'Take it easy with me, please
Touch me gently like a summer evening breeze
Take your time, make it slow
Andante, Andante
Just let the feeling grow'

Regina slid into her car and smiled when she heard the music. She was in a really good mood. Even though she was a little sore from her run in with Apollo, she was still happy. Something about today had her in the best mood. She knew that work today would be nothing but hectic, but for some reason she was excited.

She pulled into the hospital parking lot next to Kathryn's Jeep, the purple paint standing out brightly amongst the silvers, blacks and whites in the parking lot.

"Morning Kathryn" Regina waved as she stepped out of her own black car, locking it behind her. She took her time slipping her car keys into her purse while she waited for the blonde.

"Good morning, hot stuff" Kay smiled and walked to Regina's car, admiring the sleek BMW convertible for a few moments. "So, how was your walk? We never saw you for the rest of the night." The blonde tilted her head to the side curiously, cool blue eyes surveying the shorter woman expectantly.

"It was good. I ran into Emma." Regina said, trying her best to sound nonchalant about the whole ordeal.

" !" Kathryn squealed, clapping her hands together. "So yummy!"

"What?!" The brunette turned to her friend with wide eyes. "Why would you call her that?"

"That's my new name for Swan. So we can talk about her when she's in the room and she won't know." The blonde shrugged and grinned mischievously. She nodded her head towards the building in front of them, indicating for Regina to follow her.

"But why ? That's so…." The latina couldn't quite find the right word to describe how she felt about the nickname.

"Because you've seen her. She's fucking sexy. And smart. And she drives a Tesla, so you know she's got money." Kathryn motioned across the parking lot to where a striking yellow Tesla was parked beneath a sign which read 'Head of Cardiology'. "She's a daddy. And rumor has it she's got extra plumbing if you know what I mean." Kathryn nudged her shoulder, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"She drives a Tesla?" Regina took a moment to admire the car. The color was hideous, but the car itself was very attractive. She shook her head and continued after the retreating blonde. "She's a daddy? I don't know what that means. Of course she has money, she's a huge deal. She's like the world's best Cardiothoracic surgeon. What kind of extra plumbing? Like built in pools?" The brunette inquired with confusion. She really wasn't sure what plumbing had to do with her boss.

"You're so innocent." Kathryn rolled her eyes and grabbed hold of the other woman's hand, practically dragging her the rest of the way to the scrub room. "Hurry up. If we're late, Mulan will put both of us on scut duty."

They made their way quickly through the hospital and deposited their purses and jackets in the scrub room before they made their way to meet the rest of the interns in the Emergency Room. They quickly located the other interns, save for Lacey and Jefferson who appeared to be running late and hurried to join them as Mulan marched in.

"Alright interns, there's no time to waste. Get your scrubs on and then get into the OR. We need all hands on deck." Mulan gave the orders quickly and sternly before turning on her heel and disappearing through the set of double doors leading towards the surgical wing.

They all turned and made their way into the scrub room to change. Regina and Kathryn took their places in front of their lockers and began to undress . The brunette's fingers slid to the button of her jeans, undoing it and sliding them down her legs before folding them and putting them into her locker.

"Lookin' good, love." Killian commented before taping her on the ass, a grin on his face. Graham didn't hesitate to slam him against the locker, startling most of the interns around him as he held his forearm against Killians throat and growled in his ear.

"Any other girl in the hospital you can fuck with. Go ahead, have at 'em, but Regina, Kathryn, Lacey, and Dorothy are off limits. They're ladies, not pieces of meat you get to grill and serve. Got it? "

Killian nodded quickly, the threat was very clearly one that the well muscled man had no problem following through with. Graham watched him for a long moment before pushing down on his throat before removing his arm. Killian took several deep breaths before looking at Regina. "Apologies, love. Won't happen again."

Regina smiled and high fived Graham. "Thanks, big brother." She pulled on her scrub pants before continuing to get ready for the day. Kathryn patting Regina on the ass as she passed by her, cool blue eyes glaring at Killian. "Hands off, handless wonder."

