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Italics show peoples thoughts.
All mistakes are mine sorry in advance.
~o~o~o~o represents a break in scene.
Disclaimer in chapter 1.
Emma ran up the stairs leading to her small one bedroomed apartment, taking out her keys, once she got the door open she rushed inside slamming it behind her.
She had half an hour before Regina arrived to pick her up. She had been called just as she was leaving the station, it was Archie, Pongo had gotten off his lead once again, so she had spent the last hour and a half looking for the dog, leaving her with little time to get ready, it was 7:30 the Mayor would be there at 8.
The Sheriff had just enough time for a quick shower and get ready. When she got out of the shower she threw her hair up in a towel, as she walked into her room, going over to the closet to pick out an outfit.
What to wear. A dress? No Swan it's not like this is a date. Is it a date? No it's just the mother of your son taking you for dinner to thank you for bringing home her daughter. Wow how weird does that sound.
Emma shook her head to clear the numerous weird thoughts building up and settled on a pair of black jeans with a emerald green silk blouse, that made her eyes pop. She lay the outfit out on her bed while she took the hair dryer from her bureau to dry out her luscious blonde locks.
Once dried she decides to leave them to fall in their natural curls around her shoulders, before proceeding to dry the rest of her body before dressing.
She is just about to put on her knee high black boots when a knock at the door stops her. She glances at the clock, 8:00. 'Right on time' she thinks.
Crossing the apartment quickly she opens the door, and is stunned at the sight presented to her.
Regina is dressed in a long sleeved body hugging burgundy dress that stops just above the knee. Her eyes trail down the dress and stop at the black killer heels. Gulping audibly Emma lifts her gaze to the other woman's face and sees the usual smug smirk.
"Wow...you look...wow"
"You clean up well yourself, Sheriff"
Emma smiled, collected her thoughts and started again.
"Hi"
"Hello, dear" Regina chuckled.
"Let me just put on my boots, grab my coat and we can go. Why don't you come in"
She turns and heads back towards the couch where her abandoned boots lay, not waiting to see if the brunette follows just expecting it.
The Mayor enters the apartment tentatively, not having been there before, she looks around taking it all in while Emma pulls on her boots.
"Ready?" the sound of the Sheriffs voice brings her from her silent appraisal of the woman's apartment.
"Yes"
Regina turns and heads back out the apartment without another word.
Rolling her eyes at the other woman, Emma quickly grabs her keys and black leather jacket before following after her.
When she exited the building she saw that Regina was already sat waiting in the Benz. She walked passed her own car and opened the passenger side door before lowering herself in.
Once she is safely buckled in the Mayor sets off down the street.
"So...where we going?"
"The Italian restaurant by the docks, Tony's"
"Tony's? Is that really what its called"
"Yes" she glances over at the blonde a slight frown etched onto her face "Why?"
"That's the restaurant from lady and the tramp" Emma chuckles "Don't be asking to share a plate of spaghetti and meatballs now Madame Mayor" she proceeds to chuckle at herself, which Regina merely rolls her eyes at but can't help the smile that takes over her face as she nears their destination.
They drove in silence the rest of the way to the restaurant. Once there Regina parked in the small parking lot next door, and then the two headed to Tony's.
When they entered the restaurant they were greeted by a perky blonde teen.
"Hi, welcome to Tony's"
"We have a reservation"
"Name" she asked looking down at the open log book in front of her.
"Mills"
The girl scanned the book before looking up with a smile, "Yes here, would you like to follow me please" she picked up two menus from a shelf beside the log and lead the two women to a secluded table for two near the back. As they made there way there they received many confused glances and shocked stirs from the other patrons, not used to seeing the Mayor and Sheriff out together.
"Here we are, someone will be with you shortly to take your orders" with that she left the two alone.
They sat across from each other reading through the menus, neither knowing what to say. After moments of silence Regina decided to break it.
"How was work?"
Emma looks up from her menu and smiles, "Quiet, finished all my paper work, only call I got was to find Pongo and that came in as I was leaving"
"Wow, you did all your paper work" the Mayor teased the Sheriff.
"Shut up" Emma pulled tongues at her childishly, making the brunette roll her eyes yet again.
"How about you? What did you do today?"
"Well, Sofia's bed arrived this morning so we spent most of the day taking out the old one and setting up the new one. Then I taught Sof to make my lasagne and called Katherine to watch them while I'm out"
"Really? You called Katherine, Sofia is 16"
Regina smiled across the table at Emma, "That's exactly what she said, but she soon relented when she became excited about seeing her aunt"
"Aunt? Katherine's your sister?"
"What? No, we have been best friends since we were girls, our fathers worked together. She moved to Storybrooke after she got her teaching degree, we always were inseparable"
Emma smiled at the fondness and and joy on the other woman's face. She sat simply gazing at Regina until they were interrupted by the waiter.
"Hello, I'm Joe I'll be your waiter tonight, may I take your order?"
"Yes, I'll have the chicken parmigiana" the brunette informed the auburn haired teen, "And bring us the house wine" she handed over her menu; he jotted down the order and then turned to the blonde.
