A/N: I'm so looking forward to being able to write some less angsty scenes between these two, or, at least slightly less confrontational scenes... But they're needed to make this all believable. Fear not, though, this is listed as SQ for a reason! I promise!
"Emma..."
"... What in the actual fuck..."
The brunette moves towards the Sheriff and lets out a low groan as the younger woman attempts to scramble away; her breathing rapid and eyes wide with dread.
"No, no! It's okay! I promise! Emma, please-"
"-Get the hell away from me!"
"You have to let me explain! I deserve a chance to explain!"
Regina pleads hoarsely, but her words fall on deaf ears as the blonde pushes herself up onto her feet and sprints for the door. Regina grimaces as she doesn't need to be psychic to know what will happen next, but she can't risk letting Emma escape the confines of her bedroom. Can't risk her running out into a world she isn't ready for. Closing her eyes, she wills the door to remain shut, creating an invisible shield to keep the blonde from disappearing from view.
As she'd predicted, the younger woman collides with the door with such force she's knocked backwards onto her ass; her expression of surprise sure to be comical were it not for the situation.
"Emma, please, you have to listen to me! It's okay! It's okay! Please you-"
"-This can't be happening... It can't! It-... This is some kind of trick, right? Regina? Right?! What the-... Wh-what the-..."
The brunette winces as the Sheriff proceeds to claw at the door, almost able to taste the frenzied panic emanating from the blonde. Pushing herself up swiftly, she hurries towards Emma as the younger woman begins to scramble at the door with greater earnest; her wrists leaving ugly smears on the painted wood and her shoulders heaving tellingly. Grabbing her by the waist, Regina drags her backwards, trying to shield herself from an onslaught of flailing limbs as she manages to wrestle the Sheriff onto the floor.
"Emma! Stop! Emma!"
But the blonde has her eyes clamped shut, squirming fitfully beneath the prison of the brunette's thighs in a way that threatens to knock the darker woman off of her at any second. Closing her eyes and whispering a choked apology, Regina brings her hand down hard across the Sheriff's face before falling forward to observe her, nose to nose.
"Emma..."
The brunette wipes away a tear that trickles from the corner of the younger woman's eye as a result of the sting evident in the form of a red handprint on her cheek. Piercing the blonde's eyes with her own, she shakes her head when the Sheriff attempts once more to buck her off; shushing her gently as Emma's strength begins to wane with exhaustion.
"Please, stop... Please?"
"You-... You're-... Regina, how did you do that? H-how are we here?!"
"You know the answer to that, dear. Victor all but told you... As has Henry many a time..."
The brunette replies wearily.
"No... No, no, no... Not you, too... Regina, please! I can't! I-... I feel sick... It hurts... I can't... I can't do this right now!... W-why are you all doing this to me!?"
The Queen sighs as the Sheriff begins to weep, unaccustomed to dealing with Emma like this, and hating the way the younger woman's face speaks of nothing but misery. Running her fingers gently through messy curls, she proceeds to slide her hands beneath the blonde's shoulder blades and wrestles her towards the bed; propping her up so that she sits slouched against its end.
"I didn't mean for any of this to happen, you have to believe me, dear... If I had my way, you would have never found out... I don't know what to say... All I can do is ask you to think back to when you came here and how I acted towards you, and how that's changed!... None of how I've been with you has had anything to do with the-... The Curse... Just, please try to remember that, Emma, please..."
"I-... H-Henry's been asking me to accept that everyone's a fucking fairytale character all this time, and I told him it was crazy! I-... Now everyone's trying to tell me you're the Evil Queen, a-and-... I said it was nuts, but-...What you just did... Th-that was magic? We-... You-... I can't-..."
"-Shhh. Enough, dear... I want to show you something."
Regina confides softly as she moves to sit beside the blonde; her spirits lifting momentarily when Emma doesn't shy away from her, but she isn't naive enough to truly believe the younger woman's reaction is a result of anything other than pure exhaustion. Still, she takes the Sheriff's hands gently in her own and removes the ripped bandaging ruined during the blonde's scrap with Whale. Hissing through her teeth at the gore she uncovers beneath, she glances up at Emma who looks down at her abused wrists with an awful kind of numb apathy.
"This shouldn't hurt, I don't think..."
