An early update tonight, I have plans later.
Will Regina be alright?
Will Hook be alright?
Will Wee Killian be alright?
I seem to have a lot of people in peril !
Oh well, on with the story
As always please review :)
Everything seemed to happen at once when Regina grasped her head and fell to the floor in a heap, Snow's cell rang at exactly the same time but she ignored it as she jumped to her feet and tried to put Killian on the bed so she could help. The boy suddenly awoke and was instantly crying again gripping on to her front, Henry was yelling and Snow could tell that he was terrified for his Mother but Snow was left in the impossible situation, she needed to leave Killian but how could she? He didn't understand what was happening.
"Killian, listen to me" she said urgently clutching his tear streaked face in her hands "Open your eyes, look at me"
He pulled in a few deep breaths and slowly looked up at her with scared eyes, she could hear the goings on behind her but she didn't want to look away just yet, she needed him to understand what was about to happen first.
"I need to leave you on the bed" he started to protest but she just raised her voice slightly and carried on "I need you to be brave Killian. My friend Regina needs my help, Henry needs me" she stepped slightly to the side to reveal the sight of the Queen lying in the floor with Henry frantically trying to wake her as Belle knelt by their side still clutching baby Neal in her arms "Can you do that for me Killian? Can you be a brave boy for Grandma?"
The boy looked up at her again with those big blue eyes but something was different in them now, he gave a very determined nod and looked right back at the floor. It was all Snow needed, she hit the call button on the wall before dropping to the floor with the others.
"Regina, can you hear me? Regina" Snow tapped the Queen's face a few times with her fingertips and sighed in relief when she finally gave a low groan.
"Snow? What happened?" she asked as an eye popped open in confusion.
"I don't know but this is the second time tonight that you have passed out, I don't care what you say Regina, you are getting checked out by someone in this hospital. You may have been able to heal your own ribs in your sleep but it appears you still have a head injury" Snow gushed out
Regina tried to sit herself up but the minute she started to move she winced again and brought her hand to her head with a another groan.
"Listen to Grandma, Mom please. I'm worried about you"
With that Regina's resolve went and she slumped back onto the floor with a resigned sigh, Snow relaxed a little but the next thing that came out of Regina's mouth had her worried.
"Why am I lying on the floor and now I think of it where the hell am I?" Regina groaned.
Belle and Snow exchanged a worried look before Snow answered "You're at the hospital Regina, you came in to see Henry, he called you remember?"
She could see Regina trying to think but the Queen never got a chance to answer the question as the nurse suddenly rushed into the room and took over.
"I'm fine" Regina cried trying to swat the nurses hand away when she shone a light in the Queen's eyes but the nurse had obviously dealt with many awkward patients in her time and either didn't know who she was speaking to or she simply didn't care .
"I will be the judge of that and from the fact that you just passed out and ended up on the floor I think our definition of "fine" differs. Now we are going to get you up and into a wheel chair and then we are going to get you checked out properly this time, are we clear?"
Regina's eyebrows shot up on her head and she opened her mouth to reply but Henry cut her off with a plea she couldn't refuse.
"Please Mom... for me"
Snow looked at her Grandson, he had tears in his eyes again. He looked so scared that she just had to help him, she had to make Regina listen.
"Of course she will go Henry, right Regina?!" Snow gave the Queen her most pleading look and it seemed to work.
"Alright. I will get checked out but NO wheelchair, my legs work perfectly well thank you very much"
Henry jumped up and turned to Snow "I'm going to go with her Grandma, I have my cell, I'll call you as soon as I know what's going on and don't worry I'll make sure she listens this time"
"I can hear you you know?" Regina grumbled as she was helped to her feet.
"Good" Snow replied "Regina please just let them help you"
The queen just sighed and gave a slight nod but Snow beamed back at her as they started moving out of the door.
"Good luck" Snow called out after them but she cringed when Regina's voice carried back from the corridor.
"Good luck? Does she think I'm going to a job interview or something? What do I need luck for?"
With that the door clicked closed and Snow gave a huge sigh, she was exhausted and the night wasn't even close to being over.
"Mary-Margaret?" Belle's voice suddenly reminded her that she was not alone "Are you alright?"
Snow turned to see her friend's worried face by her side, she gave her a smile and brought her hand up to stroke the back of her Son's head, how could he still be sleeping after all that?
