Author note: Thank you to everyone for the faves, follows, and reviews. I'm glad you're enjoying this. ~ LZ

Chapter note: M rated content begins now. Swan Queen sexy times.

.

Chapter 8

The advice they found was "unless it hurts, most sex is fine."

Stripping clothes and inhibitions, Regina lay nakedly entwined with Emma on the sofa. Emma's eyes were bright green, awe and wonder darkening to desire that sent tingles throughout Regina's entire body. The blonde moved and tugged Regina above her as she reclined back on the sofa cushions. Hands wantonly kneaded flesh and heated murmurs filled Regina's ears.

She moved against Emma's soft body with all the relief of a homecoming. "Slow," Emma murmured. Regina agreed this time needed to be different.

Aboard the Jolly Roger, in a panic over their son's fate, sex had been fear- and anxiety-driven, frantic. Their touches now were the opposite: an intimate slow dance of exploration. Fingers tantalized and teased. Grips were sudden expressions, quickly released, followed by kisses that were tangles of lips and tongues. They sought other tastes. There were pauses, questions banked in green and brown eyes, answered with smiles. Something deeper and unvoiced melded their bodies together.

Humming and moaning her pleasure, Regina rocked her hips and rubbed her center against Emma's. She luxuriated in the sensations of their wetness mingling and the hairs on their sex tangling and untangling. Heat, and wet, and oh, god, so warm.

Emma caressed her hips and belly. Regina thought about the baby within her, Emma's baby. Created with their magic. She felt a swelling up of energies twining with Emma's. The blonde pressed kisses to her abdomen. Their union of magic set off more heat waves through Regina's body. A tongue dabbled in her belly button and she quivered. Emma pulled and squeezed on her nipples and breasts tugging pleased gasps from Regina's lips.

"Regina," Emma growled softly. Pulled down by her shoulders until her nipples brushed Emma's face, Regina felt Emma's kisses against the skin between her breasts. Over her heart, thrumming with so, so much. Emma's throaty hums of pleasure tickled Regina's skin. She felt more alive than ever before.

When a nipple fell between Emma's lips and the blonde sucked at the taut peak, Regina gripped Emma's head and tightened her fingers in thick curls. She cried out as sensation swelled then swamped her, leaving her shaking. "Oh! Emma!"

Strong arms hooked around Regina's thighs and lifted her up. "Hold on," Emma husked just before her mouth covered Regina's center and her tongue pushed strongly into still quaking flesh.

Regina's grip tightened in Emma's hair until she was certain she might pull out chunks. The blonde only growled and increased the pace of her tongue. Regina released Emma's head and reached instead for the back of the sofa.

"Mmm hmm," Emma hummed inside, and Regina felt her entire lower body convulse. Lapping at Regina's folds, Emma's hungry noises caused Regina to laugh until the woman's tongue danced over her clit.

So hard, so sensitive, so perfect. Regina cried out again. "Em..." The sound ended before she could finish the blonde's name. She could only incoherently groan.

Holding tightly onto Regina's thighs, Emma lapped and sucked. The sounds were tantalizingly audible even over Regina's gasps and moans. Emma unwrapped one arm from around Regina's thighs and soon Regina was being bucked as Emma writhed.

Glancing down, Regina saw Emma's fingers delving between her own legs. Green eyes snapped open when Regina reached back and grasped Emma's wrist. "Oh, no, my dear."

"But I-"

Regina lifted herself off Emma. "My turn," she whispered against Emma's mouth.

Emma shifted and sat up when Regina slid to the floor on her knees. "You don't have to."

"Oh, my dear, I must, I absolutely mus…" Her voice trailed off and she licked her lips while parting Emma's thighs.

Emma groaned. "Fuck, that's hot," she murmured. "You are so hot," she added, caressing Regina's exposed cheek while the other pressed to Emma's inner thigh.

