A/N- Just a short non-magic AU of Swan Queen
1.
Emma has been serving as the sheriff of Storybrooke for roughly two months before she saw Regina Mills wearing anything other than a perfectly composed skirt or pantsuit. It is late in the evening on a Thursday in the middle of July.
The women are working late going over budget proposals, Emma is trying desperately to convince the brunette that the sheriff's department needs updates to their patrol car- but she isn't getting very far.
Regina huffs in frustration before unbuttoning her blazer, Emma had long ago dropped her leather jacket. Apparently the building air conditioning system went off automatically at six, and the women are boiling.
Emma's gaze catches on the mayor's actions as she lets the black jacket slip off her shoulders and she folds it carefully over the back of her chair. Next, Regina unbuttons her sleeve cuffs. She doesn't roll up the cuff, so much as she lets them hang loosely, allowing her forearms to get a slight breeze after being hidden all day.
Emma decides in that moment that she definitely has some sort of odd fetish for open cuffs. The slight glimpses of Regina's tanned arms that she keeps getting whenever the brunette would shift papers around or speak with her hands has Emma completely entranced.
They finish their meeting shortly afterward, and Emma watches with a sad silence as Regina shrugs gracefully back into her suit jacket.
…
2.
The second time Emma sees Regina in anything less than professional work attire is two weeks after that late meeting.
It's early August and though the Maine mornings have a distinct bite to their early breezes, Emma heaves herself out of bed at six each morning to go on a run. Her normal route takes her along the harbor and through the park in the center of town where she waves to Archie who is always walking Pongo, and back up main street to her apartment.
Occasional she detours through the woods because they are just irresistible with the morning dew.
This particular morning, Emma had taken a new route through the woods, and ended up somewhere on a backroad near the toll bridge she had patrolled past a few times. Emma pauses a moment to regain her bearings and decide on how to get home when movement at the edge of the road catches her attention.
She watches a figure clad in long black running pants and a white jacket run across the road at a quick clip. Emma instantly recognizes the bouncing hair as belonging to the mayor, and she doesn't even blush when her eyes rake shamelessly over how perfectly sculpted Regina's legs and ass are in her tight pants. As quickly as she appeared, Regina vanishes into the woods on the opposite side of the road.
The rest of a day is a struggle for the blonde, trying to focus on anything other than how the black slacks Regina is wearing to work are tailored perfectly to her, yet are no match for the running tights she had seen the mayor in earlier.
…
3.
When Emma knocks on the door of 108 Mifflin street at nearly ten in the evening, she is expecting a lecture on appropriate notification and about leaving work in the office (not that Regina ever does either of those things).
The door swings open, and Emma has her speech all prepared so she can try and head off a rant from Regina, but once she catches sight of the brunette, Emma freezes.
"Can I help you, Miss Swan?" Regina asks, quirking an eyebrow.
Emma promptly snaps her jaw shut, but cannot prevent her eyes trailing down Regina's form, taking in the way she's pulled her short hair messily back from her face in a clip, the simple t-shirt and athletic shorts covered by an apron she's wearing.
It is really the slight streak of flour across the brunette's cheek that captivates Emma, she has never seen Regina looking so completely unguarded.
"Miss Swan?"
"Sorry." Emma says, coming back into herself, "I was hoping to talk about the back to school event that you said you needed the sheriff department's support for."
Regina's lips press into a line briefly before she seems to accept the blonde's excuse, "Come in."
Emma trails Regina back to the kitchen where the mayor is just finishing putting some cookies in the oven.
They make small talk for a while Emma spends most of her time watching the ease with which Regina moves about the kitchen. It takes a moment for her to realize that the brunette is barefoot, and that fact sort of strikes her, and she loses herself realizing that this is the first time she's ever seen Regina's feet.
Her toenails are painted bright red, which Emma can't help but smile at.
Once she finishes cleaning the kitchen, Regina removes her apron. Her shirt has the words 'Dartmouth Athletics' printed across it, and Emma momentarily shakes herself for not realizing that Regina had a life before she settled down in Storybrooke.
They finish ironing out the details of the back to school event, and only when Regina shuts the door behind Emma, does the blonde think to wonder why the mayor had been baking cookies at nearly midnight.
She figures that it is more acceptable for the mayor to show up to work the next day with baked goods than to show up hungover.
…
4.
The next time that Emma shows up at Regina's house unexpectedly, she decides that she is never calling ahead to 108 Mifflin Street. Regina answers the door at six in the morning on the Saturday wearing rolled up running shorts and a cut up t shirt.
