When Emma arrived at Regina's house that night, the brunette let her in and took her coat. This time, instead of Emma moving to hug Regina first, the older woman put her arms around Emma's waist after hanging the blonde's coat. When they broke apart, the women smiled at each other and Regina told Emma to head into the dining room and she would be right in with dinner. The blonde did as she was told and wasn't sitting more than a minute before the brunette came in with a delicious smelling casserole. She placed it on top of a potholder in a spot reachable for both place settings. Regina sat at the head of the table, Emma to her right. The two women chatted throughout dinner, Emma devouring two helpings of the chicken, cheese, broccoli and rice dish Regina had made.

"Emma."

"Yes, Regina?"

"I really like that dress on you, it's quite caressing on your curves, it's very attractive." Emma's cheeks tinged with pink, but she thanked Regina for the compliment she had paid.

They moved into the den and Regina put the movie into the player. The two women sat next to each other on the couch. They were so close that their arms were brushing as the movie began. By time the end of the movie had come, Emma had her arm around Regina and the brunette was leaning against the blonde's side. As the credits scrolled they looked at themselves, then at each other and they realized the close proximity between them when Regina lifted her face from Emma's shoulder and looked into deep blue-green eyes. She searched the lighter eyes for a reason to stop what she was about to do, but she couldn't find one. All the eyes did was look at her tenderly, longingly, so Regina took the chance. She moved her head up an inch and she was very near to the blonde's face.

She inhaled sharply, looking for her mind to bring her clarity. It didn't. She inched forward just another half of an inch and her lips were pressed against Emma's. The brunette moved her lips slowly against the smaller, pink ones. She only kept their lips together for a moment, breaking away to look into the younger woman's eyes, unsure of what response she would give to Regina's kiss.

"Regina, I…" Emma started in a whisper. Before Emma could finish, Regina bolted up to a full sitting position, taking the blonde's words as a rejection. Emma leaned toward Regina, not wanting the other woman to misunderstand her. She snaked one arm around the brunette's shoulders, gripping the back of her neck in her hand. She moved into Regina's personal space and moved her mouth to kiss the other woman's. The kiss began tenderly, each woman trying to learn the feel of the mouth against theirs. After a minute, Regina moved her tongue across the bottom lip of the blonde's, looking for entry, the mouth against hers opened immediately to allow it. Once their tongues started sliding together, their pace quickened and Emma pushed herself against Regina, forcing the other woman's body to lean against the arm of the couch. Emma's left hand moved into dark hair, pulling, while her right hand moved down the older woman's small form to her supple ass. Regina's hands were holding the small of Emma's back, pulling the woman tightly against her, nails digging against the fabric of her dress. Emma moved her hand from Regina's ass to the buttons on her vest, once those were taken care of, she started undoing the buttons on the blouse Regina was wearing. Her hand, after accomplishing it's task, moved across smooth olive-toned skin to find one of the woman's breasts. She cupped the lace-covered mound and kneaded it tenderly, running the pad of her thumb across the soft flesh above the bra.

Emma moved her mouth from Regina's, causing the brunette to whimper softly at the loss of contact until she felt the blonde's mouth peppering kisses down her jaw and stopping to suck gently on her pulse point. She moved her mouth quickly enough to ensure there wouldn't be marks left, her lips traveling down the line of Regina's throat. She felt the moan vibrate in the throat against her lips before it sounded out of the mouth of the woman beneath her.

"Emma," Regina moaned. "I want you, now." The words had a sobering effect on the blonde and she pushed herself off of the brunette, moaning.

"Regina, I'm sorry, no. I want you, you have no idea how much I want you, but right now is too soon. This was only our first kiss. I want to keep seeing you a little while before we're together like this. It's only going to hurt us both if we sleep together and it doesn't work out."

In the time Emma was talking, Regina had moved herself off the arm of the couch and sat up straight. She nodded slowly after Emma finished talking.

"I know you're right, but that does not make not jumping on you right now any easier. I really want to keep kissing you, though, I'm not sure we will be able to without getting back to this point."

"Maybe we should cool it, for tonight."

"Yes, I suppose we should."

"I'll see you Monday morning?"

"As long as you come." Regina finished her sentence with a smile. Emma stood, bending halfway to place a kiss against Regina's lips one more time before walking to the door. She didn't realize that she was being followed to the door until she went to grab her coat. She turned toward the brunette, smiling and putting her hands on the woman's tiny waist, pulling her flush against her own body and squeezing her in a hug.

"Have a good night, Regina. I'll be thinking of you until Monday."

"Text me anytime you want."

"I'll take you up on that offer." She placed a soft, quick kiss on the other woman's lips, then her nose and each of her cheeks. Pulling away, she slid on her jacket and headed out the door, to her car, for home.


The weekend passed too slowly, agonizingly so. Emma forced herself to work both days so she could take Monday off and have Saturday mostly off, for Christmas. She had gotten the next gift for Regina over the weekend, though she knew it would be a weaker gift, it was pretty and she liked it. When it came to be time to leave on Monday morning, Emma was practically ready to go the second her alarm went off, she had already showered and dried her hair the night before, so all she had to do was get dressed. She pulled on a warm red sweater and dark blue skinny jeans. She made her usual stop at Granny's and was passed right in by Regina's secretary.

"Emma," Regina lit up the moment that the blonde walked through the office door. "How are you?" she added as she walked to Emma and pulled the coffee tray from her hand, removing both their drinks and disposing of the tray.

Emma sat down the wrapped gift and the pastry bag with the scone and pulled Regina at the waist so that her body was snug against Emma's. "It was a really long weekend. We shouldn't ever spend a weekend completely apart ever again."

"My sentiments exactly, my dear."

"There's a note to go with today's gift," Emma urged, pulling the brunette back to her desk and gently pushing the other woman into her chair before handing her the gift to unwrap. When the brunette tore at the paper, the note fell off and she bent to grab it, pulling the thick, folded piece of paper from the cream colored envelope.

My dear Regina,

This might not seem like a great gift, and I kind of really suck with words, but here goes: I got you this present, even though it is so simple and ordinary, because I want to trade notes with you. I bought myself some matching paper, and now we have special paper that we can write to each other on. Whether it's just a note to say hi, or a note for something we can't say out loud with our mouths, I want us to use this paper just when we communicate with each other.

Anyway, I know it's a silly gift, but I hope you like it.

Yours, truly,

Emma

Regina's eyes had teared up a little bit at the end, feeling the sincerity of the blonde's in waves. She nodded to Emma and finished peeling the wrapping paper off the stationary box. The paper was simple, pale yellow with an orange and green border and a small flower design in the bottom left corner of each sheet. Regina stood and walked around her desk to the blonde, bending halfway to kiss her on the mouth.

"Thank you, Emma. It's beautiful and I really appreciate it."

"Of course, and I meant what I said in my letter, so please, take advantage of that."

"I can't wait to."