Once Upon A Time: Not Forgotten

"Just the ambiance. It's so imposing. And that's not me, is it?"

"Nah. You're a kitten."

Regina grinned at the tease and Emma wondered when she had gotten to the point of sticking her head in the lion's mouth. The last time they'd sparred like this... "I realize I can be intimidating, Emma, but not once you get to know me. I may have some power, or I did, but my first concern is for my son. My second concern, of course, being the people of this town. And then there's little old me. There's not much in there to cause someone harm."

"As long as you have your priorities in order."

"Oh, they are. I will be reunited with my son, and to that I will get better, and to do that I will take any drug, complete any treatment, do any exercise... I will not leave Henry in the lurch."

As much as Regina's words were focused away from her, Emma still felt a shooting pain, this time wholly guilt. There was no telling how much of this might've been avoided if she hadn't given Henry up, if she'd been clean instead of addicted, if only, if only. Or would she have had Henry in the first place? Would she even have come to Storybrooke?

It was funny to think about, her and Regina, never having met, off in their own little worlds... equally miserable.

Regina's hand touching Emma's cheek was shockingly intense, not so much the gesture, but the contact. Emma had never known Regina totouchpeople. She could toy with them, string them along with little flirtations that promised more, but even with Henry, she'd been closed off. As a result, Emma and Henry had been like strangers living together, going days not knowing how to touch or talk, just feeling each other out like new roommates. They'd sorted it out, settled into a new routine, but Regina hadraisedhim and yet a part of her had never come to terms with loving someone who wouldn't hurt her back.

And now here Regina was, making the kind of simple gesture that Emma knew she hadn't been capable of before. It was like seeing a bird underwater. "That's not to imply, of course, that you did anything except what was best for Henry. You did the best you could. We both did."

"Yeah. What makes me worry is whether our best is good enough."

Regina's hand lingered, the back of a finger drawing over Emma's cheekbone as it left. "Do you think I turned out alright?"

Emma didn't know quite what to say. "I think you're a work-in-progress."

Regina grinned, more pleased by the diplomacy than she would be by a little white lie. "And aren't we all."

"But I think the result is going to be spectacular."

Regina smiled. Emma had never seen that before either. She'd seen tight, controlled grins—smirks—even simpering—but this was the first time Regina had released herself enough to express a kind of joy. Or maybe it was just something she hadn't felt in the time Emma had known her.

The sheriff was a little embarrassed. It wasn't that much of a compliment. She looked away, biting her lip, and felt her cheeks burn. Christ, why had she even said that? She sounded like she was asking someone to the prom.

"Well," Regina said, traces of happiness in her voice, "there wasn't much 'work done' on me for a long time. My mother died when I was very young."

"I'm sorry."

Regina waved her off. "My father took care of me. He was very supportive, very loving. He called me his little princess. His death is what inspired me to get into politics. I wanted everyone in this town to have someone that looked after them the way my father looked after me."

"That's very noble."

"It was," Regina hesitated, "ambitious. To lay claim to that much love. An entire town looking up to me. Maybe a father's love wasn't enough. Maybe a son's love wasn't."

"Well, I think it's good. That you have such happy memories, I mean, not that people died. Even though I assume they died very peacefully and not, you know... Saw IV."

Regina blinked calmly. "The more you're with me, the more tongue-tied you seem to get. Funny, you never had any trouble coming up with things to say to me before." Not true. Emma had had plenty of trouble coming up with things that were acceptable to say within earshot of a child. "Perhaps it's good that I'm no longer mayor. Imagine how it'd look, you tripping over your words whenever we have to work closely together."

"It's a price I'd be willing to pay."

Regina tried that smile again, but there was too much sadness there to pull it off. "I'd trade places with you in a heartbeat. I'd give you my happy memories for a chance to make new ones. It's hard to talk, knowing that this conversation could slip away any moment."

"Regina—" Emma wanted to confess. Right then, right there. Tell Regina everything, even if it meant she herself ended up face down in that river. "You're going to get better."

"I know. I have to know. No matter how many times I've done this, I have to keep believing that this time will be different. I just can't forget that this moment is all I have. And what I feel in it, I can't keep to myself. Or it will be lost. To everyone."

