"What're you doing?"

It almost would have been comical – almost – how badly Ruby's innocent question startled Emma, if only she hadn't had her elbow resting next to a mostly full cup of fresh coffee.

The unexpected voice in the otherwise silent room caused Emma to jerk from her position over the desk, clumsily knocking the container of hot liquid over the edge of the desk with her elbow and all over the station's linoleum floor. Whispering half-curses under her breath, Emma jumped up and grabbed some flimsy napkins, throwing them helplessly over the rapidly growing puddle of coffee next to her desk.

"Thanks for all the help," she grumbled grumpily at the perky waitress, who perched herself on the opposite edge of the sheriff's desk, smiling brightly and doing absolutely nothing to assist the disgruntled blonde.

"Anytime. So, what has you so distracted that you even notice me walk in? I'd be offended but I already know I'm hot, so …" Ruby gave Emma a cheeky grin and gestured up and down her body, indicating her obvious beauty.

Emma attempted to smile apologetically at her friend but, the truth was, she had been working on this list of possible adventures for Regina for the better half of her shift and she still had no clue where to take the mayor. The fact that actual crime in Storybrooke was about as common as a tap-dancing cat didn't help matters either; her job offered no her no distraction. It couldn't even offer her distance from the gorgeous former Queen because, as mayor, her signature was required on almost all the paperwork Emma had to fill out.

Emma winced internally as she remembered several days earlier, when she caught herself tracing the elegant scroll of Regina's signature over and over with her index finger for a solid six minutes without stopping. Fighting the blush she could feel creeping up her neck at the memory, Emma forced her attention back to Ruby.

"Where do you take someone when you want them to experience something like, I don't know, an adventure?" At Ruby's blank stare, the blonde tried to amend her vague question. "Like, say you're, um, dating someone. And this particular individual is especially …"

"Uptight?" Ruby offered with a knowing wink.

"… reserved." Emma glared at her friend before crinkling up the piece of paper where she had written down and subsequently scratched out over twenty different ideas, tossing it into the trashcan under her desk. "I just want to know – hypothetically – where I should take this person. On a date. Or something. Maybe not a date..." she mused to herself, mind wandering to the complicated details of her relationship with Regina. Are we dating? I mean, we go on dates … to her house. And then I have to leave once Henry goes to bed. My car hardly counts as –

"Well, the last adventure I had ended up with me discovering I turn into a wolf every month and accidentally eating my boyfriend."

Emma's mouth gaped open for several long moments at the wry frankness with which Ruby discussed mauling her former lover. When she finally recovered, the sheriff shook her head a couple times before replying, "Okay, you're no help. Forget I asked."

"No, Em, I'm sorry," Ruby apologized, feet hitting the ground with a solid thunk as she removed herself from her position against Emma's desk. "Okay, so you want to know where you should take someone on an adventure. Someone who lives in Storybrooke. Someone who probably can't cross the town line without having their memories entirely wiped from their brain – hey! That'd be a pretty crazy adventure. Like, 'Guess who I am' or -"

Emma's strong hand firmly clamped over the chattering waitresses red lips, halting her friend's rambling motor mouth.

"Rubes, I love you, but you suck at this," Emma sighed before removing her hand. "I'd rather not wipe out all the memories of the person I'm trying to impress."

"Hypothetically trying to impress, you mean," Ruby smirked.

Emma fought the rising blush once more and nodded her affirmation. "Of course. Hypothetically." When she could no longer stand the smirk Ruby was throwing her, Emma crossed her arms over her chest and sat back in her desk chair, huffing impatiently. "Not that I'm not enjoying this extremely un-embarrassing conversation but is there any particular reason you're here?"

The amicable waitress shrugged her shoulders with an easy smile. "Kind of. Mostly I was bored and didn't feel like spending my break at the diner. But I ran into Snow on my way here and she asked me to make sure you and the Mayor signed the paperwork needed so Leroy and the boys can start tearing down that creepy, old amusement park next week."

"Amusement park" was a generous term for the abandoned area of land, which only consisted of a mostly-destroyed rollercoaster track, a worn out carousel, and a weathered ferris wheel missing almost all its seats. Nobody in town knew how long it had been there and Regina claimed it wasn't part of her curse; wherever the park came from, it was long before the creation of Storybrooke.

Initial inspections of the property revealed the ferris wheel and broken down rollercoaster were dangerously close to collapsing but the carousel was in surprisingly good condition. Nevertheless, the town made the decision to tear down the old rides and clear the lot. Due to its convenient location to the beach, Eric and Ariel decided to purchase the land and open up a small business where residents could rent boats to take out on the water.

