As much as I would like to own them, all the characters and plot of Once Upon A Time belong to ABC – I own nothing but my own writing and plot.

Ah, I don't think this is that great but I'll let you all be the judges of that. I didn't really know what to do for this prompt so I did the first thing that came to mind – Sleeping Dogs. This scene seemed to fit perfectly so here we go – spoiler warning for the game if you haven't played it or are currently playing it and haven't reached this point yet.

Thank you to everybody continuing to follow and like over on Tumblr, I will see you tomorrow for day 5! :D

Day 4 / Mistaken for a Couple

The city was teeming with life as Emma stepped out the front door of her apartment building, the many sounds of Hong Kong reminding her that she was far from alone in this crazily large city. She sighed, her investigation into the Triad nothing more than driving her crazy, and wondered why in the hell she even agreed to become a cop in the first place. Sometimes it really wasn't all it was cracked up to be – especially an undercover operation. Still, she knew she had work to do but for a few hours she had some free time to kill. So, with a fresh change of clothes she had set off and arrived outside taking a deep breath of everything Hong Kong into her lungs. Call her crazy but as much as she hated her new job at times the beauty of the city made it just that little bit bearable – then again home could do that to a person.

Sliding her keys into her pocket she waved to the old man who lived in the apartment above her, Mr. Yuán. He happily smiled and waved back and she continued on her way, fully intent on heading down the block to check out the night market and further take in more of the culture she had spent so long away from. She was stopped from doing that however when she saw a woman stood in the middle of the large open street in front of her building. By the looks of it she was trying to figure out just where she was. Emma faintly heard some vendor near the entrance to the street yelling to someone passing by about how he wasn't a man until he had tried a pork bun but even him and every other loud sound the city was making could get through to her. All she could focus on was this mystery woman, this very pretty woman, who was looking lost.

Usually if it were any other tourist she would have ignored them but there was something about the way this woman looked when she was confused that was making Emma consider otherwise. Maybe helping her wouldn't be all that bad of an idea.

Snapping back to reality she continued down the steps and made her way towards her, a friendly smile plastered across her face.

"Uh, excuse me- Do you speak English?"

Emma grinned as she came to a stop in front of the woman who had caught her attention. "I like to think so. Enough to get by anyways. You?"

"Yes, I- Wait, what do you mean?" Emma grinned, the other woman realizing she was joking. "Oh, haha, yes. Yes, I speak English."

Emma smiled at the brunette's ramblings. "I kinda guessed. What can I do for you?"

"I'm looking for this place – Old Temple Academy." She began, pointing to the guidebook in her right hand. "I thought it was around here. It's supposed to be a kung fu school but I seem to be totally lost. I have no sense of direction here, which is unusual for me."

Emma smiled and pointed at the book. "I think I know where it is. I mean, it's not too far. I can give you a ride. I mean, it'll be easier than explaining where it is."

Emma watched as the other woman smiled nervously. "Uh... okay. Yes, that would be really great. My name's Regina by the way."

The blonde took her offered hand. "Well, nice to meet you Regina, I'm Emma."

Five minutes later they were on her motorcycle, Emma not missing the warmth she felt spread throughout her body as Regina wrapped her arms tightly around her waist as they sped out and onto the main road.

"So what brings you Hong Kong? You thinking of becoming Chinese?"

Regina laughed from behind her, Emma unable to ignore the way the warmth from before grew tenfold. "No, no, I just finished college and I'm doing a bit of travelling. You know, figuring out what to do with my life... that sort of thing."

"How's that going?" She asked as she turned onto another street.

"Well... I've only been travelling for a few weeks, so no real progress on the life front... yet. But, I'm checking out Hong Kong for a while. What about you? Have you got it all figured out?"

"Ha! I wouldn't say that. I've got a few... family issues I'm working on clearing up. Maybe once that's dealt with I'll get on to figuring out... life."

Regina smirked from behind her. "Oh? Have you got any pointers?"

"Well, the trick to Hong Kong is learning to live by ancient Chinese wisdom." Emma laughed. "Look both ways before crossing the street, always buckle your seatbelt, and only apply makeup at red lights, don't text and drive – you know, that kind of thing."

Regina laughed and despite being on a motorcycle Emma heard it ring loud and clear in her ears like the sweetest music she'd ever heard. She didn't understand it but it definitely wasn't unwelcome.

"Words to live by." Regina replied.

Things went quiet between them, both considering each others words, before Emma pulled into a small back alley.

"Isn't this school supposed to be in a temple?" Regina asked as they came to a stop, looking around cautiously at their surroundings.

Emma laughed as she got off her bike, taking off her helmet and placing it next to the one Regina had just taken off. "You'd be surprised how many things are down back alleys here in Hong Kong. This is only the tip of the iceberg as far as surprising locations go. Come on, let's go inside."

Emma led the way down the small set of stairs and towards the door, Regina following not that far behind. In the distance Regina could hear a woman barking out numbers in Chinese, grunts of what she guessed was students sharply changing positions in result. She continued to follow Emma and came to a stop next to her as the gym master was notified of their arrival by one of the students. She turned around and started making her way over to them, a stern look etched across her face.

