By the time Tuesday night came around, Emma was a nervous wreck. Regina wouldn't tell her where they were going but given the dress code, she knew it would be a nicer place than she had ever been in before. Ruby and Lacey had both tried to help her relax but had been unsuccessful for the most part. Emma refused to let either of them help her get ready, but it didn't bother them too much because Granny was letting Emma get ready in her apartment above the shop. Ruby and Lacey would be able to run upstairs if they wanted and they would see Emma when she went outside. By some miracle, they left her alone after she told them she would be wearing her pink dress. Emma got downstairs with ten minutes to spare. The two customers in the shop did not stop Lacey and Ruby from whistling at her when she walked up front.

"Really guys?"

"I don't think you understand how excited we are that you're going on this date," said Lacey.

"Yeah Em, it's possible that we're more excited than you are. We were getting a little worried we'd have to start buying you cats." Ruby teased.

"Ha ha, you're both hilarious." Emma looked outside and saw Regina's Mercedes pull up. "Oh look, there's my date. See ya."

"Have fun!" Ruby and Lacey yelled in unison.

Emma got into the car and noticed Regina checking her out. In lieu of a greeting, Regina said, "You look beautiful, Emma."

"Thanks. So do you." Emma pointed to the clock on the dash, "Hey look, I'm on time!"

"Shall I stop for a lottery ticket on the way to the restaurant?" Regina asked with a playful smile.

"Hey!"

"You're the one who told me that five minutes late was early for you."

Emma huffed and crossed her arms, but only half seriously.

Unlike the ride to the stables, Emma was not a fan of the silence in the car and tried filling it with the first thing that came into her head. "Do you have any pets? Rocinante doesn't count."

"And why not?"

"Because he's a horse. I'm talking house pets, like a dog or cat."

"No, I do not."

"Not even a fish?"

Regina shook her head, "Not even a fish. What about you?"

"But why not?"

"Too much work and mess."

"I guess that makes sense. You just kind of struck me as a cat person. I had a betta fish but it died, I have bad luck with fish."

Regina chuckled but before Emma could ask what was funny, they pulled up to the restaurant. Emma was right, it was the nicest place she'd ever been to.

"Regina, this is the best restaurant in town!"

"I know, that's why I brought you here."

"Don't they require reservations months in advance?"

"Not if you know the right people."

When the host saw Regina, he greeted her with, "Good evening Ms. Mills, nice to see you again."

Regina smiled, "And you as well."

"Your table is ready, if you would follow me please.". He led them to a table near the back that offered up some privacy. He held out Regina's chair for her and went to do the same with Emma but she had already sat down. "If you need anything else, Ms. Mills..."

"Thank you, Frederick." The host walked away and Emma was looking around the restaurant taking everything in when she realized something and her eyes got big.

"Your last name is Mills."

"Yes?"

"You took me to the best restaurant in town and you know the host's name."

"Yes…" Regina realized where this was going and started to worry.

"Your family is the Mills family."

"Is that a problem?"

Emma looked at her with disbelief. "What the hell are you doing here with me?"

"Going on a date with a woman I'm interested in." Regina replied matter-of-factly.

"You own half the state."

"No, I own a house, a horse, and co-own a flower shop. My mother owns half the state."

"But when she dies, won't the money be yours?"

"Possibly. What does it matter?"

"It matters because you're way out of my league. You can date anyone you want."

"And I'm here with you. Now, will you be wanting wine with dinner?" Regina picked up her menu and gestured for Emma to do the same.

Emma opened her menu and her stomach dropped. There was nothing on the menu in her price range and she felt uncomfortable with Regina spending so much on her. "Oh... Um... Not tonight."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah... I'm just going to get something small."

"Are you sure? They do some lovely veal dishes."

"Yeah… I'm not that hungry."

"Your stomach kept growling on the drive over." Regina put her menu down, "I asked you out tonight, I'm paying for it, please get whatever you want."

"I can't ask you to do that, it's way too much. I can't pay you back for that."

Regina took Emma's hand, "I didn't ask you to."

"But-"

"No arguing. I wanted to do this so please let me."

"Okay." Emma was still uncomfortable with Regina spending so much on her, but she'd find some way to make it up to her.

