12
Regina can’t hear anything but the beating of her own heart in her ears. It’s fast, much too fast to be healthy. Her hand trembles around the knob, but it doesn’t slow down her movements. Her knees threaten to buckle under her sending her crashing to the floor at any moment. And there is the distinct feeling of acid rising in her throat. She can't remember the last time she has thrown up, but the sting in her esophagus is a stark reminder of what that’s like…. Milliseconds. The seconds within seconds slow down and for a moment she could almost swear that time itself stood still. The unfortunate truth is that time does not stand still and the next blaring heartbeat in her head is quickly followed by the door being thrown open and a dreaded scene unfolds before her.
Her eyes immediately fall on a cascade of blonde waves on the floor in front of her to her left and she instinctively runs to her. She glances around but Hook is not in sight. Flanked by David who yells Emma’s name she drops to her knees as the air is knocked from her lungs at the sight of the woman she loves. Emma’s face is bruised, bloody, and swollen. Scratches mar the blonde’s arms and a deep red stain on her abdomen is making its debut. “Emma, wake up!” Regina grabs the woman’s shoulders as tears she can no longer hold back streak down her cheeks.
“Ugh!” There’s a grunt and commotion behind her and turns to see David wrestling with the repulsive pirate. Regina sees red the minute her eyes land on the man. She stands, with the gun still in her hand, and takes the three short steps to get to the men. She holds the gun as close to his head as she can get without putting Charming at risk and both men become statues when they see the hunk of metal in her hand.
“I wish I could torture you slowly for what you have done to Emma. Lucky for you, I don’t think she would let me if she was conscious. But you made sure she wasn’t awake to stop me from taking your worthless little life.” She seethes.
“I don’t think you want to do that, dear.” An all too familiar voice rings from behind her. Sending shivers up her spine and pushing her nausea to a whole new peak.
She drops her arm and turns to face the source of the voice, her heart nearly stopping when she comes face to face with them. “What are you doing here, Mother?”
Cora’s usual mask is set firmly in place. Her empty eyes and a slimy smile cracking at Regina’s nerves like a whip. “It’s good to see you, too, Regina.” She lets the façade fall and her eyes set hard as the smile fades, “I am here to ensure you don’t make yet another mistake because of your weak heart.”
Regina has had enough and the delicate strings holding her sanity together fray quickly. “Explain yourself, fast!” She repositions her finger over the trigger.
“Well, my dear, that is certainly no way to speak to your mother…”
Regina sees the movement on her left before she can react and somehow the pirate manages to get David wrapped up in his arms and hook. Locking in such a way that he cannot move without the hook digging into his neck. That distraction keeping Regina from pulling the gun on her mother only served to cloak the sounds of Mary Margarete sneaking into the room and behind Cora. The sound of handcuffs tightening caused her to sling her head the other way just in time to see her mother struggle against the metal chains. “I told you to stay out of here you thick-skulled stubborn…”
“Watch it, Regina!” David snaps.
Regina closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Her mother is cursing under her breath and the pirate still has a hold on David. They need to get control of this situation NOW. She raises the gun to the pirate “Let off of him or I’ll redecorate this place with your blood.” She growls. Killian removes his hook and hold on Charming but doesn’t step away. She passes her gun to Snow, “Keep it on her” she gestures to Cora before all but running back to Emma who is still lying unconscious on the floor. “Emma, please wake up. I need to know you’re okay and I don’t have magic, Emma, please!” She rasps at the still woman. A beat passes with no movement out of Emma, and Regina makes her way to the kitchen to get a wet cloth to clean the blonde's face. The whole room is watching as she begins carefully wiping the woman’s features.
“I knew you had gone soft, dear, but I didn’t know you had fallen in love, too.” Cora chuckles wickedly.
It takes every ounce of strength in her to keep Regina from going and slapping the wits out of her mother right then and there. After getting some of the blood off the blonde woman she loved she saw that while her injuries looked horrible, there was nothing more she could do here and now. With a renewed sense of anger and purpose, she rises to her full height and turns back on the four behind her. She grabs a knife from the kitchen and returns to Snow, carefully taking the gun from her and replacing it with the large kitchen knife. “She doesn’t move an inch.” She says with a dangerous look in her eyes. Snow only could nod once before she stalked over to where the men were standing. Pointing the gun at Hook “sit in that chair” she gestures to the nearest chair that she can tie him to. “David, see if you can find some rope.” She barks off instructions and he quickly moves to do so. Hook, however, is still standing with a blank expression. “I said sit down, pirate!”
“Do it.” Cora huffs and the women are taken aback when the pirate moves to Cora’s order. David comes back, rope in hand, and tightly ties the man to the chair. Once he is secure the group moves to do the same to Cora. With both threats contained all three of them were brimming with questions for the duo. As they lay in on Hook they receive no answer, and Cora sits next to him quietly chucking to herself. It doesn’t take long for that to get under Regina’s skin just enough.
“What do you find so funny, mother?” She spits down to the woman in front of her.
Cora sits with a smug look on her face as David, next to Regina, asks Hook what he’s doing with the old bag and why he felt the need to lay hands on his daughter…still no response…not even a reaction from the brooding man. “Stop yelling you imbecile, he won't answer you!”
David drops to her level and gets right in the woman’s face, “And why is that?”
Cora exposes a Cheshire cat-like grin but remains tight-lipped. Regina pinches the bridge of her nose in frustration. If she had her magic Hook would already be dead and there’s a high likelihood that Cora would have received a fireball or two by now. Raising her head, she notices that Snow has moved to Emma and has taken over the attempt to clean her wounds. She sees the smaller woman lift Emma’s shirt where the blood stain is and her already fair-skinned face goes pale. She meets Regina’s eyes. “You have to hurry, this is bad.”
Regina grits her teeth “start talking mother, I may not have magic here but there are traditional ways to end someone in this world.”
“Regina”, David starts, turning to face her fully “we need to get them to Storybrook.”
“How!?” Regina’s folded arms fall to her sides.
“Hook’s ship must be here, me and Snow can take him and Emma by boat, it will be faster. You bring Cora. Emma needs to get to Mother Superior and you know we won't get them to talk here.” He pleads. He doesn’t have to do much else to convince her. So it’s only a few moments later that He picks up Emma, flanked by Snow and Regina who both have a prisoner in tow and leave the apartment to find Hooks ship. “We can’t walk around this city like this. We are going to have to find a way to fit into the car until we get to the docks.
“I say we put the pirate in the trunk, Cora too if needed. We can lay Emma in the back, and I’ll squeeze in with her. Then you and Snow can keep your eyes on finding the boat.”
The car ride is cramped, to say the least. But they had Emma back and were working to get her home. Regina rode ungracefully with her knees on the floorboard crouched over Emma, whispering to her and assessing the damage. David would never mention the tears he saw fall from the woman’s eyes in the rearview mirror.
The whole operation was clunky, as usual. But the trio did manage to find the ship. It proved to be pretty easy since it stuck out like a sore thumb against all the modern boats in the dock. They had Emma situated on a cot below deck with Hook tied to a post on the stern and although Regina was all for letting Cora ride in the trunk the whole ride, relented and put the woman in the passenger side with her hands and feet bound together, as well as gagged. She refused to listen to whatever antics her mother would try for the next few hours. And so, they parted ways and started their journey back to Storybrook.