The warm gentle glow from the moon is spilling through the tiny window. Her wild golden waves are cascading perfectly down her long, naked back. The sheet is dipping low, just barely covering her firm bottom, exposing a few beauty marks scattered across her porcelain flesh and each one calls to her, begging to be kissed. Her head is tilted to the side, but the majority of her face is buried deep into a white fluffy pillow, portraying an extra comfy cloud. Her arms are tucked beneath the pillow and she looks absolutely spent, thoroughly fucked.
Her heart skips a beat.
Regina's hand dips into her back pocket to retrieve her phone. Her fingers work on their own to unlock the device while her eyes stay strained to the sleeping blonde, needing to soak up every second she has left. Brown eyes flick down to open the camera on her phone before she quickly snaps her attention right back to Emma. She hesitates, morals and concerns of privacy flash across her mind, but only for a brief moment before she snaps a picture to remember her by because truthfully, in this moment, Emma has never looked so stunning.
From the first moment Emma declared that her parents took her in, she was hers. She stole her heart even though Regina berated herself every day for being so foolish. The sole purpose of the trip was to clear her head of Robin, along with her apartment. She swore she would never allow someone in so close to her heart again, but here she is, seven days into knowing this woman...woman nonetheless, and she is absolutely in too deep.
The entire trip she has been clinging onto Emma as though she is the oxygen she needs to breathe, the heart she needs to pump her blood, the energy she needs to wake up every day and face the heartache that still lingers and stings from the damage Robin caused.
She's an absolute fool, but she needs more time with this astonishing woman. What they have is unique, rare, and so damn breathtaking that she knows she can't just carelessly toss this away. Emma has awakened a side of her that only her parents have ever been granted permission to see. Not even Robin was special enough to show her true colors around, but this woman, this Emma Swan, cracked open her heart and soul with barely blinking an eye.
Now, she's standing over the bed pleading with her feet to just move. It's been fifteen minutes and if she doesn't leave now, she will inevitably miss her flight.
Her head swims with endless possibilities of her and Emma spending the summer together. Her head pounds murderously when she thinks about walking out that door and risking the chance of never seeing the beautiful blonde again. Her chest constricts painfully tight, forcing her to gasp for air. Her palms are growing slick. Her body is beginning to tremble from the whiplash of her uncertain thoughts and she's starting to panic.
Her eyes fill with hot tears, face pinching together from the pain shooting through her heart. She shakes her head and curses herself for being such an imbecile and without another thought, her hand pops open and drops the bag to the floor with a soft thump. She kicks off her shoes and slowly crawls into the warm and inviting space beside Emma. She gently rests her head upon the bare shoulder and cautiously she slips beneath the sheets.
She covers their bodies with the quilt and holds Emma close, breathing in her scent of sunscreen and sex. Her body instantly relaxes from the warmth and familiarity of it all and stops trembling. Her mind finally stops racing and she feels like she can finally breathe again. Her lips pucker and lightly brush against the heated back, she sighs in content. And within a couple of heartbeats, her eyes flutter closed from the lack of sleep and exhaustion from her mind attempting to make a decision.
XXXXX
"Regina! Regina! Wake up!"
"What?" She groans, peeking just one heavy eye open against the bright light blinding into the small room.
"What do you mean, what? We over slept! I am so sorry. Fuck, we shouldn't have stayed up all night," Emma rambles through her cries of hysteria while she scrambles to dress herself. "Do you think you can find another flight? Shit. I'm so sorry. I really fucked up."
"Emma, shut up and get back in bed," she grumbles as her one eye slowly falls closed once again.
"Regina! Get up! You missed your flight...you missed everything."
"I know," she mutters and squirms closer into the pillow, maybe to hide the shame she feels for being so reckless or maybe because her body is screaming for more sleep.
"You what?!" Emma screeches so loud, Regina's certain a pack of wolves heard her across the island.
Brown eyes pop open and glare at the irrational blonde before her. Her head snaps up from the pillow while she balances all her weight onto her elbows.
