28/10/17
There was a pressure of something on her arm when she woke up, something just cradling the sheets – tightening the cloth around her skin. For a moment she got lost in the feeling of the embrace, her eyes barely being able to pry open, giving her half sleepy imagination all the power in the world.
She thought back to lazy Sunday mornings when Henry was young, waking up with an arm wrapping around her waist and a head nuzzled deep into her back after he'd run in for the night, claiming to have been having an awful dream that would prevent him from sleeping alone. She would smile then, not daring to move from the position as she usually would, laying still so to savour the softest of moments she would have with her son.
And then she lay still for a moment more, slowly coming back into the hotel room. Her imagination still flooding her mind with thoughts of her precious boy hugging her deeply, and with that she shuffled back a little in the sheets. Nestling into the grip and feeling something push against where she was moving – she enjoyed the embrace, smiling a small smile before she felt comfort tie at her limbs.
When she felt the grip tighten and a sweep of hot breath tickle the back of her neck, she opened her eyes. Her image of Sunday mornings ripped from her vision and instead she was met with the book she'd left on the stand last night, her glasses perched on top. She panicked then, her breathing tight in her chest and her hand ruffling under the sheet to appear on top of her.
She daren't look at who had hold of her, because she already knew full well who it was. And it definitely wasn't Henry. Said person hadn't made any other noise bar the almost silent moan encased in a sigh that was brushing so teasingly against her almost back. Her now free hand was pulling at the edge of the covers before it moved on its own accord to feel the barrier that held her prisoner. She only skimmed the skin on top, fingers brushing tentatively against the warmth of her captor. She sucked in a breath when the grip got tighter at her touch.
Then it was too far, it was too intimate, and she didn't care much that when she sat up her blonde companion was nearly thrown completley off the bed.
"Regina what the hell?" the blonde grouched through a hoarse kind of tired moan. Sitting back up on the mattress and staring at Regina who was far enough away she could feel the edge of the mattress digging into her thigh. She didn't seem to have been conscious of how they had been laying.
"What the hell me? What the hell you?" she spat through a temper, breathless and angry. No not angry. She wasn't angry, but she was far from letting the blonde know how comforting her hold had been to wake up to.
Emma didn't reply to that because she'd clearly been referring to the abrupt awakening and the shove she'd received that nearly sent her flying. Regina wasn't sure what to say, she hadn't wanted to tell her the real reason for her sudden pushing, but she also couldn't think of an excuse. She caressed her arm that was starting to miss the warmth of the hug, looking away for a single second.
"I must of have a bad dream," Regina offered, huffing out a sigh as if to disregard the moment. Tugging at the blankets to cover her body a little more. Emma Swan had seen her completley naked, but she'd never felt more vulnerable than when Emma looked at her with eyes that seemed to care so much.
"Was it bad?" the blonde squeaked, ruffling around a little so that Regina could get free access to the sheets she had bunched around her. And Regina hadn't been more regretful of a decision, because now one of Emma's unclothed legs were completley on show, wrapping around in the white fabric.
She pried her glare up to a still staring Emma.
"I don't remember," she lied through a frown, Emma didn't look satisfied. She looked like she knew Regina was lying but hadn't the heart to pick up on it. But then the blonde turned, looking to her phone and sighed before turning back with a soft smile.
"It's four am Regina," Emma stretched up from where she was sat, her torso peeping out from her top that seemed to stretch up with her and Regina couldn't help but stare at the skin. Her mouth drying as inappropriate thoughts seeped into her tired-out imagination.
"Well it's not like I planned on waking so early," she snapped, hand clenching at her side as she moved around a little uncomfortably in the sheets.
"No, I'm not mad," Emma started, reaching forwards to close the gap between them. Hesitating a little before her fingers were brushing against Regina's clenched fist. It relaxed instantly, and Regina cursed her body for being so weak. "I just thought you'd want to know," she smiled. Sinking back into the bed. Her hand re-moved itself from Regina, going to pat at the pillow the brunette had once been sleeping silently on.
Regina wasn't sure why, but she acted on the command as soon as it had clicked in her mind, sliding down beside Emma. Perhaps her body was so too tired for her mind to control right now. That's why she sat staring blankly at the blonde beside her, she was too weak to remove her eyes from looking deep into Emma's. she couldn't control herself even if she wanted too, she couldn't control how badly she wanted to move around and tuck deep into the blondes embrace once more. She couldn't do anything but stare, stare deep into the stare she was receiving right back.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Emma whispered, her face a little shadowy from the lack of light coming into the room, the sun still hidden in its nest hadn't given much of anything to light the two of them.
