The party was already in full swing by the time Emma felt ready to join the crowd. She had decided to wear the dress that apparently made it seem like her legs went on forever, according to Mary Margaret. She was actually surprised her dad had let her attend the party at all, seeing as it was mostly seniors there, but Mary Margaret had convinced him to let her be there because she was her sister and she wanted to share her big day with her sister. For some reason it had actually worked and Emma was more than grateful to her sister.

Emma exited her room and was met by a wall of sound. Not just music, but loud teenagers – really loud, tipsy teenagers. "Damn," Emma said out loud, "The party only started half an hour ago."

"Your first senior party?" Emma heard someone say behind her. She was surprised that she'd heard him at all over all the noise.

"How can you tell?" Emma said, and turned around to face a handsome guy who she knew was on the student council with Regina. He might have even been vice president.

"You look a little lost, and besides, I heard you sounded surprised that people are already drunk. Most people come to these parties already drunk, you see."

Emma smiled. "I have no idea how dad could agree to let me attend this. He has to be clueless."

"Your sister puts on a great act of innocence," he explained, and smiled at Emma. "I'm Graham by the way."

Of course he is Graham, she knew that. She had even seen him talking to Regina on several occasions. Actually, come to think of it, Emma was a little jealous of the guy who obviously had some sort of relationship with Regina.

"Emma," she told him.

"I know." Graham smiled at her. "I know your sister reasonably well."

"Did you date her too?" Emma said with a laugh. Emma loved her sister, more than anything. But she had to admit her sister was kind of loose.

"No, no. Not that I would be opposed to do so, she is hot."

"Eww. That's my sister you are talking about."

She hit him playfully on the shoulder, as if they were friends rather than acquaintances. Emma didn't know what it was, but she liked this guy. She didn't really have any guy friends; actually, she didn't really have that many friends other than Ruby.

"Come on, she is hot," Graham said again with a little smirk, "but I hear she is dating that asshole."

"James?" Emma said with a sour look on her face. "I don't think they are actually dating."

"I just know that they were making out like crazy in the living room before I walked up here."

"Thank for the warning, I really do not need to see that." Emma said with a smile. "It was nice meeting you Graham."

"Are you going somewhere?" Graham asked, and Emma hoped she hadn't sent any signals she really didn't want to send.

"I didn't plan on spending the entire night hanging outside my bedroom door, no," Emma tried to say sarcastically, when all she really wanted to do was find Regina and try to seduce her with her awesome red dress.

"Really?" he said with a wink, and now Emma was certain he was flirting. Damnit. She hadn't really been in this situation since she came out, because most of the people in her class knew she was gay due to Ruby's less than subtle comments whenever she felt like it.

"Graham, the thing is…" Emma started before getting interrupted by someone else's shout, "Graham!"

Graham turned around and almost crashed into Sean, "Hey!"

"You have to come see this!" Sean said, and dragged Graham down the stairs.

"I guess I'll see you later, Emma," he said as he was being dragged away.

Emma breathed out in relief. It's not like she hated coming out, she'd done it enough times, it's just it was hard to know how different people would react. While she hadn't actually had any bad experiences yet, it's not like that could last forever.

She turned around and took the second staircase that led down to the kitchen to avoid going through the living room and seeing her sister make out with the asshole who made Ruby cry for two weeks straight. Emma hadn't been sure her best friend would ever recover. Obviously she had, however, and she was now dating a freshman, having decided that younger men were the way to go.

There were people everywhere, in the kitchen as well, and most of them Emma hadn't even seen before. Part of her wondered how her sister could be so popular among everyone. She wasn't a typical queen bee – a nerd more than anything – and she was honest to god nice, practically everything a popular girl was not, yet, with all of her charm and good looks she was easily the most popular girl in her class.

Emma on the other hand was nothing like her sister, not really anyway. She had a very small group of friends which mostly just consisted of her and Ruby, as well as Ashley sometimes, and whoever Ruby happened to be dating at the time. She wasn't popular but she wasn't teased or bullied either. She was mostly invisible and Emma liked it that way. She would never be comfortable in the spotlight.

Emma opened the fridge to see if she could find the coke she knew she had hidden in there yesterday, in hopes of finding some sort of beverage that was not spiked with vodka. While Graham was right that this was her first senior party, she wasn't stupid.

"Aha!" Emma said, not really realizing she said it out loud as she found the coke bottle.

"Did you find gold or something?" someone said behind her – except it wasn't someone, it was her.

"Regina..." Emma turned around and looked into the eyes of the brunette she had been waiting for the whole night, and she was absolutely breathtaking.

"Emma, right?" Regina smiled at her, and Emma felt like her whole universe fell into place because Regina Mills had remembered her name and smiled at her.

"Yeah, it's nice to meet you again."

Really, Emma? Nice to meet you again? That was probably the most boring thing she could have said. Why must Regina Mills make her brain turn into to mush?

"So what did you find?" Regina smiled at her again, and Emma almost lost the control of her voice, so she just showed Regina her bottle.

"That is practically a treasure at these parties." Regina laughed, more free-spirited than Emma had ever seen her. She assumed that it was because Regina didn't have to be someone in that moment, not extremely smart Regina, senior student president Regina, captain of the debate team Regina; she just had to be Regina. And Emma wondered how often Regina actually had the chance to be just Regina.

"I really like your room," Regina said as they walked into Emma's room.

Oh god, she couldn't do this. What in the world was she thinking? Inviting Regina up to her room, to talk, she had explained. Get away from the noise. While it'd worked, she was now sitting alone with Regina in her bedroom. Regina Mills was in her bedroom.

