"Are you sure that you wouldn't rather go somewhere more… traditional?" Snow asked.
"You said you wanted to know where I've been going on Friday nights and that you wanted to check it out." Emma rolled her eyes.
"That was before I knew it was a GAY BAR. I can accept your sexuality, but I'm not sure I can accept you frequenting places like this."
"I don't know what you think this bar is, but it seems to me that you're under the impression that it's this wild lust-filled free-for-all. It's just a regular bar, but more gay."
Snow sighed, "Alright, but if I don't like it, I'm leaving."
"Just give it a chance. Half an hour. That's all I'm asking."
"Half an hour. I can do that," Snow nodded, not sounding entirely sure.
"And here it is," Emma pulled into a parking lot and pointed at a bar.
"It doesn't look like a gay bar," Snow said.
"What were you expecting? A giant neon rainbow sign?"
"Something like that."
Emma rolled her eyes again. She had a feeling she would be doing a lot of that tonight.
The inside of the bar was just as nondescript as the outside. Glass bottles sat on shelves behind a long wooden bar. Emma sat down on a worn bar stool and ordered two beers from the bartender, a young woman who seemed to have had quite a bit of coffee.
"It's pretty empty," Snow remarked.
"It starts to fill up in about an hour or two. It can get slightly rowdy, especially when we have live music like tonight." The bartender pointed at a chalkboard on the wall. On it was scrawled "The Catastrophes" and under that "Friday Night at 8"
"We'll be out of there by then, thanks though." Emma interjected.
The bartender shrugged and set down two beers on the bar in front of Emma and Snow.
About fifteen minutes later, Snow had finished her beer and was staring off into the the distance. Emma came over after talking to a cop about gang activity. Emma had finally wandered off when the cop got a phone call and had to split.
"I don't get why you like this place so much."
"You have to mingle! I don't come here for the drinks, I come here for the people. They have interesting stories. That cop I was just talking to, I recognized from the papers. Something about catching that serial killer in Boston."
"There's got to be someone here you want to talk to." Emma glanced around the room, looking for a friendly face. The only other person in the bar, aside from a woman engrossed in The Island of Doctor Moreau, was a woman at the far end of the bar. "How about her?" Emma gestured with her head. "She looks interesting."
Snow looked at Emma for a second. Several emotions were vying for dominance on her face, but confusion was winning out.
"Emma," Snow started, "do you know who that is?"
"No, I don't recognize her."
"That's Regina. What have I told you about forgetting to wear your contacts? For goodness sake, you drove us here!"
At this point, Emma wasn't even listening. She was headed over to talk to Regina. As soon as Emma sat down, she started to ask Regina what she was doing in a gay bar.
"I had to pull over here once. I had a flat tire. I came in here for a drink to wait for my cab and I befriended the bartender." Regina nodded at the caffeinated blonde bartender and she nodded back. "It USED to be the place where I would go to get some peace and quiet."
Emma didn't take the hint. "So how is Henry?"
"He's fine, just like he was this morning when the two of you went out for breakfast."
Emma seemed un-phased, "How long have you been coming here?"
"Not long."
The bar had begun to fill with people and Snow had finally taken Emma's advice to 'mingle'. Snow was nodding furiously, trying to keep up with a woman who was talking about biochemistry like it was the most fascinating thing in the world. Emma just ordered another beer.
The bartender came around again and set the beer down in front of Emma.
"So is this is your partner, Emma?" The bartender asked. "You make a cute couple."
"My partner? No. She's just my friend. But you're right. She's the woman I told you about," Regina said.
"I thought you said you had a kid together?"
"It's complicated." Regina answered.
"I'm sure it is," the bartender replied in a tone that suggested she knew more than what Regina was telling.
Regina sighed. "Perhaps I should be going."
"Or you could stay just a little longer. We haven't had a chance to talk about Henry. It's always been this or that. How about now?"
Regina thought about going home to an empty house and decided that she would stay for just a little while longer. (Henry would be back from his sleepover with his scout troop next day.)
"What did you have in mind to talk about?"
Emma thought for a second. "What was his first word?"
"Book. It sounded more like 'bug' though. I was reading him 'goodnight moon' when he pointed to another book. He wanted me to read him 'Where the Wild The Wild Things Are'. I used to read to him every night."
