A/N: Another good day for SwanQueen. At least in my head canon. Hope you like.
Regina entered her bedroom, smiling at the sight before her. Emma had made herself quite comfortable in the mayor's bed with several pillows in her back and dressed in Regina's torquoise robe. She was reading a book.
"What are you reading?"
"Hm? Oh, Henry borrowed me this. Potter, year 5... though I think it's my least favorite," Emma anwered and closed the book without marking the page she'd been at.
"You could have asked me for something to read. I have several shelves of classic... are you naked under that?" Regina had been crossing the room and her attention had been caught by the patch of skin that her robe left exposed on Emma's upper body.
"Well, I'm glad you got your priorities sorted," Emma said with a smirk and saw Regina blush as a result. "And yes, I am naked under this. I haven't got anything to sleep in."
"I could... lend you some pyjamas," Regina answered with little enthusiasm. "If you want them."
"I pass," Emma answered and put the book on the nightstand. She took off her glasses and lay them folded on top of it.
Regina smiled at her.
"We should probably leave some necessities at each other's homes if we keep spending our nights together," she suggested as she took out her earrings.
"Good idea. Of course, I could just keep wearing your robe and you could... borrow a tank top...," Emma said in a dreamy voice.
"A tank top?"
"Yeah, why not. I bet you'd look hot in them."
"No doubt," Regina answered with a quick smile at her lover. She was unbottoning her blouse and was delightfully aware of Emma's eyes on her as she revealed more and more of her body. She could hardly believe how sexy it felt to have an audience while performing the most mundane tasks.
"Then again, who needs tank tops," Emma murmured as Regina slipped out of her blouse and opened the button of her pants.
Regina smiled and slipped out of them, too. She folded her clothes and put them on a small stool. Then she went to her closet and pulled out a red robe. She slipped into it.
"You have too many robes," Emma noted and Regina laughed.
"And you have a one-track mind."
"Only when I'm with you," Emma gave back and received another wide smile for her efforts.
"Did you find everything you needed in the bathroom?"
"Yes, thank you," Emma said as Regina walked into mentioned room.
Emma busied herself adjusting their sleeping arrangements until she was satisfied that no extra pillows would get between her and Regina. Then she slipped out of the robe and threw it towards the stool that held Regina's clothes. She missed it and wondered if she should get up to pick it up when Regina re-entered the room. Her eyes fell on the discarded piece of clothing on the floor.
"I was about to pick it up," Emma said quickly and Regina smiled.
"I'll do it," she said and proceeded with the garment as with her own. Then she slipped out of her own robe and heard a gasp coming from the woman in her bed. She'd shed her underwear in the bathroom and was now standing revealed to Emma's appreciative gaze in the middle of the room.
"You're a goddess," the blonde breathed.
"No, I'm a woman. I'm your woman, remember?"
"I remember, though I'm not sure how I got so lucky," Emma gave back as Regina made her way to the bed.
"You must have been a good girl... or maybe a very naughty one."
Emma laughed.
"The latter, probably," she said as Regina slipped between the sheets.
Emma didn't lose any time to engulf her lover in an embrace and felt her body come alive with the sensation of skin touching skin.
"At some point we'll have to have a whole night's sleep again, you know?"
"Does that mean tonight?" Emma asked pulling Regina closer.
"No," the mayor simply said. They smiled at each other.
"I like this. I mean, not just... being naked with you, although that's... the most amazing thing in itself but... going to bed with you, watching you undress... even listening to you brush your teeth," Emma said. "I haven't been this domestic with anyone ever and it... makes me happy. Is that strange?"
"Well, if it is then we're both strange, darling. I enjoy it, too," Regina told Emma.
Emma let her hands roam Regina's body, eliciting appreciative purrs and answering touches to her own skin. They kept it light and playful for now, resisting the urge to bring their lips together for a searing kiss. It was what always ignited their passions, a kiss. As if their lips and tongues were the most sensitive to the other's touch.
