A/N: Thank you all who are back to enjoy this wonderful and heartfelt journey as it is re-written in both Emma's and Regina's first-person perspectives. I can't even begin to say how appreciative I am. This is another Emma POV, but next chapter will be Regina's turn. Until then, stay tuned and re-enjoy! :) Happy reading!
Chapter 5: Emma
I'm not sure how long I had been knocked unconscious for. I just remember hearing the sweetest voice calling out my name. It was an echo until it became clearer and clearer, and that's when following the voice, I felt the gentlest of strokes along my cheek. And whatever pain my face was feeling at that moment had been dismissed. I was sure of it.
"Emma? Emma, can you hear me?" I heard the voice a little closer now. My eyes heavily part open, and I see a spark of light, followed by Regina's delicate features looking down at me. A concerned and alarming look had taken over her as she continued to speak to me- her voice no longer an echo- calling my name. "Emma? Emma, please wake up. Emma!" She pleaded.
"Oh, God! Are you alright?" I hear Regina breathe, my once blurred vision clearing up. My head hurt something fierce as I attempted to stand. "Don't move so fast!" I felt Regina's hand land along my shoulder. "You could have a concussion."
"I'm fine." I remember saying, persistent to sit up.
"Here, let me," Regina helped me carefully sit up, her eyes wide at the horror that my eye had turned into. Rocky had gotten a good punch in, judging from the look on Regina's face. "God, your eye," she murmured to me before asking, "Can you stand?"
I remember nodding and eagerly moved to stand, feeling Regina's arm wrap around my back while her other free hand rested along my bicep.
"Well, now I know why you named him Rocky." I chuckle with humor before grunting and actually cupping my eye with one of my hands.
"I'm so sorry, Emma." Said Regina, gripping onto my arm as my body wanted to give out again in that moment, dissemblance from where it stood. "Come on. Let's get you to the house, put something on that eye." I felt Regina's hold tighten around me behind my back as she helped me walk.
"Good idea." I agreed. My feet were willing to walk, but my legs began to give out as we walked. Every time I would feel a little dissemblance, I would find myself leaning on Regina, picking up the scent of her perfume each time.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Regina asked me once again, her arm moving along to wrap itself firmly around my waist for better support in case my legs decided to give out again.
"I'm fine." I was quick to reply, keeping my hand cupped over my eye the entire time. If it looked as bad as it felt right now, I didn't want to freak Regina out more with it.
"I am so sorry, Emma. I should have warned you." I feel Regina's arm tighten around my waist as my legs threaten to lose their balance one last time.
"Why are you sorry?" I say to her, grunting in pain as I continue, "I'm the idiot who stood up when you advised me not to." I grunt again. God, my head was killing me right now. My headache overpowering the pain radiating from my eye.
"Let's just get you into the house and I'll call a doctor." Said Regina. I could hear the alarm in her voice as she said this.
"I'm fine." I reply once again, trying to sound more convincing for some peace of mind. It was then, I attempted to mix in a little bit of humor by telling her, "You know, I've actually always wondered how much getting kicked in the face by a horse would hurt, so, this day worked out perfectly- my question has been answered."
Out of the corner of my good eye, I could see her holding in the laugh that poke out of Regina refrain from erupting and mixing with a scoff as she says to me, "This isn't the time for humor, Ms. Swan."
The corner of my lip lifts into a small smirk at my succession of making her laugh. Last thing I wanted was for her to blame herself for this.
"Emma!" I hear Audrey's voice shout my name, followed by stomping that belonged to her horse. Regina and I stop walking, both of us see Audrey hopping right off of her horse as she runs to me in concern. "Oh, my God- mom, what happened?" She asked her mom, her hand hovering carefully over me.
"She fell," Regina told her. And I could feel her arm detach its contact from my back, and I see her stepping aside so that Audrey could finish guiding me the rest of the way.
