Once Upon a Time Awkward Situation

**A/N: Just a quick fic that popped into my noodle after I had a spare half hour and saw the options for the wonderful Swan Queen week. Enjoy...**

**AWKWARD SITUATION:**

An irritated voice hit air.

"Miss Swan,..."

Emma tamped down on the growl rising in her throat and purposely kept her eyes locked on the page she was reading. The typeface was so small and the sentences broken up into such ridiculously convoluted clauses that it was taking all her effort to keep track of where she was on the page without having to deal with a cantankerous mayor on top of that.

"Just...I'm almost done, Regina."

A sniff. Nothing more.

"Done implies comprehension Sheriff and I get the feeling that's a generous word for the motion of those rusty gears turning in your head right now."

Green eyes looked up then, rimmed with frustration and a bad night's sleep. "You wanted me to re-evaluate the town charter so I'm re-evaluating the damn charter. Maybe if it hadn't been written back in eleventy- thirty three this wouldn't take so long."

"Well at least we see where Henry gets his loose grasp of history from."

Emma threw down her pen.

"You know a little wine might help lubricate these rusty old gears." The blonde's lips tilted upwards imperceptibly. "Or are your hostess skills equally too corroded to stretch to something like that."

She knew that'd get her.

Regina's pride was the driving force in her life...as much as she might try and hide it. And to question her finishing skills no less was practically unheard of in Storybrooke. The wicked snarl that erupted from the older woman at Emma's gall was almost...delicious.

The blonde ducked her head down again to cover her own smile just as Regina uncrossed her legs and practically stalked over to the large oak dresser that stood like a sentinel near the fireplace. It had been her mother's once upon a time. She hadn't even given it a second thought when she'd created the original curse but then she had come downstairs that fateful morning after checking her image in the mirror, taking perhaps a small peek out the bedroom window and found to her surprise the thing was stationed in her front room, large as life.

She knew she shouldn't find it comforting of course, the image of her mother opening those same glass doors criss -crossed with gilt framework as she plotted and ripped open the dreams of all the people closest to her, especially after Zelena's revelations of a life filled with hunger and paucity- the life of the daughter Cora Mills _truly_ turned her back on... But somehow the reliable old thing with its solid spine and heavy shelves warmed her skin every time she touched it.

_Strange, the things you cling to. _

Shaking away the maudlin thoughts Regina let her fingers dance across the parade of bottles in there, moving past the older slightly dusty ones until she touched the label she had been looking for.

"I assume Zinfandel is acceptable?" she said with a drawl.

Emma's eyes remained firmly on the scroll. "Cool. I actually prefer all my wine to come from the home of the elves. Gives it that lovely oak undertone."

She looked up to see the brunette staring at her blankly. "Nerd joke. Never mind. Sounds perfect."

"Mmm."

Regina's lips pursed but she removed the cork with consummate skill and poured out two glasses.

As she sauntered back across the room, she gently placed Emma's flute on the coaster next to her. At least that was all she meant to do; give the irritating blonde interruption her drink then retire back to her own futon where she could wait for this endless hour to pass but staring down at the younger woman, her black glasses pushed up on her nose and her face screwed up in concentration the brunette couldn't help noticing how scholarly and youthful Emma looked in the glow of her lamp.

Almost effervescent.

Wait...did she just call the blonde endearing?

_Effervescent?_

_Ridiculous!_

Christ, she was losing it since Henry and his birth mother had come back into her life.

Not all the way back, granted. She was still just the friendly grown up to him, the insightful adult who never failed to offer a smile when he needed one...but it was better than nothing she supposed. Better than the alternative. And she knew because she had been forced to live it.

She remembered a quote she had once read, in fact for a brief second it floated in front of her eyes.

'Who knows what true loneliness is- not the conventional word but the naked terror? To the lonely themselves it wears a mask. The most miserable outcast hugs some memory or illusion.'

She couldn't quite recall who had said it but truly they had delved to the heart of the thing. That tugging misery of a past that existed only to a few. Not to the one who mattered the most. Sometimes it was almost too much to breathe.

"You ok?"

Pulling herself together, Regina took in curious green eyes nearby and nodded briskly, stalking back to her seat where she took a large gulp of her wine, feeling the liquid froth against the back of her mouth. A cheap distraction, she was aware but a distraction nonetheless.

