XVII. Breakfast for two

…

There was already daylight outside the window when Regina blinked sleepily. Her sleep had been deep and relaxed, as it rarely used to be. The disturbing dreams had stayed away this night. She snuggled against the warm body beside her and felt tangled blond hair tickling her face. For a few minutes, she enjoyed the warmth and closeness she had missed for practically her entire life. Emma was still asleep; unlike her, she really was not an early bird. Gently, Regina pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder before quietly pulling away to not wake her up. Memories of the previous evening, of their time together, brought a smile to her face as she pulled a purple hoodie over her thin satin pajamas, with a crown and the words Best Mom embroidered on the back. Henry had given it to her for her birthday this year. Shortly after, the kitchen was overwhelmed by the aromatic scent of fresh coffee, which she preferred to drink black. She had filled her son's large Avengers mug with hot chocolate, which she garnished with whipped cream and cinnamon before heading back upstairs to the bedroom.

"Good morning, lazy frog," she teased her affectionately, placing a kiss on the tip of her nose.

"Mhmm," her girlfriend grumbled reluctantly. "What time is it?"

Regina's grin grew wide. "After eight, the day has long since begun!"

"Are you insane? It's Sunday!" She promptly turned on her other side, clutching the pillow tightly. "I want to sleep... hmph."

"Well, in that case, I guess I'll drink this cup of hot chocolate myself before it gets cold." Of course, she only pretended to sip the mug. "Delicious, with cinnamon."

That worked. All at once Emma sat up straight in bed, staring at her not fully awake yet. "You made hot chocolate for me?"

Regina pointed to the mug she had placed on the nightstand at her girlfriend's side of the bed. It amused her to watch Emma reach for it with both hands and gleefully drink the warm delicacy with her eyes closed. "Now that you're awake, how about breakfast?"

"In bed?" asked Emma immediately, hopefully.

"So you can crumble all over it? No way!"

Playfully offended, the blonde pushed her lower lip forward. "But it's so nice and comfortable in your bed. I don't like to get up. Was this all a dream?"

"Then I should be musing about the naughty things you dream," Regina teased perkily.

"You have no idea." Emma pulled her close and kissed her intimately. Her lips tasted of the spicy sweetness of chocolate and cinnamon.

Willingly, Regina stretched her legs so that they were over her friend's lap and enjoyed the soft hands that slid under the top of her pajamas. Pleasant goosebumps spread all over her body as Emma slowly began to undress her. Maybe breakfast could actually wait for a while. Quickly Regina took control and pushed her down on the bed beneath her. Her lascivious downward moving touches made Emma's trained abdominal muscles tense until she finally reached her destination and pulled off the thin shorts she had been sleeping in.

"That's so good," her squirming girlfriend purred beneath her, "Just don't stop!"

"Oh yeah?" Regina sealed her mouth with a demanding kiss without interrupting the skillful play of her fingers. She paid close attention to the signals Emma's body was giving her and enjoyed teasing her until she couldn't take it anymore, literally begging for release as she bowed her back and thrust her pelvis toward her. As her climax overtook her, she throatily exclaimed Regina's name.

"If you keep waking me up like this, maybe I'll turn into a real morning person," the blonde noted, completely out of breath. "Having sex makes pretty hungry, by the way!"

Grinning thoughtfully, Regina pinched her side, whereupon she rolled out of her reach in protest. "How can someone so insatiable actually be so slim?"

"Exercise and obviously good genes, too," Emma countered, already angling for her clothes. Her stomach gave an audible grumble. She had already left the room when Regina was still fixing her deranged hair in front of the mirror on the closet door. Her cheeks were reddened from heat.

In the kitchen, they drank the lukewarm coffee while Regina served whole-grain toasts with mozzarella, cocktail tomatoes, balsamic cream, and fresh basil from the little stick on the windowsill. Well aware that Emma wasn't satisfied without something sweet, she added yogurt with honey and nuts for dessert.

"Don't you ever eat muffins or something for breakfast?" the blonde sighed.

"No, because those are snacks, not meals." She paused to listen for a moment to the radio host announcing the weather forecast for the coming holidays. "By the way, I've invited Zelena and her husband over for Christmas dinner."

Skeptically, Emma furrowed her brow. "But you absolutely don't want you mother to join us? At least she's family."

