Hello, Lovelies! Say hello to your new neighbors, poke them if you must. I always make it a point to do that at some point on a long ride. Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews and howdy to the new followers. Welcome!

Enjoy, My sweets…. Also, please forgive me for being sadistic. I'm almost sorry for this cunt punch in the feels.

Song: Fools by Lauren Aquilina

"Are you sure she's going to be okay?" Emma asked for the hundredth time since Regina suggested they leave the hospital. She collapsed onto her bed now located in the isolation room, and hated her heart for screaming so loudly at her to remain at Ruby's side. It wasn't that bad now that Regina healed the cuts on her face.

"I have guards posted at every entrance and exit of each floor and two of my personal guard stationed outside her room. They are trained and ordered to trust no one but me. Miss Lucas is well-protected," Regina reassured her and clasped her hands in front of her hips.

Emma smiled up at the other woman. She'd changed so much so quickly. While Emma knew it was partly due to her influence, Regina mostly changed because she'd wanted to change. She only needed the support completely free of judgment on which to make her stand. She needed an ally, and Emma gave her that to the best of her ability. It was difficult to know what to say when Regina was so unpredictable in this timeline. One minute she lashed her with a magical whip and the next she practically asked her to marry her, for lack of better terms.

"Come lay down for a minute. We've been going all day, and we missed lunch," Emma justified the request. Her grumbling stomach gave evidentiary support in the form of a loud, long gurgle. Emma slapped a hand over it and smiled sheepishly at the amused.

"Why? I've my own sleeping chambers," Regina reasoned, and Emma almost laughed. The poor woman had no clue how to be a friend, but she desperately sought understanding at every turn.

"It's not about sleeping," Emma corrected gently so as not to offend the woman. "We had a rough day. It's about… I don't know, just knowing we're not alone, I guess. It's comforting." Emma shrugged and tossed her hands behind her head nonchalantly, pretending the offer was no huge deal. To both of them, it was huge. Emma's life stunted her emotionally as much as Regina's had, just in different ways, and expressing emotions and asking for comfort came as torturously for her as it did Regina.

The Queen raised an eyebrow but remained standing by the bed near Emma's head. Emma released a deep sigh and closed her eyes. She'd tried to coerce Regina to get comfortable and used the last of her energy reserves in the process. It was Emma time, she decided. The day sucked the life from her. Between crowd control and waiting for Ruby to wake up, which she still hadn't done, exhaustion rooted in her weary muscles and refused to be swayed with the biggest platter of bacon known to man.

The bed wiggled, and a smile slowly split Emma's face. She cracked her eyes in time to see Regina swing her leg from the floor and over her hips. The smile disappeared with Emma's dropping jaw. That hadn't been exactly what she'd meant, but at least Regina reached out for comfort. She was so slight that Emma barely felt the added pressure of her weight pressing upon her thighs and hips.

"That's not what I meant," she teased lightheartedly, hoping to keep the situation from escalating into another rejection for the already wounded woman atop her.

Regina popped the button on her riding jacket and shrugged it slowly over her shoulders. Emma swallowed roughly, unable to prevent her eyes from dragging over the tight bodice of black leather. It was softer than her pants, almost like pliable rawhide or perhaps suede, and pushed her breasts up to a beautiful display a few inches from those tantalizing collarbones.

"Regina, please don't make me reject you again," Emma pleaded breathily, finding it difficult to find enough lung pressure to force the words out.

"You spoke of comfort in a bed. I assumed you comforted yourself with sex as I do," Regina bit, injecting venom with each word. She moved to dismount The Savior, but Emma's firm hands upon her thighs stopped her cold.

"You don't have to move," she backpedaled, searching for the rope of salvation in the quick sand she'd created once more. Dark eyes narrowed, boring a hole into Emma's face. Emma swallowed and forced herself not to look away.

"Just don't go any further. Can you do that?" Green eyes flicked back and forth, searching for any sort of emotional indicator in the dark orbs gazing down at her. Regina's brow furrowed a moment before she nodded and settled upon Emma's hips again. One side of Emma's mouth pulled into a grin, and she squeezed Regina's thighs encouragingly, leaving her hands there to prove she really hadn't minded being mounted.

"You are a most confusing creature, Emma Swan," Regina proclaimed thoughtfully, almost more to herself than to the woman she addressed. She leaned forward and braced her arms on either side of Emma's head. Emma held her breath, unsure exactly what was happening.

Regina whispered, ghosting warm air over Emma's face. She captured Emma's lips chastely between her own and held them for one breath. As quickly as it came, the kiss ended, and Regina settled her weight upon Emma's hips once more.

"I thought you said you could be good," Emma rasped, far more thrown and aroused by the very tame but no less passionate kiss.

Regina wiggled and ground her hips into Emma's until she deemed herself comfortable enough and Emma thoroughly teased and biting her bottom lip to keep from making a sound. A devilish smirk grew upon her lips and a perfectly sculpted eyebrow quirked, feigning innocence. "I'm no angel, Miss Swan."

