SQ Prompt: Emma has to deal with a drunk granny and Leroy. Regina just laughs and laughs and laughs. Evilly.
Moving Out Of The Friendzone
Moving Out Of The Friendzone
The condensation from her water glass, that she had just drank out of, cooled Emma's heated brow when she had touched her fingers to it in contemplation of what her next words should be. Regina sat across the table in the nice restaurant that was a step up from Granny's Diner but nothing as fancy as the expensive French restaurant a few blocks over. The mayor was eating the last of her Crème brûlée and once finished, she dropped her spoon in the empty white oval dish.
"That was divine!" Regina made a show of rolling her eyes upward over a broad smile of delight. "Honestly, I couldn't have made it better myself."
"I doubt that, Regina. Your homemade desserts are legendary."
"Well, I really enjoyed this one. Good idea, Emma, us grabbing a casual dinner like this and trying this new restaurant out."
Emma scrunched her brow up at that because her intentions were somewhat different than what Regina apparently thought they were.
"Oh yeah, sure. What are friends for right?" What was she doing? She was back peddling before she even made any forward progress. We want to get out of the friend zone, Swan!
"I hope Henry and the other boys are enjoying those cookies we baked for their camping trip." Emma smiled at Regina's comment, remembering how they worked companionably well in the kitchen, baking side by side, each with a glass of wine, laughing, chatting and stealing a cookie when the other wasn't looking.
"I'm sure they are, so listen. The reason I asked you out," Emma began watching the mayor's eyebrow raise higher, "is because… well… I thought we should talk."
"Oh?"
"Yeah." Emma tipped her eyes upward, pondering how to broach the subject of their relationship. They had become very good friends, now that the dark times were behind them and there were no men in their lives. Emma had never dreamt that she and Regina could have reached this level of happy comradery. They realized they had their son and this amazing friendship, and connection, but Emma had been feeling like she had wanted more and dammit, this was a scary place to be: not knowing how to talk about it and wondering if Regina felt the same.
Nothing was verbally discussed but their touches had grown more… intimate. Never anything indecent, but there was more touching between them; on the arm, on the shoulder. A few weeks ago, they had spent the evening watching a movie with Henry. It was a Thursday night and Emma had come over and cooked one of her favorite recipe's of Regina's, with Regina's supervision, and they had discussed the mayor's rather long and tiresome day.
While they were watching an after dinner movie, with Regina sitting beside her on the couch and Henry laid out on his stomach on the floor, Emma had felt the brunette's weary head fall against her shoulder and when she looked down she found Regina sleeping. Emma was flabbergasted that in the five years that she had known Regina Mills this was the first time they had been this close, not counting the whole true love's kiss on the forehead to save her life a year ago. The savior was ever grateful for that kiss but she had barely remembered it, being unconscious in a near death state.
They had true love. It had been shocking, especially after all that they had been through together; all the fights and arguments. They still did not see eye to eye on many occasions but they somehow realized that that was all a part of their relationship and, surprisingly, it was all part of the fun of being them. It's what made their relationship unique, entertaining and entirely satisfying. Emma found that she would rather butt heads with Regina than get along with anyone else.
Which brought her back to the subject of them. How to tell Regina Mills that she was in love with her.
"Regina, do you remember Elsa and the Shattered Sight curse and that whole time that you were mad at me for bringing back Marian, who was Zelena?" What the hell are you saying, Swan?
A very slow and confused, "Yes…" dropped from the older woman's lips, and she was probably wondering what that had to do with anything.
"And during the Shattered Sight curse, how we had freed you from your vault. The things I said to purposely anger you, I didn't mean them."
"I know, Emma." Regina was frowning at her. The savior thought back to that night and recalled how hot Regina had looked in her Evil Queen garb and she felt the stirring of sexual awakening inside herself but quickly she tried to stamp her desire for the woman out.
"That dress you were wearing was… amazing and astonishing."
"Yes, well... my former wardrobe was meant to be. I was shooting for amazing, unforgettable and quite frankly in-your-face."
