Reset

“Under the thumb already,” Regina laughed softly, “who would have thought that it would take someone like Belle to bring you heel?”

He glared at her but any menace was long gone and he simply shook his head at her banter and stood up and leant on his cane, “I’ll see you again, when you’re not in your sick bed,” he rolled his eyes, “with that hair.”

He turned around and smirked as he heard Regina quickly raise her hands to her head to check on the state of her hair.

Chapter 45

Emma walked into Regina’s hospital room with a bag and placed it on the visitor’s chair, “one change of clothes suitable for a queen.”

Regina looked at her with an expression that said she didn’t appreciate the humour but Emma decided to ignore her as she continued, “Henry is at school and Grace is back at your house with Mary Margaret. I’ve locked the wardrobes.

Regina smirked despite her bad mood and nodded, “thank you,” she said quietly.

Emma frowned and watched her as she started to sit up in bed, “what’s wrong?”

Regina looked at her and shrugged, “I’m in hospital, sorry if I’m not singing a song.”

“No, there’s something else,” Emma analysed her body language and Regina held up her outstretched hand to cover her face, “what are you doing?”

“That superpower thing you have convinced everyone that you have is rather off putting,” Regina muttered as she sat up on the bed with her bare legs hanging down the side, “all that staring into people’s faces and claiming to know the truth.”

“You’re redirecting,” Emma folded her arms, “what’s going on?”

Regina lowered her hand and sighed, “while I am obviously physically well,” she gestured to her body, “my magic has yet to make a reappearance.”

“Oh,” Emma frowned, she didn’t really know what that meant but she wasn’t about to upset Regina further by asking her to explain it.

“It will return,” Regina said determinedly as she stood up and started to sort through the clothes that Emma had brought her.

“I’ve never seen so many clothes,” Emma commented casually, “not that I spent ages looking, but it took a while to find your sweaters in all the rails of stuff,” she rambled, “it was like being at a store. Just everything in one size. We’re the same size, by the way.”

“I know,” Regina commented, “I never did see that shirt again..”

Emma blushed, “oh, I er, I.. I didn’t know how to give it back, never seemed like a good time,” she thumbed towards the door, “I could get it now?”

Regina picked up some folded clothes and shook her head, “it’s fine, as you say I have lots of clothes.”

“Do you want it back?” Emma pressed.

“Not particularly,” Regina shrugged as she pointed towards the bathroom, “I’m just going to..”

Emma nodded, “sure, I’ll be here.”

As Regina walked barefoot into the bathroom Emma rolled her eyes at herself and whispered, “I’ll be here? What the hell, Emma? Idiot..”

She sat on the bed and then stood up again and used her crutch to walk over to a chair in the corner of the room and sat there instead, putting space between the two of them. Regina made her nervous, always had done and seemingly always would do. Something about the brunette radiated power and control and Emma constantly felt like she had neither when she was around Regina. It should have made her feel bad but those moments when Regina let her in, when Regina was nice to her, those were like finding treasure on a gloomy day.

Emma had a distinct feeling there would be a lot of gloomy days coming up. The last twenty four hours with Grace had been sheer heaven but now Regina was going home and that would be the end of Emma’s connection with the baby. Before long Henry would go as well and soon after that Mary Margaret and David would have their own baby. She took a breath to calm the feelings that were threatening to overpower her, she’d already worked out a solution to the problem. Run.

It was Emma’s go to answer when things started to get the better of her, she thought she had found a home in Storybrooke. She arrived a strong and independent woman with few worries, concealed baggage and a car that would take her wherever she needed to go and never question her. Now she was a weak and lonely woman with so many worries and baggage that was fast pinging out of straining suitcases. But she still had her beloved yellow Bug.

Once Regina was home and settled Emma had decided that she would suggest that Henry stay over a little, she was sure Regina wouldn’t argue now that she had stopped taking the potion. Once Henry got used to being a part of Regina’s life again Emma would head on out of Storybrooke with her head held high that she had done her duty as Saviour.

She’d broken the curse, well, as much of it as she could. Everyone had their memories back, the town was safe and everyone had their happy ending. Even the Evil Queen. It was time for Emma to move on so she could start a new life and forget about this one before she developed anymore attachments to people that were going to leave her anyway. It was time to reset the stopwatch.