The next week, Emma's spirits were lower than ever. She was exhausted from the beatings and constant monitoring from teachers. Each day, they checked her wrists for new marks. Luckily for her, they never checked her thighs. As she waited in the counseling office, she looked down at her phone, staring at the clock. She still had three minutes before her appointment began. What was she going to talk about? She seriously considered trying to be silent for the entire time, but she knew that would be utterly unproductive. She had to think of something, but there wasn't anything she wanted to talk about. In fact, she didn't even want to be there.

When the doctor appeared in the doorway and greeted her, she was almost surprised to be torn from her thoughts. She still hadn't come up with anything to say. As she walked down the hallway to the doctor's office, she imagined herself walking to her own death and realized just how appealing that could be.

"How are you today?" the doctor asked, smiling softly at her.

"I'm fine," Emma muttered, looking down. "I want to kill myself."

She heard the words slip from between her lips and reached up with both hands to cover her mouth. Even her therapist looked startled.

"I didn't... I didn't mean that. I just..."

"Emma, it's okay," Regina soothed. "We're just talking, alright? Just talking."

Emma took deep, heavy breaths and gripped the arms of the chair.

"Don't you have to report that?"

"Only if I feel you're a danger to yourself. How long have you been thinking about suicide?"

"A long time. I guess I'm just scared to go through with it. I've never really had a plan, though. Like I said, I'm too chickenshit to actually do it. I'm a coward."

"That doesn't make you a coward, Emma. It makes you strong."

"I'm not strong," she said, looking down. "I'm weak."

"You've gotten through a lot. You've faced a lot of pain, and it's made you stronger."

Emma sighed and looked up.

"Therapists are always so full of bullshit."

"You think that I'm full of bullshit?"

Somehow, this suddenly sounded mean, and Emma regretted saying it. She was also surprised to hear the doctor swear.

"No, I just meant..."

"It's okay," Regina said, smiling. "I understand how this must feel. I've been through therapy, too, you know."

"You have?"

Emma looked intrigued, and her therapist nodded.

"Absolutely. It was difficult at first, but it helped. It was hard for me to adjust to that kind of environment."

"What do you mean?"

"The kind of environment where I could be safe to talk about anything," Regina answered seriously.

"I don't feel like I could ever be safe to talk about the things that go on in my head."

"I know," the woman told her, "but hopefully you will, soon."

Emma shrugged, not believing her words. It didn't seem like anyone could ever really understand what she was going through. Then again, the doctor didn't seem to be judging her - at least not so far.

"Maybe," Emma mumbled.

"I hope so."

The rest of their conversation was relatively bland - mostly small talk about school. Emma avoided the topic of her parents when the doctor gently pressed her for deeper information, and she refused to discuss the self-harm. Still, Emma found the conversation relaxing. She could say what she wanted. She even cursed a few times, which didn't seem to phase Regina. Emma liked being able to express her anger, but she still held most of her emotions back, checking herself each time she was tempted to let her deeper feelings out. When the session was over, though, she found herself slightly disappointed. This made her uncomfortable, since she hadn't wanted to enjoy their meeting. In fact, she'd expected to loathe the experience completely, but she came to the conclusion that it wasn't all bad, and she even looked forward to their next appointment.

"I'll see you Friday, okay, Emma?"

The girl nodded.

Before their next visit, as Emma sat in the waiting room, the heel of her foot bounced up and down anxiously, and her palms had begun to sweat. When the doctor came to greet her, she noticed instantly.

"Come on in, Emma." When they reached the office and both sat down, Regina continued with, "Are you alright? You seem very anxious."

Emma looked as if she might burst into tears and shook her head. The mark on her left cheek was fresh and red, but Regina didn't point it out.

"What happened, Emma?" she asked.

"N-nothing," the girl lied, looking down and wringing her sweaty hands as her heart raced.

"Emma," Regina said softly. "You can tell me whatever you'd like. You don't have to, but I think it would help if we talked about it."

"I got in a fight. They're going to expel me," she blurted out, tears overflowing from her eyes and burning down her cheeks. "My foster parents will kill me."

