A/N: (Comic Sans) Wow.. Such write-edit-delete cycle... So bad... Much sorry... Many words chapter... (End Comic Sans)
Regina cursed as the wind managed to blow her hair over her eyes yet again; a simple action whose annoyance was heightened with Cora repeatedly pointing out that if she had long hair she could have tied them up. They'd left home near twilight and it had become considerably darker and windier by the time they reached the venue for Miner's Day fair. She had just managed to tame the defiant locks when her eyes found two very special people.
The way Emma's eyes grew twice-fold were proof enough she'd caught sight of her girlfriend. She, along with Henry, made way towards the Mills women, the young boy stopping on reaching Cora's side. Cora and Emma shared a non-existent nod before focusing their attention on other's companion.
"Good turnout right?" Emma asked with so much enthusiasm that it was hard not to catch at least a small part of it. Emma shuffled as close to Regina as possible before whispering, "You look beautiful."
Regina frowned as she looked down. "Please", her gloved hands waved over the thick coat, "I look like a house with how I've been made to bundle up. All because I asked my mother to wear socks."
Emma shook her head.
"You. Look. Beautiful."
She chuckled as the tiny part of Regina visible atop her deep blue coat and white cashmere scarf grew crimson.
Regina resisted the urge to push Emma away, partly because her body felt much too warm suddenly and partly to stop Emma from looking at her so smugly. She looked away to her mother when low whistle left from the blonde's side, making Henry's ears perk up. He looked to both his mothers and with an exasperated sigh he made his way over, his not-so-empty hand coming into view.
"These are for you, mom. Because you look so-oh beautiful."
Cora beamed at Regina, who couldn't help but shake her head. Regina took the lovely assortment of purple flowers Henry was offering and made sure to drop a sideways stare to Emma to let her know she was onto her. Smelling the flowers she kissed Henry's forehead and whispered sorry to him.
Henry shook his head, his young features crowded with guilt. "But you do look pretty mom", he urged as his face adorably struggled not to sour in saying so. "Just, please make Emma limit it to atleast twice a week."
They both shared a small laugh as Regina wound his arms around her boy bringing him closer. Cora was about to say something when Emma stomped her foot.
"Oh shi-shoot. Regina! I totally forgot that - that thing you wanted back in my car."
Regina heard her son grumble 'oh brother' into her side. She gently tapped him on the head, more chuckling than whispering, "Behave young man." Cora also managed to get in her input by adding, "Of course she did."
"Henry, stay close to Nana." Regina instructed before going after Emma. Emma waited till they were at a considerable distance to hold her hand.
"Will you please stop embarrassing our son?" Regina scoffed while bringing the small bouquet up to admire them. Emma grinned deviously as she took out one flower from the lot, only to tap it on Regina's nose, "Nah! It makes it twice as fun."
Regina smiled shaking her head. She looked sideways, watching Emma toy with the stem and her face so carefree and light. She might be still clinging to her ironically romantic gestures for fun but it made Regina's heart soar to be on the receiving end of them. She looked away, her attention being caught by the leaves rustling, bearing the same plight as her hair by the hands of the weather. A soft voice broke her concentration.
"These lights look beautiful, don't they?"
Regina nodded as she swept her hair back, not realising she had shivered slightly. Emma's hands left hers as they instead pulled Regina closer. Regina allowed herself to press further into the body seeing it was acceptable with the weather at hand. She did enjoy the cold but had never appreciated it more before having a warm body to share heat with. Both their eyes followed the string of lights travelling across the road till the parking lot. Emma's car was parked in the alley nearby, secluded and not receiving the light from the decoration on the rest of the street.
"So Miss Swan", Regina arched an eyebrow as she purred, "What was it that I wanted?"
"You good?"
Regina's eyes opened lazily at the question. Enchanting green eyes were watching her with adoration. Instead of answering, she reached down to capture swollen pink lips that were slowly acquiring the shade of dark red. Breaking the kiss with a sigh, she was definitely more than good, Regina thought. It was glorious to feel so much of Emma at the same time, sitting on her lap and being so close to hers that she couldn't figure out where she ended and Emma began, their twin hearts beating louder and louder with every passing moment in sync; glorious. In the back of her mind she knew Emma had wanted to show her something but doe-eyed saviours with red woollen hats really were her weakness.
