Chapter 17 - Sunday

Sunday morning came, and Emma had no intentions of getting out of bed. That is until she heard Hope through the baby monitor. She wasn't crying, but happily babbling to herself. Emma got up and took her out of her crib and brought her back to bed with her. It was too early to start the day. Not to mention she was still recovering and making up for some needed sleep because of the magic she used to help Killian. She had also stayed pretty late with her parents, Kristoff, and Anna. Her parents offered her the guestroom, but she wanted to sleep in her own bed, even if it still wasn't the same without Killian. Having Hope beside her made things a little better.

"You miss him too, don't you?" Emma spoke, rhetorically of course, as she watched Hope. Her daughter was looking around curiously at her surroundings. Was she looking for her daddy, expecting to see him on the other side of the bed?

"When he comes home, we'll have a lazy day, and we'll be together just like this. I also promised to bake a rum cake for him, so maybe we'll have some people over one night. Or maybe he and I will eat the whole thing by ourselves, who knows. And then your birthday is coming up in a month. You'll be a year old, baby girl! Can you believe that? I can't. We'll definitely have a party that day."

Emma continued to talk and make plans and daydream about the days ahead. Eventually she got a notification on her phone. It was an update from Regina sent out to a dozen or so people. Apparently the group searching for the whereabouts of their potential villain had found a single boot. Ruby would see what she could do, with being a wolf and all, and if that didn't lead anywhere, then they'd use a locator spell. Hadn't Henry mentioned something about a shoe the other night? His theory was looking more and more promising.

Having read the update, Emma saw what time it was on her phone. Even if she was enjoying the extra time to relax in bed, and also spending time with Hope, she had to get up and start the day at some point. She got herself and Hope dressed then went downstairs.

She made eggs for breakfast since they were fast and easy. As she did so, she made a mental note to make pancakes once Killian was back. She wondered why she was making so many plans all of a sudden. It had been two weeks to the day since Killian was bitten by one of the dogs. Since then she'd been so busy and focused on helping him. She was barely home and far from relaxed. Now though, she realized the little things she looked forward to again.

After breakfast, which was practically lunch, Emma let Hope play in the living room while she cleaned the kitchen and straightened up other areas downstairs. Whenever Killian did get home, he would still need to rest. She didn't want a cleaning frenzy of his to kick in.

Eventually she took a break and sat on the floor with Hope. They made a tower together with some blocks then happily smashed it. Instead of rebuilding, Hope crawled over to her play shopping cart, pulled herself up, and made her way around the room. She couldn't walk on her own yet, but she really enjoyed using the cart. Emma took her phone out to get it on video and show Killian later, once he woke up. He had seen her do it before, this wasn't something new he was missing, but she knew he would still enjoy seeing it. The clip only lasted a few seconds. Hope had reached a destination and now her focus was on a toy with lots of buttons, lights, and singing.

Just as Emma was putting her phone back in her pocket, it started ringing. The number wasn't familiar, but she answered anyway. She never knew if it would be a call related to sheriff business. Plus, her phone would detect if it was likely a scam number or not.

"Hello, Sheriff speaking." She answered.

"Good afternoon, Sheriff." Replied a very familiar voice, a voice she longed to hear but had been deprived of lately. "Your presence is being requested at the hospital. It seems there's a patient threatening escape if he doesn't see his wife."

Emma let out a noise that was something between a laugh and a sob. He was awake. Killian was awake and talking to her on the phone. He had made it.

"Is that so? It sounds like a certain pirate captain that got hit by a car once." She answered after a minute to be sure her voice wouldn't betray her tears, her happy and relieved tears.

She couldn't believe they were having this conversation, but she also wasn't surprised by his theatrics. Honestly, she was just so glad to hear him that she didn't care what they were talking about, so she played along.

"But I don't know if I'll be much help. I might end up helping him stage his mutiny. Although, he didn't need any help last time with his short-lived escape."

"Pirate," Was his reply.