Regina took a step closer and God, she'd never been intimidating when Emma had just thought she was a corrupt mayor with a crime lord in her pocket. Or even the wicked witch of the west. Something in Emma's gut was twisting, cold and scared and desperately anxious. And still Regina came, closer and closer, her hands kneaded together. Unsure what to do with them until she was right next to Emma and then they parted, opening wide and coming down around Emma to pull her in close, her chin fitting to the other woman's shoulder like a puzzle piece, her breath coming shallowly as Regina embraced her. Like the woman was squeezing the life from her.

"You're such a good friend," Regina said, hugging her. "I should've let you be my friend earlier. It would've been so nice, being able to look back on our friendship, instead of just me being a bitch."

"Regina..." It was like the name was a fish-hook, pulling out anything else Emma could say. And, out of the blue: "Let's do this tomorrow. Ride bikes. It'll be fun."

"I'd like that." Regina wasn't letting go. "I haven't biked since I was a girl."

"Good thing is it's like something else that's like riding a bike. You never forget."

Corny joke, but Regina was nice enough to laugh. They broke apart and Emma took Regina's hand again, feeling her own warmth added to Regina's.

"You going to walk me home, Swan?" Regina asked, no longer beaming, but cheery enough. The sadness at bay. "You're more gentlemanly than some dates I've had."

"I also put out more."

Regina giggled. It was a lovely sound.

***

That night, Emma laid in bed with Henry, reading him the stories from his book, helping him write down the happy endings he'd added. She ran her fingers through his hair and tried to believe this. If nothing else, she was self-aware. She knew she was a barely functional lout with deep-seated personal issues and some profound moral failings. She wasn't like Regina; she remembered all the bad decisions she'd made, all the stupid short-sighted idiocy, all her crappy life.

And yet, here was Henry. This little person, all curious and smart and kind, who'd just detached from her like a plane breaking formation or something. It was like whatever shred of goodness she'd had left after the foster system and, yack, high school had crystallized into this one tiny guyand then jumped ship, leaving her as rotten as ever. And now they were back together and he was like an organ transplant, making her a full human being. It hurt sometimes, wondering what else she could've gotten right if she'd done this good more than once.

They finished a chapter. Kathryn was reunited with Frederick. So Emma set aside the book and massaged her writing hand.

"Henry, you know your mother loves you, right?"

"Yeah, of course you do," he answered smartly. "You spoil me, like, rotten."

It was a little truer than Emma would've liked to admit. By her reasoning, she had a lot of birthdays to make up for and it wasn't like there were any good concert tickets in Storybrooke to spend her money on instead. Besides, Mary-Margaret and David couldn't be counted on to spoil him—they thought a good present was, like, a bow.

"Not me," Emma said. "Regina."

"Oh." Henry sounded dismal. "Yeah, I guess." Likeif you wanna get technical about it.

"Maybe you could come with me to see her sometime, if you feel up to it."

"Mom, Regina's theEvil Queen,okay? Why would I want to see her?"

"She's changed," Emma argued. "She's not the person she used to be."

"It doesn't count if it's not her choice."

"You know it's more complicated than that. You're my son and I would never let anything bad happen to you... but Regina is my friend. And maybe it would do you both some good if... you know what, forget it. She's not your mother. You don't have to see her if you don't want to."

Emma picked up the book again. When she opened it, Henry watched the pages fly by, all the happily ever afters blurring together.

"She's alright, though?"

"Regina's fine. She's just trying to figure out who she is." Emma looked down at Henry. "She's had a lot of people telling her that over the years. For her, it's weird not hearing them."

"You're gonna tell me she's good and she's not. I know she's not. You went to see her and you came home all beat up. I know she did that to you, so why are you defending her?"

"Because I started the fight."

***

Regina was sitting up on the porch when Emma came over, already wearing a cyclist's outfit, helmet in her lap, sunglasses low on her nose. "Sheriff Swan."

Emma popped the trunk of her car and wrestled her bike out, trying not to let on that she'd bought if for just such an occasion. She was sure she'd packed a nice mountain bike before moving, but maybe she'd actually donated it one Christmas on account of not needing a half-measure between walking and driving.

"Go easy on me, alright?" Emma asked in her sweatshirt and tennis shoes, looking like an MMA trainee next to an Olympic hopeful when she took her place by Regina. "I haven't done this in a while."

