When Ruby pushed her way into Emma's room the following morning, she froze in the doorway as she took in the sight before her.
Killian had pushed his cot as close to Emma's bed as it could go, and the two were curled up together fast asleep. The actor had one of his arms wrapped around Emma's waist while his other curled above her head on the pillow, making her look completely wrapped in his embrace even though she could barely move from the position the nurses had placed her into. Emma's face was turned into his neck, and although the position looked incredibly uncomfortable for both of them, Ruby had never seen two people look so in love before.
"He's gonna take good care of her, isn't he?" Mary-Margaret asked quietly, as she stepped around her friend to see what had caused her to freeze in her tracks.
"He always does," Ruby assured her.
It was rather bitter-sweet for her to see the two of them the way they were. With every day that Emma's condition improved, it became a day closer to her best friend leaving Storybrooke for good. And while nobody in town would ever blame Emma for that choice, Ruby wasn't sure she was ready to say goodbye to her friend yet.
She wasn't sure she would ever be ready for that moment.
"At least Boston isn't too far for us to go and visit," Mary-Margaret offered, because her mind had gone to the same place that Ruby's had.
"No. But Vancouver is."
For a moment, the two women said nothing as they stood and watched the lovers in the room sleep peacefully. They needed time to come to terms with Emma's leaving, and it was time they were both rapidly running out of.
"Let's go and get some coffee," Mary-Margaret eventually declared, as she reached for Ruby's hand to tug her out of the room. "We can come back up when they're awake."
"Yeah," Ruby reluctantly agreed, before turning away from the sweet scene in front of her to follow the other woman through the corridors and back downstairs.
When Killian woke that morning it was from the best sleep he'd had since getting Ruby's call. While the cot still wasn't terribly comfortable, and sleeping over the gap between the two beds had made it worse, having Emma back in his arms once more had been more than worth the ache in his muscles.
He took a moment just to watch as her chest rose and fell with every breath she took, reassuring himself that she was alive and recovering well before he slid off the bed and headed for the small bathroom to wash up and change into some clean clothes. Killian knew that he'd probably have to leave Emma sometime that afternoon so that he could make use of the Nolans' shower again. But he took comfort in the knowledge that he knew her room would be full of their friends while he was gone. He was actually a little surprised that they weren't already in the room that morning when he woke.
After making use of all of the facilities he took a moment just to tidy up from the night before, pushing the cot back against the wall and moving the chairs around the bed, ready for the inevitable influx of guests that would be visiting Emma when she woke. But when he reached for his phone to check his messages, Killian's stomach lurched.
There was one from Ruby that had been sent a few hours before, letting him know that she and Mary-Margaret were in the café. But it was the one that he'd received after Ruby's that Killian was most concerned by. David's simple message had read, Meet us in the coffee shop when you wake up, and Killian knew that whatever he had to say wouldn't be good news.
He didn't much like the idea of leaving Emma alone, but if David had news about her case he knew that her friends would want to hear it too. So after a moment of indecision, he leaned down to brush his lips over her forehead and whispered a few words of love before slipping quietly from the room.
The nurse behind the desk was one that he recognized but didn't know by name. She offered him a small smile as he passed and a soft assurance that she'd check on Emma regularly, which helped Killian to push through the double doors and out of the ward.
He wasn't surprised to find the others gathered around a few small tables at the back of the café, talking amongst themselves as they sipped at the crappy coffee on offer. The addition of Detective Roberts wasn't overly surprising either, given the message that David had sent to him. But that didn't mean that Killian was happy to see her again.
"What's going on?" he asked, as soon as he caught David's eye.
"How's Emma doing?" the other man asked instead.
"As well as can be expected," Killian replied carefully. "She's got a long road to recovery ahead of her. But at the moment, she's just trying to take it all in and process everything."
David nodded his understanding and then turned his eyes down to the paper cup between his hands. Killian watched as a number of emotions flashed over the man's face while he stared at the murky looking beverage on the table before he finally lifted his head once more.
"Detective Roberts would like to speak with Emma when she wakes today."
