A/N: You can find me on Tumblr as Delirious-Comfort if you want to yell at me for the somewhat short chapter! :)


Emma groaned as she woke up and rolled over. "Motherfucker," she yelled loudly as she fell on the floor.

Regina snorted before moving over to Emma and looked down at her, "Forgot you were on the couch?"

"Yeah," Emma pouted as she took the hand Regina extended to help her back up on her feet. "You're not allowed to snort, I have a concussion. It's not the polite thing to do," Emma pointed out as she folded up the blanket.

"For someone who was so adamant that she didn't have concussion, you're really milking the situation now," Regina smirked. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I just fell off the couch," Emma sighed. "Other than that, I'm okay."

Regina smiled at her, "Dinner isn't quite ready yet, I thought you would be asleep for at least another hour."

"I probably would have been if you hadn't put me on the couch instead of the bed," Emma huffed. "Honestly, sleeping on a couch, what were you thinking?"

Regina arched an eyebrow as she looked Emma over, "Did you wake up with a temper? Or are you embarrassed because you fell off the couch?"

"Neither. It was just a rude awakening."

"Good, because I honestly don't know how I'd deal with a cranky house guest."

"Seriously?" Emma growled as she crossed her arms, "Well now I am cranky."

"Just like that?"

"What did you expect? If you tell someone they can't have a cookie, they are going to want a cookie. If you tell me I can't be cranky, I get cranky."

Regina snorted, "Would you like a cookie instead?"

"It's not funny."

"I disagree," Regina said casually as she sat back down in her chair and continued reading her book.

Emma growled as she sat down on the couch and pulled her knees up. The rational part of her knew she was acting childish, but the irrational part of her couldn't care less. If she wanted to be cranky, she damn well would be and no one was going to stop her. She smirked at her train of thought before looking over at Regina. "What's for dinner?"

"Definitely not cookies," Regina murmured.

"Oh my god," Emma hissed as she threw Regina a deadly glare. "Are you in Domme mode again?"

Regina looked up and smiled sweetly, "If I were and you'd be displaying the same attitude as you were now .. You would be doing some serious begging right now as you would be over my lap and I would spank the crankiness right out of you." Her smile turned into a teeth baring grin before she lowered her head and focused on her book again.

Emma gulped as a flush crept up her neck. "Whatever," she muttered as she looked out the window.

"You definitely wouldn't be 'whatever-ing' me," Regina mused.

"Stop it."

"I do believe you started it," Regina sighed as she closed her book and turned her attention to Emma. "Close your eyes."

"I'm not playing that game with you again."

"It's not a game. I'll be sitting right here. Close your eyes. I have some questions for you," Regina said calmly as she crossed her legs and waited for Emma to close her eyes.

"I can answer your questions with my eyes open," Emma argued.

"You are more honest when your eyes are closed, because you don't feel the need to impress me as much. So please, close your eyes."

"Fine," Emma mumbled as she closed her eyes and rested against the back of the couch.

"What were you most afraid of as a child?" Regina sat up straighter before she continued, "I don't mean things like spiders. I mean, when you were in the company of others, adults, what were you most afraid of?"

Emma inhaled sharply as her jaws clenched, "That I would look weak to them."

"What does it mean to be weak?"

"When you cannot take care of yourself, when you need others to take care of you." Emma sighed heavily, "I didn't want them to think that I needed them to survive."

Regina nodded, "What do you do when you feel weak?"

Emma frowned, "What do you mean?"

"How do you behave when you don't feel strong? When it appears that you might need someone else to take care of you?"

"I lash out and push people away."

Regina smiled softly, "What would happen if you let someone take care of you?"

"They would see that I'm not a strong person and they would use it to their advantage. It would come back and bite me in the ass later."

"Is this why you're lashing out at me?"

Emma's eyes shot open as she looked straight into Regina's eyes before adverting her own eyes as she quietly said, "I suppose so."

"Close your eyes." She waited for Emma to close them before she spoke again. "When is the last time you felt truly safe?"

Emma bit her lip, she didn't want to answer that question. She knew very well when she had felt completely safe and it was a sensation that she was not familiar with. "I don't want to say," she murmured.

"That's okay. You don't have to. Answer me this instead, aside from me hugging you the other day, when was the last time you let someone close enough to give you a hug. Or even a cuddle? When's the last time you let down your guard, Emma?" Regina wanted to move over to Emma when she saw a tear roll down her cheek, but she knew it would be a gesture that would not be appreciated.

"I don't think I ever have," Emma said quietly and angrily wiped away her tears.

"Why did Kathryn sent you here?"

Emma frowned at the question, Regina already knew the answer to that. "Holiday time."

"Emma," Regina warned.

"Because I needed a break."

"Good girl. Why did you need a break?"

