David has never felt so scared in his life.

Two lives were placed firmly in his hands, set to a terrifying deadline—the word itself too horribly accurate as it was—one of which being his not-so-little-anymore girl and the man who had slowly grown to be his friend.

Among the chaos of following Anna's nearly-nonexistent trail they found Bo Peep's crook, their only tether to Anna. When David point-blank promised to use it to find Anna once Emma and Hook were free, Elsa—who had been stone quiet the entire night—admitted she didn't even know how to undo her magic without Anna's help.

David had driven them both back to the ice wall, begging her to try, to think of Anna, to remember what she managed to teach both of them.

His hand was currently about to crush the walkie-talkie in his grip, hearing the panicked, near-hysterical voice of his daughter telling him what he'd been fearing all night long.

He promised her that Hook would be all right, promised her he'd get him, both of them out, but—

"He's not waking up—"

David swallowed hard, every muscle taut with more panic than he's felt in any of his days—spanning battles and curses and near-death experiences—nothing was as terrifying as his baby girl freezing to death, and probably having just lost yet another man she loved.

He was her father.

He was supposed to protect her.

From anything.

He'd been right next to Hook when the pirate had dived over Emma, seconds before the ice and snow crashed over them both.

It should have been me.

It haunted him all night.

He was her father.

And all he's done in her life is send her away, made her grow up alone and think she was unloved, and now, his instincts couldn't even protect her from what still could very well be her death if Elsa can't get this wall un-made.

The woman herself was standing at the wall, hands out, something swirling around her fingertips like a flurry, her eyes shut in concentration, and David's chest hurt because he could not breathe.

But then, finally, Elsa's eyes snapped open with relieved surprise, and the glowing flurry flew to the wall, melting it bit by bit.

David felt a smile break out on his face, because thank god.

The moment the hole in the wall was big enough to fit through, David ran, ducking through it, yelling to Elsa, "It's working! Keep going, Elsa! You're doing it!"

The moment he was inside the cave, he slipped on the floor, nearly falling.

The frigid air hit him in an instant. "Holy shit," he breathed, already beginning to shiver.

He saw them in an instant.

There, a few yards away from him, leaning against one of the walls, were Emma and Hook.

David felt relief hit him at once, seeing Emma alive and awake, yet shaking badly, her skin nearly frosted, her lips having turned blue.

But Hook—

His eyes were shut, his head having fallen to his shoulder, and he looked pale as a ghost.

He wasn't shivering at all.

He was so still.

And with something that made David freeze, he realized that Emma was wearing Hook's jacket. It was draped around her shoulders, leaving the pirate in the thin shirt and pants he'd worn underneath. Damn it, he's been like that this whole—?

More than that, Emma was on top of him.

The pirate gave her his jacket, and kept her off the ice.

"I think it's time you and I had a chat about your intentions with my daughter."

"Emma's not some conquest."

"Keep her safe."

David felt sick.

He ran as fast as he could without slipping, and made it to Emma's side. "Emma!" he said breathlessly.

With utter relief, David heard the wail of ambulance sirens from outside, and he was more than grateful he thought to call Whale to meet them here.

Emma didn't even react to his presence. "H-He's—He's not—He's—" Her teeth were chattering so much, tears still spilling down her cheeks.

Swallowing hard, David pressed two fingers to Hook's neck.

Emma made a sound like a sob.

Hook's skin was ice-cold.

David waited.

And waited.

And—
"He's alive," breathed David, a smile breaking out, feeling the very slow pulse beat back at him. And up close, he could see the slow rise and fall of the pirate's chest. "Emma, he's breathing, he's got a pulse, he's alive," he said quickly.

The cold was burning.

David felt even sicker, realizing how long they've been trapped in here.

"David," called Elsa, approaching them with a horribly guilty look on her face. "Are they…?"

"They're alive," said David. "Both of them."

"There's a loud wheeled contraption outside," she said shakily.

"Please get them," said David. "This man needs help, now."

She nodded, rushing back outside.

"Emma," said David, reaching for her, but she was practically clinging to Hook. "Emma, we need to get you warmer. I'll help you out—"

"Killian—" she whispered brokenly.

"Where is—well, shit."

David felt familiar distaste for the town doctor spur through him.

Whale, followed by two paramedics, stepped into the cave.

"He's alive," said David, his own teeth chattering with the cold when Whale glanced at Hook and immediately looked grave. David quickly took off his own jacket, wrapping it around Emma, leaving Hook's jacket on the man himself, and pulled Emma gently away from Hook to put her arms through his. She let him pull her away, but David had a sinking feeling it was because she was too weak to fight him off.

The moment she was off Hook, Whale and the paramedics knelt beside him, armed with hot water bottles and blankets. "Let's get him off the ice and to the bus, then see what we're looking at," muttered Whale.

David slipped one arm around Emma's back, the other under her legs, and with difficulty on the slippery floor, he lifted her into his arms.

She was shaking so hard. Her face was ghost-white. She looked half out of it, her eyes barely open. Her skin was like ice, and the tears she'd cried had frozen into what looked like snow on her cheeks.