Feeling Emma's fingers lingering in the disheveled locks of her hair around her ear, Regina smiled. She would swear she could feel the wash of Emma's adoration like a blanket around her shoulders, a cup of coffee warming her belly, or laying beside a fireplace. It was satiating even while it was stimulating.

Circling her finger around Emma's clit, Regina met Emma's gaze and teased, "Just how hot do I make you... Em-ma?" The blonde formed her free hand into a fist as she resisted being swamped by the sensations Regina triumphantly saw she caused. "It is rather warm down here," Regina added. "Are you fevered?" she asked.

"Please," Emma husked. And oh what that sound did to Regina, hearing the blonde's arousal. "Please. Go inside."

Regina's circling finger dipped between Emma's labia, causing the blonde to drop her head back against the sofa cushions and groan. Now both of the woman's hands fisted against her knees. Regina took one hand and kissed the knuckles. With the fingers of her other hand, she pressed knuckle deep inside Emma. The blonde's orgasm was so close. Her walls were already pulsing when Regina stroked them.

"Regi…" Emma sighed, unable to finish Regina's name. Regina slid her one finger out, and used two on the return stroke. "Ngg."

Smiling, Regina leaned forward. Emma's core bathed her face with warmth. Wetness glistened on all her folds. Regina's mouth watered and she had to swallow. She licked her lips again and then licked lightly at Emma's swollen clit. The blonde's channel deliciously tightened; Regina twisted her two fingers and pushed deeper.

"Oh. So. Fu … Go - ah…" Emma's hips started to roll and rise to fully receive Regina's slow thrusts. "Ya - ah," Emma murmured. "Need. You," Emma's words were breathless.

The woman tasted even better than Regina remembered. Pregnancy seemed to make her more aware of the subtleties of tastes and aromas. Absolutely everything about Emma tasted divine. The blonde tasted tart and savory, with an earthy aroma that, simply put, made Regina feel like she would never drink enough of it.

"Your taste is the finest vintage, my dear." Regina hummed into the swollen, soaked flesh. Emma cried out; her orgasm squeezed Regina's fingers and held them tight. "Yes," Regina said, licking up the glistening liquid that slipped onto her knuckles when she spread her fingers and twisted.

Emma's hands shook against Regina's hair. "I need you," she whispered.

Regina withdrew her fingers, rose from the floor, and returned to Emma's lap. The blonde's strong arms pulled her closer. She nuzzled Emma's ear, delighted by the other woman's shivers. Broad hands softly moved against Regina's belly and she shivered herself.

"Are you cold?" Emma asked.

"I thought I was so hot," Regina teased. Emma's smile was a bit lopsided which made Regina preen a little. But after another shiver from Emma, Regina said, "I'll fetch a blanket."

When she tried to move though, warm hands tightened and firmly held her in place. "Nuh uh," Emma murmured. "Stay."

"Just fetching a blanket, dear." She kissed Emma's cheek just below her fluttering lashes.

"Mmm 'k."

Regina hurried back with the blanket from the back of reading chair in the corner. A minute of rearranging themselves, and Regina was back on Emma's lap, this time they pressed together under a soft wool blanket. She inhaled and closed her eyes, letting her nose swim in the combined scent of their sex.

"This is beautiful."

She opened her eyes to see Emma tracing the brown and gold chevrons in the crocheted blanket. "For cold nights when I first adopted Henry," Regina explained, now tracing the pattern, too, and meeting Emma's fingers time and again. "I'd sit in the chair and rock him for hours and sing lullabies while we listened to the snow falling outside." She had a sudden second sight of a white blanket, purple threads spelling out the name 'Emma'.

"Every baby needs something that is specially theirs," she murmured, not sure why but offering the comforting thought to Emma nonetheless.

Emma's fingers twined with Regina's. "I am so glad you got Henry," Emma murmured. "I don't care if it was a plot, or a plan. I had hoped he would find someone to love him forever. And he did."

