Chapter Nine
'Cake Walk'

-Storybrooke Hospital-

Emma slowly slipped her shirt back over her head. The hospital gown she'd been wearing remained pooled on the floor at her feet. Brushing her hair out from under the collar of her shirt she sighed. These tests had taken far longer than she thought they would.

Five hours of going from one part of the hospital to the next could be exhausting. First it was to the second floor to get a CAT scan, MRI and arteriogram to test for the blood flow and supply to her liver. It was part of the radiologic testing that each candidate for a transplant had to go through, or so Dr. Whale had explained to her on their way to each exam. She'd thought it was a little funny that it was called radiologic testing since she was sure having all these forms of X-rays done on her body could make her radio-active.

CAT scan, MRI, and

After the arteriogram, which had been a bitch testing her arteries, they'd gone to get an EKG on her chest. Apparently they had to cover every single organ she had in her body to make sure she was healthy before donating the liver. She didn't mind. At least she'd find out her lung capacity.

The longest had been the tissue typing. They had to collect a sample of tissue from her liver. She hadn't even had to be put under. They had just brought her into the OR and with the help of microscopic lasers and medical tolls Emma couldn't pronounce they'd collected a sample of her tissues. They warned that she was going to be sore afterwards, but even looking down at where they'd gone through her bellybutton she didn't see anything. There was a bit of discomfort but nothing comparable to her monthly cramps.

The worst had been when she sat in the office of a psychologist on the first floor who showed her the cliché ink plot tests. That was the only examine that she knew she'd fail. Anyone trying to examine her mental state would clearly see that she was out of her mind. Dr. Warren didn't show any outward concern for her answers and took down her medical history as well as her personal history. She'd asked why she needed to have a psyche evaluation, but was informed that it was procedure to make sure that after the surgery she could handle the mental fatigue as well as the physical.

Then came the blood tests so they could perform cross-matching tests to make sure she was a compatible match for Henry (which wasn't really needed since they had her records already, but to make sure no one went to jail they did it again, as procedure called for—Dr. Whale's words not hers) and the antibody screening.

The nurse had to stick her arm three times before she could draw sufficient blood, she'd told the woman that her veins were thin; obviously the woman hadn't been paying attention to her warning. The two consequent sticks of the needle into her arm and then her hand were further proof. She'd held her tongue, afraid that if she made a fuss verbally rather than just glare at the woman, she'd end up with a few more sticks of other needles. Thankfully she'd gotten all the blood she'd needed and had left her alone a few minutes ago with the instructions to get dressed.

Standing in the empty room Emma shivered. It was cold in the hospital. The sterile environment of the hospital bothered her. It creeped her out to be honest, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand erect. No place was meant to be as clean and tidy as this place was. The antiseptic smell and the white washed floors were giving her a headache.

The only part of the hospital that she had walked through that had been remotely homey had been the intensive care wing. There were fresh flowers at each bedside and colored quilts on each of the patients in that wing of the hospital. It was also warmer on that floor. Emma figured it wasn't the temperature that made it warmer but the comfortable feel to the unit that made it seem warmer. It also smelled like spring had come early. The flowers on each bedside were new and the sweet aroma of each blended nicely as they permeated the air.

Surprisingly Emma hadn't even needed to ask about the calming quality of that wing. Dr. Whale had offered up the information about volunteers who came in to make the wing a bit lively, even if many of the patients were comatose. Apparently studies showed that it would help with a patients' recovery if they felt more comfortable in the hospital environment.

If in the descriptions of the volunteers that spend their afternoons there Dr. Whale focused on one Mary Margaret Blanchard more than the other half dozen volunteers? Well, Emma pretended not to notice.

She couldn't help but feel like she was being compared to this…saintly woman…by the doctor. It were as if he were looking for some kind of interconnected characteristic between herself and the elementary school teacher when there wasn't one. Emma had already met the woman. They were polar opposites from what she could tell. Mary Margaret Blanchard was a reserved and kind woman. Emma was neither reserved and usually not described as kind on any given day. Gruff, impatient, opinionated, loud…that described Emma far better.

