Just something I had an idea for while listening to the song. It's not a long fic, but it is a little something spur of the moment.
He had a way with words, always had, Regina remembered as her chocolate hues washed over the letter in her hand.
This time was different, they were in a world that no longer did such things or relied on old fashioned letters when they could opt for email or a phone call at the press of a few buttons. Her heart clenched at the memory of excitement she would feel upon getting one of his hand written notes, always hidden or tucked away somewhere for her to find. Unless Leopold were away from the castle, then he would send it via a trusted messenger. Bringing the envelope up to her lips, she closed her eyes and inhaled the scent of him still lingering on the paper. Crisp embers, a taste of the forest in her lungs and the overpowering scent of raw black as night ink. Her lips quivered at the anticipation of seeing what it held. Be it three words or a hundred, she never truly cared what was on the inside so long as the feelings that came from one sent her body into a myriad of emotions.
Her tongue darted from her mouth to wet her lips as she lowered the envelope to her lap and began to gentle tug it open, unfolding makeshift thing to reveal elegant swipes from what looked to have been a fountain pen or quill. If he still owned one, she wanted to see it more than anything. Hesitant eyes roamed along the words, a smile tugging at her lips as she took in each one with attention to every curve of a letter, every drop of ink from where he would dip the edge into the bottle in order to continue writing.
I know by sending you such a letter that you will be taken back to those delicate days in our land. Days when you were innocent and precious as a young Queen could be.
With those cream colored dresses and long locks that would make even the most powerful in all the land want to reach out and touch, just a brush of the fingers-to satiate the need.
You never knew, but I would linger after hiding your letters away, watching with hungry eyes as you danced around your castle on the tips of your toes. Those long, elegant
gowns swishing along your ankles, tickling your soft skin as you skittered around frantically looking for something you wondered would even be there. It always had been, Regina.
And I would have never deprived you of such a wholesome moment. However, you did not know that then. You thought yourself to have been alone, allowing the innocence to
sparkle in your eyes as you ducked in and out of corridors to keep the servants from seeing you in such a state. I think back on her often. The young woman who had been
broken by a parent in such a way that reminded me of my own hurt, my own pain.
With that, I must impress upon you that I would not go back to change what I made you into. If I had to, we would go back just to walk that path all over again, together.
-Rumplestiltskin. (say it right, now, dearie)
A breath hitched in her throat as she remembered the first time his name left her lips and how she had utterly mucked it up in more ways than one. That night her heart had hammered against it's cage for reasons that had nothing to do with fear of the most powerful what are you man in all the land. If she closed her eyes, she could still feel the thick air around her as he made his way closer behind a young woman who had no idea what she was doing or the journey she would undoubtedly embark on with a sorcerer more powerful than her mother.
Sliding back against the couch, she leaned her head so that her eyes stared up at the ceiling. For a split second she could see the arched rafters in her bedchamber back at the castle, she could hear Rumplestiltskin's boots clacking against the floor, smell the heavy scent of his skin in the air, and taste the magic wafting from him on her tongue. Her heart felt heavy in her chest as she took in air, expanding her rib cage to help soothe the ache to no avail. That was when she remembered what he had said in the letter about lingering after leaving her a letter to find. Pushing herself forward onto the edge of the cushions, she tilted her head in the direction of the doorway, eager eyes finding it empty and lacking. Her heart sank into the pits of her stomach and inwardly, she scolded herself for being so hopeful.
Sighing, she looked back down at the letter and ran her fingertips over the ink. It had dried, but it was the act itself that she preferred to do whenever receiving such a thing - as if she were touching him.
"If I had known something so simple would make such a pretty picture..." His voice startled her, pulling a gasp from her lips in the most beautiful of ways. "...I would have done so much sooner."
"I couldn't sense you." She watched as he moved forward, walking so that he stood behind the couch where she was seated. Instinctively, she leaned back against the cushions in an attempt to be closer without feeling foolish.
"I never allowed you to." The answer was meant for both the past and the present, as the warmth of his hand found her shoulder.
When her eyes closed at his touch, she could sense his magic dancing with hers where they were touching, causing her skin to tingle and feel lively-awake. The air shifted and before she knew it, his breath was against her ear, lips brushing the skin as he whispered "The darkness likes how you taste, dearie." Her lips parted as a breath left her lungs and before he knew it, his mouth was at her neck, tasting and nipping at her pulse point.
Forgetting herself, she reached up for his hair only to have every sensation she had felt seconds before disappear, leaving her grasping at nothing. When her eyes fluttered open, she found herself alone in her estate once again. But she knew he would be back if only to tease her and when the time came, she would never disappoint in that aspect. Always giving in and allowing him to step past her boundaries and into the space she craved him.