***Author's Notes: This is my weekly update and I think that it is a fun one. I don't want to say too much because I don't want to give away anything but let me know what you think about it. And since I won't have an update until next Friday, I want to wish all my US readers a very happy Thanksgiving. I hope that get plenty of family time and good food!***

On Saturday, Ruby and Emma sleep in, have brunch, and spend the rest of the day walking around the city. Since it was such a beautiful Autumn day in Seattle, they really wanted to take advantage of it by spending it outdoors as much as possible.

On Sunday afternoon, Ruby walks over to the bar from Emma's place so she can meet her for some shopping outside of the city. Emma was supposed to help out at the bar in the evening but Regina insisted that she take the entire day off so that she could spend it with Ruby. She was reluctant because she knows that weekends have been getting more and more hectic, but she eventually agrees. However, she tells Regina and Killian that she would open on Sunday morning for them so that neither of them would have to get up early after closing the night before. Since she also has all of Monday free of work, which just happens to be Halloween, Emma has already promised Ruby that they can pick out costumes and maybe go to a party or two that night.

When Ruby arrives, the bar is empty. She sees that Killian has already started his shift and is behind the bar but Emma is nowhere is to be found.

"Hey" Killian says when he sees her. "Emma is in the back counting some inventory from today's delivery. She should be done in a little while. You want something to drink while you wait?"

"I'll take a water. I don't really want to spend my whole vacation day drinking." Ruby laughs.

"Fair enough." Killian fills a glass with ice water and puts it down on the bar for her. "So, how's day three in Seattle? Are you enjoying yourself?"

"It's great. I'm just really happy to be in the same place as Emma again. I really missed her." Ruby says.

"You think there's any chance that you'll convince her to go back to New York?" Killian asks.

Ruby raises an eyebrow. "Do you think that I'm here on a secret mission or something?"

Killian laughs. "No. But I was just asking because that's something I'd probably do if my best friend lived so far away."

"Well, she really seems to love it here. I have to be respectful of that." Ruby shrugs. "You and Regina have really made her feel at home so to be honest, she probably feels like she belongs here more than she ever did in New York."

Killian nods but does not say anything. After about a minute of silence and a lot of contemplation, he finally asks, "Is Emma gay?"

Ruby who is completely surprised by the question looks at him with the most perplexed expression. "What?" She asks.

Killian shrugs. "Does she like women?"

Ruby narrows her eyes at him. "I do actually know what gay means, but that really came out of nowhere."

Killian chuckles. "Well? Are you going to answer my question?"

Ruby shakes her head. "I don't think it's my place to tell you any of her business. Have you thought about asking Emma? That's really something she should answer."

Killian grins at Ruby and nods. "So she is, then."

"I didn't say that!" She argues.

"You didn't have to." He says.

Ruby just shakes her head and sighs. "Her her most recent relationship was with a man. So, no, she is not gay. But, if you are asking because you like her-"

"Ruby, please. I'm not asking because I like her. I mean, I do like her but not in that way that you believe." He leans back on the counter trying to choose his next words. "I'm asking because of Regina."

"Regina….? Likes Emma?" Ruby asks as she tries not to sound too excited but the conversation has suddenly peaked her interest.

"No! I mean, I don't know if she does. Why? Does Emma like Regina?" Killian asks.

"No…" Ruby hesitates before taking a drink of her water.

Killian waits until she finishes her drink and puts her glass back down before he continues. "Regina is one of my best friends. And she's been through a lot. It takes her a while to open up to people. I want to put that information out there in case you or someone you know might need it."

Ruby thinks about that for a moment before she replies. "So, let's just say hypothetically, Emma is into women and she happens to be interested in Regina. You would like me to tell her that it takes Regina a while to open up to people? Am I getting warm?"

Killian chuckles. "Exactly. If Emma were indeed interested in Regina, I'm suggesting that she would have to be pretty persistent. It isn't entirely impossible but it'll be a challenge. Hypothetically speaking, of course."

Ruby laughs. "Well, duly noted, good sir."

"In all honesty, and I expect that this stays between us, I've noticed a change in Regina lately. She's been happier and I daresay that it's because of Emma. They may think that they are being sneaky with their constant looks at each other and the flirtatious repartee, but they aren't actually very discreet." Killian smiles but gets serious again quickly. "There isn't anyone I know that deserves to be happy more than Regina does. That's what I want for her."

Ruby smiles sadly at him. "You're a very good friend."

"And I suspect that you are as well which is why I wanted to have this conversation with you." Killian smiles at her genuinely.

