Author's note: Another languishing fic finally gets an update. Again, life and shi-stuff I'm sure no one cares to know about. However, I am determined to finish this season 1 rewrite all the way through the curse breaking. But the second half of that season is HARD to revise and still make something sensible. ~ LZ

Timeline note: Roughly revisions of "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree" "Skin Deep" and "What Happened to Frederick." Both a problem and a boon that there were so few Emma/Regina scenes. - LZ

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Regina stepped outside the house and turned to lock up when she spotted Henry at the curb. But he wasn't alone. Some scruffy-looking man worked on a motorcycle parked at the curb. In front of her house. Immediately she felt fear. Another new arrival to town.

Taking the first step off her porch, she caught Henry's words. "I thought you were just visiting?"

"Doesn't mean I don't have something to do." The stranger started his motorcycle.

Regina walked quickly toward them, afraid he might grab Henry. "Henry!"

The man's eyes away from Henry, meeting hers briefly. She gave him a scowl from the darkest of her Evil Queen days. Don't you dare, she threatened. His eyes briefly widened and his gaze dropped, but he smiled quickly at Henry. "Better get to school. Looks like a storm's coming."

He threw a leg over the motorcycle and twisted the handlebars. The engine roared to life, thrumming as fast as Regina's heart. Just as he drove off–toward the center of town–she reached Henry.

"Henry. Who was that?" Possessively, she put her arm over his shoulder. Henry was still staring after the strange man. He shrugged.

"He said a storm's coming."

Regina looked up at the sky. Weather in Storybrooke was far from perfect, but the dark roiling clouds coming from the south did look ominous.

She found Emma on the street, loading storm supplies into the trunk of the Sheriff's cruiser. She had also heard the storm alert in Granny's when she'd let Henry collect a chocolate milk before the school bus arrived. She was frustrated between appreciation at Emma's initiative as Sheriff, and annoyance at the same thing. The Savior was still not coming to heel as Regina had hoped.

When Regina walked toward Emma, the woman looked up from behind the raised trunk lid. "Hey."

Emma's smile pleasantly warmed Regina's insides. She started to smile, then frowned, again torn.

Emma either didn't see the disturbance or chose to ignore it. She said, "Saw you putting Henry on the bus. You need a pick me up?"

Regina blushed at the clear invitation to bedroom activities, and then she frowned. Again, feeling girlish was not going to get her where she intended. Sternly she said, "I need you to look into something...Sheriff." She hoped the use of the title would be enough to put Emma off seduction – she was currently looking positively adorable in a woolen cap pulled snuggly down over her hair and ears. And far too rugged and self-assured for Regina's equillibrium to handle. "Someone's in town–someone new."

"Yeah, I know. I just pointed him to Granny's."

"You talked to him? What'd he say?" As the other new person to her town, Regina wondered if somehow the man knew Emma. She felt the red haze of jealousy now curling in her throat.

Emma shrugged. "He asked for directions. What's the big deal? Who is he?"

"I don't know." Regina crossed her arms over her chest and squinted as a gust of wind blew strongly in her face. "I asked around, but no one seems to know anything. There's something about him. Something familiar."

Emma threw another canister into the trunk of the sheriff's cruiser. "Maybe he's one of the untold millions you cursed."

She couldn't have heard correctly. "What?" she pushed her hair out of her face with one hand.

"Oh, you know." Emma backed out of the trunk and shut the lid with a thunk. She then came to the sidewalk. "You know, the curse." The way Emma said it sounded like the portentious thing it was. Was she starting to believe? Regina fretted. But Emma's tone was light as she continued, "Henry's whole thing?"

Regina watched Emma grab more things from the curb, this time putting them in the back seat of the cruiser. "I need you to find out who he is, what he wants, and what he's doing here."

Emma's chuckle stung. "You know, as hard as you tried to find one in my case, there is no law against visiting Storybrooke."

"This isn't about the law, Miss Swan. You're going to do this because I asked you to. And because you'll see it's the right thing to do."

"And why is that?"

"Because he was in front of my house. Taking a particular interest in the one thing we both care about. Henry."

Emma's expression went slack, stunned, then her gaze narrowed. Her tone was serious when she spoke again. "I'll look into him."

Emma closed the trunk lid and went inside Granny's. Regina's words rolled around her head. Someone talking familiarly to Henry? Someone Regina didn't know? Henry was a bright kid, but he was also curious. She thought about the mine collapse and shivered.

"What can I get you?" Ruby asked from behind the counter.

