Regina sucked in a breath. She may have asked the question but until that moment, she didn't know what she had wanted Emma's answer to be.
"I'm not sorry either," she murmured, her eyes flicking down towards Emma's lips as she spoke.
The tip of a pink tongue darted out, seemingly unconsciously, and Regina swallowed as she noted the glistening moisture it left on Emma's lip.
"What ... what does this mean?" Emma asked, her eyes wide and questioning.
Regina hesitated before she moved forwards. Her lips brushed softly against Emma's once more. The kiss was slow, careful, testing. But it set every nerve ending in Regina's body on fire. She groaned as Emma's hands drifted to her waist again, tugging their torsos closer on the sofa. The angle was uncomfortable, their knees knocking together, but neither one of them cared. The delicate kiss continued, each content to be experiencing the other in a new way without feeling the need to escalate the intensity.
Regina's hands cupped Emma's cheeks, her thumbs stroking over the soft skin as their lips continued to caress one another. She had never experienced a kiss like this before. There was no agenda, there was no sense that the kiss was just preamble to sex, there was no desire to change or deepen the movement. It was just, perfect.
After what felt like an age, but in reality was just a couple of minutes, they broke apart. Emma's chest was heaving despite the tender exchange and Regina's eyes were darker, wider, more intense than Emma had ever seen them.
"That was -,"
"Yeah," Regina nodded, knowing there wasn't a word to describe what they had just experienced together.
Their fingers interlaced in the narrow space between them, the familiar gesture now taking on a whole new meaning. Emma looked down at the tanned skin woven between her own pale fingers and smiled slightly.
"I'm not sure what this is, Regina, and I'm not sure what's going to happen. But what I do know," she raised her head to look straight at the woman before her, "is that right now I am very, very happy."
Regina chuckled. "Me too," she said, leaning forwards and placing a chaste kiss to Emma's lips, marvelling at how naturally the movement came to her.
"We should go to bed," Emma said after a pause. Regina's eyebrows shot up her forehead. "Not like that," Emma quickly amended. "I mean it's almost three in the morning and I don't think either of us are quite sober enough to have a proper conversation about what has just happened, do you?"
"No, you're right," Regina nodded. "We should both sleep, separately, and then we can talk in the morning."
Emma nodded and stifled a yawn. Regina smiled and stood from the couch, holding out a hand to help Emma to her feet. Their fingers stayed intertwined as they walked silently up the stairs. Outside Regina's room, the brunette turned towards Emma.
"Well, goodnight Emma," she said, looking up into the face of her best friend.
"Goodnight Regina," Emma replied.
Both women hesitated, no longer sure what was appropriate given what had just transpired between them. In the end it was Regina who wrapped her arms around Emma and pulled the blonde into a tight hug. Emma hugged her back, her heart swelling with affection for the woman she was embracing. Eventually, the hug ended. Turning back to her door, Regina opened it and stepped inside. With a little wave to the younger woman, she closed the door and disappeared from view.
"Bloody hell," Emma murmured, rubbing her hands over her face.
In almost a daze at what had happened that night, she made her way to the bathroom, brushed her teeth and headed for her bed. She changed and crawled under the cool, crisp bedsheets. She had thought she would lie awake for hours, tossing and turning, unable to stop thinking about what had happened, but as soon as her head hit the pillow, she fell into a deep, blissful sleep.
~
Bacon.
Emma grinned as she woke up, the smell reminding her of their half term holiday. She yawned, stretched, and climbed out of bed. Emerging into the kitchen a few minutes later, Emma smiled widely at the familiar sight of Regina in the kitchen. Only this time, unlike Cornwall, the brunette was singing along to a Beyoncé track she had playing from the speakers. Emma leaned against the doorframe and watched, a smile on her face as Regina continued to sing and wiggle her hips slightly as she flipped some bacon.
"Shit!" she exclaimed when she turned around and spotted Emma at last, her hand landing on her chest as if trying to slow her now racing heart. "How long were you watching me?"
Emma laughed. "Long enough. You can sing, you know."
"Hardly comparable to Beyoncé though," Regina said, walking to the fridge to retrieve some milk. "How did you sleep?"
"Amazingly, actually," Emma said, touching the side of the kettle and pouring some still hot water into a mug with a tea bag. "You?"
"Far better than I expected," the brunette nodded. "I thought my mind would be racing after ... what happened. But it wasn't."
"Me too," Emma nodded. "And mine neither."
They smiled shyly at each other, standing side by side in the kitchen as they had so many times before. And yet now, everything was different.
"Scrambled?"
"Please."