"No. Absolutely not," Killian replied firmly, as all eyes around the tables snapped up to his face. "She's been through enough. Unless you have some kind of concrete lead that needs her consultation, she'll be left alone for now."
"I need to know what she knows," Roberts replied diplomatically.
"She doesn't know anything," Killian roared. "She doesn't remember the last time she spoke to me, let alone what happened that night. How does pushing her to talk about something she doesn't know help in this situation, huh?"
"It's possible she might remember something that doesn't seem significant to either you or to her. That's why it's imperative that I speak with her as soon as possible."
"She's going through a lot right now," Killian implored. "Surely this can wait a few days? I'm not asking you to wait forever, just to give her a few days to come to terms with everything. She's suffered more than you will ever understand and she needs time to process all of that. Asking her to try and relive traumatic memories isn't going to help with that."
When nobody said anything in reply, Killian turned his attention to Ruby, hoping that she would be able to help him out. "What does Victor say? Has anyone asked him if Emma's ready for this? Does he think that this is a good idea?"
Again, nobody said anything, and Killian took that as his answer. "Until I hear from Victor that she's ready for this conversation, it's not happening," he declared firmly. "I won't have you set her recovery back for nothing. We've come too far for that to happen now."
Killian didn't bother waiting for anyone else to reply, he simply turned on his heels and headed back up to Emma's ward. He had hoped that he'd make it back before she woke, but when he pushed through the door and into her room he found her mid-conversation with the nurse who had been at the desk when he'd left.
"Hey, Sweetheart. How are you feeling?" he asked, making his way over to her side to brush a kiss to her forehead.
"I woke up and you were gone. But Anne was here."
Emma sounded a little fuzzy around the edges, and Killian flicked a worried look over to Nurse Anne stood by the window.
"She jostled herself a bit when she woke from a nightmare," the nurse explained quietly, pulling him aside so that Emma wouldn't hear their conversation. "I upped her pain medication a little to take the worst of it from her. She'll be okay, though."
"Thank you." He gave the other woman a soft smile of appreciation as she made her way from the room before pulling his chair up close to Emma's bed and reaching for her hand. "I'm sorry I wasn't here when you woke, Sweetheart."
"It's 'kay," she mumbled, turning her head to face in his direction, even though her eyes were still closed. "You came back."
"I'll always come back to you, Emma. Never doubt that, my love."
He wasn't sure if Emma had heard his words before the medication pulled her under, but as long as she was comfortable that was all that mattered to him.
Killian watched over her for a moment to make sure that her sleep was peaceful before pulling out his phone to send some emails. With Emma's move to Boston imminent, he wanted to make sure that the two of them would have a place to live when she was eventually discharged. He would do anything and everything he could to make sure that her transition back to a somewhat normal life was as smooth as it could possibly be.
"Honey? Can I come in?"
Killian's head snapped up from his phone to see his mother lingering in the doorway, and he nodded his agreement as he locked the device and slipped it away.
"Is Emma sleeping?"
"Yeah, she uh… she had a nightmare and jarred a few sore spots. But she'll be okay," he explained, as he watched his mother carefully take the seat beside him.
Sinéad reached out for Emma's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze before she carefully placed it down on the bed once more. "I have to go back home soon," she said eventually.
Killian had been expecting this conversation, he just hadn't thought it would come so soon.
"I can come back when Emma's discharged from the hospital to help you guys settle in a little easier. I'm sure she'd appreciate having another woman around for some aspects of her recovery. But until then, I need to go back and sort your father out. I think your brother's getting a little fed up of having him around so much. And… I miss him."
Killian chuckled at the thought of just how much his brother would have seen of Brennan Jones while their mother had been away. He could vaguely remember a time when they were children, and their mam had been sent to Germany for a business trip for four days. If Killian's memory served him well, they ate most of their meals at a local fast-food restaurant while she was gone, and had no set bedtime. The boys had thought it was wonderful, Brennan had found it exhausting, and Sinéad had been pissed, because she'd had to spend the next month getting her kids back into a sleeping routine after that short trip away from home had ruined their previous one.
