This story is dedicated to JenniferKatic. I know nothing else about it. Apart from that I wrote it listening to the amazing soundtrack to a TERRIBLE movie. (Clue - Love Me Like You Do.)
It had been a long day. Such a long day. Regina Mills listened to her heels click on the sidewalk and wished her feet did not hurt quite so much. Not for the first time, she considered giving in to her colleagues and driving to and from work. And not for the first time, she reminded herself that walking was very beneficial health-wise, and that more people died in road accidents than pretty much anything else. She had seen enough hearts stop to be very aware of what was a risk to hers.
The heels were an image thing. She wore sneakers at work, of course, but outside… She had never been able to go anywhere, even the 24 hour grocery store for emergency toilet paper, without looking perfectly polished. It was her mother's doing. Regina hated herself for remaining so reliant on her mother's philosophies, but some habits were very difficult to break, and she had no other family left, no one else to be proud of her…
She was the youngest cardiothoracic surgeon at All Saints Hospital in New York. Her father would have been so proud. But he had died, at the hands of another surgeon, and she had been thousands of miles away at school… She gave herself a shake and took the stairs down to the subway station. She would go for a run later, too. She was looking forward to it. She liked her neighbourhood, and the summer evenings meant there would be lots of families at the park. Lots of children. Regina rolled her eyes. Was that a creepy thought? She loved children. She wished she could have one of her own, she longed for a baby… But she didn't think it could ever happen.
The train screeched into the station. Regina stepped through the open doors and to her surprise and joy, found a seat. She leaned back and closed her eyes. It would be a 25 minute ride. She opened her eyes at each station, people watching. Two stops down, a crowd of peple got on, filling every seat and most of the standing room. Regina noticed a young blonde among them, she couldn't have been more than 20, she was covered in a sheen of sweat, and she was heavily pregnant. Regina stood immediately, helping the woman to her seat. The woman looked at her, seeming amazed at the small kindness.
"Thank you," she said, smiling weakly. Regina looked at her stomach.
"Eight months?"
"Right! You're good."
Regina chuckled. "I'm a doctor."
The woman grinned, though it didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Geez, you have everything. Looks, personality, brains… How does your husband cope?"
"I don't have a husband."
"Oh, my bad. You're wearing a ring…"
"It is a long story. But the ring is not on my wedding-ring finger."
"Ah, right. Sorry." The woman blushed. The train was moving now; Regina was holding the rail above the woman's head to maintain their conversation.
"Regina Mills," she said, holding out her hand.
"Emma Swan," said Emma, glad at the change of subject.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Swan."
Emma laughed. "Same to you, Dr. Mills." She felt her focus slipping. "I cannot wait for a glass of water."
Regina frowned. "You do not look quite well, Miss Swan. Do you feel at all faint?"
Emma shook her head. "Nah, just thirsty and hot. I hate summer. It's so… Sticky."
"I know what you mean. If you're sure…"
"Total…" The rest of the word was lost as Emma slipped out of consciousness. She would have fallen to the floor if Regina had not caught her. Thankfully, they were at a station, so simply remained there when Regina finally got one of the idiots on the carriage with them to pull the emergency cord. She kept perfectly calm, helping Emma into a sitting position as she regained consciousness. She felt the woman's stomach and was fairly sure everything was fine, but equally sure that Emma should go to hospital to get checked out.
"Hey," she said gently as Emma came around. "You fainted. Your vitals seem fine, I think your blood pressure is a little low, but the paramedics will check you out properly in a few minutes."
"Paramedics?" Emma asked, looking terrified.
"Don't worry, dear. I'm sure they will be very good."
"No, no, I'm fine, I don't need them," Emma said, trying to get her back. Regina put her hands firmly on the younger woman's shoulders.
"Stay sitting, please. You are not fine. You fainted in the subway, and you are pregnant. You need to go to a hospital and get checked out."
Emma shook her head. "No. I need to go home and get a glass of water."
Regina thought about the bottle of water in her bag, but if there was something wrong that she had missed, Emma might need surgery…
"They can give you some fluids in the ambulance-"
"I don't have insurance!" Emma said desperately. Regina stared at her blankly. It hadn't even occurred to her that Emma would have to pay for this. She started with the party line.
"Don't worry about that now. Let the doctors take care of you and your baby. You can figure out the money later."
Emma rolled her eyes. "You know, I actually liked you until now."
Regina blushed. "Sorry, it's what they make us say… Look, this is my fault… Let me come with you, we can go to my hospital and I'll call in a favour."
"What about the ambulance?"
Regina bit her lip. "Several favours. But then you, young lady, are getting insurance."
