Hello! I'm back! And this time it wasn't as long as the last gap! Still dealing with some rough patches but I'm getting by! I'm sorry things are a little rough typo wise and phrasing wise but I'm just posting without having anyone beta read it so I apologize for that. Thanks for sticking with me though! And i appreciate all the reviews you guys keep leaving! It really keeps me going and motivates me! I wrote this chapter while things were slow at work and it kind of got a little fluffy so I apologize if it seems like it strayed a little bit from the last one but I just went with it. So here we are!
Granny sat there listening to Reginas every word occasionally nodding but never once saying any thing. Emma was baffled by this but Ruby knew this couldn't mean anything good. When Regina finally finished filling Granny in she just sat back and sighed heavily. Ruby reached out and grabbed her hand. "It's bad, isn't it?" She looked Ruby in the eyes and thought briefly of asking her and Emma to give and and Regina a few minutes to speak alone but she knew her granddaughter was an adult now and she couldn't shield her forever. Letting out another sigh and looking at Regina she shook her head.
"No, this isn't good at all."
"Well, what are we going to do?" She asked.
"First thing we need to do is figure out what they're up to." Said Regina and Granny nodded.
"I'll put some feelers out with my most trusted in the pack for them to keep their ears and eyes out. But right now they best thing is to get Emma somewhere safe and let you all get some rest."
"I agree." Said Regina grabbing her bag standing up. "Ruby you're more than welcome to come with us but I'm sure you'd like to stay with Granny."
"Ruby, go get Emma settled for a few days with aunt Gina and then I'll put you to work next week." Granny said with a wink and a kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you, Granny." Ruby gave her a big hug and the three of them went back out to Reginas car to head up to the manor to get settled for the evening.
The drive from the diner to Reginas was short, only about 15 minutes. They pulled up beside Emmas bug and piled out of the car. Regina unlocked the front door and let the girls in before closing it behind them and nodding them into the sitting room. "Kat? We're home!" She called.
Kat came waltzing down the front hall from the kitchen carrying a bowl of ice cream. Regina rolled her eyes.
"Good to see you're home. Thanks for answering my texts." Regina said dryly. Kat finished licking ice cream off her spoon and shrugged.
"I mean, I did what you asked." Kat answered pointing to the bracelets on the table by the front door.
"Is that aunt Kat!?" Ruby came running back into the hall hugging the taller blonde almost knocking her bowl of ice cream out of her hands.
"Hey, kid! I didn't know you'd be here!" She hugged Ruby back and set her ice cream bowl down on the table.
"Here, I need you guys to wear these bracelets for me, it'll make you harder to find." Regina said handing them the bracelets.
"I'll show you guys the spare rooms upstairs where you can sleep" she started towards the stairs before stopping and turning back to the two of them "unless you guys would rather share a room?" Ruby looked over to Emma who was fiddling with her bracelet. She just looked up and silently nodded.
"Yeah, we'll share a room." Regina nodded and lead them upstairs to her old bedroom. There was a queen sized bed in there the two girls could share. She showed them both where the bathroom was, asked if they needed anything else and went back downstairs to talk to Kat some more about everything that occurred that weekend.
Two hours had gone by since Regina came home and they were no closer to understanding what was going on then they were previously. Regina pushed the books in front of her forward on her desk and put her head down letting out a sigh of exasperation. After a moment Regina's ears picked something up causing her to shoot up.
"What? What is it?" Kat asked. "Did you find something!?"
"No, something is wrong" Regina said "I think it's Emma" with that she was out of the library and up the stairs in an instant. She ran down the hall and threw open the bedroom door. She rolled her eye when she realized that Ruby was still sound asleep while Emma was twitching and cringing beside her. Immediately she was by Emma's side and turned on the lamp. She began lightly shaking the girl "Emma- Emma, wake up. It's okay, you're." She began shaking her harder and with a gasp Emma jolted awake. Eyes wide with panic. "Regina?" She asked. "What are you doing in here?"
"You were having a nightmare. I heard you so I came to check on you..do you want to talk about it?" Emma sat up causing Ruby to groan and shift. Regina chuckled softly and offered Emma her hand. "Come on."
She lead Emma down the hallway to a set of double doors leading to Reginas bedroom. It was huge with a beautiful king sized four post bed.
"Make yourself comfortable, I'm just going to use the washroom and I'll be right there."
"Do vampires even use the bathroom?"
