Reset

With a sad smile she accessed the gallery in her mobile phone and deleted the family shot, she then deleted similar pictures that she found. She changed her background to a standard image that came with the phone, it was shades of grey in an abstract format. Completely neutral and nondescript.

She tried to stand but struggled a little and eventually had to use the toilet to pull herself up as she steadied herself with her crutch. She took a couple of deep breaths before opening the cubicle and walking into the bathroom area and approaching the sinks and mirrors. She looked at herself and was relieved at her choice of light makeup that morning, she splashed cold water on her face to remove some of the redness and then set about fixing her hair.

After a while she took a small step back and looked at herself thoughtfully in the mirror before turning and leaving the bathroom. The cold floor of the bathroom had spread through her body and her right leg was stiffer than it had been in a while, clearly not helped by the cramped position she had been sat in either. She leaned heavily on her crutch and caught her reflection in a mirror and noticed what a sorry state she looked. She slowly approached Regina’s hospital room, not relishing the happy families’ scene that she knew awaited her within and the eagle eye of the former Mayor herself who would no doubt sniff out any sign of discomfort in her.

With a last reassuring intake of breath she entered the room and stopped dead when she noticed Regina was alone in the room, sat up in bed with her hands interlaced in her lap. Her eyes flickered over to Emma as she entered the room.

“Come in and close the door,” she ordered.

Chapter 42

Without exactly understanding why, Emma did exactly as she was told and closed the door behind her. Regina pointed to the chair that was sat beside her bed and Emma slowly limped over and sat in it, feeling like she was about to be told her by the head of her school.

“I won’t ask where you went,” Regina sniffed, clearly unhappy at Emma’s sudden and unexpected departure, “but we do have things to discuss.”

“I know,” Emma said as she looked at her feet and waited for Regina to reassert her claim over Henry.

“I need you to take Grace for a while longer,” Regina stated, “I know it’s inconvenient but I don’t exactly have a line of babysitters whom I trust.”

Emma’s head had snapped up and she was looking at Regina in bewilderment, “you want.. you want me to take Grace?”

“Yes,” Regina and opened her mouth to speak again but Emma immediately interrupted.

“What about Mary Margaret, or Katherine? Katherine’s your friend, she’s taken Grace before..” Emma pointed out.

“I’m asking you,” Regina knitted her brow, “do you not want to?”

“No, I mean..” Emma closed her eyes and sighed, “I’d love to but there are probably better choices.”

“Nonsense, you’re good with her,” Regina told her.

“You’ve hardly seen me with her,” Emma argued.

“Hmm,” Regina said noncommittally.

“Oh my God,” Emma suddenly realised, “you could hear us when you were asleep!”

Regina shrugged her shoulders, “sort of, not as clear as that..”

Emma put her head in her hands and tried to remember what she had said and done with Grace when they had been visiting Regina.

“The pop singing wasn’t pleasant, though it probably contributed to my waking so I didn’t have to experience it again,” Regina commented dryly.

Emma looked up and peaked at Regina through the gaps in her fingers, “and you still want me to look after your daughter?”

“Yes,” Regina said seriously, “even if you were singing about liking bass, or something, I didn’t quite understand and I don’t think I want to,” she shook her head to remove the memory.

“The fact is I’m still not well enough to be released, I need at least another day or two to recover enough to leave this damn building,” Regina sighed, “and then a couple more before I can satisfactorily look after her.”

Emma wanted to say no, she wanted to say it would be a bad idea. Come up with a range of excuses as to how she wasn’t fit to be a mother to the child, how she had to work, how inconvenient it was, anything to stop herself from having to spend more time with Grace and form a deeper attachment to the baby. But then she remembered why Regina was in this state and that it was entirely her fault and that she had a duty to help the woman out, even if she couldn’t understand why Regina was insistent that it was her.

“Okay,” Emma nodded in agreement and then looked around the room, “where?”

“They’ve gone to get lunch, I told them I wanted to speak with you alone,” Regina explained and paused before saying, “I need to talk to you about Henry.”

Emma swallowed and nodded, she knew what was coming and she looked down at her feet casually.