It was one of the longest nights of Emma's life, and that was certainly saying something just one day after Regina had been taken. Now she was pushing three all nighters in a row, with only small naps throughout to break it up. At this point even the word exhausted felt like an understatement, but since their arrival in Boston she had refused to allow herself to fall asleep. She did not know how she was able to force herself to stay awake, but she needed to know if Regina was okay and she did not trust that the doctors would wake her up once they had news.
She and Henry were sitting in silence waiting for an update. Henry had lost some of the composure he'd had upon their arrival, and now seemed to be in a fearful, guilt-ridden stupor. His eyes were wide and he just continued to stare at the floor. She had already told him that she did not blame him, that it was not his fault the app had not shown him the other hospital, but still he sat there. Emma knew that if anyone was to blame it was herself for giving in to Regina so easily. She had known the Tylenol was a bad idea from the start and she should have just gone with her instinct. She didn't know how long they had been sitting there, but she just kept brooding and worrying, wondering what Regina's fate that night would be.
"Excuse me," a female voice broke through her thoughts, "Emma Swan right? You were the one who brought Regina to us?"
Emma's head shot up, she was instantly alert as she realized there was a woman in a lab coat standing a few feet in front of her. "Yeah, that's me. How is she? Are you her doctor? Is she going to be okay?"
"Hello," the woman reached out a hand to shake Emma's, "I am Dr. Montgomery, I believe we spoke on the phone a couple of days ago."
"Oh! Hi! Wow I had no idea we would be meeting you tonight. Yeah we did talk on the phone. Again thank you so much for doing that, I realize you probably have a very busy schedule and a ton of patients I'm sure."
"It was my pleasure." The woman said, taking the seat next to Emma's. "I was glad to hear that Regina changed her mind about coming to a hospital. I was here late tonight, and when I was about to leave I received a phone call from a friend of yours telling me you were on your way, I decided to wait."
"A friend of mine?" Emma asked in confusion. How had anyone even directly gotten through to the doctor when Emma herself had to wait for a callback?
"He said his name was David." Montgomery smiled. "I knew of the urgency of Regina's case and wanted to be here to assess her immediately. At present my patient list is completely full, but even with the amount of patients I see and talk to on a daily basis I haven't been able to stop thinking about Regina's case."
Emma's blood had gone a little cold. "Wait... your patient list is full? Does that mean–?"
Montgomery placed a comforting hand on Emma's arm, "you don't need to worry, I can fit Regina in. I can see how badly she needs my help. While I trust the other doctors in my department completely, I would prefer to oversee her case myself. I don't know why but I have felt a little responsible for her ever since you and I first spoke."
"Oh my god..." Emma breathed. "Thank you so much." She swallowed nervously. "How is Regina doing?"
"She's in rough shape of course, but she's not in any immediate danger. I understand that you were worried she may not make it through the night, but you don't need to fear. We will continue to monitor her vitals but at the moment Regina is very stable. We have moved her to the Intensive Care Unit and have started her on a treatment called hemofiltration."
"Is that like dialysis?" Emma asked, her heart was pounding in her chest. Intensive Care?
"In a way yes. I'm sure you've noticed around her face and limbs that she appears to be a little bloated, this is due to the fluid retention. There is also some fluid buildup in her lungs, which was likely the culprit of the difficulty breathing Regina experienced on the way here. As you already know Regina's kidneys aren't filtering out the excess liquid like they are supposed to. "
Emma nodded.
"Which brings up a question I have... you told one of the nurses earlier that Regina has never had dialysis, is that correct?"
"Yeah... she was going to start a few days from now." Emma said without really thinking. She was supposed to have held that part back because that had changed once the curse had broken, and it didn't match up with what she had told Montgomery on the phone.
"Oh I see." Montgomery nodded, frowning. "And that was her decision or her previous doctor's?"
"Both I guess... Regina wanted to put it off as long as possible and her doctor said she could go without dialysis until then. I know I told you a couple of days ago that Regina didn't want dialysis, but she's... she's been kind of up and down. She's been going through a lot and I think originally it just scared her." Emma lied. "I think once you told me that Regina may only have a few normal, well... lucid days left it forced her to really see what she would be losing if she refused treatment." Emma wrapped her arm around Henry in specification. Emma didn't want to get into the fact that the real reason Regina hadn't gone to the hospital was because half the residents of her town had been preventing her from doing so.
