Henry sits on the end of Regina's hospital bed, Regina's feet in his lap, reading a comic book to her while Mary Margaret reads in a chair.
Just outside the room, Gen and Emma discuss the upcoming meeting.
Gen checks her watch. "She's due in just a few minutes, and I don't expect her to be late."
Emma groans. "You make it sound like she's got it out for me."
"Emma, you have a target on your back. There's a reason the doctor has yet to speak with you about Regina."
"And why is that?" Emma asks, throwing up her hands.
Gen lowers Emma's hands. "These two women, and possibly more, are under the impression that you intentionally threw a woman hard enough into a wall that you put her in a coma. Would you be pleased to meet yourself if you did not know better?"
"But I didn't do it intentionally!"
Gen puts out a hand to silence Emma. "They are yet to be aware of that. This is why we are having the meeting."
The social worker rounds the corner.
Gen gestures toward her. "Do as we discussed, and things will be fine."
Emma nods and swallows, turning to watch the fast-moving social worker approach. When she stops in front of them, Emma holds out her hand. "I'm Emma Swan."
The woman looks at Emma's hand then up to Gen. "Right this way," she says, turning on her heel.
Emma clenches her teeth and flexes her fingers, trying to not let the frustration build up too much.
Gen gently touches her arm to guide her after the shorter woman.
Once they've settled into a small office obviously shared by all of the hospital social workers, the social worker opens a folder with a picture of Regina in the hospital bed. She puts her hands on the desk and looks at Emma.
"Your name?"
"Emma Swan."
She fills in blanks on paperwork in the file. "Relation to the victim?"
Emma cringes and glances at Gen who nods. "Wife."
She pulls out another paper to read from. "On Sunday, your wife Regina Mills was admitted to this hospital. A report was filed indicating that she suffered vision impairment and a loss of consciousness immediately before being admitted to the hospital emergency room. Further information was presented that the hospitalization was the second as a result of a traumatic brain injury that occurred the previous day on Saturday. Due to the absence of one involved party and the impairment of the other involved party, cause of injury is speculation at the time of admittance to in-patient care." She lays down the paper and looks at Emma. "Since you were so kind as to join us here, why don't you tell me what happened on Saturday?"
"The only reason I wasn't here is because no one told me," Emma defends, scooting to the edge of her seat.
Gen puts out a hand and forces Emma to lean back in her chair. "Her job is not to understand why you were or were not here, rather what led your wife to be here."
Emma sighs and nods.
"Care to begin?" the social worker presses.
Emma rolls her eyes and sits up straight. "Okay. Last week, while I was in Atlanta, I had a run in with my boss. She came onto me pretty-"
"I'm sorry," the social interrupts, holding up her hand. "But I'm not looking for a novel here. I need to know what happened on Saturday."
Gen puts out a hand to interrupt Emma. "Ma'am, this is pertinent information to the case."
"I believe that's for me to decide."
"Then perhaps you should listen so that you can decide justly, or is your sole purpose here to crucify my client?"
The social worker glares at Gen, but Gen just stares coolly back at her. She huffs and waves for Emma to continue.
Emma clears her throat and starts again. "Well my boss came onto me pretty hard-"
Gen taps Emma's hand.
"My boss assaulted me in her office. When I was trying to leave, I found the door was locked, and she came up behind me, pressing her entire body on me and wrapped her arms around me. I had to shove her off me before someone finally opened the door and let me out." Emma stops and takes a few breaths.
The social worker stares at her, unimpressed. "Are you planning on relating this to the incident with Mrs. Mills?"
Emma sucks her teeth and opens her mouth, but stops when Gen taps her hand again. She shuts her mouth and slumps back a bit before taking a breath and continuing. "After the incident, I returned home to Maine. I had to do an incident report via email while at home. On Saturday, the HR team was absolutely harassing me via Regina about it, and I wanted to know what was going on, so I read the emails. Among them was the report I had sent, and for some reason, I reread that. I got kind of stuck in that world again, and Regina closed in on me from behind, and I panicked thinking I was trapped in the office and she was my supervisor."
