Class sizes were increasing for Emma, and new members were signing up every day, keeping her extremely busy. Henry's database working amazing to help her keep track of them all. She was happy for the increase in members and classes, but she was missing her alone time with a certain hot brunette.

Regina was slammed at City Hall as well. Dealing with new roadwork contracts and code updates to boating docks. Finance and budget meetings taking way longer than they needed to be.

With both working so hard, Regina and Emma had been meeting for lunches whenever time permitted them. Emma had even met her and Henry for lunch at Gran's a couple times.

It was hard for either of them to believe that the time had gone so fast, when their official second date didn't end up happening for over two months after their first.

Emma had the day planned for them. No phones or work talk allowed. No dresses or heels, just comfortable clothes and shoes. Their smiles as they drove to the mystery location only widened when Regina realized where they were going.

"Really?" Regina practically squealed in delight when they approached the ranch deep in the forest.

"Really." Emma smiled at the excited brunette as she drove David's pick-up truck he had let her borrow.

"This is why you wanted me to wear jeans and boots to our second date?! I thought maybe we were going hiking or something, but this is so exciting!" Regina practically bounced in her seat as she looked off through the gated field they were passing, trying hard to spy the horses.

"I'm glad you like the surprise." Emma reached out and squeezed Regina's hand.

When the truck came to a stop and the engine was cut, Emma found herself being pressed against the door by Regina's body and demanding set of lips.

"Wow." Emma said as Regina pulled away. "OK, I'm going to have to find a way to buy you a horse. That's clearly what needs to happen."

Regina giggled and jumped from the car. Emma rushed to catch up to her, heading toward Roger Miller's office. After signing some paperwork, the women were shown to the stables to pick out their horses.

Being that they were both experienced ridders, they were given their pick of the horses in the far barn. Emma watched in amusement as Regina visited each horse, one-by-one. Circling back to whisper and pet some of them, more than once. Her favorite seemed to be an elegant fawn colored steed with a blonde mane.

Regina looked above his stall and saw the name, "Macintosh."

"Macintosh. I think you and I are going for a ride." Regina pet his nose, and the horse nudged her slightly, making her smile widen impossibly more. She turned to Emma, "What about you?"

Emma was distracted watching Regina act like a child in a toy store, picking out whatever toy she wanted. Emma had not even thought of her own horse.

She too, went stall by stall looking at each horse, settling on a tall painted horse. He was white with patches of dark and light brown. One said patch covering an eye. Like a black eye on a boxer.

"Jigsaw." Emma read is name. "I love it. You're coming with us, bud."

The women saddled their horses and led them outside the barn. The owner handed Emma a map of the grounds, as well as a saddle bag of waters and snacks. They were off within minutes.

They took their time riding through a patch in the woods. They crossed a small stream, and continued following it as it widened into a slow moving river. Then reaching a plateau of an open field on the side of a mountain, at least a mile round. At once the two women smiled wickedly at each other, and took off at a gallop.

Their horses ran neck in neck to the other side of the field. Emma could hear Regina laughing gleefully over the roar of the hooves hitting the ground. The happy brunette beat her to the edge of the woods on the other side.

They came to a stop next to each other, completely lost in the thrill of the run. Emma feeling like she would give anything to continue seeing that care-free smile on Regina's face forever. She motioned for them to head back to the stream.

"How about we take a breather back by the water. Let the horses have a drink, and see what Roger packed for us." Emma suggested.

"Sounds wonderful." Regina said, turning her horse around. "Race ya!" She screamed as she kicked Macintosh into gear and took off ahead of the bemused blonde.

"Cheater!" Emma yelled and chased after her.

Once they had tied off the horses by the river bed, the pair unpacked the snacks the ranch owner had given them. There were four bottles of water, a bag of trail mix, a bag of grapes, and a five bright green apples.

Emma took out her pocket knife and began cutting up a couple of the apples, handing one to Regina. They enjoyed giving their friendly horses a treat, before returning to the blanket Emma had laid out for them. Regina sat with her legs stretched out in front of her, while Emma laid her head in Regina's lap.

"That run was so much fun. I can't thank you enough, Emma." Regina ran her hand through soft blonde locks of hair. She had taken it out of its ponytail before having Emma lay down.

Emma had her eyes closed at the sensation, and hummed at feeling completely relaxed.

"I'm glad you're having fun."

Regina took the opportunity to observe the women before her, as her eyes were closed. She notice every defined line of the woman's jaw. The small bump in her nose that told it her it hand been broken many years ago.

