Chapter 11: Take My Hand and Dance With Me

Barry the fairy was gazing out at an audience of bored looking ladies from the middle of the ballroom. "Ladies, look alive! We're scouting potential true love princes not picking through rotten fruit!"

Regina stood up straighter and smoothed the front of her gown, from the corner of her eye she saw Emma staring at her. She pursed her lips and tasted lipstick, as she watched Barry call two princesses out to the dance floor.

"We're going to waltz and waltzing is what I want to see!" Barry shrieked intensely as the two girls awkwardly fumbled and shuffled around in their cumbersome ball gowns. "Whisk her! Damn it! Whisk her!"

"Are we trying to mix up cake batter or are we dancing?" Mal smirked and commented to Regina. She cleared her throat and stepped away from the distraction. Truthfully, Regina was nervous. She hadn't had much practice with dancing and balls as her days as a princess in the shadow kingdom were relatively new. Mother had never allowed her to come to any of the balls that had been held and the whole pageantry of it left her nauseated.

The music died off and the two girls instantly stepped apart, relief evident on their faces.

"Who's next?" Barry bellowed and scanned the wall of princesses. "Aw, Princess Emma, I know you must have some experience with ball room dancing. Who is your partner?"

Regina's nerves increased and she tried to appear small and disinterested, until she heard Emma speak up. "Sure, yes…I've been to a few balls. Uh, Princess Regina is my partner."

Barry sashayed across the room, zeroing in on Regina instantly. He grabbed her hand and pulled her out onto the floor. "Alright, let's move! Emma, I trust you're comfortable taking on the role of the prince in this one?"

Emma stepped forward as Barry literally pushed the two women together. Emma smiled and Regina drew in a shaky breath. "Free lesson, girls, princes respond to confident women. I don't want to see this little coy routine you've got going on here. It's a partner dance, so Emma you've got to touch your partner."

Emma nodded and stepped closer. Regina searched her eyes, recognizing the tension and strangeness in rolling off of both of them in waves. "Okay, I'm just gonna put my hand on your—."

Barry extended his arms and clapped both of them on the back at once pushing them flush together, "Dance!"

The music began soft and slow, and Emma winced as she reached out for Regina's waist, finding her palms were unnaturally sweaty. Barry started calling out time as Regina took her hand, and their billowing skirts swished and rustled against one another: Emma in pink and Regina in black.

They began to move in time, looking anywhere but in each other's eyes. Regina was confused as to why Emma wasn't looking at her. She whispered, "Is something wrong?"

"Hmm, no, nothing," Emma replied all too quickly, and Regina felt the bite of the other woman's nails pinch her waist.

"Now, ladies you're trying to woo your true love here! I'm not feeling it. Make some eyes, dance lighter…it's all the in breath. You two look like you're dancing through the swampy bogs of Dornoko, get it together!"

"What does that mean?" Emma asked wrinkling her nose, and Regina smiled despite her nerves.

"I think it means we both need to relax, but I've never danced like this before," Regina admitted and looked up to gauge Emma's reaction.

"You mean you've never had a ball?" Emma seemed like she couldn't believe it.

"No, mother forbid my attendance to the only ball my kingdom has thrown," Regina felt Emma pull her closer, her demeanor seemed to change.

Emma nodded and seemed lost in thought for a moment, before her expression softened and she wrapped her hand farther around Regina's waist pulling her closer. "I've got this just follow me."

And Regina's eyes widened as she felt herself practically carried over the floor, her feet were floating and she felt lighter and merrier than ever before as Emma picked up the pace. Before they were two separate entities stumbling along like they had blocks for feet, whereas now they were graceful and lithe, moving as one through the space.

Regina laughed as Emma full on whisked her around and out into a full spin. Then before she had a chance to think she was being pulled back in and held in Emma's embrace, her back arched back as Emma tipped her and grinned cheekily down at her. Her breath caught in her throat when Emma winked at her before throwing her up and pulling her around and around in a dizzying and exhilarating combo.

Barry had stopped yelling directions like, "Sparkle!"

The low hum of small talk that could be indistinctly heard over the swell of the music died out. In the moment that they were dancing all Regina could do was hold on for the ride. She was truly feeling Emma's rhythm, her body sure and solid, as she moved against and in time with her. It was as easy as breathing to let herself get carried away -literally.

In the blink of an eye, she was still, pressed against Emma, and eye to eye. The world seemed to close off and all that existed was the beautiful woman holding her close. Regina stared in wonder into shining green eyes. She looked slightly cocky and a wholly wonderful. Then Emma's gaze shifted to Regina's lips. She wet them with her tongue in want and leaned in automatically. She wasn't thinking rationally, she was just feeling. This is what it should be and she had to know what if?

What if?...

"Cut!" Barry yelled so close and loud that both women jumped back from each other, their dance trance broken by the interruption. Regina couldn't control the tingling in her legs and hands. Her breathing was erratic. Perhaps she'd overdone it with the dancing, or perhaps Emma just had that effect on her.

"Excellent job, my dears! That's how you take instruction. Let that be a lesson to all you all: didn't they just look like they were in love?" Barry seemed very pleased. "Round of applause for Princesses Emma and Regina."

The other girls applauded half-heartedly and Regina grew self-conscious again as she tried to get her mind back to the present and out of the delicious moment that she had just partaken in.

She couldn't avoid Mal when she rejoined the other princesses, "Damn, girl, you looked like you wanted to true love kiss the blonde right out of her hair just now."

"Shut up," Regina scolded, and turned away to hide the red flush creeping up her cheeks. She felt overly warm, like she'd been sitting to close to a fire. "I did not. It was just one dance."

Regina wasn't sure if she was trying to convince herself or her friend.

"Yeah, you two were dancing for like 30 minutes, I thought you were never going to stop. At least you impressed Fairy Barry, brown nose."

30 minutes? Regina's head was reeling. It couldn't have been more than a few minutes. Did Emma really make time stop in her head?

"Okay, ladies if you have time to practice in your study hours please do. I'm sorry we didn't get to all of you today, but rest assured we will have more dancing lessons very soon- you all need them," Barry concluded the class and the princesses were off to study hour which meant even more one on one time with Emma.