"Emma" A very tired brunette said as she tried to cover up from the cold air by criss-crossing her arms across her chest. Looking out of her front door, she saw a very eager blonde. She asked, "What are you doing here?" She knew all too well that it was only matter of time before Emma cracked. Whether it was a matter of hours or days, she wasn't sure, until now.
Trying to remain calm and seem sober, Emma said, "What ami doin' here, whater...what are you doin' here?" Her questions ran together and made sense in her head.
Taken aback and confused by Emma's questions and words running together, Regina asked, "What?" Her face scrunched together as she realized the blonde was drunk.
In all fairness, she was in her home, asleep, minding her own business. The better question, what was Emma doing there, but she wasn't going to push her luck. Besides, what she wanted to happen, was for Emma to come to her when she was ready and that's exactly what was happening.
"Where's Emm-a-lee" She enunciated slowly. Her mind was racing a mile a minute, but her mouth was moving much slower when it came to talking. For once, maybe this wasn't a bad thing for her.
"She's not here." Regina said matter a factly. "Why don't you come in and see for yourself, it's freezing outside anyways."
Emma stood there for a few moments. She stared at the other woman, who only stood in a silver slip that had spaghetti straps. Her skin was covered with goose bumps and her arms were desperately trying to maintain her modesty.
"I'm too afraid." She said clear as day.
"What do you mean?" Regina could feel Emma starting to open up. She knew that she had a lot of reasons why she didn't want to explore a relationship between them, but she knew there had to be more to it.
The blonde took a deep breath and let it out. Regina watched as she could see her breathing clouds of warm air out into the cold night. Emma was fighting to control her emotions as she searched for her words. Still drunk, she carefully said, "I'm afraid I'll love you and that you'll leave me or worse something happens and we're caught." Emma used a complete lack of internal punctuation, slurring together her thoughts.
Continuing to speak, she tried harder to control her speech, "I'm afraid of what those con-saa-qiun-ces may be. I've been through hell my entire life. I've never been able to love someone ba-foure. That feeling is something I'm not used to…. I'm not used to being vulnerable, Regina. I'm just afraid." The blonde shrugged. Never has Emma ever been so casual before. This time was different, she had some liquid courage.
The words hit Regina like a brick wall, causing her breath to catch in the back of her throat. To see Emma acknowledge there could be something between them and that she's primarily just scared, was a huge step forward. She'd waited for over a month, somewhat patiently for this moment, and now it was happening. A very eager, slightly intoxicated, blonde stood in front of her awaiting a response.
Trying not to leave her hanging, she moved forward and wrapped strong, reassuring, arms around those of the younger woman. Hugging her close, Emma melted into her and rested her head on Regina's shoulder. The pair stood in the warm embrace, no longer feeling the cold winter wind nipping at their skin.
To Emma, it felt like forever, but it was only seconds before Regina whispered into her ear, "Will you please come in?"
Still with her head leaning on Regina's shoulder, she responded, "If I come in, there can't be any funniee business." Her speech still slightly off.
Regina laughed. Emma really didn't realize how clearly obvious it was that she was still drunk. There was no way in hell that she would even consider having sex with her in this state, given what she knows now.
"I promise, no funny business." The brunette grabbed Emma's hand and led her into her home.
When Emma walked in, she recalled her first night she was here.
Images passed through her mind and she fixated on one particular memory where Regina pressed her up against the glass windows. It was the sexist moment of her life, not that she had many. The woman nearly had her undone before she left a trail of clothing across her home for her to follow.
"Can I get you a glass of water?" Jolted from her thoughts, Emma said, "Uh.. Actually, I think cough-ffee will be better."
"Trying to sober up, dear?" Regina deadpanned.
"Yeah, something like that." She half smiled. It was true. She really needed to sober up some more. Ruby did her best by feeding her glass after glass of water at the bar, but bar nuts and a good cold glass of H20 can only do so much.
Regina walked over to her kitchen that was open to her living room. She watched as Emma settled herself down in her couch. "How do you like your coffee? Cream and sugar?"
"Yeah, I basically like it white and so sweet my teeth ache."
Regina laughed, "That's disgusting, your teeth are going to rot out of your head."
"So'I've been told many times." She slurred as her head rested on the couch cushions.
Changing topics, Regina stated, "I need to talk to Ruby about how much she gave you to drink."
"Yeah, I think I over did it by a lot." Her eyes practically bulged out of her head for emphasis.
"You think." Regina smirked as she sat down beside the blonde, handing her a cup of fresh coffee. "So can we talk about things that have happened recently, you know to clear the air?"
Emma knew that the other woman probably had a ton of questions about Graham. She too was curious about this Emily.
"You go first, Regina." Emma let the other woman steer the conversation considering she was still feeling a buzz in her head.
