Sorry for the delay with this one. Life got in the way, as it tends to do.
WARNING - This chapter does deal with the loss of a child, and the emotional fallout of that. If this is something that you're not comfortable reading but you still wish to read the chapter, I've marked where the section begins and ends with this CSCSCSCS There's only 1 in this chapter. If you wish to skip over this update completely I would fully understand that. Please make your choices based on what is best for you personally.
"Mam?"
"Oh, Sweetheart," Sinéad sighed, as she pushed up from her seat to pull her son in for the tightest of hugs.
The moment Killian felt the familiar warmth and comfort of his mother's embrace wrapped around him, was the moment he broke. He dropped down to the hard floor beneath them both, taking her with him, as he sobbed loudly into her shoulder.
"Oh, Honey," she whispered. "I'm sorry it took me so long to get here."
Sinéad said nothing more as she held her son tightly while he cried out all of his fears and heartache from the past few days. From the corner of her eye she noticed the people who had been stood just behind him when he entered the room, slip away quietly from it to give them both some privacy. But she kept most of her focus on the young man in her arms, who would always be her little boy, regardless of how old he was.
When Killian's loud sobs finally calmed to hiccupping breaths, she pulled back to get a good look at his face. She'd seen her son looking tired before, after long transatlantic flights home, and through video links after gruelling working hours. But she'd never seen the kind of bone-deep exhaustion on his features, as he was carrying that afternoon.
"What are you doing here?" he eventually asked, as he pushed himself back up to his feet, and then offered his mother a hand to help her up from the floor.
"You needed me, Killian. Where else would I be?"
He chuckled a little as he dropped down into one of the free seats in the room, before carding his hands through his hair. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming when I called?"
"Because you'd have told me not to," Sinéad replied honestly, as she took her seat beside him and reached for his nearest hand. "You're bloody stubborn at times. Just like your father."
She ran a gentle hand over his hair, helping to smooth down the errant strands that never seemed to do as they were told, whilst also helping to soothe some of his fears as she asked, "Now, how is Emma doing?"
"They uh… they've just taken her down for surgery. Again."
"On her pelvis, right?" Sinéad clarified.
"Yeah. They're um… they're fitting some screws in the bone, which they're gonna attach to bars outside of her body, to help stabilize the breaks while they heal."
"That's good," she assured him. "It's good that they're doing that. I asked a nurse friend of mine back home about it, and she said that pelvic breaks were normally very painful. So at least Emma's not going to be suffering through that when she wakes up."
Killian nodded his agreement but said nothing else. His mind was still stuck on how horrific everything would look when she was finally out of the operating room once more.
"And how about you?" his mother asked. "How are you doing?"
"I'm okay," he told her. But at her unamused look, he chuckled a little bitterly before correcting himself. "Alright, I'm not okay. But I'm not really the person we should all be focusing on right now."
"I disagree. And I think Emma would too. You might not be physically suffering the way she is at the moment, but you're suffering emotionally, Honey. And those kinds of wounds can leave scars of their own. You might not be ready to talk about it all right now, but I'll be here for as long as you need me, so we can talk when you are."
"What about Dad?" he worried.
"Your father's a fully grown man. It's about time he learned how to take care of himself," Sinéad explained.
"You won't be saying that if you go home and he's burned the house down."
"If your father knows what's good for him, he'll have any damage to the house fixed by the time my plane lands."
Killian laughed genuinely for what felt like the first time in months at his mother's words. Everyone in the family knew just how fierce the woman could be. For someone so small, she held a lot of power over every single one of the Jones men.
After a moment of tense silence, Sinéad felt her son's body shift a little in the seat beside hers, and she watched as he slid his free hand into his pocket, before pulling it out with something small and fluffy-looking gripped tightly in his palm.
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"Is that…"
"Yeah," he whispered into the room. "I dunno why I bought it. After Whale told me what had happened, I suddenly found myself in the gift shop. I was um… I was looking at this wall full of stuff for celebrating the birth of a new baby, and all… all I could think about was how instead of picking out something for our child there, we'd have to pick out a casket to bury her in. And I… I just… I guess I just… I dunno. I just… I thought about the idea of having to bury our child, and I just… I just didn't wanna bury her alone, Mam. Silly, huh?"
