Emma wasn't a person who was overly touchy-feely. It just wasn't something she'd ever became accustomed to.

Maybe it was because for the first few years, after her first family had given her back, no one ever touched her. Not to hug her, not to guide her safely across the street with a small push on her back, not even to push her around.

Maybe it was because the next home she went to she did have human contact, but it wasn't good. Not good at all. They did push her. Into the closet when ever she was troublesome, or even if they just wanted her out of the way.

Maybe it was because the next time, in a different home, they hit her. Sometimes it was just a slap to the back of the head or sometimes it was a fist to the stomach when she got above her self.

Maybe it was because when she was finally old enough to stay out of these homes the only contact she knew was for self gratification. And it wasn't her self's gratification. Even with Neal it wasn't ever about her. And he had his own issues and it's not like they would just sit in the back of the Bug and cuddle. No if they were in close proximity it was for sex or warmth.

But with Regina. with Regina everything was different. Emma couldn't not touch the other woman. Once it had started and Emma had felt the warmth and electricity that raced through her body just holding on the other woman's arm... There was no going back.

It was the third the she had missed the most when in the Enchanted forest after being sucked through the portal. Right after Henry and, surprisingly, the woman her self.

And it kept happening. Every time she touched Regina she would feel it in every fiber of her being. She finally realized it was mostly their magic connecting but she also knew that part of it was just because it was Regina.

When everything calmed down and they had more then 10 minutes without a crisis, Emma asked Regina to dinner.

She had been surprised when the older woman had agreed. She thought she was going to have to bribe her or make the dinner about Henry but when she had picked the former Queen up and gentle pressed her hand to the small of the smaller woman's back, she noticed a small pause and a very, very tiny release in the muscles beneath her hand and then it was gone.

It had been enough to let her know she wasn't alone in whatever they were starting. Or had started. Or something.

As their relationship progressed so had Emma's need for contact. It didn't matter what it was as long as she could feel Regina.

It could be their knees touching underneath the table at the council meetings. It could be her arm behind her when they were sitting in a booth at Granny's with just her fingertips brushing her hair from her shoulder. It could be her head in her lap on the couch or just standing behind her with her arms around her waist as she stirred a pot on the stove.

It could even be at night, after hours of exploring each other with nothing more then fingers and lips and tongues and skin on skin just letting the other woman know that her universe was her and her only for as long as she would let her.

No. Emma had never really welcomed touch. It had never meant anything good for her. But since when had Regina ever been normal.