This is a very fluffy chapter, sorry, I needed to get it out of my system because the next couple chapters, I think are going to be more character developing than a lot of what I've been writing. Thanks! Please, feel free to let me know how you guys like it all!
Regina filled Emma in so Emma would know the situation ahead of time, it also bought them some time for their mutual absence. When they got back to the group, everyone stood.
"Where have you been, Emma?" Snow asked. "We were so worried."
"I needed to be alone. Regina found me asleep on the ground; I guess I was just exhausted. Speaking of which, at least someone looked for me."
"Actually, Miss Swan, Rumplestiltskin and I stumbled across you, I just told him to go ahead and that I needed a minute to fill you in and teach you some more," Regina countered.
"We didn't even know where to begin," Snow cried in defense.
"Yeah. Anyway, Gold and Regina have sent Ariel to retrieve something from Storybrooke and supposedly it can help us defeat Pan."
"Ariel? But why would she do you a favor, Regina? You destroyed her life," Snow started, but couldn't finish because Regina spoke.
"Because Eric is in Storybrooke, and I gave her a cut that will let her walk on land, with no cost."
"Well, what's this object that will help us defeat Pan?" Charming asked.
"Well, that is for me to know and you to never find out, dearie," Rumplestiltskin said.
"How will we defeat him, then?"
"Regina or I will take care of Pan, while the rest of you take care of Henry."
"Nobody knows Pan like I do," Neal said. "It should be me."
"No, because you're the only one who can lead us off the island."
"So if it has to be one of you two, why bother telling us anyway?" Charming asked.
"Because it could take a couple of days Before Ariel is back, so we need to stick close to the shoreline and spend some time preparing ourselves for battle," Regina stated, annoyed.
"And spend time resting and eating because day or night, when Ariel gets here, we're going to get our son back, right Regina?" Emma said.
"Absolutely."
"Now, the rest of you do as you'd please, but Regina, would you help me with magic some more? I need to learn better control."
"Yes. Do you want to do fire again? Or use magic to find someone? The latter will be more difficult, but you may be able to do it with some practice."
"Let's do that, then. How do I do it?"
"Ever play hide and seek? We'll start easy. Hook, come here?"
"Yes, darling," he asked as he stepped closer to Henry's moms.
"Give me something of yours."
"Like what?"
"Give me your rum flask, then go hide."
"Hide, love?"
"Yes, hide. I'm going to show Emma how to find you with magic."
"Well, alright then."
He handed her his flask, then took himself away from the group. Regina showed Emma how to put a spell on Hook's possession, very like what Regina did with Pan's map. Emma couldn't make it happen, so Regina did it once, demonstrating, then sent Hook hiding again, letting the blonde try over.
Emma grew frustrated, throwing the flask and instead of hearing it land or hit something, when she looked for it, she saw it was floating in midair. She grew excited and followed it, floating in the air in front of her, Regina beside her. The two women followed deep into the darkness until it stopped moving and hovered in one spot before dropping to the ground.
The looked around, unable to find Hook and Emma began to fluster in annoyance. The women heard a whistle and looked up, Hook was in a tree.
"I did it, Regina!" Emma exclaimed, taking Regina into her arms. Regina rubbed Emma's back with her hands and kissed her shoulder.
"You did beautifully, dear. But we need to try something harder, now."
"Harder?"
"Let me have a minute to think, we'll get Hook back to camp, then I'll decide."
Hook climbed down the tree, digging his hook in for leverage. "My dear, Regina, since we're in love now, you could at least call me Killian."
"Sure, Hook, let's go back to camp."
They got back to the others and Neal, Rumplestiltskin and Charming were sleeping. Snow was waiting up for them.
"Well, how did it go?" she asked when the three stopped walking.
"I did it, but Regina is pretty thorough and wants me to practice more," Emma answered.
"Not quite, I just think that you need to practice finding someone who can hide with magic." Regina countered.
"If you ladies don't need me, then, I'm going to rest, is that acceptable?" Hook asked.
"Yes, dear, go ahead." She stopped, and then forced herself to add, "Sleep well, my dear." Hook leaned in toward her, placing a forced kiss on her cheek, then found a place to sleep on the opposite side of the clearing as the other men.
"You should get some sleep, too," Emma told Snow. "I don't know that it's worth waiting up for us to stop practicing. Regina's a really hard teacher, this could take some time, and I really need to get better if I'm going to have any hope of finding Regina, should she be the one that has to deal with Pan instead of Gold."
"If you're certain," Snow hugged Emma and laid down next to her husband.
"So what do I take of yours?" Emma asked Regina.
The brunette looked at herself, thinking. She hesitated, then took off her ring, handing it to the blonde. "Here, this is one of my most prized possessions. Do be careful with it, will you?" After Regina cloaked herself with magic, she took off into the dark, taking extra care of how far and where she hid herself. She didn't want to make it too easy for Emma.
After what seemed like an hour of searching, Emma felt herself getting frustrated and Regina could sense the blonde's excitement waning. She decided to let up on her cloaking spell.
Finally, the ring lifted from Emma's hand and moved, she followed it, leaving her hand in the air beneath it, wanting to protect Regina's sentimental property. She followed the ring for several minutes until it stopped and she looked around. Since the ring had done its task, it dropped into her hand. She still didn't see Regina, it was dark, but she felt the other woman's presence. Just as she was about to turn around, she felt a warm pair of arms wrap around her waist from behind and smiled knowingly.
