The restaurant was stuffy and incredibly formal, and Emma hadn't felt so out of place since she was first adopted. White linen, men in suits and women in incredible evening gowns. Emma looked down at her own red dress; it was pretty but nothing extravagant, and Emma felt somewhat under-dressed and uncomfortable.

"Hi. Emma right?" Emma heard behind her, and turned around to see a beautiful brunette woman who, much to Emma's surprise, didn't look much like Ruby at all.

"Sarah?" Emma asked carefully, in case she was wrong.

"Hi." She stretched out her hand for Emma to shake. "I hope this place is alright."

"Yeah. I mean, it's wonderful," Emma lied; to be honest, this whole thing was a little bit much for a first date. When her previous boyfriends had taken her out on dates, even a first one, it'd meant Taco Bell and maybe a movie or a game. Certainly not white linen and evening gowns. Emma was pretty glad she had opted for the dress.

Sarah talked to a server, and then they were seated in a very cozy part of the restaurant, with a brilliant view over the town.

"So, Emma," Sarah said, "Have you decided where you want to go to college yet?"

"No, I haven't even planned as far as to which courses I want to take next year," Emma said, not entirely pleased with the direction of the conversation. The future scared her. It had taken her so long to even find one place to call home. The idea of having to leave Storybrooke made her want to curl up in a ball and cry.

"Don't worry, you'll figure it out soon enough. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I was your age either, and now I couldn't imagine studying anything but international law." Sarah smiled brightly at her, and Emma suddenly got the feeling that the age gap was a lot larger than she'd thought, and she felt even more out of place than before.

"Maybe. I don't know," Emma said. "I just don't like the idea of having to go anywhere but home."

"Why? Most kids can't wait to move out." Emma shifted uncomfortable in her seat, wishing that she had gone on a date with someone she knew a little better. There's definitely a reason why they say the best relationships begin as friendships, she thinks.

The truth was that Emma couldn't see herself ever leaving Storybrooke. Here, she finally felt safe and at home. Emma knew she still had a couple of years to make up her mind, but leaving Storybrooke seemed impossible, even if it meant her career options would be limited to nurse and deputy as they seemed to be the only career paths offered in town.

"I don't know. I like it here," she answered simply. Emma just couldn't bring herself to tell Sarah the real truth; she had just barely met the woman and she was expected to tell her whole life story? She never did that—well, except with Regina. 'No', Emma told herself, 'Don't think about her now. Don't.'

The server came to take their orders, thankfully halting the conversation.

"I'll have the chicken pasta and some still water," Emma said, and smiled to the waiter. He was an older, but good looking man.

Sarah added, "I'll have a salmon salad and a lemon ice tea."

After the waiter left, an uncomfortable silence began, and Emma was seriously doubting if this was such a good idea after all.

When the waiter arrived with their drinks, Emma was glad for the distraction, "Thanks."

"Emma, is this your first date?" Sarah asked carefully after what in Emma's mind felt like an eternity but was probably more like 5 minutes at the most. "It's just that you seem a little out of sorts."

"I thought Ruby had told you?" Emma blushed. "I mean... I have been on dates before, but…"

"With guys," Sarah finished her sentence and smirked. "Hey, it's nothing to worry about. We all have to start somewhere."

"It's just, I don't know. Strange, I guess." Emma took a sip of her water.

"Don't worry. We'll play it by ear and if nothing happens, then nothing happens. I remember my first." Sarah laughed, "Date, that is, though I remember that other first to.."

Emma looked up, curious. "How was it? The date, I mean."

"Confusing, liberating, wonderful. Her name was Ainsley, and she was absolutely stunning. She was a couple of years older than me, and she seemed so much more mature than me. She really wasn't, she hadn't had a serious girlfriend either it turned out, and we just talked."

"Sounds great." Emma smiled, suddenly feeling a little better and somewhat more secure. The conversation continued to flow as their date progressed, but never really going deeper than the college question Sarah had opened with.

