Archive of Our Own

"What is the meaning of this?!" Mother superior came in, a wind of anger.

"I could ask you the same thing, dear." Regina said coolly. "Pray tell why you are barging into my office like this?"

Mother superior slapped a file down on Regina's desk. "Rejected?"

"Ah." Regina smiled. "Yes, rejected."

"Why?" Mother superior demanded. "We need the funds!"

"I will not give you taxpayer money to renovate your office." Regina said. "You use these funds to make a yearly fundraiser, the earnings of which allows for cosmetics and luxuries such as that."

"Those funds went to fixing the convent after the chernobog attack! Remember? the one that came for you?"

Regina chuckled and shook her head. "I'm fairly certain that's not accurate, but whatever."

"I'm fairly certain it is." Mother superior insisted. "After all, it chases the most evil of beings."

Regina pursed her lips and leaned back in her chair. She glared at mother superior for quite a bit before she spoke firmly. "My decision on the funds request is final."

"But-"

"If you need a new office renovation so badly, why don't you do another fundraiser? Or perhaps do the practical thing, and wait till the next financial quarter." Regina said. "If that will be all, I'm very busy."

"Regina-"

"Good day, Mother Superior."

The older woman stood up straight, inhaling a deep breath to calm her rage. "One of these days, Regina, your going to find yourself in a spot, and when that time comes, I cannot wait to rub your face in it."

"You make it sound like I should feel threatened, dear. What are you going to do, blow some pixie dust in my face and give me wings?" Regina bit back. Mother Superior gritted her teeth, pursed her lips, turned on her heel and left the office

When the moon is high, and the night wind blows, you will show your truest form. You will not be released until your deepest truth is revealed.

Regina woke up feeling very strange. Perhaps it was the dream she had the night before, some strange voice spouting riddles about forms and truths and all that. She didn't dwell on it, strange dreams didn't necessarily mean trouble. There was that one time she had a dream that her mother-ugh, nevermind.

She opened her eyes and tried to ignore the weird way her body felt. She felt small, not just her usual short small, like small small. And she was warmer than usual, like she had a thick layer of something over her. She rolled over onto her back and stretched her arms, legs and tail and let out a yaw-

wait, what?!

She focused very carefully and...

swish.

okay. That was definitely a tail.

"What the hell?" she muttered to herself before rolling over to get out of bed. Suddenly she found herself plummeting to the floor from the mattress which seemed like it was 100 feet higher than she remembered. However she landed on her hands and feet...Which were similar in length and.

Oh God.

She ran over to the mirror on her wardrobe and wanted to scream, but couldn't at the shock of what was in front of her.

She was a cat. A fully grown, slim, black cat with pointy ears. The only non-cat like feature she could see was that her eyes retained their chocolatey brown didn't make her feel better.

She had to get out of here and find someone that could help her, there was little she could do in cat form.

"Okay Regina, you've got this. You can still talk." she was pleased for that part. "So just go find help...ugh...This is going to be hard to explain..."

She was able to get out via a cracked window downstairs, which she was easily able to open fully and jump out of. It was helpful to know that she landed on her feet regardless how she jumped.

She wandered around town for an hour trying to think of the best person to help her. Rumple? No, he'd enjoy this too much. Tinkerbell had been unheard of for a bit. Mother sup-NOPE. That only left one person she could rely on.

Emma Swan.

Ugh.

Despite Regina's short time as a cat, she had already discovered a number of things.

A: Cats, unsurprisingly, had better senses than she thought they would. She could hear, smell and see just about everything going on around her. This helped her navigation, which she was glad for since it seemed her magic had been rendered disabled with this curse. She'd gotten way too used to poofing here and there, and it was easy to get lost in of the the side streets if she wasn't careful.

B: Dogs were scarce in this town. Apart from Pongo, which she already knew about and...well...Ruby...but only on certain days. She hadn't encountered a single right now, she was also glad for.

Yes, being a cat gave her some perspective on a few things. One thing in particular that she was discovering at the moment...

The people in this town really, really didn't know how to fucking drive.

She was on the sidewalk, panting as she had dodged her fourth car of the day. She swore, if the curse didn't kill her, the cars would. So she elected to stay on the sidewalk and hope that the people in this godforsaken town knew how to walk better than they drove.

Things were going pretty well in that area, that is, of course, until she ran into the last person she wanted to run into.

Snow White.

Oh God.

"Awww, hey there girl." Snow gushed over her. She reached over to pet her and Regina swatted her away. Snow snatched her hand away in time not to get scratched by the cat and laughed. "Feisty, aren't you?"

"Snow it's me!" she said. But Snow didn't seem to register the voice or... the fact that the cat was talking. In fact, she wasn't even phased.

"You all alone out here girl?" Snow said. "Aww, no collar, you must be a stray huh?"

"Snow white how dare you-" she said. But to her shock, and sheer horror, Snow meowed back...meowed.

"You can't understand me, can you?" she said, bile rising in her throat.

"Here kitty kitty." Snow beckoned her. "Come on, how about I take you home and get you some milk huh? Or some tuna? I bet you'd love some nice, yummy tuna, yes you would!"

"You're even more annoying than usual please stop."

All Snow heard was meowing. And before she knew it, Regina was being picked up and cradled in Snow's arms.

"Come on, you're gonna love the apartment." she said.

Regina resigned herself to the fact that, short of scratching Snow's eyes out, she couldn't really do anything, and she sure as hell didn't want to get put down as a cat for blinding Snow White. Besides, she thought, if anything this would prove useful to getting her to Emma. She just prayed to whichever god might listen that when she got to Emma, the woman would be able to understand something beyond a panicked cat meowing for freedom.

"I think I'll name you Floofy."

"NO." Regina said, the meowing must have sounded just as displeased.

"Don't like it huh?" Snow frowned. "I'll find something."

"Mom?" Emma called as she came into the apartment.

"In the kitchen sweetheart." Snow said as she put a bowl of milk down in front of the cat. "There you go...hmm...Twinkles!"

"For the love of god woman." Regina said.

"Is that a cat?" Emma asked.

"Yup, found her on the street." Snow said with a grin.

"And you just...brought her in?" Emma asked. "Did you at least check if she's clean?"

"Crystal, her coat is so shiny, I'm almost tempted to ask her for grooming tips." Snow joked.

"Yeah well, I better not find you trying to lick yourself clean, that's just weird." Emma said. Regina, ignoring the bowl of milk entirely, went over to the blonde to try and grab her attention. Emma wordlessly crouched down and started petting her. "She's cute, what's her name?"

"I don't know, she doesn't seem to like any of the ones I suggest." Snow shrugged. "What would you name her?"

"I don't know...I never had a pet." Emma said.

"Oh sweetie, never?" Snow asked.

"Foster homes, Mom." Emma reminded her. Snow frowned and nodded.

"Right." she sighed before she got a bright idea. "OH! How about you keep her?"

"Uh, what?" Emma asked.

"Well, I lived with all sorts of animals growing up. You should get to experience having a pet for once." Snow said. "You keep her, name her whatever you want, I'll help of course if you want but..."

"You're giving me a cat?" Emma said.

"She seems to like you, I mean look, she's purring." Snow pointed out at the way the cat look up at Emma happily and purred as the blonde petted her.

"Huh, she is." Emma said.

I am?!

She was. Regina was full on purring because whether or not she was aware of it, this cat body was just loving what Emma's gentle hands did to her when she ran them over her fur. And now that she was aware of it, she couldn't deny it.

"Oh my god that feels so good." she said. All they registered was meowing.

"See, that's the happiest she sounded all day." Snow said. "Go on, Emma, you seem to be a natural at this."

"Well, okay...I guess." Emma shrugged. "I guess I should name her huh?"

"Any ideas?" Snow asked.

"Hmm..." Emma hummed before smiling. "Salem. Like from the TV show? Sabrina the teenage witch?"

"I'm sorry I never saw it." Snow said.

"Well she was a teenage witch who lived with her aunts and they had a sass talking black cat called Salem." Emma explained. "He was my favourite. But I figure Salem could totally be a girl's name too right?"

"That sounds perfect sweetie." Snow said with a smile. Salem, hmm...Regina could deal with that...better than freaking Twinkles. She meowed positively and Emma smiled.

"Looks like it's unanimous, huh?" she said, and frowned at the bowl of milk. "Mom, milk is for little kittens, grown up cats need actual solid food, got any fish?"

"I have tuna." Snow said. Emma went over to the cabinet where they kept the canned foods and pulled out a big can of tuna chunks. She opened it easily and grabbed a bowl, dropping the chunks in it and breaking them apart before placing them down.

"Here you go, girl." Emma said. "Come and get it."

Regina sighed. This was going to be a long process. She was going to have to grin and bear it in the meantime.

Milk, she found, was more pleasant than the tuna. Still, she needed to keep well fed. Thankfully, that portion of the day was over.

"Hey, mom, you have some old blankets I can use? I wanna fashion Salem a bed." Emma asked.

"Oh sweetie, why don't you let her sleep in yours?" Snow suggested.

"...I can?" Emma said nervously.

"Of course! We don't have rules against that here, it's fine sweetie, I don't mind." Snow said with a smile. Emma smiled back and picked the cat up so fast Regina meowed in surprise.

"C'mon Salem! I wanna show you your new room!" Emma jogged up the stairs, Regina clawing to her for dear life. She sighed in relief when Emma placed her down on the bed. She sat next to her and picked her up again, placing her in her lap. "Maybe I should get you a collar...hmm...a nice red one to match my jacket huh?"

"I would rather eat raw tuna again." Regina said.

"Holy shit!" Emma jumped, accidentally dropping Regina off of her. "What the fuck?"

"OW!" Regina exclaimed. "what the hell is wrong with you?"

"ME? You're a fucking talking cat!" Emma said.

"I...wait..." Regina shook her head and looked up at Emma. "You can understand me?"

"Yes I can...wait...Regina?!" Emma exclaimed.

"Oh thank god." Regina sighed in relief. "I thought no one could understand me."

"I couldn't earlier!" Emma said.

"It must be the curse...maybe you can only understand me when we're alone because...because of some saviour crap or something I don't know." Regina said.

"Curse...I...Okay...You're going to have to explain what the hell is going on because I am severely confused right now." Emma said.

"Someone cursed me and turned me into a cat." Regina said.

"Clearly." Emma said.

"That is literally all I know." Regina shrugged. "I just woke up like this."

"You woke up and you were a cat." Emma said.

"Yes." Regina nodded.

"Okay." Emma nodded. A beat. and then she burst out laughing.

"What?! This isn't funny!" Regina said.

"I just...I..." more laughing. Emma couldn't breathe, Regina was hoping she never would again.

"Swan I swear to god." She said.

"But you're so cuuuutee." Emma said. "Look at you you got little whiskers and...do you do the tongue thing?"

"What tongue thing?" Regina said.

"Cats, when they're hot they stick the tip of their tongue out it's super cute...do you do that?" Emma asked with a grin.

"NO! Now stop enjoying this!" Regina demanded. "I need your help getting me back to normal."

"Seriously? What the hell am I supposed to do?" Emma asked.

"I don't know, but-"

"It's not like I can get help myself, Regina, people can't understand you and neither can I around others, they'll think I'm insane." Emma said.

"You live in a town with magical creatures I assure you, they've seen worse." Regina said.

"You don't even have a lead." Emma said.

"I..." Regina squinted her eyes. "Might."

"Well what is it?"

Regina sighed and then gave her the whole story of what happened the day before, including details of her weird dream and how she woke up as a cat. Emma stared at her with wide eyes and disbelief.

"You don't believe me." Regina said after a moment of silence.

"You expect me to believe that the blue fairy cursed you and turned you into a cat just because you denied their funds to renovate her office." Emma stated.

"Well…I don't expect you to but…I hope?" Regina asked. Emma tilted her head.

"Unbelievable, even as a cat, your facial expressions remain unchanged." Emma noted.

"Emma, focus!" Regina snapped.

"Okay so let's say it's true what can we do? I doubt I can convince her to break the spell." Emma said. "And even then, if the dream is the incantation to the curse then, I don't think she can help you."

"What do you mean?" Regina said.

"Think about it. Your dream said 'You will not be released until your deepest truth is revealed.'" Emma said. Regina rolled her eyes.

"It also said that I'd be showing my truest form until then. Are you saying my truest form is a cat." She said. Emma bit her lip and tried to stifle a giggle.

"Gee Regina you don't have to be such a pussy about it." She said before falling on her back as she laughed.

"Swan. I will jump up there and claw your eyes out." Regina threatened.

"Okay, okay I'm sorry." Emma said as she wiped away her tears. "Look, tell you what. We can go and I will talk to Blue. But until then, you're gonna have to deal with living the cat life, it can be a good life, I'll take care of you pretty good."

"Well I suppose it's better than having to live on the streets." Regina rolled her eyes. "But you're not allowed to bathe me."

"Unless you're planning on licking yourself clean until we figure this out, you don't have much of a choice. I can leave the shower running for you sure, but you don't have thumbs, how are you going to use soap? Plus. I don't know but, wet fur is so not fun. Not that I have experience but I've heard things about cats. It's not like just leaving your hair to dry naturally Regina, you gotta be towel dried otherwise there might be parts of you that never dry properly and then you get fungus and that's how infections start and I really don't want to have to take you to a vet…" Emma explained. Regina cringed.

"Eugh, fine, just watch your hands." She conceded.

"Hey no offence, you're damned attractive, but what makes you think I want to fondle you as a cat?" Emma pointed out.

"Good point. Okay now what?" Regina asked.

"Well…I know you might not like this but, maybe the collar idea isn't so bad." Emma suggested.

