Enjoy Lovelies!
Songs: And We Run by Within Temptation, You Always Believed by In This Moment
"Belle, when was the last time you slept?" Emma asked her friend when her head jerked to attention for the third time in the past three minutes.
As she had for the past three mornings, Belle visited without Ruby for about an hour and explained her magical findings, which wasn't much. She held Annabel and checked on the status of Emma's painstakingly slowly developing control on Regina's rage the remaining time. Regina divulged the morning after her tryst with Amelia that she often used painful sex as a deterrent for the rage, so she also inquired about any other liaisons Emma may have partook the previous night. The seriousness and professionalism with which she asked the question made Emma laugh every time, but she saw the merit behind the question and answered it anyway.
"I took a nap yesterday around noon," Belle said with a hint of embarrassment in her voice. Emma narrowed her eyes and readjusted her grip on Annabel's bottle.
"Uh huh. And that was in a bed and not at your desk at the library?" She eyed her friend with knowing eyes, and Belle sucked her lips into her mouth and raised her eyebrows as if to say "whoops."
"Lay down on the cot, woman. Regina's off getting tests and scans and god knows what else. Take a nap here. I'll wake you up when she gets back." Emma jerked her head towards the small rollaway that hadn't seen her drool on the pillow since the day before she'd been with Amelia.
"I'm okay. I'll go home after this and lay down. I promise." If she were honest, her body screamed at her for sleep. Every nerve ending ached with exhaustion and reminded her of the desperately needed rest she'd deprived her mind because of guilt and determination to rectify the mistake she unknowingly made.
"Belle, you can't drive like this." With a sigh, she hefted her daughter to her shoulder. Her body bounced intuitively as she tapped the infant's back.
"I'll have sex with you, Emma." Belle blurted, and Emma choked on the breath she'd inhaled. Annabel protested the noise in her ear with a flailing arm, and Emma sucked air with a red face and flushed chest.
"What the actual fuck are you talking about? Has lack of sleep made you delirious?" Emma clung to the lighthearted mood that had oddly surrounded them this morning. Belle's presence clawed at her heart as it always did, but it felt more manageable this morning.
"If you need to, I mean." She took a deep breath and propped her forehead to the dip between her thumb and forefinger. "I already spoke with Ruby. Regina is out of commission for at least six weeks, longer for the rough stuff that you clearly need. We both know I can take it. We both know I enjoy sex for the sake of sex, and I think we're both mature enough to handle it and remain friends if it comes to that." Clearly, Belle thought this through and covered all points of counterargument.
Emma never doubted that with Regina's heart in her chest she and Belle certainly created an explosive combination of sexual aggression, but Belle obviously made the offer out of guilt and obligation, not genuine desire. Her resigned tone and hesitant expression clawed at the heart in Emma's chest for an entirely different reason. Belle only wanted Ruby. Despite her perceived reputation as a loose canon should Ruby ever fall short, that moment told Emma that Belle wasn't a sex addict like she'd previously and wrongly assumed. She was addicted to sex with the woman she loved, not necessarily sex itself. She probably had never considered another partner once she and Ruby muddled through the earlier stages of their relationship.
"Belle, I don't want to have sex with anyone but Regina and her permission for that has been rescinded anyway. Thank you for the offer, but I especially do not want to have sex with you," Emma said with a playful wink that pulled their earlier good mood back.
"And why not?" Belle demanded haughtily, though the skin around her eyes loosened with relief. Emma laughed out loud at the reaction, having completely expected it and been surprised anyway.
"Woman, you are a mere mortal with the same tolerance to pain as me, and you took on a werewolf hyped up on full moon and dance juice and emerged still walking. You had to shut down the library for a week, and you made a freaking wolf limp for two days. I'd be in here with Regina if we went after each other with the energy I have pent up right now because I wholeheartedly believe you would hurt me in a way that wasn't fixable." Emma laughed. Annabel belched a hefty amount of air and nasty spit. Belle smirked.
"So, you are saying I'm too much woman for you," Belle caught onto the levity of the moment and rode it with her friend. The joke felt much better than delving into the darker reasons behind her offer.
"Hell yes," Emma admitted without shame and returned the girl to her crib so she could wipe her mouth and dispose of the soiled towel she'd had over her shoulder.
