Hi again guys, so my two SwanQueen stories I Can Feel You and Gravity got a huge response and so has my ongoing fic Infiltrate My Heart which I will be updating again soon but I was watching Miami Medical today (Lana droooool!) and this popped into my head so I've had to write it down, (other writers know how this is!)

It is already starting into Swan Queen territory, I am hoping to pack it full of laughs, happiness, fluff, (maybe smut), sadness, feels etc. This is only the beginning! So yeah I hope you enjoy it, I'm quite tired so if any of it doesn't make sense please let me know so I can rectify it!

Please read, review, favourite, follow...whatever you crazy kids wanna do!

Much love to my EvilRegals and Oncers! xx

"She was asking for you again," came an amused voice from beside her, she placed down the clipboard she had been reading from and looked over to where Ruby sat smirking at the desk.

"Don't even start." Came Regina's reply, although she couldn't stop the small smile that tugged at her lips, to her dismay the young brunette didn't miss it either.

She leaned forward over the desk to catch Regina's eyesight again, "you love it! Besides," she filled in her latest set of reports absentmindedly, "she's hot!"

"She's also a patient Ruby; you'll do well to remember that."

Ruby openly rolled her eyes at this, "do you realise how redundant that becomes when the chief himself is sleeping with half the hospital?" She heard the low chuckle that resounded from across the table and joined in with her. It was the truth though, everyone knew about the chief resident's lecherous ways, especially Ruby. "Don't know how though, the dudes got the smallest –"

"Ruby!" Regina interrupted the younger woman with a shriek before she could scar her for life, "don't you have lives to go save?"

"Well he has!" she added needing to get the last word in on the subject, "and no actually, pretty quiet day today it looks like."

Regina had long before gone back to studying the notes she had made about a particular patients progress but couldn't help the groan that left her mouth, "When isn't it in this town?" Storybrooke wasn't known for a huge amount of excitement and that left a whole lot of time on their hands. For many of the doctors and nurses of the hospital this was a welcome bonus to their job but to someone as driven as Regina…well sometimes she felt like it just wasn't enough.

The brunette had lived here all of her life, she had been brought into this world in the very hospital she sat at that moment, she had attended school all the way up to college level in the town only leaving to begin her nursing degree in a university just outside of the town. To say her mother had been controlling would be a disservice to her legacy – the woman was a force to be reckoned with.

Regina's childhood hadn't been the best…well, in fact, it had been awful. In disobeying her mother she would be met with restraints and beatings. There had been many a day when, on her way to school, she would forgo the turtle neck sweater that her mother had bought to hide the purple finger like bruises on her daughter's skin and wear a simple vest hoping and praying that just one teacher or parent or even friend would comment and ask what had happened, none ever did though. They simply chose to ignore the truth, no one wanted or dared to go against the town's mayor, they weren't stupid. Mayor Cora Mills could finish them with just a snap of her fingers if need be. One of Regina's teachers had been particularly nasty to the young girl.

'How did it come to this?' she thought inwardly as silent tears spilled down her small face, she could not stop them from falling but she wouldn't give her mother the satisfaction of crying out. The belt came across the bear skin of her back once more with a resounding crack.

"You insolent, ungrateful, disgrace of a child!" The belt came down harder with every other word, she could feel a warm sensation on her back, no doubt Cora had drawn blood – it satisfied her more that way. "How dare you disrespect me in such a way?"

The event her mother was referring to, and for which she was being punished, had happened earlier at school, her teachers voice echoed through her mind and if she was honest her words probably hurt more than any of the physical pain her mother could put her through.

Regina had waited until the bell rang for recess, that way there were none of her classmates around to hear what she was about to say and she couldn't be rushed off to another class. Her teacher Ms Faie had always seemed kind enough; she was strict but showed a compassion for the majority of her students, a quality which Regina would soon find did not extend to her.

She approached the front desk hesitantly as the older woman readied herself for her next class; she hardly glanced up when Regina called her name.

"Uhm, Ms Faie." She tried again slightly louder in case her teacher simply hadn't heard her.

