Told from Regina's POV

Music is a big part of my life and is usually the spark that ignites inspiration. I might go back and edit my previous notes for each chapter to include the songs behind the storylines. Thoughts?

The idea for this chapter came from Don't Let The Right One Get Away by Hot as Sun. Specifically the line "...You and I, we got it right this time".

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Thank you for everyone who has favorited, followed and reviewed. I enjoy hearing feedback!

I'm not sure if this will be the last chapter or not but it will be the last chapter for a while. This is a light T. Sorry, no M in this one. All relationships need actual conversations with which to build their foundations :)

Let their journey continue...

As the haze of sleep started giving way to full consciousness, I was immediately aware of two things: An obnoxious choir of birds that was so loud they seemed to be singing directly into my ear and the naked warmth that surrounded me from the back of my head, curling down and around my body and ending with the two warm feet entwined with mine. It had been a long time since I had woken up in this position. I kept my eyes closed and laced my fingers through the ones currently resting on my abdomen.

I found myself smiling and wondering what it would be like to wake up like this every morning. I sighed in frustration when it hit me just who I was having these thoughts about. Emma Swan didn't do relationships. Hell, I didn't do them either. I sighed again and shook my head just slightly to jog some sense into my brain which, apparently, was still muddled from the afterglow of sex.

I felt the arm around my waist tighten and felt soft lips press into the back of my neck. As the blonde behind me chuckled, I could feel it vibrate through the kiss.

"What's making you sigh this early in the morning? I woulda thought you would be purring like a contented cat after last night?

I found myself smiling because she was right. Oh, I don't like that thought. But in this case, she was. I turned around in her arms until we were facing each other. The sun was just starting to rise and break through the clear panel that did duty as our roof. It was causing quite the effect on those big green eyes staring softly back at me. She really was the epitome of angelic in that moment. Before I could second guess my actions, my hand reached out and started to caress her face. I brushed soft, unruly blonde hair back from her forehead and tucked it behind her ear. I held her cheek as my thumb stroked her jaw. How did she manage to be both strong and soft at the same time? My eyes devoured her face wanting to memorize this moment.

I felt her tilt her face down just a bit so that my thumb slipped from her jaw to her mouth where she kept my gaze and gently kissed the pad sitting on her lips. When she was finished, she tilted her face so that it pressed into my palm and grinned widely. I felt all of my frustration melt away when faced with such an adorable face. I found myself mirroring her wide grin.

"The sighing. I was thinking of waking up like this...often. The thought caught me by suprise" I found myself speaking faster than usual while trying to ignore how loud my heartbeat had just gotten.

Green eyes searched mine for the longest moment before I felt her hand on my hip tighten and pull me closer. My arm fell down to rest on her shoulder and I curled my hand around the back of her neck so that almost every inch of me was connected with her.

She bit her lip before responding slowly "Would you? I mean, want to...wake up together...just the two of us? Preferably in a bed next time but, hey, I'm not complaining about a tent either."

"Why Sheriff, are you implying there should be more than the two of us in our bed because I'm not sure..."

"WHOA, whoa, whoa, hold on a second! I didn't imply anything like that. I don't DO sharing. You, Madame Mayor, are more than enough for me. And while we're on the subject...wait, did you just say 'our bed'? As in 'what's mine is yours and yours is mine' kinda thing?"

I leaned forward and brushed my lips across hers as gently as I could before whispering "Could we do that, have an 'our' with the way things are between us? We fight constantly and disagree on everything. Although, lately I've began wondering if we do those things because it's our routine. I think I might want to try an aberrant form of behaviour for us. What do you think the Sheriff might say to that?"

I'm not sure when I started holding my breath but the thought of baring my emotions and leaving myself wide open to rejection was an inherent fear I had to come to know as simply a part of who I was. As a Queen, I never showed weakness and allowed no one to be privy to my darkest musings or my longing for the one thing that always seemed just out of reach. I had grown up craving the type of affection I saw from the people around me who had found their True Love.

In the years following my curse, I had held out hope that this land would bring me that same affection. It wasn't until this moment, with those green eyes belonging to the Saviour staring back at me, that I truly felt the promise of having someone love me as much as I wanted to be loved. As much as I wanted to give love. Other than my son, I had never truly felt I was capable of understanding exactly what love was or how to cradle it for the fragile thing it was. But here, lying side-by-side wrapped in the arms of my honey-haired Sheriff, I knew I wanted so desperately to understand. I wanted to remove the bricks in the walls surrounding my heart one-by-one until every barrier was broken down so that love had free reign over my entire being. I knew without a doubt that I wanted her to be the one to dismantle my strongholds.

