Up in the Air

by LZClotho

Summary: Emma Swan meets Trina Decker on a flight to Boston from Tallahassee when Henry had (yet again) run away. Flirting and sex lead Emma to a change in her relationship with Regina Mills. Pre-SwanQueen. Set during "Once Upon A Time" season 1 after "That Still Small Voice" and before "Desperate Souls" and placed in "Swingtown" timeline after Trina has met Susan.

Author's Note: This turned out to have a lot more plot than I thought it would. Many thanks to giftofamber and ParadoxalPoised for beta services.

Prompt source: images by helenastacie (tumblr) post 53438539719

"Wow, she looks a lot like my mom," Henry said. This bubbly observation preceded double thumps as he threw his duffel bag into the open overhead bin.

Emma turned to see who Henry was talking about. She had only just finished scanning seat numbers to find 15C and 15D which matched up to their airline boarding passes and hadn't really taken the time to note any of their fellow passengers.

There was a balding businessman in a gray suit, leaning back in seat 14B and ignoring his seatbelt in favor of reopening his Wall Street Journal with very loud huffs and snaps of the broadsheet paper. He'd dropped his briefcase in the A seat. In 14C behind Emma, she noted a very young brunette woman, probably only 21, or 22 based on the style of her clothes, cut off shorts and tied off pink half shirt over a red tank top.

As Emma settled down into her seat and searched for her seatbelt ends she finally glanced to her immediate left. A woman in 15A, across the aisle next to the port window, was settling in. She was bent over her knees and stowing a tan carry-on in the under-seat space in front of her. With the woman's head down, Emma only saw short brunette hair and a nape with the thin gold strand of a necklace shimmering against the tanned skin. The upper edges of shoulder blades shifted visibly above the wide scoop neckline of a colorful blouse.

Abruptly the woman sat back, exhaling a sigh and tilting her chin up as she stretched her neck. Emma felt her own breath leave her body in a rush. The woman's eyes were closed, but Emma wouldn't have been surprised if those eyes were brown. The woman easily could be the twin of Storybrooke's mayor.

Except she had a most captivating smile, cheeks dimpled and lips lightly shining with gloss. Regina Mills had only shown a tight-lipped frown in the four months since Emma had arrived in Storybrooke.

Thinking of the mayor, Emma turned to look at Henry who was sitting back, belt already latched, and pulling his GameBoy from his coat pocket. "All set, kid?" she asked.

"Yeah." Henry sounded defeated and didn't look up as he kicked butt without taking names on Mario Kart.

"What made you head out for Florida, anyway? Your mother is worried sick."

"I thought I found another piece for breaking the curse," he whispered to her. "I was following up the clues."

Emma raised her eyebrows. "What was it?"

"Not what, who. And I'm pretty sure I was close."

"Henry, you can't just up and leave Storybrooke anytime you feel like it. For one thing, you're ten."

"But we gotta break the curse," he emphasized. "It has to happen soon," he added.

Emma sighed. "All right. Fine." She wasn't going to argue with him. As she closed her eyes briefly at the feel of the engines starting up, behind her lids she found Regina's anxious face as she begged Emma to go after Henry. Graham couldn't go. As deputy, Regina insisted, Emma had to bring her son back to Storybrooke.

Emma knew Regina feared she would just find Henry and vanish. But after the incident with Archie and Henry at the mines, Emma had promised herself - talking to Regina was like navigating a field of landmines - that she would always bring the boy back to her. Regina Mills may be a hard-ass, but she loved her son. Maybe doing this one thing would prove once and for all that Emma didn't have plans on reclaiming Henry. Emma was still not cut out to be a mother any more than she had been ten years ago when she gave him up. But Regina Mills obviously trusted actions more than words.

Beside her, Henry obviously had taken her curt response to heart. He tugged on the arm of her red leather jacket drawing her attention. "Emma," he said, his expression sheepish. "I'm sorry."

"I know." She ruffled his hair and patted his hand, offering him a quick smile. Then she leaned her head back against the uncomfortably thin headrest and breathed slowly through the plane's roaring take-off and ascent.

The flight attendant moved down the aisle behind a rattling little metal cart laden with ice, a variety of soda cans, and the ubiquitous bucket of bagged peanuts. Emma eyed the miniature alcohol bottles with longing. She hated flying, and more than one of those had gotten her through flights in the past to catch up quickly to bailjumpers. "Something you'd like?" the young man asked Emma.

