So, little sort fluffy, sorta angsty chapter before we get to the wrap up of the story. There are only six chapters left before the end, so past this chapter everything is pretty much all out. That being said, read, enjoy the fluffy angst, and review if you'd like.
Emma had to admit, the best part of having Regina know about her second job, besides not feeling like an asshole about lying and being able to fix their relationship properly, was being able to come home after work and sleep beside Regina for what remained of the night. Even being as exhausted as she had for the last two months she hadn't slept as well as she could have with Regina by her side. Curling up next to Regina and flaking out made her feel so much more energized in the morning and waking up to the beautiful sight of Regina sleep rumpled wasn't bad either. Actually having Saturday mornings to wake up next to Regina and lazily cuddle the morning away again was next to godly.
The last two weeks had been so much better. She and Regina were still mending the holes in their relationship slowly, but it had been getting much better. Emma had shown up every day at Regina's office for lunch sometimes with little gifts, a pastry Regina was fond of, a chocolate bar, sometimes a flower. Emma had actually looked up flower meanings and was using them to her advantage to say things she hadn't quite been able or been brave enough to put into words.
Regina had actually taken to calling her Emma at times instead of Miss Swan. The first time Emma had heard Regina call her by her first name again Emma practically jumped for joy in the middle of Granny's while she was picking up their lunch. In a way it was her own personal meter of just how much Regina had forgiven her. The more she used Emma's name the better off she was. They had both talked through a great many issues during their lunch dates and while some of those discussions had been tense at best, they had come through it relatively unscathed.
With two weeks left until the proposal Emma felt pretty confident that they would be on solid ground once again by the time she popped the question. Until then though, Emma slipped out of bed, placing a gentle kiss on Regina's forehead hoping she didn't wake her up. Emma pulled on her robe before descending the stairs, the house oddly silent.
Henry was on a camping trip with David, taking advantage of the first warm weekend of the year, and wouldn't be back until Sunday night, lending to the silence. Emma had managed to make up with her son while making everything up to Regina as well. She felt more stable in her little family than she ever had before. As much as she hated what she did to Regina, and as much as she hated that Regina didn't trust her in a way, she was kind of thankful that everything had happened. It had allowed them to fix some issues that definitely needed to be fixed in their relationship before things got even more serious. And Emma was all for feeling more secure in her relationship. If they could work through this, she felt that they could work through anything.
Emma sighed and set out the ingredients for Regina's favorite omelet. She was thankful that she could actually manage to cook simple breakfast food if nothing else. The blonde set to work cracking open eggs and whisking them together. She hit the button on the coffee maker once she was done with the eggs and the room filled with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. She took a breath and hummed, pleased.
The floor creaked above her, signaling that Regina was awake and moving for the day. Emma scowled slightly. She had hoped to bring Regina breakfast in bed and then maybe just staying curled up under the covers for a good long while after they ate. It looked like that was out of the question now. She shrugged. Oh well. At least she had still set about making Regina breakfast.
The stairs creaked slightly as the brunette descended. A second later a tousled Regina was standing in the doorway, yawning. She walked across the kitchen and pulled herself up on one of the stools along the island and watched as Emma poured the first omelet into the pan.
"Morning, Regina." She smiled over her shoulder.
"Good morning, Emma." Regina yawned again. "What kind of omelets are you making?"
"Feta and spinach."
"I sense bribery." Regina cocked an eyebrow.
Emma laughed. "It's only bribery if I had asked for something in return."
"You hate feta and spinach. Bribery."
Emma held up a pack of cheddar. "No one said they were all going to be feta and spinach. Only yours."
"I suppose then it's not bribery. At least not blatant bribery. And I highly doubt you're skilled enough to slip a bribe past me with all that Charming DNA. So, it's not bribery."
"Your confidence in me is astounding, Regina," Emma said deadpan.
"My confidence in you lies in other areas that don't include deception. Like protecting our son, I'm very confident that you can do that."
"Well, I suppose that's a good trade off. I'm not one for being deceptive."
Regina just looked at her.
"Ok, so, under normal circumstance where I'm not inadvertently trying to impress you."
"An acceptable save, dear."
Emma rolled her eyes and folded Regina's omelet onto a plate. "Here you go your majesty, your breakfast." The coffee machine behind her beeped, signaling that it was done. Emma got both of their mugs from the cupboard and poured them both a cup. She handed one to Regina and leaned against the counter, sipping hers. She closed her eyes as warmth flowed through her.
She set down her mug again and set to work making her own omelet. For a few minutes the only noise in the kitchen was the light scrape of cutlery on china and the sizzling of the pan. When Emma's breakfast was done she grabbed her mug and plopped on the stool beside Regina, diving into her cheese omelet with gusto.
Regina set down her fork and pushed her empty plate away. Emma glanced up at her after shoving a particularly large bite of omelet into her mouth. The older woman sighed and looked at her. A few emotions crossed her face rapidly. Emma set down her own fork and turned to face Regina fully, swallowing quickly.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
Regina bit her lip, head tilting to the side, trying to phrase whatever she had to say just right. "I'm…sorry."
"You're what?" Emma's brow scrunched.
"I'm sorry. Emma we've been over and over how you betrayed my trust by lying to me and we've been over everything that caused you to think that you had to and we've even been over why I was upset about the Johnson City Henry incident, but we haven't been over the fact that I didn't trust you fully."