"I'm fine Belle, thank you"
"Do you want me to stay for a while? Just until the others get back"
Snow just shook her head and headed back towards the bed where Killian still sat looking up at her.
"It's OK Belle, we'll be fine. Won't we young man?" she said stroking the side of Killian's face with her fingers.
Killian gave a small smile and nodded, he looked so lost in the bed all by himself but Snow knew he wouldn't stay that way very long. After she had reassured her friend several more times that they would be just fine and Belle finally left Snow once again found herself pulling herself up onto the bed but this time she reclined it further and pulled the covers over them both tugging Killian into her arms again.
"Go to sleep Killian, it's been a long day and you're tired. Grandma's got you and I'm not going anywhere"
She felt him snuggle into her and he give a contented sigh. He stayed there for a few minutes before his little voice suddenly asked.
"Why does Henry have two Mothers?"
Snow chuckled "It's a very long story Killian, a story for another time but Henry is a very lucky boy, BOTH his Mothers love him very much"
"But he has no Father? He said that Hook was going to be his Father so does that mean he does not have one already?" Killian suddenly asked
"Henry's Father died Killian. He was a hero and he died to save a lot of people but yes Hook IS going to be Henry's new Father when he marries Emma and being honest he already does the job very well already."
Snow suddenly grinned to herself when she realized that it was still going to happen! Emma would still get to be part of her very own family, Hook was alive.
Killian was quiet for a few beats but then he spoke again "My Mother died when I was very little, I don't really remember her and my Father... he left me, he left me and Liam... and now I too have left Liam, he's all by himself Grandma, I need to find him, I need to get back to him"
Snow could hear that he was crying again so she just pulled him in closer, how could she explain this?
"OK, this might be hard for you to understand but I promise you Killian, Liam is not by himself. He still has his Killian with him."
The boy suddenly sat up and looked at her as if she were crazy "But I am here and he is not"
"I know you think that but... something happened in that cave Killian. You remember seeing Hook there, yes?"
Killian nodded
"Well he was hit by a magic spell..."
"Magic? Like the scary man used? I didn't like him"
Snow gave an unsure smile but carried on regardless.
"Not exactly like that Magic. Mr Gold was using magic to help you but it was magic none the less. Now I don't want you to be frightened but the magic somehow created you from Hook, it's like you were copied, there are now two of you, do you you understand? No? ." She sighed and frowned, this was harder than she thought it would be "It's hard to explain, I don't really understand it myself but you were created from the magic spell, you see Hook isn't really called Hook, he's called..."
"Killian" Killian's eyes went wide "His name is Killian too. Is that why I have two heartbeats? Is that why I feel like there is someone else inside me? Why it feels like I have more arms and legs than I did before?"
Snow was surprised that the boy seemed to understand, he really was quite bright but even still he was only five.
"We think so" she replied
She expected him to have lots of questions but he suddenly grinned and his eyes twinkled like she had never seen before.
"Liam is really not alone? I didn't leave him?"
She shook her head "I promise you Killian, your Liam still has you with him, he is not alone"
"I don't understand though, if the magic made two of us why am I not the same age as Hook?"
"That is a very good question Killian but I don't know the answer to it and right now it doesn't really matter. It is bedtime young man, we can try and find more answers tomorrow"
Killian gave her another smile then settled back into her side, she held him in her arms for the longest time and she really thought that he had fallen asleep until his little voice suddenly spoke again.
"Grandma?"
"Yes Killian"
"If you have all got your Killian back and my Liam has his Killian... where am I to go? Are you going to send me away?"
She couldn't help it, she sat bolt upright pulling him with her and looked him right in the eyes.
"Killian Jones don't you EVER think that we would send you away. You are a part of our family now, do you hear me? You are not going ANYWHERE."
She pulled him into her front and practically crushed the life out of him but with his next words she felt that lump back in her throat.
"Do you think Henry will be my new Liam? Like Hook will be Henry's new father...Liam may not have lost his Killian but I lost him... I miss him Grandma"
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Everything was suddenly too bright, there was too much noise and he felt like he was being pushed and pulled in every direction.
"Swan?" Killian groaned out as everything came back to him, he had arrived at the hospital not long ago but he must have passed out again, why did that keep happening?
