Please send feedback, and I hope you enjoy. Stay safe, take care of yourself, love you all! Disclaimer: there's going to be a few time jumps, but they're important, I promise.
Three months later
"Live with me," Regina said after emerging from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body. Mary Margaret was patiently laying on the bed with her arms propping her up, dressed in an old t-shirt and panties.
"What?"
"Live with me. You already spend over half your time here, and the other half is spent at the school. Move in with me," she insisted. Mary Margaret laughed.
"You want me to live with you?"
"More than anything. Please? Live with me," she said again. She pecked Mary Margaret's cheek. "Live with me," she repeated, kissing the other cheek. "Live." She kissed her nose. "With." She kissed Mary Margaret's forehead. "Me." Mary Margaret was anticipating the kiss to her lips. It was a small peck, but every one of Regina's kisses left Mary Margaret desperate for more.
"Yes. Of course I'll live with you." Regina grinned widely and tackled Mary Margaret on her back, peppering kisses all over her. Mary Margaret giggled and held the back of Regina's skull tenderly. Regina leaned back and cupped Mary's cheeks as Mary Margaret sat up.
"I love you," Regina murmured. "So much." Mary Margaret smirked.
"I love you too." Regina laughed again and pushed on her chest so Mary Margaret was laying once more.
Mary Margaret shoved the last box into the back of her car. Regina was rearranging boxes beside her, stealing cheeky glances every few minutes.
"You got the key?" Regina asked.
"Yes. I'm going to deliver the key to the pawnshop and then we can start unpacking," Mary Margaret answered. She slammed the trunk door closed and turned to Regina. Mary Margaret promised Regina that she wouldn't get too excited, but she couldn't hold back any longer. She squealed and shot her arms around Regina's waist. Regina stumbled backwards, but caught them both.
"I don't think I've ever heard a sound like that from you before," Regina remarked slyly, smirking to herself.
"Well, that's all you're getting from me," she replied.
"Not if I have anything to do with it tonight," Regina muttered. Mary laughed sultrily and hit Regina on the arm lightly before detaching herself.
"I'll see you soon," Mary Margaret said. Regina nodded and walked to her Mercedes parked across the street. Mary climbed into her own car and drove off to the pawnshop. Regina pulled away in the opposite direction.
How could I ever hate her, Regina thought, when it's so easy to love her. She knew the answer to that, but she didn't want to admit she was wrong. Maybe she could just settle for saying she never hated Snow. That's a good solution. I can't imagine hating her now. Because the Evil Queen found love in a world that said she didn't deserve a happy ending. Maybe I deserve this.
And Mary Margaret agreed. In her eyes, Regina did deserve it. She didn't know about Regina's past, but that's okay, because this curse was a fresh start. And that's exactly what she got.
Regina parked her car and went inside. She hurried up the stairs and dug through the hallway closet for the bag of rose petals she bought from Game of Thornes. She smiled and rolled her eyes at herself as she grabbed a handful of petals and threw them onto the bed.
This is so cheesy, she thought. But she didn't clean them up. She just gathered every candle she could find and arranged them around the bed. She heard Mary Margaret pull up and park her car, and Regina rushed downstairs for the bowl of strawberries and chocolate. It was so cliché, but Mary Margaret deserved the most cliché, romantic shit that ever existed.
The door opened and Mary Margaret threw something on the wood table near the door and ran up the stairs. Regina wiped her face and took a deep breath. She bit her lip as Mary Margaret opened the door and gasped.
"Welcome home," Regina said silkily. Mary Margaret beamed at her and laughed, before kissing Regina fiercely, between chuckles.
"This isn't like you," Mary Margaret breathed in the small gap between their mouths.
"Yes, well, I think you deserve it."
"Why do I deserve it?"
"Because. Do I need a reason?" Mary Margaret chuckled once more.
"No. But don't believe for a second that I won't do this for you at some point."
"I'll be waiting," Regina remarked as she pulled Mary Margaret into another heated kiss.
Regina grew even more paranoid as she fell deeper in love. She hadn't even thought of the curse and how it will affect both Mary Margaret and their relationship. She didn't want to lose Mary Margaret, but Rumplestiltskin said that the curse breaking was inevitable. It would be impossible for Snow White to stay with the Evil Queen when she has a Prince Charming waiting for her. The curse was a long time from breaking, but she still worried. Just because the curse had loads of time left before the bomb exploded, doesn't mean it's impossible for Mary Margaret to find out about it.
