DISCLAIMER:: do not own ouat or its characters. just borrowing for purpose of creative expression. no profit obtained.
(A VERY IMPORTANT) A/N:: it saddens me greatly to inform my readers that this very well may be the last chapter of this story, as well as of all my other stories. long story short, i have unfortunately been threatened with eviction if i continue to pursue writing not only fanfiction, but any original works as well. i was able to negotiate the posting of one final update (this one) so that i didn't leave my readers hanging with no explanation. as i am currently not in a financial position to find an alternate living arrangement, i have no choice but to adhere to the new rules set forth. i am deeply and truly sorry. as this is the result of false accusations and misplaced blame, i am currently trying to negotiate different terms so that i may continue to write for you guys, but things are not looking well. these stories, especially dreamscape and this one, are so very prescious to me and i could never imagine leaving them unfinished. therefore, i will continue to write, even if i'm limited to napkins and the backs of receipts and any other paper-like surfaces i can find, and then, when my laptop is given back to me and/or this writing ban is lifted, i will try and post. my sincerest and deepest apologies to the lovers of any of my stories. if i could change the hate, i would believe me. the whole situation would be extremely hilarious if it weren't so sad. if you have any questions at all regarding this writing ban or when i may be able to start writing again, feel free to PM me and i will gladly answer to the best of my ability. with that, on with the chapter.
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Chapter 12: A Quiet Evening At Home
Emma's hand wrapped around the branch. She felt the muscles in her arms flex and burn in protest as she used them to heft herself up to the branch. She was in the Queen's infamous orchard as she was most every day around this time. It had become her place, somewhere to escape and reflect, to be alone for awhile, all while still remaining on the castle grounds. As a gift, the Queen had set up a small swing, sturdy in construction, hanging from the thickest branch of the oldest tree in the private orchard, a honeycrisp tree that was unnaturally thick of trunk and branch and produced extraordinarily sweet fruits. Emma knew that magic must be involved in the tree's growth, though the Queen insisted it was just a loving hand that made the tree so special. It was that very swing that was the cause of her current position, halfway up the tree, nearly hidden from the ground by its thick leaves.
"Please come down Your Grace. If the Queen hears of this, she will be quite displeased." She heard the pleading fear in her handmaid's voice. There would be hell to pay if Regina even believed for one second that the young woman was a party to compromising the safety of the blonde. She'd been on edge so much recently in regards to the safety of the Princess, her strict rules were starting to border on ridiculous.
For a moment, her guilt almost sent her back down to the ground. But no. She sqaured her shoulders and held her head high. "Really Faleen, I've done this many a time since my youth. You shouldn't worry." She crawled along the length of the branch until she was in its center. Her legs wobbled dangerously as she tried to stand. She finally made it vertical, grabbing the next branch up and hauling herself up. The twisted rope lay halfway down the branch ahead of her. She laid on her stomach, giving herself a moment to get her balance before she reached out. Her fingers made contact with the kink in the rope and deftly started to work the knot out. Stupid tree swing. The thing knotted so easily whenever a wind blew through the apple orchard. She almost had it all out when the rope began to glow an electric violet. The sudden energy made her rip her hand back so fast that her center of gravity shifted and her feet lost traction on the branch.
She felt herself slipping, her feet sliding across the bark, trying to regain her footing, but all efforts were futile. She tried to make her body as relaxed as possible to absorb the impact of the ground. She felt the air swooping, displaced around her body as she tumbled through it. She didn't cry out, just took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut. But she never hit the ground.
The impact was hard but the arms that caught her absorbed all the impact. Once she realised she wasn't going to splatter on the hard earth like a bug, she looked into the face of her rescuer. And was met with an expression that was nothing short of angry. Emma had just enough time to frown apologetically at a chastised looking Faleen before she disappeared in a swirl of smoke, magically whisked away.
When they reappeared, it was in their bed chamber and Regina dropped her unceremoniously onto the soft bed. She landed on the feathery softness with a quiet thump.