"Swan." Regina said in warning.

"Look hear me out, okay? I've seen a dozen black cats around here okay? I get one in particular out of a tree every other week. The collar will help me know it's you. Unless you want me to lose you and get you mixed up with another black cat." Emma said.

"You'd know when I don't talk to you." Regina pointed out.

"Hey, you give me the silent treatment every now and again how am I gonna know it's not just that. Seriously, it would take me a week to realise." Emma said.

"Fine." Regina hissed through her teeth. "I suppose I don't need to tell you to keep your mouth shut about this?"

"No, you don't." Emma rolled her eyes. "You know I don't know about you Regina, but I consider you a very good friend, I would never betray your trust like that."

Regina looked at her for a moment and sighed before hopping up on the bed next to her.

"You're right, I'm sorry." She said. Emma looked at her for a moment and then instinctively reached out and scratched behind her ear.

"It's okay." She said. Regina didn't flinch, instead, she purred, an instinctual reaction rather than a pre-thought one. A moment later Regina froze, and Emma responded the same way before taking her hand away. "Sorry."

"Never talk about this." Regina said.

"Deal."

"I hate you." Regina said as they walked out of the pet shop, Regina now donning a red leather collar.

"It's bright and can be seen from far away. The purple one you wanted was too dark it wouldn't contrast well enough with your fur." Emma said.

"You practised that argument." Regina accused.

"Yeah well that's only because you're predictable enough for me to know you'd pick the purple one." Emma shot back.

"How do you even know there is a purple one?" Regina asked.

"I had to go in there last week cause the owner thought someone broke in." Emma waved off. "Long story short a parrot broke out of it's cage and broke into a sack of sunflower seeds. And the damn things were everywhere. It was kinda funny."

"It sounds pretty funny." Regina said. "Anyway, so where are we off to now?"

"To face Blue." Emma said. "Are you sure it was her?"

"For once in my life no one else had anything to hold against me." Regina said. "I'm sure."

"Well let's hope you're right cause otherwise I'm about to make a huge ass outta myself."

"Blue!" Emma called before knocking on the office door.

"Come in!" Blue called. Emma opened the door and walked in, Regina strutting in behind her. "Oh, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Hey Blue." Emma said.

"Emma, darling." Blue got up and hugged the blonde, kissing her cheek in greeting. "It's good to see you."

"Yeah I know I don't get much time for visits." Emma shrugged.

"You should make time. You know technically I'm your godmother right?" Blue pointed out. Regina scoffed, drawing Blue's attention to the cat. "Oh, is that cat yours?"

"Uhm, yeah." Emma said looking down at Regina who looked up at her.

"Go on." Regina tried to say, all Emma heard was a 'meow.' Which didn't comfort her at all. She could see Regina edging her on in her eyes.

"Actually she's the reason I'm here." Emma said awkwardly.

"Emma I'm a fairy and I do magic but I'm not a vet." Blue said sympathetically.

"No." Emma shook her head. "That's not why. See…The cat?"

"Yes?"

"It's….It's Regina." Emma dropped.

"What?" Blue asked with a laugh.

"Magic is a hell of a drug." Emma said.

"What?" Blue asked in confusion.

"What?!" Regina looked up, giving Emma a strange look. The only thing heard from the cat was a meow, but it was enough to get Blue to look down and examine the cat's features.

"I'm not sure what you mean dear, though I will admit there is a likeness the cat and the evil queen share." Blue noted.

"Say the E word again, bitch I dare you." Regina said through gritted teeth. All that reached Blue's ears was an annoyed growl.

"She appears to also share her attitude." Blue said before letting out a little giggle. "My what a phenomenon, who would be bold enough to curse the evil queen, of all people."

Regina growled again, but it was over-thrown by Emma jumping in. "Okay can we drop the E word? Regina hates it, it's disrespectful and frankly? No longer true."

"Isn't it?" Blue said, her amused smile disappearing as she crossed her arms.

"No, it's not." Emma said. "You know about as much as I do, Regina's done more than enough to redeem herself in this damn town."

"Maybe I don't." Blue said with pursed lips. "Because as far as I'm concerned she's still the same hateful bitch she's always been."

Regina was about ready to jump up and claw Blue's eyes out but Emma was a step ahead of her, stepping too far into Blue's space for the fairy to be comfortable as she backed up into her desk, still not able to get enough space from Emma.

"Look. Sparkle." The blonde said threateningly. "All I know is that Regina is cursed into being a cat, and I can understand her when we're alone and she tells me you and her had a bit of an argument yesterday and that you said some eerie shit before you left. So I'm going to say this once. Turn Regina back into a human. Now."

Regina was impressed by Emma's passion on the subject, and for once she felt proud of the blonde for holding her ground so well. She also may have felt a bit flattered by how the blonde was defending her. But that thought she'd keep to herself. Blue's features turned dark, but a smirk appeared on her face that gave Emma a little unease.

"Well you're certainly correct there, Emma." She said. "I did have an argument with Regina, and yes. I did cast that incantation to turn her into her true form. I'll be surprised though, I didn't know it would be a cat. I thought maybe something more monstrous like a venomous snake or maybe a dog, you know, to show the bitch she really is."

"The only bitch I see here is you." Emma shot back. Regina's back was curling upwards, and instinctual response to the anger building up inside of her. "Now change. Her. Back."

"Even if I could, I wouldn't." Blue said. Regina hissed before growling loudly and jumping at the fairy.

"Regina no!" Emma said, trying to catch her. But just as quickly, Blue raised a palm and with a flick, Regina was gone. "What the…What did you do?"

"I transported her out of here." Blue said with a shrug.

"Where?!" Emma demanded.

"Damned if I know." Blue shrugged again. "Somewhere around town for sure but, good luck narrowing that down. There's a hundred black cats in this town."

"Not with a red leather collar." Emma muttered under her breath.

"What?" Blue asked.

"None of your business." Emma said before rounding on Blue again, pinning her to the desk with a deathly glare. "How do I break the curse?"

"Ugh." Blue rolled her eyes. "To break the curse, Regina has to reveal her deepest truth. The thing she's been keeping hidden the most. Hell if I know what that is but knowing her it will be her undoing."

"Well I'm the only one who can understand her, which means I'm the only one who will know." Emma said.

"Yes I suppose there is that. But you'll have to find her first." Blue smirked. "Oh and Emma, I would hurry? See the curse only lasts two days. This being the first. By the stroke of midnight on the second day, she'll be a cat. Permanently."

"This isn't over." Emma sneered at her before she ran out of the door, out of the convent, and into the streets. She had to figure out how she was going to find Regina. She groaned inwardly. She also had to figure out how to explain to her mother that she lost her first pet on the first damn day.

She was freaking out.

Emma had been searching around town for three hours with no luck in finding Regina. Though the scratches on her arms and face show she found some black cats. None of them, to her annoyance, had the collar, nor the ability to talk to her. She patrolled the town in her car, stopping at every possible spot, she even used the spare key she held to Regina's mansion to see if maybe by some miracle the brunette had landed there. But no luck. For a moment she had even thought about using something with Regina's scent on it to use Pongo to track her down. But then she realised, a dog chasing down a cat was not the best idea. She had no other choice, she decided, when she walked into the shop.

"Ah, Emma, good day dear." Rumple said. Belle smiled at her from the ladder where she was dusting the shelves, which gave Emma some unease considering their story. Still, she figured a guy with a limp wasn't stable on a ladder.

"Hi Em." Belle called.

"You here to see Henry?" Rumple asked.

"Well I…" she gulped as Henry appeared.

"Hey grandpa I found these old books in a box maybe- ma?" Henry asked when he saw Emma there.

"Hey kid." Emma said as Henry came up and hugged her.

"What are you doing here?" he asked before lowering his voice. "You're not visiting me at work are you cause-"

"No." Emma shook her head. "I uh, I actually came to speak to Gold."

"Oh, how can I help?" Rumple asked.

"Uh, see I…" She hesitated in front of Henry. "Okay look I'm about to say something crazy and Belle maybe should get off the ladder and you guys need to promise to believe me and not laugh."

"Alright." Rumple said with a furrowed brow. Everyone was confused, and Henry was worried.

"Did something happen? Where's mom?" Henry asked.

"It's actually about your mom." Emma cringed. Now Henry was really worried. "Okay look, her and the blue fairy got into an argument, Blue cast a weird curse on her…now she's a cat."

"A…cat?" Henry asked slowly.

"Yeah you know, meow? Lick themselves? Get stuck in trees?" Emma said.

"Mom's stuck in a tree?" Henry said worriedly.

"No. Well…" Emma groaned inwardly. "I don't know okay, we confronted Blue, Regina got pissed off and tried to claw her eyes out, Blue transported her somewhere with magic, I can't find her, I've been looking for three hours and we're running out of time. I need to find her before something bad happens to her."

"Locator spell." Henry said immediately before turning to rumple. "Grandpa can you make one?"

"Of course, yes. I have the ingredients all in the back. Follow me." He said, leading them to the back room of the shop.

Creating the potion took only a few minutes. Which Emma was glad for, she was freaking out and taking more time was not something she wanted. Regina could have been anywhere by now.

"Do you have anything of hers?" Rumple asked Emma.

"Uhh…" Emma stammered, cursing herself for not picking up a scarf or something from the mansion. "I have her spare key, would that work?"

"Yes." Rumple nodded.

"You're the one she gave the spare key to?" Henry asked.

"Of course, I mean I'm the sheriff right if you can't trust law enforcement who can you trust?" she shrugged.

"Okay." Henry said slowly. Emma held out the key in her hand and Henry took it.

"Wait." Belle piped up, opening a drawer and grabbing a red ribbon. "You won't see the key flying around like that."

She came up to them, taking the key gently and tying the ribbon tightly through hole in the key. "There. Now you'll find it easy."

Emma scoffed a laugh before leaning down and whispering to Henry.

"I may or may not have made your mom wear a red collar to be able to pick her out easily."

Henry covered his mouth and nose as he snorted a laugh.

"She's gonna get you back for that one when she changes back." He warned.

"Worth it." Emma shrugged.

"Alright well you know what to do." Rumple said as he handed Emma the vial.

"Okay, I should go." Emma said.

"I'll go with you!" Henry said.

"No." Emma said. "I mean, I would let you but, here's the thing, the curse is weird, I'm the only one who can understand her, and I have to be alone with her otherwise all I hear is meowing."

"Oh." Henry gave her a weird look.

"I know. It's weird." Emma said. "But it's best if you stay here. If you wanna help though, you can maybe look up some stuff about transfiguration spells and how to break them."

"Okay." Henry nodded. "Hey Ma?"

"Yeah kid?" Emma asked.

"Tell mom not to be such a pussy about it." Henry said before snorting a laugh. Emma covered her mouth to suppress a laugh.

"I'm not telling her you said that but you so owe me." Emma said before leaving the shop. She looked at the key and gulped, before popping open the vial and spilling a drop on the key. It glowed, as Emma prepared herself for the run, before it levitated up and off her hand, into the air and zipped away in Regina's direction. Emma began walking behind it, speeding up to a sprint when it gained the right bearings and started moving fast.

She was pretty much staying on the sidewalk, but suddenly the key made a sharp turn down into an alley and she nearly collided in the wall when she heard a loud, angry meow and some kind of yelling.

"I said get out of here you mangy pest." Granny was yelling and swinging her broom at a cat. Emma's eyes went wide. The key had dropped to the ground and when she looked at the cat, she saw the bright red collar.

"Granny no!" Emma yelled as she ran in, swooping down and picking the cat up.

"Emma, what the hell?" Granny demanded.

"Sorry but." She panted, out of breath from her run and the fright she had when she saw the broom about to swing down on top of Regina's head. "The cat, she's mine. She got out. I'm sorry."

"Well tell her to keep away." Granny barked. "Wolves and cats don't get along too well."

"Yeah, I can see that." Emma said, mindlessly petting Regina's head gently in a form of comfort. Granny grabbed her broom and went back inside and Emma instinctively pulled Regina into a hug.

"Oh thank god I was so worried." She blurted.

"I can't believe I'm saying this Swan but I am so glad to see you." Regina said, pressing her face into Emma's side.

"Come on, I'm taking you back home." Emma said.

"Emma?" Ruby came out of the back door.

"Oh, hey Rubes." Emma sighed.

"Is that a cat?" the younger woman asked.

"Please don't try to whack her." Emma said, covering Regina's head in defense. Ruby rolled her eyes.

"I'm not crazy like granny." Ruby said. "I'm good with animals."

"Okay." Emma sighed in relief as Ruby approached her and started scratching the cat's chin.

"Hi baby." Ruby said in a cutesy voice.

"This should not feel as good as it does and it concerns me." Regina said. Emma chuckled but then froze. So did Ruby.

"Emma your cat just talked." Ruby said.

"You understood her?!" Emma asked.

"Yes. Why does your cat talk? And why does she sound like Regina." Ruby asked.

"Well…" Emma was trying to find a way out of this.

"Emma tell her. The cat is out of the bag." Regina said before groaning. Emma tried to suppress a laugh and Ruby just covered her face as she did so. "Oh ha ha. Blue turned me into a cat."

"Blue? As in the fairy?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, she's secretly a shady bitch." Emma nodded.

"Wow. Don't worry Regina, I'll spit in her tea for ya." Ruby said with a wink.

"I'm Avenged." Regina deadpanned. "My question is, how can you understand me when even Blue couldn't?

"Probably my wolf powers. Wolf powers loophole a lot of stuff." Ruby shrugged. "I can talk to animals. So you being kinda a bit of both right now must loophole the magic of the curse."

