Thank you for the wonderful reviews, My Sweets!
Songs: Running up That Hill by Placebo, Rock This by Santigold (Regina & Ruby), Rain by Patty Griffin
"Regina, stop fighting me! I'm not letting you go over that line!" Ruby yelled directly into her friend's ear.
"Ruby, please!" Regina fought against her, every piece of her heart shattering into tiny shards, never to be reassembled. Emma lay right there, right across the line. She'd flown from the windshield during the second flip of the car and rolled to a stop on the pavement. She'd not moved or said anything.
Ruby spun her violently and grabbed her shoulders, shaking them roughly. "Emma might be dead, Regina," she said, cold and unrelenting. Regina needed to understand. "If you go over that line, your children will have lost both of their mothers in the same day."
Regina nodded slowly, eyes closed and chin quivering. "Go to the house. Get Lauren. Put her heart in Eva's chest." Regina nodded again and disappeared.
Ruby closed her eyes against the blind panic in her chest and tried to focus her ears. They searched for the steady thump of Emma's heart in vain. Ruby opened her eyes and grazed her fingertips over the barrier shimmering with the light touch. Emma lay unmoving on the pavement, not 30 feet from her.
She'd still be Red, relatively the same person without the pain and regret of being Ruby. She'd forget Belle. She'd forget that she loved her, that she'd lost her, perhaps forever. She'd forget Alex.
She pulled her fingertips away and stepped back from the temptation. Alex lost a mother this day, too. Her child needed her to maintain a clear head, rise above her own selfish desires and put her first.
Regina appeared a moment later with Lauren. The nurse blindly trusted her heroes turned family and sprinted over the line. She faltered the second she crossed and shivered as her succubus left her. Ruby caught the phone as Lauren twisted and tossed it over the line.
"Call Shay and Dawson. They're paramedics. They'll come. Regina, I'm going to need some help. Go to the hospital and shove Callie's heart into Arizona's chest and bring Callie here," her voice jolted as she sprinted to Emma and ordered them around at the same time.
Nurse Lauren just took control. Her hand wrapped around Emma's neck immediately. Slight panic gripped her heart when she felt nothing at first. She pressed harder, and tiny, weakened thump jumped against her fingertips.
"She's alive!" She yelled across the line. "Barely," she added when Regina disappeared. Ruby jerked visibly, having heard the last word. Fucking wolf ears.
Without moving Emma, she quickly examined the damage. Lots of superficial abrasions. Piece of metal sticking out of her leg. How the hell did a piece of the bumper get in her leg? Shaking fingers wiggled into a hole in her shirt and ripped it open.
"Danes!" Callie called and ran to her side.
"Torres, I need your help when Shay and Dawson get here. I can't move her by myself. All things considered, she seems relatively uninjured, but we're probably busting into the hospital again. Tachycardic pulse."
Callie absorbed the information and then stuck her stethoscope to Emma's chest. "Shit, Tension Pneumothorax. She can't breath." she said and slung the instrument over her neck.
"Hold on," Lauren said and sprinted back to the line. "I need a knife, a lighter, the biggest needle you can find, and a tube. Tell Arizona we need a Tension Pneumothorax kit."
Regina disappeared, and Lauren fidgeted. Emma had no time, but slow and easy was the best they had to offer right now. It made her sick. If she'd lost control further from the line, they'd not arrived in time to save her. Her visible injuries presented a large enough challenge to her life, and they had yet to peek inside.
A siren in the distance gave her hope.
Regina appeared once more and tossed the plastic bag to the nurse.
Lauren sprinted off and handed the materials to the surgeon. She held Emma's shoulders down with all of her weight just in case she jerked awake at the sudden pain. "Got her," she told Callie.
The doctor nodded and slid the needle into Emma's chest with a brow furrowed in concentration. Air gushed, and they both relaxed in relief. Callie listened to her chest again and shook her head.
"Damn it. Chest cavity is filling with fluid, too, I think. Hold the needle."
Lauren obeyed, and Callie reopened Emma's scar from two years ago when she'd been shot. The tube slid in with a little coaxing, blood immediately pouring from the chest cavity.
