Regina scoffed and rolled her eyes in frustration. Leave it to the manager of "Sapphire" to pair her up with the brand new girl. The bachelorette party had requested a blonde and a brunette, but anyone besides this shy little young thing would be better. Regina always took a passing interest in new meat at the club, but only to size up her competition.

She'd seen this girl around, but this was their first official time meeting and Regina was apparently supposed to "train" her. She had to admit as she looked her up and down that the chick had potential, but she was far too skinny and looked fresh off the farm. She needed to tone her thighs, ass and arms. She probably couldn't even hoist herself around the pole, let alone do any tricks.

"Hi."

"Shut up," Regina looked in the mirror and finished painting her lips dark red. Her heavy, smoky eye makeup and thick false lashes made her look harsh under the floodlights. She smoothed out her black corset and tight shiny leather pants that had silver zippers running down the front to easily remove. It worked for her shtick as a Dominatrix type. "Remember, I go by Vixen."

"What should my name be?" Emma asked enthusiastically as she spritzed her pits with a cloying and strong perfume. (Already a mistake, men didn't want to go home to their significant other's smelling of cheap whore.)

"I was toying with Cinnamon or Angel…how does that sound?" Her skimpy schoolgirl skirt and white uniform shirt tied to show off her midriff with pigtails was so overdone. She looked like Britney Spears circa 1999.

"Whatever you want, Princess."

The new girl didn't even have a stripper name yet how had she even passed an audition? From all Regina knew of her she had won some janky amateur contest on her 18th birthday and thought she was God's gift to men. Regina was certain she wouldn't last more than a few weeks at "Sapphire."

"Just follow my lead, and do not get in my way."

Emma smiled and tilted her head like an excited puppy, "Princess sounds nice."

Regina shook her head, picked up her riding crop prop and smacked it on her hand. She took one last look in the mirror and turned on her high, high heels to get the show started. Emma followed dutifully, looking unrefined and tacky in Regina's opinion.

"So have you done many bachelorette parties? I've never heard of women coming to a strip club to see other women. Wouldn't you think they'd want male strippers?" Emma wrinkled her nose and kept the litany of annoying questions coming fast and ignorant. Each one raked like nails down a chalkboard on Regina's frazzled nerves. It was going to be a long night. She didn't respond right away, but the questions didn't slow down. "Say how much do you think we'll make tonight in tips anyway? I've never worked a party…are women looser with their dollar bills?"

They were just behind the curtain of one of the private stages and could hear the excited chatter of the women in the group. The private area showcased one pole on the stage surrounded by red velvet plush couches bathed in sapphire blue light.

The capacity of this particular room was about 20, and Regina had heard from the booking agent that each party guest had changed about $100 each. She licked her lips, thinking about making $2000 in one night. She glared at the spoiled, wide eyed little Princess. She'd probably be happy making $100. She looked the type that would enjoy giving lap dances for free. Regina realized she had zoned out and missed more rapid fire inquiries from her partner.

"Stop talking. Just dance around and look pretty. We'll each do our routines separately, and remember, don't let them touch you," Regina closed her eyes to take a moment to get her game face on. She'd been stripping for close to two years and she was the star performer at the club. Being the best and most senior woman at Sapphire, she found it insulting that she had been paired up with this beautiful, no…infuriating young blonde.

The stage manager gave them the thumbs up and Regina heard the beginning of her song, she waited a moment as she watched the lights flicker and roll under the curtain before bursting through and commanding the stage.

"Na na na, Come on!"

She was greeted by the sounds of loud whoops and hollers as the women focused with laser like intensity on "Vixen." Regina grabbed the pole and turned around showing off her leather clad ass as she bent over and tapped each foot, throwing lustfully intense glares over her shoulder.

The lights were bright and she couldn't make out any clear faces of the ladies in attendance, but she could hear their shouts of approval. They were putty in her hands as she fluidly lifted herself onto the pole and spun her way down with the graceful edginess of a rock star. She lay on the floor at the bottom of the pole, rolling over to her back, arching it and rolling her hips in time to the thudding beat of the music.

She whipped her neck, letting her shiny black hair fly wildly. When she was performing she cleared her mind, and let the music take over. She looked like a magazine cover, perfect and unreal. Inside she felt devoid of feeling: her eyes were blank even as she went through the motions of manipulation. It was easier that way: to turn off and close down her heart. The problem, though she wouldn't acknowledge it as such, was that she had been unable to turn it back on for the past two years.

