Miles To Go

Chapter Twelve

Emma wasn't alone in the bed when she woke up just a few short hours after falling asleep. Her head was pounding and she was dying of thirst, her memory also wavering at what had happened the night before, but she remembered all of it as her mind woke up and the memories came tumbling back all at once.

Ruby stirred beside her, grumbling under her breath that it was too early to be awake. It pulled a small smile from Emma as she pulled back the covers and slipped out of the bed. She shivered as the cool air hit her, a stark difference from the humidity that had clung for days.

She quietly made her way down to the kitchen, not wanting to wake Ruby or Henry since the sun had only just started to rise. As she made a pot of coffee, she licked over her dry lips and she could feel the ghosting of Regina's lips on hers still from the night before. She groaned quietly, not sure if she was feeling regret or longing or both, but she knew that the copious amount of alcohol she'd drank had been the only reason why she had the nerve to show up at Regina's door after their encounter outside of the Rabbit Hole.

Regina didn't exactly stop her when she'd kissed her and that alone made her smile as she hit the button on the coffee maker and watched as it started to brew. She felt like the same lovesick teenager she was when she first met Regina and she couldn't shake the feeling nor did she want to. It still seemed like nothing had really changed yet everything was different now.

Their lives had taken on their own course, Emma becoming a mother and joining the police force when Henry was barely three years old. Regina had her own life here in Storybrooke too, and from what little she did know, she was following in her father's footsteps, continuing the Mills family reign in the Mayor's office. They led two very different lives, hundreds of miles apart and if it hadn't been for Ruby and Granny's secret scheming, Emma knew she would have never found her again.

"Hey," Ruby said as she walked into the kitchen. She yawned as she took a seat at the kitchen table and ran her fingers through her wild brown hair. "So, that was one hell of a good night kiss last night from what I saw."

"You were watching us?"

"Caught the tail end of it," Ruby replied with a shrug. "What happened last night, Em?"

"A lot."

"Did you—"

"No. Almost, but no."

"How can you almost have sex?"

Emma shook her head as she grabbed two clean mugs out of the cupboard and made them both a coffee. She sat down across from Ruby and sighed. "Her mother almost caught us."

"No! Doing what?"

"What, you want a play by play and heavy details about what happened last night?"

"Yes!"

Emma laughed and then frowned. "Where do I even start? She was there, Ruby, at the bar," she said and Ruby nodded, wrapping her hands around her mug as she motioned for Emma to continue with another nod of her head. "I made her dance with me and then she just left, but you know how I get when I've had a few—"

"You had more than a few."

"Rubes," Emma sighed in frustration and yet couldn't help her smile at the attempted innocent look Ruby flashed her way. "I followed her out, stopped her before she could get in her car. We talked. She told me she knew what happened at the party before I told her. She knew before I even told her what happened at the party with Neal."

"Kathryn?"

"Who else could it be, right? Of course it was Kathryn." Emma muttered and she inhaled sharply. "We talked some more, well I did, she mostly listened. And then I kissed her. She left after that and I went back into the bar for a little while before I literally ran to her house and pounded on her door. She told me to go, but you know I didn't leave her."