The Heart That Beats For Her

Chapter One

"I will be right back."

"We will just wait here, nothing too important to see in the outside world today," Zelena attempts to joke and brighten up the mood, but she fails miserably.

Her mother simply nods, rounds the bed and then drops a kiss to the top of Zelena's head before she drags her heavy feet out the door. And the minute that door closes, she swears the walls are closing in on them as well. Very carefully, she reaches out and lightly trails her finger up Regina's forearm, so unsure where to touch from all the wires attached to her baby sister.

"Alright, sis, you did it, you finally pulled the ultimate prank on mommy dearest. After all her obnoxious hovering when we were children and worrying about the most ridiculous stuff, you finally showed her just how crazy she has been. It's time to wake up now," she softly whispers, her finger timid yet still methodically running up and down the only free spot Regina has to offer in the moment.

She tries not to really look at her sister, the image was already seared into her brain the first day she walked in and saw her sister's immobile body. She wishes that every time she closes her eyes she didn't see the red angry scrapes embedded into every inch of her sister's face, or the bandage that takes up half of the right side of her face. She wishes she could fall asleep at night, not seeing the tubes forced down her sister's throat or the cast her right arm is swallowed in.

"I need you to wake up now, you're the favorite prodigy child and I...I won't be able to take care of mom and dad without you. If you leave them, they will never recover. I will never recovery if you leave me, sis. So, please Regina, please just wake up," she implores, slithering her index finger through the limp fingers before her.

But of course, Regina doesn't move, doesn't flinch, doesn't even breathe differently and Zelena suddenly hears that damn machine beeping louder than ever, even if it's still at its same redundant pace.

"Maybe you don't want to wake up. Maybe you already know the truth and you don't want to wake up," she whispers, the tears slowly trickling down her cheeks as she drops her forehead to the bed and finally prays harder than she has ever done before in her life.

~~~~~

Movie night. She's psyched. Yes, it's so sad that movie night is the most interesting thing going on in her life, but she's alive and that's all she really cares about at this moment. Every day is a blessing, borrowed time as most doctor's like to call it, but she hates that phrase, because why does she have to borrow time in life at thirty years old when people her age are just really starting to live life?

It's all very overwhelming and truthfully, depressing, and she already wasted so many years hating the world for being so cruel to her. Nowadays, she just smiles for every day she wakes up and is allowed to see life move around her.

"Mmm, carrots and a flick, best combination ever," she sarcastically quips, snapping a loud bite off the end of another baby carrot.

"Emma," her mom says in that voice that's a mix of a shocked gasp, like she just used profanity, combined with a sadness Emma spends most days pretending she doesn't see in those dark green eyes. "You know I'm just trying to watch your diet."

"I know, mom," she earnestly says, biting off another piece of carrot like Bugs Bunny himself.

"You wanna lick my popcorn?" Her dad whispers, sliding closer to her on the couch and offering the smallest little piece.

"You want me to lick a piece of popcorn and then what? You're gonna waste it and throw it away?"

Her father shrugs carelessly. "No, then I eat it."