Summary: A quick drabble fic. AU Storybrooke. Emma and Snow start to notice some things going on between Aurora and Mulan…
AN: This idea was given to me by zainy-brainy on tumblr! :D
(AU: Aurora and Mulan have come through the portal in 2x09 with Snow and Emma. They are currently living with the Charmings in the apartment until more permanent arrangements can be made. They are in the pre-stages of a relationship.)
-x-
Snow slid into the darkened apartment carefully and quietly; the light of the streetlamps shown through the low windows of the tiny second-story building, bathing the foyer in a dim, sallow glow. She guided the heavy door closed with a solid click and tip-toed to the kitchen.
'Home at last.' she thought with a sigh, feeling the weight of a long day slip from her narrow shoulders.
"Psst! HEY!" hissed a voice behind her, low and serious, cutting through the darkness. The hall light flicked on and Snow jumped, yelping in startled surprise and rounding on a heel to face the source of the noise.
The school teacher clasped a hand to her chest, hoping to still her fluttering heart. "Oh…Emma. I didn't see you there." She panted, trying to slow her breathing.
Emma sat alone at the tiny dining room table, nursing a bowl of Cheerios. A pale blonde eyebrow arched as the savior's jaw worked, crunching away at the cereal and swallowing slowly.
"You're home late" Emma noted, spooning another mouthful of milk and O's into her open maw and crunching loudly.
"Another glorious night of filing and grading at the school." Snow explained with a weary sarcastic groan. She swept her knitted beanie from her head and tossed her scarf on a tiny wall peg by the door before stretching and sliding her black wedged heels from her feet. The shoes thunked on the floor, and the Fairest happily wiggled each cramped toe before sidling over to the table and pulling out a chair. "What are you doing still awake, shouldn't you be in bed?"
Emma shrugged. "I couldn't sleep….also I found something interesting. Wanna see?"
"Sure, I guess..." Snow replied cautiously, brushing her dark angular bangs out of her face. The mischievous twinkle in her daughter's dark emerald eyes suddenly made her guts clench in trepidation.
Emma leaned across the table conspiratorially, waving Snow closer. The savior's voice was pitched low, and the pale, ebon haired woman had to tilt her head to hear. "Ok, now keep your voice down, and listen carefully." The young woman whispered "I have a hunch…"
"Ohhhh boy." Snow mumbled to herself, rubbing a hand over her tired face. Emma's 'hunches' were uncannily accurate, but the young sheriff was also notoriously loose cannon. From Snow's experience, the manic glint in the savior's eye did not bode well for her hope of an easy and early night's rest. "Here we go…"
"Shush. Now listen. Have you noticed that something's going on between little miss princess and her big tough guardswoman over there?" Emma jabbed a thumb over her shoulder, indicating the direction of the spare bedroom.
"You mean Aurora and Mulan?" Snow guessed, wrinkling her brow. Her red lips tipped down in a thoughtful frown and a crease etched itself in the niche between her eyebrows. "No, why? Is something wrong?"
"Oh, no. Quite the opposite." Emma smirked, trying in vain to hide the self-satisfied smile that twitched at the corners of her mouth. She savored the moment, letting the words hang in the air. Her hazel eyes sparked with mischief as she scooped up another spoonful of cereal, angling it towards her parted lips. "I think they're in love."
The savior slid the spoon into her mouth and munched.
Snow drew herself from the table, her chair scraping along the wooden floor. She stood gaping at her daughter, dumbfounded, her face going slack as the words sunk in. "Wait…what?!" The schoolteacher shook her head, as if to clear it. An embarrassed flush tinged her fair cheeks as she blubbered, trying to make sense of Emma's words.
"You heard me: In. Love." The blonde sheriff mumbled, her words garbled by the food.
Snow's mind whirred, kicking into overdrive at the implications. Emma's claim was ludicrous, surely...Though, the warrior and the princess had grown rather close during the long weeks of travel through the Enchanted Forest…and, Snow realized, though the immediate danger from pirates, ogres, and giants was initially gone, the pair had still remained nigh inseparable.
Where Aurora went, Mulan was always sure to follow.
No. Certainly this was all a misunderstanding. Emma was simply seeing things that weren't there; making mountains out of molehills. Mulan's proximity and closeness to the princess was surely borne of duty and friendship, nothing more.
It simply couldn't be…Could it?
"Don't be silly, that's ridiculous." Snow crossed her arms and barked a scoffing laugh. "I think the lack of sleep is getting to you, Emma."
"Oh yeah?" the sheriff's voice pitched up as she stood, leaning over, hands flat on the table with shoulders squared. Rising to the challenge. For a moment Snow's breath caught in her chest as she saw the soft echoes of David's features in the strong jaw and the stubborn set of her daughter's chin.
"Ever notice how Mulan only ever smiles when Aurora is around?" Emma jabbed a finger on the table, emphasizing her point.
"Well, yes but..."
"Or how Aurora seems so much more at ease when Mulan is there?" the savior pressed.
"I suppose that's just because..."
"Or how Mulan NEVER lets anyone touch her for more than 5 seconds EXCEPT AURORA!?" Emma's whispered voice piqued to a crescendo, nearly bordering on yelling. Her arms flailed wildly and her eyes nearly popped from her head as she outlined her conspiracy theory.
Snow let out another low huff, rolling her eyes at her over-exuberant daughter. "That doesn't mean anything."
"Oh, I think it does." Emma's smile was smug, and she scooted out from her seat at the table, setting her empty milk-filled bowl on the counter's edge. "And I can prove it."