"I'm just trying to help the two of them to make some connections. They already agreed. We'll have a nice evening."

"It was supposed to be our time, after all." She crossed her arms in front of her chest defiantly "Our first one together as a family."

Regina sighed "Stop behaving like a toddler. We'll do the gift-giving before they're going to arrive and I'm sure they won't stay too long. That turkey is too big for the three of us anyway. Even you can't eat that much."

"Whatever you say, since you won't ask me."

"This is still my house, Miss Swan." Her eyes flashed piercingly at these words. "I'm looking forward to having you with us for Christmas, too. Very much, believe me. You make me feel like I've finally arrived home after a long exhausting journey." She took Emma's hand in hers and kissed the soft inner surface gently.

"Me too." The blonde returned her attention to her half-eaten yogurt. "I just don't want to share you. Old orphan habit, I guess, because you never have anything for yourself at the foster homes."

"You don't have to. At the Christmas market, Zelena mentioned that she and her husband don't have Christmas festivity at home, so I wanted to do something nice for her. I can't explain it either, but something about her seems familiar, like I already knew her in the past. It's nothing concrete."

Emma raised an eyebrow in wonder. "Maybe you've met her years ago and have long since forgotten."

"No, that's impossible. I've only ever been here or at the boarding school in New York where my mother sent me. Zelena has lived with her husband in Kansas until they moved into town. I don't think our paths could ever have crossed, and for sure I would remember her name, because it is this extraordinary."

"Probably." Emma eyed her with interest. "Why did you have to go to boarding school anyway?"

"My mom felt that such an elite school for girls would teach me good manners. Among all those spoiled brats, I'm sure I would have gone crazy if there hadn't been horses. And Mal. She was my best friend there... well, my only one, too."

"Mal?" she repeated curiously. "Now I want to know more!"

Regina laughed softly. "Actually, her name is Mallory. She didn't want to be at that boarding school any more than I did, and used to dress all black in protest. Horses weren't her thing, but she was always stealing food from the kitchen to feed the crows that lived in the old sycamore trees on the grounds. We were both outsiders, and that tied us together. After our school days, contact broke off. I got married and she went off to Yale to study law."

"And you were just friends, right?"

"We were at first, but then it turned into something else. She was my first love." The veil of memories clouded Regina's gaze. "When my mother told me that she wanted me to marry Leo Blanchard, my whole world broke into pieces. I was only seventeen and had my own plans. We were visiting him and his daughter for Thanksgiving, and that's when he proposed to me."

"Why didn't you just refuse?"

"Because the price would have been too high. My father was a good man, you know, but far too naive. It was easy for Cora to manipulate him and lead him around by the nose. He was Leo's cousin through three corners, they were good friends, and he also represented him as a lawyer at the time. I don't know what exactly my mother did, but anyway she would have made it look like Dad was trying to embezzle Leo's assets. He would have gone to jail for years, that's why I had no choice. I couldn't refuse, so I was going to run. At Christmas, Leo was with Mary Margaret at our house. She overheard me talking to Mal on the phone and learned that I was planning to run away. A silly spoiled kid she was. I begged her not say a word to anyone, so I could go to the person I really love and she promised. But after I left, she betrayed me and told my mother where I was going." She swallowed hard, finding it difficult to talk about these things. "I had taken Rocinante out of the stable and was heading for New York. Cora followed me and of course caught me. She deliberately tried to ram my mare with her damn car so I couldn't escape in the dark. Nothing happened to me, but Rocinante stumbled into the ditch in fright and broke both her front legs. The forest ranger, Robin's dad, had to come with his shotgun to put her out of her pain. She died out there and it was Mary Margaret's fault!"

For a while, Emma said nothing in return. Silently, she got up from her seat to step behind the brunette beauty and tenderly put her arms around her. "I think I'm beginning to understand why you don't want to invite your mother."

"Then hopefully the subject is finally settled." Regina put her hands on her girlfriend's. "Speaking of stables, Silver Queen is waiting for me. Would you like to accompany me?"

"I don't care for horses, you know that." She let out a theatrical sigh. "Well, since I'll have to get used to sharing you with that oat-eater, I guess I can watch you ride. All right then."

A grin flitted across Regina's face as she rose as well, giving her a grateful kiss on the lips. This way they could spend some more time together and somehow she'd get Emma to overcome her shyness and make friends with the horse. She loved challenges.