A/N: Welcome back! This is a sequel to my story A Serendipitous Encounter, so if you haven't read that yet, you really should or else this won't make sense :). You can find that story by clicking my FF username (the original story is not long – you could totally binge it in a day if you were motivated enough). A lot of reviewers asked for the story to continue, so as promised, here it is! This will focus on the short trip Emma takes to visit Regina while they're both on break from their respective lives.

This story won't be long – probably one or two chapters per day of the vacation. The first day is split into three chapters because I needed to lay the groundwork for the rest, but then it will move quickly. This will mostly be SQ fluff galore, especially after the first two chapters, but there will be some hurdles to face to keep it interesting. Robin will only appear in the chapters covering the first day, and then he is shipped off on a trip with his sons. (But rest assured, he's not a villain or foil to SQ happiness, as we learned in the original story. He may be the biggest SQ shipper of them all.).

Also, just a reminder that this is entirely fictional.

This will be updated every 1-2 weeks, as my PhD semester is about to start and dissertation life is about to get real, so I should probably prioritize writing that. I hope you enjoy!


Chapter One - Arrivals

Day One: Morning of August 21, 10:58am

Emma shifted in her seat with excitement as the plane began taxiing toward the gate. She took out her phone, eager to switch off 'airplane mode' so she could let Regina know she landed. Despite Emma's protests that she could easily call a cab, Regina had insisted that she would pick her up from the airport. She sent a quick text to the woman she had crossed country borders to visit and then looked out her window to see what little she could of Montréal from the plane's small window. She felt her phone vibrate in her hand and looked down at the message from Regina: I'm glad you made it safely! I'll see you soon. Xoxo. Emma tried to hide her blushing cheeks as the flight attendant collected the airline blanket from the man sleeping in the seat next to her.

Gathering her bags, Emma retied the red flannel shirt she had wrapped around her waist in case the plane was cold before making her way toward the door. She smiled politely at the cabin crew and thanked the pilots as she exited the aircraft and walked down the jetbridge toward the gate. Upon entering the airport, Emma barely registered the quiet "bonjour" from the gate agent as her eyes widened in surprise to see a petite brunette holding two Starbucks cups. "Miss me?" Regina asked with a smirk as she approached Emma, pulling the blonde out of the way of her fellow passengers who were still trying to deplane. Regina wrapped an arm around her. "Don't worry, I'll give you a proper welcome when we have some privacy," she whispered into Emma's ear as she hugged her.

Emma tried not to blush, conscious of the fact that they were standing in the middle of a crowded airport. "Yes of course I missed you, but what are you doing here? How are you here?" Emma was bewildered, not understanding how the brunette could be standing in front of her without having a ticket of her own. Gone were the days of picking your girlfriend up at the gate – baggage claim was as close as you could get.

"I was supposed to fly home yesterday morning, but we had to reshoot a few scenes before the break so I had to delay my flight. I ended up on a 5am flight this morning and figured it would be silly for me to go home and then turn right around to come back to get you, so I hung out here," Regina explained with a shrug. "Here, this is for you. Americano, extra shot," she said, handing Emma one of the coffee cups.

"You remembered," Emma smiled, thinking back to their first meeting at Starbucks when Regina had cut in front of Emma in line and offered to buy her a coffee of her choice.

"Of course I did…it's the same thing I always get," she teased, nudging the blonde with her shoulder. She then eyed the small rolling suitcase at her feet and the cognac leather tote the blonde carried on her shoulder. "Do you need to go to baggage claim?"

Emma shook her head. "Nope, this is it."

Regina looked impressed. "Really?"

Emma nodded. "After touring with the ballet company for years, I became an expert packer. There's nothing worse than losing luggage internationally, so I never checked baggage if I could avoid it. The habit seems to have stuck."

"Smart."

"What about you? You didn't leave your luggage on the carousels for the past two hours while you waited for me, did you?"

