Hi,

I really appreciate your reviews, follows and favs. I do! I am not a native speaker so please excuse my mistakes. I don't have a beta reader and I write as best as I can. Writing is my hobby and it is a great way to escape the reality when it seems to be too much for me. I hope my English isn't that bad and that the mistakes I make will soon disappear. I believe that the more I write the more I learn so please, be patient and wish me luck. Thank you. Enjoy this chapter, please. Xoxo


The door of the emergency flew open and a team of paramedics pushed a stretcher through the doorway.

„Female, around 30 years old, head injury and 1st and 2nd degree burns, in shock and on the way to the hospital she's lost consciousness," a paramedic informed the team of doctors and nurses who took Emma into their care. They were fighting against time. Every second mattered. Everything's been ready for the patient's admission since the ambulance picked Emma from the scene and called the hospital that they should expect a new patient. The hospital had a special team of doctors who treated burns and doctor Zelena West was the leader. Doctor West was a specialist and she was on of the best in this field of medicine.

„Do we know her name?" Zelena asked already checking Emma's injuries. Her eyes scanned every bit of the woman's body that could be seen. When they get their patient to the ICU she will examine her properly. Now she needed to get a clear image of what they were dealing with. Her main task was to make a list of things that needed to be done in a specific order. It was a common approach when they wanted to safe someone's life. They were a team and they had to work as a very well synchronised unit in order to achieve the goal.

„The people who took our patient out of the burning car also found a wallet in her pocket," one of the doctors said and handed the half burnt wallet to doctor West.

„Her name is Emma Swan," the doctor added while Zelena was going through the wallet. She saw a picture of a little boy in one of the section. She felt her throat squeeze at the thought that this woman probably had a son waiting for her. The doctor closed the wallet and looked at her patient.

„You are in our care now, miss Swan. You are going to get through this," she whispered having no clue if her patient heard her. It wasn't important if she could hear her, it was important to Zelena. She always treated her patients the same way, informing them what the doctors were going to do. This statement was some kind of a promise. They moved Emma to the burn ward so doctor West knew everything about Emma's condition. One of the nurses put Emma's initials into their computer so she could fill the patient's medical record.

„Doctor West?" she addressed her boss.

„Yes?" Zelena answered while helping the rest of the team to put Emma on the bed. The clothes she was wearing were torn apart so the medical staff could get to the wounds and treat them.

„We already have someone under the name Swan in our system," the nurse continued even thought Zelena wasn't looking at her. She was busy treating some of the wounds on Emma's body and giving orders to her team. Her team had rich experience with patients who suffered from burns so they all worked in unison.

„Put her on the IV, give me Hemagel and some sterile gauze. Clean the bigger burns and put the gel in and then cover it with the gauze. Someone book me MRI, her head needs to be scanned," Zelena was shooting orders. She moved to Emma's head to examine the wound on the left temple.

„Who is it?" she finally answered the nurse.

„It's Henry Swan, seven years old boy, he is in paediatrics," the nurse said and kept filling the details in the system.

„Send someone to find out if they are connected," Zelena ordered. One of the nurses left the room. Doctor West's instincts were telling her that they are connected but she needed to be sure. Few moments later the nurse came back bringing the information about the relationship between the blond woman and the seven years old kid.

„Henry Swan is Emma's son," the nurse confirmed what Zelena has already knew. What a case. A sick boy occupying one of the beds in the other ward and now his mother fighting for her own life.

It wasn't fair, life wasn't fair.

When Emma's wounds were treated Zelena needed to put some pressure on the MRI scan. She needed to know if the woman's head injury didn't cause damage more severe than the burns. When the confirmation that the MRI was ready for Emma came, Zelena didn't hesitate. With the help of few members of her team they took secured the blond patient on the bed and took her to get the scan done.

„Someone page Regina! I guess she is the kid's doctor," Zelena said before closing the door of the MRI room behind herself and Emma's bed. It took few minutes and doctor West could look at the images of Emma's brain. Everything seemed to be ok and she took a deep breath of relief. She would kick herself if they missed something. It felt great to have a proper proof that there wasn't anything going on in the woman's brain that could cause any further damage.

Now it was only a matter of time when she regained her consciousness back. It was also the right time to add some painkillers into her IV. There will be pain when she wakes up. Zelena took Emma's medical record in her hands and made some notes for the nurses so they knew what should be taken care of. Asking her team members to help her transfer Emma back to the IC unit Zelena made her way towards her office to write down her report.

„Zelena?" a voice came and Zelena looked up from her computer to face her colleague.

„Regina, hey, come in," she invited her colleague in her office and pointed towards the chair opposite her table. Regina sat down keeping her curiosity in check. Why did she call for her she thought. It wasn't so common for these two wards to cooperate.

„Henry Swan is you patient?" Zelena asked to make sure that Regina was the kid's doctor before she starts explaining why she called her.

„Yes, he is. What's going on?" Regina didn't understand the connection between her little patient and Zelena's ward.

„We just admitted his mother, Emma Swan. She had an accident," Zelena explained to shed light to the situation. Little she knew how much invested Regina was in the Swans, especially in Emma.

Her eyes widened, she jumped up from the chair and covered her mouth with her hand. She was literally in shock.

„What?" she screamed so loud that probably half of the ward could hear her. Regina couldn't care less. She needed to see Emma. She needed to know what happened. This was a nightmare.

„She is stable now but she has nasty burns all over her body and suffered a head injury," Zelena offered her colleague few details about the woman's condition to calm her down. Her friend's reaction surprised her as much as it surprised Regina. Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of Henry losing his mother. Her heart clenched at the thought of her losing Emma. The brunette shook all of these feelings off and tried to pull herself together.

„Can I see her?" she asked Zelena hopping that she will be granted the permission to visit Henry's mother. Of course she was doing it for Henry or at least she made herself believe that she was doing it for the little kid and not for herself.

„Yes, of course. We are doing our best in managing the pain and the shock she suffered but it's gonna take some time before she fully heals," Zelena added to prepare her friend for what she was about to see. Regina knew that Zelena was the right doctor at it's right place and that Emma was in good hands but she needed to see her with her own eyes no matter how she looked.

„IC unit number 3," doctor West pointed the direction for Regina only watching her colleague's back leave the room mumbling a weak „bye" before she disappeared completely.

TBC