This has been a roller coaster to write. If you got lost along the way message me and I can help clarify. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the final chapter.
"Hey Regina, you have a patient in exam room 5. Here's the chart." The older white haired nurse hands Regina the chart and quickly disappears, focused on other patients and moving along the daily chaos.
Regina grabs the chart and glances at the patient's initial examination vitals and notes made by the older woman. Child, sports contact injury to the head that caused an abrasion and wound that needs sutures. All vitals are normal as they should be for a healthy child. There is no medical history recorded, however. Regina questions that. Most people with no medical history are those who do not know their parents. Regina's heart aches at the thought that this kid's parents are not in the picture.
Regina sets down the patient's file and checks her watch. It is still early in the morning. How the hell did this kid get a sports injury? It was a doctor's job to also question the story the patient gave. Perhaps P.E. at school?
Regina sighs and knocks on the door to the exam room and walks in. She does not directly make any eye contact with anyone at first. Instead she pulls out a pair of small latex gloves and turns around. "Hi I'm Dr. Regina Mills…" That is when Regina notices the familiar tall brunette woman in the room.
"Ruby? What are you doing here? Is this your son? I had no idea you had a son. Why wasn't I paged sooner?" Regina's facial expression is that of a concerned friend, co-worker, and doctor.
"Hey, sorry. I didn't want to cause too much attention. We were fine waiting, honestly. Regina, please meet Henry. He's not my son. I am his legal guardian." The young brunette boy smiles up at the doctor.
"Are you going to give me stitches? I've never had them before."
Regina blinks a few times trying to focus on the young boy. So it is true. In a sense he is an orphan.
"Oh, well, I will numb your head so it doesn't hurt." Regina starts to prep a tray table with supplies to stitch up the young boy. Regina had no idea that Ruby was a guardian. This explained a lot. The young intern had changed a lot since she worked in the hospital.
"Alright Henry, this shouldn't take too long, but you have to be still. I am going to go ahead and numb the area. It may cause some discomfort but will stop hurting within a few seconds. Ruby, is he allergic to anything before I proceed?"
"Regina, I don't know. He's never been hurt before so I don't know if any medications will affect him. It's times like this that I wish… Never mind."
"Ruby? You wish what?"
"It isn't relevant. I just have no way of knowing if he is allergic to anything. I think it is okay to go ahead. How else will we learn if he is allergic, right?"
"Well, at least we are in a hospital in case something does go wrong."
Regina numbs the young baseball player's forehead. "So Henry, tell me about how you got your injury?"
"I was in P.E." Regina smiles, she is pleased with herself for figuring that out. "…and I couldn't see the ball in the sky when I was playing in left field. The sun was too bright and it hit me."
"Sounds painful. But you're okay now, right? So Henry, tell me what else you like?" Regina is doing her best to distract him to keep his mind of what she is doing.
"Well there isn't much to tell. I love baseball. I like to read."
"What do you like to read?"
"The classics. Like White Fang, Call of the Wild, 1000 Leagues Under the Sea, Tuck Everlasting, and Moby Dick. When I was little my mom and I would read a lot together before bed. Her favorite was Tuck Everlasting."
"That's a good book. I remember reading it when I was a young girl. Your mom sounded really awesome!"
Regina listens carefully as Henry speaks. "She was. She was my best friend. I miss her so much." Regina hears the slight whimper in the tone of his voice.
"What was she like Henry?" Regina is working on her next to last suture.
"She had this long wavy blonde hair. I can still remember the way it would fly around on windy days. It was beautiful. She was funny, too. My mom was the worst cook on the face of the earth. Once she gave me pizza for breakfast that had M&Ms on it."
There is an awkward silence as Regina stares at the young boy in front of her for a few more moments before starting her last suture. "What did she do for a job?"
"She was a sheriff for a long time before we moved to the city. She got a promotion."
Regina cuts the ugly black thread and stands up before picking up his file once more. She missed something. Her eyes scan over his name again.
"Swan, Henry"
Regina's eyes dart off to the chair next to her where his winter pea coat and scarf lie. The scarf is red and navy stripe just like the one she gave Emma's Henry. Her mind is racing….this is not happening. Is it? Off in the corner an awkward cough brings Regina out of her daze, "Regina, I think we need to talk in the hallway."
Once the door to the exam room is shut Regina turns to face Ruby. "Regina, I…. I, my best friend died two years ago today. She was in a tragic accident by the courtyard on Longwood. She didn't look both ways before crossing the street. She was in a hurry to see someone. She didn't think. There was a doctor that tried to save her, but there were too many injuries. She, she passed at the scene of the accident. Regina, you know who that doctor was. I know that this is hard. I was given custody of Henry afterwards. She had no other kin…. Regina are you listening to me?"
