Photographs - Swan Queen, an once upon a time fanfic

Title: Photographs

Pairing: Regina Mills/Emma Swan

Genre: Fluffy with mild angst

Dedicated to: Esther Santiago

BOLD - Memories

BOLD Italics - Song lyrics

Slight inspired by Ed Sheeran's song 'Photograph'.

Excerpt:

After moving through the photos, one after the other, a change developed in Regina's brown eyes. There was something there and it was becoming more evident. She gazed at the close ups and couldn't breathe because they weren't expected. Such closeness that highlighted her face and chest. A photographer with a personal view, an intimate one as a painter would spend so much time working on the lips of a lover on a canvas.

Emma's emerald eyes were not alight although they should have been.

Clutching the small red box between her hands, she made her way to the Diner, like a child about to deliver some spectacular item to a parent.

It was a warm Sunday, the kind of day that brought in a clear blue sky, and a warmth that settled upon the rooftops and lingered in the shelters. Somehow, there was a cool wind that swirled around corners and chased away butterflies that kissed fresh flowers of all kinds within Granny's expansive garden. The smell of bread tickled noses and snaked through cracks under windows and the entrance whilst Ruby busily wiped red ceramic plates with a red checkered rag.

She was awaiting the arrival of someone.

The anticipation could be noticed in her brown eyes, widening every few seconds when the bell tinkled above the door. Only to discover that it was just another familiar face slinking in to grab a bite for lunch. It was just after twelve thirty and the sun's rays outside initiated a scowl because she detested the heat at times like these. Times when a certain someone would waltz through the doors with a wary look upon her face and take a seat after huffing out a sigh.

When the bell's musical tinkle drifted to her ears, she immediately ceased wiping a plate from the stack and gazed at the newcomer.

"I got it." Emma was breathless whilst she came towards the polished marble counter and rested the mysterious box upon it.

"Well it's about fucking time," Ruby muttered, throwing the cloth down and admiring the lighter brown highlights in her best friend's hair. Tendrils that were so soft and beautiful. When the sun caressed those blonde locks, Emma appeared like an angel.

"See, Ebay said that it would cost a fortune to deliver all the way out here. And after some digging, I found Chris's number."

Ruby frowned. "Who's Chris?" Surely not an ex.

"Oh just this guy who was Neal's best friend from Boston. He handles gadgets of all kinds. Plus he got me a great deal." Her fingers captured the top of the box and the flaps were pulled upwards.

Lucas could tell how excited her friend was, to finally receive the item.. "So it's a Canon C29 right?"

"No," Emma actually laughed, head tilted as the camera was carefully taken out with shaky fingers. "It's a Canon A58. Digital. Flash. Ruby, it's nothing fancy as fancy comes these days. But it's an investment. And I've always wanted a reasonable camera."

"But your Samsung takes some good shots. Doesn't it?" Elbows propped up upon the counter, Ruby's eyes latched onto the bubble wrap and yearned to pop every single one like a kid.

"Yeah but I mean, this..." Emma lifted the item that had pinched her mind for days now, filling up her history as she dug for prices and good deals on Amazon and Ebay. "This is just perfect."

She couldn't control it anymore, couldn't cage the child inside of her. Ruby snatched the bubble wrap and began to pop one after the other, alerting a few diners who stared without commenting. But it was Granny who scowled, sitting behind the cash register and working on the books. However, she did and always would manage to capture the attention of a particular gentleman, regardless of the situation. Whale lifted his head and a small smile played on his lips. As always, he had his own secretive motives for frequenting the Diner.

His beating heart, one of nature's most amazing creations, part of the fantastic body that was studied by him, was still yearning for Ruby.

"The actual feeling of holding a freaking camera and taking pics, Ruby," Emma said, still exasperated, turning it this way and that to check out the resolution. "It is amazing. It's like you feel like a photographer or something. Even without any skills. And I was thinking about this a long time as I told you before."

"Yeah, yeah," Lucas twisted the bubble wrap and the Diner was filled with the sound of continuous popping once more. Whale was grinning from ear to ear. "You were out on the docks the other day and wanted to take photos of this bird -"

"A boat," Emma corrected her, smiling still. "It was a boat." Among other things.

"Still lame as fuck."

"Look, you probably can't understand but I'm so in tune with nature. The simplest things in life just...grabs my attention. And this boat was just rocking to and fro by the docks, waves lapping on the sides. I mean, the scene was perfect. Plus who would not want to take a photo of a boat that has the name 'Pussy Cat' on the side?"

Ruby shrugged. "Well, still lame but I kind of get ya. You want to take stuff out and keep memories."

"It's like Ed Sheeran's song 'Photograph'...kind of inspired me." Emma licked her lips. Camera lifted, she zoomed in on Granny sitting behind the register and clicked. The flash illuminated the place for just two seconds and the owner of the Diner narrowed her eyes. "Got ya." Tongue tucked between her lips, the blonde reveled in the moment.

Granny felt that it was grand to be young and oh so captivated by gadgets and what not. When she had to sit down with the books and sift through accounts on a daily basis. Not forgetting the continuous cooking. "Seems like all you folks do these days is use a screen to live your life."

"Says the woman who recently signed up on Facebook," Ruby commenced wiping the plates again, legs crossed at the ankles, wearing a pair of red shoes.

"Why don't you run along and take snaps of your stud of a boyfriend?" the old lady suggested on a kind note.

