Hello everyone, and welcome back for a new chapter of Resurgence!

Just to clear some stuff up for a reviewer. This story is a complete AU. Henry was 8 when he found Emma, and we'll be exploring why in this chapter. Regina and Emma weren't best friends- I wrote that they were in chapter one by complete mistake. I didn't mean to. My hand slipped. Regina and Emma are not best friends... yet.

Enjoy!

Funny anecdote: it is 3 am and I'm in dire need of sleep.

Regina's unfocused eyes immediately find Emma's. The sheriff's own widen and she can't help the tears falling on her face.

"Miss... S-Swan." Regina tries to frown in her usual way, but it comes off broken and in pain.

"Hey," Emma whisper softly as she continues to stroke Regina's hair, "we missed you so much."

Regina's eyes harden quickly and she casts them downwards, pure self-hatred on her face, and Emma feels her heart constrict. She still thinks they hate her...

"Yeah, we really did. Henry never gave up hope."

Regina looks at Jamie in way that has Emma close to sighing. She really doesn't want her here.

"I'm tired," she deadpans, which gets her an odd look from the doctor. She looks like she's about to say something, but decides not to.

She ushers Emma and the detective outside, with Emma's eyes lingering on Regina's form.

"Don't worry about her," Jamie assures her, as soon as they're out of the room. "The psychological damage she suffered is indeed major, but her physical state is improving quickly. The cuts and bruises have been healing for quite some time-"

"-which lead us to think that our unsub hasn't had contact with Miss Mills for a while," The detective continues without missing a beat.

"Has she described him, or talked about him at all?" Emma hopefully asks, but it is quickly shot down by a shake of the head from Detective.

"Nope. She said that she never saw his face, and that she didn't recognize his voice."

"Crap." Emma's anger is boiling inside her, and she feels the almost overpowering need to drown her sorrows in a single malt.

"You'll be able to take her home very soon," Jamie says, trying to lighten up the mood. It works, and it has Emma smiling slightly. Oh, Henry's gonna be over the moon when he learns that he gets to have his mom back.

Before Regina disappeared, she used to be one kick ass criminal attorney. She would spend her vacation and her sons' school breaks in the small town of Storybrooke, but they mainly lived in DC.

Regina's constant traveling back-and-forth dug a hole -more like a freaking canyon- between her and Henry, which pushed him to seek out his biological mother. Emma gladly accepted to be back in his life, as it was not exactly her decision to give him up. Her situation was a whole new level of shitty back then and she couldn't take care of him. That's about when she met Regina Mills, frigid lawyer and arrogant mayor. They immediately clashed. Their personalities were so different, so it was all too normal. Hate quickly developed between the two, as they fought for the love of the same child.

Then, Regina was taken, and through some legal shit she still cannot explain, she got custody of Henry. That was probably the best day of her life, even though her son lost his mother. Henry was as happy as her, though. Again, he wasn't his mother's number one fan. He used to hate her with a burning passion, and he tried with all his might to piss her off at all times.

But as the time passed and the hatred faded, they started feeling worse and worse. Henry missed Regina dearly. He noticed that Emma wasn't as experienced at being a mom as Regina was -she did raise him the best she could for 8 years.

He missed that Regina knew what he liked and what he hated by heart, while Emma still bought Cheerios for breakfast and didn't cut the crusts off his toast.

They may seem little and insignificant, but those things made him understand that his mom is irreplaceable. With some time, he admitted to Emma that Regina always managed to make time for Henry through her hectic schedule, and it was him who didn't want to spend it with her, because he was a "spoiled brat" back then -his words, by the way.

He also told Emma that he would do anything to get his mom back, even though he has her, and that she shouldn't take it as an offense- he still loves her, but he really wants his mom.

Emma understood, even if she still has bouts of jealousy now and then. She knew that she would never be able to be Henry's mom, like Regina was. She'll always be his Ma, which is a nickname for Emma, nothing more, and that made her bitter.

She really wants to be everything that child wants and deserves. But she simply doesn't have the experience, or the knowledge. He wanted something she wasn't- a mom. He wanted his mom.

And now he's gonna have her back.

With a pinch of jealousy and bitterness, Emma thinks that Henry's gonna be overjoyed, and that he'll probably forget about her now that he has his real mom back. But the same voice that has been voicing the reasonable side of her intervenes again, with a 'he loves you and you know that. He's still gonna need you in his life.'

Emma thanks reasonable her, and tunes back into reality to find Jamie deep in conversation with the detective.

"Maybe a surveillance detail-"

"What?" Emma asks, praying that she's heard wrong. "I was lost in thought, what are you guys talking about?"

"Well, we were thinking that since the kidnapper doesn't know that Regina's been found yet, we can put a surveillance detail on the cabin, in case he comes back. You will also have one, when she's out of the hospital," the detective explains, and Emma finds herself nodding. Then, why's everyone so convinced that I'll take Regina home and stay with her?

'Because everyone has seen how you sat next to her and stroked her hair you idiot. They think you're a couple.' Crap, the voice of reason was right. Now that she's looking at Jamie and the cop, she realizes that they do look like they think they're a couple.

"You do need to know a couple of things before you take her home," Jamie cuts in, and Emma has to hold back a sigh. More responsibilities. Great.

"Her liver is giving us trouble, but not to the point where she would need dialysis. She'll need to take a pill that should do the job. If it doesn't, we'll look at other options. I cannot do anything about her knee, which has been irreparably damaged. I'm afraid she's going to need a cane, or some kind of support, but she'll be able to walk again very soon. Her eyesight is damaged, and she's going to need glasses," Jamie said at last. "It may seem like a lot, but she's one hell of a fighter. She's been refusing any kind of painkillers. I don't know if that's a good thing, though."

Emma smiles knowingly because, hell yeah, this is the Regina she knows. But then, she frowns, and she knows that she's going to need to convince Regina to take those pills. Wait- is she even going to allow me to stay at the mansion to take care of her? Since when do I even want to take care of Regina?

'Since she is Henry's mother, and there's no one else to take care of her.'

Crap, stop it, voice of reason. It's annoying.

Emma was genuinely dreading Regina's coming back home. With all the things that happened over the past few years, she had completely forgotten that she used to hate Regina. You can't really hate a dead person. That would be like... a real dick move. And Emma isn't a dick.

During those years Regina was dead, missing, whatever, she convinced herself that Regina was actually a good person, a little bit misunderstood, maybe -which she was definitely not. At least not to Emma. Or anyone else to Emma's knowledge, except Henry of course. She's never seen someone as frigid and cruel as Regina Mills.

Emma smiles nonetheless, and nods. "Anything else?"

Jamie's eyes light up, and it's so adorable that Emma is convinced that she's doing the right thing.

Jamie loops their arms together and smiles. "Let's go get some coffee."

Hope you liked it! Leave a review if you did :)