"Well I for one am relieved. Because usually, Regina and I have to be alone for me to understand her." Emma explained.

"That is weird." Ruby said.

"Not to mention aggravating. Do you have any idea what it's like only have this one to talk to?" Regina complained.

"Talk about being a pussy whisperer Em." Ruby joked. Emma lost it. Regina remained unamused.

"I would like to go home now." She deadpanned.

"Wow, you are a cat." Ruby rolled her eyes. "Live a little."

"I'll be sure to follow that sound piece of advice when I am no longer feline." Regina said in annoyance. "Seriously I thought the most dangerous thing about Granny was the grease in her burgers."

"You should see her with a crossbow." Ruby pointed out.

"Wonderful I'll make a note to never do that." Regina said with a nod. "Emma, home. Now. Please."

"Wow she said please." Ruby said in awe. "Way to train her Ems."

"I will claw your eyes out." Regina threatened.

"Oh please." Emma waved her off. "You're scared of a broom."

"Swan." Regina warned.

"Yeah yeah keep your collar on." Emma said.

"You know, that would be kinky if she weren't a cat." Ruby pointed at the red leather strap around Regina's neck.

"Oh please. If anything Emma would be wearing the collar." Regina said. Ruby chuckled.

"I can see that." She nodded.

"Gross." Emma groaned. "Okay, I gotta take her majesty home. Rubes, please don't tell anyone?"

"Wolf's honour." Ruby said while holding up three fingers. Emma smiled and thanked her before she turned away. They had only just rounded the corner and were stepping away from the diner when they heard "What's new pussycat" blaring from the diner's jukebox and Emma had to stop walking so she could laugh without tripping over herself. She didn't stop until Regina tried to scratch her.

"Okay. Home sweet home." Emma sighed. "I'm sorry for what I'm about to do."

"Why what are you about to do?" Regina asked. Emma took a deep breath as she opened the door and buried her face in Regina's fur.

"Aren't you just the cutest widdle kitty yes you are." She gushed as she walked in. Snow looked up from Neal with a smile on her face.

"Aww look at that." She said. "You two have a fun day out?"

"Yep." Emma grinned.

"Oh sweetie did she scratch you?" Snow said, noticing the scratch on Emma's face from another cat.

"No, uhm. There was another cat at the pet shop and uh he was gonna pounce Salem so I shooed him off of her and he scratched me." Emma lied.

"Aww." Snow said as she approached them and started scratching behind Regina's ear. "Did a mean widdle kitty try to make you his girlfriend?"

Emma had to stifle a laugh.

"You tell that boy he's got a lot of work to do to get a cat like you yes he does." Snow gushed over the cat. "Aww is that a red leather collar?"

"Yeah." Emma nodded.

"It's cute, matches your jacket." Snow said. "Kinda like a buddy cop thing? If she talked you two would be a regular TV show duo."

"You don't say." Regina hummed, all that was heard was a low meow as she looked up at Emma who smiled at her.

"I'm gonna take Salem up to my room, I think she wants a nap." Emma said.

"Cats do sleep a lot." Snow nodded. "Oh by the way have you seen Regina at all today?"

"Uh." Emma cringed before she turned to look at her mother. "No, why?"

"Well I tried calling her to see if she was interested in having lunch. She works too much I thought maybe she could use a break." Snow shrugged. "But she didn't pick up her phone."

"Uhhm." Emma shrugged. "Maybe she had a meeting?"

"For three hours?" Snow asked.

"Being the mayor is busy work mom, cut her some slack." Emma said.

"You have a point. Maybe I can call her later tonight and see if she'd like to join us for dinner." Snow suggested.

"Maybe, but hey it's possible she's just looking for a quiet night. I kinda promised to keep Henry, by the way." Emma lied again.

"That's fine. Is she okay?" Snow asked in concern.

"She's just a little cat-caught up in all the work that's been backlogged thanks to the latest magical mishap." Emma shrugged. "Paperwork and stuff. I should know I'm behind on those budget reports myself."

"Hmm, fair point." Snow shrugged. "I just don't want her to isolate herself again you know?"

"Trust me, that won't happen." Emma said.

"Run up stairs before she talks again this is getting painful." Regina said even though she knew nothing would be understood. But Emma utilised the mewl regardless.

"Oops, someone's getting cranky." Emma lied. "Come on Salem."

She ran up the stairs before Snow had a chance to say another word, which both women were thankful for. Emma sighed as she dropped Regina on the bed and followed suite, sitting on the edge and dropping backwards to half lay down herself.

"What a day." She groaned.

"Tell me about it." Regina said as she spun in a circle on the mattress before curling up.

"Did you just…" Emma scoffed a laugh. "That was seriously cute."

"Don't get used to it." Regina sighed. "All we need to do is figure out a way to get me back."

"Easier said than done." Emma frowned. "Blue said the only way to do that was to reveal your deepest secret."

"What does that even mean?" Regina asked.

"I think it might mean the deepest secret you're currently hiding." Emma said. "Like, maybe this morning it was that you pee in the shower but now after we were apart for three hours it could be that you ate a mouse cause you were hungry."

"So it's relative?" Regina asked.

"I guess so." Emma shrugged.

"Ugh." Regina groaned.

"What's one thing you've hidden from absolutely everyone?" Emma asked.

"Emma…" Regina warned.

"Well do you wanna be a cat forever?" Emma demanded.

"Woah." Regina reacted. "What's got you in a twist."

Emma sighed and sat up, shrugging off her jacket and kicking off her boots.

"Look." She sighed again. "Blue…before I left she told me this thing only lasts two days."

"And then it wares off?" Regina asked.

"No." Emma shook her head. "Then, on the stroke of midnight on the second night, you become a cat forever."

"What?" Regina demanded.

"It's what she told me." Emma shrugged and dropped her head. "I don't want that to happen."

"Imagine how I feel!" Regina said as she sat up.

"Which is why I'm trying to get you to talk to me!" Emma shot back almost angrily. "The only two people you can talk to is me and Ruby, Ruby is a total coincidence."

"Maybe that's it." Regina said, her ears perking up.

"You're insanely cute." Emma deadpanned.

"Stop it. Look the only way the curse can be broken is by me revealing my deepest truth, yeah?" Regina said.

"Yeah." Emma nodded.

"So maybe, maybe the only reason I can talk to you isn't because you're the saviour, maybe it's because…" Regina furrowed her brow.

"Regina?" Emma edged on.

"Maybe it's because my deepest secret is somehow connected to you…" Regina trailed off. "So I have to admit it to you before I can turn back."

"Ah." Emma nodded. "That would make sense."

"And it would follow the pattern of annoyingness that these curses generally come with." Regina huffed. "Seriously why is it always midnight?"

"Well maybe cause midnight is like a refresh button for the universe." Emma shrugged.

"What?" Regina asked.

"Think about it, when you look at a clock, unless you're looking at a 12 hour not a 24 hour clock. But if you look at a 24 hour clock. Midnight isn't even 24hundred on the clock. It's all zeroes." Emma said.

"Where's your head going with this?" Regina asked.

"Maybe…maybe the stroke of midnight is like…I don't know…A moment in time where nothing means anything. Where it's just the universe floating in timelessness for that one moment. And then it starts up again." Emma hypothesised.

"Emma that might have just been the smartest thing you ever said." Regina said as she looked at her.

"Thanks." Emma chuckled as she rolled over onto her back again. "Look I'm the only one who can understand you anyway, unless Ruby is in the vicinity which we know she's not."

"Yeah." Regina nodded.

"Whatever you tell me will be kept in confidence between us. I won't ever tell anyone, and I sure as hell won't use it against you." Emma said. "I promise."

"Another family member of yours promised me something once." Regina sighed.

"Yeah, well I'm not my mother." Emma said. "And I'm not ten, either. A promise is a promise. For the longest time in my life my word of honour was the only valuable thing I had. So I kind of hold it to a high standard."

Regina sighed and nodded.

"Okay, but does it have to be now? I'm tired." She said.

"No, it's okay. You wanna take a nap?" Emma asked.

"Yes please." Regina nodded as she laid her head down.

"Me too." Emma agreed. "Come here take the other side of my bed."

"Thank you." Regina sighed and moved before dropping down parallel to Emma. "You're being really kind with all of this."

"Regina you're my friend, you think I'd really let you wander in this thing alone?" Emma asked.

"I wouldn't totally blame you if you did." Regina sighed. "I did some horrible things."

"Yeah? Well you also did some pretty damn good things." Emma said, running a hand gently along the fur on Regina's back. "You're a hero in my books Regina, forget what that shady fairy says."

"Can I ask you something without making this weird?" Regina asked.

"Of course." Emma said.

"Will you keep petting me till I fall asleep? I don't know if it's the cat anatomy or whatever but…That feels really good." Regina said, a purr emanating under her words. Emma smiled at her.

"Sure."

When she stirred awake, Emma was hugging a small furry creature. When she had blinked the sleep out of her eyes and regained full consciousness, she realised it was Regina. She thought about moving her away, but decided against it. Her dark head was cuddled right into Emma's chest, and as strange as it should have felt, it didn't. It felt…nice, holding her like that, even if she was a cat at the moment. But she was warm and comfortable and it felt nice to hold someone in bed for once, even that 'someone' was a cat. It felt odd, having Regina so close. And for a moment she wondered what it would be like to have her next to her in human form. But then she shook her head. There was no way she could go there, and it especially felt weird when Regina was in such a vulnerable position. It felt wrong.

She turned over on her back and Regina, still asleep, actually got up and sat on her chest before curling up on her chest and going back to being completely still except for her light breathing. Emma chuckled, Regina was damned cute as a cat.

"Emma?" her mom knocked on the door. She peeked in and came in further when she saw that Emma was awake. "Aww look at that."

"Yeah I…kinda don't wanna move…don't wanna wake her up." Emma said, gently stroking the top of Regina's head, getting her to purr.

"Aww." Snow scratched her back, a bit too low towards her butt which made Regina suddenly jolt upright and give Snow a death glare. Snow looked at the cat in surprise as she walked off of Emma's chest but sat down right next to her, looking at her as if she were waiting. "Oh…I'm sorry kitty I didn't mean to disturb you."

She reached over to try and pet her again, but Regina glared at her in a way that made Snow hesitate.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say this cat was Regina." Snow said, giving up on trying to pet the cat.

"Ahaha…" Emma laughed nervously. "Nah, she just…similar…qualities?"

"Well that would explain why you two get on so well." Snow said casually.

"What?" Emma asked.

"Well think about it Emma, you and Regina are the best of friends! Sure the getting there has been difficult but…" Snow shrugged before a small smile came up on her face. "Honestly if I didn't know any better I'd say you two were a match made in heaven…Hell sometimes, anyone who wouldn't know you two as well as I do would say you're married."

Emma blinked blankly at her mother, Regina holding the same expression.

"Are you crazy?" Regina asked, it just came out as a meow, but she got her point across. Snow stood up.

"Oh don't mind me, anyway, what do you think I should make for dinner? Henry will be coming over…I tried to call Regina but she didn't pick up…" Snow frowned.

"Maybe she was resting?" Emma asked, trying not to sound obvious…Technically, she was telling the truth.

"I'm worried about her…maybe you should go check on her?" Snow asked.

"Mom I'm sure she wouldn't want to be bothered." Emma said, Snow gave her an unsure look and she knew she wasn't going to drop this. She sat up, reaching for her boots. "You know what, you're right. I'll go over to her house and make sure she's okay."

"Tell her she's welcome to come over for dinner if she would like to." Snow reminded her with a smile. "You're such a good friend sweetie."

"Yeah, well." Emma grunted as she leaned down way to low to tie her boots up before standing up, grabbing her jacket. "She did actually save my life a couple of times so, least I could do is go over there and make sure she has a proper meal."

"Well, you're still doing the right thing, I'm proud of you honey." Snow kissed her cheek and Emma groaned.

"Moom!"

"Is it not going to get suspicious if you just carry me around everywhere?" Regina asked once in Emma's car. "And can you put my seatbelt on please?"

"I…" Emma sighed, wondering just how that was going to work. But Regina looked at her expectantly and she decided it was better to not argue. She strapped Regina in, leaning over her a little. The lower part of the seatbelt was still loose, so she played around with it until it was covering Regina, not paying attention to which part of her anatomy she was touching.

"Woah! Emma!" Regina chided.

"What, oh." Emma turned a deep shade of red. "Sorry."

She made sure Regina was strapped in properly, not really looking at her before she bolted upright into her seat, silently putting on her own seatbelt and starting the car.

Emma remained silent, and Regina just looked around the car for a little bit to try and distract herself or find something mindless to talk about.

"This car smells worse as a cat." She remarked.

"Sorry." Emma said quickly, instead of her usual defense of her precious car. Her cheeks were still tinted pink.

"Emma…" Regina tried gently.

"Don't wanna talk about it." Emma said quickly.

"I know it was an accident." Regina said softly.

"Cool." Emma waved off. Regina rolled her eyes.

"Your hand are very cold, you should get a pair of gloves." Regina suggested.

"Sorry." Emma said again.

"Not because of that." Regina would have shrugged if she could. "But it's not good for your skin to have such cold hands. You should wear gloves."

"Huh, guess I don't have any." Emma thought.

"You've lived here for years how have you not bought gloves?" Regina asked. Emma shrugged.

"Never bothered." She said. "Anyway, think up a story to tell mom to get her off your back."

"Just tell her Robin was over." Regina said.

"What?" Emma looked at her suddenly before looking back to the road.

"What?" Regina said. "Snow doesn't know we're not seeing each other anymore."

