Chapter LV

Hard Days Night

Henny sat by himself in the high school gym. One of the block walls had a gigantic mural painted on it. Storybrooke Secondary Preparatory School - Home of the Black Knights. A fierce knight wore black, had long blonde hair, a sword, and a shield. Of course, The Evil Queen used her own personal guard as inspiration. The Evil Queen. His Mom.

He sat against the far wall so he could stare at the mural and ignore everyone. There were kids playing basketball and volleyball. They were playing catch, and even practicing with hockey sticks. They were acting like this was some big party. It wasn't!

How? Why? What! He didn't understand. It was like World War 3 happened downtown. There were monsters, big, huge, and very real monsters. Everything was crazy! Why was everyone was acting like everything was fine?

They had all watched the fight on TV until the power had gone out. Not to mention all the cell phone videos, phone calls, and text messages too.

Maybe everyone would take things more seriously if they were in the streets. If the generators weren't keeping the lights on, sodas cold and hot dogs warm. Maybe they would be worried without his mom's protection spell.

His Mom made sure they were all safe. Safe from Cora and her monsters. She, his Ma, Esmeralda, Ruby, Mulan, and others had all gone to fight.

That had been hours ago, though. No one had come to let down the protection spell, no one had come to get him. The last time that he'd heard anything was when someone on the radio said that they were taking Ma to the hospital.

That had been forever ago, and no one had told him anything since. He didn't even have a cell phone to call his Grandma and Grandpa to make sure they were okay. He was stuck and he hated it.

Henry hugged his knees tight to his chest and furiously wiped the tears off his cheeks. Maybe if all these stupid kids had heroes for parents. Heroes who fought monsters and broke curses. If their families fought, they wouldn't be playing.

A couple of the high school kids were walking around handing out food and drinks. Henry had ignored them so far, but they finally noticed him.

"Hey."

One of the boys held out a paper box with hotdogs and a bag of chips in it.

"It's dinner time, Little Dude."

Henny glared up at him.

"Not hungry. Sort of worried about the monsters that stomped through town."

The boy, with his stupid gelled-up boy-band hair and stupid letterman jacket, blinked at him. Then he turned to his stupid friend.

"What is up with this little shit?"

Stupid Boy Number One sneered down at him.

"Nut up and stop crying like a baby."

Stupid Boy Number Two rolled his eyes.

"It's like you've never seen an ogre before. When we were your age, we were already in the shit. We sharpened spears and fletched arrows to help defend the village."

"Must be a nobleman's son."

Stupid Boy Two continued.

"Probably never left his manor or had to worry a day in his life. What's the matter, kid? Want your Mommy?"

Henry had never been so angry in his life. He stood up, fists clenched and ready to. To do what, exactly, he wasn't sure. He couldn't let two assholes (Emma's favorite term for jerks) talk to him like that.

"Ooh, what are you gonna do?"

Stupid Boy One mocked him.

"Tell your Mommy and Dad-dy on us?"

"Joshua!"

A third, definitely younger and girlier voice, sounded off. Grace pushed her way between the two older and bigger kids.

"Jacob!"

She glared up at them with her arms across her chest. The look on her face was kind of scary.

"Stop being assholes."

Henry dropped his fists. Grace's voice was sharp and mean. He had never heard her sound like that before. He'd also never heard her curse before. He'd only been brave enough to think it, she had actually said it!

"He a friend of yours, Paige?"

The one boy (Joshua?) sounded different. He was softer, more apologetic, and sort of embarrassed.

"Yes. This is Henry, Henry Mills. You better hope he doesn't tell his mothers. You know, Mayor Mills and Sheriff Swan."

Both boys blinked.

"Oh shit!"

The other boy (Jacob?) smacked himself on the forehead.

"You were born here. You've literally never seen an ogre!"

His brother (Paige's Storybrooke brothers were twins) nodded.

"Sorry, man. We didn't realize. That's a trip."

