Authoress' Note: I know this is short and has taken longer than usual, but I had trouble with the writing and getting the story to go where I needed it to.

Not Enough: Part 7

By Arianwen P.F. Everett

Regina groaned as she slowly regained consciousness. The pounding in her head produced both nausea and pain, leaving her confused as to what was going on. Suddenly, Emma Swan's face swam into her field of vision. "What…"

"Easy. Easy. Don't try to move. The ambulance is on its way. Henry came back and found you here. He's fine, but badly shaken. Luckily I hadn't pulled out of the driveway when he screamed," Emma explained to the confused woman who looked like she was only half returned to the land of the living.

As the seconds ticked by, Emma prayed that Regina hadn't suffered any brain damage from the attack. Unfortunately, Regina's guest, the woman Henry had called Miss Duvall, no longer had a pulse. Suddenly Emma realized that she didn't know where Baby Paul was. "Regina, stay with me. Regina, where's Paul?"

"I don't know. I was talking to Ms. Duvall about … education… everything went black... was so quick," Regina slurred, finding it hard to focus. She could feel tendrils of sleep threatening but she knew enough to force herself to stay awake.

"Damn! We have to find him!" Emma shouted, jumping to her feet and grabbing her walkie talkie.

"No! You can't leave Henry! Protect Henry!" Regina howled, her arm attempting to reach out to Emma of its own accord, an action which set her choking from the exertion. With Emma's help she turned her head and vomited just as the paramedics arrived and started examining her.

"Henry will be safe with David; Paul may not be," Emma insisted once she could get close enough to the stricken woman.

As the paramedics tried to move Regina onto a board to take her to the ambulance, she held them back to speak to Emma. "Protect Henry. He's the only thing that matters… "

Just as Regina lost consciousness once again, the paramedics pushed Emma aside and steered the board that had converted into a gurney towards the entrance of the Mills Mansion. As Emma watched, the unease in her stomach grew. She hadn't really believed it until now, but Regina truly didn't care what happened to the baby she'd given birth to a few days ago. Grant it, she was trying to do the right thing for him, but in the end everything boiled down to Henry for Storybrooke's mayor, and a large part of Emma hated her for it.

Emma had agonized over giving Henry up, but Regina was right. It had been her only chance to save herself, so she'd given him away and taken her chance. Regina had so much. She had a gorgeous home, financial resources galore, magic to protect her family, and experience raising a little boy. In short, she had everything Emma had lacked when Henry was born, and yet she felt nothing for Paul and saw him as refuse to be thrown away.

Suddenly it hit Emma why she was so upset. Regina's attitude was exactly the mindset she'd once believed to have been her parents when they'd left her on the side of the freeway as a newborn. All those years in foster care, she'd fought so hard to retain hope that it had been a mistake. She'd envisioned her own morbid brand of fairytale where her parents had been running from the mob and been caught, dragged into the woods, and killed, their last thoughts of their new baby and the love they had for her. She preferred that idea to that they saw her as trash.

Now she knew the truth; she'd always been unimaginably loved, but the pain still lingered. Paul really was unloved by his mother, but Emma would save him. She was the savior. That's what she did.

First she had to keep Henry from freaking as the boy saw his mother's unconscious body wheeled out on a gurney. Abandoning the police car without a moment's hesitation for his own safety, Henry ran towards the paramedics. "Mom! What's wrong with my mom?!"

"Let go, Kid! We need to get her to the hospital!" the paramedic ordered gruffly as Emma pulled Henry back so they could load Regina onto the ambulance.

"What's happened?! What's wrong with her?!" Henry cried out, flailing against Emma's firm grip.

"She was attacked, Henry. The paramedics need to get her to Dr. Whale so that he can figure out how best to help her. Look. David is already on his way. As soon as he gets here, you two can follow Regina to the hospital. I promised your mom I'd keep you safe, but Paul's missing. Whoever did this to Regina took him and I have to find him," Emma explained, trying to calm her son down and explain the situation in terms he'd understand.

"She's going to be alright, right?" Henry asked, the fear in his voice breaking Emma's heart.

"You're mom's a fighter. You know that," Emma insisted, not wanting to make promises, but needing to give Henry hope. She had no idea what neurological damage had been done to Regina or if it was permanent. Only a physician could tell them that. Thankfully the curse had given the town a hospital with trained staff.

Henry was about to reply when David and Mary Margaret sped up to the curb in his pick up truck, shooting questions at Emma through their rolled down windows before they had even stepped into the open air. "What happened? Is Henry safe? What's going on?"

"Regina was interviewing one of the women who want to adopt Paul when they were attacked. The woman, a Miss Duvall, was killed instantly. Regina has a head injury, probably a concussion, and she's on her way to Storybrooke General. Paul is missing, so I need you two to get Henry to the hospital, while I figure out who took him," Emma reported, trying to give as much information as quickly as she could.

Seeing her husband about to protest, Mary Margaret put a hand against his shoulder and spoke. "Ofcourse, we'll take Henry to the hospital. Do you have any leads?"

Remembering her earlier conversation with Regina at Granny's, Emma had a direction. "Yeah, I do. Thanks to something Regina said this afternoon, I'm off to see a pawnbroker about a missing baby."

"Then I'm going with you. Mary Margaret can take Henry to the hospital, but I'm your deputy and Gold is dangerous," David insisted.

With time of the essence, Emma could only nod and led her father to their squad car.