Disclaimer: Is this really necessary? I've already established multiple times that I don't own any of it. :( Don't own Monsters Inc. either.
A/N: I'm so surprised at the number of reviews that this story has gotten! Thank you all so very much :) I also really appreciate all of the wonderful suggestions people have of how to kill Graham! Poor guy! I finally figured out what to do with the Sheriff, but he won't die for a while. Die Schreiberin, I liked your suggestion! Instead of killing Graham like that though, I'm gonna make a different character get in a car accident. ;) ShadowTeenGirl, I liked your suggestion too! I'm going to incorporate that idea later in the story. Alright. Thanks again to all of the readers/subscribers/reviewers! As always, if you had comments/complaints/suggestions/ideas, hit the blue letters at the bottom of the page!
Regina yawned and fluttered open her eyes. Oh my gosh. The thought of Emma kissing her crashed down on her suddenly, making her jolt wide awake. She held her hand to her cheek, still feeling the soft lips pressing against it. Down the hall, Emma was in a similar position, but she was holding her fingers to her lips, tracing them and remembering how it felt when she pressed them against Regina's warm silky skin. Damn. I can't believe I was brave enough to do that! And without the aid of alcohol! She scrunched into a tight ball before curling fast and threw her arms out to the side. "Ouch! That hurt!" Emma yelped, "I'm still stiff from our snowball fight yesterday!" Ignoring the momentary pain, she plastered a huge dopey smile on her face when she finally realized that she was falling hard for Regina.
Following her new morning routine, she walked across the hall to Regina's room and knocked. Bidding a shy good morning to Regina, she made her way to her closet and picked out jeans and a purple tee-shirt. Dressing quickly, she left Regina's room and made her way downstairs. Reaching the kitchen, Emma brewed some more coffee before pouring a cup for herself and one for Regina. Henry and Regina emerged a couple of moments later, the latter looking impeccable as ever in tight jeans and a simple blue shirt. Regina shivered slightly when she felt Emma's eyes raking over her body, and a course of desire rushed through her. She gave Emma a small smile and thankfully grabbed the coffee, enjoying it as the creamy liquid slid down her throat.
"So what are we going to do today?" Henry asked, sitting on a kitchen stool.
"Hmm, I don't know. Emma?" Regina said as she looked over at the blonde who had her elbows resting on the tabletop and her hands grasping the coffee mug.
Emma swallowed a gulp of coffee before responding, "Whatever you guys want to do is fine with me."
"I wanna play outside! The snow is melting fast!" Henry said, scraping back his stool and rushing to the window.
"Henry! Don't scrape it against the tile!" Regina scolded gently.
"Sorry Mom."
Regina's face relaxed as she too looked out of the window. He was right. The snow was melting, and Emma would be able to walk home today. Her magic couldn't last that long. She wanted to Emma to stay longer. Regina thought quickly.
"Emma," Regina slyly said, spinning around to pin Emma with a stare, "Would you like to bake today?"
"That sounds great Regina!" Emma beamed and stared straight back at her.
Regina raised an eyebrow and said, "Good."
"Henry, want to join us?" Emma asked, breaking the eye contact with Regina.
"No thanks. Like I said before, I'm going to make the most out of the remaining snow! Do you guys want to join me?"
"Kid, I'm still sore from yesterday!" Emma groaned, rubbing her arm.
"Me too," Regina echoed. Perfect. Just me and Emma for the morning.
"Fine. Spoil sports," Henry joked. He raced back upstairs to get ready before sprinting out the backdoor.
"He gets the energy from me," Emma chuckled as she watched her son romp around in the snow.
"Sure. Especially last night when you were knocked out on the couch," Regina teased back. She pretended to think, "Or possibly when you didn't have any energy to lift the snowball and you kept dropping it."
"That was strength-related!" Emma replied indignantly.
Regina just chuckled.
"So what are we gonna bake?" Emma quirked her eyebrow up.
"Cookies," Regina replied instantly.
"Sounds delicious, although I must admit, I'm rather bad at cooking," Emma admitted before adding, "But I rock at eating!"
