of too much trouble," Emma joked.

Ri still looked uncertain and she bit her lip. She said it in a rush before she could stop herself. "We had sex!"

"Oh-"

"Don't be mad," begged Ri. "You can't tell anyone I told you! Please, don't. I couldn't bear it everyone knew -"

"Shh it's ok, I'm not mad. It's your decision, it always has been. I just didn't want you to get talked into doing it before you were ready and then regret it. I promise I won't tell anyone you told me. Not even Regina or Em."

"Ok," Ri exhaled. "Thankyou, Emma."

"So." Emma smiled. "What did you think? Do you feel ok about it?"

With that question, the words poured out of Ri... How she felt about Em and how their relationship had changed now in so many ways. It was more amazing and pleasurable than she'd ever thought it could be. Em had been so gentle with her and she hoped that Em had enjoyed herself too. She said she felt lucky to have found Em, when her future self's past said that her first experience wasn't going to be any good for her at all in comparison to this one. After going on about how wonderful it was Ri finally came to all the things she was worrying about. She wanted to explore this new side to herself further but everything she knew from back home about the social consequences of it nagged at the back of her mind.

Emma eased her worries as best she could and told her that everything she was thinking and feeling was perfectly ok.

"I want to do it again." Ri blushed as she made the confession. "But I'm not sure whether Em does."

Emma did a double-take. "Wait. We are talking about the same Em Swan right? Teenager, crazy in love with you, looks like me but is even more annoying?"

Ri shrugged. "Usually she starts these things. She hasn't since the first time. I think something's bothering her."

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. It's a new thing for both of you."

"Maybe she doesn't want to. Maybe it wasn't good enough for her because I'm inexperienced..."

"Oh no, Ri. It is definitely not that. I know because you two are a lot like Regina and I and the first time we had sex it was amazing. Because it was us."

Ri protested. "But Regina knows more about it than I do."

"That doesn't matter. It's more about how you feel and how you communicate with your partner than memorising ten different sex positions. The thing is, even if you've had several partners the first time having sex with a new person is still the first time you're having sex with them and everyone's different. You'll get to know what they like as you go. You guys will get better at it."

"You mean it gets better? By the way, Mary Margaret told me there were more than ten ways to do it. Is that true?"

Emma blinked once and gaped. "That… is something I did not need to know about my parents."

Ri giggled at her reaction. "I know. It's funny because they're so old."

"Old? I'm the same age as them!"

Although annoyed at the teenager's implication that her age of 28-nearly-29 was classified as "old", Emma was glad to see the young girl looking much happier than when she'd first sat down. How strange it was to try to remember what it was like being eighteen, when you used to worry about all sorts of things and struggle to work out what it all meant.

Emma had heard in more detail about what Regina had gone through when she'd been not much older than Ri and even though she'd been resolute in staying strong and calm for Regina's sake while she listened… inside she was a boiling fire of indignation and hatred for Cora and the King. The thought of it made her sick that he'd been Regina's first, or even at all. Ever since Emma had begun to suspect that Ri and Em were doing more than just fooling around together she'd wanted to cheer for them (especially Regina's younger self) for getting a chance to rewrite the past.

Regina had confessed something surprising to Emma last night. Something Emma didn't want Ri to have to wait that long to discover on her own...

They didn't always have sex when they were seeking intimacy, even at night when they were in bed alone. Sometimes they just talked or kissed or held each other for the closeness of it. But when they did have sex it could be anything from quick and intense to the slow-burn of all-night lovemaking.

Regina had slipped and called her 'Miss Swan' last night. Half of Emma thought it was hilarious but the other half remembered how hot she'd been for the Mayor last year and decided to run with it. They'd both kept to their roles, pretending it was last year when they'd only just met… but in the fantasy all the reasons that'd kept them apart in real-life got thrown out. Afterwards, Emma hadn't been able to keep a straight face and she'd made some joke that Regina couldn't help laughing at either...

"I didn't know that it could be like this," Regina confessed softly when their laughter died down.

"What do you mean?" said Emma. They lay together in bed. It must've been late at night or possibly early morning, but the bedroom lights were on low.

"You know I took Graham as a lover but I never loved him. He was safe. I didn't have to risk my heart or my body. After a while it became a habit, it was an empty pleasure for both of us I think. Somehow I knew that it would be different when there was love involved. But one thing I didn't know, one of the many things that being with you has shown me, is that it can be fun as well as pleasurable. I… didn't know." Regina almost sounded embarrassed to lay herself open about such a thing.

