Chapter three
"I can't feel my feet," Emma groaned, almost throwing her tray on the table as she threw herself on the chair.
Mulan nodded beside her, as August announced, "This is so much more glamorous on TV."
"Yeah, I mean, where are the crazy ass cases and hanging in the OR all the time? All we do is running about the hospital."
"Well, I don't know about you, Swan, but I just held the suction during a whole appendectomy this morning. It was awesome."
Emma catapulted a pea with her spoon, landing it successfully on Kilian's forehead.
"Asshole," She retorted. Dear fucking Lord. She was so jealous of him. And of an appendectomy, really – the most boring surgery ever. Being an intern sucked.
"Hey, losers!" Ruby was practically bouncing as she sat on the table. "And Emma," She grinned at her, and Emma was almost blinded by the white and perfect set of teeth shining at her direction.
"Hey Ruby," Mulan muttered beside her and that had to be the second time ever Emma heard her voice. Well, when she wasn't answering all the damn questions the attendings asked.
"We missed you last night," Ruby was talking to her, mega-watt smile still in place.
"Last night?" Emma blinked, confused. Wasn't that their first day off?
"The club," Killian supplied.
"Oh," Yeah, that was what they did on their fucking day off. Went clubbing. "You were all there?"
"Yep, even Mulan here," Ruby swung one arm on Mulan's shoulder, who sighed in response, as if she herself wasn't believing she really went.
"What virgin you sacrificed to get all that energy, guys?"
"Please, stop sounding like an old lady," August scoffed. "Sweetheart, you need to put yourself out there more."
"Well, thank you, aunt. I've been wondering why all those nice guys won't look my way," Emma spat back in a faux sweet voice.
"Fear not, I'm always looking your way, milady," Killian got the nerve to take her hand and lean in to kiss it. Until he was hit by another pea.
"I believe she said nice guys, Killian," Ruby sassed.
"Bite me, Lucas."
"Oh, you wish," Ruby stretched a predatory smile at him, and he swear to God flushed. And damn if the only one at that table that was left unaffected was August. But well, he was gay.
"Booth, I forgot to tell you," Ruby turned casually, "A nurse told me to give you this number," She shoved a piece of paper in his hand.
August grinned.
"Really?" He fingered his hair and smoothed it backwards. "Yeah, I mean. Of course. I answered pages all morning and still I smell like a Calvin Klein model. Have you guys smelled me today?"
"Hell no."
"Can't say that I have, no."
"Nope."
"Anyway," Ruby deadpanned. "I think you'll like Carlos. He's the sweetest and he has those gigantic hands, which I'm sure you know it means he has a gigantic-"
"Carlos?" August interrupted her. Thankfully. "A male nurse?"
Ruby frowned at him, "Well, yes, Booth. I wouldn't bother giving it to you if it were a woman."
"What?! Hey, I'm flattered, I am. Don't get me wrong. But I'm not gay."
"Right," Killian scoffed as Emma's eyebrows shot up. Even Mulan expressed some shock in her usually expressionless face.
"I'm not," He pressed. "I'm straight. Stop laughing, Ruby."
"Wait," She stopped chuckling abruptly, "Are you serious?"
"Yes!"
Emma eyed suspiciously the blueberry and chia seed smoothie, the cucumber, carrots and feta cheese salad and the nuts powerbar he probably called dessert.
"What? I like to be healthy, that doesn't make me gay."
"Chill," Emma raised her arms in surrender. "It's probably the Calvin Klein perfume that gave us the impression, anyway."
"Or maybe the scented sachets you put in your locker?" Mulan offered.
"I don't know, for me is those relationship advices you just like to give all the time…" Ruby threw her two cents.
"I thought you were checking me out," Killian said.
"I was just wondering how they let you use eyeliner," August retorted.
"Oh, come on, eyeliner is genderless."
"Guess I'll miss this debate, guys," Emma interjected, and got up. "Lots of post-ops to follow, don't want to miss that."
"Drinks after our shift?" Ruby called after her with her bright smile.
And this time Emma smiled back, because yeah, those few minutes with the other interns seemed like the only time she felt like another human being, like herself lately, so, "Sure."
