I don't own any of these characters, but I wish I did!

Tempest – Chapter 1

Regina lifted her gaze from the papers in her hand and allowed her eyes to meander slowly across her desk, over maps and up to the blonde sitting in the small couch across from her. Emma's eyebrows were drawn together creating a crease in her otherwise fair complexion, and a frown stretched across her lips evidencing that the blonde was deep in thought.

"Really Ms. Swan, I'm concerned that you might sprain something." A smirk slowly crept over the mayor's lips.

Emma continued to look down at the documents in front of her ignoring the mayor's acerbic comment. The blonde held the pencil in her hand up to her lips and took the end between her teeth. Her hair was pulled back into a messy bun with wayward strands peeking out in several places. The younger woman's lack of sleep or bathing, Regina thought to herself, was obvious. After a few more pensive moments Emma finally spoke.

"I think we should block this area here with sandbags," Emma had taken the pencil from her mouth and used it to gesture to the map of Storybrooke drawing a circle around the end of Main Street, "and we will be able to avoid most of the flooding."

Regina stood from her chair and crossed over to see what the sheriff had drawn on the paper. The dark woman's smirk remained in place even though the blonde's eyes still had not left the pages she had been studying. The mayor took a seat next to Emma and looked over the papers the sheriff had splayed over the coffee table.

"Very good Sheriff, you have managed to graffiti official town property." Emma glared up to the mayor and felt the last vestiges of patience leave her body. Regina could tell she had struck a nerve and noticed the color flush over the blonde's neck and up through her cheeks.

"Madam Mayor it seems to me you could care less about the major storm heading towards the town!" Emma felt her blood beating in her ears. She had been planning for the impending storm for the last 36 hours straight. She had barely slept or eaten. The blonde was shocked to learn the town had no procedures for dealing with natural disasters, especially when the mayor seemed like the type to over prepare for even a two-year-old's tea party.

"Do calm down Ms. Swan," Regina remained cool and detached as she looked back down at the sheriff's maps. "I doubt it will be coming our way."

"This weather system, which will be here in about twelve hours, has killed ten people, and left thousands more without power over three states, and it is headed directly for Storybrooke, but you think it will be no big deal?" Emma's anger was still bubbling and her voice sounded like more of a shriek than anything else. When her question was met with a roll of the mayor's eyes she slammed her fists on the table and stood to collect the maps and documents she had brought to the mayor's office for their meeting.

"There is no need to be so dramatic Sheriff Swan. I am merely stating that the information I have seen indicates the storm will not be a problem for the town." Regina stood from the couch and back to her desk. It was true. The information she had was that the curse caused Storybrooke to be hidden in a little corner of Maine, inaccessible to anyone, not found by map or GPS, and cloaked from the path of any serious storms. The later part had been an unexpected but happy byproduct of the invisible dome that protected her little town. I wish the curse had managed to keep Hurricane Emma out of my life. Regina thought ruefully to herself. Her life in Storybrooke had been perfect before Emma had arrived like a blonde leather clad wrecking ball.

"And this is based on what? Does being mayor give you magical powers?" Emma took a pause from shoving things in her bag to wriggle her fingers and put emphasis on the last two words she spoke. Regina's eyes narrowed at the sheriff.

"Yes Ms. Swan, I supposed that having lived here and been mayor of this town for as long as I have-"

"With all due respect Madam Mayor, you can save it, I am not interested in a political speech." Regina almost physically jumped back at having been cut off. How dare she? The dark haired woman had played along with Emma for the better part of two days, and even cut her some slack because of her lack of sleep, but this level of disrespect could not stand.

"Now you listen to me Sheriff Swan." Regina had moved back from behind her desk and almost stomped to where Emma was standing shoving the last of her notebooks in a black messenger bag. Emma's head snapped up and her hazel eyes, which were now a searing green, looked right at Regina meeting her challenge and perhaps presenting one of her own. "I will not stand for this insolence. Do not forget your place Sheriff Swan," the mayor spit out her title with venom almost dripping from her red lips.

For what seemed like hours the two women stared at each other, inches away from one another neither wanting to flinch or back down. At some point Emma relented. "Madam Mayor, we cannot afford to waste time arguing over this. A storm is coming and it will be devastating if we do not prepare to mitigate some of that damage and coordinate the clean up and any rescue plans." Emma's tone had started out as poisonous as Regina's but as she thought about her friends and neighbors, as she thought about Henry, concern crept into her voice, and her final words were more of a plea.

Regina seemed to have the same thought about Henry and doubt invaded the edges of her mind. What if the storm did come through Storybrooke? Ever since Emma had arrived things were not happening as they always had. It was no coincidence that the clock began to move at the same time she arrived. The townspeople were acting a bit differently too with small changes in routine, changes that were perhaps not perceptible to others, but differences the mayor certainly noticed. Then of course there was Henry. He had changed so much in the last several months she barely knew him. He refused to speak to her, and when he did it was always somehow about Emma or that damned book. Aggravation began to slowly rise, but the mayor squelched it. The doubt that something might happen to her town, to her son, was enough to cause the mayor to yield an inch.

"Fine Sheriff Swan, there is no need to throw a tantrum, lets finish going over these details." Regina let out a sigh to show her irritation and sat back down on the couch waiting for Emma to follow suit and bring her little papers back out onto the table. Emma paused for a moment and then sat.

"Um, thank you." Emma stammered and cleared her throat - she couldn't help the quizzical look on her face. The mayor never gave in this easily. The blonde expected to still be fighting even as the storm rolled in. "So firstly, you haven't given me a budget Madam Mayor. How much is designated to cover natural disasters or town emergencies?" Emma asked while riffling through her bag to recover her pencil and one of the notebooks she had been working with.

Regina almost chuckled, but couldn't tell Emma why no such designation of funds would be necessary. "Why don't we just take whatever precautions are necessary and worry about the budget later." The mayor was sure to add as much sharpness to her words as possible to contain her amusement.

The sheriff had been relentless over the last couple of days, Regina had never been able to observe her "dog-with-a-bone" tenacity before because her energies were always obnoxiously trained on the darker woman, but she had to admit there was something . . . entertaining about it.

Emma glanced up at the mayor again, some surprise registering in her eyes. "Ok. Well. We will need to set up the high school as a shelter, since it has the biggest gym. We have to make sure there is extra staff in the emergency room…" Regina mostly nodded as Emma continued through the countless items in her notebook.

After several hours Regina glanced at her watch to realize it was about time to pick Henry up from school. "Alright Ms. Swan, I think that is everything. I will contact the fire department about setting up those sand bags and call Sydney to run a front page story informing everyone about what safety measures to take given the worst case scenario." Regina stretched her back as she stood from the couch.

"Alright. I will contact the volunteers and get the rest of the emergency supplies in order." Emma sighed, exhaustion starting to register on her face. Regina nodded and collected her purse to walk out with the sheriff.

Before getting in her black Mercedes, Regina couldn't help but notice the usually endlessly blue summer sky had started to cloud over a bit, and a little pang struck Regina in the stomach. There was a storm coming. She could feel it in the air. All she could do was hope that the barrier was enough to keep her town in tact.

A/N: This is my first ever attempt at writing and I hope it isn't too terrible. This will definitely be Swan Queen and I am not trying to go too slow with the pacing, so it should get more interesting very soon. Please feel free to leave comments, although nothing has happened yet! Thanks for reading!