"Where are you going?" Regina inquires, stopping Emma from inserting the card into its slit.

"My room" the hesitation in her voice turning her statement into a question.

Regina rolls her eyes.

"Come along" she motions with her hand and when Emma doesn't follow she turns "You are staying with me" she pauses "Muffin" she words out in what supposed to be a mocking tone but Emma beams and follows her like a happy puppy.

The hotel is spacious and luxurious. Regina claims that it's located in the heart of London and Emma, having no knowledge of the matter, takes her word for it.

"So, what do we do now?" she asks the minute they enter the suite, their suitcases already waiting for them near the living room couch.

It's late noon and Emma doubts they're expected to get anything done that day. Still, she wants to make sure.

"Something fun" Regina smiles, her height decreasing the minute she steps out of her heels. "We don't have anything scheduled for today" she approaches Emma, her hips swaying. She leans in for a kiss that soon becomes way heated.

But trust Emma to ruin the moment. They have their hands all over each other when Emma's stomach grumbles loudly, embarrassingly loudly, if she might add.

Emma buries her face in Regina's neck, the surface of it trembling as she laughs throatily.

"How about we go and grab something to eat first?"

Emma bites the skin available to her, licking over it when she hears Regina gasp.

"Okay" she untangles herself and looks at Regina expectantly.


When you say 'let's grab something to eat' you usually refer to cheap, greasy food. Of course, Emma didn't expect Regina to take her to McDonalds but the mini palace they were sitting in was making Emma uncomfortable.

Since she started dating Regina they have been trying and learning, slowly but surely, about the other's dining experience. They tried to balance the scale by going to various types of restaurants starting from local American and Mexican diners all the way to upscale Italian and French cuisines.

At times they would spend thirty or forty dollars on a shared meal, sometimes they would pass the three digits barrier. Those were the meals where Emma would fidget the most, trying to decide whether to fight Regina on paying at least half or keep her mouth shut knowing that she can never afford it.

The few times Emma did win the battle of who's paying were the times where they sat in 'her' restaurants. When it was Regina's the brunette insisted that it was only fair that she pays since Emma would've never come to those fancy restaurants if it wasn't for her; which was true yet somehow it did nothing to help Emma's constant feeling of inferiority.

She knew Regina would never accept that reason as a valid one. She also, didn't want to prevent Regina from going out and enjoying herself just because Emma was a poor brat. After a couple of dinners where Emma was almost sick after glancing at the final check she came up with a plan. Continuously so Emma would go for the cheapest items in the menu. It didn't fix the problem completely but it did make Emma feel like she's doing her best attempt to cost Regina less money.

The restaurant they are currently in steals the show so far. Emma suspected it the moment they stepped out of the cab and she came face to face with a complicated, posh-looking name she couldn't even begin to pronounce. She didn't realize how bad it was until Regina actually tipped the man for bringing them the menus.

With a frowning expression she reaches for the menu. Her eyes nearly budging out at the prices located next to the different dishes.

"Emma?" Regina asks and the blonde tries to wipe her shock stricken face clean before looking up.

"Mmm?"

"What do you want to drink?" she asks calmly, unfazed but what could only be described as daylight rubbery.

"A glass of water please" she turns to smile at the waiter. He nods and scurries away.

"A glass of water?" Regina asks, her look suspicious. Emma shrugs as nonchalantly as possible.

"Yes, I don't really want anything"

Regina looks unconvinced but she drops her eyes to the menu again.

The waiter is placing their drinks on the table when Emma catches a glimpse of a divine looking dish. She stretches her to get a better look.

"Excuse me, what is the dish that waiter was carrying?" she asks and he turns just in the time for when the waiter places the dish on a table.

"Oh" he smiles "that's our special garlic-butter lamb chops, it comes with spinach risotto." He elaborates and Emma's mouth waters at the description "Great dish" he says and flips a page in Emma's menu, placing a finger next to the dish.

"Thank you" she nods and he leaves. Only then she looks at the price, almost cringing at sickeningly high price of the dish. Trust Emma to go one of the most expensive items in the already expensive menu.

"Would you like that one?" Regina asks with a small smile, happy that Emma found something that she liked; knowing that a nice portion of the time Emma settles for the safest bet in an attempt to avoid getting stuck with a wired-ass fancy food.

"Err" she stalls "I dunno, I'm not sure"

"Why?"

"I don't think I want meat" it's a lame excuse, one she knows Regina isn't buying.

"You don't want meat?" Regina inquires with her hands folded "You?"

"Yeah" Emma shrugs, eyes scanning for something that looks reasonably priced. That if you can call a minimum of thirty five pound for a dish reasonable.

"I think I will go with the Caesar salad" she nods to herself, noting that this dish also comes with a bread basket. That will satiate her.

"A salad? I thought you were hungry" Regina seems genuinely confuse. She focuses on Emma for a long moment, her gaze turning inquisitive "I'm going to ask you a question and I want you to answer it honestly" her tone is serious and Emma gulps but nods nonetheless.

