Hey y'all! I am glad that for this story I opted for slightly shorter chapters. That has helped me with my schedule to write and run so to speak.

I have had several ask if this is based on an episode of Designing Women. Yes! OMG! I am so glad someone out that remembers that show well enough to notice. It isn't "based" on it as much as inspired by it. I do not know the episode name or when it aired. I haven't seen it probably since the 90s and honestly don't recall it in detail. But the idea of a person wishing to spend the night with someone stuck with me and helped spur this story into existence.

If you haven't seen Designing Women, look it up. I wanted to BE Julia Sugarbaker. She was my first brunette girl crush. I have always loved powerful women and she was one. If you have seen if, somebody comment or PM me the episode title. I'd love to see it again after all these years once this story is complete.

Please search Julia Sugarbaker and the night the lights went out it Georgia for a bite size morsel of her awesomeness. You're welcome.

Anyway, hope you all enjoy this as much as I did.

Regina sat at the wide quartz island in her kitchen. Henry was in his room finishing up some homework before they were to head to Shem Creek for a low country boil with Mal and Kathryn and their children. Mal was divorced, Kat separated, Regina widowed. They were like the single again starter pack.

Mal's daughter Lily was a couple years older than Henry and they had basically grown up together. Kat's two—Emory and Chance—were younger, but the older pair always included them. Regina felt blessed beyond measure to have found a group of friends in Charleston when she moved here after Daniel's death. She wasn't sure how she would have coped without them.

She'd been holding the phone in her hand for nearly fifteen minutes, the folder with Emma Swan's information laying in front of her. She pulled out the photo. She was a beautiful woman. Blonde hair, green eyes and a lopsided smile. Regina ran a finger across her face. It was a bit overwhelming to imagine that anyone, let alone this creature, would even think of her at all after so many years.

It had been just over twenty years since she had graduated as salutatorian of her class. She would've been the valedictorian if not for that bastard, Mr. Blanchard refusing to give her an A on her final project. He'd done it for spite, she was sure. He'd asked her more than once to stay after school to "earn extra credit" to make it up. Regina shivered, remembering.

Not long after her graduation from college, she had rolled back into town and been elected Mayor as if every town in America had a 23 year old mayor. But she was a big fish in a small pond. She'd made it her mission from her first day in office to be rid of Mr. Blanchard. It hadn't been too hard. The coward had resigned without a fight when she threatened to expose him for what he was.

But she was just wasting time. Just looking for any excuse not to call Emma. She took a deep breath through her nose, held it in a moment and blew it slowly out through her lips.

Regina dialed the phone. She opted to block her number just in case.

"Hello?" A voice answered on the third ring.

"Hello. May I speak to Emma Swan?" Regina said nervously.

"Listen, I don't want to buy anything, I already donated to the Police Department's drive and I've got all the religion I need ok, so buzz off." The line went dead.

Regina looked at the receiver in her hand in shock. She had mentally planned for a wrong number, an answering machine and an actual Emma answering but she did not have a contingency plan for this. She hit redial and waited.

"Hello?" The voice was slightly more irritated this time.

"Please don't hang up, Miss Swan. This is Regina Mills." Regina blurted the words out in her window of opportunity.

There was silence on the line.

"Hello? Are you there?" Regina spoke into the void.

"This is who?"

"This is Regina Mills. Bud Hollingsworth from Wish Granters gave me your number. Is this… Emma Swan?"

Another deafening silence.

"Hello?" Regina tried again.

"I…I uh…" Emma tried to speak. "God, I'm so sorry I hung up on you. I've been getting so many solicitors lately and the caller id said private so I just assumed. Oh my god. I am so sorry."

Regina smiled. "It's quite alright. I've been hung up on before and with less provocation."

She could hear Emma smiling. "So this is actually Regina Mills? Like the Regina Mills? From Storybrooke High?"

"The one and only. Go Knights!" Regina said, feeling a dusting of color on her cheeks at the awe in Emma's voice. She wasn't sure she deserved that.

"Holy shit." The words were more of rush of breath escaping Emma than actual words. "I didn't think the son of a bitch would actually find you. And I sure as hell never dreamed you would call. Ho-ly shit."

There was a long moment of awkward silence. Regina was waiting for Emma to say something. But it seemed the other woman was waiting too.

"So… Regina Mills." Emma said quietly, her voice very different from the woman who had just slammed the phone down moments ago. "You don't have a clue who I am, do you?"

Regina laughed nervously. "Actually, I'm sorry but… no. I don't."

"It's ok. I didn't imagine you would. I mean you were… well, you were everything. And I was just… me." The way Emma spoke it was clear she wasn't fishing for Regina to disagree. It was clear she meant what she was saying.

