The next day she was in the foyer of a posh building equipped with its very own door man. She had the desk clerk call up to announce her arrival, she hadn't called first, she preferred a face to face encounter. She had no special power over the phone.
Lucy came down to the lobby, Emma was hoping to be granted access to the apartment, but she quickly realized the woman wasn't an idiot and the people she defended were at best associated with the criminal element. As soon as the wall of confidence and sex walked off the elevator, Emma lost her game face. Cool chips of ice looked her up and down as if sizing her up in a single glance and knowing, KNOWING Emma was nothing. She wasn't the savior she pretended to be for her son and parents. She was the petty jealous woman who broke her sons mother so thoroughly, the woman who ruled over all seven kingdoms, had turn tailed and ran from her. She was nothing, she was less than nothing and in that moment the biker could see her.
"Hello, I'm Lu Minstros, you are?" Emma shook the hand offered to her, "Emma. Hi. Uh.." she lost not only her game plan but her train of thought. "You must be a brilliant lawyer Ms. Minstros." Emma chided. Lucy squinted her eyes and raised a singular brow, "Oh?"
Emma smiled shyly, "Yeah, your very presence is beautifully… intimidating." An actual blush crept up the raven beauty that broke her no nonsense kick em all in the balls stone mask she came down to the lobby wearing. "What can I do for you, Emma?" she said with a soft smile.
Emma held up her phone. The picture of Regina and Henry displayed on the screen. Lucy's features dropped and Emma's heart stopped dead in her chest for several seconds. Neither woman saying a word, as if the air got sucked out of the building. Lucy broke the silence, "You're the blonde, you're here for Erin." Emma couldn't stop the tears or the sob that escaped from her throat. "She's here?"
Lucy nodded. Emma had tucked her hope away after her adventures with the hospitals in Maine, and she knew deep down inside that the lawyer named Lucille, was the biker Lu that found Regina, but to hear it actually confirmed by the woman, Emma collapsed onto the floor and wept, the stress, anxiety, and guilt hit a trifecta and climaxed over her body. She was never one to be emotional, not ever in public and never fucking ever in front of strangers. She couldn't control herself and this woman whom had taken care of Regina knelt down and cradled her, rocked her in the very public lobby of a strange building in the middle of Boston while she cried her eyes out.
Emma sniffled and the woman handed her a tissue box that was quietly placed on the desk by the lobby guard. She blew her nose, knowing her eyes and nose were now bright bozo red.
Damned prince charming-blonde, snow white fairest of them all fucking skin!
After the blonde calmed herself, Lucy dared a few questions about her charge. "Are you her… family?" Emma thought about that, "Yes." She lifted her phone and pointed at Henry in the picture. "This is our son."
"What is her name?"
"Regina Mills." Emma said the name proudly, a massive dimple punctuated her smile.
"Where are you from?"
"We live in Maine, I'm the sheriff, she is our town's mayor."
"Sheriff? Why didn't you report her missing?" Emma looked down at her boots. "She wasn't missing. She left us." The brunettes fur ruffled remembering the doctors descriptions of abuse Erin had endured. "Why?" the menace was thickly dripping off that small three letter word. "It was a misunderstanding. I…" Emma looked for the words, "I didn't believe in her when she needed me to. I messed up…" Emmas green eyes were sincere. Lucy felt the remorse this woman felt. She nodded, satisfied with the answers she got. "She isn't home right now." Emma looked worried, "Okay."
"She is with the doc. She has been seeing a therapist." Lucy explained.
"What was her condition when they found her?" The worry in Emma's voice evident.
Lucy lifted an eyebrow, "Want to come up? I've got tea or apple juice?"
"Got anything stronger?" Emma smiled.
"Oh yeah." Lucy flashed a pearly white smile.
