The next morning Emma decided to take the day off. She was on stand-by in case anything might happen to the town. But she made it clear that she didn't want to be disturbed if it was for anything less than Godzilla feasting on the townspeople.
And in Storybrooke, that wouldn't be entirely impossible.

Today, there was a much more important urgency on her hands. Clean the house and prepare for dinner.
There wouldn't be any interruptions. Her parents would take Henry camping right after school. So she had plenty of time to polish her silverware, make a kick-ass playlist on her iPod and get dressed.

When everything was done, she finally went into the kitchen to start on her 'cooking'.
Like a true sheriff, she eyed the package of cheese and took out the pan.
I can do this, I can stir! I'm gonna stir like I've never stirred before.

After almost burning the cheese, dropping the tomatos and breaking a plate, Emma found herself all ready for her guest. Who was, as always, perfectly on time.
As soon as she heard the doorbell, she waited a few seconds before opening the door, trying to steady her breathing a bit.
Come on, you can do this.

"Hey welcome, right on time as always."
She smiled as she took in the person before her. God she looks wonderful.

"Of course Miss Swan. You said 6 right?"

"We've slept together; you can call me Emma now."
She choked on her own words. "I mean, sleep. The couch...you know..."

"I know. I would have recalled otherwise." Regina replied witty.

Jeez, why the formality? Maybe she's disappointed about Henry's absence after all?
"Henry was so excited about his camping trip. I hope it wasn't on too short notice?"

Regina understood the reason for Emma's question. I'm such an idiot. Stop frightening the poor girl.
"It's really fine...Emma. I'm glad he finally got the chance to go camping. He's been asking me for years, but it's not really my cup of tea."

"You know, I make a mean camp side!"
Emma imagined them together in a tent, watching the stars, waking up near a lake. Heaven.

"Don't push your luck. I've agreed to dinner, camping is never gonna happen. No matter how mean your camp-side is."
She added a bit of laughter to her words in order to make the sarcasm clear. When she still saw the confusion in Emma's eyes she quickly handed her the bottle of wine the brought.
"You liked it the other day. Thought I might bring one."

"Thank you." Emma accepted it, pushing aside the memory of driving all over town to find this exact brand.
"Please sit down. Food is ready."

They walked towards the wonderfully set table, which contained a lovely bouquet of flowers, lots of candles and a pot.

Regina looked at the pot.
"Fondue?" She asked in disbelief.

"Yeah about the cooking...I realized that I can't do it."

They shared a glance until Regina started laughing.
"You know, I actually never had cheese fondue before. So, it seems you did succeed in surprising me."

"I always keep my promises."

They sat down at the table, while Emma started to explain the fondue to her future wife.
It wasn't rocket science, but it made her 'cooking' sound a bit more interesting than it actually was.
They toasted on a good evening, and started attacking their food.

Everything started off fine, but after a while it turned into something that slightly resembled fishing.

"I've lost my piece of courgette again!" Regina pouted while moving her fondue stick around the pot.

"Here, let me." Emma started searching for the lost piece of food, while trying to keep her hair cheese-free.
When she found it, she carefully lifted it out of the sticky cheese, making it 'bite-ready' for her woman.

She held the piece in front of Regina, silently asking her to take the bite.
For a moment she thought this might have been a bad idea, but before she knew it, Regina bend over and let herself be fed by the woman who so heroically saved her courgette.

Emma was stunned she actually got away with it.
Think of something to say, think of something to say. Say something Swan!

"Lovely." The dark haired woman stated when she tried to chew on the still too hot food.
"Very cheesy."

The cheese was lovely. Of course she was talking about the cheese. Not you feeding her. That's just plain weird.
"I'm glad you like the fondue. I really didn't know what to cook. I got all nervous about it"
Why am I telling her this?

"Why were you nervous dear?"

Emma was hoping she wouldn't have picked up on that.
"Well you know..." She took a big gulp from her wine to buy more time. "...it would be awful if you would think I'd underfed Henry."

"I know your mother always provides for dinner. I have a spying device remember?"

Emma started looking around the room in a panic.

"Henry." Regina quickly told her. "I meant Henry. He tells me things."
She saw the relieve in her friend's eyes, which made her giggle. I don't giggle!

Emma gave a sigh of relief.
"So...what else does he tell you?"

"Let's see, he told me you have been attacking cooking books with Post-It memo's for the past few days."

Emma's face turned red.
"He told you that? Great. I guess it must have been quite a disappointment when you saw the fondue?"

"On the contrary. The fact that you were so stressed out over it really meant a lot to me."

Emma's eyes lit up. The butterflies in her stomach went mad, and her mind started racing.

"I'm really flattered you made such an effort. It made me realize we are truly becoming friends."
She waited for her friend's reply, which didn't come.
"I hope it's ok if I call you my friend. I mean, I'm not really familiar with the whole concept."

Emma was pretty sure Regina could see her fall off her cloud, and into the hole in the ground which seemed to have appeared right under her chair.

"Did I say something wrong?"

Emma climbed out of the imaginary hole and got herself together.
"No, of course not. It's...it's good to hear you feel that way." She took a deep breath, and smiled at the woman in front of her.
"I would really like to be your friend Regina."
Maybe this is for the best.


Part 2 of this very successful date will be up soon!