"Just the nuts and a water, please," Emma said. Henry requested two bags of nuts and a Mountain Dew. "Oh no, kid, no, no." Emma stopped the hand off. "I am not amping you up on sugar. He'll have nuts and a water, too."

"You oughta let the kid have a little fun," came a voice from across the aisle. "Is it his first airplane trip?"

The cart cleared their immediate area and moved on to other passengers. Emma replied to the question, "Second." She didn't find any other words for the moment, staring as she was into smiling brown eyes.

"Oh, well, in that case," the woman's voice was light, filled with laughter. She put together a mock stern tone, rolling her eyes and stage-whispered past Emma to Henry, "Young man, you should know better." Her dark hair bobbed slightly with her emphasis on know.

Henry laughed. The woman laughed and leaned back. Emma watched her lift a foot into her lap, remove her tan pump and tuck it into her carry-on. The dark eyes caught her staring and crinkled in the corners, very tiny. Universal amusement, at her expense. Emma quickly averted her gaze to Henry.

"Where are you going?" Henry asked, leaning forward across Emma's lap. Emma closed her eyes. In her experience, most people did not appreciate nosy kids.

"Just traveling." The response was light, airy, amused, and Emma's anxiety lessened marginally.

"My mom's taking me home to Maine," Henry said.

The dark eyes darted to Emma before returning to Henry. "I thought I overhead that your mom was at home?"

"This is my birthmom, Emma. My other mom is the mayor of Storybrooke."

Emma's lips pinched. "Hey, kid, not everyone wants to hear the story, okay?"

The brunette, however, was intrigued. "We've got two hours. I'd love to hear it. So you're both his moms?" She held out her hand across the aisle. "I'm Trina, by the way."

"Uh, yeah." Emma shook the hand, noting without trying to notice just how soft the hand felt cupped against her own. "But it's... complicated."

"Isn't that always the way with unconventional relationships," the brunette replied, her smile never wavered though her voice lowered and, it seemed, her words were only directed to Emma.

"Um, his mom and I... we're not... together," Emma felt compelled to clarify.

"You're not?" The brown eyes seemed to take on a new light, and if Emma wasn't mistaken she was being checked out.

She was stunned enough that it took her a second to stumble into a reply. "Yeah. No. Um, anyway. I'm just taking Henry home."

"You live in Florida?"

"Did. For a couple of years."

"So you shuttle Henry back and forth between you?"

"No, Henry lives with Regina."

"We're breaking a curse," Henry said.

"A curse? Really?" Emma was surprised to note no condescension in the woman's tone as she responded to Henry's new information. "That sounds exciting."

Emma put a hand over Henry's mouth. "Kid's into those Merlin books, magic, kings, queens, you know. Gets all these ideas."

"Imagination is a wonderful thing," and Emma got the idea that it was meant as a double entendre the way the woman held Emma's gaze steadily.

Emma said nothing. Trina said nothing. Henry shook his head and went back to his GameBoy. The soft beeps and tweeps and blips created a monotonous white noise that made Emma's mind drift half-asleep. She tilted her head back, letting the chilled air from the vent overhead kick her exhaustion in the ass.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Trina massaging her foot and sipping her zinfandel wine. She was still watching surreptitiously when Trina switched feet, removing her second pump and massaging that foot. Soft sounds of pleasure reached Emma's ears and made her center twitch.

Trina was done with her feet, and reclined her seat back. She laid her elbows loose over the arms of the chair, fingertips just touching over her lower belly. The tips moved so slowly it wasn't until Emma noticed the fingertips were hanging, as if by a thread, on the hem of the top above smoothly tanned skin. She found herself wanting to confirm for herself if that skin was as silky as it looked. She watched a fingertip on the ringless left hand wave in lazy circles. Emma's gaze flicked to the brunette's face to confirm. Slitted eyes were studying her. Lips twitched, as if to speak. Emma's gaze shot away, landing on Henry. He had fallen asleep, his GameBoy held loosely in his hands.

Emma's gaze returned to ... Trina, she finally recalled the woman offering up her name. She let her gaze become more direct, signalling she returned the interest. She visually traced the gold chain of the necklace draped across delicate collarbones down to where a locket nestled between soft tanned swells. She noticed no tan lines and her mouth watered in surprise.

Damn. Emma's center demanded attention. she glanced around down the aisle toward the lavatory. No way from here to tell if it was occupied or not, she realized. She'd have to get up.

"Occupied," Trina said.

Trina's whisper caught Emma half-standing, half-sitting over the arm of her chair, the pressure mounting in her crotch. "What?"

