A/N: I am so looking forward to being able to just write some less angsty scenes between these two, or, at least slightly less confrontational scenes... But they're needed to make this all believable. Fear not, though, this is listed as SQ for a reason.
"Emma..."
"...What in the actual fuck..."
The brunette moves over towards the Sheriff and lets out a low groan as the younger woman attempts to scramble away; her breathing rapid and eyes glistening with fear.
"No, no! It's ok! I promise, Emma, please-"
"-Get the hell away from me!"
"You have to let me explain! I deserve a chance to explain!"
Her words fall on deaf ears as the blonde pushes herself up onto her feet and sprints for the door. Regina grimaces as she doesn't need to be psychic to know what will happen next, but she can't risk letting Emma escape the small, confined space of her bedroom. Can't risk her running out into a world she isn't ready for. Closing her eyes, she wills the door to remain shut, creating an invisible shield to keep the blonde from disappearing from view.
As she had predicted, the younger woman collides with the door with such force she is knocked backwards onto her ass; her expression of surprise sure to be comical were it not for this hateful situation.
"Emma... Please, you have to listen to me, it's okay! It's all okay! Please you-"
"-This can't be happening. It can't! It... This is some kind of trick, right? Regina? Right?! What the... Wh-what the..."
The brunette growls as the Sheriff proceeds to claw at the door, almost able to taste the frenzied panic coming from the blonde. Rising to her feet swiftly, she hurries towards Emma as the younger woman begins to scramble at the door with greater earnest; her wrists leaving ugly smears on the painted white wood and her shoulders heaving tellingly. Grabbing her by the waist, Regina drags her backwards, trying to shield herself from an onslaught of flailing limbs as she manages to wrestle to Sheriff to the floor.
"Emma! Stop! Emma!"
But the blonde has her eyes clamped shut, squirming fitfully beneath the prison of the brunette's thighs in a way that threatens to knock the darker woman off of her at any second. Closing her eyes and whispering a choked apology, Regina brings her hand down smartly across the Sheriff's face before falling forward to observe her, nose to nose.
"Emma..."
The brunette wipes away a tear that trickles from the corner of the younger woman's eye as a result of the stinging pain evident in the form of a red hand print at her cheek. Piercing the blonde's eyes with her own dark coals, she shakes her head when the Sheriff attempts once more to buck her off; shushing her gently as Emma's strength begins to wane with exhaustion.
"Please stop... Please?"
"You... You're... Regina, how did you do that... H-how are we here?!"
"... You know the answer to that, dear... Victor all but told you... As has Henry many a time..."
"No. No, no, no... Not you, too... Regina, please! I can't! I... I feel sick... It hurts... I can't... I can't do this right now... W-why are you all doing this to me!?"
The Queen sighs sadly as the Sheriff begins to weep once more, not accustomed to dealing with Emma like this, and hating the way the younger woman's face speaks of nothing but misery. Running her fingers gently through golden curls, she proceeds to slide her hands beneath the blonde's shoulder blades, and wrestles her over to the bed; propping her up so that she rests slouched against its end.
"I didn't mean for any of this to happen, you have to believe me... If I had my way, you would have never found out... I don't know what to say... All I can do is ask you to think back to when you came here and how I acted towards you, and how that's changed... None of how I've been with you has had anything to do with the... The Curse... Just please try to remember that?"
"I just... H-henry's been asking me to accept that everyone's a fucking fairytale character all this time, and it's crazy! And I just... They all tell me you're the Evil Queen, a-and... I said it was nuts, but...What you just did... Th-that was magic? We... You... I can't..."
"...I want to show you something."
Regina moves so that she sits beside the blonde; her spirits lifting momentarily when Emma doesn't shy away from her, but she isn't naive enough to truly believe the younger woman's reaction is a result of anything but simple exhaustion. Still, she takes the Sheriff's hands gently in her own and carefully removes the ripped bandaging ruined during her scrap with the doctor. Hissing through her teeth at the carnage that lies beneath, she glances up at Emma who looks down at her abused wrists with an awful kind of expressionless apathy.
"This shouldn't hurt, I don't think..."
