I do not own anything you recognize, only what I create myself. Sorry for the delay, I'm trying to be a bit realistic on the hospital jargon and procedures, but I know I will fall waaaaaay short on most so please take with a shakers worth of salt. Hope you enjoy.

RM

Xxx

Eugenia 'Granny' Lucas sat in the hard ugly plastic chair in the Emergency Room waiting to hear word from anyone on how her granddaughter was. Beside her, Henry perched on the edge of his own horrible yellow monstrosity, his leg bouncing a mile a minute as he to anxiously awaited word on his mothers. Neither had said a word to each other for the last hour, but granny was about ready to cut off the bouncing limb of the young man if for no other reason than to stop the constant squeak it made against the floor.

As she pictured the peace, the doors at the end of the ward were suddenly flung open and medical personnel flooded the room around them, all in a mad dash for the doors leading in from outside as she finally caught the sounds of the sirens, having been too distracted before to hear them. Beside her Henry moved as to jump up and rush after them but with wolf fast reflexes she caught his arm, pilling him back down.

"Patient is stable for now. She has a broken right wrist, abdomen is slightly distended and ridged. Lungs sounds are good, but has massive bruising on the right side as well as several fractured ribs" the paramedic spouted off as the gurney rolled past. "Pressure is 115 over 75, temp is 99.3, pulse is 80 and strong. Pupils are equal and reactive."

"Get he to exam room one. MRI, CT, and X-ray are all on standby, as soon as she is on monitors send her down for CT scan on her abdomen. Then get her to X-ray, full body, to check for any other breaks we may be missing. Has she been conscious at all?" Dr. Whale asked as he followed the patient.

"Reports on scene were that she was at first, but passed out almost as soon as they found them."

"Ok then, let's get started." Whale replied, trusting his co-workers to deal with the next inbound patient. He knew he was the Head doctor, but his colleagues had more experience in trauma then he did.

Xxx

The second ambulance pulled up just as the first moved out of the way, clearing the bay to off load there patient. There ride had been a bit more involved as the boat they had used to get from the cliff to the docks as quickly as possible had jostled there patient, making it hard to keep the rebar protruding from her side still. Knowing they didn't have much choice, the only ting they could do was pack more and more gauze around the two ends, hoping to stem the bleeding as much as possible. Luckily it had not been a large bar and they could control it somewhat.

Once back on dry land, they had wasted no more time, rushing towards the lights of the hospital at the far side of town. As the doors swung open, the paramedic in back started to real off information to the doctor that all but jump on the gurney as the wheels touched the ground.

"Penetrating foreign object to lower left quadrant does not appear to have hit any major organs, but it was shifting during transport, stemmed blood flow as best we could. Unconscious and unresponsive since before we arrived on scene, but reacts to pain stimulus. Pupils are sluggish but reactive; possible severe concussion. Open fracture of the right arm, we splinted and wrapped it, but did not reset, as it needs to be cleaned. Pressure and pulse are both low but have remained steady, temp is spiking at 100.1."

"Or is on standby, get her to trauma room one, we will stabilize and go right to the OR." Dr. Kea Ramsey, a surgeon of good standing at the hospital told the man, as the rushed towards to doors to the treatment rooms.

XXX

Dr. Mora Koosh waited for her patient to arrive. As the head Trauma Surgeon on staff, she knew she would be faced with the toughest case, the last patient to be pulled from the darkness of the collapsing wall of rock just five miles away, but do to the geography of the land, none of them hade come straight to them having instead be transported by hand to the beach, then loaded on some of the fastest boats they had at their disposal before moved to the waiting ambulances at the dock. As she looked at her watch, she saw the fabled 'golden hour' was almost up, the time allowed from rescue to treatment that could mean the difference between life and death.

As she let a frustrated breath out, she heard the sounds of sirens and squealing tires from the bay and rushed forward to meet her patient. She did not even know who it was, witch she was glad for, having never really socialized out side a small group of people, mostly from the hospital, she knew the main players in town but stayed way clear of their drama, for her own sanity.

As the door of the ambulance was thrown open, she saw her patient seizing, a grand mall seizure to be precise, and knew there was major head trauma going on from just that one glance. Not even listening as the oldest of the dwarfs rattled off injuries and vitals, her whole focus was on her patient and trying to contain any brain damage that occurring at that moment. She needed to get them to CT and MRI without delay to find where there brain was bleeding.

"Go directly to the scans, we need to alleviate the pressure building in the brain before we lose them. I don't care if they are occupied or not, this has first priority over everything." She told her attending as she rushed inside with the patient. "Get OR two ready, we don't have time to waste if we want them to live."

