A/N: this is all sex. NSWF.
They lay there. Awake, but silent. The inky blackness of the early December morning making it impossible to know what time it was. It didn't matter. They could pretend the rest of the world didn't exist until one of their phones told them to get up and face the day. Regina nestled closer, pressing her naked body against Emma's equally bare form. The arm encircling her tightened slightly, soft lips brushing her forehead.
She let out a sigh. Despite everything, Regina felt the flicker of happiness inside her. Whatever the situation, she realised, being with Emma made her happy. There was something about being near the blonde which just made her life better, even on the darkest of days. She was her light, her anchor. Whatever happened, she knew that she'd be able to get through it with Emma by her side.
Regina pressed her mouth to the underside of the blonde's sharp jaw, the familiar scent of the woman sparking something deep within her. She parted her lips slightly, her tongue fluttering lightly over the skin. Emma tilted her head, a silent invitation. Regina accepted it.
She moved slowly, placing featherlight kisses along the blonde's jawline until she reached her ear. Her teeth grazed lightly over the lobe, resulting in an intake of breath from the woman pressed tight against her. She continued, her mouth moving down the column of Emma's neck, then tracking the delicate line of her collarbone until she had to shift backwards slightly, disengaging herself from Emma's bear-like grip, so she could slide down a little.
Her lips trailed down Emma's sternum before drifting up to her nipple, the bud hardening beneath her tongue as she trapped it between plump lips. Fingers threaded through her hair, nails scraping deliciously against her scalp as she laved the tender cap. The second nipple got equal attention as Regina guided Emma onto her back and moved to straddle one of the woman's legs. Immediately Emma bent her knee, pressing her thigh lightly against Regina's bare, damp sex.
But this wasn't about Regina. At least, it wasn't yet about her. She allowed herself a few moments to rock against the firm, smooth skin before shuffling backwards and forcing Emma to straighten her leg, her mouth resuming its journey down Emma's prone body. As she reached the blonde's pubis, she paused, looking up through the darkness of the room and catching Emma's eye. She wanted to make sure they were both on the same page here. They hadn't had morning sex for a while and just because Regina wanted this, that didn't mean Emma did.
Through the gloom, however, Regina could see that Emma was more than on board with her plan. She nodded too, affirming Regina's interpretation of her expression, and spread her legs wider, allowing Regina to climb between them and slither down onto her stomach. They didn't need words. Not after so many months of being together.
It had been barely six hours since Regina had last buried herself between Emma's thighs. Every night since she had given evidence, they had come together in their bed, sharing hot, feverish sex, always without speaking. Regina caught the hesitation in Emma's eyes that first night, mere hours after her cross-examination had ended but she had kissed them away, telling Emma with her body that she wanted this, that she needed this. And Emma had given it to her. She'd held her and kissed her and touched her in all the ways Regina loved to be held and kissed and touched. It had connected them, brought them closer, reaffirmed their relationship in spite of, or perhaps because of, that shared experience in the courtroom.
And that morning, Regina knew, she needed Emma again. She needed Emma's fingers and tongue herself but she also needed to feel Emma beneath her, to taste Emma on her tongue, to smell her and experience her in her rawest and most vulnerable and trusting moments.
Her mouth closed over Emma's core, still wet from the night before. She parted the blonde's folds with her tongue, gathering up the moisture and adding her own as she slid down further, nose pressed just above the older woman's clit in a way that always made Emma moan. She heard it, as she knew she would, and pressed a little harder before pulling away. This wasn't a race. They had time. They'd been waiting for seven days. There was no rush now.
She trailed her tongue up, the tip brushing lightly over the tight bundle of nerves before tracing back down. She laved up and down again, and again, setting a rhythm which Emma's hips soon matched. Regina loved the feeling of Emma's body rocking up to meet her own. She loved knowing that Emma was allowing herself to feel, to let go, to lose her inhibitions. Because that's what Regina could do with Emma. She never felt self-conscious or greedy for wanting pleasure, for taking pleasure, for experiencing pleasure. Not when it was Emma who was making her feel all those wonderful things. And she loved knowing that she could make Emma feel as good as Emma made her feel.
Her tongue pressed a little harder, concentrating her efforts a little higher now and she zeroed in on her clit. Regina had learned early on what Emma liked and, to put it bluntly, it was hard, fast pressure just above her hooded nerve bundle. Regina's tongue, the women had learned, was Emma's favourite way to come. Regina loved it too. She loved feeling surrounded by Emma. Her taste, her scent, the feel of the woman's hips canting into her mouth.
She wrapped her arms around Emma's thighs, fingers sprawling over her taut stomach as Emma's back arched off the mattress, her pleasure now taking over as Regina's tongue worried backwards and forwards over her clit. Regina held on, not wanting Emma's body to buck too far away from her mouth. She anchored herself closer, pressed her mouth harder, flicked her tongue more quickly as she felt the slickness beneath her increase.
