IMPORTANT: Please make sure you have read all of the previous chapter, that chapter was posted twice and if you have read only the first version of it then you still have a big section to read. Thanks!

I know updates lately have been slow, I was away in Vancouver for Ouat filming and a convention for a while and then once I was home I got sick for a few weeks. But I'm back now so hopefully updates will be quicker. I do work crazy hours but I promise I'll try my best!

I hope you like the update xx

Chapter 69

It broke Emma's heart to leave Regina lying there defenceless and scared, but she knew she had to catch Whale before it was too late. She knew the smart thing to do would have been to wait for her parents, but once Emma had the address to this place nothing was stopping her. Besides, if she had waited for everyone else she would have been too late to stop Whale.

Emma mentally kicked herself for not shooting that man when she had the chance. However she was faster than he was, and even though he had a head start she caught up to him quickly. He was nearing the bottom of the stairs when she reached the top, and despite the urge she had to lunge at him from up there, she quickly aimed and pulled the trigger instead. Whale clearly didn't have a problem hurting a woman who couldn't protect herself so Emma didn't have a problem shooting him in the back.

The force of the blow knocked him off of his feet and he tumbled down the rest of the way with Emma tearing down the steps quick behind him.

Despite the fresh wound, the doctor still tried to get up and make a run for the front door but Emma threw her entire weight forward, taking him down to the ground hard.

He shouted in surprise, but managed to escape her grasp enough to turn over onto his back to face her.

"You lying, sick, twisted bastard!" Emma shouted at him. She threw a heavy punch to his face and the strength of it ended up breaking his nose. It was unintentional but she still felt a small satisfaction when she heard and felt the crack under her fist.

Whale swore, clutching his face with one hand and trying to push her away with the other. "Damnit, get off of me!" His muffled voice demanded.

"What the hell is your problem?!" Emma shouted as she continued to attack him, throwing hate-filled punches that only kept growing stronger as she thought of the woman she had abandoned upstairs. She hadn't been planning on beating him to a pulp but now that she had started she found herself unable to stop.

"She was already in so much pain, how could you do this to her?!"

Emma did not notice the small, albeit growing puddle of blood underneath Whale that came from his gunshot wound, she just kept venting her growing rage out on him.

She heard a piece of metal hit her jacket zipper, and she looked down and saw that his belt was undone. That reminder of what he had been about to do to Regina sent her blood boiling with a new fury. She couldn't stop herself, she shouted in anger as her hands flew to his throat, crushing his vocal cords just like he had done to Regina the day the curse broke. It was then that she noticed the large bruise on his neck. It was not one that she herself had inflicted during their confrontation at the hospital and a small pride filled her heart as she realized Regina must have done it.

However the thought that the brunette had tried to fight him off and failed only ended up fuelling her fire, she couldn't even imagine how horrible this all must have been for Regina. Her fingers tightened, and Whale's face continued to turn redder and redder as he began to run out of oxygen. The grip he had on her wrists began to loosen, but still she did not let go.

"EMMA!" She heard someone shout in horror.

It didn't deter her, and for a few long seconds she watched as the life began to drain from Whale's eyes. Her tears were starting to blur her vision as she felt herself being wrenched away from him.

"Emma!"

"Emma stop!"

"Let go of me!"

She felt more hands on her, pulling her away from Whale, prying her hands off from around his neck. Ultimately Emma lost the struggle and she was wrenched away from the doctor. She was pulled aside, and she allowed herself to sink the short distance to the ground as she was finally forced to stop. She was breathing heavily as she closed her eyes, attempting to get her emotions back under control while trying not to feel too angry at her parents for stopping her from avenging Regina.

"Emma," Mary Margaret's voice said a little more gently as the blonde felt her mother's hands on her shoulders. "Emma he can't hurt her anymore. It's over."

Emma's heart was still beating fiercely as she took in a deep breath. She looked around at the newcomers. David and Ruby had restrained Whale and put him in handcuffs while Kathryn was quickly tending to the gunshot wound.

