They had it all planned. They would drop off Henry at Regina's in the morning and then their romantic day could begin. A visit to the local fun fair for old time's sake, a fancy dinner at Tony's Restaurant, topped off by an overnight stay at the five-star Lakeview Hotel. That was the whole idea.

Since Emma wasn't one for surprises, she had made sure to be the one planning this year's Valentine's Day. It was their first proper one as a couple, not counting the rushed and improvised one when they were seventeen years old. Needless to say, according to Emma, it had to be perfect. And it could be perfect.

There was only one tiny problem.

When Emma opened her eyes, her head felt about to explode. She let out a deep breath and immediately the coughing started. An unstoppable coughing fit that burned her throat and went all the way down to her lungs.

'Em, you alright?' she heard in between the moments while she was gasping for air. Neal lifted himself up from the bed and cast a worried glance.

'I'm fine…' she said in between fits. 'Just a little congested is all.'

It apparently didn't do much to ease Neal's mind, because he got up and came back a few minutes later with a glass of water. 'Here, drink up. It might help.'

Grateful she set herself up straighter against the headboard, took the glass from him, and took a few sips, leading to yet another coughing fit. Once that one subdued, she did a body scan, realizing only then that not only her head, throat, and lungs, but her whole physique just ached. It felt like all of her muscles in her body had decided to team up against her, sending the most annoying pain signals through her nerves. Not today of all days…

Neal laid the palm of his hand against her forehead and let out a disapproving hum. 'Emma, you're burning up.'

So that was another symptom she was noticing. Her temperature did feel off. She felt incredibly hot, but she couldn't make her body stop shivering. 'I'm sure it's nothing,' she tried to dismiss it as something meaningless. 'I'll just go and take a hot shower, let the steam clear my head, and I'll be good as new.' She turned to face him and worked up a smile. 'Happy Valentine's Day.'

'Happy Valentine's Day Em,' Neal replied and gave her a gentle peck on the lips.

Right, she had to get herself up and out of the bed. Something that would normally be as easy as pie now sounded like the greatest challenge in human history. She put down the glass on the nightstand and used the piece of furniture as a means to help her sit up fully straight. She then threw her legs over the side of the bed and placed her feet on the cold, wooden floor. The sensation sent more shivers down her spine. Her head lowered, she waited a few seconds to work up enough strength to actually make it up and stand up straight. She felt Neal's worrying eyes piercing her back and used her two hands to push herself up from the bed. No way she was giving up so quickly.

Her body on the other hand decided differently. As soon as she stood up straight, her head started to spin and she had to steady herself holding on to the nightstand or she would fall over. I can do this, I can do this, she repeated in her head, and with that mantra replaying she walked over to the bathroom.

Once there, the spinning of her head caused a wave of nausea to float through her system and she bent over the toilet where she let it all out. Riding out the wave, she felt Neal crouching down behind her.

He used the palm of his hand to draw soothing circles on her back and pulled back her long hair when another wave followed.

Tears pricked behind her eyes, an aggravating occurrence that always happened when she threw up. Once she felt that nothing more would follow, she flushed the toilet and leaned back, completely exhausted. She put her head on Neal's shoulder and felt his arms wrap protectively around her. Her breathing was labored, caused by a combination of the intensity of the nauseousness and her congested lungs. How she hated this feeling.

While they sat like that, Neal whispered soothing words into her ear until she calmed down and her breathing was down to a more normal pace. 'Instead of taking a shower, why don't you take a bath? I'll help you,' he suggested.

She simply nodded into his chest, not entirely certain if she could stand up for so long. However, she really wanted to benefit from the hot steam that the warm water would create, so taking a bath was therefore the better alternative to taking a shower.

When they had moved into the large detached house on Dunford Road, most of the rooms were already furnished, including the bathroom which had a shower as well as a bathtub. Emma and Neal both liked the rustic and warm style of the interior of the house and decided to keep most of it. It reminded Emma a bit of her mother's loft apartment, which made her immediately feel connected to it.

A knock on the bathroom door made the two of them look up.

'You guys okay in there?' the sound of a still sleepy Henry broke through the door.

'Yeah buddy, your mom isn't feeling so well this morning, but she'll be fine. Why don't you go and make yourself some breakfast and play some video games? We'll be down in a bit,' Neal answered.

'Okay. Sure you guys don't need anything?'

Emma smiled at the thoughtfulness of her son. He's always been like that and she loved him for it. 'Thanks, kid, we're all good here.' Her voice sounded low and raspy. Henry thumping down the stairs left a pounding feeling inside her head and she closed her eyes.

'Come on you,' Neal whispered. 'Let's get you up, it's too cold here for you on the floor.' He supported her aching body and walked her back to their bedroom where he sat her down on the bed. 'I'll go and fill up the tub, you just wait here, okay?' He placed a soft kiss on her temple and left the room.

She did hate this. So much. The one day in the year that they could've spent not having to worry about anything, just being together and celebrating their love for each other like any other normal couple… No curses, no monsters, no evil creatures in sight. But yet here she was, sick as a dog. Their whole day ruined.

She forced herself to keep sitting up straight. Laying down meant giving in to the illness and that was something she absolutely couldn't afford. She took another few sips from the glass with water and this time she did notice its soothing properties to ease the pain in her throat. She sighed and closed her eyes for only a few seconds… Just a few seconds.

'Em?'

She didn't know how long she'd been asleep, but Neal had come back and now sat beside her on the bed. Her head was tilted in a highly uncomfortable position and it hurt her neck. Slowly she pulled herself back up again. 'Bath's ready?' she mumbled.

'Yes, it is Your Royal Highness,' Neal answered teasingly. 'Come on.'

