a/u: Thank you all so much for more reviews and story alerts! I apologize again for any grammar errors chalk it up to the free word edition I tried to catch everything but anyway I don't own OUAT/Oz/Disney/The Wanted 'Glad You Came' just thought it was fitting song for them. I know it's 7:15 in the show but 8:15 sounds like a more reasonable breakfast time, so late breakfast for them. side note... I took CPR/first aid class multiple times it's a pet peeve of mine about people on tv that don't do chest compressions properly so I apologize for the in detailed CPR... anyway enough about me let's get back to to that lightning
Emma finally made it the few feet to Baelfire. She shook him trying to get him to wake up. "Ace, HEY! Bae, BAELFIRE!" She screamed shaking him again. Emma unzipped his jacket ripping it open with force to get to his chest. She rips her own red jacket off sticking it underneath his head for support. She could barely see though the tears in her eyes. She pounds her fists against the center of his chest.
"One.. Two... Seven... Ten... Fifteen " Emma moved up to Baelfire's face. Tilting his head back she pinched his nose and pressed her lips against his lips puffing air into his lungs. One breath. Two breaths.
They had a moment, several moments, and this moment in the woods had been the start of something. She was going to do her damnedest not to let him go. As much as she didn't want to believe maybe he had been right. She needed him. She wanted to need him. Her heart pounded a mile a minute. This was not true love's kiss; this was a sheriff saving a victim. She was a robot as she repeated the steps over again. Left fist over right, find the center of the diaphragm, push down hard. "One, two..." She repeated again bringing her lips to his, pinching his nose and tilting his head back. She repeated these movements back and forth several more times. How many minutes had it been? She should stop she told herself, but that would have meant giving up. She puffed another breath into his lungs.
Baelfire gasped, opening his eyes and taking a deep breath in.
Emma pulled away as he came to. She relaxed wiping the tears out her eyes she caught her breath as well. He coughed and tried to remember what had happened. The dagger was on the ground a foot away from him and it was still raining. The rain and the lightning... had he got struck? The faint smell of fire and ash loomed as if yes, he had. Baelfire looked over at Emma knelt beside him as the rain keep falling down around them. "Some apple, huh Dorothy?" he says sitting up a bit regaining his composure.
Emma laughs, out of pure exhaustion, she laughs. Because, it was funny after saving him from the apple only to have to rescue him hours later. And then she is crying; she could not take losing another person. Not after Graham, not after what almost happened to Henry, and if she had just believed harder August would still be alive.
Baelfire's arms are around Emma before she has time to react. Baelfire knew he was treading on her comfort zone. He had to touch her, to feel something, to make sure he wasn't dead. After all these years alive he still feared death, feared being really alone.
The feeling is foreign to her. She tenses up, clinching to pieces of his jacket as he holds her awkwardly. She allows it. He doesn't let go. He is a lean man, but his arms are strong and tight around her. Emma breathes in the smell of Baelfire's wet hair, its leather, fire, and a hit of something ancient. She allows herself to rest her head against his shoulder then she puts her bare arms around him. Water has long soaked through her white tank top, and she is shaking now. They sit knelt next to each other, arms around each other, for as long as Emma can stand.
He can feel her tense up under him and he just keeps holding on. He can't let her go. Emma smells of flowers and rain as Baelfire's nose brushes against her ear he breathes her in as he whispers "some first date?"
She thought he was quite the apple off the old tree with his puns. "What makes it a date?" Emma whispers back. She wasn't really sure what made a date, all of hers usually ended with a boot on someone's car before Storybrooke.
"I brought you flowers, didn't I?" Baelfire speaks softly as if he doesn't want the rest of the forest to hear.
Emma feels a pit in her stomach. He had done something nice, brought her flowers, and she hadn't even noticed. Where had they been? She tried to process the station in her shocked mind. She placed the letter opener next to... a vase of flowers. She pulls away from him.
Emma dodges the question. "We should go, are you OK to move?" She asked getting her jacket she put it back on as she stands up.
"Yeah, I think so. Might need new shoes. " He dusted the ash off the bottom of his boots and reached over taking the dagger he slid it in his back pocket. Baelfire's muscles ached from toe to head but he knew they couldn't stay in the woods.
Emma held her hand out and he took it as she helped pull him up. The two walked silently back towards the car, side by side, Emma helping Baelfire, and Bae in turn helping Emma.
"We should go see Dr. Whale" Emma said more of a command than a question. She hadn't seen any lightning victims before but she knew he should get checked out. She made a mental note to look up more medical law procedures since the Storybrooke sheriff station was lacking.
"No doctors, please, no hospitals Emma" Baelfire stopped in his spot for a moment. Fight or flight was starting to kick in and flight was winning. He wanted to run. He needed to get away, but then something warm was on his shoulder and he traced Emma's hand up to her face.
"Hey, it's ok, its just usually procedure after someone gets stuck by lightning. No doctors" Emma said releasing her light touch on his shoulder as they started to amble on again.
