Author's Note:
I probably should have mentioned this before, but this fic is a canon divergence, which means I have taken some liberties in regards to how the curse broke and kind of made it my own. So take what you know from canon and throw it out the window, because this does not follow what happened on the show. This will become clearer later on, especially in regards to what characters are there and how magic works or doesn't work in this realm, but as I've had some people reference canon in reviews, I figured I should let you guys know my intentions.

CHAPTER FOUR
Admissions

Emma was pretty sure she was starting to get a migraine. Either that or she hadn't drank nearly enough today to counteract the massive hangover she had this morning. In an attempt to rectify that problem, Emma took a large sip of her coffee that she had unceremoniously dumped some Bailey's in not an hour previously, fumbling with her keys in the other hand as she tried to unlock the door to the Sherriff's station. Her phone was being cradled to her ear by her shoulder as she pushed the door open, trying like hell not to get outwardly frustrated at the person on the other line.

"Look, I— No, I… I get that we need to talk, David. It's just—" Emma sighed heavily as she was interrupted once again, tearing her phone from her ear once she had gotten the door open. She really didn't need this right now. Emma heard the muffled sounds of the man's disappointment on the other line over the fact that she had clearly called for other reasons, before she took a deep breath and put the phone back up to her ear.

"—not trying to push you into anything, but your mother and I feel—"

"David!" Emma exclaimed, unable to keep her frustration under wraps any longer as she practically stomped down the narrow hallway. "I get it, okay? I do. But this town is going to hell and back right now, and I'm pretty damn sure that's more important than family bonding time, alright? So can you just put this lifetime movie moment you wanna have on hold for two seconds and just listen to me?"

When Emma walked into the holding area, a quick assessment of the singular cell informed her that Regina was already very much awake and already staring at her expectantly. As that was the very last thing Emma wanted to deal with right now, she quickly crossed the room to open the door to her office.

"What's going on?" David asked, concern coloring his voice by how overwhelmed Emma sounded. "Did something happen?"

Did something—Jesus, how could he not know? Did he and Mary Margaret seriously spend all day in bed, clueless to the outside world? Nice to know where there priorities lied.

Emma closed the door to her office behind her, exhaling an impatient sigh before flopping down in her desk chair. "Well if you wanna consider getting attacked by Scar – in lion form, no less – and then spending the rest of the day trying to make sure that no giants or griffons or whatever the hell tore the town apart, as 'something', then sure, something happened."

That got David's full attention. "What?"

Emma ran her fingers through her hair, shaking her head momentarily before telling him. "Look it's—I don't know, fine, I guess, right now. Everyone turned back eventually and there was actually very minimal damage. But by the time I got back from arresting Regina, Scar had already disappeared and—"

"Wait, you arrested Regina?" David asked, sounding genuinely surprised. There was a noticeable pause on the other line, making the conversation turn awkward as he hesitantly continued, "Not that I, ah… don't disagree with that decision, Emma, but I thought you two were—"

"We aren't," Emma told him firmly, but then felt her lip curl upwards in displeasure for a moment before she reluctantly amended with the truth, "Okay, we were, but—you know, that isn't the point. Half the town wants to rip her apart and she… I don't know, pissed me off, so I put her behind bars. I don't—fuck, it doesn't matter, I'll deal with her later. But honestly right now I'm a little shorthanded, and I figured that since you were a… hero, or something, back in… wherever it is that you're from, that you could actually stand to help me out in case another epidemic of crazy breaks out. I can't do everything myself and I don't have a deputy, so I just—"

"I'll be there in twenty minutes," David told her, thankfully relieving Emma from the worry that she might have to do something incredibly embarrassing like beg. She was entirely out of her element here and honestly, one person could only do so much. She really needed the help. "You can explain the rest to me when I get there."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Emma found herself sinking back into her chair as she replied, "Thank you, David."

She really had no idea who else to ask if he had turned her down.

