x
x
"Maybe it's stupid of me to say this, but I say what I…say and I mean it." Her slurred words only fascinated the blonde, since she had never witnessed the older woman in this manner before.
"That's…good to know," Emma nodded, realizing that the same sensation Regina's fingers commenced upon her shoulder was a reminder of that moment between them in New York.
"And I don't want to be alone," her breathless manner in speaking worried the blonde, for she seemed to be overwhelmed with a rush of emotions that only intensified from the generous intake of alcohol. "I can't…sit or stand around and watch you…with him. I just…"
Emma considered the brunette's heaving chest and felt her own heart take giant leaps as well. "Take it easy," she suggested in a calm manner although a storm was building up a crescendo in her chest. "Come on. You've had more than enough to drink."
"He's not the one for you," Regina's brown eyes met hers. The wind whipped dark hair back and those eyes…
Emma noted the wetness of tears. "I know that you care. I really do. But this is what I want."
For a few seconds, the older woman did nothing but stare back. Biting her lips. Slowly blinking. Then there was a strained expression on her face. One that suggested an eruption of emotions that forced the blonde to reconsider her words. Because it seemed as if she had been spot on all along. And it was frustrating. In fact, it had been frustrating to gaze upon Regina's face and never be able to read what was happening behind the curtain.
Until now.
"I've had a few," the brunette said with a strained smiled. A sharp intake of breath signaled the dire need to build up enough courage on the spot.
"I noticed and I get it that you want to unwind. I know that things have been kind of frustrating for you recently," Emma tried to keep her distance now, displaying sympathy in her tone. "And I mean, after finding out that one way of killing the Evil Queen is to aim for the original. That's brutal. But –"
"I have to die," Regina stated, her voice huskier than before.
"No, you don't." The blonde seemed so sure of herself, that brown eyes met hers instantly. "Listen to me, we'll find another way. We always do. You're not going to die. You can't."
"Why?" Regina nervously laughed, "because you care about me so much that it bothers you to think of me being gone from your life?"
All those words strung together was more than enough for her to process all at once. Actually, the honesty in the brunette's suggestion only forced Emma to dive into that sentence and absorb all the emotions buried within. She could feel the pain. Feel the weigh. All of it. And without realizing it, her heart began to feel that emptiness that would exist if anything ever happened to the other woman.
"I do care about you," Emma chose to confirm, her hands folded. "You know that."
"Yes but how much?" Taking one step closer, the brunette was inches away and still a few shorter than the younger woman.
The blonde was reminded of a warm summer night many moons ago when she had first traversed the soil of this damn town. This godforsaken place that only fostered demons and torn fairytales. Only to find someone who managed to push their way into her personal space over and over again. Thousands of words exchanged. Millions of moments where she honestly felt like rushing in, taking the brunette by the shoulders and shaking her.
But none of that had occurred.
Instead she had stayed and learned to live with the flushed encounters by the other woman. The times when they would cross paths and their eyes would linger. Their gazes would dissolve the hate and the pain.
Now Regina had chosen to stand so close to her, she was reminded of those times in the past. Although the only difference was the dancing desire in the other woman's brown eyes. The way she seemed to believe that everything was linked to the riveting feelings swirling around inside that mind of hers.
"Come on, you know how much I care." Emma tried to seem unfazed by the proximity. But she really was failing.
The older woman's warm breath kissed the blonde's face. "Show me."
"What?"
"How much you care."
"You're…drunk, Regina," Emma laughed nervously, glancing back at the party gathered near the bonfire. None of them were paying any attention to the two women apart from the crowd.
"Do you honestly prefer the pirate over me? Look at me when I'm talking to you."
Emma's chin was immediately captured between warm fingers and her face directed just where the older woman wanted. For their eyes to meet.
"I know that you want me," A fire burned inside those brown orbs. The brunette smiled dangerously.
She was delirious. Regina had to be. "Why do you think that I –" her question was interrupted.
"Because for starters, I smell so much better. I'd surely dominate you in bed. And I'd leave you wanting more and more merely because of how…better I taste, in comparison to him."
Her words were so blunt, Emma's agape expression only provided clarity.
No.
Regina did not just utter those words. She wrapped her mind around that and still couldn't believe it. Alcohol or not, the older woman was really determined to lead this down a definite path.
"Wow," she managed to whisper. "Just…wow."
"I want to taste you, Emma," the brunette moved in closer again, her brown eyes still wet from tears and her words slurring. "All of you."
