A/N: Another chapter where I included some of my favorite moments from the book version, and felt they should have been included in the film. I changed some of those moments around to fit into the film's time frame, and I couldn't be happier and more satisfied with it. I hope you all feel the same once you read it. :)
Please don't forget to drop reviews. The more you review, the more I shall update. Happy Holidays, everyone!
Regina's eyes parted open that morning, her mind still railing from her dream. The image of Emma all in black with a thick trail of blood stained on her lips, her eyes a matching color playing in the back of her mind. She sighed, running a hand through her hair before shuffling out of bed and picking out her choice of clothes to wear to school.
That morning was foggier than usual around Forks. It was so thick, Regina couldn't see anything past her bedroom window. Her eyes looked down to her book, which still laid along her bed, followed by Emma's red leather jacket. She reached for it before heading downstairs.
Her father had left early that morning as Regina found herself alone inside of her house. She wasn't in the mood for breakfast, so she reached into one of the kitchen cupboards above the sink, pulling out a box of granola bars and munched her way through one before reaching for her backpack, which she had left along one of the breakfast chairs.
Swinging her backpack along her shoulder, Regina walked out of her front door. She halted as she spotted a silver Volvo parked along her driveway. Emma looking irresistible, dressed in her tight black jeans, a black v-neck shirt and a blue leather jacket that almost resembled her red one. Her hair hung loose and screamed perfection.
"Would you want to ride with me today?" Emma asks, amused by the surprised look on Regina's face.
"Yes, thank you." Regina's voice was soft as she was almost unable to find it. She climbed into the passenger seat as soon as Emma held the door open for her, taking notice in a denim jacket hung neatly along the back of her seat. And before she could comprehend it, Emma was already in the driver's seat.
"I brought a jacket for you. I didn't want you to get cold." Said Emma in a smooth and clean voice.
"Thank you." Regina reached for the jacket, holding out Emma's red leather one in the process. "I brought yours back." She said.
A small appreciative smile played along the corner of Emma's lip as she reached for her red leather jacket and threw it along the backseat of her Volo. Her eyes never left Regina's as she did this. Regina couldn't recall her blinking at all.
The car was already warm enough for Regina, but she quickly settled herself into the dark gray denim jacket. She looked down at it as it settled along her body in a perfect fit, taking a whiff to catch a glimpse of Emma's scent. The entire car smelled like Emma.
"That looks perfect on you." Said Emma, her voice sounding almost inviting.
Regina tried her damndest to hide the light blush along her cheek. "It doesn't really seem like your style." She said.
"It's not. It's yours." Another amused look settled along Emma's face at Regina's surprised reaction.
"Wha- did you buy this for me?" Regina asks, sounding just as surprised as she felt. Emma's pearly white grin answering her question. "I'm not that delicate, you know."
"Aren't you?" Emma's brow furrowed quizzically, attempting to tune into Regina's thoughts and failing as per-usual.
Regina rolled her eyes at Emma's smug behavior, annoyed with herself for finding her far more attractive than the last second she spent by her side. As she puts on her new jacket, Emma smoothly pulls out of the driveway and smooths her way along the road. Regina watches how even Emma's driving screams perfection, even throughout this thick fog that surrounds them. As if she could see past it. Regina wondered if she momentarily could.
"What, no twenty questions today?" Emma smirked, her eyes focused on Regina even as she drove.
"You really should keep your eyes on the road, Emma. You'll kill us both." Said Regina.
Emma's smirk widens, "I've never been in an accident, Regina. We're not going to die. Nor have I ever gotten a parking ticket."
Surprisingly, Regina didn't find that so hard to believe anymore. "Do my questions bother you?" She asks, looking over to Emma once again and away from the view of the fog.
"Not as much as your reactions do." Whether Emma was joking or not was questionable for Regina.
Regina frowns. "What, are my reactions that bad?"
"No. That's the problem. You take everything so coolly- it's unnatural. It makes me wonder what you're really thinking." Emma's eyes look to Regina again.
"I always tell you what I'm thinking. Perhaps that's why my mind is a blank canvas to you." Regina said this smugly, happy to see a full smile stretch along Emma's thin pale lips. Emma's smile always made her heart flutter the more she saw it.
It calmed Regina to see that Emma's protective wall that seemed invisible to everyone else remained down. At least she hoped so.
"That is one theory." Said Emma as she pulled into the school's parking lot.
