Author's Note: Hey everyone! *waves* Here's another chapter! Happy reading!
"Well, that was quite the unexpected surprised that I drove up to." Zelena told her sister soon the door had been opened. She watched as the brunette slid herself into her seat and clicked her seatbelt into place. "I didn't know that you were dating someone, Reggie."
"Why in the world do you insist on calling me that?" Regina gritted out as she settled into her seat, facing the windshield as Zelena shifted the car into gear and pulled away from the curb, quickly leaving Emma's apartment behind.
"Oh, no. That poor attempt of changing to the subject to distract me isn't going to work this time, little sister." The redhead said with a laugh and a shake of her head. She waited until her laughter dissipated before she continued. "I meant what I said in that text. She's very beautiful."
Regina sighed and turned to look out her window as she thought back to the blonde woman, smiling again as she thought back to everything they'd talked about, how much she'd enjoyed being in Emma's company, and all of the kisses they'd shared that night. "Yes, she is."
"I can hear the smile in your voice, so go on! Tell me all about her!" Zelena exclaimed excitedly. "When did the two of you meet? How long have you been dating? Wait a minute, why am I only finding out about her now?! Have you talked to Marian about her? If our sister-in-law knows about her then that means Robbie probably already knows about her too!"
"ZELENA, stop talking and take a deep breath!" Regina growled out impatiently. She knew that her sister would eventually be bombarding her with questions, but she'd hoped that the other woman would wait until they'd made it home to start in on her questioning. "How am I supposed to answer any of your questions if you won't let me speak?"
"Okay, I'm sorry." Zelena told her with a sigh. "Go ahead and speak, Reggie."
"Her name is Emma Swan-"
"Swan?!" The redhead exclaimed, interrupting her sister. "Is she related to August?!"
"Zelena, what did I just say?" Regina asked with an exasperated sigh.
"Right, sorry. Please continue."
"She's August's little sister and we've only just started dating."
"Okay, I know that you're going to get annoyed with me because I'm interrupting you…again, but I have to say, little sister, that I saw they two of you interacting, and it didn't seem like you'd only just started dating her."
Regina couldn't help but roll her eyes, she shouldn't have expected her sister to sit there quietly and listen to her talk without her overwhelming need to interrupt her reared its ugly head. "Well, I'm telling you the truth, Zelena. We had our first date tonight, actually."
"Oh, wow. I would've never guessed to be honest. You looked really happy with her, Regina, happier than I've seen you in a really long time." Zelena told her sister as she watched her sister through her peripheral vision, wanting to gage her reaction, and smiling when she caught the small grin that the brunette wasn't even trying to conceal.
"I am happy." Regina told her sincerely.
"That's a great thing to hear you say, truly." Zelena told her with a genuine grin of her own. "But I'm still expecting you to answer more of my questions, you know."
"Of course you are." Regina said, her voice not carrying nearly as much hostility as it'd carried earlier. "But I've already answered a few of your questions. I haven't told Marian, or Robbie, about Emma because until tonight there wasn't anything to tell."
"But you've told August." Zelena stated.
"Well, of course I did. I didn't really have a choice there, did I? Logically, Emma is his little sister and he's quite-"
"Protective?" Zelena interrupted yet again.
"Yes."
"Oh, I already knew that he had a protective streak. If only you would've been paying more attention, you would've noticed the glares that he'd taken to throwing in my direction whenever he thought I wasn't looking." The redhead told her with a roll of her eyes."
"Well, that doesn't really matter anymore. He seems to like you well enough now."
"Oh, no. He tolerates me now, but if you and I hadn't gotten around to talking again and trying to rebuild our sisterly bond, he wouldn't have bothered to give me a chance."
Well, maybe you wouldn't have gotten off to such a bad start with him if you hadn't hit him over the head with a frying pan." Regina reminded her, biting her bottom lip to keep herself from laughing at the expense of her sister's embarrassment.
"Oh, that's not fair!" Zelena said, her voice raising a few pitches. "He scared me, Regina!"
"He was just making us some breakfast!"
"Well, I didn't know that!" Zelena exclaimed affronted. "I walked into the kitchen that morning and found a man that I'd never seen before digging through our refrigerator! What was I supposed to do?!"
"Uh, you could've taken the time to ask him why he was digging through our refrigerator…" Regina suggested, her voice carrying a hint of exasperation as she silently berated herself for letting her get sucked into the same argument with her sister.
"He could've been a thief, Regina!"
"He was holding a carton of eggs!"
