Just a One Time Thing
It was snowing. That wasn't particularly surprising, since this was Maine, but the snowstorm had caught the residents by surprise, nevertheless. It was for this reason that Emma now found herself in her bug, heading out to the Mayor's mansion to make sure Henry was all right. She had tried calling both Regina and Henry but the storm was interfering with cell reception. There had been no answer. She pulled up to the driveway, and ran quickly up the walkway, and started banging on the door. It was freezing.
Regina heard a whirlwind of banging on her door and almost dropped the plate she was holding in surprise. There could only be one person mad enough to be outside during this storm. She yanked open her door and was not at all surprised to see Sheriff Emma Swan, aka the village idiot, shuddering in the cold.
"What do you want?" she asked rather shortly, and quite rudely. She was pleased to see Emma's eyes glaze over with hurt, but the blonde recovered quickly.
"Do you mind letting me in? It's freezing out here,"
Regina lingered deliberately, as if actually considering leaving Emma in the cold.
"Regina!" yelled Emma,
"Alright, alright come in. Try not to get water all over the floor," she relented.
Emma marched in stiffly, and proceeded to remove her coat, which Regina took from her wordlessly. "Where's Henry?"
"In his room, sleeping. It's past his bedtime," replied Regina pointedly, turning to hang up Emma's cloak.
"I'm sorry, I know it's late but I wanted to check on you guys, make sure you were ok for this storm…" Emma trailed off lamely.
Regina turned towards her. "You couldn't have called?" she asked. She was genuinely curious as to why the blonde had felt the need to race over to her house in such precarious conditions.
"Check your phone," said Emma.
Regina picked up her phone from the coffee table, and glanced down at it. It actually said no service. She looked up Emma. "Are cellphone towers down?" she asked
"Must be," replied Emma. "Bad weather can do that sometimes".
"What are you some kind of cell phone expert?" asked Regina
"You're the one who asked me Regina," Emma sighed. The other woman's hostility was exhausting and she was really wishing that she hadn't driven out here. It's not as if they hadn't all survived much worse than a snowstorm.
Regina saw the look on Emma's face, and knew what she was thinking. She had been pretty harsh. To change the subject, she offered Emma some coffee and Emma's expression immediately changed to one of surprise.
"OK" she answered and followed Regina into the kitchen.
In a few minutes, Regina planted a cup of steaming coffee in front of Emma. Emma sipped it gingerly and Regina watched as her eyes lit up in delight. Regina smiled, a genuine smile.
"Do you like it?" she asked, still smiling.
"Yeah," Emma exclaimed enthusiastically. She looked at Regina levelly. "There isn't some kind of secret ingredient in here is there?" she asked suspiciously.
"Like what, poison?" said Regina
"Well…" Emma let the unspoken linger in the air. It hadn't been that long ago when Regina had tried to put her in a forever sleep.
Regina rolled her neck and sighed. Why did she even bother? She walked away from Emma into the far end of her sitting room, leaning against the panelling of her window, staring outside. The snow was had picked up significantly, and she could hear the wind howling in the trees. Emma couldn't drive in this snow. She sighed again at the thought of having to put up with the blonde for the night. She was so lost in her thoughts that she nearly jumped out of her skin when a voice near her spoke. She looked around to see the Sheriff shifting guiltily from foot to foot.
"I'm sorry if I scared you," she said, "But I wanted to apologise,"
"Ok," said Regina slowly. She wasn't really used to people apologising to her.
"I shouldn't have jumped to the worst conclusion, that's not fair to you," the blonde continued.
Regina turned to face the blonde, who was speaking steadily to the floor.
"I feel like we should both give each other a chance you know, since we have to be in each other's lives," she continued
Regina turned her back to the Sheriff again considering her words, and staring at the snow.
She felt Emma move closer to her, so close she imagined she could imagine the blond's breath on her ear. It wasn't uncomfortable. "I'm sorry" said Emma again.
Regina continued looking out the wind, but murmured a soft, "It's ok,". There was something about the storm that she couldn't tear herself away from, especially since looking away from it meant she would have to look at the Sheriff.
Regina wouldn't look at Emma. She seemed to be engrossed with the storm and didn't seem to notice as Emma stepped closer. She regarded the Mayor's slender back and perky buttocks. An then slapped herself mentally. She had just accused the woman of trying to poison her. But she couldn't help herself as her eyes roamed further over Regina's body. She teared her eyes away from the view to glance at the snow storm. It was getting worse.
