𝑺 𝑾 𝑨 𝑵 𝑸 𝑼 𝑬 𝑬 𝑵

~9~

Emma was out of the shop before her synapses could even fire telling her to move; the gas pedal hitting the floor as Storybrooke flew past her window in a flurry of brilliant colors.

Her head was spinning almost as fast as her tires were as she raced towards the center of town.

Okay. So, you are Regina's true love. In the grand scheme of things, that's really not the worst thing that could possibly happen. I mean, you already share a son with her, and the mayor is incredibly hot… ahh, but it's Regina! She kind of has a pension for killing people when she's angry. Or feeling threatened. Or when she thinks she's being made fun of. OH GOD. She's going to think I'm making fun of her. How am I going to tell her I'm in love with her without making her think I'm mocking her? Am I in love with her?

Being someone's true love is a mutual thing, right? So if it's true that she staved off the curse by saving me, she should love me on some level… Yes? Yes. But for the kiss to work I have to get her to acknowledge that feeling. Of love. …right, like that's ever gonna happen.

Emma raked her fingers through her hair and snarled when one of her digits snagged in a tangle. She let out one of those exasperated yells full of nonsensical noises that one always feels inclined to make when they are so overwhelmed that words no longer describe how they're feeling.

The town is going to be demolished in an armageddon of green flames if I don't get this right. We'll all be turned to dust. People are going to die. I am going to die. Mary Margaret is going to die. Henry is going to die. Regina is going to die…

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her heart was still thundering inside her chest.

Calm down, Emma. You can do this. You have to do this. You're the Savior.

Deep down she knew she liked Regina, and apparently Regina liked her back, which despite all of the other shit that was going down right now made her feel a little giddy. Under different circumstances the blonde could honestly say that she would probably be dancing around her room in unrestrained joy at the confession.

But as it was, Gold had turned her feelings into a sort of job, and that complicated things. This tentative new relationship she had started with Regina was taking off slowly and she liked it like that. If Emma was going to fall in love she wanted it to happen naturally, not be forced upon her like some unwanted, predestined fate.

It felt an awful lot like someone asking for your hand in marriage immediately after the end of a somewhat pleasant first date. It was just a lot to take in, and felt very much like it was too much too soon.

And even if Regina did feel the same way, she would not take kindly to being used for a kiss, let alone used to save a town full of people that wanted her dead. Emma didn't even want to start to think about how the rest of Storybrooke's population would react to the Savior hooking up with the Evil Queen.

Her stomach did a somersault at the thought. Hooking up with the Queen. Her face flushed.

Emma turned on the siren to drown out the noise in her head. She had always been a 'figure it out when you get there' kind of girl any way.

The sheriff could see the tornado looming from two blocks away. It towered into the sky, eclipsing the sun in a column of green fumes that cast the entire street a hazy and forlorn shadow. The swirling mass of cloud crackled with sparks and jolts of neon lightning, lighting up the darkening afternoon sky with flashes of obscene brightness only to have them fade almost instantly, leaving the world even darker than before.

The squad car screeched to a halt in a stop that was sure to leave tire tracks imprinted on the road and then Emma was instantly sprinting headfirst into the fray, running full-throttle towards the sweeping current of jade.