The drawer was empty. Of course it was empty; Regina counted herself as a fairly observant person and she had noticed the last time she'd reached into this particular drawer that there was only one sweater left. She knew better than to leave tasks for later, but here she was, sweaterless. It was her own impatience that left her bereft of clothing sufficient for the Maine climate today-after all, she knew Mal and her habits.
She rolled her eyes at herself and her-
'Girlfriend' was wholly inadequate. 'Partner' was soulless. 'Lover' was nice but too specific.
Her something.
Hopefully this wouldn't take too long today. She was supposed to be in the office for the annual "Inclement Weather Strategic Planning Meeting" in a couple of hours and she'd like to drop by Granny's for coffee, first.
She started her hunt in the attic, although she knew from experience that it wouldn't be there. Dragons collected and protected treasure, and if someone stole their hoard, they generally wouldn't amass a new one in the same place.
Sure enough, the attic was empty of sweaters, as were all the bedrooms, the bathrooms (thank goodness), the kitchen (she didn't bother checking the fridge; the idea of a dragon voluntarily stashing hoarded items in a cold place was laughable), the laundry room (that would have been too easy), the crawlspaces, and her study. Mal liked her study; she called it Regina's den and had claimed a small corner of it for herself. Her hoard had ended up there once or twice, but not today.
That left the family room, and there was only one place for a dragon to stash her hoard. Regina went straight to the wood chest that housed extra blankets and opened it. Mal had neatly folded and stacked all the blankets on the left side and had even more carefully stacked all of Regina's sweaters on the right.
Regina smiled in triumph. She'd asked Mal once why it was her sweaters that went missing and not her jewelry or… other, more personal items.
Mal had given it some thought before answering. "Your jewels are your own hoard, and other items need washing, but there's something about the softness and the smell and the pleasing shape…" her voice had gone all low and rumbly, and Regina had suddenly been much less interested in the answer than in the way her eyes flashed or the way her head tilted back, inviting a kiss.
Regina took out the stack of sweaters and went back upstairs, placing all but one back into her drawer. She then went to the bed and crouched, drawing out a tiny box with a shiny ribbon already wrapped around it. She'd been meaning to give this to Mal for a while, and she knew the perfect place to leave it for her-
-her dragon- to find.
Every time Regina caught sight of herself in a mirror or felt the softness of her sweater, she thought about the box she'd left behind for Mal. Would she beat her home and find it first or would Regina be waiting in the blue sweater she assumed to be safe and sound in the wooden chest?
Either way, this was only step one of a plan Regina had been waiting to put into motion until she was sure-but the truth was she'd been sure for a while. Reconnecting with Mal had been unexpected, but easy. They started talking one day, working together to solve a problem that combined mundane math with the remnants of the magical curse that kept Storybrooke running, and before Regina had known it, they were eating together, falling into bed together, living together. At first that ease had scared her. She imagined losing herself in yet another relationship, imagined that she was doing harm to her sister or Henry by spending less time with them-but it hadn't been like that at all. She had only felt more grounded with Mal around. She provided another perspective that allowed her to deal more easily with Zelena's pettiness, and Henry liked Mal. He thought she was funny, liked how she helped him with math and how she never seemed to be fazed by his stories of high school drama whereas Regina wanted to storm into the school and start throwing curses to protect her son. It was good, and it had been good for long enough that Regina found herself anticipating what came next.
She beat Mal home by a matter of minutes, was waiting with an air of studied nonchalance when Mal came in and stopped in her tracks at the sight of her-or rather, her sweater.
Regina smiled. "Have a good day?"
Mal's eyes narrowed. "It's never a good day when you come home to find that someone's stolen from you."
Regina's smile widened. "Who would dare steal from a dragon?"
Mal answered her by striding forward and taking hold of Regina's hips-which just happened to be covered by the sweater, of course. "I have a suspect in mind." Mal pushed her against the wall and kissed her, and Regina didn't mind at all when Mal helped her out of her sweater and vanished it to parts unknown with her magic.