Resting her head back against the cushion, Regina ignored the expression of slight concern she knew the blonde must be wearing and let her hands drop to her side.

Frazzled by the mere presence of the other woman in her home.

Suddenly an odd buzzing noise caught her attention.

All mawkish thoughts forgotten, her head snapped up as she stared at the window.

Nothing but the usual hush greeted her.

Blinking a little uneasily the Mayor peeked at her companion but Emma had returned her attentions to the charter resting in her lap and didn't seem to have noticed anything untoward.

_You're losing it, Your Majesty._

Reaching for her drink again, needing the quiet sparkle it brought to the darkness she felt descending; Regina wrapped long fingers around the stem when another murmuring flutter sent a small ripple through the curtains across from her.

"Did you hear that?!"

Emma's head popped up at the discordant tone of panic in the older woman's voice.

"Regina?"

The brunette looked at her wide eyed. "Shhh...listen."

Emma pulled her glasses off and cocked her head to the side.

Nothing.

Just the soft hum of the Victorian lamp glowing outside the front door.

A little bemused, Emma casually ran a hand through her blonde curls. "What, I don't hear..."

There it was again, though. A soft thrashing from the back of the curtains; a muted agitation that seemed out of place in the dim light.

Emma's mouth dropped a little. "Uhh...you wouldn't happen to have a canary that got loose would you?"

The brunette stared at her sardonically. "No, I wouldn't."

Emma watched her companion's muscles tense and flex with frigidity as the Mayor got to her feet and tiptoed over to the closed off window space.

Adrenaline wafted through the air as she reached her destination. Glancing at the younger woman who had exchanged her wine for a small pocket knife she usually kept sheathed in her boot, the brunette let out a small taut breath then... gingerly pulled back the heavy damask drape just enough to create a small gap in the hangings.

It attacked without preamble.

An undignified scream fell from Regina's mouth as something incongruously black and pulsing flew out, its small leathery wings raking her skin like fingertips before it banked and skirted the ceiling above.

"Jesus, what is it?!" exclaimed Emma jumping to her feet. "A wraith?!"

The beast flew upwards so fast green eyes barely caught its movement before it circled around the light then dived behind the dresser.

"It's not a wraith, right? Because I'm all out of hats at this point Regina."

The brunette turned to her, face pink with something that looked like a strange mix of horror and embarrassment.

Heart pounding painfully, Emma watched the brunette's mouth open and close as if trying to form words.

"Regina?"

She blinked at the sound of her own name, as if it broke the trance she was locked in.

"It...it's not a wraith."

"Well what the hell is it? The Shadow? Is Pan back?"

"Emma it's not..." Regina's eyes clung to the glass door of the dresser the thing was hiding behind as if they could pierce the very grain of the wood. "It's...worse than that."

The blonde's nerves were on fire and the brunette's palpable fear was feeding the flames. Drawing herself up, she grabbed the Mayor by one slender shoulder and drew her round to face her.

"Regina, tell me."

"I can't," came the whispered reply.

Never one to take her eye from an enemy, Emma snuck a glance at the cabinet. But she also couldn't ignore the waves of terror that were seeping from the all powerful Mayor of Storybrooke in a way she'd never seen before, even back in the horrorshow that had been Neverland. And instinct just kicked in right then and there. Letting her right hand cup Regina's cheek she steeled herself against the instinctive glare it caused in the woman next to her.

The woman whose glare couldn't disguise the genuine fear in her features and what seemed like...relief too. Or appreciation maybe?

"Tell me..." Emma whispered. "I can help."

The mayor didn't move. Not to back away or lean into the embrace. In fact there seemed to be a war going on inside her pupils, black swirls leaching into chocolate brown with unfamiliar ease.

Then red lips opened a millimetre.

"It's a..." Her voice petered out.

"Just say it..."

"A...a bat."

Emma froze.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Those lips hardened. "A bat."

Emerald eyes blew impossibly large. "Like a vampire?" She took a step backwards. "They have those in Fairytale Hell too? Don't you have to like invite them in or something?!"

Regina swallowed, missing the comforting touch of the Sheriff's hand.

"This wouldn't be one of your exes would it? Stopping by for some late night blood-letting after you forgot to change the locks?" Emma hissed as she crossed her arms around her stomach. "And shouldn't we be covering our necks or something?!"

