Hello dear friends! This chapter is a bit disjointed and for that I apologize. I knew where I wanted to get, the journey was just a bit staggered. It will be worth it at the end! I hope you enjoy it, and please keep reviewing!
Take care!
Regina's windshield wipers were losing their battle against the pounding rain. She sat waiting for Henry to exit his drawing lessons and tried to see through the downpour if he was coming out. She had enjoyed going inside to pick him up and attempted to sneak peaks at whatever he was working on, especially since he had been staying an extra 30 minutes each week at his teachers' request. With this weather, she was content to stay in her warm, comfortable car. She leaned her head back on the seat and listened to the gentle tones of the radio. She thought back to just a few hours before.
"Mm…are you sure you need to pick him up?" Emma, tightly grasping to a silk-covered Regina nuzzled into her neck in an act of defiance that essentially said 'I'll hold you here until I'm ready to get up."
Regina leaned into the embrace, enjoying the feeling, but responded, "Yes dear, you know it's routine that I pick Henry up from the art classes you so kindly purchased for him." She didn't have to look at Emma to know the expression that she would find on her face.
"But the rain, though…" Emma sighed. It indeed had been pouring, and Regina had to admit that being warm in a bed beside Emma was infinitely more appealing than going out in the dreadful weather. "I'm getting way too comfortable having you in my bed."
Emma had been nothing but kind since their date. And though they had a few more sleepovers, all had remained relatively PG, Emma content to let Regina set the speed. Regina was feeling increasingly comfortable with her. The circles Emma was lightly tracing on her back didn't hurt either.
"Emma… you realize it's your responsibility to ensure I am a fitting parent to Henry. And by holding me here, you are preventing me from doing that." She said, turning to face the blonde. Emma wasted no time in taking the opportunity in front of her by leaning in to the surprised Regina and catching her in a slightly deeper than necessary kiss. Her hands moved to one of their favourite spots, the smooth skin of Regina's back just under her pajama top. Regina's groan and melting resistance made Emma smile. "Emma Swan, you will pay for this."-
Henry stared into Regina's car and for a moment wondered if she was dead. Her head was back on the seat and there was a slight smile on her face. Since he was getting soaked by the millisecond, he pounded on the window and noticed he had definitely surprised her by the hand she laid gently over her heart when she unlocked the door for him.
Regina looked through the window at the soaking boy feeling immediate guilt and noticed his jacket wasn't over his head because his drawings were protected within it. Priorities, she chuckled to herself.
"How did it go?" She asked him.
"It was fine," he replied. He would have given her more information, but he knew what she was getting at. Regina had been trying to figure out what he was working on since he started the classes.
She knew he still wasn't going to tell her anything so she continued the drive in the comfortable silence she and the boy seemed to always fall into.
"So how's Emma?" He asked her.
"…What? What do you mean? I assume she's fine, dear." Crap…did she tell him? Regina wondered.
Henry laughed. "No need to get all weird. You guys are hanging out sometimes right? It's cool to be friends with her."
Crap…do I tell him? Well… Emma had said honesty was important, right? "Well, Henry…" God, is it always this awkward to tell your child this? "You're right. Emma and I have been 'hanging out'…sort of. Well we're sort of seeing each other." She waited for a reaction and was silently happy that he was in a car and couldn't run anywhere. She studied his droplet-covered face as best she could. She couldn't read him. He continued to watch the road, though it was barely visible through the rain. "I was going to tell you sooner but I didn't know how serious it would be but I know you deserve honesty. Neither of us intends to let this affect our relationship with you…Henry?"
"Well, you're still here for me, and Emma still comes over just to see me, and I'm not ready to leave Storybrooke. I really like it here. It's important for both of us to be happy that I'm here and … Emma makes you happy?"
"Yes, Henry. She does. I didn't expect to feel this way about her. But you make me happy too, as happy as I've always dreamed. You're my priority, and if you're not okay with this, it doesn't need to continue." Regina hated how the words felt leaving her mouth but she knew she needed to persist. From the beginning she had sworn Henry was her priority. Henry, and Henry alone. Is that still the case? She pulled into her driveway after the precarious drive and as she turned off her car, she looked to him.
"The way I see it right now, is that I'm happy, you're happy, and I think Emma is happy. I'm okay with you guys doing whatever you're doing. I mean I don't want to think about it because…you're sort of like…my mom…so that's kind of gross. But hey, it's up to you." He got out of the car and ran to the door, still protecting the drawings. She sighed a sigh of relief and prepared to face the rain and open the door for her sort-of son.
