TWO UPDATES IN THE SPACE OF A HALF HOUR - SAY WHHAA! We're gonna delve into Emma and Regina's past a little bit more in this chapter, and Swan Queen friendship will also be established! ENJOY!
Fairy Tale Land
Emma and Regina sat in silence while they rode in Regina's carriage; Emma stared out the window of the carriage admiring the view as she sat beside the Queen, Emma jumped when Regina broke the silence,
"So tell me Princess what brings you into my forest?" Regina asked turning to Emma, Emma smiled and shrugged, "oh come now, there must be a reason, you did mention about your mother being…"
"That woman isn't my mother" Emma snapped before realizing what she had done, "my apologies Your Highness, I did not mean to be so rude" Emma said lowering her head, Regina smiled and lifted Emma's chin with her finger,
"Now now Princess, our mutual dislike for your mother is not something to apologies for" Regina said with a wide grin, Emma smiled softly and relaxed again, they sat in comfortable silence until Emma started to get restless, "is there something wrong Princess?" Regina asked looking at Emma with an eyebrow raised,
"Are we almost there?" Emma asked more snarky than she intended, Regina glared at her and Emma smiled shyly, "I need to pee" Emma said blushing, Regina chuckled and raised her hand and hit the roof of her carriage causing Emma to jerk forward,
"Easy Princess" Regina said grabbing Emma's elbow keeping her in place, Emma relaxed her heart and couldn't help but smile at the fact Regina hadn't removed her hand from her arm. They came to a stop and the Queen exited the carriage with Emma hot behind her, Emma gasped when she looked at the castle before her, 'well at least she never lied about this place, it's magnificent' Emma thought, Regina turned back to Emma and saw her looking at her castle, she couldn't help but smile at the look of sheer appreciation on Emma's face, "come Princess" Regina said as she walked into the castle, Emma followed Regina down corridor after corridor until finally coming to a big black door, "this is where you shall sleep during your stay" Regina said as she opened the doors, Emma's mouth fell open as her eyes raked over the room, she couldn't help the small tear that slipped from her eye,
"Thank You" Emma said trying to hide the emotion in her voice, but it didn't go past the Evil Queen, Regina smiled and nodded,
"You shall join me for dinner, I shall send my seamstress over to measure you" Regina said, Emma turned and audibly gulped,
"Measure me?" Emma asked with a hint of fear in her voice, Regina chuckled,
"Fear not Princess, I'm not going to make you dinner, measure you for clothing, unless of course you wish to remain in that questionable attire?" Regina said letting her eyes rake over the younger woman, Emma noticed and blushed, she was wearing a pastel green dress that was ripped so she could run, black riding boots and a black vest over the bodice,
"There is nothing wrong with my attire" Emma said defensibly crossing her arms over her chest and pouting slightly, even though she hated wearing dresses this one she didn't mind so much, Regina smiled,
"Of course there isn't, I shall send for you shortly" Regina said as she turned and walked out of the room. Regina made her way to her own chambers and went out to the balcony,
"Stealing the Princess, you're getting bolder my queen" a man in the mirror said as he came into view, Regina scoffed,
"I did not steal the Princess, I simply stumbled upon her in my forest and offered her a place to rest" Regina said, upon realising this she turned and marched into the room, "and why I am explaining my actions to you I do not know, I am your Queen" Regina barked,
"Apologies my Queen" Regina waved her hand dismissing his apology,
"Show me the princess" Regina said turning fully towards the mirror, Regina watched as the mirror rippled and the image she had asked for appeared, Emma was standing on the balcony looking out onto the kingdom, Regina couldn't help but smile, "beautiful" Regina whispered and suddenly frowned, 'where did that come from' Regina thought, she was then met by the genies face once more.
"She's a pretty little thing" the genie said with a smile, Regina growled unknowing to herself;
"Keep an eye on her" Regina said turning away, "oh and Genie" Regina said looking back at the mirror,
"Yes my Queen"
"Be discreet" the genie nodded and was gone the mirror revelling only Regina's own reflection.