'Emma, pull yourself together. You can do this,' she told herself. This was her one shot and damn her if she was going to blow it.

"Thanks. Dad let me and Mary Margaret design our own rooms when we moved in here last year." Good, Emma. Good. That was a nice, respectable answer. You can do this. Emma felt herself relax just a little.

"You get a lot of freedom?" Regina asked.

"I guess." Emma thought the question was a little strange but she didn't question it too much. "He wants us to learn how to make our own decisions and live with the consequences," Emma smiled, "or something like that."

"I think that's a good thing." Regina smiled back.

"Probably. Both me and Double M can be both reckless and stubborn. Not the best combination."

Regina walked around the room and looked at the pictures on Emma's wall and dresser. Emma walked over to her, finding a courage she didn't even know she had when it came to Regina, and pointed a picture of her and Mary Margaret eating ice cream.

"That was taken on the day the adoption went through. " Emma said, "It was the first time in my life I felt like I had a family." Emma smiled sadly.

"I didn't know you were adopted."

"I am," Emma said simply, "I guess that's why I am so…" she trailed off.

"Shy?" Regina suggested.

"Closed off," Emma corrected.

"You seem pretty open to me." Regina smiled.

"I don't know why, but it's different with you." Emma said, carefully, and turned away.

And it was, everything was so different around Regina, and Emma didn't know exactly why. She just felt safe somehow.

"You are rather complicated." Emma turned around, and saw the smile on Regina's face.

"Me? Well, if I am complicated, then you are a mystery Madame President."

"Me?"

"Yeah, everybody knows you Regina. But no one really does. They know student body president Regina, or yearbook editor Regina or editor of the school paper Regina. Everybody knows you're brilliant, but nothing else," Emma said, trying to convey that she wanted to get to know the Regina behind the mask, but without offending her. All Emma wanted was this. The two of them talking as friends.

"But under all that, I'm nothing special," Regina said, and the tone in her voice made Emma realize that she believed it. That was incredibly sad because to Emma, Regina was everything. And they were just beginning whatever this was.

"Don't be so certain," Emma said, and her tone wasn't flirty. It was sincere, because she wanted Regina to see what she saw. "I have a feeling there is more to you than what you let people see."

"Maybe." Regina looked away. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For letting me be less than perfect."

Emma wanted to say that to her she was always perfect, but she could sense that wasn't what Regina was looking for.

"We're kind of friends, huh?" Emma said, instead.

Regina turned back around, and smiled at her, "Yeah. We are."

And it was everything she ever could dare to hope for. Regina Mills being her friend. She smiled to herself. Things might finally go her way.

"Hey, is something wrong?" Regina asked, noticing the sudden sad look on Emma's face. The look she tried to hide, but somehow was always there behind the surface threatening to come out.

Emma looked away, and to the teddy bear who was standing on her dresser. Mary Margaret had gotten it to her right after she moved in; it was the first gift she had ever gotten that was just because. It was the first time she felt like someone truly loved her.

But Emma wasn't that little girl anymore, the girl who only knew goodbye, who never realized that not all people leave. The Blanchards had changed her life into something real. They had brought her into their family. They had given her a home.

"If I tell you, do you promise not to tell anyone?" Emma asked as she turned around, for while the Blanchards had taught her love and given her a home, Emma was still fragile. She was scared of trust, and in many ways also scared of love. Which is why Regina complicated her feelings, complicated everything. Regina didn't fit into Emma's boxes of family and friends. Regina was something completely different and Emma didn't want to fight it.

And why should she? Regina was here with her, just the two of them. Regina laughed at her jokes, and smiled at her. When would she ever get this chance again? Being alone with Regina like this, in circumstances like these.

Regina could be what she had been searching for. Putting herself out there could break her but what if it didn't? What if it healed that last part of her, the part that no matter how much her family loved her and she loved them, ten years in the foster system had broken beyond repair.

"Trust me. I can keep a secret." Regina said, and her voice had a sadness that almost broke Emma's heart. Yeah, there was so much more to this girl that what she let people see.

"I never had a mother. And while I love Mary Margaret and my dad, I have always felt like something is missing."

"But you're lucky," The sadness still present in Regina's voice, "You know you are wanted. They chose you." Regina smiled weakly, as if she was holding something back. Something important, but Emma didn't want to push.

She was building something here, building something with Regina. If she wanted to open up, she would.

"Maybe. You're probably right, but still it feels like a part of me is missing. My birthparents left me on the side of the road; they didn't even bother to take me to a hospital or a church. I spent 10 years shuffled between people who didn't want me, just the government checks." Emma paused. "I feel like it broke something inside of me."

Regina moved closer to Emma, and looked into her eyes with an understanding that made Emma's heart stop. "Trust me. You are not broken."

God damn, the girl was so very beautiful and her eyes were an ocean Emma could drown in. "How d'you know?" Emma asked carefully, and there was a flash of pain in Regina's eyes.

"Trust me, I know." And in that moment Emma believed that Regina Mills was an extraordinary human being. The most amazing she had ever met.

Emma looked into Regina's eyes, and she was so close. It was almost impossible not to lean in and kiss her… actually, screw it. It was impossible. Emma closed the gap between them and her lips carefully met Regina's.

A/N: I really don't want to be that kind of author who begs for comments/reviews, but please. It would mean a lot to me, especically if there is something you like/don't like. So I can addapt my style.