Disclaimer: Do not own Once Upon a Time. Never will. Ally is mine though.
A/N: Episodes 6 and 7 are condensed into one here, for there wasn't enough for Henry and Ally to plausibly be in. So a sort of fluffy chapter. Enjoy.
06-Hospital Blues
"Are you sure that you can't sneak me anything from Granny's?" Ally whines from the confines on her hospital bed. Al the young girl this was adding insult to the injury that she had already sustained. She couldn't get out of bed by herself, for the mild concussion, and her hospital gown had baby ducks printed all over it. Truly this was an embarrassing ordeal all together.
Ruby chuckled at her kid from the doorway of her room. Ally looked slightly better from when she had last seen her a few hours ago, when she had first woken up. Of course since Ally was indeed her kid through in through, the first thing that was taken offence to was the hospital food.
"Positive pup. I tried to bring back a burger for myself, and that nurse out there— let me tell you, she's scarier than your Gigi." Ruby says, making Ally shiver at the thought.
"Fine… I guess that I'll just have to survive on Jell-O alone. That is if everyone stops stealing it from me! I've been awake how long, and have had at least four Jell-O cups that disappeared. This is an outrage." She pouts. Ruby laughs, and sits back down in the recliner next to her daughter's bed.
She's finally able to deal with the sounds of the beeping monitors better. Those little beeps mean that Ally is okay and still there in front of her. Ally turns her head to look at her Mom, and sees that she has a distant look in her eye again. "You don't have to stay here all the time you know. You can go home. Gigi is going to come visit me tonight, and Henry and Emma are stoppin by after that party." Ally tells her softly.
Ruby jolts out of her fog, and gives her child a level look. "Nope. Pup, I am perfectly happy just right here. So… how's your arm doing?" She asks adding a lightness into her voice at the end of her sentence. Both of them look down at the offending appendage.
Ally's right arm is in a thick red cast from the middle of her bicep, all the way down to the tips of her fingers. The cast is a bright fire engine red, for it reminds Ally of her Mom, and their car, pretty much her family. Ally scowls down at the cast, and then flicks her saddened gaze up to her mom.
"It hurts, and I can't move it all that well. How long did the doctor say that I had to keep it on?" Ally asks, trying to keep the whining out of her voice. Ruby chuckles, and reaches out, to brush her fingertips against those just seen in the cast.
"Baby, you had a really bad compound fracture in your arm. They had to do surgery to fix you remember? Dr. Whale said that it would be at least six to eight weeks of recovery." Ruby reminds her softly. Ally winces at the long time again. She can't be hurt for that long. Henry needs her.
"But— but that's like forever!" Ally pouts, and at that Ruby can't hold in her laughter anymore. Ally's pout grows larger at the sound of her laughter. Just what she needed, her own Mom making fun of her.
"Its only a month and a half, two months top pup." Ruby says looking at the girl fondly. Ally grimaces not liking the sound of that time period either.
"Do I have to stay in the hospital that long?" She says not really wanting to hear the answer in case she actually does need to.
"No. Thank god for that. It's only been a few hours, and you're ready to make a prison break. Dr. Whale said a few days observation that's all." Ruby tried to placate Ally, seeing as she's only getting worked up now. With a groan of defeat she slumps back into her pillow.
"Should never had let Henry go into that mine." Ally mumbles softly. She thought that her Mom wouldn't hear that, but her Mom has always had excellent hearing.
"Ally you are not responsible for what Henry chooses to do or not do. You are responsible for what you choose to do. You shouldn't have gone down that mine after him. You should have come and gotten one of us adults!" Ruby scolds trying to keep her lingering fear from turning to anger at her child.
Ally's bottom lip quivers and she stares down at the brightly colored sheets that have small animals on them. "If I didn't go, then Henry would have been hurt, and he wouldn't trust me, then he'd be alone, and I'd be alone again. I didn't wanna go but I had to." Ally whimpers, trying to fight off the tears. She's so tired of crying, she already cries when the pain gets to be too much for her.
Ruby has to fight back her own bad feelings she has at the thought that her daughter feels so alone that Henry was the only person that she had. She gets up from her seat and moves over to the bed. Ally is already so small in the bed that she easily, and gently slips behind her so that she can wrap her arms around her.
Ally snuggles her head underneath her Mom's chin, and sighs. She hasn't been held like this since she was really little, before her Mom decided to go out all the time. Ruby let out a shaky breath, and rested her chin on her daughter's head. Both of them needed this, they needed this closeness.
