Emma had a pretty good idea of how torqued Regina was going to be with her when she returned that night. She imagined Regina's wrath would be at an all time high. She had expected it though when she made the decision that morning.
She had woken to find Regina still in a deep sleep and she was unsure she had even moved throughout the evening. Getting dressed – even taking a shower – hadn't phased Regina at all so after standing next to the bed considering her next move, she bent down and gave Regina a kiss on the forehead and then took the phone and left. Even taking her phone Emma expected that it wouldn't be long before Regina woke. Once she checked the water levels – discovering that Regina's magic worked (better than Regina had indicated) and that there were a lot of happy townspeople thinking she could do it again that day – she knew she had to do something.
Approaching Gold for help was the one thing that she was sure Regina would be the most upset about. Regina avoided Gold at all costs nowadays – having written him off completely after Emma had taken on the Dark One's curse.
For once Emma was trying to be the more practical one however. She had no desire to speak with Gold, but the way she looked at it, he owed her now and she was going to cash in on it. Surprisingly enough Gold did not haggle with her and seemed anxious to have her leave so she got what she needed and went back to the mansion. Everyone was gone at this point except Granny and a still-sleeping Regina.
Emma explained to Granny that she had obtained a spell that would block Regina's magic, although Gold said he didn't believe it would last more than 12 hours, if that. It wasn't a strong enough spell to block magic from a strong magic wielder like Regina for very long. Emma didn't need it to last long she figured; just long enough for Regina to come to her own conclusion that trying magic right now was not a good thing. Still when she saw Regina lying there sound asleep she began to worry. If it weren't for Granny being there she probably would have had Regina rushed to the hospital.
Granny as always had some words of wisdom, telling her to remain calm because it was Emma herself who had said how exhausted Regina was. Despite not wanting to leave until Regina woke, Emma had responsibilities that needed carried out that day in town – especially with Regina MIA when people were actively seeking her out.
Regina would find out how successful she was with getting the water to recede and once she saw how relieved the townspeople were, Emma knew Regina would want to try again immediately. Emma needed to stop that from happening. The overuse of her magic was clearly taking a toll on the mayor. The townspeople who were ecstatic over the idea of returning to their homes would not see how tired Regina was, but Emma saw it and her need to protect Regina – even from herself – was in full gear.
Of course now she would have to face the consequences of those actions. She wished she had some flowers or something to maybe lessen the blow.
She came in through the back – thinking she would gauge Regina's mood from talking with Granny one more time, but as soon as she entered there was Regina in the kitchen, apparently helping with dinner.
"Hey," Emma said, not really sure what she should say. "Dinner smells good."
Regina ignored her.
"It should be done momentarily," Granny said. "Why don't you wash up."
"Yeah," Emma said keeping her eyes on Regina as she walked through the kitchen. Regina didn't look at her once. Apparently she was going to be getting the silent treatment.
She ran up the stairs, checking in with Henry first. "How pissed off is she on a scale of 1 to 10?" Emma asked.
Henry seemed to think about it. "A 3."
"Really?" Emma said. "10 is the highest on the scale."
"I know how the scales work," Henry said with a tone that reminded Emma of Regina. This kid was definitely their kid. "She's not that mad. If she was she wouldn't be in the kitchen helping with dinner."
"Well she gave me the silent treatment when I went through there."
"That just means she doesn't want to speak to you where others will hear it."
"That's not exactly comforting," she said.
Henry shrugged. "I think she is more upset that you took her phone. When grandma got here, she asked to use her phone immediately so she could get updates on what's going on around town. Grandma filled her in so she knows about the water."
Emma who had been standing took a seat on the bed. "You know she's going to want to use her magic again to make the water go away even more?"
"Yep. She was even discussing where to do it at next."
The water hadn't just receded by a couple of feet due to Regina's magic, like she had thought. When the sun had risen, the water had receded back to where several more blocks were now clear of water. The work crews had spent most of the day tearing down some of the barriers and moving them up to the new water lines in order to begin clean up in the now water free sections. Every one was amazed and they were crediting Regina for it and wanting her to repeat it.
"I asked her not to do it," Henry said as Emma had fallen silent.
"What did she say?"
"She said like many things in her life, she didn't feel like she had a choice in the matter," Henry said. "She seemed sad."
Emma bit her bottom lip – she knew this was going to happen. She knew Regina would not be able to tell the townspeople no. That put Emma in the unenviable position of having to tell both Regina and the town no. The other people, they didn't know Regina like she did, they didn't see how much the constant use of her magic was wearing her down. Or maybe they didn't care.
While the sentiment against Regina had changed drastically over the years, it didn't mean that there weren't people who would look at this and think that Regina owed it to them to do it.
"What are you going to do?" Henry asked.
"I don't know yet," Emma said. "Reason with her, I guess."
"Do you think that will work?"
She gave him a look that told him the answer to that was a definite no.
….
When Emma went upstairs to wash up, Regina allowed herself to breathe again. She had purposely concentrated on the task at hand to make it easier for her to ignore the blonde when she returned home.
"She wouldn't have done what she did if she didn't care," Granny said.