The doctor's brow furrowed. "That I can understand, but what concerns me is the condition Regina arrived in. Someone has clearly been hurting this woman. It's true that the disease may make her more susceptible to bruising but... these injuries that she has, someone did this to her. And there are traces of unexplainable substances in her blood, and traces of drugs which should not be given to a patient. There are numerous injection marks on her arm, the skin was so tender that we didn't even consider that arm as an option to admit our own treatment. And I'm also sorry to say, Regina has had dialysis before, and it was very recently. It is clear to me that whoever has been doing this likely has a strong medical background."
"Wh–what?" Emma's face paled.
"I'm not insinuating that you have abused her Emma, this is not an accusation... but as a doctor it is my responsibility to protect my patients. I just want to know what happened to her so that I can help her the best way I can."
"Regina has had dialysis?" Emma asked in confusion.
"Yes, that was clear in her blood work. I don't think she was on it very long, but based on her charts it looks as if it was done today or late yesterday. You may not have seen it among the rest of the damage to her arm, but if you look closely you can see the tape residue and the marks where the two needles were inserted into her arm. In my opinion the bruises and injuries she has seem to have been inflicted around the same time too. Just looking at her I could practically feel the anger behind whoever it was who's been beating her." Dr. Montgomery shook her head sadly. "It's remarkable... with the severity of the damage, it's a miracle Regina doesn't have any broken bones. Emma... who did this to her?" The doctor asked a little softly, she seemed to know intuitively that Emma had nothing to do with it.
Emma didn't respond right away, her mind was reeling and she felt faint. Regina had said that Blue and Whale had been trying to sustain her life as long as possible so they could continue to torture her. Emma felt sick.
"Was her doctor forcing treatment on her?" Montgomery's voice asked again. "Is that why she was reluctant to go back to the hospital in the first place, and is that why you chose to come here instead? I remember you told me it was a small town and there was only the one doctor. Was he hurting Regina?"
Emma shifted uncomfortably, Regina hadn't wanted to tell them about what Whale had done to her. This was in case this hospital tried to have his medical licence removed and in the process ended up dragging Storybrooke out of it's safe hideaway. Emma assumed she was supposed to tell them Regina had fallen down the stairs or something, but she was too tired to make up what would likely be an unbelievable story anyway, and she wanted this hospital to know as much as possible. "Yeah he was." Emma replied quietly. "He took her from the house yesterday night."
Dr. Montgomery inhaled softly at the news. Her expression changed, she looked sad, but not surprised. "And forgive me for prying but... was there perhaps a more personal relationship between them?" The doctor eyed Henry a little hesitantly. "There was some scratching, and some bruising on her thighs that makes me wonder if we should be doing another type of exam on her."
Emma knew the unstated words that Montgomery was referring to. Rape kit.
"Kind of yeah... I suppose you could call it a 'frenemyship'. They've known each other for decades..."
"Do we need to do another exam?" The doctor asked gently.
"No." Emma responded quietly, feeling a painful twinge in her heart at the memory. "I found her in time, I stopped him." Emma bit her lip. "Isn't... isn't this really personal? Shouldn't you be asking Regina about this?" Emma preferred them asking her, after all she didn't want them dragging Regina back through everything, but she thought the hospital had rules about patient confidentiality and 'family only' and whatnot.
"Yes normally we would... but she's asleep right now and I know she wanted you to be informed."
"How do you know that? Did she talk to you?" Emma asked hopefully.
"No she didn't tell me that, when David called me he also faxed over a medical advancement form, among others. Are you still willing to be her proxy if it becomes necessary?"
"Yes," Emma's voice caught in her throat. "Yes of course I am."
Montgomery nodded in satisfaction. "Hopefully it won't come to that, but I will keep you updated. Mostly I just came out to meet you and to give you an update. As I said Regina is doing well under the circumstances. The Tylenol you gave her was likely a contributing factor towards the scare we had earlier, but it was certainly not the only cause. I wouldn't blame yourself for what happened tonight, Regina was in tremendous pain and you were only trying to help her. You eased her suffering and now she is safe and she is stable. You did well."