After Emma had said her goodbyes and hung up the phone, she exhaled a long, hard breath as she grabbed her cup of coffee. The amount of liquor she had dumped into it burned its way down her throat, promising a coming haze that would allow her to dull the rampant insanity that currently surrounded her life.

Emma wasn't so idiotic as to allow herself to get totally smashed, especially considering that she had a job to do, but it at least provided her with a 'fuck it' kind of attitude that God, she really needed right now. If she started dwelling on everything again – her 'parents' and Regina and actual, fairytale curses that turned her entire world upside down – she'd probably have a complete mental breakdown and lock herself up in an asylum. Truthfully, right now, that idea actually held some appeal, as it would be so much easier than dealing with this, but she had Henry to think about.

Regina was… Hell, Emma didn't even know what Regina was, but she found herself questioning how safe Henry would be if he stayed at the manor. Regina loved him, of course; that… well, Emma would never question that, but the woman's life was in danger right now, and the last thing Emma wanted to do was put Henry in harm's way. She would never forgive herself if something happened to him.

And neither would Regina.

Emma exhaled a long sigh as her eyes momentarily flittered to the doorway that separated her from the brunette in the other room. Truth be told, there was a part of Emma that was kicking herself for even arresting Regina in the first place, not because the woman didn't deserve it or need the protection it gave her, obviously, but because Emma had now managed to trap herself in the same building for eight plus hours a day with the one person she desperately did not want to see.

Still, the – albeit, slightly drunken – decision had been made, and now Emma had to live with the consequences, whether she liked it or not. So as she rose from her seat, Emma grabbed the bag of takeout she had gotten from Granny's on her way over to the station, figuring that at the end of the day, she still had to be the Sherriff, and that included responsibilities like actually feeding her current prisoner. She couldn't let her personal feelings get involved in this, as it would only stand to make it so much harder on the both of them.

When Emma exited her office, she allowed her eyes to rest on the woman in the containment cell. Regina was situated on the cot in the far left, her expression composed and her hands folded neatly in her lap, as though she were waiting for a damn business meeting to begin instead of an arraignment. It irrationally aggravated Emma for a moment, how regal the woman managed to seem even at her worst of hours. Regina looked slightly disheveled, but otherwise there was no indication that she had just spent the night locked in a cage. It was as though her current surroundings didn't even register with her as something to be concerned about.

Emma roughly thrust the bag through the metal bars without a word of acknowledgement other than the gruff statement of, "Here," making a point to look anywhere but at the Mayor's face while she said it. She didn't like what she saw behind Regina's eyes, as it made her feel things she really wasn't ready to deal with yet.

Regina hesitated for a moment before rising from the cot, crossing the small space to stand before Emma on the other side of her confinements. "Thank you," she said, her voice softer than normal as she took the bag from the Sherriff's hand. The moment their fingers touched, Emma felt herself instinctively flinch before abruptly pulling herself away. Inwardly berating herself for showing Regina how much she had truly broken her, Emma scowled and walked over to the desk a few feet away.

"Don't thank me yet," she responded flatly, flopping down in the seat before mindlessly shuffling through the disorganized paperwork scattered all over the surface. "That really 'unhealthy' breakfast was supposed to be for me. I didn't—" Emma hesitated for a moment before begrudgingly admitting, "I didn't really even think you'd still be here."

Not after what she had witnessed yesterday afternoon, anyway.

Regina's brow furrowed. "You do realize that you have the only key to this little cell, right?"

"And you do realize that you have your magic back, don't you?" Emma countered, her tone probably more hostile than it actually needed to be as she sharply looked up at her. "Couldn't you just…" she waved her hand erratically, trying to make her point, "you know, leave?"

The bag crinkled in Regina's hand as her grip noticeably tightened. "Contrary to what you might choose to believe, Emma, I don't actually intend to betray your trust."

The blonde's eyes narrowed, a retort beginning to form on her lips. Regina, however, did not give her time to voice it. "Regardless, your concern isn't warranted. I cannot…" The sorceress exhaled a soft sigh as she admitted, "Magic is much different here; it seems I can no longer summon it with ease."

