And I am back from my rather spontaneous trip to Disney World with the family! Let's get this story going again shall we? ;) enjoy! Please leave a review!
"Well don't you look particularly fuckable this morning."
She could help the light laugh that bounced in her throat at his cranky greeting, "it is your fault. I gave you a chance to call it off before I turned it against you."
"But this morning was just rude."
"Well you may screw me whenever you please, dear," she smirked over her shoulder and then turned her head back to her task of cooking breakfast. Her smirk only grew when she felt him come up behind her, place his hands on her hips, and breathe down her neck. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth to keep herself from laughing happily as he nuzzled his face in to her neck.
She felt him smile against her neck and then the next thing she knew, she had been spun around and slammed back against the island while his mouth crashed on to hers. She took a sharp inhale in surprise but quickly fell victim to his demanding kiss, opening her mouth at his firm demand to do so.
When he reached down and his fingers met the bend in her knee she lifted her leg a little and hugged it around the back of his knee and his fingers continued higher. His touch was heavy and had her heart racing despite her better judgement. They snuck beneath the hem of her black dress and continued up her thigh causing the black fabric to bunch around his wrist.
She couldn't help the small satisfied moan that came out against his mouth at the feel of his wandering hand. Then his other moved from her hips to her chest and his fingers hooked in to the v neckline above her breast and pulled it down slowly to reveal just the top of her dark purple bra. She couldn't help but shiver as he lowered his mouth's attention to her neck and she tilted her head back and to the side for him.
His fingers climbed higher up her thigh and his other fingertips hooked in to her bra and began pulling it down with her dress as his kisses fell lower and lower. Her fingers raked through his hair as her heart rate ran rampant and her breaths lost their steadiness. And then he pulled away, giving her a quick kiss on her cheek and a light and playful tap on her thigh after letting her dress fall back down to its original length before he walked away from her.
She stood there with wide eyes, an open mouth, and short breaths as she watched him turn from her. When she heard him start to laugh to himself she cocked her head and gave a deadly smile as she shook her head, "ooohoho you are an ass."
"I don't know what you are talking about, your majesty. I was simply returning your morning's favour to me," he drawled out innocently and shot a smile over his shoulder. Yes he was going to regret that in the very near future. But it was worth it. "Need help with breakfast?" He smiled and then turned back away from her ever plotting eyes.
Regina opened her mouth and took a quick breath to make a snide remark but was cut off by Henry's voice. Which was probably for the best.
"What is for breakfast?" Henry yawned as he walked in to the kitchen, "can I just not go to school today?"
"Waffles and no you are going to school," she smiled and gave a gentle push on his head causing him to stumble a little to the side in his sleepy state which had both of them laughing.
"Okay," he whined with his laugh and then walked back to his mother and hugged her around her middle and laid the side of his head against her chest and took a deep sleepy breath and closed his eyes. He smiled at the loving hum that met his ears and the gentle fingertips that began combing through his hair causing him to relax even further in to her, "I love you, mum."
"I love you too, sleepy head," she smiled and he laughed quietly.
"What am I? Chopped liver?" David chuckled as he leaned his hip against the counter and folded his arms.
"It would seem you are something of the sort, yes," Regina smirked and rested her head atop Henry's.
"I love you too, David," Henry chuckled and opened his eyes to look at him, "mum just gives better hugs. And makes better food. And is better at sword fighting. And smells better. And tells better stories. And is prettier than you. And-"
"Okay, okay, I get it!" David laughed as he lifted his hands up in surrender.
Cora leaned against the wall next to the doorway in to the kitchen. Out of everyone's sight as she listened to the sound of happiness in the other room. She knew the moment she stepped in to sight the joy would be disrupted and laughter would fade in to silence and the atmosphere would grow tense. So she stayed hidden and listened to her daughter laugh with the family she had found and pieced together. The family Cora longed to be a part of.
...
She jumped at the loud smack of the paper dropped in front of her on the counter, nearly spilling her tea in the process. "What are you doing?" She growled up at David and continued mindlessly stirring her spoon through her steaming tea.
"Real estate options."
"What?"
"I think you should find your own place," he stated as he sat down in the chair kiddie corner to hers.
"Why would I wish to leave Regina once more when I have only just found her again?"
"Personal space. Start over with a clean slate. Clear your heads. You hurt her more than I think you realize when you told her you never loved her. You don't understand her. You simply can't understand her. When she feels something, that emotion is felt through her ever fibre. It is why she was such a powerful and feared queen. She felt that anger and pain regarding losing almost everyone she had ever loved, and she felt that throughout her entire heart, body, and soul. So when she learned that her own mother, the woman who is supposed to love her no matter what, never once felt so much as an inkling of love toward her, she fell apart. You not only broke her heart, you crushed it. Along with causing every muscle to ache and every hope to be taken away from every memory of you. It didn't help that she was ready to let you in again either."
