"You couldn't have taken a shower first?" Moira asked, as she slid into the passenger's seat of her son's car.
"I did shower," Killian explained, frowning a little in confusion.
"Then you need to air out this car. It stinks."
He chuckled a little as he started the engine once more, and pulled out of the drive to head for the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. Killian could tell that his mother's nitpicking was more of a side-effect of her nerves, than it was about the state of his car. But he still made a mental note to have it cleaned when he was finished that afternoon.
"How was training?" she asked, as they settled in for the short drive to the other side of the city.
"It was good. Robin's still not fully fit, so the gaffer's not massively happy that he'll be missing the derby this weekend. But there's not much we can really do about that."
"Do you think it'll effect your chances of getting the result?"
"I hope not," he replied honestly. "But Robin's the driving force in that back four. And I'm just not sure that John is strong enough to hold the defensive line for us, in the way that we really need him to. City are gonna be relentless in their attacks, and we need someone solid there to keep everything under control. But you know Gold. He's gonna make sure that John puts in the best performance of his life this weekend."
"Oh, he definitely is," Moira chuckled. But her laughter died the moment she realised that her son was already pulling into the car park for the hospital.
"Are you okay, Ma?" he asked, as he switched off the engine and unbuckled his belt. "You do know that you don't have to go through with this, right?"
"I want to," she assured him, as she squared her shoulders and stepped out of the vehicle. Killian followed his mother's lead, pausing to grab a couple of large bags from the luggage compartment, before he joined her again.
"How much did you bring for the lad?"
"I dunno. I just grabbed anything I thought he might like," he explained, with a small shrug.
Truth be told, Killian had explained to a couple of his closest teammates about his next visit to Henry, and his desire to bring the boy some things that might cheer him up a little. So the guys had helped him raid the Megastore the night before, for everything they thought would fit Henry, or that he might like. When combined with the books that Killian had found in the Trafford Centre, it was probably a little excessive. But he was going to make sure that he laid most of the blame on his teammates, if Emma Swan asked about it all.
"You're a good lad," Moira assured her son, as she followed his lead over to the children's hospital, and then through the building.
Even though he'd only been there once before, Killian found his way to the ward that Henry was staying on easily enough, and asked for Doctor Whale at the nurse's station. He knew that the longer they waited around, the more his mother's nerves would build. So he wanted to get her tests over and done with before he took her to meet the little boy that had wormed his way into Killian's heart.
"Ah, Mr. Jones," Whale greeted, as he held out a hand for shaking. "What can I do for you today?"
"It's actually more like what we can do you for you," Killian explained. "My mother would like to be tested and entered into the stem cell donor registry."
"That's excellent news. Shall we get you into my office, Mrs. Jones? We can go over all of the details there?"
"Please."
Killian knew that having more details would help to reassure his mother, so he was glad to hear that Whale would be taking the time to give them to her. But he was a little surprised by what she had to say next.
"Why don't you go and take that stuff to Henry?"
"Are you sure?" he asked. Killian had been pretty certain that she would have wanted him by her side for the test itself, so that she could crush his hand with her nerves while the blood was actually being taken. Having her dismiss him so easily felt a little worrying.
"Of course. I'll be fine with Doctor Whale here." She linked her arm with the doctor's and the two of them took off for his office before Killian could even think to utter a word of protest.
"Okay then," he muttered to himself, before he bent to pick up his bags once more, and set off down the corridor towards the room where he knew he would find Henry.
He wasn't surprised to find the young lad alone inside of it. He knew that with it being close to lunchtime, it would be likely that Emma Swan was out running whatever errands she needed to do, while businesses were still open. But he was pleased to hear the familiar sounds of Age of Ultron reach his ears, as he rounded the doorframe.
"Hey, Lad," he greeted warmly. "Have you got some time for visitors?"
Henry's face lit up at the familiar sound of his hero's voice, as he paused the movie playing on his tablet and dropped the device down onto his lap. "Always."
Killian chuckled at his enthusiasm as he struggled through the small doorway with the heavy bags in each hand, before sitting them down beside the hospital bed in the room.
"What's all of that?" Henry asked, his natural curiosity already piqued.
"This? This is for you," Killian explained. "It's just some stuff I had laying around the house that I thought you might like. Do you wanna see it?"
"Yeah!" Henry could barely contain his excitement as he bounced a little on the bed, while he watched the footballer sort through the contents of each bag.
"Okay… the guy at the store who sold me these said they're omnibuses, which means there's more than one story in them. I don't know if they're what you were after, but they sounded cool," he explained lamely, as he placed five heavy, hardback books onto the table by Henry's bed.
"Oh my God, these are amazing," the kid praised, as he picked them up to flick through each one. There was one for Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Incredible Hulk, and Spider-man. "Thanks, Killian."
"You're welcome, Kid," he chuckled.
The relief that flooded his system at Henry's praise warmed him from the inside out. Although he'd never admit to it, he'd lost a few hours of sleep worrying that he'd been sold something that Henry would hate, because the omnibuses looked nothing like the comic books that he remembered from his childhood.
"The rest of this stuff all has some kind of logo on it, so I hope that's okay," he sighed, exaggerating it for effect as he pulled out a cushion in a familiar shade of red, with the United logo emblazoned on the front. There was a matching fleece blanket to go with it, along with a pennant that Killian hung over one of the more crazy looking pictures on the wall – much to Henry's delight.
"This is fantastic," the young boy declared, as he wrapped himself up in his new blanket, and propped the cushion behind his head.
"This is only the start," Killian chuckled. "There's much more to come."
Just in case you guys aren't familiar with the terminology - a gaffer is British slang for a football manager, and a derby is a game played between two teams based in the same city. In this case, it would be a game between Manchester City and Manchester United.
Thanks for reading and reviewing.