Transcending Realms

Summary: AU. One night while Mayor Regina was working late, FTL warrior Emma, who just learned she has magic, appears. Regina isn't sure what to make of the strange woman who keeps appearing to her like a ghost nor does Emma know what to make of this strange other world, but both are fascinated. As the women grow closer, will Emma decide to join Regina? Can she even find a way to her world?

A/N: Sorry, I meant to post this last night, but then sleep happened.

Chapter 4: Injured

Regina was reading on her bed when she got the familiar sensation that meant Emma was here. She suppressed a small smile, but didn't look up, not wanting to seem eager. It had been over a week since she last saw the blonde. Not that she'd begun to miss her, of course, she simply disliked changes to her routine. She'd merely gotten used to Emma's sudden appearances in her life and the breath of life she brought with her.

"Hey, 'Gina." That was Emma's voice and yet it sounded tired. It was as if…as if she were putting on a brave face—something Regina felt she was qualified in recognizing given her own extensive practice.

Regina looked up quickly, inexplicable worry overshadowing her. She gasped when she saw the younger woman. Emma was sitting down on something Regina couldn't see, not standing like she normally was, and she could see why. Emma had a black eye, was extending her leg oddly, and had spots of blood and mud all over her.

"Emma!" Regina jumped from the bed and was by the blonde woman's side in an instant, her hands hovering with worried uncertainty, wanting to usher her onto the chaise lounge chair before remembering that Emma was in another world and there was nothing she could actually do to help. Regina cursed inwardly as she continued to look her over and attempt to discover the extent of the younger woman's injuries, hating how helpless she felt. "What happened?!"

Emma looked like she had no idea how to deal with Regina's obvious concern and just shrugged—which made her flinch ever so slightly. "Fighting. My job. I'm fine, just need some patching up."

"Who were you fighting? Are you still in danger?" Regina asked, needing more information.

"Just some ogres." Emma was trying very hard to act casual. "And they're all dead now. No worries. Got paid really well for it too."

"Oh, well if it was just ogres," Regina replied sarcastically. "Pardon me if I'm misremembering this, but didn't you tell me ogres were blind, over ten feet tall, and incredibly powerful!?"

Emma winced. Damn, she'd been hoping she hadn't told Regina that much about ogres. "Yeah, well, it's not like I had much of a choice, alright."

Regina opened her mouth to say something more but visibly pulled herself together. "Where are you hurt? Should you even be using magic to come here? Shouldn't you be finding a doctor or a healer or someone trained?"

Emma waved off Regina's concern and began digging through a bag Regina couldn't see. "Using magic doesn't have anything do with being roughed up. It's fine." She was reconsidering her decision to come as she was given how upset this was making Regina. She ignored the part of her that suggested this was exactly why she had decided to visit Regina, the off chance someone might actually show real concern for her wellbeing was too tempting to resist, even if she knew it was selfish to make Regina worry. "I'll be patched up in no time. How was your day?"

Regina ignored her question, "Shouldn't you be trying to heal yourself or something?"

Emma started to shrug before thinking better if it, "I don't know how to heal."

"Then shouldn't you be trying to learn then?" Regina insisted.

"Nah, too much work." Also none of the books she had taken involved healing—most were for dark magic which to seemed more about causing injuries than healing them. Magic books were guarded by the wealthy or in the hands of mysterious magic users already, making them rare and hard to find. She'd kept her ears open for anything she might be able to buy or, ehm, acquire, but most would be far too expensive for someone who spent most of their money on food, shelter and tools for their job with little leftover. "Easier to just take care of this the way I always do—non-magically."

"I suppose…" Regina said doubtfully.

Emma pulled out a flask and began pouring some sort of clear alcohol on her wounds and cleaning them, hissing through gritted teeth the whole time. Regina fidgeted as she watched, aching to help. She was reminded of the times Henry had been sick or hurt and while she was filled with less panic, she still despised watching someone she cared about in pain.

"Perhaps I could look something up to help," Regina offered.

"Look something up?" It was clear the phrase meant very little to the blonde.

"Attempt to find information about treating wounds and the like."

"I'm not sure that would help—I already know to wrap a bandage around what's bleeding, you know," Emma pointed out, ignoring Regina's scowl at her nonchalant attitude.

