DISCLAIMER:: do not own. just borrowing for purpose of creative expression. no profit obtained.
A/N:: so first and foremost, Blondie47 made an awesome promo vid for this story that everyone should definitely check out, you won't be sorry as it is pure awesomeness it makes my little shipper heart flutter (just put blondie0136 in the search on youtube and be sure to check out her other vids as they are equally as awesome)
another update in honour of the new, but temporary, job i started today. enjoy and review. next chapter will be up either tomorrow or saturday.
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-Chapter 18: We'll Make It Out Of This Mess-
Emma woke to find dawn fast approaching but not yet arrived. She felt the arms around her before she turned her head to look at the brunette sleeping beside her. Regina looked so peaceful as she slept and Emma felt a pang of sadness when it crossed her mind that sleep was probably the only time the older woman truly escaped her demons. Those who considered themselves on the 'good' side of the line between good and evil often glazed over the fact that those who'd done wrong, those who truly realized it, suffered more than they could possibly understand every day.
Emma leaned up and kissed Regina's forehead. They'd need to leave soon, but not before she gave Regina what she'd denied her the previous night.
She pressed her body against the brunette's, capturing the sleeping woman's lips with her own. It took a second for there to be any response but then Regina stirred and, as soon as her eyes fluttered open and she realized what was happening, she moved her mouth against Emma's. Her arms snaked tighter around the blonde and pulled her on top of her.
Emma straddled the brunette's hips, finally breaking from the kiss. She gazed down at Regina, her eyes slowly memorizing everything about this moment, the way Regina looked at this moment with her sleep tousled hair, her kiss bruised lips, her eyes clouded with a mixture of sleep and lust. This is what she was lacking in Storybrooke. It wasn't as if it was easier for this half of Regina to lay her soul bare to Emma, but she loved her enough to try. The other Regina wouldn't even deign the thought of letting down her walls for even a moment.
Hands caressed soothingly up her sides and she was pulled out of her thoughts and back to the present situation at hand. She smiled down at the woman under her. "I love you Regina."
There was something inscrutable that passed across the older woman's gaze as she stared up at Emma. She sat up until they were chest to chest.
Emma stroked her dark locks, her fingers tangling in them and she brought their mouths together once more. Tongues dueled for dominance as she ground down on the older woman's lap.
Regina groaned into her mouth, gripping her hips and drawing her even closer. She broke the fevered exploration of their mouths to look into Emma's eyes. "Will you stay with me forever?"
Emma smiled. "Forever isn't long enough, not for me, but I will always be with you. You are my choice."
Regina's hands slid to the small of Emma's back, then up the trail of her spine.
Emma grinned. "If this were Storybrooke, that might have been considered a marriage proposal."
Regina shrugged softly. "If you weren't already married in the eyes of the law, it would have been."
Emma wrapped her arms around Regina's neck and leaned their foreheads together. "We may be married in the eyes of my people, but we are not in my heart. It is yours, and yours alone."
Regina pulled back just enough to slide one of her hands from Emma's back around her side and then let it slide down between their bodies until she was cupping Emma's heat.
Emma whimpered at the contact so close to where she needed it but not all the way there. "Please… make me yours."
Regina was happy to oblige.
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The woman in the white cloak jumped slowly from branch to branch, keeping the white horse in sight, not wanting to lose sight of the King. Just as the three royals had hoped, the King's party had moved beyond Rhea's cabin without knowledge of its existence. The people who dared to live in Conger Wood were spread out few and far between, some practically lived on top of each other while at other areas of the wood, such as in Rhea's case, it was nearly five leagues to the nearest neighbour.
