Illusions

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Emma?"

Her entire body jumps at the sound of the rich voice swimming through the air, and there's nothing but hurt in her tone and it fills every inch of Emma's body with dread.

"Shit."

"Regina's here," Thirteen murmurs incoherently behind her mask.

"So, is that your real name? Emma? Or are you playing this woman as well?" Regina snaps before she whirls around on her five inch heels and stomps away, her stilettos clicking dangerously against the cheap floor below.

"Thirteen-"

"Go, I'm not going anywhere. I'm tired anyways," she lazily mumbles, sliding down in the bed and securely placing the mask around her nose and mouth.

"I'll be right back," Emma vows, pressing a gentle kiss to the woman's temple.

She clambers out of the hospital bed in a rush, quickly sliding into her boots before stumbling toward the door, but before she exits, she glances back one last time to make sure Thirteen is alright. Remy's eyes are already closed though, surrendering to the exhaustion poisoning her blood, yet, there's still a serene smile gracing her face and Emma knows that has everything to do with her presence.

Emma quickly moves out the door, softly closing it behind her and she's expecting to go running through the halls like a crazy person for Regina, but the furious woman is waiting just outside for her. Emma swallows thickly, because she's fairly confident this woman is about to plunge her hand into her chest and rip the pounding organ right out for lying.

"Reg-"

"No, you don't get to speak," Regina spits out in disgust, forcing Emma's mouth shut. "How dare you!" She explodes, sending a deep chill to torment Emma's quivering body. "I allowed you into my home, granted you permission to spend time with my son during a very delicate time-"

She's screaming now and Emma's green eyes are frantically shifting back and forth, waiting for someone to come and scold them for their poor behavior.

"Regina, please, we shouldn't be having this discussion-"

"You knew, you knew everything about my past and how hard it was for me to trust again. But I knew in my gut that something was wrong-"

"Regina, please," she implores, needing this woman to calm down before someone escorts them out of the building. She reaches for the distraught woman, but Regina is quick to reject the unwanted touch.

"Don't you dare touch me!"

"Please, I want to explain everything, but not here, this isn't-"

"Emma?" Green eyes fall closed from the voice sneaking up behind her. She inhales sharply, pleading for this moment to just end, or better yet, maybe the ground will open up and swallow her whole. "What seems to be the problem?" Mr. Hadley sternly asks, obviously agitated with the ruckus outside his daughter's room.

"I'm so sorry," she whines, pivoting to meet his stern gaze, that is actually locked onto the mayor and not her. "Remy is asleep. She was up for a little bit, she had a hard time breathing, so a doctor came in and offered her a larger oxygen mask. She's doing much better now and she's relaxed. I'm so sorry, but I need to take care of some work situations. I promise I will be back in a couple of hours. Will you please call me if there's a change in her status?"

"Of course," he agrees, his dark eyes still assessing every inch of Regina's rigid posture and furious body language.

"Thank you so much."

"Thank you for staying with her," he kindly says and then disappears into his daughter's room without another word spoken.

"Regina, please-"