Greetings Doves! So, please forgive my lack of medical knowledge. I just wrote what seemed plausible and worked for my purposes. That said, be gentle if I've totally screwed something up. I rewrote this one at least 5 different times. It'll break your heart, but it just simply had to be this way.

Thank you for all of your wonderful reviews and follows. They truly brighten my day.

Enjoy Lovelies!

Songs: We Found Love by Ed Sheeran, Fix You by Mysha Didi (cover that is so much better than Coldplay's original)


When Regina materialized outside Emma's room, she was moving, like she'd only been walking down the hall instead of rearranging all of her molecules in order to teleport from one place to another. Dr. Zambrano leaned over Emma's stomach area while a nurse held Emma's gown just below her breasts. Had she torn stitches loose when she woke up? Before anyone warned her against it, Regina stepped into the room and crossed to the foot of Emma's bed.

Her blood ran cold. A hole about the size of a nickel bled slightly just below her belly button, a six inch incision ran along the right side of her ribs, presumably to drain the fluid that had built up in her chest and possibly to repair her lung, and another about the same length stretched horizontally across her belly about 3 inches above the bullet's entry hole. Regina shivered.

"Gina…" Emma said drowsily. "Want. 'Gina." Her green eyes crossed and then focused as she fought through the sedative haze. It took Regina a moment to realize that Emma wasn't actually speaking to her. She called out for her. Dr. Zambrano tossed her a sympathetic gaze and then returned to the bullet hole that trickled with blood.

"I'm sorry, Regina. I didn't want to give her enough to knock her out lest she slipped back into the coma. We need to keep her awake for a little while longer. I'll give her some pain medication after the sedative wears off, it will lessen the risk of her going back under too deeply," the doctor explained while she worked. Her shoulders were tensed and a pained expression fell across her usually placid features.

"Doctor, are you alright?" Regina asked carefully. They hadn't yet reached friend status, but they weren't exactly unconnected either.

"She's in pain," Dr. Zambrano whispered, voice harsh as though she fought tears of her own.

"She's been shot, of course she's in pain," Regina snipped before she stopped herself.

"Kim, please give us a moment alone," she asked politely of her assisting nurse who nodded uncertainly and then left the room without question.

"It's not that kind of pain, Regina," the healer paused her work and wiped her forehead with her arm. "I hadn't felt it before when she was in the coma because her feelings and intentions were dulled, but now…" she woman shuddered, and Regina clenched her hands into fists, stopped them from reaching out to the woman. What a curse to feel everyone's pain simply by touching them.

"Her pain might actually be worst than yours," the doctor admitted before she thought about the implications of her words. How much should be revealed? How far could she go before she betrayed Emma? Regina waited impatiently for the doctor to continue.

"She needs help, Regina," she straightened and fixed Regina with hazy, tortured eyes. "She's not going to make it much longer. Most scientists don't believe in souls, but I've felt too many things in my life not to, and hers is letting go. It might be the reason why it took her so long to snap out of her coma. The anger you've felt your entire life? The pain and suffering you went through, you used your magic and your power to alleviate that strain. It cost you a bit more grief in the form of guilt for what you've done, but it was an outlet, no matter how unhealthy. Emma went through the same type of pain in the foster system, no outlet, no parents.

"I know what your mother did to you, but in her own sick way she loved you and took care of you the best way she knew how. Emma never had that, and now hers might be dead. She wants to save you so desperately so that Henry will have someone to look out for him, to love him like neither of you ever had. And then… she…"

"Doctor, are you telling me that Emma Swan intends to take her own life?" It wasn't true. It couldn't be, not her Emma.

"Yes," the tortured woman breathed and then steeled herself with a deep breath as she resumed her work on Emma's stomach.

Her face twisted when she touched Emma and a solitary tear slid down her nose and dripped onto the blanket covering Emma's hips. One touch from Emma reduced this woman to tears, someone who had probably seen more suffering than Regina had caused. Regina felt a tear of her own tumble down her cheek and wiped it away quickly. Despite what she'd told Emma the night she confessed her crimes against Belle, Regina never truly wished to die.

It wasn't a surprise with this knowledge why Emma barely ate and tossed through disturbed sleep night after night. She wanted to save everyone, and then she wanted to disappear.

