It wasn't until they were preparing dinner that evening when the hazardous ordeal pertaining to trucking arose in their conversation. What would have seemed as a deterrent on the blonde's part, especially because of the dreadful storm they had both experienced, the younger woman wasn't swayed by any of it. Instead, she was actually considering a job that would take her from Maine to Vermont and back in less than a week.
Regina was affected by the whole situation, knowing also deep down inside that she was severely worried and would hate to put distance between them. It was her desire to keep the younger woman closer to her than ever before, simply because she had gotten so used to Emma's affections and company. Now for her to witness the 'apple of her eye' driving off in a truck to heaven knows where, and what would occur, she was naturally afraid.
"I don't like it," she declared whilst sliding a plate of diced chicken into the pot. "I really don't the idea of you being out on the road, all by yourself."
"Then come with me," Emma's eyes suddenly sparkled. She was standing by the sink, soaping a glass under the faucet. "Come with me and then you wouldn't be worried as much."
"You are quite aware that I begin my job as an add-on lawyer attached to the town court in collaboration with the state of Maine on Monday." Regina used the wooden spoon to spread out the chicken in the sizzling oil. "I cannot leave."
"Then I'll go alone," the blonde's lowered eyes suggested disappointment.
Some time passed with just the sizzling of the oil filling the silence between them. Obviously the older woman was considering Emma's dampened disposition and she frowned upon the fact that the blonde could not see how hazardous her second job was. She had a first, didn't she? A job at the Sheriff's station that paid well. Surely she could make ends meet with one career alone. As clever as she was, the brunette decided to try the only approach that would soften the other woman's heart in all honesty.
"I just don't want you to leave me right now," she felt her chest tighten from the thought of distance between them. "Here I am, having fallen in love with someone after such a long time, and it is the kind of love that takes my breath away. And you're going to leave me."
It was immediately effective. Emerald eyes widened. Emma stared at the other woman, holding her breath, and she turned off the faucet. In a matter of seconds the distance was closed.
"Hey," her voice was softer, gentler. She draped her arms around the brunette slowly and felt how Regina curled into her embrace instantaneously. "It would be just six hours, seven hours max. I'd be back in the same day."
"And then another truck route would take you further. To New York again, perhaps," Regina croaked, her eyes fluttering close as she pushed around the chicken with the spoon. "And then what? I wouldn't be able to see you in more than two days?"
"Don't say that," Emma cooed into the older woman's left ear as she leaned in closer, wrapping her arms tighter around the one person who meant so much to her. "I wouldn't take jobs that would take me away for so long."
"I don't like it," Regina said, suddenly feeling her eyes burn as emotions rose to the surface. She was never insecure but when it came to feeling so deeply about someone, her heart was all too sensitive. Resting the spoon down, she circled around in the blonde's embrace still and their eyes met. "Please, can you at least consider holding up your job at the Sheriff's station only and discard of the one that takes you miles away from me? I don't want to wake up to bad news."
Emerald eyes softened from tears because she had slipped herself into the other woman's mind and could clearly see and feel how worried she was because of the risky job. Had she been in the same position, Emma realized that the same concerns would be voiced most definitely. Added to that, she would have been unable to sleep at nights, if they spent those nights apart from each other. To leave so soon when their feelings were still developing and unfolding so strongly; she began to mentally turn herself against the idea of taking the job.
"I'd do anything for you," Emma rested their foreheads together and savoured the warmth between them. "Fuck, I'm even torturing myself by waiting on you to find the right time to kiss me. Patience, you said. And patience is all I've got when I'm with you. Whatever you want, I'll do it."
That was enough said to bring tears to brown eyes although she smiled. Her eyes leaked onto the blonde's fair cheek and stained them gradually. Even whilst they were beginning to lose their minds from holding back a kiss, Emma reached up and pressed her palms on either side of the older woman's face. Captivated in the moment, they were. So why wasn't the kiss happening? The blonde awaited it and didn't receive anything but the rub of their noses together affectionately.
"My job pays well," Regina said as if it would make matters any better. "I take high profile cases and I work on more than one at once. Between you and me, we can cater for so much more."
