"If you're asking, I can't say no. Just one more chapter, our book won't close. And I know it's madness to play these odds. It's like giving matches to paper dolls." ~Dessa
…
A panicked rush of emotion invaded Regina's body and her mind whirred as she looked at Emma, thinking. Then she tried not to think, that damn book was going to have a field day with this decision. Emma was just lying on the couch looking so hopeful and so inviting. Her mouth practically watered as she felt the temptation to ease in next to Emma and allow herself to be surrounded by that tantalizing sense of security she freely offered. It was aggravating, and Regina automatically started making justifications and rationalizations in her head for how it was entirely necessary that she cuddle up for a second night in a row.
Emma let her head roll back and she closed her eyes, wearing a slightly pained expression, "You're thinking about what the book will say, aren't you?"
Regina couldn't deny it, "I just don't want a false story to appear. Last night, I simply fell asleep on you, and it was so cold we could have suffered from hypothermia, but tonight… the heat is functioning sufficiently and I'm not about to accidentally nod off, so there's really no conceivable reason for me to sleep here."
Emma detected a hint of disappointment in Regina's tone and opened her mouth to argue, but stopped before saying what was on her mind. She almost said that Regina could crawl in next to her and they could cuddle together because they simply wanted to, but she honestly wasn't sure what Regina was feeling. Maybe she didn't want that at all and Emma was suddenly struck by the thought that she was being very presumptuous asking.
Perhaps she was trying to gently let Emma down by blaming the book for her rationale. Regina had a big comfortable bed upstairs that she could have all to herself, it was dumb to think that she would want to be crammed onto the much narrower couch all night and share it with another person. She just couldn't shake the feeling that their date wasn't all that false, but maybe Regina was a better actress than she was.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed anything. You've already done so much for me tonight and I don't want to bother you anymore," Emma covered her eyes with her forearm and bit her lip.
Regina sighed, looking at the clock and then her eyes darted to the drawer of her desk where she kept the book locked in. Her cheeks heated and she wrung her hands together, trying to think of a response that would sound neutral. "Is there anything else you need before I go upstairs?"
Emma's eyes popped open, the pain in her ankle had dulled and was now just an annoying ever present ache. She noticed how nervous Regina looked, "Do you want to read the book now and see if it chronicled our…date?"
"I do," Regina looked at her hands; she rocked on her heels, feeling uncomfortable hovering over Emma. She hated feeling like she wanted to see what it said, but she was also dreading it. She tried to think about the sequence of events of the evening and prepare herself, but it proved too daunting, "but I think we should wait until the morning."
"Yeah, that's probably best," Emma winced and asked softly, "Can you help me make it to the bathroom before you go to bed?"
"I suppose," Regina agreed relieved to have something to do that delayed their parting. She helped Emma swing her leg down and sit up. Then she stood in front of her, helping her balance and pulling her up. Emma flung her arm over Regina's shoulders and they hopped slowly down the hall to the bathroom door, "I trust you can take it from here?"
"Maybe," Emma joked as she disappeared inside. Trying to shimmy her tight skinny jeans down her legs while trying not to fall or put pressure on her foot was more of a challenge then she anticipated, but she managed. She splashed some water on her face and looked in the mirror. Why did she feel so disappointed?
They made their way back to the sofa and Emma sat back down, while Regina situated her foot. She unfolded a blanket and spread it over her. She smiled and crossed the room to turn out the light, and her heart felt heavy and deprived.
"Good night, Emma."
"Goodnight," an overwhelming sense that this is not how their night was supposed to end hit her like a Mack truck. A vision enveloped her mind's eye of Regina cautiously slipping in next to her and Emma wrapping her arms around her, accompanied by a blissful feeling that evaporated as quickly as it overcame her. "Regina, wait!"
"What is it?" Regina rushed back to her side in the darkness, just making out Emma's silhouette as she sat up. She then took a fumbling step backwards, embarrassed by how quickly she responded as if she was desperate for any reason to stay.
"Um, what if I have to go pee again? Or I fall off the couch and can't get up, or I need some water or more ibuprofen?"
