Regina was waiting on the front porch when David pulled up in the sheriff's cruiser, parking on the opposite side of the street. She watched him grip on to the steering wheel and take a few deep breaths before he got out of the car and made his way up the front path to where Regina was leaning against the pillar by the steps.

"Is she okay?" David asked quietly. "She's okay, isn't she?"

"I'm not certain," Regina replied and she tightened her fist around the small amount of the drug she'd taken. "I don't know what she's on, David, but she was completely out of it when I showed up."

"On?" David blinked in confusion.

"Drugs," she murmured and she held out her hand, the small piece of black, tar-like substance sticking to the palm of her hand. "I found this in her room."

"What is it?"

"I don't know," Regina snapped irritably. "I need you to take it down to the station, get it tested. Emma isn't willing to talk, at least not right now."

"Okay," David said with a small nod and he pulled out an empty gum wrapper from the back pocket of his jeans before he took the small piece from Regina's palm. "Is she okay, Regina?"

"She's alive, if that's what you're asking."

"Do you think this is why she's been acting this way?"

"I suspect as much, yes," she nodded before she crossed her arms over her chest. "We need to keep this quiet. We can't have anyone finding out that the Savior has been pumping herself full of drugs for god knows how long now. The last thing I need is for Henry to find out about this."

"You have my word, Regina, no one is going to find out."

"You cannot, I repeat, you can absolutely not tell Snow."

David shook his head uneasily. "I won't tell her," he said quietly yet sincerely. "Regina, what are we going to do? What are we going to do about this, about Emma? How are we going to put a stop to this?"

"I don't know," Regina sighed. "I—I'll figure it out."

"I should go talk to her. Maybe if I talk to her—"

"No," Regina said as she grabbed on to the back of David's shirt when he tried to walk past her and into the house. "I do not think that is a good idea. She's high. The last thing she needs is for her father to come swooping in to try and save the day, to save her."

Despite having been in this very world for just over thirty years, Regina was inexperienced in many things as Storybrooke had always been so cut off from the rest of the world in many ways. She wasn't completely oblivious, but she was enough to not know what the hell Emma had put into her body to render her into such a state.

"I'll run down to the station, get this tested," David said before he placed it carefully into his pocket. "I'll let you know what it comes back as, unless you get Emma to talk."

"And how," Regina asked incredulously. "How do you expect me to get her to talk when she's high, David?"

"Will you stay here with her?" He asked, avoiding the question. "Regina? Will you stay here with her? Please give me a peace of mind knowing she isn't going to be alone right now."

"I will stay," Regina said after a moment. "But I'm not certain she will want me to when she wakes up."

Regina was taken by surprise as David surged towards her and hugged her tightly. "I don't know if you realize this, Regina, but you're her best friend. If there is anyone she trusts more than anything in this world, it's you."

His words hit a part of her she hadn't felt in a very long time and it took all that she had not to show too much emotion when David pulled back and cleared his throat, his eyes doing the apologizing for hugging her the way he had without words.

"Henry can stay over with us tonight," he said with a slight shrug. "I know you won't want him staying at home alone tonight if you're here. I—I won't tell him what is going on."

"David—"

"We'll have a guy's night, just the two of us. I'll make sure he's safe, Regina."

She stammered slightly, words not quite forming as she stared at the man before her, the very same man she had hated for many years because of Snow White. Past grievances had long since been forgotten and especially since their return from the Underworld, she had found a friend in David, a very unlikely friend and ally.

Regina headed back inside only once David had gotten back into the cruiser and drove off. Her hands were shaking as she climbed up the stairs in the quiet house and she stopped at the bathroom door, surprised to find that Emma had gotten herself out of the tub. She wrung her hands as she turned and walked to Emma's bedroom door. Inside she found the woman face down on her bed, stripped down just to her underwear with her wet clothes and the towel on the floor.

She quietly picked up the wet clothes and the wet towel and placed them in the empty hamper beside the closet and before she even realized what she was doing, since it was mostly out of habit when she did it for Henry, she was picking up the rest of Emma's clothes from the floor.