Regina was unusually silent as she paced away, but Emma knew better. She was angry, the blonde Princess could feel it rolling off her in waves. She was seething; she always had this kind of reaction when Emma was careless with her safety. And, unfortunately for the brunette, she often was.
"The tree swing was tangled." It sounded pathetic, even to Emma. It was just a tree and she didn't see the harm in climbing it.
"Faleen was with you, was she not?" Regina still hadn't turned from where she was looking out the open wall, surveying the land far below.
"She is afraid of heights."
"Then she will be replaced by a servant that is capable."
Emma shook her head even though Regina wasn't looking at her. "You agreed I could choose my own handmaids."
At this, Regina turned, her eyes sparkling, though Emma couldn't tell whether from unshed tears or from the burning anger. "Only if their incompetence doesn't put you at risk!" Her voice was a acidic hiss. Burning anger it was then.
"I'm not made of glass like one of your mirrors Regina. I'm not that fragile and I refuse to be treated in such a manner." She slid off the bed, taking her own stand and stubbornly crossing her arms across her chest.
"You may not be made of glass." Regina crossed the room slowly. "But neither are you unbreakable." She stepped into Emma's personal space, her scent filling the blonde's nose and dizzying her senses, instantly making her forget that she thought Regina was overreacting. "The peace between your family and myself is tenuous at best, held together only by a mutual love for one person. You. What would happen to that treaty if you were to fall from a tree and break your neck?"
Emma rolled her eyes. "I have climbed many trees in my life. I haven't fallen since I was but a child."
"You fell today." Regina pursed her lips.
"That, is because your magic spooked me and broke my concentration. I was perfectly capable of completing the task myself. I thought we discussed you using magic for mundane tasks."
Regina smirked. "The subject was discussed, yes, but I hardly remember us reaching any sort of agreement on the matter, do you?"
Emma frowned. She didn't want the woman to become too reliant on magic. It was quite useful, but it could also fail you when you needed it most. She didn't fully trust in things that couldn't be explained.
Regina's anger seemed to dissipate at the sight of Emma's frown. Her arm slipped around the blonde's waist, pulling her into a soft embrace. "You are my greatest treasure. I will never not fear for you."
Emma smiled, resting her forehead against the brunette's shoulder. "I am sorry. I will try to take more care in my activities."
Regina smiled against the Princess' golden hair. "That is all I ask." She always seemed to win their arguments in the end, though Emma never failed to challenge her. "Many thanks, dear one." She had always been better at showing her appreciation, rather than vocalising it, so she let her hands slide down the blonde's arms, then they veered off to her stomach, sliding over the soft material of her tunic until they had found their way up and over the round fullness of the blonde's breasts.
The blonde gasped, arching instantly into the older woman's touch. Would she ever stop craving it? "Regina."
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Regina heard her name, spoken gently, and it woke her from sleep. She smelled the faintest traces of something spicy, fringed with hints of vanilla. Her first instinct was to bring her nose closer to the scent; it smelled mouthwatering. Her nose brushed against something soft. She smiled as she became aware of her body and where it was. Her fingers were buried in silky strands, every inch of her flesh seemed to be pressed against the flesh of another. Emma. So deliciously Emma.
She opened her eyes and was greeted by a breast, separated from her only by the thin red lace of the blonde's bra. The brunette placed a reverent kiss to the material and the flesh it protected from her impatient lips. She smirked as Emma murmured her name once more in her sleep, curling more into the contact as if, even in her dreams, she was being ravaged by Regina this very moment. She licked a trail up the woman's clavicle to her neck, sucking softly on her warm skin. Her mouth then moved to nip along the blonde's strong jaw, ending at her lips, kissing them with bruising impact. She rolled the entire length of her body suggestively against the one beside hers, but Emma remained oblivious to her attentions.
Had she imagined everything? Had this morning without Emma all been a figment of her imagination? Had she been asleep this whole time? Was it just a dream? The time on the bedside clock told her the day was approaching early evening. So it hadn't been a dream. It had happened, which meant Emma had come back from dealing with the schoolteacher's crisis. She was hers all evening. A shiver ran down her back at the possibilities that stirred in her mind.