A half hour later Ally was in pain again, and one of he nurses hurried in with a syringe that she plunged into her IV. "This will help with her pain, and let her res a little." She tells the worried mother, before scurrying away. True to her word, Ally was back asleep in the matter of minutes.
Ruby just watched her rest peacefully for once. She remained holding her for a few hours, until Ally woke, and mumbled that she needed to go. So after much embarrassment and struggle, the young girl was finally back in bed and awake again. Ally and Ruby were playing a game of hangman together when the door opened, and a sprinting Henry came flying at Ally.
"Careful!" Both Emma and Ruby shouted, but they shouldn't have worried. Henry climbed up onto the bed beside Ally, and hugged her tightly, but not too tightly. Ally raised her good arm up and around him, hugging him back as well.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Henry cries not letting of his best friend hoping that she will forgive him for putting her squarely in that whole mess.
"It's okay Henry. I told you back in the mines, I wanted to go too. Besides you would have gone without me, and then it would be you in here…" Ally tells him as the pair pull apart. Henry wipes at his eyes, and both the adults can see that he still feels guilty.
"Ah, come on squirt. It isn't your fault. Those mines should have been better guarded if they didn't want munchkins crawling around in there." Ruby tells him, trying to make Henry feel better.
"Yeah, I'm never going underground ever again. If Gigi needs something from the basement again Mom, you can forget about it." Ally says jokingly, but again the adults see the real fear in her eyes. Ruby smiles slightly at that, but mostly she's worried about how they're going to deal if she has nightmares.
Emma finally approaches the bed, and Ally grins at her holding up her good hand for her to take. "Thank you for rescuing me Emma. You really are the Savior." Ally says. Henry shoots her a frantic look, but she ignores it.
"No problem kid it's my job. But, even if it wasn't I'd still come and get you because my life just wouldn't be the same without you two crazy kids in it." Emma tells her squeezing her hand. Ruby smiles at the three of them, reassured once again that as long as Ally was with Emma that nothing would happen to her kid.
Emma and Ruby sit back and watch as Henry and Ally squabble over what he can write on her cast. Emma lets out a soft chuckle. "They are quite the pair." She says. Ruby smirks.
"They always have been. It's like having two kids for the price of one. Wherever Henry is, that's where Ally wants to be. It's the same with him. I think it kinda drives Regina up the wall, but its good for them." Ruby says softly. Emma snorts, and watches as Henry finally takes the black sharpie to Ally's cast.
"Hey, why don't you head home and shower, get some stuff together, and some food. Henry and I will stay here and watch Ally." Emma offers. Ruby bites her lip, and looks worriedly at her daughter. It was like she had finally seen her kid again, and she was slipping away. Emma could sense the panic in her.
"Don't worry she'll still be here when you get back." She reassures her. With a shaky breath Ruby nods her head. Ruby moves over to the bed, and pets her daughter's hair softly. It's enough to make her look up from Henry's work.
"Hey pup, I'm going to head home and then to the diner for a little while. Grab some of my stuff and talk to Granny. Emma and Henry will be here with you." Ruby tells her, taking in the slightly glassy look that's still in her eyes from the meds.
"Okay… you're still coming back though right?" Ally asks reaching up with her good hand. Ruby laughs, and kisses her forehead.
"Course I am, and I'm spending the night with you. I'll be back later pup." Ruby promises, as she reluctantly goes out the door. Ally bites her lip and looks down at her cast. Henry has just finished, and she laughs at what he wrote. Wolfpup— thanks you saved my butt. Love, Nightwing. Ally wraps her good arm around Henry and hugs his tightly to her.
"Love you too you dork." She tells him. Henry returns the hug, and Emma snaps a picture of them with her phone quickly. They're just too cute.
"Um… aren't you two supposed to think that the other has cooties?" A voice questions. Henry and Ally pull away, and whip around to see Rose standing in the doorway with a big bag over her shoulder. Henry and Ally's eyes widen when they see the added bright pink streaks to her dark brown hair.
"Mom's going to kill you." Henry says while Ally beams at her.
"That's so cool! I wanted to get red streaks like my Mom but Gigi said no." Ally says grinning at the girl. Rose closes the door behind her, and drops the bag with a thud.
"What do you have in there?" Emma questions her suspiciously. Rose smirks, and approaches Ally's bed.
"Well mom's going to be busy tonight, so I thought that we could camp out in here and keep Ally company. It's not like she'll miss us anyway. Besides, this gives me a chance to make sure that this crazy kid is actually okay." Rose says giving Ally a pointed look.
