Emma took a deep breath before entering Regina's office. It had been a few days since she had been turned down for the date, but she hadn't let that initial rejection get her down. She had vowed not to give up.

Here she was to drop off the quarterly crime stats and her accompanying report to the mayor's office – something she could have easily done through email, but she wanted another shot at asking Regina out. She didn't figure she would get a yes today either, but she didn't want Regina thinking that she was no longer interested.

She had already played out the conversation in her head. She would go in, place the report on Regina's desk where Regina would pretend to be busy and barely give her a look. Regina would then point out that Emma didn't need to bring the report in by hand and email would have sufficed. Emma would then reply that she knew that but wanted to bring it in personally because she wanted to see Regina.

Again, she figured Regina would barely acknowledge her presence and it was then that Emma would ask her out and get rejected once again. Then Emma would say that she was leaving, but that Regina should give the whole date thing some more thought and maybe next time even explain why she found it to be a bad idea. She knew Regina probably had a whole list of reasons, but at least if she could get Regina talking about it, it meant that Regina was thinking about it.

Besides there wasn't a single reason that Emma didn't think she could shoot down.

So, as she crossed into Regina's office, she was immediately surprised that while Regina was at her desk, she wasn't pretending to be busy. In fact, she was watching Emma as she approached.

Ok, Emma thought, it didn't really change anything.

"I have the latest crime report for you," Emma said, as she reached the desk. She was about to place it down, but Regina held her hand out and accepted it from Emma.

"Thank you," Regina said, putting the report down in front of her and opening it. "Please, sit."

Emma hesitated a moment before doing do. Once she was seated, Regina looked at her, which only served to make Emma feel nervous. She had figured any conversation they were going to have would be too quick for a sit down.

"Is there anything in the report of note that I should be aware of?" Regina asked.

"No," Emma said. "Nothing major. The numbers are pretty similar to last quarter. We are down a cruiser but we had a back up. We're probably going to need to look at getting at least one new one next year."

"That is a reasonable request. We should always have one as a back up just in case. Let's make sure we discuss it with council when we are budgeting for next year."

"That would be great," Emma replied. This was nothing like how she thought it would be when she walked in here. Regina was looking straight at her, which was weirding her out. Was this some sort of intimidation tactic? But if it was, why would Regina have asked her to sit?

These thoughts and dozens of others went through her mind at light speed.

Then she realized both of them had been silent for more than they probably should.

"Well, if you have any other questions about the report, I'd be happy to answer them," Emma said finally.

Regina glanced at the report and back to her. "I'm sure you did a thorough job, but if I do have questions I know where to find you."

"Ok," Emma said, standing up, and then wondering why she had stood up. "I should probably get going and let you get back to work."

"Oh, ok," Regina said. "Unless there's anything else."

Say something, her mind was screaming at her.

"No," Emma said. "Um have a good day."

Regina hesitated but then responded, "You too, Emma."

Emma backed up a couple of steps and then turned and walked out. She was back in her car when she realized that Regina had called her Emma and realized she hadn't asked Regina out like she planned.

"Idiot," she said to herself as she started her car and pulled away.

"I don't get it," Regina said to Dorothy. "I was nice. I called her Emma and she was looking at me like I was an alien."

"That doesn't make any sense," Dorothy said.

Regina had asked Dorothy to come over after work so they could talk about what had happened when Emma had come to her office. They were in Regina's house, sitting at the dining room table eating some Chinese takeout Dorothy brought.

While they didn't know each other well, the two women had seemed to find a friend in the other. For Regina, it was refreshing to talk to someone who didn't know her past beyond stories that while Dorothy had heard, she didn't judge Regina for.

As for Dorothy, she found Regina interesting and the fact that she had shared her insecurities about dating Emma with her made Dorothy feel like Regina really did want her as a friend.

"I know," Regina said. "I gave her plenty of opportunity to ask me out and I got nothing. Maybe she changed her mind."

"She hasn't changed her mind," Dorothy said.

"How do you know?"

"Because if she had, she would have said something to Ruby and Ruby would have said something to me," Dorothy said. "So, let's not jump to this being a negative. Maybe she didn't feel comfortable asking while you were in the office discussing business."

"I suppose," Regina said, as she moved her the food around on her plate without actually eating.

"Here is a radical idea," Dorothy said. "Why don't you ask her out?"

This time it was Regina looking at Dorothy like she was an alien.

"What?" Dorothy asked.

"I am not asking her out."

"Why not?"

"Because she is supposed to ask me."

Dorothy decided it was probably best if she didn't continue on that line of thinking. It had been hard enough to get Regina coached up to accept the date in the first place.

"Ok," Dorothy said. "Let's not panic about this regardless. Emma still wants to go on the date with you, so you are going to have to be patient until she finds the right time to ask."

"Perhaps you have heard that patience is not one of my virtues."

"I had not actually, but I could guess it on my own," Dorothy smiled. "You know the things I have heard about you aren't all that bad. I mean, yes everyone acknowledges what you did in the past as queen but they do have positive things to say as well. People in this town realize you have changed from how you used to be and they respect you for it."

"You know, the weird thing is, if Emma had never come here and broken my curse I probably wouldn't be who I am today. I changed in part because of her being around," Regina said. "It didn't start out that way that is for sure, but she definitely influenced it."

"When did you first realize you were starting to have feelings for her?"

"I don't know that I can pinpoint it to any one thing or time, although …"

"What is it?" Dorothy asked when she trailed off.