Emma felt a pang in her stomach, she certainly did not feel the same. "Umm..." Emma swallowed back her emotions and ignored the undeserving praise, "you mentioned something... hemo... something? What is that?"
"Yes, hemofiltration. We will be giving Regina this treatment. Right now I believe it is more appropriate than dialysis given the severity of her condition. We will see how well she responds to it and depending on how quickly she does, we may be able to move her out of the ICU within the week and possibly switch her over to dialysis."
"What is it exactly?" Emma asked.
The doctor went into the details of how the treatment worked, and while Emma would zone out at times as her mind continued to wander back to Regina, she got the gist of what Montgomery was telling her. To Emma it really just sounded like regular dialysis, it would filter Regina's blood through a machine... take the excess waste and fluids out... and then put it back into Regina. The only difference Emma noticed was that it would take much longer and was a continuous treatment rather than a few hours at a time like dialysis was.
Emma broke her thoughts away from Regina once again, just in time to realize that Montgomery had moved on from hemofilitration and was talking about Regina's status again. She quickly started to pay full attention once more.
"–however, we do have some concerns about her state of mind." Montgomery was saying.
"Okay..." Emma said starting to grow nervous and wishing she hadn't stopped listening.
"How did she seem on your drive up? Was she lucid... were her words making sense?"
"For the most part yeah."
"For the most part? Did something happen?"
"Well I mean at one point she said she was in a lot of pain, but she refused to go to a closer hospital even though I assured her she would still be able to transfer here. But I'm not sure if that's an altered state of mind so much as stubbornness on her part. She can get pretty set on something once she's made a decision."
"This was something more than that I'm afraid... Regina didn't seem to quite know where she was when she was first admitted. One of our ER doctors asked her a few questions to determine how aware she was..."
Emma nodded hesitantly, waiting for her to go on.
"And she identified the hospital as The Enchanted Forest. That was also her answer when we asked her where she lives. Lastly she was asked if she knew who brought her to the hospital," the doctor gestured towards Emma, "and she said Snow White."
"Snow White?" Emma paled. Damn it Regina.
"Yes." Montgomery said, sympathetic to Emma's reaction. "Is it a nickname or was Regina simply confused?"
"It's not a nickname..." Emma whispered.
"Yes... unfortunately that's what we thought."
"We were watching Snow White the other day." Henry's small, shaky voice spoke up. "She might just be remembering that..."
Emma noticed the way a small blush creeped up his neck at the lie. Why hadn't she thought of that?
Montgomery nodded at him, "that could be." She agreed softly.
"Did she say anything else?" Emma was worried about how much the brunette may have told them about her life or about Storybrooke.
"She wasn't conscious for very long," Montgomery replied gently, "but... I think Regina did also believe that I was her mother."
"Her mother?" Emma's eyes widened at that. She stared at the woman's past-the-shoulder brown hair, her brown eyes, her jaw line. Emma had never seen Regina's mother, the woman had long since passed-away after all, but Emma wondered if Montgomery looked very similar to her, or if Regina had simply been that out of it.
"Yes... but it may have been a good thing that she did. When I first entered the room she was panicking, she seemed to believe the doctors were trying to harm her, but I began to speak to her, and she calmed down quickly. It is possible that Regina was simply dreaming. After all she was completely unresponsive when you first got the ER and she was still only just waking up."
"But it could be her mind..." Emma mumbled. She was shaking her head, this was unbelievable. She couldn't believe how stupid she had been. She shouldn't have allowed Regina to take the painkillers, hell, she should not even have brought them along in the first place. What if Regina had not been dreaming? What if her brain had been affected from the strain of it all? "A couple of days ago you mentioned a brain condition called encephalopathy," Emma began uncertainly. "Is that what this could be?"
