Reset

“But?” Regina asked knowingly.

“What if I’m wrong?” Emma croaked out.

Regina removed her hand from Emma’s hair and looked firmly at the blonde, “now you listen carefully, Emma Swan,” she told her, “you are not solely responsible for every person in this town. You may be the Saviour but that has limits, your objective in life is not to sort out every single problem in Storybrooke, do you understand me?”

“But..” Emma started.

“But nothing,” Regina told her with a shake of her head, “spread the load, Emma..”

Emma nodded grimly and Regina attempted to wave her hand over the blonde again but nothing happened.

Regina looked down at her with a small smile, “you’re horrible stubborn, you know that?”

Emma gave her a tiny grin, “it has been said..”

Something occurred to Regina and she stood up and opened the bedroom door and walked into the hallway leaving a confused blonde behind. A few moments later Regina returned with a sleeping Grace in her arms, “move over,” she instructed quietly and Emma shuffled to the middle of the bed with a frown.

“Nothing has more soothing powers than a sleeping baby, she’s had a midnight feed and her teething hasn’t been so bad today so she should sleep through until the sun comes up,” Regina said quietly as she placed Grace in the bed beside Emma.

Emma gently wrapped her arms around the sleeping girl and placed a kiss on her forehead before looking up at Regina and mouthing, “thank you..”

Regina leaned down and kissed Grace on the forehead before repeating the process with Emma, “sleep,” she whispered in a soft command before leaving the room.

Chapter 66

Early the next morning Regina was making coffee, she figured that both she and Emma would need coffee to get through the day after the small amount of sleep they both had the night before. Half an hour after leaving Grace with Emma she had checked on the pair and was pleased to see that they were both peacefully sleeping. After that she managed to get some broken sleep before finally giving up and deciding to start her day.

A quiet knock on the front door had her frowning from the kitchen as she wiped her hands on a tea towel and crossed the hallway quickly to check there had in fact been a noise. When she opened the door she found David standing on the porch and looking wary, “sorry, I saw the light was on but I didn’t want to wake the baby,” he said, “or Emma..”

She nodded her gratitude at the thought and gestured for him to come in, “I’m making coffee,” she announced and walked towards the kitchen in a manner that suggested he should follow her so he did.

Once they were in the kitchen David looked around and Regina informed him, “everyone else is sleeping.”

“Oh,” he said, “I wanted to tell Emma that Joshua is back home.”

Regina raised an eyebrow as she prepared mugs for the coffee that was still brewing, “he went home?”

“Yes,” David nodded with a scowl, “John Battle called it in an hour ago, I’m on night duty so I got the call.”

“You don’t seem pleased,” Regina pointed out as she got milk from the fridge.

“I went round there,” he said and started pacing the kitchen in a way that Regina had seen Emma do in the past, “the boy is being mistreated, he was terrified. I..” he dragged a hand through his short hair, “I want to get him away from his father, somewhere safe.”

Regina folded her arms and leaned on the counter, “you know who John Battle is, I assume?”

“Dark Sword,” David nodded solemnly.

Regina nodded, “he is a violent and volatile man,” she pointed out.

“I spoke to the convent,” David continued, “Astrid has said that they will take him in.. but I don’t think John will agree to it.”

Regina sighed and turned to pick up the freshly brewed coffee pot, “he will if I speak with him.” She poured coffee into the two mugs as she continued, “he was one of my most loyal guards, I think he will listen to me.”

David nodded his quick agreement in a manner that suggested to Regina that he had already assumed as much and was actually coming to ask for her help.

“I will go and speak to him at a more reasonable hour,” she said as she pushed the mug across the kitchen island and towards him, “ensure that Astrid is able to take him in a couple of hours.”

“Thank you,” David said and looked around the kitchen as he asked, “how is Emma?”

Regina took a sip of the scalding hot coffee before she nodded, “she is sleeping..”

David wrapped his hands around the mug of coffee and looked like he wanted to say something but was struggling.

“Out with it, Shepherd,” Regina said but it held no bite.

David’s mouth curled into a small smile, “I know we have had.. issues in the past,” he paused for the snort of laughter he knew was coming before continuing, “but thank you for looking after Emma. Snow and I have tried but she makes it difficult for us to get through to her. She claims she is fine but we can see she isn’t. Since she has been staying with you she has been so much improved.”