15.

"What the hell happened to you two?" Robin laughed, as the girls practically fell through the side door, into the kitchen.

Regina threw her sweater on the rack, silently, not looking up to her husband. Instantly, Emma dropped her act. "It's uh, raining." She smiled awkwardly as she looked down at the puddle around their feet.

"Well, the boys are in bed, if you were curious," he said.

"Oh, good," the brunette said, already in the process of undressing. She pulled her shirt off and slipped her skirt down around her feet, kicking the dripping garments into a pile."Darling, would you get me a basket?"

Robin and Emma looked at each other for a moment before turning back to Regina who stood confidently in her under clothes with her hands on her hips.

"Robin… I was talking to you," she said, sassily.

"Well," he jumped up, "there are plenty of Darlings here… Wasn't sure."

"Oh ha ha," she wrinkled her nose. "And towels."

Emma watched as the brunette crossed her arms around her chest. "Whats the matter?" she smiled, "bit chilly?"

Regina snarled a sarcastic smile at the blonde before, without warning, grabbing the woman's shirt and yanking it off. Instantly, Emma covered herself while she stood awkwardly; her mouth hanging open in disbelief.

"Well, Miss Swan, you tell me… Is it a bit chilly?"

Robin returned in the kitchen holding a laundry basket. He shook his head at the sight of the couple; Emma obviously uncomfortable and his wife looking utterly amused. The basket fell to the floor with a loud pop, causing Emma to jump. She slipped on the water pooling on the tile floor, almost doing a split but she caught herself. Robin smiled as he slid it across the tile with his foot. It came to a halt between the women. "There are towels and bathrobes in there. And do try not to kill yourselves on the water," he added, pointing to Emma.

"Thank you, Darling number one," Regina smirked, pulling a long purple towel from the pile.

"Aren't you cute," he mumbled, "I'll make some cocoa." He busied himself in the kitchen while they dried themselves, stripped down and slid on their robes in silence. Regina gathered all of the wet articles into the basket. Taking the load into her arms, she looked to the blonde. "I'm going to go throw these in the wash and I'll be back. Make yourself at home."

"Sure," nodded the blonde. She watched her lover sachet all the way down the hall before turning to the man dancing around the kitchen. Quickly, she rounded the island and hopped up onto it. As the soft fabric of her new robe connected with the smooth marble top, her backside slid like a hockey puck down the counter, almost sending her into the floor. When she steadied herself, she looked up to find that Robin had stopped what he was doing to watch her struggle.

"Are you going to make it?" He half laughed at her.

"Mhm, yup, I'm good."

"Clearly…" He gave her a judgmental smirk before turning back to his water pan. "How was your walk?"

"It was good," she nodded, knowing he couldn't see her."We ended up having a heart to heart in the park."

"The park, eh? You two covered a lot of ground tonight."

"Yup. It was so worth it though." Looking down at her bare, wrinkled feet, she licked her bottom lip before pulling it in between her teeth.

Looking over his shoulder, Robin watched as the blonde became deep in thought, obviously battling something. "What is it?"

"Hmm?" She looked up with foggy eyes.

"You are thinking awfully hard about something over there," He pointed up, slightly above Emma's head, "I can see the steam rolling out of your ears."

Her lips pulled into a sideways smile as she stared at him. "Uh-huh."

"Seriously, Darling, what is it? You can talk to me about anything, I am not one to judge anyone for any reason."

"No, I know… It's just personal..."

"You want to ask me a personal question?" He laughed.

"No, it's Regina personal," she said, looking down.

"Oh, well… I may have an answer, I may not… You can still ask though."

After a moment longer of silent struggle, the blonde pushed air into her cheeks, ballooning her jaws out. Slowly, the air drained from her lips and she turned her attention back to Robin. "Let's say that someone cried after sex…" she started, quietly.

Robin's brows shot high, causing his forehead to ripple. "You had sex in a public park?"

"No. Just… never mind." She sighed, turning away.

"Oh come off it. Go on, spit it out."

"That's all I have… Cried after she got off and it made me feel like shit."

"Well, that is hardly a question." He chuckled. "And I think you should probably ask her about it, now that I ponder on it… she would probably tell you."

"Yea."

Grabbing cups from the cabinet, he started shaking his head. "Sex in a park," he mumbled to himself.

"So… She gave me her whole life story tonight."

"Oh, did she?" He turned to face her. "And what did we learn?"

"That my life was pretty much a walk in the park compared to hers and that my friends are all from friggin Europe."