Well, except Emma's preference for her eggs. She turned and settled herself at the dining table, pulled the Sunday morning newspaper towards her and began to read. Even with Christmas a few days away, it was depressing and she discarded an article about the troubles in Syria gratefully when a full English breakfast landed in front of her.
"Thanks," Emma smiled as Regina took a seat opposite her, two poached eggs nestled neatly on her own plate.
"So are you too hungover or are you still up for joining me and Henry?" Emma asked as she tucked into her food.
"What makes you think I'm hungover?" Regina said.
"Aren't you?"
"Well, yes but -,"
"I rest my case," Emma laughed. "So, are you going to join us?"
"Do you really want me there?" Regina asked. "Christmas shopping the weekend before Christmas itself is bad enough. Why would you want me to come as well? Surely that would just slow you guys down."
"Oh I've done all my shopping," Emma grinned. "Did it online weeks ago. No, this is for Henry. If I don't drag him along, he never buys any presents and it's his job to buy for his cousins because they're all boys and they're around his age."
"So what am I for?" Regina asked.
"A distraction," Emma grinned. "You have no idea how boring it is trailing around after a boy who had no idea what presents to buy for his friends or his cousins. Every year we go to a hundred different shops and he always ends up going to buy something he saw in the first one we entered. I'll need you to keep me sane, ok?"
"So you want to subject me to the same, boring day?" Regina asked.
"Yep," Emma nodded. "Plus it'll be the last time I get to spend any time with you since you're off to your mother's tomorrow."
"Urgh, don't remind me," Regina said.
"Why do you go if you hate it so much?" Emma asked.
"I didn't hate it when Father was alive. I loved it, in fact. Christmas was always so much fun with him. But now it's just me and Mother and the whole day we just mope around, both missing the one person who united us."
"Is there any way you could get out of it?" Emma said. "You know you'd be more than welcome at ours, right?"
"Thanks but I have to go. She'd be on her own otherwise and that's not fair. We may not get on particularly well but she's still my mother. And it might be good for me to get away from here for a bit, away from the memories."
"They're not all bad though, are they?" Emma said, her voice a little nervous.
"No," Regina said softly. "No, I have some very good memories here too."
"For example?"
Regina giggled. Emma beamed at the sound. "Do you want to talk about last night, Emma?"
"Was I subtle about it?" Emma asked.
"Hardly," Regina laughed. "But I want to talk to you too. Another tea? We can go through to the living room."
The women settled on the sofa, ignoring the mess from the party the night before that neither one of them had any inclination to get started on tidying. Emma sipped her drink, waiting for Regina to speak first.
"Any regrets?"
"No!" Emma said at once. "Not at all. Why? Do ... do you have regrets?"
"Not at all," Regina assured. "I'm not saying what happened was expected, far from it, but despite that, I woke up this morning feeling very calm about the whole thing."
"Me too," Emma nodded. "It feels ... right."
Regina smiled her agreement. The expression made her look younger and more vibrant than Emma had ever seen her. It made the blonde want to kiss her again.
"Go ahead," Regina said as if she had read Emma's mind.
Suddenly shy, the younger woman placed her tea carefully on the coffee table before turning back to Regina. She sucked in a breath and slowly leaned forwards.
Regina burst out laughing.
Emma recoiled at once, pushing herself to the far end of the sofa as the laughter continued. She watched, wide eyed, as Regina finally pulled herself together and realised Emma had moved away from her.
"Oh, Emma. I'm sorry! I wasn't laughing at you."
"Yes you were," Emma retorted.
"Ok, yes I was. But you just looked so cute and nervous! You looked like a teenager about to kiss their crush for the first time. It was adorable," Regina chuckled again and Emma frowned further. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you, Emma. Please, come here to me."
"No," Emma huffed.
Regina laughed again, deposited her cup on the table besides Emma's and in one fluid movement, swung her leg over Emma's lap and straddled the blonde. Wide green eyes stared from the breasts which had appeared in front of her up to the smirking face above her.
"Fine," Regina all but purred. "I'll come to you."
This kiss had none of the softness of the previous night. Regina tilted Emma's head back as her hands wrapped around the nape of her neck, her lips pressing firmly to the paler set below her before they opened, trapping one of Emma's between her own. The blonde's hands, once again, flew to her hips, pulling Regina closer to the slender body beneath her as their mouths moved. Sucking on Emma's lip, Regina used her tongue to trace the seem of the younger woman's mouth, teasing it open with the tip. Emma whimpered when Regina's tongue slid smoothly into her own mouth and the brunette couldn't hold back her own groan when she tasted the blonde for the first time. Their tongues met, hot slippery muscles which caressed and danced around each other until Regina's retreated, followed at once by Emma's, into the coffee-tasting mouth. Emma had always liked coffee but now, when it was mixed with the essence of Regina, she thought it was the most divine thing in the world.
