A/N: Sorry I skipped a week, but I didn't have access to the episode at the time... I am back... this is one of my favorite episodes. I hope you enjoy. ~ S.K.

Reunion

"Dinner? Come on!" Regina yelled as they headed back down to Castle. "What the hell were you thinking, Emma?"

"What was I supposed to do? I flashed on the guy," Emma said, following a bit proud of herself.

"Those people are from my past," Regina stated angrily, "a past you have no business poking around in."

"Well, I'm sorry. I was just trying to do my job," Emma retorted, enjoying this lovers' quarrel a bit too much. "I thought you'd be happy I used a little initiative."

"Uh, don't kill the messenger," Mal said, coming between Emma and Regina. "Not the kid's fault you went to high school with a treasonous scumbag."

Just then, the video channel chimed, and General Mills appeared in front of them. "Good morning, ladies." She looked at each of them, her eyes lingering on her daughter momentarily. "First matter of business: Mark Ratner. He's an engineer at Winthrop-Keller Aeronautics and has clearance to extremely sensitive plans for future weapon technology. Picture the next generation of F-22 Raptors. Essentially, a stealth bomber." Mal moaned as if in pleasure at this. Emma looked at the older woman oddly; she knew Mal was into weapons, but that was a bit extreme, right? "This technology has been leaked. Emma's instincts were good. Your mission is to go to dinner with the Ratners, and see if Emma flashes off of anything."

Regina shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "General, I apologize, but I'm afraid I must recuse myself from this mission. My cover has been compromised."

"Agent Mills, you have a preexisting social history with the target. Seems to me like you have the perfect cover," her mother said logically.

"But it's not a cover, ma'am, it's me," Regina said, trying to keep her decorum.

"Well," General Mills stated. "I hope you enjoy Italian food. Buon appetito."

Emma walked through the Apple store, and there seemed to be a flurry of activity. She came up to Ruby and asked, "Hey, Girl, what's going on?"

"Aladdin's new sales policy," Ruby chuckled. "We're giving away the merchandise."

Emma watched Killian throw in a wireless mouse with the purchase and a bonus computer. Emma wanted no part in this. "That's gonna end badly."

Ruby laughed, "I know." She shook her head and stood back to watch; she wasn't participating either. "I know, Emma. That's part of the fun."

Emma shook her head and walked onto the genius desk, thanking god she was not part of the sales team.

Emma knew she was in a bad place with Regina off of this mission. But it truly wasn't her fault. Even though, had she not gone out of Castle, she would have never flashed on him.

She sighed standing outside of Regina's green door. She took two deep breaths in and out before knocking at the door. She could hear the stomping on the other end. The clip of the footsteps is angry. Regina threw open the door. "You're early," she said then swiftly turned away to go back into the bathroom.

"Technically, I'm right on time for my pre-mission debriefing," Emma said, closing the door behind her and moving to sit on Regina's bed.

"What are you talking about?" Regina asked.

"Standard spy protocol," Emma stated, bouncing lightly on the bed. "You know, I need some stats for my cover tonight—"

"Emma, I'm really—" Regina started to speak over her, but Emma pressed on.

"No need to apologize if you didn't have time for a full dossier preparation," she pressed on. "I think we'll just go over a few facts together if that's okay." She paused for Regina's consent. The brunette, for her part, couldn't find fault in her logic but didn't want to agree. So she just reached for her pumps and slid them on. "Fantastic. I'll go first. Uh, tonight, I'll be playing the role of Roni's girlfriend Emma. She works at the Apple Store, not living up to her potential. Sister is Kathryn, a doctor, engaged to a doctor. There, all up to speed on Roni's girlfriend. Your turn."

Regina turned to face Emma, her arms folded across her chest, the irritation in her stance palpable. Emma flipped open a notebook to take some notes. "I'm not doing this."

Emma nodded, knowing that would happen. "Okay, here's what we know thus far. Roni Castro went to James Buchanan High School in San Diego, California, class of 1998. Is it safe to assume that 'Roni' is a diminutive of 'Veronica?'"

"Back off, Emma," Regina stated walking closer to the blonde. The glint in her eye was dangerous, and suddenly Emma remembered the woman in front of her was a weapon, not a toy. "You have as much information as is pertinent to this assignment."

"Spell 'Roni' with an 'I' or would…" Emma tried to lighten the mood.

