Emma's face was a little white by the time she had returned to Regina's en-suite. When she had gone downstairs to see what David had to tell her about what was going on in town, she definitely hadn't been expecting the news she had been met with. She had assumed it would be another mob forming or another roadblock by the exits from town, but what she had learned instead had caused an anxious feeling of dread to settle deep inside her.

From where she was seated beside Mary Margaret on the floor of the bathroom again, her gaze was fixed on Regina's closed eyes.

"I don't know what to do." Emma said. "What am I supposed to do? I can't leave her here, but I can't abandon Henry either."

"Emma shh," Snow warned quietly, worried about Regina waking up and overhearing.

"She has a right to know." Emma whispered. "She would want to know."

"I know she would, and originally I wanted to tell her too but your father is right, the added stress could be dangerous for her right now. I don't know how much more she can take today." Snow said sadly.

"I don't know..." Emma shook her head. "When she finds out we kept this from her..."

"By then we'll have Henry safely by her side." Snow replied with confidence.

Emma sighed, she still looked conflicted. "But what if we don't?" She closed her eyes, pressing her fingertips lightly against them. "What are we supposed to do? Choose between Henry and Regina?" Emma drew her hands back and away from her eyes but didn't drop them from either side of her face, completely at a loss. "I don't know if I can do that."

"You won't have to." Snow said softly. "Henry has a lot of people looking out for him in town, and honestly I don't think there's anything more you could do for him that's not already being done. We'll bring him back. I'm going to go down and help them but for the time being I think you and David should stay here. For all we know this could simply be a diversion so that we'll leave Regina unprotected."

"What if that's not all it is?" Emma asked. "If anything happened to Henry and I didn't even try to help him I would never forgive myself... Neither would Regina."

Snow nodded softly in understanding. "If god-forbid that were to happen... she might find a way in time. Perhaps not right away but eventually she would understand that you were faced with an impossible situation. But Emma, nothing is going to happen to Henry, I promise. I don't know how to explain it but I have a very strong feeling that Henry may not be in any danger at all."

"But still I can't just abandon him, he's my son!" Emma gave a frustrated sigh, shaking her head. "She would want us to pick him over her... She would want us to save him first." Emma said with a catch in her voice, she blinked back a couple of tears. She couldn't bear even the thought of having to leave Regina on her own right now.

"Maybe... But we're not just going to cast her aside like that. This family does not give up on each other, we'll bring Henry home and we will save Regina. I know it in my heart."

Emma held her mother's gaze, still very doubtful. "I hope you're right." She finally mumbled. She drew her knees up in front of her and rested her elbows against them, putting her head in her hands. "This has just been one mess after another."

"I am right. And Emma don't forget, we still don't even know if he's actually in any danger." Snow rubbed her daughter's arm softly.

"He's ten years old and he's missing! How could he not be in danger?" Emma asked in hushed exasperation.

"He'll be okay..." Snow responded in a tone that suggested she was trying to convince herself as well. She gave a heavy sigh as she turned her attention towards Regina again. "Come on... we should probably get her out of there before the water gets too cold."

Emma took in a deep breath to calm herself down before nodding. She sat there, still feeling torn as Snow gently woke Regina up.

The sleeping woman gave a quiet moan as she stirred. When her eyes began to blink open she woke with a start, not knowing at first where she was or why she was engulfed in water.

"Regina it's okay," Snow said softly, "you're in the bath at home remember? You're safe."

Once she had her bearings again Regina began to relax. She looked at each of the other two women's faces, but then focused her sleepy attention on Emma.

"What is it? What's happened?" She observed the tears in Emma's eyes with concern.

Emma sniffled, quickly blinking them away. "Nothing, I– I'm just tired that's all, and worried. I just want to be at the hospital already."

Regina gave a small nod, closing her eyes. "Is Henry here yet?"

"No not yet."

Regina didn't respond, her brow furrowed as she considered this. "Shouldn't he be here by now? How long have I been asleep for?" She asked, noticing the bathwater's significant temperature change.

"Only a couple of minutes. I'm sure Henry will be here soon." Snow replied for Emma, who couldn't look at Regina as they lied to her.

"Who's bringing him here?" Regina asked.

"Granny or Ruby. But they just need to make sure it's safe to do so before taking him out into town."

Regina gave a small nod of understanding, although she still looked a little confused as she tried to piece everything together in her mind.

"What do you say? Are you ready to get out?" Snow asked.

Regina's gaze dropped, the bubbles in the bathtub had gone down significantly, and while she was still covered she knew she wouldn't be for much longer. Much of the water's warmth had also disappeared, and so she knew she soon wouldn't be very comfortable.

Regina nodded, instantly dreading, and mentally preparing herself for the pain that she knew was about to come. It wasn't so bad when she was sitting still, but she remembered it from when David had carried her upstairs earlier. She knew David had been as gentle as he possibly could, but just the pressure of anything against her bruised and damaged body was enough to hurt. Now feeling a lot less relaxed, she accepted the first towel from Snow as Emma stood to retrieve Regina's robe from the back of the bathroom door.

It was about fifteen minutes later and Regina was now settled in bed. Snow and Emma had made her as comfortable as they could given the circumstances, and Regina was currently nestled on her side and buried under several blankets with Emma sitting close beside her. Emma had piled the pillows up like she had a few times before so Regina could be slightly elevated rather than lying flat.

"Please Regina you need to drink more than that." Emma was insisting gently, holding out a glass of water. "Just a few sips at least."

