Here is a bit of a fluff chapter before we venture into the final chapters of this story. Probably only about 2 or 3 chapters left. It is getting increasingly harder to write. It is probably going to be a little bit before I get the next chapter posted as I figure out how to bring it all together for the ending. Any way, I hope you enjoy this little fluff piece. Thank you to all of my loyal readers who have stuck with me on this story. Thank you for all of your likes, favorites, follows, and reviews. It truly means so much to me. Anyway, please read and review. I love reading them. Enjoy! Oh, and I'm not a doctor...just making it up as I go along.

Chapter 25 - Break Away

I tossed and turned all night. I would like to say that I had gotten at least one hour of sleep but that would have been a lie. As I flopped from one side to the other, I couldn't get my brain to shut off. The night's events kept replaying in my mind. A couple of times I crawled out of bed and made my rounds through the loft checking in on my little brother and my parents. At one point, Neal was awake and just lying in his crib babbling. I picked him up and held him close planting a small kiss on his forehead. He felt so comfortable in my arms. I leaned against one of the support beams listening to him suck on his fingers while I watched my parents sleep. They looked so peaceful and content. I thought of all the times that I stood and watched Henry sleep. My little boy, not so little anymore; though the thought made me smile. I smiled because as I watched them sleep, I knew (because it is what parents do) that they had watched me sleep on so many occasions thinking the same thing 'our little girl, not so little anymore;' although they probably wouldn't admit it to me in the fear that I would push them away for it. And there was a time in the not so distant past that I would have done just that.

I looked down at my little brother when he let go of a happy little squeak. "Yeah, we are pretty lucky, kid," I said to him as if I was agreeing with a comment that he just said. "We have pretty good parents, who love us. That's the most important thing. You know that? They love us so much and would do absolutely anything for us." He gave me a smile and a small baby laugh like he was holding a true conversation with me as I continued to talk to him. "I don't know why it took me so long to see it. Just stubborn, I guess. We get that from Mom, by the way; and our tact from Dad." I know that most people would argue that he was too young to know what his personality would be like, but I was convinced that those traits were hardwired into the Charming family DNA.

I gave him one more gentle kiss before I laid him back down to sleep in his crib. He was still somewhat awake but he didn't protest. I wound up the sheep mobile that hung above his bed and I slowly tiptoed away from him as he watched the sheep spin around slowly. Being a big sister was something that I never thought that I would be, but here I was and I loved every minute of it.

It seemed like it took forever for morning to arrive. Just when I thought that I was going to fall asleep, I heard the vibration of my phone on my night stand. I reached for it, thinking that it was a text, but it was a phone call from the hospital. "Hello," I answered.

"Sheriff Swan, this is Nurse Stein, from the hospital, there was a note in Albert Spencer's file to call you when there was an update available." The lady didn't to seem too happy to be calling me; I'm not sure if it had something to do with the time of morning or if she just hated her job.

"Yeah…yes. How is he?" My words were full of hope that she would have some good news for me.

"He is out of surgery, but the Doctor has requested that the family be called in," the tone in her voice made it sound like something was very wrong, but she wasn't going to tell me over the phone.

"We'll be right there," I didn't give her a chance to respond before I hung the phone. I quickly got dressed and went to retrieve my father. It was early; the loft was quiet which meant that my parents were still fast asleep. I slowly crept to my father's side of the bed, careful not to wake Neal on my way passed his crib. I laid my hand on David's shoulder gently shaking him awake. "Dad…" I whispered.

He opened his eyes and look at me with worry. As a parent, I could understand why, a child didn't typically wake a parent unless something was wrong or they needed something right away. "What's wrong?"

"Shh…" I put my finger to my lips then pointed to my mother. "Don't wake Mom and Neal. The hospital called, they need us to come in right away. He's out of surgery and the Doctor wants to talk to us."

He looked me up and down to see that I was ready to go then threw his head in the direction of the kitchen "Go write a note for Mom while I get dressed."

I quickly did as he asked and we hurried out of the apartment to the hospital. The drive to the hospital did not take long and as soon as we arrived we were greeted by Dr. Whale who escorted us into his office where were met by the attending surgeon. "Emma, David…this is Doctor Rubens, he was the lead surgeon on Mr. Spencer's case."

