A/N: Hope you guys all had lovely holiday fun times! I'm sorry that I was unable to finish this for Christmas as I'd planned; unfortunately I've had my hands rather full of child and dogs- not literally... I probably wouldn't tell you all that...- and it just didn't work out. I really don't want to rush this, so I'm just going to continue on as if Christmas never happened, and hope you will all forgive a little continual festive cheer as it is yet to come to pass for these ladies!
This is another one of those split scene chapters I never know how to label, with the scene featuring Bae and Gold taking place earlier on in the day during the 'date' scene last chapter. Regina and Emma's scene is the fun that came after... Enjoy! And please review! :)
"She won't be in there, Bae..."
Gold sighs as he follows his son down the worn-carpeted hallway leading towards their motel bedrooms. The man before him walks with determination- shoulders hunched up and defensive, expression hard and set- and he recognises none of these traits from their life together all those years ago, but yet knows he is entirely to blame.
Neal has remained true to his word; offering no real response to any of the pawnbroker's attempts at communication- save asking for the blonde's room number- as he has continued on in his search for the Sheriff.
So far, his efforts have been fruitless.
Following Emma's fleeing of the scene back in the alleyway, the attractive brunette whom his father had introduced as none other than Regina the Queen had split from them also. She had taken her leave with a fretful, yet firm warning directed towards the little man, that had echoed chillingly off the rain-dampened brickwork.
Your excuses and reasonings can wait, as can your little heartfelt reunion. Right now, Miss Swan needs to be found... You saw her face; she shouldn't be left to go off alone as she was... Either help to find her or don't... But I will tell you this; if you ever raise a hand to her again; I will see it as a personal request that you wish to see which of us could destroy the other... And I will have you begging for mercy...
He has a feeling her words had been meant for him too in a way.
His father had responded with the wary sentiment that she should calm down and get a hold of herself; assuring her that no one was looking to harm the young woman now absent from the scene.
Regina had counteracted with the stern opinion that bringing a cane down in the way he had done- with the will to injure her as badly as he'd wanted to do at the time- led her to believe otherwise; snapping throatily that it had sure as hell been enough to send Emma tearing off without word.
That sound... The sound of wood coming down on flesh... True; it spoke of pain... And yet...
And yet, it hadn't been his father that sent Emma running.
It had been him.
She had run off because of him.
It has been a great many years since he last saw her... But, still... The truth hurts.
"Come on, son... Leave whatever business you have with Emma be for now... Please... You and I have so much to catch up on..."
Throwing the little man behind him a dirty look, he remains set on his mission to track down Emma before he even thinks about immersing himself any deeper into this insanity, and raises his fist to pound stubbornly on the middle of the three doors that grace the hall.
"Emma?... You in there? Open up... Come on... We need to talk!"
He is met with nothing but silence, and he supposes he is somehow aware of the simple fact that she isn't behind the flimsy wood on which he knocks.
This reality only has him pounding harder; wanting release from the sudden madness threatening to once more close its wings over his life, in the form of anything- anyone- but the slippery little imp behind him.
"She's not in there, son..."
"Shut up!"
"... And besides... As our friend, the Queen, so rightfully said; she won't want to speak to you right now... Miss Swan is not a woman to be rushed into any form of emotional reunion- in fact, I suppose there is more evidence to that fact than with most, given recent events- but eventually she'll have to-"
"-What do you know about her? Why is she with you?"
Bae whirls round and snarls, and Gold notes with some curiosity the very distinct expression that alights his boy's face.
Protectiveness.
Interesting.
Letting out a low sigh, he taps his blunt-nailed fingers thoughtfully over the handle of his cane and regards the other man sombrely.
"... I haven't seen you in a great many years, Bae... As such, I hadn't imagined Emma would be our first subject of discussion... But, I will answer your question along with any others you must have... She is here of her own free will- oh, she owed me a small favour, I admit- but she has not been forced in the ways you might be thinking... A lot has changed over the years, son; myself being one of them... Miss Swan's past is an interesting one-"
"-She's from our world..."
Gold raises an eyebrow high up towards his hairline and then nods.
"The daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming... The Saviour..."