Why not?
~SQ~
"You're home," The surprise on his tone didn't go missing on Regina.
"You say that as if I haven't been home in a week," She replied as Robin leaned in to kiss her cheek.
"Well, have you?" It wasn't an accusation per se, his voice was light, but Regina felt the sting anyway. They had been missing each other a lot lately; her time in the hospital, and his time in the Fire Department - supposedly - didn't match, and one side of the bed remained untouched most nights.
"Have you eaten?" She asked, following as he undressed his jacket and opened his cufflinks. "I thought about cooking dinner."
Robin turned to look at her again, eyebrow arched up. "Really? Is it Christmas already?"
"Oh, shut up." Regina got up from the bed, the corners of her mouth curving a little. "Have you eaten or not?"
"No, I'm actually starved," He kept his eyes on her as Regina approached. Her hands landed on his bare chest, the shirt now unbuttoned. "Do you need any help?" Regina traced his skin with fingers and eyes, felt the heart thumping rhythmically under it. She looked up under her lashes, her nails biting into his chest suddenly. Robin was still looking at her as if expecting an answer. Unbothered. "Honey?", He insisted.
"No," She said, hands trailing down into his stomach. "I'll just make some pasta."
"Sounds great. I'll take a quick shower and meet you downstairs," He moved away from her, opening his pants as he made into the bathroom. Regina was left there, hands still mid-air.
Once upon a time, that glance under her lashes and a light touch was all it took. They'd be in bed in seconds, dinner forgotten, and later, maybe, some pizza and wine. Once upon a time, they made time for each other, planned their schedules, made the effort.
As Regina went down the stairs into the kitchen, she was still acutely aware of everything they didn't do and everything they weren't anymore. Was she even flustered? She didn't think so. Robin was a handsome man, and she was rarely aware of it. They were fairly young, but didn't feel like it anymore. They hadn't been intimate in months.
She started cooking robotically, listening to the water running upstairs.
She didn't know Robin had been serious about her until he popped the question. They were on vacations, in a hotel room in Venice - yes, very romantic, but they were both adults, travelling together didn't mean eternal love, except… Except that this one night he turned to her, kissed her on the lips and said, "Marry me, Regina."
She smiled, because he sure was drunk on ocytocine, they had just done it three times in a row, and the champagne cooling on the bedside table was too fine for their own good. It was just the kind of thing a man would say when he finally couldn't get it up anymore for the night, but thought something still had to be done. Regina kissed him, and wouldn't dignify that with an answer, but he insisted.
"I mean it," And he was out of bed, feeling up his jeans for the pocket. When he produced a ring out of it, Regina understood maybe a room in Venice did mean eternal love, after all. Maybe the giggles and provocations of her friends had some truth underneath. They had all seen it first, and Regina was frozen in bed for a moment, speechless. "I love you, Regina. And I know you love me too, even if you think you are too raw still to let yourself say it. It doesn't matter. Marry me, and we'll be together forever. Isn't it good to be together? We can be so much more than we are now."
"I… I can't have children," She stammered a couple of seconds later. Robin looked at her, confused.
"What you mean?"
"I had a complication… An infection," She whispered, covering herself with the sheets, feeling suddenly overexposed. "Doesn't matter. I can't have children."
She had expected him to falter, then. To put the ring away, to say they would think things through. But Robin only climbed back to bed, held her in his arms and said how sorry he was. The ring was still in his hand.
"Ain't you tired of feeling lonely?" He asked into her hair, raising the ring in front of her face. "Will you marry me?"
For both things, she ended up saying yes.
They were happy for awhile, sure. Less lonely, undoubtedly. They were good in bed together, and managed to work things out everywhere else. Both deeply dedicated to their careers, both scarred enough not to pressure things too much. They were doing just fine. And then. Then. Regina could pinpoint the moment almost exactly. It was a dinner.
So maybe, underneath, things had been heating up for a awhile. Things unsaid, prolonged silences. Lingering looks at the children's aisle in department stores. But until that dinner, it hadn't reached blowing up point yet.
