Thanks to the awesome RainMirror to beta this story for me.
Warning: Terribly contrived plot, inaccurate depiction of concussion, reference to Captain Floor, some shirtlessness but I'm not sure what to complain about the last one.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize here.
"Emma, Emma, stop banging on the door! You're giving me a headache!"
"I need to do something, Neal. I can't just sit there like you."
"I've tried everything, Em. Our cellphones don't work, the emergency button is not responding. I don't have any tools to pry the door open."
Emma crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Of all the elevators in all the hospitals in the world, why should I get stuck here with you?"
"Gee, thanks, Emma. You really make me feel wanted."
Looking at Neal's wince, Emma instantly regretted her words. She remembered about his insecurity of not being wanted. It was not his fault that the elevator was faulty. She just hated to be stuck without anything active to do for the last fifteen minutes. Since Neal was the only one there, it was not like she could unleash her frustration on someone else. "I'm sorry, Neal. I hope Dr. Whale will realize that I missed my appointment and look for me soon."
"Are you OK, Em? Why do you need to see Dr. Whale? In fact, I'm going to see him as well."
"I'm fine. Regina asked me to get Henry's blood test. She said I needed to pick it up at 3 pm as she was running late for her meeting. How about you, Neal? Why do you need to see him?" Emma hated to admit it but she was worried about Neal now, he did look paler than usual. Is he sick?
"Emma... I think something is up. Robin also asked me to pick up Roland for him at 3. Do you think it's Robin and Regina's plan to retaliate against us for sending them on their dinner date?"
With the sudden realization, both of them ran to the door and banged it with renewed vigor. Unfortunately, the door remained close. To make matters worse, romantic music suddenly started to play. The louder they banged on the door, the louder the music became to drown out the noise. After spending the last five minutes banging the door fruitlessly, they finally stopped and slid to the floor side by side. As if by magic, the music softened when they stopped banging.
"If we are going to be stuck here for a while, I wish we had water or beer." As soon as Neal finished the sentence, two glasses, one bottle of water and one can of beer materialized in front of him. "I wish this elevator door would open." Both of them looked at the door expectantly but nothing changed. He shrugged. "Ah well, it was worth a try." He poured the water in both glasses and offered one of them to Emma which she accepted gladly as it was getting warmer.
After drinking, Emma felt her spirits lifted. She yelled, "Regina, I'm sorry that Neal and I set you up with Robin. I really shouldn't have done that. Could you please let us go?" Emma could have sworn that the music had become slower and more romantic. She should have known that Regina was vindictive, given her long term hatred against her mother. She looked at Neal. "Now it's your turn to apologize."
"But they're happy together. We didn't do anything wrong."
"I don't know about you but I want to spend the rest of the evening outside this elevator with Henry and my parents so you'd better apologize."
Neal pouted but adhered. "Robin and Regina, I'm sorry that Emma and I set you both on the blind date. I just think both of you deserve some happiness. Please accept my sincerest apology." He even put his right hand above his heart to emphasize the point. Suddenly the floor of the elevator was filled with some rose petals.
She thought, "Oh Regina, you are so dead when I get hold of you." She started to imagine Regina's apple trees meeting her chainsaw.
Neal interrupted her thought. "Emma, do you think you can try to open the door by you know ..." He didn't dare to look her in the eyes, instead he played with the end of his scarf.
"By what, Neal? My gun?"
"By magic," he said softly. If she hadn't been sitting next to him, she wouldn't have picked it up.
"Really, Neal? You want me to use that?"
"Well, if this elevator is sealed by magic. I think magic can also unseal it so that you can meet your family."
"What about the price?"
"I'm willing to pay it as long as you get your wish to get away from me." He looked at Emma with sincerity and sadness which made Emma feel uncomfortable.
"Neal, that's not what I meant with my earlier outburst. You know that I hate getting stuck."
Neal smiled (too quickly). "Yes, I remember that night when you were stuck in the middle of a convenience store in Portland. I needed to haul your ass out of there with my wit."
Emma knew a change of subject when she saw one. "That's it, mister, now it's my turn to save your ass." She tried to imagine the elevator door to open. After staring it for three whole minutes, she ended up with a headache but the door still wouldn't budge. "I guess I'm still very new with this magic thing."
He patted her shoulder. "At least you tried." He looked up at the ceiling. Suddenly he exclaimed, "How about the ceiling? The ceiling usually can be opened by the maintenance people. We could climb out from up there."
"I think that's the brightest thing you've said the whole time we've been here." Neal gave her a "Really?" look but she ignored it. "So who is going to be bottom?" She blushed when she realized what her words sounded like.
