A/N: Ok, I'm not going to pretend this is a surprise plot twist but I hope you guys like it!

The dull thud of the bass receded with every step she took away from the high school gym. Excited voices intermingled with the music, steadily faded too until, at last, everything was silent. She was alone. The corridors were illuminated but deserted, her heels clicking on the tiles as she walked down them one final time.

This was it. This was the last time she would be at her high school. In the fall she would be off to college. The thought both excited and scared her. She'd be going from a big, popular fish in a small pond to a teeny tiny piece of unknown plankton in what felt like a lake. It was new and challenging and something she was determined to excel at. College would be a fresh start, a chance to leave the old Regina Mills behind her. A chance to be who she really was.

It wasn't all bad, she knew, reaching up and caressing the prom queen crown on the top of her head where it rested on curls which her mother had painstakingly pinned into place. The majority of her high school life had been idyllic. But her status and her reputation, to some extent had been borne out of a culture of fear. Over the past six months, Regina was beginning to recognise and despise that element of her high school life. She's woken up, quite abruptly, to who she was.

She had been a bully. She knew that. She had been the leader of a pack of mean girls who had made the lives of a chosen few hell for no reason. As her conscious caught up with her, Regina had tried to steer Vicky and Zelena away from their mean-spirited games but the two girls appeared to relish the way they treated those deemed unworthy of their friendship. And Regina hadn't been strong enough to stand up to them, fearful that despite her status as their leader, the two would turn against her and she would suffer. She wasn't strong enough to do that; she was weak.

The sound of a door snapping shut up ahead echoed through the quiet space. Regina frowned. Who else was wandering the corridors? Who else had slipped out of their own high school prom to walk alone just before the evening drew to an end? Curious, she began to peer through the small windows in each door, scanning the dark classrooms beyond for any sign of life. It didn't take her long to identify her corridor companion.

She hesitated, taking in the figure sat in the gloom beyond, hand poised over the handle. She knew who it was the moment she saw her. Her heart thudded a little harder. It had been over six months since the two of them had been alone together, the day Vicky had all but stolen that new red jacket. Where was the jacket now? Regina never saw either woman wear either version. Was this her chance? Was this the opportunity she had been waiting for? After a moment, she turned the knob, a shaft of light splintering the room. Blonde hair whipped around, green eyes widening as they took in the intruder.

"Hey," Regina said as she stepped inside and closed the door, plunging the two of them into semi-darkness once more.

"Um, hi," Emma replied, shifting off the table on which she had been sat. Of all the students to have found her, why did it have to be the one she least wanted to see? "Sorry, I'll leave."

She made her way towards the door and had almost reached it when Regina's voice came from nearby. "You don't have to."

Emma stopped in her tracks, eyes scanning the room as they slowly adjusted to the light filtering in through the small window in the door. Regina's face was dimly lit, but she could see those large brown eyes, perfectly framed by what looked like a bit too much eye liner, locked on Emma's face. She wanted to move; to walk away. But her feet remained frozen in place, refusing their command.

"What are you doing here and not at the prom with everyone else?" Regina asked, emboldened when Emma made no move, either to leave or sit down.

"I don't like loud music," Emma replied. "Or crowds. When there are too many people, I can't think clearly. I wanted to come for a walk to get away from everyone." If it had been anyone else, the end statement might have sounded like a dig at Regina for interrupting the blonde's solitude. But it wasn't; it was just a statement of fact.

"Yeah, I'm not a fan of crowds either," Regina admitted. "Plus, my date was getting handsy." At the memory, she reached up and plucked the glittering crown from her head and dropped it onto the table beside her.

Emma said nothing. She had seen Robin and Regina on the dance floor, each of them topped with a tacky crown to mark their coronation as prom king and queen. The man's mouth had been fused to Regina's and from where Emma was standing, it looked like he was trying to eat her face. That can't be pleasant, she had thought to herself before she slinked away from the overwhelming gym and into the quiet corridors.

"Where's your date?" Regina asked.

"I don't have one," Emma replied. "I came in a car with Killian and his date but now they're dancing together and three people can't dance together like … that."

"Why don't you have a date?"

Emma hesitated, the simple truth one she struggled to vocalise. "No one wanted to come with me."

"I don't believe that."

Again, there was a long pause, Emma trying to understand the words she was hearing. It would help if she could see Regina's face even if she did find it hard to read expressions. Was the woman teasing her? Was that familiar, cruel smirk on those beautiful plump lips?

"I asked a girl. She said no. She said I was cute, but she didn't want to be seen at prom with me. I understand that because everyone knows I'm weird, but I don't understand why she thinks I'm cute. Puppies are cute. And kittens are cute. They have big eyes. It's part of nature's evolution to make sure that baby animals survive. We think they look sweet and innocent so we don't kill them and other species think the same. Baby animals are cute, but people aren't cute."