She'd already picked Dr. Whale out as the intellectually perverse stalker type, but to already be under his microscope? Both figuratively and realistically, put her on edge. The way he looked at her from the corner of his eyes, watched her as if trying to find some kind of flaw hidden beneath the surface of her skin was making her antsy. She had no intention of staying in this hospital with him longer than she had to. She was almost upset to know that she'd have to come back here to see him again and again until the surgery and then following it. As the General surgeon on staff he was going to be performing the transplant with one of his co-workers to whom Emma had yet been introduced to. Still, the way Dr. Whale watched her made her feel like being on the inside the room with a one way glass and she was once again the subject that intrigued the people on the other side. Again.

"Are you decent, Ms. Swan?" Emma turned towards where the door was located on the other side of the curtain. Dr. Whale only waited a moment after her affirmative before he pulled the curtain back and took a seat by the examination table she was leaning back against, her leather jacket folded over her arms.

"So, what's the deal doc?"

"Well, the blood tests should be back by tomorrow morning at the earliest. Your CAT scan and MRI are clear. So is your EKG. When we took your blood pressure everything was good as well. You appear to be a very healthy woman." Emma was glad that he didn't leer at her chest or at her person at all. In fact he seemed very interested in the chart he was holding, only glancing up at her for milliseconds before pretending to flip through the results on the clipboard.

Tightening he arms around her chest, her jacket getting a bit wrinkled, she questioned him, "Why am I sensing a but coming?"

Dr. Whale seemed to become even more uncomfortable. Almost as uncomfortable as he had been while Mayor Mills was still with them. Emma had noticed immediately that as soon as the Mayor had left he'd calmed down. His body language was more open than it had been when Regina was with them. Now he seemed to be as rigid and tight as before and Regina was nowhere in sight.

Well that can't be good…Emma mused silently.

"I'm obligated by UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing) to inform you that you are a compatible match genetically but not psychosocially."

Emma blinked, "Psychosocially?" What the hell did that mean?

"After this surgery, after this transplant, you are going to need constant home care. Which, as you have admitted, you do not have. Even if you were to return to Boston you have already mentioned that you have no close friends or family. Your emergency contact is a detective in Boston whom you work with, on occasion." He sighed finally looking up to meet her eyes. "Is there any chance that she would be willing to…"

Emma felt her heart plummet into her stomach. It was just as she knew it would be. She wasn't enough. Because of her, because of the way she lived and had been living her life she wouldn't be able to save Henry. Not that she'd honestly thought she'd be rejected by the doctors because she wasn't very friendly with a lot of people. Maybe Henry would reject her because she wasn't the best with kids or very interesting to a lot of people, but the doctors? That hadn't even been a thought in her mind.

"No." Emma shook her head as she stared down at her shoes. "No, she wouldn't be able to take care of me after the surgery." Emma let out a long regretful breath.

She'd thought they'd find something wrong with her organ or her blood or find she wasn't the perfect match they seemed so sure she was. Now Dr. Whale was saying so far she was medically perfect for this donation but he still had to turn her away. "Are you telling me that you won't allow me to donate my liver—a"

"A piece of your liver." Dr. Whale quickly reminded.

"A piece of my liver…" Emma repeated with a roll of her eyes, "because I don't have anyone to take care of me after the surgery?"

Dr. Whale seemed as troubled with this as she was, but he still uttered a firm, "Yes."

"Well fuck that!" Emma shouted, throwing her jacket onto the exam table. "I mean I can hire a home care nurse to come and take care of me for the recovery time, or something. I mean, there are other options, doc. There are other options!" She repeated, her voice rising with each word as she became panicked. What if it there weren't any other options? She hadn't even met the kid yet (again) and she was desperate to do this surgery. Just as desperate as Regina was. The kid needed her and she'd be damned if her lack of family or friends (which wasn't her fault, mostly) was going to stop her from donating part of her liver to the kid.

"I don't need family or friends to take care of me. I have money!" Not a lot of it but, "I have enough…money to hire a nurse to look after me if I need one." A beat, "How long was the recovery period again?"

"Six weeks to six months. It depends on the patient."

