The Third Time
“Emma,” Regina placed her hand on Emma’s shoulder, shaking gently, “wake up dear.”
It took a few moments for Emma’s eyes to begin fluttering open, her consciousness fighting against the wave of sleep that wanted to submerge her. Regina took her own steadying breaths. When she woke, Emma would need her to assuage her fears, both in regard to her dreams and the situation. She’d never done that for anyone but Henry before. She’d always known what to say then. Everything had been simple with him for a time.
Emma didn’t wake with the same shock as before. Perhaps it was because she was waking to a familiar place, or maybe because they’d done this once already.
“’Gina?” Her voice was garbled, groggy. “You gotta help. I can’t keep ‘m safe.”
Or she was still in the dream. Regina brushed the hair back out of Emma’s face, staring straight into her half-lidded eyes. “It’s just a dream. You’re alright.”
Regina shook more firmly now, trying to draw her out from the sleep realm. Her eyes cast across the room like they saw shadows there Regina couldn’t comprehend. “No. Henry…he –”
“Is at school.” Regina concluded for her. Instinctively and without forethought, her hand moved to feather soothingly behind Emma’s neck. “You were having a bad dream.”
Emma seemed to snap back into reality all at once. Her sleep-heavy body tensed, growing rigid without warning. Regina braced herself for the storm that was likely to be Emma Swan when faced with yet another unwitting teleportation. She wasn’t met with the anger she was expecting. Instead, Emma threw herself back into the couch, her hands colliding with her head as she released a long, exasperated groan.
Humourless laughter exploded from the blonde. “I did it again.”
Regina smiled faintly. “It was not how I expected your report to be delivered.”
Emma looked around, her movements exaggerated and comical. “I didn’t even bring it.”
“It’s already overdue, what’s a few more hours?” She rested her hand on Emma’s knee, squeezing gently.
“I read the whole freaking book, and it didn’t give me any answers.”
Regina’s brows knit, raking her mind for what Emma could be referring to. She couldn’t help the disbelief that dripped from her words. “The book from the library? You actually read it?”
“Cover to cover. It was useless, by the way.” She rubbed away the sleep from her eyes. “Last time I read.”
She could count on one hand the number of books Emma had read when Regina had told her to. Including this one, Captain Guyliner could even count on his hook the number of books Emma had read when told to. It spoke to just how unsettled she had been from the other night, and Regina couldn’t help the pang of sympathy for her. It was sad, really, that being vulnerable had caused such anxiety. Of course, Regina understood it. It was unlikely she would be any better in Emma’s place.
She couldn’t wring the concern from her voice when she went to speak. “Emma –”
“Don’t.” Emma fled to her feet. The anger Regina had been expecting previously exploded all at once. “Don’t look at me like that either.”
A cruel mirth touched her tone instead. “Where would you like me to look?”
It wasn’t helpful, and she regretted it instantly. It was in her nature to meet anger with callousness. She didn’t want it to be. Sometimes she envisioned being the person she had been in her youth again: the softness, the kindness. It would be a lie to say that that girl hadn’t known cruelty nor loss, because she had. She was trying to be the person who had saved Snow from that horse a lifetime ago, the person she had been before Rumple.
She was trying. She just wasn’t getting very far.
“Just,” Emma growled, the flush on her face rising, “just tell me how to stop this.”
Her tone was gentle, even if her words weren’t. “If you actually read the book, you’ll know that’s not how it works.”
“Come on, Regina.” Emma turned to her, her face desperate and pleading in a way that cut out any potential for even a trace of amusement in the older woman. “What if I poof myself into the sea or – or to Gold’s or something stupid like that.”
“That won’t happen.”
“How do you know.”
The words came out of her before she could stop them. “You’re transporting places you feel safe. Forgive me, but I don’t think Gold quite meets the criteria.”
“Places I feel safe?” Emma gestured vaguely about the room. “This office isn’t exactly the top of my list. Besides, last time it was to your bedroom. I’ve never even been there before”
Regina swallowed down any further commentary. If Emma needed it spelled out for her, she wasn’t going to oblige. It was an understanding Emma would have to come to on her own, in time. Or if she was to be deliberately obtuse, she wouldn’t. That was her call too.
She moved closer without infringing on Emma's space. “If you aren’t willing to wait it out, I recommend you arrange an appointment with Archie. Once the nightmares stop, your brain won’t have any reason to take you anywhere.”
Disappointment flickered across Emma’s face, but Regina refused to address it. If that wasn’t the answer she was looking for, so be it. She wouldn’t be giving any more magical intervention to the situation, and Emma wasn’t yet interested in her help. Perhaps she would be willing to discuss it with the cricket, even if he had gotten his degree from a curse.
“Yeah, maybe.” Well, that was a no if she ever heard one. “I gotta get back to the station. David’ll be due back any minute.”
Regina nodded, accepting this as progress, however slow. She turned back to her desk, then hesitated. “Emma?” The blonde paused. “Staying up all night? It’s not the solution. Trust me.”
Emma disappeared into the air, and Regina wondered if she might one day heed her own words.