A/N: It's not a long chapter and there's not a lot of action, but I hope there's enough in here to enjoy.
Voices filtered in from near? Far? It was all unclear and the voices were distorted, but it sounded like an argument and it sounded bad. There was a "stop this" and a "now I see that you were a mistake" before her eyes slowly opened, her vision unfortunately blurry.
Emma's head throbbed and pounded and her back was stiff. Each move she made sent a shockwave of pain from her shoulder blades to her tailbone. Breathing surprisingly hurt and while her vision came back to her, the reliability of her legs did not.
She struggled to pick herself up off the floor, but she pushed herself to, at the very least, balance her weight on her knees. Just as she managed to sit up with a few panted grunts, someone cried out and Emma immediately looked up to find the source.
As soon as she saw Regina, it all came back to her in a sobering instant. She neglected her own pain when she saw the brunette in distress and didn't bother to worry about how long Regina had been left by herself to fight Cora. The only thing that mattered was that Regina didn't have to fight her alone anymore.
Emma stood and suddenly, Cora had a hand in Regina's chest. The younger Mills gasped and groaned and injuries aside, Emma would have rather died than see Regina hurt, especially by her psychotic mother. So she threw herself forward while Cora's attention stayed fixated on Regina and she tackled the older Mills to the ground.
Regina groaned again, louder that time due to Cora ripping out Regina's heart when tackled, and as soon as Cora and Emma hit the floor, Cora accidentally released Regina's heart and it stumbled into a corner. Emma wriggled and shifted above Cora then rained down a few punches while Regina hurried after her heart.
Cora refused to let Emma hit her more than twice and used her magic to fling the blonde off her and across the room. With the Savior out of the way, Cora set her sights on Regina and right when her daughter had her heart in her hands she flung her across the room in the same direction she'd thrown Emma. Even before Regina made impact, the brunette's arm flew out to the side and her heart shot out toward the other wall.
Emma's eyes widened and she threw out a hand as if the mere motion would do anything to stop the heart's trajectory.
"No," Emma yelled, not quite sure how Regina's heart was out of the woman's chest and yet she lived, but she feared what would happen should a heart crash into a wall.
It happened in the blink of an eye. Regina was several feet in the air and on her way toward Emma. Regina's heart was headed straight for one of the hidden room's four walls. Emma didn't want to lose Regina, not a single part of her. She yelled and a white, partially purple smoke enveloped Regina's heart then appeared in Emma's hand. When the smoke cleared, Emma's eyes grew even wider because she had Regina's heart. Literally.
Regina landed with a thump in front of Emma and the brunette twisted her body at the torso and waist to look at Emma. Her eyes quickly widened to match Emma's surprise and her gaze went from her heart to Emma. They locked eyes and everything and nothing made sense at the same time.
"How," Cora asked from the other side of the room. "This is…it's impossible. Savior or not you can't have magic."
"Apparently she does," Regina said when she turned from Emma to Cora.
Cora glared at her and then flicked her wrist. Blue smoke formed around Regina's heart and then Emma accidentally squeezed and instinctively tugged the heart toward herself.
Regina let out a pained cry and curled into herself.
Emma kept Regina's heart close to her own chest and somehow it made Cora's magical smoke dissipate.
Cora didn't look pleased, but she also didn't stick around to make a second attempt to steal the younger Mills' heart. She threw up her hands and surrounded herself with that signature blue smoke of hers.
"Emma," Regina choked out when her mother was gone. "Careful. You'll…crush it."
Emma looked from where Cora disappeared to Regina and lastly to the heart she held just a little too tightly.
"Oh," Emma said and loosened her grip. "Sorry, I'm so sorry."
Regina sighed and took a deep breath. When Emma relaxed her grip, Regina's body relaxed.
"I don't even understand…how this happened or…how I can hold this—your heart—and-and you're still alive!"
Regina smiled and breathily chuckled before she slowly dragged herself across the floor to get closer to Emma. She reached out and cupped a hand over the part of her heart that Emma didn't have pressed against her palms.
"I know it's a lot to take in," Regina slowly said. "I suppose it's one of the things we would have talked about if my mother hadn't shown up."
