Regina was asleep, her head flat against the mattress since the pillows (and the duvet) had been unceremoniously discarded as they made love to each other with as much aerobic energy and athleticism as they'd attempted thus far. The sheet was covering her legs, bunching haphazardly around her hips, leaving her torso and bust gloriously exposed. Her arms hung loosely around her head, fortuitously arching her chest skyward. Emma just watched her, examining the shapes and shadows, the sweeping curves and stretches of creamy perfection that formed her upper body. Regina's face held the only angles and edges, but there too was a mixture fine lines and smooth surfaces that looked more like art that the planes of someone's collection of features.
For a while, Emma was content to just look, propped up on her elbow and committing the pieces of her to memory. But then she need add another sense. So she leaned further over Regina, letting her elbow plant gently near her belly button, her palm and fingertips draped on her ribcage. Then she bent her head and nuzzled the space between her breasts, memorizing the feeling of the skin of her cheek meeting the skin covering Regina's breastbone, how soft it was, how lovely.
Regina murmured lightly, registering Emma's tenderness. "You're not going to let me sleep," Regina mumbled, a statement, not a question.
"I'm sorry to inform you that you're much too beautiful to sleep."
A small smile spread across her lips. "If you'd close your eyes, you would be unaffected by my beauty."
"My mind knows it's time to rest. But my heart is telling me otherwise."
"I think it's your libido that's confused."
"Madam Mayor! How could you insinuate I'm just using you for your body?"
"What else would could you want in the middle of the night? You want to lay together and talk right now?"
"Um, yes. A bit. I want to play a game with you," Emma said, somewhat chagrined.
"You are truly an impossible woman. Whose idea was this to be in a relationship with you?"
"Mmmm, the million dollar question."
"Ok, what kind of game?" Regina said, reaching to the floor to spear one of the pillows and worm it under her head.
"It's called, What I Said, What I Meant."
"Oh, I don't think I like the sound of this game at all."
"No, it's easy. And you'll be great at it. I'll give you a memory, the way I recall it, and you tell me what you were really thinking. Sound fun?"
"Do I get a chance to play at this game too?"
"Of course."
"Ok. Proceed with caution, Swan. It is 3:30 in the morning, and I'm only playing along because you gave me at least six orgasms last night that I can count."
Emma grinned, laying a single kiss on Regina's nearest breast.
"Here we go. First one. I convinced you to let them lower me down to rescue Henry instead of you. You walked up to me, about an inch from my face with tears in your eyes and said to bring him to back to you. So I did. I came back up with him, wrapped around me, handed him over to you. And when I came back to check on him, do you remember what you said to me?"
Regina looked up at Emma with narrowed eyes and pursed lips. "You sure you want to play this game right now?"
"No, I am seriously not trying to pick a fight, I just wondered if maybe what was happening inside your head didn't match what you actually said to me."
"Indeed. I said, 'Deputy, you can clear the crowd now.' But what I meant to say was, 'Emma, thank you for being so selfless and getting our son out of danger. And thank you very much for wearing that tank top.'"
"See! You are a natural at this game! I knew you would be. Ok, it's your turn."
Regina turned her head to the side and let it fall on her pillow. She lay there quietly, and Emma could see she had a memory that wasn't sitting well. She tipped her chin up so their eyes met.
"It's ok. This was dumb. Lets sleep."
"You came to arrest me for killing Archie. You said Henry was your son and that he wouldn't believe my lies. And then you said, 'You can pretend all you want, but we know who you are and who—"
"—You will always be," Emma finished, words drenched in remorse. "Whose ridiculous idea was it to play this game?"
Emma turned fully on her side and pulled Regina to mimic her position to they were mirroring each other, eye to eye, mouth to mouth, chest to chest. "I don't regret any words that have come out of my mouth more than those. What I meant to say was 'Henry is our son, and you have been misunderstood for so long that you've started to believe this fictitious version of you are. You can pretend all you want, but once you remove the veneer of cynicism and mistrust, you are the most giving, warm, vivacious person I've ever met, and you will always be.' That is what I meant to say, and I'm sorry I hurt you."
"You don't have to apologize. I've got one more, and this is for both of us because there was some serious subtext going on here," she said, pinning Emma with a pointed look. "It starts with the sound of a chainsaw. I look down from my window and you are cutting down branches from my beloved apple tree. I said, 'What the hell are you doing?' You said—"
"'Picking apples' and then you said I was out of my mind and I responded with something like—'no you are if you think a shitty frame job is going to scare me off. You're going to have to do better than that. You mess with me again and I'm going to come back for the rest of this tree.'" Emma sat up, pointed a finger in Regina's face and mimicked herself dramatically. "Because, sister you have no idea what I am capable of. Your move."
Emma flopped a leg over Regina and straddled her hips and smirked down at her. "I was thinking you have the sexiest snarl I've ever seen, and this woman is going to fucking kill me in my sleep."
She started kissing Regina's neck, sucking on her pulse point, when she suddenly found herself with her back flat against the mattress and Regina hovering above her playfully. "And I was thinking, 'I am going to fucking kill this woman in her sleep, and thank you again, Miss Swan, for wearing that tank top. Your move.'" Regina took Emma's nipple in her mouth and began sucking hard, pinching her other nipple roughly. Emma moaned.
"God, you are the hottest nemesis I have ever had. Did I forget the bit where I thought—oh!—I want to fuck her senseless? I'm pretty sure I was thinking that when you were sneering at me."
Regina brought her head up and looked at Emma sincerely. "I'm sorry I made your life so difficult and that I was so hateful. Most times, what I meant to say was 'I'm scared to death to lose Henry and I'm terrified someone will find out that I'm in love with the Savior and that she won't love me back.'"
"Oh, but she does. And most times I wanted to say 'I'm scared to death Henry will find out I'm not worthy of him and hate me because I gave him up the way I was given up. And I'm terrified someone will find out that I'm in love with the Evil Queen and that she won't love me back.'"
"Oh, but she does." Regina laid her head on Emma's chest, just above her heart. "Emma?"
"Yeah?"
"No more games."