"You should just let him bleed out..." Emma said, observing Whale with disgust.

Whale heard her and turned to glare at her before David forced him onto his feet.

"Don't worry Emma, he'll pay the price for what he's done." David responded. "We have a lot of cell space for this guy."

"Emma, honey where's Regina?" Snow asked in concern. Her thoughts immediately went to how much anger there had been behind Emma's attack on Whale. "She's not–? Please don't tell me..."

Emma shook her head, feeling the sting of guilt again. "She's upstairs..." Her voice broke. "I left her there... she's on her own."

Snow gave a sad sigh, seeing the tortured look in her daughter's eyes.

"Go," Ruby said to the two of them, "we've got this covered."

Even though the front of her shirt was wide open, she couldn't find the strength to try to fix it even though she was freezing. She remembered hearing the buttons scattering all over the place when Whale had ripped it open, so maybe it wouldn't even close now anyways. At least the blanket Emma had thrown over her was helping her to warm up again.

Regina was still lying in the bed upstairs, there were a few tears trickling down her face, and she was unable to move very much due to the double dose of Whale's own creation. She still had some motor function but she didn't want to risk falling and hurting herself further if she tried to get up. Once Emma had left, Regina had not been able to hear anything from the floor below. She didn't know if Whale had fled the house, she didn't know if Emma had caught him, she didn't know at all what could be happening.

What she did know was that Sidney was lying somewhere to her left, most likely in a pool of his own blood. The thought caused a shiver to run through her, Emma didn't know that Whale had a knife. Regina knew that unlike Sidney, Emma had a gun to defend herself, but if Whale got close enough...

Regina heard footsteps pounding up the staircase and a wave of fear ran through her. She sniffled, closing her eyes briefly as she tried to blink back her tears but they were only replaced by new ones.

She hoped it would be Emma, she prayed it would be Emma. She turned her head slowly to the side, trying to focus her somewhat blurry vision on the doorway.

"Please," she whispered quietly, "please."

When she saw Emma, and then Snow rush through the door Regina practically sobbed in relief. She felt as if a terrible weight had been taken off of her chest.

"Regina!" Emma was immediately by her side, sitting down next to her. "Regina I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," Emma cried as she fretted over the brunette. "I promise I'll never do that to you again. Are you okay? Regina I'm sorry."

"Emma..." Regina's barely audible, but emotional voice said. A fresh tear rolled down her cheek as she reached weakly for her friend.

Emma's arms wrapped around the brunette, holding her close and placing one hand behind Regina's head. She lifted her gently and made sure she supported the other woman as much as possible. As she did this she felt Regina delicately holding onto her in return.

"Emma be careful," Snow touched the blonde's arm. There was a saddened, worried look in her eyes. "She's been beaten; she could have some broken bones." Snow advised in a hushed whisper.

"Regina do you?" Emma asked, freezing mid-way through helping her friend up into a sitting position. As she looked down at the woman she was cradling she recalled the bad bruising she had seen on Regina's torso earlier. If the brunette had any broken ribs then Emma knew she had to be more careful. There would be very little hope of getting Regina to Boston alive if she ended up piercing a lung.

Regina breathed out once, as if taken off-guard by the question. "What?" She whispered.

"Do you have any broken bones?" Emma asked again in a soft, but urgent voice.

Regina made a small noise, closing her teary eyes. "No..." She responded quietly. "Not anymore."

"What?" Emma asked in confusion. "What do you mean?" She gently brought Regina the rest of the way up, a little more slowly this time. She touched her hand to the side of Regina's face in hope of encouraging the woman to look at her, but she was unsuccessful. "Regina? Regina please, I don't understand."

The queen just gave a tired sigh. Now that she was fully up she was leaning forwards into Emma, her face was hidden against Emma's neck and she was clinging to her as tightly as she possibly could in her current state. Regina closed her eyes again, savoring the now foreign feeling of warmth and safety that the blonde was providing her. She shook her head once, and Emma took that to mean that she wouldn't get any further answer regarding the question.