Immediately, something chewed on Emma's beating heart. The radiant look on a face that was just stretched with a smile slowly disappeared and her head was bowed like a defeated warrior. In a way, defeat had arrived, and when the actuality of the pressing moment had been highlighted, she realized that there was no point in dragging one's feet forward. Into something that wasn't needed anymore.

You're holding me back.

You're scared. That's all. Emma -

Don't. Don't...touch me. I don't want to be touched right now.

Then what do you want?

I want...

Taking a deep breath, she clutched the camera and tried to focus on anything else but memories of a certain someone and a particularly heated argument.

I want something that you can never give me. I'm sorry.

Emma -

Ruby was quick to notice the change. She always could sense the swirl in someone's emotions, the hurt or anger that made blood rush through veins or sent hearts beating. And she understood what was happening. Lucas was well aware of the cause and effect, the mask that was fitted on to conceal the truest feelings. Feelings that were so intense, tearing at her friend's heart and making her bleed internally.

It wasn't something that she could fix. But oh how her own heart ached to do something. To capture Emma in a moment and make her pitch away all the conflicting emotions simmering inside. Burn them down, and trample on the past with good expectations of the future.

"She's not seeing him anymore," Lucas said to her granny, in a voice that was low enough to shut out any eavesdropper. "Things stopped clicking."

"Oh," the older woman frowned. Resting a black ink pen down between the book that was scribbled with accounts, she studied the blonde's face. "Well he wasn't good for you anyway. I've always said so and I've told Ruby. The two of you didn't rub nicely together."

Emma was trying so hard to concentrate on her camera.

"And everyone knows that there's definitely someone else out there for you. You just have to open your eyes a little wider and notice what's happening."

Ruby snapped her head in the speaker's direction and sent a warning look, one that signaled the need to stop the conversation at once.

"So the camera..." she lightly touched her friend's left wrist, "ready to fill it up with photos of that boat?"

Emma forced a smile. "I guess. Among other things."

"Like?"

"Well...there's the church."

"The church?" Ruby stared. The door was opened and Belle came in with a warming personality that could thaw anyone. She could step into a circle of friends and immediately create a sense of calm that seemed to chase after the woman like a ray of sunshine. Hugging a blue backpack, the bookie hustled over and planted it on the vacant seat next to Emma.

"The stained glass. The altar. The..." emerald eyes were pinched from a smile as she considered Belle, "...tower with the bell."

"Saint Peter's church?"

"She wants to take photos of the church and stuff. Which I think is lame." Ruby rolled her eyes.

"Well I think that it's beautiful," Belle rested a hand upon the blonde's right wrist. Their eyes met. "I'm glad that it finally arrived. So now you're going to explore more and hopefully, take photos of the Enchanted Forest."

"How about you take photos of me instead?" Lucas scowled, "instead of a load of crap."

"Vain much?" Belle still smiled. "Besides, memories should be snapped and kept for many years to come. Like those of your parents and Henry."

"Of Robin and his merry men. Of Gold's freaky shop, covered in dust and the many shelves in the library," Ruby's sarcasm was evident. "All the crappy parts of town too. Why don't you do weddings and parties, earn a few bucks? Search the town for crazy scenes like a man cheating on his wife and post it in the Mirror? Start a job as a P.I?"

"Zip it," Belle sent Ruby a smug look.

"I think I'll just take it for a test run," Emma was calm, shutting out almost everything as her mind refused to let go of a heart aching memory. "Maybe start at the docks, then see what comes next. That kind of thing. It's Sunday anyway. Plus I need to clear my head."

After what happened two nights ago...

She just couldn't sweep it out of a tormented mind. The kind of memory that was pressed down on your heart, like a leech, sucking the happiness out. Refusing to let go because at some point, the need to give in had become stronger than anything else. She did the one thing that had been a forbidden move since Neal's death, since he had died tragically and left her lost like a stranger in a completely new world. And maybe that's the reason why her heart latched itself onto another rush of ridiculous feelings.

Feelings that didn't even make sense at all.

At some point, Emma broke her rule and whispered three significant words to a man who really didn't deserve to hear them. A man who was a pirate, racing to save her and would do anything for the woman he had fallen in love with. He had allowed his heart to empty out the hurt and to be filled with hope, with something no one should embrace if they weren't so sure of the future. Because he said the nicest things and he did the nicest things but she couldn't do it.

She couldn't keep lying to herself anymore.

Two nights ago when the pent up emotions that raged inside like two dragons at war were let out, Emma shouted the truth.

That she didn't love him as much as he loved her.

That her heart didn't want him as much as he desired.

That they were allowed time and with time came the the harsh truth.

She was not in love with him.

He was a rush, a drug that gave her a temporary relief. A slice of happiness. But at nights when she would stare up at the ceiling for hours on end, only one thing could make her cry until the tears couldn't come anymore. A forbidden thought. The lingering feeling after a touch and the pull of a gaze when their eyes met. The scent of a perfume that drove her mind crazy and hands shaking recently when that particular shade of hair was spotted anywhere in Storybrooke.

Not forgetting the bitter taste in her mouth that came when emerald eyes met the ones belonging to a man who had become the enemy. A man who was not worthy, who didn't deserve the attention he received because to her, his chances had run out. He shouldn't have been welcomed back with open arms, shouldn't have been smothered in kisses and treated as if he was the world. He wasn't fit for a Queen.