"Why aren't your siblings with you today?" Asks Regina, noticing that today- as much as Regina enjoyed being alone with Emma- they hadn't joined them.
"They all came in Kathryn's car." Emma nods toward Kathryn's bright red convertible, parked right beside them, with the top up. "Ostentatious, isn't it?"
Regina chuckles, her brows rising to her hairline. "Why do you all have cars like these at all? I mean, your family- you seem to like your privacy. Cars like these just make you stand out more, in my opinion."
The corner of Emma's lip twitched into a small private smile. Regina's observance always dazzled Emma, among other things. "An indulgence. We like to drive fast."
"Figures," Regina muttered under her breath. She watched as Emma exited the driver's side and moved along to hold open the passenger side door for her.
"What?" Emma's brow furrowed. She couldn't read Regina's mind, but she could clearly see something lingering within it.
"Are you always this gallant with girls?" Regina asks, feeling a blush settle along her cheeks.
"Why? Does my chivalry bother you?"Asks Emma with another amused look to her face.
"Quite the opposite, actually." Regina breathed, staring up into Emma's bright golden-amber colored eyes.
A small smirk played along Emma's lips that made Regina wonder what it would be like to kiss it away.
Emma reached for Regina's backpack, holding it one handed by one of the shoulder straps, shutting her passenger door. "I'm nothing if not chivalrous, Gina." She motioned for Regina to walk first, walking alongside the brunette right after.
Once they entered the building, Regina spotted Zelena waiting for her by a row of lockers, her jacket hung along her arm. Zelena's eyes were wide, her mouth practically touching the floor as she noticed who was walking alongside Regina.
"Hey, Zelena," Regina reached for her jacket from Zelena's arm, making a mental note to stuff it inside of her locker before heading to class. "Thanks for remembering my jacket." Zelena handed her the jacket without saying a word. Her eyes were on Emma the entire time.
"Good morning, Zelena." Emma said politely. Her voice sounded as irresistible as ever.
"H- hi." Zelena breathed. Her wide blue eyes switched from Emma to Regina as she attempted to gather her jumbled thoughts. "Um… I guess I'll see you in Trigonometry later?"
"See you then." Regina nodded, sighing as soon as Zelena turned to walk away. She caught her peeking at them over her shoulder as she walked. What on earth was she going to tell Zelena?
"What are you going to tell her?" Emma asks.
Regina's eyes looked widely up at Emma, "I thought you couldn't read my mind!" She hissed.
"I can't," Emma's eyes darted over to Zelena in a quick glance before looking back at Regina, "However, I can read hers- she'll be waiting to ambush you in class."
Regina groaned, reaching for her backpack as Emma handed it over once they stopped right outside of Regina's first classroom.
"So, what are you going to tell her?" Emma asks.
"A little help would be nice." Said Regina.
Emma shook her head, grinning wickedly, "That's not fair."
"No- you not telling me what you know that's not fair."
Emma's eyes dart over to Zelena, who as soon as she's caught staring, averts her gaze. "She wants to know if we're secretly dating," her eyes look back down into Regina's. "And she wants to know how you feel about me."
Everyone probably wanted to know the answer to that question, as Regina could feel a few pairs of eyes on them, if not all. But, she was too focused being lost in Emma's eyes to care.
"What should I say?" Regina breathed.
"Hm." Emma hummed, reaching for a strand of jet black hair that reached the corner of Regina's left eye. There was a small contact of skin as Emma's fingers softly brushed along her skin, it sent shivers up Regina's spine, and it made her heart sputter in a thousand beats per minute. "I suppose you could say yes to the first… If you don't mind. It's easier than to give any other explanation."
"I don't mind." Regina breathed, feeling short of oxygen.
"As for her other question… Well, I'll be listening to hear the answer to that one myself." Emma smiles in that little private smile that Regina has grown to adore in such a short time. She breathed out sharply as soon as Emma turned and walked away. Her lungs aching.
Listening? Did Emma have super hearing as well, now? Regina shook her head, reserving her many theories on Emma Swan for later.
Just as Emma said, Regina was barely touching her seat in Trig. class when Zelena slammed her books along the desk beside her, taking a seat. "Alright! Spill. Tell me everything!" She beamed.
"What do you want to know?" Regina asks, feigning innocence.
"What happened last night?"
Regina shrugs, "She bought me dinner and then drove me home." She didn't see the importance in mentioning Waylon's incident. It was already the talk of the town.
Zelena blinks, her blue eyes staring widely, "So… It was like a date? Did you tell her to meet you there?"
