Double Trouble 62
Chapter 62 'Strength of will'
108 Mifflin St, 6:21 am
It was Emma's red leather jacket that undid her during their early morning fun and Regina hadn't been able to get it out of her mind since (while sleeping or awake). Nor did she want to.
Few hours ago she'd been treated to the sight of Sheriff splayed out for her on the bed. Her near-naked body the perfect mix of hard and soft. All she wore was that iconic red leather jacket unzipped. The contrast with the pale expanse of her chest was beautifully tempting. Regina decided then that not one of the freckles there would be left unkissed.
She took her time mapping contours with her hands and mouth until her obedient subject finally uttered a plea, indicating that she desperately needed to come. Regina went to kneel at the foot of the bed and then dragged Emma closer by her ankles, burning her skin with friction from the bedding underneath.
A mix of need and desire darkened her green eyes before they closed. Regina draped the pair of sweat slicked thighs over her shoulders and leaned in to press kisses to the plane of a taut tum. There were more intimate freckles that she needed to taste. With one hand she thrust deep inside the junction between her legs alternating with a skillful curl that caused her partner to moan. With the other she pressed over Emma's heart so she could feel the thump of her pulse. The former evil queen could've reached in to take possession of the heart to prevent its being stolen or given elsewhere, but she didn't have to - it was more hers this way, being freely given.
How amazing it was that she had found love again and was finally been able to express it physically. This beautiful woman was allowing her to take her body and do whatever she wanted. A fantasy she had never permitted herself to entertain when they'd first met, despite her inexplicable attraction to the new deputy sheriff with her red jacket, tight jeans, and all that swagger.
You're mine now, Miss Swan...
As usual Regina was the first to wake upon daylight reaching the window. She stretched gently trying not to disturb her bedmate who somehow managed to take up more space than her slender limbs required.
No doubt Emma was exhausted after being put through her paces, a thought which brought back more than a few sexy images. Regina brushed away the light-coloured curls out of her lover's face and revealed a tiny smile there. Someone was almost conscious then.
"I'm sorry," Regina blurted out. She stared at the ceiling, laying on her back, unmoving as she felt Emma inch herself closer to throw an arm and a leg over her.
"Not for the sex I hope," Emma mumbled, ever the smartass. "Good morning by the way."
"No, I never apologised for my part in the fight."
"S'ok. I get it. We got in each other's faces a bit. We've made up."
She absolutely would not get over losing this woman. Regina was stuck for words, wishing that Emma could read her mind and know everything she couldn't say. How much she wanted her to stay in her mind, her bed, and her life and never leave any of those places for long.
"It's not ok," said Regina softly. "I'm sorry for using your abandonment issues against you. It isn't your fault. I should never have made you think you weren't wanted here. At this point I think it'd be futile if I wanted to rid my heart of your presence. But if you truly wanted to leave …"
Emma nodded. "Every part of me is telling me to run from this. I feel terrible for even considering leaving you and Henry and my parents. I've thought of it so many times, of just … going somewhere else. Getting away from it all."
"Do you want to leave Storybrooke?"
"The short answer?" Emma thought for a second and replied honestly. It surprised her that it was the truth. "No."
"What's the long answer."
"Hell no."
Regina rolled her eyes and turned her head to the side for a classic look that said 'you're lucky I love you, you idiot'.
Emma smiled back. "Honestly, I'm tired of running. I've been doing it my whole life. It's funny because you're the Evil Queen and everyone else runs away from you screaming - except me. Instead I go and run towards you. I want to be wrapped up in your arms. Maybe your legs too. The screaming part is optional but very much appreciated."
"I'll allow it. Only if you're not sweaty."
"Liar." Emma accused. "I'm sweaty in your arms all the time and you don't seem to mind."
That was indeed the way that the activities of last night - or rather, early this morning - had ended. In a sweaty tangle of limbs. If the last few weeks had been an emotional rollercoaster, the last 24 hours had been one exhilarating peak. It began with a fight and then Regina was up most of the night making a love potion and making love with Emma. Even though she didn't get much sleep the former queen felt more rested and energised than she had in a long time.
