Regina looked around when she heard the voice. Emma Swan stood in the doorway, her expression full of worry.
"I came as soon as I could," Emma continued.
Regina gave a tiny smile in acknowledgement and then replied to Emma's question."Not well. He's been unconscious ever since we got here and he doesn't seem to be improving."
Emma's face fell and she looked off to the side for a moment. "What do the doctors say?" Even from across the room Regina could see that Emma's eyes were glistening with tears. Noticing this, Regina couldn't help but feel a sort of connection with the other woman. No matter how much Regina had tried to deny it in the past, Emma was Henry's mother too. Right now, it felt like no one else in the world would know what Regina was feeling, accept for Emma.
"At this point we just have to wait hope for the best." Regina rubbed Henry's hand in her own.
Emma gestured to a chair on the other side of Henry's bed, "do you mind if I...?"
"Of course not," Regina answered, and Emma pulled the chair closer and took a seat.
Only a year ago, Emma's presence would have set the mayor's teeth on edge, but over the course of the past few months, the two had begun to set aside their differences as they realised the effect it was having on Henry. It had been particularly hard for Regina to let the blonde in because she assumed it would weaken her chances with Henry, but she had been wrong. After Henry had seen Regina's acceptance of Emma, he began to warm up to his adoptive mother once more.
"Should you really be out of bed right now? I hear you have quite a recovery ahead." Emma smirked at Regina, knowing all too well that when Regina had her mind set on something, it was almost impossible to persuade her otherwise.
"We came to an agreement."
Emma laughed a little.
"I had to promise to stay in bed all night," Regina said somewhat bitterly.
"Well, rest will help you recover faster. And you do need to sleep at some point" Emma pointed out.
"I know," Regina sighed, "I just want to be here when Henry wakes up."
"Ya... I can understand that." Emma frowned, reaching an arm out to pat Henry's leg, leaving her hand to rest there as both women focused their attention on him.
"He pulled through once before," Emma continued. "I'm betting he'll be able to this time as well. He's a strong kid."
Regina didn't meet Emma's eyes as she responded, "I hope you're right."
The pair sat in silence for a few minutes as they watched Henry. Apart from the monitors attached to him and the breathing mask, he looked as if he could simply be sleeping. He seemed so peaceful.
"Oh... and your house by the way..." Emma broke the silence, "it's not as bad as it could be. The firefighters got to it quickly so the structure is still intact for the most part. They said it is safe for someone to go in now and move anything that is salvageable before you have the house repaired."
Regina breathed in heavily, "they got to it quickly?" She repeated in confusion. "But we were stuck inside for ages before even David got there, and the team didn't arrive for some time after that."
"I guess you weren't inside for as long as you thought." Emma shrugged, "situations like that can seem a lot longer than they really are. That should be a relief though, most houses would be reduced to ashes after something like this. You are lucky."
"Maybe..." Regina said, "but right now I really don't feel lucky. Quite the opposite in fact."
"You all escaped though, and your house is still standing. Just keep remembering that part and maybe things will start looking less awful." Emma responded.
The brunette nodded as she blinked back fresh tears and looked at the Sheriff, finding a strange comfort in the sincerity of her words. Perhaps Emma was right after all.
"Do they know what caused the fire?" Regina asked.
"I'm not sure. Nothing was mentioned, I think they may still be looking for the source. Do you have any idea what might have started it?"
"No, it was like nothing I've ever seen before."
"It could just be one of those freak things that are unexplainable." Emma wondered aloud.
Regina was about to respond when she heard voices approaching the room. She looked up at the door and Emma turned around to follow her gaze. David came into view, and also a nurse who was pushing a hospital baby trolley containing Kaelyn.
"Look who's here to see you Kaelyn," the nurse cooed. "It's mommy."
Regina's heart filled with warmth as she saw Kaelyn for the first time since arriving at Storybrooke General. Seeing for herself that Kaelyn really was ok was a huge burden lifted. Tears swam once again in her eyes as the three came further into the room.
"Can I hold her?" Regina asked the nurse.
"Absolutely," the nurse said kindly, carefully picking up the infant and lowering her into her mother's arms. "I'll come back later to check on her."
"Thank you," Regina beamed at Kaelyn, snuggling the baby against her chest.
"You're welcome," the nurse nodded at the other two adults and left the room.
"Emma, hi. It's good to see you." David said to the blonde.
"Hey David." Emma smiled, "it's been some day hasn't it?"
"You're not kidding." David grinned, rubbing the back of his neck.
Regina looked over at him. "Honey, please sit down. You've been racing around all afternoon, you need a break."
"Always looking out for me," David moved closer to her and she responded
"mmhmm," as he placed a hand on her back and kissed the top of her head. She closed her eyes and leaned in to his touch. David then reached down and tickled the top of one of Kaelyn's little hands before straightening up again and grabbing a chair. He pulled it to the foot of the bed and sat down.
Emma smiled somewhat sadly as she watched the couple, they seemed so in love with each other. Sometimes she wished she could have something like that for herself, but she had always been afraid of getting too close to someone in case of getting hurt again, as like what had happened with Neal. When David sat down she saw him look at Regina again, smiling adoringly as he watched her cradling their baby. Emma turned her attention back to Henry and tried not to feel as if she was intruding on a family moment. She was quite envious that Regina had gotten the chance to raise him. She knew she wouldn't have been able to take care of him herself, but all the same, she wondered what it would have been like; rocking him back to sleep when he cried out in the middle of the night, teaching him how to walk and talk, taking him to his first day of school, watching him grow up...
"Emma are you ok?" Regina's voice interrupted her thoughts. Emma turned to Regina and David, and then raised a hand to her eyes as she realised she was crying.
Wiping away the tears with her thumb she replied, "oh ya, it's nothing. Just... worried about Henry that's all."
Regina nodded softly in understanding.
"We all are," David agreed quietly.
The three remained silent for the next little while, all taking comfort in the fact that they weren't alone in their grief.
After about fifteen minutes Regina spoke up, "did I ever tell you about the time I found Henry in Kaelyn's room in the middle of the night?" She asked Emma.
"Nope, what was he doing?"
"Well, I heard Kaelyn crying, and just as I was about to go and get her, she stopped. I figured she had just fallen back to sleep or something, but then a few minutes later I could hear voices. I got out of bed and walked quietly to her room, trying not to wake anyone else up. When I got to the doorway I could see Henry sitting on the floor, reading Kaelyn a story from his book."
Emma smiled and looked at Henry briefly before turning back to Regina to listen to the rest.
"I went in, and asked what he was doing. He said he didn't want Kaelyn to be upset, so he was going to stay with her until she fell back to sleep. He said he was going to stay there all night in case she woke up again. This was around the time when we first moved Kaelyn into her own room and he didn't want her to feel lonely. I told him it was very sweet of him, but that he didn't have to do that and he should go back to sleep because he had school in the morning. He finally agreed, but he left one of his old teddy bears on a chair beside her crib before going back to bed. Before she was born I wasn't sure of how Henry would feel about David and I having a baby, but he is the best big brother to her."
"Aww," Emma looked proudly at Henry again. "She's lucky to have a brother as caring as he is."
"Yes she is," Regina rubbed Kaelyn's head as she too gazed lovingly at the eleven year old.
Heavy breathing was coming from the foot of the bed and Regina turned to see David fast asleep in his chair. She laughed and whispered, "Emma look."
"He's had a long day," the blonde grinned at David. "I don't blame him."
Emma noticed Regina's expression turn faraway, and she knew what the brunette was thinking; if David hadn't come to their rescue, who knows whether all four family members would have survived the day's events.