Conversation seemed to be the farthest thing from Regina's mind two nights later. It had also been the last thing she'd seemed to want to do between then and now. Two days was a long time to avoid talking and the most Emma got out of Regina in that time was what groceries they needed and when the brunette wanted to go back to the gym.
After hours, as per their arrangement with the owner, they were back at the gym and left most of the lights off while Regina refused to learn anything new and instead went at Emma like she'd once tried to do when Graham and Henry were the center of their problems with each other.
Emma ducked a wide swing from Regina, a closed fist aimed at her face, and grabbed the other woman around the waist. She pushed Regina back like a football player charging another. When Regina started to pound her fists against her back, she shoved the brunette away. The other woman stumbled back a few steps, but it didn't stop her.
Regina rushed toward her in a loose, charcoal gray yoga tank and snug, black yoga capri pants. Her eyes were wild yet focused; focused on Emma and whatever the woman intended to do to her. It didn't frighten Emma, but she certainly didn't feel comfortable with how the other woman looked and acted in that moment.
"Regina, I get it. You're angry. I don't know if it's just one thing in particular or everything that's happened recently that's setting you off, but not talking about it isn't going to help."
"Really? Because I thought that was the entire reason for us being here," Regina replied. She clenched her fists and kicked at Emma seconds later.
Emma caught her by the ankle and pressed a hand to Regina's chest. She was forceful but gentle as she pushed the brunette back, her hand still wrapped around Regina's ankle, and cradled the back of Regina's head with the hand she'd used to push the brunette. She moved with Regina as the other woman lost her foot and fell to the ground, her head cushioned by Emma's hand.
When Regina's back hit the ground, Emma released the woman's ankle and her hand got caught between the back of the brunette's thigh and her calf when the blonde tried to slip free and press her palm into the floor beneath them.
Regina's knee was level with the side of Emma's head. The brunette was a quick movement away from draping her leg over Emma's shoulder. Emma's hips were positioned between Regina's and rested partially against the floor while her right leg rested mostly on top of Regina's left. It had happened by accident, but that didn't change the intimacy of their position. It also didn't make it any easier to handle that intimacy, because suddenly the sight and feel of Regina beneath her was all she knew.
She watched Regina's chest heave a few times before the moment was abruptly ended by a kick to the head. Regina used her position to smash the side of her calve against Emma's cheek and ear and pushed. Given the force and the way the brunette bucked her hips like the expert horseback rider she was, Regina fluidly flipped them over and landed with her thighs stretched across Emma's chest and her knees on the floor near the blonde's shoulders.
Emma lay on her back, pinned beneath Regina, while the brunette straddled her chest. Regina wasn't all that heavy, but when the woman sat on her in a way that constricted airflow it became a problem. She grabbed Regina's hips, her forearms and wrists curled around the other woman's ass, and pushed Regina forward.
Regina surged over Emma's head willingly and rolled on her side. As Emma rolled onto her stomach, Regina popped up onto her hands and knees.
"At least just tell me if what you're feeling has anything to do with me," Emma said as she rose to her feet. She took a combative stance in case Regina felt like attacking again and waited. She stared at Regina with wide eyes as wisps of hair that had slipped free from her ponytail billowed in front of her gaze with every puffed out breath and burst of breeze from the A/C.
"All of it! Everything has to do with you," Regina replied. "Ever since you came to Storybrooke. If I really think about it, my life was derailed the second you were born."
"Okay, so you're blaming baby me for all your problems?"
"Some problems are your fault, but no. I'm not blaming you. Well, I'm trying not to blame you. You just seem to be at the center of everything. I can't- I don't even have my own life anymore because now I'm not Henry's only parent—"
"I thought we were passed that, Re—"
"We are! But that doesn't change the fact that no matter what I do, who I'm with or what I say it will always, somehow, come back to you."
"Who you're with? Are you pinning everything that happened with Robin on me?"
Rage sparked to life in Regina's brown eyes. "Before he came to this city, what tore him and I apart was you."
"No, it was your psycho sister posing as your 'soulmate's dead wife."
It was the exact wrong thing to say. She knew it as soon as she thought it, but that didn't stop Emma from saying it. At the gym, there was no filter. If Regina needed to get something off her chest, Emma would let her. And Emma had a few issues to air out, too. It was a win-win.
At least until Regina had a hand around her throat in the blink of an eye.
Emma hadn't realized how close Regina was until she had to fight the brunette every step of the way to keep her back off the wall. When she had proper footing, she was able to use her leg strength to hold her place in the middle of the gym floor. That pushed her throat further into Regina's hand, which tightened after a few seconds. She grabbed Regina's wrist and closed her eyes as she tried to control her breathing as much as possible. She nodded, just the slightest movement of her head due to her restriction, and squeezed Regina's wrist once and then immediately loosened her grip.
Just as she started to go limp, Regina let go. Emma gasped for breath then coughed before she fell to her knees. Regina backed away from her and, when Emma looked up, she watched the other woman run her hands through her hair. Emma cleared her throat and rubbed at it for a moment before she was finally able to regulate her breathing. It took a couple minutes, but she was successful and Regina let it happen without another attack. The brunette hadn't actually moved in all that time.
