Again, thanks a lot to everyone! Know that I'm trying to improve a lot as I go on, and I'm hoping that it's showing just a little bit, at the very least. This is just a bit longer, though not much. Hope you all enjoy!
It was Grahm at the door. Emma didn't know who she was expecting. She knew who she'd hoped to be expecting, and it certainly hadn't been Grahm, but that wouldn't have made much sense, now, would it have?
He looked so cool and collected, just like the last time she'd seen him, his hair well kept, his eyes soft and never darting. She wondered if he was like this on scene, if his heart rate picked up and nothing else about him showed it, if his eyes displayed no fear when he was on the chest, compressing, compressing, compressing, and the family was standing right there. She wondered if he had ever stuttered over his words like she had when she had first went on the civilian side.
Killian had let him in, and he was looking around when he met her eyes. He smiled and nodded in her direction, moving towards her and then standing in front of her, as though he were afraid to sit. She wanted to joke that she didn't bite, but that wouldn't be right, would it?
"Miss Swan. I've been looking for you."
"Well, you've found me," she offered, giving an unsure smile because what the hell else could she do? He smiled back at her. "You can sit down, if you want"
"No, no, I simply wished to talk to you quickly. You see, we've got a banquette coming up, and I would honored if you attended. I know many of our other staff would be happy to see you as well."
Emma blinked, raising a brow. "Isn't that for staff only or something?" Fire banquettes were similar. You could bring family or friends, of course, but it wasn't as though she seemed to fall into either of those categories. Especially not for Grahm, with whom she'd had exactly one interaction with in the past.
"Oh, well, yes. However, I think we'd all like to thank you for taking care of Henry. Helping, in any case. We're all very grateful. I don't know what we'd do without our boy around the station."
Emma's stomach felt as though it dropped. Oh. That's what this was about? Thanking her for Henry? It felt utterly ridiculous to her. She couldn't imagine them inviting anyone else over for doing their job, especially when hardly any of them knew her. She was still new in town, a sore spot in many peoples eyes.
"Was just doing my job, Grahm. You don't need to thank me for that."
"You're humble. Which is great. But I think it would be good for people to put a face to a name, better yet for them to get a chance to properly thank you and meet you. It won't be anything awkward, I promise. It's very informal, we just call it a banquet because of tradition. Not gonna lie, it's been nothing but a picnic the past couple of years. Hell, you can blend in with the crowd if you need to. I'd just appreciate you going."
Emma glanced up at her partner, who was pretending not to listen by looking at a map and plotting out random destinations.
"Could I bring my partner?" she asked, suddenly and without much thought. Killian's obvious listening in was stalled as he looked back at her, his eyes wide with confusion. "He was there, too. He helped get the other kids out when I was carrying Henry. Without him a lot of kids could have died."
Grahm glanced back at Killian, who was now staring at them obviously. He smiled briefly at her partner before moving so that he could address both of them properly.
"Of course. How rude of me. Your partner is more than welcome to come, if he wishes. We owe you a few thanks as well, don't we?"
Killian didn't respond, instead looking at Emma in disbelief. Because he really didn't do common social things anymore, spent a lot of time off the clock drinking and having a good time. Which Emma was well aware of. A banquet, even a picnic, wasn't exactly something that Killian spent a lot of time thinking about having fun at. Which, in a way, was something Emma was happy about. Because she doubted very, very much that she would be having fun, either. They could be miserable together.
"Well, what do you say, Jones? Wanna tear it up with me?" Killian still stood there looking at her, and it was only a few awkward seconds later that he shut his agape mouth and nodded.
"A…Aye. I suppose I can drop in." That was his speak for, I'll come in for a few minutes and then I'll be at the bar. Alright? Alright.
Grahm nodded at the two of them, smiling without realizing the weird vibes in the room. "Great! I'll get you guys the information ASAP, and we'll see you then! Thank you!"
He let himself out, as though he understood that neither one of them wanted to move from their spot and would much rather just stay staring at each other in confusion, as though he understood the underline problem with all of this but didn't really want to discuss it.
"What did you just get me into, Swan?"
"I do believe I just signed us up for a picnic."
"Aye. I suppose you did. What, do you want a wing man?"