"Yes, Emma, I know. I decided that listening to your distraught voice was more enjoyable than what I have waiting for me at home, but clearly I made some poor decisions," she sarcastically retorts before fluffing her pillow with a tad of aggregation and laying back down with an exaggerated sigh.
"This is insane! You can't...I just...we just...I mean," the blonde stammers as her mind seeks a proper sentence.
"When you finally learn how to speak, wake me," she deadpans, slamming her eyes shut for some rest.
"Regina!" Emma snaps with all her frustrations clawing to the surface. "You have school! Your parents are gonna kill you and then they are gonna kill me for clouding your better judgement," she pauses, so Regina slowly pries one eye open to discover Emma's hand over her mouth with sheer panic striking her face. "Oh my god, Regina, they are gonna kick me out!"
"You know that will never happen. Now, will you please come back to bed? I'm exhausted," she sternly states, but this disheveled woman's mind is too far gone to listen to reason.
"Regina!" She screeches again, finally provoking Regina's body to sit up straight, huffing and puffing her annoyance along the way.
She scrambles to her knees and sits back on her heels. "What, Emma? Do you really want to fight right now, when you should be going down on me as a thank you for staying?"
"You drive me insane sometimes," Emma claims as she runs her shaky fingers through her messy hair, but Regina sees the ghost of a smirk toying at the corner of her mouth.
"Ditto," she vacantly replies. A small smirk is sliding across the corner of Emma's mouth now and she's doing everything in her power to stop the spread. "What do you want from me right now?" She exhales slowly.
"You have school, Regina," she explains in a much calmer tone than moments ago. "You can't just not go. You're going to be a doctor!" And there's the screeching again.
"I know," she softly acknowledges, patting the empty spot in front of her knees so they can have a calm and proper conversation. Emma breathes heavily expressing her anguish, but even so, she still sits down beside her. "Listen, I already missed the last week of school, but I already had all my clinical's finished. I just have to begin my internship and residency, which I can easily start in the fall. I'm fine. So, please, stop worrying and come back to bed."
Regina doesn't bother waiting for a rebuttal, instead she falls back into her cozy spot and pulls the sheet back over her body.
"You're not lying, are you? Just so I won't freak out about your education?"
"No, ask my mother," she flatly responds while her eyes flutter shut once again.
Emma's quiet for a moment and Regina thinks she has finally won this battle.
"Isn't this crazy? You staying for me when we've only known each other for one week?"
"Emma..." she draws out the name for as long as her lungs will allow, before the blonde interrupts her.
"No, seriously, are we insane?"
She feels the bed dip near her arm, encouraging her eyes to slowly peek open again to find Emma hovering over her.
"Would you prefer if I leave?"
This triggers something in the blonde because she quickly slips under the covers next to her and pulls her impossibly close. "No," she whispers and kisses Regina's temple so sweetly. "I'm sorry, I'm just freaking out. This is all happening so quickly, and I have never experienced something like this before. I've only ever dated Neal."
"Who said we were dating?" Regina vacantly quips earning herself a smack against her sheet covered bottom.
"Stop being such a brat," Emma scolds while Regina's heart flutters from her new favorite nickname. "I just...I feel like we are falling so quickly and I just..."
"It's terrifying," she offers as an end to her admission.
"Petrifying," Emma breathes heavily and nudges her nose against her own and it might be Regina's most favorite thing that her new blonde friend does.
"Maybe we don't think about it so much and just enjoy the now. We are having such a wonderful time and all I want to do is continue that," she admits, stretching her lips forward, in which Emma happily meets her halfway for a short but sweet kiss.
"That I can do," she vows and connects their lips once again for a kiss that lingers just a little longer.
"Good, now let's get some rest because this chatty blonde kept me up all night."
XXXXX
"Where is Emma?" Her mother sternly questions as Regina pours herself a cup of some much-needed coffee because her body still can't seem to kick the exhaustion from staying up all night with Emma.
"She's out helping daddy with the chicken coop."
