In the morning, the two girls, tangled in each other's embrace, were woken by the sound of Regina's bedroom door creaking open. Emma was shocked to see the girl's mother standing at the doorway, smiling brightly.

Before Emma could scramble out of the bed in shock, the woman said, "Good morning, girls! I made pancakes! They're downstairs, nice and hot, whenever you're ready!"

Neither of the girls had a chance to say anything before the woman disappeared back into the hallway. Emma looked startled, but Regina seemed calm.

"What?" the brunette asked with a smile, tucking some of Emma's hair behind her ear.

"She's… She's totally cool with us being in bed together?"

"Well, she… I've told her a lot about you, and…"

"What exactly did you tell her?"

"That you're kind to me, and that you try to take care of me. Obviously, she doesn't know I skipped out on therapy to meet Thor, but she knows… well…"

"Well, what?"

"How I feel about you."

"And how exactly do you feel about me?" Emma asked slowly, her lips curling into a smile.

"I don't know… I mean…"

"Don't lie, Regina. Spit it out."

"You're the sun in my sky, alright?"

"What?"

"You're… I don't know… my sunshine."

"Your sunshine, huh?" the blonde teased.

When Regina looked embarrassed, Emma leaned in and pressed her lips to the girl's cheek.

"That's okay," Emma told her. "I'll be your sunshine, if you'll keep being my cuddle partner."

Regina's eyes lit up as she replied, "For as long as you'll have me, Emma Swan."

Regina even managed to eat breakfast that morning. Since it was Saturday, they spent the rest of the day together as Emma completely ignored the constant phone calls from her parents, who were continuously leaving angry voicemails. Her father sounded desperate, almost like he might cry, as he begged her to call them back. Still, Emma had no interest in meeting her punishment for sneaking out when she arrived home, so she avoided the calls altogether.

"Isn't your mom going to be pissed?" Regina finally asked, glancing apprehensively at the phone Emma had just tossed to the other side of the bed.

"Oh, she's definitely pissed. Dad's just worried though."

"Maybe you should call them…"

"Just to hear them tell me I'm grounded? I don't think so."

"If they're worried-"

"Let's just enjoy today, okay? Because after this, we're probably never going to be able to hang out again. Of course, I'll just sneak out to see you anyway, but that's not the point. It's going to be a huge pain in the ass from now on. We might as well enjoy the time we have together."

"Do you think they'll pull you from therapy because of this?" Regina asked, sounding concerned.

"Nah. Mom's desperate to fix me. Anything she can do to keep me in therapy, she'll do."

"That's good, then. At least I'll be able to see you there."

"Gina, I'm not gonna let her keep me from you," Emma told her, gently stroking the girl's cheek.

This earned a smile from the brunette as she leaned back, propping herself up on her elbow as she looked at Emma.

"I like you in boxers," she finally said with a grin, her eyes moving over the girl's toned figure.

"And I would like you in nothing," the blonde teased, grinning just as brightly.

"Emma!" Regina cried with a laugh.

The blonde continued to smile as she pulled the girl into her arms, squeezing her gently. When the brunette began to pull away, Emma held her a little tighter.

"Don't go," she whispered. "Let me hold you."

Regina smiled back and relaxed into Emma's embrace, shutting her eyes as her head fell to the girl's shoulder.

"I like this," she said softly, kissing Emma's cheek.

"Me too, babe. Me too."

Of course, when Emma finally did go home, she was instantly grounded for a month, which she wasn't at all surprised about. She'd actually been expecting a harsher punishment. No friends, no TV, and especially no Regina, her mother had said. Emma laughed at this. As long as she had internet and a cell phone, she was happy. She had no friends and didn't watch TV, so neither of those punishments made much of an impact, and she had every intention of sneaking out at night to see her… What were they, even? Girlfriends? Emma wasn't sure. They hadn't said officially, but that was certainly what it felt like.

At Group, they sat next to each other and talked under their breath during the break.

"You look cute today," Emma whispered in her ear. "I want to kiss you."

"Not here, Emma!" Regina hissed back, but was unable to hold her laughter in.

When the doctor looked over at them knowingly, they went silent. It was obvious to everyone in the group that the two were involved at least in some manner, so it did them little good to try to hide it. Still, they tried to be as subtle as possible. Given that Regina didn't like PDA anyway, it made sense. The only problem was, Emma had a hard time keeping her hands off her lover. In fact, as soon as no one was looking, she stole a kiss or slapped the girl's ass, which, to Emma's delight, made Regina squeak every time.

"Would you stop that?" Regina finally scolded her, through a smile she couldn't hide.

Emma just grinned back at her and shook her head.

"Never, my queen. Never."

Almost every night, Emma snuck out and walked to Regina's house a few blocks away, and fell asleep in the girl's arms. In the morning, she hurried back to her own apartment before her parents could notice that she had been gone. On the weekends, Emma also spent the days at Regina's house, whenever she could get away with it.

"Girls!" Regina's mother called up the stairs one night. "Dinner's ready!"

Regina bit her lip and looked at Emma, and the blonde instantly flashed her a look of sympathy. When the meal was over and they'd both eaten – Emma having head two helpings of the delicious lasagna the woman had cooked – they went back up to Regina's room and sat beside each other on the bed in complete silence.

"Gina?" Emma finally asked. "You okay?"

"I feel sick," the girl muttered.

"Gina…"

"Emma… I… I can't. I just can't."

With that, Regina stood up and quickly left the room, running down the hall to the bathroom.