Mente Sonum

Chapter 8

"You sent for me?" Emma quietly asked, peeking her head around the door to look at her superior.

Severe waved her in, "Come in and close the door. There's something we have to discuss."

Emma entered the small office and shut the door before taking a seat in front of the desk. Severe opened one of her file cabinet drawers and pulled out a stack of papers. She immediately dropped the stack in front of Emma.

"Do you know what that is?" Emma scrunched her brows as she lifted the papers to get a closer look. She flipped a few pages, noticing her signature on each page.

"Oh, uh, this is the paperwork I filled out on my first day."

"Look at page six." Emma flipped the pages cautiously. When she saw glanced at page six, she closed her eyes tightly.

"Fraternization with patients is prohibited." Emma mumbled, knowing that she was caught.

"Emma," The younger blonde snapped her eyes open at hearing her first name fall from the strict woman's thin lips. "If things were different, you'd be fired."

"If things were different...?"

Severe took a deep breath, "Before you came along, Miss Mills wouldn't leave her cell and refused to eat most of the time. Now she's making friends and playing checkers and eating. I fully believe that if I were to let you go, this patient would recede into her shell once more. That's your saving grace right now, Swan. I need you to be careful. Don't make me regret letting this slide."

"I won't. I promise." Emma rose from the chair and when she had a hand on the knob, Severe called to her softly, much softer than Emma had ever heard from her.

"Miss Swan, be careful."

"I know."

"No, be careful," Severe pointed to her heart. "You fall for a patient thinking you can help them, that once they're on medication everything will fall into place. It doesn't always work like that. I see you with her and, I won't lie to you, it's like a fairytale. The way you look at each other. But unfortunately, it's not a fairytale. Sometimes things don't fall into place. They fall apart. So be careful, Swan."

Emma smiled lightly, "You like me."

"I do not. You're stubborn and you never listen to the rules and codes."

"Yeah, uh huh," Emma smirked before remembering something. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Quickly."

"Regina's been having persistent headaches. I was wondering what the procedure is for patients that need more care than we can provide?"

"We have a resident physician that could give her a check up. If he determines she needs more testing, we'll arrange to have that done."

"Okay, could you maybe set that up? She's had a migraine every day."

Severe nodded, "I'll schedule her an appointment for later today. Inform the patient."

"I will. Thank you, ma'am." Emma walked out of the office, shutting the door behind her. Before heading to Regina's cell, Emma picked up some lunch. She made her way to Regina and smiled at the brunette's light snores. Emma, remembering Severe's warning, turned and shut the door to give them some privacy. She then leaned down and started placing chaste kisses to the long neck before her.

"Mmm," Regina hummed, leaning into Emma's lips.

"Hey, sweetheart. Time to eat." Regina sat up, rubbing her eyes thoroughly. The brunette stretched slightly before tilting her head to silently ask for a kiss. The blonde happily obliged, deepening the kiss slightly as she felt a surge of affection for the other woman.

"Hows your head?"

"I feel great today. No pain or discomfort. Maybe I was sleeping too much. I wasn't used to sleeping 8 hours or more."

"Maybe, but I made an appointment with the resident physician. Would you want to see him?"

Regina nodded, "Of course. What harm could it do to be sure?"

"Exactly," Emma smiled. "Just a precaution."