"I think you're cute."

Emma froze, suddenly aware that Regina was closer than she thought, her eyes finally accustomed to the light. Or had Regina moved? She was mere feet away. Within touching distance, Emma's brain calculated.

"I don't understand," Emma whispered, brain desperately trying to register the signals it seemed to be receiving.

"Me neither," Regina replied.

"You hate me," Emma stated. "You and your friends hate me."

"I don't hate you, Emma," the brunette said. "I … you confuse me."

"You confuse me," Emma shot back. In fact, the blonde couldn't remember a time when she'd been more confused. Which was saying something as her autism meant she often struggled to understand concepts which were not scientific or logical. Emotions, thoughts, other people's behaviours.

"No, I mean, how I feel for you confuses me."

"How you feel for me?"

"Yes."

"How do you feel for me?"

The blonde's directness was perhaps a blessing in that moment, Regina realised, as without such prompting, she wasn't sure she'd have the courage to do what happened next. Or perhaps it was those swigs of whiskey Robin had encouraged her to have from a hip flask he had snaffled into the prom. Either way, something made Regina move forwards. Emma gasped as she felt lips press softly against her own, hands drifting up to rest on her hips. It was the briefest contact, a brush of flesh on flesh, before Regina moved back, eyes glittering in the darkness, inches from Emma's face.

"Did you just kiss me?" Emma asked, taking a step backwards and causing Regina's hands to slide from her body.

"Yes," Regina nodded.

"Why?"

"Because it's something I've wanted to do for a long time." The hushed confession was finally out there, Regina vocalising at last what she'd known, deep down, for a long time. Emma, however, was struggling to process a colossal piece of new information and it took her several seconds to answer.

"Kiss me?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Regina couldn't help but chuckle. "I don't think I have the answer to that question, Emma."

"Are you gay?"

"I don't know," Regina said.

"I'm gay," Emma stated.

"I know."

"But you're not gay."

"I might be," Regina replied.

"But you have a boyfriend. You are with Robin. He's a boy and you're a girl." Emma had learned about sexuality in middle school. She had realised early on that she was not attracted to boys. Her autism made this an easy fact to accept, facilitated by her supportive foster parents. But she also knew that the majority of people tended to be in relationships with someone of the opposite sex. Like Robin and Regina.

"I know but these past few months I've been, I dunno, having feelings."

"Feelings? Like happy and sad?"

"Bigger than that, I think," Regina replied. "Emma, I have feelings for you that I don't have for Robin."

"But he's your boyfriend."

"I know."

"And I'm not your girlfriend."

"I know that too."

"And you hate me."

The bluntness of the words caused a stab of pain through Regina's gut. That was how the blonde perceived their relationship. Justifiably, her brain supplied. But it still hurt, to know that Emma thought Regina despised her so much. She had to set her straight. It wasn't too late. "No, I don't,"she murmured.

"You and your friends hate me," Emma repeated. "You and your friends have bullied me for two years. You do hate me."

"Emma, no, please. I don't hate you. I'm sorry," Regina stepped forwards and tried to reach for Emma's hands but the blonde pulled back. "Emma, I don't hate you. I'm confused about how I feel for you but I know it isn't hate. I'm so sorry about everything that's happened. I know you won't forgive me and that's ok but I need to tell you how I feel."

"Did you follow me in here? Did you come here to tell me this?"

"No, I was just walking in the corridor and I heard the door. I didn't know it was you but once I saw you, I knew it was now or never."

"What was now or never?"

Regina sighed. "Emma, I like you. I mean, really like you."

Emma's mind whirled. How could a girl who liked her be so mean for so long? It didn't make sense. You were nice to people you liked and you were mean to people you didn't like. Only Mary Margaret taught Emma that being mean is not a good thing so if you come across someone in your life you don't like, you should just not spend time with them if you can avoid it. Regina, however, had been actively mean to her, alongside her friends for two years.

"I don't understand," Emma sighed quietly, her brain giving up trying to make sense of everything which had happened in the past five minutes.

Regina hesitated before stepping forwards again. She could see Emma's ghostly features in the dim light from the door's window. Green eyes were flickering over Regina's face, trying to understand, to read the expression there. Slowly, Regina reached up and cupped either side of Emma's face, giving the woman plenty of time to move away. Regina felt her tense beneath her touch but made no indication that she was about to pull back. Slower still, brown eyes drifting from green orbs to slightly parted lips; she moved closer.

