A/N: So this story's been on my mind for quite some time and I'd really like to share it with you. Some parts are already established SQ (yes, in a romantic way), others however not but that will be explained in the next chapter.

Since there is NO curse, no magic and no Fairytale Land, our two ladies have different backstories and thus also slightly different character traits than in the show (meaning less trust issues and Regina doesn't have to worry about being labeled as an evil Queen.)

Timeline: It's an AU story so (mostly) it doesn't rely on the show's timeline. Set in present time.

Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time or recognizable characters.

Warnings for this chapter: Salty language, f/f relationship, thoughts about physically attacking someone

Other warnings: English is not my first mother tongue so spare with me :)

Not beta'd so all mistakes are mine.
Thanks for reading!

Present day:

"You're sure you're okay to drive?" Emma placed her empty coffee mug into the sink, trying to ignore Regina's annoyed gaze because she's not cleaning the mug right away.

"Yes, Emma. For the 5th time. Feeling nauseous doesn't turn me into an incompetent driver. And," she added just because she couldn't help herself, as usual, "worrying about me doesn't mean you can get away with that." She pointed at Emma's green mug.

Emma however ignored Regina's last comment.

"Feeling what? Try again with dizzy. Actually so much that you almost fainted. So yes, I'm gonna ask you more than just once if you're up to doing," she made an odd gesture with her hands because she's lacking the right word before continuing, "well, normal things."

Emma's brow was still crinkled in worry, like it's been the whole morning, as she kept staring at her wife. She could tell that Regina was trying to hide how she was really feeling. Mostly because the brunette would never play hooky because of something insignificant (only in Regina's eyes) as feeling somewhat dizzy.

"Emma."

If her voice hadn't been so demanding, the blonde could have taken it as a plea to drop the topic. But she knew Regina better than that. And right now she was simply trying to avoid a fight so she could drive to her office.

"Why don't you just work from home today?"

"I have a meeting in approximately half an hour, so no."

"Regina."

"Emma."

The blonde let out an almost inaudible sigh. "Look, I'm not trying to ban you from leaving the house, I- I'm only worried."

Regina crossed her arms over her chest, meeting Emma's gaze.

Just looking at her brown eyes, Emma could tell that Regina was clearly annoyed by Emma talking back. As usual.

Then however, the brunette dropped her arms, swallowing whatever nasty comment might have left her lips (because they were both trying to be considerate every once in a while) and took a step in Emma's direction.

"Fine. Then what do you suggest? Because I can't cancel this meeting, not because I simply don't feel well."

"So you're admitting it."

"It's just a headache, dear."

Emma didn't believe her, not one bit. But she also knew that today's meeting was very important to Regina (although right now she couldn't remember why).

"Let me drive you."

Regina raised her eyebrows, studying her wife's face. "You do realize that this includes either picking me up again or letting me walk home."

"Yeah, I'm aware of that. I guess I can close the station up at five so you don't have to walk."

After a moment of hesitation, which Emma could clearly read on her face, Regina finally gave in, "Fine. But you still have to do your dishes before we're going."

Then she left the kitchen and a slightly relieved Emma. The sound of Regina's high-heels echoed in the foyer and then it was gone, probably muffled by the carpet in the living room.

The blonde glanced at the sink where she'd placed her mug and plate and let out a sigh. Once again she hadn't been able get away with doing the dishes after work.

The drive to Storybrooke's City Hall was quiet and Emma could tell that her wife was still not pleased by the current situation. Or she still had a headache which could also explain the expression on her face. Either way, Emma could feel the bad mood vibrating around Regina. What a great morning.

She stopped the car right in front of the entrance and faced the brunette, flashing her a small smile.

"Call me when the meeting is over, okay?"

"So you can check in on me?"

"Yeah, so I can do exactly that. Plus hearing your sexy voice is always a nice distraction from work," she added with a smirk, trying to light up Regina's mood.

Regina only let out a low chuckle while unbuckling.

Before she could leave the car however, Emma quickly leaned in and gave Regina a soft peck on her plump lips.

The brunette exited the car and straightened her blouse before stating, "Don't worry so much, dear. I'm fine."

Another lie, but Emma let it slip again because they were both late for work now and starting a fight wouldn't do any good now.

So, "I love you," was all she said.

Regina only smiled fondly at her, expressing more than words could. Then she closed the door of Emma's car and entered the building in front of her.

It was over half an hour later when she received a call.

She had been walking around the station, anxiously waiting for Regina to call. Though she knew that the meeting had only started yet and that it would take quite a while before the mayor would find the time to make a call.

So when her phone buzzed at 8:37 am it threw the sheriff somehow off balance. Emma reached for her cellphone in a rather hectic movement, pressing the green button promptly.

"Couldn't wait till the meeting's over, huh." She wanted to sound like she was teasing her so Regina couldn't hear that she was actually more than worried right now.

"Emma."

Okay, not Regina's voice. It confused and also somehow scared her, though she couldn't tell why. She removed the phone from her ear in a swift movement so she could check the number – unsuccessfully because it was an unknown one.

"Uh, yes?"

"This is Dr. Whale. I think you should come to the hospital."

Regina. No. No no no.

Her entire body went stiff and she couldn't even hear the doctor's voice anymore which was surely trying to tell her something. All she could think about was Regina. And how she had let her go to work today. She should have insisted on skipping that stupid meeting. Worst case scenarios were starting to manifest in her mind and it made her feel sick to her stomach.

"Sheriff Swan?"

The sound of Whale's voice finally reached her brain again but she was still unable to form words. They were stuck in her throat and she was scared that if she opened her mouth and tried to answer, she might vomit. So her mouth stayed closed.

