AN: Thanks to everyone who has favorited, followed & reviewed since the last chapter.
TRIGGER WARNING: Mild references to abuse & self-injury.
Regina woke as the sun's rays filtered in through gauzy curtains, warming her exposed skin. She stretched languidly, feeling well rested for the first time in a long time. Her muscles were deliciously sore in all the right places. She smiled to herself, images of last night flitting through her mind.
She looked to her left and found the long curve of Emma's back, the roundness of her firm ass disappearing under the sheet. Last night Regina had familiarized herself with the front of her lover. In the light of day she had a chance to explore the rest of her. The blonde's back was littered with scars. Some were just small white dots while some were long, raised, pink scars and there were several obvious cigarette burns.
Regina couldn't help but growl lowly, enraged that someone had dared touch what was hers in such a way. Emma, ever the soft sleeper chose that moment to roll over and look up into the brunette's face.
Emma looked up into face of the woman she had been waiting her entire life for. Regina was gorgeous, made even more so by mixture of emotions written across her unguarded face. Normally so stoic, it was stunning to see the brunette as she truly was. "What is it babe?" She asked while reaching her hand to cup the mayor's sculpted cheek. "Your back, Emma, what… who, did that to you?" Regina asked hesitantly.
Emma pulled her knees into her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs in a familiar protective gesture. She looked down at the bed and took a deep breath. "Gina, my life, it was pretty far from a fairy tale. I had a few bad foster homes before I finally ran." She finally looked up into her lover's blazing eyes, not understanding what she discovered while searching the scorching gaze.
"Oh, Emma, I am so sorry!" Regina cried. "I will never forgive myself for what happened to you." She made to get up from the bed, but Emma stilled her movements by firmly grasping the brunette's hand in hers. "Regina, what happened in my past is not your fault. The people who were supposed to protect me, love me, they're the ones to blame."
"But, if I hadn't been so hell bent on revenge the curse wouldn't have been cast. You would never have ended up in this horrible world." Tears began to stream down the queen's face, flowing faster than Emma could wipe them away.
Regina was devastated. She couldn't believe how selfish she had been. The evil queen had had no regard for any one's pain but her own. Once again, she was pulled from her thoughts by the feel of warm skin against her own. Emma had unfurled from the fetal position to throw her arms around the brunette in a fierce hug. The blonde pulled away and looked at Regina with fury, daring the mayor to defy her.
"Listen to me Regina Mills, and listen well. I've had my entire life to think about this. The only people to blame for my childhood are my charming parents. My mother put me in a fucking magical tree and sent me away. She had no idea what my fate would be, but she made the choice to entrust magic, the very thing she despised, with an infant. I would have been so much better off being cursed. Storybrook is pretty much heaven after what I lived through." She took a deep breath, during which Regina opened her mouth to speak. She was cut off by a long slender finger pressed against her lips.
"I'm not done yet. I know you Gina. When I look into your eyes, I see myself. Whatever your reasoning was for casting the curse, I know it was so that you could escape. But you couldn't really. Your thighs are proof of that. And somehow, all of this comes back to Snow."
Emma ran her fingers through her hair, both trying to tame her sex hair and giving herself a moment to form the right words. "Yeah, my life kind of sucked. It was pretty fucking terrible actually. But if you hadn't cast the curse we wouldn't have Henry. And I would never have met you. I would have been locked in some enchanted tower, being guarded against the one person who could ever really love me."
Emma couldn't believe she had just dropped the "L" bomb, but desperate times called for desperate measures. She knew in her heart, deep down in her soul, that she had been made love to for the first time last night. And, it had been worth the wait. She just had to get Regina through the guilt phase and into the fucking like bunnies phase.
Regina was completely taken aback by Emma's use of the word love. She hadn't meant to leave herself so exposed last night. But it was true, she had fallen for the princess. The sheriff had slowly wormed her way into her dark heart, and was now embedded so deep that there was no turning back.
"I guess it's time that I told you my story Emma" The queen started. "Snow was certainly the catalyst for the curse. However, my own mother set things in motion long before she was a twinkle in Leopold's eye."
AN: I know, little cliff hanger here. But it would have gotten way to long if I hadn't broken it up here. Besides, Regina's story deserves its own chapter.