A/N: For anyone who's still reading this or has been waiting, I am so so sorry for the delay on updating. I've had so much on my mind, that I've not been able to fully concentrate on my writing, so I have been writing a little bit here and there until I've been able to get this chapter finished. To apologise though, this chapter is the longest so far, so I hope you'll all forgive me. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, and I'll try to be more frequent with updates, but please bare with me. Love to you all.

Emma was silent for a moment, considering what Regina said and then nodded. "Okay." she gulped nervously. Wait, had she actually just agreed to go to her teachers house? Not just any teacher, but Regina Mills. The Regina Mills that she'd had a crush on since the 10th Grade, when Regina had first started teaching at Storybrooke High. Under any other circumstance, she'd be ecstatic about this and even though a part of her was sort of jumping for joy on the inside, the biggest part of her was also absolutely shitting it. She was terrified of actually telling someone other than Ruby what had actually happened after she left The Rabbit Hole on Saturday night. Emma was also scared of the fact of getting Neal into trouble, when she was certain that this whole ordeal had been her own fault.

Regina smiled softly and glanced down at her hand that was still resting on top of Emma's, it was quickly placed back on the steering wheel. After having taken her hand away, she noticed that Emma's knuckles were slightly swollen and were already starting to bruise from her 'altercation' with the classroom wall. After a few moments of driving in silence, Regina looked over at Emma again and saw that she was just staring straight ahead out of the windscreen, looking like she was in deep thought. "Are you okay?" she asked softly, breaking the silence. She internally rolled her eyes at herself because she knew it was a silly thing to ask. She knew Emma wasn't okay, but she only asked because she didn't want the drive to her house to be in complete silence with Emma fighting with her thoughts the whole way, and the common question of 'are you okay?' was the first thing that had popped into her mind.

Why the fuck did I agree to this? I could be about to get in a nice, warm bubble bath right now, if I hadn't of agreed to go to Miss Mills' house. If I hadn't of agreed to tell her. Why am I so stupid? I can't even make up something else because she will see right through me. Emma jumped a little, freeing her of her thoughts for a moment. "Hmm?" she said as she turned her head towards Regina. "Sorry, I was..." she shook her head. "What did you say?"

"I just asked if you were okay, that's all."

Emma shrugged, "Yeah, I'm fine." she lied. She shivered at the thought of everything running through her mind and also for the fact that cold droplets of water were rolling down the back of her neck from her wet hair. What if she thinks that I'm to blame for this? Or worse, what if she thinks I'm a liar?

Regina knew Emma was not okay. She could see that Emma was still fighting with her thoughts. In a way it was almost like she could hear Emma thinking, even though she wasn't saying anything at all. "Are you still cold?" she asked after seeing Emma shiver from the corner of her eye.

Emma nodded "Yeah, I'm f-freezing." she admitted with a shudder and rubbed her hands together in an attempt to warm herself up a little more. Obviously Regina's heated seats could only warm her so much, but after all, she was sat there in cold, wet clothes and had sopping wet hair.

Regina felt a little guilty, because she knew Emma would have probably changed out of her wet clothes by now, had she had gone straight home. "We'll be at my house in a minute and hopefully you'll be able to warm up." Shortly after saying that, she pulled up onto her driveway and for the time being, the rain had subsided.

Emma looked out of the window and her eyes widened when she saw the house. It was more than a house, it was a mansion. "Wow, this is your place?" she asked with astonishment. She had passed the house on Mifflin Street a handful of times before, but never had any idea that the place was actually Regina's.

"Yes." Regina said as she turned the engine off, seeing the surprised look on Emma's face.

"Do you live here alone?" she asked and straight away regretted that sometimes she had no filter on her mouth. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be asking that." Although she was kind of curious to know if anyone lived in this huge house with her.

"It's okay, but yes, I live here alone." Regina sort of nodded and shrugged at the same time. She didn't overly like living in the big house alone. She did enjoy the quiet sometimes, but it was extremely lonely most of the time, but the house had been left to her by her father Henry, who'd passed away five years ago and she wasn't going to let her mother take that away from her, seeing as the house and a few of the possessions inside were the only things she had left of her father. Regina picked the papers and her purse off of her lap and stepped out the car choosing not to disclose that information as it often was a touchy subject and she needed to stay focused for Emma.

Emma nodded realizing Regina wasn't going to say any more and she peeled herself from the leather seat, where her damp clothes had stuck to it slightly. She picked up her bag and got out of the car, following Regina along the path towards the door.