They sat down on Lucy's couch in the living room of her large condo. Lucy placed two glasses down on the square wooden table and opened the bottle of Johnny Walker Blue, pouring out two fingers in each glass. She picked up one of the glasses and sat next to Emma. "She was unconscious when I found her in the middle of nowhere. No ID, no vehicle, just the clothes on her back. Not even shoes! Just prone on the side of the highway. She had a head laceration and several contusions along her upper back, scrapes across her knuckles, arms and elbows. She was dehydrated and barely clinging on. As it was she was in a coma for almost 12 days after they brought her to the hospital. The doctor speculated," Lucy spoke carefully, "that she had suffered some sort of trauma, she has… many… old injuries that have healed, but are still visible on x-rays."
Emma closed her eyes, tears streaming down freely as she gulped back her whiskey. She cleared her throat, "Her mother," she said the word as if it were unholy, disdain and rage surrounded it as it flowed from her lips. "Was a piece of work." Lucy nodded in silent understanding. Emma poured another double shot out, recapping the bottle and sipping this serving, savoring it more than the first glass. The first glass was all about being calm. The second one, well, that was about maintaining reason within that calmness.
"So she goes by Erin. She doesn't know who she is?" Emma feigned understanding of Reginas amnesiac state.
"She didn't like Jane." Lucy stated.
"Of course she didn't, she is a bit more refined." Emma said holding her glass up. Lucy chuckled, "Hmhmm Indeed she is." After the silence settled, Lucy admitted she had given her the name and why. "I just… I had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to protect her." Emmas eyes widened, her eyebrows shot up causing her brow to furrow up in surprise, even though she shouldn't really be surprised, Regina was due north and everyone else was a compass needle. "You care about her…" it was a statement, not a question. Lucy nodded. "Is she…" Emma's face betrayed her as she flushed and her cheeks began to dampen once more, "happy? Here with you?"
Lucy looked down at her empty glass, and decided on refilling it based on the direction this conversation was going. "No." she said quietly as she recapped the bottle and set it back down on the table. "She was… I think… until she started seeing Dr. Parker. I think he pushed her too hard. She suddenly started having panic attacks and she has terrible nightmares. She is showing clear signs of depression, I think that has to do with the fact that no one seemed to be searching for her." Emma closed her eyes slowly. The realization that the past three months could have been easily avoided had she just submitted a missing person report hit her like a brick wall. "I… I didn't…" she had no real excuse. Nothing that could be easily explained anyway.
"Well, the nightmares are one thing, but I think she is considering his radical therapy suggestion. When she first started seeing him, he suggested hypnotherapy as a quick fix to her memory loss. We talked about it and she was hesitant, but after our conversation over the weekend, I think she may try it." Emmas eyes bulged, "Tell me she isn't doing that today. That could be very… VERY… bad!" Lucy shook her head, "Honestly I don't—" Lucy's cell phone rang on the table interrupting her. It was the doctors office. She stood, alarmed as she answered it. "This is she." A long pause. "Uh huh. Which one?" she scribbled something on a scrap of paper, "We'll be right there." And hung up the phone.
The look in Lucy's eyes told Emma everything she needed to know. They had tried hypnosis on the Evil Queen and she broke even further.
Gus, Lucy's valet, hailed them a cab and they took it down to Mercy General, one of the most state of the art facilities in the tri state area. Emma followed behind Lu as the woman commanded not only attention, but respect in her mere presence. A short wiry haired ginger man was pacing the hall near where the admin nurse, presumably, nurse Ratchet, had pointed out for the women to go towards. "Dr. Parker," Lucy introduced, "This is Emma, she is Erin's… family." Emma couldn't control her anger so she nodded curtly letting Lucy speak and ask all the questions Emma wanted to shake out of the little man. He answered all of Lucy's polite inquiries and finished off with, "She is sedated now, she had an adverse reaction to the therapy we tried today."
Emma saw red and before she could control herself she lost hold of her mouth, "An adverse reaction? AN ADVERSE REACTION? To hypnosis? Is that a common practice on amnesia patients "DOCTOR"?" she highlighted her disdain for his title by adding air quotes around it. "What kind of quack are you anyway? Don't' you realize that you have zero background on her and how fucking dangerous that is? The traumas she has endured would have put anyone else in a pine box and you just waltz in here and rip that scab open?" Emma was furious and the little ginger man was properly frightened by her rage. Lucy herself took a step back as the anger and fear pulsated off the thin blonde standing right in Parker's face.