It was Katherine's birthday and she offered a small, intimate dinner in her house. Robin bought this most expensive wine, which the woman didn't drink, of course, because she was pregnant at the time. Ursula was also there with her twins - Ariel and Sebastian - and her husband, Tristan, who was just crazy about them three. Mal showed up with her boyfriend, a nurse ten years younger than her, and they were cringeworthy touchy. And Fredrik's sister, who was barely twenty-one, drank too much and kept insinuating she was up for a threesome with them. For all Regina knew, it happened.
And Regina and Robin sat there, between those two groups, and not really part of any. They knew of which team they wanted to be a part of. That night, that desire, that wanting was so strong it burned. Regina felt a hollow in her womb every time a child laughed, every time Katherine mentioned the baby kicking or picking up names. She wanted to scream that incapacity out of her body. She never before had settled with not being able to do something. But there was no fighting this. She was helpless. Robin kept smiling, being sweet as he was, charming the children, the parents, everyone. Holding her hand under the table.
Ain't you tired of feeling lonely?
But they were lonely again. That night, when they got home, it felt huge and silent. It echoed. They had a home office they didn't need. A TV room they never used. Too many rooms, few people. They were alone together, the worst kind of loneliness. And maybe feeling it, feeling that monster creeping in into their house, Regina attacked first.
She kissed Robin at the foot of the stairs, hungrily, desperately. They were a little drunk, but fine. She wasn't usually this rough, but it was fine. They didn't need anyone else. They were married now. They were better now. She tore his shirt open, clawed his back, moaning his name. He tried, God, lifting her in his arms, taking her upstairs, to the bed, he tried, touching her with his hands, asking her if it felt good, but all the time, the damn time, Robin just couldn't get hard.
He blamed it on the wine, and she said, yes, of course, it happens, it's ok, you do have a talented tongue, but in the end she knew. She just knew some part of them had been lost, some stupid, animal, horrible part of their minds was telling them it was worthless - to make love. It hadn't a purpose. How silly was that? Since when she thought of sex as reproductive activity? Never! Since never! But anyway there they were. Doing it less and less. And even less.
"If it tastes as good as it smells…" Robin's voice made Regina look up, bringing her back to the moment. He was wearing sweatpants, his hair still wet.
"Will you put the table? It's almost ready."
He nodded, walked to the cabinet and leaned down to get the plates. Regina stared at his ass for a second, thinking maybe tonight. But in truth, probably not.
~SQ~
"Jones, you're in plastics today," Dr. Dunbroch said, barely looking up from the chart on her hands. Emma, though, was able to spot the crooked smile on Killian's face as he made an ironic courtesy to them and left, light on his feet. It was common knowledge that the head of plastics, Dr. Mal Draco, had a soft spot for cute male interns. And Killian had no shame whatsoever to use it on his favor.
Emma tried to think badly of him, but a nasty voice kept whispering on the back of her mind, Wouldn't you do the same, should she like female interns as well?
No, though, of course not.
Not that it would be too much of a sacrifice, I mean, look at that woman, right?
But everybody knew that sleeping with an attending was a great way to get a) in trouble; b) fired; c) bad mouthed everywhere.
Nevertheless, in the meantime, Jones will be holding suctions in appendectomies and I'll be…
"In cardio today," Dunbroch announced, "Hua, Booth and Lucas, you stay with me."
"I'm sorry, you said Cardio?"
"Yes, Dr. Swan, unless you want to pass by Otolaryngology first, to check on your hearing," Dr. Dunbroch shot her an impatient glance and looked at her watch. "Though I wouldn't recommend that, because Dr. Mills asked for an intern eight minutes ago, and she doesn't wait past ten."
"But-" Dr. Mills? Emma had hesitated to head to Cardio just for the possibility of bumping into the woman, and now she was supposed to work with her directly?! She lingered another second, and then Ruby stared at her, mouthing "GO!" with an urgency that made Emma blink and wake up.
