So, this is going to have a rather three large parts and those three are going to be divided in some more manageable parts so I'm just going to drop this here and stat with the editing of the following one.

I don't know if all parts are going to be as long as this one or what. I'm playing a little by ear here and I'm still adding a few scenes here and there since I wanted to also put Emma's point of view into the story. All I can say is that Emma (Kev in the movie) has been changed a little bit and a few details had been added to help Regina's character.
Apart from that Cassie's lines (Regina's friend in this case) haven't been changed at all because EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF THEM ARE FUCKING GOLD AND I'M IN LOVE WITH HER CHARACTER, plus Mal being Cass was something that worked for me even before I had the rest figured out so there is that Xd

And that's it. Back to one particular steamy scene that wasn't in the movie but I'm seriously thinking on including it…

27 Dresses

I've always been very sure about what I'm good at. About what I love.

Everything started when I attended the wedding of a long distant relative and being the first family gathering since my mother's dead was something that made both me and my father very nervous. Not Zel of course since she always had a bright disposition of merely be her and… shine. But my father was nervous and so was I.

I guess I need to explain myself better…

Large groups of people that Regina had never met whispered and talked between them, talking and gossiping about people that the girl had yet to meet or that they hadn't simply showed up to the wedding. It was a fairly beautiful wedding, the brunette girl decided, even if she was feeling a little bit bored.

Frowning, the eight year old girl looked at the way her little sister moved on her seat a few benches in front of her. Walking quickly towards both the red-head and her father she smiled to a few old relatives that she recognized and, docking what was going to probably be a new round of kisses and vague words about how much she had grown up in the last year she reached the bench where her troubled father was trying to help Zelena to tie the knot of her purple bow.

Henry was a kind man, one that was always ready to make other people smile. The little shop he had opened a few years before the birth of Regina was always full of people ready to talk with her. He would never be rich but he had always one of the sweetest dispositions Regina had ever met in her short life (And that she was going to meet in the future years)

Unfortunately, the smile of the man had been tampered for the loss of his wife; a woman completely different and yet his equalizer in many things. With her gone due to a terrible and rather quick, cancer the man was now alone with two little girls.

Truth was that Henry was a really decent man and maybe in any other circumstances he would have been able to spot the problem that was going to develop in the next few years inside both of sisters. However, when Regina grabbed his hands gently and proceeded to tie the bow as perfectly as she could he merely smiled and nodded her thanks to the eldest daughter while his youngest bounced happily.

"Dad, can you go with me to the bathroom? I need to pee" The little red-head turned her bright eyes towards his father and Henry found himself at a complete loss of words. He had never been into a woman's bathroom, not since his fourth grade when he had lost a bet and now he started to wonder if the correct thing would be to bring the girl with him towards the men's bathroom. Would that been appropriate?

Regina felt the doubts of her father and sighed. Ever since her mother death she had tried to help as much as she could in the house. She missed her mother terribly and more than a few times she had found herself crying until sleep overcame her but she had also learnt that her father needed help. She was the eldest after all, the one who had been grabbing her father's hand when her mother had finally died. Zelena had cried while crouching next to the woman but Regina had had only eyes for her father.

And so, with a dubious look but trying to appear as confident as she tried to look she turned towards Zelena and said "I will go with you Zel"

The red-head shrugged and nodded, too young to understand everything that had happened in the blink of an eye between her sister and her father. Bouncing a little excitedly due to the few sweets she had already eaten she run down the aisle while dodging the relatives that were still talking as they waited for the bride to appear.

The girls entered in the women's bathroom and after explaining her sister how she needed to do everything properly Regina exited the place, moving towards a little room near the entrance of the chapel from where supposedly, the bride was about to exit. The girl knew that it was bad luck to see the bride before the wedding (Or was it that only for the groom?) but she was rather curious to see her cousin in such a white dress. After her mother's death her father had put the wedding photo of the two of them back into the junk room, unable to look at it, and the brunette had rescued the photo looking at her every night before falling asleep. The wedding dress her mother had worn had been truly beautiful and a part of Regina wanted to see if her cousin could be as half as beautiful as her mother had be.

Unfortunately when she finally sat and waited for her cousin to appear said woman approached the whole body mirror in the middle of the room and cursed, making the young girl giggle a little.

