It was 2:30am...again. At least, Emma was relatively sure that's what the numbers on the clock said, though they kept wiggling about obnoxiously. Maybe switching from beer to mixed drinks hadn't been the best idea...Snow wasn't wrong when she said "artisanal" meant "strong". Being tricked into a night out by Regina and Snow had turned out to be just the distraction she needed. At first she wasn't sure it was a good idea, she'd really just wanted to buckle down and focus on work. Then Regina had showed up at the station all hopeful smiles and 2 for 1 drink coupons and she'd almost acquiesced until she'd remembered the Queen's comments from that morning and she'd decided that focusing on the problems at hand was rather more important than any girl's night. She didn't need to figure out her feelings, she just needed to forget about Hook for a while until everything stopped hurting so much.

Well...everything was certainly hurting less after 2 large beers and 2 delicious, but extremely strong, cocktails. Somewhere halfway through her second drink things had started to get warm and fuzzy. By drink number 3 she'd relaxed considerably and was chatting animatedly with Regina about just about anything (aside from Hook, the newly reformed Evil Queen, Robin, Zelena, or her impending death). Now, 4 drinks in, she was doubled over in a fit of hysterics while she watched her mother get increasingly more frustrated when Regina, intoxicated as she was, still managed to catch every single blade thrown with striking accuracy directly at her head. Snow was rapidly turning into a version of herself that gave Emma a clear picture of the whiney little brat Regina had had to put up with during her years married to the King.

"I just don't get it Regina! I'm a good shot. My aim is FLAWLESS. How are you catching these?"

"Magic, dear." Regina nearly purred, reaching to the nearby table to scoop up her martini and taking a sip while swatting the next dagger out of the air without even glancing in its direction, knocking it off course mere millimeters from her right eyebrow.

"It's not fair!" Snow actually whined this time, her voice going all sickeningly squeaky and her foot stomping the ground.

"Oh and what would be fair? If I let you take out my eye?"

Emma was pretty sure she heard her mother mutter something about an eye for an eye, which caused Regina to toss her hands in the air in frustration, momentarily forgetting the drink she still held which sloshed over the rim of the glass and splashed down the front of her leopard print dress, much to her chagrin. Spotting the telltale sparks that marked the beginnings of a fireball forming in Regina's palm, Emma slid her hand into Regina's, wincing slightly at the intense heat that had already formed there despite the lack of actual flames, and tugged the surprised looking woman over to the bar, leaving Snow to challenge one of the Vikings to a round of pool, blissfully unaware that she had almost been flambéed.

"That's enough pin-the-knife-on-the-Gina for tonight, I think." Emma tugged Regina to her side, wrapping one arm around her waist and leaning her head on her shoulder as she raised a finger to signal the bartender to refill their drinks. Despite local liquor laws dictating that the bars should close by 1am, it seemed that having the Mayor/Former Evil Queen, Former Princess(or was it Queen?)/Former Mayor, and the Savior/Former Dark One/Princess as patrons meant they would stay open until the trio decided it was time to call it a night.

"Worried about me, Swan?" Regina attempted to pull away enough to look down at Emma only to find the grip around her waist tightening.

"Don't call me that R'gina." Emma's speech was slightly slurred at this point, probably due in equal parts to alcohol, emotional exhaustion, and being simply too lazy to form her words properly.

"Why? Because of him? I called you 'Swan' long before Guyliner was ever in the picture. If anyone gets to claim that one, it should rightfully be me." Emma didn't respond to this for a long time, leaving her head where it lay against Regina's shoulder, reaching out to snatch up her newly replenished drink and taking a long swig.

"He left me, Regina. He really did it. He actually ran." There were tears falling down her cheeks before she was aware her eyes had filled up, dripping down onto Regina's bare arm, her black jacket having been discarded hours earlier.

"Idiot." The word came out more of a growl than an actual word, the low timber causing Emma to feel it as it rumbled from deep in Regina's ribcage and up through her throat. Emma gulped down a sob and sniffed, trying to keep from making an absolute spectacle of herself.

