Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my mistakes. :)
A/N: A somewhat fluffy interlude ... which turned out to be not quite as fluffy as I thought ...
A/N 2: Thank you for all the reviews. I didn't get around to replying to them all due to real life time constrictions but I want to let you know that I appreciate every single one of them. :)
Chapter 11: About Last Night …
Emma sighed contentedly, pressing her face deeper into the crook of Regina's neck. They had made love in one continuous ebb and flow since their return from the border and it had been everything Emma had hoped for and more. Regina had known exactly where to touch her, and how, when to speed up, when to slow down to drag out their pleasure. Emma swore she had never come so hard or as often before, her body moving seamlessly from one peak to another, their bodies bringing forth each other's pleasure effortlessly.
Emma had never thought she'd regret the first time she had sex with Regina, but now she did. Because it had been just that — sex — and not the mutual, joyful experience they had just shared, and that was the first time Regina had deserved. They both had deserved. Christ, and I took her against the fucking door like a pimp in a seedy back alley. It had been fun and Emma could see them doing it again at some point … in fact, they almost hadn't made it to the bed this time either. But when she had seen Regina pressed against the door, her eyes half closed in desire, her body so eager to be touched, Emma had taken a step back and had dragged them both to the bedroom.
"Is something bothering you, dear?"
Regina's voice held an irresistible, post-coital roughness that Emma felt down to the bottom of her toes. Her breathing had only just returned to normal but her body reacted with a wave of desire.
"How do you do this to me?" Emma asked rhetorically.
"Do what?"
"Getting me all hot and bothered just by speaking," Emma replied, adding a nip to Regina's neck because she felt like it. There's going to be a hickey anyway, she thought with a juvenile sense of pride, so what's one more? "Your voice seriously is like aural sex."
Regina didn't quite know what to say. "Is that what's bothering you?"
Emma smiled. "Only in so much as I want you again desperately, and I'm too tired to do anything about it."
Regina laughed. "Did I wear you out?"
Emma leaned up on one elbow. "Don't pretend you're not just as worn out as I am." Her free hand lightly traced a line from Regina's knee all the way up to her throat, and Emma watched in fascination as a trail of goosebumps followed her fingers. When she met Regina's eyes, she almost gasped at the look of open devotion and affection she could so easily see now. There was no choice but to lean closer and kiss Regina again, pouring out her feelings into the waiting mouth, breathing her love into Regina, and receiving an equal measure back.
After that, it took a moment for Emma to find her voice again. "I'm … I owe you an apology," she muttered.
Regina smirked. "I can think of a million reasons, so why don't you enlighten me what you think you need to apologize for right now." The bright smile that followed her words completely removed their sting.
"Har har." Emma gave Regina a playful glare before turning serious. "I never wanted our first time together to be some quick f— … affair against a door," she explained softly. "I wanted it to be like this, all perfect and wonderful, and I'm sorry I ruined that for us."
Regina stared at Emma in surprise. "That is remarkably sweet of you," she said after a moment. Then she remembered something. "Wait, is this a new thought?"
"I'm not sure what you mean." Emma sounded confused. "But no, I'm not just thinking this just now. I actually tried to tell you I was sorry about how it happened right after … before you …" She shrugged and turned her wrist in a gesture they both recognized.
Regina was contrite. "That was what you were trying to say?"
"Yeah." Emma tenderly moved a few dark hairs out of Regina's face. She's gorgeous, all mussed after sex. "What did you think I was going to … Hold on, did you send me away because you didn't want to hear what I was trying to say?"
Regina nodded. "I thought you were going to say that you regretted the act, not the way it happened," she confirmed Emma's suspicions. "I expected you to reject me, and I really wouldn't have been able to take that … not after you had just made one of my far-fetched dreams come true."
"Jesus, Regina," Emma exclaimed. "That was the last thing on my mind." She shook her head. "All I wanted was to cuddle up to you … preferably after you returned the favor."
Regina cupped Emma's face. "I'm sorry for sending you away," she whispered. "I was so afraid of getting hurt because I assumed you would never want me the way I wanted you … if I had just let you talk things could have been a lot easier."
Emma snorted. "True … but then it wouldn't have been us, I guess. We never went for the easy option." She leaned in for a short, sweet kiss. "Let's try this whole communication thing, okay? I hear it actually works sometimes … and we wouldn't have to assume things and come to the wrong conclusions. I think we might need that more than anybody else I know."
"Agreed."
"So … why did you assume I wouldn't return your feelings?"
