[Post-curse, post-Neverland. Emma and Regina have been together since Emma and Henry's return from New York. Daniel is back, Emma has told Regina she will understand whatever she decides to do and whilst staying at the mayoral mansion, where she has been living for the past 8 months, she is giving Regina a little space. They haven't discussed Daniel since his return, Emma knows Regina has seen him a few times but hasn't asked any questions. She wants Regina to make the decision that will be right for her and Henry and will make her happy]

Morning:

Regina stepped out of the bathroom in nothing but a small, white towel bunched around her chest and a pair of deep pink silk panties. She glances up whilst towelling off her hair and notices Emma staring at her from her seat on the edge of their bed. Regina lets out a small, deep, knowing chuckle and a shy grin embraces her face as she realised the source of Emma's distraction, she was wearing Emma's favourites..

It had been almost 2 weeks since Daniel's return and out of respect for Regina and the decision she would need to make, Emma hadn't even tried to make any moves on her since his arrival. The couple both agreed that in order for Regina to make a clear and honest decision that she wouldn't regret, they would have to pull back slightly and allow some breathing room. So apart from a few short, tender kisses and lingering touches so that Regina would know that Emma still loved her and she wasn't angry, she kept her distance. Nonetheless, the absence of Regina was killing Emma, and although she was trying to do the right thing, the pain that ached within her made her want every minute to completely envelop the slightly smaller brunette and lay claim to what had for so long been hers. Every night now as they went to bed, Emma longed to move closer and snuggle her beautiful girlfriend into the perfect, protective embrace they had grown into, and whilst she lay a few feet away, both women knowing the space was necessary, Emma wondered if perhaps sleeping in the guest room would have actually been easier. Still, Regina was her priority, and she didn't want her to feel any more confused or distressed than she already knew she was, though she was hiding it well. No matter what Emma told herself or how she tried to protect her own heart from hurting, she still couldn't deny that thought that she was sharing even a part of her girlfriend, that someday another pair of hands might hold her steady at night, absolutely killed her.

It also was not lost on Emma that Regina had not made any advances on her in the past two weeks either.. She had secretly hoped that Regina wouldn't want her to step back.. A selfish part of Emma hoped for Regina to be more torn, to ache for Emma like she did for her, not to be so calm and methodical about the whole process. Inside, Emma was dying.

When Regina's gaze met Emma's as she walked from the ensuite bathroom, she smiled knowingly and turned back into the bathroom to dress herself. Emma's gaze lingered as she watched Regina shut the door behind her. She picked up her keys and jacket, pausing slightly before leaving the room to go straight to work, biting her lip painfully with a tear in her eye and denying herself the words she wanted to say.. "I love you".

Afternoon

Emma's Wednesday station meetings were a far cry from those she had experienced in the mayor's office. They were relaxed, informal and involved a reasonable amount of baked goods, generously provided by Granny's. It would seem that letting Ruby hang around the station a few days a week and involving her in a few interesting cases was working to the advantage of all the staff at Storybrooke PD. Today however, the normal casual banter was cut early by a call reporting a few teenagers skipping school and running rampant with eggs and firecrackers at the edge of town. After dispatching two of her crew to deal with the call, Emma decided she didn't really need to tag along and headed home for a rare afternoon off.

She pulled out of the station in her yellow bug after swoping over the keys for her patrol car and was thinking about going to pick up henry from school early and maybe taking him for ice cream. She was halfway to the school before she saw signs for the school fair, and rolled her eyes as she remembered Henry was staying late for the event and going home with a friend to a birthday sleepover. She indicated quickly to correct her course towards home and turned down main street to meet a red light, her face froze in place as she saw a tall, built figure leaving the doors of Granny's B&B to cross the road.. Daniel. She had seen him a few times since he arrived back, throwing him a civil wave or smile. She certainly didn't want to make anything harder for Regina than it already was, and truth be told the man had done nothing wrong. Emma's head started to hurt when she began to do the math on how long it would have been since his romance with Regina, for him to still be searching for her after all this time made her think that he was probably a good guy. A great guy even.. She shuddered. As he crossed the road in front of her bug, he chanced a nervous glance into the car, holding her gaze for a couple of seconds before turning away and not looking back, Emma couldn't help but feel a little unsettled by the unfamiliar gesture from the usually annoyingly civil and chivalrous man but she soon shook the feeling, telling herself that she felt like this every time any part of Daniel and Regina's past or present crept into the front of her mind. She had been so startled that she barely noticed the light turning green until Leroy honked from behind in his pickup truck, she flashed her hazard lights in apology at the disgruntled face she saw in the rear-view mirror and took the next turn down Mifflin to the home the mayor and her had been sharing for the past 8 months, slowly coming back to normality.

As Emma put her keys in the door and began to unlock it, she heard familiar movement inside the house and headed up the stairs to find Regina putting away some laundry in their bedroom closet, the curtains still drawn from that morning and the bedroom lay in darkness apart from a few thin rays of light that were able to break through.

"Hey" Regina breathed as she turned to see Emma standing a few metres away at the door. The tension from that same morning seemed to return to the air almost immediately, words unsaid, actions left unexplained.

"Hi" Emma replied softly, tilting her head slightly against the doorframe, letting her guard down against her better judgement. "Looks like we both decided to take the afternoon off today.."

