Summary: Regina Mill is used to having everything done her way. She controls every little detail that goes on in her life and lives for straight lines and even numbers. Her world is suddenly taken by storm when she meets Emma Midas, another teen struggling with her own demons. Swan Queen.
Chapter Two: Second Time Around.
Two white and blue pills sat by an unopened bottle of bottle of water that was chilled to exactly thirty six degrees Fahrenheit. It was mocking her, reminding her of her inability to conceal even the slightest quirks about herself. Regina honestly didn't see what the big deal was. So she like things done in a particular way, it wasn't her fault that she cared about detail while everyone else went all willy nilly.
"Regina just take the freaking pills!" Zelena snapped, having watched her little sister's struggle. It didn't make sense to her why the brunette wouldn't just swallow the pills so they could have a few moments of peace.
"Zelena! Mind yourself!" Their step father Rupert Gold scolded the red head who rightly looked sheepish.
"I just want her to stop acting like a freak all the damn time..." Zelena muttered stabbing a piece of asparagus with her fork. Regina clenched her silverware tightly, grinding her teeth as she eyed her sister down honestly debating shanking her with it.
"If anybody is the freak it'd be you. Red frizzy hair and a perspiration problem,...you are practically the punch line of a bad joke." Regina remarked before her eyes trailed down to the pills again.
"Dear...please just take the medicine. Your water will be getting warm very soon." Cora looked at her youngest daughter with pity filled eyes. Regina exhaled deeply through her nose before she picked up the medicine and downed them with two thirds of the water. She had been taking pill after pill since she was twelve. Nearly half of her life was spent in a rug induced haze so that everyone around her didn't feel uncomfortable because she was a bit different. Dry mouth, hallucinations and insomnia were just a few of the side effects. Yet nobody cared because she was deemed 'normal' while under the effects of a clinical drug.
"Was that so hard?" Zelena smirked and Regina had enough. Slamming down her silverware and her napkin down on the table, she excused herself under the excuse that the medicine robbed her of her appetite before storming out. She could hear her mother begin to chew into her sister but that didn't matter. They never stopped Zelena until the damage was already done. Rushing up to the third floor of her home, her floor, she walked into her room and surveyed everything. Zelena had a habit of coming in and moving her things around to see if she could get a rise out of her. Moving her alarm clock back to the forty-five degree angle that it should be at, and stacking her posted notes in groups of three she was satisfied that she fixed everything.
Laying down on her queen sized canopy bed, she yawned suddenly sleepy. It seemed that the higher dosage made her drowsy, not that she was complaining. If she took a forty-three minute nap right now, she would be up before it was time to do her nightly routine. Calming down her mind and body was the hardest thing to do, but it was something that she went through every night. The only difference was instead of picturing herself on her stallion Rocinante as a calming method, she pictured green eyes. Thin pink lips turned upwards in the slightest of smirks. Platinum blonde hair bleached by the sun fell down in loose curls. She could ignore the fact that it looked like it hadn't seen a brush in over forty eight hours, or some shampoo in a longer stretch of time. She didn't focus in on the fact that the girl was the exact definition of a hot mess, crumpled beyond release. And while the girl's outward appearance would have been enough to stress Regina out beyond belief, the fact that it wasn't was what was stressing her!
"Emmalyn Midas.." The name rolled smoothly off the tip of her tongue, that darted out to wet her parted lips. The fact that the girl's name had an odd number of beats to it, five, instead of an even number would normally grind her gears, but it didn't...Why was this?
Regina could feel her irritation mount along with her confusion. She had only met the blonde for thirty seconds, and she wouldn't even call it a meeting because all they did was greet one another. However she could remember every single detail about what had occurred. The way hazel eyes caressed her body slowly as if she were stripping away her wrapping like a piece of gum waiting to be chewed up and spit out. The way pink lips pouted slightly at having been forced into Dr. Hopper's office. Regina wondered what was wrong with Emmalyn. She seemed normal, well normal enough by society's standards if not a bit inebriated. Glancing back to her alarm clock she could see that fifteen minutes had passed. Fifteen minutes she wouldn't be able to spend sleeping, that couldn't get back because she was sitting there thinking about Emmalyn Midas!
"Hey baby girl, are you hungry?" Victor asked his daughter who simply stormed passed him as his wife came in with an unamused look.
"I take it that it didn't go very well." Victor raised an eyebrow at the blonde who had come and tried to hide in his chest. Wrapping his arms around Ingrid's thin frame, he held her before pressing a kiss to her temple.
"She asked her therapist if he wanted to get high with her!" Ingrid exclaimed causing Victor to frown as he looked at the stairs.
"I'm sure it was a joke, you know how crass Emma can be." He wanted to wave off his wife's concerns.
"I don't care if it was or not! It's disrespectful Vic! He seems to agree with me, that we should stop her CannaKids treatment and look for into something else." Ingrid replied, sighing when her husband broke away from her.
"I didn't suggest we send her there for him to think that he can have an opinion on her medical decisions, babe. We aren't stopping her on CannaKids. That was the only way she could eat or function properly when the other medicines didn't work. Do you or do you not remember her getting headaches so bad she couldn't move for days on end? That it was so bad she couldn't even move to go to the bathroom?! How long has it been since she had a seizure on cannabis oils than the toxic shit that those hospitals try to shove down her throat?" Victor defended, watching his wife pinch the bridge of her nose in frustration.
"Look I'm not saying it didn't work. That it doesn't help somewhat but we can't keep letting her think that she can get away with the behavior that she has been displaying. She has been acting like a freaking drug dealer for Christ sake! You can lose the practice if someone finds out about what she's doing!" Ingrid protesting.