"Regina" The woman whispered as she turned. The girl and her sister were still a gossip between some of the family circle due to Cora's death and the bride gulped, feeling slightly uneasy. "Don't tell your father that I've said that"

The brunette shook her head and in the flippant tone that many children used she shrugged quickly "Don't worry, we have cable"

The bride blinked, not quite sure if she had understood what the young girl had tried to explain with that bit but deciding that it was the best answer she was going to get she cursed once again, showing Regina the problem that had made her curse in the first place in the process; a hole in the white dress.

Regina wasn't sure how the hole could have been made but she had the distinct feeling that her cousin wasn't supposed to marry like that.

A little set of feet made both of them, bride and girl, turn her heads and look at a now smiling Zelena that, with her green bow starting to move a little more than it should have were looking at them blinking and smiling at her sister, her lips opening a but never uttering a word.

Maybe it had been Regina's need in that moment to make everything go as smooth as possible to help her father forget a little about the sadness and the fact that he had been married until a few months ago but the little brunette smiled, an idea starting to form inside her head.

Not more than five minutes later her cousin's backside was half covered with Zelena's bow, the emerald green of the bow going nicely with the marble white of the dress. Feeling her heart swelling with pride at the notion that she had not only helped in the wedding but to her cousin as well while helping her father created a big smile on Regina's face and when her cousin offered the girl to carry the train she nodded excitedly feeling as happiest as ever.

That had been the moment when, as she walked down the aisle, Regina Mills had discovered what she wanted to do for a living; Make other brides like her cousin as happy as possible.

And so our story begins 20-oddyears later in New York City.


The light in the changing room was soft and gentle and helped to make the pure white dress to glow on the many folds it had making Regina's soft dark skin along with her brunette hair and brown chocolate eyes to shine dramatically.

The woman smiled shyly at her own reflection, noticing the creases on the wedding gown and the way it adjusted her body.

Almost as if it was made for her like the different saleswoman were saying once and again as they openly looked at the effect of Regina in that wedding dress and Regina may would have believed them if not for the fact that she knew it wasn't made for her.

She wasn't going to be jealous though, this wasn't her day and so she smiled and nodded, touching the fabric of the dress and nodding to herself once again, the details of the dress were amazing but not too overly dramatic like Suzanne had wanted to make them be at first.

She was about to make another twirl in front of the mirror when a third saleswoman approached her with a cellphone. Regina's were in her purse, too far to reach in her actual predicament and she smiled gently to the approaching woman.

"It's the bride" The woman, Barbara if she read her tag correctly, said in a whisper before handing Regina the cellphone. One she caught promptly as she looked at the mirror with an affirmative nod.

"Suzanne? Yes, the dress is ready, don't worry fortunately we both have the same size"

Suzanne at the other side sighed completely relieved, it had been a complete hectic day and after her mother's tantrum for being paired up with a sister in the reception after the wedding it had been impossible for her to appear at the shop in time to pick up her dress.

"Thank you Gina" She replied, looking at her mother from the corner of her eye. "You are a life saver"

At the other side the brunette's eyes narrowed a little at the use of the nickname but kept smiling.

In the years between the first wedding she had ever attended and the many others that had followed she had learnt to be patient with the brides and let them know she had everything covered. It was her passion; making other people happy and so even if sometimes she found herself wanting to said something witty to a friend that knew perfectly well how much she hated her nickname she only kept nodding and informing her about the last minute details of the dress.

With a click the call was ended and Regina found herself free to dress with the purple dress Suzanne had picked up for her.

While she was dressing and applying the light make up she was going to use during all night she glanced at the white bag in one corner of the changing room while biting her lower lip with nervousness.

She loved weddings, helping others. It was something that had made her incredibly happy once and during all those years she had never been any more exhilarated when she saw one of her friends getting not only married but with everything around them as perfect as it could be.

Adding the last touch to her lips with the lipstick and nodding towards her reflection she turned and opened the door of the little room, smiling politely to a young couple apparently searching for the perfect dress. Smiling indulgently towards the young man that seemed completely lost in a sea of pearly white she went towards the cashier, gave them Suzanne's name and waited for a few minutes before being able to exit the shop with the wedding gown and her white bag firmly clasped on her hands.

She growled inwardly once she was outside, the strong sun making her squint her eyes a little as she maneuvered between the mass of people that walked up and down the street. Glancing worriedly towards her watch she sighed once she arrived at one little corner, mentally registering that she had indeed brought everything she needed.