She's careful to avoid her mother's scrutinizing eyes, knowing exactly what she has in store for her. Regina never contained a reckless or impulsive attribute as a person, but the type of behavior she portrayed today will be added to the books.
With her eyes cast down, she shuffles across the kitchen and slides into a chair. She spots the newspaper at the edge of the kitchen table and she quickly snatches it up just to appear busy. She opens the paper and spreads it across the table, pretending to be drawn into a fascinating article while sipping her coffee.
Her mother doesn't speak one single word as she sweeps across the kitchen and sits directly across from her. She strums her bony fingers against the wooden table and waits, each tap irking every cell in Regina's body. Then Cora waits some more. Regina can feel the stone-cold gaze upon her, silently urging her to mutter just one word, but the older woman herself, never breaks. She's confident, patient and has the willpower of a Greek God.
"What?" Regina unexpectedly snaps as her hand slaps against the table, hard enough to make her cup of coffee jump.
"Have you fallen foolishly in love with a blonde stranger or are you avoiding your home because you are too scared that you will, yet again, take that piece of garbage back?" There is no emotion behind her mother's bold question, and she cringes inside because she hates when her mother is this distant from her.
She sighs and sips her coffee as a distraction before she faces the harsh reality. "Both," she calmly and honestly answers, but again she never makes eye contact.
"And what do you expect from Emma?"
"Nothing," she harshly defends and turns the page as though she's actually paying attention to the tiny words written in black.
"Regina Maria," Cora sternly scolds with a hint of an Italian accent hanging on the end of her name that makes her flinch.
"Nothing, we've only known each other for a week."
"Yet, you were willing to push your academics aside for another two months with the young blonde," her mother quips without skipping a beat.
"For the first time, in a very long time, I'm enjoying myself. I feel free and relaxed. Can I not take this time in my life to slow down for just a moment to breathe?" She exhales, like those words have been weighing on her chest for far too long, just begging to be released out into the world.
She drops her arms to the kitchen table in pure exhaustion and hangs her head low. She's not sure if it's shame she's feeling for her actions earlier that morning or the thought of ever disappointing her parents.
Her mother swiftly lifts from her chair and strolls around the table. The tiny woman wraps her arms around Regina's shoulders and holds on tight, like she's physically keeping her daughter pieced together.
"You enjoy life. You take care of yourself. You are my baby girl, no matter what, and if you need time to get over Robin then you stay here, school will always be waiting when you return. If you need a distraction, that's fine too, just don't use Emma. She doesn't deserve anymore pain," her mother gently whispers against her temple before placing a loving, motherly kiss right there.
"No, she doesn't," she concedes, but then her body freezes as a thought flashes through her mind. "What do you mean when you say, any more pain?"
"She's a sweet girl and I do care for her, she doesn't deserve heartache," Cora so vaguely answers as she releases her daughter from her embrace and busies herself with another pot of coffee.
"You mean heartache from her ex, Neal...correct?" She cautiously investigates, intently watching her mother's behavior.
"Yes, I suppose."
"Mother..." she drawls in her most stern tone.
"Regina," her dad cheerful exclaims as he barges his way through the door and through their conversation. Her mother smiles lovingly at her father as he sweeps through the kitchen. "Now that you are staying, can I anticipate you helping around the farm?"
Regina turns away from her parents and pretends to read yet again. "Nope," she firmly declines and sips her warm coffee.
"Oh, you will be helping me, dear," her father mischievously replies, slipping into the chair her mother left vacant. "You will not sleep away your days like you have been this past week," he firmly scolds.
"Daddy, I thought I was only going to be here this week, so I was trying to catch up on some sleep," she reasons, but there's a crease in her father's forehead that leads her to believe he doesn't trust in her words.
"Regina darling, you need to stop acting like your father and I don't know you," her mother says while sitting in the seat beside her father, forming a united front against her.
Her father drapes his arm on the back of her mother's chair in which Cora instantly cuddles into his side. Regina smiles at the couple, admiring the strong bond they share with one another. She has never seen a love quite like theirs and their relationship has always given her hope for a better tomorrow.
