It briefly crosses Regina's mind that the knock on her door might not be the Sheriff at all, but rather the little imp responsible for this wretched trip, but it's a vague thought. Gold has no reason to come rapping at her door, and so long as Baelfire remains unaccounted for, she will come to no harm; the pawnbroker reliant on the blonde, and therefore her safety is guaranteed by default.
Sure enough, when she pulls back the door, she's faced with messy curls and a stern expression, although she catches a twitch of a smile at the side of Emma's mouth and she imagines she knows why.
She offers her own small smirk in response; looking the younger woman up and down pointedly in the dim glow of the streetlights that filter through her window and cast her room an eerie, flickering blue.
Whereas she had packed a light yet comprehensive travel bag for their trip, Emma had remained true to her word and had simply shoved a handful of multicoloured cotton into the bottom of her satchel in a bundled mess. As such, she now wears the tank top she'd been wearing beneath her sweater during the day, and a pair of impressively creased running shorts; Regina's expensive negligee offering quite an amusing contrast.
"Can I help you at all?"
The brunette inquires silkily, fully aware she's likely only aggravating the tension between them, but she wants to hear it from the blonde's own mouth.
Wants to hear Emma say that she's pissed off about the sleeping arrangements.
That she'd wanted to share a room.
Share a bed.
"No."
The Sheriff replies moodily, and Regina smirks, raising a brow as her eyes glitter in the semi-darkness.
"Just came for the view then, did you, dear? I was-"
But her words are cut off as the younger woman lunges at her; the force with which she moves serving to send the Mayor smacking none too gently into the wall to their side as the blonde kicks the door shut behind them with a quick flick of her foot.
Chuckling wickedly against parted lips once she's caught her breath, the darker woman trails her hands roughly down the Sheriff's sides, before one winds itself into thick hair and plays through pale curls gently.
"Hmm... Are you sure you didn't want anything?"
She teases, as the fingers of her other hand dip beneath the waistband of the younger woman's shorts and Emma growls at her irritably; not ready to fold, but cocking her hips to allow the brunette better access.
"Stop it."
She grumbles.
"Stop what? Stop this?"
A quick circle of her thumb over the blonde's sweet spot, before Regina withdraws her hand with her brow raised, laughing when the Sheriff makes a small noise in frustration.
"Stop laughing at me!"
"But you make it so easy, dear. I'll stop laughing at you when you stop acting quite so foolishly..."
Regina bargains, taking hold of the younger woman's hips and steering her towards the bed despite knowing that her words are having the admittedly desired effect of winding Emma up something rotten.
"I'm not!"
"You are. Although, I suppose I can't wholly blame you... But what did you want me to do, Sheriff? Book us a double room in front of Gold? Oh, he may know exactly what the situation between the two of us consists of - or, at least he has a fairly good idea on the topic - but you said it yourself, dearest; a trip with Rumplestiltskin in tow is hardly the most romantic of settings."
"I-"
But whatever irritable retort the blonde had planned to make is cut off by a small yelp as she's shoved roughly onto the sagging mattress of the Queen's bed.
Regina crawls on top of her easily, her eyes glittering with malicious intent as she continues to hiss down at the Sheriff; her lips ghosting over the younger woman's own.
"That's not the issue though, is it, Sheriff? What's got your panties in a twist - figuratively, I see we're flying bare, as usual - is the fact that my request for separate rooms bothers you... Am I wrong? You would have asked for the same thing, but I got there first, and now you're angry with me because you're so good at telling yourself that this is a one-sided deal."
"I don't-"
"-You're angry with me - which doesn't exactly seem all that fair from where I'm sitting - because you're supposed to be the one to spout all of that 'I could care less' bravado nonsense, and now you're stuck in your own little room, plagued by your own little thoughts of just... How... Much... You... Need... Me..."
Dangerous words broken up by deep kisses, and Regina lowers her attention to the blonde's throat as the latter scolds her angrily.
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I tell you I like you all the time.""
"Love me."
"Fine, that. I've said that, too!"
"You have..."
"Well, then what the hell are you on about? I'm pissed because-... Well-... You-..."
