Date #1
Emma's hair was curled to perfection. Hair porn never looked so good. She wore her make up light so her eyes would be the only things that topped her hair. The dress she bought for the night was black, sleek and sexy; it had a cross front and a built in bra so the girls were extra inviting. It fit snug, which is what it was supposed to do and cut off just above her knee. Her feet were adorned with cap-toed black pumps, and a small black clutch held her phone and cards.
She pulled up to the mayor's mansion and stared at the white door with the gold '108' on it. She pursed her lips, turned the car off, and, leaving the keys in the ignition and her purse on the dash, she got out and strode confidently to the front door.
It took half a second for Regina to answer the door after Emma rang the bell. And answer the door she did! Regina was in a simple red, cap-sleeved dress. It hugged her curves and was cut off at a lower, classy-mid-thigh length.
They took a moment just to look the other over. Emma's jaw was dropped and Regina's eyes were light with pleasure.
Finally, Regina shook from her stupor and looked to the blonde's slack jaw. She reached out and closed it, "Honestly Sheriff, keep it together in front of the girl you're trying to impress."
"Yeah.." Emma breathed, "Right. Sorry… You ready?"
Regina nodded and grabbed her purse before they made their way to the restaurant.
~0~0~0~0~0~
Emma held Regina's hand the entire ride over and she clasped it again once they were both out of the car. The blonde chose this hole-in-the-wall Italian place that she'd actually never stepped foot in before until the week before to check it out and make reservations. She still refused to let Regina have her hand to herself once they were inside. She only let go when they were being seated.
Regina looked around subtly as she felt everyone's surprised stares. She nibbled on her lip and looked down.
Emma noticed her discomfort, "Everything alright?"
"Fine." The brunette opened her menu, and there came the blonde's hand once more.
"You sure?" Emma was obviously oblivious to everyone else. Her sole focus on the brunette.
Regina stared at their hands and looked up with a small, reassuring smile, "Yes."
"Okay…" She wasn't sure she believed her.
It was in this moment that Emma's phone buzzed the text alert buzz. Then it buzzed again. And again. And again. On the fifth time Emma reached for it to turn it off.
"Answer it." Regina said calmly.
"What? No…" Emma's face was scrunched before it morphed into a bright smile, "We're on a date. I'm not going to answer the phone… It's just a text…" She looked down at it as a different buzz pattern began.
"Answer the phone." Regina nodded to it, telling her she had to.
"Okay… I'll be right back. I promise." The blonde stood and answered, "Hello?" as she walked over to the front so she wouldn't disturb the other patrons.
Her mother's voice was shrill over the line so Emma stopped her before she could really get started, "Look, is this important?" Emma looked back over to Regina sitting so uncomfortably, hiding in her menu that she finally moved her stare from the brunette looked around her to see everyone else's stares and glares and it finally sunk in.
"Is this important?! Regina? Really? That's why you've been 'playing nice' with her? You wanted to get her into bed?"
Emma was not going to talk to her when she was being this irrational. She did not want to get Regina into bed—Okay, that is a goal, but it's not her only goal. She wanted to be with the mayor, not be with her for a night. She huffed a quick, frustrated sigh before, "Is there something wrong with Henry?"
"What? No…"
"David?"
"No…"
"Yourself?"
"No! Emma—"
"Then I'm hanging up. And Mary Margaret? If you call me again to reprimand the woman I'm falling in love with, I will not hesitate to shut you out of my life until you accept her. Goodbye."
"Falling in love with—?!"
That was all Emma heard as she brought the phone down and hit 'end'. She stood there a moment longer as she turned off her phone and waited for the screen to go dark before she moved back to the table.
"Sorry." She apologized with a sigh, "Henry isn't feeling well. He wanted to go home to his own bed."
"Well, if he's not well, we should go—"
"He's fine." Emma assured her, "Let's just… enjoy the date. No more distractions." The blonde said as she put her phone back in her purse and pushed it aside.
Regina stared at the clutch a moment before looking up at the blonde, "Henry is fine, isn't he… Because he isn't feeling sick…" Emma didn't say anything, she only gave the brunette a look of confirmation, "We can leave, Sheriff…"
"Emma." The blonde corrected before giving her an inquisitive look, "And why would we do that?"
Regina glanced around as she felt what seemed to be the entire room lean in to hear her reasons. She shook her head as she looked back to the blonde and realized that Emma really didn't know what was going on, or if she did, she wasn't letting it bother her. She decided to do the same.