"Regina, I have your heart!"
Regina laughed again.
"In so many ways," Regina replied. "Listen, I don't know where my mother went or how much time we have before she hurts someone else."
"Then we need to get out there," Emma started to stand up. "We need to stop her."
Regina grabbed Emma by the arm and gently guided her back onto the floor with her.
"Right, but…my heart will be a little less vulnerable if it's not out in the open," Regina explained.
Emma looked to her hands and exhaled as she nodded and said, "Yeah. Okay."
"Okay. So I need you to put it back in my chest. Will you do that?"
"Put it back? Wha- How?"
"Like this," Regina said as she carefully started to pull Emma's hands and her own heart toward her chest.
Regina positioned her heart against her chest and kept it there for a moment while she was okay with what they'd done so far and what they still had yet to do.
Emma's breathing was shallow and had worsened the closer Regina bought her heart to her chest.
"When you're ready, just ease the heart back inside," Regina instructed. "A little push, nice and gentle, and that's all it takes."
"It's not-? It won't…? I don't want to hurt you."
"It's okay, Emma," Regina assured her. "Go slow."
Emma shook her head.
"No. No, no, no," Emma objected. "You do it. I don't want to screw this up."
Regina held Emma's hands firmly in place.
"You won't."
"No, you don't know much about me. I screw up a lot of stuff and this is really important."
"You're wasting precious time, Savior," Regina teased.
"Regina," Emma sadly whined.
"Emma," Regina gently warned with a raised brow. "Small push."
Emma took a deep breath and hesitated before she applied a little pressure.
"Good," Regina encouraged. "Just a little more."
Emma pushed a tiny bit harder and suddenly she had a hand inside Regina's chest.
Regina gasped once Emma's hand took the plunge then she brightly smiled.
Emma's eyes were wide again and she looked stunned, more so than she had during the fight with Cora.
Regina leaned forward and rested her forehead against Emma's. She placed a hand on Emma's shoulder and kept one on the hand still nestled inside her chest.
"You know, of all the things we've done together," Emma said, "I think this is the most intimate we've ever been."
"How do you feel about that," Regina asked, her smile no longer present when she looked at Emma and waited for an answer.
"This is…way more intense than I imagined."
"Is that…a good thing?"
Emma licked her lips and closed her eyes. She relaxed her previously tense shoulders and set a hand on Regina's thigh.
"I think it is," Emma confessed.
Regina released the breath she'd been holding in and relief flooded every part of her. She tilted her head back and when their foreheads didn't touch, their lips did. Regina sweetly kissed Emma like neither of them had complicated histories both with each other and individually.
Emma reluctantly pulled away after a moment then asked, "So…what happens now?"
"Well, you can start by letting go of my heart. It'll stay in there. I promise."
Emma laughed at herself.
"Shut up," the blonde said in jest. "I'm new to this, remember?"
Regina soothingly rubbed Emma's arm and a couple of seconds later Emma wore a look of concentration then unclenched her fist around Regina's heart.
Emma delicately removed her hand from the woman's chest and then stared at the limb with awe.
"Guess this means I'm much better with my hands than I previously thought," Emma smiled.
"Looks like being a hero makes you less humble," Regina replied.
"Hero," Emma repeated and frowned. "Cora!"
Emma sprang up and Regina stood with her. It all rushed back to the forefront, why they were in that secret room in the first place. Cora had fought them and Cora had disappeared.
"Oh, no," Regina breathed out with trepidation.
"What?"
"If she couldn't get want she wanted out of me this time, she'll find something to make me do what she wants."
"What does that mean?"
"Henry," Regina almost talked over the blonde when it hit her. "She might just have use for him after all."
"And you can't poof anymore, right," Emma asked with evident panic.
"I have to try," Regina said and lifted her arms in her usual movement that would resort in purple smoke.
Nothing happened that time, however.
"Regina?"
"I'm trying!"
Regina raised her arms again and still nothing transpired. She let out a frustrated sigh and tried for a third time.
"Damn it," she exclaimed through gritted teeth.
"Just relax," Emma attempted to coach the brunette through magic she didn't comprehend. "Breathe and try again."
