Chapter 10

Regina was tired but not enough to fall asleep. She was sitting beside Emma on the bed, her back resting on the headboard. She continued to watch Emma sleep as she'd been doing for the past couple of hours. She watched as Emma frowned and whimpered and then relaxed when Regina brushed her hair and whispered "you're safe now" until she calmed down.

It happened again after a while and Regina tried to calm her down. She pried open Emma's clenched fist. Emma opened her eyes, smiled at her, and then went back to sleep. Regina sat unmoving, facing Emma, not sure if the woman really smiled at her and not just dreaming. Then she realized that at some point, Emma (or was it her?) had intertwined their hands together. She tried to remove her hands but Emma's grip just tightened.

Regina couldn't go back to her sitting position against the headboard. She could only get comfortable if she laid on the bed. So she did that, not wanting her back to suffer from crouching until Emma woke up. Or let go of her hand. She tried to put some space between them but the bed was a single and even with lying on her side, the space between them was less than a palm-wide.

Her last thought before she fell asleep was that she hoped Emma would not freak out when she woke up.

#

The sun woke Emma up. She wondered why she forgot to close the curtains like she did every night. Then she wondered why her blanket was warmer and heavier than usual. And lightly snoring. She remembered the man from last night but she recognized that she was in her room and not at a stranger's, and her 'blanket' smelled quite nice and not like alcohol. The panic that had started to bubble in her chest subsided.

Emma turned her head slightly and saw a sleeping Regina. A sleeping and slightly snoring Regina. That made her smile. She found that she liked being in Regina's embrace. There's nothing weird about their position, right? Friends who are girls had sleepovers and Emma was sure they slept in the same bed. Right?

Regina stretched and felt her stomach collide with something harder than her pillows. She opened her eyes and found twinkling green eyes looking at her. Then the owner of those eyes spoke. "I guess this officially makes us friends."

Instead of answering, Regina brushed hair away from Emma's eyes. "How do you feel?"

Emma saw worry etched in her new friend's face and she decided that it did not belong in Regina's face especially if she was the cause. So she tried to make a joke to lighten up the mood. "My blanket was a little heavier than usual."

That's when Regina realized that she was half-lying atop Emma. She sat up and almost fell out of the bed if not for an arm that wrapped around her torso.

"Whoa!" Emma exclaimed. "Did my breath stink that bad?" She chuckled then her face turned slightly pink. She sat up, turned away from Regina, and breathed out on her hand to check if she did have morning breath.

Regina would later on blame it on the roller-coaster ride of emotions that Emma put her through since last night but at the moment, she was only moving on instinct. She placed a finger on Emma's chin and turned her face so they were once again facing each other. Emma looked at her, unsure of what was happening but did not stop her when she closed the distance until she was nuzzling Emma's neck, her jaw, then the corner of her mouth before moving closer to her ear. "You smell divine as always, Emma."

When Regina opened her eyes—she did not know she closed them at some point—she realized what she did and moved back slowly. She gauged Emma's reaction and saw that her pupils were dilated and she was breathing a little fast. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I—I just need a moment." Emma tried to control her breathing. She turned away from Regina. She needed to keep her distance, and sat with feet flat on the floor.

"Do you need me to call David?" Regina asked.

"No, no. I'll be fine," Emma assured. She can just imagine the awkward discussion father and daughter will make when David asked her what happened.

They were silent while Emma focused on taking deep breaths and Regina uncertain on what to do. When Emma was breathing less heavier, Regina spoke.

"Are you asthmatic?"

Was she asthmatic? Emma's smile turned to laughter. She wrapped her arms around her waist as her body shook in laughter. No, you dense girl. She wanted to tell Regina. You did this to me and now I finally understand why I like spending time with you. Tears escaped her eyes and she brushed them away. The fates must be playing with me. I cannot like Regina. I cannot like anyone. Not when…

Regina watched as Emma's body shook with laughter. She did not understand what was happening but when Emma's hand brushed something from her face, she realized that Emma was also crying. Regina held out a hand, meaning to touch and comfort her then stopped. She stiffened when she remembered that last night, Emma was almost assaulted and here she had probably done the same.

Regina got up and knelt in front of Emma, hands raised in front of her body. "I'm sorry, Emma. That was...I don't know why I did that and I'm sorry."

Emma finally looked at her. "Oh, that was okay. Maybe a little weird but glad to know I smell divine." She smiled weakly. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. Maybe I'm just tired."

"Yeah, okay." Regina stood up. "Do you want to go back to sleep?"

Emma brushed the remaining tears away. "Yes, I think I'll try to go back to sleep." She wanted Regina to stay, to embrace her again and make her feel safe, but she needed time to think and she cannot think clearly with Regina there. "I think I'll be okay on my own. I'm sure your mother will be looking for you if you don't go home soon."

Regina looked like she wanted to insist she stay, or maybe Emma was just thinking that, and it almost made her take back her words and say what her heart really wanted but then Regina nodded.

"If you're sure you will be fine by yourself?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Emma said.

Regina moved to the door then turned back to her. "You should text your father."

"I will."

Regina moved to the door but then looked at her again. She opened her mouth then stopped, conflict obvious on her face. She exhaled. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

Emma smiled. "Yes. And again, thank you, Regina."

"I'm just glad you're fine, Emma." With that, Regina closed the door and left.

To be continued.

Author's notes: First, I would like to thank you for reading, following, and sending me comments/reviews/PMs.

Second, I apologize for the short chapters. I did not have a concept of 'chapters' when I wrote this so I was not conscious of the word count. My editor, coelibear, tried to do her best to divide it but alas, she can only do so much.

Lastly, Regina never told me what she smoked (see Chapter 7) so we'll ever know what it was.

So there. Have a nice day lovelies!