"I should go," she said.
Regina glanced at her from over her shoulder. "I don't think you should drive in this weather Emma," she said seriously.
"Is that concern I hear in your voice Madam Mayor?" she asked jokily
Regina sighed again, leaning her head against the window panel, turning away from Emma.
Emma sensed her mood change mood immediately and frowned. What the hell was going on?
She closed the distance between Regina and her and placed her hand gently but firmly on Regina's waist, her own body not an inch from covering the brunette's. "What's wrong?" she asked gently.
Regina felt the hand on her hip and Emma's body so close to hers and gripped the paneling tight. Her heart was beating so fast she wondered if she going to pass out. She wondered if Emma could hear her heart it.
Emma could smell Regina's hair, a fruity yet light scent. She inhaled deeper. Green apples. Fuck, what was happening? Step back, she thought to herself. Let go of her waist. But somehow she couldn't bring herself to step away from the warm comfort of Regina's body. And even more surprisingly Regina was not moving either. She wasn't pushing Emma away or ordering her out of her space.
Regina thought about turning around and facing Emma, but if she did that they would actually have to face the reality of their situation. If she turned around...what happened when an immovable object meets an unstoppable force? Not a damn thing. It was a trick question. Why was she even thinking about this? Because once she turned around something had to happen. Emma would have to move, or do something else. An immovable object and an unstoppable force could not exist at the same time. She turned around gently, looking up into Emma's searching green eyes. She could stare at those eyes forever, she thought as Emma leaned down gently to kiss her.
Emma didn't know what was possessing her. She should have moved away when she felt Regina turning. But her body had simply refused to cooperate and now was in active, open rebellion against her mind, and now she was kissing the mayor. And the mayor was kissing her back.
The kiss was slow, gentle, languid, teasing. Emma slipped her tongue into Regina's mouth, while she rested both hands gently but firmly on Regina's hips. Regina had brought up her hands to Emma's shoulders, as she leaned into the kiss, trying to take charge. Emma felt Regina's tongue sliding against hers trying to take the lead, and grinned into the kiss. She began rubbing her hands over Regina's butt, groaning as she squeezed her firm ass. Regina gave her a gentle shove trying to move Emma towards the sofa, and thankfully Emma got the point. They half walked, half stumbled towards the sofa with Emma finally falling over it, bringing a giggling Regina down with her. Emma started unbuttoning Regina's white dress shirt, while Regina tugged at Emma's black sweater impatiently. Finally they decided on removing Emma's sweater first and then Regina's button down.
Emma was kissing every bit of flesh she could find, causing Regina to alternately groan and giggle. She slipped her hands behind Regina's back, deftly removing her lacy black bra, and letting it drop to the floor. She lowered her head to the right breast and start laving at it, while cupping and massaging the other breast with her hand. Emma heard Regina's sharp intake of breath as she sucked at her breast , gently tugging at it with her teeth.
Regina fell backwards onto the couch, with her arms wrapped around the sheriff's back. The blonde's lips were still attached to Regina's breasts and she found she couldn't think straight while the blonde was busy nibbling at her boobs. It drove her to distraction. "Emma," she said, but the blonde either did not hear, or was merely ignoring her. Regina groaned, her nails digging into Emma's back. This was such a bad idea. The worst idea. What was wrong with her?
Regina woke up in the morning on her couch, which was weird, because she never fell asleep on her couch. She was definitely no couch potato. And worst she was naked, although wrapped in a sheet. What in the hell happened last night? She closed her eyes willing herself to remember. The sheriff had been here last night, and gotten stuck. And then they had...Regina released an audible groan. How could they have been so stupid? And where the hell was Emma anyway? Regina checker her phone, it was only 7am, but Emma was not in the house.
Regina showered, trying to wash herself of Emma's scent, and her memories of the previous night. She wondered how they would move forward from now on. Of course the best course of action was to ignore it and pretend it never happened. It was a mistake, these things happened sometimes. She sighed, rinsed herself off and got dressed.
Emma woke up groggily, beside a warm,soft body. At first she didn't open her eyes, thinking this must be some kind of dream, but the warm body stayed, and memories of the previous night floated back. Shit. The mayor was still seeping so she got up and got dressed quickly and quietly. She did not want to have a conversation with Regina about what this meant. It didn't mean anything. She pulled on her boots, grabbed her keys and left.
Emma went back to the apartment that she shared with her parents and showered. She was glad her parents weren't up yet, she didn't need to be interrogated on where she was last night. She was so happy she had work to distract her today.
