Emma awoke to the persistent prodding of her stomach. With a grunt, she rolled over, effectively escaping the pointy finger that had been painting a bruise on her tender flesh for what could have been minutes, and tried to grasp onto what fine tendrils she had left of the dream she was having.
The fuzzy picture her mind provided her with, however, was destroyed with the mantra-like chanting of her name. "Emma…Emma…Ms. Swan, are you awake?"
Groaning, Emma wanted to tell the voice that she very much was not awake, but a weight suddenly landed on top of her, forcing the air in her lungs out in a sharp exhale. Eyes shooting open, she twisted to see Regina herself draped over her, face frighteningly close.
"What the hell are you doing?" She groaned, voice hoarse with sleep.
Regina looked at her wide eyed and stated, "I took this out of my mouth, look."
Emma frowned in confusion, but when Regina presented her with her bloodied gauze, she struggled to push the warm body from her own with a cry of disgust.
"Regina, what the fuck?" She groaned, rolling away on the bed, only for Regina to crawl after her until she was hovering over her again, gauze still held up in one hand.
"My mouth hurts," she whined, "do you want this?" She shook the gauze a little and Emma had to hold back a gag.
"No, I do not want that," she sighed, "go get rid of it. Do you have any Advil?"
Regina merely shrugged, a look of utter concentration on her face as her mouth bulged a little, her tongue no doubt probing at the now empty sockets where her wisdom teeth used to reside. Frowning, Emma stretched her stiff legs and pushed herself up, running a hand through her tangled hair. She was drowsy and not in the best of moods, but it was still light outside and she wondered if there was anything in Regina's kitchen for her to eat.
"Are you hungry?"
Regina shook her head and repeated, "It hurts…a lot…"
Emma nodded. "It will. C'mon, we'll find some painkillers."
Regina trudged after her as they made their way downstairs, a hand tentatively pressing into her now not-so-numb jaw. Emma led her to the kitchen, where Regina pointed to the cupboard she kept the painkillers in, and presented her with two tablets and a glass of water.
"These need to be taken with food, so I'm gonna do you something quick, yeah?" At the look of disagreement on Regina's face, she added, "Something nice and soft."
Removing the glass from her lips, Regina shrugged a little and allowed Emma to look around her cupboards and in her fridge. Were she not coming down from her morphine-induced high, she might have protested against Emma Swan, of all people, rifling through her kitchen like she was, but Regina was in no mood to argue. Her head was fuzzy and her mouth sore, all she wanted to do was collapse back into oblivion, but something told her Emma wouldn't allow her to do so without having tried to eat something first.
"I could mush you up a banana?" Emma offered, sighing when she saw Regina's face contort in disgust. "Okay, what about some mashed potatoes? Yeah?"
"They'll take too long," Regina groaned, leaning against a counter.
"Haven't you got any instant mash?" Emma asked, her stomach churning at the piercing glare Regina shot her.
"I do not keep that crap in my home, Sheriff," she stated indignantly, and merely rolled her eyes at the look on Emma's face. "Okay, a banana… I trust even you can't mess that up."
Emma sighed and reached into the fruit bowl to pull out a banana. Regina moved away from the counter, not wanting to watch the process of mashing the poor fruit went through, and came to sit at the table. Emma was by her side minutes later, a bowl and dessert spoon in hand.
"Can I…make something for myself?" Emma asked, almost reproachfully, but decided that morphine-dazed Regina was a lot more giving than her clear-minded counterpart, as she merely nodded dismissively and swirled her spoon around the mashed banana.
After checking the cupboards for any form of junk food - biscuits, potato chips, candy - and coming up empty, Emma resigned to looking through the healthy foods Regina had stocked. She eventually decided on warming up some tinned soup - she was surprised Regina even had that in her precious home - and divided it into two separate bowls, one for herself and one for Regina.
When she returned to the table, bowls of soup in hand, she was surprised to find Regina sitting with her head on the solid wood, her mashed banana having been pushed to one side.
"That looks like vomit," Regina informed her without lifting her head, a finger pointing in the general direction of the bowl.
"I made you some soup," Emma stated, setting a bowl down in front of Regina and taking the seat beside her.
Lifting her head to peer into the bowl, Regina frowned. "Did this come from a tin?"
Green eyes rolled in exasperation. "Stop being such a snob and eat up," she told Regina, who frowned at her before picking up the spoon and mixing her soup.
"I haven't had soup for dinner in…" Regina's words trailed off and a frown overtook her expression. "Where's Henry?" She asked, but before Emma had a chance to answer, her confused expression all but melted with the accusatory glare she shot the other woman. "Where have you taken Henry?" Her tone was sharp and Emma quickly swallowed her mouthful of soup, scalding her throat.
"He's on a school trip, Regina," she told the other woman, bringing the spoon back up to her lips and blowing.
