Forbidden
Nostalgia:
Now they know, Regina tells herself as she finally reaches the mansion and removes her booths and coat.
The secret is "out". They know that Lily is her daughter. Regina is aware that Snow probably have a couple of questions to ask in that matter, but the hell with it. Regina will just have to answer them as best as she can. Or maybe she and Maleficent could answer the questions together. Make it an edition of "ask the dragon".
Regina huffs quietly as she finally locks the door and drags her body into the living room. She should bathe her swollen and burned palms, that's what she should do. But the magic is still rolling through her veins like wild fire. She will need a moment to calm down. A moment to calm her magic down.
So Lily is a dragon. Or: of course Lily is a dragon. How could Regina be so foolish not to think of that? And why the fuck did Snow White think she could reason with a dragon? Heart filled with hope and optimism or not, that was just stupid.
She didn't harm me, Regina thinks quite proudly to herself. Her palms might be slightly burned, but that's about it. Lily didn't actually try and have a go at her.
She could have forced her way through that barrier had she really wanted to. But she didn't. She didn't want to hurt me.
Regina's heart swells as she stares into the smoldering flames in the fireplace, and she takes another sip of the glass of wine she just poured herself. It might be thirty years too late to be Lily's "mother", but maybe it's not too late to be a family after all.
She called me mom. I'm sure she did.
Regina sighs deeply, puffs out the air all the way from her belly and takes another sip of the wine. And then another. What a day. What a long, trying, exhausting day. She should go to bed. That's what she should. She should go to bed with her phone laying on her bedside table in case of emergency. Hopefully, Lily will still be here when she wakes up. No, Maleficent said she would be out for hours. Of course she'll still be here in the morning.
But Regina makes absolutely no attempt at standing from the couch. Instead she pours herself another glass of wine, downs it and then pours herself another. Then she clumsily waves one hand over her palm. The swelling goes down a little, but her palm remains red and slightly puffy still. Oh right. Dragon fire. She can't just fix it that easily. Dragon fire requires something extra.
Something extra, Regina doesn't have right now. To put it plainly, she's too tired to produce any kind of magic right now. Hell, she's probably too worn out to make an object float.
Talk about float. Her brain is beginning to feel a little foggy, the effect of the alcohol finally setting in. Her body becomes more and more limp until she's actually lying down on the couch. Which is actually quite uncomfortable given how she's still wearing her tight pencil skirt but changing into something more comfortable is out of the question. Magic is still coursing through her body, and the best thing she can do right now, is to try and sleep the feeling away.
It's been quite a while since her magic has been like this. It reminds her of when she was younger and angrier and often out of control. But she knows it's not because of anger, her magic is acting up. It's because of what she had to do with it. Use it on Lily. Every maternal instinct in her body is protesting against restraining her own daughter. Like Cora restrained me.
No. NO. That was different, Regina scolds herself. She's just a little drunk. Cora used magic to manipulate. I used to make sure Lily didn't harm herself or anybody else for that matter. It was different.
Different or not, Regina will have to make sure, restraining Lily won't be necessary in any near future. Which means having a little "chat" with Snow White and David about not to come near Lily.
Regina closes her eyes. She needs to rest. By all the gods, she needs to rest. She's drunk and she needs sleep. But with the magic still crackling in her veins and a head filled to the brim with new information, it seems impossible to go to sleep.
She'll settle for lying curled up on her couch with the glass of wine in her hand, then. Sleep will come naturally. Maybe if I drink enough. But until then… Regina shifts slightly, curls up and tries to focus on the sounds of the smoldering flames in her fireplace. Maybe that will be enough to make her calm down. She takes another gulp of the wine.
Knock, knock.
Regina instantly stiffens. There's no way she heard that correctly. Maybe it was just the fire making noises. Yes, that's probably it.
Knock, knock.
"No!" Regina mutters and covers her ears. Seriously, if that's the next disaster, I'm not home. She's in no way fit to welcome guests right now. She's buzzed, very buzzed in fact, and she's definitely not feeling very gregarious.
Knock, knock. This time a bit more forcefully.