You know in the movies when the protagonist gets tunnel vision and everything blurs and you can hear the voice of the person trying to talk to them off in the distance? That is exactly what was happening. Regina stops listening at the point of there was an accident by the courtyard on Longwood. Regina remembers that day. This morning when she woke up and looked in the mirror one of the first things she thought about was the woman that died in her arms two years ago on Valentine's Day. That was one of the worst days of her career. Of course she had lost countless people since then, but none like the blonde woman.
"Regina? Regina? Regina? Please look at me?"
Regina blinks a few times before finally focusing on Ruby.
"Regina, my friend was looking for someone named Regina that day. I never told you that I knew. Just hours before I was with her grabbing coffee before my first shift she said, "Ruby, I know where she is." I asked who and she said, "Regina, the woman I told you about. She wrote me a letter that said she lost a patient."
"Ruby, I know where she is." Emma turned to face her friend, slack jawed. Ruby looked at Emma confused, "Who Emma?"
"Regina, the woman I told you about. She wrote me a letter that said she lost a patient." Emma turned to look around and noticed all of the people pulling off their jackets from the sun beating down on them. "She was traumatized by it and took the day off and came to the lake house and she wrote me letters that day. She said that she was eating lunch somewhere and that this woman died in her arms. I need to go find this letter Ruby. I need to find her. I can finally have her for real!"
"Go get her killer. Did I not tell you to find her a little while ago? But you were like, 'no it's not that easy,' bullshit. I am glad to see that you have come to your senses and are finally going to get your woman!"
"I have to run. If I recall correctly I only have a few short hours to make this happen! Thanks for getting coffee with me so early! You're the best friend a girl could ask for!"
"Yeah, yeah, stop flattering me. Go run off a few donuts for your woman now. I will catch up with you later. I can't wait to hear about all the hot sex you are going to have. Just ring me if you need me to come babysit Henry! Seriously love that kid."
"She did tell me about you. Though she never mentioned your name until that day. She was madly in love with you. Captivated. Lost in love with you. She was gone before I knew it to the lake house to find a letter. Later that afternoon…well, I connected the dots that you were one in the same Regina that we both knew. I selfishly never told you that I knew Emma, too. I just hurt so badly and at the end of the day she died because of you and because she loved you so much that she couldn't wait. She was stupid and didn't look both ways and now she's gone forever. I lost my best friend and so did Henry. I'm sorry Regina."
Regina's face is emotionless as she continues to talk and a sob rips from Regina's throat. Regina falls forward, body shaking, as sobs echo from her chest as she soaks in the new revelations brought to light. "Noooo. Nooo. She's not gone." She weeps. "She can't be. I was waiting for her. I am waiting for her. Ruby no." Regina is on the floor coming unglued right in front of the other brunette. "She wasn't supposed to die." Then it hits Regina. She wipes her face clean and stands up abruptly…Henry. She thinks, 'oh Henry.' He is without his mother and, yes, in a sense that is her fault.
"Can I please have some time with him alone?" Ruby nods and Regina walks back into the exam room. The kid is patiently pretending he isn't thrown off by hearing his doctor crying. His face is so expressive and transparent in this moment.
Regina smiles and looks at the brown eyed boy more closely than before. "Henry can you sit up please and face me?" The young boy follows her instructions. Regina rolls her chair in front of him and grabs his items off the nearby chair.
"Is something wrong?"
Regina smiles. "No sweetheart." She bites her bottom lip as she clutches his scarf.
"Henry do you remember who gave you this scarf?"
"Yes. It was a gift."
"From who?"
"Regina."
"Who was she?"
"She was someone my mom wrote to all the time. Occasionally I did as well. She was nice. My mom loved her. I could tell. She would get so happy over her letters. But one day Regina stopped writing. Mom said that she was in Antarctica doing research and it was impossible for her to send us letters anymore."
Regina bites her bottom lip as she absorbed every word the kid in front of her said. She studies his mannerisms, how the light catches his brown eyes, or how his lips upturn as he speaks.
"Henry what did I tell you my name was?" The boy's mouth falls open as he gasps. His eyes instantly fill with tears. He gulps and responds, "Regina?"
She nods. "Yes."
They stare at each other for a few fleeting moments.
Henry soaks up the brunette woman's appearance and the warmth in her eyes. Those chocolate orbs that express so much.
