The next morning, Liam Jones arrived at Manchester's Children's hospital an hour before he was asked to be there. He was a little nervous about the procedure he was about to undergo, and in particular, how painful the harvest would be. But his nerves hadn't been enough to stop him from getting out of bed that morning. No matter how uncomfortable he would be during his time at the hospital that day, Liam knew that Henry had probably been through worse ten times over. And it was that resolve which had pushed him through his morning routine.

Liam made a stop at the small coffee shop on site to order a couple of drinks before he headed up to the unit that Killian had taken him to visit the last time he'd been at the hospital. While his little brother couldn't be with him that morning, Killian had told Liam all about Emma's worries that something would go wrong before the transplant could be completed. So Liam had wanted to take a moment just to reassure her that he was already at the hospital and prepared for whatever would come that day. But when he popped his head around the door to Henry's room, Emma Swan wasn't in the space. Liam cleared his throat gently so as not to startle the young boy, and Henry lifted his head from the pad of paper he'd been drawing on.

"You're Killian's brother," he stated.

"I am," Liam chuckled. "Is your mam not here yet?"

"Yeah, she got here about an hour ago. She's just gone to call Nana," Henry explained. "She'll be back soon. You can come in and wait for her," he invited, perking up a little at the idea of a new guest to speak with.

Liam made his way carefully into the room, setting one of the paper cups down on the table beside Henry's bed, and the other in front of the little boy.

"I got you hot chocolate," he explained, nodding towards the small cup.

"Thanks," Henry enthused, reaching for it to take a sip. "Is the other one for my mum?" he asked, when he'd set the cup safely back down again.

"Yeah. How did you know?"

"Mum said you had the harvest procedure today. You're not allowed to eat and drink before going down to theatre."

Liam's heart squeezed painfully at the little boy's understanding of that rule. No child so young should know that piece of information, and he could suddenly understand why this cause had become so important to his brother.

"Have you been down to theatre much?" he asked, half-dreading Henry's reply.

"A few times," the little boy said, straightening up his pencils. "Usually for when they put in a central line. I don't like it down there. They won't let mum stay with me."

Liam reached out to cover Henry's small hand with his own, drawing the little boy's eyes up to meet his. "I feel the same way," he told him. "I've never been before but right now, all I really want is a hug from my mam."

"I can give you one," Henry offered. "Or you can ask my mum for one? I'm sure she won't mind."

Liam chuckled a little at the kid's kind offer. He didn't know Emma Swan well enough to know if she would be comfortable offering him a hug, but he had a feeling that his brother wouldn't be terribly happy to hear about them sharing one. So he decided to stick with Henry's original plan.

"A hug from you will be just fine," he assured him, and Henry quickly twisted in the bed to throw his arms around Liam's neck. The little boy hung on tightly for a few seconds longer than was socially acceptable, and when he finally pulled back, Liam could feel the sting of tears building in the corner of his eyes.

"I uh… I should probably go and attempt to find out where I need to check-in," he said, pulling back and standing up so that Henry wouldn't see his tears. "Will you tell your mam I said hi and that I've left her a coffee?"

"Sure," Henry agreed eagerly. "I hope the procedure isn't too painful for you."

"Thanks, kid. I don't think they'll let me come back and see you tonight, but I promise I'll stop by again soon, okay?"

Henry offered him an eager nod and warm smile before he turned his attention back to his drink, and Liam used the opportunity it provided to slip out of the room.

"Please let this work," he whispered to the heavens, as he made his way out of the unit and down to the surgical assessment centre he'd been asked to register with. Nothing he'd ever done in his life seemed as important as the procedure he was about to undergo.

It came as a surprise to absolutely nobody when Doctor Whale announced that he would be starting Henry's conditioning treatment on Monday morning. Liam's harvest had gone well, and time was now of the essence if they were going to give Henry's body the best chance of accepting the transplant.

While both Emma and Killian had been expecting the news, Killian still spent most of the rest of his week fretting over it. He was so distracted during training on Friday morning that Gold pulled him aside before he could leave the field that day.

"What's going on?" his coach asked. "Because if you don't get your head in the game soon, Boy, I'll bench ya."

"Sorry, Coach. I just uh… Henry's starting his conditioning treatment on Monday morning," Killian explained.

"I thought that was a good thing."

"Oh, it is," he rushed to assure Gold, because the older man asked after Henry at least once a week, and Killian didn't want to worry him unnecessarily. "I just uh… I was kinda hoping that I'd be there for it. I wanted to distract him a little from what was happening, you know?"

