BRUISED HEARTS
CHAPTER 3
Heartbreaking confessions and heartwarming declarations left at the side of the road out of Storybrooke, Regina and Emma were now sitting in silence in Regina's kitchen.
An aspirin – requested by Emma as soon as they entered the mansion – was rapidly dissolving in a glass of water placed between them. Its sizzling, the only sound in the room.
Regina opened her mouth but nothing but air came out. The weight of the words shared before, and Emma looking dejected and lost made it hard for Regina to find something to say. And as time went by, she grew restless and unnerved by the silence, by her own incapability to engage in conversation, and by Emma staring at the now empty glass in her gloom.
She looked at the clock: 10.06. So much time until lunch and so little patience to bear the unbreakable silence.
It was Emma, kneading the muscle of her neck with a grimace, who gave Regina an idea for a way out.
"It's still early to start making lunch, would you like to take a shower in the meantime?"
"That would be great," answered Emma.
Relieved and hoping that some time apart might dissipate the uncomfortable and somber air enveloping them, Regina stood up and guided Emma to the guest bathroom upstairs.
After instructing the sheriff on where to find a towel and a spare toothbrush, and giving her a pair of sweatpants (the one Regina wore as a pajama in winter) and the light sweater Emma had left at hers after spilling wine on it during their last dinner (now clean and probably ironed for the first time in years), Regina left Emma to her shower.
She went downstairs and straight into her study. She sat down at her desk and with a happy sigh closed and put away Emma's file, left open more than an hour before in a rush to reach the woman out of town.
She then pulled out one of the books on magic giving to her by the Blue Fairy. It had been with great reluctance that the Mother Superior had given her the three old tomes, but with Snow pressing for it she hadn't had any options.
Regina had promised to only make use of them to support her magic lessons with Emma and considering that the majority of the spells described in them required fairy dust, wands, and herbs only existing in the Enchanted Forest, they hadn't given her much help or inspiration.
Still, she was now looking through the pages of the one focusing on healing enchantments. After months spent teaching the sheriff how to use her magic to attack and defend herself, Regina now wanted to push Emma to learn the ability to heal damages inflicted by nature and time or induced by other sorcerers. It was something Regina had never fully mastered, in part because she'd never been interested in it and in part because her magic – rooted in her dark soul – had not allowed it. She was sure, though, that Emma – the product of true love – could easily become very skillful in this type of magic.
Forty minutes later, when Emma entered the study, Regina had almost gone through every single page and bookmarked only seven spells as interesting.
But nothing in that book was as interesting as the woman now in front of her. Regina was staring at an Emma she was slightly unfamiliar with: loose pants, hair in a messy bun and an almost shy demeanor were the opposites of what Regina was used to. And the sense of unfamiliarity became stronger when Emma moved to stand behind her to look over her shoulder: Emma smelled like her own rich and sophisticated body lotion and Regina found herself missing the fresh and wildflower scent that usually invaded her senses when Emma was close to her.
Distracted, she also missed what the sheriff had just said to her. "What?" She asked.
"New magic stuff?" Emma repeated looking at the book, in a tone that revealed all her lack of enthusiasm at the prospect.
"Yes. Sorry, dear."
"I'm used to it by now," Emma sighed.
Emma's thrill about learning magic had disappeared after only two of their lessons but the sheriff had in fact endured all of them without never complaining. Regina had made sure that Emma knew how much important it was that she was conscious of all the potential of her magic and fully able to control it. Because even if Rumplestiltskin always said that magic came from emotions, concentration and discipline were needed to wield it. And because even if Emma's biggest power in a battle would never be her magic (Regina thought that that would always be her foolish bravery, born from her need to both protect the people she loved and to always do what felt right), it was still a great help when faced with any kind of threats; it was something that could save her life.
With a satisfying smack, Emma closed the book in front of Regina. "Let's think about lunch."
Regina smiled, forgetting all about magic and how foreign this Emma was to her. "Okay."
They left the study and moved to the kitchen in silence. A silence different from the one shared before, less thick and less gloomy, and soon and easily broken when Emma asked, "So, what are we making?"
"I was thinking risotto. That okay?"
"Absolutely."
Regina washed her hands, then retrieved two aprons from a drawer and passed one to Emma. From some months now, the sheriff had always helped Regina in the kitchen whenever she stayed over for dinner and because of that Emma had acquired the right to wear one – the less frilly – of Regina's aprons.
