A/N: I went a little cliché on the names, I am aware of that. But please enjoy :)
"You must be Regina." The young girl gulped and nodded, her grip tightening around the small bouquet of flowers in her fists. "You're not what I expected," Ruby muttered, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned against the door from and narrowed her eyes as the shorter haired brunette.
"I'm not my mother, or anyone who she associates with," Regina blurted out, feeling quite uneasy for what had to be only the second or third time in her life.
"Oh I know, there probably not nearly as freaky in bed as you are." Ruby watched as the other girl's cheeks turned the colour of her lipstick and her mouth opened slightly in confusion. "Oh, right. I'm Ruby, Emma's sister- well, step-sister- and best friend." She stuck her hand out for the still very shocked girl to shake.
"Regina Mills," the younger girl dumbly answered, making Ruby laugh.
"Yes, Emma speaks very highly of you. Speaking of the little nerd, she's still getting ready. Do you want to come inside while you wait?"
"Uh, sure." Regina slipped her shoes off, adding them to the large pile beside the door, setting the flowers gently down on top of them before following the other girl deeper into the house, towards the loud conversation that she had heard faintly from the door, but immediately stopped when she entered. There were seven people seated around a large wooden table, five kids, ranging from what she guessed to be six to eighteen, and two adults. Ruby sat down and motioned for Regina to sit in the vacant seat next to her.
"I don't expect you to remember this, because half the time I don't, but we have Robin and Roland, Tinker- or Tink- Ashley, and Henry. And Louise and Gregor of course," she pointed at each person as she introduced them, and they all gave a small wave in return, except for Tink, who just glared at her. "And that's our weird little family," Ruby said with a shrug.
"You forgot my sister," squeaked one of the two little brown haired boys who Regina was fairly certain had responded at the name Henry.
"She already knows her, you little dingbat," Tink cut in before anyone else could answer. "They're going on a date, which means-"
"Tinker!" Louise interrupted the messy haired blond girl before she could continue. "He's seven years old for gods sake."
"Well it's the truth," she countered with a shrug before downing the rest of her drink. "I'm going out, I'll be back tomorrow." She stood up, her chair making an unceremonial screeching sound against the floor as she scrambled away before anyone could interject her.
"Don't do anything too stupid," Louise called after her, getting a half-assed wave over the girl's shoulder in return. No one else paid her much attention as all eyes stayed focused on the new girl, though nothing more was said.
"Why is everyone staring at me?" Regina muttered to Ruby.
"Emma's the good girl, nerd's never done much to warrant attention before," she answered. "If you couldn't tell, Tink's the one who justifies concern."
"And pretty girls catch our attention," the brunette turned her focus onto the oldest kid there, a boy whose name had escaped her as she really had only been here for Emma she figured if this went any where like where she wanted it to go she would have plenty of time to learn and remember everyone's name.
"Pardon?" she muttered, staring directing at the boy, well man- he did have a slight scruffy beard- across from her.
"You're pretty, and here for Emma, I'm just wondering why."
"Because I'm intriguing, Robin, so lay off" they all turned as a new voice joined the conversation, and Regina's jaw dropped for the second time that night.
"Wow, Emma, you… you," she stuttered, unable to find an appropriate words to describe the blond. Her thigh length black dress and the red leather jacket that hung from her slim frame did little to quell the brunette's allure towards the other girl. "I think I said fascinating."
"I think you said both," the younger girl shot back as she walked up behind the two brunette girls, laying a hand on each of their backs. "And unless you want to spend the whole night here with weirdos, I'm ready to go." Regina smiled, at both the blonde's words and the finger that was tracing the bumps of her spine from the center of her back to the base of her neck.
"It was nice to meet you all," Regina said curtly as she stood, forcing Emma to stop the tantalizing movements of her hand.
"When should we expect you back?" Louise asked, stabbing at the salad on her plate, not even looking at the girls.
"Twelve?" Regina said, making it more of a question than a statement in preparation of backlash from the adults.
"That early?" Gregor spoke for the first time, a deep chuckle accompanying the question. "I don't want to see you back here twelve in the afternoon, you hear me?" he pointed an accusing finger at the two girls, though his face was still animated with laughter.
"How come you never tell me that?" Tink grumbled, appearing in the dining room again, now wearing a much shorter shirt and a different hairstyle, carrying a pair of very high heels in her hand.
"Cause we know who Emma's with," Louise yelled at the retreating back of the skimpy green dress. Emma smirked, grabbing Regina's hand and giving her family a small wave with the other as she pulled the other girl out of the room.
"Oh, here," Regina freed her hand from the blonde's light hold and grabbed for the flowers, "I brought these for you." She stuck her arm out, not entirely sure how she was supposed to do this.
