7:15 AM AU - Things go a bit differently in the cabin during 7:15 AM. With memories returned, how will this change things?
Wow! Such a great response to this fic, which has turned out to be even more amazing than I thought it would. The idea for this fic actually started as an idea in my head on a drive to work, way back in January or February when I actually still drove to work. I work from home now like most and am glad this idea came to fruition. I'm glad everyone is enjoying the twists and turns. Season 1 can be very fun to play with. Enjoy this latest and keep reviewing! Here are individual responses to reviews:
Ghostwriter: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Yep, it should be interesting to see how Neal's presence this early will continue to change things. :)
Baratta Jennifer: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
Number Ten: I loved that Ruby did that too and she has more words for Emma in this chapter too. Yeah, Henry was great here too in putting his foot down with the quarreling adults. Glad you're enjoying. :)
Grace5231973: Glad you're back! And glad you're on the edge of your seat and enjoying! :)
Sexystarwarslover: Yes, it was unfortunate, but Neal enlisting his father's help to get custody of Henry was definitely a highlight. Yep, we literally had an open wound. Yep, Neal knows all about Emma's stubbornness. Yeah, they made an exception for Ruby and Ashley. Sean came and probably proposed, but it was overshadowed by David getting stabbed. Yeah, when Regina finds out Neal is going after custody, Regina will be livid, to say the least. Yep, hopefully Snow will have babies again one day. Yep, Daddy Charming to the rescue! Unfortunately, he got stabbed, but it wouldn't be the first time he took a blade for Emma. Yep, Ruby read her the riot act there and she deserved it. Yep, I'd put money on Gold winning too. Henry is excited! There's going to be fireworks for sure. Glad you're enjoying it!
AnonSnowing: Yeah, Henry is having a tough time. But it is better here, because he has Neal and his grandparents are awake. Emma too, but he's mad at her for now. Regina is still his Mom too, but she would deserve it at this point. She's got to hit rock bottom before she's willing to change. Nope, David cannot stop staring at his wife. Yes, he is just so handsome too and I'm sure Snow can't keep her eyes off him either. He makes me swoon too. Yep, there's some cockblocking going on here. I'm glad they might have a couple friends though, but I want them to be alone too. Yep, Snow is still in the mindset of an expectant mother. Yep, Charming's protective daddy instincts are in full force and he took a knife for Emma without thinking. Yeah, Emma is being a bit unreasonable here. No, he'll be fine. But Kudos to Ruby for laying the law down for Emma. She's being very stubborn. Fate does have a sense of humor and a custody battle seems to be looming. Glad you're enjoying it! :)
Clarity
Chapter 11: Pressing On
Mary Margaret watched the paramedic check his vitals, as the ambulance sped toward the hospital. She recognized him as one of their Knights and recalled that his name was
Gareth, but she didn't know who he was here. He gave her a reassuring nod though.
"His vitals are strong and though he's lost a bit of blood, he'll be fine. I'm sure Dr. Whale will have no problem stitching him up," Gareth offered.
"Great...Whale," David muttered and she squeezed his hand.
"You know there is no competition there," she whispered to him.
"I know…" he said, as they shared a long gaze. They arrived at the hospital and wheeled David in, with Mary Margaret running beside his gurney.
"What do we have?" Whale asked and then saw that it was David and Mary Margaret.
"Stab wound…" the paramedic said.
"Okay...let's get him to a room. You'll need to wait out here," Whale told her.
"I am going in with him...I don't care what you say!" Mary Margaret protested.
"It's usually family only," he replied.
"She is my family," David said, as he saw their fingers entwined.
"And he's mine," she added, though she really wanted to scream at the man she had made a mistake with that David was really her husband. She wanted to scream that to the whole town, but knew now was not the time for that.
"Fine...whatever," Whale said irritably, as David was wheeled into one of the emergency rooms.
"You do know that the Mayor is still your emergency contact in your file, right?" Whale asked.
"That needs to change. I don't want Regina anywhere near him," Mary Margaret snapped and then stopped to try to quell the swirling emotions inside her.
"Oh...okay, we can change that. I'll have the nurse update it to you," Whale said, taken aback by her fierceness and she supposed that made sense. The Mary Margaret under the curse was so soft spoken and a proverbial doormat to everyone. She was still angry with herself that she had ever let Whale near her when she was vulnerable, let alone touch her. David must have sensed that and squeezed her hand.
