"Secrets, Lies, and Blessings" (A SwanFire FanFic)

Chapter XIII

*Continued from last chapter*

A good while later, after Emma had snuck back into her room she was surprised to see her waiting lady perched on her bed. "OH!" Emma gasped as she tried to look as innocent as possible. "Eleanor! I-- what are you still doing up?"

"I could ask the same of you," she stood from the bed and crossed her arms. "Do you have any idea what time it is??" Emma opened her mouth to try and answer but nothing came out, leaving Eleanor free to continue. "You don't? Well, I'll tell you: THREE IN THE MORNING! Now, do you mind telling me what it was you were doing all this time?"

Three in the morning? Was it really that late? She knew time had got away from her but three a.m.? Emma swallowed and nervously brushed a strand of her hair out of her face while she thought of something to answer her with. "I--" she tried to get it out but whenever she tried to force the answer from her throat, the harder it was for her to even speak. This wasn't making her case look good by any means. She didn't have to say anything though because, much to Emma's dismay, Eleanor already knew. She watched as she crossed her arms and shook her head at her. "Did you...?" Emma tried to answer but instead she stood there, feeling heat rush to her cheeks. Why did her waiting lady have to go and wait up for her, darn it?!

"Why is it any of your business?" Emma snapped. "You're not my mother so what I do shouldn't concern you anyway."

"Maybe, but it is my job to take care of you--"

Emma uttered a huff and rolled her eyes. "No, it is your job to assist me. Not to take care of me, not to worry about what I'm doing, and it's especially not your job to pry into my private affairs!"

Eleanor's expression fell but she quickly recovered; whether she intended to or not Emma had just admitted to what she had done. Eleanor inhaled and shook her head in disapproval. "Oh mercy, Emma how could you?!" she paused and turned around with her palm pressed to her forehead before she continued. "Do you have any idea what you've done? When your parents learn of this--"

"They're not going to." Emma crossed her arms in defiance.

"Excuse me?" Eleanor's dark brown eyes were wide with disbelief.

"They're not going to find out because I am not telling them."

"But--"

"There are some things that you don't tell your parents and this is one of those things." she shot a glare at her. "And keep your voice down!"

"Do you even know what could come out of this? Your honor is gone and no one will want to marry you now which means no alliances--"

"Good." she interrupted. "Because I never planned on marrying for an alliance anyway. I plan on marrying him. I always have, since the day we first kissed."

"Okay, fine but what if--" Emma tried to interrupt her again but Eleanor stood her ground and went on with a firm "Let me finish." Emma let her finish but she continued to stand there with that rebellious and defiant glare of hers, with her arms crossed tightly across her chest. Eleanor went on: "You do realize that you could have a baby now, right?"

Honestly that thought never once crossed Emma's mind, and for a moment, she felt slightly ashamed of the fact that that thought hadn't occurred to her. She quickly dropped the feeling of embarrassment and gave a slight shrug before finally stammering an answer. "Of course I realized that." she caught the doubtful expression on Eleanor's face. Emma may have been able to tell when someone was lying but she was never any good at lying herself and almost always gave herself away immediately. She noticed that Eleanor was still staring at her. "Okay fine!" she exclaimed, defeated. "You're right! That thought never once crossed my mind, are you happy? Not once. But what does it matter anyway? It was one time and who knows if we even did it right," she paused and blushed a little. "We're probably fine."