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Snow falling hisses, whispers like it's full of secrets. When it falls heavy on the trees it covers up the rest of the sounds, so it's only the whispering snow. Something tinkles, crashes, like chimes against metal.
Metal screams.
She screams, or does she?
Hot and white takes her, swallow her vision, and it's dark. Dark and silent, heavy and cold.
Whispers.
Snow whispers heavy on the trees, weighing down the pines. Mal loves it. Always wants to walk through the woods in the darkness.
Were they walking? Were they together? Why is she alone now? Where is she? Who's talking?
"Regina?"
That's not Mal.
"Regina, wake up."
Pain weighs her down, heavy and white.
Like snow.
They were in snow.
"Regina, wake up please. We're worried about you."
Opening her eyes replaces white with duller white, throbbing pain with fresh, hot agony, like her brain is too big for her skull, or it's been pulled out and forced back in to her bleeding skull.
Her mouth tastes of copper, and her throat hurts, her lips hurt, her neck, and she's not sure what doesn't hurt.
"Take it easy." That voice is familar, gentle. "You were in a car accident. Do you remember?"
"No."
"You hit the airbag pretty hard, doc says it's a concussion, some scrapes, scratches. You'll be really sore for a week or so, but you're fine."
"Thank you."
"Just doing my job," Emma teases. That voice is Emma
Regina's eyes start to focus, and squinting makes Emma stop being blurry. "You came.”
"Yeah, sheriff responds to all car accidents. We've had a lot of them lately, black ice, snow on top of old ice. Roads have been shit. Granny spun out yesterday and Archie went into the ditch on Monday. We're trying to get more sand, more salt, but you know how it is. It's Maine, snow and ice are just kinda, hard to beat, you know?" Emma sips her coffee then sets it down. "Want some water?"
Regina starts to nod but that makes the simmering pain a more livid agony. "Yes," she croaks instead.
Emma holds up the cup and a straw and it's cold. The second sip doesn't taste like blood, and Regina could be half-human. "Now that you're awake, you can have some painkillers, and don't worry about the car, It's already been towed and Michael's fixing it."
Michael? The woodcutter. He kept his job as mechanic. She remembers.
"Henry's in the otherworld."
"I know. We haven't called him, mirrored him, whatever we're calling it." Emma sets down the water and presses the bed control into Regina's hand. "Sit up with this, it'll hurt less."
She's forgetting something. Something's not right, and it's not just the throbbing behind her eyes. The stupid bed clicks into place and it hit her with as much force as the airbag.
Mal was with her. They had dinner, then they went for a drive through the trees. It was snowing, but beautiful and Mal loves the snow.
"Is she okay?"
"Take it easy."
"Emma, is Mal all right? Where is she?"
Sitting up from the bed sends pain through her skull like a dagger, cutting through and her vision greys out for a moment, but she pushes through. "Emma--"
"She's unconscious." Emma rests her hands on Regina's shoulders, holding her steady. "Her head injuries look worse than yours."
Glass breaking and falling onto the snow, on the metal of the car, on Mal's lap.
"I have to see her."
"Regina, no, you can't stand up."
Can't? No one tells her she can't. Regina tries to shake her off but ends up grabbing Emma's arms. "Is she all right?"
"Whale's with her."
"His medical degree came from a gothic horror novelist."
"He diagnosed you pretty well."
"I'm fine." Regina moves her legs, and those at least respond. "Where is she?"
"Down the hall."
She has to find her. She won't understand. Regina forces herself up, her feet to the floor and Emma steps forward, half-catching her.
"It's not your fault," Emma says. "It's black ice, could have happened to anyone."
"Is she trying to get up?" Snow askes from the door, rushing in with David just behind her. "Regina, you're hurt."
"I'm fine, Emma said Maleficent is worse."
"She's still unconscious," David says from behind Snow. His voice is too soft.
She's hurt, she's alone.
"Regina, you can't stand up."
"I think you'll find that I can." Pain rolls through her, but it's something she can beat back. Her legs are steady, and she only has to hold onto the bed because her head aches so vividly.
"She's going to be all right, it's not your fault."
"Don't blame yourself. You don't have to hurt yourself out of guilt."
"Guilt?" She stares at them. All their kind faces are worried about her, about her body and her healing, not Maleficent, who is all alone. Lily's in the other world, visiting the other her with Henry, with Zelena and little Robin. Mal's alone.
She shouldn't be alone.
Emma still has a hand on Regina's arm. "Mal won't blame you, hell, she doesn't blame me for killing her I don't think she'll be mad about the car."