The vision of Emma in her baby-blue flower-printed apron never failed to amuse Regina. This time was no exception, and so it was with a wide smile on her lips that she asked, "So, do you want to prepare the mushrooms or the broth?"
"The mushrooms," Emma answered and proceeded to wash her hands.
"Good."
Regina was taking out from the fridge the ingredients they needed, when Emma spoke again, "Before, before coming down, I called Snow."
Regina turned to look at Emma, searching for the woman's emotions in her green eyes and encouraging her to share something more.
"I told her I'm here."
"Should I expect her to barge in here any minutes now?" Regina asked, dreading the idea of having Snow coming into her home but glad that Emma had called her mother.
"No, don't worry. I asked her to give me a little space," Emma explained.
Closing the fridge, Regina wondered how much time Snow was willing to give Emma before demanding her to come back home: she couldn't imagine it would be much, especially considering that Snow knew her daughter was with her.
However, be little or much time, Regina knew she wanted Emma at her side: she needed Emma close after having feared she was gone from her life.
While passing the box of white mushrooms to the sheriff, Regina gripped the woman's forearm and, trying to convey this need and her desire to help Emma, said, "You know you can stay here as long as you want."
Emma nodded. "I know, and I thank you for it."
-0-
The two following hours, as Regina and Emma cooked and then ate their lunch, the usual relaxed and playful atmosphere filled the air along with the delicious smells of their food. Conversation, kept light and pleasant, flowed naturally between them.
They were washing and drying the few dirty dishes and utensils they'd used, when the mood changed back to serious.
"With the baby coming, I think I should start looking for a new place," Emma said as she placed the dried knife in its slot in the wooden block on the counter.
"You mean move out…"
"Yeah. The apartment is already too full as it is, especially when Henry comes over."
Regina knew that that was only half the reason. In a few months, during every second spent at home, Emma would have to watch her parents giving to a new child everything she had missed, and Regina understood and approved Emma's decision to spare herself a little pain by moving out. However, she couldn't imagine David and Snow being fine with it.
"Your parents won't be happy."
"They'll get over it." Emma's scaring resentment towards her parents resurfaced in the quick and harsh reply, and for the first time Regina wondered what Emma, in her anger and affliction, might have said to Snow and David the night before. She was starting to think that harm had been done by both parties.
"Do you think Henry will understand?" Emma asked, voice turning back to its gentle quality.
"Of course, I mean I don't think he expected you to live forever with your parents…"
"Right."
Regina passed the last cooking pot to Emma and took off her rubber gloves. "You know, Henry will probably be happy to have his own room even when he stays with you."
Emma chuckled. "Oh, that's for sure."
"And to avoid hearing baby screams in the middle of the night."
"Same goes for me," Emma commented as she put away the now dried pot. "Will I even find a new apartment easily enough?"
Regina's mind flashed back to the times she'd seen a moving van in the past six months. "Yes, you will. Think about the couples – reunited or recently born – who started living together since you broke the curse. I think you may have some options."
"You're right," Emma sighed as she dried her hands. "So, I guess it's magic time now?"
"Yes. We'll try something new today. Go grab our jackets, I'll take the fairies' book."
-0-
A few minutes later, outside in the backyard, Regina was impatiently waiting for Emma to make the simple healing spell work.
"You have to focus, Emma. Feel the magic inside you," she instructed as the sheriff's latest attempt to regenerate the withered flower in her hand miserably failed.
Emma tried again, and again nothing happened. "Damn it! I'm focusing, it just doesn't work."
Feeling her own frustration grow, Regina took a calming breath and moved closer to Emma.
"Let me help," she said. She gripped Emma's arm and focused on calling on the surface the woman's magic. With surprise she realized that it felt faint, consumed, as if Emma had just spent hours using it.
Tightening her grip on Emma's bicep she asked, "Have you been using your magic?"
"What?"
"Your magic, it's faint. You have clearly made use of it very recently. What did you do?"
Emma shrugged away from her hold and clenched her jaw. Feeling fear and anger building in her body, Regina repeated her question in her most threatening tone, "What did you do with your magic, Emma?"
The sheriff lowered her eyes. "What you didn't. I tried to take my heart. It didn't work."
It was exactly what Regina had most feared of hearing and the relief for Emma's failure however big was not as huge as the desire to slap Emma across her face for her stupidity. Regina pushed it down by closing her itching palm in a fist and taking a few steps away from the woman.
In that moment Regina doubted all her good reasons for teaching Emma magic; she felt nauseous at the idea that her lessons might one day give Emma the power needed to rip off her own heart.
