A/N: Hello hello! I know I only updated yesterday, but I was bored and decided to upload the next chapter now. Just so you know, there's going to be 20 altogether, unless I think of anything else major I want to put in.

ps I noticed that other countries spell words like "saviour" differently than we do in England, so I promise you I can spell it:p

Enjoy! :)

I'm not their hero

But that doesn't mean I wasn't brave

I never walked the party line

Doesn't mean that I was never afraid

I'm not your hero

But that doesn't mean we're not one and the same

-Tegan and Sara, I'm Not Your Hero

A few days later, Regina was just about ready for release. Having turned away a wheelchair with her characteristic grimace, leaving the nurses cowering, Emma arrived at the hospital to see Regina pulling herself around her room, grabbing onto every surface she came across to steady herself.

"I wish you weren't so stubborn, you know."

"I'm fine, Emma. Leave the wheelchairs for the people that really need it."

"If you say so.." Emma picks up Regina's bag, and implores the woman to take her other arm. Regina feigns irritation at the arm, before accepting the act of chivalry and taking it with a coy smile.

"Please say you're joking." Regina spluttered when she saw the brightly coloured bug in wait.

"You're joking, if you think I'm giving you a lift with that attitude. Just suck it up and get in." Emma attempted to guide her to the door, but her hand was batted away. "It's going to be a long few weeks." Emma sighs to herself.

Arriving at Regina's house, the owner was a little stunned. "Hmm, haven't I done well for myself."

"You sure have. Nothing's too good for Regina Mills." Emma switches the engine off and turns to face the other woman. "You ready?"

Regina took in a shallow, shaky breath. "Let's just go inside, I could do with a lie down."

Emma spends a few seconds fiddling with the keys, dropping them on the floor once, earning a sigh from Regina, before finally opening the door to the house that still seemed a little of a mystery to her.

"Dr Whale has said you need to stay in bed for a few days still, so you aren't coming down here. No arguments." Emma shut the door behind them and put Regina's bag down on the floor.

"You're very demanding, Miss Swan." Regina attempted to tease, and saw Emma visibly shocked.

"Sorry, you just… you used to call me that. When I was in trouble."

"Was that often?"

Emma laughed uncomfortably, "Sometimes."

A few hours later, after leaving Regina in her bedroom to settle in, Emma was wandering around the house restless. She was supposed to be in charge, to be running the house, but she could barely sit on the couch without feeling like Regina was going to saunter in boldly and scold her for doing so.

She chanced a glance over the photos on the mantle-piece. One of Henry, a couple of years old, running gleefully through the back garden. Another of him, more recently, on school photo day, sat up rigidly straight and sporting his characteristic grin. And finally, one of him as a baby in Regina's arms. He couldn't have been more than 2 or 3 months old, and Emma felt an overwhelming surge of guilt once again that she missed out on that. Even though she wouldn't want to change the situation now, regret still seeped out of her at every opportunity. When she sees her younger brother, especially, and her mother and father raising him the way they should have raised Emma, and how she should have raised her own son.

These thoughts were soon interrupted by shouts from upstairs. "No! Stop!" Regina shouted in a coarse voice, and Emma raced up the stairs, grabbing her gun from the sideboard as she did so.

Upon entering Regina's room, however, she saw the woman was still asleep, thrashing around in bed as beads of sweat dripped from her forehead.

"Hey, hey. Regina. Wake up." Emma knelt at the side of Regina, and began to stroke loose bits of dark hair behind the woman's ear. "It's okay, I'm here."

"I had another one of those dreams." Regina squinted, regaining consciousness. "I was… pure evil. I hardly recognised it was me, Emma. Or maybe it was me; I'm hardly in the position to know. I took a man's heart, and I was so… blasé about it. It was terrifying, I terrified -myself-. It was so real."

"It's not, Regina. You aren't evil. Dreams make you believe things, and people tell you things, and one day you're going to start believing it. You're a good person. You may have done some things in the past that were a little… extreme, but trust me when I tell you that you are not that person anymore. Seriously, Regina." Emma felt partially to blame for these dreams. She flashed back to Graham before he died, and how he'd started to remember his past life. She knew it was down to her; she was the Saviour, and getting too close led to this. She just really wished it didn't.

"I'm sorry. You must think me a complete idiot." Regina wiped a stray tear from her cheek and sat up in bed.

"Nah. Reacting like this? It shows humanity. It shows that you care what kind of a person you are, and you care if people get hurt. And that's really great." Emma patted Regina lightly on the cheek reassuringly, before getting up and sitting on the opposite side of the bed, facing the woman. "What do you want to do tonight then?"

"Well, I assume hitting the town red is out of the question." Regina responded, thankful of the change in conversation.

"There's not much of a town to paint red. Or much paint to do it with. We could probably paint it a nice light grey, but I'd leave it a while before we go that wild."

"If you insist." Regina laughed, perking up slightly as Emma continued to joke with her for a while.

After about an hour, as the sun began to set over the town, Emma ran out to the store and brought supplies. Stopping at Granny's on her way back for a burger and a salad to take back with her, she was stopped by Ruby and Henry.