Lauren snatched her stethoscope and pressed it to Emma's chest again with one hand and touched her neck with the other. "Pulse is stabilizing."
The nurse removed the buds from her ears and inserted them into Callie's, mindful of her bloody hands. "Lungs are clearing. She needs surgery. Whale is not going to be happy after her little show, but The Council hasn't banned her yet."
"We need Eva," Lauren admitted hesitantly. Her lover barely had the strength to stand, much less perform surgery.
"We need Eva," Callie confirmed. "Whale is not going to treat her."
"What about Arizona? She's a pediatric surgeon. Aren't they like general surgeons for tiny bodies?" Lauren asked. Callie nodded but withheld comment as the ambulance arrived.
"Hey!" Dawson called from the line and held up a backboard and neck brace.
Lauren sprinted back to the line. "Gabby, I need you to talk me through this properly. I've never done it before, not in the field."
The paramedic nodded and handed over the supplies. "Call me when you get back to her." She jumped when Rumpelstiltskin suddenly appeared.
"Can you heal internal injuries?" Ruby asked immediately. Rumpel raised an eyebrow and grinned maliciously.
"I can't guarantee it'll be right, Dearie. The seer was different. I healed her one layer of skin at a time." He wrinkled his nose and leaned close to her face; she held her ground. "I'd rather not kill The Savior."
"Do you know about The Council's plan?" Ruby asked suddenly.
"Be more specific," he toyed with her, and she almost stabbed him.
"What are they planning by directly taking me, Emma, Belle and Regina out of power?"
Rumpel looked pissed. He'd been caught yet again. "They intend to use Zelena's portal to take everyone back to The Enchanted Forest and prevent Regina from being born."
Regina bristled, "Are you helping them?"
He giggled maniacally. "Of course not, Dearie. That'd be against the rules." He nodded towards Ruby.
Regina huffed a sigh and grabbed his jacket, holding him close to the line. His hair brushed against the barrier. Fear ignited in his previously smug and amused eyes. "You cannot hurt me or defend yourself in anyway against me without Ruby's permission." She grinned, much like The Queen might have and batted her eyes.
"Speak plainly or after we've reamed every ounce of information from those reluctant lips, I'll throw you over this line," she threatened. He listened.
"Alright," he whispered, his cowardice bleeding through the arrogance.
Regina held his suit jacket and kept him close to the line. "Did you ever enchant anything for any of The Council members?"
"Yes."
"Did you give them spells or potions?"
"Yes."
"Did you give them information about Emma and Belle's past?"
"Yes."
"Did you tell them that Belle actually destroyed Breck instead of you?"
"No. I was as pleasantly surprised as the rest of you this morning."
"Do you know who told them?"
"No, Dearie. As I said, I knew nothing of her involvement until this morning."
Regina released him, distracted by Callie and Lauren hefting Emma over the line. Callie passed her feet over to Shay and Dawson and then hurried to her head to assist Lauren.
"Lauren," Regina said as she touched her arm. "Get Emma to the hospital and prepped for surgery. Call Amelia and have Caleb bring Eva to the hospital. IF Arizona can help, tell her that I gave the order to start the surgery and to stop for no one and nothing. The explosion was caused by a spell attached to the car when Emma crossed the town line."
"What are you going to do?" Lauren asked, but Regina only touched her wife's bloody face.
She brushed a thumb over her forehead near the gauze. "My brave fool," she whispered and pressed a kiss to Emma's bloody temple. "Please come home once more, and I swear I'll never let you go again, Darling. It's time I stop denying who I am, who I was born to be as you have."
She closed her eyes and held her lips against Emma's heated skin. "My beautiful Savior, today your Queen reclaims her throne."
With that, Regina whirled from the gurney, grabbed Rumpelstiltskin and Ruby by the arms, and disappeared in a swirl of purple haze.
When they came together outside the doors of the meeting room in Town Hall where they'd celebrated their wedding, Ruby noticed Regina's outfit change first. It was the same bitchy black dress and mountain high pumps she'd worn the day Emma had been shot in this very room. So many conflicting memories, as with most of their lives.
