"Well, Mayor Swan, it looks like you've got a sprained ankle." Dr. Whale tells her after they've run a battery of tests and forced her to keep an oxygen mask on for far longer than she'd like. "Luckily, it's just a Grade I sprain, so healing time shouldn't be too long. We'll get some ice on it now and then wrap and elevate it in a bit."
Emma frowns at the prognosis, but she isn't surprised by it. She is surprised that it's only a Grade I sprain, but she's happy too. Less healing time is important. "And then I can go home?"
Dr. Whale frowns. "I'd like to keep you overnight, actually."
"For a sprained ankle?" Emma's on the verge of whining.
"You inhaled a lot of smoke."
"And you've given me plenty of oxygen already." Emma tries, but Dr. Whale is immovable on this.
"Madam Mayor, your safety is my top priority. I'll release you first thing in the morning, but for now, I want to be able to monitor your condition."
Emma opens her mouth to argue more, but is cut off by Mary Margaret, who had arrived at the hospital with Kathryn shortly after she herself had. "Dr. Whale is right, Emma. Your health is the most important thing right now."
"Yes, Mom." Emma grouses.
"We'll get you moved up to a private room in just a few moments, Madam Mayor."
"Thank you, Dr. Whale." Emma says, trying her hardest to actually sound thankful.
Kathryn and Mary Margaret are just getting her settled in when the door to her room bursts open and Henry comes rushing in.
"Emma!" The panic is back, Emma notes just before Henry throws himself on her.
"Henry!" Regina scolds from the doorway.
"Whoa, kid, it's okay." Emma embraces him for a moment before she gently pushes him back to look at him.
"They said you had to stay overnight."
Emma offers him a reassuring smile as he slips from the bed to stand beside her. "Dr. Whale is just being cautious because I'm the mayor." She rolls her eyes. "I just have a small sprain, that's all. I would've signed myself out against doctor's orders, but my moms over here wouldn't let me." Emma motions to Kathryn and Mary Margaret with her thumb. They both laugh. "Speaking of moms," she looks up at Regina who is hanging around just inside the door, "what was your prognosis, Miss Mills?"
"Clean bill of health. They kept me on the oxygen for a while, to be safe." Regina admits softly.
Emma smiles. "I'm glad you're okay."
Regina looks like she's about to say something when the door once again flies open and Graham comes through nearly hitting Regina. "Madam Mayor -"
He stops instantly when he realizes that Emma isn't alone in her room. Emma looks at him with a question in her gaze, but he refuses to meet her eyes. Instead he mumbles an apology to his deputy.
"Sheriff? What is it?" Emma can tell there's something he wants to say, as his eyes dart around taking in each person in the room. "Graham?"
His eyes fly back to hers. He clears his throat and shakes his head. "Nothing important, Madam Mayor."
She raises an eyebrow, clearly not believing him. "If it wasn't important, then why did you come over here?"
"Madam Mayor, I -"
"Graham, we've been friends for nearly ten years. I think while I'm lying in a hospital bed, you can call me Emma. And you can say whatever it is you need to say. There's no one here that I'd hide anything from."
Regina's eyebrow raises at that, but she doesn't speak.
"The fire inspector has finished his initial inspection of Town Hall."
"And? What did he find?"
Graham looks at everyone in the room before he focuses back on Emma. "He believes that it's possible that the fire didn't start on its own."
Kathryn and Mary Margaret both draw in deep breaths.
"Wait, you mean someone set the fire on purpose?" Henry asks, his face contorting as he tries to process the information.
"It's a possibility."
"But who would do that? And why?"
Emma and Graham share a look. Emma is well aware of what Graham is thinking. Her eyes warn him not to say anything.
"Someone who knew that the mayor would be at Town Hall, presumably by herself, and who wants her out of the way." Graham says, his voice almost a growl.
"Oh god. You don't think -" Mary Margaret's eyes go wide.
"Mary Margaret." Emma hisses, her eyes cutting to Henry.
"I do think that. Yes." Graham nods in the affirmative.
"Think what?" Henry asks.
"Graham, that is enough." Emma's voice is low.
"Emma, you and I both know that he wants your job. He won't win against you, but if you're dead -"
"What?" Henry gasps. "Someone's trying to kill you?"
"Enough!" Emma's voice echoes in the suddenly still room. Her eyes flash almost dangerously as they lock on Graham. "I would thank you to leave, Sheriff, and do not come back until you have concrete evidence of who set the fire - if anyone even did."
"Emma -" He protests, knowing that they'll never find evidence to tie anyone to the fire.
"Go. Now." Her demand is obvious and Graham turns and leaves, mumbling under his breath as he goes.
"Emma, if he's right -" Mary Margaret says, leaning over towards her.
"He isn't." Emma shakes her head.
"Emma -" Kathryn tries.
"He isn't right. Now we all need to stop this foolishness. The fire was caused by faulty wiring. That's all."
"And if it wasn't?" Regina has seen her share of shady things in the past, and even though her heart races just thinking of it, the way the fire had exploded that door wasn't natural.
"It was."