"I'll be gentle," Regina cooed, bringing up her kickstand. "Just try and keep up; moan pathetically if you need me to slow down."

"I was just going to say 'gasp, you're so much faster than me,' but if you want me to moan, that's fine."

They took off, Regina mercilessly hitting the afterburner. Emma was hard-pressed to keep up, but to her surprise, she managed to get neck and neck with Regina. They kept on like that, bent over their handlebars like galley slaves, the wind rushing by, not slowing down until they had to take the toll bridge. Regina eased off long enough to drink from a water bottle attached to her bike's frame. Some of it spilled over her throat. Lower.

"How is itI'mthe one who feels overdressed?" Emma asked, looking her over. The spandex left little enough to the imagination.

"I just have one of those bodies that make people feel perpetually overdressed." Regina handed the bottle over as they lazily caught their breaths. "Don't fret. I already paid for it in high school."

"Oh, were you a cheerleader?"

"School slut, depending on who you asked—me or anyone else. Really seemed to surprise them when I ended up valedictorian." Regina grinned to herself. "I went commando on-stage, just to mess with them."

"Oh my God... Regina Mills: The College Years."

"We should write Sweet Valley Twin books together." Regina narrated dramatically "When the brilliant Regina Mills went to Maine's most exclusive prep school, she never expected to meet the roguish Emma Swan."

"Roguish... that is such a nice way to put it."

"I'd hoped you would like it."

They reached the other side of the bridge. It stopped threatening them with its grumbling and they took off again.

"I should've fixed that while I was in office," Regina mused. "I had no idea this was such a hot spot."

"I'm pretty sure we have it all to ourselves."

"Great. More danger for us."

Emma pumped her fist, then played at cutting Regina off with her bike. "Safe is no fun."

"Prove it," Regina dared, and took off. Emma tried following, but it didn't take long to realize Reginahadbeen going easy on her. She kept sight of Regina's back as they raced at breakneck speed over the trail, around curves, between trees, almost out of control, not quite.

She lost sight of Regina and caught her again, bike parked at the lake the creek fed into. Regina was standing as Emma pedaled up, drinking from her bottle like it was the Holy Grail.

"Good work-out," Regina said.

"Because you won."

"I'm competitive."

"You like to win. There's a difference."

"Oh?" Regina tossed the bottle high in the air so Emma had to reach to catch it. "What's that?"

"I think one has to do with proving something to yourself, and the other has to do with proving something to everyone else. I read that. I think." Emma drank. "It might've been in a movie."

"Well, you're the only one here. What am I trying to prove to you?"

"Maybe you just need me to prove something to yourself."

"You were a joy in debate club, weren't you?"

"So that's what those kids who smoked with me under the bleachers called themselves. They never really introduced themselves..."

Regina regarded Emma with a half-smile as she undid her suit's shoulder straps and eased the material down her body.

"Uh, Mills? I didn't know this was a clothing-optional bike club."

"Relax. I'm not going commando today." She rolled the spandex down over her bra. K-mart white and sweaty as hell. Still, there was only so much a bra could do not to flatterthose.

"Shame. I was planning on giving you a diploma. Honorary degree from the School of Hard Knocks."

"I could finally prove to people I was hardcore," Regina mourned sarcastically as she helped the suit down her legs. Matching panties. Emma looked up quickly.

"I really could use an explanation for the nudity before more banter."

"I'm going swimming," Regina said, taking her shoes off.

"Uh-huh." Emma would ask if she'd been hit on the head recently but, well...

"I loved swimming as a little girl. I had those floating Transformers that turn into jet skis and everything. But I can't remember the last time I went for a swim. Literally. Maybe I'm just that uptight. Couldn't let the hoi polloi see me in a bathing suit. Well, you won't tell them about my tattoo, will you?"

"What tattoo, where--?" Emma looked over Regina's body—holy shit—before meeting her eyes. Full grin. "Oh.Nowyou're being sarcastic."

"Are you joining me or playing lifeguard?"

"What if I'm not wearing underwear?"

"That's a chance I'm willing to take, Sheriff."

***

Regina had an amazing body. Full stop. Emma was, like, ninety percent straight, so she was more than qualified to say that Regina was downrightbangin'. She had just the right amount of soft bits and hard bits and bits that Emma thought were Photoshop when a celebrity showed them off on the cover of Cosmo. Apparently, being deposed had given her a lot of time for Pilates.

