Chapter 27
Clattering from the kitchen and the smell of baking woke Regina up and made her look around disoriented for a moment before she literally leapt up into a sitting position and slipped into her shoes, which were neatly placed next to the sofa. "Where's Emma?" the brunette immediately wanted to know when she walked into the kitchen and found Zelena there.
"So, slept in?" her red-haired sister only replied, turning away from the open cupboard door she had just peeked into to look at Regina with her arms crossed. "Upstairs in bed, asleep, I think."
A hand wandered to Regina's forehead as her gaze fell out the window and with it to the darkness that prevailed outside. "Oh God, what time is it?"
"Almost eleven," Zelena answered her question and then lead her toward her chair at the table, where she pushed her into a sitting position by the shoulders with gentle firmness.
"What are you doing, Zelena? I can't sit around here," Regina immediately began to protest in response.
"You're not supposed to sit around, you're supposed to eat. I finished the lunch you started," Zelena explained, heating up a plateful for her in the microwave.
Regina shook her head and wanted to get up again, but changed her mind at Zelena's punishing look. Instead, she threw her hands in the air and groaned. "I'm not hungry. And tomorrow is Emma's birthday, I have to..."
"You don't have to do anything but eat and then go to bed," Zelena interrupted her, setting the steaming plate down in front of her. "I baked an apple pie, probably not the outstanding creation you would have thought of for Emma's birthday, but I'm sure she can overlook that," she said wryly, taking a seat next to her. "She worries about you," she then said more quietly and gently. "Don't give her any reason to have to add to those worries. She's fine, I made sure she ate something and then lay down," she assured her.
Regina kept silent and stared at the food in front of her. She was neither hungry nor had an appetite and apart from Emma's birthday, there were a thousand other things on her mind. "There's a town council meeting on Monday, I have so much to prepare. When should I do that, Zelena? Tomorrow on Emma's birthday, perhaps?"
"It will probably have to be held without you anyway," Zelena stated lightly.
"I know you think my work is pointless and you don't know what all is behind it, but..."
"That's not what this is about, even though you're right, of course," Zelena said with rolled eyes without letting Regina finish. "On Monday you have to go to the hospital for a checkup and on top of that you have to take it easy. That means no work!"
"You don't think I'm going to be twiddling my thumbs the whole time!" Regina indignantly stared at her uncomprehendingly across the table.
Zelena shook her head. "Not on your part, no. But Emma and I will see to it. Now eat," she nodded to the plate and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
Smitten, Regina sighed and awkwardly shoved a few forkfuls into her mouth with her left hand before wearily running her hands over her eyes. She was more rested than she had been in a long time, having slept through the entire afternoon. But all that sleep was still dragging down her eyelids. "Can you please give me one of those pain pills? They're in my purse," she finally asked her sister when she felt she couldn't ignore the uncomfortable burning sensation in her injured hand for a second longer.
"Sure," Zelena nodded. "I can brew you something to ease the pain, too," she offered her sister, but she slowly shook her head.
"I've gotten out of the habit of magic as much as possible," she admitted. "Teleporting doesn't mix well with Emma's condition. I wish it didn't, because then the stairs wouldn't be such a problem," she said slowly. "And in addition, I've gotten so used to this world's medicines during the curse that I hardly think about which spell would be better."
"Fair enough, but if I search a bit, I'm sure I can find something that will make the wound heal," Zelena offered, but Regina just shook her head again.
"I know you mean well. But it's all right, Zelena. Just give me a pill and then I'll go to bed," she repeated, pushing the plate away from her.
Zelena eyed her sister for a moment longer and then got up to get her the medicine from her purse, which they had simply left in the entrance hall after their return from the hospital.
"Thank you," Regina said softly when Zelena was back, taking one of the pills with some water. "You don't have to stay here overnight," she then said seriously, looking into her sister's blue eyes.
"Robin is already asleep upstairs and I won't wake her now. Besides, your guest bed is super comfortable," the redhead only replied.
Without objecting further, Regina merely nodded and stood up. "As you wish. Sleep well, then."
"You too," Zelena nodded, watching her sister walk towards the stairs. "And, Regina?"
The brunette paused and looked back at Zelena again.
"Your laptop is hereby confiscated, and be sure that if you're ghosting around tonight instead of lying in your bed, I'll know it."
Regina opened her mouth, but immediately closed it again. She knew she didn't stand a chance and would lose this discussion, so she rather saved her breath. "Good night."