"Never mind." She smiled up at the blonde, "No reason."
They held hands, talked and even laughed throughout the meal. Emma brought Regina back to her house and they walked slowly up the pathway to the front porch.
"That call you got…" Regina looked down at her keys as she spoke.
"Yes."
"That was your mother. Someone, in the five minutes we had been there, told her you were out with me and she tried to break it up."
"I don't know if that's what she was actually trying to do…"
Regina knit her brows, "How…?"
"I didn't give her a chance to speak. Because if it was that, then I wasn't going to stand around and listen to it when I could be spending my time with you…"
Regina smiled as she jiggled her keys looking for the one to open her door. She looked back to Emma, "Would you like to come in for a nightcap?"
Emma grinned, but her words threw the brunette for a loop, "I want to take it slow." She said seriously as she leaned in and kissed Regina's cheek then took the first step off the porch before her hormones got the better of her and she turned around and enveloped the mayor in the best damn kiss that either of them had ever had.
She pecked her twice more before pulling slightly away saying, "Turtle's pace. We don't want to jump the gun and fall too much in love too quickly now. Even though I am the savior and I've saved your ass countless times and you are the not-so-evil queen, the beautiful, broken, fallen angel that just needs what I can give you…" She turned, pulling entirely from the brunette and went back down that first step before turning back to see Regina's inquisitive gaze, "Forgiveness, compassion, love… But we're gonna take it slow even though it took me forever to finally get you to say yes…"
~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~
Date #2
Emma and Regina after the night of their first date were in constant interaction. They were always on their phones, texting, talking, face-timing (because yes, they were a couple of idiots falling in hard love), e-mailing—anything that a person can do to get in communication with another on their phone, that's what they did.
They'd meet up for dinners and lunches at the diner or in either of their offices, but they weren't dates. Ruby learned that one day a few days after their first date when they were having lunch.
"Well, well. The sheriff and the mayor for lunch again. What date number is this, or have you been keeping track?"
Emma knit her brows, "It's not a date…"
Ruby knit her brows and looked at the blonde, "But… you guys have been having meals alone… together alone… and you hold hands."
Regina blushed at how excitedly sad Ruby became; it was nice seeing there was one person rooting for them. "We've decided that these aren't real dates." Ruby's ears perked and her face turned inquisitive at the other brunette's words, "We decided that when we ask the other out on real dates that we would specify that it is a real date and try to do stuff we don't do everyday…"
"Ohh…" Ruby smiled, "Well, when is date number two?"
"Tonight." Emma said to both brunettes' surprise.
"And what, pray tell are we doing?" Regina asked with raised brows.
"You tell me." Emma grinned as she pulled a folded cootie catcher from her pocket.
"Cootie catcher!" Ruby pointed happily as Emma slid her fingers in the corners.
The blonde gave her friend a look, "You gonna stick around, or can I ask her on a date by myself?"
"Well, I have to know how it turns out…"
Ruby and Emma shared a playful glare before the blonde turned back to Regina, "Pick a color."
Regina looked at each square and laughed, "Ruby, Blood, Real Apple or Candy Apple?"
Emma smiled, "I decided to keep the color the same but give you different shades because I knew you'd choose 'red' if I wrote 'red', 'blue', 'green', and 'yellow' down."
"There are other colors besides those four, Emma." Ruby said sarcastically.
"Yes, but if I didn't put 'red' as an option, she'd make it one anyways."
"Hmm… Go for 'ruby'!" Ruby gave Regina a grin.
"Okay, 'ruby'.." Regina shook her head as she watched the two friends interact.
"R-U-B-Y" Emma moved her fingers accordingly with each letter.
"Pick a number."
Regina looked in the hole and decided on, "Three."
"One, two, three." Emma, excitedly looked to Regina, "Pick another number."
"Umm… two."
"Aww! That's cute, 'cause it's your second date!" Ruby grinned, then when both women looked at her, "Hey, I'm not going anywhere until I find out what you're doing…"
Emma sighed and flipped the number up, "Bowling." She gave the mayor a wicked grin. "Madam Mayor, it's time to see what us common folk in this land do. Will you go bowling with me?"
Regina nibbled at her bottom lip as a grin broke out on her face, "You'll teach me and you won't make fun?"
Emma smiled and shook her head as she leaned in and kissed Regina's cheek, "I won't make fun, I promise."