"Signed and Regina-approved," Emma confirmed to Ruby. "Tell Snow and the boys they're good to start deconstruction on Thursday morning."

After chatting with Ruby about the latest town gossip for a couple minutes, the waitress excused herself to head back to the diner to serve the dinner rush. When David showed up to relieve Emma from her shift not long after Ruby's departure, the blonde barely lasted thirty seconds before bidding her father goodbye and rushing out the station doors.

"Good chatting with you!" David called out to his daughter's retreating form before noticing the pile of sopping napkins covering the station floor. "What happened here?"

The sudden pounding at her front door announced to Regina, rather violently, that Emma had arrived for their date.

She was surprised when Emma called her earlier that day and asked if she was free to spend the evening with her outside of the mansion. Emma obviously knew that Henry had plans to attend a sleepover with several other boys from school and Regina assumed the tenacious blonde would use his absence as an excuse to get herself invited to stay at the mansion for the evening.

Truth be told, Regina was dangerously close to giving into Emma's relentless requests for what she called "an adult sleepover." Their frequent trysts inside the blonde's car excited the dark-haired woman but also left her feeling somewhat guilty. She could tell Emma desperately wanted to be invited inside the mayor's home for reasons other than dinners with Henry. Regina also wanted the blonde in her home, and perhaps that was the problem.

Regina was scared.

She knew she was falling hard for Emma, and Emma made no secrets about her developing feelings for the Mayor. However, Regina had well over sixty years of losing everything and everyone she loved, and she had no intension of letting Emma become another victim to her gloomy, blackened fate.

"Hello, dear," Regina smiled warmly as she pulled open her front door. The smile on her face stretched even further upon seeing the blonde beauty waiting for her on the other side. Emma Swan, dressed to impress in her most expensive pair of tight black pants and a thin, sleeveless white top with a loose v-neck revealing a hint of cleavage, stood before the former queen extending a single flower.

"It's a lavender," Emma explained sheepishly. "It's supposed to symbolize adventure, plus it smells nice. I only brought one because I didn't want to overwhelm you. I know this relationship, or whatever it is we're doing, has been hard for you and I just wanted…"

The blonde's sweet explanation was abruptly cut short when Regina leaned forward to place a soft kiss against Emma's mouth. Stepping inside Regina's foyer, Emma used her free hand to pull the woman closer, opening her lips to deepen the kiss. For several long moments, the women brought their lips together again and again in countless chaste kisses, separating briefly only to bring their warm, eager mouths together again.

Finally, Emma pulled Regina's bottom lip into her mouth with a gentle tug of her teeth, running her tongue delicately against the smooth surface once before pulling away.

"So you like it?" she asked with a grin. Regina nodded in agreement and pulled the blonde woman deeper into her home, lacing their hands together as she walked them into the kitchen. After pulling a delicate vase out from one of her cupboards, Regina slid her fingers over Emma's and freed the flower from the blonde's hand, gently transferring it to her own.

Once the flower was placed in the glass container and filled with water, Regina grabbed her small purse and turned back towards where Emma was resting her hip against the counter. "Shall we?" she asked, earning herself a wink and a smile from the sheriff.

"We shall."

It wasn't until Regina slid an elegant black coat over her equally elegant, albeit tight, black dress and locked the door on their way outside that she noticed the vehicle in her driveway.

"What is that?" she asked flatly, raising one eyebrow so high Emma worried it was in danger of permanent disappearing into her hairline.

"That," she explained, grabbing one of Regina's hands and pulling her toward the vehicle, "is a truck I borrowed from Leroy."

"A truck," Regina echoed in disbelief.

"Yes."

"From Leroy."

"Yes," Emma confirmed patiently. She knew Regina might take issue with their form of transportation but, in the blonde's mind, it was a necessary part of her plan to woo the mayor for good and warm her up to adventure.

"Well," Regina started, tearing her eyes away from the truck and catching the hopeful expression on Emma's face, "I suppose that is acceptable. As long as you cleaned it first."

Emma chuckled lightly watching Regina's nose wrinkled in disgust. Tapping her index finger lightly against the woman's crinkled skin, Emma did her best to assuage Regina's germaphobic fears. "Inside the truck, outside the truck, with a vacuum and every cleaning product Snow keeps under her kitchen sink. Now come on," Emma said before helping Regina into the passenger seat. "It's time for our date."

Short? Yes. But it felt more natural to break up this chapter into two parts rather than post it all together. Chapter 3 will definitely cover the Swan Queen date night. If you're so inclined, you can find me on Tumblr under michaelawaffles.