I couldn't explain why at that moment, I felt a little disappointed that Regina had released me. Her hold just provided an unexplained comfort for me in my time of need. I wasn't at all sure what to call it. You would think that I was feeling like a child at the moment of my injury, seeking a mother's comfort. But it was far from that.
"Oh, baby-" Audrey's voice is now filled with the same concern Regina had previously shown me as she helps me climb up the porch and make my way carefully into the house.
"Yeah, then Rocky got a knockout." I say with humor, although my laugh was interrupted by another grunt that I had released in pain.
"What happened?" I could hear Daniel's voice behind me, breathless from obviously having run his way toward us.
"A little accident," I can hear Regina's reply along with her exchange of words with Daniel's before I hear his footsteps running up the steps and entering through the opened door.
And while Daniel ran toward the kitchen and pulled open the freezer, I saw Regina enter the house, all while quickly walking toward the breakfast table and pulling out a chair for me to sit.
"Here, sit her down, Audrey." I hear Regina say, while Audrey helps me sit along the wooden chair.
Out of my good eye, I try to keep it open long enough to see what is happening around me. Regina walks away to reach for a cordless phone by a wall, while Daniel is walking toward us in giant steps while holding- What was he holding? I couldn't easily tell.
The next thing I know, Regina joins back into the group and her eyes glare at Daniel with a type of 'Really?' look in her eyes. "Raw meat?" I hear her say to Daniel.
"It was my steak dinner." Daniel shrugs then. "It works. I promise."
Regina gives him a nod and she quickly walks a few steps away as her call was answered by who I assumed was this doctor. "Hi- yes. Victor?"
"Here," Daniel bends before me, holding up the raw piece of meat, blocking my view of Regina.
"Ew, Daniel- really?" Audrey's face scrunches up in disgust, giving him almost the same look Regina had a few seconds ago.
I see Daniel roll his eyes in response, "It works! Just, here-" Thunk! The raw meat slaps unexpectedly along my eye, and I can feel the cold take over, quickly numbing the pain. I take over from there, keeping the raw steak pressed tightly along my face.
"Oh!" Audrey exclaims.
"Put some pressure on it." Daniel directs me to press a little harder as he stands before me with his hands placed along his hips. "There will still be some bruising but at least that will keep it from swelling."
"Wonderful. Thank you. We'll see you at home." I can see Regina hand up the phone along the wall before walking over to us once again, releasing a breath of relief as she said, "Well, I called Victor." She looks directly at me. "He's a good doctor, he'll take a look at your eye. So, we should really start heading back if we want to beat time."
"You really shouldn't have-" I shake my head as I try to tell Regina that she shouldn't have gone through all that trouble for a simple black eye. Because I'm sure that's all it was. But, as soon as my words start coming out of me, Regina jumps right in with a very determined tone.
"Yes, I should have. I know the pain you are enduring, dear. Trust me. It needs tending to." Her eyes are locked onto mine- or rather my one good eye- with a stern and adamant glare. Just like her tone. I don't dare to fight it.
"Audrey, help her to the car, we're leaving." Regina said sternly once again. The determination in her voice was real and not to be reckoned with.
"Yeah. Come on, Em." Said Audrey. I hold onto the raw meat covering my eye as I stand with Audrey's help. I can hear Regina apologizing to Daniel as they exchange a few words behind us as we exit the house. Their words fall on deaf ears as Audrey and I approach the Mercedes.
"How are you doing? Does it hurt much?" Audrey asked me, standing before me.
"Only a little." I said, but the reality of it was, it hurt like a son-of-a-bitch. My head continued pounding like a sledgehammer to a drywall.
"Oh," Audrey frowned at me. "Let me see…" She reached for my hand, guiding it to remove the raw meat from my face so that she could have a better look. I immediately saw the horrific look take over her eyes.
"Oh, Em-" She quickly placed the steak back on my face.
"What? Is it that bad?" I ask, actually overwhelmed by concern as we enter the vehicle.