"Hello" A soft voice sounded at her back, making the woman jump and turn nervously looking at her best friend.

Mal was completely astonishing in her own purple dress, her soft dirty blonde hair in a poorly made updo and with her right brow raised in her trademark perpetual look of incredulity.

Both women were complete opposites in many things but Mal was the only one that knew the quirkest side of Regina, one that even the brunette was usually unaware that she had it in her even if Mal always tried to push to make the "little monster" free as she liked to put it.

"You are here" Regina said, hugging her friend tightly and looking at her once they moved back. The dress looked almost painted on the woman's body but that was something that Mal managed to make with each dress, no matter how horrible or ill-fitting it was. "It's my superpower" She had said once well into her fourth glass of the night in some random bar that had made Regina accompany her while trying to hook up with some random boys she had met a few hours before "I always look well, no matter what"

And over the years Regina had learnt to trust her since it didn't matter what kind of clothes Mal was wearing, it always looked perfect.

Right now, however, the way her friend's hair was done wasn't exactly as perfect as Regina (Or Suzanne) would prefer and Regina pointed at it while turning and starting to walk the last block, mentally jumping as she realized that they were, in fact, early.

"Your hair…" She started, making Mal scoff at that.

"What? The bitch said up and it's up"

The brunette rolled her eyes and shrugged, making the contents of the white box move a little.

"Ok, I will help you once we are inside" She said, carefully moving the bag while trying not to spill its contents all over some random street on the middle of New York City.

"What's all that stuff?" Mal asked, pointing at the bag.

"Just hurry" Regina replied, gulping loudly not wanting to give any more information to her friend. Mal looked at her suspiciously but didn't push, knowing that if she tried to make Regina said anything the curvaceous brunette didn't want to say the brunette would only close herself and deny everything from that on.

Both women entered just in time to see the bride's about to have an open discussion with both her mother and her grandmother while the rest of the bridesmaids were trying to calm her down.

It took approximately a good ten minutes before the guests started to arrive to make the bride calm enough to be able to start the photos, something that made Mal bored and Regina nervous.

"The best thing is that you can cut the dresses and wear them again" Suzanne said into a whisper pointing at the purple dresses with a big smile on her face much more relaxed after what Regina was pretty sure that it hadn't been water like Mal had promised.

"That's definitely true" She answered back, elbowing Mal when the photographer asked for a group photo.

While the whole pack of bridesmaids and the bride finished with the photos a particular blonde entered in the church. Starting to mentally do some notes about the details of not only the wedding but the way everything was arranged the woman huffed a little as she waved to a few people she already recognized. Her notes were mechanical and made with a smirk as she nodded politely and ruffled the children's head if they ever came near her.

She was dressed in a dark grey jacket and fitting trousers that made a few elders look at her questioningly but Emma Swan didn't bother in looking at them, bored out of her mind already.

"One day…" She promised herself while looking at the door of the church and sighing inwardly. She was good on her job but that didn't mean that she liked and siting in the first bench she found still slightly empty she stifled a yawn knowing that she was going to be there for the next hours unable to escape from another wedding.

"Fun how everything played out for you Swan" She muttered to herself, blinking and jumping slightly when the music started to play, the bridesmaids and the braid herself crossing the aisle.

As she usually did she didn't turn her head, smiling bitterly for a second as she looked at the completely enamored groom.

Meanwhile, on the bridesmaids' line the fourth of them smiled brightly and positioned themselves on the brides' side. Regina grabbed carefully Suzanne's bucket with one hand as she hold her own with the other. Mal snorted and said something at her back but Regina couldn't turn and look at her friends quizzically as the ceremony started, the guests standing up and a few of them starting to tear up with it.

That moment was always one of Regina's favorites and, while over the years she had perfectioned her love for a few things about the weddings the moment in which everything started always made her feel like a young girl all over again. Forgetting about her nerves for a second she sighed and cooed like the rest of the church except Mal at the soon-to-be-married couple.

However, the nerves returned rather quickly as she realized that the woman who was officiating the ceremony was going slower than what she had thought. Mentally thinking about how much she was going to lose she glanced at her watch, making Mal look at her with furrowed brows and a particular blonde almost in the verge of sleeping who frowned as she saw the little bit lip the brunette maid of honor did after looking at the hour.

