"Bye Henry, have a good day at school!" Regina said, giving her son a kiss on the cheek as he got onto the school bus.
"I'll see you this afternoon, Mom" Henry said, with his genuine smile that his mother loved so much.
She watched him find his seat and waited for the bus to drive away before making her way to Granny's. She walked in and took a seat at the counter.
"Morning Mayor Mills," Granny said, "would you like your usual?" Regina nodded as the kind woman poured her a mug full of black coffee. Regina sipped the coffee as soon as she could get her hands on it.
"Do you have anything stronger behind that counter, Granny? The coffee's great but something tells me I'm going to need more than coffee to help me to get through this day," Regina said with a tone of dread.
"Have some tough things on your schedule for today Mayor Mills?" Granny said with a slight chuckle.
"Yes you could definitely say that... I would much rather lock myself in my house and binge watch AHS on this fine day." Regina said, taking a gulp of black coffee.
The mayor sipped it while reading the newspaper, but was interrupted as someone had sat down on the stool directly next to Regina, even though every other stool at the counter and table in the restaurant was empty. She looked up and her eyes met with those of Emma Swan.
They stared at each other for a moment before Emma finally said, "Regina, we need to talk."
Regina nodded and they walked into the back room of the diner. They continued down a hallway and into a small sitting room with one, outdated, mustard colored sofa. They both sat down in their usual spots on the sofa. The two woman would come here whenever they had to speak privately about Henry or Operation Mongoose. They had been coming to this room more often recently just to get away from some of the nosey people in Storybrooke who asked too many questions about their friendship. There wasn't anything romantic going on between the savior and the mayor at the moment, but rumors were beginning to spread.
"Regina, where have you been? Last I heard, someone had seen Gold put a sleeping curse on you and kept you inprisoned in your lair. Are you okay? What happened?" Emma asked with her forehead scrunching up as it did when she was worried.
Regina took a deep breath and tried to calm her nerves over what she needed to tell Emma. "Emma, something happened while Gold had me trapped in the lair..." she paused; Emma was trying so hard to hide her worry, but she was failing miserably. "I learned some information about what Gold plans to do to bring back his happy ending and those plans revolve around you."
Emma's brow furrowed and she sat up straight, "Does this have to do with my potential for becoming evil?" she asked in a quivering voice.
Regina nodded slowly, "Gold plans on using me to turn you to the darkness," she stopped talking and grabbed Emma's hands, holding them tightly. Regina looked Emma in the eyes, "But trust me, I will do whatever it takes to make sure that you aren't turned evil. I care about you too much to see you hurt in that way, Emma. I won't let Gold turn you into a monster like he did to me."
Emma was speechless; the emotions she was feeling at the moment were too overwhelming for her. She was feeling extremely scared because she knew what Gold was capable of, but she was also feeling very grateful for Regina. How was it that this woman sitting next to her was willing to "do whatever it took" to make sure she remained safe. Emma was also feeling another emotion that she couldn't explain, but she felt it deep inside her heart whenever she looked into Regina's eyes.
Regina noticed Emma's chin starting to quiver, and she knew exactly what was going through the savior's head. Before the first tear rolled out of Emma's eye, Regina pulled her into a tight embrace. She wrapped her arms around the shaking body of the savior and cradled her head. She could hear the quiet, hiccuping sobs of Emma and her heart broke. Why did it have to be this way? It wasn't fair, Emma hadn't done anything to deserve this. All Emma ever did was try to give people their happy endings and all that had gotten her was a fate of turning to darkness.Regina was devastated at the fact that Emma was in such pain and distress over her current situation.
"Emma, I know this is extremely difficult and I know that this is terrifying, but we will get through this. I won't let them hurt you." Regina's voice cracked as she tried to hold back her own tears. "I won't let them hurt you," she said again, this time in a whisper, while she held Emma. By now, Emma was completely leaning against Regina and was totally engulfed in her embrace. They rocked back in forth, both crying, while Regina continually whispered,
"I won't let them hurt you
I won't let them hurt you
I won't let them hurt you
I won't let them hurt you
I won't let them hurt you"
When Regina eventually stopped she resorted to simply holding the trembling body. After a few minutes of silence Emma slowly stood up and turned as if she was about to walk out of the room, but something was stopping her. She sat back down on the couch and faced Regina head on. Emma grabbed the mayors two hands, leaned in, and pressed her lips against Regina's. The savior kissed the mayor and she thought she had felt the mayor kiss her back.