"Oh…"
"What if I need you?"
The question soothed the brunette's mind, and she smiled in the darkness, and directed her voice toward the desk as if the book was listening to their conversation, "Those are valid concerns…I should probably stay and prevent you from maiming yourself further during the night."
Emma nodded emphatically, scooting over to make room and holding back the blanket. She added a bit louder than necessary, "I have a weak bladder."
Regina cautiously slipped in next to her, easing under the blanket, and Emma wrapped her arms around her like a koala clinging to a branch of Eucalyptus. Her nose pushed into Regina's hair and she thought about how earthy and fresh she smelled as a blissful feeling encompassed her. It took Regina a moment to release her mind and let her body relax. Her heart was pounding as if she shouldn't be doing this, but her need to be near Emma was rapidly becoming some sort of addiction.
"Are you okay?" Emma murmured softly, letting her lips lightly brush Regina's scalp, which sent a thrilling shiver down Regina's back.
"I'm fine now," Regina answered, feeling herself drifting closer to sleep. She absently patted Emma's bare arm, and left her palm to linger there, running up and down the nicely toned expanse of shoulder muscles and triceps. Emma felt the caress, but didn't say anything to call attention to it, in the same way that Regina didn't say anything about Emma sniffing her hair.
The night passed without incident, and both women slept soundly and Regina awoke in the morning knowing she had been dreaming, but she couldn't remember what about. Her body apparently remembered the dream as she felt aroused. As she stretched lightly and regained her wits she discovered both her hands were trapped under Emma's tank top touching her stomach. The blonde's hands were still wrapped around her, but instead of loosely encircling her back, they had drifted south and she felt them firmly holding her butt. She heard Emma moan softly in her sleep and a pleasant pang of arousal tickled her nerve endings.
Fully awake, a new feeling rose in her belly: fear. She untangled herself from Emma; slowly sliding her hands down Emma's stomach and then reaching back to pry the woman's hands off of her ass. She pulled back the blanket and broke free of their cuddle cocoon. It felt like a shock to the system to pull away, but she shook off the almost physically painful feeling at the loss of contact and busied her mind by checking Emma's ankle. The swelling appeared to have subsided. She stole a glance at Emma who now looked discontent and restless in sleep.
Emma had been having the best dream, and then it ended. She had been with Regina, she was certain of that much, but then she disappeared. Emma was frantically searching snow covered fields looking for her. She started to wake up in frustration, angry that her search was cut short. Then another sensation started to come over her.
Regina circled her hand over the injury and concentrated on healing it, a golden stream of light floated from Regina's hand and was absorbed by Emma's ankle effectively healing it. Emma felt a warm tingle imbued with an intense sexual vibe spread from her ankle and up through her whole body.
Her eyes popped open and she looked at her foot, flexing it and rolling it without pain. The blanket fell from Emma's shoulders down to her lap and Regina's eyes focused on Emma's chest, specifically the hardened peaks of her nipples pushing in relief against her tight tank top. Regina swallowed and blinked rapidly, licking her lips and forcing a smile. "All better."
"Yeah, mmm," Emma moaned breathily, "You fixed my ankle…" She tried to rid herself of the coursing tendrils of lust spreading through her limbs and focus on reality.
"Tell me again why you couldn't use magic to fix it last night?" Emma yawned and lifted her arms to stretch, drawing Regina's gaze to her enticing torso and the lovely curves of her chest.
"Um…hmm?" Regina stuttered, remembering the question with a bit of a delay, "Oh, well, magic has very specific and peculiar rules that are often times seemingly arbitrary. What works one day might not work the next."
"How convenient," Emma commented, nodding her head. "It's like someone is just making the rules up as they go along."
"At least you're no longer in need of my constant assistance," Regina fought to keep the smile on her face, realizing that they were truly out of flimsy excuses to spend any more nights together.
Emma took a breath and stood up, "Yeah, hmm…so have you checked the book yet?"
"No, I'm not certain I want to read the interpretation of us," Regina feared the book would betray her thoughts and feelings. Part of her was afraid there would be nothing, but blank pages.
