A/N: This is a continuation of my Receding Waters fic so you must read that first if you haven't. Of course that is a continuation of Rising Water so read that first if you haven't.

Regina came too, blinking as her eyes began to focus on the night sky stretched out above her. Slowly she realized why it was odd that she was looking at the night sky and then she realized she was laying on the roof a building.

"Thank goodness," she heard a man say and she looked to see Michael there kneeling beside her. "You passed out and I thought …"

"I'm ok," she said wiping the blood from her nose and sitting up. Even as she did so she got dizzy.

"Should I call an ambulance? I was about to."

"No," she said. "Really, I am ok." The last thing she needed was it to get around town and back to Emma what had happened.

"Let me help you up," he said, offering her a hand. She accepted it and as she got to her feet she thought she might collapse again. Instead, she let go of him and walked to the edge of the building and looked down. There was still water down there, but she couldn't tell how successful she may or may not have been.

"You did it," he said as he peered down.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," he said, pointing out to a building across from them. "The water had been up as high as that window there."

If he was right, she estimated that there was at least a two feet drop in the water.

"You did it," he said again, the joy evident in his voice. She smiled as he smiled and then he gave her a hug, which caught her off guard and made her even more dizzy. He apologized but she waved it off.

"We will measure the water in the morning and see for sure how well it worked. Maybe in a couple of days I could try again," she said. "For now, I need to rest"

Getting down from the roof took more effort than she would have liked but she managed to stay upright which was all that mattered to her. She dropped Michael back off at the shelter and drove home. She was just pulling in when her phone went off again. It was Emma, calling this time.

"Hello,"

"Oh, hey," Emma said. "You didn't text me back and well I was worried you might still be mad at me."

"I am not mad at you," Regina said. "But I get the feeling you are going to be mad at me. Perhaps you could save your lecture for later."

"You did it, didn't you?"

"If you mean using my magic on the water, then the answer is yes. And it worked. I estimate that the water receded by a couple of feet."

She opted for the truth knowing there was really no way to hide what she did from Emma.

"How are you feeling?"

It wasn't the reaction she was expecting, but she appreciated it anyway.

"Tired," Regina said. "I'm tired."

"Where are you? I will come pick you up."

"I'm in my car which is parked directly behind yours in my drive way. While I don't need you to pick me up, I wouldn't mind a steadying hand just in case."

"I'll be right out."

Regina didn't have to wait long before Emma was coming out of the door and jogging over the car. Regina got out and leaned against her vehicle.

"Why?" Emma asked.

That was more the reaction Regina was expecting.

"I was angry. Not at you, but I was angry nonetheless. I needed to burn off the excess energy of that anger so why not put it to good use." She didn't know how else to explain it.

"If you weren't angry at me, what were you angry about?" Emma asked.

"Robin called me. Zelena's place was also flooded. He is bringing her and Vincent back to Storybrooke to ensure they are safe and taken care of. It is of course the sensible thing to do and I even offered up my place for Zelena and Vincent to stay in if needed," Regina said. "But that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it."

"You are softy when it comes to kids," Emma said. "But are you sure you will be ok if they actually stay here?"

"I don't have a choice but to be ok," Regina replied. "I just wish something about my life could be uncomplicated for once."

"I'm not very complicated," Emma said giving her an encouraging smile.

"You may not be, but you and I together would be. Have you given any thought about how your parents would react to us being together?"

"I've been sharing a bedroom with you, trust me, you may think my parents are idiots, but even they are not that dumb. Sure I haven't said anything to them about it yet, and they haven't mentioned it, but my mom asked me just today if I was happy and you know what I said? I said I'm getting there and that you had a lot to do with that. She didn't even blink over that so if you are afraid my mother is going to sic the dogs on you for dating her daughter, I think it's safe to say she isn't. Besides it doesn't matter what other people think. The only thing that matters is you and I."

Regina groaned, "I didn't realize you had inherited your mother's overflowing optimism."

Emma smiled at her again. "You haven't flat out told me to go away yet so I figure I have the right to be at least a little optimistic."

Since she couldn't argue with that logic she indicated that they should go inside. Once there she spent some time with Henry while eating leftovers from the dinner she missed. She explained to him that Robin would be bringing Zelena and Vincent back to town. If possible he seemed less happy about it than she was.

Soon she was yawning and made her way to her room where she changed clothes and immediately fell asleep.

"Is mom alright?" Henry asked Emma when she went to check that he was ready for bed, or at least ready to pretend he was going to bed. "She looked even more tired this evening than she has been."

"Yeah kid, she will be ok. She just doesn't know when to quit. We need to keep an eye on her for the next couple of days and make sure she doesn't overdue it. Do you think you can help me with that?"

"Sure," Henry replied. "Maybe you could start by hiding her phone again so she can sleep in tomorrow."

"Maybe," Emma laughed. "But if I get caught don't think I won't blame you."

"As long as she gets some sleep, I don't care."

