Random ficlet. (3.21)
What are we?
Love comes slow. It took one year, one year of arrows, monkeys, long conversations under her apple tree. One year of angry and spiteful remarks, of sass and smirks, of stolen caresses behind a closed door. And it took some days in her world, where her son was next to her, and her heart maybe ready, no longer crushed by grief, but instead lifted by the undying hope of getting Henry back. A campfire, a whispered promise, and a heated, audacious kiss.
She has beaten the witch, and she has her heart back, where it belongs. She's stronger than ever. She has told him of the magical dust, of her missed chance, of the meaning that the crest on his arm bears into her story.
And they have made love, slowly, slowly as it should always be, now that they don't need to hurry, now that there aren't impending dangers threatening their future. She has kissed his collarbone, she has trailed her fingers on his forearm, arching her back when he has reached her delicious points of release. There's no need to rush, the fire is cracking next to them, and he discovers he wouldn't have had it in any other way. He can take all the time he needs to cherish her, to admire every edge and curve of her body, to kiss her knuckles fondly, to make her reach her peek in a mess of sweat and kisses, and then she collapses on the couch of her office. There's no need to hold back, to worry about their sons, they are alone and together.
They find themselves lying on the soft cushions, and she takes the blanket, draping it above their tangled bodies. He holds her, and she thinks she could doze off, for she has never been more satisfied and perfectly happy than now.
"What do you think a soulmate is?" he asks, and she smiles contently, trailing a finger up and down his arm, eyes closed. He waits for her answer, and she feels his slow breaths against her hair.
"Well…" she doesn't know how to start, of course she has thought about this, in all those years. "Let's take Snow and David," she begins, and he listens in silence. "They are two halves of one single heart – literally," she chuckles. "And no matter how hard I've tried to separate them, back in… our days," she hesitates, and he knows why, but he also knows that her reluctance to talk about her will fade, given time – "…I think that their I will always find you crap really does work"
He has his eyes closed, lulled by her voice, and she lowers it. "Rumple and Belle are another story," she continues. "I could never understand how… how did it happen… but it did. And… I would say, they're like the moon and the sun," she whispers. "They're so different, but they fit well together, and she manages to pull him out of his darkness in a way… a way I hadn't seen until…" her voice stops. Until us, she would want to say.
"Emma and Killian are… they are like two pieces of a puzzle," she says instead.
Robin mutters, against her hair. "But they aren't together," he objects.
"Oh, I know Miss Swan, trust me," she laughs. "Give her a few days – it will happen. With all the issues I may have with the pirate, she… completes him, they are different, and if you push too much, they may break"
Regina breaths slowly, his hand tangled with hers above her stomach, and she holds his fingers as if she doesn't want to let go. She closes her eyes, and waits, and bursts out the last sentences. "You asked what a soulmate is… and I don't really know how to answer, but I know how it feels like"
"And how does it feel?" he asks, and she feels her new-settled heart beating fast against her rib-cage.
"It feels like… like I've always known you," she whispers, and he places his lips on her temple. "Like we were born of the same star. Like in every universe, there's something that... attracts us together. Like I am a fire, and you're the wind, and the more you swirl around me, the more I burn" and she would want to say something else, but he is kissing her, and she finds out that she doesn't have to.