She'd find it eventually.
When Regina came down to breakfast the next morning, Mal was dressed for work already in a blue blouse and dark grey skirt, eating toast, drinking coffee, and reading a copy of the Daily Mirror. Her hair was pulled back and revealed the flash of diamond and ruby earrings. Regina felt her heart leap into her throat at the sight, and she knew that she'd made the right decision to leave them for Mal yesterday.
Mal looked up and Regina shook her head a little to clear it. "Good morning," she said, crossing to Mal and giving her a kiss.
"It's a good morning indeed." Mal tilted her head to show off her right ear. "New jewels are a good start to an apology."
Regina laughed. "Only a start?"
"I prefer actions over bribery," Mal said. She put her arms around Regina's waist and tugged her closer. "And I don't want to hear empty pretty words, either. There are better ways to beg forgiveness; they might involve one's mouth, but very few words..."
Regina slid her arms around Mal's shoulders. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Mal let out a deep sigh. "I suppose I'll have to demonstrate again."
"I'm sorry. I'm such a bad student."
"I think it'll be a fairly lengthy lesson. I do hope you have some time this weekend."
Henry would be at Emma's all week, working on a drama class project. Regina did not envy Emma the extra foot traffic or the construction of an entire set in one of her empty rooms. Regina lowered her lips to Mal's, giving her a brief kiss before pulling back. "Come Friday, I'm all yours."
Mal wore the earrings all week. Regina would see the flash of light at her ears and her attention would be gone from whatever she was supposed to be doing, caught up in thoughts about Mal and love and the future.
Her distraction was noted. Thursday, over a dozen people asked her if she was alright-half of whom wouldn't have dared speak to her two years ago. She had dinner with Emma and Henry at Granny's, and she only narrowly avoided spilling the whole plan to Emma by distracting them both with an after-dinner trip to the overly noisy and incredibly dimly-lit arcade.
The next morning Regina got absolutely nothing done at work. She spent most of her time with her head propped up on her hand, elbow on her desk. It wasn't even noon before she told her secretary that she was leaving for the day.
"You're welcome to take the rest of the day off yourself," she said, getting her coat.
Her secretary might have raised an eyebrow or two at this departure from routine, but Regina wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention. She had a lot of work to do before dinner that night.
She was sure it was going to take forever to get everything she needed, but the grocery store was practically empty and she was in and out in no time at all. The clerk was totally disinterested in her, which was a welcome change; at least one of the workers here liked to comment on her purchases, and would definitely have noticed that her total was higher than normal. It was enough to make her wish she did all her shopping during the middle of the day.
Her second stop was less pleasant, but still uneventful, and when she arrived back home, she unpacked her supplies and then tried to find something-anything-that needed cleaning or straightening or dusting, but there was nothing. She watched TV for a half-hour before she couldn't take it any longer, checking that she had everything. She did. She sat down again and pretended to pay attention to a daytime talk show she couldn't care less about.
Finally, it was late enough to start dinner, and then time to get dressed, and then time to check everything quickly one more time before Mal came home.
Regina greeted her at the door with a kiss, soft and sweet and maybe a little more enthusiastic than normal. "Welcome home," she said, still almost pressed against Mal's lips.
Mal hummed. "I am glad to be home," she said. "I've been looking forward to tonight-"
Regina stepped back and Mal caught sight of the dining room. The lights were low, candles lit on the table, which was set with an even greater attention to detail than normal. The roses Regina had picked up from Game of Thorns (braving Moe French's death glares to do it) were arranged in a vase.
Mal's eyebrows rose. "I wasn't expecting this level of detail in your apology."
"That's because I'm not apologizing," Regina said. She held up a glass of champagne, suddenly more nervous than she thought she should be, considering how long she'd been planning this.
"Oh? I have been misinformed about the purpose of this evening." Despite her words, Mal didn't seem bothered. She took off her coat and hung it in the closet before turning to accept the proffered glass.