"I've noticed you've become close with Graham. Flirting in class-"
Emma knew she had to instantly kill that thought, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, before you finish that, we haven't flirted." She loathed how everyone thought they were a couple. They were just friends and that was never going to change.
Regina's right eyebrow rose at the sudden shift in the blondes demeanor. "So then what was whole charade in my class? Why did you draw his face on your test? It was quite repulsive if I might add."
Emma cupped her cup of coffee between her two palms and looked down at the white liquid that was warming her hands. She sighed and started to say, "Well-"
"You used him?" Regina curtly asked before giving Emma a chance to respond.
"No. I didn't." She said mildly defensively. "I didn't use him. He's a great study partner and we work well together. He does his share of the work, as do I, and I like hanging out with him." She defended as sober as possible.
"After you read off his phone number in class, I felt like you thought it was for-a date. It was for our school werkk he gave me his number so I could text him when I was ready to work on our assignments." Her sentences ran together as she rushed to defend herself.
She paused realizing how she sounded.
In her mind, everything made logical sense. Except when anything came out of her mouth it was slurred, or run together.
Gulping down the milky white coffee, she tried to focus her mind. This was not the time to be still buzzed.
Regina watched as the blonde was visibly frustrated with her own state. She knew she really did need to make a point of talking to Ruby about never allowing this to happen again.
Feeling composed, she admitted to Regina, "You acted very, I don't know, jealous afterwards." She continued slowly, "I guess I kind of fed into that. It was nice to see that you still cared. I thought I had long scared you off. Besides, Graham only sees me as a friend."
"So you were trying to make me jealous?" Regina confirmed.
Emma nodded. She was guilty and couldn't even deny it.
It wasn't like Emma was the only one guilty of making the other jealous.
"Well, you'll be happy to know that Emily wasn't a real date. I paid her to be a look alike and to be as annoying as she was to make you jealous. It was my form of payback for earlier in the week. Apparently it worked." Regina laughed.
"Are you serious? She's not a real person," Emma surprisingly asked.
"Well she's a real person, but her name is Janet and she's actually a brunette. She was a friend from college. She couldn't get over what I was asking of her, so she forced me to buy her drinks and pay her a fee per hour."
"Wow. We're something else. I can't believe we both did that and that you actually paid someone."
"What can I say, I sometimes get a little possessive." Regina shrugged.
"No shit, I couldn't tell by how you called me sweetheart earlier."
"Speaking of which, I really did see you flinch. Are you okay?" Regina wanted to confirm. Asking her in front of the class the way she did was out of line. She was embarrassed. The shock of seeing Emma fall scared her.
"I'm really fine. It hurt, but it was nothing I couldn't handle. I really can't go to the school nurse. He'll call my foster mother and I'll get into trouble."
"Right. I remember you mentioned that she's not involved."
Emma hated bringing up her foster mother. It was a mood killer and all she wanted in that moment was to focus on one person, "Regina?"
"Yes?"
The two moved closer to one another on the couch as if a magnetic force was pulling them closer.
"What are we going to do?" Emma vulnerably asked.
The brunette turned her head and licked her lips as she thought out a plan.
"Well, we could do the admirable thing and not act on our feelings, which seems like an impossible plan."
"I think we already messed that up before day one even happened."
"We didn't know." Regina comforted the blonde by placing a firm hand on her leg. She comfortingly rubbed smooth circles before squeezing gently. Emma shyly smiled from all the butterflies turning backflips in her stomach.
The two couldn't resist looking into one another's eyes, both feeling the same force pulling them closer.
Emma's pulse was starting to quicken and heat rushed between her legs. Not tonight. She thought. It was too soon. If they wanted this to work, it just couldn't be tonight.
Regina cleared her throat trying to avoid what was happening.
"We could try and wait, but still see each other and hang out?" Emma contributed.
"Do you honestly think that's going to work?" Regina's husky voice practically purred.
"Not if you talk like that." Emma said in a low voice, as she started to feel weak at the knees.
Regina knew the effect she had on Emma. She could have her melting at her fingertips right that instant, if she wanted. With that said, she knew she had to be sensitive to Emma's feelings. What she said outside the front door was that she was afraid of loving her and afraid that she'll get left. While that was not something Regina would do, it was still something unpredictable. She knew all too well what it was like to be left. She knew the feeling of lose. It was her enemy at night when she was home alone waiting to fall asleep. A constant reminder of her loneliness that hid in the shadows in the back of her mind.
Knowing Emma struggled with that too, only furthered Regina's compassion and understanding. Maybe it was best to take things at a slower pace, but not too slow. She could barely keep her hands to herself.
"May I suggest that we get to know one another more? We agree that we like each other. We know we are compatible in bed, so why not work on building something emotionally?" Regina proposed to the blonde.
Unlike many times in her life, Emma finally felt like she could share something with someone, a relationship.