The doors blew open a second before Regina entered, the fact that she'd not touched them obvious. Several members of The Council found their feet as did many of the citizens watching the hearing. Of course they allowed civilians to be present when they dragged Emma's name through the mud and condemned her.
Snow stood in relief and immediately joined Emma's wife, showing a united front. David had not so gracefully been removed for his blatant disrespect to the elders during Belle's sentencing, so she later discovered.
"Hello, Midas," Regina greeted darkly and crooked a finger over her shoulder. Ruby appeared at her side.
"Rumpy, Dear," Regina started and strode confidently into the center of the semi-circle the 20 chairs created.
"If you please, force the members of this meeting who conspired with you to stand," Regina demanded, the words not actually a question.
Ruby rapped him on the back of the head when he blatantly refuse. "Do what she says. Answer all of her questions honestly should she ask, but do not speak unless spoken to."
"Thank you, Wolf Pup," Regina nodded, intentionally using her pet name for the younger woman. Every knew who held the loyalty of the woman who controlled The Dark One.
One by one, people came to their feet, clearly struggling against their invisible bonds. Regina's eyes moved to each of them slowly. "14 out of 20."
Regina walked calmly and slowly to the president, the leader, the chairman, whatever title he preferred these days. All she saw was a selfish and ruthless king from their land.
"Rumpy, dear," she started and sneered at Midas. "Why did this council ask you for spells and potions?"
"To use against those opposed to their plans," Rumpel answered reluctantly. He really wanted his dagger back.
"I see," her voice hit a higher octave she hadn't used since her Evil Queen days in The Enchanted Forest. "And in exchange, did they promise anything in return?"
"I am not permitted to make deals, but there was an unofficial agreement that I'd be offered my freedom and seat on The Council once the four of you were incapacitated." He muttered, but the crowd erupted in heated whispers or cries of outrage anyway.
"Indeed? Interesting. And pray tell, Dear Dark One, exactly what year had they intended to plop everyone into?" Regina mocked him with her tone but obeyed with clenched teeth.
"The year before your birth. They intended to finish Zelena's mission and erase The Evil Queen from existence." His confession pulled another collective gasp through the crowd.
"Fascinating tale. Tell me, Dearie," she spat in disgust, "what significant historical event began the year before my birth?"
Rumpel glared at her, murder evident in his eyes. Regina prayed silently that Ruby never lost grip on that dagger. "The Second Ogre War."
"Precisely," Regina said as though everyone in the room should have deciphered her barely concealed hints by now. She spelled it out anyway as she faced her people and addressed them regally.
"These people you've deemed fit to run our government have betrayed all of you. They have personally attacked and intentionally injured those nearest to me in pursuit of power. The women who swore to protect you at great risk and sacrifice to their own lives have become outcasts, ostracized by the fear these so called noble people. The same people who intended to lead you to intentional slaughter and rebuild the land in their image."
Regina smirked at the collective fear and outrage spreading throughout the rabble and pulled the crest of the leader of The Council from Midas' neck. "Any opposed to my claiming my rightful spot among you? I may have brought us back to Storybrooke, but I'd never intentionally lead you into harm if it could be prevented."
She held her head high and waited for a brave soul to speak up for her.
"I second Regina's motion," Snow blurted. "Do we have a third?"
"Me," a gruff man said boldly and stood. Regina recognized him as Gaston's father, the man who shot Emma. "I also support the motion. All in favor, raise your hand."
The remaining three members raised their hands, genuinely relieved. Regina stared at the amulet for an extended moment. With a steadying breath, she closed her eyes and raised it over her head.
"I accept the responsibility of this council. I swear to uphold the values of integrity, honesty, and servitude as long as I bear this crest." She'd said the words before, but she actually meant them this time. They weren't exactly verbatim, but the applause said that she'd come close enough.
"Please arrest those vile creatures, Rumpel. Lock them in the cells in sheriff's station for the moment. You are not to harm them, speak to them, or communicate with them in any form." Regina said and strode back to Snow.
"We must go. Emma has been in a terrible car accident," Regina whispered to her mother-in-law, the cracks in her confidence clear now that the moment passed.
