What's Gonna Happen

17

The next day came around, late evening to be precised. Emma was sat in the hospital chair, sleeping restlessly. She was worrying about Regina in surgery and replaying the heartbreaking words said to the police about their situation; only Regina had given her statement and it broke Emma. The blonde uncomfortably rolled in the chair, knocking her shoulder hard enough to wake her up. Emma huffed in annoyance at it, feeling the striking pain coming.

"I was wondering when you'd wake up" Regina mumbled quietly, giving a weak smile to the blonde.

"When did you get out of surgery" Emma quickly asked, sitting up in shock to see the woman.

"About half hour ago, I told them not to wake you" Regina replied with a chuckle, knowing the blonde had requested it.

"Why? I was worried about you" Emma sighed stressfully, moving to sit on the bed and hold the brunettes hand.

"Because you needed sleep" Regina giggled, her body too physically exhausted to move for the blonde.

"How you feeling"

"Like I could use stronger pain meds"

"That bad, huh?" Emma asked, knowing the brunette never usually admits she's in pain. Regina nodded with a tired sigh, showing she was struggling to open her eyes. "You need your rest, baby"

"I don't want to sleep, I want you" Regina mumbled, trying to bring the blondes hand closer.

"I'm going to stay right here but you should sleep" Emma said with a small chuckle, brushing her thumb across the brunettes.

"No, I'm not tired" Regina replied, slowly falling asleep as she finished her sentence.

"Of course not" Emma sarcastically said, giving a small giggle as she did.

The blonde kissed the back of Regina's hand and stood up, sitting back in the chair; she didn't dare let go. Emma just watched as the woman slept, admiring just how beautiful she was. A knock came from the door, startling Emma. As she looked over, she saw two police officers from earlier that day.

"Hi, sorry to intrude but we need to talk" the female officer softly said, stepping in a little more.

"She has just come out of surgery so, if it is more on her statement, it will have to wait until she is better" Emma informed, knowing the brunette won't have the energy for this.

"It's not. We have come to inform you that Ryan Dawson took his own life in his cell" the officer replied in a gentle voice, unaware of how the woman could react.

"What" Emma breathed out, her body slowly going into shock.

"He left a note informing us that he'd rather die than be imprisoned" the other officer informed, reading the words from his pad.

"He's really dead" Emma asked, her breathing begining to pick up in pace.

"Yes, ma'am"

A wave of relief drowned the blonde woman, her breaths harder to catch. She looked at the ground in pure shock, knowing this is all truly over. A few tears came to her eyes; not because she was sad, because she was free.

"Thank you for tell me" Emma said in a cracked voice, giving a polite smile to the pair.

"No trouble. We will only be needing your statement now, your son can rest easy that he doesn't have to talk to us" the woman informed, knowing they just need to know how it all started.

"I'll come down tomorrow and do it, thank you"

"Good day"

With that, the pair left the room just in time for Rita and Marco to come in. They'd been out at work all day due to Regina being off; the place needed a manager, Rita, and someone who knew what they were doing, Marco. As they stepped in, the pair saw Regina and smiled in relief.

"Oh good, she's ok" Rita said with a smile, wiggling out of her jacket. She then caught sight of the teary blonde, frowning with concern. "What's wrong"

Before Emma could answer, they heard a mumble from Regina. Each looked to see her waking up, having heard the pair come in. She smiled and held her hand out to Marco, happy he was finally back.

"Hey, my handsome boy" Regina happily said, scrunching her nose up at him.

"How you feeling" Marco asked, standing closer to hold her hand.

"Not too bad" Regina lied, keeping a brave attitude for her son. As she turned to talk to her sister, she saw the concern on her face. Regina glanced at Emma, aware that's who Rita was staring at, seeing the tears in the green eyes. "Hey, baby, what's wrong"

"Nothing, it's umm... Ryan took his own life earlier today" Emma said in a gentle voice, still aware this was the Mills's brother.

"He what" Rita quickly asked, snapping her head up to the blonde.

"Are you serious right now" Regina added, switching between her sister and the blonde.

Emma just nodded but stayed quiet, knowing there wasn't anything to say. Regina and Rita locked eyes, knowing they should be happy but a small part of them still felt sad. Marco, just as his mother did, allowed his eyes to tear up at the words.

"We're... We're finally... He can never hurt us again, we're free" Marco stumbled on his words, his cracked voice making it hard to be understood.

"Yeah, we are, kid" Emma replied with a teary smile, knowing they waited so long to be free.

"We're all free" Regina added, feeling the relief the man's death had brought.

"I know he was the worst person in the world but- heck, he still raised me" Rita mumbled quietly, unable to help her teary eyes. They all looked up at the brunette, knowing the man had took care of her since she was 10 years old. Emma let go of Regina's hand and stood up, moving to hug Rita. "I'm sorry, I know I should be relieved but that's half of us dead and one about to be  in prison; it's been an emotional few days"

"I know it's hard, Rita. It's just you and me now, no matter what" Regina softly said, wanting to hug her but unable to sit up.

"No matter what" Rita echoed with a weak smile, wiping her single tear away.

"No, it's not. You always have us" Marco cut in, gesturing to himself and his blonde mother. "We are your family too"

"Best family I could ask for"