Sorry for the long wait guys, I was really, really, really busy these last couple of weeks. I'll try to update more frequently, but I can't make any promises. Thank you again for all the follows, favorites and for the lovely reviews.

All mistakes are mine.

Enjoy!

The Date

'Stay calm Swan, everything is going to be fine. Everything is going to be fine.' – Emma repeated more and more frequently in her head as she was getting closer to Regina's house. She was driving deliberately slow to get her nerves in check before knocking on Regina's door, but Storybrooke was a small town, so the drive was short and she suddenly found herself at her destination. She parked in front of the mansion, took a few deep breaths and got out of the bug.

"Everything is going to be fine." – Emma said one last time and knocked. After a few seconds, a few seconds that felt like an eternity, Regina opened the door and Emma's jaw hit the floor.

"Holy… Regina…"

"I'm anything but a saint dear." – Regina smirked. When Emma just kept staring at her not saying a thing, she looked down self-consciously at herself – "Am I dressed appropriately for wherever we are going?" – she asked.

Emma closed her mouth, gulped and took another look at Regina. She was wearing really, really tight dark blue jeans that hugged her figure impeccably, black shirt that had the two top buttons open (like always) beneath a just as black coat and of course black knee-high heeled boots. She looked… - "You are…" – Emma started to answer but Regina interrupted her.

"You said to dress casually and I know that this isn't the most casual attire, but if you would've told me where we would be going, I would have known what to wear and if I didn't own anything appropriate I would've bought something that would fit the standards of the place where…"

"…perfect." – Emma cut off Regina's nervous rambling – "You are perfect." – she smiled sweetly at her date.

"Nobody is perfect dear." – Regina flushed and returned the smile.

"I thought so too, but then you showed up." – Emma smiled sheepishly and Regina chuckled. Emma cringed internally - 'I couldn't have said something more cliché even if I wanted to.'

"Thank you Emma. You look…"

"I look like I always look." – Emma smiled. She really looked like she always looked. Skinny jeans, a tanktop and her signature red leather jacket. Ok she put a little more make up on than she normally did for the date.

"Which is beautiful." – Regina concluded.

"Thank you." – Emma said and extended her hand – "Shall we?"

Regina took her hand and Emma helped her down the stairs. She thought that Regina would let go afterwards, but she surprised Emma and held on, so they started walking toward her car hand in hand.

"I knew you like my leather jacket." – Emma teased Regina as they walked. She just had to.

"Don't push it dear." – Regina bumped her shoulder playfully.

"Ok Emma, will you finally tell me where we're going?" – Regina asked again when Emma turned on a deserted dirt road.

"Nope." – Emma's answer was the same every time.

"Why are we in the woods? You know that the sun won't be out for long, right?"

"That's the point."

"Oh come ooon, give me something." – Regina whined, actually whined.

"I hope you're not afraid of heights." – Emma said with a smile.

Emma turned left and right and left and right and they went deeper and deeper into the woods. The dirt road wasn't even a road at that point, she was just driving through trees. 'I should've rented an ATV.'- she thought as she hit another bump – 'That would've been fun. Regina on an ATV.' She drove a little more and suddenly a huge clearing appeared in front of them. She parked the car next to the truck that Ruby had borrowed from her father in order to get there and turned her head to look at Regina.

Regina was wide eyed and gaping – "Is that…" – she turned to Emma.

"A hot air balloon? Yup." – Emma smiled and got out of the car. She walked to the other side of it and opened the door for Regina – "Come on…" – she offered her hand to her – "Let's go." – Emma helped Regina out of the car and they started walking toward Ruby and Belle. Their friends were there to fill the balloon with air, so that when Emma and Regina would arrive, they could go up immediately. Emma had set everything else up that morning. The basket, the burners, the fuel tanks and everything else was in place, she had connected the balloon to the basket and she had instructed their friends how to work the ventilator to fill the balloon with air.

"Hey guys, everything ok? No problems?" – Emma asked them.

"Hey love birds, everything is fine." – Ruby nodded, but when she took a good look at Regina she screeched – "Holy Granny's chin hair Regina! You own jeans!? Like really, really tight jeans…"

"Yes Ms. Lucas I do own a few pairs of jeans. I have worn jeans before." – Regina answered.

