Hello Sweet Doves! Thank you for the follows and reviews. So, this chapter turned out a lot more fluffy than I originally anticipated, but I think it works for the point we're at in the storyline. Enjoy, my lovelies, and let me know what you think!
Songs: I'm Not an Angel and Private Parts by Halestorm
Regina glared towards the foyer when the doorbell rang. She'd only just coaxed Emma out of the study with the aroma of dinner and wasn't certain the blonde woman could handle anything else at the moment. She'd always viewed Emma as strong, invincible even, with only one weakness that was ironically her own, Henry. Emma never backed down from an argument. She stood up to Gold and to her, conceding only when she threatened to take Henry away from her. After the past 48 hours, however, Regina knew that Emma put up more bravado than anyone she'd experienced before. The woman barely held herself together, and when Henry found her last year, she'd been forced into the role of mother, sheriff, and savior in the course of a few weeks.
Now that the curse was broken, Emma was on the verge of something close to an emotional breakdown. A small sliver of guilt tugged at Regina's chest, but she pushed it aside. She needed Emma to hear her story. She needed someone to remember her as that beautiful and innocent person who saved a young girl from a runaway horse, and she needed that someone to be the one person who would never abandon her son. As long as Emma continued to listen to her, she vowed to do her best to hold the broken savior together.
As if summoned by her thoughts, Emma appeared at Regina's side, pistol in hand. She glanced at Regina in confusion briefly and then stalked towards the front door, game face in place. She took a deep breath and then jerked the door open, weapon raised but not aimed.
"Put that down, Girl," Granny grouched and then slid past her and into the foyer. Emma glanced around outside, looking for any sign of trickery. Finding none, she closed the door and locked it.
"Granny?" Regina sounded… happy?
"I figured you had dinner, but I brought you some dessert." She extended the package in her hands, and Regina lifted the covered an inhaled.
"Apple pie," Regina hummed and then smiled. "Cheeky bitch." Emma choked on the air suddenly leaving her lungs.
"Get out of those pants and hold your tongue. I came to make sure this one," she jerked a thumb towards Emma, "was taking care of you like she told me she would."
"I'm alive, Granny. I'm not sure much more could be asked of Miss Swan." Regina answered coyly before turning towards the stairs. "Oh, stir my vegetables, please."
Granny disappeared into the kitchen and Regina upstairs to change, leaving Emma dumbfounded and flabbergasted in the foyer. She moved to follow Granny into the kitchen, but the woman reappeared as she reached the door.
"Sheriff," she nodded.
"Granny… wait, do you actually have a name besides Granny and Mrs. Lucas?" Emma wondered aloud.
"Yep," Granny answered and then moved past her, finishing the table settings that Regina had been working on when she arrived.
"Can I know what it is?" Emma followed but lingered near the door of the foyer.
"Nope." Granny wiped her hands on her diner apron and sniffed at Emma. The woman unnerved the sheriff in a way only an elder who had seen some shit and took very little in her days could. Granny Lucas definitely tolerated very little nonsense. Emma fidgeted under her knowing eyes.
"How's she doing?" She asked after a few awkward moments of Emma squirming.
"Well, she's not breaking things or trying to kill me today, so I guess you can count that as a good day." Emma replied flippantly and then cowered under Granny's cold stare.
"She's convinced that she'd going to be executed," she admitted and then crossed her arms, leaning into the door frame.
Granny grunted but said nothing as her eyes moved to something behind Emma's shoulder. Emma turned to find Regina in the baggy t-shirt and basketball shorts that she'd given her last night. Regina followed Emma's eyes to her clothes and raised an eyebrow, challenging the sheriff to say something.
"Go lay down, Girl. I'll be in in just a minute," Granny ordered, but Regina hesitated.
"Granny, stop harassing Emma. She's helping," Regina ordered the older Lucas. Emma watched the showdown of wills between the two women. Why hadn't Granny ever showed her support for Regina before? Did they know each other before the curse?
"Fine," Granny conceded and then pointed towards the study.