"Who started the fight?"

"I did," Emma choked.

"Why?"

Regina's voice stayed calm, but her face expressed her worry.

"This kid called me a dyke. He said I should burn in Hell, so I punched him in the face and then... and then..."

"Then what?"

"I couldn't stop," the blonde sobbed. "I couldn't stop. I just beat on him as much as I could before he grabbed my throat and threw me against the locker and started choking me and hitting me."

Emma gasped for breath as her sobs shook her body.

"They're going to kick me out of school."

"I'll call them," Regina said quickly. "A call from your doctor and they won't be able to kick you out."

Emma, shocked, looked up at the brunette.

"Y-you can do that?" she stammered. "You would do that for me?"

"Yes, of course, Emma! You know I'd never want to see you out of school, and I know how important it is to you that you finish this year."

"I'm so close," Emma cried. "Just a few more months and this year is over. Are you sure this will work?"

"I'm sure," Regina nodded. "I've done it before."

"You have?"

"Mhmm."

Emma's sobbing slowed and the heaving of her chest began to stop as she let out a sigh of relief.

"I'll call them right now," the doctor said, grabbing the phone beside her.

She dialed the number for the school, which she had in Emma's file, and waited for the secretary to pick up the other line.

"Hi. Yes. This is Doctor Mills. I'm calling to speak to the principal, please."

"Alright," the woman on the phone said. "She's actually in her office right now. I'll transfer the call."

When the principal picked up the phone, Regina forced out the sweetest voice she had.

"Hi, Mrs. Kelley. I'm calling about Emma Swan."

"Oh, really." the principal said in monotone. "That's interesting. She got in a fight today. I'm sure you understand the consequences of those actions."

"Actually, that's what I'm calling to discuss," the doctor explained. "Emma has recently gone through a lot of trauma, which is causing her erratic behavior. I also know that this kind of behavior is often the result of school bullying. Now, I'm certainly not saying you'd ever allow that to happen in your school - I'm sure that you have a solid plan in place to prevent such occurrences - but I suspect that this may be happening to Emma, even possibly during school hours. I understand that her actions are inexcusable, but I would like Emma to be exempt from expulsion, given her current medical condition."

"I'm afraid that's not possible. We have a no-tolerance policy for violence at this school."

"I'm sure you understand that expelling Miss Swan would be considered discrimination based on mental health status, and that she would easily win a lawsuit against the school given the circumstances."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, yes," Regina began. "Emma's medical condition makes her less capable of making rational decisions, and therefore, she did not deliberately decide to engage in the violent act, but rather, she was incapable of controlling her impulses. This, in court, would certainly stand up as a reason for the incident. And of course, we have been working on this issue in therapy, but currently, she is still ill, and it does take time to conquer such a problem. I'm sure you understand. Is that correct, Mrs. Kelley?"

"Yes," the principal hissed, gritting her teeth.

"Excellent. Please contact me directly if you have any other issues with her during school hours."

"I certainly will do that."

"Great. Hopefully there will be no more incidents like this for the rest of the school year. I'm happy to report that Emma is certainly making good progress in therapy."

"Great. Thank you, Miss Mills."

"You're welcome."

Regina placed the phone back on the receiver with a smile.

"There," she said. "See? I told you it would be fine. But you have to stay out of trouble, Emma. I can only back you up so much before they're pushed to the breaking point."

Emma looked into her eyes.

"Half of that was bullshit."

"No, it wasn't. You are making progress, Emma. You made progress today."

The blonde reached for the tissues and wiped her eyes.

"I guess you're right," she said.

Regina nodded and said, "We're out of time, but I'll see you on Monday, okay?"

Emma nodded too, grabbing another tissue and dabbing away the last of her tears.

"Put some ice on your bruises. They'll feel better, I promise. I'm sure they hurt a lot."

"I'm fine," the girl muttered, standing up from her seat and making her way towards the door. "Thank you for what you just did. It means a lot. You really saved my ass."

"I would do anything in my power to help you get through this tough time in your life. I hope you know that."

Emma shrugged and left the office.