"Who?"
"Before the curse the Evil Queen set upon the land, if the Enchanted Forest had been a chess board, they would have been the key pieces if you will... Snow White is the reason for Regina's anger that led to the curse being set upon the land in the first place."
"... She didn't seem evil... And Emma seemed quite friendly towards her...?"
"Oh, indeed, Miss Swan is... People change... The past unravelled itself and-"
"-But what business do you have in all of this?"
"... That is a question that is going to require some explaining, Bae... Come... Let's get you cleaned up and I will explain what I can..."
Once again, he moves to place a hand on the younger man's shoulder, and this time it doesn't get shrugged off, but rather slips away as Bae slumps defeatedly; only now aware of the dull throbbing in his nose as his injuries are mentioned.
The brunet sighs.
He supposes he can't very well keep walking around the city with gore-encrusted features, and so allows himself to be led into the room adjacent to the blonde's.
He allows himself to be led...
But not once does he turn his back on the Dark One.
Despite her request to be invited up to continue their evening in the privacy of the blonde's bedroom, there is an unspoken moment of hesitation as the two women reach the three doors that line the hall of the motel, before they slip into Regina's room; furthest from Gold's.
The Mayor notes a slight change in Emma's mood as the reality of the situation is once more brought crashing down upon them, but then that fearful glimmer of unease is replaced by something darker, and the younger woman pushes her firmly against the wall in much the same way as she had done down in the alley.
They have left the lights off, and everything is indigo shadowed midnight, and each is curiously reminded of the time spent in the older woman's drawing room after the embers had died, the first time they'd tasted each other and what was to come.
It is a deep kiss; long and slow, before the need for oxygen becomes too great to remain moulded together the way that they are.
Regina lets out a small noise of wanting, and the Sheriff slips a hand down between them to play over the luxurious wool of expensive dress pants. Her ministrations are slightly jerky- firm, hard circles with her cupped palm- and the brunette lets out low, shuddered breaths that whisper over the younger woman's softly parted lips.
Emma steps forwards so that she presses heavily flush into the darker woman- never faltering in the movements she makes with her hand- and the latter hooks her arms over slender shoulders- her fingers slipping through golden tresses- as the blonde lowers her mouth to the delicate flesh just beneath the Mayor's earlobe; nipping, oh so gently, and then soothing electric heat with her tongue.
Moving her hips slightly to encourage the Sheriff's firm, delicious circles of her sex, Regina moves her jaw breathlessly to the side- impeding the younger woman's attentions clumsily- and places a sweet, tender kiss on the skin which is easiest accessible to her; at the latter's aristocratically high cheekbone. Continuing to play with loose, tousled curls, she uses one hand to smooth thick, dishevelled hair away from the blonde's face- creating a long sheaf of cornsilk that cascades down her back- while the other slips beneath this silken warmth to cup the back of Sheriff's neck; her thumb rubbing gently at the sensitive flesh just below the hairline at her nape.
She marvels at how long Emma's hair has grown- the very last wisps gracing the small of her back- and knows her own hangs just short of her shoulders; neither of them having had the thought nor time to keep such things in check with the ever chaotic and turbulent throws of their relationship.
She makes a note to get her own rich locks seen to upon their return to Storybrooke, but bares no ill feelings towards the way the Sheriff's own mane coils and tumbles in a brilliant display of unruliness that suits its owner faultlessly. Nor does she have any adverse opinion towards the way rich gold ebbs out into slightly silvery flaxen tresses- the difference between the shades noticeable, but unfairly unobtrusive- as this acts in her head as a strange sort of visual milestone of when this all began.
"... I love you..."
The words catch her off guard; not because they express anything new to either of them, but simply because she had been unaware she'd planned on saying anything at all.
The attention being lavished upon her below intensifies, and then that skilful hand unclasps and unzips expensive wool to allow warm fingers to slip into her underwear; eliciting a harsh breath that shudders from deep within her lungs to ghost over the blonde's soft cheek. Emma removes her tongue from the darker woman's quivering pulse point and grazes her earlobe gently with sharp teeth, before whispering huskily into that perfect shell
"Why?"
