I loved writing this chapter. For all you MM/Emma fans they will be getting some serious quality time in the upcoming chapters - this is just the beginning. Hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I did writing it. Let me hear your thoughts!
Emma's eyes slowly opened as the fog lifted from her mind. She glanced around, trying to get her bearings. She couldn't remember where she was or how she had gotten there. She heard the quiet beeping and whirring of machines and saw the x-rays and CT scans stuck up on the viewing board of the dimly lit room. She could feel wires connected to her and tubes snaking around her arm where they connected to the IV inserted into her hand. She began to feel sick as the uncomfortable familiarity of a sterile hospital room settled in. Her head ached with a sharp searing pain.
Emma turned her head to look at the monitor and immediately regretted it as a stab of pain shot through her head. Reflexively she clenched her fist and realized someone was holding her hand. She saw Mary Margaret, her face lighting up when she saw Emma's eyes open.
"Emma." Mary Margaret gasped, relief filling her voice. "Oh thank God sweetheart, you're awake."
"Wha…" Emma tried to speak.
"Shhh." Mary Margaret leaned over and brushed Emma's hair out of her face. "Everything is fine, you're going to be ok."
"What the hell?" Emma finally managed to speak. "Why am I here?"
"I think I can handle that question." Dr. Whale walked into the room. "Glad to see you are finally awake Emma. You gave us quiet a scare there. How is your head feeling?"
"Like someone is stabbing it with a knife." Emma quipped.
"I'm not surprised." Dr. Whale nodded. "You had a pretty nasty blow to the head. Can you answer a few questions for me?"
"Sure." Emma agreed, not moving her head for fear of inducing more pain.
"We'll start off with something easy. How about your name." Dr. Whale started.
"Emma Swan." Emma answered.
"Can you tell me the year?" Dr. Whale asked.
"2012." Emma answered, slower this time.
"Good." Dr. Whale nodded. "Where are you?"
"Maine." Emma answered.
"Do you know what city in main you are in?" Dr. Whale prompted.
Emma glanced around trying to remember. " I know it, but it's hard to recall the name right now."
"It's ok, Emma." Dr. Whale smiled.
"No." Emma sounded frustrated. "Story… Storybrooke. I'm there."
"That's really good Emma." Dr. Whale nodded encouragingly. "What about names Do you recognize the people in this room."
"Of course." Emma's pain hadn't taken the edge from her sarcasm. "How could I forget the two of you? Together."
"And could you please tell me our names?" Dr. Whale ignored Emma's comment.
"Mary Margaret." Emma said slowly. "And Dr…." Emma paused. "I recognize you, and I know your name is weird, but I can't remember it." Emma looked down, ashamed.
Dr. Whale laughed at the weird comment. "It's ok Emma, you're doing great, really. Now can you tell me the last thing you remember?" Dr. Whale inquired.
Emma tried to think but it just sent pain shooting through her head. Emma put her hand on her head. "It hurts too much to concentrate."
"It's ok." Dr. Whale said gently.
"I don't really know." Emma admitted. "I have flashes of the last week, but nothing's in order. I can't tell you the last memory I have."
Dr. Whale nodded. He held up a penlight. "Follow my finger." He instructed as he checked Emma's pupils. Emma blinked in the harsh light. "I know it hurts, I'm sorry."
"It's ok." Emma shrugged.
"How are you feeling other than your head?" Dr. Whale inquired.
"Everything's foggy. I'm really tired." Emma admitted. "And everything feels heavy, and hard to move."
"That's to be expected." Dr. Whale wrote something on the chart. "You're going to be tired and in pain for the next few days. The headache's not going away anytime soon. You took a pretty nasty spill outside the Mayor's house. Apparently you were running too quickly up the driveway and took a spill on the ice, cracked your head on the concrete. Regina found you and brought you here. You've been unconscious for a while, much longer than you should have been."
"Dr. Whale, don't scare her." Mary Margaret looked worried.
"I just want to make sure Emma knows what is going on." Dr. Whale explained.
"I was running on the ice?" Emma said slowly.
"Maybe walking." Dr. Whale shrugged. "Can't be too sure. All we know is its lucky Regina found you."
"Lucky." Emma muttered. She rolled her eyes, making her head throb. Mary Margaret let out a small laugh.
"I don't want you overexerting yourself over the next few days." He turned to Mary Margaret. "I'm entrusting that order to you, I know she can be a bit stubborn. Also try to keep the visitors to a minimum. Her friends can come, but not for too long. She needs her rest."
"Of course." Mary Margaret nodded.
"We'll definitely be keeping her here overnight. We'll evaluate her tomorrow to see when she can go home. Emma, brain injuries are serious so I need you to follow instructions carefully."
"Brain injury?" Emma repeated.
