Emma is in pain, and Regina is the only one who can cure her

Regina raced into the hallway of her home, slamming the front door behind her.

"Where is she? What happened?" she demanded from her teenage son, who raced out of the kitchen at the sound of his mother entering the house.

"Upstairs! I don't know what happened. We were eating lunch in the kitchen and she just started crying in pain and saying she needed you to heal her!"

Regina tore towards the stairs, taking the steps two at a time in her haste to get to Emma. All she could think about was getting to her True Love and saving her from whatever spell or curse was torturing her. They had just admitted their feelings for each other a few weeks previously, she wasn't about to lose her now.

Regina threw open their bedroom door. She heard Emma before she saw her, whimpering from the bed. She raced towards the blonde, who was curled in a tight ball on her side, with her arms wrapped around her knees and tears sliding down her face.

"Emma!" Regina cried crouching down beside the bed so that she was eye level with her girlfriend. "What's wrong? Who did this to you?" the brunette asked gently as she reached out her hand and pushed blonde locks out of Emma's face to get a better look at her. Regina's deep brown eyes were swimming with concern as they locked onto Emma's bright green ones which were shining with tears still waiting to fall.

"Regina..." Emma whispered, giving a small smile, "You're here..."

"Of course I'm here!" Regina exclaimed. "Henry called me telling me you were sobbing in pain and asking for me to heal you. Can you tell me what happened?"

"It hurts" Emma declared, her voice still small and weak.

"Where?" Regina demanded.

Emma winced as she uncurled her limbs and gestured towards her stomach.

Regina wasted no time placing her hands over Emma's stomach and a soft, white glow emitted from them as she started the process of healing Emma. Except...nothing happened. Her magic was definitely working, she was sending out tendrils of healing magical, but it couldn't detect any damage to heal.

"Emma! What exactly happened?" Regina asked in a panic stricken voice. Her mind raced as she tried to think of a curse that made the sufferer experience inexplicable pain that could not be eased as it did not cause any physical damage that could be healed.

"Cramps" Emma croaked, squeezing her eyes shut as another wave of pain hit her.

"Cramps...? Cramps! I thought you were dying! I ran out of the office in the middle of a meeting with The Pied Piper for this!? I was so close to convincing him to take care of the recent rat infestation at the cannery!" Regina declared in an incredulous voice, standing to her full height with her hands on her hips and glaring at Emma with narrowed eyes.

"I... I'm sorry!" Emma stammered. She fixed her tear filled eyes on Regina pleadingly. "It really does hurt, please help me!"

Regina softened, seeing that the woman she loved was clearly in a lot of pain, and resolved to always ask in future what had happened before she rushed out of an important meeting to save the day.

"I can't heal you, Emma" she explained gently. "My magic works by seeking out injury and repairing it. You're not technically injured, so there isn't anything for my magic to grasp onto"

"Oh..." Emma whispered, barely audible, and dropped her eyes to the floor. Her tears began to fall more rapidly.

"Hey" Regina soothed, climbing onto the bed behind Emma and wrapping her arms lovingly around her, "I said I couldn't cure you, I didn't say I wasn't going to help you". Regina lifted the hem of Emma's shirt and placed both of her hands flat on Emma's stomach again, but this time instead of releasing healing light from her hands, she released heat. Emma let out a hum of appreciation as she felt her clenched muscles start to relax under Regina's hands.

"Is this helping?" Regina asked, nuzzling into the back of Emma's neck and softly peppering it with light kisses.

"Mmm, yes... a little" Emma replied. She was sure that Regina's kisses alone would have been enough to distract her from the pain, but the heat from her hands was definitely helping to ease it.

A gentle knock came from the door.

"Moms?" Henry's concerned voice called to them.

"Come in, Henry" Regina called out. She removed her lips from Emma's neck, but kept her arms wrapped around the blonde and her hands flat on her stomach.

"Emma, are you ok?" Henry asked, striding across the room and crouching down so that he was eye level with her, just like Regina had done. Emma couldn't help but notice how his actions mirrored those of his brunette mother, and she smiled to herself, revelling in the fact that Henry was truly THEIR son, a perfect combination of both of them.

Henry saw the small smile on Emma's face and visibly relaxed.

"Hey kid, I'm feeling much better" she widened her smile purely for his sake.

"Henry, could you please get Emma a glass of water and some ibuprofen?" Regina asked her son, knowing that even though the heat was helping, she was still in quite a bit of pain.

"And... maybe some cocoa?" Emma added, giving Henry her best puppy dog eyes.

"You're obviously feeling a lot better" Henry laughed, shaking his head. "Thanks, Mom" he smiled at Regina as he headed out to get Emma's medicine.

"Emma Swan, cocoa in the middle of the day? What a terrible example you're setting for our son. You're lucky I love you so damn much" Regina's tone was more playful than threatening as she commenced stroking Emma's stomach with her magical hands. Emma revelled in hearing Regina's open declarations of love, something that she would have thought impossible only a few short months earlier.

"Believe me, I know exactly how lucky I am" Emma stated with sincerity as she rolled towards the brunette, wincing in pain as she did so. As Emma's eyes landed on Regina's she was overwhelmed by the amount of tender concern she saw there.

"Hey" Emma declared, leaning in and capturing a kiss from Regina's plump lips, "I'm ok, I promise".

She tilted her head back and watched as Regina took a deep breath and forced a small smile onto her face "Of course you are, Dear, it's just... I was so worried... I thought something terrible had happened to you and the thought of losing you... I just couldn't bare it". Regina squeezed her eyes shut and bit her bottom lip, as if embarrassed by her confession.

Emma, knowing that it was difficult for the former Evil Queen to show any form of weakness, wrapped her arms around her girlfriend and held her as closely as she could, "I'm so sorry I worried you" she breathed into Regina's ear, "I really was in a lot of pain and I was scared. I didn't know what to do. Honestly, I didn't think you would come. No one has ever come before when I felt unwell".

Regina tightened her arms protectively around Emma at her confession. Over the past few weeks Emma had given her glimpses into her childhood, and she hated that Emma had felt so unloved growing up. Cora had been a nightmare to live with, but at least Regina had known as a child that her father and nannies had loved her. She knew that she couldn't change Emma's past, but she had made a silent vow to herself to try to fill up the cracks in Emma's broken heart with all of the love she could give her.

"Do you have to go back to work?" Emma asked, almost inaudibly, with a quiver in her voice.

Regina pulled back slightly from the embrace, placing a hand on Emma's cheek and brushing away tears with her thumb. She gave Emma a heartfelt smile as she gazed lovingly into her eyes "Nuh uh! My princess needs me. Wild horses couldn't drag me away!" she announced, and was rewarded with a breathtaking smile from the Saviour. "Now where is our son with that damn cocoa?"