A/N – Tomorrow has arrived, and with it the most awkward conversation I've ever written, but the next chapter is a personal favourite of mine, so it will all be worth it, promise. Once again, thank you so much for all the love!

14. Questions and Answers

By the time Regina woke up the next morning, her stomach was in knots.

For the first time in what seemed like years, she woke up to the blaring alarm clock, not before it. A pounding headache was already gathering behind her temples. She sighed, sitting up heavily in bed and pushing back the covers. By the time her bare feet touched the carpet, her chest was tight.

Regina tried to push her mounting nerves out of her head as she went through the motions of an ordinary weekday morning; showering, straightening her hair, applying makeup like war paint. It took longer than usual to decide what to wear. She found herself trying on several different versions of the same outfit, feeling increasingly ridiculous. It wasn't as if this was a date. She was just going to work. God. Eventually, having decided on what to wear – black skirt, red silk mix blouse Emma had complimented once, the earrings from last night – Regina forced herself to eat some breakfast before ignoring the thoughts buzzing through her mind and setting off for the mayor's house, coat wrapped tightly around her.

It was silly – she hadn't felt like this over anything for such a long time, let alone anything... romantic. The fact that Henry was currently in Portland with Robin didn't help either: it only gave her another thing to worry about, no matter how many excited texts Henry sent her saying he was having a good time.

Stop worrying about your son spending quality time with his father, Regina snapped at herself. And then added, particularly after you just kissed the depressed quadriplegic woman you get paid to take care of. When she'd said she wanted a fresh start, this wasn't exactly what she'd had in mind.

Regina kept her head down as she made the walk to work, heels clicking against the pavement. She solidly ignored the feeble attempts at hello a few passers-by made. Emma was right, this town was too friendly for its own good. How the blonde woman had handled growing up here was beyond her. Before she even had time to run through what she was going to say in her head, the mayor's house had come into view. Regina swallowed hard, breathed in and perfected her posture. She was Regina Mills. She could handle anything.

She unlocked the gate with her heart beating hard, and made her way sharply through the frosty garden, noting how the flowers were already curled shut against the cold. Regina swallowed and reached for the annex doorknob. It was already open. Regina pushed inside, immediately hit by a welcome wave of warmth from the central heating. She took her time walking down the hallway to Emma's room, where she could hear the TV turned down low.

She took a deep breath before opening that door, like a deep-sea diver about to go under.

Inside, Emma was sitting in her wheelchair facing away from the breakfast show on TV, but her head jerked around the minute Regina stepped through into the room. She was wearing sweats and odd socks, and her blonde hair was drying curly over her shoulders. Regina swallowed, and then broke out into a smile without her brain's consent.

"Hi," Regina breathed.

-0-

"Hi." Emma repeated, brain empty. The words took her back to last night.

Regina paused in the doorway, looking unsure. When she leaned forward to hook her bag off her arm, her dark hair shifted against her neck and Emma caught a glimpse of her earrings – the earrings – glinting against olive skin. It put a weak smile on her face. Regina cleared her throat. Her dark eyes drifted to the floor for a moment before lifting back up to Emma, mouth open. "We should talk."

"Yeah." Emma agreed, exhaling slowly. Get a grip, you crippled loser. She hesitated, and then steeled herself. "Come on, you wanna sit down?"

Nodding, the brunette moved slowly across the room, heels clicking softly on the floor, bag and coat draped over her wrist. She took a long time placing them carefully down on the side before breathing in and sitting down elegantly on the end of Emma's bed, legs crossed. Regina cleared her throat loudly. "So."

"Yeah." Emma heard herself say again. She was trying not to look at Regina until she got a grip - why was it now she knew what it was like to kiss Regina, any minute spent not kissing Regina suddenly seemed a colossal waste of time?

"Emma." Regina said clearly, snapping her out of her trance. "What are we doing?"

"I don't know." Emma confessed. She paused, and then turned to look sideways at where Regina was sat, looking at her. She cracked a smile. "I know I like you."

"I like you too." Regina replied, with a hint of a smile.

Warmth flooded through her. Emma opened her mouth, tongue darting out to wet her lips. Cold winter light poured in between the open curtains, pale and yellow, a stark contrast to the warmth that had been building inside her room all day. "But I don't want you to feel uncomfortable." Emma explained. She took a moment, letting the words build up in her head before letting them spill out, rushed. "I know you're just getting out of a – what was it? Eight year relationship – and I really don't want to screw things up with you and Henry and –"

"Emma, stop." Regina told her softly. Emma breathed in, glancing sideways at her from under her hair. The brunette gave a slight shake of her head. "Let's tackle one thing at a time here. We can take the morning, answer some questions, figure everything out." She turned to her, with an encouraging look. "Slowly."

"Yeah, okay, sorry," She sighed heavily. "I guess I'm not used to this feelings crap."