I was waiting patiently for her to reply and as I did, I watched a storm of emotions swirl through those emerald orbs. She didn't reply at first. I started thinking that maybe I had overshared or read the situation wrong. But, as she leaned forward and nestled her head into my neck, I closed my eyes, laid my chin on the top of her head, and wrapped my arms around her as I held on for dear life. Whatever tidal wave life had ready for us, I knew we were ready to be swept away. Because when you know the storm is coming, you prepare for it and I was starting to think we were each others life preservers.

It felt like a lifetime passed before I felt hot breath on my neck as her words made their way to my ear. "I wanna try"

Everyone talks about how those three little words turn their life around and even though these weren't the same three words most people long to hear, for me, they were life changing. We laid wrapped up in each others arms until the noise from outside came creeping in. We both knew the real world was calling us but somehow the thought of letting go of each other caused a slight discomfort in my heart. I think she was feeling the same way because I felt her pull back slightly before bringing her mouth down to my own.

I knew every time we kissed it would be this intense. The slightest taste of any part of her had me desperate for more. I heard myself whimper as she ended the contact and slowly opened my eyes to see the same want in her eyes. I leaned in enough to capture her bottom lip between my teeth and bite it gently before releasing it. Just that small touch poured gasoline on the fire burning between my legs. I heard her growl and curse under her breath but we both knew the time for us to get up had passed a long time ago.

I reluctantly dragged myself from the warmth her body was giving off and stood as I started dressing.

"So, does this mean I get to take you on a date?"

"Well, that depends. Can the Sheriff's romantic skills offer more than a greasy meal served by a wolf?" I teased as I slipped into my sandals.

"Ahh, Madame Mayor, I have yet to hear a complaint about my skills"

"Yes, well, you can stop with the smirking. Those skills are quite exquisite but there's more to life than kinky escapades around the town you swore an oath to protect. Now, are you finished dressing so we can try and pretend the noises coming from this tent last night was the result of a bear mauling?"

"After you, Your Majesty" The tent flap was unzipped and we stepped outside to see most of the tents were already gone and the crowd left was sparse. That didn't change the fact that a bunch of knowing grins were being thrown our way amid the usual "Good mornings". I tried to keep my head held high but it was difficult to remain regal when you were wearing a shorty robe that exposed way too much skin for a reigning Mayor.

Snow was busy putting water on the remaining coals so the woods aren't in danger of leaving thousands of woodland creatures homeless. Emma went up to her to ask where henry was. She was told Jefferson and Grace had taken him to breakfast since they were among the first ones up. She also inquired about where my tent was because it had mysteriously disappeared from where I remember pitching it. Apparently, David had taken it down, packed it up for me and placed it in the back of his truck promising to drop it off later in the day. Snow refused to make eye contact with me but I could hear her telling Emma that her father refused to allow anyone to go near her tent and instead kept everyone's noise-making at a minimum to keep from waking us both. Well, well, well, it seemed Charming had retained his chivilary. I chuckled to myself shaking my head trying to picture a world in which David would choose to protect me and his daughter's privacy rather than come bolting into the tent with his sword drawn. Life sure had a funny way of playing out sometimes.

As I looked around at the people remaining, I noticed there were no snide remarks being thrown my way even though everyone obviously had a good idea of what had transpired between the two of us the previous night. Instead, I saw happy smiles and good-natured smirks directed in my direction. It amazed me how full of goodness these people seemed to be. I returned each smile with one that was beaming. This is what true happiness felt like. I ran my fingers through my hair and headed towards my car just as the Sheriff headed towards hers. I paused before sliding down into the leather seats to see her watching me from her place on the driver's side. I gave her a small wave before taking my place.

So, off we went. A sandle-clad, silk robe wearing Mayor driving her black Mercedes followed by a ratty, old yellow VW bug piloted by Storybrooke's happiest Sheriff. As we drove back to town, I started to think of all the reasons this couldn't work and promptly threw them out the window. This was one time I wasn't going to analyze the situation or try to plan ahead to minimize the casualties. Love was not war. It was a battle, yes, but it was supposed to be glorious and beautiful in all of its complexity. That included the wounds it would inevitably lead to. The difference would come in the forgiveness of the one who caused the wounds as well as the satisfaction from the healing. I smirked as I remembered all the 'healing' we had already done. Oh, alot of satisfaction had already been partaken in. I glanced in my rearview mirror and where one normally saw the past behind them, I saw my future following me.