Emma's hands consciously never wandered from where they stayed on her lower back and Regina's hands remained locked around Emma's neck. Suddenly, a sneaky hand traced the slope of her neck with a purple orchid making Regina squirm. She pulled away to escape the ticklish sensation, inadvertently giving Emma a lot more access to her neck. Regina tried to paw the flower away but her mind only stayed with her till she felt teeth grazing the skin on her collarbone. A gasp, and her fingers threaded into the Emma's hair, pulling her to give a hint. Emma heeded and all Regina could do was let out a low moan, her back arching with her head lolling back. Too bad good things always came with an expiration, so realised Regina when her head met the head rest behind rather sharply.
"Ah, stupid car."
Emma cheekily smiled against her skin as she continued trailing down the slope of her neck. Regina tried to move towards Emma but her knee collided with the back seat and she jerked up, hitting her head on the roof.
"No, stop", Regina pushed back Emma, "I'm not comfort - ah, what is that thing poking me?"
"I think the bug is just excited to see you."
"Very funny", Regina huffed, "move."
Regina struggled out from on top of Emma as she sat beside her making Emma groan for all the wrong reasons. The brunette rubbed her knee as she looked at Emma, "I don't understand why we are in this hideous contraption in the first place."
"Firstly we would have been back already if you had just sat on your seat instead of on me", Emma chastised as she took heavy breaths to dilate her adrenaline, "And secondly I wanted to bring you here because of this", her index finger pointed up as her hand curled into a fist. Regina followed the finger to find a square patch of dirty-white double-tape stuck on top.
"Faulty repairman-ship?" she deadpanned.
"Wha-" she looked up, "Oh no, it must have fallen off!"
Emma bent down, her hair falling below curtaining Regina's view. Emma's one hand pulled out her phone for light while the other checked the floor. She even pulled up Regina's legs up making her jump, "What in god's name are you doing?"
Her answer came in the form of an exaggerated "Ah-ha!"
Emma got up looking victorious and stuck her hand on top. She made sure it wouldn't fall this time and smiled as she looked back to Regina. Her smile faltered when she saw Regina's face melting from confusion to annoyance.
"Basil! You were waiting all day to kiss me while your car smelt of herbs?"
"Basil?" Fair fingers traced the green sadly, "I thought it was mistletoe."
Regina blinked. That tone. "Emma?"
Emma didn't respond, and all of Regina's ire washed away with a wave of guilt. Her fingers held the charming chin as she pulled Emma's face down towards her. She shouldn't have snapped at her, not when they led to such dimness in her eyes.
"It's Christmas Eve today. You were excited for Christmas not Miner's day."
Emma rolled her eyes in irritation, "Yeah but no one seems to want to celebrate Christmas anymore so I thought if I could get just as excited about Miner's day then it would be just as great."
Emma felt a warm hand pushing back her hair; sighing, she looked at her girlfriend who asked almost inaudibly, "You like Christmas?"
Emma's face brightened up like a switch had been flicked, "Like it? I love it. I mean it's the best, right? The gifts, the decoration, the movies; how every corner of the city is lit up." She stumbled with her words then, her eyes straying to the fogged up windows as one of her hands drew a line collecting the dew, "I-It was always pretty lonely during the holidays but I always figured once I had someone to share it with, it'd be make up for all the past ones. And now I do have someone, who I got to kiss under a basil leaf."
Emma jumped when she heard a small bang.
She was so engrossed in her words that she didn't notice Regina's hand going up, which now covered the basil. She frowned but quietly shook it off.
"Yea I know it's stu-", her lips remained puckered up till they parted in wonder, "Wow."
When Regina had slowly retracted her hand, a beautiful sprig of mistletoe sprouted in its place, glowing with a low white and yellow hue. Living with fairytale creatures, it was easy to forget the beauty of magic at times. Regina closed the distance between them, her hands going down to hold Emma's and she kissed her so tenderly like she was made of glass. She pulled back only to whisper Merry Christmas.
"Emma, wait up."
The blonde slowed down on hearing the shrill voice of her friend from the distance. She couldn't help but steal glances at Regina's flushed face knowing hers matched the brunette's. Brown eyes flitted from Emma to her friend approaching and she asked in a manner that could be called fidgety if it was projected by anyone other than Regina, "Do you want me to leave?"
