Summary: After all that she's done, Regina can't seem to accept that she could deserve a second chance.

Author's Note: Last Bit!

Same warning as always... I am not a writer. But I'm trying for the same reason as always - I'm fascinated by Regina. I have to get some of these thoughts out of my head. Filed under SwannQueen because I don't think I could write a male character to save my life. No sexytimes.

The story is complete but I'm not posting the whole thing at once... I'm a tweaker (no, not that kind) and I'm not quite ready to let the next bits into the wild. I'm posting this bit to force myself to STOP making nit-picky changes.

Warning: There is talk of non-consensual sex and abuse. It's not graphic but it's there because Regina's life has basically sucked balls. Please give this a pass if that bothers you.

Regina blinked herself awake fuzzily and had the presence of mind only to wonder where the hell she was. She'd just narrowed it down to not-her-bedroom when the evening started to return to her in disconnected broken bits.

She remembered Emma waking her. More than once? She focused on the memories and realized hazily that it had been quite a few times. She tried to pull the memories together into some sort of cohesive narrative but she was too drunk on sleep to pull it off.

Emma. Where was she? Regina thought that she had been next to her on the sofa but now she was stretched out and taking up almost the entire length herself. Her head rested heavily on a throw pillow instead of Emma's shoulder and a heavy blanket over her kept out the chill.

It was pleasant, actually, and she was starting to sink back into a doze when the most insecure part of her woke up and insisted that she had to find Emma. So, with heavy and uncoordinated limbs she pushed herself up and then swung herself into a sitting position. She tried to actually, but all she really managed to do was crash her legs painfully into the coffee table.

The sound was deafening in the previously still room and even as fuzzy as she was she saw Emma spring from the reading chair across the room. It was clear she'd been practicing the move for most of the night because Emma was at her side before the pain in Regina's shins even had a chance to bloom.

"Jesus Regina! What the hell happened? Are you ok?" There was an edge of panic to her voice and it cut through any remaining haze that still clung to Regina. Quite effectively.

Emma had her hands on Regina's shoulders and was gripping them almost painfully so Regina placed her hand over one of the blond's and gave it a gentle reassuring squeeze. "Emma. Please calm down. It's ok… I just kicked the coffee table."

The blond stared at her blankly for a moment the dropped heavily to the sofa next to her. "Kicked the coffee table. Right." Emma licked her lips then blew out a cleansing breath and started to look her over.

Her eyes stopped at her legs where a trail of blood had just begun to trickle down past the cuff of Regina's slacks. Emma hissed slightly at the sight and then motioned towards it so Regina would look.

Instantly, the entire situation seemed blatantly absurd and Regina couldn't hold back a slightly hysterical sounding chuckle. "Oh for the love of… enough."

She waved her hand imperiously towards her leg and the blood stain immediately disappeared, along with the pain. Emma was giving her a look that was both amused and concerned all at the same time and Regina didn't blame her in the least.

She just raised her eyebrow and knew from the expression on Emma's face that she looked more like herself than she had in quite some time. "Seriously Emma. I did not need another challenge."

Emma held up her hands in the universal sign of surrender that spanned all the realms and nodded vigorously. "I totally agree. Well done Your Majesty."

"Thank You." Her voice was all Queen but she consciously gentled it and repeated the same phrase, but with completely different meaning. "Thank you Emma."

Emma suddenly, and quite uncharacteristically, appeared shy. Her eyes dropped away and Regina had to gently lift Emma's chin back up to reestablish their eye contact. For reasons she couldn't quantify, it was suddenly very important to her that the blond see her.

Still looking slightly uncomfortable, Emma shrugged. "It was nothing."

"No, you're wrong. It was everything."

End Note: Holy Hell you guys. It's done. It almost killed me but it's done.