Regina laughed. "No. This is all I brought," she said, gesturing to her black leather backpack. "I keep a lot of clothes at our place here, so I just need to bring the essentials."

"Oh, duh. Of course."

Regina laughed, but was interrupted by a fan asking for a selfie. She generously agreed to the preteen girl's request, followed by two more when they saw the first photo being taken. "Ready to head down?" She asked when she was done taking pictures.

"Yeah. Does that happen a lot?" She asked as they started walking down the concourse.

"I wouldn't say a lot…I'm no Meryl Streep, but it isn't uncommon. It happens more here since fans know I have a place in Montreal, and quite frequently when I travel around major events – award shows, Comic-Con, and the like. Fans know I'll be traveling so they're more likely to be looking for me. This morning hasn't been too bad since I spent most of it in one of the first-class lounges. Most of those guys had no idea who I am, but a few girls who had been on my flight caught me before I could escape." Emma laughed at Regina's explanation before taking a sip of her coffee. "Oh, just a head's up, Robin is picking us up," Regina said as they made their way down the terminal and toward the corridor that would lead them to the airport's main entrance.

"Oh, okay," Emma shrugged. "How is he?" Emma genuinely liked the guy. He appeared to look out for Regina's interests and seemed to be quite a character himself. A few weeks previously Robin had made an appearance in Halifax to be Regina's date for a party the studio was throwing to publicize Frozen Mirror's upcoming eighth season. He had stayed a few days and visited set, during which Emma and Regina had a few Facetime conversations. On more than one occasion Regina had to step out to handle something quickly on set, so Emma and Robin had the chance to chat on their own for a bit. Of course, he had also given Regina her privacy so they could talk without his constant lingering presence.

"He's doing well. He's excited for the camping trip tomorrow. He always complains about having to sleep on the ground, but I think he secretly likes it…but, I just wanted to give you a head's up that since he'll be meeting us out front and this is a public place, he and I will have to slip into our roles," she said, frowning a bit.

"Regina, it's fine. Stop apologizing for that. You're going to drive yourself crazy."

Regina sent Emma a grateful smile, but before she had time to reply they were interrupted by a familiar voice approaching them from the side. "Well, if it isn't Miss Swan. Why am I not surprised to see you?"

"Are you serious right now?" Regina mumbled under her breath as she rolled her eyes and stopped walking, turning to face the man barging into a conversation where he was not wanted. "What the fuck are you doing here, Gold?"

"You know I have property here, Regina. You can't honestly be stunned to know that I might also enjoy the short break we have from filming to have a little staycation at my main home? In fact, I believe I informed the cast that I'm having a small interview with one of the Montréal entertainment news shows at my home in a few days."

She took a breath, resisting the urge to grab his cane and smash it into his skull. "I could do without the condescension, Gold. I meant, why are you here in the airport?"

"Oh, that. Well, I too had to take a later flight since I stayed late reviewing the reshot footage last night. I only just got in myself, and you can imagine how surprised I was to see photos of you that were just taken here pop up in my notifications as soon as I turned my phone back on. I could have sworn you were on the first flight this morning, and I would have thought you would be at home catching up with your beloved husband by now. But instead, you are still here…and with Miss Swan, who seems to have brought some luggage of her own. How nice."

Regina rolled her eyes yet again. Robert Gold had reminded his cast multiple times over the past few weeks that he had alerts set up to track the show's and its cast's mentions and hashtags during the pre-season premiere promotional period. Ingrid Snow, the show's other female lead and the other half of a very popular, but non-canon, ship on the show had recently caused trouble for the producers when she was seen leaving a notable lesbian club on a recent weekend trip to New York City. Despite the fact that she had made it abundantly clear that she was there for her childhood best friend's bachelorette party, Gold and the other executive producer of the show had to calm down the network. To the best of Regina's knowledge, Ingrid wasn't into women and it truly had been a friend's innocent celebration. But, the fallout had set Regina on edge. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and quickly glanced down at it, sighing in relief. Robin had texted that he was out front. "Yes, well, this has been lovely, but my husband is waiting for us, so if you'll excuse me…" she pushed past Gold, muttering an apology to Emma as they walked away.

