True Love's Kiss (10/?)
Fandom: Once Upon a Time
Rating: T. There be language.
Pairings: Swan Queen
Disclaimers: Don't own the characters or anything else from the show. Just borrowing for a bit.
Summary: Determined to break the curse holding his town in thrall, Henry Mills has an epiphany. Eventual Swan Queen.
A/N: Look at me, all on a role and stuff. Thanks for all the reviews and stuff guys, it makes me happy to know you're actually enjoying this.
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It had been three weeks. Three weeks of lunch dates and family dinners and visits that had ceased to revolve solely around Henry (Who for his part merely sat back with a triumphant little grin anytime he saw them interacting without his influence.). Three weeks of spending almost every night entangled in one an-other's arms.
Three weeks and still Emma hadn't been granted a proper kiss.
She wasn't denied anything else; Indeed she had been given leave to lavish kisses on every other inch of the Mayor's flesh. It was only when she strayed near those full, perfect lips that she was forcibly guided elsewhere. She tried not to take it personally, knew that Regina wouldn't have let the blond become such a fixture in her life if she truly saw their relationship as being purely about sex, but it was frustrating all the same. She burned and itched with the need to share this one small but oh so intimate gesture. It would surely be the kiss to end all kisses; They shared such explosive chemistry in every other aspect.
"So are you ever going to tell me who he is?"
Emma blinked, drawn from her en-flamed thoughts to find Mary Margret gazing at her curiously over the rim of her coffee mug. Saturday had rolled around once again and they had decided to share breakfast at the diner, celebrating their mutual freedom.
It was one of those weird days anyway, where the sun shone brightly but didn't warm anything it touched, and Emma couldn't think of anything better for it than a hot chocolate from Granny's. They had even acquired the perfect table, just far enough from the door that the chill air drifting in from people's coming and going didn't reach them.
Not so far, however, that she didn't notice when the mayor arrived at precisely eight o'clock, watching the woman's progress from over Mary's shoulder in what she hoped was an un-obvious manner. Regina, dressed in what for her passed as casual, was nothing if not a creature of habit, from the news paper folded neatly under her arm to the table she chose, even the way she sat in her chair was exactly the same as the weekend before, and the one before that (Not that Emma had been stalking, no. She'd had perfectly valid reasons for being around at those times to witness the behavior.) It was almost eerie.
There was this morning though, she was pleased to note, one small deviation when brown eyes slid over their table and twinkled with a barely there smirk.
"Who?" Emma jerked her attention back the earnest hazel gaze that was still upon her, vaguely aware that she was expected to actually answer.
"Whoever's making you all dreamy eyed. I don't think you've heard a single word I said."
"Uhhh..." Emma guiltily fished through her memory for the thread of their conversation but came up empty. "Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to totally zone out on you."
Across the room a newspaper rustled and Emma caught a glimpse of a pink tongue darting out to lick the Mayor's fingers before she flipped through the pages. It took a concentrated effort to keep her attention from being pulled away again.
"It's alright. I'm just curious is all- it must be pretty serious if it has you this distracted."
Emma wanted to point out that she was being coerced, because no way in hell anyone licked a spoon like that when they weren't aware of having an audience, but held her tongue.
Ruby arrived with their plates and an annoyingly knowing wink for Emma (And she was seriously going to rip the waitress's arm off and beat Henry with it if the innuendo and the smugness didn't stop soon.). "Here you go guys. Enjoy!"
Mary watched the waitress saunter away, a curious frown twisting her lips, and then set her mug down with an abrupt thud that splashed little droplets of brown liquid everywhere. "Ruby knows? Ruby knows and you didn't tell me?"
"W-what? No! What made you think that?"
Emma blanched under the look, the one that said Mary Margret didn't buy into her crap for a minute. "Okay look, Ruby only thinks she knows. I haven't told her anything." Which was true enough; Ruby's inkling was perfectly correct but she hadn't heard a single word about it from Emma.
"Okay. So who is it?"
"It's still new right now, I don't wanna jinx it. You know I'm not good at this stuff." Emma pushed her eggs around on her plate with her fork, eyes darting to the front corner of the diner in spite of herself. No way Mary wouldn't freak out if she knew. She couldn't even begin to understand the animosity between the two women (Henry's excuse of "She hates Snow White." just didn't cut it.) but she didn't much feel like being judged when she was still so uncertain herself. "When- If it gets serious, you'll be the first to know."
Last was more likely but Mary Margaret didn't need to know that.
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It was frightening just how content she felt resting in Emma's arms. She tried not to over think it-after all this was supposed to be her happy ending, why shouldn't she indulge in all things that brought her pleasure?- but it was still disconcerting after all those years of basically feeling nothing to suddenly feel so much. She thought her heart might just burst, unused to all the extra effort. It didn't help that underneath it all still lurked the fragility, the terror that this new, beautiful thing might suddenly be ripped from her. She never got to keep pretty things for very long.
Snow- Mary Margret- was out, off on a date. She thought Emma might have mentioned Dr. Whale but really, Regina had lost interest after being assured that the bothersome woman wouldn't be interrupting them. Henry too was gone for the evening, sleeping over with Michael's twins. She was trying to be happy about her lonely little boy finally making some friends and not focus on the fact that their happy little family had made it back to one another in spite of the curse. It was an ongoing effort.
So they were left to their own devices, electing to curl up on the couch in the apartment Emma and Mary Margret shared (A first Regina wasn't particularly thrilled about) with a movie the mayor had yet to pay any attention to. She was too focused on their conjoined hands, enjoying the contrast between Emma's fair complexion and her own much darker hue, to be bothered with much else.