"Now lay your ass down and take a nap or I'm calling Ruby to come pick you up." She pointed behind her to the cot as she leaned over Annabel. Belle huffed an obstinate sigh but obeyed her anyway. Emma lifted Annabel from her bed and jiggled her as she approached the cot.
Belle rolled to her side and scooted near the edge when she realized that Emma intended to lay the infant beside her as added incentive. Evil, evil savior. She tucked a fist beneath her chin and wrapped the other around Annabel's tiny ribs. The tip of her middle finger tickled at her niece's tiny hand until it grasped at the sensation. Belle smiled brightly, eyes already drooping as the stress drained from her mind.
"You won't let me roll on her?" She asked drowsily as Emma sat cross-legged on the floor facing her daughter.
"I'll move her when you drift off." Belle seemed satisfied with the answer and closed her eyes. Less than a minute later, soft, even breaths puffed across Annabel's dark hair. Belle clearly hadn't slept more than her naps in random places since uncovering the truth of their switched hearts.
Emma rested her forearm on the cot and held her daughter's tiny leg, thumb brushing absently over her knee. Anger came haltingly towards Belle's carelessness when the reality of their daughter's existence stared them in the face. Regina gave up on them in the past few weeks of Emma's idiocy leading up to Annabel's birth. In that time, all of the symptoms that generally presented earlier during pregnancy suddenly surfaced and nearly took both of them from this world.
How long would Regina have clung to belief in their reunion without her heart in The Enchanted Forest? Long enough for both of them to have been gravely endangered by the pregnancy. She'd have lost them and never knew it and spent the rest of her life searching for something that no longer existed. That's only if she herself survived when her heart's magic finally ran out.
"Hey," a soft voice called from the door. Emma smiled up at Amelia's hushed tone and shifty eyes. She searched for Ruby's presence, which usually came with Belle's
"She's not here," Emma said with a grin. Amelia breathed bodily and joined Emma on the floor.
She and Ruby avoided each other as much as Amelia avoided the angry and overprotective wolf. At five every evening, Emma waited outside the room until Ruby's stalking figure appeared at the end of the hallway and then retreated to the other side. They repeated the process when Ruby departed at 6:30. She always waited until Ruby disappeared into the room before taking off for Amelia's office. They moved their meetings to the common/break room set up for doctors on this wing and talked over coffee. Emma found she greatly appreciated having a confidante outside the tight group they created. Plus, they'd already had sex, so the awkward stage of "hey, I want to hug you, where should I put my hands?" got skipped completely.
"Addison says she's been researching 24/7." Amelia nodded at Belle and slipped her hand around Emma's knee. The doctors knew of Emma and Regina's heart swap, and they trusted them to keep their tongues in their mouths.
The blonde smiled at her comfortably. Amelia spoke truthfully when she offered friendship. The attraction remained naturally, but their innocent and supportive touches weren't filled with tension or unfulfilled desire. They were exactly what they appeared to be, friendly and comfortable affection between two women who had seen more shit than they knew how to handle.
"She has been. She's an incredible friend and human being," Emma praised the slumbering woman as she studied her almost peaceful face.
"Can I hold Annabel?" Amelia asked and bumped their shoulders together. With fierce concentration, Emma lifted Belle's hand from her daughter's belly and then lowered it after Amelia retrieved the infant and crossed to the window.
"I couldn't even look at a baby for the longest time," she confessed quietly and offered her thumb to Annabel's tiny fist as replacement for Belle's finger she searched for but could no longer find.
"How come?" Emma asked and crossed her arms as she leaned into the wall near the window. Amelia's haunted brown eyes flicked to hers and then back to Annabel's face.
"While you and Regina were in Boston, I had a baby. I was so excited." She paused and gathered her emotions. "I got completely clean. It was the hardest thing I'd ever done. Several months into the pregnancy, I discovered that his brain would never develop. The stem was there, but…" She swallowed, and Emma rubbed her back.
"I heard about that, but I didn't know it was you. I'm so sorry, Amelia. You donated as much as possible, right?" Emma pushed her through the pain, made her face the facts. It was one of the reasons she appreciated Emma beyond her spectacular sexual abilities. She never coddled her but made her feel as though she was strong enough to accept everything in her life. Would she still be that person when she reclaimed her rightful heart?
"I called him unicorn baby," she laughed around her tears and dropped a kiss to Annabel's head. Emma smiled compassionately. "He saved thirteen other babies. I don't regret the decision, but I miss him." Amelia sniffed and chuckled at herself.