Kathryn settled on the bench facing Regina, watching as the brunette continued to get ready for the day. "Okay, like love the whole big brother, little sister vibes going on. but that was sexy as fuck. Did you see his little arm vein pop out? I'm sorry, I have a lady boner." Kathryn threw her hands up before standing and making her way out to the E.R floor.

Regina blushed and laughed before she finished changing into her scrubs, pulling her hair up away from her face and grabbing a pair of gloves. She pushed through the scrub room door and gasped. Laid out in front of her was the most overcrowded and overly full E.R Regina had ever seen in her life.

"Move!" Mulan barked at the brunette standing in the middle of the hallway in complete shock.

"I'm sorry." Regina gasped and moved so that the stretcher could come through,looking around the room.

"Go find your resident and do what she says." Mulan barked at her. Regina got in a quick nod before having to run off in search of Emma, which didn't take long. Regina walked over to the blonde who was still in her lab coat and jeans, her blonde hair tied back from her face in messy ponytail.

'Strange' Regina thought to herself as she took in the sight of her. Emma was usually so put together and was absolutely always in her proper uniform. Seeing her without her scrubs on was both shocking and a little worrying.

" ?" Regina said, moving into the blonde's line of sight, a smile blooming on her lips as she took in the focused expression on the surgeon's face.

"Yes, Regina?" Emma looked up with a roll of her eyes. It was clearly written on her face that she was completely annoyed by the stupidity of Regina's fellow interns. Her posture seemed to relax minutely when she laid eyes on the brunette.

"Is there anything I can help you with? Dr. Shang sent me to find you."

"Yes, there's a man in bed 27 with a heart palp." she handed Regina a folder "There is a minor surgical case in bed 17. It's a few small foreign objects lodged into the left lung, nothing critical." Another folder "These are minor cases. Um...things like concussions, broken limbs and stitches." She handed her a few more folders. "You're the cardio goddess right? You can do these. I expect them done within the next two hours. Am I clear?"

Regina looked shocked and disappointed, her brow furrowing a bit as she looked at the folders. She wanted a cardio case and all she got was a heart palpitation case. Those were elementary. She sighed and held all of her folders close, nodding at the question.

"Crystal" Regina turned on her heel and walked towards bed 27, opening the folder for the assigned room. "Hello " Regina chuckled a little at reading the name. "I'm sorry, I have an ex with that last name. What seems to be the problem, sir?" Regina said taking a seat on the stool beside the bed, scanning over the chart.. She hadn't once looked up at the patient yet as she familiarized herself with the case.

"Um Regina?" The man spoke, reaching out to touch her hand.

"Excuse me?" Regina looked up and her eyes went wide,. "You" she said her stomach turning as she stared at the man in front of her. To most he would be called handsome with his dark hair and striking blue eyes.

"It's me, sweetheart. Did you miss me?" He asked, his voice should have sounded sweet or even the slightest bit loving, but all Regina heard was the venom beneath the surface of the smile aimed at her.

"No, I did not. At all." Regina stood and and started to back away from him, but he grabbed her by the arm. A little too rough for her liking. A little too much like before.

"Where are you going? We've been apart for so long. I missed you so much." he said in a wicked tone, a tone that implied he did not see her leaving as an option. The kind of tone that made Regina remember why she left him in the first place.

"No, Daniel! I can't.I won't. I'm not going back to you. I won't let myself go down that road again. You aren't worth my sweat." Regina pulled her arm from his grasp "Or my blood." She added before she quickly walked out of the room.

'No, not here. Not now. At least not with Emma here. Wait, what? Why do I care what she thinks of me? Well I mean I guess I care because she's my resident? Also, because she's kinda hot. Okay, okay. No no no, that's against the rules.'

"Regina!" Kathryn grabbed both of her shoulders and started to shake her slightly, her face clearly displaying her concern for the brunette. "Honey, you've been walking up and down this hallway for ten minutes. What's going on, love? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Regina took a deep breath, if anyone could be trusted to understand, it was Kathryn Nolan. "My ex is in the hospital." She stated, watching for Kat's reaction.

"Who gives a fuck? He's your ex for a reason, obviously." The blonde crossed her arms and gave a wave of her hand.

