A/N: Thank you to my readers and the reviewers that give me the extra push to keep going.
Warning: Substance abuse mentioned
xxx
Emma pulled up outside the hospital and released a heavy breath. She turned to face a sleeping Regina then poked her, "Baby, wake up. We're here."
Regina's eyes blinked open, "Thanks for waking me." She clicked the button to release her seat belt and leaned her head on Emma's shoulder for support, "Henry is in a load of trouble."
The duo avoided talking about the admission of Henry into Storybrooke's hospital. They knew that if they addressed it while they were both still slightly intoxicated, the simple conversation would end up becoming a full-blown argument. Emma was less infuriated compared to Regina, which made the brunette a tad bit more irked at Emma.
Now, both entirely sober, they had to face it. Emma's arm wrapped around Regina's shoulder and shut off the engine. They took a few seconds to gather their thoughts.
"I don't understand. We give him everything, why would he throw a party without us knowing? I wouldn't have said no if he asked," Regina furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to make sense of the situation.
"Same thought running through my head." Emma felt her teeth, it still tasted like alcohol, and she bet she also smelt like it - wouldn't be the best idea to walk into a hospital with a stench as such. "Here, have a mint. Should sustain us for now until we get home and shower." Emma reached forward and opened the glove compartment, taking out a breath mint. She popped it out of the foil casing and handed it to Regina. Emma took one for herself and chewed on it.
xxx
David was on the brink of sleep. His head knelt on his propped hand as his other hand flipped through the pages of the magazine that rested on his lap. He used the Harley Davidson catalog to keep himself occupied until Emma arrive to relieve him.
When he heard Regina's heels, David stood. He placed the magazine on the small table next to his chair.
"David, is he alright?" Emma rushed to her father's side. She hugged him for a brief moment before pulling away and looking around the hospital. She was looking for a nurse or doctor, but the floor was quiet.
"Hey, uhm, yeah." David fumbled. Truth be told, he was afraid of what Regina might do to his grandson. Not only did the boy throw a party, but the mansion was completely ruined.
"Can we see him?" Regina moved forward, peering over the main desk to see if she could get Henry's room number.
Before an answer slipped through David's lips, Dr. Whale rushed past them, "Nurse Sandra, Lewinsky and Palmer. With me. Now."
"Whale," Regina called out. He barely acknowledged her.
David, noticing Dr. Whale rush into Henry's room, gripped Regina's arm tenderly before she could follow the doctor.
"Mr. Nolan," She warned sternly, shrugging him off.
"I think you should just wait. Let the doctor do what he needs to," he advised with concern etched on his face.
"What aren't you telling me?" Regina was now face to face with David. She studied his form.
David looked at Emma.
"Don't look at her, I'm talking to you. What are you not telling me, David?" Regina asked again, through gritted teeth.
Emma attempted to diffuse the rage by holding onto Regina's shoulder, "Babe."
"Emma. Stay out of it," she bit back, not taking her eyes off of David.
Emma moved her hand to Regina's back, hoping it would provide some sort of comfort.
David gestured to the chairs for her to take a seat before talking, but Regina did not move a muscle.
"Henry threw a party with some of his friends from school. When the ambulance was called in for him, so was the sheriff's department. I did a search on the kids. They were in possession of cocaine - which is also why Henry passed out. He had taken a drug overdose," David explained.
Regina's back tensed; Emma felt it. Although, the blonde could no longer support Regina with her gentle touches. Her hand dropped at the news and both women stood wide-eyed.
"Cocaine?" Regina finally mumbled.
David nodded in confirmation, "I didn't want to tell you over the phone. Dr. Whale was supposed to have this conversation with you two." His eyes shifted to Emma; an apology written in them.
"Thanks, Mr. Nolan. Your services are no longer required," Regina dismissed him.
xxx
Emma knelt against the door frame of the entrance to the ward while David stared into his full cup of coffee. The air was tense between them. Regina asked for some time alone. Emma wasn't too keen on leaving the mayor, so she stayed within the line of sight.
"I don't know what to say," David broke the silence.
"Yeah. Me too," Emma tapped on the cup in her hand and watched as it caused the coffee inside to vibrate for a brief second. She concentrated on what little foam was left, treating it like clouds and trying to find objects in them.