It was Regina's firm belief that her happy ending was about to come to an abrupt end. She'd been a villain too long to believe otherwise. Every time she stepped foot on the path of happiness there was heartbreak waiting for her around the corner. It'd happened with Daniel. Now there was Emma and this time would be no different.
The walls of her life were literally closing in.
If only she could stop thinking of it that way and to concentrate on what the woman in bed next to her was saying. She did wonder how Emma could talk as though life was going to go on forever the way it was, apparently she'd picked up the blind faith that everything would end happily from her parents… or perhaps she was deluding herself.
Emma burrowed her head into the brunette's and nuzzled her skin. She was talking about their fight more seriously now, making Regina glad she found the nerve to bring it up when she could've let it pass. "You have this uncanny ability to discover all of my escape buttons and you push every damn one. It would be easier to leave if I didn't care."
"I'm not an easy person to love," Regina admitted. "I told Henry once that I don't know how to love very well and maybe it's still true."
"I adore the way you love me."
"You're post-orgasmic, dear, of course you'd say that now. Last night when you were angry you were being honest. I don't want to drive you away, which you have accused me of in a similar mood in the past I might add."
"I'm sorry about that. When I left last night I wasn't leaving leaving you. I want you to understand that I only needed a break. Because we were hurting each other."
"I know," Regina agreed. "We are good at that. Deep down I know the three of us will always be connected. But when you threatened to take Henry away… I panicked. I get so worried about him that I can't think of anything else. I reacted badly."
"It's alright." Emma smiled and made a joke to lighten things up. "No-one blames a Mama Bear for protecting her cub. I think you restrained yourself quite well actually - you didn't throw a fireball. Not even once."
"Clearly I'm becoming weak. That tends to happen to me when I fall in love. You've ruined me."
"That's the last thing you are, Regina." It was the last thing Emma said before going quiet and drifting back to sleep.
Not long later the alarm on one of the phones started playing from its position on the nightstand. All the blonde could do was groan about it being too early while Regina rolled over to silence the device before the third ring. Emma buried her head in the pillow to snooze and avoid reality for ten more minutes.
The Mayor threw off the covers and slid out of bed to collect her bathrobe where it was laying on the carpet nearby. She went into the adjoining ensuite to freshen up and fix her hair. Though she wasn't going into the office, with the election looming there was extra scrutiny on her appearances in public and she refused to give Sidney the satisfaction of printing a photo of her caught off-guard and sans lipstick. If the former queen was going to lose she would look at least look good doing it.
A muffled voice came from behind the bedroom door accompanied by a rattling of the door knob. "Mom, Mom? Why is the door locked?"
Regina called out. "Just a minute, Henry."
After making sure that both adults were decent Regina opened the door to see her adorable son waiting on the other side still wearing his pyjamas. Hopefully he wouldn't press too much about why he'd been locked out yet again. Usually she was already awake and ready before the boy came looking for his mothers but this morning was an exception. With a pre-teen child in the house it wasn't easy for the couple to find private time and so often they'd had to make do with late nights or early morning opportunities.
If they did manage to sleep-in, a locked door was all that could stop Henry from entering the room to jump on the bed. Having both his parents together at home was still something of a novelty for him. Regina didn't want her son to feel shut out in his own home but there were particulars of his mothers' relationship that she really didn't want to have to explain to him at his young age.
When she appeared Henry's excitement was not to be contained. "Did you make the potion, Mom? Is it activated yet?"
"Shhh, darling." Regina said in a gentle tone. "Not so loud. Your mother was called out to work in the middle of the night and she's very tired."
"Oh, sorry." Henry hushed his voice and padded towards the bed where a Sheriff-shaped lump was still snoozing. He bent down to kiss her good morning and attempt a hug. "Hi Mom. Did you have a big night?"
