intoxicated//OUAT (COMPLETED)

Chapter Four

The car had not crashed but merely halted. Maybe 'merely' was not the best word to describe it as it had been a very hard and abrupt stop. Regina fell onto the steering wheel, her seat belt constricting against her chest. Emma was thrown into the dash of the car as she had been wearing her seatbelt under her armpit, it squeezed tightly on her hips and she yelped in pain but her hands caught her before her face did. They could both hear the tired screech on the pavement. They were then both yanked backwards into their seats. Regina grunted on impact but Emma seemed to just limply fall back.

"Fuck!" Regina yelled, slamming her hand into the steering wheel. She winced at the sound of the horn. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" With each word she slammed her fist into the horn.

She looked over at Emma, whose head hung limply to the side. Her neck seemed strangely flexible and Regina silently prayed that it wasn't broken. She grabbed Emma's shoulder and gently shook it. "Emma," she said. "Emma, come on." She started to shake harder. "Come on Emma," she yelled. "Wake up!"

Emma's body started to shake slightly and Regina became horrified. Was she having a seizure? Was she injured badly? Was she dying? Regina noticed a smirk form on the blonde's lips. Was she being serious? That little- Emma erupted in laughter. Regina gave her a swift smack on the arm and said "Ha ha ha, very funny, Swan."

Realizing she had not checked to see what was actually wrong with the car, Regina climbed out into the night. "Stay here, do not dare move," she commanded before shutting the door. She stepped around to the back of the car and lifted the hatch. Smoke instantly hit her causing her to cough. "Shit," she muttered between coughs. Regina could have just fixed the car then and there and have it be done with but using magic under such stress, especially after a minor car accident, was not the smartest of ides. She moved away from the smoke so she could breathe and she could see in one of the mirrors that Emma had cracked open a new beer. The girl is going to kill herself if she doesn't stop drinking, Regina thought. Though she had more important things on her mind than worrying if Emma was going to need her stomach pumped she felt a certain feeling that she couldn't quite explain. That feeling was what drove her to walk to Emma's door, open it and take her beer. What was it? No, it wasn't love, she hardly like Emma the majority of the time, let alone when she was drunk.

"Heyyy," Emma whined, pouting her lip. "I was drinking that!" She reached for the can but Regina pulled her arm away and spilled it on the ground, purposely.

"Emma," Regina said in a concerned tone. "You really need to stop. You're going to get sick." She still couldn't figure out why she had felt such an urge to protect Emma. Her parents! That was it. If Regina had returned Emma to her parents any worse than she already was they'd kill her her. But was that the real reason? Regina pushed the thoughts from her head.

"Fine," Emma replied, acting like a young child. Regina smiled at her but quickly wiped the grin off her face. What was getting into her?

"Now be quiet while I call for someone to repair the car," she told Emma, pulling out her phone and dialing a number. Emma slid her index finger and thumb across her lips, twisted them and flicked her hand away as a temporary vow of silence. Regina smirked again but reverted to her natural face at the sound of her phone ringing. It rang ten times- no answer from David. She then looked at the bright screen of her phone and noticed the time: 12:25am. She cursed under her breath.

"Wha's wrong, Gina?" Emma asked.

Regina shot her a quick glare and replied with, "It's too late, everyone I can think of who could help us is probably sleeping." She shook her head, a lock of wavy brown hair fell in front of her eye and she quickly blew it away.

"So whaddo we do?" Emma asked.

"Honestly, I have no idea," Regina told her. "I just want to relax right now." She started to yawn but held it in as she knew it would provoke Emma to do something wild if she knew Regina was tired.

"Well, hey, look, the old Toll Bridge is over there," Emma said, pointing to the sign that read 'Troll Bridge'. She raised an eye and shrugged as if to say 'what do you say?'.

"Ah, what the hell," Regina said, shrugging back. Emma hopped from the car and ran toward the bridge. Regina sneakily reached behind Emma's seat and grabbed two beers. She walked down the road as Emma just had, inhaling the crisp autumn air with every few steps and exhaling warm breath, visible in front of her. She reached the bridge but could not see Emma. A wave of panic rushed over body and she ran to the railing of the bridge and looked over. Emma sat down on the rocky river's edge, grinning and waving. Regina sighed. She walked down a trail next to the bridge an approached Emma.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Emma mused. She didn't mean it as a serious question but Regina was too exhausted to pick that up.

"Yeah, pretty," she replied, looking at the leaves in the trees above.

"No, I mean, all of it," Emma said. "The way the trees sway gracefully in the wind like fancy dancers, the way the colourful leaves drift slowly to the ground like snowflakes, the way the river water flows, swirling in intricate currents like a liquid maze, the way you-" the words slipped out of her mouth before she could catch them, she quickly looked away from Regina who she'd been accidentally starring at. "I, uh, I mean, pretty, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's nice," Regina looked away, trying to conceal her bright red cheeks. She popped open a can of beer and took a large gulp. Ahhh.

Emma hopped up from the rocky shore and walked to the edge of the water. She smirked mischievously and looked back at Regina. Emma wiggled her eyebrows. Before Regina could do anything, Emma had shook off her red leather jacket, pulled her white tank top over her head and off and was in the process of unbuttoning her pants. What the hell is she doing? Regina thought. Emma pulled off her jeans, turned around and gave Regina a slight wave and tore off into the frigid river water. She splashed around in the steady stream of water while Regina watched from the shore, shaking her head and smiling. Emma turned away from the brunette and dove under the water, completely submerging herself in the icy liquid. Though the water was cold enough to have normally chilled her to the bone she was barely affected by the temperature. After Emma had not surfaced for about thirty seconds Regina started to get worried. She stood up and craned her neck in search for the woman.

"Emma!" she called out. Shortly after, Emma's head appeared in the water. "Jesus, Emma, you scared me!' Regina hollered, releasing a slight chuckle.

Emma laughed too and dunked her head backwards into the water. Regina was startled for a second until she realized Emma had done it purposefully. Emma stood up and raised her arm, beckoning Regina to the water.

"No thanks, I'm good here," Regina said shaking her head and rubbing her hands on her arms. She took a few more sips of the beer and sighed. She watched Emma play in the water until her first beer was finished and she shoved the empty in her coat pocket. She had only turned away from the river to check her phone for a few seconds when she heard a scream. Emma! Regina turned back to the water but Emma was nowhere to be seen. Then she saw some splashing in the water, down current from where Emma had been swimming. She ran to the edge of the water, calling Emma's name repeatedly. "Emma! Emma! Emma!" She saw a flash of blonde in the water floating down stream. Regina ripped off her coat, pulled off her shoes, her shirt and pants in what seemed like milliseconds. She braced for the freezing impact of the water and ran into it as if she was about to run over hot coals. She dove into the water and rushed after the blur of blonde that was drifting away rapidly downstream.

A/N: Sorry for not updating in so long, I've had a lot going on lately.  But that was a long chapter to make up for it, haha. Thank you so much for reading my stories and leaving positive feed back. :) Hopefully I'll be able to update more regularly.