"Regina?"

Regina stiffened when she heard her name and looked up to see her mother walking towards her. "Oh I thought that was you!" When her mother got to the table, Regina stood up to greet her.

"Hello, mother. I thought you were usually here on Wednesdays?"

"Trying to avoid me, are you?" She asked with a very fake sounding laugh. She turned her attention to Emma. "Who's this?"

"This is Emma. My... friend. Emma, this is my mother, Cora."

Emma held out her hand to shake Cora's "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Mills."

"Nice to meet you as well Miss..."

"Swan." Emma said, not noticing Regina shaking her head until it was too late. "Emma's fine."

Cora turned her attention back to Regina, not even acknowledging that Emma said something "Well I wouldn't want to interrupt your... evening. You're coming by the house tomorrow morning, correct?"

"Yes, mother."

"Very good. See you then" She gave Regina something that barely resembled a hug and gave Emma a small wave. "So nice to meet you."

When Cora was gone, Emma and Regina sat back down.

"So... that's your mother? The Cora Mills?

"Yes."

"She seems...interesting."

"That's a word for it. I'll be having words with Frederick, I'm betting he told her we were here."

"Why is her knowing we're here bad? Does it have something to do with why you introduced me as a friend instead of your date?"

"It's just not good for her to know some things."

"Are you not out?" Emma wasn't sure why it didn't occur to her before now.

"It's complicated and there are some aspects of my personal life I don't need her to know and this is one of them."

"Are you ashamed?"

"I told you, it's complicated."

"Well then un-complicate it, Regina. I don't want to be some dirty little secret. I don't want to be someone you hide with in back corners because you don't want to be seen with me. That's not fair and I'm not doing it."

"That's not what I said," replied Regina, getting angry. "I have a complicated relationship with my mother and it's not her business."

"Then why are we in a back corner?"

"Because there are people I know here."

"Because you don't want to be out."

"It's not that simple."

"Yes, Regina, it is that simple. Look, I like you, but I learned a long time ago that letting others decide who I was or how I was going to act wasn't worth it. It sounds like you need still need to figure that out and until you do, I don't think we should see each other." Emma threw her napkin on the table and stood up to leave.

"Emma, wait! At least let me take you home."

"I'll grab a cab. Goodnight, Regina."

Emma walked out and Regina was left at the table wondering how that night could have gone so wrong so fast. Regina took out her phone and called Kathryn.

"Uh oh. What happened?"

"Why do you automatically assume that something happened?"

"Because you've only been at the restaurant for like 15 minutes."

"My mother happened."

"But she goes there on Wednesdays! What was she doing there tonight?"

"I don't know. I have a feeling Frederick might have told her."

"No way, he wouldn't do that. It was probably the chef. Or maybe just a coincidence."

"My mother showing up the first night I've had a date in years? Some coincidence."

"So what did she say?" Regina explained everything to Kathryn and when she finished, Kathryn was silent a few moments and then said, "Please don't get mad at me for saying this, but Emma kind of has a point. It's not fair to treat her like a dirty little secret."

"I know."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know."

Regina pulled up outside her mother's house at 8:00 on the dot the next morning. Cora took her into the living room and handed her a cup of tea.

"So who was that you were having dinner with last night? Bit fancy, wasn't it? Who were you trying to impress?"

Regina sighed. Her mother knew the answers to those questions. "A friend. Her name is Emma. As I told you last night, Mother."

"She didn't seem happy to be referred to as a friend. Were you on a date? Because I thought we talked about this."

"Talked about what?"

Cora sighed. "You know what. This. This dating women phase you were going through. I thought we talked about it and agreed you were done with this experiment." She said "experiment" like a dirty word.

Regina tensed up and balled up her fists as a reflex to her mother's words. Cora didn't notice, for once, or was just pretending not to. "WE did not agree on anything, Mother, you sent me away to make me straight and then you tried cutting me off, and when that didn't work, you tried arranging dates for me. You made decisions for me with no regard for how I felt about the matter."

"But what about Daniel? He was such a nice boy."

"Don't you dare! Don't you dare talk about Daniel! Don't you dare act like you approved of me and the 'help!'" Regina was fuming. "You only like Daniel now because he was the one and only boy I loved."