"Yes, but I'm sure there are," Regina grasped for some way she might be able to help, "are herbs with antiseptic qualities or some other such thing that you could get to help you, even in your world. Even without Band-Aids and antiseptic wipes."

"So you know stuff about wound care?" Emma asked, wanting Regina to distract her while she cleaned her cut, knowing it would sting.

"Some. Basic things mostly and with the supplies we have in my world. I… got hurt as a child and would have to fix myself up. That was mostly trial and error. I mostly know how to use make-up to cover-up injuries," Regina answered distractedly as she started up her laptop, having already shut it down for the night. "When I knew I was going to be getting Henry, I took a first aid course—er, I was taught some basic ways to help injured or sick people.

Emma nodded and reached for a bandage that became visible to Regina once the blonde was holding it, "What did you mean when you said you 'got' Henry?" She must have seen the way the brunette's face froze. "I didn't mean anything by it, it just, I don't know, seemed like there was something about the way you said that…" Emma trailed off and shrugged. "Seemed like there was a story there."

"It's alright. I meant that I adopted Henry. I can't have children on my own, so I took in a baby whose parents had died. It was a long process to be approved and then more time to get the paperwork through while everything was finalized and during that time I refreshed my first aid skills." Regina was flipping through articles and failed to notice that Emma had frozen at her words.

Emma was staring at Regina as if she'd never seen her before. "You mean Henry isn't your kid? He's an orphan?"

Regina bristled as the blonde unknowingly stabbed one of her weak spots. People who insisted that she couldn't love Henry as much as his real parents would have or that their bond wasn't as strong as the bond between blood related parent and child made her want to scream. "He most certainly is my son!"

"Whoa!" Emma held her hands up, although not very high due to her shoulders and back aching. "Sorry. I—I didn't mean it like that. But…" She was still trying to wrap her head around this new information. She had seen Regina and Henry together and Regina hadn't treated him the way even kids who stayed with families that weren't their's did—not in her word anyways. She searched for an explanation that she could understand. "Is he blood-related to you, a nephew or cousin?"

"No," Regina said shortly, not sure where Emma was going but not liking it, particularly when it involved her family. "My parents are both dead. I have no siblings and my father's family cut ties with him for marrying my mother. I have no other family beyond Henry."

"Were his parents friends of yours?" Emma asked, grasping at straws.

Regina frowned. "No. I'd never met them." She was studying Emma more closely, now that her initial defensiveness was wearing off and she could see something was off with the other woman. "Emma? I'm quite sure that if you tighten that bandage around your arm any further, you will cut off blood flow to the rest of your arm."

"What?" Emma asked startled, she looked down at her arm as if she'd never seen it before and began methodically unwinding the far too tight bandage. "Oh… Right."

"Emma?" Regina's voice was cautious but full of unspoken questions.

"I just…" Emma stopped, looking up at Regina with a pleading expression on her face. "Is that common in your world? People taking in orphans they don't know?"

Regina frowned, well aware there was a dimension to their conversation she was missing, but answered anyway, "Unfortunately, there are many children who do not get adopted into good homes, but some do. Why?"

"Hm, nothing. I…" Emma looked down, messing with something before unrolling a bandage. As she began to unwrap it she said quietly, "I never knew my parents. I grew up in an orphanage until it lost its funding. I was old enough to make it on the street by then though, and it's not like it was that different." The idea that this world gave second chances to orphans, people like her, who everyone treated like burdens, second chances with real families and real mothers like Regina, who clearly viewed Henry with as much love as if he were her own was just…too much for her right now.

"Oh." Emma looked up warily, not wanting to see pity or superiority that people tended to view her with when they heard about her early life. Neither was present, only compassion and understanding was in Regina's warm brown eyes, "I'm sorry you had such a hard start to life."

Silence filled the room as both women forcibly focused back onto their respective tasks.

Regina decided to think about what Emma told her when she was alone, not knowing Emma planned on doing the same and spoke first. "Do you have access to ice? Or vinegar?

"Ice?" She was on the outskirts of the town she had helped. They most likely had an ice house.

"Yes, it helps numb pain and reduce swelling," Regina said, still trying to find other treatments for bruising and halting blood flow that did not require medicine. "Vinegar also should help the swelling go down. It helps bruises as well, I know that from personal experience."

