Flu Love's Kiss 9
Chapter 9 - I hurt you
When Emma woke up the next morning Regina was practically laying on top of her. The brunette's head lay on her chest right above her heart with her free arm draped across the other side. Emma gently brushed back a lock of dark hair that had fallen and tucked it behind Regina's ear. With relief, she noted that Regina appeared to be sleeping peacefully despite her harrowing night. Although seeing her in that much pain had been heartbreaking, Emma was glad that she'd been able to provide the comfort. She wanted to be the one Regina turned to, she realised.
And maybe, just maybe, Regina finally wanted her back.
"Someone's awake," whispered Emma, when the warm body pressed against her side started to move.
"Emma," said Regina sleepily, almost making it sound like a question.
"Yeah, I'm still here. Where else would I be?" joked Emma sweetly. "Are you ok? You had a rough night."
"I'm fine."
"I don't think you are," said Emma gently. She pressed a kiss to the back of the hand stuck to hers.
Regina stiffened in the embrace and drew back, putting some space between them. She could feel Emma watching her with concern. She had to put a stop to this before it started.
"It hurts to see you so upset," Emma told her quietly. "I have feelings for you."
Regina closed her eyes briefly at the confession even though her heart had started to race. "Emma, it's not real. Love Flu is starting to affect your head."
Emma frowned at the sting of the rejection. "What about you?"
"It's not affecting me," Regina said, seemingly engrossed by the ceiling.
"Right. Of course not." Emma berated herself for her own stupidity. "It's just me and my childish infatuation. I won't bother you again, don't worry."
Later that morning there was a knock on the front door to the house. Emma opened the door a crack and saw that it was only Archie.
"Hey, Archie. Come on in."
"Emma, what are you doing?" hissed Regina. They weren't supposed to let anyone know about their disease status.
"He obviously already knows, right?" said Emma, raising her eyebrows at Archie with the question.
"Yes," confirmed Archie. "If you mean that I know you're both infected with Love Flu. However, when I saw you two the other night I merely thought you had put your differences aside and worked out your feelings for one another..."
"We don't have feelings for each other," interrupted Regina quickly. "What are you doing here, bug?"
"Well, I thought that I would offer my professional services. It must be quite a stressful time for your relationship, not to mention confusing for Henry. Perhaps some family counselling is needed?" said Archie.
"No," said Regina flatly.
"Maybe not, Archie. But thanks." Emma tried to soften the blunt refusal.
The kindly man nodded in his characteristically humble manner. "Very well. You know where I am if you change your minds. That brings me to the other reason I'm here."
"Which is?" said Regina.
"I'm assisting Dr Whale with interviewing the infected couples."
"You told Whale about us." Emma's mouth dropped open in horror.
Archie was quick to reassure them. "No. David explained it to me and I have to agree. It's best if no-one knows about you two. But it is important to figure this out so we need to collect your data. Everything will be strictly anonymous and no-one who doesn't need to know will ever see your answers. I give you my word."
Regina reluctantly led both Emma and Archie into her home office and indicated that they sit.
Across from Archie, Emma slouched in the left chair and Regina sat primly in the right chair. They were side-by-side with their joined hands between them on the arm rests but Archie noted that their hands weren't sitting right in the middle. Regina was holding Emma's hand closer to her side and apparently Emma either didn't mind or hadn't even noticed.
"Okay, let's start." Archie flipped his clipboard open and began reading through the standard privacy and legal statements at the top.
"Love Flu is a disease not only of the body but of the mind so we need to gather some data about you in order to determine if there's anything that makes you more susceptible than others. You're free to refuse to answer any question but please keep in mind that we need as much information as possible."
"The first part of the survey is to do with your sexual history. Question One. At what age did you first start having sex?" said Archie, ready to take down their answers with his pencil.
"Seventeen."
"Nineteen."
Archie recorded their answers on the survey sheet before continuing. "Question Two. Have you ever been married?"
"No."
"Yes."
Archie moved on to the next survey item. "Question Three. When was the last time you had sex?"
"It was before I came to Storybrooke," said Emma, thinking back.
Regina hesitated. "Graham."
They breezed through a list of other questions easily with no surprises: How many children do you have, Are you currently in a relationship, Have you ever been in love...
"Question Ten," said Archie, looking up from his sheet. "How many sexual partners have you had?"
"Seven. Okay fine, seventeen," said Emma, changing her answer after a glance at Archie's face. God, discussing this with him was almost as bad as talking about it with her parents.
"Regina?" prompted Archie.
"Two."
Emma frowned at Regina in disbelief. "You have to be kidding me."
"I am not lying," said Regina, eyes flashing angrily.
"There's no way you've only had two," said Emma. "Come on, what's the big deal? I had to tell mine."
Archie observed Regina's tense posture and said quietly, "Emma, I'm going to have to ask you not to comment on Regina's answers please."