"Y-y-you're not?" Emma asked.

"No…" Regina looked down for a moment.

"But I thought he was…you know your-"

"I know." Regina sighed. "But I think that became null and void when he actually left storybrooke. No magic to hold up the fairy dust's enchantment means…no happy ending for me."

"Well, not with him anyway." Emma said. "I don't think you should give up just because he didn't turn out to be what you expected."

"You really think I have a chance?" Regina looked at her, her dark eyes reflecting the dim light in the car. Winter meant it got dark early, there was an atmosphere in the car Emma couldn't put her finger on, but as she slowed at a stop sign and looked at Regina, something tugged at her heartstrings.

"I do…" Emma said sincerely. "I wish I knew with who…I would tell you in a heartbeat…Regina I don't think you understand but…I really do want you to be happy…I hate seeing you lose time and time again…I know it's not affecting me, if you were anyone else I wouldn't care but…I hate watching you get hurt."

"I…" Regina's voice cracked a little and she had to swallow a lump that had formed in her throat. "Thank you, Emma…That…that means a lot actually."

"You're my friend Regina I…I think you're my best friend actually…or at least the closest thing to it." Emma said, looking back at the road to finish their aimless trip.

"What about Ruby?" Regina asked. Emma sighed.

"Ruby's great and all but…she doesn't get the things I've been through, not like you do. You and I…we're more alike than we care to admit I guess." Emma sighed. "We have this understanding for each other, we share a son…a history, no matter how fucked it might be."

"You're right." Regina nodded. "And despite how many times I genuinely thought about murdering you…I don't trust anyone else in this town, except Henry, as much as I trust you…So I guess that makes you my best friend."

"Gee thanks." Emma chuckled before looking at Regina. They sat in silence for a moment, both silently hoping Regina would change into a human again, only to be left disappointed when nothing happened.

"Can I ask you a favour?" Regina asked.

"Of course." Emma said gently.

"Can we go to my place so you can grab me a change of clothes? If I'm going to be at your place…Well I don't know what's going to happen when I turn back and I would like to have a set of clothes there just in case." Regina asked.

"Sure." Emma nodded.

They drove to Regina's house, the brunette feeling strange at how big the house looked from her new level.

"I have a spare key under the-" Regina began.

"No need." Emma said, pulling out her set of house and car keys and finding the one marked with a purple rubber key cover she had used earlier to find Regina and using it to open the door. Regina looked up at her in slight awe. "What? You gave me this in case of emergencies."

"I know I just…you keep it on you?" Regina asked. Emma shrugged awkwardly.

"In case of emergencies means you'd need me to get here as fast as possible, having to go back home to get the key would just work against that." Emma said. It was the logical thing to do, Regina knew that…so why did it feel so…flattering?

"Okay well, we have to go upstairs." Regina said. Emma flicked on the lights and picked her up.

"I got you." She said as she began to climb the stairs.

"You know I can do this myself." Regina said.

"I know I just…" She stopped for a second. "When I was a kid I saw this cat slip down the stairs once in one of my foster homes…She bumped her head and started getting weird epileptic fits…they had to put her down."

"And you're worried I might slip?" Regina asked.

"It's the claws." Emma poked one of her paws lightly. "They don't do well with floorboards, you don't wanna scratch up your oak do you?"

Something told Regina it wasn't the oak Emma was worried about, but she gave her the best smirk her cat form would allow her and let the matter be.

"Okay." Emma said as she walked into Regina's room and flicked on the lights. The bed was unmade since she left that morning. "Oh, I got it."

Emma began fixing up her sheets and made the bed perfectly before picking Regina up and gently setting her down on the mattress.

"Are you okay?" Regina asked. Emma looked at her and shrugged.

"I'm fine, I'm not the one who's a cat." Emma chuckled. "So where do you want me to look for your clothes?"

"Pick something out of the closet." Regina gestured by lifting a paw to direct Emma. Emma walked in, turning on the lights and looking at all the neatly organised dresses and sensible pant-suits.

"You have this organised by hues" Emma said in awe. "I'm lucky if I put my jackets on one side and my shirts on the other."

"I had a lot of free time before I adopted Henry." Regina said, relaxing on the bed. "Please try to keep it in order."

"I got you." Emma said. Regina sighed. Either Emma's behaviour was making her heart race, or she was having a kitty cardiac arrest. But considering she knew the symptoms of a human one, she'd have to chalk it down to the former. She sighed, something about having the blonde in this room felt so…intimate…and yet she wasn't nervous or uncomfortable in the least.

"You okay in there?" Regina called.

"Yeah, I'm coming out!" Emma said.

"About time…" Regina teased. Emma looked at her from the door with wide eyes.

"What?" she asked suddenly, her face reddening.

"It was a…joke." Regina looked at her suspiciously. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm gay-good I'm good." Emma said too quickly and Regina's ears perked up. Emma came back out with a modest navy blue dress and one of her suits, holding them out for Regina to see. "Which do you want?"

"Ooh, that dress is a favourite." Regina thought. "Go with that."

"Okay." Emma said, carefully laying out the dress on the bed before returning the suit to it's proper place in the wardrobe and stepping back out. "Anything else?"

"I need…uhm." Regina looked down, and Emma was sure this was the closest she'd ever get to seeing a cat actually blush. "Underwear."

"Oh…" Emma was blushing too. "Okay."

"If you don't want to…" Regina began.

"No it's okay." Emma said. "I got you Regina."

"Thank you…" Regina said softly. Emma gently patted her head before going over to the dresser

"Top?" Emma asked.

"Depends on the partner I guess." Regina joked. Emma looked at her with wide eyes. "Yes top drawer Emma, do try to relax please?"

"Sorry…" Emma mumbled. She gulped when she opened the drawer and was hit the stark realisation that Regina Mills had a huge love of lacy underwear. "Any uhm…favourites?"

Regina didn't miss how Emma's voice trembled. "Just make sure they match?"

"D-does it matter?" Emma asked.

"If they're too lightly coloured they might show through the dress Emma." Regina said.

"Oh." Emma sighed in relief, her body was trembling and she wasn't sure if it was because she felt nervous or because she was picturing Regina in black lacy underwear in her bedroom and oh my god I cannot die right now.

"There's the black set? The bra has thin straps, won't show through the dress." Regina said. Emma picked up the first black set she saw and held the bra out with two pinched fingers like she was afraid it was poisonous.

"These?" she asked nervously.

"They won't bite Emma." Regina smirked. "Not much anyway."

"Regina please…" Emma sighed. Regina's ears perked and she had to suppress a purr at how that sound made her feel.

"Yes, those are the ones." She said softly. Emma made quick work of grabbing the matching panties and placing them down on top of the dress.

"Shoes?" Emma asked.

"There should be the black pumps somewhere in the shoe rack in the closet." Regina explained. Emma walked in and sighed in exasperation. "What?"

"Three pairs of black pumps? Among the many other designs in here…I'm pretty sure your closet holds more worth than what I make in a year, madame mayor. I want a raise." Emma complained.

"Get me out of this cat form, you'll get one, happy?" Regina asked.

"Yes." Emma said.

"Good, now don't get the open toed ones, you need the ones closer to the door, they're the more comfortable ones, the others are higher, more formal." Regina explained. Emma was able to find the right ones, thankfully.

"A pump is a pump is a pump." Emma said. "At least, in my closet it is."

"Yes well you didn't serve as mayor for 30 years." Regina quipped.

"Who's fault is that?" Emma teased. Regina rolled her eyes.

"Just be careful not to crease the dress, please?" Regina asked.

"I got it." Emma said, carefully folding the dress as if it were made of gold. Regina didn't miss how she folding the underwear into it so that she wouldn't have to touch it again. She rolled her eyes as she stood up.

"Hang on." Emma said, carefully picking up the folded dress and tucking it under her arm, picking the shoes up with one hand and Regina with the other.

"Emma, you're going to lose your balance." Regina warned.

"No, I'm not." Emma said "I got this, just don't make sudden movements."

Regina kept as still as possible until Emma reached the bottom of the stairs and set her down gently.

"There." The blonde gave her a soft smile. Regina rolled her eyes.

"Get that smug smile off your face." She said. "Now come on, and tell me what story you're going to tell Snow, if I'm going to have rumours spread about me, they need to be good ones."

"My mother doesn't spread rumours, Regina." Emma rolled her eyes.

"I'd rather not risk it." Regina said. "Are you going with the Robin story?"

"Sure, why not." Emma shrugged. "I'll say you came down to answer the door in a silky little robe and messed up hair and the biggest grin on your face because you had just had the best sex ever-"

"Hardly…" Regina muttered.

"What was that?" Emma asked.

"Let's just say that it didn't take long for me to realise he wasn't my happy ending after he couldn't…you know…give me a happy ending…" Regina said.

"Damn." Emma shook her head.

"The constant smell of pine didn't help." Regina said as Emma lifted her onto the seat of the car. The blonde placed the clothes in the back seat before she climbed into the driver's seat and clipped on her seatbelt.

"Well none of that is information my mother needs, and she won't get it either so don't worry." Emma said as she put the key in the ignition and the car roared to life.

"Ugh, if I thought this deathtrap sounded horrible usually, it sounds even worse with extra sensitive ears." Regina complained. Emma rolled her eyes.

"Why do you hate my car?" Emma asked.

"It's loud, ugly, garish, and frankly considering how old it looks, I doubt it reaches modern safety standards." Regina pointed out. Emma rolled her eyes.

"You're one to talk miss created a town in the 80s and hasn't changed her car since." Emma said. "Like seriously, the least you could have done for yourself when the curse broke was go out and get a lexus or something nice."

"Well excuse me if car shopping took a back burner to not getting murdered by the whole town." Regina sighed. "God, what has my life become?"

"A fairy tale?" Emma said with a shit eating grin. Regina glared at her.

"Sleep with one eye open Swan." She warned.

"Oh please." Emma waved off as she pulled out of Regina's driveway. "Like any threat you make to me holds any weight."

"Excuse me?" Regina said. Emma sighed.

"Look not to go all sappy on you or anything, Regina, but…" Emma chanced a glance at the cat. "We've been through too much."

"What do you mean?" Regina asked, padding around with her paws before she dropped her upper body down into a more comfortable position.

"Think about it." Emma said. "Henry, the curse breaking, your mom, Neverland, your sister…two of three of your relatives have both tried to kill me at least twice, you tried to kill me a couple of times too, though to be fair one of those was the evil queen when I jumped in the past…"

"Yeah, nice work there, Princess Leia." Regina chuckled.

"You remember that?" Emma asked.

"I mean it's altered memories but yes, you play with the past it affects the present and future." Regina did a weird shrug like movement that did not look or feel right in cat form.

"Well my point still stands." Emma said.

"What was your point, to begin with?" Regina asked curiously, seeing as Emma never got there.

"We've come a long way." Emma said.

"Hmm, I suppose we have." Regina said thoughtfully. Emma had been expecting a further response, but Regina had just sat there quietly until they got back to the loft. She barely realised until Emma cut the car's engine and her ears perked up at the sudden lack of noise.

"You okay?" Emma asked.

"Fine." Regina said. Emma looked at her thoughtfully for a moment before nodding and getting out of the car. She moved to the back, picking up the former queen's clothes. She stopped to think for a moment, Regina's eyes on her curiously before she reached over for an old rucksack she kept in the car, gently placing the clothes and shoes inside of it before she shouldered it.

"What's that about?" Regina asked when Emma came around to the passenger's side of the car to pick her up.

"You don't think my mom will suspect something's up when I walk in holding your dress and shoes?" Emma asked.

"Fair point." Regina nodded.

"Not to mention your underwear." Emma chuckled.

"You've made your case, Ms. Swan." Regina said.

"Psht." Emma scoffed.

"What?"

"Ms. Swan is so behind us." Emma said. "Like I said, we've been through too much…kind of feels weird hearing you say it."

"It felt a little weird saying it, to be honest." Regina said. "It feels like I haven't said it in three years."

"You kind of haven't." Emma said.

"Has it really been that long?" Regina asked.

"Yeah, give or take." Emma shrugged. "Feels like it was just yesterday huh?"

"Yeah." Regina said.

"Okay, ixnay on the chit chat till we get to my room." Emma said as they climbed up the last half of the flight of stair that lead to the loft before she opened the door to see her mother walking around and cradling her little brother.

"Oh hello sweetie." Snow said quietly.

"Sleeping?" Emma whispered. Snow nodded. Emma nodded back and made her a signal that she was going upstairs before doing so quietly. She entered her room and closed the door, letting out a relieved sigh. "Little bro's having my back and he doesn't even know it yet."

"Huh." Regina hummed as Emma put her down on the bed.

"Yeah, so thanks to distraction codename baby charming…" Emma chuckled.

"You're as ridiculous as Henry with the code names." Regina rolled her eyes.

"His are better." Emma shrugged. "Probably gets the creative side from you."

"How do you figure?" Regina asked, tilting her head slightly. Emma looked at her and couldn't help but smile.

"You're so damn cute in cat form." She said instead. "And it's because…well…I don't know you seem to be culturally into all that stuff, the arts, music, whatever."

"I am." Regina said. Emma shrugged.

"Good influence around Henry helped spark his creative side." She said, finishing off her point.

"Well, I suppose you'd be right about that." Regina said.

"You know, dark curse and evil queen aside…" Emma said as she sat on the bed and started untying her boots. "I couldn't have really asked any better for the kid."

"You mean…in parent choices?" Regina asked curiously. Emma nodded as she looked up at her.

"You're a good mom, Regina." She shrugged. "You know when you're not cursing untold millions."

Regina scoffed a laugh. "Well thank you, Emma."

