A/N: This is an update of the first chapter and the second is on its way! Sorry it took so long for anything to happen. Going to try to stay up with this and update every week! Please R&R if you want more chapters! Your reviews are the fuel to my writing fire! Thank you all so much. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Can't Get Much Worse

"No. NO!" Emma exclaimed as she brought her fist down on her steering wheel. This could not be happening. Her little bug could not give out on her now. She knew this old death-trap wouldn't last long when she jacked it off the side of the road 10 years ago. It had been a faithful car for how beat up it was, but now was the absolute worst time for it to fail.

"Damn it!" Emma yanked the keys from the ignition when it failed to restart. A frustrated huff left her chest and she leaned into the seat, holding back the tears she felt prickling at the sides of her eyes. Today had been a rough day. All she wanted was to be home and in her warm bed. But that seemed far-fetched now.

Before she even got to the Sheriff's station that morning, she had nearly had a head on collision with a deer crossing the road. When she slammed on her brakes, her coffee flew everywhere, splattering the interior of her car and turning the front of her top brown. With no luck of finding another shirt anywhere in her car, she took it off and zipped her leather jacket up to her neck, hoping it would hide the fact she was in nothing but her lime green bra underneath. When she arrived at the station, she became bombarded with phone call after phone call about the storm that was rolling in.

It seemed everyone in Storybrooke was in a panic, trying to figure out emergency measures that may need to be taken if the aftershocks of this storm were too severe. Emma felt like Dr. Hopper as she tried to calm each person down as they called, telling them just to stay in their house until the storm passed. She prayed that the storm would be fizzled out by the time it reached them so she wouldn't have to deal with it.

That, however, was not the case.

Around 5:30 that night, massive rain clouds took over the sky and the remnants of hurricane Sandy started wreaking havoc on the small town. The heavy clouds and rainfall blocked out the sun completely, turning the sky black as night, making it impossible to see 20 feet in any direction. When Emma decided to call it a night, there was already 2 inches of standing water on the roads. She made a mad dash to her car but the rain had soaked her clothes already. Hustling inside her bug, she tried to start her car 3 times before it revved to life. She started to pull out of the parking lot only to find that one of her head lights had gone out.

"Freakin' great. What's next?" Emma mumbled under her breath. Nothing else could possibly go wrong. She knew it was a mistake even thinking that when she turned her windshield wipers on. They made a terrible skreeching noise she could hear over the rain pounding against her car, and half way up her windshield, they hissed to a stop. She looked at them in disbelief as she twisted the knob violently. When she realized they weren't going to budge she continued to make her way down the street at a glacial pace. The rain was now coming down harder than before and the fact that she only had one working head light and 2 wiper blade's impeding her vision didn't help in the visibility department. Where the hell were the street lights anyways?

Half way through town her engine made a terrible noise. Emma became nervous, but when nothing else happened, she brushed it off as the car just being old and needing an engine check. She continued down the street a few more yards before she felt the engine roar then fall silent. She tried to give it some gas, but it was no use. She could feel the car slowing down and pulled of to the side of the road. Emma's head hit the roof when the tire jumped the curb and she swore at the headache that immediately occurred afterwards.

"No. NO!" She tried to start her bug up again to no avail. Emma silently cursed whatever deity was giving her such bad luck. She reached in her jacket pocket to call Mary Margaret, but her hand found nothing but her cuffs and a tube of chapstick. She frantically shoved her hand into the other pocket then patted her jeans. When she came up empty-handed, she searched between the seats and in her backseat. Emma stopped suddenly when she remembered leaving it on the sink in the bathroom of the station before she left.

"This isn't even funny anymore." She sunk back into her seat, hitting her head against the headrest in anger. She reclined her seat back and closed her eyes, listening to the downpour hit her car. She ran through what options she had and found she had very few. And none of them seem too appealing. Letting out a deep breath of annoyance, she sat up and looked out the passenger window. She couldn't tell exactly where she was, only that she was on the side of the road in the middle of the small town. Her car wasn't going to be getting her anywhere and she had no way of contacting anyone. She definitely didn't have the patience to wait until the morning when someone could call her a tow truck, so she figured the best thing to do would be to get out and find help herself.