"Coffee," Emma said. "I'm…" She looked around. Leroy sat at a table nursing his hangover with a piled high platter of greasy fried potatoes, fried eggs, and coffee. He'd apparently come straight here after she released him that morning for–yet again–being rowdy and drunk at The Rabbit Hole. She shook her head at the predictability. Mary Margaret scuttled out after David came and went with takeaway coffees for himself and his wife, Kathryn. She'd have to talk to the woman later about pining after a married man.

"Here," Ruby said.

Emma passed her the cash. "Keep the change."

Next to her, Sidney Glass sidled up to the counter. "Coffee, please."

"How's the news business, Sidney?"

"Frustratingly slow," he said.

"Well, cheer up. Maybe something interesting will happen with the storm coming." She looked again around the diner, not seeing the guy she'd met on the street. Must be up in his room. Picking up her coffee, she went out to the cruiser and began her patrol.

"Mr. French," Regina said. "Thank you for coming by. I was hoping we could discuss the gardens here at city hall."

"It's no good planting right now," he said. "I can refresh the beds after the storm."

"That sounds wonderful," she said. "Do you have a few more minutes? I was going through the Sheriff Department's cold case files, helping Miss-Sheriff Swan," she corrected quickly. "Sheriff Graham was searching for your missing daughter?"

Moe nodded. "I'm certain I sent her on an errand to Mr. Gold's house, but she never returned."

"Mr. Gold's house, you say? Do you remember what she was to do?" She narrowed her eyes, studying him as he considered her question. What of his real memories had leaked through?

After a moment, he shrugged. "I don't remember. I don't remember exactly when I filed the missing persons report."

"Well, we should get the new sheriff right on it." She rested her palm on a small box on her desk. "But we could probably use some new evidence. Have you visited Mr. Gold's pawn shop?"

"No, I…"

"There might be something of your daughter's there we can use to trace her whereabouts. He does collect the oddest things," she said, letting her voice and body shiver suggestively.

"Thank you, Madam Mayor."

"Thank you, Mr. French." She smiled and watched him walk out. When the door closed behind him, she frowned, removing her hand from the box. "That was far simpler than it should have been." She was now certain that somehow the storm was not some nor'easter, but magic cracking through the Curse. Emma's reunification of the woodcutter and his children and now the stranger crossing into town had accelerated the fog lifting from the memories of Storybrooke's population. She had to know if Gold's memories were returning. This interaction with Belle's father should shed light on that.

"Sidney, you're delusional. Regina's got her thumb on a lot of people in this town, I'll grant you. But she's too well off to be interested in embezzling funds." Emma sat in her cruiser with Sidney Glass, The Mirror reporter, leaning on her window.

"It's been going on for years, Sheriff," Sidney insisted. "She manipulates people by blocking or advocating projects. She just made a huge land purchase for no discernible reason." The approaching storm's winds blew his hat from his head.

"You better go get that," she said. He didn't pull away. "Fine," she finally agreed. "I'll look into it." Yet another weird circumstance. What was it with Storybrooke that seemed to attract all the crazy?

Sidney smiled and ran after his hat. She sighed and turned the cruiser down the next street. Many people thankfully had heeded the emergency band alert to bring out their storm shutters and prepare to shelter in place. The NOAA seaboard report had last predicted the track of the storm – "the biggest we've seen in a century" – straight toward the state capital in Augusta. Which would take it directly through Storybrooke by nightfall. A white blur ran between houses, low to the ground.

She sighed and grabbed the dogcatcher loop and pole off the seat. Emerging from the cruiser she pocketed the keys, zipped her heavy jacket, and called, "Pongo! C'mon, boy, time to go home."

Chasing him through several alleys, Emma finally dropped the loop over the dalmatian's head just as the first pelting raindrops began to fall.

The storm wreaked havoc throughout the night. Emma manned the emergency switchboard herself, mostly logging spots she'd check once the storm passed and daylight arrived.

She did have to go out once. Apparently Moe French, owner of Game of Thorns, had attacked Mr. Gold. "The flower shop? Seriously. What the hell are the two of you doing here with the storm raging?"

"He took something of mine, Sheriff, and I demand it is returned."

"Well?" She turned to the florist for an explanation.

"He foreclosed on my truck. I can't operate my business without my truck."

"Did you?" she asked Gold.

"I foreclose on a lot of delinquent loans," Gold replied. "He was supposed to send his daughter over with the payment."

"And now she's missing!" French retorted. "He must know where she is!"