"And you know this because…?" Emma drawled, though had already reached a viable conclusion in her mind. Shaking her head, she scowled as she turned back to her paperwork. "Jesus, Regina, all you ever fucking do is lie. I don't even know why I bother asking you anything anymore."

"I'm not lying to you!" Regina exclaimed, forcefully enough for Emma to look back up at her. "I didn't try to leave, I merely…" She disgruntledly motioned towards the cot in the far corner of the cell, as though she were embarrassed to admit that it was the thing that, above all else, actually bothered her about this situation. "That… ragged thing does not provide much comfort. I was only trying to—"

"Pretty sure criminals don't deserve much comfort, Regina," Emma snapped, interrupting her before taking a long swig of her spiked coffee. Yeah, she really wasn't drunk enough to deal with this right now. She should have just went back into her office after giving Regina her food, but Emma was sure that the paperwork she needed to book the woman was somewhere in this mess on the desk.

At least she hoped it was, otherwise she was torturing herself for no foreseeable reason.

Regina's jaw tensed. "That's what you think of me, then?"

"That's what you are!" Emma exclaimed, looking at her incredulously. How could Regina believe that she would see her as anything but? She was the actual embodiment of one of the oldest fairytale super-villains, for Christ's sake. "You basically mind-raped everyone in this town, have single-handedly managed to create the longest list of abduction charges ever filed against one damn person, and if what Henry's book says is true, you—!" But Emma stopped herself mid-sentence, the words dying in her throat as all the color drained from her face.

Suddenly, what used to be just a story became far, far too real.

Regina noticed the change immediately, her own face noticeably paling as she realized what it was that Emma had to have been thinking about. Gone was the façade of self-assurance that Regina had tried to hide behind all morning, and suddenly the woman Emma had left broken on her bedroom floor was once more laid out in front of her. "Emma, please," she softly pleaded, her voice noticeably cracking from the forthcoming emotional strain. Her fingers wrapped around the bars, looking at Emma with desperation. "Don't do this. Not right now. You're not ready to—"

"You really did kill him… didn't you?"

The question was barely even audible, the words being breathed out in horror as realization dawned on Emma so fiercely that it almost blinded her. Still, Regina heard it loud and clear. She swallowed hard, looking like she might fall apart on the spot.

"Emma…"

"Answer me!" Emma shrieked, standing so abruptly from her seat that the chair toppled to the ground behind her with a loud crash. Her eyes were wild, crazed, as she stared at the woman before her, a woman who she once thought she knew. It sickened her deeply to realize she really never had at all, because the Regina she knew, the Regina she fell in love with… she might be a lot of things, but she could never…

"Yes," Regina breathed regrettably in answer, the singular word successfully managing to brutally rip the last shred of sanity from Emma's mind so fast that it felt as though the reality of it would crush her very bones to dust.

Something within her abruptly crumbled.

The blonde suddenly felt her knees weaken, her stomach churning horribly as her vision blurred. Grasping for the side of the desk, Emma doubled over violently, only barely managing to situate herself over the trash can before spilling the contents of her stomach into it. She choked on the bile, her tears blurring the world around her as she tried, desperately, to once more convince herself that this was all some kind of bad dream; that she would wake up any minute now, safe in the arms of the woman who loved her, and nothing would have changed.

But everything had changed. The world was completely fucked and Emma right along with it, and nothing would ever make it better. Nothing. The world as she knew it, the woman she loved, as she thought she knew her, was gone… and they weren't ever coming back.

Regina sounded just as broken as she was, and if Emma could find a moment to think clearly, it probably would have infuriated her, that Regina dared to sound anything remotely close to human right then. "Emma, I swear to you, it wasn't—!"

"Emma?!"

Emma barely had time to register the unexpected voice before she was basically being cradled in a death grip from her position on the floor by far more arms than one person should have. Not that it mattered, in the long run. Emma still felt sick to her stomach, her arms holding the waste bucket tight to her chest as she tried desperately not to vomit anymore, as she was sure her stomach didn't have anything left in it besides acid.