"Rumple," Regina hissed with a strong dose of venom. "He realized … felt that you're my true love on the trip to Neverland, and he took an immense pleasure in letting me know that you could never return my feelings. He was very convincing and he played to my … weakness, so I believed him."
"You knew this whole time that what we have is true love?" Emma yelped. "But why did you believe him? I thought true love couldn't be one-sided?"
"That's what people like your parents would have everyone believe. However, it is possible under special circumstances."
"Special circumstances? Like what?"
"Cosmic misalignment, I guess … people who don't want to be in love or people already in love with other people, or—"
Emma didn't let her finish her list. "And for some reason you thought I was in love with Neal, right?"
"Well, Snow can be quite convincing, especially to someone who doesn't think she's worthy of love." Regina found the sheets next to her body very interesting all of a sudden.
Emma turned Regina's face back around and met her eyes with an even, determined look. "I know Snow is running around telling everyone that Neal is my true love, including Neal but I assure you, he's not." There was a hint of panic in Emma's tone.
"I know, dear," Regina said reassuringly, although Emma didn't think she sounded all that certain.
"Just wanted to make sure," Emma sighed. "And you definitely deserve love, just so you know. If I deserve love, then so do you."
Regina decided not to comment on that, knowing that this was still her Achilles heel. She knew there was no true good and true evil, no black and white, but some people just fell more towards the dark end of that gray scale, and she was … had been one of those people.
"I'm hungry," Emma suddenly said against her throat. "Like literally, not figuratively." She sat up a little. "Do you have any food?"
"No, dear," Regina replied with a completely straight face. "I've been fasting ever since I disappeared."
Emma's jaw dropped in horror causing Regina to laugh out loud as she got up and offered Emma a hand. "Come on, Savior," she prodded with a teasing smile, and it sounded suspiciously like a term of endearment. "Let's see what I can whip up, shall we?"
Emma jumped up and followed Regina with a huge grin.
o o o
"I really don't want to go back," Emma said half an hour later around a bite of her grilled cheese sandwich. "God, this is awesome … did I already say that?"
Regina smiled and nodded, trying not to wince at the thin string of cheese that connected Emma's mouth and the sandwich when she opened her mouth to speak. Emma had indeed praised her kitchen skills several times already, mostly while chewing, which Regina surprisingly didn't find as disgusting as she expected it to, and that fact disturbed her a little. She could already see Henry and Emma forsaking all table manners in the future if they ever found out that Regina thought it was a little … adorable in Emma's case.
Then she wondered if they would ever have those kinds of family dinners; the three of them being the family all of them wanted. Or at least she and Emma wanted … she really wasn't sure what Henry would have to say about it.
"You know you have to go back to Henry tomorrow," Regina said in reply to Emma's whine once she had swallowed her perfectly chewed piece of tomato from her salad. "We should enjoy each other's company while we can."
"Yeah."
That sounded positively morose, Regina thought, but she realized there wasn't much she could do about it. "Emma …" she sighed softly.
"I know, I know …" Now it was Emma's turn to sigh. She picked at the rest of her sandwich that still rested loosely in her hand. "Regina … Can you … Would you … Why don't you return with me tomorrow? Go back to the mansion? So we can see what's going on … and get started on your campaign?"
Regina studied Emma for a long moment, the way she seemed to be nervous about her request, the way her forehead was creased in a frown, how she slowly, unconsciously picked apart the sandwich. "Why is this so important to you, dear?" she finally asked. "When I'm really not sure I even want to be mayor any longer …"
Emma almost dropped the rest of her sandwich in surprise. "But you are the mayor," she blurted. "That's who you are and I think you need to be Madame Mayor again. And you heard what Ruby said … I think you'd have a good chance at winning … then you'd be back where you belong."
Regina searched the depth of her wine glass for a way to explain what was going through her mind. "Do you really think your parents are going to accept this?"
Regina's voice was almost wistful, and Emma had a feeling she wasn't just talking about a mayoral election. "You think they won't even let you run against Snow?" she mused.
"Among other things."
"Okay, what else?"
"Snow will expect you to be active in her campaign. Your parents won't accept you taking my side of all people," Regina explained as patiently as possible. "Not to mention you being with me … loving me."
Emma reached across the table and took Regina's hand. "I think I can convince them," she swore, eyes blazing with determination. "I mean, they always say they want me to be happy," she continued, sounding as if she was trying to bolster up her own conviction as much as Regina's. "After all, what can they seriously say or do against true love? That's like the holy grail to them and they would never get between that."
"Emma …"
"What?"