"I already told you, I don't remember it," Regina bit out. Sighing as she did so and hoping to god Emma would shut up before she did anything she would regret moments later.
"Well that's a load of bullshit," Emma laughed, shaking the bed as she did so. Regina was soon finding it endearing how the blondes whole body seemed to move with the melodic sound, and she smiled a little. But covered the weakness in the blankets, so not to humour Emma anymore than she already had done. "Okay, then what's got you so wound up?" Emma asked having realised Regina wasn't prepared to carry on the conversation.
"Nothing," she grumbled, inching just a little further away than she already was.
"Regina are you okay?" Emma sounded a little more serious now, on the verge of sounding like she cared more than she should have. And Regina trembled under the sudden carefulness in the blonde's words, and how her voice was echoing in her mind in such a soothing kind of song.
"I can handle a bad dream, Emma," she sighed, but even she knew she didn't sound convincing.
Emma didn't say anything then, and Regina thought maybe that was the end of their conversation. But the blonde was moving once more, shuffling to close the gap between them by only a centimetre. A hand making a path through the covers over the both of them until it was resting on Regina's arm.
Her nails drawing circles in the skin, and although the touch was soft and tentative and so comforting Regina couldn't help but feel the fire burning a bright shade of red in her limbs. She closed her eyes, face deepening its place in the pillow below her. Emma didn't stop, but Regina could feel her soft glare painting gentle strokes over her movements, she didn't mind it. She didn't mind it at all. She treasured the feel of the cool fingers tapping at the flames burning between her skin and bone.
"Do you get bad dreams a lot?" Emma whispered, making her touching a little more purposeful now.
Regina had all but forgotten the reason they were sat like this, eyes peeling open once more to find Emma was still watching so carefully. She hadn't wanted to lie, but she was in too deep now. She nodded a small nod, barely even a nod if anyone but Emma were to see it. And technically now, she hadn't been lying, because she did get bad dreams a lot. She got them more often than not. But she'd never had this. She'd never had someone almost take care of her for the moments after. And it was all so strange and alien, but in such a good way that made the fires in her stomach feel somewhat comforting.
"I get them too," the blonde offered, so softly. Regina looked up at that, eyes flickering to find a smile imprinting itself into the shadowy darkness. But she didn't have the will to force words out. "They started when I was in the system," she sighed, but she didn't look sad. And Regina let her eyes cross over the expression before she felt confused. She remembered finding out about Emma's background when she'd googled her name back when they first met, she'd had a deeply troubled childhood. She could tell even though the only information she found on IMDB and Wiki pages were sugar coated in a thick kind of sickly-sweet lace. "But I guess they just never stopped after that."
"Why are you telling me this?" she asked almost silently, the cover slowly being pulled from where it was covering her face. Emma shrugged, smiling still as her cheeks puffed out with the grin.
"Thought it might make you feel better to know you weren't the only one who still got them."
Regina swallowed the lump that was building like cement in her throat. She felt guilty that Emma was being so kind, she'd never been kind. She hadn't even tried to be kind, and yet here the blonde laid beside her. Obviously tired but purposefully staying awake so to comfort the brunette, drawing small circles in her arm till the nightmares slipped into nothing.
"I'm sorry that I'm always so cruel," Regina mumbled, she felt ashamed for the admittance, her eyes dancing around as they searched Emma's never wavering smile. She'd never been very good at playing nice with others, and it was only now that she thought back to reading on Emma's history and seeing that small swell of sadness in her eyes (that was failing to be masked in a smile) did she actually feel regretful for her standoffish approach at times when it clearly wasn't necessary.
"I've had worse," Emma laughed, she didn't sound angry. Not resentful in the slightest, she didn't sound hurt or sad or anything other than content. In fact, she'd sounded sadder when Regina was rejecting her friend requests. The brunette swallowed again. Emma was still circling Regina's arm, but her fingers were moving down to rest just above her elbow. Gripping at the arm just enough so she wouldn't slip.
"We should probably sleep," the blonde said through a yawn. Regina watched her. Not for a single moment being able to stop.
"Yes, we probably should," she mumbled.
"I'm not in any way prepared to deal with a Regina who hasn't slept. I can barely deal with you on a perfect eight hours," Emma was cautious in her joking, seeing as her previous attempts hadn't gone down to well. But Regina felt more appeasing tonight, she blamed that on being sleepy and nothing else. Batting her hand playfully in Emma's general direction. Her fingers being unfortunate in the way they fluttered and landed on the pale chest in front of her. Both women sucked in a breath at the touch. The skin feeling just as smooth and cool and satiny as she had imagined. She kept her hand where it had been resting for a while longer, before it dripped to rest just below the blonde's breast. Not touching it instinctively, but if she moved an inch, she would feel her knuckle brush at the fabric of the top.
