Twice Upon A Tale

S1E19

The Return

"I can't believe you set up Sidney to take the fall for you" Emma was spitting with anger, her face nearly red with rage as she faced off with the mayor yet again.

It seemed like every other day, they had something new to be at odds about. And if there was nothing new, there was always Henry, and lord knows he was Regina's favourite thing to fight about. Emma tried to avoid the arguments where she could, but Regina seemed to barrel into them head first.

"And I can't believe you're actually at my house right now. So disgusted with me but you just can't keep your hands off me?" Regina taunts Emma with a smirk as the blonde storms her house once again.

She found Emma Swan was at her house more often than not lately, to see Henry in the daytime and to see herself at night. Whatever they were doing, whatever was happening between them, it was magnetic.

Regina knew she couldn't keep herself away from Emma, and she knew Emma kept coming back for a reason.

"Where's Henry?" Emma asks suddenly, kicking her boots off and shucking them to the side, making Regina inwardly roll her eyes at the sloppiness. Lots of things Emma did seemed to irk her, but she found herself swallowing most of those insults lately.

Henry wasn't as careless as Emma, and he was only ten.

"He's at camp this weekend, Mary Margaret and some other teachers took the kids camping. He told you this, I'm sure" Regina explains, watching as Emma shrugs off her leather jacket and hangs it haphazardly on the coat rack. Again, another eye roll from Regina which again, goes unnoticed by Emma.

The sheriff has a plain white t-shirt on underneath her jacket, nothing overly special. It's simple, pairs fine with her jeans, and to anyone else it wouldn't draw much attention.

But the way the fabric clings to the curve of her breasts and exposes her toned arms makes Regina's mind go to how to would feel to be wrapped in those arms while being kissed senseless.

"Good" Emma says, and that's all she says before she's moving forward and taking Regina's face into her hands to kiss her. She gave absolutely no warning before she began moulding herself to the other woman, their bodies so close that Regina could feel Emma's body heat through her own clothes.

After the last several weeks, the Queen assumed she'd be used to Emma Swan attacking her face at random; but even now, kissing her for what felt like the millionth time, it didn't get old.

She feared that it never would get old.

"You're better than this" Emma murmured, her lips barely parted from Regina's own as they both breathed heavily. Regina didn't notice when her hands had gone to Emma's waist, but when she looked down she realized that she was, in fact, holding Emma Swan closer to her.

"I'm not" she insists "and besides, you don't have any proof because I didn't do anything" Regina stuck to her same story, insisting on her innocence because the smallest part of her couldn't trust that Emma wasn't using this situation to her advantage to exploit a confession. "It's going to take a lot more than a few kisses to get me to confess to something as dire as that, Miss Swan" there's a slight snap to her tone, but she knows that even Emma could sense she could've been meaner; and usually, she was.

Emma looked at her for a moment, her face dawning a look Regina hadn't seen before. Her green eyes searched for something, though Regina wasn't quite sure what, and for a moment Emma is tender. Her hand cups one cheek, her thumb caresses the mayors cheekbone, and her eyes are wearing softness in a way that Regina hadn't yet seen.

"You don't trust me. I don't trust you. Funny how we keep coming back to one another" Emma says, her voice still a murmur "something in me just can't stay away from you" the electricity in the air caught Regina by surprise; Emma's words made her chest clench in a way she hadn't felt in years. Her heart twisted at the words, and for whatever ungodly reason, she felt herself smile.