Hi... Im sure you all hate me because this took so long but I am sorry. Excuse. Excuse. Please bear with me. I won't promise any dates but I will promise the next one to be a bit faster. Let me know how you guys are feeling about this. It should get more interesting from here.

When the day ended, Regina definitely needed that drink she thought of following her lunch with Emma. People really wanted to get on her nerves today. There was just this one client who needed to speak to her directly when she returned from her meal. Her phone rang not two minutes after she sat down.

Naturally, when someone cannot be taken care of with one of her associates, it means they are very far from happy. It doesn't happen very often, but you can't make everyone happy.

So, she answers the phone and he asks why he was waiting so long, she made a note to look in to this with her secretary. Immediately he begins telling her how incompetent her employees are. She does her best to calm him down. It worked for a while. He began to drone on about his concerns and she even managed to write down some additional information down on the report she had pulled up on his particular case.

She made some suggestions, to which were all shut down immediately. She listened some more and made a few alternate suggestions and even put her opinions in to the matter. This seemed to work, the man seemed to be agreeing with her. She saved the account, yay, she thought flatly.

When she was done, she asked if there was anything else he had to say. Yes.

Of course, why would she think she could get off the phone with some old man that easily? They always wanted to talk, to tell her about goodness knows what. This one happened to think that he should give her some pointers on how she should run her company. He managed to slip a few snarky comments in there, to which she had learned very well to let go and not react.

She zoned. She thought more on other things. She closed the file of the company she was just looking at and opened Google. She made an incognito tab and searched Mr. Black. There had to be something she could have over him. She found quite a few things on him but nothing that gave more information than she already knew. He now was married and his children probably weren't too happy with him. He obviously had no job but, maybe his money was a good place to look into. She didn't know much about that except that he was a decently wealthy man.

She pulled up her personal email and emailed one of her contacts asking if he could look more into it. It wouldn't be too suspicious if she were to ever be asked about it. She would say she was looking for some clue as to why he resigned so suddenly. (Gag.)

She closed the browser and cleared the disk for extra protection, not that she thought anyone was ever on her computer but you can never be too safe.

The man still had not shut up so she cut in and asked if he needed her services any longer at this particular moment. He replied with a no and she courteously thanked him and wished him a good day.

The rest of the day was a blur. Random people stopped in to her office to ask whatever and she answered them efficiently and effectively. Blah blah blah. She wasn't there. But where was she ?

She stared off into space and saw nothing. This was a weird feeling for her: she never daydreamed. Her mother had always told her that imagination and dreaming was stupid and would get you nowhere. Work and education: that would take you places in life.

Were you supposed to see something when you daydream, she wondered. Or should she be thinking of something… was she thinking of something? No?

She let out a frustrated sigh, can't even daydream right.

She looked to the clock and silently begged it to move faster. Forty-seven minutes to go.

46.

45… Emma?

Her eyes snapped up to watch the woman who was standing in her door frame.

"Hey." The blonde started cautiously. "I just wanted to remind you of your interview on The View tomorrow." She said, barely looking at the woman. "We need to be there around 10."

"Yes. I saw it on my calendar a few minutes ago." She said flatly. Normally Emma would say these things to her at their meeting in the morning. The blonde lingered. "Is there something else, Miss Swan?"

"Umm, no. I guess not. I will see you in the morning." The blonde walked away quickly, not giving Regina any time to respond, not that she really needed to. Regina found the encounter strange but almost felt guilty for the biting tone used towards the woman.

Six o-clock came around faster after Emma left.

Drink.

~~/\/\~~

Emma wanted to see Regina again on her way out. She had been sitting at her desk contemplating it for about the last forty-five minutes and, as she noticed that her day was over, she stood and a wave of courage swelled within her as she rose. She grabbed her bag and coat before her feet took her to Regina's office.

The woman looked like she was focused on something when Emma arrived. She almost walked away but that ability was lost as she met Regina's eyes.

She hadn't actually thought of what to say to the woman in her near hour of thinking about this moment. A lot of her wanted to ask if maybe the woman would want to do dinner sometime… to talk about the things the older woman was too paranoid to talk about during that day's lunch.

But then again, maybe it wasn't that she was paranoid. Maybe it was that Emma wanted to ask the woman to dinner. Well, that shouldn't happen.

So, Emma being Emma, she blurted the first non-inappropriate thing she could think of and that, of course, had to do with work, the one thing she was sick of talking about. Emma hated what happened to her whenever she's around Regina. She wants to say all of these things to her and every time, everything she ever wanted to say goes out the window. Fuck her life.

The woman obviously didn't want to talk to her though, dismissing her as quickly as she came and, when it was over, she hung her head and walked away.

A drink sure sounds good right about now.

~~/\/\~~

Both women dropped by the liquor store on their way home that night. Regina picked up a fifth of Crowne XO and made her way back to her car. She wasn't normally a whiskey drinker but something about the dark amber liquid and the thought of the burn it would induce sure sounded like something she should have in her life right about now.

Emma, on the other hand, settled for an just about the cheapest tequila she could find at the run down store she stopped at. She sighed when she thought of what was probably to come that night and, even worse, tomorrow morning.

When Regina got home, she went to her cabinet to retrieve a glass and quickly filled the glass. She sighed before taking a long quick sip of the liquid. It burned as it went down her esophagus, as she thought it would.