Emma liked her, but she was pretty sure she didn't like her. As the conversation continued it became clearer that they didn't really have all that much in common other than the fact that they both liked girls. Sarah had a couple of great stories that made Emma less freaked out about the entire prospect of dating girls, and of being gay.

As the night came to an end, Sarah paid for the meal.

"You don't have to. We can split it," Emma offered.

"No, it's your first date. Let me be the gentlewoman this time." She took Emma gently by the arm, and they walked out the door.

"Goodnight, Emma," Sarah said, and leaned in to give her a soft kiss, taking Emma totally by surprise.

"Sarah, I..." Emma started.

"I get it, Emma, don't worry," Sarah dismissed, still smiling.

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Feel what?"

"The lack of spark. I just wanted your first date to end with a kiss." Sarah hugged Emma. "I had a great night. But sometimes you just don't feel that spark. Call me, though, if you ever want to talk about something. If there's anything you're unsure about."

Emma stepped back from the embrace and ran a hand through her hair. "Thank you. For everything, I mean. I had a great night too," Emma said, as she got into her car. Sarah waved her goodbye, and she drove home.

Emma unlocked the front door and walked in, not entirely surprised to see Mary Margaret sitting on the couch watching what Emma was sure was some sort of rom-com, most likely starring Rachel McAdams.

"You home already?" Mary Margaret asked as Emma stepped into the living room. "How was it?"

"Fine," Emma said, as she sat next down to Mary Margaret, "She was nice, but there just weren't any sparks."

"Aw, I'm sorry, Em." Mary Margaret patted her on the leg. "I know you totally hoped for some sort of epic romance starting tonight."

Emma snorted. "I'm not you, but… I guess I hoped for something more." And she had, she had hoped for something that would take Regina off her mind, and turn her attentions to someone else. Someone more available, someone less… straight.

"Wanna watch this movie with me? Or maybe something else, I know the lesbian one with that Game of Thrones lady is in the DVD case under the TV.»

The suggestion made Emma smile; after she had come out, a stack of DVDs with lesbian plots had suddenly started randomly showing up in the house, and Emma now owned practically everything from 'Bound' to 'DEBS'. Ruby had also given her the entire box set of the L Word, of which Emma had watched the pilot before hiding the entire set from her father in fear that he would watch it to 'learn more about Emma', which is the reason why he'd watched the entire series of 'South of Nowhere' with her.

Emma also possessed the entire coming out story of Bianca Montgomery on 'All My Children' on DVD. She wasn't fully sure how they had ended up in her bedroom, but she had the suspicion that they had once been on tape and belonged to Eva, and her father had converted them for her.

Emma loved her family, and how supportive they were, even if they sometimes showed it in the strangest ways.

"No, that's fine," Emma declined. "I'll just watch this with you," she said, and then watched as Ryan Gross-ling was proclaiming his love, and Emma realized she had been dead right about her sister's choice of movie that night. Despite her sister's awful taste in guys, she was indeed a hopeless romantic. And for some reason had an affinity for movies starring Rachel McAdams that Emma never quite understood.

"So, where did Sarah take you?" Mary Margaret asked as the credits rolled of the movie, and she wiped any tears away from her cheeks.

"Didn't I tell you? She took me to that fancy place on Hope."

"Really? For a first date? No wonder there weren't any sparks, we could barely drag you there for dad's 40th birthday party," Mary Margaret teased.

"Oh, come on. I was 14, and the idea of putting on a nice dress and eating fancy food was like torture to me. But you're right. We really didn't have anything in common. She's all grown up, and mature. And I'm, well, me. Our interests didn't really align."

"Was she pretty, at least?"

"Drop dead gorgeous," Emma laughed. "So, really, it was too bad we didn't connect. We would have looked so hot together," she said with a mischievous grin.

"Good lord, you are so full of yourself sometimes," Mary Margaret groaned, before tackling her now squealing sister into a hug.

A/N: Sorry, for not updating last week. I just started a new major at college and it's kicking my butt. Also I am experiencing a major case of writers block. I mean, I know where I am going, but I having trouble getting there. Don't worry though, I will finish this fic, it won't be abandoned, but I might end up making biweekly updates instead of weekly.