I'm so sorry for the delay but for some reason the site wouldn't let me upload the chapter the right way, so I may have figured out a cheat for it...
As usual the characters belong to Kitsis and Horowitz but now it's time to play.
It was six in the morning before Whale came out to talk to them. In a detached part of her mind Emma wondered if there were any other doctors at the hospital or if Whale decided to always take their cases when they came in with an emergency. She then began to contemplate if he was even qualified to be a doctor. Sure, he could piece a corpse back together and reanimate it but what could he know about a working immune system?
A nudge from David brought her attention back to Whale's long winded explanation.
"Like I said it appears to be nothing more than a virulent strain of the flu. You said that he was fully conscious and aware in the hours preceding his hallucinations?"
"Yes," she said clearing her throat. "He had some soup before I gave him some NyQuil. We talked for a little bit after that and then he fell asleep."
"He had no other symptoms before yesterday, correct?" Whale asked making a note on his clipboard.
"Not that I know of. I didn't even know he wasn't feeling well until he showed up at the station with a fever."
Emma thought back to earlier in the week. Nothing jumped out at her that indicated Killian was feeling poorly. They had even been planning another sailing trip with Henry for Sunday.
"We've run a few tests and unfortunately antivirals will be ineffective against the strain of influenza Killian has contracted. There's not much we can do besides maintaining his fluid intake and keeping him comfortable until he can be released. He's sedated now but should be coming out of it in an hour or two. I suggest going home and getting some rest in the mean time," Whale gave them a perfunctory smile and left the waiting room.
"Well, that was," David started.
"Disappointing," Emma concluded.
He had shown up at Killian's room moments before the paramedics did. Emma had been standing behind the desk, frozen, watching Killian converse with ghosts, not even acknowledging her presence. Until David had grasped her shoulder she had almost been convinced that maybe she was the ghost in the room.
When the paramedics arrived Killian snapped and tried to fight them off, believing they were members of Blackbeard's crew. It took three of them to hold him down long enough for one of the paramedics to jab a needle of sedative into his arm. Killian had calmed down quickly after that and in a moment of lucidity his eyes had found Emma's. He brokenly whispered her name once before the drug took full hold and he was strapped onto a stretcher to be taken down to the ambulance.
David had driven them to the hospital in his truck even though Emma had insisted she could drive herself. Mary Margaret was at the loft with Neal, he had informed her, but would join them as soon as she could. Emma kept quiet for the ride despite David's attempts at getting her to tell him what had happened. He quickly gave up and left her to her thoughts.
Killian had already been wheeled into the ICU by the time they arrived. A nurse approached them and quickly asked Emma questions about his symptoms and medical history. After telling him all she could, which wasn't much, they were left with nothing to do but wait.
"Emma," David's voice was calm and comforting. "Let's go back to the loft. You can get some sleep and we'll come back after he's woken up."
"You go ahead," she said as she dropped into one of the molded plastic chairs. "I'll just wait here until he wakes up."
"Emma, you heard Whale, he's not going to be awake for a while. Just come back for a little bit, to freshen up and have something to eat," he pleaded.
"I'll be fine," she argued. "I'll grab something from the vending machines. Although, I wouldn't say no to a coffee from Granny's when you come back."
"Killian won't even notice you're gone. Please, you need a break before you get sick too."
Emma looked up at David standing over her. He was every bit the concerned father, worrying about her well being. Growing up in the foster system hadn't exactly given her the opportunity to know what having that kind of support system was like. It was simultaneously overbearing and comforting and left Emma unsure of how to respond.
"Look, I know Killian won't know if I'm here or not and there's nothing I can do but wait. But that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to sit in this uncomfortable chair, drink the disgusting coffee, and wait for someone to let me know when he's waking up," she dropped her gaze to her hands. "I need to be here when he wakes up."
There was no hesitation when David sat next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder to pull her into his side. He didn't say anything and neither did she. After a moment she dropped her head onto his shoulder, letting out a shuddering breath. She was so tired but sleep was the furthest thing on her mind.
Her traitorous thoughts kept going back to the moment Killian had the spark of awareness. It had been quick but it was almost too much for Emma to bear. His eyes had been full of pain, confusion, and worst of all fear. She had seen him fight countless times, stand up to one villain then the next, and even face his sworn enemy, who was in the process of crushing his heart, all without hesitation or doubt. Now, he was a ship adrift and she was the anchor he had cast into the unknown.
