Chapter ten

Regina unlocked the front door and held out a hand. Without hesitating, Emma took hold of it and let herself be guided over the threshold.

'Thanks,' she said, wincing as she put weight on her strapped up ankle. It wasn't broken, but it was badly bruised and Doctor Whale had told her not to walk on it for a couple of weeks – but, naturally, there was some kind of inexplicable crutch shortage in the hospital, and they wouldn't be able to get her one until the next day.

She grabbed onto the console table and hobbled further into the house.

'You should have stayed overnight like they told you to,' Regina said as she closed the door. She turned back to watch Emma stubbornly trying to move through the house on her own, clinging to furniture as she went. It was equal parts endearing and hilarious.

'I don't like hospitals,' Emma said, grabbing hold of the wall and hopping forwards. 'Besides, an overnight stay would have doubled the bill. I wasn't about to do that to you.'

'While that is sweet, it is also ridiculous,' Regina said, walking after her. Emma had barely made it to the living room door and at this rate it was going to take her a week to get to the kitchen. 'I don't begrudge spending money on people who are injured.'

'I'm fine,' Emma grunted. 'They gave me a proper check up and everything is good.'

'That may be true, but you still should have stayed overnight.'

'There was no point, Regina,' Emma sighed. 'They did their questioning and they cleaned me up and I don't have a concussion or anything. I just wanted to get back home.'

Regina smiled at the word 'home' but turned her face away so Emma wouldn't see it.

'I realise that,' she said, still walking slowly alongside her. 'But do you not think—?'

'We've already had this discussion,' Emma interrupted. 'I won. I didn't want to stay there, and we both know you didn't want to stay here alone either. So here I am.'

Emma's attention was still fixed on trying to make it across the house, and finally Regina sighed. She stepped closer to her and slid an arm around her waist.

'Come along, Miss Swan,' she said, pulling her close against her body. 'I'm not getting any younger.'

Emma rolled her eyes, but reached her arm up and wrapped it around Regina's shoulders. 'Thank you.'

Regina guided Emma towards the kitchen. Both of them avoided the living room without even discussing it, and as they passed by Regina was vaguely aware of the fact that she would need to clean Emma's blood out of the carpet.

The house was much quieter now, and beneath Regina's hands Emma's body felt sharp like a piece of flint. She held her as close to her side as she could without hurting her even more.

'Thanks,' Emma said when they reached the middle of the kitchen. She grabbed the nearest stool and hoisted herself up onto it, grimacing.

Regina took a step back and looked at her. Emma's left eye was surrounded by a ring of deep purple and was nearly swollen shut. She had scraped her hair back into a tight ponytail that only seemed to exaggerate her injuries, and the thick split running down her lip looked like it had been drawn on with a Sharpie.

She looked up and saw Regina watching her. 'What?'

'Nothing,' Regina said, leaning back against the counter. 'You're just… You look a lot calmer than I would have expected.'

Inside, Emma's stomach was curling around like a pit full of snakes and her heart was aching in a way that somehow hurt more than her bruises. But Regina was right – she did feel strangely at ease. She'd been tensed up and waiting to get hurt every day for the last year of her life and now it finally felt like she could unclench her muscles again.

'Yeah,' she sighed, adjusting her position and trying not to wince. 'I know what you mean. I thought I'd be freaking out too.'

'Aren't you?'

Emma considered it for a moment.

'Yeah,' she admitted, forcing a smile. 'I feel like this has been… too easy, almost.'

'Too easy?' Regina frowned. 'Emma – he could have killed you. He followed you up the east coast and he threatened your life and mine and Henry's.'

'I know,' Emma said, running her hands over her hair. 'But he's actually been taken away now and he's in some cell and it just all happened so quickly. This morning, before he showed up, I had started to feel like maybe I was free from him, and now I actually could be. It's just… a lot to absorb.'

Regina swallowed. She didn't want to be the bearer of bad news, and she knew that Emma was probably aware of it – but she had to say it anyway. 'Emma. You know he probably won't confess to it.'

Emma smiled, and it looked painful. 'Yeah. I know.'