Taking the keys out of the ignition, she opened the door and bolted to the sidewalk. The water running down the road nearly swept her away. It soaked through her boots and into her socks instantly. Shock hit her full force when she realized how cold the rain actually was. Too bad she didn't think to grab her umbrella before she left. Emma made huge bounds up to the side-walk, desperately trying to get out of the freezing rain. Looking for some sort of landmark, her eyes quickly found the hedge wall not 10 feet from her. She recognized it instantly.

"Oh hell. This night really can't get any worse now." Emma said aloud. She seriously considered getting back in her car and just waiting until the morning for someone to help her. That seemed a lot better than begging the Mayor to help her, the savior, the white knight. Considering she was feet from her property line and it was the closest building in sight, not to mention she was now sopping wet and starting ti shiver, she felt her self make the decision to seek help, no matter who it was.

A tinge of heat spread itself through her abdomen at the thought of seeing the mayor. She was almost . . . excited that she got to see Regina. But it quickly burnt out because by then, Emma was shivering uncontrollably. The rain quickly started to turn to sleet and Emma made the snap decision to run for the little iron gate, hopping it and dashing up the front lawn to the porch. She took the steps all at once and nearly rammed the door down. She stopped mere centimeters for the great white door and just looked at it.

How did my luck have me end up on the Mayor's porch in freezing rain? She thought. Someone must really hate me. Or love me. She smirked as she reached for the bronze door knocker. When she grabbed it, her hand instantly ached from the cold metal against her already frozen skin. She pulled away and went for the doorbell instead. Before she rang it, she tried to regain her composure and straightened herself up.

Shaking like a dog to get the excess water from her body. She wrung her hair out and ran her fingers through it. It was already becoming a frizzy mess. She silently wondered why she was worrying so much about how she presented herself to Regina. What did it matter to her? Regina wasn't going to like her if she was wearing a ball gown and stilettos.

Emma timidly rested her fingers on the doorbell. Before she could even have second thoughts about intruding in on the mayor's personal space in these conditions, the bell had rung. She was so wrapped up in the fact she had actually rang the Mayor's doorbell that she nearly jumped out of her skin when Regina opened the door.

"Ms. Swan." Regina said with a slight tinge of malice. "What are you doing here?" Her tone never ceased to send a shiver of fear down Emma's spine. Or was it something else? She opened her mouth but couldn't find any words. Regina raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at Emma as she watched her mouth open and close repeatedly. When words still continued to escape her, the mayor stepped closer to Emma, leaning her face inches away from the other woman's. Emma froze as she watched the woman's gaze grow cold.

"Ms. Swan, I suggest you tell me just what the hell you are doing on my porch, soaking wet and looking like a lost puppy, or so help me I will-"

"My car." Emma blurted out. Regina leaned back some, her brow furrowing.

"Excuse me?" Emma took a deep breath and pointed down the lawn.

"My car. It broke down. One of the head lights is out, My wiper blades are stuck, the engine died. Whole bunch of stuff." Emma explained.

"I don't see that thing you call a car." Regina dead-panned.

"The rain is pretty heavy." Emma threw back cheekily, rubbing her hands together and blowing hot air on them. "And pretty cold."

"So, why do you need me? I can't make that death-trap magically start." She countered, folding her arms across her chest in a defensive manner. Emma raised her brow, knowing full well she could if she wanted to.

"I was just hoping you could call me a tow truck or something. Just so I could at least be at home to ride this storm out and not sitting in my broken-down car, freezing my ass off." Emma was now shivering violently from the cold clothes sticking to her skin. She was hoping that Regina would show some mercy and at least let her in her warm house.