"No big deal." Emma waved off.

"Speaking of our son." Regina looked up at Emma. "Where is he?"

"Last I saw he was at work." Emma said. "But he knows what happened, so he knows to come here tonight."

"He must be worried sick." Regina sighed.

"He was, but I calmed him down, he wanted to come along but…if I can't understand you then I can't help you so…" Emma shrugged. "It sucked telling him he couldn't come."

"I can imagine." Regina laid down on the bed. Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

"Yeah mom?" Emma said before Snow walked in quietly, as if she were sneaking in. She shut the door silently and sighed.

"Finally asleep." She said with a smile. "How's Regina?"

"Fine, just tired from work." Emma shrugged. "She said she's sorry she missed your calls, but she was in two back to back meetings when you first called and she was in the shower the second time."

"Oh…Did you tell her she's invited to dinner?" Snow asked. Emma sighed.

"Yes, and she said thank you, but she'd have to take a rain check because she was done with people for the day, frankly I don't blame her. People show up with the stupidest shit at her office sometimes." The blonde said. Regina had to hold back from nodding to not freak Snow out. Snow frowned.

"I'm just worried about her." Snow shrugged.

"Lady's entitled to a private life, mom." Emma shrugged. "Who knows, maybe Robin is coming over tonight and that's why she wanted me to have Henry."

Good cover. Regina thought.

"Well, that would be unlikely since they're not together anymore." Snow shrugged.

"What?" Emma asked, Regina's eyes widened. There goes their cover.

"Did you not know?" Snow asked. Emma didn't know what to say because yes she knew but she had just used it as a cover so she had to lie.

"I…guess not." She shrugged.

"That's why I'm so worried about her." Snow explained. "I think she's given up on ever finding love, Emma, and that's a horrible thing to experience."

"Mom…" Emma began slowly but her mother went on.

"I just don't want her to isolate herself, she needs support and she needs to know we care about her." Snow went on. Emma sighed because she knew her mom was right but Regina was right there and it felt weird and wrong to lie to her mother like this but it was for Regina's sake and somehow in her mind that was the only thing that mattered.

"Look let's leave her alone for tonight and I'll go talk to her again in the morning to make sure she's okay, how's that?" the blonde reasoned. Snow sighed sadly but nodded.

"Okay." She said. "Dinner's almost ready, your father told me he was picking Henry up from work before they came here, they shouldn't be long okay?"

"I'll be down soon." Emma said. Snow nodded and smiled at her before walking out of the room. Emma waited till she could hear her footsteps fading and then sighed.

"Wow." Regina sighed. "That was painful."

"Tell me about it." Emma sighed again. "Guess your break up wasn't so subtle."

"Ugh…perfect." Regina groaned.

"But at least you know my mom cares about you." Emma teased.

"Shut up." The former queen sighed in frustration.

"Don't worry, we'll figure this out soon enough." Emma instinctively scratched behind the older woman's ears. Regina tried not to purr but it was impossible.

"I shouldn't be enjoying this." She grumbled.

"You know, you're allowed to enjoy yourself, even if it is a little weird." Emma said with a shrug. "Cats like to be petted, it's just anatomy."

"They also like to lick themselves." Regina argued.

"Well a line has to be drawn somewhere." Emma said with a chuckle. A small grumbling could be heard. "Woah, was that you?"

"Yes. I'm starving, the only thing I've had to eat today was literally a can of tuna." Regina complained.

"Oh god, you're right…I didn't know it was you then." Emma said. "Don't worry, mom makes huge portions all the time, I can never really finish a full meal."

"That's good because…" Regina sniffed the air. "Whatever she made smells amazing."

"After that, you have to come to dinner when you're human again." Emma teased. "I'm sorry all I can promise are leftovers."

"You're doing the best you can with this situation." Regina reasoned. "The fact that you're even trying is good enough for me."

"What are friends for." Emma petted her head again with a smile.

"Mom!" Henry called suddenly. There were hasty footsteps up the iron stairs.

"Don't run up the stairs…" Regina sighed. Emma stood and opened the door.

"Kid quit running up the stairs." She said. Henry stopped halfway up, giving Emma a weird look. She rolled her eyes and beckoned him into the room. He followed and looked between Emma and the black cat sitting on top of the bed.

"Is that…her?" he asked.

"Yes." Emma said.

"Mom?" Henry said quietly to the cat. Regina tried to greet him, but all he heard was a soft 'meow.' "Oh man…I really can't understand you."

"Yeah I can't either." Emma sighed. "I'm sorry kid."

"It's okay…" Henry said, looking to Emma and then back to Regina. "We'll figure this out mom. I promise."

Regina waved her paw at him, beckoning him closer. He smiled at her and picked her up, hugging her tightly.

"You have really soft fur." He chuckled, nuzzling into her. Regina positioned her paws so that she could reciprocate the hug as best she could in her current state. He began sniffling.

"Henry…" Emma tried to comfort him, thinking he was crying. "It's gonna be okay."

"No it's not that it's…Ah…AH-CHOO." Suddenly, Henry let out the most violent sneeze either of his mothers had ever heard.

"Woah." Emma said, a hand on her son's shoulder and another poised to catch Regina if she fell. "What was that?"

"Gold's shop is super dusty I must have…Ah…Ah…AH-CHOO." He sneezed again, his hand covering his mouth. Emma picked up a couple of tissues from the box on her nightstand and passed them to him. "Thanks."

"You've been working there for a couple of months now you've never been this bad…" Emma said, concern painted on her face. "You sure you're not coming down with a bug?"

She started feeling his forehead for a temperature.

"I'm fine, ma." Henry said. Regina moved closer and nuzzled him a little comfortingly. He smiled and nuzzled her back but then…

"Oh no….ah-AH CHOO!" he sneezed into the balled up tissues in his hand. Emma's face moved from concern to painful realisation.

"Henry…" Emma said slowly. "I…I think you're allergic to cats."

"What?" He chuckled and shook his head. "No ma I'm fine…seriously look."

He pressed his face into Regina's fur for a couple of seconds, inhaling deeply before pulling away.

"See, I'm f-AH-CHOO….AH-CHOO…AH-CHOO" Regina jumped out of his arms and onto the bed and Emma placed a few tissues over his face, cringing when she felt the snot soak them.

"Kid…" she sighed.

"I…I can't believe this…" he said sadly, looking from Regina to Emma with a frown. "I'm allergic to my own mother."

"It's okay…we'll figure this out and get her back and then I promise you can hug her for a year if you want…She won't mind." His blonde mother tried to give him a smile. But he just sighed, giving Regina a sad look. She returned it and Emma's heart broke ten times over at the exchange in front of her.

"Go change out of your suit before dinner huh?" she rubbed his shoulder comfortingly.

"Okay." He sighed, sulking out of the room and into his. Emma closed the door behind him and turned around to see Regina falling onto her side sadly.

"My son is allergic to me." She sighed.

"This isn't permanent." Emma reminded her as she sat down on the bed again.

"I know…I just…" Regina sighed sadly again and Emma couldn't take it anymore, so she picked the cat up off the bed and hugged her tightly. "What are you doing?"

"The best that I can with this situation." Emma sighed. "And he's right you're crazy soft."

"Thank you, I think the treatment I give my hair has somehow migrated into my fur." Regina commented before sighing again. "This feels…strangely enough…really nice."

"I'm an awesome hugger. Fact." Emma said with a smirk. Regina rolled her eyes and used her paw to push away from the blonde.

"I wish I could talk to him." She said, looking towards the door.

"I know this sucks." Emma said. "Like…really sucks..."

"Eloquent, dear." Regina rolled her eyes.

"But we'll get through this, like we got through any other kind of bullshit the universe decided to throw at us…together." Emma said.

"You're right." Regina said after a moment. "Thank you, Emma."

"For what?" Emma raised a brow at the former queen.

"For…" Regina sighed. "For not letting me give up even when that's all I wanted to do."

"Savior Swan, at your service." Emma gave a mock-salute and Regina rolled her eyes.

"That doesn't apply to me." She shook her head.

"Like hell it doesn't." Emma rebutted. "This whole heroes and villains thing is bullshit, Regina. It's just a load of crap that adults came up with god knows when to try and stop their kids from being bad people."

"You do know who you're talking to, yes?" Regina tried. Emma shook her head.

"So what? You killed people. Not that that's a good thing, by any means. But my mom killed yours, my dad killed soldiers in fights, Ruby too, Widow Lucas has a crossbow, for fuck's sake, you think she didn't use it? There's an endless…plethora of sketchy and questionable shit that's gone down every which goddamn way in that book. The world isn't black and white. Heroes and villains aren't a thing. There's nothing that separates you from anyone else in this town. So you did some bad shit, so what? You did some damned good shit too. You saved my life quite a few times, You could have let my dad die when mom enacted the curse to bring you back, you didn't. You could have taken advantage of the situation and killed her too. You didn't. You helped them instead. You're not a bad person. You're not the evil queen, not anymore. You're Regina goddamned Mills and you deserve a happy ending."

Emma took a couple of breaths because she'd just gone on a tirade and Regina was genuinely stunned.

"Wow…" Regina said. "Feel good to get that off your chest?"

"Yeah." Emma sighed. "Was it worth anything?"

"It was worth a lot, actually." Regina said. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me until you're human again." Emma said, petting her head gently. "For now, let's go have dinner."

The blonde picked Regina up into her arms and left the room, going down stairs to see her father setting the table.

"Hey…" David looked up at her. "When did we get a cat?"

"Oh she's Emma's." Snow said with a grin. "I found her on the street and wanted to keep her but then she told me she's never had a pet so…"

Her mother finished off with a shrug and Emma gave her dad a nervous smile.

"Yup." She pet the cat gently. David came up to her with a smile.

Aww, she's cute." He said, petting the cats head. He leaned down, scratching her cheeks lightly and suddenly changed his tone to a baby-voice. "Who's a cute widdle puddy cat? You…yes you are…yes you are."

"This is weird." Emma said, noticing, unlike her father, that the cat looked disturbed and horrified.

"You're telling me." Regina tried to say, but all that came out was a meow which didn't help the situation, because now David was trying to communicate with her in that medium.

"Meow." He mocked, a little too high pitched for anyone's comfort. "Meee-ow."

"Okay." Emma pulled the cat away. "Stop traumatising me and my cat, please."

"Aww come on I was just playing with her." David chuckled.

"Honey, leave the cat alone." Snow chuckled. "Hand me the plates."

David listened to his wife, to Emma and Regina's relief. Emma stepped away for a moment and held Regina up to look at her.

"I am really sorry about that." She whispered. Regina flicked her paw to show her it was okay and Emma put her down on the couch before she turned to Snow. "Hey mom is it okay if we save some leftovers for Salem? I forgot to pick up cat food at the pet shop."

"Oh sure sweetie." Snow said with a smile. Emma grinned at her and turned to Regina, who seemed to be trying to smile at her in thanks. "Could you call Henry down for dinner?"

"Sure." Emma nodded, moving to call her son from the stairs.

"Your mother makes very good pork chops." Regina said, padding around on the mattress before she dropped herself down on the bed with a slight groan at her over-full belly. She had been starving and Snow had given her every edible morsel that was left after everyone had their fill. Emma wasn't kidding about the large portions, and for a moment Regina wondered if she ever got out of the habit of feeding seven dwarves who could consume ten times their weight in meat and ale. Looking back at the amount of food that was cooked tonight, she figured, not so much.

"Yeah." Emma said, picking up a few tissues from the box on the nightstand. "I'm sorry my dad dumped basically the whole gravy boat into your plate though."

Emma knelt up on the bed, leaning over Regina a bit and cupping her chin to lift it up before she began wiping her face with the soft tissues.

"Miss Swan, what do you think you're doing?" Regina asked in an annoyed tone.

"You have gravy all over your face, Mayor Pork Chop." Emma teased. Regina glared up at her, which was easy to do thanks to the angle. "Figured you'd prefer this to licking it off."

"A warning would have been appreciated but I won't deny that you're right." Regina said. Emma stopped wiping at her face, giving her a once over and actually scratching her chin a little to make sure nothing was hidden in the dark fur, an action which got Regina to instinctively purr.

"Cute." Emma chuckled.

"Will you stop that?" Regina sighed, annoyed at the butterfly-like feeling in her stomach she got every time Emma called her cute.

"What?" Emma asked.

"Calling me cute." Regina said. "I am not cute. I am a powerful witch and an evil queen, I've killed hundreds en masse and cursed untold millions. I am not cute."

Emma covered her face and tried really hard not to laugh at how adorable Regina's little tirade looked just then but she was failing miserably.

"Stop it!" Regina said again.

"I'm sorry. It's just really hard to take that speech seriously when you're a little fluffy fur ball." Emma said.

"You're going to be a big hot fireball if you don't stop." Regina warned emptily.

"I'm shakin' in my boots there, Gina." Emma teased.

"Never call me that." Regina glared up at her.

"You know you're really uptight for someone who was cuddling up to me earlier." Emma teased again. Looking at the brunette, she knew that if she wasn't covered in black fur, she'd be blushing.

"Never speak of it." Regina said as she turned onto her side.

"Do you want me to pet you again until you sleep?" Emma asked, only half teasing. Regina was silent for a few moments, and with her eyes closed, Emma thought she'd fallen to sleep.

"Please." The brunette said quietly. Emma smiled as she lay down on her side, facing the former queen, and rubbing her belly.

They both decided to ignore the moan of pleasure Regina let out just then.

Emma stirred back into the waking world the next morning to find herself lying on her back, with a soft weight on her chest, and something warm buried in the crook of her neck.