"Emma." She traced a finger over the blonde's facial features, skimming over brows, cheekbones, lips. She could spend hours staring at this woman's face and never get bored. She wanted to memorise every minute detail. "Emma darling, wake up."
The blonde's eyes slowly slid open, looking disoriented as they cleared from the haze of sleep. Green focused on brown and a smile quirked across Emma's lips. "Mmm, hey."
Regina smiled affectionately at the woman laying beside her and pushed a long strand of blonde hair behind an ear. "Hey yourself."
"Fancy meeting you here." Her own hand reached over, tracing Regina's lips. She replaced her fingers with her lips, her hand snaking around to the back of the brunette's neck, pulling her mouth into hers, nipping at her full bottom lip.
Regina felt the heat clawing low in her belly. Would she ever satisfy this hunger? Once again, she rolled her body against the beautiful one beside hers.
Emma smiled against the mouth of the brunette. "Eager, are we?"
Regina pulled away. "You have no idea darling." She attacked the flesh of the blonde's neck, laving her tongue across the soft skin, picking a spot and wrapping her lips around it, sucking...hard.
Emma had never been one to let herself be marked. She was her own person, not someone's property. But she wanted this. She wanted everyone to know where she belonged, who she belonged to. "I'm yours." Regina sucked all the harder at her words, so hard that a pleasureable burn radiated across the flesh of Emma's throat. She held the brunette's head against her, tilting her own head to give the woman better access to her neck.
Regina pulled away with a wet pop. She stared down at her handiwork, tracing the tip of a finger around the edges of the darkened flesh. "Mine." Her tongue snuck out, caressing the underside of the blonde's jaw.
Emma shivered at that one word, said so possessively, a moan escaping her lips as the older woman's tongue touched her flesh once more.
Regina could feel the vibration from the moan in her tongue. She pulled up from her assault to look down into Emma's eyes, her own darkened with lust. "Do you have any idea how I've been longing to touch you Emma? How much I've wanted you?"
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Emma leaned her forehead against the tile of the huge shower in Regina's en suite bathroom. The throbbing between her legs was distracting and she wanted nothing more than to reach between her thighs and ease the pressure. But this wasn't her shower; it wouldn't be appropriate to satisfy herself, especially when she knew Regina was most likely hurting more than she was.
They'd been very close. Regina's fingers had been stroking Emma's stomach as she asked her questions. Emma had been unable to respond, her mouth had gone dry. She had known in that moment that she would give in. But in the momentary silence, they had heard Henry calling out for Regina.
They had both jumped from the bed, the boy's cry like instant ice to their passionate exchange. Regina had pulled on her robe while Emma had slipped into her sweater dress from the previous day, foregoing her leggings, not wanting to take too long. Then they'd bolted down the hall to the little boy's room.
He'd been sitting up in bed, his back ramrod straight, his eyes frantic. He was sweating so much that his fleece footie pajamas were plastered against his skin, his hair visibly damp. Regina hadn't said anything, just slid onto the bed, pulling him into her lap. He had thrashed a little in the embrace, but finally relaxed into her arms and buried his face against her chest.
Nightmare. Regina had mouthed the word to her over the boy's head. Apparently he had them quite a bit. Emma could relate; she did too.
She had no experience with children and how to soothe them. She'd always had to self-soothe in her childhood. She cautiously sat on the bed, one hand stroking up and down Henry's back in an effort to calm him. Her other hand found Regina's, lacing their fingers together. Regina had given her a look of pure gratitude.
They had finally soothed him back to sleep, giving him a dose of pain medication to ward off any potential fevers, just in case his one from earlier had a hand in bringing on his nightmare.
Regina had looked too exhausted for them to return to their previous activities, so Emma had suggested she go down and start dinner while the blonde showered. The brunette had hesitantly agreed, only disappearing down the stairs after Emma promised that they had all night.
And now she was here, standing under the lukewarm stream of water. She'd been in here for almost an hour; she knew she was hiding. But here, in the cleansing water of the shower, where everything was laid bare, she realised how scared of all this she truly was. She'd never played house before. She'd never wanted to play house before.