Regina could see Emma's chest tighten, even in the dark she could see how hard her heart was pounding in her chest. And if it was anything much like her own, she knew Emma would be struggling to keep calm right about now. So, she inched her hand away a little, not much. But a little.
They fell asleep like this, with Emma at almost arm's length away, her hand still holding onto Regina as a comfort to them both, and Regina almost leaning in a little too much that it looked like she would fall right into the blondes embrace at any given moment.
When she woke at a more suitable time, they were still tangled in the same position they'd fallen asleep in, but Regina had edged closer into the hold. Her head sharing Emma's pillow, but nestled further down so that she was closer to her chest than her face. She was thankful for that, for how she wouldn't have to wake staring deep into Emma's eyes. Not that this was any better.
The hand that Emma was using as a hook to hold her was hanging over to reach at Regina's back, given how close Regina had gotten the hand had seemingly moved along with it and was now dripping down her body to pull her into a tighter embrace.
Regina was the first to wake, edging slowly from Emma so not to wake her for a second time that day. She still flinched at how they had positioned themselves, this was still weird. It wasn't that long ago they the two wouldn't have been able to spend five minutes alone in a room – and now look at them. Regina grimaced at the thought, when had she become so soft in the blonde's presence.
She rolled to land her hand on the bedside table, taking her phone into her fingers and gently pulling herself up to sit in the bed.
She slipped her black frames back to rest on the shell of her ears, peering down to any notification she'd received in the night or this morning. Finding one from Mary-Margaret, she opened it and sighed at the more than cheery good morning but smiling fondly down to the picture of Henry watching that Buzz Lightyear film for the hundredth time running. His eyes glued to the screen as if it was his first time watching.
"Henry?" came a small croak from beneath her, she peered down to see Emma manoeuvring herself in the sheets so that she could prop herself up on her elbows, her curls sweeping messily like water down her shoulders. A smile taking hold of her lips. Regina hadn't realised soon enough that she'd kept her grin as she looked down to Emma, who was still expecting a reply.
"Yes. He can't seem to get over your film," she laughed a little, nervously. And with that response Emma shot up from where was laying so lazily. Sliding in to sit at the same height as Regina. She was brushing, no, pushing hard against the woman who was wobbly in the way she held her phone, trying to focus it in a way that Emma could see. But the blonde seemed more than happy to rest up against Regina to get a small glimpse at the photo.
"So he wasn't lying when he said he loved it?" Emma mumbled, and Regina was sure she wasn't supposed to hear as it sounded more like a thought that had been accidentally spoken – so she stayed silent. Not daring to look at the Emma who was way too close for comfort.
The blonde shuffled away once more, but not by much. Regina taking the opportunity to read through her emails.
"You know, you really should wear your glasses more," Emma beamed out, apparently, she hadn't busied herself with anything other than staring at Regina since moving away.
"What?" was all Regina could stutter out, eyes staying glued to the flashing screen as she pretended to be deep into some email that really hadn't been anything important.
"I wasn't lying when I said they make you look elegant," Regina blushed at that, but forced her hair to hide the reddening colour. "They just, give you something more. You know?" Emma sounded a little nervous now, her words being thrown clumsily into the air. She was shuffling beside her, moving out of the bed. Regina felt the shift in weight and heard the patter of feet move around the room. Only glancing a little to check what it was Emma had been doing.
"Miss Swan I have no idea what you're talking about," Regina mused, laughing a little but still being clever in the way she had her hair placed.
"To put it plainly," she started, still padding around the room. "They make you look hot," Emma laughed, but when Regina looked up with a surprised kind of glare Emma had already slammed the bathroom door shut. Disappearing from the conversation and leaving Regina to deal with the blush alone.
When the blonde reappeared Regina was already dressed, slipping easily into a black pencil skirt and satin button-up shirt. She couldn't have missed the desperate kind of longing that was bridging in Emma's eyes as she caught the stare.
But the blonde quickly scurried to her case, busying her hands with something else.
Regina smiled a little, going into the now empty bathroom to apply some makeup. Not much, but a small amount, she never did very much for cons – she hadn't felt the need. And this wasn't a particularly big con with lots of press, so she hadn't wanted to go all out.
"I made you coffee, it's on the side," Regina murmured. She hadn't specified that it was a thank you for last night as she felt too embarrassed to bring it up. But the soft smile Emma gave told her that the blonde knew exactly what it was for.