"It's okay...I'm okay," he promised, as he kissed her cheek. Whale looked away and put David's chart down.
"Well, I'm the doctor and it's up to me to determine how okay you are or not," he said, as he began examining the wound.
After Emma finished the preliminary report and locked Keith up, Ruby's words proved effective, as she found herself at the hospital.
"Hey...you came," Ruby said.
"Uh yeah...like I said, I need his statement," Emma deflected.
"He saved your life," Ruby reminded again.
"Really?" Henry asked, as he arrived with Neal and Gold. Emma sighed in irritation.
"What is he doing here?" she asked him.
"He wanted to go to the diner with his...with David and Mary Margaret. He wanted to see Mary Margaret specifically since the school fired her today," Neal started to explain.
"Yeah...I heard," Emma replied.
"My Mom is behind it...I know she is," Henry replied, causing Emma to sigh deeply again.
"Anyway, I called Mary Margaret to see if they could meet us and that's when we found out David had been stabbed," Neal replied.
"Is he okay?" Henry asked.
"I think he's going to be fine, sweetie. He saved Emma from getting stabbed," Ruby replied.
"I had it under control...he didn't save me. If anything, he got in the way," Emma argued. Neal smirked.
"I'm sure," he said, as they continued to wait to hear about David's condition.
Sidney typed away on the old computer in the newsroom when his phone rang.
"Hello?" he asked.
"What the hell went on at the Rabbit Hole tonight?" Regina demanded to know.
"Uh...well, it appears that the Sheriff arrived to deal with a drunken disorderly that went bad. Except instead of taking the knife wound herself, I interviewed an eyewitness that said Mr. Nolan took the knife for her," Sidney reported.
"You better spin that story in a negative light. The last thing I need is David Nolan being hailed for some heroics!" Regina said irritably.
"Well...people are already saying that's exactly what he is. I was able to cover up that he was homeless for a while, but I'm not sure how we bury this," Sidney replied.
"Then you need to figure it out!" Regina snapped.
"He was there with Miss Blanchard. I can remind everyone of their scandalous affair and their amorous antics in the park earlier today," he said.
"Whatever...just spin it to make them look bad," Regina said, as she hung up. Sidney sighed and decided to run to the diner for more coffee, before he finished and put the paper to bed. He walked out and didn't see August waiting outside. He slipped in and sat down at the computer. He slipped a flash drive into the external USB. The computer was so old that it didn't even have an USB slot, but fortunately Sidney happened to have a solution to that when needed.
August slipped his story into the pages of tomorrow's paper layout, deleting some column about the mine collapse, which was just a story that was in the paper weekly lately. No one seemed to notice that Sidney cycled the same stories over and over again. But August did notice and he had also noticed the changes lately. He now knew that Snow White and the Prince were awake and that meant that Emma just needed a little more pushing toward the truth. He was also shocked to find out that Neal was in town as well and he was hoping to keep a low profile and avoid him. It was good though. It meant that things had accelerated and he was hoping his article would accelerate them even more.
He felt slightly bad about running the story in respect to Kathryn, but taking away Regina's narrative that David and Mary Margaret were somehow a pair of adulterous, terrible people might go a long way to waking people up. He was exposing in the article that David's marriage license to Kathryn was phony and Regina drew it up when he woke up in an attempt to keep him and Mary Margaret apart. Essentially, his article was one hundred percent true, except the part where Kathryn was in on it and went along with it. But once the curse broke, any ill feelings anyone had toward the blonde would disappear. Truth was what they needed now. It was what he needed. Truthfully, he wasn't doing this to help David and Mary Margaret. He was selfishly doing this to save himself. The curse breaking was his only chance or he would soon have more than just a wooden leg.
Mary Margaret waited impatiently, as Whale stitched up David's wound.
"You're lucky...the knife missed all your organs and any deeper, you probably would have needed surgery. But it appears there is no internal bleeding," Whale replied.
"You're sure?" she asked and he looked at her.
"I'm sure...but just the same, he needs to rest once he's home for a few days. For now, I'd like to keep him overnight," Whale replied.
"I'm staying with him," she insisted. He nodded, as he did another test.
"What is that?" she asked.
