Chapter 15: Had

Regina gets a call at four am in the morning. Which is not unusual for her given her political career and the fires they sometimes have to stamp out at odd hours of the day. She sits up, not bothering to even read the caller ID. She answers the phone. "Hello?"

"Mom, thank goodness you picked up. I don't know what to do!" Henry's young voice is on the other end and he sounds positively distraught. Her veins turn to ice. She's moving out of her bed, going to the bathroom so she won't wake up Kat.

"Henry, tell me what's happened," she insists, wide awake.

"Ma's...something's wrong with Ma and I don't know what to do," Henry hiccuped into the phone. He sounded like he had been crying for a long time.

"Henry, I need you to calm down and go and see what is wrong with her. Can you do that? Can you go and tell me exactly what is wrong with her?" Regina asked, trying to keep her voice calm and level.

Henry sniffles, his sobs subsiding a bit. "Yes. Yes I can do that."

She waits impatiently on the line as Henry goes in. There's some shuffling noises and then he talks. "She's really hot. And she doesn't seem to know what's going on."

Regina sucks in a breath. "Call the ambulance, Henry. She sounds like she needs help."

"We don't...we can't afford one," he tells her.

Right, Regina's eyes briefly close. The wonders of the American Health care system. "Okay, wait there. Put something cold on her head and make sure her pulse is okay."

"How do I do that?"

Regina quickly explains and then tells Henry to call her if anything gets worse. Then, she hangs up and quickly gets ready. Kat doesn't wake up to Regina's frantic motions and Regina decides to leave her wife a note detailing why she left so early. Then, with only freshly brewed coffee to make her feel better, she got into her car and drove off.

Her grip was white knuckled on the steering wheel and she tried to keep to the speed limit. Henry calls twice more to ask if Regina is coming and Regina assures him that she is. He sounds a lot more calm now that he knows someone is coming to help.

When Regina gets to the apartment it is light out, the sun just rising over the horizon. Henry opens the door as Regina pulls off her gloves and coat, draping them on the couch.

"Thank you for coming," he hugs her, his eyes red. He's been crying and her heart throbs at that. She doesn't want him to worry. "You wait outside, I'll go talk to Emma on what happened. I'll stay here today and take care of her, okay?"

"Yes," Henry nods, sniffling a bit. Regina goes inside Emma's bedroom, finding it a mess. The woman herself looks a mess. Her skin has a sweaty sheen to it and some damp curls are sticking to her skin. Her breathing is labored, one leg peeking out from under the covers, one arm hanging down to the floor. Regina gently takes the wrist in between her fingers and measures the pulse. It's steady and a bit slow, but Emma is sleeping so nothing to worry about right now.

Emma mumbles something under her breath. Regina can't make it out but she leaves the room to bring Emma some cool water and fetch Tylenol from the cabinets.

"Emma, wake up," she says loudly, making Emma stir.

"Huh?" she mumbles out, barely opening her eyes.

"Emma, wake up," Regina repeats more sternly.

Emma finally opens her eyes and barely reacts at all at the unusual sight of Regina in her bedroom. "I must be hallucinating," she says, her voice a dry croak. "What are you doing here?"

"My son called me because he was worried about you. Why haven't you been taking care of yourself?"

"It's not my fault I caught a fever. Not all of us can work in fancy office, some of us have to spend long nights stalking others in the cold." Even Emma's words lacked their usual bite.

"Have you taken any medication?"

"No...I just came home and went to sleep. I'm so tired."

"Here's some water and some medicine for you to take," Regina held out the offered items.

"I'm fine, I don't need to take them," Emma refused, though it was a weak refusal.

"I will not have my son worrying about you. You've driven him to tears." Regina's voice is becoming impatient. Why won't the stubborn woman just take her medicine?

"He's our son," Emma makes the distinction that Regina is so hesitant to voice outloud. "And I didn't know," she offers more softly. "About Henry. I didn't mean to scare him."

"You could take the medicine. That might not scare him."

Emma takes a long moment to turn herself onto her back and sit up, reaching out a shaky hand. Regina deposits the pills in it and then hands her the glass. Emma swallows the medicine down. "I'm going to make you some soup to eat."

"It's fine, really-"

"It's not up for discussion," Regina cut in sternly. She leaves the room, finding Henry trying to read a book on the couch. "How is she?" he asks when Regina closes the door silently behind herself.

"Emma took the medicine. I'm going to make her some food."

