Love me Apocalyptic
Chapter Four: Can't Get You Off my Mind
Well I'm not a vampire
But I feel like one/My hands are always shaking
Body's always aching/For goodness sake
Where is my self control?
I'm Not a Vampire- Falling in Reverse
Emma's words must have had a worse impact on Regina than the brunette initially thought because she was a certifiable mess. If she wasn't a mess before with all the worry about a possible infection breaking out in her town, and with Emma becoming a vampire, now she certainly was. Her dreams were filled with indistinct screams, dark shadows chasing her, needles and blood and Emma's pale form lying on an operating table. "Cut me open," she'd say and a hand would rip right through her abdomen, bloody and oozing. Regina would wake up covered in sweat and body aching all over like she had spent the night running, phantom pains making her grimace as they stabbed up and down her body.
Henry had come in on more than one occasion, worried for her. "Are you okay?" he'd ask, a glass of water in his hand because this wasn't the first or last time for this to happen. "I heard you screaming." Again went the unspoken word and Regina knew Henry wanted answers but she couldn't tell him anything, not until his other mother was cleared and especially not that these dreams were her fault.
"It's okay. I'm fine." But Regina felt feverish and the water was cool on her throat. She felt parched but no matter how much water she drank it would never be enough.
"I heard you scream out Emma's name." Henry hadn't left, hands clutching the edge of his shirt in worry. "Is she in trouble? I haven't heard from her for so long."
"She's fine Henry. She's just doing her job. Even I don't know where she is." Regina gave a watery smile before she drew her son closer to her and gave him a soft kiss on his forehead.
"Is that why Hook is gone too?"
"Henry..." Regina sighed, about to reiterate her point that she didn't know what he was doing when Henry cut her off. "And don't say you don't know because you know everything going on in this town."
Regina swallowed guiltily but still offered the same words. "I don't know Henry. But Emma will be back soon."
At least Regina hoped she would be. She got up and ushered Henry back to bed. "Thank you for the glass of water. Now, go to sleep." He allowed her to tuck him in and she went back to her room, hoping that it truly wouldn't be long before Emma could come back. Why had the blonde even felt the need to hang out with Hook? If she hadn't than all this could have been avoided!
Snarling in sudden rage she hurled the glass on the counter across the room and watched in satisfaction as it shattered. That stupid pirate was the cause for all of this! She had half a mind to go to his room and shake some sense into him, maybe slap him across the face for daring to be around Emma with his stupid diseased body. But she forced herself to take deep shuddering breaths. Violence would do no good. Instead, she should be getting some sleep. She had a long day ahead of her.
She returned back to her bed only to see that the covers were drenched in her sweat and that there were some tears where she had snagged her hands and pulled hard while in her agitated dream state. Well, she couldn't sleep in that anymore. She gathered the sheets up and tossed them out, replacing them with new sheets.
But when she laid down on clean linen, she found that she couldn't sleep. Her stomach churned in worry and her nightmares haunted behind her closed lids. She got back up and poured herself a glass of cider before logging into her computer and reading some news articles about the ongoing apocalypse. They spouted the same old stuff- in keeping indoors, in having a stock of weapons, in the army making leeway in combating the vampires. But nothing about a cure.
Utterly frustrating.
She knew if she allowed Whale to carry out his experiments he'd be able to find out some answers. But Emma had forbidden Hook from being a participant, offering herself up instead and Regina would faster kiss Hook than let that happen. Just the thought of Whale hovering over Emma with that leering look on his face made Regina sick. She was forced to rush to the bathroom as the cider she just drank came up.
God damn it. She really was a mess.
Flushing the toilet she got up and washed her sweaty face in the mirror. She had to get it together. In three more days, Emma would be cleared from the room and hopefully everything would be fine. Hopefully, the savior wouldn't have to be a human sacrifice.
Hopefully.
Emma tossed a ball up and down, back on the floor, eyes being burned to a crisp by the bright fluorescent lights. She was soooooooooo bored. There was nothing here for her to do. She'd read all the books, played all the games, even decided to do a bit of a work out. And she'd slept a lot. But that too got boring. So now she was just lying here and thinking but not really thinking at the same time.
