Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me, but you already knew that.

Author's Note: It's been far too long.

Warnings: lesbian romance…eventually.

Summary: Little is never too little, when it's enough. It's all about perception, dear. F/F, eventual Emma/Regina pairing. Title might change.

TWO THIRTY SEVEN

Every single day at two thirty seven in the afternoon, when the sun began to lower and the children were freed, Regina saw the same young girl walk before the shop window and stare longingly at the most hideous thing she had been forced to display in her store. It was a supposedly leather jacket, neither red nor scarlet, a kind of brick colored thing that came with the winter collection. The policy was that she ought to show every single article sent to her, or none at all. It was ridiculous, but Regina had given her word to the intriguing up and coming young designer. She would expose them all, and if she just happened to sell the only one she actually despised first then, all the better for it. She never really thought that someone would like it, but then again, in this part of the country where bizarre and unique were often swapped for one another, it should have come to no surprised that someone actually would have.

That someone was a rather odd girl as well. Slim that she was, to the point that she would probably lose herself in the jacket, and pale, to make herself paler or the jacket redder once she wore it. She did not look particularly stylish that one could say, she likes it because she's a trend setter. By this time next week the whole town will be asking her for another, and another and another, until Regina's vision at two thirty seven was nothing but a continuous smudge of red. No. She liked it because she adored it, simple and profoundly like that. It could be seen in the shine of her eyes. Like a child with a loved teddy bear. She would probably wear it every day no matter how inappropriate it was for the occasion, or on the contrary, wear it only on a special occasion, saving a sacred space for it in her closet where she might gaze at it from her bed, behold it every afternoon, catwalk before her mirror, return it to the closet, and so the routine would go on until the jacket disintegrated; if the glimmer in her eyes was anything to go by.

Regina never approached her, never asked her if she would like it, because though she tried her hardest to not be prejudiced, it was obvious by the ripped jeans and faded band shirt, the ruptured backpack that held by only one strap and the unkempt blond braid that the girl could not afford it. Could not even afford attending school if not for it being public. And thus, Regina continued to watch the unusual girl while accommodating a rack of clothes, from the smallest to the largest, as to make it more appealing yet practical. She was rising from selecting one more cloth to add to this specific rack when she saw the absurd power play high schoolers still partook in.

A taller black-haired girl walked behind the blond, with all the exaggerated confidence her young voluptuous body would allow. In a swipe of her right arm she both pushed and loosened the lonely backpack strap that held onto the girl's shoulder making it fall almost to the floor, if not for her quick reflexes. She caught it by the elbow in the same instant she turned to glare at her aggressor. An aggressor's aggression well veiled behind a charming smile.

"Hey there Emma!" she sing-song. One, two, three girls behind her chuckled. "Shopping?"

Emma, Regina heard, squinted her eyes dubiously, a glare between her eyebrows.

"I'm not sure that's your color hon", to anyone who heard, the brunette sounded empathetic, but to Regina who could clearly see the malicious glint in her light brown eyes, it sounded like the taunt it was. She took her box of clothing and surreptitiously moved to a closer rack.

"What's it to you Therese?" Greenish-blue orbs turned to glare at the jacket they had once observed adoringly, and Regina wondered if she should do something. It was not the first time she had witnessed the play. She may have been part of it in the past, though now, a decade or so gone by, she could not quite place the scene in her history. Had she been an instigator, or the instigated? The lines sometimes blurred.

They were quite clear here tough.

"How crass! I only wanted to give you some fashion advice." She looked her over, from head to toe, and continued, "It's clear you need it."

Emma's glare intensified. "If I needed it, I would have asked for it! From someone who actually had fashion, of course."

Regina bit the inside of her cheek, the girl had spice. With teared jeans that barely covered a flimsy body, her height not nearly enough to protect her against four vicious girl, and yet instead of cowering she tensed her backbone. A twinge at the left of her heart made her feel impressed.

