Morning's Golden Light
Part Four
A/N 1: Oh for corn's sake! This was supposed to be a two part drabble and it just keeps spiralling into more and more. I blame Jehc and her muse who is making her write something she never intended to, her muse has obviously conspired with mine and now my muse is doing the same thing. Sheesh! I now have no clue how long this thing is gonna be! So no more estimates, just strap in for the ride if you feel up to it. ;-)
A/N 2: A tip of the nib to Joy May on the FB SwanQueen page for her suggestion of ring tone.
The phone rang for the third time in as many minutes, its perky tone blaring out, 'I'm a Believer' incessantly, each refrain getting louder as it rang. The annoying sound was only just beginning to penetrate the consciousness of the blonde curled up on the floor beside her bed cradling her bruised and battered body. The phone began its fourth rendition after only a few seconds respite and Emma finally opened her eyes very slowly before trying to straighten out her body. Attempting to brace herself against the bed to get to an upright position, Emma tried to take a deep breath only to end up gasping in pain as she clutched her ribs trying to ease the searing pain that expanding her lungs so much had caused.
Working through the pain with short pants she managed eventually to reach up to her nightstand and retrieve her phone answering the fifth call as she brought it to her ear. She brought her free hand up to her facing tracing gingerly along the 3 inch gash along her cheek before her attention was yanjed back to the phone.
"Emma!" Henry's panicked voice cracked through the connection.
"Where are you!? You've gotta come quick, something's wrong with Mom!"
The high pitched tones of the very frightened little boy cleared the last of the fogginess from her mind but also caused her to move too quickly causing her to gasp and utter a pained moan.
"Ma? What was that? Are you okay? Ma! Are you there? Come on speak to me…"
Henry was truly frantic now and Emma knew she needed to answer quickly and get him calmed down.
"I'm okay Henry, I fell out of bed but I'm..well I'll be fine. What's wrong with your mom?"
She was met with a confused rapid fire flow of facts her battered brain just couldn't sort through or absorb.
"Whoa, slow down Kid, I can't understand what you're saying. Look are you safe? Are you or Regina in any danger?"
"I'm okay, but Mom won't wake up. I've shouted and shaken her but she won't wake up."
Emma's heartstrings tugged at the mixture of worry and forlornness in her son's voice.
"I want you to take a deep breath and try to be calm. Start from the beginning and tell me everything in the order it happened, don't leave anything out, okay Henry?"
The blonde half smiled when she heard Henry draw in a noisy breath and let it out in a rush followed by another avalanche of words.
"Slowly, kid." Holding her torso with one arm she limped to the bathroom and grabbed a face cloth wetting it and holding the soothing coolness to her damaged face. Moving back to her room she opened the closet and grabbed her jacket, one ear still on the phone in her hand she struggled with the leather trying unsuccessfully not to pull on her ribs.
"I woke up when I heard Mom calling out my name, I thought she was calling for me so I went to her room. She was groaning and calling out a load of names I didn't know. I came into her room and she was rolling around on her bed, she was crying and calling out for her mom and I went and tried to wake her up but when I touched her she pulled away and nearly rolled off the bed."
Emma had finally managed to get her jacket on and was heading down the stairs the phone still pressed to her ear continuing to listen to Henry as she searched for her car keys.
"I shouted for her to wake up, but she just kept crying out and saying sorry till she suddenly sat up straight and just screamed out No!" His voice faltered and Emma could hear a small sniffle through the earpiece.
"Her eyes were wide open but she didn't see me at least I don't think she did. Then she just fell back on the bed and she's all stiff and she won't wake up. I've been really shaking her but she won't wake up Emma." He gave a little hiccup as he tried not to let his tears free.
"Henry, I'm on my way, okay, just hang in there, I'm in the car and I'll be there in a few minutes."
"Please hurry Emma."
"I will Kid. I'm gonna hang up now because I need to drive. Okay?"
"Okay, but hurry." A very audible little sob was followed by a whispered, "I'm scared Ma."
The sobbed admission acted as a loadstone to the blonde's foot pulling it and the pedal under it to the floor gunning the little bug's engine. Intent to get to her son and his mother as quickly as humanly possible, she pushed past the agony of her damaged ribs and other injuries as if they didn't exist. Less than 10 minutes later she was at the mansion banging on the front door for Henry to let her in, only just managing to brace herself when the door was torn open and a small body barrelled into her latching on and squeezing so hard she couldn't stop the yelp of pain the embrace elicited. Too focused on the comfort of Emma's arms wrapping round him, Henry missed the flinch and the yelp and even the gash on Emma's cheek and only disengaged to grab the blonde's arm to drag her inside and up the stairs.
Henry ran, his youth and urgency making up for his shorter legs and Emma was forced to take the steps two at a time just to keep up, not that she was any less intent to get to Regina than their son was, taking the lead as soon as they hit the upstairs hallway and pushing into Regina's room without any hesitation Henry following right behind.
