"Oh, God... Regina..." Emma mumbled, her face between her lover's legs. "You taste so fucking good."

"Emma... Fuck! Oh, fuck."

"Is that it, baby? There?"

With a few more swirls of her tongue, Emma paused and grinned as she looked up to see the woman's face twisted in pleasure. Nothing made her heart swell more than pleasing her lover.

"Oh, honey..." the blonde sighed happily, pausing to listen to the sounds slipping past the woman's lips. "I love those noises you make."

"Emma, shut up and fuck me!"

"What did you say?"

"EMMA!" Regina screamed. "Stop screwing around!"

"What, baby? I don't think I heard you. Maybe you should ask a little nicer."

When Emma slid her tongue over the woman's clit once again, then abruptly pulled away, her lover's moans grew louder.

"Please, Emma... Please, let me come."

Satisfied with this, the green-eyed beauty moved her tongue along Regina's slit, then pushed it inside the hot, aching center.

"Em... Em, baby... Oh, God, that feels so good." A few minutes, it was all she could take, and as her walls contracted, she cried out desperately, "I'm gonna come!"

"Should I stop?" the blonde teased, digging her nails into Regina's bare thighs.

"NO! Emma, please! Please, don't stop!"

Almost as soon as the girl resumed the movements with her tongue, Regina came with a scream that made Emma's stomach flip.

"Oh, holy shit," the woman breathed. "Baby..."

"How was that?"

Red in the face, Regina nodded her head vigorously and pulled her lover up until their bodies were pressed together.

"My turn to play," she said, once she'd caught her breath.

Rolling their bodies until Emma was beneath her, the brunette pushed her knee between the girl's legs, creating friction that sent the blonde's head spinning and stole the breath from her lungs. When she felt the pool of wetness on her thigh, Regina smiled and pressed herself closer, earning a soft moan from her lover's lips.

"I love when you're wet for me."

"How could I not be?" Emma breathed. "All I have to do is think about you, and I'm soaked. Seeing you naked... that just pushed me over the edge. Then when you touch me? It's all over."

"Yeah?"

"Uh-huh."

"Good."

Moving back to create space between them, Regina carefully slid her fingers into Emma's core and shut her eyes as the sound of her lover's moans filled her ears.

"Love that sound."

"I love you."

"I love you too, baby." It didn't take long for Emma to reach the verge of climax, and as soon as she felt it coming, Regina whispered, "That's it, baby. Come for me," which was enough to send the girl into an intense, crashing orgasm, throughout which she moaned her lover's name. "Yeah, babe. That's it."

When the waves finally stopped, the brunette placed a few wet, careful kisses up and down Emma's neck.

"Feeling you clench around me is so fucking hot."

Exhausted from the euphoria, Emma's eyes fell shut as she pulled the woman tighter against her.

"I love you."

"I love you too. Are you okay?"

"I'm great. Talk about stress relief."

When the blonde laughed softly, her lover rested her head on the girl's chest, feeling it right and fall with each breath.

After falling asleep like that, they woke in the same position to the sound of Regina's phone ringing. Reluctantly pulling away, she answered the call.

"Doctor Mills speaking." Pause. "Yes, of course. I'll be right there."

As soon as she hung up, Emma asked, "What's going on?"

"One of my clients just got admitted to the psychiatric ward at the hospital for threatening suicide. That was his mother calling."

"Alright. Get in the shower. I'll get your clothes together."

"Babe?" Emma asked anxiously, as soon as her lover walked through the door of the apartment. "Are you okay?"

Immediately, Regina made her way over to the couch and sunk down on it, dropping her head into her hands.

"That was horrifying."

"Is he okay?"

"He's in a really bad place, but he was so happy to see me... He said he was... He said he was scared that I'd be disappointed in him. It took everything in me not to cry. When I asked why he didn't call me, he said he didn't want to bother me or be a burden. I thought I was going to faint it hurt so bad, hearing that."

"But you said he was happy to see you. You made it more bearable for him."

"Oh, I don't know about that. Inpatient treatment is... pretty horrible..."

"Regina?"

"What?"

"Have you been in inpatient before?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I drank until I almost died of alcohol poisoning."

"Gina..."

"What?"

"Will you tell me what happened?"

"What do you mean? My mom called 911, they pumped my stomach, then they put me on suicide watch. When I tried to get up and leave, they moved me to the psych ward, knowing I was a danger to myself. I was there for two weeks."

"But..."

