A/N: This is just a quick one-shot idea I've actually had running around my head after a while. After the most recent episode, I was reminded. If you enjoy, please review. Spoilers up to "The Return."

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters, premise, or setting. Sadly.

"We don't go to print for another two hours, but I wanted to bring you the first proof."

Taking the paper with an air of annoyance, Regina's eyes swept over Sidney's before she sat down. She put the paper to the side for a moment in clear message of dismissal. Whatever Sidney was so proud of, it could wait until she'd at least... She glanced at the headline. And promptly forgot what she'd been about to busy herself doing.

Eyes widening, she grasped the paper again, the knuckles of her hands turning white as she read and re-read the article with lightning speed.

Sidney grinned widely. Finally! His first real story now back on staff at the paper, and he'd managed to impress her. It had taken a number of years, sure, but now she'd finally see what a great newspaperman he was, and at last know how valuable to her he could truly be. All he had to do now was-

"What the hell is this?"

Sidney blinked, his train of thought de-railed, and he sputtered like a neglected teapot. "It- it's the article on Emma that you-"

"This? This is what you come up with? A sequence of interviews with reported lovers proving that our illustrious Sheriff is a lesbian?" Regina's eyes were fuming, but her voice was quiet. A sure sign she was more angry than he'd seen in... well, not forever, but a very long time. "Absolutely not. Pull it. Immediately." She set the paper down decisively.

The newspaperman continued to sputter, wide-eyed and confused. "B-but I thought the whole point was to discredit her in front of the town-"

"Sidney." Regina's voice was a deadly calm. "Not. Like. This."

"Why not? You were the one who told me to keep looking. You wanted me to find something that would prove her incapable of raising Henry if she tried to take him from you. With all the controversy going on right now, this is perfec-"

Suddenly, the mayor slammed her hand down on the newspaper. Loudly. Startling him into silence. "Sidney," she hissed through gritted teeth, her eyes shooting daggers. "Miss Swan's sexual orientation has absolutely nothing to do with whether she'd be able to raise a child. Find something else." Clenching her hand into a fist, she balled the paper, squeezing it between her palm and the desk in a gesture she was very, very well accustomed to. Though she was more used to crushing hearts.

The newspaperman's own heart jumped into his throat at the sight of it anyway. And she knew it, which is why she chose to vent her frustration on the innocent paper. For him, they were almost the same thing. He swallowed roughly, reaching weakly for the paper though he knew the gesture to be futile. "But we go to print in two hours!"

"This discussion is over." Turning away from him, she pulled the crumpled mass of ink and newsprint with her and squeezed it further before tossing it into the trash can beneath her desk in an obvious gesture of finality. She sat back in her chair, dismissing him with a wave of her hand and one last intense look. "Pull. The. Story."

Watching his work tossed aside like it was nothing was difficult, but he did it anyway, feeling the pressure in his heart build to unbearable levels before he finally forced himself to look away. He nodded weakly. "...Yes, ma'am."

With a lump still firmly lodged in his throat, he replaced his hat and headed for the door. Regina was already on to something else, skimming though the first of a sheaf of papers and then signing it. Sidney gave a silent sigh and left the office. And nearly collided with the someone listening just outside the door.

"Excuse me, I..." He paused, staring in slight horror at Emma Swan.

She was staring similarly back, eyes wide in pain and shock. He hadn't touched her, but she looked stricken nonetheless. Inwardly swearing, his eyes went wide with panic at the realization that they'd been overheard, and he glanced back over his shoulder at the mayor. Her attention was no longer on the papers before her, but neither was it on him.

And behind him, he felt Emma's gaze look beyond him as well. He may as well have been made of his last name.

With an awkward shuffle of his feet, he cleared his throat and brushed by the blonde. "Sheriff," he muttered, feeling it oddly required, and quickly departed.

Emma could only just look at the mayor, dumbfounded and speechless. Regina looked back, for a time, and then her gaze returned to her paperwork. Biting the inside of her lip to keep from screaming, she tapped the end of her pen irately against the papers before her. For all their games of control, neither wanted to be the first to speak. Though they both had much to say.