Languidly bringing her seat upright, Trina glanced down the aisle. "The lavatory is occupied. 14B went in there two min- Ah, here he comes."

Shivering from the word 'come' dripping from those smiling lips, Emma turned again and watched the businessman from 14B half out of the lavatory. He adjusted his belt and waistband before smoothing the lines of his gray blazer and walking up the aisle toward them.

Emma didn't wait until he was seated; someone else might grab the opening. She negotiated around him in the aisle and strode to the lavatory, grabbing its handle. She almost caught her hand between the two panels because she was trying to move so fast.

"Easy, tiger." A tanned hand slipped over hers.

"Huh?" Emma turned.

Trina stood behind her, brown eyes level with Emma's.

"Go on." Trina's breath ghosted over Emma's cheek and then lips.

Emma stepped backward. Trina followed her inside the tiny closet-like space.

The light flickered as Trina threw the latch without looking. There was a small ding as the outside indicator changed from "available" to "occupied."

"Now, I do believe we have some... business to take care of," Trina said. Her mouth closed over Emma's before she could think anything further, and hands grabbed at Emma's waist, pulling at her shirt beneath the jacket.

Gasping at the sensation of warm hands on her belly just above her throbbing center, Emma fell willing captive to the moment. Trina's tongue explored her mouth. The woman's taste was tinged with the wine she'd been drinking. Emma sucked on the muscle, getting drunk on the hormonal rush that had been building in her for the last fifteen minutes.

She lifted her hands to slender shoulders. Pushing aside soft cotton, Emma stroked her hands over the collarbones she had admired, rewarded with a catch in the brunette's breathing. She found no bra strap and tugged down on the scoop neck to find bare breasts, not a tan line in sight. God, how hot was that?

The space was too small to maneuver easily, and Emma stumbled back when she tried to lower herself to suck on the turgid nipples her fingers had found. She dropped inelegantly onto the seat of the airline toilet. Snagging her arms around Trina's back, she pulled the woman's body toward her and nibbled the exposed skin - just as soft and smooth as she had imagined.

Trina's hands went to Emma's hair, alternately threshing through the long strands and tugging fistfuls as she rocked her body into Emma's caresses. Her elbows rapped against the door rhythmically in time with Emma's stroking, a perfectly hedonistic mix of pleasure and pain.

Emma pushed up the loose top and tasted the skin that had so tantalized her. She caught the scent of cocoa butter, but also an enticingly body spray. Nothing simpering like roses, more like rum and oranges. The more she nipped and delved her tongue into the intriguing indentation of Trina's belly button, she caught another scent too: arousal.

She slipped one hand under Trina's skirt and stroked up the muscled thigh tensing and relaxing in response to her touch. Emma's fingernail caught on silk panties. Lifting her lips away from the tasty skin, Emma pulled her head back and looked up the mostly naked torso. Trina's gaze met hers just as Emma's fingertip slipped underneath the silk to heated and swelling satin flesh. Emma avidly watched every reaction flitting across the responsive and open features. Delicately fingered hands slid from Emma's shoulders into her hair and white teeth caught on a glossed bottom lip. Damn, Emma thought, she was really doing this. She was making a beautiful woman writhe at her touch.

When a finger entered her, Trina murmured a breathy, "Oh yeah." Laying her head against Trina's belly Emma felt when ripples of a small orgasm traversed her belly. She twisted and stroked, lengthening the orgasm until Trina skimmed her hands down the back of Emma's neck inside her jacket, stroking at the muscles through her tank top.

The jacket remained on the blonde's arms, but off her shoulders it effectively trapped them. Emma's fingertips lingered at the edge of Trina's wetness until Trina slid down and moved her gorgeous ass out of reach. Emma's pout was claimed in a heated kiss while Trina's hands turned to the business of removing Emma's jeans.

The denim was tight and Emma's gasps as she worked them down told Trina that the woman's swollen center was nearly exploding with need. Denim finally down around the woman's ankles, Trina stroked at Emma's heated thighs and pushed them apart, settling on her knees before the other woman.

Stroking between Emma's legs, Trina leaned forward and kissed the taut abdomen, inhaling a simple powder scent as well as the more womanly musk of Emma's arousal. Emma's hips canted forward and Trina now had access to the woman's dripping center. The darker blond hairs glistened and even the insides of her thighs were damp.

"And to think you were planning to come in here without me." Trina chuckled then dipped her head down and laid her tongue broadly against Emma's opening. The blonde jumped and whimpered. "It would have been a shame not to share such a... juicy... sweet... treat with your fellow... passenger." Trina punctuated her teasing with her tongue, lapping at the woman's soaking labia and tapping at her swollen clit. She began sucking eagerly at the silken fluid.