"What happened then?" the social worker asks, her pen steadily writing.
Emma runs a hand down her face. "I got scared, and I turned to get her off of me, but we were really close to the wall, and she stumbled back into it. There was a picture frame that she hit her head on." She takes a deep breath and sits back.
"And then?" the social worker presses, irritated.
Emma looks over at Gen.
"She needs to know what happened between the accident and arriving at the hospital," Gen informs her.
"Oh, um, well her head hurt, but she said she only needed ice and some medicine. She seemed fine when Henry and I left for the store, but when we came back, she started stumbling and having a hard time focusing on stuff. She fell asleep on the couch, and we took her to the hospital. The doctor said she has a tbi and a, um, close head injury. But he said she would be okay minus a few symptoms. She was much better the next morning. She and my parents took us to the airport Sunday afternoon, and she started having a hard time again. She told us she was fine though, just tired, so Henry and I got on the plane for Atlanta. I found out Tuesday morning that my parents withheld her condition from me and that apparently she had come to the hospital straight from the airport."
The social worker doesn't look up when Emma finishes, instead continues writing then starts filling in blanks on other papers in the pile.
"So, uh…" Emma watches her write. She glances at Gen.
"Ma,am," Gen starts. "Is there any further information you require?"
The social worker ignores both of them for a few moments then lays down her pen and looks up at Emma. "You had a mental break-"
"This is not a psych eval," Gen interrupts.
The social workers glares at her. "You had a moment and threw your wife into a wall?"
Emma shifts uncomfortably. "I mean, there was a lot more to it than that, and I didn't exactly throw her. I don't even remember putting my hands on her."
"You don't remember?" The social worker leans forward on her elbows.
"I mean, I didn't. I didn't put my hands on her." Emma rubs her hands on her pants. "It was an accident."
"An accident?" the social worker scoffs.
"Do you need a definition of that term?" Gen asks, folding her hands over her crossed legs.
Slamming her folder shut, the social worker plasters on a fake smile. "I'm interested to hear Mrs. Mills' version of this story."
"Her version?" Emma spits. "What the hell are you getting on about? What do you want me to say? That I purposefully-"
Gen slams her hand over Emma's mouth. "That's enough, Ms. Swan." She looks at the social worker. "This meeting is over. Thank you."
The social worker shakes her head and stands to open the door for them. "I'm sure we will be speaking again soon, Mrs. Swan."
Emma glares at her as Gen shoves her out the door. In the hallway, Emma lets out a loud groan of frustration.
"Oh, and Mrs. Swan," the social worker says behind them. Once they turn to her, she continues. "Any acts of aggression in the hospital, we will have you removed."
"You cannot legally do that," Gen states firmly.
The social worker smiles. "No, I can't, but the doctor can exclude visitors based on best possible patient care. I don't think an aggressive visitor is really what Mrs. Mills needs."
Emma steps forward but stops when Gen's arm shoots out in front of her.
"Will that be all?" Gen asks. The social worker nods, so Gen takes Emma's arm and quickly drags her down the hall. Once they get to Regina's room, Gen stops her. "Is there anything else you would like to do to make this harder on me?"
"Harder on you?" Emma steps close to her. "That woman looked at me like a monster. She honestly thinks I did this on purpose, and nothing I said changed her mind one bit."
"Emma, the facts tell the story, not her opinion. You're right, she doesn't believe you; however, she only has half of the case finished, and I have supporting evidence of the incident. In fact, I have a documented report directly from Ms. Mills of Saturday's accident."
"Why didn't you tell her?"
"Did that look like a court room? You are not being charged with anything right now." Gen closes the gap between them. "And if you would like to keep it that way, I need you to calm down, refrain from stating anything beyond the facts, and heed that awful woman's warning to not draw any further attention. Do you understand?"
Emma grits her teeth and holds Gen's stare, but finally breaks away and steps back. "Yes." She turns and goes into the room, immediately pulling a chair to Regina's bedside and laying her head on Regina's arm.