After what seemed like hours, Regina finally looked up, her mask of stoicism firmly back in place. "In or out, Miss Swan," she quipped. "Make a decision." Not her best witticism, to be sure, but the moment was so awkward she felt it could be excused.

The sheriff entered the room still half in a daze, just staring at the older woman like she'd never seen her before. Finally, she made a vague gesture behind her, towards the door that Sidney had just left from. "He was going to tell the whole town I was gay." It wasn't a question.

The mayor needed a drink. She so often did, when dealing with this woman. Unfortunately it was too early in the morning for anything alcoholic. Coffee would have to suffice. Rising from her chair, Regina moved to the carafe under her mirror, giving a long-suffering sigh of irritation as she poured herself a cup. Though she never used them, she was half-tempted to add sugar and cream, just to avoid this conversation for a little longer. But she'd never been able to stomach the added sweetness or dairy. What was the point in drinking good coffee only to cover it up? And her coffee was good, of course. She would have nothing less.

Taking advantage of the mayor's distraction, Emma marched straight up behind her desk and grabbed the balled up newspaper. Seeing it happen, the mayor was furious at the invasion of her space, but she didn't stop her. Allowing Miss Swan to read what had come hours away from being public knowledge gave her a moment more to figure out why the hell she'd stopped it.

Silence reigned over the room while Emma read the story. "...How did he find out?" she whispered after a moment, glancing over her shoulder at the mayor.

Regina was still intently studying her coffee cup, stirring it idly while it cooled. "Sidney's sources aren't my concern, Miss Swan."

"...You defended me." She shook her head, confused and shocked and unable to comprehend it. "...Why?"

Inside her head, the mayor was fuming. Damn Sidney and his idiotic search for a story. She shouldn't have to have this conversation. Ever. "You heard my reasons."

"Yeah, but I don't understand them." Emma hooked her hands in her back pockets, exposing the gleam of the badge she had clipped to her belt.

Regina rolled her eyes, finally deigning to look up fully at the other woman. "Believe it or not, Miss Swan, I actually care more about the future of Storybrooke than I do about you. And bigotry is not something I want to be promoting in this town, no matter how it might benefit me. I don't want my son growing up thinking that discrimination of any kind is anything resembling okay."

"Really? 'Cause you've never had a problem belittling me in front of him before. Or having Sidney publish sealed juvenile hall records, for that matter. You've made every effort to prove how much you despise me. And to be honest, our last conversation left you with very little cause to be nice to me. Why the hell would you do anything to help me?"

Taking a sip from the steaming mug while it was really still too hot, she ignored the discomfort, took a deep breath, and turned back to the blonde. "What I despise, Miss Swan, is that Henry idolizes you. Your poor choices are what led you to a teen pregnancy and juvenile hall and giving birth to my son while incarcerated. That kind of decision-making is not what I want for him. And I will do everything in my power to ensure that he sees just what a terrible role model you really are." And she turned away again, sipping deeply from her coffee and wishing she was anywhere else.

Though every fiber of her being demanded that she object, Emma bit her tongue. Regina had a point, to a certain extent. And she didn't want that for Henry, either. But she still couldn't fathom the other woman's reasoning, and the confused expression stayed on her face. "...That still doesn't explain why you had Sidney pull the story."

Regina drained her coffee cup, turning away to set the empty vessel on the table with a dull clink of ceramic on wood. "It is your choices I object to, Miss Swan," she repeated as if Emma were slow-witted. "Sexuality isn't a choice," she said simply, and moved back to her desk without looking at the other woman. "Now if that's all, kindly see yourself out of my office. Some of us do have actual work to do."

Emma stood, flabbergasted, for far too long. Of everyone in town, she certainly hadn't expected Regina to be so... accepting. "Regina..." she began quietly, and the mayor's head shot up at the use of her first name. "...Thank you."

The mayor just stared at her, and finally gave a small nod. "Good day, Sheriff."