Emma woke up cold and alone. She reached for her little personal heater a.k.a. her girlfriend but she felt nothing but an empty bed. She immediately pouted and groaned as she called out for Regina.
"Yes?" Regina replied, standing at the doorway to the en suite bathroom brushing her teeth.
Emma squinted as she looked toward where she heard her voice coming from. Regina smiled around her toothbrush when Emma looked in her direction. She walked back into the bathroom to spit and rinse out her mouth before she reentered the bedroom in all of her naked glory. She walked over to Emma's side of the bed and pulled the sheets away from her girlfriend. "Time to rise and shine, love."
Emma groaned loudly as she futilely grabbed for the sheets to pull them back onto her still naked body. She finally gave up and laid on her back with her eyes closed and her arms crossed over her chest. "Fine," she said childishly. "I'll rise. But I make no promises to shine," she said as she opened her eyes and turned her head to look at the Regina and pout. "What time is it anyway, babe?" she then proceeded to whine.
"It is pretty early. Actually, you don't even want to know. But I figured we'd get up and go down to the stables to get an early start. That's how you get your pick of the best horses, from what I remember. Come on. I'll make us some breakfast," Regina said as she grabbed a robe hanging on the back of the door and exited the bedroom. Emma took one more deep breath before she finally relented and got up to throw some clothes on to join her girlfriend.
"This is nice actually," Emma said as she walked behind Regina thru the stables. "A little cold, but not too bad."
"Well I'd be cold too if all I was wearing was your favorite red leather jacket. Honestly, how do you survive the New England winters in that thing?"
"Hey! It's still only October and I do own other more warm coats. I just choose to wear this one the most until I'm forced to put on something thicker," Emma said, holding her chin up high as she proudly made her statement.
"Okay, dear," Regina chuckled. "Anyway this, I discovered, is Rocinante Dos," she said as she entered a stall.
"Wait. That can't be the same horse that you had growing up. It looks just like him though…," Emma said as she too stepped into the stall to get a closer look at the beautiful brown horse with a wide white streak running down from between his ears to his nose.
"Nope. It's not. I found out from the stable master that no one really gets to ride my Rocinante anymore but he's still here. Living out his days comfortably," Regina said with a smile as she walked over to officially introduce herself to the horse. "This is his son. And he's just as beautiful as his father," Regina said and stroked the horse's head. "Emma hand me that brush over there in the corner. I want to brush him a little before we go out riding."
Emma paused before she handed the brush over to Regina. "I'm sorry...what do you mean we?"
Regina laughed at the scared look on Emma's face as she closed the space between them to take the brush from her. "Just what I said, Em. We're going to go for a little ride on Rocinante Dos here. Together. Don't worry, I wasn't planning on trying to get you onto a horse of your own on our first day here. I know you're a little apprehensive about being around them in general. So, baby steps. You can sit in the saddle behind me today and maybe tomorrow we can try to get you into one by yourself. How does that sound?" Regina asked as she turned from brushing the horse to face Emma for her answer.
Emma gave Regina a small smile. "That sounds good, Gina. You treat me too good sometimes," she said as she walked over to give Regina a hug. As she got closer to the animal, it shook its head and whinnied. Emma jumped back before she even knew what she was doing. Regina laughed and dropped the brush down on the ground. "It's okay, Em. That's a completely normal noise for him to make. Come here." She urged her girlfriend to join her and then gently encouraged her to say hello to their new friend.
Getting onto the horse and seated behind Regina was way easier than Emma imagined it would be. The constant up and down motion of riding it took some getting used to, but she just held on tightly to Regina's waist and enjoyed the closeness that their situation offered them. Regina took it slow until they were clear of the stables and was just about to open Rocinante Dos up a little into more of a gallop when she heard someone excitedly call Emma's name. She turned the reins so that they were facing the voice and immediately felt Emma's grip tighten on her stomach even more. Regina heard Emma exhale loudly before the blonde whispered into her ear, "And that's Lily."
Emma then made the motion to try to get down off of the horse herself and seemingly out of nowhere she felt a pair of hands on her hips helping her to get down successfully. Emma was utterly confused as to who this person could be though because she looked up to see that Lily was still standing a few feet in front of Regina and Rocinante Dos. She turned around a little more quickly and roughly then she had intended to find the smiling face of a gorgeously blonde and petite woman who it her took her more than a few seconds to recognize as Lily's mother, Maleficent. Almost simultaneous to her recognition, she heard Regina gasp.