Snow snorted. "Yeah, right."
"How much you wanna bet?" The blond sneered, her chest puffing out cockily as she slid her palms coolly into the hip-pockets of her dark-wash jeans.
"This is stupid…" Snow mumbled, glancing wistfully towards the door to her bedroom. She could almost hear the soft snores of David and every fiber of her weary muscles ached to be curled next to her husband.
Emma leaned her face in close, her smile mocking and hard. "I guess you're just…chicken." She whispered, plying the word through her teeth and watching as the Fairest's nerves flared at the baited catcall.
Snow's eyes narrowed. There were a great many things that Snow White could endure, but a scoff at her strength was not one of them. The huntress leaned close to Emma, her eyes hard and flinty, unwilling to back down. "Fine. You're on." Snow growled, the faces of mother and daughter nearly touching. "Twenty bucks says they're not in love. Now show me your proof."
"Follow me." The sheriff beckoned over her shoulder, striding towards the hallway.
Emma's bare feet slapped against the cool floorboards; her sweaty toes making soft sticky sounds. Snow padded softly after, her grey pencil skirt whispering along her pantyhose-covered leg.
The pair crept down the hall to Mulan's room. The door handle was ajar and a thin crack of light shown into the darkened room. The sound of the occupant's soft breathing was barely audible over the normal creaks and moans of the old apartment.
"Emma this is ridiculous." Snow hissed in a whisper. Her daughter retorted with a finger to her lips and a loud 'SHHH', before placing a hand upon the white-wood paneling and pushing the hinges wider with a soft creak. Light from the hall lanced through the room as the pair poked their heads inside, and it took a moment for Snow's eyes to adjust to the dimness.
There, nestled upon the bed, was a pair of bodies: fully clothed, tangled in sheets and snoozing peacefully.
The princess lay curled into a tiny ball on the right side of the bed, her chest rising and falling in the soft exhalations of blissful slumber. A thin nightshift of satin covered her lean form in shimmery, diaphanous fabric. She twitched lightly, her eyes rolling behind closed lids—dreaming. Aurora's fair face was placid, quiet, and undisturbed; her brow was unmarred by the troubled worry that so often etched itself there in little wrinkled niches upon her forehead. Her soft, red lips were slightly parted as she breathed with regularity.
The sheer normalcy nearly caused Snow's jaw to go slack.
Aurora was sleeping. Not tossing, not turning, not fighting herown mind and body while struggling to catch snatches of rest, but actually sleeping. The kind of slumber that was deep and calm; the kind that brought dreams of faraway lands and peaceful memories of long forgotten summers with the sweet scent of flowers blown on the meadow breezes. It was the sort of sleep that was inherently borne of safety, of security, and of comfort.
Beside her lay the well-muscled body of the warrior, clothed in little more than an old white undershirt and a loose-fitting pair of boxers. Mulan's dark hair had been liberated from its tight-worn gilded clips, and was scattered across her shoulders; flowing free and fanning out across the bed in cascades of inky ebony.
To see the warrior laid so prone, so relaxed, and so unguarded was shocking. It elicited a strange mingling of wonderment, embarrassment, and awe from the Fairest. It was as if she were looking in on something she was not meant to see. A private moment. A piece of Mulan that was kept so carefully hidden had been suddenly laid bare. There was something achingly beautiful about the warrior's vulnerability; something almost holy and fragile. It was a rarity—like a flower, blooming only beneath the cover of darkness and beneath the pale light of the moon.
Snow shook her head, breaking her captivated trance. Her senses came back in a rush and she felt something twist in her gut while a question danced on the tip of her tongue.
"Were they…you know…" Snow cleared her throat and shot Emma a meaningful glance, her dark brows piquing up in silent question. The school teacher could feel the tips of her ears begin to redden at the implication and was suddenly unsure she wanted an honest answer.
"No, no. Not like that." Emma shook her head fervently, blond curls bouncing. "They're not together, not yet. Aurora still has nightmares. Mulan just lets her stay in the room. When they're together, Aurora doesn't scream or cry so much. If you ask me, I don't think either of them can get much sleep without the other." The sheriff mouthed; her whispered voice barely more than a breath.
A grunt sounded from inside the room and the peeping pair fell silent, crowding in the doorway to block the hall light with their bodies while trying to simultaneously make themselves as small as possible.
For a moment, it seemed as if Mulan's dark eyes would flutter open to catch the two intruders in a hard, cold stare…but the warrior shifted, groaning and turning over, nestling down into the pillow and burrowing her face into the princess's soft auburn tresses. A soft sigh hummed in the back of the swordswoman's throat, and a sleepy smile tugged at the corners of her languid lips. Aurora responded subconsciously to the warrior's closeness and her body cupped itself, rolling over to huddle closer to the warmth of the other woman's bosom while she murmured something unintelligible in her sleep.
They were together; hips to hips, body to body with the warrior's forehead and the princess' cheek almost touching. Sleeping sideways, they lay diagonal across the length of the bed with tangled limbs, feet and legs dangling off the edge of the mattress. If Snow squinted, she could not tell where the princess ended and the warrior began.
Emma slid the heavy, oaken door shut, guiding it carefully to prevent the hinges from squeaking. The latch closed with a sharp click, and Snow let out her bated breath with a sigh and ran her fingers through her short-cropped hair.
"See? Told ya" Emma gloated, poking her mother hard in the shoulder. Her face plastered with a wide shit-eating grin. "Now pay up."