Emma closed her eyes, not to sleep, but to avoid looking at the other people in the waiting room. There weren't many people there with her and her father but they all had the same look of unease and anxiety marring their faces. Closing her eyes meant she didn't have to see her feelings and thoughts projected right back at her.
"How is she?" The sound of Mary Margaret's voice startled her. It was quiet in the waiting room but the hushed murmurs of the other people had covered the sound of her mother joining them.
"Asleep," David answered. "I don't think she got a lot of rest last night from what she told Whale. I tried to get her to go back to the loft but she didn't want to leave."
"I didn't think she would. Belle said she'd watch Neal as long as we needed her to and I called Regina to let her know what was going on. She said she'll be here later with Henry once we have some news. Do we have some news?" Mary Margaret asked hopefully.
"Apparently Killian has the flu. An especially bad case of it but nothing to worry about. He should be coming out of sedation soon, probably ready to leave as soon as he does."
"Sedation? Why did he need to be sedated if it's just the flu?"
Emma still hadn't opened her eyes, not ready to deal with her mother's inquiries. She would let David field the questions until she felt up to answering them herself.
"When I got to his room he was hallucinating, he thought he was talking to Gold and someone named Liam. Emma was as white as a sheet just watching him," he took in a deep breath. "The paramedics came in right after I did and Killian lost it, raving about Blackbeard, trying to fight them off. We had to hold him down so they could sedate him."
Mary Margaret gasped as Emma tried not to flinch at hearing David's take on what happened.
"Has she said anything? It didn't seem this bad when you talked to her yesterday."
"It wasn't apparently. I guess it was a good thing she stayed with him after all," David said with reluctance.
"David, sometimes I can't believe how dense you can be," Mary Margaret said incredulously.
Emma knew she should 'wake up' but her curiosity overwhelmed her. While her parents had been nothing but supportive of her relationship with Killian she wasn't kidding herself into thinking they understood it. Especially David, he tended to take his role as overprotective father a little too seriously. So she kept her breathing even and her eyes closed.
"What do you mean 'dense'? What are you talking about?"
"You know how long it took for her to accept us as her parents and I don't mean knowing that we are her parents. It took a portal to the past and the possibility of altering the future for her to finally understand that we're a family. That Storybrooke is where she belongs. Emma has a hard enough time letting her walls down, trusting people. You might not want to see it but Killian is a big part of that. He's a big part of her life. She trusts him."
Emma heard Mary Margaret sit down and David's body turned automatically towards her.
"I know that," he assured her. "It's not that I don't trust him, I do. He's proven himself plenty of times."
"Then what is it? Because if you keep this up you'll just end up pushing her away."
David's shoulder shifted slightly under Emma's head, a sign of his discomfort. She felt him turn to look at her and tried not to tip him off that she was awake.
"That's exactly what I'm worried about. It feels like we've only started being a real family. I know this is selfish but I thought we'd have more time with her just being our daughter."
"Oh, David," Mary Margaret sighed. "Isn't it time you realized that we'll never have a normal relationship with Emma? That doesn't mean we're not a family or diminish the fact that you are still her father. We're all still trying to figure out how we fit together. That means Killian too."
They fell into a silence that Emma interpreted as one of the moments when her parents communicated through looks alone. She had thought that most of David's friction with Killian was Killian's less than illustrious past and wanting to protect her from the notorious pirate. While that was part of it she had no idea how to process what her father had admitted or even what Mary Margaret had implied.
Before she could spiral into the confused mire of her thoughts David sat up and placed his hand on her arm to wake her up. Trying to put on a good show she breathed deeply, let her eyes open slowly, and then stretched out the kinks in her back and neck. Mid-way through her stretch she realized that Whale was at the nurses' desk. He was talking to the nurse but his body was turning toward the waiting room as he did. Emma quickly stood up, abandoning all pretense that she had recently been asleep.
"Emma," Mary Margaret's voice came from behind her. "Try not to worry, I'm sure if it was something urgent Victor would let us know right away."
"Victor, hmph," David grumbled almost inaudibly.
Emma ignored them both and waited for Whale to make his way over to them. While he didn't appear to be delivering bad news he didn't look as if he would be telling them good news either. He stopped in front of Emma but addressed all three of them.
"Killian is coming around now. Unfortunately, he's not doing as well as we would like," Whale began solemnly. "He still has a low grade fever and is still experiencing a sore throat along with aching joints. While these are typical of the flu the sudden onset of the disease and severity of the symptoms have me concerned. We'd like to keep him here overnight for observation."