She picked her head to rest it on the wall behind her, also taking a moment to glance over at Regina.
The woman had her head in her hands, sitting on one of the chairs in the waiting room. She could see that Regina's eyes were still closed and her cheeks had faint tear marks running down them.
She noticed Dr. Whale exiting the room but behind him, nurses wheeled Henry out.
"What's going on?" She heard Regina ask the doctor.
Emma made her way to the two. Dr. Whale looked up at her and shook his head, "He's in a coma. I had Henry moved to ICU. If you could follow me," Dr. Whale instructed. He led the two women down to his office, avoiding conversation until they were in a more secluded setting.
The walk was excruciatingly long. To Dr. Whale, it was about a five-minute walk, but to Regina and Emma, it felt like an eternity. The only sound they could hear was Regina's heels clicking behind Whale and a heart rate monitor now and then.
Finally, they arrived. 'Dr. Whale' was written on a placard on the glass door. He pushed it open and gestured to the seats. Dr. Whale closed the door behind him, "Henry is in a severe condition. I've had him on a drip since the ambulance brought him in, but it seems that it didn't work as well as I've expected it to. It's protocol, nothing against you, Regina, but I have to ask - Do you know about Henry's use of drugs?"
Regina glared at him, wide eyed, "Of course not. I didn't know about anything up until tonight."
He then gave Emma a questioning look. She shook her head, "Neither did I."
"There's a chance that Henry might not survive this. We found traces of cocaine in his blood, along with crystal meth. Now, the overdose was from the use of cocaine. I've attempted draining his system, there's not much we can do but wait. If he makes it out of ICU, the next step would be recovery. There's a rehabilitation center in Boston," Dr. Whale swivelled on his chair and searched through his bookshelf. He maneuvered around the side of the table, rolling his chair around and found two pamphlets, handing them to Emma. Emma took one and passed the other to Regina.
"I've also arranged for Archie to free his schedule when Henry wakes up." He rolled back over to his original position and clasped his hands together in front of him.
Regina stared at the pamphlet in her hands like Whale had just handed them alien babies. The front page had a picture of the building, with a small circle at the bottom right corner indicating the address.
Whale noticed the tears welling up in Regina's eyes and bet that she didn't want him to be there for that, "I'll give you two a minute," Dr. Whale said before leaving them alone.
The minute the door shut, Regina burst into tears, "Where did I go wrong, Emma?"
Emma knelt at the foot of Regina's chair. Reaching her arm out, she held the brunettes' hands in hers, "You didn't. We will figure out what happened along the way. Henry will be okay."
"He did drugs, for crying out loud. Who knows for how long? It's my fault for not paying attention to him. And now? Now we may lose Henry."
Emma nodded in understanding. She stood and pulled Regina up and off her chair, "Whatever happens, we're in this together." Emma wrapped her arms around Regina's shaking body, allowing the brunette to cry on her shoulder. She fought back tears, too. Refusing to let Regina see that she is affected by this just as much as Regina is.
xxx
The car ride home was in silence. Neither Regina or Emma had the emotional capacity to enter into a conversation. Their daze was cut short by the state of Reginas yard. Emma approached the garage with caution, trying to avoid the rubbish strewn across the driveway. Eventually, she gave up and parked along the sidewalk.
"Good God," Emma muttered as she stepped out of the vehicle. She tried to push the gate open but there was a bottle jammed at the bottom. Emma gave the gate a final shove – after several failed gentle attempts – it swung open. She angrily flung the plastic bottle across the yard, earning an eyebrow raise from Regina.
"What? It's a mess anyway."
Regina gave the yard a once over. What was once a pristine garden now looked like a large scaled teenagers' room. Streamers were thrown haphazardly around the yard along with beer cans and empty crisps bags. Regina narrowed her eyes in an effort to see the porch, noticing that her bulb blew out and not sure if it was because of the kids or if it was just old. She conjured a little light ball as she approached the doorway and removed keys from her bag.
Emma huffed, "No one would've locked it, Gina." She gently nudged a dumbfounded Regina aside and pushed the door open. She glanced over her shoulder to give Regina an 'I told you so' look.