Regina stepped around the bed and leaned over Emma's face, tucking some blonde hair behind and ear. "Don't you dare leave me," Regina whispered when Emma's eyes finally focused on hers, and then she lowered her mouth to Emma's. It was light, a chaste promise of things to come if the savior clung to life, clung to her, instead of letting go.

"Regina?" Emma questioned groggily, eyes crossing once before refocusing.

"I'm here," Regina smoothed her hair. "I've always been right here. Let me take your pain, Emma," Regina pleaded, knowing that Emma comprehended very little of what she was saying.

"I'm strong enough, Emma, if you let me be." Tears dripped onto Emma's chest, and Regina cared nothing about them, let the world see her love for this woman.

Dr. Zambrano finished her work and then ripped her gloves off. She tossed them into the hazardous waste trash can and then braced herself against the sink. Her shoulders shook violently with silent tears.

"Regina," she whispered, not bothering to turn and look at the woman, not stopping to see if the dark woman listened. "Tell her that you'd never hurt her the way you hurt Belle."

"No," Regina whispered as her head snapped towards the woman's back. "Please," she begged and then turned her eyes back to Emma's face when the other woman offered nothing else.

"I've said too much. I should go. I'll be back in about an hour to give her some morphine," Dr. Zambrano said and left the room before Regina asked her to stay and tell her more of Emma's fears and reservations.

Regina studied Emma's slack face and unfocused eyes. The medication was a mercy if Emma truly felt the amount of pain that Dr. Zambrano had, except she felt it all day every day. Yet, somewhere inside of her, she found the heart to fake smiles and save lives.

She grabbed the chair and shoved it against the bed without removing her hand from Emma's face. Slowly, she lowered her shaking body to the chair. Her head nestled against Emma's shoulder, and her hand slid to Emma's shoulder, holding her chest above her incisions and injuries. Her other hand slid beneath Emma's forearm and held it tightly. The position wasn't particularly comfortable, but it was one that she maintained for a long time.

Ruby slipped into the room a little while later, and Regina only rolled her eyes towards her. They hadn't a clue what torture Emma felt by simply being awake, and they selfishly begged her to return everyday. Somewhere in Emma's unconscious state, she'd heard them and came back so they avoided their pain while she slowly deteriorated within her own. Big, stupid, beautiful heart.

"How is she?" Ruby asked when she stopped across from Regina. Though jumpy and wound tightly, the wolf seemed to have calmed considerably from her angry haze.

"Breathing and awake," Regina answered cryptically, not sure what else she could say now that she knew Emma's psychological state. She wasn't fine and wouldn't be for a long time.

"Where's Belle?"

"Henry wanted her close in case he had another nightmare," Ruby shrugged. She probably wouldn't be much help with Emma anyway. She'd only known the woman for a day, so supporting Henry was a much better use of her time.

Ruby sniffed the air, smelled the tears and the fear but decided not to call Regina out on it. Instead, she touched Emma's hair and then pressed her lips to her friend's temple. A single tear slipped down the injured woman's face, but that was the only indication that she was even remotely aware of what happened around her. Regina suspected the sedative was wearing off more quickly than anticipated because Emma had stopped refocusing her eyes some time ago and stared blankly at the wall across from her. She'd said nothing, though, so Regina allowed the silence to stretch.

"You scared the shit out of us," she whispered into blonde hair.

Regina sat up and gently brushed Emma's tear from her cheek. "It's okay, Emma. I know you're hurting. It's okay to hurt," Regina caught Emma's green eyes finally, recognizing the hollowness of cognitive mechanization. Emma was empty, already shutting everything down again in order to protect those she loved. Regina refused to let her.

"It's okay, Emma," she whispered and cupped her cheek. "Let it go, Darling. I'll hold you together. I'm here," her final words broke through Emma's walls, reflecting the words they'd said to each other that night at the station when Emma had broken down and then Regina woke her with a nightmare.

Ruby observed the interaction, knowing for certain now that there was more happening than she understood. Something in Emma crashed. Her chin quivered and then tears cascaded onto her cheeks in rapid torrents. Regina clenched her hand tightly and then stood and slid her other arm beneath Emma's neck, cradling her head gently against her neck.

"I'll go get the doc," Ruby whispered to Regina who nodded without looking.

"I've got you, Emma. I'll never you go." Regina pulled back enough to look into Emma's eyes, their faces only an inch apart.