Regina took a deep breath and a split second before she tried yet again to poof, Emma touched her bicep for support.
Regina closed her eyes as soon as they made contact and she felt a surge of magic flow through her, magic that hadn't flowed any of the other times she'd tried to poof in the last few minutes.
Regina moved her arms and the fourth time supplied results. Smoke surrounded the two of them and in the blink of an eye, they were at the Charming's apartment.
"Whoa," Emma said and stumbled toward the nearest solid surface.
Regina safely guided her to the kitchen counter and kept a hand on Emma's back while the blonde took a moment to recover.
"Emma," Mary Margaret asked as she stepped into the open layout of the apartment from her not closed off bedroom.
David was close behind her and added, "Regina?"
"Where's Henry," Regina disregarded any pleasantries.
Emma took a few more deep breaths then started to stand up straighter.
Regina rubbed Emma's back a few times then dropped her hand to her side.
"Henry's fine," Mary Margaret answered, her brow furrowed in confusion.
"What's going on," David asked and took a step toward the other two.
Footsteps tinked against the metal stairway, though the four of them didn't notice until the person on the stairs spoke up.
"Mom?"
Everyone's attention went to Henry.
"Henry," Emma and Regina simultaneously said with so much relief.
Both women ran to their son and they trapped him in a group hug.
"I thought you didn't have magic anymore," David mentioned and focused his sharp, distrusting eyes solely on Regina.
Regina and Emma slowly broke away from the hug and both women looked at David.
"I didn't have access to it," Regina started to explain. "Not until…"
When Regina trailed off she looked to Emma and the two met each other's gaze in an instant. Emma was the first to look away and looked at David and Mary Margaret again.
"Uh, we sort of have a bigger problem," Emma said.
"What could be a bigger problem than Regina not having magic one minute and then suddenly having enough of it to get here by smoke the next," David asked, not willing to relent.
"My mother," Regina flatly answered, not happy to admit it.
David's expression hardly changed, but Mary Margaret looked as scared as she was shocked.
"That…is not good," the school teacher said in response.
"No, it isn't," Regina unnecessarily confirmed.
"Yeah, she's trouble and we think she'll come after Henry to get to Regina to do her bidding."
"What does she want you to do," Mary Margaret asked.
"That's kind of complicated," Emma answered instead.
"She wanted to rip out Emma's heart—"
"What," both David and Mary Margaret loudly asked, or more specifically in Mary Margaret's case shrilly.
"But she couldn't take it," Emma clarified for them.
Mary Margaret and David relaxed.
"It's a long story," Regina added. "Even I don't have all the answers. What we need to worry about is what my mother will do next."
"Do you know what that is," David asked.
"Unfortunately, I don't," Regina said. "Whatever her plans are, though, you can be sure they aren't good."
"What do we do," Emma asked. "How are we gonna keep Henry safe?"
"He'll stay with us like he has been," Mary Margaret said.
"If you think I'm going to leave my son with you two idiots," Regina started to say, but Emma placed a hand on her bicep for the second time that day and the older woman stopped herself.
"You think he'll be any safer with you," David angrily asked.
"Don't I get to say where I want to go," Henry asked and all eyes were on him again.
Regina looked apologetically at him and bent down to be at eye level with him.
"Sweetie, I really want you to be wherever you feel most comfortable, but my mother…she's not someone I want you to ever meet."
"We have to think about where you'll be safest," Emma added.
"But…wouldn't I be safest with both of you?"
Regina and Emma looked at each other, both unsure of how to proceed.
"Honestly, Kid? We're both kind of targets for Cora," Emma decided to admit. "I think if you stay with me, it'll make Cora's job a whole hell of a lot easier."
"But if he's with me," Regina interjected, "there's no telling what could happen to either one of us."
"That's why I think we should all be together," Henry argued, his expression as innocently hopeful as he was.
"Henry," Emma started to warn him.
"Actually, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea," Mary Margaret said.
"What," Emma and Regina asked and redirected their attention on the other woman.
"Regina wasn't able to use her magic until Emma was there, right? Well, isn't it better that Henry's in a house with magic than an apartment without it? That's why you don't want him staying here, isn't it?"