Emma shook her head slightly and her hands brushed against Regina's hoping to make her not walk away. Her friend caught up to the pair shortly.
"Hey Em. Oh, I didn't know you had company. Hey."
Regina gave her a once over, disapproving of the woman donning weather-inappropriate clothes, "Evening Miss Lucas."
When Regina looked away, Red held back Emma and pointed to Regina's back mouthing, "What's on her hair?"
Emma shrugged but grinned like a child, when she spotted the purple petals nestled inside the chestnut locks. They walked to the main area, Regina silently listening to the other two talking about Granny. As they entered the grounds, they could hear a low rumble of voices which made the ladies alert.
"What's happening now?" Emma wondered aloud.
A man, considerably older than the three women, was laughing and walking towards the exit and Emma thought she could inquire about the noise. When asked, the man's eyes crinkled as he pulled his hat over his head, "Oh the Queen of Hearts is punishing that rascal Fifer."
The man passed by, laughing gently as he secured his hat again, unaware of the three horrified expressions he was leaving behind. Soon the ladies broke out of their stupor and their feet were rushing towards the source of commotion.
Ruby whispered to Emma, "I thought you said Cora was better?"
Emma whispered back, "It's the Mills syndrome. They're only nice to their own kids."
A second later she winced at the sharp hit on her elbow.
The group arrived and halted because, well, they had to as they were met with a ring of people blocking their view. Regina exhaled sharply, her hand on Emma's arm, "I'm sure it's a misunderstanding."
Regina was sure enough of her statement, because her mother always made an effort to not draw attention to herself during their time in the town. Emma didn't say anything but held her hand tightly as they weaved through.
When they finally emerged on the other side, their eyes went wide as she took in the scene in front. A young man, either in his earlier 20's or late teens, stood in the middle of the ring of spectators. Henry and another boy of similar age, Regina knew him as Hansel, were hiding and sniggering behind her mother's legs. Cora stood clutching the umbrella she had been doubling as walking stick, her other hand on her waist holding a stick of some sort. Her eyes were staring down the rascal Fifer who had his fingers holding his ears. Suddenly he bent down on his knees and came back up and the crowd cheered "10".
"Now are you going to trouble young boys again?"
The pale figure shook his head fervently. Emma decided to jump into action at that and started dispersing the crowd. He made an effort to disappear in the throng but as he turned, he scoffed bitch under his breath. Too bad for him when he didn't see the stick that met his foot, making him fall face-first. Cora retracted her umbrella and an ugly sneer decorated her face. Regina had to rush to her mother to hold her back when she felt her approaching the fallen person.
"Mother, what is the meaning of this?" she whispered harshly to her mother as she felt her struggle.
"You should ask him that."
"Cool it Cora." Emma said making the older woman glare, seething as she watched the sheriff help the guy up.
"Sir, you do know you can press charges for physical assault?"
Regina's eyes widened as she held her mother by her arm, "I'm sure that wouldn't be necessary sheriff", she gritted out, "seeing how it was just an accident."
"While that is nowhere near the truth, we'd definitely not be pressing any sort of charges", another voice spoke up. A young blonde wearing a large pea coat and a long red scarf together with an unamused expression approached the sheriff. He took out a handkerchief and passed it to the fallen boy who was too scared by the sight of the evil queen and the queen of hearts together to notice his bloody nose.
"He's my brother and we'll be leaving now", the man said to the sheriff before looking down, "Get up Fi."
On hearing his brother's voice, the boy nodded and flinched out of Emma's hold.
"But she has my flute", the boy whined and his voice told Emma that he was younger than he looked. The taller man ushered him away, scolding him lightly, "Where is your brother? How many times do I have to save both of yours behinds?"
Emma chuckled as she saw them bickering till they disappeared behind one of the stalls. She turned back to go to Regina's side but halted. In hindsight Emma should not have said what she said, solely so Regina could stop looking at her with those fiery eyes.
"I have to do my job", she muttered softly.
"Oh yes. Storybrooke would certainly crumble without their mighty sheriff", Cora's voice hissed through from beside Regina.
Regina's nose flared as she looked in between the both women and they both quieted down, looking at the ground with something akin to shame.
Deciding on dealing with the older woman first, she steered her mother to the nearest bench, "Explain."
Cora blinked calmly before she looked away, her hand picking out lint from her coat in an overtly flourish manner, "I don't agree with your tone."