Laughing, Robin began scooping cocoa into cups. "Well, sounds about right."

"Seriously though… A grapple hook to the chest?! That shit sounds horrible… You would never guess that she has spent so much time battling the darkness."

"We all face our own struggles in life; our own dances with the darkness."

"Oh yea? What's your story?"

"Why do I need a story?" he asked flatly.

"I'm just curious." She shrugged.

Silence fell between the two as Robin filled the cups and topped each with whipped cream. "Cinnamon?"

"Yea," she practically whispered. Emma was rapidly regretting asking the man about his past. The awkwardness was almost unbearable.

Robin handed her a mug before leaning on the counter, opposite where the blonde was perched. "I was a thief."

"What?"

"That is my story… I was a thief, a bandit of sorts."

Emma's eyes got wide. "I thought you were an attorney…"

"I was… but before that, I was the leader of a group of people, men mostly, who broke into the homes of obnoxiously wealthy citizens." He waited for a gasp or a surprised look from the blonde but all he got was a nod. "We, um, took things that no one would notice were gone right away… things that were not out of the ordinary; towels, blankets… we sometimes took things of real value but not often."

"You were a blanket bandit?"

"We stole things from people who could easily replace them… we then took the items and gave them to the homeless, the poor and the orphans…" Taking a long drink from his mug, he studied the blonde's face. "We were also trained pick-pockets… that's how we made our living… also from the rich."

"That is so awesome," Emma sighed before sipping her drink and wiping the cream from her lip. "Did you ever get caught?"

"People knew who we were and what we did but I was never arrested for it, oddly enough."

"That's cool… So why did you stop?"

"There was a woman who worked with us… Marian… She was a runaway from a rich family… She had been betrothed to some fool and she could see no other way to avoid the marriage… So we took her in, our Merry Men became Merry Men plus one," he chuckled.

"Wait… the Merry Men?"

"Funny right? We named it that for shits and giggles mostly… Anyway, Marion and I became pregnant, she was the love of my life. After Roland was born, we were on a run for supplies and we ran into some goons that her ex had sent after me… She was shot."

"I'm sorry," Emma sighed, looking down.

"Don't be. After Marian passed, I had to do what was best for Roland. I went to school, did the responsible thing with the respectable job and so on… and then, I met Regina… I will never forget the day I first laid eyes on her; There I was, strapping young chap sitting in a room full of gays trying to get my number… the female's too, let me add… everyone wanted a piece." He smiled and shot Emma a wink. "So I was sitting there in a room filled with twenty or thirty people, chatting and carrying on… and all the sudden the room goes silent… so I look up and am like 'Well what the bloody hell happened?' you know? Because it is incredibly difficult to hush a whole gaggle of gays in one go… So I look up and there she is, beautiful dark wavy hair, dark red lips, nose in the air, strutting in like she owned the place… and she was wearing a business suit, I was blown away… I had never seen any woman carry herself with such confidence… It was just... mmm... Sexy." He growled, playfully.

"Amen," Emma called out, putting her hands in the air.

They were then interrupted by a snorting laugh coming from the doorway. "You two are too much," Regina cried as she gasped for air.

Heat rushed to the blonde's face when she realized that Regina had been standing there for a while. Quickly, she replayed the conversation, trying to remember if she had said anything stupid. The look of pure panic on the woman's face made Regina laugh even harder. "Calm down, Emma… I just got her," she said, trying to calm herself.

"I was just giving our young Swan here, my story," Robin said, handing off the last mug to the brunette.

"Tonight must be a story kind of night."

"Speaking of stories…" Robin clapped his hands as he made his way into the sitting area.

Regina shot the blonde a look, asking the blonde what she had told the man but when Emma shook her head, the brunette followed her husband into the sitting room. Only after Emma made her way to the sofa did Robin finish his sentence. "A little birdie told me that you two had sex in a park…"

Rolling her eyes, Regina scoffed. "Nice try, Robin… We didn't do anything but talk in that park."

Sucking his teeth he stared at his wife, as if trying to read her mind. "Clearly you did sooomething sexy tonight…"

"Now what would make you think that?" Regina snapped.

"How long have we known each other… I know your 'Just had sex face' and you most certainly were wearing it when you came busting through that door."

Emma shifted awkwardly in her seat, trying to pull her legs under her without showing off her goodies.

"You know no such thing."

"I bet I can tell you exactly where it happened." He smiled challengingly while kicking the footrest out from under his chair.