"Among other reasons," Regina muttered.
"Maybe Henry has a point," Mary Margaret continued. "Being together might just be your best option. Otherwise, Henry has nowhere else to go."
"Are you seriously suggesting they stay together," David asked Mary Margaret. "After all she's done to us? And what about what she's been doing to Emma?"
Emma huffed and rolled her eyes.
"What'd she do to Emma," Henry piped up, his face contorted into a bewildered expression.
"Nothing," Emma assured him. "Regina didn't do anything wrong."
Emma's eyes went to the other two adults and glared at them, defiant and frustrated, when she said the last part of her statement.
"As much as I don't like the idea of them being together in any sense," Mary Margaret said, "I think this solution is the best thing for Henry right now."
David sighed then looked to his grandson. After a moment he grunted his reluctant approval and nodded.
Regina looked at Emma and a moment later, Emma looked back.
"Is that okay with you," Regina asked her. "If we…stick together?"
"Yeah," Emma nodded and stuffed her hands in her pockets. "It sounds like our best chance and…maybe it'll give us the opportunity to have that talk we missed out on tonight."
"Okay," Regina conceded then turned to Henry. "What do you think about that? The three of us at the house?"
"Wait," Emma cut off Henry's answer before he could voice it. "Cora hasn't been in town long, has she? I mean, she could have been making use of that room in the mausoleum, but she left. She went somewhere else we were still there and for some reason she was done with us. We thought it was because she'd already gone after Henry, but what if she's at your house?"
"You mean what if she's waiting there?"
"You're the one she wants," Emma explained. "It's your place. She might be waiting for you to come back and then…I don't know. Whatever she's got planned could be set in motion the second you walk through the front door."
Regina shook her head.
"Truthfully, she could be anywhere. She might not have even left the mausoleum, just the room behind the mirror."
"Yeah. That's another thing. That room is sealed off and there's no real doorway. How'd she know there was a room back there," Emma inquired.
"Magic can be sensed by other magic users. Maybe she went there whenever it was she first came to Storybrooke and she found my vault. From there she could have sensed the magic used to disguise the room and—"
"But you had no magic," Emma said.
"That…might not be entirely true."
"Are you kidding me," David furiously asked.
Emma looked hurt to hear that Regina hadn't been honest with her.
"I didn't have access to my magic once the curse broke and I should have, but I think it's because magic works differently here than it did in the Enchanted Forest. But…before the curse broke, I still had some magic."
"What," Emma shakily asked while she felt her stomach drop.
"Remember how I told you I used the last of my magic to poison the turnover?"
Emma hesitated before she finally replied, "Yeah."
"Well, it was an object. A ring. It was sort of imbued with magic and it… I may have used it a few times before I used what was left to get the apple I'd poisoned and used against Snow."
"You used magic before the whole turnover thing," Emma asked, her eyes big and sad with a wounded look on her face.
"I'm sorry," Regina genuinely looked and sounded apologetic.
"Did you ever use it against or with me?"
"Twice."
"Oh my god."
"But the second time was an accident," Regina quickly tried to defend herself. "And the first time was innocent. You were chasing Leroy. Nothing like that—we didn't… You weren't forced to do anything like that, I promise."
Emma ran a hand through her hair and tried to take deep breaths, her breathing a little short and erratic while she tried to process the information.
"I think…we need to talk about this alone," Emma said when words no longer escaped her. "Henry, stay down here for a minute. Regina and I are gonna be upstairs trying to figure this all out. Okay?"
Emma slowly made her way up the stairs while Henry crossed the room to be closer to his grandparents.
Regina nervously clenched and unclenched her fists at her side and stared after Emma as she headed up to only room that had the slightest bit of privacy. When Emma was all the way up the stairs, she looked over at Henry and then Mary Margaret and David. Her features were soft when she looked at Emma and Henry, but she put on a mask when she looked at the couple she deemed "the two idiots." A few seconds later, she followed after Emma and went up to the blonde's room.