"Now I'm the one wondering if I'm hallucinating." She admitted as she thought back to that night in the hospital. At the time she didn't laugh, but she wanted to now at the thought of Killian in a hospital gown and robe asking what Jell-o was.

"Are you comparing me to that blue, jiggling nightmare on a plate?" He questioned her with a bit of outrage in his tone, teasing of course.

Now she definitely couldn't hold back a laugh, both from his comment and more relief that everything was okay.

"No, I'm comparing myself to you." She laughed once more and shook her head, even though he couldn't see that. Then she answered a little more seriously. "The Jell-o is in comparison to this conversation. I'm not really sure if I believe this is real."

"Then come talk to me face to face, love. I wasn't speaking entirely in jest earlier. I want to see you."

"Give me half and hour, and I'll be there. I just have to bring Hope to Henry's real quick."

"Wake me if I'm dozing off when you arrive. I love you, Swan."

"Love you too."

[]

CS

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Killian's eyes were closed when Emma arrived. He was more than dozing off, he was out cold. She had a feeling that would be the case. He sounded awake on the phone, but she knew from previous times that that wouldn't last long. The others who were already recovered took two to four days to remain awake for a full day, and couple of days after that to regain full strength.

She didn't mind waiting though. She still felt comforted by his presence, even if he was asleep, and knowing that he would indeed wake up again. In the meantime, she settled in and placed her things on the bedside table. Where she spotted the corded phone that he must have called her from. His phone was probably with his clothes in the nearby cabinet and out of power. With her own fully chard phone she found an e-book version of The Hound do the Baskervilles. She wasn't part of the team trying to track down the culprit behind all this, and stories in the land weren't known for accuracy, but it helped to pass the time. It was also a good idea to know your enemy, or the potential enemy at least.

She started off reading for information and background on Stapleton, but he didn't show up immediately in the story. By the time she did reach that point, he was no longer her only reason for reading the story. She was enjoying it more than she thought she would and didn't realize how much time had passed.

"Good afternoon, Emma." Whale greeted as he entered. "I suppose you know the good news."

"Yeah, he called me, but he's been out since I got here."

"Well, it's been what, two weeks since his bite?" Whale asked rhetorically as he flipped through his chart. "It usually takes people closer to three weeks to wake up on their own. Waking up now could have been a fluke, or he could be coming out of this thanks to whatever you were doing with magic. I'd say if he wakes up again in the next twelve hours or so, then it's the real deal. Then the time after that, he can go home."

"Wait, seriously?" Emma asked. She was really surprised but also excited by the news. "I thought it took people several days and up to a week for full recovery after they wake up."

"It does, but there's nothing else we can do for him here. One kind of magic was the problem and another kind was the solution. If he can mange to be awake for twenty minutes or more then he's fine to go home and continue to regain his strength there. I'm sure you'll both be pleased with that."

"That's definitely preferable." She nodded. "Thanks, Whale."

"Don't mention it." He waved it off then quickly exited.

About an hour later Emma was engrossed in her book once again. She really jumped when someone in the room spoke. "I see the sheriff did her job well and brought my lovely wife to me."

At least with Whale she heard him coming. Since she didn't hear anyone enter the room, that could only mean...she looked up to see her husband awake and alert.

"Killian!" She moved from her chair to his bedside. she threw her arms around him, moved back just enough to kiss him, and then she hugged and held him tight once again, burying her face in his neck. They stayed like that for several minutes, taking in comfort from simply holding one another.

"Not to ruin the moment, love, but if we continue like this, I'm going to fall asleep again sooner than either of us would like."

"Oh," She realized and quickly moved back. She wouldn't say no to a nap herself with how comfortable they were, but she didn't want to waste this time with more sleeping.

"No, no, Emma, stay as you were." He immediately reached out to her again. "I just meant, let's not embrace the silence as well as each other. Tell me about Hope, about what you saw with your magic, about the progress in finding the villain behind this."

"I can do you one better." She smiled and pulled out her phone. She brought up the clip she had taken this morning and handed the phone to him. She smiled more as she watched him enjoying the short video of their daughter.

