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Emma cuts a look over towards Regina to gauge her reaction.
Not enthused so far. She can work with that, though.
Probably.
“But, Mom,” Henry starts, pleading, catching on the same as Emma that the answer is about to be a resounding no unless he presents an amazing case for himself. “Respecting nature and teamwork are exceptional qualities for a child to develop.”
Oh, big guns, Emma thinks.
Regina quirks an eyebrow at him, impressed and amused and willing to listen. Emma can see from her posture that the answer is still a hard no, and she is well aware that she is being buttered up, though. So, it’s a bit tenuous.
“He’ll also be left out,” she adds. “I never got to go to summer camp, and I cried. Probably, it’s like… at least one third of my childhood trauma.”
Regina shoots her a deeply unimpressed look.
(Fumbled that one, shit).
“I will feel left out,” Henry adds, sitting up straighter. “But, more importantly, I think it would be a beneficial week, and we can afford it.”
“I can,” Regina says. “Yes. But we don’t buy everything that we can afford simply for the fun of it, corazón.”
“That’s not what’s happening here!” he quickly insists. “Plus, I wouldn’t be alone. Emma is going to come and be a chaperone!”
“Counselor,” Emma corrects him, beaming at the thought. She always really did want to go to summer camp and never got to as a child. “The word is counselor. Much cooler than chaperone. I’ve seen ‘Wet Hot American Summer,” she bounces a little on the couch in anticipation. Regina’s eyebrows go an inch higher towards her hairline. Bad call, bad call. Absolutely not a children’s movie or a good reference to use in order to assure Regina, here. Shitfuck. “And… you can be one, too,” she adds. “Then you’ll be there to supervise and make sure that everything is fine.” Henry’s eyes widen—this wasn’t the plan, Emma is going rogue, but here’s the thing—Emma wants Regina there. And, there is no way that she is going to send Henry off for a week alone at a camp in New Hampshire. She’s just not. Not after everything with Peter Pan and Neverland. Not after all the mess with Zelena. Not after Emma was the Dark One.
She knows that Regina trusts her again. Did, already even. But… well… they’re all still a little awkward and jumpy after everything. Hook’s death and the aftermath of killing the Dark One for good did a number on all of them—Emma knows that she’s been… unreliable, as of late. Regina will want to trust her, but a week is a long time, and Emma doesn’t really want to be away from Regina that long, either. She’ll have more fun if Regina is there, too.
“Hm,” is all that Regina says. “Give me the information,” she requests, holding her hand out for the pamphlets that Henry is clutching. “And I’ll think about it.”
“Thank you!” he says, jumping up and down. “Violet, Wendy, and the twins are all going,” he adds, adding a little pleading nudge. “Roland too, maybe.”
“I said that I’d think about it,” Regina says, and nods for him to head off to finish his homework. Once he’s gone, she wastes no time turning on Emma. “So…” she drawls, flicking through the pamphlets and not looking up at Emma. “Summer camp. That’s your big idea?”
“It’s a great idea,” Emma insists. “First of all.” Regina glances up at her, unimpressed. Emma plows on, because that’s usually what she does when Regina looks at her like that—tries to shift her face back to that soft little smile that’s occasionally reserved just for her. “Secondly,” she shifts in her seat, sighing. “I actually think it would be really fun, and a nice break from everything that’s been happening, lately. Just… a normal thing. A week in the woods! At a lake! There are obstacle courses, and team games and crafts and I… I think he’d have a great time.”
“And you think we would, as well?” she asks, still not glancing back up at Emma. An intimidation tactic, she knows all of Regina’s tricks by now—well, some of them.
“I actually do,” Emma says. “There’s horseback riding,” she adds, and delights in the way that Regina’s eyes flash in interest. “And the kids all have to help out a bit, with food, and some chores and stuff. It’s supposed to teach them all sorts of stuff, in addition to having fun.”
“And you want to be a stoned camp counselor from an 80s movie?” Regina asks.
Emma winces. “No, I actually wanna be like Mary-Kate and Ashley from ‘ It Takes Two’, but I’m too old for that, now,” she laments.
Regina frowns at her. “I don’t know that reference.”
Emma’s eyes widen. “That ‘can’t eat, can’t sleep, reach for the stars, over the fence, world series kind of stuff’, sloppy joes and orphans who want to get adopted? It was all I watched on repeat when I borrowed the VHS from the library as a kid.”
Regina keeps on looking at her, an unreadable expression on her face. “I’m still unfamiliar.”
Emma shrugs. “Not important, what is, is that I think we’d all really enjoy it.”
Regina sighs, her finger trailing down the page discussing horseback riding. “Perhaps,” she says, noncommittally. But Emma knows from the look on her face, from the way that she always wants to give Henry good experiences, that she will say yes.
“Great,” she grins. “I’ll start breaking in some hiking boots!” she runs out of the room, hearing the sigh emanate from Regina in her wake.
…
…
“I have rules,” she says looking seriously at Henry. “Beyond whatever the rules are at this place.”
“Sure,” he nods, good-naturally. Anything if she will say yes. “I figured.”
Emma snorts from up on top of the kitchen counter, and Regina whips her head around and shoots her a death glare. Emma quickly slips down, admonished, and sips at her coffee slowly, indicating for Regina to go on. With a soft huff, she does, turning back to Henry and starting to list them off. Emma isn’t listening. She’s picturing the food fight scene in ‘It Takes Two’. She hopes that she gets to huck a Sloppy Joe at someone’s head before the week is over.
“Miss Swan,” Regina says, exasperated. “Are you listening?”
“You’re ‘Miss Swaning’ me again, now?” Emma asks, not quite a pout, but she knows it’s dangerously close to one.
Regina pinches the bridge of her nose, eyes closed. “So help me…” she mutters.
“I’m listening!” Emma insists. “Rules. Got it. They all sound great. We’re in a united front,” she promises.
Regina gives her a single look, then turns on her heel and walks out of the kitchen, leaving Emma imagining flag football, and flips into the lake.
…
Day One
…
They’re bunkmates. Emma and Regina.
Their cabin includes: Wendy, Violet, Gretel, and two girls they don’t know, named, Deja and Marisol. Roland did come, with Robin as a nother chaperone/honorary counselor. Henry, Roland, and Hansel are all in Robin’s cabin. Emma still bristles a little every time that Robin is around, because… well, she just always will. Soulmate bullshit and all that—it’s a hard thing to get over. Even though she knows that Regina has stated more than once that it’s platonic soulmates, thank you very much for your input into my love life, Miss Swan. And that Regina and Marian have become fast friends. Actually, these days Emma finds herself more jealous of Marian, which isn’t a great feeling.
But, ya know, can’t really be helped much.
They’re not the only ones from Storybrooke who came to the camp. Her father jumped at the chance. And, surprising nearly everyone, Zelena has strapped baby Robyn to her back in a little sling, and is sitting out on a picnic bench, glaring at Regina. It’s antagonistic only in that they seem to always have tension in their relationship, more out of habit than reality. Emma has seen Zelena stick up for her sister whenever Regina isn’t looking. It may be awkward, but both women seem to want to work on it. Emma sort of gets it. She didn’t only love ‘It Takes Two’ because of the orphan/summer camp angle. The sisterly bond was always enticing, too.
She’s glad Regina gets that, even if she never will.
“Miss Swan,” Marisol asks, in her soft, shy little voice. “Can I go down with the other girls to the mess hall?”
“Emma,” she quickly corrects. “You can call me Emma, remember?” Marisol nods, but Emma knows that she isn’t going to do it. “Sure, you can go, just stick with the older girls, yeah?” she says, making eye contact with Wendy. She nods and waves for Marisol—the youngest in their cabin, at nine—to join them.
She has some time to herself, and she speed-walks down to the lake. It’s huge. With a long dock and a little structure to climb up and jump off into the water. Kayaks and paddle boards are lined up by a hut on the small shoreline. Emma is itching to get in. She walks slowly down the path along the side, not going too far, she knows that the whole camp meeting is in the mess hall in less than twenty minutes. But, she just wants to have a few moments to herself. She isn’t going to have many of them this week, and she’s actually looking forward to all the excitement. As the wind caresses her face and she watches the water ripple, she takes it in, grinning.
“Emma!” a voice calls out a few minutes later. Emma looks up and covers her eyes from the sun’s glare, seeing Regina standing up at the start of the dock. She came looking for her. Emma smiles to herself and heads her way. “We have to meet in the mess hall,” Regina says, once she gets closer. “Did you forget? What were you doing? You know that life jackets are required for—”
“Going in the boats and paddle boards, not for swimming,” Emma easily cuts her off. “Besides, I’m not a kid. And I’m clearly not wet,” she indicates to her dry jean shorts and tank top. She sees Regina’s eyes sweep languidly over her body and then flicker away, and she feels a traitorous little whisper of pleasure at Regina’s appreciation. “I didn’t forget,” she manages to say after a moment. “I was on my way back up.”
“Oh… well… good,” Regina says and then turns to walk up towards the main cabin, Emma following behind. Regina is dressed as casually as Emma has ever seen her. In black shorts that make her ass look… astounding, and a loose flowy tank top that feels just a little too fancy for camp. She’s wearing hiking boots that look new, but she walks in them like they’re already broken in. Her hair, a little longer than it’s been in all the time that Emma has known her, is tied back into a low ponytail.
It’s a good look.
They walk into the main cabin together, finding their campers and moving to sit with them. The directors of the camp stand up on the stage and go over the general welcome speeches. Emma listens with half an ear until they get to the camp-wide team challenges.
“As you know, all week we will have various challenges for the teams to participate in,” Tommy, one of the owners says. “They’ll vary between physical and intellectual challenges. At least ten team members must participate and complete each challenge to be able to qualify. Four members are allowed to sit out at any given challenge. We would like co-captains on every team. One counselor and one child. The last day of camp, there will be various prizes awarded at our end of the week party.” Tommy looks out at the group seriously, his easy-going presence shifting only the slightest. “This is meant to be fun,” he stresses. “Competitiveness is fine and encouraged, but anyone found cheating or acting in an un-sportsmen-like manner, will be disqualified and punished accordingly.” He claps his hands together, ginning like a little kid. “Let’s have a great week folks, let the games begin!”
Emma and Regina’s cabin—number six—are paired with David and Robin’s—number 11—to make up the Green Team. Regina grumbles slightly at the colored t-shirts that everyone are awarded, but gamely pulls her own over her head with a sigh. They’ve got a decent mix of kids in the older groups (the camp’s age range for this week is technically 8-13, and Roland, at 7, is skirting by because his father is here, and they proved ahead of time that he has a lot of experience in nature). Henry, Wendy, and Violet are all twelve. Gretel, Hansel, and one of Henry’s other cabin mates, Dov, are all eleven. Deja, and another boy from Henry’s cabin, Charlie, are both ten. Leaving little Marisol at nine and Roland at seven. Marisol is quite small for her age, and looks closer to Roland’s age than her own, and Regina has clearly already developed a soft spot for her.
