A/N: This is my first Swan Queen story. I absolutely love this pairing and my muse finally decided to grace me with her presence and help me put a little something together. I'm not a native speaker so there might be some mistakes or weird sentences and stuff. Bear with me, I don't have a beta. The story could stand alone as a one shot, but I'm planning on continuing it. Anyway, make sure you leave me some reviews, I absolutely love those!
Also, a little shout out to an Anon over at TLC for thinking of "bluish green" for describing Emma's eyes. Seriously, what's the deal with her eyes? Are they blue or green?
The shrill sound of a telephone ringing pulled Emma out of her afternoon reverie. She'd been sitting in her office, her legs resting on the desk, her eyes on the clock, counting down the minutes until her shift ended. It was a slow day at the Sheriff's office. Not that it was a new thing – in a town such as Storybrooke, every afternoon was a slow one. Every night, too. And every morning.
"Yeah?" she answered lazily, stretching across the desk to reach the phone. It wasn't really an admirable way for a Sheriff to answer the phone, but she didn't really care.
"Hey, you ready?" the excited voice of her roommate on the other end of the line instantly put a frown on Emma's face.
"Please don't tell me it's today," she groaned.
"Yes, it's today and yes, you're coming home as soon as you get off work so you can help me with the decorations," Mary Margaret made a fairly believable case in sounding firm.
Another groan from Emma.
"Emma? Do we have a deal?" Mary Margaret pressed on.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll be there in twenty." With that, Emma ended the conversation and let out another annoyed groan. She really wasn't in the mood to hang out with people, but town duty and her roommate called. She was fairly sure she could deal with Mary Margaret, but the Mayor was another thing. She wouldn't give her the chance to attack her yet again for failing to help the townsfolk.
Forty minutes later, Emma was walking down the street carrying two pretty heavy boxes, Christmas lights threatening to spill over the edge of the top one. Mary Margaret was beside her, talking about Storybrooke's traditional Christmas Decorating Day. It turned out it was almost a festival –the first December weekend of every year was reserved for putting up decorations all over the small Maine town and everyone participated. It was a cute tradition, even if Emma wasn't able to appreciate it fully. She was dead tired and would have killed for a bed, but that obviously wasn't happening. However, this was a chance for her to spend some time with Henry, so she decided not to complain too much. Sure enough, Henry's voice reached her ears a moment later.
"Emma! You're here!" he exclaimed as he ran out of a big tent set up on a lawn near the Town Hall.
"Hey, kid!" She smiled and allowed him to take the bottom box from her hands, the much lighter one. He seemed really glad to be able to help and so the three of them started towards the tent that doubled as headquarters of the decorators for the day.
"Henry!" Emma lifted her gaze up towards the source of the half stern, half worried voice. The Mayor was standing at the entrance to the tent, her eyes trained on Henry. "Get back here, you'll catch a cold," she continued, paying no mind to Emma and Mary Margaret. "What did I tell you about going out without your jacket?"
Henry spared a quick glance in Emma's direction and hurried inside the tent, muttering an almost imperceptible "Yes, mom," as he went in.
Regina let out a breath to steady herself and focused on the two newcomers.
"You're late," she said, eyeing them critically.
"I was at work. You know, making sure no criminals ruin this special day and all that?" Emma shot back, immediately descending right back into her bad mood.
"And I was waiting for her so she could help me with these," Mary Margaret added quickly, lifting the boxes in her hands a bit, as if to make sure the Mayor knew what she was talking about.
"Yes, well, get in. We haven't got all day." With that, the brunette turned on her heel and went inside.
"This is gonna be a long day," Emma muttered as she followed inside.
At precisely 7 o'clock, everyone was gathered in front of the tent, the anticipation palpable in the air. After a whole day of work, this was the moment everyone had been waiting for, especially the kids. Regina stood on a makeshift podium, a perfect politician smile gracing her lips.
"Shall we have a countdown?" she asked, raising her eyebrows in question.
Everyone cheered and started counting down from ten, the shouts getting louder as they approached zero. Henry was bouncing with excitement, standing beside Emma right in front of the podium.
"Zero!"
Regina smiled and pressed the switch in her hand. The air around them seemed to glitter with flashing colors of numerous big and small lights, Christmas music coming out of large speakers set up inside and around the tent. There wasn't a single tree in Emma's line of sight that wasn't decorated in some way. Sure, the decorations weren't really in sync and almost everything but the lights were homemade, but that made it really special and homey. After the cheers and the applause calmed down a bit, Regina continued.
"Great work, everyone. Now, I hope you enjoy the remainder of this wonderful evening. As you know, there's plenty of food and drinks so make sure you help yourselves," with a satisfied smile on her lips and a slight nod of her head, she descended down the steps and approached Henry and Emma.
"Mom, can I go get some cotton candy?" Henry asked immediately, giving his mother his best puppy eyes look.
"Yes, but not too much. You need to go to bed in a couple of hours and you know you can't sleep when you eat too much sugar," she replied, the stern sound of her voice countered with a sincere smile gracing her features.
Henry nodded and bounced off, clearly excited out of his mind with the happenings of the day. As soon as he left, Regina invaded Emma's personal space in her usual fashion.
"Miss Swan, please make sure you don't get too drunk tonight. I hope you can control your urges." Just as she was about to turn around and walk away with that devilish smirk of hers, Emma stopped her.
"My urges? What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm simply saying you have a responsibility as sheriff and I hope you have that in mind tonight," the brunette replied immediately.
"I'm off duty, Regina."
"Are you off duty when it comes to setting an example for Henry, too?"
Emma rolled her eyes. "Don't you have someone else to boss around? If I wanna drink, I'll drink. Got it?" Emma stepped a couple of inches closer.