Regina pulled up at the mayor's office noting that the snowstorm had not done as much damage as she thought it might. She knew she would still have a lot of work to do re the reports that would come flooding in today. The good thing was between her and the sheriff's magic, they shouldn't have a problem getting everything back to normal quickly. She felt her stomach clench at the thought of the Saviour. She wished more than anything that she could forget what happened last night between them. Maybe she wouldn't have felt this way if she had woken up in Emma's arms this morning, but the blonde's hasty retreat had told her everything she needed to know. And Regina couldn't really blame her. The town hadn't quite forgiven her for her crimes against them, but she was working hard to gain their trust. She had opened up the town to where they could come and go as they wished, and she had worked to integrate the the town with the rest of the country both in a legal and geographical sense. All of this was had taken a great deal of law and magic, and Regina was proud of her efforts. She and Emma worked well together, to the point where she had realized that the other woman might share her feelings. Last night was not unexpected, given that things had been building between them, though Regina felt guilty that she hadn't stopped it when she could. She didn't want everything she and Emma had worked so hard for dismantled because of one night's indiscretion.
Emma had been hard at work all morning driving around Storybrooke, trying to estimate the damage, and deciding which needed magical intervention. About 2 hours in, she remembered that this was Thursday. She and Regina met every Thursday for an informal meeting re the progress of the town. That meeting would be more important today because of the storm. She wondered if Regina would throw a fireball at her today. She hadn't heard from the mayor, but she hadn't called her either. She decided she would just show up, better to get the conversation done with.
Regina had been swamped in paperwork all morning, and the Sheriff's report hadn't even come in yet. She was startled by a firm knock on her door and and glanced at the time. 1:00. It had to be Emma. She straightened up and said "Come in", in what she hoped was a professional sounding voice. No way was she going to let on that her feelings had been hurt. Emma walked in, her blonde hair from being out all day, but in her normal uniform of red leather jacket and tight pants.
Emma sat down, and fidgeted a bit. Regina was pleased to see that she had the decency to look uncomfortable. "Hey," she said weakly, struggling to meet Regina's piercing gaze.
The mayor lifted her perfectly arched eyebrows. "Hello, Ms. Swan. I take it you've been out to assess the damage?" Emma winced at the Ms. Swan. So they were back to that. "Regina, please."
"Please, what?" replied the mayor looking genuinely confused. She was trying her best to be professional and not throw a fireball at the blonde.
"The Ms. Swan thing.." replied Emma, almost sadly.
"Oh," said Regina. She hadn't even realized she had said it, but she knew it was her way of distancing herself from the blond. And she knew Emma knew it as well.
"I'm sorry," blurted out Emma. "About last night."
"What exactly are you sorry about?" Regina really needed to know if the blonde was sorry about last night, or this morning.
"Well everything, and for this morning. I shouldn't have left like that. I panicked," Emma said carefully.
"Yes, well, I'm sure we can put it behind us…" said Regina, returning to her professional self.
"Regina, can we talk about it?" Now that Emma was sitting in front of the mayor, suddenly she feeling nervous about not addressing the issue. What if Regina called her Ms. Swan for the rest of their lives?
"I don't think we really need to talk about.." replied Regina, almost primly.
"Why, because you say so?" snapped Emma
Something in Regina broke."Because you're the one who fucking left this morning, Emma!" she yelled.
"I'm sorry Regina," the blonde said, tears in her eyes. "I didn't mean to hurt you"
Regina laughed coldly. "You? Hurt me? Gimme a break,". And she rolled her eyes for added emphasis.
"Regina, you don't have to act like a stone cold bitch with me. I can see that I hurt you. And I am trying to apologize."
Regina sighed, suddenly tired. "OK, Emma, yeah, you hurt me. And I accept your apology about leaving. Thank you. But now what?"
"What do you mean?" asked Emma
"Where do we go from here?" replied Regina
"I don't know," replied Emma truthfully. "I just know that I don't want you to hate me,"
"You're the mother of my child, Emma. I could never hate you," said Regina, in a tone Emma couldn't recognize.
Emma gave her a shaky, tentative smile. "I don't want anything to come in the way of us being friends and co-parenting Henry. So can we agree that last night was just a one time thing?"
Regina felt her heart shatter, but she smiled a big fake smile, just for Emma. "Of course. Just a one time thing."