He shook his head and Cora gave a slow blink and bowed her head so that when she opened her eyes she was looking in to her tea. "She is an unbelievably headstrong and stubborn woman. You hurt her once again and now she is digging her heels in even harder than before. Every time she looks at you she sees a lie. She sees pain and suffering. She sees mistrust. She sees death. She sees nothing good when all she wants to see is a mother that will finally love her in a way she cannot even comprehend."
"I want to. I want to do that," she shook her head with her quiet voice as her eyes followed her spoon around and around and around, "but I don't know how."
"Well it would certainly help if you had your heart," he noted quietly and he couldn't tell if she had heard him or not. She seemed lost in thought.
"What does any of this have to do with me leaving her? Again."
"She sees you everyday and while it was working in the beginning, it is driving her further away now. She needs to remember how much she wants you and what better to do that than to disappear from right under her nose," he shrugged and she looked up at him as she thought it through. The contemplative look reminded him very much of Regina's and it brought a small smile to his face before he shrugged, "you never really do know what you have until it's gone right?"
After long and thorough thought, Cora let out a long sigh and drew her spoon from her tea and placed it on a small saucer as she pulled the papers closer to her and brought her mug to her lips to take a sip, "must I choose one today?"
"No but the sooner the better. If you want to go and see any of them in person I can take you there. Just let me know. And don't mention anything to Regina," he added with a shake of his head, "it'll make more of an impact if she doesn't know you are leaving."
With a long breath out her nose she began flicking through the papers, scrunching her nose at one before pulling it out and placing it away from her as she looked through the others. "This world is so strange," she shook her head and furrowed her brow at the images of houses and the script so painstakingly exact that had been all but instantly provided on a blank and incredibly white and perfectly rectangular sheet of paper. She had seen Henry use the machine for his homework over the 'weekend' as everyone seemed to call it. She now decided she would have to take a closer look at this 'printer'.
"You'll get the hang of it," David chuckled quietly but she remained intently focused on feeling the paper she was holding.
...
"What took you so long? The school isn't that far away."
"I was contemplating something," she replied simply as she walking in to the den where David sat on the couch.
"Oh? What was it?"
She smiled at his curious tone and his content smile as she straddled his lap, his hands finding her hips while hers moved to the collar of his shirt, "it seems it has slipped my mind," she shrugged and her smile faded away as her fingers opened the buttons down the front of his shirt.
David let out a long breath as he watched her fingers slowly move down the buttons over his chest, opening them carefully and one by one, "what are you doing?"
"Taking off your shirt."
"Why?"
"Why not?"
Her eyes flashed up to his for a moment and the intense hunger burning in those dark brown eyes had him swallowing to repress a groan. Then her eyes were back on her fingers pulling his shirt from the waist of his jeans. He opened his mouth to call her name and try to get her to stop but his voice never left his lips and instead he chose to enjoy the feel of her soft warm hands move across his torso. Tracing his chiselled muscles, savouring his warmth, appreciating everything that was exposed to her sight and touch.
She let out a gravelly hum as her touch became more weighted and he couldn't stop the hum that left his closed lips to match the end of hers. She leaned in closer to him at the sound, her lips now parted and her eyes down to continue watching her hands move up his smooth chest. He pulled her closer to him causing her to inch forward on her knees on either side of his thighs as her hands took hold of his collar and began pushing his shirt from his shoulders.
Her back arched at his touch and her front pushed lightly against his as her soft breath blew across his jaw. He moved to catch her mouth in a kiss but she dropped her head and kissed his neck first causing his heart to jump. He slid a hand up her side, pausing the movement to pull his arms from his sleeves before he continued higher. He turned his head in to the side of hers as his hand tangled in her hair in front of his face and she kissed her way down his neck.
"Regina."
His raspy whisper against her ear had shivers shooting up and down her spine and under her skin, "I haven't broken your rule," she whispered against his neck as she lifted her head, her nose pushing lightly against his cheek and his breath blowing across her lips.
Her nails dragging softly over his bare skin was driving him crazy and causing his thoughts to grow incoherent. With an extra tug on her hair he brought her mouth to his and kissed her hard. He revelled in the slow and quiet moan that rumbled low in her throat as she pushed herself right up against him. It took no time at all for the both of them to become breathless.
She moaned as his tongue filled her mouth and when he pulled back for a quick breath she was pulling him back to her and kissing him again. Raking her fingers of one hand through his hair and the other down his strong neck she kissed him with all the want she had for him and his hand tightened in her hair while the other tightened around her side.
"I want to tie you to a chair," he growled against her open mouth and lowered his hungry mouth to her soft throat.
