A/N: Sorry for the wait. Enjoy :) Please review!
Moving her fingers slowly, the brunette's breathing is audible as she struggles with her emotions. She is torn between confusion as she explores the younger woman, and something much surer that she would never have imagined she'd feel for Emma. They've been on the island for quite some time, and all of the usual scents she associates with the Sheriff have become lost in a muddle of salt, sea and fear, and this realisation- this ackowledgment- brings with it the disconcerting notion that she has a fairly well ingrained memory of the almond and honey she usually picks up on when around the young woman that had once played her adversary.
It brings with it a whole host of shadowed understanding that she is unable to comfortably process.
It means nothing...
Swallowing as slim fingers dip deeper, a small noise catches in the blonde's throat; bitten back between clenched teeth and clamped lips. She suffers a similar mess of emotions as those tormenting the brunette. She is in pain, and uncomfortably- horribly- cold, but the Mayor's attention is blissfully distracting, and the ache in her side is helped somewhat by the gentle touch between her legs. Yet, she is still torn. She is exhausted and ultimately hurting in a number of ways following her ordeal back in the clearing, and she realises with some surprise- and a great amount of dubiety- that she would like nothing more than to turn around and bury her face into the darker woman's embrace; to allow the comfort that she knows the Mayor would provide her against all the odds.
She won't, though.
She won't, and not just because doing so would hurt her side. She won't because it goes against everything either of them have come to expect from one another, and so she remains curled against the brunette's slim form and sighs as expert fingers begin to elicit a slick response.
"If you were trying to warm me up, I told you already, it would be more effective if you were in a similar state."
She murmurs, and the Mayor's sweet attention stops as the darker woman hesitates while thinking the blonde's suggestion over. The idea both excites her and concerns her. If she gets undressed, this all becomes real. They will need to pause as she slips out of her dress pants and shirt, and unlike when she'd stripped Emma of her blood soaked clothes, there is no plausible excuse she can give for allowing the blonde to see her more intimately. No innocent explanation.
"For warmth."
The younger woman reminds her quietly as though able to read her mind, and Regina swallows, before pushing herself up to study familiar features thoughtfully.
She wishes the candle that currently casts a dull glow over them would hurry up and burn out.
But then, there's no escape in the shadows, not from what flickers between them.
"For warmth."
She agrees finally, and she swallows as Emma rolls carefully onto her back to regard her in the soft golden haze that dances off the cave's walls. Matching the younger woman's bright stare, she pulls the blanket down just a little to expose the plain cups of the blonde's bra and the soft swell of her breasts. The Sheriff's flesh is visibly tight with cold, but she relaxes just a little; looking back up at the brunette silently with her long hair spilling over the pillow and her lips slightly parted, allowing Regina to study her openly and drink in what had been hidden back in the tent.
"You..."
But the brunette trails off and says nothing more, and simply begins working the buttons of her shirt. She's not sure what she'd been meaning to say. Surely nothing so obscure as to compliment the younger woman. Allowing her shirt to fall open, she watches as bright eyes drop to study her pensively, and she almost wishes Emma would make a characteristically crass remark to ease some of the tension between them, because right now that electricity is overwhelming. Freeing herself of soft fabric to leave her in just her bra, she offers the Sheriff a loaded look as cool green flickers back up to meet her own dark stare.
"Play fair."
Emma requests eventually, and the brunette nips the tip of her tongue thoughtfully between her teeth, before slipping from the covers. She doesn't dare wriggle free from her dress pants under the covers as it is both an act she has always viewed as pointless and prude- why hide one's assets?- and she's worried that she might accidentally knock the blonde. Keeping her gaze arrogantly locked with the Sheriff's, she slips free of plush fabric slowly, and stands for just a moment- skin rippling with cold- to allow the younger woman to drink in what she has on offer, before she slides back beneath the covers.
"...Don't say anything."
She warns Emma, and the blonde swallows and shakes her head. She understands what the Queen means and why she warns her the way she does. What had happened in the tent had been rough and wild. It had been in some ways clumsy, and it had taken both of them by surprise that they might finally be acknowledging the delicious ache shared between them. This can't be like that. It can't be rough, and it can't be a mindless submission to desire. This has to be careful and slow so as not to cause the younger woman any more pain, and in being that way, it's going to be intimate. It's going to be an entirely rational acceptance of something greater than tipsy recklessness if they allow this to continue.
"This was easier when there was rum."
Emma sighs, but she says nothing else, and Regina glowers at her for a moment, before simply hovering over her uncertainly.
Finally, the brunette dips her head and brushes her lips against the blonde's; privately torn between wishing the Sheriff had remained silent and let her finish simply touching her blindly beneath the covers, and relishing the adrenalin that courses through her now as she tastes the younger woman slowly and accompanies her down into the insane depths of their turbulent relationship.
This is so wrong...
The thought remains stuck in the back of her mind, but it does nothing to stop her slipping her fingers back down into damp cotton and hungrily swallowing the small sound the younger woman makes in response.
"Move back onto your side."
She murmurs against parted lips; wanting to lose herself in this lunacy now that she's allowed it to exist, and terrified of hurting the woman beneath her. This thought has her smirking into their kiss, as she would once never have believed she'd wish to avoid such a thing. Remembering the way the blonde's top had been stained a deep crimson as the blood had seeped between pale fingers, her grin fades, and she overlooks her own rule as Emma moves gingerly onto her side and breaks the silence.