Ruby took her hand, Snow accepted the other, and they disappeared. All eyes found the heavy round disk of gold around her neck when she appeared in the middle of the emergency room. "Take me to the observation deck of the operating room where Emma is being treated."
A young woman stepped forward. She failed to recognize her, but they all silently followed. They entered in time to see Whale burst through the door and interrupt the surgery before it ever started. Eva sat in a chair behind Lauren and held her lover's hips. Lauren was doing the surgery? What sort of seer mojo was Eva working on her succubus?
The nurse grabbed Emma's gun from the table and pointed it between Whale's eyes, her hand as steady as a surgeon's should have been. Without hesitation, Regina tapped on the glass with the pendant and held it flat against the barrier when Whale glanced up. Color drained from his face, and he retreated instantly. Lauren nodded once, returned the gun, and held her hand up, silently requesting a fresh glove.
"Regina, Amelia is studying Emma's brain scans right now," Lauren said, but her focus remained on the body on the table as she confidently cut into her wife.
Regina glanced away, bile rising in her throat. "I'm going home to be with my children. Please call once they've finished, Snow. I'll ask David to come sit with you."
Snow nodded, "Of course, Regina. Thank you for what you did today. The Council was not designed for despotism but intended for fairness and forgiveness for all. If I'd known what they planned, I'd have told you and Emma."
Regina's brow furrowed. "It was not something I wanted, but it was desperately needed. I shall do it properly this time."
The sadness in her eyes and exhaustion in her tone pulled at Snow's heartstrings. Regina truly changed, for Emma, for Henry, for all of them. Of course she knew that, but this moment solidified everything Regina explained to be true during her hearing only a week ago. Before she commented on that fact, she and Ruby disappeared in a flash of smoke.
They reappeared in the living room where Bethany, Granny and David played with Alex and Annabel. Ruby explained Emma's accident and Regina's badassery while Regina cradled her daughter closer and curled into an arm of the sofa. She glanced at the clock as David blew out the front door and fired up his old truck.
They'd only awoken two hours ago.
Ruby's arms pulled her against a thin chest before Regina registered the fact that she'd begun crying. Alex climbed into their laps and nestled between them. "Wolf, where's Mama?" The girl looked up at her hero with watery eyes of her own. She'd asked for Belle everyday the woman remained absent from her life.
"Mama had to take a break for a while, Baby," Ruby explained, completely lost on how to word the situation to her confused and hurting daughter.
"Did she have to go away like Mommy and Daddy?" Regina cried harder, and Ruby pressed her lips to Alex's head.
"No, Baby, Mama will be back," she assured the scared toddler and reached for their pendants, surprised to find only one. Belle had taken hers with her. Ruby's heart swelled. Belle intended to return, she knew it.
"She'll be back, Alex. We only have to believe," the wolf whispered as though it were a huge secret.
"Do you believe?" She asked with those same hopeful eyes.
Ruby tucked blonde hair behind her tiny ear and smiled sincerely. "I believe with all of my heart."
Alex flung her arms around her adoptive mother's neck and held on for dear life. "Then I believe, too. Love you, Mama Wolf."
Granny and Bethany wiped their own tears at the big sentiment in the tiny girl's words. Regina touched her hair lovingly as Ruby wrapped her long arms around all of them and held on tightly, her lifelines.
"I love you, too, Little Wolf," Ruby returned and then pulled the girl back gently to meet her eyes. "This isn't your fault, okay? Mama Belle loves you more than anything. She just had to take a break for a little while, okay?"
"Like I have to take naps when I play too much?" Alex sought understanding on her level.
Ruby nodded, "Exactly like that. So when she comes home, we won't be mad at her okay? We're going to tell her that we understand, right? That we all need a nap sometimes?"
Alex nodded enthusiastically. "Can we have a tea party when she comes home? She likes tea."
"I think she'd like that," Regina added, supporting Ruby's explanation of the situation. The wolf was a natural mother. It twisted the knife that she and Belle had been so close only to have everything crumble beneath them once more.
The toddler settled and played with the red streak in Ruby's hair. Regina sniffled. Ruby scratched at her scalp, offering what comfort she could. How had things gone so wrong in such a short amount of time?