At the top of the stairs, Regina looked across the room at Emma who was already seated on the edge of her bed. Her eyes were fixed on the floor and her hands tightly gripped the edge of the mattress, her knuckles white from the force. On the outside she appeared shocked, but Regina suspected Emma was also upset and just refused to show it.
"There are plenty of things I need to explain," Regina said.
"Yeah, there are," Emma said and kept her eyes on the floor. "Not twenty minutes ago I held your heart in my hands and helped put it back inside your chest. Everything we haven't been able to talk about didn't seem so important anymore, but now you're telling me you had magic and used it when we were together? I can't- You could have told me things you've done and as much as I might not have liked it or understood it, I could have maybe come around to accept it. Especially since most of it should have been in the past. Like, Enchanted Forest past, you know?"
"Emma, I swear to you that I never used my magic to get you into bed. I never… What we did was always consensual."
"How can I be sure of that," Emma asked and finally made eye contact with the brunette.
"Because the only person I ever did anything with that wasn't explicitly consensual was Graham."
"Graham? You… He wasn't with you because he wanted to be with you?"
"I had his heart," Regina confessed.
"You're insane!"
"I took his heart in the Enchanted Forest after he helped your mother get away. He was supposed to kill her and bring me her heart. He brought me a stag's heart instead so I punished him by making him my pet and puppet."
"That's sick, Regina. You're really not giving me any reason to think you didn't do the same to me in some way."
"I don't think there's anything I could ever say to make you believe me."
Regina took a step forward and Emma scooted back on the bed and distanced herself from the other woman.
"Every time we had sex, it was never under magical influence," Regina said and refrained from taking another step toward Emma for the blonde's comfort. "But there was a time when you and I couldn't stop. It was… Neither one of us knew what was happening, but even with the magic we never did anything the other person didn't want. And, as I recall, you had your fingers in me when it happened."
Emma started to blush.
"I remember," the blonde admitted after a moment. "It was…it was good."
Regina smirked and failed to stifle a laugh.
"It's always been good with us," Regina boasted.
Emma weakly chuckled.
"Yeah, I can agree with that."
"That other time, the first time I used magic and it was on purpose, I only stopped you from going after Leroy. I got you to kneel in front of me on that road and that was all. If you don't believe those were the only times it happened, think back on everything we've done, everything we've been through. Was there ever a time you can remember that you did something you were dead set against? Was there ever a time you felt forced in any way to do what you did?"
Emma put some thought into it and after a minute, she shook her head.
"No. The first time we ever… I had my doubts about getting involved with you, but you're right. I never felt like it was never against my will. You didn't put a spell on me, did you?"
"I hope that's a joke."
"Only kind of."
"The way we started out," Regina started to explain herself, "I wanted to take pleasure in doing all those things with you, but I always wanted it to be because you wanted to. There's no fun in an Evil Queen sleeping with her arch enemy's daughter if it's not what the daughter wants too."
"Things changed though. Right? I wasn't the only one that felt the shift?"
"You're not the only one. I didn't fake what happened in the mausoleum today or what happened under the tree. Truthfully I never faked anything with you."
"Good, because if you had then you would be a really good actress."
"This is exactly why I offered to talk to you about all of this tonight. I want you to know the truth and I want you to know that no matter how this all started, I'm not trying to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you or Henry. It ended up happening anyway, but I tried to fix things by giving you a better life with the poisoned turnover. It just wasn't the right way to follow through with my intentions."
"No kidding."
"I could tell you all about my past, share every gruesome detail about the things I've done before the curse, but I'm not sure that's really what you want to know."
"I thought it would help to know the things you've done and why, but I think all I really cared about was why and not what."
Regina nodded.
"Most of my actions were done out of revenge. I punished and killed those who dared help your mother because I wanted nothing more than for her to suffer the way I did. But I'm sure you'll also want complete honesty so I'll tell you that some of the things I did, even out of revenge, were cold and harsh when they really didn't need to be. Sometimes it made me feel better, for a little while. Sometimes I did it just make people fear me so that it might lead me to your mother faster.
"All of that stopped once I cast the curse…with one exception."
Emma briefly looked away from Regina then locked eyes with her once again before she came to a conclusion.
"Graham."