The King's party would break free from the wood in just a few more miles. There they would separate. She'd overheard some of the troops talking around their small cookfire the night before. The King was sending half his troops to Saltmire and half to Peppergrey. They were the only two official entrances into the Forbidden Forest from the Enchanted Forest, nearly fifty miles apart. They were used as a place of parlay between citizens of the two lands. Because of this, no troops were allowed to be stationed there year round. There were no royal barracks, no strongholds where the King and Queen could stay should the royal family choose to visit. But also because of this, there was little to no violence in Saltmire or Peppergrey. They were known as cities of peace and prosperity among their citizens. On the rare occasion a crime was committed, the accused went before a small council made up of residents of both Enchanted and Forbidden Forest lineages and if they were found guilty by the council, the accused was punished fairly based on the laws of the land he or she originated from.
It was smart, the King's plan, but also not. He was right to cut them off at the gates, before they could escape into the Forbidden Forest, where it would be harder to track them. But the people of Saltmire and Peppergrey would not accept his occupation so easily. They would rebel against it eventually. All the three royals had to do was bide their time and wait until they saw an opportunity and slip through.
Hadrian had never been an outwardly cruel man, cold and distant at times, sure, but never unjust. But his pride would be his downfall. He could not accept that a battle was lost, not even when it was spelled out for him. And this one was lost. The battle for the devotion of Queen Emma had been so short it had almost been non-existent. From the moment their eyes had met, the Evil Queen and Queen Emma had belonged to each other. Nothing, especially not a King's foolish pride, would stand in the way of true love. It hadn't in the days of Prince James and his love of Princess Snow White and it wouldn't now, nor any time in the future. But the woman in the white cloak knew that pride and stubbornness went hand in hand and Hadrian would not give up until he was defeated or dead. He would chase Emma, because wherever she went, so too did the security of his crown and the untainted reputation of his rule. He would never go back to the palace and wait until that inevitable day when his subjects discovered that he'd been left by the Queen for another. The woman in the white cloak couldn't even imagine the magnitude of his anger once he discovered who the Queen's love truly belonged to now.
Emma had never known, never been allowed to know, how thoroughly Hadrian had studied the texts and histories of the prophecy. He'd known it would always be an issue in their marriage. Even after her twenty eighth birthday, once she'd decided to stay in the Enchanted Forest, as she'd always claimed she would, there would still be some fallout. You can't lose half your life, half your experiences, and not feel some sort of grief as a result. He'd studied Emma's circumstances far more than Emma herself had and almost as much as Snow White had. But even he didn't know the secrets surrounding the prophecy that had never been written down. Secrets that were only known by those individuals who were there the night it was made, all of whom had agreed that no one could know the truth until the time came. Hadrian had not been there to know the true prophecy… but the woman in the white cloak had.
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"Emma." James sighed impatiently from his horse.
They all knew they should have made better progress by now and they also all knew it was Emma's fault. The first time they'd stopped to stretch their legs, eat a light snack and water the horses, Emma had taken great pleasure in showering Regina with the affection she had been denied in the face of Rhea. She wasn't sure why she felt a need to keep kissing the woman, maybe it was the aftershocks of her first good day with the mayor of Storybrooke, or maybe she'd just missed it the last couple days. But whatever the reason, she kept on.
"My love, we must go." Regina was smiling though as Emma pecked her lips yet again.
Emma sighed. "If we must."
They got on their horses and set off.
They rode through the peak hour and well into the afternoon before they risked stopping again.
They were less than ten leagues from Peppergrey, but they knew they shouldn't risk entering the city at night. They'd found evidence on their ride to suggest that Hadrian had indeed passed them. If Hadrian had gone to Peppergrey, he'd be waiting for them. Darkness would provide them cover, but Emma knew her husband well enough to know he'd anticipate that; he'd have a heavy line of men whose sole purpose was to watch for any approach in the night. They would most likely have orders to shoot all but her on sight. He'd offer up some excuse to say that his men thought her father and their traveling companion were holding her hostage and meant her harm so they'd acted accordingly. Emma wasn't willing to take a risk with either her father's or Regina's life. They were all she truly had left in this world.