Grace rolled her eyes.

"Duh. Both of his moms were fighting the ogres. Of course, he's upset! You two are such bullies sometimes!"

Both boys, Paige's brothers, blushed.

"Don't worry about it, Du-Henry. Queen Regi-Mayor Mills, I mean."

Jacob mumbled.

"She's tough. I once saw her take down a whole party of wolf hunters with a whip and some fireballs."

"And your-uh-other-mom, the new sheriff, isn't a pushover either."

Joshua added.

"They'll be fine."

Grace took two servings of food from their hands and sat down on the floor next to where Henry was still standing.

The boys took that as a dismissal and wandered away.

"You're lucky you're an only child."

Grace motioned for him to sit again.

"Brothers are a giant pain."

"Brothers are a pain, but they're right."

Henry jumped, startled. When had Ava snuck up on them?

She sat down on his other side and left enough room for him in the middle. She had a soda, a bag of cheetos, and (somehow) a bag of twizzlers.

"The Queen knows how to fight when she wants. The Savior too. They're badasses."

Henny didn't even look at her, he was still trying to calm down.

"You hate my Mom."

She had called his mom a bitch that day.

"Yeah. I got my reasons, Story Boy. Sit down. You're hurting my neck!"

Fine, whatever, he'd sit. He sighed and planted his back on the wall and slid down it to sit on the floor.

Ava reached over him to offer Grace a bright red piece of candy.

"Yeah I do, but I respect badassery when I see it. I mean your mom and grandma are straight-up supervillains, but that gypsy is pretty cool."

"Don't-"

Henny slammed his fists onto the gym's hardwood floor.

"-call her that!"

Everything he'd been pushing down all afternoon rocketed to the surface. He couldn't take it anymore!

"Cora is not my grandmother!"

His voice echoed through the whole Gym. He was screaming and didn't care who heard him. It was the truth!

"And don't say the G- Word!"

Esmeralda and his mom hated that. Even his Ma had lectured him about it.

"It's a freaking slur! Like the N-Word, the F-Word, or the R-Word! You don't say it ever!"

Both girls had gone quiet when he started to yell. Even Ava looked shocked. He didn't curse (out loud) but he could yell.

"Sorry."

Ava quickly apologized.

"I didn't know."

She shifted away from him a little.

"It's something we heard a lot back in the old world. My dad traded with them a lot and that's what he called 'em. It's the only word I know for someone like her."

Grace nodded like she'd heard the same thing.

"She's right, but now we know better. We won't say it anymore."

So she'd said it too? It seemed like everyone did. Even he had. Poor Esmeralda.

"What's a better word? Should we call her Mrs. Esmeralda or-"

Ava offered him a twizzler, a sort of apology. He wasn't sure about the apology, but he did love strawberry twizzlers.

"Well, whatever you call her." Esmeralda is the bomb. Do you think she'll teach me magic?"

Grace snorted into her soda.

"You do not need magic, Ava. You're already way too wild."

She tilted her head, "But I wouldn't mind a magic gun like the Sheriff's. Now that was cool."

"Um, magic tigers- hello."

Ava talked with her hands and flicked a twizzler to illustrate her point. Were you even watching that fight?"

They weren't saying it was okay and they weren't acting like it didn't happen at all. This was okay, he guessed. Henry could deal with this. It was better than pretending like everything was okay.

"The swords, the magic ones, were the coolest."

Yeah, she was right. Henry's jaw dropped open when he saw that. He wondered if his mom could do it, but was scared to ask.

"I saw a video of the new Elder Scrolls game."

Which he really really wanted.

"And there's a spell almost exactly like it!"

Okay, so he might have binged Skyrim videos recently. He was dying to play it. He'd slipped it into Emma's Amazon cart, but she hadn't processed the purchase yet. He hoped she would do it without noticing his little addition. He'd done that with his mom at the grocery store a million times.