"Okay"

"Please tell me that you're not giving up on the chops and taking that salad instead because it's cheaper."

Regina's eyes bear into hers and she shrinks under her gaze. Can she outright lie to her face? No. Is it true? Yes.

She casts her gaze down and that seems to be enough of an answer for Regina who grabs her hand with own. When Emma looks up she's met with a torn Regina, her face alternating between hurt and anger, love and disappointment.

"Emma" she sighs and it's so pained that Emma's heart goes out to her.

"Look I really don't mind, it's just food, it doesn't really matter." She tries to reason but Regina shakes her head, not buying it.

"I-" Regina seems lost for words "Why?" is what she eventually goes with.

"Because it really doesn't matter to me" Emma says again, trying to put more conviction in it this time. It's still weak.

"Did I make you feel like you need to-"

"No!" Emma is quick to counter "Of course not"

"Then why?" Regina asks again, her gaze vulnerable and loving and caring and suddenly Emma's eyes tears up and her posture stiffens. "Emma?"

Her sight is blurry and an ugly sounding sob escapes her mouth. Regina is by her side in a second, the small private booth they're in making them feel like they're completely alone.

She rubs her eyes and looks at Regina. She shrugs.

"I don't-, I can't" she lets in a breath "It's too much money for you to spend on me, I can't live with that." She says and her voice wavers "I don't need fancy food, I don't want you to throw so much money on me, it makes me so-" she searches for a word but fails to find one. She slumps into Regina's form and she engulfs her in a warm hug.

"But Emma, my love, I want to spend money on you. I want all the best things in the world for, can't you see that?"

Emma sniffs, pulling herself away so she can look at her girlfriend.

"I can't live up to that. I can't take you to fancy restaurant and buy you things and the more you spend on me, the worse I feel. I'm unworthy of that."

"I don't expect you to live up to that, I don't expect you to spend money on me. Emma," she grabs her chin, thumb caressing her jawline "I don't need you to spend money on me, I have more money than I can ever spend. Money has no value to me. All the money in the world doesn't compare to the love and affection and care that you give me. Money is meaningless in comparison to the warmth and joy you bring to my life. I've had my parents and ex-girlfriends spend obnoxious amounts of money on me but what is it worth if I never felt loved and accepted and cherished and important?

You make me feel important and loved and cared for and that is more than I have ever gotten from anyone else, as rich as they may be. So I spend money on you and take you to restaurants and want to buy you everything you desire because it's the only way I know how show care. Do you think I'll let someone I love eat a salad because it's cheaper? I will buy you the moon if you ask for it for long enough"

Regina smiles and Emma lets out a watery laugh.

"It's just- relationships are built on giving and taking, and if there's an imaginary scale right now, it's not even tipped over, it's on the floor because you give me so much and I give you nothing"

"Have you not been listening to what I've just said?" Regina chastises but it's more like stern loving. "You give so much, more than you can understand. I have not said I love you romantically meaning it like I do with you, ever."

Regina's gaze is all liquid warmth filled with love and Emma has no other choice but to accept it as the truth. She nods hesitantly and Regina leans in for a short, yet deep kiss.

When they break Emma sighs.

"Look, I will try to wrap my head around it but you have to understand that it's hard. It's hard for me to order a hundred pound dish as if it is nothing when a younger version of me had to sometimes skip days between meals. A hundred pounds is enough to feed my entire home for a week and here I am spending it on a single meal."

Regina intertwines their hands, squeezing.

"Then we will try to fix it." She determines and elaborates upon Emma's confused face "You don't have to deprive yourself from living because others are suffering. You need to keep living your life and at the same time try and help them."

"How?"

"It is something that I've been thinking about since our visit in Boston. This project, the hospital, is soon to be done. Yes, there is still money to raise and construction to complete but once this whole ordeal is performed it's only a matter of time until this hospital will stand and provide cutting edge technology and quality medicine to thousands of people regardless of their economical state. Our job, as people with power and fortune and influence is to keep trying to make this world better. That is what our family believes in. once we're done with this project we will go around looking for the next big thing. Let's try and see whether Mill's next social project could be helping kids in the system."

"Regina I-" she stutters because this is too much, Regina is too much and Emma can't handle the sensory overload that is overcoming her system.

"I can't promise anything but we can at least try" she smiles and Emma, having no idea how to express the deep gratitude she is currently feeling dives in for a toe-curling kiss.

"You hold that thought" Regina mumbles inches from her lips once they part.

Emma discards the salad she didn't want in the first place and settles on relatively reasonably priced steak instead.


It's not as long as I wished it would be but the massage was much more important to me than the length. I will cease promising to do my best and update since it seems to be jinxing me big-time. Instead I'm just going to thank you all for keeping up with me :) Hope you enjoyed this chapter.