David hugged her tightly, hurrying her out of the damn cave, feeling his own eyes burn because he let this happen.

The moment he was out of the cave, the air that had once felt like a brisk night felt like summer. "Someone," called David to the paramedic waiting by the ambulance. "Get me a blanket. Or—ten."

David left his cruiser running for a reason, and he opened the passenger door with one hand, kicking back the seat as far as it would go and sat down, Emma still tight in his arms. Her eyes were shut, like the fatigue had finally gotten to her. David felt his worry increase tenfold. The inside of the car was running heat, and he turned it on full blast.

"Emma," he whispered, rubbing warmth into her arms, seeing her body wrack with trembles, her teeth chattering together, her lips a terrifying shade of blue.

A blanket was brought to him, and he quickly wrapped Emma with it. She was shaking harder now as she warmed up, but David knew shaking was her body's way of recovering, so he was more than happy to see it. But he could now see the gash at her hairline, that had bled a little down her temple. His chest hurt.

Emma's eyes suddenly cracked open, like she was beginning to gain back some awareness. She looked at him, and panic jumped into her eyes. She fought him a little, but her attempts were feeble at best. Her eyes darted over his shoulder, like she was desperately looking for something. "Wh-where's—?"

Remembering Hook, David felt his heart lurch, and he looked up, seeing that just a few yards away, Whale and the paramedics managed to get Hook to the back of the ambulance. They'd laid him on the gurney underneath a pile of blankets, and it looked like they were checking his vitals. Before David could ask, Whale noticed his attention and walked over to him.

"He'll make it through," he said, and David felt an overwhelming relief course through him.

"He will?" asked Emma through chattering teeth. "You're… you're s-sure?"

David rubbed more warmth into her arms.

Whale nodded. "We've got him shivering again. It's…" He shook his head. "It's actually astounding. For the temperature his body is currently holding, he shouldn't even be able to shiver, but he is. It's like his body has some sort of… I don't know. Resilience." David smiled inwardly, recalling the many times he's heard the pirate mention he was a survivor. "Any longer though, and it would have been a dice roll." David swallowed at that, not needing the reminder of how close he cut it. "He won't need to be hospitalized for anything," said Whale. "However he needs to be majorly warmed up and hydrated to recover completely. I can probably find a hospital bed for him and have some nurses keep an eye on—"

"No need," said David instantly. Smiling toward where Hook lay, he said, "He'll be coming home with us. We'll make sure he's all right."

Whale nodded, walking back toward the ambulance, and David looked down to see a smile on Emma's face. She relaxed a little back into his arms, eyes shutting, like she was finally letting herself rest.

David took the moment to hug her close to him, basking in the relief that she was all right, and so was Hook.

And for a moment, he realized this was the first time he's ever been able to hold, to cradle, his baby girl.

The daughter he never watched grow up, that he held only once, when she was only minutes old.

The daughter he very nearly just lost tonight.

David just held her, feeling the burn in his eyes spill over.

He loved her.

He loved her so much.

David kissed her head, hugging her even closer, rocking her a little in his arms. "I've got you, babygirl." he whispered into her hair. "I love you, Emma."

Emma had fallen asleep quickly, and over the next quarter of an hour, her shivers quieted down from jerky to a constant tremble, her lips still a shade of blue that worried him. At David's insistence, Whale checked Emma over, noting that both she and Hook had hypothermic temperatures, Hook's quite lower than hers, but neither of them managed to drop into critical levels. Which, Whale decided to keep reminding him, was lucky as all hell. One of the paramedics tended to the small gash at Emma's temple, cleaning it and bandaging her, for it was luckily small and shallow enough not to need stitches.

David was not about to leave Emma's side, wanting to offer her as much heat as possible, and dammit he was not letting his little girl out of his sight. Not tonight. So a slightly annoyed Whale allowed David a chair in the back of the ambulance to give them a ride to the loft. David still held Emma tightly to his chest, still wrapped up snugly in his jacket and at least three blankets.

Hook was still lying on the gurney in the middle of the vehicle, with so many blankets piled on him that he was barely visible beneath them. And if it wasn't crowded enough, David even managed to convince Elsa to join them.

The entire ride back to the loft, David spent with his daughter cradled safely in his arms, and Elsa nearly flattening herself to the wall, as if to stand as far from them as possible. David knew she was new to the town—the whole realm—and tonight was her first sighting of cars and electricity, but her wariness was more than just of the vehicle and the new world. She had apologized at least a hundred times tonight, stressing how it had been an accident caused by powers she had trouble controlling. She'd asked him to leave her behind when they left the town line, but David assured her that though she might have caused the problem, she also saved them, and that was enough for him. His daughter had plenty of trouble controlling her own magic; he understood Elsa's fear. Something about Elsa, the out-of-place look on her, the sort of loneliness in her eyes, sadly reminded him of Emma.

So, there was no way he was leaving her behind tonight, either.

It would be a full house tonight, but both of their extra guests deserved their place in his home.

David's eyes fell to Hook, whose eyes were still shut, his body still wracked with shivers just like Emma's.

Yes.

Well-deserved, indeed.