Mente Sonum

Chapter 7

"Maybe we should try a different game."

"You're only saying that because you never manage to win at checkers."

"Well... I mean, yeah."

"Alright, Emma, what would you have us play?" Regina rested her chin on her closed fist, a smirk pulling at her lips.

"I don't know. Maybe we could just talk?"

Regina smiled, "That sounds nice. What would you like to talk about?"

"This has been on my mind since our first kiss," Emma cleared her throat. "You told me you had a son. Where is he?"

Regina scrunched her brow, "He's safe."

"Safe where?" She watched Regina reach a hand up to lightly rub her forehead.

"He's with the woman I love."

"I thought I was the woman you love?"

"You are." Regina smiled softly.

"So then where's your son, sweetheart?"

"With you."

"Henry?"

"Yes."

Emma exhaled slowly, not entirely sure how to handle the situation, "Henry is my son, Regina. I gave birth to him."

"Yes... but you gave him up for adoption and I raised him."

Emma tilted her head, her eyes watching as Regina's hand rubbed her forehead with more force.

"What's wrong? Your head hurts again?" Regina nodded jerkily. "You wanna go lie down? We could cuddle for a little bit."

"Alright." They walked back to the cell arm in arm. In all honesty, Emma had no idea what to do. Regina thought Henry was her son. And while she wanted nothing more than for this relationship to bloom and Regina to get better so that they could be a family, she needed the brunette to have a sane reality.

Emma and Henry were loners. Emma was an orphan, no parents. Henry didn't have many friends and neither did Emma. Henry's father was a dead beat, ran out on her before Henry was born. It was the two of them against the world. But Emma wanted nothing more than to add to their family. She tried dating but it never felt right, not to mention that many of the people she dated ended up being complete losers. But now she found Regina and it felt right. She felt comfortable and beautiful and loved. She felt like she could speak her mind. So she needed to get to the bottom of what was going on. Delusions? That could be helped with medication, right?

They could have a life together if Regina would just realize that this fairytale stuff was all in her head, but Emma couldn't bring herself to denounce her love's alternate reality. It was all Regina knew.

As they laid on the bed in the cell, arms around each other and legs entangled, Emma vowed she'd find out how to help the brunette. She vowed she give Regina her sanity and her freedom back, even if that meant Regina would no longer want her.

Nothing was worse than being trapped by the confines of your own mind.

"Feeling better?" Regina shook her head. "How often are you having headaches?"

"Everyday."

"That's not normal, Regina."

"I probably have migraines. At least that's what Severe told me."

"I still think you should go to the doctor."

"I wouldn't even know how to go about that."

"I'll talk to Severe." Regina placed a kiss on Emma's throat in thanks. They stayed there until they both fell asleep, with Regina's arms wrapped tightly around Emma's waist and Emma's nose buried in Regina's chestnut hair.

Unbeknownst to them, a certain nurse caught a glimpse of the scene and shook her head, knowing something would have to be done about it.

"Any and all romantic fraternization with patients is prohibited. I guess someone didn't read the code of conduct."