"Graham," Regina repeated. "Aside from our physical relationship and the fact that I controlled his heart, I…I also crushed his heart."
"That night. When he was leaving you and you thought he was doing it to be with me," Emma stated.
"Yes," Regina said and nervously wrung her hands together in front of herself. "It wasn't really a heart attack that killed him. It was my fist."
"Oh god."
"If you don't… If you want to end this, end it with me, I'll understand. I don't want to lose you, but—"
"It's really hard to swallow," Emma cut her off, "but if you give me time I might be able to move past it. Plus, I'm not a saint either. I've stolen from people, hooked up with people just to leave them like I've been left so many times before, and I've trusted the wrong people. None of this is easy, but it never really has, has it?"
Though she phrased it as a question, Emma said it like a definitive statement.
Regina smiled and nodded before she changed the subject to their more pressing issues.
"If we're going to stay together for Henry's safety, I think it's best if we stay here," Regina suggested. "It's cramped in the apartment, but it's the only place we're sure my mother isn't waiting for us."
"I agree," Emma replied. "Henry and I have been staying up here, but you two can take the bed. I'll take the couch downstairs."
"You don't have to do that," Regina argued. "I'll take the couch."
"I really don't want to leave you alone with my parents for more than a few minutes max. I'll sleep downstairs."
"Okay," Regina gave in.
[-]
As a precaution, Regina tried several times until Emma gave a little assist and placed a protection spell on the apartment. Regina knew she couldn't always wait around for Emma to touch her to jumpstart her magic, but she had yet to figure out what would allow her to access her magic in the land that wasn't supposed to have any of it at all. It was a process, one she didn't think anyone else in town would like once they knew she wasn't as powerless as they thought. Pressing times were at hand, however, so she did everything she could to prepare for the worst when it came to Cora Mills.
Emma had tried to settle herself on the couch while David and Mary Margaret handed over any extra blankets and pillows they could find when Regina headed upstairs. Once in Emma's room, Henry had just finished changing into his pajamas. Regina went over to the bed and primly sat down on the edge of it. She crossed her legs and sat stiffly on the very edge of the mattress as though she didn't want to make herself too comfortable. Too much had happened in the last couple of days and she didn't think she really had the right to be there in the apartment or be in Emma's bed. One thing she always knew she had the right to and would fight for the right to do is be there for Henry, wherever he was, whenever he needed her.
Regina watched Henry move around Emma's room and clean up his dirty clothes from a previous day. Her folded the clothes and placed them in a laundry basket then placed it by the stairs, out of the way so no one could trip over it.
"Emma doesn't have a hamper for you to put those in," Regina asked.
"Grandma has the only hamper here and Emma's only got one laundry basket that's just hers. Grandma shared with her when she first moved in, but I guess neither of them thought to get more even after Emma had stayed for a while."
Henry seemed downcast and he shuffled around the room with a frown on his face.
"Are you okay," Regina asked.
Henry grabbed a nearby sweatshirt and slipped it on. He dejectedly sighed and headed toward the bed. He plopped down beside Regina and scrunched up his face in thought.
"Your mom… She's…really bad?"
Regina placed a hand on Henry's knee and tried to find a way to answer him.
"She's certainly not nice," Regina flashed a smile. "Let's just say you don't want to run into the woman that raised the Evil Queen."
"But you're not anymore, right?"
Regina furrowed her brow.
"Evil," Henry clarified.
"No."
"So…things with you and Emma are…better?"
"We're…working on it," Regina replied. "Things are still a little complicated, but we agree on doing everything we can to keep you safe."
Raised voices distracted Regina and Henry and they looked to the stairs. The argument downstairs continued for another moment and their things quieted down.
"Are you two a couple," Henry asked when he and Regina returned to their conversation.
"It's… We're not…"
"It's complicated," Henry threw Regina's words from a much earlier time, a vague answer he'd heard at least a few times from both mothers, back at her. "Just promise me you won't hurt her."
"I think I already have, but I can promise not to purposely hurt her."
There were footsteps on the stairs and a moment later, Henry and Regina saw Emma.
"Okay, so you guys have two options. One, you could let me stay up here with you or two, Regina gets to deal with the not-so-happy couple and sleep on the couch."