Ruby returns the smile and that is when they hear some shuffling in the back. Seconds later, Emma appears.

"Hey Rubes! Sorry, have you been here long." Emma says apologetically.

"Nope, just got here actually. You have perfect timing. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah. Let's bounce. Killian, everything is accounted for and I'll see you later?"

"Yep. You ladies stay out of trouble now." Killian smiles again at Ruby who nods her head at him.

Emma puts on her jacket and leaves with Ruby following closely behind her.

They have a late lunch and discuss what it is that they will be looking for when they go shopping. After deciding that they would go as a famous couple from one of their favorite movies, they did a coin toss to see who would be wearing what.

Even though Ruby really wanted to play the female role, she was secretly pretty happy that she won the toss for the male costume. After her conversation with Killian earlier, she is excited to doll Emma up. Especially since they decided that their first stop tomorrow night will be at Regina's. Ruby is definitely going to have some fun with this.

"We can do Princess Leia and Han Solo." Emma says hopefully.

"Only if you wear the slave outfit." Ruby counters.

Emma shakes her head vehemently. "What? No!"

"Then no Star Wars. Because even though I love the Princess, her outfit is lame. How about Pretty Woman? Or we can always do Prince Charming and Snow White." Ruby laughs. "But you, Emma Swan, are most definitely no Snow White."

Emma rolls her eyes. But then she gets an idea. "We can do Indiana Jones? And I can be Marion." Emma says excitedly, her mind going back to the night she slept at Regina's apartment.

"She's lame, too, Ems." Ruby says. "But...we can do the Temple of Doom and you can do Willie! We could get you a red Asian-inspired lounge singer's dress and do a classic nineteen-thirties updo and makeup. That will be amazing."

"Yeah, okay. That doesn't sound too bad. Let's do it."

Emma drives them to a few Halloween superstores but they do not find anything that they are looking for. Finally, Ruby tells her that they should try some thrift stores in the area to see what they can put together.

At the thrift store, they find everything that Ruby will need to make her costume work and she even picks up a whip and a cute hat to finish off her costume.

They do not find any Asian-inspired dresses but Ruby stumbles on a red-sequined, long, strapless dress that she thinks will be perfect. She takes it and shoves it at Emma. "Go try this on."

Emma looks at the dress. "What the hell? I'm not wearing this. Look at the slit on this thing. It will show most of my ass, Ruby."

"Just go try it on. It'll look good on you."

Emma sighs and walks towards the fitting rooms.

Ruby looks through the rest of the dresses but sees nothing else that catches her eye so she too walks in the direction of the fitting rooms so that she can see what the dress looks like on Emma. She walks into the hallway and ducks down so she can find which room Emma is in. "Hey, babe, where are you at? Ems?"

Emma peeks through one of the doors. "I am absolutely not wearing this in public. I think that I'd rather be slave Leia."

"Whatever. Let me see." Ruby pushes into the fitting room to see Emma wearing the dress and it is gorgeous on her. "Oh my god. We are so getting this dress."

"Ruby, it's too tight. And it's too low cut. I feel naked."

"But you're aren't naked. And you look amazing."

"I can't." Emma shakes her head. "I won't."

Ruby sighs. "Look, you trust me, right?"

Emma nods. "Yes, but-"

"Stop. Would I ever steer you wrong?" She catches Emma's skeptical look and laughs, starting again. "Actually, don't answer that. Anyway, let me just say this. When Regina sees you in this and her jaw drops to the ground, you will thank me for it. Believe me."

Emma frowns and looks down at herself again. Then she looks back up at Ruby. "Are you sure about this?"

"Absolutely. Some smokey makeup, a good red lipstick, a hot updo, and believe me, you'll most definitely get your girl's attention."

Emma chuckles. "You're so weird. You were the one that told me that I shouldn't even pursue Regina. And now you're telling me that I'm going to 'get the girl'. I don't know which advice of yours is the one I should take."

"What I told you was that you should be her friend. If you can have some fun doing it, why not? It could be interesting to see how she responds to it."

Emma rolls her eyes at her friend. "You're something else. Now get out of here so I can get out of this thing. It's so tight, it feels like a second skin."

Ruby grins and leaves the dressing room. Tomorrow night is going to be very interesting, indeed.

Ruby is just about to pull open the door to Regina's when Emma pulls onto her arm, once again having second thoughts about the whole thing. "Rubes, I think we should switch costumes. You would be so much more comfortable in this one." Emma whines.

"Em, I won the coin toss, fair and square. You just need to suck it up and get over it." Ruby smiles at her friend. "Plus, you already have your hair done and geezus, all of that lipstick."