Again, Emma was left to follow or stay as she wished. She followed, naturally, and again hung back. She stood at the fireplace and watched Granny tend Regina's stitched thigh. She had to admit that the stitches looked good. Granny practiced this particular skill often, and it showed clearly in the small, perfectly spaced stitches lining the back of Regina's leg.
"Do you want me to numb it again so that you can get some sleep, Girl?" Regina shook her head. "Alright. You should leave it open tonight. It looks good, no infection, but you need to stay off of it a bit more. You almost pulled a couple out."
"Okay," Regina replied simply, and Emma again choked on the air.
"What in the hell? You two are freaking me the hell out, okay? How do you know each other? More importantly, why are you being so nice to each other?" Emma gushed. She was too flustered to contain her questions any longer.
"Emma, Granny was my nursemaid back before Ruby was born. She left my mother's service to raise Ruby when her mother abandoned her. She was with me until I was… I was about 10, right Granny? I thought of her when you used the word improperly last evening." Regina smirked at Emma's slackened jaw and flushed face.
"But… But you were on Snow and Charming's council along with Jiminy Cricket and Red Riding Hood and Blue!" Emma screeched incredulously.
"Yes, I was, but does that book Henry is constantly lugging about tell you that I advocated for the humane treatment of Regina when she was captured? I doubt it. A few of us were opposed to the idea of executing her. Your father came up with it on his own, even Snow White was opposed. She stopped it at the last minute. Stop seeing the world through the eyes of a child, Savior." Granny barked out her last statement before patting the back of Regina's head and thumping from the room.
"I really wish people would stop calling me that," Emma whispered and then slipped into the boots she'd discarded earlier.
"Where are you going?" Regina asked, suddenly worried that the sheriff would leave her alone.
"We should get back to the station. I can't protect you here. At least there I know that you aren't going to run away, and no one is getting you without going through me first. It's the safest place to sleep." Emma explained clinically and stomped from the room. Regina felt the whiplash of Emma's sudden mood swing, but she had no idea of what caused it or how to make Emma feel any better.
She pushed herself from the sofa and slipped into the kitchen. She dished their meals into containers and left them on the counter, knowing that Emma would be starving when she calmed down again. This seemed to be a cycle with the sheriff, and Regina wondered if Emma remembered to eat after calming if someone didn't remind her. She shook away the thought. Emma's eating habits were not her responsibility as long as she stayed alive long enough to get Henry to adulthood.
By the time Regina gathered her things, Emma fidgeted in irritation by the front door. She glared at Regina but said nothing as she took her captive's bag. Regina snagged the food from the kitchen along with two forks from the table and then nodded, indicating that she was ready. She hadn't bothered to change out of Emma's clothes, giving up all notions of pretense and dignity in regards to her dress. It meant nothing anymore, not without her magic to keep her power.
Emma remained silent for nearly the rest of the evening, only speaking small pleasantries like "Excuse me" when trying to slip past her. She triple checked all of the doors and windows, making sure each was locked and barred. Regina sat quietly in her cell with the door open and read Jane Eyre with one eye, while the other watched Emma pace around her office. She disappeared down the hall and didn't return for the longest time, and Regina wondered if she'd gone to check the doors and windows again. She waited anxiously, and when the clock ticked and indicated that an hour had passed, she followed the hallway.
The whine of the treadmill and the furious pounding of Emma's feet against the belt caught her attention, and she followed the sound down the dim hall. Emma had changed into shorts and a sports bra and now desperately ran away without actually going anywhere. The image of her running so fast was incredibly symbolic. Emma had led a transient lifestyle up to this point, and she grew more anxious everyday she stayed in place.
"Emma," Regina called as she pushed through the double doors that led to the small fitness center in the basement of the sheriff's station.
"Emma," she tried again, but the blonde was so engrossed in her thoughts that she still hadn't registered the other woman's presence.
"Emma!" Regina raised her voice slightly, and Emma rolled her eyes towards her. It was a start.
Regina stepped beside the machine and jerked the safety key from its slot, and the belt along with Emma slowly came to a stop. Emma gripped the safety bars and leaned heavily as she puffed and panted. How had she been moving at that pace as winded as she was? Her entire body shone with sweat, her bra and hair were soaked. Regina fumbled in the darkened room but eventually found a towel on a shelf with some other equipment.
