Chapter four
The moment that Regina killed her engine in the driveway of her mansion, she touched the puncture marks.
She certainly did not care that even Snow could have figured out what happened, but would Emma be okay with that?
She'd already dropped something world changing on her parents this week.
Ultimately she decided that the only way forward was to talk about it, so she left the car and approached her home.
She went straight to the kitchen to deposit the bag onto the counter but halted upon being faced with evidence that the saviour had obviously ventured out of her room.
On the counter stood a vase holding beautifully arranged flowers.
Without super-hearing, she hadn't noticed movement from the room the moment that the front door had closed until Emma asked apprehensively, "Do you like them?"
Regina jumped as she turned to the other woman, but she smiled brightly and asked, "What are they?
"Calla lillies, carnations and purple irises," Emma replied, now looking somewhat unsure of the gesture, "They represent refined beauty, wisdom, love, pride and admiration and…I don't know…I just figured that no one brought you flowers before, but you deserve them all the time, you know?"
Regina finally put their breakfast down so that she could hold out her hand to quieten the vampire before invading her space to give her a chaste kiss and she then took her hand to pull her towards the counter.
"Thank you, I love them," she said.
Regina blushed as the other woman pulled out a stool for her but didn't say anything and just handed over her 'special' breakfast order.
Regina busied herself with unpacking her own meal of arugula and pistachio pesto quiche and when she finally looked up, Emma seemed to be hesitating.
"Drink up, sheriff," she said, making a point of placing a bite into her mouth.
This prompted Emma to hungrily gulp over half the cup in five seconds. She placed it to the countertop and accepted the napkin from Regina to wipe her mouth before she said, "I guess we're meant to be talking? But you did just kiss me so I think I already know how this is going to go…"
"Have you always been this…adorably ramble-y?"
Emma brightened and repeated, "Adorably?"
Regina pointed her fork and replied, "Don't make me reconsider all of this, Swan."
Emma laughed, visibly relaxing as she said, "We should talk about…things, though?"
"As for the subject of your vampirism, I would not want to rob Henry of the chance to ask his questions. For you and I…there is no question that we are attracted to each other. I see no reason that we should not…"
"You're making this sound like some business deal, Regina," Emma pointed out.
Regina rolled her eyes, "I am trying to say that we can be together."
"As in girlfriends?" the sheriff asked hopefully perking up, but when Regina didn't respond straight away, she corrected, "I mean, it's probably too soon for that, right? We should at least go on a date first."
"A date?" the mayor asked, grateful to get a word in.
Anxiously, Emma toyed with the cup and replied, "I just figure that we should who on a date if we're serious about this. Henry already saw us together so we can't do a no strings attached kind of thing, plus that isn't what I want…"
The saviour stopped talking as a finger touched her lips and Regina commanded, "Emma, please just ask me on a date."
Emma cleared her throat and asked, "Do you want to go out with me on Friday?"
Regina returned to her breakfast and said, "You can pick me up at seven."
Emma grinned broadly, but a ring from her pocket had her pull out a phone to stare at contemptuously.
"Pongo ran away again."
Regina spun around, "Are you supposed to be at work, Emma?"
"I…have an important meeting with my boss?" Emma tried.
She pouted, which was remedied by a kiss.
"Can you meet me at school to pick up Henry up? I am sure he would not be willing to wait much longer."
Emma nodded, "Yeah sure, I'll see you later.."
Stealing a kiss because she could, Emma retreated with her cup of blood in hand.
Regina blew out a contended breath as she watched her go.
S
"How did telling Regina that you're a vampire translate to sleeping with your best friend?!" Ruby whispered urgently.
Emma rolled her eyes and said with bear claw still in her mouth, "I thought you're my you're my best friend?"
"Good answer, Swan," Ruby replied, but leaned in conspiratorially, "But that isn't what's important here."
Emma sighed and abandoned her post-bongo snack and asked, "How do you even know what happened?"
"The two little holes in her neck?" the waitress suggested.
The sheriff cringed and asked, "You saw those?"
"I wasn't the only one who did," Ruby replied, looking at the counter as if considering the traumatising news.
Emma watched her expectantly until she cleared her throat and the other woman looked up at her.
"Snow may have been here when Regina was collecting your breakfast. I'm pretty sure that even she could figure out what it meant," Ruby explained.
Emma closed her eyes and deflated downwards, laying her head to the counter, "Why did she have to find out so soon?"
"You wanted to keep it a secret?"
The saviour shook her head and replied, "I wanted to at least have a date first. I don't think they want to hear 'I slept with the woman who spent years trying to kill you'."
"You could just lie?"
Emma groaned and lifted her head, "I'm not ashamed of being with Regina, it could be the best thing that ever happened to me. I just don't think they will take this well after what they just found out. It's too much in a short space of time, you know?"
"They're not going to disown you, Emma," Ruby said sympathetically, "They love you too much to even consider it. Just give them some time to process everything."
"So you're suggesting that we ignore this for a while?" Emma asked hopefully.
"Well you do have your own issues right now, you need to figure out what you are going to tell Henry."
Emma picked up the bear claw, staring at it longingly as she replied, "I don't know how much he needs to know. It's not all awesome, you know?"