"Go away. Go away, go away, go away, go away." Regina mumbles defiantly into the soft plush of her sofa cushions. Whoever it is out there can definitely wait. It's nobody important, Regina knows that. Henry has his own key, and if he had forgot it, he would call her. Not bang on the door like a maniac. And if it was Snow White, Regina would have been alerted by her high-pitched "Regina!" by now. Oh, god don't let it be Snow White right now.
Knock, knock.
"God damnit!" Regina half-shouts to the silent mansion as she clumsily stands from the couch, smoothens her hair and wrinkled pencil shirt. She then marches into the hall and rips the door open. "Is it really that impossible to get a moment of…"
It's Maleficent who's standing on her porch.
"…peace." Regina half-heartedly finishes her sentence. Damnit. She was not prepared for that. And shouting in the dragon's face is probably not the best approach. Of all nights, why now when she's had more wine than advisable?
But Regina soon picks up on something. Maleficent's eyes are slightly unfocused, and her steps not quite as steady as they were earlier. It would appear that they've had the same idea tonight.
"I don't even know why I'm here," Maleficent says dully. "You see, I was busy getting myself well and truly drunk, but now I'm here and I don't know how it happened."
"Would you like to come inside?" Regina offers. My, this is turning into a very difficult day.
"Yes, that would be lovely," Maleficent says and wobbles slightly as she crosses the threshold.
Regina steps aside and lets Maleficent come inside. Then Regina firmly closes and locks the door. One unexpected visitor at the time, please.
Exactly like the last time she was here, Maleficent looks around with both interest and confusion. Especially the sound coming from the dishwasher seems to alert her.
"It's called a d-dishwasher," Regina says and tries not to slur her words.
"Oh. I have no idea what that is," Maleficent frowns as she half-stumbles into the living room.
"It's a kind of machine that washes your plates and cups for you." Regina clarifies. It's by no means a fulfilling answer, but she's drunk and in this very moment she has no fucking clue as to why she even owns a dishwasher.
They end up sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace, and Maleficent's eyes quickly wanders toward the half-empty glass of wine on the coffee table.
"Do you want a glass of wine?" Regina quickly offers. She might have reached her limit already, but the hell with it. She's already drunk, what's the harm in drinking a bit more?
"That would be lovely." Maleficent says. "I do so feel like drinking tonight."
Regina ignores her burning palms and conjures another glass of wine which she hands to Maleficent.
"Cheers." Maleficent says and takes a sip of the wine.
Regina takes a sip of her own wine too and struggles to find something to talk about. Something sober. "Is Lily gonna be okay?"
"I think so." Maleficent nods and the wineglass threatens to slip between her fingers. "She was sleeping peacefully when I left her."
"Good. That's good."
Maleficent sets her wine glass down on the table. "What are you thinking right now?"
"I'm thinking that I'm very drunk. And that our daughter is a dragon with a boiling temper." Regina says plainly. "And I'm thinking it's gonna take a while before she learns how to control it."
"We'll help her," Maleficent soothes, and then with a little smile: "She's a lot like you."
Regina chuckles dryly. "She's a winged, fire breathing creature. I don't think that has anything to do with me."
"Her dragon form might be all my doing," Maleficent acknowledges. "But her appearance, the way she talks and acts, even her anger... That's all you."
"Maybe it is." Regina says and sets her own wineglass down on the coffee table with a little a too loud thud.
"You did good today," Maleficent says spontaneously.
"I restrained my own daughter with magic. Sounds familiar?" Regina says bitterly and reaches for the wineglass again. It will require alcohol if they're gonna talk about Cora.
Maleficent takes Regina's wineglass and takes a sip of it before Regina gets the chance. "It was necessary. You did good."
Regina scoffs. "Thanks. So did you."
"We're good parents," Maleficent says with a touch of irony and downs the rest of the remaining wine in Regina's glass
Regina chuckles dryly and scratches her chin. We're both drunk of our asses. Some parents we are.
Maleficent's blue eyes suddenly widens a little and her hand shoots out and grabs Regina's wrist.
"It's nothing," Regina says hastily and tries to wiggle her hand out of Maleficent's grip. Of course the dragon has noticed her red and raw palms.
"It's not nothing." Maleficent corrects quietly. "She burned you."
"She just overheated my magic," Regina dismisses. "And I'm fine. And you shouldn't use magic while you're drunk."