Regina snatched the pen out of Emma's hand. "All Roni's girlfriend needs to know is that Roni hates questions about her past." She tossed the pen, and it embedded itself inside a picture frame with the two of them together, right through Emma's head. "You got that?"

Emma gulped audibly, "I'm good. Yeah, I'm good." She watched Regina walk away to the bathroom to compose herself. Emma whispered to herself, "How do you do that?"

"So, Mark, uh... what line of work are you in?" Emma asked as the couples sat together at a fancy Italian restaurant. They were still awaiting the food to come.

"Uh, engineering," Mark answered, his brow a little sweaty. He looked around nervously, causing the agents to look at each other. "Actually, what I'm working on is technically... top secret."

"And let's keep it that way, 'cause no one gives a rip," Heather interrupted, more interested in what Roni had been doing with her life. "So, how long have you two lovebirds been together?"

"Months," Emma said confidently.

Years," Regina said at the same time.

"Months that add up to years," Emma amended with a glare.

"You know, I don't even remember my life before Emma," Regina stated sarcastically.

Mark was looking exceedingly uncomfortable. The sweat on his brow had grown from a shine to actual droplets, and Heather couldn't help but comment. "What's the matter with you? You're sweating like a pig. It's kind of gross."

"No," he said, glancing at his watch, then back over his shoulder. "Oh, sorry. I'm fine. I'm fine. Would you excuse me for a minute?" He placed his lap napkin on the table and walked swiftly toward the bathroom.

"Sure..." Emma stated.

"So, Roni, is your job at the yogurt shop, like, a career, or are you keeping yourself in Top Ramen between acting gigs?" Heather snarked.

"Oh, I've got a few things going on," Regina said, not letting her eyes fall away from Mark.

"I mean, Emma, if you had told me in high school that Roni Castro wanted to grow up to be a movie star, I would've said, 'Dream, little duckling, dream.' And now here we are."

Their food finally came, and Mark still wasn't back from the bathroom. Regina needed Emma to cause some sort of distraction so she could go check on Mark.

"Soup looks delicious, Emma," Regina said, giving her a meaningful look.

"Mmm, it is," Emma said, savoring the soup. "Cilantro, very controversial. You either love it or hate it. Me, I love it."

Regina rolled her eyes. Emma just loved food.

"So, Roni, when's the last time you were down in San Diego?" Heather asked.

"Mm, it's been a while," Regina said, attempting a friendly tone.

"Mm, don't get to visit your dad much?" Heather asked.

Regina choked, coughing. Her movement limited for a moment, then she raised her cup toward the waitress serving them. "Um, excuse me, more wine, please."

The waitress, a familiar older blonde, came back and smiled. "Ah, yes. It's a lovely pinot noir, earthy, complex, with a hint of cherry blossoms."

Emma narrowed her eyes at Mal, and while she had Regina entertained, she had a hushed conversation with Heather. "So, you know when you're kids and there's always that funhouse that all the kids hang out at. Would you say that was the case with Roni's house-condo-apartment?"

Regina turned and spilled her wine all over Emma's lap. "Oh!" She shouted in surprise. Emma breathed in as her panties became soaked in the cold liquid. "Oh! Oh, my God. I'm so sorry. God, I'm-I'm so clumsy."

"Now, there's the Roni we know," Heather said, not surprised at all. Roni never did much personal sharing, not even in High school. She was guessing her girlfriend must be getting tired of it already. Or maybe they were still in that honeymoon getting-to-know-you phase, and she still thought the secrecy was cute.

"Excuse me," Emma said, standing up. "Beg your pardon."

"Not the first American tax dollars wasted on a woman's lap," Mal murmured as Emma walked past her. She followed her toward the bathroom. They had to check on Mark.

"Give us the plans now," Emma heard as she was headed to the Ladies' room. She looked towards the men's room and listened.

"I need to know that if I hand over the plans, no harm will come to my wife," she heard Mark say, and she pushed the door open.

"Oh, my God," she said, acting as if she had gone into the wrong door. She had just flashed heavily on him, and the other man by the door behind her. The man who had Mark pinned was Ivan Fyodorov, a member of the Russian mafia and a drug trafficker.

"Who the hell are you?" the big man said, and Emma raised her hands, looking at the man. "Who is this chick? Is this a setup?"

"No! God, no!" Mark said. "She's no one!"

"That's a little hurtful," Emma said, looking at the man, holding her hands up to show she is not threatening.

"She's just the girlfriend of some, some girl that I went to high school with!" Mark answered.