"God, that guy is relentless," Emma commented.

"I know. But after the Ingrid incident, I can't really blame him. Some of the advertisers apparently threatened to pull out of their contracts since we're in a prime time family hour slot…I guess they didn't like that a lead on the show was partaking in 'immoral' behaviors. The network got scared and Gold was left to deal with the fallout."

"Yeah I read about her 'lesbian binge weekend' online. It's unbelievable that it should even be an issue these days."

"And yet it is."

*.*.*

Regina led Emma toward a set of automatic doors out front, immediately spotting Robin's black Range Rover parked with its hazard light flashing behind a few cabs. "C'mon, over here," she said to Emma pointing toward the vehicle and trying to avoid the few photographers that were standing by, hoping to snap a picture.

Robin quickly got out of the car when he saw the women approach and pulled Regina into his arms, kissing her lips sweetly as he did so. Emma could hear the shutters of the cameras nearby, so she tried to look genuinely happy in case she was visible in any of the photographs. The last thing she wanted was to cause any trouble for Regina. After giving his wife one more quick peck, he gave Emma a hug. "It's good to see you, Emma. I'm sorry about that," he said to her quietly during their brief embrace.

She laughed and told him it was fine. He then grabbed Emma's suitcase for her, placing it in the rear hatch of the SUV before closing it with a thud. "Such a gentleman," she teased. He smiled as he opened the back door for Emma, and she crawled inside.

Robin then opened the passenger side door for Regina, who gave him a kiss on the cheek before she waved to a paparazzo who was clearly filming them and hopped in. Robin hurried back to the driver's seat and pulled out of the drop-off lane as soon as there was a break in traffic. "Is anyone following us?" He asked as he maneuvered toward the airport exit.

Regina checked out her window. "No, I don't think so. I think they're probably waiting for whoever else might be coming out of the airport. Rumor has it Celine Dion is coming into town, so I think she probably takes precedence over anyone else," Regina chuckled. As Robin stopped at the red light at the end of the road leading away from the airport, Regina unbuckled her seatbelt and carefully crawled between the front seats and into the back, placing herself next to Emma. "Hey," she smiled as she looked over at the blonde who was laughing after watching her less than graceful maneuver.

"Hey yourself."

Regina leaned in, giving Emma a quick, soft kiss and reaching for Emma's hand, intertwining their fingers as she brought it to rest in her lap. "I've wanted to do that since I saw you get off the plane." Emma smiled in response as Regina toyed with her fingers. "So, is there anything in particular you want to do while you're here? This is your first time in town, isn't it?"

Emma nodded. "It is. I've always wanted to come here, but never had the chance to. I don't really know about specific places to go, but I'd love to see the French Quarter and see if I remember any of the French I took in high school."

"Vraiment? Parlez-vous francais?"

Emma dropped her jaw. Regina's accent was flawless…and incredibly sexy. "Ouais…un peu."

Regina grinned. "Cela pourrait très amusant."

"Wait, what?" Emma looked at the brunette, confusion written across her face.

Regina laughed. "I said 'this could be very fun.' We'll work on your French while you're here, dear."

"When did you learn how to speak French? That was impressive…and kinda hot."

"I took it in high school, and then took a class when I first moved here to brush up on it. Mostly, though, I picked up a lot of it just by living here the past seven years. Robin and both boys are completely fluent. Half the reason I made the effort to learn was so I would know what they're saying when they slip into bilingual conversations without any warning."

Robin laughed from the front seat, unable to help overhearing their conversation. "We've gotten better about doing that. It's less fun anyway now that you know what we're talking about. It used to be a great way to talk about you without you knowing."