Emma stared up at her with hazy eyes for a few seconds and then chuckled to release the sudden tension in her chest. "No, are you not, Regina Mills," she agreed with a playful grin, allowing the light mood to settle into her suddenly heated body.

It felt wonderful to be with Regina like this, comfortable and right. Yet, a mocking voice in the back of her mind told her that if she ever returned home, the original Regina would fillet her emotionally for the sentiment. An image of Regina and Robin tucked cozily into one another beneath a blanket laughing at her unrequited yearning for the woman she was meant to reform. It tore at her heart, so she pushed it aside as best she could and focused on this queen instead.

Regina's head dropped slightly in thought. Emma waited and watched the ideas flicker and grow on Regina's face only to fade a few seconds later and be replaced with another. The Queen closed her eyes, but they moved beneath the lids as she processed the words and images within her own mind. For the first time, Emma pondered how terrifying it was in there, Regina's mind.

"What are you thinking?" She murmured, and The Queen's eyes opened slowly.

"Why do you care?" Regina barked suddenly. The question surprised her more than angered her, but the emotions got crossed between her brain and her mouth.

"Easy," Emma laughed and held her hands up in mock surrender. "I was just wondering, that's all. You don't have to tell me, but sometimes it helps to talk it out." Her hands returned to Regina's legs, thumbs brushing a soothing and repetitive trek on her inner thigh near her knee.

"The other Regina, from your timeline, she's the reason you will not submit sexually?" Regina asked with a deathly seriousness, which would have made Emma laugh if she knew she'd get away with it sans an embarrassed and pissy Regina. Her hips shifted innocently, and Emma bit the inside of her jaw. Regina meant to kill her slowly by over-arousal, she knew it.

"That's part of the reason," Emma answered honestly and sat up. Regina resisted slightly when Emma tried to pull her down beside her and off her very tingly core.

"Miss Swan, if you do not refrain from jerking your queen about, I shall break your hands," Regina threatened, but it was empty.

Emma smirked and pressed her lips to Regina's, tasting the tart of her lipstick instantly. Her hands slid up Regina's thighs until she grasped her surprisingly curvaceous and feminine hips hidden beneath her ridiculous costumes. With very little urging, she used her hands to guide The Queen to the bed. She turned to the side, positioning Regina's head on her shoulder without breaking the kiss. A cheeky grin split her lips when she finally pulled back from the heavily breathing queen.

"I'm no angel either, Your Majesty. Welcome to the land of cuddles," Emma teased. Regina tensed for a hot second as she realized exactly how she'd been innocently manipulated, and Emma held her breath to see if she'd pull away or not.

Regina straightened one leg against hers, the other still slung over her hips. One arm bent between them and hugged Regina's ribs tightly, and she pulled the other into a white-knuckled fist atop her thigh. She looked uncomfortable as hell, and Emma shook her head adoringly. Confidence filled her up to the moment she touched Regina's fist. Her hand trembled against The Queen's, and a tiny gasped pulled between those candy apple lips.

"It's okay," Emma whispered, to herself as much as the other woman. "This stuff is hard for me, too," she admitted without meaning to, but she never even thought to take it back when Regina relaxed against her and allowed her hand to be placed on Emma's belly with an open palm and splayed fingers.

"If you're uncomfortable, why are we partaking in such a silly activity?" Regina presented another question born in her need to understand normal relationships.

"Because I'm a masochist," Emma muttered. Holding Regina so closely but denying herself the pleasure of fully exploring the physical side of their relationship was self-imposed torture. But damn it, it felt good. She felt too good when she held Regina. She never should have hugged her earlier that day at the hospital. She was addicted, and she felt her resolve slip a little more with each new development.

Regina hummed at the answer. "Is that the reason you are incapable of controlling your mouth?" Emma chuckled but remained otherwise quiet.

"What's the other part? Why won't you submit when you clearly desire me?" Regina asked when Emma quieted.

"I don't want to submit, Regina. Yes, I want to be with you. That's not even a question, but it's… it's complicated. I don't want our friendship to be destroyed if I can get everything back to normal, but if I can't then, I want you to see me as a person, not property. I know that's going to take time," she explained as best she could and trailed feathery fingertips over Regina's forearm.

Regina readjusted her head on Emma's shoulder but remained silent for a long time. Emma turned her face into Regina's hair and smiled at her clandestine delight. Regina smelled like peace - earthy and subtle and delicious, like a faint hint of incense upon a sweater. She nuzzled the silky hair, just to test Regina's reaction to it. If The Queen noticed, she never said a word.

"Who do you think attacked Miss Lucas?" Regina asked suddenly, sadness tinting her voice. It completely destroyed Emma's happy bubble because she had a pretty strong opinion on what happened to Ruby. Cora.

Emma snorted and averted her gaze to the magical web over the chasm, allowing it to remind her exactly how tenuous this conversation was. "I'm not sure you want me to answer that question, Regina."

"Why?" Regina demanded and propped herself up on an elbow to stare down at her.

"Because you're really not going to like my answer, and I really don't want to spend another night in that web," Emma explained as she met her eyes again. Regina set her jaw and took a deep breath.

