They ended up at Regina's place, because she needed a change of shoes and didn't feel much like walking all the way home in bare feet.
Walking immediately to the kitchen, Regina filled her kettle with water and turned the stove on. The house was empty, but as Emma slipped off her jacket and removed her boots at the entrance, she realized that the space still felt warmer than it had before the curse broke.
For her part, Regina just seemed happy to be back home. She even hummed as she made a pot of some kind of spiced black tea. Emma stood in the doorway to the kitchen and watched Regina open the fridge, bending to retrieve a plate of cheese and fruit. There was a twinge in Emma's chest as she thought back to their time together in the city.
"So, when did you figure out you were gay?" Regina's question made Emma choke on the cheese and cracker she had been handed. She coughed as they made their way to the dining room.
"Woah. Regina, right to the point." Emma swiped her mouth with the back of one hand, reaching for her tea with the other. "Do we need labels?"
Regina sipped her tea thoughtfully. "No, I don't suppose we do."
"What about you?" Emma tried to cut herself some slices of soft cheese, but her hand shook slightly. Being so close to Regina was causing problems. Emma watched as a hum of blue light emerged in her palm.
"I'm different." Regina decided after watching Emma make a mess of the brie for some time, and then snatching the cheese knife from her. She cut three perfectly even chunks and placed them on Emma's plate. "I don't think we had the same constraints in our old land."
Emma snorted. "No, you had worse ones." Then she grimaced, remembering the whole arranged marriage thing.
"Yes." Regina shrugged, seemingly unmoved by Emma's concern. "At the same time, we had a certain kind of freedom. I used to host parties which, in this land, might be labeled in a particular way…"
"What? Like orgies?" Emma squirmed, fighting the mix of arousal and jealousy that accompanied an image of Regina amidst numerous naked bodies.
"Don't dwell on it." Regina's eyes followed Emma's churning emotions, showing first in flushed cheeks, then in clenched hands. "It's important for you to play with your newfound freedom as well, isn't it?" She sipped her tea. "To find yourself, in this new context. So you've figured out one or two things about yourself, and I assume that playing the field will…"
"Maybe that isn't what I want." Emma interrupted. Her face and chest now mottled red, Emma muttered her desires as though she were afraid of their outcome. "What do you want?"
Regina shrugged. "It's been lonely. For a long time. I just want to try being happy." Her eyelashes fluttered as she met Emma's eyes again.
"Are you lonely now? Still?" Emma fought the urge to reach for Regina's hands which looked so cold on the table.
"Less so," Regina brushed one of those hands against Emma's arm and added, "Now that you're speaking to me again."
In the days to come, Emma threw herself back into work, enlisting Regina's help when needed. Teen runaways were one thing, but the hexes being thrown around town between innumerable small factions, were creating a larger 'magical' problem. When a number of households all along the same street, created a civil war over one group's allegiance to the Green Fairy, Regina had to be called in to remove the boils, blindness, and drunken lethargy spells that had been cast back and forth.
"All hail the Green Fairy!" The skinny, bald, wrinkled grandfather who had begun the problem tried to shout his dedication in Regina's face.
"You're an idiot." Regina hissed at him, though she did get rid of his skin afflictions.
Leaning against the Sheriff's car, Emma couldn't help but chuckle at the mess.
Nearly fifty people in total were sitting out on their sidewalks, in the middle of an unusually cool, damp and drizzly day, while Regina waved her hands, walked between them, and reversed every spell she could. Regina looked fucking annoyed. She looked even more annoyed when local townspeople showed up to watch. Emma noted with interest (and a familiar twinge) that Red had arrived to actually help, instead of gawk. She walked quickly to Regina, muttered something in her ear, and shoved a cup of hot tea into her hands, before walking over to join Emma.
"There's a massive feast over at the docks. Grumpy is throwing it to distract his girlfriend before he proposes to her." Red informed Emma, craning her neck to look the crowd over.
"Cool. I'm hungry." As if to emphasize the point, Emma rubbed her belly and stretched. Regina walked quickly over to join them, exhaustion written all over her face.
"You done?" Red asked.
