A/N I'm finally back with a new story! I pretty much have the entire thing planned out, but please let me know what you guys think of the first chapter. There's a few time jumps so I need to know if it works, or if anyone is confused. Enjoy :)

"Are you sure you're ready to do this?"

Emma grabbed Regina's hands and squeezed them reassuringly. "I'm sure."

"This is crazy though, right? What was my mother thinking? How did we agree to this? Why were we so calm last week?"

Emma squeezed Regina's hands once more, before kissing her on the lips quickly to silence her. It wasn't the first time they kissed-they had to keep up appearances of course, meeting with the school-but it was the first time they had kissed when they were alone. "It's going to be fine."

Regina stared into Emma's eyes, feeling a bit dumbfounded, before straightening up and nodding resolutely.

"You're right," she said. "Now, let's get married."

3 months earlier

The letter came in the beginning of April, when the snowy streets of Boston were slowly warming into slush as the sun finally started coming out for a few hours a day. Emma had come home to change before her shift at Granny's, and was surprised to see Granny herself waiting for her at the kitchen counter.

"What-?" she started to ask, but then stopped when she saw the large envelope sitting on the kitchen island, with the Princeton logo in the corner-her dream college.

All of Emma's breath seemed to leave her in a whoosh, and she felt light headed. Granny, always seeming to know what her grand-daughters needed, was behind her immediately, supporting her into a chair.

"I didn't open it," Granny said softly. "But I needed to be here when you did."

Emma nodded shakily, acknowledging the statement but still too nervous to speak herself. This envelope would decide her entire future-whether she would finally get out of Boston for her dream school, or if she would be stuck at the community college right by Granny's apartment, working in the diner for the rest of her life.

(Which, no offense to Granny, but the family business just wasn't really Emma's style.)

With trembling fingers Emma reached for the envelope, bringing it towards her. She slid her pointer finger under the flap, opening the envelope and reached inside for the paper. With one last deep breath, she pulled it out and read the first line.

To Miss Emma Swan,

We would like to congratulate you on your acceptance to the 2017 class of Princeton University…

"I GOT IN!" she shrieked, not reading the rest of the letter and instead throwing it to the side as she was simultaneously brought into a bear hug by Granny.

"I'm so proud of you," the elderly woman murmured into her ear, and Emma squeezed her a bit tighter in response.

Emma had been living with Granny and her actual granddaughter Ruby since she was 10 years old, and in that time it had always been her dream to go to Princeton. While she thought it was a little embarrassing to admit to everyone, her favorite TV show was House, and even though she knew it was a work of fiction, the University Medical Center was in fact a real place. It was also where Emma wanted to get her doctorate from and eventually help people.

She had been working her ass off ever since she entered high school, and she couldn't even express the joy she felt at having it finally be paid off.

"I'm calling the diner," Granny said, pulling away and jumping into action. "I'm telling Ruby to come home and having her shut it down for the rest of the night, because tonight we're celebrating!"

"Granny…" Emma said, looking down with a slight blush. "You don't have to do that."

"Oh yes I do! It's not every day one of my granddaughter's gets accepted into an Ivy League school." she turned around, dialing the phone. Once Granny's mind was made up, there was no changing it.

Accepting that tonight would be all about her, Emma just shook her head with a little laugh and picked her acceptance letter back up, finally reading the entire thing. It was pretty basic-when she needed to send back her confirmation of acceptance, orientation dates and when the school would start.

Then towards the bottom of the letter a number caught her eye-the pretty large amount that would be her college tuition.

While she got some money for technically being a foster child, it still wasn't quite enough. Emma knew that Granny had some money saved aside for both her and Ruby, but she didn't want Granny to worry or be stretched thin with finances.

Thinking about her own money that she had saved up from working at the diner, Emma let out a sigh.

She'd just have to figure it out.

"Regina dear," Cora called from downstairs, "Your Princeton letter has finally arrived."