"If this is your way of asking for the morning off, Jones, you're not exactly going about it well," Gold told him sternly, before his expression softened completely. "Spend the morning with the lad. I can't give you every morning off, unless you want me to bench you for the rest of the year. But I can give you one every couple of weeks, as long as you hit the gym for a few hours when you leave the hospital."

"I can definitely do that, Sir," Killian assured him, his face breaking out into a wide smile of relief. "The other guys won't mind, will they?"

"Of course not. They'd do the same thing in your position. And if anyone has anything to say about it, they can say it to me," Gold snapped, with that trademark frown of his covering his face once more. "Now, get out of my sight Jones - before I come up with a way to punish you for losing the ball so much this morning."

"Yes, Sir," Killian chuckled, but he quickly sprinted away from the training pitch to head for the indoor pools. He could never really be certain when his gaffer was joking, so he wasn't taking any chances. Knowing his luck, Gold would have him running laps for the next three hours, and Killian really wasn't in the mood for that. He only hoped that helping his team to deliver a win that weekend would show Gold just how much he appreciated the other man's kind gesture.

Killian could barely sleep Sunday evening, which was quite remarkable, given that Sky Sports had tracked his movements earlier that day and were proudly boasting that he'd covered twelve and a half kilometres in the ninety-seven minutes that he'd been on the pitch. But with Henry's conditioning treatment due to start the following morning, his victory earlier that day was the last thing on his mind.

When he'd gotten back from celebrating with the team, Killian had found himself sitting behind his barely-used laptop as he pulled up all of the information he'd found on the process online. Again.

He hadn't wanted to bother Emma with all of his questions about the procedure, given how worried she was. So he'd turned to the internet as his source of information. The NHS's website had been helpful, but Killian had found a veritable goldmine of information on some of the cancer forums he'd stumbled over. The people there had been more than happy to answer his questions in the hopes of reassuring him that his friend's son would be fine. And Killian had found some comfort in discussing his darkest fears with people who had already lived through them.

When he'd finished reviewing everything, he'd finally decided to head to bed, knowing that his body would need some rest. But that rest hadn't come. And when the first rays of light began peeking through the gaps in his curtains, Killian had hauled himself out of bed to take a long, hot shower.

After forcing down some toast for breakfast, he had climbed into his car and headed back to the Children's Hospital. He knew that he was awake far too early to be let in to see Henry, and he knew that the small café on-site would probably be closed too. But as he pulled into the car park and swung his vehicle effortlessly into one of the spaces there, he felt a little more at ease. At least he was close to Henry now, should his friend need anything from him. And he wouldn't arrive too late to be allowed onto the unit to see the little boy.

Killian spent the next couple of hours distracting himself by organising his finances (he might have sent another anonymous donation to the hospital while he was at it) and then playing Candy Crush on his phone. He'd never really played the game before, not understanding the hype that had surrounded it when it was first released. But it was mindless enough to keep him occupied as he watched the day brighten further and the car park around him begin to fill.

When the clock in the top corner of his screen told him that it was closing in on the time Emma usually arrived at the hospital, Killian pocketed the device and slid out of his car, stretching his aching muscles. He was certainly going to pay for the lack of proper care he'd given to his body after the game, and the amount of time he'd spent cramped up behind a steering wheel. But it would be nothing compared to what Henry was about to go through.

Killian closed the door to his car and locked it with a simple flick of his finger, before he headed over to the path to wait for Emma.

It didn't take long for him to spot the silver Chevrolet he'd gifted to her swing into the car park and into a space not far from where he'd parked his own vehicle. As Emma had picked a spot closer to the entrance than he had, Killian made his way over to her car to wait for her. She must have been distracted by something on her phone, however, as when he pulled the door open for her, Emma let out a small squeak of surprise.

"Jesus Christ, Killian. You scared the shit out of me," she chided.

"Sorry. I did wave, but I think you were too distracted to notice."

"I was trying not to scratch your car."

"It's your car," he threw back, stepping aside to let her climb down before he pushed the door shut behind her.

Emma looked like she was ready to protest again, but as she turned her eyes up to his face, her expression fell a little. One of her hands rose to hover just beside his right cheek before she reached out to run a tentative finger under the dark circle below his eye.

Killian swallowed hard at the contact.

"You didn't sleep either, huh?" she asked.

"No."

Neither of them needed to say anything else. That one small exchange had perfectly summarised how they were both feeling about the day they had ahead of them.