"Yes Miss Mills?" If the young girl heard the annoyance lacing her voice she didn't show it. She simply proceeded to play with a long dark curl that fell just below her waist, the teacher let out a sigh of irritancy as she watched the creature before her. The child was quite something to withhold, her small face was framed by deep brown curls and kept from her eyes with intricate braids that ran along her hairline. Her round chocolate coloured eyes were rimmed with equally dark eyelashes that caused them to be quite enchanting when they fell over you. She was petite in frame but the woman could sense a strength that she suspected the child didn't even know she had, it was something she needed to tap into if she were to survive in this world.

"Well, are you going to make me guess what it is that you want girl?"

Her clipped tone brought Regina out of her reveries and she finally locked eyes with her teacher, the brokenness there caused the older woman to pause for a moment…how could a child look so…empty? It was unnerving.

"I…well uhm, I…" her eyes were watery now and upon looking away a small tear escaped and dampened the carpet beneath her feet. Ms Faie furrowed her brow as she watched this display, she knew children cried, apparently it was part of their stage of innocence but it did nothing more than frustrate her – they were too young to have experienced anything that gave them the right to cry in such a way, they had no idea of what hardships would face them later in life. This is what caused the sympathy that had been growing for the young girl to dissipate as she let her hard nature take over.

"Whatever it is child, I'm sure it is not as bad as all that." Regina's head snapped up as she heard the finality in the woman's tone, she was losing her chance, panic filled her glassy eyes as she felt her teacher's strong hand on her shoulder ushering her towards the door. "Now you run along outside to your little friends and I'm sure you'll feel better in no time." She was only young but she knew mock sympathy when she saw it, her mother's version was slightly more patronising but the same intent was there, to humiliate and ultimately get rid of the pest.

"But Ms-"

She was cut off by the teacher once again as she reached the door leading out of the classroom, "No Regina, now you listen to me" she turned the young girl to face her by placing both hands on her small shoulder and pivoting her on the spot, "I have more important things to be doing than listening to your silly little problems so wipe your face off now child and go bother someone else with your idiocy."

The breath caught in Regina's throat as the door closed on her, it felt as though the world had turned its back on her as well, she was never going to escape this nightmare.

After that experience and the punishment her mother had given her after receiving a call from the school telling of how Regina had been almost inconsolable and downright disrespectful to a teacher, yes Ms Faie had really stooped that low, Cora had been furious knowing what the cause of Regina's distress was and so she delivered twice the usual punishment. Regina still bore the faint scars on her back now, mercifully her mother had always stayed away from the areas of which people could see except once when the belt buckle had somehow 'accidentally' snapped around and caught Regina's face, it had caused a deep laceration and bled for quite some time, the brunette still bore the evidence on her top lip.

During her second year at medical school Cora had fallen ill, the winter had been a harsh one in Maine and her body just wasn't up to battling pneumonia so ultimately she had died peacefully in her sleep. Regina, no matter how badly she had been treated by the woman, was glad she wasn't hurting and wasn't distressed when it was time to go. Her funeral had been a small affair with very few attendees, no one wanted to pretend to be sad at the loss of the mayor, she had ruled with an iron fist. In her place the most popular of her constituents had taken over with a unanimous vote, his name was Archibald or Archie for short, Hopper. He was nice enough and his best interest did in fact lie with all of the members of the community, things were rocky for a while as he got used to the new roll but things seemed to fall into place not long after his election.

Regina, upon finishing med school, had moved into her family's mansion. Her father had died when she was just a young girl and she had no other relatives to speak of. Her parents had bought the house just before she was born, all her memories were plastered along the walls of the house and ghosts of her past roamed the halls, she couldn't find it in her to leave or sell the place – it had too much sentimental value to her, the main reason being that she could still feel her father there, a constant light in what was once a place filled with such darkness.

She had then come to hear about a job opening at the local hospital, she had grown up with most of the first year residents and so had no problem fitting in. The chief resident's reputation preceded him so she was definitely prepared for his unwanted attentions, 5 years later and he was still trying.

5 years of the same thing, the same patients, the same shifts over and over and it was starting to get to her. She wanted to be saving lives not curing colds; she wanted to be getting her hands dirty not fighting off dirty remarks from her boss.