"Yeah," Emma absently agreed with a goofy grin, thinking how sexy a Regina clad in tight black leather was.
"I'm sorry. Did you mean to steer this discussion in the direction of what I used to wear? I'm confused." Regina was leaning on her crossed forearms on the table and Emma snapped her attention back. Why was it so hard to discuss matters of the heart? She always sucked at this.
"No! No. Regina, I…" Regina's voluptuous red lips slowly started spreading into a smile, which almost distracted Emma from her thoughts. God, what would those lips taste like? Probably Crème brûlée right now and that possibility enticed Emma even more.
Mmmm… The taste of hot mayor and custard.
"Emma, just say it…"
The savior, however, was too busy imagining licking Crème brûlée off Regina's neck… and other parts of her body.
"Mmmm… rich creamy custard," Emma mumbled as she watched Regina's throat work as she swallowed. When her green eyes met Regina's brown ones, the bewildered frown the woman wore snapped her out of her dreaming.
"I…" Emma's cell phone buzzed loudly on the table beside her and the caller ID told her it was the station. Dammit. They would only call her if it was urgent. "I need to take this. I'm sorry."
Reaching for her phone, she thought to herself that there had better be a good reason for the interruption.
[X]
Regina Mills sat in the Volkswagen's passenger seat and observed the town of Storybrooke whizzing by. Emma was steering the bug toward the Rabbit Hole in a hurry due to public disturbance or disorderly conduct. Most likely a couple of drunks who had nothing better to do than to ruin their date, Regina thought surly. No, wait, not a date. It was not a date. Just a friendly dinner between two friends. Regina clenched the fists in her lap tighter and huffed exasperatingly, because she had very much wished it was a date.
Emma mistook her silence for inconvenience and spoke up. "I'm sorry, Regina. You didn't have to come with me. You could have poofed home and we would have seen each other tomorrow, I'm sure." Emma had added the last part and Regina refrained from rolling her eyes. That was just it. She and Emma had no plans tomorrow and with every fiber of her being she felt that they should have. She wanted to be a bigger part of Emma Swan's life and have the woman be a bigger part of hers.
It was true that most of the things they had done together in the past were for Henry, but every now and then it would seem like they would do something with each other just because. Just because they wanted to. Just because it felt right. Just because.
Pursing her lips, Regina forced a reply, hoping that it sounded calmer than she actually felt. "It's quite alright, Miss Swan. I have nothing better to do. And it is obvious that you haven't enough personnel otherwise you would have not been called out here instead." She smiled at Emma and added, "And if I can provide assistance, I am only too happy to help."
Emma stretched her face in a considering "huh, ok" look and smiled back at her, setting the queen's heart to flutter just a little faster. "Deputy for a night? Could be fun." The way the blonde said that last sentence had Regina turning toward her as it almost sounded… suggestive?"
"Oh? How so?"
"Well as my deputy, you'd have to do everything I say."
Regina snorted, "Not likely."
"Absolutely. I'm the Sheriff. So the way I see it, I'd get to order you around a little."
Instead of being contrary, Regina leaned against the door, lips spreading in an amused grin and asked with a slightly flirtatious tone, one that threw the savior off guard, "Provided that you have me bent to your every whim, just what would your first order be?"
Regina watched the sheriff falter and enjoyed the startled look on her face as her mouth opened and closed seeming unable to find words.
"You should make it good, Emma." Regina turned to the front again with a leer. "It's not every day that I am willing to perform whatever task is wished of me." The mayor kept her eyes straight ahead but she could practically hear Emma gulping and breathing slightly irregularly. Regina's smile grew wider.
Friends. Right.
[X]
Arriving at the Rabbit Hole, Emma was still thinking about Regina's sexy tone of voice in the car. True that the woman's voice was like warm silk but she picked up on the subtle flirty undertones and had wondered briefly if maybe she was projecting her desires. She did not have time to think on it any further, or wait to see if Regina was following her because a loud woman's voice was barking over the crowd.
"Listen here, you crappy mannered dwarf, I won your flask fair and square in that poker match and I ain't giving it back!"
