Chapter 3 – Broken Hearted

He'd stabbed her.

Regina made a strange sound, something between a wet choke and a gasp. Her eyes went wide and blood coughed from between her lips. The knife had slid into her so hard that it had lifted her clean off the floor for a second. She had to scramble at his shoulders to hold on when her feet hit the floor again. Gosh, her shoes seemed really far away all of a sudden.

Regina hung on the blade, her mind a white plane of shock, her nails scraping over his skin as she struggled to process the freezing hot sensation of a blade in her chest.

"Well," the word spilled from her lips with a mouthful of blood, "that was entirely expected."

"Regina?" Graham's hand released the knife and he stared down at her, gripping her elbows to keep her upright. "What…?"

"You stabbed me." Regina knew he suffered from the same bloodlust she did. A trait she had been sure to nurture in him. He probably hadn't even been aware of where he was, he'd just seen her looming over him and he'd reacted on instinct. Only this time he'd been able to act on it. She had no magic to bind him to the bed. "To be fair, not the first time you've done it."

Her smile showed pink blood stained teeth and her wink was a little lazy. There was a lot of blood. She knew there was only about eight pints in a human body but that seemed to be a LOT of blood on the floor.

"God," Graham sank with her to the floor when her knees buckled, "what have I done?"

"What you had to." Regina was beginning to find it difficult to breathe. She could feel the metal of the knife digging into her lungs with every breath.

"I didn't want this!"

"I find that…hard to…believe." Regina coughed, blood spattering onto Graham's face he was cradling her so close. Her hand was fumbling, incredibly still in her pocket, her fingers felt cold and weak. She rallied the last of her strength. She hadn't done what she'd come here to do.

"No, I didn't, you're so…broken." Graham stared down at her as if it was news to him. "I didn't want you dead."

"You wanted me to suffer…wish granted." Regina managed something of a smile and she lifted her hand torturously from her pocket. Her head was beginning to loll, she didn't seem to have the strength to hold it up. Her fingers quested over his chest by memory. Not just his chest but hundreds of others. Find the sternum, track over it with the thumb, turn the heel of her hand forty five degrees…and sink the fingers in.

"No!" Graham saw her hand gripping his heart and assumed the worst. That if she was going he was damn well coming with her.

"For you…"Regina with a strength she hadn't known she possessed, pressed the heart to the wall of his chest, his grip slackened when he felt she wasn't trying to hurt him.

She had been tender in the past, of course, when she had wanted something or been sad or convinced herself enough that he was her lost love. Those had been the nights when he'd come away without bleeding. Then, here, when he'd gone to her willingly…she'd…she'd given a damn good impression of making love to him.

"I did…you know…in my way." Regina was still choking on her blood but there seemed to be less of it, or she was breathing less. Maybe both.

"Did what?"

"Love…you…" Regina's fingers trailed from his chest when the light in her eyes began to dim. They fluttered closed, her body tilting, falling into his and she rested there as if she had fallen sleep. There, like that, finally free, she looked rested. She looked at peace.

Thunder boomed overhead.

Outside, in the clear night sky, storm clouds boiled into being. They frothed and writhed in the sky. Thunder clashed and rang out across the valley of the town, lightning flashed deep within the depths of the clouds and some of it seemed…purple.

The ground began to quiver. The air shivered around them. Windows thrummed in their panes, dogs barked and car alarms sounded. The pressure mounted and mounted and mounted. It was unbearable.

Graham didn't notice.

"Regina." He shook her. "Regina!" He shook her harder but she was limp and unmoving in his arms. "No. NO!"

Graham loomed over her, letting her down onto the floor and studying her. No. She couldn't be dead, not really, she was indestructible. She was the Evil Queen. She had taken more than her fair share of beatings in the past. He'd seen her run through with a lance and she had turned and impaled her attacker on it before she'd pulled it out and spelled the wound closed. Like she hadn't even felt it.

That was what she was. Marble, cold and unfeeling, indestructible. She couldn't die.

