Emma wakes on her seventh day in the castle to the sunlight streaming through the window and onto her face. She squints at the brightness and rolls over, absently thinking that, if the sun is so high in the sky already, it must be late in the morning. Maybe 10 or 11 o'clock, something like that.

It's not unusual for her to wake up at this time in Storybrooke, but things are different in the Enchanted Forest. People wake up at the break of dawn, and Emma has been getting up earlier herself, usually because she has been awoken by guards. She's only slept so late today because she hasn't been disturbed, which means that, for whatever reason, the queen hasn't wanted to see her. She doesn't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, but the pair had ended things last night on good terms so she doesn't worry.

Instead, she pulls herself out of bed, puts on her clothes from yesterday, and decides that she'll make the most of her quiet morning. Since her newly granted freedom allows her to explore, she opens the door to her chambers and steps into the hall outside. There's a guard there of course, but he doesn't say anything to her while she starts to walk towards the stairwell. He wordlessly trails behind her though, keeping an eye on her as per orders of the queen.

The first place that Emma goes is to the kitchen for some breakfast. She asks the cook, who is a middle-aged, stout and stolid man, to make her some oatmeal. He does as he's asked but gives little away in terms of what he's feeling. Is he happy to cook for Emma? Annoyed? He doesn't let on, but he makes the oatmeal and gives it to her, then gets back to what he was doing. Emma eats quickly and departs as soon as she's done, feeling like an unwanted guest every second that she spends around the kitchen staff.

However, her time in the kitchen gives her an idea of where she can go. A door had been open, leading to the farmland outside and showing Emma the dazzling sunshine and cloudless sky. It would be a crime to spend such a beautiful day wandering around the grey, miserable castle, so Emma decides that she will go outside and explore the castle grounds for a while.

She walks down the long corridor that Lucas had taken her down on the day she had helped out with the farming, knowing it ends with a door leading outside. She still has the guard following her every step of the way, but she tries to ignore him the best she can because, honestly, thinking about him kind of drives her insane. Luckily, ignoring him becomes significantly easier when something else grabs her attention: the sound of bickering coming from the throne room.

She slows her walking slightly and listens to the two male voices firing back and forth, though she can't make out what it is that they're saying. She gradually gets slower and slower until, finally, she can see into the room and she stops walking completely so that she can peek inside.

She was right in thinking it was two males arguing, for two men are standing in the middle of the room, face-to-face while they take turns making angry statements. They're dressed in smart clothes. At least, they count as smart in the Enchanted Forest; in Emma's world, the clothes would more likely be considered fancy dress.

But Emma's interest in the men quickly wanes because the Evil Queen is also in the room, sitting on her throne. She looks like she's just about done with their fighting, perhaps on the verge of launching a fireball at them, because she is pressing her thumb and index finger against her closed eyes as though deeply stressed. Since her eyes are closed, she hasn't spotted Emma, so the blonde is free to watch the woman and feel bad about how tense she looks. Emma has built up a fierce protectiveness of Regina in Storybrooke, and she is finding that this need to keep the brunette safe and happy transcends all realms and times.

But it's like the Evil Queen has a sixth sense that allows her to know when Emma is near, for she suddenly lifts her head and waves the hand that she has just been pressing to her eyes. The wave of the hand makes the men's voices instantly cease. Their mouths keep moving, though no sound escapes since the queen has used magic to literally take their voices away. Once they realise this, they bring their hands to their throats and try to make a noise, turning wide eyes towards the queen while they get more and more distressed.

However, the Evil Queen pays no notice because her eyes immediately landed on Emma when she looked up. It's like she knew that the blonde was there, which makes Emma feel a little uncomfortable and perplexed. The queen is looking at her, unwavering, with so much intensity that Emma swallows and begins to shuffle on to where she had been headed.

"Wait!" The Evil Queen's voice rings out, stopping Emma in her tracks.

Regina stands from the throne, descends the stairs, and walks towards Emma, ignoring the two silenced men who look at her like wounded puppies. She joins Emma in the corridor, then motions for the guard to enter the throne room to give them some privacy. Once he is inside, she uses magic to close the doors so that she and Emma are alone.