"Yes" Regina cleared her throat as she began to speak, "It would seem so."

Emma didn't know if it was because the longing was so evident on her own face or if the brunette needed it too, but Regina stepped slowly forward, placing her hands gently on Emma's arms. After weeks with almost no intimacy between them and after the way Regina shielded herself from Emma that morning, she was confused by the gesture, but so desperate to be close to the woman she loved that she could do nothing but give in completely, embracing her into a slow, deep passionate kiss whilst carefully lifting her and moving towards their bed. As Regina wrapped her legs around Emma's waist, she almost let a small tear slip down her cheeks. Not wanting to alarm Regina, she held it back as the two began to undress eachother in a way that had become so familiar. Emma let go of the breath she didn't know she had been holding for so long, and for a moment, she thought she was home. That everything was going back to normal.

Emma looked up and stared at Regina's beauty through the darkness. Dark, shoulder-length, straight silky hair hung delicately around Regina's face shielding her eyes from Emma as she gently moved the brunette's underwear down her legs until they hung on Regina's left ankle at her foot, now firmly planted on the sheets as she moved to lie back on the bed.

Emma's eyes moved down past Regina's waist as the woman above her began to breathe deeply in anticipation and as she slowly began to trace her tongue up a twitching thigh towards Regina's sex, almost invisible in the darkness, she could smell the distinct scent of Regina's wetness. She thought little of this even though she was still far from Regina's centre, but her confusion began when she started to taste what she recognised as Regina's arousal on a perfectly dry leg as she moved up her thigh, then stopped dead as she tasted something else. A small trace of blood. Dried blood.

Regina moved above her to prop herself up on her elbows, sensing that something was off, and when she saw Emma's eyes adjust to the lack of light and stare where her tongue had been mere seconds before, her heart sank as she lay back and covered her eyes with her hands.

"Regina?" Emma started, unable to take her eyes from the faint blood markings she could now notice around Regina's centre, enough for Emma to see but perhaps not enough for Regina to have known it was there.

It was then that Emma started to put the pieces together. Her eyes had now adjusted to the lighting of the room and she moved her gaze over to the underwear still hooked over Regina's foot. She touched them, examining them more closely than before.. Silk as expected, but black. Unmistakably. Black with a fine lace trim gracing the upper edges, and most certainly not the underwear she had been admiring that morning before she left for work.

Dizzy with realisation , she scrambled to her feet leaving Regina lying on the bed in a nauseating panic and watching the horror of the situation unfold. Emma staggered over towards the laundry basket and did not have to look far for what she had suspected but was praying in her head wasn't true.. The pair of silky, dark pink underwear that she had eyed on her beautiful girlfriend that morning, draped over the basket edge.. as she lifted them her breath caught in her throat and tears stung her eyes, they were still soaked with the wetness that Emma had no doubt just sensed on Regina's thighs. She didn't know if she was more disturbed by the fact that this had clearly happened merely hours ago, or by the fact that Regina hadn't even bothered to shower after, and had carelessly thrown her underwear still covered in the arousal that another person had brought her, into their shared laundry basket.

Emma turned straight back to Regina, now sitting up on the bed. She could see her lips beginning to tremble though her guilt even from metres away.

Emma had to take another staggered breath in order to form words. "Daniel. You were.."

"I'm sorry Emma.." Regina cut her off in a sob, "It just.."

Before Regina was able to continue, Emma had started again on her own train of thought, one which wasn't even fully processing yet that her love had been with someone else, "He hurt you?! The blood," She moved at the foot of the bed once more and Regina closed her legs, suddenly embarrassed..

"He.. he didn't hurt me.."

"Well the blood says otherwise!" Emma found herself screaming, her brain not working quickly enough to work out exactly what was going on.

"Its just.. I know we…. He's a man.." She said sheepishly, "..and it's been a long time since.. " Emma gasped and Regina continued to mumble as she started to sob but those last few sentences allowed the gravity of the situation to hit Emma, and she almost doubled over before she ran to the en-suite bathroom to lose the entire contents of her stomach. When she had stopped retching, she could still hear Regina's faint cries, curled up in a ball on their bed, sobbing into the sheets.

Emma stood and took a few breaths to gather her resolve. She cleaned herself up and turned on the shower before she re-entered the bedroom, walking over to gather her clothes and a fresh pair of underwear from the drawer. She got changed inside of the walk in closet before returning to the room and throwing a fresh towel at Regina who was now standing nervously on the other side of the room with a blanket held up along her torso.

"Go and clean yourself up." Emma's voice was cold and Regina realised that the running shower was for her. As Emma grabbed her keys and a bag of clothes that Regina hadn't even noticed she had packed, Regina stood shaking, unable to move as Emma closed the door of their room sharply behind her. Seconds later, she heard the firm closure of her front door. Their front door. She moved across the room and sunk down against the end of their wooden bedframe, losing control of her shaking legs. Her head landed on her knees as she cried, the steam of the shower now starting to move into the room. For the first time in the past two weeks, Regina Mills realised that she really did not know what to do, and for the first time in over 8 months, she felt truly alone.

As I said above, I will keep writing if anyone is interested. Reviews are very welcome!

Thanks for reading :)