Zelena nodded. "Good night."
In the bathroom, Regina had some trouble swapping her blouse for her nightclothes, as she had wires hanging everywhere. Annoyed, she just brushed her teeth quickly afterwards and then slipped into bed as quietly as possible next to Emma.
"How are you?" the blonde whispered sleepily and slowly turned to her other side to look at Regina.
The latter was a little startled, as she had assumed that Emma was already fast asleep. "I didn't mean to wake you, I'm sorry."
"You didn't," Emma assured her, gently pulling Regina into her arms as she continued to wait for a response.
Knowing that she wouldn't let up before then anyway, Regina sighed and snuggled into Emma's arms. "Better." She paused and thought for a while. "I didn't mean to cause you such worry," she finally added ruefully and swallowed.
Gently, Emma's fingers stroked through Regina's hair as her free arm continued to wrap around her chest. "That's okay. I make you worry all the time," she smirked melancholically and kissed her girlfriend gently on the neck, right on the sensitive skin under her ear.
A comforting shiver ran over Regina and she closed her eyes.
"Doesn't mean you should go on like this now," Emma then said.
"I don't know how to change anything about it, Emma," Regina admitted honestly, taking a deep breath. "You're the first person I've really loved since Daniel... How could I possibly stop myself from going crazy over your well-being?"
"You're not supposed to. Well, it wouldn't be bad, but I understand that you can't just turn that off," Emma countered. "But everything else... Let Henry help if he's already offering. Let me help once in a while. I may be sick, but there are definitely things I can still do. Changing the wheels on your car may not be one of them right now, but I am perfectly capable of turning on a washing machine or setting the table when I haven't had chemo. As for your office work, hire someone who can give you a hand. I don't want you to give up your mayoral position. You like your job, and besides, this position is sexy," she grinned, earning a light peck in the side that made her laugh. Immediately after, however, she turned serious again and continued stroking Regina's hair. "But I really mean what I say. You should keep working, but you need to get help. Otherwise, I can't let you take care of me any longer, then I'll really look for a caregiver or move out temporarily."
Regina turned her head around to face her and opened her mouth, but Emma put an index finger to her lips before she could say anything.
"I don't intend to. But if my presence makes you physically ill, then it must be," Emma whispered, placing a soft kiss on Regina's lips.
Regina returned it and then wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "I'm getting better. I'm really trying," she whispered chokingly, now turning fully around so that she in turn could wrap her arms around Emma.
With her forehead against Regina's, Emma nodded slowly and looked into her seemingly black eyes in the darkness of the room. "That's fair enough for now," she breathed, pulling Regina against her again, her kisses more demanding this time.
For the first time in weeks, Regina didn't think about hurting or straining Emma, but simply gave herself to her. Almost tenderly, she slipped the pajama top over her head and tossed it aside. She ignored the IV for chemo and her catheter for dialysis. Instead, her hands stroked Emma's bony shoulders as she greedily returned her kisses before sliding them lower and resting them on her breasts.
Emma gave a low moan and thrust her pelvis forward until it collided with Regina's, who then pushed her thigh between Emma's legs. "Regina," she sighed as her girlfriend's lips slid lower, tracing a wet, hot trail between her breasts and across her belly before playing with the waistband of her pants.
"Do you want me to stop?" Regina's throaty voice asked.
Taking a deep breath, Emma shook her head and closed her eyes. "Just don't."
A dark smile played around the corners of Regina's mouth as she picked up where she left off and pushed Emma's pants down. Carefully, almost teasingly, her tongue began caressing Emma's clit as she penetrated her with two fingers.
Emma couldn't remember the last time she had felt as alive as she did at that moment. Breathing heavily, she clawed her hands in Regina's hair and thrust against her until she finally climaxed and a harsh sound left her throat. It took her a while to get enough air back before she could push Regina over the edge as well, but that didn't take much more effort.
Already by succeeding in bringing Emma to such ecstasy, Regina had not been far from her own climax, and when she now felt the deft, circling movements of her girlfriend's thumb on her most sensitive spot, it was all over her too. A loud gasp that formed Emma's name escaped her.
Almost at the same moment, a dull thump sounded on the wall, making both Emma and Regina wince.
"There's a little kid sleeping in here, damn it!" the indignant voice of Zelena, muffled by the wall, was heard immediately after.