"You smell so good," Emma murmured as she kissed Regina's neck, licking and nipping at her pulse point.
"And you feel good," Regina answered in the same occupied tone as she pulled the other woman on top of her.
Their ministrations got more elaborate, their breathings erratic and, finally, their lips found each other to consume their bodies in the heat of passion.
"Are you still awake?" Regina's voice was merely a whisper touching at the silence in the room.
"Yes," Emma answered just barely audible.
They lay quiet for another long moment before their bodies started shifting closer and Regina's head came to lie on Emma's shoulder.
"We should probably go to sleep," she said.
"Yes."
But then Emma sighed and it told Regina that she wasn't even close to falling asleep, that she was thinking about her day and what had passed between her and her father.
"He'll come around, darling, you'll see," she told her lover and pulled her closer.
"I don't know. He seemed pretty... determined not to."
"Can you really blame him?" Regina asked accompanied by a sigh of her own.
"Yes, I can," Emma gave back.
Regina lifted herself up on one elbow and looked down at her lover.
"He believes in love, Regina. But he obviously thinks that only certain people are able to love, or should be able to love. That's the same fucked up reasoning people in this country use when they tell queer people they can't get married. He thinks his love is better than ours, he also thinks I'm kind of delusional - or cursed - to even think I love you. That's why I blame him. He's my father, he can't tell me who to love or not to love," Emma said with determination but Regina could tell there was a world of pain behind her words.
"I'm sorry, darling. I wish... that loving me would come without these kinds of side effect. I hate to see you hurt," she said and caressed Emma's cheek, her hand trailed over her skin until it came to lie over Emma's heart. "I wish I could protect you better."
"You don't need to protect me, woman. We were both aware that... people might have a problem with 'us.' That's one of the reasons we almost didn't become an 'us' remember? It just hurts more when someone you love... can't accept what makes you happy."
"I wonder what my mother would say... she'd probably try to kill you. Talking of an 'unsuitable match,'" Regina gave a small smile.
"For me, you mean. Don't forget I'm a princess," Emma said laying her own hand on top of Regina's.
"That's right. My mother would be thrilled... and would probably think it the perfect revenge on Snow... not that it is. I... You know I love you. I shouldn't have said that."
"It's okay, Regina. I know this has nothing to do with my mother... though it's something dad has brought up, too, when we talked," Emma told Regina.
"He thinks it's about him? Why am I not surprised?"
"Now be fair... he's just..."
"Trying to protect you?" Regina asked with a raised eyebrow. "Are you saying that he has every right to do that and I don't?"
Emma sighed in frustration.
"No, he... I don't know. You have such a long history, you and my parents. Snow told me today that she remembers the girl you were, a lovable young woman... that's why she thinks dad has a harder time accepting us, because he's never seen that side of you. I'm not sure that's true. I just want... everybody to be as happy as I am. Because people not being happy about us takes away some of my happiness and that's just not fair."
"Maybe, just for the moment, we should concentrate on our little family, the people who are happy?" Regina suggested.
She gave Emma a peck on the lips and was rewarded with a smile.
"I can do that," the blonde said. "For the moment."
She slipped her arms around Regina's waist and pulled her closer.
"One more thing and then we should probably go to sleep... or make love again," Emma said and wiggled her eyebrows.
"You're insatiable, savior... and I love it," Regina purred, already leaning down to kiss her love.
"Ah, that thing first... I talked to Neal today about when we were planning to come to the shop. I told him that we could probably make it this weekend. What do you think?"
"The weekend should work for me... as long as I got the hospital up and running again by Friday. I'd probably have to go there tomorrow and look at all the demage..." Regina breathed in deeply. "There's something... one of my secrets... I think I should show you and... since I'm going there tomorrow anyway, maybe you will accompany me?"
"To the hospital?"
Regina nodded.
"It's a wing... and I use the term losely, that only few people know about," Regina said lowering her eyes. She wasn't sure what Emma would think of this, she was almost sure that Emma wouldn't be happy about it. But she promised her she would tell her secrets and she didn't want to put this off indefinitely.
