Being knee deep in her old closet made her regret inviting her two idiot friends over for their help. Kathryn and Ruby were currently discussing the pros of going commando to their reunion. A topic that made Regina contemplate wringing their necks. She instead opted for carrying out two more outfits for their approval, which of course, she didn't get.

"I'm sorry I thought this was a class reunion, not brunch with Granny and the Queen," Ruby sniped.

"She's not wrong," Kathryn agreed, "maybe you should try…this!" She exclaimed happily as she snatched up a pastel blue dress from Regina's high school days.

"That most certainly is not my color," Regina said, "and it will never fit, need I remind you, I am a grown Latina woman, I actually have an ass now."

"And to show off your great Latina ass," Ruby said whipping out two pieces of clothing Regina wished she had burned long ago, "you should wear these hot cutoff shorts with this low cut shirt you got a size too small. Give them a little show, some T 'n A."

"No, absolutely not," Regina refused.

"Awe come on Regina, spice up their lives a little bit, most of these ex high school bitches have mom bods now, no offense Kathyrn, you should show them you still got where they've not."

"As a woman with a mom bod but who is your friend and therefore on your side, I agree, you should flaunt it, just…maybe not that much. Maybe in something you'd wear around people, and not in your role as Daisy Duke," Kathryn compromised.

Ruby smacked Kathryn's arm. "Hey! I'm wearing something similar!"

"Of course you are Ruby, you wouldn't be you otherwise. But this is Regina we're talking about, and she's not going to wear that, nor should she."

Regina sighed and returned to the depths of her closet. "There has to be a little black dress in here somewhere."

"That could work, and by work I mean not be too gag me boring, depending on how low cut and high hemmed it is," Ruby said.

"Depending on how it is cut for modesty while still maintaining that va-va-vroom edge," Kathryn amended.

"Sure, fine whatever you prudes." Ruby shrugged.

"I am not a prude," Regina said, voice muffled by the clothes around her as she kept digging. She could practically hear Ruby and Kathryn looking at each other with 'yeah right' looks on their faces. "Don't you shake your heads at each other. I can hear that you are."

"Ten years and she still manages to pull freaky shit like that," Ruby mumbled under her breath.

Regina released a sound of triumph when she finally pulled back a hanger near the back and found aforementioned little black dress. She pulled it out and looked at it for a second. Well, it passed muster with her tastes, after all you couldn't go wrong with a classic, but Ruby would probably say it wasn't enough. Then again she hardly ever listened to Ruby's fashion advice for good reason. The one time she had in freshman year of college had been enough to scar her for life. Who in the world but Ruby would actually think to pair together a miniskirt made of gold sequins and hope that it would stay together short enough that the wearer couldn't bend over or even sit and a glorified blue lace shirt that was more of a bra and mostly see through. She was definitely the only one who could pull it off. Regina had been mortified the whole night and everyone had looked at her like she was from another planet. She was keen to never repeat that experience.

She walked out of the closet and held up the hanger. "What about this one?"

Her friends looked at the dress for a few long seconds before Kathryn took the hanger from her and took a closer look. Ruby came beside her and fingered the fabric. Regina was actually getting a bit nervous considering how focused both people were on a piece of clothing. It couldn't mean good things for her.

"Acceptable," Ruby finally said. "I'd still go for something shorter or lower cut, but this fabric will cling nicely and show off all the right things."

"And it still will look very classy and party appropriate."

"And date appropriate." Ruby grinned, quickly stepping behind Kathryn to make sure she was out of Regina's reach.

"For the last time," Regina sighed exasperatedly, "it's not a date."

"Yeah, we know, you asked her because it will be her final farewell." Kathryn gave her a look that screamed 'yeah right.'

"And so the prettiest girl didn't have to go alone to the party. Bitch, going with me was going alone?" Ruby cocked an eyebrow, trying to imitate Regina but failing miserably.

"Ruby, we all know that you will find one of the guys we graduated with that got hot in the last ten years and then spend the majority of the party doing ungodly things to them. You may have entered the door with me but after that I would have been alone."