Regina buried herself in work after Emma left. Of course, she knew that the blonde would not want a relationship with her. Just because you were attracted to them didn't mean that you had to date them. Still, she knew the blonde was right. Nothing could interfere with the work they were doing for the town. She needed a drink.
Regina headed to the Mad Hatter directly after work. Her friend, Tink was the bartender tonight and she was looking forward to just relaxing for a second.
"Well, if it isn't the Evil Queen come to grace us with her presence," Tink greeted the brunette as she walked in and sat down on a stool. Regina rolled her eyes at her friend. "If it isn't the fallen fairy, back with her corny jokes", she fired back. "Alright, alright, Regina, take it easy with the fairy stuff," Tink surly replied. Regina laughed. "You can cook it, but you can't eat it," . Tink burst out laughing. "I'm pretty sure that's not how that saying goes but ok. Vodka cranberry?" she asked, knowing Regina's preference. Regina nodded. "Make it a double,"
Tink nodded. "Rough week?" she asked as she made the drink and the pushed it toward Regina
"The worst!" Regina said, and practically inhaled her first drink.
"Hey slow down, Regina, I made it pretty strong,"
Tink called the Mayor a cab. Luckily it wasn't a Friday, so Stoneybrooke did not see their mayor in her inebriated state, and Tink was glad when she finally stopped drinking. She was clearly upset about something but wouldn't tell Tink what.
Regina stepped into the shower as soon as she got home. She actually wasn't that drunk, and was really glad to be washing that bar grime off herself. Luckily Henry was at Emma's tonight, because she didn't want him to see her like quickly showered and fell into her bed, and did not budge until her alarm went off the next morning.
Regina was swamped with work and on top of that, she had an insane headache that just would not leave. Her secretary had been giving her tiny judgy looks, as if she knew exactly what was the cause of Regina's snappishness. She refrained from saying anything though, since this was the Evil Queen we were talking about, and she didn't want to have a fireball thrown at her. While the mayor was nose deep in paperwork, her phone went startling her out of her absent mindedly answered and felt her heart hitch as she recognized the voice on the other end.
"Regina?"
It was Emma.
Regina cleared her throat. "How can I help you today Sheriff?" she said in her most professional tone. Emma rolled her eyes. "We have a problem in the forest," she answered politely.
Regina frowned. She was in no mood to go trampling about in the woods. "What is it?"
"There are people here. People who seemed to have come from...your land," Emma answered evenly, waiting for the Mayor's reaction.
"Are you sure?" she asked, hoping against hope that the blonde was wrong.
"Pretty sure," said Emma. "This one dude says his name is Robin Hood."
Much to her displeasure, Regina did have to leave her desk to deal with the unwanted strangers. She and Emma had managed to supply them with tents and supplies, and had gotten their statements. It seemed that they had travelled through a portal that was somehow connected to the strange weather the night Emma had...stayed over at her place. It was all Regina could do to keep from puking, walking around had definitely not helped. Emma once or twice had started to ask her what was wrong, but Regina kept throwing her such furious looks that she decided to err on the side of caution and not say anything at all.
She was glad to get home that night, as she was able to whip up a potion that would grant her some relief, even though her headache was already subsiding. She brought the potion with her to her bath and as she settled in she couldn't help but reflect on the unusual events of the day. Robin Hood had seemed so familiar, and it was disturbing that she couldn't place him. He, of course only knew her by reputation. But why on earth should she know a common thief? She sighed and then chuckled to herself as she remembered Emma asking about more "suitable" living arrangements for the merry men. "It's not as if they're used to indoor plumbing," she said laughing at the blond. She had agreed though that the merry men should decide if they wanted to find a portal back, or stay in Storybrooke. They were still arguing amongst themselves when the two women left.
Regina was eating dinner with Henry when her phone went off. She recognized the caller ID and answered casually, "What's up fairy".
"Regina," Tink scolded. The mayor laughed at the bartender's whiny voice.
"You're interrupting dinner Tink, how can I help you?"
"I think you'll find that it's me doing the helping Regina, and this time you better not fuck it up," answered Tink airily.
"Listen here, Tink, you better get on with whatever you called me for or I'm hanging up," said Regina in a voice tinged with irritation.
"Alright, alright" said the fairy hurriedly. "You've met Robin hood?" she asked
"Yes" said Regina
"He's your man" said Tink
"What? What man?" said Regina, who started to get up from the table. Henry didn't need to hear this.
"He's the man with the lion tattoo," replied Tink.