"Your naiveté never ceases to astound me, as adorable as it sometimes is." There was that word again. She really was turning into some mushy idiot. "Just today your mother tried to take your badge for no other reason than she thought her consort should have it. I don't know if that's just Snow's typical selfish streak rearing its ugly head or if it's something else, but I do know that she won't just accept me as your true love, and neither will your father. Or anybody else in this town."
Regina gripped Emma's hand tightly when the other woman's face fell at her words. "I'm sorry, dear," Regina whispered. "They won't accept that your true love is the person they hate most in this world."
"I'll get them to accept it," Emma declared defiantly.
Regina stood and walked the step to Emma's chair, pulling her against her body in a hug. "They won't believe it," she repeated against Emma's hair, pressing a soft kiss against the locks that were still slightly tangled from the way her hands had gripped them during their lovemaking. "Snow won't believe it because she thinks that Neal is your true love … and she has a tendency to believe that what she thinks is always right and true."
Emma sighed as she pressed her face against Regina's chest and just listened to Regina's heartbeat for a few seconds. "I'll tell them tomorrow that Neal isn't who I want … who I love," she promised. "If they won't believe me … we'll prove it somehow. Then they'd have to accept it."
"I will not curse you just so we can prove something … and neither will you, Ms. Swan." Regina ran her hand through Emma's hair with a small, almost sad smile that Emma couldn't see. She wouldn't put it past her lover to be so … stupid, so heroically romantic as to try to force her parents' acceptance. There had to be a better way.
"Do you think we should tell Henry about us?" Regina asked quietly. "I think he should know …"
"Yeah," Emma agreed. "And he should be the first one we tell."
"I just don't want to hurt him," Regina admitted.
"This won't hurt him," Emma said as she stood and pulled Regina tightly into her arms. "I'll explain it to him tomorrow, okay?" She kissed Regina's forehead to smooth out the frown that seemed to have taken permanent residence there over the course of their late night snack. "As soon as I see him tomorrow, I'll tell him … and then I'll tell Snow."
Emma sounded so sure of herself that Regina decided to trust her on that. She just hoped that Emma's belief in their son wasn't misguided. Right now, however, she planned on enjoying the rest of her time with Emma in the best way possible.
Emma only yelped a little when Regina ripped off her tank top and pulled her into the bedroom again.
o o o
It had taken Snow most of the day to draft her proclamation, Ruby noticed from behind the counter at the diner. A lot of that probably had to do with the fact that at some point David had stormed in and had a heated, whispered discussion with his wife that Ruby had only half-heartedly tried not to listen in on.
David wasn't happy with his wife, that was clear, or at least not with the fact that Snow had decided to make him sheriff. Surprisingly enough, Snow had immediately caved when David confronted her about that, and Ruby was cautiously hopeful that the old Snow she knew was in there somewhere.
Then David had asked to see what Snow had written so far and they had spent the rest of the day going in circles, debating the contents of Snow's proclamation. In the end, David had sent Ruby a short smile that let her know that he had managed to get Snow to cave on the election issue as well.
Snow saw the smile and deduced immediately where her husband's insistence on an election had come from. Her glare was anything but friendly but Ruby ignored it and sent her old friend an encouraging smile.
It was late when David returned from the copy shop with several dozen copies of the proclamation. He handed one to Ruby who started to read straight away, only looking up once to wave goodbye to David when he and Snow left to spread the copies around town. She smiled when she was finished and pulled out her phone.
"There's going to be an election," was the first thing she said when Belle answered.
"Snow changed her mind?"
"David changed it for her, actually," Ruby said with a smile. "The details will be explained in a town meeting in two days, which is also when everyone who wants to run for office has the opportunity to speak and declare their intention."
"Okay," Belle said, sounding as if she was thinking things through. "That means we have two days to convince as many people as we can not to faint, scream or run when Regina gets up and tells them she's going to run."
"If she's going to run," Ruby muttered.
"Did you talk to her?"
"Yeah, and she didn't sound too happy at the idea of running in an election that would garner her no votes, but lots of hate."
"I can understand that," Belle replied quietly. "Then we have to let people know that she would be the best choice for the job. The only one offering the people here a say in where they want to live."
Ruby's heart thudded in her chest as she spoke the next words. "Would you like to come over tomorrow morning for breakfast … so we can plan a strategy?"
"That's a great idea," Belle agreed, and Ruby could have sworn she heard her smile.
"Brilliant. See you in the morning then." She ended the call with the biggest smile on her face
The smile never left her face the rest of the night. Not when she unceremoniously kicked Leroy out at closing, not as she cleaned the grill, and certainly not as she went to bed and wrapped herself into her warm sheets.