"Can I help!" Henry asks. Regina contemplates telling him no, but decides, what is the harm in it? She at least gets to spend more time with her son. "Okay. We're going to make chicken soup for your mom."

"We'll probably have to buy some ingredients first. We didn't go shopping this week."

Of course they didn't. Emma didn't strike her as the reliable type of home maker. Regina snatches up her outerwear. "Grab your coat. I'll drive us to the closest store."

Henry hurries to his room.

Ten minutes later they're in a grocery store, Regina with the basket in one hand, Henry walking on her other side. This feels so much like being a family, so much like those many lost moments with Henry, that she's momentarily choked up. But Henry doesn't let her dwell on her inner emotions for too long; he's chatting her ear off about school and comic book heroes. When they get home with all the needed ingredients to make a soup, Emma is still in her room and when Henry checks in, she's asleep. Regina doesn't like to openly admit it, but she is worried about her.

She teaches Henry how to make the soup, and even lets him cut the vegetables under her supervision. He learns quickly and she is proud of her little chef. "This is going to be the best soup ever!" he cheers as they set it to boil. Regina cleans up the kitchen while Henry runs to the TV, pulling out some movies for them to watch while the soup cooks.

Regina almost forgets entirely that she was supposed to call Kathryn to check up with her. When she fetches her phone from her jacket pocket, she finds that there are several missed calls. That can't be good.

"Hello?" she answers when Kat picks up on the first ring. Which means she's super pissed.

"Why didn't you call me sooner?" Kat demands. "You just leave me a single note and expect me to be fine?"

"Kat I got caught up-"

"With Emma?"

Kat's voice has grown shriller. Why is she overreacting this way? "Why does this bother you so much?" she asks suspiciously. Kat quiets down on the other end of the line. When she speaks it's in a more relaxed tone of voice. "I was worried about you, you idiot. You're my wife. I don't see why you have to go running off to take care of Emma whom you barely know."

But Regina doesn't barely know Emma. They'd spent months together, intimately pressed against each other in many positions. She knows her well enough. "I'll be back home by the end of today. I'll call you when I'm about to get into my car."

"Regina-" Kat begins, and Regina is aware she has not answered her questions, but frankly she doesn't feel like doing so.

"Bye." And she hangs up. She puts her phone on silent mode so she won't have to be distracted by it.

"Mom, which movie? I picked the best two options," Henry asks, picking up two of them. The choice is between Iron Man and Captain America.

"You decide, I'm fine with either," Regina comments, only because she doesn't care much for superhero movies. "Let's watch both!" Henry says and pops in the Iron Man one first. She sits down on one end of the couch while he sits next to her, snuggling up to her arm. She can feel her heart swell inside. She wonders if her kid with Kat will love her like this too. If Henry can love her and he barely knows her, then surely her own kid can too? She just feels niggling fear in the back of her head that she's only good with Henry because he's older now and that she won't be as good with a newborn. Then again, that's what omegas are best at. Such distinctions sometimes have their merits and Regina is happy she'll have an omega that will know what to do with kids because she feels it won't come as naturally to her.

Henry points out his favorite scenes and he's even got some lines of dialogue memorized. Halfway through the movie, Regina turns off the soup and they pause the movie so that they set up the table. Regina goes back into Emma's room to wake her for food. She's carrying a tray with hot soup on it, a slice of bread, and a glass of orange juice which she knows will help boost Emma's system. On a napkin next to all of it is another pill.

"Emma wake up, you need to eat this," Regina wakes her none too gently and Emma stirs awake with a mumble. "I'm not hungry," she insists but Regina won't take no for an answer.

"You need to eat something. I'll leave this here and I expect you to finish this up by the time I come back to get it. You don't have to eat everything but you need to eat something. And take your medicine."

Emma groans and pulls herself upright, shoving some pillows behind her to prop her up as Regina settles the tray gently on her lap. "Okay, mom," she half jokes and Regina glares at her before leaving the room. She and Henry have dinner at the dinner table before she cleans up the dishes and they resume the movie. Regina makes sure to give Emma enough time to finish her meal. When the movie finishes, she finds Emma asleep once more, tray on the floor. Most of the soup is gone, so is the bread, the juice and the pill. Regina feels Emma's forehead for her. It's cooler now and she decides she'll give her a cold compress just in case.