"Old fool! I don't know who your daughter is," Gold retorted, raising his cane.

Emma sighed and put them both in handcuffs. "We're going to the station. We'll wait out the storm and maybe, by then, the both of you will have cooled down, and I can get some straight answers."

Near dawn as the storm broke up and finally she could see blue sky through the windows, Emma received a phone call from the mansion. "The town's still standing, Madam Mayor," she said in lieu of a greeting.

"It's Henry."

Emma dropped her feet from her desk and turned her chair so Gold, who had come to the bars of his cell, couldn't see her talking. "Henry?" she hissed low.

"Meet me at my castle after school starts." He said nothing else and hung up.

"Geez, kid. That area is wrecked from the storm." She marked the map where she had been deciding on her patrol pattern that morning, to check on the reported damages. Fishermen already headed out for the day had reported downed structures and trees all over there.

She called the diner. "Hey, Ruby, can Granny let you go for a few? I need someone to watch the cells while I go assess the damages around town." Ruby replied she would be over in a minute.

Emma looked at Moe sleeping on the hard cot in one cell and Gold sitting in the deep shadows at the back of his cell. They had both been quiet since she'd brought them in.

Ruby entered. "Hey, Em." She carried a couple coffees, handing one to Emma. "Just the way you like it."

Emma took the paper cup, appreciatively sniffing the steam rising from the top. "Thanks, Rubes. Just sit here. Don't go near the cells. And ignore anything they say. Got it?"

"Sure thing." The young waitress looked pleased to be able to help. Just like she'd helped Emma find David by the creek a couple weeks ago. Emma thought about how she'd been alone here at the station all night. She could've used a dispatcher, or a deputy. Maybe Regina…

Ruby's voice brightly interrupted her thoughts. "You'll be back soon?"

"Probably an hour?" she guessed. "I'll tell Granny I commandeered your help with clean up."

"Okay." Ruby shot her a thumbs up and Emma smiled, grabbing her heavy jacket and hustling out the door.

Watching from her cruiser, Emma finally saw Henry riding toward the playground castle on his bike. She got out and greeted him. "Hey, kid."

He continued past her, his expression anxious and worried. Emma followed. "Nice to see you, too."

He dropped his bike and ran over to the castle, starting to dig in the sand. The playground equipment was noticeably damaged.

"The storm!"

"It's okay – we can fix it. I'll talk to Marco."

"Do you think it's still here?" Henry dug further into the sand near the base of the playground.

"What are you looking for?"

"My book."

"Why'd you bury it here?"

"So my mom doesn't find it."

"Hiding it under your mattress wasn't good enough?"

Pulling out a red metal box, Henry grabbed a key from his pocket and unlocked it. "That's the first place the Evil Queen would look."

"How about leaving it with me?"

"That's the second place." Finally, Henry opened the box, revealing the book inside. "It's still here. Good."

"So, your mom doesn't know about the castle?"

"No. This is our secret." He closed and relocked the box, and started to rebury it.

"Henry! Henry! I've been looking everywhere for you."

Emma looked over her shoulder. She stood between Henry, who was kicking sand over his treasure. "Madam Mayor."

Regina ignored her and went around Emma to Henry and started dusting off his pants. "You were supposed to be in session with Archie this morning."

Henry hung his head. Emma knew he must have skipped out on that in order to meet her here.

Regina however wasn't finished. She turned angrily on Emma. "I should've known he was with you." She grabbed Henry's shoulder. "Car. Now."

Henry ran off, leaving Regina and Emma alone.

Regina hugged her coat closer around her and looked at the castle. The wind from the water was quite strong, but Emma thought perhaps that it wasn't so much cold wind as anxiety and fear that made Regina shiver. "You let him play here?"

It hadn't been a bad playground. Before the storm. "The storm hit it hard, but we can fix it."

Regina pulled her flyaway brown hair behind her ear. "Can you fix a cracked cranium? Because that's what you'll have on your hands if one of these boards collapses under his weight. You're not thinking about Henry or his safety. Just ways around me. Miss Swan, don't let your feelings cloud your judgment. People can get hurt."

Emma resented the accusation. She hadn't been encouraging Henry behind Regina's back for some time. "I haven't been going behind your back, Regina."

"You kept this place secret from me."

"I thought you knew everything going on in your town," Emma needled, treading lightly. Regina scowled. "Look the kid needs a place just to be a kid. Imagine himself as king of the castle, or a prince, or a hero. Haven't you thought that maybe your tight hold is chafing him?"