"I didn't ask for it back you geriatric flea bag, but you cheated!"
Emma and Regina elbowed their way through the crowd surrounding the booming insults being slung around and upon getting to the front, Emma's jaw dropped. Standing in the middle of the uproar were a very inebriated Leroy and Granny swaying and eyeing each other down while they were waving fists about as if they were prize fighters in a boxing match.
Hearing a titter, she turned and found Regina chuckling a bit evilly at them. Emma glared at her and with a grinning astonished look the mayor said, "What? This night just got interesting."
All around them, the bar's patrons, who had come outside to watch the show were chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"
Shaking her head, Emma looked around at all the regulars seeming to have a good time while disturbing the peace until she heard a familiar voice.
"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!..."
"Regina!"
Caught, the mayor opened her mouth but when she realized she had no excuse, she chuckled and shrugged.
"We are not encouraging this!" Emma looked back to the unusual brawlers and then back to the mayor reproachfully. "You're the mayor for goodness sakes."
"Not tonight. I'm just a deputy." She winked at Emma. Winked, and Emma was hard pressed to keep the stern look on her face when all she wanted to do was gush because Regina's wink was all kinds of sexy. Jesus! If she thought Regina's wink was jarring, she was completely shaken when Regina leaned over to the man next to her, smiled and said, "Twenty says the werewolf takes him," and then Regina laughed delightfully.
"Deputy Mills!" That got her attention, Emma mused as Regina's eyes goggled into a glare.
"Oh… so we were serious about all that, I see." Her interim deputy had a mild scowl directed at her.
"Deputy Mills," Emma continued their inside joke, "I need you to get all these people back inside the bar." At the loud chants, Emma attempted to yell over them, "People, people! Okay folks, nothing to see here…"
Suddenly the air around them pulled and stretched and a gust of magic contained in a tornado of purple smoke surrounded them and when the smoke cleared only Granny, Leroy, Regina and Emma were left behind.
Puffing out an incensed breath Emma whirled on Regina, who was clapping her hands in a manner as if she was dusting them off.
"What, boss lady? You said to get them into the bar. I got them into the bar!"
"Did they get in there safely? None of them are missing toes or clothes or have donkey ears and pig tails?" Emma was joking or, maybe, half joking. While Regina was thought a redeemed citizen of Storybrooke and considered a hero also, Regina could have a wicked sense of humor from time to time.
Regina chuckled naughtily, "Well, that's for me to know and for you to trust me now, isn't it?"
Emma was about to answer but Granny's voice raised a few decibels. "Listen here you hairy pick-ax swinging ape. You'd better stop calling me a cheater or I'm going to punch you so hard in the mouth, you'll be Heigh Ho-ing out of your hoo-ha!"
A burst of laughter left Regina's lips but was immediately silenced by a black look from Emma, which Regina replied to with an eye roll.
"Okay, you two. Okay." Emma stepped between them and unfortunately that's when Grumpy shouted that Granny was a mangy cheater and the sheriff found herself squashed right in the middle of grabbing and swinging arms and legs. For a moment, she thought she had seen a fleeting look of concern cross Regina's face but she supposed that she didn't think Emma was in any real danger so she was happy to let the sheriff struggle her way out of it. Fucking wonderful.
When she felt like she was slipping lower between the two emotionally charged fairytale characters, while she also could have sworn she heard Regina chuckle, she summoned her own magic and with a flash of bright light, Granny and Leroy were propelled backward, separating them and their feet were rooted to the ground.
Regina glibly chided. "Oh so it's okay for you to do magic."
Emma ignored her. "What is going on with you two?"
"He thinks I stole his lucky flask by cheating at poker but I won it fair and square," Granny slurred.
"I still think you cheated."
"Come on you two," Emma smiled at them. "You two are friends. You can't let some flask you lost a few days ago come between you. When was this poker game?"
"During the ogre wars."
"What?" Regina piped in. That was almost thirty-five years ago! You two are crazy."
"Seriously? You guys are fighting over a flask won over a game of cards that long ago? Jesus how long can you carry a grudge?"