Regina walked behind Emma through the threshold of the house, her eyes popped in surprise at the sight before her. The brunette was in between a state of shock, anger, and disappointment.
The house was a wreck–more empty cans and bottles were scattered across the floor, half eaten snacks left on the tables, and cups tipped over, spilling their contents. Her furniture was out of place, some chairs were knocked over, and the carpet was littered with confetti and streamers. Regina's nose scrunched the moment she walked in, trying not to breathe in the stench of lingering smoke mixed with sweat and alcohol.
All she could think about was Henry. Her prim and proper, straight A student. Of course, with the exception of Mathematics.
"Gina," Emma snapped Regina out of her thoughts.
"They trashed my house," She mumbled, bringing her hand up to her gaping mouth.
"I see that. But you've got to come here for a second," Emma called her. She was standing at the entrance of Regina's parlor. The door was broken, and the entire room was vandalized.
"This wasn't just a party," Regina noted. "This looks like sabotage."
"Sabotage? They're teenagers, Babe. I doubt they know about the politics of Storybrooke. Or better yet, I doubt they give a damn."
Regina didn't say anything, she turned on her heel to survey the damage of the kitchen. With a swift movement of her wrist, Regina attempted to clean the house. Her purple smoke was cut off a moment later. "That's odd."
Emma walked into the kitchen, "What is?"
"My magic. It isn't working."
Emma tried to use her magic, too, but was also cut short.
"It's there, but it's short circuiting," Regina began to grow frustrated, "I may need to strangle someone."
"I'm with you on that, but for now, we need rest. I've been driving for hours," Emma ran her hands over her face, subconsciously trying to wipe away the exhaustion,
"Why don't you run us a bath while I get our luggage from the car?"
Regina folded her arms across her chest and nodded, "Sounds good."
xxx
Emma took a broom and used it to shovel the garbage to the side, creating a path for her to get to the car and back. She lifted the trunk and pulled out as many of Regina's bags that she could carry.
Her mind drifted to her days in Boston.
Lily and Emma sat across each other, studying for an exam. Neither of the two were academic but they've decided to give it a shot.
"I'm tired," Lily yawned.
"It's only 9pm, Lily. Come on, we've got to get this done. Just a few more chapters to go," Emma adjusted her glasses and took a sip of water.
"Em, every other sixteen-year-old is out partying. Shouldn't we be, too?" Lily whined and then lay flat on the floor.
It was partially true. Not every sixteen-year-old was partying, just the ones who didn't care about what happened after their schooling career. Emma cared. She's came to the realization, thankfully not too late in the game, that studying does actually take you places.
She ignored Lily's whines and flipped the page.
"You really think that ice water will keep you awake?" Lily absent-mindedly drew circles on the carpet.
"I don't know Lil," Emma said. She noticed that Lily looked uninterested, even if she did have an answer. "Wanna go for a walk? Might help to get fresh air in."
Lily shook her head and reached for her phone, "I have a better idea."
Emma waited for the 'better idea' but didn't depend on it.
A minute later, Lily grinned, "Okay. He'll meet us downstairs in ten minutes."
"He? Who? And why?"
"You'll see."
Ten minutes later, Lily and Emma were seated at the steps outside the orphanage. Emma pulled her jacket closer to her body, trying to trap whatever heat remained, but she still shivered.
She reached her hand out to check the time, "It's been fifteen minutes, Lily. Can we get back to studying?"
Before a response came from Lily, a red Honda Accent pulled up in front of them and a guy in Hawaiian looking shorts and a plain white T shirt stepped out.
Emma thought he was nuts, bonkers even, for dressing down in weather like this.
He embraced Lily, giving her a peck on her cheek. He then shook her hand and laughed at a joke that Emma knew definitely was not that funny. He waved Emma off and drove away.
"Well?" Emma raised a curious eyebrow.
"Let's go," Lily beamed, taking two steps at a time.
Once they were back in their room, Lily dangled a bag in front of Emma, "This will help us stay awake."
"Drugs?" Emma's eyes widened. She's never done drugs, nor has she considered it. Her school always gave them those kind of drug talks that end with the inevitable death of the user.
Lily immediately covered Emma's mouth with her hand, "Shh. It's not a lot and not that big of a deal. But you've gotta promise me that you'll never mention this to anyone and that it's a one time thing."