"It checks his hemoglobin or blood level, which is slightly low. Since we're keeping him overnight, I'd like to give him a pint of blood," Whale replied, as he wrote something on his chart.
"I'll be back soon and we'll assign him a room," he said, as he exited. David smiled up at her once the doctor left and she leaned down to kiss him on the lips.
"I'm fine…" he assured once their lips parted.
"I know…" she said.
"I'm just sorry," he replied.
"For what?" she asked.
"Well...this isn't exactly how our Valentine's Day was supposed to end," he replied. But she only smiled.
"Well...for us, I'd say this is pretty normal and you saved our baby's life. Again," she said. He chuckled.
"We always did manage to find our fair share of trouble," he agreed and she sat down beside his bed and rested her head against his shoulder.
Whale stepped out of the room and found people waiting in the lobby area.
"Is my...Mr. Nolan okay?" Henry asked the doctor, who managed a smile for him.
"David is going to be fine. I stitched him up and I'm going to keep him overnight, just to be safe," Whale replied.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get a transfusion going for David. He's a little low from the blood loss he suffered," the doctor added.
"Maybe I can give him blood!" Henry chimed in. Whale chuckled.
"That's very generous of you, Henry, but I have to give David his type of blood and it's highly unlikely that you have the same type," Whale replied.
"I'm B negative. What type is David?" Henry asked curiously.
"How do you know what blood type you are?" Neal asked.
"Tonsils...two years ago. I didn't have to get blood, but I got a lot of ice cream and the nurses told me what type I am," he replied.
"Well...that's a coincidence. David is also B negative, but I'm afraid we can't take a pint from you, Henry," Whale said, as he started to walk away.
"Wait…" Emma called, as he turned.
"I'm also B negative...if you're short," she said. He looked at her and then nodded.
"Wait at the desk and I'll send a nurse for you," he said, as he walked away.
"Wow...same blood type," Neal mentioned.
"It doesn't mean anything," Emma protested.
"Of course not. I mean, you, the kid, and David all being the same blood type couldn't be anything except a coincidence," Neal mused.
"In my experience...there are no coincidences," Gold said.
"Whatever...you better get him home, before Regina has an aneurysm," Emma mentioned.
"Dad is filing for custody," Henry chimed in, causing her eyes to widen.
"What?" Emma asked.
"Uh...it wasn't my idea, but it's what he wants and I guess I have a lawyer already," Neal replied.
"Are you insane? Regina is going to go nuclear!" Emma hissed to him, as she pulled him aside.
"I know...but if I'm being honest, I want this too. I would have never given him up in the first place if I'd known about him!" Neal hissed back.
"I was in jail! What was I supposed to do!? I couldn't raise him!" she said.
"I know and I'm not blaming you. I got scared and should have never listened to August," he replied.
"I made a lot of mistakes, but now I'm going to make up for them as best I can and clearly our son is not happy with his adopted mother, who happens to be the freaking Evil Queen," he said. She scoffed.
"Not this again…" Emma complained.
"Like it or not, Em...it's all true and my Dad mentioned earlier that our chances in court would be better if we were on a united front," he mentioned.
"Wait...you mean your father wants me in on this too?" she asked. He nodded.
"Even if we're not together...we are his biological parents and you may have given him up, but I didn't. You were under duress and I didn't know he existed. Biological parents have won cases with less," he replied.
"Not against people like Regina. She controls this town. The district attorney is in her pocket, so there's no reason to believe the judge won't be either," she reasoned. He shrugged.
"Maybe not...but people are more afraid of my father than they are of her, trust me…" he countered and she found that she couldn't argue with that.
"Fine...I'm in," she agreed.
"Really?" he asked. She nodded, with a shrug.
"Getting him away from Regina is the only reason I stayed in this crazy town. I just didn't think I had a ghost of a chance," she replied. He smiled.
"Well...we do. A really good chance," he said.
"She will wage all out war on us...all of us," Emma warned.
"Guess we'll have to bring it then," Neal said, as Whale motioned to her.
"Go...go give your father some blood," Neal said.
"Don't call him that...he's not my father," Emma replied.
"Yeah...and denial is a river in Egypt," Neal said.
"Shut up," Emma replied, as she walked away. Neal smirked. She was going to deny the reality until she was blue in the face, but he knew her better than anyone. The walls around her were slowly beginning to crack.