A/N: Thank you all once again for being so patient for this next update! I did promise it and I wanted to deliver before heading to bed for work tomorrow. :) I can't promise another update tomorrow, but I will work on the next chapter that follows once I have a chance. Hopefully by the time I update again, it will be more than one chapter again. This chapter made me, cry, cheer and laugh slightly. I hope it does the same for everyone enjoying this journey. Happy reading!

Chapter 38: Never Wound What You Can't Kill

"What," she cleared her throat that suddenly turned dry. "What are you doing here?"

Emma quickly held out the scarf to Regina. "You left this at Mary Margaret's."

"Oh," Regina reaches for the scarf, feeling her hand move in slow motion. Especially when her fingers lightly brushed Emma's, sending that familiar wave of electric current through her veins. "Thank you."

Emma watched her as she moved about the familiar studio that had not changed a bit, tossing the scarf along that familiar pull out couch they had spent an incredible night in. Their first and last passionate night.

"You can come inside, you know." Said Regina, looking over her shoulder at Emma.

Emma's mouth opened and closed as her eyes looked like a deer's caught in headlights. "I'd rather not."

"Oh," Regina gives a nod. "Okay, then. I'll just leave the door open and when you're ready, you can come inside. I'll just be… right over here." She casually sits back on her stool and picks up her paintbrush as Emma weren't just standing by the open door.

Emma resisted the urge to roll her eyes at herself by tucking her hands inside of her pockets instead. She looked around the place, attempting to find something different- something that Regina might have possibly changed about it since she was last here- but there was nothing she could spot. Even that damn wool blanket that Regina kept along her pull out couch was still there.

A minute more, and Regina finally sighed, "Seriously, Emma, just come in and shut the door, will you? You standing there like a zombie is really starting to freak me out. Plus it's a bit cold out."

"Fine," Emma muttered, hesitantly placing one foot in front of the other until one of them stepped across that invisible barrier Emma had made for herself four years ago.

Regina quickly stood, reaching for the doorknob, but stepping back to allow Emma enough space. Both their heads dipped down along a clatter of paint cans that Emma's foot accidentally struck. Regina couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"What's funny?" Emma asked.

"You always did trip over those cans." Said Regina, her smile reaching her eyes as she met Emma's humorless ones. "Oh, come on, Emma. Laugh a little. It's a joke."

But Emma didn't laugh. Not even cracked a smile as she entered the studio, hearing the door close behind her. God, the place even smelled the same as she remembered it. Somewhere between a combination of scented candle- scent quite undetected- and charcoal with just a hint of Regina's rich perfume.

Regina couldn't be more happier than to have Emma in her home away from home. She could see the torture build up along Emma's features, and she could throw in a million dollar guess on what was running through her mind in this moment. Because Regina always thought about the same thing, every single night she found herself in here. But she wasn't about to bring it up and make Emma run straight out of here without a chance of never returning again. Instead, she just went back to painting midnight blue along her canvas.

"Thank you for returning my scarf," said Regina, her eyes glancing quickly in Emma's direction. "Although, you didn't have to drive all the way over here, I could have picked it up next time from Mary Margaret's."

Emma walked her way around, quietly, until she stood behind Regina and could observe the canvas she was currently working on. "What's this supposed to be?" She asked, not knowing why.

Regina looked at the color for a moment before looking over her shoulder at Emma. "It's midnight blue. But you know, given that your choice in color has changed, I could always make it into a red wine. Or if you prefer, how about black to match your heart?"

This time Emma didn't hold back an eyeroll accompanied with a sigh. "Okay, see, I knew you would make this about the damn lobby wall."

Regina rotated in her stool, her eyes pinned on Emma. "This isn't just about the damn lobby wall, Emma. This is about you siding with Lily."

"Regina-"

"This is about you choosing her color over mine!" Regina slides off the stool, standing just a few inches away from Emma.