It's funny but even after the storm of emotions raged through her mind, eyes leaking for hours, Emma would fall asleep because of one thought. Of one face. The sound of a voice and the remembrance of a smile. She would fall asleep because Hook wasn't the one. He was never the one who held the key to her heart.

She was in love with someone else.

Loving can hurt... Loving can hurt sometimes. But it's the only thing that she knew.

Photos of Neal, alongside Henry, frozen in time. Their smiles that would last forever. Photos in a box. Of her parents. She had these memories and whilst sifting through them one night, Emma realized something; that one was still missing.

A memory was still missing.

A memory hadn't been made as yet, hadn't been focused on and captured.

She needed that memory for herself.

Fifteen minutes after leaving Belle and Ruby whilst they discussed romance books, her brown leather boots made imprints in the sand. It's funny where your curiosity leads you, especially when your guide somehow becomes your soul, attaching itself to another and being lured towards that source.

She followed a sandy trail that was flattened from the occasional frequency of trucks, heading to the fisheries to conduct business. The lush green grass stretched for a good foot or so and danced to the wind. The air was scented, with something other than fish.

She could only smell the sweetness of nature.

The wet sand whilst waves lapped upon the shore, crunched under her boots and Emma's emerald eyes swept the area for the boat. Within the time taken to search though, she inhaled the fresh air and allowed it to create a sense of calmness within. The feeling of breathing out the harshness of life and letting in the freshness of nature. Of the water. Eyes latching onto the horizon and becoming dazed whilst a boat moved by. Two men flung out a net and sat back down, one smoking, the other laughing.

Sometimes life could be so simple.

It could get hard sometimes.

Sometimes love could become so hard.

But it was one of the only things that made her feel alive.

For her, from the very moment she arrived in that mysterious little town, what greeted her wasn't a sense of calm but the beginning of a roller coaster of feelings. Of discovery. Of wanting to constantly save someone who refused to be saved, someone who always put up a fight and behaved so stubborn.

There was always the need to run towards the blaring red light, realizing that she would do anything for someone who was really broken. A lost angel. A fallen warrior. An older woman who had somehow lost her footing on the path through life and ended up making some harsh decisions that disturbed her future. A soldier in her own bloody battles, fighting wars that raged on for no substantial reason, other than the fact that hate could grow like weeds. Hate, when not stopped, would infest wounds and tease out sores that pained, that stained one's life like blood on a white cloth.

Yet deep down inside, there was a definite understanding.

Not one, but both of them were lonely.

Emma climbed the wooden steps, got onto the abandoned docks and found the boat.

The camera rested bumped upon her midsection, the black strap wrapped around a sweaty neck, skin so fair and flawless. She was anything but perfect though. Love had wrapped its vice-like fingers around her heart and choked the truth into a tormented mind. All these years, she had possibly been lying to herself.

Capturing blonde hair up into a messy ponytail, she bit her lips already becoming dry and prepared to take a photo of a ridiculous boat as Ruby had called it.

After two shots, she found a cat resting in the shadow of a wooden barrel and snapped a photo. Very soon, many scenes were explored and captured, even the imprint of pointed tip shoes leading up the trail in the sand and disappearing somewhere behind a building.

This she found rather strange.

It was like the days when she was a curious child who wanted to discover so much more. And Nancy Drew books only fueled her imagination that ghosts existed. Nancy and Scooby Doo however, imprinted the belief in her mind that all monsters were people behind masks. Up to now, even within this world filled with magic and everything else, Emma's belief in the supernatural had grown by force.

When something was knocked down on the docks, she startled from the sound and reared her neck to investigate. There was no one to see. So cautiously sneaking around the abandoned shack where the footprints disappeared, she ended up next to the sleeping tabby cat again, curled up like a comma without a care in the world but where its next meal would come from. Probably a fish thief.

Lifting the camera, she leaned onto the wall of another shack in the shade and focused the lens on the docks. A simple scene that consisted of a wooden pathway with posts on either side, leading to nowhere really. To her right was the expansive body of water, glimmering in the sun. To her left was whence she came. She took a picture, lowered her head to check it out and then lifted the newly bought item again.

This time, something was different about the photo. And it wasn't the absence of something but the addition of someone.

Holding her breath, she blinked and focused on the camera display.

Emma zoomed in and studied the back of a woman standing on the edge of the beach. The bottom of the person's black pants flapped slowly and so did the short sleeves of a purple shirt. Dark hair was disheveled and played with by the wind. The roar of the ocean; she forgot all about nature and gazed upon the newcomer with wide eyes.

It had to be a figment of her imagination. It just had to. Standing there, all of a sudden. Like a ghost that was haunting a photo. Taunting her feelings and sending an aching heart racing down a path that never stopped. Surely it wasn't who she thought it was?

Emma drew nearer but without making the slightest sound. Eventually, the camera was lifted again and she managed to capture a sideways view of the very person who had stolen her heart somewhere along the four years they had been familiar with each other. Somewhere along the path to finding each other, finding their son and finding the meaning of happiness.

My son to our son.

Just as she was sneaking a very close up view, brown eyes turned in her direction. Dark, choppy hair lifting in the wind, Regina stared and suddenly appeared like a deer in headlights. Even when the camera was lowered, their eyes remained latched on each other and the connection wasn't broken. It was too strong a connection, one that grabbed the blonde by force and entrapped her. In the time that slipped by, Emma couldn't control the way she felt, so warm inside as a sense of calm was reached when she realized something else.

