Hi all! Welcome to my 3rd multi-chapter SQ fic! As a former rugby player myself I thought Regina with her occasional rage issues would be perfect. In sports fics it seems that Emma is always the athlete so I thought this would be a fun change of pace. You don't have to know anything about rugby for this story. Feel free to ask me though if you are curious or google is also helpful.

A reminder: I have a degree in math not writing/english so bear with me. I also have no beta so all errors are my own.

I own nothing but SQ belongs to Swen so here we go!

Jogging to the sidelines, Regina grabs a water bottle from the caddy and brings it to her mouth, squirting the cold liquid onto her tongue, and swallowing it greedily. She brushes a stray piece of hair from her face as she throws the bottle back with the others and turns back towards the field. Starting to jog in place, she watches the majority of her team run drills before she moves to sit down on the grass, tucking in her right leg and straightening her left, leaning over to grab her foot. She groans as she feels the stretch and she focuses on the ground.

"You okay?" A voice comes from Regina's right and she looks over to see her best friend and team captain, Marian jogging and coming to a stop next to her.

"Yeah, hamstring is a little tight this morning. It's fine." Regina responds, jumping back up.

"Good, can't have an injury during the first game of the season." Marian says as they both survey the field in front of them. Regina starts running in place again, pulling her knees as high as they go with each step.

"I've gone 3 seasons without an injury, I think I'll be fine, Marian." Regina says confidently as they start jogging back to join the others.

"You better knock on wood, Regina." Marian jokes, patting her teammate on the back as they rejoin the drills.

Regina bites down on her mouthguard, alternating between jumping and jogging in place as she stands on the right side a few steps back from the halfway line. She is a bundle of excitement and nervous anticipation, waiting for the referee to blow her whistle. She locks eyes with the girl across from her, an 8 on her jersey matching her own and gives her most intimidating glare.

"Who wants the first tackle?!" Marian yells to her team through her mouth guard, a ritual before each game to pump everyone up.

Regina is silent while her insides are vibrating, an evil grin spreading across her face, never breaking eye contact with Number 8.

"Red Captain?" The ref calls out and Marian raises her hand. "White Captain?" Number 8 raises her hand across from Regina.

The whistle blows and several players to Regina's left, Marian drops the rugby ball from her hands and punts it into the crowd of white on the other side of the field.

The ball flies into the air and, turning slightly, Number 8 catches it cleanly with both her hands. She is upright only a second or two, however, before she's crashing to the ground on her right side, tackled hard by Regina. Quick on her feet, Regina, in one swift motion, grabs the ball that tumbled out of the girl's hands and starts running towards the try zone.

She zigs and zags between approaching opponents looking to bring her down, stiff-arming one that gets a little too close before breaking free of the white jerseys, having a clean run across the line. Face never changing, she places the ball on the ground between the goalposts and circles back to her cheering team.

Not too bad for the first minute of the game, Regina thinks to herself as a small smile squeaks out.

With about five minutes left in the first half, Regina is setting up for a scrum, tucking in between her locks, Ursula and Bo, grabbing onto their shorts before lowering her head into position and waiting for the referee to call out to engage.

As the scrum engages, Regina keeps her eye on the ball, rolled in by her scrum-half, Merida, as it bounces around the feet of the tight five. Several seconds into the scrum, the ball has made it back to her feet and she holds it in place until she can subtly look around for the field positions of Marian and her backs as well as the other team's burly looking scrum-half.

She waits a second or two longer before she releases her foot from the ball allowing Merida to swiftly grab it and take off into the opening in the middle of the field.

"On your right, Merida," Regina calls to the redhead, as she breaks free of the scrum and hurries after her teammate. Finding herself facing two quickly approaching opponents, Merida looks to her right and sends a quick pass to Regina who speeds up her pace and bypasses the two players that were after the redhead.

Looking quickly to each side she sees support from several teammates with her and she takes a step to her right before passing the ball to Marian who, with the backs, has a clearer shot down the field. She takes a step back to her left to follow her captain down the field but her foot lands awkwardly and an overwhelming shooting pain comes in her left hamstring.

Crying out, Regina stumbles to the ground as her teammates continue their run down the field. The play ends soon after as the ref calls a forward-pass penalty and as soon as the whistle blows Marian is running to Regina.

Regina hits the ground with her fist in frustration before pulling her mouthguard from her mouth and returning her hand to massage her painful leg.

"Water!" Marian yells as she crouches next to Regina on the ground. "Hamstring?"

Regina grits her teeth and nods.

The water caddy is placed next to her by one of her teammates and she grabs a bottle and takes a quick drink. She closes her eyes and takes several deep breaths.

"Come on, we're gonna lift you up." Marian says as she watches her friend's face contorting in agony. "You need to see the trainer."

Regina wants to argue, wants to jump back up, shake it off and keep playing but as she moves her leg only slightly another lightning bolt shoots through her.

Breathing loudly through her teeth and letting out a grumble Regina reluctantly nods again.

"Belle, Ariel can you help her over to the trainer's tent?" Marian asks, turning to two of her B-side teammates who had been on the sidelines and had brought the water.