Emma cringed. Hiring a nurse to come take care of her for six weeks she might be able to handle. Her savings would allow for that. It was only the issue of where she would be staying for those six weeks that gave her pause. She tried her best to keep moving. It was safer that way to always keep moving. If, god forbid, she had to be in recovery for six months? She wasn't sure she knew what she'd do at that point. She needed to be able to disappear at a moment's notice if the need arose.

"Okay, so home care? I can do that, can't I?"

"Yes, yes you can but…"

"No buts!" Emma ordered, making Dr. Whale snap his mouth shut. "Look, we've already talked about this. This transplant is Henry's only chance. If I have to stay here and hire someone to take care of me then I'll do that. I could do that. I will do that." Emma wasn't sure who she was trying to assure of this, Dr. Whale or herself.

Dr. Whale was sure that Emma didn't even realize she'd said Henry's name instead of kid, but he had. He made a quick note of it on the sheets in front of him, internally smiling. Emma hadn't passed the psych evaluation. One of the notes that Dr. Warren had made was Emma's firm resolve to distance herself from Henry, even in name. It was one of the only hang ups that Dr. Warren had on Emma being the donator.

Emma's attempt to distance herself from Henry would be impossible after the surgery. The child would not only be her biological son, he would no longer just be the child she carried for nine months and gave up for adoption. Henry would hold a part of her. A larger part of her than he already had. Henry would have a physical aspect of her person, that part of her body, her very organ would forever be within her child's body. It would link them in ways that Emma wasn't ready to accept. Emma couldn't even accept the boy as her child in a healthy manner. Dr. Warren worried that when her coping mechanisms about Henry failed, and they would fail after the surgery he was sure of it, Emma wouldn't know how to cope.

"Alright, alright…if you are certain about this, then, fine. There are several home care services that I can recommend. The hospital also runs many of them." Dr. Whale attempted to placate her, but his tone and the slight touch to her shoulder only furthered her agitation. It also made her skin crawl. "However, this was not the only issue with the tests we conducted today, Ms. Swan. I understand your wish to save Henry, truly I do. However, we'll need to speak with Mayor Mills about this…new…situation."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Why do we have to speak with her about it?" Then, "What is…it?"

Dr. Whale certainly didn't want to be the one to tell Regina that Emma would need to meet Henry. Nor did he want to tell the Mayor that they—Emma and Henry—would have to have a relationship before the surgery. Especially when he knew that by doing so would turn Regina's ire onto him because it was an ultimatum. One he didn't want to make. If Regina did not let Emma know Henry, did not agree to Emma making a connection with Henry—a healthy one—then Emma could not donate her liver to him.

Be it a small relationship, a relationship that could hopefully be made in only five days.

Dr. Whale liked his colleague. Dr. Warren was a talent man in his field. However he wasn't as immediately affected by the outcome of this transplant. He hadn't watched Henry from the beginning. Dr. Whale had been there from the very beginning and he was going to see this through to the end. So even with the advice that he should find another donor, he wasn't going to. They had time and if he had to he could call in Dr. Hooper who would certainly sign off on the transplant and Ms. Swan's mental state. He would do it because it was the best thing for Henry. Even if that meant it wasn't the best thing for Ms. Swan.

It also wouldn't hurt to let Regina know that it would be necessary for Ms. Swan to hire home care to help her during her recovery time. He was hoping that the Mayor would offer her services to Ms. Sawn so there would be no back-last from his slight ignorance of the rules of the State. He couldn't sign off on the surgery unless he knew that Emma would have adequate care afterwards. She had no insurance and would be paying for the home care service out of pocket. A pocket that was not very deep when it came to monetary means. However, Regina's pockets were deeper than anyone Dr. Whale knew, save for Mr. Gold. Regina would offer to pay for the home care services or Dr. Whale would have to play a little dirty.

Playing dirty with the Mayor was not something he looked forward to. He knew how powerful she was, what she was capable of. He did not want to be on the receiving end or her wrath.

"Dr. Warren's evaluation raises some concerns. Concerns that Mayor Mills must be made aware of as they concern her and Henry."