Ally raises her casted arm up off the pillow with a slight wince. Rose shakes her head, and steals the sharpie out of Henry's hand. "Mind if I make a drawing on here?" Rose questions. Ally's grin just widens in size.
"Yeah! That'd be awesome!" Ally cries. Rose smiles at the girl, and moves around to the chair on the other side of the bed, so that she can work on her arm. Henry crawls across Ally carefully to sit on her left size. Emma smirks as he makes himself comfortable beside her.
"Hey Emma, if you want to look in my bag, I have about a dozen movies that these two haven't seen. We can put them in, and they'll be hooked." Rose calls out to the slightly shell shocked woman. Emma shakes her head at the trio fondly. They look like they're family all huddled around each other. But that's what they are, aren't they?
Emma goes over to the oversized backpack, and picks it up. Jeez that kid was stronger than she looked. This thing must have weighed at least fifty pounds. She unzipped the top, and fished around inside, pulling out a half dozen mystery movies at least rated PG-13.
"Rose they're ten!" Emma cries holding them up. Rose flicks her gaze up from the cast for a second before smirking at her deviously.
"You think they haven't seen worse before? Besides, these two eat up mysteries. They'll be guessing who did it the whole way through the movie. We'll have to keep count." Rose says, turning back to the drawing. Henry finally rips is attention to Emma, and grins madly seeing what she has in her hands.
"Oh, this will be awesome." Henry cries. Ally grins as well, but she's beginning to look a little strained. Emma walks over to the kids, and taps the girl's head. She looks up at Emma wearily.
"You okay kid, you look in pain." Emma says. Ally gives her a tight smile.
"Yeah, the nurse should be by soon." Ally tells her. True to her word a few minutes later a harried looking nurse slips into the room, and stops at what she sees in front of her. She blinks a few times before smiling at the group.
"Well Ms. Ally it looks like you have quite the fan club to keep you company. That's good, love always heals hurts faster." She says going over and injecting pain meds into Ally's IV. Emma watches worriedly, as the young girl stiffens for a second, before sinking back into her pillow that Henry's sharing.
Her breaths start getting easier. "Thanks." Ally says, and the nurse smiles at her.
"Your dinner will be in in a few minutes." She says and exits the room. Ally makes a face at that.
"So how was the party for 'Mr. Nolan'?" Ally asks not really believing that that's his real name. Emma groans. Even hospitalized these kids won't give up on this theory. If anything it has seemed to strengthen it.
"Stop moving Ally." Rose snaps gently from her side, making intricate moves with the sharpie on the red cast.
"Okay I guess. Prince Charming spent all his time looking for Snow White." Henry tells her. Emma shakes her head in defeat. She gives up! There's no getting through to those kids!
"Emma pop in the movie." Rose instructs pointing to a random one. Against her better judgment she does. After she hits play, both kids snap their heads up to the television screen enraptured by the opening credits of a Sherlock Holmes mystery. Emma watches amazed for five minutes as the kids sit still and watch it intently.
"Told you." Rose says softly putting the finishing touches on her drawing, and capping the sharpie. "All done Ally." She says patting the heavy cast lightly.
"Pause it!" Ally cries out, and with a smirk Emma does. Both kids clamber to look at the design on the cast. Ally's eyes widen at seeing the intricate and beautifully drawn wolf that's now on her cast by Henry's note. The wolf has its head thrown up and howling.
"That's so cool! I want a cast!" Henry cries. Emma ruffles his hair and shakes his head.
"Its beautiful! Thank you!" Ally cries, leaning forward and squeezing Rose in a hug. The older girl laughs and returns it.
"Okay, okay, time to keep watching your movie." She says pointing to the screen, and immediately both kids are back to being absorbed in the plot. Ally's food is brought in for her and she picks at it, and slaps Henry's hand away from her Jell-O with a small growl.
When Ruby and Granny come back to Ally's hospital room a few hours later they're shocked to find the room dark and with four mesmerized faces staring at the television screen that was showing a chase scene. Rose was curled up in another recliner with a blanket over her, and Ally and Henry were still scrunched together in Ally's bed. Emma was sitting in a regular chair watching the movie as well, until they came in.
Emma smiled at the two women, and gestured to the enraptured kids. Ruby grinned at the sight. This is exactly what Ally needed to heal. The young girl flicked her eyes away from the screen for a moment to see her family. With a wide grin, she waves at them with her good hand, to come on in.