"It's not that," Emma said softly, releasing the brunette so that she could return to turning the chicken. "It's just that...I met you...and here comes a reason for me to change up the game. Like, I've been doing the same thing for what seems like ages now." She collected the plate of vegetables and added them to the pot. "Doing truck jobs. Working patrol and taking care of complaints when I'm in town. It's like this whole system that kept me going for all these years." She shrugged. "I guess that I had to find some way to cope. To...get back control of my life and when I did get it, I began to live like a robot."
"I wouldn't put it that way," the brunette smiled and reached out to caress a fair cheek with cupped fingers.
"Then how would you put it?" Emma studied the older woman's face.
"Hmm. I see it as you taking these truck jobs to distance yourself from your parents and your son. In some way, you feel like a disappointment to him or perhaps you are scared of what he reminds you of. If not scared," the brunette shrugged, "then you are definitely worried that he might start asking questions about his father and those are answers that you have chosen to bury deep down inside of you."
The blonde swallowed, affected by the accuracy of those words.
"Regardless, Emma," Regina allowed their eyes to meet, "you cannot keep running for the rest of your life. Didn't you claim that you wished for permanence? The same thing I desire?"
A small nod was enough. Emerald eyes blinked slowly.
"Then being with me...look at this as a reason to cease all attempts to run. I wouldn't like to think that you wish to run away from me."
"Is that how you see it?" Emma's voice was hoarser for she was filled with emotion. "Me running away from you?"
"I see it as you deflecting change and refusing to adapt to the fact that yes, I have changed your life. And yes, I am one more person you care about, apart from your son. So obviously there is not one, but two reasons why you simply must stay put in Storybrooke." She hoped that her words weren't being transmitted in a harsh manner.
For a long time, Emma didn't say anything on the matter, but merely stood there offering only her company and assistance in the kitchen. The rice was added and stirred up. Then the sauce. She collected two glasses and went out of the room to rest them on the small table. Within her head, a few doors had opened up to reveal so much more than she had anticipated. It was all because of change, and everything relating to what Regina had said. Not only was the brunette's words true on all levels, but for the first time in her life, someone had figured her out almost too easily.
For the first time in her life, someone had unearthed the reason why she put distance between herself and this town.
She had a slow space of crying in the shower before dinner. Standing there, after scrubbing herself under warm water that soothed and chased away an oncoming headache, the blonde cried because she was changing and her life was changing again and it was supposed to scare her but it wasn't. Why? Because of the security and comfort Regina's presence offered. Nothing was feared when the brunette was in her life. Nothing at all. Everything was suddenly so calm and less strained than before.
It was the older woman's connection with her that seemed to awe Emma. She could, without effort, get into her head and paw through the rubble to find exactly what she needed. She had her all figured out but the younger woman was still trying to do the same in regards to the brunette. Didn't she have a hard time figuring out if her feelings were mutual from the beginning? Was it possible that Regina had also known of her inclination from the beginning? It could be. It could also be possible that she was quite aware of how Emma put up a front but deep down inside, she was very vulnerable.
"Forgive me if I spoke too harshly to you before," Regina immediately said with such worry in her voice, it slightly trembled when the blonde sat down for dinner. "It's my nature. To be blunt and entirely capable of seeing the many lines that wound together to build up someone's character. After all, I am a lawyer. I need to be able to see into someone's mind even and predict, even before the reveal certain things to me."
Emma forked up some rise and vegetables and kept her eyes lowered.
"Are you angry at me?" It was only fitting to ask. The brunette couldn't take one bite of her meal before making sure of a positive answer. "If you are, then I would like you to know that my words weren't meant to be harsh. I am so fond of you, Emma. I would never be harsh to you. Never. And when I spoke of your son, I was pushing it. But deep down inside, I am certain that you wish to be closer to him."
"I'm not...mad at you," the blonde said softly, feeling her throat ache because the other woman was caring so much for her and what she felt. "You just kind of hit me with the facts and I'm still trying to...I don't know..." she shrugged, "...hate myself for everything."
"Why and how can you hate yourself when I love you for everything you are thus far?" Regina sat across the table and gazed at the younger woman with such interest, it was remarkable.
"I'm just a horrible mother," Emma's voice trembled. Her lips quivered. The fork slipped out from between her fingers and clattered onto the plate. Emerald eyes were squeezed shut. "I can't believe that I'm kidding around with my own son."
