a/n
Several things:
1. As always, just borrowing some characters from ouat to play with.
2. Some words in this story are misspelled on purpose to give the effect of congestion. Any other mistakes, spelling or grammar-wise after editing, are unintended.
3. This is another fic that took on a life of its own. I just thought it would be funny to write Regina as Emma's step-grandmother in a still regal sort of way since it wasn't tackled/mentioned in the show (as far as i know). Then... I dunno what happened. But here it is. Ha.
Hope you enjoy!
"You look terrible."
"Well, hello to you too, Regina," Emma retorted while she unceremoniously wiped her nose on her sleeve. "What brigs you here?"
"You sound terrible too. I just came to bring this-" Regina started to hand out a box when she was interrupted by a series of sneezes from Emma. "All done?" she asked with a tinge of disgust on her face. Without waiting for a reply or an invitation to come in, Regina entered the loft and set the box on the kitchen island.
Emma sniffed as she eyed the box with streaming eyes. "What's id that box?"
"Just some of Henry's things that he asked me to bring for when he comes back tomorrow from the Tillmans." Regina regarded the loft with distaste. The used dishes, however few they may be, were piled in the sink. Half-filled glasses and mugs of every conceivable beverage sat forgotten on the kitchen surface. Used tissues decorated the living room; on the couch, coffee table, and even the floor. There was a box filled with more used tissues and another tissue box with its contents half-gone. Regina suspected a similar situation upstairs.
Emma wasn't pleasing to look at either. Regina wasn't kidding when she said that Emma looked terrible. Pale, clammy skin, bloodshot eyes, congested airways, gravelly voice, and no doubt a massive headache judging from how Emma massaged her temples. Her blonde curls were arranged into a messy plait that has started to unravel and her rumpled pyjama bottoms and tank top looked like they had been slept in for days on end.
"All right, Emma. How long have you been sick?"
"I'b dot sick, just a touch of a cold is all," Emma replied with a dismissive wave of her hand.
"Right, you're not," Regina rolled her eyes. "Where are the un-Charmings, by the way? I haven't seen them around since yesterday."
"They're id Dew York for a quick weekedd getaway. They'll be back tomorrow dight."
"And they left you here by yourself? I should think that they would cancel a trip when their overgrown baby is sick."
"They dod't know," Emma said quietly, not even acknowledging the barb Regina sent her way. She didn't mention that she had indeed spent the last two days feeling miserable in bed after she practically pushed her concerned parents out the door and wished them a good trip.
"Aha. So you just admitted that you've been sick since then."
"I did not."
"Sure you didn't." Regina turned to a cupboard and started rummaging for a thermometer, some paracetamol and cold medicine. She was appalled at the fact that Emma had gone on for two days without telling anyone of her condition. Regina sighed. This was not how she planned to spend the rest of her day. Yet here she was, in the Charmings' loft, stuck with a sick Emma Swan.
"Make yourself at hobe." Emma stumbled to the couch and collapsed onto it. She closed her eyes as she massaged her temples again. She'll be really happy once Regina leaves her wretched self alone.
Little did she know that Regina had other plans. For all their differences, Regina couldn't leave Emma now. Emma obviously couldn't manage by herself no matter how she insisted that she's fine.
Armed with the medicines, thermometer, and a fresh glass of water, Regina went to the living room where she found Emma dozing on the couch with one hand covering her face. She gingerly laid everything on the part of the coffee table that wasn't littered with used tissues. "How revolting," she muttered. Then, as if on autopilot, her hand reached out to touch Emma lightly on her forehead to check for fever.
Emma felt close to burning up. If she wanted to get better before her parents arrived, Regina thought, then she should take the medicine now. The fact that the bottles were still sealed bothered Regina. She shook Emma awake.
"What?" Emma asked groggily as she sat up.
"I need to take your temperature." Regina handed Emma the thermometer.
"You don't deed to. I said I'b fide," Emma groused, her nasal passages betraying what she truly felt.
"Says you. Now, could you put that thing in your mouth or should I do the deed myself?" Regina threatened.
Emma meekly put the thermometer in her mouth without further complaint. It beeped a few minutes later and Regina swiped it from Emma before the blonde could see the result.
"Just as I thought. 101.3. Try telling me again that you're not sick, okay? Now take your medicine... Emma?" Regina said when Emma didn't move.
"But the medicide bakes me wadda throw up," Emma whined.
"Seriously?" Regina glared at Emma. "What are you, five? It's just a teeny-weeny tablet."
"Please don't bake be do this," Emma begged.
