Author's note: Thanks to Whiskets for the idea for the last few ch!
Chapter 20
They drove back to the hospital as fast as they could, not even bothering to drop Henry off at home. He could sleep in the hospital. This was way more important.
Snow looked up in alarm as she saw them running towards her at full speed. "What's wrong?" She frowned as she noticed a still sleeping Henry, who was in James's arms. "I thought you were taking him home."
They ignored her. "You'll never believe what we found." Graham said, showing her the footage on his laptop. "Just watch this."
Snow watched the video, her features twisting in confusion, and then horror as she saw Regina's smirk on Graham's face as he emerged from the cloud.
"And that's not all." Graham said as he found another file and hit Play. "On the drive over, I watched the footage from inside the station, where the attack happened."
Horror and disgusted intermixed on Snow's features as she watched the video of her daughter being attacked by Graham. She cried out as she watched Graham attempt to smash her skull in with the lamp, and then almost strangle her to death.
"Stop. Make it stop!" Snow cried. "I can't watch this."
"You have to. It's important." James insisted, trying to soothe his wife.
"Listen to what I was saying." Graham went backwards to where he was strangling Emma and hit Play again.
They strained to hear Graham's voice over the tinny laptop speakers. Not much could be heard over the sounds of Emma choking and struggling, but one phrase was repeated over and over again.
"You stole my son." Graham said along with his on screen self. He closed the laptop. "Now, who do we know would be most likely to say that?"
"Regina." Snow answered.
"Wait what?" A very sleepy voice asked. It was Henry. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Are you saying that my mom tried to kill Emma?"
Snow, James, and Graham all looked at him, unable to tell him that his adoptive mother had hatched such a cruel, magic involving scheme to kill his birth mother. It was too bizarre for words.
Finally, Snow nodded. "I'm sorry, Henry."
Henry didn't say anything for a long moment. His eyes were downcast as the truth hit him. "I should've known. This is all my fault."
His grandparents immediately wrapped him into a comforting hug. "It's ok, Henry. It's not your fault. You couldn't have known what was gonna happen."
Henry pulled away. Guilt was evident on his face. "Yeah, but they always fought over me. I'm the reason Emma got shot."
"It's not your fault." Graham echoed. "Like you said, Regina's the evil queen. There was no way you would've known. She's good at this type of thing."
There was a long silence.
"I never wanna see her again." Henry said after a while. His grandparents nodded in agreement.
"So how exactly did that work? Regina shape shifted into Graham?" James, not used to magic, but eager to change the subject, asked.
"No, I don't think so. If she did that Graham would've still been at Granny's. I think she possessed his body. Took control over it for a short while." Snow quickly explained the tactic her stepmother had used in the past. "It's a really effective way to get things done."
"And it explains everything. Why Graham's car was missing, and why it seemed like he had a blackout and couldn't remember anything." James said.
"So Regina possessed me." Graham repeated. The words felt foreign. "But why me?"
"I think it was so it'd hurt more." Snow suggested. "She knew that you loved Emma, so maybe having you try to kill Emma would make Emma feel guiltier."
Relief flooded through Graham as the full force of this revelation hit him. He hadn't tried to kill Emma. He was in the clear.
"That bitch." James stood up, ready to attack. "She's going to pay for what she did to my daughter."
Snow pulled him back down. "We can't do anything. Not when she has magic. She could be very dangerous."
"Well we can't just sit here…" Graham started to argue but was cut off by Dr. Whale, who was approaching them with a grim look.
"How is she?" Snow and James immediately stood up, frantic with worry.
"She's out of surgery," Whale began. "She has multiple broken ribs, a severe concussion, some internal bleeding, and a gunshot wound in her chest. Not to mention many cuts and bruises."
"But she's ok, right?" Henry asked. He looked like he was about to cry. "My mom's ok though right?"
"I'm afraid not, Henry." Whale replied. He looked sick and exhausted. "Her heart stopped during the procedure, due to the bullet. We were able to get it restarted, but she was without oxygen for six minutes."
"So?"
"So, there's a chance that she won't wake up." Whale finished.
Snow's face crumpled into tears, as did Henry's. James began to comfort his wife and grandson, while Graham, who was filled with anger, fear, horror, and grief, turned and punched the wall as hard as he could.
Author's note: There you go. For those of you who've been bugging me about an update on Emma's condition, here it is. If any of the medical info is wrong, get over it. I'm a senior in high school, not a doctor.