That One Second

Chapter 3

Emma woke up by Regina pacing the bedroom. Her wife was clearly trying to be quiet, but nonetheless Emma had woken up and felt the upsetting feeling of last night return.

"Good morning," she mumbled softly and stretched her legs. "What time is it?"

"Uhm, early," Regina replied and walked to Emma's side of the bed. She gave her a quick kiss on her forehead and stroked her face. Emma could see the apologetic look on Regina's face and that made her want to crawl under the blankets and never come out. "You remember when Robin called yesterday?"

"No, I totally forgot. Did he call in the middle of the night, disturbing our one free moment together? I can't remember any such thing," Emma sarcastically quipped and swallowed. "Sorry, continue."

Regina moved away and sat down on a chair that was covered in Emma's clothes. She started putting on her heels and sighed. "I've been trying to search for a way to defend someone, which was incredibly hard, because there were tapes that showed he'd done it. But Robin called yesterday telling me those tapes were illegal evidence, because the cops didn't await the regular procedure. I've been doing tons of fucking work for nothing and it changes so much in the case."

She was pissed, Emma could easily tell, and she felt sorry for her wife. "I.. that sucks, a lot," Emma said. "Which case was this again?"

"The man who is being accused of robbery."

"The blonde guy or the brunette?"

"The brunette didn't rob, he's being accused of breaking into several senior citizens' houses, but not of theft."

Emma looked confused. "I thought that was a girl."

"No, the girl was.. you know, never mind. I'm working five cases at a time and they're all extremely complicated and I'm not allowed to say a lot. I'll try to be home by six," she said and Emma already knew that was never going to happen. She liked to think it would, though.

Regina kissed her cheek again and left the room. Emma kept lying in their bed for a bit longer. She missed the warmth of Regina beside her, but the woman was downstairs, probably making something that was barely sufficient to call breakfast and hurrying towards her car.

Emma didn't want to get out of bed. She didn't have to work on the weekends and she wished there'd be a day that Regina didn't have to work on Saturdays and Sundays either.

She enjoyed the soft, cotton sheets against her body. It kept her warm and she knew the room was cold. They always slept with the window slightly open, but December had just started and the air outside was cold.

The spot beside her where Regina had slept was still a bit warm. Emma grabbed her wife's pillow and held it close to her chest, nuzzling her nose in the fabric and taking in Regina's familiar scent.

She kept lying like that for quite some time, trying to gain the motivation to get out of bed. Knowing the children were safe with their grandmother, she didn't feel any reason to hurry. She just wanted to hide away from the world and sleep forever.

Eventually, she did get out of bed and she slowly got dressed. Emma ate breakfast alone in silence and tried to lighten her mood looking around the room. It didn't help one bit, but she still enjoyed staring at the wall filled with drawings made by both Hope and Henry.

She enjoyed the bright colors and the excitement that it'd been drawn with. They lived in a big mansion that was only affordable because of Storybrooke's reasonable prices and Regina's high income. Regina was quite organized and neat, so when they'd decided they wanted children, Regina had expressed some worries about the mess they'd make.