"Sort of, well- no. No. Like Emma said, we sort of ran into each other and just talked."
"Talked?" Zelena's brow lifts into a perfect arch. "That's it?"
Regina nods.
"But, she drove you to school today?" Zelena pressed on.
"Yeah. That was a surprise." Said Regina.
"So, are you two, like, going out again?" Zelena waited.
"I don't know," Regina shrugs, wondering the same question herself. "She hasn't really asked me. Emma seems like the type who likes to keep things mysterious."
Regina was thankful when Mr. Cummings began with today's lecture. However that wasn't about to stop Zelena from wanting to know more.
"So… Be honest with me… Did she kiss you?" Zelena leaned in to whisper.
Regina looked at Zelena's expectant look out of her peripheral vision, keeping her eyes focused to the front. "No," she whispered back. "It wasn't like that."
Zelena snorts, her brush of air sounding disappointed. "And what did you two talk about?"
"I don't know, Zel, a lot of stuff. We talked a little bit about our English essay." Regina lied.
"And she didn't kiss you? Not once?"
Regina shook her head, remaining silent.
"But, you like her?" Zelena asked.
"Yes." Regina answered curtly.
"Do you really like her?"
Regina sighed, exhaling sharply through her nose. "Yes. More than she likes me, unfortunately."
"I don't know how you can stand being alone with her." Zelena whispered.
"Why?" Regina's brow slightly lifts, shocked.
"Well, you know… Emma is so… Intimidating. I wouldn't even know what to say to her if she asked to be alone with me."
Luckily, Mr. Cummings called on Zelena for an answer, urging her to pay attention when she didn't know what to answer. That got her off Regina's back for the rest of the class.
During lunch, Zelena wouldn't stop looking at Regina every single time she would look to Emma's table and find her staring right back. She set her stuff down before turning to everyone, "I'll be right back."
Emma moved along the cafeteria, her gaze never leaving Regina's as they met along the back of the line. Regina was surprised when she saw Emma actually reach for a tray of food.
"Hello." Emma spoke softly, reaching for a carton of milk and placing it along her tray.
"Hi." Regina breathed. She glanced over her shoulder, noticing a bowl of fruit along Emma's tray next. "Are you really going to eat that?"
"No. I'm just blending in." Said Emma, settling her tray along the food stand, her eyes on Regina.
Regina chuckled, "You blend in? That's a little challenging, wouldn't you say?"
The corner of Emma's lip rose into a small smirk, "My family and I do what we can."
Regina's eyes looked over to the back table, directly at Emma's siblings, seeing all of them glare in their direction. Except for Lily. "I don't think they like me very much."
Emma's eyes look to her family, "They'll get over it. They are more worried about what I may say to you."
Regina stopped once she reached for her last item of food. She turned to face Emma. "And what exactly is that? Does that mean you've made up your mind about telling me the truth?"
Emma's eyes lock onto Regina's. "Is that what you want?" She keeps her voice low, even though her siblings could hear her.
"Yes." Regina breathed.
"You have gathered more theories." Emma whispers. She didn't have to read Regina's mind to realize this. She could see it in her eyes. "Meet me after school by the lawn along the side of the building. I'll be waiting." With that, Emma walked past Regina, joining her siblings along the back table.
"What was that all about?" Robin asks Regina as soon as she sits down.
"Nothing." Regina shakes her head, her eyes looking at Zelena, meeting her gaze.
Emma was there after school. Just as she promised. Leaning against a concrete wall, her knee casually and perfectly bent, while the bottom of her foot rested along the wall, along with her back. Regina's eyes locked on Emma's as she walked up to her, walked past her and she was relieved when she heard Emma's footsteps crunch along the field of grass.
Emma was surprised when Regina led her into the fog blanketed forest. There was a thicker chill in the air that didn't bother Emma one bit, but Regina's breath trembled on its way out. Emma could hear her heart beating faster and faster. She knew. It was obvious.
Regina didn't stop walking, deciding to keep her back to Emma until she reached the middle of the forest. "You're impossibly fast and strong. Your skin is pale white and ice cold. Your eyes change color. You never eat or drink anything. You don't go out in sunlight."
Emma walks closer to Regina, standing patiently behind her. She waits.
Regina's breath materializes into a cloud of fog from each breath she withdraws, "And sometimes you speak like you're from a different time." She takes a pause. Whatever easy-going feeling surrounded them had vanished into expectancy.