Ruby nodded. "Fair point, fair point. I still say Mark Polski will be drop dead gorgeous now that he'll have had time to grow into himself." She licked her lips. "But seriously Regina, don't think we haven't forgotten a few years back when you totally confessed that you had a raging crush on Miss Swan in high school and still sort of carried a torch for her then. This is totally a date."

"She did agree to take the prettiest girl to the party. Who exactly says something like that if it's not a date?" Kathryn asked.

"You guys would and you know it. She could only be being friendly." Regina folded her arms over her chest defensively.

"But you totally want her to be anything other than friendly." Ruby waggled her eyebrows.

Of course she wanted it to be anything other than friendly. It would be the completion of her wildest dreams. Well, maybe not wildest, there were still thoughts floating around in her head about winning the Nobel prize, but it was a close race between the two for sheer craziness. However, admitting that she wanted more than a friendly outting out loud was different somehow than just thinking, dreaming about it.

"Look at that expression, of course she does," Kathryn said.

Regina blushed and looked away. Kathryn put down the dress and stepped in front of Regina. She was obviously trying to catch Regina's eye but Regina wasn't having it. Her friend grabbed her hands and squeezed.

"You know it's not wrong to want it to be a date right?" She asked in a soft voice.

Regina looked back at her and nodded. "I do. I just—"

And then Ruby was at her other side rubbing her upper arm soothingly. "Regina, if there's anyone in the world that Miss Swan would want to go out with, it would be you. From what you told us if she's not interested I'd be surprised. It really does sound like there's potential. You aren't just seeing what you want."

Regina took a deep, shaking breath. It was the first time anyone had said those words to her and she hadn't quite known how much she'd needed to hear them. Tears sprang to her eyes but she blinked them back quickly.

"Thank you," Regina said, matching the quiet tone of Kathryn.

Kathryn smiled at Regina before both her and Ruby hugged her for a long moment before pulling back.

"Now, what are we doing about shoes?" Kathryn asked.

Regina snorted before heading back into her closet. "At least those I have covered."

"They're not high enough," Ruby said.

She rolled her eyes. Here they went again.


She pulled at the hem of her dress nervously. It was fifteen until eight and she was already ready to go. Emma wasn't here yet and that shouldn't bother her but it did, or really, it just set her nerves on edge even more than they already were. Which at this point was saying something considering she was about to vibrate hard enough to promote all of the electrons that made up her body up an energy level.

Regina balled up her hands in order to keep from stretching out the dress even more than it already had in the few minutes since she'd started fidgeting with it. If she pulled too much more on it, it would look horrible and she really didn't want that. She had looked in the mirror when she was done getting ready and had to admit that everything that Kathryn and Ruby had helped her pick out was wonderful. She looked good, very good, but if Emma was not actually inclined towards her in any way it would just look like she was going to a party and nothing more. As annoying as her friends could be at points, there was no one else that Regina could imagine being best friends with in the entire world. They had come through for her time and time again and been her rock when she needed one and she had done the same in return.

The thoughts of her friends calmed her enough that she finally took a deep breath and stilled herself for one long minute. At the end of the minute her phone vibrated in her purse, and she was across the room in a second to see who had sent her message.

Hey, Regina, I'm leaving my place now so I'll be there in like ten.

She relaxed more for a few seconds before tensing back up. Ok, so Emma wasn't going to blow her off, that was wonderful and allayed at least one of her worries, but there were still so many other things that could go wrong. She was always nervous for dates, but this was above and beyond. Which while it made sense to her, it still wasn't comforting.

Regina double checked that she had everything, or more like quintuple checked everything. She still had everything as she had the four times before. She resisted running her hands through her hair. She'd spent far too long on it to ruin it now.

Which of course that thought had her checking her reflection again to make sure everything about her appearance was perfect. Her makeup was still flawless and every strand of her hair was in place. Then again with all the soft hold hairspray that was on her head right now, she was sure that a nuclear bomb could go off and it would stay in place. She chuckled at that. She could even build a bomb to test if she really wanted. But there wasn't time for that.