She carried the full hamper downstairs to the laundry room and after she put on one load, she grabbed a trash bag and headed back up to Emma's bedroom, quietly cleaning up the empty liquor bottles and take-out boxes. Not once did Emma stir and she checked several times to make sure that Emma was still indeed breathing. Not knowing how depended Emma was on the drug she'd been putting into her body for who knows how long, Regina left the paraphernalia on top of the dresser,

She left Emma's room after she had pulled up the sheet over her nearly naked body. Once she had switched the load to the dryer and put another on, she took in the state of Emma's kitchen. Stacks of plates and other dishes were piled in the sink and on the counter. She sighed and slipped off her blazer and rolled up the sleeves of her blouse, getting to work at cleaning the mess in the kitchen and doing so as quietly and quickly as she could.

Regina text Henry just after nine that night, relieved when he didn't ask for any kind of an explanation, just responded with his usual "I love you" and a good night. Regina put the kettle on to make herself a cup of tea, and while she waited for the water to boil, she switched the load in the machines and folded up the clothes she'd pulled out of the dryer. Her lips were curled into a deep frown as she headed back into the kitchen, lifting the kettle off the burner just before it started to whistle.

A part of her felt guilty, guilty because Emma had been going through this alone and no one had noticed, no one had noticed for months that she had been slipping into a whole different kind of darkness. Regina found the teabags in a cupboard and after she poured the hot water into a clean mug, she brought the mug to the table and sat down.

She sighed when she heard the creak of the stairs and she turned to look at Emma as she strolled into the kitchen in just her underwear and a tank top. Emma didn't even look at her as she walked over to the refrigerator.

"What are you doing here?"

"I've made some tea," Regina replied as she motioned to the kettle and the mug that sat on the counter. "Make yourself a cup and sit down, Swan."

"What the hell are you doing here?" Emma snapped. "Did you—did you clean my kitchen?"

"Yes, now go make yourself a cup of tea and sit down," she ordered firmly.

"How did you get in?" Emma asked, ignoring her demands to sit down at the table.

"Cellar door was left unlocked and untouched by magic. Whatever spell you've used, it is definitely strong enough. I couldn't break past it yesterday."

"That's the whole point."

"Why?"

"I want to be left alone," Emma muttered as she walked over to the stove and grabbed the handle on the kettle. "I just want to be left alone. Is that too much to ask, Regina?"

"No, but you didn't have to change the locks and keep our son out either. You couldn't just told him that you wanted to be alone for a little while. He's fourteen. He would've understood."

"I—I don't want him to know."

"Know what?" Regina asked casually. "Know that his mother is doing drugs? Know that his mother had passed out and would probably have died if I hadn't been here to send a shock to your system?"

"Yeah that was super fun, Regina. Thanks for that. Nothing like ruining a good high by being thrown in the tub and sprayed with ice cold water," Emma drawled, her voice laced thick with sarcasm. She turned to pour the hot water into the mug and placed the kettle back down on the stove. "What did you do to all my clothes?"

"I washed them."

"Great, one less thing to worry about tomorrow," Emma muttered and she wrapped her hands around her mug and stared at Regina. "Why are you even here?"

"Our son was worried about you," she said quietly. "I was worried about you. How long has this been going on, Emma?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "Nobody noticed," she whispered. "Nobody fucking noticed that I wasn't okay when we got back. Nobody asked me what was wrong. You all just assumed that I was grieving, that I felt defeated. You didn't even notice when it started either, just like everyone else."

"Emma—"

"I started drinking," she continued, ignoring Regina. "It didn't work. I made a trip down to Portland, stayed there for a few days," she sighed. "Nobody noticed that I had left, Regina. Not even my own parents."

"Emma, I knew you had left," Regina tried. "I just assumed that you needed a few days to yourself. Henry noticed."

