I just want to warn you all, this is my fluffiest chapter yet. I mean like romance, cuteness and rainbow glitter. So enjoy!

Emma was SO nervous. It was crazy; she had been on so many dates before—most of them with men—but she had always been able to handle herself, and not get too emotionally attached. She was already attached to Regina, and they had only kissed once. Well, twice, if you counted the play. So much for one nighters being as far as she ever went, she grumbled to herself. She was so gone over Regina; she just knew she was going to say something stupid, or do something stupid, and it would screw everything up.

Her voice had trembled when she had asked the brunette out, telling her she would pick her up at 7:30 on Friday. It was 5:30. Emma had just gotten home from the Sherriff's office and she was trying to think of anything besides her pending date with the Mayor of Storybrooke. She turned her radio on, switched to a classic rock station and tried to get lost in the noise, but the tunes just ended up making her horny. Funny how rock music did that.

She heard a knock on her door and got up from the horizontal position. She opened the door a crack.

"Hey, Emma." It was Mary Margaret. "I was just wondering if you wanted to go to the Farmer's Market with me? It's the last week they're having it, before winter." The schoolteacher looked at her, hopeful.

"No, sorry…I would, but I have other plans tonight." Please don't ask what, please don't ask—

"Oh, what?"

Emma grunted. "I um…I have a date."

To her credit, Mary Margaret did not get all mushy and sappy about it. Not quite. Her eyes lit up, and she looked happy for the blonde. She knew Emma was lonely, and needed someone, though if you asked her, she would deny it. Mary Margaret was just happy that she had found someone she had something in common with.

"That's great, Emma. Can I ask who it is, or is that too personal?"

Emma smiled. "It's too personal, at this point, anyway. If things go well with Re—with this person, I might tell you. Now I really should get ready for my date." She moved to close the door, but Mary Margaret hung on the door frame, another question etched on her face.

"If things go well…" Mary Margaret processed this. "You mean, you're planning on there being more than one date?" Mary Margaret could not contain her surprise.

"Yeah, hopefully. What are you grinning about?" Emma raised her eyebrows at her roommate, who had an ecstatic smile on her face, like world peace had finally been accomplished.

"Nothing…It's just that when I first met you, you would never have said that. You are growing, Emma, and I am proud of you!"

Mary Margaret got the door practically shut in her face.

Regina dropped Henry off at the Nolans, knowing he would enjoy spending time with David. Something about his book, surely, though Henry had not talked with her about it much. Lately the things she and Henry discussed revolved around school, Emma, and occasionally his comics, which Regina would read with him some nights. That was something Regina had missed…the closeness. It was slowly coming back, and Regina did not know what had brought that on, but she loved it. She held onto it, onto her son, with every fiber of her being. It was hard to be secretive with him about why exactly she wanted him to spend the evening with the Nolans, but she was not ready to tell Henry about the fact that she was going on a date with the Sherriff. She was sure he would take it badly. If she was breaking one of Emma's rules, then so be it.

Emma picked her up at 7:30 on the dot, and Regina was pleased to see she had managed to teach Emma something about punctuality, at least where she was concerned. Regina had no desire to take Emma's car, so she tried to bribe Emma by saying she could drive her Mercedes. But Emma just spouted off another rule, making Regina's nostrils flare.

"Rule number three: If I ask you out, we have to take my car."

Regina stomped her foot impatiently on the driveway. "Really, Emma, this is ridiculous! Look at that car! I wouldn't be surprised if you got it from the circus. I half expect clowns to come climbing out of it and blowing confetti in my face!"

Emma stepped back. "Ouch."

Regina found herself apologizing and sticking her foot deep in her mouth, saying that they could take Emma's car, if they must. Emma grinned and opened the door for Regina, who was grateful that the door didn't fall off.