Regina blinks, as she senses no challenge in the Sheriff's low inquiry, but also deems the question to be anything but rhetorical. Struggling against the distracting warmth that coils divinely within the pit of her stomach, she intensifies her embrace and growls wetly into the younger woman's flesh; soft skin and high bone already slightly moist from her lust-induced panting.
Her own teeth skim and nip as she does so.
"Because... You can make me laugh and you can make me cry within the space of seconds... Because you're beautiful in every way a person can be beautiful ... Because you... You've made me back into... Into h-how I used to be... How I once was..."
Her tone is rich with the result of the fire building between her legs, but her lashes have become salted, and she doesn't think she's ever found the answer to a question to come so easily, yet mean so much.
For a moment she is rewarded no response to her admission other than the sweet entrance of one slender finger into her silken heat, but then warm lips find hers once more and she smiles against them as she continues to tease soft curls gently.
"But you're the Saviour, dear... You're the 'light'... The question for you must be why would you love the dark... Why do you love me?"
Emma hesitates- completely still but for her ever attentive fingers down below- and Regina wonders if she will be denied an answer to her mirroring question. It would not be out of character for the Sheriff to fall short on such a request, and she tells herself that she knows that Emma does love her, and that her own demand for an answer is greater than the blonde's had been, for the simple reason that words and the vocalisation of emotion do not elude and torment her the way they do the younger woman. Nevertheless, she yearns to hear what those words might be, and she sighs contently when the body pressed against hers seems to relax a little; understanding that the Sheriff's hesitation is due to nothing more than the careful structuring and re-structuring of her answer in her head.
"Because you like to test me... Only... For you, my 'best'... It was good enough when it mattered... You've refused me, confused me, amused me... You can be dark, and at one time, you could be cruel, but you always made sure to come and pick up any pieces if you thought you might have stomped on them a little too hard... You've put me in my place, but you've also put me first... And you make me happy... You've changed me from the person I used to be... From how I once was..."
Regina smiles and tugs gently at the younger woman's bottom lip with pearly teeth before nipping down with a little more force as an additional two fingers are slipped in to join the first and the blonde's thumb finds her clit.
"...And because you're smokin' hot, of course..."
Emma withdraws her lip and growls into the dark waves of her hair- chuckling low- and the brunette lets out an exasperated sigh that swiftly becomes a moan.
Slim fingers move faster, and the Sheriff finds the Queen's lips with her own, but- unlike in the past, when sounds of impending ecstasy have been swallowed and devoured- she simply presses her mouth gently to Regina's to allow a tactile barrier; the brunette thinning her own lips as her teeth clamp over them from inside as she makes small noises of pleasure that become ever more sporadic and breathless.
"W-wait!... I don't want to... I want to... With you..."
The Mayor's words are broken and raspy as she moves her head to the side to speak- her hips telling a different story- as her fingers open and close over soft tendrils. The Sheriff smirks with understanding- knowing that tonight things are different, and that their pleasure needs to be mutual and tender- before lowering her attention once more to the tantalising swatch of bare, salted flesh at the darker woman's throat.
"Hmmm?"
"Emma... I... N-not like this... I want you to... I want you too..."
"I know... It's okay. It's not past my bedtime yet..."
She sarks wickedly, before using her thumb with greater earnest and sucking lightly at the smooth expanse where neck meets shoulder, causing Regina to shudder against her before closing her fists tightly over the long hair in her grasp; eliciting a small yelp from the blonde to harmonise her own subdued cry.
The Mayor clings on to slim shoulders and silken tresses a moment longer- her breath harsh and frantic- before she pushes the younger woman away with a bemused glower. Noting the way several, long strands of hair fall from her fingers, she sighs, and tucks an unruly curl gently behind the Sheriff's ear.
"Sorry..."
Emma grins- pink tongue flickering between her teeth in the shadows- as she decides not to bother pointing out that a little roughness has never been amiss in her book. Sensing the reason for the other's smirk, the brunette rolls her eyes and pushes herself from against the wall; claiming a rough kiss and running her hand swiftly up beneath the younger woman's sweater.
"You are wicked..."
"Sometimes, but you love me, remember?"
"... Sometimes..."