It had been a long time since she drank, which she regretted in this moment. Her head spun momentarily and she knew it would not take her long to get a buzz from the alcohol that was now probably slowly entering her blood. She grabbed the bottle's neck and made her way to the balcony of her suite.

On the other end of town, Emma was setting a plastic cup on the counter of her loft and trying to the get that stupid paper off the top of her bottle. She didn't know how she felt in that moment but she knew she was ready for this, that she needed it.

One thing Emma hated was to not know how she was feeling… or more what was at the root of her feeling. She wasn't feeling particularly happy, she knew. It was kind of just numb to many things. And if you didn't know what was making you that way, what better than alcohol to blame it on. She poured a large 'shot' worth of tequila in the glass and drank it quickly. She took the bottle and made her way to the couch. Nothing better than drinking alone.

About four large shots (probably more toward doubles, maybe more) Emma was feeling it and quickly. By this point, she had already managed to wallow more than she ever typically allowed herself to do and she was now making her way to the, I need to drink more to make sure I don't feel anything at all stage. Drink.

Regina was in a similar situation about twenty minutes away. However, she was on her way to her sixth shot and she felt like she should slow down a bit. She stood in order to walk around for a while. Pacing, as it was otherwise referred to, though she didn't wanna talk about that because Regina Mills did not pace. Drink.

Another three shots and Emma was not moving from the place she was seated. Instead, she had taken to playing Candy Crush on her phone. Needless to say, it was going very poorly. She took another drink anyway.

Regina knew something bad was going to happen tonight and she should have stopped while she was ahead but instead, she decided to take a few more shots and reached for her phone. She scrolled and she found Emma's name and she hovered and she debated and she hovered.

And fuck, she was typing things to the woman, probably incoherently.

Em, I am sorry for what happened in the previous day.

She smiled to herself when she noted that she spelled everything correctly and it made sense. She should not be near her phone when drinking.

The reply was quick.

For what? You didn't do anything that you should have to apologize for.

Regina looked at the phone knowing what she wanted to say but knowing what she should say.

But I did.

Aww shit, her fingers reacted before her mind told her not to.

?

One character was all she received.

I liked it. Well not that we were forced to do it but the sex itself… I enjoyed it. May have been the best I've ever had.

This was so uncharacteristic of her: the drunken texts. Why was she letting this happen? She shouldn't be texting anyone, let alone Emma, right now.

Are you drinking?

It wasn't the reply she thought she would get but she figured the woman was sober and lying in bed now thinking she was crazy or some shit. However, now that she said her piece, there was really no use in lying. Maybe it was better to tell the woman she was drinking. Maybe that would make the other woman shrug this off as if it were nothing.

Yes.

She replied after a moment's consideration. The wait on the reply seemed to take forever, which is actually no time at all in drunk time. She looked at her phone every other second, anxious to see the reply. About two minutes passed as she got nervous.

Same and if its anything then I enjoyed it well, which is one thing I never thought I would say to you. Among many other things lol

The other woman was obviously on the same level she was, if not worse. She was worse at the whole texting thing however.

Regina let out a long sigh as she read and reread the message. Her heart jumped and she couldn't exactly tell why. She knew the other woman seemed as though she had enjoyed it, while in the act, of course.

Like what else?

Regina was a curious bitch and she knew it. Her drunk ass was now going to own that shit.

I may be drunk but I'm not drunk enough to tell you all my secrets, Miss Mills lol

The brunette frowned at the next reply. She wanted to know what the other woman was thinking. Like, how could she just preface something and then not tell her. How rude.

On the other end of town, Emma was becoming much more anxious about this conversation the longer the duration. She should have just told Regina the truth and there she was being a little chicken shit again.

Miss Mills? Ouch lol

Emma did not know how to handle this situation. Had she just offended the mighty Mills?... should she try and fix this? Should she laugh it off? Why must she be drunk in a time like this?

No offense? I was just pointing it out that the things I would say to you may not be deemed appropriate for our relationship. Employee-ship… Uhhh, you know what I mean.

This time, the brunette laughed before she replied.

I've seen you naked. This is not necessarily the perfect example of a boss/employee-ship, Miss Swan.

She hoped her words seemed playful as she pressed the send button on her Galaxy. She bit at the skin beside her nails while she waited.

Good point. At the very least, I will not tell you my secrets while I am drunk and texting.

Fair enough, Regina thought, but she still wanted to know these secrets.

Fine, then we should go to dinner somewhere, far away from anywhere we normally are, and we could talk then. Soberly and discreetly.

Aww shit, she thought as she replied. Did she just ask Emma on a date? No, it was just dinner. She could go to dinner without it being a date.

It's a date :)

She looked at her phone and frowned momentarily before smiling again. She was going to regret this all in the morning when she saw the blonde. She chose not to acknowledge the text.

Tomorrow. Assuming we leave work at a proper time, we will make it 7:30. I'll have someone pick you up.

Her hand shook as she sent the message. It wasn't a date, she repeated in her head.

The blonde on the other end of town was grinning from ear to ear. She was going to go on a date with Regina. No, it wasn't a date, probs. Wait, was she going to tell this other woman all the things she had been thinking about her? Woah, why did she agree to this. Oh right, date…. Not date?

God, why are drunk minds so rambly?

Tomorrow.

She replied and set her phone down on her coffee table. This was definitely going to be a shit show.