Emma hadn't meant to actually ask the question out loud. She was tired and overwhelmed and couldn't stop herself before blurting it out. Regina just laughed.
"Well, I'm actually just brushing my teeth.." she replied, before closing the bathroom door.
Emma crawled up into the bed mumbling about how she never actually answered her question. But by the time Regina came back out of the bathroom Emma was fast asleep again. Regina smiled at how peaceful and beautiful Emma looked before reaching into her work bag and pulling out some papers to grade. About an hour went by before she felt Emma stirring beside her. She could hear her heart beating harder and her breathing was a lot faster. She was having another nightmare.
"Emma" she called out "Emma, darling, you're okay" Regina shook Emma awake and gave her a minute to get her surroundings before speaking.
"Emma, sweetheart, talk to me. What is going on?"
Emma sighed and sat up against the headboard. Regina wuickly straightened up the papers in front of her and placed them on the desk following Emma in sitting against the headboard. Emma shook her head.
"Regina..I'm more terrified than ever. It's not just myself that I need to be afraid of him hurting anymore. And now he's not the only one I need to be worrying about."
At that point Emma broke down crying. Immediately Regina pulled the younger girl closer.
"Emma, shh, no. Listen to me. You don't need to worry I promise you. Ruby and her family are very strong and tough. They can take care of themselves. And so can I." Emma just sniffled in response.
"Emma, look at me." Regina tilted her chin up so she was looking up at her.
"I promise I will protect you. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. Do you understand me?" Emma looked down and bit her lip.
"You promise?
"I promise"
When Emma looked back up Regina was still staring at her but this time when their eyes met it was like Emma forgot how to breathe. It set Emma's heart racing and Regina didn't miss either of those things though she tried to not pay attention to it. She kept reminding herself that Emma was young and so vulnerable right now. Not to mention the fact that she was Ruby's best friend, but the second Emma leaned in slightly licking her lips all that went out the window. Regina closed the gap between pressing her lips against Emma's. She felt the smaller girl hesitate at first but quickly she began kissing Regina back. Regina moaned softly into the kiss. Gods had it been while. She wanted to take Emma right then and there but she knew things had to be different. She needed to treat Emma diffrent. She deserved much better than the girls in Regina's past. Surprisingly it was Regina who broke the kiss. Regina kept her face close to Emma's with her eyes closed afraid to move. For the first time in decades Regina Mills was afraid. Slowly she opened her eyes and found Emma staring up at her. A look of panic and uncertainty across her face. Realizing that the silence was probably not comforting at all Regina attempted to break it. "Emma.." was all she managed to get out before Emma started in.
"I'm s-so I-I-I I'm so sorry I don't know what I was thinking" and with that she scrambled off the bed and took off running. Before Regina could even register what was happening Emmas was gone. Quickly Regina was on her feet and ran after her but couldn't find her. Reluctantly she woke Ruby and the two of them started searching together. They were by the front door when Ruby stopped and turned to Regina.
"What happened? Why did she run?" Ruby asked. Regina didn't answer her causing Rubys stance to grow more defensive. "Regina. What. Happened." She asked again but this time there was a slight growl under it.
"I-we..kissed" Regina rushed out. Ruby launched at her pinning her against the wall. "I told you not to hurt her!" Regina shoved her back careful not to hurt her.
"I have no plans of hurting her! I really enjoyed the kiss! I think she just got scared and confused. I want Emma! I want to protect her and care for her and be with her, Ruby! The last thing I want to do is hurt her!" Regina didn't mean to but she started raising her voice but she got her point across. She saw Rubys face soften. "I'm sorry, Aunt Gina. She's just my best friend and I already let one person treat her like shit."
At the point the front door opened to Kat with her arm around a sniffling Emma.
"Emma!" Ruby grabbed her best friend and hugged her dragging her to the stairs so they could talk.
"Where were you guys?" Regina asked Katharine.
"I ran into this one crying on the stairs so we went for a little walk then sat on the porch and talked."
"The porch?"
Katharine smirked and nodded.
"Did you.." Regina whispered.
Kat pointed to herself and nodded and then pointed over to Emma. "I don't think so."
Regina turned to the two on the steps. "Well, you girls should probably get back to sleep"
They both sleepily agreed and began to head upstairs. Ruby and Emma shared a small look before Emma stopped and looked back towards Regina.
"Regina? Can I come sleep in your bed? I'm afraid I'll have more nightmares.."
Regina tried fighting back the smile about to spread across her face. "Of course.