Maleficent completely overhears that. Instead she turns Regina's palm up and grazes it lightly with her fingertip.
It feels exactly like someone pouring cold water on a burn, and Regina exhales quietly as Maleficent heals her palm.
"Better?" Maleficent asks and releases her hand.
"Yes. Thank you."
"You have two hands. Give me the other one." Maleficent insists. "I'm quite capable of using magic when I'm not sober."
Regina silently extends her other hand out towards Maleficent, and she heals it swiftly. But this time she doesn't let go of Regina's hand. Instead she starts brushing her thumb up and down Regina's wrist.
Regina's eyes widen at that little gesture. This feels familiar. A little too familiar. Shockingly familiar.
"I thought you hated me," she says plainly.
"No." Maleficent sighs and stares into the fireplace. "I mean, I did hate you for a while. And I tried keep that up when I first arrived here, but… It doesn't seem to work.
Regina swallows something. What, I'm an emotional drunk now? "The things I said to you…"
"Yes?" Maleficent says and finally shifts her attention from the flickering flames to Regina.
"About you… meaning nothing to me," Regina says strained. I should have poured myself another glass of wine. She wants to clear her throat. But if she does that, her voice might break, and that would be awful. "I didn't mean that." She finally says and now it's her turn to look into the flames.
"So you did care for me," Maleficent says and smiles a little. "I always had a hunch, but it's nice to finally hear you confirm it."
"Suspicion confirmed," Regina says and bites her lip. The alcohol is clearly making her babble things that should be said while sober. "And I think it's pretty needless to say that if I could take all that back…"
She doesn't get a chance to finish her sentence. Suddenly, Maleficent releases her hand, cups her face and crashes her lips against Regina's.
And maybe the timing is off. Maybe it's a terrible idea because they're both drunk as in "no-exhibitions"-drunk. Maybe it's a bad thing, to re-kindle whatever thing there was between them, but for once, Regina doesn't care. She returns the kiss, by all the gods she responds to that kiss, and euphoria immediately fills her veins. Because despite what she has been trying to tell herself, she hasn't forgotten what it's like to kiss Maleficent.
It's fire in her veins. It's warmth spreading through her system, and it has very little to do with the alcohol.
Maleficent's hooks her arms under her shoulders, pulls Regina more firmly against her, even though their tongues are battling with each other, the kiss is less aggressive than the one they shared in Gold's cabin. They're drunk, yes. But somehow this feels just right.
They kiss and kiss and kiss until Regina needs air. She had expected her common sense to return to her system along with the oxygen, but it doesn't happen. The only sentence her brain seems to be capable of forming is: fuck it, I don't care. I don't give a damn whether this is a good idea or not.
And Maleficent doesn't care, either. Her hands travel down from the top of Regina's shoulders and clumsily starts unbuttoning her blouse instead. Quite the task when your fingers are trembling from too much alcohol.
Regina takes a breath. Why fight it? Why argue with something that was gonna happen sooner or later anyway? Why fight the inevitable?
Maleficent opens the last button and pushes the blouse off Regina's shoulders. She runs her warm fingers up and down Regina's belly and then tugs a little at the red bra strap. "What is this?" she asks exasperated and pulls at the strap, making it snap back against Regina's skin.
"It's called a b-bra," Regina says strained as Maleficent runs her finger up and down her breast.
"And you can… feel me touching you through it?" Maleficent frowns as her finger rubs against Regina's nipple through the fabric.
"Y-yes. I can," Regina confirms and swallows.
"Oh." Maleficent gives her collarbone a feather light kiss.
Regina starts working on the buttons in Maleficent's blouse, and that's difficult too. her drunken mind is surprisingly clear for some reason, and it occurs to her that the couch is definitely not build for this. The bedroom is well, the bedroom and going up the stairs in this condition is out of the question.
No, they'll have to do this here. But not on the couch.
Regina lifts her head and looks at the smoldering flames again. Oh, well, since we're both feeling nostalgic.
"Come," she says plainly as she manages to climb off the couch.
Maleficent doesn't protest in the slightest as Regina clumsily grabs her hand and drags her over to the fireplace. She just kisses Regina as they rather gracelessly falls down on the soft rug.
