Rage against the dying of the light

"You want me to jump into the—the… what is it?" Emma shook her head in fear and stood back away from the Queen and the hobgoblin. She wanted to go with Regina, she trusted her – this was true, but she'd never done anything involving such a strong magic.

"Dearie, portal jumping is completely safe and all natural. Magic beans are entirely organic, hehehe," Rumplestiltskin said holding the bean out in offering.

Regina rolled her eyes and snatched it out of his sparkly hand. "Emma, its fine…we'll hold hands, jump feet first. " She seemed to consider something before continuing, "of course, the landing is always tricky. Follow my lead and if you can—tuck and roll."

"Uh, no! Like no way, how can we both fit through a bean?"

"It's a portal, it stretches…" Regina answered, seemingly losing patience. Emma could understand why. She had just got through telling her how brave she was and how much she wanted to go visit a different land, but in the face of it her cowardice was in full force. Regna sighed and tapped her foot.

"Alright…I can do this," she rubbed her fingers across the hem of her leather jacket drawing comfort.

"Good."

"Bye, bye, girls!" Rumple waved and gave his best ghastly smile, crinkling his nose and disappearing in a cloud of red smoke.

Regina looked her in the eye, licked her lips and gently took Emma's hand. "Together," she intoned with a nod.

Emma nodded tensely, "Together," she confirmed.

Regina threw the bean in the lake and a neon green light emanated from it, swirling and growing until the vortex was fully stretched. It reminded Emma of swimming in the lake surround the palace. It took her a long time to be brave enough to jump off the rocky outcropping and plunge into the water, but once she had done it, she couldn't get enough. She'd jump in, enjoy the rush of the fall and the excitement of hitting the water, and then swim to the edge and crawl up back up to the top to jump again and again until she was thoroughly exhausted.

She squeezed Regina's hand a bit harder and drew strength from her courage, and then without a second thought they were jumping and falling into the bright green unknown. Next thing Emma saw was the fast approaching hard ground and did her best to tuck and roll, but the execution would better be described as a 'buck and loll'. She rolled ass over ankles, and ended up with sticks and leaves in her hair as and forest mud all over her.

Emma also couldn't help but notice that she ended up on top of Regina, pinning her to the ground. They stared at each other, each woman breathing hard from the adrenaline rush that accompanies inter-realm travel, and Emma marveled at how good and soft Regina's body felt beneath her.

"Um…Emma?" Regina asked softly.

"Yes, Queen?" Emma breathed out huskily transfixed by Regina's beautiful features.

"Do you think you could get off of me? My tailbone is crunched against a rock…" Regina also seemed to be having difficulty drawing a breath, and Emma winced in realization that she was crushing the woman.

"Shit, yeah...sorry," Emma snapped out of the trance she had been in and scrambled to untangle herself. She hopped to her feet and extended her hand to help Regina up. "That wasn't so bad…wait, did we actually go anywhere? This looks like just like the Enchanted Forest?"

"We're in Storybrooke, and yes, the woods here were created to resemble the Enchanted Forest. There are many similarities, but the differences here…are significant."

Regina brushed herself off and Emma did the same. She started hiking so Emma followed along left in silence with her thoughts until they walked out of the woods and onto a road like she had never seen.

"Damn, portal never dumps you out exactly where you want to be," Regina grumbled. She took a deep breath and cracked her neck as Emma stared at the sign by the road that read, "Leaving Storybrooke."

"This is Storybrooke? Like my dream! I have dreamed of this place…it feels familiar, but so different," Emma tried to remember her dreams better, but they were dark and in pieces. She furrowed her brow when Regina came to stand next to her for a minute. "We're taking a short cut," and with that she brought up her hands and Emma only saw a brief purple blur before she was magically standing indoors.

"Wow, what was that?" Emma asked excitedly, checking her hands and touching her body to make sure she was still in one piece. "So cool! I mean… you shouldn't use magic on me without my permission."

"Yeah, yeah, I saved us a three mile walk…it's not worth walking if I don't have my Fitbit to count the steps," Regina took off her coat and hung it in her coat closet. "This is my house…you usually make yourself right at home no matter what I say…"

Emma looked around. The house was big and lavish and much warmer feeling than the Queen's cold and ruined castle. "Do you have any juice? I'm thirsty."

"Kitchen is that way, you can check the fridge," Regina pointed down the hall and then probably remembering Emma's unfortunate difficulties confusing the shower and the toilet, accompanied her. "This way, I don't know if I have any orange, but I'm sure I have apple."

Regina walked into the kitchen and grabbed two glasses and set them on the counter, while Emma looked around at the appliances curiously. "What does that do?"

"Microwave… it heats food quickly."

Regina paused as she opened the door on the strange box full of food and light, "On second thought, if I have to deal with 'Medieval times Emma' I think we could both use something stronger." Regina lifted her head and closed the door. She turned around and straightened her shoulders, "How would you like a glass of the best apple cider you've ever tasted?"