"It's okay." Regina assured her, tiny whisper of a smile crawling back into her voice. "Firstly, let's just confirm that there are feelings."

Emma nodded. "Yeah. I think I've liked you like that for a while. Not, like, totally consciously. Just the last couple of weeks."

"That's the same for me," Regina said carefully. "But I didn't realise until the other night. When I was reading to you and you said those things to me –"

"Yeah." Emma nodded, heat crawling up here neck. "And, um, I know it's not really important, like, compared, but have you ever... Like, been with a woman before? 'Cause you know I like girls but you had a husband and I didn't think –"

"It's not one or the other with me." Regina explained. "I had a brief thing with a woman at college before I met Robin, that was it. But gender isn't an issue for me or anyone around me."

"Okay, that's cool." Emma told her encouragingly. In the pause that followed, she swore she could feel her own heartbeat thudding in her temples, she swore it was loud enough for Regina to hear. No point waiting. Like ripping off a Band-Aid, Emma cleared her throat. "So um, do you mind me asking about... Robin?" She paused. "How did that...?"

"We met in college. We fell in love. After we graduated I moved back to Portland with him for his job, got my own job, had Henry." Regina recited all of this with her hands folded in her lap, detachedly, as if it had all happened to someone else. Emma stared at her, wishing with every bone in her stupid, goddamn, useless body that she could reach out and touch her. Regina's lips tightened. "We fell out of love maybe two, three years ago."

"And... Are you cool now?" Emma asked. Her green eyes flicked attentively over the woman sat on the end of the bed.

Regina shot her a look that Emma struggled to read. It made something in Emma's chest flinch – it reminded her of the early days, when she thought everything about Regina was so calculated and precise, designed to keep everyone out. Maybe Emma had wheeled her way through the cracks, but, she realised suddenly, that still might be the case for everyone else. As if to emphasize her thoughts, Regina's mouth tightened into a thin line. "I don't regret divorcing him, if that's what you mean."

"That's not..." Emma trailed off, wondering what she'd been about to say. She grimaced awkwardly down at her hands, limp and useless in her lap. The pale winter light fell across the veins in her wrist. "It's fine if you don't want to be with anyone yet, that's all I'm saying –"

"I don't –" Regina snapped, breaking off and standing up sharply. Emma glanced down at where her carer's hands were twisting at her sides – she was clearly struggling with how to say it. Sunlight struck her dark hair, the zip on her skirt. "I just – it's not him, it's Henry. If Henry's happy. That's all I – that's all –"

"Regina," Emma said softly.

Regina huffed, turning to face her with her arms crossed tightly over her chest. Her mouth was set in a hard line, jaw clenched. "I'm overreacting." She said, as if stating a fact.

"Hey," She heard herself saying, seeking Regina's unyielding eyes. Too much of a hero. She'd never wanted to move her legs and body and get the fuck up out of that chair, that prison, so much as she did then. Emma swallowed, pushing her own issues back. Right now, she needed to focus on Regina. "Aren't you the one always telling me not to invalidate my feelings?"

"I'm really not in the mood to be psychoanalysed," Regina told her. She sighed, tucking a dark wave of hair behind her ear. "I just want to clarify what we're doing here."

Emma paused, and after a long time, without her brain's consent, confessed something. "You know Henry thinks you're a superhero, right?"

Regina's head jerked up, brown eyes flickering over her. "What?"

"Your kid sat over there and told me he thinks you're like a superhero, because you always help everyone else. And he told me he thinks you sometimes forget you might need help too." Emma relayed honestly, looking into Regina's eyes the whole time.

"God," Regina breathed after a while, going over to sit on the end of Emma's bed and dropping her head into her hands.

Emma looked at her objectively, studying the slant of her neck and the shift in her eyes. Like a magnet, she was wheeling herself closer without even thinking. "No, Regina, he didn't mean it in a bad way. I think he just wants you to know you don't have to be indestructible all the time." She swallowed, as Regina looked up at her, eyes wide and confused. Emma tried to smile reassuringly. "You just got divorced, moved the other side of the country and got a job wheeling my annoying ass around. Not to mention whatever this is." She felt an incredulous smile ghost over her mouth. "You're entitled to worry sometimes."

Regina's gaze flickered down to her lap. After a long, loud pause, she cleared her throat and opened her mouth. "My mother used to tell me the exact opposite of that."

"Your mother's wrong," Emma told her, not missing a beat. Part of her wanted to press further, ask about this mysterious mother she always seized up talking about, but she could see how hard it was for Regina, so she made herself save it. Instead, she tried to lighten the mood. "Anyway, you're a grown ass woman. You know how you feel."

"I do, that's the problem!" Regina interjected. She exhaled a long, low breath. "I didn't love Robin. Not for the last few years. I just so badly wanted it to work for Henry and... I remember just sitting at dinner parties with his friends and pretending so hard that I felt the same as I did when we were twenty two." She bit her lip, downcast gaze reflecting the rising sun. "And now I'm finally away from all that, and I just..."

