AN: There are two lines in here that are taken from Twitter because there are a few people who've tweeted filming spoilers that I just had to incorporate into this story.
It was a miracle she'd escaped the Charmings and their endless barrage of questions when they'd first returned from the Enchanted Forest the previous day. Unfortunately, she wasn't as lucky when she saw them the day after their not-so-Charming daughter came to visit her in the middle of the night.
That morning, Snow and Charming wanted to sit down and have breakfast with her. They insisted they meet at the apartment because the conversation they wanted to have was best discussed in private. They also had Neal, which made it easier if Regina came to them instead of packing the diaper bag, getting the stroller and carting Neal around. Regina had reluctantly agreed knowing the conversation was probably about Emma and she knew they needed to figure out a plan now that the Savior had become the Dark One. She also knew she needed to avoid questions about what happened in the Enchanted Forest, because while what happened wasn't entirely bad or Earth shattering it was definitely intense and something Emma's parents did not need to know about either Emma or herself.
After the phone call from the Charmings "inviting" her over to talk, which had been a blatant demand on the couple's part, she was too distracted by her disdain for the imminent discomfort she would experience over breakfast; too distracted to double check her appearance before she left the house. Or at least before she informed Henry of her morning plans.
She hadn't forgotten the events of the previous night, but she had forgotten the end result of her run-in with the blonde. Henry paid the price for her forgetfulness.
"Henry," she announced before she opened the door to his room and peeked inside. He groaned and slowly sat up in bed as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and glared at her with a furrowed brow. He wasn't upset with her, she knew, it was just how he reacted every time he woke up. "I'm going to your grandparents' to discuss some things. There's plenty of cereal and you can always call me if you need anything. I'm a poof away if it's important."
Henry nodded, still unable to speak as he tried to welcome himself back into reality, but he broke out of his usually sluggish morning routine when she turned to leave. "Uh, Mom?"
"Yes?" She turned back to him with an expectant look as she waited for him to either tell her something or ask for something.
"What happened to you," he asked.
She immediately furrowed her brow and frowned, noticeably confused by the question.
"Your neck," he said and motioned toward his own neck as he spoke. "It looks like...a bruise. A pretty bad one too."
She gasped and her eyes flew wide open. She shot a hand up to her neck and covered the mark she knew would be beneath her palm before she took a moment and trailed her fingers over the bruise. Almost the instant she touched the large and dark purple mark Emma left behind, her mind flashed back to that moment in her old palace where they first found Emma.
Emma released her grip around Regina's neck, which hadn't hurt her or prevented her from breathing at all. It had been secure but not tight and thankfully that meant there wouldn't be strangulation marks later. There would have been no easy way to cover them given the warm weather and it would have been even harder to explain them.
Emma smirked at her as she stood a little farther away. It gave Regina just enough space to breathe her own air again, but not far enough to give her the chance to run. She didn't want to leave though. She wouldn't bolt from Emma. The blonde was only the Dark One because of her, because the idiot just had to be a hero. She was as foolish to stop the darkness from consuming Regina as she had been when she'd jumped off the Jolly Roger in Neverland. It was nice to see some consistency from the younger woman, but Regina would have liked the consistency to show in other ways. Like being on time for things or actually listening to her.
But that wasn't Emma. It never was and hopefully, despite taking on Rumple's old job, it still never would be.
"Why did you do this," Regina quietly asked as her eyes wandered over pale skin, piercing green eyes, and the blonde's overall new look.
Emma frowned and furrowed her brow. A moment later she cocked her head to the side and practically pouted, apparently not appreciating the question Regina had dared to ask. "I didn't have a choice."
"There's always a choice, Emma."
The younger woman sighed and stepped closer again. She reached out and placed a hand on the wall beside Regina's head and leaned forward. Her eyes bore into Regina's, all amusement and mirth gone only to be replaced with complete determination and seriousness. "Fine. There's always a choice. And I chose you."