While making dinner, Regina didn't expect the knock on the door, and was even more surprised to be greeted by a sopping wet Emma.
"Hi. I know I just saw you this morning and we totally didn't talk about me coming over tonight or anything bu-"
Regina cut her off to pull her inside. "Don't be ridiculous, what happened?"
"Well, this awesome rain has led to an even more awesome day." Emma's voice dripped with sarcasm and Regina looked on as the blonde hair, now darkened, was sticking to her head and she literally dripped from everywhere. "My apartment's flooded. Such a great idea of me to get a basement apartment. I had gone to Granny's for lunch, and then I went to the grocery store and when I came back there was a foot of water down there. So I tried to figure out what happened and why it flooded so much and the water just kept rising. Then my car wouldn't start and I don't really know anyone else in town well enough to just show up on their doorstep and so I walked here."
"You'll stay here." There was no other acceptable option for Regina.
"Regina, are you sure? I don't want to impose."
Regina walked to the woman, glanced around, and with no sign of Henry, kissed her gently. "Don't be absurd, you'll stay here until your apartment is sorted out. Oh God, you really are soaked." Regina looked at her now damp sleeves. "I suppose this is as good as reason as any to get you out of your cold, wet clothes?" Emma's mouth went dry at the look Regina was giving her. After her leaving this morning, Emma was slightly dying inside. Henry running down the stairs gave her no opportunity to enjoy the fantasy building in her head.
"Oh hey, Emma's here!"
"Hey kid, how's it going?" Regina looked on at the two of them fondly.
"The usual. Oh hey so Regina told me about you two. It's cool. Are you going to play Mario kart with me? Are you staying for dinner?"
Regina picked up the questions when she saw the slightly stunned look on Emma's face.
"Dear, go set up the Wii, she'll be there soon. She's going to be staying for a while because her apartment is flooded. She just needs some dry clothes, okay?" She turned to Emma as Henry dashed away and they ascended the stairs. "I am sorry I didn't talk with you about telling him… it just sort of came up."
"Hey… you saved me an awkward conversation, which I'm awful at. I'm glad he's okay with it." Emma smiled. "If he wasn't, I wouldn't get to do all the things I've been thinking about doing." She winked at her as she began taking off the wet clothes. "But honestly Regina I think that what we have is really good, and it could be great. I'm happy he's okay with it." She accepted the clothes that Regina had chosen, which included what Emma figured was probably the only hoody Regina owned. "Thank you for doing this. Honestly, I could have just gone… I don't know, somewhere."
"Emma. You know there is more than enough room for you here. We both want you here. Stay as long as you need to." Regina was prepared to leave and then she remembered that Emma had come with essentially nothing. She continued, "Is there anything you need from your place? Do we need to go back?"
"No. The only thing I need is this." From under her hoody, Emma pulled a silver necklace which contained a simple chain and with a bird pendant. A swan, Regina noted. "It's on me 95% of the time, it was off this morning and during the flood I went back for it. I was worried it would wash away." As Emma choked up, Regina moved to her, brushing her lips over her forehead, bringing her into a tight embrace, and urging her to continue. "I've had it forever. My social workers told me it was from my mother. It's the only thing I've ever had. I couldn't lose it. None of the rest of the things matter, just this."
Regina nodded in quiet understanding and they descended the stairs to continue the evening.
The first days of December came with a vengeance. The rain became freezing temperatures and Emma remained at Regina's house as the damages from the flood had yet to be repaired. Neither woman was ready to admit it, but it felt natural to live together as three. As a family. Saturday morning had come and Regina and Emma waited to pick up Henry.
"Has he told you what he's working on?" Regina asked Emma, too impatient to keep it in.
Emma looked over knowingly. "Even if I did, do you think I'd be allowed to tell you?"
Regina laughed, "I suppose you have a good point, Miss Swan." Emma knew that tone
and glanced at her with the same smirk that always made Regina cave. Henry came out to the car, and got into the middle of the back seat.
"Henry, do up your jacket, do you want to catch a cold?"
"…No." he begrudgingly responded. "It's a one minute walk out to the car, I'm not going to get a cold from that."
"How do you know we're not going back outside?" Emma joined the conversation to counter what Henry had said, and the surprised look on his face said he hadn't expected that. "See, Regina and I had an idea. And you may hate it, but I also am not sure if I am going to let you have a say. Because I think it's a great idea."