"I know. I know I am. I just thought, maybe this time it wouldn't happen. Maybe this time I would be enough to make someone stay." No sooner had she finished speaking did she feel fingers grasping her chin, forceful yet soft, pulling her face up to look at Regina's.

"Not you Emma. Never you. Him. He's the idiot. That one handed moron has no idea what he had and he just threw it all away. This isn't on you. Do you hear me?"

Emma found herself struck completely dumb at the burning intensity she found on the remarkably expressive face before her. There were so many layers of emotion dancing across Regina's features that she couldn't even start to unravel them in her current state, instead she found herself absolutely captivated and drawn in, leaning steadily closer until she could feel Regina's breath ghost across her eyelashes, the distinctive briny smell of olives drifting past her nose. Just as her brain started to catch up with the moment, realizing that something was happening here the was huge, that could be huge, a very drunk Snow practically body slammed into the two of them and the world came thundering back in.

"I won! Our tab is being paid by those ridiculous Vikings and I even got them to buy the next round!" Snow's always rosy cheeks had gone somehow rosier, giving her an almost clownish appearance. Emma groaned at the thought of more alcohol, and perhaps also more than a little bit due to the feeling of loss as Regina slid from the grip she'd had around her waist and reached for their jackets hanging on the nearby coat rack.

"No more rounds tonight, Snow. It's time you got home to wake David and relieve my son-"

"Our son"

"-Our son from his babysitting duties."

"But Regina!" Snow was whining again, earning her a shake of Regina's head and look that, if Emma didn't think it would earn her a fireball to the face, she would have called positively "step-motherly".

"No, Snow. Go let your sleeping curse deal with your hangover." Before another protest could leave Snow's blood-red lips, Regina twirled her hand and the other woman vanished in a puff of purple smoke.

"Regina?!" Emma squealed.

"What? I just sent her back to the loft. It's not like she could drive in that state anyway, and I wasn't about to deal with her yammering all the way back there. She'll be fine. All she has to do is kiss her Prince and pass out, quite literally." There was a twinkle in Regina's eyes that reminded Emma of the vengeful Queen she'd once been, despite her current actions being harmless she knew Regina was picturing the fit Snow would throw upon materializing back home, having been magicked there without permission. Regina took pleasure in the little things these days, the ways she could still annoy her once arch enemy without causing any real harm. Deciding to let Regina enjoy her tiny victory, Emma snatched her own jacket from Regina's hand and put it on, pretending not to notice the way she swayed slightly on her feet.

"Let's go Regina. I'm beat."

"Yes, indeed, I'm rather tired myself. This certainly turned out to be an...interesting evening. I can't say it's exactly what I had planned, but it was an experience for sure." Regina was just raising her hand in the motion she most often used before poofing (as Emma still insisted on calling it) when she felt fingers slide between her own.

"Maybe we could walk home? I know I could use the fresh air." Emma's expression was nervous, like she was sure Regina would scoff at her, so Regina wove their finger together and pulled Emma closer to her side, reaching across her body with her free arm to grasp the bicep of the arm whose fingers clutched at her own.

"A walk would be wonderful." Her smile was broad, one of those light up the sky, take your breath away smiles that Emma loved to see spread across her friend's face. They were a rare sight, and one she counted herself lucky to have been on the receiving end of more than once. What she had done to earn a smile like that tonight she couldn't say, but it caused one to blossom across her own lips and she relaxed against Regina's body.

"Home?" Emma spoke as she swung the door open, leaving Aesop's Table to the bartender and the Vikings, loosening her grip on Regina just enough so that the other woman could step out into the night ahead of her.

"Yes Emma, home."

They walked under the clear sky, the nearly full moon illuminating their way, that astonishing smile never leaving Regina's lips. Neither of them spoke, the silence without any tension as their shoulders bumped and their linked hands swayed between them.

Regina didn't mention that Emma had called the mansion home. She didn't question what that meant, or what it meant when she felt her heart speed up and skip a beat in response.