Hey Guys! First of all I am so unbelievably sorry for how long it took me to get this second chapter out but my personal life has been pretty hectic but its starting to calm down a little so I'm hoping that I'll be able to update more frequently.


Emma could still remember the first time she saw Regina, and she meant really saw her. It was one thing to look at or glance at a person but it was a truly a different thing to actually see them, not seeing their physical appearance, but something much greater. Seeing their soul.

Emma had seen Regina before this moment, obviously, Storybrooke was an exceptionally small town and with Regina being the mayor's daughter, well, she was practically royalty, and she acted like it too. Her group, herself, Kathryn and Mal were practically the most popular girls in school and Emma stayed far away from them. In the past she had never really spent too much time at any one school to understand the social workings of each but she knew that interacting with the more popular girls was off limits unless you were invited. Either way she didn't really care, she preferred to stay out of the whole social hierarchy thing, she didn't have the time or the energy to get involved with gossip, who was dating who, who did what etc etc. She and her best friend, Ruby, had preferred to stay on the outside, it had definitely made high school easier for them.

Either way before eleventh grade Emma had never really had an interaction with Regina. Sure she'd seen her and her friends sitting in the centre table at lunch every day giggling and gossiping, probably tearing down others, but she'd never actually talked to her. It wasn't like Regina had made an effort to speak to Emma either, she was that weird girl who came in halfway through middle school and by that time everyone already knew each other and she was an outlier. Thank god Ruby had decided to take her under her wing.

It was the first day of school, Emma was feeling pretty indifferent about starting eleventh grade, maybe a little scared if she was being honest, she knew that she didn't have much longer left in high school and then she'd have to start thinking about her future and honestly she'd never really given it much thought, in fact for most of her younger years she never really thought she would have a future.

The day had been going pretty regularly, she and Ruby had a couple classes together so that was nice, until she walked into her biology class anyway. Mr. Glass was partnering people up left and right, not really caring about who wanted to be partners with who and by the time she had reached the class everybody had had a partner and she was alone, what a surprise.

Mr Glass peered at her from over the top of his glasses, "Ah Emma, you can take the table at the back and since we're just missing one more student, she can be your partner."

Emma just nodded her head, as a form of response, not bothering to ask who the other student was, before heading to the back of the class and slinging her bag across the top of the lab table. She took out her books and started doodling in the margin until Regina Mills burst into the room, looking slightly out of breath with her hair up in a messy ponytail. It was the first time that Emma had seen her look not perfectly put together and honestly Emma was taken back by how gorgeous she suddenly looked in that moment. Not that she hadn't thought that Regina was attractive before, because god damn she was, but today was different, today she looked like an actual human being instead of some ethereal being but yet looking more beautiful than she ever had. Emma suddenly realized that maybe it was her humanity, her flawed humanity that made her appear more gorgeous and maybe beauty without flaws wasn't really true beauty at all.

In fact Emma was so distracted by Regina that she hadn't even noticed that the brunette had walked right up to her and sat in the seat beside her. She was only pulled out from her daze when she noticed Regina looking quizzically at her.

"Sorry what?" Emma asked, realizing that Regina had just asked her a question, and was now looking at her like she might be mentally stable.

"I asked what your name was," Regina said coolly, taking out her own books and writing utensils and putting them down on the lab table and organizing them.

"Emma," she replied, not entirely thrilled by Regina's attitude.

"Regina."

"I know," Emma said, before realizing what a stupid thing that was to say. Why was she suddenly so nervous, it not like she was intimidated by Regina or anything but when Regina looked in her eyes she could just feel her insides melting and Emma Swan did not get crushes, that was great for Ruby but Emma greatly preferred the single life.

Regina just offered her a polite smile before turning back to her books and Emma did the same. She wasn't sure if she should try and instigate a conversation or if that would make this more awkward. Eventually she was saved by Mr. Glass launching into a lecture about Ecology that lasted for the rest of the period. She glanced over at the Regina every now and again just to notice that she wasn't paying attention or taking notes and she had her head in her hands.

When the bell finally rang, signalling the end of the school, Regina jumped up grabbed her stuff and rushed out of the classroom before Mr. Glass had even dismissed them. He just threw up his hands and shook his head before signalling to the rest of the class that they could also leave. Emma quickly packed up her stuff before racing out into the hall looking for Regina.

"Regina!" she called out.

Regina turned around to look back her, probably wondering why someone she'd never spoken to before today had suddenly taken an interest in her. Emma watched as she sighed with her whole body before walking over to her.

"What?" she snapped.

"Jesus I was only going to ask if you were okay, there's no reason to be a bitch," Emma said, wondering why she even bothered to chase after Regina in the first place.