That Regina was really the most beautiful woman she had ever seen.

"What are you doing?" the brunette squinted and scowled. To any other person, she would probably appear cross. But to Emma, she was all too cute.

"I'm taking a photo of the water's edge. And you're..." she lowered her eyes, heart racing, "...in my shot."

"Delete the photo," Regina's husky voice traveled across the distance. "I command it."

That brought a smile to the blonde's face as she tried so hard to avoid the meeting of their eyes again Orbs the warmest brown. A color that was capable of luring her in. It was feared. Knowing that at some point, her feelings would be revealed and then there would be no turning back. None at all.

"I just got the camera and I don't know how to really...delete stuff yet. So I'm just taking random shots."

"Give it to me." Regina strode forward, holding out a gloved right hand. She was determined and Emma oh so loved that look in those pretty brown eyes. "I will show you how to delete."

"Hey, lighten up." Emma hugged the newly bought camera defensively and prepared for the encounter. "I just caught the side of your figure. That's it."

"I...said...delete...it."

"No."

Gloved hands were batted away and they playfully chased each other around in the shade whilst one laughed, eyes sparkling and the other eventually softened up. How incredulous it could be to just let go of one's tension and give in to a slice of happiness arising from a chase. Knowing that it wasn't a tense situation and they weren't at each other's throats, out for blood. But like two kids, having some fun and enjoying the moment.

Eventually, Emma allowed her camera to be taken. Whilst it was studied by brown eyes, turned this way and that, she realized something. She couldn't breathe. It wasn't just the pumped up feeling after running around in circles.

Maybe it was the fact that Regina was standing so close to her, dark hair falling like a curtain around a beautiful face. A face that could never leave her memory, no matter how hard she tried to soften the image with other feelings instead of the growing attraction.

"It's a pretty impressive camera," the brunette noted, "but your shots are so out of focus and completely meaningless."

A little dart pierced the younger woman's heart. "I'm not an expert. Seems like you are."

"A cat?" Regina scowled and shook her head. "I hate cats. With a vengeance."

"I love them actually."

"And a boat? Look at the muck coated sides." The brunette turned the camera for emerald eyes to see. "It's disgusting."

"Look, I saw what I wanted to see in the photos, okay?" Emma said defensively, folding her arms. "It's my camera and I can take what the hell I want."

The silence stretched on whilst the images were studied.

"Oh you little stalker," eyes still lowered, Regina smirked at the photo and barely shook her head.

Emma was slightly confused. "What?"

The camera was turned again and this time, the photo of the mysterious footprints were shown. At first, she wasn't too sure what all of it meant and then when her eyes rested on the brunette's pointed tip black boots, she discovered the answer to her sleuthing game.

"I had no idea that those were your prints," emerald eyes were huge.

"I bet you didn't. And you followed me here, didn't you?" Their eyes met.

Emma shook her head.

"Am I that important that I have become your little investigative job? To follow me? Surely you must have something else to focus on, to take pictures of." Regina smirked. "Like perhaps your boy toy."

It was a quick move. Like before in the Diner, she immediately lowered her eyes and avoided any display of slighted emotion. "Don't know what you're talking about."

Regina was studying Emma's face closely. She noted the sudden change and frowned. "Pirate Mascot. Guyliner. Captain Hook. Your boyfriend."

"It's not happening."

"What's not happening?" brown eyes narrowed.

"This...conversation." Emma's voice was taking on a rustier tone, affected by emotions. "I don't want to talk about him."

"Why?"

"Can I please have my camera back?" the blonde held out her right hand, and swallowed hard.

"No."

She didn't want to be playful or to invite any feelings suddenly. Emma felt bruised still.

"Just stop playing," she said, avoiding eye contact.

"Not until you tell me what's wrong," and for emphasis, Regina hugged the camera close. "Tell me what's wrong and then I'll give you your precious little Canon back."

The blonde sighed, and wished that she didn't have to say anything. Maybe telepathy would have been welcoming at that point, or perhaps the most dangerous ability of all. Because to have her feelings and thoughts travel across and into the mind of the one woman who everything seemed to be latched onto; it wasn't a comforting idea anymore.

But she felt that it was necessary to reveal the truth. That's what her heart wanted. To make it known somehow that there wasn't another and maybe, just maybe, a burden would be lifted off her chest. Maybe a kind of bat signal would be sent up to reveal the obvious. And perhaps there would be a calm after the storm.

"What's wrong with you, Emma?" the brunette stepped closer and immediately, the younger woman moved back.

To cover up her sudden move, whilst the two of them stared at each other and brown eyes widened, she shrugged. Emma was uncertain of how to proceed. The words didn't come immediately because of the severity of the moment. The closeness and the scrutiny conducted on her as every second slipped by. Every painful second that reminded her of how much she was attracted to the one woman who belonged to someone else. The one person who somehow made it so hard to take one full breath, weakening her knees.

"Killian and I broke up," she said, leaning on a wooden post attached to a shed next to the shack. "I don't want to talk about it...right...now."

"Oh," Regina stared back. Blinking twice, she licked her red painted lips and emerald eyes focused on them. Like rose petals, curled up and so tempting to kiss. The scent of that perfume that intoxicated and captivated. "I can't say that I'm sorry because to me, he was never worth the effort and so I will say this instead." She held out the camera, eyes lowered. "You deserve better."

