Part Five

I wake up to the sound of gasping and grunt and every cell on my body is immediately alert. I recognize the sounds as coming from Emma and I look to the side, to her bed, but nobody is there. I move slightly on the bed and see Emma doing push-ups on the bar. The muscles on her arms are flexing and I can't help but stare at them. I have never noticed how muscular her arms were before and the sight of them leaves my throat dry. I have no idea why but my mind suddenly wanders off to the rest of her body. Is she that muscular everywhere? Her tight jeans leave too little for the imagination, I know she has magnificent long legs and the shape of her ass in that tight jeans is almost indecent. Does she have abs underneath that shirt? And how would it feel like to run my nails on her flat stomach all the way down to… I cough and shake my head. Enough of this!

"Hey," Emma said stopping her work-out "Did I wake you?"

"No," I said feeling my cheeks burn "What are you doing?"

"Getting ready for a fight," She says and sits down on the trunk "Thank you, for last night"

"Don't mention it" I say.

"I brought you breakfast," Emma says, "I think it's cold now but I figured you would prefer to have it in here than with my parents"

"Yes, I do prefer that," I say, not bothering to thank her. It is cold after all.

"Hook says we'll arrive in Neverland tomorrow night," Emma says "How is your magic?"

"Much better," I say as I make a fireball to warm up the plate Emma brought me.

"Good!" Emma says "Things got out of hand last night"

"Indeed"

"You turned a mermaid into wood"

"She asked for it"

"Are you un-turning her?"

"No" I smirked "Why would I do that?"

"She's a living thing, Regina"

"And now she is decoration"

"It's not right!"

"Why do you care?"

"What if she has…I don't know a family?" Emma says "We should give her back to the sea"

"Mermaids don't have families," I say, and then, "I think"

"Please, turn her back?" Emma says "For me!"

"Why would I do anything for you?" I ask "I don't t even like you"

"Trust me, I know," Emma sighs "Do it for Henry then. He would like that"

"Fine dear. If it's so important to you, I will turn the fish back"

"Thanks," Emma says and smiles.

I rose from the bed at the same time she does from the trunk. The ship moves slightly to the side and that's enough to make Emma lose her balance and fall down right on top of me. Her whole body covers mine and I feel a shiver run down my spine, something that I don't even dare myself to properly acknowledge. She pushes her body up slightly and we ended up facing each other. She looks so intensely inside my eyes, her stare so deep that I can't look away from it. I feel my heart racing inside my chest and my breathing getting erratic and for a moment I think she is going to kiss me and if she did that, I would let her. The thought of that is scarier than many things I have faced before in my life and for this fraction of a second, it's even more scarier than losing Henry.

"God, you are beautiful" Emma whisper.

What? Did she just say what I think she said?

Emma doesn't move, neither does she look away from my eyes, and this overpowering feeling of wanting to push myself up and claim her lips with mine takes over my whole body. I want to do that. My whole body is on fire and it has nothing to do with the magic running in my veins. But then the ship abruptly balances again and the voices up on the deck bring me back to reality.

"Thank you, dear," I say deciding to break the moment. It's for the best. This is just too much "Now, get off of me"

"Right," Emma says and quickly stands up "I'm sorry. I don't know why I said that"

"It's alright, dear. It's not like you are telling a lie"

"Yes, of course," Emma says and I see her pale cheeks turn red "I'm gonna go upstairs"

"I too will be going up shortly"

Emma scratches the back of her neck and leaves the little room we share together. Once I make sure she is out of the room, I fall down onto the bed. My hands are shaking and I can hardly control my breathing. What was that? Why did she say that? Why she kept looking and me and said that? Why didn't she kiss me? And why the hell did I want her to kiss me? And worse, why did I want to kiss her back? Stop that, Regina! Gods, I am going crazy. I'm spending too much time on this ship with the Charming Clan and the idiot pirate. I need to get out of here. I need to get to land and I need to find Henry. That is the only thing that matters to me. He is the only thing that will ever matter to me.

I shake my head and breath, in and out, big and slow. I put myself together and decide to leave that little room. I walk up the stairs and the blow of the wind on my face is a welcome change. The sun is burning, the sky is completely clean, the wind blowing strong. I can feel the ship moving faster than we were the day before and hopefully, we'll arrive there before schedule. I walk to the starboard and breath in the fresh air. There isn't much to do in here apart from looking out the sea and…

"Regina?"

"Snow," I say "What do you want?"

"I need to talk to you"

"If it's about the mermaid I've already told Emma I'll undo the spell"

"It isn't, but thank you for that"

"What is it then?"

"We said pretty rough things to each other last night," Snow said "And I punched you"

"So? I punched you back" I say "I tried to kill you, multiple times. Including last night"

"Well, there is that,"

"Is there anything important you want to say? Because I would prefer not to be in your presence more than what is absolutely necessary"

"You know what, Regina? Never mind,"

"Already did, dear,"

Snow walks away from me and I am so very grateful for that. I may not hate her as much as I have in the past (for now) but she still annoys me to my very core. I look out the sea again and the sound of Emma's voice pop into my mind 'God, you are beautiful. Damn her! Why did she have to say that? I breathe the fresh air again and then I look to the side. I see Emma and Hook together, she is smiling at something he said and I feel like setting his body on fire. He is probably trying to charm the pants off of her and that bothers me. I don't want to, but it does. It bothers me that he keeps flirting with her, it bothers me that she is laughing with him. Emma's eyes meet mine and she smiles, but I immediately look back out the sea. I didn't want her to catch me looking at them, but it's too late for that now. 'God, you are beautiful'. I hate her for saying that.

They talk for the longest time and I almost feel relief when Hook walks behind me. He goes up to the rudder and moving it from one side to the other and I can't help but roll my eyes when I catch him looking at Emma. He is trying to show off his big pirate skills to her. Idiot! Both of them are. I walk to where he is, controlling my hands not to accidentally throw a fireball on his ass.

"How long until we get to the island?" I ask.

"If the wind keeps blowing like that, we'll be there tomorrow night, Love,"

"Can't you make this thing go faster?"

"This thing is the greatest ship to ever exist," Hook says "And no, I cannot. Unless you want to use magic"

"I can't use that much of magic just yet"

"Then enjoy the trip, Love" Hook says "I doubt you'll have time to relax once we arrive there"

I sigh and shook my head. Enjoy the trip! Yeah, right. As if there was anything at all to enjoy about this. I look forward again and see Emma with her parents. She has her back to me, her beautiful blonde hair flying with the wind in a way that is almost hypnotizing. 'God, you are beautiful'. I close my eyes and wait until the words fade away in my mind. Tomorrow we'll arrive on the island and the mission to get Henry will finally begin. Hopefully, tomorrow night I will have forgotten all about those four stupid words and whatever meaning behind them.