"Tell me about your childhood." Emma said suddenly, her chest rumbling beneath Regina's ear, and she looked up to find green eyes watching her rather than the television screen. It seemed she wasn't the only one distracted.
"Why?" She kept her tone nonchalant but inside she was scrambling, wondering how she was going to get out of this. Emma tended to see through even her most convincing lies. In any case she suspected there was only so much more that could be denied the blond before her frustration made her leave- or aroused her suspicion.
"You already know my story." Emma shrugged, a barely there raising of her shoulders. "I just wanted to know yours. Any brothers? Sisters? Did you grow up here?"
"No, no siblings. Just me."
"And?"
"And what? There's not much to tell, honestly. I've lived in Storybrook for as long as I've been on this earth." Which was perhaps a strange choice of wording but truth enough to make it past her lover's innate lie detector, "Henry's the only family I possess that really matters."
"Okay. I know you go to visit your dad's grave every week but what about your mom? Is she still around?"
It was only extreme force of will that kept Regina from shuddering at the very thought of that woman being anywhere near her town. Still, Emma must have felt the stiffening of her spine for her free hand was suddenly tracing soothing circles up and down the brunette's arm. "No, she's far, far from here."
"Has Henry ever met her? He's never mentioned a grandmother-"
"No! No. And pray he never does."
Emma was frowning and Regina could almost see the questions bubbling in the other woman's throat. There was entirely too much thinking going on in that head of hers.
Deciding to cut the interrogation off before it could begin Regina rolled over, straddling the other woman's hips and planting a kiss on the knuckles she was still holding on to. Emma's other hand trailed upwards to caress her face instead, lingering on the scar that sat just above her upper lip.
"I've upset you."
"No, I'd just prefer not to be thinking of my mother when there's so many better things we could be doing." She rocked gently to prove her point and knew from the glassy look that took over Emma's eyes that she had won, at least for the moment.
It was as Emma was leaning up, focused determinedly on the lips beneath her finger tips in a way that had that irrational fear curling once again in Regina's belly, that the front door banged open.
"Oh Emma it was just awful I don't know why I thought-" Mary Margret looked up from unraveling her scarf, her wind burned cheeks turning just a shade pinker as she realized what she'd walked in on. The squeak she emitted was decidedly mouse-like. "Oh my God! I'm so sorry I'll just- Be anywhere else-"
She backed out the door again, shutting it behind her, leaving only the cream colored woolen scarf sprawled on the floor to mark that she had been there at all.
Emma groaned, dropping her forehead to rest against Regina's breast bone. "I should go find her. That's going to be... God. Did you have to make everyone in town hate you?"
"No, but I can't say that I didn't enjoy it."
Emma snorted. "Of course you did. I'm sorry this is- Tomorrow, okay?"
Regina had already resolved to leave anyway, not relishing the thought of being present for that particular conversation. Partly because she didn't trust herself not to claw Mary Margret's eyes out if she had to face her for too long and partly because she had no desire to witness whatever justifications for their relationship Emma might offer her.
Still, as she slithered to her feet she couldn't help one last, sultry smirk. "Tomorrow, Sheriff Swan. I expect your undivided attention."
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She wasn't consciously aware of making the decision to seek the pawnbroker out, knew only that the fear evoked from the thought of kissing Emma hadn't been helped by the look that Mary Margret had shot her as they'd briefly passed one another in the hall on the Mayor's way out. Like she was trying to recall something, poised just out of reach on the cusp of her memory. It was a look she had been receiving a lot around town lately, though it always quickly passed.
So when she looked up to find herself standing outside the little shop, the frigid night air pressing in around her, she supposed if she wouldn't be spending her evening in the way that she had originally planned she may as well take the opportunity to sooth her growing paranoia.
He was there of course, Rumpelstiltskin, Mr. Gold, behind the counter dancing his fingers across the strings of the guitar that hung on the wall. He looked up as she locked the door behind her, baring his teeth in a smug little smile. Almost as though he had been expecting her.
"Something's wrong. With the curse."
She glared at him expectantly as she stalked across the claustrophobicly cluttered store to face him, silently willing him to deny it, to reassure her that the curse he'd provided her was as unshakable as ever and her fears were silly. As so often was the case, however, he didn't give her what she wanted. "Oh I know, dearie."
"How do I stop it?"
"I'm afraid it's far too late for that." He moved to lean towards her with his palms against the counter top and for a moment she thought he might just giggle, in that shrill, annoying way he'd had in the old world.
"What?"
"You see, when I made the dark curse I also made a potion- true love, bottled. I placed just one, single drop of that potion on the parchment, one small safety valve. That potion was the product of Snow White and her dear, dear Prince Charming's undying love. As was Emma, you see."
Regina clenched her fists, nails digging into the palms of her hands hard enough to draw blood. She had the sinking suspicion that she already possessed the answer she was looking for, had done for weeks now, ever since that first flutter of emotion had flared within her chest. "That's why she's the savior but I don't understand-"
"Don't you? I made the curse so that it could be broken when our dear Sheriff Swan found her one, twoo love. And she has, as I think you well know."
The look he gave her was significant and Regina felt the denial welling up in her throat even as her heart misstepped at the confirmation. "Me? That's impossible. I already had my true love- He's long dead, as you well know."
"You had your first love, maybe even pure love, dearie, but it wasn't true. It's only a matter of time now." Gold gave the globe sitting atop the counter next to him a casual spin, finger tips trailing across its surface as it turned round and round. "I suppose you could try to send her away again- but I think we've well established just how stubborn Miss Swan can be when she wants something and you've given her every reason in the world to be wanting. I'd start looking for places to hide, if I were you. I don't imagine it will be pretty when she realizes just what it is she's fallen for."