Author's note: Thanks for all the lovely reviews! And if any of you are interested in Pretty Little Liars, go read "Now that I'm back" by MonkeyLovr. It's amazing. Here's a new ch, just cuz I'm feeling nice and all. So those of you who celebrate Christmas, MERRY CHRISTMAS! And those who don't, hope you have a good day.

Chapter 24

Pain. The first thing Emma registered was pain. Well, that and the constant, irritating beep of the heart monitor. She quickly realized that she lying on her back on a hard ass mattress, and there were blinding bright lights in her face. Her whole body throbbed painfully. It was like there was a ten foot nail embedded in her chest and stomach.

Her memory was a gaping hole, which scared her senseless. How long had she been asleep? She tried to picture her last memories, but it was all hazy.

"Emma?" Someone said. Through her foggy vision, all she could make out was dark hair. Their voice sounded very far away. "Can you hear me?"

She tried to say something, but it was like she had no control over her body.

"Em?" A different voice said. It kind of sounded like Mary Margaret. "If you can hear me, blink."

Emma's eyelids felt as if they weighed a couple tons, but she managed to blink a couple times anyway. The overhead light blinded her, so she squeezed her eyes shut again. Luckily, someone clicked the light off. There were so many voices talking at once it made her head spin.

As Emma began to wake up more, her hands began pulling at the tube in her mouth and the wires in her arm.

"Whoa, easy there." Someone (David?) said, stopping her hands. Her vision was still too foggy to make out who it was. "I'll get Whale."

Soon, the tube was pulled out of her mouth, and she started coughing, which made her chest and abdomen hurt like hell.

"Water." She managed to rasp. Her throat was dry, probably from the intubation. Someone handed her a cup, but her hand shook so badly they grabbed it again. Sliding their arm under her neck, they lifted her up slightly and guided the cup to her lips. Their arm had this familiar woodsy scent that made Emma woozy. And, for some reason, it came with an overwhelming feeling of fear. After several sips, whoever it was pulled the cup away and slid her head back down gently.

"Not too much at once." This time the voice sounded like David. "You don't wanna throw up."

"How do you feel?" A gentle voice asked, smoothing out the blanket around her. Sounded like Mary Margaret again.

"Hurts." She rasped. "Everywhere." But that was an understatement. Her whole body hurt so bad it felt like she'd been run over by a truck three times.

"That's cuz you have multiple broken ribs, a severe concussion, some internal bleeding, and a gunshot wound in her chest. Not to mention many cuts and bruises." A voice that sounded like Henry's, recited.

Emma tried to laugh, but it hurt too much.

"Come on, Henry, we should probably let Emma sleep." David (at least Emma thought it was him, her vision was still too blurry too tell) said. Emma wanted to protest that Henry could stay, but then thought better of it.

"I'll get Whale to up your morphine." Mary Margaret said as she left the room.

Henry followed. "Bye Mom."

"What happened?" Emma asked the remaining figure in the room. The last thing she could remember was working at the station, and then waking up here.

"You were, um, attacked." Whoever it was said hesitantly. Although she was still so out of it, Emma could tell that whatever it was wasn't good. Their voice brought back strange memories, memories of paralyzing fear, heartbreak, and imminent death. It was so familiar, yet she couldn't remember.

"More water?" She asked, hating the way her hand shook. They slid their arm under her neck again, bringing the cup to her lips. Emma breathed in, which made her whole body shudder with pain. She got a huge whiff of their woodsy scent again, and suddenly memories came rushing back.

She remembered looking up to see Graham try and bash her head in with a lamp, and then nearly strangle her to death. How she'd been so close to giving in, but then got away in time. How he'd punched her over and over until she could barely breathe. She remembered how he'd knocked her into her desk, sending her flying straight to the ground. How he'd stood over her, with her gun in hand, the cruelest look she'd ever seen on his face. How eerily similar to Regina's it was. How he'd pulled the trigger, sending a bullet straight into her heart.

Above all, Emma remembered how awful it was to have him attack her, leaving her with the thought that he hated her so much for rejecting him that he wanted to kill her. Just when she'd finally found someone who truly loved her and she finally realized she loved, it turned out they were a complete psycho who'd probably never even loved her. It was probably all a ruse just to reel her in so he could kill her. It almost hurt more than her broken body.

She sputtered, choking on large mouthful of water, and began coughing violently. The slight movement made her whole body ache with pain. Damn those broken ribs.

"Emma, Em, it's ok. Calm down." The person said. Emma looked straight up at them and into their familiar brown eyes, the eyes of the man who'd tried to kill her.

Graham.

She started screaming, thrashing around wildly, spilling water all over her blanket (was that her baby blanket?). Graham stood up and tried to calm her down, whispering soothing things in her ear, but all she could hear were the words of someone who'd tried to kill her, who'd nearly succeeded in doing so.

"Nooo! Get off! Go away!" She shrieked loudly, hoping that someone, anyone would overhear and save her. What the hell was Graham doing here anyway? Weren't murderers not allowed in hospitals? Had he come to finish her off?

"Help! He's trying to kill me!" She screamed again, ignoring the searing pain as she did so. Hadn't anybody known that Graham was the one who'd put her in the hospital in the first place?

Within seconds, the door banged open, and Mary Margaret, David, Henry, and Whale rushed in, all looking concerned.

"What's going on?" David demanded, looking furious.

"I don't know, she just started freaking out." Graham said anxiously.

They all started whispering in the corner, casting worried glances at her every so often. Emma couldn't hear much, but the words Graham, leave, and calm down stuck in her mind. After a few minutes, Graham left the room, casting her a long look of sadness and longing before closing the door behind him. Emma stared at the closed door in confusion. Then, Whale left the room, leaving her with just her parents and Henry.

"Hey." Mary Margaret approached her bed. "You should try and get some sleep."

"Graham, he tried to kill me." Emma said vehemently. "You need to call the cops."

Her mother looked up at someone. Probably David. They seemed to have a conversation with just their eyes.

"Graham didn't…" Henry began, but he was cut off by Mary Margaret.

"Wha's goin on?" She slurred. It was probably a side effect from the drugs.

"Nothing." Her mother said, smoothing out her hair. It was something that none of her foster parents had bothered to do, even she was a scared 5 year old getting her appendix out. "Just get some sleep."

"We'll be here when you wake up." David added soothingly. He and Mary Margaret exchanged that look again.

Emma was too disoriented to follow their exchange. Closing her eyes, she drifted off to sleep, where she'd undoubtedly be plagued by nightmares of a murderous Graham.