A/N: Sorry for the delay, guys. This semester has been exhausting. Plus I'm in a little bit of a rut as far as this story goes, but hopefully I'm getting out of it.
I hope this fun chapter will make up for my absence ;)
Waking up with someone curled close to her made Regina think of Christmas. Robin was always warm in bed, so nighttime cuddling hardly ever happened. But the winter after their wedding, the blizzard outside had drawn him towards her. Christmas morning, she woke just like this, an arm wrapped lazily around her waist and a head nestled against her chest. But that day, after only a few minutes, Roland had clambered over Robin and forced them apart.
It was Regina's favorite memory from her marriage, that Christmas, heaping Roland with presents and watching his wide eyes and big smiles. Robin lit the fire, Regina made cocoa and pancakes, and Roland played with his toys and then outside in the snow. That night, as Robin clasped Regina's present around her neck—a locket with a picture of Henry inside—Regina had felt confident for the first time that she could find happiness after all she'd lost.
But it hadn't lasted, and today wasn't Christmas, and her aching back was more than enough proof that she was not in her bed. Tilting her head just slightly allowed her to bury her face in blonde curls and breathe in Emma. She pretended to sleep for a bit longer, knowing that opening her eyes would mean having to let go.
She didn't realize Emma was doing the same thing until a phone rang and the blonde reached for it easily.
"You need to stop calling," Emma said softly, and Regina caved and opened her eyes to see the other woman with Regina's phone to her ear. "Your wife is fine, okay? She's right here. But she hasn't answered any of your calls for a reason." Emma paused, rolling her eyes. "No, you listen to me. If you keep this up, I will personally drive to Maine to deliver a restraining order, okay? I'm a cop." Another pause, and Regina could almost make out Robin's accent on the other side. "Emma Swan, NYPD."
Regina frowned as Emma hung up. "You shouldn't have told him your name."
To Regina's surprise, Emma didn't get up or seem at all flustered by their current positions. Instead, she sank back down, tucking her head against Regina's shoulder. "I can take care of myself," she reassured her.
Regina was far from reassured. She wasn't worried about Robin coming after Emma—he wasn't the type to hurt others, and he'd be out of his depth if he ever left Storybrooke. No, the problem would come if he so much as mentioned Emma's name to anyone else. The people of Storybrooke wouldn't mind Regina's absence, but the chance of getting their Savior back was one they wouldn't pass up easily.
Emma checked the time on Regina's phone before putting it back down and groaning. "I don't want to go to work. Too comfy."
"There is nothing at all comfortable about this sofa," Regina protested.
"You, though." Emma yawned before reluctantly and somewhat awkwardly climbing over Regina.
Regina found herself just staring at the book, unable to focus. Now that she'd been here several days, she couldn't help thinking that she needed some sort of plan for what came next. Surely Emma wouldn't want to put her up forever. But getting a job and an apartment seemed impossible when her only skills were running a small town government and sorcery.
She was drawn out of her thoughts by her phone ringing again, and she glanced at it, surprised to see that it wasn't Robin. Instantly afraid that it meant Robin had told someone about Emma. "What do you want?" she asked as she picked up.
Snow's familiar laugh came through. "Hello to you, too, Regina." A pause as Regina still waited for an answer. "I just wanted to make sure you're all right," she added.
"I'm fine." Regina set her book aside and tucked her legs up under her. "I suppose Robin told you everything."
"I haven't spoken with him in weeks. I just noticed that Roland's lunches weren't as meticulously packed as usual."
Regina arched an eyebrow. "Are you serious?"
"I've had Roland in my class all year, and I taught Henry for years during the curse. I know that there's always an apple and some sort of homemade baked good." Quiet again, and Regina wondered just how it was that this woman she'd tried so hard to destroy knew her so well. "How is Henry?"
Regina stiffened. "You did talk to Robin."
"Where else would you go?" Snow asked. "Did you find him?"
Regina glanced from one picture of Henry to another. "He's away at college," she said softly, talking about her son always breaking down her resistance just a bit. "Besides, you know I can't see him again. It would put all of Storybrooke in danger if I did."
"You've been known to do that when your emotions run high enough," Snow pointed out, and Regina wished more than anything that she could glare over the phone. "How's Emma?"
That question immediately diffused the anger. "She's happier, I think. More open. I think she's better for all this."
"That's wonderful," Snow said, but her voice sounded tight. Regina understood. She felt the same way, knowing that Emma and Henry were better off never having met her. Helping them remember would only mean giving them the pain they'd escaped. She and Snow were, as they had so often been, on the same side despite their efforts not to be.
When Regina finally hung up, she was surprised to see that she'd spent the better part of two hours on the phone. There'd been so much to say, and she'd gushed about Henry's accomplishments. She'd been quieter about Emma, describing her job and apartment but not wanting to go into the time they'd spent together.
Once Regina might have been thrilled to tell Snow White that she'd gone on a date with her daughter, but her time with Emma was theirs and she didn't want to share it.
Besides, she had a feeling that Snow already knew. Snow would need to be considerably more blind than usual to miss the sparks between the two in Neverland. And despite herself, Regina could feel the emotion creeping into her voice.
"You sound good," Snow had told her just before they said goodbye. "Happy."
"I am," Regina said.
In the time before Emma came home, Regina went to the store and returned to prepare dinner and one of her famous apple pies. She really was happy, despite all the reasons not to be.