"Or I could sleep on the couch," Henry said. "I kind of don't want to share a bed with either of my moms if I can help it. I'm eleven, not six."
"But if Cora—" Emma started, but didn't get to finish because Regina put her theory to rest.
"She has magic. If she breaks in while we sleep, I doubt she'll consider using the door. She'll show up wherever she thinks she needs to be to get what she wants."
"That's comforting," Emma sarcastically said.
"If she attacks, I'll yell," Henry said then stood and made his way to the stairs. "Goodnight."
"Night, Kid."
"Goodnight, Henry."
Once the two women were alone together again, awkward silence settled over the room. Emma inched across the room and Regina uncrossed her legs then shifted in place on the bed.
"Is there a side of the bed you prefer," Regina asked before she moved any further on the mattress.
"How many times have we shared a bed? I sleep on whatever side you're not on and even then we end up sleeping on top of each other."
"Indeed."
"You need something to sleep in?"
"Do you even own a pair of shorts or pajama pants?"
"Oh, I was just gonna lend you a tank top," Emma said and then smiled.
Regina smiled too.
"I've got running shorts, sweatpants, a really long and amazingly comfortable T-shirt that'll probably cover half of your thighs."
"I'll take a pair of shorts and some kind of shirt that hopefully isn't a tank top."
Emma pulled a pair of black cotton shorts out of a drawer then dug around for a shirt.
"Best I can do is a dark green V-neck," Emma said and held it up to show Regina.
"That's fine," Regina said and reached out to take the clothes.
Emma gave them to Regina and sat down on the bed, already dressed for sleep.
Regina stood and started to change and Emma laid back on the far side of the bed. The blonde laid out flat on her back and turned her head to watch Regina.
Regina didn't make a show of stripping down like she'd once done for Emma' benefit. She stood in her bra and panties by the time she caught Emma staring. She looked over at the blonde as she started to slip into the shorts.
"You almost seem interested," Regina pointed out as she pulled the shorts up to her hips.
"Can you blame me? Your body's as sinful as your past."
Regina immediately stopped changing.
"I meant that as a compliment, but I just heard how that sounded given our last conversation. I'm sorry."
"Even if that compliment turned me on, this room doesn't even have a door and our son and your parents are downstairs."
"I don't know about you, but I can be very quiet."
"And now you're serious about this."
"I'm not- I'm not trying to get into your pants," Emma told her. "I couldn't resist playing along and I'm only admiring the view."
"Hmm," Regina hummed and reached behind herself then unhooked her bra.
Emma's eyes immediately fell to Regina's chest as soon as the bra landed on the floor.
"Tease," Emma said, though it took a moment for her to tear her eyes away from Regina's exposed breasts.
"If I have to work for it so do you," Regina grinned and let Emma have a good look before she threw on the borrowed shirt.
"It's what we do best," Emma said.
"Mhmm," Regina agreed and turned off the bedside lamp before she slid in next to Emma.
Regina settled under the covers facing Emma.
Emma rolled onto her side and moved closer to Regina.
"All the other stuff aside," Emma started, "how are you after everything with your mom?"
Regina took a deep breath and momentarily averted her eyes.
"I'll be lucky if I don't have any nightmares tonight," Regina answered then locked eyes with the younger woman again.
"Why would you have nightmares? I know your mom doesn't scream smiles and peaceful sleep, but…"
"She almost took your heart," Regina said, a little teary-eyed even as she tried to hold herself together and ward off memories of a life before Storybrooke.
Emma scooted just the tiniest bit closer and waited for Regina to continue, because the look on the brunette's face said she had more to share.
Regina coiled her fingers around the corner of the pillow under her head and squeezed it in her grip before she spoke again.
"I couldn't let it happen again. I'm not…I'm not the same person I was when Daniel—"
Regina stopped herself with a pre-cry gasp as she started to lose composure.
"She killed him," Regina slowly said through partially gritted teeth. "She tricked me into thinking she could accept us together and she got close to him while I just watched. I watched her take his heart and crush it."
