Thank you so much to those of you who reviewed on the last chapter, your messages gave me that push I needed to finish this chapter up xx

Emma practically stumbled through the automatic doors into the Emergency Room at Massachusetts General. She had an unconscious Regina in her arms, and Emma herself felt lightheaded and was beginning to shiver uncontrollably. Regina was already an expected patient there, but the hospital was huge and Emma had not been able to think straight enough to figure out if there was a more appropriate place to take her. As such, this definitely felt like an emergency.

Unable to go any further, the next thing Emma knew she had dropped to her knees right inside the entrance. She wanted them to take her, she could no longer help Regina and she needed them to fix her, to bring her back. She nearly closed her eyes when she saw two people wearing scrubs rushing towards them, but she knew she had to try to stay alert. Whether they were doctors or nurses, Emma did not care, she just wanted someone who knew what they were doing to take over.

Her heart was pounding in her ears and she could barely bring herself to listen to the voices around her. She could make out questions like:

Ma'am are you alright?

What happened to her?

Are you hurt?

Were you in an accident?

"I'm fine, there's nothing wrong with me. Just help her." Emma's quivering voice begged.

"Mom?!" Henry's voice shouted as he ran into the ER.

"What happened to her?" One of the two people asked as they checked on Regina.

"I don't know... a lot..." Emma responded in a quiet, emotionally high voice. "She's dying."

"Can we get a gurney over here?"

"She has kidney failure." Henry specified, he was significantly more calm than his birthmother. His hands were on Emma's back and arm as he crouched beside her, looking down at his adoptive mother in fearful worry.

"What's her name?"

"Regina..."

"Regina Mills." Henry said.

Even though she knew they were going to help, and even though she knew she had asked them to, when they tried to take Regina from her arms Emma reflexively held on tighter to her. No.

She could hear them telling her she needed to let go, but a part of her feared that that this could be the end. What if this was the last time she would ever see Regina alive? Why, oh why had she given her those damned pills?

"Emma let them take her," Henry's small voice trembled.

Emma's teary eyes looked up at the other two. "She's going to be okay right?"

"We'll do our best to help her. Is she family?" The nurse asked sympathetically.

"Yes. Well, no... I mean yes... kind of." Emma stammered.

"She's my mom." Henry said.

"And you're a close friend of the family's?" The nurse softly asked Emma, who wasn't completely listening; her eyes were on Regina again.

"She's my mom too." Henry explained.

"Oh," the nurse smiled in understanding.

"Take care of her," Emma whispered, oblivious to the conversation around her.

"We will do our best, I promise." The nurse said.

Knowing that she could be costing Regina what could be her most precious seconds, Emma finally forced herself to let go of her. She watched wordlessly as Regina was lifted onto a gurney which she had not even noticed arrive.

Emma wanted to go with her, but she thought she would likely be stopped if she tried, and besides, she couldn't leave Henry.

Once Regina had disappeared from view, Emma could practically feel her entire body sag with defeat.

"Emma you're blocking the door." Henry's distant voice said. She noticed that he was trying to pull her upright again, and so she forced herself to comply. He was right, another member of the hospital staff seemed to already be on the way to request that she move.

Emma looked around the emergency room. It was such a contrast to Storybrooke's quiet, tame one. It was just past midnight but there were people everywhere: sitting in chairs, standing, coughing, moaning... there was a woman sitting on a gurney crying, there was blood, broken limbs, there was the sound of someone's distant screaming... What had she brought Regina to? She had never had a panic attack before, but she felt as if she were about to have one.

"Oh my god..." Emma mumbled, feeling faint again as she stared at the woman on the gurney. The ER must have been in overflow, she guessed, for all these injured people to still be out here.

She could just barely register someone asking her to fill out some patient forms for Regina.

"Um, no..." Emma swallowed, trying to pull herself together. She clumsily gestured behind her. "No I can't... Have to go move my car... Left it running in the street." She mumbled in response, stumbling backwards away from the person and not making eye contact.

Without further comment or explanation of when she would be back, Emma bolted from the Emergency Room, taking Henry by the hand along with her.

One Hour Earlier: Interstate-95, Georgetown, Massachusetts

The car was parked on the side of the Interstate, and surrounding the highway was what Emma assumed was a forest. It was very dark outside, but from what she could see she believed this drive would be quite pleasant during the daytime despite the multi-lane highway. She was trying to picture it during the sunlit hours, after all she had made this trek several times before, but in her tired state she could not quite pinpoint where they were. She had rolled down both the driver's and passenger's side windows again, allowing the surprisingly fresh smelling air to flow freely into the car. As she gave Regina a few minutes of relief from the long drive in order to allow for the effects of the Tylenol to kick in, Emma relaxed back into her own seat for a few moments to let her own mind recharge a bit. It felt like no time at all when Emma somewhat reluctantly pulled back onto the highway to complete the last fifty minutes of their trip.

