Emma's phone buzzed on Thursday midmorning indicating she had a new text message. When she looked, she couldn't help the grin that crept to her face as she saw who it was from.
"Good morning" it read.
"Hey" she replied.
Her morning had been a slow one and she was more than grateful to hear from Regina. They hadn't spoken the previous day and she would be lying if she said that didn't bother her. She hadn't wanted to seem pushy and needy so she'd just let the other woman have her space. After all, she didn't owe her anything, let alone an explanation.
"I just wanted to check in. See how you and Henry are doing. I'm sorry I didn't call or text yesterday, stuff came up. I hope I'm not disrupting your work by reaching out at the course of the day" Regina texted back.
"No you're not. There isn't much going on here anyway. Either everybody is suddenly following the law or I'm getting really bad at my job" Emma replied.
"I doubt you'd be bad at anything ;)" Regina texted.
"Well Miss Mills, flattery will get you...somewhere ;) " Emma replied.
"Hopefully ;). Can I propose something?" Regina asked.
"Yeah, sure. Shoot" Emma smiled as she smiled at her phone.
"I don't know if its appropriate to ask but would you like to have lunch with me?" Regina typed nervously at her phone, pausing a few seconds before hitting the send button.
"Are you asking me out on a date, Miss Mills?!" Emma replied, playfully.
"Maybe, we'll see. For now, lets not put labels on anything. Its just two adults, spending an hour together, eating and knowing each other better" Regina replied
"Its totally a date!" Regina's phone beeped, signalling a reply from the blonde, 'always childish', she thought to herself with nothing but fondness and love for the other woman
"And sure, I'd love to have lunch with you. Where?" the second reply came a few seconds later
"Just text me the address to your office and I'll pick you up, if thats okay" Regina texted
TWO MONTHS EARLIER
"Regina" she heard snow call.
"Yeah, whats going on?!" she asked emerging from her chambers.
"Where have you been? We've been trying to reach you for days!" snow replied.
"And now you have! Would you please get straight to the point that brought you here?" Regina retorted impatiently.
"Okay, as you well know, we have been trying to find a way to get Emma and Henry back for the last few months." She started.
"Thats useless, we all know there is no way to do that. Destroying the curse made it impossible to get back to that world, you know this. No portal or any kind of magic can get us back there! Now if you're done wasting my time..."
"Would you just listen? We all know what you said, but we thought, what if we used the thing that took us there the first time..."
"What are you talking about?"
"The dark curse, the one you used to bring us to storybrooke thirty years ago. We could enact it, right?"
Regina took a moment to process what the annoying woman had said. She hated to admit it but it made sense to some extent, there was however one problem.
"We could but theres one problem, to cast the dark curse, I need to destroy the heart of the thing that love most and as you can see, I don't have that anymore" Regina said, waving her hand to indicate her empty palace.
Snow looked deep in thought.
"There has to be another way" she said.
"If there was, do you think I would have killed my own father?" Regina said with anger.
"We'll have to think of something else"
"Look, Snow. I want to get back to Henry just as much but there is no way, the sooner we accept that the easier it will be for all of us"
"And Emma...?"
Regina sucked in a breath at the mention of the woman's name but did her best to avoid Snow noticing her reaction.
"What about Miss Swan?"
"Would you cut the crap, Regina!"
"Excuse me!?"
"I spoke to Tink but I've always had my suspicions too. And now I know for sure"
"I don't know what you think you know but you should leave now. Don't you have some terrible planning to do?"
"I know you're in love with Emma and I know you are angry you didn't get to tell her that. And I think that you are scared that if we succeed in going back to storybrooke, you may never get that chance anyway because she has planted memories now and she may never have felt the same way. But I have seen how far you two have come. You somehow managed to fall in love with each other amidst all the hate, challenges and wars. I don't doubt for a second that Emma felt the same way, Regina. I saw the way she looked at you and you at her. And she would have gone against anyone to defend you. She believed in you when most of us didn't and you share a wonderful son whom you both Love very much. So believe me when I say that you can have all that back. You just have to want it bad enough. You can have your family back because you deserve it Regina. So help us do this and we can get them back." snow said after a while.
Regina chuckled nervously. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. It felt like she'd landed on an alternate universe where, depending on what happened from there, Snow White could be her mother in law in the near future. After they'd gotten back to the Enchanted forest, her and snow had gotten along really well. Could be the fact that they understood each other from the same kind of pain they shared after saying goodbye to Emma and Henry, but she was grateful, she admitted to herself. For the first time in a long time, she'd felt some sense of belonging with someone other than her son and his blonde mother. All she could do now was hope that all went well with the mission to get back to storybrooke, the rest was going to work itself out. She had to believe that. She had given them their new memories and lives so it wouldn't be so hard to track them down when the right time came and she would do that, no matter what it took.
