Miles To Go

Chapter Sixty-Four

Regina couldn't sleep that night. She tossed and turned while Emma slept soundly next to her. After they had talked and shared a long, loving kiss, they'd eaten the rest of their dinner and fallen into the same silence that had been between them for the last ten days. It hadn't been on purpose, not entirely, but Regina had been lost in thought and Emma in her own.

Emma had thought she didn't want to be married to her, that maybe they'd made a mistake, that the dinner and flowers somehow meant that Regina was going to break up with her. That thought troubled her. She knew that Emma was insecure about a lot of things, but she had never imagined that she would come to that conclusion after the last week and a half they'd had.

They had been happy, so very happy and deliriously in love before her mother's death, how on earth could those thoughts have ever crept into Emma's mind even once? That she knew, was the cause of her restlessness and around three in the morning, she turned to Emma when she heard an exasperated sigh escape past her lips.

"What's wrong, Regina?" Emma murmured sleepily.

"I cannot sleep."

Emma sighed and even in the darkness of the room, Regina watched her eyes flutter open as she turned to look at her. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Perhaps it's not a conversation for the middle of the night, darling."

Emma groaned quietly. "But if it'll help you sleep...because I need to be up a little earlier than normal tomorrow and I know I need my sleep, well, maybe I should go sleep in the guest room despite the bed being wicked uncomfortable and—"

"Can you just hold me?" Regina asked in a faint whisper, biting her lip as she waited for Emma's reply. "If you don't want to, I completely understand."

"I always want to," Emma replied and from the breathy sound of her voice, Regina didn't even have to look at her to know she was smiling. "Come here."

Regina complied, shifting on the bed to meet Emma in the middle. Emma wasn't even hesitant to slide one arm under her and the other around her, pulling her to lay nearly halfway on top of her. Regina sighed contently, not realizing just how much she'd missed laying in bed with Emma just like that. She inhaled deeply, feeling the tears sting at the corners of her eyes and she laid her head on the pillow next Emma's head and closed her eyes.

It hadn't taken her long to finally fall asleep and when she woke next, it was to the sound of the alarm going off at five. Emma groaned quietly and stiffened just as Regina flexed her hand and found it under her t-shirt, grasping at her breast, a semi-erect nipple tickling her palm.

While waking up like that had become far too normal, after the last ten days, it just provided Regina with a sense as if she'd done something wrong. She tried to slip her hand out, pretending as if she were still asleep, but Emma quickly moved a hand on top of hers, keeping it right where it was. Emma had explicitly stated the night before that while they were on the track to getting back to where they were, sex was something they couldn't rush into. Regina couldn't blame her, not after what had happened in the shower, so Emma's action now was confusing her beyond belief.

Before she could say a word, Emma's lips were on her own, kissing her lazily as she arched her chest into Regina's hand, her hand still on top of hers to keep it right where it was. And just for a moment it felt as if the last ten days had been nothing but a nightmare, they didn't feel real, and that very moment felt exactly how every morning felt for as long as Emma had been living there with her in Storybrooke.

"I need to get up," Emma murmured, pushing at Regina's hand and she quickly slid it out from under Emma's t-shirt. Emma leaned in for one last kiss, just a simple light peck that left Regina wanting more. "I'll set your alarm for you—"