"I love you," her voice was a breathy, ragged whisper, but Emma heard it. Her eyes jerked suddenly to Regina's and more tears spilled.

"And I will never hurt you, not intentionally," Regina continued, encouraged by Emma's slight reaction. "I'm not perfect, Darling. I'll make mistakes, but I'll never hurt you intentionally. You saved my life. Let me save yours," Regina begged and took a calming breath before her own tears broke free.

"I'm strong enough now, Emma. You gave me your strength. Let me give some of it back. You don't have to ever love me or feel obligated to reciprocate my feelings in any way. It won't change anything, I promise. My heart," Regina pressed Emma's hand to her chest and held it there.

"It's yours, Emma Swan. I offer you my heart freely and honestly and unselfishly, which means I'll put you first, regardless of how you feel about me. You don't have to be alone anymore, Emma, because you are loved. It will be right here," she tapped here finger on the back of Emma's hand, "waiting if you should ever want it." Regina took another calming breath, forcing her own fear of being so vulnerable to the back of her mind. She was terrified, but Emma needed to hear what she kept so closely guarded. She needed a reason to live. She needed to know that she was loved unconditionally. Without Henry and the charming idiots present, that privilege fell on her shoulders.

"Your heart," Regina released Emma's hand, surprised and encouraged when Emma held it against her chest of her own accord.

She was getting through to her. She touched Emma's chest lightly, first with two fingertips and then rested her palm over Emma's heart. The rapid thumping caught Regina off guard, and she faltered for a moment. Emma wasn't really reacting outwardly, but she most certainly reacted with an abundance of emotion on the inside.

"Your beautiful, forgiving heart, Emma Swan. It's broken, but I think I can help you put it back together if you let me," Regina pleaded with the silent woman, eyes flicking back and forth as she searched Emma's.

They stared for a long moment, and then Emma's forehead furrowed slightly. Her eyes slipped shut. More tears fell onto her pale face. She nodded, imperceptibly at first and then twice in quick succession as her chin quivered violently. Regina had gotten through, and finally her own tears leaked out and splashed against the thin gown covering Emma's chest. She dared not wipe them, not when her hands were occupied with such precious things.

Dr. Zambrano cleared her throat from the doorway, green and brown eyes flicked toward her and then immediately settled back into a comfortable gaze with each other. Dr. Zambrano managed a small smile despite remembering Emma's pain. Regina Mills, Evil Queen, Mayor, and bitch royale had succeeded in bypassing Emma's defenses. She might just save The Savior after all.

"Miss Swan, I'm Dr. Zambrano. You can call me Eva. Are you in considerable pain? Do you need another dose of morphine?"

Emma desperately wanted to stay awake, to say something, terrified that Regina would disappear if she closed her eyes for a while, but she hadn't the energy or the willpower to force herself. When she nodded at the doctor's question, her fingertips dug into Regina's chest. Regina reluctantly removed her hand from the soothing thump of Emma's heart and cupped her face.

"Sleep, Darling. I'll be here when you wake," Regina assured her and then nodded towards Eva when Emma's watery eyes slipped shut. Either from the pain in her torn up torso or her words, she didn't know.

The doctor took her cue and quickly administered the medicine before Emma changed her mind. They all held their breaths until Emma drifted off a few seconds later. Ruby crossed her arms over her chest and moved from the spot where she'd been lurking near the door. Regina held her gaze for a moment and then sank back into the chair beside Emma.

"I'll make sure they aren't late with her medicine. Normally, I wouldn't demand such a thing because emergencies do arise, but this is an emergency situation. If she panics again, which is likely to happen, she'll end up back in surgery. I'll have someone bring a cot for you and check back with you early tomorrow morning," Eva said calmly.

"Not too early," Regina implored, and Eva's forehead bunched at the odd request. "Emma hates mornings," Regina explained. Dr. Zambrano nodded once and then slipped out the door.

"What do you want me to tell Henry?" Ruby asked once they were alone. Regina sighed.

"I don't know. He shouldn't see Emma like this, for her sake as well as his," Regina sorted her thoughts aloud.

"Tell him… tell him that Emma said that she loves him, but she needed to get stronger because she wanted to listen to his stories when he visited," Regina made up the lie easily, knowing if Emma were in a better place, she might have said the same exact thing.

"I'll ask her what she wants to do when she wakes up enough to speak," Regina promised the young wolf.