"What do you want from me, Regina? Hm?" Emma towers over her. "Do you want me to say, 'go ahead, paint the whole fucking room royal blue-"

"Midnight blue-" Regina argues over Emma.

"Fine. Midnight-fucking-blue! Go ahead, paint the entire room midnight blue if that's what you want, but stop turning everything into a fucking competition here when there is no competition to win." There's a deep frown along Emma's brow as well as that famous vein that always popped out when she was a little bit angry.

"You might want to run that by your girlfriend next time," Regina replied after a minute's silence. "Because she seems to enjoy yanking my chains every time she's in the same room with me. Especially around you."

"That's not true."

"The hell it isn't," Regina scoffs. "Oh, Em! I knew you would see it my way!" She talks in a high pitch voice, mocking Lily's words from earlier. "Oh, and how would you know what her favorite color is, Regina? How do you know what Emma needs?" She ends her dramatic performance with a dramatic eye roll that could win her an Oscar.

Without alerting Regina, Emma bites the inside of her cheek to keep herself from cracking that unwelcomed smile that she hoped for earlier.

"This is a mistake, I shouldn't have come here," Emma walks over to the door, her hand stops along the knob as she hears Regina's voice behind her.

"I'm sorry." Regina blurts out, not wanting for Emma to leave. "It's just… like it or not, Lily always seems to find a way to get under my skin around you. She likes you, you know." She can feel her heartburn building up just at the mention of it.

Against her will, Emma rotates by the door. "So, I've been told."

Regina frowns. "Do you like her?"

"Regina," Emma gives her a warning glare.

"Fine," Regina throws her hands in the air. "Defend her, just like you always do."

"I don't always defend-" Emma groans. "Forget it."

"Yeah. Forget it." Regina moves across the room, picking up her canvas and placing it aside along a wall with other canvases. Reaching for her 24x36 sketchpad, Regina sets it up along her easel, flipping through its pages a little violently before scraping her charcoal across the page in different directions.

Emma turned back to the direction of the door, reaching for the doorknob when the sound of light sobs filled the room.

Regina quickly wiped her tears, holding them in against her will as she continued to work on whatever creation was pouring out of her in that moment. And what she heard next, she didn't expect.

"I'm sorry."

Emma's words were enough to halt not only her sobbing but her hand movements. Those two words were powerful enough to make Regina rotate on her stool. "What did you say?" She couldn't have heard right. Emma Swan was not apologizing.

God, she was really going to make her repeat it. "I said…" Emma's throat bobbed as she swallowed down the bit of bile that raised to her throat. "I'm sorry. Truth is… red wine isn't my ideal color either."

Regina's eyes teared over as she released a trembling breath. "Thank you. That's all I wanted."

Emma blinked, her jaw as equally or a little more tense than her body.

"Look, Emma," Regina begins, toying with the piece of charcoal that's coating her fingers black. "I'm sorry if coming back to Boston hasn't been easy for you. I've made it difficult and I know that."

"Yes, you have," Emma muttered. "But it hasn't been easy for you either. Has it?"

Regina scoffed out a chuckle that stuck in the back of her throat. "It hasn't. And you have no idea how relieved I am to hear you say that. After all this time. Of course," she quickly retorts. "I know this doesn't mean that we-"

"No, it doesn't." Emma nods, looking down at the new sparkling ring along Regina's left hand.

Regina's line of sight follows Emma. "Right," she mutters. "Well," she slides down from the stool again. "Thank you again. For the scarf."

Emma stared down at Regina again, taking in her appearance in the same pair of blue overalls, splattered with various colors of paint and that same pair of plain white tee she always wore with them, ending with a pair of Emma's own converse that she allowed Regina to keep after her white sneakers kept getting paint on them.

"Emma, come on! Can you at least give me a hint on what you got me?" Regina's grin flashes as her hands cover over her eyes while she is seated on the pull out couch.

"In a minute," Emma promises, pulling out her extra pair of converse.

"Now can I open them?" Regina asks eagerly, hearing a lot of shuffling, followed by Emma's footsteps.