Her thoughts floated in and out of her head like a summer breeze.
Wonder what's for dinner today. Hope Regina's brought her tacos. They're delicious. It was kinda weird she didn't stop by today for lunch. She usually delivers it herself but she had Whale do it this time. Maybe she's busy? Maybe she's found a cure?...Nah, that can't be the case or else she'd be rushing over here. I wonder if Henry has found out about why I'm missing. He always was too smart for his own good sometimes. Damn, how much time has passed? Only three fucking minutes?! I think I'm going to go crazy!
Is Hook crazy now? Technically, he's lost his mind to the infection. Does he remember me? How does the infection thing even work?
Emma rolled onto her stomach now, getting bored of the ball tossing, squeezing it instead.
He might have super powers. Regina told me they all have super powers. Does this mean they're like super fast and strong? Are they super hot as well? I know in Twilight they got like super mega hot. What if Regina was a vampire? Emma's brain let out a low whistle. Shit, she's already like super mega hot, so would that make her super mega ultra smexy hot? Or is she just super mega hot squared?
Emma tried to come up with a way Regina could get even sexier but her brain failed, overloading on hotness factor.
It was no secret to Emma that she liked Regina. She'd have to be blind not to appreciate a body like that, and given all they had been through it only made sense for Emma to fall for her friend. It had been one of the reasons for breaking it off with Hook though Emma didn't tell that to either Hook or Regina. Emma didn't feel right leading the pirate on when she didn't feel he was her true love and she had feelings for someone else. And neither did she feel right telling Regina about the true depth of her feelings for her. She was...afraid to ruin things. It had been hard enough being friends and to lose all that...not something Emma had wanted.
Hook hadn't taken the break up kindly because he had given up so much for her, but when she explained that she didn't want to be bought over by him, he seemed to understand a bit more. Then she told him she was fine with them being friends and that was when he had decided to sail the oceans to get over his heartbreak so he could come back and be a good friend for her.
Guilt suddenly hit her.
Was it her fault that Hook was now infected? He had left Storybrooke because they had broken up and gotten infected in the outside world.
Emma closed her eyes. Damn it. This was all so fucked up. She sighed and really hoped Regina would come and give her dinner soon because it would give her something to do other than let her thoughts run her ragged.
As the countdown for Emma's release neared, Regina found herself more and more overcome with nerves. She couldn't even stand to come see the sheriff, having Whale report to her and deliver the food and some new toys for Emma to keep occupied with.
The mayor's stomach was a myriad of nerves, unable to stomach anything. She could no longer keep anything down and her hands shook beyond her control. It took all her effort to come off as normal during her work hours and in front of Henry. She knew Emma was almost in the clear, so she didn't know why her body was behaving this way.
Why did she care so much?
Henry. It was for Henry's sake that she cared if Emma was fine.
She needed to stop being such a coward and go pick up the blonde from the quarantine. Her, and the rest of Hook's crew. They too had remained symptom-less. That gave her hope that this infection would start and end with Hook. If it was only one man than there was less pressure to find a cure.
The night before Emma's discharge, Regina couldn't sleep at all. Each time she tried to, her dreams were plagued by sharp gleaming teeth, and the screams of suffering people who she couldn't see. The same dreams played over and over again, giving her no relief from them. It was enough to drive her mad. Seeing that sleep was not an option, she took to reading some books to keep her mind occupied with more soothing thoughts.
She was tired by the time day break arose but she still didn't risk going to bed. If she was tired enough by the end of today than maybe she would be able to sleep tonight without waking up sweaty and terrified. She got dressed for the day, made Henry his breakfast before kissing him off to school, and then went to work, trying to keep her mind off of Emma and Hook.
Hook was a complete vampire now, and she had to find a better place to keep him. The quarantine room was not going to be a safe option anymore, especially since there was a risk he could break out and hurt people in the hospital. Maybe the police station? Though she dreaded to think of Emma having to come in each day and see her former lover there. She'd have to talk about it later with Emma, right now she had to finish this paperwork.