"Hello again, Emma," Maleficent said still sporting her beautiful and friendly smile as she took a step back from Emma. "It's lovely to see you again. Who are you riding with today?"
Before Emma could respond, Regina said softly, "It's me, Mal. Regina." She immediately jumped off of her horse after addressing her old friend and walked around to stand in front of her still holding the reins.
Now it was Maleficent's turn to gasp out loud as she put her hand up to her mouth with a look of pure shock on her face. She dropped her hand as she stepped forward reaching it out in front of her as she asked, "Regina...? Is that really you?"
"Yes!" Regina replied as she let go of the reins and sprung forward to swallow Maleficent in a tight hug.
Maleficent immediately reciprocated, wrapping her arms tightly around Regina's back. Lily walked over to the two women as they released each other with a look of curious confusion on her face as she asked, "So you're Emma's Regina, right? How exactly do you know my mom?" She looked between the two women who were still lightly holding onto each other as she asked her questions.
Emma decided to answer for them. "Well, apparently they knew each other when they were younger. As I understand it, your mom was a bit of a mentor to Gina."
"Yes, that's right," Maleficent contributed. "It was actually a bit more than that. I loved this little girl like she were my own sister," she said as she looked lovingly into Regina's eyes. The two women were standing side by side facing Lily but their arms still held onto each other.
"Yeah," Regina chuckled. "I can't believe we ran into you. But actually I did tell Emma that we probably would. You know, with our luck and how connected we are apparently," she said, stealing a glance at her grinning girlfriend.
Maleficent and Regina finally let go of each other. They both walked to stand beside the people they were there with. Regina took Emma's hand and Maleficent put her arm around her daughter's shoulder pulling her closer to her side. Both parties stood smiling at each other for an awkward few seconds before Emma decided to break the silence by inadvertently embarrassing her girlfriend. "So Mal, did you know that Regina had a huge crush on you as a kid?"
"Really...?" Mal said lasciviously.
"Really?!" Lily exclaimed.
"Really, Emma?!" Regina said, giving Emma a look.
"What?" Emma said with a shrug of her shoulders as she looked between everyone. "I think it's cute she was like your first real girl crush..." Emma faded out as Regina continued to glare at her.
"I sort of knew that, Reg," Maleficent said confidently.
Everyone's heads whipped towards the blonde after she had said that.
"But, hey, like I said, she was like a little sister to me. Besides the weird age difference. She was barely in elementary school when I got sent away. I missed her dearly though. I still can't believe you're here right now, Reg," Maleficent said, addressing Regina directly.
"Same here, Mal," Regina responded with a warm smile.
The four women had agreed to meet up for dinner later that night to continue catching up before going their separate ways. As Emma climbed back into the saddle and settled herself comfortably behind Regina she chuckled as she said, "Reg?"
"Yeah, she used to call me Reggie when I was younger," Regina said as she looked back at Emma with a grin.
"Hmmm. I like it," Emma concluded.
Regina chuckled as she slowly led them toward her favorite path. "Don't even think about it. I have enough nicknames from you as it is."
"I don't know. I don't really count 'woman' and 'babe' as nicknames though...," Emma stated as they sped up to a gallop and she held on tighter to Regina.
Regina and Emma walked into the restaurant and asked for their party who had apparently already arrived and been seated. Regina held Emma's hand as they were led to their table to join Maleficent and Lily. The mother and daughter both looked up and smiled warmly as the couple joined them. Emma let go of Regina's hand and pulled her chair out for her before she sat down herself.
They were almost immediately greeted by their waiter who asked if they would like something to drink. Regina ordered an apple martini and Emma ordered an old fashioned. The four women started up an easy and light conversation after Emma and Regina had received their drinks and everyone had put in their entrée orders.
"So Reg, you've never left Storybrooke then?" Maleficent asked as she took a sip of her wine.
"Nope! Daniel and I had always planned on planting roots, raising our kids and growing old there together," Regina answered.
"Interesting. How many kids did you want to have originally?" Maleficent then asked.
"I think we had agreed to three or four," Regina responded.
"Well, you're halfway there now, right?" Lily said as she grinned and raised her glass in Emma and Regina's direction.