"It's not as bad as it sounds." Dr. Whale tried to be comforting; it failed. "But when a person is unconscious for more than just a few minutes it falls into that category. You were unconscious for a few hours, that coupled with your Glasglow score puts you in the category of a moderate traumatic brain injury."
"Mary Margaret." Emma looked with scared eyes at the woman who squeezed her hand in response.
"It' ok Emma." Emma couldn't tell who Mary Margaret was trying to convince.
"You're going to be fine Emma." Dr. Whale promised. "Most likely you'll have post-concussion syndrome and that can last anywhere from a few days to a few months. You might have difficulty sleeping, concentrating, and remembering things. A lot of people get fatigued pretty easy and there are some other symptoms but I won't get into all that now. You might have some of them; you might have none. There's really no way to know. What I do know is you need to take things slow. You're not going to be able to jump back into your old routine right away. We usually suggest taking a week of rest at home after you are discharged, and then gradually increase activity as tolerated."
"I'll be fine." Emma tried to argue.
"Don't ignore your pain, if you try to tough it out, you're going to make it worse. In fact if you follow the care plan I give you, you should be back to normal in 3-4 weeks. Trying to do too much to fast could set you back three months."
Emma glanced at the bed, picking at a stray thread. She knew Mary Margaret was staring at her. There would be no getting away with anything in these next few weeks, that she was sure of. If she thought Mary Margaret had been overbearing before, she knew this would send her into overdrive.
"Mary Margaret, I want you to make sure she gets consistent rest, about 8 hours a night. She's going to have more energy in the morning than later on, if it becomes too much, little mid-afternoon power naps are a good idea. Don't let her push herself too hard." Dr. Whale instructed.
"I won't." Mary Margaret promised.
"I have some literature I can give you that should answer any questions you have about this, but don't hesitate to ask me anything." Dr. Whale turned to Emma. "I'll be back a little later to run some more tests Emma."
"Ok." Emma said quietly.
As soon as Dr. Whale left Mary Margaret turned to Emma. "You scared me half to death."
"I'm sorry." Emma bit her lip.
"It's not your fault." Mary Margaret squeezed Emma's hand. "You need to listen to Dr. Whale though. If you want to get better you've got to take it easy, and I know that's not something you're a big fan of."
"I know." Emma didn't meet Mary Margaret's eyes.
"Ah you're awake." Emma looked up to see August standing in the doorway.
"What are you doing here?" Emma looked surprised.
"He ran into me when I was rushing out the door after I got the call from the hospital." Mary Margaret explained. "I was obviously upset so he offered to drive me here."
"I stayed to see how you were." August shrugged. "You had us on edge there for a while."
"So I've heard." Emma said.
"How are you feeling kid? " August asked. "I know you've probably got that question a lot in the past few minutes."
"Yea." Emma agreed. "Not too bad, I guess." Emma caught Mary Margaret shooting her a look. "Considering what happened." Emma finished.
"Emma." Mary Margaret said.
"Fine, I feel awful." Emma sighed. "Happy?" Mary Margaret nodded. "I honestly probably look, or at least am acting a lot better than I actually feel. I mean, what I'm saying makes sense right?"
"We'll what you're saying is pretty coherent." August nodded.
"In my head everything is fuzzy. The more I try to concentrate on something, the more it slips away and the pain intensifies. Even the dim light hurts my eyes." Emma admitted. "Though I can't really speak for how I look."
"You have a pretty nasty bruise on your head babe." Mary Margaret gingerly lifted the hair off Emma's bruise, being careful not to touch the dark purple area. "Oh that looks pretty painful."
"It is." Emma agreed,
"You're kind of pale too, and you've got a few stiches up there but relatively speaking you look pretty good." Mary Margaret smiled.
"I guess that's good." Emma turned to Mary Margaret. "You told Dr. Whale to be that straightforward with me didn't you."
"You're stubborn, what was I supposed to do?" Mary Margaret shrugged. "He told me your condition was serious, that recovery would take time. I told him to be honest with you when you came to in an attempt to get you to listen."
"You know me well." Emma smiled.
"I know you're stubborn and it will be difficult to get you to take it easy for a week once you get out of here." Mary Margaret said.
"I suppose you've already taken off work." Emma guessed.
"Of course I have Emma." Mary Margaret nodded.
"Mary Margaret you don't have to…" Emma protested.
"I'm not going to argue with you on this Emma." Mary Margaret said firmly. "You just had a serious accident, you were unconscious for hours. Dr. Whale said you have a traumatic brain injury. You're insane to think I'd leave you alone after that. I wouldn't be able to think straight because I'd be constantly worrying about you. Plus I don't really trust you to follow orders."
"Hey." Emma crossed her arms.
"At least you get out of school for the week." August pointed out.
"I guess…" Emma shrugged. "But I'll just have to make it up."