Regina exhaled deeply and prayed for patience. Even Henry wasn't this mulish whenever he was sick. "Do you want me to crush those and mix some sugar in it?" she asked finally.
"Double the sugar add I'll take it."
"I swear, Miss Swan, you are without a doubt the worst patient in all of Storybrooke," Regina muttered without real venom as she stalked back to the kitchen.
"Add you're worse thad the beadest foster parents I've had," Emma shot back weakly.
Regina raised an eyebrow at that, but she only said, "Uh-huh. OK, here you go."
After Emma washed down the medicine with lots of water, she started to lay back down on the couch, only to be stopped by Regina. "Hey, I wadda sleep."
"I know. But you'll have to sleep in a proper bed," Regina said.
"Fide." Emma stalked off to Snow and David's bedroom and not upstairs as Regina expected.
That left Regina wondering as to why that was so. But then she shrugged. Maybe Emma just didn't want to tire herself further by the extra exercise.
Left to her devices, Regina looked around the loft. Now, what to do about this disgusting mess the Charmings call home...
An hour and a half later, Regina surveyed the loft with a satisfied expression. The kitchen and living room were now spotless and sanitised within an inch of their lives. She even dared to check upstairs whether it needed cleaning as well but was relieved when it didn't. Everything in the bedroom was immaculate. Regina assumed Emma spent most of her time on the couch since Snow and David left.
A quick glance at the clock told Regina that dinnertime is coming around. Since all she saw were takeout containers, crushed soda cans and empty cereal boxes in the trash bins and absolutely nothing cooked, not even leftovers in the fridge, Regina took it upon herself to make something that's more substantial.
Thankfully, Snow kept a well-stocked kitchen. Regina took out some diced chicken, potatoes, carrots, onions, and broccoli from the fridge and a carton of chicken broth and noodles from the pantry. She busied herself with preparing the meal and when the soup was finally simmering on the stove, Emma came out of Snow and David's bedroom, yawning.
"What is that heavenly scent I sort of smell?" Emma asked.
"Dinner. Which you are to eat without a fuss," Regina left no room for argument.
"Whatever you say," Emma sat tiredly by the kitchen island. She later played a different tune however when Regina placed a bowl in front of her. "What's this?!" she squeaked indignantly at the sight of chunky vegetables floating in the soup.
"Something that will fill your stomach. Now shut it and eat. You're going to need your strength back." Regina ladled a bowl for herself. "Are you going to eat that or not?"
"Okay, okay," Emma dug into her soup. "Gosh, you're such a grandma. And dot the warm add fuzzy sort, either."
"A what?!" it was Regina's turn to be indignant.
Emma fuzzy brain realised what she just called Regina that she burst out laughing punctuated with coughs. "Hey, it's true adyway, right? Sidce Mom is your stepdaughter, that bakes you my... ooh, scary thought." She only stopped laughing when Regina plunked a glass of water in front of her.
"Drink that before you choke to death. And grandmother or not, I'm still telling you to finish everything in your bowl," Regina huffed. Grandmother, indeed!
Emma thought it best to keep her mouth shut and just do what Regina said. "I cad't taste adythigg," she complained after a while.
"Good. Then you can finish your soup without further comment," Regina said.
The two women then spent the next few moments in silence while finishing their meal. Then, while Regina was bringing the dishes to the sink, she took the chance to ask Emma the one thing that's been burning in her mind since that afternoon. "Why didn't you tell anyone you're sick?"
Emma shrugged. "I don't dow. I guess I'b used to takig care of byself way before Henry cabe alogg."
"Snow and David didn't suspect at all that you caught a cold? A horrible one, I might add." Regina still couldn't believe that Emma's parents actually left her to gallivant around New York. She might have a word or two with them when they returned.
"I don't thigk so. Still pretty good at hidigg thiggs, I guess."
"Why?" Regina felt her heart sinking slowly in spite of herself. "They're your parents."
"Because I didn't want to burden adyone. Mom and Dad looked so excited to be travelligg outside Storybrooke and I didn't want to take that away from them. It's okay. I've always been fide alone," was Emma's automatic reply and the lack of shock at her own admission indicated that her brain was way fuzzier than she cared to admit.
Regina was taken aback. This was something that she never knew (or didn't care to know) about Emma. Sure, she had Sidney dig up Emma's history when she first arrived in Storybrooke, but all she got were cold, hard facts. The nitty-gritty of what Emma actually went through in the system never occurred to her. She may have had her suspicions then but since she was busy trying to get rid of Emma, she'd never given it a second thought.