"Knew that mouth was good for something," Regina gave her a smile to assure her that there was no intention of malice behind her words.
"Har har har," Emma said sarcastically.
"We're going to make chocolate chip cookies," Regina said, changing the subject.
"Yummy!"
Regina turned and got everything that they would need to bake them, and set it on the counter. Emma just shook her head when she saw that Regina had all of the necessary ingredients needed to make chocolate chip cookies. Figured. She is the mayor after all.
"Alright. First step?" Emma asked after she put her coffee mug in the dishwasher. And so it began, Regina and Emma working together in tandem as they chatted. Soon they had a gooey mixture, and they scooped and molded each spoonful they took into a sticky ball before setting it down on the pan. Regina popped them into the oven, setting the timer for 20 minutes.
"Well that was fun!" Emma exclaimed.
"You have some..." Regina gestured to her own cheek.
"What?" Emma quickly rubbed furiously on the side of her face, which only succeeded in wiping half of it under her eyes.
Regina shook her head before reaching over with her clean, manicured hands and gently brushed it away.
"Thanks," Emma mumbled. Then she got a sneaky grin on her face.
"What?" Regina asked.
Emma's response was to scoop up some remaining flour from the counter and throwing it in the mayor's face. Regina stood there open-mouthed while Emma smirked. She got a fiery look in her eyes and gathered some of the fine white powder in her hands before chucking it back in Emma's face. Oh it's on! Emma smirked again before flinging some back. The once-pristine kitchen was now covered with a fine layer of white powder. Both women were doubled over with laughter by now, clutching their stomachs.
"Ok! Truce truce!" Emma gasped, almost on her knees she couldn't breathe.
"Don't start something you can't finish," Regina said with a gleam in her eyes. She tossed one last puff of flour at Emma before relenting. Emma wiped tears from laughing so hard away from her eyes. She looked down at herself and whistled.
"I'm a mess!" she declared, trying to clean her hands off on her pants, which made it worse. "Oh my gosh Regina. I'm so sorry I ruined your pants!"
"It's fine Emma," Regina laughed, "I have tons."
She looked fondly at Emma who was still trying to rub the flour off of her pants, but to no avail. Regina slid over next to Emma-way closer than the acceptable arm-lengths apart.
"We can wash it off later," she murmured.
Emma looked up, her sea-green eyes connecting with dark chocolate-colored ones. Swallowing, Regina pushed a golden lock out of Emma's face and rested her hand on Emma's cheek. Emma relaxed, and sank her head into her hold, a sense of déjà vu overtaking her. This time though, there was no annoying clock to distract them. No Henry to interrupt them. Regina leaned in, inhaling the scent of coffee and lavender (soap from her bathroom). She closed her eyes and pressed her plump red lips to Emma's thinner, rose-colored ones. It was the perfect cliché. Sparks flew and they both gasped simultaneously. Emma threaded her long fingers through the brunette's hair and pulled her closer before clutching her hands around the nape of her neck. Regina rested her hands on Emma's back before sliding them down and settling them on her slim hips. The timer beeped, signaling that the cookies were done. The women broke away for air, both breathing heavily as they rested their foreheads on each other. The timer beeped again insistently, and Emma smiled at Regina before putting on oven mitts and taking the cookies out. Emma set the cookies on a cooling rack, and a pair of slim arms snaked around from behind and settled around her waist.
"Graham," Emma panted.
Regina felt an ice-cold fury flow through her and frowned. She could so easily end him... Emma was hers! Only hers! Emma quickly spun around and gave Regina a slight peck on the lips, not liking the look on her face.
"Don't worry. I'll break up with him," Emma responded, "I've never felt like this before," Emma didn't even care if she sounded corny. Usually Regina would've rolled her eyes at the sappiness, but with the mood she was in now, she simply felt her heart melt and she pulled Emma in again and resumed kissing her. Emma broke away, missing the scowl on Regina's face.
"Did you hear that?" Emma mumbled, intoxicated by the scent of apples.