"I do," Regina said. "I thought I would never feel love again. When he looked at me, big brown eyes filled with curiosity, it was terrifying, but it was also the most right feeling in the world."

"In Neverland, you told me you thought about giving Henry up when you realized he was the son of the Savior."

"Not my proudest moment," she admitted. "I shouldn't have let fear control me. But magic had been a solution before. So I went with it again."

"Magic problems. Magic solutions. Magic babies," Emma finished, brushing her fingertips against Regina's stomach.

The tingles were there, but Regina was feeling more emotional than aroused and focused instead on Emma's words. At the moment her only desire was to understand this woman. It was becoming clear Emma had suffered just as eventful a life as Regina herself.

"Jefferson said that people want their problems magically solved, only they refuse to believe in magic."

"Astute... for a madman," Regina agreed.

"I had a hell of a lot of problems growing up. But I think it's best that I didn't have magic to try to solve them. So many placements were just emotional dead ends." Emma sighed. "I can't recall feeling like more than anyone's meal ticket. No wonder I had sex with the first guy who smiled at me."

"My mother saw me as her ticket to power," Regina said. "She took care of me insofar as it put her in good light to others."

"That's when I think I really got you for the first time - meeting your mother in the Enchanted Forest."

"You looked at me so differently afterward?"

"Oh yeah," Emma said emphatically. "I'd always been insanely turned on by your power kicks and how fiercely you loved Henry. But when I realized that you were all that in spite of your mother, it gave me... hope that I was okay despite not being what my mother wanted."

"You can be exactly like your mother at times," Regina said, cupping Emma's cheek, feeling only surprised amusement as she recounted those pain-filled earliest days. Emma had transformed her outlook, not just her life. "When you first arrived, you fighting me at every turn was beyond aggravating." Emma laughed. "It was exhilarating, too. I don't know what I would have done had you actually rolled over and become my obedient puppy."

"No," Emma agreed. "You had Graham for that."

The blonde had said the words without rancor; Regina nodded solemnly. "Which didn't make me happy."

Emma fell quiet. Regina closed her eyes and let the warm places where their naked bodies pressed together fill and lull her senses.

When Emma finally broke the silence, her tone was soft and sounded just a little uncertain. "Are you happy now?"

She put her fingers to Emma's chin and pushed up gently so the other woman's gaze met hers. "Yes," she said sincerely. "I am."


When they had both dressed, Emma walked with Regina upstairs. Beside the master bedroom door they kissed leisurely. A hand already on the knob, Regina looked over her shoulder and invited, "Stay with me."

Emma appreciated the thought, but she shook her head. "Let's take it slow."

"Regretting what we've done?" Regina asked, brushing her fingers across Emma's lips.

After kissing Regina's fingers, Emma shook her head. "No. I'd like to keep it that way, though. Not do everything at once. There's no need. You're not a one-night stand to me, Regina."

Regina placed her palm against the open collar of Emma's blouse, feeling the blonde's steady, strong heartbeat. "Thank you." she said. The words were inadequate, but deeply felt.

Emma's hand covered Regina's and her green eyes crinkled at the corners. "Good night." Emma brushed a lock of Regina's hair behind her ear.

Regina leaned into the tingles. "In the morning..." she stopped before she could ask.

"I'll be here," Emma promised, words accompanied by a smile and a deepening green in her eyes.

Regina felt a giddiness that hadn't been her companion since girlhood and heat rose in her cheeks. She pushed open her bedroom door. Emma's palm slipped from her cheek. Stepping into her room, Regina pressed the door shut. Resting her forehead on the wood, eyes closed, she listened to the sounds of Emma's footfalls crossing the corridor to the guest room. The hinges slightly squeaked when the guest bedroom's door was opened, then closed. She continued to follow the faint sounds of the blonde readying herself for bed.

Finally, Regina closed her eyes, as she felt Emma do the same... Feeling safe. Secure.

Home.

To stay.

###