"Because I'm tired, tired of fixing things for everyone else when I feel broken myself. I'm not strong enough."

"On the contrary," Regina offered. "I think you're one of the strongest people I've ever met."

Emma scoffed, "Then you don't know me very well."

"I think I do. I think a part of you is aching for someone to take care of you, but you are scared to be seen as vulnerable. I think you are fighting certain cravings because you're afraid I will think you're weak. You're not weak, Emma."

Emma didn't know what to say, so she shrugged. She knew Regina was right, but actually hearing out loud coming from someone else's mouth wasn't something she had expected to hear.

"I have a proposition for you," Regina said carefully. "You can think about it for as long as you like. For the next hour, you don't have to say another word and I will not say another word either. If you want, you can come sit here on the floor by me. I will not judge you and when you feel uncomfortable, you can move away at any time. We will not discuss it and when dinner is ready, we will eat like nothing happened. If it's something you would like to try, you may consider it as me trying to give you some comfort. A moment in time where you don't have to be strong. Whenever you're ready, Emma." Regina opened her book and rustled the pages to show Emma that she wasn't watching her every move.

Emma sat frozen on the couch for another ten minutes as her heart pounded in her chest. She wanted to scream at Regina that she didn't need her, but the mere thought of giving in and not having to think for a while gave her great comfort. She opened her eyes and slowly moved over to Regina. She took a deep breath before lowering herself on the ground, with her knees pulled up, as her back rested against the front of the chair.

Regina smiled when Emma sat down and wanted to tell her how proud she was of Emma, but she was intent on keeping her promise. She noticed that Emma's breathing became more elaborated and when Emma rested her head on her hands, she reached out with a hand and gently moved Emma's head to rest against her crossed legs.

Emma froze in place for a second before visibly relaxing as Regina's fingers gently stroked through thick layers of her curls. The gesture may have seemed small to Regina, but to Emma it felt as if she could finally let down her guard. She understood that she could trust Regina to take care of her, at least for the duration of the hour. There was no need nor desire to think beyond that, Regina had said as much. And as they sat there Emma had never felt more safe in her life, aside from when Regina had held her when they had lain in bed.

Her eyes closed as she memories flooded her brain. As a child she didn't like it when adults touched her, she would always shrug them off of her. Their touch felt suffocating and on the rare occasion that Emma would open herself up, she was disregarded as if her feelings didn't matter anymore. But Regina was different, she had let Emma make the first move with no judgment whatsoever. It felt both strange and liberating and she sighed heavily when the oven bleeped loudly, indicating that their dinner was ready to be served.

When Regina didn't move, nor even extracted her hand from Emma's curls she felt a warm glow through her body. She was still letting Emma make the first move and if it wasn't for her growling stomach she felt confident that she could have sat there for another hour. There was no doubt in her mind that Regina would have happily let dinner burn to give Emma as much time as she needed.

"So, I've never really liked burnt dinner," Emma joked as she got up.

"Hm?" Regina hummed before closing her book. "Oh, dinner's ready! I didn't even hear the oven." She stood up and smiled at Emma, "Would you mind setting the table?"

Emma chuckled and nodded, Regina would have had to been deaf in order to not hear the oven's bleeping that blasted through the house. "Sure thing."

Regina got the lasagna out of the oven and placed it on the table, "What would you like to drink?"

"Wine," Emma said as she sat down and frowned when Regina arched an eyebrow. "Oh right, concussion. No alcohol and no caffeine. Water?"

"Very well," Regina nodded as she got them both a glass of water before sitting down. They ate in silence for a while and Regina was torn between wanting to thank Emma for trusting her and not saying a word about it. She had promised her she wouldn't though and while it was hard for her to ignore her instincts, she kept silent about what had just taken place. "What do you want to do tonight? I feel like I should be offering you some sort of entertainment."

"Can we watch a movie?" Emma asked with a smile as she took another bite. Regina made heavenly lasagna but she didn't want to give Regina the satisfaction of knowing that she was an excellent cook. She would probably never hear the end of it.

"Sure, will you be introducing me to Harry Pooter?"

Emma snorted, "It's Harry Potter. You'd think you've been living on a private island for the last couple of years," she joked. "There's not a soul on this earth that doesn't know about Harry Potter."

"I suppose you're lucky then that I have a large DVD collection."

"So, this movie room of yours .. is it like a theater? Will we have popcorn?" Emma grinned.

"You're thinking about popcorn while eating lasagna? Oh my. You must be feeling better," Regina chuckled as she took a sip of her water.

"If I say yes, does that mean I get to sneak in a bottle of wine?"

Regina shook her head, "I'm afraid not. No popcorn either, but I might have some chocolate stowed away somewhere. And to answer your question .. it's not like a theater, but it does have a large screen and .. comfortable seats."

