Regina woke up with a start the next morning. She felt something was off…very off. As she opened her eyes, she quickly scanned the room for something out of place but found nothing wrong….that was, until she realized that there were two strong arms wrapped around her waist. Slowly, she rotated her head to peek behind her and found Emma's forehead resting against her back, the blonde's hair spread across her pillow. Regina slowly turns her head forward again and closes her eyes shut, quietly counting to three as a way to slow down her erratic heartbeat. She, slowly, opens her eyes and sits up, causing the blonde's arms to fall from her waist and for the girl in question to begin stirring in her sleep. Regina watches as the blonde's eyes flutter open and lock onto hers.
"G'morning," Emma says groggily. Regina looks at her with a raised brow and scoffs. Emma looks at the brunette in confusion, not understanding her unwarranted bad attitude. "What crawled up your ass this morning?" She asks as she sits up on the bed, eyeing Regina with a curious expression.
"I think the better question is: what snuck their arms around my waist and spooned me this morning? In case you don't know the answer to that question, it was you. I woke up to you spooning me, Miss White. What the hell is up with that? First you kiss me and now this?" Regina asks the girl with a hint of disdain. Emma looks at the girl incredulously.
"I kissed you? Are you kidding me? I did no such thing. If I remember correctly, it was you who pulled me towards you. You're obviously the one that wanted me to kiss you; it was completely out of my control," Emma says, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly. Regina blanches at the girl's accusation.
"I would never willingly kiss you, Miss White. You are definitely not my type."
"Well, that's just fine and dandy because you aren't my type either." Emma says through gritted teeth. She lets out an annoyed huff and gets off of the bed, going towards the wardrobe to gather some clothes, a washcloth, and a towel.
"Where do you think you are going?"
"To take my bath," Emma says to the brunette dismissively, walking out of the room without a backwards glance.
Regina watches after the blonde until she hears the cottage door open and close. She sighs to herself and lies back down on the bed. She studies the plain ceiling for a few moments, and lets out a soft sigh. She knows that she overreacted and usually, she doesn't feel bad for lashing out at others…but for some reason, she actually feels bad for lashing out at Emma. She knows that Emma isn't at fault for snuggling her in her sleep. For all she knows, Emma might have been used to sleeping with a stuffed animal every night and mistakenly grabbed Regina during her slumber. Regina sighs to herself again before dragging her body out of bed. She decides that she might as well apologize while she still has the nerve to do so. Without further thought, Regina makes her way out of the cottage and walks into the bathhouse, her hand already over her eyes as she enters.
"Regina? What the hell are you doing in here? It's my turn for a bath, you can wait until I'm done," Emma says dismissively, the sounds of splashing water now filling Regina's ears. Regina peeks through her fingers and sees Emma's head now below the water, most likely washing out her hair. When the blonde comes back up, Regina closes up the crack in her fingers and stops peeking.
"I came in here to apologize for my rudeness. I understand that you didn't intentionally spoon me and I realize that I was just overreacting. So, I'm sorry," Regina says sincerely. A silence permeates the bathhouse and soon, Regina finds herself removing her hand from her eyes. She looks at Emma and sees the blonde staring at her with a flabbergasted expression.
"You're apologizing?" The blonde asks in a surprised tone. Regina mutely nods at the girl and watches as her eyes pop out of her head. "I didn't even know you were capable of doing such an act. Wow, apology accepted, Your Royal Bitchiness," Emma says to Regina, a teasing smile playing on her lips. Instead of Regina taking offense to the words, she simply nods at the other girl and exits the bathhouse, leaving a slightly amused, Emma, to ponder over what just occurred.
Regina can feel remorse. Well, how about that. Emma thinks to herself as she continues her bath.
"Hold the hilt firmer. Straighten up your stance and always be in a defensive position. Never let your guard down when you are in a sword fight because then you'd risk letting your opponent get the upper hand and that is not something you'd want to happen, is it, Regina?" Alexander asks Regina as they continue their sword fighting lessons. Regina shakes her head in the negative and Alexander takes her sword from her. "Why don't we take a 10 minute break? Get some water and sit down for a while to catch your breath. We'll come back to this once your break is over, okay?" Alexander says to her kindly, she simply nods her head in agreement and walks over to the wooden table set up at the sideline of the open field. She picks up the pitcher of water and pours it into a glass cup. She takes an appreciative sip of the cool liquid and walks over to a nearby seat.
As she sits down, the sounds of clashing metal fills her ears. Regina takes another sip of her water as she watches Emma and Archibald spar with each other. She watches how Emma ducks in time, as Archibald swings his sword towards her neck, and how she easily deflects each of his attacks with her sword. Archibald slashes his sword through the air, aiming for the left side of Emma's body, but the blonde skillfully ducks and rolls out of the way, delivering a sweep kick to his feet, causing the burly man to lose his balance. As he falls to the ground, Emma places the tip of her sword against his stomach with a triumphant smirk on her face. Archibald looks up at the blonde with a genuine smile on his lips.
