I got a little carried away :/ What was originally going to be one chapter turned into two. But, I hope these will make up for the delay. You guys are fantastic! Thank you so much for sticking with this story.
Note: In this chapter I contradict something that was indicated in chapter one. I have not had time to go back and edit this, yet. But, I hope you will agree that it is an exciting twist.
Almost twenty minutes later, a frustrated blonde wonders how much longer she can tolerate this exhaustive line of questions. Luckily for her, the inquisition only drags on for another couple of minutes before the police make their departure with her attacker in custody.
The anxious young woman promptly exits the house that had been her prison for the last time and embarks on a desperate search for the woman who saved her life. She doesn't have to hunt long before she spots Regina sitting in her Mercedes, where they left it parked several blocks away in the empty lot next to the softball field. As the younger woman approaches the vehicle she perceives something that immediately concerns her, Regina is crying. So as not to alarm the older woman, Emma announces her presence before cautiously opening the passenger side door and entering the vehicle. "Regina?" Emma instantly feels sick to her stomach when the older woman doesn't respond, her face remains buried in her hands. How long had this woman been crying? Emma's only desire is to comfort her fiancé. "Hey, it's okay," she says as she timidly rests a hand on the woman's trembling shoulder. "Everything's going to be alright now. Chris was arrested. He finally got what he deserved."
In between sniffles and without meeting Emma's eyes, Regina manages, "You should…have let…me kill him."
"Regina, that's not you. You're not the Evil Queen anymore."
The older woman snaps up. Eyes, black with rage, meet blue. The agitated brunette bites back, "I've butchered thousands who did nothing to deserve that fate. He deserved to die!"
Although she knows that the rage is not directed toward her, the younger woman would be lying if she said that she was not frightened. "Regina," she says in hushed voice. Emma is eager to bring the riled queen out of her fury. Wary of the older woman's agitated state, Emma cautiously moves in closer. She lightly cradles Regina's tear streaked face in her hands and follows with a desperate plea, "Come back to me, please. Please, Regina."
The older woman softens as fresh tears pour from her eyes, which have returned to warm brown. Ashamed by her recent outburst, the queen falls into her lover's waiting arms, hiding her face under the younger woman's chin. "I'm sorry, Emma."
Naturally, the younger woman begins rocking the love of her life. "It's okay. I know you're not mad at me."
"Why wouldn't you let me kill him?" The devastation in the queen's voice breaks Emma's heart.
"I was afraid I'd lose you. I know how hard you've worked to get back on the right path. I couldn't watch you throw it all away." When the older woman straightens up to meet blue eyes, Emma adds, "You're still my hero."
Inhaling a strangled breath, the older woman makes an agonizing admission. "It hurts."
"What does?"
"I can't change anything. Even if I had killed him it doesn't change anything that happened. You still had to experience years of suffering."
Finally understanding what Regina means, Emma gently takes the older woman's trembling hands in her own. "Regina. I'm alright. I'm not living in misery anymore because of you. You rescued me."
In an instant, Regina erases the evidence of Emma's most recent assault. Upon being healed, Emma brings her left hand up to hold Regina's in place and nuzzles her face against the older woman's palm in gratitude; resting in her fiancé's protective touch.
Getting lost in Emma's loving gaze, the older woman instantly calms. Not yet ready to break the renewed contact, Regina proceeds to delicately massage the younger woman's face with the pad of her thumb. When she lightly grazes soft lips, her thumb is met with a tender kiss. The blonde woman follows this action by turning her face and placing a more sensual kiss on the older woman's palm, closing her eyes lightly at the contact.
If Regina was turned on by that first kiss, she can swear this one nearly caused her to have an orgasm.
"You saved me," the younger woman hums into Regina's stimulated palm.
The feel of her lover's hot breath sends another shiver straight from Regina's pelvis, up her spine. Unwillingly, guilt consumes her. "I should have gone after you…when I first found you."
The confusion is evident on Emma's face. "I don't…Regina?"
Hesitantly, the older woman continues. "The night you left I tried to follow you, but I crashed my car when-"
"You were in an accident?! And, you didn't tell me?!"