"Bound Sword."

Grace shrugged.

"I don't think the magic is that great in Skyrim. Makes it too easy."

What!

"Bound Bow is better. I'm a rogue. My sneak is maxed out. The Thieves Guild quests are the best.''

Ava dropped her cheetos and made a dramatic gagging noise.

"The Companions are way better! "

She wiped her orange fingers on her school skirt.

"But the real question is what console do you play on?"

"Console?"

Grace wrinkled her nose and tossed her hair over her shoulder.

"Do I look like my brothers? I have class. PC for life."

Ava stuck out her tongue. It was orange, covered in bits of red licorice, and gross.

"Yeah, well, since we've come home, my dad went nuts with the gifts. We have a PS3, a 360, and we each have a 3DS. As long as we finish our homework, it's games for days."

Henry perked up a little. He wanted a Nintendo DS so much! His Mom didn't get games, but his Ma did. She'd been teasing about getting him a 3DS for weeks

"Ma, Emma, said she's getting me a 3DS soon. I'm gonna destroy the Ocarina of Time remake."

Hansel, Ava's brother joined their group. He played sports games but liked Minecraft , which Henry wanted to try.

Ava and Grace argued about Skyrim. Hansel raved about his newest Minecraft project. Henry ate, listened, and relaxed for the first time in hours.

They were deep in a conversation about Adventure Time when a siren went off. Coach Jill had a bullhorn held up in the air.

"Hey!"

The bullhorn squealed a little, and everyone let out a shout. Some kids even covered their ears. It didn't bother Coach Jill at all. She kept going, her voice boomed over them all.

"Quiet!"

Everyone, even the high schoolers, stopped what they were doing to listen. No one messed with Coach Hill.

"The protection spell's gone. We have been cleared to go home. There will be a bus, and we have several parents here. If you got here yourself, please come talk to a teacher so we check you off our list."

The gym was full of noise again. Kids were whooping, cheering, and yelling all over again. This time Coach Hill didn't try to calm them down.

Grace grabbed her bag. "Finally!"

Ava chuckled and bumped her shoulder against Henny's.

"Told you so."

She bumped his shoulder again, harder this time.

"You freaking worry wart."

She turned to Hansel.

"Dad is probably waiting outside."

Ava and Hansel ran towards the door with a wave.

Grace moved slower. She didn't seem to be in any rush.

"I ride to and from school with my brothers."

She shrugged.

"But I want to go outside and see if Daddy came to check on me."

She sighed, frowned, and straightened out her skirt.

"He's been acting weird again. My Mom and Dad didn't like him taking me out of school. They took away his weekends until he sees Doctor Hopper again for a while."

Henry blinked. Grace looked so sad. He sort of understood. It was hard having two different families and homes. Before the curse had broken, Miss Blanchard had called this sort of thing having a "blended family". Only his and Grace's families didn't blend at all.

"Oh look-"

Grace acted happy again. She'd changed her face. She pretended like she hadn't been sad at all. He'd seen both his moms do that. Girls were so complicated!

"There's Deputy David. He's probably here to pick you up. He's your grandfather, right? So weird."

Henry chuckled. "Kinda."

Weird was sort of normal in Storybrooke, but his family was super-duper weird.

David, who was head and shoulders above all but a few high schoolers, waved at him. That was great, but Henry didn't see either of his moms. That didn't make sense. How did they get the spell to go away without his Mom? His moms would never forget him!

Henry's whole body jolted and the hotdogs were suddenly heavy in his stomach. His face was hot and

He felt like he might cry again.

"Grandpa!"

He jogged across the gym (it was hard to not run) to David's side. He didn't see his moms, Snow on Esmeralda anywhere.

Were they at the hospital? Still?

"Hey."

David stopped walking and grabbed him in a big, tight bear hug.

"Everything is okay, Buddy."

Henry pushed away from the hug after a moment.