Mary Margaret knew something was wrong, but everytime she asked Regina about it, she'd just dismiss it as being tired or work-related. She didn't like seeing Regina sad, so she was in the kitchen with a recipe book in front of her, opened to the pasta section.
Her hands and hair were covered in flour, and she was standing in front of a batch of ruined lasagne noodles. She bent down and pressed her head against the cool counter and sighed. She was a great baker, but she couldn't cook for her life.
Mary Margaret stood up straight and balled up her attempt at noodles and tossed them into the trash can. The front door opened and closed, a pair of high heels walked around for a bit, and stopped when she heard the horrible music from the kitchen. Mary Margaret had her head in her hands when Regina came into the kitchen. Regina looked around at the mess, then her eyes settled on the sobbing girlfriend behind the kitchen island.
"Mary Margaret, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" Mary Margaret shook her head. Regina was about to hug Mary Margaret, but Mary Margaret stopped her.
"I'm covered in flour," she said lamely.
"I don't care about flour right now." Regina pulled her in and hugged her tightly. "What happened then?"
"I can't cook," Mary Margaret sobbed loudly. Regina bit back a chuckle and pulled Mary Margaret back to the workstation, now covered in flour and pasta dough.
"What were you trying to make," Regina asked calmly.
"L-lasagne," Mary Margaret said, now much quieter.
"How about I teach you how to make it?"
"Nooooo," Mary Margaret whined. "I was going to make you dinner before you got home, and it was supposed to be really impressive cause you always cook good food." Regina really did chuckle now. "It's not funny! I was going to make you dinner, but I can't cook, so now I look pathetic."
"Hey, relax. You aren't pathetic. I'll teach you how to make the lasagna, then you can make dessert. I know you always make great desserts." Mary Margaret smiled mildly.
"I do make good desserts," she said proudly.
"See? You aren't pathetic, you just tried making something you haven't made before. Let me help." Mary Margaret wiped her cheeks with her forearms and nodded. "On another note, you look adorable," Regina said cheekily.
"No I'm not. I'm covered in flour and dough, My hair is sticking straight up, and I just finished crying."
"Yeah, but you're always adorable." Mary Margaret grinned.
"Even when I go like…this?" Mary Margaret pulled a strange face. Regina laughed lightly.
"Even then," she assured. "Now, your first going to want to mix the flour and eggs…"
The two women sat down at the table with their plates of lasagne, and two dozen cupcakes sitting in the oven. To repay Regina for her lasagne lessons, Mary Margaret taught her how to make cupcakes and buttercream frosting. They talked about work and the upcoming Miner's Day festival, where Mary Margaret and Regina volunteered to sell candles, and Mary Margaret make desserts for. Regina voiced her hate towards volunteering, and Mary Margaret told her that it was not only good for her image as mayor, but rewarding work for the nuns. Regina kept quiet after that. Regina wasn't the only persuasive one.
After they finished dinner, Mary Margaret pulled the cupcakes out of the oven and put the frosting into two piping bags. Regina dug around for the sprinkles Mary Margaret insisted on buying.
"Y'know, if there's any buttercream left, we can use that later," Mary Margaret said. Regina rolled her eyes mockingly and chuckled.
"I thought you said I had a dirty mind," Regina responded.
"Maybe I didn't mean it to be dirty," Mary Margaret offered.
"No, I think you did mean it like that. And I'm sure it can be arranged." Mary Margaret laughed and spooned the last of the buttercream into the piping bags. Mary checked the tops of the cupcakes.
"They should be ready for icing." Regina nodded and watched as Mary Margaret showed her how to ice the cupcakes in a swirl. She held her own piping bag and stuck out her tongue in sheer concentration. She swirled the bag around and squeezed the frosting out of the bag. The swirl of frosting fell to one side and onto the counter.
"How do you do it so well?!" Regina asked desperately. Mary Margaret snickered and showed her once more. Regina botched the next cupcake, but for other reasons.
Mary Margaret was licking buttercream off her fingers and bit her lip when she iced the next cupcake. She looked up as she finished off the spiral and smirked at Regina.
Regina shook herself out of her daze and iced the other cupcakes. Once the two dozen cupcakes were done, they peppered sprinkles over them, and Mary Margaret bit into a finished cupcake and moaned quietly. She grinned at Regina over the cupcake and took another bite. A dot of icing stuck to her nose. Regina chuckled and leaned over, licking the bit of icing off her nose. Mary Margaret blushed and looked down as she finished her cupcake. Regina smirked to herself and bit into her own cupcake.