"Emma, I'm fine. It didn't occur to me to tell you, because that's not important now."
"Regina," the younger woman whines.
"Honey, I'm fine. I promise." she tries to reassure.
"How did you crash?"
"When I reached the border…it was sealed."
The first emotion Emma recognizes is relief. Regina's revelation about the border finally answers the burning question that the younger woman has been too afraid to ask since they were first reunited less than a week ago. "Okay. So, you couldn't come after me because the border was sealed. Regina, that's not your fault."
"That's not all." She should have just quit while she was ahead. Unfortunately the queen will not be satisfied until she has confessed every last shameful secret to her future wife. "About seven months after you left, whatever spell had been placed on the border was broken."
Seven months, Emma thinks. She remembers exactly what happened seven months after she left. "April," she numbly states.
Regina makes a shocking realization. "Is that..?"
"Charlie was born." Obviously, the younger woman is still deep in thought, desperately trying to piece together bits of information to solve a mystery. "I did this."
"Honey, no."
"Yes, I did. It makes sense." Regretfully, Emma continues to explain. "I left because my heart was breaking. I didn't want you to follow me. I didn't want anyone to follow me or find me, ever, because I didn't want to come back to a place where I was constantly reminded that we could never be together. I thought if I went far enough away, then maybe I could start over. I just wanted the torture to stop." The enormous amount of guilt this woman feels is evident. "I thought if I hardened my heart then it would never get broken again. But, when Charlie was born, everything changed. I changed. Love changed me."
Deeply touched by Emma's admission, Regina quietly confesses an agonizing secret. "I wanted to go after you when I realized that the border was no longer sealed, but I still had no idea where you were until…" Oh, no. She'd said too much.
This gets the younger woman's attention. "When?"
Crippling panic consumes the queen. She can't tell Emma the truth. She will surely lose this woman forever if she finds out. Too late, Emma is not about to let her get by without an answer.
"Regina, when did you find me?"
Fear, shame and heart-break fill the queen's eyes. Mentally preparing herself for the worst reaction possible, Regina makes the damaging revelation. "Last October." She isn't prepared for the reaction that follows.
The younger woman appears to have stopped breathing. Her breaths have become extremely shallow and her eyes are frozen in place. If Regina didn't know better, she would swear that the life had been knocked out of Emma in that moment. She is about to race her fiancé to the hospital when Emma shuts her eyes tightly and begins noticeably breathing again.
"You knew…for almost an entire year?"
"Yes," Regina shamefully concedes.
In the multitude of emotions racing through Emma's mind in this moment, she latches onto anger. "Why didn't you come after me?"
Frantically, Regina tries to repair the damage her most recent confession caused. "Emma, I'm sorry. I should have. I know."
"You knew and you didn't come," it is obvious, as she says it, how much this realization stings.
By this point, Regina is a crumbled mess. With tears clouding her vision, the older woman begs for forgiveness. "Honey, please…"
Not yet ready to accept facts and forgive her fiancé, Emma does what she believes is necessary in order to protect herself and places distance between her and Regina. "I have to get out of here," she announces, as she opens the car door and bolts.
Hysterically, the queen shouts. "Emma! Emma, no!" She jumps out of the car and chases her fiancé as if she depends on the woman for survival.
Maintaining her brisk walking pace, the younger woman yells back through a steady stream of tears, "Don't follow me, Regina."
Finally catching up to her, Regina cries, "Please don't do this!" She grabs Emma's arm to physically stop her, instantly recognizing her error.
Being grabbed understandably triggers the younger woman. She whips around and begins fighting her pursuer. "Let go of me!"
She hates herself for doing it, but Regina somehow manages to restrain Emma's flailing arms. Nothing frightens her more than the possibility of harming this incredible woman. "I can't! I can't lose you again!"
Emma continues to cry and protest as she struggles against her lover's firm, non-threatening, hold.
Afraid that Emma is going to hurt herself, Regina begs, "Emma, stop! Please, stop!"
The blonde woman continues to fight, but is quickly losing steam. "Let me go!"