"Oh don't you Ms. Lucas me, and believe me, if you had worn jeans before I would've known." – Ruby said and let her eyes wander up and down Regina's legs.

"Hey!" – Emma exclaimed while Belle smacked Ruby's arm.

"What?" - Ruby laughed – "You all know I had a crush on her during the curse, she is one hot HBIC. Can you blame me?"

"No…" – both Emma and Belle murmured, before Belle continued – "… but I can blame you for checking her out now."

"Oh please, like you didn't check her out." – Ruby said with a smile and when she didn't get an answer from Belle she nodded chuckling – "Yeah, I thought so."

"Ok, can we stop talking about checking Regina out and get to work please." – Emma finally put an end to the conversation.

Emma checked again to see that everything was working perfectly and when she was satisfied with the results she light the burners - "Ok girls, everything is working perfectly." – she addressed Ruby and Belle – "Now I'll just need you to keep the mouth of the balloon open so that I can heat up the air inside it." – they worked exquisitely together and the balloon stood up in no time.

"Thanks girls." – she nodded to her friends and then turned to Regina who was watching them all, especially Emma with amazement – "Your majesty." – she smiled, opened the little door of the basket and motioned for Regina to get in.

Emma fallowed in and was about to start getting the balloon up in the air when Belle spoke – "Wait, we brought something for you." – she said and ran to get something out of her father's truck. Belle came back with a bottle of wine and two glasses – "Just a little extra something." – she smiled and gave them to Emma.

"Thanks." – Emma smiled back and ignited the burners.

When they were finally high enough to see Storybrooke and the land surrounding it, Emma removed her hand from the switch of the burners and went to stand next to Regina. Regina had her hands resting on the basket top and was looking around in awe. She hadn't said anything ever since she had greeted Ruby and Belle, but Emma wasn't nervous that it meant something bad, she knew that Regina was just astonished with everything, so she wasn't nervous at all. Emma had expected to be sweating and shaking with agitation, but she wasn't, she was at ease. She was at ease because just from looking at Regina, she knew she had made the right call. Regina was relaxed and had a small content smile gracing her face, she looked beautiful, she looked amazing.

"Here is your town." – Emma turned her head to look at Regina and said quietly. Anything other than a whisper wouldn't have been appropriate, it would've broken the comforting calmness of the moment.

Regina didn't say anything, she just moved her hand from its resting place on the handrail, on top of Emma's and squeezed lightly. Emma smiled and intertwined their fingers. They stood like that for a few moments and then Regina spoke.

"Thank you." – she said just as quietly as Emma had. She moved to face Emma, not letting go of her hand and Emma moved with her. They stood face to face. She looked deep into Emma's eyes – "This is… amazing." – Regina's free hand went up to move a strand hair from Emma's face before settling down on her cheek – "You are amazing."

Emma's free hand moved to rest on Regina's hip. Her thumb made slow soothing circles and she smiled. She opened her mouth to say that Regina deserved it, that they both deserve it, but Regina put her index finger on her lips and shushed her. She relocated her hand back to Emma's cheek and slowly moved closer and closer until they were only a breath apart, until Emma could feel Regina's exhales on her lips. Regina released one last shaky breath, titled her head a little and connected her lips with Emma's.

The kiss was slow, lazy, nothing like the kiss they had shared the week before at the party. This kiss was something else, there was no tongue, no nipping, no biting. It was just a soft brushing of lips, just a gentle lingering touch, a sweet hesitation on both parts. It was as if both of them were taking their time to memorize the feeling, it was magnificent, it was the most truthful moment they'd ever shared. They both poured their entire souls into the kiss, they were totally focused on each other and on the moment, it was like nothing else was going on in their lives except for the kiss. They were lost in the moment, in each other, nothing else mattered and everything stopped.

After a few more minutes they hesitantly broke off the kiss with a few pecks and rested their foreheads against one another not opening their eyes. Emma squeezed Regina's hand, their fingers still intertwined, before letting go to wrap both of her arms around her. She kissed her cheek softly and opened her eyes.

"Regina…" – she whispered in her ear – "… open your eyes."

Regina did and gasped – "It's beautiful."

During their kiss the sun had started to set. It cast a beautiful fiery glow as it sank beneath the horizon. They sky was clear, there were just a few wayward clouds that added to the fascinating scene before them. The picture that Emma was seeing in front of her was what she had been aiming for when she had planned the date. Regina in her arms with a look on her face that spoke volumes as the red orb before them cast its last rays of light and painted the sky that mingled with the clouds a beautiful shade of red.