Regina lay on her back her legs trapped in a tangle of sheets and the duvet and her arms by her sides hands clenched, her eyes were firmly closed and her body painfully rigid. Emma moved to the bed and sat down beside the woman whose dreams she'd been sharing for more than a week.
"Regina?" Emma whispered before she cleared her throat and spoke with more volume. "Regina, wake up!"
Emma took the brunette by the shoulder and shook her till the bed bounced. Regina's only response was another whimper and the tiniest movement of her head. Emma tried again, fighting her own rising fear, this time she noticed a slight loosening of Regina's muscles when the blonde took hold of both her upper arms to shake her, but she still didn't waken. Part of Emma wasn't really surprised at this, she instinctively knew that Regina's current condition was somehow connected to her own actions in the woman's dreams. She knew what was tormenting the older woman and she was desperate to safe her but had no idea how to do it.
"Why can't you wake her up?" Emma looked up to be met by the pleading look in Henry's eyes. "You're the Saviour, can't you save her too?"
Emma was at a complete loss and knew she was totally out of her depth but she pulled Henry to her and tried to reassure him.
"I'm going to try Kid, I promise, but I think I'm going to need some help."
"Mom said you've got magic now too, can't you just wake her up with that?"
"Henry, I may have some magic now but I have no clue how to use it yet."
She looked mournfully down at Regina, thinking how the brunette had offered to teach her how to use her new ability only for her to rebuff the offer not wanting to deal with yet another forced change in her life. Emma pulled her hand through her tangled hair in frustration realising what a selfish idiot she'd been and truly wishing she'd taken Regina up on her offer. She reached down and touched Regina's arm, mentally whispering her regret to the sleeping woman.
Henry stayed in her loose embrace but reached out to gently stroke Regina's arm right beside where Emma had left her hand.
"Please wake up Mom. Emma and I need you."
Emma touched her good cheek to the top of her sons head as she murmured her agreement. Mothers and son stayed this way for a few minutes giving Emma some time to think about next moves. A squeeze from Henry brought her back sharply to her injuries and her mewl of pain seemed to finally draw the boy's attention to her physical condition. His eyes grew huge as he actually took in the two inch gash across her left cheek, a myriad of small scratches and cuts on her face and neck and the swelling around her right eye that promised to be a prize winning shiner some the morning. He noted the way she was sitting, favouring her left side with her arm held stiffly under her ribs trying to give them some support as she breathed.
"Um, Emma, did you fall down the stairs when you fell out of bed?"
"Cute Kid. No, um this.." She waved her hand at herself and then vaguely toward Regina. "It's kinda connected to your Mom I think."
"What, how?" His curious gaze bore into her.
"I will tell you Henry, but like I said first we need some help." She fished her phone from her pocket and hit speed dial.
"Hey David. I need you to come over to Regina's asap, we've got a problem. No, Henry's fine. Yes I'm, well kind of… well it's complicated, just get over here as soon as you can, oh and pick up Ruby on the way. Yeah, I'm just gonna call her, you may have to wait for her to get dressed but she'll come."
Her attention wavered when Regina began moving on the bed beside her, writhing and moaning she began to swing her arms catching Henry on the leg and causing him to jump away from the bed, eyes big again with worry. The disruption nearly made Emma miss David's next comment.
"What? No, No don't bring Snow, not right now anyway, just let her sleep. Yeah, I'm sure." Emma ducked just in time to avoid another swing of Regina's arm. "Listen can you call Ruby instead, I'm kind of stuck with something here." Another swing from an increasingly agitated Regina caused Emma to lose her hold on the phone and injudiciously lunge toward the floor to pick it up. Pain shot through her side and before she could censor herself she let rip with a string of foul language that had Henry more goggle-eyed than his comatose mother.
Finally getting herself under control and the phone back in her hand Emma tried to calm her now agitated father who'd been seriously spooked by Emma's cursing.
"It's okay David, everything's fine, I just dropped the phone and bent down too quick to pick it up. What? No! Look I'm fine, I just need you to get here Okay? Great, see you soon."
Tossing the phone on the bedside table Emma made a grab for the brunette's flailing arms and tried to calm the obviously distressed woman. At first Regina continued to struggle against Emma's grasp but the blonde kept speaking to her, keeping her tone soothing and not letting any of her pain and discomfort show in her voice until eventually Regina ceased her struggle. Her arms fell to her sides but her head continued to move restlessly and Emma noted the trickle of a single tear escape from beneath her tightly shut eyelid.
Emma reached over and gently wiped the moisture away allowing her fingers to stay and gently stroke over Regina's cheek, seeking comfort for herself as much as trying to impart it to Regina. Henry moved closer again and leaned into Emma's side, her arm automatically circling his waist.
Not really thinking about what she was doing, Emma reached out again and smoothed away the dishevelled locks of rich brown hair away from Regina's face. She smoothed the hair back again and again, the rhythm of her stroking fingers seemed to quieten the distressed woman. As she continued the soothing motion Emma began to hum a tune she hadn't heard or sung for over ten years, not since the day she'd held her new born son in her arms.