As promised, here is the next chapter! As noted a couple chapters ago I do have their route planned, both small stops and overnight stops in certain cities. For the most part it's big cities so if you live in the state they go through and your town/city isn't on the route, sorry. We can stop there on the way back :)

"Avery was what?" Regina asked, not entirely sure that she had heard Emma right. There was no way that something like that had happened to Avery, she was too young. Right?

"Pregnant," Emma said, squeezing the pillow she was holding tighter. "She sent a white dove with the news and pleaded with me to find her because he wouldn't let her go."

Regina blew out a long breath, not entirely knowing what to say next. She watched as Emma let go of the pillow and pushed herself off of the bed, heading over to the suitcase they had brought with that contained the crime scene photos. Regina quickly got up and went over, grabbing Emma's wrist and stopping her from unzipping the suitcase.

Emma sighed and tried to pull from Regina's grip. "Regina come on-"

"No," Regina said firmly, quickly getting Emma's attention. "There is no reason why you need to put yourself through more tonight." She held up her hand as Emma went to protest. "I promise that we'll look at it all again tomorrow. No more tonight."

"Yes Your Majesty," Emma said sarcastically, earning herself an eye roll from Regina that was well worth the comment.

Regina let go of Emma's wrist and made her way back to the bed, grabbing Emma's hand and intertwining their fingers when Emma joined her under the covers tensely. "I don't think you'll have another one if that's what you're worried about."

"I don't think I have that kind of control," Emma said. She went willingly when Regina tugged her close, and they shifted until they fit together like two perfect puzzle pieces. She tried her best to relax, and eventually fell into very much needed sleep.

The first thing that Emma noticed the next morning was that Regina was gone. Normally this wouldn't have bothered her, thanks to years of training Regina was often up earlier than she was. However, after everything that had happened the night before Emma was more than convinced that Regina was tired of dealing with her trauma and had left.

'Stop it,' Emma scolded herself. 'If she was going to leave you it wouldn't be while you're on the road. Plus, her stuff is still here. She wouldn't leave without her stuff, right?'

Just as Emma was about to possibly lose it, the screen door to the deck attached to their room slid open and Regina stepped inside, sticking her phone in her pocket. She jumped at seeing Emma awake, immediately looking concerned. "What happened?"

"Nothing," Emma said. "What makes you think something happened?"

Regina slowly walked over to Emma and reached up before gently wiping tears off of Emma's face. "You're crying."

"Oh," Emma said. She didn't even realize she was.

"Emma," Regina said gently, getting her attention. "I'm not going to leave you."

"I know that," Emma scoffed, getting off of the bed and going over to her suitcase to get a change of clothes.

"So my not being here when you woke up had nothing to do with the tears on your face?"

"Nope."

"Henry called to check in. I didn't want to wake you."

"You don't have to justify yourself to me, you should be able to go outside to take a phone call without me having a mental breakdown."

Regina sighed before getting up and taking the clothes out of Emma's hands and putting them down, grabbing Emma's hands in her own. "Don't do this."

"Don't do what?" Emma asked.

Regina gave her a knowing look. "You know what. Pretending to be all nonchalant. Picking a fight."

Emma tried to pull away. "I'm not-" She stopped as Regina quirked an eyebrow. "Okay fine. Yes, I got freaked out that you weren't here."

"Okay," Regina said. She pressed a kiss to Emma's cheek before giving Emma her clothes back and walking away. "Get dressed so we can get through those files again."

The files were spread out on the table between them, a call placed down to the front desk a while ago to extend their stay. "Here," Emma said triumphantly. She handed the file to Regina, who flipped through the file to the medical report.

"She wasn't pregnant when they found her," Regina said, confused. Her eyes widened as she kept reading. "But there was evidence of her being pregnant at one point and of sexual assault." Her voice tapered off at the end, causing Emma to look up at her from the file she was reading.

"Gina," she said softly, getting Regina's attention.

Regina cleared her throat and set the file down, meeting Emma's eyes. "Sorry. Just gets to me how young she is."

Emma mirrored her and set down the file she had. "That's all it is?" She had her suspicions about things that may have happened in Regina's past, but she wasn't going to push too hard if Regina wasn't willing to talk about it.