"Where are my Moms? Are they okay? Grandma? Esmeralda? Ruby?"

He didn't see them anywhere. His stomach twisted and hurt. It burned and he felt like he might throw up.

"Are they okay? Are they hurt? Where are they?

The hospital? Who took down the spell? Where's

Grandma? I saw the fight on TV. They showed it over and over again. Where's Esmeralda? Is she okay? She had tigers! Where were you? I never saw you on TV. So Ruby okay? Has Granny's fixed yet? Is that why my Mom isn't here?"

David blew out a big breath and rested his hand on Henny's shoulder.

"That is a lot of questions."

They walked outside, and Henry blinked. It was dark. Night time. He hadn't realized how late it was.

He and David moved along with other parents and kids towards the parking lot.

"I wasn't on TV because I was protecting the road between the battle and the rest of town. Emma thought more people would get hurt if I didn't."

Well, that didn't sound superheroic, but if his Ma had told him to, it must be right. She was the Savior, after all.

That thought brought him right back to his moms.

"But where is Ma?" He looked up at David. "Is she okay?"

The parking lot was full of cars and people. There was even a news van. He could see a cameraman filming everyone. Henny waved at the camera.

"Emma is okay, a little banged up, but fine. She is with Snow at the hospital getting patched up."

Still? That didn't add up. It had been hours. It did't take this long to get "patched up".

"Well, what about my Mo-hey there's Esmeralda!"

Henry took off. He ran as fast as he could towards her.

"Henry!"

David yelled at him.

"Slow down!"

Esmeralda would tell him about his Mom. She, literally, knew everything. She was sitting in Granny's big catering van. Henry got closer and skidded to a stop, ready to ask all his questions.

He didn't, though. He was shocked silent. Esmeralda looked horrible! Her leg was stretched out across the van's bench seat. It was wrapped up in thick bandages and a brace. There were cuts and scratches on her face and arms. Her hands were shaking in her lap. She looked pale in the van's dim yellow light, like a wax statue. Henry would swear that there were more white streaks in her hair than before.

"Esmeralda!"

He wanted to throw himself at her and hug her. He wasn't stupid, though. She was hurt, bad.

"Are-"

There was a big lump in his throat. He'd forgotten, for a moment, that masters were real and they'd hurt his family.

"-are you okay? Did Cora do this to you?"

He'd seen their fight. He had even talked about it with his friends. She had fought and been hurt really bad. He'd talked about it with his friends for fun. They had all acted like it was the newest Marvel movie. Henry felt his face flush. He was ashamed of himself.

Esmeralda smiled. Instead of that making her look happy, smiling made her look more tired.

"I am still alive and-"

She looked down at her leg and smirked.

"- kicking Little Henry. Trust me when I say that I have survived worse than this."

Granny, in the driver's seat, snorted and shook her head.

Sister Astrid, who was in the front passenger seat, smiled and winked at him.

David finally caught up and leaned against the van's open slidey door.

"Granny, Sister, Ma' am."

He looked at Granny.

"Ruby okay?"

Then he looked at Sisters Astrid.

"And Grumpy?"

He didn't look at Esmeralda or ask her anything.

Henry huffed. He needed to hear about his Moms!

He shifted from foot-to-foot, he tried to be patient and polite. It was hard. He'd already waited for, like, forever.

"The doctors said Dreamy, I mean Grumpy, needs several surgeries. They've got him in a room and comfortable for now.

The fairy-nun. looked hopeful, and happy. Which was weird. Why would Grumpy getting hurt make her happy?

Granny didn't look happy or hopeful. She looked angry maybe?

"They're holding Ruby for observation. Regina took care of her pretty well, but better safe than sorry."

Henry bounced on his toes.

Mom healed Ruby? They hadn't shown that on the news. That was so awesome!

"Regina?" David cocked his head to the side. "Healed?" He sounded like he didn't believe her. "Ruby?"