"I'm sorry, Emma. You have so much happening in your life right now. You don't need my burdens on top of that." She retreated, and Emma followed before the door slammed in her face.
"Hey." She wrapped her hand around the back of surgeon's neck and pressed a kiss to her hair just above her ear and then rested her forehead there. "I like it when you open up. Believe it or not, it makes all of this," she pulled back and waved her hand around the room, "better."
"Ruby, Belle, Regina and I have been through so much weird crap that it's actually kinda nice to just talk about normal problems of this world. Like addiction and unicorn babies." Emma smiled, and Amelia laughed emotionally but with a glimmer of lightheartedness. They shared a smile of kinship.
"I know what you mean. I haven't had a drink or a pill since that night. You still doing okay in that department?" She pushed through the tears and grief of losing her child and loved Emma Swan all the more for it. She truly hoped they maintained a friendship when things were set right between her and Regina's hearts.
"I'm ready to rip into something and either fuck it silly or tear it apart with my bare hands. Other than that, I'm adjusting. This might be permanent, so I need to learn how to deal with it without using." Amelia raised an eyebrow with an amused expression.
"I realized that doesn't actually answer your question." Emma snorted and averted her eyes to the snowy scene outside. Damn Maine snowed a lot. "I'm struggling. Finally being able to hold Regina every night helps. It would help a lot more if she got me off, but I haven't asked and she hasn't offered. We don't normally give pleasure exclusively, but I think I need her to or I need to go pick a fight with Ruby." Emma bit the inside of her jaw and pushed away the guilt at her perceived selfishness.
"That wouldn't take much," Amelia commented bitterly and touched her throat with her free hand. Ruby showed up at her office the day after she and Emma had sex and threatened her.
"She shouldn't have done that, Amelia. I'm sorry." Amelia waved off the apology. Emma hadn't attacked her… well, not like that anyway.
"I don't think its selfish for you to ask Regina for sex. Her recovery is going to take nearly two months before she can safely have sex, and that's only including gentle, making sweet sweet love type sex. Under normal circumstance, I might have considered it selfish, but apparently, nothing about you can be normal. The heart of the former Evil Queen bonded with your soul, Emma.
"That's a helluva lot of rage, and if sex helps you deal, then that's what helps you deal. You can't control what does and doesn't work. Good god, Arizona had someone stab her fake leg with a scalpel because she had phantom pains during surgery. It was scary as fuck for everyone watching, but it worked. The brain is so complex. That's why I love it so much. There's still so much to be discovered." Bliss spread over her features as she spoke about her work. Emma smiled, genuinely happy that the woman found solace in the profession she'd been cursed into.
"There are a lot of studies linking anger and sex," she said suddenly and moved to the crib, placing Annabel in it gently.
"It has to do with the adrenaline and endorphins, pumping blood and pounding hearts and heightened strokes of emotion. It makes the thrust of daily life impale a bit more deeply, propels the pistons of the heart in and out a bit faster and harder." She hit each plosive and sexual word with extra emphasis, her voice a sensual purr. Emma bit her bottom lip.
"You're a bitch." Emma groused when her stomach muscles clenched at the imagery flying through her mind.
"I'm a bitch who wants Regina's fingers in you, not a needle." Amelia said across the crib and brushed Annabel's hair softly.
"I concur," Regina's dark voice called from the doorway. Amelia jumped as though she'd been zapped in the ass with a magic bolt and clasped her hands behind her back. Regina raised an eyebrow and smirked.
Emma moved forward and helped her from the wheelchair to the bed. She healed and moved more everyday, and it made Emma's heart soar with joy. She needed her family intact and in good health. Regina's recovery and Annabel's feedings gave her something to focus on, but it also hindered her from fully addressing the changes in her personality.
"How are you feeling, Regina? No dizzy spells or memory lapses or other general zombie-like behavior?" Amelia immediately hid behind her facetious question rather than deal with the fact that only four nights ago she'd had her tongue inside Regina's fiancée.
Thus far, Regina withheld comment and judgment on the subject. She truly had given Emma consent. It was sort of beautiful that she trusted Emma that much, trusted their love that much. That simple fact told her more than anything else that somehow her new friend and old magic buddy had found a way to love each other despite their obstacles.
"Nothing of the sort. Will you please go read my scans and release me from this torture chamber. I wish to sleep in my own bed." Regina groused at the neurosurgeon.