Emma slid her lower body snuggly against Regina's brushed back a few strands of brunette hair. She moved her hand from Regina's hair to the other woman's hand, the one she had clutched to the pillow, and took it in hers. She laced their fingers and kept her eyes focused on Regina and only Regina.
"I don't want to lose you, especially not like I lost him."
"I'm still here, aren't I," Emma asked with a smile as part of an attempt to lighten the mood.
"For now," Regina said with a slightly raspy voice.
Emma licked her lips and leaned in. She slowly, sensually, lovingly kissed Regina and subtly pulled their joined hands toward her chest. When the kiss ended, both women opened their eyes and Emma pressed Regina's palm flat against the place above her heart.
"One thing's for sure," Emma told her. "My heart's still here. And even though some kind of magic of mine is what's keeping it there in case Cora gets handsy again, you protected it."
Regina closed her eyes and allowed the feel of Emma's heart beat beneath her palm to calm her.
"Not to say I could ever replace him," Emma treaded carefully, "because I can't and I'll never try to, but this time is different. Whatever happens now? It won't be like it was that time. History isn't going to repeat itself."
Regina opened her eyes and straight into Emma's warm and beautifully piercing gaze.
"She can still kill you without taking your heart."
"Now you're just being a downer and I don't know if I want to share my bed with someone who doesn't believe in the Savior," Emma smiled.
Regina quietly chuckled, her hushed voice in part because of their proximity to one another but also because of the late hour.
"Are you kicking me out of bed," Regina asked with a teasing tone.
"God, no. I could never do that," Emma easily confessed.
Regina laughed a little louder then gradually calm back down before she talked seriously again.
"Promise me if my mother ever takes my heart in an attempt to get to yours, don't let me have it in any way."
"Regina—"
"I'm serious, Emma. I don't know if your magic only protects your heart from her or from any threat to you, but I don't want to take any chances. If you doubt for a second that I'm not doing or saying what I normally would, stay away from me. Take Henry with you and get as far away as you can."
Emma gulped then nodded.
"Yeah, I promise."
"Thank you."
"It's been a long day. We should get some sleep," Emma said.
"I'm not sure I want to close my eyes for even a second with my mother lurking around out there."
"There's a spell on the apartment."
"My mother might easily be able to break through that."
"She's a villain, right?"
"What about anything that happened today doesn't convince you of that?"
Emma stifled a laugh.
"I was mostly just asking to see if you agreed with the statement before I talked even a little badly about your mom. Villains, and sometimes heroes, need time to regroup if their plans fail and I'd say hers did."
"Fine. I'll sleep. Tomorrow's another day. I can always worry about her then."
"That's the spirit," Emma teased.
"How is it I fell for you again?"
Emma bit then released her bottom lip.
"I was the one thing you wanted to mess with more than anything and I was both the perfect challenge and I wooed you. Then things got twice as interesting."
Regina smiled and it made her glow.
"Now, do you want to be the big spoon or little spoon tonight," Emma asked with a smile of her own.
Regina rolled her eyes.
"How about no spoons," Regina replied and then rolled directly on top of Emma.
Emma laughed and wrapped her arms around Regina's waist.
"It's how we eventually end up, right," Regina repeated Emma's words from the beginning of their conversation.
"Right," Emma chuckled. "But what happens when we start off this way?"
Regina grinned.
"I'm willing to find out. Are you?"
Emma leaned up and pecked Regina on the lips.
"Ready and intrigued," Emma answered. "Goodnight, Madam Mayor."
"Goodnight, Miss Swan."
Emma opened her legs and Regina maneuvered herself between them. The brunette was in the perfect position and lowered her head down to Emma's chest. Her hair tickled Emma's neck, but the tickling didn't bother the other woman. Back in each other's arms they quickly fell asleep and though they still had reason to be on high alert, that night they just enjoyed their simple moment of rest and comfort together while they could.
Note: So I included a lot of things that take place during season 2, kind of small stuff, and I'm not sure anyone noticed, but I tried to put my own spin on the season while also having a few references to the original parts of the show. Sorry if this chapter wasn't what you were expecting, but there's more to come. I don't know when the next update will be, but I'm trying a lot harder to keep up with all my SQ stories as best I can.