Another chapter from Season 6!

As Emma crouched out of sight, she thought not for the first time that using Regina as bait probably wasn't a good idea. Then again, she was the one most likely to lure Hyde out of the building.

Regina marched right out into the open, dragging Jekyll behind her. As she began her speech, Emma sat in awe. Regina really could pull off both sides: the Evil Queen and Regina.

And then things took a turn for the worse. Hyde saw right through what Regina was trying to do, and moved closer to her. Emma got ready to fire at him, but then she saw Hyde's hand close around Regina's throat.

She distantly registered someone calling out to her, but all she could focus on was how Regina could die. The terror made her freeze, and her hands started shaking uncontrollably.

Emma shook her head and cleared her thoughts, realizing that the voice shouting her name was Regina herself. She fired the lightning bolts at Hyde, launching him into the windshield of a car.

Regina collapsed to the ground, coughing and gasping for air. Emma dropped the weapon she was holding and ran over to where Regina was, kneeling down and grabbing her arm.

"Are you okay?" Emma asked.

"I could ask you the same question," Regina countered, rubbing her throat. "You hesitated."

"I'm sorry," Emma said. "I-"

"Can you two talk about this later?" David asked. "Right now we need to get Hyde out of here."

"Right," Emma said, standing up and offering a hand to Regina. "Let's take care of the bad guy first. That's what we do best."

Once Hyde had been safely locked away, everyone broke apart to go home. They had all had enough excitement for one day.

"We need to talk," Regina said, following Emma to her bug.

"About what?" Emma asked, feigning innocence. She had been hoping to escape talking about what had happened earlier. After all, it had been her fault that Regina had almost choked to death.

"Stop that," Regina said. "I can practically see you blaming yourself from here."

Emma smiled. "Sorry."

"So what happened today?" Regina asked.

"I don't know," Emma mumbled. "I just froze."

"You just froze," Regina said slowly. "That's the best that you can do? I must say, I'm not that impressed."

Emma sighed and leaned up against the bug. "I was going to do everything according to plan. And then I saw him choking you, and I just froze. I know, it was bad timing, but I just saw him killing you and it scared me so badly because I can't lose you and-"

Regina lips crashing into hers stopped her from continuing. "You can stop rambling now."

Emma laughed. "Thank you for stopping my rambling."

Regina smiled and went to walk away, but Emma's tight grip on her arm stopped her. Regina looked at her in confusion, but her confusion quickly turned to concern when she saw how pale that Emma was.

"What's wrong?" Regina asked.

Emma reached out and lightly touched Regina's neck, which had several small bruises on it from Hyde's fingers.

Regina winced at her touch; the skin was still sensitive after all, before smiling. "Don't worry about it. It'll heal."

"He could have killed you," Emma whispered. "And it would have been all my fault."

Regina pulled her arm out of Emma's grasp before pulling her in for a hug. "I'm right here. No matter what happens, I'll always be right here."

"But it would have been my fault if you had died today," Emma mumbled.

Regina squeezed her gently. "I know. But I didn't. And that's just going to have to do for now. We'll work through everything else. We always do."

"We do," Emma agreed. "I love you."

Regina smiled. "I love you too."