Emma lifted her eyes from Regina for practically the first time since they had gotten into the truck. They had just pulled up in front of Regina's house and as soon as the engine was off David and Snow quickly got out of the vehicle.

"Are you alright there?" Snow asked as Emma carefully inched towards the door on the passenger's side of the truck.

"Yeah, fine," Emma said a little breathily as she dragged Regina out with her as gracefully as she could.

She was trying not to jostle Regina too much, she had seen the extent of the woman's injuries and she didn't want to cause her any more pain than what she was already in. Regina had said she no longer had any broken bones, and Emma still wasn't quite sure what that meant. Regina's bones were brittle, Emma knew, and the brunette had been quite disoriented when Emma had first found her. As a result Emma wasn't quite convinced that what her friend said was true. Emma had yet to feel any breaks but that did not necessarily mean that they weren't there.

Regina's eyes were still closed as Emma carried her from the truck to the house. Snow went ahead to open the front door while David remained close to Emma in case she needed help.

"Bring her into the living room, it's closest." David suggested once they entered the front hall.

Emma's muscles were getting tired from holding Regina the whole ride back and carrying her to and from the car. She felt the relief on her arms when she delicately lay Regina down on top of the blanket and pillow that was acting as David's temporary bed on the couch. Feeling weary and not really knowing what to do next, the blonde sank to the floor beside Regina and reached up to touch her arm.

She felt her mother's hand on her shoulder as David placed an extra blanket over Regina.

"Why don't you two stay here?" David suggested, "I'll give Granny a call and then go pick Henry up, he'll want to know that we have Regina home safe."

"No." Emma replied, not taking her eyes off of Regina.

"No?" David asked, sharing a surprised look with Snow. "Emma–"

"Ask Granny or Ruby to bring Henry here." Emma clarified, turning to look at them. "I want all of us to stay with Regina in case anything else happens. The protection spell on the house is down now, and even if it wasn't, anyone without magic could easily stop by and cause problems. There were more than just Whale, Gold and Blue who wanted to hurt Regina. We nearly got her killed once already, we owe it to her to keep her safe this time."

David's expression changed. He glanced at Regina before nodding. "Okay, I'll ask them to come drop him off."

"Thank you..." Emma said quietly.

"We could just pick Henry up on the way out of town?" Snow suggested. "It would be faster."

"But then we might risk getting ambushed while we're parked in the middle of Main Street." David replied.

"I want to pass the least amount of people as possible and that means avoiding the center of town." Emma said. "Before Blue showed up earlier she made sure to spread the rumor that Regina was the one who killed Sidney and hurt Whale. People are still finding it hard to believe that Regina is sick because she kept it a secret for so long. Many think it's a last minute excuse to get them to leave her alone now that the curse is broken."

"But surely if they saw her now–" Snow said in a lost voice, gesturing to Regina who clearly wasn't in any state to be hurting anyone.

"They could believe it's an act. I don't want to risk it." Emma affirmed.

"We'll leave from here," David agreed. "As soon as we have Henry. I'll go call Granny right now."

Emma nodded, gently brushing Regina's hair away from her face.

David left the room and Snow came to sit on the edge of the couch in front of Regina so she was facing her daughter.

"I told you we would find her Emma." Snow replied softly.

"I just wish we could have gotten there sooner..." Emma replied in a quiet voice. "I wish we could have protected her from this."

Snow nodded, "I know... but at least we weren't too late. That is the most important thing." She turned to look at Regina, shaking her head softly. "I still will never understand how someone could torture a dying woman like this... and while knowing how difficult things have been for her lately. It hurts to think that these were people we used to trust."

Emma bit her lip, only half-listening as she blinked back tears. She thought back to what couldn't have been more than half an hour ago when she had been sitting on the floor holding Regina in her arms and begging her to wake up. She remembered the quiet, heartbreaking whimper she had heard, followed by those fateful words that would likely haunt her for the rest of her life.

Emma sniffled, shaking her head as she tried not to cry again. Emma knew she had every right to be upset, after all, her best and only friend wanted to die. Yet still Emma blamed her emotions on her lack of sleep. She wasn't usually one to come so undone and it was almost scaring her.

"Emma what is it?"

Emma swallowed with a bit of difficulty. "What Regina said... what she asked me to do for her..." Emma took a deep breath. "It doesn't feel real. She couldn't have meant it right? I mean she was barely conscious, she didn't know what she was saying..."

"She's really suffering, not just physically either..." Snow replied sadly. "And if I know Regina at all it's the emotional pain that's that the most difficult for her to handle."

"But we just found her." Emma countered. "She had to know we were taking her home so why would she ask for something like that? And the part that's killing me is that she didn't even want to see Henry first."

Snow shook her head softly. "I don't know Emma, the only person who can answer that is her. Maybe whatever the wand showed her scared her."

"She said Blue was trying to take us away from her... She said she was trying to take everything... Do you think Regina meant the fire? But Gold said he caused the fire... And then why would Regina say Blue tried to take Daniel too..." Emma wondered aloud. "I just can't figure it out."

Snow sighed, glancing back at Regina again. "You said it yourself, she was barely conscious, Daniel has probably just been on her mind a lot lately that's all. She probably didn't mean to say his name."

"Maybe..."

Emma folded her arms onto the couch and tiredly rested her head on them as she continued to watch Regina. She wanted Regina to wake up so the brunette could finish telling them what she had been trying to say earlier. And Emma also wanted to ask her about the other thing... although she didn't know if she would be able to put the question into words once the time came for that. Over the past few months Regina had assured them that she regretted her suicide attempt, but if Regina had meant what she asked Emma to do earlier, did they now have to worry about the brunette potentially trying to end her life again? Emma would do nearly anything to help her friend but she didn't know if she would ever be able to take her life, even if it would end her pain and even if it was something Regina wanted.