"No, I mean that he's here, Kathryn. He's in this hospital and I'm on his case. I'm not going over to Emma to make her handle it, because then she's gonna flip out on me and make me deal with it anyway. She isn't even dressed in her hospital clothes. She's still in her outside clothes. I'm surprised Gold hasn't sent her home yet because it's really not like her and he's really strict about the dress code policy and….."

"Okay okay okay! You're rambling, Gina. Focus. Ex in the hospital."

"Oh oh, sorry"

"It's okay. I just need you to take a deep breath." Kathryn made a breathe in-breathe out motion with her hands.

"Okay" Regina took a dramatic breath in and let the same dramatic one out, closing her eyes for a moment.

"So, which one is he?" The blonde inquired, peering around the doorway into the E.R.

"Bed 27."

Blue eyes scanned the room until they located the correct bed number, brows raising as they took in the handsome, slightly stoic man. "What's so bad about him? He's not too bad looking. Could do with a different haircut, maybe."

"That's not it. It's his charm. It's the way he digs himself deeper and deeper into my head. Finding and searching for something, anything that will make me tick. His words hurt and bruise more than his fists do." The brunette rook her hair down and ran her fingers through it before putting it back up, just to give herself a short distraction.

"Oh, hell no." Kathryn hissed, turning on her heel and made to walk past Regina in the direction of Daniel's room. Regina followed after her quickly, grabbing her arm and pulling her back into the hallway.

"Kat, stop. Please." she couldn't help but smile at her friends aggression, warmed by the fiercely protective nature the blonde was exhibiting.

"Why? I wanna let him feel what my fists and words feel like. I'm sure they fucking hurt." She said balling her fists tightly, her knuckles turning white.

"No, we aren't going to fight him. I'm just going to ask Killian to take the case." Regina attempted to sooth the worked up blonde, gently massaging her hands until she un-curled her fists,slender olive toned finger massaging the small crescent marks from her palms.

"Fine. I'll behave, for now. If he lays a hand on you, I'll cut his throat open with my scalpel." She stated as though she had just confirmed they would meet for lunch the next day.

"Fine, we have a deal. Now, I need to go find Killian." Regina sighed and pulled Kathryn in for a tight hug. "You're the best" she smiled against the blonde's neck.

"Trust me, I know." Kathryn smiled and hugged her back, running her hand up and down the latina's back to comfort her before she sent her on her way to find Killian.

"Killian!" Regina yelled upon locating the one handed intern. She came to a stop behind him, slightly out of breath from darting about.

"What? I'm working." he snapped at her in irritation, turning to face her. His eyes darted around briefly to ensure Graham wasn't about to tackle him for speaking to the petite brunette.

"What are you doing?" She asked as sweetly as she could muster, peeking around him to get a look at the patient.

"A simple suture. it's not a big deal. The genius thought it would be brilliant to swerve between cars and ended up clipping the curb. Went full over the handlebars and into a bush."

"Did you make any conversation with the patient before administering the sedative?" She inquired, frowning a bit at the careless tone.

"No, that's not my job. My job is to get in, stitch him up and move on to the next idiot that gets wheeled in. Conversation isn't important."

"It is important. He looks to be no more than 23. I'm sure he's scared out of his mind. You're doing a suture on a part of his body. He can see and hear you workings and you didn't say anything?" She narrowed her eyes at him before making eye contact with the patient again, giving him a soft smile to reassure him.

"No, I didn't." he shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. He wasn't the type of doctor who took feelings into account when treating a patient. This could be a useful trait when it came down to difficult surgeries or decisions, but was absolutely not ideal for situations that required calming a patient and reassuring them.

"You're clueless. Emma, I mean Dr. Swan, told me to give you this heart palp case in bed 27. I'll finish this up for you" Regina took the needle from his hand and handed him the folder. He glanced at it before shrugging and making his way towards the other end of the E.R.

"I'm so sorry about him,sir. He's a little cocky about his skills." Regina apologized as she took a seat beside the bed, surveying the gash on the lower portion of the man's exposed calf.

"It's no big deal." the man shrugged. He was good-looking enough, Regina observed. He had dark brown hair that was trimmed short along the sides while remaining longer on top, his eyes were a dark blue, bordering on brown, though Regina could see the aquatic tones when the lights caught them.