"Yes, you can open them now." Said Emma, holding up her pair of shoes before Regina.

A gasp escaped her that was quickly replaced by that smile that Emma loved so much. "You got me shoes?" She reached for them.

"They're used, I'm afraid," Emma frowned, feeling a little embarrassed by that fact. "But I didn't wear them much, because I wanted to wear these out first," she looks down at her own converse. "But I understand if you don't want them-"

"I want them." Regina quickly replied.

"If you don't like them, I can always take them back-"

"I love them," Regina chuckled while she shook her head. Clutching the shoes in her hands to make a point.

"It's no big gift, I know, but-" Emma quieted down after Regina's lips pressed along her own in a kiss that would always find a way to take her breath away. "You really love them?" She asked.

Regina smiled, "I really do. I love anything that you can possibly give me."

A grin split Emma's lips. Her arms caught Regina's body as it launched itself into them, her legs finding their place along her familiar waist. Lips finding one another in peppered kisses. Emma even felt the tip of one of the shoes strike against her shoulder blade as Regina's arms wrapped along her neck, but she didn't care enough to stop or drop her. She could never drop her.

Everything was the fucking same.

"I should leave," Emma said quickly, fighting her tears for speed.

"Yeah," Regina's frown deepened as she walked over to the door, holding it open. "Emma," she called out, and waited for Emma to turn. "No matter how much time has passed. You have been… and you always will be my eternal love."

She didn't know why she felt the need to say that, but Regina felt that if she didn't get it out now, she might never have the courage to.

"Good night, Regina." Emma gave a curt nod, moving her way down the set of stone steps that led to two giant wooden doors that would take her out onto the street.

Tears manifested on Regina as soon as Emma turned her back, forcing her to shut the door.

Robin's jaw tensed over, becoming tighter and tighter as he sat in Regina's favorite restaurant, in his reserved booth that he called for in the middle of the night where he drowned his tenth scotch of the evening. An old flip phone was clutched in his hand, his bruised/busted knuckles throbbing but he was simply too angry to give a shit about the pain. Because nothing- no pain- was worse than the one chewing away at his heart. A single tear actually rolled along his cheek that glistened underneath the dim lighting of his booth as he drowned his drink.

"So, here's what I discovered. Your wife, she actually has a secret life of her own." The man, which Robin's name discovered to be Neal somewhere that night, grinned. "You didn't know that, did you?"

Robin's jaw tenses, "What secret?"

Neal chuckles, "Well, let me put it to you this way, rich boy. How's your sex life with her, huh? Any good?" Robin's eyes darken. "Because let me tell you, Regina's took an interesting turn before you."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Her and Emma," Neal leans in, his droopy eyes staring into Robin's darker ones. "They used to date before you came along. In fact, they dated even when you were behind her like a good lap dog."

Robin's eyes widened in unspeakable anger, "You're lying."

Neal shakes his head after gulping down his chug of cheap beer. "Nope," the belches, adding to Robin's disgust. "Afraid not my friend," he points to the phone. "It's all in that little device. Emma's old phone, where she exchanged numerous text messages and made numerous calls to your wife's number for months. Don't ask me how I got it because I'd have to kill you if I tell you, and I don't want to go to jail for that. But it's amazing what old devices still store in their memory."

Robin blinked. His eyes only grew wider as he recollected every single little detail from the moment he met Regina. How she always turned him down when inviting her out. How she never cared when he walked into a room, very much the same way she doesn't care now. His fist tightened atop of the table that it trembled. Regina and Emma. Now it all made sense, the looks they gave each other the night of their anniversary party celebration. The gentle sparkle of Regina's eyes as Emma Swan walked into a fucking room. Their encounters, her giving her a job at her office, one ridiculous excuse after another just to see each other all over again behind his fucking back, thinking him a fool.