Still, her thoughts were scattered and she barely managed to wrap up all her work before she left to go pick up Emma from the hospital. Her eyes burned in the bright light of the day as she walked the short distance to her car, and she cursed her lack of sleep. Now when she needed sleep the most, to keep a steady and sharp mind, she couldn't get any. She might have to brew up a sleeping draught for herself later.
The drive over she clutched the steering wheel harder than necessary, hesitating when she got out the car. Fear coiled in her stomach. It was ridiculous, she knew, because Emma had displayed no signs of vampirism and there was no reason to believe she would just suddenly erupt into one.
Get it together, Regina hissed at herself. She used to be a goddamn queen. She needed to start acting like one.
She squared her shoulders and jerked up her head in fake confidence and walked into the hospital like she owned the place. She found Dr. Whale by the quarantine room, muttering to himself and looking at his clipboard.
"Whale," Regina greeted and his head shoot up.
"Mayor Mills. I take it you are here for Emma?"
"How is she?"
"All vitals are good, though she is agitated due to boredom. But, most importantly, she's as clean as a whistle."
Those words...those words she had longed to hear. It made her feel so good to hear them. Regina let out a small sigh of relief and tried to keep herself from smiling prematurely. A huge chunk of her stress melted away and already her day felt better.
"And Hook?"
"Still a vampire, I'm afraid. And a hungry one to boot."
"Do you think he will die if he's not fed?" She asked as she looked through the glass where he was housed. She didn't want to give him human blood-it would only be enabling the vampire cause.
"Possibly. Which is another weakness of the species. Starve them and they die just like humans, though it takes longer and they get progressively more aggressive if you do." There was a loud crash at his words and Regina peered in through the window to see that Hook had trashed his room, and was breathing heavily, looking wildly for more things he could take his aggression out on. He grabbed violently at his metal framed bed and struggled to lift it up before throwing it at the wall which chipped and bent under the attack.
Interesting. He had struggled to lift the frame up. He was weakened by his hunger.
"We're going to have to transfer him out."
"I agree." Whale tapped his pen on his clipboard, looking a bit saddened his experiment was going to be moved. "Should we feed him?"
"Only animal blood," Regina conceded at last, knowing that doing so wouldn't force her to ask for blood donations from her citizens, and it would piss Snow White off to know her animals were being killed off. "But not too much. I want to see if feeding him blood of any variety gives him his super human strength back."
Whale's lips stretched wide, happy he got to carry some sort of tests out. "I'll start with a pint of squirrel blood and keep you updated on the results."
"Good." And good luck on catching those rodents. They were notoriously annoying to gather. She strode off a few feet down to Emma's room steps more confident now, finding the woman laying on the floor, eyes closed and hands crossed behind her head.
Regina felt something in her chest loosen. Emma was fine, truly fine, and Henry would no longer have to worry about her. And neither would Regina. She turned the intercom system on. "Emma. Emma!" it took two tries to get the woman's attention; once she did Emma bounced up to her feet.
"Is it time? Am I free to go?" She looked like an excited puppy about to be adopted.
"Yes. You can come home." Regina held back her smile as she unlocked the door and Emma rushed out, hugging the other woman tightly like she had been starving for her touch. Regina hadn't expected that; they had never hugged before. So she stood there a bit shocked, limbs heavy, before she tentatively hugged her back. Emma's skin was warm under her tee and Regina could feel the steady beat of the blonde's heart against her chest. It's beat was light, fluttery and it reassured Regina in a way that Whale's words could not. Here was Emma, alive and warm and not cold like a vampire. She was human.
Despite being locked up for two weeks, Emma still smelled strongly of her soft scents, and not like hospital antiseptic. She smelled like vanilla and butter cookies. "Thank god, I was going to lose my mind in there."
"As if you had one to lose," Regina scoffed back in good nature.
The smell was comforting and for some reason it made Regina's stomach gurgle in hunger. Probably because she hadn't ate properly for days and Emma's smell was reminding her of dessert.