It'd been nearly a week since her surgery, and no further complications arose during that time. Her catheter had been removed four days ago. She walked with minimal assistance and had been given soft foods since yesterday. She was fine, and the fuss and bustle of the hospital grated on her nerves more harshly every second she remained awake. The time had come for her entire family to reside under one roof. Emma and Ruby simply needed to find a way to deal with each other.
"Has Addison and Eva been by yet?" Regina shook her head as she dropped it to her hand. Tears burned her eyes, and the other hand wiped at them furiously. Emma's tender heart, while powerful and amazing in her own chest, often left Regina emotional and crying over the silliest things. She cried yesterday because her pudding had been vanilla instead of chocolate. Lauren had immediately rectified the situation for a floundering Emma.
"Hey, look, I'll go read your scans right now and page them to my office. Maybe we can get you out of here this afternoon. Annabel is ready to go when you are. Sound good?" Amelia squeezed her calf as she spoke and then rubbed her leg when Regina raised her head with grateful eyes and hiccupped. Amelia might have laughed at the dramatic reaction if she hadn't known the true reason behind them. Every time she became frustrated, she cried instead of lashing out with haughty anger and painfully clever retorts.
"Thanks, Amelia," Emma answered as she slid into the bed beside Regina and eagerly accepted her partner against her chest. Amelia nodded and left the room quickly and silently. Belle remained unconscious on the cot. She must have truly needed the sleep if she slipped under so far that the outburst two feet from went unnoticed.
"Emma," she gasped, caught her breath, coughed.
"I'm here, Baby. I'm not going anywhere, and neither are Belle and Ruby and Henry. They'll be right there when you're ready to go home." Emma reassured the distraught woman before she even asked. Apparently, Regina also inherited her abandonment issues. They weren't as pronounced before, but Emma broke the curse and reunited their hearts and love. It intensified everything, but they hadn't realized how much until Regina healed enough to go with low grade doses of medication that hadn't quite succeeded in knocking her out cold the majority of the day.
"I want Annabel," Regina sobbed. Emma nodded and moved to retrieve the infant. Clawed fingers tore into her arm painfully, and Emma hissed. "Where are you going?" Emma pulled a calming breath through her noise and then another and then another.
"I'm going to get Annabel. It's three feet away. It will take me ten seconds." Emma explained in the calmest voice available and fought the urge to jerk her hand from Regina's grasp. The witch nodded and watched each move like a hawk while Emma wasn't within her reach.
She released a shuddering breath and accepted the infant in her arms greedily. Emma sat beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and beneath the arm holding their daughter, lips pressing to the side of her head. Their lives were so fucked up.
"Why is she sleeping?" Regina asked suddenly. "Why isn't she out there figuring out how to fix this?" Her free hand flailed at the sleeping librarian, and Emma never doubted for one second that she might have taken to Belle with her fingernails had the woman been close enough.
"Regina, leave her alone. She's running herself ragged already. She feels bad enough without you screaming at her about her shortcomings. It's the best she can do right now. Let her sleep or she's going to be useless." Emma squeezed her eyes shut tightly and held her forehead to Regina's cheek and prayed that Regina dropped it.
"It's not good enough," Regina sniped quietly. Emma released the breath she'd been holding. The librarian's nap upset Regina, but her lowered voice meant she allowed it for now.
"Hey, Babe, remember when we realized that breaking the curse intensified our emotions, and we promised each other to always point out when we were being irrational?" Regina gritted her teeth but nodded. "You're being irrational," Emma deadpanned and then winced, praying that more tears not follow the statement.
"I'm sorry," Regina apologized and sniffed but collected her emotions. Emma tightened her grip and released the frustration building in her system with a deep breath and a sigh.
"Don't be sorry. Just please don't yell at Belle," Emma pleaded on their friend's behalf. Silence encased them as the foreign emotions receded under their physical closeness.
"Regina, I need to have sex," Emma blurted and then twitched uncomfortably.
"With Amelia?"
"With you," Emma countered immediately and readjusted her position in order to make eye contact. "I know it's not fair to ask, but…" her gaze dropped to her lap. "It helped."
"Emma, when we made love before this, you derived most of your emotional satisfaction from giving instead of receiving, right?" Emma nodded. They'd never discussed it before, but apparently, Regina paid attention.
