A/N: Here's the next chapter to this fun ff! :) thank you for making this such a fun adventure for me, guys. I made a few major changes in this one that I hope you'll be happy with, given that our girls have to fall in love. Enjoy and keep that feedback coming!

After Henry made his way back down and Regina finished serving dinner, with Emma's help of course, and Henry presented himself over to the beautiful blonde stranger as he was supposed to in the first place, they had sat down to dinner. Henry and Emma sitting on either side of Regina at the table. A dinner where mostly the two women talked, and Henry just gawked at Emma with a tiny smirk to him all night long.

Emma rested her back against her chair as she now was full from eating that delicious home cooked meal, "It's been years without a home cooked meal this good. Thank you for inviting me." she looked over at the brunette beside her.

Henry perked up at the thought of Emma loving his cooking, "I cooked the meal." heads turned towards the grinning teenager, "All by myself."

Regina's brows furrowed over to her son as Emma couldn't help but smirk at the boy in return.

"Well, then that was a very delicious pot roast. Thank you Henry." Emma nodded at him in, which made Henry's smile grow only wider.

"You're welcome, Ms. Swan."

Emma chuckled at how funny that sounded to her, "Ms. Swan, what am I old? Please, call me Emma."

"Emma." Henry slowly pronounced the blonde's name as it rolled off his tongue.

Regina glared over at the blonde, knowing well she was enjoying the fact that her son was all in a daze over her, as her eyes quickly threw a glare over at her son, "Ms. Swan will be fine, Henry." she warned him, "Why don't you go get dessert, hm?"

Henry slowly stood from his seat as he looked over at Emma in a total daze again, as the blonde's eyes met the boy's as Henry's brain tried processing how could someone ever have such pretty, green eyes like hers.

Regina looked over at Emma who took a sip of her wine she had been given as she did her best to hide her smirk. Brown eyes traveled back to Henry, "Henry." Regina called out, "Now."

"So, I noticed your boat out in the driveway. Do you sail?" Emma asked the brunette, knowing well she wouldn't want to talk about her son's very noticeable crush for her.

Regina tensed up as she tried to divert it so Emma wouldn't tell, "No." she cleared her throat after she took a sip from her wine glass, "I used to, but I… don't really have the time anymore."

Emma could tell her question was related to a sensitive subject for the brunette, but she knew it was also the fact that for Regina, it was hard to allow herself to open up to her. She could understand that perfectly well, given that she spent years being that way herself. But, being here in her partner's home, seeing a new side to Regina as the ice slowly kept chipping off of her shoulders, it did things to Emma. Things she didn't think she could feel in a very long time anymore. Things that scared the crap out of her.

Henry came back into the dining room, holding onto three plates of ice cream as he sat Emma's down first before the blonde, a small smirk to him as he stared into the blonde's eyes.

"Thank you, Henry." Emma smiled up at the boy, as she took her spoon full of ice cream and placed it in her mouth, all without diverting her stare from him as the boy blushed.

Regina knuckled hit the blonde's arm quickly as Emma innocently ate her ice cream, as Henry sat a plate of ice cream down for his mother, joining the two women on the table again to eat his own small bowl of ice cream.

Regina couldn't bring herself to believe it. It had been years since she even acknowledged that boat of hers in the driveway. Not since Daniel was killed and Henry was just a baby. But now, at Emma's request to see the boat up close and personal after they had enjoyed their dessert, she had granted it. Just like that.

A grunt was heard from Emma as she raised her arms above her head, stretching her muscles as she sat on the boat. Regina's eyes traveled down to the sight of well marked abs as the blonde's shirt raised up a little from her stomach. Brown eyes quickly blinked as she looked away, finding a much needed distraction as her partner brought out a cigarette she had tucked between her ear before they had walked out of the house.

"What?" Emma asked as Regina only stared at her in silence.

"Do you ever not smoke?" asked Regina, feeling that whatever amount of her had been turned on by the sight of her abs alone, had just been turned off by the simple sight of that cigarette.

"What's the big deal? It's my life. Do I tell you how to run yours?"

Well, there goes their nice moment ruined.

Regina stood before Emma, her hands on her hips, "Why do you have to make everything so complicated?"

Emma's brows furrowed, "I don't. Things get complicated all by themselves."

Regina chuckled, "Yeah, you mean the Kathryn Midas case, right? Getting stuck with me as a partner?"