"King James has taught you well." He says, clearly impressed. Regina catches the uncomfortable expression that flashes across the blonde's face at being compared to her father. Emma forces a small smile towards the man and offers him her hand. He takes it gratefully as she pulls him up. "That was excellent, Emma. Go take a break and get some water, we'll continue in a moment." Emma nods at him silently and walks over to the table, pouring herself a large glass of water and then downing it after a few seconds. She pours a second glass of water and walks over to Regina with her cup in hand.
"Hey," Emma says as she approaches the brunette, deciding to take a seat in the abandoned chair next to Regina.
"Hey."
"How are lessons going for you today?" Emma asks the brunette casually as she takes a sip from her glass. Regina looks at the girl curiously.
"It's going fine, why?"
"Just checking. I've noticed over the last few weeks that you've been having some trouble adjusting to the whole fighting thing. The only thing you seem to have down pat, is ballroom dancing. Why don't you spar with me sometime?" Emma asks Regina. Regina narrows her eyes at the girl, curiously.
"Why would I want to do that with you, when I have a perfectly capable guard to teach me?" Emma rolls her eyes at the girl and releases an exasperated sigh.
"You could use the extra practice, Regina. What if we were under attack and neither of the guards could get to us in time? Would you want to risk not knowing how to defend yourself properly and die. Or would you like be fully prepared and alive? My parents are Snow White and Prince Charming, Regina, I am more than skilled in archery, sword-fighting, and hand-to-hand combat. If you need the help, I will gladly offer it to you," Emma says to the girl sincerely, and not in the condescending manner that Regina was expecting. Regina thinks it over for a few seconds.
"If I take you up on this offer, what exactly is it that you'd expect in return?" Regina asks with a raised brow. Emma smirks at the brunette, her green eyes twinkling with amusement. Regina decides, just by that look alone, that she isn't going to like what the girl has to say.
"I want you to help me with my ballroom dancing. Archibald is great and all, but he tends to step on my toes and there is only so much abuse that my feet can handle. I've seen you practice with Alexander and you're a natural. So I was thinking that if I help you, then you could help me in return. So what do you say? Be my dance partner?" Emma says in a friendly tone, her eyes sparkling with hope. Regina can't help but find, Emma, cute, in this moment. It startles her. Regina lets out a defeated sigh and nods her head in agreement.
"Fine. We have a deal, Miss White," Regina says to the blonde, holding out her hand to the girl. Emma takes Regina's hand in hers and they shake on it.
"Okay, break over, Regina. Let's get back to work," Alexander says. Regina hands Emma her glass of water and picks up her sword from the ground beside her. Emma watches after the brunette in amusement, placing the other girl's glass on top of the, now, abandoned chair beside her. Emma watches as Regina gets into a graceless stance, holding her sword at a crooked angle. She quietly snorts in laughter as Alexander swings his sword at the girl, causing Regina to jump in fright and drop her sword altogether. "Come on, Regina. Pick up the sword and let's go again. If this were a real fight, you would have already been killed," Regina mutters something underneath her breath and picks up her sword again.
Emma watches as the girl gets back into the same stance as before. Her form is all wrong. Why, Alexander, isn't correcting the girl, is beyond Emma. Emma takes another sip of her water and watches as Regina successfully, although a bit clumsily, blocks Alexander's attack. Alexander strikes his sword towards her neck, and just in the nick of time, Regina ducks, delivering a punch to his abdomen. Alexander stumbles back a few inches and Regina swings her sword towards the man, accidentally releasing her sword from her grasp, sending it flying 6 feet away from them. Alexander releases a heavy sigh and places the tip of his sword to Regina's stomach.
"You are dead. I have killed you 10 times today alone."
"Whatever," Regina mumbles to the man, walking past him wordlessly and retrieving her fallen sword from the ground.
"Emma, you up for another round?" Archibald asks her. She nods at the man mutely and places her glass on the seat next to Regina's. She picks up her sword from the ground beside her and spares one last glance toward the brunette.
"You are going to be a challenge to teach," Emma says quietly to herself as she watches Regina drop her sword for the nth time today.
Later that night—Bedtime
"You were terrible today. Like, I didn't even think it was possible for someone to be that awful at sword fighting," Emma says to Regina as they lie in bed together, Emma's face turned towards Regina's back.
"Not everyone was raised knowing how to fight, Miss White."
"You just rhymed."
"Shut up. Like I was saying, not everyone was raised knowing how to fight or how to use weapons. My mother fights with dark magic and my father is a coward. I didn't have warrior parents such as your own to teach me sword fighting or archery or anything of that nature, Regina tells the blonde. Emma stares at the girl's back curiously.
"Your mom has magic?"
"Yes," Regina answers simply. Emma's eyes widen at that news.
"Does that mean that you have magic?"
"Nope. I do not have magic. None that I know of, anyway," Regina says simply, never turning to face Emma.
"So do—"Emma never gets to finish her sentence before Regina cuts her off.
"Miss White, I am exhausted. All I want to do right now is sleep. So if you could please silence whatever questions you have until the morning, I would greatly appreciate it," Regina says in a tired voice. Emma shuts her mouth and does as she's asked. When the brunette's breaths even out, Emma moves closer to her, resting her forehead against the brunette's back, snuggling her body a little closer to the other girl's.
Unknown to her, a figure outside of the bedroom window was watching her every move.