Real sick
Fangirl448 asked for a oneshot of 11 year old Emma being Snowing's foster child. She gets sick, but doesn't tell them. She gets so sick she ends up in hospital, but she was frightened of being sent back.
Mary Margaret paced up and down the small hospital bay with David sitting on the chair by the bed, tapping his foot nervously. How could they have both been so stupid? How could they have not noticed the amount of pain Emma must have been in? Regina was going to have a field day over this. Ever since they'd taken in Emma as a foster child a few months ago, she'd been looking for every tiny excuse to have their licence revoked. If she caught wind of Emma being in hospital with pneumonia, it might be her first genuine reason to have Emma taken off them. It was hurting them bad enough that she was so sick. If she got taken off them now…it would destroy them.
It hadn't even been there idea to take on a foster child. They had kind of accepted that they'd never have kids of their own. Mary Margaret substituted with her class, and David with his volunteering at the animal shelter. They both still felt like something was missing, and it was only when Emma came along that those holes got filled.
It had been Mr Gold who basically told them Emma was coming to stay. He told them he felt Emma would suit their little family, and they would thank him for it later. Whatever that was supposed to mean.
"Whale will be back soon to check her results." David said sleepily. Neither of them had slept since Emma had been taken in. Mary Margaret nodded. She sighed and came back, perching herself on the edge of Emma's bed. She moved some hair from her forehead, wincing at how small she looked with the oxygen mask covering most of her extra pale face. They hadn't noticed any signs Emma was sick. Whale had assured them she must have been. Healthy eleven year old girls didn't just get severe pneumonia overnight. Since Emma had been taken in, they'd gotten the odd piece of information out of her when she wasn't asleep, which wasn't very often. Basically, Emma had been sick a few times in her life. As a premature baby, her immune system wasn't the best. Every time she got sick, she was put back into the system. She clearly thought that's what would happen here. It broke their hearts.
"You're not going anywhere, little girl." David whispered, stroking the back of Emma's hand. "You're ours. Now and forever. We're never letting you go." He promised Emma in her sleep. Mary Margaret nodded with tears in her eyes from the other side of Emma's bed. Their priority right now was making Emma better. Then, they had already agreed they would be adopting her.
