Days turned into weeks, then months as Regina and Emma grew closer and closer. They were the best of friends, but they also hovered on the edge of something more. Both girls took every excuse they could to innocently touch the other, to hug, to be together and to feel the warmth and closeness that accompanied which neither girl had really been privy to before (unless, of course, you counted Regina's run through this life).

Everything about it was new to both of them. Regina had only ever dated on her mother's insistence, and usually Cora's fellow councilman's sons. Emma had a wilder side, and had snuck out several times in the last few years, heading to bars, drinking, dancing, and holding heavy makeout sessions with the young men there. But never more. And true they weren't exactly dating now but the girls were absolutely inseparable.

And the rumours were beginning slowly, a tiny flame seeking kindling, waiting to reach the right ears. Perhaps that was the impetus for the events that would follow, on what started out as a very ordinary evening…

Ding-dong! The doorbell of the large mansion announced Emma's arrival. Regina grinned as she flew down the stairs to answer it. "Coming!" she yelled, because she knew her mother was away on business. She flung the door aside, out of breath.

Emma stood on the front porch, smirking. "You know, Regina, I'm always glad that you're happy to see me, but you don't have to sprint to answer the door. It's not like I'm going anywhere."

Regina caught her breath as she rolled her eyes, then sassed right back, "Well, Miss Swan, maybe I'm not happy to see you. Maybe I was expecting that you would be the pizza boy..."

Emma kicked off her tennis shoes, then shrugged off her leather jacket and tossed it back at Regina who scrambled to catch it. "Save yourself the embarrassment and stop lying now. We both know you're just thrilled to see me," she turned on her heels and stuck her tongue out at the brunette, who was primly folding the jacket before laying it over the back of a chair.

Regina rolled her eyes once more, "Just go pick out a movie before I smack you; I'll wait here until the pizza comes."

Emma chuckled lightly as she turned and jogged off to the den, where she knew all the Mills' movies were kept.

A few minutes later, Regina entered the room with a hot pizza topped with grilled chicken.

"Seriously, you and your mother have the lamest DVD collection ever. Do you have ANYTHING but romantic comedies?" Emma questioned, a bewildered look on her face as she read the back of another before tossing it aside.

Regina playfully shoved Emma before answering, "You say that every time like you're surprised it hasn't changed." Regina knelt down next to Emma, delicately plucking a DVD case off the shelf. "What about this one?"

Emma snatched it from Regina's hands and skimmed the back thoughtfully, "John… CIA… married partner Karen…danger and lust… This is still a fucking rom com, Regina!"

"It's action and romance. There's something for both of us. Quit pouting and stick it in the player so we can eat the pizza before it's cold and stale."

Emma made a face, but the lure of pizza proved the greater temptation. With a final sigh, she shoved the DVD into the player and turned with a huff, grabbing a slice of pizza from the box and quickly inhaling it without bothering to grab the plate Regina offered. The brunette's eyebrow arched as she extended the pizza box to Emma once more. "Would you like another piece, one you might actually slow down and taste this time?"

Emma rolled her eyes, but grabbed another slice nonetheless. She had two pieces of pizza down before Regina even had a chance to push "play" on the movie. Regina eyed her, questioningly, once again. Emma smirked and quipped "If I eat it quickly I won't have to spit it out when that disgusting sappiness invades the screen."

The older girl rolled her eyes. She hit play before grabbing a slice of pizza for herself and placing it delicately on a plate. After all, she did not want to get grease on the remote, or generally to leave any mess or sign that she and Emma had been together that night at all. For all her mother knew, Regina had been upstairs in her room working on history homework all evening before attending to an early bedtime around 9 p.m. That was what she had told Cora she planned to do when they had talked on the phone earlier. In actuality, it was 10 now and Regina had not even glanced at her homework yet. The senior thanked heaven once again that her mother was out of town.

Holding the piece of pizza steady with a fork, Regina sliced into it with a kitchen knife. She raised the fork to her mouth, urging the bite off gently with her lips. Emma interrupted her with a scoff. "You are not going to eat a pizza this way!" At the look Regina shot at her, Emma responded, "No fucking way. I knowyou're miss 'prim and proper princess' but what you're doing to that pizza is criminal!"

"What I'm doing?" Regina replied once she finished chewing and swallowed. "What about your poor slice of pizza? Half of it is still on your face!" At that, Regina reached up and wiped a glob of sauce from the corner of Emma's mouth as if to prove her point. The blonde absentmindedly leaned into the touch before snatching the utensils from the side of Regina's plate. As the brunette began to protest, Emma ran to the kitchen and dropped them in the sink.