"But..." she started.
"Yeah, I know you have nothing to sacrifice but we'll work it out. Tell you what, how about you come over for dinner tomorrow, we can figure it out then, with David and the others. Before you even think about it, I won't take no for an answer" snow said, with that determined and stubborn attitude Regina remembered from a certain young girl she'd met a very long time ago.
"Don't push it Snow." She said feigning annoyance and seriousness. "I'll be there, thank you" she concluded.
TODAY
Lunch had been a lovely affair and now as they awaited their bill, they carried on with conversation they had engaged themselves in the last hour.
"So you haven't really seen anyone since Henry was born?" Regina asked.
"Yeah. After Neal I just decided to dedicate my time and life to Henry. He was...is the most important thing to me. What about you? I'm sorry for dumping all these on you and I totally understand if you run the other way as soon as we step outside that door. You asked me out to lunch and all I've talked about for the past hour is the train wreck that is my love life or lack thereof. I just...I don't think I've ever talked about this with anyone...but enough about me. Tell me something about yourself. Apart from your love for horses, are there any crappy boyfriends in your past too? Who is Regina Mills?" Emma asked as they both stood up from the table after Regina had paid.
"I asked you out so we'd get to know each other, thats what I said so I won't be running to or from anywhere, Miss Swan. And to answer your question...questions. Regina Mills is a former mayor of some small town you wouldn't know. As for the boyfriend part, there was one a long time ago...He wasn't crappy but it didn't end well." Regina replied as they got inside the back of her car. The short man Emma remembered from that day at the stables had been the one driving her and Regina today.
"A former mayor? I should have guessed it" Emma said, as they both settled down beside each other.
"Why do you say that?" Regina asked looking at the other woman.
"Your power suits, which you look really hot in by the way..." Emma stopped as soon as she realized that she'd let her mouth run yet again. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. So back to the boyfriend?" she tried to compose herself.
As the car headed towards Emma's office, Regina just downplayed the moment and continued, telling her about Daniel's fate to which Emma looked very sympathetic about. She reached for Regina's hand and squeezed it softly as a sign of offering some comfort "And just like you, there wasn't anyone in my life for a very long time, until..." Regina stopped when she noticed that they'd already reached Emma's office building. She held on Emma's hand a little longer than necessary, not wanting to let go and by the fact that Emma didn't bother pulling away, Regina could tell that she was fighting the same battle within herself.
"Well, thats a story for another day" she tried to smile as Lee opened Emma's side of the door and thats when they were forced to let go of each other's hand. She opened her door herself and got around the car to where the blonde woman was standing.
"I didn't get to see your office earlier, do you mind if I walk you?" she asked.
"Sure" Emma replied, her mind still on what the older woman had told her in the car and the sensations their hand hold had raised from deep within her.
Her office was on the first floor of the building so it didn't take much time. As they walked in, the few people in the lobby couldn't help but turn their heads and not so subtly stared at Regina. Emma couldn't blame them. The woman was a sight to behold. So she just gave a small smile as they walked by her assistant's desk.
"Any messages for me, Andy?" she asked.
"None boss" the cheerful woman replied, letting her eyes linger on the stunning woman in her boss' company.
"Okay. Hold everything for now. Oh!, by the way, this is Regina Mills. A... good friend" Emma said, not so sure what to call the brunette.
She smiled as she watched her assistant and 'friend' shake hands.
"Its nice to meet you, Andy?" she more asked than said.
"Yeah" Andy smiled. "And the pleasure is all mine, Miss Mills" Andy replied.
"Please, just call me Regina" the brunette said, flashing her million dollar smile at the younger woman.
After all the pleasantries were exchanged, the two walked into Emma's office, the brunette walking in after the blonde and she pushed the door shut.
She however didn't move from the door and the two just stared at each other. The silence between them grew more unsettling and Emma decided to break it,
"So... are we still on for Saturday? " She asked
"Yes, of course. Is Henry excited about it?" Regina replied.
"That would be the understatement of the century." Emma laughed. "He's over the moon about it. Hasn't stopped talking about it! He even asked me what he should wear" Emma joked, prompting Regina to laugh. A sound Emma couldn't get enough of.