"Aw, hey…" Neal stumbled to his feet, his hand heavily landing with a clap along Robin's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, man. Look," he leaned down so close that he could practically smell the cheap beer on his breath. "Fuck her. Right? So she likes pussy. You know, I've heard that can be exciting for some guys. Maybe they'll let you in on the fun, huh?"

Robin's left fist wrapped along the collar of Neal's shirt, pinning him down along the table while his right fist pounded on his face, again and again while the entire bar watched in horror. Too afraid to even call the cops.

A waiter passed by, placing another glass of scotch while plucking off a twenty dollar bill off the stack Robin had placed to his right, to keep the drinks coming until there wasn't a stack in sight.

Robin hissed as he placed a clothed napkin that was already splattered in blood, wrapped along a couple of ice cups that would create a cool comfort for his hand. His left- intact hand- flipped open the phone that he took after leaving the Blue Anchor bar. His thumb quickly tapped along the button, scrolling through one of the messages until he stopped at a certain one.

Emma: Leave your window open tonight. I miss you so much, I can't bear it.

Regina: Always. See you tonight!

Pressing along the same button, Robin scrolled through a set of old, semi-pixelated photographs but they were evidence enough for him to see a picture of them together, smiling happily and so in love. That smile along Regina's lips was the same one that Robin never got to see. He could count the times he's actually seen it manifest. Two. Two fucking times. No more.

"Emma Swan," he hissed. His eyes glaring at the photograph of them together, focusing mainly on Emma. "You think… you can take Regina away from me… you are wrong." He picked up his glass with his right bruised hand, pointing his finger index sharply at the photograph. "Dead. Wrong."

"Sir?" The same waiter came by, surprised to see how quickly Robin snapped the phone shut. "Would you like me to call you a cab?"

"Whatever gave you the idiotic idea that I wanted to leave yet?" Robin's blue eyes glare menacingly up at him.

"I'm sorry, sir, it was not my intention to offend you-"

"Offend me?" Robin's brows shoot up, his voice slurring. "You want to know what's offensive to me? Do you really want to know?" He beckons him by crooking his finger, "Sit. I'll tell you."

"Sir, I can't, I, I really must get back to work-"

Robin groaned, throwing his head back dramatically. "Sit down. Sit. I am Robin Locksley. If anyone is going to fire you, it's going to be me. Now, sit the fuck down." He nods.

The waiter sits nervously along the table, watching as others around them stare in disbelief.

"Now," Robin's eyes look down at the man's name tag. "Peter. Do you want to know what offends me?" He chugs down his drink, slamming it along the table. "Lies. Lies, and masks. Women wear them so well, you know. They make a man believe anything, and the instant you turn your back on them, what do they do? Hm?"

"I- I don't know, sir." Peter's voice trembles nervously. He's had his share of run-ins with those with one too many drinks in their system, but never something like this. This was something else. Like a bomb ready to go off.

"They stab you in fucking back!" Robin slams his clenched fist of his left hand along the table so loud, it not only startles Peter but those around him. "And yet… I love her. I love my wife with everything I have in me. With every fiber of power I can possess." His eyes fall on his own matrimonial ring that adorns his left hand. "Regina… she will learn to love me, Peter. Mark my words. She will learn," he mutters. The ice along his glass clicks as he brings it up for another chug, coming up empty.

"Sir, maybe I should call you a cab. It's dangerous for you to drive out in such a state."

Robin chuckled, "Dangerous," he muttered, standing up while shoving the rest of the twenty dollar bills over to Peter. "I'll be fine. Haven't you ever heard the saying, 'never wound what you can't kill'?" He claps his hand along Peter's shoulder. "Thanks for the chat." He says before walking away.

"Regina, open the door! Regina!" Emma's voice vibrated behind the shaking door to Regina's studio.

"Wha-" Regina swung the door open, her brows furrowed quizzically. "What are you doing? I thought you left."

"I was, but I came back inside after I noticed that maroon Nissan out there."

"What?" Regina's eyes grow in horror as she runs past Emma, making her way down the stairs.