Baelfire didn't run instead he opened up to her. He hadn't even told his father yet, so why her? He wondered a bit as he continued telling his story "I was here a while. I was truthful with you about that, and I have scars all over from numerous wars, injuries, fights."
"Something happened in the hospital didn't it?" Emma asked he looked as if he was remembering something very painful.
Baelfire nodded slowly as they walked along. He began his story "Yes. I was traveling through England in the early 1900s and got very sick. I had been a bugle boy in the American Civil War. I had an old bullet in my side, and they took it out, but not before they poked and prodded me. They questioned the old bullet and I had no answers for them. I was trapped as a child, they wouldn't release me, and so I ran." Flight.
Emma's face contorted as she heard his story. She could not imagine the trauma he had been through. She had once thought she had a hard life being trapped in a foster home with other children and parents that did not love her, but she had been wrong. She had siblings and a roof over her head. She felt so ashamed. "And here I thought braces were bad" Emma said trying to bring him back to the present.
"I've heard those are another form of torture all together" Baelfire replied thankful to be talking about anything but that time. He knew he would have to face his demons eventually but not today. The corner of Emma's mouth arched up, wasn't quite a smile but the closest she could give him at the moment.
They arrived back at the car a little slower than they began the trip and the drive back to Gold's salmon colored estate felt even longer. Emma parked the car and got out. She knew he'd be ok, but she still had the instinct to help him out.
"We could go to Mother Superior, ask for help" Emma said as Baelfire got out the car and slowly made his way over to her. Sometimes he looked so young, younger than forty-two, she forgot he was so old but right now in pain his age showed.
"Belle beat you to that idea. I don't think I can go to her again." He gripped onto the shiny metal knife as if his life depended on it. Baelfire wasn't ready to end his father's life.
"I had to use a sword once to slay a dragon, to save Henry, it was the hardest thing I ever had to do. We'll find a way, hold off on using that thing. I really don't want to arrest you" Emma had to admit as nice as it was to have company in the sheriff's station sometimes she didn't want blood on his hands. Not after today.
Baelfire started to make his way slowly towards the porch with Emma a step behind him. "You don't have to follow me to the door"
"You won't go to the hospital" Emma replied quickly still a bit worried for his health. She wasn't about to have him pass out in front of Gold's house.
The two adults stood on the porch as if they were teenagers about to break curfew. Scared and afraid and not ready to say goodbye.
Baelfire watched the features of her face, as he brought his left hand up to her face slowly he brushed a strand of blonde hair away from her eyes. " Thanks, for..." Everything didn't exactly cover all she had done for him. He released the feather light curly locks out his hand. It wasn't a kiss, but it was another touch. Love was layered, but slowly the layers were coming off.
"You're welcome" Emma answered feeling his rough hand against her face. She held back the feeling to flinch as his moved the piece of hair away from her eye.
Baelfire slid the dagger in one of his back pants pockets and turned placing his hand on the handle of the door. He had to face the demon now.
Emma started to make her way off the porch she called out "hey Ace, maybe next time a dinner and a movie, I think you owe me."
Baelfire paused as a half crook smile crossed his face. She was willing. "Does Storybrooke have a theater?" He enjoyed motion pictures. He often sat in the back and watched the happy couples trickle in holding hands, kissing, and looking so happy. He knew they were not normal, that would never be them, but he had that wish in the back of his mind.
Emma was not sure Storybrooke had a Blockbuster Video let alone a proper theater. An inner conflict raged in her as she wanted him around, but another voice whispered danger, and so she compromised. "Do you like hot chocolate with cinnamon?" It was an acquired taste that seemed to run in the Charming family she found out, but even if he didn't, she just wanted him to be around. It wasn't in the way a sheriff wanted to look after a suspected killer, not like the first time she came to the door with Henry. This was something different. She wanted him around.
"If you are buying" Baelfire's smile grew wider. A proper smile that spread across his face almost touching the tips of his sandy brown hair that fell against his ears. He wasn't sure he liked cinnamon with his hot chocolate but if it was Emma's favorite he'd learn to love it.
"Granny's diner 8:15. One condition... No blood is on the dagger" Emma was going to stand her ground. Mr. Gold was not her biggest fan and she hated him sometimes for the way he manipulated and scammed people but he had also helped her.
"Deal" Baelfire called out, and then the door was shut and he was gone. Back into the darkness of the Gold estate.
Emma made it back to her car and clicked on the radio. The tune played low as she drove back to her place on the other side of town. She listened taking in all that happened today. She saved his life and yet it felt as if a piece of her was saved as well. She was glad he came.
The sun goes down
The stars come out
And all that counts
Is here and now
My universe will never be the same
I'm glad you came
The flowers in the vase at the sheriff's station had transformed over the day. The roses starving for energy began to drain the wildflowers of life. The petals fell to the desk. Regina's roses waited.