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The Brave One
Regina was nervous. She was not a person to be easily unsettled but this was different. It would be difficult to do it, she knew that. But why did she have to be so fucking nervous all of a sudden?! For Hades’ sake, when had she turned from the Evil Queen to this…this pathetic little imitation of a little princess?
Right, just get it together now. You can do this!, she told her apparently re-teenaged self.
She took a deep breath and raised her hand towards the doorbell. It hovered there, as if it had suddenly developed a will of its own and decided that today was not the day it would debase itself to the lowly task of ringing a bell.
“Fuck, just get this over with now…please?”, she mumbled to herself…and her hand. Finally her hand obeyed her will again and immediately she could hear a quiet chiming sound coming from inside. She’d done it! The hardest part was over.
Wait, what?! That wasn’t the hard part you idiot.
If this had just been so hard for her that it paralysed her hand then what was to come would all but negate her ability to move her arms, not to mention the rest of her body. Why had she let herself be talked into this? Cursed Snow, she just had to put her tiny little nose into everyone’s business, didn’t she? Right now Regina could be lying comfortably on her sofa, watching some TV Show with Henry and just enjoying her son’s company. Instead he, too, had insisted she go and spend the evening out…with her. Maybe she could simply turn around now, run for it and pretend she hadn’t come in the first place? Henry and Snow would kill her, of course, but right now that was an option she was seriously considering.
Before she had time to further question her choice of evening entertainment, the door in front of her swung open and for a moment, her heart stopped it’s thumping against her chest and her breath hitched. To say that Regina was quite surprised by Emma’s appearance would probably be the understatement of the century. She was…astonished to see Emma wrapped in a very, very tight black top that did definitely not leave much to the imagination. Not to hers, anyway. In stark contrast to her usual tight jeans, tonight Emma wore wide linen trousers that were a light blue tint and only seemed to draw her long legs out even more. Regina gawked at the figure in front of her, that was so familiar to her and yet looked so different this evening.
Emma’s face broke into a shy smile as she let her eyes wander over Regina’s form that was clearly visible under the tight red dress she had chosen for tonight – because she knew it was one of Emma’s favourites. Emma gave her an appraising look and her smile widened into a grin, chuckling at the entirely baffled look that was apparently still showing on Regina’s face.
“You don’t look too bad yourself”, Emma noticed with a twinkle in her eyes. “Come in Regina. There’ll still be plenty of time for gawking, I’ve got the whole evening off. Dad’s covering my shift.”
Emma gestured for her to come inside and Regina – with an effort – unfroze herself, following the blonde’s invitation. Damn it, how could this cursed woman still render her speechless in less than a few seconds? She could feel her cheeks burning and quickly turned towards the room, away from her host as Emma closed the door.
“I did NOT gawk, thank you very much”, Regina snarled but then caught herself. She had not come here tonight to argue again. Deliberately changing her tone to a lighter one, she said with a mischievous smile: “I was…simply admiring the view. That’s not a crime, is it Sherriff?”
Emma giggled. “No, of course not. Although, maybe I could put you into handcuffs for indecent behaviour?”, she proposed, winking.
The laugh her little joke had triggered gave Regina a warm feeling inside her chest. Emma looked so beautiful when she laughed. Only more so, as this wasn’t often the case, to which the lines between her eyes could attest. She usually wore that way too stern expression of hers and frowned more often than not. The price one payed for being the Saviour, Regina sadly thought to herself. She quickly pulled herself out of that sour line of thoughts and focused on the woman in front of her instead. The little devil, how dare she?
“You could try, Saviour”, Regina teased. Oh, she had missed their banter in the last few weeks. Emma had been far too busy with her duties as Saviour and Sherriff and she was glad to finally have her to herself, if only for an evening, she realized with a start. Which, of course, she would NEVER admit to Henry or to that always overly understanding Snow.
Did I really miss her? More than I thought, obviously.
“Well, that’ll have to wait till AFTER the dinner. I spent hours cooking this for you and I will not let this get cold and ruin it. So take a seat please. I invited you to this, after all, so at least let me be a good host, yeah?” Emma motioned Regina towards the table in the middle of the apartment and actually pulled out a chair for her. Regina couldn’t suppress a smile. “Thank you, I’m sure your food will be delicious, don’t worry. I guess there’s nothing the Saviour CAN’T do, ‘that right?”
“Very funny. You know I don’t really…well…cook. If it tastes horrible, we can still order Pizza or something. I’m prepared for every eventuality!” Emma held up a Pizza delivery brochure she had lain out on the table. “Just in case, you know, my savior-y abilities don’t include reading a recipe right to make something edible out of a dead bird and some vegetables.”
Of course, Emma’s food was good. It wasn’t a five-star menu but the oven cooked chicken and vegetables tasted nice enough and Regina tremendously enjoyed the new experience of being cooked for. It gave her a rather pleasant feeling of being cared for by someone that actually seemed to like her. The white wine Emma had chosen was pleasantly sweet and went right to her head. She’d have to be careful not to drink too much of it. After all, she wanted a clear head for what she feared – or awaited? – would happen this evening. Although…a bit of wine-induced courage could surely not be too bad. After their first glass of wine, conversation came to them more easily. They quickly fell into their old pattern of talking about matters concerning Storybrooke, as Emma’s and her duties overlapped frequently, Emma being the Sherriff and Regina the mayor.