"I don't feel guilty."
Snow touches her other shoulder and David looks like he's about to catch her and pour her back to bed. None of them get it. None of them understand.
"It's okay to feel like it's your fault."
"Just rest," Snow says, "get back in bed and let yourself heal."
"I have to see her," Regina says, shaking them off. "I have to."
"Regina--" Snow catches her hand and squeezes. "She's your friend, she'll forgive you. You need to get back in bed and heal."
"We're not friends." She isn't even sure she's said it until all of them stare at her.
"Oh," Emma says, and her eyes grow. Does she understand? She has to understand.
"We're not just friends," Regina repeats because they're not getting it. "We're- I- I need to be with her."
"You-" Emma starts, and her mother finishes.
"You love her."
Regina hasn't said the word, not in front of Mal, not Zelena, not even herself. Not yet, but it hands in the air like truth.
"I love her."
"You love her," David repeats, just to be sure. "You and Maleficent."
Snow looks at him and he starts to smile. Snow takes a moment, then nods. "Okay."
"Yeah, it's okay," Emma adds, smiling that bright, stupid, hopeful smile. "You and the dragon lady."
"We're- I, we're together." She has better words. She can say this. This world is a better one than the one they left behind. What should she say? "I'm with her."
"That's great!" Emma touches her shoulder, and Snow looks at her, then they'll have her, one of them behind each of her arms.
"It is great," Snow adds, smiling like she's about to cry. "You're in love."
"Let's go see your girlfriend then."
"She's not my--" Regina stops, looking at David who grins at her. "Fine, fine, can I see her now?"
"Stay with us, okay?" Snow insists, and they hover. The three of them won't leave her alone, all down the hall, or even in Mal's room where she lies in the bed, out of place. She shouldn't be in this horrible hospital, with its pastels and terrible lights. There's blood on her forehead, and those little clips hold her skin together so it can heal. Nurse Ratched sits beside her, cleaning the blood from Mal's hair.
"Mayor Mills, you really shouldn't be up."
"I'll sit next to her."
Ratched starts to fuss over her but Emma waves her off. "She'll sit down here. She'll stay put."
"We'll make sure," Snow adds, pulling a chair beside Regina's. "She'll be careful."
"We haven't been able to get Lily on the phone." Dr. Whale says, looking up from Maleficent's chart. "If she needs surgery--"
"I'm her family," Regina says, suddenly so certain that no one doubts her. She reaches for Mal's hand, wrapping those warm fingers up in her own shaking hands.
Emma nods to Whale. "Lily's in another realm, Regina's her emergency contact."
Whale's eyebrows rise, and he swallows before he gets it. "There's some swelling of the brain. No cranial fractures, but her head went through the glass and snapped back a lot harder than yours. I don't know how she heals, considering she's not human. Her body temperature is too high, her blood pressure's off and there are some things in her blood that really shouldn't be there."
"She's a dragon," Snow reminds him and David has to hide a snicker behind his hand.
"Right, well, since dragon isn't on any of my charts, I'm guessing a little." Whale lowers her chart and sighs. "She's stable. Perhaps she'll wake up soon, maybe tomorrow, maybe a week from now. I don't know."
"She'll wake up, she has to."
Emma touches Regina's shoulder. "I'll see if I can get another bed in here."
"You can't stay, Mayor."
Snow, David and Emma stare at him and he backs down before Regina has to speak.
"I mean, of course you can."
Emma hands her painkillers to swallow and Snow fusses about the rash on her face and Regina sits and lets them worry because all she can see is Mal.
She has to call Lily in the other realm, tell Henry she's okay, tell Lily her mother's going to be all right, but they don't know about the accident. They're all right with the other Regina. They can just be all right and be safe and not worry. Regina's not sure she can speak to her children without making things a hundred times worse.
Whale decides, grumpily, that it's better if Regina stays awake, so her mixed up brain has a chance to reset itself, so Emma, Snow and David stay with her. Snow fusses until there's a blanket in her lap and Emma keeps bringing her hot chocolate and David finds food in the cafeteria even though it's the middle of the night and it can't be open, but they have a clumsy picnic of toast, applesauce, awful blue gelatin that doesn't even seem edible by anyone over the age of ten, and pudding, that's all wrong in her mouth but she forces herself to eat.
Snow stares at her, simpering, and while David takes the tray away and Emma gets more drinks, they're alone in the quiet.
"You're happy with her," she says. Snow knows everything now that Regina's confessed.