"SHIT!" Was all she heard after only moments of slipping from the room. She sighed before pacing out, opening the door to find Emma hunched over, her back to the bathroom and a coffee mug being held out at a safe kind of distance.
"Emma?" Regina asked, a little cautious as she approached the blonde who was breathing heavily.
"Yeah," she replied, breathless as she was seemingly dabbing at the clothes she'd quickly changed into.
"Emma, I can hardly help if you don't turn to face me," The brunette argued. A little agitated now. Slowly the blonde pivoted. And Regina couldn't stifle the gasped laugh, resting back on her foot to fully take in the mess. There was a clear browning stain smeared across the front of her once very white shirt, droplets of the liquid falling and sinking into the carpet below her. Regina watched them too, feeling a sudden urge to clear the mess, but she hadn't wanted to miss a single second of this delicious moment.
"Perhaps it's karma," Regina sang out, thinking back to when Emma had done the exact same to her.
"Yes ha, ha. Very funny," Emma sneered. She was acting annoyed, but Regina could see a smile hidden in her words.
"I was gone for all of five minutes," Regina mocked, pretending to act shocked at the casualty, "really Miss Swan, I can't leave you anywhere!" she added as she tutted to the mess. Looking round to see a small spillage on the floor from where Emma had once been standing. "You should hurry and change, we need to be leaving soon." Regina was on her way to turn and finish getting ready but saw the wobbly kind of frown that weaved through Emma's lips.
"Am I being stupid in thinking you've packed other clothes?" Regina asked, folding her arms over her chest as that usual sternness she usually used with Henry slowly started pouring into her words. Emma was quick to react, throwing the coffee mug down onto the table, to prevent further injury to her clothes.
"No, of course not," she mumbled, clearly hiding something.
"Then what's the issue?" Regina asked, eyes squinting as they searched to find the problem.
"I've spilt other things down those shirts too," she admitted, so small and innocent as she avoided Regina's prying glare. She sighed, not in the least bit surprised at the blonde's incompetence.
"Yesterday's shirt?"
"Pizza." Emma gulped. Regina sighed.
"Okay," Regina started disapprovingly, teasing almost. "The day before that?"
Emma sighed, looking down as she fiddled with the wet material that was slowly starting to stick rather possessively into her toned abdomen. Regina gulped down her desires.
"Pizza," she said even quieter now.
"Really, Emma?" Regina laughed, breathing out as she did so. Emma frowned. "You eat like a child."
"Well the second time it was pepperoni-" Emma tried to reconcile herself as she jumped forward, but it was pointless. Regina was holding out her hand as she begged the blonde to stop talking. Moving over to her own case to rummage through.
"What are you doing?" Emma finally mumbled, staying still where Regina had left her. Eyeing the coffee mug with an evil kind of glare.
"Well you can't very well go around a con with stained clothes, and I don't think anyone would very much appreciate you going around topless," Regina sighed, freeing a similarly shiny shirt from the bag. This one a darkened kind of turquoise blue, rival to the red she had on. "Not that I mind-" she started but stopped herself, catching Emma's eyes.
"I don't mind you borrowing one of these if you promise not to wipe your greasy hands all down it," she added quickly. It hadn't been at all what she was going to say, but Emma only smiled and nodded – so it appeared to be a good save.
She waltzed back over to the coffee stained Emma, the scent strong enough to smell even from a distance. Emma eyed the garment a small amount before she took the satin into her palms, running the material as if it were the finest of silks she had ever had the pleasure of lacing through her fingers.
Regina watched her actions, licking at her lips as she stood back a little.
Emma took the top between her teeth and Regina sighed, angrily. Wondering why on earth Emma thought that really necessary, how many times must the blonde idiot ruin her rather expensive garments-
But then Emma was yanking at her white tank. Pulling it from sticking to her torso and throwing it down on the floor. Revealing just her pearly skin, and lacy bra Regina had noticed days before. She blinked away her thoughts, gulping down the heat and trying hard to pry her glare from staring at the chiselled abs.
"Could you throw a towel please," Emma asked casually, wiping at the sticky liquid covering her and barely paying any notice to how Regina was gawping heavily at her chest. The brunette stumbled towards the wardrobe, taking the coarse material between her fingers. Sighing into the darkness of the cupboard, as she tried to regain some sort of calmness inside of her. But when she turned to find Emma still half naked, her breath latched in her throat once more.
She threw the towel to Emma, diverting her attention away as she snuck back into the bathroom to continue getting ready.
The two arrived with their separate shows and creators, barely seeing each other all day. Regina had been more than thankful to be separated from the blonde for longer than a couple of hours. She needed some time to recover from how close the two had become over this tiringly long weekend.