"No, no." Though there was a grin spreading on her face. "Just thought it be fun for both of us. Nice, clean, family friendly fun."
He snarled at that and rolled his eyes. "Aye? Family friendly fun, eh? Perhaps I'll bring a couple bottles of rum and see how family friendly it is then, love."
"Oh, come on. Don't be such a party pooper. It'll be fun."
"Oh, yes. Nice, good, clean family fun. I'll be gone in a minute."
"You wouldn't leave me alone with them, would you? They carry drugs, Killian, what if they tried to hurt your partner?" she teased him.
"Then my partner would damn well deserve it for taking an invite!"
She laughed and leaned back in the chair, for a moment forgetting her worries. It was a good thing that they had each other, or else this would be a damned miserable day. She dumped the remainder of the chips into her mouth before crumpling the bag and aiming at the garbage can, and making it about three feet to the left of her target. Sighing, she got up to grab it and was only stalled at the sound of her phone.
"Hello?" she answered, not so much as checking the caller ID. She was so used to it just being a coworker that she didn't really even check anymore. It didn't seem to matter all that much.
Except it was dead space. There was a moment where she thought it was an accidental call, and she almost ended it, before she heard rapid, gasping sounds on the other end. It was weird enough that she pulled it from her ear for a second to make sure it wasn't the sound of something around her, but no, it wasn't.
"Hello? Can you hear me?" It was only then that she pulled it away just far enough to check the caller ID, see if it was someone trying to pull a prank on her.
Mills, was all that read.
Instantly, her mind started to roll. Shit. What if something had just happened to the kid? What if that was fucking crying on the other end of the line? She was already starting out the door when Killian stopped her.
"What's wrong?"
"I…I'll tell you later. Do you think you can grab Ruby for first out?"
"Well…Sure. Why?"
"That's Regina on the line. I can't…I can't figure out what's going on."
"Something wrong with the lad?"
"I'm gonna check it out. I'll let you know later, okay?"
"Alright, love. Be careful, won't you? Nothings more dangerous than a mourning human."
When she and Daniel first started dating, it had been a solid, silent affair. They met late at night, arms curled around each other as whatever moonlight could shine through the New York sky illuminated them. He would whisper soft comforts to her, and she would run her hands through his short, short hair. It had been the beginning of their Junior year, and oh, they thought they were in love.
They had so much planned, so many ideas of what the future would hold. She would go to school and he would figure out a way to follow her, though his parents couldn't afford the way and his check from the local pound mostly went to help support his large family. They would move into the country, they would own so many horses that they would run out of names. They'd have a dog, and someday a child, and oh how it would be perfect.
He enlisted in the reserves the day he turned seventeen, said he would go to basic that summer and continue school while going to drill on the weekends. Split option, he called it, and he said it was his in. He could serve his country and figure out a way to make due that way. He could create a life for them, a steady life.
The summer that he was away had been hell, and she'd spent countless hours shadowing her mother in her office. This had been the summer that she had decided that she could not do office work. Though she had a knack for it, an inherited knack she had no doubt, Regina realized rather quickly that if she did this for the rest of her life she'd rather stick nails into her hands. Not knowing what else to do, she instead wrote to Daniel most nights and told him that plans were going to have to change, that perhaps they didn't have to go to school, perhaps they'd figure something else out.
He came back a week before their senior year began, his hair shaven and his smile oh so real when he found her. He showed up on her doorstep, and they embraced, only to be found by her mother who was unimpressed and invited the boy to dinner. Interrogation, Regina warned, but Daniel smiled and said he would charm them.
He charmed her father, alright, but it was harder to do for her mother. She asked every question in the book, and when it came to future plans, he declared something that Regina had never heard him bring up. He said that he aspired to be a Fire Medic, and between that and drill, he would be able to support Regina. A wild claim, one she knew was wild from the moment it came from his mouth, but he seemed so confident, this new found Daniel, and he looked at Regina with such love and adoration that she couldn't help but think that perhaps it was possible.
It was that winter that she gained her EMT basic certification, out of the sight of her mother. And after Daniel came back from job training, they went to school together, much as they said they would. Two years later, and they were on NYFD. It was a stroke of luck getting in, they both knew it, and getting in together had made it all the better. They married not a month later.