"She's wonderful." Regina looks at Snow long enough to smile as best she can, and then she looks back at Mal's still face. "She has a great sense of humor."
"She's very beautiful."
Regina strokes her forehead, careful to miss the little butterfly clips as she smoothes Mal's hair. "When I first saw her I couldn't believe she was real. I'd never seen anyone like her."
"Have you liked other women?" Snow asks over her hot chocolate. "Here, or before?"
"Some," Regina admits, kissing the back of al's hand before she looks away from her. "A friend of mine when I was very young. Tinkerbelle, but that was complicated. I made it complicated."
"But Mal is easy."
"She knows me." Regina stares at her hands. They're covered in little scratches and dried blood, and her shirt is torn. She must look a wreck. "She's known me since I was young and angry and foolish, and she loved me then. She loved me when I was dark and dangerous, when I locked her away, when I let Emma kill her."
"Well, Robin was your soulmate, I thought she'd have to also be some kind of epic story."
"I lost him."
Snow pats her shoulder. "I know, I’m sorry."
"I didn't think I could feel after that, didn't think I had anything left for anyone other than Henry." Her eyes sting and for a moment, Regina forgets how much her head hurts because she just doesn't want to cry, but it's a lost cause.
"But you love her anyway."
"I can't help it."
Snow passes her a tissue, and fuck, Emma and David pick that moment to return because of course, this needs an audience. "It's all right."
"It's ridiculous."
"It's nice," Emma insists, crouching down to look up at her. David stands just behind her and all three of them don't care in the slightest that Regina's in love with a dragon or a woman. They're so damn supportive that Regina can't even breathe.
"You're happy."
Happy includes crying, and blowing her nose with flecks of blood and her head hurts so much she might as well just take the damn thing off, but they're here. They're her family.
Mal's too. She worries for an hour or so, but when she finally drags herself away to go to the bathroom and wash the mess from the airbag off her face, Emma's holding Mal's hand when she comes back.
"Her fingers are so warm."
"Dragon." Regina sinks back into her chair and pulls her feet up, curling into a ball. "She's always warm, even in the middle of winter."
"That's gotten be nice," Emma says, without realizing what she's said, and she blushes.
Snow chuckles. "Better than your cold feet."
"I wear socks!" David teases.
"And your feet are still ice."
They sleepily argue with each other and Emma rubs Mal's hand. "I'm sure you'll be fine. A little car accident is so much less bad than being stabbed with a sword by some idiotic hero."
"She says that hurt."
"Oh?" Emma winces. "Sorry. I thought it might but she keeps telling me it wasn't bad at all."
"She lies."
"Lily said she's such a mom like that."
"She is."
Emma tilts her head, yawning. "You two must work then. You're just the same."
"I am not."
"You very much are," Snow interrupts. "You are such a mom."
"I--"
"Am always a mother," Mal whispers, slipping into the argument so softly that they keep arguing around her until she squeezes Emma's hand.
Emma turns. "Hey!"
And then Regina's entire world is those sleepy blue eyes, struggling to stay open.
"Regina."
"You scared me."
"This head isn't as hard as the other," Mal teases, her voice cracked like the wind. "The horns help."
"I was so worried."
"I see," Mal says. She lifts her hand and nearly misses Regina's face but she grabs it and holds it close. "I'm sorry."
"You should be."
Mal smiles wearily, blinking several times before she steadies her gaze on Regina. "I am."
"You're not."
"You're here," Mal whispers. "What do I have to be sorry about?"
Emma smirks and David actually chuckles. "Seems you're well suited for each other."
Mal raises an eyebrow and winces, because her head has to hurt so much more than Regina's does. "You told them?"
"It came up."
"We're very happy for you,' Snow says, exuberant. "And we'll give you a minute."
They file out, with a lot of looking and smirking and they're collectively the worst, and the best, because they're family.
"You did not tell Lily or Henry."
"About this?" Regina shakes her head and winces and everything just hurts.
Mal pats the bed beside her. "Come here."
Curling up beside her in the stupid hospital bed is the best Regina's felt since the car spun beneath them.
"We can tell them together."
"They'll be so angry."
"It was an accident. They occur. It doesn't mean we're in any more or less danger than we were yesterday."
"Tell that to my head."
Mal snorts, then winces again, even moans a little. "And mine."
"I'm so sorry."
"Don't be."
"They know, they all know and the town will be tomorrow night."
Mal strokes her face with clumsy fingers. "Let them talk."
Regina starts to protest but sighs. Mal's warm and she can hear her heart beating. "Okay."
And it is, oddly enough.