Of course, his mom could heal! Duh. Esmeralda had taught her how. If she could cast the most powerful curse in the history of ever, then a couple of cuts and bruises were nothing. So yeah, she could heal, but it also made her tired. How had she healed and fought all at once?

"Is Mom okay?"

His twisted stomach and racing heart made waiting impossible. He had to know!

"Where is she? I-"

Esmeralda reached out and grabbed his hand in hers.

"Calm please, Little Henry. Your Mother is at the healer's-building-hospital resting."

The hospital!

How was he supposed to be calm? His mom didn't get hurt or sick. She did not go to the hospital. Not ever!

"I will not lie to you, Little Henry. She is not well. Her healer says she needs constant care, time, and lots of rest. I can't say I understand modern healing, but I have to agree. Regina was sleeping when I left. Her Swan is with her."

Oh this was bad! Bad-bad. Mom hated the hospital, and Dr. Whale. She hated resting most of all. She wouldn't stay if she could leave. She wouldn't send David if she could get him herself.

"But-"

Tears spilled out of his eyes and his voice cracked.

"-you can heal her, right? Cora didn't kill her. The ogres didn't-"

He couldn't say it again. He really couldn't. He didn't know what-

"No, Henry."

David grabbed him in a side hug.

"Regina is going to be fine. It takes way more than a wicked witch and a couple of over-grown trolls to take her down. Trust me, I've tried."

David was trying to make Henry laugh, but it wasn't funny. Remembering that his "blended" family tried to kill each other all the time wasn't funny.

"Yes. I can help heal her, and all the others, but I need to rest first. It was a difficult battle and I was drained. As soon as I build up my magic, I'll make myself useful again."

"Cora didn't win."

Granny grumbled.

"She made a mess and caused problems, but it's nothing Storybrooke can't handle. You'll be able to visit your Mom tomorrow after school. Knowing Regina, you'll be the only one to keep her calm enough to let the nurses do their work. She's a hard-head, like someone else we know."

Esmeralda ignored Granny, and looked to David instead.

"Emma wants you to stay with your grandparents until they're home again."

What?

"No Way!"

Henry stomped his foot. He couldn't believe she was trying to send him away!

"You're hurt! I can help you. You don't even know how to work the microwave! You can't go upstairs in anything! I have to help you! You're part of my family, I won't leave you alone."

His moms had each other. His Grandpa had his grandmother. Esmeralda needed someone to take care of her too. Grandpa Henry was gone, so it was up to him.

"Henry."

David squeezed him in a side-hug again.

"It's great you want to help Esmeralda, but right now our priority has to be to keep you safe and help everyone heal. Emma and Regina need to know you're safe so they can focus on feeling better."

David squatted down beside him, so they could see eye-to-eye.

"I promise, Snow and I won't keep you away from your family. We all want the same thing. To keep you safe."

He smiled, and he sort of looked like Emma when he did.

"It's the only thing we all agree on."

"Besides that, Esmeralda isn't going to be alone."

Granny spoke up again.

"My diner and inn are a mess. I'll be staying with Esmeralda until things go back to normal. Whatever that is."

Oh, Yeah. Granny had a point. That all made sense.

"So I'm staying at the loft, you guys are at home, and my moms are at the hospital.

Nods all around.

Everyone was safe. Everyone was going to be okay. Everything was going to work out. The heroes, and they were all heroes now, always won in the end.

Right?

Right.

Emma hated hospitals. It was the smell. Latex, plastic, and cleaning supplies smeared over death. Sanitized, detached and so constant that it became a casual death. Hospitals, hospices, and nursing homes all smelled the same. They all felt the same. Cold, detached, places that you went to be forgotten and die, alone. She hated them.

The first time she'd smelled death, Emma Swan had been six years old. The group home had been over capacity to the point of illegal. So her third or fourth social worker had shoved her into the first available foster home.