"You believe mother is to blame," Regina accused angrily.

"Regina, please don't put me in that web, but I have to tell you something. Can you promise not to put me in the web?" Emma's voice shook with the thought, but she trusted the progress she'd made with Regina not physically punishing her for speaking up when the appropriate moment arose.

"I shall try," Regina conceded and raised her chin slightly in a pompous show of authority that made Emma want to roll her eyes. She might have if what she planned to say wasn't jumping off a cliff and hoping for the best.

"In my timeline, your mom… I don't know all the details or why or anything like that, but… in my timeline, Cora took out her heart and kept it in a box." Emma bit her lower lip and waited anxiously for a reaction. Any reaction would have done. Any at all. But Regina only stared at her with narrowed eyes but an otherwise blank expression.

Emma flinched when a short bark of laughter echoed off the cave walls. "That's preposterous," Regina denied the truth, a possibility Emma anticipated.

"I know it sounds that way, Regina, but it's the truth. I'm sorry, but she acts exactly like the Cora from my world acted," Emma implored The Queen to understand, to believe just a little. If they found Cora's heart and returned it, maybe her fated changed from the deceased Cora Mills from her timeline. She'd loved Regina once her heart had been returned. She'd seen it in her eyes, heard it in her voice.

"Acted?" Regina latched onto the word she'd used in the past tense. Shit. Shit. Shit.

"Regina, just listen to me," Emma begged and followed The Queen as she sat up and pulled her legs beneath her to kneel on the bed. "If we could find Cora's heart and put it back in, then I think we…"

"Enough!" Regina cut her off and pushed her flat onto the bed again. Emma shot upright once the other woman dismounted the mattress and grabbed her jacket. It was a protective gesture to cover herself up, Emma realized and stepped gently on the glass floor cracking beneath her.

Regina slid into her coat and whirled on Emma without buttoning the front. "How dare you suggest such a heinous thing? My mother has been loyal and loving my entire life. I would not be where I am today without her guidance and support." Her spine straightened rigidly, but Emma saw the cracks of doubt splintering Regina's faith in her mother. She lashed out so abruptly because a part of her believed Emma.

"Exactly," Emma agreed pointedly. "You are here right now, lonely and depressed and keeping the company of the woman who is supposed to be your worst enemy because your mother has done nothing but manipulate and abuse and control you your entire life, Regina. Please just take a step back and see what I'm saying from my perspective," she pleaded, keeping her voice as soft and non-threatening as possible. She wanted to scream at The Queen to stop being stupid, but that would have landed her in the nexus for sure.

Regina stared blankly at her for at least a full minute before a rush of pain and anger flooded her eyes. Her lips pulled into a sneer, and Emma's heart sank like a coin in a wishing well with exactly the same result: nothing happened. Cora's roots of influence entrenched much deeper than Emma's. She'd conditioned her daughter far too well to ever believe a cross word spoken about her.

"Mother warned me this would happen," Regina growled, anchoring herself firmly within her fervent denial of the truth, her voice the dangerously deep timbre of The Evil Queen. The woman before her transformed into that animalistic predator Emma experienced her first few days in this timeline.

"I'm not trying to tear you apart, Regina. I'm trying to help both of you," Emma amended her intentions, leaving no room for misinterpretation. It was too late. She reached for Regina in desperation, but the sorceress threw up her hand, immobilizing Emma instantly. Fear gripped her heart when she thought that she might have been tossed into the glowing grid again.

"You abhorrent, traitorous, inconsequential insect. Did you honestly believe I would be so guileless? Do you take me for a naïve fool, Savior?" Regina asked rhetorically. Genuine hurt danced in her eyes for only a moment before she killed it with wrath.

"Regina, please, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told you, but I just…Damn it, I'm trying to protect you!" Emma yelled as her own emotions overtook her. She'd lost her again. She watched it happen in the blink of an eye.

Regina barked a harsh, mocking laugh. "Enjoy your new home, Savior. Mother will enjoy her new boy immensely."

Crap. Henry. How had she forgotten about Henry? "Regina, please," Emma begged hoarsely, her voice catching on the ache of tears in her throat.

"Enough," The Queen bit coldly and approached Emma with calculated steps. Claws pressed crescents into Emma's cheeks and forced her face to the position Regina's desired. Emma refrained from fighting it as Regina pressed her face close, close enough to puff breath onto Emma's lips. A different kind of pain filled her heart as the ghosts of memories reminded her of the same sensation not ten minutes before in the bed.

"Enough of your pretty lies. Mother was right, and you'll never see your son again," she promised with a malicious smile. Emma felt her heart shatter into a thousand pieces.

"Regina, please, I won't bring it up again. I promise. Please," Emma begged, but Regina only stared as though her mind searched for the emotions she was supposed to feel but hadn't.

"Regina, please don't leave me," Emma breathed into the empty space where sorceress disappeared in a swirl of purple haze. Emma dropped to her knees, too weak to stand any longer.

"Regina!"

Only the hollow echo of her own voice answered the cry.