The older brunette is equally as captivated with the young boy in front of her.
"Can I hug you?" Henry asks.
Regina leans forward and warmly embraces Henry. He sinks into her touch as she rocks him side to side.
"What took you so long to find me?"
Regina frowns, "Honey, I wish I could have found you and Emma sooner."
"She missed you so much. When stopped writing she was so sad. She made us leave the lake house."
"Don't be mad at your mother Henry she thought she was doing the right thing." Did she though? The answer is yes. She had to leave the lake house in order for the timeline to move forward correctly. If Emma did not leave Regina would not have moved in. They then would have never exchanged letters and or have known each other. Then again, Regina realized, she would be alive right now if they never spoke.
"I wish mom was here so we could finally be a family. That was what we were going to be right?"
"I'd like to think so." Regina and Henry sit in silence again as he sinks into her warmth. Regina starts to think about what Ruby told her about that day. She said Emma went to look for a letter, which meant she was heading to the lake house.
Regina finally realizes that there still might be a chance she can prevent all of this from happening. She leans forward and kisses Henry's forehead. "I have to go Henry I'm going to fix this so we both can have that family we want!" The boy only looks at her in confusion.
Regina is halfway down the highway when the tears hit her again. She never knew the woman in her arms that day was the love of her life. It is too painful. She can still remember the blood. The disfiguring wounds. She thinks back to the blood. There were pools of it. The woman's, Emma's, blonde hair was soaked in it. But Regina never forgot those green eyes that locked on to her own. Back then when this first happened Regina hated that she was the last person she ever saw. Now, if she could not find a way to fix this, at least she knew that she got to hold Emma in those final moments while she took those last fleeting breaths. The very last person Emma ever saw was her. She died in the arms of the woman she loved.
Regina sobs as she drives as fast as she can, zipping past every car that. It starts to rain outside. The roads became increasingly more dangerous with the speed of her car. One wrong jerk of the wheel could be deadly.
Emma ran to her bug parallel parked on Huntington Ave. She jumped in, putting the key in the ignition as she sped to the city exits for the Cape. There was traffic for early morning commuters trying to make their way to work.
Emma kept honking her horn at all the cars in front of her. She knew that they could not move, but it was the fact that she felt like she was doing something by hitting hard on the horn.
"Come on, move it!" She yelled as her fist collided once more with the horn of her car bruising the side of her hand. It was so hot outside. The sun was beating down on her windshield, blinding her. She put her aviators on and started to whip her small yellow car through traffic once she was on the interstate.
The radio was on while she was melting in traffic, "It's a hot day in the city today. Highs reaching an all-time record for Boston." Emma changed the station with the small dial…static..rap…country.. static…Spanish…throwbacks. Emma stopped fiddling with the dial satisfied with some good old 90s hits.
It dawned on Emma that she never called the station before leaving Boston. She made swift motions to pull out her phone, "Hey Chief! Sorry for the short notice, but I have something that needs my immediate attention and I won't be able to make my shift. I apologize." She hung up the phone and focused on getting to the lake house as fast as possible.
Regina's windshield wipers are moving at their highest level as she turns down all the main streets as she makes her way to the lake house. She is still hysterical. How could she not be? The love of her life is gone and has been for two years. She never came to their date because Emma died before. She never stood her up. How could she be so stupid to think that this person would ever do that to her? She was so cruel for letting her go and not returning her letters. If only she had written Emma back she would not have been so desperate to see her. This is all her fault. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
The Mercedes makes its way down the long road that leads up to the front of the lake house. She pulls up and throws open her door and immediately jumps out. She flips open the mailbox flap and shoves a letter inside. The red flag is up in the air. Oh god, she hopes that Emma in her time is still here.
Regina stands waiting in her red pea coat clutching to the mailbox sobbing and trying to catch her breath.
Emma parked the car outside of the lake house running in past the dog tracks. She unlocked the now vacant home that was collecting dust. Once inside she headed straight for her attic. Pulling the long string to click on the attic light she saw the box just off to the side and pulled it down.
In a matter of mere minutes she had letters scattered about the floor as she sorted through them. She focused on the dates. Regina always dated the letters in the top right hand corner.
Emma's eyes were scanning each aged piece of paper finally stopping on the correct one.
Regina and she had just started exchanging letters. Emma was so skeptical of the woman's allegations then. For Christ sakes the forwarding address came across to be a fake at first. The apartment complex had yet to even be built. Regina had told her that she lost a patient one day while eating lunch with her mother at Harvard Medical.
