The Taming of Emma Swan's Magic [The title might change in the future]

Story Rating: T (for now)

Chapter Title: Numb

Chapter Rating: T

Pairings: Regina/Emma *see notes below

Bashing: Snow White… others to be determined.

Friendships: Emma and Ruby… others to be revealed later.

Summary: After a horrific incident, Emma goes to Regina for help learning to tame her magic, triggering a chain of events no one could have seen coming.

Knock… Knock… Knock… Knock

Murderous thoughts were what followed the sound of persistent knocking at nearly three o'clock in the morning.

Regina Mills was far more rational than she had been in the past but to be awakened this early because one of the neighbours had a drunk visitor in the middle of the night, most likely for a drunk and delusional booty call, was almost enough to make her evil queen want to rush to the surface and fillet the son of a bitch like a fish.

Her neighbours needed to control their lovers… or she would and they wouldn't like it when she took control. It would involve a week in the drunk tank, community service and maybe a fine high enough to cover a days pay to all of the teachers at the school.

Knock… Knock… Knock… Knock

That was when she realised it was coming from her door. Who in their right mind would be stupid enough to come knocking so loudly at her door this early in the morning?

Someone had a death wish. Someone wanted to die. Well, if they were unlucky and had a poor reason for being here, she was going to grant that wish, slowly and painfully. Maybe not but she would sure as hell stand there and picture it because she was not exactly what you would call a morning person and Henry referred to her upon awakening as a cranky grizzly bear.

She would make them regret waking her up so rudely. One way or another.

Knock… Knock… Knock… Knock

"I'm coming and I swear to god, you better have one hell of a reason for knocking on my… Emma?"

The second she opened the door, words failed her completely. Her anger left her body altogether as shock flooded her system.

Emma Swan stood outside her door, her arms were wrapped around herself as she tried to hug herself. Her entire disposition was unlike anything Regina had ever seen.

Her face was pale, her eyes were wide and her entire body was trembling either out of fear, or sobs that were escaping her.

There were streaks of tears running down her face and dried trails of tears, leaving some of the only visible skin on her face amongst the mostly dried blood that seemed to cover every inch of her body and a very strong instinct told her none of this blood was Emma's.

"Emma… what… Are you… Oh my god!"

Emma had bent over and retched, falling weakly to her knees as she gagged up absolutely nothing because there probably wasn't anything left to bring up.

When she finally finished, Regina bent down to her level, knowing Emma probably couldn't stand yet.

"Regina. You need to help me. I… I… can't control it. I need to control it… Please!"

"Control what, Miss Swan."

"My magic. Please. Help me… I can't…"

Once again, the blonde began to heave and retch, once again bringing nothing up and Regina wondered if giving her water might be helpful; if anything to give her something to actually bring up as dry heaving was a special kind of torture that was worse than vomiting by far because it last much longer.

"Come, Emma… Let's get you tidied up."

"I… I… "

"You don't need to explain."

"But I…"

"I'm not stupid. You show up here this late, covered in blood begging to learn to control your magic… I can see in your eyes what happened and I'm smart enough to know you are in no condition to talk or go anywhere but I'll be damned if I let you near any of my beds in your condition. Let's go," Regina said, helping she trembling girl up and guiding her towards the stairs. "We will talk in the morning… When Henry is at school."

She sat Emma on the edge of the tub.

"I'm going to get you some clothes. The toilet is right in front of you… If you need it," Regina said, watching as Emma numbly nodded, most likely not needing the toilet as whenever she did heave, she brought nothing up but it could still be good to know just in case.

She put a charm on Henry's room so any noise wouldn't get through to him because she didn't want Henry to see Emma like this. No child should ever see their parents like this. Nor did she want him waking up to the sound of his mother being sick and rushing out to check on them and causing Emma to panic.

She could feel Emma's powers whipping around with no control. It was uncleansed, untamed, raw and vicious with emotions. This was what happened when untrained witches who were untrained in managing their magic. It was a testimony of how untamed and raw the blonde's emotions were.

By the time she got to the bathroom, Emma was staring blankly at the walls, looking entirely numb and exhausted. She glanced over to Regina when she entered the bathroom but that was as far as the acknowledgement went.

"Come, sit on the toilet," Regina instructed and Emma complied blankly and without a second hesitation.

I'm probably going to have to bathe her if she's going to be this unaware. She'll probably just stand there and look at the water. I could probably run down and get coffee new.

"I'm going to take off your clothes and burn them as I do, so I hope you aren't strongly attached to any of these items."

If Emma heard her, she made no acknowledgement. She stared blankly and numbly at Regina as though she was looking at a plain, white wall.

"Arms up."

Her arms went up and the shirt came off easily and was immediately burned in the Mayor's hand in a flash of fire. Emma blinked at the sudden flex of magic in the air but otherwise didn't react.