"You told me to wear this color! I told you that I couldn't do the red. Do I look ridiculous? Oh god, I'm going back home to change." She turns to walk away but Ruby grabs her by the arm.

"Emma! I'm kidding. Come on, you're being a child."

Emma shakes her head. "This dress is too tight. And I'm gonna fall over in these shoes before I even have one drink in me."

"Em, listen to me. Regina is going to die when she sees you in that. Trust me, this is the first year since junior high I've worn pants on Halloween and I'm only okay with it because you are rocking the hell out of that dress. Now, can we please just go in there so that you can try to win that woman's heart?"

Emma closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "Fine. But, if it gets too awkward, we will leave and find another party. You promised."

"Of course. We'll go wherever you'd like. I promise." Then Ruby extends her arm for Emma to take ahold of. "Now, my beautiful Willie, shall we?"

Emma takes Ruby's arm and follows her into the bar. Once they are inside, they see the place has more people in it than the normal Monday night crowd. Even though no one is paying the two of them any attention, it does little to calm Emma's nerves. Ruby puts her hand on the Emma's lower back trying to reassure you again but at the same time lightly pushing her towards the bar. Emma takes another deep breath and walks towards Killian and Regina.

Killian is wearing a long leather trench coat with a silver pentacle necklace of some sort around his neck. She will have to ask him who he's dressed as later. And from what she can see of Regina, she is not dressed in a costume at all. Killian spots her first and has do a double take, his eyes widening.

Regina sees the look on Killian's face and turns curiously. She sees Ruby first and smiles widely. "Why hello there, Dr. Jones." She is just about to ask Ruby where Emma is when she notices that the blonde is standing right beside her friend. Regina tries to hide the look of shock on her face. "Emma. Wow." She nervously adjusts her glasses and tries speaking again. "Emma, you look...stunning."

Killian laughs behind her. "Damn, Swan. Nicely done. I hardly recognize you. Who the bloody hell are you supposed to be?"

Regina answers for her. "I do believe that she's the Willie Scott to Ruby's Indiana Jones. The Temple of Doom, right?" She adds with a smirk.

"Who?" Killian asks again.

They both ignore Killian.

Emma chuckles nervously. "Well, kind of anyway. This is the only dress that we could find that looked even remotely close. I feel more like Jessica Rabbit than I do Willie."

Regina can feel the warmth in her cheeks but cannot take her eyes away from Emma's. "I think that you make quite the convincing Willie actually." Regina says still smiling. "Especially standing next to your Indiana."

Ruby, of course, notices the red in Regina's face and looks over at Killian, smiling at him. It seems that so far, things are going swimmingly.

And when Emma's heart stops pounding, she sees that Regina is in fact wearing a costume. She has on slacks and a white dress shirt. Her shirt is halfway open and she has a undone tie hanging around her neck. Underneath her white shirt, is a blue Superman T-shirt. The whole ensemble is complete with the dark, thick-rimmed glasses that Emma has only seen Regina in a few times. Emma smiles at Regina. "You dressed up. I didn't think that you would. Even though it's a pretty lame costume."

"I do still have to do my job, Emma. And not all of us can run around in that." Regina nonchalantly motions her hand in Emma's direction referring to her outfit. "I would never be able to pull that off while...you look absolutely beautiful."

This time, Emma blushes. "That's a lie. I think that you would look amazing in this."

Regina rolls her eyes knowing very well that it would elicit at least a smile out of Emma and she is right.

Emma chuckles and shakes her head. "And you always say that I'm the impossible one."

This makes Regina laugh but she smiles genuinely at Emma afterwards.

Ruby looks between the two women and then over at Killian again, who is now trying to suppress a laugh of his own, and she shakes her head. "Well, I don't know about you, Em, but I really need a drink. Killian, if you don't mind?"

"Of course, m'lady. A beer for you and.. " Killian turns to Emma. "A bourbon, Swan?"

Emma finally looks away from Regina for the first time since she made it up to the bar. "Yes, please."

Killian gives them their drinks and Ruby motions to a hightop by the billiards table. "Em, let's go sit and let Regina and Killian do their job."

Emma agrees and follows Ruby to the table sitting down with a dreamy look still in her eyes.

"Snap out of it, woman. You're not making it look obvious at all." Ruby states sarcastically. "Let's go have fun!"

And that is exactly what they do. At some point in the evening, Ruby makes friends with a table of gentleman dressed as DC Superheroes. They are all obviously younger than her and Emma but still offered to buy all the rounds probably hoping that the evening would work out in their favor. Ruby is playing pool with their new friends when Emma eventually breaks away and walks up to the bar with her drink.