Regina felt like she could have screamed at that moment. Sniffing she turned to her son, beckoning him to come closer.
"Henry. Can you tell me what happened?"
The kid, who had been subtly hiding behind Emma, dragged his steps till he stood in front of Regina. Emma stood near him, and both carried the same sulk for different reasons.
"Me and Nicholas were just hanging out and-", Henry stopped, his eyes looking at Cora from underneath his lashes. When she nodded, he continued in a small voice, "He started skipping around us. He started singing a weird song about nana. When we tried to move away he almost tripped me."
"Wait are you ok, he tripped you that motherf-"
"Sheriff!" Regina shouted in horror making Emma's lips clamp up, which only dared to open to whisper sorry.
"Henry", Regina's eyes went over his body once to check for any injuries, "are you ok?"
Henry smiled and nodded, relieved that his mother was concerned and not angry. Regina smiled back, a little tiredly, as she brushed his coat where she saw remnants of pink cotton candy.
Emma sighed and knelt beside Henry, "You sure kid?"
Henry nodded in between the two before urging to his mother, "Mom, please don't be upset with nana."
"I'm not upset", she said brushing his hair with no reason other than to calm herself, "I just- why don't you show her the candle station? Maybe get a few for the house."
Cora stood up abruptly making Henry scamper behind her. Emma frowned as she got up, "Ruby, do you mind tagging along with Henry?"
Red, the silent audience to their family moment, nodded before leaving them alone.
"Hey", Emma said as she took Cora's now absent place, "You okay?"
"Oh just peachy", she said in a sarcastic tone before huffing, "Was that really necessary, asking him to press charges in front of my mother?"
"No that was just me being a dick. Sorry. But can I say I'd have broken his nose too if he'd pulled that sort of stunt in front of me. He is lucky he didn't say anything about you, or that fucker would be dead by now."
"Yeah, well the little bastard needs to watch out if he thinks he can bad mouth my mother again."
Regina took a deep breath and counted to ten internally to calm down. Her eyes remained on the lantern on the pole in front, aware of Emma's eyes burning a hole on her side, "Yes, I said bastard. Language language. Now can you wipe that dopey look of your face?" She finally looked to the blonde and rolled her eyes at the expected surprised expression on her face.
Emma leaned forward but chuckled when she saw Regina pull back in panic, "Well don't say it again unless you want me to forget other things you wanted in my car."
At that Regina laughed, louder than she realised, garnering more than a few stares their way. One set of stares belonged to their friends who Emma waved over. Regina caught sight of the couple and smirked at Emma.
"Oh look, your Fredrick is here too."
"Oh ha-ha." Emma wrinkled her nose in annoyance.
The night Kathryn had entertained Regina and Emma had led to the newly acquainted friends teasing their partners when they'd spent majority of their dinner together bonding over their favourite sport. Regina had always considered Kathryn in high regard but Abigail brought a degree of snarkiness to the woman that didn't make Regina feel like she had befriended a saint.
"Okay knights, get your queens something to drink while they catch up." Kathryn said airily as she neared making the three laugh.
"So you're the wolf?"
Red was never ashamed of her inner wolf, sometimes regretful but she had learnt to embrace it with open arms. But with the recent hunt that had taken place with Spencer leading the town against her, she had grown quite private about the topic. So she ignored her comment, pretending to focus on greeting the passer-by's.
Henry jumped suddenly, pulling his grandmother's arm, "Nana, can I get something from there?"
Cora's eyes followed his to the bright candy stall. "Of course, here you go."
With wide eyes he saw the bill and instantly schooled his features to not react. As soon as he was earshot away, Red couldn't help snort, "By the way you just handed the kid a fifty and sent him to buy candy."
"Oh dear, Regina is going to -" she trailed off realising her company but Red completed her sentence anyways, "Give you a two-hour lecture on the evils of sugar and cavities? Totally!"
Cora couldn't help but smile herself. Seeing her smile, Red realised how much she looked like her grandmother. So she took a chance to ask what she'd wanted to since they'd left Emma and Regina, "Can I have that flute?"
Cora looked down, realising the confiscated item was still with her, "Oh, sure. I have no use for it."
Red looked ecstatic on hearing those words. On being handed, she grinned as she tightened her hand around it, snapping it into two parts as easily as though it was a match stick.