"Addison assures me that I'll have my staples out next week. Perhaps then we can revisit this conversation? Can you survive that long? I assure you that nothing aerobic will take place until I am completely healed, but your gentle touches always took the edge off. I can do this for you, Emma." Regina found strength in comforting her partner. That was what Emma felt when she blubbered about like a fool and soaked her chest with tears. Emma felt empowered and needed by giving her comfort, which was why she never tired of it.
"Thank you," Emma said with a small, quiet voice. If Regina's sexuality always felt like such a burden, no wonder she hesitated when asking for pleasure as if she could be rejected at any moment. Emma felt certain many had rejected her. She'd said no plenty of times in Salem when she'd been too tired or distracted, not that she hadn't wanted to or felt frustrated at Regina's seemingly constant need. Life simply got in the way, much like it did right now.
"We're being tested," Regina theorized after a moment. "I've not put much stock in fate and all of the nonsense that came with it until I found you, but this feels like a test. I lost my love once before, perhaps whatever power-that-is felt we needed a test. No one knows exactly where magic comes from or why it chooses particular people to wield it naturally. It can be taken artificially with objects such as The Dark One's dagger, but the origin of natural magic is a complete mystery. It chose us for a reason, and now I feel as though I'm being tested because I lost my love. What if I'm not strong enough to be the soul mate of The Truest Believer?"
Emma digested the flow of words quietly before speaking. What Regina said had merit, but she poked holes in the theory in her mind before revealing them to Regina. She found only one.
"We make our own fate, Regina. The only reason we will ever have to walk away from each other is if we make that decision. You made the decision to walk away from Robin Hood all those years ago and everyday since his appearance in Storybrooke. We made the decision to pursue this relationship." Emma broached the subject lightly, even though she wanted to beat the man with a green birch switch until his back bled.
"You know about that?" Regina's eye widened with surprise.
"Tink has a big mouth. The point is that we make our own decisions, and I'm here. I am right here and I am making the decision to stay and be loyal to you and seek only your touch and take care of our family. We learned to deal with the flaws in our own hearts, and we can learn to deal with the same in each other's. This might be a test, but I don't buy into the whole fate thing. It's just a test, like any other couple might have.
"There isn't some omnipotent being waiting to rip us apart if we make a mistake. You're going to cry, and I'm going to get angry. Storybrooke is going to fling poo at us. Speaking of, I'm pretty sure someone already did." Emma sniffed at their daughter. Regina wrinkled her nose. Too bad her sophistication hadn't rubbed off on the pretty blonde.
Her antics made her smile, though. She was still Emma, just angrier and hornier.
Regina handed Annabel over carefully. "I need to pump anyway. Would you hand it to me, Darling?" Emma juggled the infant to one arm and pulled Regina's bag from the small closet with the other. She eyed it wearily and then retreated to crib to change Annabel.
"Don't tell me that breast pumps unnerve you, too." Regina bit her lip and snorted once when the color drained from Emma's face and she presented her back as she changed Annabel's diaper.
She finished in time to turn around and watch Regina flip the switch on the pump. A hand flew to her stomach, and she swallowed thickly. "I'm gonna go for a walk." She took two steps towards the bed with the intention of kissing Regina, grunted at the pump, and bolted for the door, snagging her coat on the way out. Regina chuckled darkly. Something from every step of this process freaked Emma out in one way or another without any real explanation why.
Regina glanced at Belle. The whine of the pump went completely unnoticed by the sleeping librarian. Emma was right. Belle had gone as far as possible without breaking to care for herself. Movement at the door caught her attention, and she glanced up. Zelena entered with a smile, and Regina returned it. Emma was right. The woman felt off, no matter how much Regina tried to make herself like the woman. She'd done nothing untoward or rude or malicious, but she raised her hackles. Warning bells blared when she closed the door.
"Hello sister," she greeted sweetly.
"Belle!" Regina pulled a fireball to her hand and woke the other woman. She jerked at the sudden loud voice, saw the fireball, slapped her hand into Regina's… almost. Zelena flicked her fingers with an almost bored expression on her face. They immobilized before their magic combined. Belle's anguished blue eyes met hers.
Regina struggled, but Zelena's magic far outmatched her own, perhaps even hers and Belle's combined. Very real fear tore through her veins. Her eyes followed Zelena to Annabel's crib. She reached desperately for Emma's heart magic, but without Emma's activation, it remained dormant, locked inside the powerful organ. How had Emma activated it? Love and rage. Regina's chest heaved in her focus. She had no rage. It was gone, stuck in Emma's chest.
