happy endings | ouat (slow updates)

skin deep

s01ep12 - skin deep 

The romantic notion of Storybrooke's beach contrasted rather jarringly with the reality that it was hardly ever dry, and seemed to be devoid of colour even during the height of spring and birdsong.

However, one thing Emma appreciated more than anything else was peace and quiet, so Graham cut his losses, and suggested the damp sand plains as the location for the proposed picnic, and she agreed.

As the sunset made the horizon blush pink, he buried his nose in her hair and all that mattered was, for a moment, he'd succeeded in making everything else disappear. She sat curled into his side with her trainers tucked under his legs for warmth, even though she radiated heat herself, and he sighed into it. They were drinking non-alcoholic champagne out of chipped mugs, so close that he wouldn't have ever let her go if she hadn't pulled away to snack.

There was an array of picnic foods Emma had organised with Granny, and a box of chocolates Emma had insisted were tradition, alongside some crumpled yellow roses he'd picked up after Michael Tillman had seen him empty-handed and pulled a face.

Emma ate a small triangle of ham sandwich in two bites, and he smiled at her softly. "Any other traditions I should be aware of?" His curse memories were patchy, formulated around his real life where there had been no romantic encounters to speak of.

She offered him a sandwich, and he took it, munching off the crusts first to her grin. "Well, we're on a date. Technically our first date. So... we tell each other about ourselves. Childhoods, jobs, mundane details. The building blocks of a person."

He raised an eyebrow. "Okay. Um, I'm the Sheriff, which you already knew. I was abandoned in the forest and raised by wolves." He fumbled mentally for details. "I didn't have a name for a long time. As a cub, I got pneumonia and had to be nursed back to health by a couple who lived in the woods. He taught me how to forage, and she taught me how to hunt. They called me Graham because when I growled it sounded similar to her cousin's name. When I returned to my pack, they didn't trust me anymore: I had new clothes, shorter hair. My brother stayed with me. We found shelter near the couple, and I learnt to speak the human tongue and mingle among them. During the winter, we slept in their cabin, until one day they weren't there. I only knew them for a few harvests, but they shaped me. I wanted his kindness, her determination. I moved on, into King Leopold's kingdom to find new territory, and the rest is history."

Emma met his eyes and, after a beat, she kissed him gingerly, until he deepened it with his hands at her hips. He pulled back suddenly, and she brought her forehead together with his. "I'm sorry," he whispered, "it's an old wound. I'm... I'm really glad you're here."

"You have me," she promised, voice low, kissing the bridge of his nose gently. "I want you, remember, all strings attached. Your scars are beautiful." She pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. "I'm not good with emotions, you know that. But I'm good with you, that I know for certain. You make me want to be..."

He kissed her as she trailed off, and she threaded her fingers into his hair. "I know, Emma. I know." Another kiss. "You are..." Another. "This is it. What people spend their whole lives looking to find."

She stilled, and he tensed, as she took a deep breath. Swallowing, she looked up at him, and said, "Yeah."

Then they were kissing again, and Emma was laughing into his mouth, and he was unravelling at the seams as he melted against her. Everything ground to a halt, and for a moment the world's axis was Emma Swan and her hands in his hair, and her lips on his.

An unwelcome sound punctured their bubble, and when it kept going, Emma unentangled herself from him, and he watched her, heady.

"Deputy Swan," she answered, and with their proximity he felt the vibrations in her chest, and he tried not to be too mad at whoever was in danger, even if he felt like the act of not kissing her was going to kill him.