Wooo! Tenth drabble right here!

Funnily enough, I had thought about this exact same scenario before. Sorry I didn't get this out yesterday, but you know, life sometimes gets in the way.

Let's get things going!

Fireplace Cuddles

Summary: They were snowed in and without power. Logic says they should share body heat, right?

World: Canon compliant, search for the author era.

It was late in the day but both women were deep in their research, books all over the table off to the side, poring over texts that Emma was sure couldn't be an actual language. She looked up after a while, massaging a crick in her neck, and smiled. "It's snowing."

Regina whipped up to look out the big windows behind where she usually sat, and a smile graced her face. "Would you look at that."

Not even twenty minutes later, and their wonder at seeing it snow quickly turned to trepidation as it started falling heavily.

"I'll call Henry and make sure he's okay," Regina hurriedly said, standing up to fetch her phone. He was spending the night with his grandparents, but she still worried for him. After a few moments of hushed conversation, Regina sat back down, and put the phone on the table by the book she was reading.

Every time Emma glanced up, the snow was getting more and more intense. Then the lights began flickering.

"Oh come on, seriously?" Emma groaned. As if responding to her complaints, the lights went out, and everything was quiet. She fished for her cellphone and turned on the torch function. Unfortunately, she had been pointing it in Regina's direction.

"Honestly Ms. Swan, need you blind me?" Regina huffed, bringing a hand to shield her eyes.

"Sorry. Also, you don't need to go all Ms. Swan on me every time you get angry with me," Emma returned, rolling her eyes. She lowered the phone and rested it on a slant against a book, facing down.

Regina said, "It adds effect."

"Sounds prissy."

"Are you always this insufferable!?"

Emma leaned back on her chair as she said, "Nah, that honour's all yours."

Their playful banter always worked like this, it got to the point where more than one person - including her parents, much to her chagrin - were asking her if there was something going on between her and Regina. She obviously scoffed and said no, but of course she entertained the idea. It'd certainly be a more plausible scenario if Regina wasn't hunting down for her mysterious happy ending. That clearly meant that no one in her life had been good enough for consideration. So they stayed platonic.

Changing the subject, Regina said, "You should turn off your light and conserve the battery in case of an emergency. My phone doesn't have much, so your phone might come in handy."

Although Emma felt like rolling her eyes at Regina's worry, she agreed. Regina lit a fireball on her had, and the room was filled with a warm glow. "Won't that trigger the fire alarms? They run on batteries, so they're still running."

"It's not strong enough to create smoke," Regina explained. Emma nodded and turned to look outside. Still snowing heavily.

They attempted to continue working in silence, but as the minutes passed, Emma began to notice her fingers were growing increasingly colder and her body was thrumming, trying to generate heat. Turning around, she saw the fireplace was a real one. "Any chance we can light that fireplace up and move there?"

Regina looked up and saw that the blonde was very much shivering in her seat. The mayor practically jumped out of her seat, and walked around the table to grab Emma's arm and drag her to the fireplace. With a practised arm, Regina managed to shoot a ball of fire straight into the fireplace, lighting it up and starting to warm the place up immediately.

"Beats using matches," Emma commented wryly.

Regina rolled her eyes and then said, "Help me bring this couch closer."

Together, they managed to push the couch until it was touching the the small step to the fireplace.

"I should probably go find more kindle," Emma said, eyeing the meager basket of extra logs. "And blankets."

"Honestly Emma, are you that dense? You have magic, as do I." With a flicker of her hand, another basket and a bin appeared next to the original. The bin didn't stick such a smooth landing, and rolled around for a bit before settling. "There, more kindle from my house, and for the blankets..."

Two blankets appeared on Regina's hand, and she held one out for Emma. "Bundle up, I'm not sure how long we'll be here, but knowing Snow's dwarfs, I'd say we'll be here for a while."

Emma didn't immediately take the proffered blanket, and instead asked, eyebrows raised, "You know, I think this is where the whole sharing body heat thing comes in."

Regina seemed mortified at the idea. "Share body heat? We are not lovesick teenagers, and we have a perfectly valid fire here, why would we need to share body heat?"

Shrugging, Emma swiped the blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders. "Suit yourself, just know I offered when you start getting cold."

They sat down beside one another, a small space between that Emma just silently scoffed over. Regina had brought over the book she had been previously looking at, and in the dim light, continued poring over it. Emma however, was up for small talk. "Why do you need the Author?"

Regina whipped her head to look at Emma. "Excuse me? In case you forgot, he's the only one who can give me a happy ending."

"I know that's the gist of things, but why do you need him? I mean, what about the thrill of dating? I realize it can get kind of daunting, but are you really going to let some guy just decide who you're meant to be with?" Emma asked.

"It's not about the person," Regina responded, looking towards the flames. "It's about knowing whether I can."

"Well I can tell you one thing, you won't get anyone if you don't even try." Emma punctuated it with a friendly nudge that at least got Regina to smile. "So,, ideal partner, go."

Regina let out a snort of laughter, shoulders less tense. "Really? Sitting in front of the fire and asking love questions? Why don't we just play MASH and settle it?"

"If you want..." That got Emma smacked on the arm with a corner of Regina's blanket. "Okay, no MASH. But seriously, who would you want?"

Emma regarded Regina while she thought.

"Such a broad question," Regina murmured thoughtfully.

"Not really, a person should come up."

When Regina shivered, Emma opened her arms, extending the blanket. "My offer for sharing body heat still stands."

With a begrudging sigh, Regina removed her blanket and scooted closer, burrowing into Emma's arms and the warm blanket. Emma smirked when she heard the smallest sighs of contentedness. "Better?"

"Shut up," Regina growled. "And to answer your earlier question, I do have a person in mind, but I don't think it'd be a good idea."

"Oh?" Emma inquired.

"It wouldn't work, I was the Evil Queen and that doesn't lead for good familial relations, plus I don't even know if they like me."

Emma thought about it for a second. "Then take a chance, Regina. Ask, find out, maybe they like you too. Hell, kiss them, since that's a popular thing from your land."

Regina laughed but still seemed thoughtful. Then in a split-second decision, she cupped Emma's cheeks and kissed her right on the lips. To her immense surprise and happiness Emma gladly returned the kiss. Not even a minute later, a hum was heard as the power came back on.

"Do you think our kiss brought the power back?" Emma cheekily asked, earning a groan from Regina and a fondly muttered idiot.

Because we can never have enough of these two idiots flirting!

Next up, Regina's going be the one to have some issues with ice. I will hopefully have that up later tonight.