"Well, dear, I'm afraid your out of luck. The power has gone out and I am not especially fond of the idea of driving in these conditions." Emma felt her heart sink. Now she really didn't have any more options. She was thankful that Regina had considered driving her home herself though.

"However, you're soaking wet and it would not do you any good to sleep in wet clothes when it's this cold out. You'll catch the flu. Come inside dear, I'll give you a change of clothes." Regina said indifferently, though Emma could have sworn she saw a look of sympathy flash across her face.

"Thank you so much Reg- Madam Mayor." Emma stuttered out through clenching teeth. Regina shook her head slightly and a small smile graced her lips.

"Regina is fine." She said as she turned around to walk back indoors. Emma was set to follow, but the Mayor turned back around abruptly to face her once more, and Emma ran right into her chest. She was about to chastise her for the sudden stop, but hesitated when she found Regina staring her up. A warm glow start in her stomach and stretched through her veins ad Regina traced her body with her eyes. It warmed her through the soaking wet clothes and she could feel her cheeks flushing a deep crimson. Regina stopped at her boots before making a quick sweep back up and looking her in the eyes.

"Take off those hideous boots. I don't want my carpet soiled." And without another word, Regina turned back into her house. Emma quickly unzipped each boot, nearly tripping in her hurry. She threw the them off to the side of the porch along with her soggy socks. When she was completely barefoot, she took a timid step into the mayoral mansion. Making sure the door closed behind her, she continued slowly through the foyer. She hadn't even reached the steps when Regina came back around the corner with some neatly folded clothes in hand.

"Here," Regina held out the clothes to Emma. "I think these will suffice. You may change in the spare bathroom down the hall. Just leave your wet clothes in the shower. I'll put them in the dryer later." Emma looked at her gratefully, never breaking eye contact as she took the clothes from Regina. Their hands accidentally brushed together, eliciting a small gasp from Regina. Emma looked at her, surprised. She thought she was imagining things when she saw Regina look at her with, what was it? Longing? But as quickly as it appeared it disappeared, leaving Emma to ponder if she had actually seen emotion flash through Regina's eyes.

"What's wrong?" Emma asked bluntly. Regina looked at her in confusion.

"Wh- What do you mean? I- I'm fine."

"Well, when you touched my hand . . . you . . . I . . . " Emma mentally slapped herself for stammering like an idiot. It was the english language. Get it right.

"Oh! Just . . . your hands! They're freezing. You need to be in warmed up immediately. Frostbite would do you no good." She gently took the blonde's frozen hand in her free one, rubbing it between her fingers to start the circulation again. Emma watched slightly dazed as Regina lifted her hand to her lips and blew warm air across her fingers. Emma's eyes became hooded as she watched the brunette's lips make an O shape, tantalized by the beautiful scar on her upper lip. She could feel the tingle of the warm air mixed with the warmth of Regina's fingertips on her hand quickly run up her arms and spread across her torso, slowly pooling in her center.

Regina slowly let go of that hand to take the other and repeat the same process. She never broke eye contact with the blonde, adding to the headiness of the moment. Emma felt as though she may burst with the sensations the older woman was eliciting within her. The blonde let out a short breath of disappointment when Regina dropped her hand down between them, letting her fingers linger with Emma's a moment longer before breaking all contact. They looked at each other through hooded lids before they both realized where they were and who they were with. Regina cleared her throat and broke eye contact immediately.

Emma came back to reality and her eyes widened, instantly dropping to the floor. She could feel her cheeks burning with a wicked blush and could've sworn she saw one spread across Regina's cheeks before she had looked away. But before she could chance a glance back up at the brunette, the clothes Regina had brought her were practically being shoved into her arms.

"Here." Regina mumbled quietly.

Emma took them but still didn't look up. When the familiar clicking of heels on the linoleum floor could be heard, she finally looked up. A small smirk played across her lips as she watched Regina make a beeline for the kitchen, taking note of the extra sway in her hips.

"Thank you." Emma whispered her gratitude to no one before she headed for the bathroom, realizing she didn't just mean the clothes.