"Not at all," his mother assured him, as she reached out to take the small bear from his hand. It wasn't anything special. There were no identifying marks, or special features to the bear. It wasn't from a sought-after brand, or based on a popular character. It was just an ordinary stuffed teddy bear. But the meaning behind its purchase carried so much weight. "That was a wonderful thing to do for your child."
"If um… If Emma wants to do the cremation thing instead, do you think we could put this in with the baby?" he wondered. "I just… I don't like the thought of my little Angel being alone anymore. She's already down there on her own, and I hate the thought of that, Mama."
"I'm sure they could," Sinéad assured him. "Would you like me to start looking into some options for you? That way, you'll have some answers to give to Emma when she wakes up."
Killian nodded his agreement, as he didn't trust his voice in that moment.
"Do you want me to see if one of the doctors will take the bear down to be with your little one now?"
"Whale's with Emma. We don't like leaving her alone," he explained. He wasn't entirely sure just how many people in the hospital knew about the full extent of their circumstances. And he wasn't ready for that news to leak before Emma had heard it herself.
"Then we'll ask Doctor Whale when he comes back out again," she promised him.
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"Thanks, Mam."
Killian dropped his head down onto her shoulder as he squeezed his eyes shut, to fight back his tears once more.
"Thanks for coming," he eventually whispered. But it was said so softly that he wasn't sure his mother would even hear him.
Killian wasn't surprised to find the others sat around a couple of small tables in the familiar café, but he was shocked to find that they had left two empty seats pulled up to one, ready for himself and his mother to fill.
"Do you want a coffee?" David asked, as soon as he spotted his friend. "I was just going for refills."
"Uh, please." He fished his wallet out of his back pocket and handed David a bunch of notes, before stuffing it back inside. The Nolans had gone out of their way to help him feel welcome since he had arrived in town, so the least that Killian could do was buy them some coffee every now and then. "Mam?"
"Black for me, please," she replied softly, as she watched the man and his wife nod their understanding, before heading for the small counter. Which left two women sat around the table. One was clearly older than she was, and looked to be busy knitting some kind of blanket, while the other appeared to be around Killian's age.
"Mam, this is Emma's best friend Ruby, and her grandmother. I uh… I don't actually know her name though," he suddenly realized, as he turned to face the elderly woman. "We just sort of all call her Granny. I never really questioned that before."
"Everybody does," Granny assured him, as she waved away his concerns. "It's lovely to meet you, Mrs. Jones."
"You too."
The two women briefly shook hands before Sinéad sank down into the seat next to her son's, and watched as the young woman beside him leaned over to whisper something comforting, as she gave his arm a reassuring squeeze.
"Thanks for coming, Mrs. Jones," Ruby offered softly, when she'd finished speaking with Killian. "I know that Emma would appreciate you being her for her man. Even if she would hate having so many people make a fuss over her."
"Oh she would, wouldn't she?" Granny chuckled. "I can see her now, telling everyone she's absolutely fine the moment she wakes up. That girl hates feeling like she's being a burden to anyone."
"She sounds like someone else I know. And you can call me Sinéad." Killian's mother cocked a brow in his direction and he flushed red under her words, as Ruby and Granny chuckled at how quickly his mother had managed to embarrass him. "Oh, and I uh… I had to tell the nurses at the front desk that I was Emma's mother-in-law to get some information out of them," Sinéad cringed. "So, play along with that story if you're asked about it."
"It's fine," Killian chuckled. "I told them I was her fiancé. They won't ask any questions."
"Nobody that's seen you with Emma would ask any questions," Ruby argued. Because while she would agree that the guy sat next to her was a good actor, there was absolutely no way that he was acting his way through the heartbreak that he was currently trying to hide.
When David and Mary-Margret returned with enough coffee for everyone, Killian made basic introductions again. After exchanging pleasantries and brief chit-chat, the table lapsed into silence once more as every person around it lost themselves in their thoughts.