"It's possible. Her body has a buildup of urea, this also led to a buildup of ammonia which her kidneys have been unable to metabolize. Along with the other... substances currently present in her bloodstream, it was extremely difficult for her body to even attempt to process it all. Along with this she still has some liver damage from her attempted suicide, and while her liver has been regenerating, it likely would have been nearly back to normal by now if she had been receiving proper medical care for her kidney failure. This damage also leads to ammonia buildup, and high levels of it can result in impaired mental state. Hopefully in Regina's case there is little to no permanent damage, but I am a little worried due to how long it has been since this all began."
"How will we know?" Emma asked in a small voice.
"Once she is more stable we may do some cognition tests if we feel they are appropriate. If her confusion does continue we may then consider some neuroimaging or other tests. This is all depending on how she seems later tomorrow once she's had a few hours of hemofiltration. I wouldn't worry about all of this tonight, you will only drive yourself crazy with worry."
Emma nodded, glancing back at Henry who was listening quietly. Emma could tell he was half-asleep.
"If I were you I would go home and get some rest. I will be checking in on Regina one more time but after that I will be heading out. We can talk some more tomorrow if you would like."
"Is it possible for us to see Regina too before we go?" Emma asked. She didn't like the idea of leaving Regina here. She didn't want her to wake up in a new, unfamiliar place alone.
Montgomery glanced at Henry who was curled in the chair on the other side of Emma. "Yes of course. You can follow me to the ICU now if you would like."
Emma nodded, eagerly standing up. "Thank you." She nudged Henry who blinked sleepily up at her.
"What's going on?" He mumbled.
"We're going to go see your mom." Emma said softly.
Henry sat up straighter.
"She's probably going to be asleep, but at least we'll get the chance to see her before we head out."
"Head out? Why can't we stay with mom?"
"I know it sucks but we could both really use a good rest. It's past three in the morning. We'll go back to my apartment, get some sleep and we'll come back in a few hours okay?"
"Alright..."
They quietly entered the ICU, there were several hospital staff around but the ward was very calm and remarkably silent.
"Regina's in here," Montgomery said softly, raising her hand in a gesture to allow them to enter the room ahead of her.
Emma felt her chest tighten when her eyes first fell on Regina. She looked so small and fragile in that hospital bed. She had been changed into a hospital gown that was a bit too big for her, she was hooked up to several machines, and her face was partially hidden by a breathing mask covering her mouth and nose.
Emma allowed Henry to walk ahead first. He slowly approached the hospital bed until he was directly beside his mother and staring down at her. Emma studied Henry hard, his shoulders were slumped a little and he had gone incredibly white.
"Would this have happened to her if we had gone to the other hospital?" He asked in a small voice, looking up at Dr. Montgomery.
The doctor pursed her lips as she thought. "Because Regina had already taken the acetaminophen it is entirely possible, yes. But try not to worry about what could have gone better or worse. Your mother is here now, and she is doing very well."
"But her brain might not be okay?" Henry asked as his teary eyes dropped back down to Regina.
"That is a possibility." The doctor said softly.
Henry bit his lip. "She looks the same..."
"I'm sure she's fine Henry." Emma patted him on the shoulder, trying to stay strong for him. "We'll get to talk to her in the morning."
"I want to stay here with her." Henry said.
"I know... so do I, but we won't be gone long. We'll just get a couple of hours of sleep, maybe get some of our stuff unpacked... freshen up a bit, we'll be back before you know it."
"I want to stay." Henry repeated in a tone of finality that reminded Emma so much of Regina it hurt.
Emma nodded, looking up at the doctor questionably. "Would that be okay?"
"Yes of course, if you are more comfortable staying with her. The ICU is open to families 24/7, we find it does wonders for the patients to have their loved ones remain close."
Emma nodded in relief. "Thank you so much."
Henry looked up at the doctor again. "Is it okay if I kiss her?"
She gave him a kind smile. "Of course you may honey."
Emma's heart softened as she saw Henry carefully lean forwards and place the gentlest kiss on his mother's forehead. "I love you Mom, he said. He pulled back and stared at her closed eyes for a few moments, before quickly turning and burrowing into Emma's embrace. He broke down into sobs. Emma felt her own eyes fill with tears as she continued to look at Regina. "She loves you too kid." Emma whispered, holding him close.
A/N: Thank you for reading, I would love a review to keep me going! Take care xx