"No, but… Maybe it's best if you keep this pressed down." Audrey lies through her words, but I decide it isn't important. Not to make a big deal out of it.
"See ya, Audrey." I hear Daniel say with a wave and a smile on his face.
"Bye, Daniel!" Audrey waves back through the rolled down window of her mom's Mercedes as she smiles back at him before turning back her attention to me.
I rest my head along the back seat and close my one good eye, feeling Audrey's hand brush back a strand of my hair away from my face. If only this headache would go away.
"Sidney. We are on our way back from the Orchard. Please, meet us outside as soon as you see me pull into the driveway. Thank you." My eye opens and I can see Regina hang up her call while quickly tossing her cell inside of her purse.
Audrey helped me exit the car and walk toward the house, the gravel crunching beneath both our feet as we walked. "Good God! What happened? Is she alright?" Sidney asked. I could see his eyes wide in fear.
"Sidney, be a dear and bring some ice, please." Regina instructed as we entered and Sidney scurried off. I feel her grab onto my free arm and between her and Audrey, they sit me down along the couch in the living room.
"How are you feeling, Em?" Audrey asked as she sat beside me.
"Like I got kicked by a horse." I chuckle at my own humor.
"At least we made good time before Victor's arrival." I see Regina's hand approach my face carefully and feel as she picks a strand of my hair away from the back of my hand which is stationed by my face, holding onto the raw produce.
"There really was no need to call a doctor. I'm sure it's fine." I say to Regina while staring at her. There really was no need to make a fuss about this. I've always hated being the center of attention.
"Well, I'm afraid 'fine' isn't good enough, Ms. Swan." Regina rolls her eyes. An action my swelled up eye prevents me from doing. "He is already on his way, so I suggest that you stop being stubborn and just let him check up on you." Her voice is once again stern and determined, reminding me that as a mother, she's had her fair share dealt with stubbornness. Because yes, I could be a little stubborn at times. But that was for my own mother to say.
"Last time I checked you were Audrey's mom," I find myself murmuring underneath my breath. I feel so ashamed of it afterward when all Regina was trying to do was help. I couldn't bring myself to look at her, but I could feel her hard glare directed my way.
"Well, don't act like a child and maybe I won't have to play that role around you." Regina bit back, scoffing and shaking her head. "Audrey has more sense than you, I can promise you that." Needless to say, Audrey was as surprised as I was regarding the tension that surrounded us. Or rather, Regina and me. Why was she so upset?
"Mom?" Audrey called out to her mother, picking up the tension along Regina's shoulders. "Are you okay?" She asked.
Regina nods, drawing in a breath and letting it out, ending it with, "I'm fine."
"Here's the ice." Sidney hurries into the living room, handing over the ice pack he held in his hand to Audrey. Distracting a bit of the tension from the room.
"Thank you, Sidney. Here, let me," Audrey carefully took the raw meat from me and handed it over for Sidney to dispose of. "Here, dispose of this, would you? Thanks." She gives him a kind smile before placing the ice pack along my eye with caution.
I watch as Sidney is holding the already warm meat using only the tip of his fingers as he walks out of the living room with a disgusted look on his face.
"How does it look?" I turn to Regina in that moment while revealing the result of Rocky's kick as I remove the ice bag away from my face. The loss of contact makes it throb. "Does it look bad?" I say to Regina, hoping to alleviate more of the tension from a few minutes ago.
I watch Regina take a step toward me before she bends down to be at my eye level. "Not at all." I could see a look in her eyes that became puzzling to me, but the smile she gives me gets the job done of creating a distraction from whatever that look meant.
"God," I hear Audrey speak next. Her nose scrunched up as she says, "People are going to think I beat you."
It was a joke of course, and it succeeded in making me release a light chuckle. Regina on the other hand was not pleased. While her eyes gave her daughter a glaring look, her breath scoffed out past her lips. It was as if the woman didn't have an ounce of humor in her body.
