Regina wasn't all too pleased with the fact that Emma made the decision to remove their son from school and even less so that her vague explanations as to why was all she was getting. Emma finally hooked her pinky around the brunette's own and looked her in the eye and pleaded, "Trust me on this please?"
When all was said and done she did actually trust the blonde and if she felt she had reason to remove their child from school she trusted that the reason was valid. What she didn't understand was why Emma felt she couldn't tell her and she said as much.
"I will tell you once this Sidney stuff is over. We need to focus on that and figure out a more permanent solution for Hen after."
"Very well." the former mayor conceded much to the savior's surprise. "Just because we have an active plan, doesn't mean we are anywhere near ready to enact it Miss Swan."
"I'll do whatever you say." Emma said quickly.
"Well remember you said that."
"What? Why?" green eyes slitted with skepticism.
Regina knew this plan she had would be a hard sell but she also knew they didn't have many options. The moth was being obstinate, which was very typical of the fairy folk and the queen wasn't at all surprised when a very angry Emma had come home with the news they were on their own. Whatever the fairy had used had been indecipherable from Regina's own piece and the queen suspected a great deal of fairy dust had been utilized in it's creation.
Regina broke her gaze from the blonde and simply said, "We need to get close to him in order to use the box. He will never suspect me."
"No. Absolutely not. We don't have a way to bind his magic you are not getting anywhere near him!" Emma put her foot down shaking her head.
"What happened to 'I'll do whatever you say'?" Regina demanded with her hands on her hips.
"No." Emma repeated still shaking her head.
"You literally just said you would do whatever I said." the queen pointed out knowing the sheriff had made up her mind and it would take a miracle to change it now.
"Regina. No. Not that. We'll find another way."
"It is the only way Emma." Regina said folding her arms around herself.
Glistening green eyes flicked up to pin dark brown. "No."
"Emma…"
"I am not putting you in danger over this. I would rather pack you and our son up and leave this medieval little hole in the wall."
Regina pulled her brow in tight in confusion. "What?"
"I mean it!" Emma worried her lip, she hadn't actually meant to say that out loud, it had been just a thing she had started thinking about since her argument with Snow and judging by the queen's reaction she was certain that it was the wrong thing to say. She refocused the former mayor, "I'm not taking the chance with your life Regina. No."
Regina shook her head and replied, "Alright well you need to get more control over your magic before we confront him anyway. We'll discuss it."
"Okay but I'm not budging on this so you know." Emma folded her own arms around herself defiantly.
Regina pulled a smirk and snaked her arms around the blonde's hips. "Yes dear."
Emma had started sleeping in Regina's bedroom. Emma simply made the decision to start off in Regina's room saving herself the trouble of switching in the middle of the night. The queen's nightmares seemed to taper off once that little change in their nightly routine had taken place and Regina had generally relaxed overall and basked in the security of the sheriff. One night as they settled down on their respective sides Regina watched as Emma made herself comfortable. "They are not about you." she blurted out and then blushed.
"I'm sorry?"
"The nightmares. I had them before… um Sidney…" Regina explained shyly. She trusted the woman, but this was a new sensation letting others in.
"I know." Emma interrupted with a warm smile.
The queen blushed and felt the need to explain, "They… this thing with Sidney it… just brought some old stuff up for me."
Emma reached over and put her hand on Regina's for support. "You don't need to tell me if you don't want to."
"I-I've never told anyone." the queen whispered.
"You can though, but only if you want to." Emma rolled onto her side to face the queen and stroked her dark chocolate locks from her face.
Regina huffed and felt the tight band around her chest loosen as the savior's fingers stroked over the side of her head. "The king. He…" She gulped and felt her throat close up around itself. She swallowed hard trying to push down that feeling so she could continue. "He essentially owned me. He promised on our wedding night he would wait for me to be ready, but as the weeks turned to months, I suppose he got tired of waiting." she wiped large tears from her own cheek and continued. "To be fair, I would never have been ready for him."
Emma bit the inside of her cheek and focused her breathing to keep herself calm. The idea of Regina being traded as if she were not even human enraged and sickened the blonde but this was not the time to feel either of those emotions. She needed to be strong for Regina now. She needed to comfort her. She cleared her throat and simply said, "That wasn't your fault. You didn't marry him for love."
"I didn't. I never could have."
Emma snaked her arms around the brunette and curled up into her offering herself as support. "No one would in your position Regina."
Emma was in her own bedroom a massing troops to raid a nearby barbarian city when she heard her name screeched in alarm from down the hall. She dropped her phone and rushed down to Regina's bedroom. "Gina?"
"Emma!" the panicked voice of the queen sounded from the ensuite bathroom and Emma scrambled over the bed and burst through the door. The sight she saw stunned her momentarily. Regina's wet naked form stood unabashed, frightened wide eyes looking at her blood covered palm.