"Yes, I am finished. I just need something from Gold's old shop." Regina's eyes closed. She swayed on her feet and pressed her thumbs to her temples.
"Emma will drive you. Join us later, all right?" Red smiled at them both, rubbed Regina's shoulder briefly, then briskly walked away.
"There's one thing. I just need to replenish my energy." Regina muttered.
"Anything." Emma took her elbow and opened the passenger side door. "What usually works?"
Regina waited until they were settled in the car, with the windows closed, before she blurted out, "Sex."
Emma accidentally turned on the siren then, startling a number of onlookers. She quickly switched the siren off and stared ahead mutely.
"In lieu of…" Regina added, breathing deeply. "I need a crystal that Gold…" Her words trailed off as Emma's hand brushed over her thigh. Regina chuckled. "Not yet."
"No?" Emma asked nervously. The energy coming from Regina was like a black hole or something. It sucked Emma in, pulling her close. Regina covered her hand and held it tightly.
"I know what you want. It's what I want also. Just. Not yet." Regina's eyes were suddenly open and intent on Emma's face. She was even more energized, half an hour later, after emerging from Gold's shop with a small pink crystal around her neck. The energy radiating from her was still intense but it didn't suck Emma in so much as radiate outward. Emma started the car again, trying to ignore the urge to tear off Regina's black coat and thin purple dress.
They drove in silence to the docks, though Regina's eyes kept wandering over Emma's thighs and—Emma was pretty sure—her crotch. Emma shifted in her seat, certain that she could feel Regina's gaze actually stroking her. It really made the car ride difficult. By the time they arrived at their destination, Emma was ready to hump the steering wheel if that was all she could get.
She was starving though she wanted to get food and get out of there as fast as possible. Not only was she fairly certain that Grumpy's nun/fairy girlfriend was going to flit away from the question of marriage (which made a public proposal awkward) but Emma just had to get herself away from Regina. Her hands were starting to tingle, and she could see electric light just beneath her fingertips.
The feast was in fact a barbeque. Grumpy had thrown every kind of meat imaginable onto an enormous grill, while the rest of the Dwarves laid out salads and drinks. Regina had slipped away to talk to a group of men leaning against Grumpy's boat.
One of the men, who wore green leather pants (odd) and had a blonde mullet (ew) leaned forward, air-kissed Regina's cheek…
…and then Emma shot him with a bolt of lightning.
She hadn't meant to, she was just pent up. The bolt arced from her left hand and then, weirdly enough, was joined by a matching arc from Regina's hand. The blonde mullet-guy flew into the air and then somersaulted into the water behind him.
Before they could assess the damange they had done, Regina bolted toward Emma just as people started shouting and leaping into the water.
"We have to get out of here. Dammit." Regina grabbed at Emma's elbow—hard—and yanked her away from the group. "I was just talking to him, but that is besides the point. We have to deal with this."
"What?" Emma was disappointed when she realized that Regina was referring only to the magic. They walked quickly to the furthest point they could find. The waters were calm and the wind was as well. Sunshine kept peaking out from behind the clouds.
What Emma remembered most about that day, was that she was wearing her favorite jeans and a silk shirt that actually had belonged to Regina at one point. Both items of clothing were wrecked by the time they were through.
"We can't keep doing this. If we're even going to be around one another, much less…" Regina slipped her jacket off and threw it onto the grassy bank.
"What are you talking about, Regina?" Emma pleaded, throwing her jacket onto the bank as well.
"I want you." Regina's voice was strangled and hoarse. "But I don't understand this magic between us." Her hands were outstretched as she walked toward Emma. A sudden arc of blue connected them. "If, whenever we feel intensely toward one another, we create deadly bolts of lightning, we are going to someone." Regina stepped closer so that the energy vibrated between them. "We have to practice."
Feeling strangely ambivalent and practically humming with some underlying energy, Emma asked. "What do we do?"
They hands met and fingers intertwined. Then, just beside them, the water rose up in the shape of a thin, wide cylinder, and crashed over them.
Regina sputtered and laughed while Emma just sputtered.
