After two days Regina was already tired of the lying on the couch,
Emma had warned her that perhaps her stylish couch wasn't the best couch to actually spend a lot of sleep time on, but Regina had been stubborn and assured her that she could handle it.
The broken leg had limited her movement even more than she had expected. And she was still tired seeing as she had to take pain medication every couple of hours. When Dr. Whale had released her she thought it would be smooth sailing from there, but the pain from her multiple broken ribs had continued to bother her and she was asleep more than she would have preferred.
Emma was constantly there to make sure she had what she needed, but for the most part she avoided talking to her unless she absolutely needed something.
Last night she had stayed awake part of the night thinking about how Emma was in her house, lying in one of her guest rooms. She tried not to think about what it was like to sleep in her own bed with Emma there at her side. But her mind constantly went there – and she forced herself to remember how that ended.
Emma hadn't wanted to take their relationship beyond sex, she reminded herself. She told herself that as soon as she was better Emma would be gone again. She was torn as to whether she wanted that or not.
Each day Robin would come to see her, and each evening Emma came home from work. Each of them seemed to be equally concerned for her well-being. Each seemed to want to take care of her. She already knew that Emma wasn't interested in more than sex. But Robin was an unknown.
She liked Robin, she really did.
But he didn't invoke the feelings in her that Emma did. Even as she watched Emma clear glasses or dishes, give her another pillow or bring her a book, she could only wonder why Emma didn't see that they could have been more.
And that more than anything was why she gave Emma the cold shoulder now.
"Do you need anything else?" Emma asked after bringing an iced tea to Regina. It was four days into Regina's home confinement and Emma had yet to figure out how to reach the woman. She had hoped being attentive would be enough, but Regina kept brushing her aside every chance she got.
She just wanted Regina to see that she cared.
"I do not Miss Swan."
"Emma," she reminded her.
Regina rested her head back against the pillow. She needed to get upstairs to her room. She needed to show she was fine to get Emma to go away.
"Is it really that bad having me here?" Emma asked.
"Emma," she sighed. "Why are you doing this?"
"I told you. I need to know that you are going to be ok."
"I am ok."
Emma shook her head out of frustration. "When you can walk up those stairs I will consider leaving."
Two days later Regina was alone in the house while Emma was at work and Henry was at school. She had had an argument with Emma and Robin in the last 24 hours about wanting to do some work. They were refusing to let her talk with her secretary. She had called her secretary –almost moving to the point of firing her if she didn't bring her some work to do. Her own secretary had told her to get some rest.
She would show them.
She got herself in the wheelchair – something she had managed to do after a couple of days. She wheeled herself over to the stairs.
She wasn't so stupid as to think this wasn't the best of ideas. But she wasn't about to let people tell her she couldn't go up her own stairs. She lifted herself out of the chair, using the railing to hold herself up. She was already feeling faint, but she wasn't going to let that stop her. She couldn't wait to see the look on Emma's face as she came upstairs to see her there.
Regina went up the first step.
Henry came home, opening the door and immediately running to his mother who was lying on the floor at the base of the stairs.
Regina opened her eyes as she heard someone saying something to her. She saw Emma hovering over her. "Emma?"
"You stupid, stupid idiot," Emma said smiling.
"Are you ok?"
She looked over and saw Henry there beside Emma. "Um yeah," she said, trying to sit up.
"What were you trying to do?" Emma asked.
"Go upstairs."
She saw Emma's eyes tighten.
"You want to go upstairs? Fine."
Using strength Regina didn't realize she had, Emma dead-lifted her and began to carry her up the stairs. "Emma!" she cried out.
Emma took her all the way up the stairs in to her bedroom and gently lowered her down to the bed. "There," Emma said with a fierceness that startled her. "You are upstairs. Happy now?"
"Is everything ok?" Henry asked from the doorway.
"No. Your mother thinks it's acceptable to act like a complete ass or a child. Either way, she wants to act like a child, we will treat her like one."
She directed Henry out of the room and slammed the door behind her.
Regina could only stare at the closed door and then lower her head back to the pillow. Yep, she thought, now you have done it.