Day Ten
Emma awoke early the next day, she would have liked to say that sleeping next to Regina was a wonderful experience - and it was apart from one thing.
The blonde was pretty sure that she knew the reason Regina was reluctant to go to sleep.
Emma woke up when a hand punched her in the face. Normally she would've wondered who the hell was sleeping in her bed, but on this particular night she remembered that Regina was sleeping beside her.
"Regina, what the hell?!" Emma asked in a hushed whisper.
"Emma," the brunette mumbled as she tossed and turned on her side of the bed, "help me."
"Regina?"
When Emma didn't get a reply from the brunette she leaned over to bedside lamp and switched it on. She saw Regina with her eyes closed; clearly still asleep and dreaming.
Her arms flailed around her as she mumbled more incoherent sentences in between rapid breaths. The brunettes face was painted with fear and it worried Emma.
"Regina," she whispered; she knew she shouldn't wake Regina but she could try and calm her. "It's fine, I'm here."
"Emma save me," she mumbled, "Greg... Tamara," she added; tears were now falling down the brunettes cheeks. "Don't let them hurt me."
Emma made shushing sounds as she wiped the tears away and then she brushed stray hairs from the brunettes face.
"I'm here, Regina, you're safe."
Emma placed a kiss on Reginas forehead before turning her lamp off and turing to face the now peaceful sleeping brunette. She moved slightly closer to Regina and putting her arms over her waist.
Even in her sleeping state Regina loved the gesture and moved as close to Emma as she could; much to Emmas surprise. Within minutes the blonde was in her own world of dreams.
Emma looked around and saw that she was in fact alone. She got out the bed and looked around the small room and Regina was no where to be seen. Just as she was about to ring the brunette the door opened and the smell of fresh coffee hit Emma's nose which pleased her.
"You got coffee?" Emma asked.
"Is that a problem, Ms. Swan?"
"Still mad at me?"
"I was never mad at you."
"Then why the formalities?"
Regina shook her head as she handed Emma her large coffee, "we should head off soon if we want to get there for lunch time."
"Anyone would think that you're the driver."
"I would never drive that heap of junk you call a car."
"Hey!" Emma said, "don't diss the Bug or I'll leave you here."
Three hours into the journey and they were still submitted into silence apart from the crackly radio which had been picking up different radio stations for the past 50 miles.
"Regina, can I ask you something?"
"Hmm?" Regina said; Emma's voice bringing her out of her day dream.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Go ahead, dear."
"Promise you won't get mad?"
"Okay."
Come on, Swan. Just ask her. The worst she can do is not answer... and then probably hate you forever, Emma thought to herself.
"What are your nightmares about?"
Regina coughed to cover up her shock over the question, "what nightmares?"
"Don't lie to me, please. You almost gave me a black eye so you're either having nightmares or somewhere deep in your subconscious you wanna beat the shit outta me, and I'm guessing it is the former."
Regina honestly didn't know what to say. She hadn't planned on sleeping last night just somewhere around 2 am her body had given in and when the sleep takes over she loses all control; something she didn't want to do around Emma.
"Talk to me please," Emma said as she rested her right hand on Reginas knee.
"I had one nightmare, there isn't anything to talk about."
Apart from the fact I dream about Greg and Tamara torturing me and eventually killing me, Regina thought to herself.
"Okay, maybe you don't want to talk right now, but please promise me... if it ever gets too much or you can't sleep, talk to me. I'm a good listener."
Around 12:30 pm Emma and Regina arrived back in the quaint little town of Storybrooke. The blonde drove straight to Granny's and picked up some chocolate frosted doughnuts for Henry and then headed to her parents apartment.
When they arrived the apartment was in chaos; David and Henry were shouting at each other over some video game, Neal was crying, Snow was flustered because she needed Davids help to soothe Neal whilst she tried not to burn their lunch.
"Emma please soothe Neal from crying while I take food out the oven," Snow shouted over all the noise.
Emma went straight to the cot and picked her brother up who stopped crying straight away when she spoke, "hey there, no need to cry."
Regina was left near the door, her presence not yet known by anyone but Emma. She considered slipping out the door but she really wanted to see Henry.
"No, no!" Henry shouted as he pressed random buttons on his console.
"Henry," Emma said as she walked over to where Regina was standing, "your mom has come to see you."
"Hey, mom," he said; his eyes never leaving the TV screen.
Snow walked from the kitchen and turned the TV off to which David and Henry groaned. "Dinner time. You're welcome to join us, Regina."