"Emma, is the sheriff right? Does someone want you dead?"
Emma shakes her head and offers Henry a smile. "No, Henry. This is a small town. I'm sure your mom can tell you that working in the sheriff's department - or anywhere else in town - can get boring after a while. This is the first exciting thing that's happened here in a while. So everyone just got a little over excited. But it was just an accidental fire. That's all."
Henry stares at her as though he's afraid she'll suddenly disappear. "You're sure?"
"I'm sure." Emma affirms. "And I'm also sure that it is way past my bedtime - and yours, mister - so you should all head out and let me catch up on my beauty rest, huh?"
Henry opens his mouth to protest that it isn't that late at all but Regina beats him to it. "Mayor Swan is right Henry, it's getting late and I'm sure she's tired. We need to leave her to her rest. But maybe we can stop in the cafeteria on the way home and get some ice cream."
"Hey! No fair!" Emma complains good naturedly from the bed, still trying to keep up appearances that everything's fine.
Henry glances between his two mothers, looking almost conflicted. "Mom?"
"I guess I could bring a dish up for Mayor Swan, if Mrs. Nolan and Ms. Connor don't mind watching you for a few minutes."
"Of course we don't mind." Mary Margaret smiles at Henry, before leaning over to give Emma a hug and a kiss on the forehead.
Kathryn repeats the gesture, minus the kiss. "Call me when Dr. Whale gives you the okay to go home tomorrow. I'll come spring you, since Mary Margaret will be at school."
Henry squeezes her tightly and plants a quick kiss to her cheek. "Bye, Emma." He whispers into her hair.
She hugs him back just as tightly, savoring the embrace, knowing that it is likely their last before she kisses his temple quickly. "Goodbye, Henry." She whispers, trying her best to mask her tears.
She doesn't let them fall until she's alone in the room.
Regina places the dish of ice cream down on the small tray table in front of Emma. The mayor is lying back, her eyes closed, but she smiles gently and offers a soft "thank you". Regina looks over her (ignoring the tear tracks she can plainly see) before she settles into the chair next to Emma's bed, never making a sound.
"You lied." Regina's voice is quiet in the room when she finally speaks, barely audible above the sounds of the hospital around them.
Emma's eyes open and she looks with surprise to where Regina is still sitting next to her.
"You lied to Henry."
"Well," Emma exhales slowly, "there's one more reason why I'll never be able to take Henry from you. You can tell the court I'm a liar."
"Emma!" Regina hisses.
Emma pushes herself up into a sitting position, looking at Regina. "I protected Henry. Isn't that what mothers are supposed to do?"
"You're not -" Regina begins automatically, but she manages to stop herself. Emma still grimaces as she lets her eyes go closed again. "What were you protecting Henry from?"
Emma just shrugs. "The truth, I suppose." She opens her eyes to look at Regina. "You're leaving tomorrow and I don't want him worrying about me. I don't want him thinking of me at all." The last part is barely a whisper, but Regina hears it, because how could she not?
"So you think someone is trying to kill you?" Regina says after the silence has become too loud.
"Graham thinks someone is trying to kill me."
"But you believe him - about the fire and the possibility that someone wants you dead."
"I wish I didn't." Emma says. "But, yes, to answer your question, I guess I believe that there's a possibility that someone wants me… out of the way."
"And you know who this person is."
"After our former mayor died, we held an election. There was only one name on the ballot."
"Yours."
"No. Mr. Gold's."
"Mr. Gold?"
"He owns most of the town and is… not the nicest of characters. But he's been eying the mayor seat forever. And with his name on the ticket, no one else wanted to run. But no one wanted him as their mayor either. It was Mary Margaret - although she'll never admit it - who started off the idea of me for mayor. And god knows why, but it spread like wildfire, and before I knew it, I'd won the election by write in votes. Gold wasn't exactly pleased with the outcome."
"And with you out of the way…"
Emma nods. "The stupid thing is, I never wanted to be mayor. I never wanted anyone to need me, to depend on me. But Storybrooke wanted me. They needed me. And I didn't want to let them down."
"And now you might get killed for them."
For a long time, they're quiet, mulling over the truth that Regina has just spoken - the truth that neither of them wants to admit is true.
"I didn't want to upset Henry any more." Emma admits after the silence has stretched and worn thin between them.
"What?"
"That's the real reason I lied. I didn't want him to get any more upset than he already was, and I knew Graham talking about someone trying to kill me would just make things worse."
"Things? What things?"
Emma chews her bottom lip while she mulls over the words she needs to say. "Henry was upset earlier. He was very worried about you and me. And… he begged me not to die… like his dad did."
Regina's eyes close tightly against those words and she lets out a shaky breath. "Oh god."
"I'm sorry, Regina, I -"
Regina waves a hand, cutting off whatever else Emma was going to say - not that the mayor is all too sure of what that was.
Emma aches to reach out to Regina, but she looks lost in her thoughts, frozen, like she had been in the fire. Oh. Emma blinks hard as everything falls into place. "It was a fire, wasn't it?"
Regina nods, fighting back tears. She will not cry in front of Emma Swan, no matter what has happened today.
