Next Morning
"You're not holding on to me right. I'm the one leading here, so it's your job to follow. Put your left hand on my hip and place your right hand in mine." Emma does as she's told, placing her left hand lightly on Regina's hip and tentatively placing her right hand into the brunette's. Regina smiles at the blonde in approval. "Okay, now follow along." Regina instructs. She begins to dance around the living room, going slowly in order for Emma to catch on to what she needs to be doing. Emma looks down at their moving feet one too many times for Regina's liking. As they continue to dance around the living room, Emma's eyes slide up to Regina's face before jumping back to watch their foot movements, steeping on the brunette's toes as she does so. Regina yelps out in pain and removes her arms from the blonde, putting her hands up in surrender.
"Let's take a break." Regina says to the other girl softly. Emma blushes lightly and nods her head sheepishly in agreement. She then decides to take a seat on the sofa that is now placed in the far corner of the room.
In order for the two girls to effectively have their dance rehearsal, they needed a spacious room. And what room in the cottage is more spacious than the living room? Both girls had woken up that morning absolutely exhausted, due to the events of the day before. Despite their obvious exhaustion, they realized they had no lessons planned with Archibald and Alexander for the day, which prompted them to find something productive to do with their free time. Instead of sleeping the day away or roaming around the forest aimlessly, both girls agreed to focus some of their time on their most avoided lesson: ballroom dancing. Even though, Emma, has been giving Regina the extra lessons in archery, sword fighting and hand-to-hand combat, Regina has yet to fulfill her duty at helping Emma with her dancing…until now, that is. After the two girls were bathed and clothed for the day, Emma turned on the puppy dog eyes and heartbreaking pout and pleaded for Regina to teach her the ways of ballroom dancing, and after 20 minutes of pleading with the brunette, the girl reluctantly agreed.
That is how the two girls found themselves pushing the living room furniture into the corners of the room, making a spacious dance floor for them to practice on.
"How is it that you are so amazing at all of the violent activities, yet you can't dance to save your life? What if a random enemy challenged us to a ballroom dance battle? How the hell would we win that with your two left?" Regina says in amusement, mirth twinkling in her brown eyes. Emma chuckles at the girl's outrageous comment and looks at her with unbridled fondness.
"That is the most outrageous, yet hilarious, comment, I have ever heard come out of your mouth. Who would have thought that your royal bitchiness would have a sense of humor?" Emma says with a teasing smirk, causing Regina to playfully roll her eyes.
"Believe it or not, I'm not as tedious as you may think. I have a sense of humor, a cynical and dark sense of humor perhaps, but it's still a sense of humor, nonetheless." Regina says with a noncommittal shrug. Emma giggles at her and nods her head in agreement.
"Believe it or not, I have never found you to be tedious. A bit on the rigid side, sure, but never tedious. You are far more interesting than you give yourself credit for." Emma says to the girl sincerely.
"I am not rigid. I just simply choose to stick to my guns; I'm not easily persuaded nor do I ever feel the need to conform to another person's norm or ideals. I am my own person with my own thoughts." Regina defends causing the blonde to chuckle.
"You basically just gave me the exact definition of what being rigid is. Plus, I never said that it was a bad thing. There's nothing wrong with being strong-willed and unchangeable, all that tells me is that you are comfortable with being who you are and that you won't change for anyone, unless it's for yourself. I admire that about you." Regina stares at Emma with an unreadable expression, one that the blonde can't quite decipher. The look in the brunette's eyes sends a pleasant shiver down her spine. Just moments after the look appears, it's gone. Regina clears her throat uncomfortably and stands back up, motioning for Emma to do the same.
"Break time over, let's get back to work." The girls get back into the similar dance position, Emma's hand placed on Regina's hip, Regina's arm wrapped around Emma's waist, and both girl's hands clasped tightly together as they glide clumsily around the room. As they continue to dance, the clumsiness starts to fade away and Emma soon gets a handle on her dancing. They continue gliding across the living room floor, their bodies getting closer as the dance drags on. Neither girls seem to realize the closing distance between them until their fronts are pushed together and their lips are only a centimeter away, their breaths now mixing together.
Regina looks into Emma's darkening green eyes and then flashes her eyes to the blonde's lips, repeating the action over and over again, until the urge to close the distance becomes stronger. Emma repeats Regina's actions, noticing how the brunette's mocha brown eyes are practically black now. She stares at the brunette's plump and inviting lips, completely tempted to close the distance and claim the girl's lips as her own. Without thinking about it any further, Emma closes the distance, gently brushing her lips against Regina's. The brunette's breath hitches at the contact and forcibly snaps her eyes shut. Emma follows suit and closes her eyes as well, her lips brushing over Regina's again but with more pressure. She begins slowly moving her lips against the brunette's, a sound of surprise sounding in her throat when Regina's lips begin to respond to her movements, following the rhythmic movements that Emma's lips have set.
The kiss is slow and gentle, and unlike anything either girl has ever experienced before. They don't try to deepen the kiss nor do they try to speed it up; their lips just continue to move at the snail-like pace that they have set. Neither girl is aware of the flash of light that occurs when their lips touch, nor are they aware of the man watching them from outside of their window. All they are aware of, is each other.