"Yeah, I guess we are," Emma said as she reached to take Regina's hand and give her a loving glance.
"So, I was your first official crush, huh, Reg?" Maleficent asked, interrupting their moment. She took another sip as she smirked at Regina.
Both Emma and Lily gave Maleficent looks as if to say, "So?" But Maleficent didn't at all register their critical looks as her gaze stayed trained steadily and exclusively on Regina.
Regina chuckled as she released Emma's hand and deposited hers politely back into her lap. "Yes, that is a very accurate description," she said as she looked down shyly.
"And would it also be accurate to say that I'm the one who made you realize that you were gay?" Maleficent asked, zeroing her gaze even more on Regina with a devilish smirk.
Regina chuckled nervously and responded, "I'd have to say yes to that too."
Maleficent chuckled at that. "Well I've got say that you were a very cute little girl who has grown up into an absolutely gorgeous woman," she said with a wink. Emma and Lily looked at each other this time in dismay, indicating silently that they both disapproved of the direction that the conversation was going in.
Regina felt it too and so she decided to excuse herself to the ladies' room to relieve the growing tension at the table. Before anyone could stop her or even possibly respond, Maleficent had quickly risen also saying, "I think I'll join her. I need to powder my nose."
"She didn't even take her purse with her..." Lily said, looking after her mother as she swiftly walked away from their table.
"Hmmm. Do you think I should follow them in there...?" Emma said also looking after Maleficent as she rounded a corner in the direction of the restrooms.
"Nah. From what I can tell, Regina seems to be able to take care of herself. She can handle it," Lily said with an affirmative nod to Emma.
"Yeah she'll be okay, I guess... But I'm not being paranoid or anything, right? Your mom was definitely hardcore flirting with my girlfriend?" Emma asked as she turned back to look at Lily.
"Yeah... She's kind of predatory in that respect. I've seen it before when we've gone out together."
"You go with your mom? Like to bars and clubs and stuff?" Emma asked genuinely shocked.
"Yeah. Why not?" Lily said with a shrug of her shoulders. "We're both gay and hot. She's a good wingwoman actually. And it was some good bonding for us when we first started living and working together. I can understand how that wouldn't exactly work out for everyone though," she stated as she took a short sip of her drink.
"I mean, my mom and I are both bi but I could never imagine going out to bars with her. Not just to hang out. Maybe to celebrate something but I would never let myself drink as much as I would if I were out with my friends."
"Yup. It's definitely not for everyone, I'll say that. I don't know, I think she just wanted to be my friend more since she wasn't there to watch me grow up and I was already an adult when she came back into my life. I guess she didn't feel like I really needed a mother type figure or that sort of stuff from her."
"But did you...?" Emma asked, dipping her head and giving Lily a pointed look.
"Actually...yeah. It would've been nice to have my mum there for me in that way rather than just someone to hold my hair back for me when I've had a few too many at the club."
Emma chuckled. "Mum? Really?"
"Hey I lived there for long enough that some of the lingo kind of stuck, okay?" Lily responded with a hearty chuckle. "But that's another reason why I think my mum wanted to hang out with me more than acting her own age, I guess. After she got pregnant with me her life was pretty much mapped out for her so she never really go a chance to experience the fun of her twenties and even her early thirties," Lily said, changing the subject back to her mother.
Emma nodded her head in understanding. "I get it, Lil. But all that doesn't mean that I'm at all comfortable with her hitting on my girlfriend so obviously right in front of me. I mean, it sounds to me like you only know her as a bestie and Gina probably still sees her as this unattainable but super hot girl she had a crush own. Seeing her through rose colored glasses probably doesn't even begin to describe the way she views your mom."
"Well, I say give them a couple of minutes and if they're not back by then, go in there after your woman," Lily said with a grin.
"Yup. That's definitely the plan, Lil," Emma said, taking a hardy pull from her drink.
Regina exited the bathroom stall and stopped suddenly in her tracks as soon as she as she saw Maleficent leaning back against the counter facing her and wearing a predatory grin. She decided to walk past her to wash her hands, not even greeting her.
Maleficent turned around stepping closer to Regina as she dried her hands. "So...are you and Emma exclusive or...?" she asked as Regina made her way to the door.
"Excuse me?!" Regina said as she spun around finally acknowledging Maleficent's presence. "What at all gave you the impression that we're not?!" she said as she walked aggressively back towards the petite blonde.
