"Emma?"
Her entire body jumps at the sound of the rich voice swimming through the air, and there's nothing but hurt in her tone and it fills every inch of Emma's body with dread.
"Shit."
"Regina's here," Thirteen murmurs incoherently behind her mask.
"So, is that your real name? Emma? Or are you playing this woman as well?" Regina snaps before she whirls around on her five inch heels and stomps away, her stilettos clicking dangerously against the cheap floor below.
"Thirteen-"
"Go, I'm not going anywhere. I'm tired anyways," she lazily mumbles, sliding down in the bed and securely placing the mask around her nose and mouth.
"I'll be right back," Emma vows, pressing a gentle kiss to the woman's temple.
She clambers out of the hospital bed in a rush, quickly sliding into her boots before stumbling toward the door, but before she exits, she glances back one last time to make sure Thirteen is alright. Remy's eyes are already closed though, surrendering to the exhaustion poisoning her blood, yet, there's still a serene smile gracing her face and Emma knows that has everything to do with her presence.
Emma quickly moves out the door, softly closing it behind her and she's expecting to go running through the halls like a crazy person for Regina, but the furious woman is waiting just outside for her. Emma swallows thickly, because she's fairly confident this woman is about to plunge her hand into her chest and rip the pounding organ right out for lying.
"Reg-"
"No, you don't get to speak," Regina spits out in disgust, forcing Emma's mouth shut. "How dare you!" She explodes, sending a deep chill to torment Emma's quivering body. "I allowed you into my home, granted you permission to spend time with my son during a very delicate time-"
She's screaming now and Emma's green eyes are frantically shifting back and forth, waiting for someone to come and scold them for their poor behavior.
"Regina, please, we shouldn't be having this discussion-"
"You knew, you knew everything about my past and how hard it was for me to trust again. But I knew in my gut that something was wrong-"
"Regina, please," she implores, needing this woman to calm down before someone escorts them out of the building. She reaches for the distraught woman, but Regina is quick to reject the unwanted touch.
"Don't you dare touch me!"
"Please, I want to explain everything, but not here, this isn't-"
"Emma?" Green eyes fall closed from the voice sneaking up behind her. She inhales sharply, pleading for this moment to just end, or better yet, maybe the ground will open up and swallow her whole. "What seems to be the problem?" Mr. Hadley sternly asks, obviously agitated with the ruckus outside his daughter's room.
"I'm so sorry," she whines, pivoting to meet his stern gaze, that is actually locked onto the mayor and not her. "Remy is asleep. She was up for a little bit, she had a hard time breathing, so a doctor came in and offered her a larger oxygen mask. She's doing much better now and she's relaxed. I'm so sorry, but I need to take care of some work situations. I promise I will be back in a couple of hours. Will you please call me if there's a change in her status?"
"Of course," he agrees, his dark eyes still assessing every inch of Regina's rigid posture and furious body language.
"Thank you so much."
"Thank you for staying with her," he kindly says and then disappears into his daughter's room without another word spoken.
"Regina, please-"
"Who is that woman?" Emma's mouth pops open to respond, but Regina is fuming and barrels through every thought running rampant in her mind. "You are living a double life, aren't you? Just like Mal, I knew it," she growls, vehemently shaking her head in disbelief. "How dare you, after everything I told you? I didn't want to believe it, but it's true, isn't it? You're not some divorced writer, are you?"
"I-" she pauses for a moment before she breathes out a small, "no." She takes a step forward, but Regina is in sync with her, shuffling backwards. "But look-"
"Emma Swan," Regina sneers in a deep bravado full of hate that Emma actually flinches. "The only little girl whose parents died from a car crash in 1992, when she was five years old in New York City. In and out of foster homes her entire childhood until she turned seventeen," she maliciously recites the information that Sydney's private investigator uncovered just a few hours ago.
"Wha-how did you..."