Marian and Zelena aren’t on teams, and don’t have a cabin of their own. They’re here as extra volunteers, mostly helping out at the lake and in the kitchen. Marian seems happier about being here than Zelena does, but in Emma’s experience, Zelena always looks just a little bit put out to be anywhere if she’s not nettling someone.
“Green Team!” her father cheers once they are all dressed and assembled.
Regina rolls her eyes, but most of the children cheer along with him, and Emma would by lying if she said that she wasn’t ridiculously excited about all of this. She nudges Regina’s shoulder with her own, whispering, “Come on, I think you’re gonna end up being our secret weapon.”
“Am I?” Regina asks, eyebrow arched. “We’ll see, I suppose.”
…
…
The first challenge kicks things off with a ropes course. Emma bounces up and down in anticipation, Henry doing the same beside her.
“Okay,” David says. “We’ve got to get our captains picked.”
Emma looks over at Regina. “I nominate Regina,” she says, quickly, clearly surprising her.
“I beg your pardon?”
“You’re great at being a leader,” Emma says with a shrug. “Lots of practice.”
“Perhaps…” she says. “But I would hardly call myself a wilderness or camp expert.” She shoots a glance over towards Robin. “Perhaps Robin would be the better option?”
“I will if you want me too,” he says easily. For some reason, that rankles Emma, though she knows it’s unfair. Robin looks over at Emma, and then back to Regina. “But I agree with Emma, I think that you’d be good at the job.”
David nods, if perhaps a bit begrudgingly. Emma knows that he probably wanted it. Probably wanted Emma to pick him, even. Before the guilt can settle in and she can change her mind, Regina nods to herself and the group. “Alright, I can do it. Who is with me?” she asks, looking among the children. Henry seems like the obvious answer to Emma, but she also knows that might be nepotism. Favoritism? One of those. Maybe both.
He turns towards Wendy, anyway, nodding at her. “Wendy might be good,” he says.
“But then only the girls’ cabin is in charge,” Charlie, an athletic looking blonde boy protests. Emma can tell right away that he’s a bit of a spoiled brat, but she’s trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. He’s just a kid, after all.
“I was one of the captains of my soccer team last year,” Dov, a soft-spoken, light brown skinned boy says. He stands up a little straighter. His curly brown hair flicking out of his eyes with a shake, smiling cautiously at the group. “I can do it, if Wendy doesn’t want to.”
Wendy studies him for a moment, then shrugs. “It’s all you,” she says with a smile.
Dov looks up at Regina, and then holds his hand out for her to shake. “Good to be partners,” he says kindly. Emma likes him already, and she can tell that Regina is charmed by him. She shakes his hand and smiles. Dov looks back over at the group. “Is anyone scared of heights?” he asks.
Marisol shuffles her feet, trying to hide behind Wendy and avoiding eye contact.
“I’m not,” Charlie boasts. “I’ll be the fastest across!”
“I’m glad that you’re excited,” Regina says to him. “Does anyone not want to do the ropes course? We can have four people sit out.”
“But you’ll be chickens if you do,” Charlie says, tauntingly. David moves to stand beside him and Regina is quick to squash that idea. Charlie rolls his eyes, but quiets down at the next look that David gives him. Their saving grace here might be that Charlie has taken a shine to David, and seems to eager to impress him.
“I’m not particularly excited about climbing on some ropes, so I think I’ll sit this one out,” Regina says, looking over at Marisol. “If anyone would like to keep me company, I’d appreciate it.”
Marisol looks up at Regina and raises her hand. “I will, Miss Mills,” she says. Charlie rolls his eyes again, and Emma catches him mutter, ‘baby’, underneath his breath, but David gives him a deep disapproving look and Charlie huffs, going quiet.
“Do we lose if we can’t make it all the way across?” Hansel asks, studying the ropes course warily.
“Yes, obviously,” Charlie says. “That’s the rules.”
“We don’t lose, ” Emma corrects him. “But we might get less points for this challenge. That’s okay, we’re not going to do perfectly on all of them.” Regina looks up at Emma and gives her an approving look. Emma feels an unwanted kinship with Charlie at the way it lights her up. She quickly turns back to Hansel. “If you want to try it, you can. No one will be mad if you can’t make it across.”
Charlie very much looks like he will, but knows better than to say it aloud.
Hansel looks between his sister, and Emma, and then nods to himself. “I’ll stay with Marisol and Reg—Miss Mills.”
“You can call me Regina, Hansel,” she says a warm smile on her face. “And we’d love the company.” She surveys the rest of the green team. “Anyone else? One more person can sit out.” Everyone else shakes their heads, looking eager to try the course. “Alright,” Regina says, giving Emma a very pointed look before tilting her head towards Henry. A: ‘do not let him get hurt under any circumstances or I will disembowel you’, sort of glance. Emma nods. “We’re going to win,” Regina says, grinning widely.
Emma forgot that she is actually sort of ambitious and competitive. It’s thrilling, and the whole team cheers at her words. Dov stands before the instructors, as the team captain. Safety harnesses get clipped on, and then each team gets a turn to race across the complicated knots and ladders of rope. There are different sections designed to be at a level of challenge for different ages, and they all line up at their spots. Regina, Marisol, and Hansel all cheer them on, and then the timer starts.
Emma takes off, grinning madly as she barrels across her section, wobbling and laughing. They’ve got an athletic and dexterous bunch on their team. Emma comes to the horrible realization that Henry is their weak link, Violet only slightly ahead of him. He’s not doing poorly, but the other children are clearly more into it and do this sort of thing more often. Emma never wants him to feel the odd one out—she’s experienced it enough herself. Henry finishes last, but in what feels like to Emma a great time. Dov smacks the buzzer at the end, and the whole team cheers and hugs each other for a job well done. The green team slots themselves solidly into second place on the letter board.
Emma flops down beside Regina in the grass to watch the other teams, grinning and tired. “How’d we do, coach?” she asks jokingly.
Regina gives her an unimpressed look. “I’m your captain, not your coach.”
Emma shrugs. “Close enough.”
“Hm,” Regina says, turning back to watch the races. Marisol leans against her legs, picking at the grass and twisting strands into a bracelet as she watches. Not looking back at Emma, Regina says, “you did well.”
Emma beams.
…
…
In all of the excitement for finally getting to go to camp, she underestimated how uncomfortable a bunk bed might be to someone in their thirties. Emma twists around—again—and sighs. The bed squeaks, like a shot in the dark, and Emma freezes, worried one of the girls will wake up at the noise.
“Emma,” Regina grumbles from beneath her—there is no world in which I would debase myself enough to climb up there, Emma; you’re on the top bunk—for at least the fifth time tonight. “Will you please just go to sleep?”
“I’m trying,” Emma whispers back.
“Try harder,” Regina demands. “I’m exhausted, and they are going to wake us up early in the morning.”
“How are you comfortable?” Emma whispers.
“I’m not.”
“Oh… me neither.”
Emma can hear the eye roll in Regina’s tone. “Obviously.”
“Sorry,” she winces. “I’ll try to be quiet.” A sigh echoes from beneath her and Emma closes her eyes, trying to will her brain to shut off. “I used to be good at this,” she whispers.
“At what?” Regina asks, a beat later.
“Sleeping in a new place,” she says. “I used to do it so often. New foster home. New bed. New room. New sounds. You have to learn to just shut it out and sleep or you’ll always be tired. I used to be able to do it easily,” she sighs. “Maybe cause I was a kid, I don’t know. I feel like I was good at it as an adult, too. I moved around all the time. Maybe I’ve been in one place for too long,” she jokes.
Beneath her, Regina hisses out a breath. “What?”
“Constant adjustment must be the ticket,” Emma laughs. Regina is silent and Emma panics, not sure what she’s gone and said, now. Emma leans over the side of the bunk bed to look down at her. “Regina?”
“Are you planning on returning to that?” Regina asks, her voice tight. It’s a little hard to see her face properly in the dark, but she looks angry—worried, maybe? But that doesn’t make sense. Emma thinks back to what she just said.
“To what?”
“Constant moving.”
Emma sputters out a laugh, then clamps a hand over her mouth in case one of the girls hears. “God no,” she says. “I like my bed.” She pauses, considering. “Though, I actually sleep better in your guest room. That bed is comfy. God, I wish I was there now,” she shifts again, feeling a spring pressing against her shoulder. Regina doesn’t respond. “Sorry,” she mutters, not really knowing what it is that she’s apologizing for now.
“Try to sleep, Emma,” Regina whispers gently a moment later. “You can sleep there when the week is over—if you get Green Team first place.”
Emma grins into the dark. “It’s a deal.”
…
Day Two
…
It’s scavenger hunt day.
The green team huddles together with their list of items. Regina looks around the group. “Does anyone want to sit out?” she asks. “We can have up to four people.”
Dov scans their faces too, looking to see if anyone isn’t seeming excited. Emma loves how seriously he is taking his role as captain. She saw him taking to Charlie and Hansel earlier, and he eased an argument between them from escalating with a hell of a lot more maturity than Emma ever had at eleven. Everyone looks excited by the prospect.
“Alright,” Regina says. “Let’s split up. Each smaller group takes a few items on the list and tries to find them—we’ll all meet up a bit before the time limit to reconvene in case anyone has trouble with their list. Then we can help each other before the finish.” She looks over at Dov. “Anything else?” she asks him.
He stands a little straighter underneath her gaze, glancing at the list. “I think that’s a good plan. We have to finish by three to qualify. So everyone should meet back at the front of the mess hall at two? Then we have time to regroup?”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” David grins. “So, what are our mini teams, captains?” he asks. He clearly wanted to be a captain initially, but he’s been easily taking Regina’s orders since they made the decision. Emma wonders if it’s because they’re at camp, somewhere out of their normal lives, or if it’s because her mother isn’t here. Or maybe, he’s forgiven her. It feels a little too much like wishful thinking, but Emma hopes it’s that one, all the same.
(Increasingly, she finds herself wanting Regina and her parents to not have any conflicts. Not solely for Henry’s sake).
Regina and Dov confer for a moment over the list. Emma shakes Deja’s braids a little to catch her attention. Deja grins and shakes her head back and forth against Emma’s arms—the beads on the end of her many braids whacking her skin. “Hey, now,” Emma laughs. “You excited for this?” Deja woke up a little homesick and subdued. She’s an odd one out, a little. The older girls all already know each other, and Marisol is little, and shy, and has latched onto Regina. Emma wants to make sure that Deja’s having fun and not feeling left out.
“Yeah,” she grins. “I’m good at finding things.”
“Awesome,” Emma says. “Hope they put us together.” Deja beams and Emma internally high-fives herself.
She does get Deja. And Dov and Violet. The three of them glance over their list of items. “Something that emulates the camp spirit,” Violet reads off with a frown. “Something from the first owners. Something that exudes teamwork.” She looks up at them. “This is going to be kind of hard,” she frowns. “I thought it would be like… find a frisbie or a spoon or something.”