"You better pray to whatever ginger fucking gods you believe in that she recovers from this because if she doesn't?" Her voice dropped from the all-encompassing boom it had been to a very protective growl as she pushed the last words she said to him through gritted teeth. "I will destroy you."
Lucy stepped in front of Emma shielding the man from her wrath. "Okay, that is enough." Without a word and an almost thankful look of relief on his face the little man quickly walked away. Emma was shaking as adrenaline coursed through her blood stream, she steadied against the wall and composed herself. Once she felt the calm enter her she took a deep breath and without a word, she entered the queen's room. Lucy chose to hang back, she was worried about her friend, but she surmised, they needed private family time.
As soon as she saw the brunette lying motionless in the bed, covers pulled up under her armpits and tucked in across her chest, her thin bare arms resting on top of the blankets, Emma let out a sob. The queen had lost weight, her normally rounded prominent cheekbones were sharp contours across the woman's pale face. Her hair had grown much and lay several inches below her shoulders. She looked peaceful. As peaceful as Emma had ever seen her. Monitors beeped and made other mechanical noises, she ignored them all but the heart monitor. It was steady, pounding away. She was alive. She was here and her still face and peaceful features meant she was just sleeping. She would wake up and sass her and "Miss Swan" her and claim their son once more. She would sneer and smile that venomous way she gets when she thinks she's got you, and she is usually right. She'll get up and stomp her foot down in that pretentious bratty way she has when things don't go her way and she will tear down the seven kingdoms for her revenge.
Her own heart had clutched in her chest, and if it had been she who were connected to that monitor instead of her queen, the room would be silent right at this moment. It would be silent because she no longer had the heart that was supposed to be beating in her chest, it had been ripped out, willingly laid down for this woman, this perfectly infuriating woman. She quickly closed the distance between them, grasping Regina's cool hand within her own, the mere touch of their skin ignited that fire that burns in her chest for only her queen. She dropped to her knees at the side of the bed and whispered her love to the woman.
Lucy was standing outside the room looking intently at the linoleum at her feet. Someone to her left cleared their throat, instantly grabbing her attention. A short blonde woman in a lab coat stood smiling with a clip board in her hand. Her green eyes filled with compassion as she smiled at Lucy. "Are you responsible for Erin Doe?" the doctor asked. Lucy was awestruck at the woman's beauty and her brain couldn't possibly function properly as she stood, mouth a gape, heart racing, brain still not working. She simply nodded and was rather surprised she was able to make her muscles work to do even that.
"I'm Dr. Renee Sullivan, I'm the head of Neurology here and have taken the case from Dr. Parker."
Lucy's features darkened at the mention of his name. "What happened to her? He mentioned adverse reaction but didn't go into detail." Emma heard the women talking and joined them in the hall.
"This is Emma." Lucy introduced the blonde to the doctor. "Hi, I'm Emma Swan, I'm Regina's fiancée."
"Swan?" Lucy looked amazed, her bright blue eyes much larger than normal.
"Yes… Why?" Emma thought the woman was perhaps making fun of the name.
"She dreams about swans. Yellow swans." Lucy smiled, "Yellow crown wearing swans actually, but the fact that your name is Swan, that… that is big." Emma opened her mouth to say something, but just shut it again, uncertain on how to comment. She couldn't very well tell the brunette she was in fact a princess from another realm.
"Her memories are there." Lucy explained her point looking at the doctor for verification.
"Seems as though they are." Dr. Sullivan agreed. "However, the session she had today with Dr. Parker gave her a mild seizure. I think it unwise to further that therapeutic path."
"A seizure?!" Both Emma and Lucy exclaimed simultaneously.
"A mild, seizure, yes. It doesn't appear as though it caused any permanent damage," she looked through the chart to confirm, "We performed a cat scan on her when she came in and had to sedate her because she was hysterical."
"Does she remember anything?" Emma asked quietly.
