Author's note: As always, thank you for all the reviews. Each one is very much appreciated.

Chapter 25

There was a knock on her door. "Mayor Mills? I have a call waiting for you."

Regina barely glanced up from her paperwork; every Monday morning around this time the housing or transportation department would call, complaining about something or other, and Regina would sass them into submission. When would they ever learn that things would never change in this town, because she had magically created it so? Oh wait, they would never, because she'd cursed them.

Every time she thought about it, a little thrill ran through her.

"Put them on hold and I'll get to it when I'm ready." Regina responded blithely.

"Um," her assistant said, uncertainly biting her lip. Like everyone else in Storybrooke, she was smart enough not to try and one-up Regina. "I think you should take it now."

Regina glared at the assistant. "Excuse me? Did I ask for your opinion?"

"No, but-"

"Then put the call on hold." Regina interrupted crisply. "And never talk back to me again or you'll be out on your ass faster than you can say I'm sorry."

But her assistant refused to budge.

"Why are you still here? What do you not understand about getting the hell out of-"

"It's the school." The assistant blurted. "The elementary school, I mean."

Rather than admit that she'd been wrong, Regina merely nodded curtly and picked the phone, waving her hand to dismiss her assistant. "This is Regina."

"Yes, hi, I'm the nurse here at Storybrooke Elementary and I'm calling on behalf of Emma, who was sent to my office with a bit of a fever. I think you should come and-"

Regina barely heard the last half of the message; as soon as the words "Emma" and "fever" hit her ears, she'd all but slammed down the phone before grabbing her coat and dashing out the door, throwing rapid fire instructions at her poor assistant.

Regina placed a tall glass of orange juice in Emma's favorite Elmo cup on the coffee table. "Here you go, sweetheart." She kneeled down and tucked the blankets in tighter around Emma's body.

Emma usually loved orange juice, to the point where Regina had to limit her to one glass per day. But today, she just stared morosely at it before turning her gaze back to the TV, where her favorite cartoons were playing.

"I know you feel yucky, but the more you drink the faster you'll get better. C'mon." Regina picked up the glass and pressed it into Emma's hand.

Emma took a little sip and turned her head away."No."

"Just a little more." Regina coaxed. "Good girl." She said, putting the glass back down. She pressed the back of her hand against Emma's forehead. Although a note of concern rose inside at the heat emanating from the little girl, she forced a smile anyway. "It's alright, it's just a little fever. A long nap and some juice and you'll be all better."

"I don't wanna be sick."

"I know," Regina said sympathetically. "I don't want you to be sick either. But don't worry, it'll be over before you know it. And think of it this way, now you get to watch some cartoons. Do you need anything else? Are you too hot? Too cold?"

Emma sniffled. "My throat hurts."

Regina winced. "The juice should help with that, but I'll call Graham and ask him to get some medicine." She pressed a kiss atop Emma's head. "I'm going to go make you some soup, but call me if you need anything and I'll be right there, alright?"

A long cough that made Regina's chest ache with sympathy, and Emma replied with a simple "Ok."

Back in the Enchanted Forest, there was no such thing as children's Tylenol or thermometers; one had to rely on cold compresses and herbs. Regina figured that the flu would pass quickly given the arsenal of resources she had available to her here. Right?

Oh, she'd been so, so, laughably wrong.

When Regina returned several hours later with a steaming bowl of chicken noodle soup, she was grateful to see that Emma had fallen asleep, the cartoons still playing in the background. Clicking off the TV, she crossed the room to the couch where Emma lay under a cocoon of blankets.

If she'd been able to sleep, then maybe that meant she wasn't feeling too badly, that she wasn't too sick. Hell, maybe Emma's fever was gone.

Or then again maybe not. As Regina approached Emma, she could see the way the little girl's cheeks were so very flushed against her very pale cheeks that the fever was definitely not gone. Regina gingerly placed a hand on Emma's forehead and had to bite her lip from gasping aloud at the temperature difference.

Emma's brow furrowed as she began to stir. "Regina?"

"I'm here." She replied. "How are you feeling? Throat still yucky?"

Emma nodded slowly. "A-and my head hurts."

"Oh, sweetheart." Regina sighed. "I'm sorry." She retrieved the thermometer from the coffee table and Emma opened up, allowing Regina to stick it under her tongue.

When the thermometer beeped, Regina took one look and her heart sank even further. But like before she forced a comforting smile. "Looks like you still have a fever. But don't worry, a little bit of soup and some medicine and it'll all go away."

"Don't want soup."

"But you love chicken noodle."

"Not hungry."

But she had to eat, so slowly Regina fed her spoonful after spoonful. While Regina would've loved to do this with Emma as a baby, she would give anything to not have to force Emma to eat.

Half a bowl of soup later, Emma sat back and shook her head stubbornly. "No more."

"All right." She waited for Emma to take a sip of water before handing her a little plastic cup of foul smelling, purple colored liquid medicine. "I know it tastes yucky, dear, but it'll make you feel much, much better."

Emma scrunched up her face but swallowed anyway. "Ugh."

Grape flavored my ass. Regina thought as she took the empty medicine cup from Emma's hand. "Do you want to go back to sleep? Or maybe some more cartoons?"

"No, I'm tired."

Regina helped Emma lie back down, fluffing the pillows and making sure to tuck her stuffed duck and baby blanket around her. "What's the matter? Are you still cold?" She said, upon noticing that Emma had started to shiver.

"I'm cold."

Oh, no. She had the chills.

"Better?" Regina asked as she tucked another blanket around her.

Emma shrugged in response.

"Try and get some sleep, sweetheart." She was about to leave when there was a tug on her skirt.

"Regina?"

Regina turned back immediately. "What is it?"

"Can you," Emma bit her lip, looking very much like her harried assistant earlier that day. "can you stay with me?"

"Of course." Regina replied, sitting back down on the edge of the couch. One of her hands reached back and began to slowly rub Emma's back. "I'll stay as long as you want."

How could this happen? Just this morning she'd been fine. A little more tired than usual, maybe, but then again it was Monday morning. Nobody was cheerful on a Monday morning.

Regina had never treated anyone before. Not even herself, as her often ridiculous seeming health rituals kept her very healthy.

So what was she going to do?

Author's note: If anyone can predict where this is going, I'll literally send them the next chapter. No joke. This isn't just a random fluffy story arc, and whoever can correctly figure out where I'm going with this, you get the next chapter.