Chapter 9
Emma knew that if she returned to her parents' apartment, they would inundate her with questions, and she wasn't prepared to meet those questions just yet. So she asked Ruby to hook her up with a room at Granny's, and luckily the wolf was smart enough to not ask any questions. Emma laid down on top of the comforter in her room, hands laced behind her head. She sighed deeply as a huge grin forced its way across her cheeks.
Regina had spent her evening fielding phone calls from Storybrooke residents wondering what had happened. They were frantic, excited, demanding. Regina's elation from that evening quickly turned to irritation as she fielded call after call, telling people that she would answer all their questions the next day at a town meeting. Eventually Regina turned her phone off and locked her door. She even had to order Henry into silence as he questioned her through dinner about the curse being broken. She didn't know exactly what she should tell Henry, and decided to wait until she had talked to Emma about it.
By the time morning came, Regina was exhausted already from the thousand speeches she had made in her head. The only one that counted had yet to come. Clearly there was no sending Henry to school, but she had some preparations to do before the town meeting at ten. She dropped Henry off at his grandparents, not venturing inside incase Emma was there. She got to the office and locked herself in at about nine, foregoing her usual trip to Granny's for coffee. She had an hour to figure out exactly what she was going to tell everyone.
Regina had barely settled into her chair before her intercom buzzed. "Madam Mayor, there's a package here for you."
Regina couldn't decide if the arrival of a mysterious package was dangerous or not, and figured she'd let her magic decide. When Miss Stein had dropped the small brown package off and left, Regina let her magic decide it wasn't threatening. She used her letter opener to cut the tape on the box and pulled the flaps up. Regina peered into the box and immediately turned red. She couldn't fight the smile that overtook her face and felt her heart flutter. She took a deep breath and pushed the box full of lightbulbs off to the side before she collapsed back into her office chair.
Emma walked into the town hall as quietly as she could, hoping not to draw too much attention. That was futile, of course, as every fairy tale character in town bombarded her with questions like "How did you do it?" and "What does this mean?" and such. Emma mostly ignored them and pushed her way to the front where she found Regina wringing her hands beside the podium. She swore she saw Regina take a deep breath of relief when she saw Emma. Emma felt relief as well, and smiled as she thrust one of the covered coffees in her hand toward Regina.
Regina's heart melted at Emma's thoughtfulness and reached out to grab the offering. "I could kiss you," she said suggestively.
Emma blushed and instantly aroused. "Well," she smiled. "Maybe we shouldn't TOTALLY shock them into comas just yet."
Regina smirked and took a sip. She looked around the room and her anxiety returned.
Emma noticed and gripped her coffee tighter. "What are you going to tell them?"
Regina scoffed and looked at Emma. "You mean am I going to tell them that the savior broke the spell by sucking face with the Evil Queen?" Emma raised her eyebrows. "Don't worry, I was planning on keeping that particular part of the story to myself."
Emma half smiled at the wit of the woman she no doubt had fallen head over heels in love with. "Ok, well, you know that question is gonna come up, so how are you gonna deal with that?"
Regina glanced at her and flicked a smile. "Don't worry...Miss Swan," Regina emphasized the name seductively, remembering the previous evening. "Our secret is safe...for now."
Emma shifted her weight and bit her bottom lip. "It's not that I don't want them to know its just for now I think-"
"It's all right," Regina offered as she briefly laid a calming hand on Emma's forearm. "I know. I can handle this."
Emma grew warm at both the touch and the calming aspect of Regina's behavior and nodded. She walked to the back of the room, careful to avoid her parents, and waited for Regina's announcement.
Regina took another sip of the amber liquid, made ever so much more sweet by the nature of who delivered it. She looked up at the clock and watched as the minute hand slowly swept by, ushering in the tenth hour of the day. As she stepped up to the podium, the formerly chattering noise of the crowd quieted, waiting for their queen to speak.