Emma took it and their fingers brushed.

It was too much. In fact, brown eyes captured so much more in that change. Emerald ones widened a bit and she was slow on taking the camera back because her body ached to be touched. She wanted to be so close, to have their hands meet and to feel the rush over and over again. It was something her heart yearned for. To know what it felt like to be so much closer, so much more intimate.

She gazed at Regina's lips and wondered what it would feel like to kiss her, to taste her. To hold her close and never let go. All of this raced through Emma's mind and she couldn't control herself. She couldn't hold back what was felt so that it was shown clearly on her face. Every curtain lifted to reveal so much more in eyes that suddenly drew the brunette in and had her drowning.

Taking one step closer, her chest heaved. The camera remained between them. And Emma just stayed there, holding eye contact and never backing down.

"Regina...I..."

"Yes?"

There it was. The need to shake one's head and bow down like a defeated warrior again, staring love in the face and knowing, just knowing that somehow one confession could not conquer all. Had love ever won battles on fields sprinkled with men like grains of sand strewn across a surface? Hate had won wars. Regina used to be fueled by hate and it was a familiar feeling. Not this. Not something like this, Emma thought to herself. Staring at someone who loved you so much, in the face, and somehow brown eyes couldn't quite register what was truly unfolding. Somehow, the blonde realized that it might not be possible.

"I just wanted to say that..." Emma swallowed hard, "that I hope you have a great day." How lame, as Ruby would say.

"Thank you. And you too." Lips parted, the brunette blinked and caught herself just in time. "Anyway, I should get back."

"To where?" Emma's chest ached when distance was created between them.

Regina looked away and slowly stepped back. "To Robin. I'm meeting him for lunch."

"Oh." That stung a heart that was beating so fast. "It's a little late for lunch, isn't it?"

"I've actually had mine. And whilst he eats, there is something I have to...tell him," she nodded and inhaled deeply. "Something that will probably chase away his appetite but it must be said...nevertheless."

It was unstoppable, the sudden paranoia that consumed her.

Regina was pregnant.

It had to be that because her mind decided that it was that and there was no going back. Oh how it made the storm worsen within a chest that began to ache so much. Biting her lips, she decided to say nothing in response and focused on her camera.

With that as a goodbye, Emma did the one thing Regina never expected. Something that obviously bruised the brunette's heart. She turned on the spot and walked away. And when one thought that the other would not follow, she did. Without realizing it, Regina trailed after the blonde as her hair lifted from the wind. Curious. She was curious. A curious expression on a face that contained a pair of chocolate brown eyes.

In silence she watched and studied, every move and the slight shake of the hands that held the camera. The way Emma focused the lens on nothing in particular but just to distract herself. Something was definitely wrong. She studied the younger woman's figure and frowned upon the newly bought black leather jacket that was tied around the blonde's waist. The messy ponytail. Blue tank top that was close to the color of the sky and faded blue jeans.

Emma knew that she was being studied and allowed it. In fact, she was thrilled that the brunette had followed and refused to leave just yet.

That's how it was for fifteen minutes to follow.

Regina stood there and she couldn't take her eyes off of Emma, who was growing flustered by the second.

How could it be that her presence was so much treasured, the lunch date was slowly being pushed away? Surely the outlaw was more important. The news or whatever was to be delivered couldn't wait. Could it? And yet Regina remained with her in silence whilst she took photos of nothing that would capture her attention later. Shots that would be deleted obviously.

"Take a photo of me."

It was so sudden and Emma snapped her widened eyes to the source of the husky voice. She was being gazed at so intently, her chest grew warmer and warmer. Her heart rolled over and toes curled inside brown leather boots. Something was happening and the situation was confusing.

"Don't you have a lunch date?" even frowning hurt her face. "With Robin?"

"I want you to take a photo of me," Regina said.

"And just about half an hour ago, you were fighting me for my camera, to delete one I took of you?"

"I didn't delete it. Now stop rambling on and take the damn photo." Just for show, she reached up, ran fingers through disheveled dark hair, lips parted. The wind whipped strands all over the place anyway and she inhaled deeply, pressing her palms upon a pair of tailored black pants that matched up well with a purple silk shirt.

Emma lifted the camera and she couldn't do it at first. Just having their eyes meet somehow through the lens, which was enough. The moment was frozen in time. The beauty within one picture was so breathtaking. Her hands shook and she clicked carelessly. It was a wasted chance, a blurred one. So another was taken. Then another.

Loving could heal her. Loving could mend her soul. And it's the only thing that she wanted to know.

Regina turned to face the water and her hair was whipped back, stinging cheeks.

Focusing on the source of what made your head grow dizzy, knowing that there was never going to be an easy way to come back up for air and breathe easy. After loving someone as much as that, knowing beautiful she was, like a rose among the thorns, the sharpest red and the softest petals. The scene growing so softer around the edges and mesmerizing a mind that simply could not detach itself from one thought.

She was absolutely in love with Regina.

Zooming in, Emma took a close up and gazed at the curl of fingers that were lifted to tuck dark strands behind a right ear. The exposed honey colored skin just above a purple collar. A place where she had dreamed of kissing, tilting the brunette's head back and savoring the taste of someone her body longed for so much.

She took so many close up shots, whilst captivated, it was a continuous ride of intense feelings. The swell of Regina's breasts and how she hugged herself. Tempting red stained lips and eyelashes that fluttered ever so often. She was so beautiful to behold. Everything about her was perfect. Every single thing.