It was then that he was aware of what he was feeling. He was feeling. Graham looked down and huffed out a whooshing breath of shock when he saw it. His heart. There, plain to see, sticking out of his chest. Pulsing a pounding red threaded with purple and a lurid verdant green. She had died before she could push it back in.

Hearts were strong, right? She could use them to do anything and they were magic. Even in this land without magic, they were magic. Graham's hand closed over his heart before he could think better of it and he yanked.

Then something impossible happened.

It broke.

Graham made a wordless sound of shock when it just cracked like an egg in his hand. He stared open mouthed at half of his own heart in his hand. It still pulsed, red, purple and green. Still beat strong and hard, kicking in his hand. Looking down at his chest, he could see the other half sinking beneath the skin. He gulped in hard breaths, trying to process and then deciding he could figure it out later.

Graham tore open her coat and ripped open her shirt under it. He hesitated a moment, it needed to be right, the placement. He had one chance. Where had she…?

She was growing cold, he was out of time. Graham pressed his pulsing heart over where her still one lay within her chest and pushed.

It was so easy.

His heart sank beneath her skin without even a token resistance. His fingers plunging in with it and her entire body jolted. He felt the layers of skin, the strands of muscle, the bone, the foam of her lung against his knuckles and then the heavy density of her still heart. He pushed the living half of his heart onto her dead one and commanded her.

"Live."

Regina jolted as if struck by lightning and her eyes flew wide. She whooped in a screaming breath and her hands clawed at him. Her heart kicked, faltering and faint, but it was beating.

The thunder boomed into a deathly silence. The ground ceased to shake. Then –with a hissing sound of the approaching deluge- the heavens opened.

Rain, rain the likes of which no mortal storm could conjure, fell in a torrent down onto the town. Raindrops as big as golf balls hammered into the roads and sidewalks. They drummed on roofs and battered against windows. Roads were quickly turned to rivers and it pounded into the town like it was trying to beat it into nothing.

"What have you done?!" Regina's legs kicked with the agony and uncontrolled signals coursing through her body as it came screaming back to life.

"You're not getting away from me that easily." Graham laid her gently onto her back and snatched up a pair of pants. He hauled them over her legs and turned back to her. "Don't you dare pull that out." He slapped her hands away from the knife still angled up beneath her ribs.

A perfect killing strike. He knew his craft well after all.

"It hurts." She choked, tears streaming down her face. "It's so heavy. I feel like I have a rock in my chest." Blood was still trickling from her mouth but less than the great streams of it that it had been before he had saved her.

"It's the knife, come on."

Regina screamed when he lifted her. She couldn't help it. Everything hurt. It had been better when she had thought she was dying. That had been cold, numb, this was like she was on fire.

Graham kicked open the door of his bedroom and stormed his way out of the house, pausing only to snatch up his keys to his truck.

It was like walking out into a waterfall. The howling rain plastered down onto them, soaking them to the skin in seconds. Regina groaned in pain when the hammering rain rattled the knife in her midsection and every droplet drilled into her like she was being pelted with ice.

"What are you doing?"

"You're going to the hospital. I'm not letting you die." Graham fumbled the car door open and lowered them both into the driver's seat.

"Why not?" Regina whimpered when he put her into the passenger's seat and clapped her hands over her wound for her.

"Put pressure here."

Regina's hands clamped to the wound and pressed harder than she'd have thought possible.

"This is going to be hard to explain." She coughed a laugh.

"Don't worry about it." Graham jammed the key in the ignition and threw the truck into reverse.

It screamed out of the driveway and onto the road, peeling into a hairpin turn. The tyres squealed, slithering on the slick road, when he sandwiched the accelerator between his foot and the floor. He held onto her legs, draped over his lap as they were. She had lost one of her shoes somewhere.

"They'll put you away for this." Her voice was weak.

"Don't you dare die." Graham warned her and she stiffened as if she'd been hit with a tazer.

"They will." She sounded stronger then. "Trying to kill me…back in the Enchanted Forest –heh- you'd have been sainted. Here…they'll crucify you."

"I'll explain. You startled me." Graham tore through the town. There was no traffic, everyone was asleep. They'd be in the hospital in minutes and then…then his life would be over. He'd given half his heart to keep her alive and he couldn't even say why.