Some called her cruel and ruthless, but those other girls were just jealous. This profession would drain your soul if you didn't protect it. It would put a hole in your heart, but Regina was smarter than that. She parted her lips and batted her eyelashes, touching herself slowly. Every move was calculated to instill desire in the onlookers and as $1s and $5s fluttered onto the stage at her feet like leaves she smirked haughtily.

She strutted over to the bachelorette, identified by her "Bride to be" sash and garish plastic tiara. Slapping her thighs, she fell to her knees and tinkered suggestively with the matching zippers on her pants. The woman blushed and smiled. Nervously, she reached forward with a shaky hand and pulled each zipper down to mid-thigh. Regina stared into her eyes, her hips swiveling as the material parted and fell away. She stood up and teased the crowd by snapping the exposed glittery strap of her G-string.

She eased the zippers down the rest of the way and ripped the leather from her body dramatically. The group cheered at the lovely sight of the newly unveiled skin of her toned legs. Clad in only the corset and tiny black panties she bent down low, spreading her thighs and tilting her chin back as she watched the women watching her. She bit her red lips as she toyed with her breasts, shaking her chest and showing off her cleavage.

With about a minute left of her song, she pulled the corset down to show off her full breasts, touching her nipples as she danced low. For her final trick she jumped up onto the pole, turning upside down and sliding, holding herself still as she slowly opened her legs into a full split. The stage went dark as the music faded out. Regina quickly gathered her tips, and secured them in a velvet drawstring purse. She spun it around her finger as she exited through the curtain. She nodded to Emma that it was her turn.

"Wow, you're so amazing!" the younger woman whispered, but Regina paid her no attention as she counted her first round of cash. That was just her warm up dance, after all. Regina aimed to make the audience hungry and she never gave away any piece of herself for free. She liked to think she came with a very high price.

"You have no idea what I'm capable of," Regina intoned as threateningly as possible. She arched her eyebrow as Emma's song began and the crowd, now loosened up and getting more intoxicated by the moment hooted in anticipation.

"I'm so nervous, those lights look so bright," Emma squinted as she peered around the black curtain. Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie" started on cue, and Regina wondered if the girl had even given thought to her choice of music. It was so predictable.

"Just go, Princess," Regina gave her a light shove and Emma stumbled forward in heels that she was still unaccustomed to. She adjusted her skirt and walked a bit too quickly out on stage, immediately grabbing the pole to steady herself. The deer caught in the headlights look worked for her virgin schoolgirl routine and she danced like her only practice had come from a Carmen Electra aerobic striptease DVD. (As it had.)

She frowned and widened her eyes; her prop was a red lollipop which she sucked on as she walked back and forth on stage. Regina watched the train wreck from backstage, shaking her head and almost face palming as the girl took her top off right away and just unceremoniously ripped away her plaid bra giving away her only goods.

There was no artistry to her craft, no sense of mystique. It was just what you see is what you get. She did some halfhearted hip thrust and lollygagged around the pole like it was May Day. The skirt was off within the next thirty seconds and Emma just kind of stood there in a pair of pink panties and thigh high white tights. Her pigtails cascaded down her neck and she blew kisses to the women watching. A few dollars came her way, and she stopped in the middle of her act to pick them up and mouthed "thank you" to her patrons.

When her song finished she made a beeline for the curtain and looked immediately for Regina's approval, "How did I do?" She bounced up and down, still topless, and Regina simply smiled and tried to hold her tongue. That had never been her strong suit, and soon a ravishing critique was spilling from her painted lips.

"I've seen more stage presence and artistry from a blow up doll," the brunette deadpanned, raking her fingers through her own hair, and wondering how she was going to salvage this. It was time for them to do a joint show with the bride, and then after that they had to perform with each other. She blinked in impatience and hoped she could carry both their weight, "Come on, dear."

Regina walked back on stage, with Emma in tow, and confidently beckoned the mousy looking bachelorette up on stage. Vixen smiled prettily and flirted with the woman casually, asking what her name was (Lucy) and a few questions about her impending nuptials to break the ice. Emma pulled a chair over from the side of the stage and placed it front and center.

Regina kept her eyes locked on Lucy's and pushed her down by the shoulders onto the hard seat. She exclaimed in surprise as she sat down. "Shall we show Lucy how we like to party, Princess?"

Emma nodded, but remained standing with her hands crossed over her bare chest. Regina cleared her throat and gave her a pointed look. She scrambled behind the chair, while Regina straddled her and began to an agonizingly slow gyration of her hips, teasing the woman by pushing her face into her cleavage. Emma mostly watched, lightly rubbing up and down her arms and shaking her hips on the other side of the chair. Some joint lap dance this was turning out to be, but that was to be expected.