She approached Emma slowly from behind and placed her hand gently on Emma's hip. The sheriff flinched but didn't pull away or protest, so Regina dabbed tentatively at the sweat trickling down Emma's back. Her brows furrowed at the thin layer of skin covering Emma's jutting spine. How had no one besides Regina noticed she'd lost so much weight? She ran the towel over her neck and shoulders and then moved to her lower back.
She stepped onto the treadmill behind her and dragged the towel around her side to her stomach and then repeated the gesture on the other side. A small surprised gasp escaped her lips when Emma grabbed her wrist and held it in place on her stomach. It was an act of desperation. Emma's shoulders shook violently with silent tears but she made no move to pull Regina closer. She didn't know how to ask for comfort, Regina realized.
She stepped into the sweaty woman, nose wrinkling as the hot salty liquid dampened her own clothes and seeped onto her skin. She pushed past her slight disgust away and wrapped her other arm around Emma, covering the hand that held her wrist. It was slight, barely discernable but Emma pressed back into her, giving her permission. It was all she needed.
The towel dropped to the floor, and Regina splayed her fingers over Emma's stomach and squeezed her tightly. She laid her cheek against Emma's heated shoulder blade and waited until the tremors finally settled as all of the tears were cried away. Emma sniffled as she calmed, but said nothing and made no indication that she wanted Regina to release her, so the former royal remained put.
"Is there any chance, if I asked, you would tell me what's bothering you?" Regina asked quietly.
"I…" Emma coughed. "I miss Henry," she admitted quietly. "I miss Mary Margaret and David. They might be dead for all we know. This town is coming apart at the seams, and I can't stop it. I'm the fucking savior, not because I want to be, but because Rumpelstiltskin decreed it. I have an angry mob after the only person who seems to be making sense these days, and I have no way of stopping them unless I give them what they want. She just happens to be the mother of my child." Emma's flood gates had opened.
"Yes, Dear, all of these things are true, but what is bothering you. What are you feeling?" Regina tried again. Emma turned in her arms but stayed safely in her grasp. She seemed content, so Regina held her tightly.
"Trapped. I've felt trapped since I got here. I didn't intend to get tangled in Henry's life. I was content to run back to Boston and pretend he never existed, but you were so cold, so unforgiving of everything. I was worried, so I stayed because, you know, I know what the foster system can do to kids. I stayed so that I wouldn't have to feel guilty about leaving him with someone who might hurt him, not because I cared about him."
Emma finally stopped to take a breath and then immediately started again.
"My son came hundreds of miles to find me, and all I could think about was how much I wanted him to be with a good family so that I didn't have to deal with him."
"Emma."
"But now that I know him, I could never leave him. I love him more than anything. He's my kid, you know, and he's yours, too. And you gave him everything that I never had."
"Emma."
"But I never had any of it because you cast a stupid curse, and my parents gave me up to give me my best shot, just I like I did Henry. But they left me. They left me here all alone. Mary Margaret fell through the portal, but David followed her willingly. He left me! He left me here alone because he was self…"
Emma's eye flew open as a warm mouth halted her flow of words. Regina held her jaws and neck with her hands. She felt Emma tense to pull away as she realized what happened. She'd rather apologize for kissing her than be forced to take her to the hospital to get some sedatives when she worked herself into an anxiety attack. She nearly pulled away when something quite surprising happened.
Emma pulled her closer, hands gripping her waist almost painfully, and deepened the kiss. Regina allowed her to nip at her lower lip and run her tongue along the inside. A fire ignited inside Regina, and she reluctantly pulled Emma's lips from hers. This kiss wasn't about sexual gratification; it was about comforting Emma. The sheriff simply couldn't distinguish the difference in her grief-filled mind. She trailed her thumbs along Emma's cheekbones, telling her that what had just happened was okay. Regina was not a stranger to female companionship, so the kiss hadn't freaked her out, not the way Emma was right now.
"Emma, it's okay," Regina soothed and pressed her forehead to Emma's. The blonde tried to pull away, but Regina held her neck firmly in place.