Resting her cutlery gently upon the plate, the brunette rose up and went around the table. When she had closed the distance between them, Regina ran her fingers through soft blonde tendrils and pressed Emma's head into her midsection, caressing the younger woman's face whilst she stood there. It was enough angst to feel how intense the situation was. She was the one who felt horrible for bringing the truth to light. Certain things were to be left alone. But she couldn't bare to sit back and watch a mother separate herself from her child, simply because she blamed herself for something that had no definite meaning.
"You're not a horrible mother," she said, her husky voice soothing the blonde. "I saw how his little face lit up when he saw you that night. All he wants is to see you more. He cares as much about you as you do about him. That much I know, from the promise he made me keep." She felt how the younger woman melted into her body.
"Why is this happening to me?" Emma croaked, entwining their fingers as she pressed her face into the warmth the older woman provided. "Why am I so lucky all of a sudden, so lucky that I think it's all a dream?"
"Me, you mean?" Regina caressed the blonde's forehead gently. "Simply put, fate works in mysterious ways."
They sat down to eat again and passed the evening engrossed in a documentary about alien abductions. Oh how the time flew by. One minute the blonde was hoping that they could talk more and then the strange occurrences on the television captured her interest. People relating their encounters with flying disks and glowing spacecrafts. Waking up dressed in a different nightgown than the one they slipped into. It was captivating.
"Do you like these kind of things?" Regina was finding the happenings on the television to be somewhat too far-fetched.
Emma half shrugged and smiled. "Yeah. You?"
"Hmm." The older woman shifted herself closer to Emma and curled into her left shoulder, feet tucked under. "Falls in the same category as unicorns..."
When it was evident that nearness was all they longed for, the brunette kept caressing the younger woman's fingers. Emma, in turn, mirrored the other woman's move and savoured the way she was growing warmer and warmer.
"Just remember that the unicorn is the national animal for Scotland," the younger woman declared triumphantly. "And that means as much as anyone gives them credit for."
"Yes, but..." Regina rolled her eyes and decided to remain silent on the matter at present.
"It's real," Emma said, staring at the television, and wrapping an arm around a warm body that provided such clarity of the existence of love still.
"I suppose so..." There was a sigh. "To you."
"It's real, Regina," emerald eyes locked with brown ones. Their lips were inches apart and the blonde could feel warm breath kiss her face. It was enough to warrant a bout of dizziness that totally switched off the possibility of focusing on the documentary on the screen. "Believe me, it is."
"This..." Suddenly, the older woman was shifting position, drawing in closer and finally deciding on the impact of the moment being just most suited. She brushed her red stained lips upon soft ones belonging to a woman had become breathless; emerald eyes staring. "This is real," she whispered.
From the very instant when they touched so intimately for the first time, it was something she hadn't quite anticipated correctly. For one could dream of such times in their spare spaces of leisure. Emma could have lingered outside that dressing room earlier in the department store and envisioned the actuality of the moment, but the very touch. The reality that provided so much more feeling; she wanted more. And therefore, it was decided.
With her fingers raking pathways through silky brown hair, she moved parted lips in once again and tasted more than a dream. A slice in time that became a stretch of unfolding one's heart. Of feeling her toes curl when Regina kissed her back and their eyes fluttered close and the way the blonde unearthed a throaty moan from with the older woman. It was a perfect definition of bliss; to be in such close proximity with someone who was capable of snatching away every breath and stealing every thought, selflessly on a mission to connect each other's hearts. And to keep it that way for as long as they were able to live.
"Emma," Regina whispered. She trembled just as bold fingers curled into the front of her red sweater. From just one touch alone...and coming undone. She stared into emerald eyes.
It was the younger woman who decidedly cradled a head of dark tendrils into her neck. "You smell so good." She allowed her nose to seek out an abundance of fruity scents. "Apples."
"Yes," Regina couldn't quite find her voice because of the severity of passion rippling through her body. "My favourite...fragrance."
"Is that the new one you bought today?" She couldn't conceal how her body trembled from their nearness. "With the body lotion?"
A nod was given as they were wrapped in each other's arms.
"You know what I want right now?" Emma whispered, feeling how she opened up further when the older woman moved gently to sit sideways on her lap.