"Regina, I…" she tried to take a hold of the other woman's upper arms and move her away but the flames in the brunette's heart could not be stamped on.
She planted those flats upon the sand and refused to be moved. Her wet brown eyes provided enough clarity that she was swimming in emotions but also brave enough to jump ahead and do something rash.
"Take me to bed," Regina croaked. "Undress me and make love to me. Because I want it."
"Regina," Emma whispered, feeling that minty wave travel around in her chest. Swirling around. "You're seriously high. You don't know what you're saying right now. I think –"
"I know what I'm saying," the brunette said slowly, "because I'm thinking everything before I say it. I've been feeling this before. But it took a little more for me to jump out and say these things."
"I think," Emma gathered up enough composure to take the older woman's shoulders between her hands, "that you need to breathe. Come on." She nodded, levelling her emerald orbs with brown ones, "copy me. In…" She inhaled deeply and couldn't help but admire how adorable Regina appeared whilst she actually breathed in through parted lips.
"Then out…" They both repeated the process.
This stretched out for a full minute until Regina took a hold of the younger woman's shoulders. She wasn't about to let go. Not when they were so close. Not when everything was crystal clear….out in the open. The wind kissed her dark hair.
"Better?" Emma inquired, feeling the tension from her chest drift away.
"Yes," the brunette smiled. "Now, can you take me to bed?"
No progress. None at all but the intensity in that gaze returning as her warm fingers squeezed into the blonde's shoulders. Trying to unearth a reaction that was definitely happening.
"Regina, I can't do this," Emma said in a strained voice. She studied the other woman's face with worry etched on hers.
The brunette's chest heaved. "Why?"
"Because I just…can't. It's…just so sudden and I don't know if your words are genuine. And for crying out loud, I'm with Killian!"
"But you'd rather be with me," Regina nodded slowly, lowering her grip on the other woman's arms but never releasing them. "He's a man. I'm a woman."
"And why the hell does that mean something to me?" she was growing seriously frustrated, wondering how the heck they were even having this conversation. Blunt words. Words that definitely had slight humor to them but she was insistently treating as serious statements.
"He has chest hair…" those brown eyes widened as if she was afraid of just the thought of it. "I don't. He has…a beard. And he's muscular. I'm softer."
"I don't believe this," Emma stared back. "Do you honestly think that I'm into women?"
"Yes," Regina nodded. She folded her arms. "You really want me."
"Why would you even think so?" The blonde was amazed at that statement.
"He's a villain. I am," Regina began, her husky voice coming sharper now with barely a slur. "He wears eyeliner. I wear eyeliner."
"That doesn't mean –"
"He has had his heart broken terribly and sought revenge for it. I have had the same experience." She was ticking off the similarities inside her mind like clockwork and Emma began to reassess the possibility of alcohol really weakening the older woman's mental state. In fact, it appeared as if she was bolder and sharper.
"So you're saying that what I really want is…you," Emma nodded, her lips pursed briefly. "Because you're a little like him."
"Yes."
"So is that what you did with Robin?" She didn't realize those words had come forth until they lingered in the air. Their eyes held that gaze and maintained it. "He has a son. I do. He lost his partner tragically. I did. He's a thief. I was a thief."
"See?" Regina tilted her head and smiled. "It's not hard for you to utilize your brain cells."
"I think that I should really take you home now," Emma decided, shaking her head and worrying after the brunette more than ever.
Suddenly those brown orbs lit up. "Yes. I like that."
Shaking her head in disbelief, the younger woman took Regina's right arm and led her back to the campfire. After some protest by Killian on having his girlfriend accompany no other than the older brunette home, Emma won. Because she began to realize that if Regina lingered in the company of the others any longer, perhaps a lot more would slip out. So much more. Until Killian would be openly challenged and insulted because of his closeness to her.
So snatching up her jacket, she bid farewell to everyone and practically dragged the older woman along, Regina's arms dangling at her sides as she went. By the time they arrived at the yellow bug, that black dress had begun to climb higher up the brunette's thighs. Even when she tumbled into the front seat of the car, enough display of skin was evident as emerald eyes tried as hard as they could to tear themselves away from the sight.
And onward they drove.
X
"No, you have to stay on the couch," Emma twisted from between the covers on her bed and observed the shadowed figure standing by the doorway.
Her form was shrouded by a red blanket, draping down to the floor. And in her arms, Regina hugged the enormous pillow the blonde had provided.
