Story takes place in 4 x 11. Canon divergence from there on.

Key points: no Zelena, real Marian, no Rumple. Swan Queen and Red Beauty (though a secondary ship).

A Double Shot at Love

After Emma not so delicately put back Killian's heart inside his chest, he moved his hand and hook to her back and pulled her close to kissed her then, and suggested they got a room in Granny's Inn.

Emma smiled awkwardly at him and gently moved his arms to loosen his needy grip on her.

"I... I'm not ready yet. Give me a little time, Killian," she answered feebly, not very comfortable with the idea.

She leaned forward and kissed him on the corner of his lips to try and not make him too upset. "Be patient…"

"Haven't I been patient enough?" He grumbled.

"Look. There's just something I need to do first..." Emma averted her eyes.

"What is it this time?" He groaned. "I swear if it's the Evil Queen again-"

"She just lost someone important," responded Emma sharply, starting to lose her temper.

"And I just got my heart back from the Dark One, thank you very much for the concern."

"You're fine. And he's gone. Look, I'll see you tomorrow."

Emma started walking away.

"Swan!"

Emma waved a dismissive hand, her back to him, completely ignoring her boyfriend. She walked down the hallway of Granny's to come to where Regina was sitting alone at the bar, and took the seat next to her.

"I'm not in the mood for a hope speech, Emma." Regina huffed as she stirred her coffee again, pensively.

"You're confusing me for my mother. What you need is a drinking buddy. Shots?"

Regina looked incredulously at Emma, but she could really use a drink this moment.

"Sure. Why not."

"Two, please." The Sheriff asked the waitress at the opposite side of the bar and the young woman poured two tequila shots for them.

"Make mine double," Regina ordered and Emma's mouth gaped in surprise.

"That bad, huh?" The blonde said with sympathy. " Make mine, too," she asked the waitress.

Regina downed her drink from a big gulp and her eyes even teared a little. That was quite a strong drink and she wasn't really used to it.

"You okay?" Emma asked her after the Mayor coughed.

"I never liked tequila," Regina responded with a raspy voice.

"Ah… you're more of a cider woman, I recall," Emma smiled sympathetically.

"And you're more of a Captain Morgan fan, am I right?" Regina said it with bitterness that didn't go unnoticed.

"Actually I'm more into vodka," Emma said to evade the negativity. She knew what Regina really meant and it wouldn't be wise to fuel that fire right now.

But why did Regina despise Hook so much?

She had the idea it had something to do with his camaraderie with Cora, could also be because he let her be tortured by Greg and Tamara. Now that was more logical, but when they first arrived in Neverland to look for Henry, Emma could almost swear Regina had set her differences with the pirate apart for a moment— they even seemed to be bonding, until that day she accusingly called him Emma's boyfriend. The hell that had even come from? In that moment she wasn't even interested in Hook yet. Interesting Regina had to point this out, but she better not think too much about it. Neverland was behind them, and now she was indeed Hook's girlfriend, as strange as that notion felt when she looked back at how they met.

Regina felt a little dizzy from her drink. It was unusual of her to drink such strong alcohol and from a gulp, nonetheless, but she tried to keep her regal composure and not show more weakness than what she had already allowed her drinking buddy to witness.

"I don't think you could hold a second round," Emma said tentatively.

Regina looked at her with a fiery gaze. "Are you challenging me, Miss Swan?"

"Ooooh, we're back to formalities, huh? Perhaps I am, Madam Mayor," Emma smirked.

Quite smug she looks, Regina thought.

"Careful, Ms. Swan, when I play, I play to win."

"So do I, Regina," Emma emphasized her name and it made the Mayor felt a curious shiver.

Was this what friends did in their nights out? Regina didn't really know because she'd never had a friend to live the experience, at least not in the modern world. And in the old, Maleficent was hardly just a drinking buddy... Not that such details mattered right now, wherever that thought came from.

"Can I get you something else, Sheriff, Madam Mayor?" Marlene, the waitress, asked them.

"Anything good with Vodka," Regina responded before Emma. "Color me surprised."

Marlene couldn't believe her eyes. Everyone knew Emma and Regina were getting along better now, but to actually see them together chilling in the bar was a whole different sight— and she shipped it.

After serving their drinks, the waitress went inside the kitchen and texted Ruby, who had taken the night off, to share the strange novelty.

"DUDE, you're not gonna believe this!" Marlene sent her.

"What?" Ruby asked a minute later.

"The Mayor and the Sheriff are totally getting wasted together. HERE. I FUCKING CAN'T."

"Are you high or what? Stop inventing ships where there are none. It's getting serious, gurl." Ruby replied.