"Emma..."

"You're probably so dehydrated, when was the last time you had any water?"

Regina closed her eyes for a few moments before opening them tiredly to look up at Emma again.

"Come on, you know I'm right." Emma said softly, holding the glass a little closer. "You need water."

Regina sighed, her eyes drifting down to the drink in the other woman's hand. She was too tired to sit up further and so she just took the glass from where she was and brought the straw towards her lips. Emma continued to hold onto the glass even while Regina held it, because she knew Regina still hadn't regained full motor function and she didn't want the other woman to spill it. Regina still hadn't finished the glass when she handed it back to Emma, but this time the blonde didn't press her further.

"I don't suppose I could convince you to eat anything could I?" Emma asked gently as she placed the water on the table behind her. "David made some sandwiches, I could bring one up for you? Or even just some toast?"

Regina shook her head once, closing her eyes again.

"Okay," Emma replied, a little downcast. She didn't want to insist that Regina eat anything, especially when she didn't know how the brunette was feeling after having such a large amount of unknown drugs forced into her system in such a short amount of time, but still, Emma wished Regina would eat at least a bit of food. However when Regina reached over and briefly squeezed Emma's hand in an appreciatory gesture, the blonde gave a small smile.

Regina licked her chapped lips once as she settled down into the pillows again.

Emma noticed this and after searching through the drawer in the bedside table she found the lip balm she was looking for.

"Here, this should help." Emma said softly.

Regina closed her eyes gratefully as Emma carefully applied the balm.

"Thank you." Regina whispered, pressing her lips together.

Emma nodded, and placed the tube on the table.

"Is Henry on his way yet?" Regina mumbled sleepily.

"I don't think so..." Emma replied, even though she knew the answer. "But when Mary Margaret comes back up I'll see if she has any news. Just try to get some rest for now."

"Mmm..." Regina responded, having already started to drift.

Emma was silent for a few moments as she watched Regina falling to sleep. The guilt of keeping the truth from her was eating away at Emma, but the brunette looked almost peaceful right now. Maybe her parents were right, maybe it was best not to add to Regina's stress and simply allow her to rest.

Emma herself was stressed, way too stressed to be able to sleep. She knew she should be exhausted enough to sleep for days but her mind was a whirlwind of panic right now. She didn't want Regina to have to face the same fears about Henry. Emma wanted desperately to go into town to get their son but she couldn't bring herself to do it. He was her son and she needed to look out for him more than anything, but she knew that also meant keeping Regina safe. Henry would never forgive her if he found out that she had abandoned his adoptive mother again. Emma herself didn't think she would have been able to do it even if she tried, but it was just as difficult for her to sit and do nothing while her son was potentially in danger.

Despite how torn she was, she knew staying with Regina was the best she could do for both Henry and Regina right now. Emma hoped Henry was okay, he needed to be okay. If it was any other time she would have been out the door already to go and find him, but right now Regina needed her too. She knew Henry had a lot of people looking out for him, and until she knew for certain that Henry was in trouble she would not leave Regina so vulnerable. She was disgusted with herself for staying behind, but she would also have been disgusted with herself if she had left. While she knew she should be out there looking for Henry, she also had a nagging feeling that her mother was right, and that he wasn't actually in any danger at all.

Emma propped a pillow up against the back of the bed and leaned against it. She folded her arms as she kept her gaze fixed on the woman beside her.

Regina's newly washed hair remained only slightly damp after they had dried it, and Emma could smell the shampoo wafting lightly towards her along with the mixture of other products Regina had used. It was those familiar scents, mixed with the perfume that Regina had requested just a few too many pumps of, that Emma was currently focused on. Without needing to ask why, she knew that the perfume was helping Regina and in truth it was helping Emma a little as well. She found it comforting, and even while the scent was strong in the air, Emma didn't find it to be overwhelming. It meant Regina was back; she was safe, she was home, and most importantly, she was alive.

While she watched Regina's slow and even breathing as the woman drifted further towards sleep, there were a million more things going through Emma's mind. She wanted to know what had happened during the time Regina had been missing. She wanted to know what role Sidney had played in the kidnapping if it was true that he had not hurt Regina. She wanted to know what Blue's wand had shown the brunette when it had knocked her unconscious for those few frightful minutes, she wanted to know what the hell angle Gold was playing in all this, and most importantly of all, Emma wanted to know why, even after being rescued, why did Regina still want her life to end? Emma got chills every time she thought back to the scene: she was cradling Regina in her arms, the woman was unconscious, Emma was crying, she had never felt so helpless. All she wanted was for Regina to wake up but when the brunette finally did, nothing could have prepared Emma for what her friend has asked her to do.

"Kill me." Regina had begged in that quiet, tortured voice. "Kill me... Please... Emma... Please..."

Aside from thinking about Henry, what was currently worrying Emma was that Regina would ask her a second time, and if she did, how was Emma supposed to respond? Emma had previously believed she would do just about anything for Regina, but this was something else entirely.

Emma sniffled, blinking back tears as she felt her heart twinge painfully in her chest as she recalled how broken Regina had sounded when she had first asked the question. Emma shook her head, wiping away her tears as she moved the pillow to lay down beside Regina, who had already fallen to sleep. Emma reached out to place a gentle hand on Regina's arm.

Regina didn't still want to die, Emma told herself. She couldn't still want to die. Henry needed her, and Emma needed her too.

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A/N: Thank you for reading, please don't forget to review xx