"That explains why he likes reading so much. It's mostly comic books now, though. He really likes Swamp Thing
"Isn't that a little dark for his age?"
"I always read them first, just to make sure they're appropriate."
"I'm sure that's the only reason you read them."
"So what else did I miss out on? Any Mills family traditions?"
"Not that I can think of." Regina ordered another drink. "We used to go down by the water and feed the ducks every Sunday. It was his favorite thing to do."
Emma smiled. "You love Henry a lot. I can tell. I've always been able to tell, actually."
"A lot of good that did."
"You have taken care of him for years. Sometimes you were too strict, but you always did what you thought was best for Henry."
"That's the problem. I always did what I thought was best. I never let him make his own choices."
"You do now. I know how much it scared you to let him get that bike, but you did it."
"On the condition that he has to wear a helmet."
"That's completely reasonable, Regina. Look, I know you're doing the best you can to let him make his own choices. You came from a land of fairy tales and magic. Your family life was… let's just say that it was less than ideal. This isn't stuff that's covered in parenting books. You do the best you can and I'll help you and I know he'll turn out all right."
Regina nodded. "I think your mom has made a friend."
Emma turned and looked over her shoulder. Snow was talking with a tall woman in a tight red dress by the stage.
"Good for her." Emma said. The bar was starting to fill up by now.
"Now, I explained to you what I was doing in a gay bar, but I don't believe I've heard what you were doing here."
Emma held up two fingers for two more beers and the bartender nodded at her.
"It's exactly what it looks like. I'm gay." Emma added, "Bisexual, actually." Emma half expected a shocked look from Regina or some sort of condemnation. "Do you have anything to say about that?"
Regina pondered for a second, "Not really."
"I expected some sort of comment. Maybe a homophobic remark or two."
"Emma, I may have been evil once, but I was never a jerk. I don't care who you love. This is the only realm I've ever been to that seems to pay much attention to sexuality. Where I come from, nobody would think twice if a woman fell in love with another woman."
"Did you ever…?"
Regina shook her head. "I haven't loved anyone at all in that way, not since Daniel. After him, I believed what my mother said, 'love is weakness'. I know she was wrong, now, but it's still difficult to open up my heart after it being closed for so many years."
"I know. After that whole shit-show with Henry's father, I haven't opened up much either."
The bartender came over with two more beers and set them down in front of them. Emma raised her glass to make a toast.
"May we both find someone who understands us and loves us for who we are. Our true loves."
Regina raised her glass and clinked it with Emma's.
The crowd in the bar had grown and in the background, the band was tuning their instruments. Apparently, the woman in the red dress that Snow was chatting with earlier was the drummer. Snow was still chatting with the woman, who was now sitting behind a drum set.
"I wasn't planning on staying this long, but it looks like Snow made a friend. She'll probably want to stay to hear a few songs. I'm in no hurry."
"Me either."
"Then tell me more about when Henry was a kid."
"He used to get into everything. He would run around the house opening and closing doors and cabinets and flicking the light switches on and off. I was worried he would get hurt. Slam his fingers in a drawer or find something he shouldn't. I had to childproof the entire house. The most frustrating part is that sometimes I wouldn't be able to open the child-proof drawers. My mom used to cast spells like that when I was young. There were boundary spells all over her house. They usually worked perfectly, but every once in a while, they'd go a little bit wrong. One day I was too eager for my father to return home, I tried to meet him outside, but Cora wouldn't allow it. I tried to go anyways and…" Regina touched the scar on her lip. "I got this. That's why I promised myself that I'd never use magic on my child. Never." Regina took a swig of her beer and let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "How did you get your scar? I'm sure there's an interesting story behind it."
"What scar?"
"The one on your chest."
"Oh, that one." It was small and just above her left breast. Really one could only notice it if they'd been looking at…. Emma blushed slightly and took a sip of her beer as an excuse to not talk for a second. "Fireworks. When I was about 10 or 11, I was in this foster home in a really bad neighborhood. My friend knew this guy that sold these really cool fireworks, so we bought a few. I was trying to light one of them and burned the crap out of myself. The fire melted right through the fabric of my shirt and the melted fabric stuck to my skin."
"That sounds painful."
"Yeah. They finally let me get rid of that itchy polyester T-shirt, though. I had it for about 6 homes."
