"Emma, I think you have the griddle too hot," Regina sidled up behind her and reached around Emma's waist, turning the heat down from hot to medium. "You keep burning the pancakes."

"Yeah, sorry…I'm feeling a bit warm cause of the griddle," Emma mumbled her apology, acutely aware of Regina's presence so close.

"Here," Regina moved her feet even closer and wrapped her fingers over Emma's and guided her to flick her wrist as she flipped the pancakes with the spatula. Regina whispered in her ear, "Just like that—smooth and easy."

Emma shivered and swallowed, "K, great thanks, yep, got it."

Regina let go of her hand and nodded, turning to go get more eggs for Mary Margaret to scramble. Leroy came through the line for the third time, and raised his eyebrows, leaning close to leer at Emma. "Maybe if you didn't spend so much time checking out the Queen's ass and day dreaming you wouldn't be burning them," he winked crudely and held out his plate expectantly.

Emma pursed her lips and seethed, "I am not… I did not check out Regina's—never mind, enjoy your pancakes." She heaped a stack of three on top of his plate and glared at him as he went on down the line to the sausage station.

Storybrooke's first annual pancake breakfast came about when the Merry Men's campfire got out of control one night and they had a hard time putting it out after it caught fire to a nearby tree. The Merry Men were all going through training to be volunteer firemen and the breakfast was a fundraiser to help purchase new equipment and supplies.

Regina was overseeing the all you can eat event, which seemed to require a ridiculous amount of bending over to in the fridges, ovens and drawers to retrieve everything from eggs to napkins. Emma couldn't take her eyes off Regina's tight black slacks, and her ass became the focal point due to her apron tied in neat white bow around her waist, like her butt was a present that needed to be unwrapped. She also looked adorable in her regulation hairnet as she flitted around the impromptu kitchen set up in town hall.

She smelled something burning and realized she was burning another batch of pancakes again. Henry was working as a runner, taking plates of food out to the older citizens in Storybrooke and refilling the jars of syrup and trays of butter. He walked up across the counter and startled her. "Ma, um, maybe you shouldn't be on griddle duty. Maybe you could switch with grandma; she might be tired of beating the eggs...so hard."

When Emma looked, down the long buffet to Mary Margaret she was frowning and holding a big stainless steel bowl beating the shit out of a dozen eggs.

Regina walked by and stilled her hand, "We're not making Meringue," she sassed as they both looked into the bowl.

Emma cringed knowing she was being a bit too obvious with her staring and weird flirting with Regina. Her mom had recently chastised her for spending so much time with the former Evil Queen, and it was clear her crush was getting a bit out of control. Determined not to burn anymore pancakes she hastily poured a new batch of batter onto the griddle and stared as the white liquid formed lumpy pancakes and started to bubble.

She took a deep breath and told her self mentally to get it together, but just then Regina was back at her side. She peered over her shoulder with disapproval written on her face.

"Emma, it's very important that each pancake is uniform size, that's why we have the measuring cup," Regina explained again. At least she was patient and hands on as she dipped the cup into the batter and brought it, handing it to Emma and closing her fingers securely over her wrist. She guided her to tip the cup and pour the batter slowly so it formed a nice circle as it radiated out. "There," she smiled and squeezed Emma's shoulder kindly. Then she looked at her expression and asked, "Is something wrong?"

"No," Emma managed to squeak out as she felt her heart speed up at the show of intense concern from Regina. "I'm good, just a bit distracted. You know me with cooking and all."

"Yes, well all and all you've shown a great improvement," Regina complimented her and lingered for a moment just gazing at Emma. Emma couldn't take the warm scrutiny and she shifted her attention to the pancakes that were ready to flip. "Thanks, Regina."

She caught another glimpse of Mary Margaret staring at her and Regina as she stabbed at the eggs in the skillet with her spatula.

Emma finally relaxed a bit when Regina went off to do the politician thing and mingle and schmooze. She had a few lumpier, not entirely cooked pancakes, but no more burnt ones and thankfully she didn't ironically set town hall on fire at the firefighter's fundraiser.

The pancake breakfast concluded; everyone walked away full and satisfied. They raised a great sum of money for the cause. Except, Emma realized as her adrenaline came down and they started to clean up she hadn't eaten anything since she'd been so busy cooking.

Regina sat down at the end of one of the long tables and looked tired. Henry nudged Emma when he caught her looking at his other mother. "Why don't you make a couple more pancakes and go eat with Mom? You two haven't had any and you need a break. Grandma and I can clean up for a while."

Emma nodded and didn't pay attention as she threw more batter onto the griddle. She was lost in memory, recalling how Regina first showed her how to make the batter, she accidentally got some flour on her cheek and Regina had brushed it off with her soft fingers. The touch seemed to linger a bit and Emma wondered what would have happened if the pair hadn't got interrupted by Mary Margaret knocking into them with a large tray of frozen sausages. The damn sausages always seemed to interrupt their special one on one moments Emma noted with frustration.

Emma flipped the pancakes a bit angrily and then divided them into two stacks without looking, before going down the line and portioning some eggs onto their plates. She hooked her finger through a jug of syrup and grabbed some silverware. She smiled as she brought the food over to Regina, and sat her plate down in front of her.

"Tada," Emma chirped acting like a lovesick goof when Regina smiled back at her. She slinked down in her chair and grabbed the syrup.

"Thank you," Regina said as she turned her attention to her plate. Then she seemed to freeze, staring at the pancakes. Emma couldn't help but notice the sudden change in her disposition. She stopped slathering her cakes with butter and syrup and hitched when Regina looked up at her in question.

"What?" Emma asked worriedly, wondering if she had burned the pancakes in her haste to go share a meal with Regina.

Regina lifted her plate slightly so Emma could see and quirked her eyebrow as her face blossomed into a strange unreadable smirk. Emma glanced at the pancakes on Regina's plate. "This is new," Regina said saucily with a hint of mirth in her voice.

To Emma's surprise she had made Regina perfect heart shaped pancakes. Emma's eyes widened and she felt exposed for a moment, but Regina was biting her lip and looking at her with such affection, she realized she had done well. Especially, when Regina reached out and brushed her fingers against Emma's interlacing them she leaned across the table.

"You aren't very subtle, Emma. Mary Margaret was about to have a fit every time you stared at my ass. I kept bending over unnecessarily to provoke a reaction," Regina admitted gleefully.

"Huh," Emma didn't trust herself to speak after that revelation so she filled her mouth with a hefty bite of sugar of carbs and chewed thoughtfully.

"After we get everything settled here, how would like to come over to my place for a more private cooking lesson?" Regina asked flirtatiously.

She inhaled sharply at the appealing low tone of Regina's voice that promised much more than simply cooking food, "Yes, I think I could use a lesson…or two..."

"Excellent," Regina sat back looking pleased and turned her attention back to her pancakes. She picked up her fork. "Would you be a dear and pour some syrup on my heart?"

"Gladly."