They had only been driving for a minute or so, when Emma noticed a small sign approaching them up ahead.

"You have to be kidding me."

"What is it?" Regina asked sleepily, blinking her eyes open from where she had been trying to will her pain-ridden body to stay relaxed.

"There's a hospital right ahead of us!" Emma said in disbelief. "Henry pass me my phone."

Henry had already cleared the search to hide the evidence of his deception, but Emma searched the name of the hospital she had seen on the sign.

"It's like eight minutes from here!"

Henry's face reddened in the backseat, but luckily the darkness of the car hid this from his birthmother.

"Henry did you not see this one on the map search? It's in Danvers, Massachusetts, which we're about to drive right by!"

"No... I'm really sorry." Henry responded sheepishly. The hospital he had told her about was real, and it really was twenty-five minutes behind them, but it had not been the only one he had seen.

Emma breathed a frustrated sigh as she clutched her phone tightly. "It's fine... the app was probably just being stupid. It's not your fault Henry, I should have just checked myself."

"Are we going to go there instead then?" Henry asked in a small voice.

Emma glanced at Regina, who was resting her head back against her chair and blinking slowly.

"No... there's not really a point now I guess, unless your mom wants to stop. Regina, are you comfortable enough? Remember we have fifty more minutes if we don't stop now."

Regina gave a small nod, and a tiny, not especially cheerful smile before she closed her eyes. "It's getting better, yes."

"Are you sure? We have one more chance to stop somewhere closer. They can always transfer you to Boston."

"I'm fine." Regina said softly, curling into her pillow as best she could with her seatbelt on.

"How are the pain levels now?"

Regina blinked her eyes open again. "Still painful," she said passively, "but more tolerable. Just go straight to Boston."

"Okay..."

And so Emma continued to drive. Each small blue H sign they passed drew her eye, and each time she felt a yearning to follow them. However Regina wanted to go to Boston and she seemed a little more comfortable now, and so perhaps the situation was not as urgent as Emma believed it to be.

It was not long before Regina's discomfort began to ease more substantially. Emma noticed the way she seemed to settle, and could tell that she was no longer in as great torment as she had been in before. Emma was still annoyed that a second hospital had been so close to them all along, but the Tylenol at least seemed to be helping.

...

The rest of the drive was mostly silent. Emma assumed Regina had gone back to sleep, but Henry was wide awake in the backseat. Emma herself was still exhausted, but the knowledge that she would be able to rest very soon gave her that extra push.

When she began to see signs that they were approaching the Tobin Bridge just outside of Boston, she felt as if she could have gotten out of the car and kissed the ground. At times over the past few days, including during this drive itself, it had felt as if they would never make it to Boston, but it was finally happening. Regina was finally going to get the care she deserved, and most desperately needed. Finally they reached the bridge and were driving the stretch over the Mystic River. Once they had passed through a substantially large trussed bridge, followed by a tunnel lined with lights, they were greeted with a wonderful view of Boston's glittering skyline. Now that she could actually see the city Emma was growing restless. She wished that she could simply skip over the rest of the downtown driving and just be at the hospital already. Emma knew they were still about twenty minutes away, but luckily the hospital was on this side of the city at least.

Unlike the last time the three of them had driven into the city together, Henry remained quiet when they crossed the cable-stayed Zakim Bridge a few minutes later, and then drove through a much longer tunnel that dipped down under ground-level. That last time, before any of them had any knowledge that Regina was sick, Henry had been bursting with excitement. He had been eager to share with Regina everything he had learned about the city, he had insisted that she pay attention during the tunnel because it was his favorite part... but this time, Henry watched in silence.

"We're almost there Regina." Emma said, but there was no response from the passenger's seat. A part of Emma wanted to wake Regina up so she could see how beautiful the drive into the city was at night, but Emma knew she should just let her rest.

By the time they had reached the interior of the city and the buildings were stretching high above them, Emma was impatient. Each stop-light made her grumble "why is it always red?!" And each time another car signalled to get in front of her she would curse the driver under her breath and ask them why they were even out at this hour in the first place. Every time she would see a sign indicating that the hospital was getting closer she would tell Regina, even though the brunette still had not so much as moved in response.