Regina pressed a button on her keys and a beep sounded, indicating that her car was now locked. She pushed the keys in lock and unlocked the big white door to her home and stepped inside, holding the door open for Emma. "Come on in."

Emma silently walked through the door, marveling at the beautiful house. She'd never even set foot in a home this beautiful before, let alone lived in one. Even though her mother would have been home shortly, she was glad she hadn't suggested that Miss Mills come up to her loft apartment, not that she was unappreciative of her home, because she knew how hard her parents worked to afford and maintain their cosy loft apartment, but Regina's home did put hers to shame.

Regina placed her keys in a dish, on a table by the door and put her purse and the papers down next to it. "There's a bathroom this way, I'll get you a towel so you can dry off." Regina spoke over her shoulder as she headed towards the kitchen.

Emma stood in front of the door she just came through. She was a little nervous now she was actually here, nervous about the upcoming conversation they were going to have, which she was dreading and nervous at the fact she was in her teacher crush's home.

Regina stopped in her tracks and looked back over her shoulder when she didn't hear any footsteps behind her, seeing Emma still stood by the front door. "Emma?"

Emma's eyes snapped back to Regina, which had been admiring a large painting of a young brunette girl on a beautiful brown horse. She wondered if the the young woman was Miss Mills. "Yes, coming." she said, wiping her feet on the mat and dropping her school bag on the floor and quickly followed after the older woman.

"The bathroom is just through there," Regina pointed towards the small bathroom just off from the big open kitchen. "There are fresh towels in the cupboard under the sink."

"Thank you." Emma nodded with a slight smile and headed towards the bathroom. Once the bathroom door was shut, Emma took a deep breath. You can do this. She opened up the cupboard Miss Mills had told her about and pulled out a fresh white towel. She took off her jacket and laid it over the edge of the sink whilst she tried to dry her shirt as much as she could with the towel. Tipping her hair to one side, she tried to dry it a little, to stop it from dripping down her neck at least. She couldn't quite believe how wet she had gotten. Even her bra felt wet and to be honest, she couldn't wait to get out of the damp clothes. She was still cold and didn't want to put her damp jacket back on just yet, so she draped the soft towel over her shoulders, picked up her jacket and walked out of the bathroom. Peering into the kitchen, she saw Regina hovering over the stove. "I..uh, I hope you don't mind-" she shrugged to gesture to the towel that was over her shoulders as she took a seat at the island in the middle of the kitchen.

Regina turned to face Emma. "No, of course not," she shook her head. "Would you like a cup of cocoa?" She had noticed that morning in Granny's that Emma had been nursing a mug of the hot chocolate drink and thought maybe the hot drink would help her warm up a little bit. She'd already heated up some milk in a pan and placed two mugs onto the counter, assuming Emma was going to say yes.

Emma shook her head "No, I'm good, thanks."

"I'm going to have one myself, so it's no trouble." She had actually only been making it for Emma. She'd normally come home and make herself a coffee if she had a lot of marking or lesson planning to do, or on a really stressful day, she'd pour herself a generous glass of wine.

Emma nodded "Okay, well only if you're sure, then yes I'd love one, thanks," she replied quietly. "Um, do you.. do you have any cinnamon? It's just I like cinnamon on my cocoa." she asked sheepishly, wondering if that had been a little rude to ask.

"I do," Regina nodded and went over to the spice rack. She run her finger along the different spice and herb jars until she stopped on the one she was looking for and pulled it out. "I've never put cinnamon on my cocoa before." she admitted. She didn't really drink cocoa much at all actually.

"Oh, you should try it. It's really good, well if you like cinnamon that is." Emma smiled.

"I'm afraid I don't have any whipped cream though." Regina added, knowing Granny's always offered cream on their hot chocolate.

"That's okay, cinnamon in the cocoa itself is really good too."

Regina could already tell when Emma was genuinely smiling or when it was a feigned smile and the smile on her face right now seemed like a genuine one. "I do like cinnamon. I'll try it." Regina smiled back. She mixed in the cocoa powder to the already heated milk and stirred it until there were no lumps, then carefully poured the hot brown liquid into the two mugs. She slid the jar of cinnamon across the counter towards Emma and let her be in charge of how much cinnamon was added to the drinks.

