In the week leading up to Saturday, Emma and Regina had slightly adjusted their routine. On days Emma had early appointments, Regina would bring her coffee and/or a bear claw with a violet. On the other days, Emma would bring Regina coffee and draw little characters and stuff on the cups. Emma drew a small caricature of one of their regulars that had Kathryn and Regina laughing so hard they had to go in the back and hide the cup from customers.
Emma was surprised when Regina didn't stop by the tattoo shop Saturday morning. Emma had stacked her appointments and come in early because she was only working a half day but hadn't seen Regina at all. When Emma took a break to grab something to eat, she stopped next door. She didn't see Regina and made a beeline for Kathryn, waiting for her to finish with a customer before approaching her.
"Oh, hey Emma! Didn't think I'd see you today."
"I just had to run out for lunch and I figured I'd stop by. Is Regina here?" Emma asked hopefully.
Kathryn gave her a confused look, "No… She took the day off. Something about having fired her cleaning person and needing to take the day? I thought she texted you."
Emma pulled out her phone and saw that she had accidentally muted it earlier. She had a text from Regina apologizing for missing their "meeting" that morning. "She did. Stupid phone goes on mute with the lightest touch." Emma shrugged. "While I'm here… Does Regina have a favorite flower or anything?"
Kathryn thought hard for a couple minutes and looked around the store. "You know what? I have no idea."
"How do you not know? You're her best friend and you own a flower shop with her?"
"Why did it take you this long to ask?"
"Touche... Are roses too cliché?"
"For Regina? Probably not, she enjoys the classics. Do you want me to put something together for you?"
"That'd be awesome. Can you have it ready around 4:30?" Kathryn nodded. "Great, thanks!" Emma left and made a mental note to do something for Kathryn as a thank you.
She returned to Game of Thorns at a quarter to five and Kathryn brought out a beautiful bouquet of different color roses. "Thank you so much! How much do I owe you?"
"Nothing."
"Come on, Kathryn, really?"
"Really. I won't take your money for these." She held out it out for Emma to take. "Just remember that Regina is my best friend and if you hurt her, I will come for you." Kathryn said in a serious tone that Emma had never actually heard her use before, it was a little scary.
"I won't."
"Good."
"Thanks again. Next tattoo is on the house!" Emma yelled out as she left.
When she got home, Emma rushed to her closet to try to find something to wear, cursing herself for not doing it earlier. She pulled several options out of her drawers before sending a text to Ruby that just said, "Help me!"
Ten minutes later, Emma heard a knock on the door and rushed to open it. Ruby was standing on the other side with a big grin on her face. "I think that's the fastest you've ever gotten to the door. You were standing right next to it, weren't you?"
Emma didn't answer and pulled Ruby into the apartment, not letting go of her until she was over by Emma's bed. "Did ya pull out your whole wardrobe, Em?"
"No! I don't know what to wear!"
Ruby stopped herself from laughing, "Well, you're just going to her place, right?" Emma nodded. "And are you expecting to spend the night?" Emma shrugged. "You're hopeless! What exactly did she ask you?" Emma found the text message on her phone and showed it to Ruby. "Um yeah, I would make sure you're prepared to not get any sleep tonight. Which means that whole pile over there is out." Ruby pointed to another pile, "We're gonna have to talk about those clothes another time. Where's the stuff you bought last time we went shopping?" Emma pointed to one of her drawers and Ruby rolled her eyes. Ruby pulled out clothes and threw them at Emma.
"I'm already wearing underwear."
"I don't care, go change." Ruby picked up a pair of Emma's dark skinny jeans, and threw them at her too. "Throw those on while you're at it."
Emma changed behind her partition and was standing in front of Ruby five minutes later, getting a good once-over. "Sooo…?"
"I think Regina's going to want to rip those off the second you walk in the door. You definitely could have done that yourself, why did you have me come over?"
"Nervous and I didn't want to end up leaving with my shirt on inside out or something."
"You did that once, didn't you?" Ruby asked with a grin.
"Why do you ask questions you already know the answer to?"
"Because it's fun." Ruby shooed Emma towards the door, "Now get outta here." They left the apartment and Ruby started walking back to work.
Emma got in her car and punched Regina's address in her GPS. "You'll arrive at your destination in 20 minutes," an automated voice said.
Emma looked at the clock on her dash, it was already 6:15 and she was supposed to be at Regina's at 6:30. "Shit"
When the GPS told her she had five minutes until her destination, Emma started looking around. She turned into a neighborhood that was full of very expensive houses and started to get uncomfortable. "Your destination is on the left." Emma pulled up to a very large, white house that Emma was more comfortable calling a mansion. She tripled checked the address to make sure it was correct, grabbed the bouquet and walked up the front walk. She rang the doorbell and when the door opened, she had an apology ready.
"I'm-"
"Late and sorry. I know." Regina gestured to the flowers, "Are these for me?"
"Oh. Yeah. Hope you like them." Emma handed Regina the bouquet and Regina brought it up to her nose to smell them.
"I love them, thank you. Roses are my favorite, you know."
"They are?"
"I know… it's incredibly cliché of me, especially since I'm a florist, but I've loved them since I was a little girl." Regina started to walk into the house but Emma stayed in the doorway. "You can come in. Do you mind getting the door?"
Emma stepped into the foyer and closed the door behind her, "You know, I don't think you can call this a house, it's more like a mansion, it's huge."
Regina laughed, "If you think this is big, you should see my mother's house."
Emma gaped and asked, "Bigger than this?"