With a sigh, she turned off the water and grabbed her towel from the rack, wrapping it around herself. A quick peek out into the bedroom told her that Regina was not inside, most likely still downstairs preparing dinner. She tiptoed across the room to the dresser. Regina had said she could help herself to anything, but as Emma checked the drawers, all she found were designer trousers that all looked unworn. Everything was too fancy for someone like her.
She was about to give up and just try and squeeze into the slacks that looked like they'd be small enough to fit Barbie, when she opened the bottom drawer and found what she was looking for. The jeans. She was surprised Regina even owned any denim. The top pairs were all dark wash and designer, most of which really did still have their tags on. But then at the very bottom of the drawer, she pulled out two pairs that were distinctly different from the rest. They were still a dark wash, but not designer... well, designer to someone who lived like her, but not to someone like Regina. They were both Levis. And they were well worn.
She slipped one pair on, setting the other on the corner of the dresser. At first the denim seemed to protest, as if they realised these weren't the legs of their true owner, but then they gave, sliding up her legs and over her ass as if they had been made for her, the denim made supple by the long term wear. They were tight when she buttoned them, but just tight enough to stretch invitingly over all the right places, not to be overly uncomfortable. She was quite sure these were her new favourite jeans.
A quick raiding of the closet found a tight white shirt. She decided to grab her red bra, since her chest was one cup size bigger than the brunette's, and pulled it on. She could see her bra through the white material, but it would have to do. Staring at herself in the mirror, she had to admit she was pleased with the look. She might even decide to wear something like this more often.
She smelled dinner before she even reached the top of the stairs. It smelled divine. She was down the staircase in six seconds and she made a beeline for the kitchen. When she walked in, Regina's back was to her. The woman was peeling potatoes over the sink. She was distracted, listening to an instrumental tune. One barefoot rose to the back of her opposite calf, moving it up and down to scratch away an itch.
Emma smiled. She was glad she remained barefoot. It allowed her to sneak across the room without a sound. She waited for a moment until the woman was finished and set down the peeler, wouldn't want to scare her into having an accident. She kissed the back of Regina's neck softly, her hands sliding over silk hips.
Regina smiled, falling back into the body behind her. "Mmm, what took you so long? I thought you were never going to join me." She turned in the embrace and pushed Emma back against the island, crushing the younger woman's lips with her own. Finally, she pulled away. Her eyes closed as she bit her bottom lip, as if she were physically trying to force herself to pull away. After a long moment, she seemed to regain her control, and step back, her eyes opening. "I'm almost done with dinner."
Emma tried to catch her breath. Her lips tingled, missing the contact. "Anything I can do to help?"
"I was going to make my infamous apple turnovers for desert, secret family recipe." She smirked. "Can I trust you?"
Emma raised a challenging eyebrow. "I don't know, can you?"
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Emma took the glass Regina offered her. The "best apple cider you've ever tasted" is what she'd said when she'd offered Emma a nightcap; it was time to test that theory. She sipped the dark golden liquid from the fancy crystal tumbler; it was divine.
Regina closed the parlour door and sat down on one of the couches, sipping from her own glass. She set it on the side table and then looked over to Emma, still standing by the door, with soft brown eyes. "Sit anywhere you'd like Emma."
For a long moment, Emma studied the woman. She'd changed into a simple, for her anyway, blue dress for dinner, not wanting to eat in her silk robe. Slowly, Emma walked over, setting her glass beside Regina's. She looked down at the brunette, who was looking up at her with just as much intensity. She lowered herself down onto Regina's lap, sitting sideways, stretching her legs out over the empty expanse of couch to their right.
Regina was surprised, but pleased, by the blonde's choice of seat, the woman's own little way of saying that of all the spots available in the room, she'd prefer to be as close as possible to the brunette. She reached her hand down and stroked the denim covered thigh of the woman on her lap. "These used to be my favourite jeans. I had several pairs, wore them through one by one, now I'm down to only two."
Emma looked down at the hand, watching the mayor's fingers playing over the seams. "I can see why. I think these are the most comfortable jeans I've ever worn."