Emma replied with a one-armed hug. "Yeah. Hey, kid. I missed you."
Henry gave her his lopsided grin and reminder her that it hadn't been that long since she'd seen him. "I was asleep so I didn't miss you."
"Ha. You think you're funny do you?"
"Yup!"
After letting the pair have a moment together Regina gave Henry a good morning hug and then nudged him towards the door. "Go get your uniform on and I'll make you breakfast before school. I don't want you missing the bus again."
"School?" Henry protested. "But the town might disappear! I can help with the potion and magic stuff."
"I don't care if it's the last day of the universe, you are not missing school," said Regina.
It hadn't taken Henry long to discover that two parents were not as easy to exploit using bargaining or pleading if they sided with each other. But luckily he had one mother who was always up for a bit of mischief and who wasn't as strict with rules. He appealed to the ever-lenient Emma for a "second opinion" with a hopeful expression. She grinned in return.
Taking that as a cue, the eleven-year-old announced that they should take a vote on whether he ought to go to school or not. He was sorely disappointed when Emma sided with Regina by saying: "Nice try, kid, but this isn't a democracy. It's a Mom-ocracy and you're going to school."
In the end Regina shuttled Henry out and down the hall to make sure he was going to go get ready on time. She took a minute to thank him for his help making the potion last night and enjoyed seeing his face light up. He was developing his magical ability quite well. Unfortunately that made him even more excited to help and the only way to convince him to be out of the way today was to explain that his mothers still had to activate the potion and fix the town line.
"It's going to be ok, Mom," Henry said to her, packing his schoolbag, as she hovered in the doorway to his room. "Don't worry."
"As a mother and the Mayor of this town it's my job to worry," said Regina. "Magic isn't exactly forgiving when it comes to mistakes."
"Life is though. You'll see."
Regina stared at him in amazement as he went back to stuffing notebooks into his backpack. When had her eleven-year-old gotten so wise? Not that it had been sudden. He always had been intuitive and so knowing as a child, which was why he'd been able to figure out the ruses created by the Evil Queen's curse. She was constantly amazed by him and how wonderful it was to see him grow. Technically her son's very existence had been a "mistake", the result of an accidental teenage pregnancy, though Regina would never regard it as such herself. Henry was so necessary to her universe it seemed impossible that he existed only by luck.
"How- ?" Regina searched for words to a question that didn't come. "Nevermind. I'll meet you downstairs for breakfast in a minute. I need to go wake up your mother again. We have some things to do today."
Back in the queen's bedroom, Regina went straight to her walk-in closet to get dressed. When she came out she saw that Emma was already awake but opting to rest in the warm bed before rising. The Mayor went over to stand near the snoozing beauty, having donned a white shirt and waistcoat combination that happened to be a favourite of a certain Sheriff she knew. The outfit did not go unnoticed.
"He called me Mom," mumbled Emma with a smile. "He doesn't usually do that with you around. Apparently we're both 'Mom' now."
"And you're fine with it?" asked Regina.
"Yeah. It's weird for some reason but it does feel good. Really good. Are you ok with it?"
A slight curve of her lips was all Regina gave as her assent. "A year ago I would've killed you for appropriating my title."
Regina leaned over to place a quick kiss on the cheek of a very confused blonde. She tapped her fingers on top of a stack of paperwork that'd been sitting on the nightstand since yesterday. Either Emma hadn't bothered to take any notice or had assumed that it was merely Town business and ignored the forms. If the Sheriff was ever going to get the right idea she'd have to point her in the right direction.
"If you'd like to make it official … read these." Regina let her words trail off as a hint and rose upright.
Emma lifted her head off the pillow and grabbed the stack of paper, suddenly more curious than tired. There were pages and pages of numbered block legal paragraphs and attached forms. Just the thought of having to fill these out - whatever they were - made her brain want to shut itself down. Then several keywords jumped off the page and into her heart.
"Is this what I think it is?" Emma gasped and looked up, but Regina had already left the room.
