Holy heck, I never expected this sort of response. I'm so, so happy to find new readers and that my old ones haven't given up on me. I'm so sorry for the long wait…I was dealing with my own life things, and just decided to update one insomnia driven night, and here we are!

Thank you guys so much for not giving up on me.

"Killian, I'm so scared." She had paused the video game with a sigh. It had been a quiet day, though none of them wished to voice it. The radio remained mostly silent, sans the occasional update from police as to where they were now located. Chores had been done, and now it was a waiting game. James had done inspection not the long ago, checking gear and the rigs and every other piece that might go into what was 'right' around here.

"About what, love, that I'm going to kick your arse here?" He was rapidly pressing the start button to no avail, and sighed in defeat before throwing the controller onto the couch. She threw him a sidewise glare. There was love, there, brother and sisterly love, but sometimes that love got annoying.

"You wish." She had found that her language had changed since hanging out so much with Regina and Henry. She had become more childlike, more teasing. There was no guessing where that had come from, it was obvious. Still, she moved to turn off the game.

"Whoa, whoa there, Swan! I was about to take the base!"

"You were about to get slaughtered," she snickered, but left it be. They sat in silence before he finally gave in.

"What are you scared about, Swan?"

Now that he asked, she wasn't so sure that she wanted to answer. Now that it was out in the open, she wasn't so sure that Killian was the person to go to for this. She should be telling Regina this. That was the point of a relationship, wasn't it, to bring up fears instead of hiding them like some sort of nasty secret.

"Regina's….She's not doing well."

There it was, out in the open.

"Not doing well as in…"

"They put her on CPAP."

Killian's medical knowledge was about as raw as it got. He understood how to board someone, what it was important to stop bleeding. He understood how to do compressions, and how to squeeze a BMV when someone's heart had stopped. He understood the raw amounts of BLS, what he needed to know as a fire fighter, but that was about it. But he did know typically, 'putting someone on something' didn't mean good things. That 'they' typically referred to doctors in this context.

"I don't know what that means, Swan. You'll have to break it down for me."

"It's a…It's a machine that forces air into your lungs. It's meant to work more like how humans breathe, by putting pressure into them instead of it just being idle. It's used a lot to get fluid out of the lungs."

There was a break, then, and she could see Killian staring at her from the side. She didn't dare look over at him, for fear that he would have pity in his eyes. Luckily, there wasn't any. Just sadness.

"Mills has fluid in her lungs?"

"No, it's just…It's a precaution. But it's not good, is my point."

She threw the controller to meet with his, and it narrowly missed his foot. He yelped, pulling away, and for a moment there was humor. Just for a moment.

"She asked me to take care of Henry if she dies."

"It's just a precaution, love. Right? She's always been cautious since…"

Since Daniel, she supposed. And maybe that's all that it was, maybe it was an olive branch for Henry. He can be a part of your life if you want him to be.

"Henry…"

"He's a good lad, got a good head on his shoulders. He knows what's going on."

Killian missed the point, but in cutting her off he had allowed her to second guess what she was going to say. 'Henry is my son', she had almost said. Was that right? Was that correct to say? Was it right to claim someone you had given up? She had forgotten about it for so long. No, not forgotten. Pushed it out of her mind, just like every other memory from that time. She hadn't forgotten, simply tried to make it not exist.

Cassidy, oh god, what would he say to all of this?

"Yeah, I'm sure he knows."

She wasn't so sure. Regina had been so careful about what she'd allowed him to see. So careful about what was right and wrong and about what he could and couldn't know. He hadn't been to a single appointment with her, despite his begging. He hadn't even seen the machine, though surely it's rumbling, much like a monsters growl, could be heard to his room. He knew so little. He especially didn't know about her.

She'd made sure of that. For now. That was to be a serious, cut off topic, one where they were not to be disturbed. And so much had happened, she wasn't even sure how to bring it up.

"I'm just scared. And I can't tell anyone. Except maybe you."

"Have you told her, yet?"

No, of course she hadn't. She had so much going on already, she couldn't bring that to Regina's attention. Regina already had to wake up and soothe her nightmares, which had become more and more frequent as of late. Emma didn't have the heart to tell her that warzones weren't the only thing she had in her heart, anymore. It was more than that. It was Cassidy. It was Stabler. It was her. It was Henry.

"You should tell her, love. That's what relationships are built off of. Trust."

"Like you know anything about relationships," she pushed back, and instantly felt guilty. He was just trying to help. And though it was meant to be a joke, it had come out dark and mean. Everything she hadn't wanted it to be. She sighed, softly, and rubbed her nose. "Sorry."

"No need to apologize for the truth, love." He was now looking down at his hands, which were rubbing together in a nervous fashion. "But you should be careful. Your tempers been a bit…"

Off the hinges? She thought.

"Yeah, I know."

"Which is why I think you should talk to her. It's not going to get any better if you just keep letting this fester, love. It'll creep into your mind, it'll burn. It won't be pretty if you just leave it until it explodes."

She sighed softly and nodded.

"You're not wrong. I just…She has so much going on right now. She doesn't need to baby me on top of it."

"Then don't let her baby you. Just tell her to truth. Talk about it. Perhaps there's less to fear than you imagine."

She doubted it. Regina had been honest. She had told her the truth ever since revealing who Henry was. She hadn't hidden a damn thing, not to Emma's knowledge, and in a way she wished she had. It would be easier then. But with everything going on, Emma supposed that Regina needed an outlet, too. Who did she have in this world? Henry. That was truly it, and now she had Emma, and out of the two of them, who could she tell the whole truth to?

That was part of what she was afraid of. That Regina would be afraid to tell her anything.

"You know, when you're right, you're right." Emma tried to admit. Despite this, the pain in her chest at simply mentioning that perhaps he was right was there. She couldn't imagine telling this to Regina. She couldn't imagine the look on her face. She couldn't imagine the pain. And it was right then that her phone started to buzz.

She looked down.

It was Henry.