"What do you mean?"
"I jumped straight to the conclusion that you were cheating on me. I didn't ask you or give you a chance to defend yourself. I didn't even walk into the bar to see for myself."
"Regina…" Emma trailed off. How exactly did you tell a person it was ok when it sort of wasn't? "You trusted me for a lot longer than most people would have. You kept looking for an explanation long past when most would've been screaming at me and calling me a cheater. For fuck's sake even after both of the bars in town said there was no bar fight you still waited for the paperwork, you still came to the sheriff's station to get the paperwork when you didn't get it. You didn't believe I was lying until the proof was literally right in front of your face."
"But still—" Regina tried to interrupt.
"No, Regina. There's no but still in this. Yeah, getting Sydney to follow me was a little over the line, but seriously you had just found out I was lying to you about where I was basically all day every day."
"That doesn't excuse it."
"Maybe, maybe not. But Regina I've been in relationships where the second they would have heard that there was no bar fight from Ruby it would've been world war three. And I admit it does hurt that you would ever think I'd cheat on you, but damn do I understand it. Because that's exactly what I would've thought if our places were switched. I mean that whole spending a shit ton of time at a bar does kinda look sketchy unless you know I'm working there. It's where you go if you wanna hook up no questions asked."
"But I could have asked you."
"Would you have trusted any answer I gave you?"
"No."
"And you probably shouldn't have. For fucks sake when I did tell you, you believed me awful fast, Regina."
"I still had you bring me to Bubba's in order to make sure you were telling the truth. I kept testing you even after we were there. I didn't…I kept pushing even when there was proof right in front of me."
Emma sighed and reached for Regina's hand. "Regina…I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that didn't hurt in a way, and it was ridiculously annoying, but I don't blame you for needing absolute proof, you know."
"But I do."
"But why Regina?" Emma started to make circles with her thumb on the back of Regina's hand.
"Because I should trust you implicitly. You're my true love. You're the one who's defended me for the last three years—more even—I know I can trust you. And yet I can't it seems."
"Regina…you've been screwed over so many fucking times it's not even funny. And you've been screwed over the most by the people you should have been able to trust. The fact that you went so long without believing the worst in me shows progress. Four years ago what would have happened if Ruby had told you there was no bar fight?"
"I would have hunted you down and demanded to know why you had lied to me and just what you were plotting against me, probably with a fireball in hand."
"Yeah. At any point in this did you think I was planning against you?"
"No, but that didn't mean you weren't going to hurt me."
"Fair enough." Emma pulled her hand from Regina's and cupped the older woman's face. "We've been over this, Regina, we both still have issues. A lot of issues that have been fixed somewhat in the last three years, but we're still working through. All this did was point out the areas that need the most work."
"I suppose." Regina stared blankly at her plate.
"Regina…if you're really worried about everything maybe we could go to Archie together? I know you went to him right when we were getting together to work through the really, really major stuff, but maybe it would be good to go back now that a lot of the major stuff has been sorted. You could deal with the consequences of the major stuff instead of the incidents in and of themselves. And I mean if you want to, you could just go on your own or we could go together or we could do both. It doesn't matter to me. I just want to do anything that would help strengthen our relationship because I love you more than life itself."
Regina glanced over at Emma out of the corner of her eyes. "I feel as if that's giving up, that we should be able to fix all of our problems together."
"Well, I think we've done a damn fine job up until now, but if I've learned anything since I came to Storybrooke it's that sometimes asking for help means you're stronger than if you don't. We've helped each other out a lot in the last three years, but there are some things we're still struggling with. So far we've been working through what's left, but we're still missing a few cracks. We don't have the right tools right now to help each other smooth them over. Archie can help us fill in those last few cracks. We just have to be strong enough to ask him."
Regina took a deep breath. "Alright. I…I think you have the right idea. Perhaps it would be a good idea to go to Archie. Both of us. I don't—going alone might remind me of darker times."
Emma leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on Regina's forehead. "Ok. Whatever makes you the most comfortable."
Regina pulled her down into a slow, gentle kiss. She pulled back a few seconds later, but kept her forehead against Emma's. "And Emma?" she breathed against Emma's lips.
"Yes, Regina?"
"I want to do anything to strengthen our relationship as well. I love you so much I don't know what I'd do without you. I was so scared…" Regina's voice broke and trailed off.
"I know. But you don't have to be scared anymore. I'm here. I'm here for the long haul Regina. We'll work everything out and then we'll be even stronger than we are now."
Regina nodded against Emma's forehead. "I want that." Regina pulled back, looking into Emma's eyes for a long minute. "I want you."
"You have me."
Regina crashed their lips together. The kiss was needy and desperate at first before mellowing out into loving and sweet. Regina's lips detached from Emma's to kiss down Emma's neck. Emma hummed and threaded her fingers through Regina's hair. With a bite to her pulse point, Regina pulled back.
"I want you."
The corners of Emma's mouth turned up. She grabbed Regina's hand and led them both up to their bedroom. When the door closed behind Regina she pushed the older woman up against it, showering her with kisses anywhere she could reach.
"You can have me. As many times as you want."
Regina smirked before flipping their positions. "I plan on it."