Oh preacher man don't take her 'way from me.

I only wanted one

Tonight just set me free.

If god doth hate this love

Well god has cursed me so.

For in her lips, and in her smile…

Freedom-Yeah freedom…Is all I know…

Henry had slipped into his bedroom, already knowing where things were going. Or at least, having the idea. He gave Emma a look before he disappeared, his eyes sad and trying to peer into her. There had been a moment of happiness, a piece of joy in the day. He seemed to understand that whatever was about to happen, this was not a good thing. This was not a beautiful thing.

It was something that needed to happen.

Regina had beckoned her into the bedroom where they had shared so many nights together. It had been many months, many more months than Emma had even spent with anyone. Certainly not another woman. Certainly not a person like Regina. She followed reluctantly, not sure what to expect or think out of whatever they were about to talk about. Because she didn't know where this was going. Regina had left no clues.

She closed the door behind them and pursed her lips. A soft sigh escaped them before she made her way over to the bed and patted for Emma to sit down next to her.

"What's going on, Regina?"

She was so tired. There was reluctance in both of them, but Regina's was more obvious. The way every muscle in her back was tense. The raspiness in her breath. Closed eyes.

"Do you know what Henry's name was going to be if he'd happened to be female?"

Random. Very random. And of course Emma wouldn't know, how the hell would she? That wasn't exactly something you asked over dinner conversation. There was a long pause, a signifying that she didn't know what to say to that.

"His name would have been Emma." Emma stared at her long and hard, as if asking if this were some kind of sick joke. She almost laughed, but the look on Regina's face told her that wouldn't be at all wise. "Emma, after a young private that, supposedly, saved my husbands life in Afghanistan. Before, of course, it was taken anyways."

Get down, sir! You're hit. Just…Stay still, Stabler…

"Excuse me?" Emma finally managed to reply, but any confusion was gone from her voice. In fact, she didn't know how to describe the sound that came from her throat. It was disbelieving, sure, but it almost lacked any sort of connection. Almost numb.

"Do you know what Henry's full name is, Emma?"

No. No way in hell.

"Henry Daniel Mills. His name would have been, if my husband had not died, Henry Daniel Stabler-Mills. I never could give up my last name, you know…My father had so much pride in it…"

No. No, no, no. Emma was pushing herself up. She had dealt with a lot of bullshit, but this-This she would not stand for.

"You do not get…You do not get to pull this shit on me Regina, whatever the fuck is going on, I don't-"

"You don't want a part of it. I understand. But you are a part of it, Miss Swan, you-"

"No!" she snarled, her voice raspy. Fuck. She was shaking. Her entire body twitching and moving sporadically, almost in a seizing motion. Her eyes were red, somehow, as though she had cried a thousand tears and fought a thousand more demons. Regina supposed she had.

"Emma, I understand, but you can't-"

"I can't what? Call you out on your bullshit? What, you look up some information on my unit and you decide to pick on old wounds? What the fuck is your problem, Mills?"

"You never told me your unit, Emma."

She took pause in that. She was still shaking, eyes still red and wild, but she didn't say a damned thing for the longest time. The silence was deafening.

"You can still…James could have told you."

"Why on earth would James tell me that information, Emma?"

James and her…They're at each others necks.

"Why? Why are you doing this?"

Regina took a long look at Emma, and for a second Emma saw her deflate. She reached into a little box that had been laying on the bed, and pulled out a photo album before handing it to Emma. It carried pictures, so many pictures, of Regina Mills and Daniel Stabler. Children, dating, marriage, honeymoon. So many things that Emma could have inquired about Daniel's life and never had. And then, a note in Regina's hand.

"He wrote to me not long before he died. He had your best interest in mind, Emma."

And there was so much hurt on Regina's face, as though she had been blown a low blow too. Emma couldn't pin point why. She took the note, hesitantly, and unfolded it. The scratch was barely legible to Emma, but years of deciphering made it easier.

"He told me that there was a young girl in his unit that had gotten into trouble. Asked me to check on her in New York."