They drove to the local race tracks, a little place that was only used on the weekends called Fast Track All Star, and Regina breathed a sigh of relief. Up to this point, she had expected Miss Swan to take her to a barn raising where she would have to shovel horse poop, or a dinky little restaurant that served fried food she wouldn't touch with a 40 foot pole. She had immediately assumed the worst. So when they pulled up to the festive little lot, where people were laughing and having fun, she smiled. Emma actually had good taste. And she knew how to treat a date. Emma jumped out of the car and opened the door for Regina again, which Regina secretly loved, though she didn't show it. She took in her surroundings and walked with Emma to the gate, where Emma paid for them both. Regina moved to get her wallet, but Emma had balked, saying that it was her treat.

They managed to find a seat on some stone cold bleachers, sandwiched between a bunch of rowdy teenagers and drunken old men—but though Regina complained like a five-year-old, she was enjoying herself. She was wearing a collared shirt and nice black pants, because she had ignored Emma's warning to dress down. She regretted that decision when a 17-year-old next to her accidentally squirted some mustard on her shirt, then tried to cop a feel when he was wiping it off. Emma saw him and waved him off.

"Get lost, kid. She's with me."

Regina would gladly get squirted with ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise over and over, if only to hear Emma say those words again. She did not let her emotions show, though. She sat up straight and looked at Emma, trying to give her a cold smirk.

"I can take care of myself, Emma. I do not need you protecting me." She watched the 17 year old walk away and sit with a group of his friends, most likely talking about how he managed to touch the Mayor's boobs.

"I know, but you are my date. Admit it, you liked me defending you." Emma nudged Regina playfully and then moved away. Regina missed the contact immediately.

"The races are about to begin. Which car do you think will win?"

They ended up having a wonderful time, staying at the race track until 10:00 and Emma walked Regina to the door, like a traditional date. She lingered on the steps, knowing what would come next, only if Regina wanted it too. Regina gladly acquiesced and leant her head in, ready to feel the blonde's lips on hers. Then she remembered Henry. She had left him at the Nolans, much later than she had planned. She had never expected her date to last that long, or for Emma to be so damn charming, enchanting and chivalrous.

"I have to go pick Henry up." Regina breathed, stepping back from the kiss that was about to happen.

Emma tried not to show her disappointment. "I can go pick him up," she volunteered. She did not want the night to be over yet.

Neither did Regina. "Fine, you can go. Make sure he doesn't leave any of his things there. The last time he stayed he left his jacket and—"

"Relax, Regina. He will not freeze to death, I promise." Emma swung the door of her yellow bug open and climbed in, pulling out of Regina's long driveway in record time.

While Emma was gone, Regina changed her shirt that was now reeking with mustard. She did not want to kiss the Sherriff like that. It was time to stop living in denial; Regina had an overwhelming attraction to Emma, and it had only gotten more powerful tonight, on their date. Part of Regina had thought that she would eventually lose interest in the blonde, but the opposite was true. She had had her first taste, and now she wanted so much more. She yearned to hold Emma, to kiss her until she could take no more. She wanted to be near her, to become part of her.

She waited the fifteen agonizing minutes that Emma was gone, sitting in her study, her knuckles stuck on her lap. When Emma finally pulled up, she jumped out of her seat, running to the door. Her hand brushed Henry's hair and she told him to go get ready for bed, which he gladly did. Emma stood on the steps, unsure of whether to come inside or to just leave, and Regina could not wait another second.

She ran out of the door—in her heels—and grasped the blonde's arms, holding her like a lifeline. She gazed into her eyes and saw the surprise, yes, but also desire and yearning. Regina slowly moved closer, cautiously testing the waters. She breathed five breaths before she closed her lips onto Emma's tasting her like she had just had chocolate for the first time. Emma responded, snaking her arms behind Regina's back, then up to her neck, gently stroking it with her thumbs. It was so right, in that moment, that neither woman wanted it to end. Both of them wondered why they had not done this months ago.

"We should do this again," Emma breathed, when they broke apart.

Regina smiled, a full beautiful smile that held nothing back. "Of course, Sherriff. But I get to pick the place."

Emma tried to look mad. "What did I tell you about calling me Sherriff? My name is Emma; it's in the rules."

Regina chuckled, holding onto Emma's jacket, still standing close. "Right, the rules. It so happens that I have a rule of my own. And it is: No sex until the fifth date."

"WHAT? Oh, now you're just being cruel!"