Chapter Text
It was cold, wet, and dark, and Regina had already had enough of everybody onboard the ship. If they weren’t sailing to Neverland to save Henry, there is no way on earth that Regina would agree to live in close proximity to Snow White and Prince Charming, plus Rumplestitskin, Captain Hook, and the Saviour. She’d rather go to hell and back, actually.
So far, she and Emma had managed to tolerate each other, united momentarily in their determination to save Henry. She expected that that would change very quickly when they had to share a living space. At least she had her own room, she thought, as she turned the handle to the final door at the end of a long, dark corridor below deck.
Instead of finding an empty room, she found Emma, sprawled out on the bed in her jeans and a black tank top. At the sight of Regina, she quickly propped herself up into a sitting position. “Regina, hey.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m…lying down.”
“You’re in my room.”
“Actually, it’s our room.”
Regina narrowed her gaze, eyebrows drawing together. “Sorry, I must have misheard you. I thought you said ‘our room.’”
“Yeah, well, there aren’t enough bedrooms for one each, and I didn’t think you’d want to share with Hook or Mr. Gold.”
Emma kept her eyes on Regina, holding her breath as she waited for Regina to unleash her wrath. She didn’t have to wait for very long.
Irritation - hot, heavy - flashed through Regina’s dark eyes. “Is this a joke?”
“I wish it was…”
”For God’s sake!” She threw her purse on the floor. “The fact that I have to put up with you people all day long is bad enough, and now I have to share a room, too?!”
“Wow, thanks, Regina…”
Regina took a swift look around the room, quickly realising that there was only one bed. The situation was so awful, she almost laughed. “Oh, this is ridiculous.”
Emma sat up properly, crossing her legs. Regina’s entitlement was beginning to bother her. “Why should you have your own room? Can’t you share, like normal people?”
“No, I cannot. I do not want to be your roommate, Miss Swan.”
“Well, I don’t think you have much of a choice, unless you want to share with Hook or Mr. Gold.”
Regina grimaced before beginning to unpack her things, placing several bottles on the bedside table. She opened the drawers and inspected them for dust. Finding them satisfactory, she placed the few items of clothing that she had packed hastily in the top draw. She pushed it shut a little more violently than she would have done normally. “I don’t see why they can’t share. This is incredibly unfair.”
“They’ve got that whole history, haven’t they? You know, Hook went out with Gold’s wife, or ex-wife, I’m not sure how it really works-”
“Do I look like I care?”
“Also, this is Hook’s ship so, I don’t think he’ll be sharing with anyone.”
Regina decided to ignore Emma’s justification as she sat down on the bed and took off her heels.
Emma watched her, raising an eyebrow. “You’re taking off your shoes, seriously?”
“Well, I’m not going to put my shoes on the bed. That would be unsanitary.”
Emma rolled her eyes and kicked her trainers onto the floor before Regina could comment on them. It was going to be a long night.
By eleven o’clock, Emma was wrapped up in the bed in the warmest clothes that she had brought with her. There was no heating and no electric light; Emma wondered how they had managed in the Enchanted Forest. She heard Regina creep in from the bathroom, and she stood, partially concealed, behind the door.
“Close your eyes.”
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
Emma closed her eyes, frowning as she did so. She heard Regina climb into the bed beside her, and suddenly she couldn’t help but open one eye; just out of curiosity, of course. Regina was wearing the silkiest, laciest black pyjamas that she had ever seen in her entire life. They probably cost more than Emma’s whole wardrobe put together. The sight of Regina dressed in them made something hot growl in her lower abdomen. Emma attributed this feeling to shock.
“Those are the pyjamas you brought to Neverland?!”
“Well, I thought I’d be sleeping alone! And I told you not to look.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
Regina didn’t answer her, but instead turned over to face the wall, pulling the duvet up to her neck and not caring that she dragged it away from Emma in the process.
“You’ll freeze to death in those.”
“I will be fine, Miss Swan. Now stop talking.”
“God, you’re so annoying.”
“I said stop talking.”
“Fine.”
Emma didn’t even say goodnight. She simply closed her eyes and tried to forget that she was lying besides the angriest woman that she had ever met, who was wearing perhaps the sexiest pyjamas she had ever seen. Not that Emma cared. She pressed her eyes firmly shut once more, determined to forget how good they looked on Regina. Well, Regina would probably make a trash bag look good, she thought. She began to doze off, vague images of lace and dark eyes floating through her mind as the ship rocked her to sleep.
She woke abruptly; it was still dark. Regina was awake, tossing and turning beside her.
“Can you stop fidgeting? You’ve moved around like ten times-”
“I am trying to get comfortable! This bed is awful.”
“Anything else you want to complain about?”
“It’s cold, and this room smells like damp-”
“I told you you’d be cold.”
“Well, I didn’t have an awful lot of time to think about packing! I was too worried about Henry to consider the temperature on this godforsaken boat.”
“It’s a ship.”
“Whatever.” Regina spat out the word, huffing in indignation as she curled her legs up beneath her.
They passed the next five minutes in silence, before Emma spoke again. “You’re shivering.”
“I am not.”
“I can literally see you shivering, Regina.”
“Close your eyes, then.”
Without her towering heels, Emma realised that Regina was actually quite small. Something unfamiliar rose in her chest as she contemplated the woman beside her in the darkness, curled up beneath the covers. A single ray of moonlight shone through the window, illuminating Regina’s shiny dark hair, splayed over the pillow.
“Here,” Emma sat up and pulled her sweater over her head, “put this on.”
Regina’s eyes snapped open, regarding Emma warily. “What?”
“My sweater. It’ll keep you warm.”
“No.”
“Don’t be so stubborn. If you die of pneumonia, what will I tell Henry?”
Regina let her eyes linger on Emma’s; Emma could not read her expression. It wasn’t quite her angry face, but something much more guarded.
“Won’t you be cold?”
“No, I get hot at night.”
Regina hesitated, before reaching out and accepting the offer.
“Thank you.”
“No problem.”
Regina pulled the red, wool sweater over her head, instantly feeling warmer than she had done since they had boarded the ship earlier that day. It smelled like vanilla, and something else that Regina found comforting but couldn’t quite place. It was the kindest thing anybody had done for her for a while. Finally, she felt herself beginning to drift off, wondering why Emma would show her such kindness when Regina certainly hadn’t done anything to deserve it. She’s the Saviour; of course she’d give you her sweater, Regina thought. Nonetheless, she felt her body begin to relax beside Emma’s, for reasons that she could not quite place.
To be continued…