"Did Victor say how long the surgery would take?" David asked eventually, flicking a glance up to the clock on the wall. Emma had already been in the operating theatre for over an hour, and with every minute that passed, his nerves began to grow.
"No," Ruby sighed. "I guess he didn't want us to worry in case something went wrong?"
"Yeah. Instead, we'll just sit here and worry that something is going wrong, without anyone giving us any answers," he mumbled to the table top, even as his wife chastised him for it.
"We're all worried," she snapped back. "There's no need to make things worse."
"Sorry," David apologized meekly.
But nobody had been overly offended by his words. After what they'd been through the day he'd found Emma, they'd all been thinking the same thing.
"If uh… if it helps to reassure anyone at all, I read a study on the flight over that said the surgery actually lowered the risk of complications for patients with serve injuries," Sinéad offered quietly.
Killian took a brief moment to marvel over the knowledge that his mother had done so much research on what was happening to the woman he loved, before he allowed her words to soothe some of his fears.
He only hoped that they would do the same for his friends, because he hated seeing them suffer too.
"Do you have anywhere to stay in town, Dear?" Granny asked eventually, as she turned away from her knitting to face the newcomer to their small group.
"I uh… I didn't think that far ahead," Sinéad admitted, with a wry chuckle. "There has to be some kind of accommodation close to town, right? Are you still staying here?" she asked her son.
"The uh… the doctors won't let me stay here after Emma's surgery. But David and Mary-Margret have offered me their spare room."
"I run the local bed and breakfast," Granny explained. "I'll make you up a room as soon as Emma's out of the OR."
"Thank you so much. That's really kind of you."
Mary-Margret was the first to spot Doctor Whale when he poked his head around the door to the small café, over ninety minutes later. He gave a gentle nod of his head to indicate that they should return to the privacy of the waiting room, before turning to head that way himself. Mary-Margret couldn't pull her eyes away from the spot where he had been standing, as she reached out to tap her husband's leg to get his attention.
"What's wrong, Darling?" David asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to pull her in close.
"Emma's out of surgery."
Nobody bothered to ask how she knew that to be true. They simply followed her lead as she stood from the table and made her way back down the corridors, towards the room they'd all spent far too much time inside of already that week.
When Killian's eyes eventually landed on Whale's weary figure, his first thought was that something had gone horribly wrong during Emma's surgery. He found himself reaching for Ruby's hand once more, as they each took their seats again.
When the door clicked shut behind Granny, the medical professional amongst them finally lifted his head to offer his friends a small smile. "Emma's out of surgery and in recovery right now. We'll be monitoring her closely for a couple of hours, before she's moved back to the ICU," he explained.
"Everything went well, but we did have to give her another transfusion, which is why she's being monitored again. The guys from Boston will be down in a few minutes to give you all a more technical description of how things went, but for now, she's made it past this next hurdle. Be proud of her."
"You should go home and get some rest," Granny told him. Because he looked absolutely exhausted in that moment.
"I'm gonna do just that," Whale assured her, as he finally rose to his feet. "The specialists from Boston will stick around for a while, just in case they're needed while I'm gone."
"I'll walk you out," Ruby offered. She gave Killian's hand a gentle squeeze as she explained, "I'll be right back," before she stood to follow her boyfriend out of the room.
Killian sank back into his seat as he scrubbed a harsh hand over his face. This was the small victory he had been hoping for all weekend, and he would definitely take it as one. But before he could even consider celebrating the progress that had been made that afternoon, he knew that he would need to see Emma once more, just to reassure himself that she was still in there, and that she was still fighting her way back to him.
"Are you okay, Sweetheart?" his mother asked softly, when she noticed that the others were busy talking amongst themselves.
"Yeah. I just uh… I just really need to see her again, you know?"
"I do," she assured him. "Seeing is easier to believe, than blindly accepting the word of someone else."
"When did you get so wise?" he asked suddenly, as he rolled his head around on his shoulders to face his mother.
"Oh, I've always been this wise. You boys have just never bothered listening to me before," she chuckled.