Emma smiled. She knew exactly where she was. Ruby must work at the same hospital. They often got lunch there together, but recently it was too cold. You know, seeing as it was winter, unlike today's freakish heatwave.
Emma stood and closed the front door behind her as she jogged to her car. She jumped into her Bug and pulled away quickly from the lake house. She passed the mailbox on her way out. She smiled at it and drove forward, her tires ripped loudly in the dirt as she roared her engine and gassed the foot pedals.
Emma was standing far off in the distance from the courtyard that Ruby and she frequently visited for her lunch breaks together. There she was. Regina. Her Regina. Her beautiful brunette that she had ached to be with for so long. Regina was sitting with her mother. They were chatting. Emma wished she had supersonic hearing in that moment to hear the other woman's melodic voice. Instead she heard a street goer.
"What's with this damn weather?"
The person walking with them replied, "It's global warming, Franky."
Emma was annoyed at the two men walking by talking loudly distracting her thought process as she gazed at the beautiful woman across the street. Regina was no longer separated by time, only distance. Just a short distance that could easily be closed in on. Emma began to walk towards Regina from across the street when she hears the squeaking brakes of a bus and a horn.
Clutched in Emma's hand was a letter that read, "Please don't look for me, don't try to find me, don't run to me, don't you understand? Please. You have to wait. You must. Please. If you love me- and I do love you. I do. It has taken me too long to admit it, but Emma I do love you—wait for me? You have to. We will find each other someday. I am still waiting and always will wait for you. You are the love of my life and I will never stop. Wait Emma. Just wait."
Regina is still waiting at the mailbox waiting, weeping, hoping she isn't too late. Long, bitter moments pass and the rain continues to drench her. Emma is gone. She is just going to have to finally accept the harsh reality that the woman she so desperately wanted to have wrapped in her arms is gone forever.
Finally, the hope is harboring deep within herself is gone. It was gone because Emma is gone. She is actually gone forever. She died in her arms two years ago. Regina starts to slowly get up from the grassy gravel that she is leaning against and very slowly gets to her feet. She looks out over the lake house and the marvelous view of the lake itself. She looks back to the mailbox and then she notices that the flag is down on the mailbox. Regina is stunned and slowly reaches and pulls open the mailbox and almost can't bare to look inside, but does and finds that it is empty. Her letter is gone.
Emma is standing in the road straining to see Regina as she takes a second step back on to the curb to safety. She was safe. She was alarmed by a horn on an ongoing bus and the squeaking of the brakes
that caused Emma to jump back moments ago to the curb.
Across the street, Regina saw a bus swerve and honk a horn at a pedestrian with squeaking brakes. Her mother commented, "They need to grease those brakes. That was terrible. Half of the city is now deaf." They continue their conversation in complete oblivion as to what truly just happened across the street.
The bus is gone now and Emma clutches Regina's letter, she looked down and read again, "You are the love of my life and I will never stop. Wait Emma. Just wait." She looked back to Regina who checked her watch. Emma watched as she hugged her mother goodbye and headed in the direction of one of the same building Ruby often went into for work. Emma wanted desperately to step off the curb again and run to her, but she refrained. She folded the letter and put it in her back pocket and slowly turned and left.
Regina is looking into the mailbox, face soaked from tears and rain.
A hand reaches around her waist from behind and she hears, "I love you too."
Regina gasps and turns slowly in the arms of Emma. She is two years older, but mostly looks the same. Emma hands her the worn letter that she just sent to her. Emma's hands made contact with Regina's face as she wipes away the tear tracks on the other woman's face. She is shell shocked. Emma coyly asks, "Regina, don't you think we have waited long enough? Kiss me? Please?"
Regina steps forward trying to convince herself that this is real. Plump lipstick covered lips met thin pale pink ones in a long passionate kiss. Emma wraps her arms around the tiny frame of the other woman. Their tongues dance around dipping into one another's as the kiss deepens. "I hope to never be without you ever again." Emma says. Regina nuzzles into the taller woman. "Don't worry dear, I never plan to let you go again. We can finally have what we've always secretly wanted."
"And what is that?"
Regina smiles, "To be a family together. You and I. And Henry."
Emma pulls the woman closer in her arms. "I thought this day would never come. I could die happy."
Regina pulls back, "Don't ever joke about that again!" If Emma only knew what really happened. "I love you, Emma."
Emma smiles, "I love you too."
Emma takes Regina's hand and they turn and go inside the lake house for the first time together. Finally, both of their paths have crossed at the right time in the right place.