"I can't," the brunette croaked. Her slumped shoulders displayed nothing but defeat.
Emma sighed. She reached over and flipped on the lamp on the nightstand. "Why?"
The soft yellow light was enough to illuminate the room and a little bit of the doorway. Regina was wearing a definite pout, her brown eyes sleepy.
"Because I want to sleep with you. In your bed."
"Stop being such a baby," Emma used the same tone she would use on Henry when he was being petulant and adorable. "And go back to the couch. It's huge and it's soft and it's just outside the door."
"I don't want to sleep on the couch," Regina whined. Dark hair fell like a curtain around her face as she leant forward. "Why can't you understand that?"
"Because I'm still trying to…" the blonde pushed herself up onto her elbows, "…process all of it. Like what you said about how you feel about me. I mean, I knew…somewhat. I guessed that you were into me. But I wasn't sure."
"I'm not going to do anything you don't want me to do."
Silence elapsed.
Emerald eyes slowly blinked. She really wanted to see past the expressed words on the beach. How the older woman was so blunt. Knowing what she wanted. Not quite being reckless whilst intoxicated but gathering up enough courage to say what she wanted to say.
"So," Regina continued after nothing was said, "have you processed it all now?"
"I still…need to." Emma felt a little uneasy but more relaxed than before.
"Are you mad at me?" Regina's adorable character only softened the younger woman's heart so much more.
She exhaled. "Of course I'm not mad at you."
"Then why would you order me to sleep outside in the dark –"
"There's a lamp out there!" Emma pointed out.
"…where there are shadows and sounds and the heater keeps whispering." Regina hugged herself, the blanket caressing the floor. "I don't want to stay out there. I want to stay with you. Where it's safer."
"When did you become some a big scaredy cat?" She actually smiled.
"Since I let go of my big bad wolf half and I turned into a ball of mush." Regina sighed. She slowly toed the threshold and frowned at her bare feet. "Letting go of the Evil Queen made me fall in love with you more. And I can't control it as I used to. The wall is gone. Everything just comes rushing out. Everything I didn't want you to see."
She totally understood how it felt to break down a wall. And after all, she had been pondering on exactly what Regina had done when she decided to rip her evil half away as a separate entity. Knowing that at some point, the brunette would turn softer and less scary. When she in fact did turn out that way, now there the blonde was, trying to shut her out. When she needed someone to cuddle her.
"If I let you come sleep with me," Emma dared, whilst brown eyes immediately latched onto her emerald ones, "will you promise not to try any funny business?"
"Usually I'm the irresistible one," Regina confessed with a shrug. "So you should really be worried about you. Not me."
What.
She was totally impressed by that and stared back in awe. So this was really going somewhere. Somewhere that led to her practically wrapping herself into a cocoon with the thick green blanket.
"Get in," Swan said without making eye contact. She decided to keep the lamp on just in case.
At times their nearness provided her with some kind of clarity that at least someone in her life other than Henry cared. Cared enough to linger near. To never display doubt on their face. Regina oftentimes would invade her personal space with little or no invitation and somehow…somehow that made the blonde feel welcoming.
Until now.
From the moment the older woman slipped into the bed, along slid her blanket. And although she had enough warmth available, her greedy hands reached for Emma's own source of warmth and the brunette yanked the sheet away.
A groan escaped the younger woman. Then a growl emanating from Regina. Very soon, their hands provided enough defense as the fighting ensued. Grabbing and twisting between the two blankets like two kids. Henry would have been quite confused had he stepped into the room and witnessed the childish antics between his two mothers.
Finally, when she had both blankets wrapped around her like a cocoon, Regina lay motionless, staring up at the ceiling. There was a triumphant expression on her face, those eyelashes slowly fluttering and Emma couldn't decipher the meaning behind such selfishness. She remained on her side of the bed, staring hard into the older woman's right cheek with her arms folded. Because the weather was bitter cold. A storm was obviously approaching.
"Give me back my blanket, Regina," she said, as calmly as possible.
The brunette's chest heaved. "No."
"I said give me back my damn blanket," Emma said through her teeth, fists clenched. "Or else –"
"Or else what?" brown eyes immediately turned to meet emerald ones. Slight amusement showed. "You'll fight me for it?"
Emma sighed. "You know I can use my magic to get my way, right?"
"Magic that…I…taught you," the older woman said with a smirk. "I can easily get it back."
There was silence.
They stared at each other.
Then Emma rolled her eyes. The ceiling was considered now.