She collects the dirty dishes and then gets a cool towel for Emma that she puts on her forehead. The blonde sighs in relief at the cool touch and Regina leaves the room, satisfied that she at least helped the best she could. She watches one more movie with Henry before it becomes dark outside. She needs to go home. She can't stay overnight here. Those weren't her plans.

"I put the leftover soup in the fridge. All you need to do is reheat it," Regina instructs as she speaks to Henry by the door. "Emma's fever is going down but bring her a glass of water in the morning and another pill just in case. She should feel better by then."

"Do you have to go?" Henry asked, looking utterly depressed by her having to go. She felt her chest tighten at that.

"Henry, I do."

"But we had fun today. And what if mom gets sick again and I don't know what to do?" he fretted. She knelt down to his level. Took him by the hands. They were so small but had deftly helped her in the kitchen.

"Henry, I had fun today with you too. But I can't stay here. I have to go back to my wife and take care of her. But I will call to check up tomorrow on you two."

He nodded his head, resigning himself to the fact that he would not be convincing Regina otherwise to stay. She gave him a kiss on his forehead to offset the hurt and then got up, leaving the apartment. The ride over felt long for some reason. And lonely. And when she pulled up to her house, she didn't immediately get out of her car. She was worried for the two of them, and she felt like she had let down Henry by leaving. But she had to. Her place wasn't there, with them. It was here, with Kat and their unborn child.

She turned the car off, yawning as she went up the stairs. She was tired by this whole day. Worrying over others was often draining. She also remembered she was in mid argument with Kat and that only made her even more tired. Luckily, since it was this late, Kat was already asleep. The house was dark and Regina came in quiet so as not to disturb her wife. She showered, changed her clothes and then slid into bed, curling up next to her wife.

She inhaled Kat's familiar scent, one of strawberries and ice cream and tried to ignore the scent of Emma's that filtered through her nose the entire day.

Regina gets a call at eight in the morning, just as she's up from bed and in the kitchen making an apology breakfast for Kat for when she wakes up. It must be Henry. Regina's heart leaps up her throat and she's worried. What has happened now?

"Hello, Henry is everything okay?" Regina tries to keep her voice even. To keep the fear out of it.

"This is Emma," Emma says on the other end of the line.

"Oh," Regina says, not expecting this. Awkward silence buzzes.

"Um, I just wanted to call you and thank you for what you did yesterday. It really helped me and the kid," Emma rushes before Regina can hang up on her.

"It was no problem, really," Regina says, because she doesn't want to be reminded of this. Doesn't want Emma to think she cares for her. Because they can't care about each other. Regina only cares about Kat and Henry. She had once cared about Emma but that was a long time ago and had to be left in the past.

"Well, I still appreciate it. I'm feeling better now and um, if you ever need a favor, I'm more than happy to repay you for it."

"It won't be needed Miss Swan," Regina says so as to maintain a distance between them. "Now, if you don't mind, I need to get back to my breakfast," Regina said, smelling the beginning of burning bacon.

"Ha, only you would be up this early," Emma laughs and Regina arches a brow up at that comment even if Emma can't see her. Eight am is not that early. It's actually later than she gets up because normally she's up at six but had gotten home late yesterday due to taking care of Henry and Emma.

"Good bye," Regina says instead because she is in no mood to continue this conversation. She can hear running water from upstairs. Kat has woken up. It's time to make amends.

It's been a month since Regina has last seen Emma. Winter is halfway over, and Regina missed seeing Henry's adorable face. But her work has gotten busier. So has Emma's, and the two of them make no weekend plans. Regina seems to find Kat in a better mood these days.

Regina has just stepped off the podium during work and is walking around the crowd when she spots two familiar faces. What are they doing here on a Tuesday?

"You're a mayor," Emma murmurs low, in awe, taking in the fancy suit. She must have seen Regina address the crowd. "Of course you are."

"My mom's a mayor!" Henry cheers. "Did you get to meet the president?"

Her gaze softens when it lands on him. "No, Henry. I'm only a small town mayor."

"Still, you're pretty much a hotshot. Getting to make...laws, and stuff," Emma trailed off. "Actually I'm not sure what mayors do."

"What are you two doing here?" Regina gets to the point, feeling safe behind the armor of the mayor. She clasps her hands in front so she won't fiddle with them.

"I need to tell you something important and I figured it would be better to tell you in person."

That does not sound promising. "Can it wait? I'm still at work." She hopes to delay this.

"Sure," Emma nods her head. "Dinner at Granny's?"

