Chapter Seven: Damned If They Do, Damned If They Don't
After phoning Regina, Snow made a call to Doc, knowing Whale didn't make house calls. Plus, she knew her husband trusted the dwarf over her former one night stand. She then gathered a cool wash cloth and the thermometer before going upstairs. Emma was laying on top of her covers with her eyes shut, a worried David sitting beside her.
"I called Regina and Doc, they're on their way," she explained. She ran the thermometer over Emma's forehead. "103." She gently replaced the thermometer with one of the cool cloth.
"I'm scared," David muttered.
"She's going to be okay." Though, Snow wasn't so convinced of this herself.
Regina and Elsa arrived first, heading straight up.
"I left Henry with Ruby," Regina explained quickly, walking towards the teen's bedside. "Tell me exactly what happened?"
"We were watching a movie and she suddenly got very tired, leaning on me. I noticed she had a fever and then these sparks were flying from her hands. I rubbed her back and managed to calm her down," Snow told her. "Her fever is 103 degrees."
"Well, first off, here," Elsa created an ice pack to replace the cool cloth. Emma stirred from the sudden icy feeling, but didn't wake up.
"Thank you, Elsa," David said, quietly.
"All magic comes with a price," Regina mused. "I'm guessing that this is an affect of turning back the clock."
"But when August got turned back to Pinocchio he didn't get sick," Snow spoke up.
"Yes, but August was turned back by Blue, she only uses light magic. Ingrid practices dark. Same spell, but the intentions were different so the results vary."
"And the sparks?"
"My guess is she's coming back into her magic again."
"But originally that didn't happen until she was 28."
"Yes, but that's because she didn't come to Storybrooke until then. Now she's back and the town is under threat. The savior part of her is doing what it does best, preparing for battle."
Snow and David exchanged a worried look. The pair weren't fearful of Emma's magic, but this teenager sure would be. Adult Emma had adjusted to her powers, to who she was meant to be. This version of her had been through so much, there was no way she could handle it.
"But she's so young, she can't fight any battles," Snow said.
"Her body doesn't sense that. All it knows is that we need her help. I can probably do something to put it off for a while, but eventually she's going to have to learn to use it again. I'd say we could put a cuff on her, but that'll only make her weaker."
"We don't want that." David sighed. "Well, do what you can to put it off, please."
"Alright. But you are going to have to find a way to explain it to her, her magic's coming out one way or another."
"That's fine, but even when she gets her powers, she's not fighting," Snow insisted. "I know she's the savior, but she's in the body of a teenager."
"I have to agree with Snow," Elsa piped up. "Back when I first came into my powers, I was out of control and while I learned to tame them, I was in no way prepared to fight any battles."
"We'll cross this bridge when we come to it," Regina told them both as the door opened and Doc walked in. "What is he doing here?"
"In all fairness, you are not a doctor," Snow replied, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "We just want to make sure there's nothing else going on outside the fever."
"Alright, let me do my work and Dopey over here can do his."
"It's Doc," the dwarf said.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I really work on memorizing all your names," Regina snapped back, sarcastically. She set a spell over Emma before turning to Elsa. "Dairy Queen Jr., let's go."
"Thank you for all your help," David told them as they left.
"I need the princess to be awake while I examine her," Doc softly said.
David gently shook Emma awake and her green eyes flickered open.
"Mmm…"
"Sweetheart, this is our friend, he's a doctor and he just needs you to stay awake long enough so you could be examined," David cooed.
"'m fine," she mumbled.
"No honey, you're not. You have a high fever."
Emma simply leaned against him, folding her eyes stubbornly. She managed to stay at least half awake while Doc checked her over, opening her mouth when asked. She was too tired to make any sarcastic remarks.
"It doesn't look like she has any other ailments. As long as her fever stays where it is, she won't need to go the hospital. I'd give her a fever reducer and do what you can to keep her cool," he informed them once he was finished.
"Alright, thank you Doc," Snow replied, feeling a little bit better.
"Anytime. Let me know if anything changes." He gave his sister and brother-in-law a quick hug before leaving.
"David, can you get her medicine? I'm going to change her into lighter clothes."
"Actually, what might help is a cool bath first. Then she can put on her pajamas."
Snow smiled. "What would I do without you?"
"Go nuts. Here, I'll help her downstairs and then you can take over."
"I can walk," Emma whined.
"Baby, you're probably really dizzy. Just let me carry you."
He scooped her back up and carried her downstairs. Snow gathered a light tank top and sleep shorts before heading to the bathroom. David lowered his daughter onto the ground and left the girls be. Snow helped Emma undress and started a cool bath, though she made sure it wasn't too cold. Emma winced a little getting in, but was otherwise fine.