Of all the fights they could ever have, this one was over comfort from a blanket. She couldn't believe it. Lying there and simmering as her space was invaded. Her heart was beginning to thud hard and slow. Every single beat could be heard in her ears. And just for a moment, she wanted to roll the brunette off of the bed. Roll her off like a blasted ball of mush.
"Why do you have to do this to me?" Emma whined, fretting as the cold gathered around the bottoms of her feet. She began to feel like an icicle. "I brought you here. I'm allowing you to stay over. And you're just behaving like a big kid."
"A kid who needs a good spanking," Regina's admitted hoarsely.
The blonde glanced her way. "I'm not that type."
Brown eyes met emerald ones. "So you like being spanked?"
"Give me back my blanket."
"Answer the question. Do you like being spanked?"
Emma's chest heaved. "No. I don't. I'm not into that kind of stuff. Bet that makes me less attractive, huh?"
Brown eyes narrowed. Regina seemed amused. "I can show you how pleasurable foreplay can be when aided by extras. All you have to do is trust me."
"You're so high right now. I'm going to forget you even said that." Emma raised her eyebrows though, internally wondering if the older woman was really into that sort of thing.
"I might be. But clarity is still evident. My senses become sharper. My tongue is equipped. My brain fueled by courage."
"So…" Emma actually turned on her side, facing the brunette as the actuality of the situation kicked in. Regardless of how she evidently displayed her frustration in having company over, especially someone who was deeply attracted to her, she would have to tolerate the consequences.
She wanted to know more suddenly. About the other woman's lifestyle. About whether she was cute and cuddly or dark and twisted in bed.
"So…" Regina turned on her side, but slowly, reaching up to tuck a chunk of dark hair behind an ear. She was still wrapped in both blankets, the curve of her hips quite evident; the curve of her thighs too.
"You've been with a woman before, huh?" she was fishing but not with a heavy heart.
Regina nodded. "Yes. Not only one. But several."
Emma swallowed hard. So there was enough experience. "And you're also attracted to men?"
The other woman blinked once. "Yes."
"But how does it work?" Swan was confused. "Isn't it possible that maybe you're not really…into both of them?"
"Why are we having this two faced conversation when it's evident that I'm only attracted to you?"
"Because suppose you're with…" She clamped her mouth shut and reassessed those words. "Suppose you're with a woman…as in a relationship and then a man comes along that you find attractive."
"If you're worrying about me being unfaithful to you then you're wasting your time," Regina explained in her husky voice boldly. "I would never stray away from someone like you. Now stop wasting time and –"
"Okay," Emma held up a hand to signal her displeasure in having any kind of disagreement between them. "Okay fine. Here's what…give me back my blanket and then I'll talk to you. One on one. For as long as you want."
The older woman's scrutiny on the blonde's face was done slowly. Seconds slid by. Time that gave Emma enough space to consider her options.
If she indeed decided to be led down this path, then there was no chance of turning back. Things would be revealed. Stuff would be said. Confessions made. At some point, Regina would shake her mentally. She would crack her walls. And Emma would never have a good night's sleep. All because she was hiding a secret that was buried so deep inside. A secret that would possibly destroy her.
Regina only had to scratch the surface and everything would seep out.
Slowly but surely, the brunette began to unwound her body from the blanket. Slowly as if she was unwrapping herself like some kind of present for the other woman to see. Noting how the curve of her hip was quite evident. The softness of her thighs and her flawless honey coloured skin.
Emma's eyes followed every move, marveling over the graceful movement of those fingers. Fingernails painted red. The way Regina's dark hair fell into her brown eyes a little and she managed to appear so perfectly cute and so damn sexy at the same time. Especially her little intakes of breath through those parted lips. The blonde just wanted to reach over and run her fingertips across an expanse of skin appearing so soft just above the older woman's obvious cleavage.
"Here you go," Regina suddenly decided that it was best to tuck Emma in between the blanket. But then that was more than expected. Her desperate need to display such love and affection. She carefully tucked Swan in as if she was a child, paying special attention to the younger woman's feet, and folding the blanket under them.
"Now unwrap your layers and allow me to devour every bit of you," Regina purred, a fire burning in those eyes.
To say that she was wowed would be an understatement. No. She was immediately cracking, drowning in such comfort and care and wondering where this side of Regina had been concealed all along. The part of her that not only appeared seriously maternal but evidently warm and cuddly and extremely adorable.
She was cracking already.
More? Review!