"Sounds like someone is hungry," Emma teased as she pulled back, eyes drinking in Regina's countenance. It was so good to see her friend. To finally be able to touch her. She'd missed her a lot more than she thought she would.
Regina was embarrassed by the betrayal of her stomach, a sharp retort out her mouth to defend her honor. "Could have been your stomach, you glutton."
"Fine, it was mine," Emma humored for now. "So, Granny's?"
"Or my place. Henry hasn't seen you and he's missed you dearly."
"Right. Course I want to see the kid, but is it safe to be around him?" Emma still didn't look certain at her own innocence.
"You're fine," Regina said, cupping Emma's cheek softly and with so much care that couldn't be stifled. "And if I so much as see you looking at my son's neck weird, I'll be flinging you out the window."
"Well, that's reassuring," Emma grumbled sarcastically, but it wasn't hard to see that she was happy she could go see her son, and that she could trust Regina to keep him safe. But she sobered up a bit at the thought of someone else. "And the situation with Killian? Is he still..."
"Yes," Regina said gravelly, annoyed that Emma would ruin their reunion by talking about that dirty man. "He's a vampire. And we don't know how to change that." Without doing experiments, Regina let that hang unspoken because it was a can of worms she didn't want to open again. "We're going to have to move him somewhere, because he's been shredding his room to bits, and it could get ugly if he manages to escape."
Emma nodded her head, eyes serious. "Have you thought about the jail at the police station?"
"I have. Briefly. But I negated the idea because he will be out in the open. It's troubling enough that Whale knows it, but then David, and anyone else who passes that way will see Hook and know something is wrong."
"Wait, are you intending to never let the townsfolk know about the possible threat among their midst." Emma didn't look happy at that. And she wouldn't look any happier at what Regina had to say next.
"That was my intention, yes."
"People deserve to know-"
"Emma, I don't want to start a panic in the town. If I tell them, then they will either demand Hook to be killed to fix this issue, or they will start turning on each other, thinking they can't trust each other to not turn into vampires. Chaos will erupt."
Emma narrowed her lips, begrudgingly nodding her head. "You have a point. But-,"
And of course there was that damn conjunction.
"-I want you to tell people if the situation gets worse."
Regina had to fight to not roll her eyes. "It's not going to get worse. Hook's the only infected one and everyone he talked to was locked up and checked to be symptom-less. It started at Hook, and it stops at Hook." She was confident now that since no one else was ill that she could find a solution to the dirty pirate.
She had no idea how wrong she would be.
"I'm so glad to see you back Ma!" Henry hugged Emma tight as soon as the blonde walked through the door, not letting go for a full five minutes. "Where have you been?"
"I missed you too kiddo. And uh, you know, police stuff. Secret police stuff," she added when she saw his mouth open to ask questions.
"Fine," he huffed, miffed he couldn't ask away. But he shot his mother a glare that said he knew that she knew that he knew they were hiding something from him. He skipped over to the set table instead. "Mom's making her famous lasagna."
"Oh boy," Emma's mouth began to water as she took the scents in. "I can't wait."
She sat down at the table, listening to Henry talk about his school day while Regina finished up the dish and began to plate it. Emma was all too eager to notice it, putting a pause on her chat with Henry. "As much as I love you kid, I love Regina's lasagna, so I'm cutting you off there," Emma grinned as she ruffled her son's head and began to dig into the dish.
"No fair Ma!" Henry whined but in good nature. "I was just getting to the good part."
"What? I can't hear you over how much I'm enjoying this," she groaned appreciatively loud as she ate another forkful.
"I'm glad you enjoy it, but please, keep things civil. I don't want you scarring my son," Regina chided before picking up her own forkful. But when she put it in her mouth it tasted like ash. She nearly gagged on it and quickly pulled out a napkin to spit it out into. "How can you eat this?" she asked, scandalized. "Why didn't anyone tell me it tastes terrible?"
"Huh?" Emma's full mouth hung open. "What are you talking about?"
"Yea, mom, it's delicious."
Regina cast her son and Emma an odd look. They were tearing right into the food like nothing was out of odds.