"Would you like me to take care of the service arrangements for your little angel before I go?" she asked carefully. "Have you managed to speak with Emma yet about what you'd like to do?"
"We uh… we agreed to have her cremated. And we'd like to do one of those memory things with her ashes. But we didn't get much further than that."
Sinéad reached out to squeeze her son's hand tightly. It was her way of showing him that she would be a strong presence at his side – at Emma's side – for as long as they needed someone to lean on. "I'll arrange for it to happen," she promised. "We shouldn't leave your little one alone in the morgue any longer than necessary."
"Thanks, Ma."
Sinéad leaned in to press a kiss to the side of his head, suddenly overwhelmed with emotion. Of both her boys, Killian was the one she'd always worried less about. He had always worked hard and been focused on achieving his goals in life. He wasn't easily led astray as his brother had been, and he rarely suffered from a broken heart. But he was suffering terribly now, and all she wanted to do was take that pain from him. She just didn't know how.
"Emma and I are getting married," he said suddenly, as he leaned forward to take his love's hand into his own. "When she's out of this hospital bed and moving a little more freely, we're gonna go somewhere together and get married."
"Oh no you're not," his mother protested fiercely, pulling Killian's gaze away from Emma's face and over to her own. "There's no way that you two are getting married without having the people here, now by your sides. We love you too. We deserve to see you guys get your happy start in life together, given how hard you've both fought for it."
Killian leaned into his mother's side, dropping his head down onto her shoulder. Since arriving in Storybrooke, Sinéad had shown just how much she cared for a woman she barely knew, many times over. But his mother's love for Emma never failed to fill his heart with a kind of admiration and respect for her that he'd never felt before.
"Thanks, Ma. I promise we'll let you know a time and date when we have one."
"Oh, you'd better, Killian Jones. I'd hate to have to disown my own son. It'll make family gatherings rather awkward, given that your wife would still be invited."
Killian was more than a little annoyed when Whale was finally consulted on the idea of Emma speaking with the police. Instead of forbidding the conversation, as he had expected, Whale had agreed to give Detective Roberts no more than thirty minutes of Emma's time.
"I can't believe you're siding with them," Killian snapped at the doctor, as he stood from his place beside Emma's bed. The anger coursing through his veins was lighting a fire inside of him, and pacing seemed more preferable to hitting things – or people.
"I know this is difficult for you, Killian, but this is the best thing for everyone. There's a good chance that Emma might know something that could help the investigation, even if she doesn't realize it. It might have come to her in a dream, or maybe it's a snippet of a conversation she thought she'd heard before the attack. I will be here the entire time Detective Roberts is in the room. I won't let her pursue a line of questioning that will bring Emma a great deal of distress, and I will have her removed if it looks like this is going to set Emma's recovery back. But we can't shield her from this forever, Killian. It has to be done eventually. Hopefully, this will bring us one step closer to catching the bastard that did this to her."
"It's okay," a soft voice chimed in. "I'll do it."
"You don't have to do anything you don't want to do right now," Killian told her, softening his voice as he dropped down into the seat beside Emma's bed once more. "You've been through enough, Sweetheart."
"I don't want to cremate my child, but I still have to do that. It doesn't matter when we do this, Killian. It's never gonna get any easier. But if I can help, I want to."
Killian's gaze flicked between the face of the woman he loved and the doctor stood in the room. He wanted so badly to do anything that would protect Emma from more harm, but he knew that deep down she was right. There were still a great many things they needed to do that neither of them wanted to. A great many things that had to be done that would cause each of them pain. And yet, they still had to be done.
"I'll be right here the entire time," he promised, lifting her hand to his lips. "And we can stop this whenever you want to. Just say the word."
"I'll be okay. You can't protect me from everything, Killian."
"I can damn well try."
Emma chuckled a little at his words but fell quiet soon after as the weight of what was about to happen began pressing down on them both. She wasn't looking forward to speaking with the officer waiting in the hall outside. And she knew she didn't have anything to offer her that would be of any help. But Emma also knew what it was like to deal with uncooperative individuals, and she didn't want to be that person for someone else.