Though her arms were trapped Emma found she could thresh her fingers through the thick fall of dark brown hair and press the back of Trina's head, holding her tightly, pulling or pushing to convey where and how exactly she wanted attention. Trina was a gifted "listener" and Emma was nearly constantly whimpering. She bit her lip and tried to stave off her impending orgasm when she felt her muscles beginning to squeeze rhythmically instead of randomly.

But Trina wouldn't allow that. She slipped a finger in beneath her tongue and stroked the inside of Emma's grasping channel, reveling in the heat and softness. At last, the blonde's thigh tightened under Trina's hand, and she stroked it, silently urging the woman over the precipice.

Emma started coming with a choked cry. Trina kept her mouth between the tightening thighs, tongue licking and lapping, and lips nibbling. The woman's fingers flexed in her hair, seeking something to hold onto as the whirlwind of sensations blew her apart. She smiled into the heat and wetness, now lapping like a kitten at a dish of cream.

Emma watched the body half-leaning on the counter for the sink covered up bit by bit as she came back to herself still sitting on the toilet.

Adjusting her necklace until it rested between perfect breasts once more, Trina said, "Maybe I'll see you again." She fluffed her hair with both hands looking in the mirror.

Emma stood on shaky legs and Trina took a step back. "I doubt it. This is an airplane after all."

Trina nodded. "True, but I fly this route a lot. My husband is the pilot."

"Your what?" Emma's hands went numb, dropping the waistband of her jeans back to the floor. "You didn't tell me you were married?!"

The dark brown eyes, irises still wide with residual lust, danced in the meager fluorescent lighting. "We weren't exactly trading details along with our spit... Emma."

"Fuck."

"Exactly. I enjoyed it though. I enjoyed you. Very much." She brushed her fingers over her lips and sucked them over her teeth. Emma groaned watching the intentionally wanton display. "Are you sure you won't be flying back to Tallahassee anytime soon?"

"I don't messed with married." Emma pushed past Trina and fumbled with the door latch until she nearly fell through the opening.

Behind her, Trina's voice drew her attention back for one last look. "It's okay, dear. You should get back to your complicated relationship." She boldly cupped Emma's face in her hands and stole another kiss, lingering until the blonde couldn't help it and started kissing back.

When Trina finally let go, Emma backed away, stumbling into the back of a passenger's seat. Trina smirked, but said nothing.

Pulling herself together, Emma was still flushed when she reached her seat and sat down next to Henry, who was, thankfully, still asleep.

A minute later, a completely collected Trina strode confidently down the aisle. She settled into her seat just as the overhead sign for seatbelts lit up.

The captain's voice - Emma groaned - announced their arrival to Boston's Logan International Airport. She buckled her belt as Trina across the aisle did the same. A small smile still played on the bewitching brunette's lips.

The pilot smiled at Henry and shook his hand as they passed from the aisle to the door of the plane. "Hope you had a nice flight, young man," he said.

"Yep," Henry replied brightly and took the hand. Emma lifted her gaze from her feet and put a hand on her son's shoulder just as a hand brushed across her back and she startled to see Trina step out of the line and press herself to the man's full length. Emma's gaze caught the man's name tag "Cpt Decker" just before it vanished between his chest and Trina's as they kissed.

Decker caught her eye as he and his wife separated. "Friendly skies," he said.

Trina smiled at Emma and the warmth in it took Emma off step for a second. "Yeah," Emma replied. She pushed Henry out of the plane. "Time to get home to your mom, kid."

Emma forced Trina's parting smile from her mind while she claimed her bug from long-term parking. The vision returned, however, once the tension of Boston traffic had been left behind and only four hours driving in silence lay ahead until Storybrooke.

She tuned the radio to as raucous a station as she dared while still allowing Henry to sleep; she hoped trying to make sense of the screamed and music-buffeted lyrics would take her mind off the bewitching brunette.

Four hours later, just as midnight was passing on the clocktower, Emma put her VW bug into neutral and pulled the handbrake in front of the mayor's home. She saw the front light come on and started to tell Henry to get out when she noticed he was sound asleep.

She'd have to get him out herself. She stepped from the car and was turning to close her door quietly when she saw Regina Mills step onto the portico. The woman was tousled, straight from a no doubt restless vigil waiting for exactly this. It had been three days, and Emma realized she hadn't called just as Regina's mouth opened to speak.