"A five foot five woman against a six foot two man? They won't care how startled you were, dear. They'll only see the knife."

"Don't take it out. It's the only thing plugging the wound." He snarled at her.

"There's my Huntsman." Regina spoke through gritted teeth. She felt like her chest was filled with lead. Her heart kept clenching, at least, that was what it felt like.

"You should save your strength."

"Say it was someone else." Regina was panting, her chest felt so strange. Weighty. "Say that I came to you for help."

"In the middle of the night?" Graham couldn't believe he was going along with this. Then again, it would have to get in line along with everything else he couldn't believe he'd done that night. "What would you be doing at my house at two in the morning?"

"The same thing we do every time I'm there I imagine." Regina gasped.

"You'd have to explain to them that we're lovers."

"Were." Regina corrected quietly and he jostled her legs.

"Stay with me."

Regina groaned in pain but seemed to rally herself.

"A small town like this? People already know. Now that the curse isn't clouding everything. They know."

"How can you tell?" The hospital was in view. Not much further.

"You never wonder why no one else approached you? You're the most eligible man in town, dear. I wouldn't settle for anything less." Regina's eyes were closed, her face a mask of pain. "You're mine. I made sure enough people knew."

"Nobody will believe some stranger suddenly decided to knife you." Graham peeled into the parking lot.

"Me? Of course they will. Even here everybody hates me." Regina dredged a laugh from somewhere again. "And who do you think will be doing the investigation? You can't very well arrest yourself, can you?"

Graham said nothing, of course she was good at this. He screeched to a halt in the ambulance bay and threw himself from the car, dashed around the front and opened the passenger side door. She tumbled into his arms and he hoisted her against his chest.

"You're not allowed to die, you hear me? I forbid it."

Regina groaned as if he was killing her all over again, blanching marble white and nodding hurriedly.

"I hear you."

"Good."

Graham rushed through the automatic doors of the hospital and set about waking everyone up.

"Help!" He bellowed. "I need help!"

The receptionist looked up from her soap opera and snapped to attention when she saw the Mayor lolling in the Sheriff's arms.

"She's been stabbed!" Graham didn't lower his voice. "I need HELP!"

Doctors were finally responding, nurses snapping into action. All too soon, Regina was pulled from his arms and onto a gurney. Graham stood, chest heaving, in the foyer of the hospital and watched her wheeled away.

He didn't miss the way her head lifted before they rounded the bend, didn't miss the way her hand reached out to him before she was wheeled out of sight.

He was entirely unaware that his own hand opened and stretched towards her too.

Gods, what had he done?

Later…

Graham sat in the waiting room of the hospital and tried not to go out of his mind.

He ached.

He could feel it. He could feel his heart, the physical meat heart, thudding steadily in his chest but he could also feel the pulsing throb of his other heart. The heart of his soul that Regina had ripped out so many years ago. It felt like a rock in his chest. He had never imagined that it would hurt so much to be complete again. He knew it was only half his heart, the other half now in Regina's chest, but he certainly felt like he had a whole heart worth of pain.

It was hellish, this miasma of pain and confusion that swirled horrifying and tearing in his chest. A hurricane of hate and…and…he didn't know what else. His head ached. His chest felt like it was filled with lead. He hurt all over.

Graham stared down at his bare feet on the cold linoleum floor.

He'd pulled on pants at his house but hadn't bothered with a shirt or shoes. One of the nurses had gone to try and find him some slippers but he suspected she had been distracted by the drama of the Mayor's surgery and had forgotten to bring them to him. Someone had mentioned something about scrubs so he could wash up and get changed into something that wasn't splattered in blood but no one had come back to check on him.

It was all kind of hazy. He remembered signing something –though he hardly thought himself capable of the hand-eye coordination required for a signature- and he had been surprised that he was listed as Regina's next of kin. In the event of her being harmed…her life was in his hands.

Despite everything, all of it, she had trusted him with that?

Graham shivered. He was cold, but it was a physical cold. Internally he was practically on fire.