Killian was getting a little restless by the time Doctor Smith finally made his way to the tiny waiting room, to talk with Emma's friends.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting," he apologized, as he took in the frazzled faces around the room. "I was just filling out some paperwork and going over some care routines with the nurses."
Smith took the same seat that Whale had vacated earlier that day, before he launched into his explanation of how the procedure had gone.
"Okay, firstly, I know that Doctor Whale stopped by to let you all know that everything went well, but I just want to take a moment to reassure you guys of that. We ran into no problems during the procedure itself, so you should let that news reassure you a little. Now, the frame itself will have to remain in place for at least six weeks, just so that we can be sure that the bones will begin to heal in the right places. The last thing we want is for them to start that process unaligned, as we'd then need to go back in and re-break them, so they can be set correctly."
Everyone in the room cringed a little at the thought of that, and suddenly, the procedure that Emma had been through that afternoon seemed less scary than they had all initially believed it to be.
"Emma will probably wake up before we remove it, so what we've done is we've arranged with Doctor Whale to have her brought out of the medically induced coma that she's currently in, under our terms. That way, we can attempt to control her reactions when she does wake. She'll obviously be confused and quite sore, so we don't want her panicking and causing any disruptions to the pelvic region, that could set her recovery back."
"And when will that be?" Killian interrupted, because seeing his girlfriend's beautiful green eyes again was something he needed more than he ever thought he would.
"Soon," Smith assured him. "Doctor Whale would like to have the chest tube and ventilator removed before we wake her, and I'm in full agreement with him there. That way, she won't be quite as uncomfortable when she comes around, which means that she'll hopefully panic less without those invasive tubes in place. But the removal of both will depend upon how Emma's body heals. I'm afraid that's not something we can put a solid timeframe on. Doctor Whale will discuss that more with you when the time comes."
"Okay."
Everyone in the room nodded their understanding. While they each hated not having a concrete timeline to work with, they all knew that the doctors were only doing what they thought was best for their friend.
And nobody would argue with that.
"Now, before you see Emma, you need to know that in order to keep the frame as stable as we can, we've covered her bottom half with one sheet, and her top half with another. So it will be visible when you enter that room. Please, whatever you do, don't touch that frame."
"We won't," Mary-Margret assured him.
"I'll be sticking around for a few days just to make sure there are no post-surgery complications. And then after that, Doctor Whale and I will remain in contact regularly until Emma's ready to be brought out of that coma. I'll return to Storybroke when she is, just in case the worst happens during that process."
"Thank you," Killian offered. Because the doctor had done more than just fix Emma's broken bones that afternoon. He'd also helped to reassure the people who loved her most, that Emma was well on the road to recovery now.
"You're very welcome, Mr. Jones. My wife loves your show," Smith told him, before he stood to leave the room, allowing everyone in it that brief moment they needed to bask in the relief they felt.
Janet was the one to finally come down and let them know that Emma was ready for visitors. Killian had never been more relieved to see a familiar face than he was in that moment. While he didn't know the nurse well, he knew that she'd gone out of her way to not only put them all at ease, but to also make sure that Emma got the best possible care while she was on duty. And for that, he would never be able to thank her enough.
Smith had insisted upon enforcing strict rules for the first few weeks, while Emma was still recovering from her surgery. Which meant that only two of them would be able to see her at a time, and only for a handful of minutes that evening, before visiting hours came to a close.
But Killian was so desperate to see the woman he loved again that he happily agreed to abide by the rules, in the hopes that it would get him to her side faster.
Without exchanging any words, it was decided that he should be the one to visit Emma first, and that Ruby would join him after he'd had a few moments alone with her.
Killian was finally able to follow Janet back up to the familiar space of the ICU once more, over five hours after he'd last left it. He pulled on a fresh gown and a new pair of booties, before heading back through those imposing double doors, and down to the room that had been Emma's since she had arrived at the hospital.
"She's doing really well," Janet told him, as she gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze, before leaving him outside of the closed door to head back to the nurse's station. Killian took a moment to try and mentally prepare himself for what he was about to see, before he pushed down on the handle to let himself into the room.
