A/N: The end! I hope you enjoy this last chapter and that you had a nice Christmas, those of you that celebrate. Mine was very quiet and boring, hence getting this last part written while drinking wine and bothering the dogs for most of the day 😅. Still, I think my landlady plans on feeding me some smoked salmon and snacks this evening, so all is not lost! Reviews would be the best gifts to make up for a crappy day/ just because 😬 .


"Well... This is my room."

Emma states unnecessarily as she closes the door behind them and gestures towards its contents stiffly. In response, Regina rolls her eyes and places her hands on her hips as they stand shoulder to shoulder considering the empty expanse of the younger woman's bed with a heavy sense of tension.

"Honestly, Miss Swan, are you incapable of refraining from making every situation that much more awkward than it needs to be?!"

"I mean, it is a first..."

"That you've invited another woman into your bedroom?"

The brunette teases, and she raises a brow when the Sheriff shakes her head and elaborates simply

"That you've been in my bedroom."

"Mm. Thank the gods for small favours."

Regina mutters reflexively, and she suffers a brief moment of unease as she meets the younger woman's bemused glower; supposing such comments are damningly empty following recent events.

"I'm sure your room back in Storybrooke was terribly messy."

She smooths over her ill-mannered remark, and she watches with a sense of unlikely affection that sits strangely in her chest when the blonde merely laughs in the face of her snide cover-up.

"I wonder if you'll ever find something you commend me for doing right, Regina."

Emma grumbles companionably, before swallowing when the darker woman shoots her a pointed look.

"Given the implication of why we came in here in the first place, I would certainly hope so."

The Mayor replies loftily, although she has to admit, she's surprisingly in favour of the younger woman's decor. The blonde's bed is slightly narrower than her own, but the duvet cover looks to be linen, covered halfway down by a loose-knit, forest-green throw. There are matching bookcases on either end of the far wall, and she's impressed by their accumulated offering given the fact that any items the younger woman will have believed she'd once owned will have come up inexplicably missing when first settling into her faux life. Affordable prints of expensive paintings have been framed and hung around the room, and Regina raises a brow when she concludes the Sheriff's clothes to be shut away inside a wardrobe very much like the one through which she'd entered this realm.

"I'm surprised."

She admits, and Emma nods as she looks to her side to study refined features she has come to know disturbingly well and agrees

"Yeah... Same."

"Hmm?"

"Never mind."

The blonde shakes her head, and because she doesn't need to hear any more quips at her expense, she takes the reins and silences any further discussion with a kiss; nothing tentative about her movements, but rather an attempt to secure a release of the adrenalin brought on by this most unusual evening.

"Ah!"

Regina hisses as her shoulder blades make hard contact with the wall, and she permits the younger woman entry but refuses her dominance with a commanding tug to soft curls.

"Oh, fuck..."

She mutters through gritted teeth when Emma follows her previous lead and cups her suggestively over exquisite tailoring in response to the rough progression of her kiss, and she shakes her head as she's backed more forcefully against tasteful grey wallpaper and reprimands breathlessly

"Get on the bed. I'm not about to let you take me up against the wall like a servant girl."

"Hm, you're missing out."

Emma muses, applying coy pressure to her playful touch, and Regina nips warningly at her lip as she shoves her away.

"Behave yourself!"

"You don't want that."

The younger woman disagrees, and the Mayor swallows as she's inclined to agree when met with a teasing flash of teeth.

"Perhaps not, but I desire some respect at the very least."

"Yeah, well. Likewise."

Emma informs her seriously as she does as she's been told and perches on the edge of the bed.

Narrowing her eyes as she considers a cutting retort to what she would ordinarily consider a laughable request, Regina swallows her pride and refrains from biting back; supposing she sees little cause as she drinks in messy waves and cool green. Instead, she poses a challenge in place of predictable disdain.

"What were you picturing happening between us when you considered me a stranger bearing wine and story? How were you envisaging this might go?"

She takes care to keep her expression neutral and her tone snide, while internally she experiences a thrilling flutter of explicit excitement.

"Well, you just vetoed the first part..."

Emma shrugs, and the brunette forbids herself from expressing her reaction; privately surprised by the carnal ache the blonde's calm deviance incites.

"Crass."

She states finally, feeling her stomach tighten when the Sheriff simply chuckles and counters quietly

"If you say so, but it's generally effective."

"I see."

"Do you? Only, I never figured you to be so, well... Vanilla."

"Excuse me?!"

"Well, your frequent reliance on innuendo has conjured several heated images in our time of knowing each other, but now you're telling me that something so mundane as simply getting nasty while standing up is out of your comfort zone..."

Emma sighs, adding insult to injury when she raises a hand to hide a yawn.

