Inhaler
Pearsons have asked for a oneshot of Emma needing her inhaler, but her parents can't find it straight away. They give her a lecture about being more organised and taking the illness seriously. A few hours later they find a toddler Neal playing with it and realise it wasn't her fault after all.
It wasn't like Snow or David hadn't seen Emma have an asthma attack before. She didn't hide her condition from them. It would have been almost impossible to do so. Her job at the station involved a heavy amount of running. Without her inhaler she would have been in deep shit. The difference that day was a: Emma hadn't been exercising at the time and b: her inhaler was nowhere to be found.
The couple knew they only had a little amount of time before Emma was in real trouble. If they didn't find it within minutes of the attack starting Emma's lips would begin to turn blue. At that point they'd have to call it and take her into the hospital, something all of them wanted to avoid.
Fortunately, David found the life saving device hidden behind a cushion on the couch. He quickly brought it over to Emma who was able to get her breathing back under control.
"Emma, that was a wakeup call if ever there was one." Snow chastised her daughter. "I know you're not exactly the most organised of people, but with this you just have to be. I never want to see you like that again."
"Believe me, I normally am with it." Emma defended herself. "It must have fell out my pocket or something earlier. Weird…" Emma didn't remember sitting on the couch earlier in the day. Plus, her inhaler was normally in her bag. Did she put it in her pocket for any reason?
"Emma, just please try to be more careful." David added. "This is a serious illness. That inhaler can make a real difference in how bad the situation gets. Please don't be so careless with it."
"I'm not." Emma mumbled, a little put out.
Snow and David chose not to take the matter up any further with her. They felt they'd made their point as clear as it needed to be. Plus, the attack itself was probably a scary enough reminder to Emma that she should make sure she was carrying her inhaler with her at all times.
The thing was, Emma was normally pretty religious about making sure she did. It was only later in the day that David got the proof Emma needed that she was. He came into the living room to start Neal's bedtime routine when he saw him playing rocket ships.
"Hey buddy, did you get a new rocket ship?" David asked his small son. Neal shook his head.
"Nuh uh. Emmy's." He answered. David smiled. What had he stolen from his sister this time? As he got closer, his smile faded and he quickly snatched the "toy" away. It was Emma's inhaler. Neal yelled in protest, reaching for it.
"No Neal. This isn't a toy. This is very important to Emma. This is her medicine. If she doesn't have it she might get sick." David tried to explain. Neal still wasn't very happy, but obviously David took it off him anyway and put it back in Emma's back for her. He then went through to the kitchen to explain the situation.
"I think you might need to keep your inhaler in a secret compartment in your bag." David explained. "It seems your little brother has got sticky fingers." Emma smiled.
"I told you I was careful with it!" She yelled. She then frowned. "He didn't inhale from it, did he?" She asked, worried. David shook his head.
"No, his hands are too small and not powerful enough to press it down." He explained. "Sorry if we gave you a hard time earlier. I've explained to Neal why he shouldn't take it." Emma shrugged.
"It's alright. I thought I'd left it lying around too." Emma said. She was just glad Neal hadn't hurt himself with it. She would definitely be keeping her inhaler in a zipped part of her bag from now on.