"I won't say no," she whispered and then grinned and grinned wider when he laughed lowly against her neck and lifted his head again to catch her in a continuation of their heated kiss. "After your week is up, that is," she whispered with a toying grin and began moving away from him but he held her firmly in place and kissed her neck.
"Stay here," he whispered slowly and flicked his tongue out against her throat as it vibrated with her hum.
"Mmmmm no," she whispered with a quiet sigh but her breath caught in her throat when he nipped gently at an especially sensitive spot on her neck that he knew drove her mad for him.
"Stay," he whispered against her jaw and moved his fingers down her thigh only to slip them beneath the hem of her dress.
Regina hummed softly and smiled a playful smile as she moved her head and bumped her nose against his as his fingers climbed higher. The sound of approaching stilettos became but a faint detection buried beneath the touch of his wandering fingers and the heat of his tongue against her pulse point as he slowly kissed her neck.
It was hard but her pride wouldn't let her cave, "four more days, dear," she whispered and bit her bottom lip with a quiet laugh as she pulled back from him and he groaned and tried to hold her there.
"Regina," he growled and huffed a frustrated breath out his nose as he watched her slip away and stand up tall, "you are making this much more trying than it needs to be," he sighed quietly and irritably as he sat up straight and she bent down to hook his shirt with her fingertips and pull it up as she stood.
"You don't need this do you?" She smirked as she backed away with his shirt hanging from her fingertips outstretched to him. When he simply stared back at her in frustration she laughed quietly through her teeth as she continued backward. She looked him up and down with a smile and drew her bottom lip between her teeth and glanced at the shirt before looking back at his bare chest and then his eyes and scrunched her nose up with her smile, "I think I'll keep this."
David rolled his eyes with a breath of quiet laughter and a shake of his head and she caught the tip of her tongue between her teeth as she gave him one last look over before turning on her heels. She nearly collided with Cora but stopped herself and matched her disapproving stare with an arrogant grin and slung David's shirt over her shoulder as she passed her much closer than she needed to, nearly knocking shoulders.
Cora crossed her jaw and looked David up and down before granting her daughter a little leeway for her behaviour. She supposed she could understand it to be difficult to not play with him. "I am going out for a walk," she called over her shoulder as she turned on her heels and looked at her daughter who was still walking away. Regina didn't say anything in return, simply looked over her shoulder and nodded once before straightening her neck.
David stopped next to Cora with a long sigh and watched Regina disappear around the corner and heard her footsteps fade before he spoke, "I'd offer to drive you but I don't know when I will be allowed to wear a shirt again," he shook his head and she gave a small laughed breath out her nose in amusement before she turned and walked away and out the front door.
...
"Can I have my shirt back?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I said no," she smirked over her shoulder and gave a quick appreciative study of the muscles toning his torso before humming through her breath and turning her head back to her finger trailing over the spines of her expansive collection of books in her den. Her smirk grew all the more when she heard him walk up closer and felt his arms wind around her waist in the act of pulling himself close against her back.
"Please."
A single breath of laughter made it from her smirk and she continued her search for her book, "no."
He opened his mouth with his smile as he lowered his head down and kissed her neck softly, "brat," he whispered playfully and she laughed quietly through her teeth. He lifted his head a little and his ears focused on the unexpected sound of someone knocking at the front door, "who would that be?"
"Miss Swan I would imagine."
"Why?"
"She asked me for help."
"...with what?" He asked rather incredulously as he stood tall and looked down at the side of Regina's head, his hands now on her hips while she continued on as though nothing was out of the ordinary.
"It appears-with no surprise to me whatsoever-that your wife is rather useless when it comes to running a town. Miss Swan is incapable as well so she has requested my quiet help."
"Really?" He asked again, unable to grasp the fact that Emma had gone to Regina for help, that she had done it behind Snow's back, and not to mention the part where Regina agreed to do it.
"Are you going to answer the door or not?" She asked plainly and smirked when his hands slipped off her hips as he turned for the door, confused as to what was going on.
Running a hand through his hair, David walked across the foyer and down the few steps to the front door. His hand met the handle just as another knock sounded on the door and he opened it with a welcoming smile.
"Wow. David. Am I...interrupting...something?"
"No, no, Regina decided it would be a good day to confiscate any shirt I put on today."
"Well you certainly have taken away any remaining innocent image of Prince Charming from my mind," she breathed out as she stared at the sharp muscles toning his torso.
"Hmm?"
"Never mind," she smiled awkwardly as she shook her head and met his eye before stepping past him in to the large home, "Regina send me on a wild goose chase or is she actually here?"
David turned his head and watched her pass him, befuddled by how she so comfortably walked in to the house as though she and Regina hadn't previously been out for each other's blood, "uh yeah she's in the den," he stated with his brow furrowed as he closed the door and turned to follow Emma.
"Right...where is that?"