The sound of Emma's cries are too much for Regina. Regretfully, she brings up a source of tremendous heartache. "Emma, I'm not your abuser!" At that, the younger woman falls apart. The queen slowly guides Emma's limp body to rest on the cold asphalt. Swathing her princess in a protective embrace, Regina continues, "I'm sorry, Emma. I shouldn't have grabbed you like that."
Obviously moved by Regina's acknowledgement, the broken woman uses what little strength she has left to cling to her fiancé. For several minutes the younger woman remains in Regina's loving arms, letting herself be soothed by the woman who holds her heart.
As Regina delicately rocks the blonde woman, she hears a very weak voice. "Why didn't you come sooner?"
"I thought you'd reject me. Until I learned that you were married, I was still hanging on to the hope that we weren't over. I thought I had lost you forever." Emma's only response is to hug Regina tighter in a gesture of understanding. "I'm sorry I made you feel like you weren't enough. You are so much more than I could have ever hoped for."
"Why did you finally decide to come?"
"I had to move our son to college, in New York City. I was already half-way to you. But, I almost lost my nerve and went back to Storybrooke. I just wanted to see you again. And then…" The younger woman straightens up to meet warm brown eyes. "Emma I had no idea. If I had known, nothing would have kept me from you! I swear!" Admittedly, she was upset before. But, the torture that this woman is putting herself through is unacceptable. Emma desperately shakes her head, urging the queen to stop. "I'm sorry," Regina continues to cry.
Emma envelopes her exasperated lover in a healing embrace and speaks the absolute truth. "I missed you." She can feel Regina hug her tighter in response. Making a startling realization, something she should have realized long ago, about the power she holds over this woman, Emma becomes racked with guilt. "I'm a jerk."
"What?" She must've misheard. She breaks the hug to meet her lover's eyes.
"I'm such a jerk."
Eager to put a stop to her fiancé's self deprecation, Regina gently takes the younger woman's face in her hands to get her attention. "No. No, honey, you're not."
Lightly grasping her lover's wrists, Emma asserts, "Yes I am. I have no idea what you went through, what my leaving did to you. I only know how it affected me."
Joining her hands with her Emma's, Regina slowly brings them down to rest in between them. "I went back to the town line every day for seven months, hoping that one day it might not be sealed. And I searched for you. I wanted to give up so many times. But, I couldn't stop. I might never have found you if you hadn't kept your name."
"That's why I kept it. I wanted you to find me. But, I never allowed myself to believe that you were actually looking."
"I was always looking."
"Over the years, I started to lose hope that you might one day find me, that maybe you loved me."
"I do! I love you!"
"Sometimes, I felt like a fool for believing that. Then, all I had to do was look into that beautiful little girl's eyes. My girl's eyes. Gold said that magic created Charlie, but I always believed that Charlie was created by love. Our love."
The blonde woman begins to noticeably shiver. Returning to the present, the queen checks-in with her gorgeous fiancé. "Are you cold?"
"A little," Emma admits, folding her arms across her abdomen.
"We should probably head back to the hotel." Regina begins running her hands up and down the younger woman's arms between her shoulders and her elbows in an effort to warm her. The younger woman offers her fiancé a shy smile at the caring gesture.
The older woman rises from her kneeling position before proceeding to guide her exhausted fiancé off the ground. Once their eyes are at the same level, Emma makes a vulnerable disclosure. "I dreamt of you…almost every night…that you found me…and you saved me."
Still not fully recovered from the recent breakdown, Regina sniffles through her response. "I dreamt that I found you too." The younger woman reacts by surrounding the older woman in a reassuring hug. Relieved by the closeness Regina relax in the arms of her beloved and makes a vulnerable disclosure of her own. "For years my dreams were the only place where I ever felt alive, because I was finally with you."
Even without the aid of magic, this woman has the ability to make Emma fall in love with her multiple times in single day. In one fluid motion, she goes from hugging Regina to taking the woman's face in her hands and kissing her deeply. Breaking for air, Emma vocalizes a recent realization. "We're a mess you and me." This comment earns her an honest and tearful giggle from the older woman.
"I'm sorry I didn't come sooner."