Emma was giddy with happiness at the touching confession. "You like it when I make you laugh?"

"I suppose. You say so many stupid things, dear."

"Good. Cos I don't think I could stop being hilarious."

Regina was still too blissed out to do more than give her a Look across the pillows.

"Hey, Regina. You're probably going to think I'm just asking to be annoying, after I caught you and Em talking about it in your office, but are you ok with our sex life? I mean, do you want something… else?"

"Do you think that because I'm evil I need whips and chains?"

"Um… no?"

"Because I don't need any of that to torture you."

"That doesn't exactly reassure me," Emma said uneasily.

"Good. It's not supposed to."

"What about you, dear," whispered Regina in her most seductive voice. "Do you want to do something else?"

"Guess what came in the mail today," Emma blurted out. "Remember I said there were some ah, things we could try?"

Regina narrowed her eyes dangerously. "You ordered it to my house?"

"It's just a plain brown box in the mail. It's not like it had 'LESBIAN SEX TOY' written on the outside. The mailman's scared enough to come here as it is. Besides, you should be more worried about the fact that I used your credit card."

"You'd better not have, for your own safety. I don't want some inappropriate website name appearing on my credit card statement."

"Relax, it was ebay. The seller listed it as 'used' but it'd only been used once or twice before they broke up. It's practically brand new. Total bargain."

Regina sent her the filthiest I'm-going-to-murder-you glare that she had ever seen on her. But Emma was long past the point where she'd ever be scared of the Evil Queen. Especially now, lying in bed next to her lithe naked form wearing only the bedsheet, after having thrown her off the cliff of ecstasy. Regina probably didn't have the energy to murder anyone right now as much as she was trying with just her eyes.

Emma burst out laughing.

"Oh my god, Regina. Your face! Oh, that's hilarious. I got you so bad!"

Regina grabbed the nearest pillow and smacked her with it, but Emma was laughing so hard she couldn't get enough air and every time she tried to talk Regina would hit her again and she tried to fend her off rather ineffectually with her hands raised.

"Oh God, sto-" Emma gasped, still in fits of laughter. She swiped at the tangles of hair that had flown into her face.

Thwack.

"It was a joke! I'm sorry! I promise it's-"

Thwack.

"-new! Bought it off-"

Thwack.

"- ever again. Only the best for you of course, my Queen!"

Regina stopped her assault for a second and Emma took the opportunity to snatch the pillow quickly. She threw it away and then reached for Regina to pull her back down on top of her, both of them laughing and exhausted...

Ri was still giggling so Emma poked her in the side and pulled her into a hug.

"Call me old while you still can, young lady," teased Emma. "One day you're going to be much older than me. Regina was not amused when I pointed that out. This whole curse thing has made me totally re-evaluate my thoughts on May-December relationships...

"The thing is, Ri. Sex can be a lot of fun when you trust the other person. You can laugh and have a good time, which especially helps when it's not going well."

Ri looked confused at the idea. "What do you mean 'not going well'? I thought it was supposed to be good when there's love."

"The first time you have sex is not going to be the best ever. Even for a couple who usually have great sex it's not always perfect. Sometimes you try something and it doesn't work for you or for your partner. Sometimes one of you isn't feeling into it that day for whatever reason. It just happens."

"That happens to you and Regina?"

"Mm sometimes," said Emma, with a smile. "But you know what? When things aren't perfect it makes the happy ending all the sweeter."

Ri certainly looked much happier after hearing that.

The next day Regina was elbow-deep in paperwork in her home office even though it was Sunday. She was sitting on the settee in her office with paperwork spread out on the low coffee table in front of her.

In addition to her usual work tasks, having to manage her election campaign was overflowing her normal work hours. Thankfully Kathryn had offered to help with the budget (the Mayor was financing it herself) and was also organising some advertising. Her help was invaluable and it left Regina with more time to devote to public appearances and interviews in which she'd take the opportunity to put forward her campaign issues.

Clearly she had enough experience for the position and in another time and place her campaign would've been a solid lock… but Regina hadn't actually had to do it for real before. She'd been Mayor for as long as anyone could remember, the haze of the curse prevented anyone from opposing the terms.

