A SwanQueen Telenovela Chapter 3: A stroll down memory lane, an once upon a time fanfic

Chapter 3: Time Travel

On Top Of The World by Imagine Dragons

Emma grudgingly opened her eyes due to the amount of sunshine that was lighting the room. She was slightly surprised she hadn't been roused by Regina's morning routine—not to say that Regina was noisy in the mornings, she wasn't, but it was nice being slowly brought to consciousness by the sound of the shower running, the sound of moving around… where the heck was Regina anyway? Emma rolled over on her other side and much to her surprise, Regina was still ensconced in her sheets and fast asleep. Emma stared at Regina in wonder; she hadn't had the chance to see Regina sleeping because she was always up first. She must not have had a good sleep last night, and recollecting Regina's jealous exit brought a small grin to Emma's face. As she spent a few more minutes watching Regina sleep, she wished she could be there in Regina's bed, snuggling up to her and enjoying the warmth of her body. Sighing, Emma got up so she could take a shower. Maybe a cold one at that.

Emma felt like a new woman after showering and she spontaneously started lip syncing the lyrics to 'On Top Of The World' and pulling out some serious rock moves.

If you love somebody
Better tell them while they're here 'cause
They just may run away from you

You'll never know quite when, well
Then again it just depends on
How long of time is left for you

She wrapped her towel around her body and, after peeking out the bathroom door to make sure Regina was still asleep, she danced on out to where her suitcase was. After retrieving a pair of clean underwear and a tanktop, Emma lowered her body in the down-low air guitar move and moved her lips to

I've had the highest mountains
I've had the deepest rivers
You can have it all but life keeps moving

I take it in but don't look down

'Cause I'm on top of the world, 'ay
I'm on top of the world, 'ay
Waiting on this for a while now
Paying my dues to the dirt
I've been waiting to smile, 'ay
Been holding it in for a while, 'ay
Take you with me if I can
Been dreaming of this since a child
I'm on top of the world.

Emma twirled and slid on her underwear underneath the towel, then took off the towel and whirled it in the air to

I've tried to cut these corners
Try to take the easy way out
I kept on falling short of something

I coulda gave up then but
Then again I couldn't have 'cause
I've traveled all this way for something

I take it in but don't look down

She let go of the towel, the towel landing somewhere in the vicinity of the TV and pulled on her tanktop, her hips still shaking as she pranced back to her suitcase for her skinny jeans.

Oooooooo... OoooAhhhhhOoooAhhhhh

And I know it's hard when you're falling down
And it's a long way up when you hit the ground
Get up now, get up, get up now.

After wriggling on her jeans, Emma closed her eyes and imaginarily belted out the closing lyrics while raising her arm in the air in the classic rock move

And I know it's hard when you're falling down
And it's a long way up when you hit the ground
Get up now, get up, get up now.

Emma opened her eyes and found herself in front of the mirror that was situated behind the TV. Her eyes met Regina's very amused eyes and a look of horror crossed Emma's face. She whirled around "Shit, Regina! How long have you been watching?!"

"Long enough," Regina smirked. Emma covered her eyes with her hands and moaned, "Oh, god." She peeked out of one hand and Regina was visibly giggling. Dropping her hands, Emma remarked "Oh well. At least you didn't have your phone with you." Regina arched her eyebrow and slid down the sheet covering her arm… and then the hand holding her phone came into view. Emma's eyes widened. "No, you didn't! Let me see that!" Emma leaped onto Regina's bed and after a few moments' worth of scuffling, she straddled Regina and was able to forcibly remove the phone from Regina's hand. Emma examined the phone and was pissed to find it locked. Regina smiled smugly from under Emma and Emma narrowed her eyes. Her fingers flew and Emma lifted the phone in triumph. Regina gasped, "How?!" Emma smirked, "Really? Henry's birthdate? Come on!" Emma held off Regina's beating arms as she went into the photo app. She was relieved to find Regina had been pulling her leg, there was no incriminating evidence of the dance. She grinned down at Regina who had given up trying to get to her phone, and she suddenly realized she was straddling Regina. Emma gave a little gasp and rolled off. "I'm sorry, Regina. I wasn't thinking!" Regina looked at Emma's retreating figure, bemused. Truth to be told, she hadn't really noticed it until Emma did… and she sort of missed the warmth and weight of Emma's body on her.

