Regina is soaked in sweat. There's the stench of salt in the air, the remnant odour of a crew that's long abandoned this ship and Regina thinks she might get sick again because of the storms that ravishes the sea once the sun has set. But as Emma Swan clung to her, biting down on her bottom lip while Regina fumbles with the buttons of her jeans, trying not to fall off the hammock, the Queen can't help but smile when she recalls all the ways the Saviour has come for her.

When she was starting to turn green on the Jolly Roger, stubbornly trying to withhold the bile that has been jumping up and down her esophagus (because Queens do not get sick in public), it was Emma who came up behind her and pat her back almost encouragingly. The soft pressure proved too much and Regina spent the next few minutes with half her body dangling over the rail, her stomach losing all its prior contents while mumbling curses at the blonde. Still, she does feel grudgingly better afterward. Emma smiled at her, handing her the bota bag to rinse out her mouth and quickly shooting out 'don't touch it with your lips' before Regina can utter her thanks. So she scowled instead.

When she assumed she was stealthy enough to escape her moth-ridden hammock to climb up the deck to mourn in peace over the loss of her son while everyone was asleep, it was Emma again who came to find her. The uninvited blonde stood next to her calmly and stayed silent. It was unsolicited, but the warm companionship of the Saviour and her quiet resolve helped Regina find hope for their son's rescue.

When it was David's turn to steer the ship and Regina is exhausted after Mary Margaret's less than selfless attempts at a truce and an apology, she decides to watch Hook train Emma in the art of sword fighting instead. The Queen commented on the ineffectiveness of the lessons because Killian was training with a leniency that makes it weak. Emma suggested condescendingly, that perhaps Regina should train her instead. Boredom was what made her take the rapier from the pirate and wait, her inexperience evident in her posture. But then Emma came at her with a direct and open lunge and it took Regina less than five seconds to disarm her. Four, stunned witnesses blink their confusion away before Emma recovered enough to attack her again. They made the mistake of assuming magic was the only weapon in her arsenal. Killian decided not to ever provoke Regina again while David is eager for a go. Tired of the game, Regina struck Emma's sword away until the blonde was stepping backwards to avoid the tip of the sword aiming at her throat. Her back hit the wall and Regina grinned. She's won. As if that was ever in doubt. When Emma smiled at her, reluctantly impressed, Regina later guides her through the stances because from one female swordswoman to another, she knew how to use their feminine bodies to their advantage. If Mary Margaret was staring daggers at her the whole time, it was just the added bonus to Emma's beaming grin when she finally manages to properly avoid Regina's attack.

When Regina is bored enough to borrow one of Killian's dusty novels to read in the privacy of her cabin, it was Emma who came down for her to let her know it was time for dinner. Curiosity brought the Saviour close to the relaxed monarch when she doesn't make a move and ask what she was reading. When Regina made to get up and she tripped because her sea legs are still nowhere to be found, and the blasted hammock is bloody difficult to balance, it was Emma who came to her rescue before she fell face first onto the floor.

When in the dead of night, she woke up in an alarm because she heard crying and years of running into Henry's room when the monitors announced the newborn's fussiness, she woke up in a daze to realize it was Emma who was crying. She's heard the whimpers from her nightmares before but tonight was the first time she ever chose to go to Emma and run her fingers through her hair because she was Henry's mother, the same tactic might work. It does. Regina smiles a self-congratulatory smirk and returned to bed.

When she heard the sounds of rapid steps from the deck, she panicked, assuming the Lost Boys have found them. But when Regina ran up, she found Emma practicing her swordsmanship. Despite Emma's insistence that she practice alone, she scoffed and said proper duels with a moving opponent is where she'll learn, not just performing against a still mast. At some point, during their dance of steel and sharp breaths, it was Emma who has Regina pinned against the wall this time, their swords crossing against one another, pressing to gain leverage and Emma came forward and kissed her.

When Regina couldn't sleep well for the next four nights because all she can think of is Emma's lips upon hers and why the blonde had decided to kiss her in the first place, she was fidgeting irritably until she looked up to see Emma towering over her, pressing a finger to her lips to silence her and snuggled in.

Regina couldn't stop her smile earlier either when David struggled to keep the odds in his favour as he duelled his daughter. Mary Margaret looked proud beyond measure and Killian made a resistant praise for Regina's tutelage. When Emma won the match, albeit by a hair, it was Regina she came up to and squealed her excitement over her first victory.

Tonight, when Emma is rewarded with Regina's fingers curling into her, her teeth digging into Regina's shoulder to muffle her moans while her Queen twists into her cunt ruthlessly, it's the way Emma comes all over her palm that Regina decides, in all the ways Emma Swan has come for her, this she likes the most.