First Words

Mary Margaret grinned widely as she took in the sight of her daughter playing with the neighbor's daughter in their playpen. The two mostly just picked up toys and shook them in the air at each other, but both had smiles spread across their faces.

"Hey, Emma, what do you have there?" Mary Margaret cooed as knelt down beside the two girls.

Emma looked up at her with her big eyes. "Eena!" she shouted.

Mary Margaret paused. "Eena?" Had her daughter just said her first word?

Emma shook the toy in her hand at the girl next to her. "Eena!"

Mary Margaret smiled. "You mean Regina?" She looked at the little girl next to her daughter. "Did you hear that, Regina? Emma just said your name!"

"Mma," Regina replied stoutly, looking at the other girl.

Mary Margaret's lips formed into an 'o' shape. "Oh, well. Looks like you just said your first word, too." She smiled once more. "Something tells me you two are going to be a troublemaking duo when you're older…"

First Steps

"C'mon, Emma, come to me!" Mary Margaret said with a smile plastered on her face. "You can do it!"

"Your daughter is quite the late bloomer," Cora said from her spot in the chair next to Mary Margaret. "Regina started walking four months ago." She jostled the girl on her lap a little, who whined to be put down.

Mary Margaret rolled her eyes. "Emma's just taking her time, that's all."

"Down!" Regina shouted. Cora set the stubborn child down on her feet. "Emma!"

Emma looked up at her friend and stood on shaky legs. Regina stayed standing next to her mother, staring at the other girl. Emma took one step towards her.

"Oh my…" Mary Margaret said in awe.

Step by step, Emma made her way over to Regina. "Gina," she said as she stood in front of her friend.

Cora smiled and gently laid a hand on her daughter's head. "Good girl."

First Fight

"But I want it!" Regina shouted as she tugged the toy out of Emma's hands.

"But it's my toy!" Emma shouted back as she grabbed it, initiating a tug-of-war between the two children. "What makes you think you can just have it?"

"Mother says that if I demand something enough, I can get it," Regina said with a pout, still tugging. She successfully managed to get the toy back into her possession.

Emma grabbed a handful of sand from next to her and threw it into Regina's face. Regina dropped the toy to rub the sand out of her eyes. Emma triumphantly grabbed ahold of it and sat back with a smug grin.

Regina, however, had a deep frown on her face. "I hate you!" Regina shouted.

"I hate you too!" Emma replied, marching away to sit on the other end of the sandbox.

Ten minutes later, Emma came over and handed the toy back to her. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "Friends again?"

Regina looked up and smiled. "Friends."

First Secret

"…And this one's from when I fell off the swings at recess," Emma said, pointing at the bruise on her knee. "And this one's from falling down the stairs at home, and this one's from playing ball with Daddy…" she sat back and admired her bruises, as if they were battle scars that were earned. "How come you never have any bruises?"

Regina looked over at her friend. She looked around to double check that there was no one around them. "Can you keep a secret?" she asked softly, a serious look on the eight-year-old's face.

Emma nodded eagerly. Regina pulled up the edge of her shirt to a large, purple bruise on her ribs.

"Whoa," Emma whispered. "Did you get that from falling down the stairs?" Regina shook her head. "Was it on the playground?" Regina shook her head again. Emma propped her head up in her hands as she balanced her elbows on her knees. "Where'd you get it, then?"

"That's the secret," Regina said quietly. "Mother says I'm not supposed to tell anyone, but you're my best friend, and I heard Kat tell Ruby that best friends are supposed to tell each other everything… no secrets." She pulled her shirt back down.

"Where'd you get it?" Emma asked softly.

Regina looked down at her feet. "Mother gave it to me."

First Time Coming Out

"Boys are gross," Emma said with a scowl.

"That's because they have cooties," Regina replied sincerely.

Emma looked over at her friend. "Killian said that girls are the ones with cooties."

Regina shook her head. "That's silly. My doctor said I'm in perfect health. He would've told me if I have cooties. Kat said it's only a disease that boys can get."

"Boys are gross," Emma repeated.

"Mother says I'm going to have to marry a boy when I'm older," Regina said. "That's why I have to be a proper lady, so that boys will like me."

"I don't want to like boys," Emma said defiantly. "Boys have cooties. I'd rather marry a girl."

Regina smiled. "Me, too."

First Kiss

"Killian said he doesn't have cooties anymore," Emma said. "His doctor checked him out."

"My sister said boys don't have cooties once they get to junior high," Regina said. "She said that that's when they lose their cooties and become cuties."

Emma snorted. "I don't think boys are cuties." She looked down. "Killian tried to kiss me on the playground," she said softly.

"Ew," Regina replied. She looked over at her friend. "Did you kiss him?"

Emma shook her head. "No. I want my first kiss to be with someone special. And someone who's not a boy."

"Me too," Regina said. "Everyone makes such a big deal about it. Kat said that Fred kissed her the other day and now everyone is talking about it. I mean, they're only twelve. They're not going to get married just because they kissed."

Emma's face lit up when a sudden thought came to her head. "You know what we could do?"

"What?"

