"Is there any more ice cream?" Emma asked leaning on the kitchen counter
"There is, but not for you"
"What?" She asked, outraged
"You've had two helpings" Regina laughed
"Yeah well" she reached for the tub. Regina curled a finger over the brim and tugged it just out of her reach. She collapsed dramatically on the counter.
"Oh but it's so good!"
"Ok, you can have some" Regina smiled with her eyes downcast
"Really?" Emma said perking up
"Sure, here you go" Regina gently booped her nose with her finger, sending a shock of cold through her as ice cream froze her nose. Regina raised her eyebrows and smiled in victory. How could anyone look regal doing that? She managed it.
"You did not just do that" Emma wiped the cold cream from the end of her nose.
"The evidence contradicts you, sheriff" she taunted in reply.
"Oh shit, lady" Emma wiped her nose again with her sleeve this time "you have no idea what you've just done"
"I think I do" she replied. She dabbed Emma's nose with ice cream again but the second time she was ready.
She grabbed her wrist as she tried to back up, spun her around and wrapped one strong arm around her, pinning them together with Regina facing out. Her other hand scooped a sizeable dollop out of the tub.
"Oh my god" fell from Regina's mouth
"There's no need for that, you can call me sheriff swan" she replied, holding Regina tightly as she struggled to get free, the frozen weapon moving ever closer.
"Emma" Regina said, the ice cream inches from her face. She strained away from it, her nose brushing the taller woman's neck. Emma shivered, probably from the ice cream right?
She laughed and went in for the kill. Regina disappeared in a puff of purple smoke. The ice cream landed on her in the chest, the icy sensation and Regina's laugh hitting her all at once. She couldn't help but laugh at herself.
"Fuck" she laughed "hey Regina, come give me a hug" she said, walking around the kitchen counter towards her.
"No thank you, dear" she replied, backing away
"I think I really need one" Emma said, picking up the pace.
"Emma Swan, don't you dare"
That was her cue, she launched herself after Regina, who just ducked out of her way but couldn't contain her laughter. It seemed to fill the entire kitchen, and her head.
"Moms?" Henry asked from the doorway, just in time as Emma was about to corner her. They stopped, slightly embarrassed at all the noise they suddenly realised they had been making. Emma's face hurt from laughing but she smiled at him still. "I'm gonna go to bed" he said with an odd look at them both.
"Oh, yeah I should go home" Emma said "night, kid"
"Night" he said, turning his back on them both.
"Goodnight hug?" she turned to Regina with a smile. Regina waved her hand and the ice cream disappeared.
"Sure" she said as Emma leant into her. It was brief and lovely and Emma smiled all the way home.
"Fuck, what am I going to do? Regina will know what to do. This is her thing, she breaks curses all the time."
She stared at herself in the bathroom mirror the next morning, water dripping from her face. She looked down at her phone again, still open on the picture of her and Regina she had just set as her profile picture after staring at it for five whole minutes.
"What is today, is it a special anniversary of something? Is something screwing with me?" she tried to think, her mind invaded by Regina's smile. One of those breathtaking, twinkly eye ones that are hard to earn and completely worth it.
"Fuck"
She hovered on Regina's doorstep with nervousness she hadn't experienced in a long time.
"Hi" she said when she answered "I need help"
Regina stepped back, admitting her with no hesitation.
"Are you ok?" she asked, her eyes quickly turning dark as she scanned Emma for signs of injury.
"Yes, I mean, I think something has happened to me. I'm physically ok" she said, looking Regina up and down and feeling her cheeks blush at their proximity to one another.
"I've got these...um, feelings, I guess"
"Where did you go? You missed breakfast. I made pancakes" Snow said with a pout as she entered.
"I went to see Regina. I think I've been cursed" she said. Snow gasped.
"No" David said "Are you ok?"
"Did Regina help?" Snow asked
"No!" Emma said "She said she was busy and she'd talk to me later."
"That's unlike her" Snow said to herself, more than to Emma.
"I know!"
"She usually drops everything for you" Snow said. That was uncomfortable. She didn't have time to think about why.