When Emma finally turned to head for the entrance, Killian quickly fell into step beside her. His strong and confident presence was oddly reassuring, given what they were about to face. But the silence allowed Emma's mind to wander, and she knew that if she was going to make it through the day, she needed to stop that from happening.

"So, uh… we saw the game yesterday. Congratulations. That was a fairly impressive goal that you scored."

Killian felt his cheeks heat a little under her praise. It wasn't unheard of for him to score for his team. He'd even won the Golden Boot a time or two before. But there was something about Emma's praise for his goal that felt completely different to the words his teammates had heaped upon him, in the heat of the moment.

"Thanks. But I got lucky. There weren't a lot of viable options without me playing the ball back, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Nine times out of ten, the ball never would have hit the back of the net."

"You do realise that you just made that sound even more impressive, right?" Emma teased, and Killian turned to her with an adorably bemused look on his face.

He'd genuinely just been trying to explain how much luck had been on his side that afternoon. But as he played the words back over in his mind, he could see why she'd find that achievement impressive.

"Do you uh… do you wanna grab a coffee before we head up?" he asked, in an attempt to change the topic of their conversation away from his working achievements.

Emma flicked her eyes down to the watch on her left wrist and then over to the coffee shop. "Not today," she eventually said. "They won't let us take food and drink in while Henry's undergoing treatment, and I don't want to be late for it."

Killian nodded his head sharply in agreement. He'd known that. Somewhere in his research, he'd read that Henry would need to be in what was called "medical isolation" now that he was about to undergo a delicate transplant. But it had slipped to the back of his mind under the weight of everything else that he'd read over the last few weeks.

"Of course. Sorry. Uh… let's grab the elevator before it's called elsewhere," he suggested, nodding his head in that direction.

Emma offered him a small smile and followed the footballer who jogged down the hall to hold the elevator, which had already stopped on their floor. When the doors slid closed behind the two of them, a painfully awkward silence seemed to settle in the small space. It was unlike anything Killian had ever experienced around Emma Swan before. And it was a little unsettling.

There was so much that he wanted to say to her. So many words he could offer to reassure her that not only was Henry going to be fine, but that she would be too. However, none of them felt right. Killian knew that no amount of hope or positive vibes could guarantee that everything would be fine. And the last thing he wanted to do was make promises to Emma that he couldn't keep.

So instead of offering her those words, Killian decided to offer her the only real thing he could be certain of – himself. He reached out to wrap the fingers of his right hand around Emma's left and then squeezed them gently in a silent display of reassurance.

For a brief moment, the woman standing beside him tensed a little at his touch, and Killian almost pulled away. But when her body relaxed again and her hand softened inside of his, she offered him a small squeeze of her own. It was a silent thank you for being there that morning.

The elevator juddered to a halt on Henry's floor and Killian offered Emma's hand another small squeeze as the doors slid open. But he didn't immediately let go of it.

He was finally forced to relinquish his grip when Belle met them at the entrance to the unit. Her arms were full of protective clothing and she gave them both strict instructions on how to prepare themselves before they could see Henry. Killian had been expecting this too. Henry's delicate condition meant that every precaution would be taken to make sure no complications could jeopardise the transplant for him. And if putting on a hospital gown, blue booties, and scrubbing his skin with an antibacterial wash was the way to prevent that, he would gladly do it for the rest of his life.

But absolutely no amount of preparations and research could ever have prepared Killian for the sight that greeted him when Belle finally ushered them into Henry's room. The space had been stripped bare in order to keep it as clean and hygienic as possible, and the little boy himself was sleeping in the middle of the bed with more wires and tubes coming from his body than ever before.

"Jesus Christ," Killian whispered, trying hard to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall.

Emma's hand found its way back into his own and she gave Killian's fingers a tight squeeze before letting go to make her way around the room and over to her son's bedside. Killian took a moment to compose himself and then headed for the chair on the other side of the bed.

A silent look passed between Emma and Killian as they each took one of Henry's hands to hold between their own. They would let him sleep for as long as they possibly could that morning, knowing that what was to come was likely to drain him of what little energy he might have. And they would be by his side all day, until the moment he fell back to sleep again later that evening.

Thanks for reading and reviewing.

For those of you who don't know, I'm going through some difficult times personally at the moment both with my health and in my private life, so I'm afraid updates will remain sporadic for the time being because I just don't have the time or energy to dedicate to my fandom life right now.