Emma picked up the jar and sprinkled some into both of the mugs and then stirred it in. She walked over to the spice rack that she watched Regina get the cinnamon from and placed it back in the empty space where it belonged. When she turned back, Miss Mills standing there smiling at her, which instantly made her cheeks flush a little red. If she had of been at home, she'd of left the jar on the counter for her mother to put away, so she didn't actually know why she just put it away for Regina.

Regina quickly drew her gaze away from Emma when she noticed a slight blush appearing on her cheeks. She picked up both mugs and took a sip from one of them and actually found the added flavor of cinnamon to be a great taste with the cocoa. "You're right, that is really good," She took another sip and headed towards the living room. It was completely silent, except for the the sound of Regina's heels clicking across the hardwood floor. She placed both mugs onto the coffee table and then gestured to the sofa "Take a seat." she said waiting for Emma to sit down and then took a seat beside her.

Emma placed her jacket on the sofa beside her. She had been dreading this moment and was honestly trying to delay the conversation for as long as she possibly could. She picked up the mug that didn't have a faint red lipstick mark on it and sipped on it nervously. She silently hummed in delight at the warmth of it going down her throat and instantly warming her body up.

Regina could once again see Emma was sat there thinking things over in her head. They had been sat in silence for what felt like too long, before Regina cleared her throat to break the silence. "If you've changed your mind and don't want to tell me anything, it's okay, I'm not going to force you to tell me anything, so please don't feel like you have to talk to me, just because your sat on my couch right now. You can sit there and finish your cocoa and then I'll take you home, if that's what you want?" she paused for a moment and then continued "I want you to know that whatever you do tell me though will be kept in the strictest of confidence and wont go any further than this room.I know I'm your teacher, but right now we're not at school, so perhaps consider me a friend? You really can trust me Emma." she smiled warmly when Emma turned to face her.

Emma looked back down to the drink in her hands, before placing it back down onto the coffee table in front of them. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes briefly before reopening them again. Her gaze settling on Regina's face. She knew it was now or never. If she didn't tell Regina now, she probably wouldn't tell her at all. "It was my fault," she said in a whisper. She opened her mouth to carry on and hesitated, before her thoughts just spilled from her mouth in a quick jumble. "Why didn't I just shut him down earlier that evening when he tried to kiss me? I let him take me home. I asked him to stay with me. I.. I kissed him and.. and he.. we.. I.." she swallowed audibly, her eyes starting to glisten with tears that were threatening to spill at any moment.

The silence was heavy and sort of tense. Regina didn't say anything. She was trying to process the outburst of words that had just fallen from Emma's mouth. What is she trying to say? That she slept with Neal by mistake? No, that can't be right. Why would she have punched him like that? He- Then it suddenly clicked what Emma was trying to say. She couldn't find any words in that moment that were appropriate. She didn't want to say anything that might stop Emma from continuing. She'd wait until Emma was finished before she'd say anything.

Emma could see Regina trying to process her outburst and saw the moment in Regina's eyes when her teacher had realized what it was that she meant. It was then that she blinked and the tears started rolling down her cheeks. "It's my own fault. I shouldn't have drunk so much. I don't even like him in that way, I don't like any boys in that way and I should have stopped him and I didn't," Her head fell into her hands and she started sobbing. "It's all my fucking fault." she cried, not even realizing, that in her rambling state that she had basically just admitted to Regina that she was gay.

The sight of Emma broke Regina's heart. She thought seeing Emma break down back in the classroom was heartbreaking enough, but this was worse. She felt her vision starting to go slightly blurry and she realized that her own eyes were filling up with tears. She knew she shouldn't be showing too much emotion over this, but she couldn't help it. She had grown an incredibly big soft spot for Emma. All she felt she could do to help in that moment, was shuffle a little closer to Emma and pull her into her arms to comfort her and to let her know she was there and that she wasn't alone. She understood completely what Emma was going through, but she closed her eyes quickly and willed those thoughts to stay suppressed in her mind.

Emma didn't hesitate this time and allowed Regina to embrace her for the second time that day. In fact Emma wanted the comfort. She knew she wasn't going to get this comfort from anyone else, because she didn't have it in her to be able to tell anyone else and even though Ruby knew, she didn't feel like she had received the kind of comfort from her, as she was right now from Regina. It had also been the first time she had actually said out loud what she had been thinking about all day. Ruby had never asked any questions earlier in the day, she had just assumed by Emma's reaction of punching Neal in the face, that what they had suspected the previous day, was in fact correct.