She furrowed her brow and tried again, thinking maybe the first bite had been a oddity. But no, the second bite tasted just as terrible. This time she got up and spat it out into the trash, grabbing a glass and rinsing the lingering taste out with some water. Was something wrong with her taste buds?
"Are you okay?" When Regina hadn't returned, Emma had padded into the kitchen, eyes full of concern.
"I'm fine," Regina automatically replied with, because she was always so used to portraying that she was, even if she wasn't. "I must just not be hungry." But she was. She could feel the hunger gnawing at her belly, clawing up her throat, and the sweet dessert like smell that wafted from Emma only reinforced it.
"Okay," Emma didn't look convinced. "If anything, just tell me."
Regina nodded her head tightly. "Of course, Miss Swan."
Emma narrowed her eyes. She knew Regina was trying to distance herself emotionally now with using Emma's last name, but she didn't know why the mayor would do this. Was something really wrong? What was eating at her? But Emma knew she wasn't going to get an answer now so she went back to her meal. Regina didn't leave her kitchen for the rest of the dinner.
Once Henry had gone upstairs to bed, Emma stayed behind for a little bit, so they could discuss what they could do with Hook.
"I think I'm going to make a magical cage for him," Regina said, sitting down on her sofa, glass of water in her hand. Water seemed to be the only thing that didn't taste bad. She'd stayed in the kitchen during Emma's and Henry's meal and tried other foods. Fruits, vegetables, even her favorite snacks, all tasted terribly to her. Not to alert her guests, she tried to keep her panic quiet, but her hands were shaking. Even now they shook and she had to steady her glass with both hands.
Something was wrong with her. She needed to check with Whale. Maybe it was something like menopause- she'd heard it did weird things to a woman's body. And she was after all, sixty something years old. It would explain why she would wake up sweaty at night, angry and fearful.
"And where will the cage be?" Emma stood in front of her, thumbs tucked into the back of her jeans.
"I'll keep it in my Vault. No one will be able to go in but me."
"So who will feed him?"
Regina had quickly filled in Emma about her blood theory. While Whale was doing it now, the task would fall squarely upon Regina's shoulders as she was the only one with access to her Vault. "I'll do it," she said with only a slight curl of her upper lip at having to take care of the foul man.
"Why not keep him in the hospital, but just magically reinforce the area there?"
"I suppose that's fine too." Regina would prefer to keep him out of sight, but it would require her to sacrifice her own time in order to feed him. She didn't want to; he wasn't some treasured pet of hers. "Will you help?" Their magic combined would make the cage impenetrable.
"Of course," Emma nodded her head, before rocking back on her heels. She looked like she had something else to say but was having a tough time saying it.
"Spit it out, whatever it is you want to say," Regina didn't have the patience to wait.
"I was only wondering...are you okay? You look paler than usual."
"I'm fine," Regina snapped, uncomfortable with the scrutiny of Emma's worry. She wasn't used to having people care about her so ardently. "Just the stress of all of this. I don't want an apocalypse rampaging inside my town."
"You're not alone, Regina. I'm here to help as well."
Regina didn't say anything to that, watching as Emma left to go back home. She sighed and finished off her glass before she too went up to bed. That night she dreamed of darkness and voices, and that scent- Emma's scent. She woke up not screaming this time, but insanely thirsty. Her throat felt like the desert. She went to the bathroom and turned on the tap, desperately drinking and drinking straight from it until the burn faded. It didn't dissipate entirely and that annoyed her. The hunger in her stomach was still there too, only slightly tamed by sleep.
She went back to her room, thinking she could perhaps go back to sleep when her cell phone rang. She looked at the screen and saw that Princess was calling. "Emma?" she answered, voice a little dusty from how dry it had been. "Why are you calling at three in the morning?"
Emma sounded uncertain. "Uh, Regina we have an issue."
Regina felt a chill go down her back, instantly alert. "Is it Hook, did he escape?" she asked in a rush. She was going to roast his balls on a pike alive if that was the case.
"No, it's not him." Emma swallowed hard. "There's another vampire."
A/N: Shits about to hit the fan in Storybrooke.