A/N: I love the idea of SwanQueen spooning! I mean, who doesn't right?
Regina stirred as she slowly woke up. Opening her eyes, she frowned as she realised her face was buried in straw. Very soft straw. That smelled fruity. Her breath hitched. Emma.
Regina froze as she registered her body's current position. Her hand was resting against warm, soft, toned skin. Emma's stomach. Her breasts were pressed close against a muscled back. Emma's back. Her left leg was wedged between two more slender legs. Emma's legs. A warm, damp heat radiated against her upper thigh. Emma's heat.
Lying stock still, Regina tried to gauge whether Emma was awake yet. The blonde's breathing seemed deep and rhythmic. Regina let out a sigh of relief.
Very slowly, Regina lifted her hand away from Emma's stomach and pulled her arm back from around the narrow waist. Emma didn't stir. Wriggling slowly backwards, Regina moved her face away from the mass of blonde locks covering Emma's pillow. Tentatively, she began to slide her leg free. Emma snuffled in her sleep, her left knee bending slightly. Regina stopped her movement, waiting for the smooth skin to stop sliding delectably against her own. When Emma settled once more, Regina continued to inch her thigh out from between the blonde's.
Finally, she managed it. Rolling away and back to her own side of the bed, Regina tried to still her racing heart. After a few moments, she got up and headed to the bathroom.
Emma cracked an eye open and watched Regina leave. Smiling, she pulled the blankets further around her, replacing the loss of Regina's warmth with the less satisfying fabric. She had never been more glad of her bizarre ability to feign sleep so well.
"How much further?" Emma grumbled, trudging along behind Regina through a forest of dead trees.
"Not far," the brunette tossed over her shoulder without looking back. "We've almost reached the mountain ridge and then it's all downhill."
Emma sighed and ducked her head down, focusing on the uneven forest floor below. She had learnt her lesson earlier and the cut on her knee reminded her every step of what happened if she didn't concentrate on where she was putting her feet. Regina had offered to heal the wound but Emma refused, still distrustful of magic.
"Need a pick-me-up, love?" Hook asked, sidling up beside Emma as she scrambled over a fallen tree.
She looked scathingly at the proffered hip flask. "No thanks," she replied before turning and continuing the walk.
Hook sighed exasperatedly. He never usually had this much trouble wooing women. Perhaps it was something to do with her being from another realm, he mused as he swigged some rum before pulling himself over the tree.
"Hook."
The man turned around at the hushed whisper.
"Cora?" he asked, eyebrows raised as he saw the woman standing in the centre of the path, hands clasped and looking calmly at him. He glanced quickly at the two women but both were walking stoically ahead. "What are you doing here?"
"I came for an update," she said simply. "I looked for you at the beanstalk last night but it seems you've surpassed even my expectations."
Hook nodded before stepping off the path and gesturing for Cora to follow him deeper into the woods where they would be out of sight of the women should they turn around.
"Regina allowed me to accompany them back to a cottage she's magicked into existence last night," Hook explained.
"A cottage?" Cora frowned. "Where?"
"I don't know," Hook admitted. "She transported us with magic. I didn't recognised the area. The trees were all dead though, like they are here, and there was a blackened scorch mark on a big rock."
"And now?" Cora asked, moving on from the description of a place she didn't recognise.
"Lake Nostos," Hook admitted. He knew the Queen would be aware of the lake's magical properties and there was no point lying about it.
"They found a bean?" Cora asked.
Hook nodded. "Emma has it."
"Then there's no time to waste," Cora said, turning back to the path and following her daughter.
"What are you doing?" Hook asked, hurrying to catch up.
"I need to get to the lake before Regina," Cora explained. "Can you stall them for me?"
"Why?" Hook asked.
"Because I need to be the one going through that portal, not Regina. I need to go to this other land, find her son and bring him back here. If she goes through, I'll lose her all over again."
A cold hook caught Cora's arm. The Queen gasped and turned.
"Unhand me at once!" she snarled.
"On one condition," the pirate menaced. "Let me come through with you."
"Why?" Cora asked, confused.
"Rumplestiltskin is in their land," he said through gritted teeth. "I've been searching for him for two hundred years. It's time I avenged Milah's death."
Cora regarded the man before her. "Fine," she answered after a moment. "Hurry on ahead and persuade those two to stop for lunch. I can't transport myself by magic on this mountain but if I can overtake them I can set up an ambush at the lake."
Hook nodded once and set off at a brisk pace. He didn't care what Cora had to do, he didn't care who he had to work with, as long as he got to whichever land the cowardly Rumplestiltskin was hiding in.
"Where's Hook?" Emma asked, glancing over her shoulder as she reached the brow of the hill.
Regina paused on the other side of the hill. "Is he not following us?" she asked.
Emma shook her head.
"He's probably fallen down drunk somewhere," Regina sighed as she sat on a rock.
"Do we have to wait for him?" Emma asked as she walked to sit beside the brunette. "He's creepy."
Regina laughed. "We do if you want some lunch," she reminded her. "Creepy as he is, he did at least offer to carry the sandwiches I made."
"I would have done that," Emma grumbled just as her stomach did the same thing. "I hope he hurries up."
Regina laughed again. "I'm sure he's not far behind. He's probably just drowning his sorrows."
"What sorrows?" Emma asked.
Regina rolled her eyes. "Do you not see the way he looks at you?" Regina asked. "I've never seen a more lovestruck pirate in my life."
"Oh please," Emma scoffed. "I would hardly describe his leering as lovestruck."
"You're right," Regina conceded. "It's too lecherous. He looks at you like you're a piece of meat," she spat.
Emma raised her eyebrow at the tone but decided to say nothing. Or almost nothing.