Regina started giggling and pressed a hand to her girlfriend's mouth as she started laughing loudly. "Shh," she made, but had to laugh herself and finally put her head on Emma's quivering chest.
"Did she really just...?" Emma started in a whisper as she calmed down a bit, then snorted again.
Regina nodded and rolled her eyes. "She did. My sister, you just have to love her for that."
"Indeed," Emma agreed with her, still laughing a little and only slowly calming down as she stroked Regina's hair and stared into the darkness. The weight of her head on her chest gave her a wonderful feeling of security and she didn't want that bubble of comfort to burst and bring her back to reality. "Thank you," she said softly after a while.
Slowly Regina turned her head a little so that she could look up questioningly at Emma.
The blonde sighed and brushed a strand of Regina's hair behind her ear. "I know I'm not exactly desirable right now, and I also know how much you haven't liked touching me lately," she finally whispered. "Therefore, thank you."
In disbelief, Regina lifted her head from Emma's chest and looked at her unblinkingly. "I hope you realize what the reason is, though," she countered. "Emma, you weren't feeling well most of the time, and I didn't want to cause you any more pain, that's all."
"Yeah, I know," Emma nodded, pulling her girlfriend back into her arms until she lay down again and snuggled against her. "That's why I know it must not have been easy for you."
Regina was silent for a while before whispering, "Funnily enough, it was. I don't know if it's the fact that you've already had to save me today and you've made me realize that you're not as helpless as I often treat you," she smirked slightly and gently ran her hand up and down Emma's arm. "But it doesn't matter. I enjoyed it and I hope you did too. Let's not ruin it now," she pleaded.
Emma nodded as a satisfied smile settled on her lips.
"Happy birthday, darling," Regina said abruptly.
Glancing at the alarm clock, which read 0:12 a.m., Emma's smile only widened. She could not imagine that the day could be topped after this beginning.
Gently, Regina turned Emma's head around to face her so she could kiss her girlfriend. "I love you and I wish you all the happiness in the world."
Emma returned the kiss and put a hand to Regina's cheek while looking into her eyes. "Thank you," she breathed chokingly, surprised herself by the sudden gathering of tears in her own. "I love you, too."
"I would have loved to give you a nice party, but you didn't want to," Regina said.
Emma nodded and snuggled up to her. "And that hasn't changed. I'm content with you and Henry being there, that's all I need."
"So am I," Regina whispered, closing her eyes. "Let's get some sleep before Zelena assigns us separate bedrooms."
At that, Emma had to giggle slightly again, but also closed her eyes after slipping back into her top and was asleep shortly after.
Regina hardly slept a wink that night. The many hours on the sofa had been enough for her for now and whenever she was about to fall asleep, the cuff on her arm measured her blood pressure and she was so startled by it that she was wide awake again, only to repeat the whole thing an hour later. She was all the more pleased that Emma seemed to be sound asleep and getting her much-needed sleep.
An unintelligible murmur crossed Emma's lips before she opened her eyes blinking at the onset of brightness in the morning and turned to Regina. When she saw the latter's awake face, she frowned and ran her hand over her eyes. "Why are you so awake already? What time is it?"
"A little before eight," Regina replied, nodding with disgust at the blood pressure monitor. "That spawn of hell didn't let me sleep a minute. I thought if you collapsed and were supposed to rest you were allowed to sleep in peace, but it seems I was thoroughly mistaken," she grumbled.
Emma couldn't help it; she had to laugh. "My poor girl," she smirked, stroking her hair.
"That's not funny, Miss Swan!" Regina retorted, sitting up in bed.
Shrugging her shoulders, Emma did the same. "I'm sorry my sympathy is limited. But starting tomorrow, they'll be using me as a human pincushion again, pumping poison through my body that will make me doubt if it's all worth it. The monitoring of the blood pressure is just incidental. I guess I win," she grinned wryly and stood up.
"I'm so sorry," Regina said in a barely audible grunt, who shook her head at her own stupidity.
Emma came around the bed and settled down next to her girlfriend on the edge of the mattress. "Regina, I was joking! You don't really think I'm mad about that now, do you?" she immediately reassured her.
"But that doesn't change the fact that you're absolutely right and there's absolutely no reason for me to whine," the brunette countered.
