The weekly sessions with Dr. Hopper were becoming increasingly tedious (if that was even possible), Regina thought with a sigh as she settled more comfortably into the leather seats in the familiar office and smoothed down her hair.
"So Regina, it's been roughly a week since we last met. How have you been lately?" he asked, and she rolled her eyes, though she refused to let his banal questions spoil her good mood.
"I've been fine. I've not used magic for almost 2 months," she preened, feeling proud of herself for kicking her magic habit.
"That's fantastic, Regina," Archie smiled encouragingly. "But I actually would like to talk about something else today."
And with those few words therein was the crux of what had been irritating Regina about these meetings in recent weeks. Since they'd begun talking about the rather safe topic of magic addiction, Dr. Hopper seemed to think it was a free pass to inquire about anything in her life.
It had begun quite simply only a week after she'd first started visiting the therapist when he had asked how her relationship with Henry had been in recent weeks; they'd never spoken of it before but any fool could tell it was something which preyed upon Regina's mind, She'd intended to answer vaguely, but when she'd begun to talk about the boy, she found she couldn't stop.
The natural progression was to next talk about Snow White. It was no secret how Regina felt about her; in fact, she had spent much of her life since Leopold's death telling just about anyone who'd listen how much she hated the woman, so she had very little trouble voicing these thoughts to the psychologist.
The subject of Daniel was a freshly re-opened wound after the incident in the stables, and after that, she'd felt the desperate need to share her grief with somebody. She didn't feel better after it was done; she just felt lighter, like the burden she'd been carrying had been taken from her shoulders for a short time, allowing her to carry on feeling revitalized. A kind of trust had developed between them when eventually conversations about Rumplestiltskin had happened, involving enough expletives to turn the timid ex-cricket's ears bright red. They'd even broached the subject of Regina's childhood once, but that had been quickly shut down by the woman.
It was this increasing willingness to share that lead the once cricket to bring up in conversation, the happenings of last Sunday in Granny's Diner, and once had Regina nodded her assent, he took a bracing breath and continued. "I understand there was an incident earlier this week, would you care to talk about it?"
"I'm afraid you're going to have to be more specific than that; which incident this week?"
"I'm referring to the incident which brought Granny to my Trauma in the Workplace support group on Tuesday," Archie elaborated, peering over his spectacles as he spoke.
"Oh, that," Regina replied her lips quirking upwards, and her eyes gleaming with amusement. "I'm not sure you want to hear about that doctor."
"No, but you want to talk about it, Regina."
"You know, you're rather amusingly wrong," Regina smiled pleasantly as she crossed one leg over the other and rested her arms on the back of the couch.
"I didn't word that correctly; you need to talk about it so that you can understand why it is you did it," he said with a reassuring smile. Even long before he'd been a cricket Jiminy had never been a jouster in the lists of love, but as an intelligent onlooker, he knew how the game was played.
The Evil Queen and the Saviour had hated each other for a very long time, but hate was a force of attraction too, and if Archie was even half as perceptive as he was given credit for, he could sense that perhaps that hatred was turning into altogether more positive emotion.
"You asked for it," she muttered with a predatory smirk on her lips.
Regina didn't really think her actions through as she took the Saviour's hand and pulled her from the Diner into the laundry room out back before a word could be spoken. All she knew was that she had to do this now, had to express herself somehow, before she lost her conviction.
Emma let out a breathy 'Oomph' as her lower back collided with the edge of a washing machine, her eyes wide with surprise as Regina's hands cradled her face with uncommon affection, but all gentility was quickly lost as Regina brought their faces together, teeth gnashing awkwardly for a moment before the two women relaxed into the passionate kiss.
Regina sucked a soft, smooth bottom lip between her own before releasing with a wet pop eliciting an almost pained groan from the blonde. Their mouths separated and they breathed in the warm air mingling between them. The Queen considered replying for less than a second before leaning forward again, this time tongues slid together sensually.
Kisses were normally about dominance and control between the two of them, but there was something warm and yielding about the brunette that Emma had never sensed before in all their many trysts. As she slid her hands back into corn silk curls, Regina moved her lips to the warm skin of the Saviour's neck, slowly travelling downwards.