"You okay Gi?" she had almost forgotten Ruby was there as she lost herself in her thoughts.

She sighed as she placed the pen down that she had been absentmindedly tapping against the wooden desk in the staff room. "Yeah…just, I don't know. Don't you ever feel like just getting out of here? Going somewhere new where no one knows you and there is actual signs of life?!" She laughed with Ruby as her pager beeped and she stood.

"What and miss my daily ass squeeze from Mr Leiberman?" She raised her hand to cover her mouth in mock offense, "now why would I want to do that?" Regina rolled her eyes as she made her way to the doors leading out into the corridor.

"I know right, every girl's dream." She left the confines of the staff room to join the hustle and bustle of the hospital's staff and patients. The large glass pane that ran the length of the walkway showed the snow to still be falling, Regina supposed it was good in one way, it could equal more patients and yes that would probably only entail a few cases of the flu or a couple of broken limbs but that was better than nothing. Morbid, she knew, but it was the only hope she had in her job.

"Oh thank god!" came Doctor Whale's voice as she reached the hospital foyer, her brow furrowed as she took him in, the relief on his features was obvious but she couldn't understand why. "Seriously, I am this close to murdering that blonde in B wing today."

She was used to his brash nature, he didn't hold back in speaking his mind and she was surprised he'd managed to make it this far in his career. She'd had to undertake many clean-up operations when he had failed to 'let the patient down gently'; he simply blurted out their status, good or bad, life or death, and fled the room before the emotional stuff started. "What has she done now?"

"Oh nothing and that's the point!" she still didn't understand where he was coming from and this only seemed to frustrate him more, "she won't do anything we tell her!"

Shrugging her shoulders at him she still didn't understand why he had paged her if not just to rant about the difficult patient, she hoped this wasn't the case. "Why does that concern me?"

"Hmm…I don't know, oh wait! Yeah I do, what was it she said again?...'I'm not doing anything until that pretty brunette with the banging ass comes down here.'"

Regina couldn't help but laugh at his impression and the phrases the woman in question had used to describe her; she couldn't help but feel flattered. "I'm guessing I'm going to have to go down there?"

"What do you think Mills?" with that he walked away muttering something about insolence and whiskey, he was most certainly getting tanked tonight…although that was no different to most nights when it came to him. She let out a deep sigh as she shook her head and made her way over to the B wing.

"There's my girl!" she exclaimed upon seeing Regina standing in the doorway to her room, "where you been all my life?"

"Miss Swan-" Regina began but was cut off by the charismatic patient.

"Uh, uh, uh…that was my momma's name sweet cheeks," she waggled her finger at the brunette to emphasise her point with an added smirk, "you know I love hearing my name roll out of your perfect mouth."

Regina shook her head at the obvious unrelenting flirting but walked further into the room to read the progress chart hanging from the end of the bed, "Emma."

"Thanking you kindly."

"Seems like you're doing a lot better these days," she didn't miss the flash of hope in Emma's usually mischievous eyes but never commented, "How're you feeling today?"

The expected response came from the younger woman's lips, "all the better for seeing you." The pair smiled at each other, Regina's amused and Emma's devilish. She patted the space on the bed next to her before the brunette pointedly pulled up the chair that sat to the side of the blonde. "Oh, you wound me."

"But seriously Emma, how are you feeling?" she asked with slight concern in her eyes now, she had come to care for the woman in question and couldn't help the overwhelming need to comfort her and be there for her.

The blonde seemed to consider the question for a second before letting out a deep breath, Regina was glad for the absence of the worrisome rattle that was usually evident, "I feel good. Great actually, the nausea's gone, my headaches aren't as frequent and I can breathe again!" she laughed light-heartedly at the last symptom, "so…do we know if it worked this time?"

Emma had visited the local GP's office just over a year ago for a routine check-up, her blood work had shown she had a high white blood cell count and so had been referred to the hospital for more extensive tests. These had ultimately led to Emma being diagnosed with chronic lymphoid leukemia and her life being turned around completely. They had waited around 6 months to start her first course of chemotherapy after exhausting every other option they had.