"What the hell have you done to her?!" Mary Margaret accused, the question being posed to what the blonde could only assume was Regina. Emma had no idea why the hell she was even there, as she only asked David to come, but she honestly didn't really even care at that point. She was so wrapped up in the horror of Regina's admission that she could barely even breathe, let alone think.

"Just get me away from her," Emma pleaded frantically, stumbling as David tried to help her to her feet. She couldn't deal with this, she couldn't deal with any of this. The tears were flowing again, a reaction she had no hope of trying to suppress no matter how much she despised it. Emma choked back a sob, wishing she could run but knowing the strength in her legs would fail her if she tried.

Regina didn't even acknowledge the existence of the other people in the room; instead she was desperately trying to plead to Emma, who was hearing none of it. "Emma, please, just listen to me—!"

"I don't want to hear anything that you have to say!" Emma shouted, the words coming out choked and broken, yet fierce with the fury that resided within her heart over the loss of a friend and the woman who had seen to it that it had happened. "Nothing you could say could ever justify what you did! You killed him, you fucking—!" But the words wouldn't come anymore, another sob wracking her body as it pushed the breath from her lungs. David cradled her in his arms, like any father would, yet all the gesture managed to do was sicken Emma further.

"Charming, get Emma out of here," Mary Margaret ordered, unclasping her hands from her daughter's as she nodded at him encouragingly. It was strange, how not like herself she sounded, but Emma didn't want to dwell on that either. She didn't want to think of Mary Margaret as her mother right then, just as much as she didn't want to think of Regina as the Evil Queen, and yet still, the truth kept getting shoved down her throat so much and so fast that Emma was practically choking on it.

And as David quickly led her from the room, away from the woman who had managed to both complete and ruin her life in the same day, Emma idly found herself wishing that the feeling would suffocate her, as it had to be easier than all of this.

[x]

Regina had been behind bars before, but she had never felt so utterly trapped within their confinements until now. Her desperation for Emma not to leave her, not after that, nearly consumed her whole and she tried with every ounce of strength she had in her to summon enough magic so she could escape that which separated her from the woman she had broken, but in the end nothing came. Her cheeks stained with fresh tears, she watched Charming pull Emma from the room, her frustration of being unable to do anything to rectify the pain she had caused boiling over so abruptly that an anguished cry fell past her lips, the flat of her hand slamming against the cold metal bars.

The sound echoed through the room, causing Snow, who still stood in front of her, to instinctively flinch. Once Emma had left her line of sight, Regina's eyes fell on the woman who had caused her so much agony in her life, her gaze darkening with absolute loathing. "Get out," she demanded dangerously through clenched teeth. She was going through enough; the last thing she needed was to see Snow's gloating face as her pain practically ripped her apart inside.

But Snow wasn't gloating. In fact, she didn't look pleased at all. Her face was torn between the sympathy any good person would feel for one in pain, and the anger that any mother would feel towards the one who had scorned her daughter so deeply.

"Why Emma?" Snow asked her after a long stretch of silence, a wordless battle of wills that had ended in her favor. She took a step towards Regina, an array of conflicting emotions passing over her face as she reiterated, "Why my daughter? You must have known who she was, so why would you ever–?"

Regina was rapidly rebuilding her walls, desperately trying to find enough strength within her to have this confrontation after the emotional turmoil she had just been subjected to. She scowled at Snow, for she found that it was the easiest emotion to reach at the moment. "Believe me, dear, I certainly never intended to fall in love with anyone spawned from you." Regina's grip tightened on the bar her fingers had furiously wrapped around, the pressure making her knuckles flash white. "She was never meant for anything more than my bed."