Regina gulped, but didn't let the rest of her features betray her as she tried to remain as composed as possible. She wouldn't give Emma the satisfaction of seeing how those words affected her. She couldn't.
But it didn't matter what she showed or didn't show the other woman. Emma read her like a book. She saw right through Regina's neutral expression and unemotional, unwavering gaze. She smiled and brushed a lock of hair behind the brunette's ear.
"I did this partly so you could have another chance with Robin, but I guess he's not worthy of your attention or your affection," Emma purred and stroked her thumb across Regina's cheek.
The blonde's hand slipped lower and cupped her neck again, but she didn't press and her fingers grazed the back of it before they slightly threaded themselves into Regina's hair. She leaned in further and her eyes dropped to stare at Regina's lips before she dipped her head and rested their foreheads against each other.
Regina gasped and tried to pull back, but she was cornered.
There was a moment filled with sexual tension as Emma kept their foreheads pressed together, but when she no longer expected Emma to make any more moves Regina was mistaken and caught off guard. The blonde took the final step before she crashed her lips against Regina's and started a slow and searing kiss. Instantly, there was a spark between them and Regina's skin felt hotter than Hell as Emma stoked a familiar but long since experienced fire within her.
Emma's tongue slipped past her barely parted lips and while Regina normally would have hated such a bold intrusion and display of power and dominance over her, the brunette quietly moaned and didn't have the heart or mentality to push the other woman away. As their tongues fought for control before they danced together in almost compliant unison, Regina quickly and effortless forgot about her time with Robin. She forgot how it felt to be with him in the vault and all the things they'd said to each other, which hadn't been much except for the small talk between their first and second round, and soon she forgot how to even care that they were supposed to be back together. She couldn't remember anything, couldn't focus on anything, other than Emma and how the younger woman felt pressed against her as they kissed over and over again.
Regina melted against the blonde and fell back into the wall to help keep herself steady and on her feet. It only took a few seconds after relying on the wall that Emma decided she didn't want the brunette grounded and suddenly the floor disappeared from underneath her. Emma had swept her off her feet, literally, and spun her toward the staircase. They didn't make it more than two steps before Regina felt herself surrounded by magic, which wasn't as familiar as it had been in years past, and reappeared somewhere with a crackling fire. Her eyes remained closed as she continued to enjoy the kiss so she wasn't sure which part of the palace they were in, but she heard the fire as it popped and sizzled. Her body temperature also rose yet again due to the heat she felt within the room.
Outside, fires and wool weren't necessary but within the palace walls there was little light and a crisp chill to the air. All except for in that particular room.
Regina moaned as Emma sucked on the tip of her tongue before she then gently bit her bottom lip and gave it a little tug. When Emma pulled away and ended the kiss, Regina slowly opened her eyes and finally looked around to see where the blonde had taken her. She immediately recognized the room as her own. There was the familiar bear skin in front of the fireplace and the chaise lounge to its left. The spacious and inviting bed across from the fireplace with candles on either side. It was the same as she had left it before she cast the curse and how she'd left it before the second one that Zelena had tampered with and made her own.
Her eyes fell to Emma again and the blonde stared back at her with a bright, bright smile of her own. Regina's heart fluttered at the sight. It was the longest she'd ever looked more like herself and less like the Dark One. In Regina's mind, she could easily see the red leather jacket and loose blonde curls instead of the bun and lack of eye makeup paired with the intense red lipstick she displayed now. In a flash, they glided across the room and she was dropped onto the bed.
Emma hovered over her for a moment and her smile remained as she closed the space between them so that her body slid up and pressed against Regina's. Emma's feet remained on the floor while Regina lay on her back and the younger woman's hips slipped between her slightly spread legs. It hadn't exactly been her choice of position, but she definitely wasn't complaining when Emma leaned down and kissed her again.
Slowly, the kisses started to trail from her lips down to her neck and further. It wasn't long before Emma's hot mouth started to devour as much of her chest as she had access to. It elicited a few breathy sounds and a couple of moans from Regina as she tipped back her head and arched into the younger woman above her.
