Emma Swan had a secret: she loved wearing men's clothes. She often had at least one article of men's clothing on her, which was usually men's underwear. Oh, how she loved men's underwear! There was just something about the way she felt when she wore them. It was back in her bounty hunting days that the cross dressing became more prominent. Men's clothing made her feel more powerful. She felt like she could be more intimidating to the men that she caught when she was in men's clothing, even if it was just a pair of boxers underneath a dress.
As time progressed and she continued to wear men's clothing, she began to realize how she felt more than power wearing them. She began to feel a sort of sexual gratification out of it. She was never sure if it was caused by the clothing or the dominance she felt when wearing them. She also came to realize that some people showed more interest in her. It was mostly women who were giving her this attention. But she often shrugged off the attention of women because she believed she should end up with a man.
The problem with her belief that she was supposed to end up with a man is that all the men in her life felt weird about her cross-dressing habit. She had boyfriends break up wit hher because of it. It was because of these break ups that she began hiding her cross dressing. This was become an even greater problem because her current girlfriend, Regina Mills, had just asked her to move in with her. How could she possibly hide this from Regina when they were going to be sharing everything, including laundry? It was hard enough to hide when they were just dating.
The thoughts of her cross-dressing and her move rolled through her head as she headed to Regina's office to bring lunch to her. She entered the mayor's office to find Regina pacing the office on the phone with someone. Emma just leaned against the arm of the chair and watched her lover work.
A few minutes later, Regina ended the phone call and looked at the blonde. "Sorry. There's still a small struggle over how to get everyone back to their own realms."
"Hey, its fine, the mayor's got to work," Emma said.
"Have I thanked you for this?" Regina asked. "After the curse broke, the dust settled, and the trip to Neverland, you convinced everyone that I was not the Evil Queen anymore."
Emma shrugged with a flirtatious smile. "I figured it was only fair that you had to report to their Savior. And you know if you break the rules, I'll just get my trusty handcuffs and lock you up."
"Oh?" Regina asked. "Now who's evil?" She closed the gap between herself and the blonde and kissed her lover.
Emma was the first to break the kiss. "Eat your lunch."
"But there's something else I'm hungry for…" Regina said as she leaned in to kiss Emma again.
"Please?" Emma asked. "Plus, there's something I want to talk to you about."
Regina took the take out container from Emma. "You're not second guessing moving in with me again are you?"
When Emma didn't respond right away, Regina continued. "Because we've been over this- several times. You practically live with me anyway. You and Henry and I are always there because your parents still don't like it if I'm at their place very long."
"It's not that…" Emma said. "Well, mostly."
The Queen cupped the Savior's face in one hand. She tilted her head back, forcing green eyes to meet brown. "You can talk to me about anything. If you're unsure, we can just move slower. Bring some of your things over this week and when you're comfortable bring the rest."
"Regina," Emma said. "I want to move in with you, it's just there're things you should know about me."
"Like you don't rinse your plates before you put them in the dishwasher?" Regina asked. "Or when you brush your teeth you leave tooth paste in the sink? I know. You've stayed with me enough that I know these things about you."
"There are things bigger than that," Emma said. "These are the things that have left me single more times than I care to remember. Almost all of my relationships have ended because of this."
"Well, I'm not most people," Regina said. "So, don't just assume I'm going to leave you. Anything you throw at me, I can handle. Do you know why?"
"Why?" Emma asked with a smirk- she knew where this was going.
Regina moved between the blonde's parted thighs. "Because I love you. Because you are my true love. And because we might have a better love story than your parents."
Emma scoffed. "We do have a better love story than my parents. You had to freeze time for 28 years and adopt my son to get me."
"So you, Emma Swan, are my happy ending," Regina said. "There is nothing you or anyone else can do to change that. So don't just dismiss your problems as something I'm just going to leave you for."
Emma nodded. "I love you too."
"So, are you going to tell me what this thing is?" Regina asked.
Emma shook her head. "No. Not right now."
The brunette narrowed her eyes at her girlfriend. She was unsure if she should press the matter or just let the blonde tell her on her own time.
Emma answered her thoughts for her though. "Tonight, I'll find out if my parents can take Henry over night- I'll make David promise him sword fighting lessons or something. And then we can talk about it." "I'll hold you to it," Regina said.
Emma smiled. She leaned in and kissed the older woman. "I love you. Now, get back to work, Madame Mayor. I'll see you tonight."
"I'll see you Sheriff," Regina said as she watched the blonde leave the office.
Later that evening, Emma paced back and forth in the dining room of her parent's apartment. As she paced, she looked at the box she had gotten out of the closet. She had hidden it there when her belongings first arrived in Storybrooke. She did not want Mary Margaret to find it and freak out like everyone else in her life had. This was before she learned that Mary Margaret was actually her mother, but even after finding out, she was still not willing to trust her mother's unconditional love by allowing her to see her cross-dress. There were too many painful memories of being rejected because of it.
But by the way Regina sounded earlier it was as if Emma had nothing to worry about. If that was the case, why was she so nervous? Probably because she had heard that before: "I love you. Your secrets won't scare me." Then she let them in and the next thing she knew, they were gone. They left her because of her secrets. She couldn't bear to lose Regina; that woman meant more to her than she can say. She always has. From the moment Emma Swan met the Mayor of Storybrooke and the mother of her child, she felt some connection to her.