She hurried, taking the stairs. Fuck her if she would lose the chance to spend a day in Cardio. And with one of the fucking best Cardiothoracic surgeons of the country, at that. It didn't matter if the woman was a goddamn devil, known around the hospital as the Evil Queen, and had threatened her not even a week ago. People were really intense at the hospital, and if Emma was going to be honest, it was most likely that Dr. Mills didn't even remember her face anymore. She must have eaten ten intern hearts for dinner since their encounter.
And maybe, oh God, maybe was today that Emma got to do something meaningful in that place. She stopped skidding at a corridor when she saw the woman leaning against a stand, typing on a tablet. Emma's heart was a little off-beat, and she wanted to blame it on the run, not on the sight of the attending, but…
She cleared her throat, making sure her voice wouldn't falter as she said, "Dr. Mills? Dr. Dunbroch sent me to your service today."
The woman glanced up for barely a second, before looking down at the tablet again. "No," She murmured calmly. "Tell her to send me someone else. I'll be doing my rounds, tell the intern to meet me there."
Emma was speechless for a brief moment; enough for Dr. Mills to put the tablet under her arm and walk towards the door. The intern recovered in time to catch up.
"I'm sorry, Dr. Mills, didn't you ask for an intern? I can assist you."
"I'm starting to believe you have a hearing problem, Dr. Swan," The woman didn't even stop walking. "I don't like to repeat myself."
Emma was starting to believe a report from the Otolaryngology might come in handy in that hospital, if things didn't change. Though she was pretty sure there was nothing they could do about her stubbornness.
"Dr. Dunbroch sent me, and I'm sure I can assist you as well as any other intern, if you'll give me a chance, Dr. Mills. Please."
The woman finally braked on her tracks and assessed the blonde; their eyes met, and Emma considered for a second looking down, but she couldn't. She didn't get there by looking down, so she stared back. For a moment, she believed she would be given a chance, but then the attending's posture tensed up.
"Tell Dr. Dunbroch to send me someone else," She drawled, so slowly it made Emma feel stupid. "And the next time I have to repeat myself to you, Dr. Swan, will be the last time you'll be given any order in this hospital. Are we clear?"
She didn't wait for an answer, and Emma was left staring at her back, a fever burning in the pit of her stomach.
"I thought you'd keep an eye on me," Emma hissed, almost under her breath. One step more and maybe it wouldn't be on Regina's range. But she heard it. The woman turned back to Emma, a thin smile on her lips.
"Oh, but I did," She said, cocking her head almost sympathetically. "I took a look at your admission file. Average college; average grades. I have no idea how you even made into this program, to be honest, Dr. Swan. Maybe someone pulled some strings, huh?" Her tone was so nice the words sounded almost ludicrous; it was like she had perfected the art of being mean, mastered it. "Anyhow, you are completely mediocre, aren't you, dear?"
Emma blinked, her hands closing in fists. The voice inside her head, usually savage as fuck, usually self-loathing, this time came in rescue, whispering, I think you'll be quite something.
She used to sing-song that to Henry when he was a baby, babbling in his little ear, "You'll be quite something, kid. I can tell. We'll be alright. We'll be quite something together."
"What does that even mean?" Neal would ask, half-smiling, half-puzzled.
"I don't know, it's just something I heard," Emma said, the warmth of Henry against her chest, piles of books in front of her. But she did her best to find out; her goddamn best. And to what? To be called mediocre now? By her?
"Dr. Swan," A third voice echoed by her side, popping the red bubble of anger that was surrounding her rapidly. Emma turned to find the head of Peds by her side, Dr. Blanchard. "It's good to find you here, I was going to ask Dr. Dunbroch for your services today. Are you free?"
Emma blinked. She wasn't sure about what was going on, though she had the feeling she was being saved. Dr. Blanchard was all but ignoring Dr. Mill's presence, but she had to have heard, and the humiliation creeped under Emma's skin.
"I was sent to Dr. Mill's service," She managed to say through gritted teeth.
"A silly mistake, as we agreed," Mills added. The two attendings exchanged a look charged with such a vile energy that made Emma feel even more lost.
"Great, then. All settled; shall we go, Dr. Swan?"
"I suppose I should tell Dr. Dunbroch to send Dr. Mills someone else, and let her know I'm in your service, instead?"