David offered his hand to the older gentleman who held an open chart in his hands. The gray haired man simply peered at us over his glasses before he turned his glare to Dr. Whale, "they are the adoptive son and granddaughter of Mr. Spencer," Whale explained.

"Please have a seat," the older doctor finally offered. He didn't wait for us to sit down before he started talking. "Mr. Spencer, your father…"

"Ah…Nolan" David interrupted, "it's David Nolan" David's voice trailed off in the pronunciation of his last name when the look on the doctor's face showed that he really didn't care for the particulars. My father glanced over to me for support; I just shrugged my shoulders.

"You're adoptive father," and the man stressed the word adoptive for David's appeasement I assumed, "was rushed into emergency surgery for a self inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. He did survive the surgery, but the next twenty four hours are going to be crucial. Currently we have him on a ventilator and we are monitoring his brain activity. At this time he is not showing any brain activity on the EEG."

"What does that mean?" I asked the doctor for some clarification.

"It means that if there is no brain activity then he is clinically dead, being kept alive by the machines. Which brings me to my next point; Mr. Spencer does not have a DNR on file with this hospital…"

"DNR?" David questioned and I quickly answered him "Do not resuscitate." My father reached over and grabbed my hand. I could feel his tension and the breath that he was holding; he surely knew where the doctor was going with this conversation.

"That is correct, without the DNR on file it is up to the family to decide if you want to keep him on the ventilator or remove the machines. Keeping him on the machines would keep him alive for as long as you choose to pay for the machines or until his body gives up the fight naturally. Taking him off of the ventilator, without any brain activity, he would most likely die within minutes. Unless a miracle happens and his brain regains activity and he starts breathing on his own again. But the odds of that miracle happening are very low."

"Nice way to be compassionate there, Doctor." I understand that it is a doctor's job to deliver the good news or the bad to the family, but his bedside manner or lack thereof just sucked. "You do realize that you just called my father in here to tell him he has to make a decision on whether this man lives or dies. With it being perfectly clear that your opinion is that death is imminent regardless of the decision that is made. And let's not forget that money is a strong factor, since you had to throw that out there."

"Emma…" I felt my father grip my arm.

"No, Dad…this should not be about money or anything else but what is good for King George. If that were you lying in there I wouldn't be able to make that decision."

"Emma this is a completely different situation."

"Is it? How much do you remember of your real father? Huh? How much do you remember of King George being your father? This is not fair to you or to him." I couldn't sit there any longer and listen to this doctor's smug attitude of either pay the hospital or let him die. I stormed out of the office straight to the car.

"Emma…stop!" I heard my father call. I did, but I didn't turn around. Instead I hoisted my arms to the roof of the car and crossed them before laying my forehead on my arms effectively hiding my face. "What is this all about?"

I didn't answer him. I just continued to hide my face, "Emma? What is going on here? This certainly cannot be about a man who claimed to be my father just so that he could save his precious money. So please tell me what is going on here."

I turned around releasing a loud grunt, "Urrrgh…I'm just so frustrated with this whole damn situation. I get it; you have no loyalty toward that man. He was never really your father; he was James' father. But here we are, the only family that he has and this smug ass doctor is more worried about how much money it's going to cost to leave him on a ventilator."

"Emma, I don't know where this new found compassion that you have for King George is coming from, he obviously said or did something to win you over. But we have to look at this reasonably. We have a decision to make and we need to get all of the facts and statistics to make it responsibly. This is not something that I am going to take lightly just because I have no love for this man. And I agree, Dr. Rubens does not seem to be the most pleasant doctor…"

"More like he has a God complex," I mumbled below my breath while I moved my stare to the side away from my father's face.

"Well, that's one way to put it," he said with a crooked nod, "but we are where we are. And we have to deal with it."

"Not without JC," I know that in all of this, JC was the furthest thing from his mind, mine too if I were being honest. But JC was more of his family than we were, "JC is James' son, and we can't keep him out of this decision. He may not have known King George, but he is still his grandson."

"Agreed," my father smiled at me and gave me his loving wink, "now, you heard what the doctor said, the next 24 hours is crucial and they are going to monitor him. That gives us one full day to drive to Augusta to confront Gold and fill JC in on what is happening. We'll let JC make the decision if he wants to come to Storybrooke to see King George. Ok?"