Emma notices that the queen is wearing a black dress; one of her darker, more extravagant ones that Emma had told the queen she didn't like just yesterday. Her hair is in a fancy up-do, her makeup is dark, and she looks as much like the Evil Queen as the Evil Queen gets.

Emma takes a step back.

"Where are you going?" the queen asks, not noticing Emma distancing herself.

"Outside. I thought I'd get some fresh air, seeing as it's a nice day."

"I see." The queen nods, but folds her arms across her chest and regards Emma warily.

The blonde frowns slightly. "What? You know that I'm not going to attempt to escape, right? I know that there's a protection spell around this place that prevents me from leaving, so don't worry, Your Majesty, I'll be back in a couple of hours."

"I know you will," the queen states.

"I just want to go for a walk instead of being cooped up in the castle."

"That's fine."

Despite her words, the queen is looking at Emma as though she is doing something that she doesn't want her to do. Emma wonders what about her going outside for a while could possibly bother the queen, but she's getting better at picking her battles so she decides not to question it.

Instead, she asks the other question on her mind: "Who are those guys in there?"

"Royal advisors." The queen rolls her eyes and shakes her head. "The pair of them are useless. Can't stop disagreeing with each other long enough to say anything worth my time or energy. Yet, they're a necessary evil; one that's keeping me from you, in this case."

The queen is too busy glaring at the closed door to notice Emma's lips twitch upwards slightly. "So, that's why you haven't asked to see me today? Because you have royal duties to attend to?"

"Yes, I have other things that I need to do. Don't forget that I am a queen. We can't all go swanning off around the castle grounds like you."

Emma snorts, earning a confused look from the queen. "Swanning off..." Emma explains. "My name is Emma Swan."

"Hmm." The queen is less that amused, so Emma looks down. After a moment, the queen speaks again, changing the subject. "So, what exactly are you going to be doing outside?"

"Just going for a walk," Emma shrugs. "Why? Do you not want me to go?"

"You can do as you please," Regina says calmly. "As long as you have my guard with you."

"I don't see what the big deal is here."

"There is no 'big deal', Miss Swan. I simply like keeping my eye on you."

Finding this conversation much less enjoyable than the one she'd had with the queen last night, Emma takes a couple of steps back and says, "Well, I'd like to go now to make the most of the nice weather. And I guess you need to get back to your advisors anyway."

"You're right, I do," the queen agrees. She opens the door to the throne room again, where Emma's guard is still waiting. On the queen's signal, he exits the room to join the blonde. Emma turns and walks towards the door at the end of the corridor, feeling the queen's eyes on her the whole time.

Once in the fresh air, Emma decides she's going to forget about the queen. She's going to forget about whatever had just been bothering her and try to have a nice day for the first time in seven days.

It's Sunday now, and Emma had arrived in the Enchanted Forest last Monday. How did it feel like so much longer?

Emma walks around the castle at first, looking for somewhere that she could go and explore or somewhere that she could go and sit. The guard trails behind still, but he keeps a healthy distance and mostly stays out of Emma's way. Good, Emma thinks.

Eventually, Emma notices a stable down a little hill away from the castle. It seems a good enough place for her to go and look at, so she walks in that direction, then around the building until she finds the door on the side. The guard stands next to the door, back against the wall, so that Emma can go in alone while he still makes sure she doesn't do anything she shouldn't. It's nice to have even that little bit of privacy, so Emma walks into the stable with a bit more of a spring in her step.

The door opens to a corridor that runs the length of the stable, with eight stalls on either side of it so that there are sixteen in total. Emma can see a couple of horses with their heads hanging over the door of their stalls, one brown and one white.

She's not particularly fond of horses, finding them too big and powerful for her to feel comfortable around, so she sticks to the centre of the aisle while she walks down. She peeks into each stall, seeing some other horses eating or just standing away from the door so that they were out of sight when Emma had just walked in.

However, one stall, right in the middle of the stable, is empty. At least, that's what Emma thinks when she takes a step towards it, just wanting to see how much room the horses have in their little stalls. Apparently, though, it isn't empty, for a man pops his head over the chest-high door, making Emma jumps backwards from the shock of it. Her back hits the door of the stall behind her, then she hears a horse release a breath right next to her ear, and she jumps forwards again.