Regina tried to steer the conversation away from that, unsure and unprepared to navigate such deep waters on this phone call. "So, Mr. Hollingsworth told me you've been busy marking things off your bucket list and—"

"Christ on a cracker!" Emma interrupted her. "Please tell me he didn't tell you what my actual wish was. Fuck! Please… oh god, please tell me he just said I wanted to reconnect." As quickly as a storm blowing across the harbor could change a sunny day to a scary one, Emma's tone and emotions shifted gears.

Regina blushed a bit remembering that this woman on the line had wished to spend the night with her with more than sleeping on her mind. "Well…" The brunette's voice was mildly whiny and went up on the end, almost like a question. "He may have mentioned something about your wanting to…. you know… spend the night—"

Emma interrupted again. "Oh, fuck me."

"What?" Regina said, taken aback.

"No! No! Oh god. No! I mean… fuck me as in, this is awful. Not fuck me as in…. well, fuck me. Sorry. I'm not doing much to make you stay on the line am I?" Regina could almost hear Emma dragging her hand across her face. She sighed and spoke again since Regina clearly wasn't going to. "I just mean, that is maybe the most embarrassing thing that could've happened. And I am so sorry that he told you and that I even asked for that. If you want to hang up, I totally understand."

For a moment, the other woman did consider hanging up. This was already one of the most unusual conversations she'd ever had but she remembered the way Mr. Hollingsworth had spoken of Emma and her unique situation and decided not to bail just yet.

"Don't apologize. While I admit it was a shock to hear, it was also rather flattering. I don't think I've ever had anyone go to such great lengths to spend the night with me before. If you take it back you may bruise my fragile ego." She laughed softly, hoping her appearance of comfort with the whole thing would put Emma at ease.

"Well, I find that unlikely… but ok." Emma said with a disbelieving tone.

Regina frowned. "You find what unlikely? That people make an effort to sleep with me? Because I assure you, the length of time since my last… shall we say, sleepover suggests otherwise." Regina felt warmth in her cheeks at her admission. Why was she saying this to a stranger?

"Actually, I was referring to you having a fragile ego but the other information is good to know. Good to know." Regina imagined the same lopsided grin on Emma's face as was in the photo atop the other papers in the file.

Another awkward silence. "So…."

"Yep." Emma said in response.

Regina's mind was racing. She suddenly wanted to be done with this whole thing. Just call, say hello and satisfy her curiosity while giving this woman something pleasant in lieu of a night together and hang up. So far, it had been awkward, Emma had sworn more than Regina was accustomed to hearing living in the genteel South and both of them seemed uncomfortable.

Logic… reason… good old common sense said to cut her losses and say her good bye's. She needed to get Henry and head to Shem Creek for dinner. She began forming the words in her mind. It was a pleasure talking to you, Miss Swan. I must be going. Perhaps we will talk again. Then hang up the phone.

Before she could say anything though, Emma spoke.

"Listen, I know this is incredibly awkward and I really feel overwhelmed that you even made contact with me at all. I might be dying, but I'm not stupid. I can feel you thanking God you blocked your number all the way in New York. And that is totally cool. But, before you hang up, there is something I want to tell you if you will let me."

"Ok." Regina felt naked to have been so clearly seen by this woman she didn't even know.

"When I went to see Bud Hollingsworth, I probably could've presented my request differently. But I had been to several places like his already, and nobody would talk to me. So I said something I thought would shock them enough to get their attention. Now, I'm not taking back what I said. If my memory is worth shit, you are one of the most beautiful women to ever grace this planet and only a fool wouldn't want to spend as much time as possible looking at your face."

Regina sucked in a breath. Something fluttered in her stomach at the way Emma spoke about her and she wasn't altogether sure that she liked it. Her physical beauty often drew unwanted attention. But she was more than a pretty face. She was about to interrupt when Emma surged ahead.

"But, to be honest, your beauty—physical beauty—isn't what made me want to find you."

That was unexpected. "Oh?"

"Listen, that wouldn't have been a horrible reason. Like I said, you are unreal, off the charts beautiful, but it wasn't the reason. Not the reason." Emma emphasized the word the to make it clear she had another, possibly better reason for seeking Regina out. "If you have time, maybe not now but… maybe if you call again and I can make a better second impression than I have made a first, I'd really like to tell you about it. Would that… would that be ok? Not asking for dinner or a meet up. But maybe you could call again sometime?"

Regina was intrigued. Even with warning bells telling her not to, to just run away from a sick and dying woman with a foul mouth and some likely completely made up story to tell, she just kept feeling that little tickle in her tummy. It wasn't totally unpleasant. And though she felt sure she would regret it, she made a decision.

"Yes, Emma. I would like to call you again."