When she knew they were only several minutes from the hospital she decided to wake Regina up, and that was when she realized that something was wrong. Regina was not just asleep, she was out cold. Emma tried to wake her up several times, but the other woman just would not open her eyes. She did not make a sound, and she did not move a muscle.

"Shit." Emma whispered. "Oh my god... Shit." She fretted as her mind instantly went to the painkillers she had given her.

"What's wrong?" Henry asked, but Emma did not respond.

By the time they were in sight of the hospital's buildings Emma was panicking.

Was this because of the Tylenol? She wondered. Had she done this to Regina? Or was Regina just in a very deep sleep? Emma hoped this last possibility was true, but her heart was telling her it wasn't. Regina had scared them like this a few times today already, but each time it happened it was still just as terrifying. The only difference this time was that Emma had given her the painkillers. What if this had been the point when Regina just could not handle any more? What if Emma had killed her?

Forgetting if she had an original plan on where to go at the hospital, Emma went straight for the Emergency Room. The yellow bug skidded to a halt outside the main doors of the building, and while she knew she probably wasn't allowed to park there, she scrambled to get out of the car. She didn't even stop to help Henry out of the backseat before she raced around to the other side of the car to try one more time to wake Regina. When the brunette only lay unmoving against the seat that was holding her upright, Emma gathered her into her arms and hurried into the ER.

Now, only less than ten minutes after arriving and immediately after the minor scene she had caused in the ER, Emma had gone back out to move the car. She had told the staff member that she had left her car running, which she had honestly believed she did, but when she returned to the bug the engine was off and the keys were in her pocket. Her brain had been in such a frenzy that she had not even been aware of what she was doing.

She moved the car to a parking garage and now she and Henry were sitting there in silence. Emma knew they both wanted to go back into the hospital to see if there was any information on Regina yet, but she couldn't force herself to move. For the moment, she was too afraid. Henry was sitting in the passenger's seat now, curled up under the blanket that was still somewhat warm from when Regina had been wrapped up in it. Emma was envious of him, she herself was freezing, likely from shock, she surmised. However when she looked at Henry he seemed to be shivering too. She knew he was probably even more afraid than she was, but unlike her, he was somehow able to keep his emotions under control. Emma blamed it again on not having slept in two days. It had been a whirlwind and it still wasn't over.

"Emma?" Henry finally asked from beside her.

"Mhmm?" She responded tiredly, not meeting his gaze.

"Can we go see Mom now?"

"Yeah..." Emma replied softly, closing her eyes. "Yeah we can..."

She heard the passenger's side door open but she herself needed another moment before she followed Henry.

Please, please let her be okay. Emma begged.

"Regina try to stay with us."

"She's experiencing some confusion, check her blood sugar and get her on oxygen."

Regina could feel herself continuing to drift, she wanted so badly to give in but something did not feel right. The people around her, the clothes they were wearing, the smell... it was overly sterile, and it was all so familiar.

"...low levels of acetylcholine..."

Hospital. Regina realized, feeling her entire body fill with fear.

Something had been placed over her mouth and nose; someone was trying to kill her. She couldn't breathe. He was back, Emma had attacked him but he must have recovered. He had her. He was going to harm her again.

"No..." Regina tried to fight but found that she was too weak. Her muscles weren't doing what she wanted them to and something seemed to be holding her down, but still she tried. She could hear fragments of conversation:

"...her heart rate is increasing!"

"Doctor..."

"Regina?" A clear, gentle female voice spoke from directly beside her. "Regina listen to me, I know there is a lot happening right now but just focus on my voice. You are safe. You are at the hospital and we are going to help you, but we need you to try to relax. You are safe here."

Familiar. Regina tried to force her eyes to open again, attempting to focus on the woman beside her. Regina could feel the numbed sensation of the woman's hand on her shoulder, followed by the gentle touch of the woman's fingers to the side of her head.

Mother. It was her mother. There was a pounding in Regina's ears but she felt instantly calmer; she felt relieved for the first time since waking up. If Cora was here she would not let anyone else hurt her. She generally reserved that right for herself. However Regina had the feeling that this time, her mother was here purely to help her.

"It's working, keep talking to her."

"I'm scared..." Regina whispered softly, trying desperately to keep her eyes open and failing.

"I know you are, but we are going to take excellent care of you here." The woman's velvety, soothing voice said. "Just try to remain calm."

Regina closed her eyes. "Mother..." She sobbed quietly, before falling back into oblivion.

...

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A/N: Thank you for reading, please review xx