After being pricked, pulled, sliced open and prodded constantly Regina had been shocked to see how upbeat the blonde had managed to remain even though she never saw or heard of any visitors that came to see her whenever she would have to remain in the hospital for tests or she would undergo her chemotherapy, it saddened the brunette but she couldn't give all of her time to Emma no matter how much she wanted to. Any spare time that she had however seemed to be spent more and more with the enigmatic blonde, the other hospital staff had noticed but none commented, it wasn't there place. They too had seen how lonely Emma seemed to be even when she put on a show of happiness, they were glad therefore that Regina had taken it upon herself to be there for the woman.

Their shared time together usually consisted of Regina fending off Emma's advances and lots of laughs, Emma found Regina's laughter to be infectious and so took any chance she got to hear it. They did touch on more sensitive things sometimes however, their pasts, Emma's condition, Regina's interest in travelling the world. It could go quite deep and the brunette would have to remind herself that this woman was a patient who needed her full attention, one of the first rules of this job was to not get too attached, it was almost impossible though with a patient like Emma – she was a force all her own.

"Well, from what I've been told it seems the last round of chemotherapy helped significantly…we think that…well…" she couldn't help the smirk tugging at her lips as Emma sat up straight in bed with hope dancing in her eyes. Regina couldn't help but draw the news out especially when she saw how it was starting to frustrate the blonde.

Emma couldn't take the it any longer; she had waited a long time to hear this phrase if it was in fact what she suspected it was going to be, "spit it out woman!"

Regina giggled as she leaned forward and used her finger to indicate that Emma lean in closer as well, her breath caught in her throat at their close proximity, something which the blonde took great pride in noting for later use. She got lost for a second in bright green eyes before pulling herself and whispering gently, "you're going home."

Emma shot back comically as she drank in the words, "are you serious?" she looked for any sign of dishonesty on the brunette's face and upon finding none could not help the tightening of her throat or spilling of joyful tears as she leapt forward and pulled Regina into a tight embrace. She felt the woman stiffen at first but it didn't take long for her to relax and return the hug just as tightly. When they pulled away Regina stood slowly and wiped the tears from Emma's face. "You my dear are officially in remission."

The lightness of Emma's heart was incredible; she had never felt so good. She knew it may not be permanent or it may not even be for long but for now she was safe. For now she didn't have to wake up wondering how many more mornings she had left in her, she didn't have to spend the best part of her day with her head down the toilet wondering if she'd ever be able to keep a full meal down after an intense session of chemotherapy and best of all, she didn't have to sit hooked up to some machine with nothing but her own thoughts for company – on occasion Regina would have joined her but she knew the brunette was very busy and so more often than not she spent countless hours sat watching as others chatted companionably with their friends and family. For now she was free.

"Hey, you owe me a date now." Emma shouted at the retreating figure of the brunette, Regina turned back to look at the blonde with her signature eyebrow raise.

"And why would you think that Miss Swan?" she retorted playfully, she knew exactly what the blonde was referring to and couldn't help the flutter of her stomach when Emma remembered.

Emma knew she remembered also but played along nonetheless, "oh I don't know…something about you being madly in love with me but having a rule against dating patients?"

Regina turned around fully then a look of mock offense on her face, Emma would have believed it had it not been for the mischievous glint in her dark eyes, "first of all that is not how it went! And second of all I wouldn't wager me to be the mad one!"

"Ah but you admit to the love?" she retorted and held her hand up when Regina went to respond, "nope, you've said it now, can't take it back." And as if to solidify the statement she grasped the open air in front of her as if grabbing Regina's words and put her hand flat over her heart, "it's in there now it's too late."

Regina smiled gently at the blonde and even more so when Emma's smirk softened to match hers, they stayed looking at each other for a long moment before Regina's beeper went off, she sighed dejectedly and shot a look of apology back into the room.

"It's okay Doc, you go save some lives," she added a wink to keep up the playfulness of their nature that they both enjoyed so much, "I'll see you on the other side!"

Regina's smile turned into a grin as she thought of the weight of these words, she felt as though her heart was finally beginning to open up again and all because of one woman who thankfully was showing signs of a strong recovery.

"I suppose you will."