Emma kept guard of the turtle as she came out of the water. She felt awful and so guilty that she was tangled in that fisherman's line. What harm could be if she took it off herself? But Regina was adamant about not touching her and letting the professionals handle her. It was the same with a human in an emergency–try not to touch or move the victim until the EMTs arrive.
She kept a respectful distance from the turtle, as to not spook her. She didn't want her returning to the ocean. They both moved along the beach slowly, inch by inch. Emma presumed she was this slow because of the entanglement and not because turtles are just slow. She felt the shore breeze pick up suddenly, and looked up at the sky. It was growing dim. That lovely bunch of clouds from earlier had started to gather and get dark. The waves in the ocean seemed to be getting a little sharper too. Regina did say that at times the weather could change quickly. Of course, this would be one of those times. She turned back to the turtle. She had advanced in that short time quite a bit. She was apparently unphased by the weather. Emma walked a little nearer to her, thankful that she was getting a little farther away from the increasingly aggressive water. She patiently kept her eye on her.
Emma had never been so close to an animal in the wild. Pigeons and squirrels in the city she felt didn't count. Coyote, maybe, but this animal had seen things she has never seen nor even imagined in the ocean. She has traveled thousands upon thousands of miles, and somehow knew to return to the place of her birth to have her babies be born where she was too, it was remarkable. There may be a storm coming, but she felt it was her devoted duty to help this momma out.
The turtle was going for the dunes. This meant they both would be out of sight for whenever Regina and a ranger arrived. She quickly sprinted over to their campsite and took a chair. She then folded it and dug a quick hole in the sand to wedge the chair up right where they were about to enter the dune. She hoped that Regina or the ranger understood the oddity as a marker. By the time Emma was finished, she and the turtle entered the dunes.
She watched every labored movement, every struggle, and every motion of the turtle. As the turtle made its way over the uneven ground of the dunes, Emma reasoned that if she tipped over and couldn't get up, then she could help it, otherwise she would stand sentry and wait for the cavalry to arrive. Which would be soon she hoped. The winds had picked up, and the sun had disappeared.
Regina had no time to reinflate her tires when she got on the pavement. She had driven down the beach as fast as she could, sharply watching the beach for animals or debris. Now she drove painfully slow, up the road to the last visitor center and hoped there was a ranger on site.
Drops of rain began to fall sporadically. Emma wished she at least had an umbrella, but she quickly removed all feelings of discomfort in her mind; she had a job to do that was worth her getting rained on. She was tucked in the dune pretty good now with the turtle. The turtle had stopped and started to kick around the sand. She struggled because of the line, so she would start and then stop over and over again; but she keept at it. Emma presumed that she had picked her nesting spot. The poor thing probably didn't quite understand why she couldn't make a nest. She hoped for Regina's return quickly.
"Leia! Leia!" Emma heard her alias name called every so faintly between the roaring sea. She noted exactly where the turtle was and tried to drag her foot across the sand to make a line to her as she walked back to the edge of the dune. She waved her hands up in the air as she saw Regina and a ranger by her chair. It was a good thing she put the chair there because in following the turtle she had drifted a bit further down from camp. "Over here!!!"
The ranger called out, "Stay there, I'm coming up!" It seemed like Regina wanted to follow, but she remained where she was. When the ranger reached her, the rain started to fall even more heavily. The blue dress became soaked in minutes and clung to her like a second skin.
Regina stood in the rain, watching the ranger reach Emma and the two of them disappear over the dune. A sense of relief overcame her that they got help for the precious turtle. She wondered if Emma had never come with her would she have found the turtle herself? She was grateful for this rouse, but it was about time it ended. There were too many great memories being created between them to keep lying to each other.
Soon, Emma came down from the dune. "She got her. She got the net off of her and is checking her now for any injuries," Emma said as she ran towards Regina and hugged her. "That was incredible. I feel so good we helped that turtle. Watching her this whole time I was so scared for her, and then thinking of all the other animals that don't get help because of human carelessness, and…" Emma started to cry.