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They followed the edge of the woods to the point where they were closest to Peppergrey. It was still five leagues off, but they needed the cover of the trees to make their camp.
Emma started up the fire while James set off to catch them some dinner. Regina rested, at Emma's insistence.
"I should be helping."
Emma looked over at the brunette as she prodded the fire, trying to coax the flames to give just a little more. Once she was satisfied that they would be adequate enough to cook dinner and keep them warm, she turned to Regina fully. "You both are always so worried about protecting me and making sure I'm well rested, when you forget that I get sleep whether I want it or not." She sat down on the bed roll bedside the older woman. She reached for the brunette's hand, entwining their fingers, staring at the way the firelight danced across their skin.
Regina shook her head, frowning. "I don't think I'll ever forget that you leave me every night."
Emma's gaze snapped up at her words. She sounded so sad. "What do you mean?"
"There's never a guarantee Emma; I never know when or even if you'll wake up every morning. You go somewhere… somewhere I can't reach you, every single night, and that scares me, because one day, you might not wake up, you might not come back to me."
Emma leaned over and captured Regina's lips in a desperate but reassuring kiss. "Don't you ever be afraid of that! I will always find a way to you!"
Regina wrenched her hand away and shook her head. "Don't make promises you can't keep Emma." She stood, dusting off her riding trousers, and turning to head off into the trees. She passed James on his way in, holding some hares.
He stared after the brunette who disappeared into the trees. "Where's she going?"
Emma stood quickly, throwing her father an apologetic look. "We're just going to go for a little walk. We'll be back." She ran off in the direction in which Regina had disappeared.
It took her a few minutes but she finally caught up with the other woman. She fell into step beside her. Regina showed no signs that she was glad Emma was with her, but she didn't order her away either, so Emma maintained that as a good sign.
They had been walking for nearly an hour when Regina finally spoke. "Do you love her?"
Emma had gotten so used to nothing but the sounds of the woods at dusk that the sudden question made her jump in surprise, but she quickly recovered. "Who?"
"The Regina in Storybrooke."
Emma frowned. Finally, she nodded. "I do. When you love someone, you have to love every part of them. She's a part of you."
"But she's the bad part! She's everything that I want to forget!"
Emma took a deep breath to steady her heart which had clenched painfully at the anguish in the other woman's voice. "I think she's everything you need to remember. You can't hide from what you did Regina. I never want you to feel that lost again and part of keeping you from losing yourself is you remembering how awful it felt to be lost. You have to feel the pain before it can heal."
"If I would have gotten my way, you never would have existed, do you realize that?" Regina seemed disgusted with the very thought.
Emma shrugged. "But you failed. And I'm here. I do exist. And I love you. All of you." As Emma admitted it out loud, she realized how true that statement really was. She had spent all her time in Storybrooke wondering how she'd ever be able to love Mayor Mills. She thought it'd be something she'd have to force herself to do, that it would be nigh impossible to stomach loving something so cruel and vindictive. But now she knew that she'd loved Mayor Mills from the beginning too. Because at the core, they were the same, and she wanted them both, the light and the dark.
Regina seemed to pick up on her revelation. A look of concern crossed her features. "But you still choose to stay here? I have no need to worry?"
Emma's brilliant smile chased away all the brunette's fears. There was no denying the love and the truth in the blonde's eyes as she nodded. "Of course. I wouldn't ask you to put your life on the line, to run when you didn't have to, if I had no intention of staying here. We're going to be happy Regina, together. Nothing will keep us apart. Not some prophecy, not even a mayor of some small town."
And as Emma curled up next to the brunette on her bed roll that night, she knew she had spoken the truth. Did she love the mayor? Yes. Did she want to have the brash woman in her life? Yes. But if it came to a choice between her or the woman sleeping peacefully beside her, she'd choose Queen Regina, hands down, every time. But Henry… could she really give up a world with her son and her true love for one with just her true love?