"I'm sorry. I don't know your name since he didn't think to leave your folder." The brunette frowned, glancing around the room for the patient file and coming up short.

"I'm Derek." He supplied helpfully, watching her as she carefully continued to suture his leg.

"I'm Regina or whatever floats your boat."

The man shrugged and let Regina get working on his leg. She stitched him up extremely carefully, making sure that when the time came to take the stitches out there would only be minimal scarring.

"Alright, Derek, you're all good to go." Regina gave him a pat on the back before signing his release form "Just give this to the front desk and you should be all good." He smiled and nodded before walking off with one crutch.

By the time Regina realized what had happened, an hour had already passed. "Oh shit!" she said to herself before running to go take care of the other patients that Emma had needed assigned to her. She placed apple scented stickers on the folders as she finished each one, gathering them in her arms before heading to Emma's office and handing them to her.

"Everything you asked for is done, ." The surgical intern exclaimed a bit breathless, smiling at the blonde in front of her.

"Thank you, Regina." Emma reached out for the folders and began going through them to ensure that they had all been accounted for.

"You're welcome." Regina headed for the door to do rounds in the E.R again.

"Hold it!" Emma snapped her fingers,motioning Regina back to stand in front of her. "Where is Colter's case? I put you on that case for a reason, Regina. It wasn't meant for anyone else." The blonde looked at her with clear disappointment, brows raised as she waited for a suitable explanation.

"I couldn't do it." Regina replied quietly, rubbing her hand along her arm and trying her best not to squirm under the intensity of the surgeon's piercing emerald gaze.

"What the hell do you mean you couldn't do it? You have been so lucky as to have been born into the Mills family. I would have thought that the second you were given a cardio case you'd jump on it. What so different about this one, huh?" Emma snapped, throwing one of the folders down on her desk.

"I don't want to do it. That's what's different. It was a personal matter and none of your business." Regina snapped back defensively, her walls going up around her as she prepared for the tongue lashing she knew she was about to receive.

"You're a doctor! This is your job. You do the cases you don't want to do. It isn't up for debate nor discussion! You do this case or you go over to Peds and work with Blanchard. I'm not going to spend time teaching you my procedures if you aren't willing to put in the work and the effort for a simple heart palp case." The blonde pressed her palms against the surface of her desk, her jaw set tightly in anger.

"That's not fair!" Regina protested "You don't even know why I won't do it!"

"Do I look like I consider what's fair and not fair? We are dealing with people's lives, Regina, not what color to dye our friend's hair at a sleepover. The decision is yours and I need an answer now. Do this case or you're off my service." Emma stated simply, leaning back in her chair as she awaited the brunette's answer.

"Fine, I'll go work with Blanchard. I'm not doing this case."

"Great, you're excused from my team" Emma waved her off and Regina felt her heart hit the floor. She stood there for a second before looking at Emma. She opened her mouth for a brief moment before shaking her head. She turned on her heel and walked quickly out of the room. She wasn't going to let the blonde see her cry, not today. Maybe not ever.

As soon as the door had shut Emma paged Ruby to her office, her fingers lifting to rub at her now pounding temples. She hadn't meant to be so hard on Regina, but this was what it took to be a doctor. It meant swallowing your own thoughts and feelings and doing what was best for your patient. Regina clearly wasn't cut out for this line of work and it disappointed Emma in ways she couldn't describe.

"Oh, hello, Regina! What are you doing here? Aren't you on 's team?" Mary Margaret asked cheerfully when the brunette appeared in front of her asking for an assignment.

"Not any more. She excused me from her team." Regina replied simply.

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry. I know you really excel in the cardio field. Emma was just talking to us about it the other day." The pixie haired woman reached out and rubbed her arm comfortingly.

"It's okay." Regina shrugged and felt the tears start to swell in her eyes, wiping them away quickly.

Mary Margaret squeezed her arm gently "Go ahead and go to the bathroom to get yourself all cleaned up. Take your time sweetheart." Regina nodded and quickly made a beeline for the E.R. She needed to find Kathryn and she needed to find her now.