A small, strangled whimper came from the woman on the couch just then and Snow and Emma's attention immediately returned to her.

"Regina?" Emma asked, sitting up straighter and leaning in closer.

The Queen tossed very subtly, her brow furrowed as she voiced another quiet moan.

"She's in pain..." Came Snow's saddened, unnecessary observation. She ran the back of her finger gently over her stepmother's cheek, cautious not to touch any bruises.

Emma gently touched Regina's arm. "Just hang in there okay Regina?" She whispered. "I know it all feels like too much but you're strong, you can fight through this. I believe in you."

A soft exhale escaped Regina's lips and she slowly reached up to search for the hand she had felt just moments ago. Snow reached forward again so Regina could find her, and when Regina's cold fingers brushed against Snow's she delicately held on to the warmer hand.

"Snow? Emma?" David called from the kitchen. "Can one of you come in here?"

Emma lifted her head at the disturbance and after another moment or two she tore her eyes from Regina and looked at her mother. There was a slightly concerned look on both of their faces as they wondered why David didn't just come back into the living room if he needed to tell them something.

"I'll go," Snow whispered. "You stay here with her."

Emma nodded, giving Snow a small, distracted smile before her gaze fixed on a slowly-waking Regina again. The woman's eyelashes were fluttering very softly, not enough to see her eyes but enough to know that Regina really was regaining consciousness.

After a few moments Regina took in a deep breath as her eyes finally blinked open, taking a few moments to adjust to the light.

"Regina?" Emma asked hopefully.

Regina's chest was rising and falling steadily as her rounded eyes drifted towards the familiar face.

"Emma?" Regina whispered, before closing her eyes tight again to try to force them to adjust. When she opened her eyes again they drifted around the room, taking in the comforting sight of the home she never thought she would see again. She focused on the softness of the cushions beneath her, the familiar feel of the blanket that had been placed over her, and on the nearby voices of Snow and David.

Emma heard an extremely soft cry as the brunette closed her eyes once more. Her brow was creased and her lips were pressed together in a way which told Emma that Regina's eyes were filling with tears behind her closed lids. Regina's hand raised to cover her face and Emma saw a tear escape her lashes before a slightly louder sob was heard.

"Hey," Emma said gently, touching a soft hand to Regina's arm. "Hey, it's okay. You're home now, you're safe." She got up from the floor and sat down on the edge of couch next to the other woman.

"Emma..." Regina's quiet, emotional voice pleaded.

"It's okay I'm here. No one is going to hurt you anymore okay? We're not going to leave you on your own for one second. This time I swear, no one is going to hurt you."

Regina breathed a heavy sigh, keeping her eyes closed as she turned onto her side, facing Emma. She couldn't think straight, nothing felt right, everything around her felt distorted and dreamlike... Her body felt like it had been run over by ten transport trucks and her mind was still very muddled from Whale's merciless beatings and injections, as well as the attack, so to speak, from the Blue Fairy's wand.

"Emma it hurts... Everything hurts..." Came an agonized whisper.

She felt Emma's caring hands on her, one on her side, and one on her arm.

"I know it does." Emma replied. "But Henry will be here soon and then we're going to get you out of here. We're going to get you some help."

Regina sniffled, her eyes blinked open and the look in them changed at the words, although it was an emotion Emma couldn't quite read.

Was it dread? Concern? Fear? Emma wondered, trying to read into Regina's unspoken thoughts. A tear rolled down Regina's cheek as her gaze dropped and her hand reached for Emma's arm. Emma placed her hand on top of Regina's in response.

"Whatever Whale did to you they're going to be able to fix it." Emma's voice continued to try to comfort her. "They're going to be able to fix everything."

Regina was silent after that and Emma waited to see if she would bring up either the wand again, or her frightening request for death. Perhaps she would explain the reasoning behind why she had said it and hopefully take it back.

When it became clear that Regina wasn't going to initiate any conversation, Emma did instead.

"Regina?" She asked softly. "Regina can you look at me for a second?"

Regina's eyes blinked softly open again but she didn't raise her gaze.

"Regina please."

The brunette breathed a soft sigh before her teary eyes slowly raised towards Emma's.

"Before... when we were back in that house... you asked me to do something, do you remember what it was?" Emma asked in an emotionally hushed voice.

Regina's gaze dropped again, she didn't respond.

Emma's expression turned pained. "Regina you asked me to kill you. Do you remember that?"

The brunette still wouldn't respond but by her lack of reaction and by the way Regina was avoiding Emma's gaze it was clear that either Regina had not forgotten, or simply that she was not surprised that she had said such a thing.

"Tell me you didn't mean it." Emma pleaded.

A tear escaped Regina's lashes and rolled slowly down her face. She closed her eyes.

"Regina?"

"Did you say Henry was on his way?" Regina whispered, keeping her eyes closed.

Emma sniffled, her gaze drifted sideways at the change of subject. "Yeah... Yeah Granny is going to bring him over. David just went to call her."

"So there's still some time before he arrives?"

"Yeah..."

Regina softly cleared her throat, she took in a deep breath before she forced her eyes open to finally meet Emma's once again.

"I don't want him to see me like this. Can you help me to get cleaned up?"

"Regina I don't know if we have time–"

"Please Emma."

"Regina we're going to be leaving any minute. And can't we at least talk about what just happened? What about what happened with the wand? You said it showed you something, what was it? Regina–"

"Emma," Regina cut her off in a whispered, but stern voice.

"Please."

A/N: Thank you for reading, comments and reviews are most appreciated. I miss hearing from some of you. Take care everyone xx