Today and tomorrow's chapters are prewritten because I'm starting my new job and will be training. I'll get back to prompts on Friday!
Emma ran down the alley, Cleo following close behind her. They had started out as captor and prisoner, but now she was actually helping Emma escape. Hearing a grunt and moan behind her, Emma stopped and turned around, seeing Cleo leaning up against the wall, clutching her stomach. She pulled her hand away, and Emma's eyes widened as she saw blood.
"What?" Emma asked, still panting from their run. "I didn't know you were shot."
"It's not a shot," Cleo said breathlessly, turning to face Emma as she slid towards the ground. She moaned as she turned her body.
"Glass," Emma said, kneeling down in front of her. "I'm so sorry, I, I didn't." She looked up hopefully as the sound of sirens got closer. "An ambulance," she said, turning back to Cleo. "You're gonna be okay, you're gonna be fine."
"That's not an ambulance," Cleo said. "That's cops, don't get caught here." She took a deep breath as pain wracked through her body.
"They'll be able to help you," Emma said, reaching out to hold her up. "And I'll call your family. And your little girl. I saw the picture."
Cleo looked at her sadly, her breathing still labored. "She has no idea who I am."
Emma looked at her in disbelief. "What?"
"I look that 10 years ago from across the street," Cleo said.
"You gave her up," Emma said. "Just like I was."
"You're holding on too tight," Cleo said quietly. "Emma, let go. Let go." And with that, she slumped lifelessly in Emma's arms.
Emma gasped as her eyes snapped open. She hadn't thought about Cleo in years, or her death for that matter.
Taking a deep breath, Emma slowly slid out of bed, glancing over to make sure that she hadn't woken up Regina. She looked down at her hands and winced at how badly they were shaking.
Feeling bile begin to rise up in her throat, Emma quickly walked into the bathroom and shut the door before throwing up in the toilet. Curse her nightmares and their effect on her.
"Emma?" Regina called. Emma mentally cursed. Of course Regina would wake up the second that Emma left the bed. She quickly reached forward and flushed the toilet before standing up and making her way to the sink.
Regina hesitantly opened the door. "What are you doing?"
"I just had to pee," Emma said. "Sorry for waking you up."
"You sure that's all it was?" Regina asked knowingly.
Emma grabbed a towel to wipe off her hands and keep them from shaking. "Yeah, I'm good. Just woke up and really had to pee. Let's go back to bed."
Regina reached out and grabbed Emma's arm as she went to walk past. "Emma-"
"I'm fine," Emma said. "Don't worry about it." She pulled out of Regina's grasp before crawling back into bed.
Regina sighed. She had hit "The Wall". She had Emma had jokingly named their abilities to shut down "The Wall". And yet every time one of them encountered the others, it was always painful. But they had an agreement. Unless things got out of hand, neither one of them would push. Too much.
Tonight, Regina decided to just let it go. Pushing Emma tonight would get her nowhere, and would break their deal of not pushing unless things got out of hand. No, she wouldn't push. For now.
Emma and David stood outside of the sheriff's station drinking coffee, both of them mentally beating themselves up for forgetting their keys.
"How badly do you think Regina and Snow will make fun of us if we ask for help?" David asked.
Emma pursed her lips in thought. "We'd be made fun of big time."
David nodded. "That's what I thought. So what do we do?"
"I could run home and grab my key," Emma suggested.
"That'll take too long," David said. "We have to get to the woods ASAP. Pongo decided to go for a little morning jog. Without Archie."
Emma laughed. "That dog runs away more than I do."
David joined in her laughter. "I was just thinking of breaking in."
"The sheriff is breaking into his own station," Emma said. "How ironic."
David just smiled before using the end of his jacket to cover his hand and punching one of the windows.
Emma gasped at the sound of breaking glass. Breaking glass. Cleo. Poor Cleo, who died because Emma had been so determined to break into a government building.
"Emma?" David asked, watching as Emma started shaking. "Is everything okay?"
Emma whimpered before sinking slowly to the ground. "I'm so sorry Cleo. I didn't know that you were going to die. It's all my fault."
David's eyes widened before he quickly pulled out his phone. Regina needed to get here. Right now.
"What's going on?" Regina asked, walking quickly towards where David stood.
"I don't know," David admitted. "We both forgot our keys, so I punched through the window to get into the station. Next thing I knew, Emma was on the ground."
"Anything else?" Regina asked, starting to walk towards Emma.
"She keeps talking about someone named Cleo," David said. "I have no idea who that is."
"Neither do I," Regina said. "But I have a feeling I'm about to." She turned away from David and walked over to where Emma was sitting on the ground. Regina's heart broke at the sight of Emma sitting there, looking terrified and defeated.
Approaching slowly, Regina lowered herself to Emma's level before gently reaching out to grab her hand. "Emma?"
Emma tensed at the sound of Regina's voice. "Cleo. I'm so sorry. You never got to meet your little girl. And it's all my fault."
"I'm not Cleo," Regina said gently. "Come back to the present."
Emma blinked her eyes a few times, snapping out of her trance. "Regina?"
Regina smiled. "Hi there. What was going on in that head of yours?"
"A memory," Emma said. "The breaking glass must have triggered it."
"Does this have anything to do with the nightmare from last night?" Regina asked.
"What nightmare?" Emma asked, avoiding Regina's gaze.
Regina reached out and grabbed Emma's chin, forcing green eyes to meet brown ones. "Did you really think that by now I haven't figured out what the signs are after you've had a nightmare?"
"Touché," Emma mumbled.
"So what's going on?" Regina asked. "And who's Cleo?"
Emma sighed. "I was wanted and Cleo was my bail bondswoman. I ran away from her, and broke into a government building to try to get records on my past. The cops surrounded the place, so Cleo broke a window and jumped through. Somehow, she got stabbed by a piece of glass. She ended up dying in my arms in an alley. I had no choice but to leave her there as I ran."
"That's awful," Regina whispered. "I'm sorry that happened to you."
"She even had a little girl that she'd never even met," Emma said. "A little girl who was given up, just like me. And I was the reason that her mother died."
"No you're not," Regina said. "You're not responsible for her getting impaled with a piece of glass."
"But I left her in an alley," Emma said. "How could I have just left her there?"
"She was already gone," Regina said. "There was nothing that you could have done."
Emma shook her head as tears began to gather in her eyes. Regina reached out and pulled her in for a hug. "Let 'The Wall' come down," she said. "Just let it come down. I'll be right here."