Emma shook her head.
"Emmmaa," Lily dragged, "Don't be such a prude. As I said, one-time thing."
Lily removed her hand from Emma's mouth once she got a slight nod from the blonde, "Just watch what I do and well, you do it too."
xxx
Regina heard Emma struggling up the staircase, "What do you even have in here?" The blonde paused mid-way to take a breath. She noticed that Regina hadn't entered her room as yet, "Gina? You good down there?"
Regina moved her attention to the brunette, shaking her head, "There's a fucking sock on my door."
"Woah. I'm surprised you know what that means," Emma laughed, trying to lighten the mood.
"Not the time, Emma," Regina's tone was one of disappointment. She couldn't shake the feeling of her precious 'do no wrong' son actually doing something as bad as this.
Emma finally got to Regina's side, luggage in hand. The realization of the sock on the door had hit her. She dropped the bags on the floor. She, too, felt disappointed.
She grabbed the sock, threw it aside and turned the doorknob, noticing Regina not making a move towards her room. "Well?"
"You look first, then tell me if it's okay to come in."
"Babe, there's no one here. David cleared them out."
"It's not the presence of teens that worry me, dear. It's the state of my room."
Emma nodded in acknowledgment of the brunettes' words. She braced herself for the worst, but even then, it wasn't enough.
Regina's bed was a disaster. Emma could count at least seven used condoms, and two unopened packs, around the room. The scent of sex and beer hit her right in the face. She immediately shut the door.
"That bad?" Regina asked.
Emma's mouth curled up into a smile, "It could've been worse." She tried to think of all the possible ways the room could've been worse off, but nothing came to mind.
Regina pushed past her, opened the door and walked into the room herself.
"We can stay at mines tonight," Emma stated, following close behind.
Without a word, Regina strutted to Henry's room.
She forced the door open and began rummaging through his belongings. Regina tossed balls of socks on the floor, followed by Henry's boxer briefs. Seeing that she couldn't find anything in that drawer, she moved onto the next.
"Gina, no. We can't do that. It's an invasion of the kid's privacy," Emma said as she watched Regina frantically searching through his room.
"Invasion of privacy?" She paused her search to look at Emma. "That's the choice of words you're going with? Emma, Henry is fighting for his life. There are used condoms in my bedroom. Some filthy kids decided to have sex on my bed. My kitchen is trashed and so is the rest of my home. In addition to the mayhem, I can't do anything about it because my magic isn't functioning." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, speaking in a much calmer tone now, "Was it an invasion of privacy when Henry invited his friends into our personal space and allowed them to disrespect it?"
She gave Emma a nod, taking the blonde's silence as an answer, and resumed her search.
Emma quietly searched Henry's room alongside Regina. She moved to his study desk and searched underneath his books. Emma knew they were searching for drugs, but she couldn't bring herself to the present moment. Her eyes scanned over the shelf next to his bed. She removed his favorite childhood book Once Upon a Time and held it close to her chest.
"Remember the good ol' innocent days of Henry?" She asked, "He would clutch onto belief that there's more to the world than it seemed," Emma's eyes began to well up.
Regina sat beside her, "And back then, I wanted nothing more than to get you out of Storybrooke," she forced a smile. Regina placed a finger below Emma's chin, picking her face up then wiping away fallen tears. She glanced down at the book and removed it from Emma's grasp. Regina's eyebrows pulled together in confusion.
"This book is lighter than I remember it to be," She noted. Regina flipped open the back cover.
"Rookie," Emma scoffed. Regina's eyes darted to the blonde before focusing on what was in front of her. The book was hollowed out on back end, but pages remained in the front. Bags of cocaine lay haphazardly in the hole.
"Don't touch it," Regina scowled at Emma as the blonde reached forward.
"We're not gonna get burnt, Regina." She ignored the request to not touch and stood, holding one of the bags in her hand, "Where would he have got this from?" She shook the bag, noting the movement of its contents. "It's totally quality stuff. What? A couple of months' worth of his allowance?"
"And you know this because...?" Regina trailed.
Emma ignored her again, "Besides the point, how long do you think he was on this?"