"Regina!" Emma hisses, following behind. She reaches for her arm, stopping her from opening the door. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Those are the guys that I've been seeing, Emma! The same ones." Regina whispers. "Everywhere you are, they're there."

"I know."

"This has Robin written all over it, I know it." Regina sighs. "He's having me followed again."

"What do you mean again?" Emma's brow furrowed while Regina falls silent. She shouldn't have let that slip but it was too late to take it back now. "Regina, are you trying to tell me that this has happened before?"

"No, no," Regina shook her head. "Look, never mind that. We have to call the police."

"Regina," Emma ran behind Regina, stopping her mid-stair. "Hey. You can't call the police."

"Why not?"

"If you call them, they'll see them coming a mile away. Trust me. They'll be gone before they can identify them."

Okay, Emma might have a point. "Fine. What do you suggest we do, then?"

"We are not doing anything. You're staying here." Emma marches down the stairs, determined to put a stop to this once and for all.

"Emma!" Regina races down the stairs again, reaching for her arm. "Are you crazy? If you go out there, you could get hurt. They might have a weapon."

"Stay here, Regina," Emma warns. "I'm serious." And before Regina could say anything else, Emma bolts out the front wooden doors. She doesn't call for their attention, she simply yanks open the driver's side door to that Nissan and pulls one of the men out. Her fist tighten along his hoodie and with all her strength she slams his back against the car. "Alright, now you're going to explain to me what the hell are you doing following me? Why were you at my apartment last night?"

"Emma, don't!" Regina runs out as she sees the second man exiting the passenger side.

The second guy, who wore a hoodie along with a baseball cap launched himself at Emma, like a football player ready to tackle, knocking her body to the ground. But to Regina's shocked surprise, Emma somehow managed to roll herself until he was underneath her. It was there she threw the first punch, breaking the guy's nose.

The one from the driver's side, who was bald and had a full grown lumberjack beard swung his leg, but it was caught by Emma before she pushed him back. As Emma got to her feet, she delivered a kick of her own to the bearded man's face.

And then, there was a faint click.

"Emma!" Regina shouted in horror, alerting Emma to what was behind her. Guy number two, holding a glistening knife.

He swung it several times with a whoosh effect, missing Emma's stomach only by two inches as she drew a step back with each swing of the weapon. It was the fourth jab of his arm where Emma caught it, trapping it underneath her own arm and at the same time delivered a head bud that clearly made the creep see stars as he fell back to the floor.

"Don't let me see you around here, again." Emma warned, kicking the knife hard enough for it to slide across the pavement and into a sewer.

"Come on," guy number two pulled his friend up, practically dragging him to the car as they drove off. But not before Emma could memorize the license plates.

"Emma," Regina breathed, rushing to be at Emma's side. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," said Emma. But as she turned, Regina's eyes grew in horror at a small trail of blood oozing from a cut along Emma's cheekbone.

"You're hurt!"

"What?"

"You cut yourself," Regina brought her hand up on instinct, catching nothing but a flinch on Emma's part.

It wasn't until Regina mentioned it, that Emma started feeling the sting along her cheek. "I'm fine," she wiped away the blood, smearing it along her cheek. "It's just a cut. It'll heal."

"Well, we have to get you to a hospital." Said Regina.

"I don't need stitches, Regina. It'll heal."

If she wanted to be stubborn, then Regina could be too. She surprised Emma by reaching for her hand, "Come on. At least let me clean that up for you before you leave. It could get infected."

Emma pulled her hand away, standing firmly along the road. "It's not going to get infected. It'll heal. I'll put some ice on it."

"Emma, for the love of God, let me help you-"

"Regina-"

"Emma-" Regina fought, her eyes glaring into Emma's. "For once- stop being so fucking stubborn and let me clean that up for you. After that, you can go. You can even fire me if you want."

Emma sighed a heavy breath through her nose, but ultimately, seeing as she wasn't going to win this round right now, she owed Regina this one time. With that in mind, she followed Regina back up the stone steps and into her art studio.