In The Depths Of Her Soul

Chapter Sixteen

She's a wreck. An utter mess. She's falling apart but do her sad eyes see what she sees? She's a beautiful disaster.

Emma balances on her tiptoes while she sits and waits. Her knees are bouncing anxiously knowing what's to come. If she could, she would tuck those thumbs into the back pockets of her jeans for her own personal comfort.

"Louise?"

The barista's voice tears Regina away from the sight of Emma, nervously waiting for her return.

"Thanks," she kindly replies as she reaches for their to go coffees and double checks the names before she heads back.

She carefully walks the path back to her friend and smirks mostly to herself. When she approaches the table, she slides Emma's caramel macchiato in front of her dazed view, making sure the name is pointed directly in her line of sight, so she won't miss it.

Regina slips into the seat across from the blonde and watches as those tired eyes meet the scribble in marker across her cup. One hand carefully holds the cup into place while her free fingers trace the written letters.

"Thelma," Emma exhales with a hint of a laugh escaping her sweet voice. Regina spins her own cup around and models the name written across hers while flashing her widest grin. "Louise," she reads, that ultimately cracks that permanent frown upon her lips and transforms into a beautiful smile.

"Except this won't end with us driving off a cliff," Regina firmly states before taking a small sip from her cup.

Emma chuckles softly as her eyes stay glued to the name, Thelma. She swallows, eliciting an audible gulp to resonate between them and Regina doesn't have to see inside her head to know her mind is a complete mess. She knows lingering questions are zipping through Emma's brain, along with memories of her past and unknown secrets of the future. Her friend is passed worried or distraught and has graduated to purely exhausted.

Regina takes another small sip from her extra hot americano and mumbles against the rim of the cup. "Whenever you are ready. My schedule is clear until we pick up our children at three o'clock," she confirms, pulling the hot liquid into her mouth and eyeing the woman carefully over the cup.

A heavy sigh rips through Emma's lips as she takes a sip from her sweet drink. She settles the cup back down in front of her while she squirms awkwardly in her chair, but Regina waits patiently for this woman to feel comfortable enough to speak. Of course, her long fingers fiddle with the cardboard wrapped around her beverage as a simple distraction.

"It's not what you think."

"So, I've been told," she drawls but that's all she says, waiting for her friend to continue.

"The other night..." Emma's voice is struggling to escape her dry throat, so Regina leans forward in her seat to ensure that she won't miss a word. "The cut, it was from a table." Something changes in those worried green eyes causing Emma to straighten her posture as of she has finally found her strength. "Before we moved, I don't think Jack and I ever fought. He was always supportive and always assured me of his love and devotion to Henry and I."

"Emma, don't you see? Everything that man says is a form of manipulation."

"Regina, please let me say everything that I need to," and she sounds so defeated in the moment that Regina seals her lips, not wanting to agitate her friend any further. "When we moved here, things were still great between us. I was working, Henry was in school and Jack was helping out. After my hours became more hectic and Henry was on summer break, things became...rocky." Immediately, Regina's chest constricts sensing where the discussion is headed. "Jack started going out when I would come home and I would fight sleep and stay up through the night, worried about how he would get back home and if he was alright."