"It's okay," Regina affirmed again. "We'll figure out this mess together. I promise I will help you get your parents back."
"Regina," Emma whispered, her voice soft and weak from her tears. She grabbed at Regina's back, looking for traction as her mind absorbed the warmth she was being shown.
"I'm here," Regina whispered, and Emma's eyes slipped shut.
"I…" Emma tried to speak but burst into tears again.
Regina continued to stroke her thumbs over Emma's face. She kissed Emma's nose. Her forehead. Her cheek. Her lips. Over and over, she let her kisses fall wherever her mouth happened to be until Emma's tears subsided once again.
"Come," Regina gently commanded. Emma allowed Regina to pull her from the running machine and led her to the shower, which consisted of a nozzle sticking out of the wall and a four inch dropped from the rest of the floor. It afforded no privacy because she'd never intended for anyone but Graham to use it.
"Get cleaned up and then come upstairs," instructed the older woman, and Emma nodded.
Regina finally released her hand and tucked some hair behind her ear before cupping her cheek. She looked as though she wanted to say something, but she simply turned and limped from the exercise room, leaving Emma to her thoughts.
What the hell just happened?
Emma tried not to think about it as she turned on the spray and stripped her sweaty clothes. Her muscles already ached from the ridiculous pace she'd run at for such a long period of time. She sighed as the heat from the pressured spray soothed them the second she stepped beneath it. She could have stood there for hours, but she knew that she'd already left Regina for far too long. Anything could have happened to the woman while she'd been on the treadmill. Locks could be picked and windows could be broken. Anyone could get into the station if they tried.
After running through the motions of washing her hair and slopping body wash over her skin with her hand, she begrudgingly stopped the flow of water. The coolness of the concrete room seeped quickly into her skin so she toweled off quickly and rummaged through her bag for a pair of sweat pants, another sports bra and a t-shirt. They needed to come up with a better arrangement for living and sleeping, but this was the best they mustered for now.
With pleasantly exhausted muscles, she traipsed back to the main office. Regina sat quietly in Emma's desk chair and clicked at something on the computer. The microwave dinged, and she swung the chair in a semi-circle and allowed the momentum to help her to her feet.
"Sit," she instructed snippily, and then shoved the hot bowl into Emma's hands along with a fork. Then she gimped to the mini-fridge Emma kept in her office and snagged a bottle of water.
"Eat," she encouraged more gently as she set the bottled water on the cot beside Emma.
"Emma?" Regina caught her attention after she finally took a tentative bite of the lasagna. She glanced at Regina but said nothing as she shoved more of the food into her mouth.
"I think I can leave town. I was never cursed with another life, so if it would make things easier for you to not have to worry about protecting me, I could go somewhere and wait until the dust settles a little bit. I'll come back to face my trial after you've either recovered your parents or found a way to at least confirm they made it through safely." Regina kept her voice carefully vague and void of emotions.
"No," Emma said simply, and Regina dropped the topic. She hadn't wanted to leave but felt an obligation to offer Emma a safe way to rid herself of the terrible burden of protecting her, the woman who had been the catalyst for her suffering.
Regina curled up on her cot and opened the book she'd borrowed, but her eyes drifted to Emma's slumped form. Her back, usually straight and proud, bent with the burden of emotion. Regina pulled her hand into a tight fist and forced herself to remain planted on the cot. She simply watched, unmoving, until Emma set the half-eaten container of lasagna on her desk and gave into her desire the rest her weary body. Exhaustion pulled her shoulders, and the effort of remaining upright to finish her dinner seemed too large to manage. So she simply lay down.
Regina shuffled behind her, and then the room went dark. The distinct sound of the cell door being closed and locked echoed in the darkened room, followed by a jingle of keys as Regina tossed them onto the desk.
They clattered onto the keyboard and jarred the computer into life. Emma almost smiled when she saw the half-finished game of Solitaire on the computer, almost, but it comforted her somehow to know that Regina enjoyed the world in which she'd cursed herself to live. Without her permission, tears slipped from her eyes and slid down her nose. She sniffed and wiped them away gently. She'd cried more in the past two days than she had her entire life.