It was a few minutes before Emma was be perched on top of one of the many washing machines, legs over the brunette's shoulders with Regina knelt before her, jeans dangling from one foot, her boots strewn across the floor.
The room was filled with heavy breathing and strangled moans until the door smashed open and Granny stormed in. "Alright ladies, I've said it before I'm not having fighting in my… Holy Sh-!" The exclamation was followed by a completely out of character scream from Emma and a sudden burst of laughter from the head between the Saviour's thighs, before the old woman backed out of the room slamming the door shut behind her.
"Regina, I didn't quite mean for you to explain what happened in quite that much detail," Archie's ears had reached an almost unnatural shade of red, and he couldn't bring himself to look the former mayor in the eye.
"You asked me to tell you what went on. If you didn't want to hear about my tongue…"
"I meant perhaps you should explore your feelings before you chose to er… have a sexual encounter with the Sheriff in Granny's Diner," he said, pulling his suddenly foggy glasses from his face and giving them a frenzied wipe with a pocket handkerchief, before pushing them back onto his nose.
"You want me to explore my feelings before I took Emma in the laundry room?" She sat forward with as close to a grin as she could create, though in reality her face contorted into an expression closer to a deathly grimace. "I was horny Dr. Hopper, I wanted to have sex. Like last Wednesday when Emma called me to the Sheriff's station in the middle of the day, pushed me down on her desk and…"
"I think you know that isn't the whole truth. Not that time. You see, I was at the Diner that day, and I heard what Sheriff Swan said just before you pulled her away to…" he coughed before continuing. "So I know that there's something else entirely to the whole situation."
"And what, pray tell, do you think my motives were?" Regina growled, not at all liking where this conversation was going she attempted to turn it back to something she felt more comfortable talking about. "Other than wanting to hear that noise Emma makes when she…"
"Well!" He quickly interjected, wringing the handle of his umbrella in his hands. "You aren't used to getting compliments from people, are you, Regina?"
"Preposterous. People sang songs of my beauty, Dr. Hopper. Snow White herself called me the fairest in the land. I've been complimented on my intelligence, my appearance, my aptitude as a sorceress. Not to mention my many talents as a lover."
"But not from people you really care about the opinion of."
"As if I care about Emma Swan's opinions on anything," she scoffed.
"From what you told me about your previous encounters with Emma…" he glanced through his notes, trying desperately not to die of embarrassment. "Should we take a less… erotic encounter, like the incident where you punched her in the face, this tendency to act out is in direct correlation with whether or not Emma Swan is involved. At any other time you are typically cool and controlled."
"What has that got to do with anything?"
"I think you only know how to react to the things Emma says physically. Her opinions bother you so much, but you're afraid to talk about your issues because that means you have to confront your feelings, so when she says something negative, you get violent, but when she says something positive…"
"I fuck her in a laundry room with half the town on the other side of the wall? Excuse me if I don't quite prescribe to your interpretation of the situation. I think that's enough for this week."
"Perhaps, but promise me you'll think this over."
Regina rolled her eyes before striding out the office, determined to not take the man's advice to heart but as she climbed into her car she couldn't help but let her mind wander back to what Emma had said in that brief moment before she'd dragged her away.
It was one of those quiet days with nothing to do and nowhere to go since she'd been asked to step down as mayor. Regina had popped into the Diner for a quick coffee only to find a certain blonde hunched over the counter. She couldn't recall why she'd felt the need to take the seat beside the Sheriff, nor could she fully explain why she'd chosen to turn in her seat and begin talking to the woman.
It was a testament to how much their relationship had progressed recently that they were actually able to be civil to each other in public, not simply when they were alone and could pretend that the rest of the world didn't exist, when they could get lost in each other and forget their pasts. They sat together, talking about anything and everything, for about an hour before it happened.
Emma had reached out and placed her own hand over Regina's, squeezing slightly in what was the most comforting, intimate and innocent gesture that had ever passed between the two women. Regina had startled, turning with wide eyes to look at the other woman's face before with a small, private smile and a voice filled with certainty, Emma Swan spoke, "I really admire you, doing what you're doing now, despite everything." And with words which mirrored those spoken to her so long ago by a stable boy, the Saviour whispered, "You've been so strong."