"It's bad, isn't it?" Ruby asked in a small voice more befitting a child than the acting sheriff. She wasn't Emma Swan, and the responsibility of this town quickly tore down her reserve energies. She just wanted to be Ruby again, not Deputy Red, but once she'd heard Regina's soft pleas a few minutes ago, she knew her strength was require for a little while longer. Emma was completely incapacitated, stuck in her own mind, and asking her to make decisions concerning the sheriff's department expected too much from her injured friend.

"Did you touch Dr. Zambrano?" Regina asked, leaving Ruby's question hanging in the air. A response would have been redundant.

"No, why would I?" Ruby's hip cocked to one side, her irritated sass demanding answers. Sometimes Regina was the most infuriatingly cryptic and secretive woman on the planet.

"Good. Don't. She's a soul-seer," Regina explained, eyes still fixed on Emma's face. Ruby gasped.

"I thought they were a myth," Ruby glanced behind her in search of the woman in question. Goosebumps sprang up on her arms, making her skin tingle and tighten.

"Apparently not. To the point, Miss Lucas, it hurts Dr. Zambrano when you touch her. So don't, and inform Miss French of the situation. I need her focused on Emma, not on our pathetic lives," Regina snipped. She cared for the young woman, but right now she simply wished her to go away. Ruby sensed it.

"Okay. Call me if you need anything. I'll drop by tomorrow morning to check on her and bring you some clothes and breakfast." Regina's eyes met hers for that statement. She hadn't even thought about taking care of herself. She pulled her keys out of her jacket and tossed them at Ruby.

"Miss Lucas," Regina called when Ruby turned to leave. "If she is willing, have Miss French keep Henry at home tomorrow. He's bright enough to realize that something very serious is happening and would probably do best distracted in the dust and grime of her library. He's quite taken with her." Ruby grinned at Henry's little crush, nodded, and turned towards the door.

"Ruby?" She stopped and spun on her heel again. "Thank you." The wolf nodded, waiting for a few moments to see if anything else came to Regina's mind, and then left.

It was all Regina could do for this day. Her son was looked after by people who adored him and whom he adored. Emma woke up, and Regina had breeched her nearly impenetrable walls. She hadn't killed or maimed anyone. It had been a good day, - an exhausting and emotionally challenging day, but a good one. When the cot arrived, she pushed it against Emma's bed and readily gave herself to its flimsy mattress and scratchy linens. Her back would surely ache in the morning.

She found Emma's hand in the darkness and gripped it tightly, hoping she didn't slip away in the night and leave Emma untouched.

She awoke to an infernal cacophony of horrid bass and drums attached to lurid and hideous lyrics she'd never heard in her life.

"I'm in love wit a stripper. She poppin' she rollin' she rollin.' She climbin' that pole, and I'm in love wit a stripper." Regina fumbled with her crumpled jacket that she'd tossed beneath the cot last night, trying to locate the source of the sound.

"She trippin' she playin' she playin.' I'm not goin' nowhere, girl, I'm stayin. I'm in love with a stripper." Her fingers slid around her cell phone, and she cracked her angry eyes, squinting against the light. The blinds to Emma's room had been opened, and Regina snarled at the bright light.

Ruby Lucas, the screen informed her of the caller's identity, and she punched the button quickly to stop the racket blaring from her speakers.

"Miss Lucas," her gravelly, unused voice greeted Ruby's ears. "I swear to everything unholy if you change my ring tone one more time, I will have wolf pup kabobs for dinner." And, the first death threat of the day.

She laid back on the cot until she realized that Emma's nurse stared at her from across the bed. Her cheeks burned at the mixture of terror and amusement on the young woman's face. She jerked up quickly and turned her back on the woman.

"Yes, yes, you're an Evil Regal and all that. Actually, that's a fantastic nickname. We should start a support group for everyone in Storybrooke who doesn't want you dead and name them that. You can be Mama Regal!" Ruby quipped, pleased with her witty idea.

"Miss Lucas!" Regina barked and massaged her temple with two fingertips of her free hand. She needed nearly as much coffee to handle Ruby as she did to sufficiently entertain Henry's early morning chittering.

She imagined Ruby shaking her head as she refocused her thoughts. "Look, we have a… It's not bad, nothing to get worked up about. We're not even sure how it happened. Look, just come down to the emergency room. Henry's fine, but he got burned. He's okay…" Regina pulled the phone from her ear, not bothering to listen to anything beyond Henry being in the emergency room. Emma had just gotten her shot of morphine, so she'd be unconscious for a few hours more.