Regina was lying on top of her, on her stomach and nuzzled into her neck. The sheets were pulled up until they reached halfway up Regina's back. Emma figured the queen trapped in a cat's body had gotten cold, or she had herself, and they ended up in this position as a result. Either way, Emma hand was buried in short black fur, and Regina was purring lightly, obviously still asleep, if the even breathing was anything to go on. She didn't want to move, and so falling back to sleep was easier than usual.

Henry had gotten up earlier than usual for a Saturday, unable to sleep knowing his mother's predicament and his complete inability to help the situation. It hurt, he wouldn't deny that, but he knew his birth mother would take care of the situation, so he wasn't worried.

Instead of dwelling, he decided he'd help his grandmother make breakfast, a decision he made after he'd heard Neal begin to cry softly and Snow drop everything to fuss over his baby uncle. He came downstairs, and helped her make breakfast for everyone. Now he was slowly pushing open the door to his mother's bedroom to wake her up at Snow's request because a family breakfast on a Saturday morning was one of her favourite weekend activities.

"Ma?" he said softly, aware of how jumpy his mother could get if he was loud. Years of living in foster homes left her with killer reflexes and high-strung instincts, she'd told him once. The sight before him made him smile and almost forget the goal he was meant to achieve. Instead, he pulled out his phone and opened the camera, sneaking in slowly so he could get closer and quickly snap a photo of the scene.

His undoing was the shutter noise.

"Meow." His currently feline mother growled in disapproval.

"What she said…" Emma mumbled as her eyes fluttered open and she let out a yawn. "What are you doing in here kid?"

"I uhm…" He pocketed his phone, though his blonde mother had already seen it. "Grandma made breakfast, we did, actually, and she asked me to come get you."

"Are there pancakes?" Emma asked.

"Yes." Henry smiled at her.

"Save any leftover batter okay? I need it." Emma instructed. "I'll be down in a bit."

"Okay." Henry said, before leaning down and petting the cat on his mother's chest. "Morning mom."

Regina meowed at him softly, and he wished he could get closer. Emma caught his wrist and gave him a comforting squeeze before he stood up straight and left the room.

"I'm going to hug him so much when I turn back." Regina sighed.

"I'll make sure you don't accidentally suffocate our kid." Emma chuckled. Regina stood up, stretched, and then sat back down on Emma's stomach, seemingly in thought.

"Huh…" she thought.

"What?" Emma asked. Regina looked at her for a moment, opening her mouth, but waiting a moment to speak as if she were carefully plotting out her question.

"When did it go from 'my' to 'our'?" she asked.

"What?" Emma raised a brow.

"Henry." Regina began slowly. "I'm pretty sure we spent quite a long time fighting over whose son he was…when did it change to…our?"

The question was a valid one, Emma thought, but not one she could totally put a finger on.

"You called him 'our' son in Neverland, when we were both worried to shit about him." She said. "That's as far as I can remember though…"

"Me too…" Regina said quietly.

"Why does it matter now?" Emma asked.

"I don't know…it doesn't really it's just that I feel like I haven't noticed." Regina said, her shoulders seemed to bounce up the slightest bit in what Emma thought was possibly the world's smallest shrug.

"I haven't either, to be honest." Emma said. "He seems to be okay with it."

"He calls us both mom." Regina said.

"No. He calls you mom." Emma pointed out. "He calls me ma. Or well, mostly he calls me that when we're together, but he does it when it's just me a lot of the time to, probably because he's used to it."

"How did he choose?" Regina asked.

"What?" Emma asked.

"How did he choose who's mom and whose…ma?" she asked. Emma chuckled and shrugged.

"Well, I'm just guessing here. But there's a few factors to consider." She held up a hand and started raising her fingers as she spoke. "One: You were 'mom' long before I showed up. Two: You are not the type of lady a kid calls 'ma.' I am, I mean, I think I am, but you're not. Three: it's the last two letters of my name…Though I doubt that last one holds any value."

"What do you mean by 'the type'?" Regina asked.

"I mean…You're this classy, put together, responsible adult. I'm a sometimes frumpy, sometimes childish thirty year old who only learnt anything about kids and taking care of them two years ago when I needed to and…well frankly He's almost all grown up now and I don't think I'll need to keep that knowledge in my active database for much longer." Emma looked at the cat but her stomach began growling. "You gonna get off my stomach any time soon?"

"Hmm? Oh." Regina seemed to only just then realise her sitting position and moved off of Emma to the mattress. "Sorry."

"It's cool." Emma said, getting up and slipping on her slippers.

"So…you don't want to have more children then?" Regina asked carefully.

"What? Oh…" Emma shrugged. "I'd like to…but this time, while I'm at the very least in a long term stable relationship."

"At the very least?" Regina asked.

"Yeah or, you know, married." Emma shrugged. "Not that that's happening any time soon."

"What about the pirate?" Regina asked, trying to mask her obvious disdain.

"I…kind of sent him packing." Emma mumbled.

"What? Why?" Regina asked, genuinely curious.

"I…" Emma looked at her and sighed. "I guess I just didn't feel it anymore you know?"

It was a half truth, and Regina could tell as much. But whatever else was going on inside of Emma's pretty blonde head…

Pretty? Really? Shut up!

…It wasn't her business. So she nodded.

"Well I'm glad you were honest enough with yourself to do that. People sometimes just settle for someone who loves them even if they don't love that person back and…Speaking from experience, it just feels sad and empty." Regina sighed, thinking back to her sham of a relationship with Robin.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Emma said. "Come on, I'm hungry."

"If your mother tries to give me tuna for breakfast I can't promise I won't scratch her." Regina said.

"No problem, I got it covered." Emma said, plucking Regina off the mattress before she went down the stairs. Snow smiled at her from her spot on the table.

"Oh there you are sweetie, I thought you fell asleep again, I was thinking of coming to get you." She said.

"Morning…" Emma said. "Sorry I…I guess this one's a cuddle monster."

She pet Regina's head, and the former queen made a show of purring and looking pleased. It wasn't that hard, to be honest, Emma's gentle hands on her weren't as unwanted as she'd lead the blonde to believe.

"Is there any pancake batter left?" Emma asked.

"There's the last bit yes." Snow said. Emma smiled and went over to the stove, turning it on and using the last bit of batter to make tiny pancakes. "What are you doing sweetie?"

"I saw this thing online once where a guy made tiny pancakes for his dog…I figured Salem might like it." She shrugged.

"Oh sweetie." Snow came up and hugged her daughter from behind before she kissed her cheek. "You love that little cat so much, don't you?"

"I uh…" Emma was nervous, but she looked down at Regina, who was sitting on the floor by her side and the brunette tilted her head at her in question at the way she was looking at her.

She meowed softly at her, but Regina was asking her what was going on in her head to get her to look at her like nothing else mattered, and trying so very hard to ignore the way her heart skipped a beat.

"Yeah…" Emma said, as if speaking to her more than responding her mother, who the blonde almost forgot was there for that one moment. "I do."

"Oh I'm so happy you're enjoying having a pet, dear." Snow said with a grin as she leaned down and tried to pet the cat, who swatted her hand away. "She doesn't seem to share the same affections for me…how odd."

Emma tried not to laugh as she flipped the tiny pancakes, letting them brown evenly before she put them on a plate and placed them near the cat.

"There you go Salem, eat up." She petted her softly before she went to have her own breakfast. Regina was grateful that she used this as a ploy to get her a proper breakfast…and also very pleased at the blonde's pancake making skills.

Breakfast in the Charming household, Regina was just about finished learning, consisted of Snow talking while Emma and Henry stuffed their faces with pancakes and tried to get through the conversation with nods and hums of acknowledgment.

"So David and I were thinking of having a picnic later in the day, seems like a nice day out, would you two like to join us?" Snow asked.

"Can't." Emma said too quickly.

"Aww why?" Snow asked. Emma smirked.

"Because, A: It's almost the end of the quarter and if I don't get that budget report to Regina in time, she'll have my head on a spike." The blonde lied. "And two…"

"You started with a letter." Henry pointed out.

"Don't sass mama boy." Emma teased, getting the teenager to laugh. "As I was saying, two. Someone, namely, the Sheriff of this town, needs to go into work so that a certain Deputy can have a certain picnic with a certain wife of his."

"Oh…" Snow chuckled.

"Yeah so…" Emma had a whole pancake left and looked down at Regina, who looked up at her questioningly before she cut it up into smaller pieces and put the plate down next to her, knowing the brunette wouldn't be satisfied with only a few tiny pancakes. Regina was grateful, and expressed so by rubbing her head gently against Emma's leg before she started eating the pancake.

"She's got quite the appetite." Snow commented. "You better not overfeed her Emma she might get fat."

"Mom!" Emma chastised.

"What?" Snow asked innocently, oblivious to the death glare the cat was giving her.

"She can hear you, and she has feelings." Emma said, reaching down to pet the cat again. Henry was just biting his lip and filling his mouth with as much food as possible to not comment. Thankfully, his grandmother had put out lots of cut up fruit on the table as well.

"I'm…sorry?" Snow said questioningly as she picked up her plates and moved off the table to put them in the sink. Regina went back to finishing her pancake because fuck you Snow, I'm starving. Emma picked up her plate when she was done and took it to the sink to rinse it.

"You think she'll be okay here on her own?" Snow asked.

"Hmm? Oh I'll just take her with me." Emma shrugged.

"To the station?" Snow asked.

"Yeah why not? I'm gonna be on my own and she's good company." Emma said. Snow shrugged.

"Just make sure you don't get in trouble with Regina." She said.

"Something tells me she won't mind." Emma said, looking down and giving the cat a knowing look. Snow looked between her daughter and the cat.

"Sweetie, should I be concerned?" the brunette woman said.

"About what?" Emma asked.

"Well…I know you recently broke up and I watched this episode of hoarders last night where a woman had like twenty cats because she couldn't get over a break up-"

"Woooahh." Emma drawled out. "Slow your roll. I'm not becoming a crazy cat lady."

"Well you speak about the cat like she's your partner and you seem to have this weird mental communication with her…" Snow trailed off.

"I'm bonding with my pet. This has nothing to do with my breakup, though, she pays better attention to me when I talk than Hook ever did." Emma rolled her eyes.

"Hah. Knew it." Regina said. The meows matched her tone and Emma looked down at her questioningly.

"See this is what I'm talking about." Snow said. "Henry tell her."

"Uh…" Henry looked to Emma for help. "Bonding with a pet is a very important part of social development."

"You took that out of an essay you wrote two years ago." Regina said. The meow gave nothing away.

"What?" Snow asked slowly.

"I have homework, thanks for breakfast, call me when it's time to go." He said, quickly bringing his plate to the sink and running up the stairs.

"And I have to get ready for work." Emma said, picking the cat up and following her son.

"That was weird." Henry said to her when they reached their respective bedroom doors.

"You're telling me." Emma said. Regina meowed.

"Do you have a plan?" Henry asked, looking at Regina and then back at Emma.

"Only way she's gonna get back to us is if she tells me some deep dark secret she has. So…I guess the plan is…talk." Emma shrugged.

"Good luck." Henry said, scratching the top of his mother's small furry head before he disappeared into the room. Emma walked into hers and closed the door.

"That was equal parts hilarious and painful." Regina said.

"Glad one of us found it funny." Emma sighed.

Regina was pacing back and forth on Emma's desk while the blonde tried to actually do paper work. Sure, her main priority was to get Regina talking, but Regina seemed way too nervous to do that, so she thought letting her calm her nerves would be a good way to start off, and since she was doing that she might as well do paper work and hit two birds with one stone. She didn't anticipate the pacing though. The pacing was driving her nuts.

"Okay." The blonde sighed. "Could you stop that?"

"Stop what?" Regina said, not looking up as she paced. She turned to cross the desk again and Emma held out her arm to block her path, which was easily seen as it was like three inches deeper than the rest of her desk now.

"That. The pacing." Emma said.

"Oh." Regina sighed and plopped her butt down on the desk. "Sorry…I'm just nervous."

"I could tell." Emma said. She could, that's why she refrained from telling the brunette that she'd flicked her in the face with her tail five times already. "Nervous because you know what you need to tell me or nervous because you can't figure it out?"

"Yes." Regina sighed. Emma blinked at her.

"Which one?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh…" Regina realised what she meant and sighed. "The latter…And…I…ugh."

"What?" Emma said, putting her pen down and focusing solely on the former queen.

"It's just that…" Regina sighed.

"Regina. You can tell me." Emma said in a gentle voice. Regina looked up and straight into her eyes and her heart tugged at the strings.

"I'm…I'm scared, Emma." She admitted. Emma's brows lifted up slightly, and she waited for a moment, because she knew the woman rarely ever admitted any of her feelings, so anything could be a curse-breaker at that point. But nothing happened, so she just reached over and scratched behind Regina's ear gently in what she hoped was a comforting move.

"I know. I don't blame you." She said. "But it's gonna be okay."

"If I don't tell you whatever the hell the universe wants me to tell you by midnight tonight I'll be stuck like this forever…I'll never be able to hug Henry again…he'll never be able to either because he's allergic to cats." She sighed. Emma couldn't resist, she picked her up off the desk and pulled her into her lap, holding her close.

"It's gonna be okay." She repeated. "We'll figure it out we always have."

"You say that…" Regina sighed.

"I mean it." Emma said. "This time tomorrow we'll be having lunch at Granny's, you me and Henry, just like we always do on Sunday."

"Yeah." Regina nodded, resting her head against Emma's chest and letting the blonde's comfort push away her fears. "Thank you, Emma."

