Emma's hand hovered in front of Regina's front door for the third time in five minutes. The bag of leftovers in her free hand was beginning to grow heavier as her indecision continued. She hated the look on Regina's face as she walked away, and knew that she deserved to be accepted by someone in this town. Just because the others wouldn't believe in her attempts to change didn't mean she didn't deserve cake...and candy. Taking a deep breath, she brought her hand up once more, this time, finally knocking on it.
"It's about time, Miss Swan," Regina deadpanned, opening the door. "I was wondering how much longer you'd be lurking on my front step."
"I, uh, brought you food," Emma mumbled unintelligibly, momentarily shocked by Regina's forwardness. "Cake, and some candy, and tacos," she continued to ramble. "Oh! And I brought your dish back."
"You didn't have to do that," Regina said softly, a little taken aback by her gratitude.
"I know. That's what makes me so nice," Emma said in a sing-song voice, with a wink.
Earning a confused look in return, Emma kicked herself for assuming that Regina would get a Broadway reference; but the woman in question stepped aside anyway, granting Emma access to the house.
Making her way to the kitchen, Emma moaned in relief as she dropped the bag in the island. Regina's eyebrow raised at the resounding thunk of the bag on the tile.
"What exactly is in that bag?" She asked, eyeing it suspiciously.
"Tacos, meatloaf, mashed potatoes," Emma listed, pulling the dishes out as the named them. "Mac n' cheese, spaghetti, cake, Hershey's kisses, and your lasagna dish."
"This could feed a small army, dear," Regina stated, her eyes moving across the dishes and finally resting on Emma. "Thank you."
"Well, I guess I should be going," Emma said, breaking the awkward silence which had ensued.
"Miss Sw-Emma," Regina stuttered, slightly more than a little desperate for a positive human connection. "Why don't you split this cake with me? You seemed to have mistaken me for my-for our son."
"It was actually Henry that suggested this slice," Emma grinned. "I think it was a vain attempt to get more cake."
Emma's insides inexplicably warmed at the twinkle in Regina's eyes at Henry's antics and the thought of spending even small amount with him. The warmth spread curiously lower as she watched Regina's lips close around the fork, slowly extract the utensil, and then softly licked her lips, clearly deep in thought.
The two women ate the cake in companionable silence; Emma's eyes on Regina, who in turn, kept her eyes on the plate. She was silently questioning Emma's reasoning behind bringing all this food to her home. Granted, she had invited her to the party, but her demeanor made it plain that it was a tedious effort brought on by a false sense of gratitude; her feeble attempt to defend her in front of the townspeople with nothing short or miniscule that Regina saw no choice but to excuse herself.
She continued her movements around the kitchen, slowly putting the leftover food away; fully aware of Emma's eyes on her the whole time. She wondered if anyone actually knew that Emma was here. Did she come of her own volition, or did someone put her up to it?
Still shrouded in silence, Regina gathered the dishes and bringing them to the sink, began washing them. As the water poured over the surface of the sink, tears began to inexplicably fall down Regina's face. She thought she had changed, she thought she had done better. Sure, she had set the trap over the well first, but that was to stop Cora and to protect Henry. The determined look on his face and the sureness of his tone had her believing that he may just be right. She took in all of that power into her body and, save for Emma, no one had bothered to thank her.
Having never taken her eyes off of Regina, Emma began to notice a slight tremor in her shoulders, immediately followed by the softest of sobs.
"Hey," she said softly, placing a comforting hand on Regina's arm. "What's up? Overwhelmed by the food? Because I've seen you eat, and girl, you can throw food back no problem."
Her attempt at humor appeared to be made in vain as Regina stopped washing altogether and gripped the edge of the sink, her cries growing harder. After years upon years of keeping her tears at bay, Regina couldn't seem to stop them. The hand on Regina's arm tightened, which she took as an invitation and nearly fell into Emma's arms; her sobs growing in intensity as she was surrounded by the warmth of another human being.
Never really good at comforting, Emma awkwardly pat Regina's back, making shushing sounds as if she were an infant with a bad case of the hiccups. After a few minutes, the shuddering body began to still, and Regina's breathing was returning to normalcy. Taking a step back, Regina studied Emma's face. She found concern, hurt and, oddly enough, guilt. Reaching up, Regina gently tucked a hair behind Emma's ear, keeping her hand in place and softly running her thumb along Emma's cheek bone. Before either of them could truly react; before she could stop to think, or at least long enough to really think about what she was about to do; she delicately pressed her lips against Emma's.
Holy shit! Emma thought. The experience wasn't unpleasant per se, just wholly unexpected. One minute, they're eating cake, and then Regina is crying, then crying ON Emma, now kissing her? Evidently, her lack of response was taken as rejection as Regina sighed against her lips, and pushed away from her.
"Regina," Emma whispered, unable to find the words she needed to explain her inaction. With a dejected shrug and a shake of her head, Regina turned, heading for the other room. Her movement was halted by a slender hand on her wrist. She kept her back turned and head down as the hand moved into her own, intertwining their fingers, mainly to hide her embarrassed blush of rejection. Despite the burning in her face and the lead weight in her gut, Regina allowed herself to be pulled back in Emma's direction. Standing once more in front of the blonde, she chose to study the fine detail in her boots rather than face the other woman. Gentle fingers lifted her chin up, bringing their eyes level.
"Do you jump on every savior that comes to town," Emma asked with a sly grin. "Or was it because I brought you dinner?"
When no response was forthcoming, Emma pulled their clasped hands behind her back, bringing their bodies flush. The slight hitch in Regina's breath and the lack of fight encouraged the slow movement of Emma's free arm to the back of Regina's neck and pulling her face toward her own. The uncharacteristic whimper that slipped from Regina when their lips connected for the second time caused Emma to smile against her lips and trail her hand from the back of Regina's neck down to her lower back, pulling her tighter against her.
Regina threw her arm out, gripping the edge of the counter, effectively bracing herself and pressing Emma tighter against her. The moan from the other woman spurred her on, pushing Emma backward until she grunt as her back came into contact with the counter. Emma made quick work of untucking Regina's shirt, moving her hands to her bare skin once her task was complete.
"Miss Swan," Regina groaned as Emma's lips moved to her jaw. "May I suggest we take this to my bedroom? I'd hate to defile where I cook my food."
"Emma," she responded, moving down to Regina's throat. "And I'm pretty sure I'm the one trapped against the counter."
With a quick nip to Emma's bottom lip, Regina pushes off of the counter and grabbed the front of Emma's pants, pulling her toward the stairs. The woman in question followed dutifully, though she made a quick grab for the Hershey's kisses on the island.
