A/N: Ok you guys will get some answers in this chapter about what's going on with Regina …
Also, I am off on holiday for the next couple of weeks and won't have time to write. However, in the few off days I have beforehand, I'm going to write as many chapters as possible and upload them to the site. Then I'll publish one every couple of days to keep you guys happy. It won't be daily but I hope you'll stick with me. When I return to work in mid-August, I'll be back to one a day. (Yes I write more at work than I do when I have time off …)
Anyway, I'll shut up now and let you read.
Emma returned to the tv room after five confusing minutes. She slipped back into her chair and tried to reengage with the film but it was hopeless. Her mind was reeling from the most intense kiss of her life. She could still feel Regina's hands caressing her skin, her tongue gliding sensuously against her own, the older woman's hot breath tickling her ear. Emma squirmed in her seat, trying to relieve the thrumming that had been building between her thighs ever since she sat beside Regina in the chapel.
Before she knew it, the credits were rolling. Her friends had noticed Emma's return but decided not to question the blonde's abrupt disappearance and reappearance. Now however, four sets of curious eyes looked at her, waiting expectantly.
"What?" Emma asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
"You know what, Swan," Boyd said.
"It was nothing, Mills just needed something."
"Your tongue down her throat?" Red asked.
"No! Why would you say that?" Emma's pulse beat faster as the lies escalated.
"Because her lipstick is smudged around your mouth," Snow pointed out.
"Shit," Emma mumbled, using her sleeve to scrub at her lips, not that it mattered any more. "Look, it was nothing so can you not spread it around this place, please?"
Her friends all nodded, unconvinced by her answer but willing to heed the blonde's wishes. They stood up and left the tv room together, bidding each other goodnight as they peeled off one by one towards their individual bunks.
"Are you ok?" Red asked when she and Emma were alone in their room.
"I'm fine."
"If you say so. But you know you can talk to me if you need to, right Swan?"
"I know, thanks," Emma smiled gratefully. Regardless of the reservations she had expressed to Booth, it seemed apparent that she had indeed made some true friends inside.
Emma didn't exactly go looking for Regina the following day. Well, she may have walked past her room a few more times than was strictly necessary but every time she peered inside, the brunette was nowhere to be seen. She scanned the dining hall at every meal too and still there was no sign of her. Emma saw Trident, Faery, and Feinberg sitting together but their leader was not among them. Should Emma be worried? The brunette had clearly spooked at something in the chapel the previous evening. Not that she had any right to really, Emma reminded herself. The older woman had initiated the kiss after all.
Emma's sour mood matched Red's as the two women made their way to bed that night. The brunette had increasingly been irritable, Emma noticed, but every time the blonde asked what was wrong, she got a snarky response. She'd stopped asking. Emma's neatly crossed off days stared mockingly at her as she lay awake. March 7th. She had been inside just over three weeks and already it felt like a lifetime. How was she going to make it to January 13th the following year?
A wave of nausea rolled over Emma as her body drifted up from sleep on Monday morning. Groaning, she swung her legs out of bed, donned her slippers and ran towards the bathroom. Crouching before the toilet bowl, she retched as quietly as possible. This routine had become alarmingly common in the past week and Emma was tired of feeling so lousy in the mornings.
"Are you ok?" came an unfamiliar voice from outside the cubicle door.
"Yeah, fine," Emma mumbled, not wanting nor needing sympathy.
There was no response and after a while, footsteps receded from the bathroom. Wiping her mouth, she stood up, flushed, and exited the stall. Rinsing her mouth at the sink, Emma rubbed a hand over her stomach before heading out the door.
"Are you sure you're ok?"
Emma jumped at the voice.
"Jesus, you scared me," she gasped as she looked at the young inmate stood before her.
"Sorry," the girl replied. "I just wanted to make sure you were ok. You didn't sound it."
"I'm fine, as I already told you," Emma said, irritably.
"If you say so," the mousy brunette replied.
"You're new here aren't you?" Emma remarked, eyeing the girl more closely.
"Arrived on Friday. I'm Arendelle," she greeted with a grin, holding out her hand.
"Swan," Emma said, shaking the hand before her.
"Nice to meet you, Swan. Are you heading for breakfast?" Arendelle asked.