Emma lay two fingers under Regina's chin and lifted her head so that they were looking into each other's eyes again.
"Is it bad?" Emma asked.
"It's... not good," Regina answered.
Emma nodded.
"Okay, then we should probably go there first thing in the morning," Emma suggested and Regina nodded.
"I love you, woman," Emma said to reassure her.
"And I love you... I love you so much, Emma."
There was more love-making that night, desperate, breathless, clingy love-making. They needed to feel each other, to reassure themselves that they could face anything together - even Emma's family, even Regina's past.
They entered the hospital together, both women wearing serious expressions to hide their emotions. But Emma knew Regina was scared and Regina knew Emma was wary of this secret. They walked past nurses and a couple of dwarfs who seemed in deep contemplation over the water demage and up to Doctor Whale.
"Doctor," Regina interrupted a conversation between the man and a nurse.
"Madam Mayor... Sheriff," he greeted them both but seemed surprised to see Emma.
"Whale," she said and started looking around. It seemed that the ICU had been cleared of patients and several maintenance people were busy mopping the floor.
"As you can see, it's been the worst in the ICU. Some of the medical equipment was demaged beyond repair," Whale told Regina seemingly continuing a conversation they'd been having.
"Make me a list. I'm not sure I'll be able to get us everything at once but I'll do what I can. Have you done what I'd asked you to do, about our special patients?"
"Of course," Whale answered with a sidelong glance at Emma who was still looking around.
"Have the dwarfs given you an estimate yet on how long the repairs are going to take?" Regina diverted his attemtion and he shook his head.
"They're still discussing the matter. Do you want to talk to them?"
"Yes, later. Sheriff Swan and I have... something to attend to first. Tell Leroy to meet me in the doctor's lounge in half in hour and make sure the doctor's are lounging somewhere else then," Regina told Whale. He gave her a fake smile and walked off.
"Can we do something about this?" Emma asked and pointed at the water stains at the ceiling and walls.
"I already am, sheriff," Regina answered.
"No, I mean..." Emma looked about herself and then pulled Regina a little away in case anyone was listening. "I mean, could we do something about this with... magic?"
"Hmmm," Regina made and looked at some of the demage herself now. "I'd have to talk to Leroy first, see how deep it goes... we'll need new plumbing anyway but if... we're doing it wrong we could set the whole hospital under water, Emma."
"We've made an eclipse once, shouldn't this be... child's play compared to that?" Emma asked.
"Actually this is much more advanced magic because it's more delicate. Moving a moon of solid rock is crude work compared to this."
Emma nodded.
"Could we try it, though?"
Regina smiled at Emma.
"Yes, we can try... later. Now, I want you to... come with me, please," the mayor said, looking meaningfully at her lover.
"Sure, lead the way." Emma was about to reach out and take Regina's hand to reassure her but then she remembered that their relationship was still very much a secret. So she simply nodded at the dark-haired woman encouragingly and Regina walked out of the ICU and to the left. They followed the main corridor before they turned left again. They came to a door with an exit sign and security panel. Regina typed in a security code and the door's lock clicked.
Regina turned to Emma.
"Are you ready?" she asked. Her eyes locked onto Emma's pleadingly and the blonde wasn't sure whether Regina wanted her to reassure her or ask her to not do this now - or ever. She couldn't do the latter but she smiled at the mayor.
"Yes, and it won't be like last time, I promise," she said.
Regina nodded and opened the door.
They went down a flight of stairs and came to an abandoned nurse's station.
"It's cool down here," Emma noted.
"They had to shut down the heating because of the water demage, it's usually warmer. I don't want you to think... that I haven't been taking care of... the people who...," but Regina stopped and looked down the corridor she would have to walk shortly to show Emma the... cells.
"What is this place, Regina?" Emma asked, finally able to reach out and touch the other woman now that they were alone. She put her hand on Regina's arm and squeezed it.