She paced up and down the foyer of her house, heels clicking, the sound echoing up to bounce around the chandelier. Regina looked up when she heard firm footsteps coming down the stairs. Her father was smiling at her fondly.

"Regina, darling, I don't think I've seen you this nervous since your grad school applications were due. In fact, I think you might even be more nervous."

She felt herself blushing. "It's nothing, Daddy, this reunion just has me on edge."

He looked a bit skeptical at that, but didn't call her on it. Regina had already told him that Emma was picking her up and taking her to the reunion, and if she really had to guess, he probably knew about the crush she had on Emma in high school. Her father was a doctor, he was trained to be observant, and honestly, it really didn't take an observant person to realize that all she had talked about for years had been Emma. God, it might be a better option for her to just melt into a puddle of goo now, or even more fitting, for her to atomize on the spot. She had studied particles so much it would be fitting that she would turn into nothing more.

Regina looked down at her phone. Five minutes had passed in her worry. She only had to deal with five more. She could do it. But then she would have to deal with the reunion itself. Ugh, she was overthinking all of this, thinking in circles, but she wasn't exactly sure how to stop.

"Mija, I'm sure everything will go splendidly tonight, there's no need to worry." Her father wrapped and arm around her shoulders.

Regina felt steadied by his warm presence and relaxed fractionally once again. "You really think so?" she couldn't help but ask.

He nodded. "Of course. You and Miss Swan—Emma," he corrected before Regina could say anything, "were great friends for years before you went to grad school. Bonds like that just don't go away. And as for anyone at that reunion, well, you handled them ten years ago as a teenager, and I believe that as an adult you'll not only be able to handle them, but to run circles around them."

Regina snorted. "Well, that's probably true." She leaned into him a bit more. "Thank you, Daddy."

"But of course." He smiled that same warm smile that had lit up Regina's childhood.

There was the sound of tires in the driveway and Regina perked up and stepped forward. She froze for a second then. She didn't want to seem to eager pulling open the door before Emma even knocked. A car door slammed and Regina was stuck in her indecision, but her father solved that for her by stepping around her and opening the door just as Emma was climbing onto the small porch in front of their front door.

"Ah, Emma, it's been years."

Regina recognized that voice, it was the one he used on patients that were being difficult to scare them into cooperation. Why in the world was he using that voice on Emma? Oh no, he wasn't going to—

"Mr. Mills, it has, parent teacher night ten years ago I believe."

"Ah yes, that was an informative night. I had a good time, so many wonderful teachers here in Storybrooke, we're privileged. It's a shame we're losing you, but it will be nice for Regina to have a friend in Boston."

"I thought the same thing, sir, except I thought it was more lucky for me because Regina is already familiar with Boston from her undergrad."

Regina stopped by her father's side, hoping to put an end to this. He was almost acting like a father on prom night, sizing up their daughter's date. The only thing he hadn't done yet was actually come out and say something to effect of 'take care of her and bring her back before her curfew,' and if he did that Regina was really just going to poof into a collection of far flung atomic particles that had no concept of what Regina Mills was.

"Hi, Daddy, thank you for getting the door for me," she said, pretending like she hadn't been standing in the foyer waiting for twenty minutes. She still had to play it cool even if every warning bell in her head was going off.

She looked at Emma and her breath caught. Oh. Oh my. Emma had always looked good in the business casual required by the teacher dress code, but this was something entirely different. She stood before Regina in a tight red dress that bared her shoulders and a modest amount of cleavage with a hemline that was verging on daring, hair curled and falling gently around her shoulders, with makeup done to bring out her eyes. It was better than every single one of Regina's fantasies of what the other woman would look like dressed up.

"Regina," Emma breathed out. She looked Regina up and down slowly and licked her lips.

Regina had to swallow hard at that. That definitely was not something a friend would do, but…

"Well, I believe it looks like you two will have a good time together, won't you Emma?" Henry asked, the last of his words full of meaning. And then Regina was blushing for a completely different reason because her father had basically just completed the father on prom night thing, even if he hadn't stuck to the usual script. She wanted to groan out loud but managed to hold it in.

