Regina kept her eyes shut tight against the light of the morning and counted the chimes coming from the clock in the corridor. Seven. She dragged herself into a sitting position and her body ached in protest. She rubbed the sharp, sandy sleep from her eyes. She must have gotten a few hours at least.
In the harsh illumination of the day, her memories from the night before seemed to shrink back to the shadows. It didn't even seem real.
She groaned and climbed out of bed, starting her preparations for the morning. She splashed her face with cold water, hoping it would help her look fresh at breakfast and not like she had been out until the wee hours on a secret trip to the town with her sister. Zelena, she discovered, had not gone to the same trouble and Regina had a quiet breakfast with her father.
"What will you be doing today?" the king had asked her, vacantly.
She stared back at him. Did he have no idea of anything that went on under his own roof? It's not as if he had a kingdom to run in anything but name.
"Dancing" Regina replied shortly. He made some banal observations that she couldn't bring herself to reply to and excused herself. He didn't protest.
Regina went back to her room to dress for her lesson. She felt oddly nervous today, she couldn't put her finger on why. It took three dress changes before she was happy enough with her appearance to head down to the Old Wing, as she had been calling it. She was surprised to find that she was the first one there.
She arranged herself on the chaise but got bored of waiting after a while. She got up to look out of the window at the palace workers going about their business. Had any of them been at the tavern last night? Had any of them suspected she was amongst them?
Suddenly she realised she could hear boots striking stone in the hall, but just one pair. She wondered who it was and felt a flutter of anxiety that it might be Emma, or that it might not be.
She didn't bother to arrange herself this time, she just leant on the windowsill.
Emma appeared, closed the door behind her and dropped a bundle into the trunk. She didn't so much as look at Regina until she had and closed the lid with a bang. She sighed.
Regina got the distinct feeling she shouldn't be the one to break the silence. She didn't move in fact, struggling to read Emma's body language and to reconcile the woman stood before with the woman she had seen last night.
Emma turned toward her but took a moment to drag her eyes up to meet Regina's, as if she dreaded what was coming. Her expression was hard.
"What were you doing at The Reel last night?" she finally asked in a controlled voice.
Regina didn't answer immediately. How had Emma even known she was there? Had Zelena told? No, that would get her into an equal amount of trouble with Cora and she probably would have had their heads by now. She didn't know how to reply, she had so many questions of her own.
"I didn't know you would be there" Regina said eventually. "Zelena wanted to go"
Emma rounded on her so quickly, she would have taken a step back if she weren't already against a wall.
"Do you have any idea what could have happened if you were recognised? For fucks sake!" Emma turned away from her and wiped her mouth like she hadn't meant to swear at her.
Regina didn't understand, no one should have recognised her. She had worn a glamour, even Zelena didn't recognise her at first. She heard Emma take a slow breath.
"Nothing happened though" She said walking towards the other woman.
"It could have though!" Emma turned to face her again, she didn't seem to know where to look "Regina, you could have been mobbed! You can't walk around without guards to protect you! I swear to gods my heart stopped beating when I saw you"
Something clanged in Regina's chest.
"If we were seen in the same place, people would think I took you there! I could be fucking hanged! At the very least I'd never work again which is almost as good as." Emma's expression seemed equal parts anger and fear.
Regina pressed her lips together. She hadn't thought of that. She couldn't imagine anything bad happening to Emma, she was such a vision of strength and talent.
"I apologise" Regina said. It sounded hollow, like it wasn't enough but she meant it. "I'll never go again" she added though the promise saddened her greatly.
Emma frowned at the floor like she was holding back a lot. Regina guessed she was angry, though she didn't understand why Emma didn't take it out on her. She certainly deserved it. The air was thick with things that weren't being said.
"It was incredible though" Regina broke the tension "I didn't sleep at all last night thinking about you…all" she added quickly, unable to leave it at just 'you' which would have been more accurate.
Emma didn't look at her. She groaned quietly and walked over to lean on the trestle table.
"Was it something special last night?" Regina asked, desperate to talk about it with her.
"No" Emma replied after a while, though her voice was flat "it's like that most nights. It's good right now because lots of people are coming in from the big trading roads because of the ball. There's people from all over. Dances from all over" she looked at the floor.
Regina had so many questions but Emma didn't seem keen to answer any of them.
"And Pip, I couldn't believe my ears" she tried again, suddenly aware of what she sounded like and trying to draw attention away from her admiration of Emma. A memory of her in that dress flashed across her mind and then was gone again.
"Where is he today?" she asked and looked around to check he hadn't snuck in. He was very good at making himself into the furniture when he wanted to.
Emma watched her for a moment before replying.
"I told him to stay home in case..." She hesitated and glanced at Regina "in case anything happened to me at the palace"
Regina was horrified.
"And you still came?" She asked
Emma shrugged.
"I know you think this isn't important for me, but it is, and not just because if I make one single mistake, word gets around and I never work again. I thought at least Pip would be ok. Musicians can always find bits of work here and there" Emma said
Regina could have cried she was so angry at herself for putting them in this position. She wondered what the other reasons were that this was important to Emma.
Regina could hardly believe the impact of what she had done.
"Do you want to dance today?" Emma asked.
"Yes" Regina replied honestly "will you teach me something new?" She asked
Emma almost smiled "in a day?"
"Yes" she replied, matter of factly. "Something I'll never dance at a ball"
Emma looked at her, more searchingly than she had before. Regina immediately felt like she had been stripped naked. She resisted the urge to check only so she wouldn't break eye contact with Emma. She felt like she couldn't stand it, and like she wanted it to last forever.