"I can't wait," Emma said excitingly. "You do know that there is more than one Harry Potter movie right? If we watch all of them we'd probably be watching for 19 hours or something."

Regina gasped, "We will not be having a marathon. You shouldn't be watching TV at all with your concussion, so you're lucky you even get to watch the first one. How long does it last anyway?"

Emma smirked, "Two and a half hours."

"What!"

"I wasn't kidding, if you watch all the movies it's nineteen and a half hours to get through them all."

"Dear god," Regina breathed out. "I don't know if it's wise for you to watch a movie for two and a half hours. If you start getting a headache you have to promise to tell me and we can continue watching it at a later time."

"Deal. What's your favorite movie?"

"I'm so not sharing that with you," Regina said a light blush appeared on her cheeks.

"Now you have to," Emma said as she pointed her fork in Regina's direction.

"The Little Mermaid," Regina mumbled softly and she growled when Emma started laughing loudly.

"Wait, wait. You're telling me that your favorite movie is The Little Mermaid?"

Regina nodded as she rolled her eyes, "Don't look so smug, Miss Swan."

"So," Emma drawled. "Is it Ariel? Prince Eric? Wait, no let me guess. You love it because Ursula reminds you of yourself!"

"I'm glad you find it so amusing. I just love everything about it. I like the singing," Regina sighed as if she just had just given away her biggest secret.

"I can't believe it," Emma whispered. "That is too funny. You should advertise that to your clients! 'Come to Shadow Haven for an ass whooping and afterwards we can relax while watching The Little Mermaid!'." Emma was doubled over with laughter by now and gasping for air as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I told you I was a normal human being," Regina shot back amusingly. "What is your favorite movie, hm?"

"Don't have one. I love all movies."

"That's a cop out answer!"

"It's the truth," Emma shrugged. "The only movies I don't like are horror movies. I know they're fake, but there are just some movies that never should have been made. And I don't want to talk about which ones because we're on a freaking island and bad stuff will happen if I think about it too much."

Regina laughed, "Got it."

"So, do you regularly pretend to be a mermaid while you're in the pool?" Emma grinned.


"Holy shit, that is a big screen," Emma murmured as she sat down with her bag of M&M's. "These seats are just ridiculous. What are they? Love seats?"

Regina nodded, "May I sit next to you, or is that too close and personal for you?"

Emma shrugged, "I think they're big enough for three people. It wouldn't be much for if you were all the way over there."

Regina sat down and fumbled around with the remote control and scrolled through the options until she found Harry Potter. "Ehm, which one?"

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone."

"Good grief," Regina mumbled. "What's this movie about anyway?" She frowned when Emma shushed her.

"The intro music is the best part," she whispered as she slouched down in her seat. When the music faded away she looked at Regina, eager to see if Regina was as excited as she was. She ignored the faint throb in her head and whispered softly, "I can't tell you what the movie is about without giving away the plot. You're just going to have to wait and see."

They sat quietly as the movie played and Emma chuckled every time Regina would point out a scene that was 'utterly ridiculous'. It was an hour and a half into the movie when Emma had difficulty with keeping her eyes open.

"Are you tired, Miss Swan?" Regina said when Emma's head suddenly rested on her shoulder.

"No," Emma yawned. "Keep watching."

Regina smiled when Emma softly snored into her ear a mere ten minutes later. She wanted to wake her up but she also wanted to see how Harry was going to get himself out of his current situation. "Emma?" She whispered softly. When no response came, she gently lowered Emma down and put Emma's head on her lap as she stroked through her hair and watched the rest of the movie.

She had watched all the way through the credits before gently waking Emma up and took her by the hand as the blond was still half asleep. "Do you want to sleep in your own bed?"

"No," came the soft response as she tightened her grip on Regina's hand.

"Okay," Regina murmured softly before taking Emma to her own bedroom. She pulled back the covered and motioned for Emma to get in. With a swift motion she covered Emma up and drew the curtains shut before moving to bathroom to change into her night attire.

When she came back into the bedroom Emma was fast asleep and she smiled as she got into bed next to Emma. She wanted to reach out and hold Emma much like she had the night before but felt hesitant in doing so. "Sweet dreams, Emma," she whispered softly before rolling on her side away from the younger woman.

She woke up several hours later when Emma gently shook her awake. "What's wrong?"

"Thunder," Emma croaked.

Regina rubbed her eyes as she tried to wake up more when the room lit up and a loud crash made Emma yelp. "Come here," she murmured as she rolled on her back and opened her arms.

"Thank you," Emma whispered as she nestled herself against Regina as her body trembled in fear with every crash of thunder.

"You're safe here, Emma. I've got you," Regina murmured as she drifted off to sleep once more.

"I know, I think that's what scares me the most," Emma murmured softly, fully aware that Regina was fast asleep. "You absolutely terrify me."