Emma glanced down at her phone to find that it was only nine o'clock. She wasn't a bit tired; mostly because she had spent the past couple of days completely indoors. Regina was reading again and Emma was dying of boredom. The weather radio jumped to life, causing both women to look up. The brunette narrowed her eyes over the top of her reading glasses and Emma had to admit she had never found spectacles more sexy.
The radio crackled and beeped before shutting off. "That's weird." Emma muttered and stood from where she had been mindlessly shuffling a deck of playing cards. She picked up the radio and muttered at it as she randomly punched buttons. "It's dead."
"Well, your mother brought a hoard of batteries." Regina said without looking up. Emma opened the back of the device and peered in to see two AAA batteries winking at her.
"Damn."
"Too complicated for you?"
"They're triple A's. Snow brought doubles and D's. No triples."
"Damn." Regina mimicked her. "What about the DVD remote?"
"Takes doubles." Emma muttered as she thought. "Wait, I have something." She moved into her room and the brunette heard her open and shut a dresser drawer. There was the sound of something being taken apart and the drawer again before Emma emerged. "This should work." She took the old out, plugged the new in and rebooted the device. It crackled back to life and picked up where it left off.
"What did you bring that requires triple A batteries?"
"My nose hair trimmer." Emma said sarcastically.
"Really." Regina leveled a dark gaze at her. "What was it?"
"Just something I take with me most places." The blonde shrugged and looked away.
Regina sat up straighter and quirked a brow. She was incredibly curious as to what the blonde had brought. The woman's shiftiness made her doubly so. "Miss Swan, what was it?"
"Nothing, ok?" Emma growled and sat back down on the couch.
"Why can't you tell me?"
"It's none of your business."
"But why?" Regina grinned at the nettled woman. "It's an innocent question."
Emma inexplicably blushed as she pictured the electronic device tucked into her underwear drawer. "My Gameboy."
"They take double A's."
"My razor."
"Those are rechargeable." Regina didn't miss a beat.
"My electric potato peeler."
"Please, you don't even cook."
"Why do you care what it is?"
"Because you refuse to tell me." The brunette smirked. "You're being secretive."
"Yeah, well, I'm not telling you."
"Then I'll go look for myself." Regina stood and watched as Emma regarded her with wary eyes and then tossed her hair.
"Go ahead, you won't find it."
"I heard your drawer open and close." Regina smirked. Emma leapt up in panic but the brunette, using all of her recovered strength, got to the room first and shut the door before locking it.
Emma pounded on the door to no avail. "Goddamn it, Regina! This is not funny!"
"You should have just told me, Miss Swan. You know I don't let go once I sink my teeth into something."
Emma could hear the woman moving about the room and rifling through various drawers. Part of her was intrigued by the newfound playfulness that Regina was exhibiting. But the other part knew the woman was probably just trying to do what she could to piss her off. She heard the unmistakable creak of her underwear drawer and the intake of breath when Regina found what she had been searching for. Emma backed away from the door and moved into Regina's room, crossing to the bathroom and peering through the adjoining door of her room.
The brunette stood with her back to her and Emma could see her studying the item in her hand. "Happy now?" Emma huffed. Regina whirled with a flush high on her cheeks. "Not what you were expecting, huh?"
Regina looked down at the small, bullet vibrator in her hand and tried not to imagine exactly what Emma did with it. "No, actually, it wasn't."
"Right, well, if you could put it back…." Emma gesture to the open drawer and the brunette gloried in her humiliation.
"Of course, Miss Swan." She dropped it among the underwear and shut the drawer. "I was wondering what that buzzing was last night. I thought perhaps a bee was in the room."
"I didn't….last night…I haven't since…" Emma stammered. Oh god. She took a deep breath. "I haven't needed it."
"And what causes you to need such a device?" Regina asked, leaning casually on the chest of drawers.
"Sexual tension, frustration…pick one." Emma mumbled. "You should know, you're the most tightly wound woman I have ever met. Perhaps you would like to borrow my toy?" the blonde teased.
Regina smirked; loving that the tall woman was throwing it back at her. "Perhaps I will. If it weren't for the weather radio."
"I could give you a tutorial if you like." Emma took a step into the room and was rewarded with a sharp intake of breath from the brunette.
"That's quite alright. I'm sure I can manage."
"Well, if you change your mind…." Emma stalked out, leaving Regina staring after her.
The next few days passed in a series of updates from town, another supply run from Emma's family, and more chess games. Emma was becoming increasingly aware of Regina's returning strength as well as her growing attraction to the brunette. She nearly tackled her mother when she brought the groceries and triple A batteries on the latest trip.
When she came back into the house, Regina smiled knowingly and helped her unpack the bags. "Glad to see your mother came through for you."
"Right."
"She didn't ask about the batteries?"
"I told her they were for the weather radio."
"Two packs of ten?"
Emma blushed. "She doesn't ask questions like you do." The blonde half snarled.
Regina made a slightly pouty face. "Oh, Miss Swan, do you regret me finding your secret?"
"Of course I do! Now I feel all naughty and junk!"
"Well don't. You know that I'm extremely ticklish and I know you like toys." The mocking note in the brunette's voice set Emma's teeth on edge. "We're even."
"There's a difference!" Emma burst out and stuffed the meat roughly into the freezer before rounding on Regina who stood with her back leaned against the sink. "You're ticklish, so what? So are most other people. But knowing that you know what I do…when I…" Emma gulped slightly. "That's just different!"
"I believe it was you who offered a tutorial." The brunette smirked. "Don't tell me you would renege on your offer."
"I just did that to make you uncomfortable and you know it." The blonde growled and advanced on the woman at the sink.
Regina's smirk faltered slightly as Emma stepped closer. "Miss Swan, that's close enough."
"Oh, too close now, am I? Do I make you nervous?"
"Hardly."
"I should." She stepped between her feet and placed a hand on each side of Regina's waist on the counter behind her.
"I'm not afraid of you." The brunette said simply.
"Who said anything about being afraid? You can be nervous in more ways than one. For instance, right now, your body language is telling me that you are angsty."
"I'm not angsty." Regina cleared her throat. "And if I were, it would have nothing to do with you." She asserted.
Emma leaned in and Regina arched back a bit when their hips connected. The blonde brought her lips a breath away from Regina's and dark eyes flashed down as a tongue darted out to wet her dry mouth. The blonde leaned in, her mouth barely a breath away from Regina's, close enough to kiss it, when she leaned into her ear and breathed heavily. "Still too close?" She asked and a shiver shot up the brunette's body. She quivered against the lean body of the blonde and Emma smirked and pulled back; Regina was furious at herself for showing weakness. She had been anticipating the kiss.
"Like I said, angsty."