There was something so strange and unnatural forming between them, but something that also somehow managed to just feel so normal. She hadn't like it one bit, she hadn't liked the sudden vulnerabilities that were coming out to play, she hadn't liked how she'd woken up after falling asleep in Emma's arms and acted as though nothing had changed. She hadn't liked how comfortable the blonde was slowly becoming with each waking moment they spent together.
So, she was careful in the way she edged around the con, being precautious when entering a room, looking both ways before she dared to cross the floor and always, always, keeping an insult on her tongue – just in case Emma dared cross that pathway between enemies and friends. And that wall all but came crumbling down in a miserable defeat when she heard a familiar voice screeching her name, a flurry of red hair blocking her vision as she was encased in a thick hug. Fans hovering around them, some pretending to be discreet in their photo taking, and others holding the devices completley outright.
"These things are too big, and I keep losing you," the ginger whined, pulling from the hug but taking Regina's hand in her own in the parting. "How's your day going?" she asked a little quieter now as they made way to one of the back rooms. Waving and smiling and chatting with fans through their own conversation.
"The same as always," Regina mumbled through a half smile. Zelena turned to her friend, laughing before tugging an arm to link with her own.
"Our conversations are always so intriguing Regina. Tell me, how do you stay so interesting after all these years?" the ginger scoffed, teasingly pushing into the brunette in hopes it would lull out a laugh. It had, a small one at the most, but a smile was forming into the conversation.
"Shut up," she leered, nudging back at her friend. "My day's been…" she started and then stopped, thinking back to how her day had started. A shiver running through her spine and a trill of nervousness spinning cobwebs in her mind. "How did your autographs go?" she asked, changing the subject. Zelena eyed her curiously, but happily obliged to answering the question.
"They were good, one girl-" but her voice was shattering out into the distance. Regina hadn't been expecting to find Emma in the room. But she also hadn't been expecting her not to be. She didn't know what she'd been expecting, but there was that chill of anxiety icing her limbs, and soon her walking was slow, and her breathing was unsteady, and she hadn't felt the jabbing at her ribs from pale hands till Zelena was shouting her name. "What in the bloody hell is wrong with you?" but Zelena caught Regina's eyeline and found the source for her friend's sudden paleness. "Oh," and then she was smiling. And Regina hadn't liked the look of that smile one bit.
"Emma!" Zelena yelled, pulling the surprised blonde into a tight hug.
"Zelena," Emma called back, no where near as enthusiastically. Eyeing Regina who stood idly behind the both of them, but not daring to meet her eyes.
"It feels like so long since we last spoke," the ginger laughed, her hands gliding over the satin that was tight over Emma's muscles. Regina sighed. She knew this was all some sort of weird ploy to get the two of them talking together.
Emma smiled stiffly, standing now, and Regina saw her biceps flex under the feel of the pale hands – obviously wary of the situation. This was just as foreign to her as it was to anyone else in that room.
"Yeah, since the last con I think," Emma nodded, pretending to think back to when that'd been.
"I love this, where's it from?" Zelena was smiling a knowing kind of smile as she backed away, looking down to the top. Regina sighed again, this one a little more strained. Zelena knew exactly what she was doing, and god how she hated her ginger friend for being so stupidly perceptive.
"Oh, um," Emma stammered through a smile that was tightening. Her eyes flashing something nervous as they flickered to stare at Regina for what must be the first time since they'd parted at the hotel.
"You know Regina, it looks oddly familiar to the one you have on," the ginger laughed looking between the two of them. She winked back at the brunette, before going to stare at the blonde who was shaking with tension. "What a strange coincidence…"
Regina rolled her eyes, unforgiving in the way she took a step forwards and battered Zelena's hands from pawing at the material clinging to Emma.
"For god's sake Zelena it's my shirt," she whispered through an aggravated kind of whisper. Eyes darting round to look for prying ears. Zelena hadn't been affected by the shove, or the way Regina was staring down to her like she was ready to pounce in the worst way possible. She was smiling, a wide, red lipped smile.
"No!" she breathed out in that way that told the other two women she already knew. "Now, I wonder how that came about," she rolled her eyes between the two women, Regina with a scowl dripping through her question and Emma a mouse like kind of quiet with her lips down turned into the floor.
"Regina made me a coffee and I spilt it down my only clean shirt," Emma muttered, and Regina glared to her now, sharp in her actions. Her arms going to cross defensively over her chest. Emma didn't meet the glare, still staring at Zelena.
But now the ginger did look a little confused, lost in conversation. And that scared Regina a little more. She shuffled uncomfortably in the wait.
