Author's Note: Happy premiere day! Our babies are back tonight. Whee! Also, because I haven't said it enough: you guys are awesome. :)
In Emma's little room at the ER, pleasant conversation had sprung up around her. It was clear that her mom, her dad, and her pirate were trying to distract her so she wouldn't spend every second watching her IV bag. Unfortunately, all the pleasant conversation in the world couldn't stop her from doing exactly that.
That bag was her key to freedom. As long as it still held fluids, she was stuck in this damn bed. Only when the bag was empty would Dr. Whale start processing her discharge papers.
She just wanted to get the hell out of here. Hell, she was beyond embarrassed that she was here in the first place. She'd worried everyone and she'd caused a fuss all because she hadn't thought to bring a bottle of water or two along on a hike through the woods on a hot day.
Talk about humiliating.
And so here she sat, half-listening to the conversation around her, vaguely aware of her mother's thumb running back and forth over the back of her hand, and most of her attention focused on the plastic bag of saline that would determine how much longer she had to sit in this damn room.
The bag had about a hundred milliliters of fluids left, which was a hundred milliliters too many, as far as Emma was concerned. Still, it shouldn't be too long now before the thing was empty and she could put this whole annoying, embarrassing day behind her.
"You know," David spoke up, startling Emma back to the present, "there's this whole saying about a watched pot and how it doesn't boil."
She felt the heat rising to her cheeks. "Yeah, well, I just don't want to waste any time. When that thing's empty, I am paging Dr. Whale so he can disconnect me from these damn machines and we can get the hell out of here. And while I'm thinking of it, we have some logistical issues to work out."
"Oh?" Killian asked.
"Specifically how we're all getting the hell out of here. We all came here separately," Emma reminded them. "Mom's car's here and you walked–"
Killian scratched at his ear, a sheepish smile tugging at his lips. "I think the proper term for what I did to get here was 'run like the wind,' love."
Emma couldn't help but smile. Her pirate could be such a dork, and she loved him for it. "Okay, I stand corrected. My point is, the cruiser is still parked on the access road in the woods and both my car and Dad's truck are at the station."
"Your mom can drop me off at the cruiser and then take you and Killian back to the station," David assured her at the same time as Snow said, "You're not driving home, Emma."
Her statement was met with three confused frowns. "What?" Emma asked, her voice low in both disappointment and annoyance.
The befuddled expression on Snow's face indicated that she didn't understand why this was even a question. "You lost consciousness! What if you pass out again behind the wheel?"
And Emma had thought this whole thing was humiliating before! Now her mom was looking to prohibit her from driving because of the highly unlikely possibility that she'd pass out again on the five-minute trip home from the station? "I won't! That's why I'm sitting here, so they can rehydrate me so I won't pass out again!"
"Your dad can take you home in your car and then we'll go back for the truck."
"No. I'm not an invalid. I'll drive my car home."
"No, you will not."
Emma blinked. Holy crap, she'd just been mom-voiced. The mom-voice was another thing that should not work on her at this stage of her life.
And yet, it did.
This was absolutely ridiculous! She felt fine. She wasn't even lightheaded anymore! There was no good reason why she couldn't drive herself home from the damn station. She flicked her gaze to David, her eyes silently begging him for assistance.
She did not mistake the way his eyes lit up when he realized she was asking him for help. And she did not mistake the calming smile that tugged at his lips as he gave her a nod, silently telling her to let him go to bat for her. "What if I rode with her and you drove the truck home?" David asked Snow, his voice impossibly gentle.
Snow pursed her lips as she considered that plan of action. Emma tried to refrain from looking too annoyed because honestly, this shouldn't even be a discussion.
As Snow mulled over her options, Emma's ever-perceptive pirate rested his hand on her knee and pressed a soft kiss to her temple. As he pulled away, he whispered so low that only she could hear, "She loves you and just wants to keep you safe."
And all at once, Emma softened. Her mom was completely overreacting but it was indeed coming from a place of love. Something stirred within her, something young and longing. All her life, she'd wanted this, wanted to be treated with such loving care. And now she had it, in all it's big, sweeping, mildly annoying glory. The annoyance was a small price to pay, though, especially considering the alternative.