"Let's go back inside," she said without even a glance in the sheriff's direction.
Emma gripped her arm before she could move. "Regina. Don't be upset, please. I know it was completely stupid of me. God, even asking you to do that for me was crazy and totally unacceptable, but please, don't make me feel even shittier about it."
"What do you want me to say, Emma?"
"Nothing. Just understand that last night I…I was not my usual self," Emma stated as she slowly released her arm. "I would've never done that otherwise."
Regina fixed her unwavering gaze on Emma. "I'll forget about last night, but can you honestly promise me that you'll never consider magic as an option to escape from your own problems?"
As she spoke, Regina realized that she was essentially asking Emma to not become her, to avoid turning into someone who relied too much on magic, and who, at a certain point in her life, thought that casting a curse was the best way to get a happy ending.
At the way Emma's eyes softened, she knew that Emma had realized that too.
"I promise, Regina." The words were spoken firmly, with nothing but certainty behind them, and Regina found herself believing and trusting them. More than anything, however, Regina trusted her own commitment to make it so that Emma would never break her promise.
"No lessons and no spells until next week; you need to recharge your magic," she ordered then, before she went back inside the house and into her study where she carelessly put down the old tome.
"Careful or Blue will kill you!" Emma commented jokingly from behind her.
"Oh, I would like to see her try…"
Images of her hand tightening around Blue's throat and of the fairy soundless pleading for release flashed in her mind, leaving a satisfied smirk on her lips for the time she took off her jacket and sat on one of the armchairs of the room.
Following her lead, Emma sat down too and asked, "So, what are we gonna do now?"
While looking at her waiting for a suggestion, Emma freed her long hair from the bun she had sported since after her shower. At this vision, Regina's mind filled with new inappropriate images: this time her hand was tangled in Emma's hair and the woman – naked beneath her – was screaming in pleasure.
Regina swallowed hard. Her desire for Emma, that longing that overwhelmed her at times, was burning bright in her body and quickly pooling between her legs. For the first time in over a year, Regina wasn't sure she would be able to suppress it.
"Are you okay?" Regina heard Emma asking through the fog of desire clouding her senses, and at the sheer concern in Emma's voice and eyes the strongest impulse to take the woman's face in her hands and gently kiss her bloomed inside her.
Regina stood up quickly and excused herself before escaping the room.
She wasn't surprised when two minutes later after she had found refuge in the bathroom and tried to control her desire through long and deep breaths Emma knocked on the door asking again if she was okay.
"I'm fine," she replied through the door. She then splashed her face with cold water and came out of the bathroom.
Emma's concerned gaze was on her again, assessing her figure and inflaming her desire anew. When the sheriff reached out to brush aside a wet strand of hair that had clung to her forehead, Regina felt shivers coursing through her body.
"You sure you're okay?"
"Some fresh air might help," stated Regina and hated the way her voice had sounded low and raspy.
"Let's go back outside then," offered Emma eagerly.
With panicked lucidity, Regina realized that avoiding being alone with Emma was imperative. There was still so much time before Henry came home and Regina couldn't risk giving in to her urges; not when Emma was still deeply upset by her parents' news. They needed to be in town, where she knew kissing Emma would be seen and therefore undesirable.
"A walk might be better."
"Alright. I'll grab our jackets."
-0-
For the second time that day Regina was walking the streets of Storybrooke, enjoying the fresh air of the last day of March. The fear and need to find Emma felt in the morning were now replaced by Emma's solid presence right beside her.
As she'd hoped, moving around town quelled her desire. However, a new troubling feeling soon emerged. A sense of unease covered her as she noticed the way Emma interacted with the people they met, who weren't many considering the still working hour and their avoidance of Main Street: at the docks first with Eric and then with Sebastian, and in town with Merida and Alice, and later with Billy, Regina was the one to share polite greetings and a few words (they weren't part of the large group of residents who wanted her dead, after all), while Emma barely said hello and just stood there looking slightly irritated and very out of place as Regina talked to them.
It seemed like something had broken between Emma and the town folk, like the sheriff's tolerance for the fairytale characters around her had reached its lowest point. Hours before, as they were standing miles out of town, Emma had somehow implied how easily she could do without Storybrooke and how easily she could leave it behind her without missing it, but Regina knew that Emma actually liked the town and cared for its citizens. It was now clear, though, that Emma needed a break from it.
"Do you like camping?" She asked as they were slowly making their way to the bus stop where Henry would soon get off.