Emma almost turned over when a harsh scraping sound tore at her ears, but she hadn't the energy to care. The sound of Regina slipping beneath the blanket and sheet of her cot sounded so close now, and when Regina's warm hand tangled in Emma's wet hair, the sheriff realized that the sound had been Regina moving her cot. She sighed into the contact and pressed her face into her pillow.
Her mind slipped further and deeper towards her ultimate goal of sleep, but Emma fought it every step of the way. Right before she lost the fight a deep, even hum filled the air. Regina humming to her? The sound was haunting and soothing at the same time, and between that and the fingernails scratching gently over her scalp, Emma finally dropped into a fitful slumber.
She awoke a few hours later to a sharp pain in her hair. Flashes of the previous night crashed through her, and she reached up to find Regina's fingers painfully clutching her hair. She gripped the small fist and massaged it until Regina finally opened her fingers. Emma held it tightly then, preventing it from returning to her hair, and then rolled over. Regina's face was twisted into a painful expression and small whimpers caught in her throat. Regina was in the throes of another nightmare, and this time Emma didn't hesitate. She reached through the bars and gently shook Regina's shoulder.
"Hey," she whispered when dark eyes finally opened and searched her face. "You were having a nightmare," Emma explained when Regina's forehead scrunched in confusion.
"I am well aware, Miss Swan," Regina sniped, using fake anger to cover her very real fear that the dream elicited.
Emma rolled her eyes at the formal name and tugged Regina's hand to her chest when the mayor tried to pull away. After what Regina had done for her only a few hours ago, she at the very least owed her this modicum of comfort.
"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked hesitantly, and then tucked Regina's hair behind her ear for good measure. She needed to let the other woman that she too could offer comfort despite being emotionally compromised. She'd had her breakdown earlier, and Regina might have hers now if she wished it.
"You cut off my head," Regina started. "In my dream, you rally a lynch mob and execute me while I'm tied to an apple tree."
"Oh Regina," Emma blurted before she could stop herself and cupped the other woman's face through the bars.
"Regina, I won't let it happen. I promise." Emma vowed to the broken woman across from her.
"Don't coddle me, Sheriff. When the time comes, I have no doubt my nightmare will become my reality." Regina scathed, but she didn't pull away from Emma's touch.
"I would never deign to coddle a queen, Your Highness," teased Emma, and Regina clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes at the absurdity of the statement.
"Yeah, I have no idea what that means, either." Emma chuckled at herself and then smiled when she noticed Regina's lips quirking into a reluctant smile.
"I'm sorry that I woke you. Do you think you can drift off once more?" Regina queried.
"I think I might try if you're okay."
Regina yawned in response, and Emma's smile grew. "I'll take that as a yes, then. That's good because it's way too early to be awake."
"Miss Swan?" Regina cracked one eye.
"Yeah?" Emma leaned in closer, expecting Regina to start a conversation.
"Shut up." Emma smiled wider at Regina's sass, despite the disappointment wiggling in her stomach. She'd wanted Regina to talk with her?
She pushed the thought away for later analyzing and settled onto her pillow. Regina's hand clenched hers and she cracked her eyes to find Regina's big brown eyes studying her face.
"You won't let go?" She glanced towards their joined hands, and Emma pressed Regina's hand into her chest.
"I'm right here," Emma whispered and then reached through the bars again to smooth Regina's hair from her face one more time.
Regina's eyes drifted closed at the contact and never reopened. Emma watched her for any sign of discomfort and traced her thumb across her temple until her breathing evened out and came through her lips in soft puffs. Slowly, afraid of jarring the other woman, Emma reclaimed her hand and settled it over their joined hands at her chest.
Somehow, in the midst of this insanity, she and Regina had begun a friendship, a union based on trust and mutual respect. Emma grinned at the thought and then clamped her eyes shut before her mind wondered to the kiss they shared only hours before and what exactly it meant. Perhaps it meant nothing, but perhaps it could have meant something more. Emma allowed her smile to grow and clutched at the warmth against her chest. For the first time, Emma fell asleep safely in the comfort that just maybe she didn't have to be alone anymore.
