Regina was nervous about her date. She had spoken to Emma on the phone about her discussion with Neal, but she had the feeling that Emma was holding back on her. She wasn't sure she wanted to bring that up on their date, however. She wasn't sure what to bring up on the date.

It had been a while since Regina had been on a date.

While her work kept her busy, she realized she often used it as an excuse not to get serious with anyone. She had been on some pleasant enough dates, but she never felt connected to the people she went out with. A couple of dates was usually all it took for her to know that it wasn't going to ever get past the dating phase.

Neal was right, she had kept her promise not to love anyone but Emma.

That may be what was making her nervous as well.

How do you date someone when you have a history together and there are feelings involved already?

Normally, she would be speaking to Neal about all she was feeling or thinking about, but now she had only her thoughts rattling around in her head.

She hoped that whatever it was that was going on with Neal wouldn't damage their friendship forever. Still, she had already determined that if he needed professional help, she would make sure he got it.

She owed it to him.

She was just putting the finishing touches on her makeup when her mother yelled up to let her know that Emma was there. Giving herself one more look in the mirror, she grabbed her purse and went downstairs.

Emma was standing there at the base of the stairs speaking to her father. Dressed in black dress pants, a white button-up shirt with her hair down, Regina had to admit that Emma did always know how to dress in a way that almost always affected Regina.

Emma looked up as she descended and gave her a smile, which Regina returned.

"You look beautiful," Emma said, still smiling.

"Thank you," Regina said. "You too look beautiful."

They stood there staring at each other until Henry cleared his throat. "Well, you two have fun," he said.

Emma realized she had been staring at Regina and gave her a sheepish grin before bidding Regina's father good night. They walked out to Emma's car and Emma opened the door for Regina to get in.

"You need to get a new car," Regina said just before getting in.

"Not a chance."

Emma drove them to what to Regina was a new restaurant – Gusteau's, which had opened up after Regina had left Storybrooke. Her parents had told her about it once – she thought – on one of the infrequent calls she had answered from them.

Regina wasn't sure what to expect from a French restaurant in Storybrooke of all places. She didn't want to consider herself a snob, but she did have some expectations.

Gusteau's would also be what was considered fine fining in Storybrooke, so she knew that Emma was making an effort with this first date.

They ordered their food and then suddenly it was just the two of them.

"Thanks again for agreeing to this," Emma said. "And for being understanding about Killian the other night."

"I admit that seeing him there in your place took me back for a moment to that day all those years ago in the park when he told me about the two of you," Regina said. "But that was the past, and we don't have to talk about, especially not while we are on a date."

"Well, speaking of the past just a little bit," Emma said. "Can I say it was a little weird picking you up at your parents' house?"

This earned a small chuckle from Regina. "It's been weird staying there," Regina said.

"Have you always lived alone, I mean before Neal?" Emma asked.

"If that is your way of asking if I have ever made it to that stage with someone I was seeing romantically, no, I have not. Before Neal, I hadn't lived with anyone since college," Regina said. "It was an adjustment when Neal and I moved in together because I was used to having my own space and not having to worry about another person living in it. Somehow, he and I made it work though. Plus, he isn't a bad cook."

"He cares about you a lot."

"He does," Regina said. "And I care about him a lot, which is why this current situation has me more than a little worried about him."

She hadn't wanted to delve into this during their date, but now it was on her mind again.

"You didn't say much about what you thought about what he told you," Regina continued.

"When I spoke to you, it was right after, so I hadn't had much time to digest it," Emma said, which was the truth. All she had told Regina was that Neal had told her the same story he had told Regina and that he did believe it.

"What about now?"

"I'm going to be honest, a big part of me says you and I should just kiss and that will solve everything," Emma said. "At that point, we will know whether Neal needs mental health help or if despite what we think we know about our lives it could all be some product of this curse he says you cast. We kiss – nothing happens – and then Neal would have to come to the conclusion that what he believes is false and I don't know him well enough to know what that knowledge would do to him."

Regina had to admit that she didn't know what it would do to him either.

"What happens though if say he is right?" Emma asked.

"But he isn't."

"But say he is," Emma said. "Suspend all your disbelief and this curse is real. We kiss and it's broken and all our memories come flooding back. According to Neal, this is a bad thing for you because people won't be happy with you, especially my mother."

"She was never a fan of mine anyway," Regina said.

"True, but now she would be queen again."

"And you would be a princess."

"Can you imagine me as a princess, like really?" Emma said.

"It is hard to imagine, but I'm sure as the princess you had some nice gowns," Regina said.

"If I had to wear dresses all the time, I would gladly have cast the curse to put an end to that," Emma smiled.

"So you do see that this is ludicrous what he is suggesting?"

"I do see that there is every reason to believe that Neal is wrong and that this belief on his part is all in his head. I do," Emma said. "But all I keep thinking about is the Storybrooke border. Why can't I cross it?"

"I don't know," Regina said. "But there has to be a reason beyond a curse."