"Yeah?" Emma pressed gently, heart beating. Her mouth was completely dry.

Regina shook her head suddenly, running a hand through her hair. "All due respect, Emma, but we're supposed to be sorting our stuff out, not mine."

"Yeah, well, we might not be in a relationship, but they're kind of the same thing to me." Emma told her. It took a lot of effort not to smile at the thought. "And I don't know about you but I want you to be able to talk about your stuff."

"Okay," Regina said quietly, evenly. She blinked, mouth open. Emma could almost see her internal conflict. After what seemed like a decade, she finally spoke. "I know you haven't let yourself feel things for a long time, but the truth is I haven't either. Not for anything other than Henry. It's scary."

"Fucking scary," Emma agreed. She looked sideways at Regina, blonde hair falling against her cheek. Just that little piece of honesty from his woman who was so heavily guarded made her proud. It made her feel special, like she hadn't done for years. Emma suppressed a smile. "And... weird."

"And unnerving," Regina added, doing that thing she did when she wasn't quite smiling but looked like she might be thinking abut it.

"Confusing!" Emma contributed. She could feel a laugh bubbling up in her chest.

"Disarming," Regina nodded. Her mouth was twitching into a smile.

"Hard," Emma did laugh that time, with her head tilting back and her hair falling back from her face. It was just the slightest, happiest rough-voiced peal, but it made Regina's chest tighten and melt at the same time.

"Addictive," Regina finished softly, not even trying to suppress the curl at the corners of her mouth, the new rhythm of her heart between her ribs.

"Hell yeah," Emma breathed, and then Regina watched the humour drain from her still-smiling face as she paused and swallowed. "So Henry... If we were to move forward with this, how would he...?"

Regina opened her mouth, eyebrow raised. "Henry asked me the other day why I don't go on dates."

Emma snorted. "Oh my god."

"He likes you." Regina told her earnestly. "Of course, I wouldn't be able to jump into anything. I'm not ready to be a girlfriend again."

"Of course," Emma rushed to assure her. "And I'm not expecting you to. To be honest, neither am I. I think it's pretty safe to say neither of us really know what we're doing here. So maybe we just... carry on as normal and see what happens."

"Yes. Yes, I'd like that." Regina smiled. "And as for this being my job..." The brunette bit her lower lip, brown eyes meeting the quadriplegic's green. "I'm happy to keep coming in and doing this. In fact, it might help my cause. If that's alright with you?"

"Definitely!" Emma nodded. "No tags. Normal. See how it goes. As long as we're honest with each other, I think we're going to be fine." She swallowed around the lump in her throat and breathed in, willing herself to be brave before lifting her head and turning towards Regina. "We're gonna be just fine."

"Thank you." Regina told her, voice soft and low.

"For what?"

"Just for being... I don't know." Regina's warm brown eyes darted up to meet Emma's in the thin morning light. As a faint smile ghosted over her lips, she leaned forward and took one of Emma's limp white hands between her own. "You."

She let go almost immediately, but Emma damn near disintegrated. It didn't matter she couldn't feel it – the sight alone was enough to keep her going. She could still barely believe this was happening to her. To be perfectly honest, she was a little scared that this might be a dream, that she might be lying in a hospital bed, and Regina might disappear when she woke up. But there was an advantage to that: there was nothing to be afraid of in dreams.

"That said," Emma breathed in, carried by a rush of adrenaline or endorphins or sheer fucking insanity. "Would it be okay if I asked you on a date at some point? A friendly, no-pressure date. Just to see how that would go."

Regina bit back a smile. "I think that would be more than okay."

"Well then... You should know I have full intention of doing this properly," Emma informed the brunette seriously, shooting her a sideways grin.

"Oh?" Regina arched an eyebrow. The pale yellow sunlight from the window had fallen across her face, eyelashes casting shadows across her cheeks.

"Hell yeah," Emma nodded. "Just 'cause I'm stuck in this piece of crap, doesn't mean I can't show a lady a good time."

Regina laughed. "I wouldn't doubt it for a second."

"So," Emma began. God, she was as nervous as a teenager asking someone to prom for a first date. In some respects she was just as new to this, just as inexperienced and unused to this. It had been so long. And with the chair... She might as well be eighteen again. Emma paused, catching Regina's eye and raising an eyebrow. "In the spirit of keeping it natural but doing it properly, the annual Christmas charity ball is on Friday. I wasn't gonna go but it's really important to my mom, and if I had a certain carer – a certain friend – as my date I'd definitely enjoy it a lot more..."

Emma turned to Regina as much as she could, eyebrow raised hopefully over puppy-dog eyes.

Regina's smile was slow and gradual. It was melting chocolate. It was a kick-ass guitar riff. It was everything good in the world. Her eyes met Emma's, dark and dancing. "I think that's some charity I can get involved in."