"You assumed, just like everyone else," Emma spat and she shook her head, pausing to take a sip of her tea. "I was at this bar, on my seventh shot of whiskey, when I met this guy. I don't know what it was, maybe it was the whiskey, maybe it was just the way he spoke, but it was easy to talk to him because he listened and he didn't try to interrupt me the way that you and everyone else constantly do."

Regina swallowed thickly and waited for Emma to continue. In all the years that she had known Emma, she had never seen Emma act this way and speak this way. She could hear the pain, the guilt, and the anger in every word that slipped past her lips.

"He was a nice guy, tall, little too skinny, and when we got kicked out of the bar because we'd had far too much to drink, he asked me to come back to his place for a little extra fun," Emma said and she chuckled dryly. "Turns out his idea of a little extra fun is four lines of coke, one right after the other. I figured, what the hell, right? It did nothing for me. Nothing, Regina. His girlfriend came around that night with something stronger."

Regina stared down into her cup before taking a sip. "Is that what you're using now? What his girlfriend came back with?"

"Yes."

"And it worked?"

"Yes," Emma muttered under her breath. "Works for a little while, at least. Gives me a break from—you know what? You wouldn't understand."

"I understand a hell of a lot more than you give me credit for, Emma."

"Anyway, I bought a few grams off this guy's girlfriend, went on a bit of a bender for almost two days and woke up in my car, feeling like absolute fucking shit. I was sick. Really sick. I found the guy and his girlfriend and she hooked me up with enough to get through a week and I headed home when I wasn't sick anymore. Nobody noticed, Regina. Nobody noticed how many times I'd walked into Granny's high. Nobody noticed anything."

"And how many times have you been high around our son?" Regina asked tentatively. "Emma?"

"I wasn't, not at first. I was doing okay, just using enough to keep from getting sick, but the nightmares came back. I started using more and the nightmares went away, at least they did most of the times, day or night, whenever sleep finally came. Without the nightmares, it's easier to forget everything. But," Emma said and she paused, taking a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "But it got to the point where I couldn't go more than a few hours without. Being around Henry, around you, around anyone, was too hard."

"So, you figured you'd shut us all out, literally lock us out of your life, and not notice that something is going on with you?"

"You didn't notice anything else before, so what difference would it make, Regina? Huh?"

"You need to stop," Regina said evenly. "You're going to end up killing yourself if you don't, Emma."

"It's been six months," Emma continued. "Six fucking months and nobody noticed a goddamn thing until you came around yesterday. Would you have come around if Henry didn't ask you to? I don't think you would've, Regina."

"I'm sorry," she offered. "I'm sorry for not noticing that something was going on with you, Emma. I thought you needed space, I thought that you needed time alone to grieve—"

"Grieve?" Emma laughed bitterly. "I've grieved, Regina. Twice. I'm done grieving for him. He is not coming back. It took me a while, but I've accepted that. I've moved on."

"Have you?"

"Yes."

"By shooting yourself up, spending your days and nights high on—"

"Heroin," Emma muttered under her breath. "What I've been using is heroin, Regina, so you can call my dear old dad and tell him not to waste his time and the town's money on testing out that bit you stole from me. I know that you gave it to him. I heard you talking outside."

"Emma—"

"I think that you need to leave," Emma said through gritted teeth as she placed her mug down hard on the counter. "Now, Regina."

Regina rose from the chair slowly and picked up her blazer. Her eyes didn't leave Emma's angry once as she slipped her blazer on and placed her hands in the pockets. She hated the way Emma looked at her and she hated the state that Emma was in. She could see Emma shaking as she scratched at the track marks on her left arm. With a shake of her head, she started to walk out of the kitchen, turning to look back at Emma.

"There is a load in the washer and one in the dryer," she said lowly. "Don't forget that it is in there."

"Yeah, thanks."

Regina clenched her jaw before turning away and walked to the front door. She was barely out the front door when it was slammed hard behind her. Tears filled her eyes as she felt the magic encasing the house once more, effectively shutting her out with no way to get back inside.

