Regina paced back and forth, checking the clock over and over again. Emma had said that she would be home by 10, but she had yet to enter the mansion and it was 11:30.

Henry had wanted to stay up and wait with Regina, but she had sent him to bed at 10:30. No reason for him to stay up and worry when he could be sleeping instead. Besides, he had school the next day.

Sighing, Regina grabbed her coat. If Emma wasn't going to come home, then she was just going to have to go to her. She'd be leaving Henry at home alone, but he was sleeping anyway.

Before Regina could even finish buttoning her coat, the front door opened and a very tired looking Emma walked into the house.

Regina quickly unbuttoned her coat and hung it up before walking quickly over to Emma and hugging her tightly. "Thank goodness you're home. I thought that something bad had happened to you."

Emma bit her lip to keep from crying out in pain. "Nope, I'm fine. Just got caught up in the major workload, that's all. David left a lot of stuff for me to get done during my shift."

Regina pulled away and looked at her in confusion. "I thought David was working with you tonight."

"He was," Emma said. "But he always leaves me the paperwork to do while he gets other stuff done."

"Oh," Regina said. She studied Emma closely. "Are you sure you're okay? You tensed when I hugged you."

"I'm fine," Emma lied. "Just really cold. I could use a hot bath."

"Okay," Regina said skeptically. "I'll go get that ready. Take off your coat and shoes and come upstairs."

"You don't need to do that," Emma said. "Why don't you go to bed? It's pretty late."

Regina shrugged. "I don't mind. Now take off your winter things while I get that bath ready." Before Emma could protest further, Regina was already on her way upstairs.

Emma sighed before taking off her boots and delicately taking off her coat. She sighed in relief at not seeing any blood on the outside of her shirt. Granted, she had one at the station that was going to need to be washed or thrown away, but Regina didn't need to know that.

The truth was that Emma and David had gotten a panicked call from Granny that Gold had walked in, drunk, and had started threatening people. Belle had tried to calm him down, but he had just tossed her aside.

When Emma and David had gotten there, weapons drawn, that seemed to only enrage Gold further. His magic wasn't working well due to his intoxication, but he still had a temper. He came at them both, fists flying, and a shot was fired. It wasn't until after the fact that everyone realized that Gold had gotten ahold of David's gun and shot Emma.

David had tackled Gold and handcuffed him, with normal and magic cuffs, and taken him to the station. Ruby had quickly taken Emma to the hospital.

Luckily the bullet had only grazed Emma's skin, but it still had hurt. Whale had given her pain meds and patched her up, but now Emma was tasked with hiding the injury from Regina. If she knew, Gold would no longer be in existence.

Climbing the stairs, Emma winced as she got to the top. Even breathing hurt. Being shot, even by a grazing bullet, on your side was not a comfortable place to be shot.

"There you are," Regina said. "Took you long enough to get up here."

Emma smiled before brushing past Regina to enter the bathroom. "Thank you for getting this ready for me. You didn't need to."

"Of course," Regina said. "But I wanted to. Are you sure you're all right? You look a little pale, and like moving is causing you pain."

Emma sighed. "I can't tell you because you'll just freak out."

"You can't tell me that and not expect me to want to know what's going on," Regina said. "Now tell me."

"You have to promise not to leave my sight until we finish this discussion, understand?" Emma asked. "No doing anything impulsively."

"Fine," Regina said, growing impatient. "I promise not to do anything until I've heard your whole story."

Emma nodded in satisfaction. "David and I got a call from Granny that a drunk Gold was getting a little out of hand, so we went to check it out. He attacked David and stole his gun, shooting me in the process."

"He shot you?" Regina asked, her eyes widening. "Where? Did you see a doctor?"

"Calm down," Emma said gently. "It just grazed my side, that's all. Whale patched me up, and that's why I was late getting home. He wanted to make sure everything was okay."

"And is everything okay?" Regina asked.

Emma nodded. "I'm fine. Just sore."

"Good," Regina said. "Now that I've heard your story, I can go kill Gold."

"No," Emma said, grabbing her hand. "You're not going to go kill him. I'm fine, and he isn't worth it. Trust me. I just want to enjoy my bath, and then we can get some sleep."

"Fine," Regina mumbled. Emma smiled before kissing her and closing the bathroom door. Regina sighed and went into their bedroom. She may have told Emma that she wasn't going to kill Gold right now, but she had said nothing about later. Gold was going to pay for what he had done.

Regina looked at her reflection in the mirror, smiling when she saw the protectiveness shining behind her eyes. "And that's a promise."