"You're the Sheriff now," Regina insisted. "It's time to be responsible. This would be a dangerous place–for any child."

"We'll fix it up."

"Yes, I will."

Emma winced as Regina turned away from her. She didn't like the sound of that.

Sidney found Emma again, this time on the tunnel road where Emma had been called out to check on trees fallen across the road. She'd called a tree removal service to clear it. "Sidney, there's no news here."

"It's the only place away from her that I can talk to you alone."

"Is this about Regina embezzling again?"

"I can prove it," he said. "She has called a construction company to build something out here."

"That land you said she bought with stolen funds."

"Mr. Gold owns everything out here."

"So you think he's in on it?" Emma shook her head.

"The mayor..."

"Regina and Gold are definitely not working together." Emma was certain that the antipathy between those two went back a good number of years.

The cruiser's radio crackled to life. "Sheriff's office to Sheriff Swan."

Emma grabbed for the radio handset. "Ruby?"

"Yeah, I went back to Granny's. The mayor said you sent her to the station to relieve me."

Shit. Emma looked over her shoulder at Sidney who smiled smugly. She wasn't about to alert Ruby or Regina to her concern. "Thanks, Rubes," she responded brightly.

"Guess you'd better get back to the station, sheriff."

Emma peeled out quickly, turning the cruiser back toward town, the tires sending up a cloud of dust.

At the station, Emma passed Moe scurrying out. She let him go since she was certain she'd know exactly where to find him later. Inside she found Regina stepping away from the cell where Gold stood, leaning against the bars.

"Madam Mayor," Emma announced herself.

"Sheriff Swan," Gold said. Emma frowned. There was a strange laughing undertone to his words.

"You sit down, Mr. Gold. I'll be with you in a minute. Regina," she said tightly, "what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"You don't have any back up here, Sheriff. I was simply processing—" They had walked into the corridor.

Emma cut her off. "You're not sheriff. I am. French and Gold were brought in on battery charges. Going at it over some stolen thing they each accused the other of having."

"And Mr. Gold is clearly the culprit, so I released Mr. French."

"Regina, you reminded me that I am the sheriff," Emma pointed out. "So butt out."

"Not until you butt out of Henry's life," Regina retorted.

"I thought you understood we're both on the same side here, when it comes to Henry."

"He still distrusts me, runs to you."

"You know the tighter you squeeze, the more he'll want to get away." Emma reached for Regina's hand. "I know seeing that wreck at the park was scary. But you don't have to—"

"You have no idea what I feel."

"Don't I? When Henry was trapped in the mine, we both realized that his curiosity could get him hurt. I have been watching out for him. But it's a balance. He ran away from me, too, when I came down on his stories. But that playground, itwas safe until the storm. I promise, I do have Henry's safety in mind–and yours and everyone else's in this town–every day."

Regina's fingers fidgeted in Emma's hand, but the brown gaze didn't break from hers. "I'm doing what I have to."

"To feel in control," Emma finished. "I get that. I do." She let her hand slide up Regina's arm to her elbow. "But the wrong thing for the right reasons, is still the wrong thing."

Emma decided she might give something to get something from Regina. "Sidney, you know, you made him quite angry about something. He keeps trying to get me to investigate you."

"About what?" Regina had gone pale. Emma frowned as her lie detector pinged.

"Can you explain a big land purchase?"

Regina's eyes widened. "What do you know about that?"

"What'd you buy the land for?"

Straightening with a smile, Regina withdrew her hand from Emma's. "Come to the town council meeting tomorrow evening and find out for yourself, Sheriff."

After Emma went back into the station, Regina hurried to city hall. Sidney stood outside her office. "Get in here. Now," she ordered. Shutting the door behind him, she turned on him. "What have you done?"

"You asked me to get rid of Emma Swan."

"Having her investigateme is your plan?"

"She's here after your son. She's taken the job as sheriff—after she probably had a hand in the previous sheriff's death. She was in fact found with him dead in her arms."

"Those facts would make it seem more likely that I am going to go after her, you idiot."

Sidney finally looked alarmed. "Do you no longer wish she was gone?"

"You can't undo a wish," she snapped. More calmly she asked, "What exactly have you suggested to her, Sidney?"

"That you embezzled the funds for the land purchase."

She nodded. "And if I prove that the land purchase was for the benefit of the town?"

"But you didn't, did you?"