"My dear," her father begins, tearing her wandering mind away from her thoughts. She blinks, her eyes drifting to his concerned and loving gaze. "We know you are depressed about Robin, we aren't blind. Now that you are staying, you need to get up and face the world. No more sulking."
"I'm not sulking," she defends, but both her parents are wearing the same, unamused expressions across their smug faces.
Her body sinks into her chair as she deflates in defeat. Her eyes fluttering closed while she attempts to hopelessly breathe through her heartache. She hates that her parents know her so well.
She loves that her parents know her so well.
"I'm not sulking, I swear," she attempts to reason, yet again. "Ask Emma if I have been sulking, you two seem pretty buddy-buddy with her," she retorts and casts her eyes to the paper once again.
Her tired eyes sweep across the tiny black print, but her mind never truly picks up on a single word.
"She's a fine young woman," Henry praises and she doesn't have to look at him because she can already hear the smile in his voice. "She's hardworking, intelligent, thoughtful, she has a good head on her shoulders." She glares at her parents through her thick eyelashes, never once opening her mouth to agree or argue their points. "Don't break her heart," her father adds when he realizes she will not be commenting on this conversation.
"That's what I said," Cora chuckles, placing her hand affectionately over her father's.
"I am done with this topic," she huffs in annoyance and quickly vacates her chair.
She places her mug into the sink and hastily exits the cabin, allowing the back-screen door to snap closed in her agitated awake.
XXXXX
"Hey."
"Hey yourself," Emma flirts as she stalks toward Regina with a predatory glint sparkling in her eye.
The stunning blonde snakes her hands beneath Regina's jean clad bottom and easily lifts her into the air and settles her down on top of the thick wooden fence. Regina's thighs spread instinctively, granting Emma access to slip between, and she does step between her legs while smiling up at her with that adorable, goofy grin that awakens the butterflies deep in Regina's stomach. Regina's hands move to their own accord, sliding behind Emma's back to twirl the end of her long ponytail around her fingers.
"Now that I'm staying, you will have riding lessons every day," Regina commands, gazing deep into those sparkling green eyes that quickly turn dark from the admission.
"Why do you have to ruin such a perfect moment?"
Regina smiles at the frustrated pout and continues curling those golden locks around her hand. "Oh, stop pouting, you like Rocinante now. You should learn how to ride him without me hanging on the back."
"Now that you are here for another two months, I have no problem arguing with you."
"Don't waste your breath, I will always win, dear," she vows with conviction.
Emma's face contorts into the silliest but perplexed facial expression she has ever seen grace her face. One side of her lip and nose curl up in disgust while her eyebrows skyrocket to her hairline. Emma slowly pulls away, but Regina's quick to grab her and tug her mouth against her own.
Their lips part instantaneously, so their tongues can battle for dominance far faster than their quick quips. Emma's velvety muscle leads the way as her long fingers firmly grip Regina's bottom, inspiring her hips to thrust forward against Emma's stomach. With her hand already tangled in her ponytail, she tugs hard, forcing a groan to vibrate between them.
She slowly breaks the kiss by biting down on the blonde's bottom lip and sucking the swollen flesh between her teeth.
"So, what do you want to do tonight since you have me for two more months?" She seductively taunts with another tug to the long mane.
"I'm still kind of exhausted from last night. Can we just relax? We can go out this weekend," her new lover recommends and the insecurity in her tone persuades Regina to really look at her.
Dark circles are painted across the bottom of her eyes, along with small bags filled with the weight of exhaustion. Her face is as pale as ever, no signs of the pink tinge that usually spreads after they kiss in such a manner.
"Are you alright?" She softly inquires as she untangles herself from the long ponytail.
"Yeah, just tired," Emma sadly mutters, but then her forehead collides with Regina's chest and she's almost certain it's so that she won't see the pain beating in those stunning green eyes.
Regina's bottom lip pouts out while her hands begin running soothingly over her lover's head. "We can relax tonight," she complies, holding her even closer to her chest, hoping the woman won't notice how erratic her heart beat is just for her.