Emma swallows all the platitudes and sympathies that threaten to spill out of her mouth. Regina has probably had far too many of those and there's no way she wants them from Emma of all people. So she keeps her mouth shut and waits.
"Daniel was working as a farm hand when we met. But he wanted to be more, to do more. He wanted to make a difference. After we got married and adopted Henry, he started training to become a firefighter." The words are choked.
"You don't have to -"
"There was an apartment fire. A family was inside. They had a little girl Henry's age. Daniel went in and -"
Emma does reach over then and grasps Regina's hand, squeezing it tightly to offer whatever comfort she can. Regina stares at their entwined hands uncomprehendingly, but she doesn't pull away.
"He got them all out. He had just handed the little girl off to a firefighter waiting to carry her down the ladder to safety when the roof collapsed."
"Jesus." Emma whispers, everything inside of her aching for Henry and Regina and what they'd been through.
"They brought me his hat. I didn't want to believe it was his but - he, uh, he had a picture of me and Henry that he carried in it. It was burnt around the edges but - it was us."
"Oh god. Regina."
Regina clears her throat and shakes her head. "That's why Henry was upset."
"I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry."
"You had nothing to do with the fire." Regina says and Emma isn't sure which fire she's referring to. She's not sure Regina is either. "There's nothing to be sorry for."
"Regina -"
Regina stands and pulls her hand away. She turns so she is facing Emma, her eyes dry. "There is nothing to be sorry for, Madam Mayor. I'm glad that you're okay. Goodbye."
Emma watches her go, knowing this will likely be the last time she sees the other woman. "Regina? Thank you. For everything. Tell Henry -" she stops, unable to say the words. She cannot ask this of Regina, not now. She shakes her head. "Goodbye."
Regina nods and quickly exits the hospital room.
It isn't until she's back at Granny's, with Henry tucked safely in bed sound asleep, and the shower turned up as hot as it will go, that she allows herself to break. She slides to the bottom of the shower and allows the water to cover her tears and muffle her sobs.
Regina wakes early the next morning - if it can even be called waking when she'd hardly slept at all - determined to leave Storybrooke behind as soon as possible. She gently nudges Henry, trying to get him awake enough to stumble to the car. Once he's buckled in, he can go right back to sleep.
"Come on, Henry. We need to go." She says as she tries to lift him.
"Mmm, five more minutes, Mom." He mumbles against her shoulder.
She grunts as she tries to pick him up. He's certainly gotten heavier than he used to be and her already tired and aching body screams in protest. What she wouldn't give for a day at the spa. "Oh, I can't carry you, buddy. I need you to wake up for me. We need to go to the car, okay?"
"Why?" Comes through, garbled by sleep.
"Because we're leaving."
Suddenly, Henry stiffens in her arms. "What?" He pulls back, his eyes alert now.
"We're leaving." Regina repeats.
"No!" Henry pulls away, jumping off the bed and staring up at her with wide eyes. "No, we can't leave!"
"Henry, we've talked about this -"
"Yeah, but that was before. We can't just leave Emma, mom!"
"Henry -"
"Someone is trying to kill her!" Henry shouts, trying to make her see reason.
"Emma told you yesterday -"
"She lied! She didn't want me to be upset. But she knows it's true. We can't leave. We have to save her. You have to protect her."
"Me?" Regina asks incredulously.
"You saved her yesterday!"
"Just because I saved Emma yesterday, it doesn't mean -"
"Yes it does! That's exactly what it means!"
"Enough. Emma is fine and we are leaving."
"But why?" Henry asks, trying to make sense of it all. "Don't you like it here?"
"We don't belong here. We belong in Boston."
"No we don't!" Henry frowns. "This is where we belong. It's exactly what it was supposed to be like. Little town, little house -"
"Stop it, Henry." Regina warns, his words hitting too close to home.
"No!" Henry juts out his chin defiantly. "If dad were here -"
"What did I say?"
"This is exactly the kind of place Dad wanted us to live in! And if he were here right now -"
"Henry, I said stop it."
"He wouldn't want us to leave. He'd want us to stay and save Emma. He wanted to save everyone. You think I don't remember but I do. And if he was still alive -"
"He isn't!" Regina screams suddenly, grabbing onto Henry's shoulders and shaking him. "God damn it, Henry. He isn't alive! He isn't!"
Henry lets out a startled cry, tears slipping down his cheeks. In all of his life, his mother has never once raised her voice to him, let alone grabbed him.
At the sound of Henry's cry, Regina gasps and drops her hands, moving back away as though she's burned herself. Henry stares at her for a few long seconds before he grabs his backpack and takes off at a run, still wearing his Iron Man footie pajamas.
"Henry! Oh god. Henry!" Regina calls after him, but she cannot bring herself to go after him. She's horror-stricken at what she's just done, at who she has allowed herself to become in those few seconds when she'd lost control.
As she helplessly looks in the mirror across the room beside the door that Henry has left gaping open, it isn't her own reflection she sees, but rather the one of the woman she swore she'd never be like - her mother.