The most significant problem was that local prejudice and her past would always be working against her. It wouldn't matter how sincerely she presented herself or how much she focused on doing what was best for Storybrooke and its families, her reign as the Evil Queen (murderer, torturer, caster of curses) would always be first in voters' minds.

Dr Hopper had suggested to her that one way to deal with it was to reveal the details of her past in order to mitigate her actions somewhat. It was a risk but it might payoff in sympathy. She'd declined semi-politely. Daniel, her marriage, her childhood... they were topics she would much rather not revisit and certainly not publicly.

There was far too much reminder of her past at the moment with Ri in Storybrooke.

Yesterday afternoon all five of them had gone for a walk to the park. Ri and Henry had fun chasing each other around and it was hard to tell who enjoyed the play equipment more (Regina had never done much playing as a child). Em trailed after them, lacking her usual energy and cheer. When Regina brought it to Emma's notice all she did was shrug and make some offhand remark about Em being in one of her moody moods.

Regina looked up from the notepad where she was jotting notes for a speech and saw that Em had wandered into the room.

"Sorry. You're busy," Em mumbled.

Regina smiled. "Not too busy for you, dear. Why don't you come sit with me for a while?"

Em came over to lay on the seat next to her and snuggled up to her side. She must have been seeking a bit of comfort because she seemed a bit low in spirit. The teenager looked over Regina's lap to see what she was working on.

"Everything ok, Em? Are you still tired."

"A little."

"Did Henry keep you two up all night talking again? Next time send him to his own bed or none of you will get to sleep. I suppose I'm ok with it given that it wasn't a school night for him. Make sure you get a good rest too, Em. Believe me, children have a way of tiring you out. I appreciate you babysitting him for us on Friday night and I'm so proud of you, you've grown into such a responsible young woman lately. But you don't have to act as Henry's mother yet, you're still young yourself and taking care of a child can be emotionally draining."

"How did you know what to do?" Em asked quietly. "When you adopted Henry. How did you know how to be a good Mom?"

"Oh." Regina stopped what she was writing and smiled, surprised by the question. "I didn't. I'd never even held a baby before but as soon as Henry was put in my arms it felt like… fate. Like he was always mine."

"He is yours."

"He'll be yours too one day. It annoyed me a lot at the time, but when Emma first came here she clicked with him straight away. Henry was still angry at me about finding out he was adopted. I was hurt because, well, I didn't click with my son straight away. It wasn't easy. It certainly wasn't perfect. I was miserably tired and for the first weeks he cried and cried. I had no idea what I was doing wrong and I started to think that I couldn't cope."

"So if you weren't happy why didn't you send him back? I had a foster family once and they sent me back."

"I couldn't let him go. It was too late. He'd already wiggled his way into my heart. I wanted to be his mother more than I wanted to go on breathing. I knew that I had to put him first, above anything else that I was feeling."

Regina stopped short of saying that she didn't want him to be abandoned again like he had been by his birth mother. That was what she'd felt at the time as well as up until recently when she'd heard more about the turmoil Emma had gone through in making that decision. If Emma hadn't given him up then Regina would never have become Henry's mother, and if Regina hadn't kept him then Emma would never have become Henry's mother either. In yet another way they were joined as parents.

"Can I tell you something?" asked Em. She fidgeted, playing with the pocket of her hoodie.

"Of course."

"I'm scared of having the baby. I'm scared of being alone for so long until I find him again. I feel like I have to give him up and I'm afraid that I'm going to do the wrong thing. I don't even know what the right thing is. I don't want him to hate me."

"You don't have to be scared, Em," Regina smiled. "You won't have to be alone forever, they will be waiting for you. Ri won't be able to turn you away and Henry most certainly won't let her. He will understand when he's older. It isn't certain as to what your future holds if things are changing here. Whatever you decide, it will be entirely your choice. When the time comes you will know."

"I guess so. There's something else too…" said Em, pretending to be shy. "I have the biggest, most pathetic, highly embarrassing crush on you, Regina."

Regina laughed and wrapped her arm around Em's shoulders. Em smiled up at her cheekily.

"Yes, dear. I had noticed that."

"Good. Ok, pretty lady, I'll stop bugging you and let you get back to work." Em jumped up and left the office.

Regina sighed to herself, thinking about both versions of the most important woman in her life. Emma Swan. You always were a charmer. Or perhaps it's just me and I'm weak for you at any age. She went back to working on the speech and trying to anticipate what questions the reporters would ask.

