A/N – I have been really inspired lately, so you guys must be in luck. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter and please remember to tell me what you think. On with the romancing.

"That sounds like a good idea. But I should probably go back to my own place. If I go to yours…"

"I get it. Come on. Let's go grab a taxi. I'll help you back to your place and then go back to mine when I know you're alright."

"Thank you."

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I pulled Regina through her apartment door. Her place wasn't too bad. It seemed smart yet it also had a bit of a homey effect to it. There were pictures of her family everywhere. Her Mother, Father. People I was assuming were related in some way, but not directly as they didn't have the same resemblance as Regina. I hoisted Regina over to her bedroom with her help to direct me. Once in, I carefully placed her down on the bed, and when I tried to pull away I felt a tug at my shirt. I looked down and saw Regina holding on to the hem of my shirt for dear life. Nothing was going to get her to let go.

"Regina?" I placed my hand on hers and I felt it relax slightly, but I didn't try to remove it just yet.

"I don't want you to go." Her voice was pleading with me, but it smelt like pure alcohol. Anything she said I needed to take with a pinch of salt. This wasn't the normal Regina that I was constantly butting heads with or having all the conversations that make me sweaty in the palms.

"Regina I can't stay here. I need to get back home to Henry." I could see the pain in her eyes, but she quickly made a move and rolled us over so she was sitting on top of me. Straddling my hips, and pressing me back down by the shoulders. "Regina!" I wasn't exactly expecting that.

"I don't want you to leave." Her voice wasn't really giving me much room to argue, but maybe I could compromise with her.

"How about this? I stay with you until you fall asleep. That way we can spend a bit more time together. Sound good?" Regina just nodded her head before leaning down to claim my lips for her own. She was so soft, but I could taste the alcohol on her lips. I wanted to keep this going so badly, but Regina would hate herself and me for this in the morning. I pushed her back by the shoulder and gave her a stern look. This was killing me inside, but it needed to be done.

"You are too nice for your own good." I let out a huff and guided Regina down so we were both lying on our sides looking at each other.

"Believe me, I know. But you stopped yourself for me once, and I am going to do the same for you now. So come on. You need to sleep. I am going to need you fresh for tomorrow."

"What's special about tomorrow?"

"We are going to spend the whole day together," She slid in closer and rubbed her nose against mine. She doesn't like making things easy for me.

"I like the sound of that already."

"You didn't let me finish. We are spending the day going over all the details for the event. I want to make sure everything is finished and ready to the standards I have."

"You, Miss Swan, have standards?" She gets even sassier when she's drunk. Good thing I had a few drinks of my own.

"Maybe not. I mean, I am dating you aren't I?" She gave me a light slap across the arm, but it was worth it. She settled back down onto the bed and snuggled so close to me I could feel her stomach. She wrapped her legs around mine and rested her head on one of my arms. This wasn't going to be easy to sneak away from.

"Did I hear right? You're dating me?" Damn. She might be drunk but she doesn't seem to miss anything.

"You did. And we are." The less I say the less trouble I'll be getting myself into.

"But Emma, you haven't even take me out on a proper date yet. And before you even think it, tonight doesn't count as date because Ruby and Belle invited me out."

"Geez, alright woman. I will ask you out on a date when the time is right. Not when we are curled up in your bed, and you keep getting closer and closer. You aren't exactly subtle by the way."

"I know, but at least now I am close enough to do this." She kissed me once again, but this time it was gentler. Sweet and yet still filled with so much passion. But I could tell that she wasn't trying to lead it anywhere. She just wanted to kiss. And that was something I was more than happy to do. She pulled back, but kept her lips lingering on mine.

"Your kisses kill me." I gasped out with the breath I didn't realise I was holding.

"That wasn't cheesy at all." I could feel her smirking, so I gave her a little jab in the stomach.

"Shut up." We started laughing for a second before calming back down. I gave Regina one last kiss before shuffling away slightly until I realised I couldn't move very far as I would have fallen off the bed. Regina was clever when it came to manoeuvring things around. And that included me. "Go to sleep. I won't go anywhere until I know you're asleep. I promise. I'm not going anywhere."

"But you won't be here when I wake up." Her voice made my heart break. I wanted to keep her happy. That was all I wanted to do. But if that meant being here when she woke up, I don't know if I was going to be able to do that.

"You will see me tomorrow. But right now, you need to sleep. And I need you to be ready for tomorrow." She didn't say a word. She must have chosen that what was going to happen was going to happen, and there was nothing she could do to change that. After a few minutes I could tell Regina had gone to sleep. I stayed for a little while longer. I didn't want to leave her, but I knew that if I stayed I would never hear the end of it from my parents who would undoubtedly tell Ruby and Belle and they would go on about it forever. So it was best to simply play things safe for the moment. At least while things were still early on. But one thing was nagging at me as I was climbing from Regina's bed. I really hadn't taken her on a date I wanted to date her. That doesn't exactly work.

Walking back home I was thinking about what I could do to fix this. I wanted to ask Regina out on a date, but I needed to find the right time to do it. And then find the right place to take her. It all seemed very complicated. So when I got home and found Mom and Dad curled up on the sofa watching a movie, I said my thanks and almost chucked them out the door. All I wanted to do was figure out how I was meant to handle the Regina situation. All I could think about was how I was going to do the first date. It was important to do. And considering we have already kissed it feels like we are doing things backwards slightly. Maybe I am just thinking about it all too late, and I needed a fresh mind on it tomorrow. Talking to Belle and Ruby when they aren't pissed off their heads could be useful. But I need to be careful about what I tell them or this could all blow up in my face big time.