The rest of the clothes were burnt and gone within seconds until Emma sat naked on Regina's toilet, not really caring that she was naked… Probably not caring about anything and this honestly scared Regina more than when she was dry heaving everywhere.

"Step into the tub. I'm going to rinse you down with the shower before I wash you down, okay?"

Emma barely acknowledged Regina's words except to comply.

Come on, Emma. Argue, speak, ask questions. Do SOMETHING. This numb silence is scaring me. Show me you're in there.

That was how the shower went. She told Emma to bend her head, lift her arms or turn a certain way and she complied robotically and without question.

It wasn't until Regina brought Emma into her room in her softest pair of pyjamas that she crumpled to the floor and cried. Finally, a reaction but it made Regina's throat contract at the sound of the raw, loud and agonizing sobs that escaped Emma's throat.

"Emma, everything is fine, okay. We're going to deal with this," Regina assured, pulling Emma up onto her bed and tucking her in; she was not leaving Emma out of her sight like this… The saviour could potentially take a dive off her roof if she did and she didn't want to explain that to Henry. She wanted to explain as little to Henry about this as possible. She was going to have to explain a lot of potentially difficult things to Henry about this evening but his mother being… hurt was not one of the things she could bear explaining to him.

Not that she doubted her son's ability to forgive but she could practically smell Emma's guilt, shame and self-loathing. Emma was not emotionally capable of dealing with anything and so Regina made a decision to eventually get the most rational answers from the usually so feisty blonde.

"Emma, I'm going to put you to sleep now. You need to rest and calm down before we can talk but I need to know right now… Is there anything that needs to be taken care of before I put you to sleep," Regina worded this very carefully so an to keep Emma calm and hopefully from panicking or getting upset.

Yeah, asking her where the body is… that will keep her from getting upset, Regina scolded herself but Emma shrugged.

"There wasn't much to…" Emma gagged and Regina summoned a garbage bin and held it under Emma's mouth, in order to catch the little bit of water she'd been able to get Emma to drink.

"Where?"

"The wharf. Behind Jiggly's," Emma whispered between gags. "By the dumpster. It was an accident. I didn't mean to… I didn't… He…"

"That's all I need to know. The rest can wait till tomorrow. I'm going to put you to sleep now, I'll take care of everything," Regina promised, moving the bucket to the side of the bed, knowing the spell she was going to use on Emma would keep her asleep until she woke her, she wasn't worried about it being within her reach but close enough that she could get it to her when she woke her up.

Once she had Emma deep into a dreamless sleep, she poufed herself to the scene and used her magic to remove any and all evidence of any potential crimes. She used a hose to rinse any blood into the ocean and by the time she was done, she had set a magic blaze across the pavement and the garbage bin to ensure nothing was left behind before she poufed herself to the Charming residence.

"Wake up! Now!"

Snow White immediately pulled her blanket over her bare chest and looked up at the voice with confusion and disbelief. Prince Charming sat up, equally confused. When their eyes landed on Regina, they opened their mouths to speak but she held her hands up, far too tired to deal with their 'what are you doing here' crap.

"I will be teaching your daughter magic. Your objections are now disregarded."

"Why should we…"

"Had we begun training sooner, your daughter wouldn't have killed someone with her magic tonight. Keep that in mind when you push out your objections... which I will now be ignoring. I respected your wishes before but now that it is endangering the lives of the people in my town… I'm done. She will learn magic and you, David will be covering Emma's work until she is able to return to work. That is all for now. I need to get some sleep. We will discuss this in further detail tomorrow," Regina said, preparing herself to poof out but she paused and stared at Snow. "Do something with that hickey too, I don't want to see that later today."

"Regina… Wha…"

"Later, I know as much as you do right now. She could barely get two words out without being sick when she showed up at my house."

"But surely she mentioned…"

"Snow… What part about 'she could barely get two words out' are you struggling to understand? Do you need smaller words? Okay. 'Emma no speaky. Emma to sicky to speaky'. Is that better? Now, I'm going home to bed before I lose my patience entirely. I will call you when your daughter is up for the company. Do not show up at my door until I call," Regina said, poofing away before she Snow or Charming could object.

Upon arriving at home, she found Henry shaking Emma frantically calling her name, tears streaming down his face as he tried desperately to wake her and of course, nothing worked.

"Henry," Regina sighed at him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Mom! She won't wake up! I even kissed her! Why won't she wake up?"

Regina steered her frantic son out of the room, giving up the idea of sleep and now planning the largest cup of coffee she could pour into her stomach without making herself sick.

"But, Ma… She…"

"Is fine… Physically. Something happened and I put her in a sort of magic hibernation so she could rest her mind and her magic so she can deal with what happened today. She won't wake up until I wake her," Regina explained to Henry, who sniffled and wiped his nose on the back of his sleeve. This who situation left her drained enough that she couldn't even be bothered to tell him to use a Kleenex.

