Here you have something new. I thank all of you. I love to here your opinions.
One more violent nightmare for the night. But this one far worse, it consisted of every nightmare she had ever had, but with far more terrifying differences. Her mother punishing her to the cold stone floor, screaming at her for being a bad girl and using dark magic. The agony of a broken rib.
Then it moved to the king's bedchamber where he violated her, binding her wrists so tightly they bruised. She tried to fight but she was powerless against him. Every time she tried to run, he would strike her. She was in a living hell… no hell would be better.
Then she was back in Storybrooke. She was in her house, but something was wrong. An ominous red glow shone through the front window. Regina slowly opened her front door and found the entire town waiting for her with torches. She saw Emma and Henry at the forefront. They wore cold expressions. This couldn't be happening. She was slowly inching her way back inside when two men grabbed her arms and started to drag her towards the others. "No! Get away! Let me go!"
Emma felt a burning heat at her side when she woke up. It took her some time before, the blonde figured out that it came from a tossing Regina. She scrubbed her eyes a she rose onto her elbows and scrutinized the beaten looking woman. Wait, she blinked, moving closer. Her eyes caught the dark patches that could only be bruises on her neck, hands and few cuts littering the brunettes otherwise olive skin.
"What the hell?!" She gasped aloud. Regina was writhing around on the bed. The brunette was crying, obviously terrified of the monsters in her subconscious mind. Emma shook Regina to bring her back to this world. A world where Emma could protect her. The sleeping woman tried to push her away. "Let me go!" With a shriek and a wave of purple magic, Emma was thrown clear across the bed to the floor. Her head connected with the hardwood flooring with a resounding smack. Her eyes slipped open for a split second, then closed just as quickly. The room spinning in and out of focus.
"E- Emma? Oh my gods… what did I do?" Regina croaked, her body shaking as she came to rest on the edge of the bed. She could hear Emma gasping on the floor, trying to fill her lungs with air.
"Did I hurt you, are you okay?" Emma rolled onto her side, watching Regina. She held up a hand to stop any further questions. For a minute, the two sat in eerie silence.
"No… just a bit shaken up." She rubbed her now sore head and got up and sit next to Regina who wrapped herself in a blanket and crossed her legs. "I'm so sorry, Emma. I didn't mean to use magic or hurt you in any way."
"It's okay, you look a lot worse than me. Where did those come from?" Emma took her left wrist and looked at it. The brunette winced and pulled it back. A small hiss escaped her lips when she mistakenly leaned too far. She held back her tears, knowing all too what a broken rib felt like. There was no doubt in her mind.
"Shit, what did I do now?" Emma got closer to her. "Regina how's this possible? Where did these come from?"
Regina gazed at her own hands, they looked horrible. There were forming some big bruises that could only be abuse marks, Emma would know those well enough.
"I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with the potion and dreams." Regina was reluctant to admit those things to Emma. It felt a bit too personal.
"Nightmares are a better term for them." Emma snorted. Regina gave a small smile.
"Well they have same kind of symptoms as my sleeping curse. Rumpelstiltskin mentioned something like this, I thought I could escape it…" She felt chiils run through her body and her throat felt awful. Great now she had a bad cold too. She coughed violently, her eyes watered and Emma wiped the painful tears away.
"Go lie down and I'll get you something warm to drink, then head to the store. If you can survive while I'm gone." It hurt her ribs to move and Emma knew it. "Is your side okay?" Emma pulled the covers over Regina.
"Yes, can you bring the first-aid kit with you, I need to clean these up." Speaking hurt and so did everything else. Emma nodded and slowly walked away.
Regina held her breath and waited until she could no longer hear the soft padding of footsteps, then vomited into the bucket next to her bed. She could no longer keep her earlier meal and now it was in the bucket. With a quick burst of magic, Regina erased the evidence.
It didn't take long before the blonde came back with a tea cup and a first-aid kit. She handed the tea to Regina and putted the bag down on the bed.
"I didn't know how you liked it, so it's chamomile and lemon with honey." Regina gave an approving moan when she drank it down.
"Thank you it's delicious." She smiled and put it down on a night stand. Emma reached for the first-aid kit.
"I can take care of that, I need something to do while you're gone." Emma hesitated at first but let it go.
