Blinking slowly as she becomes aware of the light patter of sleet hitting the window, Regina frowns as she's met by her dirty glass resting on the Sheriff's nightstand and an alarm clock reading eight forty-five. It's very unlike her to sleep much past seven in the morning, but she imagines she had well and truly needed the extra rest, both due to the chaos of the last few days, and the altogether more pleasurable activities indulged in last night. Rolling onto her back, she contemplates the bare light fixture and several cracks running through the paint of the ceiling, before turning onto her side and studying her bedmate pensively.
Emma lies curled up with her back to her, sleeping soundly with the throw pulled up over her shoulders, hiding the fact that she wears nothing beneath but her shorts. Several glasses stand on her side of the bed, along with the devious wand used to bring about her demise the night before, and Regina swallows. She recalls waking up in much the same position as she lies now, cloaked in her darkness, looking down on the blonde cuffed to the bed and the blade she'd placed in easy reach should she need to teach the bitch a lesson.
She tries to find it within herself to feel guilty and is only marginally successful, which, she supposes, is all that she should expect given the conflicting sides to her nature.
"You are both your darkness and your light, but those parts of you aren't equal. Why would they be?"
"That was you. All of you. Both parts. Every part. I know all of you."
Licking her lips, she allows a slow smirk to find her lips as she drinks in honey gold and recalls the cruelty that had touched kind features back in that other land.
We're well-matched. We have been ever since the start... but that rings especially true now.
She shivers, although it has nothing to do with the wintery bite to the air, but rather the knowledge that she could kiss and caress the blonde, or she could dig in her nails, her teeth, her tongue, and the younger woman would accept her either way; expecting it. Relishing it.
Running her fingernails lightly down the Sheriff's back, she watches as the blonde shivers, jerking awake with a start, and the darker woman increases the pressure of her touch to drag a series of red lines down pale skin, earning herself a sigh.
"Kind of rude."
Emma mutters, relaxing in spite of the pleasant sting descending her spine, recognising the darker woman's signature in the devilish demand of her caress.
A moment later, she tenses up once more, keeping carefully still as cruel fingers are replaced with the cold, sharp point of a blade.
"... Must you stab me again? I'm really not that good at healing magic, and it doesn't sound like it's the best weather to be laundering my sheets."
She sighs, and the Queen chuckles darkly; marvelling at the distinct lack of panic in the younger woman's voice.
"I hated myself for doing that to you back in my old bedroom, Saviour... Well, a part of me did. It's complicated."
"I get it."
"I know you do... The last time we shared your bed, however, I almost wished for an opportunity to put my threat to use."
"I gave you one... Yet you refrained."
Emma muses, pushing back ever so slightly against the dangerous steel pressed above her backside so that it creates a dimple in her flesh, before pulling away the second she feels the knife pierce her skin. Trusting the Mayor to play nicely as she rolls over, she turns to face the Queen and smiles.
"I told you plenty that evening that you didn't want to hear, Your Majesty. You never once reached for the knife."
"I wasn't done having my fun with you."
The darker woman reasons with a shrug.
"And a little blood wouldn't have stopped you from continuing to do so."
The blonde counters boldly, watching the conflicting flicker of guilt and irritation that finds dark eyes curiously.
"...I suppose I might have been rusty. The part that held you captive, that is. Freshly free, and free to play, but it had been many years since my threats had been so deliciously violent, and perhaps an element of uncertainty remained... Irrelevant, really, given that you did everything in your power to call upon my darkest promises and bait me for more."
"You accused me of doing that long before you split yourself in two..."
The younger woman points out, and Regina nods, closing her hand around the blade and returning it to where it came from. Opening up her palm to show that she's no longer armed, she pulls the throw over her shoulder, exquisitely aware that she lies entirely nude beneath foreign bedsheets that smell of perfume and laundry detergent she knows intimately well.
"You've always been a fool."
She agrees.
