As the shoreline came into view, resplendent with waving people and crude banners, Regina felt her stomach sink to her feet. The helicopter landed with ease, and a throng came rushing toward them. Regina looked pointedly at Emma, no smile gracing her lips. Emma returned the stare unbroken, until the door flew open.
"Regina!" Robin yelled, holding his hand out for her to take. He pulled her down in to a bear hug, laughing and crying and lifting her up and down. "I knew you were alive. I knew it," he repeated it, unable to let go of her. Regina hugged him back, but she knew the intensity that should have been there was missing.
"Swan," Killian drawled, his cocky smile firmly in place. "I missed you, love." He reached in for a hug, which Emma returned, before backing up slowly.
"Thank you everyone, this really wasn't necessary. We've had a hell of a week, but we're ok. I appreciate the festivities, but I'd really just like to get home and soak in a steaming bathtub for a while. Thank you again," Emma said, shaking hands with the resort owner, nodding to her acquaintances, and waving at Killian, who looked both confused and hurt.
Emma looked over at Regina, who was standing next to Robin with his arm slung over her shoulder. He was in a full conversation with someone on the resort staff, who was promising them a free vacation in the future. Regina was stoic, clutching onto her bag with a wan smile plastered on her face. Emma caught her eye and shot her a watery smile before turning to make her way home.
OoO
The suite was even more beautiful than Regina remembered. She stepped out of the shower into a fluffy robe while towel drying her hair. She glanced at the mirror, her reflection the same except for a few scratches and a bruise here and there. But she wasn't the same. Something felt very different, very off, and knew it was entirely due to Emma. But she also knew that probably wasn't real. People did lots of things in desperate situations that they wouldn't normally do.
"Hey sweetie," Robin said brightly, motioning toward a small round table, filled with elegant dishes provided by room service. "I assumed you would be famished."
Regina smiled her appreciation and took a seat at the table. She bit into a perfectly cooked piece of filet, and let in melt in her mouth. "Robin? Have you ever had Beefaroni?"
"Beef-a-what?"
"Beefaroni. It's a canned pasta by Chef Boyardee."
Robin laughed heartily. "Canned pasta? I'd rather eat a cow pie."
Regina nodded. "That's what I thought."
OoO
Emma sat on her small deck, reclined in a beach chair. Freshly showered and full of cheeseburger and fries, she cracked open a beer. She looked out at the horizon, wondering what sort of things were happening on Remma Island, which she had privately and affectionately taken to calling it. Nothing, she knew. The remnants of their camp would still be sitting there, untouched and unaltered. Maybe a small animal would nest in their rubber boat, maybe not. Their rubber boat. Emma felt a flutter of butterflies when those images burrowed their way into her head.
Back on the mainland, Emma could safely say that she was, doubtlessly, in love with Regina. Now she just had to work on accepting the fact that nothing could really come of it; they were oceans apart, literally and figuratively.
OoO
"Went for a walk. Be back soon," Regina scrawled on a piece of hotel paper and left on the nightstand next to Robin. He had been understanding when she told him she wasn't in the mood for intimacy; she just needed a good night's sleep in a comfortable bed. She left out the fact that the silly rubber raft had provided more comfort than she had ever experienced before.
Walking up the moonlit path to Emma's cabin, Regina could feel her heartbeat quicken and her mind begin to race. What was she doing? There was no favorable outcome, and there was no easy decisions. Every possibility came with a hefty price.
"Hey," Emma called down from her deck, leaning forward. She could only make out a shadowed figure walking toward her.
"Hi," Regina answered, stepping lightly up onto the deck.
"Hi!" Emma brightened, a grin spreading over her lips. "How did you find me?"
"You are my beacon of light. I will always find you," Regina answered, expression serious.
Emma smirked. "Seriously?"
Regina smiled. "I asked the bartender if he knew where you lived. It wasn't hard to find."
"Sit, please," Emma said, brushing sand off the beach chair next to her. "It's um…good to see you." Emma looked down at her beer bottle, not sure if it was her fourth or fifth.
"I don't really know why I'm here," Regina began, fiddling with the loose arm of the chair. "I had to see you. Everything feels different now."
Emma nodded. "I know."
"So what do we do?" Regina asked, a humorless laugh escaping her throat. She looked at Emma, the way the moonlight shadowed her hair, added a silver hue to her eyes. In that moment, Regina honestly believed she had never beheld such beauty.
After a long pause, Emma cleared her throat. "I don't think there's anything we can do. I have feelings for you, Regina, I can't deny that. But I live an uncomplicated life. I've strived for that for a very long time. I do as I please, I answer to no one, and I'm comfortable. And you. You have an important job in the city, a boyfriend who clearly cares for you, and this…hunger for more, which I honestly don't share. I'm happy right where I am." Emma looked out at the uneasy waves of the shoreline, never once meeting Regina's eyes.
Regina willed back the tears that threatened to fall. "Basically what you're saying is why complicate things? We're both perfectly fulfilled with the way things are and there is no need to muddy the waters. Ok then. Your position is clear." Regina ben to stand, but Emma put a hand on her to still her.
"You're making it sound clinical. And it's not. I just don't see how we could make this work. Are you going to move here? Give up everything and become my co-pilot? Or get a job as a waitress in the hotel bar? Can you see me moving to New York? Wearing a business suit every day and fetching the office lunch order? We're so different, Regina. When we were on the island, it was like this amazing…break from reality. We could be who we are, together, without any outside influence. But reality isn't as forgiving." Emma wiped at her eyes, wondering why she was trying to talk them out of this when all she wanted to do was reach across and sweep Regina into her arms, feel her lips and her body and lose herself all over again.
Regina sniffed. "You're right, Emma. You're right. It was a fling based on our circumstances. One of us has to be level-headed, so I'm glad you decided to take that on. I have to go before Robin wakes up and comes looking for me." Regina stood, without hindrance from Emma this time. "Thank you. You've opened my eyes to a lot of things. I can honestly say I will never forget you." Regina leaned down and wrapped her arms around Emma's upper body. She could feel the salty tracks make their way down her cheeks, but she stifled them as best she could. "Take care, Emma."
Trying not to run, Regina made her way down the stairs and back onto the path before she allowed her emotions to flow freely. She hadn't expected any grand declarations of love, or promises of forever, but…maybe she had.
Once she got back to her hotel room, she began swiftly packing all of her belongings into her expensive luggage. Robin opened his eyes, and sat up to see what she was doing.
"Regina? It's late, what are you doing?" he asked, wiping at his eyes to see the digital numbers on the bedside clock.
"I want to go home. I'd like to leave first thing in the morning."
"The resort has offered us an extended stay for free. You don't want to take advantage of that?"
Regina could hear the snip in her voice, but did nothing to stop it. "No. I don't. I want to leave."
"Ok," Robin said, rubbing his hand through the scruff on his face. "We can head to the airport in the morning and switch our flights. Why do you want to leave so badly?"
"Because I was stranded on a desert fucking island for a week, and I'd like to get home to my own bed and my own things and my own life. Make sense?"
Robin nodded, knowing not to poke the bear. No good could come of that.