Mary Margaret's apartment
David expected to be the only one up when he went downstairs to make coffee for himself and his wife. Surely the teenagers, who had arrived in the wee hours of the morn, would sleep long into the morning to make up for their nighttime hijinks. But one of them was already up.
Ri was standing at the kitchen counter with her back to him drinking from a tall glass of water. She wore her dark hair in a braid and was dressed in a sky blue coat, riding pants, and leather boots. It was the same outfit that she had been wearing when she first appeared in Storybrooke as a wide-eyed girl who feared doing wrong with the same intensity that she avoided it. The clothes no longer smelled of horse, having been laundered by Mary Margaret at least once.
David alerted her to his presence by greeting her. "Good morning, Ri. Did you manage to get some sleep?"
Ri turned around and he saw that she was worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. Her answer was as genteelly pronounced as any she'd ever given. "Yes, thank you, David. I'm sorry that Em and I woke you so early this morning."
"It's no problem. Mary Margaret and I are glad that you did. You know you can come to us at any time, especially if you're in trouble."
The teenager nodded. "Yes. I'll keep that in mind."
"What happened last night?" asked David.
"Em and I spend some time together alone at Regina's house and then we went for a walk."
Suddenly this felt like an interrogation, the Sheriff's Deputy realised. He was still puzzled by the girls' nocturnal shenanigans and Ri's carefully constructed answers. He wasn't sure what to make of her. "Did you by any chance go near Tremont Street, past Principal Gander's house? Did you see or hear anything strange in that vicinity?"
"Why?"
"Mrs Gander is in hospital today. She reported that someone broke into her house and attacked her."
"How awful," Ri intoned with the appropriate amount of concern. "Well, bad things happen to those who deserve it I suppose. She's not a nice person. You should hear Em go on and on about hating the old Goose for what she says about Henry."
She didn't deny that she was there, David made a mental note. Was it possible the girls were involved? Even if they were angry about the Principal's treatment of their future son, it seemed unlikely that they'd go and attack an old lady in her own home. But what if one of them did it and the other was covering for her? Who was protecting whom here?
Maybe they weren't there at all. Teenagers are always secretive to adults and afraid of getting in trouble. Perhaps they went out to be "alone" and that was why they didn't want to say where they'd been.
David chided himself internally for being suspicious about his own daughter and a girl he knew to have the sweetest heart. There was absolutely no reason to believe either of them was capable of violence. Their older selves were a different story… The prince had seen villages that had been laid to waste by Regina in her former incarnation as the Evil Queen and he knew enough to suspect that Emma could pack a punch when angered.
The girls would grow up soon enough. It wasn't fair to confuse them with their older selves, who were both inured to the unpredictable miseries of life and were far less deprived of agency than any teenage self could be.
Ri set her empty glass on the sink and announced her plan for the morning. "I'm going out."
"Do you need a ride?" offered David. "Where are you going?"
"I need to clear my head."
The former prince reminded himself that she wasn't his daughter. Ri was an adult and technically he had no right to push for answers, as much as he wished that the teen trusted him enough to volunteer the information. She'd stonewalled his attempts to question her about last night for whatever reason. He made one last effort, reminding her to be safe and offering her some money which she turned down.
"What do you want me to tell Em?" said David, as the petite brunette headed for the door. "In case she wakes up before you get back."
Ri smiled. "Tell her I'll see her soon."
108 Mifflin St, mansion foyer
"What the hell is this?"
Regina heard Emma's indignant voice from behind her as she closed the front door. Henry had already left. She had just sent him off to the school bus stop for the second time since he'd forgotten his lunchbox and homework the first time. Apparently she was now about to have yet another heated discussion with her favourite Sheriff in the mansion's foyer.
Here we go again. She should've known the former orphan might react like this. Humour might be the only way to derail her.
"I would've thought it was obvious, dear," said Regina, she turned to eye the stack of papers in Emma's hands. "Have you misplaced your ability to read? Perhaps you need an eye exam."