Emma, on the other hand, had had cheeseburgers for both lunch and dinner yesterday. She jogged, but there was this hot dog stand on her route, and one thing often led to another. Her midsection had some definite potbelly potential, whereas Regina's looked like a quarter could be bounced off of it. Hell, a .45-caliber bullet.

"The water's fine," Regina said, paused up to her knees in the lake so all of her... charms were on display. In fact, some of them were reflected in the water. She was making skinny-dipping look like a photo shoot.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Emma swore, checking her boobs' position in her bra one last time. It had to be bad feminism to get in the water with all that and not have your own girls front and center. Disrespectful, or something.

Regina merely chided "Promises, promises" and ventured deeper. Moaning in pleasure, she leaned back and let the water take her, floating belly-up like she had emergency flotation devices on her person. Emma could guess where they'd be stored.

Defiantly, Emma pulled off her shirt and pulled down her jeans before she could think better of it, adding her boots and socks to the pile last. Regina just floated there, lazily stirring the surface with her fingers.

"My, my, Emma. Police work must be good exercise."

"Don't start..."

"I'm being absolutely sincere. You look ravishing."

Emma dipped her toe in the water to check the temperature. Regina hadn't lied, for once. It was the perfect tepid temperature for a warm day and a sweaty bike ride. "Yeah, compared to you, I'm chopped liver."

"That's true," Regina shrugged, prompting Emma to stomp her way deeper into the lake. "But chopped liver can taste exquisite with the right side-dish."

"You saying I look good enough to eat?"

"Good enough to have sex with, even."

Emma paused with the water licking at her waist. "Uh, Regina... you're not... I mean..."

"I'm speaking hypothetically, of course."

"Of course."

"So are you?"

Emma paused again, another inch of her underneath the water. "Am I what?"

"Well, I'm sure I wouldn't know what the kids are calling it these days, but—'seeing anyone'?"

"No, no, God no. Not with Henry around."

"I thought he was at boarding school."

Emma thought fast. "You know how it is. It still feels like he's right there, needing help with his homework and... plus, I just haven't met anyone who's really—"

"Ovary material?" Regina supplied.

"I'm sure it's not called that. Even by the kids."

Regina dipped her head back in the water. Her hair was floating around her like a wreath. Emma tried to swim over to her, but with a saucy flip, Regina was on her belly, cleaving the water at two miles an hour like she was born to the water, cutting through the water with a professional breaststroke. Emma followed her, not so much cutting through the water as snipping at it with safety scissors.

Regina stopped in the middle of the lake, treading water as she watched the lake settle to mirror-smoothness. Emma was nowhere to be seen.

"Sheriff Swan?" Regina called. "Whatever you're going to do, I'm sure I won't find it amusing."

Suddenly, she felt sly fingers undo the clasp on her bra and pull it away, Emma surfacing behind her seconds later, holding her wet prize aloft.

"Yoink!"

"Sheriff Swan!" Regina held an arm over her breasts, making it somewhat harder to keep afloat. "I'll have that back, please."

"And what'll ya give me for it?"

Regina thought it over. Then she splashed Emma.

"Oh,so it's treason then."Emma said, which didn't make sense, but sounded cool.

Regina had to hide her boobs, which only have her one arm for splashing, but Emma had to hold onto the bra, so they were both one-legged men at an ass-kicking contest. Emma tried to splash with the hand holding the bra, but just managed to hit herself with the metal hook, which made Regina laugh, which made Emma laugh, which somehow led to Regina swimming into Emma and dunking her.

Which led to Emma, underwater, seeing how attractive Regina's nipples were. Which was bullshit, because Emma had been hoping Regina had some debilitating disease that made her nipples all gross, or at least piercings. (Emma had no piercings, just a tattoo on her lower back. It was of a raven, so, classy as fuck.)

"Are you two alright?"

Regina let Emma up. Granny, granny-with-a-crossbow Granny, was at the other end of the lake. With a basket even.

"We're fine!" Regina called back, meekly taking shelter behind Emma's somewhat clothed torso.

"What are you doing in there?"

"We're fine!" Regina repeated.

"Regina lost her watch in the lake and I'm helping her look for it!" Emma said quickly, years of explaining that 'incense' smell in her bathroom finally coming in handy.