The house had been a run-down, too-small saltbox on a dead-end street in the rough part of Roxbury. It had been full too, but no one cared. There were four boys, three other girls, and seven dogs. The parents had been more interested in spending state money than raising state kids.

There had been fleas, bedbugs, lice, and Simon Callahan. Simon had been in his teens, hated baths, and loved animals. He'd brought in at least three of the dogs. He'd brought in birds with broken wings and lizards without tails. He'd loved animals but hadn't been that good at taking care of them.

The turtle. The memory was there, always bright and fresh, in her brain. Simon had brought it home, kept it in a box, then must have forgotten about it. Then the shoebox had been shoved into the hallway closet.

She had thought (hoped) that the box would have a new(er) pair of shoes that would fit her. She's busted out of the side of her sneaker on the playground. It would be at least two months before her next allotment of new clothes.

It wasn't shoes.

Emma wasn't sure how long the turtle had been there, but she'd known the second that she'd opened the box that it was dead.

That stench of death, putrid and raw stuck with her. She'd been traumatized by it. She'd had nightmares for years after. She still couldn't look at turtles and tortoises without getting a little nauseous.

She'd run away for the first time less than a week later. A six-year-old blonde-haired blue-eyed child on the streets of Boston. She'd been damn lucky that a cop had scooped her up after only three hours after she'd taken the bus into the city.

The next time she'd seen death, she'd been eleven. She'd been through more social workers, more placements, and more bull crap than any kid should have. Hard knock life and all that.

Father Silva thought it was a good idea to take random kids in to sit with dying people. It was cheaper than summer camp and it made sense. Lonely kids to keep lonely patients company.

Wyatt Ramon hadn't been old, but he'd definitely been dying. He'd been a system kid like her once. He'd aged out, and less than four years later he ended up bed bound and dying. Nurses and nuns had pretended to care, but both she and Wyatt could hear their whispers. Not many people had pity for a gay boy dying from AIDS in 1995.

Emma had learned to hate hospitals and feared (beyond anything else) dying like Wyatt had. Alone, full of wires and tubes, surrounded by the smell of antiseptic and apathy.

The turtle's death, as horrible as it had been, had been better. Less cruel, somehow.

Yeah, Emma hated hospitals. She hated going to them, being in them, sitting in them. Tonight, though? Nobody, not even God (fairytale or otherwise) could get her to leave. People (Snow) had tried, but she hadn't budged an inch.

She wasn't going anywhere. She had to be here if Regina woke up. No, not if. When. Emma gripped Regina's hand a little tighter. When. Regina was not going to fucking die.

Emma pressed her lips to Regina's limp hand.

"You need to wake up, Baby. Soon. Please."

Emma would rather face down a thousand ogres than see Regina like this. She was ashen pale, small and so damn still. She looked like a broken doll and Emma couldn't stand it. She should have killed Cora in that pit when she'd had a chance.

Emma had gotten away easy. The x rays had come back clean. Emma had, basically, scraped the shit out of herself, blown her eardrum, and used up all her magic. They called it magical exhaustion. Emma called it stupid fairytale bullshit. So other than a couple of boo-boos and a God-awful headache, she was fine. She was fine and Regina was not.

Emma wouldn't pretend to understand everything the doctors and nurses said. She didn't need a medical degree (real or magical) to see that it was bad. Regina had come very close to dy-. It was bad.

She had been magically chewed up and spit out. That's why Regina looked like an extra on a primetime doctor drama.

The doc had her on multiple medicines, liquids, and drips. They had IVs in both arms and one in her leg. The big one in her leg hooked her up to a dialysis machine.

That terrified Emma. They were pumping her full of shit, then pumping blood in and out of body. It wasn't even all her blood. They'd had to do a transfusion.

Fairytales were all fun and games until they weren't. Until your girlfriend almost died. Until your little town in Maine blew up. Until all you wanted was normal.