"What happened, mom?"

"I'm not entirely sure. She wasn't really in a talking mood when she showed up and she was… sick."

"Should we take her to the hospital."

"No. She's… It's her magic. She's having trouble controlling it," Regina explained, remembering the feeling of Emma's magic as it cracked around the room so viciously trying to find a threat and for some miraculous reason, not finding her to be a threat. Maybe it's because we have similar magic.

"Weren't you going to train her?"

She smiled at her son and nodded grimly.

"I was but your grandparents thought it would be too dangerous," Regina said, fighting back the sneer, knowing most of her frustration was from seeing Emma so upset and the rest was from lack of sleep and now Henry's own pain was just making her cranky because this situation left her entirely helpless to fix any of this.

"Is she going to be okay?"

"I think so. I'm going to help her but for now… I'm going to trust you to get ready for school on your own, I need some sleep. If your grandparents show up, tell them… Something, I'm too tired to even come up with a threat."

"Kay, mom. Do you want me to make something for mom to eat when she wakes up?"

"No, I don't think her stomach can take too much. She was pretty sick when she showed up," Regina explained.

"I can stay home from school if you need me to," Henry volunteered all too quickly.

"As generous and selfless as that is, I think we'll be fine and I don't think Emma will want you to see her like that," Regina said, thinking back to how proud and strong-willed the saviour was and how much she would despise Henry seeing her in such a state and she knew it would hurt Henry too.

Besides, she and Emma had to have a very serious discussion that wasn't at all acceptable to have with a child around. As mature as Henry was, Regina needed answers and Emma would shut down if he was there.

"Okay."

"I'll take care of your ma, okay?"

"Okay."

Regina went up to her bed and curled up next to Emma, who was lying still, her face relaxed as Regina's sleep helped relax her mind enough for her to sleep peacefully and it was enough to make Regina feel relaxed.

She knew when Emma woke up, they were going to have to deal with a lot but she needed at least a couple of hours sleep before she could delve into the details of whatever events would push Emma to KILL someone.

She tried to ignore the odd sense of disbelief at the thought but soon enough, she fell asleep.

She woke up to her phone chipping something crazy. She didn't feel fully rested but she felt that she had at least gotten enough rest to deal with this entire mess of a day.

She responded to the text from Snow telling her she would come and see her after supper if things went well.

She went to the bathroom, washed her face and prepared herself for her conversation with Emma.

Emma woke up slowly, her stomach ached and she felt weak and tired.

It was as though she had the flu only more draining.

She was in a bright room filled with furniture she knew she couldn't afford and for a second, she wondered where she was, how she got there and why she was even there but the memories hit her at once like a bulldozer.

She had… She had…

"Emma. You need to relax before you work yourself up again. We need to talk and I'd like you calm enough to do so."

Regina.

She stood there, in attire Emma had never seen her in before. She was in jogging pants and a T-shirt but somehow she still looked put together and wonderful, despite the bags under her eyes and the clear look of worry in her eyes.

"Regina?"

Her voice was raspy and she knew her voice was trembling as emotions passed through her.

"Drink the potion on the end table. It will calm you down and soothe your stomach. I'm going to get you some toast and then, we are going to need to talk about last night."

Regina disappeared and Emma, far too tired to try to leave, laid there and sipped on the potion. She didn't even have the energy to care if the potion could hurt her.

Regina returned and set some dry toast in front of Emma with a frown as she sat down next to her.

"How do you feel?"

"Sore. Tired. Numb. I feel… horrible."

"What happened?"

"He… He was talking about you and how evil you were…" Regina's brows went up in fascination and bewilderment. "He said that Henry would be better off dead than with you and if I knew what was best, I would… I would…"

The lights flickered and Emma's fists clenched and her powers started to swirl.

Regina grabbed her hands and began to draw out the excess magic as it gushed uncontrollably from the woman. She was going to have to teach her to deal with this and soon but for now, she would relieve as much of the strain as she could for her.

"Breath Emma. Focus on my voice. Calm down. I'll help you through this."

"He just… He exploded. I felt my magic as I got mad but he exploded before I could even process what I was going to do with my anger. It was like my magic…"

"Your magic sensed a threat and eliminated it. Your magic, until you can control it goes based on your emotions but it doesn't care about the cause of your emotions. If something makes you mad, sad, angry scared, your magic will find it threatening and it will protect you. In an untrained individual, magic is primal and instinctual. The more emotional, the more volatile."

Regina sighed as she watched Emma carefully.

