You and Tequila

Chapter Forty-Six

"You're lookin' good, baby girl," Jefferson gushes as he pulls away from her embrace and gazes down upon his baby cousin.

"Don't lie," she huffs, playfully shoving his chest. "You have been coming to visit for one month now, you know just as well as I do, I look like shit this week," she boldly comments, inspiring her cousin to laugh lightly as he searches for his keys. "I've had a migraine for a week and the insomnia is really taking its toll on me."

"Hey, didn't Hopper say this next part is the hardest for weaning off Xanax?"

"Yes, he said two weeks after I've had the last pill is the most crucial time," she reiterates with that disturbing buzz slithering through her veins while her heart races and she isn't sure if she would be more satisfied with clawing off her skin or ripping her own heart out to calm the brutal hammering in her chest.

Jefferson examines through skeptical eyes as Regina's twitchy fingers run tensely through her long raven tresses. She's been in the clinic for six weeks now and being the man that usually plays dress up with her, he notices right away how long her hair has grown in these few weeks. In his eyes, she's still as beautiful as ever, but he is hopelessly attempting to avoid the discussion about the dark circles painted below her eyes and those jumpy jitters coursing through every inch of her body right now.

"Hey, this is just a little bump in the road, once you climb over this hump, you're golden baby," he smiles from ear to ear, a little maddening for her taste, but she knows he's trying to distract her and make her feel more at ease.

"Uh...Jeff...before you go..." the words die on her tongue and evaporate like a drop of liquid against a burning pavement during a hot summer's day.

"What?" He suspiciously questions, unsure if he even wants to know what she's about to ask him.

"I," the words catch in her throat, stuck in the back where they threaten her life with suffocation. She hastily folds her arms across her chest and buries her nails deep into her biceps, luckily, her thick sweatshirt is there to ease the pain. "How's Emma? I-is she working at In Fashion magazine? Did she get that job?" She timidly inquires because even after four months of her royal screw up, she still feels like she has no right to ask about Emma or Henry.

Her cousin frowns, shoving his fists into his winter coat while deciding what he should or should not say. "Uh, yeah...she got the job. But umm, she turned it down. I guess the guy in charge was a total creep and gave her the heebie-jeebies." Regina's pout curls even further down from the new information, worried that Emma might not be able to keep her new house without a steady income. "But don't worry, she got a job, a little over a month ago now. She's on set for some new medical drama that was picked up for a second season, so it looks like she's secure for a while."

"Good," she wholeheartedly says with a curt nod and a proud smile, but that's as far as she's willing to take the conversation. "Thanks again for coming. I'll see you soon, yes?"

"Of course," he leans down and places the most gentle kiss to her cheek, which assists in calming her erratic beating organ just the slightest. "Rubes will be here on Monday," he confirms, just to reassure her that she does have a support team that won't allow her to slip through the cracks this time.

"Yes, I have her marked down on my calendar."

"Alright, love you, baby girl."

"I love you too, Jeff."

She watches as he exits the facility, a free man to come and go as he pleases. Maybe it's the withdrawals fogging her brain, but she's never felt so trapped than she does in this moment. She can actually feel the weight of the restraints curling around her wrists and ankles to ensure her imprisonment to the clinic. The walls are inching closer, closing in on her and for a split second, her brain is pleading on its hands and knees to bolt through that door and run. Run, to feel the wind in her hair and the bitter cold air burning her lungs until the taunting whispers quiet down in her head.