"Oh, I'm sure Dr. Mills can use this shiny tablet under her arm to send a message and get herself an intern," Blanchard smiled, and thought everything about her was softer and sweeter than Dr. Mills could ever be, Emma felt the steel under it. And she liked it.
"Mary Margaret," The name came with a warning, and a familiarity that made Emma wonder what the fuck was the deal between them.
"Regina," Dr. Blanchard responded, as if it was a compliment, then took Emma by the arm and walked away.
"I- Thank you," Emma said after a second of being dragged out. "Dr. Blanchard, thank you. You didn't have to do that."
"I don't know what you are talking about," The woman batted her hand. "I needed an intern for the day, I wanted you. All is well."
Emma sensed it wasn't true. Not the part of needing an intern, but surely they were yet too new to be personally summoned by attending doctors. That proud voice inside her head was telling her to make it clear that the doctor really didn't have to do that. Rescue her. Emma could look after herself; she'd done that all her life.
But that wasn't all that was to it, was it?
She couldn't look after herself in the hospital if she had a reputation. Her learning was no longer only in her hands. She now depended on others to teach her. And said others needed to believe she was capable of learning. Emma had always given her all, made it to one of the best surgery programs in the country and still… Still, the cardiothoracic surgeon words struck a nerve. She wasn't all wrong.
Truly, how did she end up in the program with her average grades and nothing spectacular accomplishments in med school?
"I'm not mediocre," Emma said it anyway. Because it was true. She may not have the grades or spectacular accomplishments, but she refused to let that get in her way. Not after everything she'd been through. "I know I was not the most scholar student, but I work hard, I learn fast, I'm not lazy and I don't believe anything is above m-"
"Emma," The hand on her arm squeezed lightly, and they came to a halt in the middle of the peds aisle. "I'll call you Emma for a second, because I'm going to give you a personal advice, not a medical one. Then you can be Dr. Swan again, as I'll be Dr. Blanchard. It's that ok?"
Emma stared, surprised. She wasn't even sure why that woman cared so much to the point of giving her any advice at all, but what the hell.
"Yes, Dr. Bla- um. Mary Margaret."
"We can't change our past. And yet, we wish we could've done better, brighter. Wish we hadn't turned one or another direction, wish we had another cup of coffee, spent more time doing this or that, spoke up or being silent. We all wish we could change it, the past. Needless to say, we can't. And there'll come the time we'll have to accept it. We have to wear our scars and ghosts with pride." The pixie-haired woman looked at her with serious eyes and a kind smile. "I don't really care what you've done before. Do better now, do brighter now, be the greatest doctor you can be now."
Emma blinked, swallowing the lump in her throat. The tears were hard to avoid. But she managed. They were in peds and everyone there had a better reason to cry, so she would do her best, and just nodded and uttered back, "Thank you, Dr. Blanchard."
"You are welcome, Dr. Swan," And just like that, they were back in full mode doctor mode.
~SQ~
"I guess it's safe to say you don't have laser eyes," Katherine said, stopping by Regina's side on the Ped's department desk, and handing a tablet over to the nurse behind it. "Or she would be dead and torched," Her blue eyes followed Regina's through the glass window of a patient's room. "Multiple times, if possible."
"Oh, and I believe you would miss her terribly," The brunette deadpanned, but averted her stare from Mary Margaret and the intern by her shoulder.
"Well, I wouldn't say terribly…" Katherine chuckled, and Regina smirked too. "What did she do this time?"
"Disrespected me in front of an intern," She murmured through gritted teeth. "Took my authority on purpose. And is now playing the hero."
Katherine took another glance into the room, where Regina knew the two doctors were talking to a teenage girl and his parents. She herself had been to Peds to check on one of her post-op cases, and could be gone by now, but had remained a little longer. Blanchard hadn't heard the last of it yet.
"Did she interfere in your case or your teaching methods? You know you can actually file a complaint if she did," Kat asked. "It would bother her more than your death glare, probably."
"No, it was not… I was trying to teach a lesson, but not a medical one, I suppose." In all honesty, she supposed it wasn't a lesson at all. She was angry, lately she was angry the whole time, and that intern seemed to know just how to push her buttons. Katherine only raised an eyebrow, the image of complacency. "How do you manage, Kat? You have no hard feelings? I mean, she married your husband."