Neal smirked. "I think it'll make sense if I go bottom since you need a big strong man."
Emma swatted at him. "I only agree to it because it was me trying to open the door the last time." She yelped in surprise as Neal quickly picked her up bridal style.
She used his head for purchase and stepped her left and right feet on his right and left shoulders. She was thankful she wore pants today. She suddenly had the mental image of the first Mission Impossible movie where the guy was on the ceiling of an elevator and the elevator suddenly went berserk and shot up, impaling the guy in the process. She quickly dismissed the image from her mind. Regina might be vindictive but not to that extent, she hoped.
She tried to push the ceiling with all her might but it wouldn't budge. She tried to feel around the ceiling in case there was some button or fissure she could push but there was nothing.
"Neal, could you please squat then stand so that we have the momentum to push."
Neal complied. Suddenly she felt something would budge so she pushed it a bit more. It apparently was only an illusion. She overbalanced and slipped. In the few microseconds that she was about to meet the floor (she had a quick flash of how Hook felt, she hated her mind sometimes), she felt a body cushion her fall. She then heard a thud. She opened her eyes, which she didn't realize she had closed, only to meet Neal's closing eyes. She tried to calm her heart rate down although falling on top of him didn't help.
After a few seconds, she managed to catch her breath and rolled next to Neal. "OK, you can open your eyes now." Neal didn't move. She repeated her request but after a whole minute she didn't get any response, she started to worry. She shook him slightly but he didn't budge. She rolled his head around to check for any bumps. She found a slight bump behind his head, so that was the cause of the thud.
"Ice, towel and Advil, please." The requested items quickly appeared. She wrapped the ice with the towel. She lifted his head and rolled it slightly to the side so that the towel could fit. She then put his head on her lap and counted for ten minutes. If he was not conscious after ten minutes, she needed some drastic measure although she really didn't know what she was going to do. What if he never wakes up? What if he suddenly falls into a coma? Is that the price he has to pay because of his request for her using magic? Life is so unfair. Can she live with herself knowing that Neal injured himself to save her? More importantly, can she live without him? How many times should she lose him before she realizes that he is too precious for her?
Thankfully, before her mind started going rampant with different worst case scenarios, Neal started to stir. He tried to get up but he fell again. He looked up at Emma and his eyes shone brightly. "Emma! Y... you look good without the glasses."
That got her worried. "Do you remember where you are and what happened?"
He crinkled his forehead. "Ouch, it hu.. hurts. I'm not sure."
"What was the last thing you remembered?"
"You chased me in Man.. Man.. Manhattan and tackled me to the ground. When I looked up, I saw you. Happiest time in my life after eleven years of guilt and misery. Shouldn't have listened to that puppet."
Emma couldn't help but feel happy with his admission although she got more worried that his concussion was quite serious. "How do you feel?"
He seemed to consider her question for a long time. "I'm not sure. Dizzy. Seeing double of you, although I'm not complaining." He smiled lopsidedly.
She opened the wrapper of the pill and lifted his head. She offered him the pill with a glass of water. He was not sure what to do with that. "Open your mouth." He complied. She put the pill in his mouth then she ordered "Drink this water." He again complied. This effort seemed to tax him too much so he closed his eyes again.
She thought, "Great, now I'm stuck with him but no one to talk to."
"Regina, you win. Could you let us out now? Henry won't be happy if his dad gets hurt." She got ice packs, a pillow, and more Advil in response. She put his head on the pillow.
She suddenly felt very hot. At first she thought it was because of her close proximity with Neal. However, Neal also sweated profusely so it wasn't that. She peeled off her clothing one by one starting with her red jacket. It was still very warm so she stripped down to her underwear. If the maintenance people were shocked and got heart attacks, it was their own fault for not appearing any sooner.
Now that she felt better, she could worry about other things. Neal started to talk in his sleep. She didn't really catch what he said clearly but she caught some words such as hot, Papa, Neverland, don't leave me. He held her arm when he said the last phrase. She wasn't sure whether he really meant her or his Papa not to leave him.
He clarified it with "Emma, don't leave me, please. I need you. I always need you and I love you." Emma's heart swelled with happiness only to be deflated with his next sentences. "Get your hands off me, Felix. I don't want to meet Pan today." He was still sweating.