Ruby nodded and Emma really felt like she was one of the few people who understood what she meant.
"You need to tell him as much as he needs to really understand you," Ruby replied, cryptically.
"And how do I figure that out?"
"No idea," Ruby admitted.
Emma was about to drop her head again but noticed some waving at the counter vigorously.
"Is your break over, Rubes?"
"Maybe," the waitress said, violently picking up her notepad.
"Go before Granny tries to fire you again." Emma said.
Ruby pointed the notepad at the saviour and replied, "You better tell me how it goes."
"I will," Emma promised and her friend at last went off to see her customer.
S
As consciousness breached through oblivion, Emma's eyebrows knit together and the first thing that she registered was intense pain.
The fire in every muscle of her body was blistering fire that was ceaseless and unbearable.
She attempted to open her eyes, but it felt as though someone had cemented them shut.
Finally, she ripped them open but hissed as they were invaded by light filtering in through a window.
She snapped her eyes closed and took deep breaths but soon found that the extra oxygen was doing nothing.
Experimentally, she held her mouth shut, but felt none of the adverse affects that came with it, not that it did anything for her pain.
"Emma?" came in a whisper but she winced violently as if it had been a scream.
"What…" she began, only to wince again as her sandy throat was gripped by yet more pain.
"Em," Talia whispered reverently, "it worked."
With great effort, Emma lifted a leaden arm to hold over he eyes and provide enough shade to open the,
This treated her to the view of the very much concerned expression of her roommate. She tried to push into a sitting position but instead let out an intense scream in response to a shot of pain through her abdomen.
She took a few pointless breaths as if it would make any difference and her eyes became heavy as she tried to focus on Talia.
"W-what the h-hell did you do to me?" she croaked.
Talia looked down in shame and said, "I'm really sorry, I had to do it."
Emma swallowed and her fingers instinctively came up to her neck that seemed to be the source of all of her pain, she hissed in a whistle upon feeling deep punctures.
"How c-could you?" Emma said blearily, the oblivion returning to the edges of her vision.
"I couldn't let you die," Talia replied with a tired sigh, "So you better survive the next forty-eight hours."
Emma's eyes drooped, waves of nausea crashing over her so intensely that she became sure that this had to be a vivid hallucination bought on by a high grade fever.
Her head lolled and she asked sleepily, "What happens after forty-eight hours?"
"You become a vampire."
Emma clasped her hands as she reached the end of her story.
She wanted to downplay the horror she felt on that day, but Ruby was right, they deserved to know the truth, the real her.
Now that she was faced with her son's expression, she only felt regret.
Had she destroyed his notion of vampiric awesomeness?
Regina looked similarly distressed which made it difficult to consider that its as because these people really cared about her.
"Do you have any questions?" she asked, shifting uncomfortably on her seat on the coffee table.
Her voice seemed to break Henry out of his trance and he jumped up from the couch and threw his arms around his birth mother, hugging her closely.
"That sounds…awful," he mumbled against her shoulder.
Emma smiled sadly and patted him softly on the back, "It got better, kid."
He pulled back and asked, "Do you like being a vampire?"
Years of hardships and negatives sprung to mind effortlessly and Emma had to wet her lips. Her goal wasn't to upset her son and it wasn't like there was anything he could do to change her state of being.
"Well, I can be very…persuasive and I have super speed."
Henry sniffled and said, "Cool."
Emma pulled him back into a hug and then inspected the other occupant of the room, "Regina?"
The mayor smiled reassuringly and said, "I believe that if either of us think of anything else, we can ask you another time?"
"Of course," Emma replied without requiring any thought.
Feeling lighter, Emma pushed Henry back, "Do you want to watch a movie?" the boy nodded early and she added, "Why don't you grab your laptop and we'll make some popcorn?"
Henry hugged her again before he ran off to do as told.
Regina stood and asked, "You assume that I have popcorn?"
Emma smirked and invaded her space as she replied, "You did for every other movie night.."
"Speaking of which, you have invited yourself to stay?"
"I had a feeling that you wouldn't object, madam mayor," Emma said, her hand trailing down her hip.
Now inches apart, Regina replied, "You have an excellent point, Miss Swan."
"Don't worry, I'll go back to Ruby's once the movie is done," Emma said, causing Regina to furrow her brow, "I think we should have an actual date before our next sleepover, you know?"
"I suppose," the mayor said disappointedly.
Emma chuckled and leaned in for a quick peck.
Once they parted, Emma asked, "Are you sure that everything I said was okay?"
"I know it was difficult to discuss, Emma, but there is nothing that could change my opinion of you."
"So nothing could make you cancel our date?" the saviour ventured anxiously.
"And lose my chance to have another sleepover?"
Emma was about to go for a longer kiss to impart how much that meant to her, but her super senses caught feet hitting the stairs so she stepped backwards, much to Regina's intense annoyance.
A moment later, Henry appeared in the doorway.
"Have you already made the popcorn?"
"We're doing that right now, set up the movie, kid," the sheriff replied.
Henry did as instructed, not watching them retreat.
With the abrupt shift in their relationship, he saw no reason to ask and run the risk of being grossed out, Emma supposed.