"Thank me when you're human." Emma said. "Now, how about we go somewhere and talk? I feel like we need to get started somewhere, you're not the type to just blurt out deep dark secrets."

"I'm not." Regina said.

"So let's go somewhere you feel comfortable and we can talk for as long as you need to." Emma suggested. Regina nodded slowly and looked up at her.

"My place? We can sit in the office and talk like we do sometimes." She suggested. Emma smiled at her.

"As long as you don't get anal about getting your cat hair all over the couch, then sure." She teased.

They found themselves sitting in silence for longer than Emma thought it would take.

"This is so much easier when we're talking about Henry." Regina broke the silence finally.

"It is…" Emma sighed. She looked over at the brunette, who was sitting up straight on the other side of the couch. Or as straight as a cat could sit. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?" Regina asked.

"Be so…poised…and classy as shit all the fucking time." Emma elaborated. Regina rolled her eyes.

"Eloquent, dear." She remarked. "And to answer your question, I was a queen, dear, and I was groomed to be one from a very young age. Some things just stick with you."

"Yeah especially if your mother had anything to do with it." Emma scoffed. Regina sighed

"Tell me about it." She practically muttered. Emma looked at her carefully.

"She was a bitch to you when you were a kid huh?" Emma leveled.

"She was a bitch to me from the moment I was born to the moment she sold me off to that goddamned king." She practically growled, her fur was bristling.

"But she's dead now." Emma said. "And hopefully burning in the deepest pits of hell. Otherwise she's gonna have a problem with me when I get there."

"So you assume you're going to hell, but you don't think you're going to the very bowels of it?" Regina asked in amusement.

"I did some good stuff while I was here." She shrugged. "You did too. The way I see it we'll be at equal levels."

"So now we're both going to hell?" Regina asked.

"If sinners go to hell, then everyone's going to hell." Emma shrugged. "It just has different levels."

"Dante says seven." Regina says. "Why are we talking about this?"

"Because we started talking about your mother." Emma said. A beat passed, and then Regina started laughing and Emma couldn't help but laugh along, mostly because the sound of Regina laughing gave her butterflies. More than she'd care to admit. She shook the thought away and sighed.

"You know, mom doesn't talk about him much…" Emma trailed off.

"Who?" Regina asked.

"The king…" Emma said.

"Oh, your grandfather." Regina sighed.

"That's weird." Emma made a face. "Thinking about him as my grandfather, it's weird."

"Technically he's Henry's great grandfather so you can just imagine how I feel having been married to the rotten bastard." Regina said before she could stop herself. Emma turned her head to look at the brunette.

"Was he?" she chanced asking.

"What?" Regina asked again.

"A bastard…" Emma said. "Or well…was he a dick?"

"Let's just say that there's a reason I killed him and it wasn't my revenge for Snow." Regina said.

"I mean…" Emma sighed and shifted uncomfortable on the couch. "…I know you were pretty young when you married him, and that he was way older…I don't know what I expected…I guess I never let myself think about it so much."

"You wouldn't be the first and you certainly won't be the last." Regina shook her head.

"That…" Emma's brows furrowed in frustration and slight anger. "That's horrible."

"Tell me about it." Regina said. "The fact that I…"

"What?" Emma asked when Regina trailed off into silence. The brunette looked up at Emma and let out another sigh.

"The fact that that was the reason my mother killed Daniel only made it worse." Her voice was small, and she was almost muttering. But it rang out loud and clear in Emma's head and heart.

"You know…" Emma looked around the room, not really focusing on anything as she weighed out her next thought.

"What?" Regina asked.

"…I probably would have done the same thing." The blonde said. "I never was good with anger issues…I probably would have done the same thing you did."

"Gone completely crazy and destroyed everything in your path?" Regina asked. Emma shrugged.

"Why not? It seems like something I would do…God knows I can get crazy enough if I'm passionate enough about something." She said. "I guess…I just never really thought about what got you there but…I totally get it."

"Are you saying you think it was only rational that I became the evil queen?" Regina asked. Emma shrugged again.

"You're human, Regina, just because you live in some kind of magical land doesn't change that." She said. "I'm not saying it was okay, or right…but it was rational and I understand your reasoning back then now more than ever."

Regina's lips curved upwards just the slightest bit as she looked at the blonde before she stood up, stepping closer to her before she plopped back down on the couch, only this time she was pressed up against Emma's thigh and the blonde wasted no time in dropping a hand comfortingly on her back, scratching lightly at the fur.

"Thank you, Emma." She said, looking up at her. "I know what I did back then was crazy, and so wrong…But having the feelings behind them validated at least…It's a comfort I never knew I needed."

"Sometimes we don't realise what we need until we have it." Emma said.

"Look at you getting all philosophical on me." Regina teased.

"Shut up." Emma poked her and Regina playfully swatted her hand away before she sighed.

"…You know how I told you yesterday that you were my best friend?" she said.

"…Vaguely, yes." Emma answered, looking at Regina questioningly.

"I meant it…even if I didn't sound like I did." The brunette said. Emma gave her a soft half-smile and scratched the top of her head.

"I know you did, Regina." She said softly. "You may hate this, but…even when you act all coy I can tell when you mean what you're saying."

"Oh…" Regina looked down for a moment. "Well…Good…"

After a beat Regina let out a sigh that Emma's ears registered as relieved.

"What?" Emma poked.

"It's just…" Regina took a moment before she continued. "When I used to go see Dr. Hopper regularly, he would always tell me that communication was key. That if I wanted to mean something, but I didn't sound like I meant it, that I should elaborate. I suppose he tuned in on the fact that my vocabulary was stronger than my ability to show emotion. But even that was hard. How do you go ahead and just…pour your heart out whenever you can't express yourself non-verbally?"

"Okay…" Emma nodded. "Yeah, I get that. Sometimes things just come out wrong and not the way you meant to say them and then it's hard to clear things up."

"Exactly." Regina said. "But with you I don't have to try so hard because you always seem to get what I'm saying. And if others don't…you don't stop giving me the benefit of the doubt…Which I'm glad for but it is quite ironic…"

"Why do you say that?" Emma asked.

"Because, if you recall, there was a time where we expected and suspected the worst of each other." Regina pointed out.

"Tell me about it, you remember the whole Graham dispute?" Emma gently rubbed her own cheek at the memory of the punch Regina had swung at her. "Never expected such a petite woman to be able to pack a punch like that."

"Looks can be deceiving." Regina smirked, and then something clenched at her heart. "That's it…Graham…"

"What about him?" Emma asked as Regina sat up and looked down, avoiding eye contact with the blonde.

"I never told you the truth about him…" Regina gulped. "Maybe that's what I need to tell you to break this curse…But there's no way you'll ever speak to me again after I tell you."

"Whatever happened in the past, I'm over it." Emma shrugged. "Tell me."

"I…" Regina sighed. "Henry was right…when Graham seemed to be going crazy…It was because I had his heart."

"Okay…" Emma nodded, suspecting there was more to it than just that.

"So…the night he broke up with me…I…killed him." Regina shut her eyes and waited for the reaction that would destroy a friendship she'd built with Emma over the past couple of years. It felt like an eternity of silence, but then she felt a gentle hand land on her back, the slender fingers running through her fur as the body that sat high above her shift closer.

"I know." Emma said gently. "That was never much of a secret."

"What?" Regina's eyes shot open and she looked up at Emma. "But there wasn't any magic in storybrooke…"

"Yeah." Emma nodded. "But when the curse broke, and magic turned out to be an actual thing, a lot of things started to make sense. Including Graham. It's just one of the things that I hated you for in the early days…and one of the things I got over as time went on."

"So you just gradually and casually got over the fact that I killed a man?" Regina said. Emma shrugged.

"You killed a lot of people, Regina." She pointed out.

"Yeah but…" Regina sighed. "Graham was the only person I killed that…that you actually loved."

Emma looked at her for a moment and then rolled her eyes. "Okay. I liked Graham, I respected him and…yeah maybe…maybe if we had gotten the chance I might have loved him. But I didn't love him when he died. Not in that way anyway."

"And you don't hate me for taking away the chance of finding out if you and him could have had something meaningful?" Regina asked. Emma shrugged.

"Just one of the many things I got over." She said. "There's a lot more important things to worry about…I don't see you turning back into a human."

Regina sighed and dropped her upper body onto the couch again, this time leaning against Emma's thigh a little. "I thought this would be easier."

"What do you mean?" Emma raised her brow.

"I mean…You know me almost better than I do." Regina sighed. "And if I were human, that would be…well comforting in a way. It's why I find it easy to talk to you, because sometimes I don't need to talk, you just know which makes it so much easier for me."

"You're welcome?" Emma raised a brow.

"But right now? It's annoying. Because it means I have no idea what this great dark secret I'm meant to tell you is." She sighed again and Emma scratched the top of her head lightly. She started purring instinctively. "Ugh…I always had a sensitive scalp…"

"So this kind of feels awesome to you huh?" Emma smiled, allowing herself to enjoy the moment.

"Incredibly so…hell it would feel good to me if I were human…" she said.

"I'll keep that in mind the next time I'm behind on a budget report." Emma teased.

"What, are you just going to come to my office and start petting me?" Regina scoffed.

"Would it work?" Emma asked.

"If your goal is to get slapped? Probably." Regina said, swatting Emma's hand away.

"Man, you are a cat." Emma joked.

"Excuse me for having limits." Regina rolled her eyes.

"Very cat like." Emma nodded.

"Will you stop?" Regina sighed, shift so that she was on her other side. "Tell me something about you that I don't yet know."

"We're talking about you here." Emma said.

"I know…but…" Regina sighed.

"You feel too exposed and you wanna even the playing field, got it." Emma nodded. "Can I make a drink?"

"Unless you'd like me to try and make it for you." Regina joked.

"Now that would be hilarious." Emma chuckled as she got up, pouring herself a scotch and sitting back on the couch. "So what do you want to know?"

"I don't know." Regina tried to shrug. "Just…something you never told me…it can be anything really I'm not expecting some life-altering revelation just…talk to me about something that isn't my life."

"You know I never had a grilled cheese sandwich until I ran away for the first time?" Emma took a sip.

"Really?" Regina looked up at her. Emma nodded as she took a sip.

"I was…" Emma chuckled. "Ten."

"Oh." Regina rolled her eyes. "That's where Henry got it from then."

Emma chuckled and nodded. "Guess so."

"Okay, so you were ten when you first ran away from a foster home." Regina recapped. "What happened?"

"Well…It was night time…I was sent to bed without dinner for something I didn't freaking do and it pissed me off so much…so when my foster mom went to bed, I stole some money from her purse and left. I didn't get very far. The nearest bus station was only a few stops away and when I got off, I was so hungry…so I went into the diner that was right there…And I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich…" Emma recounted, a far-away look on her face and a small smile on her lips. Regina raised a brow and realised that that smile was only a ghost of the grin a ten-year-old Emma Swan must have had on her face the first time she tasted the greasy snack.

"That's why you love them so much." Regina said.

"When I take a bite of a grilled cheese sandwich, it reminds me of freedom…" Emma took a sip of her scotch. "The last few weeks of me dating Hook, I ended up eating one of them almost everyday to remind myself that I was the one in control of my life."

"Emma, can I be blunt?" Regina asked, tilting her head a little and Emma smiled at her.

"Looking that cute you can be whatever you want." She said. Regina sighed and told her heart to stop being ridiculous when it started beating faster just because Emma Swan smiled at her.

"I'm glad you broke up with him." She said. When Emma raised her brow at her, she knew she had to elaborate. "It's not that I don't want you to be happy…Quite the opposite in fact…Which is why I'm glad you broke up with him…you weren't happy with him…anyone with eyes could see that."

"Pfft." Emma downed the rest of her scotch. "Except for my freakin' mother."

"Yes well, we're talking about a woman who tried to name me Floofy so she's not exactly the brightest bulb in the box." Regina said. Emma started laughing.

"Floofy?" she said through her laughter.

"Yes." Regina laughed along with her. "I nearly scratched her eyes out."

"I don't blame you." Emma said, resting back against the couch, sighing. "But yeah anyway…I don't think Hook was totally to blame for my being unhappy with him."

"Oh?" Regina became curious. "And what would be the other reason then?"

"Regina I thought we were talking about you." Emma said.

"What if I promise we'll get back to me after you answer my question?" Regina bargained. Emma sighed and looked at her.

"Fine…" She lifted her right knee up onto the couch and lay the top half of her body down on the couch to stare up at the ceiling. "But only because I need to talk about this and you're the only person I trust."

"I appreciate that." Regina said, shifting so that she was as close as possible to Emma.

"For the longest time in my life…I always thought that…" she halted.

"That what?" Regina prompted. Emma sighed.

"That I was only attracted to women." She let out. Regina's brows lifted in slight surprise. But Emma couldn't see her (which was the point of her current position, not that she'd tell Regina that.) and the brunette collected herself quickly.

"Okay…" she said. It wasn't exactly news, she'd always suspected…and she had her own story to tell on that subject.

"When I met Lily…We connected so well I didn't feel scared about how I felt around other girls…And at first I thought maybe it was because I'd never had a friend like that before. But then…well…we somehow stumbled onto an old summer fashion magazine and it was all beach babes in swimsuits…And she made a comment about how she loved looking at girls in magazines and stuff and I told her I liked them too…and she was really detailed about the way she felt. Nothing sexual…I think we might have been too young for that…but the way she described how she felt, it matched the way I did exactly…" Emma licked her lips for a moment before she went on. "After a while of talking we…she kissed me…and it was weird because it was my first kiss but…everything about the way I felt about girls sort of made sense after that. When I met Neal and we started dating…well…It was awesome…and I'll never regret him, especially not when it gave me Henry but…I don't know I guess I don't necessarily feel the same way about guys that I do about girls and well…I think that's why I wasn't happy with Hook…He was okay, he wasn't horrible…if you don't count the drinking and the fact that he sometimes didn't watch his hook and he tended to be a little possessive…But…I think I just dated him to make my parents happy…but I wasn't happy with him and I couldn't deal with it anymore. I was tired."