Whether the movement is calculated or simply an involuntary reaction to the stress of the evening, Regina neither knows nor cares. Regardless, her response is like a gunshot as she moves in swiftly and finds the Sheriff's throat with her teeth while her nails leave a raw trail over pale flesh where her previous exploration had been fraught and gentle.

"I suggest you refrain from uttering any further woefully incorrect insight, dear... I refuse to be rut against the wall like a common peasant when I am so much more than that; something you'd better get your head around lightning fast if you know what's good for you... As for 'getting nasty', I will fuck you standing or any other way I desire, Miss Swan, fret not."

"...What about what I desire?"

Emma breathes, pulling back when she senses it's safe to allow the brunette a candid study of the imprint of her teeth.

"I just asked you that, and you chose to run your mouth rather than answer me."

Regina scolds irritably, and the blonde pulls a face as this strikes her as rather hypocritical before remembering who she's dealing with and breaking into a weary grin.

"Maybe running my mouth was somewhat indicative..."

She reasons impishly.

"Hm. Cute. But do you honestly expect me to believe your seemingly helpless insolence to be so suave and purposeful?"

"That would be nice, yeah."

The younger woman nods, earning herself an eye roll; Regina's outward annoyance juxtaposed by her unspoken appreciation for the fact that the Sheriff neglects to mention the sure sting to her throat or the nail marks colouring her thigh in favour of simply smirking up at her.

"Well... I suppose I could pretend to believe you and see what it gets me..."

The brunette muses delicately, leaning in to brush her lips against the Sheriff's unabashed amusement.

"So charitable."

Emma murmurs sarcastically into their kiss, before pulling back and gesturing towards the bed with a purposeful sweep of her arm.

"Go on then, hop up."

"'Hop up'?"

Regina mimics with a pinched expression; ultimately unsurprised when she receives little in the way of argument and much in the way of crude glee.

"Well, I mean I trust the bed meets your royal standards?... It is a Queen."

"God, when will you shut up?"

The Mayor sighs as she moves past Emma onto the bed; experiencing an intense wave of anticipation mixed with a subtle note of apprehension as she does so.

This is madness... This is absolute madness. This is-

"Well, that sort of depends on how long you take to make yourself comfortable, Madame Mayor."

"Oh, stop!"

Regina snaps, torn between wanting to laugh and lash out, and she offers the blonde a stern shake of her head when the latter studies her coolly.

It is madness... It's insanity... But it also feels strangely comfortable. After all, I suppose I really have missed her in an odd sort of way, and-

"-Oh!"

She lets out a winded gasp as she's forced down into the pillows when the Sheriff finds her lips with new aggression while her hands resume their exploration of expensive silk, only this time, with clear intent.

"Wait!... Wait..."

Regina scolds when the blonde's attempt to rid her of her shirt threatens to ruin the material, and she pushes herself up so that she sits against the headboard and takes on the task for herself with a deep flush to her cheeks as she senses Emma watching her intently.

"Here."

She states bossily as she hands over the expensive swatch of her shirt, and she hides a smile when the younger woman accepts her offering with a look of open surprise and proceeds to fold the fabric somewhat clumsily before placing it on her bedside cabinet.

Deciding she'd rather not be wrestled out of her outfit further, Regina flashes the blonde a loaded look as she removes her dress pants herself; the dusky colour painting her cheeks darkening significantly as she allows the Sheriff candid observation of her underwear.

"Is this what you 'occasionally hoped' for?"

She teases; her expression snide and her tone cruel, but her breath is baited and as she eagerly awaits the younger woman's affirmation.

"Getting there."

Emma agrees slyly, but she's unable to mask her approval, and when she meets dark coals cast with just a residual hint of wariness, she claims a much slower kiss as she traces the lace edge of the darker woman's bra.

"I never spent a whole lot of time thinking about what you might look like in your underwear, Madame Mayor, which appears to have been a grand oversight on my part, I must admit..."

The blonde muses as she lowers her attention to track the waistband of scarlet satin.

"Because you're a great deal more innocent than I give you credit for? Or because you preferred to picture me without it?"

Regina hisses, and Emma swallows as she raises her hand to unclasp the darker woman's bra while musing huskily

"Well, we both know it wasn't the former."

"We do."

"... I never quite dared to imagine doing anything like this, though."

"Anything like wh-... Oh!"

The Mayor shudders as the blonde tugs aside the damp swatch of satin covering her sex and replaces it with sly fingers before moving back to assume an altogether more sinful position.

"Oh."

Regina repeats, finding a hesitant grip on messy gold as she leans against the headboard and closes her eyes.

"Well..."

She utters distractedly; utterly thrown by the way things have progressed between them this evening, yet finding no cause for complaint as she takes in a shaky gasp and tightens her hold on soft curls to guide ever less tentative attention from pink velvet.