"My ex-husband," She pointed out. "And so what? I'm happy, they're happy, it all worked out fine."
"She still stole him from you," Regina muttered under her breath, and the anger made an appearance again, though she didn't know where to direct it.
"Jesus, Regina, is that really what you think?" Katherine frowned, then shook her head. "That I'd lose a man to Mary Margaret? I thought you had me on a higher account."
"That not what I- She was sneaky and-" She took one short breath, her eyes crossing into the room again, glowering at Mary Margaret's back with a violence that was almost physical. The amalgam of feelings inside her burned the way up her throat. "Now she bounces around the hospital all day, and you are alone!"
"I'm not alone! I have a husband, I have a child. Where is this coming from?"
"It's just unfair, Katherine. You find a man, and have everything figured out, and then comes someone, something, and- It's just- Can't you see? She's always in the middle of everything, and nothing good ever comes of it. Now I can't even tell the truth to a silly, mediocre intern without being treated with disrespect by..."
"Regina," The calming hand on her shoulder almost made the woman jump. Katherine pressed harder, staring into her eyes with that unchanging calm. "Don't think this is about me at all, huh? I know there is history there. I know it's not easy, dear. But sometime, you know, you'll have to let go."
"I was not talking about… that," She whispered, her voice suddenly faltering with the weight of the memories Katherine was trying to dig out. Regina shook her head. "Forget about it. It was a stressful day, is all."
"Feel like a cup of chocolate?" The woman asked, gesturing for them to take the hallway to the cafeteria.
"Sure, yes," Regina forced her shoulders to ease and followed her friend.
"And this… silly, mediocre intern… was that one with Blanchard?"
"Yes, I was refusing the girl into my service when there came the hero and recruited her to a wonderful day in Peds. They are probably best friends by now."
"Huh," Katherine frowned a bit. "Wasn't that Dr. Swan?"
"Yes, I believe so. Why?"
"Nothing, it's just…" She shrugged. "Funny you'd say that. Just yesterday David was telling me she is the best he's seen in years."
~SQ~
"This is our last stop," Dr. Blanchard said in the end of the rounds. "Hey, Taylor, how are you doing?"
The thirteen year old boy moved her eyes up his cellphone to give the woman a smile and a nod. Which, honestly, was more than the grunt teenagers usually offered back.
"Are you going to chop me today?" He asked bluntly.
"Oh yes," Mary Margaret said with a mischievous smile. "Just like filet mignon. Then I'll serve you with roasted potatoes. Doesn't it sound delicious?"
"Geez, MM, I thought you were a vegetarian."
"Oh," The woman said as if she had just realized something very important. "I guess you are right. But Dr. Swan here is not."
Taylor's eyes moved up to find hers as he seized her up.
"Come one, like Barbie here would ever eat something as cool as that."
"I'll have you known, kid, that I eat human livers for breakfast. Then I pop some eyes into my mouth for dessert."
That wasn't the most awkward dialogue she'd ever had with a boy, really. Raising one was never dull, she had to admit that.
"You can't have dessert after breakfast, silly."
"See, Taylor," Emma said with what she thought was a wise sigh, "When you are a grown up, you can."
Taylor scoffed, but his eyes were shining with mirth.
Dr. Blanchard was watching the interaction with rapid eyes, Emma could see. Her smile never faltered or showed anything was different, but Emma knew she was being evaluated. She just hoped she'd passed the test.
"Taylor has an umbilical hernia," Dr. Blanchard said, handing Emma the chart. "Can I show it to Dr. Swan?" She asked the boy, who just shrugged.
She approached to inspect it along with the other doctor. Not the biggest hernia she'd ever seen; should be simple.
"We'll have it removed later. Pretty standard procedure."
"And MM said she'll be careful not to kill the alien," Taylor said with a serious voice, and Mary Margaret laughed.
"That's right."
From the few words she exchanged with the boy, it seemed like a joke. The slight wrinkle in his forehead, however, did not. Did he really believe the hernia was an alien?
