Last Thing You'll Do

Chapter 11

That didn't make any sense. Emma hadn't called Regina. Only that once, and she hadn't even spoken. Regina would have answered any calls the blond had given her. It might have been begrudgingly but Regina couldn't even hide from herself the feeling of joy she knew she would have felt at the thought it.

"I rang your cell and got no answer just like I knew I would" Emma repeated as if it made it clearer. That wasn't possible. Regina stood opened mouth at the admission, while Emma simply looked slightly annoyed.

"Where is it? Your cell" Emma demanded harshly, with a gesture of her hand as if she thought maybe she had it on her in her silk pyjamas.

"Charging" Regina answered feeling her throat constrict at her response. She'd charged it to ensure it was full powered for Henry's evening out at his grandparents'. The landline was too far away during the night if something went wrong. Even then in the drama and confusion of the other woman's return, the phone had remained charging downstairs. Emma stalked passed her out of the room.

It had never occurred to her that she'd need it during the day. The only people that ever rang her were Henry, his grandparents and a select few of the Storybrooke residents - people she would see in town. She had left it at home.

Emma was back, and she thrust the small device into her hand. And there they were ... four missed calls from Emma. Around the time she had been at the diner with Henry. Possibly even from when they had been driving there. Regina must have missed it by minutes. Regina stood in shock at the words upon the screen and even continued staring as the back screen dimmed.

"You'll even find a message on the answering machine as well that I guess you didn't check" Emma said her tone still one of slight accusing though much lesser now. She never checked the answering machine at home. If someone needed her that badly they would...ring her cell. No one really rang her anyway. "I thought you might not have picked up because you saw it was me, so I tried ringing the house instead" Emma explained her voice becoming quieter with each word. The silence that followed the last sentence was thick and heavy. It took a moment for Regina to even register the blonde had stopped talking.

"I left it here I didn't even know ...I would have answered" Regina confessed quietly still looking at the now black screen of her phone. Tonight could have gone so differently if only Henry and she had left a few minutes later or if she'd taken the phone with her. Emma had called her before she rang her mother. She had made that decision. She'd made the decision she had always said she would. If it came to it, Emma had always said she would pick Regina over her mother and here it was. The fact of it left a disgusting taste in Regina's mouth. Now the decision had been made, she wished more than anything Emma had not needed to make it. The young woman had had to decide because she was dying.

"Yeah right" Emma said disbelieving, pulling Regina away from her silent staring competition with her cell phone. The blonde was now looking at her incredulously, eyes wide in doubt.

"Excuse me?" Regina cried out in defence.

"The night I came out of hospital I was going to ring you, but I wanted to check that everything was okay in case you didn't answer" Emma answered and for the first time since she had come down stairs she saw her. Saw her Emma. The slightly blabbering, never knowing when she shut up Emma. The one who got nervous over talking and Regina felt the light whoosh of amusement at the memory of Emma's attempt at the Sheriff debate oh so long ago. She could still see the disbelief in the lines around her eyes.

"I hadn't been allowed my phone on so I couldn't get the numbers while I was in hospital. They took my phone after they caught me considering calling you the second time just before they were going to take me down to the operating room" Emma rambled, her hands moving almost as fast as her speech. While Regina found it, for a lack of a better word adorable to watch Emma get tongue-tied it so far she did not hear anything which would make Emma believe she wouldn't answer her desperate call. "I was allowed it back, I knew I could have asked one of them to call but I wanted to. I didn't want you to hear from a stranger" the blonde added with a deep swallow. The younger woman's hands were shaking and Regina had to fight the urge to take hold of them. She also had to bite back the urge to say that if she'd died a stranger would have called her anyway.