The room was far too silent in between questions and all that could be heard was the ticking of the mantle clock. Archie wondered if perhaps they should take a break. He'd noticed that the two women were becoming upset and angry by the questioning but decided that getting it over with might be preferable to trying to convince them to continue later. Regina's reactions in particular worried him. He recognised her behaviour, having seen it unfortunately too many times in his professional career.
"Okay, the second section of the survey is about your Love Flu symptoms. Question One. Please list the symptoms you are currently experiencing with regards to normal flu-like illness in the order they presented if possible."
"Coughing. Sneezing. Stuffy nose. Fainting. Chills."
"Fainting. Fever. Cough. Blocked sinuses. Tiredness."
Archie rolled through the next questions quickly: Are you currently in a relationship with your Love Flu partner? Have you ever had sex with your Love Flu partner? Please circle on the diagram where you and your Love Flu partner are currently joined...
"Question Eight. Are you having current symptoms such as sexual thoughts or physical attraction to your Love Flu partner?"
"Yes," Emma admitted with an eye-roll.
"Refused."
Archie moved on to the next question without comment. "Question Nine. Have you and your Love Flu partner had sexual contact since becoming infected?"
"Not really."
"Refused."
Archie hesitated, checking his survey sheet and noticing that they'd finally arrived at the last question. It was the most important question in the entire survey and he had a feeling the answers were going to be revealing one way or the other.
"Question Ten," said Archie, braced for their reactions. "Are you in love with your Love Flu partner?"
"No," said Emma with a slight shrug.
"Refused," said Regina quietly.
"Regina." Emma finally snapped at the brunette's reticence. "You can't lie or refuse to answer half the goddamn survey. Especially since this is such a dumb question. Obviously the answer is No. Archie, write that down."
"Emma, I think you should consider how your accusations are hurting Regina," said Archie.
Emma exhaled humourlessly at his shrink talk. "She's the one who's acting like a 15 year old afraid she's gonna get found out by her mother. It's an anonymous survey anyways so there's no reason to lie about having sex like it's some terrible sordid secret. Seriously, no-one cares. Grow up."
Regina leapt suddenly out of her chair as though she was going to walk away, forgetting that they were still joined until her arm pulled Emma's straight and stopped her from going further. She swallowed hard, throat burning with tears, realising that she couldn't get away.
"Regina, you can't just walk away from what you don't want to deal with," said Emma, pulling on their joined hands.
"Just stop it, Emma!" said Regina, tears pricking her eyes.
Regina flicked her right hand and magically encased Emma in the blue bubble she called the Cone of Silence, where she could neither hear nor be heard. At first Emma protested soundlessly but her words died away when she saw how distraught Regina actually was. Since there was nowhere else to go Regina sat back in her chair, keeping her eyes downcast.
Archie got up and crouched in front of Regina's chair, handing her a box of tissues. She snapped the top one off and wiped her eyes impatiently.
"If you need to talk, Regina, I'll explain to Emma that she has to stay in there..."
"I don't want to talk. I just want it to go away," said Regina thickly.
"Perhaps telling Emma the truth would help."
"No."
Archie made an observation gently to her. "Whatever is going on is obviously very distressing to you."
Regina sniffed and balled the tissue up in her hand. "I need you to get her out of my head. Please, I can't go through it again."
Emma could see Regina and Archie talking but didn't know what they were saying. Wordlessly, she reached across with her free hand and captured Regina's, lacing their fingers together. She waited until the brunette finally raised her wet eyes and then mouthed an apology to her.
I'm sorry.
Henry went straight to the Sheriff's station to tell David and Mary Margaret that he'd seen Dr Whale go into the crypt.
"What would Whale want with Regina's father's grave?" asked David, strapping on his shoulder holsters.
"Because of this," Henry heaved his book onto the desk with a thud and flipped open to an illustrated page. "In the book, the Evil Queen keeps the hearts in a secret place. She brought them with her and there's nowhere else that's safe enough here. Mom goes there every week to take flowers to the grave but I think she goes to check they're still there."
"Whose hearts are they?" said Mary Margaret.
"Everyone's. They're under her protection. See?" Henry pointed to the picture in the book of the Evil Queen standing in front of the crypt like a sentry.
"We need to get them back," said Mary Margaret.
"But what does Whale want with hearts?" wondered David.
The adults looked to Henry for the answer, since he seemed to know everything.
"He's looking for the strongest one," said Henry.
The black bakelite phone on the desk rang shrilly and David grabbed the handle off the hook. After a short one-sided conversation David hung up and informed the other two what had happened.
"What is it, David?" said Mary Margaret worriedly, hopping off the desk where she'd been sitting.
David frowned, puzzled by the new information he'd just heard. "It's the Montagues. They're not stuck together any more."
Mary Margaret thought back to stories she'd heard back in the other land and nodded. "That can happen with Love Flu. Sometimes the couple falls in love, sometimes they fall out of love and sometimes... it's over before it even starts."