Regina knew she was in prime position to show off her money maker: her booty. She felt Lucy naturally wrap her palms over Regina's hips and slide down to touch her. That was a no no as she couldn't have the other women in the group thinking they could get away with wandering hands when it was their turn for a lap dance. She removed Lucy's eager fingers from her butt and pulled them up over her head.

"I think you need to be restrained," Regina whispered and Lucy's eyes widened. It was all part of her act; she dismounted and pulled her to her feet. First she dragged her fingers down her front and bent her head letting her soft hair tickle against the woman's chest. Then she commanded her to lie down on the stage.

Lucy did as she was told as Emma stood over her, looking to Regina for direction, "Princess, why don't you tie this lovely lady up?"

Emma nodded enthusiastically and brought over the stand with props on it. She grabbed black silk ties and secured Lucy's hands together, placing a blindfold over eyes. Regina crawled cat like over her, straddling her hips and shaking her hips in an unholy way that once again best showcased her butt for the crowd. She liked the attention and she liked the power she felt when she performed with all the eyes in the room on her.

"Pinch her nipples," Regina coaxed Emma to do something. She swallowed and then without applying hardly any pressure she palmed Lucy's breasts through her dress and teased her nipples. After a few minutes of grinding Regina rolled Lucy onto her stomach, and she plucked a long black feather from the box of props to run over her the exposed part of her back and down her thighs. The little show went on, with some well-placed drips of hot candle wax, followed by Regina squirting whipped cream on Emma's breasts and placing a cherry on top of each tit. Then she let the bride lick it off. The excited screams reached a fever pitch.

After the show, they released the happy looking bride to go back to her friends, smudges of whipped cream remained on her dazed face. Regina grabbed Emma's arm and pulled her off stage, after promising the ravenous ladies that they would be right back to continue the fun.

Holding tightly to her arm Regina chided, "I shouldn't be surprised, but dear, you act as though you have no idea what we're doing out there."

"Um…" Emma faltered, she thought that everything was going fine, but she was starting to understand why Regina had the reputation as the Bitch around the club.

"I hope you're a good actress because we're getting paid to put on a show, and in this next part we have to touch and kiss each other, but you look like you're made out of wood and it's affecting my tips!" Regina kept her voice low and strained.

"I'm sorry. I've never done this before," Emma's face fell, she was overwhelmed by everything, but she was trying her best.

"Just act like you're really into me, and touch me like you mean it. You touched that woman like you were scooping dog shit off the sidewalk."

"I'm better with guys. I don't know how to do this with a woman. It feels really weird," Emma said defensively. She was shrinking back into herself and Regina sighed realizing she had just extinguished the last flame of Emma's confidence.

Though her fear of touching other females was a new one by Regina's estimation; most of the girls at the club were much more comfortable touching other women than the creepy old men. Things usually went a lot farther with girls, and though it was rare that they entertained a whole group of women, those events should be a like a cakewalk through a forest of money trees. The women tended to be less aggressive and they weren't trying to get sex. Regina was no hooker, but she usually didn't mind performing extra acts with a female partner if it meant getting big money. That was why she was here for the money, and the women in this group clearly wanted to see a blonde innocent and a domineering brunette touch each other. This was work and they were providing a service. Emma didn't seem to be grasping that concept.

"Zone out and think about something else if the thought of performing with me is so repulsive to you. God knows I'll be making my own grocery list in my head," Regina snarled and flipped her hair. "If you're not going to do it right, tell me now so I can go find Bill and see if another girl is available."

Emma grew indignant, and blurted out, "I can do it. I need the money."

Regina saw fire in the girl's eyes. She squared her shoulders in challenge. She tried to remember her first time and a small pang of sympathy shuddered through her body. She looked her up and down, "Well then, let's get on with it."

"Wait," Emma panted out, her eyes wide and the apples of her cheeks growing red with anger. "You know why I'm afraid? Because I see how you are and I don't want to be like you. How did you get like this? Like you have no soul?"

"How dare you! We all do what we have to do. Go ahead and judge all you want dear, but you don't know the first thing…and here I was trying to help you."

Their eyes locked for a long moment and they breathed heavily with the pulsing anger swirling in the air: crackling and thick with tension.

Without another word Regina broke away and walked back on stage, acutely aware that this girl on girl part was what the audience had come to see. There was no harm in using the rage boiling inside her to fuel the act. As soon as the blonde wandered out on stage she grabbed Emma roughly by the loose tie she still wore around her next and pulled her close against her body. Taking her hands she guided them to the ties on her corset, Emma pulled them off hard. She looked intense, still fueled by her strange need to please, coupled with her anger at Regina.

