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“Mary-Margaret, please, we just got back,” Emma sighed, rubbing a hand over her face in exasperation at her mother’s actions.
“I just want to see you happy,” Snow insisted, following Emma up the stairs and into her room like a lost puppy. She really needed to set some boundaries between her and her parents. Ever since they got back from Neverland they’d been much more invasive than they used to be. It seemed spending so much time in such close quarters was a hard habit to break from.
“I am happy. We made it home, we stopped Pan, Henry is fine,” she listed, ticking each point off on her fingers. “I don’t need anything else.”
Snow looked at her with infinite patience in her eyes and she could almost sympathize with the annoyance Regina always seemed to feel towards Snow.
“Just take a leap of faith,” she begged. “I promise you it’s not that bad. And if you don’t like it, you can stop.”
Emma huffed, feeling more like a rebelliously moody teenager the longer this conversation wore on. “Fine,” she grumbled and grabbed her laptop off the desk. “But I get to control everything, okay? I’ll tell you whatever, but I’m making the decisions.”
Snow held up her hands in surrender, but it was plain to see by the smirk on her face that she thought she had won. Emma was too exasperated with her to argue the point anymore.
Three days.
It took three days on the stupid- but surprisingly easy to use- dating site for her to agree to go on a blind date.
Snow, of course, was thrilled and even though Emma wouldn’t so much as tell her the person’s username, she had this look like she knew something Emma didn’t know.
That look made her feel a bit uneasy. After all, there weren’t that many people in Storybrooke who would even be interesting in going on a dating site. Hell, Emma wasn’t even that interested! Still, she had agreed to a date with “magicgirl1234” and she wasn’t going to stand anyone up.
She had a feeling that Snow’s real motive was to set her up with Neal by way of an anonymous dating site. It was underhanded, but she knew the extent of Snow’s “true love” complex so she wasn’t putting anything past her. Emma figured that going with someone who had “girl” in their username was enough to take Neal out of the pool of possible choices.
The date was arranged through chat on the website. They decided on seven o’clock that Saturday night at Toni’s, the local Italian place.
Once that was done, all Emma had to do was sit around with her overwhelming sense of doubt and wait for Saturday to roll around.
Dressed in her favorite red wrap dress, Emma somewhat nervously made her way up the sidewalk to the restaurant.
She would never admit to anyone how much time she spent preparing for the date. Having no clue who you’re meeting is a pretty good motivator to dress to impress. For all she knew, she could be meeting the most beautiful, amazing person in the world- or at least in Storybrooke. She didn’t get her hopes up, though. Anyone who was actively using a dating site not against their will is going to have a few bugs to work out.
She at least had the forethought to tell someone where she was going. The whole anonymous thing was somewhat disconcerting so she texted Ruby the time and place the date was happening earlier that day.
Emma stepped into the restaurant and was greeted by the smell of well cooked Italian food. Just the smell alone made her mouth water. If nothing else, she would get a decent meal out of this deal.
Waving away the person who came to seat her, she walked carefully in her black heels- tripping in front of her date before the date had even started was not the impression she wanted to make- towards the back where there was a private table reserved for the two of them. Doing that was a lot easier than saying “I’m the one wearing the gold wrist-watch,” or something to that effect.
There was no one seated at their reserved table when she got there, but she was a few minutes early so she didn’t think anything of it. She turned her attention to her menu and was perusing the food choices when a familiar voice caused her to look up from it.
“Miss Swan what are you doing here?” Regina asked with an annoyed but also calculating expression on her face. Emma did her best not to scoff. If anyone didn’t belong back here, it was the brunette.
“I have reservations,” she informed Regina smugly. “What are you doing here?”
“I have reservations for this room at,” Regina checked her watch and nodded, “seven.”
“That can’t be right. They must have messed something up.” Emma fought the urge to sigh. This was not how she expected her night to begin. “I’m here for a date.”
The raw panic that she saw flash in Regina’s eyes was obvious and definitely not reassuring. “Obviously you’re mistaken,” she began in a carefully measured tone. “I’m here for a date.”
Emma couldn’t stop the confusion that stole over her face. That was quickly followed by shock, then disbelief. She could barely get the words out when she said, “Magicgirl1234?”
Regina’s cringe was all the answer she needed. “Henry chose the name,” she sighed. Her hands flew to her temples like she was quickly developing a migraine.
“Mary-Margaret chose mine,” Emma lied quickly. There was no way she was telling Regina that she had chosen the name ‘blondiebabe001’. It had meant to act as a repellant but she couldn’t honestly force the blame for it onto anyone but herself.
“Well then,” Regina began, shaking her shoulders back and hoisting the strap of her purse higher up on her arm. “It was nice to see you, Miss Swan.” With that the brunette turned and started for the main dining room.
