A/N: Another week, another chapter. It's almost like I have some kind of schedule now... Anywho not much to say here other than that you can expect another chapter again same time next week. Thanks for all the comments and please enjoy :)

Emma awoke slowly, feeling stiff and boneless in the worst possible way. Mustering what little strength she had, she forced her eyes open, squinting at the light. After a few disoriented moments, she recognized where she was and allowed herself to relax a little. A hospital. She was in a hospital.

"Emma?"

Snow was next to her bed, a jumble of emotions washing over her face.

"Hey, Mom." The words barely came out as a croak. She tried to swallow, but her moth was bone dry. Wincing, she tried to reach for the glass of water on the bedside table.

Snow quickly clued in and after some fussing and only a little spilled water, Emma was feeling a little bit more alive.

Slumping back into the bed, Emma tried to recall what had happened. They had been in the harbor, looking for Hook. They had found that building, the overwhelming noise, and then–

"Ruby," she blurted out, voice cracking halfway through. She turned to Snow. "Is she here? Is she okay?"

"She's fine, Emma." She tried to smile. "Mostly. She– she will be fine. Granny says she should be make a full recovery. Eventually."

"And Mulan?"

"Just some bruises. I think her sword protected her from the blast. Maybe." She shook her head, taking a shuddering breath. "I don't know. I'm sorry. It's... it has all been a lot."

I took a moment for the words to fully sink in. "Wait, what blast?" Emma shifted in the bed, turning more towards Snow. "What happened? How did I even get here?"

"Regina brought you here. After Mulan had gotten Ruby away from you and Hook, she tried to cut the bean in half to stop the portal. It worked, but it kind of blew up in the process. As soon as the portal was gone, she called Regina who poofed you all over here." Her smile turned brittle. "You were in pretty bad shape when we got here."

"I was bleeding magic," Emma mumbled, her memory of it all slowly clearing up. A shiver slithered up her spine as she remembered the burning pain in her palms. Ignoring her aching muscles, she lifted her hands just enough to see them. No marks, no scars, nothing.

"You can thank Regina for that, too," Snow said, touching the bracelet that Emma only now realized hung around one of her wrists. "I'm not sure exactly what it does, but it stopped the bleeding."

"Okay." Emma wasn't nearly lucid enough to figure out what any of that meant. "Does Henry know– has he been here?"

"He and David have both been here. We've been taking shifts annoying Doctor Whale." Snow squeezed her hand. "You need to rest now. We'll be here when you wake up."

Emma sighed, relaxing back into the mattress as her eyelids started to droop. "Okay."

The next time Emma woke up, she was feeling a lot better. Overall, she still felt like shit, but it was more along the lines of a bad hangover than having been run over by a freight train. Pushing herself up onto her elbows, she managed to take a few sips of water before her muscles gave out and she flopped back down onto the bed with an undignified grunt.

"Ma!"

She didn't have time to turn towards the voice before Henry was there, pulling her into a hug.

"Hey kiddo," Emma mumbled when Henry eventually untangled himself from her. "Sorry to make you worry."

David was there too, sitting down next to her bed with a tired smile. "The important thing is that you're back."

Emma shifted to her side towards them, trying somewhat successfully to get her muscles to cooperate. "How long was I out?"

"Almost two days."

Emma blinked. "Two days." Even though she had dealt with a whole month missing, those two days still felt impossibly long.

"Don't worry, we–"

"Ruby," Emma blurted out as more and more of . "How is Ruby?"

The strained pause that followed was uncomfortably telling.

"Look, you've just woken up, you don't have to–"

Emma cut him off. "David. I was there, I saw what happened, I just want to know how bad it is."

"Sorry. I know." He sighed. "Five shots. One went through, one just scraped her. Whale had to operate to get the rest of them out."

"But she's awake now," Henry added before David had even finished. "Whale and Granny said she should be able to go home in a couple of days."

Emma swallowed, unable to get rid of the lump in her throat. No matter how quickly Ruby recovered, it would take a long time before she'd be able to force the image of Ruby bleeding out from her mind. "You'll have to fill me in on the rest, too. Mulan, Hook, this," she said, holding up her arm with the bracelet on.

"Well, Mulan is fine. She has been running the sheriff's department while you've been here, actually. I went over to see how things were going but she seemed to have everything under control." David gave her a lopsided smile. "You left my old spot in capable hands."

