"Well?" Regina asked anxiously, as soon as Emma walked in the door. "How'd it go? Was she nice? Did you-"

"It was fine," Emma laughed. "It was fine."

"Well, how are you? Are you okay? Was she nice?"

"Regina, calm down. I'm fine. She was very pleasant."

Breathing a sigh of relief, the girl's lover sat down at the table and smiled at her.

"That's great, honey. I'm really glad. Are you going back?"

"Are you kidding? Absolutely. She's gorgeous."

Emma was grinning, but Regina obviously did not find this funny as her mouth fell open and she stared at the blonde in shock.

"Oh, come on!" the girl cried with a laugh. "I was just playing around! She is really pretty though."

"Emma! That's not funny!"

"Aww, c'mon, baby," the girl cooed, sauntering over to where her lover was sitting and putting her hands on the woman's shoulders. "It was a little funny."

Regina just slapped the girl's hands away and cried, "It wasn't!"

Wide-eyed and surprised by the woman's severe reaction, Emma stepped back and stared at her.

"What the Hell, Regina. It was a fucking joke."

"I don't care. It wasn't the least bit funny. Actually, it was pretty fucking offensive."

"Why are you reacting so strongly to that?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Emma said calmly, sitting in the chair beside Regina. "Why is that hitting a nerve with you?"

"Because she's your therapist! And you being attracted to her freaks me out!"

"Because I was attracted to you? And you think that I'm... What? Just... attracted to therapists in general or something?"

"No! No. Emma, I didn't mean it like that... I just meant... It makes me nervous."

"I'm attracted to Belle too, you know. Beautiful women aren't going to make me stop loving you, or cause me to be unfaithful to you."

This seemed to ease some of the doctor's anxiety as she nodded her head slowly and said, "Okay."

"Anyway, yeah, I'm going to see her again on Thursday. She's very calm and kind. It's soothing. She's gentle when she talks, like you were. She's not pushy, the way I expected her to be."

"Most therapists aren't pushy, Emma. Most of us care about our clients and sincerely want them to get better."

"Speaking of that... How's work been, babe? We haven't talked about it in a while."

"It's... Well... I mean, I try not to bring work home. You know that."

The blonde tilted her head and reached for her lover's hand, squeezing it gently.

"What's the matter, baby? Did something happen?"

"No, I just... I mean... I shouldn't talk about clients with you."

"We don't have to talk about anything specific, honey. I was just asking how things were in general. If everything's okay."

"Everything is fine. It's stressful, but the work is worth it."

"Alright, babe. If you're sure..."

"So, anyway... It went alright? You didn't, like... run out of there screaming?" Regina chuckled lightly.

Emma shook her head and leaned in to kiss her lover's lips.

"Hey," the woman mumbled into the kiss. "Seriously."

"Honey, it went fine. I said I was going back, didn't I?"

"Did you... Did you tell her why you're there?"

Pulling away, Emma blinked a few times as she looked into her lover's dark eyes, hesitating before she spoke.

"I did, yes."

"Good. I'm proud of you. I know those things are hard to say."

"I don't want to talk about this, okay? I want to deal with it as little as humanly possible and then just get the fuck over it."

"It doesn't work like that, Emma. You have to face it head-on."

"I'm not talking about it with you! Let it go!"

"Hey... Relax. I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to push you. I just meant..." She trailed off, then with a sigh, she continued, "Come here, baby girl."

Sighing too, Emma got out of her chair and sat down in the brunette's lap. Allowing the feeling of Regina's arms to surround her, she lowered her head to the woman's shoulder and breathed in the scent of her perfume, mixed in with the smell of the body wash she'd used that morning.

"I love you," Regina whispered softly, kissing the shell of Emma's ear. "And I'm proud of you for doing this. I really, truly believe that it will help, or I wouldn't have asked you to take this kind of step when I know how painful it can be."

Emma nodded slowly, then nuzzled her forehead against the side of Regina's neck, letting the woman hold her close as she listened to her breathing.

"It's gonna be okay," the woman assured her as she began to rub her back. "And I'm gonna be right here the whole way, even if you don't want to talk about it. I'll be here to just sit here and hold you, whenever you need me. Okay?"

Again, the blonde nodded, but said nothing. Instead, she clung tighter to her lover and tried to breathe slowly to ease her anxiety.

"I want to get better," she finally said, after a long while of silence. "I don't want to take out all my anger on you and Belle. I want to stop feeling like this all the time."

"You will, baby. You will. Just don't give up on it, alright? No matter how hard it gets, if you hang in there, you'll see an improvement. And you're not taking anything out on me. You're-"

"Yes, I am, Regina. You know I am. I snap at you constantly. I get mad over nearly anything at all. I get rude and sarcastic. I know I'm doing it. It's just... in the moment... I don't think about it. I just say things. And do things. I don't even want to. It just happens. And I'm sorry..."

"My darling girl," Regina said softly. "I completely understand where all those emotions are coming from, and I forgive you for anything you may have said that you didn't mean. I would never hold that against you. I'm just happy that you're trying to feel better now and that you're taking steps to heal yourself. The last thing I want is for you to be unhappy."

"I don't want to end up in the hospital again. I don't want to keep cutting. I want to just... get better. And be normal."

"Emma, it's not that you're not 'normal.' No one is 'normal.' It's just that you've experienced things that a lot of people haven't, and the pain from that is pervasive and difficult to deal with."

"Yeah, I guess so. If I wasn't so weak, though, I'd-"

"You are not weak, Emma Swan. You are one of the strongest, most resilient people I have ever met."

With a laugh, Emma told her, "That's some bullshit, if I've ever heard any."

"I mean it."

"Yeah, well... Alright. Whatever. The point is, you deserve better. And I don't want to let you go. So... making myself better is the option I'm going with."

"Thank you. I wish you could understand how proud you make me..."

"Anyway... Let's talk about something else. I'm tired of thinking about depressing shit."

"Disney movie?"

"Disney movie."