"Let me make you a cup of coffee," Emma suggested the next morning.
"I'm not thirsty," Regina said groggily, turning her face away as she leaned back against the pillows on the bed.
"Yeah, but you obviously need the caffeine. Can you at least try to sit up and start the day?"
Regina shook her head and slammed a pillow over her face.
"Come on, goober," Emma pressed. "Up and at 'em."
"Nope," the doctor mumbled through the pillow, then removed it and tossed it to the side. "First appointment's not 'til two this afternoon."
"Regina," the blonde said dryly, "it's ten in the morning. It's time to get up. You need to eat something."
"Don't wanna."
"You're being a child."
"Mhmm."
"Regina!" Emma laughed, jumping on top of her lover and grabbing the pillow to cover her lover's face. "Get up now, my queen, or I shall strangle you."
Playfully shoving the girl off of her, Regina sat up and sighed, unable to fight back the smile that Emma brought to her lips.
"Alright, alright. I'll get up. Now, get off of me."
Triumphantly, Emma hopped off the bed and made her way into the kitchen as Regina collected a fresh set of clothing. By the time the woman was out of the shower and fully dressed, Emma had brewed a fresh pot of coffee and fixed her lover a mug full of the hot liquid.
"Time to wake up, lazybutt."
Regina rolled her eyes but took the mug between her hands and sipped its contents.
"Shit!" she shouted, nearly dropping the container of coffee. "Are you trying to kill me?"
"Did you burn your lip?" Emma asked anxiously. "I'm sorry! I didn't realize it was that hot."
"It's fine," the doctor sighed. "I should have waited."
"I feel really bad."
"Don't, honey," Regina said with a small, reassuring smile. "It's just a little burn. My lip will feel better in no time."
Emma nodded her head and sat down on a stool, taking in her lover's outfit for the day.
"You look..."
"Hmm?"
"You look beautiful, Regina. I'm..."
"You're what?"
"Stunned."
"So you're saying I don't normally look appealing?" the therapist teased.
"No!" Emma gasped. "I..."
"Oh, it's fine. I get it. I see how it is."
Even though Regina was grinning, Emma took her seriously.
"I'm really sorry. I didn't mean it that way. You always look beautiful! It's just that today... Today you look radiant."
"I was just kidding, Emma," Regina laughed. "Relax. And thank you. I wasn't sure about this dress, but obviously it caught your attention, so-"
A knock at the door interrupted the woman's sentence, and the two stared at each other in confusion.
"You expecting a package or something?"
"No... I'm not."
"Regina!" a shrill voice form outside rang out. "Let your mother in for crying out loud. I swear, if you're still sleeping, I-"
Regina covered her mouth and looked desperately at Emma, praying that somehow the situation would just fade away if she wished hard enough.
"Regina!" Emma hissed. "Go get the door!"
"And what am I supposed to do with you?"
"I don't know. But if you pretend you're not here, she's just going to open the door with the key she has anyway, so you might as well just let her in."
Conceding to this, Regina stood and reluctantly made her way to the door of the apartment. At a painfully slow pace, she opened the door.
"What took you so long?" the woman shrieked. "I was-"
When Regina's mother caught sight of Emma, her face flooded with color.
"What the Hell is she doing here?" the woman snapped.
Regina stood gaping at her mother but said nothing.
"Regina! What is she doing here?"
"Mother, I..."
"You what? Did I not make myself perfectly clear?"
"You did, but I..."
"PERFECTLY clear, Regina?"
"Yes, mother, but..."
"Enough! I want her out, now!"
Finally, Regina found courage, and her voice found strength.
"She's not leaving, mother."
"Then you leave me no choice but to report you. You should have listened to me. You should have listened. And now, your choices will haunt you forever. You can say goodbye to your job, Regina. You'll never practice again."
As soon as the door slammed, Regina's eyes snapped back to Emma's direction and she immediately saw that the girl was crying.
"Emma..."
"I'm so sorry," the girl said, her hands shaking as she gripped the sides of the stool she was sitting on.
"Emma, don't. This isn't your fault. I..."
"What are you going to do?"
"There's nothing I can do. I can't deny her claims in front of the board. I'm going to have to face them and accept the consequences."
"Regina, no! There has to be something we can do."
"No, Emma. Nothing can fix what she's about to do."
"Can't you talk to her? Convince her otherwise?"
Regina forced a laugh.
"Of course not. She's my mother. She wouldn't budge if a train was headed for her at 120 miles an hour."
Emma looked dismayed, but she understood the truth of the woman's words.
"What now?"
"Now, we wait."
"Wait for what?"
"To see what they say."
"Will you see your patients until then?"
Regina nodded and sighed.
"I'll need to tie up any loose ends I've made. I won't be able to tell them why, of course, but I'll be able to refer them to other therapists who can help them much better than I can."
"That's not true! You're a wonderful therapist, Regina. We talked about this."
"Say what you will, but the damage is done now, and there's nothing we can do to change my mother's mind."
Emma thought for a moment - thought hard - and finally, she said, "What if we could discredit her and make her seem... I don't know... delusional? Without denying anything directly."
Looking intrigued but skeptical, Regina asked, "How?"
"Isn't there some dirt you can dig up on her? There has to be something dark in her past that would cause the board to completely disregard anything she said."
"She's a reputable member of society, Emma. No one's going to believe anything negative I have to say about her."
"You don't have to lie. What if you had proof?"
"Proof of what, exactly?"
"Anything, Regina. Anything."