Ruminatively she said, "We did just have a terrible storm blow down many structures in town." She tapped the call button on her desk phone. "Would you please bring me the city properties file?"

"Yes, Madam Mayor."

Regina scowled at Sidney. "Get out. I've got work to do to fix your mess."

"Yes, Your Maj-Mayor Mills."

Her head snapped up and she narrowed her gaze at Sidney, alarmed by the form of address she was almost certain was about to come out of his mouth. He stood with his head slightly inclined toward her, like he'd been bowing himself out of her presence. Was her genie awakening too?

Emma sat with Ashley, Mary Margaret, and Ruby at The Rabbit Hole.

It was early evening at the Rabbit Hole, but the three other women who claimed to be close friends had enticed Emma out with them for a girls night out. She'd convinced Mary Margaret she needed to forget about David, and Ashley was struggling with new motherhood and trying to get her boyfriend's father off their backs. Ruby was simply down for a good time, any time.

Listening her friends talk about their troubles, Emma nevertheless was quiet about her own. She kept turning over all the players in her mind, trying to draw connections.

The cleanser Gold used, that weird sheep oil, had been the accelerant in the city hall fire. But only Emma and Regina had been trapped inside. No city records were destroyed, having been in another building altogether. Gold had said the town needed a hero, someone willing to take on both him and Regina.

The mine collapse had been an accident, but Regina shutting down even the miners' access to it had agitated a lot of people. The upcoming Miner's Day was going to be when the mines were reopened, since the repairs had been made and a new, more stable tunnel had been opened.

After getting Regina to leave the station, Emma had gotten nothing further out of Gold about the incident with the florist. She finally had to let him go, though she made him sign an agreement not to go within 500 feet of Moe French, his home, his truck, or his shop Game of Thorns.

"Find another guy to collect your rents," she told him. He had grumbled but hobbled out, leaning heavily on his cane. Later, she'd brought him the teacup. Emma had been what-the-f watching the delicate way Gold returned it to its case in his shop.

Suddenly she remembered that Regina had been left with Gold for several minutes between Ruby's call and her arrival at the station. "Regina," she muttered, "what were you talking to him about?"

Ruby leaned close and patted her arm. "Hey, Em, you should be drinking."

"I'm on duty."

"You're always on duty," Mary Margaret said, having consumed three drinks already. "You need a deh-poo-tee." She giggled and sipped her fourth drink.

Yeah. No. Emma rolled her eyes and reached for Mary Margaret's glass. "You've had enough. How about we get you home?"

"You're not going home with her?" Ruby asked.

"No. I've got patrols to do."

"Patrolling past the mayor's house, hmm?"

Emma narrowed her eyes at Ruby. "Yeah."

"You might need a deh-poo-tee," she said, mimicking Mary Margaret. "Because you gonna make a boo-tee call."

Leaning over, Emma caught Ruby's arm. "Stop it."

"I can smell her on you and you on her, you know."

That was a weird thing to say. "I haven't slept with her."

"Not today," Ruby agreed with a wolfish smile, all teeth and lips, and a very knowing look.

Shaking her head, Emma turned away from Ruby and grasped Mary Margaret's arm, helping her roommate to her feet. "Come on, MM. Let's go."

"I know he's still seeing her."

Regina sipped her cider as she sat with Kathryn in her home study. The distraught woman had come over after calling. "And her such an innocent volunteer." She laid it on thick.

"Innocent! She's a tramp!" Kathryn retorted. She sipped her drink. "She seems to think because he woke up for her... I've been waiting years for him." She put her glass down between her knees and sighed. "I've decided to see a lawyer."

"What for?"

"I'm going to file for divorce."

"Dear?"

"He doesn't want me any more. Better to cut him loose. Find my own life."

Regina bit her lip. "But, dear—"

"I made an appointment with a lawyer in Augusta."

Wondering how, Regina fretted. Probably more cracks in her curse. "So far away?"

Kathryn had tears in her eyes but her jaw was hard. Regina knew that expression. She'd worn it often enough herself: holding yourself together because you'll be damned if you let anyone see you hurting. The other woman's voice cracked as she spoke. "It's embarrassing enough to know I can't keep my own husband happy. I just want it done quickly and quietly."

Regina set her glass down next to a small box on her coffee table, placing her hand on it gently. "If you're absolutely certain you must leave?"

"There's not really anything else to do," Kathryn lamented. She stood and put on her coat. "I should be going now."

"Now? It's the middle of the night."

"My appointment is in the morning."