Suddenly we can all hear the doorbell ring and our heads all turn toward the direction of the front doors.
"That would be Victor." Said Regina, turning her attention back to Audrey. "Let him in, Audrey." As Regina says this, Audrey quickly rushes to answer the door.
My attention turns to Regina next, watching her take Audrey's spot on the couch next to me. "That bad, huh?" I ask again, holding onto the ice bag over my face.
"I've seen worse," I hear her murmur, and for a split second I can hear pain in her voice. "You'll live."
Was that a hint of humor? I get my answer as I see the corner of Regina's lip tilt up into a small smile. "Well, thank you, that definitely makes me feel better, because let me tell you. Rocky can sure throw a punch- or a kick. The name wasn't wrongly given to him."
This time, my attempt to respond humor with humor does the job. Regina breathes out a small laugh and shakes her head. That makes me smile a little, and I find myself forgetting all about the pain.
"Doctor's here!" We hear Audrey's voice, seeing her enter the living room with a doctor who looked to be in his forties, but looked younger for his age. Regina quickly stands and steps aside.
"Sorry, I'm a little late." He breathes. He is dressed in a pale blue shirt, light brown pants and his lab coat. His stethoscope was hanging loosely around his neck. "I hope you know I had to close up my practice early today for this, Regina." He gives Regina a playful glare, which she freely responds to.
"I know," Regina gives him a nod. "I really appreciate you taking your time to come over. I'm sorry for the short notice."
Next, the doc expertly pulls out a blood pressure machine from his bag, taking a seat next to me. "Hi, Emma." He smiles kindly at me as he follows with an equally kind introduction, "I'm Doctor Whale. I'm just going to take your vitals quickly and then I'll have a look at that eye, okay?"
I see Regina give a smile behind the doc's back. A sign that she obviously trusted him. A sign that let me know that I could possibly trust him, too.
"Go for it, doc," I shrug in defeat, seeing no choice in the matter.
The doc wraps the cuff of his blood pressure device around my bicep and begins to pump it on his own. "So, you said over the phone that she was stuck by one of your horses?" He looks over at Regina, before he turns back to me. His eyes glance down at the meter on the machine.
"That's right." Regina gives a nod. Her eyes turned toward me.
Next, I hear Audrey give the doc her facts of this morning. "We were out riding for the morning, and my mom was trying to teach her how to mount Rocky."
"Rocky did this?" I watch his eyebrows skyrocket all the way to his hairline. Shock coating his voice as he turns to both Regina and Audrey before glancing down at his device again. "I'm surprised. He is a very gentle creature."
Once again, if I could so much as roll my eyes, I would. That horse was anything but gentle. And the fact that he had everyone else fooled was surprising.
"It was my fault." Not only do I turn to look at the frown that takes over Regina's lips, and the sadness that takes over her eyes, but Audrey and the doc do, too. "I'm afraid I didn't warn Emma ahead of time with more proper instructions of what not to do when you are behind a horse."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing right now. Was she really blaming herself over an accident that could have happened to anyone? Suddenly that look in her eyes, and her choice of words from earlier made sense.
"Mom," Audrey's voice not only pulls me away from my thoughts but it pulls Regina out of whatever thoughts were happening in her mind at that moment. "It wasn't anyone's fault. It was an accident." She gives her mother's shoulder a gentle squeeze.
Regina gives Audrey a small smile, but I can somehow tell from the way the corner of her lip tilts that she is having a hard time believing that herself.
"Well, her blood pressure is good. Very normal." The doc informed us all while he tears the velcro from the cuff and quickly puts the device back in his bag. "In fact, it's better than mine." He gives me another one of his kind smiles. "Her breathing rate is pretty normal."
Next, he reaches for a pair of latex gloves, placing them on one at a time before reaching for a flashlight from his lab coat pocket.