"And Hook?"

"He's locked up in the old asylum. Mom put some enchantment on the cell, too," Henry said with a hint of pride. "He's not going anywhere. She wouldn't tell me anything about that bracelet, though."

Finally allowing herself to relax, Emma let out a tired breath. "That's fine. I'll talk to her about it later." Ruby and Mulan was alive, Hook was behind bars, and magic wasn't trying to kill her. For once, things were almost okay.

Later that day, Emma was beginning to feel like a functioning person again. She had showered and changed into a fresh set of clothes Snow had brought and the ache in her muscles was down to a dull throbbing.

"If you need some more rest–"

Emma slid off the bed onto the floor, only swaying a little. "It's fine, mom. I just need to walk it off. And I need to see Ruby."

After what felt like the better part of an hour, they made it to Ruby's corridor. Granny and Whale were there already, sitting in some chairs lined up against the wall. Neither of them looked like they had gotten much sleep.

"Sheriff." Whale lifted his bottle in greeting. "Don't worry, it's not alcoholic."

Emma didn't really hear him, her eyes drifting to the window on the other side of the corridor. She couldn't see Ruby, but Tink was there, next to the bed. "How is she?"

"She'll be fine," Granny said. "Or as fine as you can get after something like that, at least."

"Good." Emma winced as soon as the word left her mouth. That wasn't what she wanted to say. She wasn't sure what, but she needed to say something.

As she fumbled for words, Snow quickly caught on and led Whale away with some transparent excuse, leaving Emma and Granny alone.

Taking Whale's vacant seat, Emma sat down with a sigh. "I didn't think he'd go so far. I'm sorry." Granny didn't reply. Maybe she nodded, maybe not. Emma wasn't sure. Only the background hum of the hospital and the low murmur of voices from the room in front of them filled the silence for several long, uncomfortable minutes.

When the door finally opened and Tink stepped out, Emma practically flew to her feet.

"You're awake. Good. You should talk to her," Tink noted stiffly. Then she closed the distance between them until she was right up in Emma's space. "If Hook ever gets out, we're going to have a problem," she added, staring unblinking back at Emma for a few moments before brushing past her.

Pushing Tink's words aside for now, Emma took a deep breath and continued into Ruby's room.

Ruby lit up when she saw her visitor. "Hey."

"Hey," Emma replied, doing her best to match Ruby's smile as she sat down next to the bed. She looks so pale.

"Well." Ruby squinted, scrunching up her nose. "You kinda look like shit."

"You don't look too hot either, you know."

"Getting shot doesn't do much for my natural glow." Ruby tried to shrug. "But I'll live."

"Yeah." Emma swallowed as several thick seconds rolled by. "I... I didn't think he would go that far. If– if I had know how far off the deep end he was, I would have been more careful. I thought the three of us would be enough–"

Ruby stopped her before she could continue. "Emma, look." She gripped Emma's hand, squeezing a little to get her attention. "You didn't do this. And I came along willingly. In fact, I'm kind of glad I was the one who got shot, because anyone else probably wouldn't have survived it. And we got him. Hook's locked up and won't hurt anyone else."

"I know." Despite being locked up, the thought of Hook still being in Storybrooke made Emma's stomach turn. She wasn't sure if she'd ever be completely at ease as long as there was any possibility he might get loose again.

"Besides, he did everything he could to stack the odds against me, so..." Ruby left it off with another shrug.

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"All that noise just before we found him? And hiding out next to a bunch of rotting fish? That's a pretty decent way to hide from a werewolf, if you ask me."

Emma's eyes widened. "He knew I'd bring you."

"Wouldn't be surprised if the only reason he didn't use silver bullets was that he couldn't find any."

"That's attempted murder," Emma bit out, swallowing a string of expletives. No wonder that asshole had looked so smug if half his plan – to get rid of Ruby – had already worked when Mulan caught him. He had planned it all along. "I won't let him get away with this. I don't know what we'll do with him, but he won't get away again. I promise."

Ruby smiled weakly. "Good. I don't want him to hurt anyone else." She paused, her expression dimming. Then she sighed and her eyes flitted over to the window for a moment, before meeting Emma's gaze again. "There's another thing I wanted to tell you, though. I need to take a break from the sidekick gig for a while. Not just until I'm on my feet again, but... I don't know. I need to figure some things out. What I want to do and not just what I'm good at and what people expect of me." She flashed Emma a wry smile. "If there was another werewolf in town, I'd give you a recommendation, but I think me and Granny are the only ones right now."