She spent the next hour driving around town, not wanting to go home to her empty house where she'd just be hounded by the thousands of thoughts barreling through her mind all night long. Not that they weren't there while she drove through the quiet town, but they would be louder in the emptiness of her home. On her second drive past the station, she saw David's truck parked in the lot and she pulled her car up along the curb just out front and got out.

She found David sitting at his desk with his feet propped up on the edge and his hands folded over his lap. He frowned as he dropped his feet to the floor as Regina walked over and took a chair to sit across from him.

"Weren't you going to have a guy's night with Henry?"

"Yeah," David nodded. "We did. Snow put him to bed not too long ago and I came back down here. Someone needs to be here tonight. How is she?"

"Not good," Regina replied. "She's angry. She's angry for a lot of reasons, David."

"Is it because of what happened there?"

"Yes," she nodded. "For other reasons too, I suspect. Did you test what I gave you?"

"I did the NIC test. Came back positive for—"

"Heroin," Regina finished for him. "She told me."

David sighed as he sat back in his chair and shook his head. Regina could see the pain and the disbelief written all over his face. "I can't believe we didn't see what was going on all this time, Regina."

"She hid it well. She doesn't want Henry to know. I don't think she wanted any of us to know what she's been doing to herself."

"How are we going to help her stop?"

"I don't know," Regina said softly. "I know nothing about this drug she's been using, but I do know that she's become dependent on it. She told me that if she doesn't use for a few hours, she gets sick."

David groaned quietly and ran his hands through his hair a few times. He shook his head and leaned forward, staring straight at her. "Is she doing this because she's grieving?"

"No. She feels guilty, David. She mentioned that she'd been having nightmares and that by using this drug, they aren't there anymore, that she doesn't feel all the things she's been burdened with since we came home. She's angry that nobody noticed that she was not okay after we came back, that nobody noticed all this time."

"We knew she wasn't—"

"No, nobody noticed, David. Little things, odd changes to her behavior, but nobody noticed just how not okay she truly is," Regina said and she felt the tears stinging in her eyes, tears she would not dare let to fall in front of him. "She placed the spell around the house the second I left. I—I should do some research and see if I can find a way to counter it. If she stays locked up in that house alone, I—I fear what she may end up doing to herself. When I found her earlier, she was burning up and barely breathing."

"What can we do, Regina?"

"I don't know. We need to help her, but how can you help someone who doesn't want to be helped? The state of mind that she is in, there is no getting through to her when she is like this," she said with a soft sigh. "It was horrible," she said after a moment, a lump rising in her throat. "Seeing her like that, listening to the way she spoke. I have never seen her like that before."

"None of us have, Regina."

Regina stood up from the chair and slipped her hands into her pockets. "I'm going to head home, do some research. You should go home too, David."

"Someone needs to be here tonight."

"And tomorrow?" Regina questioned with an eyebrow raised until he sighed. "Go home, David, and whatever you do—"

"Don't tell Snow or Henry what is going on with Emma," he finished with a nod. "You know we can't keep this from them for much longer, don't you?"

"Right now I believe if they knew, it would cause her to spiral even further into the darkness she's surrounded herself in. Snow will want to talk to her and you know what she is like when she gets something in her head. She won't listen to reason, not when it comes to Emma. Henry will want to do the same thing. What is with it with you Charming's and your infuriating stubbornness?"

"Runs in the family," David chuckled lightly. "Good night, Regina."

[X]

After a long night of pouring over dozens of spell books and tomes, Regina entered her kitchen with a sleepy yawn and put on a pot of coffee. She had found the spell that Emma used, at least one very similar. There was a counter-spell she could use to get past it, it was hard, and it would require a lot of magic, but she was confident that she could do it when she needed to next.

She had spent the rest of the night into the early hours of the morning on her laptop in the study, reading everything she could on the drug of Emma's choice. What she had read had left her with fear that Emma was on a never-ending path of self-destruction and one that she'd have extreme difficulty getting off of on her own. The side effects of withdrawal sounded like a living nightmare to Regina, and she couldn't imagine how it would actually feel to go through any of that. It was no wonder Emma couldn't stop, but Regina was determined to find a way, to help her, to get her on the road to recovery.