"What concerns?" Emma asked, her eyes trained on Dr. Whale. Seeing the tick above Dr. Whale's eye begin to throb Emma shook her head. How was it that this woman had such control over these people? She wasn't that scary. Granted Emma had only known her for the about 48 hours. She wasn't afraid of the woman. Annoyed, intrigued, and stimulated (both intellectually and physically) by Mayor Mills? Sure, though she wasn't ready to admit the second aspect of how the Mayor could affect her.

"He brought to my attention that after the surgery you may not be able to handle the ramifications."

"I'm healthy and I heal fast I can deal with…"

"Mentally, Ms. Swan. He feels that it is not in your best interest, mental health wise, for you to be the donator."

"That's crazy!" Emma shrieked. Dr. Whale stepped away from Emma, the blonde turning on her heel to pace the length of the examination room. "How can he say that!? This is Henry's last chance. You said that…you all said that! You said that this was his last chance! That I am his last chance. You said that!" Emma pointed a shaky finger at Dr. Whale.

"It is…and yes I did and you are."

"Then how can he say that? How can he say no because of my mental state? Does he think my mental state is going to be any better if I'm the reason that he dies? That because I'm not mentally healthy or perfect or whatever that he dies? What happens then? Does he realize what happens then? Does he?!" Emma stopped pacing to stare at Dr. Whale her arms waving around in front of her before they too fell to her sides and she stared at him, her chest heaving, her heart pounding beneath her chest. "Does he…?" She whispered her face softening as she looked around the room, unable to see the pity directed her way by Dr. Whale. She closed her eyes, her hair falling around her face as she looked at the floor and tried to calm down. Taking several deep breaths she waited a few minutes before she looked up to see Dr. Whale still standing in front of her, offering her an apologetic smile, small as it could be.

"What do we have to do? What do I…have to do?" Emma stressed the "I" as she waited, hopeful, that Dr. Whale had a plan. She hoped that she was wrong about him and that he wasn't a sleazy creepy bastard.

"We have to speak with Mayor Mills about you meeting Henry. Getting to know him, and forming some kind of relationship with him. If that relationship is formed before the surgery than Dr. Warren will have no choice but to sign off on the surgery."

"And if he doesn't?" Emma asked.

"Then I have another colleague of mine who we can turn to in that situation and that situation only. He'll agree to it then, even if it is against his moral code, he likes Henry too much not to sign off on the surgery."

"Okay…okay…" Emma nodded her mind running wild with what she had to do. It wasn't so bad. Not really. She had to meet Henry. Talk to him. Get to know him. It wasn't as if this would be the scariest thing she ever had to do. No…this would be a cake walk. She'd get to know her kid. See what he liked; see if they had anything in common. See what he looked like; hear about what his life had been like before and after he'd been diagnosed with this disease.

See? It'll be a total cake walk. You just ask a few questions. He'll ask a few questions.

Questions about her life, and how she grew up. What she liked and what she didn't. Maybe even what she did for a living. That'd be cool for a ten year old to hear. She wouldn't tell him everything but didn't all ten year old boys love to hear about a good chase scene? She had a lot of interesting stories about some of the men and women she'd chased down. If he was anything like her and liked adventures he'd love those stories.

Yeah, yeah that'll be easy. It won't be so bad. Total cake walk….

He could ask questions about why she gave him up…why she didn't stay in one place for very long, what she planned to do after the surgery…did she plan to stay? Questions about his father…

"Oh god…" Emma ran to the other side of the room where she knocked the top of a trash can away and emptied her breakfast into it. Dr. Whale's hand on her back only made her feel worse as she heaved again.

Hell who am I kidding? This is going to be a disaster.

End Part Nine

Thanks to everyone who has been reading, reviewing, and following the story. I apologize for the gaps in updates. I can't promise it'll be any different real life has gotten more 'real' in a way. However I hope you've enjoyed this update and will enjoy the rest of the story. I am not going anywhere. I plan to finish this and A Bounty For a Witch's Heart.

Call for Beta: If there is anyone who is willing to beta this story please send me a PM or mention it in a review. I could use assistance with my gramatical errors as well as some 'sounding board' help.