Basically, I noticed that in every SQ fic I read, Regina hates Emma's car. I wanted to explore the idea of a head canon in which the opposite is true.
Please rate and review.
I own nothing but my words (a vague disclaimer is no one's friend). Enjoy!
Sunlight streamed through the open blinds, falling in warm strips across Emma's face. Her eyelids fluttered once, twice, before opening slightly. She groaned and stretched out her naked limbs, indifferent to the sheets that no longer covered her body. Her lips curled up into a half smile as she recalled the actions of the previous night that had led to her complete lack of clothing. A wave of heat rolled down from Emma's stomach to the apex of her thighs when she thought about the way she'd been looked at, touched, and tasted.
The mayor had whispered words into the slender curve of her neck that had left her eyes shining. "You are exquisite, Emma," she said. "Your vulnerability, your edges, your walls. Even your walls are beautiful. I want to swim the channels of your heart for the rest of our days, my love." Regina had trailed warm kisses across her skin, dipping slender olive fingers into her slowly, until she had risen to a crescendo, her back arching up from the bed.
Emma's smile widened; she reached out blindly with one arm, seeking the warmth of the brunette, but she clutched only at cold sheets, rumpled and empty. She opened her eyes and frowned, as she looked over to see that she was indeed alone in the massive bed. Where was Regina? It was Saturday; Emma knew she didn't have anywhere to be. Maybe she's making me breakfast in bed, Emma thought and smirked. She somehow doubted that. Her eyes drifted closed again and she was just on the edge of sleep when she heard the faint sound of a distinctly 70s engine turning over. Her dreams engulfed the last of her waking awareness before she could wonder why her bug would be roaring to life without her in it.
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"Babe, we're out of milk," Emma complained later that day, having slammed her unused coffee mug on the kitchen counter and stomped into the living room.
Regina sighed, her eyes never leaving the pages of her book. "You know where the store is."
"Can't you just magic some into existence, Ma?" Henry asked and continued to mash the buttons of his PS4 controller.
Emma glared at Regina. "No, I haven't been taught how to."
Regina sighed again and turned the page. "That's hardly a worthwhile endeavour, dear."
Emma rolled her eyes. "She says as we are faced with the very real dilemma of having no milk."
"I'm sure you can manage the 10 minute trip to the store," Regina smirked, looking up for the first time.
Emma sighed and slouched out to the hallway to put on her coat. She reached into the bowl on the stand near the front door and frowned. "Regina?" she called out. "Have you seen my keys?"
"On the hook by the door," the brunette called back.
Emma frowned again. She never hung her keys on the hook, but there they were. She was still frowning when she climbed into the bug and turned the key in the ignition. Something was off; she could feel it. And… smell it. What was that smell? It was citrusy, perhaps lemon and lime. Where was it coming from? After checking under the seats, she determined that there was no neglected piece of fruit hiding anywhere. Emma shrugged and drove to the store.
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The following Saturday morning, Emma stirred when she felt Regina slip out of bed. She feigned sleep until the brunette could be heard descending the stairs. This time she was wide awake when the unmistakeable sound of the bug backing down the driveway could be heard. She frowned, suddenly recalling the previous weekend, when she had been on the cusp of sleep and heard that very same noise. What the hell was going on? Why on earth would Regina be driving her bug? She hated the bug.
When Regina returned an hour later, Emma made sure not to come downstairs until the brunette was already inside the house. She found Regina in the kitchen, making coffee and crept up behind her, snaking her arms around the shorter woman's waist. "Where have you been all morning?" Emma murmured into her ear.
"I had to stop in at the office," the brunette replied, stirring sugar into her coffee with one hand, while resting the other atop both of Emma's on her stomach.
Emma raised her eyebrows. "Really? On a Saturday?"
Regina nodded. "Really. On a Saturday."
"What for?" Emma smirked and rested her chin on mayor's shoulder.
"Wouldn't you like to know."
"Well, yeah, that's kinda why I asked."
Regina frowned. "I don't believe you're on the clock, sheriff."
"No, but that doesn't change the fact that you're being all secret squirrels," Emma whined, pouting.
Regina laughed. "Secret squirrels?"
"Yes. Squirrely secrets. Secrets of the squirrels. Squirrels that-"
"I get the idea, Emma." She patted the blonde's hands and sipped her coffee.
"So… You gonna tell me your secret? 'Cause you never go into the office on the weekend," Emma pointed out.
"That's not true, I do on occasion."
Emma snorted. "Oh yeah? Exactly what occasions would you be referring to, Madame Mayor?"
Regina turned around in the other woman's embrace. "Is there a reason for this interrogation of yours?" she asked, eyebrow raised.
Emma shrugged. "Just curious as to why I've now woken up in an empty bed two Saturdays in a row."
The brunette smirked. "Missing me, dear?"
Emma captured her lips in a sudden kiss, sweet and soft. "Always," she murmured. "I don't like waking up to find you gone."
Regina leaned in for a deeper kiss, which quickly escalated. She pulled Emma's body flush against her own and the blonde peppered kisses across her jaw, hands climbing up beneath the mayor's silk shirt.