Her heart is hammering away by the end of it, and she puts a hand on her chest to try and calm it. When she hears a chuckle from the first stall she had jumped from, she looks and notices the man who had startled her was Graham. She hasn't seen him since the awkward time in the queen's bedchambers when he had thought they were going to have a threesome, but he doesn't seem to be thinking about that, so she lets herself forget too.

"Sorry about that," he says, opening the door to the stall so that he can step into the aisle with Emma. It's then that Emma can see that he had been laying hay down on the floor. "I didn't mean to scare you. I thought you were here to bring Penelope back."

"Penelope?"

"The horse from this stall," he indicates to the one he had just left. "You worried me because I haven't gotten her bed ready yet, but it seems that I scared you too, so I suppose we're even."

"I suppose we are," Emma agrees, then releases a breath in amusement at how she'd been made jump.

"I'm going to take it you're not a horse person then." Graham takes a cloth that had been draped over the stall door so that he can wipe his hands.

"What gave me away?"

"I've never seen anyone jump so far away from one."

Emma looks over her shoulder to the horse that had startled her, which turns out to be one of the biggest horses she's ever seen, completely black with shiny hair and it's still looking at her. She swallows and steps towards Graham, away from the horse. "I've never really spent time around horses," Emma explains. "I guess I'm just wary of them because I don't know how to act around them."

"It's not that hard, really. You just have to make friends with them. Come over here." Graham walks to the next stall over, where a much smaller brown horse is standing. "This is Luna. Luna," he says to the horse. "I'd like you to meet Emma. Emma Swan."

Graham moves behind Emma and takes her right wrist. "Now," he says, pushing against Emma's back so she steps closer to the horse. "As I said, you just need to make friends with it. Let her know you're not a threat."

He lifts Emma's hand so that it's in front of the horse's nose, and Emma can feel Luna sniffing her hand. Emma is tense, but Graham holds her steady until, eventually, Luna releases a breath and lowers her head so that Emma's palm is flat against the area above her nostrils. Emma smiles and gives it a little stoke.

"And that's it?" she asks, because that wasn't that bad at all.

"That's it," Graham confirms.

As he speaks, Emma feels his warm breath tickling her neck. Graham's front is pressed against her back and one of his hands is still wrapped gently around her wrist, while the other rests delicately on her waist. How they're standing could be seen as intimate, so Emma steps away and clears her throat.

Graham smiles at her, not seeming to notice Emma's discomfort, and walks back to the empty stall he had been working in. She follows, deciding that she could spend some time here with Graham, making up for the time she lost with him in Storybrooke due to his untimely death. He was a good guy and didn't deserve that. A friend to Emma when she hadn't had many proper friends in a long time. She misses him.

"So," he says as he continues laying down the hay. "What brings you here, anyway?"

"Just looking around." Emma shrugs and leans against the doorway to the stall. "There's not much to do around here."

"Is Her Majesty not keeping you busy?"

"In what way?"

"You were doing farm work the first time we met, were you not?"

"Oh," Emma nods. She hadn't known whether Graham meant sexually, based on what had happened the last time she saw him, or with chores. She had had to make sure. "No. She's trying to be a better person, so she's stopped treated me so badly."

Graham snorts. "I'll believe that when I see it."

"What?"

"You really think the Evil Queen can be a better person? She's called the Evil Queen for a reason. Evil through and through, that woman."

"I don't believe that," Emma says honestly.

Graham gives her a look that is 50% incredulity and 50% pity. "You're not the first person to think that they can change the Evil Queen. It didn't end well for the ones who came before you, and chances are that it won't end well for you either. My advice would be to give up now. Quit while you're ahead, and by 'ahead' I mean alive."

"I'm not trying to change Regina; I'm trying to make her realise that she isn't evil to begin with. She's hurt and angry, but that doesn't make her evil."

"She's certainly done evil things."

"I won't deny that, but who we are is not what we've done. Regina used to be a good person, and she can be a good person again because the old Regina is in there somewhere. She just needs to believe in herself."