"You never told me how you learned to ride." Regina said as she stopped her menstruations and lean back on her hands.

Emma opened one eye with a shy smile. "My ex taught me."

"Oh." Regina said simply, not sure how she should react but feeling jealous instantly.

"Lily." Emma said her name, sitting up to explain. She placed a hand on the ground on the other side of Regina, leaning over the woman's legs. "She was a cop for BPD. Part of their Mounted Police Force. She also managed the stables for them. She'd take me riding through the BPD academy grounds all the time."

Regina nodded, not knowing what to say she lowered her gaze to her hands. Emma followed her gaze and placed her free hand over Regina's.

"I can tell you want to ask questions." She stroked Regina's hand with her thumb. Her heart lightened when the stoic brunette met her eyes with a shy smile of her own.

"Lily and I were together for about a year, but we had known each other through-out high school."

"High school?" Regina's eyes widened at that information.

"Yeah. We had been friends for over seven years when the dynamics sort of shifted. Remember I told you about that girl in high school, Becky Meyers?"

Regina thought back, "The bully?"

"Yeah, her. Well Becky had another nemesis. Lily was from a poor family, and lived with her mom and grandmother in a small trailer in the outskirts of town. Not far from where David and I lived in a group home. When David prevented Becky from going after me, she went after Lily."

"What a brat." Regina huffed.

"Yeah, Becky was a piece of work. If it makes you feel any better, she got pregnant junior year and dropped out." Emma spoke without laughing. "I actually kind of felt bad for her. Her parents sent her to a nunnery, 60's style, to have her baby."

"Oh. That is sad." Regina reached out and ran her hands through blonde hair again. She was getting addicted to its softness.

"So needless to say, when Becky started going after Lily, David and I stepped in to help her out. It didn't seem like she had a whole lot of friends. But Lily was nuts. She would do or say anything that could get you in trouble. Sometime during our junior year, the local YMCA was offering free karate lessons for kids. So the three of us decided to go check it out."

"Is that how you got into martial arts?" Regina asked as she encouraged Emma to lay back down in her lap, so she could continue playing with her hair.

"Yeah. Turned out that I was the only one into it. By the time we graduated High School, David and Lily had stopped going to class, but I was already on my way to my first stripe in a brown belt. That's a couple of steps below a black belt."

Regina laughed at Emma's boasting. "And your foster mother, Joanna. She supported you going to class for this?"

"Oh, she hated it. Before she actually saw me in a match, she thought I was dating an abusive boyfriend. She swore she would call the police if I came home with more bruises. Anyway, when I took her with me to a meet and I let her meet the teachers with the school sponsoring me, she was totally on board."

"When David and I aged out of the system and the group home, Joanna hated seeing us go, but as with all foster homes, one kid exits, two take their place. David told us he was coming here to Maine. Saying goodbye to David was harder than Jo. He was my big bro, you know. But life at sea was the last thing Lily or I ever wanted to do. So Lily and I decided to stay behind in Boston, and get a place together. She joined the academy and I started training full time. It wasn't long after moving in together, that we started… sleeping together."

"Where is she now?" Regina asked softly.

"New York." Emma said staring into the sky. "I don't think what we had was a relationship, really. We never referred to each other as our girlfriend, or went out on dates. We hung out in groups. We went to parties. I think what we had was more of a friend with benefits type deal."

"So you weren't that serious?" Regina queried.

"I mean, she was my friend, we had an understanding. But I guess I took it more serious than she did. When she told me about her new position with the New York's Mounted Police Department… it wasn't to see if I would go with her." Emma let out a bemused laugh. "It was to tell me she planned to go without me."

"I'm sorry Emma." Regina squeezed the woman's shoulder.

Emma turned to look directly into strong chocolate brown eyes. "I'm not."

Regina smiled down at her, Emma meeting her halfway in a kiss. Emma sat up to get a better angle, and wrapped her arms around soft curves. It took little persuading to get Regina to lay down completely, Emma following her down on her side.

Emma braced herself on her elbow and pulled back to look down at Regina. She gently cupped the tanned woman's cheek and stroked the skin under Regina's lips.

Regina had one hand on Emma's hip, the other arm wrapped around the blonde, stroking her back in lazy circles. She beamed a bright smile at the woman above her before pulling her in for a deeper kiss.

Emma hooked one of Regina's legs with her own, and moved closer, their kisses becoming heated. Regina found her body buzzing in an excitement she had not felt in years. She buried her hands in Emma's hair, holding her gently to her as she delved into the woman's mouth and teased her tongue with her own.

