Skyline of concrete dreams- SwanQueen

Chapter 31

Notes:

Warning: feels.

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"We're here"

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Regina joins their hands together for a quick squeeze.

"I'm here" she reminds her again and Emma nods.

She turns to look at the door, taking a deep breath before she enters.

The room is mostly white, with some light green decorations here and there. But besides that, there aren't any real colors. It is also pretty empty, not a lot of personal stuff, no bags not clothes, no flowers or signs. Emma sighs. This is sad, sadder than it should be. She makes a mental note to change it, at least until Tony is... yeah.

Neal is nowhere to be seen, so she turns and heads towards the bed.

Tony is almost the same as the day she left, almost a year ago. Though he is not. There are faded bruises and scratches over his face and arms. He is slightly skinnier and there are numerous tubes and equipment violating his body; starting from the tubes connected through his nose, moving to his mouth and throat and ending with his chest and arms.

The most heartbreaking thing to Emma is his expression. It's neutral and in such evident and painful contradiction to the way he used to be.

Mr. Baronio was never a healthy person. His love for dough and cheese killed him slowly. He was fat, walking slowly and coughing more often than not but there was never a moment he didn't smile; even if not with his whole face, at least with his eyes.

Emma searched frantically for something else to grab onto, since his warm expecting brown eyes were now closed. Failing to do so, she bit her lip in order to keep her emotions at bay and she grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers.

"Hi" she whispers as she squeezed their joined hands while sitting on the side of the bed.

She hears the door close, thankful to Regina for giving them privacy.

"I heard you were causing trouble." She says while her eyes water "pissing Neal off" she lets out a watery laugh, her voice nowhere near stable.

"But I know you, you're probably thinking 'enough about me kiddo, what about you?'" she bites her lip and stares adoringly at him.

"Well I," she continues "Am doing pretty damn well," She wipes a fallen tear from her cheek.

"I have this amazing job and amazing friends who care about me and I live in a beautiful tiny apartment and I'm dating a beautiful woman." She stops to take a deep breath. It is such a bitter sweet moment, Tony being hurt yet seeing him again and talking to him; something she knows she would probably never do unless this happened. And also finally telling someone, even if he can't respond, about Regina lifts some kind of invisible weight off her chest.

"Why a woman?" she asks herself since Tony can't.

"I honestly don't know. She is my boss you know..." she whispers that part.

"Outrages, I know, but she just captured me. I was simply doing my job and she crawled into my heart. And it feels so good with her that I don't even mind that she is a girl. You'd love her." She assures as she pats his shoulder.

"She is spicy and sassy and very Latin. You'd be proud of me, shocked but proud, I'm sure. You know, you're the first person I tell about her. No one knows. I'm afraid. You know what I mean; you can take a person out of Southie but you can't take Southie out of the person."