The Queen moves her hands over the blonde's wrists slowly, cautious of the knowledge that what she is going to try to do may well result in the Sheriff well and truly reaching her limit. She doesn't want to scare the younger woman any more than she has to, but she does need to prove herself, and fast. Allowing just the smallest amount of power to leave her fingertips to find the blonde's wrists in a purple haze, she mutters quietly as Emma lets out a low cry and trembles beside her.
"Shhh, just watch, dear, just watch... I need you to trust me... Can you do that?"
"I..."
"Please?"
"...I trust you..."
Regina blinks rapidly, not having been so bold as to expect the Sheriff to answer in the affirmative but elated by the answer she has been offered. Allowing just a little more force to touch the blonde's ruined flesh, she watches alongside the younger woman as angry, raw lacerations begin to heal before her very eyes; not sure if she should laugh or cry at Emma's low muttering of 'fuck, shit, fuck, shit, fuck' in her ear.
Taking the Sheriff's broken hand in her own, she works her magic a little deeper, knitting together fractured shards with sorrowful flinches at each pained hiss that escapes the blonde's lips.
"Try to move your fingers..."
"I can't! I... Oh shit..."
Green eyes widen as pale fingers flutter slowly but ably. Turning to the brunette, Emma lets out a low noise of distress and the darker woman pulls her swiftly into her, allowing the Sheriff to hide her face in the soft fabric of her coat.
"I know it's a lot to take in... I know, dear... And I don't know what's going to happen... I'm hardly viewed favourably by any of those I brought here. Your... Your parents being at the top of that list... Emma, if I could change things now, I would... But I was young, and foolish, and I... It's not as simple as how it looks when written on the page... I-"
"-You ruined everything... M-my parents! Are you fucking k-kidding me?! I'm just supposed to-"
"-Don't say that! Please, don't say that! I don't expect you to do anything... You're not supposed to do anything... I... Please... Don't say that..."
Regina tightens her arms around the Sheriff in a desperate plea to keep her close, but the younger woman squirms free determinedly, sitting back so that she can survey the darker woman with bloodshot, incredulous eyes, her face pale and streaked with dirty tear-tracks.
"You... Do you know what I went through?! The shit I dealt with because of what you... What you did?! Because I didn't have my fucking parents?!"
"And do you know what I went through because of your parents?! Emma... I can't make this all go away... Well, no, that's a lie... Do you know how easy it would be right now for me to make it so that you had no clue anything was amiss? I could make it so that you remembered only the things I wanted you to remember..."
Panic flashes nakedly across the younger woman's face and the brunette shakes her head, sniffing delicately.
"I would never do that to you, Emma... If you find you can't deal with what you have uncovered... If you can't bare to see me... I would hate that... I would wish it were different... But I would never do something like that to you... I love you."
"Please... Don't."
"I came for you."
"Regina..."
"I need you."
The blonde shakes her head slowly and the Queen bites back her instinctual anger, the resulting noise echoing loudly between them in the form of a sob. She watches as Emma gets shakily to her feet, the younger woman moving towards the door before turning back defeatedly.
"Is it still locked?"
"No... No, I'll let you go if it's what you want... I...Here, take these before you go."
Regina rises stiffly and moves to her wardrobe, hiding her face so as to mask the tears that flow freely. She finds a pair of plain black slacks she imagines will fit the blonde just a little snuggly, and a cashmere V-necked sweater. She holds them out silently to Emma who dons them swiftly; no showiness to her actions which, while understandable, saddens the brunette as it all seems terribly final. Sniffing as the Sheriff shrugs awkwardly and nods her farewell, Regina pauses hesitantly by the bed and speaks up in a low voice.
"What's going to happen?"
"... I don't know."
"Will you... Are you coming back? Here, I mean?"
"I... I need to go sort out my head...I need to go talk to Mary Margaret... I... I have to have some space from you..."
"Okay... Well-"
"-But I won't forget what you did for me today. I... I do lo-... I have to go... But, please... Stay out of trouble?"
"I will... I can't promise trouble won't find me, though, Miss Swan."
"... The curse may have broken or whatever the fuck you want to call it, but I'm still the Sheriff. You have my number... Use it if you have to."
"... Thank you."
"Bye, Regina."
"Goodbye, Emma... For now?"
"... Bye, Regina."