"Ok" Emma said when she was finished sizing her up. She was up in a second, rummaging through the trunk. She pulled out a box and what looked like the end of a trumpet. One fit onto the other.
"This is Pip The Second, in case anything ever happens to Pip The First" Emma said
She pulled off her boots and swapped them for shoes. She jumped and struck the floor three times with what seemed like impossible speed.
Regina had a flash back of the night before. Emma's hair bouncing on her shoulders and the crack of heels on wood.
"Ok, I'm going to teach you something better than a simple dance" Emma said
Regina was slightly disappointed though she tried not to show it. She had asked for a dance, but she supposed she should be grateful Emma was here at all.
Emma wound up Pip II and placed a disk on the top. Music of four musicians started up at once but there was no one there. Regina stared at the trumpet box.
"How...how is it...?" She tried to inspect the box and Emma laughed.
"Come on" she said and took her hand and pulled her to the middle of the room.
Regina ran to keep up with her.
"That wasn't very proper" Regina play scolded and raised an eyebrow.
Emma put her arm around her waist and pulled them close together.
"This isn't going to be proper, it's going to be real" Emma smiled
Regina had no idea what that meant but it was exhilarating. Her heart fluttered.
"I'm going to teach you how to dance" Emma said, holding Regina's hand in hers, but much closer than before. There was no structure like their other dances, there was no distance between them at all. It was just them and the ghost musicians that Regina knew she would have to investigate later.
"Listen to the music. You have to let it kind of flow through you. It moves you, you're a leaf on a gently flowing river. Understand?" Emma asked
"In principal" Regina replied
"Ok, follow my lead" Emma said
The steps Emma led her on were different from any others she had known. She detected a pattern but struggled to follow Emma.
"Loosen up" Emma said "there's no right or wrong, there's only movement, give and take"
Regina didn't understand. There was no structure to follow, it was all in the moment. It was...Emma. This was her life. Emma twirled her and laughed at her surprise.
"Ok" Emma said, stopping. "That was good, you need to loosen up though. Shake your arms out "
"What?" Regina asked. She hadn't chosen her dress so carefully to then make an idiot out of herself in it.
Emma jumped around and shook her limbs out. She rolled her neck on her shoulders. She stretched her arms and Regina heard them crack again.
"Stretch, shake, it'll help, honestly" Emma said
Regina was bordering on annoyance. She hadn't asked for this, had she? She did what she was told and copied Emma, though she could hardly understand how it would help and she scowled as she did it.
Emma changed to music from a lively reel to something a bit slower. It was still unlike the music Regina knew. She couldn't tell how many musicians there were.
"You relaxed?" Emma asked, walking up to her, her shoes clipping as she went.
"Yes" Regina lied so she could stop shaking her arms like an imbecile.
"No you're not" Emma laughed, "your shoulders are practically in your ears. Let me help"
She stood behind Regina and gently pushed her shoulders all the way down. Regina reluctantly let her.
"Feel the difference?" Emma asked
"I suppose" she replied. She couldn't really concentrate. It made her nervous that Emma was behind her.
"I'm going to shake your arms out, so you know how to do it properly, ok?" Emma said
Regina nodded. She felt Emma turn her shoulders.
"Keep your hips facing forward, try not to turn them." Emma said. Regina felt her press her abdomen for illustration. In her head she screamed.
"Right, now swing a little further around each time, gently, that's good. Keep your arms loose, let them just swing around."
Regina did what she thought she was being told.
"Can you feel it there?" She touched the small of Regina's back.
"Yes" Regina said
"And here?" Emma rubbed the line between her shoulder blades.
Regina sucked her breath in sharply at the pain.
"That still hurts?" Emma asked
"Just a little" Regina replied, not wanting to draw attention to it
Emma rubbed the spot again and Regina twitched and gasped. Emma hummed.
"Do you want me to rub it out?" Emma asked. Regina wished she could see her face.
"Ok" she replied, noncommittally.
Emma slid her thumb underneath the fabric at the back of Regina's dress and gently pressed. Regina took a breath in sharply. Emma rubbed firmly in circles. Regina bit her lip to keep from making any more embarrassing sounds but it didn't entirely work.
She groaned in mingled pain and relief. It was loud enough that the door to the room flung open and a guard burst in.
They stood still facing the door. Emma paused but didn't drop her hands, well aware of how guilty that would make her look.
"Er…are you alright, Princess?" he asked
"Yes?" Regina replied, questioningly. She felt Emma withdraw her hands.
"It's just, I heard a sound" he stuttered and stared daggers behind her at Emma.
"I see" Regina replied "Perhaps you should stand guard at the other end of the corridor then. If you hear a noise from all the way down there, it probably is Miss Swan trying to murder me, so do interrupt then"
He didn't move for a moment. Regina knew he meant well, but she had also noticed the way all the palace staff seemed to look at Emma and Pip, like they wanted to take them down a peg or two.
"Yes Majesty" he replied and closed the door.
Regina turned to look at Emma, who was biting her lip to keep in a laugh. Regina laughed at the sight of her.
"Oh dear" Emma said "Maybe we should call it a day, Majesty"
"Oh no, we've hardly done anything" Regina said, suddenly desperate to do the stupid arm swinging thing again if it would keep Emma here.
Emma looked at her in that way again. Regina felt exposed, but she fixed a stubborn look on her.
"Alright then" Emma laughed "Come here"
She slid her hand around Regina's waist again. Regina could have sworn it was lower this time. Either way, she was properly relaxed and ready to meet Emma's challenge of "real" dancing, whatever that was.