"Ew, mums!"
They broke apart to find Henry standing in the doorway, looking at them with open disgust. "Are you trying to scar me for life? You do know that what's been seen can't be unseen, right?"
Emma grinned, cheeks still flushed. "We're setting an example for your future relationship goals, kid."
Henry winced. "No, Ma. Just no."
Regina laughed. "Sorry, sweetheart," she said and pulled Henry into a brief hug.
"I'm not," Emma chimed in.
Henry rolled his eyes. "Of course you're not — it's not like my mental health is worth anything."
Emma rolled her eyes back. "Dramatic much?"
"Never," Henry replied and stuck his tongue out at her as he walked past.
Emma grabbed Regina around the waist and pulled her close again. "So… I have to drop in at Mum and Dad's quickly. Want to come with?"
Regina snorted. "Hardly. Send my regards."
Emma placed a kiss on the woman's cheek and headed out into the hallway, where, once again, her keys were on the hook instead of in the bowl. And she distinctly remembered placing them in the bowl. She exited the house with a smirk on her face and let herself into the bug. Once again, her nostrils were assaulted with the smell of citrus. She looked around and realised that the take-out coffee cups she'd accidentally accumulated were nowhere to be seen. Trust Regina to clear out her rubbish.
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Saturday came around again, and this time Emma was prepared. When she heard Regina get up and into the shower, the blonde scrambled to dress herself, before diving beneath the covers again. She pulled them up around her neck and closed her eyes once more. She feigned sleep until she heard Regina close the front door behind her. She then sprinted down the stairs and took the keys to Regina's Benz.
Emma cracked open the door and watched until she saw the bug reach the bottom of the driveway. She then ran to Regina's car and started it up, backing out of the driveway with every intention of tailing the bug. She was careful to stay far enough behind the yellow beetle so as not to draw attention to herself. She followed Regina down Main Street and saw her pull in to the self-serve car-cleaning bay.
"Huh?" Emma muttered. She pulled over to the side of the road and slowly inched closer, until she had a decent view of the bug. She saw Regina step out of the car and insert money into the car vacuum. The blonde watched, dumbfounded as Regina spent several minutes vacuuming the inside of her car. Her heart began to expand more and more, the longer Regina worked. The brunette washed and waxed the exterior of the bug and cleaned the windows of the interior. She even detailed the hubcaps. When she was done, Regina looked over her work and patted the roof of the car with something akin to affection. Emma bit her lip and smiled, blinking back the moisture in her eyes. Whilst Regina attached a small air freshener to the side of the passenger seat, Emma turned the Benz around and drove home.
When Regina let herself into the house later that morning, she found Emma standing in the kitchen, holding a single red rose out to her. She accepted the gift, holding it up to her face to breathe in its rich, flowery scent. "What's the occasion?" She asked.
Emma shrugged. "Sometimes I forget to tell you how amazing you are. And I shouldn't forget to do that, ever."
An all-encompassing smile filled Regina's face, wide and bright. Her eyes crinkled at the corners.
Emma's breath caught in her throat. "And breathtakingly beautiful," she murmured and kissed the brunette senseless.
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"Emma!" she gasped, as her hips locked with the force of her orgasm. The blonde ran her tongue from the base of her entrance to the top of her clit and placed a kiss there, as Regina came down from her high, quivering. "Come here," the mayor whispered.
Emma moved along Regina's body until they were face to face and planted gentle kisses on the woman's forehead, nose and lips. "Thank you," she whispered.
Regina's brows furrowed. "For what?"
Emma tucked a wayward lock of hair behind the woman's ear. "For everything you do for me. For the way you love me. For the way you love… my car." She raised her eyebrows pointedly.
"Your car? Emma, what are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about what you did today and what you do every Saturday. Taking the bug and detailing it."
Regina averted her gaze. "I don't know what you're-"
"Don't do that."
"Do what?"
Emma sighed. "Don't pretend you didn't do a nice thing. I saw it, Regina. You drove my car down Main Street and spent an hour detail cleaning it. And you did it with a smile on your face."
Regina blushed. "It's just cleaning, let's not go overboard," she muttered.
"But you didn't have to do it."
"Well, someone had to, dear."
Emma smirked. "I always thought you hated the bug, but you actually like it."
Regina snorted. "Hardly."
"Don't even try to deny it, Regina. You like my car," Emma laughed.
The brunette sighed. "Of course I like it."
Emma raised her eyebrows. "Care to explain?"
"Well, it's you, isn't it."
"Huh?"
Regina sighed again. "The car. It's an extension of you. I honestly couldn't imagine you with another vehicle. So yes, I like the car, Emma. I like it because it's a part of you — to be honest, it's almost a reflection of you, as odd as that may sound." She rolled her eyes at her own sentimentality.
Emma's kiss was abrupt and fierce. "Do you have any idea how much I love you?" she breathed.
Regina smiled against the other woman's lips and pulled back slightly. "Hmmm, some idea, but perhaps you should clarify."
"Happy to oblige, your majesty," Emma grinned.