"Don't, Emma. Don't ask me."

Looking hurt and betrayed, Emma lifted her eyes to meet her lover's and stared into them.

"Your history... What happened to you... It's in the past, just like you said. It's not going to come back if you share it with me."

"It doesn't matter, Emma. It's not important."

"But my past is?"

"That's not the same."

"Why? Because you're a therapist, and I was your patient? Because you're older than me? Because... Because why, Regina? What reason could you possibly have for the double standard you're holding me to?"

With a sigh, the brunette pushed a hand through her hair and leaned back against the couch.

After a pause, she replied, "You already know the short version. That's all that matters. I was raped. I went into a downward spiral. I was a mess. Then I got therapy and moved past it."

"Who raped you?"

"I..." At first, it seemed like Regina would refuse to answer, but she continued, "It was a friend I ended up going to college with. Actually, he was my only friend. We'd known each other forever. I thought he was my friend, anyway. I trusted him with everything. He tried to make a move on me at a party one night, when he was really drunk, and... I told him no, so... He got angry. I lost my virginity and my only friend that night."

"Shit... Regina, I'm sorry..."

"You know that's not what I need to hear."

"I am, though. You didn't deserve that. I can only imagine how hard it must have been to be betrayed by someone you trusted like that."

"I never told the police. Luckily, he stayed away from me after that. He was in my classes, but... I stopped going, so... It didn't really matter."

"Wait, what? I thought you graduated at the top of your class?"

"I did. After a year off."

"Oh. Wow... You went back after all that... That's so brave of you. I don't know what the fuck I would have done. I mean... I guess I do. I would've high-tailed it out of there and never looked back. Forget school."

"Yeah, well. That's not going to happen to you. You're going to college, and you're going to graduate. I don't care what degree you get, but you are going to school."

"Hey! Hold up a fucking second. You don't get to decide that for me."

"You can't let your depression and anxiety get in the way of your education! Emma, I'm not going to let you allow this opportunity to pass you by. You would regret it. I promise you that."

"I don't care. It's up to me."

"Emma, you can't-"

"No. This is my life. I choose to spend it with you, but whatever other choices I make... they're mine and mine alone."

"Please, Emma. Just go to school. You're too smart to give up now, when you're doing so well."

"I'd fail, anyway, without Belle around."

"Have you considered that maybe I could help you?"

Blinking a few times, Emma shook her head, answering honestly, "No. Not really. I don't want to burden you. You have enough work as it is. You don't need to be doing my homework on top of that."

"I would do anything to keep you in school."

"That's ridiculous. Why does school mean so much to you?"

"Because I believe in education, and I believe in your intelligence. You're too smart to let go of this."

"I'll think about it, but I want you to drop it now."

"Fine. Just-"

"No. Let it go." After a long bout of silence, Emma added, "I love you. If I could take away what happened to you, I would."

"I wouldn't. It's made me who I am today."

"But-"

"I'm stronger because of it. It hurts. I'm scarred, and changed forever. But I'm a better me."

"You're so brave, Regina. So strong. I don't know how you do it. I feel so... so weak. Like I can't take this. Like I'm going to let everybody down. I don't want to make commitments I can't keep."

"Like going to college?"

"Yes."

"And moving in with me?"

"Yes..."

"And..."

"Regina..."

"And marrying me."

"Gina, stop."

"You can't run from everything, Emma. You have to face things eventually. If I believed that you were avoiding it because it wasn't what you wanted, I'd let it go. But I just... I feel like you're avoiding it just because you're scared."

"Of course I'm fucking scared! You're all I care about!"

"That's not true, Emma. You care about Belle."

"Fine. Whatever. That's not the point. I can't lose you, and if... If I don't break promises, you'll have fewer reasons to leave me."

"You think you couldn't follow through with your vows?"

"I think I'd fuck up somehow, some way, and you'd leave, and then I'd have lost everything."

"You don't want that tie to me?"

"What do you mean?"

"That's what marriage is, Emma. It's a tie. A commitment to love each other no matter what. We'd be more likely to stay together, not less."

"Look, I... I can't talk about this."

"You think I'd be making a mistake by marrying you, and that I'd want to get out and not be able to leave."

"Well... I... I mean..."

"Well?"

"Yes."

"And you think that if you don't marry me, I'll be able to leave you whenever."

"Yeah."

"You don't get it, then."

"Get what?"

"You have my entire heart, Emma Swan. Already. There's no taking it back now, married or not. I'm bound to you."