Regina smiled. She kissed the blonde's shoulder, several soft sweet pecks. "You look better in them than I ever did."
"When did you stop wearing them?"
Regina's smile faded slightly, but didn't disappear altogether. "When Henry came along. He was this small, fragile thing. So tiny and in need of protecting. I remember holding him that first time and knowing that I had to step up my game. He was my responsibility now, and I couldn't afford to be lax in any part of my life." She shrugged, meeting Emma's eyes. "I was always a bit of a... hardass, I guess one would say. I had drive, determination, ambition. I wanted power, there was a time I would have stopped at nothing to get it. When Henry came... I knew I had to be even stronger, for him."
Emma titled her head to the side, resting it against Regina's shoulder. She traced her fingers across the back of the hand still on her thigh absentmindedly. "You know, everyone keeps telling me the same thing, that you're strict and resolute. Yet, I see none of that."
Regina contemplated that. She did treat the blonde differently. And it wasn't a struggle to do so. That's part of the reasoning that made her certain she was in love with the woman. She had no desire to be the image she projected, preferring rather to just be herself. It had been far too long since she'd been that. "I want you to see who I really am, underneath all the bullshit."
There was a distance and vulnerability in the brunette's tone that told Emma that she was the first to see the real Regina in a very long time. There was only one question. "Why?"
Regina wouldn't meet her eyes. "I don't quite understand it yet, but that day at group, I looked at you and... something changed."
Emma lifted her fingers to stroke through Regina's hair, trying to reassure her that her admission was okay. "Something changed for me too." Her hand stopped at the brunette's cheek, pushing back the hair to cup it gently. She directed the woman's mouth to hers and their lips met briefly. "Maybe our hearts decided they were both tired of being alone."
Regina smiled. There was a sincerity in Emma's eyes, a gentleness that made the brunette confident that, for tonight at least, no matter what she admitted, Emma wouldn't run. She opened her mouth to say something in response when the door opened.
Henry padded in, carrying Emma's blanket with him.
The blonde slid off Regina's lap to the empty spot on her right and beckoned him over. Henry crawled up onto Emma's lap and the blonde urged him to lay down across both their laps, his head and torso on Regina's and his legs on hers. She tucked the blanket around him and rubbed his small calf soothingly over the blanket while Regina stroked through unruly brown tufts of hair.
Regina adjusted the angle of how she sat on the couch so that she could easily lean to the side and rest her head on Emma's shoulder.
Just as with every time before, Emma Swan was surprised at how easy life was with the woman resting against her shoulder and the boy on their laps. She was content.
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They all enjoyed a brief nap downstairs before waking up to an uncomfortable stiffness. Regina pulled Henry up into her arms effortlessly; it was obviously not the first time she'd spent a night on the couch with him. Then she carried him upstairs and settled him back down before she trudged down the hall to her room. She barely even took the time to pull off her dress before falling into bed beside the blonde, who hadn't even bothered to take off the clothes she'd been wearing all day.
She turned on her side to face the blonde, one arm sliding under her pillow as she rested her head onto its softness and regarded the blonde. Emma was sitting up in bed beside her, her back resting against the headboard; she seemed lost in thought. Regina would have given almost anything in that moment for the ability to read the younger woman's mind. "Emma."
Green eyes slowly slid towards hers. The blonde looked down at her, but there was still something distant there and Regina felt the fear that it was all slipping from her welling up inside her chest. They'd made so much progress; she couldn't lose that now. The blonde seemed to snap out of it several drawn out moments later and a smile, albeit a small one, surfaced on her face. "Hmm?"
Regina studied her closely, looking for any adverse reaction to what she was about to say. "I wish you were here all the time. I like it so much when you are."
Mixed emotions flitted across Emma's face in response, though each was gone a moment after it appeared. She twisted to her right to turn off the bedside lamp and then slid down into the covers, getting more comfortable under the duvet. "I know."
Regina felt the biting sting of those two simple words. They were in no way negative, but they also weren't positive or anywhere near what she was longing to hear.
