They separated briefly, their eyes shining with unbidden emotion as another warning call sounded for passengers to board.
"Do not even think about singing Leaving on a Jet Plane," Regina warned, shoving Emma on the shoulder lightly.
The blonde erupted in watery laughter and thoroughly debated doing just that if only to aggravate Regina one more time but thought better of it. She placed a lingering kiss on Regina's cheek as she had less than a week ago when they stood on the porch of the mansion on Mifflin.
"Stay awesome," Emma said gently before removing herself from Regina much too quickly for her likely but completely necessary because in all honesty, if she didn't let her go, quick like a band-aid, she wouldn't be getting on the plane. She ruffled Henry's hair one more time before turning and striding toward the terminal. She didn't look back, couldn't, when she handed the attendant her ticket and pushed past the glass doors and made her way to the runway.
With each hollow step as she strode through the hallway to the plane, perky attendants greeting her good morning and a safe flight, Emma felt like she was walking away from the best thing that ever happened to her. A sense of dread filled her as she entered the sporadically filled plane where some passengers were already trying to get some shut eye. She removed Rex from her sack and rifled through the bundle of pictures until she found the one she wanted, clutching it to her before hoisting the rucksack into the overhead compartment and sitting down in her seat by the window.
The picture already showed a little wear around the edges from being jostled in her bag and being bunched up with an elastic. The photograph looked up at her, and Emma smiled back as she and Regina stared happily at her from the photo, twin grins and not a care in the world.
Soon, she promised. She'd be home soon.
Chapter 10
Chapter Notes
Disclaimer in Chapter One.
AN: I'm terrible at answering my emails lately, but I'm getting to your reviews! Thank you guys so much for your support.
Emma dropped her duffel on top of her bed and sat down hard beside it. She swung her rucksack into her lap and contemplated her surroundings with just a little hint of disappointment. It wasn't a large double bed with a duvet that felt like it was stuffed with the fluff from cloud nine and housing stuffed animals with a tendency to stick their legs, fins, and tails in her face every time she lay in it, and it certainly wasn't Regina's queen with its goose down pillows and the brunette woman occupying it and her thoughts.
It was a simple single with a good pillow and a pretty warm blanket stationed in the corner Emma had claimed well before being shipped to Iraq. The manilla beige walls surrounding her were still naked as it had been when she left, but her lips twitched into a smile when she eagerly pulled the string of her rucksack and dug through her belongings to find the photos encased in her stolen sweater. Brushing off her cap and placing it on the small nightstand beside her, she unfolded the sweater to find her photos, grinning wildly at the mere thought that she had something to put up, people to show off. More importantly, she had some semblance of grounding that outside this base, when she took off the uniform and let down her hair, she was a part of something. She wasn't quite sure if this is what a family felt like - her and August had a pretty good rarely expressed sibling relationship going on - but she was certain that Storybrooke, Regina and Henry, they were who she wanted to come home to when all this was over.
The thought wasn't as frightening as it should have been. Rifling through the pictures, Emma was constantly reminded that she had someone waiting for her. That was pretty awesome.
Borrowing tape from her neighbour, Emma decorated her walls with almost half of the pictures she had brought along with her. Up went the first picture she, Regina, and Henry had taken all together at his birthday party, right next to that one was Henry seated in August's wheelchair, the duo forming a tentative relationship since Henry had deemed him a nice enough cyborg much to Regina's embarrassment, and directly below that was a corny tourist shot of Emma beneath the clock tower, her and Henry with their mouth comically open in feigned shock as they pointed up at the broken clock. She spent nearly fifteen minutes, carefully choosing which pictures to display and which would remain with the bulk.
She kept the rest hidden in the sweater for the time being but pulled out the last picture of her and Regina, nestled comfortably on the couch, their heads pressed and their eyes beaming with unbidden happiness. She took a moment to soak it in before slipping it into her pillow case for safekeeping. The final piece to her small corner was Rex, placed strategically atop the pillow to ward off bad dreams and to keep her safe as Henry had promised. The dinosaur sat unthreateningly on her bed, one arm noticeably thinner than the other since Regina couldn't salvage the stuffing from the accident, a grape juice stain spotting his yellow belly though his green scales looked to be as clean as if it were new. Henry Mills was inked onto his tag by his red spiked tail in Regina's signature penmanship, and another sudden pang in Emma's chest struck her hard.
Her time with the Regina and Henry was way too short. A little voice in the back of her mind told her that a month of feigned ignorant bliss was better than nothing, but dammit, Emma had tasted a drop of ambrosia and she was starving to be filled. Her lips frowned for half a second as she took another look around, nodding at the passing room mates whom she caught their eye.
Man, what was wrong with her? Less than a day back and she was already homesick.
Resisting the urge to clutch Rex to her in a tight embrace, Emma stood abruptly shrugging off her jacket until she was left in her plain white tank top. She worked quickly depositing her clothes into the trunk at the base of her bed and folding her duffel to the side of it. Her rucksack was the last to be emptied as she carefully placed her Storybrooke sweater on top while her letters, pictures, and drawings were designated to her bedside table.
It felt surreal being back at base after being away in Storybrooke. She had once called Benning home, or as close to it as she could get. It was familiar, and though it was intense, she was good at her job and praised for it. Even during the years when she and Regina had simply exchanged letters, Benning was a place where she was recognized, where the few friends she had made were, where her brother was.
There was a nostalgic feeling sitting on her bunk, surrounded by her team as they greeted those who had taken leave, but that's all it was: nostalgia. A place she missed, but a place in her past. Emma was a runner with a killer fight or flight response. She ran from foster parents, from teachers, from cops. Hell, she even fought them too. But she didn't want to run this time. Not away, at least. She wanted to go back, and for the first time in her life, she was at a loss to how to get there.
"Swan." Neal walked up to Emma, already in his own plain grey t-shirt and tactical pants as he leaned against the corner wall and tossed her a bottle of water. "Was wondering when you'd get in. How's August?"
Emma caught it, unscrewing the cap and taking a generous gulp. "He's good. Still can't kick my ass."
"He never could," Neal snorted.
"Neither could you," the blonde reminded only half-jokingly. "He's not running again yet, but he's getting used to the feel of his leg."
The pictures above Emma's head caught Neal's eye as he squinted and walked over to the adjacent wall. "What, did you guys have a photoshoot or something?"