Graham stops what he's doing so that he can smile at Emma fondly, then he turns earnest. "You're too good for her, you know. You have a good heart and a lot of faith, but I fear it may be displaced. You might be setting yourself up for disappointment, or worse, to get your heart broken."

"I appreciate your concern, but you don't need to worry about me, Graham," Emma informs him with a confident smile.

Graham tilts his head, confused. "You called me Graham the other day, too," he says thoughtfully. "You do know that that isn't my name, don't you?"

Emma feels her cheeks go warm at her slip. "Of course I do. Sorry. It just... slipped out because you remind me so much of someone that I used to know."

"Someone called Graham, I infer," Graham says, and Emma nods her head. "No matter. Though I should tell you that my name is Humbert."

"Humbert the Huntsman. Got it," Emma nods. She remembers Graham's last name in Storybrooke was Humbert, so this shouldn't be too hard to remember. It'll be just like she's calling him by his last name.

Graham smiles and gets back to work in the stall. He's quiet for a while, so Emma simply watches him work, but he eventually breaks the silence, "If you don't mind me asking, what is your relationship with the queen?"

"We don't really have one," Emma answers because she honestly has no idea what her relationship with the queen is. Her relationship with Regina? Easy: best friends and co-parents. Her relationship with the queen is much more complicated, however.

"It seems like you do."

"Well, I don't really know what it is then. We're not romantically involved, and I wouldn't call her a friend, though I wouldn't consider myself a prisoner anymore either. And we're certainly more than acquaintances."

"Wait," Graham faces her again. "You and Her Majesty aren't romantically involved?" Emma nods. "Wow. That makes what I said the other day even more embarrassing then."

Emma doesn't particularly want to reminisce about when Graham thought he was going to have a threesome with Emma and the Evil Queen, so she is quick to dismiss it. "You don't need to be embarrassed."

"I'm mortified," he admits. "I just... jumped to a conclusion - the wrong one, obviously. I don't know, maybe it was just wishful thinking."

Graham's words make Emma's eyes widen, and Graham himself seems to realise that he just admitted he wants a threesome with Emma and the Evil Queen because he goes pink and says. "No! I didn't mean... I wasn't saying I wanted to be with you and Her Majesty together, at the same time. I meant it was wishful thinking that I would get to spend the night with you, because you're beautiful and sexy and... Oh Gods, you think I'm a pig, don't you?"

Emma is blushing fiercely, not used to people telling her outright that they want to sleep with her, but she shakes her head. "No, I don't think that."

"Good," he says, relieved. He walks out of the stall so that he is standing in front of Emma again. "I know it's weird, but I've just been drawn to you since you got here. It's like... I'm drowning and you're air. When I talk to you, it's like a can breathe again, can feel again." Graham laughs uncomfortably and looks down. "I probably sound like a crazy man to you."

Yes, Emma could admit that it was crazy for someone who barely knew her to feel that way, but she also had a feeling that it was because of curse, because Graham's future was tied with hers and he was somehow feeling that now in the form of being inexplicably drawn to Emma.

"You don't sound crazy," she assures him.

"Either you're lying, or you're even crazier than I am because I sound crazy even to my own ears," Graham says teasingly.

"I've seen some pretty insane things in my time. You feeling like you're tethered to me doesn't even break my top ten."

Graham smiles and steps towards her. "It sounds as though you've seen a lot, been on a few adventures and lived. Yet I'm stuck here. I want to see things and experience things and feel things, but I can't because I'm stuck here."

Emma frowns up at him, wondering why it sounds so familiar to hear Graham go on about how much he wants to feel something. It's like a weird kind of deja vu as Graham steps towards her again, until there's virtually no distance between them. Then he puts his hand under Emma's chin, tilting it up as he says, "Help me feel something."

Then his lips are pressing against Emma's firmly, desperately.

Desperate to feel something.

Emma stands in shock for a moment, eyes wide while Graham kisses her again and cups her cheeks with his hands. Emma doesn't know how to react, but then Graham's lips leave hers and she no longer needs to decide. Things happen too quickly for her brain to comprehend after that.