"Not a fan of music?"
"Ah", she shook her head as the grin didn't leave her face, "No, him and his brother used to make my life a living hell in the forest." Her wolf strength allowed her to crush the two wooden pieces into finer dust. "Always singing stupid limericks about me, every single day", she cried exasperatedly.
"Miss Lucas, are you ok?"
Red realised she had become a little too dramatic in expressing her grievance. She brought down the hands she had clenched into fists skyward and smiled in greeting, "Yes Archie, I am absolutely fine."
"Miss Mills. How lovely to see you here", greeted the doctor. Archie had been strolling with Pongo at hand along with a brunette whom Cora didn't recognize. Till Archie introduced her.
"I was just telling Belle about you."
"Oh you're Belle."
Belle, standing next to Pongo, noted the surprise, but there was something else which she couldn't identify, something melancholy. She would have given it more thought if Pongo hadn't started growling. She paused to run her hand over the dog's head and looked up find Cora scanning her from head to toe, "Younger than I presumed", their eyes met and she earned a polite smile, "so young to be heading the entire library. I believe you were the one looking for help."
"Yes. I do appreciate you taking up the offer."
Both of them didn't notice Red looking in between the both with mild horror till she spoke up, "Cora is the one who's going to help you out with the library?"
"Yes", the older woman said amused, "do you have a problem?"
"There's no problem", Belle answered for Ruby.
Shaking her head she excused herself making Belle go after her. Cora didn't excuse herself but exited nevertheless to make sure Henry was not going out of hand with the money. Archie looked both ways and on finding himself alone, grumbled to Pongo, "Well don't look at me, you've always known I repel women."
"Ruby what's the matter?"
"I'm sorry but you're letting Cora work with you, are you crazy?"
Belle stopped in her tracks as Red glared at her. Irritation filled her senses as she replied, "No, I am not. You told me she was turning over a new leaf or do you only believe in people till they don't directly concern you. There's good in her evidently or Henry wouldn't take to her so strongly."
"Henry would take to a stick strongly if he found out he was related to it." Red scoffed out but instantly regretted the comment, "No, it's not that. I mean still, I mean-"
Belle rolled her eyes, "It's all the same every single time. I thought you'd understand better that it's not all black and - Snow White."
"What?" Red looked up and saw that her old friend was walking towards them with David by her side. The young couple looked the perfect image of cozy with David's hand around Snow, both of them wearing matching white coats.
"Red. It's so nice to see you here. You just came?" Snow chirped.
"No", she exhaled, "I've been here a while. You missed quite the commotion actually."
"Oh really, we got held up", Snow stopped as she felt rude on just noticing the fourth person, "I'm sorry we haven't met, have we?"
"Belle", the brunette said politely as she offered her hand.
"Oh Belle French", Snow smiled as David shook hands with her, "We never did get a chance to get acquainted properly."
"Yes. I hope you'll excuse me though, I have to find Archie."
Snow and David smiled their goodbyes and the petite brunette shifted her attention to Red. The taller woman seemed distracted as she continued looking at where Belle had been standing.
"We're hoping the people will welcome-"
Red nodded absently before cutting her off, "That's cool. Snow, I'll talk to you later 'kay?"
Snow sighed watching Red dart out of sight. She felt David patting the arm that held his and with that, the couple marched towards the make platform slowly. It was at a low height but allowed the short brunette to see everyone in the audience. A small stool stood atop the wooden platform with a lone mic in front. As soon as she stood up, the effect was instantaneous. Everyone in the open stilled and others came out of their stalls and make-shift shops to gather around and hear their queen speak before she had even tapped the microphone.
Snow took a moment to smile at the audience, her eyes sweeping the area greeting each individual silently, till they stopped at Kathryn. Or Abigail. The former princess was standing next to, oh, Regina. She was whispering something into her ear and they were both smiling. Emma was standing on the right side of Regina but Cora walked in between, knocking her a few steps away. Her daughter scowled and held up her middle finger only to cower at the sudden glare Regina shot her. Mouthing a sorry, she walked till next to Fredrick who gave her a sympathetic smile as opposed to Henry and Red who, very unsympathetically, sniggered. A strong ache formed in her heart seeing Emma fit in so easily in a group she wasn't a part of. A hand brushed across her elbow, gently pulling Snow out of her thoughts. It was David who wanted to end the silence that was turning eerie with the audience waiting for Snow to address them.