Zelena touched Annabel's hair, and a flicker of anger ignite in her stomach. If Emma felt enough anger to activate it the first time, then surely the former Evil Queen mustered at least that much with or without her heart. Emma hadn't been in her right mind, though. She'd been sleep deprived and tortured and broken… and scared.
"Oh Regina, stop struggling. Rumpelstiltskin may have chosen you, but I have always been superior." Zelena laughed and raised Annabel from her crib.
Fear burned where anger should have been, and tears stung Regina's eyes. Something inside of her snapped. Her hand jerked towards Belle's, froze again. It wasn't rage that trigger Emma's magic. It was fear. She'd simply masked it with anger. Emma's magic burned in chest, just a bit more. She knew Belle immediately began pulling on the earth's energy the moment she froze. By the time she broke free enough to connect them, the librarian would be juiced enough to blow up the entire hospital.
"Since I'm here, I'll take that pesky heart off your hands." She returned the infant to the crib and pulled a long green glove from her hand.
"It's a shame, really, that you'll no longer exist after today. I always wanted a sister. The courage of a dark warrior with a clean soul. The reformed heart of a black witch." Zelena clicked her tongue and touched Regina's with her fingertips.
"There aren't many of you. It's a bit poetical that the very curse intended to erase you from existence also requires your heart, don't you think?" Zelena asked as though she spoke about the menu changes at Granny's. She was clearly insane, revealing her endgame before obtaining the object she needed. More fear tugged at Emma's magic. Her hand edged closer to Belle's. Regina winced, muscles quivering with the effort. Zelena laughed, tossing her head back, and then shoved her hand into Regina's chest.
"Mother should have chosen me," she whispered inches from Regina's face. She took her time, made it hurt. Regina determined not to give her the satisfaction of seeing it and held eye contact coldly. No one took Emma's heart but Emma and Regina. She'd revealed herself for nothing. Regina reached for the organ with her magic, but it remained untouchable.
Zelena jerked her up bodily and then dropped her to the bed. Her eyes widened in shock. Regina touched Belle's hand. Their magic rushed together. Belle gasped. Regina sneered and pulled everything the librarian had. Belle juiced her freely, knowing Regina was more powerful than she.
"No! That's not possible!" Zelena yelled.
"I'm an only child, lady," Regina reminded the clearly deranged sorceress, held out her hand and sent an energy blast into her.
The witch held up her hands and met Regina's swirl of yellow and purple with a puff of green energy effectively. Regina glanced at her daughter wailing in her crib.
"Activate, damn you!" She yelled at Emma's heart. Energy crackled as Zelena defended herself adequately. Belle panted and clung to her hand. Nails dug into the flesh of her forearm when Belle grabbed her with the other hand and loosed a hollow scream of pain. Her spindled magic had run out, and she tapped her life force. Zelena was too powerful.
Between Belle's anguish howls and Annabel's terrified wailing, Emma's heart snapped to attention. Love and fear, a heady rush of it tore through her system. A weak stream of neon blue spark joined violet and yellow.
Someone pounded at the door. "Regina!" Thump. Emma must have slammed into it bodily.
She pushed forward with one last surge. Zelena grunted and flew through the plate glass window behind her. Cold gusted and snow whipped onto the floor. Belle slumped onto the bed. The door flew open. Emma met her eyes, speaking silently, and then rushed to Annabel. She unzipped her coat and wrapped the infant inside, protecting her from the cold.
"What the hell happened? I was down the hall. I heard you scream." Emma demanded, but Regina shook Belle, completely ignoring her.
"Belle?" Shake. No response. "Belle!" Violently trembling fingers pressed to the librarian's neck. With a sob, Regina pulled back and covered her face.
"She's alive," she gasped, relief filling her soul. She touched a hand tenderly to Belle's hair and then met Emma's scared green eyes. The unconscious woman had a massive migraine waiting for her when she woke.
"Regina, what happened?" Emma rocked Annabel, but the infant refused to settle, probably because Emma focused only half her attention on her.
"Zelena's the witch who took Ruby's courage. She wanted my heart," Regina said, but her distant gaze told Emma that she spoke more to herself than her. "Ingredients for a spell?"