"By a lot. Would you like a tour? Dinner's about ready but I can show you the house after."
"That'd be great." Emma followed Regina into the dining room, where there was two plates already set with a bottle of wine out.
"Please take a seat."
"Can I help with anything?"
"No, no, I've got it. Please sit." Emma followed Regina's direction and watched her bring in the food and a vase full of the flowers Emma brought her. "Do you like lasagna?"
"I love it."
"Great! It took me a while to perfect this recipe, I hope you like it." Regina sat down and gestured to the food, "You first."
Emma heaped a large portion of lasagna onto her plate and took a piece of garlic bread before passing it to Regina. Emma wasted no time in digging into the lasagna and almost let out a moan because it was so good. She made sure to swallow everything in her mouth before saying, "This is the best damn lasagna I've ever had," making Regina beam.
They carried a light conversation throughout dinner, Emma was trying to avoid talking with food in her mouth, as she was prone do to. When they were both finished, Emma insisted on helping with the dishes. Emma had gotten halfway through washing them when she broke a wine glass and Regina told her to just leave the dishes.
"How about that tour, Emma?" Emma nodded and let Regina lead her through the house. It took 20 minutes to get through the entire house and that was without going through some of the rooms. For someone who lived alone, Regina had a lot of space. They went into the living room and sat on the couch in front of the fire place.
"So how'd you end up here? I mean, it's not near the stables and its twenty minutes away from where you work?" Emma asked.
"My father set aside a large fund for me and bought me the house before he died. It belonged to his parents and I guess he wanted it to stay in the family. He made sure my mother couldn't touch any of the money or the house. I know it's large, and I don't use most of it, but I can't bear to sell it."
"Well it's a beautiful house, so I understand why."
Regina stood up and walked over to the bar, "Can I get you a drink?"
"Sure. Whatever you're having is fine." Regina made two drinks and walked back to the couch, handing one to Emma. Emma took a sip and then put her glass down, "Thank you." Emma was at a slight loss for something to say or do. "Soo…"
"I don't have any expectations for this evening, Emma. If you'd just like to talk, we can. If you want to watch a movie or something, we can do that, if you're not interested in staying very long, you won't offend me if you leave." Regina looked at her flirtatiously and added, "If you'd like to go upstairs and let me give you a tour of my bedroom, we can do that too."
Emma gave her a flirtatious smile in return, "Well it would be rude of me not to finish my drink, but after I think I'd like a tour, maybe starting with this couch."
When Emma opened her eyes the next morning, she groaned and shut them quickly, pulling the sheet up over her head. Light was filtering into the bedroom, something she was unaccustomed to, there was a damn good reason she made sure she had a west-facing apartment. She groaned again and started feeling around. The bed was empty and she cautiously poked her head out from under the sheet to see if she was alone. Regina was nowhere to be seen or heard. Memories of the previous night started flooding Emma's mind and she smiled, then frowned. It had been amazing for her, but what if Regina felt differently and that was why she wasn't there when Emma woke up? What if this was Regina's subtle way of telling Emma to see herself out? Emma started to panic and sat up to look for her clothes when she saw the note on the night stand next to her. She picked up the note and read it with a smile, "Didn't want to disturb you. Come downstairs." Emma put the note down and gathered the sheet up. She tried wrapping it around herself but was unsuccessful and was looking for her clothes when she saw the robe on the chest at the end of the bed. Emma put the robe on and went downstairs to find Regina. She found her in the kitchen making breakfast. Emma walked behind Regina and wrapped her arms around her, snuggling Regina's neck and peppering it with light kisses. "Morning."
"Good morning dear."
"That was some tour."
"I'm glad you enjoyed it. Maybe after breakfast, we can take another?"
Emma groaned, "I wish, but I have a consult first thing."
Regina turned around and held Emma close to her. "You can be late." Regina leaned down and started kissing Emma's neck, smiling when she heard Emma moan. "Can't you?"
"Not fair."
"Who said I was fair?" Regina switched to the other side of Emma's neck.
"I guess I can be a little late." Regina stopped kissing her. "Heyy!"
"After breakfast!" Regina resumed cooking the scrambled eggs and Emma hovered with her arms crossed.
Emma and Regina were both very late for work and Emma had to reschedule her consult.
In the months leading up to August, Emma started spending enough time at Regina's to earn her own drawer and a key, but neither woman had actually acknowledged that she'd practically moved in. She stopped bringing Regina coffee in the mornings, because they drove in together most days, but Emma did spend her mornings in Game of Thorns before Big Bad Wolf opened. If the store wasn't too busy, Regina liked teaching Emma more about some of the flowers; their meanings, origins, even the best conditions to grow them in. Despite spending years getting flowers from Moe, Emma never actually remembered the meanings behind most of them.
One of the times they were walking around, Emma pointed to a lily and said excitedly, "I know what this one means!"
"Oh really? What does it mean?" Regina asked, amused.
"The lily means, I dare you to love me."
Regina smiled and contemplated her reply, "Actually, it doesn't."
"What do you mean?"
"It doesn't actually mean that, they made it up for the movie." Regina looked at the sad look on Emma's face, "Is that what you want it to mean?"
"Yes..."
"Then that's what it means. Flower meanings aren't concrete, they change from person to person. It's what makes them so beautiful." Emma had stopped walking and was just looking at Regina. "What is it?"
"I love you." Emma said quietly.
"What was that?"
Emma pulled Regina into an embrace and whispered "I love you" in Regina's ear.
Regina beamed and pulled Emma into a kiss, "I love you too."