Emma supposed that snow often helped with injuries, the problem was that most of the time freezing to death was the possible side effect and if she was warm enough—the snow would just melt. She supposed solid ice would take longer to melt and if she wrapped it in some cloth, it could be applied to her leg if it was still acting up tomorrow.

Vinegar though she did know about, "I'd forgotten how that can help. I'll pick some up in town on my way tomorrow."

Regina looked up, "You're traveling tomorrow? Is that wise?"

"Gotta keep moving. Towns don't like mercenaries hanging around, even ones that save them from ogres. They'll be welcoming in the beginning, but not for long. I prefer not to wear the welcome out. Besides, the local lord paid me well—the town's people don't have much in the way of anything."

"But you won't set to hard a pace, will you?" Regina's voice held a warning tone now, not unlike the one she had when Henry had darted into the kitchen and without turning she'd checked that he wasn't trying to sneak a cookie, right? "You're not going to push yourself too hard with your injuries and end up further hurting yourself than if you'd simply gone at a sensible pace."

Emma winced, remembering a few times she had done exactly that. "Of course not." She covered with bluster, "Normally I can make it to the city in three days from here but I'll take at least four this time."

Regina gave her a shrewd look, "I'm sure you will." Instantly, Emma knew that Regina would be checking that really happened. Part of her resented the idea that she needed to be monitored like a child. A larger part filled with warmth at the thought of Regina knowing her so well and looking out for her.

Emma began feeling and massaging her legs, trying to get a feel for what was hurt and how badly, checking for bruises that weren't visible yet. "How come you had to learn this stuff when you were a kid?" she asked idly, always wanting to know anything about the older woman. "I thought your world didn't have as much violence."

"It doesn't," then Regina winced at that. "Or at least the part of the world that I'm in doesn't—the benefits of being in a small town in the middle of nowhere."

"Wait, didn't you say you knew things about how to disguise injuries. Why?"

"My mother liked things done a certain way. She was displeased when I couldn't live up to her standards. Occasionally she showed her disapproval with violence, however she often preferred other methods. In my world, disciplining children physically isn't normally allowed and is frowned upon, so she didn't want anyone else to know."

"Oh." That Emma understood all too well. Adults pushing around kids who couldn't defend themselves, always demanding the impossible—obvious in that Regina was one of the smartest, kindest, strongest women she'd ever met. She felt an impulse to punch Regina's mother in the face that she suppressed with the memory of Regina saying she was already dead. "She sounds like a real piece of work, you know?"

Regina gave a small laugh, "Indeed."

Regina gave a frustrated sigh, "I can't find anything else that's useful to you. Everything involves our own medicine or is unproven."

Emma smiled, "Thanks for looking."

Regina shut her computer and sat on the edge of her bed facing Emma who was still on the chaise lounge. "I wish I could give you some of our medicine or bandages."

Emma smiled, "I do too. I've looked into that, but I think being able to sit in your chair is the furthest I'm going to get. Without actually coming to your world, of course."

Regina rolled her eyes, "Of course."

Emma yawned, as patched up as she could get for now, and the adrenaline was finally wearing off. Her eyelids drooped. "I should get to sleep."

"You should go to bed," Regina said at the same time causing the women to smile at each other. "And make sure to drink lots of fluids—and alcohol doesn't count."

Emma smiled instead of rolling her eyes, too tired to pretend to be annoyed by Regina's concern. "You seem like a really good mom. Henry's lucky."

To the blonde's surprise Regina blushed, looking down. "Thank you." Any worries that the blonde had changed her opinion of her and Henry's relationship due to finding out he was adopted vanished. "Now get some sleep."

"Yes, ma'am," Emma gave a vague salute as she faded out.

-/-

A/N: I tried to some research but its hard to check "when did people figure out ice helped injuries?". Lol. I did learn that "airing out" cuts and leaving them uncovered to help isn't a real thing-keep cuts moist and covered and cleaning soap and water best, which I guess I vaguely knew.

Anyway, it is midterm season again. i have one today and one like as a project that I've done the first two parts of-got two more to go. Plus one class that doesn't follow normal schedules with an exam in a less than two weeks-not to mention normal class stuff so posting will be whenever I remember and theres time.

I'm so glad people like the story and I'm so happy I got so many lovely reviews. thanks again for reading!