Their food came and Regina made a point of changing the subject. She was quite pleased with her boeuf bourguignon and Emma asked her about any traveling she had done internationally. She had been to France only once and it was for a work conference so she didn't get much time to enjoy being there. She had taken a vacation a few years after college to Italy and had always wanted to go back.

"What about you, any place in the world you have wanted to visit?" Regina asked.

Emma thought about it a moment. A part of her wanted to say that she wanted to go wherever Regina was but was afraid it would come out sounding cheesy or over the top.

"Japan."

"Interesting," Regina said. "Can I ask why?"

"Because I can't imagine a place more different than here," Emma said. "Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Storybrooke or anything, but sometimes it feels … I don't know how to describe it … fake. No that's not the word for it. Like it was put together to be this perfect representation of Americana."

"Like it was manufactured to be that way," Regina said.

"Yes," Emma said, realizing that is how it felt. "Japan though, it's to me at least magical because it's not like here. The buildings and things I have seen online, it's just different and that is what I would like to go see – something different."

"Hopefully, you get to go there one day," Regina said.

"Hopefully, not alone," Emma responded.

Once dinner was paid for, Emma drove them back to her place and she felt her nerves pick up a bit. When they were dating as teenagers, being alone almost always meant some sort of make-out session and it's not like Emma wouldn't be interested in that, but the thought of true love's kiss was always there in the back of her mind. She knew logically that what Neal told her was not possible, but that's not how she felt. She knew when people were lying to her for the most part and when he was telling her about the curse, she never once got the feeling he was lying.

She opened the door to her apartment and Regina came in. Emma had tidied up a bit since Regina was last there. They took seats on the couch and Emma could tell Regina was nervous as well.

"Can I ask you something?" Emma asked after they were both encroaching on an uncomfortable silence.

"Yes."

"Why did you want to go to Michigan State so badly?" Emma asked. "I know we said we weren't going to talk about the past, and I know my reaction to your announcement was anything but mature, but I've always wanted to know why there."

Regina thought about the question a moment, not sure she had a good answer to it. When she was applying to colleges and got accepted there, she just knew it was right.

"You know how you were saying earlier that you want to go to Japan because it was different than here," Regina said. "Well, that is how I felt about going to college. I wanted to be someplace different, experience something different. Being here, everyone in town knew who I was because of my parents, but honestly, who couldn't say that. We all know each other here, at least we think we do, and out there, well, it would all be new and I could be someone there that I couldn't be here if that makes any sense."

"I get that," Emma said. "But why Michigan State specifically? Did they have a good architect program or something? Because you never really mentioned wanting to be an architect when we were dating."

"I didn't know I wanted to be an architect," Regina said simply. "When I went to college, I think I was like a lot of students – I didn't know what I wanted to be and I was looking for direction. Michigan State has a lot of programs and I thought that a big school like that – it would offer me a lot of choices to figure out what I wanted to be. I think for a lot of my time growing up, I felt unsettled and unsure of who I was or what I wanted my life to be. I was looking for something but I didn't know what that something was."

She paused for a moment, thinking about what Neal had said, how she had been sent by his father to find him, to look for him. And she thought about how all the places she had been Neal had been to those places as well.

"When did you know?" Emma asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"That I wanted to be an architect? After my sophomore year," Regina said. "You take a lot of core classes your freshman year and by sophomore year I felt like there was this expectation that you have the rest of your academic career figured out so you know what classes to take. I had met with my academic advisor, who I think was more than a little frustrated with me because I hadn't settled on a program. The summer after my sophomore year, I stayed on campus and worked with the admissions office. I had to handle things like school tours with prospective students and their parents. On this one tour, I was pointing out some unique feature of one of the buildings as a way to show off that our school wasn't just a great place to go, but a great place just to walk around and look at and I must have gone a little overboard on the building description because one of the parents asked me if I was studying to be an architect. And I don't know, it just clicked for me at that moment and I knew that it was the answer to what I was looking to do. What about you? I thought you had your sights set on being the softball coach at the high school."

"As it turns out that requires you to be a teacher as well and that just wasn't for me," Emma said. "My dad had started being an auxiliary officer at the sheriff's office just to help out and I don't know I guess he felt like it was his civic duty when the sheriff asked for volunteers. He talked me into it and from there it was like fell into my niche. I went from auxiliary to full-time and outside of taking some night shifts on occasion, it's a job I like."

"Do you have aspirations to be sheriff one day?"

Emma shrugged, "It would be nice to not just be a deputy for the rest of my life, but Sheriff Graham isn't much older than me so by the time he retires I wouldn't have a lot of time as sheriff."

"The sheriff is elected, you could always run for the office."

"Against Graham. No, I don't think I could do that," Emma said. "Graham gave me this chance. I wasn't the most experienced of the auxiliary officers when I got promoted to full-time, but he believed in me. To run against him would be like stabbing him in the back. Besides, I leave the elections up to my parents."

"I admit I was surprised when I learned your father was on the city council," Regina said. "He works full time, is an auxiliary officer, and has time to be on the council. That is a lot of commitments."

