Deputy Swan

Chapter Seventeen

Sheriff Graham is a young man who eats healthy, works out religiously, and is nothing but pure muscle...of course, he woke up from surgery the next day.

It's been two week since the unfortunate incident and Regina has been running herself ragged trying to take care of Henry, run the town, and take care of Graham while he's in the hospital.

Emma understands that Regina will always care for Graham, they had been together for over ten years and they share a son so naturally a part of her will always love him. And so Regina feels like it's her responsibility to nurse him back to health and Emma can appreciate that; it's just slowly driving her a little mad because she is convinced her girlfriend has been avoiding her.

Regina rarely responds to her texts anymore, unless it's to say goodnight, and her good morning texts seem to arrive midafternoon. She hardly answers her calls anymore and the only time they actually see one another is when it's work related.

Luckily, Emma has been busy herself with the station because she has had to step up and fill Graham's shoes since he's been out. Leroy has been helping out a lot more which she greatly appreciates, so she can get some rest.

As for Will Scarlett, he is still sitting in jail, awaiting for his trial. Apparently, he has some kind of connection to someone important who keeps pushing back his trial date. He claims to have no recollection of that day and the sad part is, Emma believes him.

She has been trying to find evidence that Lily is a co-conspirator, but it's been impossible when she is glued to their small town while Graham is in the hospital. What she needs is to go back to Boston and track Lily down.

And as much as she needs someone to talk about this with, she hasn't called August or Neal, because she rather explain everything in person. Besides, she doesn't want Lily to catch wind of any of this and she knows somehow she would find out from August.

She is just getting out of the shower after a long and stressful twelve-hour shift when there's a rapid knock against her door. She quickly slides a pair of grey sweatpants on and tugs a white tank top over her wet head, so she can rush to answer the door. She still has a towel in hand, clenching the ends of her soaked locks when she opens the door.

She swallows, so unsure how to react to her girlfriend standing right in front of her appearing so damn lost. She waits for Regina to say something, explain why she's here, all disheveled and anxious but not a damn word comes. Regina really hasn't said much of anything since the incident but Emma understands the PTSD wound must have been ripped open from this traumatic event, so she has been trying to allow her time and space to process.

When Regina refuses to say a word, her eyes heavily focused on her shoes while her fingers neurotically tug and pull at each other, Emma decides she will have to be the one to lead the conversation.

"Regina?" Those mysterious eyes never find her, so she sighs. "Come in," she offers, stepping aside and granting her all the space she needs to walk past.

Regina hesitantly steps forward like her legs cannot possibly carry her weight. Emma softly closes the door behind her and waits again for Regina to mutter anything. She receives the silent treatment yet again and she knows in her heart Regina finds comfort in her and she wants to say something but she's petrified of letting her guard down just to fall again.

"Can I take your coat?"

Regina's fingers go to work all on their own, unbuttoning her jacket and pulling it off to hand it over to Emma who immediately hangs it up. Slowly, as if her limbs are filled with the heavy weight of concrete, Regina unzips her boots and slips out of them. The audible gulp from her girlfriend after, rattles Emma's heart and leaves her a bit uneasy.