"Hmmm... "
"Shush."
Regina admonishes with no real reprimand, as she offers a small smile and slips gracefully from her pants and ruined underwear. Green eyes glitter in the darkness as Emma watches her, and she sniffs arrogantly as she moves her attention to her top and removes it with similar poise.
"You're being very one-sided, my dear..."
She offers as she stalks towards the bed in a whisper of perfect, olive flesh and takes a seat on the edge of the mattress, slender legs crossed elegantly one over the other; waiting expectantly. The blonde raises an eyebrow in response, before walking slowly over to stand before her.
A flicker of first confusion, and then surprise crosses the Mayor's delicate features as- rather than interpreting her meaning- the Sheriff falls to her knees with peculiar grace.
"What are you-"
But she receives her answer as pale hands find her knees and manipulate her legs into spreading open. In the frantic city lights that give the room its eery glow, the soft glimmer of her spilt excitement glistens like an offering. She watches silently as the younger woman works with slow leisure to clean her up; stomach knotting and arousal building demandingly at the sight of dusky pink velvet trailing across flesh.
When she feels she wears no further damning glitter but that which has come from the blonde's own tongue, she tugs at long hair gently, regarding the younger woman with intent curiosity; her voice low when she speaks
"-Not quite what I meant, dear..."
Emma simply shrugs, but takes heed of the way brilliant, dark eyes fall to her clothes pointedly.
Stripping herself free of cotton, wool, denim and lace, she stands before Regina patiently as the latter leans back to observe her greedily.
"Better?"
The Sheriff asks coyly, and the brunette laughs lightly, before moving herself gracefully up the bed. She waits- eyes dark with promise- for the blonde to take her cue and join her. It doesn't take long; Emma climbing up onto the sagging mattress and crawling down to straddle slender hips with an appreciative sigh as nothing separates her own heat from the Queen's.
She leans down to reclaim full lips hungrily, but a firm hand pushes her gently back up so that she sits with her legs splayed wide, looking down curiously; heavy waves falling down to cover her breasts demurely.
Regina smiles and runs her hand over the sharp peak of the younger woman's left hipbone, and up the flat contours of muscle that cast exaggerated shadow in the flickering darkness.
"How in the world you have the body that you do after bearing a child is beyond me..."
She stiffens as soon as the words have left her lips, and from the sudden clench to the Sheriff's jaw she senses she's not alone in her sudden, uncomfortable limbo. Things have changed drastically over the past few days- past few weeks, even- but this is still the first time that the visceral reality of Henry's birth has ever come up between them in so many words. Emma lowers her eyes beneath dusky lashes and the brunette swallows silently, before running an experimental finger down one of the faint silver lines marring the younger woman's side.
"I'm sure many women would envy you-"
She continues steadily, as her other hand joins in tracing patterns on the opposite side of skinny hips; the slight pressure she applies here and there coaxing the blonde into moving above her gently.
"-Though I suppose not everyone could be as stubborn as you in getting your figure back- or any other walk of life- or the world would be a rather terrifying place..."
She smirks as she runs her thumbs simultaneously down strong obliques, and Emma sighs- a little raspily due to her movements- and shakes her head.
"...I've just always been skinny..."
"No. I'm slender... 'Skinny' if you prefer... You-"
"-I wasn't as toned before Henry... Like I said, I've always been skinny- I only have to look at a pair of sneakers or drive past the gym and I've lost weight- but it was different after having a kid... Like... A different shape..."
"You were uncomfortable?"
"It wasn't that... It was just... It was like having a tattoo for a really shitty relationship or something... A visual reminder that's always there to jump up and bum you out... I didn't want to have to think about it... About him..."
She shrugs awkwardly, and the brunette reaches up and pulls her back down so that she hovers with just a few inches between her nose and Regina's; the darker woman running soft palms down her back to rest companionably over her backside.
"Emma... Why did you give him up?"
She inquires softly; testing the waters.
"...I just wasn't ready to be a mother..."
"... No... If that were the case, you'd have let being 'skinny' suffice... You would have sent Henry home via a cab rather than taking him back to Storybrooke..."
"... I was in jail..."