"What?"
"Camping. You know, going off to spend a few days in the woods, sleep in a tent and eat roasted marshmallows," she explained with a smirk, welcoming Emma's eye roll. "Is it an activity you find enjoyable?"
"Not particularly, and I only ever did it once…Why the question?"
"When Henry was eight he became obsessed with the idea of camping. I think he saw that in a movie and thought it would be fun to go spend a few days in the woods. He begged me twice a day for two weeks to organize a trip," Regina began to explain, sharing a memory of Henry's past to introduce the proposition she was going to make.
"I'd never slept on the ground when I was in the Enchanted Forest, I had no intention of starting then. Graham," Regina continued and abruptly paused as the name left her lips, feeling the burn of shame for what she had done to the hunter coming back to her. She knew she had no right to bring up his memory and a quick glance at Emma revealed that the woman thought that too.
She swallowed hard and then went on, "Henry went camping with him a few times. He enjoyed it very much then as sudden as the obsession had came it disappeared."
"Are you telling me this because you want me to take him camping?" Asked Emma, perfectly understanding what Regina was about to say.
"Yes, this weekend."
"I don't know…I mean, I'm no expert and would Henry even want to go?" The sheriff rebutted, expressing uncertainty and reluctance.
"I'm sure he would be happy to spend some time alone with you doing something different, and most importantly you could benefit from it."
Emma arched an eyebrow, confused at her words, and so Regina stepped in front of Emma, putting an abrupt stop to their walking.
"You want to avoid your parents for a while and you clearly need some time away from Storybrooke and its folk. I think we both know that crossing the town line is not an option right now. The wood is. And having the reason why you want to stay in Storybrooke at your side can only help you."
Regina kept her eyes fixed on Emma, as the woman considered what she'd said. Her heart fluttered in her chest when Emma smiled softly at her.
"How come you know what I need more than I do?"
The awe in Emma's voice and the way Emma was looking at her, like she was amazing and special, made Regina blush for the first time in years. Embarrassed by her body's response, she quickly turned around and resumed her walking.
"Does that mean you're going?" She asked then, staring far ahead where she could see some parents already waiting at the bus stop.
"Yeah…I'll ask Henry."
"Good."
-0-
With enthusiasm, Henry had accepted the idea of a camping trip and once home he'd immediately run to his room to check out the weather forecast for the next days on his computer.
And so, Regina was now looking with Emma for the tent she knew she'd stored somewhere in her garage years before.
"You know, Regina, I never thought you could be this messy," Emma taunted as they moved a heavy box filled with old blankets.
The garage was in fact quite messy, Regina could admit it. Tool cases and garden tools of all sizes, piles of books she had read a decade ago, boxes full of useless stuff and Henry's old toys were scattered around and on the shelves without any resemblance of order.
Still, she was about to offer a mocking retort about Emma's own sense of tidiness, when turning around she found herself looking into red tearful eyes. With confusion, Regina searched for the source of the sheriff's distress and found it in the box of Henry's baby clothes at Emma's feet.
Immediately, Regina made her way to Emma and put a gentle hand on the woman's shoulder, trying to offer her sympathy.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine," Emma replied with a shaking voice. "You know by now that I don't regret giving Henry up. I couldn't have given him everything he needed, everything you gave him."
Months before, Emma had in fact expressed her peace with her decision to give Henry up for adoption, still, Regina was sure that it couldn't be easy for Emma to see such tangible proofs of the years she'd missed as Henry's mother.
"I was just thinking that I…" Emma started, and stopped to lift her eyes at the ceiling to block her tears. "I almost walked away from him again last night."
Regina was taken aback by the words and by the way they were whispered with shame and deprecation. Without thinking it twice, she took Emma's face in her hands and forced the woman to look at her.
"Emma, you run away from your parents last night. And you stopped just a few miles away from Storybrooke because you couldn't leave Henry," Regina forcefully reminded to the sheriff. "We both know that you feel responsible for Henry's happiness now. You wouldn't break his heart by disappearing and never coming back."
"Right?" She added, demanding Emma to acknowledge the truth of her words.
"Right," said Emma, with a voice now firm again.
Regina waited until the tears disappeared from Emma's eyes and then took a step back. "Come on, let's go back looking for that tent in this awful mess."
"Yes, ma'am."
A last look to confirm that Emma was fine again and Regina turned back to their search. The dust laid thicker on the things now scattered around her, indicating a longer presence in the garage and feeding her hope on being on the right track.
