It was almost one o'clock on a bright Wednesday afternoon in June. Regina still had at least 10 minutes left on her lunch break and was sitting at her desk eating a sandwich she had just bought at the Subway down the street. She was just taking advantage of the chance to check her personal email when the phone in the small office rang. Usually Regina would answer the phone and report any important information to Mr. Gold, or if it was important, transfer the call to Gold's office. This time however, she buzzed it straight over to Gold without answering. She was still on her lunch break and was in the middle of reading an email with important information about registering for her Law Boards. She still wouldn't be taking them for another year, but there was a lot to do in order to prepare, and she wanted to make sure she knew when all the deadlines were.

About five minutes later, Gold poked his head through the office door.

"Regina, we got a call, let's get going."

"Get going where?" Regina asked confused.

"To the precinct of course!" Gold exclaimed, as though that should have been obvious.

"Why am I going with you to the precinct?" Regina asked cautiously. She had been working as an intern in Gold's law firm since the beginning of her summer vacation, but so far all she had been doing was paperwork, and once in a while she got to observe Gold defending a client in trial. She had never before gone with him to the police station.

"Because," Gold answered excitedly, "I have a client in interrogation, and you are going to observe. See what I do up close and personal!"

"Wait really?" Regina asked, eager to get some more real world lawyer experience, "Is that allowed?"

"Oh yes it is dearie," Gold answered with a smirk, "I just talked to the police chief and we got written consent from the client, so you are good to go to sit in on the interrogation. Now come on, we don't want to keep the lovely detectives waiting do we?"

Regina quickly shoved the rest of her sandwich into the mini fridge next to her desk, and got to her feet. Silently she followed Gold out of the office and to his car in the parking lot.

"Now, while we're there, you are not to say anything" Gold began as he unlocked the car and got into the drivers seat.

"Yes sir," Regina replied as she climbed into the passenger side.

"You are coming as an observer only. This is a very important case, and I assured the client that your presence would not in any way put him at a disadvantage. He has been brought in on a very serious charge, and would rather not spend the rest of his life in jail. You are merely coming to see what an interrogation is like, and I would like you to stay closely involved with this case from now on so that you can get the experience of following a single case from beginning to end. I know that you probably want more out of this internship than just reading and filing random court reports."

"It would be an honor to work with you on a case." Regina answered, and she couldn't help the grin spreading across her face. She would never have complained to Gold, but she was feeling rather disappointed in her internship up to this point. She knew it was important for her resume to work in a law firm, especially such a prestigious law firm as Gold & Associates, but she had hoped for more hands on experience than what she had been doing thus far.

"I have been watching you over the past few weeks since you started working here," said Gold, "I was not sure about you at first, but you have proven yourself as a smart and hard worker, so I would like to give you as many opportunities to learn as possible. Trust me getting on the job experience and being exposed to real cases will help you enormously when you have to take your boards."

As Mr. Gold and Regina made their way into the precinct, Regina had to work to fight her nerves. This was her first time having direct contact with a client or the police, and she was determined to present herself as a confident professional. She knew that when she finally passed her boards and began working in the area she would be dealing with the detectives at Boston PD on a regular basis, so she wanted to ensure she made a good first impression. Mr. Gold on the other hand had done this many times before, so they were quick to find the police chief's office to check in.

As they approached the open door, Regina thought at first the office was empty. The large desk facing towards the door was vacant, though piles of paperwork were strewn across it as though someone left while in the middle of something. Mr. Gold however knocked confidently on the door, to inform any occupants of their presence. To Regina's surprise, a woman's voice strongly called out to them to enter. Upon stepping into the office, Regina noticed it was larger than it had appeared from the doorway, and another large desk along with many file cabinets and a refrigerator occupied another half of the room to the left and out of sight from the doorway. Sitting behind the second desk, busily shuffling through papers and running documents through a portable scanner was a young blond woman who could not have been older than Regina herself. Regina stared at her for a moment, taking in the girl's red leather jacket, and messy curls.

Mr. Gold cleared his throat, causing the blonde to finally look up from her work.

"We are to represent Killian Jones in his interrogation." Gold stated evenly.

"Right, sorry we've been a bit busy today," replied the blonde putting down the stack of papers she was still holding and getting to her feet.

"Chief Nolan is actually on his lunch break right now, but I believe Detectives Red and White are waiting for you in interrogation," she continued.

"Are all of your detectives named after colors then?" Regina asked rather sarcastically, eyebrow raised in amusement. Gold shot her a warning look, but she didn't care as she looked back at the blonde woman whose eyes were now shifting from Gold to Regina, a slight look of curiosity glossing over them as Regina held her gaze. The blonde however just chuckled and replied

" No, actually it's just those two, although, I always found it a funny coincidences that they ended up partners. They almost need a third one so they could call themselves team Red, White, and Blue."

Regina merely returned her a smirk, before glancing back over at the blonde's desk to read the name plaque. "Emma Swan – Secretary/Assistant".

"If you will follow me, I can show you to the interrogation room." Emma said, leading they way out of the office.

Emma had been working as Chief Nolan's secretary at the precinct for about 3 years now, so she had met nearly all the major lawyers in their area multiple times. She was actually most familiar with Mr. Gold, as he was arguably the most well-known and successful lawyer in all of Massachusetts. However, to her best knowledge, he had never brought an assistant along to interrogation with him before. She was interested to find out who this striking young woman was, and how she ended up working for someone as successful and influential as Gold. Working in the precinct, Emma did not often get a chance to interact with many other women, especially women her age. With the exception of Detectives Red and White, she was the only woman in the building. As it was, Detective White was at least forty, and Detective Red not much younger. Not that it mattered much seeing as neither of them paid much attention to Emma's existence anyways. As Emma led Gold and the new woman through the precinct, She couldn't help but hope that this stunning young brunette would become a regular partner in Mr. Gold's interrogations. She argued it would be nice to have a woman her age to talk to once in a while.

The three continued in silence until they met Red and White waiting outside the interrogation room.

"Detectives," Emma said, nodding at them in acknowledgment before turning to leave. As she began to make her way back down the hall, she just managed to over hear the beginning of Mr. Gold's conversation with the detectives.

"Detectives Red and White, so good to see you again" Gold said smoothly, no doubt shaking their hands, ever the professional. "This is my intern, Regina Mills. She is a 3rd year Law student at Harvard who has been sitting in on some of my cases. I arranged permission with Chief Nolan and my client for her to observe this meeting."

So. Regina Mills, thought Emma, Harvard Law student. Well she is either extremely smart, or extremely rich. Maybe both. At least she's got a sense of humor though. And with that last thought, Emma pushed Regina Mills to the back of her mind. She had too much work to get done today to let herself get distracted by her curiosity.