Disclaimer: I own no part of Once Upon a Time or any of its characters, I merely have fun playing with them.
The summer sun beat down from the heavens, unhindered by foliage in the cleared area leading down to the beach. Reflecting off of the water like a million shards of broken mirror, the sunlight had summoned most of Storybrooke. Assorted townsfolk played in the shallower water, others laying down blankets for a picnic or working on a tan. Summer had struck hard, and in a state so very well known for its unforgiving winters and short periods of blissful summer, each and every citizen was determined to get the most out of the rare heat.
Shielding her eyes with one hand, squinting in the brightness due to her own forgetfulness and lack of sunglasses, Emma shouted and waved to the joyous boy jumping in the gentle waves. He seemed content enough as he returned his attention to roughhousing with several other children that Emma didn't recognize at this distance, leaving the blonde to find a spot on the sand. Spotting a large orange and green striped umbrella and familiar dark hair spilling over the back of a beach chair under the shade of said umbrella, she dragged her large tote higher on her shoulder.
"Hey there", Emma said happily, as she set up her own chair opposite the first. Regina's eyes weren't visible under the heavily shaded sunglasses, but the tilt of her head and a vague quirk of her lips was evidence that she was not unaware.
"Hello, Emma", she acknowledged the blonde's greeting with a more genuine smile. Settling down in her chair with a happy sigh, Emma took a moment to enjoy the blatantly relaxing atmosphere. No curses, no crazy witches, no ice monsters, nothing. If it weren't for the occasional disputes over things not even remotely interesting enough for Emma to remember at the moment, the town would have no need of a Sheriff at all.
"This is nice." The statement hung in the air, and Regina turned her head to look at the other woman with an expectant expression, as if waiting for her to continue with her thought. Feeling eyes on her, Emma met Regina's gaze with a content smile.
Seeing that no more words would be forthcoming, the brunette returned to watching Henry play with a bemused, "Indeed."
Sitting back up and reaching into her bag, Emma withdrew a bottle of sunscreen and proceeded to remove the sundress style cover up she had been wearing over her bikini. The short shorts and bandeau top clung to her muscled frame with ease, the yellow colour nearly matching that of her car. She applied the lotion generously, having already had her share of sunburns in her younger days and not wishing to experience that hell again.
Reaching her legs, Emma made sure to work in a hefty amount of lotion around a thick silvery scar that stretched down the outside of her left thigh from the knee nearly to her hip. That last thing she wanted was to bleach the skin once more and let the thing get even brighter.
"What happened there?" Regina's voice was calm, deceptively so, but as Emma glanced up she noticed a new sort of rigidity in the woman's posture. Only seconds ago she appeared as any woman might as she relaxed on the beach, but now there was a tension that surrounded her like a shroud, confusing the blonde.
"What? This?" She was baffled as to why Regina would have adopted such an appearance, why the sight of an old scar would leave her so..stiff, but she had no problem with answering. "I was hit by a car as a little kid, the guy was able to slow down enough that it didn't kill me, but I did break my femur in a couple places. They had to put a metal rod in there and everything." Shrugging off the incident, as it had been decades ago, Emma continue to apply her lotion.
Regina, however, was using every ounce of willpower she possessed to keep from stroking down the side of her own left thigh, remembering against her will the accident she had at the tender age of four, falling from a horse who then proceeded to step on her thigh unintentionally. It had been awful, and in her mind's eye she could see the scar there still, stretching from her knee and disappearing as it reached her hip.
In the hours that followed, Regina stole glances whenever she was safely able, as if the scar might disappear if she stared at it as much as possible. Emma was leaning back in her chair, eyes closed, chest rising and falling in the slow rhythm of deep sleep. It might have been endearing to see the blonde so relaxed only feet from the woman who once wanted nothing more than to see her dead, and yet the brunette could not think this. So preoccupied was she, that she did not notice Henry emerging from the waves and running back up the beach and towards her.
"Hey mom! Can I have a sandwich?" Startled out of her reverie, and jerking her eyes quickly upwards to meet her son's, she blinked in a moment of utter incomprehension before favoring him with a wide smile. Henry lingered for another long moment wearing a strange expression before taking the sandwich that Regina had dug out of the cooler beside her and dashing back to the friends beckoning him from the water.
Just as suddenly as it had thickened, the atmosphere seemed to return to normal, and Regina thanked all the powers that were there to listen that Henry had not questioned the way she was staring at Emma's legs. Well, -leg-, but it was still a relief that the boy was much happier splashing about in the water and not her thoughts.
Emma did not stir until the sun was halfway to setting, stretching her arms above her head and then casting a sheepish look towards her brunette companion. Regina, for her part, was doing the very best impression of disinterested and casual, a book laying open on her lap as if it had been her sole focus, rather than a quick distraction the moment she noticed the blonde waking from her slumber.
Flinching as she stretched, Emma groaned and pressed a finger on her thigh, watching the mark turn white and then pink again. The sunburn was unpleasant, but it was her own fault for falling asleep. Resting her arms gingerly on the armrests of her chair, the blonde closed her eyes again and asked, "How long was I asleep?"
"Two and a half hours", Regina replied, a vague amusement creeping into her tone and twitching at the corners of her mouth. Groaning again, Emma's voice whined, "Why didn't you wake me up?" Lips curling further into an amused smile, the brunette lifted a brow that Emma couldn't see. "I'm not your mother, Emma. You should know better than to fall asleep in the sun, even under an umbrella."
Emma caught the back end of Regina's pointed look as she opened her eyes to glare in a playful manner.
"If you want to get technical, you're right, you're not my mother", her eyes brightened as she grinned mischievously, "But you /are/ my step-grandma so…" If she wasn't so used to the scowls and death eyes that Regina so loved to hand out, Emma might have melted into a little puddle of fear right in her chair, but as it was hardly her first time being subjected to the woman's wrath, her grin merely widened.
Picking up her book, Regina feigned as if she was thoroughly engrossed in the novel, ignoring Emma completely. Emma was quiet with her grin for a few seconds, assuming that Regina would strike back with her words if she waited. However, as the seconds passed, the blonde's grin faltered.
"Come on, Regina.. It was a joke." Snorting in disbelief, Regina rolled her eyes and continued to stare at her book. Emma tried again. "I'm sorry." Dark brown eyes slid just far enough to give the blonde a sidelong glance, assessing her sincerity. Closing the book with a sudden snap that made Emma jump, the brunette placed in delicately back down on her lap.
"I would appreciate it if the complexities of the familial ties in this town were not used as a way to poke fun." Regina's no-nonsense tone left Emma feeling sufficiently scolded, evidenced by the sad puppy-like expression she had adopted. Rolling her eyes again, Regina dropped her book back into the bag beside her and stood. "I'm going to swim," she stated simply, shedding her lacy coverup and starting off down the beach. As if an imaginary leash had been tugged, Emma stood as well and took long strides to walk alongside the other woman.
For the barest hint of a heartbeat Regina felt a surge, but it was forgotten as she reached the water. Wading through the shallows with ease, the brunette dove. Surrounded by water, light and the vague shadows that shifted along the sandy bottom in time with the waves, Regina stopped and simply savored the unstill quiet and the simplicity that she so longed for.
A watery vision of a thick silvery scar continued to thrust itself before all other thought, or lack thereof, ruining the moment. Regina's lungs burned for air sooner than she would have liked, forcing her to surface. She was greeted by the sight of Emma losing a splash fight, horribly losing, against Henry and the friends with whom he had been playing. Shoving the scar and all related thoughts aside for the time being, Regina swam towards the laughing blonde with the intent to save the Savior from children.