"You made her coffee and then…took it to her room?" Zelena asked, pointing between them now to try and suss out the answer she was looking for. Emma gulped down her words before she said something else she would regret. Regina flexing her hand to her forehead for it to rest on. She sighed into her chest. "Oh, don't tell me-"
"There was a mix up in the hotel and we had to share a room," Regina barked out, perhaps a little louder than she should have for people were looking up eagerly now. Zelena laughed loudly, clapping her hands silently in the air as she did so. But both Emma and Regina stayed silent, neither one daring to look in the others direction.
"Now that is just brilliant, I knew about the shirt thing…but this?" she was laughing out her words, loudly and Regina tried her best to shush the woman.
"How did you know about the shirt thing?" Regina's eyes squared into Zelena's, biting out her question. She knew Zelena hadn't seen Emma all day, and there was no way she could have clicked in the five seconds they'd spent in the room before this conversation had sprung.
"Oh, that's been all the rave with fans this convention," she was whittling out the rest of her giggles, running a finger under her eyes to get rid of the tears sprouting from the laughter.
"It's What," both women said in complete unison, eyeing each other awkwardly after speaking.
Edging just a bit further away from one another.
"Oh god, you two are really quite disgusting," Zelena sighed. Growing tired of the ignorance portrayed by the two stood in front of her. But then Emma was distracted by a flash of her phone. Her cheeks paling quickly, before she flashed a fake smile to the conversation – dispersing from the circle and into a further secluded part of the room. Regina watched after her with a pained kind of expression, coming back to stare evilly to Zelena.
"What the hell was that?" her arm flew from her chest and out into the general direction Emma had just ran into.
"Quite frankly I'm tired of you two making eyes at each other and doing nothing about it," she scoffed, prancing over to the table of food left out for the guests. Leaving Regina to stand on her own. She wanted to argue some more, to prove just how much she didn't care about the blonde. And they certainly did not make eyes at each other. But she felt too ashamed to go padding after her ginger friend like a lost puppy, like an idiot that didn't know any better.
Instead she turned to her phone, sighing into another message from Mary-Margaret that really had no purpose or meaning but had been sent anyway.
When she looked back up it was to an Emma who was desperately hiding her face with a mound of blonde hair. An Emma who was racing almost too quickly out the room that was slowly buzzing with more and more people. and Regina couldn't seem to take her eyes off of this Emma. She hadn't even minded that Zelena saw the glances and the looks and she hadn't cared that she was smiling like a smug idiot to Regina who stood so still now.
Emma was marching towards the exit, exactly where Regina had been stood. And she caught her briefly. A million reasons why she shouldn't have said anything was gluing in her mind, but still she called out her name. And when the blonde stopped but hadn't looked up, she got a little nervous.
"Emma are you okay?" she asked after seeing the blonde was listening. She heard a small sniffle that was being masked by a hand. Emma shook her head yes, peering quickly through the blonde locks so Regina could see she was fine. But there were unmistakeably dark lines of mascara trimming her cheeks. Regina could see it as clear as day.
"Yeah, bathroom break before autographs!" she laughed through stifled sniffles. Peeling from the conversation too quickly for it to be normal. Regina got fidgety on her feet, pacing small lines around the door. Taking a few small moments to think before notifying one of the stewards that she needed to go to the washroom. She huffed when she realised how weak she'd been, giving in too quickly to find Emma again.
She saw a blonde mass of hair disappear into a crowd of people, turning into one of the rooms and disappearing for a while. Regina followed, pausing before pushing the door open.
Emma wasn't in the centre of the room, Regina wouldn't have even known she was there where it not for the sniffling and the noise from the toilet roll holder rattling as tissue was ripped from it.
Regina cleared her throat, going to lean against the bathroom side. Emma emerged, jumping at the sight of the brunette.
"Are you going to tell me what's wrong yet?" she asked having a strange feeling Emma would just run and wonder off again. But she didn't, and she was a little surprised that instead Emma was pacing over to join her side. She heard her take a breath in.
"There's not a lot to say," she spoke through a pained kind of laugh.
"Yes. It looks that way," Regina mocked, turning slightly to face the blonde who was staring into the mirror. "But this seems to be recurring. So, it's about time we talk."
"What does?"
"This. Meeting here. One of us crying," Regina smiled, gesturing around the room. "Bit of a coincidence some would say."
"Well you followed me this time around, so I would hardly call it a coincidence," Emma choked out, turning to eye Regina with a playful kind of smirk.
"Stop changing the subject," Regina lilted. Edging a little closer to the blonde. Emma sighed at the movement but didn't flinch away as she had done before. She didn't reply for a while, she didn't do anything for a whole minute until suddenly she was breathing out every emotion she could. Breaking down over the sink, a sob erupting and sounding painful as it echoed through the room. Regina hopped from one foot to the other, so completley out of her comfort zone.