"You know how sensitive Henry is right now and yet you still deliberately lied to both of us, knowing the damage it would cause, especially since your name is Emma," Regina bellows, inspiring a nurse from down the hall to finally approach them.
"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you two to leave. Please take this outside," the nurse politely requests as calm as possible while Regina glares murderously at the woman she thought she knew.
"Not a problem," Regina seethes, spinning around on her heels and storming off, disinterested if Emma will follow or not.
However, Emma does follow because she needs to explain herself. Regina deserves to know the truth and maybe if everything is out in the open, just maybe, she will be willing to forgive her...someday.
Here's to hoping.
Emma chases Regina down the hall, through the stairwell and out onto the emergency floor of the hospital. She is practically jogging to keep up with the mayor and during all of this, the only thing that Emma can truly comprehend, is how talented Regina is to practically be running in stilettos.
Once they are outside, Emma snatches Regina's elbow and whirls her back around to face her. "Please, please let me explain everything," she pleads, "then if you still want to punch me in the face, I'll let you," and maybe it's because Regina needs the truth, or maybe it's because there's a wetness clinging to dark green eyes, but Regina nods curtly and allows Emma to drag her to the yellow bug.
Regina stiffly climbs into the passenger side while Emma slips through the driver's door and starts the engine. She blasts the heat because the temperature is bitter outside and has her trembling or maybe it's just her anxious nerves from the conversation to come.
"Start talking, Em-ma," Regina mocks with a snarl around her upper lip and nothing but loathing filling those dark eyes and Emma longs to see them sparkle and glow a warm honey hue like they did the previous night, when they were wrapped up in each other's arms.
"You have to know this has been killing me," Emma stresses, pivoting in her seat to face the woman who is glaring so deadly at her. "Why do you think I kept running off every night? And why I refused to sleep with you? I didn't want to lead you on under a false identity, so I tried, very hard, to spill little secrets about who I am without blowing my cover."
"You're what?"
"My cover," she flippantly replies, but she sees the perplexity tormenting Regina's face. She tilts her head to the side and really studies the dark pinched eyebrows to the frown around those full lips. "I assumed if you figured out my name, then you know why I was really in Storybrooke," she slowly states, observing closely as Regina mindlessly shakes her head.
"One of my employees, that handles all of my background checks, he knows a private investigator and he's the one that found out your information, while my employee tracked you down here. But he claimed that all the information on Emma Swan after seventeen had been missing, as if you didn't exist anymore."
Emma nods along, her hand reaches out to comfort Regina, but she immediately notices the way she tenses, so she decides to retract. "That's because I'm an undercover cop. All my files have been wiped from the system in case someone becomes suspicious. It's very easy for an orphan to disappear off the face of the planet without anyone becoming suspicious."
And this time she doesn't hesitate to reach over the center console and rest her hand upon Regina's.
"You're an undercover cop?" Regina breathlessly gasps, her inquisitive eyes scanning Emma like it's the first time she's truly seeing her. "Why the hell are you in Storybrooke?" She suddenly snaps, startling Emma by her unexpected switch in demeanor.
"I-I really can't tell you that, I shouldn't have even told you that I'm undercover," she sighs heavily, her hand slipping away from Regina as she falls back into her seat and presses her fists to her closed eyes. "Ugh, this is all so screwed up now. I have to remove myself from the case, I'm going to lose my job," she grumbles under her breath and stomps her foot from the agitation pounding below her flesh. She drops her hands and pivots again to meet Regina's confused gaze. "I have never once failed a case-"
"And how many women have you tricked to fall for you while you're undercover?" Regina bitterly bites out, causing Emma to wince because she doesn't want to be made out to be that kind of person, that's not who she is.
"None," she firmly defends, her voice strong and confident to solidify her answer. "Listen to me Regina, please, I'm going to be completely honest with you." Regina's face is blank, not one damn expression for Emma to read, so she takes a deep breath and proceeds without permission. "Look, growing up in the foster system changed me. After my parents died, I had to learn how to cope and be whomever the new family wanted me to be until I was shipped off to another family. I was molded at a very young age to never become attached to anyone, because I couldn't stand the thought of losing someone I love, like I lost my parents."