Whale seemed to take the silence as his cue to act, as he made his way over to the door and ushered the woman that had been waiting outside into the small room.
"Hello, Emma. My name is Detective Roberts and I work for the Boston Police Department. How are you feeling today?" she asked, as she moved into the space on the other side of the hospital bed.
"Like someone tried to kill me. Three times," Emma sighed. She wasn't much in the mood for small talk from someone pretending to care about her. She just wanted to get the conversation over and done with so that she could go back to resting, preferably with Killian's arms around her once more.
"Sorry. That was a stupid question," Roberts agreed. "How uh… how about we get right to it? Can you tell me what you remember about anything that happened on the day of the twenty-first of September?"
Emma flicked a glance over to Killian and he didn't hesitate to answer her unspoken inquiry. "That was the day it happened. It was almost four weeks ago."
"I uh… I don't know." She screwed her face up with her concentration as she tried desperately to recall the last of her memories. "I remember calling you," she said, turning back to face Killian. "You complained because you were hanging from some sort of harness and it was cutting into certain places."
"You promised to kiss it better for me when I saw you again," he teased, hoping that his easy banter would help Emma to relax a little more. It didn't work though, her face fell at his words as she kept her gaze locked on the man she loved.
"I'm sorry I didn't get to fulfill that promise."
"Don't be. There will be plenty of time to make it up to me," he assured her, leaning in to brush his lips lightly over hers. "All that matters right now is that you get better, Emma. That's all I care about."
Roberts seemed reluctant to interrupt their moment, but Killian knew it wouldn't last. She'd been so keen to speak with Emma that he wasn't expecting her to leave the room that day until she'd finished with her questions, or Whale was forced to kick her out.
"Do you recall when that was?" the detective asked eventually.
Emma turned to Killian once more, unsure of when that conversation had taken place, and he smiled softly as he answered for her. "Two days before. I think. It's uh… it's been a crazy month."
"And do you remember anything after that, Emma?"
Emma's face screwed up with her concentration again as she tried to recall those last few moments in her memories. She could remember calling Killian, but everything after that was blank until she woke in the hospital.
"I uh… I think I remember getting dressed and going to work the next day. Maybe? Or maybe that's the same day? What was I wearing?"
"This is ridiculous," Killian snapped. "Why are you putting her through this? Can't you see that she's already been through enough?"
"We're nearly done for today," Roberts assured him, before she turned her attention to Emma once more. "You wrote down that you were called out to a disturbance by the town line. Do you often investigate those kinds of calls alone?"
"Yes. We're a small town, Detective. Disturbances usually fall into one of two categories. Teenagers trying to cause trouble or animals that have gotten somewhere they're not supposed to be. Nobody's ever been shot here before. I wasn't expecting to be the first."
Roberts scratched a few more notes on her page before she raised her head again and asked, "And there's nothing else that you can remember? About the call? The search? Maybe a part of a conversation that seems out of place to you right now?"
Emma closed her eyes as she tried desperately to recall something… anything that would help the detective, but there was nothing coming to her. And the more she tried to force it, the more it seemed to elude her.
"I think that's enough for today," Killian stated firmly, as he reached out to run his fingers over Emma's creased brow.
"Anything at all, Emma?"
"Enough!" he commanded, as the monitor beside her bed jumped.
Whale pushed away from the wall he'd been leaning against at the sound of the noise and quickly checked over the screen. "I think Mr. Jones is right," he stated calmly. "Emma's had enough for one day. You can pick this up again when something comes back to her. For now… she needs to rest."
Roberts didn't look too happy about being essentially thrown from Emma's room, but she left without complaint. On her way out, she called back over her shoulder, "If you think of anything, don't hesitate to contact me," as Whale followed her out of the door and down the hallway.
Killian waited until they were both out of sight before he turned to Emma, rising from his place beside her bed to sit on the small space next to her left hip.
"Hey, it's okay," he assured her. "It's okay, Sweetheart."