But then she thought back to the early hours of this morning, she thought back to how gentle Emma had been with her. And how willing she'd been to comfort her, and that thought was what lulled her to step forwards. A hand brushing up to rest on the blonde's curls, sweeping down the tangled mess so that she was patting at the satin encased back.
"It's okay," she hushed into the room that was slowly starting to fill with sobs and cries and so much hurt until Regina felt so intoxicated with the familiar feeling. She rubbed at Emma's back. The hand she had on the bathroom side to keep her up was soon met with Emma's, tightening her grip on the pale hand until she felt Emma's fingers intertwine with her own.
"It's so stupid," Emma finally laughed out after what felt like hours of crying, Regina was thankful the blonde was breathing normally once more.
"Try me."
Emma looked up, hopeful.
She took in a breath eyes searching Regina before they pried themselves to stare in the mirror, "Killian saw something on twitter about the shirt, and he got…I don't know he got upset," Emma whispered, taking her eyes away from Regina to look down to where their hands were still laced together. Regina looked down to said shirt, eyes peeling over the material and feeling a small amount of guilt trickle down through her limbs. She retracted the hand that lay on her back, bunching it up into a fist that was only gently resting on her now.
"He got upset?" she asked, genuine curiosity taking over. Emma hesitated before she nodded. "Well did you explain why you had the shirt?" she pressed. And Emma looked up.
"Obviously," she started. "But he had other explanations," she offered glumly, giving Regina a look that was so accusing. The brunette picked up on the 'other explanations' straight away. Pulling further from the blonde, but still with her hand holding Emma's. "He knew we were sharing a room before all this."
"Oh," Was all Regina could produce.
"Yeah," Emma bowed her head as a blush started to tint her cheeks. "There was some shit on twitter about us. You know with the red-carpet pictures as well," Emma sighed, fingers peeling into the wood of the sinks counter. Regina's eyes fluttered shut. She knew he would have had a fit about it all, and now she felt insanely guilty and she didn't even know why.
"What did he say Emma," she was sure she already had an answer, but she was asking anyway. Emma's eyes were filling with liquid again and she had to contain her emotions before she had another breakdown.
"He said I should probably stop coming to these things alone if all I'm gonna do is fuck around," she chocked out. Regina opened her mouth to reply but Emma continued. "And that he knew he couldn't trust me, and how his friends were right and all this stupid shit that didn't even make sense," she started to sound a little angrier now. But the way she was picking at her the skin around her fingernails told Regina that she was angrier with herself than Killian.
"And then he said some stuff about you," her voice was tiny now. And it was like she hadn't been sure whether she should say anything. Regina didn't reply and at that Emma looked up with sad eyes. Regina didn't ask what he had said because she knew nothing good would come from it, so she ushered for the blonde to continue. "He doesn't trust me to come these things alone basically," Emma turned again, facing the mirror to stare at the swollen mess her face had become. Regina let out a huff of air.
"To a convention?" she asked, truly in disbelief. "He doesn't think you should be attending a convention, a convention to meet fans without him?" Regina asked getting a little louder and angrier now. Emma hadn't moved from where she was, barely paying attention to Regina. The brunette opened her mouth to reply but Emma jumped into the conversation.
"It's done now. I'm fine," Emma smiled. Regina rolled her eyes, forgetting for a moment what Emma had just accused as she left to stand close to her once more.
"Why do you stay with Killian?" she asked, she knew she was prying but there was something in her that couldn't help but ask something more. Emma only shrugged.
"It's easy."
Regina nodded, knowing she needed to stop with the questions now before the two got any closer in sharing every inch of their lives. They stood in a near silence, Regina comforting Emma still, her hands drawing circles on the satin of the shared shirt.
"Oh shit," Emma gasped, looking down to her phone. "Autographs," she laughed, holding her phone to show Regina the time. The movement separated the two and now they stood silent again.
"I'll come with you if you'd like," Regina murmured, so unsure on why she'd offered so easily.
"Regina you don't have to do that, we're not friends remember?" the blonde laughed, teasing Regina a little even though a sweep of sadness was creasing in her eyes with the staining tears. Emma started to walk out, Regina sighed. Hand pressed firmly into the bathroom sink.
"We can be," she whispered so softly it was barely loud enough to hear, but she noticed how Emma had stopped shuffling towards the exit. Regina turned to find Emma completely still, like a statue. "Well not friends per say, but I suppose with everything that's happened this weekend we may as well stop hating one another," she wasn't smiling, she was frowning for some reason.