"Emma, it's not your fault," she spoke softly, whilst Emma cried into her shoulder. She gently rest her chin upon Emma's still damp head and started rubbing soothing circles over her back. Not only was Regina upset for the Emma, she was also seething and she currently wanted to inflict a lot of pain onto Neal Cassidy, even though she knew she wouldn't be able to do anything to him. Except maybe fail his ass.

"It is my fault, I didn't tell him no. I didn't make him stop," Emma cried into Regina's shoulder "I just laid there and.." she stopped herself, not wanting to actually say any more, although she kept replaying Neal's words from that morning in her head 'Even if you did just lay there and let me do all the work.'

"You're not alone Emma. I'm here," Regina gently shushed Emma as she continued the soothing motions on her back. "It's not your fault." She repeated. She remembered that she had seen Neal leave with a very inebriated Emma that night. She could have made Emma leave when she had bumped into her in the bathroom. She instantly got hit with a wave of guilt. Could this of been prevented had I made Emma leave when I saw her? Regina shook the thought from her head, because she knew even if she had of made them leave, they still could have gone elsewhere afterwards. She knew she should mention that Emma should go to the police, but with the state she was in right now, decided it'd be best not to mention it just yet.

Eventually Emma had calmed somewhat, except for the odd sniffle. She pulled away slightly, her face now blotchy from the crying. She was sure she had run out of tears now, what with the amount she had cried the last two days. She never really cried this much, especially not in front of anyone.

Regina tucked a stray piece of blonde hair behind Emma's ear and looked into the watery, red rimmed, green eyes and suddenly found her thumb gently wiping a stray tear from Emma's rosy cheek.

Emma looked up into the brown eyes above her and leaned into the gentle touch. What Regina hadn't even realized was that her hand was cupping Emma's cheek and that her thumb was now gently caressing it. She stopped quite abruptly, realizing what she was doing when Emma placed her own hand over the top of hers. She pulled her hand away with a cough to clear her throat "Um, would you like a glass of water?" she offered, trying to not draw attention to the fact she had been stroking Emma's cheek. She also thought that after Emma crying again that the poor girl was probably becoming dehydrated and she knew the mugs of hot chocolate were most likely cold now.

"Got anything stronger?" Emma said quietly, but one side of her mouth started tugging upwards into a small smirk. In that moment, it didn't occur to her that she was actually asking her teacher if she had anything alcoholic to drink.

Regina didn't condone underage drinking, even more so after everything that had happened with Emma, but right now she thought that maybe Emma needed it. "How about a small glass of the best apple cider you've ever tasted?" she said, with emphasis on the word small.

Emma's eye's widened, she really hadn't expected Miss Mills to actually offer her an alcoholic drink. If anything she had expected to be scolded by the older woman for even having the audacity to ask. "Um, yes please." she nodded sheepishly, as she watched Regina pick up the cold mugs of cocoa and then headed back in the direction of the kitchen. Emma couldn't help it, but her eyes were fixated on Regina's ass, as they often were. Once Regina had disappeared from her line of vision, she took that moment to glance around the room. The whole house was immaculate, not a thing out of place. Her eyes settled on another painting above the fireplace, once again of the beautiful brown horse, this time the young brunette girl was stood beside the horse, next to a graying man.

Regina returned a few minutes later, carrying two very small glass tumblers of amber colored liquid and handed one to Emma as she took her seat back beside the young woman.

"Thanks," Emma smiled a little, bringing the glass to her lips and took a sip. "Mmm, this is really nice," she hummed at the delicious taste. It really was the best apple cider she had ever tasted. "Did you make this yourself?" she asked curiously and took another mouthful.

Regina took a sip herself and nodded. She'd never had anything but compliments on her apple cider. "Yes, my father taught me how to make it when I was younger. I have an apple tree in my back yard that I've tended to since I was a little girl." She smiled.

Emma smiled back, but jumped a little when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket for the third time. Up until now she had been ignoring it, but this time she pulled it out. She had a text message from Ruby, which she decided she'd read later and she had a text message and a missed call from her mother. She pressed on the message from Mary Margaret: Emma, are you still with Ruby? When will you be home? I'm going to start cooking dinner soon. "It's my Mom," She said looking back at Regina. "She wants to know when I'm going to be home, because she's cooking dinner." she said, hoping that it wasn't still raining. It was already starting to get dark and walking home in the rain was bad enough, but walking home in the rain and in the dark, was worse. "So I guess I'd better be heading home now." she placed the now empty glass down on the coffee table and stood up. "Than-"

Regina quickly cut Emma off and stood up herself "Miss Swan, you don't honestly think I'm going to let you walk home in the dark, do you? It's also raining again. I'm taking you home."

