A ficlet that popped into my head, set post Season 7. Tw for injury/assault.
Emma sighs softly as she looks at the clock counting down the minutes until her shift ends and she can go pick Hope up from Regina.
It’s strange how easily they fell back into coparenting after Emma split up with Hook. She had been leaving Hope with Hook whilst she went to work but as the weeks went by and his drinking increased she had to find an alternative. Luckily for her Regina was there as she had always been and they fell step by step into a routine.
When she thinks about it it isn’t strange at all, her bond with Regina has always been there, a feeling in the back of her heart that she could never quite put her finger on. It was a feeling that magnified when Regina stayed behind, her absence causing an ache Emma couldn’t hide from.
It was why she split up with Hook in the end.
It was why she reinstated family dinners and movie nights.
It’s why she asked Regina if they could start having lunch again.
It’s why when things fell apart with Hook, Regina was the first person she turned to for understanding and for help.
It’s why deep down Emma always wondered if she was making a mistake.
Yet, nearly a year after her divorce, she still hasn’t found the nerve to voice her feelings. She and Regina are practically joined at the hip. Regina is her best friend and a part of Emma is afraid to voice the feelings that linger behind every word between them.
She’s snapped from her thoughts by the ringing of the phone. “Sheriff Swan, how can I help you?”
Her father’s words send a chill down her spine. Reports of a disturbance in the Mayor’s office. Hook. How her father found Regina injured but Hope safely protected in a magic bubble. She drops the receiver, running faster than she’s had to in months, wondering how she went from wishing to see her family to fearing losing it in just a few minutes.
***
“How is she?” Emma asks leaping out of her seat the second Whale emerges from the double doors. Henry is by her side, the pair of them having been sat there, waiting for news as the minutes ticked by torturously.
“Regina will be okay. Her arm was pretty badly broken and we had to insert a plate to fix the damage but the surgery went well. Other that the Queen will make a full recovery.”
Henry breathes out a sigh of relief, “Oh thank god, can we see her?”
“Just one of you, she’s only just coming round from the anaesthesia so she’ll be a little groggy.”
Henry nods thanking the doctor before placing a hand on his mother’s shoulder,
“You go, I better call the family and tell them Mom’s okay.”
“Henry you should -“
“Ma, seriously you go. Tell her how you feel.”
Emma blushes as she stammers, “W-What?”
Henry smiles, “I’ve known a long time Ma, how much more of a push than today do you need?”
***
Emma takes a deep breath as she enters the hospital room, her eyes filling with tears as she sees the big heavy looking cast encasing Regina’s arm. She sits down, feeling everything she’s been trying so hard to ignore come to the forefront, “I’m so sorry Regina.”
“Emma?”
The voice is croaky and groggy but Emma can’t help but smile, “I’m here.”
“Hope? Hook…he…”
“It’s okay,” Emma tells her taking hold of Regina’s good hand, “Hook is in a holding cell,” she pauses realising that she will have to face that reality in the morning, “And Hope is fine. My Dad said you protected her with your magic.”
Regina smiles, “Haven’t you realised I’ll always protect the people you love?”
Emma nods lifting up her watery eyes as she asks, “Yet you don’t protect yourself?”
Regina blinks in confusion as she works out Emma’s meaning, before a slow hopeful smile graces her face, “You love me?”
Emma nods, “I love you….I have loved you for a while, I just haven’t had the courage to face it…or to tell you and risk losing you…”
“You won’t lose me,” Regina replies before frowning slightly, “This isn’t just the anaesthesia is it? Or because of what happened? I…”
“It’s real,” Emma promises, “Rest Regina…and I’ll tell you again in the morning and every morning of the rest of our lives.”
jennyboom21