Not only did he help her make her way back to the bathroom, he had also placed a chair there where she could sit down.

She didn't get as dizzy this time, so this was all surely unneeded. 'Oh come on Neal, that's not necessary, I can perfectly get undressed standing up…' She was rudely interrupted by another coughing fit.

'Yeah right, you just sit down on the damned chair,' Neal laughed.

She couldn't help but let out a chuckle, annoyed that she herself had proven his point, but seeing the humor of what her stubborn behavior must have looked like to him. Reluctantly she sat herself down on the chair.

Even though her nose was blocked and her head fully congested, the strong scent of peppermint oil entered through her nostrils. She remembered the scented bath foam she had bought for Henry when he was coming down with a common cold, only a few months ago. Neal had clearly remembered and must have put it in the bath for her.

'I'm sorry,' she whispered as Neal is helping her to take off her top and PJ-leggings. She didn't mean for it to come out in a whimper, but it did.

With one of the legs of her legging in his hand, he stopped in his tracks and looked at her surprised. 'What for?'

'For completely ruining our Valentine's Day.' She couldn't longer deny the fact that this wasn't a simple little cold she could ignore. She had come down with a serious case of the flu and it wouldn't be better any time soon.

Neal slowly brushed a thumb over her cheek. 'That's not something you should worry about now. We need to focus on getting you better. Besides, we can always create our own Valentine's Day. It doesn't necessarily have to be on 14th February.'

'But we made all of these plans. I'll have to cancel our reservation at Tony's and our booking at the Lakeview...'

He let out a loud laugh. 'Listen, for once we're going to make use of your Royal status in this town. I'm pretty sure that they're more than happy to rebook us, since you're the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming and all that.

'Don't forget I'm also the Savior around here,' Emma chimed in, her voice still sounding like that of a seal on dry land.

'Exactly. All the more reason for them to rebook us whenever we choose. I'll call them later.'

When she looked into his playful brown eyes, she knew she'd made the right decision. Allowing him back into her life was one of the best things that had happened to her over the past few years. That a lot had changed in her life was an understatement, but being with him had led to so much joy and fulfillment that her heart swelled only thinking about it.

They finished getting her undressed and Neal helped her into the bathtub.

In all honesty, Emma felt like she had run a marathon, exhaustion taking over her body. It's crazy to think that she'd only been a little bit tired the night before, but no other symptoms had presented to her until this morning. She laid her head against the side of the tub and closed her eyes.

'Are you comfortable?' Neal asked and she managed to bring out a small 'hmm', feeling too tired to utter another word.

The warm water felt really good on her sore muscles and the scented steam coming from the bath relieved her congested head a little.

Neal still sat by her side when she opened her eyes and a smile of relief brightened her face. She took his hand, suddenly eager for his touch. Being sick always took her back to when she was little and no one was there to really care for her. Being sick in foster care meant taking care of yourself. No one had the time or loved you enough to help you when you were feeling under the weather. So Emma had learned from a very young age to fend for herself. Now having someone looking after her was a whole new experience and she still couldn't entirely believe that this is what was happening.

Neal gently squeezed her hand and pressed another kiss on her forehead. Then, he picked up the bottle of shampoo and held it out in front of her.

She nodded, understanding what he asked her, and he helped her wetting and shampooing her hair, massaging her scalp carefully in the process.

She leaned in his touch and enjoyed the sensation. However uncomfortable the flu made her feel, his presence made it all far more bearable. It almost disappointed her when he pulled back his hand and she let her head rest again against the back of the tub.

He let his hand lower from her shoulder to her arm before he pulled away completely. 'I'll just go to check on Henry and be right back.'

'Hey buddy,' he announced himself as he joined his son on the couch.

Henry was wearing his headphones and played this video game Neal could never remember the name of. As soon as the boy noticed his dad, he took off the headphones. 'How's mom, will she be okay?'

Neal ruffled his son's hair and put his arm around his shoulder. 'She's just coming down with the cold or the flu, she'll be fine in no-time. She's taking a bath now. I actually used the bath foam she gave you when you were feeling poorly.'

'To make it easier for her to breathe?' Henry asked.

Neal nodded.

'That really helped me too.' The boy sounded wise for his age.

'Did you already help yourself to some breakfast?' Neal looked at the empty plate in front of Henry and knew what the answer would be.

'Yeah, just had some pop tarts and a glass of orange juice.' The boy put down the controller of the video game and shot his dad a hopeful look. 'Now mom's not feeling well, does that mean that you guys stay here today?'

Neal wondered where this question was leading to. 'I guess so… but Henry, you can still go to Regina. I'm sure she's eager to see you this weekend.'

'I know, and I'm too… but it's just, when mom is sick, I prefer to stay with you guys. If that's okay with you?' he added uncertainly.

Neal bowed his head and wiped a hand over his face. Regina wouldn't be happy with this development, but he understood his son's worry for his other mom. And he was pretty sure that Emma would be happy to have him with her this weekend as well. It would make for a nice distraction now their Valentine's Day plans were canceled.

Henry was staring wide-eyed at him, waiting for an answer.

'Right. Let's make a deal.' He realized all too late that that comment was a little bit too close to home and he smiled when he noticed the grin on Henry's face. 'Yes, let's make a deal, dearie,' he added for good measure. 'You can stay here with us, but you'll have to share the caretaking responsibilities with me. We're both going to make sure that your mom is in the best of hands and will want for nothing.'

Henry nodded enthusiastically. 'Deal!'

'Great. Well, first things first. I'll ring up Regina to explain the situation to her. Then I'll go help Emma and when I come back, you and I will make her breakfast.'

'Operation Valentine!' Henry called out.