7.
Emma burst through the doors of the ER department at the local hospital with a crash and made a hasty dash for the reception desk. "Hi!" she breathed, catching her breath. "I had a call that my husband…"
The receptionist held up her hand, asking her to wait as she continued her phone conversation. "I know, it's ridiculous. And then she told me that he said…"
"Hey!" Emma slapped her hand on the desk a few times, trying to get her attention. "My husband, Killian Jones, he's here and I need to see him!" she yelled at the discourteous woman.
"Ma'am, I will be with you in a minute!" she snapped, rolled her eyes and returned to her phone conversation.
"Oh hell no!" Emma lost her patience and leant over the desk, pressing down the switch hook on the phone, cutting her off.
"How dare you!"
"I need to see my husband, RIGHT NOW!"
"Emma?" Dr Whale asked, rounding a corridor behind her.
"Whale!" Emma gasped as she spun around. "Hook, where is he?" she asked rather frantically.
He smiled patiently and waved the receptionist down who was complaining about her. "Come with me Ms Swan. I'll take you to him," he told her, indicating for her to follow him.
"How is he?" she asked, hurrying after him. "Is he badly hurt? What the hell happened?"
"I believe there was a gas explosion at one of the warehouses on the dock. As for his injuries, he has a few scrapes and burns. Various broken bones and he's been unconscious since he arrived."
Emma inhaled deeply, taking it all in and trying to remain calm – breaks and cuts she could deal with. "I'll get him healed up and then we'll be out of your way. I don't know why they didn't just bring him home to me in the first place."
"I suppose they didn't want to bother you," Dr Whale shrugged, turning down another corridor.
"Bother me? He's my husband." Emma frowned.
"It is rather late and perhaps, given your current, erm...condition," he began, nodding his head towards her very pregnant figure. Emma was currently almost eight months along with their second child.
Emma fixed him with a stern glare and folded her arms across her chest as they paused outside of a room. "Just because I am pregnant, does not mean I'm useless or incompetent!" she told him, angrily.
"No of course not. I wasn't suggesting as such, but it might be too much with your powers right now and…"
"Bullshit!" she hissed with a look of fury on her face. "Just show me where he is!"
"Ah, right, he's in here." He turned and opened the door, ushering her in to Killian's room.
She pushed past him and scurried over to his bed, gasping as she took in his appearance. He was literally covered in cuts and bruises. There were bandages covering burns and deeper gashes and some limbs had even been plastered. "I thought you said he had a few scrapes? This is more than a few scrapes!" She furiously pointed towards her husband.
"It looks worse than it is," he mumbled rather feebly.
Emma sighed and took off her jacket, preparing to work her magic. "Can we have some privacy?" she asked. Dr Whale left silently, as soon as she heard the door click behind her, she leaned over and kissed her husband's forehead. "I'll have you out of here in no time," she whispered to him, gently running her fingers through his hair.
Concentrating hard, with her hands placed gently upon his chest, she felt the warmth of her magic leave her hands and seep into his body as a white glow surrounded him. Slowly he began to heal. Skin began to pull together as the cuts got smaller until there wasn't even a scar to be seen. Bruises rapidly faded and disappeared completely. She even felt his bones knit together and mend beneath her hands.
Within moments he was her devilishly handsome pirate again and yet he remained unconscious. His still form remained still on the bed with his eyes closed and his features relaxed. "Hey...Killian?" Emma called his name softly and ran her hand up and down his arm, whilst her other laced her fingers through his as she grasped his hand. "Killian, babe?" she said a little louder and squeezed his hand. There was no reaction from him at all.
Frowning, Emma decided to try a little more magic, maybe there were internal injuries that still needed to heal. But, after pushing more of her power into him, there was still no change. Feeling defeated and exhausted, she collapsed into a chair, her hand still holding his and her other rubbing her belly to soothe the baby who was kicking and squirming a great deal.
Not understanding what was happening, she found herself starring at his chest just to make sure that it was actually rising and falling. His stillness was alarming to her, usually the healing happened instantly with her magic and people were perfectly fine again. And as her panic rose, she got up and raced from his room to find help, bumping right into Dr Whale who had apparently been hovering outside his room.