Emma dismisses Henry to go bother Ruby, so that she and Regina can talk without disturbances once the two of them settle into their booth.

"I'm...moving to Storybrooke," Emma says without meeting Regina's eyes, hands cupping the mug of hot cocoa in her hands.

"What?!" Regina blurts out, and it's louder than she means it to be because Ruby's head jerks up and she bites her tongue, cursing herself for being unable to control her emotions better. She notices Emma shift uncomfortably before Emma speaks again.

"I know you're probably not happy with the idea, but I think it's for the best. I'm getting a bit too old for my job and it's dangerous, not something I intended to do for a long time if I wanna be around for Henry. Not only that, but you're here, and driving back and forth on the weekends is taxing sometimes. Besides, it's not too good on Henry to keep uprooting him."

"I could drive down. I don't mind," Regina quickly cut in, to which Emma shook her head and seemed to gain some confidence in herself. She met Regina's anxious brown gaze.

"I already found an apartment up here. Had some time when you and Henry are out. And I found a job opening too." Emma for once, had everything planned out. Regina would be proud of her, if she wouldn't be so aghast at the idea.

"Where?" Regina wasn't even aware that there was a job opening in this small ass town.

"At the police station. Pushing paper work. Much safer than what I was doing before." Regina doesn't ask about Emma's previous job because if she does, she hazards a guess that she will get very pissed off at Emma for doing something so risky when she was all Henry had.

Regina sits back into her seat, feeling a bit defeated by this. Keeping Emma distant had kept her sane. But if she was this close by...? Regardless, she couldn't drive the woman out of town. Emma was an adult, and it was perfectly legal for her to move in here. And the way she had presented it, it did make sense for her to be here now that there was the matter of raising Henry.

"I'll stay out of your way if that bothers you. This town is small but we don't have to interact if it's a big issue to you," Emma supplies, taking a sip of her now cold cocoa.

"Yes, that might be for the better," she cuts to Henry who is laughing at something Ruby told him. "I don't want Henry to get the wrong idea. He seems to think he can get us to be a family." Her heart aches at this. "But he doesn't seem to understand how binding marriage is."

Emma bobs her head, going along with this, "and you're happy with Kat, anyways."

"Yes," Regina says quietly, before getting up. She drops a couple of bills on the table, paying for all their meals. Emma follows her motions with sharp green eyes. "Leaving?"

"I have work waiting for me at home. And I don't want to leave Kat by herself for too long. She's pretty late in her pregnancy and I don't want her doing any heavy work around the house."

"Before you go," Emma cuts in quickly, deciding she might as well push this topic. Regina had taken the idea of her moving her pretty decently. Emma had certainly expected more screaming and yelling and Emma getting chased out of town with a pitchfork. So, Emma felt maybe she could push a little more. "I was thinking we could go see a play this Thursday night. I can get us tickets and everything. If we're going to live in the same town together, I figured we could try to get on each other's good side and go some of the places together. Henry would like it."

Regina is shocked by the offer- Emma's shocked her twice today and she doesn't know if she likes it. "What happened to staying out of my way?" Regina let's one lip corner curl up in amusement.

Emma shifts in her seat like it's hot. "I know that. And I meant it. I really won't bother you; I've spent this long without talking to you, I think I could manage more. But, like I said, it would be for Henry. He asked me to ask you if we could at least once a week maybe have a family...something," Emma gestured vaguely.

Regina chews on the inside of her lip, eyeing the way Emma taps on the counter impatiently and nervously. "I'd have to...ask Kat about it," she settles on at last, tying the sash of her pea coat. It's getting warmer. Soon they won't need their coats.

"Do you have too? You're your own damn woman," Emma says irritably. Her brows furrow and Regina feels irked at Emma for being angry at Kat. "Kat has been nothing short of amazing, being open to the idea of my seeing Henry and as a result, interacting with you. She doesn't like what happened between us and she only tolerates Henry because he is part of me. She doesn't like you." There is no delicate way to say this. Emma doesn't look shocked. Seems she already knew.

"It's going to break Henry's heart to know this," Emma cuts in and how dare she use Henry as a bargaining chip in this.

"I said I would speak to Kat on it. And we would talk about if it's okay. Maybe not once a week, but something we can do once a month," Regina adds in more softly because she can put herself in Emma's shoes and imagine how painful it might be to tell Henry no. His face was just too adorable to say no to.

Then, Regina leaves before Emma can convince her to do anything more, because she knows her resolve will break.