Emma mentioned how Nosey and Sleepy had wanted to play a prank on Grumpy but that Sleepy had fallen, well, asleep while waiting for Grumpy to come home, nearly flooding the whole apartment because he hadn’t turned off the water-tap from the shower he was hiding in. Worried residents of the house had started calling the Sherriff’s department, reporting that water was leaking from the ceilings of their respective flats. Emma had had to kick the door down because nobody would open it and had finally entered the apartment to find a sleeping Dwarf in what seemed like a bad remake of Waterworld. Regina couldn’t stop herself from laughing uncontrollably at the image in her mind of the drowsy Dwarf being awakened by a fuming Emma.
Emma put on a semi-stern face. “That wasn’t funny! There was a lot of property damage and…oh all right, I guess in hindsight it was hilarious. But I definitely didn’t think so at the time, believe me, Sleepy can attest to that!”
“Yes, sure, I can vividly imagine the poor Dwarf shrinking even further under your famous wrath”, Regina huffed out between bouts of laughter. The evening continued to be fun, the talk was light and Regina felt like she hadn’t laughed that much in ages. And of course, the wine did help.
At some point, as it always did, their conversation turned to Henry.
“You know he was the one who really convinced me coming here tonight would be a good idea. Sure, Snow put in her opinion, too. But you know how I can never see Henry disappointed.”
“Is my ‘famous wrath’ really so intimidating that you didn’t dare come close to me?”, Emma chuckled.
“Well…I made it here, didn’t I? And so far, I’m not regretting my decision.” Regina suddenly felt quite sober again. Had she really just admitted to that?
Emma’s face grew serious at Regina’s open words and she put the glass of wine she was holding back down on the table with a quiet thump. “I’m…I’m really glad he was able to convince you. I – well, I kinda put him up to it.”, Emma mumbled, visibly embarrassed. Talking hastily now, as if afraid that Regina would interrupt her if she didn’t get this out fast enough, she continued: “I just didn’t think you would agree if I didn’t pull some strings and…and I don’t think I would’ve been able to bear it if you’d just…said no.”
Emma face had taken on the colour close to that of Regina’s dress but she pulled her chin up, looking Regina straight in the eye. Regina was baffled at this sudden outburst of honesty and…emotion? Was that really how Emma felt about her? Was it true that she couldn’t bear the thought of Regina rejecting her? With a start, she realised what the insecure and worried look on Emma’s face meant.
She was actually scared of Regina’s reaction. Regina didn’t like that expression on Emma at all. That woman had way too much to worry about already and unknowingly, Regina had added to that list, it seemed. The image of a particular blond came into her mind, sadness edged on her face as if it would never leave her. That had been the look she’d carried around for almost two months when Neal had died. She’d had to go through so much these past years, had had to endure such a wealth of pain and sadness and loss…In that moment Regina’s heart broke a little bit for the self-assured, strong woman she had become despite everything. And she knew that she was proud, so proud of the amazing woman sitting beside her right now. How could she not…how could she not have known that this feeling, this emotion that overtook her every time she laid eyes on Emma, how could she not have known what it was?
So she did the only thing she could think of in that moment, to show Emma what she had just realised herself. Lightly taking Emma’s left hand in her right, she stood, pulling Emma up with her.
“What…”, Emma started asking but Regina’s look of utter adoration stopped her in the tracks of her question. Regina raised her left hand and gently cupped Emma’s face. She leaned forward, closing what little distance remained between them until her lips met Emma’s. They weren’t incredibly soft, Regina could feel the hardened warrior that Emma had become even in her lips. This thought only encouraged her to put everything she had into this kiss, all the pride and affection and devotion she felt towards Emma, all the appreciation, the friendship, the…love.
Regina broke the kiss. Time seemed to stop for a minute while first a surprised, then bewildered look crossed Emma’s features until her face finally settled on…happy?
“I am honestly SO GLAD I asked Henry to force you to say yes to this!”, she exclaimed, her expression breaking into a wide smile, though she still managed to look a bit unbelieving. “This DID just happen, right? I’m not in a magic dream or in the underworld or in some fairy realm where your deepest wish just comes magically true?”
Regina couldn’t supress a half-smile herself. “So, I’m your deepest wish? That’s so ‘Snow’ of you, guess the apple doesn’t fall far and all that.” Her smile had broadened into an impression of her most self-satisfied and seductive smirk.
“You better be glad that I’m the brave one of us, ‘cause if it had been up to you to make the first step, we’d still be awkwardly avoiding at each other and be weirdly formal around Henry and my parents. At least I had the courage to get moving and take what I want.”
As Regina prepared for a retort, Emma interrupted her quickly by – was she actually PURRING?!
“And for that matter, what I WANT right now is a lot more of that kissin’ you apparently do so well. How about we take this to the living room? I think that sofa looks sooo much more inviting every minute. Although I wouldn’t say no to the rest of that wine…what do you think?”
Without hesitation, Regina roughly grabbed the still half full of the two bottles without letting go of Emma’s hand that she was still holding on to and pulled Emma behind her with determination.
“Miss Swan, by now even you should be aware that whatever the Saviour wants, the Saviour gets”, Regina insinuated deviously. “And I most definitely will not be the one to break THAT curse.”