"... Not for that long..."
"... No."
"..."
"Neal left me... The one person that I trusted... The one person that had led me to believe I was... I dunno... Worthwhile, or whatever... They fucked off... Yes, they screwed me over and got me in trouble for something I didn't do... But I'm not angry about that-"
"-He got you sent to jail!-"
"-Yes... But that wasn't what hurt. What hurt was that he left... He could have just never shown up- cops or no cops- and that would have been almost the same... Not quite as bad, but still that same feeling of, like... Something being wrong with me... My whole life it was like there was something wrong with me, that made people not want to be around me... I thought he was different... And then... And then he left... With the baby, it wasn't an easy decision... Don't think for a second I wasn't scared that what happened to me would happen to my kid... That's why I wanted a closed adoption. Not so that if it didnt work out, it could never be made my problem... But, because I figured... If a candidate asked for that option then... I don't know... Then they wanted to pretend the kid was their own... They wanted to be a mother... It was flawed thinking, sure, but I was eighteen, and it was the best I could do. I didn't want for a child to have to put up with whatever was wrong with me..."
"... And if he- if Neal- if he hadn't left you? Would you have-"
"-If he'd stayed... Hell!... If he'd had a reason! An explanation! Then... No... I would never have done it..."
"... That's why you hit him..."
"I was angry... I am angry..."
"Because he lost you your child..."
"...And made me a hypocrite in the process..."
The brunette shakes her head and pulls the younger woman down to her roughly; claiming downturned lips with firm vigour before rolling them so that she lies on top of the Sheriff.
"Then you tell him that. You tell him, and you tell Gold, just what a despicable thing that man did to you. You tell him it goes deeper than jail, deeper than standing you up like you said to him back in that alleyway. You tell him just what it is that he did to you... But don't you go feeling guilty about something like that, you hear me? Ever!... Emma...I don't want to seem selfish and tell you that things worked out for the best, as I know that-"
"-Why? I would agree with you..."
Regina stills, raising a well-defined brow, as she speaks with genuine surprise
"You would?"
"I don't know what would have happened afterwards, Regina... I'd love to say I'd have turned my life around, and that Neal is the 'sole evil' in all this, and that I would have done the right thing, and bucked up... But, I can only tell you what did happen, which was more of the same. More screwing around and drinking and getting up to no good... Just like you thought!"
She grins at this, but it is a strained grin, and the brunette devours it swiftly.
"What? That you're an unruly force to be reckoned with... Oh, Miss Swan, I don't just think it... I know it!"
"Ha! You've actually only ever seen me very, very tame..."
"Well, then I shudder to think what I might have seen should you have deviated form being anything but your timid and oh so docile self..."
She gives a theatrical demonstration of what this might look like, and is finally rewarded with a more natural chuckle, which she takes as a cue to begin moving her hips once more against the blonde's; kissing her sweetly before using her arms to push herself up slightly and gain a little more leverage.
Strong fingers find her hips and the soft, smooth skin of her backside to help her along.
She slips a hand between them to sate the Sheriff's warmth and provide herself greater friction.
"Uhuh... I d-definitly think things worked out okay..."
Emma sarks breathlessly, and the Queen shuts her up with a hard bite to her clavicle- inwardly dismissing the vague notion that she might just be marking her territory in terms of the hateful young man the Dark One has bought amongst them- and rapid, jerked movements of hand and hips.
It doesn't take long.
When the blonde crashes over the brink of climax, she growls the darker woman's name into lust-dampened tresses; sending Regina falling right along after her.
They lie in the dark for a while without moving- the Mayor breathing heavily as she remains splayed over gently parted thighs, with her head rested in the hollow of the Sheriff's shoulder.
Finally, Emma stirs them, rolling out from beneath the brunette, before surprising her as she reaches down to pull the covers over the two of them seemingly without a second thought. Shuffling around to get comfortable- her calf swung over the younger woman's ankle as the latter's knee rests low between her own- Regina studies the blonde in the dim glow of the city lights, smiling as the Sheriff finds her gaze sleepily.
"I had a nice time tonight... Thank you..."
"... Told you I'd woo you..."
"Yes... Indeed you did..."