Regina's strong jaw is flexing as she listens intently to her explanation and Emma wishes she could sneak a peek into the files in Regina's mind and figure out what the hell she is thinking.
"I swear to you," Emma implores, taking Regina's hand into hers and peering deep into those angry eyes. "I have never fallen for a person during a case before. I have always been professional and kept my distance. I'll admit, I shouldn't have taken this case, I was going through some personal stuff and I think when I met Henry I was feeling vulnerable and I tried to stay busy between the case and helping Henry. I didn't mean for this to happen, I didn't mean to fall for you during all of this. That's why I kept running home at night and placing boundaries between us. It killed me every day, knowing that I was lying to you and I couldn't wait for this stupid case to be over, but I'm still struggling with it and I know it's because I'm juggling too much at once."
"And I'm just supposed to forgive you for all the lying and the deceit just because you were undercover?" Regina deadpans, her hand jerking away from Emma's as if she just zapped her full of painful electricity.
"No," she sighs heavily and leans her temple against the leather seat, examining every inch of Regina's scowling face. "I'm just hoping you can understand the position I was in. When I finally accepted my feelings for you, I started to slip you some real information about who I am and my past because I wanted you to fall for the real me, not Allison Cameron."
"You still should have told me, I'm the mayor, it's not like I would have-"
"I couldn't. It's my job, Regina. I would have had to remove myself from the case."
"Well, that doesn't really matter now, does it? You have to remove yourself anyways."
"I know," she exasperates, scrubbing her hands down her face. "Do you have any clue how horrible I feel? I never meant to mislead you. And I never, never fail in my career. I was trying to keep my job, protect you and Henry, while opening up so you could see the real me."
"The real you?" Regina scoffs, rolling her eyes dramatically just to irritate Emma.
"Yes, the real me. I want you to know, that I showed you all of me. The only thing I really lied about was my name and career. Despite what you may think, you still know me. I'm still the same person who listens to your problems, helps you with Henry, makes you laugh and kisses you with everything I have to give. I'm still me, I'm still the same person you were falling for, I promise you."
"Please explain to me, how I am supposed to explain all of this to my eight-year-old? Especially now that your name actually is Emma, there's no way he's going to abandon his beliefs in that stupid book," Regina bellows, running a shaky hand through her hair.
"Regina, I'm so sorry, but we can explain it to him together," she meekly suggests, scrunching up her face and shrugging one shoulder, and it would normally be absolutely adorable, but Regina's eyes flash with murder as she scowls.
"Together?" She growls in disgust like the word personally wronged her plenty of times in the past. "Did you honestly believe an apology accompanied by a pathetic pout is just going to magically make this all better? Did you think I would just sweep this under the rug and pretend none of this happened?"
"I-"
"You lied to me, Em-ma," Regina enunciates her name like she's still trying to familiarize herself with the new sound bouncing off her tongue. "Our entire relationship, whether platonic or not, you have lied to me about who you are. And after Mal, I swore I would never be so foolish," she's trailing off, her rage vibrating from her body like a symbol still quivering long after a drum stick's touch.
Regina violently shakes her head, fumbling for the handle to free herself from the car, but Emma leans over and snatches up her hands.
"Wait, please stop," she urges, her fingers desperately clenching to stop Regina from fighting her off. "You're not a fool. I am still me, this is me," she pleads, and without her consent, her eyes are swelling with a warm liquid that easily reveals her desperation, because she can't, she cannot possibly lose Regina while Thirteen is literally lying on her death bed. "Please, Regina," she whispers, her eyes frantically searching the distraught face before her for some kind of clue that will fix all of this. "Don't give up on me," she begs, enclosing the minimal space between them.