"Weeks, maybe months. I don't know, dear."
Emma shrugged. She chucked the bag back into the book. "We need to find out how he got this and why. Is he a dealer, too?"
Regina closed the book and took it to her room, flinching once she opened the door again. She set the book on her bedside table, "Give me a hand?" She requested.
Emma helped her push the bed aside. She saw what Regina needed; a small door sat at the left corner of the space. She couldn't resist asking, "Why would you make me move the entire bed? Couldn't we have just moved that section?" She gestured to the door and then to the left of the bed.
"I like seeing your flexed arms." Regina stated, barely acknowledging Emma's question.
Emma opened her mouth to speak but paused when Regina set her finger on the door, "Stand there." She moved onto one side of the room while pointing to the other side for Emma to move. The door vibrated as smoke filled the floor and a stairwell appeared.
"This is for days when I had limited magic," Regina explained, "Couldn't just poof to my vault. Take it as a mini vault, if you may."
They walked down the stairwell. Emma looked around, taking in her surroundings. The room was cold, and dark. It couldn't possibly hold more than five people. The wall on the left had a bookshelf, trust Regina to always have knowledge at her disposal. There was a wall-wall table with a single stool that was set against the wall on her right.
Regina let Emma's eyes wander around while she placed the book on the table and walked to the shelf, "I used to come down here a lot when Henry came into my life." She ran her fingers along the spines of a few books. She pulled out a book about raising kids and showed it to Emma.
"I used to think, out of all my spell books, this was the most fascinating."
Emma scanned the cover, a woman stood with a baby in her arms.
"Maybe if I took the advice from this, we wouldn't be here. Henry wouldn't be taking drugs, and everything would've been okay."
Emma rubbed soothing circles along Regina's back, "Hey, I think we need to rest. Let's just get to my place and cool down for a bit? All of this is overwhelming and emotional, maybe it'll do us good to be away from here for a while."
Regina nodded. She turned to place the book back in the shelf.
Emma was leaning with her back against the table, in front of Henry's book. She pulled her hands behind her and quickly flipped the cover, snatching a few bags and shoving them into her pocket before Regina turned.
xxx
Emma was jolted awake by her alarm clock. She set it to 5am so that they could start the day early, two hours of sleep felt like it should've been enough, but it clearly wasn't. Her hand fell onto the alarm, stopping the blaring sound. She looked beside her to find that Regina was no longer there. Emma got out of bed and slipped into her bedroom shoes. "Gina?"
Regina was fully awake, showered and in her usual tailored suit. She moved around Emma's kitchen, busying herself with the task of making breakfast. "Good morning, Princess. Sleep well?" She placed two glasses on the counter then searched the fridge for orange juice.
"Uh? Yeah. I guess so." Emma was taken aback. She expected the woman to still be sleeping, considering their drive, hangover, late night at the hospital and the time they got to Emma's house.
"Lovely. I'm leaving in about fifteen minutes, breakfasts almost done. Do you want to join me, or shall I pack it for work?" Regina asked.
Emma slowly sat at the island, "I'll join you."
Regina nodded and set the island. She dished out pancakes on a plate and set it in the center, eggs were already in a bowl left next to the stove. Regina relocated the bowl and then moved to toss the bacon into a plate.
xxx
"She's acting strange," Emma huffed as she sat at her desk in the station.
"Strange? In what way?" David asked. He stood, kneeling against the desk, perusing through files.
"Strange as in... barely slept but she was definitely awake before me. Breakfast was ready and so was Regina. She had more energy than a squirrel on Redbull."
"Maybe that's her way of dealing with things." David commented. Pushing off the desk, he leaned across his own and grabbed a pen. David removed the cap with his teeth, retaining the cap, and flipped through a file.
"Maybe. Could you run a check on this? Fingerprints, DNA, anything I could use?" Emma dug into her pocket and chucked the bag onto the table.
He paused his reading and removed the cap from between his teeth, "Where'd you get this?"
"Henry had it stashed in his room." Emma shrugged and leaned back into her chair.
"You shouldn't have touched it, Emma. Your prints are all over it now."
"I know, but my prints are not what we're looking for."
David bent to the height of the table and looked at the small object, "We definitely do not have the budget for this."