"Probably in a bit. They don't start serving until 8am and I'm not hungry now anyway."
"Why were you being sick?" Arendelle asked.
This kid is way too nosey, Emma thought. "I dunno," she shrugged before she started to walk back to her bunk.
"Can I join you for breakfast?"
Jeez, she won't let up! "Yeah sure. I'll meet you in the hall at 8," Emma called back over her shoulder.
Emma was thoroughly unsurprised to see Arendelle waiting patiently just inside the dining hall when she and Red arrived at 8:15. The two brunettes introduced themselves and they ate breakfast together. The new girl seemed nice enough, just a little too enthusiastic and asked a few too many questions. However, she appeared good natured enough and Red seemed to like her.
Emma and Boyd had been wrestling with a particularly large sheet that was refusing to fold squarely for a few minutes when a soft cough from behind them caught their attention.
"Regina?" Emma blurted out, dropping her end of the sheet which made Boyd swear.
"Good afternoon, Miss Swan," Regina said, stiffly. "May I have a word?"
Nodding mutely, Emma followed the brunette from the laundry room. Boyd watched the two women go with a smirk on her face. The use of the brunette's first name had not gone unnoticed.
Regina led them to the far end of the corridor. The laundry room was surrounded by supply closets and the brunette tried each door handle until she found one that was unlocked. Pulling the door open, she gestured for Emma to walk inside.
The blonde looked beyond the door and then back at Regina. "It's a broom closet."
"Yes," Regina nodded. "Get in."
Frowning, Emma crossed her arms. "After you."
Sighing at the petulant behaviour, Regina gracefully stepped over a bucket and nudged some cleaning products out of the way with her foot. Once she was settled, Emma smirked before following her inside and closing the door.
"Why do we always meet somewhere pitch black?" Emma asked, blinking rapidly to try and make out Regina through the gloom.
"Privacy," she answered simply.
"Privacy for what?"
"This," Regina said before she pressed her lips against the blonde's. Arms slithered around Emma's waist, pulling her closer as their mouths melded together. Emma brought her own hands up to tangle in Regina's long brown locks, groaning as the brunette's tongue pressed demandingly against her lips. She acquiesced and opened her mouth, darting her own tongue out to taste Regina first. Their was a brief battle for dominance as lips moved, tongues twisted, and teeth nibbled. Fingers clawed at hair and clothes, trying to get impossibly closer to the other woman.
Suddenly, the kiss ended. Now it was Regina's turn to be confused at the abrupt conclusion.
"What?" the brunette asked, panting slightly.
"You know what," Emma replied, her breathing equally affected by the passionate embrace.
Silence filled the broom closet as both women paused, one waiting on an explanation, the other trying to decide how much to reveal.
"I'm sorry," Regina began. "I didn't mean to leave like that on Saturday. It was wrong of me and I regretted it the moment I stepped out of the door."
"Then why didn't you come back?" Emma asked, still confused.
"Because I got scared," Regina admitted in a small voice.
"Scared?" Emma frowned. "Of me?"
"Not exactly," Regina sighed. "I was scared of what might happen to you. What being with me might mean for your future."
"I still don't understand," Emma said. "You gave me the best kiss of my life and then, right in the middle of it, you somehow decided you couldn't get away from me fast enough. What happened?"
"Memories," Regina whispered.
"Memories? Of someone from your past?"
"Yes." Regina was speaking so quietly that Emma had to strain her ears to hear.
"What happened to them?"
There was a long pause. Emma thought she may have heard a stifled sob. "She died."
Emma reached out in the dark and grasped Regina's hand, squeezing in what she hoped was a reassuring way.
"I'm sorry," she offered, knowing the words would do very little to make the brunette feel better.
"Thank you," Regina sniffed. "It was a long time ago and I thought I was over it. I am over it, I think. I mean, I've worked through my grief and accepted what happened. It wasn't so much the memory of her. It was you and the possibility that you could end up like her."
Confused, Emma asked a difficult question, hoping it would provide some clarity to Regina's rambled explanations.
"How did she die?"
Now Emma was sure Regina was crying as a sob echoed through the small space. The blonde wrapped her arms around the older woman and held her as she shook and trembled with grief. Running a soothing hand up and down Regina's back, Emma murmured reassuring things in her ear as she waited patiently for the answer.