She tore the tight leather sheath from her body and tossed it aside, leaving her in just the tiny G-string and her black and silver heels. Regina felt the rush of air on her skin, and she was able to breathe deeply again. The sheer force of determination in Emma caused Regina to shiver, taking in the dark green of her eyes and truly looking at her for the first time as an opponent and as a woman.

Something took over her body, she felt out of control and confused by the look of desire she saw in Emma's eyes. There was no way she was going to be able to focus on her grocery list, not when this little Princess was pushing her violently into the pole. Her back and head connected with the cool metal. Her chest heaved with the shock she felt from the unexpected action. Regina's heart raced as Emma pawed and mauled her.

When Emma grabbed the back of her head and crashed their lips together a haze lifted from Regina's vision. Something long buried, bubbled to the surface brought to life with help from the woman's hot mouth. Stunned, she pulled away and gasped. Then she forgot that people were watching and wrapped her arms around Emma pulling her closer, desperate for more.

Regina could barely hear the wild screams of the party goers over the beating of her own heart and the dizzying sensation of Emma's kiss. Then there was more. Emma kissed down her neck and sucked on the tendon she found there. Her hands felt like they were all over her body, waking her up like she had been in a long dormant sleep and was taking her first breath. She felt her limbs tingle and her core ache with need. In two years, she hadn't felt so aroused. Certainly not at work, nor in her private life.

She pulled away and looked into Emma's deep green eyes; she was beautiful. She no longer looked like a meek young child playing dress up to Regina. She looked like an impassioned woman. She pushed back, throwing Emma off balance. Her eyes widened in shock.

With a bit of distance between them, her focus came back to the currently in progress stage show they were currently starring in. Regina watched Emma swallow and take a deep breath. Her posture changed, and a sense of decorum returned to her eyes. At that, Regina sought out control. With evil intention she slid her arms around the blonde, pushing her hair over her shoulders and slid her hands down her bare sweat slicked back. Digging in her fingernails to give a bite of warning, they continued their erotic act.

In tandem, they slid to the floor on their knees facing one another, Emma mirrored Regina's touches. They gazed with barely contained lust into each other's eyes, feeling the heat and energy coursing between them.

"Holy shit!" Someone from the crowd yelled above the din, watching with wonder as Regina roughly pulled Emma's face to her chest. Her fingers tangled in her hair as she forcibly rubbed her face into her breasts. It was an erotic sight alone, but when Emma's mouth latched onto a nipple and bit down, it caused Regina to throw her head back and cry out. Her back arched into the feeling as Emma drew back pulling the nipple painfully before releasing it.

Neither woman could keep pretending that the sensations and passion bubbling over in them was an act. They surged together filled with adrenalin and lust, and rolled on the floor.

"I want to fuck you," Regina lip twisted up into an earnest sneer as she whispered in Emma's ear.

Emma moaned with desire, her core sweetening with arousal. Regina couldn't believe it when the younger woman looked her straight in the eye, grabbed her wrist and pushed it between her legs. She nodded affirmatively. "Do it."

Regina stroked the darkened patch of fabric between Emma's legs. She could feel her damp panties clinging to her, and the small bead of her hardened clit under the tips of her fingers. She had so much power over the younger woman as she watched her face intently. She tried to fight every gasp and moan. When her eyes closed and her hips bucked up, Regina couldn't help herself. She toyed with the elastic edge of her panties and pushed underneath to make contact with Emma's bare pussy.

If Regina had been thinking clearly, she would have teased her more and added to the eroticism of the show. She wasn't thinking clearly and she wasn't thinking about the audience. All she wanted was to make the woman cum. She made quick work of her, increasing the speed and flurry of her fingers until Emma's back arched and she roughly grabbed Regina's forearm as she tensed up and cried out.

Slowly coming back to reality, Regina tore her eyes off of Emma, who looked smugly satisfied yet shy that she had allowed herself to orgasm in front of so many people. The women gathered closer and were watching Emma roll around in a daze looking sweaty and glowing. Everyone in the audience was standing up and shouting their approval. Regina recognized the voice of the bride leading a demanding chant: "Go down on her!"

Money rained down on the stage and various hands tucked folded dollars into Regina's G-string, as several women begged for private dances. Smiling victoriously and feeling free and fluttery, Regina thought that this was only the very beginning of all of the things that she and her Princess could do together: on stage and off.

A/N: Written for Swan Queen Week: Day 1: Meet Cute AU. Thank you very much to ruby1108 for editing!