She winced at the sharp pain in her breast and switched off the pump. It was such an odd thing to do after what just happened. With numbed and slowed motions, she reached into her gown and detached the suction cup, attached it to her other breast, and switched the pump back on. The actions made no sense to her fuzzy and scrambled brain, but she did them anyway. Emma grabbed her chin and forced her eyes to hers.
"Regina, what the hell happened in here. I was gone two minutes!" Emma demanded, anger flaring in her eyes. The entire scene looked like something from a movie. Emma sputtered when her partner only stared. Regina was in shock. Her stupid heart stripped away the anger that pushed her forward. Regina was helpless, and acid burned through Emma's veins.
Regina shivered and looked at the broken window as if only realizing why cold air and snow gusted around them. She waved her hand at the glass. It clinked and scraped as it reassembled itself, shutting out February air of Maine. She doubted very much that Zelena's body lay below on the sidewalk anyway. Her magic disabled both her and Belle without straining. If she hadn't tapped Emma's heart, Zelena would have killed Belle. Zelena most definitely disappeared and now licked her wounds at a safe location.
"I can't stop her, Emma. She's too powerful. My magic… we combined magic…" Regina clamped her mouth shut when Lauren ran into the room. Apparently, everyone else froze in fear and gawked in the hallway. Lauren glared at them.
"Page Zambrano, Montgomery and Shepherd now!" She yelled and then slammed the door shut.
"Annabel?" She pointed to the baby even as she moved to Belle's side.
"She's okay," Emma said and focused on the infant, rocking her with renewed fervor. Still Annabel mewed. Lauren nodded, trusting the mother to put her child first and then lowered Belle to cot. She checked her pulse and listened to her lungs.
"She's weak, but she's okay," the nurse diagnosed quickly as if she were a doctor and finally turned to Regina.
"You're bleeding." she pointed to a spot on Regina's gown. She raised it with one hand and smacked the button on the pump with the flat of her hand.
"Sorry, I don't like noise," she explained. She zoned out as she focused on Regina's incision sight.
"Emma, go to the nurse's desk and tell someone to get in here with a cart. Actually, just bring the damn cart. Fucking cowards make me sick." Lauren grated, and then touched Regina's hand gently, soothing the scared woman.
Anger boiled the heart in Emma's chest. This never should have happened. She should have been there. She sneered at the hospital staff as she grabbed the cart and moved back to the room without shutting the door. Let them see her wailing infant and the women they were too afraid to help getting the care they deserved. The care they fucking earned saving their pathetic asses over and over again.
"Hey, you're okay. It's just a couple of pulled staples." Lauren met Regina's gaze with compassionate and caring eyes as they waited, and Regina nodded, taking comfort in the nurse's opinion. Eva clearly mentored her in everything. "We may not even have to put them back in. I'll let Eva decide when she gets here."
"She's here," Eva announced as she entered, pulling purple gloves into place. Lauren switched places and pulled the cart closer. One hand fell to the back of Eva's neck and the other pulled supplies from the cart.
"No, this needs restapled. See the gap here," Eva said. A syringe of local anesthetic appeared by her hand, and she smiled up at Lauren. Emma squinted at the two but withheld comment as she took Regina's hand. The rage in chest burned far too brightly for words.
Addison appeared in a clatter of heels, and everyone jumped. She froze, eyes glued to the fireball aimed at her head. Regina closed her fist, extinguishing the flame. The doctor moved slowly to a now quieted Annabel and took her gently from Emma's arms to be examined. Emma allowed it, an odd calm settling over her. The same process repeated when Amelia stumbled into the room, except she only raised an eyebrow at the flame without stopping and rushed to Emma's side.
"What happened?" She demanded in her quietly fierce way. Eva glanced up at her and lowered the bed slowly. Emma moved to Regina's head and smoothed her hair with gentle and controlled movements. Everyone seemed to breath easier, knowing Emma's anger was somehow controlled.
"Zelena attacked Regina. I need you to call Ruby and get her here. Belle is hurt. After that…" Emma paused when Regina hissed at the needle sinking into her wound. "Shh. It's okay, Baby," she whispered and pressed a kiss to Regina's temple.
"After that?" Amelia prompted. Eyes stared at Emma at all angles.
"First, we're going to make some potions. And then," she straightened and faced Amelia who recoiled at the violet hue where Emma's green eyes should have been.
"We're going to destroy the bitch after my family."