"Can," Emma's voice trembled and she cleared her throat to steady it. "Can I see him?"
"Of course, he's been asking for you. However, I'll have to insist you wear a face mask when you go in to see him."
"Why? I was with him all day yesterday. I'm pretty sure I've already been infected by now."
"It's not for your safety, Miss Swan, it's for his," he cautioned her. "If you're ready I'll take you to his room."
She turned to face her parents, trying but not quite succeeding in keeping her face composed. Mary Margaret stood up and reached out for Emma, who gratefully fell into her arms. She wouldn't let herself cry, Killian didn't need to see her with red rimmed eyes, instead she held on to Mary Margaret tightly. Another set of arms surrounded her as David joined them.
When she finally felt like she could hold herself together she stepped back, tucking her hair behind her ears.
"Are you okay waiting here?" She asked, hoping they understood that she needed them to be there for her when she got back.
"Emma, don't worry about us," Mary Margaret answered. "We'll be fine out here, you go ahead."
Giving them a feeble smile she turned and followed Whale as he led her down several hallways deeper into the hospital. After the fourth turn down an identical corridor she stopped trying to keep track of where she was and hoped that there were signs that would get her back out again. Finally they stopped outside a door and Whale explained where she could find the box of masks in the room. He smiled gently at her before retreating back the way they came.
Steeling herself for whatever condition Killian was in she opened the door. It was a small room with a sleeping Killian as the only occupant. The bed was facing the door and it was raised, propping him up. She quietly walked over to a sink area where there were boxes of gloves and masks lined up on the counter. Pulling a mask out she put it on, feeling slightly ridiculous as she adjusted the bendable metal strip across the nose so it fit better.
"That's a fetching look for you Swan," Killian rasped from behind her.
She spun around surprised that he was awake. His eyes were still closed but there was a small smile turning up the corners of his lips. There were various wires snaking out from the top of his hospital gown and an IV line leading from his right elbow to the drip bag hanging over his bed. The hospital bed and gown combined with the harsh fluorescent lights made him seem diminished, as though he had been drained of some essential force.
"You should take a look in the mirror yourself," she murmured half-heartedly, her voice muffled by the mask.
"I don't need to, love," he said as he opened his eyes. "Despite how I feel, I know I'm still as devilishly handsome as always."
"Don't," she warned him, suddenly tired of pretending that everything was alright. "We can't just shrug this off with a joke, they want to keep you here overnight. This is serious Killian."
"I'm well aware of that, Swan," he said tiredly, dropping his head back on his pillows and staring at the ceiling. "Having been here before I'm familiar with the circumstances of being confined in this institution. Although, this time I do appreciate not being shackled to the bed."
Emma cracked an unwilling smile and walked over to the bed. There were no chairs in the room so she stood over Killian who turned his head to look at her. His eyes were still dulled from the sedative but she could detect a small glimmer in them as he gazed up at her. Figuring they would have some privacy for a while she nudged his legs to the other side of the bed as she sat on it, cross legged, facing him.
"What have they told you?" she asked as she reached across his body to grab his hand, letting their entwined fingers come to rest on his stomach.
"Seemingly a lot of nonsense, but I came to understand that things are not quite as they appear. I may not know exactly what they said but their demeanor told me all I needed to know."
The bitterness in his voice stopped Emma from giving him hollow reassurances. Instead she increased her grip on his hand and looked towards the only window in the room. It only offered her a bleak view of the hospital parking lot but it was better than letting him see how worried she was. Out of the corner of her eye she saw his left arm reach up towards her hesitantly before feeling the unhooked stump gently turn her head to look at him.
Killian had rarely let Emma see his damaged arm without the sheath that usually covered it in place. After their first official date he had become even more determined that she shouldn't have to subject herself to what he saw as a physical reminder of his inadequacy. She had tried to let him know him numerous times that she didn't care, that it made no impact on how she felt about him but he refused to believe her. Feeling the warm, scarred skin of his ruined arm under her chin instead of cold unyielding metal caused her throat to close up and tears to prick the back of her eyes.
He didn't say anything but he didn't need to, she could read him just as well as he could her. Holding his arm out he motioned for her to lay down next to him. Without a second thought she unfolded her legs and stretched out beside him, letting her head come to rest on his chest. While the mask over her face was uncomfortable and the bed was far too small for two people Emma found herself drifting off as Killian began running his fingers through her hair. Before she could make up an excuse to leave she slipped into a dreamless sleep listening to his heartbeat beat steadily in her ear.