Chapter Six

Regina's head flopped sideways and she only opened her eyes as she hit a pillow instead of a shoulder.

For a few moments, she ran her hand over the empty space and then shot up into a sitting position.

They'd officially been together for a few days following their return from the hotel, so it was fresh enough that she was disappointed to find that her girlfriend was not next to her.

It was the kind of intense feeling that had escaped her for decades, so she found it difficult to be overly concerned about the rushed trajectory of her relationship with Emma Swan.

They already had a son so what was the harm in sharing a bed every night following their first date?

What did make Regina frown though was that it was only 7 am, a time that Emma had previously deemed 'evil'.

Regina made to push herself up to investigate what happened to her morning cuddles, but was cut off when the ensuite door to answer her query.

Emma emerged with a toothbrush in her hand and an earphone in each ear. The saviour was oblivious to the fact that her girlfriend was awake as she approached her duffel bag to pluck up a t-shirt.

Regina continued to watch in amusement as she tried to figure out if she'd seen right.

The saviour turned around and brought the toothbrush to two extra protruding teeth.

Emma at last realised that she had an audience and yanked out the earphones.

"Regina," she said, barely intelligible through the bristles in her mouth.

Regina laughed and the sheriff blinked before she grinned and removed the cleaning utensil.

"Why are you laughing, Gina?"

"Were you…brushing your fangs?" Regina asked.

Emma stared at the brush with her eyebrows pinched and replied, "Of course I am, they are teeth."

"So…you can get cavities in your fangs?"

"I guess so, which is why I brush them twice a day…why is this so funny?"

"I don't know," Regina snorted, "I suppose that it is something I had not thought about before now."

Emma tilted her head and then used her super speed to get in and out of the bathroom to clean out her mouth, returning her fangs into their sheaths.

"I didn't know that you could be so childish, madam mayor," she said, dropping down to the bed.

"And I was not aware that you could be awake before nine, so we are both full of surprises," Regina mused.

"I can wake up early, I just choose not to…not that I made that decision today though. I promised dad I would help him with a mountain of paperwork at the station," Emma explained.

Regina nodded, shifting to be closer to the vampire who automatically circled her arm around her.

"When did you last talk to your parents?" Regina asked seriously.

Emma sighed heavily, "Dad texted a few times but I haven't seen them in person since…that night. Maybe it's just too much for them?"

"Snow can be stubborn but I have no doubt that this is not what she wants either. Perhaps it is time to think about forcing her to face reality?"

Emma tilted her head again so as to get their faces closer and said, "Sometimes I forget how well we know her."

"Charming are very predictable."

"Really?" Emmasked and pointed at her mouth as her fangs reappeared, "Did you predict this?"

Regina chuckled and shook her head, "I suppose that you are an exception…though I believe that you may be out of surprises."

The saviour momentarily frowned and peered at the clock, Regina did the same, trying to decipher what the expression meant.

"I've got about half an hour to prove you wrong," the sheriff said, wearing a suggestive smirk.

Regina was still frowning right up until Emma answered the unasked question by moulding their lips together in a fierce kiss.

The former Evil Queen was pulled closer and released a groan of pleasure.

She couldn't wait to be proven wrong.

S

"Snow," David tried weakly but his wife only continued pacing in front of the coffee table.

Naturally, the schoolteacher ignored him and bore down onto the book that she clutched more often than not in the recent days.

As she did, she shook her head as if it would make the words untrue.

At last, he stood to grab her arm and remind her that she wasn't alone.

Tentatively, he took the book away, discarding it to the table and asked, "What is it?"

Snow swallowed hard as she was led over to the couch and she took a seat slowly while Charming eyed the tome mistrustfully.

"It's the vampirism book that Belle gave me. She warned me that I wouldn't like what it said…" Snow said, chewing at his nails.

"And what about that has you shaking your head?" David asked, "Does this have something to do with hat happened at the diner again?"

"I would have to be a moron not to realise what those marks mean, David!" Snow exclaimed, confused as ever by David's lack of concern by the whole situation.

"So Regina and Emma have been…together," David said awkwardly, "You can't say that you'd never thought that it could happen."

Snow ran her hand over her face, "Not during the same week when she told us she's a vampire!"

David flopped down at her side so that he could take her hand, "Emma will never have the life we imagined for her before the curse. Isn't it better that she feels that she doesn't have to lie to us? Do you want her to pretend to be someone she's not?"