Her hair is pulled back, and her face is shining with sweat. Emma watches on particularly daring bead of moisture roll from Regina's temple, down her cheek, along the column of her throat, and disappear in the neck of her shirt.
Her shirt is a grey one (another from Dartmouth which Emma assumes is her alma mater) but she's cut away the sleeves and a bit down the sides so that Emma can catch tantalizing glimpses of Regina's bright pink sports bra.
"Emma." The mayor repeats with an annoyed expression. Emma wonders how many times she must have tried to catch her attention while she was busy checking her out.
"Yeah, sorry. What were you saying?"
"What are you doing here?"
"Paper work."
Regina cocks an eyebrow at Emma's flustered explanation.
"I brought you that thing you need to sign so I can take it to the clerk's office."
"It's a Saturday morning, Emma."
The blonde runs a hand through her hair, she's still getting used to Regina calling her by her first name as opposed to 'Sheriff Swan', and the recent change in the nature of their relationship from strictly professional to tentative friends is throwing her for a loop.
"And?"
"The clerk's office isn't open on Saturdays."
"I know."
Regina merely rolls her eyes, and moves deeper into the house. Emma follows without invitation, at this point she doesn't need one. As they pass the front room, Emma can see some sort of exercise program paused on the large television, and she can't help but smile at the thought of Regina following along with the yoga mat stretched out on the hardwood. She knew that physique like Regina's couldn't come just from morning runs.
…
5.
Emma and Regina aren't dating. Their relationship isn't as simple as that, it isn't the adorable date night, steal your jacket, cuddle when it's cold out, pick you up flowers because I was thinking of you, relationship that it would seem everyone else in Storybrooke was so fond of.
Rather, theirs was more characterized by the night that they're both working late in Regina's office. Emma has her feet thrown up on the coffee table, she's wearing only a tank top and her usual skinny jeans while filling out quarterly reports. Regina is in a chair opposite her, and Emma catches her eye.
"What?"
"Nothing." Regina dismisses, looking back down at her own paperwork.
"Is something wrong, Regina?"
The brunette huffs, "Why can't you just drop it, nothing is wrong Ms. Swan."
"Something is definitely wrong, you just called me by my last name again." Emma says, standing up to approach the mayor.
"There's nothing wrong!" Regina half shouts, standing up as well.
"Then why are you yelling at me?"
"I'm not yelling!" The mayor was definitely shouting now, "You're just infuriating."
Emma was still wildly confused, "What have I done now?"
"Nothing!"
They both fell silent, chests rising and falling rapidly. Emma doesn't know who moved first, but suddenly, they were kissing. Things moved at breakneck speed from there, and the next thing Emma knew, she was flat on her back on the couch she had just vacated, Regina on top of her, straddling her lap. She grasped at the mayor's button up, getting Regina to allow her to pull it over the brunette's head.
They never made it much further past that on that first night, but Emma would never forget that first time being introduced to the soft perfect skin of Regina's abdomen.
…
6.
Emma came home after a long day leading kids through the forest on a nature hike in celebration of the first day of fall. It was actually just an excuse for teachers to get a day off of really teaching their kids.
"Gina?" She calls, getting no response, she wanders her way upstairs. The hallway is adorned with photos, most of them showcasing Regina, Henry, and herself with wide smiles.
She hears water running in the direction of the bathroom, and peeks in to see Regina's clothes in a pile just inside the door.
Emma knows that the normally neat mayor only leaves her clothes scattered like this when she's stressed and needs a shower to let go of the day. She decides to do her best to help the brunette unwind.
Stripping off her own clothes, Emma wastes no time in pushing open the frosted door of the shower and smiling at the mayor inside.
"Emma." Regina greets with a pleasantly surprised smile.
"I thought you might like some company."
"You have no idea."
Regina moves to the side to allow Emma to stand under the spray. The blonde smiles and runs her hands across Regina's back, beginning to massage the tight muscles she finds in the brunette's shoulders.
She kisses along Regina's neck, reveling in the silky perfection she finds, "Long day?"
"The longest."
"Maybe I can make it better." Emma smiles. Her hands gravitate lower, massaging all the way down the brunette's back until she reaches her hips.
Regina's hands cover her own, she laces their fingers together, their matching silver wedding bands clink slightly as Regina leans back into her wife's hold, "Stop teasing." She commands.