"Hun, even if I didn't know exactly what you were saying, I always knew you were talking about me." She turned her attention back to Emma. "It comes back quickly. I bet you'll be having conversations before the week is over."

"I don't know about full-on conversations. We toured France for two weeks my last year in the ballet company and I barely understood anything that was said."

Regina nodded. ". I struggled with understanding people in Paris when I went, but I've been fine for the most part in Québec. I think it's easier here – most people speak both English and French fluently, so I think the French is easier to understand for a non-native speaker. But anyway, besides the French Quarter, is there anywhere else you want to go or anything you want to do?"

Emma shrugged. "Montréal has a great dance community, so I'd love to take a class or two while I'm here. But mainly I'd like to see your favorite places. I tend to prefer the local hangouts rather than the big tourist attractions when I visit a new place. I assume that's probably better anyway if we need to keep a low profile. Honestly, I just want to spend time with you, so I don't care where we go or what we do," she said, squeezing Regina's hand that still rested in the brunette's lap.

"That can definitely be arranged." She leaned in for another kiss when she heard Robin clear his throat, breaking them apart.

"I hate to interrupt this adorable lovefest, but we're home," he said.

Regina playfully glared at him as she saw him smirking in the rearview mirror. "Come on, let's get you settled in," she said, tugging on Emma's hand.

*.*.*

Regina helped Emma out of the SUV in the parking garage and led her inside toward the lobby while Robin grabbed Emma's suitcase. Stepping inside a large marble elevator, Robin inserted his key and pressed the button for 11A, one of two penthouse units in the mid-rise condo building. "Oh wow, this is gorgeous," Emma said as she exited the elevator directly into the apartment. The foyer had dark wood floors, and the walls were a crisp white and filled with art. Emma took in the gallery as she was led down the hall to the open living space. The kitchen had modern white cabinets and quartz counters, which contrasted with the stainless steel appliances and the dark floors that continued throughout the space. It looked like something out of the pages of a Scandinavian issue of Architectural Digest, yet despite the harsh color palette, it was inviting.

"Please, make yourself at home," Regina said as she dropped her backpack on the long slab table in the dining space before plopping down on the sofa.

"Can I get you anything to eat or drink, Emma?" Robin asked her as he poured himself a glass of water.

"No thanks. I'm fine for now." she said, joining Regina on the couch. "So, where are the boys?" she asked, expecting that they would have rushed to greet their mother at the door.

"They have their last day of summer camp today. They'll be back this afternoon," Regina said. She looked up at Robin who had joined them in the living room, thanking him as he handed her a can of La Croix before he sat down in one of the leather accent chairs. "Before you get too comfortable and the jet lag sets in, do you want a tour so you know where everything is?" Regina offered.

"Sure, that would be great."

Regina stood up and extended her hand to Emma, who graciously accepted it and allowed the older woman to pull her up. "We'll be back," Regina said to Robin, setting her drink down on the end table and lightly patting his shoulder as they walked by his chair.

"Take your time!"

Regina led Emma down the hallway, pointing out a small powder room near the living room. Further down the hall were the two boys' rooms, which were connected to each other by a Jack-and-Jill bathroom. "That way, they don't make a mess in the bathroom guests use when we have visitors," Regina commented. She poked her head into their rooms and gasped in surprise. "I was expecting it to be a mess, but this is actually much better than it usually is," she said. Emma noted that Henry's room was X-Men themed, while Roland was going through a Robin Hood phase and had walls covered in forest murals, complete with a nerf archery set attached to the wall. Across from the boys' rooms was a small library, which Regina explained she and Robin shared. "I come in here when I need to prep for an audition or a quiet place to review lines, and the boys know not to bother me unless it's an emergency. Robin mostly uses it to store backup copies of his business documents in that file cabinet, and he occasionally comes in here to practice guitar if he doesn't want us to hear him. It's not soundproof, but it's at least a little more private than the rest of the condo."