"I'm sure your teachers will be lenient with you." August said. "It's not easy to get knocked on the head and then jump back into things right away."
Mary Margaret looked at her watch. "Well it's getting pretty late. August will you drive me back to my apartment so I can pick up some things for Emma and I?"
"Of course." August nodded.
"Wait, why do you need your stuff" Emma asked as Mary Margaret stood up.
"I want something more comfortable than this to sleep in." Mary Margaret motioned to her teaching attire. "Plus you'll need different clothes for when you leave. Your shirt and jacket have blood on them."
"Mary Margaret you don't need to stay the night with me." Emma argued. She may have been disoriented, but she knew when she was being coddled and she wasn't about to allow herself to be treated like a child. "I can stay by myself."
"Emma." Mary Margaret said authoritatively. "I'm staying here with you tonight. No one should be alone in a hospital by themselves. I'm not leaving you alone and that's final."
"I've been in the hospital by myself plenty of times." Emma muttered.
"Well this is different." Mary Margaret put her hands on her hips.
"If you don't want to leave me alone, then why are you going now?" Emma said sassily.
"I'm not leaving you alone." Mary Margaret nodded to someone outside the door. Connor appeared in the doorframe, looking extremely worried. He ran his fingers through his light brown hair nervously. His eyes looked like he had been crying. "He's been here all day." Mary Margaret shook her head and looked at Connor. "Take it easy with her, she needs her rest. Don't let her get her do anything stupid."
"I'll take good care of her." Connor promised.
"I know you will." Mary Margaret put her hand on his shoulder and smiled. "I'll be back soon Emma."
"I don't doubt it." Emma waved as Mary Margaret left.
"Glad to see this hasn't affected you're sense of sarcasm." Connor smiled as he walked over to the chair Mary Margaret had just vacated. He gently kissed Emma's forehead. "I was so worried about you."
"I heard they found me outside your house." Emma said.
"Yea." Connor nodded. "I heard my mom yell for me and I ran outside. You were just lying there, bleeding. You looked so pale. I was really scared for you Emma."
"I'm sorry I scared you." Emma touched Connor's hand.
"It's not your fault you're a klutz." Connor took Emma's hand into his. "I just care about you too much to lose you."
Emma smiled. She had never had someone care about her like Connor did before. He looked devastated about what had happened to her. But somehow, despite how scared they both were his warm reassuring grip on her hand made her feel like it was all going to be ok. "I'm going to be fine Connor."
"I know." Connor nodded. "I just worry."
"So does everyone else." Emma shook her head, forgetting the pain, and winced.
"Are you ok?" Connor looked worried. "Should I get someone?"
"No." Emma pulled Connor back. "I'm fine, really. They already have me on major pain medication. They can't do anything more. I just have to deal with it."
"Is it bad?" Connor asked.
"It's pretty rough." Emma admitted. "But I've felt worse so I guess you count your blessings where you can find them."
"You've been through worse?" Connor's eyebrows shot up.
"Connor my life hasn't been as shiny and protected as yours." Emma explained. "Bad things happen. It's part of life. But life gets better. Bad things have to happen so you can appreciate the good."
"Well I don't need something awful to happen to appreciate how lucky I am to have you in my life." Connor smiled at Emma. Emma looked down at the bedspread and smiled.
Emma felt tears prick at her eyes. "You suck."
"Why?" Connor let out a small laugh.
"Because you're taking advantage of my messed up state to make me cry." Emma looked at him, trying to pretend to be mad but her smile breaking through.
"Are those tears Emma?" Connor teased. "Wow you really did hit your head hard."
"Shut up." Emma laughed, sending pain through her body. "Oh."
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have made you laugh." Connor quickly apologized.
"No." Emma squeezed Connor's hand. "You don't need to apologize. It was a good kind of pain. I'd rather be in pain all the time than to never have you make me laugh again."
Connor shook his head and smiled. "Whatever that knock on your head did, it's making you say things that you never usually would. You might regret this later."
"I don't think so." Emma shrugged ignoring the voice shouting somewhere beneath the fuzziness that she actually would. A wave of pain and nausea washed over Emma and she put her hand to her head.
"Maybe you should get some rest." Connor suggested gently.
"Maybe you're right." Emma agreed.
"I'll stay here until Mary Margaret gets back." Connor stood up and placed another kiss on Emma's forehead. "Go to sleep, you'll feel better."
"Connor." Emma spoke up.
"Yea?" Connor turned down the lights in the room.
"Thank you. For waiting here all day." Emma said.
"I'd wait an eternity for you Emma." Connor smiled.
"I know you would." Emma tried to get comfortable, if that even was possible with the fuzziness and pain that seemed to be radiating through her entire body. She was trying to hide it as best as she could, but she welcomed any respite from it. Finally her breathing evened and she drifted off into a peaceful rest where the pain couldn't touch her.