Bethany cleared her throat anxiously. "How's Emma?"
Granny smacked her on the back of the head and glared. "She's in surgery, you damn fool. Weren't you listening a minute ago?"
Bethany's mouth unhinged at the harsh treatment, but a spark of affection grew in her eyes for the cantankerous woman who raised the wolf who stole her sister's heart. She clamped down on it and straightened her clothes as she stood.
"I believe I shall find use for my hands. Would anyone care for tea? Or lunch? I'm an absolute terror in the kitchen, but I have mastered sandwiches." She offered graciously.
Granny stood with a huff. "It's still breakfast time, fool. Come on, Girl. I'll teach you how to make something." The elder Lucas stomped towards the kitchen, and Bethany took a moment to look positively terrified before following the old woman.
"Why are we allowing her to stay again?" Ruby asked, not bothering to mask the venom in her voice.
Regina sighed deeply as she thought carefully about her answer. "Because Emma and Belle found something in her worthy of a second chance. We should honor that."
"I don't trust her."
"Nor do I," Regina agreed.
The chime of the door bell pulled groans from both of them. What else could possibly happen this morning? Ruby left Alex tucked against Regina and waved off Granny in the foyer. She peeped through the glass, anger flaring instantly.
She jerked the door open, making that anger known. "What the hell do you want?"
Jack stepped back, recoiling from the heady energy of rage wafting from his daughter. "News travels fast in a small town," he said and shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. "I wanted to make sure you were alright."
"Fine. Thanks for stopping by," Ruby clipped and closed the door.
He caught it a second before it shut with his hand. "Red, wait."
She cocked her hip and gritted her teeth, repelling the urge to cross her arms. No way was she letting go of that door. "I told you: my name is Ruby Lucas. Get it through your thick wolf skull. What the hell do think we possibly have to talk about?"
Jack took two steps back and returned his hands to the pockets. "Your mother. Your childhood. Your life here. Everyone knows of the brave and loyal Ruby Lucas, but very few actually know her. I messed up the other day, didn't handle things right."
Ruby laughed one hollow bark. "Seriously? Didn't handle things right? Get out of here before I summon The Dark One to turn you into a toad."
Her hand settled comfortably on the dagger at her hip. His eyes exploded with envy, desire, want, need. Ruby's anger exploded with them. "You want the dagger."
Jack held up his hands. "Who doesn't? That's not why I'm here, Ruby. I missed out on so much. I want to be in your life, to be your father."
Ruby stepped towards him menacingly. Her foot connected with his chest before he even thought to react. Even as an older wolf, he should have been able to block her. She was powerful, much more powerful than any he'd seen. She'd changed in broad daylight. She had no clue what she possessed or why she struggled so much with control.
"You gave up that right 28 years ago. I already have a father. And a mother. And a teacher. And everything I could ever want in a guardian. Granny was everything to me and still is. You're just the vehicle that provided the sperm, nothing more." Ruby found the honesty behind the words surprising.
They'd been uttered in anger, but she'd meant every single one. Knowing him sparked nothing within her chest, no desire for connection, no need to resolve her daddy issues. Belle had taken her to a place far beyond her childhood trauma. The knife of her lover's absence twisted hard and fast, nearly stealing her breath.
"Get the hell off my walk. The next time you set foot on this stoop, I'll rip your throat out," Ruby threatened, and Jack acquiesced. Her wolf outmatched his by a long shot, despite his age and gender. She'd be unstoppable in only a few years, a target for those who wished to control her power.
She watched him scurry away and then slammed the door, locking it behind her. Granny stood at the top of the stairs, pride in her eyes. Ruby ascended four of the five steps and wrapped her arms around the woman who raised her. Granny was almost as tall as she at this height, and she laid her head on the abundance of bosom that smelled of burgers and apple pies.
"I love you, Granny," she whispered, allowing a tear or two to slid down her nose.
"She will come home," Ruby proclaimed and raised her head in determination. "I want to be someone she's proud of when she does. Will you help me learn better control?"
Granny smiled and touched her granddaughter's face, too youthful to contain so many lines of worry and grief. "I thought you'd never ask, Child."