I nodded. He opened the car door for me and I slid into the passenger side. "Call your Mom, let her know that we are going on that road trip to Augusta, we'll be back late tonight. I'm going to go back inside and inform the doctors of our current decision. Alright?"

I nodded to him again as I pulled my phone from my pocket and hit my mother's speed dial number. I explained to her everything that had transpired within the last hour and what our plan was going to be for the day. I could hear the worry in her voice when I mentioned that we were going to see Gold and JC, but it was something that had to be done. I especially knew that she wasn't happy with our plan when she asked to speak with my father and insisted on waiting on the phone until he returned to the car.

"Here…" I said holding out the phone toward my father when he got into the driver's side of the car, "Mom wants to talk to you."

He clipped his seat belt then took the phone from my hand. I didn't miss the playful eye roll that he shot my direction, "Yes, dear…" he said when he put the phone to his ear. I couldn't help the little giggle that escaped my lips. It was cute, she wasn't happy and he was going to get an earful about it. Although I could only hear his end of the conversation, which mind you wasn't much more than a 'yes, honey' and an 'I will' here and there, I could imagine what she was saying. And it most likely had something to do with making sure that I was careful and didn't get hurt in any way.

For the first forty five minutes of the trip we sat in relative silence. The only sounds were those that were coming from the radio, a general pop station. As my father drove closer to Augusta, I sat on the passenger side and stared out the window watching the scenery go by. Although I was not consciously listening to the song that was playing, subconsciously it triggered memories of my childhood. When my mind put those memories together with the present circumstances of me sitting next to my biological father on a road trip to Augusta, I couldn't stop the small escape of a few tears that ran down my cheeks. I kept my glare on the scenery. But my brain betrayed me when I suddenly found myself rambling and in turn giving my father a glimpse of my past.

"Isn't it amazing how just one single event in time can change your life forever? How everything that you know to be right side up can be turned upside down in an instant? You know, when I was little, I used to dream of this. I would sit and stare out my window. I would think about you and mom. I would think of myself and try to figure out what traits I got from you and what I got from her. I would wonder who I looked like. I used to sit and wonder if I would ever find you and if I would ever be happy. I would constantly dream of what could be. Foster home after foster home, I tried so hard to fit in and belong, but it never felt right. I cried myself to sleep so many nights, praying that you would come to find me and take me home. I decided early in my life that I needed to find you. I was probably about 11 years old when I decided that I needed to make a change and I became determined to break away from my life and do whatever I needed to do to get to you. I promised myself that I would do whatever it took. I never dreamed that it would take 28 years and a son that I gave up for adoption. So many times I came so close to losing faith in myself and my mission. When Henry came to find me, I was bound and determined that I was just going to bring him back home to Regina and drive right back to Boston that night. My life was consumed with finding you and I had it in my head that I had to be in the big city where I had the resources to do it. When he told me his theory of who my parents were, I didn't believe him. I thought that he was just a crazy kid with a wild dream of what could be; and boy, did I understand that feeling more than I ever wanted to admit. He reminded me of the promise that I made to myself. That I would do whatever I needed to do and I realized that I needed to take chance and take the risk of staying in Storybrooke. Only that chance and that risk wasn't for me or what I wanted, it was for Henry. I guess deep down, I wanted his story to be true. I wanted to believe him right off the bat. I had that internal struggle with the adult me who was convinced that I needed to be logical about everything and the kid in me that absolutely loved the idea of Snow White and Prince Charming being my parents. One little decision to go right instead of left can change the course of everything. And to just think about the fact that so many important decisions in life are made on the hopes and wishes of what could be; it's just so overwhelming…and terrifying at the same time."

I felt my father reach over and take my hand into his when I finally stopped talking. He didn't need to say anything, because his sheer presence was enough for me. For a long time he just held my hand as he drove, before finally speaking, "We'll figure it out together. Don't ever lose faith in yourself. Together we'll figure out what can be and we'll make it happen. You are not alone anymore."

I finally pulled my stare away from the passing scenery and looked to my father. I finally had the answers to some of the questions that I had wondered about when I was a kid; I had my father's hair and my mother's chin. I had my father's tact and my mother's stubborn streak. I had my father's smile and my mother's eyes. I had the happiness of being with my parents that I had always longed for. I gave him probably the biggest smile I have ever honored him with, "Thanks, Dad."