Throwing aside her homework Regina ran to the top of the stairs but then forced herself to slow down and walk calmly down, knowing how Cora hated running in the house. Luckily, once she rounded the corner and saw her mother's face, she was smiling.

"It's a big envelope," Cora said, "That's always promising."

Regina felt her heart flutter and gingerly took the envelope from her mother's hands, opening it quickly and efficiently. She kept her face neutral as she quickly read the first few lines, before looking back up to her mother, mouth stretching wide into an elated smile.

"I got in, Mother!" she squealed.

Cora immediately reached forward to pull her daughter into a hug, not too tight, but still showing her joy.

"Your father would be so proud of you," Cora finally said, pulling away and putting her hands on Regina's shoulders to look her in the eye.

"Thank you, Mother," Regina said, a little hoarsely.

"Now, let's see about that tuition," Cora said, taking the letter from Regina's hand and clucking her tongue at what she saw.

While they lived in a rather large house and lived comfortably, their money was getting a lot tighter now that Regina's father was gone. Cora had tried to manage the company for a while, but it became too big of a responsibility and they had had to sell a majority of their share of control. Now they got less than 50% of the profits that the company made, and Regina knew that tuition was a big worry for her mother.

Cora wasn't always the warmest mother in the world, but Regina knew that deep down she loved her and she always wanted what was best for her. Therefore, Regina knew that some way or another she would get to go to her dream school, it was just a matter of how it would happen.

"I'm going to go call Mr. Gold about our finances," Cora finally said, giving the first page of the letter back to Regina. "Why don't you sign up for that site that's listed so that maybe you can meet some of the incoming freshman?"

The site was called the "Princeton Cafe" and as Regina loaded it onto her computer and signed in with the login that was given to her in her letter, it just seemed like a Facebook for the incoming Princeton freshman. There was "baristas" that were upperclassmen added to the site who could help facilitate conversations between people and help them find others with similar interests.

Regina joined one of the pages that was for people who enjoyed outdoors and nature. It was a smaller group so she was able to scroll through people's profiles easier and with a less overwhelming feeling.

As she scrolled through, one of the people caught her eye: Emma Swan.

She clicked on the girl's profile, immediately mesmerized by the bright green eyes that seemed to be the focal point of the picture. It also didn't seem to be edited at all, making Regina momentarily jealous at this girl's natural beauty that was flowing just through her computer screen.

According to the profile the girl was from Boston and was planning on going into the medical field so she could become a doctor. Although she lived in the city, it stated that the girl would come up to Maine every summer with her grandmother and her sister.

A flutter of excitement rushed through Regina at that-what were the chances that someone going to Princeton had been to Maine before? Living there for a summer was almost as good as living there full time, and Regina was overcome with the urge to to message the girl.

Taking a deep breath for bravery she clicked on the message icon and started typing something up, hoping it wouldn't be too weird.

Hi, my name is Regina Mills…

"Are you crazy?! I knew our mother was crazy, but there's no way you can agree to this!" Regina's best friend and half-sister, Zelena, screeched through the phone. She was already attending college at Columbia University, and was excited that with Regina going to Princeton she would only be about an hour away.

Her problem now, however, was their mother's solution to paying for Regina's college tuition.

"There is no way you can just get married, Regina! I mean, how would that even work? Hasn't the bill already been sent out?"

Regina sighed, fiddling with her necklace as she layed back on her bed. "I don't know… Daddy has been gone for a while and I know Mother is really worried about finances… I don't think she would ask if it wasn't serious."

"But who would even agree to this? How are you even supposed to find someone? Just put out an Internet ad?" Zelena was still ranting, almost as though she hadn't even heard Regina's response. "'Hi I'm looking for someone else who is going to Princeton University that is willing to marry me for cheaper tuition. My mother would pay for the apartment for us to live in and would help us get a divorce once we graduate. Hit me up if you're interested,'" Zelena imitated in a voice that Regina was sure was supposed to be her own.

She rolled her eyes, "You know I would never say 'hit me up,'" she scoffed. "Besides, I already have someone in mind."