Regina turned toward her, not sure whether to tell the older woman to mind her own business or not. "She had no right to do it," she responded.
Granny shrugged. "Maybe you shouldn't concentrate so much on that aspect of it," Granny said. "Maybe you should be thankful you have someone in your life who cares enough to risk your wrath in order to help you. I'm sure it's not easy for you to ask for help. You may not even recognize when you need it, but be grateful there is someone there for you."
"I could have handled it," Regina said. "I don't need Miss Swan thinking I'm less than capable of taking care of matters on my own. I've gotten a lot of practice it over the years."
"Would getting out of the practice of it be such a bad thing?"
Regina opened her mouth to respond and then paused. "It's a bad thing when it goes away."
"You can't live fearing good things in your life will go away."
"It's not easy when it always goes away."
"Do you mind if I give you a piece of advice?" Granny asked.
"Only if you don't mind if I don't follow it."
"Fair enough. My advice is that you shouldn't make it easy for her to walk away either. Ignoring her? Aren't you a little above such juvenile actions? Pushing her may be a way to see if she will stick around, but I think you know by now that she isn't going anywhere, unless you push too hard. Don't do it Regina. Let her be there for you."
Regina didn't respond and Granny let the conversation end on that note.
Dinner was served and Regina took hers into her home office she said in order to catch up on some work. She never looked at Emma once.
….
Emma knocked on the door and then entered even though she didn't hear Regina say anything.
"Are you done giving me the silent treatment yet?" Emma asked.
Regina was sitting at her desk but she got up now and walked in front of it, leaning against it. "I suppose so."
"Good," Emma said. "You got a lot of sleep."
"I did," Regina responded. "Thank you."
Emma wasn't expecting that and she couldn't immediately respond.
"I needed the rest. I'm not upset about that as I assume you believe I am. But I am upset."
"I gathered that," Emma said. "But if you aren't upset about that what are you mad about?"
"That you didn't ask me if I was going to be ok with it before hand."
A very confused Emma asked, "Um if I had asked you about it, I'm pretty sure the answer would have been no."
"Yes, it would have been, but I would have appreciated you respecting me enough to ask. I've spent a significant portion of my life where others have called the shots for me. I don't respond well to having my choices taken away from me."
"I'm sorry. I didn't think of it terms like that. I just knew you would probably push yourself again today."
"I would have," Regina admitted. "And I appreciate that you are looking out for me. Next time, all I ask it that you talk to me."
"I can do that," Emma smiled. "Although I would appreciate if there wasn't a next time for something like this. You need to take a break from using magic."
Regina walked over to her. "I know about the water levels. That was my magic."
"Magic you shouldn't have done in the first place," Emma countered. "It's a flood – they happen every year to places around the world and those people survive without magical assistance. We will too."
"But we don't have to wait for the waters to recede, not anymore."
"We don't have to, but we should. I'm asking you not to do what I'm pretty sure you are going to do."
"The people out there, they know now what magic can do."
"I don't care," Emma said and she moved closer to Regina. "I don't even care if that makes me seem like the bad person in all of this. It's not worth the risk to you. I will ask you again not to do this."
"I won't do it immediately," Regina said. "I could still use a couple of days of no magic and to assess the situation, but I will do it and I'm asking you to be there with me, to use your magic in conjunction with mine for our town."
Emma knew this was a losing argument. Regina was going to do it, so she was left with only the one option.
"Ok, but only if you take the couple of days of rest and absolutely no magic. If you do any magic, then I'll find some way to stop you from doing this, even if I have to find a sleeping curse to shove down your throat."
"A sleeping curse?" Regina asked, smiling. "And how pray tell would you plan on waking me up from said curse?"
Emma wasn't sure if Regina was suddenly flirting with her or what, but just getting that smile from her was enough to lighten her mood considerably.
"Well there is a history in my family of breaking those kinds of curses," Emma said stepping even closer. Their mouths were mere inches apart and Emma was sure they were going to kiss – until Regina stepped away. Emma took her own step back as Regina went back behind her desk.
"Sorry," Regina said suddenly. "I just don't want to …"
"I get it," Emma said. "The situation with Robin is still not resolved, so I get it."
"Thank you."
"Coming to bed soon?"
"In another hour or so. I did sleep most of the day away after all."
"Ok, see you up there," she said and she left the room, closing the door behind her quietly.
Regina took a seat behind her desk once more but she didn't look at any of the papers in front of her, she merely at there thinking. Robin would be back in a few days with Zelena and Vincent. She knew if she broke it off with him immediately he would think it was because he had brought Zelena back – and Regina didn't want him thinking that. Robin needed to know the truth – that soul mates or not he wasn't the person she wanted to be with. She liked Robin, she really did, and in a different time and place perhaps they would have been together.
But not in the here and now.
Then there was having Zelena here – another complication she didn't want to deal with. Yet she knew she would have to. She hadn't spoken to her sister since she left town and Robin knew better than to mention her to Regina. Yes, she would ask how Vincent was, but she never asked about her sister.
Perhaps it was time for them to put the past in the past as well.