Emma began to walk backward toward the bathroom door, hoping to catch Mal out there. "I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna grab some club soda to take care of my stain," she said but was stopped by the other man behind her.

Trying to make small talk with the beast of a woman in front of her, Regina smiled. "So, Heather, uh, how do you stay in such great shape?"

"Got obsessed with karate 'cause my instructor's such a hottie," Heather answered with a cocky grin. "I'm a black belt now." She paused and looked at Regina. "I clued in you didn't want to talk about your dad's situation in front of your GF." Regina looked to the side, where Mal was cutting the beef tableside. "Does Emma not know?"

"Uh, do you mind if I take over?" Regina said because she was having a hard time and was mangling the beef.

"Oh, no," Mal said and handed her the knife with a sheepish, "It's my first day."

Regina leaned in closer to Mal and whispered. "Go check on Emma."

"If you promise not to filet her before I get back," Mal stated, looking at the clueless blonde at the table.

"I can't promise anything," she whispered back. Then she turned her attention back to Heather. "Okay. Took a Knife skills course at the culinary academy.

"Is that to further your yogurt career, or are you angling towards something bigger?" Heather teased. "Say, carving station at Lawry's?"

Regina's hands gripped the knife a little tighter, but she bit her tongue.

"So, what do you know?" Ivan said, pressing Emma against the wall. Mark, the little bitch, ran into a stall the first chance he got, leaving her behind with those men.

"I don't know anything," she said, "I just came in to do my business. I just used the wrong door… Haven't you ever done that?"

"Turn on hand dryer," Ivan's accented voice resonated through the bathroom. "so no one hears her scream."

"Hear who scream?" Emma said, panicked. "Me scream?" The other man reached out and turned on the hand dryer.

As soon as he did, the men's bathroom door opened, and Mal came in swinging. Emma breathed a sigh of relief as the two men were disposed of. "Gonna pull the van around so we can stow these guys," she said. "Be right back." Then she ran out of the bathroom. Emma picked up the man closest to the door to move him, and that was where Mark walked out of the stall.

"Oh…" he said in shock then looked at Emma. "How? How did you do that?"

Emma looked down at the man in her arms and dropped him. "Uh… Uh, you know, it's a self-defense thing I took at the Y." She shrugged. "It was pretty comprehensive."

"Are you nuts?" Mark asked her incredulously. "These guys are Killers!"

Emma shrugged, "Bullies are like bears, you know? They're more afraid of you than you are of them." She paused, furrowing her brows. "Or is that bees? Actually, it is bees. Anyway, when you're dealing with the Russian mob…"

"How, how did you know they're connected to the mob?" Mark asked. Emma paused, her eyes widening. Shit… how do I take that back, she thought. "Wait a minute. I know exactly who you are. Dude! You're the man!"

Emma looked down at herself. "I'm hardly the man."

"So who do you work for?" Mark asked, excited now. "Is it the FBI? CIA? NSA?"

Emma was at a loss for words. "I, you know, I can't discuss the particulars?"

"Okay," Mark said, still super excited. "I get it, I get it. But just tell me, does-does Roni know who you really are?"

Emma hesitated a moment and shook her head. "Roni knows nothing."

"Of course not," he said with a chuckle… "But anyway, I-I just want to thank you so much for saving my life." Emma nodded. "Can't you just tell me your name, Agent... ?"

"Carmichael," Emma said "Special Agent Emmerson Carmichael."

The next day at Castle, Mal kidnapped Mark and brought him down hooded. He sat in the room, afraid for his life once again. He didn't know who Mal was; he had never seen the woman in his life. "This is not a negotiation," Mal said, taking the hood from him. "Okay, Ratner, here's how this is gonna go down."

"Wait," Mark said finally recognizing her and sighing in relief when he saw Emma standing with her coffee by the door. "You're our waitress. From the restaurant. Man, we really screwed you on the tip."

Mal leaned closer. She couldn't give a rat's ass about that tip. "You want into witness protection, you're gonna have to scratch our back, too."

"What do you mean?" Mark asked, once again missing the point of this.

"Those two goons from last night, they don't report back to their boss, he's gonna want a follow-up meet," Mal explained. "We're gonna cover that drop. He contacted you yet?"

"I'm sorry, but I prefer to deal only with Special Agent Carmichael," Mark said, shaking his head. Mal blinked and looked back at Emma. She shrugged. "The woman saved my life last night."