Emma hummed at the strong woman's demanding hands and mouth. She felt Regina's hands slowly move down her sides to her hips. A gentle nudge told her the Mayor wanted her to move further over her.

Emma happily obliged, but kept her weight off of the body she so desperately wanted to press against. Sensing the Emma's hesitation and wanting to urge her on, Regina rotated her hands to a curved ass. Cupping them non-too-gently, she effectively pulled Emma's body to lay completely on top of her. They both gasped at the contact, pulling away from their kiss.

"That's not fair." Emma teased as she got comfortable on top of the grinning woman. "I've been wanting to touch your curvy ass since the moment I met you."

Emma's eyebrows jumped in excitement as Regina rotated them around and sat up on Emma's lap. Emma sat up and wrapped her arms around Regina's waist.

Regina pulled Emma by her shirt, an inch away from her lips, and whispered, "You still can."

Emma instantly leaned up to kiss her deeply again. She slid her hands up and down Regina's back and thighs, before allowing them to circle around to Regina's firm ass.

One particularly hard squeeze to Regina's rear, had both their bodies coiling toward each other, and lips pulling apart in a moan. They looked deep into each other's eyes before moving toward each other at a slower pace.

Regina fought hard not to move her body harder against Emma's torso. She had her hands buried in soft blonde tresses, and relished the feeling of soft caresses to her back and sides. Before things could progress further, though, the horses neighed at them, making them pull apart laughing.

"I think that might be our cue to get going." Regina laughed at the pout her words brought out in Emma.

"I don't wanna."

Regina giggled more, "As tempting as those cute lips are, we should be getting back. I'm supposed to pick up Henry at the gym after his study date with Violet."

"I guess…"

Emma stood and helped the Mayor to her feet. She took a moment to hold Regina in her arms and kiss her once more, before making quick work of packing everything back up. Once mounted, they made their way back to the ranch.

"Henry mentioned that Violet liked ridding too. He's thinking of bringing her out here too. Maybe we could all do it together next time." Emma suggested.

"Henry? On a horse?" Regina laughed. "I love my son dearly but an equestrian, he is not. I tried getting him on a horse at a fair when he was about six or seven. He got so scared, he threw up. But, I suppose I guess it doesn't hurt to try again now that he's older."

Emma laughed. "I'm going to have to keep that in my arsenal the next time he picks on me for gagging at dog poop. I got some on my shoe running the other day, and nearly threw up trying to get it off."

Regina's laugh was one Emma had yet to hear. It was almost a childish giggle. She couldn't help but laugh with her. "Yes very funny. Laugh it up Mayor."

"I'm sorry, truly. I just wonder what you would be like with a diaper." Regina began laughing harder and Emma's queasy look.

"I love kids, and babies, I do. And I can do diapers, too. As long as they're not poopy diapers. Cause then there will be two messes to clean up." Emma laughed with Regina.

"Do you ever think about having children? Growing up in the system, I was curious to know." Regina asked sincerely.

Emma smiled at her, "Yeah. I think it'd be cool to have a kid or two. Especially if they're like Henry. He must have been an easy baby."

Regina huffed, "Easy, not so much. Try colicky. The first couple of months were horrible. I was convinced I was doing everything wrong and that I was hurting him somehow."

"Well they always say the first is the most challenging. Maybe you'll get a sleeper next time." Emma caught a blush cross Regina's face.

"Maybe next time I will." Regina smiled brightly at the blonde. "I must say, I do like that you and Henry are getting close. You both are equally childish sometimes."

"Thanks a lot." Emma huffed. "I like Henry. He's got a good head on his shoulders. And man, is he fast. I've never seen reflexes that fast. Do you know that with his reach, both with his arms and his legs, he'd make a great kickboxer."

Regina's face fell uneasy. "I don't know, Emma. I don't think I could bare it if something were to happen… what's he doing?"

They had neared the back gate leading up to the stables. At the top of the hill the ranch owner, Roger, was waving his hands frantically at them.

"I'm not sure. Better hurry over." Emma said as they both sped up to the stables, jumping down to meet him.

"Miss Swan, Mayor Mills, we've been getting urgent calls to the office for both of you. A young girl named Violet and a Mrs. Nolan have been trying to get a hold of you. Seems there was an incident. Mayor Mills, your son's been taken to the hospital."

"What?!" Regina snapped before faltering. Emma had an arm around her instantly.

"Easy, Regina. Let's get to the truck. Roger, can we leave the horses for you?" Emma threw over her shoulder as she already started toward the truck.

"Of course. I hope everything's ok." He yelled after them, but they were already in the truck.