"My mother often told me there was nothing more dangerous and unpredictable than an untrained, powerful and emotionally charged witch. And you, dear, are emotionally charged and impulsive. I told Snow it was a matter of time before someone was hurt but she was insistent. But I'm done playing it her way and we start training tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"You are too weak today. I'll help you today but…"

"Henry… I can't, I need to leave. I'll…"

"You won't hurt him. He's your son and magic has a protection against accidental magic assault against your children. It is impossible for a parent to directly harm their child with a spell. That doesn't mead if you were to collapse the house or shatter a window he couldn't be harmed but your magic can't directly harm him."

Emma's eyes filled again and Regina simply continued to hold her hand, not knowing what else to do. She had had never accidentally killed someone. But she knew why it happened. Her magic had viewed the man's words as a threat not only to her but her son. Maternal instincts in witches were violent and difficult to control. She, herself had considered herself lucky to have not had those powers when Henry was small and going through his clumsy faze or being bullied in grade school.

It was hard enough for her to control now that he was older but Emma… Emma had no training and no knowledge of how to control even her basic magic impulses as her demonstration with the lights showed her.

"So, what do we do?"

"First, I need you to tell me who it was. Do you know?"

"I know."

"And?"

"It was Hook."

"Emma, I… I know you cared for him," Regina began but Emma shook her head.

"I like emotionally unattainable. No feelings. No attachment. No real attraction. It keeps me safe. The argument started because I wouldn't have sex with him again and he was wining because it had been three weeks"

"You're not attracted to him?"

"No. He… scratched an itch but that was it. Nothing more and that makes it easier when…" they leave. She didn't have to say the last part. It was unspoken. She didn't risk her heart, so she dated those she felt nothing for.

"Can we talk about something else, Regina. Please."

Regina nodded, feeling Emma's magic flaring up in her hands and she made quick work of taking the edge off and taking comfort in seeing Emma's eyes relax just a little bit. She would start teaching her to do this for herself but for now, she would just take it easy and try not to think about how lucky Hook was for his quick death at Emma's hand because if he had have said that to her about Henry… He'd find Emma's death was merely a walk in the park.

She wracked her brain, trying to come up with a conversation… Then she remembered the conversation she had had with Henry just the night before.

"Henry wants to invite you to Christmas this year. And because I think it best you stay here until we get your magic under control, he might get that wish but I want to know how you feel about that."

"Can my magic hurt my parents?"

"Yes, Emma."

"Than yes. What do you do for Christmas?"

"We keep it simple. On Christmas eve, we watch Christmas cartoons, drink hot chocolate by the fireplace and on Christmas morning, your son wakes me at an ungodly hour to open presents. We sit together for a Christmas dinner, usually turkey with all the fixings. We stuff ourselves silly, lounge around and take a walk to Granny's just to get out of the house and drink her apple cider and then we come home, watch more movies and usually fall asleep on the couch watching Charlie Brown."

Emma smiled. It sounded like a wonderful family Christmas and so much warmer than Emma could have ever pictured from the mayor.

It was altogether the Christmas she dreamed about as a kid but never got because no one wanted her for the holidays.

"Calm yourself. I can tell him no if you're really against it."

"No, I was just thinking about Christmas in the system. It was never so… Nice. Is my magic…"

"Yes."

"Do you want me to intrude on your Christmas?"

"You wouldn't be intruding. I'm inviting you," Regina informed her. "When Henry brought it up last year, I would have thought you were intruding… Which is why I didn't invite you. I want you here. I think Henry would like having both of his mothers here and I might not find your presence to be completely horrible."

Emma beamed, her heart swelling at her words, feeling as though this was Regina's way of telling her she wanted her to be there for Christmas.

"Okay but I'm going to make my Pumpkin swirl cheesecake… Deal-breaker."

"Is it good?"

"If I were to sell it, diabetics would line up at the door."

"Are you prepared to roll me to Granny's?"

"Sure."

"Let's talk about training for tomorrow before Henry comes home and speaking of Henry… What do you want to tell him?"

What do you think?

I put plenty of openings for certain events.

Should Emma have a baby? I haven't decided if she will be pregnant and no, she WAS NOT RAPED.

This isn't going to be a quick-burn story but do you want a slow burn where they work up their friendship first without any suitors attempting to get in the way?

Snow White and David's roles are set. If you like Snow White… this isn't your story but it is pro-David in a way I'm excited about. A lot of Emma's magical difficulties will be explained in Chapter 3.

Baby Neal is a Toddler.

I also want to thank the local SwanQueen community onFacebook for helping me with ideas and questions I have with the story. They are the ones who helped me decide who Emma's 'victim' will be and Snow's role in this story. I will be going to them for choices and taking reviews into account because it's the readers who really help shape my stories and I have changed the whole direction of my story upon receiving ideas I LOVE.

This story is AU from this point on and I will be introducing a concept I came up with in high school.

Anyone who has never read my stories, any sexual scenes will be announced beforehand and clearly indicated in the chapter to be skipped if you want.