"It's not," she sobbed, as tears began trickling from her eyes and over her cheeks. "I can't remember anything, Killian. How am I supposed to help the police find this man? How can I help them find the person who murdered our child when I can't remember anything?"
"Don't put this on yourself, Emma. It's not your fault that you don't remember what happened. You nearly died in that forest. Nobody expects you to remember who shot you or why. So don't you dare blame yourself for not being able to remember the details. When the time is right, someone will pay for what happened to our little angel. But there will be absolutely no justice for her if you end up suffering trying to get it."
He leaned forward and pulled her awkwardly into his arms to let her sob her way through her frustrations. Killian couldn't even begin to imagine what she must be going through, but if it was anything close to how he'd felt for the last four weeks, he knew that she needed him then more than she ever had before.
"It's okay, Emma. I'm right here," he assured her. "And I always will be."
Killian was finally pried away from Emma's side at around dinner time. After keeping her friends waiting most of the day to see her, he had agreed to leave with David to make use of the Nolans' shower while Mary-Margaret and Ruby stayed behind to keep his fiancée some company.
As much as Emma was grateful that someone was finally getting him out of the hospital, she kind of wished that he'd stayed until dinner was over. Whale had asked one of the nurses to bring her some soup that evening so they could see how well she would cope with having some kind of food inside her system. And Emma was struggling to make her left arm cooperate with her wishes after so long without a great deal of use.
"Let me help?" Mary-Margaret implored, as she stood from her chair to perch herself carefully on the side of Emma's bed.
"I'm an adult. I should be able to do this for myself."
"You're an adult who was recently shot and almost died," her friend reminded her. "There's no shame in needing some help here, Emma. We all know you'll get your strength back soon enough. But until you do, let us help you?"
Ruby was watching them both with a sad smile on her face, but she nodded her agreement to Mary-Margaret's words and Emma sighed as she dropped the spoon down into her bowl. Being fed like a child felt completely humiliating, but she supposed it was better than spilling the dish all over her chest and lap.
Mary-Margaret was wonderfully patient with her as she helped her friend to consume her first meal since the accident. She didn't push Emma to have more than she thought she could tolerate, and she didn't pressure her into eating faster either. Emma assumed that it was the motherly instincts inside of Mary-Margaret that made her so good at this particular task, but she didn't want to voice those thoughts. That felt like adding a new layer of awkwardness to an already tense situation.
When she'd had as much as she could stand, Mary-Margaret set the dish off to one side and busied herself with tucking the sheets around Emma's form to make her feel more comfortable. As soon as she was happy with everything, she dropped down into the chair that Killian usually occupied and reached for her friend's free hand.
"I spoke to Belle," Ruby said suddenly, cutting through the tense silence that had formed in the room. "She's sending you all of her love and best wishes. She uh… she'd like to come and see you soon."
"Belle? Who's Belle?" Mary-Margaret asked.
"She's a friend we made at the first convention we went to, right Emma?"
Emma nodded her head in agreement before something suddenly occurred to her, and she turned to face her other friend. "Mary-Margaret, I'm so sorry. I…"
"It's okay. I understand."
"I lied to you. I shouldn't have done that. I just…"
"It's okay," Mary-Margaret repeated, as she squeezed her hand gently. "I understand why you did. I'm not gonna lie to you, Emma. I was a little hurt when I first found out that Ruby knew about your boyfriend and I didn't, but I know why you didn't tell me. I wouldn't have believed it without seeing it for myself. I mean… how many women end up dating the guy of their dreams?"
"Not many," Ruby threw in. "If they did, I'd be sharing a bed every night with George Clooney instead of Victor."
Emma snorted out a small laugh, even as the action pulled painfully on a number of her wounds. It was nice to know that while so much in her life had changed since the attack, not everything had.
"Belle probably won't be so understanding."
"I'm sure she will," Ruby told her friend. "Just explain to her why you kept it a secret, Emma. Let her know that at the time, it was new and you didn't want to jinx anything. And then tell her that you thought it would be easier for her to accept if she saw it for herself. Introduce her to Killian. Let the two of them get to know each other a little. Belle's not a spiteful or vindictive person. She'll understand why you kept this to yourself."