Xxx

From the hall, Granny and Henry watched, caught in the shear controlled chaos and movement around then, neither understood a word they heard, but the could both feel their hearts drop and feel their throats dry out more and more as each gurney flew by them. Tears slid down pale cheeks, and yet neither could find it in themselves to utter a single sound to ask 'Will they be alright?'

Xxx

The clock ticked, heels scuffed the floor, and nails beat a staccato against the wooden arm of the chair. The sounds of breathing, the scent of ammonia, the mummer of voices from down the hall. Yet no one in the room dared speak it seemed. It had been three long hours since those few chaotic moments Granny had witnessed in the emergency room, the lack of word on her family, her friend, her semi rival of a cook, kept her quiet. Around her waited the others, Snow and David sat beside each other, her left hand clasped in his right as her fingers beat out a nervous drum line on the chair.

Henry was to wired up it seemed to sit still, having been pacing for the past hour, ever since he had returned from his forced exile to the cafeteria with his grandfather for drinks. Belle had joined them as well, sitting quietly in a far corner, waiting for word on her best friend. The woman's support not needing words after so much time together.

The room was meant to be soothing, but as the clock ticker round another minute in the stillness it seemed to trap more than easy those who waited. Down the hall the rest of the town it seemed had congregated anxious for word on those being treated. Then from down the other end of the corridor a door opened in a rush of automatic air, signaling the arrival from the treatment are and four pairs of eyes turned to the door in hope and fear, would they know how everyone was finally? Was everyone really alive?

"I have news on Regina and Emma." Dr. Whale said as he entered the room, closing the door behind him to offer some privacy. "I'm sorry, Granny, but as soon as I know about ruby, I will let you know." He told the oldest person in the room, not wanting to make her feel like he was hiding anything.

"How are my mom's?" Henry asked, his voice cracking not form puberty this time, by an anxiety.

"They are both alive, and will live to trade barbs again, though not for a little bit if you can help it I hope." The weary Doctor told them. "They are both going to be sore for a while, but will make full recoveries given proper rest and care. Let's deal with Emma first. When she came in we decided to do exploratory surgery as she presented with possible internal injuries, but other than a slight tear in some of her stomach muscles, she's fine. She broke her wrist and two ribs on the right side, as well as ruptured her right eardrum. These will all heal in time, but we want to keep her here for a few days of observation because they were all in an explosion and some injuries may not present right away."

"She will be a bit unbalanced for a while till her eardrum heals, as it can affect balance. Also she has a moderate concussion, and until I'm sure she will not fall over and injure herself anymore, I won't release her."

Snow and David both let out the breath they had been subconsciously holding throughout Whales narrative, but because of where they were and the lack of word on the rest of the weird defunctive family members kept them quiet.

"And my mom?" Henry asked once more, the feeling of tears in his eyes making him swallow as he asked, not wanting to be seen as week for wanting to cry, he was thirteen now, almost a man, he would take the news stonily, like his grandfather.

"She's a bit worse for wear. But I promise she will be fine," a slightly accented voice said from behind him, as Dr. Ramsey made her presence known to those in the room. "She broke a few bones, has a small hole in her side that missed all her internals, and when she wakes up, she will have a killer headache I'm sure. But, Like Ms. Swan, we will be keeping her here for a few days, and for the same reasons."

"Can we see them?" Snow asked, speaking for the first time in several hours, her voice cracked, belaying her fear.

"Once they have been moved to rooms you may, but they are both in Recovery right now. Are there any questions so far?" Whale spoke again, knowing the others move then his fellow doctor, he took it upon himself to keep them informed.

"Just go find out how my girl is doing, please?" the grey haired matron asked from her place on the couch, arms wrapped around herself as to ward off a chill. Silently Belle moved over, pulling the older woman against her, her own face streaked with long forgotten tear tracks.

Xxx

Dr. Koosh leaned against the sink in the surgeon's dressing room, letting her tired muscles relax for a moment before she went to deliver news on her patient. While it was better than she hoped, she hated giving news to her patient's families. She always felt like she was letting then down by not having only good news, and felt they only heard the bad and depressing points she delivered. With a final look in the mirror, she straightened her back and went to find Granny Lucas.

Opening the door to the family waiting room, she was surprised to see not only Granny, but the rest of the town leaders who were not currently guest of the hospital waiting for her. She knew she had been a couple hours longer than the others, but she had thought by now they would be with their loved ones, but one look at the faces looking at her in trepidation she realized, they were all still waiting on word of a loved one.