"It's okay," Emma said, clearing her throat so she wouldn't sound choked up. "Dad can drive me home."
David and Snow both blinked at her, surprised that she'd given in so quickly. Thinking swiftly, she gave them both a teasing smirk. "I think maybe I deserve to have a chauffeur after everything I've been through today."
As she'd hoped, that got them to chuckle. "Of course you do," David said with a gentle squeeze of her hand. "And I promise to be the best chauffeur a daughter could ask for."
It took twenty minutes for the IV bag to finally empty and then an additional fifty minutes for the hospital to process her discharge papers. In between, Emma had had to page the nurse for assistance in disconnecting all the medical equipment attached to her so she could use the bathroom (because a liter and a half of fluids is a lot to take in relatively all at once).
By the time she was able to leave the hospital with her entourage in tow, Emma's patience was completely shot. It was almost a relief, then, to be able to just get in the passenger side of first her mom's car and then her own, let her dad hop in the driver's seat, and not have to worry about a single thing.
Not that she was about to admit that to anyone, of course.
Once back at the apartment, both Killian and David helped her out of the car. (The help was unnecessary but she'd long since given up resisting it. As the saying went, resistance was futile; it was easier to just let them do it than it was to argue with them.) They also helped her up the stairs, which she again didn't have the energy to resist. Plus, there was still that little voice echoing in her head, a little voice that reminded her how much she'd wanted exactly this kind of fussing when she was growing up and how much it hurt that she'd never had it.
She just hoped her family got their fill of it now because the second she was feeling like herself again, their overprotective hovering was going to cease and desist.
"You doing all right, love?" Killian asked as they arrived at the top of the stairs.
Truthfully, she was a little winded. Dr. Whale had said she'd be tired and he certainly wasn't kidding. "Yeah, I'm all right," she said, forcing a smile. In the grand scheme of things, it was sort of the truth.
Able as ever to read her like a book, Killian smiled in such a way that let her know he didn't believe her in the slightest. Still, he didn't argue with her, just wrapped his arm around her shoulders and dropped a kiss on the side of her head.
Snow had beaten them home and had apparently put that time to good use by setting up the sofa for her ailing daughter. It was such a loving, motherly gesture that Emma didn't even have it in her to be annoyed or embarrassed over her mom babying her like this.
Her mom wasn't the only one who'd beaten them home. No sooner had Emma shrugged off her jacket, which Killian immediately took from her to hang on the coat hooks by the door, than Henry darted down the metal staircase, launched himself at her, and wrapped her in a tight hug. "Hey, easy, kid," she said as she squeezed him back. "I'm all right."
"I know," he said, looking up at her. "Mom told me what happened and that you were okay but it's always scary when you find out your mom was taken to the hospital in an ambulance."
Speaking of Henry's other mom, she came down the staircase then as well, causing another wave of embarrassment to wash over Emma. This whole damn thing had gotten entirely out of hand. How many more people needed to greet her after coming home from the ER?
David's words when they were in the woods came back to her then, as did Killian's from the hospital room. It was as if that little inner voice of hers was reminding her that these people loved her and cared about her and wanted to make sure she was all right. And while Emma figured Regina was more than likely only at the loft to greet her because she'd driven Henry, she did indeed give her a comforting little smile. "I'm glad to see you're feeling better, Emma."
"Thanks," Emma said sincerely.
At that point, Henry pulled out of the embrace, took his mom's hand, and tugged her over to the couch. "Gramma's going to make dinner soon," he said, oblivious to the touched smile on Emma's face and the amusement on everyone else's, "but we have time to at least start something."
Before Emma could even ask what "something" was, she saw what her kid had done. Her old laptop was set up on the coffee table, the Netflix screen ready and waiting for the perfect sick-day movie to be chosen.
She gave her wonderful kid a sideways hug and then waved her pirate over. He was always up for some Netflix.
As Emma settled on the couch with Killian and Henry, a blanket spread out over their laps, Snow, David, and Regina set about pulling everything together for dinner. Maybe it was the exhaustion from the day, maybe it was the hurt little girl she'd once been, but as Emma glanced around at her surroundings, she smiled. For there was that little voice inside of Emma again, whispering that this was how family was supposed to be.