Both bend over and, one on each side, carefully pull Regina into a standing position. One arm draped over each of their shoulders, Regina begins her slow hobble off the field, trying to keep herself from wincing with each movement.

After several minutes the three of them make it inside the trainer's tent set back aways from the field in between the Rugby field and several other fields holding events that day. The tent is empty save for a large soccer player holding a giant bag of ice to his nose, occasionally letting out a sniffle and a whimper.

Regina's teammates help her onto the trainer's table, asking if she is okay before returning to the sideline of the rugby pitch. She let's out a long breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding as she leans back on the table. This is not how she had anticipated the first game of her senior year playing out.

"Uh oh, a rugby player," A voice and a laugh comes from just outside the tent and Regina lifts herself up enough to spy a blonde around the same age as herself in basketball shorts and a Storybrooke University polo strutting into the tent.

"You're the trainer?" Regina asks, trailing her eyes down the young blonde's athletic form and then back up again.

"Hi." The blonde answers with a shrug and a half smile. "I'm actually his assistant. Ya know, the one who does most of the work for a quarter of the pay? I'm Emma Swan."

Regina is about to respond but is cut off as the soccer player on the other side of the tent lets out a muffled sob.

"Oh, Anton, you're fine," Emma says, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. "It's just a bloody nose."

Anton let's out another whimper and slumps a little lower in his chair.

"Soccer players." Emma mutters under her breath with a chuckle.

"Now what happened to you?" Emma asks, turning back to Regina. "I don't see any blood or bones sticking out."

Regina looks at the blonde with an unimpressed expression as she lets out a sigh.

"Hamstring." She answers finally, pointing to her left leg.

"Alright, let's take a look at it," Emma starts but then pauses. "Can you tell me what happened and what do I call you, number 8?"

"Regina Mills." The brunette says, "My hamstring has been tight for a few days even with stretching and today I took a bad step on my left foot and I felt a horrible shooting pain."

"Okay, will you lie back down, please?" Emma says, motioning for Regina to relax back on the table where she is currently partially propped up on.

Regina complies and let's out a shaky breath as Emma's warm hands very gently take Regina's left leg and slowly start to lift it upwards.

"Tell me when this starts to hurt, okay?" Emma asks, eyes fixed on Regina's face.

Regina holds out a few seconds as Emma raises her leg before finally sucking in a breath through her teeth.

"There."

Emma lowers Regina's leg into a more comfortable position, keeping it slightly elevated as she moves her hand to the back of the injured thigh and crouches slightly to have a look.

Emma starts to delicately inspect the injury with her fingers, checking for any bruising or tightness. Regina winces as Emma's touch grows a little firmer a few times in different areas.

"Sorry." The blonde says, finally lowering Regina's leg back onto the table. "I'm going to grab some ice for you, Regina, and you'll need to ice and rest it for several days before you try to do any stretching with it."

Emma moves to the corner of the tent and fishes around in a large bag before returning with a ice pack and an ace bandage. Placing the bandage on the table she grips the ice pack and cracks it between her hands and then shakes it several times.

Grabbing Regina's left leg carefully again she places the cold gel pack on the back of her thigh and starts wrapping the bandage around her leg to hold it in place.

"This is going to help with the swelling." Emma starts, her skilled hands easily putting the bandage in place. "RICE is your best bet with this injury. Rest, ice, compression, and elevation. I want you to come see me in a few days so we can see where your pain is and start a stretching routine."

Regina can't help the grumble that escaped her over this injury and the amount of time she is dreading she'll be missing for practices and games this fall.

"Oh and you'll probably need these for at least a day or two." Emma says as she kneels and pulls a pair of crutches from underneath her table.

"Oh no no," Regina says, propping herself up on the table. "No way."

"Uh, unless your rugby team is going to carry you everywhere, your majesty, I suggest you take these." Emma responds, shooting Regina a sarcastic look.

"Excuse me?" Regina asks, eyes narrowed and glaring at the blonde.

"Take. The. Crutches. Regina."

Regina grumbles again as she swivels on the table and starts to lower her legs off the side. She immediately winces.

"Hey, hey," Emma starts, moving quickly forward and placing her hands on Regina's knees to stop her. "Why don't you rest a bit on the table first with that ice before you try moving.

Regina glares at Emma but she doesn't budge.

"I need to watch the rest of the game," Regina says, her voice laced with frustration.

"Regina, please," Emma pleads, green eyes fixed on brown. "You need to ice and rest it as much as possible if you want it to heal faster."

After a few more seconds of locked stubborn expressions Regina lets out a long sigh.

"Fine."

"Thank you." Emma says, letting out a small sigh of her own before helping the brunette slide back into a reclined position.

Regina rolls her eyes as the blonde walks away to go check on Anton. She's not angry with Emma, she's frustrated with the situation of her leg and the blonde is the closest target to vent her anger.

Tilting her head to the left she attempts to get a look at the rugby pitch but is unsuccessful as there are too many people around and the angle isn't ideal. With another sigh she turns back and keeps her focus on the ceiling of the tent.