"Yes?"
Regina pushes herself up onto her elbows to study the Sheriff expectantly; chuckling affectionately at the look of frustration alighting the younger woman's sharp features as she struggles to find an answer.
You're not even entirely sure yourself, are you, dear?
Taking pity on Emma as her low laughter threatens to push the younger woman just a little too far, she leans back in to steal a much gentler kiss as she plays her fingers fondly through the curls at the blonde's temples.
"You're an idiot, Emma, you do know that, don't you?... How long did it take you to give in and come and seek me out? It's been at least a couple of hours... Don't tell me you've been sitting there stewing for all that time because of such a silly little thing... You know I would always choose to have you with me; deep down you really do!... But to get upset because you can't accept that you'd fret over such a thing in the first place? That's ridiculous... Especially when you're just talking to me..."
The Queen smiles against kiss-swollen lips as she feels the blonde begin to relax beneath her; the Sheriff's irritable glower softening into a greatly preferable smirk and her brow smoothing out to make her look much younger.
"Right... So, am I supposed to be paying for these little sessions, Sigmund, or is there a certain amount of advice I get for free?"
"Oh, I don't give anything away for free, Miss Swan..."
"Hmm. Well, that kind of sucks for you, because I left my wallet in my room..."
"I suppose we could work something out..."
"Oh?"
Emma replies, and Regina raises a brow and smirks salaciously at the misleadingly innocent look of incomprehension the blonde offers her; the flash of a shark-like grin giving her act cleanly away.
"Well now, let's see..."
Rising up so that she sits straddling the younger woman's hips, the brunette wets her bottom lip and pauses as though deep in thought. Smirk widening wickedly, she plucks at the Sheriff's top; inching it slowly up to reveal the flat expanse of her stomach, before finally exposing firm breasts with a theatrical gasp that has Emma chuckling in amusement as it's a rarity that the brunette will play the fool.
"See anything you like?"
She teases, pink tongue flashing through white teeth, and the Mayor dives in for the kill; biting at the pale flesh of the younger woman's sternum in a way that would seem cruel, were it not for what she knows of the blonde's tastes.
"A couple of things..."
"Ha!"
Wrapping her legs around slim hips, the Sheriff pulls the brunette into her; running her fingers down the lean curves of the darker woman's back, before tugging at the silk of her negligee to pull it up and expose delicate purple lace.
Letting out a content sigh as the Queen's tongue lashes at the valley between her breasts, Emma tightens her grip in an attempt to roll them over; gasping in surprise when her hips connect with something long and hard beneath the sheets, and emitting a cry of shock as a garbled hiss of static fills the room.
Regina reacts in a similar fashion; eyes widening in comical bewilderment before she lets out a low chuckle as the small television on the nightstand kicks into gear and static transforms into the monotonous rambling of a greying newsreader.
"Shit..."
The Sheriff mutters, fumbling around in search of the remote. A gentle hand on her shoulder gives her pause in her endeavours.
"Leave it on."
"Uh... No offence, but, it's kind of killing the mood..."
"I'm curious."
Regina shrugs, dark eyes intent on the television as a montage of army footage spills across the grainy screen. She frowns when a man starts to speak about how the carnage that plays his backdrop had been necessary.
"Why does he say those things? Isn't he part of the King's guard? That's treason."
Ceasing in her irritable eye-rolling, the blonde frowns, struggling to wrestle herself from beneath the Mayor so that they sit shoulder to shoulder to watch the screen.
"You've never watched the news before?"
She asks. It's a valid question; both she and Regina in possession of a television set back in Storybrooke, but, now that she thinks about it, she doesn't recall ever watching any form of current affairs with Mary Margaret, Ruby, or anyone else in town.
"No, dear. There was little point."
Regina replies. Nodding in a way that expresses not understanding, but rather a simple acceptance of the brunette's words, Emma joins her in observing the flickering images presented on screen.
"So much pain brought to a country by the ones they selected to protect them..."
"That's always the way."
"Yes... I suppose you're right..."
