Regina woke up in the middle of the night. Her stomach felt strange and extremely uncomfortable. Horrible bile rose in the throat, she suddenly realised what was about to happen. She quickly (well as quickly as her body would allow her to go) sprinted to bathroom and the slammed the door behind her. Hoping the noise didn't wake Henry, she tried to be as quite as she could but nothing was going to muffle the noise. The bile once again burned its way to her mouth and before she knew it she was over the toilet. She felt even more worse for wear that before she . She felt her nausea easy a little just as the bathroom door slowly opened, revealing a panicked Henry stood in the doorway holding a glass of water. She took it gratefully as Henry came into the room. He sat on the floor next to her.
"You didn't need to get out of bed love, I'm fine" Regina said, her voice was scratchy. She took a sip of water and set the glass down on the cold floor.
" Mom you just threw up at four in the morning. I think I had to come to see if you are OK, plus you always look after me when I'm ill. Now it's my turn"Henry said in a mature voice that shocked Regina. Her little prince was growing up. She smiled weakly at him, then spontaneously without prier warning threw up again. This time almost missing the toilet. Henry rubbed her back soothingly like she had done for him on so many occasions.
"Ew" Regina said, as her stomach finally gave up and she lay on the floor. The cold tile felt good on her now hot skin. She must have sweated quite a lot when she was sleeping because her pajama's, which were fresh on, were now damp from sweat.
"Henry do you mind passing me some fresh pajama's. I need to change, I smell ... really bad" Regina was a little revolted at her current state. She wanted to have a bath. Considering she couldn't get the momentum to leave the floor of the bathroom, that would have to wait until she was feeling better. Henry nodded and went to fetch some.
Regina lay on the floor a little longer to savour the cold on her back. She rolled ungracefully onto her front, to try and sit up on her shins. She got there slowly after resting her forehead for much longer than needed. Her headache had gotten worse. The tiniest movement made it throb, making her stomach swirling viciously. She managed to reach the toilet before she emptied what ever remained in her stomach, which wasn't a lot.
Emma's tablets must of worn off and she had nothing in the house, she was never ill so she didn't feel the need to buy thing that she never had a use for before now. It was then she decided to go against her usually ways and admitted she need help. She glanced at her phone on the bedside table. A green light was flashing in the darkness of her bedroom. Henry came in hold out some of her pajama's. She felt yet another churning in her stomach and promptly threw up ... again.
"That was kinda gross" Henry said, he placed the fresh pajama's on his mom's lap.
" Thank you Henry, I'm sorry you have to deal with me like this. Could you pass me my phone, Someone has messaged me. Regina asked, usually she would do these things herself but at the moment she was to terrified to move.
She had no idea how she had gotten sick but she was going to have to deal with it. There was no potion or spell that could cure this. She had tried with Henry when he had a particularly bad case of the flu. He passed her the phone and she read the message from Emma. She called her back not having the patience to type her message back. It rang a few times until Regina heard a tired Hello on the other end.
" I'm sorry I woke you up, could you please get me something. I hurt all over. I just spent the last half an hour with my head over the toilet and I think my brain might explode. Henry is up at the moment helping me, but he has school in the morning and he is already tired. I'll be able to give you time off. I don't think the school would appreciate me taking my son out of school to look after me. Please just help me I know this is crap timing, but its almost unbearable Emma." Regina said trying to convey her pain over the phone. She thought that maybe she was being over dramatic but she had never felt this weak before. She could barely hold the phone to her ear, her arm was shook from the energy it was taking to hold it up . She hated the feeling of being vulnerable. Her body couldn't decide what temperature it wanted too be one moment she would feel boiling hot, the next she was freezing cold and shivering.
"It's fine Gina. I'd rather look after you then let Henry do it. He has school and I don't think he will know what to do. Adult cold is different from children's cold. There a lot more umm...for a polite word grotesque?Plus I'm used to late nighs in fact I sometimes prefer them" Emma said. Regina could hear rustling in the back ground and knew Emma was already in the car. She must of left as soon as she had answered the call. Regina was surprised and strangely soothed by the fact that Emma's was going look after her. She heard the beetle start." I'll be there in five minutes."