"What's the curse? Can we help?" David asked
"I have these...god this is embarrassing. I have these feelings that have just come out of nowhere"
Her parents frowned in concern as they waited for her to continue.
"Feelings about Regina that...they're out of control. I can't stop thinking about her" she said, They stared. She rubbed her head and remembered their hug from last night. Specifically the feel of their bodies pressed together.
"...and you told Regina this?" Snow asked
"Yes!" Emma said "and she was like, 'I'm busy, probably writing some boring report about the town budget or something else boring that I love doing because I'm so boring'"
"So boring you spend all of your spare time with her" David said
"You told Regina you had feelings...for her?" Snow asked
"Yes!" Was it such a hard concept to grasp?
"And that you thought it was the product of a curse?" Snow asked
"Yes!"
Silence.
"Did you think about how that might sound to her?" Snow asked
No, why would she? She was the one who had been cursed. It was pretty awkward to have to talk about it in the first place. Wasn't she the only one hurt by this? She didn't even help!
"Not really. I'm the one that has been cursed, remember?"
"Oh my" Snow said. David hummed.
"Well I'm glad you see my point" she said, missing the look they shared before both looking back at her.
"Who do you think would have cursed you with that?" David asks "is it even possible?"
"Gold? I can't figure out why he would though. Regina is the only other person with the power to do that but she looked pretty shocked when I told her" She thought about the look on her face. She had frozen completely other than her eyes. They moved between Emma's and looked wet, glazed almost. She must have been tired.
"I bet" David said, shaking his head
"Uness I did it myself by accident, but I really haven't done any magic without Regina so that can't be it. Maybe there's someone new in town and they're trying to distract me" she said, thinking out loud.
"Honey, come sit down" Snow suggested and she did "Has it occurred to you that these feelings might not be a curse? That they might be real?"
"That's ridiculous!" She protested "I spend all my time with her and Henry, I would have noticed if I fell in love with her"
David rubbed his eyes. "Oh wow"
"What did you do last night?" Snow asked, changing the subject
"We just had dinner as usual. She made lasagne, it's my favourite and then we had apple pie ice cream. I didn't know why you would go to the trouble of making an apple pie and then turn it into ice cream but then I tried it and oh my god, I couldn't remember life without it. I tried to get a third helping and then we ended up having this, like, almost food fight but with magic and without throwing anything…" She was thinking about Regina's laugh again, it might be her favourite sound in the world, tied first place with Henry's. When she heard it she felt like she lived to make it happen. She realised she was laughing thinking about it, her face wearing a wide, shining smile of its own.
No.
"Oh my god" she said
"There it is" David said
"Emma…" Snow tried
"Am I..? Do I..?" She stammered "Fuck, since when?"
"I started to notice it in Neverland" David said
"I think it was before then" Snow said "Like when you told her you could use magic-"
"But they hated each other then" David interrupted
"Well, it's a fine line-" Snow said
"Oh my god, it doesn't matter" She stood silencing them both. "And I just told her I thought I was cursed?"
"Yep" David said, Snow nudged him in the ribs for being insensitive.
"Emma, it's ok that you-"
"I've got to go" she made a run for the door
"Take her flowers!" David shouted as it slammed behind her.
Emma paced on the porch this time. Regina seemed to take forever to answer the door.
"Emma I-" she started with a sigh.
"I'm sorry" Emma interrupted. Regina looked up. "I'm sorry, I'm an idiot. I brought you these" she held up a bouquet of mixed irises and white roses. They were beautiful. She hardly looked at them. She waved a hand and the flowers appeared on the entrance hall table.
Emma's heart was banging in her chest. Regina looked sad. The water in her eyes that she mistook for tiredness earlier was hurt.
"You don't have to do this, Emma" she said quietly
"I think I do" she said
"Why?"
"Because I was a jerk to just assume that these new feelings were-"
"New? You still think this is new?" Regina interrupted
"Well…" she tried to think back
"None of this is new, Emma. You spend all of your time here. You bring your lunch, uninvited I might add, to my office. You have stayed for dinner at house most nights of the week for months. You text me goodnight and good morning for god's sake."