It wasn't until one night on the Jolly Roger that everything solidified for her. She and Regina were having another fight. As per usual, Henry was the topic of discussion. Regina had cornered her in a room below deck. She had issues with the plan the Charmings had come up with for rescuing Henry. Emma had gone along with it because it seemed logical to her; Regina disagreed with them. According to Regina, she had only intended to talk Emma into siding with her. But this intended discussion turned into an explosive fight over whose son Henry really was.
"He is my son!" Regina shouted. "I raised him for 10 years, I know him a lot better than you do!"
"By blood he is my son," Emma returned. "I have watched him! He is too much like both me and Neal. I know how he thinks!"
It was at this point that they always hit their stalemate. Both of them had valid points and neither could dispute them. So they just invaded each other's personal space and tried to stare each other down. But in this moment, a spark shot through both of them. Neither remembers who made the first move, but the next thing they knew their mouths were crashing together. All of the anger and resentment they had have been feeling toward each other was poured into the kiss.
Emma had Regina pinned to the wall and was in a frenzy to remove the brunette's shirt when the door flew open and Snow stood in the threshold.
"What the!" she exclaimed as her daughter and her enemy separated.
"Don't ask," Emma said, hoping that would be the end of it.
Thankfully it did end because both Snow and Regina were speechless at that point. After a moment of staring at them, Snow shook her head and walked out, leaving Emma and Regina to stare awkwardly at each other for a minute. After that, they had an understanding that they just didn't talk about what had happened. They weren't going to talk about how much both of them enjoyed the other and how much they wanted the kissing to continue and to escalate to something more.
The awkward stalemate lasted a few months after they had rescued Henry from Neverland. This all lead up to one evening when the Mayor entered the police station. "Madame Mayor?" Emma asked.
The mayor said nothing as she approached the blonde. She simply pulled the younger woman into a kiss. The same spark shot through them that had on the Jolly Roger. When Regina broke the kiss, she knew what she had felt on the journey to Neverland was not her imagination. She knew that what she felt for the blonde was not an idle fantasy. She just hoped the blonde felt the same.
"What was that?" Emma asked.
"I was testing a theory," Regina replied.
The rest of their story just fell into place. It fell right into this moment where Emma was so afraid to open a box because it might turn everything good in her life upside down.
"You can do it, Swan," she encouraged herself. "True love conquers all, including this."
Emma bit her lip as she opened the box. She reached in and pulled out the suit jacket that was on the top. Running her thumbs over the fabric she mumbled: "It's been too long."
She shrugged on the jacket and looked at herself in the mirror behind the door. "Yeah, Swan, you still look good."
She was about to pull the rest of the suit out of the box when her father returned home. "Hey Emma," he said as he entered the kitchen. "Nice jacket."
"Thanks," Emma said. "Wait until you see the whole thing."
David threw her a questioning look.
"I have a suit," she said. "I'm wearing it tonight when I meet Regina."
"You own a suit?" he asked.
"Yes, David ," she said. "I own a suit."
"And you're wearing it on a date with Regina?" he asked.
"Yes," she said.
"But you're a girl," he said.
"Yes."
"Um, explain please?" he asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.
This was not really a discussion she liked having. Part of her had hoped that Prince Charming would just avoid asking this question. The other part wanted him to ask without a look of confusion on his face. She sighed a little before saying, "I'm a girl, who is in love with a girl. That much we've established. I also happen to be a girl who likes to wear men's clothes."
"And Regina likes that?" David asked.
Emma shrugged. "I'm about to find out. And if she doesn't it will make you and Mar- Mom very happy because we'll probably break up."
Charming approached his daughter. "That would not make me happy because you would be hurting. Regina and I may not have seen eye to eye on a lot of things in the past, but she makes you happy. And that's why I can put aside how I feel about her for you. Your mother on the other hand…"
"Yeah," Emma said. "I know. They'll probably hate each other forever."
"Just give it time," David said pulling his daughter into a hug. "They both love you, so they'll figure it out." He broke away from the hug saying, "Now, go, get ready. You've got a queen to impress."
"She's just the mayor," Emma said as she took the rest of the suit out of the box. "And the love of my life."
David smiled as he watched Emma go upstairs. Who would have thought his daughter breaking the curse meant she would fall in love with the Evil Queen?
Upstairs, Emma slowly put on the suit. The talk she had just had with David really helped her calm down. David was her father and he didn't freak out when she told him that she liked to wear men's clothing. He was a little confused at first, but that was to be expected. She may like women, but she is a far cry from a butch lesbian, and she knows it. The confusion people feel, however, usually leads them to run for the hills. But David didn't; he tried to understand and was even encouraging.
After getting dressed, she started tying her tie as she descended the stairs. Sometime while she was getting ready, Mary Margaret had returned home with Henry.
"Emma?" Mary Margaret questioned.
"Hey," she said confidently.
"You're in a suit?" Henry asked.
"Yeah," Emma replied. "I'm having dinner with your mother."
"In a suit?" Mary Margaret asked.
"Yes," she said. "I'll explain everything some other time, but right now, I'm late." She pulled Henry into a hug. "You behave, kid. I'll have Regina turn you into a toad if you don't," she joked.
"Come on," Henry returned. "You have to do better than that."
Emma kissed the top of his head before responding: "I'll come up with something." She let go of her son and moved to her parents. "Ma, Dad, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Your tie is crooked," Mary Margaret said as Emma approached her. She straightened the tie and said: "Whatever this is about, I hope it makes you happy."
"It does," Emma said. "This makes me happy. Regina makes me happy."