Seeing no choice they entered, and were soon in the same position as everyone else. In all it was a great night.
The next day finds Ally and Henry alone in Ally's hospital room. Rose had gone home to shower, and attempt to avoid their mother, and Emma was back at the apartment with Mary Margaret. Granny was at the diner, and Ruby was there getting coffee and a good meal.
Ally was getting discharged tomorrow on Monday. Henry was pacing in front of Ally's bed. He was planning out their next step in Operation Cobra. They were going to have to be much more careful now, considering Ally almost died on their last plan.
"We're going to have to be careful on what we do from now on. The adults are going to pay closer attention to us now, since the mines happened." Henry tells Ally turning around to look at her. Ally shot him her no duh look.
"Henry I don't think I'll be doing anything crazy for a while. I have six stitches in my face, and two pins in my arm." Ally says. Henry bites his lips, still feeling guilty about what had happened.
"Look Ally…" He starts, but is interrupted by a knock on the door. Both kids turn their attention to the man in the doorway.
"Sheriff Graham." Ally says surprised seeing the man standing there. He doesn't look the best. He's paler than he usually is and he looks very shaken.
"Hey Sheriff. What are you doing here?" Henry asks him moving back to sit next to Ally. He glances behind him, and closes the door, to make sure that they're alone.
"Actually, uh, I'm here to see you, Henry, Ally. I was hoping you could help me." He says shakily.
"Help you with what?" Ally questions him unsurely. Graham shifts nervously in front of the two.
"It's about your book. Am I…in it?" He asks them finally. Both Henry and Ally share shocked looks with each other.
"You— you believe?" Henry asks unsure if he's hearing him right.
"I… I think I do." Graham replies. Henry gives him a long look before motioning him over and to the chair next to the bed. The Sheriff takes a seat, and watches as Ally brings out a large leather bound book from behind her pillows. He raises his eyebrows at that but doesn't say anything as henry flips open the pages to Graham's story.
Henry allows Graham to look at it. "When did your flashes begin?" Ally asks him curiously. He doesn't look up from the book.
"Uh, right after I kissed Emma." Graham says uncomfortably talking about that with the kids.
"You kissed my mom? What did you see?" Henry demands staring at him intently.
"A wolf. I saw that I had a knife in my hand and I was with Mary Margaret." Graham says slowly looking even paler if possible.
"Were you about to hurt her?" Ally asks softly. Graham looks up startled. Those kids couldn't possibly know that.
"Yes! How do you know that?" He demands looking at them intently.
"Because Mary Margaret is Snow White. Which makes you the Huntsman." Henry says excitedly.
"So, you really think that I could be another person." Graham says slowly trying to process all this information.
"Makes total sense. You were raised by wolves – that's why you keep seeing one. It's your friend – your guide. It's trying to help you. I know a few things about wolves." Ally says with a grin.
"How?" He questions. Henry grins at his friend.
"Let's just say that I'm the little girl, of the little girl in the red hood." Ally says smirking. Graham's eyes widen at that.
"I'm remembering this because I kissed your mother? H-How is that possible?" He asks Henry looking absolutely floored.
"Well, you two do have a special connection. She owes you her life." Henry says looking at him intently. Graham pries his gaze back up to the kids again.
"Why?" He asks trying hard to understand how that could be.
"Snow White's her mother and you spared her. If you hadn't, my mom wouldn't have been born." Henry says simply but gratefully. Ally nods her head.
"Wh-What happened after I spared Snow White?" He asks, unsure if he's going to like the answer to this question.
"Well— the Queen took your heart. She ripped it out. It's kind of her thing. She never wanted you to be able to feel again." Ally says softly knowing that it would upset both Graham and Henry.
"Let me see that book." Graham says taking it from Henry's hands, and flipping through the pages, looking intently at the pictures. Ally feels badly at seeing him this way. No wonder more of them don't remember, it practically drives them mad to do so.
Graham suddenly points down at a picture in the book. "What's that? I saw that, too. The wolf was howling at it." He demands pointing at a symbol.
"That's her vault. It's where she put your heart." Henry tells him. Graham nods his head and gets to his feet.
"The wolf wants me to find it. Thank you, Henry, Ally." He says and quickly leaves the room without another glance back. The pair sit in silence for a minute before looking at each other worriedly.
"I have a bad feeling about all this." Ally tells Henry. After a moment he nods his head.
"Unfortunately I agree with you this time." Henry says with a heavy sigh sitting back down and the two of them look down at the book heavily, finally understanding the burden they're carrying.