"Rubes, that's not– it's not just because you're a werewolf–"

"I know, I know." Ruby breathed in deeply, her eyes wet despite her smile. "Getting shot just puts things into perspective, you know? And I'm not blaming you or anything, okay? I just need to figure out what I want. I'm still your friend and I still expect you to get your workaholic butt to the diner regularly."

Emma chuckled despite herself. "Yeah. Okay. I won't let your stock of burgers go to waste."

This time when Ruby grinned, it was as bright as usual.

Clearing her throat, Emma untangled her hand from Ruby's. "You should probably get some more rest now before Tink comes back in here and drags me out herself." She pushed the chair back and got to her feet.

"She doesn't actually hate you, you know. Up for a double date when you and Regina have made up?"

"If you can guarantee everyone's safety, sure." Emma frowned. "Wait, what happened with keeping it quiet, about you and..." She gestured vaguely towards the corridor.

"Pretty sure that went out the window as soon as I ended up here. Snow hasn't said anything, but she definitely knows. I'm guessing she's waiting until I'm out of the hospital for all the juicy details."

Emma couldn't help to feel a pang of envy, thinking about how Tink must have stayed there ever since Ruby got to the hospital. Would Regina have done the same, in some other world? Would she have done it a month earlier, even?

Having said goodbye to Ruby, Emma left with Snow, deep in thought. She didn't notice Snow trying to talk to her until they were out on the steps of the hospital.

"Emma?"

Emma blinked, meeting Snow's worried eyes. "Uh, what?"

"I said, should I drive you home, or to the station?" A short, pointed pause. "Or to Regina's place?"

With those options, the decision wasn't particularly hard, despite how little she wanted a confrontation with Regina right now. Wincing, Emma started looking through her pockets. "I should probably call her first."

"Well, I'll give you two some privacy then," Snow said with a casual tone that screamed 'we'll talk about this when you're ready'.

Emma finally got hold of her phone and unlocked it. A faint smile tugged on her lips when she got to the contacts page; Regina was still at the top of the favorites list. The smile quickly faded away as she realized she didn't remember putting it there. It must have happened during the missing month.

For once, Regina picked up almost immediately.

"Miss Swan. How are you doing?"

"We have some things we need to talk about. In person."

"I'm sure that after you've rested some more we can–"

"Today, Regina. We need to talk right now."

"Emma–"

The more Regina tried to stall, the more Emma's resolve hardened. It was time to get some proper answers. "Snow is driving me from the hospital right now. If I collapse from exhaustion on your porch, that's on you."

She hung up without waiting for a reply.

"So... how did things go?" Snow asked when they were seated in her car and pulling out from the parking lot.

"Guess we'll find out when we get there."

Snow hummed, keeping her eyes on the road. "Are things still complicated between you two?"

Understatement of the year. "Yeah."

They came to a halt at a stoplight. "This isn't just some relationship hurdle, is it?" When Emma didn't reply, she continued. "I could tell when Regina came to the hospital. She was scared, seeing you like that. But there was something else, too. The stoplight turned green, and the car sped up again. "She's hiding something from you, isn't she?"

"I'm not sure." Emma shook her head, watching the houses pass by outside the window. "I don't think she's got some evil plan, if that's what you're thinking."

"Of course not," Snow said. "I'm just saying, it's easy to fall back to old ways even when you're not trying to. Just be careful, Emma."

They pulled up to the sidewalk in front of Regina's house and Emma didn't waste any time leaving the car. Despite the slight tension between them, she didn't argue when Snow took her arm and helped her towards the house. Her legs were still a little unsteady, and the car ride definitely hadn't helped.

Regina opened the door when they were halfway to her house. Without a word, she strode down to them and took Emma's arm to steady her.

"Thank you, Snow. I'll take it from here."

Snow blinked, then dropped Emma's arm and let Regina take over. "Alright." A faint smile played on her lips. "Don't let anything happen to her." She turned to Emma and added, "call me if you need a ride home." Then her expression grew watery and she pulled Emma in for a quick, tight hug. "I'm so glad you're okay."

After yet another brittle smile, Snow left for her car.

"Let's get you inside before she comes back for another physical therapy session," Regina muttered, leading Emma up the porch.