One moment Graham is kissing her, the next he's not. He's flying through the air, into the stall that he had just been working in until his back hits the wall, then he drops to the floor with a cry of pain. Emma stares wide-eyed at his writhing body, her mind struggling to catch up with how that happened. Had she done that with her magic? She knows that strong emotions can make magic unpredictable; maybe her emotions had blasted Graham away?

But then Graham's body disappears before her very eyes, and she knows that she did not do that, which means...

She hears heels clapping against the floor and turns to see the queen storming towards her. Her jaw is clenched and her eyes are blazing and she doesn't even hesitant before lifting a hand and sending Emma flying, too. Emma only stops when her back hits the wall at the end of the corridor, which is far enough away that she has to bite her lip to keep from screaming when she hits it.

The queen keeps Emma pinned against the wall by magic until she's only a couple of feet away, then she lowers her hand and Emma slumps to the ground. She doesn't stay down though, because she's not in the mood to be weak today. Once she's stood, the queen shakes her head at her as though she's disappointed.

"I take my eyes off you for one second, and this is what you do? This is exactly why I didn't want to let you out of my sight!"

Emma frowns while she puts a hand behind her to massage the lower half of her aching back. "I haven't done anything. And what have you done to Humbert?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" The queen looks at her with a glint in her eye that, as much as Emma hates to admit it, can only be described as evil. "Don't worry, Miss Swan. Your lover is safe... for now."

"He's not my... Your Majesty, you have to let me explain."

"There's nothing to explain. You take me for a fool," the queen accuses. "You think that you can play me; give me what you think I want until the perfect opportunity arises for you to stab me in the back."

"That's not what I'm doing."

The queen brings up her hand and slaps Emma hard across the face; so hard that the sound of it is like a gunshot in the quiet stables and Emma is stunned from it. "Don't you dare lie right to my face!" the queen yells.

"I'm not lying!" Emma argues, which may be a mistake because the queen lurches forward and grabs her throat, holding her against the wall.

"I underestimated you, Miss Swan. You're a liar and a manipulator, but I let my attraction to you prevent me from seeing it."

"What are you even talking about?" Emma asks, confused.

"You've been stringing me along!" The queen's grip on Emma's throat tightens. "You found out that I'm attracted to you, and you decided to use it to your advantage. You thought that if you could make me believe that I had a chance with you then I would lower my guard, make myself vulnerable, and you could wait until you had the perfect opportunity to escape. Now I know, Miss Swan, all you've cared about this whole time is getting out of here, getting away from me... only, I bet you never accounted for the fact that you'd fall for Humbert, my huntsman."

"I haven't fallen for Humbert, and that was never my plan."

The queen pulls Emma away from the wall, only to slam her back against it again. Emma's head hits it with a thud and she winces. "I told you not to lie to me! You're nothing but a wolf in sheep's clothing, Miss Swan. A manipulative and resourceful woman hiding behind a pretty face and the facade of a good person. The only problem with your plan is that you thought that you could outsmart me."

"Can you please just let me explain?" Emma pleads, her cheek stinging from the slap, her back aching from being slammed against the wall, and her head throbbing for the same reason. "There's nothing going on with me and Humbert, and I swear that I wasn't leading you on. When I found out that you were attracted to me, I never tried to use it as a way to escape. I wouldn't exploit you like that."

The queen ignores that last part of Emma's argument and only focuses on the first thing she'd said. "If there's nothing going on with you and Humbert, then why did I just walk in on you kissing?"

"He kissed me."

"You didn't stop it."

"I didn't have time! I was too shocked to act right away, and before I could come to my senses again, you came in with all guns blazing."

"All what?"

Oh yeah. No guns here. "It doesn't matter."

The queen thinks for a moment, then says, "why should I even believe you?"

"I don't know. Don't believe me if you don't want to, I don't care."

The queen squeezes Emma's throat in warning. "You're never setting foot outside of my castle again. You're not allowed to speak to anyone but me."

"What?" Emma asks, outraged.

"I didn't want to let you out today in the first place because I was worried that you'd plot an escape. I only let you go because I was trying to give you more freedom, trying to treat you like a normal person like you asked. But now I see that it's too risky."