"I…" she began ready to defend herself. Regina folded her arms, tipped her head to one side and waited for it. "Yeah I do all those things, huh?" she said. If Emma had thought that agreeing with Regina would make her less angry, she was wrong.
"I am well and truly used to not being good enough for the people I care about, Emma" she said, taking a threatening step towards her. Emma instinctively wanted to step back but didn't. "But do you understand what you did to me this morning?"
Yes. No. What?
"This morning you told me that the idea of having 'feelings' for me was so impossible someone must have cursed you. Someone must have cast a fucking curse to make you care about me"
"That's not-"
"Do not interrupt me, Miss Swan" she said, hitting the full stride of her authoritative demeanour.
Miss Swan? Fuck, I am in so much shit.
"Do you have any idea how painful that was to hear? I am the first person you called on to help you and it was to get rid of feelings you have for me?"
"I-"
"You called loving me a fucking curse, Emma. A literal fucking curse" there were tears in her eyes again. Emma's heart ached.
"I'm sorry" she whispered, feeling a lump in her throat "I'm sorry I just, I don't know why I didn't know. I didn't mean to-"
"Well your intentions are irrelevant" A tear dropped from her eye and defiantly grazed her cheek.
"God what a mess. Regina you're my best friend. I'm sorry I did this to you. I'm so embarrassed and I'd get it if you want me to stop coming round or whatever" she looked at the ground. That was not what she wanted.
"What?"
"You know. Because I was a jerk and I don't want things to be weird"
"So you think avoiding me is the answer to this?"
"I don't know, is it going to be weird now because I feel this way? Because I have realised that I feel this way" she corrected quickly seeing Regina's glare. "I don't want to make you feel weird"
"Are you actually as incompetent as I have always claimed?" She asked
She was still missing something.
"Obviously yes" Emma said
"I have been waiting for you to come to terms with this by yourself for...well for long enough"
"You knew?!"
"Emma everyone knows. I don't remember the last time you didn't look me up and down when you said hello. I don't know if you ever did."
She blushed in reply
"And I have been waiting for you to figure it out in your own time because I want you to be ready, because I don't know if you've ever been with another woman and because I didn't want to scare you away. And then you show up this morning saying…" She stopped herself and looked away.
"Please" Emma stepped towards her, closing the gap between them "Regina please look at me" she dragged her eyes up to meet Emma's.
"Are you saying you feel...something for me too?"
"Yes, you idiot. How can you not see-"
Her words were cut off by Emma's mouth colliding with hers. The force behind them disintegrated with a gentle sigh. Their bodies seemed to drift together until they were pressed flat against each other. Regina's hand brushed Emma's face and slid into her hair.
"No!" she suddenly pushed Emma back "you don't get to do that, not after...not after…" the words seemed to stick in her throat. "Get off my porch, Miss Swan"
Emma head spun, she hardly saw anything but the slamming door.
"Oh, Emma, hi" Snow said, disentangling from David quickly as she entered.
"That was quick" David said, almost ruefully
"Yeah she threw me out of her house" Emma said
"You're still alive though, I mean she didn't set you on fire so that's good"
She did, you just can't see it.
"I'm gonna take a shower and watch my show" she slunk off
"So you'll be here all day?" Snow asked
"Yeah why?"
"No reason" she replied. Emma's lie detector pinged but she didn't have the attention to give it.
Kid:
What did you do to my mom!?
Emma:
Why do you think I did something? x
Kid:
Because you're not here for dinner and she's letting me order take out. MY CHOICE. You did something.
Emma:
Srsly? Take out your choice? What are you getting? x
Kid:
Ma.
Emma:
I did something really stupid. x
Kid:
Then apologise!
Emma:
I did! She threw me out!
Kid:
Then try again!
Emma:
She won't answer her phone. Are you mad at me? Just, no kisses /3
Kid:
XxxxXxxXxXxxXxx
Emma:
Funny guy (you get that from me) x
Kid:
You only put kisses on messages to me and mom. Seriously, I put Pulp Fiction on the TV and she hasn't even noticed. WHAT DID YOU DO?
Emma:
Henry Daniel Mills, turn that movie off right now!