They spent an hour creating different shaped arcs, waves, and even shapes in the sand. Regina had removed the small crystal from around her neck, but whenever someone tired, they took turns wearing the crystal again.
Finally, their energies dissipated and each sat heavily on the grassy embankment.
"So." Emma huffed. "You want me?"
"Ugh, shut up." Regina grinned at her. "You know I do." Her eyes were pale purple for just a second as she leaned in. Their first kiss in months was tinged with nervousness on both sides. It was still amazing. Emma didn't even mind how soaked her jeans were. She pulled away only slightly to tease Regina when grains of sand scraped against her cheek.
"You taste like sand. And seaweed. And is that…worms?" Emma muttered against Regina's lips, then laughed at the swat she received.
"I need a shower." Regina decided, snuggling against Emma's neck and pushing until they could lay together. "I have sand in unspeakable places."
"Together or…" Emma tried to keep the whine from her voice.
"Apart. For now." Regina hesitated but then patted Emma's hip firmly and pushed herself away. "Magic is even more intense here in Storybrooke. I don't want to destroy our power supply or electrocute anybody walking by my house."
They parted ways reluctantly, just after Emma called Red to check up on their unintentional victim. The guy was ok, but he had been admitted for overnight observation.
"You two are intense." Red added before Emma could hang up. "I don't think anybody will be hitting on the Queen anytime soon."
Rolling her eyes at a bemused Regina, Emma thought that she could still hear Red laughing even after her call ended.
They met often over the next two weeks. Regina insisted that they practice their newfound skills, to differentiate between energy and electricity, and between matter and energy, even as they explored the interconnections.
Regina had been watching Emma from the corner of her eye as they ate lunch one afternoon while on a break from their magical practice.
"What's up?" Emma was wearing a sundress, because it was suddenly hot as hell, and she was tired and sweaty and wanted their day to end in either sleeping or fucking, she didn't care which.
Regina had other ideas. "Watch this." She walked twenty feet in front of Emma, turned around, and waved her hands.
A fire-breathing dragon, made completely of light and flame, leapt from her and sped around the yard.
Her mouth falling open, Emma remembered that day in Philadelphia. She stood, aimed her hands, and the dragon turned to a blue, crackling light.
Regina turned it into water, which rained lightly over them both.
"You're ridiculous." Emma fumed, turning and walking into the house.
"I had to show you. I'm sorry I made you forget." Regina strode after the angry woman, then sped in front of Emma in a streak of purple. "I was just playing." Her smirk was erased by Emma's insistent mouth, a second later, as they fell to the kitchen floor.
"Ouch." Emma muttered darkly, her elbow smashing against the tile. Regina cupped the rapidly forming bruise and it disappeared immediately. For some reason, that turned Emma on immensely. Seeing the care that Regina took in healing her, seeing the affection on Regina's face, connected warmth blooming in Emma's chest to warmth lower down. She groaned and circled her hips against Regina's torso, raising one bare leg as Regina reached for the hem of her dress and lifted it. A second later, Regina's fingers were pulling Emma's panties aside. "I'm still pissed." Emma growled, helpless to stop.
"Concentrate…" Regina moaned against Emma's lips and tongue as she slipped inside with two fingers. They had been talking about this—and all the talking got them both hotter—but neither had wanted to fall back into bed until they could focus well enough to willfully shift the energy between them. "This is too fast…" Regina moaned again as she spread her legs and Emma's thigh fell between them.
"It's ok. Please. Just give me what I need." Emma reached down and directed Regina's thumb to her clit, then her hands clasped the sides of Regina's face and she kissed her deeply. It was all embarrassingly quick. Emma's knees slid along the floor as Regina's fingers pumped inside of her, drawing a long keening wail that Emma tried to muffle against Regina's neck when she came.
"Nothing happened!" Regina exclaimed breathlessly, rubbing Emma's back in small circles.
"I came so hard I saw stars." Emma muttered from where she lay.
"No, I mean—there wasn't extraordinary energy. Just us. That was just us. We contained the magic!" Breathing a sigh of total relief, Regina held Emma in her arms and let herself relax.