Taking a deep breath, she walked up to Granny, the older woman the only one she knew really in the room, and the one that really needed to hear what she had to say. "She's alive." She told her, getting it out of the way, seeing the relief sweep over the tired face before her. "She's in bad shape, but she's alive, and I'm confident she will make a full recovery."

"How bad is she Mora?" Granny asked the surgeon. "Please tell me what's wrong with my girl."

"She broke her left knee cap; we had to put a couple screws in it to hold it together. Her ribs on her left side were broken and we had to surgically repair those. One of her ribs punctured her lung but we were able to repair it. My biggest worry is her head. She suffered a blow to her head and it caused some swelling. We have relieved the pressure, but we won't know more till she wakes up. Right now we need something from you though. We need her cloak. I'm worried because tonight is the first night of wolfs time and with the head injury we don't want her to transform. Do you have it?"

"I'll go ask Grumpy. They were the last one's out of the caves. They might have picked it up, we were more worried about getting her." David said as he stood up, heading for the lobby.

"What if we don't have it? She will still transform even if she is unconscious." Granny asked the doctor.

"It's a precaution only. I just don't want to take any chances so soon after her injuries." Dr. Koosh assured the others, seeing the looks she was getting. "I've treated Ruby for many years, and I was the battle surgeon she came to see most times as Red. I know her resilience better than most, but I also know the wolf will not remain calm when she is hurt. I just want her to take some time to heal before she tries to bolt."

"What about the screws you put in her knee. Wont those interfere with her wolf?" Belle asked speaking up for the first time. "I've been studying up on the differences between humans and wolves and while many of the bone structures are similar, the knees of a wolf are vastly different."

"I'm only going to leave them in for a couple weeks; with her healing she should not need them any longer than that. It will be painful to remove them but in the long run she will be better off for it. The bone will heal stronger and in better shape then if we didn't put them in." The doctor assured them. "That's why I want her cloak."

"Grumpy remembers seeing it up at the cliff, he went back to find it." David told them as he returned a moment later. "He thinks Sleepy might still be up there but he's not answering his phone so.." he said trailing off, letting the others reach the same conclusion he had, Walter was asleep.

Xxx

Grumpy returned two hours later, sputtering about his narcoleptic brother and blankets and the others decided to let it go, knowing they probably didn't want to know why ruby's cloak smelled like a miner, instead choosing to send it to the laundry for a quick tumble dry and airing. Once the crimson cloak was returned to its rightful owner; smelling much better than it had. They all settled down to wait for someone to wake up.

Predictably, it was Regina, and the formerly Evil Queen was not in a good mood. Her clothes had been ruined in the explosion, including her watch, a gift from Henry many years ago, before he even knew he had been adopted, and she wanted it back. To make matters worse, she refused to listen to anything the doctors and nurses told her; bound and determined she was fine and could leave whenever she wanted to. It wasn't until Dr Ramsey let her try that she finally gave in, having lost her dignity with her balance, resulting in having to have several stitches in her side replaced, and the return of feeling in her arm letting her know falling on it while not on the good drugs was actually a bad thing.

Once she had been corralled, it was Emma's turn to be stubborn, but while Regina had faced the doctors, Emma's escape attempt was cut short by a higher power, her parents. Even now, only having known them for a few short years and being older than her mother did not prevent the dreaded 'I'm the mother that's why' line from working on the blonde. Sharing a look with her 'cell' mate, Emma wondered why she was being punished, after all, having Regina as her roommate just gave the older woman more ways to nag at her for her parenting skills.

Having watched the two women, Snow moved out into the hallway, letting the nurses take over as it was time for medications, and she knew she wanted to be there when the two were both drugged out of their minds on pain meds. It wasn't long before she was proven right as from the room, the sounds of an old tavern drinking song floated out the door; the lead voice was surprisingly Regina's. Reaching into her pocket, snow pulled out her phone and recorded the moment for posterity.

Xxx

Upstairs in a quieter room, the only sounds that could be heard was the gentle cadence of a lull a bye being hummed as Granny sat beside Ruby's bed, one hand holding Ruby's, the other brushes softly down a bandaged cheek, tears both of relief and pain coursed down the old woman's face as she realized how close she had come to losing her only blood family, and how grateful she was to her friend Mora for bringing her back.

Xxx

Ok, hope you enjoyed, please feel free to leave constructive criticism, hope you all spotted my little gifts. Sorry, some I have not found a way to show yet.

RM