Emma:
That was my impression of her. x
Kid:
Emma, fix it!
Emma:
I will. Love you kid (srsly turn that movie off, John Travolta has a ponytail, it's really not suitable for your age range) x
Kid:
Love you too ma, night. X
Emma:
Henry.
Kid:
It's off! X
Emma looked through her messages again. Every time she did her stomach turned over. Her history with Regina was like a diary of events from each day. Goodnight messages, good things that happened throughout her day that she wanted to share, pictures of her and Henry she thought Regina would enjoy. Her most recent exchange was brief.
Emma:
Please answer your phone? x
Emma:
Henry said you let him order take out last night. x
Regina:
Traitor.
Emma:
Please can we talk? Somewhere neutral like not your porch? Preferably somewhere you can't throw me out. x
Regina:
Where?
Emma:
Kid, emergency info needed: Where's somewhere nice to go in SB? x
Kid:
She's been wanting to go to The Round Table for ages. X
Emma:
Ha! We're going to talk about this later...what kind of place is it? x
Kid:
idk, expensive. Google it. X
Emma:
The Round Table? Tonight at 7.30? x
Regina:
Henry is in a lot of trouble.
Emma:
So 7.30? x
Regina:
8.30
Emma:
Awesome =) x
She breathed out slowly and knocked again. Regina was making her wait and she knew it. It was hard to pace in her dress and heels but she managed it. The door opened finally.
"Hi" Emma smiled.
"Emma" Regina replied. Their eye contact burned with the intensity of two people trying desperately not to check each other out. Thankfully the taxi pulled up at that moment.
"Shall we?" Emma asked. Regina sighed and passed her, walking with more swing than she had seen before. Regina must have known she was looking, her slinky dress fit like a glove. Emma didn't care that she was being tortured, her eyes devoured her.
"Can you wait one minute?" Emma asked. They stood under the portico of the bar entrance. "I really want this to be nice and I don't think it will be unless we talk first"
Regina exhaled forcefully and looked away, trying to find the right words. "I'm so mad at you" she looked back with such ferocity and hurt Emma almost winced.
"I know, you have every right to be" Emma rushed to say.
"I don't need you to tell me that!" She snapped. Emma pressed her lips together and nodded "But...thank you for acknowledging it. Do you understand what you did?"
"Yes! I do. Looking back I really can't believe I did it. But there's no excuse" she looked up, trying to read Regina's expression, was it safe to go in? "I've never felt like this. I mean, I've had crushes and I have loved people but I've never been so…" she searched for the word but couldn't find it. Possessed? Nope. Spellbound? What the fuck, brain? Forget it, explain a different way.
"It just never occurred to me that it could happen to me. And then when it did I couldn't believe it was real because, well, it's you"
Regina's eyes fell to the ground again, but didn't quite hide her expression. What was it? Emma felt it like her heart was in a vice.
"How could I ever be good enough for you, you know?" She said.
Regina looked up sharply.
"What?"
"What?"
"Do you really believe you're not good enough for me?" Regina asked.
"Yeah" she rubbed her arm "and I mean I know we're friends but this is really big and I just don't want to ruin every-"
"Emma" she cut her off "do you have any idea how special you are?"
"I'm not special" she said quietly, not meeting her eyes.
"You are to me" Regina's expression was completely genuine. Emma's eyes blurred with tears.
"I'm so sorry I hurt you, Regina"
"I know you are. I accept your apology. Please don't cry on our first date"
Emma looked up. "Date?"
"Don't tell me you don't think this is a date" Regina warned but it came out softly. Emma looked down at her own dress, dragged her eyes up Regina, glanced around them at the fancy bar and smiled brightly. Regina shook her head, linked her arm and they walked in together.
"You look amazing by the way" Emma grinned. Regina pretended to ignore her but couldn't hide the smile curling around her lips.
The taxi dropped them off at Regina's house. Emma walked her to the door while they discussed their evening.
"What was in that cocktail you had?" Emma asked
"Which one?"
"Was it grapefruit?"
"Oh yes, grapefruit and...gin?"