"Strange…" Emma said to herself, she didn't remember the name of the woman since she had been invited and asked to do the article from the groom's side so she hadn't really do an exhaustive search of all the bridesmaids but as far as she could recall Greg had talked wonders about all the friends of her soon-to-be-wife. Perhaps the brunette was nervous?

The ceremony ended ten minutes after that and Regina smiled quickly at Mal who was already looking for any eligible bachelor on the wedding and left, nearly coming across some groups and rising her hand, promptly calling a taxi.

"Tell you what" She said once the door of the car was closed "I will give you 300 dollars at the end of the night with only one condition"

The man who was driving the taxi blinked and turned, looking at her from his sit "What condition?"

Smirking a little she pointed in front of her "Every time you turn around and peek I will discount 20 dollars, ok?"

The man blinked once again, his eyes looking and up and down the brunette woman as Regina fumbled with the white box and started to search for the zipper of her dress.

"280" She chanted, laughing a little when the man grumbled and murmured a quick "No one's looking"

Mal was right in one thing; sometimes she had a little evil streak.

/

The sari was rather easy to put on but Regina fumbled a little bit with the rest of accessories, sighing happily when she finished with her high heels seconds before the taxi stopped in front of the second wedding. Walking as quick as possible and smiling briefly to the few people that recognized her she gave another bride's maid one of the little thingies as the woman had said before turning to look at Shari. The woman was completely fabulous and, albeit nervous, she had that glow of utter happiness that made Regina sigh a little every time she got to witness that.

"The best thing is that you can cut them and wear them again" The other woman said and as she positioned herself on the line Regina nodded quickly, muttering the already practiced answer as the maids started to walk down the aisle.

The ceremony itself was much quicker than the first one and albeit she felt rather lost quite a few times Regina enjoyed the vows in which she let herself smile and laugh a little alongside with the closer friends of Shari.

This time the taxi driver didn't ask where they were going albeit he tried to look quite a few times over the rear mirror. The woman rolled her eyes and growled each time, letting him known that she was, in fact, counting how much money she was already discounting. She hated her actual predicament but, as the taxi moved faster between the numerous cars on New York she knew that she really hadn't had any other option.

"You are down to 260" She said in a stern voice, one she barely use it "Are you sure you want to keep this up?"

The driver sighed and straightened on his seat once again. "No" He replied while grumbling, making Regina hum and nod to herself.

"You should have told them that you were going to be busy" A voice that looked like Mal's echoed on her mind for a second as the taxi halted in front of the reception place. Forgetting her inner discussions Regina stood and closed the door of the taxi, glaring to the driver while doing it. The woman let herself admire a little the architecture of the place before entering, smiling and grabbing a Champaign flute before sitting next to Mal who was already down to her fourth if the empty glasses in front of her were a signal of something.

Still straightening her dress she sat, not seeing the curious green eyes of a certain reporter at the other side of the room.

"Which one do you want, the brunet or the blond?" Mal's voice said at her left while she tried to make the dress look as if she had had it for the whole evening. Regina looked in front of her, eyeing the two men Mal was pointing at with a ravenous expression.

Regina rolled her eyes, she knew that her friend's morale wasn't precisely white and black so it was always interesting seeing her while trying to approach to someone, man or woman.

"I kind want the blond, I'm not going to lie" Mal kept going, looking at her from the corner of her eyes as she sipped lazily from another flute. Her eyes were sparkling with mischievousness and Regina sighed, knowing full well where her friend was going with that particular innuendo.

"Mal" She started "Can't you keep in your pants for one wedding?" The last word was dragged as she recalled that she was indeed going to need to go in less than fifteen minutes if she wanted to be for the other reception at a reasonable time.

"Are you kidding?" The other woman replied, sighing and letting the conversation drop for that time being "The only reason why I ever accept to wear this monsters dresses is to find some groomsmen who can rip it to shreds with his teeth, or women, I'm not that picky"

Regina felt the corners of her lips curling and turned towards her food, betting to herself that Mal was going to probably end up with the blond at the end of the reception some way or another.

Meanwhile, from the other side of the room in a table full of strangers, Emma was still looking at the maid of honor. Narrowing her eyes she noticed the way she smiled towards another bridesmaid. This one seemed to be looking at someone and Emma laughed a little to herself when she saw that whoever the woman was she was pointing to some of the groomsmen. As far as she knew the brunet was gay so, glancing back at her plate, she tried to fight back another smile already blossoming on her face. The maid of honor was still something that held her mild interested and since she hadn't really anything interesting to do she almost groaned out loud when her phone vibrated.

