Hey guys, thanks for the reviews! Quick note; the comments Regina and Emma make at the end of the date are actually taken from a song. Ellie Goulding's cover of "How Long Will I Love You?" actually inspired this whole fic. It'd be awesome if someone made a fan video with that song. Anyway, enjoy chapter 11 :)
Sometime shortly after four, Regina startled to feel chilly. She headed inside, still reminiscing. Her mind swirled around as she replayed all the little sayings Emma used to tell her. As she reached for a mug, she saw the old one hidden in the corner of the cupboard—the one that said 'Storybrooke Police Department' on it. Against her usual judgment, she grabbed that one. She'd wash it and have it put away before Henry would notice.
She poured the hot liquid over the powered cocoa a few short minutes after setting up the mug. She reached for the whipped cream in the fridge, thinking she would allow herself to indulge tonight. Almost without thinking, Regina went over to the spice cabinet and looked for the cinnamon. But she quickly shut the door before getting it down. No—she thought to herself—it will only make you miss her more. But after staring at the whipped cream covered drink, she knew it was missing something. She rolled her eyes at herself as she dashed some of the spice on her drink and headed back outside with a blanket.
When she exited the door ten minutes after receiving the call, she was surprised to see Emma wearing just her leather jacket over a simple tee shirt. She, on the other hand, had wrapped herself up in a long sweater, a jacket and a scarf, knowing full well that it could get very cold at this time of night.
"Aren't you going to be cold?" she asked.
"Nah, I'll be fine," Emma said. "Besides, if I get cold, I have you to warm me up."
Regina blushed a bit and rolled her eyes at the same time, both excited and taken aback by her forwardness. "So what on Earth do you have planned for us that required me to wake up at this hour?"
"You'll see," Emma said, as she helped Regina into the yellow bug.
The drive to the shore was a short one. As Emma parked the car, Regina was still baffled by Emma's plan. Nonetheless, she got out of the car and waited while Emma collected a few items from the back seat.
"Think you can carry this?" she asked, handing off a thermos.
"And what exactly am I carrying?" Regina asked with curiosity.
"Hot cocoa. It'll keep us warm."
Regina followed Emma onto the sand. She looked out over the white ground, illuminated by the moonlight and listened to the gentle swishing of the tiny waves. She felt a breeze blow her hair in front of her face as she looked over to see Emma laying out the blanket. Emma sat down and patted the space beside her, motioning for the brunette to join.
"This is what you had planned?" she asked as she sat down. "Drinking hot chocolate on a beach at four in the morning."
"Apparently you don't read the news," Emma shot back with a bit of bite, sensing Regina was mildly frustrated.
"I most certainly do!" she defended herself against the blonde's claim that she wasn't worldly. "I'll have you know, I read the..!"
"Relax," Emma laughed, "I meant the weather section." Regina ruffled her brow in confusion. Emma simply pointed upward to a small, fleeting jolt of light. "Meteor shower tonight."
Regina's lips parted in awe. She looked up to the sky in wonder, and then back to Emma with the same amazement. Was Emma really this romantic? She knew how much the blonde cherished her sleep. She couldn't shake the smile that was forming on her lips as she looked at Emma, who was just looking up, sipping cocoa, as if the act was no big deal. No one had ever planned such a date.
"What?" Emma finally chuckled, as she noticed Regina hadn't taken her eyes off of her.
She shook her head. "It's just…," Regina was never good with words—not when it was related to her emotions. So she didn't use them. She just leaned over and held Emma's face as she kissed her in the fiercest embrace either had ever felt. She ran her fingers through the blonde's hair, holding the back of her head as their lips moved together. Emma held her back as she dipped her, making Regina squeal in laughter.
Regina broke their silent kissing with a strange question. "How long will you love me?"
Emma wasn't sure how to respond at first. She had never thought that the brunette would be the first to bring up the idea of love, let alone on their first date. But as she stared into brown eyes, she knew what Regina meant. Regina wanted to be sure that this—whatever this remarkable thing was—was a sure thing.
Emma smiled, as she pushed a strand of hair back from Regina's face. She brushed her hand to her cheek. "As long as there are stars above you."
