The Heart That Beats For Her

Epilogue

Regina securely wraps the towel around her body as she steps out of the shower and approaches the mirror. It should be all fogged up from the steam, if someone hadn't interrupted her shower to ask silly questions and then leave without shutting the door behind her. She sighs and hates that she's not even slightly irritated.

Her hand moves all on its own to retrieve the band resting in the small dish, never once does she glance down as she slips the ring onto her finger. It's habit now, all part of her morning routine that she doesn't even comprehend anymore. Her eyes are busy though, studying that face staring back at her in the mirror. Her scar is always more prominent when she first steps out of the shower, but those haunting feelings are no longer present. She simply smiles now, proud that she has trained herself over the years to remember his smiling face when she catches a glimpse of that old wound.

Forty-five. Where the hell has time gone?

She slowly turns her face from side to side, assessing a few more laugh lines around her mouth, maybe a few more crinkles around her eyes. Although, she's not even mad about them. How can she be when she knows for a fact they are from laughing and smiling so hard over the last four years?

She doesn't see a middle-aged woman staring back at her, on the contrary, she has never felt so young and so full of life. She sees a strong woman, who has witnessed and was consumed by darkness firsthand, but has overcome those depressing days. She sees a woman who conquered all her demons and came out a much braver woman in the end. She sees a woman who is beyond happy and living her life to the fullest every damn day, never taking a single second for granted.

She smirks at herself, fully proud of the woman she sees before her in the mirror and struts confidently toward the bedroom. She banishes all thoughts regarding her age, that's simply a number and Emma has taught her to approach each day not obsessing over those silly digits.

"Hey," Emma breathes, obviously slightly out of breath from anxiously running around all morning.

"Hey yourself," she playfully says, roaming over those sexy suspenders and observing as Emma's green eyes dilate while shamelessly drinking in her partially naked form.

The blonde groans, fumbling to close the door behind herself before she lunges at Regina. One hand securely holding Regina's face into place as her lips claim ownership while her other hand easily rips the towel away. Regina smiles into the passion, latches onto both warm cheeks and pulls Emma in even closer until her back hits the mattress.

"Em," she moans when she feels her lover lifting her up the bed toward the pillows. "We really," she gasps, slightly distracted when Emma's lips slip away to suck so mischievously at her neck while two teasing fingers slick through her folds. "Really shouldn't."

"I know, but it's kinda hard when you're teasing me like this," Emma incoherently rambles, vigorously scraping her teeth against a thumping pulse point.

Regina breathes out an amused chuckle, running her fingers beneath the suspenders before she tugs on them. "I was not teasing you, I simply stepped out of the shower."

"That's all it takes," Emma mindlessly states and then latches onto a perky nipple screaming for her attention.

"Em-ma," her raspy voice groans, but she forces herself to peel Emma's enthusiastic mouth away. "We can't. Your parents, my sister, Alice and Robin and the kids are all downstairs, I'm sure Ruby and Kathryn are floating around somewhere as well."

"So," Emma shrugs, diving down to reclaim Regina's mouth and maybe persuade her mind into caving.

"My parents should be here shortly and you don't want to keep my father waiting, do you?"