"Did I mention that? I didn't say that." Emma shook her head.

"You didn't have to. I can read your mind, loud and clear." replied Regina as she finally took a seat on the other side of the boat, right across from Emma. She spoke again as Emma chuckled and shook her head, "What the hell is wrong with you? Why is there a problem?"

"There's no problem." Emma shook her head, her voice more clear as she had removed the cigarette from her mouth as she twisted it in between her fingers. Her eyes focused on the tobacco product she held in her hands. Anything beat looking into her partner's beautiful eyes at this time of night, under the moonlight and stars.

Truth was, if Regina asked her to stop smoking right now. She would. No question. For so many years, the blonde lived her how life how she wanted, wishing to die every single day, not caring about any consequences whatsoever, but now… damn, Regina Mills for coming into her life and changing that perspective. Little did she know that Regina felt very much the same right now. Hence their constant bickering they threw at each other day in and day out. It wasn't so much that they couldn't get along anymore. They had been getting along famously tonight.

No. Tonight, and probably ever since they met… now, it was something else. Something both women never imagined feeling again.

But, as professionals go, neither of them would talk about what was truly going on inside of them.

"You have one dead girl, one dead guy." Regina spoke, "The dead guy kills the dead girl. We kill him because he wants us to be dead as well. It's pretty easy enough."

"That's easy for you to say." replied Emma, finding it humorous how naive the brunette was towards complications in life. Life wasn't easy, nor cases were ever easy.

"Look, a pimp is dealing drugs. Kathryn said, did or saw something she wasn't supposed to. He pushes her off the balcony onto the top of that car." Regina's eyes remained on the blonde who was still looking out into the distance, avoiding her stare, "That's why the creep came at us with a shotgun today. Easy."

Emma shook her head, "I'm sorry. It's just a little too orderly. I can't swallow it."

Deep down, they both weren't talking about the case at all, but they agreed to disagree to make it about said case so that they wouldn't have to discuss their feelings they had clearly been feeling for one another.

"Of course it's orderly. What's wrong with a little order? I like order." said Regina.

Emma chuckled as she stood to her feet, mumbling under her breath as she sat up front on the boat, her back towards the brunette, "By order, you mean simple."

The brunette jumped up from her seat as she heard a loud roar coming from the boat itself. She moved quickly towards the front where Emma was, "What the hell are you doing?" she shouted at the blonde who lifted her hands up in defense as Regina quickly shut off the engine.

"I just wanted to see if it still worked." replied Emma, a playful smirk on her face.

Regina sighed as she sat on the seat next to the blonde, "You're an idiot."

"I'll give you that one." Emma nodded, smiling as Regina let out a small laughter. The blonde stood to her feet, "I'm gonna call it a night, let you get some sleep." she crossed her legs over the railing of the boat as she sat on it.

"Did we resolve anything here tonight?" asked Regina out of curiosity as to where their conversation had leaded to.

Emma twisted her body around, looking at the brunette over her shoulder, "Yeah, we resolved plenty." Emma paused, "We know your son has a major crush on me." she smirked as the brunette glared her way, "Hey, if it's okay with you- do you think he would take this as a date? You know, now that his mother is playing hard to get."

Regina launched forward, reaching out towards the blonde, ready to murder her for even bringing that up, as Emma quickly jumped off the boat and on to the driveway as her laughter was heard in the night's silence. The brunette started making her way down the boat, her body tensing up as her breathing came to a complete stop as she felt two familiar hands that could only belong to her partner as Emma helped her off the boat.

Their eyes met in an instant as their faces stood inches apart from one another. Both women stopped breathing as their eyes would move back and forth from each other's to each other's lips. Emma's hands frozen in place on the brunette's hips.

"I enjoyed the meal. Thank you very much." Emma spoke softly, her hands slowly moving away from her partner's hips.

Regina spoke just as soft as Emma did, her eyes glued to her green ones, "You're very welcome. Thank you for coming."

She wouldn't admit it out loud, but God did Regina hate the feel of Emma's hands moving away from her body as the blonde slowly backed away and walked towards her car.

Emma placed her hand on the door handle as she looked over at Regina one last time for the night, "Just so we're clear about one thing…" she paused as she looked right into those beautiful brown orbs, "I've had worse partners before. You out rank them all."