"Oh, whatever." Zelena muttered to herself as she turned the car into their driveway. "Why are we even talking about him now?" She begrudgingly asked as she shifted the car into park, turned off the ignition, and handed Regina the keys. "Weren't we talking about his little sister?"
"You're the one who brought him up." Regina reminded her. "You're always the one who brings him up." She muttered to herself quietly, making sure that Zelena wouldn't overhear her as she unbuckled her seatbelt and stepped out of the car, her sister following closely behind as they both made their way into their house.
"Tell me more about your date with Emma." Zelena said as they walked into the living room. The both slipped their shoes off and settled comfortably on opposite sides of the couch.
"We went out to each and we watched a movie at her apartment." Regina told her sister as she pulled her phone out of her pocket, clicked onto her text messages, and chose the unknown number that had sent her two image attachments. She smiled to herself as she looked that the pictures that she and Emma had taken together.
"Wait, was any part of that supposed to a euphemism for something?" Zelena asked her with a mischievous smirk on her face.
"No, Zelena!" Regina growled out.
"What?" The redhead exclaimed, not quite understanding the intensity of her sister's reaction as she lifted her hands up in surrender. "I mean, I wouldn't have blamed you if you two would've, you know."
"It wasn't like that." Regina gritted out through her teeth.
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry." Zelena told her, genuinely apologetic.
The brunette simply nodded her head, wordlessly accepting her sister's apology as she typed out a text message to Emma to let her know that she'd gotten home safely.
E: Good. Sweet dreams, Regina.
R: Sweet dreams, Emma.
"She's the person you're talking to right now, isn't she?" Zelena asked quietly, not really wanting to disturb her little sister she watched the brunette's eyes lit up as she looked down at her phone screen, a smile slowly appearing on the redhead's face that almost matched Regina's.
"Yes, she is. She wanted me to let her know when we'd gotten home safely." Regina responded, not bothering to look up from her phone as she quickly saved Emma's number to her contacts list, chose the picture of the two of them smiling brightly into the camera as her contact avatar, and added the blonde to her favorites.
"Well, that was rather charming of her."
"Yeah, it really was." Regina said, chuckling when she remembered the references that both of the Swan siblings had made in regards to their inherited Swan Charm.
"What?" Zelena asked, confusion in her voice as she watched her sister shake her head and clear her throat.
"It's nothing."
"Okay, if you say so."
"Zelena, as much as I'm enjoying our conversation, it's getting late and I'm tired. I think I'm going to call it a night." "Regina said, barely stifling a yawn.
"This isn't just you trying to get out of talking to your big sister about your beautiful blonde, is it?" Zelena asked her, squinting her eyes as if trying to gage whether or not Regina was lying.
"It's not." Regina assured her as she shifted on the couch.
"Did you tell her that I'm looking forward to meeting her?" Zelena asked the brunette before she could lift herself up from where she was sitting.
"I did. She's looking forward to meeting you too."
"Soon?"
"We'll see."
"You suck." Zelena told her with a groan.
Regina simply smirked as she lifted herself up off the couch, grabbed the sneakers that Ruby had let her borrow, and turned back to look at her sister. "Good night, Lena."
"Good night, Reggie." The redhead said, smiling to herself as she watched as the other woman made her way out of the living room, and disappeared up the staircase. She sighed when she heard Regina's bedroom door click closed. She wasn't naïve enough to believe that her relationship with her little sister was back to what it had once been when they were both younger, but in moments like the one that they'd just shared, she couldn't help but be reminded of how much she truly loved the brunette. It truly meant the world to her to see how happy her little sister was.
Regina walked into her bedroom and carefully pulled her half of the photo strip out of her pocket. She walked over to her vanity where she carefully wedged the edge of the picture so that the picture would stay on her mirror. She smiled, taking a moment to look at the two pictures before she placed her phone on the vanity and turned around, going directly into her walk-in closet so that she could change.
She heard her phone vibrate on the vanity where she'd left it, and she rolled her eyes when she heard it vibrated two more times in quick succession afterward. She walked out of her closet after she'd finished changing into her pajamas, walked into her bathroom to get through her nightly routine, and then she walked back to her vanity and grabbed her phone.
She settled herself into her bed before she unlocked the screen and saw the text messages that August had sent her.
A: She can't stop smiling.
A: Because of you.
A: Go, best friend! That's my best friend!
Regina couldn't contain her own smile as she read the messages that August had sent her.
R: I can't stop smiling either.
R: Because of her.
R: You're a dork.
A: We'll talk soon. Sleep well. Love you.
R: Love you too.
Author's Note: One more chapter to go!