June 19th 2017
Regina stopped pacing long enough to press the answer button on her phone, ignoring the fact she did not recognise the number, knowing only that the caller was from Maine with the area code.
"Emma?!" She tried to school the panic from her voice but was unsuccessful, having not heard from her fiancé in over 12 hours. She had tried to call numerous times, even going so far as to call David to see if he had heard from his wife or daughter. She had been close to getting in her car and just driving around but held herself back, realising Emma was a grown adult and would call when she needed. When it had reached over 12 hours since she had last heard from her, she had begun to pace, now more concerned for her safety, than concerned she was mad at her.
"Chill Regina, jeez." Regina pulled the phone away from her ear and glared at it, much as she would have done had Emma said that to her face. She heard a mumble through the speaker and put the phone back to her ear.
"Excuse me?"
"I said…"
"No, I heard what you said. Where the fuck are you?" She didn't like that living with Emma meant she had started cursing more, but she felt it was justified in this situation. "I have not heard from you for over half a day, please explain to me why exactly that is the case."
She growled under her breath as she heard Emma laugh on the other end of the line.
"Oh it's no big deal babe. After I got the dress, my mom and I went to get something to eat and when we got back we realised that my mom's phone was dead and that I'd left mine in the bridal store and so we had to wait until they opened and then it was dead too and my mom wanted to shop a bit more so…" She sighed loudly, and Regina couldn't help but smirk, knowing that Emma had suffered just a little bit being dragged around with her mother. "Anyway, I couldn't find any phones and I'd left my charger at home so I couldn't call."
Regina heard the finality in the blonde's voice and raised her brow, knowing she couldn't see her but still waiting for her to finish what was clearly not the end of the story.
"… and…?"
"What do you mean 'and'?"
"That could have only taken, what? Three hours? It's what, a 90 minute drive away, max? Why aren't you home?"
"Ah."
"Yes, ah. Where are you Miss Swan?"
"Well… uh… So we started to drive back and we may have had a minor accident."
"WHAT?!"
"Jeez, Regina… chill… It was minor. There was very little damage to the car, but we couldn't drive it anymore so it got towed to a mechanic but he can't get to it till the morning and then… well eventually we got to a hotel and I had a chance to call."
Regina had made her way into her study by this point and was refilling her cider glass. She had lots of questions about the accident, because it was obvious to anyone that she was hiding something, but she had missed her, and her focus was getting her home as soon as possible.
"Why didn't you just use magic to get home Emma? Your magic has been pretty strong for some weeks now… you could have come home to me hours ago." Emma could hear the vulnerability in Regina's voice, it wasn't something she heard often and only then did she remember their conversation earlier. She knew what she would be feeling if it was the other way around, and all she wanted was to be with her fiancé at that moment.
"I'm sorry sweetheart, I wish I was there with you. But I couldn't use magic.
"What Emma, why? Have you…"
"Relax babe, it's nothing like that… I'm outside Storybrooke. I don't have magic here. I meant to call earlier in case you were worried but I just let my phone die. We'll be up first thing to get the car sorted and I'll be home as soon as I can. Mary Margaret is gonna call David next and he'll cover my shift at the station so maybe you can take the afternoon off… I just want to spend some time with you."
"Emma I…" She may have been on her third glass of cider but she knew that something was not being said. "Please let me speak to your mother."
"Really Gina, are you kidding?"
"Now, please, Emma." Regina laughed lightly as Emma muttered quietly, and Regina could tell she was pouting.
"Fine, whatever, I love you." She handed the phone over before Regina could reply, and Regina told the empty air "I love you too."
She heard the phone change hands and Mary Margaret say 'one second' before the phone moved again and she heard the slightly distorted sound of Mary Margaret talking to Emma at the other side of the room.
"Emma, sweetheart, can you go and get some snacks from the machine down the hall? You can take my purse. Take your time, I'm gonna call David when I'm done talking to Regina." The phone moved through the air again and the mayor rolled her eyes as Mary Margaret waited for the door to close before she spoke.
"Hey Re…"
"No." Regina was tired, she had a headache and she missed her fiancé. She wanted the conversation to be over so she could go to sleep and when she woke up, she would be closer to seeing the aggravating blonde whose absence was causing her heart to ache. "Please… just tell me the truth. I don't trust her to tell me exactly what happened."
"Well… we were driving home, Emma was bugging me to speed up because she wanted to get home to you, and the other car came out of nowhere. Hit her side on. We're not waiting for repairs, we're waiting for the hire place to open, and the car was a write off." Regina could hear the concern in her ex-stepdaughters voice as she held back what she really wanted to say. "She was unconscious Regina… but all she ended up with is some cuts and bruises and a broken wrist…" Regina had gasped at the unconscious comment and was trying to hold herself back from getting in her car to go and pick them up. If she hadn't of had the wine with her dinner and the cider she would have been halfway there by now.
"I… Snow I…"
She was interrupted, only wanting to explain that she would be on her way if she could, but that she could not risk Emma being in the car while she was under the influence of alcohol.
"She'll be fine Regina… Her wrist will take a few weeks to heal but other than that… no lasting effects." It took all of Regina's effort to hold back the growl that was building in her chest. How did this happen? She simply went to look for a wedding dress and then ended up in a car accident. Why was everything going wrong?
"Just… please bring her home to me soon… and safely…"
"Please try not to worry Regina… I'm going to call David in a minute, and Emma and I will be back tomorrow. Get some sleep, it will all be ok." Regina could only sigh, muttering a goodbye to Snow when she offered one.
She made her way up to bed soon after, thoughts running through her mind about the car accident, about Emma being unconscious, her broken bones. She glanced at the clock as she slid into bed, pulling Emma's pillow into her arms. It marked just after 12:30am, and Regina figured it would be at least another 12 hours until she saw her true love again.
She tossed and turned, getting out of bed at the slightest noise to look outside, or to check her phone. She fell into a restless sleep just after 2am, the sleep she did get plagued with nightmares about everything her future wife had gone through.
The next time she looked at the clock, it read 4:07am and she had woken from the bed sinking beside her. She felt Emma slide in as close as she could to her, gently placing her casted arm on her waist. Regina turned quickly but carefully, delicately holding the blondes arm out of the way until she settled in a new position. She reached above her with her other arm, managing to grab one of her spare pillows and placed it on her side so Emma could rest her arm on it.
Only then did she look at her. The blonde had minor cuts and scrapes on her face and she looked worried, as if she thought Regina was going to rip her a new one. She also looked exhausted and so Regina pushed her anger and her upset to the side and leaned forward, pressing her lips to Emma's. No words were spoken, the way they both watched each other in silence said enough. Emma fell asleep first, and Regina waited until her breathing had evened before she manoeuvred them to a more sustainable position. She couldn't hold back as she lay her head on Emma's chest, falling asleep to the sound of her strong heartbeat.
Yes I know, something always seems to be going wrong with Em. However I didn't know this would happen until I started writing this chapter. It helped the move on and it can help the next bit. Bit of a time jump coming because I am like 15 months behind… (Maybe it can be explained by the fact that alongside binge-watching OUAT from the beginning, I have been doing the same to Grey's Anatomy, and just noticed recently how everything seems to go wrong with Meredith. Who knows.)