Regina also vaguely remembered the night Emma brought Henry home from Boston. Attempting to be friendly, Emma started telling her about how she made a wish not to be alone on her twenty-eighth birthday but she rudely cut her off. Regina's heart dropped a little bit more despite her usual antagonistic feelings toward Henry's birth mother.
Later that night, when Emma had taken a second dose of medicine, showered, and was safely tucked in Snow and David's bed once more (I cad do everything byself, Regida, thagks, Emma had insisted.), Regina made herself comfortable on the couch. She made it clear to Emma that she wasn't going anywhere when the latter tried to make her go home. She did go home for a while to get some things in an overnight bag and then went back to the loft, letting herself in using the keys she borrowed from Emma.
Regina was engrossed in the book she was reading when she heard hushed words coming from beyond the curtain that separated the kitchen from the Charmings' bedroom. Curious as to whether Emma was having a nightmare, she quietly slid the curtain aside.
Emma looked peaceful enough except that she was talking in her sleep. Regina couldn't decipher most of it but she could make out a "Bob".
Who's Bob? Regina wondered. She went to Emma's side and leaned over her. "Come again?" she whispered.
"I want... my mom and dad," Emma murmured.
Oh.
"Please come home."
Regina raised an eyebrow at the feverish admission. For all Emma's proclamations that she'll get by just fine without her parents' care for the meantime, her illness had other ideas of showing the total opposite. Regina gently sat on the side of the bed and whispered quietly.
"Emma. Will you settle for your step-" Regina stumbled at the word, "-grandmother who once tried to kill you and your entire family to take care of you?"
Emma looked up at Regina blearily. "Grandma?" she mumbled.
Regina winced. Saying the word herself is one thing; hearing someone else call her that is another. Not once, but twice already. Well, she brought it upon herself. "Um. Yes. Your parents are not here but I am, so let's make the most out of it, shall we?"
"Fuddy. You're not old. I always pictured by grandma to be old and wrigkly with brown spots add fuzzy white hair," Emma slurred as she closed her eyes once more.
Instead of getting offended, Regina decided that that was the fever talking. "Just go back to sleep, Miss Swan," she said.
Emma only turned over to find a more comfortable position in response, kicking off the covers and knocking a pillow off the bed as she did so. A small smile played on the corners of Regina's lips. Not only does Miss Swan eat like a child, but she sleeps like one as well. And as Regina bent to pick up the pillow, she noticed something lined with a purple satin ribbon lying underneath it. She laid the pillow haphazardly on the bed and fluffed out the purple-lined sheet to get a better look. The name carefully stitched on the corner shattered Regina's heart completely.
It was Emma's baby blanket. Regina hadn't seen the blanket on the couch nor the upstairs bedroom when she inspected it. So if it was down here at Snow and David's bedroom, then-
Emma hadn't been sleeping on the couch after all. She had been staying in her parents' bed with the baby blanket the entire time. Well, that was another insight into Emma Swan.
For the first time Regina really looked at the slumbering woman who escaped her curse nearly thirty years ago as a baby. Emma had lost so much growing up no thanks to her. She could see now that Emma should have been happily raised by her parents, maybe even grow up with a sibling or two. Emma would not have grown up thinking that she was a burden to anyone. Emma would not have been alone.
Regina shook the depressing thoughts out of her mind and focused on the present. The least she could do now is to nurse Emma back to health while her parents were away. She then carefully arranged the fallen pillow back on the bed and gently tucked the baby blanket over Emma before turning up the duvet. As Regina turned to leave the room, she felt a hand clutch her wrist.
"Grandma?" the word was garbled with sleep.
Regina gritted her teeth at that word even as she forced some gentleness in her tone. "Yes?"
"Will you hold my hand, please?"
Now Regina didn't hold back her smile. Emma may be more stubborn than Henry when sick, but she did sound like Henry when sick. She wondered briefly if Emma was like this around her parents also when she's ill. Most probably she is, with just more snark because it was Regina taking care of her.
Regina settled on top of the covers and tentatively took Emma's hand in hers. Like a baby, Emma's fingers curled around Regina's own, causing Regina's heart to start piecing themselves back together. She and Emma still had a long way to go, no doubt about that. Maybe, just maybe, she thought this could be the start of a better relationship with not just Emma, but the rest of the Charming family as well.
Emma sighed in her sleep, a tendril of hair falling on her face. Regina leaned over and gently brushed it off to the side, satisfied to hear also that Emma is breathing more easily now. She smiled to herself. Heck, she surmised she could get used to this grandmother thing on a certain level. Emma better not rub it in though if she remembers anything of their conversation. Regina had an image to maintain, after all.
Then again, there's always the forgetting potion when it comes around to it.