"Welcome", Snow's voice boomed through the speakers, "We welcome the people of Storybrooke to the Winter Solstice fair. Today is a day of great happiness as we pray to the winter gods which we've been celebrating as Miners day all these years. This also gives us an opportunity to extend our appreciation to our hard-working miners who've been helping the blue fairy so diligently." She waved over to the side of the stage where seven men stood in attention. "On this auspicious occasion, it gives me great pleasure to share some news with you. I'll be stepping down from the post of mayor."
A collective hush fell over the crowd. People looked to each other and Snow cleared her throat loudly. She sought Emma's eyes and they both shared a nod before she spoke.
"My daughter and your saviour, Emma Swan, will be taking over me."
Emma heard the people murmuring. Henry tugged her hand, his eyes wide and accusing at the same time, happy and angry that he wasn't told. She pulled his cheeks in mirth as she winked. Red slapped her on her back in excitement, almost knocking Emma over with her wolf strength. People in close vicinity patted her arm and back which was, to sum up in a single word, weird. What she really wanted was what she couldn't catch a glimpse of, Regina's reaction. When Snow called her over, she tried to look where Regina was but bobbing heads and hats blocked her view. When she finally got on the platform she saw Kathryn smiling at her but Regina's eyes were lowered to the ground.
Uncomfortable, she fidgeted wondering if she could get away with just a wave or would she have to give a speech. 'God', she hoped against a speech. The silent and respectful atmosphere was disturbed by a voice shouting out, "Why the saviour?"
Now Emma may not be as politically inclined as the rest of her family. But Hey!
The buzz that arose gave birth to another shout which wasn't expected.
"Why not the former mayor?"
That triggered a murmur of voices in assent and unknowingly Emma's face broke into a grin.
Another voice challenged, "You want to put the person in charge whose curse brought us here."
'Shit', Emma thought trying to catch either Red or Regina's eyes. A mob with vengeance was the last thing she needed. But surprisingly, the mob was divided on the vengeance part. "If it was her curse then why did the town line disappear with the death of the dark one?"
The last statement made Emma's eyes bulge out. She muted out the surroundings. "What the fuck? How did no one tell me?"
Snow almost tripped over in her hurry to rush over and cover the mic. She used her best motherly glare to make Emma stop cursing, "Later sweety."
A small voice, which may or may not have been Red's, said, "Granny for Mayor."
That renewed the spark of discussion and Emma controlled her urge to roll her eyes. She sidled ahead of Snow and leaned towards the mic, the action causing static interference which fruitfully quieted the audience.
"Hey guys. I'm thrilled to take over Snow. But it was always intended to be temporary. We believe in democracy, so rest assured that we will be holding elections which will give everyone a fair chance to compete. Till then I will just be the acting mayor."
"Praise the saviour", someone shouted out making Snow beam. Emma, on the other hand, snorted, and then froze when she heard the childish sound resonating across the ground through the speakers.
"And that marks the end of that", Snow piqued up making Emma's cheeks pink. She cleared her throat and said, "I'm still the sheriff tonight so no funny business. Enjoy the night."
Emma and Snow shared a few more words before she walked towards her friends, disgruntled.
"I can't believe no one told me about the town limit. I mean it's been a month. God!"
"How do you not know?" Red said confused, "You live with the rulers."
Emma opened her mouth but stopped to glare back at the hand that had been patting her shoulder. She had to swallow her choice of words when she realised it was a pleasantly smiling Marco. Shifting closer to Red she said, "This is insane. How have you been hiding the town?"
"We put a dead-end sign on the Storybrooke exit and now we just rotate shifts near the border."
Emma covered her face with her hands, "What the hell!"
"Yes it must be hard to have information withheld from you." Regina finally opened her mouth, making her presence aware, before turning to Cora, "Do you mind if we leave early?"
Emma didn't get a chance to talk to her as more people came to congratulate her. Emma's eyes stayed glued to Regina's retreating form.
Emma played with her nail clipper before throwing it aside. Regina wasn't responding to her texts or calls. And Emma was definitely not the most patient person around. She reached for the phone on her bed and checked the time. Half past eleven. She was about to call Regina again when the cause of her misery arrived in her beloved purple chariot.