Regina arched a brow and looked over at the blonde next to her. Emma was clearly fighting the blush from appearing on her cheeks.

"Take your best shot."

"Hmm," He rested his chin on his fist, studying Emma's reactions. "Let me see here… you live for a rush so it was probably somewhere in a public space…" He watched as Emma became incredibly interested in a loose string on her robe. "It started raining about an hour ago so you were probably hiding under something to stay semi-dry…"

Regina pressed her lips together tightly and the blonde began running her tongue across her teeth, still picking at the wayward string. Robin smirked to himself as he racked his brain. "I would guess an awning or a ledge… on a side street… you aren't brave enough to do something so risking on the main drag," he said calmly. Emma was now tugging on the string and Regina was doing her best to not smile. "Alleyway next to Granny's," he smiled.

Emma rapidly turned four shades of red.

"Look at you," Regina said, clapping her hands softly. "Well done."

"Now… I will assume that you are the one who got laid, considering our Emma here didn't seem to be glowing as much as you but then again, I have never seen her sexy face… That I know of." He flicked his brow up and watched as the blonde jerked the offending thread from her robe.

"No, you have not, " Regina confirmed.

"Pity."

Narrowing her eyes, Regina glared at the man. He smiled awkwardly before taking up a magazine from the table beside him. "Would you like to watch the telly?"

"It's getting late, I should probably be getting home," Emma finally spoke.

"I just put your clothes in the wash… it will be a few hours before you can wear them." Regina said softly.

"How about you stay another night… Do you have homework to do?"

"Oh woooow," Robin laughed.

"No I don't have work to do," Emma mumbled, rolling her eyes.

"Lovely… If you don't want to stay, that's fine but I really wish you wouldn't go… It's late and it's raining pretty hard… you know how these streets flood when it rains."

"Alright, yea. I'll stay."

Robin ran his tongue heavily between his lips, keeping his self from laughing. "Well that was… difficult."

#

"Are you okay?" Regina asked as she let her weight sink down onto the mattress. She smoothed the wrinkles from the newly washed blanket she had made the bed with.

Emma paced the floor a few times before coming to sit beside the woman on the bed. "Yea, I'm fine. I think I'm just tired. I'm not used to sleepovers."

" You are more than welcome to go, if you…"

"No. I want to be here… I want to be with you."

"Well, good," she smiled. "Get the light and come lay down."

Doing what she was told, Emma walked over and flipped the switch before feeling her way back to the bed. She clumsily crawled into her spot from the previous night. Silently, she fell into place; her chest and stomach fat against Regina's back and her arm wrapped tightly around the woman's midsection. They laid there silently, listening to each other's breathing for a long time. Emma could feel sleep creeping up on her; heavy eye lids, deep breaths. Her groggy state became a kind of courage for her. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," Regina grumbled, obviously almost asleep herself.

"Why did you cry?" Emma could feel the woman take a deep breath and for a moment, she didn't think she would get her answer.

"I couldn't give you an answer the first time you asked me."

"I know you couldn't but I figured you have had some time to think about it…" Emma's voice faded.

"I have. I will tell you how I see it but I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable."

"I'm getting used to being uncomfortable." Emma chuckled before placing a series of feather light kisses on the back of her lover's shoulder. "You can tell me anything… I promise you wont run me off."

"Never make promises that you are not one hundred percent certain you can keep," Regina whispered.

"Regina… I promise you." The blonde tightened her grip around the woman's stomach. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Always so sure of yourself…"

There was a moment of silence as Regina gathered her thoughts. "After I married Robin, sex with women has been nothing but a pleasurable pastime, as I'm sure you can relate."

"Mhm." Emma hummed, burying her face into soft, dark waves.

"There is never any emotion in it, only a goal… and quite honestly, I am never really into what's happening… I get the girl off and she may or may not try on me… I may or may not finish but that doesn't matter…"

Emma was silent, running her fingers gently over the brunette's exposed skin.

"The rush of being with someone, anyone… that's all it has ever really been after I settled down… but tonight…" She sighed, "the way you looked into my eyes… I was completely exposed to you, I was entirely yours… My mind was void of anything but you… The passion… the…" She paused, "well, the love, really… It was so obvious to me in that moment… that I could honestly be falling for you."

She stared out into the darkness of the room around her, listening for any sign of anything from the blonde wrapped around her. Heat poured all over her when she got no response. Quickly, she began speaking again; "I haven't felt like that in years, Emma. In that moment, I was terrified at my realization… but I was also relieved and so happy… and it didn't help anything at all that it just so happened to be the point in which I was just starting to orgasm… so, all those emotions came rushing out at once, they just so happened to fall as tears… you didn't hurt me."