Maleficent backed away holding her hands up and laughed. "I'm sorry! Really. I just thought I'd take a shot. You're too hot to pass up a chance on. Reggie, I always knew you had a thing for me. From the way you used to look at me it was pretty obvious. I thought it was super cute actually. It's why I took a shine to you and took you under my wing. If I had known what a gorgeous woman you'd turn out to be I would've-"
"Stop!" Regina said, putting her hand up and closing her eyes in disgust and frustration. "Do you hear yourself?! You were twelve years older than me, Mal! You said it yourself, that you saw me as a little sister. Why would you even say something like that?! It is beyond creepy to even think like that. I know we're both adults now but still. So, just stop with these," Regina gestured dramatically between the two of them, "ridiculous advances." She turned to walk away but made sure to face Maleficent to make one last point clear. "And don't ever again try to come between me and Emma. You knew from the moment you saw us together how serious we were about each other. Let alone the fact that I'm sure your daughter told you about us after she and Emma ran into each other in the precinct." Regina turned to exit the bathroom. She held the door open for Maleficent. "Try not to make this dinner any more awkward than you've already managed to do. It was super obvious to everyone what you were doing. Control yourself."
"Okay, Reggie," Maleficent chuckled as she walked thru the door.
"And it's Regina or Gina if you like," the brunette said as she followed her. "Reggie was that six-year-old girl that you left behind. Without saying goodbye." She had said that last sentence softly to herself. But Maleficent had heard her and made up her mind to somehow make amends for that before she and Regina parted ways.
The rest of dinner went by surprisingly smoothly. With the tension gone, the four women ended up having a really good time simply enjoying each other's company and regaling each other with tales from their respective pasts.
"Wait," Mal chuckled, addressing Emma directly, "how exactly did you get locked of your room in nothing but your underwear...?"
"Well if you want to get technical, I was wearing a pair of red underwear and a white tank top," Emma said proudly as she forked some food into her mouth.
"Yes, dear, because that makes it oh so much better," Regina said, giving Emma a skeptical look.
"I think what she's maybe trying to say is that she only didn't have pants on. So that wasn't too bad. Right, Em?" Lily answered, defending Emma.
"Thank you, Lily. And yes, that is how I viewed the situation at the time. Until I realized what I had done and that I had to walk down to the front desk at one of the busiest times of the day since everyone was either headed to a class or coming back from one," Emma continued in a less confident but still not totally embarrassed voice.
"Wait though, where was your RA? Couldn't you have just asked him or her for help?" Regina pointed out.
"Yes, Gina. I could have if she wasn't such a flake," Emma replied pointedly. "No actually she only sucked so much at doing her job because she was in grad school. But she was almost never there. She was either studying at the library, at some meeting place with a study group or at one of her classes. It actually got so bad that as a hall we all got together and figured out her schedule and the times that she would actually be free to help us and started setting up appointments with her like she was an advisor or something. But if any sort of emergency situation happened you were just shit out of luck," Emma said with a shrug of her shoulders.
"So what'd you end up doing then?" Lily asked.
"How have you never heard this story?" Maleficent asked her daughter.
"Oh, we weren't together then, Mum. This was before our time together. Emma had gotten an apartment with Jane and Maura by the time we were a thing," Lily answered.
"You lived with Jane and Maura in college?! How is this the first time I'm hearing this?" Regina exclaimed.
"Calm down, babe," Emma chuckled. "Yes, we were roommates for a couple of years. That's how they knew Lily. Anyway, back to my story. So, once I realized that I had officially locked myself out I just sucked it up, held my head up high and took the elevator down to get the extra key."
"Well that's an anticlimactic ending to that story," Maleficent huffed as she took a small bite of her food.
"Not really though," Lily added. "She's kind of downplaying it because I only took a couple of classes on campus at the time and even I heard the story of the sophomore girl who had to walk downstairs naked to get her extra room key. By the time it got to me though, you were fully naked and being described as the smoking hot girl with long blonde hair who used it to cover her boobs and had only her hands to cover her private bits," Lily said with a smirk as she lifted her fork up to her mouth.
All of the other three women practically did spit takes of their respective meals and drinks as they burst into laughter upon hearing this.