"No, that's not the problem." Emma held up the front page and pointed. "See? It says right here: Last will and testament of Regina Coraline Mills."
"That sounds rather self-explanatory to me. Generally a will is a legal document which provides for the distribution of a person's property and assets to take effect on that person's death or incapacity. As an Officer of the Court you ought to be aware of such things."
"Forget the legal mumbo-jumbo. What I want to know is why this thing is currently out in the open instead of being buried in your safe or filed away at some lawyer's office for the next couple of decades. So, Regina Coraline, my question still stands: What. The hell. Is this."
"My situation in life has changed. I had my will updated to reflect that when I met with Mr Gold recently."
Emma raised an eyebrow, a flicker of amusement in the action. "I'm choosing to ignore the fact that you just called me a 'situation'. Mr Gold is your lawyer? Even though he's a double-crossing snake who never does anything for anyone unless he can twist it for his own benefit somehow?"
"Yes," Regina admitted without falter. "He is quite simply the best in town. My will is tighter than any corset I used to wear as Queen - and that's saying something."
"Well, make sure it doesn't suffocate you." Emma said darkly. "I know enough about Gold and the law to know he can't be trusted. The law isn't always a friend either."
Regina ignored her and began explaining the terms of the will she'd had drawn up.
Previously in Storybrooke her true identity had been unknown and her mortality was secure, there had been no reason to consider the grave question of what would become of her child if the worst happened to her. She'd had no friends or family among whom to select Godparents from and it worried her now to imagine an orphaned Henry surviving in the cursed town alone like Ava and Nicholas with no adult who knew the truth. Then there was also the possibility that had the curse remained intact the Mayor would never have aged and eventually she would have outlived her son. None of that occurred to her when she adopted Henry, all she could think about was the feel of his tiny newborn weight in her arms and how perfectly he fitted there.
Regina concluded with the most important parts. "The deed to the house and everything else goes to Henry, with you as Executor and Guardian acting on his behalf until he's 25. I've named you as my civil spouse to ensure there are no issues with your accessing the estate. There are provisions for you as well as Henry's higher education."
"I'm not interested in your money," said Emma. "I still don't understand why you need to worry about this now. Wills are for people who are old or dying."
"Exactly. I may not survive after the curse rebounds. I don't know what will happen to me. Nothing is more important than our son so I need to know you can do this alone, Emma. We have to discuss this like responsible adults."
"No," Emma huffed in an obnoxious way. She crossed her arms and walked a few steps away before turning back. "We're not talking about this because you're not dying."
Regina fought against rolling her eyes at the other woman's behaviour and carried on. "It is a possibility. My will names you as Henry's legal guardian but ... I've been thinking about this for some time. I want you to formally adopt him."
Emma stared at her in horror as shook her head processing what she just heard. Not only was the woman she loved calmly discussing her own death, now she was talking about bringing her worst fear to life.
"You can't be serious!" said Emma. "It's your old nightmare come true. It's everything you were afraid of when I first came to town. You freaked out about me kidnapping Henry yesterday. There's no way I can let you can effectively sign away your rights to him. I won't do it. You'll never be able to trust me again. I don't want to lose that trust, our relationship is built on it."
"This will give us equal rights to our son," Regina pointed out. "Like you said, we're together on this. As partners and legal parents. I wouldn't ask if I didn't trust you."
"I'm not sure if I do," confessed Emma. She quickly saw that Regina was about to get the wrong idea and rushed to clarify. "No, it's me I don't trust. I always manage to screw things up. Just look at this stupid shrinking border thing!"
"You'll do it because I'm asking you to. Besides it's for Henry's security more than it is for ours."
"We need you, Regina. I've told you I don't want to do this without you."
"That may not be possible, regardless of what you want. All I want is to take care of my family as best I can."
Emma fidgeted, swaying her upper body. "Let me think about it ok?"
Regina nodded and then added a warning. "Don't procrastinate as long as you usually do over paperwork, Emma. We're running out of time."