"If I was..." The blonde blew out a breath as if saying this was all extremely hard for her; it was. "If I was accustomed to indulging my emotions, I'd allow myself to be around more." She broke their shared gaze, severing off their connection as if her eyes might betray her. Maybe they would.
Regina's hand instantly found the blonde's cheek, replacing their visual connection with a physical one. "My dear sweet Emma, are you ever going to tell me who broke you?"
Emma's eyes slid up to hers, glassy with unshed tears, her hand coming to rest over the mayor's, holding it there, letting it ground her as she tried to navigate the sea of emotions raging inside her. "What if I broke myself?"
Regina let her thumb stroke soothing across the woman's fair skin. "Then we can work together to fix you."
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Once again, Emma awakened before Regina. It was quickly becoming habit. She hadn't always been awake before dawn, certainly not in her younger years when sleep is counted among the three greatest treasures to a human teenager, but she'd learned to befriend the mornings. Getting up before the rest of the world, watching a new day dawn. It was symbolic, something that resonated deep within her, the knowledge that she'd survived another day. She'd lived. There was a time many years ago where that was an accomplishment to be celebrated. It still was. If anything, being closer with Henry and Regina was teaching her that lesson more and more. Life is a blessing, being there to see it a wondrous thing.
She placed a soft kiss to Regina's forehead. The woman was so patient with her demons, a woman who herself had stated that patience was not among her counted virtues. And yet she was patient with Emma. She treaded carefully, taking her time. The blonde appreciated it more than she'd ever be able to vocalise. This thing building between them was precious to her, but she saw it as a house of cards and she was just waiting for the structure to collapse. She couldn't make herself see past the fragility.
Regina had held her all night as they slept, comforting her even while unconscious. Even in her dreams, Emma had felt the embrace. She never wanted to leave it.
She went downstairs and straight to the kitchen. It was the first day of work. Life began today, her life as it would be for at least the next six months. She felt a sense of rightness about it all, as if she was in the right place and the right time for the first time in twenty three years. She poured Henry's juice, cutting it with half water and measured out his medications. There was still some fresh fruit cut up in the fridge and she pulled that out for herself while she fried an egg and put some bacon on for the lady of the house.
As she plated the breakfast and carried it into the dining room, she was once again amazed by her domesticity. It seemed Regina was training her without actually training her. She took Henry's medications and juice up to him, helping him sit up while he swallowed down the foul liquid and then chased it with the juice. He looked and felt better today, but she made a mental note to check in with Katherine around lunch time and make sure he stayed that way.
Waking Regina proved to be a harder ordeal. She shook the brunette's shoulder and got nothing but a grunt in response. A second shake yielded no better. Finally she crawled across the bed and kissed the brunette, moving her lips against the fuller ones beneath hers.
Regina's eyes popped open in momentary shock before she relaxed into the touch, one arm wrapping around the blonde's neck and trying to drag her down.
Emma broke the embrace of their mouths and smirked. "As lovely as this is, your breakfast is getting cold."
Regina raised an eyebrow, her head turning slightly so that she could look at the clock. The hour was still early, just after six. "How long have you been up?"
"Only about a half hour. I made bacon and eggs." Emma sat fully back on her legs. "Oh, and I took care of Henry too. That fever that seemed to be creeping in yesterday has gone back from whence it came."
Regina looked relieved. "Good. It wouldn't do to have to call out on my first day back."
Emma smiled teasingly. "The town would go into a mass panic, there would be rioting in the streets..."
Regina smacked her arm with the back of a hand. "Shut up. My job is important I'll have you know."
"I'm sure it is." Emma stole another quick kiss just to show she'd meant nothing by her teasing. Even as she pulled back, she kept her lips close, her tone sultry and low. "You know what else is important?"
Regina could feel her nerves and hormones already going wild. She shifted just slightly with the blonde so close, her body already wanting more contact. Her gaze flickered down to the lips hovering so close to hers, almost touching. "What?"
"Breakfast." Emma grinned, sitting back up.
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A/N2:: reviews for my broken heart?