"Would you like a glass of wine?" – Emma asked after a while. Regina nodded and kissed Emma sweetly before they detangled.

Emma popped the wine bottle open and poured the bright yellow liquid in the two glasses that Belle had provided along with the wine. She handed one of the glasses to Regina and started a toast – "To…"

"… us." – Regina finished with a smile.

"To us." – Emma repeated with a clink of the glasses. She took a small drink, but Regina didn't. She just looked at her with a small smile – "What is it?" – Emma asked.

"How did get your hands on a hot air balloon?" – Regina asked chuckling – "I know there aren't any in Storybrooke, so where did you get one?"

"Boston." – Emma smiled – "There is a guy in Boston that's in the hot air balloon business. I found his daughter for him a few years back. His wife took the kid with her after their divorce and went off the grid. I still have his number, so I called him to ask if I could borrow one, and when he said yes I went to Boston to get it."

"You went to Boston? When?"

"Yesterday."

"But… I saw here in Storybrooke."

"I went yesterday evening, because I didn't want you to see me. It would've spoiled the surprise."

"So you drove all night because you didn't want to spoil the surprise?"- Regina asked taken aback.

"Mhm."

"Oh you sweet idiot." – Regina laughed.

They flew around Storybrooke for an hour or so more, before they landed on the same clearing. Ruby and Belle were still there, because they needed to pack the balloon up as Emma took Regina home. They had passed the time having a picnic and by the looks of it they were enjoying themselves a lot. Emma and Regina caught them making out like there was no tomorrow.

Both Emma and Regina knew that their date, that had taken place two days prior, had gone exquisitely well and both of them were extremely happy for them. Ruby had picked the tower clock for their date because she knew it was Belle's most favorite place in Storybrooke. They had helped Ruby clean up the place and set everything up for the date. Emma and Ruby had been assigned the task of cleaning the place up and Regina with the decoration and the food.

After their work had been done, Emma and Regina had gone to the mansion to have dinner with their son. They had put Henry to bed and they had decided to have couple of drinks as they waited for Ruby's report of the date. Their friend called screaming with happiness and she had almost passed out from excitement. Finally "The Troublemakers" – that was the name that the town had given to the four of them – were getting their happy endings.

Emma and Regina landed and their friends were immediately next to the balloon helping them out. Emma made sure that they knew what they needed to do before she led her date to her car.

The ride back was tricky because the sun was down and it was difficult to maneuver in the dark, but Emma managed it somehow. When she finally turned on the actual road she exhaled heavily.

"Uh, I didn't think of that." – she chuckled.

"How did you even find the clearing? It was very deep in the woods." – Regina asked.

"Ruby had encountered it on one of her runs. When I told her about my plan, she said that she knew the perfect place for taking off and landing the balloon."

"I still can't believe you did something like this, it was perfect."

"Well I was aiming for perfect." – Emma said with a smug smile, but then she continued shyly – "Really I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, because I'll be honest, I was nervous that you wouldn't like it, that you would rather go to a five star restaurant than fly around in a balloon."

"Emma…" – Regina breathed out – "… I would've been content with just having drinks with you in my back yard. This was beyond perfect. It was you… It was us."

Emma smiled as she stopped in front of the mansion. She got out and opened the door for Regina. They started walking slowly toward the front door, they were both reluctant for the date to end.

"Hey, I was thinking that since I don't have to return the balloon for a week…" – Emma started to say as they walked – "… that maybe we can take Henry for a ride some day?"

"Yes, he would love that." – Regina smiled – "Maybe even Ruby and Belle? That would be fun."

"Yeah, they would love that too." – Emma smiled back as they came to a stop in front of the door – "So here we argh…" – she was cut of mid-sentence by Regina's lips. It was a strong, short and unexpected kiss that left Emma gaping – "Wow…"

"I just wanted to skip the awkward part." – Regina said with a smirk.

Suddenly the front door opened.

"So? How was it? Where were you?" – Henry asked impatiently.

"It was great Henry." – Regina answered.

"Where were you?" – he asked again.

"Not telling you kid."

"Whyyyyy?" – he whined.

"It's a surprise."