"You never checked on me…"

"Not up close. I watched from afar. If that was his dying wish, than I'd fulfill it…"

Emma handed the note back, carefully, as though it were fine china instead of paper. Perhaps it was. In it lay, potentially, the last words Regina had ever heard from her husband. And these words were something that Emma could hold onto from her NCO.

"And then you took in Henry, when I couldn't…"

Regina nodded slowly.

"That's my son up there…That could have been my son…"

The darkness clouded in with the silence, mixing and matching itself. Piecing itself together. So much darkness, so much silence. So much pain. Too much for one room. Regina could almost feel it bulging from the pressure.

"Why?"

"He was the last piece of my husband…And I'd always wanted a child…"

"So soon after…After what happened?"

"Sometimes, we have to do what's best for a child. Sometimes we need to put our own pain behind us."

She could imagine Regina sitting with Henry, tears running down her face. And oh how grateful she was, despite her reaction. How many times had she hesitated, thought about what could happen to her child if he had ended up in the system? But no. He had landed in Regina's arms instead. He had had a good life, a much better life than she could have imagined for herself.

"How long have you known?"

"That you were the woman from all those years ago? A very short period of time."

"You thought I was going to take him from you," Emma observed, almost in a state of wonder. How crazy would that be? A child half an adult suddenly wanting to be in her arms instead.

"It was a closed adoption. I had no fear of that. I feared you'd try. But you'd never succeed in that aspect."

It wasn't rude, not really. An observation of fact. Of course Emma wouldn't be successful, she'd given up her title all those years ago. And now she had squirmed in, without her own knowledge of doing so. No wonder she had been so afraid. So angry.

"I don't… I don't want to take him from you."

Regina sighed in relief, and nodded. It seemed as though this were wearing on her heavily, as though it were something that she had thought of far too often.

"This is fucked up," Emma observed, blinking. Regina cracked a smile and nodded, rubbing her eyes.

"It's about to get a little more so, Emma…"

And how more fucked up could it get? Emma couldn't pinpoint whatever else was bothering the woman, but surely it couldn't be any worse than this bombshell. It felt as though it had taken out her entire village of a life, and while she had the urge to run away, she found herself planted. Whatever roots had grown in this place would keep her here until someone tore at them with the worlds sharpest knife. Because she found that she didn't want to leave, even with this information. It wasn't what had hooked her.

But it wouldn't draw her away. She was not a fish.

"What do you mean?"

Regina closed her eyes and laid back, welcoming Emma to join her. Without further clarification, Emma walked up slowly and wrapped her arms around her, almost cradling.

"I'm ill, Emma."

"I know. That's kind of how this whole thing started, isn't it?"

Regina smiled a little and then shook her head. No. It had started because of a hurt boy and two people who worked well together sharing a drink. It had started because of a dance and a night alone. It had started because of everything falling into place.

"I mean…I'm very ill, Emma. There's a lot of problems. And they're going to get worse. I fear…"

"What?" Emma asked, opening her eyes to look at the woman in front of her.

"I don't know how much more damage my body can take. I've…There's a chance…"

"What?"

"There's always the possibility, with scarring, that your lungs can cease function. You know how it works."

There were sacs in the lungs that constricted and dilated to bring in O2, that could lost their elasticity. There was the chance of them filling up with the body's own water, drowning yourself without ever getting wet. There was the chance that the heart could work too hard too fast, and cease function.

"But you've got it under control, right?"

"As well as I can. There's so much that's happened, I don't-"

"No."

"Emma, you just have to be aware-"

"No. Tomorrow. We'll talk about it tomorrow. Maybe. But you'll be fine."

Regina chuckled at that.

"I didn't realize you got your PHD in a day."

"I didn't. But you're airs still going in and out, bloods still going round and round. So you're okay for now. That's how we BLS kids do it."

Regina sighed, but said nothing else for a very long time. Almost until Emma had drifted away.

"The thing about BLS is that people usually die in a hospital. Not an ambulance."

And perhaps she had a point.