***Author's Note: I want to thank everyone for much for putting up with all the nonsense that was my very first attempt at writing a story. If you're reading this, it means that we have finished the journey together. Thank you for reading and for leaving comments. It really means the world to me because I really, really enjoyed writing this story. I guess the only thing that I have left to say is Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and I wish you a very happy New Year filled with everything that you could ever wish for.***
Regina stirs when she feels the warmth she was getting from Emma's body leave the bed. She blinks a few times and pushes herself up onto her elbows and sees that the light from behind the closed bathroom door is turned on. She lays back down and smiles to herself. It has been some time since she has shared a bed so intimately with another person and she had almost forgotten how nice that feeling is.
When Emma finishes up in the bathroom and makes her way back to bed, Regina pulls her naked body into her own. Regina nuzzles the spot right under her jaw and leaves soft kisses on her neck. Emma hums softly. "A girl can most definitely get used to this." She pulls away just enough so that she can see Regina's face and smiles at her. "Hi."
Regina returns the smile. "Hey there, my pretty girl." Then she lays her head back down onto Emma's shoulders.
"Did I wake you?" Emma asks. Regina just shakes her head. They lay that way for a bit longer before Emma speaks up again. "What time do you have to leave here in the morning?" She asks.
Regina has been dreading this conversation all night. "I was planning on leaving at seven-ish. But, I guess that depends on you." She says as she pulls herself away from Emma and lays down on her pillow once again facing her instead.
Emma repositions herself so that she is lying in the same position opposite Regina. She can see into Regina's eyes this way and their faces are just a few inches apart. "Why does that depend on me?" Emma asks somewhat dumbfounded.
Regina thinks about her answer for a minute and when she finally replies, Emma can hear the mix of emotions in her voice. "I suppose that it doesn't. Not really. What time do you plan on leaving for New York in the morning?"
Suddenly Emma remembers that she had asked Regina for the time off to go back to New York but she is not going to need it. She chuckles without replying right away but when she sees the confused look on Regina's face, she says, "I think that I'm going to stay here for the holidays."
Regina frowns still very much confused. "You are? But, I thought-"
"That was just something that I planned to do because I thought that it would give me some space away from you. But now, I don't need or want any space." She reaches over, puts her hand on Regina's lower back, and pulls the woman closer to her touching their foreheads together. "I was running." Emma says barely above a whisper.
Regina pulls away and studies Emma for a moment before she leans in and captures her mouth with her own. She hopes that the kiss will reassure Emma, erasing any doubt or uneasiness that she might still have in her mind. Once she pulls away, she sees that Emma's eyes are closed but she is smiling. When Regina waits for Emma to open her eyes again before she speaks again. "I'm very happy to hear that you're going to be here when I get back. There isn't anyone else that I would rather see after spending Christmas with my family. I was honestly worried that you wouldn't be here and that feeling was so awful." She adds a pouty lip at the end of her statement for effect.
Emma lightly kisses her protruded lip.. "I'm sorry that I made you feel that way. I probably should have mentioned earlier that I wanted to spend as much time as I can here with you. Speaking of that…" She leans over to look at the clock on the nightstand. It was just a little after four in the morning. "Merry Christmas." Emma says.
Regina smiles. "Merry Christmas, Emma." She says sweetly.
"I'll have to say, this is the best Christmas morning I've ever had in my life. You with your kisses, and this bed, basically just booted Christmas 1991 down to 2nd place." Emma replies with a big grin.
Regina laughs. "Wow. Do I even want to know what happened during Christmas of 1991?"
"The Super Nintendo came out that year." Emma says matter-of-factly. "And my dad got it for me. My parents always let me open one gift on Christmas Eve and I happened to pick that one. I stayed up all night playing Super Mario Bros. that year."
Regina rolls her eyes. "Well, I'm surprised that there was anything in this world that can top that." She says playfully.
"I didn't think so either until now." Emma says with a smirk and then reaches over to brush a stray curl away from Regina's face. "But, you, Regina Mills, are the best Christmas gift that anyone could ever hope to receive. And I mean it. I find myself hoping that I don't fall asleep again because I don't want to wake up and find that any of this has just been a dream."
"To be completely honest, that thought has crossed my mind as well. It's like everything seems too perfect to be true." Regina says.