"That was really fun," Emma said as she followed Regina thru the door of the cottage and closed it behind her. "We'll have to meet up with them again sometime soon."
"Yes, dear, I agree. It was fun. After I told Mal to cool it with her creepy advances," Regina replied.
"Yeah, how'd that all go down, by the way?" Emma asked as she hung up her coat by the door.
"I pretty much told her that nothing could come between me and you and that her saying I'd grown into a gorgeous woman was more than a little off-putting since she knew me as a little girl. Oh, and to stop calling me Reggie," Regina answered as she followed suit and hung her coat up on the coatrack.
Emma immediately took Regina and wrapped her arms around her waist bringing her closer to her. Regina naturally put her arms around Emma's neck and smiled as she looked into her girlfriend's eyes. "Oh, really...? I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to a threesome if that's something that you're interested in pursuing..." Emma suggested with a smirk.
Regina slapped Emma's arm playfully. "Ew, Emma! NO! You slept with her daughter! That'd be really weird! Right...?" Regina asked Emma skeptically.
"Yes, babe," Emma chuckled. "I was clearly only joking. I mean, unless..."
Regina shook her head grinning before dropping her arms down from Emma's neck and unwrapping the blonde's arms from around her. She then took Emma's hand and led her over to the sofa. Both women sat down instinctively facing each other still holding hands and smiling softly at each other. "So I want to give you your gift, if that's okay," Regina said as she pulled a small box from in between the cushions.
Emma laughed. "Seriously, Gina? That's where you chose to hide that?! It's not like I was looking for it or anything."
"No," Regina chuckled at herself. "But I knew we'd either end up here or in the bedroom and that we'd probably be busy doing other things in there if we're not sleeping," she said with a knowing tilt of her head.
Emma agreed nonverbally.
"Anyway, here. Open it."
"But it's not even my birthday yet," Emma replied as she eagerly accepted the small box and let go of Regina's hands to rip into the paper causing Regina to giggle at her pure excitement.
Emma opened the small box expecting jewelry but instead finding a single key. She looked up at Regina confused. "What's this?" she then asked.
"It looks like a key to me," Regina said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Yeah...but a key to what exactly?" Emma asked still really confused.
"To my house," Regina stated with a giant smile on her face.
Emma looked up as what was happening finally began to make sense to her. Her mouth dropped open as words escaped her.
"So...what do say?" Regina asked.
"You're asking me and Henry to move in with you and Luce...right?" Emma responded.
"Yes, silly! Wow. It took you long enough to get there! Way to put that college education to good use."
"Well, insults aside, my answer is yes. Of course! I mean, we're already there like 5-6 nights a week right. Why not start sleeping there too?"
"That's not exactly an explanation that I wanted to hear, but you said yes first. So..."
Emma leaned forward and kissed any doubts that Regina had away. As she pulled back she smiled widely as she said, "Yes, Regina Teresa Mills, I would love for me and my son to move in with you and your beautiful daughter," she said before leaning in again to place a loving peck to Regina's lips.
"Wait. So I'm not beautiful too?" she asked with a smirk.
"Woman, you are gorgeous!" Emma replied.
Regina laughed heartily. "Thank you, dear. It never hurts to hear that."
"But do you honestly not know how attractive you are, babe?"
"Mmmmm... I know how other people react to my beauty, yes. But I've never been one to really put much stock into it."
"Gina, your beauty, as you put it, is exactly why Mal went all cougar town on you. Because of the incredibly hot woman you've become since she last saw you."
"Point well made, I guess. Anyway, you want to do some celebrating before we go to bed?" Regina asked with suggestive a lift of her eyebrows.
"Oh, I wasn't really planning on doing much sleeping tonight. I'm at least going to tire you out enough so that you won't wake me up at the buttcrack of dawn again," Emma said confidently.
"That's cute," Regina chuckled as she stood up and sashayed her way to the bedroom.
"What is?" Emma said as she eagerly followed her.
"That you think you can keep up with me," she said with a wink before she turned to surprise Emma by fisting the top of her dress as she pulled her in for a passionate kiss that left Emma a little dizzy from lack of air. Regina let go of her and walked away into the bedroom as she kicked off her heels and started to unzip her dress.
"Well, I can at least try, right?" Emma said with a dopey grin as she stood in front of her ridiculously sexy girlfriend who was now wearing nothing but her lacy panties and a seductive smirk.