Standing there watching the blonde woman unravel in front of her, Regina blew out a stream of hot acid and reached out grabbing the hand that was fisted holding Emma's shirt to her chin.

"It's not a vampire Emma. Calm yourself!"

The younger woman's twitching subsided a little as she felt warm skin on her own before the words sunk into her brain.

"It's not?"

Regina resisted the urge to roll her eyes though it was difficult. "It's not. And no, we can't lay claim to such ridiculous creatures. Even our homeland has its standards."

A sharp flicker of movement behind the cupboard distracted them both for a moment but then Emma's head swivelled back with furrowed brows, questions burning on her skin.

"So that thing is..."

Her voice trailed off as Regina's cheeks flushed red and she attempted to cover it with a defiant straightening of her shoulders.

"It's a bat Miss Swan. Just a bat. And I need you to get it out of my house...right now."

"Oh my god!"

Emma stared back at her as her expression morphed from one of uncertainty and worry into what could only be described as abject delight.

White teeth grit together.

"Emma this isn't..."

"You're scared of bats!"

Regina let a snarl contort across her face as she stepped backwards. "Fear is a subjective thing, even you should..."

"You're shit scared, crap your pants afraid of bats!"

"Emma! Could we do this once you get that beast out from behind my mother's dresser, please?"

The younger woman couldn't help it. It was just too good an opportunity to waste and she clapped her hands together as she took in the defensive posture facing her. "Oh, this is the best day of my life. I mean, literally like the best day. Of. My. Life." The blonde smiled so wide that all the mayor could see was teeth. "You're the Queen of darkness and you're afraid of Count Duckula!"

"I'm not having this conversation with a child, Miss Swan."

The raging brunette, her eyes flashing with fire waved her hand at her companion with disgust and began stalking towards the doorway, hands clenched into painful fists at her side but before she could get halfway there the creature decided to show itself again and hurled its tiny body out of its hiding place and swooped towards the centre of the ceiling with a high pitched squeak.

Emma had never heard a scream so ear piercing in her whole life when Regina felt a whoosh of air above her and glimpsed the thing's frantic trajectory. Before she knew what was happening, the blonde found herself with a second skin, the slender body of the mayor pressed against her front, dark shining hair bunched up against her chin.

Every smart ass thing that would have dropped from her mouth at any other time died quietly as she found herself enjoying the sensation of warm skin and trembling lips at her pulse point, attempting to draw strength from the steady beat beneath her neck.

Perhaps it was the unexpected turn the evening had taken since she'd reluctantly agreed to give up her free time. Or perhaps she'd always known that the she and the Mayor shared some strange indefinable connection that threatened to morph into something else entirely that caused her stomach to jump when Regina grabbed onto her. Either way, she couldn't help falling into the sensations prickling at her flesh.

"Hey..."

Lowering her voice the way she used to with Henry, the blonde reached around and let her left hand run softly through those inviting locks. "It's ok."

"Nothing about this is ok," mumbled the brunette making Emma smile a little.

"I don't know which will kill me first," muttered the brunette still burrowed into her clavicle, "...that fiendish thing or the utter humiliation of this whole thing."

"Oh the humiliation definitely." Sassed the blonde. "I read somewhere it's the number one MO of serial killers these days."

Emma found the groan emanating from her new snuggle partner absolutely and inexplicably adorable... but she pushed aside her own desire to milk the situation for all it was worth as soon as her brain kicked into gear and she began to think back to all the stupid and petty things that had given her endless nightmares throughout her past.

Yapping dogs that snarled at her on her first paper route.

The smell of burnt pasta that meant her foster mother was going to make them go hungry again as revenge for her own ineptitude.

Those guys who sat at the back of the night bus in the city, never speaking, never moving but sinister as hell and faceless in all the worst ways.

Just the memory of her own fears sent a cascade of shame through her spine and she couldn't help cringing inwardly at how she had behaved over the last few minutes. Emma took a deep breath in an attempt to cleanse herself of the memories. Then she wrapped both her arms tenderly around the other woman's curved back and let them rest there.

"Seriously Regina, I'm sorry I was...such a dick. I'll get the rid of the bat ok? It'll be gone and you won't even know it was ever here."