"You did the right thing." Regina spoke up after a brief moment of silence. "If there's one thing I learned in my life it's that you can't sacrifice your own happiness for the sake of your parents…"

"Yeah…" Emma looked down at her. "I should have known you'd get it."

"Well apart from the rest of my story?" Regina began. "I…kind of have a similar experience."

"Oh yeah?" Emma asked in curiosity.

"Well…I suppose I should open up with the fact that homosexuality wasn't such a big deal in the enchanted forest." Regina shrugged. "In fact it was common, but it only tended to be common around the lower classes…but only because with the higher classes there was pressure to conceive and heir to the family, and since adoption wasn't exactly in place, that was only possible through birth. The lower classes didn't care about that. They cared about true love. And that came in so many different shapes and sizes so nobody cared if you were with a man or a woman."

"Huh…" Emma uttered. "So what's your experience then?"

"Well…When I was around thirteen years old…there was this servant girl…She was an orphan. She was a lot more experienced than I was even though we were the same age but anyway…my mother chose her to be my handmaiden, which meant we were around each other most of the time and after we got used to each other…well we'd stay up late and talk. And one night we got to talking about marriage and all that…I told her I'd probably end up having to marry a man and she made a face, told me she didn't like men…I found it funny at first but then she started telling me about how she thought girls were prettier…and sweeter…and softer…I was compelled to agree." Regina recounted, her lip curled upwards even if it was impossible for her to smile fully in her current feline state.

"Sounds to me like you had a crush on this girl." Emma said with a smirk.

"I…did…" Regina chuckled "And it was wonderful for as long as it lasted because…well mother didn't think anything of us being so close. And late at night when she thought we were asleep…well…Let's just say Daniel wasn't my first time…"

"Psht, nice." Emma chuckled.

"Yes." Regina sighed. "Until mother did find out why I was so close to her and…"

Emma's face visibly paled. "She didn't…she didn't…kill her…did she?"

"No…" Regina sighed in relief. "Thankfully, my pleading for her not to hurt her succeeded…for once…But she sent her away…Probably sold her off as a servant to another noble family now that I think about it."

"Damn." Emma sat up, lifting her knee up and pulling it into her chest to rest her chin on it. "That still sucks…I'm sorry Regina."

"Just another reason to hate my mother I suppose." The brunette sighed. Emma reached over and pet her gently.

"Thanks for sharing that with me…" she said.

"Isn't that the point of all this?" Regina asked. "Too bad that's not my deep dark secret…apparently…"

"That you like girls? No." Emma shook her head with a smirk. "I had a slight suspicion, but that's not something I'd confront you about…I had no reason to."

"Do I make it that obvious?" Regina asked.

"Honestly? Your eyes tend to wander a little bit during a stare down…I got a vibe." Emma shrugged.

"I…" Regina cleared her throat. "They do?"

"Regina when you size people up I can't tell if it's because you're trying to see if you could take them on in a fight or if it's because you're undressing them with your eyes." Emma chuckled. "You did it to me too many times to count."

"Oh…" Regina seemed to falter. "Well…well…it's only because…well…"

"Thanks, I work out a lot." Emma shrugged. Regina would have been blushing if she weren't a black cat. She sighed.

"This is never going to work is it?" she said.

"Hey don't say that, come on, tell me how you met Daniel." Emma said, getting up to get another drink as Regina slowly began opening up to her a little bit more.

Hours passed without them even realising it. And they quickly fell into the pattern of telling each other just about everything. Before they knew it, it was dinner time and Emma's phone was ringing.

"Oh shit, it's mom." Emma said before she picked up. "Hey mom."

"Emma sweetie where are you? It's nearly dinner time. I figured you'd be home by now." Her mother said over the phone.

"Yeah I am, sorry, just got caught up talking to Regina." She said. It was a slip up, because she'd forgotten that Regina was a cat for a little bit and that her mom was worried about the former queen.

"Oh wonderful, is she alright?" Snow asked.

"Yeah mom, she's fine." Emma tried to sound as natural as possible even though she was kicking herself internally.

"Well she's welcome to dinner if she'd like…is Henry staying with us tonight?" Snow asked again.

"Probably since it's already kind of late, no point in messing up his routine now." Emma covered. "And Regina says thanks but, raincheck?"

Regina nodded to her silently which Emma was thankful for.

"Well…if she's sure…Well okay, try not to be too late okay sweetie? Dinner's almost ready." Snow said. "And tell Regina I said goodnight."

"I will mom…Yeah…I'll be there soon." Emma said before she hung up the phone and groaned.

"I'm never getting out of dinner with your mother am I?" she asked.

"After these past two days? Hell no." Emma sighed as she pocketed her phone and downed her drink. "Come on, let's go home…we can talk more there."

"Emma…" Regina sighed. "I don't think this is going to work."

"You can't think like that." Emma said in frustration, her own desperation poking it's head out a little. "Come on, we'll have dinner and then figure this out. We're close Regina I can feel it."

What she was actually feeling was intense nerves. But she wouldn't tell Regina that. She was fidgety all throughout dinner, but she couldn't shake her mother's long winded conversation and ended up wasting an hour at the table, even if she had scarfed down her dinner and managed to feed Regina in half that time (the older woman's appetite didn't seem to make an appearance tonight, Emma wasn't at all curious as to why considering she knew the answer.

Henry was the only one who could tell his mothers were both nervous from the way they were acting. He was worried too, not that he told Emma because he didn't want to make either of his mothers even more nervous. But he was hoping Regina would be human by now. Emma tried to spare him the worried looks, but he was too smart not to know anyway, the blonde knew that.

They talked about just about everything they could think of. Regina had a detailed life, and Emma tried to ask questions rather than relate, but she could tell that the woman was getting emotionally drained the longer they went on.

"Do you blame me for losing Robin?" Emma asked when the clock struck eleven at night.

"Emma now you're just being ridiculous." Regina sighed.

"No, I'm not." Emma said. "Look whatever this is, whatever you're hiding, it's something big. It has to be, you told me just about everything else. So whatever this is it has to have the capacity to totally alter our friendship…and god dammit…if you tell me you hate my guts and you don't want to see my face ever again…Regina I'd take it as long as I know you're not a fucking cat for the rest of your life and that our son doesn't lose the mother that raised him for most of his life…"

"Emma…" Regina sighed. "I…I know we've been through a lot of crap, Emma but I don't think I could ever hate your guts."

"Well then go for it." Emma said, fought back the lump forming in her throat "Have at me, Regina Mills, tell me everything about how you felt about me, start from the moment we met and keep going until right fucking now and don't stop because we only have an hour and I need you to be human in the morning god dammit."

Regina looked at her, the way she was laying down on the bed, resting on her side with her arms crossed over her middle and looking at her so intensely, like she was desperate for her to talk because she did actually need her. She took a deep breath.

"When I first saw you, when you you told me you were Henry's mother…I was terrified…" she began. And she didn't stop. She didn't falter and she didn't hide anything because now was not the time. And Emma didn't stop her and she didn't flinch, she stopped herself from reacting because she couldn't let Regina stop for any reason and she didn't have the energy to worry about anything Regina was telling her about their past when she had the future to think about…their future to think about, because she knew she could never live without the brunette.

It took her 15 minutes to get to the point where they went to Neverland.

"When we moved the moon together…I knew something shifted between us…that we had a connection. I felt it when we deactivated that failsafe too, but so much was going on right then that I didn't have time to register. And then we nearly lost Henry and you let me take over. I knew I was right. I think that's when I stopped hating you fully…"

By 11:30 she'd gotten to where Emma brought Marian back.

"So many emotions were raging on in my head at that moment that I ended up saying a lot of things to you that I didn't mean…I'm really sorry about that Emma…"

"You've been forgiven for ages, Regina. Please just talk."

It was 11:50 when she got to where Emma turned into the dark one.

"You jumped into that black swirling vortex of dark magic to save me…I think that was the third time you saved my life. When you disappeared, I could have screamed. Because you keep doing it even though any logical person would have told you not to. Even though I told you not to, you still saved me. You still cared about me. And I…" she faltered.

11:52PM

"Regina what is it?" Emma asked.

"Emma…I think I know what I need to tell you…I don't know if it's my secret but…It might be…" she said. Emma looked at her expectantly.

"Regina come on!" she was getting antsy because the clock had just struck 11:53

"It's crazy to think about it because of all we've been through." Regina chuckled a bit. "But now that I think about it maybe not so crazy…maybe I should have figured it out long ago."

11:54

"Regina…" Emma's heart was pounding. Regina's was too.

"Emma…I think…no…no I know…Oh god…"

"Talk!"

"Emma I'm in love with- meow."

"What?" Emma lost her breath. Regina gave her a panicked look and opened her mouth again.

"Meow."

"No." Emma gasped, looking up at the clock. 11:55PM "No. No we still have five minutes…"

"Meow…meow…" Was all Regina could say in her panicked state. Emma sat up on her knees in panic.

"Regina come on." She pulled her closer. "Come on fight it…I know you can do it we still have a few minutes come on." Her tears began falling into Regina's fur without any reservation. All the brunette could do was meow helplessly. After a minute, she just dropped her head into Emma's chest as Emma held her close, crying into her fur without any reservations because her heart was shattering into a million pieces.

"Regina…" she wept. "God…Regina I love you too…"

The admission came too late, she thought, and she pressed a wet, tear filled kiss onto Regina's head. She didn't realise what was going on around her in her state, which is how she missed the flourish of magic around them at that moment. She didn't know how much time had passed, and she didn't register her own movements, all she knew was that she was holding the cat version of the woman she loved as she cried herself to sleep.

She didn't feel rested at all when she stirred back into the world. She felt the dry tears on her face and she must have woken up at some point because she didn't remember pulling the covers over herself when she fell asleep. But she could feel them over herself as she shifted and pulled Regina closer, feeling the brunette's arms wrap themselves tighter around her back. She heard a sigh and felt a puff of warm air on her chest. It took her a minute, because she was still half asleep, to realise.

Arms. But Regina is a…

She pulled away a little to get a better look, and sure enough, Regina Mills was laying beside her, bare naked save for the bed sheets that covered both of them and fully human.

"R-…" she hesitated as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes to make sure she wasn't still sleeping. "Regina?"

"Mmm…Emma just gimme a few more minutes." The former queen mumbled in her sleep. Emma was caught between bursting to tears in joy and laughing. But the next thing Regina felt was herself being pulled into a very tight hug and being kissed on her head.

"You can have anything you want." Emma nearly sobbed. "Just don't turn into a fucking animal again."

"Emma Swan." Regina pushed her back. "I need to breathe. What is wrong with…wait…"

She woke up fully and looked down at herself, and her human hands. And felt her very human legs.

"I'm human again." She said.

"Yeah." Emma nodded happily. "You are…"

"Oh thank god." Regina sighed in relief as Emma pulled her close again.

"Tell me about it." The blonde said as Regina hugged her back.

"But how…I thought it was too late." She asked.

"I don't know I guess…" Emma thought. But she trailed off and Regina pulled away a little to look at her.

"Emma?" she asked. But Emma was too busy recalling a spark of magic she felt within her heart the night before, when she was too caught up in her tears and sorrow to even realise. The same spark she'd only felt once before…when she thought she'd lost Henry.

"True love's kiss." She said almost distractedly. Regina furrowed her brow, but then she recalled the same feeling and a smile broke out on her face.

"Oh my god…" she let out a soft chuckle. "You're right."

"Regina…" Emma sighed. Regina shook her head, signifying that the blonde didn't need to say anything, and moved forward to kiss her lips softly. Emma reciprocated fully, smiling into the kiss after a moment.

"Way, way better than kissing your furry head." She joked.

"Oh ha ha." Regina rolled her eyes before she kissed her again. Being so distracted and wrapped up in each other, they didn't realise that Snow was knocking on the door.

"Emma?" she asked for the second time before she opened the door. "Emma it's- Oh my god."

"Mom!" Emma pulled away in surprise. Regina instinctively pulled the bedsheets over her still very naked body.

"S-Snow…" she stammered. Snow looked wide eyed between the former queen and her daughter before she closed them and sighed, seemingly calming down, and the taking on an unamused look.

"Regina Mills, if you're going to come to my home and have sex with my daughter, the least you could do is be an adult about it and come to dinner first. Honestly you two aren't teenagers who need to sneak around." She lectured. "I mean, I would have understood this behaviour from Emma but I expected you to be the more mature one in the relationship. Now get dressed, and the both of you come have breakfast like grown ups, will you?"

She turned on her heel and left the room without another word, leaving the two women gobsmacked.

"Uhhh…" Emma tried.

"…something tells me she's okay with you being gay." Regina looked from the now closed door to Emma, a small smirk forming on her face.

"Guess the cat's out of the bag, huh?" Emma joked. Regina's smile dropped.

"No more cat puns…ever." She said.

"Kiss me and we have a deal." Emma smirked. Regina rolled her eyes but decided that price was worth it.

When they went through the awkward process of explaining to Snow and David that Regina had been Salem this whole time, they took it a lot better than they expected.

That is, until David nearly died of embarrassment at how he'd petted and talked to Regina two nights before.

But after that, the pretty much lived happily ever after.