War
Notes: For the rare few who wanted seconds :) Accessories may show up in a future chapter. Still unbeta'ed - drop a line if interested to do the thankless task of editing my rambling self.
Chapter Two: Served cold
The details were hazy, but somehow, some cursed, magical how, the morning arrived to find them tangled up in each other's arms. Emma was sure, as she restricted her movement to breathing and blinking, that anyone who would find her with her head resting on Regina's bosom (ample, delectable, and hides a heart made of ice) would think them a pair of besotted lovers. Her traitorous arms were wrapped around the brunette, and the other woman's arms and other body parts felt warm and soft. Beyond the warm and soft and the down-there tingling, what Emma felt was panic, and she was sure that she resembled the bewildered look of a small kitten seeing its reflection for the first time.
She felt the moment that Regina woke up, because the other woman tensed up and there was really no way Emma could escape noticing the increase in her heartbeat, what with her head fused to the other woman's chest.
Neither woman wanted to break the strange mutual hostage situation.
"Unfortunately, Swan, I know you're still alive and very much awake, judging by your breathing pattern. So if you're done drooling on me, Henry will be home by 2 pm and I have things to do."
Finally, Emma thought. She lifted her head and started to peel the rest of her person away from Regina. "You're the one who trapped me against your boobies."
The other woman glared, obviously gearing up for a fight.
That's when Emma saw a giant hickey by the side of Regina's neck, one that was located not quite low enough to be easily hidden by a collar. She needed an escape hatch of sorts. "Or maybe, you need to flip your mattress because obviously it has started to dip in the middle which is why we both ended up in the...middle."
"Or perhaps your less-than-graceful oafish self pinned me down in my sleep. Don't blame this mattress. It is worth more and is much more useful than your Matchbox wreck of a car!"
"That car has seen me through a lot, Madam Mayor, and the next time you insult it would cost you, I swear to all the Gods ever invented."
While Emma got up and started looking around for her clothes, Regina sat up in her bed, torso proudly displayed and a smirk gracing her features. "Cheap. Used. Unreliable." She spat out each word, and watched carefully as Emma took each of them to mean both object and owner. The flushed face and glinting green were positively delicious against the waves of blond.
Up until then, both women were quite aware that everything that transpired was fodder for some serious hate sex; but the effect of the next word was a surprise to both. Regina meant for it to indicate the nature of their non-relationship, but Emma heard instead a painful indictment of who she was, from birth and through the series of homes she had to go through.
"Disposable."
She looked like she wanted to say something back, but opted rather to silently gather her things and figure out the fastest way to get dressed on the way to the front door.
Regina slipped back under the covers, frowning at how she couldn't define why this particular victory against the blonde felt heavy. "Pyrrhic", she whispered when she finally remembered the rarely used term, well, rarely used by her. She was one to make sure her victories counted. And yet she couldn't shake off the feeling that neither of them won this time around.