The Queen assures as she moves her hands over the blonde's wrists slowly, cautious of the knowledge that what she's going to try to do may result in the Sheriff well and truly reaching her limit. She doesn't want to scare the younger woman any more than she has to, but she does need to prove herself, and fast. Allowing just the smallest amount of power to leave her fingertips, she mutters quietly as Emma lets out a low cry and trembles beside her.
"Shhh. Just watch, dear. Just watch, okay?... I need you to trust me... Can you do that?"
"I-..."
"Please?"
"...I trust you."
Regina blinks rapidly, not having been so bold as to expect the Sheriff to answer in the affirmative, but elated by the answer she's been offered. Allowing just a little more force to touch the blonde's ruined flesh, she watches alongside the younger woman as raw lacerations begin to heal before her very eyes; not sure if she should laugh or cry at Emma's low muttering of 'fuck, shit, fuck, shit, fuck' in her ear.
Taking the Sheriff's broken hand in her own, she works her magic a little deeper, knitting together fractured shards with sorrowful flinches at each pained hiss that escapes the blonde's lips.
"Try to move your fingers..."
She urges.
"I can't! I-... Oh shit..."
Green eyes widen as pale fingers flutter slowly but ably. Turning to the brunette, Emma lets out a low noise of distress and the darker woman pulls her swiftly into her, allowing the Sheriff to hide her face in the soft fabric of her coat.
"I know it's a lot to take in. I know, dear. And, I don't know what's going to happen... I'm hardly viewed favourably by any of those that I brought here; your parents being at the top of that list... Emma, if I could change things now, I would... But I was young, and foolish, and I-... It's not as simple as it looks when written on the page... I-..."
"You... You ruined everything!... M-my parents! Are you fucking k-kidding me?! You're telling me that you're responsible for all that, and I'm just supposed to-"
"-Don't say that! Please, don't say that! I don't expect you to do anything- you're not supposed to do anything-... I-... Please... Don't say that..."
Regina tightens her arms around the Sheriff in a desperate plea to keep her close, but the younger woman squirms free determinedly, sitting back so that she can survey the darker woman incredulously, her face pale and streaked with dirty tear tracks.
"You-... Do you know what I went through?! The shit I dealt with because of what you did?! Because I didn't have my fucking parents?!"
Emma snarls furiously, her eyes tinged pink and glittering with hysteria.
"And, do you know what I went through because of your parents?!"
Regina counters, shaking her head as tears fall unchecked down her cheeks. Lowering her voice, she confides miserably
"I can't make this all go away... Well, no, that's a lie... Do you know how easy it would be for me to make it so that you had no clue anything was amiss? I could make it so that you remembered only the things I wanted you to remember..."
Panic flashes nakedly across the younger woman's face and the brunette shakes her head, sniffing delicately.
"I would never do that to you, Emma... If you find you can't deal with what you've uncovered; if you can't bear to see me... I would hate that... I would wish it were different... But, I would never do something like that to you... I love you."
"Don't."
"I came to find you."
"Regina..."
"I need you."
The darker woman insists tearfully. The blonde shakes her head, and the Queen bites back her instinctual anger, the resulting noise echoing loudly between them in the form of a sob. She watches as Emma gets shakily to her feet, the younger woman moving towards the door before turning back to face her, ashen-faced.
"Is it still locked?"
"No... No, I'll let you go, if it's what you want... I-... Here, take these before you go."
Regina rises stiffly and moves to her wardrobe, hiding her face so as to mask the tears that flow freely. She finds a pair of plain black slacks she imagines will fit the blonde just a little snuggly, and a cashmere V-necked sweater. She holds them out silently to Emma who dons them swiftly; no showiness to her actions, which, while understandable, saddens the brunette as it all seems terribly final. Sniffing as the Sheriff shrugs awkwardly and nods her farewell, Regina pauses hesitantly by the bed and speaks up in a low voice.
"... What's going to happen?"
"I don't know."
"Will you-... Are you coming back? Here, I mean?"
"I-... I need to go and sort my head out... I need to go talk to Mary Margaret... I-... I need to have some space from you."
"Okay... Well-"
"-But, I won't forget what you did for me today. I-... I do lo-... I have to go... But, please... Stay out of trouble?"
"I will. I can't promise trouble won't find me, though, Miss Swan."
Regina sniffs with an apologetic smile.
"I-... Look, the Curse may have broken, or whatever the fuck you want to call it, but I'm still the Sheriff. You have my number... Use it if you have to."
"... Thank you."
"Bye, Regina."
"Goodbye, Emma... For now?"
"... Bye, Regina."