Exultation at having finally meted out a little pain to the hateful bitch that had leashed him, horror at yet more blood covering his hands and more because of her, guilt at having nearly robbed Henry of the only family he'd ever really known, worry that this was all going to come back to bite him in the ass if Emma didn't believe his sketchy story as to what had happened to Regina and…and…fuck.

He felt like whipping himself for hurting Regina.

Graham folded forward and pressed his thumbs to his eyes, his elbows propped on his knees.

She was evil, he reminded himself. Evil and horrible and she had enslaved him for decades. She had made him do cruel and twisted things, turned him into nothing more than a glorified attack dog. She had used him nearly every night for decades and –gods above and below damn him- but there had been parts of him that had enjoyed it. Wicked, cruel, dominant, wild parts of him that had liked nothing more than the excuse to do as he willed. To tear people apart, to kill them for the slightest insult to himself or his queen, to fuck a woman like he could never break her. To be taken harder than any other man could take.

Was this Stockholm Syndrome?

Had she broken his mind along with his spirit?

Was he just so used to the cruelty, to the damage, that he had fooled himself into thinking he liked it?

Graham glanced up at the clock. It was just after four.

Shit, where was Emma? He had called her almost a half hour ago. It didn't take that long to get dressed and haul her ass over to Regina's did it?

He'd sketched out what had happened to her. Told her Regina had been in an accident and he was her next of kin so he was stuck at the hospital. Henry should be looked after in the meantime. Despite Regina's dislike for her, Emma was available and could actually be trusted to look after Henry for a few hours. Especially if he was asleep for the majority of that time.

Graham huffed out a breath.

He was not looking forward to telling Henry what had happened to Regina. The censored version at least. She might believe Henry didn't love her anymore, but Graham knew that wasn't true. A little boy couldn't hold that much anger in his heart towards someone without caring for them deeply. If he didn't love her, he wouldn't care at all.

He was going to be crushed by this.

Yet another lie told to him and –hopefully- he'd never know the truth.

Though if Regina was right and the curse really was broken and she really did get killed by an angry mob, Graham supposed it would be a moot point.

"WHERE'S MY MOM?!"

Graham bodily flinched at the bellow that went through the hospital. He surged to his feet and he was running along the corridor before he made a conscious decision to do so. He slithered to a halt in the lobby and Henry's frantic eyes fell on him and went saucer wide.

"Graham!"

Henry tore across the lobby towards the Sheriff, a sob catching in his throat, but he refused to let it take hold. He skidded to a halt and stared in horror at the state of the man.

"Is that…?" Henry reached out hesitantly to Graham's chest and he glanced down at himself.

"Shit." Graham remembered that he looked like he'd gone ten rounds with a grizzly bear. He was splattered with dried blood over his chest, it had soaked into his pants and was even spotted over his feet. Not to mention nearly caking him to the elbow.

"Henry, it's not as bad as it looks…"

"Are you kidding me?!" Henry nearly shrieked. "That's, like, two people's blood there! What happened?!"

"Your mom was attacked tonight, she was near my house so she came to me for help," Graham decided to stick with as much of the truth as he could, "I brought her here as quick as I could. She's in surgery right now."

"Someone attacked her?" Henry's voice was incredibly small.

"Henry!" Emma spotted them and came running. "Damn it, kid, I told you to wait for me."

"You said this wouldn't happen!" Henry rounded on her. "You said you'd get the guy that attacked her!"

"Hey, whoa, kid…" Emma held up her hands. "I…"

"It's my fault, Henry." Graham spoke over Emma's stammering and gently turned the boy back to face him. He wondered what Regina might do to comfort him, so he sank down into a crouch so they were nearly eye level. "Your mom and I have had a…falling out recently. I should have been looking after her and I wasn't because I was mad at her."

"You…you're the sheriff!" Henry burst out, tears beginning to pool in his eyes. "You're supposed to be a good guy! You're supposed to put people's safety above personal…personal stuff!" Henry clenched his fists and seethed with the all-consuming anger that only children can really muster. "You should have made up with her! If you had, she wouldn't have gone to see you! You'd be in our house and she'd have been safe!"