Regina jolts back from the kiss a few moments later, her chest heaving frantically as her eyes widen in panic. Emma stands still, her eyes slowly fluttering open, taking in the sight of her companion's panicked state.
"Regina…" Emma starts quietly.
"What was that?! Why did you kiss me?" Regina says in a panicky voice, her brown eyes wide with panic and confusion. Emma stares at the girl in silence, not knowing what to say. Regina's panic is replaced with frustration as she eyes the silent girl before her. "Are you going to answer me or are you going to stand there gawking at me all day?" Regina asks in an authoritative voice. Emma sighs loudly and shakes her head in disbelief.
"I don't know why I kissed you, okay? I think the better question is: why did you kiss me back?" Emma asks calmly. Regina glares at the girl and releases a frustrated huff.
"I did no such thing, Emma."
"You did."
"Did not."
"Did too."
"You have no proof."
"Your lips moving against mine was proof enough." Emma says with a self-satisfied smirk, causing Regina to groan in displeasure.
"I'm going out for a walk. Don't follow me." Regina says in an irritable manner causing Emma to chuckle in amusement.
"Wouldn't dream of it, your royal bitchiness. I think I'll just take a nap or something while you're gone. Have fun." Emma says with a chuckle, walking wordlessly into their shared bedroom. Regina gapes at the girl's retreating back in huffs in irritation. She heads to the cottage's front door and slips on her sandals before exiting the house and walking around the forest with no particular direction in mind. As she begins walking down the cobble stone path and dirt road, she fails to notice the man hidden behind the nearby oak tree, watching her every move.
"I can't believe I kissed my wife…" Regina mumbles to herself, not hearing the footsteps following behind her. As her steps speed up, so do the man's behind her. She continues walking, grumbling curses at Emma under breath before she finally hears the sound of footsteps behind her. Without slowing down or making it obvious that she hears the steps, she quickly turns around, catching the man by surprise.
"Daniel? Why are you following me?" Regina asks as she catches sight of her ex-lover. He looks at her with his jaw clenched and offers a silent shrug. Regina eyes the man suspiciously, wondering why he seems so quiet. He's never this quiet. "What's wrong?" She asks him in concern. The man looks into her brown eyes and shakes his head in the negative, as if to say that nothing is wrong. But, Regina, doesn't believe him for a second. She takes a tentative step forward and places a hand on the man's taught jaw, staring into his familiar, yet distant, eyes. "You can talk to me." She says reassuringly.
"It's nothing. Nothing at all. I was planning on swinging by the cottage to see if you wanted to have a lunch time rendezvous or something, but it's okay if you don't." Daniel says sadly, his eyes now focused on the ground.
"I'd love to." Regina says to him quickly. Too quickly. Daniel narrows his eyes at the woman and studies her. Did he miss something? Did he not just see Regina and the White princess in a lip lock just a few a minutes prior? Was he imagining the white flash of light that occurred when the girl's lips touched? He may not be the smartest man in the land but he knows what that white flash of light, means. Everyone knows what that light means. As much as he loves Regina and as much as he wants to spend the rest of his life with her, he knows that he can't. She's not meant to be his…she's meant to be hers.
"That's not a good idea, Regina. Look, I love you more than anything…but you're married. It was stupid of me to come here and try to get you back." Daniel says softly, doing his best to avoid the tears forming in the brunette woman's eyes.
"But I love you. I don't want to be with Emma. I don't love her." She says to him pathetically. Daniel smiles softly at her and shakes his head in bitter amusement. Poor girl has no clue how wrong she is. In time she will see.
"I love you too…but I can't do this, Regina. It's not right. And who knows, maybe in time you will learn to love her." He says to her lightly. Regina glares at him and without another word, she turns around and stomps towards the direction she was originally headed in, her steps much quicker and heavier as she goes on her way. Daniel watches her from his spot and allows a few tears to fall from his eyes.
"This is for the best…" He mumbles to himself as convincingly as he can. You just can't fight fate.
"This day just keeps getting better and better…stupid Emma White." Regina grumbles to herself as she continues walking, her steps slowing down once she gets a good distance away from Daniel and her cottage. How could she just laugh off what occurred between us like that? Here I am, freaking out and there she is, smiling and smirking and chuckling. The nerve of that girl! If she thinks that I'm going to talk to her after this, she's got another thing coming. Why couldn't my parents marry me off to someone more tolerable than her…Someone who wasn't so smug and unbearable to be around? Regina thinks to herself.
Back at the cottage, Emma lays in bed, staring up at the ceiling as she replays the kiss in her head, over and over and over again. "I kissed Regina Mills…" She says quietly to herself, closing her eyes and releasing a deep breath. A few seconds later her eyes pop open and she springs up in bed. "I kissed Regina Mills….whoa." She says to herself, finally allowing what occurred to sink in. Well, there goes our newfound friendship. Emma thinks to herself before throwing herself back onto the bed, groaning to herself in embarrassment.