Emma nodded her agreement but she knew she wouldn't truly believe that Belle would forgive her for what she'd done until she heard those words from the woman herself. She only hoped that Ruby was right and that her attempts to protect her relationship wouldn't end up costing her a valued friendship.
"I wanna hear all about it when you're feeling better. Ruby told me the basics, but I'd like to hear about how you met and fell in love with Killian, when you're ready to tell me," Mary-Margaret said.
"I will." Emma knew she didn't have the strength for that conversation in her that evening, and she'd prefer to do it with Killian by her side. But the opportunity to finally tell her friend everything was one she wouldn't pass up. Mary-Margaret deserved all of the details, and she certainly deserved to hear them from Emma.
But with that realization came another. Emma wasn't quite ready to share the news about the baby she'd just lost, but there was something else she could share with her friends. Something else they both deserved to know.
"Killian and I are getting married."
Ruby's head whipped around to face her friend so fast that Emma was surprised she didn't give herself whiplash.
"When I'm out of here… out of hospital and on my feet again, we're gonna go somewhere and get married. I don't wanna waste any more time. Not with him. Not now."
"I don't blame you at all." Mary-Margaret squeezed her friend's hand affectionately before she added, "But you're not getting married without us. We've all been to hell and back again these last few weeks, Emma. You're our family, and Killian… he's become a part of our family too. We deserve to see you two get your happy ending. Let us be there for it?"
"Even if it's not in Storybrooke?" she asked. Because Emma couldn't face the idea of marrying the man she loved in the town where their child had been taken from them.
"Of course. I think it's time for Leo to see what life is like outside of this small town, don't you?"
"I think you should do it in Vegas," Ruby threw in, drawing confused glares from both of her friends. "Think about it. It's the place where you guys decided to make a go of this, so it's always gonna hold special meaning to you both. And who doesn't love Vegas?"
"I don't wanna be married by an Elvis impersonator in a Las Vegas wedding chapel." Emma was positive Killian would feel the same way about that issue. He'd want something more special and unique to them. Something that they could treasure forever and be proud of. Not some kind of movie cliché.
"Those aren't the only places to get married in Vegas," Ruby chuckled. "You could get married outdoors, in the desert. I think I read this article a few years back about a couple who got married on a dried lake bed. It looked stunning, and it's so unique. I'm sure we could find something to suit you both there."
Emma had to admit that the idea of marrying the man she loved in the city that had been the turning point for their entire relationship was incredibly appealing. Especially after Ruby had managed to get the idea of a clichéd chapel ceremony from her mind, and had filled it with ideas of marrying outdoors instead. Killian would look good under the Las Vegas sun, his hair curling a little at the ends from the heat as he stood waiting for her in a dark suit.
"I'll talk to Killian about it," she promised.
"We could make some inquiries for you?" Mary-Margaret suggested excitedly. "Just so that you have some ideas to work with when you're feeling better."
Emma was pretty sure that particular suggestion was more for her friend's benefit than her own. It would be a great way for Mary-Margaret to take her mind off everything that had happened, and Emma couldn't begrudge her that. She knew that she'd have needed something similar if their situations had been reversed. So instead of declining the offer, she gave her friends a soft smile of encouragement as she said, "Thanks. I'd really appreciate that."
A soft knock on the door had the women inside of it turning their attention that way just in time to see Killian pushing his way into the room, as David followed close behind him. But the two men weren't alone, and Emma's smile widened as she recognized the little dark-haired boy squirming away in his father's arms.
"Leo wanted to come and say a quick hello to his Aunty Emma," David explained.
With some help from Ruby and Killian, Emma managed to sit herself up a little further in the bed as she reached out for the young boy's hand and gave it a soft squeeze.
"Hey, Leo. I've missed you, buddy."
"Mmmmmaaa," Leo declared, and even though she was pretty sure it was just his own way of rambling out a greeting, Emma chose to believe that her nephew had picked that moment to say her name for the very first time.
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