Regina appeared almost stupefied that she'd forgotten. She mulled the words over in her mind and finally said, "Henry likes this." She drew absentminded circles through her soup bowl. "I don't usually like it from the tin, but Henry does."
Emma glanced up suddenly at her saddened tone, and frowned softly at the look on her face. "He'll be back later tonight," she offered, but Regina merely shrugged.
# # # #
"I don't think that's such a good idea," Emma warned reproachfully, almost wanting to snatch the car keys out of Regina's grasp.
"I don't care," was the sing-song response, and Regina continued to move through her bedroom as though searching for something.
"What are you looking for?" Emma asked, sitting on the rumpled duvet of the queen sized bed.
"My shoes…"
"You kicked them off downstairs."
Emma frowned at the look Regina gave her. "I do not kickmy shoes off downstairs."
"Well, you were pretty out of it," Emma said, "and you still are. You can't drive in this state."
Regina rounded on her suddenly, expression indignant. "In this state?" She questioned, "Ms. Swan, I am in no state."
Emma's eyes dropped to take in her creased, grass-stained dress and her eyebrows raised. "No, of course not, Madam Mayor," she drawled, to which Regina finally took in her appearance.
"What…even…" With a little groan, Regina threw her car keys onto the bed - which Emma quickly swiped - and moved over to her mirror to take in her appearance fully. "What did you-"
"Woah, that was entirely you," Emma cut in quickly, sick of the accusations Regina had been firing at her all afternoon. "Right after you were finished playing garden nymph and embracing your inner moonchild."
Regina rolled her eyes. This wouldn't do. Reaching back for the clasp of her dress, her mind provided her with no logical argument for why she shouldn't strip in front of Storybrooke's Sheriff, and she pulled the dirtied - most likely stained - dress from her body. Emma made a slight noise of protest as she watched her strip down to her underwear, and only diverted her gaze when she realised she had been staring.
When she looked up again, it was to find Regina tugging on what looked to be a pair of slacks and a tank top. She was barefoot and, after stumbling away from her wardrobe, continued on her search, though this time around she wasn't quite sure she remembered what it was exactly that she was hoping to find.
Emma took in her confused expression and offered, "Do you wanna go sit down in the living room, stick a film on or something?"
"I don't need babysitting, Swan," Regina sniped and Emma almost thought her surname sounded more like a pet name on her lips. "Why are you even here?"
"Because if I wasn't, you'd probably be making your way down Main Street, half naked, singing along to the voices inside your head," Emma quipped, standing from the bed. "I'm not leaving."
Regina bristled in annoyance as Emma breezed past her and out of the room, calling behind her, "If you're not down in five minutes, I'm picking the movie."
Half an hour later found the pair lounging on either side of a sofa, duvet pulled tightly over them in an endless struggle for more, with a movie Regina couldn't remember the name of playing quietly on her television screen. She had finally crashed. Her jaw was aching, her mouth buzzing with pain, and she almost believed her dentist to be a sadistic psychopath who had stuck pins in her gums for his own personal pleasure.
She currently lay with her head flopping over the arm of the sofa, eyes drooping as she tried to make sense of the storyline of whatever film it was she was watching, with Emma's legs digging uncomfortably into her back. She had tried to shuffle and nudge the other woman out of the way, but it appeared Emma had no sympathy towards her, and whenever she tried to kick her off the couch, she'd get a toe digging into her back.
"Are you feeling any better?" Emma asked through an action sequence, barely paying attention to the screen as she took in Regina's dazed expression.
Regina let out a grumble of unintelligible and incoherent mutters before pulling the duvet further up to her chin. She was surprised when no counter-pull came back from the other end of the sofa, and that Emma allowed her to finally win their game of tug-of-war.
Rolling her eyes, Emma sunk further into the sofa, stating, "The morphine should wear off soon, but that probably means the pain will get worse. As long as you don't overdose on Advil, you should be fine."
"I think I'll be able to manage, Ms. Swan," Regina told her, voice making up in exhaustion what it lacked in contempt.
"Just be careful what you eat," Emma told her, feeling a surge of responsibility for the other woman.
They had been taken through a number of rules on what was okay to pass through Regina's lips and what wasn't, but Emma doubted that the other woman could remember a single point from the list.
"Straws are out…and hard food," She spoke, vaguely watching the television screen.
"Yes, I know," Regina sighed, wondering how she was going to survive for the next couple weeks. "When's Henry due back?"
Her head was almost fully cleared now, and the fuzziness made way for rational thought. Despite being unable to remember the majority of her day, she was feeling surprisingly comfortable with lying on the sofa, watching a film, with Emma Swan. She supposed the morphine was to blame for that.
Emma shifted to take in the time on the clock. "He'll probably get back to school in a couple hours. I'll pick him up at seven."