"Emma..." Regina whispered in a tiny, broken voice as she held onto the blonde desperately.

"I know," Emma said softly, resting her forehead against Regina's and closing her eyes. She delicately brushed a few somewhat tangled strands of hair away from Regina's face. "It's over now, you're safe."

Regina was crying harder now. She burrowed herself deeper into Emma's embrace, and Emma's arms wrapped more protectively around her in return. She could feel Regina shaking softly and so she pulled the blanket that she had placed over Regina earlier more tightly around her shoulders. Emma then placed a delicate, affectionate kiss to the top of her friend's head, so relieved and so thankful that they had been able to find her before it was too late. She let her lips linger there for a few moments, closing her eyes as she cherished the feeling of having Regina safe in her arms again. It pained her to hear the other woman's soft crying, and so she rubbed her hand very gently in comforting circles on the brunette's back, trying to help her calm down.

"You're safe," she mumbled again, blinking back a few tears of her own. Emma looked up at her mother. "She's as cold as ice. We have to get her out of here."

"We need to get her to the hospital." Snow agreed.

At the mention of the place, they could hear a quiet, muffled cry of fear from Regina. Emma felt her heart break as the brunette held onto her more tightly.

"No."

"It's okay Regina." Emma assured her in a soft whisper. "She means Boston, we're taking you to Boston." Emma brushed her fingers through Regina's raven strands again. "You're safe now okay?" She said against Regina's hair, placing another gentle kiss to Regina's temple. "You're safe."

"Did..." Regina began in a whisper, turning her head away from Emma a little so they could hear her better. She softly cleared her throat. "Did you–"

Understanding what Regina was trying to ask, Emma nodded. "Yeah... Yeah we caught him. He can't hurt you anymore Regina I promise."

The brunette closed her eyes, giving a small, thankful nod as she breathed a deep sigh. Emma gently wiped a few of the tears from Regina's face.

"Was there anyone else here that we need to worry about?" Snow asked. "Was Sidney here?"

Regina's eyes fluttered open again.

"This is his house right?" Emma asked, waiting a few moments for a response that wasn't going to come. She felt as if her heart was in her throat as she asked the next question. "Did he hurt you too?" She spoke with a slight catch in her voice.

Regina sniffled, she shook her head once, not meeting either of their gazes. She appeared to be on the verge of bursting into tears at any moment.

"Regina tell me," Emma's voice softened as she felt the other woman tense at the question.

Regina slowly buried her face in Emma's sweater, too tired to answer any questions. She wanted to stop thinking about it all. About the way she had been thrown into the trunk of a car like a piece of garbage, how she had been dragged across the room and held down as Whale tortured her, and how she had been repeatedly abused and threatened. Rather than relive the moments, she closed her eyes and focused on Emma. Her scent, the sound of her breathing, her voice, everything.

"Emma..." Snow's quiet, nervous voice suddenly interrupted. Snow had walked around to the other side of the bed looking for the rest of Regina's clothing and found something else entirely.

"What?"

"He's here."

"Who is?" Emma glanced down at Regina before looking up at her mother again.

"Sidney."

"What?!"

Regina lifted her head a little at the words, but she felt too exhausted to react any further. Almost immediately she nestled against Emma's neck again. Sidney was dead, that wasn't news to her. Emma on the other hand wanted to get up to see what had happened but at the same time she did not want to let go of Regina either.

Emma peered as far as she could over the edge of the bed and could see the top of what she guessed was Sidney's body.

"Is he dead?" Emma asked.

Snow crouched down, going partially out of sight for a few moments.

"No, he's still alive!"

Emma heard a small intake of breath from Regina as the brunette tiredly lifted her head again to see. "How?" Regina whispered, feeling Emma's arms wrap around her more protectively.

"I think he's been paralyzed." Snow announced. "He's alive... he's breathing, but barely. He's bleeding really badly. Did Whale do this?" She asked, her eyes washed over her stepmother. She didn't think Regina was physically capable of doing something like this right now. "What happened?"

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