Just before their lips touched for a second time, Emma's eyes drifted closed. It was instinct, her body taking over despite her inexperience. She felt the warmth of Regina's shallow breathing against her skin as their mouths met once more. The brunette was trembling, she realised, her slim body vibrating with nervous energy. They stood there, lips gently pressed together, for several seconds. It surprised both of them when Emma began to kiss Regina back.

It was clumsy, exploratory as this time the blonde's hands came up to sit on Regina's hips. Her lips parted slightly, capturing one of Regina's between her own. A soft sigh escaped the brunette's mouth and she stepped a little closer, the girls' fronts now touching. Emma's fingers flexed against Regina's hips. She struggled with physical contact. But the tingling in her tummy which seemed to be spreading from their kiss was more powerful, more addictive than the need to pull away. It was confusing and new and strange but also, for want of a better word, nice.

Regina's hands slid lower, down Emma's slender neck and into the long blonde hair which tumbled down her back. Emma tilted her head to one side, like she'd seen in the movies, and moved her lips a little more firmly against Regina's. This time, a light moan spilled from Regina's lips. Emma's stomach did a somersault. She pulled Regina a little closer, pressing their bodies more firmly together, one hand drifting to the small of Regina's back. Just as she was about to find out what it would be like to add her tongue into the kiss, something she'd also seen in movies, light exploded around them.

"Oh my god!"

The two girls stumbled apart the moment they realised they weren't alone. Blinking in the light, it took Emma a moment to realise who the two people silhouetted in the doorway were. Regina identified them instantly and quickly moved to stand beside them, heart in her mouth. She felt nerves rise inside her, the passion she had felt seconds before eclipsed at once as she scrambled to work out what she should say. She couldn't tell them the truth. She couldn't. She couldn't admit to her friends how she felt about Emma.

"Good one, Regina," Vicky laughed. "Leading on the lesbian weirdo. I can't believe you kissed her though. That's gross."

There it was; her 'get out of jail free' card, handed to her on a plate. The fact that her friend's mind made that assumption, rather than considering the possibility that Regina hadn't been, as usual, teasing or bullying Emma, was a blessing she seized upon.

"Yeah," Regina said, her tone breathless. "Gross. Totally gross. But funny, right?" She was looking at her friends, keeping her back firmly to Emma, knowing she couldn't bring herself to gaze upon the girl's face. The expression she couldn't bare to see would doubtless be filled with pain and confusion. If only you knew, Emma, Regina thought to herself, that I'm feeling exactly the same on the inside.

"Brilliant. The best thing you did all year," Zelena chuckled. "How did you get her to think you liked her?"

"Oh, you know. I just lied," Regina said easily. She heard the inhale of breath behind her followed by a sniffle. Her heart pounded against her ribs, as if so angry with the human it was keeping alive that the organ wanted to burst from the body her words were betraying. She had to leave. She couldn't look at Emma. "Come on," she said. "Let's go back to prom."

Without a backwards glance, Regina stalked from the room, followed by her two cackling friends. Emma slumped into the nearest chair as soon as they were out of sight, tears streaming down her face. It wasn't the fact that Regina had left which hurt, not entirely. Until two minutes ago, Emma hadn't even thought of Regina in a romantic way at all. Her heart wasn't broken, by any means. But her self-confidence, her self-belief, her self-love, they had all been shattered. How could she be so foolish to think someone might like her, might see her for more than just the weird girl who reads too much and struggles to have a normal conversation? Of course, Regina didn't like her. Of course, it was a trick.

Standing up, she headed for the still open door but paused when something glittering caught her eye. Regina's prom queen crown lay on one of the desks, discarded by its owner. Emma hesitated for a moment before snatching it up and walking out into the deserted corridor. She looked left, then right, then turned towards the closest exit.

Once outside, she began to run, grateful that she had refused to wear the heels Mary Margaret had bought her and instead wore her Converse. She ran, and ran, and ran, away from the school, away from Regina, away from her teenage years. By the time she got home her red cheeks were wet with tears. Her foster parents hurried up the stairs after her, desperate to find out what had upset their daughter so much. Emma couldn't tell them. She never did manage to explain what happened that night, not even years later.

The family left Maine the following morning for New York and Emma was booked into a session with Archie where, over the course of months, the two of them would slowly unpick and address everything which had taken place in that empty classroom. It took time. It was hard. But eventually, Emma began to move on. She regained her confidence, she excelled at college, she met Becky, she started her first proper relationship. Memories of that night faded until they were a distant, unpleasant but insignificant part of her past.

A/N: the next chapter will pick up directly where the last one left off. You can all thank my girlfriend for the short chapter as she agreed with my idea of splitting it into two, so the women's next convo is coming up on Sunday

I know Regina has a lot of making up to do but please don't hate on her. She was just a confused teenager – we've all been there, right? She just happened to make a few wrong decisions. Again, who hasn't?