Bluest of Grey Skies

Chapter Seven

"Hey," Regina smiled down at her. "Are you okay?"

"So tired."

"So tired that you decided to take a nap in a field?" Regina asked and upon Emma's lethargic nod of her head she couldn't help but laugh. "Come on, let me take you home. Henry has been waiting for you. He was crying for you when I left. He's just as worried about you as I am."

Emma smiled slightly and it was apparent that she was just beyond exhausted. Before she could reach to help Emma to her feet, she found herself toppling on top of her and with arms wrapped around her, holding her close and their lips only a hairsbreadth apart. She wanted to stop her the first time her lips brushed against her own, she wanted to stop her the second and the third time, but by the forth, she found herself responding to the lazy, lingering kisses wholeheartedly.

"I forgot."

"Hmm?" Regina murmured, her hand falling to cup Emma's cheek lightly. "You forgot what, darling?" She asked, her thumb stroking over a flushed cheek slowly and surely.

"I don't know how to ride a bicycle."

"Oh Emma," Regina sighed, shaking her head before she helped Emma up to her feet.

"I started walking," she said softly. "But I didn't realize how tired I was and—and—"

"This field looked like a nice place to take a nap?"

Emma's lips turned up in a half smile and she shrugged. Regina shook her head and her relief continuing to flood through her over the fact that Emma was safe and sound. She put Emma into the passenger seat before she retrieved the borrowed bicycle and placed it in the trunk. By the time she got in behind the wheel, Emma was leaning against the door, fast asleep.

Regina idly chewed on her bottom lip on the drive back to the house. It was clear that Emma's body was not used to the intensive labor she'd put it through on the first day of her new job. It was also clear she had no place to tell her not to go back if it affected her in such a way. Sure she knew her feelings for her were growing quickly, but in reality they still had a very long way to go before they reached the point where they were actually together. A few kisses were not a relationship, not even remotely close.

She pulled up in her own driveway and she helped the tired blonde out of the car and across the front lawn to her own house. Emma could barely move to pull out the keys and she handed them to Regina who was left up to the task of finding the one that opened the front door. Once inside, she took her into the living room and sat her down on the couch before she moved to turn on the lights.

"I'm sorry," Emma said quietly when Regina returned to her. "I wasn't thinking."

"All you were thinking about was having a nap in a field," Regina replied and she knelt down in front of her and helped her to remove her muddy boots. "I should've left you my number. If you were too tired to make it home on your own, you could've called me."

"I thought I could make it. I thought that if I tried hard enough that I could figure out how to ride that bicycle."

"What did you do all day?"

"Worked in the stables mostly, mucking out stalls. David taught me how to lead the horses to and from the pasture and I spent some time helping him stock the stables with bales of hay," she sighed and licked over her dry lips. "It's hard work. Harder than I thought it was going to be."

"Did you eat anything at all today?"

"David's wife made sandwiches before she went to work for us."

Regina nodded and gently squeezed Emma's knees before she rose to her feet. "Do you think you can manage to shower while I go and retrieve Henry?"

"Is that your way of telling me that I stink?" Emma quipped.