"She's just too young to be dealing with that kind of pain," Regina said. "That's all."

Emma paused, weighing the potential repercussions of saying her next phrase before just going for it. "So were you."

Regina looked at her sharply. "What are you implying?"

"Exactly what you think I am."

"That's quite a thing to be implying."

"Am I wrong?"

"No," Regina said softly. "You're not."

"Who?" Emma asked, though she had a feeling she already knew the answer.

"Who do you think?" Regina asked, looking away from Emma and out the window. "Who lost their wife and drank away their sorrows?"

"Leopold," Emma said bitterly.

Regina shuddered at the name before nodding. "He loved Eva with all of his heart, which I can't blame him for in the slightest. That being said, I could have done without the drunken assaults."

"Hold on," Emma said sharply. "Assaults? As in plural? It happened more than once?"

Regina looked distinctly uncomfortable at this line of questioning and cleared her throat before picking up the file again. "What else did you want me to look for?"

Emma leaned forward and grabbed the file from Regina's hands, closing it and putting it on the table. "I don't really care about that right now. We were talking about you."

"We shouldn't be," Regina argued. "We have a case to solve and we need to get on the road today. So, what else is in those files that I need to look at?"

"To mirror your words from earlier," Emma said, grabbing Regina's hands so she'd stop reaching for the files. "Don't do this. You've offered more comfort and understanding to me over the past couple days than I've ever been offered in my life. Let me do the same."

Regina sighed, admitting defeat. "I don't even know how to talk about it. Or even where to begin."

Emma squeezed her hands in support. "Does Snow know?"

"Of course not," Regina said, shaking her head. "Snow adored her father, and relied on him a lot after her mother's death. I wasn't about to ruin her image of him. Plus, he didn't like me talking with her anyway in case I was trying to tell her about what I was going through. She could have taken his throne early for what he did."

"Will you ever tell her?"

Regina laughed darkly. "Tell her what, exactly? 'Oh hi Snow, by the way did you know that for the entirety of my marriage to your father he would come into my room every night and make my life a living hell?' Yeah, real conversation starter."

"Regina," Emma breathed in horror. "Every night?"

Regina winced, choosing this time to keep her mouth closed on the matter. "I think that's enough discussion about my past for one day. Let's go back to Avery."

"Gina you have some trauma here that we should at least try to work through," Emma said, watching as Regina picked up the file she had set down. "You can't tell me that looking at and reading that medical report doesn't upset you a little on a personal level."

Regina rolled her eyes. "I have years of training, dear."

"Okay," Emma said, grabbing the file from Regina and flipping to the written report. "The victim had bruises on her wrists and ankles more than likely from some sort of restraint. The stages of bruising were spread apart by several days, showing different stages of healing. It is likely that the victim caused some self-injury in an attempt to escape."

She paused to look at Regina, but the other woman refused to show any emotion. "There was evidence of several pregnancies, however it appears that they all ended in a miscarriage of some sort. In regards to the conception of the children, it appears that none of it was consensual. It appears that the victim was assaulted multiple times per day, on most days, up until-"

"Stop it," Regina snapped, getting up and walking away from Emma, running her fingers through her hair. "You've made your point."

"Have I?" Emma argued. "Because right now it looks like I'm being forced to deal with my trauma while you walk around as if yours doesn't exist!"

"Of course it exists!" Regina protested. "But what would you have me do, Emma? It's been bottled up for years, before we even knew each other. You can't honestly expect me to want to sit down and chat about it after all this time. That isn't how it works."

Emma sighed, starting to pack up all the files. Regina turned back towards the deck doors, walking outside for some fresh air. They didn't fight often, but when they did it was always short at least.

Once everything was packed up, Emma walked outside to join Regina, coming to stand next to her and lean on the railing. "I'm sorry."

"I know," Regina said. "I'm sorry too."

"It's honestly just because I care about you. You've been dealing with all of my trauma stacked on top of yours. You can share the load too."

"I don't know how."

Emma smiled before leaning over to kiss Regina's cheek. "That's what we'll figure out together. For now, we need to hit the road."

Regina sighed, pushing herself off of the railing and walking back inside. "Detroit here we come."