"I wasn't just worried about having to deal with your parents."
She admits into thick gold, as she curls flush against the blonde and teases her lightly over the swatch of her underwear before slipping inside.
"Hmm?"
Emma sighs, grinning before her eyes close and her mouth opens to pull in a shuddering breath.
"I like having you around."
Regina admits, pushing against the younger woman a little harder. The cups of her bra are nothing but lace, and the deep chill of the Sheriff's limbs, while worrisome, brings her nipples to full, sensitive attention as she presses into the blonde's slender frame.
"Knew it."
Emma scoffs, a little breathlessly as all of the pent up residue of her anger and fear is channeling itself into heat and need, and she takes care not to move too much, but fists at the covers with one hand while snaking the other behind her a little awkwardly.
"Uh..."
Regina groans, her own adrenaline and fear affecting her much as it does the blonde, and she moves as best she can to allow Emma to best access her need.
"Don't stop."
She warns, taking care with her own movements, but breathing harshly as Emma is able to touch her with a little less caution; the angle awkward, but her fingers fast.
"Why do people always say that?"
The blonde frowns, and Regina dampens a moan against the younger woman's shoulder, before demanding distractedly
"What?"
"People always say 'don't stop' or things to that effect in movies and stuff, and I never get why. Why the hell would I stop?"
The younger woman elaborates curiously, dipping especially deep as if proving some kind of point.
"Ung... Emma, I thought I told you to keep quiet?"
Regina grumbles through gritted teeth, working to garner her own hissed expletive as she adds a little pressure before allowing her fingers to become feather-light.
"You did."
The Sheriff agrees, grimacing as she can feel the telling tightening flutter of her stomach muscles, eliciting a deep pain in her side that is soothed wonderfully by the ecstasy a little lower down.
"Well, then..."
Regina retorts, but anything else is lost in a series of unintelligible noises as she goes over; throwing the hand not working its magic inside damp cotton between them and catching the younger woman's wicked wrist in an iron grip as she shudders against her.
"Shit..."
She hisses, her touch momentarily clumsy and jerky, and Emma warns her breathlessly
"Don't stop."
Laughing huskily, Regina obeys, applying a little more pressure before stilling when she feels the younger woman shiver and tense up.
"Ah, ow!"
Emma pants in a mixture of pleasure and pain, and she chuckles lightly when she finally relaxes, and moves her hand gingerly to her side.
"That was the best worst idea."
She smirks, and Regina rolls her eyes, although not with as much disdain as she usually might, as she catches the way Emma sneaks a surreptitious glance beneath the covers and knows that the Sheriff will be checking for bleeding.
"I imagine you have lots of those."
She sighs, feeling suddenly a little awkward lying against the younger woman as their breathing becomes slowly more regular and silence spans out between them.
"Regina-"
"-I told you. Don't say anything."
The brunette warns quietly, biting her lip as she struggles to catch the tail of her thoughts.
"... Okay."
Emma answers eventually, and she strives to keep the uneasiness from her tone without much success.
"It worked. I'm much warmer."
She whispers eventually, and full lips stretch into a smile as the brunette rolls onto her back and closes her eyes.
"Yes. You no longer appear to be at death's door."
"I was fine."
The younger woman assures flippantly, and Regina shakes her head with a sharp exhalation through her nose at Sheriff's contrariness.
"Do you think Hook went back to the others?"
Emma asks, and the candle gives up the ghost to plunge the cave into darkness as her question hangs between them.
"...I should think so. I wouldn't worry. That's his concern, not yours."
"... Do you really think the Shadow is gone?"
"Yes."
"Yeah?"
"I trust Tink... I wouldn't have left him free to go and find your parents if I wasn't sure. You know that."
"Yeah... Yeah, I guess I do."
The blonde agrees softly, staring into the darkness with a slight furrow of her brow.
"Regina..."
"What, Emma?"
The brunette sighs, striving to let sleep take her before they can embark on any dangerous territory with their words. The blonde catches the warning note in the darker woman's voice and sighs, not sure how to really express what it is she feels. She'd been on the verge of telling the Mayor that she's nervous about fancing the pirate again, whether under the control of the Shadow or not. What had happened today had been a show- a horrible one- of Hook's private fancies, and she's not really sure what to do with all that. Before, when it had just been a joking matter between herself and Regina, her mind had flickered again and again to Neal and her grief, and her lingering lack of complete trust for Hook. Now, her thoughts have been warped by a feeling of anger that she knows isn't entirely fair, and yet also knows has set root to stay. Her conflict also throws her another word. A new word into this particular mix.
Regina.
She's uneasy.
Her side hurts, but nowhere near as bad as it might have if the Queen hadn't helped her clean it and apply pressure.
She's warm.
She's missing Henry.
She's tired.
I'm confused.
"Never mind."
"... Go to sleep, dear."
"Yeah. Okay... But, Regina?"
"Emma, I swear, if you don't-"
"-Thank you."
"... Think nothing of it. Any one of us would do the same."
Well... to a point.
"Still, though. I just wanted to tell you-"
"-You're welcome. Now shut up."