I pick up on the sound of a small click before he is raising a single digit, and holding it up inches away from my face. My good eye quickly catches the flash of light. "Alright, Emma, look here for me." I see his finger slowly begin to move from one side to the other slowly, and then comes another click that shuts off the flashlight before he is placing it back in the safety of his breast pocket. "Good. Remove the bag of ice away now, let's have a quick look."
I do as I'm told by removing the bag of clinking eyes from my eye. I can feel that part of my face grow numb due to the cold. I can hardly feel the doc's hands as they near my face before his thumbs apply a light pressure along my cheekbone, and edges. He watches me carefully, expecting some type of reaction out of me. A flinch, maybe, I assume.
"Does that hurt?" He asked me as his thumb carefully creates pressure by pressing down on my temple next.
"Not really." I reply with the truth.
His thumb follows along my cheekbone again. That part wasn't bruised, but he was looking for any signs of possible broken bones as any good doctor would. And I could tell Doctor Whale was a man that loved his profession.
"How about here?" He asked.
"No, nothing. I have a bit of a headache, though." That apparently wasn't going away anytime soon.
"That's normal. I will give you something for pain and swelling." He smiled at me before standing to his feet.
"So, what's the diagnosis, doc? An eyepatch? Eye transplant?" I ask, again with a trace of humor, which judging from the doc's chuckle he greatly appreciated.
"None of the above." He smiled, pulling his gloves off of his hands one at a time with a loud snap. "I would like to run a cat scan, just to make sure that nothing more serious is going on."
"Is that absolutely necessary?" I hear Audrey ask him.
"Well, no. It's just for peace of mind." He smiled at Audrey before turning to Regina as I hear him give clear instructions of the following steps. "Other than that, she looks fine. You iced it as soon as the incident happened, which is good. It should be feeling much better tomorrow. However," His attention turns back to me. "Because you were knocked out, even if it was just for a minute, I would suggest you stay awake until hours of the night. Just in case of a concussion- which I doubt you have, but once again- peace of mind."
"Noted." I reply to him, feeling the cushion of the couch beside me sink as Audrey joins me, and places a very gentle kiss along my bruised temple. Careful not to go anywhere near my eye.
"Thank you so much, Victor. It means a lot for you to come all this way." Audrey and I watch Regina and the doc walk away from us, until they reach the entrance of the living room.
Whatever conversation is being exchanged between the doc and Regina stays between them as Audrey then captures my attention by grabbing a hold of my hand. "You'll be better in no time," she says to me with a smile stretching along her lips. "Victor is one of the best doctors in Boston. He's known my mom for years."
"Not that I don't appreciate the door to door service your mom has just provided for me. But, she really shouldn't have gone through all that trouble." I say to Audrey, seeing her hand brush a strand of hair back behind my ear.
"It's no trouble at all, Em. Rocky seriously did a number on you. My mother wasn't going to stand for you being in agonizing pain. And neither would I." Said Audrey, and I gave her a warm smile.
"Once again, I sincerely appreciate it, Victor." We turn back to Regina who smiles at the doc.
"No problem at all." The doc's eyes look my way as he waves at me. "Emma, it was nice meeting you, whatever the circumstances."
"Thanks, doc. Nice meeting you." I wave back from the couch.
"If she has on-going headaches, or any fainting spells, call me at home. You have my number." I can hear him instruct Regina.
"Of course." Regina sees the good doc out. I hear the door shut with a thud before Regina joins us back in the living room.
"We can head on over to the clinic tomorrow. I can drive her." Audrey tells her mother.
"That would be wise." Regina glances down at the prescription written by the doc before she looks our way. "Well, you stay here with her while I go pick up these prescriptions."
"No, mom, you don't have to do that." Audrey quickly stands and snatches the written prescription from her mother's grasp. "You stay. I'll do it."
"Audrey-" Regina shakes her head but Audrey quickly steps in.
"Please? I'd feel a whole lot better to know that you were here with her." She smiles.