"Well, I do. Let's get it over with," the blonde walked across the room and retrieved the storybook, looking at it like Happy Gilmore looked at a golf ball 1 inch from the hole. "Shall we see if our experiment worked?"
They settled back on the couch, each holding a side of the book and Emma turned to where their last story had unfolded. Being a visual person, she flipped past the picture of them eating Chinese food on the couch and through the pages of text. There was indeed a new chapter in the book, titled "The Second Date: Mission Fate."
Emma's eyes widened as she read the title and flipped the page, while Regina sat stiffly by. The illustration was a composite of four images from their evening. The first was Regina and Emma on the sled at the bottom of the hill, Regina leaning into Emma's chest, her hands on her thighs, while they gazed at one another and smiled. The second showed them standing in the middle of the frozen pond, holding one another up and also gazing at each other. The third portrayed Regina and Henry kneeling over Emma right after her injury. The final image showed Regina and Emma standing in a snowy field: kissing passionately.
"I don't remember that part from last night, and those painkillers weren't that good," Emma leaned closer as Regina ran a finger over the image as if she was checking that it was really there on the page.
"How the hell did that happen?" she rolled her shoulders back and snatched the book from Emma, flipping back to the beginning and scanning through the story.
"Read it out loud," Emma urged, bumping her shoulder. She was dying to know why the book showed them kissing.
"No," Regina hissed, her face sporting an angry scowl as she took in the clunky fairytale language that the book was so fond of writing in, but then she read the first sentence:
"The Queen and the Savior concocted a plan to seal their fate together…" Regina paused, "This foolish book already misinterpreted our plan from the very beginning!"
She read on, "The Queen spent her day planning and preparing for the date, and the Savior eagerly anticipated spending time with The Queen and their son, Henry, he who has the heart of the truest believer…"
"Get to the good stuff," Emma insisted, "go to the part where we were ice skating."
Regina flipped over to the next page and something caught her eye, "The book says I make the second best big pretzels in all the lands. That is a blatant lie. I know that I make the best pretzels…"
"That's what you're concerned about: that the book doesn't like your pretzels?" Emma laughed heartily, as Regina glared and moved the book away from Emma's view.
She continued to read: "The Queen found the Savior's novice attempt at skating and her resulting clumsiness adorable. She relished the opportunity to hold her hand and guide her around the ice. They raced around the pond, gaining confidence and comfort until they ran out of breath and abruptly stopped to hold each other close under the moonlight."
"You think I'm adorable?" Emma beamed, grinning widely and flipping her hair over her shoulder to preen.
"It doesn't say that I think you are adorable, it said that I found your pathetic attempt at skating adorable. You don't need to twist things more than they already are," Regina blushed and found her place on the page.
"The Queen felt a sudden and insistent need to study the Savior's face, finding her even more adorable with her frost red cheeks and oversized stocking cap…"
"That's the second time in two paragraphs that you've found me adorable," Emma smiled wider indulging in her certainty that Regina did in fact, find her unbelievably cute.
Regina only half heard Emma as she read the next sentence silently, "The Queen chastised herself for wondering what it would feel like to kiss her."
Slamming the book shut, she stood up and placed it back in the desk drawer, locking it roughly.
"Hey, why are you putting the book in timeout…are you really that upset about your pretzels? Or the fact that I am so adorable even a metaphysical entity recognizes my charms?" Emma stood up and tried to read the brunette's dark expression.
"I just think that I've read enough for now," Regina pushed past without looking at her, "you must be famished. Shall I make some breakfast before you're on your way, Ms. Swan?"
Alarm bells sounded in Emma's head. Regina hadn't addressed her as 'Ms. Swan' for months. It was a sure sign she was distancing herself and that was the last thing that Emma wanted. She still hadn't gotten to know why the book showed the two women kissing. Knowing Regina well enough not to argue at this point, Emma decided she had better quickly take her up on that breakfast offer before she was shown the door.
"Yeah, sure, I could eat," she glanced back at the desk and rubbed her forehead as she followed Regina to the kitchen. She was going to get to the bottom of this sooner or later.