But then she was there by his side stroking his face. He hated the feeling of not being able to move and he wanted to get free, Emma had explained that he was strapped to a board and that as soon as they had checked him over he would probably be released if he didn't have any damage to his spine but he was getting impatient now as he was once more slid from one bed to another.
"It's OK, they're just going to do your x-rays now, remember? The photos of your bones like before. Then we'll be done I promise"
Suddenly Whale's face was above his and Killian gasped in surprise, instantly clamping his eyes closed against the pain in his ribs, why did people insist on jumping out at him?
"Sorry" Whale said quickly but then just carried on "I need to take off your Hook alright? Then we will only be a few minutes and we'll be done but I need Emma to step back, I swear she will only be gone for a minute OK?"
"Aye" Killian replied opening his eyes again to look at Emma
"I'll be right over there, I promise" Swan said before quickly bending down and dropping a kiss onto his lips.
Killian was left by himself under the machine, he knew that Emma was not far away he could still hear her talking to him and it helped calm him but he also seemed to be feeling happiness from inside, it was strange, like a warmth flowing through him. He didn't dwell on it as the machine suddenly made a noise and he was brought from his musings as Whale stepped back into his field of view.
"OK, we're done. Nurse Kyle will get you back to the trauma room while I check your x-rays. Don't look so worried, I'm pretty sure that apart from your leg and maybe a couple of ribs that you haven't broken anything else. I'll need to stitch a couple of those cuts on your head and you're gonna need some dressings on that hand of yours. Don't get me wrong though you will certainly be sore for a good few weeks but I'm pretty confident that you'll be outta here in a few days, it's not like last time Hook, from what I can see none of these injuries are life threatening."
"Thanks" Killian replied letting his eyes drop closed again "I hope you're right, no offense but I do not wish to spend anymore of my time trapped inside this building"
"Well I'll see what I can do, just keep your fingers crossed for the next few minutes that your x-rays are clear"
With that he was gone but Killian wasn't alone for long as Emma was back at his side in seconds. Killian waited for David to appear too but after a few minutes when he still hadn't shown up Killian frowned deeply.
"Where is your Father Love?"
"He's gone to talk to Mom"
"She is here also?"
"She was here anyway Hook... look it's gonna take a whole lot of explaining but have you not wondered why you were left in that cave by yourself?"
"Aye Love, I panicked at first, I thought that you were all trapped under the rocks and I couldn't reach you" Swan looked uncomfortable for a second, what was going on? "Swan? What is it?"
"I am so sorry, I should have known you were still there but somehow something happened in that cave, me and Regina were fighting over the gem and..." A sharp pain seared across Killian's head and Swan's voice disappeared for a few seconds but when his hearing came back she was still talking by his side so he concentrated on her words as the pain slowly receded "So you see, there are two of you now. That's why I never looked for you, "you" were already here. My Dad was the one to figure it out though, Killian... other Killian had two heartbeats just like you do and it's like he was feeling pain in places where he wasn't hurt... like his leg. THEN he started having panic attacks Hook, it was so scary to see it. God, he looked so frightened, it nearly broke my heart watching him but Dad finally put it together when Henry was showing our Killian photos of the Jolly and there was a photo of you there, he said he remembered seeing you in the cave and it all clicked into place, there were two of you."
TWO? What the bloody hell?
Well that explained a lot, Swan had not looked for him because she already had him, his stomach dropped, he had lost her but not at the same time. He couldn't expect her to love two of him, that would never work. He looked at her as she smiled at him through teary eyes.
"Is the other "me" alright?" he asked not knowing what else to say
"He's doing better now" she said with a smile "Henry's really taken to him, you should see the two of them they are practically inseparable"
Just then the nurse came back over and he was being moved again, his mind was too full, this was almost too much to take in.
How could this be real?
And yet he knew it was, the strange heartbeats in his chest, the feeling of having a hand where there wasn't one... it wasn't him, it was the other Killian.
There were now two of him, the other him had been with Swan all along and Henry certainly seemed to be happy from what Swan had said. With a sigh he closed his eyes again.
He would have to leave Storybrooke, how could he stay and watch his family with another version of himself?
This was impossible and a tear slowly slid down his face to disappear into his hairline as he was being wheeled along the corridor. He had suddenly realized that he had lost his happy ending, he had fought so hard to keep it, he had endured so much for their love and now it was all gone and the worst part of it all was that he had lost it all to another version of himself... how could he win Emma's heart back when his other self already had it?