A/N: hey guys I told myself I was only gonna post one story at a time but this popped into my head at around 3am this morning and I just had to share. Please be prepared to cry.
Flashbacks are in italics.
Disclaimer: I unfortunately own nothing.
Chapter 1
"Do you want to try and talk about it again, Emma? It could really help you come to terms with what happened that night."
Emma was sitting on the couch in Dr. Hopper's office, a mascara-stained wad of tissues in her hand. She had been coming to see him for the past month, and so far the visits had done nothing to help her cope with the accident. At this point, I doubt anyone could help me.
Emma sighed. "Um, ok- ok I think I can."
She had tried every day for the past four weeks to fully tell him what happened, but every time she got close to the actual moment of impact, she broke down and couldn't speak anymore. She hadn't cried that much in a long time.
"It was kind of stormy out that night, cuz it was winter. I was driving to the mayor's house from Granny's diner. I was late bringing Henry home from our weekly dinner, and the storm was making it even harder to get there. All I could think about was what Regina would say when we finally got home. She had been more strict about me spending time with Henry ever since she thought that I would try to- to take him away from her."
She began to choke up, and Archie walked over to her, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder before sitting down beside her and pulling her in for a hug. "Take a minute if you need to, think back a little bit, and we'll keep going when you're ready."
Emma nodded and took a deep breath.
"Mom? Hey, mom. Look, it's gonna be ok. You can just tell her that the roads were bad, or that the diner was packed or something. She won't be mad, I promise." Henry looked up at her innocently, giving her a reassuring smile.
"I wish that was true kid, but we both know your mom, and we know that she's gonna be furious with me, and making up excuses will only make it worse." As if on cue, Emma's cell phone began to ring, and she wrestled it out of her pocket to find the name Regina Mills bright on the backlit screen. Showing it to Henry, she grimaced. "Here goes nothing, kid."
"Regina called me to ask where we were...well, it was more like she called to demand that I bring her son back home immediately."
"Hello?"
"Miss Swan" came the voice on the other end. "Do you have any idea what time it is? Henry was supposed to be in bed over an hour ago!"
"Regina, I know, look, I'm sorry, the diner was really crowded tonight and-"
"No! Stop making excuses! You're lucky I let you spend unsupervised time with him at all anymore!"
"She was really upset because it was after Henry's bedtime. She was yelling, and I was trying to calm her down."
"Look, we'll be there as soon as we can. The roads are really bad, I can barely see out my windshield and I'm just trying to drive carefully."
"Ok- ok, just be careful."
"I will."
"And Miss Swan?"
The silence became uncomfortable, and Emma could hear her sigh on the other end. "I apologize for yelling at you. I know you're doing the best you can."
Emma exhaled, relieved she wasn't going to have her head chewed off as soon as they got home. "It's alright. We'll see you soon."
"After I got off the phone, I tried to focus on driving. The storm was really picking up, and even with my headlights on it was really hard to see the road in front of me. I just wanted to make sure Henry got home safely."
"Well the good news is she doesn't sound too mad. I think we're in the clear, kid." She turned to her son, grinning at him. "Now if only this damn weather would clear up, we'd be good." Realizing her mistake, she looked at Henry with wide eyes. "It's ok," he said, "I won't rat you out to mom."
"I took my eye off the road for a second. Just a second, Archie! And when I looked back, there it was, just flying towards us with no warning."
The car appeared out of nowhere, headlights boring down on the ancient yellow VW beetle. Emma reached out and put her arm in front of Henry protectively while trying to maneuver out of the oncoming car's path.
"I reacted too late. If I had just kept my eyes on the road, I could have- I could have- oh god Archie..." Emma broke down and began to cry once again.
The car hit with an unexpected amount of force, and the two came to a stop in the middle of the intersection. No one else should have been out driving, people had been ordered to stay inside unless absolutely necessary, but Regina had wanted her son home by a certain time, and Emma was going to make sure that would happen.
The car smashed straight into the front right side of the VW, completely caving it in and causing the entire wreck to spin out of control. When they finally came to a stop, Emma sat up, holding her head. She had hit it on the dash - her driver's side air bags hadn't worked for the longest time, but the passenger side did, which was the only reason she took Henry in this car - and the wound was now bleeding profusely, getting into her eyes and causing her vision to blur. "H- Henry?" she managed to choke out.
"After we came to a stop, I kept calling his name, but he wasn't answering. I could hear the ambulances off in the distance, and I managed to get out of the car and stumble around to the other side. But the door was jammed- I couldn't open it at all. The paramedics found me banging on the passenger side door of my car, screaming Henry's name and crying. He just wasn't responding."
The paramedics were finally able to pull Henry from the car window and lay him down on a stretcher. One of them, a man, said, "I can't get a pulse. We need to get him to the hospital right now."
"When I heard them say he had no pulse, I lost it. I couldn't hold it together anymore. I screamed. I started shaking him, begging him to wake up. But he wouldn't wake up Archie, he just wouldn't wake up..."
The paramedic held Emma back as Henry was loaded into the back of the ambulance. She struggled and fought as he wrapped his arms around her until, finally, she collapsed into his arms and began to sob.
"I should have payed more attention. I should have been more responsible and brought him home before the storm got bad. It's all my fault Archie, it's all my fault!"
Emma collapsed against his shoulder and began to cry once again. "Emma, that's not true-"
"Yes it is! Don't you tell me it's not because it is! It's my fault and I hate myself now!"
"Emma..."
"I killed him! I killed my own son! How can you say that's not my fault?"
You can't say I didn't warn you. It's only going to get darker from here. Sorry!