"That depends on your perspective, no? The way I see it, it worked. If I'd never challenged you beyond, you know, simply existing, do you really think we'd be where we are?"
"Bold words for a woman reluctant to admit so much as a hint of amorous attraction under duress."
"I don't mean here in bed. I mean in general. I didn't bite back and take so sorely to the Queen's games due to a wish to see you naked, Regina. And you didn't open up your arm and dirty your mirror with the intent of fucking me. You did it because you like me, same as I fought back against some of the stuff the Queen had to say about the Mayor that rubbed me the wrong way... You know what I mean."
"I do."
"If I'd just let you walk all over me and given you a wide berth rather than talking back and pissing you off, I doubt we'd have ever become friends."
"Hmm. An odd road to tolerance; acting as a perpetual, asinine thorn in another's side."
"Surely the ass is the one to have been won over by such behaviour?"
Emma grins, and Regina rolls her eyes before turning onto her back and musing pensively
"Perhaps... Can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
The blonde replies, although she feels a frown find her brow as she wonders what the Mayor means to say.
"Last night, I apologised to you before we went to sleep. I was unsure whether sharing a bed was crossing some sort of line with the way you looked at me."
"I didn't mean to-"
"-It wouldn't have surprised me. We've spoken at length about your feelings in regards to your space and privacy under the guise of simply being friends. My apology was genuine, but so was my excuse that I didn't have the energy to do anything else. Now, though... Is this weird? Are you uncomfortable?"
Regina asks, and Emma's brow furrows deeper as she considers the question seriously, before rolling onto her back to join the Mayor in her contemplation of the ceiling.
"No. It's not weird... The only thing that's weird is that it isn't."
"That's what I thought, too."
The brunette nods, meaning what she says as she feels entirely at ease lying beside the blonde as the pipes in the old house hum quietly and rain continues to lash against the windowpane.
"I've always hated this part in the past, to be honest."
Emma continues with a yawn.
"Hmm?"
"The morning after part, if someone stays. It's always so awkward the first time. And the second time. And the third, fifth and tenth."
She grins a little sheepishly, fully aware that it's her own personality that makes it so.
Regina simply shrugs, looking over at her bedmate and musing silkily
"Well, we did fit a lot into a very short space of time... I've somewhat lost count, and am simply relieved I'm not sore..."
"There is that!"
The Sheriff laughs huskily, glancing at the glass wand on her nightstand and feeling the colour rise in her cheeks as the Queen joins in, before the latter sighs
"We've known each other a long time, dear. We're well beyond the awkward lulls and uncertainties of acquaintanceship."
"I mean, I don't think there ever were any awkward lulls in our relationship. Attempted murder and failed kidnap maybe, but never lulls."
"No. I suppose not."
Regina chuckles quietly, before rolling back onto her side and studying the Saviour thoughtfully.
"You know, that's something so many others seem to have picked up on."
"What is?"
"Our relationship being 'very much not awkward' when it really should be given who we each are."
"Yeah?"
"I believe so. When I talk to your mother, she teases me for it, and I suppose it's telling that it's been a long time since I minded. She's right, after all; you and I spend an inordinate amount of time together for two people that once sought to destroy one another. I respond to your parents' glib comments with a reminder that our jobs are often intertwined, and they invariably scoff at that excuse, as I suppose they should. Henry, too, thinks it's both wonderful and hilarious that you invite yourself over without an ounce of shame and loot my pantry and liquor cabinet, and it's been a long time since he's grown wary when I tell him of our plans to spend time together and offers me a look that warns I should play nicely with you..."
"Don't take it to heart. He gives me a similar look if he thinks I plan on winding you up."
"Is that so? Evidently, it doesn't work very well."
"Evidently."
Emma agrees, flashing her teeth, and the brunette bares her own in return, before continuing with caution
"Hook has often professed the same opinion that you and I don't suffer many boundaries... Do you know what you're planning to tell him?"
"Not exactly. I guess just that he was right... I bet he'll love that."