"Yes, but you know my dad, he never complains," Emma said. "I think the council thing was more my mom's idea anyway. If it were any other couple, I would say one of them just wanted an excuse to stay away from their spouse, but my parents are still as sickly in love as always. My dad didn't even run until the town had changed the charter to enact term limits. I'm pretty sure that once he is term-limited out of office, my mom will run for the seat. She's been making comments almost since dad got on the council."

"What was behind the whole term limits thing?" Regina asked. "I remember my dad saying it was on the ballot and passed, but why was it only for council and not also for mayor?"

"Because of Mr. Gold. He's been on council forever and no one ever challenges him, but no one likes him either, so I think the term limits was a way to get him off the council," Emma said. "Everyone loves your dad, so no one would think of term limiting him. I'm pretty sure this town will keep electing him even if he tries to retire."

"Maybe he should retire," Regina said. "This heart attack, I can't help but think that if he didn't have such a stressful job that he would never have had it."

"Dad said there was some discussion about maybe changing the charter to get a deputy mayor in place as well to help take the stress off of your dad," Emma said. "But that won't be a quick process as changing the charter requires a town-wide vote. Plus, I get the feeling your dad will only accept one person as his deputy mayor and Madame Mayor doesn't plan on sticking around, at least not with a job in Savannah waiting."

"Don't call me Madame Mayor, Miss Swan," Regina said.

Emma groaned. "Ok, I will not call you that as long as you forget ever calling me Miss Swan again, deal?"

"I will try my best," Regina said smiling at her.

"What is Savannah like?" Emma asked.

Savannah. The mere thought of it kept slipping from her mind. It was almost like Savannah wasn't real. She loved the historic city but she didn't feel the need to be there like she often felt before moving on to another job.

"It's a real jewel of the south," Regina said. She went on to tell Emma about the first time she had ever gone to the city and about some of her favorite spots.

"It sounds like a really beautiful place," Emma said. "Do you think they need sheriff deputies down there?"

"They probably do," Regina said.

She leaned over to kiss Emma, but Emma dodged it.

"Seriously?" Regina said.

"Sorry," Emma said. "It's not like I don't want to kiss you, you know that right?"

"Your actions would suggest otherwise."

"Ok, hear me out," Emma said. "If the curse is real, we kiss, and you are in danger when people remember what happened. I don't want to see anything happen to you."

"The curse isn't real."

"I know, but the border, I can't cross it and there is no logical explanation for that," Emma said. "I want to cross it. I wanted to cross it all those years ago and be with you, but I can't."

Regina stood up and Emma thought shit, I just blew it.

"Give me your car keys?" Regina said, holding her hand out.

Emma sighed, "I can drive you home."

"I'm not going home, I'm going to prove to you that this curse isn't real."

Emma wasn't sure how Regina planned on doing that, but she took her keys out of her pocket and handed them over.

Once they were in the car, with Regina driving, it didn't take Emma long to figure out where they were headed.

"We're just going to drive over the border?" she asked Regina.

"That's the plan. You will be through the border and that should prove that this curse isn't real or at least I hope it proves to you that it isn't real," Regina said.

As they got closer to the border, Emma started to get nervous. What if this worked, what if she crossed the border? Then what did that say about all the times she had tried?

They came within sight of the border and Regina stopped the car and looked over at her.

"You ready?"

Emma nodded because she felt like if she spoke she was going to throw up.

Regina took her foot off the brake and gave it some gas, but almost immediately, the car started to cough and choke and suddenly it rolled to a stop having gone dead.

"What the hell," Regina said, turning off the car and trying to start it again, but it remained dead. She looked over at Emma, whose eyes were on the border, before looking back at Regina.

"That was strange, right?" Emma asked.

"It's just strange timing," Regina said. "I told you that you should have gotten rid of this thing."

"It has literally never done that," Emma said.

"It's an older vehicle," Regina said. "Come on, we don't need a car to get across the border. We're going walk past it together."

Regina got out of the car, and Emme hesitated but followed suit. They stood there in front of the car both looking out the border and then Regina took Emma's hand in hers. "Side by side, together," she said. Emma again nodded. When Regina stepped forward she did the same thing. They were about three or four yards from the border when all of a sudden a raindrop fell, then more and more, and suddenly it was a torrential downpour.

"You want to explain that," Emma practically yelled as thunder was also rumbling across the sky.

"You have got to be kidding me," Regina said. "No matter, we run for it." She barely took a step forward when lightning struck a nearby tree, splitting it and causing it to fall across the roadway just in front of them. Emma acting quickly, pulled Regina back from it.

"Back to the car," Emma said.

They got back to the car only to discover Regina had left the key in the ignition and the doors were locked. The rain was coming down and there was another lightning strike which brought down yet another tree at the border.

Emma – as much as she hated to do it – broke the window and reached in and unlocked the door and then got in and unlocked the door for Regina. Both women were soaked but neither said a word for several minutes.

Finally, Emma looked over at Regina. "You ok?"

This time it was Regina nodding. "Now that was strange," she said.