Regina smiled, comforted by the words. She huddled in close to Emma, nuzzling her head in the crook of her shoulder. As she let out a hum in ease, Emma laughed at how easily her Evil Queen had let down her shield. She was just Regina—and as the pale blue moonlight illuminated her cheek, Emma saw that Regina had a vulnerable softness about her. The two continued to watch the stars until the sun rose.
The orange glow from the city light illuminated the front seat of the yellow bug as it sat in park. Emma felt the weight of her head in her right palm, as she ashed her cigarette with a flick of her left wrist out the window. It was beyond late and her eyes were tired, but she was reluctant to go inside. Not into her apartment in Boston—it was the last place she wanted to end her night. She wished she had turned around and climbed the porch of the white mansion. She wished she was curled up under the pale sheets feeling the breeze flow through the purple curtains of her former bedroom.
This is crazy, Swan—she thought—Get a grip.
Instead, she stepped out of the car and walked up the three flights of stairs on the fire escape. She took out her keys and unlocked the door of the tiny brownstone. She was too depressed to undress, so she simply kicked off her feet and crashed onto the empty side of the bed. She shuttered a moment, when she felt Kate embrace her and groan.
"Mmm," she mumbled, half asleep, "you're home."
"Sorry that I had to stay the extra day," Emma replied, kissing her girlfriend's forehead.
"No, itssokay," Kate let out in a groggy voice, "just glad your home."
"Me too," Emma said, without any truth to the words.
Emma walked in to the station the next day with two coffees and a bag of bear claws. Neal simply laughed as she scampered in with that apologetic look sprawled on her face, which only made her quicken her pace.
"I'm sorry," she muttered, "and thank you, thank you for covering my shift yesterday." She handed him his coffee and plopped the bag of pastries on his desk. "I really owe you one."
"You think coffee that you already owe me," he said, as he narrowed his eyes, "and pastries will make it up?"
"Yes..?" she pleaded. "And drinks tonight?"
Neal laughed harder. "It's fine, Emma," he said, as he sipped his coffee. "You'll make it up to me. Trust me."
Emma looked relieved as she sat down at her desk and began to go through the stack of paperwork from the day prior.
"How's Henry?" Neal asked.
"Good," she answered while reading the report of her latest skip-trace. "An inch taller and still trying to get me back with his mom."
"Too bad you can't come out as straight," Neal joked, "it worked the last time."
Emma laughed. Henry had been adamant about her getting with Neal as soon as they had returned from New York. But his fuse was quickly extinguished when she admitted to him, along with everyone else, that she was gay. She thought this would put an end to Henry's insistence. It only fueled a newfound desire to play matchmaker with his moms.
"Yeah, seriously," she let out.
"So I take it we're on tonight for drinks?" he asked.
"Sure thing, Kate has her evening class tonight anyway."
He paused for a moment, building an odd expression on his face, which made Emma raise an eyebrow. "Can we go to a bar with outside seating tonight?"
"Umm," she was confused by the request, "Sure..?"
"Great."
The diner was relatively quiet by the time Kathryn and Regina arrived. Regina asked if they could do a late lunch, seeing as how she had paperwork to do. It was no trouble for Kathryn—it just meant pushing her daily LSAT studying routine back by an hour.
"So how did everything go?" Kathryn asked as soon as Ruby left the table to put in their orders.
"Fine," she answered after fixing her tea.
"Fine?" Kathryn raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, fine. I won't know anything for a few weeks."
Regina seemed on edge, or at the very least, she didn't want to discuss matters. Kathryn took her tone as a cue to switch subjects.
"I saw Emma the other day…," she said with a grin. She instantly saw curiosity resonate in Regina's eyes.
"Oh, you did, did you?"
"Yes," she nodded, "when I was dropping off the medication."
"Thanks for that, by the way," Regina added and looked down, knowing full well that her friend saw her interest upon hearing Emma's name.
"No problem." After a short pause, Kathryn decided to push the envelope. "She looked good." She smiled and widened her eyes at Regina, who was now blushing. "Like really good."
Regina scowled at her friend, as they both were well aware that Regina had made it clear many times to her that the door with Emma was closed, and therefore, she never wanted to discuss it. But Kathryn simply shrugged. "Just telling the truth."