Suddenly, Emma found herself being glared at by both parties. "Hah! Isn't that rich." Granny scoffed and crossed her arms. How long are you two going to hold your grudge?"
That remark earned a wide eyed state from both Emma and Regina toward the matronly werewolf. "What?" Emma said at the same time Regina asked, "I beg your pardon?"
"Yeah…" Leroy intervened. "Why aren't the two of you hitched and playing house already?"
"Or doctor…" Granny wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at Regina and Emma, which garnered a laugh of agreement from Leroy.
"What's the matter, Savior? You afraid to make a move on the queen?"
"I…" Emma looked in Regina's direction and found her with her arms crossed trying desperately to hide her smile. "What Regina and I do together is none of anyone's business."
Leroy's upper body swayed a bit, "But it kind of is, Sister, when the whole town has a betting pool on it."
Again, Regina and Emma piped in together. "What?!"
Granny laughed, "Yep…the whole town has money in this."
Leroy looked at his watch, "Yeah, so, you know, if you two are feeling a little frisky tonight, I could use a few bucks."
Expressions agape, Emma and Regina looked to each other and Emma tried to laugh it off. "Not everyone is in on this, I bet."
"Everyone," Granny and Leroy nodded in confirmation.
"My parents…"
"They were the first." Regina gaped at Granny in disbelief. Those two idiots are betting on our love lives?
Regina thought about it, looked at Emma and smiled, "I'm sure Robin and Hook…"
"Yep, them too. They both actually bet around the same time of when you two would get busy." Leroy punctuated his remark with a crass hip thrust which was off-putting to Regina to be honest.
Emma looked around at everyone and then she snapped her fingers. "Henry. He wouldn't bet on this." Regina nodded and they looked at each other quite pleased with themselves.
"Nope…" Granny shook her head, "Sweet Henry is not betting in the pool." Regina and Emma's glee was short-lived for the elderly woman went on, "He just thought up the whole thing, is what he did. It was all his idea."
"Yeah," Leroy shrugged, "The only ones who are short on the uptake are you two."
Regina and Emma were frowning and blinking at them.
"I'm tired," Granny said, her eyes nearly closing and she swayed a little more. "So are you going to arrest us, sheriff?"
Emma looked them both over, "Are you two going to behave?"
"Yeah, I've decided I am going to give ol' Grumpy his flask back." She grinned at the dwarf and he returned it equally, showing his white teeth through his rather hairy beard.
"Awww, thanks, Eugenia. I'll buy it back from you."
"No, no. I'm giving it to you."
"No, no. I'll pay for it."
The back and forth had Regina pinching the bridge of her nose before bellowing, making them all jump. "Will you two just take your drunken disorderliness to your respective homes and sleep this off!"
"Uh…" Granny pointed to her feet and Emma gasped.
"Oh yeah." She shut her eyes and a bright light shimmered freeing them from their holding spots.
"So can we give you a lift?"
"Uh-uh…" Granny slightly stumbled right up to Regina. "I want the queen to take me home."
Completely misunderstanding the woman Regina raised both her eyebrows in amazement. "Excuse me?"
"Hah! Don't flatter yourself, Regina. You couldn't handle all this," Granny gestured to herself and Regina's mouth dropped. The gray haired woman leaned closer to speak privately to her. "Besides, I know who you want warming your bed at night. Swan watcher." Granny stood up straight and directed a look at the queen. "Well… bibbidi-bobbidi-boo my butt back to my place!" Regina's mouth opened in realization and she was suddenly struck with surprise that the woman would ask her to do that. "I trust you."
"Okaaaaay."
"Night everyone." And with a wave of Regina's hand the matronly werewolf disappeared in a cloud of purple dust.
"Well… I guess I'll be on my way then. The dwarf stopped in front of the queen and Regina smirked.
"What? Do you want a ride too?"
Leroy snorted and quipped, "You wish."
Regina shook her head in utter bewilderment. That was twice in a five minute span that two of her former subjects joked that she was offering them sex. Where was her dungeon when she wanted it?