Regina was silent for a moment and Emma actually took a moment to study her face, the emptiness her eyes held, the way her body slouched and Emma realized that maybe Regina wasn't the perfect girl she pretended to be.

"I'm sorry," Regina replied, Emma was pretty sure it was sincere, "And I am fine."

Both of them knew that was a lie.

"Hey, do you um, want the notes we took in Bio today? I noticed you didn't really take any down."

Regina actually gave her a real smile this time, "That would be great, thank you."

The two of them exchanged numbers before parting ways, Emma thinking about how strange it was that she now had Regina's number. She was pretty sure if she told Ruby, she would freak out.


"I can't believe you have Regina's number," Ruby said, serving Emma her fries and grilled cheese sandwich, with extra cheese. "Like she's the hottest girl at our school."

"Relax Rubes, it's just for homework," Emma said biting into her meal. After school she had gone over to Granny's Diner where her best friend Ruby worked, helping out her grandmother after school on weekends, and shared the news of how she was now in possession of Regina's number. "And don't let Belle hear you say that either, I doubt she'd want to know that her girlfriend thinks some other girl is hotter than her."

Ruby just laughed, "Please Emma, both you and Belle know that nobody owns my heart the way Belle does."

"Speaking of Belle," Emma started as door to the diner opened and Belle walked through. Ruby squealed before going over and greeting her girlfriend with a kiss and all Emma could do was keep her tiny smile to herself. She'd never really admit it to herself but she wanted that, what the two of them had, pure love. She was certain that if she'd actually found it she would probably find some way to screw it up or run away from it. That was her speciality after all.

The lovebirds eventually joined her, Belle sitting on the stool next to her and Ruby behind the counter. This was often how they found themselves after school, Belle and Emma would do homework and Ruby would serve customers, joining them whenever she could or when the diner was particularly slow.

"So Ruby tells me you've got a new study buddy," Belle said, a smile gracing her lips and her gaze flitted between Ruby and Emma before lingering on Ruby.

"I'm sure your idea of a study buddy and Ruby's idea is very different," Emma replied, offering Belle a dry.

Belle cheeks went red and Ruby just snorted, before serving up Belle a milkshake.

"And right now Regina is neither," Emma replied, "I'm just gonna send her some notes. That's all."

"That's always how it starts," Ruby singsonged and Belle reached across the counter to playfully swat her.

"Leave her alone," Belle said, "I doubt it will go that far."

Emma glanced down at her food.

"Unless," Belle continued, "You want it too?"

"I," Emma began, "Look I barely know her okay? And everything I've heard about her or witnessed just screams UberBitch. But," Ruby and Belle looked at her, urging her on, "I don't know. Out in the corridor when I just looked into her eyes I just saw this depth that I've never seen before or thought she could even have."

"So what are you waiting for Ems? Text her!" Belle said.

Emma took a deep breath and reached for her phone.


"Regina, come on, this isn't funny," Emma said, starting to sweat, she knew it had been awhile but how could the woman in front of her not recognize her? They had once meant everything to each other and if Emma was being honest Regina still did. Seeing her was a shock, obviously, but she had still been able to place Regina easily and it wasn't like Emma had changed this much.

"I'm sorry, after the accident I don't remember much from my teenage years, did we know each other well?" Regina responded.

"A-a-accident?" Emma stuttered, why was this the first she was hearing of this. Suddenly she remembered how her parents had been acting sketchy all morning and not telling her something, she was starting to have an idea about what that something could be.

"I- maybe this isn't the best place to talk about this," Regina said, becoming aware of their surroundings and realizing that the middle of a supermarket wasn't the ideal place to get into a discussion about what had happened to her.

Emma was still in shock. She wasn't having an easy time coming to grips with the fact that the love of her life, the one she thought she'd spend forever with, had no idea who she was. And more importantly had no idea what the two of them had been through together. Regina was staring at her, but she wasn't seeing her, she wasn't seeing all their history and all Emma wanted to do was turn and run and get onto the first flight to California but that was how they had gotten into this mess in the first place.

"Can I get your number?" Regina asked, "Maybe we could meet for coffee and well sort everything out."

Emma nodded, it was the most she could do with all the emotions swirling in her.

"Your name?" Regina asked, not knowing how much a simple question could hurt Emma.

"Emma. Emma Swan."

Regina squinted slightly at her, before taking down her name and her number and then turning away and continuing with her shopping. Emma, however, was still stuck, watching her leave. She turned around, her breathing hard and saw her father, who noticed she'd gone white as a sheet.

"We need to talk," Emma said, anger replacing the hopelessness in her eyes.


Hope you all enjoyed :)

- Abbie