"Ma, how is she?" Henry hugged his mother tightly, almost knocking the bags out of her hands.

"She's resting. She's getting stronger though."

"Still doesn't remember anything?" Ruby asked, with a look of sympathy. Emma's parents had briefed the town about what was going on with Regina, and surprisingly most of them had been very sympathetic. Regina had truly shown in the past few months that the safety of the town and its inhabitants was now the most important thing to her, and many seemed to have responded to that.

"Nope." Emma attempted a smile at the woman, pulling her son tighter.

"God, poor Regina. Jeez, never thought I'd be saying that." Ruby raised her eyebrows in shock at her sympathy towards the former Evil Queen.

"I best be getting back, anyway. She'll be wondering where I am." Emma picked up the bag that Ruby had left on the counter for her, and gave her son one last hug for good measure. "Be good for your grandparents, I'll see you soon."

Emma almost broke out into a jog on the short walk back to Regina's, truly reluctant to leave her alone for more than a couple of minutes. In spite of Emma's overwhelming attraction towards the woman, the protectiveness she felt over her in this vulnerable state was ever-growing, and leaving her all alone in an unfamiliar house made her tense.

"Salad for madame." Emma put the bag from Granny's down in the middle of the bed, and gave Regina a plate.

"Great, thank you." Emma pulled her burger from the bag, and looked at it ravenously. "My my, how healthy you are." Regina noted sardonically.

"Hey, there's lettuce. That's healthy." Emma took the leaf out of the bun and waved it in the air.

"I really don't know how you manage to stay so thin."

"You'd be surprised. I've been known to do some pretty mean running in my time."

"I'm sure you have, dear." The two women ate for a few minutes in silence. "So.. I never married?" Regina asked, once again fishing for information on her life.

"Nope, no marriage." Emma considered mentioning Daniel, but Dr Whale's insistence at keeping Regina calm raced around her head.

"And you?"

"Unfortunately for mankind, no." Emma laughed. "I nearly did though, once. Or at least, I thought about it."

"Henry's father?"

"One and the same." Emma coughed nervously. "Neal. We had this sort of… fairytale romance. Or at least, it felt that way to me. We were going to travel, do anything and everything together."

"What happened?"

"Well, he got me put in jail, so that was pretty much the end of that."

Regina's brow furrowed in concern, and she placed a hand on top of Emma's. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine, it was a long time ago. We actually bumped into each other about a year ago. Funny story; his dad, Mr Gold, lives in town. Asked me to help him find his son, and you can imagine my surprise when I saw who this mysterious son actually was."

"Small world."

"Oh, you have no idea." Emma scoffed, before turning serious again. "Neal died. Not too long ago actually. It was pretty hard on us all, people are pretty close here."

"Oh Emma, I'm so sorry." Regina began stroking circles onto the back of Emma's hand, face still crumpled in sympathy.

"It's okay. I mean, I loved him, but he probably didn't deserve it. I guess you can't help who you fall in love with." Emma ended on this, and both women stayed in silence for a little while longer.

"So you don't have a partner currently then?" Regina questioned, trying to play it off as passing interest.

"Mayor Mills, are you digging to find out if I'm single?" Emma replied flirtatiously, pulling a mock-shocked face.

Regina was caught of guard. "No, of course not. I was just curious as to who was raising our son, that's all."

"Of course. Well no, I'm single. No-one to speak of."

Regina smiled to herself.

More hours passed, and before Emma knew it the clock had struck midnight.

"Regina, you really need to be getting some sleep. Whale would kill me if he knew."

"Can you blame me? I really don't want to have another of those dreams, Emma." Regina looked genuinely afraid at the idea of going to sleep, and so Emma took a gamble.

"Do you want me to stay in here for a little while? Just until you fall asleep."

"Could you… could you stay in here for the night?" Regina almost whispered. "You make me feel safe, Emma. Of everything, you seem to be the only thing that does right now."

"Of course I will." Emma smiled for solidarity, ignoring the gnawing feeling of fear in her heart.

The two women separated for a few minutes while both got changed and ready for bed. Emma hadn't picked up any clothes yet, and so was having to sleep in a tank top and underwear. Deciding that Regina wouldn't mind, she grabbed a blanket from the guest room she had decided to claim and walked hesitantly back to Regina's bedroom.

"Regina?" she knocked the door, and was called in. Regina was already changed and lying down on her side of the bed. Emma was startled at Regina's still frail appearance. Her silk pyjamas were almost falling off her, and her skin still pale.

"Sorry, forgot my clothes." she mumbled apologetically as she got into bed.

"Convenient." Regina sighed, shooting Emma a grin as the woman turned off the light.

Emma, still tense at the idea of sleeping in such close proximity to Regina, positioned herself rigidly on the left hand side of the bed on her back, arms laid flat and purposefully straight by her side.

"Thank you." Regina whispered into the darkness. Emma stayed reluctantly silent, and before long she heard the brunette's breath become deeper as she fell asleep.

A/N: Please review or send me a message on tumblr (swarklesinstorybrooke) :)