"Don't you take that tone with me. I don't deserve your disrespectful tone. I've only ever done what's best for you."

"I think you're confusing yourself with Daddy. HE did what was best for me. Not you. I don't know why I even bothered to come today." Regina gathered her purse and coat. "Goodbye Mother" and walked out of the house. It didn't take long for Regina to figure out what she wanted to do.

Regina headed to Big Bad Wolf, stopping on the way to purchase two bear claws and a coffee. Cora had tried calling her several times, but Regina ignored it every time. When she got to the shop, Lacey gave her a somewhat frosty greeting, "If you're looking for Emma, she's with a customer." She gestured to Emma's station, where Emma was talking to two women. Regina noticed that the blonde one was leaned in very close to Emma, giggling at something she said. They shifted slightly and it looked as if Emma was holding the blonde's hand. Emma said something else that made the woman laugh and winked at her. Regina started to get angry, here she was trying to apologize and Emma was flirting with a customer. How unprofessional. Regina was feeling played and stormed out of the shop, letting the door slam shut behind her. She threw the coffee and the bear claws in the trashcan outside.

When she walked into Game of Thorns, Regina went straight into the back office, and slammed the door. She had barely gotten to her desk when there were several urgent knocks on the office door.

"Regina? It's Emma, let me in!"

Regina's anger flared up again and had to stop herself from responding.

"I don't want to talk to the door, Regina!" Emma knocked a few more times before Regina heard a loud thud, which she assumed was Emma sitting down against the door. She was silent a couple minutes. "Are you going to tell me what that was about? I kinda can't sit here all day, I have appointments."

"By all means, don't keep your clients waiting."

"The hell is that supposed to mean? What did I do to piss you off so much? Besides not wanting you to hide who you are?"

"Why don't you ask the blonde you were flirting with?"

"OH MY GOD, Regina! Open the damn door!"

"It's unlocked, Miss Swan."

"Oh." Emma opened the door and walked into the office with her arms crossed. "Why do you care if I'm flirting with someone? We went out twice, if last night counts, and it didn't exactly end well. Also, I wasn't flirting with her, I don't flirt with my customers."

Regina scoffed, "It sure looked like it from where I was standing."

"What you saw was me showing a client what the tattoo she wants on her wrist would look like. I also made a few jokes to make her feel more comfortable because getting a tattoo is a little scary for some people."

"Oh." Regina felt stupid for her assumption.

"Yeah. Now, I'm assuming you stopped by the shop for a reason. I meant what I said last night."

"I know. I saw my mother this morning and I thought about what you said."

"And…." Emma didn't want to get her hopes up yet.

"You were right. Doing what my mother wanted has never worked out well for me and when it comes down to it, I'd rather be myself with her out of my life than under her thumb. I'm sorry for treating you like something I was ashamed of." Regina stood up and walked around to the front of her desk, so that there wasn't anything between her and Emma. "I was hoping you'd be interested in trying again."

"No back corner?"

"No back corner." Regina promised.

"Yes." Emma impulsively moved closer to Regina and stopped herself when she was inches away. "Um… Can I…"

"You don't have to ask." Regina pulled Emma to her and kissed her. Both women melted into the kiss. When they pulled apart, red-faced and slightly out of breath, Regina said, "I've been wanting to do that for weeks."

Emma gave her a cheesy grin, "Weeks? I think I've been wanting to do that from the day I first saw you." Regina smiled and tightened her hold on Emma again. "I really hate to ruin the moment, but I really do have someone waiting for me to tattoo them."

"Oops. Sorry, dear." She released Emma reluctantly. "Is Friday okay?"

"I think so. I'll let you know for sure tonight or tomorrow morning. See ya!" Emma got three steps towards the door when she stopped and turned around, walking back to Regina. "Almost forgot something." She gave Regina a quick peck, causing her to smile, and then walked out and over to Big Bad Wolf.

Kathryn came into the office a minute later and Regina was still smiling and hadn't moved from the spot. "Everything alright?"

"We have a date on Friday. Help me plan."

Kathryn smiled and launched into the various options Regina had.