"Not that Dr. Parker said, she was incoherent when she arrived here, I ordered the sedation to give her brain a much needed break. After I found out she was an amnesiac, I'm glad I did. Hypnotherapy is a short cut, I don't recommend it for her type of memory loss. Trauma is suggestive, if the stress of what caused Erin—"
"Regina." Emma said quietly. "Her name is Regina Mills."
"The stress of what caused Regina to run off was sufficient to disassociate herself from whom she was, then perhaps rushing those memories back could cause a potential fissure within her. Breaking her psyche into schizophrenia or even dysfunctional disassociation, commonly known as split personality disorder."
"So do you think I shouldn't tell her who she is? Or who I am? Or bring her home?" Emma looked frantic and lost.
"My professional opinion, Miss Swan, is that hypnosis is a dangerous way to go considering the depths of Miss Mills trauma." She handed Emma a small white card that was in her lab coat pocket. 'Dr. Hank Sullivan' written in bold black embossed letters across the front. The small blonde doctor blushed lightly as her eyes meet Lucy's. "What he lacked in being an attentive husband, he more than makes up for with knowledge of the psyche. I think before you tell Erin anything, you should go talk to him."
Emma nodded. She had a faraway look on her face. She needed to call her parents and let them know she is going to be a bit longer than a few days. She excused herself from the pair of women and mumbled something about a phone call home.
Dr. Sullivan smiled awkwardly as Lucy continued to stare at her. "Do I.. um… You seem kind of familiar to me. Do I know you?" Renee stammers.
"I don't think so." Lucy puts out her hand to shake, "My name is Lucy Minstros. I found Erin, er Regina, and have been taking care of her." Renee takes Lucy's offered hand and shakes. "Better stick with Erin until Hank says differently." She added, "It is really nice to meet you, Lucy." She blushed lightly as their hands lingered longer than the greeting allowed. Lucy recovered, realizing she was completely awestruck with this young blonde doctor, swallowed and tried to make light conversation. She didn't want the blonde to leave, she had this feeling, more than just a physical attraction, something deep and powerful and timeless. "You're kind of young to be the head of Neurology Dr. Sullivan."
"Renee, you can call me Renee." The blonde smiled. 'why did I just say that? She is a patients family it is unethical to break the doctor professionalism.'
'She isn't family, she just said she found the woman. Then cared for her. A stranger in need. Who does that? God her eyes are mesmerizing!'
"Renee," Lucy smiled widely. "That is a beautiful name."
"I don't know you do I?" Renee asked once more. "I just have this—"
"Feeling?" Lucy answered.
"Yeah! It is really weird." Renee snorted as she laughed nervously. Lucy looked down and shuffled her feet shyly. "I'm a defense attorney here in Boston. My clients are usually hard done by or set up jobs. I've never defended murderers or anything." She peered up and her blue eyes caught the look of wonder in Renee's emerald green. "I've never needed a defense attorney, but that sounds exciting, Ms. Minstros."
"If I get to call you Renee, you can certainly call me Lucy. My friends call me Lu. It's kind of a nick name." Lu shrugged her shoulders aloof.
"Lucy is nice." Renee flirted.
'OMG what are you doing?'
Lucy took the blondes flirty demeanor as a green light to become a little more brazen, "Would you, maybe, like to have dinner with me sometime?" Lucy held her breath as she laid it all out there, hoping this woman was as interested as she seemed.
"I would like that, Lucy." Renee smiled, "But…" Lucy's heart caught in her throat. "It would be unethical to go out on a date with a patients family member." Seeing the hurt look on the brunettes face she added, "While she is a patient, of course."
Lucy let out the breath she had been holding. "Of course! I mean, I'm not her family, but I understand that you have legal restrictions you need to adhere to." Lucy pulled out her wallet and took out one of her cards and handed it to the doctor. "For when you are no longer Erin's doctor, you should definitely call me." Lucy's confidence shown brightly through her smiling face.
"I will definitely do that." Renee shyly said, biting her bottom lip and tapping the edge of the card against the chart she held in her hand.
"I can't wait." Lucy said.