"I know what I want." The brunette rubbed their noses together and pressed, not one, but three kisses upon a fair right cheek, Emma's right temple and then her soft blonde hair.
Emerald eyes were hidden behind closed eyelids. "I want to scoop you up, take you to bed and undress you like I used to undress this one Barbie doll I had. Back when I was like five."
The sudden declaration obviously intrigued Regina as she allowed their eyes to meet and narrowed hers, a soft smile offered as well. "And here I am, yearning for the same thing. Except..." she tucked a chunk of blonde hair behind the younger woman's right ear, brown orbs following the move, "...I would put it quite differently."
"Okay," Emma chuckled, and brushed their lips together, "tell me then."
"How about you..." Regina wrapped her arms around the blonde's neck, smirking, "...scoop me up, and when we get to the bedroom, I'll tell you exactly what I wish for you to do?"
The younger woman was pleased. She smiled, her cheeks colouring. "I would never delay a plan like that." And without sparing a second, that was exactly done, accompanied by her comment on how light as a feather the brunette was.
"Now I'm glad that Red pressured me to go to the gym," she stepped around the table in front of the chair as Regina's dark hair tumbled forward as their foreheads met. "Upper body strength really -" She was silenced by a deep kiss that erased all thoughts about punching bags and doing kick-boxing.
Their first time with each other was one that entailed slow and deepened touches that suggested a certain amount of exploration at best, and discovery on how their bodies reacted.
Undressing the older woman sent Emma's heart on a racing course that never seemed to end, as she peeled off that soft red, wool sweater and her widened eyes met the swell of honey coloured breasts. Black lace, the material straining from what was in abundance within it; that's all it took to enact a gaze that was eventually broken by the taking of her hands. Doing so, Regina guided the blonde's touch to her heaving chest and when those warm fingers splayed across the Victoria Secret black bra she had conveniently purchased that day, she deeply admired emerald eyes and the excitement behind them. The intrigue and thirst to proceed. Feeling how those same hands proceeded to squeeze gently, as her nipples grew harder and her mind clouded with the unfolding of so much passion.
It definitely was an awakening, rather than a reliving of something that had been savoured before. Because although she had slipped into the murky waters of desire before, after many years of never tasting the blissful moment of intimacy, here it was now. Stronger than anything else and deepening by the second whilst the skies grew darker outside and the rain threatened to come forth with such vengeance as earlier. And even as their entwined fingers slowly crept across inches of skin, from fair, smooth breasts to soft, honey coloured ones, their eyes never showed any signs of diminishing any exactness of passion.
Rapturous.
"Go ahead," Regina purred, "peel off my clothes."
Emma smirked. "If you insist."
Very soon, both of them were unzipping the front of their jeans and slipping eager hands inside.
Her back met the softness of the sheet. She felt how Emma cupped that part that was burning up as her head met the softness of the pillow. And nothing else mattered but the desire to unfold and to let herself go as far as she had ever done before. To feel how wet and warm the other woman was between her soft thighs that were spread apart and welcoming her. To find her way without seeing but knowing just where and when to touch and venture. For it wasn't new to her as had been anticipated. No. When her finger slowly slipped into the blonde on top, nothing felt strange but everything felt like rediscovery.
Making love to a woman was deeper and mind-blowing, Emma fought to ponder upon. They worked up a rhythm and tormented each other with thrusting fingers that twisted and pleased. Even when Regina's hoarse cries filled the room, she begged for more, and her back arched up as their movements quickened. So that very soon, both of them were tumbling over the edge as their bodies convulsed from ripples of pleasure that curled toes and soaked soft skin with sweat. And when the brunette wrapped her legs around the younger woman's hips, she gave in to being dominated, never regretting any second of it.
So much the ecstatic moment was, that she, for some time, lost all thoughts and would only stare up at the ceiling, lips parted. Emma was using her mouth, of course, on that one part of the older woman that was still aching to be satisfied. The parting of honey coloured legs, so soft when she pressed kisses on inner thighs and moved upwards. Upwards and into a region that was savoured by sucking and encircling her tongue; watching how the brunette responded to every touch.