"How can you ask that when this was all just some illusion?"
And the one word, illusion, crashes into her chest and steals her breath away because she said the same thing to Remy a few months back, when Remy neglected to inform her about her death sentence. She swallows thickly, her eyes releasing the tears that she's been fighting back since Regina showed up unannounced.
"Because," she chokes on the word, knowing how unfair all of this is, "because despite everything, I know what we have is real," she vows, staring directly into Regina's eyes so she understands just how serious she is.
"No, I don't-"
"Listen," she urges, her grip tightening around Regina's wrists to keep her locked into place while she defends herself one last time. "Before this case, before I came to Storybrooke, I never allowed anyone into my heart. I didn't date, ever. I would have my fun with one-night stands and that's as far as I would ever allow them to go-"
"Please, continue digging yourself a deeper hole-"
"Just listen," she exasperates, inching closer until they are sharing one breath. "One month before my case, I met someone, and yes, she was just some random hookup and I was ready to kick her out, but she was trying to sneak out and for some reason, we thought it was funny and we ended up sleeping together again-"
"You're the absolute worst at apologies."
"Regina, please listen. We ended up spending an entire month locked away in my studio apartment. It was never meant to be, it was supposed to be one night, but it turned into thirty and I fell pretty hard for this woman. And I've never felt for anyone the way I felt for her," she explains because she needs Regina to hear this, even if her words cause a pain in those rich eyes that she wishes she didn't cause. "I was called to this case and so I asked this woman to wait for me, against the anxiety I felt in my stomach and the sour taste in my mouth, I wanted to try and date this woman, something I never have done before."
"Does this story have a point besides you rubbing it in my face that you are actually in love with someone else?" Regina viciously sneers, so Emma cups one tightly wound jawline and sweeps her thumb across her cheek.
"The woman rejected me," she sadly confesses, the tears trickling down her face. "She has a rare genetics disease, Huntington's, and she only had five years left to live and she couldn't do that to me. I offered, but she couldn't ask me to spend five years taking care of a dying girl." Regina's eyes instantly soften and her body releases some of the tension she's been keeping bottled up inside. "That changed me, Regina. If I never met Remy, I know, I wouldn't have given you the time of day to get close to my heart while on a case." Regina purses her lips in defiance and Emma's lips tingle because she just wants to kiss that beautiful pout away. "Remy was brought into my life, for only a brief moment, and I know it was to teach me to love again. She showed me how happy I can be, sharing my life with someone. Because of her, I realized life is too short and I need to start taking risks because I don't want to end up alone," she chokes on her last words, her red-rimmed eyes pouring with uncontrollable tears. "I've lived my whole life alone and I don't want to die alone. I want you, Regina. I want Henry in my life and I want to build something real."
"Is that the woman upstairs? The woman you were lying in bed with? Remy?"
"Yes, her immune system was weak and she was living a reckless life these past few months," she admits, leaning back into her seat and angrily rubbing her tears away. "She has pneumonia and her body is too weak to fight off the infection. Her organs are shutting down. Her dad called me," she closes her eyes and pleads with herself to stop all the crying, but her body won't listen to reason right now. "She didn't want me to see her like this, but he knew she needed to see me one last time."
"I need to go."
Emma's soaked eyes spring to life, her body jerking forward from pure panic. "What? Wait-"
"I can't do this right now, I have enough on my plate," she seethes, fumbling for the handle once again. "Don't worry, I won't tell a soul who you really are," she tosses bitterly over her shoulder before she pushes the door open with all her pent up rage and Emma actually winces, thinking the old door might fly off the hinges.
"Regina, wait," she calls out, leaning over to catch the woman but she's already out the door, slamming it forcefully into her face.
Emma falls back into her seat, watching in shock as Regina storms off toward her car. And then out of nowhere, she throws a temper tantrum far worse than a three-year-old, slamming her palms of rage against her steering wheel, while her boots kick at nothing and she screams bloody murder.