Ruby stuck out her bottom lip and pouted like the half dog she was, "That is so cute!" She turned to leave them before she turned back, "What do you guys want to eat?"
~0~0~0~0~0~
Emma pulled up to the mayor's mansion in a black tank, skinny jeans and red converse to match her jacket. She rang the bell and waited. When Regina answered in a red, grey and white plaid shirt, a pair of jeans—A PAIR OF JEANS!—and a pair of Nikes, Emma couldn't help but laugh.
"What?" Regina looked down suddenly embarrassed, "What? Is something wrong?" She moved into her house more in case of passers by.
Emma stopped laughing when she saw the worried look on Regina's face. She walked into the mansion and over to the brunette with that silly grin that Regina was falling deeply for. The blonde shook her head as she reach out to the brunette; she licked her lips as she pulled the other woman in by the back of the neck and kissed her, "No, Regina." She smiled wide, "Nothing is wrong." She hugged her close, "I've just never seen you so casual before."
Regina looked did not pull from the blonde as she looked at her outfit, "Well… we're going bowling. I didn't have anything appropriate, so I had to go to the store this afternoon and this was all they had that I liked…"
"It's lovely." Emma tried to make the woman feel comfortable with another peck to her lips before, "Just not what I was expecting."
"Well what were you expecting? Me in a power suit or a dress?"
Emma smiled, "I have an extra pair of socks for you in my car just to make sure you had something to cover your feet besides nylons."
Regina hit the blonde's shoulder, but didn't let her pull away. She wrapped her arms around the blonde's neck and they swayed to their own beat, "Thank you for thinking of me."
"You're welcome." Emma looked down at Regina's clothes again, "You're so sexy, it's ridiculous."
"In these clothes?"
"In any clothes. But I think I will be partial to these clothes.." Emma grinned at Regina's contemplative reaction.
"Why?"
"Because you bought them for me. For our date." She gave Regina a wide smile that Regina couldn't help but return.
"Well, sheriff, when you have a good thing, you work for it." With a subtle raise and lower of her brows, she pushed past the blonde and moved to the front door, "Spit spot, Sheriff." She said waiting on the woman to walk outside so she could close the door.
"Mary Poppins!" Emma pointed to Regina before taking her hand as she waited for the brunette to lock her door, "Say, is she a real fairytale?"
"Yes." Regina nodded as they descended the steps and moved to the car.
"Well, where is she?"
"Not in this realm right now."
"Does she look like Julie Andrews?"
"They have a great likeness, yes."
"Does she sing to make time pass?"
"Yes, she does."
"Was there really a Jane and Michael Banks?"
"Yes, there was."
"Are you bullshitting me?" Emma asked as she opened the passenger door for the brunette.
"Do you want me to stop?"
"No. You know already, which is really, truly out of my character to let anyone know how much I love Mary Poppins…"
"She is real, darling, I promise you that. And she does look like Julie Andrews and sing, and she is in a different realm right now. But there was no Jane and Michael Banks."
"Awesome." Emma grinned as she started the car.
~0~0~0~0~0~
Regina sat down and looked at the colorful shoes the blonde set in front of her, "Do I have to wear those?"
"Well, you Madam Mayor could probably get away without wearing them. I promise I won't arrest you, but technically the nasty used shoes are part of the fun of bowling…"
"Part of the fun?"
"Yeah!" Emma grinned as she pulled her hair back in a ponytail, "Come on… Please?"
The brunette leaned down and tentatively took the pair of shoes. She untied them from each other before slowly uncrossing her legs and untying her tennis shoes. Emma was smirking the whole time. Anyone that had eyes and could see, could see how much Emma already adored the woman before her.
The blonde stood up not taking near as much time to switch from her converse to her bowling shoes, and moved behind Regina, "I'm going to pick out our balls, 'kay?"
"Okay…" Regina was still staring at the shoe.
Emma grinned wide and kissed the chocolate hair before her, "Come on, Madam Mayor, I know you've faced deadlier more disgusting things than a pair of shoes…"
"I suppose you're right." She started putting her foot in the shoe as Emma moved off to get some bowling balls.
She came back with four, two under her arms and two held by the finger holes, "Okay, this black swirly one is mine. And I found you your own black swirly one, a purple swirly one and a red swirly one."
"Darling, you know my favorite color, you boasted about it this afternoon…" Regina grinned as she watched the blonde set the balls on the conveyor belt.