Emma looked up and saw the sadness and shock in Regina's eyes as the other woman stared down at the ground to the left of Emma's feet. She knew the brunette was deep in thought and could tell by the emotion in the woman's eyes that what Regina had done had pained the other woman.
"It's okay," Emma gently told her. "Call it a relapse or whatever and move on. I'm not mad and you didn't kill me, so it's fine."
"It's not fine, Emma." There was an edge to Regina's voice, but she at least looked less scared of her own actions then. Less scared, but more upset. "I could havekilled you."
"But you didn't."
"I almost did. This is exactly why I didn't want to be in Storybrooke."
"So you wouldn't have access to your magic. I know."
"But I can still hurt you," Regina said as she closed her eyes and clenched and unclenched her fists at her sides. The brunette's entire body was tense from her shoulders to her hips and even her bent knees, like she was ready to bolt at any moment.
"I'm teaching you how to fight and defend yourself, Regina. It means you're learning."
"Choking someone when only verbally provoked is not self-defense and you know it," the other woman growled her reply and glared at her as soon as brown eyes flew open again.
"I told you, it was a relapse. I hit a nerve. It happens."
"I think it's time I start using a punching bag from now on. Teach me whatever you think will help let out my frustration, but I can't take it out on you."
"The fact that you want to protect me from yourself shows progress," Emma explained. "That's a good thing."
Regina shook her head before she took on a strict tone. "Hold the bag and make sure I can't punch you in the face if you say something else to upset me," the brunette said as she motioned to the black punching bag on the other side of the room.
With a sigh, Emma moved toward the bag and nodded in agreement. Regina followed at a small but safe distance.
"Okay. First thing you should know about using the bag is to tape up your hands," Emma instructed as she moved to the section of cubbies on the wall past the punching bag.
Once at the cubbies, she looked around for a moment before she found the tape and grabbed it. She took it back over to the bag and unraveled some of it. She taped up her own hands before she reached for Regina.
Reluctantly, the brunette extended one hand with her palm up and Emma cupped it in hers before she turned it over. She then proceeded to tape up Regina's knuckles one hand at a time and when she was done, she set the tape down on the floor a few paces away from the bag. She ensured it was out of reach of either of their feet so they wouldn't kick it somewhere or, even worse, trip over it and sprain their ankles.
When Emma stood up straight again, the tape just far enough away, she watched Regina stare at her hands as she flexed her fingers and made fists a few times. It was another moment before Regina looked up and met her gaze.
"You ready?"
Regina inhaled and then nodded. The brunette stepped closer to the bag as she exhaled and focused all her attention on it. "What do I do first?"
Emma didn't usually hesitate, especially when it came to punching things or working out in other ways, but she paused as she looked over Regina. She stared for several seconds at focused, expressive brown eyes before her gaze roamed lower. Protruding collarbone and raised shoulders, relaxed breathing as the woman's chest rose and fell evenly, left foot in front of the right with an open stance and relaxed fists where they stayed curled but not closed at chest level.
"Emma?"
She snapped out of her mini-trance and cleared her throat as she forced a nervous smile. "Yeah. Sorry. Um, now you've got to make a fist. Your thumb should rest over your index and middle fingers. Outside of the fist. Don't tuck it inside your other fingers or you'll break your thumb when you impact whatever it is you're punching."
"Like this?"
Emma looked at Regina's left hand and then the other before she nodded her approval. "Yeah, just like that." She stepped behind the bag and used it to block her body from future punches and hold it steady for the woman punching it. "Alright, make sure you're balanced on the balls of your feet. Keep them shoulder-width apart to maintain that balance.
"Now throw your arm forward and put your weight behind it. Aim to hit the bag with your first two knuckles, on the index and middle fingers. Tilt your wrist down as you swing and have your knuckles in front of your fingers. Show me how that looks. Slowly. A mock punch."
Through Regina's confusion, she moved her closed right fist toward the bag at a snail's pace. Her fingers were in the right position, but she hadn't adjusted her wrist as was needed.
"Stop," Emma told her. "Adjust the angle of your arm a little and turn your fist. You should be focusing on hitting the bag with the flat part of your hand between those two knuckles."
Regina paused and complied.
"Good," Emma said. "Keep your chin down, dipped toward your chest to keep it protected. If you're fighting someone else and your chin is exposed, one hit could knock you back hard."
"Okay," Regina replied before she ducked her chin a little.
Emma looked down at the other woman's feet again. They were mostly right, but no punch would be effective if she didn't correct the brunette's feet even the slightest bit.
"Alright. You've almost got it. Make sure your back foot is pointed away from you and the bag, or opponent if the bag was actually a person. Your front foot, the left, should be at about a forty-five-degree angle. So it's not pointed directly at your target, but it's facing the general direction."
She waited until Regina followed directions and when she'd fixed that as well, Emma went back to talking Regina through the rest of the process.
"Keep your left fist up in front of your cheek and the right held just under your chin. Bend your knees and make sure you aren't angled too much to the side or full on facing the bag."