'And you know that there will be a hearing, and you'll have to give evidence, and—'

'Regina,' Emma interrupted her in her quietest voice. 'I know all of that. I promise you – I'm not under some illusion that everything is over now and he can never hurt me again. But for the first time ever, he's a bit further away and I just feel… relieved. It's probably really naïve of me, but—'

'No,' Regina said, walking over to the counter. She leaned against the edge of it and reached out for Emma's hand, squeezing it between her own. 'It's not naïve. I'm glad that you're still able to let yourself feel like that.'

Emma smiled at her. 'It's only because of you.'

'Me?'

'Yeah,' Emma said. She looked down and realised that their fingers were still laced together, and she made no attempt to separate them. 'I think we both know that if I hadn't come here to find you – if I'd just run away to some other random town and hoped that he'd never track me down, and he'd shown up at my door there – I wouldn't have been able to say no to him. I might not have even left him in the first place – I never had any intention of doing it before you showed up in Boston and immediately called me on all my crap and told me, without knowing a single thing about me, that I was better than him. You planted the idea in my head and you've been making it grow ever since. Every single day, when you told me that I deserve better, I started to believe you just a little bit more.'

Regina could feel a flush of pride rising in her cheeks. 'I'm just glad I could help.'

She wasn't looking up, and Emma took the opportunity to absorb her face in its entirety. Regina was paler than normal and clearly exhausted, and whenever she pursed her lips Emma could see that she had been biting at them, probably since the moment they had stepped into the ambulance together.

Emma squeezed on her hand, and Regina looked up.

'You do realise that you saved my life, don't you?'

Regina half rolled her eyes. 'Stop being so dramatic.'

'No,' Emma said more firmly, never blinking, never looking away. Her eyes were piercing and urgent and as much as Regina wanted to avert her gaze, she couldn't. 'Regina, you were like some kind of superhero tonight. He would have killed me if you hadn't been here – he wouldn't have thought twice about it. But you threw him off and you got in between us and… god, you could have gotten so hurt.'

'But I didn't,' Regina said as gently as she could. 'I'm fine. As usual, you're the one who did.'

'Because it was my problem,' Emma shrugged. 'It was my place. You had nothing to do with any of this until I dragged you into it, and all I wanted was for you to get out of it safely but you just… you stayed for me. And all the things you said to him, about me and about…'

She paused, swallowing.

'No one has ever stood up for me like that before, Regina. No one. And I was so scared for you – when he showed up here and I knew that I couldn't come and get you from work, and then the phone kept ringing and ringing and I knew it was you wondering where I was and wondering why you'd ever bothered to take a chance on me. I was so scared that you would come storming in and get hurt, and all I wanted was for you to decide to just go to the hospital and see Henry after all and not get caught up in any of this. But you didn't, and you risked your life for me, and you saved me. I don't know how I can ever thank you for that.'

'I don't want your thanks, Emma,' Regina said. Emma's hand felt burning hot in her own. 'I just want you safe. That's all.'

The smile that Emma gave her then was surprisingly shy. She looked down at their interlaced fingers with some of her normal colour finally returning to her cheeks.

After a moment of silence, Regina looked up at the clock. 'It's nearly 1 o'clock, you know.'

'God,' Emma said. 'Is it? I'm not even tired.'

Regina herself felt completely drained, but she wasn't about to say that. She nodded. 'Me either. It must be all the adrenaline. Do you want a cup of tea?'

Emma frowned. 'Tea?'

'It's good for you if you've been through trauma,' Regina said, reluctantly peeling her fingers away from Emma's. 'The sugar helps with shock.'

'I don't really like tea,' Emma said, watching as Regina began to walk away. 'Especially if there's sugar in it.'

'Well, I'm having one,' Regina said, pulling a cup out of the cupboard and deliberately not looking round. 'Suit yourself.'

There was a pause. Emma watched as Regina filled up the kettle and placed it on the stove. Then she said, 'Okay. I'll have one too.'

Regina smiled to herself, taking out a second cup without saying a word.

When the tea was ready, Regina brought the two steaming cups back over to where Emma was sitting. The fact that Emma had already sourced two coasters and laid them out in front of her made Regina feel oddly like crying.

'We should probably talk to Henry about this, you know,' Emma said, nodding her thanks and pulling the cup closer to her. 'About Killian.'