"Can I help you?"

Regina smiled and turned to look at Emma before looking back at the other woman. "Yes! I'd like to sign up for some kung fu classes. I read about your school in my guidebook."

The older woman raised an eyebrow. "Ah, your guidebook."

Regina nodded. "Yes, it said you teach a style with a long lineage but in spite of all that it's still considered very effective."

"You want to take classes. Okay. And you?" She questioned, turning to Emma and raising another yet harsher questioning eyebrow. "Did you also read about this place in some... book?" She snapped, the Asian woman just as Emma had remembered her.

Emma reached up to scratch at the back of her neck nervously. "Well, I..."

"Wait, I know you..."

Where she trailed off Emma decided to answer for her. "Yes, Fa Mulan. I used to be your student. I'm Emma, Emma Swan."

Both her and Regina watched as realization washed across Mulan's face. "Ah yes, the one who went to America. So you brought this girl back with you?"

"Uh..."

Before she could continue and correct her Mulan cut her off. "Your skill level with girls is very good. Now time to assess your skill level in kung fu!"

Mulan started walking away leading them into the center of the small gym and Regina walked ahead of Emma, shrugging with a smile at the blonde who seemed dumbfounded at what had just happened. Nonetheless Emma followed guessing that sharpening up on her melee skills was better than anything else she had planned for this afternoon.

Ten minutes later Regina was watching from across the gym as Emma, now changed into a more comfortable outfit of sweats and a tank top, sparred with Mulan's students. The gym master was shouting out insults along with commands left and right and it made Regina wonder what was going through the Emma's head. Obviously the blonde's skill level was much higher than her own but the way she seemed to handle herself and follow through with every command that Mulan shouted at her without incident, and flawlessly she might add, led Regina to believe there was much more to this mystery blonde woman than met the eye. That's why even as she focused on her own much simpler training she couldn't keep her eyes off her, Emma something that she was unable to keep her gaze away from. It was a strange feeling but she couldn't and didn't want to stop herself.

As Emma took down her last 'opponent', Mulan pulled both her and Regina aside as their training session finally came to a close.

"I try to steer them in the right direction, especially the younger ones." She started, motioning to her students who were back to training again in the background. "But they all want to be Sun On Yee." She sighed, the irritation clear in her voice. Emma knew what she meant, they wanted to be part of the triad. "Now... now I just train them in the ways of my art, try to teach them compassion and discretion and... pray for the best."

"Fa, I don't think there's much more you can do." Emma replied before turning to the cabinet they had come to a stop in front of at the very end of the gym. "Ah, jade rat... Song dynasty, right?"

Mulan nodded, the slightest of smiles tugging at her lips at Emma's knowledge. "Very good."

"That's Song dynasty? That's a thousand years old isn't it? That's real?" Regina chimed in, also amazed by the statue.

Mulan nodded again. "Yes. It's part of a set of twelve – one for each animal of the Chinese calendar."

Emma frowned. "Fa, you used to have the whole set. What happened to the others?"

"Stolen by a former student corrupted by the triads."

"I'm so sorry to hear that Fa." Emma said, concern clear in her voice even to Regina.

"So was I. This collection meant a lot to me but sometimes you just have to let things go. I should close up. It was good to see you again Emma – and your lovely fiancée." She bowed, Emma and Regina returning the action before she immediately started walking away.

"What?!" Regina gasped in confusion, nervously laughing at the assumption.

Emma rolled her eyes as they started walking towards the exit together. "Okay, that was fun. You know, you never did tell me why you wanted kung fu lessons in the first place."

Regina smiled as they exited the building and stepped out into the sunlight. "Self defence, a taste of the local culture... you know, the usual."

Emma laughed as they walked over to her bike. "Good enough for me. Although, I didn't intend for you to get called out like that."

"Like what?"

Emma shrugged. "Chinese people, especially one stuck in certain mindsets as much as Fa Mulan is, they can jump to conclusions. I'm sorry she assumed we were engaged."

Regina waved her hand dismissively. "It's nothing that concerns me that much, as much as I was surprised at first. In fact, it's a nice change. I've only been here a few weeks and people are already assuming things about me, I think I'm going to have to come to terms with it sooner rather than later."

"Is that right?" Emma asked with a smile, chuckling as Regina shrugged back at her. "Well, you know, I wouldn't mind joining you on that front."

"You wouldn't?"

This time is was Emma's turn to shrug. "Not at all."

Emma watched as Regina bit her lip for a few moments before smiling at her. "Okay, I think I might just take you up on that Emma Swan. I'll call you later."

All Emma could do was stare wordlessly as Regina handed her a small slip of paper with her number written on it before smirking. The brunette placed a kiss to her cheek and started to walk away with a smile leaving a dumbfounded Emma behind. When she was around the corner out of the sight Emma looked down at the piece of paper before looking back up again, thinking to herself that maybe this undercover job wouldn't be as bad as she had originally thought it would be.