The hum of the crowd's conversation blended with the music on the patio allowed Emma to zone out as she waited for Neal. It wasn't terribly busy, but relatively filled for a Tuesday night. She lit her cigarette and began to surf the crowd with her eyes while leaning back in her chair. Mostly friends, business types and grad students alike, all meeting for end of the day drinks. Nothing too rowdy. Her eyes stopped and she froze when she caught sight of a particular pair. It was a young blonde with curly hair with a brunette, a few years her senior, give or take. She watched as they laughed playfully. Her own cheek felt warm when the brunette brushed the cheek of her girlfriend. Could they have been like this? Her and Regina?—she wondered in her daze, such that she was startled when Neal called.
"Hey," she answered, "are you on your way?"
"Walking up the street right now," Neal said into the phone. "You got a table outside?"
"Yeah, I'm on the patio."
"Good. See ya in a second, Em."
She looked over the black porch fence to look for Neal. Sure enough, there he was, walking toward her. As she lifted her hand to wave, Emma noticed he had the most devilish grin plastered on his face. Her nose scrunched up in confusion. But then she saw what he was holding.
Neal walked up to the patio, a leash in his right hand. Emma traced the line of the leash down a ways to see a tiny mound of black and brown fluff waddling along, barely keeping up with Neal's pace. Emma laughed as he fell over a bit when Neal made the unexpected turn toward the bar. Neal chuckled too at the sight and scooped up the small pup in one arm.
"What the fuck is that?" Emma asked as he sat down with the puppy in his lap.
"This?" he asked, lifting the furry creature up in jest, as if it wasn't obvious she was referring to the dog. "This is payback."
"Payback?" Emma asked. "What do you mean?"
Neal patted the pup as it began to squirm in his arms. "You get through your paperwork today?"
"Yes..?" she answered, not following.
"Then you know that our station decided to add a K-9 unit," he explained, "and as such, one officer needs to be his owner and trainer."
"No fucking way, Neal," she said, shaking her head furiously.
"It's already been decided by the captain."
"No, I can't have a dog!" Emma shouted back. "I can barely balance my bounties with having a girlfriend."
Neal nodded, insisting this was the way of it. "Captain says you should be taking him because you're our bounty person. I guess he wants the dog trained to assist you."
"You've got to be fucking kidding me," she said, slamming her head into her hands.
"If you actually read your paperwork today," he sneered, "instead of skimming through it, this wouldn't be a surprise and you could have discussed it with the captain."
Emma gave a signal to the waitress to get her another beer and then proceeded to bury her face in her hands. Her sulking was interrupted by the barely audible yelp from the puppy. Emma looked up to see it tilt its head and stare into her eyes.
"Does it have a name?" she asked.
"He doesn't have one yet," Neal answered, "but I figured you could solicit Henry's help on that one."
Emma perked her head up when their drinks came. Neal laughed as Emma had a staring contest with her new partner.
"How was the weekend?" he asked, hoping to get more details than this morning.
"Good," she said, "it was good to see Henry."
"And Regina?"
Was sexier than ever—fuck, no, Swan. "We all had dinner last night."
Neal perked his eyes up and Emma shook her head. "No, don't even go there," she stopped his thoughts in their track. "It was just dinner."
"Kate said you didn't get home until dawn."
"What?! How..?!" Emma exclaimed as Neal chuckled. "Gah, I swear, you two will be the death of me."
"I can't help it that your girlfriend is super sweet and we text each other during the day," Neal said, defending his knowledge. "So enough dodging, why such a late night with your regal lady?"
Emma sighed and took a gulp of her beer. "She's not my regal lady anymore," she let out. She felt Neal prodding her for more information. "We got to talking and lost track of time."
"What could the two of you possibly talk about for hours?"
"Stuff!" Emma shouted in defense, to which Neal put up his hands to get her to calm down. "I don't know, we actually had a conversation. Like a real one. It was really nice."
Neal nodded, drinking his own beer off to the side, keeping it away from the nosy pup, as she went on. "She just has a way of challenging me. Before, when we were together, I saw it as criticism. But now that I feel confident and have really spent time working on me, I feel like she gives me everything I need in a partner."
Neal dropped his jaw a bit. Emma quickly corrected herself. "I mean in a conversation. A partner in conversation."
Both Neal and the puppy tilted their heads as the words came out of Emma's mouth. Everyone at the table, including the pup, knew she was lying.