"Miss Swan- "

"I'm sorry I forgot to call. I got him this morning and put us both on the first plane out." Her words cut off the other woman who pursed her lips and started toward the car.

"No, wait there. You're not dressed. I've got this. Just open the door." Emma moved quickly around her car and pulled open the passenger door.

Unbuckling Henry she hefted him into her arms, adjusting him forward, with his arms over her shoulders, and her hands under his rear. She turned to start up the pathway only to find Regina standing at her shoulder, eyes inches away.

The woman had eyes only for Henry in Emma's arms, and Emma could only read the face in profile, read the anxiety, the relief, and the hurt as the mayor processed that her son had run away from her yet again. "Where did you find him?" Regina whispered, not looking at Emma.

"Tallahassee," Emma replied, just as quietly.

"Bring him inside," Regina said abruptly.

Emma didn't take exception to the tone. In the first few hours after she'd touched down in the Florida city, she had experienced a brief panic of exactly where to start looking for the boy herself. Regina had been worrying about the situation for days.

She followed Regina inside the home and up the stairs and placed Henry in his bed after his mother had pulled back the covers. She backed away with the backpack they had wrestled off their son and started to look for a likely place to leave it. Regina pulled off Henry's sneakers and socks and then straightened to her full height once more.

Emma studied the sleeping boy. In that moment, with his face slack, Henry looked more like Regina's than Emma's, dark hair tousled. Her gaze lifted from son to mother and Emma absorbed the pensive twist of Regina's fingers around a ring she wore on a chain around her neck against bare skin where her robe gaped open, revealing the swell of her breasts. Emma backed away.

Regina was suddenly striding after her. At the door to Henry's room, Regina was pulling it shut behind her and looking into Emma's face with a surprisingly earnest expression. "Miss Swan, I..."

Emma shook her head. "No. Listen. I'm sorry. I'll go."

Frowning even as she spoke, Regina continued, "No, I... I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been able to go after him, able to find him. You were the only one who could."

Emma was still finding her tongue, drowning in a sudden sincerity in brown eyes, just as she'd seen the one time at the mine, when Regina finished her thought:

"Thank you."

The next expression that crossed Regina's face slipped a cord around Emma's heart and squeezed. "Uh, no, no problem." When Regina's gaze flitted between Emma's eyes and lips, Emma caught her breath, reminded of Trina. She started to turn away, taking a step back from the brunette.

"You're leaving?"

Emma nodded.

"You'll be at ... Miss Blanchard's?"

There was a hopeful note Emma had never heard in the usually stoic woman's voice. "Yeah."

"Good."

Emma felt her lips curve in a tentative smile. To her surprise, Regina mirrored it. When she heard the ticking of the hallway clock, Emma realized they had been standing and staring in a lengthy silence. And smiling. She couldn't forget the smiling.

"I... Gonna go." She tossed a thumb over her shoulder and reached for the staircase railing, walking herself backward a step from the other woman before turning.

Regina was alongside Emma as she descended the stairs. Out of the corner of her eye, Emma watched the other woman's slender fingers brushing the wood railing. The brunette's face was turned down, watching her feet, so Emma could only see her profile. She wondered what the woman was thinking. Regina was still at Emma's side when she reached for the front doorknob to let herself out.

"Good night... Regina," Emma said. Without really understanding why, but compelled by the brunette's proximity, Emma reached out and emphasized her withdrawal with a stroking touch down Regina's forearm. her fingers closed as she pulled away, capturing the satiny feeling.

Regina's throat worked in silence for a second before she nodded, short brown hair brushing her cheeks. "Good night."

When Emma reached the end of the walk but hadn't heard the front door close, she chanced a glance back over her shoulder.

Regina Mills stood with one arm crossed over her chest, holding her robe closed and leaning against the open door, resting her head against the upraised palm of the other hand. The night breeze lifted her hair and played with the open edges of her robe, giving Emma a surprising glimpse at the woman's bare feet and legs.

Emma lifted a hand to wave then aborted the gesture and closed her fist around the tingling sensation in her palm. To her surprise, she saw Regina had unfolded her arm, the hand also stalled in mid-air. The woman's robe gaped freely now, revealing a pale blue nightie. Emma smiled, dropped her arm, and walked around the car, getting in and driving away.

Still smiling as she gazed into the rearview mirror watching the mansion vanish, Emma considered the day's events, and particularly the night's revelations. It seemed another reason beyond Henry might be hesitantly encouraging her continued residence in Storybrooke.

No need to go flying around anymore.

xxx