"They're lovely," Emma said with a shy smile. She had never felt like this before, like she was the reason someone else was having a good day. Sure she'd laughed and had fun with Ruby, but this was different somehow- well, other than the obvious reason. Not knowing what else to do, both girls slipped on their shoes before disappearing into the night with one final shout goodbye.
With the flowers tucked into the crook of her arm, Emma followed Regina to the curb, where an old, black, beat up, mustang sat waiting for them.
"Wow, is this your car?" the young girl asked, staring in amazement as the passenger door was opened for her.
"Yeah, it was my dad's before he passed away. My mother wanted to get rid of it but I convinced her it would be cheaper than buying a new car," Regina explained with a shrug, trying to shove her hands into nonresistant pockets. Damn skirt.
"Like you guys need to watch your spending," the words were falling from her lips before she could stop them and Emma immediately clapped a hand over her mouth, scolding herself. "I'm sorry I didn't-"
"It's fine," Regina stopped her, first holding up her hand in pause, then reaching forward and grabbed the blonde's wrist, pulling her closer. "I'm learning how to do this too."
"What? how to act like a person who actually talks to people and doesn't spend all their time with their nose shoved in a book?"
"I was going to say how to love, I've never actually done anything like this before," Regina confessed, looking down at her shoes.
"Go on a date with a girl you mean," Emma corrected, lifting the other girls head with a finger under her chin.
"Just go on a date actually." Regina couldn't believe she was saying all this already, she had just met this girl. She had gone into last night slightly tipsy but with the intent to make it more than a one night stand, and staring into those bright green eyes she somehow knew that whatever she said wasn't going to make the slightest bit of sense so she opted for a break and then more talking. "Let's head back to my house," she said, stepping back and opening the door further. "Eat food and see what happens."
"Sounds like a nice date, but one thing first." Emma smirked at the confused look on Regina's face. "I get to kiss you first, cause that is something I've been wanting to do all day."
"I think I can agree to that," the brunette chuckled as she leaned forward and met sweet glossed lips with her own.
"Better?" Regina muttered as she slowly stood up straight once more.
"Mmm, much." Emma gave her one last small smile before sliding into passenger seat and pulling the door shut. Regina quickly made her way around the front of the car, starting it up and pulling away from the curb.
"So where are we headed on this wonderful night?" the blonde asked, propping her elbow on the center consol and resting her chin on her fist, pushing her glasses further up her nose as she stared at her date inquisitively.
"They just released the new Captain America movie, I don't know how interested yo-"
"Oh my god yes!" Emma practically squealed, grabbing the other girl's arm, causing them to swerve towards the curb.
"Careful," the brunette scolded, shaking the bruising grip off as she righted the car. "And then I thought we could head back to my house for dinner."
"I don't mean to be rude, but won't your mother freak out, about you know, you bring a girl home on a date? You had said the other night that no one knew you were gay." Regina sighed, turning to look at her date briefly before looking back at the road. She could see the concern and, protectiveness?, in the deep green eyes.
"She doesn't know, before this morning no one did-"
"Before last night," Emma corrected, tapping a tanned thigh where it stuck out from underneath the dark purple skirt, before resting her hand on the smooth skin.
"Okay, true, but I told my best friend, Katherine this morning. Actually she told me she knew." Regina shrugged sheepishly, pulling into the parking lot of the small movie theatre. "And my mother's away on a business trip, just Dani, the maid, is home now. I enlisted her to make dinner." They were quiet for a minute, the movie wasn't set to start for another forty minutes and neither girl really knew what to do now.
"Do you want to go in and find seats?" Emma finally asked, placing both her hands back in her own lap. "I'm sure there are going to be plenty of people here tonight- is that going to be okay?"
"Why wouldn't it be?" the brunette furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
"Well, you are on a date, with one of the biggest nerds in school, who also happens to be female…"
"And?" she knew exactly what the other girl meant. Emma opened her mouth to answer, only to have it covered by Regina's.
"Nevermind," Emma muttered into the kiss as she gripped brunette locks to pull the other girl closer. Regina was practically sitting in her lap when there was a loud knocking on the window, making both girls jump.
"You're in a public parking lot," the woman's voice was muffled by the glass, but the stern tone could still be heard very clearly.
"Sorry," Regina called back, giving a small wave before she went about fixing her appearance. Emma watched as the woman walked away, shaking her head as she dragged two kids behind her.
"That was awesome," she mumbled before she burst out laughing, slapping her leg before she climbed out of the car and stretched her arms into the air.
"You really don't get out much," Regina chuckled, closing and locking the car. "Though I must say, that was much more fun than sitting in the back seat being the third wheel."