"It's not risky, you're just being possessive. You want me all to yourself, but you're never going to get me."

The queen narrows her eyes. "Excuse me?"

"Do you honestly think that I would want to be with someone like you? Someone who uses magic against me, slaps me and pins me against walls if I do something that they don't like? Someone who keeps me locked in a castle and forbids me from speaking to anyone but them?"

"Because I can't trust you!" the queen defends herself.

"No, not can't. Don't. You don't trust me, and I understand why. You trusted Snow White, and she betrayed you by telling your mother about you and Daniel. Your mother killed the love of your life. I get it. Everyone that you have trusted has hurt you, so now you don't trust anyone. But if you'd just given me a chance to prove to you that I'm different, then you would have seen that I would never have hurt you."

The queen closes her eyes and finally let's go of Emma's throat. She turns around and walks a couple of steps away from Emma while taking deep breaths. All Emma can do is watch and rub her neck, which she is sure is red from the queen's tight grip.

"I've ruined everything," the queen admits quietly, back still turned to Emma. "I didn't trust you, I jumped to conclusions... and, if what you've said is true, I've ruined everything by accusing you of things that you haven't done."

She turns back to Emma, looking so sad that Emma's heart hurts for her. "Why does this have to be so hard?" the queen asks.

"Why does what have to be so hard?"

"Everything." The queen closes her eyes and tilts her head back. "Everyone that I've cared about has left me, so I don't want to let you close in case you do the same. Yet, at the same time, I don't want to be alone."

Emma steps towards the queen, the sound making the brunette open her eyes and look at her. "Everyone that you've cared about has left you," Emma echoes the queen's words. "And you don't want me to do the same. That's why you've been going to great lengths to stop me: locking me up, taking away my freedom. Don't you see that you're stifling me, though? That in taking these preventive measures, you're actually pushing me away? I like you when you're being you, and then you become the Evil Queen again and I hate it. Just be you. Just be Regina."

"I thought it was already too late for that."

Emma sighs. A moment ago she had been so repulsed by the brunette that she had sworn to herself that she wouldn't allow herself to get close to her, but she understands the Evil Queen somewhat, and she knows that the Regina she knows is hiding in there somewhere. It's that that makes her say her next words. "One more chance."

The queen raises her eyebrows, looking hopeful.

"I'll give you one more chance to be Regina, but if you hurt me ever again then we're done. You could kill me if you wanted to, but I would never be with you if you abuse me."

"OK," the queen says without hesitation.

"And one more thing: you can't hurt your huntsman for kissing me."

The queen frowns. "But I told him that he is to have no business with you and he disobeyed me."

Emma just raises her eyebrow pointedly at the queen until the brunette grits her teeth and reluctantly relents. "Fine. I'll let him off with a warning. But I have a proposition for you. I'm not going to bribe you or force you to do this though, it's completely your decision."

"What is?" Emma asks, intrigued.

"Allow me to show you Regina by taking you on a date."

"You're asking me on a date?" Emma clarifies. "Our first date?"

"Yes."

Emma doesn't need long to think. She smiles and shakes her head at her own decision, knowing she's probably being stupid for saying this after the events that have just transpired in these very stables. "OK. You can take me on a date."

And for the first time, the Evil Queen's smile reaches her eyes, and she looks more like Regina than Emma has ever seen her this past week.

Emma smiles wider and hopes beyond hope that her gut is right and the queen really is going to be a better person from here on out.

A/N: This story is taking me a lot longer to write because I plan what I want to happen in each chapter, and it always ends up in a different place than I envisaged. I just can't stick to my own plot... though, in this case, this is what led to the queen asking Emma on a date, so maybe by inability to follow my own plan has helped SQ. (Only this once, though. It has hindered their progress many times before. Damn my own defiance.)

Anyway...

Oh, before you go, I finished one of my other stories a few weeks ago, plus it's summer now so I have more time on my hands, which means a) faster updates for this story from now on, and b) I'm going to start planning my next one. I have a poll on my profile which contains summaries of my ideas for a new story. I would really appreciate it if you could head over there and vote. I'll be closing it in a couple of days and making a start planning, so... yeah. Thanks in advance :)