Regina couldn't help but smile at the blonde's compliment, a smile that flashed right into Emma's heart as they stood a few feet away from each other.

"I'll make a deal with you. You stop smoking, and we can talk about going sailing on this boat." she motioned towards the boat that was right behind with her thumb. Emma smiled. Okay, so she didn't say date, but going sailing together, that's kind of like a date. So, was she admitting that she had feelings for her too now?

The blonde untucked the cigarette which was tucked behind her ear again as she tossed it as far as she could master across the road. She rolled her eyes, her smirk still full on her lips as Regina quirked a brow at her, as her arms crossed over her chest.

Emma chuckled, "You don't trust me at all, do you?"

Regina smirked, "If you can make it through tomorrow without killing anyone, especially me or most importantly yourself, then I'll start trusting you."

Emma nodded with a smirk of her own, "Fair enough." she placed her hand inside her jacket pocket as she took out a carton of cigarettes, tossing it right at the brunette who caught it mid air.

Regina glanced down at the carton of cigarettes that belonged to the blonde as she held them in her hands. A deal was a deal and Emma intended to keep it. Regina's eyes connected with Emma's once again as she looked up, tossing the carton into the garbage can that stood before her all at the same time.

Emma moved a little more behind her car, as if to use it as a shield from what she was about to say next, "When I was 19, I killed a guy out in Iraq from a thousand yards out. A rifle shot in high wind. Maybe eight or even ten others in the world could have made that shot."

Regina's smile was wiped from her face as she looked into the blonde's eyes and saw fear. Only it wasn't fear of what she did, but opening it up. Their eyes locked on each other as Emma kept on talking, "It's the only thing I was ever good at, until years later I had Hope. My daughter. I turned back for one second while we were at the beach one day and she was just gone. Some lunatic began firing shots at that beach and I could not save her in time." she paused as tears stung in her eyes, "Henry is a great kid. He's lucky to have you as his mother."

Regina's own eyes were glossy with unshed tears as the blonde had opened up to her unexpectedly. As a sign that she could fully trust her and she hoped to God she would one day.

"See you tomorrow, partner." Emma opened up her car door as she made her way inside the driver's side.

"Emma." Regina called out in a soft but still clear enough tone of voice.

The blonde looked over to the passenger side window as Regina bent down to be at her eye level, "Yeah?"

"For the record… that's not the only thing you're good at." she wanted to tell her that she was a great partner. The best she had worked with, but as she saw the smile on Emma's face, she knew. She didn't have to.

"See you tomorrow." Emma waved as she drove off into the distance.

Regina sighed as she made her way into the kitchen. It had been a long and exhausting day, she couldn't wait to have a nice hot shower and go straight to bed. Her attention however was taken by a package that had been left on the breakfast table. Henry had a habit of leaving important packages that would arrive for his mother on that table for her to see.

She pulled out a chair and sat down as she opened up the envelope as she pulled out two items, a photograph of Kathryn with Dixie, the same prostitute Regina had encountered when she first visited Kathryn's crime scene.

She took the second item in her possession as she walked over to the living room, looking up towards the stairs to make sure Henry was in fact passed out by this time in his bedroom. Which he was. She placed her laptop on her lap as she placed the DVD into the slot as what looked like a pornographic movie began to play out right before the brunette's eyes. The glow of the computer screen reflecting on the woman's glasses as Regina drank in the images of Kathryn and Dixie together in the film.

They knew each other.

A hand who could only belong to no other than Emma, held up a cup of freshly brewed coffee up to the sleeping brunette's nose as Regina sat up, startled to find Emma in her bedroom.

"Morning, partner." Emma smiled, offering the cup to Regina, "Here, have some coffee. I've been doing a lot of thinking about the night Kathryn Midas died-"

"How did you get in?" asked Regina, her brows furrowed in question.

"Henry let me in." replied Emma.

"What time is it?" Regina asked.

"Daytime." she continued even after Regina laid back in her bed, "Listen, about the night Kathryn Midas died- what was the name of that prostitute who witnessed the jump?" she poked at the brunette with her free hand as Regina glared at her, "Come on, you have to get up, we have to go catch some bad guys today."

Regina groaned softly as she began sitting up and getting out of her bed, seeing as her annoying partner would not let her sleep in a little longer, "I'll jump in the shower."