Emma rolled her eyes again, hiding the fact that she couldn't possibly afford any. The paramedics showed up and checked her over. Regina showed them her credentials and they let her ride in the ambulance. She borrowed a stethoscope and listened to both Emma and her baby.
"Well, your hearts are definitely fine. I'm sure everything is, but we have to be safe. Have you been taking your pre-natal vitamins?"
"Uhm, I eat apples. Do they count?"
Regina tried not to make a face. "I can get you all the prescriptions at the hospital. Miss Swan, are you…" but she trailed off, unable to formulate the question.
"Don't you worry, Dr. Mills," Emma said. "Let's get this unnecessary trip over with and then we can both get back to our lives, yeah?"
She tried to be rougher, hiding her sentiment, hiding everything she really wanted to say. Regina checked the cannula the paramedics had put in. She took a pen light and checked Emma's eyes.
"I'm not going to faint again."
"Better safe than sorry, Miss Swan."
"Why… Why are you here?"
Regina paused. "I had to be sure you would go to the hospital."
"Why?"
Regina rolled her eyes this time. "For the baby," she said, a hint of sarcasm suggesting she was also very much there for Emma.
"You… you don't have to do all that stuff for me. All the stuff you said. I'll be okay, I'll figure it out."
"I know I do not have to do it. But I will do it."
"Why?" Emma asked again.
"Because I can," came the simple reply.
"I CAN eat six cheeseburgers in a row. Doesn't mean I do it."
"That is wise," Regina said, not bothering to hide her amusement. "In this case, however, it is wise for me to help you. You need it. You need to have a doctor, you need somewhere that knows you so that if any complications arise you have someone who knows your case that you can go to immediately. You need someone to prescribe you your vitamins and deliver your baby. You also need someone to make sure that YOU are healthy, that you are safe."
Emma looked at the woman who was being so kind to her. She felt her eyes glistening with tears. She had never been cared about like this. Some stranger was being kinder to her than any of her "parents" ever had been.
But only because this woman had no idea who she was.
"I'm not the one you should help. Save your kindness, save your good deed for someone else. Someone who deserves it."
"Miss Swan, I am sure your deserve kindness just as much as anybody else."
"No," Emma said with conviction. "No, I don't."
"Why on earth would you say that?"
Emma looked at the floor of the ambulance. The paramedic was being very polite, sitting in a corner working on a screen. Emma approved of him.
"I was in jail," she said. Regina's eyes widened, but she hid her reaction very well.
"Everybody makes mistakes. You cannot have been in prison for very long - you are still so young."
"I'm almost twenty-one!" Emma protested. "But, yeah… It was a mistake. Not this, though. This little guy, he's proof of silver linings."
"He? So you know he's a boy?"
Emma laughed. "Not really. But I have a gut feeling."
"We can find out right now, if you like."
"Really?"
Regina smiled. "I am sure you are due an ultrasound."
They had reached the hospital. Regina said something to the ER doctor who came out to greet them - she clearly knew her well.
"I'll be in the waiting area," Regina said.
"Can you… Can you stay?"
"Only family-" Regina began to say, but Dr Rhimes interrupted her.
"Stay as a doctor," she said. Regina took Emma's hand and gave it a squeeze.
"Okay. I'll be two minutes, then. I just have to change."
She kicked off her heels and ran to the locker room, shimmying into her turquoise scrubs and sneakers. Badge, stethoscope, pen, pager, phone… She was at Emma's bedside within the promised two minutes. She winked at Emma, then found Dr Rhimes to explain the insurance situation. After a brief argument, Regina insisted that they simply let her pay. She had plenty of money, she didn't need it. She entered all her bank details on the forms and brought them for Emma to sign, hoping the blonde would simply write her name without reading through everything.
"Wait, Dr. Mills?"
No such luck. "Miss Swan?"
"This just says you're paying out of your bank."
"I have the money, Miss Swan, believe me."
"I don't care, I can't accept this…"
"You can and you will. This is not about some pretence of pride, Miss Swan. It is about your life, and your baby's life. You must let me pay."
"I'll pay you back," Emma insisted. "Every penny."
"That is entirely unnecessary."
"If you don't let me pay it back, I'm not signing."
"Very well," Regina said, only conceding so quickly because she quite liked the idea of seeing Emma again. Emma glared at her.
"Take this seriously," she demanded.
"I am," Regina protested. "Now sign."
Emma scribbled her name. Regina sat on the edge of the bed, listening to the beep of Emma's heart monitor.
"Why were you in prison?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"I helped my boyfriend, EX-boyfriend, steal some watches… I thought I was in love with him, I thought we could run away together with the money… But he sold me out."