Emma knew these questions were coming, and Regina knew she would finally get the answers she seeked.
"How old are you?" Regina asks, keeping her back to Emma. She was afraid that if she looked at her, she would run away.
"Seventeen." Emma replied.
Regina huffed out a shuddering breath, "How long have you been seventeen?"
Emma's jaw hardened, "A while."
That was all Regina needed to know. For now. "I know what you are." She whispered.
"Say it. Out loud." Emma waited. "Say it."
"Vampire."
Emma inhaled through her nose, picking up Regina's scent and immediately feeling that burn in the back of her throat. "Are you afraid?" She asked, stepping closer.
Regina shook her head, this time daring to face Emma straight on, her eyes targeting hers. "No."
"Then, ask me the most basic question. What do we eat?" Emma asks, standing closer, almost towering over Regina. She could see then what Zelena meant by Emma being intimidating.
"You won't hurt me." Regina shook her head. She took a step back once Emma took another step forward, almost losing her balance.
"Are you sure about that?" Emma murmured, her eyes locked coldly onto Regina's.
"My friend Ruby Lucas-" Regina breathed, "She might have said something about your family."
Emma froze, her head tilting, "And what did Ruby say?" She asks flatly.
"That you didn't… Hunt people. She said your family wasn't supposed to be dangerous because you only hunt animals."
Emma breathed out a scoff, her lip wanting to curl, "She said we weren't dangerous?"
"She said you weren't supposed to be dangerous. That the Quileutes didn't want you on their land, just in case." Said Regina.
Emma's lip slightly quirks into a small smile that vanishes too quickly. "The Quileutes have a long memory." She murmured. Despite her eyes being the beautiful golden-ember color, they looked dark. Menacing as they stared into Regina's. "Still. They are right to keep their distance from us. We are still dangerous."
Regina blinked, "I don't understand."
"We try," Emma explained slowly. "My family and I, we are usually very good at what we do. Sometimes we make mistakes. Me, for example, allowing myself to be alone with you."
"Being alone with me is a mistake to you?" Regina frowns. She hadn't expected to feel just how deeply Emma's words would wound her.
"A very dangerous one," Emma murmured. "Tyler's van, that was child's play. Your number was up the day you met me, Regina."
Regina breathed, her bottom lip trembling due to the cold. "Tell me more."
"What do you want to know?"
"Coffins. Is it true?"
Emma's lip curved into a small smile, "Myth."
"Garlic?"
"Myth."
"What about sunlight? The day the sun was out at school. You were gone." Said Regina.
"That part is partly-true." Emma carried on, "We can be out in the sunlight, just not where anyone can see."
"Why?"
Emma stepped forward, reaching for Regina's arm so abruptly she heard a gasp. If she came this far to tell Regina the truth about herself and her family, Emma might as well show her the reason behind it.
"Where are we going?" Regina asked, attempting her best to keep up with Emma's quick pace.
"Up the mountain. Out of the cloud bank. You need to see what I look like in the sunlight." Before Regina could grasp the reality of what was happening, Emma- with zero struggle- lifted her up, swinging Regina's body along her back, holding onto her legs before she took off in a sprint that was really something out of a comic book. Like Superman- only better.
Regina's arms cradled around Emma's neck, grabbing tightly onto her clothes for security. Everything moved so fast around her, her eyes caught everything in a blur as Emma raced up the mountain trail. Regina couldn't be sure, but at the speed that Emma was traveling, she swore all Regina had to do was blink and they had arrived at the top. She felt her feet touch the ground, her eyes never leaving Emma's sight as she walked over to a ray of sunlight that beamed down through some trees.
"This is why we don't show ourselves in sunlight," Emma removed her jacket, allowing it to pool along the floor. "People would know we're different." Next, she rolled up her sleeves as she finally stepped underneath the ray of light.
Regina gasped, her eyes wide at what stood before her. Whatever part of light touched Emma, glittered like a thousand miniature diamonds had been engraved into her skin. Her face, down to her neck, the bit of chest that was exposed from the V along the neckline of her shirt. Her forearms, and hands. Everything. Her eyes even seemed to turn more golden as the sunlight struck them. Like the glow that came from an animal's eyes in the dark only in reverse.
She had never seen anything quite like it.
"This is what I am." Emma's frown deepened as she expected the worst reaction out of Regina.
"It's like diamonds," Regina breathed, unable to look away from the sight before her. "You're beautiful."
