Emma couldn't believe her parents did that. Not at all. They hadn't even buried Neal yet and he was already being replaced. Just like her. They didn't ask anyone if it was okay to use his name, but they did it anyway. It was like they didn't care. "I'm going for a drive," Nobody even tried to follow her or ask where she was going, or when she would be back.
The door slammed behind her, and she knew everyone was staring at the door before the noise resumed inside the restaurant. She drove for what felt like hours. How could they just do that? Especially without asking Gold for permission. He would either be thanking them or joining her in cursing them out later.
Her head was spinning, and she knew right then that not having anything to eat for the past two days was a bad idea. She just wanted to know what Henry felt about this, about his uncle stealing his father's name. She gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white. All she wanted was to hit something really, really hard right now. That might help her avoid hitting her parents.
She closed her eyes tightly for just a second. A quick second and she was going to open them within the next ten seconds, but she didn't get the chance to. The car hit the tree so quickly that she never even felt the impact.
She woke up in the hospital a few minutes later, wondering what happened. Whale was talking to her parents, and she just wanted to know what was going on. She didn't feel anything at all besides sadness, and nobody would answer her when she started trying to get their attention. "Why are you ignoring me?! I didn't do anything to you!" She shrieked at them, standing in the corner of the room where she showed up.
An arm went around her suddenly, and she tensed up, jerking away from the hand. "It's okay, it's just me," A scratchy, familiar voice whispered. She turned quickly, seeing Neal right there behind her. She smiled for a second before throwing her arms around his neck. He almost got knocked over from the impact. "What are you doing here? I thought you we-" She stopped mid sentence as she realized what happened. She let her anger get the best of her, and because of that, she was now dead. She left Henry alone.
He noticed what was running through her mind by her expression alone. His eyes widened, putting his hands on her shoulders. "No, you're not dead. This is an in between world, sort of. You're in a coma," He told her, taking her hand and leading her to the door down the hallway. "I am, too," He told her, going into the morgue of the hospital, where they were storing his 'dead' body until they had enough time and staff that Whale could get away to do the autopsy.
She watched his chest moving up and down, knowing that there was something weird happening. She felt funny. Really funny. "Does time move different here? Like a lot faster?" He nodded, sitting her down on a bench and helping her to take slow, deep breaths. She was starting to see black dots everywhere. She was dying, wasn't she?
He kept one hand on her back and took hers with his other one, letting her hold onto him as she calmed down. "Panic attacks still exist, too," He told her, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "How long have I been 'dead'?" He asked, letting her continue to hold his hand. She shrugged, holding up two fingers. She was afraid she'd throw up if she said anything. He nodded, pulling her into his arms.
She heard a noise that sounded a lot like her old high school's P.A system, and she jerked out of his arms, looking back at him. "What was that?" She asked, pointing at the ceiling of the hospital. She was terrified, it was like the devil was speaking to her or something. She was praying for her life right now.
He chuckled at the expression on her face, shrugging. "It's probably someone talking to you. That's why I didn't hear it, cause I'm not in the exact same location as you. Not in reality, at least," He told her softly, pulling her back into his arms after she had suddenly removed herself from them moments ago.
She wasn't there for long, though. Something happened and she disappeared, slowly and then all at once. What happened, he didn't know, but she was there and gone in seconds. She was either dead or awake now. In her world, she was dizzy. There were people all around her, her parents and Henry, Regina and Robin. Everyone that she thought cared about her even just a little bit. "Mom, are you okay?" Henry asked her, but all she could do was nod.
She felt exhausted. She just wanted to go home now, and she was getting restless as she realized where she was. She tugged on the sheets, wanting to get up, but David held them down. "No, sweetheart. Stay still, you broke your ribs," He whispered, sitting on the side of the bed and brushing her hair from her eyes. She let out a soft whimper as she realized how right he was. There was definitely something wrong with her, and she was almost certain that it was in fact her ribs.
Henry reached over to pull up the blankets for her when he noticed that she was shivering and there were goosebumps on her arms. She let out a cry as the blanket touched the sensitive area. "Neal," she whimpered, making everyone around her look at her in pity.
Whale waltzed in a few seconds later to draw her blood, and she saw her chance right then. "Neal's alive," she told him, hoarsely. "He was in that place that I went to when I was asleep. He needs someone to get him out of the morgue," she told him, letting her whole family look at her like she was crazy.
Whale nodded, letting her go downstairs to see in order not to make her too restless and hurt herself more than she already had. David smiled at her when she looked at him hopelessly, reaching over and picking her up gently to take her downstairs to Neal. They reached the door that Whale opened with his ID card, not expecting anything to happen. David sat her down on the cold, metal table and let her stare at the man she loved oh so much.
She smiled, brushing his hair from his eyes before leaning forwards to kiss him lightly on the lips, but nothing happened. She honestly thought it would work, but she had broken her rule. Don't ever expect the best. She really had, though. Maybe it was just the way that he was looking at her in there, but something in her mind had told her that this was who she wanted to spend her life with. She just hadn't thought about what she wanted.