"I have som -" the brunette began.
"Sit and eat, Regina," Emma said. She passed Neal over to the brunette, "now you have my brother so you can't leave... unless you're gonna kidnap him."
Later that night, Regina lay in her bed. If she was being honest she missed the feeling of Emma laying beside her. In one night she had gotten used to the smell of the blonde, how the bed dipped whenever she moved during her sleep.
The brunette knew the inevitable was going to happen; she was going to fall asleep and the nighmares would begin like they did every night no matter how much she fought it.
Looking over to her clock she saw the time; 1:48 am. She thought about calling Emma, she remembered that she said they could talk if she couldn't sleep. She reached for her phone and began typing.
Emma, did you mean it when you said we could talk? It's just I'm having trouble sleeping and you were right about the nightmares.
The brunette battled with herself to whether she should send it... or delete it and write a new text message. She closed her eyes and pressed the send button and immediately regretted it.
30 seconds later and Reginas phone was ringing, "Hello?"
"It's Emma."
"Hi."
"You said you couldn't sleep."
"Yeah."
"Nightmares?"
"Yeah."
"Are you going to answer with one word for this whole conversation?"
"Sorry."
Emma laughed, "it's okay, Regina. Did you want me to come over or did you just want to talk over the phone?"
"I don't mind."
"I'll see you in 10 minutes then."
Regina didn't care that she was in her pajamas, she didn't care that she looked like death. She just needed someone to talk to and right this moment it felt like Emma was the only person willing to do that.
The brunette headed down to her living room and made a fire before going to the kitchen and making some tea. Before she knew it Emma was knocking on the door and they were sat inches apart on the sofa drinking the tea Regina had made.
"You okay?" Emma asked.
"I... I don't know. I feel like I should be, but..." Regina tried to explain.
"I get it, I used to feel like that all the time."
"You did?"
"Yeah," the blonde said with a sad smile, "every time I went to a new foster home I felt like I should be happy but I knew deep inside that it wouldn't last for long so I kept myself from being happy and then always the inevitable happened and I was moved."
"I'm sorry."
"Why?"
"I feel responsible for your upbringing, if I hadn't..."
"Regina I'm going to stop you right there," Emma said, "my parents put me through that wardrobe, not you. They didn't have to, but they did."
For a while the only sounds in the room was the crackling of the fire and the heaving breathing of Emma Swan, neither of the women knew how to approach the subject of Regina's nightmares.
Emma pulled her knees up and hugged them and caught Regina's eyes in a brief moment; in that moment she saw how much fear the chocolate eyes held, how much they wanted to close and go to sleep but the fear always lingered and stopped them. Emma couldn't help but stare at Regina; it was like in this very moment - despite her fear - she was the most beautiful woman alive.
"Emma?" Regina said when she caught the blonde staring, "Emma!"
"Wh- what did I miss?" she stuttered.
"I was just saying how it is getting late, you don't want to be late for work in the morning."
"Oh," Emma said, "I guess I should go."
The duo arose from their places on the sofa and Regina escorted Emma to the front door.
"Thank you for tonight, Emma."
"Anytime, I know we didn't actually talk about it, but I'm only a phone call away."
Emma leaned in closer to the brunette to hug her; their first hug. It sparked something inside Regina that made her feel like it was now or never.
"Please don't hate me," she said in a rushed whisper before pressing her plump lips against the Saviors.
At first Emma didn't understand what was happening, it felt like a dream... but then she grabbed the former Mayor by her waist and pulled her closer and their lips moved in sync. She didn't want this moment to end... in this one moment with Regina's lips against hers, Emma Swan felt complete.
When oxygen became a necessity to Regina, she broke the kiss to which Emma whimpered.
"You don't hate me for that?" she asked as she looked into the green eyes she loved so much.
"Far from it," Emma smiled, "can I kiss you again?"
The only answer Regina needed to give was to press her lips against Emma's once again, after a while Emma's tongue swiped across Regina's bottom lip and demanded entrance which she was happy to give. The kiss became more passionate and soon the blonde was feeling a certain urge, one she didn't want to act on so she broke the kiss.
"Sorry," she said breathlessly.
"Why'd you stop?"
"Because I want to do this properly and not take advantage of you."
"Okay."
"Dinner, tomorrow. I'll pick you up at 8."
A/N: So what did you think? Their first kiss, yey! As always, reviews are welcome and appreciated. Thank you to everyone who has been reading and reviewing, love you all.