when she feels arms slide around her waist, emma does nothing to protest against the touch ; she just falls into her safe haven without too much resisting . she allows herself a selfish moment of comfort ( even though , she knows she should be the one providing it ) , head safely tucked into the other woman’s chest , as emma tries to swallow her other sobs and force them to stop . it takes minutes for the trembling of her body to stop , for her chest to stop heaving with painful sobs and for her head to cease the attack of even painful images ( ones , that she won’t be forgetting anytime soon ) .
her mind and body is slowly , but surely , pulled into the land of calmness ; and that only comes with the woman’s protecting arms enveloping her in an embrace with an unspoken promise of never letting go.
unmoving , emma stays like that for a few more moments . just breathing and feeling . focusing on the blonde’s presence and the beat of her heart that emma never wants to stop listening to . and she won’t . the future holds unknown secrets , but it will be caroline who she will be facing them with ; and that’s all that matters . after what feels like ages , the younger woman finally lifts her head , red painted eyes falling onto her lover . red painted and oh , so hopeful . ❝ you promise ? ❞
soft kisses were planted on emma’s head, the woman’s nose and lips burrowed into an ocean of blonde, gorgeous locks. perfumed, a familiar scent that caused the ghost of a smile to touch at caroline’s mouth as she placed her hand beneath the other’s chin, tipping her head back so that she could stare into those green, saddened eyes that she adored. the heartache in her chest had slowly began to fade away, nothing left but dull discomfort to remind her of the things she could have lost had the bullet been fired.
caroline had been given a second chance —- a second chance to make things right again, to spoil and love the hell out of this woman she was now holding impossibly close to her chest.
❝ i promise, honey. ❞ thumbs brushed down the dampness of emma’s cheeks, chasing and wiping each one of her tears before caroline’s forehead connected with hers. her breath settled down, chest no longer heaving with the force of her distress. ❝ i don’t deserve you, you know? you’ve always been so patient with me, so — understanding. and i love you, emma swan. god knows i do. ❞