Regina had been walking with her head down when she ran into Kathryn, quite literally. "Hey! Watch where you're going." Kathryn lifted her head and looked away from the chart she was going over, finding the brunette close to tears. "Baby, what's wrong?" She sets the folder aside and pulls Regina into her embrace.

"Em- I mean kicked me off of her team." Regina hiccupped, burying her face against the blonde's neck. She hated feeling this weak,but the reality that she may have just let fear destroy her future was settling around her.

"What? Why would she do that?" She eased the shorter woman back a bit, using her thumbs to gently wipe away the tears trickling over olive cheeks.

"Because I didn't want to do Daniels case. I told her I refused to work on it."

"Oh, hell no. Let's go." Kathryn took her hand and pulled her towards Emma's office, fire raging in the normally cool blue eyes.

"No, Kat! I'm supposed to be with Mary Margaret. I have to go."

"Fuck her. She can deal with the kids on her own for a few more minutes."

"No, Kat, really it's okay. I'm fine, I just need a hug." Regina leaned into the blonde for support, she felt safe with her, even after knowing her for only a handful of days.

Kathryn opened her arms and wrapped them tightly around her, running her fingers slowly through dark chocolate locks, the feeling of nails gently scraping along her scalp soothing Regina. "Okay, fine. I won't say anything, for now. I need to find Lacey, though. Go back to work,

I'll come get you for lunch in a little while.."

"Wait, what? Lacey is here, isn't she? She should be in Ortho with Dr. West." Regina wiped her eyes and pointed towards the green hallway leading to the Orthopedic Wing of the hospital.

"No, she isn't. She didn't clock in this morning. Jefferson just got here and he said he hasn't heard from her all day. He hasn't seen her since he dropped her off at home last night."

"That's weird. Really weird. I'm sure she's fine. Maybe she's just a little hung over."

"I know, right. I hope so."

"Okay, well go find her. I'll deal with my Emma drama on my own." Regina gave Kathryn one last squeeze, the blonde leaning down to drop a kiss against her forehead. She smiled softly at the taller woman before walking back to Blanchard.

"Okay, I'm better now" Regina took a deep breath and accepted the charts that were handed to her before catering to some of the children, their smiles and giggles cheering her up quickly.

Emma sat in the office and ran her hands through her hair, letting out a loud sigh. She may have made a mistake, on a personal level. Medically, she still stood by her decision to remove Regina from her service. She didn't need any wild cards. She lifted her head as the door opened, closing behind Ruby once she had stepped inside.

"What's going on?" The brunette inquired, crossing to lean against the desk, loosening her own hair from its bun.

"I kicked Regina off my team"

"Are you fucking joking?"

"No and I'm almost 100% sure she cried. Why do I feel bad about that?"

"Emma, that's not cool. Her parents are going to eat you alive. Why would you just kick her off you're team? It's only you and a few nurses. What the hell were you thinking?"

"I wasn't thinking at all. I just reacted. She was pushing me. I don't react well to that, you know this." The blonde ran her hand over her face, trying to rub away the exhaustion she knew was clearly written in her features.

"Emma, you're her teacher. It's your job to know when to push and when to pull. Why did you kick her off your team anyway?" Ruby frowned, this wasn't normal behavior for the Cardio surgeon. Not even close. She never let stress get the better of her.

"Because she said she didn't wanna be on the only surgical cardiac case in the hospital. Like how does that make any sense? You don't get to just refuse to do your job. This is what she signed up for."

"Did you ask her why?"

"No."

"Emma! What the actual hell is going on with you? You know better. Why are you acting like this?"

"Like what?"

"Like you don't understand the kind of impact you have on her. She looks up to you. This is how she's gonna treat her interns on her resident year. Don't start that chain. I'm really disappointed in you, Em." The brunette shook her head, rubbing her own eyes. They both knew what it was like to have a resident that looked down on you. It was the worst feeling in the world. It had almost caused Ruby to drop out in her own internship when the pressure has become almost unbearable.

"Ruby, really? What was I supposed to do?"

"Yes, really. I just-" Ruby was cut off by a blaring siren and flash of a blue light. Before she could gather what was going on she heard a voice from over the loudspeaker. Both doctors leaping to their feet and making a beeline for the door as the patient was announced.

"Code blue in bed 27."