She didn't even bother to answer the call inside the room since she already knew from experience that it almost never worked with the mix of different voices and many other phones working at the same time. Muttering a quick excuse that nobody heard she stood and walked towards the door, looking at the spot in where the maid of honor had been a few seconds before.

The place was now empty but the other bridesmaid seemed to be trying to make the two men she had been looking before get closer to her. Scoffing, Emma answered the call, groaning as she heard one of her best friend's voice laughing at the other side of the line.

"Having fun?" Will's accented voice echoed on her phone making her smile even if she hated the man little.

"What time it is?" She asked, groaning when the English man answered with mirth lacing her words.

"Well, I'm going to be here for at least two more hours so…" She started, ready to simply ask Will to pick her later and help her getting a hangover. Every time she was in a wedding she had the same need to just drink and not look back and she failed every single time she tried not to do precisely that.

She was in the middle of asking for her death when the brunette woman from earlier run past her, almost stepping on her toes while doing it. Frowning and putting Will on wait she walked towards her, seeing how the woman entered in a cab that seemed to be waiting for her and left leaving Emma quite interested and slightly puzzled when she saw how the brunette undressed herself in one quick movement letting Emma see a perfect sight of the black and red thong she wore.

"Uh… Will, I will call you back" She said slightly dazzled and much more intrigued.

"Who is this woman?"

For Regina the rest of the night was a haze between the two weddings, the music, dinner and talk with the different relatives of the two brides blended up together leaving her with the feeling that she was in only one big wedding. When she even didn't change her shoes and it was Peter, the driver, the one who gave them to her she only laughed a little, boring holes on the man's eyes only to make him remember that she was currently down to 200.

Being truthful the brunette was slowly exhausting herself and quite a few times she wished for the time to pass quicker but she wanted to grasp the feeling of others being happy. She was a true romantic, that was what her mother had told her once and again when she had been barely seven and still too young to understand completely why the woman was on a bed looking at her with fading brown eyes. She was a true romantic and her mother had been adamant that she needed to keep it like that.

Sighing and blushing she received the gratitude of Shari and left; arriving at the other wedding in the exact moment when the happy couple shoved the cake into each other's mouths. Mal was already disappeared and the blonde guy she had been looking at earlier seemed also to be suspiciously gone so she rushed towards where the bridesmaids were.

Meanwhile Emma was already finishing with her questions towards the guests of the party and she was as close enough to discover who the woman was as before.

"She has a great butt" Her mind provided making her pale skin blush a little under the lights of the ballroom. It was true and the rest of the brunette's body looked as beautiful as the scantly clothed backside she had witnessed earlier but she didn't want to meet the woman that way. Not yet anyway.

Sighing and fumbling with the information she had already gathered about her she took a few other notes of the wedding just in case her boss asked about it and sat while the bride started her speech

That was another thing she couldn't stand for, those speeches. The vows were always a stab into her heart but the final ones, the ones that pointed the beginning of the end were even more painful.

She was already calling one of the waitresses when the bride finished her speech with a smile and a pointed finger looking sorely to one particular brunette, one short curvaceous brunette that Emma recognized from behind.

"Thanks Gina"

It seemed like the woman was called Gina, at least now she had the information she had wanted although she really didn't understood her desire to know something that, at the end wasn't going to help her with anything.

"Game over" She mumbled, scratching the back of her head and fighting another yawn. A part of her mind wondered if the woman was Italian due to the name and the looks but she stopped that thought as soon as it appeared on her mind. "Don't start going there Swan" She chastised herself.

Frowning, she raised from her seat when she heard a thump and a few voices rising from different places of the room. Apparently something had happened and, due to her curiosity she rose, narrowing her eyes when she saw the rather big group in the middle of the packed ballroom.

/

Regina opened her eyes slowly and for a second she repressed the need to gran as a large headache started immediately to form behind her eyes. Her eyes were still slightly unfocused but she could see a pair of incredibly deep green eyes that were looking at her framed by what looked like a halo of golden hair and pale skin.