It was almost silly that she felt like this right now when she hadn't even heard yet what was actually going on. But she had a feeling in her gut that this was about Regina rather than an emergency that required the Sheriff's presence. And it was never good news when one was getting called from the hospital.

Several horrible movies flashed in her thoughts and she tried her best to push them out of there.

She really needed to calm down right now, so she closed her eyes and forced her body to take deep breaths. In and out. Five of them would have to do because Whale was trying to get her attention again. It was still hard to listen to him because all she could hear was her own heartbeat, loud and fast.

"Yes?" It was strange to hear her own voice so timid.

Emma could make out a sigh that sounded almost sympathetic (maybe because the doctor knew that she hadn't heard any of his previous words) on the other end of the line before, "It's about Regina."

And before he could add any more information she had already ended the call and was up on her feet. She was not a person to sit and wait but a person of action. And sitting at the office, listening to what might be wrong with her wife was something that didn't suit her at all. She had to go to the hospital, she had to see Regina.

That this – whatever this could be – was all her fault, never left her thoughts.

Her imagination was running wild again while she was tumbling out of the office. She saw Regina lying on the road, bleeding. She could see her being molested by some drunk guy. Run over by a car. She knew those scenarios couldn't have happened since she had seen Regina entering the building, but still. Every little image that entered her thoughts was everything but pleasant.

Emma almost ran into David, her dad, when she was on her way to her car and he could grab her arms just as she was about to meet the floor in a rather clumsy way.

"Woah, easy there." He let out a laugh and steadied her. "Forgot your lunch again, huh?"

However, when he could see the expression on her face his smile dropped and he blinked confused. A worried frown appeared on his face.

"Hey, what happened?"

I don't know, she wanted to say. Because that was the truth. She didn't know what had happened and she was standing outside the station, desperately trying to stay calm. In which she miserably failed.

Instead words like "Regina" and "Hospital" left her mouth and she didn't know and didn't care if that made sense to her father because she had to go to the hospital. To Regina.

But it seemed like David could understand her actually quite well because his confused expression was being replaced by a caring and soothing one. Something he had learned to show as a father when your child was upset.

"Okay. Just…just calm down. I'll drive you."

David gave her arms a last squeeze and guided her to his car. For once she let him treat her like she was still a little girl, because frankly, she really needed that right now.

"Thank you."

"What do you mean she's in a coma?!"

Her shock had been replaced with anger. A lot of anger. Because nobody had let her see her wife. Nobody could tell her what was going on. One should think being a sheriff would have it's perks. Apparently not in this town.

Now that she had finally found Dr. Whale, her whole anger got thrown at him.

"It means that she's unconscious at the moment and-"

"I fucking know what a coma is! Just tell my why she's in it!"

A firm hand (probably her dad's) was being placed on her shoulder and squeezed her, trying to show her that she was, well, making a scene in front of some nurses and Whale.

But as long as she didn't know what had happened to Regina, Emma couldn't care less about making a scene.

"We don't know yet. We're still running tests to see what might have caused that."

Emma was startled. "You didn't put her in that coma?"

"Unfortunately not, no. I'm not sure if you could call her current state an actual coma but it's the best explanation I've come up with so far. Apparently someone found her unconscious in her office and called an ambulance."

Oh god. This is my fault. Stupid stupid stupid! Why had she ever agreed on letting her leave for work. Why had she let her lie about her well-being. Why why why?!

If she weren't so damn worried about Regina, she would have been angry at her for not letting on how she was really feeling this morning. Regina had almost fainted after showering but she'd been so persistent that the dizziness had vanished. Why had she ever believed that.

The sheriff blinked a few times, because now was not the moment to get overwhelmed with guilt. And she needed to stop the growing panic inside of her.

"But you can wake her up, right?"

Whales face was enough answer.

"Why not?" It happened all the time on TV.

"Trust me Emma, we've tried everything we could, at least for now. She's not responding to anything. So now we can only wait."

Wait. That was definitely not what she needed and wanted to hear right now. This was so frustrating and it took everything in her not to attack Whale, to put her hands around his throat and force him to try harder. Because this was her wife they were talking about.

"Can I at least see her?" There, that almost sounded calm.

At that he nodded and it took away at least a teeny tiny bit of her worry, she could finally see Regina.

Both, Emma and David, followed Whale to Regina's room and once again did she have to think that it was good to have her father here by her side.

But she needed to see Regina on her own first, so when they arrived, she turned around to let her father know that she needed some minutes alone with her wife. He simply nodded, ever the understanding man.

She took a deep breath and braced herself for everything she might see in this room.

It didn't really work.

Seeing Regina in a hospital bed, wearing a hospital gown was just so very wrong. She looked so fragile, so unlike Regina.

Usually Emma loved to watch the brunette sleep because in those moments she was so peaceful and innocent, so beautiful.

The person in front of her however had nothing in common with the sleeping form of her wife that she was used to.

She wanted to shake Regina, yell at her to wake up.

Instead she slowly made her way to the chair next to the bed and sat down, so very carefully. As if every movement could harm Regina.

The steady beeping sound of the heart monitor had a calming effect on her, it told her that Regina was still alive. Not awake, but alive.

To her own relief the mayor's body wasn't covered in bruises like she had imagined, although Whale hadn't mentioned any physical injuries. However, it didn't take away the pain of seeing Regina like this. It made her feel so useless because she couldn't do anything to wake her up.

Gently, Emma took Regina's hand in her own (the one that was not connected to an IV) and softly pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

"Regina, it's me," it was not more than a murmur. "I really need you to wake up."

So, it's up to you if I shall continue my little story.
The next chapter will introduce the world where Regina is "captive" in during her coma (a world that she dreams of).

Again, thank you for reading!