She felt a hand slide down between their bodies before Emma tried to make it disappear beneath the waistband of her pants, and probably her panties as well, but that was the final straw. Regina's hands went to Emma's shoulders and added a little resistance while her legs and pelvis insisted on going further. Fortunately for Regina, her mind won the battle between taking things to the next level with Emma and getting the hell out of there. She really didn't want to leave the blonde because it was so very clear she needed to pull Emma out of the darkness before it was too late, but Regina couldn't help if she stuck around in that particular moment. She was sure the only thing she would do if she stayed was let Emma take her right then and there, knowing the blonde's parents and boyfriend along with her own boyfriend, waited outside for both of them to return.
"Stop," Regina said as she managed to push Emma back. The blonde's hand hooked into the top of her pants, but didn't move inside. The heel of her palm hovered over Regina's clothed sex and if Emma really wanted to, she could have used that to her advantage and pressed teasingly against sensitive places.
But Emma didn't. And whatever dark urges she'd had before, when she started their heated make out and a moment filled with promise for good, good things to come, were buried as soon as she heard the word "stop." It wasn't too late. There was still a chance to bring Emma back from the power hungry darkness that had previously overtook Rumpelstiltskin.
"We can't do this," Regina said.
"Why not? We both seem more than willing," Emma grinned, but again she refused to move her hand any lower and didn't lean back in for another kiss.
"Because you know why I'm here, why we're all here. Storybrooke is where you belong. Not here."
"Yeah, well, I'm also not supposed to be the Dark One, but look at where we are."
"We can change that, Emma. You know we can. You asked us to before you made your bold and idiotic sacrifice."
"I may have wanted to be saved then, and maybe a part of me still does now, but I promise you I don't-and never will-regret what I did. I may not be as twisted as Gold yet, but what I feel right now isn't great. It's gonna get worse and I just know...I know that even if I wasn't aware of how shitty it is to be me right now, I wouldn't want you to go through this."
"You treat me like I'm fragile. Do you also forget that I've been through it before? I was the Evil Queen."
"Yeah, you've been the darkest part of yourself before. But look at how much you've changed. That shouldn't go to waste just because your heart called out to the damn darkness that makes the Dark One who they are. Besides, you're important, Regina. Way too important to let you go through this when I knew I could have stopped it."
Regina scoffed. "I'm important. I'm a once Evil Queen. You're the Savior."
"I was the Savior. And not a very good one. You're also more than a 'once Evil Queen' and you know it."
"Do I?"
"You should."
"Well, I certainly don't see how I'm more valuable than you."
Emma flashed her another smile, one that was still more like the blonde than anything else. "Because you don't see yourself the way I see you."
"And how is it that you see me?" Regina realized as soon as she'd said those words that she had once had that same conversation a long time ago. It had been when the Genie had gifted her with a looking glass so that she could see herself the way he saw her.
Emma chuckled and shook her head. She let go of Regina's pants and stepped away before she offered her hand to the brunette to help her stand.
"Maybe one day you'll see for yourself." Emma's answer was vastly different from the Genie's and Regina felt her heart skip a beat. She preferred Emma's response far more than she'd ever cared for Sidney's, although at the time he'd called her beautiful she'd needed to hear it since she was only a possession to the King. Compliments were reserved for Snow and given very sparingly to her, not that his words conveyed any meaning when he did compliment her. It was all for show.
"I'd ask you what you're thinking about, but we both know you probably wouldn't tell me," Emma said and she was immediately pulled out of her thoughts of a life she'd lived long ago.
She finally accepted Emma's hand and allowed the blonde to pull her up. She sat on the edge of the bed for a moment and continued to stare at the younger woman in front of her, their hands still linked.
"If you want me to come to Storybrooke, I'm going to need something," Emma said and then gently squeezed Regina's hand.