“Some of the other ones on the list were like that,” Dov explains. “We thought we’d give some of the easier ones to the littler kids.”
“Good idea,” Emma says, smiling at him. “Besides, we’re clever. We got this. They’re interpretative, right? So, there isn’t one perfectly correct way to interpret them. We just have to figure out what angle we want,” she shrugs, sounding more casual about this than she feels. Regina should have taken this section and let her find spoons with the little kids.
“Something from the first owners…” Dov thinks, then his eyes light up. “I know!”
And they’re off.
…
…
When Emma finds Regina again, she slumps down onto the bench beside her, grumbling. “I thought this would be more fun.”
Regina chuckles softly, and—surprising the hell out of Emma—reaches over to rub at her back. “It can’t be hurting your brain that much to think interpretively.”
Emma is so still that she might not be breathing. She wants to answer, to act normal, but all her concentration is on Regina’s hands on her back. She waits too long, because the hand slips away and when Emma looks back up, Regina’s gaze is entirely focused on Marisol and Roland running towards them with matching grins on their faces, their arms full of lifejackets.
“WE GOT THEM!” Marisol shouts happily. She drops her jacket down on top of the table and does a little victory dance.
“Wonderful job, you two,” Regina says with a fond smile. She turns at the last minute, and some of the smile remains on Emma before it drops away.
She luxuriates in it and then presses herself up of the bench. “Better go find my trouble-makers,” she says with a laugh. “They’re digging up dirt near the hall.”
“Dirt?” Regina frowns.
Emma grins, proud of them. “Yep. Something from the first owners. The people who’s land it was, first.”
Regina smiles slowly, eyes brightening, proud. “Clever.”
“Yeah,”Emma laughs, thinking about the rest of the mess they’ve collected. “This challenge is certainly gonna be interesting.” She turns and walks back towards her group, feeling Regina’s gaze on her back like a physical thing.
The spot on her back that Regina rubbed feels warm, all day long.
…
Day Three
…
Here’s the thing: Emma is into Regina—romantically, sexually. She doesn’t actually know how long it’s been going on. Some low level of lust has been there since the moment that she met Regina, for sure. But, this, this… longing, this constant thrum inside her belly, it’s new-ish.
It’s embarrassing, for sure, because there’s no world in which Regina feels anything even remotely similar. Regina finds Emma annoying, at best. She knows that they’re not adversaries anymore. Their dynamic has changed so much over the last few years, but, Emma is still an extra. A reluctant ally and co-parent on the better days.
She is sure as fuck not attracted to Emma.
And… well… Emma has always been attracted to Regina. Even when she hated her—maybe especially then. But there was always something more pressing, more distracting, that shifted her focus. And then, well… Hook.
(Boy does Emma sure know how to pick ‘em).
But, now… there is no one else around to distract either of them. Robin and Regina are fully in platonic soulmates territory. Hook is dead. Neal is dead. Elsa is gone. Emma and Regina are in a good enough place that she’s over at the manor a lot.
So… she’s around Regina a lot, these days. And she sort of can’t stop thinking about what it would feel like to kiss her. It feels silly, to focus on something like an innocent kiss; maybe it’s being at a summer camp. Liminal time. Fleeting, childlike emotions bubbling up, she doesn’t know.
But she can’t stop thinking about kissing her.
…
…
“Emma, you’ll be fine,” Regina assures her, for the third time.
“Sure, yeah,” Emma says, still eyeing the horse warily. “I know that.”
(She does not know that. This thing is fucking huge, and its hooves look like they could take her out in half a second. Pinecone—a stupid fucking name for a horse, but also, kind of a perfect one—keeps eyeing her like he wants to murder her. She’s sure).
“Ma, you’ll like it,” Henry encourages her from atop his own horse—a pure white mare named Moonshine.
“I know,” Emma says, again. Still not taking her eyes off the thing, making no moves whatsoever to get any closer to it.
Regina sighs and steps towards Emma, like she is going to help her up, somehow, but Emma panics and steps back—and then, Pinecone freaks out.
(She knew it. She knew that horse had murder in his eyes).
Emma scrambles back, Henry calls out in worry, and Regina calmly grabs hold of the reins and mutters at the horse until he calms down. When she looks back at Emma—still sitting on the ground, actually, whoops—she sighs. “Really, Emma?”
“You guys go ahead,” Emma says, scrambling up. She’s genuinely embarrassed, now. She’s supposed to be the adult. Henry, Dov, Violet, and Deja are all on their horses, perfectly content, watching her freak out like a little kid. “I’ll go hang with the other kids at the lake. I’m kinda hot, anyway. I could use a swim.” She doesn’t make eye contact with Regina, once, even though she can feel Regina trying to catch her gaze.
“But, Ma—” Henry starts.
“Have fun!” she calls over her shoulder, and then flees.
…
…
“Miss Swan?” Marisol catches her attention. Emma sighs and turns to smile at her questioningly. “Can I jump off that?” she asks, pointing to the structure at the end of the dock. It’s mostly older kids jumping off, though that isn’t a hard and fast rule, per say. Marisol is tucked up into a floatie-lifejacket. She can swim, but she isn’t a confident swimmer. She hadn’t even protested at being one of the only children with a floatie.
“Sure,” Emma says easily. “Want me to come with and jump, too?”
Marisol bites at her lip, considering. Then, she nods. “Yes, please.”
Emma pushes herself up from where she had been partly napping, partly lifeguarding—she’s not the only adult on the job. She’s not even, technically, on this job. She’s supposed to be with the horse kids. She drops her sunglasses down onto her blanket and walks along with Marisol down the long dock. “I think this is my favorite spot at camp,” she tells Marisol.
Marisol looks up at her and grins. “Me too,” she decides. “I like being in the water. I don’t really get to swim at home.”
“You live in a city, yeah?” Emma asks.
Marisol nods. “In Worcester. There are pools at school and at the gym, but my mom doesn’t know how to swim, so we don’t go really.”
“Oh, well,” Emma grins and bends down, whispering like it’s a secret. “We’ll just have to do tons of swimming this week to make up for it.”
“Yeah!” Marisol cheers. She’s a bit more obviously nervous when they get to the jumping structure. It’s part diving board, part buoy, part limit on how far the kids are allowed to swim out into the lake.
Emma bends down when Marisol slips her hand into Emma’s. “Want to jump together?” Emma asks her. “I can hold your hand, and we can go from that lower spot, over there,” she says, pointing to the smaller area. Marisol nods and Emma leads her over. Counting down, she tries to modulate her voice with enthusiasm. She doesn’t have to work very hard, this is a million times better than getting on a horse. “One… two… three!”
They jump, Marisol screaming in terror, and—when she bobbles back up—delight. When they climb out of the lake, wet and beaming, Regina is standing there with two towels in her hands. Emma freezes at the sight of her, but Marisol’s grin widens and she sprints up to Regina. “Did you see us!?” she asks excitedly. “I jumped in!”
“I saw, corazón,” Regina says with a fond smile. Marisol’s whole body seems to vibrate happily.
“Let’s do it again!” she says, whipping back around to Emma.
“We can’t,” Regina is quick to cut in. “Puzzle challenge in the mess hall in twenty minutes.”
“Awww,” Marisol grumbles. “Can Emma and I be the ones who sit out and keep on swimming?”
“Not this time,” Regina says, looking up at Emma for the first time since she walked over to meet them. “Emma and I are sitting this one out. We have some errands to run. Robin and David are waiting for you. Let’s get you dressed, alright?”
Marisol grumbles a little more, but goes off to the cabin without much further protest. Emma, however, looks over at Regina in confusion as she towels off. “What errand?” she asks.
Regina doesn’t answer. Not until they’re both dressed and Marisol is running towards David, all their charges being taken care of by someone else. “Come on,” she says, still not looking back at Emma.
“Is it magic related?” Emma hisses in a whisper, suddenly on edge. “Oh shit, Regina, is it?”
“No,” Regina says, voice at a normal level. “It’s not.”
“Then what’s with the—” They’re at the stables. Pinecone, her new nemesis, snorts at her. “Ohhhhh no,” Emma says, turning around to walk away. “No, thank you. Puzzles sound great,” she says, and then goes stock still when Regina grabs at her elbow and holds on tight. There is a surprising amount of strength in her muscles.
“Emma,” she says, both kindly and exasperated—it’s a skill. “We’re not going to let you be afraid of horses.”
“I’m not afraid,” Emma says indignantly. “I think they’re stupid. And overrated,” at the deep eyebrow arch Regina gives her in response, she quickly adds. “No offense.”
“Henry loved it,” Regina says. “He wants to keep doing it when we go home.”
“Great,” Emma squeaks. “That’ll be fun for the two of you.”
“It will,” Regina agrees, looking genuinely thrilled about it for a moment. But then… her face changes. She turns back to Emma and studies her, stare like a crowbar. “But it would be better if it was the whole family, so get on,” she orders and turns to Pinecone.
The whole family. Emma goes still with shock and confusion, her limbs pliable as Regina maneuvers her closer to the horse. “Wait, wait, wait, wait,” she panics. She doesn’t really know why she’s all the sudden afraid of this horse. But… it’s really big. And fast. And… some animal part of her brain has reverted to childhood, being here and camp, and horses freaked her out as a kid. “Regina, seriously, I don’t think I can.” It’s easier to admit, with the kids not there watching, but it’s still embarrassing.
“Yes,” Regina says, voice soft and encouraging. “You can.”
“No, I’m serious, I’m not—”
“We’re not riding on Pinecone,” Regina says, and Emma shudders in relief until it clicks.
“We?”
Regina pulls the reins of a way bigger horse than Pinecone towards them and pushes a small box up beside it. “This is Shadow,” she says, petting the horse’s side. “He’s very gentle.”
“Gentle, my ass,” Emma mutters.
“Come here,” Regina says. It’s not a question. Reluctant, Emma steps closer to Regina and takes the offered hand. Regina doesn’t let go, she twines their fingers together and tugs Emma closer, up on that dumb box. “You’re going to swing your leg up and over and sit still,” she orders. “Then I’ll be right behind you.”
“With what horse?” Emma asks, looking around. None of the rest of them have saddles on.
“Shadow,” Regina says. “We’ll go together. He can carry us both.”
“Oh,” Emma breathes. That means…. oh fuck. “We really don’t have to do this,” she protests weakly. But, the prospect of Regina holding her is… kind of hard to pass up. Regina can tell that Emma is beginning to relent and she releases Emma’s hand. The disappointment only lasts long enough to realize that the hands have gone to her waist to help hoist Emma up. She swallows against a rough patch in her throat and allows Regina to help her swing a leg over, grimacing as she grips at the reins and tries not to slide off the other side. She’s too tense—the horse can feel it, everyone in this goddamn stable can.