Regina took a breath and brought up the small box she'd kept hidden in her left hand. "I'm afraid you have." She cursed the fact that her hands were shaking, the box wobbling a little. There was no way she was getting down on one knee, but she didn't think Mal would mind. "You see, I had an ulterior motive for the earrings. I planned to give them to you along with something else."
She looked into Mal's eyes, which were shining with steady warmth, and this was suddenly the easiest thing in the world. She opened the ring box, revealing the matching ring to the earrings Mal was wearing. "I have been wondering all week if I should have left this for you, too, but I needed to ask this in person."
"You're asking me to marry you," Mal said quietly.
It was hard to think with her heart thudding in her ears. She nodded. "Yes. I am. You make me happy, and I hope I-I know I'm not the easiest person to love, but I'm-at the risk of sounding horribly over-confident, I know that somehow, you love me, too."
"I do," Mal said.
It was so matter-of-fact that Regina laughed. "I knew it." She was grinning, despite the fact she never grinned. Mal was looking into her eyes and not at the ring at all, and if a dragon ignoring jewels didn't mean something, Regina didn't know much about dragons. She took another breath and said, "I don't know if that means you want to marry me, though, and my arm's getting tired."
At that, Mal glanced down for a split second, then took hold of Regina's hand and the ring box in both her hands, stepping forward until their bodies were separated only by their arms between them. "Yes," Mal said.
"Yes?" Regina asked, with what she knew must be a stupid smile.
"Yes," Mal repeated. "I will marry you." She leaned in to kiss her, their hands still entwined around the box.
This kiss ended in smiles-Regina's threatened to dissolve into laughter at any second, and after a moment to collect herself she fumbled to take the ring from the box. Mal held out her hand and Regina slid it forward onto her ring finger. It was a little big, but Mal didn't seem to mind. She held up her hand to let the light sparkle on it.
"Beautiful," Regina said, not looking at the ring at all. She tossed the box aside and reached up to kiss Mal properly, pulling her up the stairs and to their room, dinner completely forgotten.
Later, after they'd salvaged what they could from dinner, after they'd tucked themselves back into bed for round two and were lying still entwined, Mal stroked Regina's back with her left hand. Regina could feel the occasional touch of metal against her skin, felt absurdly possessive, as if she were the dragon and this little piece of metal and stone made Mal hers.
"When do you want the wedding?" Mal said, calmly, so calmly that for a second Regina wondered if she really wanted to get married or if she was mostly humoring her. "I'd marry you today, but I think we should have a party where everyone brings us presents."
Regina laughed, relaxed. "Fall?" she suggested. It was the end of May now. Fall seemed doable, for a small town. Emma had barely planned her wedding and it turned out okay-well, not including the curse. But what royal wedding didn't have a curse or two?
"Early fall," Mal countered. "When it's still warm."
They could make that work. "Deal." Regina yawned and shifted a little against Mal's side.
Mal caught Regina's hand and traced over where a ring of her own might be. "I don't like this," she said.
"What?"
Mal waved her right hand and placed it palm up, a small box appearing on top in a poof of grey smoke. Mal's left hand left her back and she rummaged through the box until she came up with a small ring, one brilliant ruby in an unusual triangular cut set in a fairly simple gold band. It didn't quite match Mal's new ring, but Regina's breath caught anyway.
"Don't think I haven't noticed you hovering all week, as if you dared anyone else to try to touch me," Mal said. She set the box aside and turned over, ring in hand. "If I'm yours, you're mine."
The last word was low, hoarse, and Regina swallowed, held out her hand. "Fair's fair."
Mal's eyes flashed. She placed the ring on the end of Regina's finger and slid it slowly up until it nestled just above her knuckle. It fit perfectly, and Regina tingled from head to toe as the certainty of the symbol settled into her. After this, the wedding would probably feel superfluous-but she wanted a party, wanted everyone to see how happy she was, finally.
Mal covered her with her body, pressed their foreheads together, their breath mingling. "Mine."
Regina traced the stone. "Yours."