Regina tugged on it a little as she used Emma to help herself to stand. Once she was back on her feet, she asked, "What do you want?"
"Mom!"
Regina blinked and shook her head as she snapped out of it. When she came back to reality, she noticed Henry was more awake than he'd been when she first came into his room. He stared at her with questioning eyes and an otherwise confused expression. She sighed as she realized she'd lost herself in memories that shouldn't have been so fresh in her mind, but she found that she just couldn't escape her initial run in with the new Emma Swan.
"Sorry, Henry. Were you saying something?"
"Only about a hundred times," he replied while he stood up and walked over to her. "Are you okay? You zoned out for a while."
She shouldn't have let Henry get that close to her. She noticed her mistake as soon as his eyes moved back down to further inspect her bruise.
"Mom," he said with suddenly wide eyes and then looked up at her. "Someone bit you!"
Regina closed her eyes while Henry's gaze went right back to the distinct mark Emma so rudely gave her. When she opened her eyes again, she watched Henry look from the large bruise to her again.
"I know you don't like telling me anything, but this is serious. What happened? Who did that to you?"
"It's not a problem, Henry."
"Uh, I think it is. Someone clearly thinks they're a vampire now because they bit your neck. Hard."
"Yes, I'm well aware."
"Why are you so calm about it?"
"It's complicated."
"Because you let it happen?"
"I didn't let-" she stopped herself before she said too much and sighed before she spoke again. "I'm not worried about it so you shouldn't be either."
Henry stared at her and assessed her like he couldn't just take her word for it. He probably couldn't. He normally believed everything. Except the lies she and Emma told him.
She knew she shouldn't keep secrets from him, especially after he demanded to be kept in the loop and the fact that more than half of the time the lies they told to protect him only managed to hurt him or get him into trouble, but she really wasn't ready to have a discussion with him about one mother biting the other and claiming it didn't mean anything. How well could that conversation go with an inquisitive twelve year old?
"Is it a sexual thing," he asked and in an instant she felt unsteady on her feet, completely shocked that he thought that could possibly be the reason she wouldn't tell him about the bite. Which technically was true, but they'd never talked about sex before. Maybe he had with Emma the year they were in New York, but she knew for a fact that she had only ever discussed kissing and relationships with him. Never sex.
"No," she denied a little too loudly.
Henry's expression changed from confusion to disbelief. She wouldn't have believed herself either if she were in his shoes.
"It's not... Sometimes people bite other people for other reasons," she explained.
"Yeah, but those people are little kids. Unless you were bitten by a three year old, it has to be a sex thing."
Regina wanted to groan, but stifled it after she struggled to resist the urge. "No. Not this time."
"This time? So you're telling me you've been bitten before and it was a sex thing?"
Why was this even a discussion? She didn't have the time, patience, or apparently the right words to talk about this with him.
"That's not what I'm saying."
"Then why can't you just tell me what happened?"
"Because right now I'd like to keep it to myself. Now I have to go. I'll see you later and then we can talk about how you know biting can sometimes be sexual," she said with a firm look and raised eyebrow. It was a face, paired with her tone of voice, that told him there would be no argument. They were going to talk about it and there was nothing he could do to get out of it.
"Okay," he said. "But you should probably do something to hide that before you see Grandma and Grandpa. Because if you don't I'm sure they're going to ask you why hanging out with Robin is suddenly more important than saving Ma."
"It's not," she immediately clarified. "This isn't-"
Again, she stopped herself. It was better to let him believe her boyfriend was the cause of the bite mark because if she told him it wasn't, he either wouldn't believe that or he'd just start asking more questions.
"Nothing is more important than saving Emma," Regina chose to say, and it was the truth. "If I ever make you think otherwise, I'm sorry and I don't mean to do that. All that matters now is finding a way to destroy the darkness once and for all and bring our Emma back."
Henry nodded and finally ceased with all questions. She was sure he had plenty more, but he kept them to himself for the time being. For that and his reminder to conceal the mark, she was grateful.