En route once again, Emma was driving this time while Regina relaxed in the passenger seat, enjoying the scenery that passed by. She looked out the window, reflecting on the very nice day they had had yesterday, and decided to ask Emma to see the pictures that they took yesterday. "Emma, may I look at yesterday's photos on your phone?" Emma waved her hand towards the console "Sure. I think the phone's under there." Regina rooted around until her hand closed around the phone, and drew it out. Seeing the lock screen come up as Regina attempted to access her phone, Emma chuckled "See if you can figure it out." Regina rolled her eyes "Miss Swan, I wouldn't presume to know you well enough to figure out your pin, please, take it and enter your numbers." Emma looked over at her, "Really? You won't even guess?" Regina sighed, "Very well" and punched in the same pin as she used on her phone, and much to her disconcert, it worked. She looked up to see Emma grinning sheepishly, "Yeah. I'm just as bad as you, using Henry's birthdate for the pin." Regina made a noncommittal sound but inside she was smiling at the fact that Henry's two mothers were obviously crazy about him. She opened the Photos app and scrolled through the pictures Emma took yesterday. "Is it okay if I send some of those to myself?" Regina asked. Emma nodded her consent and Regina continued to scroll up, not being able to help herself. She saw some pictures of Ruby being silly with Emma, some of the Charmings and baby Neal, several of Henry, but her hand stilled when she came across one of her and Henry. She'd never seen that picture, and both of them were smiling radiant smiles. Her heart ached to see the happiness evident in that picture.

"Yeah, I know. That's one of my favorites." Emma murmured softly as Regina flushed at being caught snooping. "Emma, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have invaded your privacy." Emma gave Regina a gentle smile as she said, "I don't mind. There's nothing incriminating there. You might as well go ahead and finish looking."

Regina, still feeling somewhat guilty, scrolled up and marveled at seeing Henry progressively become younger. "He's grown up so fast," Regina said in wonder. "No shit" was voiced from the drivers seat. Regina's mouth quirked up in a smile as she came across a picture that had her in the background at Granny's; her hair was so short and quite honestly, that woman looked quite unhappy. Regina still wasn't sure what her happy ending consisted of, but she definitely was not unhappy at this point. Emma stole a glance and smirked, "Madame Mayor. Once in a great while I miss that side of you." Regina turned and stared at Emma. "Why in the world would you miss the person who tried to hurt you, was angry all the time, in other words the Evil Queen?"

Emma turned the steering wheel as she changed lanes to pass the s-l-o-w car in front of her before replying. "That angry woman wasn't even close to the Evil Queen. The minute she became a mother to Henry, the Evil Queen faded into the background and now that's a completely different person." Regina pursed her lips as she thought over what Emma had said. "You weren't there in the Enchanted Forest during my reign. Quite honestly, you can't make statements like that when you didn't even know me at my worst." Emma held her hand in the air "Whoa there, Regina. You forgot I've seen the Evil Queen three times. Those times were brief, true, but I saw what everyone was talking about. Madame Mayor was a step up from her, and now, you, Regina Mills, are worlds away from the Evil Queen."

There was silence for a few minutes until Emma heard a whispered "Thank you" emanate from Regina. She reached over and clasped Regina's hand, saying "You've come a long way. Don't let anyone take that away from you." Letting the hand go, Emma chuckled "I have to admit, I enjoyed the Evil Queen outfits." Regina looked down at her hand, still tingling from Emma's gesture, and said "What do you mean, enjoyed those outfits?"

"Well… they were hot. I have to admit, you rocked those outfits." Regina smirked, "Don't tell me your tastes run to leather, Miss Swan." Emma grinned and shot back, "Well, there is that leather jacket you're always going on and on about." Regina made a face and rested her head on the headrest, closing her eyes.

That evening, Emma imbibed a few too many beers and required a bit of assistance from Regina in order to walk all that way back to their hotel. As Emma stumbled into the room and landed face first on her bed, Regina sighed. Emma could be an endearing drunk, but she really shouldn't have had that last beer. Regina moved around Emma's bed in order to remove her shoes. While kneeling down to remove the shoes, Emma wiggled and mumbled "Jeans off. S'not comfortable" before passing out once again. Regina felt a flutter in her stomach at the thought of dragging those jeans down the Savior but conceded that those jeans would be seriously not be conductive to sleeping. Sighing, she pushed Emma over so she could unbutton the jeans.

Five minutes later, Regina was seriously annoyed at the amount of work it had taken to get those jeans down. Standing up, she let her eyes roam down Emma's long legs and thought back to this morning. She had definitely seen much more than Emma had intended, and a chuckle came to her lips as she thought about her momentary shock at seeing Emma whip off her towel, exposing her chest. That had sent a bolt of arousal straight down there but Emma's hilarious dance moves had offset any further thoughts in that direction. Smiling, she looked down at Emma sprawled out on the bed, golden curls spilling all over. She tentatively reached out to push back a few stray tendrils from Emma's face but froze when she heard "R'gina? You there?" Clearing her throat, she said "Yes?" Emma, eyes still shut, continued "Y'know when I said earlier that the Evil Queen was hot? Jus' wanted you t'know you're even hotter now as Regina." With that, sleep overtook Emma once again and left a stunned Regina staring down at her.