Emma cried out quietly, some part of her aware that she did not want to be waking up her housemates to the sound of her pleasure. Her fingers laced with Regina's over her stomach, tangled and tight as she felt her body rising to its peak. She closed her eyes, her head twisted on the pillow as her body's animalistic need to come took over. Regina felt her loss of control, delighting in the fact that she was the reason the blonde was moaning, twitching in pleasure as her crest approached. And then she was coming, rising and falling as her body jerked upwards, her hips pressed into Regina while her fingers gripped tighter.
It continued, because Regina didn't stop. Her tongue was relentless as she fluttered it over and over and over and over until Emma's body went limp, finally spent after several minutes of being pushed not just up to the edge of what it could take pleasure-wise but shattering what she thought she could handle and finding a new world of delirious joy on the other side.
The moment she lay still, Regina eased up, softening her tongue and slowing her touch. The fingers which were tangled with hers were loose in her grip now as she dragged her tongue tenderly through the sticky wetness which, she mused proudly, she had made, between Emma's thighs. She savoured the flavour of her girlfriend as she tenderly cleaned her core, Emma lying with her eyes closed at the loving gesture.
After a minute or two, she crawled back up the bed, snuggling into Emma's side as the blonde opened her arms to welcome her. She kissed the side of her breast, letting out a sigh of contentment against Emma's ribs which were still rising and falling more quickly than usual as she regained control over her breathing.
"Gimme a minute," Emma murmured, fingers brushing up and down Regina's back.
"No rush. I can wait."
A smile played across her lips. "Yeah, we're good at waiting, it seems."
The outside world entered their sex bubble with a jolt. Regina stiffened a little but didn't move away. Emma regretted her words but knew she couldn't take them back now. She lay quietly, waiting for Regina to speak.
"They'll make a decision today, right?"
"They have to. The court stops sitting for the Christmas break today. There's no more time."
"What if they don't?"
"The judge has told them they have until the end of the day. If they can't get a majority verdict, I guess there'll be a mistrial. But that won't happen," she added quickly, not even willing to consider this option. "I'm sure they'll find him guilty."
The day before, the judge had called the jury in, asking why it was taking them so long to reach a verdict, almost two full days after closing arguments had been delivered. He had offered to accept a majority verdict, rather than a unanimous one. Ursula had relayed this to Emma and Regina who had opted not to attend court every day. Their lawyer tried to be reassuring but she wasn't entirely successful. Today was the final chance. If, at four o'clock that afternoon they had not reached a majority consensus, the judge would declare a hung jury and Regina would be forced to go through everything all over again at a retrial. Emma couldn't bear the thought. She also couldn't fathom why anyone on that jury was questioning Killian's guilt.
Regina was not so indignant and was not entirely surprised that the debates going on behind closed doors between twelve members of the British public were not done and dusted in a couple of hours. She knew her uncle was a charmer. He was charismatic and smooth and she was sure his time on the stand would have endeared him to some of the jury. Neither she nor Emma had watched his testimony but Ursula had, through gritted teeth, admitted that he had performed well. Her cross was ruthless but he had evaded most of her attempts to lead him into hot water. While she didn't say it out loud, both women knew the lawyer was not happy with the way the trial had turned out and was disappointed in not having been able to land some killer blows against the defendant.
"They'll convict him, Regina," Emma whispered when Regina didn't speak.
"What if they don't? What if he's found not guilty and can leave today?"
In truth, Emma hadn't allowed herself to think what would happen if Killian did walk out of the courtroom a free man. It was so nonsensical to her that that was even a possibility, so she hadn't entertained a life when that scenario came to pass. What would she do? What would Regina do? What would they do?
"We'd leave," she said simply.
"Leave?"
"Leave. London, the UK, whatever we decide is best. We'd go away. Together. Somewhere far away, somewhere safe. If that man is walking around these streets, I'm not going to ask you to stay here. We can go to Manchester. Or Paris. Or back to Puerto Rico. Whatever you want, I'll go with you."
Regina tilted her chin up, looking through the slowly lightening room at her girlfriend's pale, sincere features.
"You'd do that? For me?"
"I'd do anything for you," Emma replied. "Surely you know that by now."
"But your life is here. Your job, your family, Ruby and Belle."
"I don't care," Emma said simply. "I'd miss them, of course. And I'd be sad to leave. But I'd miss you more. I'd be more sad if I lost you."
"You're not losing me, though."
"But if … if they do find him … I mean this completely hypothetically, if they do return a verdict of not guilty, would you really be able to stay here?"
Regina hesitated. In truth, she hadn't really thought about that scenario either. While she wasn't convinced that the jury would come to the right verdict, she hadn't really thought about the realities of life if they did acquit him.
"I … no, I don't think I could."
"Then I'll come with you," Emma murmured. "If it comes to that, which it won't. You're not alone, Regina. You'll never be alone again, I promise."
The chirp of Emma's alarm broke the tenderness of the moment. Regina smiled and kissed Emma's pouting lips before rolling over to switch it off.
"Time to get up and find out what they've decided," Regina said, stifling a yawn before sitting up and letting the duvet fall around her waist.
"But you didn't get your turn," Emma replied, reaching out and trailing her fingers up the ridges of Regina's spine.
"There's still time," the brunette smirked coquettishly over her shoulder. "Shower?"
Emma grinned widely at her. "Deal."
A/N: next up, the verdict.