"No," Regina practically growled, crushing her lips against Emma's, wanting to shut her up. It worked. She licked Emma's lips, begging for entrance that was soon granted. Their tongues danced around each other, and Emma moaned softly. Regina's lips were so soft!
Outside standing in the snow, Henry was watching them through the window, his brown eyes almost bulging out of his head. The sound that Emma thought she heard earlier was him gasping before clapping his hand over his mouth. He was on his way inside to warm up and had gotten the door half-way open before he absorbed the scene that was going on in front of him. His heart was thumping. Is this how the evil is vanquished? Gripped with a sudden fear, he felt that he must know the answer. One thing would tell him. Unfortunately, that thing was upstairs, hidden under his bed. Steeling himself, Henry burst through the back door, pretending not to notice Emma jump away from Regina, or Regina's sudden icy demeanor towards him. He stripped off his winter clothes, leaving him in his undershirt and sweatpants, and ran upstairs, shouting some garbled nonsense about how he had to go to the bathroom. Flipping the bedskirt up and crawling on his hands and knees, he found what he was searching for and pulled it out, blowing the dust off the cover. 'Once Upon a Time' the gold letters proudly stated. Henry thumbed through the pages until he reached the last one. It showed a picture of Emma and Regina kissing, both clad in white. His eyes jumped to the text below it. There was only two lines.
And the White Knight willingly gave the Evil Queen her heart. The evil diminished from the Queen and the darkness was lifted.
Sitting back on his heels, Henry's 10-year old brain frantically tried to comprehend what he'd just read. So the curse was...lifted? But nothing was happening. He was confused. Something was missing. But what? Was it Graham? Henry brewed for a while before remembering that he said that he was going to the bathroom. They'd probably think that he'd drowned in the toilet or something. Henry snorted. They were too absorbed in each other. Still, he'd probably better go back downstairs before they did think of him and came searching. He shoved the book back under his bed. I should be happy. My moms are getting their happy endings. And soon I will too. And with that thought stuck in his head, he made his way back downstairs to find that Emma and his mom were happily eating cookies and laughing.
"Hey guys," Henry coughed.
"Yes Henry?" Regina asked, licking off some chocolate on her fingers, not missing the transfixed gaze on Emma's face.
"Uh...I just wanted to tell you guys that I saw you kissing earlier, and I seriously don't mind you two together," Henry rushed when he saw the bright red blush on Emma's face, "And uh, I'm glad that my moms are happy."
"Aw. Thanks kid," Emma said, reaching out for him. He scrambled into her warm embrace, and felt Regina hug him from the other side. The three of them sat entwined like that for a while. They watched another movie that night, this time it was Monster's Inc. This time, Regina sat in the middle with Emma snuggled up against her, resting her curls on Regina's shoulder. They held hands for most of the movie, and Henry smiled when he saw them. He happily curled up on Regina's other side and focused his attention on the movie. The evening passed all too quickly, and Monday came. The snow was almost all melted, and Emma found herself wanting to stay forever and ever. However, she had more urgent matters to attend to; such as telling her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend that she found love with her ex-arch-nemesis. She snorted as she walked, imagining the conversation. (Emma declined Regina's offer of driving her home because she wanted time to think.)
Yes Graham. I found a new partner. You know Regina? The uptight mayor of this town? Yes. She's the one who adopted my son. What's that? Oh yes. I know we've fought ever since I got here, but you know what they say! There's a fine line between love and hate.
Yes. That'll go well. Emma wore Regina's clothes again after Regina insisted.
"Ms. Swan. You'll have to come back to return them," Regina said with a wink.
Taking a deep breath, she walked to Mary Margaret's first, fully intending to tell her everything that happened over the weekend.
A/N: I absolutely love baking with somebody else, and I thought it might be a good setting for a first kiss. And the flour fight was hopefully playful and (kind of) romantic at the same time. I was SO excited to make them kiss finally! :) Hopefully I did ok at building up their relationship before making them kiss. I wanted to make sure that Emma had plenty of reasons to fall in love with Regina and not the Sheriff. (Next chapter, the poor sheriff will get an unpleasant shock.) Thanks again!