"Ah how nice of you to join me Princess, oh and I see you decided to change after all" Regina said with a smile eyeing Emma's new wardrobe, Emma wore skin tight brown riding trousers, her own black riding boots and a dark shirt that revealed just enough cleavage for Regina's liking,
"Yes well I've never been a big fan of dresses" Emma said sitting down opposite the Queen, Regina clapped her hands and the doors opened with men and woman walking out with trays of food and jugs of some sort of wine Emma assumed, Emma's mouth fell open when she looked at the grand spread that was on the table, Regina just chuckled,
"Please, help yourself" Regina said motioning to the food, she watched as Emma scooped potatoes onto her plate followed by various meats and gravy. Regina couldn't take her eyes of her, she saw how the blonde's biceps tensed when she clutched the handle of the boat of gravy, Regina unconsciously licked her lips, Regina realised that she was staring and shook herself, she lifted a jug of her own apple cider and poured two goblets, "try this my dear, it is the best apple cider in all the land" Regina said handing one to Emma, Emma took it from her slowly and eyed the goblet before taking a drink, Regina couldn't help but chuckle at Emma's reaction,
"Oh my, this is delicious, wherever did you get such a fine tasting beverage?" Emma asked taking another big drink, Regina smiled proudly and sat back in her chair and watched as Emma refilled her goblet again,
"It is my own" Regina said simply taking a small sip herself, Emma looked at Regina to her cup wide eyed before smiling,
"Well you highness it is simply magnificent I think I shall take some to my chambers" Emma said reaching for a jug, "if that is alright with you of course" Emma said stopping, Regina again smiled proudly and nodded, Emma smiled widely and lifted a full jug and set it beside her. Emma lifted her Goblet and was about to take another drink when a man burst into the dining hall followed by two guards,
"What is the meaning of this" Regina shouted as she stood up, her chair falling as she done so, her guards wrestled the man to the ground and then stood up with him in their arms,
"Apologies, my Queen, a messenger from the White Kingdom" one guard said, Regina looked to Emma and was shocked by the anger that was evident in the princess' face, Regina turned back to the man and her guards,
"Let him speak" Regina said taking a seat in her chair, the guards reluctantly let him go and received a glare when he straightened his uniform,
"I bring a message from Queen Snow and King David of the White Kingdom" the man began, he reached into his pocket and took out a parchment and unravelled it, he cleared his throat which caused Emma to giggle, he sent her a glare and received a growl from Regina, Emma looked at him and smirked, "Queen Snow and King David wish for the safe return of their darling daughter, the Princess Emma before nightfall , if this is not the case, the White Kingdom will have but no choice to allow their army to advance upon the Dark Kingdom and retrieve her themselves, by sunrise" the messenger said and rolled up the parchment placing it back into his pocket, he looked up and saw Emma was practically foaming a the mouth her fists clenched, Regina followed his gaze and was shock, and didn't expect what came next, Emma lunged forward and attacked the messenger, the guards stood and waited for orders, Regina smirked at the look of sheer terror on the messenger but her face soon had the same when he pulled a knife, Regina lifted Emma of him by magic and threw him against the wall,
"How dare you draw a blade to the Princess while in my home" Regina said setting Emma down and marching across the room to the corner where he was being held by armour, "I should dispose of your worthless life right now" Regina said,
"No!" Emma shouted breathlessly, she walked over, "then they will surely advance upon you" Emma said calmly, she turned her attention to the messenger and took the dagger from his hand, she leaned forward and carved a 'E' into the man's cheek, "you tell my parents" Emma spat, "that I am here on my own accord and I do not wish to be rescued, if anything it is Regina who has rescued me" Emma said putting the knife back into his belt and patted his cheek, he winced and glared at her, Regina didn't know what she was feeling but she knew she hasn't had feelings like this since,
"Daniel" Regina whispered.
Storybrooke
"Wow, Regina this is amazing" Emma said taking another drink from her glass of apple cider, Regina smiled, 'you said that the first time you tasted it my love' Regina though as she herself took a sip, "seriously, I'm going have to get you to make me some of this" Emma said reaching for the bottle to refill her glass, Regina smiled,
"I'm sure I have a few spare bottles in the cellar" Regina said with a smile and took the bottle that Emma had past to her, Regina refilled her glass and set it on the table infront of them, they were sitting on Regina's couch, they started at either end but both where pretty much in the middle,
"So how long have you been the mayor?" Emma asked breaking the comfortable silence that the room had been bathed in, Regina smiled and pretended to think.
"For as long as I can remember" Regina said with a smile,
"and no one has ever run against you?" Emma asked, Regina nodded, "wow, you must be either really good at it, or you're that evil that people are scared to run against you" Emma said, Regina couldn't help but laugh, 'oh if only you remember just how evil I could be my darling' Regina thought, Emma smiled and then yawned,
"Oh wow, ok that's my queue to get up of this, rather comfortable couch and head to the B&B" Emma said as she stretched, Regina couldn't help letting her eyes rake over Emma's body, she watched as her t-shirt rose up and revealed a small part of the blondes body Regina gulped, 'oh my love' Regina thought and shook her head,
"You've been drinking Emma, and as Mayor of the town I can't let you drive home, I have a spare room, please let me put you up for the night, I'm sure Ms Lucas would understand" Regina said trying not to sound harsh at the last statement, Emma smiled and nodded,
"Thank you, you wouldn't have Ruby's number? I just want to let her know, she told me about not coming home to late for fear of being shouted at by Granny, or something like that" Emma said walking over to the chair and looking through the pockets for her phone, "oh come on!" Emma said,
"Everything alright?" Regina asked standing up and walking to Emma,
"Seems like my phone went walkies" Emma said running her hand through her hair, Regina smiled and handed her, her phone,
"Her use this, it's under B&B" Regina said as she walked over to the couch and lifted the glasses off the table, she returned a few minutes later with some old pyjamas for Emma,
"thanks Ruby, I know, I'll see you for breakfast then, ok, bye" Emma said as she hung up the phone and walked over to the couch and sat down, Regina
"I took the liberty of getting you these, they have only been worn once and have been washed" Regina said as she set them down on the table, Emma smiled,
"You know, I'm more than happy to sleep down here" Emma said as she stretched, Regina shook her head,
"It's no problem, please follow me" Regina said as she motioned for Emma to follow her, Emma nodded and lifted the pyjamas and followed Regina, she followed her up the stairs and into a huge room,
"Wow, this is bigger than my whole apartment" Emma said, Regina turned around and raised an eyebrow "well maybe not bigger but still, it's massive" Emma said with a shy smile, Regina laughed softly and pulled the curtains,
"My room is the next door down, sleep well Emma" Regina said as she patted Emma's shoulder before leaving, Emma sighed and went into the bathroom as Regina made her way to her own room, she got changed and got into her queen sized bed and sighed, "Goodnight my love, you will remember soon" and with that Regina fell off to the first peaceful sleep she's had in in years.