After some thought or ounce of hesitation- I couldn't tell which conflicted Regina the most- she nodded. "Very well, then." Regina exited the room and not a minute later came back, holding out the keys to her Mercedes toward Audrey. "But," she warned, holding up her forefinger. "You know the rules-"
"I'll be careful." Audrey smiles at her mom before she's placing a kiss along her cheek. Next, my eyes- which had closed on me- shot open as I could sense Audrey coming near me. I was right. Audrey then bent down as I had laid down on the couch and placed a kiss along my lips. "I'll be right back with your medicine, babe."
"Be careful." Was all I said to her before allowing my eyes to close on me again.
I hear footsteps growing distant followed by the front door shutting. "Sit up," my eyes open again as I feel a light tap against my thigh. Regina had joined me on the couch. "You can't be lying down, I'm afraid."
"You like being in control of things, don't you?" I ask, grunting in slight pain as I do as was requested of me. The last thing I wanted right now was to earn another motherly tone from her. "What?" I ask, my head tilting quizzically, not understanding the meaning behind her chuckle.
"This may come as a shock to you, Ms. Swan, but I've never known the meaning of that word." My eyebrow slightly lifts, as does Regina's as she's saying this to me.
Of course, I find that so hard to believe. How could a woman as beautiful as Regina with such a strong attitude as I saw take over her today not know the meaning of a word she had turned into her bitch just hours earlier? I know that if I was Audrey's dad, I would- what?!
"Come on. A woman like you? You must have that husband of yours bowing at your feet." I shake my head in disbelief, more to rattle the random thought that was about to sneak its way into my possibly injured brain. Maybe I do have a concussion.
"Bowing?" The laugh Regina allows to escape her throat- again as if I had told her some bad joke that only she found ridiculously funny- was faint. But not enough to where I didn't catch it.
"And, I've told you. My name's Emma." I say a little freely this time.
"You do realize that I am old enough to be your mother? Don't you?" Said Regina, a gentle little smirk threatening to dance along the corners of her lips. And may God forgive my injured brain's thoughts, but my eyes couldn't look away from it.
"But, you aren't. Are you?" My brow rose in a challenging manner. And just when I think I crossed some line that apparently fell invisible to my line of sight, Regina's smirk grows before me. "Besides, I do have a mother of my own. I don't need another one. And after today, I'd say you owe me that."
"God," I hear her scoff and see her shake her head as she says, "I am so sorry for that-"
"You keep apologizing for something that isn't even your fault." I step in. Not regretting the interruption of another apology that she really didn't owe me. Why Regina kept insisting this was her fault, was beyond me.
"Because it was." Regina murmurs, so low it was like she was trying to hide her voice. There's a frown followed by a sadness that coats her chocolate colored eyes and I can't bring myself to look away from it.
"Regina." I keep my voice as gentle as the smile I decide to give her. My eyes lock into hers as I say, "It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known I was going to choose to stand up at that moment. If anything it's my fault."
"No." She shakes her head at me. "It wasn't." While her voice comes out gentle, it is also filled with conflict. "It really wasn't." Her eyes lock more onto mine, and I feel my heart constricting inside of my chest.
"Just like it wasn't your fault, either." I needed her to believe that what I was telling her was the God to honest truth. It wasn't her fault. Accidents happen all the time. Why, if anything, it was an accident waiting to happen. Wrong place, wrong time kind of thing.
I witness a smile erupt from Regina's lips. It's still a little hesitant, as if smiling would get her into some kind of trouble. As if smiling was the worst thing in the world. But it's there, and for fuck sake, I can't look away again. I don't want to. Regina was one beautiful woman in every aspect of the word.
I'm thankful for what Regina said next.
"Would you care for a tour of the rest of the house while we wait for Audrey's return? Maybe, followed by a glass of lemonade?" I can hear the sincerity and invitation in her offer.
I smile. "All of the above sound pretty good to me."
How could I possibly refuse such a welcoming invitation?