"Is that how you measured time? In homes?"
Emma nodded. "Mostly. I could never seem to hold on to a calendar long enough to keep track of time. And I didn't spend enough time in schools to keep track of time either. So I used homes. They called them 'families'. I never did, though because they weren't my family. They were just some strangers who kept me until someone better came along." Regina could almost picture little Emma with her arms crossed, refusing to say she was part of something when she knew sh wasn't.
"You have a family here, though. Your parents, Henry, Me; we're all your family. We should spend more time together as a family." Regina offered. "You need that and Henry should get to have that. How about you come over for dinner every Tuesday night? Just me, you, and Henry."
There wasn't much she could do to help make Emma a family but this. This was something. Emma smiled and Regina could see it was genuine.
"Thanks, Regina."
"Speaking of family, your mother is singing… I think it's 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'? Whatever it is, she's completely wasted." Regina tried keeping a tone of amusement out of her voice and failed miserably.
Emma rested her elbows on the bar and her face in her hands. "Oh, God. I finally find my mother and she's the kind of person that gets wasted and sings Cyndi Lauper at a bar. Why me?"
"Would you like me to go talk to her?"
"Please. I don't want people to know we're related."
Emma kept her head in her hands as the music died down. A voice over the speaker announced that they were taking a break and would be back shortly. Emma felt Regina's hand on her shoulder, so she looked up to see Regina.
"Is she ready to leave yet?" Emma almost pleaded.
"One more song. They're going to cover Don't Stop Believing. Jenny said 'Any friend of Snow is friend of mine' and that I could join them if I wanted. After that, I should probably head home. It's getting late."
"You don't have so say yes if you don't want to."
"I want to, and I'm going to. I love Journey. You're going to come up and sing as well. Jenny said you could."
"Oh, God. And who is Jenny?"
"Jenny is your mom's friend. The woman in the red dress."
"They're all wearing red dresses. That's no help."
Regina struggled briefly to find a term to describe the woman "The tall one."
"Ah." Emma nodded. Jenny was tall, but looked even more so because she was wearing size 13 heels. "And I suppose that Snow is very much set on doing this?"
"And so am I. We can all catch a cab home together afterwards."
"Alright. One song. And I'm calling the cab now. Then we're all getting out of here." Emma chugged the last few inches of her beer to prepare herself for what she was about to do. She slammed the glass down on the bar and said "Let's do this."
Emma slipped her phone back into her packet and strutted up to the stage to talk to Snow while the band started preparing to play. Snow hugged Emma and Emma was struck with the over-powering smell of cheap champagne.
"Snow, How much have you had to drink?"
"I have no idea!" Snow almost yelled back.
"Oh, boy."
"Do you know the words to the song?"
"Sort of Not really."
"That's okay! You can just follow along with me and Regina!"
Regina walked up onto the stage and Snow hugged her. Regina just stood there with her arms at her sides and an expression like a deer in headlights.
"I love you, Regina!" Snow almost yelled.
"You guys ready?" Jenny asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be." Emma replied.
"Alright!" Jenny yelled and started playing.
Snow belted the lyrics loudly onto the mic while attempting some dance moves that while they certainly weren't cool now, might have seen better years in the 80's. Regina stood still as a statue, but sang every lyric perfectly and in tune. Emma kind of nodded her head and joined in on the chorus. When the last note on the guitar faded out, Emma retreated from the stage as quickly as possible. She waited for Regina and Snow at the bar.
"Are you guys ready?" Emma asked
"Yeah." Snow nodded her head exuberantly.
"Yes."
And they all headed out to the cab.
When the cab arrived at Emma's place, everyone agreed that they wanted to be in bed right now. Well, Emma and Regina agreed. Snow was asleep on Regina's shoulder. Regina was only showing mild disdain at this and commended herself for it. Regina paid the cab driver while Emma shook Snow awake. Or sort of awake. She could walk at least and that was good enough.
Regina took a second to get the keys in the door, but eventually triumphed. Not ten seconds after they had gotten in the door, Snow was asleep on the couch.
"Wanna sleep in my room?" Emma offered. "I think the couch is spoken for."
"I don't even care."
Regina followed Emma upstairs and they both flopped down on the bed fully clothed and drifted off to sleep.