"Do you play at all?" Emma asked, eyeing the vintage Gibson acoustic guitar hanging on the wall near the door where they were standing.

"Mmhmm. A little. Not particularly well, but I can pluck out a few chords well enough to play along with most songs. Do you play anything?"

Emma nodded. "I never took lessons, but I can play piano a bit. And a friend tried to teach me guitar a few summers ago when we were counselors for a summer dance intensive, but that didn't go particularly well. I wish I could play."

Regina smiled. "Well, that's one more thing we can work on while you're here, if you want to."

"That could be fun," Emma grinned.

Regina led her a little farther down the hallway to a corner bedroom. "This is the guest room, and there's a full bath just across the hall stocked with towels and whatever toiletries you might need. You can stay here tonight, and then after the boys are gone you can either stay here or stay with me upstairs…whatever you're comfortable with. Like I said, no pressure."

Emma laughed and took a step closer to the woman, gently running her fingers along the underside of Regina's forearms before taking both of the woman's hands in hers. "Regina, you're rambling."

Regina chuckled and took a breath. "I know. I just don't want to make you feel like I'm expecting you to sleep in my bed…because I'm not."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Need I remind you that you slept in my bed after like six hours of actual conversation, and then I stayed with you in your hotel room the following night? It's not a big deal. To be quite honest, I slept better those two nights than I have in a long time."

Regina smiled. "Good. Me, too. But I'm serious…I don't want you to feel rushed into anything. Nothing has to happen this week."

Emma smiled and pulled Regina closer, stealing a light, chaste kiss from her lips before speaking. "I know. You don't have to keep reassuring me. And honestly, I kind of get the sense that you're trying to reassure yourself." She gently squeezed the hands she still held in her own.

Regina's eyes flickered down to the ground before looking back up at Emma. "Yeah…I'm still nervous about this whole thing. It's been such a long time since I have been in any sort of real relationship or felt anything like this toward someone. I don't really remember how this works."

"I'm right there with you. So, now let me be the one to assure you – nothing has to happen this week that either of us is not ready for. We'll take this at our own pace and let whatever happens happen naturally. I have no expectations other than getting to spend time with you and getting to know you better."

"Okay." Regina smiled and this time was the one to lean in and sneak a kiss before walking back out of the room.

Emma immediately followed. "Did you say there was an upstairs in this place?"

"I did. Follow me." Regina walked back through the living room and around a corner, behind the giant two-sided fireplace that separated the living room from the dining space. There was a small hallway that led to a spiral staircase up to the second floor.

"This is so cool. I've always wanted one of these," Emma commented, not hiding the fact that she was checking out Regina's ass as she climbed the stairs ahead of her.

"Yeah, they look great, but they're a bitch to navigate when you're half asleep in the morning, or when you're drunk at night. I've woken up with some nasty bruises from crashing into them after a rough night." At the top of the staircase was a short hallway that split into two directions, spanning the length of the apartment. "The best thing about this apartment is that there are two master suites. Robin's room is down that hallway," Regina said, pointing to one end of the hall, "and mine is down here." Regina turned toward her room, and Emma took that as a sign to follow her.

"You guys don't share a room?"

Regina laughed as she fell onto the bed, bouncing a little as she took a seat. The crisp white duvet reminded Emma of a cloud – it was much more fluffy and clean than her own white bed linen back at her place. The stark white bed covering contrasted with the dark navy walls, the navy and white graphic bedspread folded neatly at the end of the bed, and the rich, but feminine, oak furnishings. Emma realized it was the only room she had seen that wasn't painted white. The room seemed to fit Regina well – it was both welcoming and regal, and she would expect nothing less of someone who played Queen of the Damned on television. "Why would we? We are in no way a real couple," Regina said, pulling Emma's attention back to the question she had asked. She reached out for the blonde and wrapped her arms around her waist as she came to stand at the foot of the bed.

"I know, but I figured for the sake of appearances…"

Regina lifted an eyebrow as she looked up at the woman. "We don't make a habit of inviting the press into our bedroom, Emma."