The familiar hiss and beep of the machines was the first thing to assault his senses, followed by that sterile-clean smell that his nose had long since become accustomed to. But when his eyes fell on Emma's small form in the bed, they inevitably landed first on the large metal cage around her waist, and his knees buckled once more.
"Oh my God," he whispered, as he brought a hand up to try and smother the sobs that wanted to leave his mouth.
Killian drew in a few deep breaths to try and calm himself down as he struggled back to his feet, before making his way over to the side of her bed. "Hey, Beautiful," he whispered, as he pressed a kiss to Emma's forehead and smoothed back the wayward hair there. "I missed you this afternoon."
He took a moment to blink away the tears that were forming in his eyes, as he cast a quick look around the room. The seats had been placed back under the window once more, and the flowers his parents had sent had been removed from the table. The room look exactly as it had done the first time he'd stepped into the space, and it felt so cold and unwelcoming.
Killian briefly moved away from Emma's side to lift one of the chairs back to the spot he'd occupied earlier that day, and then doused his hands with the sanitizer at the end of her bed, as he sank down onto it.
"The uh… the doctors said you did really well today, Sweetheart," he praised, as he took her hand into his own to press a kiss to the back of her knuckles. "I'm so proud of you, Emma. You're fighting really hard right now, and I've never been more proud of you. I just wish I could fight this battle for you."
He dropped his head down onto the side of the bed nearest her hand, as he allowed the sheets there to soak up the tears that just wouldn't stop falling, no matter how hard he tried to hold them back.
"When you're out of here, I'm gonna do everything I can to make this recovery as easy for you as possible," he promised. "Just… don't stop fighting, Emma. Come back to me, okay? I need you to do that for me, Beautiful. I need you to come back."
The sound of a soft knock on the door had Killian quickly scrambling to dash away his tears, as he called out, "You can come in."
He smiled softly at Ruby as she made her way through the door, keeping her eyes resolutely on her friend's face until she was in touching distance. When she eventually dropped them down to take in the frame around Emma's waist, Killian watched as she had to choke back her own sobs at the sight of it.
"Why would someone do this to her?" she whispered softly, as she moved in closer to run a soothing hand over the top of Emma's head. "She's a good person. She doesn't deserve this. Nobody deserves this."
"I don't know," Killian replied robotically. Because he'd asked himself the same thing many times since he'd first seen just how bad Emma's injuries had been. He wouldn't have wished that kind of fate on his worst enemy, let alone someone as inherently good and pure as Emma was. "But I promise you that no matter what happens, I won't rest until we find out who was responsible for this, and that person is brought to justice."
Ruby briefly raised her eyes met his own. They were blazing with a fierce determination that told Killian she would do whatever she could to help with that promise, as she simply declared, "Good."
Killian reluctantly pulled himself away from Emma's side so that Granny could join Ruby for a few moments. The older woman had needed to see for herself that the sheriff was safe and recovering, before she allowed David and Mary-Margret to take their places.
"Do you wanna come back in with me?" Killian asked his mother, as he paced the corridor outside of the ICU while he waited for his turn to say goodnight to Emma once more.
"I can wait out here. I'm not so sure Emma would want this to be how we first meet," Sinéad explained. "I know I wouldn't."
"Emma won't mind too much," Ruby told her. "If anything, she'd be flattered that you cared enough to come."
"Are you sure you want me in there?" his mother worried.
"Of course I am."
While Killian had tried his best to keep his emotions from spilling over in front of his new friends, he wasn't quite as concerned about his mother seeing him break down in Emma's room. She had already seen enough of that since she'd arrived in town, and he knew that she would never judge him for doing so.
Sinéad nodded her understanding before reaching for a gown of her own, and a small pair of booties, while they waited for the Nolans to say their goodnights and return.
When Killian eventually pushed his way back into the unit once more, it was obvious to his mother just how much time he'd spent there, from the small nods and smiles the staff sent his way. He walked confidently to the end of the hall, with his eyes locked on the door to the private room tucked away at the back of the unit.
But he paused for a moment as he reached for the handle, before turning around to lock eyes with his mother once more. It was Killian's way of asking if she was ready for what she was about to face. So when Sinéad nodded confidently once, he drew in a deep breath before pushing the door open.
