After Emma had sent a message telling her mother she was fine and still looking up things from Gold's shop she turned off her phone and kept it very far away from Regina.

"I'm not going to torment your mother anymore." Regina said flipping another page in her book.

"Yeah, I totally don't believe that."

"Then you're not as stupid as you look."

Emma's lips thinned as Regina glanced up quickly with a smirk at the edges of her lips. "I know that was probably an insult but I'm going to take it as a compliment."

Regina sighed reaching for her cider and taking a long drink. She ignored the blonde as she walked around the room, her fingers brushing along the spines of her books in a reverence Regina didn't know she was capable of.

She looked up when Emma hummed happily, looking down at a book in her hands, as she moved to sit on the carpet in front of the glowing fireplace.

The more Regina tried to ignore Emma the more her eyes were drawn to her. Her head was bowed over the book she was reading intently as she kept her back to the fire. Three times Regina forced her eyes back to her own book in the hopes of finding a miraculous solution to their unintentional nuptials. When her eyes drifted over and landed on Emma's grinning face she snapped the tome shut and rested her elbows on the cover.

"What are you reading?"

"Hmm?" Emma hummed without looking up as she turned another page in the book.

"What book are you reading?" Regina asked slowly as Emma's head lifted but her eyes roved over another line of text.

"Twist in the Tale."

Regina paused as she tried to remember the book. "What?"

"Jeffrey Archer." Emma stated as though the man in question held all the answers to the universe. "A Twist in the Tale?"

"I don't remember reading it." Regina whispered as she wracked her mind for the book. Emma held up the book, keeping her hand in place, to show Regina the cover. "Oh, I think I got that for Henry." She vaguely remembered it being on e book of many she had thrown on a pile of books she thought suitable enough to distract him from the fairytales.

"You haven't read it?" Emma asked slightly incredulous.

"No. Should I?"

"Yes! It's so cool. Every short story has a plot twist you don't see coming."

"You speak as though you've read it before." Regina didn't know whether it was a conscious decision or not but when Emma looked down and shook her head her hair fell in front of her face blocking Regina's view of whatever expression was displayed. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No." Emma spoke softly, one finger tracing the title on the cover. "I just... I read it when I was camped out in a library."

It was obviously a sensitive subject, but though she wouldn't admit it, Regina knew Emma. One thing she knew was that Emma wouldn't have said anything if she didn't want to share. And this may be one story that Regina wanted to hear.

"For how long?"

"I managed to stay low for just over a week. Then a librarian found me in the morning, she said she had to make me leave but every time the weather was bad she would put up a missing cat poster she made to let me know I could come in even though it was against the rules."

Regina opened her mouth to say something but found herself speechless.

"I may not have had the best life growing up, but I still got to see some people that gave me hope for something better."

"You truly are your parents daughter." Regina said softly. Emma looked up cautiously beneath the curtain of her hair before allowing a genuine smile to spread across her face. Finding herself overcome with the smile Emma was sending her way and her own shockingly nice comment Regina cleared her throat and went back to her book.

She released a deep breath when she saw Emma out of the corner of her eye turn back to her own book. She shook her head when she saw the blonde dragging the decanter of her strongest batch of cider closer despite the fact it was barely past noon.

Regina flipped the pages of another tome of magic and enchantments with a sigh closing her eyes against the setting sun.

Apparently there were numerous ways to force people together unwillingly. Personally she'd only known of one while in the Enchanted Forest: an overbearing mother. Now looking over the various potion recipes, spells, and cursed objects she wondered why she hadn't tried to marry Snow off to a troll with one of them instead of killing her. That would have been decidedly more entertaining.

"You're thinking something not good." Emma mumbled from her spot in front of the fireplace. The level of the cider bottle markedly lower than it had been previously and the book held reverently on her lap.

"And why would you think that?" Regina asked barely glancing up from the pages that detailed the effects of lust potion. Vividly.

"You've got your 'I'm thinking not good things' face on."

Regina met Emma's eyes with a purposefully blank face. "This is my normal face."

"Exactly!" Emma exclaimed with a hiccupping laugh. Regina rolled her eyes and turned back to the book looking for any sign of the bracelet that jangled on her wrist every time she turned the page.

So focused on the words scrawled on the page she didn't notice Emma walking up behind her until she felt her breath upon her neck. She froze as Emma leant over the back of the couch and draped her arms over her shoulders, her nose bumping neck tentatively.

"What are you doing?" Regina whispered. Her entire body tense as Emma's arms lay over her own, her finger idly tracing over the drawings in the book.

"I dunno." Emma said in the same quiet tone, all signs of inebriation gone from her voice as she tilted her chin up slightly to lean on her shoulder. "I just... felt like I needed to be closer."

"To the book?" Regina asked trying to give Emma an out for the uncharacteristic behaviour.

"No. To you."

Regina swallowed as Emma's arms crossed over her chest and pulled her to lean back against her chest. "Stop."

"Do you want me to?" The first answer that popped into Regina's mind was no.

For some reason she wanted to be held, and not just in the 'incredibly lonely woman need any form of comfort' way. No, she wanted to be held specifically by Emma Swan. And as she thought more on the strange feelings she realised she wouldn't mind if there was significantly less clothing.

She shot out of the couch and turned to stare at Emma whose arms were hanging limply over the back of the empty sofa.

"All you had to say was yes." Emma grumbled unhappily, pushing herself up on the back of the sofa and running a hand through her hair. Regina stepped forward and grabbed her wrist bringing it to her face. Emma barely managed to keep upright as her body was stretched over the sofa.

"I should've known." Regina whispered looking at the bracelet and the charms that were glowing so softly she wouldn't have known it if she hadn't been looking.

"Known what?" Emma asked watching Regina as she turned her wrist hoping to see some sort of divine message etched into the gems.

"What just happened is obvious some kind of side effect to the bracelets."

"So they make me want to be near you?"

Regina hummed releasing Emma's wrist and lifting up her own. "Apparently so. We'll have to be careful."

"Careful?" Emma's eyes glued to wrist as though contemplating the least painful way to cut it off.

"I have no idea what other side effects there may be." Regina said firmly waiting as Emma looked up suddenly fearful of their situation.

"Other effects? It's a bracelet! What's it going to do? Bracelet me to death?!" Emma shouted trying to tug the offending piece of jewellery off once more.

"No, you idiot. But the fact we don't know what it could do means it could be detrimental to our situation." Regina huffed yanking Emma's wrist to her subconsciously rubbing her thumb of the red marks beginning to show on the pale skin.

"What do we do?" Emma asked searching Regina's face for a good answer.

"I don't know." Regina admitted not willing to look at the possibly accusing expression on Emma's face. If the bracelets were affecting Emma's behaviour already then she had no idea what they were in for if she didn't find a solution.

AN: There's a semi-structured plot thrown in between the fluffyness! I have started back at uni so updates will be fewer due to an intense semester.

I'm honestly stunned by the response to this story. I'm so, so, so glad you like it as much as I do.

And if you constantly badger me during the weekends then I'll try get you more chapters during the semester.

So, tell me what you think :)