Regina stood there, like the mere act of coming to see her girlfriend was causing her pain, "I just wanted to give you this", she said shaking a red bag in the air, "seeing that it's Christmas and everything."
"No shut up and sit here."
Regina arched her eyebrow but sat, lifting the clipper by her index finger and thumb to put on the night stand. Regina hadn't changed since she last saw her, wearing the same clothes sans the coat and scarf. Emma knew she must have been preoccupied with her thoughts since she had been doing the same since coming back from the fair half hour ago.
"Yes, Madam Mayor?" Regina asked in an even tone.
"Jeez woman", Emma frowned, "Are you mad about that?"
Regina sighed, her annoyed expression transitioning slowly to exhaustion. "Just give me some time and I'll warm up to it. I'll see you tomorrow and we can celebrate then okay."
Emma's hand covered Regina's on the bed as she tried to tug her closer, "In your time have you ever heard me saying I want to be the mayor?"
Regina didn't look up so Emma scooted closer to her.
"I thought if I was in charge I could get you to join the office under me. And then you could slowly take over my place. You know nepotism and shit. I know it's not right but Snow really wanted to step down and there is no council member who would turn her choice down. It felt like the easier choice, but turns out people want you to be mayor without my sneaky ways. I think there is a moral in here somewhere."
Her voice turned slightly teasing as she leaned closer, "Plus for once I wanted to be the sexy boss so there's that."
Regina shook her head, her mind confused if the expected reaction was to scold her or hold her tightly.
"That's so sweet. And corrupt. But sweet." Regina looked at her with a small frown, "And I'm so selfish I couldn't be happy for you. I couldn't even stand the mere idea that the one person I confided into about how much I miss it was the one person taking it."
"We are not selfish Regina, we've just had a lot of things taken from us."
Regina groaned as she retracted her hand from Emma's, "No, it – you have to stop neutralising my actions."
"Fine, it was selfish, insanely selfish to feel bad for a job you've held for 28 years. I'll decide if your selfishness extends to Christmas gifts once I rip through this."
Emma opened her arms slightly making Regina look at her strangely.
"Nope, that's your punishment. You gotta let me hold you."
That got Regina to finally smile a little, as she shifted so she could sit in front of Emma, her head resting on Emma's cheek. Emma closed her arms around her and Regina said, "You're ridiculous."
"What's ridiculous is how good you smell all the time."
True to her word, she started ripping through the gift. Once stripped naked of the shiny red paper, Emma turned it around trying to figure out what it was; it looked like a book of some sorts.
"What is this? A diary?" She smiled as her head went from one shoulder of Regina's to other, her lips teasing her earlobe, "You want me to start writing you love sonnets or something?"
Regina scoffed as she took Emma's hand and guided it to open the first page with her hand on top. Emma rested her chin on her shoulder as she looked at the page. There was a picture of the smallest, tiniest baby possible. He looked awfully familiar she mused. Regina said, "I got it for you as a New Years gift. But then Christmas surprised me. So now I have to choose a better gift in less than 5 days."
Emma was only half listening to Regina as her fingers traced the picture. "It's Henry", she whispered to no one. Henry couldn't possibly be more than a month old; and couldn't possibly be any cuter, "Oh shit, it's his baby book."
"Yes. I tried recording it over the years. I duplicated it so we could both keep one copy."
Emma's hands tightened around Regina's as she flipped a page that said: My hand is this big. There was a pencil drawing of a tiny hand and Emma snapped the book shut and kept it on the bed like her hands would catch fire on prolonged contact. Trembling hands wound themselves around the brunette as Emma rested her head on her neck. Regina didn't say anything but soothingly rubbed the arms around her. After a few seconds of much needed silence Emma sighed, not moving from her place, "I didn't even get you anything."
"That's ludicrous. You-" Regina stopped sucking in her breath. Confused, Emma's head inched on to her shoulder so she could look at Regina. The brunette looked mortified. Emma clicked her tongue in disapproval.
"I am not, today or ever, going to think you're less bad-ass if you say something sappy."
Regina rolled her eyes as she looked away. After another nudge she said with forced nonchalance, "You make me feel like it's Christmas every day."
She felt Emma burying her face in her neck, "Ok, that was like extreme sappiness."
"Idiot."
They both shook as Emma chuckled into her neck, "I do like it when you curse."