Regina rubs at her thigh. “Emma, breathe,” she says. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
Weirdly, Emma does relax a little at that. Because, Regina is the most capable person that Emma has probably ever met. She has been around horses since she was little, plus, ya know, she has magic and incredible reflexes. So, this will all be just fine.
Probably. Emma shoots a glare over at Pinecone and he snorts at her. Emma sticks out her tongue. And then she goes fucking still again because Regina has swung her own leg up and over and there she is, right behind Emma in this larger saddle. Her thighs are pressed right up against Emma’s own, encasing her. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Breathe,” she demands again. “Or you’ll frighten Shadow, and then he’ll throw us off.”
“What?!” Emma moans in terror.
Regina’s arms snake around her, not to the reins, around Emma. “Emma,” she says, all her usual impatience and irritation gone from her tone. “What part of ‘I’m not going to let anything happen to you’ is confusing?” Emma opens her mouth to answer, but Regina keeps on talking. “I know that you’re frightened.” Emma tries to protest on instinct, but they both know it’s futile. “I promise you, there is nothing to be afraid of, but you’re fear is frightening Shadow.”
“I don’t really know how to stop it,” Emma admits.
“Well, you can’t white knuckle it and jump ahead anyway—your usual methods are moot, here.”
“I don’t—” Emma starts, then sighs. Regina knows her, it’s foolish to argue otherwise, even if being called out on it doesn't feel all that great. It’s a little weird, though, that Regina knows this and her parents both don’t. Emma doesn’t know if that says something more about Regina being observant or her parents being oblivious, but it sticks out to her, all the same. “Yeah,” she mutters. “Okay, so… what do I do?”
“Trust me, if you can't trust the horse.”
“Okay,” Emma lets out a deep breath, rolling her shoulders and her neck like she’s about to jump into a fight. “I can do that, easy.”
Behind her, Regina goes quiet for a moment. Unmoving. “Good,” she finally says, her voice a little thick before she clears it. “Alright,” she says, “all you have to do is stop being so stiff, and move with the horse.”
“What?” Emma asks as Regina’s hands cover her own to take the reins from Emma. “How do I move with the horse?”
“Don’t fight his movements, keep your body loose and fluid and let his gait be his gait. It takes some practice, but essentially, you’re not in control, and you’re not trying to be.”
“The horse is?” Emma asks, glaring down at Shadow’s neck.
“No,” Regina says, and Emma can feel the smirk against her cheek as Regina leans in close to whisper in her ear. “I am.”
Oh, fuck. That’s hot.
Regina clicks her tongue and Shadow moves. Emma starts to panic, starts to clamp her legs down and try to hold him still, but then Regina drops one arm from holding the reins, and loops it loosely around Emma’s middle. The distraction—if it was intended to be one—absolutely works. All Emma can focus on is Regina holding her for a few minutes as they trot in silence up the path.
“So,” she finally says once she gathers her voice. “How come you like horses so much, anyway?”
Regina is quietly contemplative for a few moments. Enough so that Emma thinks she isn’t going to answer. But then, “They’re powerful, fast animals. When they run, really run, they look completely free. But, the ones who aren’t wild are largely at the behest of their owners. They can sprint all they like, someone always drags them home. I felt a little like that, as a child. Running on a horse was the most freedom I felt, but I always knew it would end.”
Emma tentatively reaches up and rubs at the arm that’s still holding her in place. “I get that, I think,” she whispers. Then, because the moment feels too heavy, and she’s on the way to panicking, she puts her foot in it, instead. “Hot stable boy probably helped too, right?” she teases.
Instead of throwing Emma off the horse, or murdering her on the spot, Regina chokes on a sputter of laughter, and Emma feels warm all over. “It didn’t hurt, no,” she says a moment later. “How are you feeling about it, now?” she asks.
“The… hot stable boy? Or the horse?”
“Emma,” Regina says, her name is a sharp exhale, but Regina continues on. “The horse.”
“Oh, right, um…” they’ve sped up, just a little and at first, Emma had started to panic again, but Regina’s arm remained around her waist. And—horribly and wonderfully—her hand started rubbing soothing circles on Emma’s stomach. She’s stopped that, probably for the best, because Emma sort of felt like she was about to die with how good it felt, and now she’s used to the new faster trot. “Okay, I think,” she says. “It’s sort of peaceful once I stop panicking about it.”
Regina chuckles softly—her fond laugh that’s usually reserved for Henry—and Emma is suddenly having the best day ever on this horse. “Do you want to go down the path towards the lake?” Regina asks, “then head back?”
“Okay,” Emma says, voice thick. “Yeah, that sounds good.”
Regina clucks her tongue and presses a thigh against Shadow’s side, turning the reins and easily directing him. They’re quiet again once they trot alongside the lake, but it’s not awkward. Neither of them seem to want to fill the silence—it’s nice, and Emma is suddenly glad that Regina made her do this. So, she says as much.
“I’m glad, too,” Regina answers and the arm around her waist tightens a fraction for a beat. “I’m glad we came here, actually. Henry is having a wonderful time. You were right, it was a good idea for all of us.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Emma laughs, teasing. “Say that one more time? I need to get out my phone and record it for posterity.”
Regina pinches Emma’s side and she yelps a little, jolting Shadow and causing him to pick up speed. Which, in turn, only causes Emma to yell louder and clutch onto Regina.
“Calm down,” she says, firmly and low. Emma doesn’t know if it’s directed to her, to the horse, or to both of them, but they each respond to the order in turn. Emma forces herself to take a deep breath, and tries to move with the horse, going boneless beyond the arm gripping onto Regina. Shadow whinnies, then snorts, but as Regina mutters softly too him, he calms down as well.
“Sorry,” Emma whispers after it’s clear that Shadow has recovered.
The arm around her waist moves in those circles again—maddening and wonderful. “Don’t apologize for being afraid, Emma.”
“Sure, but—”
“No,” Regina says, no room for argument.
“Okay,” Emma whispers. “But, I just meant—”
“Emma,” Regina says, then she makes a snorting kind of noise and tips her head back in contemplation. “Don’t apologize for your emotions. Especially not your fear.”
“Okay,” Emma whispers, her heart beating a frantic staccato in her chest. They pull back up to the stables, and Emma is grateful that no one else is around. Her legs feel wobbly and useless as she slips off the horse. Regina brings up an arm to steady her, and the smile Emma manages is a wavering thing, but it holds steady at the corners. “Thanks,” she says, instead of apologizing again. “I…” she straightens and presses her feet down hard into the dirt, grounding herself. “Thank you for the ride. I’m… I liked it a lot more than I thought that I would.” She feels… not brave, not really, but, something akin to it—foolish determination, possibly. And so she opens her mouth and looks Regina dead on. “It was fun to do that, with you. You and me, I mean.”
Regina suddenly gives Emma a sharp look that says she’s not fooling anyone, and Emma wonders how obvious she’s become in Regina’s presence. Fuck. She shuffles back on her feet, trying to decide if turning around and bolting at full speed will make her feel better, or worse. She’s trapped inside a cabin with Regina for four more days. They drove here together with Henry—Emma literally cannot escape her. She doesn’t want to, but right now, she wants Pinecone to lean over the side and bite off her head so Regina can’t see all the longing, awful, ridiculous emotions that are apparently playing out all over her face.
Regina tips her head to one side, expression slightly less acerbic, but barely, as she studies Emma with an intent, precise, unwavering gaze. She’s either going to lobby a fireball at Emma’s head for daring to ever think about her that way, or she’s going to give her a verbal rejection that might actually hurt even worse. There is no sound outside of the blood rushing in her ears, and Emma really needs Pinecone to do his job as her nemesis, right about now.
Instead, Regina steps forward, one hand still loosely holding onto Shadow’s reins, the other coming up to cup the side of Emma’s cheek, reach around and grasp at her neck. And then… and then, Regina’s lips are on Emma’s. Emma gasps into Regina’s mouth and Regina tugs her closer at that, pressing the whole front of her body against Emma’s and pinning her back against the stable wall. Emma can’t concentrate on anything other than Regina is kissing her, she’s probably doing a terrible job kissing back, because she can’t quite believe that this is happening. Regina, kissed her.
She pulls back, her thumb running along Emma’s bottom lip as she looks at her and Emma lets out an embarrassing little moan. Regina smirks, all rakish, wicked implication, and Emma might pass out from shock, and how embarrassing would that be?
“I… you…” Jesus christ she can’t form a proper sentence with Regina looking at her like that. Her hands are still on Emma’s body. Emma made a fool out of herself more than once today, has done so in Regina’s presence a hundred times over, and Regina isn’t rejecting her. A fireball is not being lobbed at her head, Regina is pushing her hips against Emma’s and grinning wickedly happily at her. “That was nice,” Emma finally says, like a fucking fool. Regina barks out a laugh, bright and delighted and it fills Emma up. This whole afternoon is going to solidify itself in her memory for the rest of her goddamn life. “And really fucking hot,” she adds, because nice, for fuck’s sake.
“Was it now?” Regina taunts, rolling her hips.
Emma groans and her head knocks back against the wall with a thud. She doesn't care. She’s grinning at Regina madly. Regina kissed her. Regina wants her, too. Emma giggles. It’s such a silly feeling; she feels like a stumbling foal—clumsy and awkward, unsure, but so fucking eager to get up, go, explore. She keeps on looking at Regina’s lips. “Um, yes,” she says. “Very much so.”
Regina leans in again and sucks Emma’s bottom lip into her mouth, then bites it. “Good,” she whispers, before taking Shadow and walking away, leaving Emma panting against the wall, wondering what the fuck just happened.
…
Day Four
…
Emma wakes up with a jolt at a loud noise. From below the bunk, Wendy winces and looks up at Emma sheepishly. “Sorry, Emma,” she says. “I was trying to be quiet.”
“S’alright,” Emma mumbles, rubbing at her eyes and sitting up with a groan. A week on this shitty bunk bed is really going to do a number on her back and neck. She rolls her neck slowly, wincing a little at the crick in it. “What time is it?” she asks, voice pitched low in case it’s early and others are still asleep.
“7:45,” Wendy says. “Everyone else is up.”
“Oh, delightful,” Emma mutters. The cabin door opens and in comes Regina, Marisol, Gretel, and Deja, freshly washed and dressed for the day. Regina’s eyes meet hers immediately and Emma feels her whole body flush. “Um, morning,” she says.
A smirk spills languidly onto Regina’s face, and she crosses her arms, leaning against the doorframe. It feels seductive, even though she knows it’s not really, not with the kids around. “Good morning,” she says.
Yep, Emma is 100% blushing now, no doubt about it. Fucking hell.
“Hi, Emma!” Deja says, climbing halfway up the ladder to Emma’s bunk. “Guess what today is!?” Emma doesn’t get a moment to guess, because Deja immediately hollers, “FLAG FOOTBALL DAY!”
“Oh,” Emma says, her mood perking up. “Awesome.”