Emma grimaced as the soft cheek that had taken up residence on her shoulder lifted up and suddenly she was face to face with inquisitive kohl eyes.

"And you won't tell anyone?"

The vulnerability trapped in that single question almost broke her, unexpected and sweet as it was.

"Hand on my heart." She said softly. "I'm the Saviour remember, this is what I do." She shrugged. "Sometimes. When no-one else is available."

With a lopsided grin the Sheriff nodded warmly at the woman in front of her then forced herself to move before she did something _really_ inappropriate. Yanking the fur blanket off the back of the couch, she narrowed her eyes at the black creature circling the chandelier above. Then, she forced her heartbeat to slow just a bit as she started to figure out its pattern of movement,;a strange airborne ballet that appeared random but actually had a sense of blind repetition the longer she watched.

_Gotcha._

The Sheriff made her move as everything clicked into place. Jumping up on the arm of the sofa, certain that she would be chastised for that later, she threw the coverlet up like a net and watched as the material descended with the mammal trapped beneath it though not fast enough to do it any lasting damage.

She moved like lightning to place her foot on one side of the blanket and grabbed a heavy book from the coffee table and slung it to weigh down the other effectively trapping the bat underneath.

"Score one for the town law-enforcer."

Emma looked up with barely concealed pride at Regina who was perched uncomfortably on the end of her futon, the tell tale twitch of her calf muscles giving away her urge to bolt from the room and her smile dropped.

"Right. Save the celebrations for when the job's done."

Returning to her catch, Emma stopped for a second as she watched the beast writhe and flap around underneath the heavy material then she lunged, clasping it through the blanket and holding it at arms length as far away from the trembling woman nearby.

It was surprisingly strong for a wee thing.

"Uhh...door?"

If Regina prickled at the instruction, she didn't show it; she merely flung open the door to the front room then ran towards the wooden front door and unfastened that too. The action small as it was drained almost all of the remaining energy from her and despite all the training she'd ever received during her lifetime, she could only gawk in an unseemly fashion as the blonde sprinted outside deep into the darkness and coming to a halt on the grass lawn flung the blanket out letting the wildly thrashing creature fly free into the night.

The blonde watched its soundless trail for a few seconds just to make sure it really was gone then nodded to herself making her way slowly inside.

"All done." She said softly as she threw out her arm motioning for the other woman to follow her into the lounge where this madness had all begun.

They stepped inside as the sensory chaos of the last few minutes mixed uncomfortably with fatigue.

Just the two of them again, as if nothing had happened at all.

But something had happened. Neither could deny it.

And although the adrenaline was dying down, there was a new vibrating and heady tension between the two women that grew as the moments ticked by and to be honest Emma had no idea what to say to offset it.

"Bet you're glad you got that wine out now, huh?" she threw out lamely.

She half expected Regina to scoff or throw her one of those trademark disdainful looks she did so well but instead... as if to emphasize the weirdness of the whole evening, the mayor did something completely unexpected.

She walked right up to the bouncing Sheriff and pressed a gentle, appreciative kiss to her lips, letting a hand wrap around her neck, the fingers splaying out to touch as much skin as possible.

Emma's brain just about short circuited on the spot.

"Thank you Miss Swan." Regina husked, aware of the flush making its way up pale flesh and complimenting herself on being the cause of it.

"I...yo...you're welcome?"

Emma felt cool air hit her mouth as Regina leant her head back, not disengaging her hold but revelling a little in the blonde's shocked expression.

"I suppose on this one particular occasion, this makes you _my _Saviour, hmm."

A hesitant smile lit up the younger woman's face. "I guess so."

"I suppose I'll have to find a way to thank you properly then," said Regina leaning back in, her eyes trained on pink lips that captivated her faltering attention. "Oh and Sheriff?"

"Yup?"

Large green eyes blinked hazily at her.

"If you tell anyone about this evening I..."

"...You'll destroy me if it's the last thing you blah blah blah. I got that message a while back Madam Mayor."

Emma grinned lazily as she took the initiative bringing Regina's chin upwards to within a millimetre of her own, breathing in the intoxicating scent that came with it.

"Seriously though, bats?"

Regina growled as she silenced the question the only way she could, by taking the Sheriff's lips between her own.


End file.