He listened as Regina turned down a road he didn't recognize.
"Now that Thanksgiving is over, it is socially acceptable to furnish your home with the appropriate decorations for the current time of year." Regina laughed at Emma's phrasing as her glance in the rearview showed a confused look on the young man's face.
"We're getting a Christmas Tree!" Emma shouted. "We need to pick the perfect one!"
"…Seriously?" Henry had never been involved in the choosing of a Christmas tree. The only ones he saw up close were at community centers and the families he had been with always had fake trees. "I've never gotten a real tree before."
Regina and Emma shared a look, another thing he has missed out on, and they turned into the tree lot. Regina turned off the car and as the got out of the car, came to his level. "I want something to be clear here. This is our tree. And I would be more than happy to give you the honour of choosing our tree, our first tree. So when you find the perfect one, you let me know. I'll be right behind you, okay?"
"Maybe it can be our tradition to pick it together." Henry said, walking ahead to see the trees. Regina stood and felt her eyes water. A tradition, as in, something they do every Christmas together. Perhaps he was starting to believe he could stay here like she wanted him to.
"Hey, you okay?" Emma hadn't heard the conversation, she had only observed the now watering eyes of her girlfriend. Is she my girlfriend? We sleep in the same bed every night….she feels like my girlfriend.
"Oh, just some wind," Regina said, walking on and waving a hand.
"Mhmm. Whatever you say." Emma smiled. This was going to be a great day.
Emma, Regina, and Henry looked at their work. Their tree beautifully filled the corner of the living room and beside the fireplace, from far away, appeared like something out of a magazine. Up close, not so much.
Regina loved it because it looked absolutely nothing like the catalogue perfection trees her mother had. Emma loved it because of the soft lights and amazing smell that was currently filling the great room, despite the sap she had spent 20 minutes getting off her hands. And Henry loved it because it was theirs, and they had decorated it together. The whole ordeal had taken the rest of the day, and after they'd taken a break for dinner and finished, they'd sat in the room, the women on the couch and Henry on a chair he had started calling his, and stared at their handiwork. Henry denied it, but Regina could see his chin hitting his chest every now and again. She gently suggested that he go up to bed, and this time, he didn't protest. After muttering a goodnight, they heard him climb the stairs and Emma turned her attention directly to Regina.
"I hate to kill this moment, but…are we girlfriends?"
Regina nearly choked on her hot cider. "To be honest, Emma, I hadn't really thought about it."
"Well I guess what I'm trying to say is that you feel like my girlfriend. I mean I'm here all the time and I don't know that it's just because of my apartment, we got the tree today, I'm crazy about you and I want to be with you and I don't want anyone else to be with you. Unless you want that in which case we have to talk."
"Emma, I think I would like to be your girlfriend. Officially, that is." She smiled as Emma breathed a sigh of relief. "…Now what?"
"Well you start by getting over here." Emma said, her confidence boosted. Regina responded in full force by placing their cups aside and starting with a kiss, but she lingered, and as they continued kissing, she ended up lying on top of Emma.
Regina thought of how she felt in the moment she was in. at this point in time, no one knew her like Emma did. She felt safe, and she could trust her, and even after weeks of waiting, Emma never pushed. Regina finally let her hands explore more than they had yet. She gently cupped Emma's breast above her shirt and the intake of breath she felt below her was enough motivation to continue, but this time she moved underneath the fabric. Both women groaned in protest into each other's mouths when the fabric didn't allow Regina's hand to go any further than the blonde's toned rib cage.
"Emma…" Regina spoke in the breathy, sultry voice Emma had only heard a handful of times, and she could feel her body's reaction to it at the heat of her center. "I'm ready. It's time."
Emma was in a haze and needed to separate their faces, to see into the rich caramel eyes she had memorized. "You're sure?"
Regina's body grinded down on the thigh Emma had left slightly bent and their lips returned together. She moaned at the contact, the memory of Regina's wetness fresh in her mind and impossible to forget. She knew it would be so easy to take her right here, right now, and satisfy both of their desires. Emma knew their bodies both wanted this, but she needed Regina's mind, and her heart. She couldn't lose her again. So she reluctantly pulled back again, and caught her eyes once more.
"Emma. I am certain. I need you. Right now."
I am an asshole. But I promise to deliver. Until the next chapter!