Cracking her eyes open to drink in her unlikely surroundings and the woman currently responsible for the intense ball of pleasure swiftly building in her stomach, she removes one hand from unruly cornsilk to bite the fleshy pad of her palm while the other forces the blonde to give up any attempts at catching her breath.

"Oh god..."

She groans as she releases the grip of her jaw in favour of plunging her hand - littered with teeth marks - into her hair, while her thighs start to tremble.

Holding on for as long as she can, she keeps the blonde held flush with her need as her fist forms a death grip on mussed curls before she cries out and closes her legs around the Sheriff's shoulders.

"Shit..."

She chokes, sinking her palms into the pillows on either side as she tilts her jaw up to the ceiling and strives to regulate her breathing.

"Shit."

She repeats, chuckling lightly as the blonde pushes herself up onto her knees to study her curiously; her cheeks damningly wet and her pupils blown.

"That's hardly language fit for a Queen..."

Emma smirks, looking decidedly pleased with herself, before the expression becomes somewhat strained when dark coals bore into her unforgivingly and the brunette fails to join her in her mirth.

"You really need to learn to mind yourself..."

Regina hisses finally, but she robs the Sheriff of the chance to make whatever coy remark she might have cooked up in response as she grabs her jaw and kisses her hungrily before wrestling her down onto her back with a breed of aggression the latter finds deliciously invigorating.

If a little surprising... Never thought Madame Mayor would condone liking it rough. She-

But all further naive presumptions are swiftly put to rest when the brunette tops her dominantly; tugging down the lace swatch of her underwear while using her other hand to push her dress sordidly up over her hips.

"Fuck..."

Emma mutters as fast fingers find her heat without hesitation, and she yelps into the darker woman's kiss as the latter appears to take her choked utterance as a demand and holds her sublimely at her mercy.

Recalling what Regina had told her about wishing to take her on her back while pleading, she clenches her teeth to deny the brunette this ultimate victory as the Mayor alternates her furious pace with slick and slow teasing to leave her punishingly on edge.

"Enjoying yourself, Princess?"

The Queen taunts as she feels Emma shudder tellingly beneath her while striving to hold back any further encouragement, and the younger woman decides to take a leaf out of her book as she bites down hard on her knuckles.

"Answer me."

Regina demands, and she smirks when the blonde cracks her lashes to offer her a pleading expression of doe-eyed desperation.

"Oh, come on, Emma. It's almost Christmas... Just give me what I want."

The Mayor sighs, further roughening her approach as much as she dares without fearing that she might end up hurting the younger woman. A strange concern, given their tumultuous relationship, but as she pulls back to observe the effect of her teasing, she supposes she'd much rather hear the blonde cry out in pleasure rather than pain.

Rather than just pain.

"Please..."

The Sheriff allows her finally, and Regina smiles widely before dipping down and claiming lips parted in euphoria while working quick circles over where the blonde is most sensitive until she receives a cruel bite to her lip as the pale thighs begin to twitch.

"Ouch!"

She scolds, offering the younger woman a companionably soft smack to her cheek, and Emma simply shakes her head distractedly as she lowers her hand to protect herself from wicked fingers.

"Fuck..."

The blonde reiterates, chuckling weakly, and she opens her eyes to study the darker woman warily as the latter remains knelt over her dressed in shadow and a smirk.

"That was-... Well, it was new."

She muses hoarsely, and Regina lets out a reluctant breath of laughter as she finds herself feeling just as dazed as the Sheriff looks.

"Yes. It certainly was."

"... What do we do now?"

"Well... I would say it might be an idea to try and get some sleep, but I doubt that's going to happen for either of us, so I suppose our time might be better spent packing up anything you think you or Henry might wish to take back to Storybrooke with you."

Regina shrugs, and the blonde sighs as reality comes crashing down on her and she tugs sheepishly at the hem of her dress to hide the glittering evidence of their recent activities.

"I guess."

She sighs heavily, and the brunette nods as she drinks in the unfamiliar furniture and decor of a woman she realises she's come to know - has come to like - disconcertingly well.

"Cheer up. The others will be thrilled to see you."

"Yeah."

Emma agrees halfheartedly, and Regina pulls a face, before adopting a sly grin as she locates her bra and muses silkily

"That said, should you find yourself feeling overwhelmed with festive niceties and affection on our return, you could always bow to tradition and drop by mine to make a nuisance of yourself."

"... Yeah?"

The blonde raises a brow as she watches the darker woman pull her hair out from beneath delicate straps.

"Mm. Although I should warn you... I have all sorts of plants and flowers dotted around the place at the moment, as you suspected. I might be forced to 'cop a feel' as you so inelegantly worded it if the foliage dictates.

"Oh... Well... 'Tis the season."