AN: Just felt like I needed a chapter of some fluff between our two leading ladies. Enjoy!
Emma found herself a short time later in the airport waiting in line, once again. Her boarding pass to Houston in hand, her suitcase rolling along behind her, and security up ahead. This was the part she hated most about flying, all the lines, ridiculous wait times, and showing up ungodly early to sit around for no reason. Really, she didn't even find a point to all of it, with all the news stories about how much was caught versus missed. Emma started to feel her anger growing as the line once again came to a stop.
She began muttering profanities under her breath when she heard the flight attendant announce her flight would begin boarding shortly, she'd barely moved forward in what seemed like ages, and once again Emma was feeling the pressure of making it on time. She was cursing her luck, that very same luck that seemed to make her late, no matter how early she left. It could only be hoped at this point that the line started moving and she made it before the flight actually took off.
Luck seemed to be a funny thing in Emma's life. Coincidences had always plagued her, such as finding Will on her very first day, it was a common occurrence to her, bumping into people in places they really shouldn't be, at least in her opinion. The majority of her friends had been people she'd run across time and again in her work. Job changes, moves, nothing could stop these people from showing up. And speak of the devil, Emma had looked to her left, and there, in line just ahead of her, was a certain brunette, sans son. Emma wondered where he had managed to disappear off to. But she didn't have to question long as the line started moving again, and she lost view of the brunette in the crowd.
Emma exhaled a sigh of relief as she found herself stepping onto the plane, the pressurized cabin making her ears pop, the distinct smell of the airplane filled her nostrils as she padded her way down the aisle. It was only a short distance to her seat, an overstuffed looking leather recliner of sorts. Well, it was as much of a recliner as an airline can provide in their cramped spaces. The blonde lifted her suitcase over her head into what little storage existed above them, a soft grunt escaped her lips. She slammed the compartment door down, and looked around sheepishly, a slight blush had covered her cheeks, she hadn't meant to actually slam it shut, but the door had closed easier than she had expected it to. Sinking into her seat, Emma started pressing all the buttons that existed on the arm rest, curious as to what they all did and most definitely not because flying made her act like a kid in a candy shop, trying to cover her nerves. She told herself she was acting like any reasonable adult who had never flown first class before would, it is necessary to know what the buttons do or not to avoid any awkward surprises later.
When someone plopped down in the seat next to Emma, she hazarded a glance over at the new arrival and found herself doing a double take. The brunette from the hotel had happened to land in the seat next to her. Emma smiled and asked "You aren't stalking me are you?" A raised eyebrow accompanied her question, and when the brunette looked at her questioningly she realized maybe she had asked a little too flirtatiously for never having had any real conversation before.
She tried to backpedal, but that made the situation all the more awkward before stopping her sputtering of sounds with an introduction. "Emma, from the hotel, I was talking to Henry this morning." She offered her hand to the brunette who glanced downward at it as though it might bite. She daintily held out her hand, lightly gripping it with just a couple fingertips, a cautious "Regina" followed.
"Okay, maybe I shouldn't have started with a joke. Just I seem to keep finding you."
"Yes, I've noticed, maybe I should be the one accusing you of stalking as you arrived at the hotel after me."
"Right, bad start. Sorry about that, I didn't mean anything by it. Funny coincidence though isn't it?" She was dying to ask where Henry was as she hadn't seen him again, but at this point she thought better of that. The brunette seemed to think Emma didn't belong here.
"Yes. Hilarious." The brunette pulled one of the SkyMall catalogs out of the seat pocket, flipping through the pages absently, hoping the blonde would figure out that this conversation was over.
Emma amazingly got the hint that the conversation was not just off to a rocky start but completely over. She pulled her phone out, and did what she did best, scrolled through Facebook until the announcement came over the intercom that the seat cushion could be used as a flotation device and to turn off electronics and put the seatback upright and store the tray table. She chuckled at the demonstration of the oxygen masks and explanation of how the seatbelt worked. She found it funny that people out there could not work a seatbelt, especially ones as simple as these and actually required a demonstration. It wasn't as though she flew a lot, hardly ever in fact, but she had still managed to operate a seatbelt successfully.
The plane finally took off, her 5 hour flight was going to be a long one if she was stuck next to the moody brunette, silently telling her off, no matter how good she looked, it did nothing for her personality.
Emma debated for a while if she should try starting up a conversation again, or just leave it. It was kinda fun to get under Regina's skin, but she didn't want to make this flight complete hell. Well, when all else fails she figured she might as well try and sleep.
And that was how she found herself in this current predicament. It was quite comfortable if she was to be completely honest. She'd woken up after being jostled by a bit of turbulence, but didn't wish to move from her position, where she guessed she was using the shoulder of the attractive woman next to her as a makeshift pillow. She was however, completely surprised that the brunette had not shoved her off and was allowing this stranger to use her in such a way.
What she did not realize, was this was not exactly by the choice of the brunette who had also managed to fall asleep, and was a much heavier sleeper. Emma tried not to jump when she felt the brunette shift below her, making their situation all the more awkward. Regina had somehow managed to turn sideways, which was an impressive feat in and of itself, and that left Emma to realize that she was now using the woman's chest as her pillow. As if that wasn't enough, in her position change, Regina had decided to hold Emma there. Her face had visibly redden and if Regina was awake she would have discovered Emma was also now awake, but that was not the case as Regina had wrapped one arm around Emma, placing her hand on the blonde's cheek.
Emma was silently cursing herself for ending up in this position. There was no way she could get out of it without waking the other woman and that was bound to lead to another unpleasant conversation. Why had she decided that sleep would be a good thing? Could the flight end? It couldn't come soon enough. And more importantly, why did she have to find this position so comfortable? Why did she have to actually enjoy being this close to the infuriating woman?
Emma found herself a short while later, waking up, once again, this time as the plane was descending. She hadn't even realized she'd fallen asleep again. But now, since the flight was almost over, she found herself not caring if she woke up the other sleeping woman as she tried to extract herself from the situation. Regina stirred beneath her as Emma tried to slip out of her grip. She had at least wanted a bit more distance between them before Regina started to wake. She mentally cursed herself once again and braced for whatever may come. Slowly the brunette's eyes fluttered open, and immediately widened upon taking in the blonde who was suspiciously close to her. She sat up straight and pushed the blonde away, turning bright red and refusing to meet her gaze, which was perfectly fine with Emma as she did the same. Not one word was spoken between them for the rest of the flight and all the way until they disembarked the plane.
That is, until Emma thinking she'd never see the brunette again just had to get one last verbal jab in. "I would've never imagined you to be a snuggler." She ended that statement with a wink and turned to walk away.