As her vision focused she could see that whatever who was looking at her was a woman. One that she didn't recognized. However, before she could ever start to understand what had happened two very well-known faces appeared at the back of the mysterious woman's head and asked worriedly in high pitched voices if she was ok. Unable to answer she let the blonde woman address the problem as she recalled what had happened minutes before.

The bouquet had been thrown and she had finally managed to get in the middle of it. Truth was Regina had never believed in the whole myth behind the bouquet or the saying that framed her as the eternal bridesmaid but when she had almost touched the bouquet she had smiled, starting to feel a flutter of hope inside of her.

Then, someone pushing her and a crash against the hard wooden floor of the ballroom were the next thing she could recall.

"Don't worry, it's only a bump in the head" The blonde woman was saying in that moment with a charming smile towards the few people who were still trying to see if she was ok. Mal was still missing so Regina was assumed that she had left and, looking at the blonde woman who was holding her as she looked at her with worried eyes she blushed a little and nodded trying to clean her mind.

"Are you a doctor?" She asked and for a second Regina felt bad because of the shakiness of her voice. Between the two weddings and the bump she felt rather shaky and the dizziness that was still on the back of her head added to the violent headache she was experimenting was starting to make a toll on her.

The blonde, who she still couldn't say who she was, smiled sheepishly at the question and shook her head once.

"The other two girls were being rather pushy" She finally explained and Regina almost smiled at that. She had barely had any type of conversation with Suzanne's sisters but as far as she knew the women were exactly that; pushy. "I'm Emma by the way. Are you feeling ok? I can carry you to a doctor"

The woman's accent was something that Regina couldn't place so she let it pass as she muttered a soft no and tried to stand up, her knees starting to tremble a little under her own weight.

"I'm Regina" She muttered before being held tightly against the stranger once again

"Easy there then Regina" The woman whispered slowly, taking little steps towards the doors of the reception place. A part of Regina wanted to stay but she was feeling weak enough to admit the help of a total stranger so she let Emma aid her with getting into Peter's taxi and ride far away from the now almost finished ceremony.

The taxi ride was far from eventful until Regina's head stopped to spin and she started to feel that she could say more than two words in one sentence.

"So" The blonde said after a bit of an awkward silence in the middle of a friday night in New York City "I… loved your thong"

Emma wanted to slap herself for the words but when Regina looked at her from the other side of the backseat with a look that screamed for help she laughed awkwardly and shrugged "I saw you changing gowns the second time you crossed from one party to the other" Frowning, the blonde tilted her head and looked towards the now ashamed brunette "Have you been in two weddings in one night?"

Emma knew that she was being noisy and giving that they still didn't know if Regina was really well enough to answer questions she felt a little like an asshole. The most rational thing would have been drop the whole issue but when he brunette moved nervously on her seat for a second before looking at the residential area they were now crossing in Emma couldn't help but smirk a little due to Regina's reaction.

"They are two really good friends of mine and it happened that they had her wedding the same day." The brunette said clutching her bag against her chest. "What would you have suggested?"

Emma blinked, as far as she knew the weddings were a complete torture; she couldn't even fathom the idea of assisting two at the same time.

"It's not a little… unsettling?" She had encountered women and men alike who loved the wedding they were going to assist, sure, but never a person who not only enjoyed the weddings but as up to actually go to two at once. "Two weddings at the same time I mean"

From her side of the taxi Regina felt her whole body tense up. She was a rather calm person but the way the blonde at her side had asked her about the weddings had made her feel a little insecure and so she answered as cold as could "I love weddings, I always have"

Emma blinked again and smiled a little, her curious side getting the better off her once again "Why do you like most? The horrible music or the forced merriment?"

When the woman at her side stiffened she realized that her tone hadn't caused the effect she was hoping for and winced when the retort came quickly.

"Actually it's meeting upbeat people like you"

The words stung and Emma sucked on her breath, trying to make the other woman see her point even if she wasn't sure what her point had been in the first place.

"Love is patient, love is kind" She quoted making the other woman snort.

"What did you say you were?" Regina asked back, her eyes narrowing until they were little slits of chocolate brown glinting under the lights that sipped through the window from the city.

"A writer" Emma replied, smiling a little when she heard the quiet hum from the back of the woman's back. She always had the same reaction but, for some reason, Regina's truly unnerve her.

The taxi finally stopped in front of one of those residential houses and Regina pointed at it, the cold atmosphere of the car growing ticker for a second before Emma pointed at Peter "Would you like me to take care of it?"