"Déjà vu," Maleficent comments as her lips brushes over Regina's neck.
"Indeed." Regina answers and opens the remaining buttons in Maleficent's blouse. Then she pushes the fabric off Maleficent's shoulders. Maleficent is indeed wearing a bra, too, and Regina briefly wonders how she managed to figure out this worlds underwear. Maybe she has just opted for getting dressed with magic. Yes, that's probably the case.
Maleficent shudders as Regina finds her pulse point and sucks lightly. "My memory didn't serve me correctly."
Regina chuckles hoarsely at that. But the chuckles turn into soft moans when Maleficent shifts, so Regina is in her lap.
Now it's Maleficent's turn to scrape her teeth over Regina's neck and Regina almost whimpers when the blonde squeezes her arse firmly.
"Oh, so you do still like that. Just checking." Maleficent grins and gives Regina's backside a very gentle swat.
"Not m-much have changed there," Regina moans and swallows thickly as Maleficent squeezes her arse again and then rubs it rather shamelessly.
"Clearly not. How do I get this off?" Maleficent inquires and makes Regina's bra strap snap back against her skin again.
"Just use magic." Regina groans.
"I've never once used magic to undress you, and I'm certainly not intending on breaking that rule tonight. Intoxicated or not." Maleficent says firmly and the strap smacks back against Regina's skin with a loud pop.
Regina sighs deeply and reaches behind her. She swiftly unclasps the bra and then shrugs it off.
Maleficent's hands immediately lands on her breasts and Regina groans as the blonde starts kneading firmly. Maleficent bows her head slightly and runs her tongue over Regina's collarbone. Then her tongue brushes over Regina's nipple.
Oh, god. Suddenly Regina feels entirely to overdressed in her pencil skirt. She wiggles slightly and fiddles with the side zipper.
Maleficent shifts them again, so Regina is suddenly lying with her back on the rug. That's actually better. It doesn't faze her that Maleficent is the one on top. She wiggles out of the pencil skirt and kicks the material of.
Maleficent's eyes never stop roaming up and down Regina's body as she unzips her pants and wiggles out of them. She tries her best to mimic Regina as she reaches behind her and tries to unclasp her bra.
For heaven's sake, this is torture to watch. Regina pushes herself into a sitting position. So, her suspicion was correct. Maleficent is in fact using magic to dress herself every day.
"Let me," Regina mutters impatiently and pushes Maleficent's hands away. In one, swift attempt she unclasps Maleficent bra and the garment falls to the floor.
Maleficent smiles slightly and pushes a dark lock of hair behind Regina's ear. "I remember when you were the one who needed help with undressing, my darling."
My darling. Regina swallows something again as they lie back down on the rug. Slip of tongue or not, that pet name is still making warmth spread through her system.
Maleficent crashes her mouth against Regina's again, and Regina moans into the kiss. They're very much skin to skin now and neither one of them seem to have forgotten how the other felt.
And now Maleficent's smart mouth is everywhere. On her neck, her collarbone, her sternum, her breast. The blonde's tongue darts out and licks a hard nipple. Regina cries out at that and her fingers closes around the rug.
"Oh, you haven't changed one bit," Maleficent murmurs into her chest. "Still as responsive as ever."
"Neither have y-you," Regina hisses as Maleficent's tongue darts over her other nipple. She needs to return the wonderful things Maleficent is doing. She slides her hands up and cups Maleficent's breasts, kneads them softly.
Maleficent moans and murmurs something that could have been "missed you", but Regina abandons all thought of finding out. Because Maleficent's hand is suddenly travelling down, stroking her thigh softly.
Regina hisses. She wants no clothes, no barriers between them. She doesn't want to drag this thing out. We might not get the chance again. I might not get the chance again.
So she bats Maleficent's hand away and lifts her hips slightly, she's about to remove the last piece of clothing, but Maleficent is clearly unable to wait. She wiggles one hand inside the material and cups Regina.
Regina hisses quietly as Maleficent's fingers starts probing around. The dragon is almost a bit aggressive as she flicks Regina's clit between her fingers. Maybe it's the alcohol that's making her impatient.
"Slow down, we're not waging war," Regina reminds her and her hips bucks slightly.