Emma chuckled, taking a seat next to Regina. "Well, obviously. I guess I just assumed since your kids don't know about your arrangement…nevermind, it's none of my business."

"It's fine, Emma. And it kind of is your business…you're well within your right to ask me these things if we are going to try to make a relationship between us work. You need to be comfortable with it, because it won't be changing anytime soon. So, you're right – the boys don't know. But as far as they're concerned, we sleep separately because I snore."

"You don't snore," Emma said immediately, recalling their two sleepovers at the con.

"I know that, but they don't. And they don't think anything of it. We've had separate rooms since we moved in together, so it's normal for them. And any friends who come over for parties or whatever never come up here, so they don't know. Robin's parents asked about it once but believed my snoring story, and my mother couldn't care less. She and my father stopped sleeping in the same room when I was in junior high, and continued sleeping apart until he passed away. Except in his case, he really did snore and my mother is an exceptionally light sleeper. She just couldn't deal with it anymore." Emma nodded as Regina stood up. "My bathroom is through here," she gestured through a small hallway that had two large walk-in closets on either side. The bathroom was gorgeous - pristine white subway tile surrounded a deep soaker tub, and there was exquisite white and gray marble flooring. A separate glass walk-in shower was next to the tub, and across from that was a large vanity. A separate water closet was located on the far end of the bathroom.

"This is incredible. That tub is amazing."

Regina smiled. "It's my favorite feature. You're welcome to use it whenever you'd like. I have quite the selection of bath bombs to choose from," she said, opening one of the vanity drawers to reveal a large pile of colorful spheres.

"Regina, it looks like you robbed a LUSH store."

"I may have a mild addiction."

*.*.*

The pair made their way back through the bedroom to head downstairs. Regina mentioned that Robin had suggested they all go out to dinner, making sure they're seen together. "That way, if and when we're seen together when Robin is out of town, it won't seem like I'm trying to hide anything since it will be clear that you are friends with Robin. He also suggested that you and I go out to one of his restaurants tomorrow or the following day and make sure people see us, because if I were having some illicit secret affair, there is no way I would bring that person to my husband's place of business."

"I'd love to try out his place," Emma said as the headed back down the stairs to find that Robin had turned on a movie. They joined him in the living room and settled in, both women relatively tired from their morning flights.

"Regina, your phone has been buzzing nonstop," Robin mentioned as Regina stretched her legs out on the couch, instinctively resting her feet in Emma's lap.

She grabbed her phone off the coffee table to see several warning texts from Gold, including one that read: SHUT IT DOWN! Now. with an attached link. She clicked on it and saw a photo of her and Emma walking together through the airport. It was completely innocuous, as they weren't even touching each other, but that didn't matter when the caption says "Who's the mysterious hot blonde with our girl?" and a few comments suggested that it looked like the fan Regina had been seen with at Comic-Con a few months earlier. One commenter even mentioned that it looked like the same girl she was "cozying up to" at the karaoke bar. "Damn it," she muttered under her breath.

"What?" Robin and Emma asked simultaneously, looking over at her.

"Nothing…just more rumors. I really need Ingrid to get caught at a strip club or something. Even though she pissed of the network and is causing more problems for us in the long run, at least when she was the focus of the gay gossip it got Gold off my back for a little while."

"How bad is it?" Robin asked.

"Here," she handed him her phone. He winced as he handed it back.

Emma raised a curious eyebrow so Regina passed the phone to her. "Wow. The paparazzi really go after you," Emma said, frowning as she looked at the screen.

"That was a fan photo – paparazzi can't exactly get inside airport security, and this was taken before we ran into Gold. At least we both look good in it," Regina said with a sardonic chuckle, trying to find the humor in the situation.

"Gold was there?" Robin asked, surprised.

"Oh, yeah. Did I not mention that?"