"I got it" Regina said, her hands already going towards her purse and extracting the total amount the man had achieved "140 Peter, you know why" She said as she moved back towards her seat and opened her door noticing slightly late that Emma had already opened her own door and was waiting for her outside with a cocky grin.

Regina sighed as she eyed the blonde in the split second she needed to open up the door and encounter the self-proclaimed writer. The woman was nice but the way she carried herself made Regina's skin boil and that only fueled her some dull, but still there, anger of having being pushed towards the floor only because a bouquet.

The blonde, who clearly didn't really give up, smiled at her and helped her close the door behind her something that, even if Regina was still furious thanked her inwardly as she still felt a little dizzy.

"I just think that it's an incredible complicated ritual for something that's got 50/50 shot of getting it right" The green-eyed woman said as Regina searched for her keys on her now open purse.

"Your opinion is certain a refreshing one" She said, surprising even herself with the quickness on the comeback and the little smile that tugged her lips when she saw the slightly surprised look on the other woman's eyes for a second.

"I'm just pointing at the hypocrisy of it" Emma replied, her own temper taking the best of her while she stood and eyed Regina, her own posture changing slightly.

"That's so noble of you" Regina shot back, not caring in the slightest that Peter could hear them or the fact that she barely knew the woman in front of her. Emma was certainly a gentlewoman in many ways but in giving her opinion.

"And that isn't something that you also like about Mal?" A voice inside her head reminding her seconds before she answered back to Emma's words.

"Do you also are one of those who thinks that the kids should know that the DisneyWorld isn't real? Because really, someone needs to tell them"

Her voice was now slightly low and when she saw the way Emma's eyes glowed triumphantly she bit the interior of her right cheek.

"So you are implying that marriage is as real as the world of Disney" Emma finished with a triumphant glint and what looked a lot like a quick wink.

Emma wanted to laugh a little at the brunette woman, she was certainly entertaining to talk to her and she was helping her to not think about Lily or about anything related to her.

Regina, on the other hand, was quickly forgetting her gratitude towards Emma and, with a sigh, she answered back.

"I don't know why I'm having this conversation but yes, marriage, like everything important in life, isn't easy, cynicism on the other hand… " She didn't need to finish her sentence so she sighed and walked straightly towards her house. "It has been interesting meeting you Emma"

The blonde nodded and, waiting until Regina was almost reaching the entrance door of her house, asked in a sing-songed tone that made Regina smile a little even if the woman had managed to get on her nerves "Do you have any more weddings this weekend?"

"Goodbye" The brunette replied, opening her door and entering inside.

Emma chuckled and entered in the taxi, mumbling her direction to the driver and leaning back on the backseat. Regina had been an interesting distraction during one of the longest weddings she had ever need to attend and while she was grateful for the mystery that the other woman had turned out to be she sighed, wishing to be able to see marriage as the brunette obviously did.

"Am I that cynical?" She asked herself while looking at her hands. Something big and brown caught her eye and bending she found a very used notebook that clearly wasn't hers.

Opening it she could read Regina's name alongside with her surname and the direction they had just abandoned. "Could you…" She started, calling for Pete and already thinking of what she could say to the woman inside that house after obviously pissing her off. "Never mind" She decided. Maybe it would be better to wait and do something in order to ask for forgiveness

Emma knew she was a cynical most of the time but she still felt bad about the way she had handled the woman. It wasn't Regina's fault her moodiness whenever she attended a wedding after all.

Passing a few more pages and smiling when she saw the neat cursive calligraphy of the brunette she tried to see whenever the woman would be free enough for her to return the Filofax.

"Would she like some flowers? She muttered as the taxi drove her away from Regina's apartment.

Apartment that was now light up while the woman cleaned her face from the make-up and disrobed, putting the twenty sixth dress on the tiny wardrobe she used for all the rest of gowns she had ever need to use. The sari was already there and when she finally managed to close the door with every piece of fabric inside the two white doors she sighed happily.

Sitting on the couch and pretending to not have heard the wardrobe's door creaking open at her back she grabbed the few newspapers she had yet to read, discarding the politics themed ones and grabbing the wedding vows.

"Come here" She smiled a little, her sour mood because of the conversation she had just had with the blonde woman disappearing as she started to read her favorite's journalists work. One that signed as Anna Swan.