After the towers fell, and Daniel was told to report for duty, Regina often wondered if her mother hadn't been right in being scared for her daughters welfare with a soldier. Certainly, after spending so much time together, it was isolating when he was no longer there. Especially when her lungs started to ache.
Oh how they ached now.
She'd been so desperate for help she hadn't even noticed the number she called, simply hunched over and trying to breathe and hoping, somehow, that someone caught the message and would be there. She'd thought she'd hit one, speed dial for 911, but from the voice she didn't think that was the case. Damn it. She fumbled with the phone to try and dial that, instead, but only ended up dropping it without the energy to pick it up.
She was in her house, on the couch, and she couldn't tell you what had triggered this. Perhaps she had forgotten too many times to take a certain medication, perhaps it was simply from the stress of everything building on her, but now all she knew was that she was sitting here trying to breathe and nothing was helping.
She knew where her inhaler was, but it was too far away to reach for and she certainly didn't trust her legs. She thought it better to stay put, rather than risk collapsing and respiratory arrest. It seemed like hours, and perhaps it was, before her door was opened and someone came into the living room.
"Holy shit, Regina. What the fuck happened?"
She couldn't answer, instead gesturing towards the table not twenty steps away, and Emma was walking over there and observing the medications. Thank god she had some sort of training, because fairly quickly she was sitting next to her and helping her inhale, hold, exhale. Inhale, hold, exhale.
They sat like that for minutes, and when finally the rasping started to stop, Regina let her head fall to her lap in relief.
"How…How did you get here?" How did she know she was here, of all places, and how was it her luck that Emma Swan had been the number she'd dialed?
"I went to the hospital first and Kathryn said you weren't there. So I took the next logical step. Do you want me to call an ambulance or are you good?"
Regina shook her head, trying to answer multiple times before an answer finally came out. "It's happened before. I don't…Need that…Just give…I'm fine…"
Emma sat there, for the first time not awkwardly next to Regina, a hand on her back to steady her.
"I didn't take you for an ex smoker," Emma commented softly.
"Not…"
"Okay…Brycanyls for COPD…"
"Don't…Never…"
"Okay. You don't have to talk. Here. Why don't you lay down?" Regina nodded slowly and laid half of her body on the couch, not willing to move her legs just yet. Instead, Emma bent down and moved them for her, and while Regina gave a grunt of displeasure, Emma didn't jerk away.
They sat there for longer still, Regina's breath slowly evening out until finally she sounded normal again.
"You were a firefighter," Emma observed, and Regina thought for sure that she had to be looking around the room to figure that out. Whatever medals Daniel had received along with her own were displayed, if only for Henry's benefit. However, when she glanced over, Emma was looking at her, not around.
There was something that she could recognize. She didn't know what had clicked, if it had been something that had been said to her by Killian or Kathryn, or even Grahm. But pieces were falling together, things she had seen before and could understand, to a point. She hadn't noticed the medals, hadn't so much as glanced at them. Things just…Fell into place.
She could remember herself, seventeen years old in New York city, watching the TV with her foster brothers and sisters. Their parents were leaving them alone, making phone calls, and despite the fact that they'd been told not to turn on any news channels, they had all turned and watched in a sort of awe struck terror. She remembered that the littlest one, Whitney, had begged her to let her sleep in her bed that night, and Emma hadn't been reluctant to agree.
She'd seen the firefighters on the scene and her only thought was, I wish I were brave like them.
"Yes… Fire…Medic….But yes…"
"And you were in New York."
A nod.
"You must been young, though. Too young to see the towers." She shook her head. "No?"
"That…Was there."
Emma nodded. "Is that why this is a problem?"
"N…Not a problem, much more, Miss…" A pause. "There was a lot. But yes. That was a part of it…"
"Does anyone else know? About this?"
"H…Henry. Grahm, Kathryn…My mother and father, but they're…They're very far away."
Emma nodded again before shifting her weight.
"Well. I'm going to stay here until I know you're okay. Alright?"
A brief nod.
"And if anything weird goes on, I'm calling your people up. Alright?"
A sigh and a hesitant nod.
"Alright."