Emma was surprised when Regina didn't answer the door, but she recovered quickly as Cora introduced herself.
"I wanted to thank you for protecting my daughter and grandson that night at the restaurant," Cora said shaking Emma's hand. "I shudder to think what would have happened if you hadn't been there."
Emma noticed Regina's mother giving her an appraising look. When Regina had told her that she would be meeting her mom Emma hadn't been worried but now that she was face-to-face with her she felt her nerves creeping in.
"Thank you," Emma replied. "I felt kind of bad about the whole thing since I'm the reason he was there and why he took off toward the kitchen like he did. But then again if it didn't happen I wouldn't have met Regina and Henry."
"You didn't force that man to hold a knife to Regina," Cora said. "Right or wrong, we all make our own choices in this world. He is the one who chose a violent path that evening, not you."
Emma could see the resemblance to Regina in this woman, but this woman seemed to have a harder edge to her. She of course knew what Cora did for a living and Emma wondered if being an attorney and working on the cases she did had made her hard or if it was something that came natural to her.
"I'm just glad Regina didn't get hurt," Emma said. "She really held her own with him. She got away from him and that didn't have anything to do with me. I was there to chase him down."
"We insisted she take self-defense courses at a young age," Cora said. "I'm sure she told you that she traveled a lot as a kid. We tried to minimize it as much as possible but it wasn't always possible so we wanted to instill in her the confidence to defend herself."
"Well she certainly did that night."
"Emma."
She looked over at Regina entered, and while she had seen Regina dressed nicely before, somehow this was different. It suddenly occurred to her that she was taking this woman on a date. Yes, her mind knew that, but somehow it wasn't quite registering until this moment.
"Hi," Emma managed to say. "You… you look great."
"She does, doesn't she?" Cora said smiling at her daughter. She had convinced Regina to change into the dress she was now wearing. Earlier she had been wearing a skirt and top that looked a little too "business" for Cora's taste. She was after all going on a date, Cora had said, so she should dress like it.
"Thank you," Regina smiled.
"Hey Emma!" said Henry who came out behind Regina and gave her a hug.
"Hey kid," Emma said. "What game currently has your attention?"
"Mom wouldn't let me get the latest Call of Duty," he said. "So I've been played Tomb Raider, which isn't as fun."
"Oh come on, women characters kick ass," Emma said. "They should make more video games with women."
"If you two are done with your discussion of fake people, then perhaps we can get going," Regina said.
"Sorry kid, duty calls."
"Duty?" Regina asked.
"You know what I mean," Emma said. "Shall we go?"
"Yes," Regina said.
They took the elevator down, neither woman saying anything. Once they were downstairs, Emma flagged them down a cab and gave the driver directions.
"Where are we going?"
"Now what would be the fun in telling you that?" Emma smiled.
Regina returned the smile, and also took the time to appraise what Emma was wearing. She had on a pair of dress pants on and a long sleeved buttoned up shirt that had a low cut to it, which Regina had glanced at when she had first come out to greet Emma.
Regina was nervous but trying not to make it known. She had spent most of the day trying to convince herself that this was nothing more than her and Emma hanging out as friends. She had tried not to think of Danielle, but had failed at that. It was hard not to think of her as she was the last experience Regina had with going out with a woman.
"Are you going to be this quiet all night?" Emma asked, and Regina noticed that several minutes had passed.
"Sorry," she said. "Lost in thought."
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah," Regina said, giving what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "Have you had any good cases lately?"
"Good cases, do you think there are such things?" Emma said laughing. "I mean you know what I do."
"I guess I do," Regina said.
"Actually there was this one case," Emma began. She told Regina how she was looking for this guy who jump bail and ended up catching him while she was having tea with the man's grandmother. "I'm telling you the look on his face when his granny starts beating him with her newspaper was priceless. Although my favorite part might have been when she ordered him to go with me and not cause me any problems and I was to call her to let her know if he behaved himself. He was probably the most well-behaved perp I have ever tracked down after that happened."
Regina laughed, "Why am I not surprised that you charmed some little old lady into inviting you into her home for tea while you are looking for her felon grandson."
"I told you, parents love me."
"I suppose I will find that out when you return me home and speak to my mother."
"I take it your mom had no objections to us going out?"
"None. She was surprisingly understanding. We had a talk about how we never have talked about my sexuality."
"I thought you said that your parents knew you were bi."
"They do," Regina said. "But my mother in particular has always asked me about seemingly every aspect of my life and that was one thing she never asked about. I took that as disapproval. When we were talking earlier she said it had nothing to do with disapproval. Instead, she said it was the way I told them, that it was powerful and I didn't seem like I wanted questions so they didn't ask. She said I showed how strong I was."
Emma noticed the hesitation in Regina's voice when she said that last part.
"Don't you believe that, that you are strong?" Emma asked.
"No," Regina said and Emma detected the disbelief in her voice this time.
Emma put a hand on Regina's. "You are so strong," Emma said. "The first time I met you, you amazed me. A lot of people in that situation would have froze but you didn't. You are such a strong person. It's one of the things that attracted me to you."
"So you are saying there is more than one?" Regina smiled.
"Most definitely."
They arrived at their destination – another smaller restaurant that Emma had been to before. Although she admitted that it was only the one time so she couldn't offer any recommendations to Regina. Not that Regina needed any help as she studied the menu before ordering.
"I am curious to taste the spices," Regina said after ordering.
"Can you like break down any dish into its individual parts?"