Regina froze. 'We… should?'

'Well. I think so,' Emma said. 'He's your son so I know it's your decision, but I just think that he's obviously already aware that I didn't get my old bruises from tripping over a cable. When he sees me like this he's bound to start asking questions all over again.'

'And you don't mind him knowing?' Regina said, pulling herself up onto the barstool opposite Emma's.

Emma paused, wetting her lips. Her eyes were fixed on the thin tendrils of steam rising out of her mug. 'Maybe he shouldn't know everything. Some of the gory details are probably a bit too much for a 10-year-old. But…'

Her sentence trailed off and Regina sighed.

'Emma,' she said, reaching out for Emma's hand once more and waiting for her to look back up. 'Henry already knows.'

'He does?' Emma blinked. 'How?'

'Because he's intuitive as hell,' Regina rolled her eyes. 'He probably knew from the moment he met you – that's why he kept asking about your face and your family and what you were really doing here. But then tonight, when you were being checked over and then being questioned… I hope you don't mind.'

Emma's face flickered with a smile. 'You went to go and see him?'

'Yes,' Regina said, chewing on her bottom lip. 'I wasn't sneaking off without you. I just… I wasn't needed and I didn't want to just sit around feeling useless, and he was only two floors away.'

'It's okay, Regina,' Emma said, rubbing her thumb over the back of Regina's hand. 'I don't mind you paying your sick son a visit. I'm not a sociopath.'

'But you might have wanted to come with me.'

Emma shrugged. 'Sure, I would have. But do you really think that would have been a good idea?'

Regina took in the bruises and marks that were spread across Emma's face like cracked eggs, and in spite of herself, she smiled. 'No. Probably not.'

'So, you went and saw him,' Emma said, picking up her cup and blowing on the surface of the tea. 'What happened?'

'He asked what I was doing there at 10pm, obviously,' Regina said, shaking her head. 'So I told him the truth – that you had been brought in because you'd gotten hurt, and while they were checking you out in the emergency room I'd decided to go and see how he was doing.'

Emma was already smiling. 'And what did he say to that?'

'Oh, god,' Regina sighed, almost laughing. 'It was incessant. "Is she okay? Can I help? Can I go see her? How did she get hurt? What's wrong with her? Can she come and stay in my room with me?" At one point he got out of the bed to go and find you himself. I had to physically restrain him.'

And in that split second, Emma saw a flash of hurt cross Regina's face. She didn't need to wonder what it was about.

She squeezed more tightly on Regina's hand.

'He doesn't love me, you know,' she said quietly. 'Not like he loves you. He's just interested in me, is all.'

At once, Regina's favourite emotionless smile appeared on her lips. 'I am aware of that, Miss Swan. It's just a bit…'

'Threatening,' Emma finished for her. Regina blinked, and just as quickly as it had been brought up, her mask slipped.

'Yes. Exactly.'

'And that's okay,' Emma said. Regina was sure that she'd never looked at her so intensely before. 'From the moment you came to Boston, we knew this would be difficult. Even though things have turned out… well, kind of differently to how we expected, this is still really hard. Especially for you. But I'm not going to steal your son away from you, and I don't think he'd want me to. He loves you to the moon and back, Regina. I can never compete with that, and I wouldn't even try to.'

The cold bubble of fear in Regina's chest stopped feeling quite so suffocating. She sighed.

'I've been a single mother for the last 10 years,' she said quietly. 'I've never had a co-parent. I don't have any idea how that's meant to work.'

Emma looked down at their interlocked fingers. 'Regina – if you are still happy with me staying in this town, then we're going to play by your rules, not mine. If you want to set a schedule for when I can see him, that's okay. If you want me to come round at the drop of a hat, then that's okay too. Whatever you like. I want this to be as easy as possible for you.'

Regina frowned. 'If I want you to come round?'

'Well,' Emma blinked. 'If you'd rather I meet him somewhere else, that's cool too. I just—'

'No, you idiot,' Regina rolled her eyes. 'I meant – you won't be staying here?'

There was a pause. Emma narrowed her eyes at Regina, checking that she wasn't about to start laughing.

'Why would I stay here?' she asked slowly.