Regina proceeded to explain the story, while Emma read a text she had received from Ruby: Holy shit, Emma! Why are you in the airport with Regina Mills?

She thought about how to respond, but figured there was no use denying it. It was a pretty clear image. Our time off aligned so I'm visiting her for a bit while I'm on vacation in Montreal. We ran into each other at the airport. We thought we'd catch up for a bit. Even though Ruby was one of Emma's closest friends, she refused to tell her the full extent of their relationship. Even Killian didn't know everything…she had just told him that she and Regina had become really good friends during the con and planned to hang out a bit over their respective work breaks. And truthfully, it wasn't her story to tell. She didn't want to be the one to out Regina, because she knew that would be fatal to any relationship they might have.

Oh, so you're not going on some secret lover's excursion to a private island somewhere in the Atlantic? ;), Ruby replied back.

Emma sighed. No, Ruby. I'm literally sitting on her couch about to eat lunch with her and her husband. You really need to stop. The rumors that circulate are devastating to her and the cast and their families. If you want to be useful, please help stop them when you see them online rather than making sly innuendos. Emma hoped she didn't oversell her response. She felt bad chastising her friend, but even if she and Regina were in a secret relationship, the rumors were still hurtful and making everything much worse than it needed to be. As she waited for a response, she pulled up her Instagram to scroll through the posts. "Oh, yeah, I've been identified," she said out loud, grabbing both Robin and Regina's attention.

Regina looked over, concerned. "What?"

"A few of your fans who reposted the airport photo tagged me in it – I guess they went back and found my photo you reposted of us at the con and realized I'm the same person…I have 100 new followers in the last hour."

She closed out of the app when she received a new text from Ruby. Jeez, Em, I'm sorry. I was just messing with you. I know you guys are just friends, but it's fun to screw with you. I'll stop and I promise I won't spread any rumors that are out there.

Emma texted back a quick Thank you, I appreciate that, before turning her attention back to Regina.

"Ugh, I'm sorry Emma," Regina sighed. "If any of them start harassing you don't be afraid to use the 'block' feature liberally. God knows I do."

Emma laughed. "So far, no one has said anything. They're mostly just liking a bunch of my photos."

"Yeah, they'll probably try to suck up to you, thinking it might help them get closer to Regina before they start with the hate…" Robin suggested. "Believe me. When Regina and I first started our 'relationship,' all her fans found me. Most of them are great, albeit a little overenthusiastic about us, but a few of them felt like I was cock-blocking them, so to speak. Or, when Regina and I would be apart for awhile due to work schedules and whatnot, they would start accusing me of cheating on her."

Emma looked at him incredulously. "Seriously?"

Regina nodded. "Yep. Mal gets it, too, and I only see her like once or twice a year. She had to make her account private because fans of the show kept finding her and trying to dig up old photos of us, or photos of her with other women to prove that she's gay, which they thought would add more weight to those photos of us from college. She finally had enough and locked her account down. At first they were nice to her, liking her photos and commenting nice things, but then it turned quickly, especially on the internet where people can just pile it on."

Robin added: "I wouldn't be surprised if that happens to you, especially since they know you're a fan from that original photo of you guys outside the con. They'll probably think 'oh, that could have totally been me,…that could be me' and think that you're just like them. You might want to make your account private if this relationship between you works, but I wouldn't do it today, because that will only raise suspicion."

Emma paled, slightly concerned about the turn of events, and barely registering the sound of the oven beeping in the background or Robin getting up and leaving the room. "Emma, it will be fine," Regina placed her hand on Emma's thigh. "And if it does get to be too much for you, please let me know."

Emma put her hand on top of Regina's and smiled. "It'll be worth it."


A/N: Next up: they discuss Regina's image, come up with an idea for how to spin Emma's presence in Regina's life, and then Emma meets little Roland and Henry. Day one will conclude with the dinner excursion, which wouldn't be complete without a little drama (is Gold really their biggest problem?). Stay tuned!