“Wait!” Emma called out before she could stop herself. “You already spent the money on the reservations. Why let them go to waste?” It was a flimsy excuse at best, but after her initial shock Emma found that she didn’t actually want to cut her evening short. Regina wasn’t anything short of gorgeous and maybe they could take this as a chance to be civil towards each other while not in a life-threatening situation.
Regina considered her for a moment, no doubt taking the in low neckline of Emma’s dress and primped state of her hair judging from where the other woman’s eyes landed.
“Alright,” she acquiesced and walked back over to the table where Emma was sitting. Emma took the moment to admire the way Regina’s black dress hugged her curves and highlighted the way her hips rocked when she moved.
Maybe the date wouldn’t be all that bad after all.
One glass of wine in and Emma was feeling happier than she had in a very long time. The wine was just enough to free her from any doubt that lingered in her mind. She found Regina’s company to be much more pleasant when she was away from Snow and David. That’s not saying she was spared of all the sassy remarks, they were just less biting when they were alone.
The food was delicious, which was a plus. When she hummed appreciatively at the taste when the food had first arrived, Regina had given her an annoyed look that only halfway masked the way the brunette’s pupils dilated in response. It was nice knowing the attraction she felt was mutual, at least.
Long after the food was cleared away, she and Regina sat there talking about anything and everything. It was strange and nice to see a more open side of the surly woman that she had never seen before. It was like they were in a bubble, away from everyone outside of their table. They could be honest and not hostile and happy for a little while as long as they stayed there together.
When the check was placed on their table- Emma insisted that Regina let her pay seeing as the brunette had paid for the reservation-, it was nearing nine o’clock. Regina was the one to burst the bubble, but the look in her eyes told Emma that she more than regretted having to do so.
“I told Henry’s babysitter I would be back before nine,” she apologized as she stood up. Emma was disappointed at having to call an end to this, but she nodded understandingly.
“Of course,” she smiled and felt her heart swell when she received an answering one from Regina.
The restaurant wasn’t far from Regina’s home so Emma offered to walk with her. She felt inordinately pleased when Regina agreed.
They walked in silence for a little while, the noise from the sleepy town minimal even on a Saturday night. Both lost in their own thoughts, Emma startled when Regina broke the silence.
“I’m please you’re the one who showed up tonight,” she said. Emma did her best not to grin like an idiot. That was one of the nicest things Regina had ever said to her.
“I’m glad it was you and not some weird guy,” she agreed in her less eloquent but still just as sincere way. “When Mary-Margaret made me sign up for that website, I didn’t actually expect to get something good out of it,” she shrugged. Emma continued looking ahead of her and so she missed the genuine fondness that shone in Regina’s eyes when she referred to their date as something good.
“Henry was the one that made me apply for the site,” Regina informed her offhandedly.
As that comment sunk in, Emma stopped in her tracks with a deer-in-the-headlights expression plastered on her face. “You don’t think they were working together, do you?” she asked a bit nervously. What were the odds that the two people they were closest to set them up on a date together?
Regina stopped too as an exasperated smile formed on her lips. “I could tell Henry was up to something but I had no idea it was remotely connected to this.” A soft chuckle escaped her and Emma ended up laughing right along with her.
“I guess they saw something we just didn’t then, huh?” It was said casually but the true meaning of her statement was obvious. It was Emma giving Regina the choice to say whether or not the date meant something to her.
“I suppose they did,” Regina smiled softly. Emma reached out and took her hand in response.
Emma walked with Regina to her porch, the porch light illuminating the darkness the streetlamp couldn’t reach.
“I had a nice time,” Emma offered up somewhat lamely. It felt like the sort of thing one said after going on a date, not that Emma had all that much experience with them.
“I did as well,” Regina agreed. “We should do this again sometime soon,” she continued. The significance wasn’t lost on Emma.
“I think so too.”
Just as Regina was about to head inside, Emma snagged her hand and pulled her back. Once she was close enough, Emma pressed a chaste but sweet kiss to her lips.
She made to move back but Regina’s hand found the back of her head and pulled her in close once again, kissing her with much more fervor than Emma had expected.
When they finally broke apart, Regina’s back was against the door and they were both out of breath. Emma was pleased to note a flush of color on Regina’s cheeks that definitely wasn’t there before. She smiled and started walking backwards off of the porch. Even after spending the entire night with her, Emma found she didn’t want to stop looking at Regina.
“Goodnight, Regina,” she called halfway down the walk.
“Goodnight, Emma,” Regina answered before ducking inside so Emma couldn’t see her press her fingers to her slightly swollen, well-kissed lips.