"Wait, on that box." Emma gestured at a cardboard box behind a mini soccer net at her right. "It reads camping gear."
Regina shoved the books she was holding into Emma's chest and quickly knelt down to check the contents of the written box. She could see the red tent she remembered buying packed inside, along with two sleeping bags and a flashlight.
"We found it," she exclaimed happily.
"Thank God," sighed Emma, echoing her joy. "Let me, I'll bring it near the door."
The sheriff replaced the books in her hands with the box, and as she moved it to the front of the garage, Regina haphazardly rearranged what they had moved during their long search.
"We should probably lie the tent down on the grass tomorrow and check for any damages," Emma suggested.
"That's a good idea. And maybe, dear, you should also try to set it up…"
"And you what? You'll take my time?" Emma scoffed.
"Maybe. I just need you to prove that our son won't be sleeping right under the stars," Regina retorted playfully.
"Rest assured, he won't," the sheriff replied with confidence and Regina smiled at the glint of challenge in her eyes.
"We'll see."
They exited the garage door then and went back inside. On the couch they found Henry, eating an apple and half-watching a documentary on tv.
"Have you found the tent?" He asked, once he had swallowed the piece of fruit in his mouth.
"Yes, kid. We'll see tomorrow if it's intact."
"Cool. Wanna play Mario Kart now?" He asked Emma, and when she nodded he ran into the kitchen to throw away the apple core.
Regina sat on the couch and picked up the book placed on the coffee table. She opened the novel and getting in a more comfortable position resumed her reading. Soon Emma and Henry were on the floor, laughing and teasing each other as they played, and Regina found herself more captivated by the smiles on their faces than by the black letters on the pages.
Immersed in the carefree atmosphere, Regina allowed their playing to go on more than she usually did. She even let them keep going when she rose from the couch to move into the kitchen and start making dinner.
Ten minutes later, she was kneading the dough for a large pizza when a warm hand brushed her back.
"I've sent Henry upstairs to do some homework. Do you need any help?" Emma asked.
"You can grate the cheese."
Regina kept her eyes fixed on Emma as the woman moved around the kitchen, taking the mozzarella cheese out of the fridge, retrieving a plate from the cupboard and the grater from the second drawer, and creating her own workspace. Eyes turned back on the white dough in her hands, Regina thought about Emma's intention of looking for a new place, and in that moment, filled with the warmth and content evoked by Emma's presence and by the woman's familiarity with her spaces, Regina fiercely wanted to ask Emma to forget all about a new apartment and just come live there with her and Henry.
She couldn't though. She didn't want their relationship to whither before it got the chance to fully blossom into something beautiful and taking now such an important step could easily damage the foundations they were building on. For now, she could only happily enjoy the time – already consistent – spent by Emma in her home, and fully enjoy the promising glimpses of what their future could be like.
This time their collaboration culminated in a delicious-looking pizza being put in the oven. Regina set the timer, took off her apron and then filled two glasses of wine. When she offered one of the glasses to Emma, the sheriff took both of them in her hands and placed them back on the counter.
Regina's confusion turned into fear and worry when Emma spoke these words, "There's something I want to tell you."
"I want to say thank you, Regina," Emma continued, and Regina felt air filling her lungs again. "All day you've been kind and patient and wonderful to me. You've offered a sympathetic ear, set my bad thoughts straight and kept me in the moment. So, thank you. Thank you for being everything I needed."
Regina was aware that by now she shouldn't be surprised by the way Emma could make warmth burst in her heart with her words, or the way she could caress her soul with her adoring gazes, yet Regina was left breathless and amazed by what Emma had just said and by the love she could now see in the woman's eyes.
And so when Emma leaned in to kiss her, Regina finally gave in and let her lips meet Emma's halfway. Their mouth had barely touched when Regina felt the taste and the tingling of magic on her lips. Soon, it disappeared and the only sensation left was the one of the softness and sweetness of Emma's mouth.
Then Regina felt Emma's hand rest on her neck and the woman slowly moving away. She opened her eyes and found Emma looking at her with a soft smile.
"I believe this was better than our first kiss," commented Emma.
"You remember?"
"Just now."
And Regina realized that if she had felt magic on her lips was because her memory spell was broken. For a hot second, she questioned if that had happened because of a True Love Kiss, but the shivers induced by Emma's touch and the knowledge that Emma's magic worked in strange ways made it easy for her to dismiss the thought.