"I'm sorry I was so bitter."
"You were upset," Regina recognizes.
Meeting brown eyes, to demonstrate her sincerity, the younger woman confidently declares, "It's never okay for me to turn my back on you. I promise I'll never do that again. I love you, Regina Mills; forever." The younger woman begins massaging her lover's lips with her own. As much as the queen enjoys the feeling of Emma's incredibly soft, familiar lips, she desires more. Luckily, it is not long before Emma introduces her tongue.
The only thought running through Regina's mind at this moment is how much she missed kissing Emma Swan. She is so completely engrossed to be aware of what the rest of her body is doing. Subconsciously, Regina snakes her right hand underneath Emma's un-tucked blouse. She only becomes aware of her own action when she accidentally grazes an erect nipple. Obviously, and luckily for Regina, the younger woman had decided to forgo wearing a bra. Regina abruptly halts her movements, shocked by her own boldness. She feels consequent guilt for taking advantage of this amazing woman's trust.
Thankfully, Emma reassures her, calming the older woman's fears. "You don't have to stop." Holding Regina's adoring gaze, Emma takes the older woman's hands in her own and guides them just under the hem of her blouse, shuddering at the sudden chill against her bare skin.
"I'm sorry they're cold."
"Then let me warm them," she honestly requests.
"Emma, I…"
"Regina, it's okay. I'm yours. All of me. Forever."
The older woman proceeds to kiss the gorgeous blonde with more fervor than before, eager for more contact. She takes Emma's comment as permission to begin unbuttoning the younger woman's blouse, working her way from bottom to top. It is definitely a chilly night. Without a moment's hesitation, Regina cover's the exposed woman's bare chest with her palms to warm her. As the younger woman's breathing becomes increasingly erratic, Regina glides her now somewhat sweaty palms down the younger woman's incredibly taught abdomen, to her hips.
Emma tingles with anticipation when she feels Regina's fingers toying with the waistband of her pants.
"I don't think we're going to make it back to the hotel," Regina whispers against her lover's slightly parted lips.
Without opening her eyes, the younger woman breathes one magic word. "Car." Confidently taking her lover's hand, Emma quickly leads the way back to the vehicle and guides Regina into the backseat.
Despite the cold Emma quickly frees herself of the well-tailored suit jacket, removing her unbuttoned blouse with it, eager to feel her lover more completely.
At the same time and in one smooth motion, Regina frees herself of her sweater; quickly tossing it aside. "How do you feel?"
"Excited." The adorable woman smiles playfully.
Driven by Emma's encouragement, the queen eagerly re-attaches their lips. In an effort to speed things up, she makes swift work of the closure on the younger woman's pants and promptly begins the removal process.
When she feels her lower-half being stripped, breathing suddenly becomes a challenge for the younger woman.
Caught up in the moment, Regina swiftly liberates Emma of her restrictive slacks, removing the younger woman's underwear with them. Suddenly aware of her fiancé's labored breathing, Regina pauses to check-in with her beloved.
"Are you okay?"
She can barely get it out, but Emma manages, "I'm a little nervous."
Struck with guilt, the normally confident woman immediately backs off. "I'm moving too fast."
Wrapping immaculate arms around her humiliated fiancé in a calming embrace, Emma reassures, "No. Regina, it's alright. I want this to happen." The older woman slowly turns to meet her fiancé's amorous gaze. The younger woman smiles at her warmly before reuniting their lips. "This feels like the first time," Emma whispers.
"Emma, this is hardly our first time. We have a three-year-old to prove it."
"I just mean, with you…I feel…Regina…"
"I want this to be a good experience for you," Regina confesses.
"It will be, because it's you." They never tire of kissing each other. Maybe it's the fact that they are making up for all those lost years. Completely swept up in a haze of contentment, Regina only becomes aware of the rest of her body when she feels the back closure of her bra being unhooked. "I want to feel you, Regina," entices a tantalizing blonde. As she slowly slides the straps down the older woman's arms, she continues, "Only you." Letting the restrictive undergarment fall to the floor, Emma finishes her sentence, "For as long as I live."