"Knock knock."

Regina looked up to see Emma smiling in the doorway, holding a mug of coffee in her hand and Cora's book of magic spells in the other. The smell of vanilla and coffee preceded her when she came in and offered her the mug. Regina took the drink gratefully, surprised and yet not-at-all surprised by the thoughtful gesture.

"I noticed that my girlfriend is working too hard so I came in to encourage her to take a break," said Emma.

"I don't have time to take the sort of break you're angling for," said Regina wryly. "Certainly not in the afternoon while the children are in the house."

"I came to bring you coffee, Regina, not my muffin. Besides, you were the one who brought it up… I don't think I'm the one with sexytimes on her mind."

"I'm working." Regina set down her notes and took her first sip of coffee. "Thankyou, darling. I knew there was a reason why I allow your existence to continue. At times such as these I'm relieved that I didn't succeed in running you out of my town. One day you might finally make up for all of the trouble you've caused me."

Emma grabbed one of the ever-present apples from the bowl on the table and took a huge bite. She laid down on the settee and draped herself obnoxiously over Regina's lap, earning her a raised eyebrow. A pair of leather boots was crossed over the furthest armrest. The two women could have been cuddled up together on the lounge, reading or watching TV in the exact same pose.

"What are you doing with my mother's book?" said Regina.

"Research," said Emma. "I was looking through your hocus-pocus books for something that might help us with the border shrinking/not-shrinking thing and the time travelling teenagers. Have you got any more stuff stashed in your Evil Lair?"

"If you mean my vault, then yes. In addition to magical objects, potion ingredients, and my two-headed Agrabahan viper. Dangerous things from other worlds that no-one should go near."

"You've got a double-ended what in your vault, Regina?" Emma raised her eyebrows twice in a suggestive manner.

Regina tsk'd. "Must you do that. Turn everything into sexual innuendo?"

"Yes, I must. By the way, what version of the English language is your Mom's book written in anyways? I'm having trouble reading it."

"It's written in magic of course. As you are magical yourself, Saviour, it ought to become clearer for you if you coax it. It is inscrutable to all non-magical people. However, I'd advise you not to experiment with my mother's dark spells if you don't know what you are doing. They are hard on the system. You must make sure to keep your self separate from the magic you are using and not overextend it. I've noticed you doing that unconsciously when you access your powers, thankfully, so I assume it comes naturally to you."

Emma shrugged and held up the book. "Why is this page missing?"

That peaked Regina's attention. Her mother had always protected her spell book with the utmost care and slept with it under her pillow. It was hardly ever out of her sight. When it came into Regina's hands she'd treated it with a similar reverence, though hers were based on apprehension of its power rather than worship.

"There shouldn't be any pages missing," said Regina. "Which one is it?"

"Er, it's missing, genius," Emma joked. "How would I know what was on it?

"Smartass," Regina muttered.

She took the book from Emma and ran a thumb over the rough stub sticking out of the binding, the remnant of page that had been torn out. From it's position she knew which one it was.

"I remember this page. It was the Barrier spell. My mother used one to keep me from escaping my impending marriage. It's the same sort of magic I used for creating the border around Storybrooke to prevent anyone from leaving town."

Emma sat up quickly and gaped at her. "This is it then! It has to be related to what's happening with the border. Could someone have used this spell to mess with the town line? Can you cast it again to fix it?"

"Not without the page. Curses must be cast from originals, they can't be copied or memorised."

"So someone stole it. Who would do that? Who had access to this book besides you?"

"No-one. It's been locked up in my house since I got it from Mr Gold. Besides, it's no use to anyone who doesn't have magic because they wouldn't even be able to read it, let alone get any of the curses to work properly."

"So that narrows it down to someone who can: 1) use magic, and 2) get into your house undetected. Maybe I ought to arrest myself," Emma joked.

"I'd be happy to put handcuffs on you, Emma," Regina offered nonchalantly. "But right now I have to get back to work."

Emma sighed loudly in an overly dramatic manner. She got up off the settee and dragged her feet towards the door. "Alright. I'll stop bugging you. For a little while at least."

Regina was already working on her notes again and didn't even look up. "I'll let you 'bug' me later. Provided that you leave now and let me get some work done that is."

Emma was out the door like a shot.