"Regina, I never ha-"
"You never hated me, I know," Regina stopped her talking with her hand, her frown slowly slipping into a small smile. Emma started moving again, stepping lightly towards the brunette.
"Do you not have anywhere else to be?"
"Do you think I would have offered if I had?" she sniped through her usual bout of coldness, sighing after speaking as her eyes fluttered shut. "I'll get used to being nicer," she gulped. Emma laughed, taking Regina's hand in her own.
"Thank you," the blonde whispered, the words gently caressing the brunette's soul. And she felt a genuine smile paint her lips.
Regina spent majority of her afternoon standing just behind the curtain of Emma's autograph booth, keeping herself occupied with her phone. Catching tweets of pictures with Emma in her shirt and beside that, ones of her in the same shirt only weeks before. She sighed again, a few of the captions being a little more presumptuous and far cruder than the reality of the situation. This definitely would have been the fuel to Kilian's anger. She knew fandoms and she knew fans, fans talk. That's all this was, fandom gossip and nothing more. But she hadn't liked how Emma had been so painfully sobbing not long before now, and she couldn't help but let that anger spike through her mind.
She couldn't figure out what was worse, the fact that such tweets were live in the world, or the fact she couldn't stop herself from scrolling, even when she felt a blush creasing her cheeks as she read through some of the posts.
Emma had come out almost halfway through meeting fans, popping her head through the curtain before fully entering the field. She smiled to Regina, looking somewhat happier than she had only a moments before. But she still had a flood of an unfamiliar sadness riding her smile, creeping in the corners of her eyes and hanging loose in the way she held her limbs. But Regina didn't pick on it, she felt she'd already researched far enough for now.
Their meeting had only been short, Emma gulping down half a bottle of water and thanking Regina once again for coming with her. To which Regina had looked away, still feeling so strange in what the two had thrown themselves into. It had happened all too quickly, one moment not being able to stand one another and the next they were sharing a bed. And well, the bed thing hadn't really been their fault. But it could have very easily been prevented. And having known that made Regina even madder at herself for being so stupidly weak. And that tied with the unfamiliar feelings swelling in her stomach just made her so, so confused.
It was when she was deep in thought, and deep into staring at Emma's eyes that her phone vibrated. Seeing it was Mary-Margaret – a thread of messages flooding her phone forced a sigh to string through the air.
She'd pardoned herself from her and Emma's barely conversational, conversation to read through what was so urgent.
And then she felt her cheeks heat up and ice over all at once, her stomach churning with something so unbearably sickly she felt about ready to pass out.
Regina, you're mothers here. She said she's going to stick around until you get home.
Regina gulped back her anxiety, looking further into the thread.
She dismissed me for the time being, and I protested, I promise I did. But she seemed fairly stern in wanting me to leave, I'm sorry.
The brunette huffed, locking her phone without bothering to reply. She didn't really have much of a reason to be so angry with the nanny, but she was seeing red. Emma was eyeing her curiously.
"Everything okay?" she asked, peering down to the phone Regina held with a grip so tight her fingers paled into a ghostly white.
"Why are you assuming it wouldn't it be?"
Emma didn't look surprised at the sudden snappiness in her tone, gulping down the last of her water.
Regina sighed, remembering her earlier promise of being nicer.
"My nannies insufferable," was what she offered after seeing Emma drowning in tension. Deep down she knew it wasn't Mary-Margaret's fault that her mother had arrived completley unannounced, but it seemed a whole lot easier to be angry at her than it was to go back kicking and screaming to an awaiting Cora.
"Is Henry okay?" Emma asked, edging closer now she didn't feel as threatened. Regina hesitated before replying, because yes. Technically he was perfectly fine, but she also couldn't comprehend anyone being okay under Cora's care.
"Yes," was all she could mutter, looking down to her phone once more.
"Do you need to leave?" the blonde sounded a little hesitant in her approach, a little disheartened as she asked the question – almost as if she hadn't wanted the answer to be anything other than no. Regina was confused for a second but ignored it – thinking it best to not dig deep into Emma's clearly unconscious actions.
"No, there'd be no point."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Regina smiled a little.
"No, I'm fine," she paused, taking her fingers to push back the dark strands of hair that was falling to her face. "Are you still up for having dinner tonight again?" she asked, and Emma seemed to jump at the question. Nodding a hopeful kind of nod before she slipped back out to crowds cheering her name. Regina knew it wasn't a good idea with this whole Killian problem leering every corner, but she couldn't help herself. As much as she hated to admit it, she was slowly starting to enjoy Emma's company more and more.