"I think that's a great idea, so long as we agree that we're exclusive?" Emma said with hope in her voice.
Regina nodded. She didn't want to be with anyone else. There really wasn't anything for the blonde to worry about. It had been a long time since she'd been in a relationship, too long in fact. The majority of the time she did one-night stands to feel the void she felt. It never worked, up until she met Emma. That was a one-night stand she couldn't erase from her mind. No matter how hard she'd tried.
Regina could tell a thought popped into Emma's head. Her eyes practically shined with excitement, "So now that you're my girlfriend, I can kiss you almost anytime I want, right?"
Regina leaned over and grabbed Emma's empty coffee mug from her grasp. After setting it down on the coffee table, pillows were thrown off the couch in a heated rush. She extended out her arm, and gently pushed Emma onto her back, straddling her hips.
Leaning down, she wrapped her hands around the back of Emma's neck.
Regina's eyes searched the blondes for any signs of doubt, instead she was met with reassurance.
Succumbing to invisible forces, their bodies melted together as heat practically radiated from their bodies.
Inches away still, Regina teased, "Oh, so I'm your girlfriend now?"
"Isn't that what's implied by us being exclusive?"
"I suppose so." Regina's seductive voice caused Emma's body to tremble with desire as she slowly closed the distance.
She moved forward, closer to Emma, each heartbeat pounding harder with each second that passed. It was wrong. Everything about this was wrong, but that only pulled them closer and made them want each other more. In those fleeting seconds before lips touched, their brains shut off. They no longer thought about what was right or wrong. In those moments, all that mattered to them was each other and making the other feel desired.
Emma's hands shot forward as she pulled Regina that remainder of distance closer. Lips met one another. It was tender and sweet, as if it were like they were longtime lovers who already knew what the other woman liked. Their mouths moved in sync, tongues dancing together, reminding them of how delicious they were together.
There was passion, as the two moved against the other in desperation to get as close as they could. Sweet tender kisses turned heated and intense. Regina reluctantly pulled back gasping for air. She glowed in the night in her silver silk slip. Her chest was heaving as she took in as much oxygen as she could. Within a few seconds, her lips found flesh, as she sucked on Emma's neck, biting and sucking at the pale flesh. The blonde willingly allowed a moan to escape as she felt her pulse point quicken beneath now bruised skin.
Trying to stabilize herself, Emma wrapped her fingers around velvet locks of hair as she committed to memory this moment, and how treasured she felt.
Her head tilted back as she felt the beginnings of ecstasy. All she wanted was to have Regina push her over that edge, to keep going as they moved against one another.
"Regina." The woman's name slipped so freely from her tongue. It sounded so glorious to her own ears. Her body was on a high as she felt every cell burst from such simple pleasure.
It was all so perfect, until it wasn't.
Emma felt the other woman's body grow tense as she stopped moving. Her hands pulled away, and Regina pulled back and said, "Emma, we can't."
Her heart sank and her body grew cold as the warmth of her other was gone.
This was the rejection she worried about. She knew all too well that this was too good to be true. Unwilling to hide away her emotions, her face grew dejected. Overwhelmed by the sudden shift in emotion, she started to pull away from Regina.
"Oh no, sweetheart, I meant for us to wait." Regina knew she'd messed that up. "I want to be with you, I just think that it's best given the circumstances of you being under the influence, that we wait. Like you said early, get to know one another before moving to the next phase."
That seemed to be enough for Emma, the emotions on her face lightened as she considered Regina's words. She didn't fail to catch that she called her sweetheart, again. She particularly liked that. Nevertheless, the other woman was right. She did want to wait and to build an emotional connection.
"Maybe it's best we do take it slow." Emma agreed. Slow and steady always wins the races, so it's said.
"We can still kiss as much as you want, I just think that's enough for tonight. That's sinful to say, but I really don't want to move too quickly." Regina admitted. There was something that snapped in her mind when Emma told her she was afraid of being with her. While she realized many obvious reasons, getting to know Emma would shed light on other reasons that were less obvious.
Interrupting her thoughts, Emma said, "You addicting, Regina. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were a drug."
Regina smiled.
"So I guess this means I should be heading home." A deflated Emma regretfully started to stand.
"How are you getting home?" The brunette stood too.
"I'm walking."
"I think that it's too late for that. Besides it's freezing out."
Emma understood where Regina was coming from, however, she needed to head home to her foster mother.
"My foster mother is expecting, so I really don't have any other options."
There was no way Regina was going to allow Emma to leave in the early hours of the morning alone, while still a little under the influence. "That's not true, you can allow me to drive you, or you can stay here in my guest bedroom."
She weighed her different options. A mysterious Mercedes dropping her off would raise too many questions. It was much safer to just stay. Besides, she was almost positive Lily wasn't asleep and she'd be the first to ask too many questions. "I guess I can stay here, I just need to text her that I'm staying with a friend this evening."