Emma shook her head as she removed the towel that was still draped over her shoulders and handed it to Regina "It's fine Miss Mills, really. Thanks for the offer, but-"

Regina cut Emma off once again and raised her eyebrows. She held up her hand "No buts dear, it wasn't an offer. I'm talking you home." she said firmly and folded the damp towel and placed it onto the coffee table for now.

Emma sighed, not for the fact that she was ungrateful for the offer but for the fact she knew she wasn't going to win this argument against Miss Mills. "You really don't have to, but thank you." she smiled, picking up her jacket and putting it back on now she had warmed up. She followed Regina to the foyer and picked up her school bag.

"It's no problem," Regina grabbed her keys and picked up a large umbrella. She held the door open for Emma again and then closed it behind them. As she stepped out, she opened up the umbrella and stood closer to Emma so she too could get under to keep dry from the once again pouring rain, and together they walked to the car. Emma could have sworn that she felt her heart skip a little at the gesture. Regina walked Emma round to the passenger side and let her in, so she didn't have to get wet, before heading back around to the drivers side. She collapsed the umbrella and climbed in, leaning over to put the umbrella into the passenger foot well. Her hand accidentally brushed against Emma's leg as she pulled away. "Sorry."

Emma's heart beat that much quicker when she felt Regina's hand brush against her knee. "It's.. it's fine." she swallowed and smiled.

Regina buckled herself in and backed out of her driveway. It was only been silent between the two of them for a few moments, but she didn't want the drive back to Emma's apartment to be in complete silence this time, like it had earlier on, so she thought of something, anything that could break that silence. "Emma, about your test paper today-"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry. I just couldn't concentrate on it." She quickly defended herself, knowing the conversation about her not even doing the paper was going to be bought up at some point. "I'm guessing I'm being failed on it?" she said with a sigh.

"No, of course not," she glanced at Emma quickly before looking back at the road, seeing the deflated look from the young woman. "I was going to say, I'd like you to stay after school one day this week to re-take it."

"You're going to give me another chance?" Emma said surprisingly. Even though Miss Mills was her favorite teacher, she knew how much of a hard ass the older woman was when it came to work and tests.

"Don't sound so surprised Miss Swan." she chuckled a little. She knew herself that she never normally gave second chances to anyone. "You're a good student Emma, one of my best ones actually."

Emma's heart fluttered at hearing the chuckle that came from Regina. She'd never really heard her laugh before, and honestly the sound was like music to her ears. When it had gone silent, she realized that she still hadn't responded yet. "Um.. Thank you so much Miss Mills. I really appreciate that."

"Regina."

"What?"

"We're outside of school right now, so I think it's acceptable for you to call me Regina." she smiled, as she turned onto West 10th Street and quietly pulled up outside Emma's apartment building again. She turned to face Emma.

Emma sat in silence as the car came to a stop. She turned slightly to face Regina. Why am I looking at her lips? Eyes, look at her eyes. "Well, thank you for everything today.. Regina." she said testing out Regina's name on her tongue. She had said her name before of course, but never actually to the woman's face. Her eyes had drifted back down to those plump red painted lips again. She felt herself slowly gravitating closer to the older woman. Her eyes looking up from those luscious lips and back into the chocolate eyes before her. Her heart was racing. It only took a few seconds for Emma to close the distance and then her lips were pressed against Regina's. She instantly pulled away, realizing her mistake "I'm so sorry." she said quickly, her cheeks already starting to turn red with embarrassment. She grabbed her bag and rushed out of Regina's car, slamming the door behind her as she run off into her apartment building.

A/N: Also, just a shout out to the person who messaged me, telling me that my writing is so shit and that there are so many mistakes and that it's also a shit story... Firstly I know I'm not that great at writing, I'll be the first to admit that and yes there probably are mistakes, because I don't have a beta reader or anything, so all mistakes are my own, but I do proof read my writing at least twice, sometimes three times before posting, but there still could be mistakes, and secondly, if my story is so shit why have you even bothered to read it all? Seeing it was the previous chapter that your message come through on. So thank you for the oh so lovely message, but it got me thinking that perhaps I do need a beta reader, so if anyone can help me out at all, please let me know. Thank you :)

Anyway.. What did you all think of this chapter? How do you think Regina will react about the kiss?