"I'm glad to hear that" Regina said staring at her hands. Emma was now marching towards her. "I should leave, let you get back to work. Thank you for honouring my invitation" she finished as the blonde stood directly in front of her.
Leaning against the door, Regina couldn't make an escape so she just smiled. If she could, she would have stepped back...or would she?
With Emma inches away from her, she could smell her intoxicating scent and it was clouding her mind.
"Thank YOU! I had a lovely time" Emma was saying
"Yeah? I did too" turning Emma, Regina pushed her against the door. Leaning into her, she placed one of her hands above her head and she glanced at her lips. She wanted to taste her again but she didn't want to push her.
"Yeah!" she heard Emma whisper before she crashed her lips to hers a second later. She responded by wrapping her hands around Emma's neck and pulling her closer. Pushing her body into Emma's, she ran her tongue over her bottom lip asking for entrance. Emma complied and their tongues met in a fierce battle of possession. Over the next few minutes, they'd managed to get to Emma's desk without breaking the kiss. When the back of her thighs hit the desk, Regina lifted herself to it gracefully and lifted her skirt up her toned thighs to allow Emma to freely stand between them. They continued with their make out session oblivious to the world outside the office. It was just them and their bodies flushed against each other, and their tongues battling in frenzy for dominance.
The exploration of Emma lasted a while and by the end of it, Regina was satisfied with how well she knew her body. The way Emma's hands roamed over her. The way they brushed the outer sides of her breasts and her hips and by the way Emma responded to her touch, she could say the same about her. When they finally pulled apart, they were both breathless and all they could do was lean their foreheads against each others', taking their time to come down from their high. Regina couldn't get enough of Emma and she knew she never wanted to. The woman was driving her crazy and she was falling in love with her more and more each day and she wanted her even more. She didn't know for how much longer she could stop herself from taking Emma, if things kept going like they currently were.
"Umm..." Emma tried to speak but that was all she could come up with.
"Yeah" Regina said with a laugh, taking the blonde's hand in one of her own.
"That is slowly becoming my most favourite sound in the world" Emma said, causing Regina to raise her brow in confusion.
"What is?" she asked, her eyebrow arched in confusion
"Your laugh" the blonde replied, tucking a loose stand of black hair behind Regina's ear.
"Thank you" Regina replied with a blush, not knowing what else to say. "And I really should get going" she said as she stood up from Emma's desk to straighten up her now wrinkled skirt.
"And thank you again for today" she smiled at the blonde.
"And as I said, there is no need to thank me. I had a great time" Emma said as she planted a chaste kiss upon the other woman's lips.
Hand in hand they walked towards the door and when Emma opened it, Regina lifted their joint hands to her lips. She placed a sweet kiss on them. A simple gesture but one that made both of them smile.
Realizing that they hadn't let go of each other over a minute later, they both let out a laugh and then Regina leaned in and kissed Emma's cheek as they separated their hands.
"Say Hi to Henry for me?" Regina said, making her way towards the lobby.
"I'll have Him call you when He gets home" Emma called back.
Regina winked and with that, she was gone. Leaving Emma all smiles and happier than she'd felt in god knows how long. When she looked up, she realized that her assistant had been staring at her the whole time.
"Don't even...!" she said to Andy.
"Wasn't gonna" the younger woman replied knowing it was only a matter of time till Emma told her all about it. Truth is, she hadn't seen her boss that happy in the year that she'd known her and she couldn't be fooled into thinking that it had nothing to do with the drop dead gorgeous brunette that'd just walked out.
On her way back to the hotel, Regina couldn't stop smiling. She was so happy she just had to share it with someone. She needed to talk to her fairy friend as soon as possible.
TBC.
I really have no words to express my gratitude to you all, for all the follows, favourites and reviews. I hadn't planned on taking this story so far. I've never written before and English is the furthest from my first language as you can probably tell, but your support has given me the confidence and motivation to keep trying so thanks a bunch, y'all!
I'd also like to thank some people who have been with me and this story since the beginning. Your reviews make my day. {LOCISVU} you always make me smile. {iamaoncer4life} you keep me going. {LoveLorelai} thank you so much for your kind words and support. And a special thanks to you, A.
I didn't really have a plan when it came to how they all managed to get back to storybrooke so I decided to go with whatever happened on the show. I however decided to not include the Zelena SL, so I'm really very sorry to all the people who love her. I Love her too but I just thought it would be better this way. Tell me what you think.
Thanks again and reviews are always appreciated.