Therese would not be deterred though, her eyebrow rose along with her tone, "I'm just so charitable, ain't I girls?" She looked to her squad. Two of them giggled stupidly, while one acquiesced like a preprogramed robot, "So charitable!"

Emma just rolled her eyes, because really, not even Regina with all her renowned wit and love for banter could find a reply to such idiocy.

At having no response, Therese continued on. She moved closer to the slightly shorter girl, placing a manicured hand on her shoulder. Regina could almost hear the growl that the blond held back. "You know Emma", she drawled, "Given your circumstance, no one would really blame you for just… taking it." She shrugged towards the jacket, as if it were nothing, as if she had said nothing. A nonchalant take of a candy bar given on Halloween.

"What?" Incredulous the blond sounded, that her school-mate would say suggest such a thing.

"What?" A tone of innocence that Regina knew had never truly resided in that mouth. The brunette glanced about the establishment, inspecting more consciously than the health inspectors had done a few weeks ago. She neared her mouth to Emma's ear, and though Regina could no longer hear what she said, she could imagine just by the glance the girl herself gave to the place. "Think about it Emma. It's easy picking. The store is small and there are no security cameras, just one employee, and let's be honest, you'll never be able to afford it."

Emma was released from the taunting grip, the voice easing away as well, but not by far, "Besides, can you imagine how you'll look strutting through the halls of school wearing that? We'll all know what happened but no one will say anything because you will have gotten everyone's respect. That's for sure!"

"Then why don't you do it!" Emma challenged.

"What tells you I haven't?" Therese silenced her, because really, what told her or Regina, or anyone else that she hadn't. "That's the greatest part, you never know." She laughed, her friends followed.

Regina continued to move clothing from side to side, with wonder. It was a metamorphosis, the transformation in Emma's eyes. In the short span of that make or break conversation, Regina had seen in crystal orbs every emotion she believed the blond had ever experienced in her life: longing, confusion, suspicion, incredulity, illusion, hope, anger, despair…had the girl ever felt something nice? Had she any space in her heart for it? Regina wondered. How curious, how painfully intriguing. To the point that she little cared if the jacket got stolen or not. It was more of a would she? Would she fall down that road…and would Regina allow it?

For the moment, Regina continued to observe as the brunette placed a loose strand of hair behind the girl's ear. "Think about it Ems. It would look good on you!" She smiled a pearly grin, and finally walked away.

Together they looked like a block of cells that had detached themselves from an alien cell they had finished devouring. What was that called? Phagocytosis? And yet there laid the remains of it. Close yet scattered. Would it be able to reconstruct itself, and if so, into what?

Emma watched them move away, as the blob of unicellular beings that they mentally were, and Regina took the opportunity for proximity.

"Would you like to try it on?" She said, unsure as to why she would propitiate a could-be-thief.

The girl was startled by her voice. Like a deer caught in headlights. Regina could practically read her thoughts, 'Did she hear? Will she call the police? What do I do?', but the woman who was ironically shorter than the high schooler only repeated, "The jacket, would you like to try it on?"

Emma shook her head quickly, as if she were shaking off the snow that had yet to fall that winter, "No! Thanks!" and just as quickly she left. Dashing to who knows were, but far off from the brick like red jacket she longed to keep.

Regina watched her disappear around a corner before she swept the thin veil of dust that had begun to gather atop the low quality leather of the jacket. Dusted off, she accommodated it to perfection, because if there was something Regina was certain, and she was not certain of many things, was that tomorrow at two thirty seven of the afternoon, its admirer would return.

Author's note: I'm a bit rusty, yet I hope you enjoyed this prologue. Can't really tell you were this story is going as of yet, because i'm creating as I write. Do feel free to leave me a review please, constructive criticism, reactions, expectations, questions are all welcome as I am trying to improve my writing, plus i really like to know what my readers think. Thank you for reading!