"NO. It's totally happening! Like, DAMN, I already shipped it, now I get to actually witness it!"

"Dude, you said the same about me and Belle, and you wanted to arrange our wedding after we shared a FUCKING TEA together. Like, chill. You have issues."

"I'm right this time, wereBITCH! BYE."

What the fuck? Ruby's brow furrowed. She put the cellphone back over the nightstand and turned the lamplight off.

Me and Belle… She remembered that afternoon, and still kept the book the auburn-haired lady had loaned her as a 'must read.'

"The Knight in Rusty Armor," Ruby read out loud. "I will return you tomorrow."

Regina lifted her drink and looked at Emma as she did the same, both women testing the other, but Emma finding this challenge more funny than serious.

"Ready?" Emma asked as she raised a cocky eyebrow.

"My dear, I was born ready to beat you," Regina let out a throaty laugh.

"Actually that was me. You know: Savior," Emma winked, a haughty smile in her lips.

"We shall see... We have yet to face each other in our final battle," Regina said in a husky voice so undoubtedly the Evil Queen's, and with a hint hint of sensuality- or maybe Emma was imagining that. In any case, Regina decided she would not be losing to Emma Swan.

"Cheers," said Emma.

They both brought their glasses to their lips to drink from the special cocktail Marlene had procured for them, and boy wasit STRONG, like a kick in the face.

"Holy shit! How much did you put in it?" Emma uttered to the waitress as she walked by to check on them. They were the only customers left there.

"Didn't you… still… want double shots?" Marlene bit her lip, and her brow furrowed in guilt. This had so not been an accident, but she played fool.

"God, no. Not on this one," Emma exhaled deeply, her cheeks a warm pink.

"Giving up already?" Regina asked her, pointing at the half empty glass. "I thought your last name was Swan, not Puss—"

"Woah! Someone's had enough for a night," the Sheriff interrupted before the Mayor finished the line.

"I'm most *hiccup* perfectly *hiccup* fine."

"Sure… but I would still not risk any chances. As Sheriff, I can't allow you to drive in your state."

"As Mayor, I fire you."

"Well… you haven't been Mayor for a while, so..."

"Please. I've thirty years under my belt. And Queen."

"Okay…" Emma got up from her seat, and offered her hand to Regina. "Well, your Majesty, I'm afraid I'll have to escort you back to the palace as your designated White Knight—royal guard or whatever." Emma blushed lightly at her own offer.

Had she just unintentionally sound flirtatious?

"My hero," Regina sneered at her, not even taking notice of the chivalry in her Sheriff, and how both women had been flirting for a while now without realizing, going from heated looks, to the way they clank their glasses and studied their lips before drinking.

These two idiots, Marlene was grinning behind the cashier as she readied their bill.

Emma paid for the drinks and helped Regina into the beetle to drive her home. Henry had gone with Mary Margaret and David after Rumplestiltskin was banished from Storybrooke, and the two mothers now traveled in direction of 108 on Mifflin Street.

"I'm really sorry about Robin," Emma said sympathetically after Regina began weeping quietly. The alcohol had made her a little more sensitive, a little more uninhibited— more open.

"He was my soulmate. Tinkerbell told me he was my second chance at happiness, but now… now I have none."

"Tinkerbell?" Emma's brow furrowed, she shook her head trying to find how that made sense.

"Yes. A long time ago, she stole some pixie dust to find me a soulmate."

"That how she lost her wings… But how can pixie dust give you a soulmate? I mean, what about True Love and that stuff. I don't think it works like that, does it? I thought magic couldn't create love…" Emma's verbal diarrhea started. She needed to understand.

"It doesn't. Well, not like that… I… I don't know," Regina thought for a moment. "My head hurts so bad, Emma. Can't you speed up?" She rubbed her temples.

"Guess I could," Emma drove slightly faster and they soon made it to Regina's mansion.

The Sheriff opened the door for her and tried to helped her out of the lousy bug, but Regina was mildly offended.

"I'm not that drunk," she dismissed her and walked over to the porch, Emma coming behind her just to make sure.

"Why are there so many keys!" Regina whined as she failed to insert the right key in the door. But she was more emotional and upset than she was drunk.

"Let me help."

Emma took the keys from Regina's hands slowly. Their hands touched gently, sending a chill down her spine; it was almost like an electrical reaction to the very touch of Regina's hand, but Regina didn't seem have felt it.

Strange.

"Which of these is?" Emma asked.

"That one," Regina pointed at one of them, growing impatient.

