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Italics show peoples thoughts.

All mistakes are mine sorry in advance.

~o~o~o~o represents a break in scene.

Disclaimer in chapter 1.

Thank you to my beta NoSoup395.

Where am I? It feels much softer than that stretcher they put me on. What is gripping my hand like its life depends on it? Open your eyes Swan and find out, duh.

Emma opens her eyes only to immediately slam them shut again to block out the glare of the fluorescent lights of the hospital room.

Slowly she tries opening them again, her gaze quickly roaming around the room to take in her location.

A hospital. Why? Oh right, you were shot.

The blonde takes in the room, looking from the heart monitor to the IV attached to her right hand, before turning her attention to her bandaged up legs, and finally to the source of the death grip on her hand.

Regina. She smiles at the mess of brown locks.

Regina is sitting beside her, both her hands gripping Emma's, her head resting on top.

Emma can't help but smile at the sight even though the situation is less than ideal.

"Regina?" She whispers, not wanting to wake the older woman if she's sleeping, but she needn't have worried, as Regina's head quickly shoots up at the sound of the blonde's voice, revealing puffy brown eyes filled with tears and evidence of tears that had already run down her cheeks.

"Emma?" Her face lights up when she sees that the younger woman is awake, giving the barest hint of a smile before it dissolves away leaving a frown in its place. "Don't you dare scare me like that again! You said you'd be careful, and then Deputy Lucas is at my door telling me to get to the hospital because you've been shot. I thought I'd lost you when I only just got you. You said you'd be careful." She breaks down into uncontrollable sobs that wrack her entire body before she launches herself at the blonde, taking care not to knock any wires or Emma's legs, as she wraps her arms around the other woman's body, burying her face into her neck as the tears fall.

"Hey. Hey, it's okay. I'm okay. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. He just took me by surprise, but he's gone now and can't hurt us. I'm sorry, I was being careful, I promise. I promise." She can't help but let a few of her own tears escape at the sight of the usually strong woman breaking down in her arms. It breaks her heart to see Regina like this.

Emma wraps her arms around Regina, holding her tightly and burying her face in soft, silky strands of brunette.

"I...know." The brunette sobs. "I know...it w-wasn't your...fault." She sniffles, taking deep breaths, trying to get herself under control. "I'm sorry." She says once her breathing is back to normal. "I shouldn't of lost control of my emotions like that" Regina says, embarrassed at her display.

She tries to pull away but Emma just holds her tighter. "No, it's okay. It's good to let it out." She lifts her hands from where they are resting on Regina's back, using her thumbs to wipe the tears from the Mayor's face before leaning in to give her a quick kiss.

"I'm glad you're okay." Regina smiles shyly.

"Yeah, me too." She returns the smile. "So what's the prognosis?"

"I don't know. All they would tell me is that you were stable and that I just had to wait for you to wake up. I had to threaten them with my status as Mayor and make a sizeable donation to the hospital to get them to let me sit in here with you." She is almost sheepish at the confession. "I did catch them saying something about bed rest and wheelchairs being in your future though." She smirks knowing the blonde will hate that bit of information.

"What?! No! I can't be on bed rest, I'm the Sheriff. And I most certainly will not be in any wheelchair." She looks at the brunette with shear horror written across her face at just the thought of being bed bound. "Go get the doctor. I need to know what happened while I was out. The last thing I remember is getting into the ambulance."

"Okay, just try to stay calm. I'll find him and be back as fast as I can." Regina presses her lips to Emma's before going in search of the doctor.

Five minutes later Regina returns with the doctor in tow.

"Miss Swan, I'm Doctor Whale. It's good to see that you're awake."

"What's wrong with me?" Emma suddenly blurts out, eyes wide in fear. Regina reaches over and grips the woman's hand, rubbing circles across the back to try and calm her.

"Nothing is wrong with you per se, but you did nick your femoral artery. You lost a fair bit of blood so we had to give you a transfusion, and we patched up the artery in surgery. We also removed two bullets from your upper left thigh and one from your right calf. You have some bruising to your back and abdomen from the impact of the bullets to the vest. They may hurt for a couple of days but other than that you have nothing to worry about in that department. I'd like to keep you overnight for observation and potentially a few days, but I've treated cops before and I know you won't be happy with that so I'll see what I can do to not make your stay a long one. You seem to be healing nicely so you may be able to get out sooner rather than later; however you will need to use a wheelchair and crutches until the wounds heal completely and then go to physical therapy."

"Okay. So when can I go home?" She asks, feeling better about the situation after the update but completely disregarding all that he had said about staying in the hospital.

Regina lets out a soft sigh at Emma's stubbornness and reaches out her other hand to stop the blondes fidgeting.

"Well, ideally I like to keep you in for a couple o-"

Emma cuts him off before he can finish. "No offence doc but this isn't my first time at the rodeo. I've been shot, stabbed and beaten more times than you can even imagine. Apart from the whole wheelchair thing this should be a walk in the park. I'll stay for a couple more hours so you can observe me or whatever, but I'm leaving this hospital tonight."

"I strongly advise against that." He argues.

"Well, you can put down that I left against medical advice on my record and at the first sign of trouble I'll call you."

"I can only release you into someone else's custody after, I can't let you leave alone to take care of yourself and that's only after a stay of one night." He frowns not liking the situation one bit.

"She can stay with me." Regina blurts out without thinking.

"I can?" Emma looks over towards the brunette.

"You can." They share a loving smile.

"You hear that Whale? Dr Mills will look after me. All will be fine." Emma smirks, knowing she has won the argument of stay a few days.

"Fine, but she is to be on full bed rest for the next two weeks, only up to go to the bath room." He says to Regina who nods. "You have to stay the night but I'll be back in the morning with your discharge papers."

"Fine, I'll stay over night but no longer." The blonde huffs.

"Good" He storms out of the room when he's finished.

"So. Dr Mills, will there be a sponge bath in my future?" She smirks deviously.

Regina chuckles at this. "We'll see, darling. Only if you're a good patient." She says, giving the younger woman a wink.

TBC.