"That's enough," Emma decided. "You'd better start thinking up a good excuse for Whale, explaining to him how the elevated blood pressure and pulse levels at midnight happened," she grinned maliciously, standing up and pulling Regina along by the hand. "Besides, it's my birthday and I don't want to think about tomorrow. Let's really kick it up a notch and make scrambled eggs and bacon."
Regina rolled her eyes briefly at her first statement before rising with a sigh. "Just as you like," she nodded and the two of them went into the bathroom together. As inconspicuously as possible, she watched Emma as she changed her clothes and let her examining gaze wander over her pale skin, on which the hematomas lined up. Some she could clearly identify, like the one on her upper arm when she had held it in a fit of vertigo, while others, like the one on her left costal arch, puzzled her.
"Are you done staring?", Emma wanted to know with her arms folded in front of her chest.
"I...", Regina started caught, but then shook her head and turned away as she slipped into her own light blue blouse and black pants, finished with a gold decorative belt.
"They keep coming," Emma murmured after a while, during which the silence began to grow uncomfortable. "The bruises, I mean." At first Regina had removed them from her every now and then with magic, but Emma bled so easily that it would have been a Sisyphean task to try to make each one disappear. Besides, neither of them knew if the magic could have negative consequences and possibly cross-react with the chemo.
Regina nodded and buttoned Emma's lumberjack shirt, which she had pulled on. "I won't blame myself for it anymore, and I won't have a panic attack, I promise."
Emma smiled wryly and leaned her forehead against Regina's. "You're beautiful," she whispered.
"So are you," she countered.
The blonde, however, only snorted in disbelief in response. "Yeah, right."
"To me, you're beautiful. And I don't care what others say," Regina clarified, kissing her on the cheek. "Come on, I want to make you scrambled eggs and bacon."
In response, Emma smiled again after all, and shortly after they entered the kitchen together.
"Good morning," Zelena said stiffly, who was feeding porridge to Robin. "Happy birthday, Emma. It's certainly started off very cheerfully, your day."
"Thank you, sister-in-law," Emma grinned, sitting down on the chair next to Robin's little chair so she could stroke the girl's hair. "Hello, Robin. I hope you slept well."
Robin looked at her with wide eyes, half her face full of porridge, and beamed as Emma spoke to her.
"I guess that means yes," Emma said, tilting her head challengingly as she looked at Zelena.
"Besides, you were the one who wanted to stay, if I remember correctly," Regina said at that moment, who was standing at the stove, turning the sizzling bacon in the pan.
With an angry glint in her eye, Zelena looked over at her sister. "And you were the one lying unconscious in the kitchen yesterday, if I remember correctly," she countered with a raised eyebrow. "But you seem to be doing just fine today."
"Hey, stop arguing," Emma grumbled, covering Robin's ears before looking up at Zelena. "Besides, I have cancer, so who knows how many more times I can have sex in my life."
"The cancer card, honestly? You really don't need that," Zelena snapped back.
Emma just shrugged and took her hands off Robin's ears, who was already frantically turning her head back and forth to get rid of them. "There must be some advantage to all this."
"Enough," Regina ordered, stepping up to the table with the pan full of bacon and eggs and placing it on a wooden trivet. "Breakfast is ready and it's Emma's birthday, so now there's no more arguing or thinking about death."
Zelena and Emma just looked at each other in response and had to stifle their laughter, while Regina placed a plate of toast and cutlery in front of each.
"Do you want coffee?" she then asked.
"Tea," Zelena agreed.
"Just water for me," Emma answered, who, however, stood up and got in Regina's way. "I'll make the drinks and you sit down." When Regina tried to protest, Emma shook her head. "Don't argue. You're supposed to take it easy and not serve us. Besides, you're in pain," she voiced what she had been observing for a while.
Sullenly, Regina dropped into her chair and rested her hand in her lap. Emma was right, of course, the injury hurt, but she would not have openly admitted it.
When everyone finally had their drinks in front of them, they began to eat.
"How late are your parents coming today, Emma?", Zelena wanted to know after a while.
Emma just raised a brow and looked at Regina, "My parents are coming?"
"You said yourself that we can't very well unload them," her girlfriend pointed out, taking a sip of her coffee. "Don't worry, I haven't planned a party, I promised you that."
A bit more reassured again, Emma nodded and enjoyed her breakfast. She was aware that she had to enjoy the meals today, because starting tomorrow evening at the latest, every bite would become torture again. So she concentrated fully on the hearty taste in her mouth and decided not to let anything or anyone spoil this day.