Returning, Emma was greeted with Regina's puppy dog face. "Uh uh. No way am I sitting here while you dissect your pizza with a scalpel. It's a pizza, not a fucking steak dinner. Eat it like a person!"

Regina picked up her slice much as one would imagine she would have treated a diaper, wrinkling her nose as she did so.

"Oh my god. Have you NEVER eaten pizza with your hands before?" Emma scoffed.

"It just so happens that in my family we're a tad more civilized than whatever you grew up doing." With that, Regina cautiously brought the pizza to her lips… only to feel tangles of blonde hair in her face a moment later as Emma leaned over and snatched a bite of the pizza. "Hey! That was mine."

"I'm sorry, is that not proper manners? The way I was brought up…" Emma's sarcasm was interrupted by a playful shove from the older girl.

"Shut up and eat your pizza."

The two girls leaned back contentedly on the couch then, each with a slice of pizza in hand, happy to just be in each other's company without worrying about other people. Emma made many a crude joke that night, and making fun of the movie became great sport for her, while Regina spent the evening rolling her eyes and correcting Emma's grammar just to annoy her.

"Get up," a terse voice pulled Regina slowly from a peaceful slumber.

She turned into the warmth beside her and grumbled, "Five more minutes."

A slap across her cheek yanked her more abruptly from sleep. "Just what the hell do you think you are doing here?" the voice whispered harshly.

Regina blinked a few times attempting to register what was going on. She looked around, taking in the half empty pizza box still open on the coffee table, the black screen with rolling credits on the TV, Emma who was cuddled into Regina's side (her hand resting casually on Regina's left breast) and Cora, whose arm was spread wide to indicate it all.

"I… I…" Regina stuttered, trying to find words, an excuse… anything.

Cora grabbed the hair on top of Regina's head and used it to yank her upward. Regina hissed and winced, but knew better than to protest too strongly. "Get upstairs and wait for me there," Cora bit out evenly.

"But- Emma…" As if in response, Emma's eyes fluttered open slowly. She rubbed them several times, trying to make sense of the scene in front of her, or maybe just trying to make it disappear, Regina wasn't sure. Finally it seemed to click.

"Oh Mrs. Mills, I'm sorry… we were just hanging out doing homework and decided to grab a pizza…" Emma stood up quickly and began to back away, arms extended in front of her.

"Doing homework, hmm? Regina, go grab your homework so that I can see everything you've accomplished, will you dear?"

"But- mother…"

"Now, Regina," Cora said through clenched teeth.

Regina glanced toward Emma, who gave her a nod. Regina turned and ran for her bedroom, wanting to believe with all her heart that her mother would attempt to keep up the charade around company, no matter how mad she was- wanting to believe that Cora would treat Emma to only a veiled threat or casual warning, and not subject her to the torment Regina endured daily. It was that hope that kept her legs moving swiftly to her bedroom.

"Now, dear," Cora hissed at Emma, circling her prey.

"Mrs. Mills, I really am sorry, but nothing was going on, we were just…" Emma trailed off as an icy cold hand came up to stroke her cheek.

"Darling I don't want to hear about it. I do not care what you were doing with my daughter as long as you understand perfectly that it can never happen again."

"But-"

"No!" Cora grasped Emma's chin hard, nails digging in. "I want to be perfectly clear." Cora released Emma and grabbed a checkbook and expensive-looking pen. "I will have some identification for you in the morning which states that you are eighteen. For now, take this check," Cora wrote the words "ten thousand and no over one hundred" on the appropriate line before ripping the check from the book with a flourish, "and leave. I will have the identification and papers proving you are of age at the front desk of the hotel in the morning. After that you must leave. I never want to see your face in this town again." Cora pressed the check into Emma's hand and turned away.

"Mrs. Mills, I don't think that's your decision to make… and I don't want…"

"You think I give a damn what you want, dear? In this town, everything is about what I want. And what I want is to get you out of the system, away from abusive parent after abusive parent. Wouldn't that be lovely, hmm?" Seeing the hesitation still evident on the young girl's face, Cora continued. "Just imagine what would happen if you went back to those abusive parents, and they decided they didn't want you anyway. Imagine having to leave the town, and still having to remain in the system for another, what is it now dear?- four years?" Emma's eyes widened at the obvious threat.

"You couldn't…"

"Do you honestly think my influence in this town of mine is so weak, dear? Perhaps you should rethink your decision."

Tears streaming down her cheeks and with hunched, defeated shoulders, Emma turned toward the front door. She crumpled the check, letting it fall behind her as she left. Still, as she walked the long front path away from the mansion, Emma's destination was clear: the local hotel.