"Let me see them."

Emma's hands grew sweaty when she was approached. Her chest tingled. Without lifting the strap over her head, she handed over the camera so that they had to stand dangerously close. It wasn't merely sought after, it was deeply longed for. The proximity gave her time to capture every move the brunette made. And it was enough to part pink lips that belonged to a woman who had been lost without the others love to complete her.

We keep this love in a photograph...

"I think you zoomed in a little too much," she said, their eyes never meeting. There was a tickle in her throat but she ignored it. Perhaps it was the wind.

"I wanted to," Emma said without skipping a beat.

That was enough to connect their eyes. A gaze was enacted and Regina blinked.

In that moment, the blonde kept thinking that she was caught. Her deliberate move to focus on the brunette's lips, and such close angles was noted and understood.

"Is there something that I missed?" Regina frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. You tell me."

Emma remained silent and decided to study the camera in the older woman's hands.

"Suddenly you're acting so strange. You're...deliberately avoiding eye contact with me and I'd like to know what has happened."

The blonde shrugged, lips bitten, hands squeezed into her jeans' pockets.

"Emma, what is it?" Regina's voice was somehow very close to a whisper

"Look, you have a lunch date that's waiting on you," the younger woman's throat ached, "and you obviously have so much to do. You know, you have your life in order now. And I'm happy for...you," their eyes met but she couldn't hold back the tears, "really I am."

"Emma -"

"But things aren't exactly going so well for me." The blonde reached out, took the camera and tried to breathe but she couldn't. "So do what you have to do and don't let me hold you back. He's more important anyway."

"Why would you -"

"I have to go," Emma croaked, and quickly, she spun around to leave, going around the shack and trying to find the steps through tears.

With every step she took, her chest ached so much, hands sweaty but cold. She was growing cold. The need to run after a confrontation was something so expected of her. Running. Running away from things that made her feel threatened, that shook things up and made everything feel so uncertain. Everything in her life was crumbling, even Henry was growing up and becoming independent.

She used to be so independent, never relying on anyone until arriving here.

They all made her expect things, believe in a family, and she fell in love. She fell in love with the one person who always laid out a battlefield to be crossed. Challenges, shots fired, words like daggers that stung and now a relationship with a man that really squeezed Emma's heart, she couldn't take it anymore.

"Emma! Wait!" Regina hurried down the path but she kept going.

She made her way down the trail again, got to the yellow bug and dropped the keys into the sand. Swearing, they were snatched up and there was a hustle to open the door but wasn't fast enough. It would never be enough because no matter what, they always managed to find each other, gravity pulling them together in the most difficult situations. Just like what her parents had, Emma was certain of every single moment to come. That Regina would chase after her and destroy those demons no matter what.

"I could wrap you in twisting vines for making me run through this awful...sand," brown eyes were on fire. "Why the hell are you running away from me?"

"Because I have to."

Regina came in and came in dangerously close again. Emma's shoulders were taken. She was pinned to the car and their chests heaved. In that moment, neither of them could breathe because the intensity of their bodies pressed together was enough to drive them insane.

She felt it though.

Emma felt how affected the brunette was by her and stared back. Waiting. Wanting to know so much more.

"Tell me what's...wrong," Regina panted, lips parted. "Whatever you do, no matter how hard you try to avoid it, I will squeeze the truth out of you, Swan."

"Not this time."

There was a strained expression on Emma's face as she fought to keep raging feelings buried away.

"I'm not going to let go of you until you talk...to...me," breathing through her teeth, Regina squeezed the blonde's shoulders. "Speak to me."

"What do you want me to say?"

"The truth. And nothing but the truth, or I'll be damned."

"It depends," the younger woman croaked, palms pressed upon the car and the wind whipping their hair.

"On what?"

"On what you were going to tell him." A few seconds slipped by as the words sank in and a name was attached to a pronoun.

"What do you think I was going to tell him?" The crash of the waves on the sand still could not drown out the beating of her heart.

"You're...pregnant, aren't you?" Emma couldn't hold back. Her eyes stung. "For him. You're having his..." she couldn't breathe, "...child."

Brown eyes grew wider. "What? No! What gave you that impression?" Regina stared back in shock.

"I dunno," the blonde felt slightly relieved and glanced away, blinking away tears. "I just thought that's what came next after you two have been so forward driven these days. Like a bright future, there's your happy ending and everything you ever wanted."

"Why does this affect you so much? And the same goes for you too. In all regards to Hook. Swooning after him around every turn. Batting eyelashes and stealing kisses." Regina's sarcasm wasn't the only thing to be noted. But the tremor in her voice was also highlighted.

They both stared at each other now.

"How do you think it made me feel to see you throwing yourself at a man who doesn't deserve you?"

"And what about how I feel?" the brunette asked hoarsely, tears suddenly clouding her brown eyes. "Has that ever crossed your mind? In all of this? Has it? Because had you placed yourself in my shoes as you should have then things would have appeared a little clearer for you."

"I did place myself in your shoes. Many times," Emma pointed out, her throat closing up. "And it still remains the same."

"What...remains the same?"

"The doubt. The mystery. All of it. Drawing a blank."

"Until now?" Regina raised an eyebrow.

"You're happy with him?"

The wind was somehow never enough to chase away the heat arising from between them and it was becoming bothersome. When one would have expected to be less flustered in a setting by the crash of waves, it was clearly unlike that.