A brief look of horror crossed Snow's face as she no doubt was reminded that for her daughter and Regina to have been in a relationship, it meant that they would have slept with each other on numerous occasions. It seemed that was something Snow had previously made a point not to acknowledge and, unable to stop herself from causing the woman more distress, Regina smirked cruelly at her as she went on. "Which is an area she is very talented in, by the way. You should be proud."

Snow's eyes flashed. "Don't you dare speak about my daughter like she's some kind of—!" But the word never came, Snow unable to stomach hearing how demeaning it would sound out loud. She clenched her jaw, looking at Regina dangerously. "How can you stand there and claim you love her, yet—!"

"Do not presume to ever know what it is I feel for Emma!" Regina shouted at her, her eyes darkening with anger at the word 'claim'. The amount of raw emotion in her words seemed to give Snow pause, and after a moment her eyes widened of their own accord.

Then she looked positively ill.

"Oh God," she breathed, realization dawning on her. "What Henry said was true, isn't it? About how the curse… how it—how it ended?" Regina tensed her jaw, yet said nothing; speaking about it would only stand to crumble her sanity as she would be reminded about just how much she had lost that day. Still, it seemed Snow didn't need an answer; she could see it written all over Regina's face.

Slumping against the wall, Snow exhaled a disbelieving breath. "I had… I thought he was just being hopeful. But I… I never…" Her eyes connected with Regina's, looking for the first time, just about as helpless as Regina felt. "I thought Daniel…"

"So did I," Regina said quietly. A fresh wave of sorrow washed over her, but within moments Regina had frantically pushed it to the side, once more masking her face in indifference. It was just easier. "Seems we are unable to choose our destiny, my dear, no matter how much we may wish to."

Snow swallowed hard before pursing her lips, shaking her head almost violently as she tried to fervently deny that which was laid out before her. "No," she told her, her voice coming out strong and unwavering with her decision. "No. I will not have Emma tied to you in that way!"

"Do you honestly think you have a choice?" Regina countered harshly. "You know better than anyone that True Love isn't something that just goes away in time."

Snow looked at her furiously, as though this was something Regina had actually chose to have happen in her life. "That doesn't mean that there aren't other ways."

Regina's jaw slacked, absolutely horrified that Snow would even contemplate doing something like that. "You would do that? To your own daughter?" Regina asked incredulously, the fury within her beginning to rise up quite substantially. "Even if you could manage to find it in this realm, that potion will rip away everything that makes her her, and I will not allow you to violate her in such a way!"

"I know what the potion does!" Snow exclaimed loudly, taking a step towards Regina in challenge. "But loving you is going to destroy her, Regina! Look at what it's already done, and this is just the beginning! And you know, you have some nerve to actually stand here and preach about violating people when you did the same to everyone in our land, just to get back at me!"

"That doesn't mean you should follow my fucking example!" Regina shrieked, slamming her hand against the bar once more, this time so hard that the vibration was felt throughout her entire body. "I won't let you do this to her, Emma is mine!"

"She is not yours, she's her own damn person, Regina!" Snow shouted back, her rage beginning to relentlessly match Regina's. "She deserves to know that she has a choice! And I'm willing to bet, when given it, she wouldn't choose you."

Those words, probably more than any other that Snow had ever muttered, pierced Regina's heart so abruptly that it robbed the breath from her lungs. Perhaps she had grown to expect the woman's incessant need to see the good in people, that for Snow to not even give Regina the chance to prove that she did, truly, care for Emma, caused the sorceress to feel completely blindsided. In the end, the curse and the repercussions it had caused really was the last straw for the woman in front of her. Regina had torn her family apart, robbed Snow of ever seeing her little girl grow up, and now that they had found each another once more, Regina desperately longed to keep Emma as an adult as well.

That, it seemed, did not sit well with Snow at all.

"You already took Emma from me once, Regina," Snow told her dangerously. "And I will be damned if I let you do it again." Regina opened her mouth to speak, but Snow wouldn't allow it. Taking a step forward, she continued fiercely, "No! I gave you every chance to make something better of yourself, and every time you disappointed me. I won't let you do the same to her. Emma deserves better than that."

