Emma opened the door to find a blue rose in a plain glass vase waiting for her. Her eyebrows shot up and she bent down to pick it up. There was a note taped to the vase, but it was typed and simply said 'For Emma Swan, From an admirer'. No clues there. Emma lifted the rose to her nose and took a deep sniff. She smiled as the scent washed over her. Emma couldn't smell anything besides regular rose scent, so it probably wasn't dyed. That meant genetically engineered, which wasn't cheap. Though now that she thought about it, this being Storybrooke meant that it could just as easily be magic. Emma shrugged mentally and closed the apartment door behind her. Wherever the blue color had come from it was pretty, and it was a nice gesture, but she needed to get to the Sheriff's Station.
Five minutes later-Regina's house
"Regina?" Kathryn called, walking in the front door.
"In here." Regina replied from the kitchen. Kathryn walked in to find Regina sitting at the island drinking a glass of cider. She blinked. She didn't think she'd ever seen Regina drinking so early in the day. And judging from the half empty bottle, it was one if Regina's exceptionally strong batches.
"What happened?" Kathryn asked carefully, sitting down next to Regina, who took a deep breath.
"This morning I...gave Emma a rose." She said slowly. Kathryn beamed.
"You did? Regina, that's great!" Then she looked at the cider. "Unless Emma rejected you?" Regina shook her head.
"She has no idea I gave it to her. I left it on her doorstep with a typed card that said 'For Emma Swan, From an admirer." Kathryn gave an exasperated sigh.
"Well, that's an improvement from just staring longingly at her I suppose." She said. Regina glared at her.
"I do not stare longingly!"
"No, that's true." Kathryn acknowledged. "You also raid her closet and steal her shirts whenever she leaves Storybrooke for more than a day." Regina muttered something under her breath and took another gulp of cider. "You still haven't said what the problem is."
"The problem is that I gave her a blue rose." Regina said. Kathryn's eyes widened.
"A blue rose? Wow Regina, I didn't realize you were ready to make that strong of a commitment."
"I'm not." Regina sighed, draining her glass.
"You didn't know what it meant, did you?"
"I know what it means in this land." Regina said defensively. "But I was a little busy in the Enchanted Forest, so I didn't learn what different flowers meant."
"What does a blue rose mean in this land?" Kathryn asked curiously as Regina poured herself another drink.
"That the person receiving it is different, beautiful, and rare."
"I can see why you'd give that to Emma." Kathryn said with a smile. "But let me guess-somehow she found out about the Enchanted Forest meaning." Regina nodded and began drinking.
"I went to her office to pick up her budget reports." She said after swallowing. "My plan was to 'notice' the flower, get her talking about it, and then bring up the fact that all flowers have meanings and suggest that she google it as I left."
"Not a bad plan." Kathryn said, nodding.
"Unfortunately, the two idiots got there first and told her about the Enchanted Forest meaning. And considering where everyone in this town is from..."
"She's going to automatically assume that whoever gave her the rose was thinking of the Enchanted Forest meaning." Kathryn finished.
"Exactly." Regina said, draining her glass again. She reached for the bottle again, but Kathryn grabbed it first.
"I think you've had enough." She said gently, putting the glass stopper back in the bottle. Regina opened her mouth to protest but the doorbell rang, cutting her off.
"Go away! I'm taking a sick day!" Regina yelled. Kathryn blinked. Regina never took sick days. She looked at the half empty bottle, then at Regina, and decided that the bottle had probably been opened for the first time today.
"I'll go see who it is." Kathryn said, standing up and taking the cider with her. She walked to the front door and opened it to reveal Snow.
"Is Regina here?" She demanded. Kathryn winced.
"Yes, but now's probably not the best..." Snow ignored her and walked inside. "Time."
Kathryn finished, getting a sinking feeling as she followed Snow into the kitchen.
"A blue rose Regina? Really?" Snow demanded. Regina gave her a startled look, then quickly schooled her features.
"What are you babbling about?"
"I'm talking about you leaving a blue rose on my daughter's doorstep."
"Excuse me?" Regina spluttered. "Why would you think that I..."
"Regina, you have many strong suits, but subtlety's not one of them." Snow said, not unkindly. "At least, not where love is concerned."
"I...I..." Regina stammered, looking panicky.
"Relax, I'm not here to blackmail or threaten you, I just want to know what you were thinking giving her a blue rose?"
"Who else knows?" Regina demanded, ignoring the question.
"Everyone but Emma and David." Snow said frankly.
"Right then." Regina said, snapping her fingers and standing up. The bottle disappeared from Kathryn's hand and reappeared in Regina's, and then Regina disappeared. Snow and Kathryn stared at where Regina had been standing.
"I probably should have seen that coming." Snow admitted. Kathryn sighed.
"She didn't know about the rose." She told Snow. "She just thought that it meant that Emma was different, beautiful, and rare."
"I suppose that does make sense." Snow said with a sigh of her own."
"So, does everyone really know?" Kathryn asked, running a hand through her hair.
"Well, not literally." Snow admitted. "But a lot of people do."
"You're surprisingly calm about this." Kathryn noted. Snow shrugged.
"I've known about Regina's feelings since Neverland." She said. "Regina's really changed since then and I'll admit it, she and Emma are good for each other." Kathryn nodded. That was how she felt too.
"So what do we do now?"
"Now we go talk to Ruby." Snow said with another sigh.