How Deep Is Your Love
Chapter Thirteen
Later that evening, the heroes were all gathered inside the clinic waiting for word on Hook's condition while Dr. Whale treated him. Emma, Henry, David, Mary Margaret, and Leroy had met Elsa, Robin, and John at the town line as the Queen from Arendelle requested they do over the radio, then immediately rushed Killian to the clinic no matter what it was they might have thought about him. They still may have believed the Snow Queen's lies, but when they all saw how bad off he was, their anger towards the pirate quickly dissipated.
More than three hours passed since they brought him in and everyone, including Belle and Regina who had also joined her friends stood up and turned their eyes on the doctor when Whale walked out as he cleared his throat nervously and said, "His condition isn't good, but seeing as you all brought the pirate in here, you already know that."
Emma glared at the man as she replied sternly, "Just tell us the truth. What happened to him?"
"Well, he was wounded by what appears to be a large beast, or cat I think, due to the claw marks in his chest, abdomen, and leg." Whale continued in frustration. "Hook has lost a lot of blood, which is why I've given him a transfusion to help replenish it, but it's going to take at least one more later on. On top of that, he's suffering from hypothermia, quite severely really. He must have been in the woods since last night."
"I hate to say it, but it serves him right for being stupid enough to get himself so drunk that his judgement was that seriously impaired," David answered curtly as he rubbed his hand over his face, then through his hair. "He had no business being in the woods alone last night. But I realize now I should have dragged him out of there when I had the chance. It's just that seeing him drunk when he should have been man enough to…"
Whale quickly interrupted as he asked, "Uh… Excuse me, but what makes you think he was drunk?"
The Prince looked over at the doctor again with confusion as he responded, "Because I saw him drunk for myself, when I walked around the woods to see what was going on after Leroy told us that they were frozen over. He was there already and slurring his words. He admitted to drinking his rum. Why?"
"I hate to tell you this, but that's not possible," the man who was Dr. Frankenstein in his own land replied as he scratched his head and looked between the heroes who were all staring at him. "Hook wasn't drunk when all of you brought him in here. In fact, there were no traces of rum or any other kind of alcohol in his system."
"I don't understand," Mary Margaret answered as she turned her head to look over at her husband worryingly. "Hook told Emma he was too drunk to meet up with her. He cares about her. If he wasn't drunk, then…"
David turned back to the doctor again and asked, "Isn't it possible that the alcohol has already left his system before you were able to examine him?"
Whale shook his head and responded, "If he really was as drunk as you say he was, then there's no way it could have. I'm telling you, Hook is clean. Whatever's really going on, I'm guessing magic had something to do with what happened to him. You can see him in a few minutes and then I'll keep you all updated on his condition. Now, if you'll excuse me."
"It was all a lie," Emma finally spoke again in shock as the doctor left, staring after him as the feelings of regret and anger fell over her. "Some elaborate scheme made up by the Snow Queen in order to get us to turn against Killian."
"Emma, if that's what really happened, then we'll find out the truth," her father replied worryingly. "He's going to be all right."
The Savior glared at him as she answered angrily, "Even so, he nearly wasn't! If it wasn't for Elsa going out there on her own like we warned her not to, Killian would have died and I was angry at him for standing me up. I actually believed that Snow Queen's lies and he paid for it. I told Killian that I trusted him, but I believed a villain over everything he's done to try to prove himself to me, to all of us. This is my fault."
It was then that she stormed out of the clinic as Henry called out, "Mom, wait!"
"It's all right, Henry," Regina stated as she laid her hand down on his shoulder. "She just needs some space. She'll be okay and so will Hook. You'll see."
"Regina's right," Mary Margaret responded, though with not as much confidence. "Hook survived centuries in Neverland and the Enchanted Forest having to face villains like Pan and Rumpelstiltskin. He can certainly survive a little cold."
Charming sighed in frustration and then said, "None of this makes any sense. If Hook was never drunk, then why would he have sent Emma a message saying he was before he stood her up and how is it that I saw him as such? He was there. How could the Snow Queen pull all of this off?"
Elsa replied, "She has magic. And it's obviously far more powerful than mine is as she can do more than just form snow and ice."
"Wait, so you're saying the pirate was never actually drunk last night, and that he wasn't actually there in the woods when we saw him?" Grumpy asked in confusion. "Is that right?"
"He was in those woods all right," Robin answered sadly. "I've seen plenty of men who have died in conditions such as Killian's. When I first saw him, I feared we were too late. The point is, he was freezing and like Whale said, that's only possible if he was actually in those woods for that length of time. He's lucky to still be alive."
John quickly added, "Perhaps we should really be asking is what kind of creature made those claw marks and where is it now? Why didn't it finish Hook off if… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so crass."
Regina looked between the two woodsmen as she responded, "No, you're right. If there is a large cat on the loose… Perhaps there's a way we can figure out exactly what happened, not just in regards to the cat. I doubt Hook's going to be awake anytime soon to answer our questions and you all want to know the truth about Hook not meeting with Emma on their date. I think I might be able to help you do that."
"How?" Snow asked with worry, knowing that it was going to be hard for all of them to accept just how badly they had wronged their friend if the Snow Queen had been responsible for what happened to him. "With some kind of memory spell?"
"Not exactly," the former Evil Queen replied. "But I have a magic mirror. With a little bit of his blood, I can direct it to help us discover the truth."
Henry shook his head as he answered, "No way, Hook can't afford to lose any more blood than he's already lost."
The Mayor quickly responded, "Don't worry. His clothes must be saturated with it. It'll be plenty."
"All right, do what you need to do," David replied. "I'm going to go find Emma. Snow?"
"I'm coming with you," Mary Margaret answered as she moved to follow her husband out after their daughter until she paused a moment to speak with Elsa. "You did good today. If you listened to us, Hook would have died out there."
The Queen from Arendelle smiled sadly and responded, "I only did what I felt I had to do."
Snow spoke again saying, "Thank you."
