As usual, it was Ruby who suggested it was time for a girl's night. The corner booth at The Rabbit Hole was organised and the ladies of Storybrooke (as Ruby addressed them fairly regularly) gathered ready for some relaxation.

And wine.

Definitely wine.

There were definitely a few tenuous links in the group, especially now the effort had been made to include Regina, but before too long they were laughing and sharing the funny details of their lives – toddlers, boyfriends, husbands and work provided plenty of fodder.

Especially when there appeared to be a concerted effort to avoid the topic they were all clearly dying to talk about.

Surprisingly, it was Regina who broke the silence.

"So, how is Captain Erotica finding his new celebrity status?" She smirked at Emma and raised an eyebrow as Ruby and Belle both choked on their drinks. Mary Margaret attempted to look disapproving for just a moment, but was soon laughing along.

Emma just rolled her eyes. "Killian," she said with emphasis, "is coping very well thank you. We are planning on him staying fairly anonymous – beyond here in town with you gossipmongers." The last statement came with a pointed look at Ruby, who grinned and took a sarcastic bow.

"So no book tour for the good Captain Porno?" asked Belle quietly, causing a fit of giggles from the others. Clearly the wine had loosened her inhibitions, and even Emma had to shake her head with a smile. She suspected Killian would quite enjoy the banter.

"I dare you to call him that to his face," she challenged with a wink. Despite a decidedly rocky start, the librarian and the pirate had formed quite a friendship and Emma suspected that she might do exactly that.

"Well, actually," Ruby interrupted, "This talk of our devilish Captain has brought me to the main reason I thought we were due a girl's night. I would like to propose the creation of the Ladies of Storybrooke Book Club."

There was a murmur throughout the group, a mixture of dissent and agreement. There was something in Ruby's face that made Emma suspect she hadn't yet heard the punchline. Her suspicion heightened when Ruby leant down under the table and retrieved a heavy looking bag.

"Ladies, to get us started I have prepared our first selection." From the bag, she unearthed a stack of books, each heavily tagged with Post Its. As she began to hand them around the group, Emma quickly realised exactly where this was headed,

"How did you get these?" she asked, a copy of Killian's book now on the table in front of her. That was a LOT of flags, and she dreaded to think just what they were marking. Her mother was at the table, for God's sake.

"Let's call it a spotter's fee from the publisher," she smirked. Emma nodded in acceptance…this was not going to be comfortable so she may as well get it over with.

Ruby continued, "I think, for our first selection, that it would be only fitting to support an up and coming" – at this she winked devilishly – "local author. So I present "Rapscallion" by Mr Jones."

There was a laughing round of applause as Ruby made this announcement.

"I think our names were better," she added as an aside to Emma, who shrugged it off. They had decided to keep it simple, and a name like Jones was fairly straightforward.

Emma picked up the book and studied it as Ruby began what sounded like a well thought out synopsis, and her thoughts on the strengths of the book. She even had a detailed explanation of the flagging system she had apparently devised. When she started to categorise which particular carnal acts featured where, Emma decided it was time to head to the bar.

As she waited for her drink, she looked back at her friends, each thumbing through the pages, stopping to read a paragraph here and there. Regina's lips were pursed in what disdain and Emma heard her say she was not going to be reading smut from Captain Sex Book any time soon. Belle appeared to be reading a passage aloud, initially causing hoots of laughter from Aurora that transformed into rapt attention, eyes widened - clearly enjoying what she heard.

She had said he knew his way around a paragraph.

She had avoided looking at her mother. But when she did glance in her direction, she was deep in concentration, reading what looked like a blue tagged page, a small smile upon her face.

Emma was quite glad she didn't know what that meant.