"So, did you sleep well last night?" the blonde asked. She had been itching to tease the brunette about the position they had both awoken in that morning.
Regina turned away before answering, looking down the path in a desperate attempt to prevent Emma from seeing the blush now colouring her cheeks. "Yes."
"And I didn't snore?" Emma asked, knowing the answer.
"No."
"And I didn't steal all the blankets? I'm kinda known for doing that."
"No, I was warm enough."
"True, snuggling is always cosy."
Regina's head whipped around to stare wide eyed at the blonde. "Snuggling?" she asked.
Emma nodded, grinning widely as she watched Regina's cheeks darken further.
"I don't snuggle," Regina defended. "I'm the Evil Queen."
"Firstly, I thought you hated that name," Emma began. "And secondly, what else would you call wrapping your arm around me and burying your face in my hair?"
Regina spluttered for a moment. Emma grinned wider. She was enjoying the older woman's discomfort immensely.
"It-, I was-, we … we were asleep," Regina said at last.
Emma raised an eyebrow and looked appraisingly at Regina. "Are you sure that's all it was?" she asked.
Regina opened and closed her mouth several times. Emma bit the inside of her cheek, trying to stop herself corpsing but it was no good. After a few seconds of Regina's goldfish impression, Emma let out a roar of laughter, throwing her head back and chuckling deeply. Regina glowered at the blonde, her heart still racing.
"I'm kidding, Regina," Emma said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "You were asleep. You can't control it if you get cold and your body sought out the closest heat source. I know you didn't mean to do it. It's not like you're gay or anything."
"Of course I'm not," Regina spat, standing up from the rock and moving back up the path to look for the hairy pirate.
Emma watched her go, still laughing.
"Where have you been?" Regina barked moments later as Hook rounded the corner.
"Personal business," he shrugged as he reached her. "Did you ladies miss me?" he asked, winking at Emma.
The blonde rolled her eyes. "We're hungry," she explained. "And you have the sandwiches."
Hook looked slightly disappointed but took the knapsack from his shoulder and passed it to the blonde. Emma opened it immediately and handed out the food before greedily tucking into her own.
Regina tutted. "No manners," she muttered as she unwrapped her food and took a small bite.
"It's a compliment," Emma said through a mouthful of bread and meat. "Your cooking is just that good. How early did you wake to stew an entire lamb leg?" she asked.
"Well judging from our previous conversation, I'd say you know exactly what time I got up," Regina quipped.
Emma grinned and nodded. Hook looked confusedly between the two women but got distracted as he noticed a flurry of movement behind them. Realising it was Cora sneaking through the dense forest to get ahead of the little group, Hook hurriedly engaged the women in conversation so they wouldn't hear the Queen's footsteps or turn around and see her.
"So in this new world, there isn't any magic?" Hook asked.
"There wasn't," Regina said, "but when the curse broke, Rumplestiltskin managed to bring some over. It's different there and I didn't have a chance to fully understand it before someone," she looked sideways at Emma, "tripped and fell into a portal."
"Hey, I didn't ask you to follow me," Emma defended.
"And what would I have said to Henry if I had let you go to the Enchanted Forest alone?" Regina countered.
"That you finally succeeded in running me out of town?" Emma suggested.
"I never wanted you to fall into an abyss," Regina huffed.
"You poisoned an apple turnover to put me in a sleep that would last a hundred years," Emma pointed out.
"But you didn't eat it," Regina said.
"No, Henry did," Emma shot back.
Regina narrowed her eyes, the memory of her son lying on the hospital bed flashing into her mind. She placed her sandwich back in its wrapper and stood up, walking a little way back up the path and into the forest.
Hook watched her go, confused. At least the argument had distracted them from Cora's movements. He knew by now she must have reached the path further down.
"What was that about?" he nosed, turning to Emma.
"Shut up, Hook," Emma spat as she shoved the last of her sandwich into her mouth and stood to follow Regina.
"Women," Hook muttered as he sat on the rock and took another swig of rum.
"I'm sorry," Emma said as she settled herself beside Regina once more. The two of them sat on the flat rock, looking straight ahead. "I know you didn't mean to hurt Henry."
Regina wiped her eyes and took a deep breath before turning to look at Emma. "I never wanted anything to happen to Henry," she said. "I was just scared. Scared of the curse breaking. Scared of losing Henry to you. Scared that the perfect world I'd created was about to come crashing down."
"You're never going to lose Henry to me," Emma assured the older woman, placing a hand on Regina's leather clad knee. "He has two mothers. He loves us both. Kids can do that, you know."
Regina smiled weakly. "I know," she nodded. "I just never got the chance to explain to him why I did everything before …" She trailed off.
"Before I tripped and pulled us into a portal," Emma finished for her. "I'm sorry for that too. I never meant for you to follow me."
"You saved me," Regina shrugged. "You knocked me out of the way of that wraith. I figured I owed you."
"And look how well that worked out," Emma laughed, gesturing to the forest surrounding them.
"Well, you're the Saviour, not me," Regina pointed out.
"I'm no Saviour," Emma remarked.
"Are you sure about that?" Regina asked. "You fought a dragon. You broke the curse. You saved our son. You got the magic bean from a giant that will take us home."
Emma nodded slowly. "I was lucky," she shrugged.
"Or maybe you're not giving yourself enough credit," the brunette said, nudging Emma's shoulder. "You defeated me after all."
"I didn't defeat you," Emma said. "You didn't need to be defeated. You needed to be loved."
"Maybe that will happen one day too," Regina mused, turning away from the blonde and looking into the dark forest.
"It already has," Emma murmured. When Regina whipped her head back around, her eyes wide, Emma elaborated. "Henry."