"This will help you feel better baby," Snow assured her, soothingly. She remembered her mom giving her similar baths when she was ill as a small child. In this world, she had read on the internet that they weren't always recommended, but the water wasn't that cold and they had always worked on her.
"I feel like I should be protesting you doing this," Emma mumbled. "But I don't have the energy."
Snow giggled. "Well, don't worry. This is what mothers do."
She carefully washed Emma's hair, realizing it was the first time she had done something like this. She thought of all the times they should've had together. Not just the baths and helping her with her hair, but getting her ready for balls and otherwise tending to her when she was sick as a small child. But, Emma was young again. Sure, she wasn't exactly a little girl but she was still Snow's little girl. And as much as she hated seeing her sick, she was going to take what she could from the situation and care from her in the best way possible.
She didn't want her temperature dropping too much, so the bath was cut short. She drained the tub and draped a towel around Emma, putting another around her hair to keep her warm. She kept he one around her head on after helping her into pajamas and lead her back upstairs. Emma didn't fight laying back down in bed, though she made a face when David came in with her medicine.
"It's not the greatest tasting in the world but it's going to make you feel better," he told her. He had to bite his tongue from pointing out that Doc's potions from the Enchanted Forest were ten times worse.
"Ugh." She opened her mouth and allowed him to put in the spoonful. That's when Neal started crying downstairs.
"I'll go get him," David told his wife, knowing how badly she wanted to take care of Emma.
"Sweetie, would you like me to braid your hair? It'll keep your hair out of your face." That and she had waited forever to play with her daughter's hair.
"Knock yourself out," Emma told her, wearily.
Snow smiled brightly and unwrapped her hair. She grabbed a brush and hair tie from nearby, running the brush through her damp blonde locks. "You have such pretty hair, baby," she told her.
Emma's cheeks flushed. "Thanks…no one's ever done my hair before."
"Really?" Snow asked. "Not even Ingrid?"
"She wasn't really the girly type."
"Well I am honored to be the first." She managed to get out all the little tangles and started braiding.
"Mrs. Swan wasn't really into it either."
Snow's eyebrows perked up a little. She had never heard Emma talk about her time with the Swans and she was fairly certain if not for the fever, she never would. "Oh?"
"I don't remember a lot about them…but I do that. She always said my hair was too tangly."
"It's perfect. You get your curls from me, you know."
"Your hair's so short."
Snow reflected on her curls from the Enchanted Forest. She never would quite understand why Regina made her lose them during the curse. She happened to actually like it shorter, she never would've cut it otherwise, it wasn't exactly princessy. "I used to have long curls, back when I was pregnant with you actually."
"Why'd you cut them?"
"I guess I just needed a change." She continued braiding, wondering if she should really ask her next question. "Do you remember a lot about the Swans?"
"Just that they seemed to change overnight. One minute, there was a lot of cuddles and stuff. Then I was told to stop, because Mama…I mean Mrs. Swan was pregnant."
Snow bit her lip. She had asked…she had to accept the response. Of course Emma had started calling them Mama and Daddy. They had been her parents for the first three years of her life. "I'm sorry."
Emma shrugged. "Not your fault."
But her mother felt like it was. If she had done more to defeat Regina, if she had found another way. If she had somehow been able to tell that they were lying about the wardrobe only taking one…her daughter wouldn't have had to go to the Swans, she wouldn't have been given back. "A mother doesn't want that for her child."
"I went back not long after that. Before the baby was born."
"That's not going to happen here," Snow told her. "We have Neal, but we would never send you back."
Emma was quiet for a minute. "I know," she said, softly. She wasn't sure how much she really meant that, she just felt very hot and her mom's braiding was soothing.
Snow smiled, kissing the side of her head. "Alright, there we go. You're all done. Do you want me to get you a lighter blanket? I know your dad took the comforter but the sheet might not…"
"Everything's fine, Mama," Emma muttered, her eyes shutting again.
Snow's heart skipped a beat. She could remember the first time Adult Emma called her "Mom". It had been the most bittersweet moment of her life. The second time, had been definitely just sweet. It was also the moment she learned her baby girl wasn't going anywhere, that she felt at home. It had been a couple weeks since she had even gotten a "Mom", but she had never even received a "Mama". Not that she cared what Emma called her and she knew it was probably from the fever, but she'd take it.
"I'm right here baby," she whispered. Emma snuggled into her side and Snow wrapped her arms around her little body. "Mama's here." Soon, she was back asleep. David came up a little later, Neal in his arms.
"I managed to calm him down but I uh, don't have the parts to make it last."