On her part, the sheriff didn't seem to have realized why she was suddenly remembering their first kiss and Regina decided to let her ignore the real reason. After all, with Emma's taste on her lips, Regina wasn't even confident she could form the intelligible words needed to make Emma understand it.
"Can I kiss you again?" Emma asked then shyly, and Regina could only answer by tangling her hand in Emma's hair and pressing her mouth against hers.
The long and slow kiss that followed didn't foster the flames of their passion. It was meant to convey love and understanding, care and gratitude, and Regina could feel each emotion spilling from her and pervade her in the intense exchange.
When they broke the kiss, Emma whispered on her lips, "I could do this forever." And Regina, eyes still closed and body trembling, fully agreed, "So could I."
And so Regina spent the next few minutes with her back against the kitchen counter and with her lips against Emma's. Then the timer went off and they reluctantly separated; Emma called Henry downstairs and set the table with him, while Regina sliced the pizza.
For the first time during one of their dinners Regina's glass of wine stayed untouched: the heady feeling caused by their kisses, and the fond looks and shy smiles she kept sharing with Emma over the table were inebriating enough. As a consequence, Regina found focusing on what Henry was saying a difficult task: his words only registered as white noise in her ears, and Regina realized only too late that she'd agreed to let him miss school on Friday to prepare for his camping trip.
When they finished eating, Henry was asked to look for a movie to watch together, while Emma and Regina took care of the dishes.
It was then that Regina started to wonder if she'd done the right thing by kissing Emma. Remembering the drowning woman who had knocked on her door the night before and her own doubts regarding Emma's ability to love her completely, Regina was suddenly thinking she shouldn't have kissed her.
The need to know if Emma was sharing her regret urged her to ask, "Are you okay?"
"I am fine. Why are you asking?" Emma replied, over the sound of running water.
"I…I need to know that you are not getting overwhelmed by what happened. Or regretting it," Regina bluntly admitted.
In response, Emma turned off the faucet and turned fully towards her. "You're thinking I'm going to run away again because we kissed."
It was not a question and Regina heard clearly the disappointment that tinted Emma's voice.
"That's not what I'm fearing," she explained. "I'm worry you'll close yourself off and make it hard for me to simply be with you; I am afraid that you're going to run away from your feelings. This is not a good time, after all, and with the-"
With a finger on her lips, Emma interrupted her stream of words. "Regina, stop talking and more importantly stop thinking," she requested. Satisfied with her silence, Emma lowered her hand.
"Listen," she continued. "I won't dispel your worries by saying that I love you – I can't do that now – but I can say this," Emma paused and Regina could feel her heart beating furiously against her ribcage. "Despite our origins and our roles, we're not living a fairytale. I don't think that that is possible in this horrible world and with our damaging pasts. Yet, I found myself believing, and today more than ever, that you can be my happy ending and I can be yours."
Regina's eyes watered and soon tears started flowing as the words – bitter in their premise and therefore so incredibly sweet in their sentimental culmination – echoed in her mind and in her heart. Emma took her tenderly in her arms next, and through her hair whispered, "I won't let our fears get in the way of our happy ending."
Emma was reassuring her with the most perfect words, holding her gently and flooding her heart with happiness. It all felt like a dream to Regina, but even her dreams weren't that pleasant: in her nocturnal fantasy land, scaring memories, looming threats, impenetrable darkness or hearts suddenly pulsating in her hands always spoiled even the most peaceful and happy sceneries conjured up by her sleeping mind.
This dream-like reality, however, wasn't going to be disturbed and its end was only going to become the beginning of Regina's full acceptance of all the love she could offer to Emma and be given back.
When her happy tears stopped falling, Regina lifted her head so that she could kiss Emma's lips. Emma welcomed her mouth on hers with a smile, and Regina knew then that the gratitude and the promise she had meant to convey had been received.
When their lips parted, Emma let go of Regina and wordlessly they went back to their tasks. They quickly finished doing the dishes and tiding up the kitchen.
"Let's go watch whatever Henry has chosen," Emma said as she dried her hands. "Wait, do we tell him that I'm staying over?"
"You know Henry, he will want to know why," argued Regina. "Tomorrow morning we can say that you fell asleep here and that it was too late for you to drive home."
"Sounds good to me."
A few minutes later, as they were all sitting on the couch, Regina met Emma's eyes over Henry's head. In that moment, for the first time in her life, Regina felt in peace with the world and with her fate.
Finally, chapter 3 is here. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! If you feel like it, leave a review: you'll make me very happy.
Until next time!