Thanks for all the reviews for the first two chapters!
This chapter should answer some questions about Regina and Jefferson.
On with the show!
Chapter 3.
Regina heard the sound of a gunshot and though she was slipping away, she wondered if it might be Emma. Perhaps Emma planned all of this, to make herself out a hero. Emma, hero of the fucking day, here to save Regina. Regina smiled to herself as she slid into oblivion.
A day later, Regina woke up from surgery to see Emma in a chair at the foot of her hospital bed, and she knew that Emma had not planned any of this. Emma looked exhausted and worried.
They stared at one another in silence for a long time.
The sounds of traffic outside and chattering nurses in the hallway filled the quiet between them.
"Well?" Regina sat up, hissing in pain as she felt her stitches stretch with the movement. She noted the drip attached to her hand and wondered which one was a painkiller.
"I killed the Mad Hatter." Emma stated blandly. "How's that for a title to my tell-all?" She wore her usual t-shirt, tight jean, leather boot ensemble. Regina made a note of the band on the shirt—Sonic Youth. Was Emma 15? Regina smirked.
"More interesting than anything most people could come up with." Regina said, still smirking. Then she realized it: Jefferson was dead. For all of his fucked up behavior, Jefferson was an old friend. She had wondered if he could truly be killed. Now she knew. First Maleficent and now the Mad Hatter. Emma really was on a roll.
"How is everyone?" Regina changed the subject. "Is Henry all right? Where are you both staying?" A low throb of worry that had hidden beneath her ribcage suddenly gave way to full throttle anxiety as Regina finally allowed herself to think about Henry. She had been numb for so long, but the sight of Emma Swan awakened all of her worry and anger and total frustration. Regina had to will herself to stay still.
Emma grimaced and replied, "Henry is fine. Snow, James, and I are keeping him safe. We're sort of hiding in plain sight. Storybrooke is even weirder without you, strangely enough."
Regina slumped back against her pillow in sheer relief. "You don't prefer the new leadership?" She quipped.
"Of course I don't prefer being ruled by Rumpelstiltskin." Emma met Regina's sarcasm with some of her own.
"How very special. You miss me." Regina rolled her eyes and shifted on the bed with a grimace. "How long have I been out?" Jolting pain convinced her to quit moving about. She waited.
Emma hesitated.
Her hair, Regina noted, was slightly darker than it had been in Storybrooke. Perhaps blonde wasn't Emma's natural color after all. Regina made a note to ask sometime.
"A day, day and a half." Emma interrupted Regina's thoughts. "Ummmm…anyway…I should probably tell somebody that you're awake." She got up to leave and then turned back to Regina with a smirk. "By the way, they don't allow same-sex marriage here. Did you already know that?"
Regina's mouth fell open.
Every day that Regina spent in the hospital, she was forced to be in Emma's company. Emma's routine was to grab breakfast in the morning for herself and then visit Regina after Regina's morning nap. Then Emma took off for lunch and made some phone calls. They usually watched television in the evening. It was all incredibly mundane for two people who usually spent their time fighting. Regina still kept shooting Emma suspicious glances while they watched The Simpsons.
Emma phoned Snow from her hotel room every day, and updated her on Regina's progress. Snow was actually compassionate toward her nemesis. Emma figured that it just wasn't in Snow's nature to be completely vengeful. Besides that, they both shared mutual animosity toward the so-called Mad Hatter. Snow seemed particularly upset at the level and nature of his violent act.
"So?" Emma frowned and held the phone close to her mouth. "Do I catch her, bring her to all of you, hang her in the town square?" Emma rubbed a hand over her stomach, fighting the nerves that hit her there.
Snow muttered something to someone in the background. Then Emma could hear Henry's voice, asking about lunch. "Not my thing, Emma, really." Snow replied at last."And your idea of a trial…I just don't see the point. Continue to wait with Regina. Help her through her recovery. Let me sort through whatever is happening here."
Emma sat around her hotel room at night, stewing over her daily encounters with Regina. Emma remembered the words Regina used to trick her again and again. She wondered why Regina had always done so damned much to destroy her own cause.
Then every time Emma saw Regina again, her anger dissipated. Emma saw Regina in her robe, without makeup, without any of her defenses, and remembered the time Regina practically roared with anger over Rumpelstiltskin's betrayal and the danger it had put Henry in.
"You're staring at me." Regina accused Emma, but her voice was without malice.
Emma and Regina finally talked about Jefferson's attack the day before Regina was set to go home. Emma could tell, all through their lunch, that Regina was nervous.
"He's gone." Emma reminded her. It was raining and Emma wore her brown leather jacket. She felt a chill run up her spine despite the warm temperatures.
"You shot him." Regina grimaced around a bite of the sandwich she had been given. She handed it wordlessly to Emma instead.
"Why didn't you try to counter him somehow?" Emma asked, glancing at the ham and cheese and rye bread. She took a big bite. Regina looked really weirdly at her as a result.
Regina cleared her throat, seemingly mesmerized at the sight of Emma devouring a sandwich. She struggled to remain on topic. "I was always so used to his threats. It didn't occur to me that he would actually follow through with them."
Emma nodded and swiped at the crumbs on her lip. "I get that. You ignored your gut. Too many women do…" She stopped herself quickly, realizing that Regina didn't need some lecture left over from Emma's days tracking down estranged and sometimes violent exes.
Regina stared out the window in silence by way of response.
Many days later, Emma found herself helping Regina into her loft. Emma had found a cleaning service to take care of things there, and had already been back once to check that the place was livable. Regina had given Emma access to a stash of money beneath some of the floor boards, some of which paid for Regina's medical expenses.
Emma kept a hand on Regina's elbow as they walked into the place. She had never really thought about it before but now noted how comfortable it was, being in Regina's space all the time. She hoped that they wouldn't start swinging fists at one another again any time soon.
"Thank you," Regina said, glancing politely around her home as though it might still hold Jefferson's body.
Emma was still thrown by Regina's sudden change in attitude. Regina kept thanking her, and asking for things with a 'please' and calling Emma by her first name, instead of Ms. Swan.
"Emma." Regina craned her neck around to see what was holding up the dumbfounded woman. "Tell me, what are Snow's plans?"
"There isn't much to tell." Emma muttered, closing and locking the door behind her.
Emma phoned Snow later that evening. Regina was asleep in her room, while Emma lounged on the oversized reading chair in the living room. She couldn't bring herself to go back to her hotel, not on Regina's first night back.
"It's like the fight has gone all out of her." Emma whispered into the receiver. "We talk about mundane things and sometimes Henry's homework, but mostly just the scenery and the history of the city here and…not much else…"
Emma went to sleep after switching her phone off. Her neck bent at awkward angles and ached and her dreams were really weird. She dreamt about a pet cat that had once lived with one of her foster families. The cat had been hit by a car nearly a decade ago, but in Emma's dreams, the cat was alive once again. The cat could also talk and kept reminding Emma to check that the back door was closed.
At 1am, Emma woke with a start. She swiped her hands over her eyes and found them wet with tears.