While Killian had told her exactly what had happened to Emma, since her arrival at the hospital, his mother hadn't quite been prepared for the sight that greeted her inside of that small room.
"Oh God," she gasped, as she brought a hand up to cover her mouth.
Her son's girlfriend was clearly a beautiful woman. Even under all of the wires, tubes and bandages, she could see that. But Emma's natural beauty was completely obscured by everything the poor girl had suffered through.
Sinéad's eyes moved over Emma's face, taking in the dark bruises and raised scratches that marred her flawless skin, before settling on the two large tubes that were connected to the one emerging from her mouth, to help her breath. She moved her eyes down to the sling that held Emma's right arm bent across her chest, and then down further to the metal bars that framed her waist, helping to hold her pelvis in place. The young woman looked so small and broken in that hospital bed.
Sinéad had never wanted to hug anyone more than she did Emma, in that moment.
"Are you okay?" Killian asked softly, as he turned back to face his mother, who had tears streaming down over her cheeks.
"I thought I knew what to expect," she whispered. "I thought I'd prepared myself for this. But…"
"Yeah," he replied sadly. "There really isn't any preparing yourself for this."
"What kind of a monster does something like this?" she asked, her anger cracking her voice as she spoke.
Sinéad turned away from her son for a moment as she attempted to collect herself and dry her eyes. As she did, she heard as Killian's soft footfalls moved away from her and over towards the bed, before the creaking of the old leather chair met her ears.
Moments later, the silence in the room was broken by his hushed voice whispering, "Hey, Beautiful. I'm uh… the doctors are making me leave you tonight, to help you recover. But I promise I'll be back by your side the moment they let me in."
She turned back around to watch as her son gently cradled his girlfriend's hand between his own, while he pressed a soft kiss to the back of her knuckles. She'd never seen Killian act so gently and tenderly before, and it certainly wasn't helping with the tears she was trying to fight back.
"David and Mary-Margret have offered me their spare room while I can't be here with you. So I'm gonna get to meet Leo tomorrow morning. I hope he likes me. When my brother had his first kid, every time I went anywhere near James, he'd scream the house down. He's obviously gotten used to me now, but it took a few months for the screaming to stop."
Sinéad snorted out a watery laugh at the memory of that moment, and Killian reluctantly dragged his eyes away from his love's face, to turn back to her.
"My uh… my mam's here," he told Emma softly. "I know you guys haven't officially met yet, and this probably isn't the best way for you to do so. But she wanted to come by and offer her support. I can't wait for you to wake up so she can meet the woman I love. Because I know she'll see exactly why I fell for you, Emma."
A soft knock on the door startled them both, and Killian looked up just in time to see Janet push it open and poke her head inside.
"Five more minutes, Killian. Doctor Smith will be back up soon to check on Emma, and visiting hours ended twenty minutes ago."
"Thanks, Janet. You'll uh… you'll keep a close eye on her tonight, won't you?"
"Of course," the nurse assured him. "I'll come in and talk to her when I can, so she knows she's not alone. And if anything changes, I promise I'll call you myself to let you know what's going on."
"Thank you."
Janet excused herself quietly to give the family their chance to say goodnight privately, and Sinéad found herself turning away once more as she watched Killian stand up and lean over to press a kiss to the corner of Emma's mouth.
She didn't want to interrupt what was clearly an intimate moment.
"I love you," he whispered so softly, his mother almost didn't hear it. "And I'm so proud of you, Sweetheart. Keep fighting your way back to me, Emma. I'll be right here waiting for you, when you're ready to wake up."
When Sinéad turned around once more, Killian was wiping his eyes with the back of his sleeve, but he still had a tight grip on his girlfriend's hand. She could tell that he was going to need a push to get him out of that room that evening.
"Keep fighting, young lady," she told the woman resting in the bed. "I'd like my chance to meet the woman who stole my son's heart." She leaned over to press a kiss to the centre of Emma's forehead, before pulling back to take Killian's free hand into her own. "Come on, Honey. Emma needs to get some rest, and so do you. We'll come straight back tomorrow morning."