Emma nodded, "Good idea. What was the name of that prostitute?" she shifted her body onto Regina's bed, making herself comfortable as she watched Regina head into her bathroom, "East 60th street isn't her turf."

"Her name was Dixie!" Regina was heard shouting from her bathroom in an annoyed tone as she came out, taking the cup away from Emma as the blonde had taken a sip from it, "Give me that coffee. And, get out of here, will you? Let me shower!"

Emma jumped up from the brunette's bed as she left her room.

Shots echoed throughout the shooting range at the station as both women walked over to their stations, as they went ready and equipped with the headphones and goggles to practice their shooting skills first before they got down to work.

"Someone was in bed with Kathryn the night she died." Regina spoke in a loud tone of voice as the gun fire around them was rather loud inside the range.

"Right, until now, we assumed it was a man." replied Emma as she tossed her jacket on a bench that was right behind them as both women drew their weapons, getting into position.

"Alright, suppose it was Dixie." said Regina.

Emma nodded, "Okay, let's say Dixie put the drain cleaner in her pills." she aimed her weapon straight ahead at her target.

As did Regina, "Say someone paid her to do it."

"Sure, she thinks, 'Kathryn swallows a couple downers and she's dead.' Emma fires two shots as she continues, "Then Dixie-"

"If it was her." Regina jumped in.

Emma nodded, "If it was her. She's got plenty of time to spritz the place up and scatter." she fires another shot.

"Except Kathryn jumps out the window."

Emma nods, "Or Dixie pushes her. Either way-"

"Either way, she has to make a quick exit because…" Regina fires three shots, "The body's public. So she runs like the wind down the stairs."

Emma nods, keeping her eyes and aim on the target ahead of her, "And people are saying, 'What happened? What happened?"

Regina fires another shot as she replied, "Somebody spots her, and she says, 'Shit!"

"That's right, she actually stops and says, 'Shit." Emma looks over at the brunette as she looks back at her target ahead of her.

"Point being that now she has to cover herself anyway she can." Regina smiled as she looked over at Emma as the blonde nodded, a smile of her on flashing right at her as they were both so intuned on this case.

"That's right, so she grabs a copper and says, 'Officer, officer I saw the whole thing."

"Right." Regina nods.

"Right." Emma smirks, aiming her weapon at her target.

Regina smirks, "That's pretty thin."

"That is very thin." Emma looked over at Regina.

"Thin is my middle name." Regina joked.

"Yeah, with that rabbit food you eat, I'm not surprised." the blonde fired four loud shots at her target, as Regina glared at her.

"What?" shouted the brunette.

"Nothing."

"With smart ass remarks like that, I won't invite you over for dinner anymore." replied Regina.

Emma smiled as she loaded up a new clip into her weapon, "I think maybe you should talk to your son about that first."

Both women pressed the buttons to the cranes as they brought in their targeting papers closer to each other, a smirk on Regina's face as she held hers in her hand, showing it off to the blonde as she had hit her target, about two holes were marked in the center, while the rest were scattered on the rest of its body.

Emma glanced over at Regina's shots as the brunette smirked, "Read 'em and weep." her smirk was soon gone as Emma showed off hers, as several shots were seen right at the head, while the rest were centered right in the middle of the body.

"What, do you sleep with that thing under your pillow?" asked Regina.

"I would if I slept." Emma folded up her target paper while Regina loaded up a new one on to the crane, because of course she wasn't going to allow her partner to show her off.

"Step back, Swan." she pressed the button as the target moved a few feet away from her, a good enough distance, "Watch carefully." she stood in place as she quickly drew her weapon aiming right at the target as she took her single shot. She smiled as she brought it back as there was now a hole right in the middle of the target's head, looking over her shoulder at the blonde, "Not bad for a 40 year old."

"Okay, step aside Ms. 40 year old." Emma walked past Regina, her thumb pressing down on the button as she hummed a little tune while she waited for the target to hit the very far end of the wall, which was a very good distance from her. So good that even Regina squinted her eyes a little bit as it went further out.

Emma stood in place as she drew her weapon out, aiming right at the target as she fired 7 shots in a row. She looked over her shoulder at the brunette as her thumb pressed down on the button once again, making the target come back her way, as Regina leaned forward as the target now had a happy face marked with bullet holes that the blonde had made with Regina's single shot.

"Have a nice day." said Emma, walking away, leaving her partner gawking at the shots in amazement.