"No, they're different weights." Emma turned to the brunette and offered her hand, "The black is ten pounds, the red is eight and the purple is six. I really didn't think you'd need 12 pounds…"
"Of course not." Regina knit her brows.
"It's okay, Honey, you'll understand by the end of our first game." Emma comforted the woman and hugged her from behind, "You wanna get snacks then play or play then snacks then play again?"
"Mmm, I want to play…" The brunette's tone took on a dirty connotation.
"Don't do that thing with your voice." Emma pulled from her as she sat in the seat with the control panel to get the game started.
"Why?"
"Because if you keep it up, we won't be taking things so slow." She gave the woman a playfully serious look.
"I'm not sure it would be a bad thing…"
Emma shook her head, her eyes still lit and gleaming, "I wanna do this right…"
"I know, darling." Regina nodded and walked to the blonde's side to watch what she was doing. "Reggie?!" her tone was scolding and borderline angry.
"Okay!" Emma held her hands up in surrender before hitting the backspace button. "Never gonna be allowed to call you that…"
"Not if you want to live to see the next day." Regina whispered in the blonde's ear.
"See, this is the confusing thing… You threaten my life and I think it's just adorable." Emma grinned and stood up. "You ready to play?" She kissed the brunette's cheek.
"Just show me how."
The rest of the night was filled with playful, flirtatious banter between them both and lots and lots of goodnight kisses that almost turned into good morning kisses, but eventually both women found themselves and Emma left Regina with a happy-go-lucky grin.
~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~
Date #3
Emma walked through her kitchen to find it almost completely bare. She pouted, wanting to have some junk food when she remembered her brunette girlfriend—that's right, Regina agreed to the title of girlfriend the day after their second date—said she needed to go grocery shopping too. She grabbed her phone and keys, "Hey kid? I'm going grocery shopping, I'll be out a while." She said as she walked through the living room, "Can I trust you?" She smirked at his reaction.
"Of course you can trust me, mom!" He turned back to his homework.
"All right, I'll be back later." She unlocked her phone and dialed as she walked to her car, "Hey, watchya doin'?"
"Cleaning… why?"
"I wanna take you on a date. Right now. I'm headed over, okay?"
"I don't have time to—"
"Change? Don't you just like… snap your fingers and you're good? Besides, it's casual, but if you'd rather business casual, I'm sure you'd look fine. I'll be there in a few."
~0~0~0~0~0~
"Grocery shopping? That's your idea of a third date? My how your imagination has slacked since last week…"
"Come on! We've never done it together before—"
"That is the absolute truth."
Emma grinned as she heard her lady's words, but continued as if she wasn't interrupted, "And it's something I hope to get to do with you a lot more in the future, but it's convenient for both of us because I'm out of everything and so are you and since this is the first time, it's fun and new… And… we get to make fun each other based on what we buy…"
"And why do we want to do that?"
"Because we love the banter it brings us. And it keeps us young and in love… so to speak."
Regina shook her head as she got out in a new plaid shirt and her jeans and running shoes. She slung her purse over her shoulder and waited for the blonde.
"And those pants will also keep me young and in love with you… again, so to speak." Emma grinned as she kissed Regina's cheek and wrapped her arm around the brunette as they walked in from the parking lot.
Once they both had their carts, they started to turn opposite directions. Regina knit her brows, "Where are you going?"
"Frozen foods, duh… You go to the frozen stuff first because that's the most important. It's where we get most of our meals…"
Regina stared at the blonde making sure she was serious. "No… You save the frozen stuff for last so that it will stay frozen. And that's not where most of your meals should be coming from."
Emma stared at her for a full minute, "Okay, the first part of your explanation is sound, but that's not where my meals should be coming from? Really? Do you want me and your son to die?"
"No.."
"Then we do frozen meals."
Regina gave the woman a sympathetic look before giving her a sad smile and a hug, "No one ever taught you how to cook, huh?" Emma shook her head and stuck her bottom lip out, "Well, I'll teach you sometime. But first, I'll just cook for you… Okay?" The brunette pecked the blonde's bottom lip until it went back in then she gave both lips a kiss, "We're starting in produce and working our way over to frozen."
"Yes ma'am." Emma followed begrudgingly.
Regina was already at the limes, lemons and oranges, "You like Mexican food, right?"
Emma grinned wide and watched the woman pick out her citrus. She wrapped her arms around the brunette, since the produce section cleared out due to the 'evil' queen being there—something that was both annoying and welcome. The blonde kissed Regina's cheek, "You asking me out on a date?"