She really wanted to get inside home and stop feeling this way. She had felt that sparkle of magic when their hands met briefly, but she didn't want to give it any attention. The sooner she was in her bed the better. Tomorrow she could pretend not to remember any of this; not remember Emma could make such good company, nor how she could let her walls down with her so easily. It was far too confusing and she was supposed to be grieving Robin, not feeling good to be around Emma alone, without anyone else in between them. With Henry it was different now, but the fact was: she felt safe and hopeful with Emma.

They got inside the manor and Regina walked to the foot of the stairs, stumbling a little.

"I shouldn't have drunk that so fast," she mumbled, having difficulty with walking up the steps that lead to her bedroom. She was a little dizzy, and felt a little hot suddenly. Must be the shots.

"Mind if I offer a hand?" Emma asked gingerly, somewhat feeling nervous about the idea of accompanying Regina to her bedroom. "It was kinda my fault for making it into a contest, you know," Emma said sheepishly, licking her lips nervously.

Regina looked at her from over the shoulder, eyes dark and inviting. "Just a hand?" Welp! Perhaps more walls than she thought at first, were already falling.

What had just gotten to her? She didn't know, but both women pretended she didn't just say that.

"Ahem." Emma cleared her throat. "I suppose an arm is better."

Emma helped Regina balance out in more ways than just physically, like she doing was this moment, but neither woman was conscious of that, or maybe they were but would not admit.

Regina pushed the door to her bedroom open with magic and got a little dizzy again. Drinking and using magic was not a good mix.

"Careful with that," Emma held her from the waist and pulled her closer so she didn't trip with the big rug under the bed.

Regina turned to look at Emma with surprise. They had never been this close, and the blonde felt her heart beat so much faster than usual; it felt like a horse race inside her chest and her breathing became much deeper suddenly. They had only once been almost this close before, that day in the mine. Regina had stepped closer and for a moment Emma thought they had made a connection; just like this moment, but it was gone soon as it come.

The thought crossed her mind again; maybe, just maybe, Regina had always liked her more than she pretended to hate her.

"Regina I…" Emma's words died out before she could gather the courage to say what she had been hiding in her heart for a long time.

How could she entertain such an idea,when it was clear Regina believed Robin Hood her only shot at love? And she (Emma) was now with Hook. It made no sense, but she had let it happen and now she was stuck between the person she really wanted and the person who wanted her, but she had no chance with Regina. She couldn't beat fate, could she? Could she be bigger than a soulmate? And Regina was drunk, vulnerable, and Emma couldn't be that person, she couldn't take advantage of this moment of weakness to make an even bigger mess of Regina's life in this night of shots and heart to hearts.

Emma's heart wasn't the only conflicted, as Regina's was beating as though it would burst out of her chest any moment.

Why had Emma Swan always made her feel everything with such intensity?Whether it had been hatred or joy, it was always a thousand times stronger if the feeling had been evoked by something this woman said or did. It was as if Emma had some unknown power on her, something that made her lose her mind but at the same time grounded her.

The words sounded like an echo in her head; words she had said to Snow White once long ago: True Love is magic.

Could they both share such thing?

They shared True Love through Henry, they knew that, but could it be, perhaps, that they also felt something for one another? Maybe Regina was much too confused, but now, with her walls down, she couldn't have seen clearer than this moment why she despised the pirate so much: it was because of Emma.

How could someone like him, gain her heart?

He hadn't changed, he only pretended to, to woo Emma, and Regina couldn't understand why Emma was falling for his lies. Not when she was truly changing for good, not to win someone's affection, but to really make up for the pain she caused others to suffer, and to deserve— to earn —her own happy ending hopefully one day.

She had been selfless but right now she felt selfish, for she wanted to take something from someone: she wanted Killian's happy ending for herself. She wanted Emma; Hook didn't deserve her. The revelation was brighter than daylight.

"Emma," Regina said the name in a sweet whisper. Emma looked deep into brown pools that mirrored her own longing.

Words weren't needed to describe what they felt for each other this moment; what they had felt for a long time, or what they would inevitably continue feeling tomorrow and the day after.

Delicate hands cupped the younger woman's face gently, and Emma waited, hopeful that she would be Regina's choice instead of some pixie-dust predestined bullshit. She wanted to believe. Regina brought their faces much closer, Emma felt her heart beat much more strongly inside her chest, and as the flutter of millions of butterflies inundated her stomach, she couldn't keep resisting her pull and cut the last distance keeping them apart, giving her that first kiss that would forever be burned into their memories and change their lives from this moment on.

And it felt magical.

There was no curse on sight to be broken, but this kiss felt like it had just shattered their misconception of what Love had to be, what it had to look like; how it couldn't be born between the two of them. But here they were, feeling more complete than they'd ever been, and it was the realest thing they'd ever felt for someone since their first loves.

It was unique. It was special. And it was just theirs.