"How can I ever be happy with anyone else other than you?" Regina blinked through tears and her chest heaved. "I made this clear to you so long ago. Or did you forget? You falling through that portal then coming back here from the Enchanted Forest after I thought I had lost...everything. After my mother was after you. To kill you. Did you forget?"

Emma shook her head, face contorted as she began to cry.

"What did I do, Emma?" Regina croaked, never letting go of the blonde's shoulders.

Inhaling deeply, her voice was lost, snatched away. She couldn't speak.

"Emma, for goodness sake. Speak to me. Open up to me and show me what has happened to bring this on."

"Everything has changed," the blonde said instead. "Can't you...see that? It's not the same anymore. It's not what I wanted it to be and it's not what I expected it to be. I'm here now and I've been through shit because of what you did to me."

"Then I'm sorry for obviously ruining your life," Regina said bitterly.

"You...tried to...kiss me..." emerald eyes were widened. She couldn't even feel anything inside of her. "I was confused and I didn't know what it meant back then."

"And clearly you do now?"

"What does this mean?" Emma said in a voice that she didn't even recognize. The roaring in her ears wouldn't stop. "All of it. I can't...stop thinking about it. I never could. And you never explained anything to me. After that one moment, you just walked away from me and I was so..."

When Regina watched emerald eyes fill with tears, she captured Emma's face between her hands and blinked. "You were so what?"

"Hurt," the blonde whispered. "That you tried and you didn't care anymore after I...said nothing to you."

"I told you that I loved you," Regina croaked. "Wasn't that enough to elaborate on everything else?"

"How did you get there?" Emma wanted to know. "When did it start and how long did it last?"

"From the first time I met you and it has never ended."

They both breathed through their lips, eyes connected and such intensity wrapped around them. When it was realized, when the blonde attached her mind onto the possibility that all this time, someone was really waiting for a second chance, she began to crumble. Her walls shook and were reduced to nothing.

Bringing back Marian and having Regina avoid her for days on end. She chased after the older woman like a lost puppy, in need of reconciliation and a bond that was clearly misunderstood from the beginning. Her footsteps had led into that haunting vault and when their eyes met that one time, something was different in the way Regina looked at her. It wasn't hate at first. It was like gazing through a doorway and finding that the path into someone's mind was cleared from weeds and thorns.

She had been allowed to see inside a broken Queen's soul.

"...somehow it makes us unique, or maybe even special. I wasn't looking for you to assuage my guilt — I was just looking for you to be my friend," Emma was so cold. "I'm not going to stop trying, even if you still want to kill me."

And she began to walk away, obviously awaiting her plan to unfold, to be called back.

Then there it was.

"Emma, wait," Regina said in a husky tone, a strained expression on her face. "I don't..." she rolled her brown eyes, "...want to kill you.

"See?" the blonde smiled, "that's a start." And she decided that it was a success. To leave now and to work on ways to better their friendship.

"It's just that..." Regina's continuation forced the younger woman to turn back, their eyes meeting, "you've really screwed things up for me. In a way that I simply cannot fix."

"I'll help you fix it."

The brunette sent her a saddened look. "I've told you to stop helping me...fix things. Because you somehow manage to make the situation worse."

"Yeah but this time, I'll make it better. I promise."

"Can you?" Regina croaked. The vault was growing so cold for her, the sound of heels attached to knee high brown boots meeting the floor. She approached the younger woman. "Can you really hold firm onto your belief that you can fix my life?"

"Yeah," Emma nodded. The distance was closed and she wasn't sure of what to expect. "I mean, I ruined what you deserve...love."

"Love..." the brunette chuckled in her throat, head lowered. "Love is an illusion."

"Don't say that."

"I just want to be happy."

"And you will. Trust me you will. But you've got to have hope that things will get better and that I'll help you fix this. I don't want you to give up on me."

Regina lifted her eyes to gaze at the woman standing before her. "I'd never give up on you."

"Good." The blonde bit her lips. She nodded. "That's success. Now I don't have to worry about fireballs coming my way."

"What you did was...heroic in so many ways but I must confess, you have no idea what every action you take means to me. This sudden need to save a woman from the past has torn me away from the man I tried to love at all costs. You..." Regina took one step forward, "...saved that woman."

"I...did," Emma frowned, wondering what was being said between the lines.

"And you made me realize something."

"What's that?"

"Emma," Regina's voice was barely a whisper and her eyes were wet suddenly from tear, "I think that I'm in love with you."

The silence that elapsed was filled with the racing of hearts, a stare and a gaze. When she should have prepared herself for the inevitable, the blonde stood right where she was and never replied. She never uttered a word, or moved a muscle. The words were still sinking in. The realization kicked in but just about two seconds before the one moment that would change her life forever.

Regina moved in, eyes fluttering close and she brushed their lips together. The connection was held, lingering in the nearness and awaiting a further invitation.

Something changed in Emma though. She was weakened in all her composure for a few seconds and then there was the sudden kick of adrenaline, forcing her to step back. Emerald eyes grew wide. She couldn't breathe. She didn't know how to breathe anymore.

And then just like that, there was a pained expression on the older woman's face. Her chest heaved. Regina blinked through tears, hands hanging limp at her sides. Then she disappeared in a swirl of purple smoke.

They stared at each other because both of them relived that scene together. The world around them was muted, the roar of the ocean never existing anymore, the wind swirling around a bubble that entrapped them and their feelings.