"What happened?" Emma asked when she finally came out of her own shock.
Regina held her hand up to the savior. "I-I'm bleeding!"
"I see that. From where?" Emma asked calmly trying to not add to the brunette's panic.
"From…" Regina blushed and realized at that moment she was stark naked in front of the savior. Emma grabbed the towel on the vanity and covered the queen and blushed a little herself. "From where Regina?" Emma started to look around the brunette's legs.
"My.. um.." the queen's pink blush turned crimson and she placed her hand over her own mound.
Emma relaxed a very little bit then asked, "Are you early?" she gulped "OR LATE?" her mind spun at the implications of her getting Regina Mills pregnant with a magical rape baby.
"I don't, I mean I haven't… I can't…" Regina looked lost and Emma stepped closer to her and put her arm around the older woman. The former mayor closed her eyes and took a deep breath drawing strength from the woman who embraced her. "I can't have children Emma. I took a potion to make sure I never could. I haven't had a cycle since that night."
"Okay then it isn't that, let's get you checked out. Is it coming from inside? Are you in pain?"
The queen nodded her head against the savior's chest. Emma ushered the silent queen back into her bedroom and had her sit on the bed. She turned and took out some comfortable clothes and set them down near the queen who had yet to snap out of her daze. The savior noticed more blood from between the queen's thighs and hurried her to get dressed. "Come on we'll go to the hospital and they'll take a look okay?"
Regina's dark eyes focused and she looked up at Emma with fear. "I- don't want anyone to touch me Emma."
The savior recognized the fear in the woman and thought to herself then finally said. "Would you feel more comfortable if I checked? I won't touch you."
Regina slowly nodded and breathed out a shuddered breath. Her entire body trembled with the anxiety she felt.
"It's okay Regina. We'll go slow. You are safe with me." Emma guided the brunette back onto the bed, still wrapped in a towel and skin moist from her shower. Emma went into the bathroom and soaked a washcloth with warm water and brought it back out for the queen. Emma answered the questioning look, "I need to see where the blood is coming from." Emma held out the washcloth for the queen and Regina shook her head and said, "You may touch me."
Emma worried her brow and asked,"Are you sure? I don't want to make it worse."
Regina nodded her head, "It couldn't get much worse Miss Swan." she replied with a huff.
Emma steadied herself and started by cleaning off the queen's thighs. She guided open the woman's legs and very clinically, inspected the outer part of the queen's most private of areas.
"Okay, you are not cut or anything, it must be coming from inside. You said you were in pain. Where does it hurt?"
Regina pulled open the bottom part of the towel that covered her torso and motioned to low on her abdomen next to her pubic bone.
"What does it feel like?" Emma asked gently.
"A dull ache, but sometimes a sharp stabbing pain. My lower back hurts too."
That sounds like cramps.
Emma sat back and considered their options. She wouldn't put the woman's life in jeopardy. She said she couldn't menstruate so it needed to be something else. "I'm sorry. We need to go to the hospital Gina." Emma said and placed her hand on one of Regina's knees when the woman started to protest. "Look I'm not a doctor and you are actively bleeding from somewhere internally and if it isn't your cycle then it is something else and I'm not willing to lose you. So get dressed. I'll call Rubes to come and stay with the kid while we are gone." She saw the tears form in the queen's dark eyes and added, "There's gotta be a woman doctor in that hospital. I'll find her. I'll make sure they don't do anything you don't want them to do. You're safe with me Gina."
Regina sat up and covered herself the best she could. "Thank you Emma." she murmured. Emma leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on the woman's crown.
After guiding a very agitated queen through a battery of tests Emma sat on the edge of the hospital bed and gently rubbed Regina's tummy. The older woman was using Emma's lap as a pillow and said it made her feel better when Emma rubbed her belly. Emma was all for making her queen feel better. The nurse came in looking over the queen's chart and Emma perked up. "What is it? Is she okay?" She realized in that moment how stressed out she had actually been in the last few hours and forced herself to relax.
"The tests came back conclusive, this is simply your menstrual cycle your majesty."
"That isn't possible!" the queen spat angrily. She had been laying there thinking about her symptoms and had worried that perhaps this whole thing was exactly what the nurse just confirmed it to be and felt embarrassed having rushed to the emergency room over something every other woman on the planet goes through on a monthly basis.
The nurse took a step back and looked to the savior for help.
Emma pulled the older woman back down and ran her fingers through her hair which instantly calmed her. Emma thanked the nurse and waited for the woman to leave them alone again before she spoke. "Perhaps the potion wore off? I'm sure it wasn't meant to be forever, and you were stuck in a time loop for almost 30 years."