"Oh." She walked Kathryn to the door. The blonde turned and hugged her. Regina was startled.

"Thanks for listening, Regina."

"I-you're welcome, dear."

"Good night."

"Good night."

After putting Mary Margaret to bed, Emma went on her patrol. Regina opened her front door while holding a glass in her other hand near her lips. "Wha-Miss Swan?" She lowered the glass.

"Hey. I thought we could talk about everything that's been going on. Just the two of us."

"What everything are you referring to?"

"What'd you say to Gold in the station?"

"He's a nemesis, dear. I cackled that he'd been caught by you."

"So you were taunting him?" Emma nodded. "Okay, I can understand that."

"And you? Did you find out what Sidney thinks he has on me?"

"You told me to wait until Thursday. I'm checking a couple things, but right now I'm willing to believe you."

Regina stepped back and Emma stepped inside. "You do?" she said, looking up into Emma's face.

"Is Henry upstairs asleep?"

"Yes."

Emma stepped closer, making Regina tilt her head back a bit more to keep their gazes even. "Good."

She lifted one hand and cupped it against Regina's cheek. Tingles traveled up her fingers to her wrist, arm and then settled as a racing heartbeat in her chest. Absorbed by slightly confused brown, Emma closed the slight distance and brushed her lips over Regina's.

"Good."

Regina rose above Emma as the younger woman lay underneath her in her bed. Strong hands cupped her hips as she gyrated, pressing her center to Emma's. She reached out, cupped and stroked, and squeezed Emma's bare breasts, moaning in delight at the delicious heat and friction of their bodies' joining. "God," she gasped.

Emma's thumb danced across Regina's clit.

"Fuck!"

"That's good, babe," Emma's husky voice wrapped around Regina's body. "You got this. Let it go."

"Miss—" Emma had sat up and bitten Regina's nipple. "Emma!" Regina tried to chide her lover, but the sensation had taken her breath away, leaving her gasping and her center molten with increased arousal.

Emma switched from biting to soothing licks and kisses, bringing her hands up to massage Regina's back and keep Regina's breasts in her mouth. Murmuring unintelligibly against Regina's breastbone, Emma pulled Regina back down to the bed with her and then rolled Regina beneath her.

Regina panicked at the weight across her belly. Emma lifted her hips away, instead bringing her fingers to Regina's clit, flicking and stroking until Regina spiraled off, carried into a maelstrom of sensations, and arched in orgasm.

Before her center stopped fluttering, Emma had crawled between Regina's thighs and began licking her folds. "God, babe, you taste fantastic."

Regina clutched Emma's head, carding her fingers through Emma's hair, and gasped and mewled, coming again quickly as the stimulation continued. She was lov– Shit.

"Em-Emma," she rasped, swallowing repeatedly, trying to draw moisture into her mouth. "Uh, oh god."

"Good, huh?" Emma nibbled at Regina's waist until she was writhing again. "Just face it, Regina, aren't you now glad you didn't get me to leave town? We're good together. Good for each other. Good for Storybrooke."

"We-I-we can't be," Regina said. To her surprise, her tone was not dismissive, just sad.

"Why not?" Emma looked stricken.

Regina shook her head. "We're just…" She tried to think of a way to put it. "We're too different," she said finally.

"Not here," Emma said. "Not where it counts."

She'd laid her hand over Regina's left breast. Her heart beat hard, harder, like it was trying to give itself into Emma's hands. She grasped Emma's fingers and pulled the woman's hand from her chest. But the blonde would not let her dodge her gaze. She pulled her hand free of Regina's and cupped Regina's chin.

"Regina." Emma kissed her mouth. "Whatever happened in the past, isn't it time to let yourself be happy?"

The hazel green gaze implored her.

Regina bit her lip. Emma kissed it. "Even if I wanted to..."

Emma nodded. "I'm not really sure how either. It's never been like this for me."

"Emma, what are you saying?" Regina pulled away and sat up.

"Look, I've got no family. I really have no idea how to do any of this. But… I'd like to...learn... well, how to be a… family. With you and Henry, I mean."

Regina couldn't believe her ears. Had Emma Swan, the Savior, just proposed to her?

"Regina?"

"I...Emma?"

In the face of Regina's stuttering, Emma slowly got up from the bed and started to dress. "Where are you going?"

"I think I-we need a little space, maybe, to think about it, yeah?" Emma gathered her strewn clothing as Regina watched, clutching the sheet to her chest and hugging her knees. "I...It's Miner's Day. Gotta get to my patrol."