'Well,' Regina blustered, trying to pull her hand away. Emma held on tight. 'I don't know. I just don't want you to feel like you have to leave. If you want to find your own place then you are more than welcome to, but… you know.'

She waited for Emma to say something in response, but nothing came. Regina looked up, her eyes squinting anxiously, and she found Emma watching her with an expression of amusement that told her she didn't believe a word that she was saying.

Regina sighed and said more quietly, 'I've just enjoyed having you here. That's all.'

Emma smiled. 'You know I've enjoyed being here too, and, if you'll let me stay, then I really don't have any plans to leave this town. But this house is yours, Regina. You've been ridiculously kind, letting me stay here for the last few days, but Henry will be back soon and I'm pretty sure neither of you will want some strange woman crashing in the guest room when that happens.'

Regina forced herself to shrug, like maybe Emma had a point, but she didn't say what she really wanted to.

But I'll miss you.

'Anyway,' Emma said, finally releasing Regina's hand so that she could pick up her cup of tea. 'You were telling me what happened when you saw Henry.'

'Oh, right,' Regina said, pulling her own cup towards her. 'Well, there were a lot of questions. A lot of him demanding that I take him to see you. But eventually I managed to convince him that that wasn't a good idea, and so he just straight out asked who hurt you.'

'You didn't try for another "she fell down" story?'

Regina raised her eyebrows. 'Would you have believed that?'

'Probably not,' Emma admitted. 'So what happened?'

'I decided I should probably just be honest with him,' Regina said slowly. 'I'm sorry – I should have discussed it with you first. I just… he's my son and I don't like lying to him.'

But Emma had already raised one hand, waving Regina's words away. 'Don't worry about it. You don't have to run anything by me. What did you tell him?'

'I said that you'd left your home because your husband kept hurting you,' Regina said, swallowing. 'And that he'd managed to find you. Henry asked what happened and I didn't want to give him too much information, so I just told him that he had hit you and then Graham had come and taken him away, and you were going to be okay now.'

To her surprise, Emma suddenly grinned. Regina blinked back at her.

'What?' she asked slowly.

'Nothing. I just forgot to ask you about that,' Emma said.

'Ask what?'

'Graham,' Emma said. 'He's the sheriff you used to meet up with at Granny's, right?'

At once, Regina's cheeks turned scarlet. 'How on earth did you remember that today of all days?'

'I had some spare time while they were x-raying my ankle,' Emma replied, smirking. 'He's kind of cute. I can see why you went for him.'

'He was… fine.'

'How long were you seeing each other for?'

'It's… hard to say,' Regina said, shifting in her seat. 'Quite a long time.'

'And how did you end things?'

'I don't know. I…' Suddenly, Regina paused – she had heard something in Emma's probing voice that she hadn't expected to. With a delighted laugh, she asked, 'Are you jealous?'

At once Emma bristled, her own cheeks flushing. 'No! Of course I'm not.'

'Then why do you care about him?'

'I'm showing an interest,' Emma snapped. 'It's the polite thing to do.'

'Because we've always been so polite to one another?'

'Well, no. But now I can see why I never bothered.' Emma glared down at her cup of tea. 'You are so obnoxious.'

'And you are so bad at hiding your feelings,' Regina replied more softly. She reached out and prised Emma's fingers away from her mug. 'It never meant anything, Emma. He was just a distraction.'

Emma scowled. 'An attractive one.'

'Well, yes. Graham is good looking,' Regina admitted, squeezing Emma's hand. 'But he was also not very interesting, and not particularly smart either. We never had any real connection. He was just the best of a bad bunch.'

Emma forced a smile. She knew it was completely ridiculous for her to be jealous of Regina's ex when she was the one who was married, but it didn't stop her stomach from twisting around like a length of rope.

Regina could see the disappointment flickering across her face and suddenly all she wanted in the whole world was to make it go away again.

'Emma,' she said softly, waiting for her to look back up at her. 'I do mean it. We saw each other for an hour a week and we barely even knew each other. He certainly wouldn't have been able to cook my favourite meal for me.'

'I could only do it because I asked Henry what it is.'

'And the fact that you cared enough to ask says a great deal more than you can possibly realise,' Regina said. 'We weren't even friends. He was just… there. And I ended it because that wasn't enough anymore.'

