Regina chewed her lip and hoped that her blush wasn't too terribly obvious. Her eyes remained lowered to the screen of her phone as she thought of a good reply to the loaded message she had received moments before. She took a deep breath and typed out a response, in a private message this time:

'I would very much like to get to know you. Perhaps once we get to know each other, we can revisit the 'Daddy' topic? My name is Regina. May I know yours?'

She pursed her lips for a moment before jabbing the send button. Refusing to give herself even a moment to reconsider. Brown eyes lifted to find that she was being scrutinized by a pair of grey-blue eyes which always seemed as though their owner knew far too much. She cleared her throat and took a sip of her milkshake.

"So, um, have you seen Frederick lately? You guys had a date yesterday, right?" The brunette tried to steer the conversation away from the questions she could practically see forming on her friend's lips. Unfortunately, Kathryn Midas was not so easily dissuaded.

"Who were you just texting?" The blonde's suspicions were somewhat confirmed as she watched her friend's pupils blow wide at the question. Regina stammered and cleared her throat several times, trying her best to think of a suitable answer to the inquiry.

"Um, no one, really. It was just one of those stupid spam emails, you know?" She tried her best to look bored and pushed her phone back into her pocket, but she could feel the intense gaze of her best friend as she was scrutinized. The brunette ducked her head and took a large sip of her shake to give herself something to do, her eyes popping open when she felt the familiar beginnings of a brain freeze.

Kathryn took the opportunity to make a grab for the device in question, managing to snatch it away before Regina could get her bearings again. "Kat, no! It's nothing!" She leaned over the table, fumbling desperately to grab hold of the blonde's arm. Inwardly cursing herself for giving Kat her passcode as she watched nimble fingers unlock the screen and open up her messages within seconds.

"Oh. My God! Regina, you didn't!" Blue eyes snapped up to look at her, pink lips parted in surprise and the brunette was sure her heart was going to lodge itself in her throat permanently. "You're texting Robin again?" Brown eyes blinked in confusion before realizing her friend hadn't opened the messaging app, only her text messages.

"Oh! Um, yeah, we've been talking a little. Nothing crazy." She reached over and plucked her phone from between manicured fingers, tucking it into her back pocket this time before returning to her milkshake. Grateful couldn't begin to describe how she felt when the topic was dropped and they moved on to discussing the upcoming sporting events at the school that they would be attending.

Regina glanced at her phone midway through their conversation about who they planned on taking to Homecoming that year, Kay having been scandalized when the brunette had mentioned possibly bypassing the event. "I have to get going, Kat. Zelena will freak if I'm not home when she gets there." She made a show of rolling her eyes even though she secretly loved how protective her older sister was.

Both girls rose from the table and hugged one another tightly, a habit formed over the years. The blonde smiled at her friend and grabbed her purse off the booth cushion as they made their way towards the door. Regina pausing and checking something in her phone. "We're still on for tomorrow night, right?"

"Yeah, be at my place at like 7. We can hang out before Mary Margaret gets there." The blonde chirped. It wasn't that either girl particularly disliked their friend, she just tended to have way more pep than anyone. Not to mention that she was a complete Virgin Mary when it came to talking about anything involving boys, sex or drinking.

"Okay! I'll text you later." Regina smiled and walked out of the diner, waving at her friend one more time as they headed separate directions. She walked the same route she had taken to the diner, enjoying the warm weather now that the Spring showers had moved on to other locations. The brunette made quick work of letting herself into the house and finishing up the dishes before jogging upstairs. Five minutes later she sighed as the warm water poured down over her body, her head tilting back a bit.

She would never admit it out loud, at least not yet, but Regina loved showers because it allowed her time to be alone and explore herself without interruption. It also blocked out the sound of her phone vibrating on her nightstand.

Twenty minutes beneath the warm spray passed before Regina stepped out of the shower onto the plush bath mat, toweling herself down with a soft hum. She wandered into her bedroom, shivering at the cooler temperature and quickly slipping on her cheer sweats and a tank top. It was only after drying her hair that she noticed the blinking light on her phone.

A pink tongue darted out to wet her suddenly dry lips as she picked up the phone slowly, unlocking the screen and staring for a long moment at the message notification.

"You can do this, Regina." The brunette mumbled to herself, calming her nerves and opening up the text.

'My name is Emma. It's nice to meet you, Regina. I'd love to revisit the topic with you. Just let me know when you're ready. My inbox is always open.'

She nearly squealed and ran around the house in her excitement, opting instead to flop back on her bed and kick her legs excitedly. She actually got a response with a name! She looked over the message again, realizing with a twinge of fear that if she had any hope of this going somewhere, she had to be honest with Kat and come clean about who she was talking to. The teen took a breath and began typing a private message to the now slightly less anonymous woman.

'Hey Emma, it's Regina. I'm glad you messaged me. I really want to know more about you. Tell me something?'