Regina rested her chin on Emma's shoulder and kissed the blonde's neck, causing her heart to flutter.
"You let me find you, didn't you?" Emma groaned, turning to face the brunette with a fake pout on her lips.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Regina smirked. "Ok, well I got tired of waiting. I just wanted you to find me, it's getting late and I wanted to have some time alone with you, but we will eventually need to sleep before everyone else gets up, too. I didn't want to be patient anymore. Can you forgive me?"
Still wrapped in Regina's arms, Emma put one hand on Regina's hip and the other on the back of her neck, pulling her in for a kiss.
"You're much more romantic that I ever would have guessed," Emma whispered between kisses.
"Would you have tried to guess? Before we were here, I mean?"
"Well, maybe, maybe not?" Regina's raised eyebrow urged Emma to continue. "Maybe we wouldn't have gotten to this point as quickly, but I've been leaning toward believing in you for a while."
"Really?" Regina sounded skeptical.
"Yeah, I mean, Henry believes in you and loves you, so I know there was good in you, but maybe that we had to dig for it. And besides, you can't argue that we've had a lot of passion between us for a long time, maybe even since the beginning, even if it wasn't positive passion."
"Like cutting a branch from my apple tree?" Regina played bitterness.
"Or like having me arrested," Emma played back. "Or when you told me to enjoy your shirt, because it was all I was getting. Guess you got that one wrong, yeah?"
Regina chuckled. "I wouldn't have guessed I'd fall for a woman, actually."
"Does it bother you?"
"If it did, do you really think I would still be here? It's not something that bothers me, no, it's just not anything I have experience with." She paused for a moment, before allowing herself to ask the question she had been wondering about for a while. "Do you have experience with it, dear?"
"No, Actually, I don't have much experience with anyone. Neal is the only relationship I've had and that clearly worked out well, and I'm not really promiscuous, so I've always been choosy about my sexual partners. I just never really thought to look for a woman, my limited experience was always with men."
"But you've enjoyed our experiences?"
"Oh, yes. Very much so, my queen," Emma teased, but she pulled Regina as close as she could, pressing her lips to the brunette's, running her tongue along the full bottom lip, asking for entry. The full lips parted all too willingly. As Emma skillfully moved her tongue against Regina's, the brunette's hands trailed up the blonde's waist, brushing the ribs right underneath her breasts and around to her back, pulling the blonde with her as she took a few steps backward. Regina pulled away.
"Can I show you something, dear?"
"Anything," Emma breathed.
Regina turned away from Emma, hooking her pinky with the other woman's and leading her away from the spot they were at. Regina led Emma onto a beach, the water in front of them. The sounds of the water soothed them as they looked around for somewhere to sit. There were logs and rocks strewn across the sand. Regina pulled Emma to one of the fallen logs, but Emma stepped a few feet back and sat on the sand. She patted the sand next to her and Regina sat down.
"This island, I'll always associate it with you now. I mean, not even just because it's where we began, but also because it's haunting and terrifyingly complex, but it's so beautiful, like you."
Regina raised her eyebrow. "I'm haunting, terrifyingly complex and beautiful?"
"Exactly." Emma smiled, taking Regina's hand in her own.
"Well, then darling, you are … beautiful, unpredictable and you make me nervous, like this island."
Emma let out a low chuckle, "We're quite the pair, aren't we?"
"Indeed we are. Does this ever seem too good to be true, to you?"
"It always seems to good to be true. I'm surprised that I'm allowing myself to enjoy you so much."
"Enjoy me, hmm? Why are you surprised, then?"
"I don't generally allow myself good things. I always lose them, when I do. Look at where we are, saving Henry, because everything I touch gets hurt, taken away, or dies." As she said the last word, her eyes dropped and she had a few tears rolling down her cheeks. Emma used her free hand to wipe away the tear.
"Not me, I'm glue, as long as you'll let me stick."
"Couldn't come up with a better phrase than that?"
Emma hummed, thinking. "Nope, I'm gonna stick with glue."
Regina rolled her eyes and raised a hand to tuck some blonde locks behind Emma's ear. She smiled warmly, only letting the upturned corners of her mouth falter just before she spoke.
"I haven't felt this way in a very long time. I'm not going to willingly let you go. But you have to know, your parents aren't going to approve of this, and no matter how inactive their brain cells may be, they're going to catch on, eventually."
"I'm going to let that one slide, because you're being sweet. And yes, I know they won't approve, but maybe I just don't care. They can't dictate who I love and maybe they'll be smart enough to just accept it."
Regina snorted. "I wouldn't count on that, dear."
"But now, you're a requirement for mine and Henry's happiness." Her words made Regina's smile return. "You should smile more, it's breathtaking."
"I've never had much reason to smile before. I mean, with Henry, yes, but not with anyone else, not in a long, long time."
"How long? It was with Daniel right? But I mean, how many years?"
"Are you asking me my age, Emma? You know that's an extremely offensive question to ask a woman."
"I don't really care, I'm just curious. You don't have to answer it."
"We should get back, Emma."
"Ok."
They went back to where the others made camp for the night. They separated with a simple kiss goodnight, and Emma slept away from the others, and Regina slept against the tree nearest Hook, figuring she might as well play everyone up as long as she could. She knew Emma's feelings, she could feel them, but she didn't want to deal with Charming and Snow's feelings on their relationship sooner than they had to.