She looked down at the chart and all his hormonal levels seemed fine.
"Dr. Swan," Dr. Blanchard called her to the side and whispered so the boy wouldn't hear. "He wouldn't say it, but he is very worried about the surgery. His parents are at work, and should be back just a minute or two before we operate. Do you mind staying with him, calm his nerves a little bit? His surgery is scheduled for eleven o'clock."
"I don't mind," She said easily.
"Thank you, Dr. Swan." Her eyes were so very solemn, and Emma got it.
It was not a doctor's job to stay hours with a patient just to make him feel better about the surgery. Try and calm his worries, sure, but not going up and above it. But not in peds.
In peds, things would always be more personal, the doctors would always have to be more humane, more caring. Being a pediatric surgeon was about going up and above to make your patient feel better. Not just chop him, as Taylor had put it.
So Emma sat by his side when Mary Margaret was gone, determined to do her best to make that scared boy a little less scared.
"So, is it a good alien?"
"What?
"You said you wanted it alive, so it is a good one, right?"
His face was somber when he shook his head.
"Not really."
Emma raised one eyebrow.
"And you want it to live?"
"Well, if he doesn't, I won't."
"Really?" Emma tried not to frown. "How is that?"
"His life line is connected to mine, obviously," He said that with a duh voice that sounded a lot like Henry's, when he was explaining some app or slang to her.
"And how do you know that, kid?"
Taylor sighed and then gestured her to get closer.
"Can you keep a secret?" He whispered.
Emma nodded seriously, zipping her mouth with her finger to show him she meant business.
"He told me."
"What?!" She might or not have yelled.
"Shhhh!"
"Sorry," She mouthed.
From then on, everything was a little unbelievable. First, Taylor dreamed every night about the alien, then, it apparently started to visit him when they were alone. The story was all too detailed and he looked very frightened, and his fingers kept flexing toward his palm and outward.
And.
Well, it didn't stop for two hours now, like a twitch reaction. Emma was just flexing his fingers in hers when Taylor screamed.
She let go of the small hand, "Are you alright?"
The boy was holding his head, his eyes shut tightly.
"He's here now." He said with panic in his voice.
"I thought he only came when you were alone," Emma said carefully, worried. That couldn't all be fear of the surgery, could it? He was thirteen, old enough to understand. And umbilical hernia removal was the simplest procedure, Dr. Blanchard sure told him that several times.
He screamed again, his hands pressing against his skull.
"Taylor, is your head hurting?"
He gritted his teeth, eyes still closed as he nodded.
Emma was fast, popping her head out of the room, "Nurse! We need to get him to get a head CT and a MRI right away."
And they were doing just that when Dr. Blanchard entered the exam room, where Emma was analyzing the images of the MRI as it appeared on the screen.
"Dr. Swan, have you just abducted my patient?" She seemed pissed enough, "I was quite surprised when the nurse told me he was off to get a head CT!"
"And a MRI, yes," Emma confirmed, eyes never leaving the monitor.
"Dr. Swan, I'm trying to understand-"
"I'm sorry, Dr. Blanchard, I am, I didn't have the time to page you because he was having an episode and I had to be fast-" She shook her head. "Just look, is it what I think it is?!"
Mary Margaret followed the finger Emma was pointing at the monitor and took a long look.
"Dr. Swan," Dr. Blanchard said. "Would you be so kind as to page Dr. Arendelle and check her schedule? Maybe as we remove the hernia she can remove this tumor."
Emma was fast to page the neurosurgeon, and a little slower to process what Mary Margaret had told her.
"Wait, you said we?"
Dr. Blanchard smiled at her.
"Emma, you just found out a head tumor on this boy. I believe you earned the right to help me operate him, do you not?"
Emma swallowed, her chest swelling with pride. "Could I-" She cleared her throat. "Could I hold suction?"
Dr. Blanchard let out a good-naturally chuckle.
"How about I also let you make the first cut?"
Hey, guys! Thanks for the great response and for cheering this fic on. I hope to bring some more cases and drama in the next chapters. Stay around to check, will you? :)