"My love…"
"I'm yours, Regina. Take me."
Honestly, this woman takes her breath away every time the gazes into her loving eyes. She watches the young woman ease herself onto her back, putting herself completely at the queen's mercy. Noticeably, Emma's legs begin to shake.
"Emma…"
"I'm fine, Regina. I'm just cold."
The queen promptly removes her own last two remaining articles of clothing, eager to warm her future wife.
Focusing on her breaths in an effort to remain calm, Emma spreads her trembling legs far enough apart to allow Regina's body to settle in between them.
The older woman positions herself parallel to Emma's waiting body and gently lowers her weight on top of her lover's naked form.
At the first contact, Emma's face twists disturbingly.
"Emma? Honey what's wrong?"
The younger woman's chin begins to quiver, which cuts right through Regina. "It's you. It's really you."
"My darling. It's me. I'm here."
Their lips join automatically as Emma is eager to keep her future wife as close to her as possible.
Hesitantly, the younger woman makes a disturbing revelation, "Regina, there's something I need to tell you."
"What is it, my love?"
Unexpectedly, the blonde woman becomes shy and deliberately looks away.
The concerned queen urges, "Emma?"
"I…sometimes, I…" Emma returns her gaze to Regina, the desperation in this woman's eyes is heart-wrenching. "Regina?"
"Honey, what is it?"
"I need your help."
"Anything. Whatever you need, tell me. I'll help you in any way I can."
Beyond grateful for such an understanding partner, the younger woman makes a responsible request. "I need you to help me relax."
Their connection is undeniable. Without Emma having to voice a harsh fact, the queen understands what remains unspoken. "Is it…always…" Even though she knows, she still can't bring herself to say it.
"Yes," she breathes. The younger woman is entirely relieved that she no longer has to carry the burden of a sometimes crippling reality by herself.
"My beautiful, Emma..."
The younger woman offers a watery smile at these words of acceptance and endless love.
Desiring to bring her fiancé comfort, the queen explains, "You can stop me at any time. If anything makes you uncomfortable, I want you to stop me."
"Okay." The younger woman nods her understanding.
The extraordinary queen follows with a sincere vow. "I will not be the source of any more pain."
"I trust you."
The queen reattaches their lips in a soothing kiss. "Just breathe my love. I'll take care of everything." Sensitive to Emma's struggle, the queen takes her time to appreciate the younger woman. She begins kissing her way down Emma's neck and across her chest, giving special attention to her nipples and pronounced ribs, earning her several giggles from the younger woman.
"I forgot that you were ticklish," Regina thoughtfully comments.
The young woman blushes and catches her bottom lip between her teeth, in anticipation. The queen quickly runs the fingers of her right hand from the younger woman's thigh, up to the space just below the pit of her arm. Involuntarily, Emma erupts in a fit of laughter; which only encourages the queen, who proceeds to tickle her profusely. "Regina…please," Emma begs, through contagious laughter.
A huge smile spreads across Regina's face at the sight of her girl smiling and laughing. She vows in this moment to always make that woman laugh as much as possible. "Come on, this is fun!"
"Regiiiinaaaa…stop."
The queen sobers abruptly and halts her advances. "I'm sorry."
"No, I didn't mean that in a bad way." Emma's breathing finally regulates, having recovered from the recent tickle fight. "My cheeks hurt from laughing so much," she coyly admits.
Honestly, her smile is enchanting. The queen, freely, falls in love all over again when she looks into this amazing woman's beautiful blue eyes. "I've missed you."
"I've missed you too."
"How do you feel now?"
"Warm," the younger woman gratefully acknowledges. "Thank you for taking care of me, Regina."
"I will always take care of you." She seals this undertaking with a tender kiss. "Now, where was I?" Promptly, she returns to the task at hand; starting at the younger woman's belly-button.
As Regina continues to kiss her way down, unanticipated tingles erupt in the Emma's pelvis. When she hears a moan escape her lips, the younger woman encourages, "Oh, Regina." She feels soft hair tickle her inner thighs, as Regina's lips reach her pelvic mound.
"I've missed you, too."