"Well, if we don't fall asleep again then we don't have to worry about that, right?" Emma jokes.
Regina laughs. "I am actually wide awake right now. I think I'm still on a high from earlier and I'll have to get up in a couple of hours anyway. I may as well just stay up."
"I have an idea." Emma says as she gets out of bed. She looks around for some clothing. She puts on her underwear and then looks around in the dark for her tank top.
Regina sits up and pulls the covers up with her. "If this idea of yours requires you to put your clothing back on, I'm going to have to veto it."
Emma laughs but finally finds her tank top underneath Regina's pajamas that were also discarded earlier in the evening, and puts it on. "I promise that I'll let you take them back off of me here in a second." She winks at Regina before leaving the room. Emma returns quickly with a beautifully wrapped gift and an envelope. She sits back in bed and turns on the lamp. Regina looks at her curiously so she shrugs nervously. "I got you a present."
"Emma...Is this what you went to the car for earlier?" Regina asks.
"Yeah." Emma says as she pushes the gift box towards Regina. "You should probably open the gift first and then read the card." She adds.
Regina does not respond but instead, she gets out of bed and walks towards her closet. Unlike Emma, she does not bother to put any of her clothes on. She slides the closet door open and pulls out a large wrapped box with a intricate ribbon bow on it. She turns to see Emma staring hungrily at her naked body and smirks before quickly making her way back to the bed and sliding under the covers. "I got you something as well." Regina says as she hands the gift to Emma.
"Whoa...what? You didn't have to get me anything." Emma stammers.
"I could say the same to you." Regina says with a smile. "But the moment I laid eyes on that," she points at the box, "I couldn't talk myself out of getting it for you."
Emma blushes. "Hmmm...Now, I'm really curious. But, you have to open yours first."
Regina laughs "Alright." She unwraps the box that Emma gave her and opens it to find a few different vinyl records. One of them is the one that she was going to get when they were at the bookstore together weeks ago. She looks up and smiles at Emma. "I love them, Emma. And I don't have any of these ones."
Emma grins proudly. "Yeah, it took me going through your stuff a few times before I knew what I should get. You have such a huge collection already so you're pretty difficult to shop for.."
Regina bites down on her lower lip before leaning in and kissing Emma. "Thank you. You're so thoughtful."
Emma happily nods towards the envelope. "There's something in there also."
Regina wonders what it could be so she opens the envelope and pulls out the card. When she opens it, a folded piece of paper falls out. She opens up the sheet of paper and laughs. It is the I.O.U that she wrote out for Emma months ago. Then she reads the card:
Regina,
Firstly, I want to say Merry Christmas. I hope that you have a wonderful time with your family and that you are finally able to have that difficult conversation with them. They deserve the truth and you deserve your peace. And I will always just be a phone call away should you need someone to talk to.
Second, thank you for taking me into your bar and into you life. Your friendship has truly become a very important part of me and I would never be able to express just how much you mean to me.
And finally, I thought that I should probably return this to you. If it is something that really makes you that uncomfortable, I really should respect that. However, my opinion will always remain the same. Hair straightened or not, you are perfect just the way you are. I really hope that you take that to heart.
With love,
Emma
When Regina looks up from the card, her eyes are glistening with unshed tears and this makes Emma panic. "Oh, no. Regina, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for anything that I wrote to make you upset."
Regina shakes her head and wipes at her eyes. "No, baby. It's not that at all. I'm just very touched by it. You're so incredibly sweet. I love the card." Regina puts the gift box and card aside and scoots herself closer to Emma. She takes Emma's face with both hands and kisses her hoping to convey how much all of it meant to her. They do not break away from each other until they are both breathless. Regina reaches for the I.O.U again and hands it back to Emma. "I do think you should keep this though. Not that you'll ever have to use it since I have a feeling you'll be seeing my bed head quite a bit, but it will always remind you of that moment when you swept me off of my feet."
Emma laughs "I did, didn't I?" She asks proudly.
"Mhmm. You really did." Regina confirms as she kisses Emma again. "Now, you open your gift."
Emma nods and takes the box into her lap. "Even your wrapping job is perfect. Do you ever half-ass anything in your life, woman?" Emma says playfully before she starts undoing the beautiful ribbon wrapped around the box. When she finally gets the ribbon and the wrapping paper off, she slides the box open to find the that it is the black, vegan-leather jacket that she had tried on at the mall when they were shopping. Her eyes widen in surprise. "Oh my god, Regina. I can't take this." She says as she pushes the box back towards Regina.