"I'll have the chicken saltimbocca" she too handed over her menu; after taking the orders the boy quickly scurried off to place them. When Emma turned back to the other woman she was met with a raised eyebrow and amused smirk.
"What? Did you think I'd order pizza?"
"No, I'm just surprised is all"
"I spent a summer in Italy two years ago after a particularly hard case"
"You are full of surprises, dear"
"As are you"
The waiter came back then with the wine, he filled their glasses and left.
They each picked up their glass, "Thank you Emma for what you did. To new beginnings"
They brought their glasses together with a clink of the glass before each taking a sip.
"So, how long have you been in law enforcement?"
"10 years"
"So right after you got out of prison" it was said as more of a statement than a question.
"Yes, I had a friend in Boston, Jane, who helped me out while I was living on the streets, she joined the academy while I was in jail. When I got out I went to live with her and decided to join, figured I'd be doing more good on the other side of the law. I caught on quickly and ended up rising to the same unit as Jane, we graduated from the academy together. We were partnered up, raised through the ranks and became the youngest officers to make Detective"
"Wow, that's impressive. What area were you in?"
"We both started off in narcotics and then got promoted to homicide, she's pretty pissed at me now though, for deciding to move her and become Sheriff after being partners for 10 years"
"I'm sorry, do you miss it?"
"It's okay, she will come around sooner or later. Yes, but I wouldn't go back and change coming here, I enjoy it here, and now I'm less likely to go to an early grave. I've been taking on cold cases though while I work at the Sheriffs station, gives me something to do when there is no paper work or cats to save"
"Is that how you took Sofia's case on?" Regina leaned forward in her seat, even more intrigued by the younger woman who sat before her than the day she arrived in her town.
"Kind of, I was working on this case of a boy who went missing and then his body showed up two states over, it has happen it a couple of states as well but there isn't enough substantial evidence to convicted the suspect" she looks after to the side sadly, blinked a few times and then refocused on Regina, "Anyway, Henry came by and asked me what I was doing so I explained to him and the next day he came to me with this file, when I looked at the top it said Sofia Mills, he explained it all to me and asked me to bring his sister home. Lock owed me a favour so I got him to pull a few strings and got the case opened up again"
"Thank you" Regina blurted out and gave her a smile as unshed tiers filled her eyes.
"I told you that you don't need to thank me, I was happy to be able to find her and bring her back to were she belongs"
The Mayor quickly composed herself, not letting the tears fall before continuing"She seems to have taken a liken to you"
"Yeah? Well I was the one leading the raid so I was the first person she saw, and I stayed with her while we took her statement and had her checked over at the hospital. I was also her only link to you and Henry so that may have helped"
"Her only link?"
"Yeah, I took some pictures of you and Henry to her and she asked about you both"
"You really are something" Regina said with wonder in her voice.
They were interrupted then by the young waiter bringer over their food.
The two made easy small talk between bites of food, about work and the kids. Once they were finished they ordered desert, Regina had the Tiramisu and Emma the Apple and Grana Pandano tartlets.
"Apple and cheese, I'm impressed. So why did you pick Italy?"
"Well, Jane's family is Italian, and her Ma makes the best food so I figured the food would be just as good, plus I speak the language"
"You speak Italian?" the Mayor asked, surprise evident in her voice.
"Sì signora, I also speak Spanish and a little Russian, it didn't have to be Italy really I just wanted to get away from the states so it could have been anywhere in Europe really"
"Yeah speak Spanish?"
"Yeah"
"So do I, Sheriff"
"You do"
"I do, my mother's family are from Spain, she wanted to keep the language in the family so passed it on to me and I passed it onto my children"
"Wow, now I'm impressed. So you're of Spanish decent huh, I have no idea where I'm from"
"I'm sorry"
"It's okay, I was left on the side of the highway not far from Storybrooke actually, all I have to go on is that they wanted my name to be Emma, but I got over it a long time ago" she looked off to the side sadly, Regina could tell there was more to the story behind that look but decided to let it go for now and quickly changed the subject.
"Are you finished?"
"Oh...yeah"
"It's just I don't want to leave the kids with Katherine too late"
"No, that's fine" she tried to keep the disappointment from her voice, but Regina caught it and instantly felt a little guilty, she had no idea were the feeling had some from.
Regina waved over the waiter for the bill. After paying the two left and got into the Mayor's car for the drive back to the Sheriff's apartment.
When they arrived Regina shut off the car and got out, so she could walk Emma up to her apartment.
Once they arrived at the apartment they stood outside the door smiling at one another.
"I had a great time, Regina"
"Me too"
"We should do it again sometime, it's nice having a friend again"
"It is"
"Well, goodnight" before she registered what she was doing Emma leaned forward and planted her lips onto Regina's cheek, she lingered for a few seconds before quickly turning, going into her apartment and shutting the door behind her.
What the hell was that Swan. That's the kind of thing you do at the end of a date. That wasn't a date, that was friends having dinner. Just friends. Then why did it make you feel so warm and fuzzy inside? The blonde thought to herself as the leaned back against the door of her apartment.
TBC.