Snow clenched and unclenched her free hand for a moment before she said, "That thing she is is not human, David! If she couldn't tell us that then what else hasn't she told us?!"

Prince Charming smiled sadly.

The thought had indeed crossed his mind a few times since the last time he had seen his daughter, but apparently he was not spiralling quite as much as his wife who used the silence to grab her book back.

"The marks on Regina's neck means that she has marked her as her mate," Snow announced, "It means that she's deeply in love and will do anything to protect her."

David's eyes widened, "That's…intense…I thought it would take them a lot longer to realise how they felt."

"I don't think that Regina knows what it means," Snow sighed, "What if she can't handle it and Emma has her heartbroken?"

"Have you considered talking to Emma about this instead of relying on the book?" David suggested, "I can ask her if she would have lunch with us?"

Snow tensed but this was replaced swiftly by signs of guilt which had her deflate into the couch.

"That would be a good idea, it would remind me that she's still…Emma."

David sighed in relief, standing in preparation to get to work and finally see his daughter.

"I'll call you once I've asked her," he assured, pressing his lips to his wife's.

S

Emma bit her nails above her bouncing leg.

Talia had said that she was going to get something from the refrigerator, but her racing mind had yet to identify what that could be.

She had hoped that the last time she'd woken up as part of some truly elaborate dream, but that was dashed.

She didn't understand which of the onslaught of agonies came with her new vampiric status.

All she knew for sure was that everything felt different.

Her senses were sharper and she felt stronger which made it all the more odd that she was also experiencing waves of fatigue, like her muscles knew that they were supposed to be dead.

Approaching footsteps had her turn her head but it took at least an extra ten seconds for Talia to appear than it normally would,

The container her friend was holding rendered her incapable of overthinking the newfound found ability.

With the reasonable rent for a New York City apartment, the untouchable proton shakes had not been a huge concern for Emma.

Now, she was hyper-fixated on one of them.

"Of course your shakes are actually blood," Emma sighed.

Any semblance of a grin fell into a full blown grimace.

Slowly she made the way to the couch and visibly cringed as Emma moved away from her.

All the same, she sank down next to her and Emma was relieved to find space between them.

"Yeah…It is blood," she said and thrust it across the distance to her roommate.

The swell hit her nostrils and wiped away all of the questions that were piling up in her mind.

Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped to accommodate the two extra teeth that unsheathed themselves without permission.

Somehow, it smelled like hot cocoa with a pinch of cinnamon rather than the containers crimson contents.

She snatched it more quickly than she could have the day before.

Her green eyes flickered red as she drank hungrily.

It tasted so much better than it smelled, the idea of subsisting on the substance for the rest of eternity didn't seem so terrible.

She did blink as the last drop crashed onto her tongue, a certain guilt gripping at her.

She wiped at her mouth, staring blankly at the red that streaked her arm.

Swallowing hard, she turned to Talia to find the purest empathy she'd ever experienced in her life.

Talia knew exactly how she was feeling.

As angry as Emma was that this happened, she knew that she would need to figure all of this out.

She couldn't do that alone.

She licked experimentally at her fangs and asked, "Now what?"

Talia's eyebrows shot up and she sat straighter.

"What now?" Talia repeated.

"What do we do now?" the new vampire prodded.

"We? You don't hate me?" Talia asked.

Emma shrugged tiredly, "You kind of saved my life, right?"

"As a vampire, you are technically dead."

The future saviour huffed but quickly shook her head and replied, "The point is that I am more alive than I would have been and that's thanks to you."

"You would have never been in danger if you hadn't met me."

Emma bit the inside of her cheek, she had considered that, but who would that kind of resentment help? If she got to do it all over, she didn't see how she would have it go any differently.

"It's…not like I know how to live like a…like this…we can't change it so I really need your help…" Emma admitted.

Talia rubbed nervously at her neck and replied, "I've mostly just been hiding from Damon."

Emma nodded and asked, "Does that mean that we have to move?"

"Yeah," Talia replied resignedly, "I was thinking Chicago for this year."

"That sounds nice," Emma said, trying to sound enthusiastic, "Can I have another…shake before we figure that out?"

Talia laughed as her friend shook the empty bottle she was still cradling.

"Sure you can, Swan."