Emma said good night and quietly slipped into Regina's bedroom. She saw Regina was lying on the bed and since she hadn't moved Emma was guessing she was asleep already. Being careful once more she stripped in the darkness, leaving only her tank top and underwear on, and then got onto the bed – trying not to cause much movement or noise. Once she was satisfied she hadn't woken Regina, she laid her own head down on her pillow although she didn't close her eyes. Regina normally started off sleeping with her back to Emma or lying on her back, but tonight Regina was facing her.

Emma could just make out of some of her features and she thought about risking a kiss. Not wanting to wake Regina was the only thing that had stopped her from doing it.

She hadn't expressed any anger toward Regina for using her magic like she had although her first instinct had been to lay into her for it. She should have known Regina would try it. She had thought if Regina would do it, it would be because she felt so guilty about the bad things that she had done in her life that she saw this as a little bit of redemption. Having done it out of anger because her boyfriend was returning to town with her sister whom he had knocked up, and the child from that relationship, had not occurred to Emma. She knew now that Regina wasn't in love with Robin, but she wasn't foolish enough to think there weren't some feelings there. With Zelena coming back, Emma could only hope that this didn't cause some battle between the sisters for Robin's affections. While she had a hard time believing Regina doing that, she also knew the siblings didn't exactly have a healthy relationship.

To her knowledge, Regina hadn't spoken to her sister since she left Storybrooke.

She hated that she wished Regina would take this as a sign and dump Robin immediately; well she didn't hate it exactly. It was what she wanted but she could pressure Regina too much in that direction either.

It was weird, even when she was the Dark One, it seemed like things kept leading back to Regina. This woman had captivated her in a way she wouldn't have thought possible a few years earlier. But Regina had shown she was a good person once people gave her the chance to be that person.

Emma even felt a little pride thinking maybe she had at least a little bit to do with that.

Despite only moments earlier where she rejected the idea, Emma scooted closer and placed a small kiss on Regina's lips. Regina remained asleep which only served as a reminder to Emma of how exhausted Regina really was. She was going to have to find a way to keep Regina from using magic, even if it meant handcuffing her to the bed and not letting her leave.

An image of Regina handcuffed to the bed entered her mind and she groaned at the unfairness of not being able to touch Regina further. Rolling over on her side, away from Regina in order to avoid any further temptation, Emma closed her eyes.

…

Regina woke to an empty bed. Turning over to grab her phone to see what time it was and how long before her alarm went off, she sat up when she saw it was not where she left the night before. "Emma," she growled.

Getting up, she hastily took a shower and dressed, taking the stairs at an unladylike speed. Henry's room had been empty as had the upstairs guest bedrooms. Downstairs the dwarves appeared to be gone as well. She wondered where her phone was so she could first call Emma and give her a lecture about stealing other people's property and also to find out where things stood in her town. She entered the kitchen to find Granny there.

"Awake at last," she commented.

"It would appear so," Regina said looking around her kitchen. Granny was clearing cooking food for a meal – lunch, she guessed. "What time is it?"

"Just after 4."

"What!"

"Now calm down," Granny said. "You wouldn't have slept that long if you hadn't needed it. Everyone here made sure they were extra quiet this morning to make sure they didn't wake you. Not that it would have mattered. Emma said you were sleeping like the dead up there. She was ready to call Dr. Whale in to look at you when she popped in here at lunchtime and you still hadn't moved. But what is done is done and there is no sense in getting upset about it."

"I had things that needed to get done today," Regina said sternly.

"No doubt you did, but I haven't heard of any major disasters today so it would appear the town survived one day without you. Besides from what I understand thanks to whatever you did last night, we will be moving on to the clean up phase faster than anticipated."

"I need my phone, I need to check in and figure out what I've missed. Do you happen to know what Miss Swan did with it?"

"I suspect it is with her," Granny said matter-of-factly. "Now you have two choices – you can help me fix dinner for everyone when they get back or you can take a seat somewhere and mope until everyone gets back. I suppose you have a third option, but Emma did give me permission to put a crossbow bolt through your leg if you choose an option that involves you leaving this house."

"Is that a fact?"

"It is."

"And did either you or Miss Swan consider that I don't need to walk out the door to leave the house. I can merely …" she waved her hand but nothing happened. She tried it again, but again nothing happened. She could feel her magic but for some reason it wasn't working.

"Oh, I may have forgotten to mention that Emma stopped by to see Mr. Gold today as well. Asked him if he had anything that could block your magic. Turns out he did."

"I'm going to kill her," she said walking over to the back kitchen door. By the time she opened it, she heard the twang, but even so she was surprised when a crossbow bolt embedded itself into the door frame next to her head. She turned to see Granny loading another one.

"You know I don't miss. That was just a warning shot."

"You aren't going to shoot me."

Granny finished loading the bolt and pointed the crossbow so it was aimed at her leg. "Would you care to make a wager on that?" Granny said.

Regina closed the door. "I will be in my room," she said leaving the kitchen.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Granny said putting her crossbow down and returning to her cooking.