She hadn't slept at all, but despite being exhausted, her mind wouldn't shut off long enough to allow her a few hours of sleep anyway. She waited for the coffee to finish brewing and she nearly jumped when she heard the front door open.

"Mom?" Henry called out and she sighed softly.

"In the kitchen, dear."

"Hey," he smiled when he walked in the kitchen a moment later. "Grandpa dropped me off on his way to the station. Now I know why Ma wanted her own place. I have never heard Neal cry like that."

"Didn't get much sleep, did you?"

"No. You didn't either, did you?"

"No," Regina replied honestly. "I've been up doing some research."

"Oh?"

"It's nothing to concern yourself with, dear. I was just trying to figure out what spell it is that your mother used on the locks."

"And did you find it?"

"Yes, dear."

"Mom—"

"Why don't you go upstairs and go back to bed for a few hours?" Regina suggested lightly. "You need your sleep, Henry."

"You do too, Mom."

"I'll be fine," she said quietly. "We can have lunch when you get up later if you'd like?"

"I—I kind of made plans to hang out with Nick and Ava today. And—and Violet."

Regina just smiled at the way that Henry's cheeks flushed pink at the mention of his girlfriend. Henry just hurried out of the kitchen and Regina yelled out at him not to run up the stairs, an order he, as always, ignored. She sighed in annoyance and silently chastised him for being too much like his other mother at times.

Regina made herself a cup of coffee and carried it into her study. She sat down at the desk and opened the laptop. She looked into recovery options, weighed out the pros and the cons, and there was no way that Emma would get the drugs out of her system without living through some, if not all the symptoms that were listed.

There were herbs from back in the Enchanted Forest that Regina knew could alleviate most of the withdrawal symptoms, but she didn't have access to the ones she needed. She wasn't even entirely sure that there were any in Storybrooke at all, but if there were, there would be only one place where they would be kept. The convent.

The Blue Fairy had been on neutral ground with her for a while, but that didn't mean Regina particularly looked forward to having any type of conversation with the fairy. She knew she had to weigh all her options in order to help Emma in any and every way that she could, and if that meant making a trip to visit the Blue Fairy, then she would have to go through with it to procure the herbs she would need.

Regina headed upstairs after she finished her coffee, stripping out of yesterday's clothes and hopped into the shower. The heat of the water made her feel impossibly more tired than she already was and she turned the nozzle, giving herself a shock to the system with a blast of cold water before she turned the water off and stepped out of the glass shower.

She dressed and checked in on Henry, before leaving him a note on the refrigerator to let him know she had gone out to run a few errands. He didn't need to know anything more than that, and she wondered as she drove to the convent, just how she was ever going to be able to explain what his other mother was going through and why she turned to using one of the hardest drugs that were readily available in the outside world.

That was a conversation she was definitely not looking forward to having. It had been hard enough for her to find Emma the way she had the other day, but for a child to learn that his mother was using drugs, was a junkie so to speak, she couldn't imagine how that would even feel like.

It was a cloudy, dreary day, but the sun poked out from behind the dark grey clouds as she pulled up in front of the convent. A handful of fairies were walking around the grounds and a few of them nodded at her in acknowledgement as she climbed up the stairs to the front door. She rang the buzzer and took a step back, nervously wringing her hands in front of her as the door opened a few minutes later.

"Regina," Blue said with a tight smile. "What do I owe the pleasure?"

"Can we speak privately?"

"Yes, of course," Blue said as she motioned for Regina to walk inside. "My office is—"

"I remember where it is," Regina snapped and she inhaled sharply as Blue walked past her and led the way up a short flight of stairs and into her small, cluttered office. "I suppose you are wondering why I am here."

"Yes," Blue nodded as she took a seat on the blue sofa and motioned for Regina to do the same. "There aren't any new threats in town, are there? It would be such a pity seeing how it has been so quiet here as of late."

"I'm here because of Emma," Regina said quietly. "I need you to promise me that what I am about to tell you does not leave this room."