When Emma placed a small kiss on her shoulder, Regina relaxed. "I'm sorry I was a little short with you", she said seriously.
"So was I. I spoke to Snow and David and they said I was away when they discovered the disappearance of town line."
"Why were you so angry about that? You can come and go as you please."
"I know, but I don't know, it hit me that", she mumbled the next part, "there was a chance you'd have left before I even came back from New York."
"Good thing I found about it today then. But you know I would have never left without seeing Henry one last time."
Emma nudged her head slightly, "I could have also taken you out on a real date without having the whole town in our business."
Thankful on switching back to lighter topics, Regina laughed, "I'm certain we've had real dates Emma."
"Oh yes, with our tiny anti-PDA chaperone hanging around. I just wish-" her head snapped up, "Wait. Sit right here." Emma jumped out of the bed, almost driving Regina over the edge of the bed by the sudden movement.
"Emma", Regina's eyes followed Emma wriggling into a coat as she sprinted to the door, "Where are you going?"
"Just be back in a second, don't move or teleport 'kay?" Emma winked and closed the door behind her.
While not a second, Emma did come back as soon as possible. She opened the door grinning but came to an abrupt halt within two steps inside.
"Ok you know what? I'm going to pretend that the room is not suddenly clean if you let me blindfold you."
"Ta-da." Emma whispered as she loosened the blindfold, the green silk coming to rest on Regina's neck. She blinked to gain better vision and as she had guessed with the flight of stairs and the open air, they were on the terrace. There were a bunch of colourful and mismatched blankets on the ground and a space heater with a cord disappearing behind a door of their tiny storage room.
"Your Christmas gift and our first date." She smiled goofily as she plopped down on the cushions.
"My gift or yours?" Regina smirked as she lowered herself with more grace on the nearby cushion. Emma introduced two glasses and grinned in response. Her eyebrows waggled as she showed-off her purchase, "I've been saving this bottle for a special night."
The wind felt much too harsh this late at night, but seeing how Emma had made an effort, Regina conjured a simple spell. Emma just looked adorably confused as she opened the buttons of her coat eyeing the heater. She passed the filled glass to Regina, "So?"
"So", Regina said after a generous sip, "First date?"
Emma bobbed her head about as she looked around, "Uh yup. First date after", she calculated in her head as she looked up, "Jeez, it's been a month. After one whole month."
Regina's glass remained glued to her lips as she stared at Emma. Slowly lowering the glass she blinked, "One whole month?"
"And you're still here", Emma said goofily.
"And you're still here." Regina said firmly.
It was unreal, watching Regina at that moment. It was like watching a huge weight lift off the tiny woman. After processing the information she smiled, a smile so genuine and happy that Emma couldn't stop staring.
"Uh", her head jerked up, "the stars look beautiful right..."
Regina chuckled as she followed Emma's line of sight, "Oh, we're star-gazing now?"
The teasing tone was something new. Past month Regina had been, definitely not shy, but slightly hesitant when they shared intimate moments. But this new confidence was intoxicating. And sad, that Regina had doubted they would be together after a month.
"I guess. People do that on dates right", she chuckled, "Plus I have this really cool app which tells me which constellation is right above us."
Emma took out her phone before aiming it at the sky as she tried to find something. After some aimless pointing and cursing, she grunted her displeasure as she dropped the phone haplessly. Regina cupped her cheek in mock sympathy and kissed her softly, because she could do so without reason. She kissed her again to get rid of the grumpy expression once and for all. Pleased with the upturn of those lips, Regina drained the contents of her glass. Before she could place it down, Emma had already refilled it.
"Are we trying to lower inhibitions, dear?" Regina said, her words rolling off her tongue languidly as she swirled the red in her glass.
"Wha-what?" Emma stuttered as she hurriedly pushed the bottle away, "No. No. I mean we haven't talked - no no. No."
Regina smirked as she saw Emma's nose and cheeks turn faint red. She had never seen Emma so flustered, usually it was the other way around with them; the sight tugged all the right strings of her heart. She put her glass next to Emma's for company, her other hand creeping up till one of her fingers could hook into the button-hole of Emma's coat. Words were replaced by the buzzing of the heaters which seemed to grow louder. Regina's smile turned bigger as she pulled Emma down further, making her gulp.
"So, was that a no?"