Mary Margaret and David, Regina unconscious in his arms, sprint into the ER, only slowing for a moment at the sheer size of the place.
Mary Margaret stops at the desk. "She-she passed out. She has a head injury, and-"
"Stand right there," the triage nurse instructs. She gestures to two nurses behind her who quickly get up and leave the space.
They come around the corner with a gurney, helping David lay her down. No one stopping them, David and Mary Margaret follow behind the fast-paced nurses.
She is transferred to a bed once they enter a room. A nurse is waiting to set up her IV and check her vitals.
Mary Margaret presses back into David as they watch from the corner of the room.
Another nurse comes in and directs her attention to them. "I need you to fill out her information, please. A doctor will be in shortly after you've completed the forms."
"I'll do it," Mary Margaret says, taking the clipboard offered to her. She takes a seat and quickly starts scrawling down all of the information she knows. Once completed, she hands the forms to David, and he leaves the room.
Standing up, she moves slowly over to the hospital bed, as if worried she might disturb Regina. At Regina's side, she looks down on her. She moves a strand of hair from Regina's face. "I hope you're as peaceful as you look."
David reenters the room and stops when he sees Mary Margaret run her hand over Regina's head. "What are you thinking?" he asks softly, noticing Mary Margaret's sorrowful look.
Taking a deep breath, she walks over and hugs David. "I don't want her in our family, David, but I never wanted this for her."
David rubs her back. "I think she's been a part of our family for a lot longer than you like to admit."
Mary Margaret sighs but removes her arms when she sees a doctor enter the room.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Atkins. I am overseeing the ER today."
Mary Margaret and David shake his hand and introduce themselves.
"And this is," he looks at her folder, "Regina Mills. Can you tell me what happened?" He moves over to the bed to examine Regina.
Mary Margaret moves to the other side of the bed and starts, "She passed out at the airport. She was under a bit of stress which may have attributed to it, but she already was struggling after the car ride. The other day, she hit her head pretty hard. She went to the hospital later that day after passing out, I think."
"Can you tell me how she hit her head?"
Mary Margaret and David look at each other then back to the doctor. "There was an accident, and she was sort of thrown into a wall. Her head hit the corner of a picture frame from what I understand. Just a couple of hours later, her symptoms started hitting her."
"She said she was blind in one eye at the airport moments before fainting," David adds.
Dr. Atkins lifts her eyelids and checks her pupils. "Which eye?"
"Her, um, her right, I'm pretty sure." David slides over next to Mary Margaret and takes her hand.
"Her pupils look normal." He lifts her head and gently feels around until his fingers find the knot. "Closed injury." He looks up at them. "Other symptoms? Fatigue, irritation, loss of balance or coordination, memory loss?"
"It's hard to say about irritation," Mary Margaret says flatly. David squeezes her hand so she continues. "We weren't there when it happened, but we know she's had a hard time walking on her own, and the car ride seemed to make things worse. She looked exhausted and certainly lacked much balance."
The doctor nods. "I need to run some tests. A nurse will be back shortly to set up the scans." He turns and leaves the room.
Mary Margaret turns and places her head on David's chest. "We need to tell Emma."
"She's still on the plane."
"We will leave her a message then."
David looks at Regina's face. "We can't. She shouldn't have to find out over a message."
Mary Margaret pushes back to look at him. "Okay, then we'll call her when she lands."
"Don't you think it'd be best to wait until we know more?"
Reaching up, Mary Margaret turns David's face to look at her. "Why don't you want to tell Emma?"
He drops his eyes. "She made me promise."
"Promise what?"
"Promise not to tell Emma. I think she wants to let Emma get through her day tomorrow without anything else burdening her."
Mary Margaret shakes her head. "David, we can't keep that promise."
He puts his hands on her shoulders. "I disagree. Just for tomorrow. Let Emma do what she needs to do. This will only make things worse."
Mary Margaret studies his face for a long time before sighing and nodding. "Fine, but we can't keep this from her forever."
David shrugs. "Hey, maybe she'll be awake by then, and it won't be an issue."
Mary Margaret turns to look at Regina. "She doesn't look like she's waking up anytime soon, David." She places her hand over Regina's.
Henry and Emma enter their apartment and both drop their bags immediately.
"I'm not sure if I really missed it," Emma says. "But it's good to see it."
Henry nods. "Wanna play a video game?"
"It's a little late, kid. We both have early mornings. I'm gonna call your mom." She hugs him then goes to her bedroom and plops down on her bed, pulling out her phone. She runs her hand over the picture of Henry and Regina and smiles before calling Regina.
The phone goes to voicemail as she anticipated. "Hey, babe. Tis I. We landed a while ago and are now back in the apartment. We were, surprise surprise, starving so went to the Varsity. We didn't take you cause it's disgustingly greasy and so good, but there is literally nothing for you to eat. Got some brain freezes from the F.O.'s then headed here. Plane ride was kind of bumpy and lame, but all in all it was fine. I'm trying really hard not to miss you already, but I'm failing terribly. Hopefully you not answering means you are getting some much needed rest. You were making me a bit nervous in the airport, but I know my parents would have told me if you didn't make it home alright, so I'm glad to know you're safe. I love you. If you don't mind, I'll call you in the morning before the lawyer shows up. I could use the boost. Alright. I love you. Sleep tight."
Emma ends the call and stares up at the ceiling. "Tomorrow is gonna suck." She grabs her blanket and pulls it over herself, rolling onto her side and going to sleep fully dressed.