“Sort of,” Marisol mutters from over near Regina.
Regina’s hand comes down to stroke her hair out of her face. “If you don’t want to play, then you don’t have to, remember?”
“Yeah,” Marisol mutters. “But I want to be able to do stuff, and not just watch all the time.”
“You can,” Emma says, and then she jumps down off the bunk, avoiding Deja still on the ladder altogether. “Flag football takes longer,” she explains. “We’ll tag people in and out as we play. You can watch at first if you want, then join in after. Or, you can start and then sit and watch.”
“Oh…” Marisol says, perking up a little. “Okay.”
When Emma looks back up and meets Regina’s gaze, the affection is suddenly obvious, and Emma has to escape to the bathrooms to avoid her feelings about it.
…
…
“Ma,” Henry says in their huddle. “We have to win this,” he declares.
Emma looks him up and down. “Since when are you so competitive? I thought that was more your mom’s thing.”
“It’s a Mills thing,” he says, bouncing up and down on his toes. “Only comes out when it matters.”
“And flag football matters?” Emma asks him with a little laugh. She doesn’t disagree—she wants to win, too, it’s just funny to see him like this.
He whips his head around and grabs Emma by both sides of her face, hauling her down to his level—not far, anymore, he’s gonna be taller than them both pretty soon. Regina is already freaking out about it. “Yes,” he says, completely serious.
“Well, then,” Emma nods, rolling her neck and bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Let’s go win this thing.”
“Yeah!” Henry cheers. Deja and Gretel join in from beside him, and a minute later, all of the kids are huddled around Emma, jumping and cheering. Regina, David, and Robin walk up and laugh before joining in.
“We got this,” Emma says, grinning when Regina meets her eye and nods.
“We do,” she smirks. “I wonder what the prize will be if you win?” she adds in a whisper.
Oh, fuck. Emma did not realize how dangerous it would be if Regina ever actually wanted her back. She’s done for.
…
…
Regina turns and catches Emma’s eye across the counter—their cabin has dinner duty tonight, and the menu is a classic, Sloppy Joes. Regina looks horrified, but she has started at least adding different spices to the recipe, so Emma knows that it will be delicious.
She is still running high off of their flag football win. Green Team is now edging towards first place in the rankings, just a few points behind the Blue Team. Regina and Dov were great choices for captains—they’d huddled, and strategized, and cinched themselves a win with almost an effortless ease that Emma doesn’t think she could be more impressed with Regina if she tried.
All of the children had a great time, and all of them played at one point. Even when Charlie grumbled about being taken out for a bit and Marisol ran onto the field—he settled down once David started whispering in his ear. And he was the first one to actually jump up and cheer when Marisol managed to rip off a flag from the opposing team. He chanted her name and hauled her up into the air at the end, Marisol surprised and beaming, and Emma’s heart softened to the kid.
True to her word, Regina had grabbed hold of Emma after their win and pressed her up against the wall of the freezer, kissing her senseless before grabbing the frozen meat for dinner. “Good job, Emma,” she whispered before slipping out, leaving Emma to cool off in the walk in.
Now, in between frowning at the meal she is being forced to create, and smiling and talking to the girls, she keeps shooting pointed looks Emma’s way. Emma looks up at the right moment to catch her gaze, and Regina’s eyebrows lift even as her eyes drop, traveling the length Emma’s body in such an unconcealed once over that Emma has to take a deep, steadying breath.
“Emma,” Violet says, clearly not for the first time.
“What? Sorry,” Emma twists towards her—this girl that Henry likes. She’s quiet and sweet and she seems as infatuated by him as he is with her. Emma knows the feeling well. “What’s up?” she asks.
“The bread rolls will burn if we don’t take them out now,” she says, pointing.
“Oh, shit,” Emma scrambles to get them out as Wendy sing-songs, language, from behind her. “You,” Emma points to Wendy, “hush,” but she’s grinning. The three of them are all on the precipice of a giggle attack, hungry and spent and delighted by the events of the day.
“Emma?” Regina calls out, “are you three ready?”
“Yep,” she says, tugging the ridiculous tall chef’s hat back onto her head. They’re all wearing them, and aprons as they get their trays ready to waltz out and serve the rest of the camp. Regina looks doubly horrified by her required outfit as she does by the food that she was forced to make, but all of the girls are laughing, and the entire camp are tapping out a chant with their silverware, thrilled at the prospect of the messy food, so she gamely forces herself to get on with it. Emma steps up behind her and whispers, “it’s a good look,” in Regina’s ear, and she takes great satisfaction at the slight visible shiver that runs through her body.
(Fair is fair, and all that).
The whole camp cheers as they appear out of the kitchen, placing the food on their tables until they get to head over to their own and enjoy the fruits of their labor for the evening. Emma digs in, grinning as it spills all over her hands and face. Across from her, Regina is attempting to eat her sandwich with a knife and fork.
“Regina,” Emma admonishes. “You can’t eat Sloppy Joes like that.”
“I am not eating it like that,” she says, pointing to Emma’s face with her knife.
“It’s this, or we start a food fight with them, ‘It Takes Two’ style,” Emma warns.
The glare that Regina gives her is reminiscent of their early interactions—The Evil Queen in all her terrible glory. “If you even think about throwing any amount of this food at me, I will burn you alive and ensure that you never receive another orgasm in your life,” she hisses lowly.
Orgasams are on the table, is the only thing that Emma takes away from that threat. She beams, taking another large bite of her food. Regina grimaces at her, shaking her head. “Noted,” Emma says happily.
…
Day Five
…
Regina presses Emma up against the bathroom stall. “We only have five minutes,” she mutters against Emma’s mouth.
“I think we can work with that,” Emma says, a little breathlessly. Regina is shoving her bra up and Emma is imagining all of the things they can accomplish with five minutes in this small bathroom stall.
“You are going to need to be very quiet,” Regina demands. “Because Marisol might come looking for us any minute now.”
“Sure, I can—ohhh,” Emma groans as Regina’s mouth tugs a nipple in. “Fuuuuuuck,” she mutters, head knocking back against the stall.
“That, is not quiet enough,” Regina chastises.
“I mean… Regina,” Emma whines. “Can you… please don’t stop.”
Regina smirks wickedly. “Ask me again,” she taunts.
“Oh, fuck you,” Emma groans, somewhat peevishly.
“Hm, nope,” Regina’s smirk widens, going sharper at the corners, and her eyes are twinkling with delight. It’s horribly, almost annoyingly, attractive. “Try again,” she orders.
“Regina…” Emma groans.
“Yes?” she arches an eyebrow, feigning ignorance. “Did you want something?”
“I might hate you,” Emma whispers.
“Hm…” and then Regina just reaches right into Emma’s shorts, past her underwear, and dips a finger between Emma’s folds. “I think your body begs to differ,” she says, looking enormously proud of herself.
Emma can’t really respond. She can’t really think right now, or move, or say anything because Regina is pressing inside of her . Emma is so wet it’s uncomfortable, and Regina is inside her . She whimpers, because there is really nothing else that she can do. “I…” she breathes, “Regina, please—” and then she’s cut off by Regina’s lips on her own again. Her finger curling up perfectly and when she slips it out, then back in, a second finger joins it. Emma’s whole body is on fire.
And then, she slips out. Stepping back, Regina adjusts both Emma’s shirt and shorts, humming contentedly to herself. “It’s Lake Day,” she announces. “We better get going.”
“You…” Emma is going to die in a camp bathroom stall. “What?”
Regina fluffs her own hair, and the only satisfaction that Emma takes from this horrible, awful, cruel situation is that Regina looks reluctant to be leaving the stall, too.
It doesn’t stop her from leaving Emma in there alone, wet and wanting as she saunters outside to meet the children.
Emma has a momentary freak out on her own. She contemplates trying to get herself off for half a second, because honestly, she’s that close, but—
There’s something embarrassing beyond anything she’s ever imagined before, in getting herself off while she is at camp with kids running around everywhere because she wants Regina that much.
It’s that, that wanting, that sobers her a little. An almost internal cold shower. Because, the thing is, Regina has given Emma zero indications that this is anything beyond the physical, and Emma is quickly coming to realize that she’s had it bad for Regina for a while, now. It was tucked up underneath all the sexual tension, and genuine anger, and her feelings for other people… but it’s suddenly glaringly obvious at all levels that Emma is Into Regina, like… possibly more than she’s ever been into anyone, before.
She thinks about it, as she adjusts her clothing and tries to look normal, and it’s similar to how she felt about Neal, all those years ago. It’s nothing like how she felt about Hook, when she thinks about it, but it’s not… not that, too. There was a level of obsession with Hook that she’s never felt with Regina in the same way. It’s… being around Regina is easy, in a way.
(It’s absolutely not at the same time, which makes no real sense).
She walks out of the bathroom and down the path to the lake, and she sees Regina with Henry. Bending over—only slightly, and clearly annoyed about that fact—and rubbing some sunblock onto his face. He’s trying to be patient with her, while also checking to make sure that Violet cannot see them. Regina rubs a little more on his nose, then releases him with a soft smile, and it hits Emma square in the chest.
She loves Regina.
Like… Loves.
Oh fuck. This is bad. This is really bad.
Regina looks up and catches Emma staring, and there must… god, it must be showing on her face, it can’t not be . Regina frowns only slightly, and then she smiles, waving Emma towards her, if a little cautiously. She stumbles forward, her mind nothing but the thought I’m in love with Regina blaring over and over again.
“Um, hi,” Emma says, like a fool.
“Hello,” Regina says with a soft laugh. Then she leans in, whispering, “did I really get you this flustered?”
“Um…”
Regina smirks, proud and haughty. “I’ll be sure to take care of you later,” she promises. “If you behave.” She whirls around and heads towards the dock to supervise. And Emma is standing there, in a full panic. I’m in love with Regina, she thinks. Regina has given not a wit of indication that this is anything beyond the sexual, for her. And, for that matter… it might not even have crossed her mind that this would even go beyond camp.
Oh god. What if she pretends that none of this ever happened when they get back to Storybrooke? Emma doesn’t think that she will be able to handle that.
What in the ever loving fuck is she going to do?
…
…
“Ma!” Henry hollers out at her, “jump with me at the top?”
Emma looks up from where she had been holding Deja’s legs into an underwater handstand. He is pointing up to the highest level of the jumping structure. The one all the counselors have been very clear on only allowing the older kids to jump off of. Usually, it’s reserved for the weeks with teenagers only. Emma glances back up the shore towards Regina, checking. There is a tight frown on her face. She doesn’t want him to, that much is clear.
Emma taps on Deja’s leg and she flips back over, coming up sputtering a little and brushing water out of her eyes. “How was that!?” she asks eagerly.
“Nearly perfect,” Emma grins at her. “One big toe wasn’t all the way pointed, but that seems like semantics.”
“Or, what I need to work on,” Deja says seriously. She glares down at the water like it’s at fault and Emma tries to stifle a small laugh.