With a quiet laugh under his breath, David motioned forward with his arm and walked past his daughter, "this way."
Emma nodded once as he passed and then let out a quiet sigh when she saw the muscles shaping his back and shoulder blades too. Seriously?! Just because you're a fucking fairytale prince doesn't mean you have to have a photoshopped body. I bet Regina has an equally photoshopped body. What about Snow? What about Gold? Ew. Well...no. Ew. How am I supposed to not wonder what all these people look like beneath their clothes now?!
"Miss Swan," Regina greeted with a strained but polite smile and a look over her shoulder, "how kind of you to join us," she stated with near disinterest as she straightened her neck again to her books.
Emma fought to bite back a grin at Regina's flawless act of displeasure for the sake of David's presence and her promise to keep her magic a secret. "David can I talk with her alone please?" She asked kindly and David looked to Regina who simply looked over her shoulder and shrugged indifferently before looking back to the spines of her books.
"Alright I'll leave you two alone then," he nodded and turned, closing the door behind him when he walked out of the room.
Emma waited until David's footsteps faded away before she let out a long breath, "thank you, Regina."
"I am capable of keeping a promise, Miss Swan. It is not a difficult request."
"Maybe not. But that doesn't mean I'm not grateful. There is nothing stopping you from telling the world that I have magic and cannot control it. There is nothing forcing you to help me either," she shrugged her shoulders up a little, growing rather uncomfortable when Regina looked over her shoulder and held her eye contact, "so thank you, Regina, for helping me with this."
Regina nodded once, slowly and subtly as she held Emma's eye, "you are welcome," she held her gaze for a few moments longer before the corner of her mouth lifted in to the smallest of smiles and she turned her head back to her books and hooked her finger in to the spine of one and pulled it out.
"So," Emma breathed out and neatly placed the troublesome town paperwork on the table while Regina turned around with a book in hand, "where do we start?"
"With control. I don't want you taking off that diamond just yet lest you blow up the entirety of the town. So we shall start with teaching you how to use what is around you to perform your magic. I will not have my efforts on you show an airhead blonde who simply recites memorized spells or flaps her hands around willing everything to bend to her will. You will learn how things happen, why they happen, and how to control it all."
Emma nodded and cleared her throat quietly to try and rid herself of her unease, "alright. So what do you want me to do?" She watched intently as Regina extended her arm and opened her hand to reveal a small pile of, "seeds?"
"I want you to grow them."
"...okay?"
Regina closed her hand and turned it over so that when Emma placed her hands underneath she caught the seeds Regina released in to her hand. Regina kept one for herself however for a demonstration. She turned her hand back over so her palm was up and open and a dark seed laid in the middle of her palm, "the ingredients you need are all around you. You just need to pick and choose what you need," she instructed as she let her magic go and the seed began to sprout much to Emma's fascination. "A little light, a little earth, a little air, a little water," she spoke quietly and the soft roots began to twirl around her fingers while a soft purple flower bloomed as it's stem extended higher, "and you have given life to something."
Emma stepped a little closer and examined the flower with a smile and a soft laugh of wonderment. "And I will be able to do that without taking off the diamond?"
"If you put your mind to it you can override that enchantment. For little acts of magic that is. Not the larger tasks. Your magic overrode it when you cut your hand did it not? As I told you; it is not taking away your magic, it is simply keeping it in check."
"Okay."
"You are in control. Now you simply must refine and strengthen that control."
Emma let out another breath to relax herself and poured all but one seed in to her other hand and placed it out in front of her, palm up, just as Regina had demonstrated. When nothing happened despite her efforts, she looked up to Regina who was gently detangling her hand and fingers from her flower's roots.
"Stop overthinking it, Miss Swan. You are growing a plant not rebuilding the Great Wall of China," she deadpanned and smiled just a little when Emma breathed out a laugh. "Magic is linked to emotion," she started and with a flick of her fingers, the stem was snipped from the roots of her flower and a wave of her hand brought a slim vase to her hand and she dropped the flower inside, "the more frantic the emotion, the harder it is to control."
"So I should feel that I want this flower to grow?"
Regina chuckled lightly under her breath as she shook her head and placed the vase on the table next to the paperwork Emma had brought, "no. But you must be calm at the very least. Until you have mastered your magic it will be difficult to perform any act of magic while you are feeling any excessive emotion. Some spells require more emotion than others of course but growing a plant is child's play. You will manage."
"Okay but how do I get started?" She was answered with a book being pushed toward her and she looked down at the green leather cover, "botany?"
"You will learn what a seed needs, how much it needs, why it needs it, how it gets it, and then you will manipulate all of those so it will grow in a matter of seconds rather than days. Once you have accomplished it and can repeat it four times in a row then you will come back and show me."
"But I-"
"Stop overthinking it."