" Thank you Emma. Again I'm sorry it's late I just have no idea what to do" Regina admitted.
" Is kinda weird that you don't know how to be ill, I'm kind of jealous. It's fine, just chill and ask Henry to take your temperature and get back into bed" Emma hung up so she could drive. Henry went downstairs to get the thermometer. Regina slowly coxed herself into her new pajama's. It was a little uncoordinated and she had almost fell over but finally she got there. She shuffled to her bed and lay down.
Henry came back upstairs He gave Regina the thermometer and lay a cold flannel on her head to help her cool down. There was a knock on the front door and Henry ruched down to answer it. A few minute later Henry came back up with Emma at his heels holding a bag with Regina's medicine and entertainment she had quickly grabbed from the nearest open shop on her way to their house.
" Hey you look like crap. I brought you as much as I could think of bringing. Not a lot of places are open at this time." Emma said as she placed the bag in the middle of the bed and went to sit by Regina's feet. She started to unpack the bag so she could explain them to Regina.
" Thank you Emma. Henry you can go to bed now I don't want to make you too tired for school tomorrow." Regina said her throat was even more sore than before.
" I'm fine Mom, I'll go soon" Henry said sitting next to Regina and cuddling into her side. She put her arm around him and rested her head on his. It comforted Regina to see that Henry wanted to make sure she was OK.
A few years ago this might of been a different story but Neverland had changed their once fragile family into a strong unit. Even her and Emma saw each other differently. They didn't see each other as enemy's anymore, they where Henry's mom's first and foremost but also formidable allies in battle. They had discovered a trust that only two people who came from broken homes ,who shared a child could. It wasn't strictly conventional but it worked for them... most of the time.
" I brought something for almost every symptom. I know how crap cold can be and I'm guessing this is your first one and I also think its the flu. Which is a lot worse, being sick is usually the difference between the two, among many other things.I brought cold and flu tablets, throat soothers and vapour rub. There's a few more things you could use and I also brought you some entertainment which I will show you once I get me and Henry a hot chocolate." Emma said. She left the room to go and make drinks for them. She chose to give Regina a ginger based herbal tea to help settle her stomach. She went back up and handed them to the Mother and Son who hadn't moved an inch.
" So I brought you a few magazines, DVD's and my old DS. It has Mario cart in at the moment,I thought you enjoy it." Emma said as Regina picked the DS up and looked at it. Regina had gotten one for Henry one but she never saw the appeal of them.
" Why do you think I'd like it?" Regina ask a little confused.
" Because you have a competitive streak and well it's a racing game" Emma explained. " Give it a go when your headaches better."
"Yes at the moment it feels like someone is repetitively stabbing my brain"Regina complained.
Regina took the medicine's Emma had brought and they finished their drinks. The ginger tea was doing its trick and Regina felt a little better.
" OK off to bed with you boy, it's getting late and you have school" Regina said. Henry kissed her cheek and gave her a squeeze. He slowly rose from the bed. He went to hug Emma but tripped and fell on her legs.
" Night kid" Emma said. She laughed and patted his back. He tried to get up but once again fell this time onto Regina's legs.
"Ouch, your getting bigger" Regina said. Her and Emma laughed when Henry poked his tongue out at her.
"Night Mom's" He said. He kissed Emma's cheek and left the room.
" Is there any place for me to stay so I can get Henry up for school?" Emma asked not wanting to leave Regina to have to do it in the morning.
" Yes the spare room is next door, you can stay there" Regina said. They were both a little uncomfortable. They sat there in silence for a while until Emma stood up and went to leave.
"Good night Regina" Emma said as she stood up.
"Good night Emma, thank you for all of this I would of been lost with out your help today" Regina admitted.
" Stop thanking me I'm family. I've learnt recently it's what we do" Emma said smiling at Regina who smiled back. Emma left the room to go to bed.
" Maybe this won't be so bad after all" Regina said to herself. She got comfortable in her bed and fell once again into sleep.