"Hear me out," Emma said as she turned her body to face her friend. "You said that kissing doesn't necessarily mean, marriage right? And neither of us want to kiss a boy for our first kiss, and we want the first kiss to be with someone special, right?" Regina nodded. "We should just kiss each other!"

Regina's face screwed up in confusion. "We can't do that! We're friends! Everyone would start talking about us." She shook her head. "Mother can't know that I kissed a girl."

"She doesn't have to," Emma replied. "It can be our little secret. Just think of it as practice for the real thing."

Regina looked at her blonde friend. A moment later, she smiled. "Okay, let's do it."

The two looked at each other uncertainly. Slowly, Emma leaned forward, her eyes tightly shut and her lips out in a pout. Regina's eyes widened but she followed in suit.

Their lips briefly grazed each other's before they both pulled back, faces flushed.

"See?" Emma said with a smile. "It wasn't bad!"

Regina nodded in agreement. "Not at all…"

First Heartbreak

"Top news story for today: A sixteen year old was killed in a motor vehicle accident at the intersection by Granny's. Police say…"

Two years. Two years of love and happiness, and it all went away with the careless actions of a drunk driver.

Emma cooed softly in Regina's ear as she held her friend tightly, rubbing a soothing hand up and down her back. The two had just exited the funeral home and were standing amongst the mass of people dressed in black.

Regina pulled back, wiping uselessly at her eyes. "I'm sorry," she croaked out. "I'm just… I'm a mess and I probably just ruined your dress because I'm such a mess and—"

"Hey now," Emma said. "I'm your best friend and I love you. I'm going to be here for you whenever you need it." She pulled something out of her pocket. "Daniel's mom handed me this when you were in the bathroom. She said she found it in his room and that you should have it." She handed the object over to Regina.

Regina held the simplistic necklace in her hands. "He gave this to me on our one year anniversary," she said softly. "I must have left it at his house once…"

Emma gently took the necklace in her hands. "Here, turn around— I'll put it on for you."

Regina turned and Emma grabbed the open sides of the necklace. She clasped the necklace and rested her chin on Regina's shoulder.

"It's going to be okay," Emma said softly. "I don't know when, but it's going to be okay."

First Dance

"C'mon, Regina, it's our senior prom," Emma said exasperatedly, her slouching demeanor looking off compared to her long flowing gown. "We skipped all those middle school and high school dances where we're supposed to dance with each other because we don't have dates. We've been friends since, what, birth? We have to have at least one dance together."

Regina sighed, folding her arms across her chest. "Emma, I didn't even want to come to this dance. We should've just skipped it like all the others."

"Please," Emma pleaded, grabbing her friend's hands and dragging her out to the dance floor nonetheless. "This is my favorite song to dance to!"

Regina sighed once more. "Fine. But just this one dance. Then I'm leaving."

Emma smiled gleefully and took Regina into her arms, wrapping her arms around the brunette's waist and pulling her in close.

The two swayed along to the slow tune, both trying to hide their happy grins as warm feelings developed in their stomachs.

The song ended much too soon for the two of them, but they pulled apart anyway.

"See?" Emma said with a smile. "Not that bad."

Regina faintly remembered an earlier conversation of theirs and smiled. She placed a kiss on Emma's cheek. "Not bad at all…"

First Date

Emma nervously smoothed down the nonexistent wrinkles in her dress as she looked in the mirror. "I can't do this."

"You'll be fine," Ruby said with an unimpressed tone from her position laying down on Emma's bed. "You've been having dinners together for years."

"Yeah, but that was just as friends," Emma pointed out. She took a deep breath. "This… this is the real thing."

"The real thing?" Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Oh, please, you've been in love with her since middle school. Ten bucks says you pretended at least a couple of your dinners were 'the real thing'…"

Emma glared at her friend. "Can it, Rubes." The doorbell rang downstairs. "Oh God."

Ruby groaned. "Oh for the love of…" She got off the bed and dragged Emma out of the room to the top of the stairs.

"Ruby, I'm really nervous," Emma said as they stopped at the top. "What if this doesn't go well?"

The tall brunette turned to face the blonde. "You are Emma Swan. You are 22 years old and you are going on your first 'official' date with your best friend." She smiled at her. "You look fantastic. You know that Regina's going to look fantastic. And you also know if, for some odd, obscure, reason, things don't work out? Everything will be fine. You two are still going to be friend, no matter what. Now go down and answer that door with all the confidence you can muster up, and go out, and have a great time."

Emma smiled. "Thanks, Ruby." She descended the stairs slowly, and took another deep breath before she opened the door. Her jaw dropped slightly and her eyes widened at the sight before her. "Regina…" A dopey grin spread across her face as she stared at her best friend. "Hi," she blurted out.

Regina smiled at her. "Hello, Emma."

They stood there in an awkward silence for a minute.

"You look beautiful," Emma whispered.

Regina blushed but smiled back at her. "Thank you. You clean up nicely as well."

Emma laughed and felt her nerves start to fade away as they returned to their usual banter. She started leading them out the door towards her beloved bug. "Come, my queen, your chariot awaits."