Emma hated herself for asking it, but she had to do it. 'I'm just 'here' too. Am I a distraction as well?'

Regina paused, her eyes narrowing. She knew that she should be offended, or even angry that Emma was questioning this. But Emma wasn't asking out of malice, or to get a rise out of her – she was asking because she genuinely needed to know. Her heart was aching and Regina was all she had left, and she needed to know how tightly she was allowed to cling onto her before she inevitably got told to let go again.

Regina released her hand, and immediately Emma's face collapsed.

But then Regina climbed out of her seat and walked around to the other side of the island, with Emma watching her the whole way. When she reached her side, she slowly reached out for Emma's chin, holding it as gently as possible as she turned her face towards her.

Emma waited with her gaze darting across Regina's face, taking in the dark circles underneath her eyes and the faint bite marks in her trembling lower lip. There was a pause before Regina moved her hand, tucking a stray wisp of hair behind Emma's ear.

Her hand shifted and rested below Emma's ear, her thumb gently stroking her swollen jaw and her fingers cupping the back of her neck. Emma still looked up at her, her eyes wide and glassy, watching the woman above her like she had descended from heaven with the sole purpose of protecting Emma from this awful, shitty world. She was the only real friend that Emma had ever had and, she was slowly starting to realise, probably the only one she would ever need.

Regina hesitated, frowning for just a second, before she leaned forwards and pressed her lips against Emma's. It was the softest, most cautious kiss that Emma had ever known, and she felt her eyes prickling from Regina's touch. Reaching her hands forwards and resting them on Regina's waist, she held her loosely, willing her to come closer without wanting to pull her.

Regina lifted her other hand to cup Emma's face and gently parted her lips, feeling their noses brush against one another as she moved. She desperately wanted to kiss her more fiercely, finally finishing their kiss from the night before, but she was all too aware of Emma's bruised, aching face and the tired circles under her eyes. So instead she stepped closer, pressing her body as close to Emma's as she could, and gently tilted her head back. She felt Emma's grip on her waist tighten momentarily as she parted her lips further, telling her everything with one kiss that she wasn't quite brave enough to say out loud.

When Regina pulled away and rested her forehead against Emma's, it wasn't with the same regret as she night before. Emma opened her eyes and looked up at her, not wondering why she'd stopped but just happy that she'd kissed her in the first place.

'Please stay,' Regina said quietly.

Emma blinked. She reached up one hand and pushed Regina's hair away from her face.

'For how long?'

'As long as you like,' Regina said, standing upright once more. Her right hand stayed on Emma's face, gently cupping her swollen cheek, and Emma leaned into it. 'If you really want to find a place of your own, then I won't stop you. But I want you to stay here. So please, don't go. Not yet.'

Emma felt like she was being cracked open. Both women knew that Emma was lonely and deeply afraid, and it wasn't altogether surprising whenever she showed it. But it was rare that Regina would admit she felt the same way.

Everything that Killian had spat at Emma – that Regina didn't really want her there, or even care about her at all – had been a lie. She already knew that – Regina had just given her the proof.

Emma reached forward, took hold of Regina's other hand, and brought it up to her lips.

'Okay,' she said, pressing a kiss against her knuckles.

Regina sagged with relief. 'You mean it?'

'Of course,' Emma smiled. 'I have no idea why you would want me here taking up all your room, but if you are happy to have me, then I'm not going anywhere.'

'I want you here because you are my friend,' Regina said, then paused. 'And hopefully more. I like your company and I want to get to know you better, and I just… I have to be sure that you're safe. I can't let you go until I know that you're going to be alright. Is that… is that okay?'

Emma smiled, suddenly certain that she was about to cry. 'It's perfect.'

Regina sighed, gratitude ebbing from her. She leaned forward and kissed the top of Emma's head, breathing in the smell of vanilla that she'd already come to love so much.

When she pulled away, tears pricking at her eyes, she took in the two full cups beside them and sighed.

'I think our tea has gone cold.'

'Well, I did warn you that I don't like it,' Emma said, lifting her cup and taking a sip. 'It's okay. It's still warm.'

Regina reluctantly returned to her own seat. 'We should probably go to bed after this.'