Regina groaned and pulled the blanket up over her head and grumbled making the savior chuckle. "Hey or maybe I healed you. I healed everything else." Emma said flippantly then jumped when the queen abruptly pulled the blanket back down and shot up. "You! You did this to me!" she hissed in a low accusatory tone.
"I healed you." Emma pointed out and held up her palms defensively. "And there's still a good chance the potion wore off."
"No! You did this with your stupid true love magic!" Regina pouted and turned away from the blonde.
Emma chuckled and reached for the brunette.
Regina pulled away from her and whined.
"Hey I know what will make you feel better Madam Mayor." Emma smiled wide and reached over and pulled the queen back over to her.
"What?" Regina huffed and resigned to the cuddles the blonde was offering.
Emma whispered into the queen's ear, "Chocolate ice cream…"
Regina instantly perked up. "With whipped cream?"
"Uh yeah!" Emma chuckled.
"And sprinkles?" Regina relaxed into the savior's arms.
"Of course!"
"Okay." Regina nuzzled into her blonde savior and basked in the feeling of calm and serenity.
"Great, get dressed." Emma kissed the brunette on her crown and urged her up.
Once the queen was redressed she took the savior's pinky and without making eye contact she kissed the woman on the cheek. "Thank you Miss Swan."
"Anything for you, Regina." Emma replied quietly.
Regina looked up to meet the dark green eyes that studied her and felt the emotion behind those words making her heart flutter.
They stopped at a late night convenience store on their way home from the hosptial and in addition to the ice cream, she led the uncooperative queen down the feminine products aisle.
"What's the difference?" Regina asked crinkling her nose at the prospect of an entire aisle being dedicated to that one area of a woman's body.
"Well these sorta just line your underwear and these go inside of you." Emma explained pointing them out. Regina looked at the savior as if she were mad and Emma got a variety pack of each type and dragged the woman to the check out.
In the car on the way home Regina took out the box of pads and started reading the back. She didn't like being ignorant on any subject and well back in the enchanted forest it was very archaic in comparison and she felt out of her element.
"Which one do you use?" The queen asked finally replacing the package back into the bag.
"The one that goes inside." Emma said and blushed.
Regina took the other box out and opened it up. She removed the directions and took one of the tampons out. "This whole thing goes inside?" Regina asked incredulously.
"No, there is an applicator, just the cotton part goes in. It's only like this big." Emma held up a space between her fingers and Regina relaxed.
"Oh."
Sitting in the driveway Emma opened up one of the tampons and using her thumb and index finger to simulate the opening of a vagina she showed the queen how it worked.
"I don't think I can... I mean I think I'll use the other ones for now." Regina said feeling very apprehensive about the whole situation in general and not wanting to add the anxiety she felt about her psychological trauma to the mix.
"They both work equally well." Emma said gently, reading the queen with ease. "I'll take care of Rubes and dish out the ice cream and bring it up to you okay?" Emma took the the ice cream out of the bag and replaced it with the garbage from her demonstration.
When they got back into the house Regina rushed up stairs and Emma put the ice cream in the kitchen and went to tell Ruby they were home.
Ruby Lucas was long and lean and sprawled out on the mayor's couch, mouth agape, tv on, cell phone in hand, gently snoring. Emma shook the woman's bare foot that hung well over the armrest of the couch and roused her from her seemingly impromptu nap.
"Hey you're back. Is she okay?" Ruby said wiping the drool from the side of her mouth with the back of her hand.
"Yeah. Everything is okay." Emma replied not divulging anything too private about the former mayor.
"Oh that's good. I told Hen you'd wake him when you got in. He was worried."
Emma looked back towards the stairs and nodded. "Hey thanks for coming over on such short notice the list of people I trust with Henry is short these days."
Ruby got up from the couch and put her boots back on "Yeah, I heard."
Emma rolled her eyes. "I'm sure."
"I currently have no opinion on the matter." Ruby smiled warmly.
"Ah Switzerland!" Emma chuckled and walked Ruby towards the front of the house. "I do appreciate you looking after the kid. You're a good friend Rubes."
Ruby worried her lip and broke eye contact and Emma felt the nervous energy instantly. "What is it?"
"I don't know if I should tell you, being Switzerland and all."
"I won't put you in the middle. Just tell me."
"They are holding a council meeting tomorrow about Gina and her magic. The Blue Fairy has your mother all worked up over the queen." Ruby winced when she noticed Emma flinch at the term she chose to describe Snow. "I mean she has had access to her magic for weeks now and hasn't done anything, I don't know why they are getting all bent about it."
"Because people in this town will never give her a chance." Emma said sadly. Ruby gave Emma a knowing pat on the shoulder and the women said their goodbyes. Emma huffed with her back against the front door and shook her head as she went into the kitchen to order up some much needed ice cream for her queen.