Chapter Six

Tallahassee, Florida. October 22, 2002

It was two years after she had first met the young Miss Swan that Regina found herself in Tallahassee. She had been on trips here before, and she was very familiar with the bar scene there. She had, however, given up on her penchant for finding random strangers, after Emma. That girl had gotten to her, and she knew it was ridiculous because she barely knew her. She also knew she couldn't let that happen again. She had her baby son to worry about now. She had decided to continue her loveless affair with Graham, because it was safe. There was no chance of feelings getting involved.

But tonight, in Tallahassee, her thoughts were on the blonde she had become entangled with two years ago. The girl she had let sleep next to her. The girl for whom she bought breakfast and dinner. The girl who made sex feel anything but meaningless. Today was Emma's birthday, Regina remembered, and the anniversary of that first night together, and she didn't want to be alone.

Regina donned a short, tight, strapless black dress. It was simple, and she knew it would get the job done. She tucked her room keycard in her bra – a trick she had learned years ago from another blonde at a bar who kept her ID there – and headed downstairs.

There were two bars on this street, but the one Regina usually frequented when she was here was having some sort of country night, so she decided to give the other one a try. It was a bit of a further walk, but if it meant whomever she brought home wouldn't be wearing plaid flannel, it was worth it.

The place was more of a club than a bar, and the music was pounding. Everyone looked young, but luckily for Regina, the curse had prevented her from aging since 1983, and it wasn't that hard for her to blend in to this crowd. It was packed inside, and there were strobe lights. Momentarily, Regina actually considered the country bar, until she spotted the open patio at the back of the building. She headed up to the bar, and to her surprise they had hard apple cider.

Must be fate, she thought to herself as she made her way towards the patio, getting bumped into and stepped on far too many times for her liking. The patio was still fairly crowded, but at least you could actually hear people talking out here.

Regina made a quick cursory scan around the faces on the patio. No one was out there alone, except for her. She was usually good at spotting a potential bedmate fairly quickly, but she didn't see any ideal candidates out here. She sipped on her drink, and wondered if maybe this was a bad idea.

She stood for a few more minutes, until the awkwardness of being the only person out there alone started to get to her. She sighed, and put her now empty cup on the table next to her, before turning to head back inside. As she turned, she slammed hard into someone who was apparently just stepping out onto the patio. Regina took a step back and looked up, ready to take someone's head off for not watching where they were going, until she saw who it was.

"Emma?" Regina gasped. Her hair was longer, and loosely curled, and she was dressed much differently, in a tight shiny red dress, and she had her make-up done, but it was definitely her. Emma was here, in Tallahassee, in the bar that Regina wouldn't have gone to if it weren't for country night at her regular place. Apparently fate had more in mind for her than just hard apple cider.

"Regina," Emma said, her eyes wide.

A taller redhead standing beside her giggle. "This is Regina?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Regina's eyes snapped to the redhead as a wave of humiliation washed over her. She turned back to Emma. "You told your friends about me?" she asked, in an accusatory tone.

"Regina, relax," Emma laughed, clearly well on her way to intoxication. "It's not a big deal. It's not like I expected to see you in Florida, of all places."

"Well, I never expected to see you again, period," Regina said.

Emma watched as Regina's eyes turned dark, and she could see that she was pissed, though Emma wasn't entirely sure why. "Well, wasn't that kind of the point? A meaningless hook-up?" she asked, her voice a little lower as she leaned in closer to Regina.

Regina studied Emma's green eyes for a moment. There was something different there. An innocence lost. Her eyes were harder. She grabbed Emma by the arm and pulled her around the corner, where they could be alone.

"Hey, what the hell?" the redhead called after them.

"It's fine," Emma said, waving for her to leave them alone.

"It's fine?" Regina asked, her hand still gripping Emma's arm. She was still skinny, but not scrawny like she once was. Regina could feel the strength in those arms.

"Isn't it?" Emma asked, giggling from her inebriation.

