"Why don't you have any scars?" Emma asked one night.
"Am I supposed to?" Regina countered. "And where did this random train of thought come from?"
"You've been telling me stories about what your mother did to you," Emma explained. "It just surprises me that you don't have any scars on you from it."
Regina stiffened. Leave it to Emma to notice the little detail that she had been hoping to avoid. "She didn't leave any scars," she said tightly.
"You sure?" Emma asked. She was looking at Regina in a knowing way.
"Drop it," Regina warned. "This is not something that I want to talk about."
"You told me about what she did though," Emma pointed out, confused. "Why would telling me this be any different?"
Regina sighed before getting out of bed. She hated confrontation. "It just is," she said. She put on a robe before leaving the room.
Emma groaned before smacking herself in the face. "Stupid," she mumbled. "Pushing her gets you nowhere. Should know that by now."
Regina sat in her study, looking into the fire. She wanted to tell Emma the truth, she really did. But if she did that, it would be opening up a subject that she really didn't want to go into.
"Regina?" Emma called softly. Regina turned to look at her before smiling slightly.
"I'm sorry for leaving the room," she apologized. "But you know how much that I hate confrontation."
"I do," Emma agreed. "But you need to know that I want to know everything about you. Even if you think that it makes you look bad."
"This isn't about me looking bad," Regina said.
"Then what is it?" Emma asked. She sat next to Regina and intertwined their fingers. Regina immediately relaxed.
"Not all of the scars are from my mother," Regina said softly.
Emma's eyes widened. "Show me," she commanded.
Regina hesitated. She took a deep breath before using her magic to reveal all of her scars. Emma gasped as Regina's body lit up like a Christmas tree. Most of the scars were on her back, implying that Regina had been whipped.
Then Emma looked at Regina wrists and inner thighs. Reaching out tentatively, Emma lightly ran her fingers over Regina's wrist. Regina sucked in a sharp breath and went to pull away, but Emma quickly wrapped her fingers around Regina's wrist.
"Don't pull away," Emma pleaded. Regina hesitated before nodding. Emma slowly released her wrist, and smiled when Regina didn't run away.
"I'd like an explanation," Emma said. "Where did each of these come from?"
"The ones on my back are from my mother," Regina started. "It was the easiest way to punish me. And easy to cover up."
Emma's gaze hardened. There were times that she wished that she could go back in time and just kill Cora. It would have put a lot of people out of their misery. "What about the ones on your inner thighs?" she asked.
Regina wrapped her arms around herself, a dark look flashing in her eyes. "Leopold," she whispered. "When I wouldn't comply with his wishes."
"Oh Regina," Emma said sadly. She reached out and lightly tugged on Regina's arms until Regina put them down. Emma quickly pulled her close.
Regina sighed in content before deciding to show Emma her next scar. She freed one of her arms and turned it over so Emma could see her wrist. "These are from me," she whispered.
Emma's arms tightened around her. "What do you mean, those are from you?"
"I mean that I'm the one that put those scars there," Regina said. She moved from Emma's embrace and showed Emma both of her arms, which had several scars running from her wrist to her elbow.
"You did this?" Emma gasped.
Regina nodded. "Sometimes you reach the end of your rope. And you're ready to give up." Emma's lips crashed into hers, cutting off whatever Regina had planned to continue saying.
"You don't do this anymore, do you?" Emma asked.
Regina cleared her throat and awkwardly looked away. "Regina!" Emma exclaimed.
"I can't help it!" Regina said. "Sometimes it helps to ground me."
"No more," Emma said strongly. "If you feel like this ever again, you talk to me. No more hurting yourself and then covering it up. Promise?"
"Emma I-"
"Promise," Emma interrupted. "Promise that you'll talk to me."
Regina sighed. "I promise."
Emma was having a boring day at work when her phone rang. It was Henry. "Hey kid, what's up?"
"Mom told me to call you," Henry said. Emma frowned at the worry lacing his voice.
"Is she okay?" Emma asked.
"I don't know," Henry replied. "She was cooking breakfast, and then I started asking questions about the Enchanted Forest and she got this really dark look on her face and told me to call you."
"Okay," Emma said. She understood what was happening now. "Just sit tight okay?"
"Sure ma," Henry said. "Just hurry."
"Where is she?" Emma asked. Henry pointed towards their bedroom before heading into the living room to finish his homework.
"Regina?" Emma called, opening the door. "Are you okay?"
"No," Regina said. She was sitting on the bed, arms wrapped around her legs.
"What happened?" Emma asked.
"Henry asked about marriage in the Enchanted Forest," Regina said softly. "It just brought back a lot of...stuff."
Emma nodded in understanding before joining Regina on the bed. She held her arms open, and Regina leaned into the embrace.
"What do you want me to do?" Emma asked.
"Tell me," Regina said.
Emma nodded. "Tell me" was their way of requesting comfort from the other without having to actually ask for it.
"You're so loved," Emma said. "You're no longer the Evil Queen. Henry loves you, and even Snow and David love you. People are starting to think of you more as Regina, and have respect for you. But most importantly, I love you. So much."
Regina smiled before sighing contentedly. "I love you too," she replied.
I feel like these chapters keep getting longer. Is that okay, or should I try to get them back to their shortness? And does anyone have anything that they'd like me to write? Basically, review! :)