Regina's eyes descended upon the blonde's lips and quickly returned back to her bluish green eyes. "Don't play with fire, miss Swan."
"Oh, really?" Emma muttered as she watched the Mayor walk away and enter the tent. "We'll see about that."
Sure enough, an hour and a half later, Emma was on her fifth drink. Or was it the sixth?
"All right, ladies, to us!" Ruby exclaimed as she raised her martini glass.
"That's the third time we're drinking to us, Ruby," Mary Margaret chuckled.
"So? We need to drive that point home. Come on!"
Emma joined her glass with Mary Margaret and Ruby's and so they drank to them again. Emma's mood definitely improved with every drink and she realized she enjoyed the company of her two new friends. Some might say that her roommate was uptight and shy, but looks were deceiving – she knew how to have fun. In an elementary teacher kind of way, of course. Ruby, on the other hand - nothing deceiving there. She was the embodiment of fun. Emma felt comfortable in her chair, enjoying the warmth coming from the heaters scattered all over the tent's interior. She had been afraid they would have to be out all night, but numerous tables were set inside the warm tent with enough room for everyone.
However, she couldn't completely get into it, no matter how much she drank or how many inappropriate jokes Ruby told. Her eyes kept wandering to Regina. The Mayor was definitely in her element. Walking around with a glass of red wine in her hand, an air of confidence about her as she conversed with everyone for a moment before moving on to the next group of people. Emma wasn't sure why she was so annoyed. There was something about Regina and her comments that just irked her.
"So, what the hell is her deal?" The blonde interrupted the conversation being held at her table as she pointed her finger in Regina's direction.
Ruby and Mary Margaret both turned around and then returned their gazes to Emma, blank expressions written all over their faces.
"Huh?" was all Ruby managed.
"Why is she constantly all over me? I don't get it," Emma tried to elaborate.
"Well, you are a threat to her relationship with Henry," Mary Margaret tried.
"If she took the time to get that stick out of her ass, she'd realize she's the only threat to that relationship," The blonde snorted. "I'm not trying to take him away."
"Still," Mary Margaret pressed on. "Henry's taken quite a liking to you. Besides, people don't usually stand up to her so you're the odd man out again," She finished, casting her glance down and taking a quick gulp of her drink.
"It excites her that you stand up to her," Ruby added with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Whatever," Emma huffed and finished her drink.
The conversation went back to lighter topics and more drinks crowded their table. The Sheriff was still unable to completely focus – it seemed as if wherever she looked, Regina was there, taunting her with her mere presence. She followed her with her eyes as she exited the tent. The second the infuriating woman was out of her sight, something in Emma snapped and she got up from her chair and walked away without a word to her friends. They were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't even notice her leave, anyway.
The air outside was cool and helped clear up her mind, though not enough for her to turn around and return to her table. Inexplicably, she followed Regina into Granny's. She was going there to use the restroom since, obviously, there wasn't one in the tent. Emma was far enough for Regina not to hear her, at least not until the moment she realized the door of her chosen stall were somehow stuck.
She turned around to see Emma with her hand pressed firmly against the door.
"Miss Swan…?"
She didn't get to finish her question. Emma quickly entered the stall and slammed the door behind her, locking it in one swift move. Before she knew what she was doing, she pressed Regina against the stall wall and kissed her. She clashed roughly with Regina's tightly shut and still lips. She felt strong hands on her shoulders a moment later, pushing her away.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Regina exclaimed, visibly shaken and caught, quite literally, off guard.
Even though her mind was screaming to stop and get out of there, Emma found herself unable to do so. Her eyes were fixed on those perfect lips and she wanted nothing more but to feel them pressed against her own again.
"Playing with fire," She exhaled raggedly, grabbing Regina's face and kissing before she could protest again.
Regina was absolutely rigid against her, but then something inexplicable happened. She responded and not with pushing her away. Emma actually felt those lips move against her own and she was quite sure her brain turned to mush in that moment. Their lips danced perfectly and she couldn't help but rake her hands down the brunette's neck, between her breasts and settle them on her hips, pulling her in. Their bodies were fully fleshed against each other and Emma's knees almost buckled when a soft moan from Regina reached her ears. She felt those perfect lips open and immediately took the chance to slip her tongue past the brunette's pearly whites, slowly exploring the warmth inside. She tasted of wine and mint, the most delicious combination of all. Just as Emma identified the taste, she felt a chewing gum slip inside her mouth. Well, that was a surprise. The Mayor actually did something so ordinary as chewing gum and in public, none the less. Not to mention the fact that she so playfully slipped it to Emma. They played with the gum for a while, tossing it around their mouths as their hands wandered all over each other's bodies, soft groans escaping them both.
Then came the sound of a door opening and a woman talking on her phone, entering the stall right next to them.
Emma hissed a quick "Shit!" and jumped on the toilet seat before she even registered what she was doing. It was the smart thing to do so as to conceal two pairs of feet from being seen from the bottom of the stall, but she had no idea how she even thought of it. And that's when she looked at Regina.
The brunette's chest was heaving, her eyes burning holes through Emma's skull, a look of fury slowly settling in them. She also looked awfully cute with her hair all over the place.
They were trapped in the stall for almost ten full minutes until the woman finally finished her conversation and left. Emma didn't even get the chance to open her mouth – Regina stormed out and slammed the door behind her the moment their restroom buddy shut the door behind her. The Sheriff was pretty sure the Mayor was furious judging from the way her heels clicked violently against the floor and the sound of doors being shut so hard, she was surprised they didn't fall off the hinges. She also felt awfully sober all of a sudden.
"Well, fuck."