"Neal, it's too hot. You need to wake up and take off your clothes." Emma found herself blushing more saying that but fortunately (or unfortunately) he didn't hear any of it. "You left me no choice." She had to strip him by force. When she tried to take off the scarf, he tried to roll away and said, "No, not this scarf." Apparently taking Neal's scarf away from him was hard even when he was sleeping. She got irrationally jealous of the scarf so she rolled it into a bundle and tossed it to the corner. Stripping other clothing was easier because he didn't resist although it was still hard because she tried not to roll him or move his head too much. She was annoyed that he wore so many layers. She knew it was winter but did he need to wear a coat, a sweater, a vest, a shirt and an undershirt? The shallow part of her couldn't help but notice that his muscles were quite toned and defined under that clothing. Why didn't she notice it before? Was she so blind? Again, Neal was always low-key, he had never boasted about his appearance (unlike a certain pirate, her mind added unhelpfully). She couldn't help but trace her hands over his body (there was no chance of it happening if he was conscious) from his stomach up. She traced the scar on his chest which reminded her how close she came to losing him. She then noticed the chain around his neck. There seemed to be something at the end of the chain which fell at the back of his neck. She pulled it up and let out a sob when she discovered it was the swan pendant he had given her. Her hands shook. "You kept it all this time."
She needed to get away from all this. It was too much. After checking that the ice pack still held and that he didn't have any fever, she went to the diagonal corner away from the scarf to think. He still loves me. But why didn't he say so? Well, he did say it a few times but I chose not to believe him. I was too scared. I always ran away whenever he came to talk. This was the first time she spent more than five minutes with him and not talking about Henry. She realized what she knew all along. She had never stopped loving him. She was worried she would get hurt if she lost him again, but it hurt more to stay away and pretend nothing had happened. How many times did he need to sacrifice himself to protect her? When would she ever thank him for that?
She came back by his side and brushed his hair away from his eyes. "I'll give you more chances."
Of course Neal chose that time to wake. He tried to sit up and his attempt was more successful this time. "What happened?"
"You knocked your head."
"Aww, that explains my headache." He then looked down and crinkled his forehead. "Why am I shirtless? Where's my scarf?"
Emma rolled her eyes. "It's too hot."
He smirked. "So you chose to strip me down. Very Mother Theresa of you."
"Hey, you should be thankful you got to keep your pants."
He then noticed that she was in her underwear. "Well, at least someone got to keep his pants."
"You're incorrigible. Why didn't you tell me you kept the pendant all this time?"
He automatically held the pendant. "Oh this…. I kept it for you in case you wanted this back. I got this for you as it suited you."
"I want it back now."
"Really?" Neal looked like a kid who had just been told that Christmas had come early.
"Yes, really. Now could you put it on me? "
He quickly took off the chain and put it on her. His eyes shone so brightly. "Thank you for accepting it, Emma."
"Now kiss me quickly, idiot."
"Kiss you? Why?"
Emma was impatient so she pulled him toward her and kissed him. Despite his idiocy, he still responded to the kiss the way Emma liked it. It was even better than what she had secretly imagined.
The elevator door suddenly opened. Dr. Whale opened his mouth and quickly covered Roland's eyes. It was too late. He asked, "Why are they nearly naked? Are they trying to give mouth to mouth like what they show on TV?"
Regina and Robin looked at the mirror which sort of acted like a camera.
"I'm glad with the result but was the concussion really necessary?"
Regina smirked. "Well, it wasn't part of the plan. Apparently Baelfire has the worst of luck so he tends to get injured."
Robin considered her statement and consented. "True. I love him as my brother but I wouldn't want to be his insurance agent. So what was the initial plan?"
"Well, Henry had this idea after watching an episode of 'How I Met Your Mother' when one of the characters wanted to get his parents together. It apparently worked. But the initial plans were to trap them, heat the room, play romantic music then provide food and wine. Since it didn't go according to the plan I improvised."
"So apparently concussion works as well."
"Yes, that seems to the case for these idiots." She said it affectionately without any trace of malice. Robin chose not to comment on that. "Thanks for doing this! I can't stand seeing Neal looking like a kicked puppy whenever he sees her."
"I'm only doing it for Henry. He has been begging me to get his parents together. You know I can't say no to Henry. Besides, I'm only returning the favor for setting us up on that blind date."
"That was the best blind date ever. I don't regret it."
"Neither do I." They embraced and kissed, ignoring the mirror which showed two shirtless people giving mouth to mouth to the shock of the hospital visitors.
Note:
-If the plots appear too contrived, they really are. Sorry, I couldn't think of anything more creative with the prompt, deadline, and lack of sleep. I apologized if it wasn't fluffy enough, I really can't write fluff.
-The prompt from SwanfireExchange for JJ (Vayleen) at Tumblr: I would love to see Neal and Emma trying to set Regina up and Regina turning it around on them and getting the two of them together instead. OR something romantic and angsty to help me cope with the mid-season finale and amnesiac Emma and Henry.
-What do you think? Hate it? OK? Please let me know.