'Probably,' Emma sighed, looking up at the clock. It was 1:30am. 'Unless you still have room for lasagne.'

Regina laughed. 'I put it away. We can have it tomorrow.'

'It might be terrible.'

'Well, it almost certainly won't be as good as mine,' Regina said, smirking. 'But I'm willing to give it a try.'

Emma snorted, drinking more of her tea with a pained expression on her face. Regina noticed at once.

'Is it that bad?'

'It's okay,' Emma shrugged. 'I would have preferred scotch though.'

'So would I,' Regina admitted. 'We can have that tomorrow too.'

Emma smiled.

'It's a date,' she said, and against her will Regina felt herself blushing.

'Yes, it is,' she murmured. Emma's gaze fell, her lips still curved upwards, and they drank the rest of their tea in silence.

As Regina washed the cups and locked up the house, Emma hauled her exhausted body up the stairs, using the banister as a crutch. She eventually made it into what was now her bedroom and collapsed at the end of the bed, then began to root around for the pyjamas that she had claimed as her own.

When Regina came upstairs, she found Emma in the guest bathroom, brushing her teeth as she thoughtfully examined her own face in the mirror. Regina leaned against the doorframe, ready to offer her some kind of reassurance about her injuries, but then she paused. She realised with a sad twinge that Emma didn't even look concerned by them.

'Are you okay?' Regina asked, and Emma turned to look at her, toothpaste frothing at the corners of her mouth. She nodded, offering Regina a genuine smile. Regina nodded. She slipped back into the hallway, going to her own room to get ready for bed.

Ten minutes later, when Emma was just scooting down below her sheets and trying to work out the best way to position her injured ankle, Regina appeared in the doorway, wearing the same silky shorts and cami as the night before. She had pulled her hair back into a short ponytail and as soon as Emma spotted her, her face lit up.

Regina paused. 'What?'

'Nothing,' Emma said, propping herself up on one elbow. 'You just look sweet.'

Regina rolled her eyes, but the compliment made her blush. 'Whatever you say, Miss Swan.'

She walked towards the bed, pulling back the corner of the duvet, and Emma didn't even question why she was choosing to stay with her again. She was so relieved by the fact that Regina wanted to spend the night by her side that she just smiled, settling back against her pillows.

'Is your ankle okay?' Regina asked, sliding between the sheets. Emma shrugged.

'It hurts,' she said. 'But I've had worse.'

'Are you going to be able to sleep?'

'Probably,' Emma said. She watched as Regina settled down, adjusting the pillows beneath her head. She turned onto her side to face Emma.

'Can you turn off the lamp?'

Emma reached out and snapped it off, and the room fell into darkness.

Emma's face was throbbing, and she realised then that the hospital painkillers were beginning to wear off. She grimaced, turning onto her side and positioning herself carefully so that she didn't lean on any of her new bruises. Her leg was stretched out along the bed, but she could feel her ankle starting to ache all over again.

She glanced up, and even in the darkness she could see that Regina was watching her. 'Does it hurt?'

Emma swallowed. 'Yeah.'

'Can I do anything?'

'No. Just…' Emma sighed. It was easier to be honest in the dark, but some things were still hard to say. 'Just stay with me.'

'I will.' Regina reached out and found Emma's hand above the sheets, and their fingers automatically laced together. 'I promise.'

Emma cleared her throat, and Regina waited patiently for whatever it was she wanted to say. She could feel Emma's fingers tapping nervously against the back of her hand.

'You were right to stop things last night,' Emma said, her voice curling through the darkness. 'I'm sorry I was such a jerk about it. I was just disappointed and embarrassed and I guess probably a bit afraid too. But you did the right thing I'm sorry for acting like such a douche afterwards.'

Regina didn't have to ask her what she was afraid of. She squeezed on her hand.

'I was disappointed too,' she said. 'And a little afraid. I wanted to keep going, but…'

'I know,' Emma said. 'You don't have to explain. You were the one who was thinking straight. I was just a bit lost in it all.'

Regina smiled. 'Well. It was very good.'

She heard Emma laugh softly. 'It really was. It's good to know that your mouth is skilled at many things, other than calling me an idiot.'

Regina laughed out loud, bringing Emma's hand up to her lips so that she could kiss her knuckles.