Regina's hands toyed with the soft hair at the base of Emma's skull whilst their tongues continued to duel, chasing each other between their mouths as they took turns dominating the kiss. Emma's fingertips dug deliciously into Regina's ass when sharp teeth nibbled her lip, the pain soothed away immediately by a tongue. Regina rocked her hips forwards, her pelvis brushing against Emma's stomach. The heat between her legs coiled tighter.
It was Emma who broke the kiss, pulling away breathless and red-cheeked but smiling broadly. Regina grinned back, her arms now looped around Emma's neck as she settled a little further back in the blonde's lap.
"Well, you certainly don't kiss like a teenager," Regina said.
"I should hope not!" Emma laughed.
Regina leaned back down and placed another short kiss to Emma's slightly swollen lips. "You're very good."
"I know," Emma replied.
"And modest."
Emma laughed and squeezed her hands, still resting on Regina's ass. The brunette raised an eyebrow.
"So ... what does this mean?" Regina asked.
"I think it means I need to take you out for dinner," Emma replied.
"Like a date?"
"Like a date."
"But we've had dinner together countless times," Regina frowned.
"Yes, but none of them have been dates," Emma pointed out. "Well, maybe in hindsight they were but we were both completely oblivious to that fact."
"You really want to take me out on a date?" Regina asked.
"I really do," Emma nodded. "I think what I've come to realise is that whatever is between us is far deeper and far more intense and intimate than either of us realised. I know it's not even been twelve hours since our first kiss and this is all very new and a little bit scary but whatever this is, it's right. So I want to treat it, and you, with respect. Which means that I am going to take you out, wine and dine you, and if I'm lucky, I may get a goodnight kiss at the end of the night."
Regina smirked and glanced down between their bodies, a few inches all that separated them and her ass resting on Emma's thighs.
"Yeah, ok," Emma acquiesced. "What I'm trying to say is I want to take this slow. It's new to both of us and I don't think rushing into anything would be a good idea. I mean, it's not even been three months since you and Robin -,"
She stopped talking as soon as she felt Regina's whole body stiffen. The brunette climbed off Emma and walked quickly from the room.
"Fuck," Emma murmured.
She drained her cold tea, picked up the two dirty mugs and headed for the kitchen. Regina wasn't there so Emma climbed upstairs. Knocking on Regina's bedroom door, Emma heard movement from behind the wood but not permission to enter.
"Regina, I'm sorry," Emma said, leaning against the wall outside. "I didn't mean to upset you by mentioning Robin. I just wanted to make sure you knew that I'm aware you might not be ready for anything quite yet. You need time and space and I want to give you that. I want you to know I'm ok with waiting as long as you need, until you're ready. Because as much as you try to deny it, what happened to you is going to take a long time to get past. You're going to struggle to trust people, to get close to people, to -,"
The door flew open and Regina stormed out into the hallway, rounding on Emma as soon as she saw her.
"Googling abuse victims again I see," she said, her face livid with rage. Emma shrank away, unwilling to say another word in case it got her into even more trouble. "I know Robin fucked me up, Emma. I know he broke me. I know I'll never be that person I was before, the one Daniel loved. I'm different now, damaged. I get that and I don't need you reminding me of it. And you think I struggle to trust people? I trusted you, didn't I? I got close to you, told you my secrets, confided in you. That wasn't a struggle. That was the thing that got me through all this. You were the person who got me through all this. I thought you were different to everyone else, Emma. I thought you didn't see me as an abuse victim. I thought you saw me for me. Regina. Your friend. Not a woman who was raped over and over and over -,"
Regina collapsed onto the floor, her body shaking with the force of her crying. Emma dropped to her knees, wrapping her arms around the distraught woman and was just a little relieved when Regina clung to her, fingers curling into the back of Emma's jumper as she sobbed. At least the brunette was accepting Emma's comfort.
"I do see you, Regina," Emma assured when the trembling had stopped several minutes later. "I see my best friend, my intelligent, talented colleague. I see an inspirational woman who amazes me every day with how strong she is. You're not broken, Regina. You're healing. And that's ok, that's natural. Robin didn't break you, Regina. No one can break Regina Mills. But you and I both know that what has happened will take time to come to terms with. There's no denying that. All I'm saying," Emma said, tilting Regina's head gently upwards as she spoke, "is that I will be there with you every step of the way, in any capacity you want. As your friend, as your confidant, as anything and anyone you need me to be."
"I need you," Regina said in a hoarse whisper. "I just need you, Emma."
A/N: they're getting there!