Regina tilts her head and looks pointedly at Emma. "That's silly. Of course you can."
"This is a very expensive gift. You really shouldn't have gotten this for me…" Emma says still shaking her head.
Regina notices that Emma is looking down at the gift still in shock and she shakes her head as well. "Emma, will you look at me please?" It takes her a second but Emma finally looks up at her with a frown. "I really want you to have this jacket. No girlfriend of mine is going to walk around in this weather without something that covers her up. I don't want you to get sick. Will you please just accept my gift? Please don't make me beg."
Emma sighs. "You're going to play the girlfriend card? Really?" As much as Emma hates to admit it, hearing Regina say that gives her butterflies in her stomach.
Regina smiles. "You bet I am. Especially if it is going to work in my favor."
Emma finally agrees with a little bit more coaxing. "Fine. But only because I like both you and this jacket a lot. Thank you for this amazing gift. And I mean it. I really, really love it."
Regina smiles widely. "You're very welcome."
They clean up the mess they made with all the gift wrap and boxes and spend the rest of the morning tangled in each other once more. As promised, Emma lets Regina remove all of her clothes again just so she can feel the warmth of Emma's body against her own.
When it is finally time to get out of bed, Regina convinces Emma to take a shower with her promising that it will be a quick one. Fortunately for the both of them, it was Emma who could not keep her hands to herself and it ends up being a much longer shower than either one of them had anticipated.
Once they are all cleaned up, Emma makes coffee and a quick breakfast for them while Regina gets ready for Christmas morning at her parents' house. Emma finally checks her phone for the first time since she arrived at Regina's apartment the evening before and finds over a dozen messages from Ruby, a few from Killian, and a missed call from home. She sends a reply to Ruby wishing her a Merry Christmas but also telling her that she will call her as soon as she is free because she has really good news regarding her situation with Regina. She also sends Killian a message thanking him again for talking some sense into her and asks if they can hang out later if he does not already have plans. She gets replies from both of them almost instantaneously asking for details of her evening which makes her smile happily.
After Regina has had her cup of coffee and a piece of toast, she fills a travel tumbler with more coffee for the road and her three-hour drive. Then Emma helps her to the car with all the bags that she has already packed.
When they finish packing the car, Regina closes the hatch and turns to see Emma looking down at the ground with her hands in her pockets, rocking back and forth on her heels. "Hey…" Regina says as she pulls one of Emma's hands out of the pocket and intertwines their fingers. "Is something wrong?"
Emma looks up and just shrugs. "I know it's only going to be a few days...but I'm really going to miss you."
Regina smiles sadly. "It will be a very quick few days. I will be back in your arms in no time at all." Regina says, also as a reminder for herself because she is finding that it is getting more and more difficult to drive away from Emma. "But, I am really going to miss you, too." She pulls Emma into a hug and lays with her head on Emma's shoulder. "And have I mentioned already that I'm really, really glad that you're not going back to New York? When you called that day asking me for time off, I thought that I had lost you for good." Regina says softly into Emma's neck.
Emma kisses Regina's temple. She thinks about how she almost missed out on all this time with Regina because she was so certain that things would not work out. She also thinks about how going back to New York was not one of her best ideas because of how unhappy she was when she was there. "I don't know if I ever told you this but, I've never really felt like I belonged in New York. I never would have stayed permanently if I did go back." Emma says.
Regina knows that feeling all too well. Never feeling like she really belonged in Vancouver and the struggle of having to really find herself and a new passion once she moved to Seattle. She looks up at Emma. "So, is that how you feel about Seattle, too?" She asks slightly afraid of what Emma's answer might be.
Emma smiles as she looks down at Regina. For the first time in a long time, she does not feel the urge to run. And even though she does not know for sure yet what that means, she is willing to stick around to hopefully find out. "I don't think so. Right now, I feel like the only place I belong is wherever you are."
Regina lets out the breath she is holding and grins widely at Emma's response. "That's a very good answer, Miss Swan."
Emma chuckles and scrunches her face at the nickname before pulling Regina in for another long but slow kiss goodbye, one that they both hope will get them through their next few days apart.