Snow chuckled. "Bring him here," she whispered, releasing one of her arms from Emma's grasp. She opened her blouse and allowed Neal to eat. David sat on the other side, smiling down at his princess.
"She looks like an angel when she sleeps. Well actually, she looks like one all the time, but especially when she's not awake."
"I know." Snow beamed brighter. "She called me Mama."
David's smile widened, though then he pretended to be offended. "You always get her saying Mom first."
His wife lightly laughed. "Guess I do, huh? Maybe she really is a Mama's girl after all."
"Oh please, totally Daddy's girl. She linked arms with me on the way to Granny's, so ha."
"I'm sorry, your little gesture is being washed out by the word Mama."
David rolled his baby blues. "She's still a Daddy's Girl." He thought about it some more. "Well, guess Neal's first word will just have to be Dada."
"No, it'll be Mama. As it should be. I only carry them inside of me for 9 months."
"You can't use that card forever."
"I fully intend to."
"Well who helped create them?"
"5 minutes verses 9 months."
"Hey, it was not 5 minutes!" David fired back, offended.
"Shhh…if you wake her up so help me," Snow grumbled.
The ever-charming prince gave one of his famous smiles. "Sorry." He pecked her lips and she rolled her eyes.
"You fully live up to your nickname."
"I try, darling."
Emma stood in the middle of Main Street, but something felt different. She felt different. A quick reflection in a shop mirror revealed her to be older, at least twice her age. That kid Henry was standing nearby, but he looked the same age as he had the day before, actually he looked a little younger. A few feet in front of her were her parents, hugging various people. Again, they looked the same age and her mom was a lot skinnier. How was that possible?
"So, what do we do now?" Ruby asked.
"Now, now I find my daughter," her best friend replied.
"So, it's true," the words flooded out of Emma's mouth before she could even think.
Snow and David turned to face her, both looked on the brink of tears. Her mother was stepping closer, partially in shock, partially ecstatic. Her dad seemed as if he was seeing her for the first time. The brunette cupped her face before breaking down into tears and pulling her into a big hug.
"You found us," Snow croaked out. Emma was in shock, she didn't know what to do. Hadn't she found them at 13? Why were they acting as if they had never seen her before? She didn't know what to say as David stepped forward, cradling the back of her head, letting out a little content sigh as they stayed enveloped in a family hug.
Suddenly, she heard Henry's voice.
"Grandpa?"
Snow began laughing in spite of her tears. Good God, did everyone finally realize how nuts this kid was? But then her parents pulled away from her and David was saying "I guess so" as he wrapped his arms around the boy. Emma felt like she wanted to pass out.
"She saved us," Henry said.
"She saved all of us," Snow confirmed with a smile.
Emma shot up in bed, her head spinning. Her eyes darted around the room, the sun was peaking in through the window. She was back in her room, at the loft. Snow was beside her, fast asleep. She fumbled to grab the mirror that was on her nightstand. Her face still showed her teenaged self.
"It was just a dream," she mumbled.
But it had been a vivid dream. She suddenly felt like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, wanting to declare that everyone had been there. Could she have somehow seen the future? No, that was insane. Plus, if it were the future, if she was so much older, why were they all still the same age? How could Henry be younger? Why the hell was he calling David "Grandpa"?
This was all insane. She had a fever, she wasn't thinking clearly. The night prior she had even called Snow "Mama". That wasn't planned, she only said it because she was so tired. She still felt a little out of it. Clearly her mind was playing tricks on her, yes, that's what it was. She had just been reunited with her parents a couple weeks prior. That crazy Henry kid was still on her mind after what he had tried to convince her the day before.
"Emma?" Snow's sleepy floated up. Emma glanced down and saw she was awake. "Are you alright, baby?"
"Yeah, just woke up."
"Here, let's check your temperature." Her mother seemed to swing right into action, grabbing for the thermometer and checking her temperature. "It's gone down to 102. A little improvement."
"That's good."
"I still want you in bed."
"But…"
"You have a fever, young lady. I don't want to hear it."
"I can't be sick," she insisted.
"Well, you are."
"No, you don't get it. I can't be sick…I…I like it here," she admitted.
Snow raised an eyebrow. "What does that have to do with you being sick?"
"Because if I'm sick, then I get sent back."
Her mother felt her heart break. "Oh baby," she pushed hair out of her face. "We're not sending you back."
"You're not?" Emma felt confused.
"Of course not, we only just got you back into our lives. Why would we ever let our little girl go again?"
Emma blushed. "I'm not a little girl."
"Our little girl." She kissed her forehead, just as David came up.
"Good morning. How's our girl feeling?" He asked.
"Her fever went down some, but it's still there. Can you stay with her while I feed Neal? I'll make some breakfast while I'm down there too."