Regina took a deep breath and slowly placed her arms across the top of the podium. She let her eyes sweep around the room before her ironclad resolve took hold. "As you all probably already know, your almighty Savior has broken the curse."
Half the room erupted in questions and excitement, with Grumpy and Happy screaming the loudest "How exactly was the curse lifted?!"
Regina glanced at Emma only slightly before continuing. "How it happened is not important. What IS important right now is that you understand what that means." The crowd didn't seemed satisfied, so Emma walked up front and stood by Regina, signifying that they were a team. Regina couldn't help but smile at the act of solidarity and continued. "This means several things. For one, we are no longer restricted to Storybrooke. In this world, we are free to roam wherever you shall wish. It also means that I can open a portal to the Enchanted Forest." This announcement was met with a chorus of cheers, almost deafening. "HOWEVER!" Regina called, issuing the small talk to a stand still. She glanced at Emma out of the corner of her eye and swallowed her sudden sadness as she finished. "However, we can only open a portal once. So once it's done, it's done." Emma scrunched up her eyebrows in confusion. Gold hadn't told her that part of it. It didn't seem right. Regina continued. "So if you don't come with us, you won't get a second chance. I know there are some of you who would like to stay here, and some of you who have some serious thinking to do. I understand that this isn't an easy decision, so I suggest you go home, talk to your loved ones, and decide what you want to do. I figured you would want some time to think it over, so lets take the night. You haveuntil noon tomorrow. We will meet back here then. Meeting adjourned." Regina snaked her way through the excited crowd and zoomed past Emma and out the door. Emma tried to catch her attention but was immediately surrounded by shouting townspeople and held up.
Finally Mary Margaret was able to pull Emma from the center of the throng and out into the street. "Emma! We've been looking for you all night! Where have you been?!" Henry hugged Emma right around the waist.
"Mom! You did it! I knew you would. How did you do it!"
Emma hugged him back and looked at Mary Margaret. "Ah, hey kid. Listen, I will explain everything, I promise, but I have something I need to take care of first. Can you go back to David and Mary Margaret's for a while?" And this directed at her mother: "I promise I'll come by in a bit and explain everything, okay?"
Mary Margaret hesitated a minute before finally nodding. "Okay. Come on Henry, we'll stop for ice cream on the way." She grabbed Henry by the shoulders and led him away, watching Emma over her shoulder as they went.
Emma knew her family deserved an explanation, and she would do just that. Later. Right now she had something more important to take care of.
Regina had no sooner opened the front door before Emma had her by the wrists and backed her into the wall just inside the door. Emma kicked the door closed behind her and pressed her body up against Regina's. Emma seized Regina's mouth in a searing kiss, allowing her tongue to crash into the other woman's mouth. Regina gasped at the rush of passion and gripped the back of Emma's jacket tightly with both hands. When Emma let up for a moment, her mouth immediately moved to Reina's neck and started tracing up the woman's soft skin with her tongue.
One of Regina's hands moved behind Emma's neck and took a fistful of hair. "My, my, aren't we presumptuous, Miss Swan," Regina was sure to emphasize the last two words. She felt herself losing her self control and her core was throbbing with need.
Emma let go of the bit of tender flesh she had between her teeth and looked into Regina's eyes. "I have waited too long to come crashing through that door and take you," she breathed.
Suddenly Regina's eyes flashed, with rage or desire Emma couldn't tell. "I think you need to be taught a lesson." Regina pushed her arms away from the wall and wrenched them from Emma's grasp. She grabbed Emma's forearms and spun the woman around, turning the tables on the taller blonde. Suddenly Emma's back was slammed against the wall, and Regina put a forearm across Emma's chest. Her fiery stare met Emma's lusty gaze as she breathed heavy. An eyebrow cocked as Regina declared, "I'm the only one who does the taking around here."
***The next chapter is rated M for what you all and Emma and Regina have all been waiting for. Finally! Ill post it ASAP. Feel free to leave a review with constructive criticism or suggestions.