"We're in for trouble when she really starts walking and running aren't we?" He asked even as he smiled proudly. "And again when she's old enough to shop on her own. That might give him a few gray hairs."

"Oh, you'll get them before that point I'm sure." She laughed and ran her fingers through his hair. He didn't have any yet, but she'd still find him handsome when he eventually did.

"True." He laughed. "Still, I can't wait to see her."

"Well, I have good news for you." She proceeded to tell him what Whale had said earlier.

"If that's the case, then I'm willing to bet a cocoa with cinnamon that I'll be home by tonight."

"We'll see." She replied and gave him a kiss. Of course, that's what she wanted too, but she didn't want either of them getting their hopes up. Tonight would be amazing, but tomorrow wouldn't be so bad either.

"And how are Henry Daniel ad Henry Lance?" He asked.

"Well, Henry Daniel hass a good theory about a Sherlock Holmes story. I've actually been reading it since I got here. And Henry Lance is practically running the sheriff station single-handedly, he must get that from you." She updated him and even teased a little in good nature. "I tried to take a shift or two, but my sleeping habits are so messed up. Dad's been checking in on him though."

"I wish this didn't have to take so much of a toll on you." He sighed, and he held her a little closer.

"I'm fine. Besides, it's more than worth it, and you would have done the same for me." She assured him.

"You uh, you had three more visits, yeah?" He asked a little uncertainly.

"Yeah." She nodded. "It was never in the heat of the moment. I never saw anything too scary. You did throw me for some loops though. Everything I said, I was pretty much just winging it."

"Well, I"m here. So, I think that's enough said. As I always say, I've yet to see you fail, Swan."

She didn't say anything in return to that. She just smiled and thought about the times when he had said that before. Then she remembered what he said about not embracing the silence, and she wasn't ready for him to go back to sleep just yet.

"So, what was it like for you? I mean, I know my visits are kind of blurry, but what about the rest of it? Did you have dreams or nightmare? Could you hear what was going on around you in the hospital?"

"Aye to all the above. It's all blurry now. But I saw and relived more things in my mind than just your visits. There are some things that I have done that I cannot forget, and others that I did manage to forget somehow. Everything came back to life. At times, the weight of it all did seem like it would crush my heart from within me."

"But it didn't." She chimed in. It was a simple statement of fact, but one she desperately needed to hear. It was one thing to have an idea and a theory about what time was like for him and another it from him. So, she said it again to draw comfort from the truth that she was incredibly grateful for. "It didn't."

"Aye, every time it felt nearly unbearable, there would come a wave of calm. I suppose that was you, love. It was very much like waves. Memories of darkness would come rolling in with sinister speed; the wave would wash away and take the guilt and weight with it; then it would eventually come right back again with something new. Finally, the most fearsome wave came. Instead of being pulled under, I found the strength to swim through it and rise to the surface."

"Only you could manage to make something as crazy and scary as this into something so poetic sounding." She shook her head and laughed. It felt good to laugh. It felt even better to see that Killian was more than okay. "You and your sea-based analogies."

"Pirate." He replied, followed by a long yawn.

"A pirate in need of sleep apparently."

"I'm a pirate in need of one more kiss from his wife." He countered and even tapped his fingers against his lips. Not that she needed the extra hint or the imploring look.

"Just one?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. A look she definitely got from him.

"Aye, for now."

"For now." She agreed, with the unspoken promise of more later, and kissed him she did.

It was like the exact opposite of breaking a sleeping curse. As soon as she pulled away, Killian's eyes closed once more. But this time he had a smile on his face, and so did she. The next time he woke up he was finally coming home.

Woo-hoo! Killian is finally awake! The story isn't quite over yet though. However, writing endings is a struggle for me. I want to fit in so many little things and get it just right. So, getting this finished up is taking longer than expected. Plus, life outside of writing is pretty busy right now. I've decided to take short break from updating, just a couple weeks I promise. But hey, at least this chapter is full of fluff and not a cliffhanger. I plan to start updating again in mid-July. This story won't be left unfinished, don't worry. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, let me know your thoughts, and I'll be back.