Understandably clingy- part 4

A guest asked for a oneshot of a fourth instalment following on from Ch1705 "Understandably clingy- part 3".

Emma lay in the little guest room of the hospital, Neal's old baby monitor clutched in her hand. She couldn't sleep, she didn't want to sleep. Instead, she listened to the even sounds of her mother's breathing. In, and out. Slowly and steadily. Emma had been so frightened that she would never hear that sound again.

"That monitor is meant to be there so that if you wake up in the middle of the night you hear me breathing, not so that you keep yourself up all night listening to it." Her mom's quiet voice broke her breathing pattern. Emma was so startled that she almost dropped the monitor. She just managed to hold onto it. She pressed her lips tightly together, just breathing through her nose. "Don't try and pretend you're asleep, Emma Swan, I know you better than that." Snow told her off. Emma sighed. The game was afoot.

"I'm fine." Emma insisted. "You're the one who's sick. You're the one who needs to sleep." She told her mom.

"I can feel your tension from here, Emma. I'm not going to sleep when I know that you're scared. Sweetheart, I'm not going anywhere. It's ok to sleep." Snow promised her. Emma frowned. That was a dirty trick. She wanted her mom to sleep, so she had to sleep as well. Emma was exhausted, so it wasn't going to be difficult to give in to sleep.

"Alright, alright." She grumbled, settling down. "I'll sleep." She said. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, sweetheart." Snow said gently, listening herself as Emma's breathing evened out. She smiled to herself. She couldn't believe Emma didn't even realise it. She thought the baby monitor was just so she could keep an ear out for her mother. Well, in actual fact, it also fulfilled its proper purpose. It allowed her mother to listen in to make sure her baby was sleeping.