Leroy leaned in closer. "There's fifty bucks in it for you if you can get the sheriff naked by midnight."
Regina was fairly certain that the man, while normally prickly and bad tempered, if he were completely sober, would not be saying such things.
Emma sidled up to her and together they watched the short stout man stumble down the road. "You think he'll be alright?"
"Yes, Sheriff. I think he'll be fine." Regina swiveled her body to Emma and with a sidelong glance asked, "So now what, boss?"
Emma grinned and, was that a blush? Regina watched the blonde tilt her head down and kick at the dirt with her boot. "Now?" Those green eyes suddenly glowed improperly at her with just a hint of naughty. "Now we talk about what you and Granny were whispering about. Something about me warming your bed?" At Regina's dumbstruck expression, Emma beamed smugly. "You know I have excellent hearing." Regina gasped as Emma moved even closer, their bodies almost touching.
I am this close to touching her. Emma moved the hand that was by her side outward just a bit and soon their hands were folded in each other's. That was easy, Emma thought. Stepping closer, the sheriff, bent her head just the tiniest bit of a fraction and became suddenly excited that Regina's lips were so close. She could still smell the dessert and wine from dinner on the woman's breath and she thought she heard an inhale of anticipation. This was going to be so good.
Regina reached out and pressed Emma's shoulder back and said, "Let's go," and a befuddled Emma was left watching Regina walk to the car like she couldn't get out of there fast enough.
[X]
The car ride back to Regina's was a completely silent one and Emma wondered briefly if she had misread Regina's interest in her tonight. Again she wondered if she was projecting her own feelings onto the situation but Regina had been acting more interested in her tonight than she ever had been before.
Pulling up in front of 108 Mifflin, Emma sighed and got out as Regina did too. The mayor was practically running up the walk as she dug into her pocket for her keys and once she climbed the stoop she unlocked the door and went in.
For a few seconds Emma waited outside the door but when Regina did not return and was somewhere in the darkness of the house, Emma tentatively stepped in through the doorway. To her surprise, the door was shut behind her and her body was pushed up against the back of it, with the press of Regina's body and her lips over Emma's.
Taken completely by surprise, Emma stood stock still not believing that this was actually, finally, happening. Regina's lips were soft and careful, moving slightly over hers. When Emma relaxed, she felt Regina's hand span her hip and her heart beat thumped loudly in her chest, racing with excitement.
"Emma...," Regina whispered encouragingly and just that quiet murmur of her name alone had a bolt of arousal shooting through the savior's body. Regina Mills had that kind of presence. Emma was pretty sure that the woman could make her entire body betray her in an instant and there would be no hiding her desire from the queen. "Open up for me."
Hell yes, Emma thought as Regina's lips covered hers once more but this time Emma willingly gave the queen what she wanted and parted her lips so that Regina could boldly invade and conquer Emma's mouth with her eager tongue.
The sheriff wasn't sure if the lustful moan came from her, Regina or both but she did feel the bite of the woman's fingers on her hip and decided that she had had enough of Regina being in control.
Reaching up, she fisted Regina's coat lapels and turned them, switching positions, smoothly slamming Regina's body against the door and pressing her knee between the woman's thighs. She smirked and kissed Regina's lips, tracing the top one with her tongue generating a guttural growl from the mayor. "You made me think you didn't want this outside the Rabbit Hole, Regina."
"I wasn't about to let our first kiss be outside the town bar, Emma." Regina licked her lips and stared at Emma's hungrily. "Especially with the way I wanted to kiss you."
Emma felt Regina's hands slide beneath her unzipped leather jacket, passed her waist and rest on her rib cage, the palms stroking her just slightly. Oh my God… Cupping Regina's cheek and then driving her fingers through dark hair the savior crushed their lips together again, both of them driving the other crazy with need.
When their lips separated again, Regina surprised her by moving swiftly and pinning her body against the door again and Emma chuckled. "So shall I take this as an official declaration that we are officially dating, Madame Mayor?"
Regina's ecstatic expression drew nearer and before she kissed Emma she said, "Absolutely, Miss Swan. Absolutely."