This was her favourite part of their time together, the moments in which she could simply watch the woman beneath her sleeping. She would prop herself up on her elbow, revelling in the feeling of the brunette's arm draped possessively across her waist, as if without it Emma would leave, something which was physically impossible for the blonde especially as she watched the soft rising and falling of Regina's chest. The way her gentle breaths would move the errant strands of hair that had fallen across her face during the night. Back at the apartment, she couldn't seem to label it as home anymore, it didn't feel right, and Emma would sleep until she was practically dragged kicking and screaming from her bed but here…here she enjoyed nothing more than waking to find she had beaten Regina to it.
The former mayor was still bare beneath the sheets from their night together, her soft skin radiant in the sunlight streaming through the window. Emma couldn't help but trail her fingers lightly over the tanned arm folded over the white satin bed sheet, she had to bite back a giggle as Regina's nose scrunched in sleep due to the sensations the blonde was causing. Emma stilled as she rolled onto her back with her head still facing towards the younger woman, knowing even in sleep exactly where she was.
The movement had caused the sheets to move down lower, her breath was stolen at the mere sight of Regina lying bare and peaceful before her. Slender fingers moved to trail over prominent collarbones, feather light as they moved between the valley of her breasts before settling on her stomach. Emma's eyes hadn't moved from Regina's serene features but when her fingers came to brush against slightly rougher skin, she couldn't help but look at what could be marking such a beautiful canvas.
It was hard to see with the bright light shining on her but as Emma moved lower and her shadow fell across Regina's body, she couldn't hold in the gasp at what she found. A long, faded but noticeable scar ran the length of the brunette's abdomen…how hadn't she noticed this before? Now that she looked closer she could see a spattering of other marks, faded white lines telling the story Regina never had. Many were unnoticeable and so it wasn't completely ridiculous that she hadn't discovered them but she still couldn't help the feeling of guilt that arose due to not having at least tried to discover more about the brunette's past.
It wasn't much of a mystery as to who they had come from, she had met her mother, had seen the kind of a hold she had over Regina and hadn't failed to notice the aura of sheer fear that had clung to the brunette like perfume in that time. She hadn't realized it at the time but it had extremely bothered her and now seeing the scars before her, she could see why for she too know the signs of a former victim of abuse, she had her own scars to prove that much.
It was a natural instinct when she began placing light kisses over each line as if trying to inject the love that should have been given to this woman, her hands held Regina just below her ribs as she moved above her. Golden curls tickled the skin and must have finally managed to rouse the brunette from sleep as she inhaled deeply, she had been awoken many a morning to this kind of attention but something felt different this time…something in the actual way Emma was kissing her skin, the way her fingers alternated between holding and caressing her…that's when she felt it, the hot droplets of tears that were falling from the blonde's eyes but why?
"Emma?" her slender hand came to rest under the younger woman's chin as she halted her movements and brought green eyes up to meet her own, she gasped at the sheer emotion held within and looked to where Emma's fingers were tracing patterns on her stomach, her heart almost stopped as she realized why and moved to cover herself with the sheet that had dropped in her sleep. She couldn't help but take notice of the pity radiating from Emma and she hated it, she had never told anyone of her childhood and the only two people that knew of it were both dead. The woman who had given her these reminders of insolence and the man who had done nothing to stop it for fear of receiving some of his own, but now Emma knew, now Emma knew and she couldn't bear it.
Strong hands gripped the moving sheet before Regina was once again hidden from her, brown eyes appeared angry as they snapped to her but she knew this woman too well. She wasn't angry with her, she wasn't angry with the situation, she wasn't angry at all – she was scared.
She was afraid of going back there, back to that place and allowing herself to remember how alone she had been then, how she had no one to care enough for her to make a stand against Cora…but Emma was here now and was looking at her with such emotion that she couldn't bring herself to look away from the woman for one second, not even as she felt the sheet being moved once more and watched as Emma moved to hover over her abdomen, looking at each scar intently like a child discovering the world for the first time.
Each touch was like a reprieve, each kiss a chance for a new memory to erase the old, and each tear like a life line for Regina to cling to. Her past may have been horrifically dark but looking down at the woman loving her so relentlessly and so without question, she couldn't help but smile at the notion that maybe in time, and with help from her true love, she could begin to heal and learn to be whole again.