Emma had stopped rubbing the woman's stomach. She laid perfectly still, taking in what was being said. Her body felt like it was on fire and the only way to put it out was to speak. She wanted to run from the room, to hide from it all. For a moment longer, she laid silently, she knew that Regina had been holding her breath, she could feel the tightness in her otherwise unmoving stomach. Courage washed over the blonde as she brought her hand to Regina's shoulder, pulling her to roll over and face her. Once they were lying face to face, Emma place a single soft kiss on the woman's mouth. She propped herself up on her elbow and looked down at the woman next to her.

"Have you ever held a cup of lava-hot coffee in your hands and then realized that you had to sneeze, just as you made it to an area where there was nowhere to set the cup down?" she asked softly. Before Regina could answer, Emma continued; "that is how I feel every time I see you. I have had years to think about how amazing you are… as a person, as a mentor, a friend, and now as a mother and a lover… you are perfect and Regina… I mean that."

A weak smiled pulled across the brunette's face as she braced herself for the worst.

"I know that we have only really got to know each other here recently and I know this is going to sound super corny but I feel like I have known you forever. When you asked me to come meet you at the coffee shop, I didn't want to…"

Regina's jaw tensed as she pressed her teeth together tightly.

"You are married and have children… a life… a great life… You have already made your future and here I am, just some dumb kid, trying to make it in a world filled with smart, successful people… You can do, and have done so much better than me."

A cold wave washed over the brunette. She closed her eyes as rejection filled her heart. She fought impending tears as they burned her lids.

"I am not good with words or anything else for that matter…" She chuckled, "A paint brush… I'm good with a paint brush."

Smiling softly, Regina opened her eyes as Emma brushed her fingers down a tan cheek.

"I'm so afraid… I don't want to ruin your perfect life… I know that you and Robin love each other, so what if you don't fuck? I mean sex is pretty trivial in the long run… happiness… and love, that is what's important… and you have that with him…"

Regina opened her mouth to speak, her brows furrowed in protest, but Emma brushed a finger across her lips. The blonde smiled and shook her head. "Regina…" She wet her lips. "You have watched me race through one chick after the next… you have watched me crash and watched me burn, you have always been there when I needed someone to pour my heart out to… you have always been there for me…" She leaned down, kissing the corner of the woman's lips. "and I have always, always loved you," she whispered.

A steady smile began building on the brunette's lips as those words sank in. "Why did you not tell me?"

"Are you serious?" Emma snorted. "Because obviously it's a normal thing for a student to become obsessed with a professor and then by chance get to be intimate with said professor... you think I was willing to muck that up before it even got started? It's been like two weeks..."

"When you know, you know... I suppose."

"Look... I don't want to mess this up but I would much rather you stay with your family than run off with me," Emma said sternly.

"Do I look like a Disney princess to you?"

"No?"

"I'm not running anywhere with anyone... especially not on a whim... Let's be serious here."

"I know, I was just..."

"We can make this work but right now, can we just savor the moment?"

"Well, yea." Emma laid on her back and pushed her arm under the brunette, coaxing the woman to curl up on her side. Regina folded her bare leg across the blonde's and locked her arm around Emma's waist.

"If I were a Disney princess though," Regina whispered, "you would most definitely be my Charming."

"That dude is a dick... I mean seriously... Prince Charming is literally nobody. He is the stereotype for a hetero-normative male in any fairytale, ever. No personality... all brawn... no brain... Just a pretty boy to save a princess from a shitty life."

"You just described David Nolan." Regina laughed.

"Holy shit... Can we call him Charming from now on?"

"Oh yes. But his wife..."

"Is naive and fits the Snow White mold perfectly."

"You are too funny." Regina giggled, pulling her lover close.

"Its part of my charm..." Emma whispered before kissing the brunette's forehead.

"See, you are a Charming."

"Whatever."

Thanks for reading! I'm hoping to pull this story to a close at around 20 chapters but we all know how bad I suck at sticking to my goals. =) Thank you all so much for your support an feedback... you are a great bunch. (Oh and can I just say... Robin and Regina on last night's episode... cutest shit ever. I hate how well they work together... but I love this weird, new side of her... Idk. Don't hate me for it but, I can see myself loving them together... Not that I would ever ship them that way... SwanQueen fo' life!) Until next time... -DR