Her whole body ached, and she couldn't tell if it was the medicine wearing off or if it was the deep, deep sadness she was feeling. The disappointment. The embarrassment. Refusing to let herself look any stupider, she reached over and kissed him once more, this time harder and with much more desperation. Yet again, nothing happened. She sighed sadly, looking to her father, who looked at her pitifully. Her hand reached out to touch his face once more, with plans to have David take her back upstairs.
She stared at him, the way that he was obviously breathing, his heart beating underneath her other hand. She could not believe this was how her life was going. She could remember her thirteen year old self thinking that she would never depend on a man to make her happy. Now, she had to look at herself, where her life went. She felt his heart beating under her hand, and she came to a realization. She was stupid in love with this man. She wished she could tell him that and have him say it back, but all he would do is hear it.
He would never tell her that again, whether someone woke him up or not. She looked up at David after a second and he walked over, putting a hand on her back and nodded at her questioningly, wondering if she wanted to leave. "Give me a sec?" She asked, and they both left to stand outside the room. She broke down then and there. She didn't know why he didn't love her, why everyone didn't love her. She had changed in every way possible to try to get at least someone to, and still nobody did.
Maybe she just needed to be dead. Maybe that was when people would start loving her, when she was no longer there to experience what that felt like. To hear someone say, 'I love you,' and to believe them. She heard a knock on the door and knew that meant she needed to hurry up. She turned to see her dad through the window and nodded after wiping her tears. He walked towards the table and put his hand on her back on more time. She leaned forwards one last time and kissed his forehead. He might not hear it or feel it, but that was a start.
She moved her head to the side so that he mouth was beside his ear. "You better not break my heart again, because I am stupid in love with you, Cassidy," She whispered, before her dad came and took her hand. Something grabbed onto her other one, though, pulling her back to the table.
There he was, lying there and staring at her with his warm brown eyes. "Never, Em," He whispered, sitting up. She threw herself at him, just like in that other world. Whale smiled at the scene, looking at the two and then over to David, who looked genuinely happy that his little girl found someone that loved her as much as she loved them. "Oh, and Em? It's fine that your parents are going name crazy," he told her, making her giggle a little bit.
Neal took her hand as he stood up, ready to help her stand up. She opened her mouth, ready to say something before David cut in. "She, um, broke like three of her ribs, so…" Neal looked at him as he spoke before looking back to her, who looked about ready to pass out on the table. David smiled at him as he let go of her hand, a silent version of, 'you better not walk out right now.'
Neal looked in between the two. "Oh, uh, okay," he leaned forwards and picked her up, one arm under her knees and the other supporting her back. She smiled at him and leaned her head against his shoulder as they walked up the staircase. They got back to her room and he laid her down on the bed. "When can you leave?" He asked her, rubbing the smooth skin on the back of her hand with his thumb.
She opened her mouth to reply as Whale walked in with the clipboard for the second time, looking at the crowd of people in the small room. "Right now," he told them, handing Neal a clipboard with lots of medical terms and a space for him to sign.
Her parents looked over at Whale, wondering why they weren't the ones with the clipboard. "He has to sign it because he's still legally her emergency contact, and unless that changes, he will always get to sign it," the doctor told her parents before turning to Neal and Emma. "That just says that she does in fact have multiple fractures on the ribs, but nothing else besides a small concussion," Whale looked at Emma to make sure she was understanding.
She nodded once, letting him know to continue talking. She might not understand completely, but Neal could explain later. "You need to take six weeks off of work, no Saviour-ing for at least two weeks after that," he told Emma, making her sigh and look at the ceiling like the over-dramatic teenager Neal made her feel like she still was. "I know, but you won't get better if you do. Just take it easy for a while, don't do anything that hurts you, even if that's walking. If it still hurts to walk in three weeks, come in and we'll do some more x-rays and set you up for physical therapy," Emma's eyes got wide at the thought of physical therapy. Neal took her hand and squeezed it, signing the paper while Whale talked.
Neal handed the clipboard back to Whale and he left to file it into the computers while everyone got ready to leave. She attempted to get up, but when it hurt to just put her feet down, she knew that was not going to happen. "Here," Neal mumbled, handing her her clothes before he picked her up so that she could go change in the bathroom. She knew that Neal told her parents exactly what to bring for her to wear, because it was one of his really soft t-shirts and a pair of leggings.
Neal opened the door after she was done, walking over to get the hospital gown before he walked outside the door for a split second to put it in the basket for dirty stuff. He came back in seconds, picking her up to take her to the car. "Wha- wrong way, Neal," she told him as he walked to the passenger side of the car to sit her down.
He stopped, looking at her for a second. He chuckled sarcastically, looking into her eyes. "You're not driving. You're sitting down and I'm taking you home, because it's almost two o'clock in the morning and freezing and you're in pain," She looked into his eyes to think of a negotiation that he might be okay with.
She smiled as she thought of one that they would both like very much, so it was a win-win situation. "Only if you stay with me tonight," she told him, looking into his eyes and smiling. He nodded, smiling at her and sitting her down in the car. She smiled, but soon realized that it wouldn't be easy for him to hold onto her, but brushed it off with the hope that he would want to stay with her anyway.
That was what kept her awake for the next ten minutes. The idea that he would want to stay with her anyway, which he did. He did stay with her anyway.