“Kiddo, it was perfect, let it be perfect.”
“Ma!” Henry calls out again, waiting.
“Hang on, kid!” she hollers back at him. “Deja, can you practice with Wendy and Violet?” Deja nods and paddles over towards the older girls. Emma makes her way towards Regina. “Is it okay?” she asks.
Regina’s frown deepens as she looks up at it. “There are rocks—” she starts, but Emma cuts her off.
“Further out. He’s nowhere near them, and I’ll direct him towards the best spot.”
“And how do you know the best spot?” Regina counters, a little more meanly than she probably intends. Emma allows it to wash off her, she knows what Regina looks like in Protective Mom Mode, and she’s just worried.
Emma smiles at her, all cocky grin and juts out her hip, making it light to chill Regina out a bit. “If you think that wasn’t the very first thing I did once I got a moment to myself, then you don’t know me very well.”
It works; Regina rolls her eyes, but her shoulders relax. She sighs, looking at Emma with more vulnerability than she was expecting. “Take care of him,” she says. A demand and a plea all in one. But it’s trust, given, and Emma can feel the weight of it like a physical thing.
Beside her sister, spread out on a blanket, underneath an umbrella, and sun-blocked within an inch of their lives, are Zelena and Robyn. Robyn is sleeping, but… Zelena gives Emma an uncomfortably knowing look.
Emma jerks her head into a nod, then takes off, for fear that she’ll do something incredibly ill-advised like blurt out that she recently discovered she loves Regina.
“Okay,” she says to Henry, slightly breathless from how quickly she ran from Regina. “You have to jump exactly where I say, or your mom will kill me, after.”
Henry laughs and climbs up towards the highest diving spot. “Mom would never actually kill you, Ma,” he says, like it’s the most absurd thing in the world. “Mom loves having you around. She smiles way more, now.”
That’s… oh fuck. “ What?” Emma laughs, an awkward little choking sound that absolutely makes Henry look at her in worry. “I think that might have more to do with you, and like, far less magical curses as of late than anything to do with me,” she argues.
Henry studies her for half a second. “Nah,” he finally decides. “It’s you.”
Emma looks down at Regina. She can’t help it. She finds Regina staring back at her—at them—with a slightly unreadable expression on her face. Emma forces herself to look away and grabs hold of Henry’s hand. “Okay, so, we jump that way,” she points. “You’ve got to really aim more for going out further, there’s room for a little run and jump.”
“Have you done this?” he looks up and asks, looking slightly nervous for the first time.
“Yeah, kid,” Emma says, ruffling his hair. “First day.”
He relaxes and grins up at her. Squeezing her hand once, he bounces a little on his toes. “Let’s do this!”
Emma backs him up a little, counts them down, and then they run off together, leaping into the air with delighted yells. Suspended in the air for a beat, Emma feels as though she could stay like that forever. Then the drop swirls in her stomach as they begin to fall. When the water envelops her, Emma feels the rush over her entire body. She tugs Henry up, just in case, but he’s beaming and treading water easily. “Let’s go again!”
Emma laughs and nods, swimming towards the shore. Towards Regina, waiting for them both.
…
…
A hand covers Emma’s mouth, and just before she can scream, a voice whispers. “It’s me.”
“Jesus, Regina,” Emma hisses back. She’s standing on the ladder to the top bunk, looking partially sleep-mussed and impossibly sexy. “What’s wrong?” Emma asks, sitting up a bit more.
“Grab a sweatshirt and flashlight,” is all that she says before disappearing down the ladder again.
“What?” Emma looks around the cabin, all the girls are out cold. They lucked out—their cabin is full of heavy sleepers. David and Robin’s, not so much. “Regina, what are we—” the hand covers her mouth again as her feet land on the floor.
“Quietly,” Regina orders, “follow me.”
Emma grabs a sweatshirt and a flashlight and stumbles into her sandals. Once they’ve slipped out of the cabin, she starts whispering again, urgently as she catches up to Regina. “Is it a curse? A troll? Some fairy or witch?”
“No,” Regina says, but she does not elaborate on what it is, either.
“Regina—”
“Trust me,” Regina says, cutting her off. Emma huffs but doesn’t protest any further.
“Fine,” she whispers after a minute or two of stumbling down the path that veers toward the lake and the stables. “But if you’re dragging me out for a midnight horse ride, I am going to be complaining a little bit about how I could be sleeping instead.”
“You are not going to be riding a horse tonight,” Regina says. Before Emma can say anything else, she adds: “whether you ride anything else, is entirely up to you.”
Emma chokes, stumbles, and promptly falls on her face in the dirt.
“That’s either entirely flattering or deeply unattractive,” Regina says calmly from above her.
Emma pushes herself up with a slight groan. “Which one is winning out?” she asks, almost loathe to know the answer. She’s leaning towards embarrassment and unattractive, herself.
Regina holds an arm out, and Emma allows herself to be hauled upright, then tugged close to Regina’s body. “It depends,” she whispers.
“On?” Emma asks, distracted by their closeness.
“Did you fall over because you were excited about the idea of riding me, or disinterested?”
Emma gapes at her. “In… what world, would you think I would be disinterested?” she asks, genuinely confused.
“Then I’m leaning towards flattered,” Regina says, and disentangles their bodies to keep walking down the path.
“Are we…” Emma hurries after her. “Wait, wait, are you serious? Are we sneaking out to have sex?”
Regina merely smirks at her.
“In the stables? ” Emma squeaks. “I don’t… I don’t think I can have sex if Pinecone is watching.”
Regina barks out a laugh, bright, and delighted, and unrestrained. And fuck, Emma loves her so much.
“Emma, I’m not planning on fucking you in the stables,” Regina says, eyebrow arched high. Emma is both relieved and disappointed by this statement. Her disappointment lessens considerably when Regina adds, in a low, husky voice, “I’ve got other plans.”
Emma swallows thickly and tries really hard not to trip over her feet on some root she can’t see in the dark. When they reach the lake, Emma looks at Regina in question. And then her eyes widen as Regina promptly reaches down and pulls her shirt up over her head. She does not have a bathing suit on underneath her sleep shirt.
Or a bra.
Emma sucks in a breath when Regina slips out of her sleep shorts and kicks them gently to her hands, folding them and setting them on top of a large rock. She turns back to Emma, buck naked in the moonlight and waits, her eyes a dare if Emma has ever been given one.
Emma pulls her shirt off with the slightest shake to her hands. She can feel Regina’s eyes like a caress across her skin as she pushes her PJ shorts down and stands there, nipples hard in the cool night air. “Um,” Emma says, “are we—”
Regina takes off running towards the water and performs a perfect dive off the side of the rock. The smallest splash spills out around her in the water, and she bobbles up, smirking and treading water.
“Get in, Miss Swan,” she demands.
Emma’s jump is far less graceful. Too eager. The water is freezing and she comes up sputtering and complaining. But then Regina is there, tugging Emma into her arms as they tread water, and then her lips are on Emma’s, and Emma’s not doing much complaining, anymore.
It’s harder than it looks to make out while treading water in a lake at night, so it doesn’t last too long. When they both give up, laughing, Regina dips underneath the water. Emma has a half a second of panic when she realizes that the water is so dark that she can’t see her at all, before she bobs back up.
“I’ve never skinny-dipped before,” Regina admits.
“Me neither,” Emma tells her and Regina lifts a skeptical brow. “Really,” Emma insists. “I’ve wanted to. I almost—” she swallows and cuts herself off. “Well, I nearly did once when I was sixteen, but I chickened out.”
“How come?” Regina asks. There’s no teasing to her tone, just genuine curiosity.
Emma shrugs a little and looks out at the moon. “I was embarrassed to be naked in front of a girl I liked.”
Regina nods. “Did she like you back?”
“No clue. I think so? Maybe.” She thinks of Lily, then, tries to match her up with what she knows about Lily, now, and feels the guilt settle back onto her shoulders all over again.
Regina tugs Emma towards her a little, swimming back towards the rock. “It’s cold,” she says, “come on.”
“It’s gonna be colder when we get out,” Emma mumbles, but swims along.
“I brought towels.”
“When?” Emma looks around and then gets an eye full as Regina hauls herself up out of the water and onto the rock. “Wh-where?” she asks.
“I’ll throw it at your head and get it wet if you don’t stop staring at my ass,” she threatens, but she’s grinning as she says it.
“Sorry,” Emma apologizes and climbs out after her. Noting that Regina’s eyes are pretty obviously trained on her tits, as she does so. “Also,” Emma grins up at her, “hypocrite,” she points once she reaches the top.
Regina hands her the towel. “You were looking at my ass,” she says. “Ergo, not a hypocrite.”
Emma rolls her eyes and grins, wrapping herself in the towel as she shivers. “We probably shouldn’t stay out too long,” she whispers reluctantly. “One of the girls might wake up and need something.”
“I know,” Regina says, sounding as reluctant to head back as Emma feels. That’s a good sign, at least. If nothing else, Regina wants to spend time with Emma, now.
It’s self-sabotaging, maybe, but Emma stands there, naked and shivering and wanting Regina so much, and she just blurts it out. “Is this just a camp thing?”
Regina pauses from where she had been squeezing out her hair with the towel. Her whole—still blessedly, or horribly, depending on what her next words are—naked body displayed in the moonlight without a care, goes stock still.
So, Emma rambles. Because she’s panicking. “Because, if it is, then that’s totally fine. I get it. I’m… that’s fine, and like, probably a good idea? I just want to be, um, clear. You know, on the same page. Like adults. Like, um, I don’t want to do anything that might confuse Henry, or something. So, I guess I just want to know where your head’s at? And is this just a fun way to blow off steam while we’re at camp, or is this, um, that is, I mean—”
“Emma, stop,” Regina says, a little more harshly than feels great, but Emma might never have been able to shut her mouth, otherwise, so she’s grateful all the same.
“Sorry,” she mumbles. “I just wanted to—”
“Get on the same page, yes,” Regina says, a little shortly. She’s tugging her clothes back on in quick, hurried, sharp movements. And she’s not looking Emma in the eye, or leering at her body anymore. Suddenly, Emma doesn’t want to be naked, either. “I gathered that much.”
“Right,” Emma says, and tries to get her shorts back on without tripping over. She’s still sort of wet, and sticking a little to her clothes, but she can’t be naked anymore. Regina’s tone is… not promising.
“If that’s what you want, sure, Miss Swan. Then this is a ‘camp thing’ as you so eloquently put it,” Regina says, and starts to turn to walk back up the path to the cabins.
“No!” Emma says, “I, that’s not what I… is that what you want?” she adds, unsure of what’s happening right now, beyond the fact that she definitely just ruined whatever moment they had been having.
Regina whirls around, nearly knocking Emma over. Her hands come up automatically to steady her, even though the look on her face is kind of furious and hurt. “Yes, Miss Swan. That’s what I want,” she says, teeth gritted. She drops her hands from Emma as though it burns to touch her.