She slid into her heels and then poofed from her cot. The nurse shook her head with a small smile and swayied her hips as the beat and rhythm repeated over in her head. Seeing the not-so-evil queen wake to such a song had created a gleeful mood that would last all day.

Regina hadn't a clue where Henry was, so she simply appeared at the front doors and then stomped towards the triage rooms, ignoring the fear or shock that surrounded her from the unsuspecting citizens of Storybrooke. A nurse snagged her arm and pointed at a room. Having been the one who completed Henry's initial examination, she knew it would only be a matter of time before Regina appeared and had waited patiently for the rigid woman.

"What the hell happened?" Regina demanded as she entered the room. Ruby, Belle and Henry looked up at her sharp voice. The women were on either side of her son. Belle's hand dotingly rubbed Henry's back while Ruby's were shoved into her black slacks.

"We don't know," Belle answered.

"It happened in my dream, Mom, the one about the room of fire and the woman. She talked to me last night. She said her name was Aurora and that she was with Grams and Gramps in the Enchanted Forest," Henry explained hurriedly. Regina bristled to hear her son call Snow and her prince by their familial titles but pushed it aside for later consideration.

Ruby side-stepped Regina as she took up residence beside her son and retreated to the other side of the bed. She slipped her arms around Belle's waist from behind and rested her head atop Belle's hair. Her best friend was alive and communicating with them somehow, and it made her quiet with excitement and also fear that she may never return.

"They're alive, then," Regina breathed in relief. She hadn't thought she cared as much as she did, but Emma deserved a chance to know her parents, no matter what they'd done to her in the past.

"Aurora said they are looking for a way to open a portal. Gramps and Captain Hook climbed up a beanstalk to get an enchanted compass. They're up there now. Hook was working with Cora, but he switched sides when she left him to the ogres," Henry gushed excitedly, not fully understanding the impact of his words.

"Cora?" Regina's heart pounded wildly in her chest. Her mother wasn't dead, and she intended to come for her. She knew it without Henry asking Aurora.

"Ruby?" Regina's wide eyes caught hers. Her arms tightened around Belle unconsciously. "I need to… Can you?" Ruby nodded, miraculously understand Regina's request.

"Henry," Regina held his face in her hands. "Ruby and I are going to go talk to Mr. Gold. Promise me that you will stay with Belle?" He nodded, and she kissed his forehead.

"Can we go see Emma when we're finished here?" He asked with big sad eyes. He and Ruby must be teaching each other their tricks. Emma had just been pumped full of stout pain medicine meant to keep her semi-conscious, so Regina conceded to his request.

"Of course, Sweetheart. Just be careful. You may only touch her hands, okay? She's hurt very badly." Regina instructed carefully, and he nodded, absorbing every detail, and was contented to followed every command if it meant he'd see his other mother. Regina flicked her eyes to Belle's, ensuring that the woman understood as well.

"I love you, Henry." She kissed his forehead again and then left the room before her resolve weakened. If it kept Cora in the Enchanted Forest, she intended to make a deal with the devil once more.

Ruby pressed a kiss to the side of Belle's head, ruffled Henry's hair, and followed Regina with her hands shoved into her pockets. She might have grinned at the wave of terror that followed Regina through the waiting room, but the situation called for her full attention. She hadn't the luxury of getting sidetracked. They needed her: Belle, Henry, Regina, Emma, Granny, the whole damn town who incessantly called upon her for every tiny thing that could be resolved if they used common sense. If that was how Emma felt, Ruby wasn't surprised she cracked under the pressure. Her life, though painful and dark at times, hadn't been nearly as difficult as Emma's, and she'd forgotten that the savior was only human. She wasn't invincible or larger than life. She was just a woman doing what she could to get by and protect those she cared about.

Every single person in this town had failed Emma, everyone except Regina. Sure, the former mayor had acted nastily towards her at first, but even then she'd seen the cracks in Emma's walls and used them to her advantage. She'd never seen her as anything but a flawed woman. Ruby walked behind Regina and hung her head in shame, silently berating herself for becoming entranced in Henry's fantasy world of dark and light, good and evil.

They were all just flawed people doing the best they could with the hand life dealt them.