Regina stood in a tight and damn near perfect fighting line. It made Emma smile.
"Good. Okay, now keep your elbows in close and tight. Yeah, like that. The best place on the body to aim for is the chest or ribs. Ribs if you're a little off to the side of your opponent and chest if you have that kind of straight on access. Like you do right now."
"So, if I want to aim for the chest…"
"Pretend like you've got X-ray vision, like Superman, and see through the bag. Pretend I'm the body you're trying to hit and see through the bag to know where my chest is. Then you swing. You don't have to swing hard or fast, not yet, but for now just aim at where my chest is behind this bag. One punch. When you're ready."
Regina nodded once and then set her fists again, ducked her chin and stared hard at the bag for a long moment. Her intense gaze didn't let up as she threw her fist at the bag and made contact at Emma's chest level.
Emma felt the hit through the bag, but it wasn't significant. No damage was done, but there was promise behind the punch. With a little more work and a little more force, Regina would have a good grip on proper punches.
"That's good. Follow through with a twist of your hips, like you just did, and let your shoulder move with you. It's all a natural flow of your body."
Regina punched the bag again with a little more speed and her hips and shoulder glided toward the bag as she moved.
The impact was harder than the first punch and Emma's smile brightened. "Perfect. Now, I want you to try a jab-cross. It's two punches. First one with your dominant hand and the second with your other hand. Okay?"
"Okay."
Regina set herself again and took a few breaths, her eyes trained on the bag again with just as much intensity as before, prior to a confident one-two punch.
"Great," Emma encouraged. "Again."
Another round of punches just as certain as before, but less intense than Regina's stare, came and went. Regina pulled back her arms one at a time as she moved. It was as natural as the follow through.
"Good. Your jab is good. Your cross needs a little work, but that's only because it's not your dominant hand. Practicing fixes that. It's more about being comfortable in your stance and strengthening your swing."
Regina inhaled deeply through her nose and nodded. The brunette remained in her fighting stance for another moment before she exhaled through her mouth and dropped her fists.
Emma moved away from the bag, but kept a hand on it for a few more seconds. "You good for tonight? Or is there more you need to get out of your system?"
Regina didn't respond at first. The other woman stood tense and still in front of the bag. Neither leg was in front of the other, but were still close to shoulder-width apart.
"Regina? You okay?"
Regina closed her eyes and the two of them stood in complete silence for a few minutes. The only sounds to fill the room were muted city noises of cars in the distance and the occasional gust of wind against the glass window panes in the double doors to the gym. When Regina opened her eyes again, she looked at Emma and said, "Maybe we should take another day off from all this."
"Okay. Yeah, sure. We can do that," Emma replied. "There's, um, there's this restaurant on the other side of the park that Henry loved when we lived here. Maybe we can go there for dinner tomorrow. And the three of us can watch a movie or something when we get back."
"I'm much more agreeable to that instead of cooking for the three of us. Again. Maybe I should refresh those memories I gave you about how to make a meal that didn't come from the frozen food section."
Emma rolled her eyes, but smiled as she did. "Alright. Come on. The faster we get this tape off, the sooner we can get back to Henry and binge on ice cream."
Regina huffed. "I can't believe how much junk food you snuck into that shopping cart. You and Henry both."
"It's not sneaking if you still let us have it after you realized it was in there. And it's not like you didn't get plenty Chunky Monkey to last you a few weeks. Unless you plan to inhale it all in one sitting. I'm definitely not opposed to seeing that."
"Of course you aren't," Regina practically groaned before she started to pick at the tape wrapped snugly around her knuckles.
"I'd actually like to join you if that's what you plan on doing later," Emma added.
"Don't even think about touching my Chunky Monkey," Regina said with an Evil Queen glare and Scolding Mother tone.
Emma chuckled and pulled off the tape on her own hands. Regina may have snapped earlier—Robin was definitely still a very sore subject even after a couple months, apparently—but the brunette found another solution to that anger. The other woman had calmed down enough to suggest moving on to the punching bag and that, whether Regina knew or believed it, was the first step in dealing with the darker impulses of the Evil Queen she'd been reunited with only one week before their trip to New York.
Regina removed her tape seconds after Emma had ripped off her own and with another bright smile, she grabbed their shared gym bag and waited for the brunette at the front door. "I'm still gonna have some of your ice cream."
"Try it. See what happens as soon as I get my magic back."
"That's just the Queen talking."
"Weren't you the one that helped me realize she and I are one in the same? She's my past and what—who I am now is only because I've grown since my bad girl days?"
"I didn't call them your bad girl days, but yeah. Who the hell called you a bad girl?"
"Maleficent," Regina casually answered with a roll of her shoulder.
Emma snorted. "Kinky."
"Wouldn't you like to know," Regina purred, her lips curled into a sinful grin.
Emma froze in place and watched Regina strut out of the gym toward the Mercedes with a cocky and alluring sway to her hips. Yep. Doomed.
Note: I was going to wait to post this until I had more of the next chapter finished, but something came up and I might not have a lot of time in the next week to write. So, I thought I'd post this before I don't even have time to proof read or edit an already written chapter. Hope you enjoyed this one.