"What a bastard," Regina said, her high class accent making the word sound hilarious. Emma cackled.
"You should curse more often."
"You laugh like a hyena."
Emma stuck her tongue out. "I don't care."
The OB doctor showed up and they took Emma for an ultrasound. Having Regina by her side made everything happen exceedingly quickly. It wasn't that Regina was high powered. She wasn't. Yet. It was just that they knew her, she was one of them… And she was kind. Not very talkative, but very hardworking, amazing at her job, and never cruel or competitive in the way that most interns were at some point or another.
To Regina's surprise, Emma wanted her in the room. So they looked at the baby together - Emma had been right, he was a boy. The OB said he was perfectly healthy. Emma was fine too. They sorted her out with prescriptions, and after some conversation, determined it was best if she was just registered at All Saints. They had her records now, it was just simpler…
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were stalking me," Regina told her. Emma laughed, getting off her bed, finally free to go.
"Well, I guess this is goodbye," she said as Regina turned to go back to the locker room. Regina smiled.
"Nonsense. We will share a cab."
Emma raised her eyebrows. "Okay, two questions," she said, following Regina into the locker room and pretending not to notice when Regina stripped to her underwear as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
"One," she said carefully, ignoring the black lace bra and panties that were practically screaming at her, "how do you know that we live anywhere near each other. And two, don't you have anything to go home to? You just spent the whole evening with me - you were on your way home in the subway."
Regina expertly zipped up her dress behind her back. "I saw your address on the form. It is not in the opposite direction from my place… And in short, no, I do not. Nothing but a kale salad which I can eat at any time, and Friends reruns which I am probably better off without watching."
Emma laughed, masking her sympathy. And her interest… What was a woman like Regina Mills doing so completely alone?
"Do you have a cat?" she asked. Regina chuckled.
"No. Should I?"
Emma grinned. "Nah. Dogs are way better."
Regina finished dressing and called them a cab. It arrived at the public entrance to the hospital.
"Your place or mine?" Emma joked as they got into the backseat. Regina gave Emma's address to the driver.
"Good memory," Emma remarked.
"Med school will do that to you. How do you feel?"
"Fine. Eight months without coffee is really starting to get to me, though."
Regina sympathised. They spent the rest of the journey in companionable silence. Regina paid the driver and let him go.
"I thought you were going home," Emma said accusingly.
"I can hail another one. I want to see you safely to your apartment."
"I… You don't have to," Emma said weakly.
They went inside. There was no elevator; Regina helped Emma up the stairs, much to Emma's embarrassment.
"Stop worrying about this bizarre pride thing you have going on, Miss Swan, and let me help you. You should not be exerting yourself. You need to relax. These stairs are not good for you."
They finally reached the seventh floor. Emma unlocked a bare apartment that was tidy enough, but no amount of cleaning could get rid of the damp, mouldy smell.
"No," Regina said after one breath inside. "Not a chance."
"No what?"
"No, you are not staying here."
"Hey, I survived the last three months!"
"By some miracle. I…" Regina had a brainwave. "I know how you can pay me back."
Emma looked at her doubtfully. "How?"
"You can be my housekeeper. My live in housekeeper."
"Regina… Why are you doing this?"
The truth was, Regina didn't know. All she knew was, she could not let a young pregnant woman live here. The air was poisonous. She could feel it climbing into her lungs, weakening them every time she inhaled.
"I… There's something about you," Regina said, wishing it didn't sound so lame.
"What?" Emma asked.
"You… Please let me help," Regina said. She sounded quite desperate. Emma sighed, then grabbed a bin bag. She hated it here anyway.
"If you turn out to be a serial killer, I so called it," she told Regina.
"I assure you, Miss Swan, I am not a serial killer."
Regina thought about this statement for some time afterwards. Of course, it was completely true in the sense that Emma had meant it. But Regina had watched a lot of people die. And several of them had died because she had been unable to save them. Because she wasn't good enough. Maybe that did make her a killer of sorts…
"Penny for 'em, Dr. Mills?"
Regina bit her lip and tied her trash bag. "I… I was thinking about work," she said. Emma decided she had everything she cared about.
"You should think about something else," she advised. "I'm done. Are you su-"
"Miss Swan, I am perfectly sure. Give me those bags."
"You can't carry all of them!"
"Watch me."
And with that, Regina left the apartment, gallantly sporting 4 huge bags of Emma's belongings.
A/N: Oh, God, it's another multi-chapter… Hope you liked it! More soon. Ish. Eventually. You can read my other fics while you wait! x