The blonde sighs, before shaking her head and pushing herself up so that she sits looking down at her bedmate.
"That's not fair, I shouldn't put it like that."
"It may not be fair, but that doesn't mean that you're wrong."
"No... I know... I don't foresee it being an especially pleasant conversation, but if he feels the need to remind me that he 'told me so', I'll just have to grin and bear it, I guess. In a way, it might make it easier- I'm hardly blindsiding him with news entirely out of leftfield- but I don't imagine that will make it any better. It might do the opposite entirely."
"Maybe. He likes you, though, dear. Not just as a partner, but as a person. You were friends before becoming more than that, and if you're lucky, he'll take his displeasure out on me."
Regina shrugs, and Emma pulls a face as she counters
"Why would I want that? I'm the one in the wrong, not you."
"It's a little more complicated than that, given Her Majesty's - my - methods of throwing the entire nature of our relationship into question, but I suppose you're right. Still, you like Hook, and his disappointment will upset you. Meanwhile, I don't care one iota what the man thinks of me."
"I care. And, twisted though your methods were, I fucked up."
"...You fucked all sorts of ways."
The brunette muses silkily, and the blonde glares at her as she hisses
"Well, I'm hardly going to tell him that, am I!?"
"A shame."
Regina smirks, before taking some of the bite out of her teasing and asking a little uneasily
"But, you're going to tell him?"
"I'll spare the details, but, yeah."
The blonde decides.
"Well... That's up to you, but I daresay things are about to become wildly uncomfortable here in town."
The Mayor thins her lips, before offering the blonde a shrug that suggests there's not much that can be done about it.
"For a while..."
Emma nods, supposing she hadn't really thought beyond her duty to Killian, but she imagines it's unlikely that her reason for breaking up an outwardly happy relationship will remain a secret for long. Nibbling her lip, she chances an awkward grin as she muses sheepishly
"Maybe let me talk to Hook about all of this before you go telling my mom over coffee, okay?"
"As you wish, although I will point out that you're ruining my fun."
"Uhuh. As if you'd enjoy sitting down face-to-face with Mary Margaret and telling her what we've been up to."
"Last week I would have rather been struck dead than do such a thing... Now, though..."
The Queen offers a positively evil smirk as she pushes herself up and brushes her lips against the Sheriff's. Calling her bluff, Emma reaches beneath the sheets and cups the darker woman's heat as she offers a warning nip of her teeth.
"...I know you said you were desperate to ruin my family, but if you could refrain from traumatising them for life, I would appreciate it."
The blonde murmurs against full lips, adding a touch of pressure with her thumb as she points out gently
"The pieces of the puzzle with fall into place for them eventually. Let's just allow them to get there in their own time rather than painting them a nightmare image of us doing something like this."
She slips her fingers between slick folds to earn a pleasured hiss before climbing swiftly from the bed with a smirk.
"Rather cruel, Saviour."
Regina scolds with a disapproving glint in her eye, and Emma nods in agreement as she turns her back and pulls clean clothes from the dresser.
"Not by choice, believe me. But, I don't want to sit through an already uncomfortable conversation with your taste in my mouth, and if you show up to my mom's any later than ten, she's going to think something's wrong, and it's not like you can go wearing that."
The blonde gestures towards the darker woman's nude state and the crumpled shirt and heels that lie beside her bed with a grin.
Sighing in defeat, the Mayor accepts the younger woman's point and collects her clothes from around the room.
"I suppose not. I also imagine it might be a good idea to assure your parents that neither of us is as deathly ill as Mary Margaret is apt to start believing if she doesn't hear from one of us soon."
"To be honest, I do feel kind of queasy."
Emma admits, turning back to face the Queen with her proposed outfit for the day clutched to her stomach.
"I don't blame you... But just think... By this afternoon, it will be over. As for the fallout, I can't say, but what I can tell you with certainty is that you will be continuing what you just started, or so help me, Miss Swan."
"... I guess I can make my peace with that."