"Whale! Something's wrong!" she blurted out. "I healed him, he looks fine, but he's not waking up. You have to do something!" she begged, dragging him back into the room.
Seeing the look of pure fear on her face, he willingly went with her, removing his stethoscope from around his neck as he did. Silently the doctor took Killian's blood pressure and temperature, checked his pulse, listened to his chest and then lifted both eyelids as he shone a torch into them.
"So?" Emma asked, wringing her hands as she waited.
"His vitals are strong, healthy even. I just think," he paused as he wrapped the stethoscope back around his neck, "the thing is, the head is much more complex than the rest of the body, therefore it can take longer to heal. I think he just needs some rest and some time and he'll wake up on his own."
"Really?" she asked, slowly sinking back into her chair again. She wanted to believe him, but honestly, she was still concerned.
He smiled sympathetically and nodded. "Yes, I'm sure that's the cause. But, because I can see you're worried, we will keep a very close eye on him and re-examine him regularly. Should he still be unconscious by morning, I will order further tests. But for now, I leave him in your capable hands."
"Okay," she breathed, feeling a little better. "Thank you." She settled into the chair and took his hand in hers, preparing for a long wait and a rather uncomfortable night.
Her parents popped in at one point after becoming concerned when Emma and Killian hadn't returned home as they had expected. They were surprised to hear he was still unconscious and, although worried themselves, they tried to reassure their daughter that Doctor Whale was right and he would wake up soon. She was grateful to hear that Hope was perfectly fine, having fun with her big brother and that both he and Ella had offered to stay over night at the house with her.
As promised, various nurses appeared at regular intervals throughout the night to re-examine him. Each time they took his vitals and conducted simple tests, but there was no change, although his condition was reported as being stable. She also convinced them to remove the casts, since she had healed his bones and all of his injuries.
Finally, in the early hours of the morning, Killian began to stir. At first it was just his fingers clenching around her hand that was still holding his as she dozed in the chair beside him. Then he began to shift in the bed and as she jumped awake, she saw his eyes slowly flutter open.
"Hey," she whispered, hovering over him and brushing the hair from his face. He was in need of a haircut again, although if she was honest she actually liked it a little longer on him.
"Hey," he mumbled in reply and pulled himself up in the bed a little, looking around the room curiously.
"You're in the hospital," she answered his unasked question. "How are you feeling?" She gently ran her fingers through his hair.
"Fine," he replied, giving an experimental stretch of his limbs. "Perhaps a little stiff. What happened? Did you heal...ouch! Bloody hell woman!" Killian grumbled whilst rubbing his arm she had just slapped. "What the hell was that for, Swan?"
"Don't you EVER do that to me again!" She continued slapping him, her emotions overly distraught and on edge after the last few hours. "I was so scared," she whispered when he caught hold of her hands and took them in his to stop her. "I healed you, but you still weren't waking up. And...I...I thought I was...losing you and…"
"Hey, love, I'm fine." He took pity on her as he slid over in the bed and tugged her into the space beside him. "I'm fine," he repeated softly and kissed the knuckles on her hands he still held.
She fixed him with a fierce look, snatching her hands from him as she pointed a finger to his face. "I will NOT let our children grow up without a father, do you hear me? I am NOT losing my husband! We fought so damn hard for this and I waited a long time for my happy ending and…"
"I know, love. It's okay now. I'm okay," he murmured and pulled her against his side, kissing her temple. "I'm sorry I scared you. I'll be more careful in future, I promise," he assured her, rubbing her back with his wrist as he held her hand in his large one.
"You'd better be!" she sniffed. "I'm not doing this alone." She pulled his hand and placed it on her rounded belly where their child kicked and fluttered beneath. "I love you," she told him then, meeting his gaze.
His expression softened as he gave her a smile. "I love you too, so very much," he whispered and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.
They sat quietly together on the bed, just holding one another as she finally felt able to inhale a deep breath, understanding that he was really okay. "Are you ready to get out of here?" she asked eventually, feeling herself close to dozing in his arms. It had been a long night and she really needed her bed.
"Aye, let's go home to our lass and get you into bed." He kissed her once before climbing from the bed and pulling some clothes on that her parents had left for him.
Minutes later the pair strolled from the hospital, hand in hand, safe in the knowledge that her husband was safe again and her family was still whole.