Emma scoffed, "Beautiful? This is the skin of a killer, Gina." She moved away from the beam of light, her skin going back to its normal state. "I'm a killer."
Regina hurries to catch up with Emma as she takes off in a different direction, away from the sun. "I don't believe that."
"That's because you believe the lie. It's camouflage." Emma turns to face Regina, her eyes wide. "I'm the world's most dangerous predator. Everything about me invites you in. My voice, my face, even my smell. As if I would need any of that."
Regina's head looks around for Emma after she whooshed away from plain sight in the blink of an eye. She finds her standing at the top of a small hill.
"As if you could outrun me!" Emma leaps and in a second, she's standing before Regina again. "As if you could fight me off."
Regina gasps, astounded by how easily Emma pulls a large- and what would be a heavy branch to a regular person- that's rooted to the ground and flicks her wrist, tossing the branch to crash along a large trunk.
"I'm designed to kill."
Regina shakes her head. "I don't care."
Emma's jaw tightens, "I've killed people before."
"It doesn't matter." She shakes her head again.
Emma begins stepping forward, until her hand is able to reach out to hover along Regina's cheek. "I wanted to kill you," she confesses. "I've never wanted a human's blood so much in my life."
"I trust you." Regina breathed, wanting desperately to reach out and touch her.
Emma breathes a scoff through her nose, "Don't." She whispers.
"Emma-" Regina dares to reach out, feeling her hand land on ice as she abruptly touches Emma's cheek. She gasps once Emma takes a step back. "Tell me something. Why do you hunt animals instead of people?" She asked, hoping her question would distract Emma from leaving. She didn't want her to leave.
"I don't want to be a monster." Emma's voice is low.
"But, animals aren't enough. Are they?"
Emma shakes her head, "I can't be sure, of course, but my family and I, we've come to compare it as living on tofu. We think of ourselves as vegetarians; our little inside joke." Her lip tilts into a small smile. "Human blood, however… When we taste it, a sort of frenzy begins. It's almost impossible to stop. Animal blood doesn't completely satiate our hunger- or rather thirst. But it keeps us strong enough to resist. Most of the time." Her tone is calmer now. "Sometimes it's more difficult than others."
Regina follows Emma and joins her as she sits along a large fallen trunk. "Is it very difficult for you now?" She asks.
Emma sighs, "Yes."
"But, you aren't hungry now." Regina states.
"What makes you say that?"
"Your eyes. It's one of my theories about you. You may be what you are, but you are still a teenage girl." Said Regina.
"And?" Emma waits.
"Teenage girls… Vampire or human- we tend to get very crabby when we're hungry. Which you're clearly not."
Emma laughed, unable to help it. "You are observant, aren't you?"
Regina didn't respond. Instead she lavished in the rich sound of Emma's laughter. "Those days that you didn't show up to school. Did you go hunting?"
"Yes." Emma's voice was calm. "I didn't want to go, but it was necessary. For your safety. It's a lot easier to be around when I'm not thirsty." Emma stood, taking Regina by surprise as she leaned in, her hands resting on either side of the log, making her feel boxed in. "Those days away from you were agony, however."
"For me, too." Regina breathed. She wished Emma would dip down just a little more, just enough until their lips brushed with one another.
"Your scent alone, Gina, is like a drug to me. You're like my own personal brand of heroin. I still don't know if I can control myself."
Regina stands, forcing Emma to take a step back, but she remains an inch close to Emma to prove to her that she can control herself. "I know you can. But, can you do one thing for me?"
"What?"
"Don't ever leave like that again. At least not without giving me a heads up first. Because those days, when you were gone… They were agonizing. It made me afraid of losing you, like you would leave and never come back."
Emma very much doubted herself around Regina sometimes. More times than she wanted to. But she would fight against her thirst, even if it killed her. Because to torture herself was one thing. A monster couldn't exactly be tortured beyond belief. But a fragile human such as Regina? Emma couldn't do that to her.
Emma brought her hand up, hovering it over Regina's cheek. Her eyes grew widely, surprised that Regina leaned into her cold touch, shivering slightly. "So the lioness fell in love with the lamb," whispered Emma.
"What a stupid lamb." Regina whispered back.
"What a sick, masochistic lioness." Emma smiled, inviting Regina to smile right back.
Regina was absolutely positive about three things… First: Emma was a vampire. Second: There was a part of her, and she didn't know how dominant that part might be- that thirsted for her blood. And third: That Regina was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with her.