Regina sees her approaching the bar and smiles at her. "You look like you're having fun."

"Oh yeah. Tons." Emma says dryly before she takes the last gulp of her bourbon. Then she leans over the bar reaching her glass out to Regina and grins. "What would I have to do to convince you to top me off, bartender?"

Regina grabs the bottle of Makers but hesitates. Then she narrows her eyes at Emma for a second. "Hmmm…" Regina smiles and leans over as well, getting as close as she can to Emma's face before turning a just a tad to whisper in her ear. "You could give me that I.O.U back."

Emma tries to speak but her mouth goes dry. And when Regina pulls away, she has what Emma thinks is the prettiest smile on her face which makes her completely tongue-tied. "Uh...I don't. I actually-"

Regina laughs. And then she takes Emma's glass from her and pours her a double before handing it back to her. "I probably should have held out a minute longer because it looks like you were actually considering it for a second."

Emma is finally able to speak again now that Regina is a safe distance away from her. "I was actually going to say that I don't have it with me. It's in a safe spot at home."

"You could just rip it up. I would be quite alright with that as well." Regina says grinning.

Emma thinks about that for a second. She really could just rip it up and it would make things easier for her, and Regina would probably be very happy about it. "Or we could just make plans right here and right now so you can stop worrying about when I'm going to surprise you with it."

Regina chuckles. "I had a feeling you weren't going let me off. But, I'm in no hurry for you to use it, believe me."

Emma smiles. Just as she was about to reply, she feels an arm around her waist. She turns expecting Ruby but it is one of the men that they have been drinking with.

"Hey there, Gorgeous. We're missing you over there." He says to Emma. He turns his attention to Regina who is glaring at him. "Whatever she is drinking, you can put on my tab." He winks.

"Gladly." Regina says still glaring.

Emma removes his arm from around her. "Actually, Regina, I will be buying my own drink." She turns towards the man. "If you would like to keep your arm, I'd suggest that you never touch me again."

He scoffs. "Whatever, bitch. Your friend is hotter than you anyway." As he turns and starts to walk away, Emma intentionally sticks her leg out and he trips, falling onto the floor. He gets up immediately and is in Emma's face. "You did that on purpose, you stupid bitch!"

Within seconds, Killian is around the bar and pulling the man away from Emma. "I think that's quite enough, my friend. Step away from the lady."

The group of guys hurry over and grab their friend trying to calm him as they walk him back towards the billiards table.

Ruby runs over and is standing by Emma. "Are you alright?" She asks worriedly.

Emma nods. "I'm fine. He just got handsy, that's all. I handled it."

Ruby frowns. "I'm sorry. It's my fault that we're even over there with them." She looks up to the clock and sees that it's close to midnight. "You ready to call it a night? We can head back."

Emma nods. "Yeah, I have to work tomorrow morning." But, as they are closing out their tab with Regina, the same man comes back up to where they are standing.

"I hope that you aren't thinking about leaving now, after my friends and I have spent all night buying you drinks." He says, more to Ruby than to Emma.

Ruby laughs. "I never once asked you to buy our drinks. You did that on your own, buddy." Ruby turns back towards Regina and that's when the man grabs Ruby's arm and tries to turn her back towards him.

"Hey, let go of her!" Emma yells.

"I'm not talking to you, Blondie."

Emma does not get a chance to retort because Regina beats her to it. "You will unhand her, Sir." Regina says sternly. "Not only that, but you and your friends will close out your bar tabs, and you will leave my bar. I have had just about enough of your name-calling and brutish behavior."

"Your bar?" He scoffs at Regina and asks incredulously.

Regina does not feel the need to justify her previous statement but she does add, "Also, whatever these ladies have had tonight is on me so you and your friends shouldn't worry about not getting your money's worth of a good time." The man tries to argue but Regina puts up her hand stopping him. "You have about five seconds to walk away before I throw all of you out."

He opens his mouth to speak again but closes it before shaking his head and turning around to walk back to his friends.

Regina is still glaring in his direction making sure he makes it back to his table. Without so much as a glance at Emma or Ruby she turns towards the register. Then she calls Killian over and tells him that he will take their bills over to them once she has closed them all out.

Ruby and Emma watch quietly as Regina closes out all the tabs. Ruby, still shocked, turns to Emma and whispers. "Man, that was so fucking hot."

Emma, her eyes still wide with disbelief as well, just nods and takes another sip of her drink.