Regina nodded, not arguing, and Emma couldn't help but ask, "Are you in much pain?"
She couldn't repress the shiver that chased down her spine at Regina's response of, "I've been in much worse. It's nothing I can't handle."
Emma tilted her head to the side slightly, unable to ignore the events of the day, as ridiculous as they had been. A part of her fully believed she would wake up any second, slumped over her desk back at the station, most likely by the persistent ringing of a telephone. But here she was, snuggled up beneath Mayor Mills' duvet, watching Die Hard 4.
Peering over to the drowsy looking woman at the other end of the sofa, Emma considered her thoughts. Her stomach fluttered as she remembered the sensation of Regina's lips pressing against - and all too quickly disappearing from - her own. She was completely out of it, Emma knew, and she doubted Regina even remembered what had happened, but she couldn't help but recall her words: 'I didn't feel that…but I will later'. And had she admitted to wanting to kiss her before?
It was with a newfound lease of confidence and curiosity that Emma slowly shifted on the sofa and crawled to hover over Regina's slumped body.
"What are you doing?" Regina asked groggily, her eyes still glossy and glazed from the morphine, and Emma offered her a small smile.
With no warning, and with caution for fear of hurting Regina's tender mouth, she pressed her lips gently onto Regina's. The woman beneath her made no noise or move of protest and, when Emma finally pulled back to gauge her expression, only a look of surprise pinched at her features.
"That was one for you to remember," Emma whispered back, her words sending a shiver up Regina's spine as she tried to find understanding in her meaning, but her still slightly clouded mind only provided her with a rush of feeling that almost completely blocked out all thoughts of her throbbing mouth.
Her body hummed in appreciation, but Regina could only manage out, in a thick voice, whether from desire or sleep, "That was…inappropriate, Ms. Swan."
Emma merely grinned at her, eyes dazzling almost evilly as she stated, "Yeah, just as inappropriate as you've been acting all day."
Regina felt her body stiffen as she attempted to force her foggy mind into remembering how she had spent the day. Just what had she done to put that little glint in Emma's eyes?
"I…don't remember anything," She finally sighed, to which Emma nodded.
"I didn't expect you would." She raised her eyebrows slightly and shifted back to her end of the couch. "Let's just say, if you keep acting like a real pain the ass, I have a rather spectacular video of you talkin' trash to Golden Retriever."
"You wouldn't dare," Regina practically growled, having no memories of any incident that involved a dog.
Emma raised her eyes with a tight smile. "You think?" She asked. Her smile only grew at the sight of Regina's confused, yet extremely pissed off, frown.
Regina relented and broke eye-contact first, a groan falling from her lips as she turned onto her side and hid her face from view with the duvet. Emma's smile softened as she, too, sunk back into the sofa, eyes trained on the television.
She might have been bluffing with her talk of a video, but Regina didn't need to know that. If anything, Regina's apparent memory loss of the entire day meant she had a rather large bargaining chip over her head whenever it came to her seeing Henry on certain days. She doubted Regina would allow her public image to be scathed by a - non-existent - video of her and a neighbourhood pet.
# # # #
When Regina woke up - she didn't really remember falling asleep, or the majority of her day, for that matter - she found herself still lying on a sofa, duvet twisted around her, but with a small, warm body cradled in her arms. Prying her eyes open and shifting slightly, she found none other than her ten year old lay comfortably against her, eyes flickering with images from the television.
"Henry…" Her voice was croaky and filled with sleep, and her sudden grounding on reality brought on a dull ache in her mouth that only grew sharper.
The little boy shifted in her arms, eyes leaving Buzz Lightyear and Woody, and he smiled up at her softly. "Hey, mom."
"How was your trip?" Regina asked, the situation feeling unfamiliar and yet overwhelmingly comforting.
"Really good," Henry grinned, then took in her slightly dazed expression, "are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine," Regina whispered back with a soft smile, wondering if Henry really was cuddled up in her arms or if this was just the morphine playing with her head. The pain from her mouth, however, told her that it had finally worn off.
Cautiously, fearing she might shatter the moment with a single movement, Regina brought her hand up to stroke her fingers through Henry's short, dark hair. The smile he sent her all but melted whatever coldness had ever settled in her body.
"Emma left about half an hour ago," Henry told her softly, "she said for me to tell you goodbye…and that there are some painkillers out on the table." He thought for a moment before asking, "Do you want me to get them for you?"
Regina smiled down at him. "No," she told him softly, "I'm okay. What are we watching?"
"Toy Story 3," Henry replied and, once he saw her eyes travel up to the television, turned back onto his side to continue watching the film.
He did not miss the way warm arms tightened around him, or the kiss he was sure he felt pressed on top of his head, and smiled at the warmth that spread through his chest. Perhaps he could leave his mom in Emma's care more often…