Flu Love's Kiss 6
A/N: Hi lovely readers, I know Henry is being horrible right now... but he's only a child and he's very hurt. Please trust me things will get better, there is more to this story than meets the eye but the secrets will eventually come out. Thanks for all of the reviews, I love to know what you think.
Oh and I finally got a tumblr which I will be posting at soon, when I figure out how to actually do so: princesscharming1983
Chapter 6 - I want you
Emma felt a hand trail down her bare torso causing her to shiver. She felt a soft kiss pressed on her stomach near her belly button before the lips moved higher where her pyjama top had ridden up. The heat of a slight body pressed against her hips and she turned her head to the side to hide a groan.
Opening her eyes in the dim light, Emma saw the woman above her smile revealing a row of perfect white teeth. She lowered her head to assault Emma's neck, nipping along the way.
"Regina," breathed Emma. "What are you doing?"
She felt a smile against her neck and then a hot whisper seductively close to her ear. "I'm going to need both hands for this..."
The brunette laced their fingers together and held one of Emma's hands above her head. Emma's eyes slipped closed again as Regina's other hand moved lower between their hips. Her sighed moan was cut short and her mouth was covered by a searingly deep kiss when...
"Emma. EMMA!"
"Whuh- argh!" Emma came awake for real and almost jumped off the bed in fright, reminding her of that horror movie where the mother was in the room the whole time.
"Emma, wake up." Regina sat next her in the bed, trying to untwist the covers caught wildly between them.
"Regina! What are you doing?" said Emma, embarrassed and defensive all at once. Instinctively she tried to pull the sheet to cover herself even though she was still fully dressed in the flannel pyjamas Regina had conjured for her the night before.
"Are you feeling sick? You were moaning in your sleep," Regina informed her, almost looking concerned.
Emma let her head fall back to the pillow, wondering how her life had gotten so... utterly unfair. She rubbed her left fist into her eye, fighting the frustration and tiredness that remained.
Not two minutes later, a pyjama-clad boy appeared in the doorway and announced it was breakfast time.
There was no hiding their hands from the kid any longer. They'd sat him down at the kitchen bench to explain the Love Flu thing to him and he'd listened with a skeptical look on his face, remaining unconvinced that Regina had nothing to do with Emma's incarceration. They hadn't told him the details he didn't need to know, merely saying that it was a magical illness of unknown nature and they were stuck together for a little while. It'd been Emma's idea to shelter him from the truth given that she'd barely been able to look Regina in the eye since being woken the way she had.
Emma hadn't forgotten hearing Regina crying the night before either. The relationship between mother and son had been in a bad state for a while and Henry had been cruel to Regina... but she didn't know how to bring it up with either of the stubborn Millses. Those two, Emma thought ruefully, they're as bad as each other when they're hurting. She had a feeling getting to the heart of the matter was going to be a fight so Emma decided to let them both have their secrets. For now.
"Hey, kid, maybe you should have toast today," suggested Emma, seeing him reach for the box containing his contraband sugary cereal.
"No. I want this," said Henry, pouring Froot Loops into a bowl.
"Henry." Regina remonstrated him for talking back and he was immediately cowed.
How was it that mothers could do that just by saying your name, thought Emma. She remembered some of the things she'd done as a teen and wondered how much of a whip Mary Margaret could crack when she got going. Emma was new at this parenting thing and she knew that the kid was going through a lot lately... but Henry's attitude towards the mother who'd raised him for ten years was starting to worry her. It wasn't like him at all.
"You can't ground me anymore," said Henry, lifting his chin at Regina defiantly.
"I can," Emma pointed out, hoping that the kid would get the hint that she'd back Regina up on this.
Henry laughed like she'd told a joke. "Good one, Emma."
Even Regina shook her head and muttered something about inmates running the asylum, meaning that it would be like leaving the least qualified, most incompetent person in charge. Emma and Henry would only egg each other on when it came to causing trouble not preventing it.
Emma's phone started ringing with a sensibly boring ringtone indicating that the call was being directed from the Sheriff's station.
"Sheriff Swan."
"Emma, you have to get down here quick. There's been an accident."
Emma parked the Bug around the corner from where David had told her. From that vantage point they could see the two-car smash at the intersection of Main and Second street which was already gathering a crowd of bystanders, onlookers, and gawkers. Paramedics and fire crews were already at the scene and she could see David, wearing the deputy badge, interviewing what appeared to be one of the drivers holding a bandage to his head.
Emma exchanged a look with Regina who was seated on her right in the passenger seat remembering the bit of fuss that'd gotten them there.
"I'm driving," announced Emma.
"I am not getting into that junkyard you call a car," said Regina.
"Don't insult the noble steed! Besides, I have to drive. I'm the left twin."
"What?"
"We're kinda like conjoined twins and I'm on the left. I''d have sit in your lap if you want to drive your car... so yeah, I'm driving and we're taking the Bug."
But it hadn't been as easy as it sounded because of her beloved Bug's reluctant steering. Using only her left hand she hadn't been strong enough to turn the wheel fully when backing out of the driveaway. Regina had rolled her eyes and reached over to help with her free hand. Then there was changing gears, which also fell to Regina despite having never driven a stick shift before, or indeed, any car except her Mercedes.