Mal stood up straight, folding her arms in front of her and turning to the bewildered blonde by the door. "Is that right, Special Agent Carmichael?"

"Uh…" She giggles slightly. "It's funny… You should really see me scale buildings with suction cups, 'cause I'm… I'm very good at that. I only dabble in the violence. So…"

"Modesty doesn't suit you, Mad Dog," Mal said to Emma in a manner that insisted she plays along or suffer the consequences.

"Mad Dog?" Mark asked in shock. Emma looks as though she doesn't want to be there right now. "Why... Why do they call her that?"

"Listen, I got to know where your next meet's at, okay?" Mal stated, "And I'll ask you real politely. My partner here, she's a maniac. It's... It's fine when it's to protect you, but you don't want to be on the receiving end of Mad Dog." Mal said setting up her good cop bad cop game. "That's how I got this." she pulled up her sleeve and showed the man a gunshot wound scar. "Huh? I parked in her spot once. This scar reminds me every day- don't mess with Mad Dog." She paused and turned to look at Emma's hilariously mean face and tried not to laugh. "Now, I'm gonna ask you… Let me ask you one more time. Where's the meet?"

"Look," Mark says looking back and forth at the women. "I-I don't know, okay? He texts me. That's it, that's all I know."

Mal stood up with a sigh and turned to face Emma. "He's all yours, Mad Dog."

"No, no! I…" Mark stammers and his text tone rings right on time. Emma paused her advance as he said. "Wait a minute. This, this is him, right now. He's-he's-he's… He's texting me right now! This is him!" he looked at the text and then back at the women. "Okay, he wants to meet tonight. But-but that doesn't work for me. I can't meet tonight." Emma and Mal look at him as though he is insane. Mark insists that he can't go. "Tonight's my reunion, and my wife has really been looking forward to this- she wants to be reunion queen. I couldn't disappoint her."

Mal furrowed her brows, "Stop talking!" She glanced at Emma and then back at Mark. "You'll meet him there."

"I... I-I don't know about this." Mark stammered nervously.

"No one's gonna mess with you, man," Emma stated, placing her hands on her hips. "I got your back."

Mark nodded, "Okay." He swallowed heavily looking at the two toughest women he had ever seen. "Okay, I'll do it."

Regina was in her hotel room, beating the crap out of a heavy bag. The stress of the past few days was getting to her, and revisiting her high school days only added to the turmoil. Her mind flashed back to a particular day when Mark was getting bullied and stuffed into a locker by Dick Duffy.

"LET GO!" Mark shouted, and his future wife just laughed as the bully pushed him into the locker. Once he was done with Mark, he turned to her. "Hey, Roni," he said leering. "You must be getting pretty lonely with your dad locked up. Call me if you ever need a man around the house." The cheerleaders laughed at his crude remark.

Regina gave a powerful punch to the heavy bag as she imagined those faces. Punch, punch, jab. "Stupid high school," she muttered.

A knock at her door interrupted her thoughts. She opened it, and Emma, the most recent bane of her existence, stood behind it. "What?"

"Brought you a present," Emma said, handing her a red box.

Regina took it. "Well, it's not my birthday," she said as Emma walked toward her bed and sat. She had to admit she liked Emma in her space. She liked having her on her bed. However, she had to work to distance herself from her.

"Oh, one down, 364 and a quarter possibilities to go," Emma said, making herself comfortable. "Just open the box, hmm?"

Regina sighed and opened the box. "Why do I need a new dress for?"

Emma, now sheepish, needed to explain the mission. "I know you're gonna see this as a glass half-empty, but I think it's a real opportunity…"

"Spill it!" Regina growled.

"We have to go to your reunion," Emma answered. "Look, I know that you don't like talking about your past, much less revisiting it, but the reunion is where the drop's going down."

"Look, I'm sorry," Regina said, going back to the heavy bag. "It's just… High school… It was a tough time for me, okay?"

"Tell me about it," Emma said with a roll of her eyes. She wasn't born gorgeous either. "I- I-I get that. Trying to figure out who you are and what you're gonna do with the rest of your life while constantly distracted with raging hormones. I…"

"It was more than that for me," Regina interrupted.

Emma stopped, wanting to understand Regina more than anything if she would only open up to her. She sighed and stood. "Hey... it'll be okay." She reached out for the heavy bag. "Trust me." Then she turned on her charm and smiled coquettishly at Regina, something she didn't know the brunette couldn't resist. "Besides, everybody remembers high school way worse than it was."