Emma's gaze snapped from Regina to Henry. "Of course we will, sir." She looked back at Regina. "Shall we? Your bright yellow chariot awaits."

"You mean my bright yellow death trap." But she stepped forward anyway. She turned back at the last second to shoot her father a look that screamed, 'we are going to talk about what you just pulled later' before saying "Goodnight, Daddy."

"Goodnight, darling." And he shut the door.

Regina turned to Emma as they walked down the sidewalk to the driveway. "I'm sorry about that."

Emma waved that off. "Trust me, I've definitely had worse. Nothing will beat nineties dads when I was a foster kid. They already didn't trust me because I was from the wrong side of the tracks and then I was taking their baby girls out somewhere." She shook her head. "And that was when most of them didn't know that I was taking them out on dates. The guys I went out with were easier, definitely, but that didn't exactly make me consider only dating boys."

She followed Regina around to the passenger's side of the car and opened the door for her. Regina felt like she was dangerously close to finding out what swooning actually felt like, as she slipped into the car and Emma shut the door and walked back around to flop into the car and start it.

"You never were a person to take the easy way out just because," Regina said once she had recovered enough to speak.

Emma laughed. "That's true. How many times were you around for those stupid organizing campaigns I went on when I got fed up with my own mess? It was never an easy organizing system that I wanted, was it?"

Regina snorted. "God, no, of course not, and it was never like a manageable area of the room to do at once either, it was like all or nothing. And then we would work for hours at a time and get halfway done by like ten o'clock and realize that we weren't going to finish before the next day and your classes and things would get shoved back maybe in a bigger mess than they started out in, repeat ad infinitum."

"Hey! I'm not going to keep repeating that until eternity, thank you."

Regina just looked at her with a disbelieving smile. "I'll believe that when I see the state of your classroom."

Emma looked away sheepishly. "I may have slowed down the reorganization efforts because I didn't have a minion that would help out like you would."

"Ah, well, I suppose that is a reason that you wouldn't repeat that pattern into infinity then."

Emma stuck out her tongue childishly and Regina just laughed.

"Such witty repartee. Did your stint in grad school gift you with such eloquence?"

"Nah, I think I'm going to credit the fact that I work with teenagers five days a week for nine months of the year for that one." She flicked the blinker, pulsating light reflecting off her face in weird ways. Regina was captivated, but then, was that really a surprise?

"Fair point."

They drove a couple more blocks in companionable silence before they pulled into the school's parking lot, strangely alive for a night in the middle of the summer. There were banners everywhere with class reunion and their graduation year and mascot and probably anything that the organizing committee thought was relevant. Regina shook her head. She really hadn't expected anything else and yet.

"Was your ten year reunion this tacky?" Regina asked as Emma pulled into a space.

"Oh god, it was worse. Miss Blanchard helped plan it and there were pastel birds. Pastel birds, Regina, it was horrible. Though it became an instant running gag between everyone who was there so not all was lost I guess."

"Pastel birds, but how?"

"Never ever test how many places that woman thinks birds are applicable. I'm pretty sure she might be able to talk to them, and I don't just mean parrots."

Regina looked at Emma with a slightly freaked out look on her face.

"Yeah, I know, love the woman to death, but she's weird." She shrugged, turned off the engine and was up and out of the car and around to Regina's door before Regina could even reach for the door handle.

"You know you don't have to keep doing that," Regina said as she stood up.

"Of course I don't have to do it, I want to do it." She offered her arm to Regina. "Come on, let's go show them what they've been missing for the last ten years."

Regina looked at Emma, the perfect picture of what she had imagined when she was younger. All she had to do was reach out and take it now. It had been so difficult for all these years to figure it for reality, but here it was. Her hand stretched forward, looping through Emma's arm and tucked itself into the crook of her elbow. It was almost an out of body experience, but then she felt the warmth of Emma's soft skin below her hand and it all cemented as real.

"Let's," she finally said, looking at Emma who was so very close to her now.