Swan Queen one shots

Softly

Plunk.

The sound of a guitar chord being badly hit.

"Dammit!"

PLUNK.

Emma laughed softly to herself. "Having a bit of trouble there, Madame Mayor?" She stepped forward to lean against the doorway, her arms crossed and a mock-serious frown on her face.

The surprised woman inside started, then relaxed."Emma."

"Oh, given up on the 'Miss Swan' and 'Sheriff Swan' stuff now, hm?" Emma noted.

Regina's hands dropped from her guitar. "What do you want?" she asked, her voice strained.

"Nothing. I was just passing through, and I heard you play." Emma came to sit on the bed by her.

Regina shrugged. "Henry brought this by for me...said it might help pass the time. But I'm terrible with it."

"It's not that hard. Here." Emma reached one arm around Regina's shoulders to the hand that was poised on the frets. "Your fingers go...here. That's your basic A chord." She gently took the pick from Regina's other hand. "It's easier to thrum by hand when you're beginning. I like doing it for softer songs, too. That top string is closed for A, by the way."

Regina's breath hitched at her closeness. Emma thrummed her fingers down the strings, her arm brushing against Regina's, then coming to rest there as she clasped Regina's hand.

"I'm not a child!" Regina insisted, snappier than she'd meant. She gives the strings a hard strum to emphasize her point, but the resulting PLUNK made her toes curl.

"Gentler. Like you're brushing Henry's hair. You don't want to yank, you want to gently - " Emma demonstrated, thrumming the strings softly. "Thrum. Don't plunk, thrum."

Regina nodded silently and strummed the strings as Emma showed her. The chord came out smoothly, but emptily, like the one part of a whole it actually was.

"There you are." Emma shifted Regina's fingers on the frets. "That's an E. All the strings are open this time."

Regina's breathing caught again. Emma's soft blue-gray eyes shifted to hers, frowning in concern. "Are you in pain?" she asked. "Do you want me to get a doctor?"

Regina shook her head slightly, though her chest was aching terribly. She didn't want Emma to go. "No...I'm fine. Just...tired. So tired."
Emma gently lifted the guitar from her hands and returned it to its case. "Regina..." she said, her voice heavy with quiet grief.

They had found the tumor only a few months ago, a small thing just above Regina's heart. Not cancerous, but something else entirely. It seemed to be slowly sapping Regina's life-force as the weeks passed, and they could do nothing for fear of the magic killing her along with her tumor. They could do little more than watch as the former Evil Queen slowly died before them, the tumor twisting her insides in various agonizing ways until she could barely move, much less eat or take care of herself.

The day had been going well, but now Regina felt the tumor strike out inside her, seizing her lungs and heart as if with an icy fist until she could hardly breathe. "Emma - " she gasped.

In a heartbeat, Emma was by her side, her arms around Regina as she gently lowered her back onto her pillows. "Hey. You're okay. Just breathe."

Regina's breathing evened, falling into rhythm with Emma's. Her physical pain subsided, but her heart clenched with fear. She knew she had very little time left, at the rate this tumor was sapping her strength.

"Emma, I...I need to tell you something." Regina whispered. "Being in here...makes one think. One never knows how much time has left."

She uttered a short, derisive laugh. "I was a fool, Emma Swan. I still am. But, Emma...this may not be the right time. But when else? I have no time left, and I can't go without you knowing one final secret." Her head shifted to look into the blonde's lovely eyes, their depths equal parts fear and sadness. Regina could have laid there and stared into them forever and never gotten tired of doing so.

"Emma, I love you," she said softly. "I have ever since - goodness. Ever since you turned up on my doorstep, dragged to town by our son. I lied to myself as much as to you. I told myself I hated you. I told myself I could never be happy as long as you and I both had to fight over Henry." She shook her head. "Even then, in my heart of hearts, I knew." Tears glimmered in her dark brown eyes. "I'm...so sorry, Emma. So very sorry. You...you were my happy ending."

A sob wracked Emma's body. "And you were mine."

She pulled herself onto the bed next to Regina, crying quietly into her shoulder. Time seeped past them, and the room grew heavily silent. A peace settled over them, and Emma became aware that Regina's raspy breaths had ceased, leaving the silence unbroken. She kissed Regina's smooth, unfurrowed brow, lingering over her closed eyelids.

"I love you too, Madame Mayor."