Regina hesitated for a moment, before moving forward, pressing her lips hard against Emma's, pushing her back against the wall. Within moments, Regina had Emma's hands pinned against the wall, which didn't come as a shock to Emma. It was familiar, even if she hadn't seen Regina in nearly two years. What was different was the aggression. Emma was used to the forcefulness of Regina's kisses, but this felt different. This felt angry.

Emma opened her eyes and glanced to the side. People were staring. She turned her head away, breaking the seal of Regina's lips on her own.

"Regina," she cautioned, but if Regina heard her, she ignored it, as she moved her mouth to Emma's neck.

"Regina!" Emma cried out, more forcefully. Regina continued to ignore her, as she dropped one of Emma's wrists, and put her hand on Emma's hip, slowly working her way down to the hem of Emma's short dress.

The thought crossed Emma's mind that Regina was about to fuck her right there, with everyone watching. "Regina, stop!" Emma cried out, grabbing Regina's wrist with her free hand. The Emma's grip on her wrist was enough to make Regina snap out of it, as her eyes met Emma's again.

"Let go of my hand," Regina said, flatly, dropping Emma's other wrist, which she had still had pinned against the brick wall.

"What the fuck was that?" Emma asked, not letting go of Regina's wrist.

"Let go of me," Regina said again.

This time Emma complied. "Now do you want to tell me what the hell that was?" Emma asked, as she dropped Regina's wrist. She glanced over at the people on the patio again, who all seemed to be quickly losing interest.

Regina didn't respond right away, but rather reached into her bra and pulled out her room keycard.

"Classy," Emma commented, with a smirk, but she was well aware it was an invitation. Emma's red haired friend decided now would be a good time to interject herself into the situation.

"Em, you wanna go back inside and get a drink?" she asked, not taking her eyes of Regina.

"This is a private conversation, dear," Regina cut in. Her voice was cold, the same way she had spoken to the boy who had been hitting on her in the bar in Portland.

"Emma, are you okay?" the redhead asked, turning to look at Emma this time.

"I'm fine. Seriously, I'm okay," Emma assured her. The redhead nodded suspiciously, but walked away anyway.

"Your friend seems overly protective," Regina commented. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was jealous."

"She's not my friend," Emma corrected, "but yeah, she is jealous."

"You slept with her?" Regina asked. Emma just smirked. "Why did you tell her about me?"

"Why is it such a big deal?" Emma asked. "I mean, it's not like I thought I'd see you again, especially not here."

"I tried to call you. You pawned that phone I gave you."

Emma looked down and swallowed heavily. "I know. I'm sorry. I needed the money."

"I just assumed you met someone," Regina said, trying to sound disinterested, like it didn't matter.

"Well, I did, but… he's gone," Emma admitted, still looking down.

"He?" Regina asked.

Emma shrugged. "Yeah. But I was stupid and he screwed me over. I should have known better."

"You're not stupid, Emma," Regina said. "What did he do?"

"He let me take the fall for something he did, and I ended up in prison," Emma shrugged again, like it was nothing. She hesitated, wondering if she should mention the baby she had given up, but decided against it. It wasn't the time or place, and she highly doubted Regina even cared.

"Prison," Regina repeated. "That explains these biceps."

Emma laughed as Regina put her hand on her arm again, thankful that the aggression and anger seemed to have faded, as far as she could tell. "Yeah, well, there isn't much to do in there but read and work out," she said, with a shrug.

"And where's this 'he' who screwed you over now?"

"Don't know, don't care."

"I see. And what about the redhead?"

"I met her a couple weeks ago. We just hook up. Meaningless sex, you know the deal."

"Like with me?" Regina asked.

"Nothing like with you," Emma admitted, but decided not to elaborate any further.

Regina processed those words for a moment, wondering if they meant what she thought they meant – that perhaps she had gotten to Emma the same way Emma had gotten to her. She pushed that thought away, telling herself that there were a million things Emma could have possibly meant by that, and she decided not to ask her to clarify. She was done talking.

"So, how bout it, Swan?" Regina asked, holding up the hotel keycard again.

Emma smiled. "Well, it is my birthday."

"I remember. So let's go celebrate."