"Of course, Regina, you have my word."

Regina took a seat on the far end of the sofa and crossed one leg over the other. She didn't want to tell the Blue Fairy too much, just what she needed to know, but where would she even start and how much was too much or how little wasn't enough?

"You said you are here because of Emma?" Blue asked. "Is there something wrong?"

"Yes," Regina nodded tersely. She pulled out the list of herbs she'd written down, the ones she'd need to make a special tea of sorts to help alleviate Emma's symptoms when she started the withdrawal stage. "I need to acquire what is on this list."

Blue took the paper from her and murmured softly under her breath as she read over each of the seven herbs that Regina had written down. "Regina, these are very rare and very powerful ingredients for a—"

"I know what they're for. Do you have them or not, Blue?"

"I do, yes," she nodded and folded the list in half. "May I ask why? You said you are here because of Emma, but why do you need these ingredients, Regina? Is Emma all right?"

"She's not, but I'm hoping she will be sooner rather than later."

"I see."

Regina shook her head. "It has come to my attention recently that Emma has been acting strangely and showing odd behavior. I found out why that is a few days ago. She's using drugs, Blue."

"Magical or…"

"No. Not magical, though I'm sure she believes they are," Regina muttered under her breath. "Only David and myself know."

"You think this potion will help cure her of her…affliction?"

"Yes. Will it?"

"It won't cure her," Blue said and she stood up from the sofa and walked over to the tall bookshelf. With a flick of her wrist she brought down a scroll that sat on the top shelf. "Our magic is different in this world, as are our potions. There is no guarantee that this will work at all for what you are hoping for it to do. Our magic, our potions, they can be powerful and they are, or they were in our own realm. This is a very specific recipe and one that is much more powerful."

"Are the effects the same?"

"Yes," the fairy nodded and she handed the scroll to Regina. "Come with me, please."

Regina followed her out of her small, cluttered office and down a long hallway. Blue whispered a few words under her breath, unlocking the door in front of her and pushed it open. Inside the room was a stockpile of magical objects and ingredients and Regina lingered in the doorway while she watched the Blue Fairy walk over to a chest on the other side of the room. She pulled out seven vials and took a deep breath as she walked back over to Regina.

"This is everything that you will need," she said quietly as she placed the vials of herbs in her hands. "You have my word that no one will find out what is going on with Emma, but may I suggest that you tell her mother before she finds out another way?"

"I will tell Snow when she needs to know. Thank you, Blue."

Regina sat in her car for the longest time in front of the convent. She placed the vials of herbs that the Blue Fairy had given her in her purse along with the scroll. She debated whether to go and pay a visit to Emma or to go to her vault to brew the potion. In the end, she decided the potion could wait and drove across town to Emma's house.

The street she lived on was usually quiet and that morning was no exception. Aside from the old man who lived across the street, she didn't see another soul. She parked behind Emma's car and sat there for a moment just staring up at the house.

Just as she had been doing since she found Emma on her bedroom floor with the needle in her arm, she tried to think of how she had gone so long without noticing that Emma had been slipping away right in front of their very eyes. She wondered if she had noticed before, could she have stopped Emma from getting so far down the path of darkness and her own ultimate self-destruction.

David had been right, she was Emma's best friend, and she out of anyone should've been there for her, she should've seen her slipping long before now. She left her purse in the car and got out, walking up the front walkway to the porch with her hands in her blazer pockets.

She could feel—almost taste—Emma's magic that surrounded the house. It made her skin prickle and not in a good way, but she continued towards the front door and clenched her hands into fists inside her pockets.

Emma's magic had strengthened considerably over the years, more so when she had become the Dark One, and now was no exception. Even though she was putting drugs in her body, her magic was still as strong as ever.

Deciding to try her luck in hopes that Emma would answer the door, she knocked three times and waited. Her palms felt sweaty as she continued to wait, but something felt different than it had when she'd been there the day before. She licked over her lips and held out her hands towards the door, reciting the counter-spell quickly under her breath while channeling her magic through her entire body.