"I love her!" Regina raged, the panic within her making her feel like she was suffocating. "What more could you want for her?! I would give her everything!"

"Yes," Snow quietly agreed, her own face starting to look pained as she realized. "I don't doubt that you would. You've always been fiercely devoted to the few that you loved, but…"

The anger washed away from Snow's face, instead masking in a sympathy that made Regina want to rip her larynx straight from her throat. "I'm sorry, Regina," she softly continued, "But I can't take the chance that someday, whether it be months or years from now, something will happen that will make you…" But Snow trailed off, unable to find a proper word to describe the horror Regina could inflict should she become provoked enough.

The woman sighed softly, almost regrettably, as she finished, "I can't take the chance that you'll hurt her again. Emma's already in so much pain because of this, and even if she manages to move past it, I will never condone a relationship that will put her at risk of falling apart again. I just… I can't."

Regina's heart was thumping wildly in her chest, her fear starting to consume her anger as it ate her alive from the inside out. Perhaps her chances now with Emma were slim, given all that had happened, but even a slim hope was better than none at all. She didn't know if her sanity could take it if she didn't even have a chance to try to make things right. Her grip tightening around the bars, Regina pushed herself closer towards the woman threatening to end it all. "I'm warning you, Snow." Her voice was low, dangerous, yet on the verge of falling apart. "Do not do this. If you take away yet another person that I love…"

"I'm just giving her the choice, Regina," Snow told her firmly, her eyes flashing at being blamed for yet another one of Regina's miseries. "If she chooses to forget you, that won't be because of my doing; it will be because of yours."

"And if she doesn't?" Regina countered, wishing she didn't sound as desperate as she did in that moment. "If she chooses to keep me in her memory, what then? You've made it perfectly clear that you don't want me in her life, so am I to expect a backup offer should this one fail?"

Snow looked at her sympathetically, as though Regina was nothing but a foolish child with hope for things that will never come to pass. "To be honest, Regina, I really don't think that she will."

"But if she does?" Regina pressed, unable to allow herself to give up hope just yet. She had to believe, somewhere deep down, that Emma loved her enough never to do something like that. "Will you finally just leave us the hell alone? Because this really doesn't even concern you, and quite frankly, the fact you even think—!"

"If she does," Snow interrupted, "I will respect her choice."

Regina clenched her jaw, her eyes darkening as she took in the expression on Snow's face. "You're lying," she accused. "You already told me that you would never condone it, so don't stand there and tell me—"

"Not condoning it and stopping it are two very different things," Snow reminded her firmly. "But like I said… I really don't think there will be any cause for me to worry. You have already pushed Emma far past her breaking point, and I doubt she would be so quick to stay there. It's killing her, Regina. Loving you is killing her."

Regina's entire body stiffened as she used every ounce of strength within her to stay composed. She refused to break down in front of her, but she was nearing her wit's end. Snow seemed to see this, and aggravatingly decided to make it worse with her false platitudes. "I really am sorry…"

"Get out," Regina growled, unable to take this anymore. There was torture, and then there was this. Regina already felt trapped enough as it was; she didn't need to continue to feel suffocated by things beyond her control. "Get out!" she screamed, this time with enough force to actually cause Snow to take two steps backwards.

Regina was seething, her eyes almost black as she looked at Snow with more contempt than she had ever had for another person. It seemed, after all this time, there truly was no end to the pain the woman could inflict upon her.

Snow should count herself lucky that there were bars between them, because if Regina was able to get her hands on her right then…

Snow seemed to sense this and took the dangerous shift in the air as her cue to leave, but not without shooting her one last look of sympathy that made Regina wish, more than anything else, that she could summon up enough magic inside of her to set this entire building on fire. That mere look seemed to crawl over her skin like a sickness, seeping into her pores and rotting her from the inside out. It made Regina feel dirty, it made her feel weak.

And it made her resolve, once and for all, to do whatever it takes to never see that look upon anyone's face again.

TBC…