"Hey, it's ok. We saved her," Regina said as she held onto Emma and rubbed her back. "You have a good heart. I am so glad you came with me and found her."
Emma pulled back but still stayed in Regina's arms, sniffling. She wiped her nose and laughed, "I don't even know if that is snot, or where my tears end and the rain is taking over. I'm sorry, I didn't expect to be so emotional." Emma looked away in embarrassment, tears still falling from her eyes as she tried to get a grip.
Regina lifted her chin to look at her and smiled at her. Even drenched in rain and tears, this woman was stunning. Roni wanted her, but she realized that so did Regina. She leaned forward and captured her lips in hers. Emma did not resist and returned the kiss, pressing firmly into Regina.
"Ah-hem," the ranger said. The two women snapped apart, staring wide-eyed at the ranger. She just smiled at them. "Momma turtle is safe and ok. No injuries. She started to dig her nest as soon as I removed the netting. Thank you for finding her and contacting us. It's rare when someone gets to save a turtle. Consider yourselves lucky. The Park thanks you." She started to walk back to her vehicle. "Oh, and Ms. Mills, my wife and I are big fans." She tipped her hat before getting in her vehicle and driving away. At that moment, the rain stopped.
Regina's stomach sank. The ranger recognized her and saw her kissing a woman. Fuck, her mind started to scream. She had been so careful with Nimue, nobody ever got wind of her preference for women; she wasn't ready to come out yet. She began to panic.
Emma considered if she should just give up the pretense and say something. It was obvious that she heard the ranger call her by her real name. But, when she looked at Regina, her face looked drained of color and stricken with panic. "Hey, did you want to try and take the canopy down?"
Regina felt a ringing in her ears. Did Emma hear what the ranger said? She was sure that Emma knew who she was, just as sure as she knew she was not Leia. It finally hit her what Emma asked. She didn't look at Emma. She started to walk in the direction of the canopy. "Yes, let's."
Wordlessly, they took the pop-up down and carried it to the car. Emma went to get the chair she had half-buried in the ground and Regina retrieved the other. When they got into the car, Regina spoke. "That was clever of you to leave the chair up as a marker."
"I was worried you wouldn't find me if I went into the dune with the turtle," Emma said.
Regina nodded. "Thank you for agreeing to stay with the turtle. I'm sorry the weather turned on you. When we get to the visitor center, we can change out of our wet clothes. I will have to put air in the tires anyway."
"Can I help? I'd like to learn how to do that?"
Regina smiled, "Sure."
They were silent again on the ride back. When they were changed and the air in the tires was brought back to city road levels, they got in the car. They faced an even longer ride home. There was a lot of awkwardness between them and each wondered how to recover the easy flow of conversation they once had. Regina was filled with fear over the ranger's comments; being outted preoccupied her mind.
On the other hand, Emma thought about the kiss and how much she loved it. But did Regina kiss her as Roni, or Regina? Because she was certain whoever it was thought she was kissing Leia. The lies and the confusion was overwhelming.
When they came to the park booth, Regina slowed down to ask the ranger the status of the turtles. He said many had already hatched and were in the process of hatching. There would be a release tomorrow morning after all. As they drove away, it lifted Regina's spirits for a second, but then her dread returned. She looked over at Emma and she expressed joy for her. She wanted to smile back at her, feel the same that she did earlier about her, but the ranger seeing their kiss robbed Regina of all of that. She had a spectacular day with her. But all these feelings were being developed and based on lies and hiding. Roni apparently seemed to know who she was, but Regina couldn't. She was still in the closet. Leia made Roni feel free to be herself. But was Emma even Leia? Regina couldn't take it anymore. It started to rain again, even harder than earlier.
When they came to a stoplight, she glanced over at Emma, "We need to talk."