It made Emma wonder why they didn't just magically transport to the scene. But now, she realised, that with the crowd of people around it was risky and if someone saw Regina doing magic it could be bad for them both.
"David? David, are you there?" Emma said into the walkie.
"Emma, where are you?" David looked around the street trying to spot her and holding the police radio to his chin.
"In my Bug around the corner. Regina's with me. Duh." Emma said the last part to herself.
"You guys better stay hidden," warned David.
"Ok. Can you handle documenting the crash? What happened?"
"I'll send Mary Margaret over to find you and explain..."
"Explain what? Isn't it just a car crash?" said Emma. Her stomach turned to dread at David's answer though she wasn't certain why.
"We think Love Flu is spreading."
"This is a public health issue. You have no right to keep the truth from these people."
Cheers for Dr Whale's speech sounded from the crowd and David held his arms out in what he hoped was a pacifying gesture. Somehow he suspected that Whale wouldn't be as easily convinced as the general public.
"Everything is under control. You're not in any danger..." promised David loud enough for everyone to hear.
Whale squinted out of exaggerated concern. "No danger? Mrs Montague has a large gash on her forehead. It's going to need stitches."
David growled. "Whale."
"We need to go after the person responsible for this. For bringing magic to Storybrooke!" said Whale, grandstanding for the crowd.
"Yeah!" some jerk called from a hidden spot. "We should do that!"
Alarmed that the guy was intentionally inciting a riot, David wracked his brain for a way to defuse the situation before it started. "Okay, everybody clear out! Let the fire crews do their jobs please."
David pulled the town doctor aside as the crowd dispersed. "What do you know about this, Whale?"
Whale answered the question with one of his own, confirming David's suspicion that the doctor knew the nature of the contagion. "Where's the Sheriff?"
"She can't be here right now. I'm acting as Deputy."
"You don't even know what you're dealing with," sneered Dr Whale.
"That's why I need your help," said David, knowing that all it took sometimes to get someone on your side was to ask them to help you. "We need you to document the spread of this thing. Can you do that?"
"I can't find a cure if that's what you're hoping," said Whale bitterly.
"No, we just need you..." (out of the way, thought David to himself) "to find out how all of this started."
Whale nodded like it was his idea. "I'll investigate the trajectory of the contagion and try to trace it back to the vector - patient zero. The one who started it all."
David clapped his hand on the man's shoulder. "Good man. Let me know what you find."
"It may not do any good," said Whale. "Magic only claims to know three things that science cannot fully explain and they are powerful forces indeed. In my world I have investigated two of them and I have been entirely unsuccessful in curing either… life and death."
"You said there were three powerful forces. What's the other one," asked David.
Whale walked away, his white coat flapping in the wind and answered over his shoulder.
"The third one is love."
Mary Margaret slid into the back seat of the Bug and the two women in the front seats turned around to look at her expectantly. The pixie-haired brunette's eyes fell on the joined hands hanging between them for a second. It merely seemed like they were a couple casually holding hands if you didn't know any better.
"Sooo what's going on?" prompted Emma to get her mother's attention.
"Oh, right," said Mary Margaret, snapping out of it. "Um, the car accident...well, it was caused by Love Flu."
"How is that possible?" asked Regina.
"Mr Montague was driving with his wife in the blue car. He didn't see the other car coming."
"Yes, and?" said Regina impatiently.
"They were on their way to the hospital. They told David their hands have been stuck together since this morning."
Emma sighed heavily. "It's spreading. What are we going to do about this?"
"You two? Nothing," said Mary Margaret firmly. "You are both to stay out of sight. Dr Whale's already been here trying to find out who's caused this. He's looking for you, Emma, but David thinks he suspects Regina."
"I'm merely a victim of this plague, not a carrier," snapped Regina, looking out the windscreen again at the crash.
At first Emma had thought this Love Flu thing was a bit of a joke, uncomfortable and awkward as it was to be stuck to Regina 24/7. But now it seemed that it wasn't quite so benign as she'd thought. The particular crash in front of them hadn't been very serious but what other havoc could the illness be responsible for before dying out naturally?
Love triangles, clandestine affairs, and secret attractions... the Love Flu epidemic had the power to reveal them all. Emma wondered how many of Storybrooke's relationships would survive the fallout.
"Oh, yeah, that's not the only thing," said Mary Margaret with a cringe.
"What is it?" said Emma warily. Like they needed any more bad news.
"Well, David had to stop Whale from starting a riot somehow so he gave him the job of tracking the people who have been infected."
At Emma's horrified groan of complaint Mary Margaret continued. "It might actually be useful. People are sick and he is a doctor."
Regina whirled around with an incredulous glare. "That charlatan got his medical degree from a curse. Don't you know who he is?"
The mother and daughter listened with blank faces.
Regina gave her former enemy a hard stare. "That man is not to come anywhere near me. If you see him, Miss Blanchard, you can give him a message."
"What message," squeaked Mary Margaret.
"Tell him that the hearts in this town belong to me. All of them."