“Oh,” Emma says, unable to help herself. She knew on some level, obviously, that Regina wouldn’t ever be interested in anything beyond sex with her, but it still stings. Horribly so, actually. Emma sort of feels like her whole chest is too heavy to fit the rest of her. “Um, okay,” she nods, too many times in a row to appear normal, but she can’t really help it, right now. “That’s… um, okay.”
Regina is looking at her a little oddly when Emma forces herself to take a breath and meet her eyes. She can’t panic and run away like she wants to, anymore. They have Henry. Regina would never forgive her, and Emma wouldn’t be able to forgive herself. It hurts like hell, but Emma will have to get over it, for Henry, at least.
Regina looks like she is about to say something else, but this is about all of the rejection that Emma can take in one night, so she quickly brushes past her. “Come on, Marisol might wake up and need to pee or something. She’ll be worried about bears if we’re not there.”
And then, she flees.
Sort of. Back to the cabin and the top bunk and her blankets, at least.
…
Day Six
…
“Ma,” Henry grins, “come on, it’ll be so much fun!”
Emma rather doubts that, but he’s excited, and Emma needs to do something that’s not with Regina right now, so…
Archery. With Robin.
She sighs; fucking great. The thing is, she had agreed rather happily when Henry first asked her this morning at breakfast—because he said that it would be with David. Not Robin. She hasn’t spent a lot of time with her dad, recently, and it seemed like a good idea, at the time.
Now, though. Robin is sighing a lot at even David’s form while holding a bow, and he’s already leapt in to correct things twice. “Sorry,” he says, holding a finger up, “sorry, just… can I?” he’s already reaching towards her as he says it, and Emma knows that he’s with Marian. She knows that he loves his wife. Emma kind of loves his wife, too. She’s great! She knows that Regina has said more than once that she and Robin are platonic soulmates, turns out. But even that feels… awful, right now, in this space where Emma feels rejected. Regina wants her body, maybe, but she’s platonic soulmates with fucking Robin. And she has befriended his wife! She’s even befriended—if that could be the term—her fucking sister! She even has this weird, pseudo mother-daughter, big sister, stepmom thing still going on with Snow. She is the mother of Emma’s child . Literally, nearly everyone that Emma cares about and interacts with on a regular basis is connected in some way to Regina.
More than Emma is or ever will be, apparently.
And that fucking sucks just a little bit right now, and fucking Robin is wrapping his arms around Emma’s and twisting her body a little, and she sort of wants to claw his fucking face off, just a bit.
“If you lift your elbow, here, it will make it so much easier to hold,” he says, and Emma can tell that he’s trying. He knows that she doesn’t really like him. They’ve always been kind of awkward around each other. Emma has never had a great excuse for it, but it’s painfully obvious now that it was jealousy all the way down.
“Okay,” she says a little tersely, but she listens to his advice. He’s fucking Robin Hood, he knows how to use a bow and arrow.
She shoots the arrow into the target. She missed the bullseye by quite a bit, but the arrow actually goes where it’s supposed to, actually hits the target instead of flying off into the grass, this time. Beside her, Robin cheers enthusiastically, and Henry and David join in, doing a little victory dance that is both deeply embarrassing and really sweet. Emma smiles despite herself.
“Thanks for the help,” she says, because it’s not Robin’s fault that Regina likes him, and, if you were to take Regina out of the equation, Emma actually likes him, too.
“Not a problem,” he smiles. “If you tilt it like this…” he starts to show her, this time, using his own body, own arrows, instead of touching Emma. She mimics his form and the arrow gets even closer to the target.
Emma whoops, because it’s cool as hell and deeply satisfying, and when she turns around to high five Henry—Regina is watching her. Emma feels her stomach roil—she’s avoided Regina since last night. She basically sprinted back to the cabin and threw herself at the top bunk, pretending to fall asleep immediately. She barely slept in reality. She could hear Regina awake and restless below her. And by the first hint of sunrise, Emma tip-toed out to escape. She offered to help with breakfast, doing her best to keep busy and avoid Regina’s searching looks entirely. She was scrambling to come up with something when Henry saved her with the archery thing.
But now Regina is here. Watching her. Arms crossed and contemplative. “It’s talent show day,” she announces to the group as a whole. “We’ve got to work on what we’re going to do for tonight.”
“Archery competition?” Robin offers, only mildly serious.
“I think Marisol would have trouble even lifting a bow, but perhaps we can work it in somehow,” Regina drawls, smirking at him. Emma feels her stomach curdle and quickly moves to put her stuff away. She doesn’t want to watch their easy banter. It’s even worse, somehow, when Marian slips over and joins in—the three of them connecting on a level that is just… easy, in a way that her interactions with Regina never feel.
“What if we did some sort of dance or something that would let more people show off their individual talents?” David suggests. “Different parts of the song could be different things? Robin can do archery at some point, someone can be brave enough to do that apple thing?”
“I can do a handstand,” Emma offers.
“So can I!” David exclaims.
“SO CAN I!” Deja hollers, as the rest of the kids come to join them.
“I can do a cartwheel!” Marisol says excitedly.
“I can tap dance,” Charlie says, surprising everyone.
“Really?” Emma asks him. He nods. “Do you have the shoes for that here, though?”
“In my backpack,” he nods. Like of course he would need tap shoes in a wilderness summer camp.
“Well…” Emma says, “awesome.”
After quite a bit of discussion of their various talents, they come up with a plan. Regina will be singing, with Wendy, Violet, and Dov as her backup singers. Emma, David, Deja, and Marisol are on handstands and cartwheels. Robin and Roland will perform archery tricks. Charlie will tap dance. Hansel and Gretel will make friendship bracelets to display as their team’s uniform. And Henry will be the director, making all of this cohesive, somehow.
Emma spends the afternoon doing handstands and cartwheels with her father, Deja, and Marisol. They’ve got a pretty great little routine of it by lunchtime. Hansel and Gretel spend lunch furiously making bracelets and choking on their food until Emma grabs their supplies and hides them, making them focus on just their food for five minutes.
She doesn’t see much of Regina all day. She’s never heard Regina sing before and she sort of can’t stop thinking about what her voice will sound like. By the time that everyone has practiced individually (and with Henry observing everyone) he brings them together right before dinner.
“Okay,” he says, clipboard in hand. Emma can’t stop the grin from spilling out onto her face, and she turns and catches Regina’s eye automatically. They share a smile before Emma quickly turns her attention back to Henry. “Here is the plan,” he declares with a beaming grin. “Mom and the singers are going to start us off after I introduce the team. On the cue in the song, Grandpa, Ma, and Deja will come out and do their handstands. Then there is another song cue and Marisol comes out with her cartwheel solo. Then all four of you do cartwheels, revealing Charlie in his tap shoes. Mom and the singers keep going and give him a beat for his tap solo. The solo ends on a flourish pose, and all the singers and Charlie point to Robin and Roland for the archery big finish. After they do their tricks, Regina and the singers will finish off the song, everyone will run on stage for a finishing pose, and Henry announces the bracelets (which they will hold up as part of their end pose) were made by the twins.
It’s a good plan. Chaotic as hell with a bunch of kids, but it sounds pretty good to Emma, and if Henry can get them to pull it off, she will be ridiculously proud. She catches Regina’s eye again by accident, and the look that Regina gives her is… complicated. She’s aware that Emma is avoiding her, and she’s clearly pissed about it, but there is an undertone of… something else that Emma can’t totally figure out. She turns to her dad, asking if he wants to eat together and notices Regina’s face go hard and determined.
So, that’s gonna be fun later.
…
…
Regina’s voice is amazing. Emma stands there in the wings listening to her slightly husky tone and is enraptured. The kids behind her complement it really well in soft falsettos and Emma almost misses her cue to go onstage. Henry anxiously pushes her forward and Emma practically tumbles into a handstand, leg falling slightly before she rights herself.
The crowd cheers as the three of them wobble around on stage, cheering madly when Marisol runs on and performs a perfect cartwheel. Emma grins, dropping into one of her own and scooping Marisol up and bouncing her in excitement as they slip off the stage for Charlie.
Charlie, who has been both a little shit and a surprisingly kind child, is absolutely a brilliant tap dancer. Emma gapes for a second then lets out a sharp, proud whistle. Charlie is absolutely beaming when he runs towards them offstage.
“Dude!” Emma exclaims, hugging him. “That was amazing.”
“Thank you,” he says, smiling shyly.
Their team cheers on Robin and Roland from the wings, amping the crowd up. Regina and the singers stop bothering keeping their beat, instead, starting to clap in time, the crowd picking it up with varying levels of success. Robin shoots a final arrow while looking at Regina and giving her a wink—a cue, obviously—as Regina seamlessly picks the song back up for the end. Emma hates the jealous bubble in her stomach, but it’s there as she drops back into a handstand and their team gathers on stage, posing and holding up their—impressively knotted—bracelets.
“We’ve been The Green Team,” Henry says to a cheering crowd. “Thank you, and goodnight!”
They win. Probably more to do with Robin and Regina—and Charlie—than anyone else, but they win , and it’s looking more and more like they might win the whole week’s competition tomorrow. They’re on the top of the board, tied still with the Blue team, but Emma’s pretty sure they’re going to take it.
Since it’s the last night, there’s a dance party after the talent show. The kids are full of S’mores, bouncing up and down to the music and flinging themselves wildly around to the beat. They’re all going to crash hard in an hour.
Emma is holding back a bit; she danced with the girls for a while, twirling first Deja, then Gretel, then Marisol around. She was surprised when Violet sidled up for her turn, but gamely fake waltzed her around, laughing. Henry had jumped in after, scowling at Emma for dancing with Violet before he could.
“Hey, kid, she asked me,” Emma laughs and ruffles his hair, spinning him out towards her. “Go dance,” she says, and can’t stop her grin when the two of them awkwardly but sweetly spin around each other, not touching even a little bit. Being twelve is so weird.
She’s hanging back and just watching when she feels Regina come up behind her. “My turn,” she whispers, directly into Emma’s ear. It’s not a question. Her arms are already snaking around Emma’s waist, and she expertly spins her onto the ‘dance floor’ pulling Emma into her arms before she can even really contemplate what’s happened.
“I don’t know how to dance like this,” Emma starts to say in protest. “The kids and I were just—”
“I’ll lead,” Regina says, and starts to do as such. “All you have to do is follow my cues.”
“Yeah, but I don’t—”
“Just loosen up your limbs and trust me,” Regina tells her. Again, not a question. Regina takes charge, and Emma finds that after a few awkward minutes where she’s trying to control how her body moves, it is much easier to just go a little boneless and let Regina move her body the way that she wants. It’s fun, actually, once they get into the swing of things, and Emma finds herself smiling.
Of course, that’s the moment Regina chooses to say, “So, you’ve been avoiding me all day,” and the smile drops pretty quickly.