Before the teen could protest that she'd be fine alone, her mother had gone downstairs. David sat beside her, stroking her hair.
"How'd you sleep?"
Emma thought of her dream. It was stupid, a product of her fever. Still, she didn't want them to think she was some sort of freak.
"Fine," she replied.
David studied her face. "You know you get that superpower from someone."
"I have a fever, I always get weird dreams when I'm sick."
"I love silly dreams. Tell me."
"This one was just too silly, I was all grown up and it was just weird."
David tensed up. "Uh, what happened in it?"
"What does it matter? It was just a stupid dream."
David wanted to press, but knew better. To Emma, it was just a stupid dream, brought on by feverish hysteria. But it was most likely a memory, a memory of her adult life trying to seep through. She had already remembered what all went on with Ingrid, clearly something that occurred after she was the age she had been sent back to. Now this. Before he could say anything further, his phone buzzed. He removed it from his pocket and saw a text from Snow.
Come downstairs, shut the door. There's been an update.
"Oh, looks like your mom needs some help with breakfast. I'll be right back, Princess," he told her, kissing the top of her head.
"Alright…Dad."
He smiled brightly and pressed another kiss to her head. Emma blushed again, she just wanted to try it out…calling Snow "Mama" had been sort of nice.
"I'll be right back," he repeated before going downstairs. He felt like he could fly.
"Why do you look so happy?" Snow asked from her spot on the couch.
"Emma just called me Dad!" His wife gave him a pained half-smile. Alright, something was clearly wrong. That normally would've been met with a whoop of joy. "What's wrong?"
"I just got a call from Regina."
"And?"
"Elsa found her sister's necklace, it was buried under some snow at the border. They were trying to bring it down, but no luck."
"That doesn't sound necessarily bad. If we can never find Anna, at least she'll have something of hers."
"Well, Regina put a locator spell on it and they followed it to the library…"
"Belle checked that place a million times."
"They found a secret passageway and it lead them to a beach, this chest washed upon shore. Anna was inside with her fiancé, both alive and well."
"Again, all this sounds like great news."
"Well, on the way back, they ran into Ingrid. She was not pleased. She tried saying that Anna didn't really love Elsa, that she feared her. Luckily Elsa didn't buy it, but Ingrid said that she knew that Emma was coming into her powers again. She could sense it. And she says she's going to get her, that once it's all out, we won't be able to protect her." Snow's voice was shaking. "Even Regina seemed a little afraid. Regina, David."
He rushed to her side, sitting down. "We won't let her get to Emma. There's a protection spell around the apartment, she can't get in here."
"What if she releases the shattered sight spell? They still haven't created the one to reverse it! Plus, we can only protect Emma in here!"
David bit his lip. "Maybe…maybe she doesn't leave the loft then."
"What?"
"Look, I know it's going to drive her nuts. But she's sick anyway, that's our excuse for now. After that…we'll just tell her it's not safe."
"She's not going to buy that, David." Snow shook her head. "This is getting crazy. How long are we supposed to keep this a secret?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "I think she had a dream about her past last night."
"What do you mean?"
"She said she had this crazy dream, that she was an adult in it but wouldn't go further than that. She's blaming it off to her fever, but I think it's more than she realizes."
"So, what do we do? Do we try to tell her?"
David sighed. "No. Not yet, I mean, she can play them off as the fever…for now. And Regina's spell should tide her powers over."
"For only so long. If she finds out we've been keeping stuff from her, she may just revert."
"And if we try telling her about all of this, she'll think we're as crazy as Ingrid and Henry and not trust us anymore."
The couple felt at a loss. They were damned if they did, damned if they didn't. They could tell Emma and have her flip out on them or wait and see, leading to whatever resulted from that.
"Alright, here's what we're going to do," David announced after some uncomfortable silence. "We get her through this fever. She shouldn't leave bed during it anyway. We deal with whatever comes after that. One day at a time, like we always do."
Snow slowly nodded as she began to burp Neal. "I guess that's our best bet."
"I'm going to go make her something to eat." He kissed Snow for a moment and when he went to pull away, she grabbed his hand.
"Are we really doing the right thing?"
"I don't know. They didn't exactly have a chapter for this in What To Expect When Expecting."
Snow gave him a sad smile. "What To Expect When Your Daughter's Evil Ex-Foster Mother Tries To Kidnap Her And Kill You."
"I'll have to write in and ask they had that in," he teased, though the frown didn't leave his face. Instead, he got up and started to fix the breakfast. He really had no clue if he was doing the right thing, but he had to do what he thought was best. For now, Emma was safe with them. He would die before he let anything change that.
Hope you all are liking where this is going! Of course I want to know what you guys want to see, too!