Emma blinked and stared at the back of Henry's head. Nobody had known if Henry had known about Regina and Graham and nobody had seen fit to ask him.

"Someone attacked her last night and neither of you did ANYTHING!" Henry looked between them. "What kind of good guys are you?!"

"Human ones." Graham could find no better apology than that. "I'm sorry, Henry."

"Sorry won't help my mom." Henry's voice was frigid and damning. He channelled Regina pretty well.

"I know. I spoke to doctor Whale, he says she should be okay. She lost a lot of blood but Whale says I got her here in time."

Henry's chin wobbled and he looked hurriedly down at the floor.

"Thanks, for that…I guess." Henry sniffed. He lifted his head and the tears finally started to fall. His voice cracked when he spoke. "You really think she's going to be okay?"

"Absolutely." Graham managed something of a smile. "Your mom is far too stubborn to die."

Henry gave a watery smile and something like a wet laugh.

"Yeah, she sure is."

"Okay, why don't you go and sit in the seats over there? They're right outside the surgery rooms. If Doctor Whale comes out, he'll see you first. I need to talk to Emma for a bit."

"'Kay." Henry nodded and hurried over to the seats. He sat on one, his hands tucked under his legs, and stared hard at the doors. Willing them to open.

"Jesus, Graham," Emma hissed at him as soon as Henry was out of earshot, "what the hell do you think you're doing? You look like an extra from a bad slasher movie! Why didn't you clean up?"

"I've been a little occupied with what's been going on!" Graham snarled at her. "And what do you mean 'what am I doing?' what are YOU doing?! I told you to go and look after Henry, not traumatise him in the middle of the night!"

"He was already awake when I got over there, about to head out and look for Regina. I HAD to tell him what was going on and then he insisted on coming over here."

"He's ten years old! You're the adult, you didn't think to tell him that there'd been some sort of emergency? That Regina had actually sent you to look after him because she was needed elsewhere? Something that might have saved him some heartache?"

"Lie to him?!"

"You used to be a con-artist, I'm sure that it's within your repertoire."

"Hey, I'm not her, I won't LIE to Henry just because…"

"So help me god, if you keep trying to score points off her when she could die, I'll throw you out that door over there." Graham snarled, pointing to the main doors of the hospital. "Right now, opening it first is optional."

"Hey, listen…"

"No. YOU listen," Graham loomed in front of her, covered in blood and boiling with anger, happy to vent it at someone, "you don't know anything about her or what she's been through. You don't know her motivations, you don't know her life and you certainly don't know how to handle Henry like she does."

"You're not even together anymore." Emma frowned.

"I still care about her." Graham would have been uncomfortable to realise that was true at any other time but he was so damn angry right then. "We've been together a long time. She's fierce and a bitch and she's rude but she's given everything you refused to give to Henry. She raised him right. For that alone, you will speak of her with respect if not affection."

Emma blinked up at him, staring for a long moment.

"You kissed me last night." She said quietly. "Not the other way around. Don't take it out on me if you're feeling guilty about it."

"Contrary to what Henry might believe, not everything is about you." Graham couldn't keep the contempt from his voice. Regina might well still die and –with her- a rather important piece of himself. All Swan could think about was a sodding kiss? This was why he hated people. "It was a moment of ill judgement on my part. It won't happen again. You're not a patch on her."

Emma's jaw clenched and she looked away from him, swallowing hard.

"Anything else?" She tried to keep her voice under control but there was a quaver to it that she couldn't help.

"Aye," Graham nodded his head towards Henry, "look after him for five minutes whilst I get cleaned up and find something new to wear. You can control him that long, right?"

"Yes." Emma bit out.

"Outstanding." Graham spun on his heel and went to find that nurse that had said something about slippers.

He knew he should feel bad about crushing Emma that way. She didn't trust easily and he'd just cruelly cast it back in her face. Told her she was nothing. Part of him did feel a little guilty about it, but there was a much larger part that was steeped in the bone deep habit of viciously protecting his queen's reputation against any slight.

Graham growled when he realised that –whilst Regina might have tried to give him his heart back- it would seem that she still owned him.

Fuck.