"Now I know," Emma whispered, chest heaving, fingers cramped and somehow, somehow Regina allowed their fingers to brush.

It was enough to spark a fire inside the blonde's heart that would not subdue. The burning need that grew and grew until the very effort to breathe was a struggle. But there was a sense of calm. The eye of the storm where nothing else mattered but them and the power that bounded their souls together, on a level that one never did understand but the other passionately believed in. Regina had believed in the existence of a THEM from the first time their eyes locked. She knew, was aware and held on to that belief, even when Emma decided to ignore the confusing feelings developing.

"And."

"What were you going to tell…Robin?"

"That I am in love with someone else," the brunette said without skipping a beat, dark hair whipped by the fierceness of the wind. "He doesn't know or maybe he does already. But nothing else matters. Only you do."

"So you're still in…" Emma struggled to take a breath, "you're still in love with me."

"Yes," several blinks, lips parted and Regina leaned in, pressing their bodies together fully, the burdensome camera resting on the blonde's right hip.

Finally, it was established, that link that she oh so desired, where the beating of Regina's heart was felt and their fingers entwined. A link that was so powerful, the wind howled around them and waves lashed upon the sandy shore with a vengeance as if a storm was coming.

So she can keep me, inside the pocket of her ripped jeans. Holdin' me closer 'til our eyes meet. She won't ever be alone.

It was Emma who did it this time, because she was dying to taste the older woman. So moving in, emerald eyes fluttering close, she pressed their lips together and it was the brunette who parted hers. Immediately the feeling was one to hold onto and she didn't sample, but drew in the presence of a lover that could make her feel so complete. The kiss of a broken woman who was her guardian angel with eyes the color of melting chocolates and an embrace like wings wrapping around a bruised soul.

Wait for me to come home...

They were at home.

They kissed, heads tilted and moans unearthed whilst splayed fingers met flushed cheeks. Holding faces together and fitting perfectly into each other.

"Let's take things slow," Regina suggested, the curl of her fingers caressing the face of her angel. "Delicately, at best."

"Dead…slow," Emma whispered, still breathless and completely lost in the other woman. "I'm already healing."

"But did he…really…hurt you?"

The blonde shook her head, eyes lowered. "He wasn't enough. He…was never enough after you made me…" emerald orbs connected with brown ones, "…after you made me want so much more from you. I kept going back to that moment, and reliving it. And maybe that's why I could never let go because I wanted to know what you saw in me. What you felt."

"And do you now?"

"More than anything." Emma smiled. "Funny how a simple Sunday with me just taking photos brought us here."

"This…camera," Regina reached for it, and lifted the Canon A58 carefully. "Perhaps it is a special thing indeed."

She could not let go. Blonde hair mixing with darker strands, the younger woman nuzzled their noses together and longed for so much more. To be touched intimately and to be kissed.

"What will you do with all of my close ups?"

"Mmmm…" Emma buried her face into Regina's neck, inhaling the scent of White Diamond and apples.

"My dear, I am not a bunch of flowers."

"But you smell so good."

"Thank you," the brunette smirked, powering on the camera, lens pointed at them. "Let's take a…photo…our first one. Together."

The snap captured emerald eyes widened and brown ones pinched from a smile because suddenly, Emma realized that it had happened.

Keeping love in a photograph. Making memories for themselves. Where their eyes are never closing. Hearts are never broken. Time's forever frozen still.

Sometime after, Emma in all her glory, the darkness eating away at her soul, she quietly stepped through the forest and killed nature under every footfall. Everything died in her path because she didn't have to will it. It was automatic. Emerald eyes were now cold as ice and glinted with evil. The wind didn't chase leaves but was chased away from the presence of evil. And suddenly she spotted a very familiar piece of jewelry between the weeds.

Gracefully, the Dark One stooped to collect the silver chain of a necklace between fingers as white as chalk and as cold as ice. Pale fingers that when connected with skin, anyone could shiver from the intensity of such darkness, such pain. The chain wound around those fingers. The silver pendant in the shape of a heart was a locket that was remembered, was gazed at. And in that moment, emerald eyes slightly softened.

Emma ran her thumb over the two pairs of engraved letters.

R.M

E.S

Emerald eyes softened some more, but never covered in tears. Something was felt, and her heart tickled from an emotion and so many memories shared.

She opened the locket and her lips parted.

Their hair were swept out of flushed faces by the wind that day, hearts racing and Emma's eyes were widened. Regina smiled into the lens and was the taker of the photo. Her red lipstick was smudged, the blonde's mouth smeared in the same shade. And still...

Oh you can fit me, inside the necklace you got when you were 16. Next to your heartbeat where she should be. Keep it deep within your soul.

There was a sharp pain in Emma's chest.

Still...

Regina stood between the trees, brown eyes filled with tears, gloved hands pressed to a heaving chest. And she gazed at the scene before her. The slanted sunshine cascading through the branches of the trees never met where the blonde stood. It frightened the older woman because where there was no light, there was no hope of finding one's way through things. Where there was no hope, Emma used to guide her. Emma was always there to pull her forward.

And still...

She was still waiting on Emma to come home.

And if you hurt me. Well, that's OK, baby, only words bleed. Inside these pages you just hold me. And I won't ever let you go.

She was still waiting on the woman she loved to come out, and to come back home...

A/N - Hope you liked it. Cheers.