"Okay, you better clean those up well and would you also take your temperature?"
"Yes Doctor, I`ll even text you the results." Regina joked. Emma laughed as she said goodbye.
After the painful experience of wrapping her ribs and cleaning and bandaging all the wounds she could reach, she drank her tea and just lay on the bed. She fell asleep, but not for long. The tea had helped her throat just a bit. Now it was bearable. She took the thermometer and put it in her mouth. Just as it beeped, someone opened the door. She looked at the numbers and frowned, finding her fever had increased.
"Emma is that you?" She said as loud as she could. But her voice was just louder than a whisper. She waiting, straining her ears for the familiar padding of Emma's feet on the stairs. When neither that, nor a verbal answer came she was convinced she must have been imagining things. With a small groan Regina settled back into the bed to sleep. Ten minutes later, Henry was standing at the door and snuck over to wake her up. When he saw how tired she looked he got worried. She felt too warm through the blankets she was buried under and when he pulled then back, he saw the bandages on her arms.
"Mom?" Henry asked, dropping his school bag on the ground.
"Henry…? W-what are you going here?" Regina struggled to wake up, only to see her young son standing beside the bed.
"You're sick! What happened?!" Henry was panicking looking her arms. He had never seen his mom like this. He didn't even remember her ever having a cold. The little boy pushed his mother down to the bed and pulled the covers higher. Regina tried pushing him back.
"Henry- stop. Henry, you didn't answer me, what exactly are you doing here? I thought you were at the Charming's'?" Grunting, Regina manage to sit up straighter in the bed, trying to focus on her child.
"You didn't text me yesterday or today. I was worried…. so I came to see you." Henry hugged his mom and Regina wrapped her arms around him resting her chin on his head.
"That's so sweet my prince, but you should have called me first. I don't want you to get sick too." She said like she was having a normal cold. He sat on the bed anyway.
"You look like you got something worse than the flu." He's such a clever that makes parenting harder when you can't tell half the truth.
"It's not anything serious." She smiled, knowing she would have to tell him the truth eventually.
"But mom, you shouldn't be here alone…" This boy really cared.
"I'm not. Emma's out shopping."
"Wait, ma is here with you?" Henry looked a bit confused but she could see happiness in those eyes. Eyes so much like his mothers.
"Yes, she insisted she take care of me. Now I know where you got that stubbornness of yours." She laughs which lead to violent coughing.
She stops moment before Emma runs to the bedroom.
"Regina! Henry's missi…here" Emma stops to stare at them.
"Kid what are you doing here? Mom and dad were worried when you disappeared. They're looking everywhere for you" Henry blushed knowing he was caught.
"Henry you can't just run away. Do you know how carless that is?" Regina ranted. It was getting very painful to talk once again. Emma noticed it and put the shopping bag she was carrying down.
"Regina I can handle him, you need all the rest you can get." Emma opened a bottle of ibuprofen and handled two pills and some orange juice. She took them all without protest and fell back into the bed exhausted. She had spent much more energy than she had and it showed.
"Henry, Regina's got to be in bed for few days. She's not so well right now, but she'll get better soon." Emma explained.
"What's wrong with her?" Henry asked and looked at his mother.
"You remembered when she removed the curse when Mary Margaret and I got back from the Enchanted Forest?" Of course he remembered, so he just nodded.
"The curse and your mom are kind of… battling now. She took a healing potion that makes her condition worse for now. But it'll be alright. Okay?" Emma put a hand on Henry's shoulder, knowing he felt guilty because he had made Regina to remove the curse in the first place.
"Henry it's not your fault in any way." Regina said with dry voice and saw the guilt in her son's eyes. She took his hand in hers, stoking his small knuckles with her thumb. Henry curled up next to his mother and Regina put her arms around him.
After putting all her supplies away, Emma crawled into the other side and spooned Regina so she could wrap her arms around both of them. Regina had lost some weight and Emma could fell it, but didn't want to ruin the moment and stayed quiet.
"I'll stay here and take care of you till you get better mom. " Henry said and both of the woman knew that Henry got Regina's temperament so they didn't even try to say anything against.
Regina felt horrible and safe at the same time. It confused her, and scared her even, but it felt like home when the three of them were laying there together.
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