There was at least one really good reason to be happy, and that reason came into the kitchen, looking simultaneously exhausted and excited. Emma peered into the oven and met Regina's smirk with wide eyes. "You are an angel."
If there was one word that had never been used to describe Regina Mills, it was probably that, but she took it. She also took in Emma's slightly disheveled appearance. "Rough day?"
The blonde frowned. "Yeah, really rough," she said, tugging out her ponytail and combing her fingers through her hair. "I won't go into the details."
Regina could see the toll that day's work had taken on Emma, and she wondered what that was like, dealing with all sorts of horrors and then coming home to a son she wanted to shield from pain. "I'm not Henry," she said. "You can tell me."
Emma shrugged.
"If you want," Regina added quickly.
"Sometimes cases hit a little too close to home," Emma said simply. "She was a foster kid, and the stuff her foster dad was doing to her…"
Regina abandoned her pots and pans and stepped forward to offer Emma an embrace, one the blonde sank easily into. "But you helped her."
"Yeah," Emma breathed. "I guess."
Regina stroked circles on her back and relished the feeling of having Emma so close once again. "I think you might need pie for dinner."
Emma drew back just a bit. "But what about all the other stuff?"
"Tomorrow," Regina said, and she took one hand from around Emma's waist and reached over to turn off the burners.
"My angel," Emma said again. The words were more tender this time, not about delicious food but about the way Regina was caring for her. Regina couldn't help the way tears rose to her eyes, and she couldn't stop herself from closing what little distance there was between them. She wasn't quite sure who, exactly, moved forward that extra inch and started the kiss, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was that it happened.
It was short, light, decidedly not magical, but it sent a surge through Regina that nothing but magic had ever approximated. There was no blast of true love, no gasp signifying that Emma had suddenly gotten all of her memories back, but Regina wasn't even sure if she'd want that. All she knew was that no other kiss, certainly not Robin's, had felt like this.
Emma took a step back reluctantly. "Regina…"
"Don't," Regina said, her voice gone raspy. "Don't say it's too soon." If only she could tell Emma how very long she'd been waiting.
Emma gave her a lopsided smile. "I would have kissed you the night I met you, you know."
Regina didn't picture dinner a few nights before, instead imagining a night when her fingers had brushed against Emma's as she handed over a glass of cider. "I know," she whispered.
Emma's fingers were light over Regina's cheek as she claimed a second kiss. The two women lingered for a moment, eyes shut, just breathing the same air. And then, of course, Emma had to ruin it. "You just left Robin," she said, taking a step back. "If this is a rebound or some sort of attempt to get back at him…"
"It's not," Regina promised. Robin was the rebound, the substitution. "I met this woman several years ago, before Robin," she said in a rush. "She left before anything could happen between us, but she made me realize what I really wanted. But marrying a man was safe. It was what everyone expected of me."
Emma smiled gently and Regina was relieved that she'd found a way to explain without the blonde knowing her past. "You're nervous," she said.
Regina nodded, wondering if Emma could hear the fluttering of her heart. "I want to get this right."
Before Emma could respond, a timer went off and the blonde reluctantly let Regina go so she could pull the pie from the oven. "You certainly got that right."
"You have to let it cool first," Regina scolded when Emma fished out two forks.
It was easy enough to pass the time, Regina kissing Emma again and again.
"I liked waking up with you this morning," Emma admitted when they were back on the couch. "We should do it again."
"My back still hurts from sleeping on this," Regina said, patting the couch.
"I happen to have an excellent bed," Emma promised. She shifted to face Regina with one leg tucked under her and then guided the brunette's back towards her, hands immediately going to soothe the ache. Regina closed her eyes, focusing solely on Emma's touch. "Just sleeping tonight, though," Emma added, voice somewhere between teasing and serious. "No funny business."
"You're the one who keeps touching me," Regina pointed out.
"I'm helping," Emma protested.
"You really are," Regina said, and wondered why she'd never gotten a massage from Emma before.
True to their word, they stuck to sleeping once they'd changed in their respective rooms and settled into Emma's bed. There was just one long, lingering kiss, and then Emma tucked herself up against Regina's back, the worries of the day forgotten.
Being with Emma was surprisingly effortless. Nothing between them had ever been easy, but somehow this was. They moved naturally around each other as they went through their mornings. Emma insisted on having more pie for breakfast, while Regina made the more sensible choice of cereal, and they ate together on the couch, Emma's legs draped over Regina's lap.
"You don't always have to be so good, you know," Emma teased, offering a forkful of pie.
Regina channeled the queen, the mayor, into the look she gave the blonde. "I'm never good," she said, leaning in for a bite. And then plates and bowls were set aside and Emma was kissing her again.
"Meet me for lunch," Emma said as she left, somewhere between a request and a demand.
Regina certainly wasn't about to say no. The blonde closed the door behind her and Regina sat back, letting it sink in.
She'd kissed Emma Swan. Quite a lot. Why she'd waited this long she couldn't imagine. She should have done it the night they met, pinned Emma up against the wall of her study and kissed her hard. Or the morning she visited Emma at Granny's and the blonde was in just a tank top and panties.
But she hadn't seen it, not until Emma was almost gone, and there'd been evil to fight and a son to save and no time for something as silly as kissing.
Here and now, they were just Regina and Emma, no such nonsense between them, and it was beautiful.