It's Complicated

Chapter 14

AN: SORRY FOR SUCH A LATE CHAPTER!!! I've been hella busy and plus, HALLOWEEN. Hope you still enjoy!

Previous chapter: 'A silence. Then, "God, what's wrong with us?"
A bitter smile tugs at the corners of the brunette's mouth, and her hand curls around the slim stem of the glass, metal rings making the slightest clanking noise. "I wish I knew."'

Regina sighs, and continues after a moment. "And I suppose I should--" she pauses, chuckling at the seemingly absurdity of what she's about to say, "--apologize for what I said that cause you to break my fine china, but that doesn't mean I'm not still angry, hurt--whatever--that I saw you kissing that scumbag."

Another long moment, and Regina's starting to feel uncomfortable about being the first to really dig into what happened in the kitchen, but then she realizes that Emma has that same horrible expression she wore earlier when Regina mentioned Hook.

"Well, what is it? Out with it then," Regina prompts, almost sounding demanding, but only to cover the underlying concern.

Emma's silent a moment more, the fire continuing to pop seemingly deafening, and Regina's temper rises with the smoke ascending from the logs. The silence becomes too loud, Regina's shifting in her seat, then finally: "Miss Swan--"

Emma's head snaps up then, glassy anger burning her eyes as the words tumble from her mouth. "He kissed me, alright?!" She brushes a stubborn tear off her cheek with the back of her hand. "He was raping me in a goddamned alleyway like I was some worthless--" she breaks off, blinking back tears that she'd pushed back since the incident. Of course she'd cried---later that is, but looking back on it is torture, especially when she feels she's being blamed for it. Annoyed by her visible vulnerability, she violently rubs her hands over her stinging eyes and fixes Regina with a glare instead, waiting for a infuriating retort that never comes.

The room rings through the deafening silence with the confession, and it almost seems fitting for them that the cold, hard truth would break into the open like a bullet, the aftermath thick like gunpowder left behind. Nearly a minute passes before Regina can croak out a reply, a thousand thoughts entering and exiting her mind at once.

"Oh. Emma--" Regina's throat closes up after forcing out two words, voice scratchy and thick from emotion. Again, it's too intimate for them in the moment, and Emma shakes her head, blonde locks that are in desperate need of trimming whipping about her face.

"Don't-" she begins, ready to tell off Regina for using her stupid distancing "Miss Swan" a moment before, ready to yell at her to cut the crap with "Emma." It takes two long moments with Emma shoving her tongue behind her teeth, rubbing against a dry throat before she realizes that she can't. Instead, "Just don't."

Regina closes her parted lips, dropping a (comforting?) arm she hadn't noticed she'd extended. Emma rises from the couch, and Regina watches her go with devastatingly sad eyes, twirling a decorative ring around her pinky to release nervous energy.

Emma's more than halfway to the door before Regina chokes back the buildup in her throat. "I'm sorry." She nearly whispers, her voice so very quiet and uncharacteristically soft. It's so noiseless that Regina fears Emma didn't hear her, and the brunette is nearly certain that she won't be able to form the words with such absolute sincerity a second time. A moment later though, Emma stops, her back tensing up fully, but she doesn't entirely turn around.

Regina waits, not daring to talk, not wanting to breathe as she waits for Emma to turn around. Seconds that feel like hour pass, then Emma spins on the flat heel of her boot. "You know what, Regina? Fuck this. I'm sorry that I had sex with you a year and a half ago, I'm sorry I tried to be civil, I'm sorry, but this isn't working. If you think I'm going to stick around while you mock what happened to me, then you've got another thing coming."