"Yeah," he whispered.
But it still took a long minute for him to finally press one last kiss to his girlfriend's cheek, before Killian let his mother guide him out of the room.
Sinéad had rented a car at the airport when she had landed in Boston, so after checking that Killian would be okay spending the night at the Nolans' home, she said her goodbyes to her son, and drove Granny and Ruby back to the bed and breakfast in town.
With Victor at home resting up for the first time since the incident, Ruby hadn't wanted to be alone in the apartment she normally shared with her best friend. So the three women had headed back to the comfort of the diner, where Granny had divided a bottle of her finest whiskey between them, as they each tried their hardest to convince themselves that Emma would be fine.
While they were busy getting to know each other a little better over a bottle of single malt, David drove his wife and Killian back to the small loft they shared together, not far from Emma's own apartment. It wasn't quite what Killian had been expecting from their home, but the rustic space suited the personality of the two people he'd come to know well, he decided, as David unlocked the front door.
A woman around their age appeared to be asleep on the small couch in the lounge, so Mary-Margret made her way over to the sofa to wake her friend, as her husband showed Killian through to the kitchen.
"Mary-Margret," the stranger gasped, as she bolted awake. "How's Emma?"
"She's doing okay. The surgery went well, so now we just need to wait for her to wake up."
"That's good. That's really good. I'll be praying for her recovery again tonight." The other woman glanced over to the kitchen to smile softly at David, before her eyes landed on Killian's form. "Oh, hello."
"Nova, this is Killian," Mary-Margret introduced. "He's Emma's fiancé. Nova's part of the convent in town, and she's been watching Leo for us while we've been at the hospital."
Killian sent Nova a small smile of thanks, but he was far too exhausted to make conversation with anyone else that evening. He just wanted to curl up on whatever bed the Nolans could provide him with, and hopefully get some sleep to pass the time, until he could be back by Emma's side once more.
"I'll get out of your hair," Nova announced, as she stood and reached for the jacket she had placed over the back of one of the chairs. "Leo's been a little angel again all evening. But I'm sure you knew he would be. He's sleeping soundly in the nursery."
"Thanks for watching him for us."
"Any time. I'll see you guys tomorrow," she promised, before pulling open the front door. "It was lovely to meet you, Killian. You know… you kinda look like the guy who plays Hook on that fairy tale TV show," she mused, before seeing herself out.
"Do you get a lot?" David wondered, when the loft fell silent once more.
"More than you'd believe," Killian chuckled.
Mary-Margret forced the two men to sit down and eat something over steaming mugs of cocoa, before she finally allowed David to show Killian up to the room that would be his, for as long as he needed it.
The small space was far more homey and comfortable than he was expecting, with its own bathroom attached so that he wouldn't need to disturb the others in the middle of the night. Someone had kindly placed fresh towels in the cupboard, and toiletries on the counter ready for his use.
Killian wasn't quite sure he had the words to explain how much those small gestures meant to him that evening.
"Leo usually sleeps through the night, but he does wake early," David explained. "So try not to freak out too much if you start hearing a baby babbling away at five am."
"I won't," Killian chuckled. "Thanks for having me here, Dave. The thought of going back to Emma's place without her there… it just made me feel sick."
"I get that. When I was looking for her, I went to the apartment to check if she'd overslept. I've been inside that place more times than I can count, but I'd never felt like an intruder there until that day."
The two men fell silent for a minute as they both took their time to reflect upon those feelings. Killian realized in that moment that Emma had been right all those weeks ago, back in Chicago. Home wasn't a physical location. It was the people around him that made a place feel like a home.
"You're welcome here for as long as you need a place to stay," David told him, before clapping Killian gently on the shoulder. "Get some rest, Mate."
"You too," he called back softly, as he watched his friend's weary form disappear back down the stairs.
Killian dropped down heavily onto the bed for a moment just to run his fingers through his hair, as he tried to clear his mind.
He wasn't sure how long he remained in that position for, but eventually, he stood up to begin pulling off his clothes, before crawling into bed to cry himself to sleep once more.
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