Three hours later Emma emerged from her bosses office, exhausted and starving, she needed another cup of coffee if she was going to make it through the rest of her work day and the hours she would spend at the hospital.

Ruby waved Emma over to her desk with an eager smile on her face. "Emma, that was the longest meeting I have ever seen, how are you awake?"

"I don't know how, there were so many details about budget projections, cost analyzes, and countless other items. My brain is fried and my stomach might start eating itself if I don't eat something soon."

Ruby reached in her bag that was resting at the side of her desk and pulled out an item wrapped in paper. "Well don't you worry because I bought you back a wrap and there is an iced coffee in the fridge with your name on it, literally. I wrote your name so Jefferson didn't try steal it again." Both of them let out a chuckle, Jefferson worked in design, he was in charge of the design of the app, logos, and other items but he was notorious for taking food items out of the fridge and claiming them as his own if they didn't have a name on them.

"I love you Ruby, how can I ever repay you?" Emma grasped the wrap and walked over to the small break room, sitting down at one of the tables. She tore into the wrapping the covered the wrap and took a huge bite. Ruby grabbed her friends iced coffee from the fridge and joined her at the table.

"You could come out with me on Friday for drinks."

"You know I can't." Emma could feel her exhaustion wash away with each sip of the cold coffee vanilla infused mixture.

"Come on, you haven't been out in months, you deserve a night and besides it was kind of his idea." Ruby looked at her friend with her eyes wide pleading for her to reconsider the offer.

"What, why would he say such a thing?!" Pieces of the wrap spewed out of her mouth.

Ruby shrugged her shoulders. "Well I visited him on my lunch break since I knew you wouldn't be able to and he started asking how you were doing since every time you are with him you put on a brave face." She reached over and grabbed Emma's hand rubbing the back of it with her thumb.

"Em, he can see how exhausted you are, we all can. You're running back and forth taking care of this company and him. He asked me to take you out Friday night to have have a good time, he wants you to relax and have fun. Besides Granny said she can visit him and eat dinner with him that way if anything happens she will be there." Ruby tried to reassure her friend that it was a good plan.

Emma had been working no stop for months and it was finally catching up with her. Maybe one night out couldn't hurt she thought. "Fine, I will go out but I will have a cap on how much I drink incase anything happens and I am only saying yes to this because he thought of it."

Ruby knew that it would work, Emma put up a front for a lot of people and it was hard to get past the walls she had built up to protect herself but the one person in the world that could get her to do anything they wanted came up with the idea. Ruby sat by Emma's side as she finished her food, trying to cheer up her friend and distract her from all of her responsibilities. Ten short minutes later they both headed back to their desks to finish out their day.

Monday: 6:40pm

Emma locked the door to her office she heard a voice behind her, "Leaving already, Miss. Swan." She didn't have to turn around to know who that sultry voice belonged to.

"Yes, Ms. Mills. I have somewhere else I need to be and I am already late." Emma turned around staring straight into brown eyes.

"Well then" Regina crossed her arms infant of her chest, staring back. "I hope to see you on time tomorrow.. 7:55am."

"I wouldn't dream be late" Emma said in a sarcastic tone. It was a long day and Emma had enough of Regina's snide comments. "If you will excuse me, I really must get going." Emma walked around her boss not waiting for a response.

A short drive later Emma was parking her car and making her way to towards the hospital doors. The path to the hospital room was all to familiar, she had taken this path to many times and today was no different. Her hand rested on the door taking a deep breath planting a smile on her face before she turned the door knob.

"MOM!" That one simple word filled Emma with joy and took away her exhaustion.

"Henry!" She replied with the same sense of excitement.

The nine year old boys looked even smaller laying in the enormous hospital bed, tubes in and out of his arms, a superhero blanket laid across his lap and comic books spread across. "How did my favorite little man's day go today?" Emma asked, sitting on the side of his bed listening to her son talk all about the comic books he read, the superhero shows he watched and how his favorite teacher Miss. Blanchard came and read to him today.

"That's great kid, I heard Ruby visited you and you had a little talk."

"Yeah," Henry replied with a shy smile, looking down at his blanket. "I worry about you." He spoke in a whisper.

"I know bud, but it's my job to worry, it's your job to be a kid and learn everything there is to know about Captain America." She said with a laugh poking his nose.

A smile grew on his face. "Okay, I just love you mommy." Henry grabbed his moms hand and held it close to his face. "What did you say."

"I said I would go but Granny is going to stay with you while I am out."

"Yes, I love Granny she has so many fun stories and she always brings me hot chocolate when she visits." Emma shocked her head laughing at her sons unconfined excitement.

"I'll be back in a few minutes, I am going to talk to the doctor." Emma leaned down kissed the top of Henry's head and walked to the nurses station. Every day Emma had the same routine since Henry started living in the hospital full time. She would go to work, visit henry hear his stories, talk to the doctor, eat dinner together, then they would cuddle, get ready for bed, play games or watch movies and Henry would go to sleep wrapped up in Emmas arm until she would wake up in the middle of night drive home and get a few hours of sleep in her own bed before she repeated the day again.

For the past month Henry had been living at the hospital full time waiting for a new heart. Emma hated leaving Henry but she needed to work and the hospital psychologist she visited a couple times, Dr. Hopper convinced her that it would be a good idea for her to have a few hours to herself each day to sleep in her own bed. She knew she needed to get away from work and the hospital a couple hours each day.

The nurse had tracked down the doctor for Emma. "Dr. Whale, how did Henry do today? Any news?" Emma knew deep down there wouldn't be an update but each day she hopped she would hear something different.

"Well the good news is his numbers didn't decrease."

"That's great, is there any chance he could come home and wait for a heart there?" Emma asked, she asked that same question at least once a week.

"You know this Emma, Henry is stable but we don't think it's a good idea for him until he receives a new heart or his numbers improve. He needs the mechanical circulatory support device to help his heart function and his numbers aren't at a place where I think he would be stable for a portable device. Once his numbers improve and we can safely put in a portable device he can wait at home for a new heart."

Henry needing the device to circulate blood throughout his body and his heart. The machine couldn't leave the hospital and the surgery for a portable device had some risks. Every since Henry had been admitted Emma was waiting for his numbers to increase so he could take him home and wait for a new heart. She knew it would be awhile until he would receive one, Henry had one of the rarest blood types B negative.

Emma shoulders slumped knowing what he was going to say. She wanted her happy little boy back. "I know Dr. Whale, I appreciate what you and your team do for Henry." She walked back to his room where two trays of food were waiting inside.

"I waited for you mom." He said with a smile.

"Thanks baby." She grabbed the food trays and started opening them as Henry talked about who would win in a fight Superman or Captain America. It was her favorite part of her day, she hoped that these moments weren't limited.

A/N

Thank you to those who have read the story so far. I hope you are enjoying it.