"So we give her a punishment! We aren't going to punish her by using her health against her. Shes simply acting out, babe." Victor stated.
"Acting out is one thing, but she is going to ruin everything if she keeps on this path! I get she's your little girl and you think she can do no wrong but it's time to take off your blinders!" Ingrid argued.
"Could you both just not?!" Emma interjected with tears in her eyes causing her parents to turn to her.
"Emma, you know you need to straighten yourself out!" Ingrid replied
"Yeah I know, I get it. Really I do! But you want to know what I also get?" Emma pursed her lips as she looked at her parents.
"I get that I'm never going to be the kid that you want. I can't be like you two! I'm not going to be able to go to the army, to be a teacher. A cop, firefighter or a pilot...Hell I might not even be able to drive like other kids my age. Nobody at school wants to talk to me, I can't play sports! On top of all of that I have to come home to you two,...you treat me like I'm stuck being that six year old girl. She's dead and gone! I can't do anything!" Emma screamed, her hands shaking as she fought to control her anger. Black spots started to cloud her vision as the sounds of a bell ringing went off in the background. The sound was annoying, and it was muffling whatever her parents were saying to her. She just wanted to hit that damn button and shut the clock up. However she found that she couldn't move.
"Emma?" Ingrid's eyes widen as she watched her daughter's eyes glaze over. However Victor was quick and when Emma's knees buckled he was there to catch her before she hit the ground. Violent tremors took a hold of the teen, as her father turned her body side ways and held her until the seizure ended sixty five seconds later. It was important to time them, if they went on longer than three minutes that's when they would have to seek immediate medical attention. Making sure nothing was blocking the teens air ways, he was relieved to see she hadn't bit down on her tongue. Compared to some of her other episodes, this one was mild but it also could have been avoided had Emma not been able to work herself up.
"Get a glass of water, Ingrid." Victor spoke in a calm tone, patting Emma's mused hair down. Ingrid hurried to do as he asked her, having done this dance numerous times.
"When was the last time she took some medicine?" Victor asked as the younger blonde filled up the glass with water from the Brita pitcher.
"I don't know, I haven't seen her take anything since we picked her up from the Station. I think they might have taken her pack." Ingrid answered sniffling.
"...Daddy?" Emma's voice sounded like she had a frog in her throat.
"It's okay baby, I've got you. Do you want some water?" He asked softly.
"No...M'tired." Emma murmured, her eyes fluttering.
"Go to sleep. I'll have Mama help you into your pajamas." Victor scooped up his teen daughter before walking towards the stairs with her. Looking back to make sure Ingrid was following, he started up the stairs and put Emma on her bed. Nothing hard was near or around her bed, and the carpet was the softest plush one available in case Emma had an episode when she was alone up here, it would reduce the risk of her ending up with brain trauma. Ingrid walked over to the drawers, pulling out an over sized shirt and a pair of loose plaid bottoms as Victor left to give them some privacy.
It was almost as if she could do this dance in her sleep as she dressed Emma in under five minutes before kissing her goodnight.
The Next Morning
Emma was still drowsily when she woke up and if she was being honest, just a little bit embarrassed. She knew it wasn't her fault that she wasn't always in control of what happened to her body. Lack of sleep, stress, getting sick or experiencing high anxiety were all triggers for her. It made her feel like she was wearing someone else skin. She wanted to make her own decisions and to tell her body not to rebel against what she was saying but it never seemed to work out that way. A knock at her door startled her and she turned to glare at the intruder.
"How'd you sleep?" Kathryn stepped into her little sister's room as she warily eyed the blonde.
"Fine." Emma replied curtly before placing her feet on the soft plush rug before stretching out slightly.
"I heard you had an episode. That's the longest time you went without one." Kathryn remarked, trying to make conversation not matter how awkward it may be.
"Actually I went a full six years without one. And last year I went almost a month." Emma snarked back, watching her sister exhale deeply.
"Are you going to act like this every time I come home to see you?" Kathryn asked in a patronizing tone.
"You don't have to come back here to see me, in fact I told you not to. Do you remember what you told Dad when he asked you why you wanted to go so far away for college?" Emma shot daggers at her sister who simply swallowed harshly.
"You wanted to get away from the freak show, and that meant getting as far away from me as possible! So why don't you do us both a favor and just stay gone?" Emma asked in a sickly sweet tone.
"I didn't mean it like that Ems, you know I love you." Kathryn shook her head sadly.
"You've got a funny way of showing it. I mean you never even once told me that I bothered you or was annoying in any type of way. Then all of a sudden you can't get away from me fast enough?" Emma scoffed.
"Of course I wouldn't tell you that! You took it all the wrong way. I just meant I wanted to go somewhere normal for a while. Some place where I don't have to walk on egg shells or hear my parents argue or cry at night!" Kathryn said, defending herself.
"Normal?...My life will never be normal. This is going to be my entire world, your just a visitor in it. Boo hoo you, you had to deal with me being an epileptic! I have to deal with it every fucking day!" Emma hissed, watching Kathryn's face fall.
"This conversation is going no where." Kathryn shook her head before storming out.
"Like I said, at the end of the day you get to leave. I'm the one stuck here dealing with it." Emma gritted out lowly, speaking more to herself than anything else. Clicking her teeth, she decided that she was going to go on about her day. Whether her mother agreed with it or not, the cannabis helped her. She was going to get it even if it meant having to break into her own foundation. Anything to be normal for a few hours.
AN:Thanks for the support. Tell me what you think about the chapter. Like it , hate it?