"I don't remember, it was delicious. We should definitely go there again"
"So you think there'll be a second date?" Regina asked as she turned to face her under the light of her porch.
"I'm pretty hopeful" Emma replied. For a moment they stood smiling at each other.
"Ok" Emma said, still grinning "I should go"
Regina nodded but made no move towards her door. Emma slid her hand between hers.
"If it's ok with you, I'd really like to kiss you now"
Were Regina's eyes sparkling? She stepped closer to her, looking alternately between her eyes and lips, taking in every aching second.
When they finally met it was unlike anything she had felt before. Her lips just opened enough to gently tug at Regina's as she pulled away, but Regina followed. She felt a warm hand on her chest above her heart, her arm slid around her waist, her tongue flicked cheekily against her lip and she felt her smile.
She kissed her again, more forcefully this time, letting more of her feelings go than she intended. Regina met her with equal enthusiasm and hummed gently as Emma pulled them even closer together. Regina's hand was in her hair again, wrapping curls around her fingers, drawing Emma into her. Emma jumped as they hit the door. Her eyes snapped open.
"Oops, you ok?"
"Yes, are you?"
"Yeah" Emma replied, going in for another kiss. She half expected to be pushed away but Regina melted into her again. Their tongues met and tentatively explored each other. This time Emma moaned and she felt Regina's hips roll into her.
Regina tried to speak, but there was no let up.
"You wanna...come in...mmm...for coffee?"
"Mmhmm" Emma replied, reaching behind her for the doorknob.
They fell into the hall. The door closed behind them but neither registered it. Their kisses were growing in intensity, noises of pleasure coming from each. Emma was on another astral plain feeling this wanted and cared for and, if she was honest, lucky to be doing this with Regina. Her hand slid down Regina's waist, over her thigh and round to grab a handful of her bum. Regina moaned again and Emma broke away.
"Ok I need to go"
"Emma?"
"Yep" she rubbed her hands together and looked away. The door, the coat rack, anywhere but at Regina.
"What is it?"
"I don't think our first date should...I mean we should do things properly right?"
Regina still looked confused.
"I need to leave now or I'm going to make you scream right here in this god damn hallway"
Regina's mouth fell open.
"You know we have had dinner together a lot, you might not consider this our first date, really" Regina said
"Do not tease me, Regina. I think I should go"
"Of course you can, but I would rather you didn't"
"Really?"
"Well I imagine we're both going to have to finish what you've started. Where is the sense in doing that apart?" Regina asked, biting her lip. Emma stared at her for a moment then was back in her arms. She kissed her lips, her neck, her collarbone. Each hum of approval drove her a little closer to the edge. She squeezed her breasts through her dress, finding her nipples straining against the fabric.
"Can I touch you?" Emma breathed against her neck
"God yes" was her undignified reply. Emma slid her hand up her dress until she reached her underwear. Lace, of course.
"Fuck" Emma whispered involuntarily as she pressed her fingers over the lace and felt it warm and wet. Regina writhed under her touch. She slid her fingers under the lace and rubbed in circles.
"Oh my god" she felt her wet and ready, more than ready, wanting and it was for her. "Do you always get this wet when you think about me?" She asked, her fingers sliding into her with ease and out again to continue rubbing.
"Yes" she whispered "but I've never come so quickly" groaned
"Fuck" that was the hottest thing she'd ever heard. Regina rolled into her, moans and Emma's name pouring freely from her lips.
"Kiss me" she said between pants. Emma almost didn't hear her she was so preoccupied with kissing and biting every inch of Regina's skin she could reach. "Emma, kiss me kiss me"
Their lips were together again, whether it could be called kissing...Emma sucked her lower lip as she cried out into her mouth. Regina shook and jerked and her fingernails dug into Emma's skin. She continued to rub slowly before she withdrew completely. Regina convulsed each time. Emma panted and kissed her properly.
"You ok?" She asked quietly, dropping gentle kisses down her cheek and neck.
"Better than ok" she said with a voice like melting chocolate. She smiled widely before opening her eyes. She threaded her fingers through Emma's. "Come on"
"Where are we going?" Emma asked
"Upstairs" Regina smiled "I'm going to make you forget your own name"