Intrigued

Chapter 5

Her eyes wandered over the body she saw in the mirror. She despised it, yet she couldn't look away. A big, brown bruise was covering her leg along with greenish marks on her arm. At least, they were healing and compared to a two weeks ago, she could barely see them anymore.

These would fade, Emma knew, and that made her happy. She turned to the side and touched the ruined skin on her shoulder. It was a leftover of boiling water and she knew this would stay with her forever. Apparently, the mental cuts she suffered hadn't been enough. She needed to be able to see them. The world needed to be able to see her pain.

The skin didn't hurt anymore, fortunately. It was still sore and when she pressed it, she could feel it'd been abused, but that was all.

A soft sigh escaped her lips and she turned to look at her face. That was the only place no scars were visible. She grabbed a brush and started untangling her wet hair.

She put on her underwear and when she bent to grab her pants, she heard the bathroom door open. She abruptly turned around and found Regina.

"Crap, sorry, I.." Regina immediately turned around and closed the door. Emma swallowed. Since the first time she got to the bathroom, she feared the lock would give in soon. Today it happened. At the worst fucking moment.

It wasn't Regina's fault, she knew that. It was the fault of the person who'd deemed a crappy lock as this one okay to put up. She quickly dressed herself, fearing someone else might come in and hurried to her bedroom.

Part of her prayed Regina had left soon enough not to notice her skin, but she knew those hopes were in vain. A big bruise like the one she was carrying was hard to ignore, no matter how quick you'd glance and she hated that Regina had seen her like this.

She was sitting on her bed when the bedroom door opened. Regina came in with an apologetic look on her face. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were in there," she softly said and sat down on Emma's bed without an invitation.

"I know," Emma replied curtly. She truly didn't feel like talking about it, because she knew Regina had tons of questions about her body.

"I.. noticed some bruises," she said. "I didn't intend to look, but I caught it anyway."

And there it was. "Okay," Emma said and mentally prepared herself for what was to come. She didn't want to have this conversation with Regina, but she knew there was no way of stopping it.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

Regina nodded slowly and swallowed. "Is that the reason you don't want to wear clothes that show skin?"

"Could you not?" Emma asked rhetorically and turned her head to Regina. She felt herself getting somewhat angry with her for trying to start a conversation anyway. "Like I said, shit happened. Get fucking over it, I don't want to talk about it."

"Do Mary Margaret and David know?"

Emma clenched her jaw. She knew Regina meant well, but she couldn't very well handle it in the moment. "Of course they do. They know every fucking thing about my past. People have been keeping a record, in case you didn't know."

"You said you weren't sure whether the stuff with your boyfriend had made it in the fi.."

"Go," Emma cut her off and turned her head away from Regina again. She didn't want to see the hurt on Regina's face after being rejected like this, but she couldn't stand having her here in the moment.