So this is new for me…I've never written something that dark plus it is a very talk heavy fic I suppose and my main focus was on the characters, instead of an adventure or something.

It's kind of inspired by the song Stand by you by Marlisa. If that's not a SwanQueen song I don't know what is.

Oh and I'm not all that nice to Snow, just so you know.

Let me know what you guys think!

"Regina? Regina, where are you?"

Emma stumbled into the foyer and was greeted by silence. She quickly scanned her surroundings.

She could see carpets that were out of place, one of Regina's heels lying in the middle of the entrée.

She pulled out her gun, moving forward only to stop a few steps later. Her heart pounded in her chest.

There was blood on the floor.

Not much but definitely more than a paper cut.

She looked in the den – empty.

The kitchen- deserted.

Maybe in the study?

Emma carefully moved, peeked around the doorframe and froze.

The whole room was a mess. Books and papers were scattered all over the room, the leather couch Regina had sat on during their first conversation was toppled over. Shards of various vases crumbled under Emma's tentative steps.

"Oh God."

The Sherriff breathed when her eyes finally fell on the still form of her son's mother.

Regina lay, only clad in her ripped bra and panties, in the remains of what was once her glass coffee table. Bruises were already forming on olive skin, intermitted by nasty cuts that varied in depth and size.

Emma knelt beside the brunette hoping, wishing, praying for her to still be alive. She almost cried in relief when she found her breathing.

"Regina? Can you hear me?" The blonde gently touched the other woman's shoulder.

Slowly eyelids fluttered open to reveal deep chocolate eyes widening in shock. Regina tried to scramble away, but failed to even support her weight on her hands and knees.

The blonde held up her hands.

"Shhh, it's me, Emma. Just Emma. It's okay, you are safe."

That seemed to relax the panicked woman.

"Emma?" she asked, her voice hoarse and shaking.

The blonde gave her a sad smile.

"Yeah, it's me. You called me, remember?"

"I-I did-I…" She shuddered, wrapping her hands self-consciously around her exposed midsection.

"Alright. Let's get you out of here and to the hospital."

At the last word, Regina panicked again.

"No! No hospital! I-I'm f-fine."

"Regina you are clearly hurt, you need to be checked out."

"No. It's alright. I can – I can deal with it."

She looked down at her wrist that still wore that darn leather cuff.

Emma followed her gaze and sucked in a breath.

"Shall I take it off?"

Regina seemed to contemplate for a long while.

"No." she finally decided. "I don't think my body needs some kind of magical shock right now."

She swallowed hard, allowing her mind for the first time to wander to her injuries. She was in pain, she realized. And she was afraid.

"No hospital, please; you have to promise me"

Emma cringed, but one look into pleading, desperate brown eyes that were so full of pain and Emma found herself nodding.

"Okay, no hospital."

Regina let out a relieved breath.

"But we still need to treat your wounds and get you out of here."

The brunette nodded slightly.

"Is it okay if I touch you?" The blonde asked, not wanting to scare the shaken woman again.

"Yes." Came the soft reply.

Emma didn't mess around but instead lifted Regina up bridal style from the ground and carried her out of the study, up the stairs and into her master bedroom. She needed a little magical boost of strength Regina had ironically taught her a few weeks prior.

It had been their last magic lesson before Emma's involuntarily trip to the past that had changed everything and nothing at the same time:

Her mother had squealed in delight and Regina, Regina had said nothing at all. She stood rooted to the spot, all color drained from her face, showing no emotion but the storm in her eyes was evident. Emma had apologized. She truly hadn't known. And once again, Regina had turned against her. Or away from her, which admittedly had hurt more.

And now Emma was the first person on her mind after getting hurt. And the blonde was glad that she was. That Regina hadn't pulled away for good.

She gently lowered the older woman to sit on her bed, draping a blanket over her still shaking shoulders. Emma went to the en suite bathroom were she knew Regina kept a first aid kit.

Henry had told her after Emma had hurt herself while playing baseball in the backyard with him one day.

When she returned she found that Regina had stopped shaking and was now staring blankly at the floor in front of her, not moving a single muscle.

"Okay, I'm gonna look at your injuries now, is that okay?"

She gently asked while kneeling in front of Regina. The other woman nodded numbly but didn't otherwise move.

Emma licked her lips, not knowing what to say.

Something traumatic had obviously happened to her friend. Someone beat her up and ripped her clothes off, that much she gathered from the scene downstairs. She didn't want to think about what else Regina may have endured, but she needed to know.

Needed to know so she could track them down and punish them for what they did to the mayor. Needed to know so she could help her… friend.

"Regina?" She waited until finally brown eyes looked into green ones.

"What happened?"

Regina broke eye contact and proceeded to stare on the floor.

"Who did this to you?"

The brunette shook her head.

"You can tell me."

"No I can't" came the whispered reply.

"Why not?"

"No one would believe me anyway. No one would do anything against him, not before and not now."

Emma frowned in confusion.

"Regina, what do you mean with 'before'?"

But Regina ignored her question.

"I don't – want t-to press charges" she murmured.

"No one says you have to."

But Emma really wanted her to. She needed to get that son of a bitch. She had sworn herself in Neverland: never again. Never again would someone hurt her family. Henry and Regina.

"I am sorry I didn't believe you with the whole Archie thing, Regina. But I believed you didn't cast the second curse. I can promise you, I believe in you now." She made a pause before continuing

"Who hurt you, Regina?"

The answer was so soft Emma nearly missed it.

"Leopold."