Emma groaned, "I'm sure Regina would be fine with allocating enough." She reached for the bag and placed it back into her pocket. "I'll stop at the office to ask her."
xxx
Emma knocked on Regina's door. After hearing no response, looked at her secretary who shrugged back, "She doesn't have another meeting until tomorrow."
Emma faced the door again and slowly turned the handle. She saw Regina, cheek pressed against her paperwork on the desk. Her hands were haphazardly framing
the paperwork, one hand barely grasping a pen.
Emma closed the door silently as she stepped inside. She walked around to Regina and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. Seeing the woman's drool seeping through the paperwork, she attempted to pick up her head and pull the pages from underneath her.
Regina didn't stir. Instead, she let out a snore. Emma bit the insides of her cheeks to stop herself from giggling or letting out any sound that would wake the brunette.
Emma went through to the corner of the office, remembering that Henry would spend his time after school here. It was a long shot, considering that it had been years, but Emma still searched for a blanket.
She was in luck. The blanket was folded and left in the back of the large cupboard. It had red and orange rockets that flew through the night sky, aliens popped their heads around different planets and there was a little smiley face flag stuck on the moon.
As Emma draped the blanket over Regina, the brunette shot up. Sure, that she wakes up for. "Hey there, sleepy head."
"I was just resting my eyes," Regina defended herself. She smiled at Emma's gesture then reconsidered her response, "I'm exhausted. Dr. Whale called; Henry still hasn't woken."
Emma stood in front of the mayor; she swiveled Regina's chair around to face her then placed her hands on the arm rests. Bringing herself to Regina's height, she kissed her cheek, "He'll get better soon, then all of this will be over, and everything will be okay again."
"Do you really believe that, Miss Swan?"
"I'm on the fence, but we're not from here. We have magic. Let's start by figuring out how to fix our power issue. " Emma abruptly stood and hopped onto the mayor's desk.
Regina wheeled her chair to sit between the blonde's legs, "I've been wracking my brain trying to figure that one out. I want to believe that Gold has nothing to do with this, but the logical part of me knows better than to trust the man."
xxx
The little bell rang in Mr. Golds pawn shop as Emma and Regina entered.
"To what do I owe the pleasure, dearie?" Gold stood behind his desk, polishing a golden goblet. He didn't make an effort to look up and acknowledge their arrival.
Belle walked out, when she saw them, her smile broadened. "Hi."
Seeing the looks on the faces before her, her smile instantly dropped, "Is everything okay?"
Regina ignored the question and walked up to Gold, "What did you do to our magic?"
Again, he didn't pick his head up. He folded the rag in his hands and placed it under the counter. He placed the goblet in the glass shelf behind him and turned to his
side, ready to get the next object cleaned. "Sounds like your magic, your problem."
"Rumple," Belle huffed.
He looked at Belle and gave her a warm smile then turned his attention to Regina, "What happened to your magic?" He asked, an insincere look plastered on his face.
"It's short circuiting," Emma butted in, anxious to get this conversation over with.
Mr. Gold eyed her, he wanted to make a snarky comment about Emma and Regina's relationship but Regina, noticing his smugness, interrupted his thoughts.
"Gold. Focus."
He rolled his eyes, "Down girl."
All three women gave him a disapproving glare.
He walked around to the other side of the counter, "There seems to be some sort of interference."
"No shit." Emma spat out.
"Warm this up for me, would ya?" He turned to his counter and picked up a mug of coffee then handed it to Regina, taking a stab at her inability to use magic.
"Gold," she pinched the bridge of her nose, "We don't have time for games. Henry is in hospital, and we don't know if he'll be able to make it without magic."
That seemed to have worked. The smugness fell and the man clutched onto his walking stick, "Henry's in hospital? Why?"
Regina didn't want to stick out her neck for Gold to slash. But Emma? Emma had a different approach. Regina saw the look in her girlfriends' eyes.
"He deserves to know, Gina. Henry is his grandson."
On a normal day, under any other circumstance, Gold would have laughed at Regina's nickname and humiliated Emma for saying it. But today was not any other day.
"Henry overdosed on drugs and he's in a coma."
The stick fell, the sound echoing through the silent shop.
"I'll help," Gold said, without hesitation.