She typed out before tossing her phone to the side, hearing it land on her duvet. She got out her laptop and started it up, drumming her fingers against her thigh as she waited. Once she had logged in, she immediately pulled up Skype and called Kathryn.

The blonde answered after only 2 rings and beamed cheerfully at her friend.

"What's up, buttercup? Miss me already?" The smile disappeared from the younger woman's face when she noticed that Regina looked distraught. "Hey, what is it, Gina?"

"I need to tell you something and you're going to want to yell at me." The brunette fidgeted with her fingers in her lap and looked at her computer screen with a grimace.

"Okay, well it can't be that bad. What is it? Are you pregnant?" The second question earned the other woman a scalding look and she held her hands up in surrender. "I was just checking."

"No, I am most definitely not pregnant." Regina sighed softly. "I wasn't texting Robin earlier. I actually haven't really talked to him in a while."

"Then who were you texting?" Concern and confusion laced Kat's voice as she moved her own computer closer to her. "You can tell me. I'll be here for you no matter what."

"Emma." The brunette couldn't help but smile as she murmured the name, blushing slightly as she thought about their brief interaction so far.

"Who is Emma?" This time there was less concern and more curiosity, the blonde raising her eyebrows at her friend. She knew her friend was open minded, but this still came as a bit of a surprise.

"This woman I met online. Well, I haven't met her yet but she replied to something I posted and then it kinda went from there." Regina mumbled sheepishly, the blush darkening itself and spreading along her neck.

"REGINA MARIA MILLS! What the hell do you think you're doing flirting with people online?" The screen shook slightly and it was obvious the blonde had almost dropped her computer before righting it. "What kind of website did you even meet her on?!"

"It's not my fault mom, sorry!" Regina replied jokingly, grinning at her friend, pointedly evading the second question.

"I wanna meet her"

"So I do"

"Wait so you like really don't know her?" This seemed to surprise the blonde more than the fact that the pair had meet online.

"I have no idea who she is."

"Oh well that's not scary at all" Sarcasm now, accompanied by an eye roll.

"It's not! You should see the way she talks to me. It's so sweet…..and….I don't know. I want to get to know her." Regina bit her lip, tucking her hair behind her ear and looking shy at the admission.

"Okay but I hope you know that if she hurts you I'll hurt her." Blue eyes narrowed and it was clear that the words were far from incorrect.

"Of course,I'll tell her"

"Okay then. Now that's settled, I love you and goodnight"

"Good night" The brunette chuckled and closed the video chat, flopping back on her bed with a grin. She did it, she told Kat and nothing bad happened. She turned her head to look at her phone, seeing the light blinking merrily. She scoops up the device and unlocks it, opening the new message.

'I'm glad to finally meet you Regina. I have to say you have me very curious. Something about myself? Hm…..well, I'm a blonde. What about you?'

Regina bit her lip and smiled widely at the message. A blonde, huh? She always did like lighter hair. She spent a moment trying to imagine what Emma might look like before deciding she needed to know more. She hit reply and typed out a message.

'A blonde? I like blondes. I'm a brunette, natural of course. I have brown eyes, too. You?'

The conversation flowed easily between the two women who lay in their respective beds, miles apart from one another. The teen barely mumbled a goodnight to her sister when she had checked on her an hour before, engrossed in the conversation with the mysterious blonde woman. She had learned over the last two hours that Emma had green eyes, worked out regularly, lived in Boston and owned both a VW Beetle, vintage of course, and a motorcycle she took out on weekends.

It wasn't until the early hours that the brunette yawned widely, unable to keep her eyes open for much longer. She typed out a short message to let the blonde know that she was going to bed before succumbing to sleep almost instantly.

The next morning found Regina sleeping late, taking advantage of the lazy Sunday. She stretched and groaned as her muscles protested, checking the time to find it was just past 11. After running a brush through her hair and over her teeth she padded downstairs in search of liquid life: coffee.

Zelena sat at the counter with her own mug and a smug expression on her face as she watched the youngest Mills wander about on auto pilot. "So, are you going to tell me about this new friend that you've made?" This halted the brunette's movements immediately, her eyes wide.

"I don't think I know what you mean. I haven't really made any new friends recently." She eyed the redhead curiously, trying to determine just how much her sister actually knew.

"Well, it must be someone I haven't met because none of them ever did this." She held up a long stemmed rose that had been resting on the counter. "I found it in the mailbox this morning with a little tag that just had your name on it."

Brown eyes widened in awe at the beautiful red rose, not her favorite but beautiful nonetheless. She reached out and took it from her sister, fingering the tag ties to the stem that had her name is simple font. She stroked the petals of the flower and dipped her head to inhale the sweet aroma. Emma. It had to be from Emma. She had told her last night that she lived in StoryBrooke, Maine. How did she find her so quickly? Better yet, why was Regina completely unperturbed by the fact a relative stranger had sent a flower to her home?