Regina balled her fists into the pillow above her head and sucked on a red stained but smudged bottom lip as she neared the edge once more. Feeling how Emma's thirst to nibble and suck softly then harder and harder stimulated that very core of her that was trembling like a leaf. Even before she could prepare herself for the occurrence, her body shook from head to toe as deep, throaty cries were unearthed. She was still shaking when the blonde moved on top of her and pressed their bodies together, feeling how blonde hair tickled a flushed neck. And feeling how the younger woman buried her head into her wet, dark tendrils.
X
When Mary Swan Nolan found out about the fresh romantic pair that was developing right under her little nose, she wrinkled it. Arms folded, there was a look upon her round face that suggested a kind of definite rigidity all because of the norms and morality attached to religion. How would the church community respond to this? What would the ladies of the cathedral say behind her back? At bake sales, would they include her in their gossip as usual? Or would they frown upon her daughter's relationship with this strange woman who had slipped into Storybrooke and sneaked into the blonde's heart?
"I wouldn't have it." Chin up, she refused to consider David who sat on the porch beside her.
It was a quiet, moonlit night, with a few twinkling stars dotting the velvet sky and a soothing cool breeze that kissed cheeks and rustled leaves in trees.
Her husband smiled and peered through his reading glasses at the middle page of the Mirror. "Because of the church or because you disagree on your own opinion?"
"Because of the..." she suddenly appeared as if something had stuck in her throat and turned to stare at him. "Because I...Because it's..."
David, after realizing that enough was said, simply returned to his article in all smiles. "You can't accept Red being who she is and choose not to accept Emma's new found love. Kind of hypocritical and -"
"I don't disagree with what has happened to her," Mary said, scowling. She reached for her cup of cocoa and stared into the front yard that contained a simple square flower garden and a walkway. It was her pride and joy, that garden. Every day she managed some amount of time to tend to those flowers.
"If I might add," David folded the papers and considered his wife with a pleasant look, "you also took a shining to Regina from the moment you saw her. If she does become your daughter-in-law..."
Mary turned to gape at him. "How dare you, David? How dare you...put these ideas in my head..."
"I was only saying..." he trailed off, reading his papers.
"To think of the things I'll have to plan for this wedding. HER wedding!" Suddenly she was fidgeting in her seat, as if having an itch that could not be scratched. "Obviously she'll like yellow. We can do red and yellow. I'll have her dress sewn by Betsy and then the cake will be done by Granny. So much to plan!"
David considered his wife rubbing her hands in glee, eyes distant. He sighed. "So like I guessed, it's not you who disagrees with her relationship with Regina. It's because of the church."
"I would never put the church above my daughter, come to think of it." The brunette was still concocting ways and means in her head to plan the extravagant wedding. "Because as God above knows my daughter, she would never, and I repeat, never get tangled up with someone if it wasn't serious. Never having a boyfriend in high school or college. My little baby."
"Or so you think," David muttered, smiling behind his papers, but his voice low enough to never be heard.
"What's that?" Her round face peered over at him.
"Oh I was only saying that I'm sitting here remembering your girl crushes on Red and Ariel. Back in the days when we were in high school." He was enjoying himself, especially that 'deer in the headlights' look that washed over her face when she realized the effect of those two names on her past. "I remember when I used to find the three of you in the library huddled together, and sniffing each other's hair."
"We weren't doing any such thing!" Mary said defensively, although her cheeks slightly coloured red. "We were studying. Hard."
"So you say. So you say..."
She narrowed her eyes at him and inhaled deeply. "And should I remind you of your locker romance with Killian?"
David turned to stare at her.
Both of them stared at each other for quite some time.
And then Mary initiated a bout of laughter between the two of them.
"Well if gay runs in the genes, then she got quite a slice of the pie," David said smiling afterwards, "I mean, look who was her nanny when she was younger. Red. Red probably filled her head with Disney princesses falling in love with each other since then."
"And Neal?" The brunette felt like he was slipping behind in the past and becoming a blur.
"I think that at the moment, he's history."
Mary frowned. "But Henry. What will we...she tell him about all of this?"
"And you think that he doesn't know already?" David cocked an eyebrow and smiled. "From the first night he met Regina, he was analysing her from head to toe. I'd say that the boy already detected what was going on before you and me."
"Just like his father," Mary said indignantly, "always sniffing out a con to get what he wanted."
David disagreed with the description but remained silent on the matter.