So we're getting close to the end here; 1-3 chapters left as of now and I'm about halfway finished with one of those chapters already. With any luck we'll be done by the time our favorite couple officially kiss for the first time!
Until then, enjoy my own version of that kiss.
~The Last Ronin~
How had it even happened? I'm still not sure to be honest.
There had been a fight - brutal and lightning fast - and somehow we had become separate from the others. Then it was over and we were still standing, still alive. I was coiled so tight, ready to spring into action again if needed, my entire body vibrating with unspent adrenaline and energy. He stood there, his posture saying he was still as wound up as I was.
His lips quirked up into that stupid grin of his that I'd come to look forward to seeing and despite myself I grinned back. A nervous giggle slipped from my lips and then we were both laughing like a couple of drunk fools - neither one of us having any idea what the joke was.
I acted before I had time to think - before I had time to be afraid. One second we were laughing, the next I was grabbing his jacket and yanking him closer, my lips crashing into his.
His good hand shot up, tangling in my hair, none-to-gently tugging my head to a better angle. At the same time his other arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me closer, crushing my body flush against his until I doubted anyone could tell where I ended and he began. A moment later my back was pressed against a tree and I couldn't have pulled away if I'd wanted to.
The world faded away as we devoured each other like we had been starving our entire lives - maybe we had. In the wake of the battle, the adrenaline still flooding our veins, it just suddenly felt so stupid - the way we'd been dancing around one another for months.
What was there to be afraid of? We made a hell of a good team. We understood each other in a way that no one else did - no one else could. We just...fit; like we had been made for one another despite the centuries that separated our births.
How was that even possible?
And, more importantly, why didn't that scare me?
x-x-x-x-x
I stare at the wall, not really seeing it, nor having any idea how long I've been looking at it.
"Emma, you need to eat something," Mary Margaret says quietly, nudging the tray with my...lunch?...towards me.
Slowly I turn to look at her before gravity drags my head down to glance at the food. A sandwich of some kind, a small salad, hot chocolate with whipped cream and cinnamon...green jello. A dull pang rips through my chest as I stare at the dessert, the memory of the first time my pirate saw the substance playing in my head.
I want to smile as I recall his reaction; the confusion, the irrational suspicion that someone was attempting to poison him - as if I would have let that happen. I know I should smile - because it's a good memory - just like I know I should eat. I just don't have the energy to do either of those things. I can't even remember what it's like to have the energy to do...anything.
So, I don't.
x-x-x-x-x
"Did you get her to eat anything?" I ask Snow as she comes into the office - though I'm fairly certain I already know the answer from the look on her face.
"No," she sighs with a shake of her head and I reach over to brush the tears from her eyes before pulling her into a hug, "she's already lost so much weight but she won't eat."
"Archie," I say over my wife's shoulder, "we have to do something. Emma's wasting away."
"I've already spoke to Dr. Whale about getting her setup on an IV drip and maybe a feeding tube, but he agrees that we have to proceed carefully," the Doctor answers, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he watches Emma's monitor out of the corner of his eye, "we obviously need to get some nutrition into her but we're loath to have her near anything she could hurt herself with."
Snow's head snaps up and she fixes Archie with a glare, "You think she's suicidal? My daughter is not going to kill herself!"
I rub soothing circles into my wife's back, trying to calm her even as I grit my teeth. I don't like the implication that Emma might try to kill herself either.
"Please try to understand," Archie says, holding his hands up in supplication, "Emma is severely depressed - far beyond what is considered normal for her situation. I don't like thinking that she might try to take her own life either but we can't rule anything out either. Better safe than the alternative."
There's a knock on the door and Dr. Whale sticks his head in, "We're ready Dr. Hopper, if you still want to be there."
"Of course," Archie says quietly, standing before turning to us once more, "this is painful for me to say but you may want to start preparing for the worst. Emma is not going to like this and while it may improve her physical health, it's going to be a vicious blow to her mental health."
"What are you saying?" I whisper, tears blurring my vision as I cling to my wife and she to me.
"We can get her body healthy," Dr. Hopper says, "but unless she can find the will to live again, we won't be able to save her."
"Just tell us what you mean Archie," Snow manages around a sob after it becomes obvious I can't speak. I already know what he means...and so does Snow but we need to hear it.
Archie opens his mouth to clarify but no sound comes out and he turns away, tears of his own shining in his eyes. For the first time it occurs to me that maybe, just maybe, Emma's situation is a little over my friend's head.
Dr. Whale answers for him, his voice steady, emotionless - fully a Doctor who has had to deliver bad news before - as he conveys the facts, "As things stand now, Emma is going to die."