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I headed into work early. I had already set Henry off to school, so I was free to do what I needed. I was the first one in at the office which meant I didn't have to deal with anyone trying to suck up to me, or any reports come flying in my face. All I wanted to do was get to my office and get on with my own work. I opened the door to my office and almost jumped out of my skin.

"Regina?"

"Hello Miss Swan." Her voice was monotone. As if she wasn't impressed, or just disinterested. I moved round to get a better look at Regina's face. After seeing the look in her eyes, I could tell what was wrong.

"Are we hung over?" I was teasing but I just couldn't resist. This might be the only time I get to see Regina like this and I was going to take full advantage of this.

"Don't rub it in." She started massaging the sides of her temples, and I knew from experience it always felt more relaxing when someone else did it for you. So dropping all my papers on the desk and my bags on the floor, I moved back round to be behind Regina and replaced her hands with mine. "Thank you." She sounded like a little puppy. It was completely adorable.

"If you are so hung over what on earth are you doing in here so early? It is barely even 9 yet." She let out a little grunt.

"My Mother decided to give me a call. Don't get me wrong, I love my Mother. But she truly does have the worst timing in the world. She called me at about 7:30, as I am almost always awake by 6. But for obvious reasons that wasn't the case this morning." She started leaning back into my touch as I started running my fingers through her hair. It was as soothing for me as it probably was for her.

"Fair enough." I thought back to last night. "Regina, how much do you remember from last night?"

"I don't really remember much after Ruby and Belle caught us kissing outside the bar. It is all a bit fuzzy. I don't even know how I made it back to my apartment. But I am going to assume you had something to do with that." She looked up at me and smiled.

"Yes I did. We grabbed a taxi and I helped you back to your bed."

"Oh god. Please tell me I didn't completely embarrass myself. I've been told I can become extremely flirtatious when I get drunk. As well as other similar things but I would rather we discuss that at another time." Mental note: Ask Regina about her drunk self. Just don't remind her of what happened yet. Best keep things in a good place for the moment.

"You weren't too bad. You were certainly a bit clingy when it came to helping you move around, but other than that, you weren't too bad." Not a lie, just not the whole truth. She reached her hand up to mine and pulled them from her hair, bringing them down to in front of her face, she gave each of my palms a kiss before releasing me and titling her head up once more.

"Thank you. For everything." I leaned down and placed a kiss to her forehead.

"You're welcome." I moved back around to my own chair, regardless of the protest I heard from Regina. As I sat down in my chair, my professional armour came on, and it was like my entire personality changed. But when I looked up to Regina, it was as though she was somehow managing to put dents into the armour. She was breaking down my barriers bit by bit.

"So what are we getting on with today?" She brought me from my thoughts, and thank god she did. I was heading down the river, fast.

"I was thinking we could cover all the final details. You could help me prepare my speech, I could take you out to lunch, and finalise all the paperwork for the event. How does that sound?"

"Hold on a minute. Did you just say you wanted to take me to lunch?" I felt the blush creeping up my cheeks, and all I could was nod my head, not trusting my voice to speak. "Miss Swan, are you asking me out on a date?" Her challenging smirk made me take a breath of courage and use my big girl words finally.

"I am. And I hope that you are interested in joining me. Otherwise this would be incredibly embarrassing." I was trying to use the same tone as her. Mocking yet challenging. And it seemed to work. I saw a slightly dominant side of her coming out. Like she enjoyed having someone to battle, but there was something in her eyes telling me I was going to lose. It came across as almost evil.

"I would be very interested in joining you for lunch. But we have to get a certain amount of work done before we even consider having lunch." She leant down, and grabbed her laptop and placed it on the table. Without saying another word she got on with her work. I joined her, and as the morning drew on I was starting to feel more relaxed. About everything. About the event. About Regina. About how things between her and I were going to go. And everything just felt like it was all falling into place. It felt amazing. I kept my eye on the clock. 10 o'clock. 11o'clock. 11:30. It was like lunch time was never going to come. Time dragged on so much, it felt like forever.

"Emma?" Or not. I was just getting lost in my work, it felt like forever. "It's time for lunch. And since you wanted to take me to lunch, I figured you might want to actually lead me to where we're going. Or at the least tell me."

"So demanding." I teased. I closed my laptop down, and packed all my bits away. Everyone was heading for the front door, Regina and I weren't far behind. Only a few people remained during the lunch hour and they left for lunch when everyone else came back.

"So where are we going to be dining for lunch?"

"That is for me to know," I took her by the hand and dragged her over to my car. "And for you to find out." She unwillingly got into the car and buckled herself in. But I could see how tense she was. "What's wrong?"

"You expect me to relax while I am riding around in this death trap? Not a chance in hell Miss Swan." I laid a hand on her leg and gave her a gentle squeeze, hoping for it to be comforting. But maybe that was the wrong action to do. I heard her breath catch in her throat and I suddenly realised what I did. Sticking with my original plan I rubbed her leg slightly and looked into her eyes.

"Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you." She looked into my eyes, and I could see her beginning to relax back into the seat, before she quickly leant forward and grabbed my cheeks. Pulling me towards her for a deep kiss. "What was that for?"

"For making sure I was okay. Most of the people I have dated would have just shrugged me off and gotten on with it. But you checked and you cared."

"You clearly haven't been dating the right people then have you." I gave her one last quick kiss before setting myself back in my chair and heading off. Hopefully, what I had in mind was going to keep these feelings and the atmosphere going. I liked it and I never wanted it to end.

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A/N – Not the longest I realise, but the next chapter I am planning to make it the lunch date, and then skip forward to the event. And we will find out what that secret little mission Gold made Regina do is. I hope you all enjoyed. Please remember to review and tell me what you think. You guys are what keep me alive. Goodbye my lovelies.