Thinning her lips, Regina finds the plastic bulge of the remote and fishes it from beneath the covers. Skipping through the channels curiously, she throws a bemused look at the Sheriff who hisses under her breath
"Oh great, don't bother finishing what you started or anything..."
Smirking, the Mayor scuttles her fingers up the younger woman's thigh beneath the throw that now covers them both.
"Patience, Miss Swan. The night is still young."
Emma opens her mouth to sark back, but then Regina moves her hand to cup her heat, and she simply sighs; twisting with her back against the headboard to taste the column of the brunette's throat as the latter moves her fingers lazily.
News switches over to weather, which switches to sitcoms, which switches to gameshows, which switches to cartoons, which switches to-
"-Oh."
The Mayor's eyes widen as a young redhead on the screen grins wickedly and begins shucking up her tiny white bra.
Tattooed fingers swiftly cover her nipples.
Painted red lips pull back as white teeth flash with a high-pitched giggle.
A wink.
And the procedure is repeated.
"What...?"
The brunette chokes uncertainly.
Glancing from the idiotic specimen prancing around on the screen to the enthralled Mayor, Emma laughs; the noise serving to rip Regina's attention from the woman giggling in her underwear and onto her.
"Why does she keep doing the same thing over and over?"
"You're upset she's not flashing what she's hiding?"
"I-... It's strange."
"It's pay to view."
"I'm sorry?"
"It's, uh... It's a porn channel... It's basically-"
"-I know what pornography is, thank you. Depicted sex for pleasure."
"Right. Well, that's what this is, but you have to give them your card details to watch the real show."
"Curious..."
Cheeks flushing slightly, Emma shrugs as the brunette continues to surf through what the idiot box has to offer. The next few channels follow on in a similar vein, but the Queen stops with a frown when she comes across the fourth sleazy offering.
A young blonde in a minuscule black and white striped lingerie set - a parody of an old-school inmate - shivers with what's clearly anticipation as an equally scantily clad 'warden' drags a stiff, black police baton up a pale skinny thigh.
When Regina swallows, it's audible.
"... This... When you...When you were..."
Turning her attention from the screen to the Mayor, the blonde raises a brow and adopts a hushed tone.
"In jail?"
"Mm."
"You want to know about that?"
"Emma. I-"
"-If it was like this?"
"Well... I-"
"-You don't. You don't want to know what it's like... What it's like to be thrown in a fucking cell stripped down to nothing but the scrap of your underwear, only to stand there clutching the bars, bent over, as a guard watches, inspects, and plans-"
"I-"
"-To file into the showers that first evening with your mind reeling and head racing, only to be slammed up against the wall, unknown hands dragging and tracing your most intimate regions..."
Regina blinks; both horrified and unbelievably turned on by the blonde's hoarse confession.
"...Emma..."
She murmurs, her fingers moving with greater purpose, yet heightened care beneath cheap running shorts.
"And then to be pushed down... Your face rubbed into the dirt outside in the yard, only to beg and cry to be let go... Only to feel a t-tongue-"
Dark eyes widen incredulously as the Sheriff's sordid tale disintegrates into a fit of laughter upon glancing at the look of horror written across her face.
Finally understanding the tangible tension to be nothing more than Emma fucking with her, the Mayor slaps her thigh furiously.
"You're playing with me!"
"Not yet."
A positively evil grin as the blonde begins climbing across the darker woman's lap, but the latter proceeds to shove the Sheriff away, addressing her angrily.
"Emma! That was entirely inappropriate! You had me believing-"
"-Well, whatever I had you believing, you were clearly into it..."
"That's-... I-"
"-I'm sorry."
"Forgiven... But, you worried me for a moment there!"
"I know, I'm sorry. I just couldn't resist with the way you were getting all hot and bothered, and it's always been so awkward to talk about before... Do you really want to know?"
"What do you mean?"
"There are ways certain things work in prison. Do you want to know?"
"I-... Well, I'm admittedly intrigued... Would you-... Would you really tell me?"
"No. But I'll show you."
"I-... I don't know..."
"Do you trust me?"
"... Yes."
"Good."
"So-"
"-Hold out your hand."