“I haven’t—” Regina arches a brow high and Emma sighs. “Okay, yeah, I have been. Sorry. I was just… trying not to make it weird.”
“By making it weird and avoiding me?”
“Well when you put it like that, ” Emma sighs. “Look… I’m sorry about last night, and today. I just… well, we obviously kind of wanted different things, and it’s just gonna take me a little bit to get over that. But I will, ” she insists quickly. Suddenly terrified that Regina is going to shut her out completely. “You’re my friend and that matters to me, and I want things to be okay for Henry. We can just… forget it. I’ll stop making it weird. I promise.”
Regina studies her quietly, barely needing any concentration to keep them in tempo with the music. “What did you want?” She finally asks and Emma doesn’t know why she is pressing this thing. It feels cruel in a way she hasn’t seen Regina be in a long time.
“Come on, Regina,” she whispers, trying to slip out of her arms. “Just leave it, please.”
Regina’s grip on her tightens, though. Emma is always surprised at how strong Regina actually is—she doesn’t look it at first glance. “No,” she says, insistent. “What did you want?” she asks, again.
“Obviously, you know,” Emma sort of snaps, because it’s one thing to reject her, but it’s quite another to force her to admit how she feels after the fact. While slow dancing with her .
“Obviously, I don’t,” Regina counters, letting a modicum of frustration slip into her voice. “Or I wouldn’t have asked you. We didn’t… really clear things up last night. That’s probably more my fault than it is yours,” she admits, surprising Emma enough to look back up and meet her eyes. “I think that I may have jumped to some conclusions and reacted poorly.” Emma gapes at her. “I might do that more often than I’d like, particularly when it comes to you,” she adds, flooring Emma completely.
“What?” she stammers, like a normal person who can string words together. Regina smiles at her, though, fondly, and it’s so weird that Emma trips over her own feet and Regina has to tighten her hold on Emma even more , and now she just doesn’t know what to say or do in response.
“Emma,” Regina says, dropping her voice a little lower. “What did you want, last night when you asked if this was only ‘a camp thing’ as you so eloquently put it?”
Emma rolls her eyes at that. “Stop making fun of me.”
“I’m not,” Regina teases, though she so obviously is doing exactly that. “Please answer the question.”
“You,” Emma says, not looking at Regina’s face. It’s hard, when they’re literally holding each other and dancing, but Emma determinedly keeps her gaze past Regina’s shoulder. “I didn’t want it to be flirting at camp for a week,” she elaborates, because she knows Regina is about to ask her to, and she’s already in this deep now, might as well make herself feel totally exposed and awful. “I like you, Regina. I have for a long time, probably. I’m obviously attracted to you, but I also…” she shrugs, unable to say it, because… ‘like’ doesn’t really cover it. But, she’s not exposing herself that much.
“I didn’t want it to simply play out this week, either,” Regina admits. “I lied. I thought that you were trying to end it, and I panicked and lied.”
“Oh,” Emma breathes out, letting the weight of that revelation settle over her. “Oh,” she looks up and meets Regina’s gaze.
“Yes,” Regina says, a smirk slowly spilling onto her face. “So, anything else that you would like to add?” she asks, in that teasing, affectionate tone.
“I’ve kinda been half in love with you for a few years, probably,” Emma just… spits out.
Regina goes very still. It’s clear that whatever she thought Emma was about to say, that wasn’t it. “Oh,” she breathes out.
“Sorry,” Emma quickly tries to cover it. Regina might be attracted to her, might want them to explore that, but love is probably like three steps too far, and—
Regina pulls her in and kisses her—hard. Emma sort of forgets that they’re dancing on the grass in the middle of a camp resort with a bunch of kids and their son dancing around them. She forgets the mosquitoes that have been attacking her all night despite spraying nearly an entire bottle of bug spray on herself. She forgets everything but the feeling of Regina’s lips on her own.
“That’s good,” Regina says when she finally pulls back. “That will make things much easier.”
“What things?” Emma asks, still sort of stuck on the whole Regina kissing her thing. It’s taking her brain a second to catch back up to the thread of their conversation.
“The moving you into my house, ravishing you, and telling your mother that you love me, sort of things,” Regina says with a devilish grin. “Among various others.”
“Wait… what?”
Regina laughs, throaty and low and full of promise into Emma’s ear. “I’m half in love with you, too,” she says. “I’ve been waiting quite a while for you to catch up, Miss Swan.”
“Don’t ‘Miss Swan’ me after—”
Regina kisses her again. From somewhere on the dance floor, Emma hears Henry whoop in delight.
…
Day Seven
…
The Green Team wins the week’s competition.
And Emma sort of couldn’t care less. Regina loves her. Henry is happy about this development. Yes, sure, winning is fun, and it’s a great way to cap off an amazing week of her life but also, who cares?
Regina and Henry, apparently. They scream with joy and jump up and hug each other and the rest of the team. Emma watches them, laughing and so happy it almost hurts a little. Then her dad hauls her up over his shoulder and runs around cheering, and Emma focuses on screaming to be put down while everyone laughs happily. When he does finally put her down, he messes up her hair, grinning at her and leans in to whisper, “I’ll help make sure your mother doesn’t freak out when we get home.”
“Huh?” Emma asks, and then he looks at her, and then over to Regina, and Emma flushes in embarrassment.
“It was a small fake dance floor,” he says with an awkward little laugh, but he doesn’t look mad, or annoyed, or… he looks a little embarrassed, but mostly he looks… happy. Happy that Emma is happy. She jumps back into his arms, sort of overcome and needing to hide her face, just a little. He chuckles and hugs her back. “This was a fun week,” he says. “We should make it an annual thing.”
“I agree,” Emma says, pulling back and beaming at him.
The kids attack them both, cheering and screaming and stomping with their victory. “LET’S JUMP IN THE LAKE!” Dov, usually quiet and calm and steady, screams before taking off at a run. Charlie and Wendy right at his heels.
“Wait, wait,” Emma starts and sprints after them. By the time that they reach the lake, everyone is laughing and Emma has given up trying to stop anyone. She takes a running leap between Henry and Deja—fully clothed—the whole team jumps into the water. Even Regina. She comes up quickly, holding close to Marisol near the shoreline, but she’s grinning just as widely as anyone else. When she catches Emma’s eye, the grin deepens into a smirk that promises some wonderful things later.
Maybe winning and celebrating is absolutely as awesome as Regina and Henry seem to think, after all.
…
…
It’s harder to say goodbye to the kids than Emma expects it will be.
She’s used to saying goodbye. To other children, especially. It was one of the most common things about being a foster kid—goodbyes aplenty. But now, she finds herself oddly melancholic about the whole thing. Deja tries to act like it’s no big deal, but she bursts into tears at the last second and hugs Emma too tight around the neck as her mom waits patiently beside their car. Marisol welling up and hugging Regina for a few long minutes isn’t surprising, but Charlie trying desperately to hold back tears as he hugs first Emma, and then David is, a little.
Dov, true to form, walks over to Emma and offers his hand to shake. “You were an excellent teammate,” he states.
Emma laughs, shaking his hand. “You were an excellent captain.” He beams with pride and runs off towards his father.
The rest of the kids they will all see back in Storybrooke, but they say their goodbyes all the same as they clamor into different cars, no longer their charges.
“One last swim in the lake?” Robin offers to Henry and Roland. They nod excitedly, and David, Marian, and Zelena all look poised to join them.
Regina, however, slips her arm around Emma’s waist and leads her in the other direction. “One last horse ride, for us,” she announces. “We’ll meet you back at the cars in an hour?”
“Wait…” Emma protests. “I’d sort of rather—” Regina starts nibbling at her ear. “Um, okay,” Emma says, and allows herself to be directed into the stables.
Regina wastes no time pressing Emma up against the wall and rolling their hips together. “To be clear,” she says in between kisses. “I am making you ride a horse with me again before we leave.” She sucks on Emma’s pulse point, drawing a groan out of her as she simultaneously scratches her fingernails down Emma’s stomach, underneath her t-shirt.
“But this is so much better,” Emma protests.
“It’s quite wonderful, yes,” Regina agrees. “But I’m not fucking you for the first time up against a stable wall.”
Emma moans in protest. “Please?” she asks, not even caring how desperate for it she sounds.
“Not even if you beg,” Regina counters. “I have plans. They involve a bed and quite a lot of uninterrupted time.”
“We—” Emma gasps as Regina rolls one of her nipples between her fingers. “We could do both,” she weakly tries to argue.
Regina kisses her way back up Emma’s neck, then moves back to her lips before answering. “No,” she finally says, smirk on her lips. “But think of how wonderful it will finally be later tonight when we get home. Henry is having a sleepover with your parents.”
“He is?” Emma asks, still a little dazed.
“And you are having a sleepover with me,” Regina states, and then—horribly—she pulls away, biting at her lower lip as she stares at Emma. “Now, however,” she says, smirk widening in that slightly cruel way that is unfortunately, very hot. “You are going to get back on that horse,” she says, and when Emma follows the gaze of her finger she is horrified to find it pointing directly at Pinecone.
“No way,” Emma says, suddenly much less turned on. Probably also part of Regina’s evil plan.
“Yes,” Regina says. “But don’t worry, I’ll be with you.”
She moves to get the saddle ready and Emma glares at Pinecone, arms crossed. “If you even think about bucking me off,” Emma leans in to whisper. “I’ll cut you up for horse meat. People eat that! I’m not one of them, but I could make an exception for you.”
Pinecone snorts in her face.
“Asshole,” Emma mutters. She hopes that Regina will get on first this time around, but Regina isn’t stupid. She knows that Emma will probably run away. Shakily, she hauls her leg over the top of the saddle, willing Pinecone to behave and chill out. He snorts in protest once she’s atop him. “See!” Emma declares. “He doesn’t want me here!”
Regina rubs his snout affectionately. “Sure he does,” she says. “You grow on people.”
“He’s not people,” Emma mutters as Regina hauls herself up behind Emma again. Legs and arms encasing her as she kisses her neck and takes the reins.
“For the next twenty minutes, pretend that he is, and we’ll all have a lovely time.”
Annoyingly, they do.
It’s a perfect day; sunny, not too hot, and Regina loves her. Regina on a horse is Regina happy and free, and it’s infectious, despite Emma’s hatred for this particular one. “Let’s run,” Emma finds herself saying, surprising them both.
Regina kisses her cheek. “Hold on,” she says, and signals to Pinecone. He doesn’t need to be told twice, and he takes off like a shot. Emma gasps and regrets her request immediately. But then, Regina’s strong arms slip around her and hold on tightly, and her joyous laughter rings out in Emma’s ears. Pinecone seems thrilled, and for a second, Emma closes her eyes, taking the moment in.
She gets it. That, can’t eat, can’t sleep, reach for the stars, over the fence, world series kind of stuff . She absolutely gets it. Emma leans back into Regina and laughs.
What a fucking great idea summer camp turned out to be.