There was finally silence coming from the other end, and Regina wasn't sure what that meant.

"I think I'm dreaming."

"It's Emma Swan," Regina said, ignoring her sister's sarcastic remark. "Remember I told you about her?"

Zelena sputtered loudly, causing Regina to move the phone away from her ear for a second.

"You really think she'd agree to something like this? You hardly even know the girl! I mean sure, it sounds like you hit it off, but realistically how could it even work?"

"She's an orphan," Regina admitted, simply. "She's been living with the same foster parent since she was 10, but she has made mention of her concerns for tuition as well and I know she's worried about the woman paying for her tuition. If I explain it the right way… well, she'll have to say yes."

Zelena was silent was more, before finally letting out a huge sigh. "I still think you're crazy," she said. "But you have to let me know how it goes immediately."

Emma stared at her computer in shock, not quite sure if the message she was seeing was real. She had been talking to Regina for a little over a month, and while they had become pretty fast friends, this just seemed like a step too far.

The girl was proposing marriage, for cheaper tuition, of all things.

Emma knew they were both concerned about money, and she had been stressing about having multiple jobs during the semester, but marriage?

There was no way.

Unless… it could actually work.

She picked up her laptop and left her room, moving down the hallway to Ruby's room to walk in, shoving the screen in her friend's face.

"Tell me this is crazy and I shouldn't say yes."

"Holy shit," Ruby exclaimed after reading the message. "You have to say yes!"

"What?!"

"Think about it… you're both having money problems, and she said you still have a while until the bills are sent out for school. If you make a case that the engagement happened before your acceptance letters came, and petition to have the cheaper tuition for being married, it could totally work."

"Ruby."

"Plus," Ruby interrupted her, "Regina looks totally hot. I know you pretend like you're just friends, but she is completely your type. If you don't have a crush on her already, it's going to happen eventually."

"Ruby."

"You have to say yes," Ruby concluded. "It'll take Granny some convincing, but since you're an adult she can't technically say no. And I can be your witness!"

Emma sat down on the bed, rubbing her head as she felt the beginnings of a stress migraine coming on.

"Okay, if I said yes, how would this even work? She said her mom is already paying for an apartment so we just… live together for four years and pretend to be married? Would we tell people the truth if we made friends? What if we found people we wanted to date? There's so many things that can go wrong," she rambled.

"Or," Ruby said, "You could fall in love and stay married forever."

Emma just looked at the girl, dead-pan.

"I'm just saying," Ruby glanced at the computer screen once more, then back at Emma. "You would be a really hot couple."

"I'm leaving," Emma groaned, grabbing her laptop back and standing up. "I have a lot to think about."

Are we really going to do this?

I think so. Ruby helped me convince Granny so… There's no turning back now.

This is crazy.

I know. I can't believe your mother actually thought of this

I can't believe you agreed with it, to be quite frank.

At the moment neither can I. I feel like this is a dream that I'm going to wake up from. I'm going to my dream school… and in 2 weeks I'm going to be married.

It is certainly wild.

So… are you going to take my last name? ;)

Don't be silly.

You'll be taking mine.

Emma Mills… Hmm, I think Regina Swan has a better ring to it.

It does not!

… Fine. Swan-Mills? Hyphenating is all the rage right now.

You're incorrigible.

Hey, you're the one who asked me to marry you

I suppose you're right.

Mrs. Swan-Mills.

:)

I can't wait to meet you in person.

Neither can I. It's going to be very surreal.

Is it weird that I'm excited to hear your voice?

What? Why?

Because I can't picture what you sound like. You look so put together and grown up.

Well thank you… I guess. I hope you don't have one of those horrendous Boston accents.

Hey!

Just kidding, dear.

I should go to bed, we are meeting pretty early tomorrow, you know.

As if I could forget! I'll see you in the morning.

Goodnight Emma.

Goodnight, Regina.

Emma shut her laptop, smiling softly to herself. It was official-by the end of next week, she would be married.

A/N 2: Please please please review and let me know your thoughts/comments/criticisms!