"It's listed in the hospital's directory as the psych ward but... this is where I kept Belle all these years," Regina told Emma.
"So it's basically a dungeon?"
Regina nodded.
"A dungeon with around-the-clock medical care and a psychiatrist on call. Except for Belle, the people who... who are being treated down here, have mental problems, Emma. Including Sidney Glass," Regina added.
"Sidney is down here?" Emma asked surprised.
"Not right now. The water demage made it advisable to remove the patients and relocate them in a different part of the building." Regina took Emma's hand and let her down a corridor. It was a dreary place to begin with, the moist atmosphere added to this effect and it felt very much like a dungeon now.
"How many... patients were treated down here?" Emma asked and tried to keep her voice neutral but this place gave her the creeps. It was so... typical Storybrooke, translated from a fairy tale and made as horrific as possible.
"Seven," Regina answered in the same flat tone Emma had used. She stopped in front of one of the doors, using a key from a key chain she'd been carrying to open it. "This was Belle's... cell," she said and stepped aside so that Emma could take a look at it.
The sheriff looked at Regina. She seemed cool, reserved, but Emma knew that her lover was anything but; a war was raging behind those lovely eyes, a war with her former self who didn't want to care. But Emma knew that she did, and Emma knew that the way Regina acted was as open and unforgiving to herself as she could be. Regina was showing her this to make her understand who she'd been. She didn't expect forgiveness, she probably didn't even want it, she simply wanted to have Emma know... everything.
The sheriff turned toward the cell and walked inside. It wasn't a nice place, it wasn't cozy or warm. It was a cell and it was depressing.
Emma turned toward Regina.
"You were right, this is not good," Emma said sadly.
Regina nodded.
"That's why we're shutting it down. I have already talked to Whale about... opening a more modern psych facility, something that looks less like a... dungeon or a 1950s asylum."
"That's good," Emma said leaving the cell.
"Too little, too late," Regina disagreed. She made to walk by Emma to leave again but Emma took hold of her arm. They looked at each other.
"You're disappointed, I can see it in your eyes," Regina said and set her jaw as if she expected a blow.
"I'm not happy with all this, no, how could I be? But... it doesn't change my feelings for you, woman."
"I wonder how many of my secrets it will take to change them."
Emma put her arm around Regina's waist and pulled her close. This was certainly not a place that invited one to linger and get cozy with your lover. Emma had never been in a more dreary place and she's served a sentence in an Arizona prison. But she felt that she needed to reassure Regina, that she needed to be close to her. They wouldn't get the chance once they left here and re-entered the hospital's busy first floor.
"This is an ugly place, I'm not lying... thinking that Belle spent almost 30 years down here, makes me sick to my stomach. But... you're not the woman who did all this, you're different now. I know that. How could I love you and not forgive you? The woman I love talked Belle into re-opening the library... you know that's she's doing that, right?"
"I heard of it," Regina said.
"And you're gonna help her even more when we found a way to cross realms. She'll be able to leave and travel, have adventures... and if you're right and Rumple is still alive, she may even find him again," Emma said and cupped Regina's cheek. "You will make this possible."
"With your help," the mayor insisted.
"Yeah, we do it together," she agreed. She kissed Regina and put her forehead to her lover's. "I love you, no secret that you'll reveal to me will ever gonna change that."
"I wish you wouldn't promise something like that," Regina said. "You might yet change your mind."
"People fall out of love, that's a reality I've come to live with, Regina. And maybe it will be you leaving me one day, maybe we'll see that this is not working for some reason, or maybe we'll stay together for the rest of our lives. But I will not let your past come between us anymore... and I hope you won't let my past get between us, either. I haven't been exactly a saint, you know?"
Regina tried a small smile.
"We're not gonna argue about who's been worse, are we?"
"No, not ever because that's behind us. Our future is together with our son. And some day soon, I'm gonna hold your hand as we walk down Main Street so that everyone can see that it's you I love," Emma vowed.