'You know I don't actually mean it.'

'Usually,' Emma said, and Regina felt her shuffling closer. 'But sometimes I probably deserve it.'

She was suddenly only an inch away and, no matter how exhausted Regina felt, all she wanted to do was reach out and pull Emma towards her, kissing her until she couldn't remember her own name.

'Sometimes,' Regina murmured, her voice soft, as she released Emma's hand. She reached out to find the side of her face and tucked a curl behind her ear. 'It can be endearing though.'

Emma's eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness, and she could see Regina's face only a breath away from her own. Her hand, pressed coolly against the side of her throbbing face, made the pain start to ebb away. She felt her toes curl against the sheets, her body arching towards Regina's of its own accord.

She took a breath and gambled.

'Kiss me.'

Regina had never heard her speak so softly before. Without hesitation, she edged forwards and brushed the tip of her nose against Emma's, listening to her sigh of relief like it was her favourite song, before she tilted her head forwards and captured Emma's mouth with her own. At once Emma's hands slid up to her neck, holding onto the back of it as she felt herself starting to drown under wave upon wave of soft, open-mouthed kisses.

Regina wanted more, so much more, but she forced herself to take it slow, holding Emma gently like she might break at any moment. She flicked her tongue inside Emma's mouth, her whole body shivering when Emma moaned in response, and cupped the back of her head. She tilted it back against the pillows and buried a hand beneath her hair, sliding one leg between Emma's.

Then she felt a trickle of something wet against her nose and pulled back, her heart pounding. She sighed.

'Oh, Emma,' she said softly, reaching out to brush one thumb under her swollen eyes. Emma's face was wet with tears and, even though she was smiling and shaking her head, Regina's heart felt like it was breaking.

'I'm okay,' Emma said, almost laughing. She reached up to brush the tears off of her cheeks. 'It's okay. I'm sorry. I just…'

She sighed, quickly pressing a kiss against Regina's lips before she could pull away again.

'I'm just really, really glad you're here.'

In spite of herself, Regina smiled. 'This is a funny way of showing it.'

'Sorry,' Emma repeated, swallowing. Her throat felt jagged. 'It's just been a really long day. I didn't plan on ruining your amazing kisses with my crying. I'm not even sad.'

Regina half-laughed, shaking her head.

'I think you might be a little bit,' she said quietly.

Emma paused. 'Maybe. But not about this.'

'I'm glad to hear it,' Regina replied, leaning forwards for a final kiss before she settled back down against her pillows. 'You really need to get some sleep.'

Emma's head was spinning. 'Yeah. Probably.'

'Maybe…' Regina said, then swallowed. 'Maybe I could take tomorrow off? We could spend the day together.'

Through the darkness, she could see the beaming smile that had spread across Emma's still-wet face.

'I would really like that,' she said softly, edging closer to Regina's side. 'We could spend the morning with Henry.'

'Yes,' Regina agreed. She paused, then turned slightly away from Emma so that she could press her back up against her stomach. She felt Emma's hand slide around her waist. 'Then I can show you the town properly. Since you're going to be staying here a while.'

'That sounds great,' Emma murmured in her ear.

'Did you ever try Granny's diner?'

'No, I didn't get the chance.'

'I'll take you there,' Regina said, nudging herself further backwards until Emma's body was perfectly curved against her own. 'It's not the most upmarket establishment, but she does very good pancakes.'

She felt Emma's sleepy smile against her shoulder. 'You like pancakes?'

'I do. Just don't tell Henry that.'

Emma laughed. 'I'll take it to my grave.'

Regina smiled, closing her eyes. Emma's warm body was wrapped around her like a blanket, and behind her she could feel her breathing starting to slow.

Then she suddenly piped up, 'You know, it would probably make more sense for us to sleep in your bed.'

Regina didn't open her eyes. 'Probably.'

'Tomorrow maybe.'

'Yes,' Regina said, squeezing the hand that was resting on her waist. 'Tomorrow.'

THE END

A/N: Thanks so much for tagging along with this story even though it was dark as fuck and came three years after the first chapter. You guys truly are the best. I hope I didn't scar any of you too badly... More stories coming soon hopefully! x