Her vision began to swarm, her hands shaking almost violently, until she felt the counter-spell effectively fall into place. She took a few deep breaths before waving a hand over the new deadbolt on the door and heard the soft click as it unlocked with ease.

Regina opened the door and walked into the house, shutting the door quietly behind her. She could faintly smell cigarette smoke lingering in the air and she climbed the stairs to the second floor. The smoke smelled thicker up there and she frowned as she headed towards Emma's bedroom.

"Emma?" Regina called out tentatively, but her room was empty. On the nightstand, a cigarette burned in the ashtray and Regina walked over to put it out. "Emma?"

She turned and walked out of the bedroom. The bathroom door was closed and she could hear, only just faintly, the sound of water running. The door wasn't locked and she pushed it open, her heart dropping as her eyes landed on Emma slumped over against the side of the tub.

"Emma?" Regina knelt down in front of her and she was in even worse shape than how she'd found her the day before. "Emma, open your eyes."

Emma whimpered quietly. Regina gently cupped Emma's face in her hands and noticed how cold her skin felt to the touch. She moved her fingers to the side of her neck and found her pulse was weak, barely even there at all.

Regina knew Emma didn't have much time, she could tell simply from how weak her magic felt to her. Emma didn't have the three minutes it would take for an ambulance to get to the house and Regina, remaining as calm as she could, managed to gather Emma into her arms and transported directly to the emergency room at the hospital.

Several nurses were shocked at their sudden appearance and Regina, not having the strength to hold Emma in her arms, fell to the floor and kept a hold on her. She looked up at the nurses and growled.

"She needs help," she yelled at them. "She's dying! Help her, damn you!"

Regina let go of Emma and struggled to stand up on her feet as she watched the nurses scramble to get her on a stretcher, several of them yelling out commands to the others that were rushing down to help.

Regina felt sick to her stomach as Emma was rushed away from the waiting room and Dr. Whale came running over to her. It took her a moment to realize he was saying her name and trying to get her attention.

"What happened to her, Regina?" Dr. Whale asked as he stepped in front of her and into her line of sight. "Regina? You need to tell me what happened to her."

"Drugs," she murmured softly. "She's been using drugs."

"Okay, what, do you know?" He asked quickly and she nodded. "What did she take? Regina? How long ago did she use? Did she inject it?" Regina just nodded. "What is she on, Regina? Tell me!"

Regina shook her head. "I don't know, not long. I found her like this in her bathroom. She's been using heroin." She said and when Dr. Whale ran off, she shakily made her way to sit down on a hard orange chair. "Oh Emma, you idiot."

It took her ten minutes to call David to tell him that Emma was in the hospital. She didn't have to say much else before David had told her he was on her way and ended the call. Regina's hands were shaking as she called Henry's cell phone, not wanting to be the one to tell him that his other mother was likely dying at that very moment, but knowing that she truly had no other choice. He needed to know the truth.

"Henry," Regina said when he answered it. "Where are you?"

"I'm still at home, Mom."

"You need to come to the hospital."

"Why? Did something happen to you?" He asked in a rush. "Did something happen to—"

"Emma," she said quietly. "Your mother is—you need to come down here right now. Call Ruby, ask her to drive you or ride your bike. Just get here as soon as you can, Henry."

"Mom?"

"Yes?"

"What's wrong with Ma?" Henry asked quietly. "Is she okay?"

"No, no she's not, Henry. Please, hurry up and find a way here. There is something that I need to tell you and I'd rather not tell you over the phone."

"Mom?" Henry asked and he sounded very much like the little boy he used to be and not the man he was becoming. "Is she—is she dying?"

"Henry, please, just get down here as soon as you can," Regina said tightly and she ended the call and wiped at the tears that began to fall.

Emma's personal living nightmare had become her family's, and Regina wanted nothing more than for it to all to end then and there. This was the final straw and if Emma survived this, she would stop at nothing to make sure she never went back and slipped into the depths of such darkness ever again.