"No, but I would prefer not to waste any time." Maleficent retorts and starts probing around Regina's entrance. But the movement is too rough, too rushed.
"Slow down," Regina gently repeats and grasps Maleficent's wrist to still her movements. "You don't want to hurt me, do you?"
"Of course not," Maleficent says and her fingers stills momentarily. "Forgive me, my darling. I'm out of practice."
"It's fine," Regina assures. "Just… go slow."
Maleficent nods once and her mouth finds Regina's again. Her fingers start probing around again, but this time she's much gentler, and the way she strokes between Regina's thighs, makes the brunette cry out again.
"Better?" Maleficent asks quietly.
"Y-yeah," Regina breathes. Much better.
Maleficent slips a finger inside her, but this time Regina is ready for the intrusion, and she moans and bites her lip. Oh, god this is fucking perfect. I don't even remember it being this good!
Maleficent heeds her warning and goes slow as she starts moving within Regina. Regina's hips act on their own accord and moves in tandem. It doesn't take long before she's asking for more.
Maleficent complies and slides a second finger inside Regina. The slow and steady pace she builds up is exactly what Regina needs right now. As are Maleficent's mouth on her breast.
But as much as Regina enjoys this, she doesn't want Maleficent to go untouched, that doesn't seem fair, so she reluctantly lets go of the other woman's breast and brings her hand down in between in, pushes Maleficent's underwear out of the way and finds the blonde's clit with the tip of her finger.
Maleficent's movements within her stills for a moment, and she gasps. But then Regina's ministrations only seem to encourage her, and she picks up the pace gradually.
Regina wants this to last. God, how she wants this to last. But she's too drunk, and it's been too long since she was last touched like this. She can't compose herself. Neither can Maleficent. But it's Regina who comes undone first, with Maleficent's name on her lips. Her thighs quakes and everything around her blackens momentarily as pleasure rolls through her veins.
Maleficent follows suit a few seconds later, Regina hasn't even stopped pulsating around her yet.
Regina feels how she almost melts into the rug scratching her back, and Maleficent more or less collapses on top of her, fingers still buried snugly inside Regina.
Oh, god, oh god, oh god. Regina seems to be feeling everything right now. Pleasure, obviously. But also, a deep sense of joy and relief. Maleficent is here. Maleficent is alive.
But at the same time, she's also ashamed over herself and the guilt is still eating away at her. I hurt her. I laughed in her face. I pushed her away. I shunned her. I took away her humanity for thirty years, and then I had her killed.
The overwhelming sense of guilt seems to cloud everything else, and Regina is horrified when she feels something sting in her eyes. What, now I'm crying? Lovely. What the hell is the MATTER with me? It's the alcohol that does this to her. It's the alcohol that makes her so ridiculously sentimental all the sudden. How attractive.
Maleficent finally removes her fingers and she frowns as she looks at Regina's face.
"I'm sorry," Regina whispers. "For everything. Wonderful. Now she's not even in control over her fucking mouth anymore.
"Don't cry." Maleficent says gently and gathers Regina in her arms like she has done it a million times before.
Regina cringes as Maleficent strokes her hair. She is definitely unworthy of any tenderness.
"You didn't just care for me," Maleficent murmurs into her hair. "You do care for me."
Regina just nods. Because it's true. In hindsight, she never really stopped caring for Maleficent. Even when dark magic and poor choices poisoned her mind, she still cared for Maleficent. In her own, twisted way. At the end of the day, she always came back to Maleficent.
"I've missed you," Maleficent says spontaneously. "And I think I'm done being angry with you."
Regina chuckles hoarsely. "I thought I had to earn your forgiveness."
"I think you're pretty close to earning that forgiveness. We can be happy in the future or we can be angry about the past," Maleficent philosophies, and that's most definitely the alcohol talking.
"Will you stay? Tonight, I mean?" Regina asks and raises on her elbow to look at Maleficent.
Maleficent smiles a little as she leans and brushes her lips against Regina's. "Yes, darling. If that's what you want."
Tomorrow, Regina thinks to herself as she curls up in Maleficent's arms. I'll deal with everything tomorrow. Questions and Lily, and hangovers. Everything.
But for now…
Regina curls into Maleficent's side and closes her eyes. Consequences be damned.
To Be Continued….