"It was my fault," Regina admitted in a small voice. "She worked with me, dealing. She had made a new contact, through the cook, Athena, and there was supposed to be a big buy happening. Danielle arranged it all. Time, location, amount. The only other person who knew was me. We were partners, in life and in the business. That night, Athena came to me asking about the meet. I assumed she knew about it as this new dealer was a friend of hers. But she had become an informant for the Feds and Athena told agents the meet details I gave her. When Danielle and the dealer showed, the Feds had them surrounded. The bastard drug dealer used Danielle as a human shield, threatening to kill her if they came any closer. They did. And he did."
Another sob escaped Regina as she relived one of the worst nights of her life.
"I'm so sorry, Regina," Emma whispered, still holding the brunette close to her.
Regina nodded against Emma's neck, trying to steady her breathing. After a few minutes, she pulled back, wiped her face, and reached for Emma's hand.
"I don't want to put you in danger," she stated, firmly. "People I care about, people close to me, they end up getting hurt. Nothing more can happen between us Emma. I can't take the risk."
"But Danielle's death wasn't your fault Regina."
"Wasn't it?" the older woman said, darkly.
"Even if it was, which it wasn't, we're safe in here. No one would dare hurt the queen and you have your cronies for protection. Plus, no one will try to hurt you if you don't give them a reason to. You're not a drug dealer any more Regina."
"Aren't I?" Regina muttered before clapping a hand over her mouth.
"Are you?" Emma asked, eyebrows raised.
"I've got to go," Regina said hastily, fumbling for the broom closet door.
"Seriously? Again?" Emma huffed, shielding her eyes as the bright corridor lights hit her in the face.
"I'm sorry," Regina said with a final longing look back at the blonde who was stood motionless surrounded by mops and cleaning products.
Emma leaned back against the shelves behind her as Regina disappeared down the corridor. Sighing, she wiped her lipstick stained mouth on her sleeve and combed through her tousled hair with her fingers before she stepped out of the broom closet and headed back to work.
Emma's mind was preoccupied for the rest of her shift. Now she knew what had happened to land Regina inside. Now she knew what Athena had to do with everything. Now she knew why Regina didn't seem to trust anyone. But why was Regina still convinced she was in danger? And what was that comment about still being a drug dealer? The brunette couldn't possibly be dealing in prison, could she?
Emma had three options. Ask Regina herself. Ask Red. And ask Athena.
Emma quickly ruled out the first option. Every time Regina's past came up in their conversations it had ended badly. Emma knew it was a painful subject and she didn't want the brunette to relive it for the sake of her curiosity.
Talking to Red was a possibility but Emma would have to wait until she was in a good mood. Although how much her bunkmate knew was debatable as from what Emma had seen, the two barely interacted. Perhaps there was something more than met the eye, since Regina had managed to infuriate Red so completely the previous weekend.
Athena was the only link to Regina's life before FCI. The problem was, Emma had never spoken to the redhead and she didn't want to just barge up to her and start asking questions about another inmate. Perhaps she could get Snow to introduce them and start chatting casually before slipping in a few questions about the older woman.
Emma sighed heavily as she dumped the last load of pillow cases, now neatly folded, on the table. Glancing at the clock, she saw she had just three minutes left of her shift.
"Ready to go sign out?" Boyd called from behind a pile of sheets walking towards Emma.
The blonde laughed at the sight and helped the other blonde place the load in the correct baskets.
"Yep, let's get out of here."
"So," Boyd began as the two women started walking back to their bunks, "are you going to tell me what you talked to Mills, or should I call her Regina, about?" She laughed, nudging Emma gently.
"No," Emma replied quietly. "And please don't tell the other that she came down. I don't want them gossiping about us."
"Ok," Boyd assured. "Gotta say though Swan, you surprise me."
"Surprise you how?" Emma asked.
"I didn't realise you were into girls."
"Neither did I," Emma mused as she remembered the sensation of Regina's plump lips moving softly against her own.
I'd really appreciate some feedback on where I'm taking this story ... making Daniel into Danielle, Regina running out on Emma twice, and the drug angle ...
This said, I have already written the next two chapters but I'd like to make sure you guys are on the same page as me!