"I'll go turn down the bed and find something for you to change into."
Emma watched as she left the room. Staying at Regina's and knowing she was across the hall was going to be a challenge.
Pulling out her retro track phone, she texted her foster mother that she was staying with Ruby. It wasn't unpractical by any means. Normally, however, she'd have told her a lot sooner.
"Okay, so there's an extra toothbrush in the guest bathroom, a wash cloth, and some towels in case you need a shower tomorrow are in the bedroom." Regina walked in saying. "There's also a tee-shirt and some sweatpants in the guest bedroom for you to borrow."
"You, Ms. Fancy Regina Mills, own sweat pants?" Emma laughed.
"I never said I've worn them." The Regina was quick to add with a smug expression. She only ever wore business dresses and suites, except that one time last week when she wore that adorable vest. Imagining her in sweatpants and tee-shirts was a huge turn on to Emma. She was going to do her best to at least get the other woman into the casual clothing at some point.
"We'll see about that." Emma stepped closer into the other woman's space. Timidly wrapping her arms around her small waist, she pulled her closer, and shyly kissed her cheek. This was going to take some getting used to for Emma. It wasn't just because Regina was her teacher, but because she'd never been in a caring relationship, whether is was someone she was dating, or familial.
Feeling slightly awkward she said, "Thank you letting me stay, Regina."
"You're welcome, dear. If you need anything, I'll be in the next room over."
"Don't remind me." She said in just a whisper.
The two parted ways. Regina slipped under her covers for the second time that evening. She could hear Emma bumping around in the bathroom. Her body felt on edge as she listened to the newcomer in her home. Normally, it was so quiet she could hear a pin drop. This was a unfamiliar, but welcomed change of pace. For once she didn't feel that ache in her chest because loneliness was plaguing her mind as she tossed and turned.
Not long after Emma finally stopped moving around. The house grew quiet and Regina tried falling asleep. Except sleep didn't come. Unlike nights before, she lied away excited for what was to come.
In the room next to Regina's, Emma slipped in between soft sheets and sunk into the mattress that seemed to outline her form. It didn't take long before sleep claimed the blonde.
When morning rolled around, Emma turned over to a note, a glass of water, and three red pills.
Rubbing her eyes, she picked up the note, and read, "Take some ibuprofen. I ran out to do a few errands and to pick up some things for breakfast. -R"
Picking up the tiny red pills, she tossed them in her mouth and sipped the water.
Rolling onto her back, Emma stretched. She hopped out of the comfortable queen bed and walked into the guest bathroom in the hallway.
She looked at her reflection and cringed. First of all, there was a large purple and ripe hickey on the side of her neck from where Regina sucked and bit her skin. Her mascara and eyeliner had made their way down her face causing her to look like a zombie. Smelling herself, she also realized she smelled like a bar and worse, cigarettes.
There was no way in hell that she would let Regina see her like this. But wait, she already did, the night before. That thought alone made her cringe. Slightly embarrassed, Emma stripped down and turned on the shower head.
Slipping the curtain back, she stepped in. The hot water against her skin gave her goose bumps at first, but not after long it was refreshing as she let the water run down her pale skin.
Sniffing the different soaps, shampoo's, and conditioners, she started washing. She particularly liked the cinnamon apples body wash. It reminded her of Regina. Then Emma thought of how amazing it would be to get the other woman in the shower with her someday. Her body shuddered at the thought. A girl could only daydream.
Turning off the shower, she jumped out, but realized she left her towels in the bedroom. Internally she cursed herself as she looked for anything that she could use. There was nothing but one lousy hand towel, because of course that's her luck.
Grabbing the decorative hand towel, she tried to dry her skin off as best as she could. With little material to use, she was still wet.
Regina was still gone, so Emma decided to make the mad dash between the two relatively close rooms.
Opening the door, a wall of cold air hit her. But more importantly, she was caught like a deer in the headlights when Regina's eyes caught her as she was entering the hall from her room.
"Shit," Emma said loudly as she tried to preserve her modesty. "I left my towels in the bedroom. I didn't realize you were here."
Regina tried her best to not laugh for the other woman's sake. She looked at the freshly showered blonde whose right hand covered between her legs and left arm that covered across her chest.
"So you thought it was acceptable to walk around in my house naked without me here?" Regina deadpanned. She was joking of course.
The blonde's face turned red as she fumbled, "Re..Regina. It's freakin' cold, please grab my towels."
Regina rolled her eyes playfully as she walked into the next room. "As you wish."
Handing the towels over, her eyes caught the muscular physic of the other woman. Her abs were toned and her legs were strong. Her mouth practically watered as she took in the bare sight of Emma's body. There were so many things she wanted to do to her in that moment.
Waiting was going to be near impossible.