"I wouldn't say I can do it all the time or that I'm always right when I do it, but I do like to try it every time," she admitted. "I think to be a chef you have to love food, not just the making of it or creating it, but tasting it, experiencing it. I have never shied away from trying food. I've tasted a lot of bad but also a lot of good."
"I hope this one is a good one. I got to tell you that I felt a lot of pressure in deciding where to eat."
"You shouldn't," Regina said. "I may be a chef but I'm not a food critic."
"Still you have to admit that there is some pressure there in picking a place," Emma said.
"Well maybe a little."
Their food came and they chatted throughout the meal. Regina shared her food with Emma – trying to show her how she tasted food in order to determine what was in it. Emma didn't do very well at it, but they both laughed at the effort.
Their dinner came to an end and as they were walking out, Emma took Regina's hand in hers as she neared the curb to hail a cab.
"Where are we going next?"
"Do you want the truth?"
"Preferably."
"I have no idea," Emma said as the cab pulled up and she held the door open for Regina, who paused a moment. Emma shrugged, "I wasn't even sure you would go out on a date with me, and then there was the whole stress over where to go eat, I didn't plan out the rest of the evening."
Regina slid into the back seat and Emma followed.
"Where to?" the driver asked.
Regina looked at Emma, "What's your address?"
This time it was Emma's turn to pause and then she gave the address to the driver.
"Um … I wasn't expecting you to um … well my apartment isn't like spotless and well … I mean if you wanted to go do something else."
"You're cute when you are nervous," Regina said to her. "If you aren't comfortable having me at your place …"
"No, it's not that…"
"Good," Regina interrupted. "I thought we could go someplace private and talk. With my mother in town, my place is definitely out unless you feel like being placed on the witness stand and being interrogated about everything – no matter how embarrassing."
"My place probably is better," Emma said.
Even as she said it, she tried not to let out an obvious exhale. It was true she hadn't thought much beyond the dinner, but taking Regina back to her place was not how she expected the evening to go. She figured they would go do something mundane – or something Regina wanted to do. She cursed herself for not having a better plan.
So far the evening appeared to be going well. Regina didn't seem to take offense at her taking her hand earlier and Emma wondered – not for the first time – how much touching they would do. She had figured she would at the very least give Regina a kiss at the end of the date, but now that they were going to her place she wondered if Regina had something else in mind.
Stop it, her mind told her. Regina had said "talk" and that is all Emma should expect. Although Regina was wearing the proverbial "little black dress," which made it hard for Emma to keep her thoughts totally innocent. She did a mental walkthrough of her place and hoped she hadn't left anything out that would be embarrassing or left any dirty dishes in plain view.
They arrived and Emma paid the driver and held the door open for Regina once more. This time she didn't take her hand as she was afraid her palm was sweaty from nerves and she had to fish out her keys to get in. Emma liked where she lived. It wasn't high class like Regina's building, but it was nice all the same. All rent in New York was ridiculous in her mind, but her place was rent-controlled so it was affordable for her. She like the building superintendent –having helped him navigate the court system when his nephew got in trouble got her in his good graces. Now if anything ever went wrong at her place he was very attentive to seeing it get done.
They rode the elevator up to the fourth floor where she lived and Emma apologized again if her place wasn't exactly spotless. She unlocked the door and went in to turn on the light before returning to hold the door fully open for Regina to enter.
"You have a nice place," Regina said after she had come in and looked around the room.
"I like to think so," Emma said. "Do you want sit? Can I get you something to drink?"
Regina took a seat on the couch. "Maybe later on that drink."
"Oh, ok," Emma said still standing.
"Are you going to sit down?"
"What? Um … yeah."
"You seem nervous, are you sure it's ok that I am here?" Regina asked.
"No it's fine. I just … I don't know, I guess …you and I are from different worlds and now it's like you are in my world and … what if you don't like it."
"I like you," Regina said. "Shouldn't that be all that matters?"
"It should but it doesn't always work that way," Emma countered. "Look, there is probably something I should have told you before, but it's not something I tell people but if we are going to see each other like this I felt I should tell you because while we are only on our first date, we already know each other and I just want to be fair to you."
She could see an expression of confusion on Regina's face.
"You once asked me how I got into the work I do," Emma said. "I wasn't lying when I said it was because I wanted to get the people who thought they could skirt the law. There was a little more to it than that."
She stood up and began to pace, feeling less confined now that she was up on her feet. Then she stopped in front of Regina who now looked worried. "I have a record. I was in prison," she said. "I got mixed up with his guy when I was 17 and we stole stuff. At first it was like shoplifting here and there and then it sort of escalated. Then one day he um took off and left me holding a bag of stolen goods and I got caught. I was sentenced to two years but I got out after 15 months due to good behavior. I guess you can say I've been looking for the guy ever since."
Her nervousness on full display, she kept her eyes on Regina, trying to figure out how she was going to react. The silence crept in and Regina looked away from her and Emma knew she had blown it.
Regina looked back at her. "This guy, you've never been able to find him?"
"No," Emma said. "I suspect he's been moving around a lot and changing his name. The closest I came was in Chicago a few years back."
Regina stood and Emma thought she was going to leave, but instead Regina took her hand and led her back to the couch to sit down. Regina kept a hold of her hand. "We all have made mistakes in our lives; you know I have. If you think that you telling me this was going change anything, you are wrong. You were a kid and you used bad judgment and trusted the wrong person. It doesn't make you a bad person."
"I really want to kiss you right now," Emma said.
Regina laughed. When she stopped, she leaned over and Emma met her part way. Their lips touched each other briefly at first, but on the second one Emma deepened the contact and the second turned into a third, fourth and fifth before Regina pulled back.
"Wow," Emma said.