"Has anyone told you about Pan and the curse that sent us all back to the Enchanted Forest except for Henry and Emma?"

"Ruby gave me the abridged version."

"I missed Henry terribly. The idea that I might not see my son again was difficult for me to come to terms with. I would think about him and what he was doing back here in this world. And then slowly, I wasn't just thinking about Henry, I was also thinking about Emma," she said. "It wasn't anything that made me pause and think about it or examine in any great way. I think I told myself that I was only thinking of her because she was with Henry.
"And then we were all back here but we didn't remember what happened because of what Zelena had done and Henry didn't remember that I was his mother. That may have hurt more than actually being apart from him. Things just got complicated really quick. Robin was here and Hook was with Emma and then Robin was gone and there she and I were alone out there in the real world and it just happened. But nothing changed because of it and I guess we both just let it go and now, now I don't where thing stand."

Dorothy figured that was an oversimplification of things, but she didn't press Regina for anything more indepth. In the short time she had known her, she had already figured that Regina held things in, held things back even from herself.

"Why didn't you say something to Emma before all this? You know, give her some sort of sign that you had feelings for her?"

"I don't know."

Dorothy suspected that wasn't entirely the truth but maybe Regina wasn't ready to talk about it. Or she was merely talking to the wrong person and should really be speaking to Emma right now. She wondered what had kept Emma from asking Regina out and hoped it was merely as she said – not wanting to do it at work – and hopefully not because she was having second thoughts. She didn't really believe that was the case, but she could tell that Regina was at least thinking it.

"Emma is going to ask you out again," Dorothy said. "You just have to wait for it to happen and when she does, accept the invite and then take it from there. There is nothing wrong with taking small steps."

"How did you and Ruby do it – take small steps when you knew that you were each other's true loves?"

Dorothy smiled at the question. It seemed like any mention of Ruby could make her smile and she again thought about how lucky she was.

"At first it was kind of easy because we didn't actually know each other that well. At the beginning there was a lot of feeling each other out for information about likes and dislikes," Dorothy said. "Being with her felt natural, but I didn't know even the simplest things – what she likes to eat, or if she is a morning person or night owl. All those things you find out in the course of a relationship regardless of how you start will come out. It won't be any different for you and Emma."

"Do you really think so?"

"Yes," Dorothy said. "After all, you two have made it this far."

"This time I'm going do it," Emma said to herself. She was sitting in her car getting ready to approach Regina again to ask her out.

She had waited two days since her last failed attempt. Although she wasn't sure she should call it a failure because it wasn't as if she had actually gotten the chance to ask and be rejected.

Taking a deep breath, she got out of her car and walked up the path to the door. She was about to knock when the door opened and there was Regina.

It shocked Emma so much she just stood there.

"Miss Swan, I mean Emma," Regina said. "I saw your car out there for so long I was beginning to wonder if you were on a stakeout."

"Huh?" Emma responded.

Regina's eyes tightened a bit at the lack of response from the other woman. "What brings you by?" she asked, resisting the urge to cross her arms in front of her.

It was one of the things that Dorothy had told her she should try to avoid doing with Emma because it sent the wrong message. Regina wasn't sure that Emma was that nuanced with body language but nonetheless, she decided to heed Dorothy's counsel.

Emma still continued to stand there saying nothing.
"Would you like to come in?" Regina asked.

"Yes," Emma blurted out. "I mean yes, that would be nice."

They entered the house and Regina closed the door behind them. "Would you like something to drink?"

Regina hoped she would say yes because right now she felt like she could use one.

"No thanks," Emma responded, putting her hands in her back pockets. Regina recognized this move and knew Emma was nervous and she was wondering if they were going to have a repeat performance of Emma not asking her out.

"Do you want to come in further and sit?" Regina asked.

"Yeah, yeah," she said. She followed Regina into the living room and they took seats on opposite ends of the couch.

Again, there was silence and Regina sighed. "Was there a specific reason for you coming here today?" she asked.

"Yes," Emma blurted out and then realized she did and got nervous once more.

"And what is that reason then?" Regina asked.

"Well you know why," Emma said taking a deep breath in and then exhaling. "I was hoping you might go out on a date with me."

"That would be agreeable," Regina said with barely a pause.

"Now I know you said no before, but hear me out," Emma said. "Wait, did you say yes?"

"I did."

"Oh," Emma replied. "That's … that's great and unexpected but great. Um, why did you say yes?"

"Do you not want me to say yes?"

"What? Of course, I do. I just um … I didn't think you would say yes, at least not without making me jump through a few more hoops first."

"Is that what you think of me?" Regina said. "That I'm the one that makes people jump through hoops?"

"What? No. I didn't mean it like that. It's just that I wasn't expecting a yes so quickly is all. It made me wonder why, after rejecting me before what changed your mind."

"It's not as if I was rejecting you per se," Regina replied. "I wasn't sure going on a date with you would be the best idea for either of us. A date is after all a rather public type of event but I thought we could maybe go out of Storybrooke for it."

"Why?"

"As I said, it's a date, which is typically in public."

"I'm not trying to hide the fact I want to go out on a date with you," Emma said. "Are you trying to hide going out on a date with me?"

"No."

"Good, then it's settled. We will go out here in Storybrooke. How about Saturday night?"

"Saturday night would be nice."

"How does 7 sound? I can come pick you up."

"That sounds perfect."

Emma stood up. "I guess I will see you then." Regina also stood and walked her to the door. After Emma left, Regina closed the door.

A date in Storybrooke – she needed to speak to Dorothy.