Regina's heart monitor beeped rhythmically and the dialysis machine whirred. "

Wake up Baby."

She held Regina's hand between her own and wished she could heal her.

"Wake up, Baby."

The heart monitor beeped.

The dialysis machine whirred.

"Wake up, Baby."

The heart monitor beeped.

The dialysis machine whirred.

"Wake up, Baby."

The heart monitor beeped.

The dialysis machine whirred.

"Wake up, Baby."

"Um hello."

Emma's head snapped up.

A nurse stood at the door. It wasn't the nurse that had been taking care of Regina.

Emma had lost track of faces and names. There had been people in and out all night. She had paid attention to the armbands, though. She still wasn't sure what they stood for, but she knew that it had to be important.

Regina's nurse wore a yellow armband over her dark green scrubs.

This nurse had a blue armband peeking out under the sleeve of her Snoopy-pattern scrubs.

Regina wasn't the most popular person in town. The mob that had tried to attack her was never far from Emma's mind. So she dropped her feet to the floor, ignored the pain in her knees, and got ready to stand and fight.

"You're not her nurse."

The nurse, Emma pegged her at 23 years old at the most, held up two big plastic bags.

"We're getting everyone's possessions to them. It's been a little crazy."

Oh. Emma felt like an idiot. Of course. Yeah. They needed their stuff. Everything had been so crazy, she hadn't even thought about that.

"Oh."

Emma tried to play it off, and knew she looked as dumb and awkward as she felt.

"Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. Swan and Mills. Yeah."

She limped forward and accepted the bags. Up close, Emma realized, the nurse was younger than she originally thought. She was probably still a teenager. She may not even be a real nurse. The girl's hands shook when she handed off the bags. She scampered off like Emma was more ogre than ogre-killer.

She dropped the bags, mostly ruined clothes, in the corner and sighed.

"Smooth move, Swan."

She dropped into her chair and sighed.

"I don't know what I'm going to do."

"You're going to rest."

Esmeralda stood at the door. She leaned heavily on a walker.

"You can't be there for her, if you're run ragged."

Emma considered giving her the pot and kettle line but was too tired to be a smartass.

"How's Sean?"

The last time she'd seen Esmeralda she'd been trying to keep him alive with magic. Emma knew that he'd been in surgery, but hadn't heard anything since.

Esmeralda came closer, the walker clacked on the floor hard. Her movements were slow and clumsy. She looked strange in the scrubs she'd been given to wear. No, not strange. She looked Storybroooke normal. Her hair, and Emma swore it looked more white now than it had earlier, was pulled up and back. If Emma didn't know any better she would say the woman was a doctor or a nurse. So Storybrooke normal, but for Esmeralda it was definitely weird. Without her layers and cloak, Emma could see that her arms were a patchwork of scars. Esmeralda had lived an adventurous (dangerous) life.

"He will survive, but-"

She had to take several deep breaths. Esmeralda looked incredibly tired. She also looked, Emma realized, old. Like all years of hard living crashed down on her at once.

"-I don't know if any medicine or magic can repair his legs and back. He will never be able to walk again."

Shit. Sean had a wife and a kid.

Esmeralda leaned heavily on her walker and grimaced.

Double shit.

"Here."

Emma got up again and ignored the aches and pains.

"Sit down."

She thought Esmeralda might argue, but she only nodded gratefully and sat.

Emma stood beside the chair and they both looked down at Regina. For a minute the only sounds were the machines.

"I took down the barrier at the school. The children all went home. I told Little Henry to stay with your parents. I told him that you wanted him to go. This place is not for children."

Oh. Triple shit, she hadn't even considered Henry. Too worried about his mother to spare a thought for him. She was not winning Mom of the Year anytime soon. Still, Emma couldn't agree more. She still got the heebie jeebies when she thought of how Henry had almost died in this very hospital. He also didn't need to see Regina like this. She wouldn't want to upset or worry him.

Regina always put Henry first. Even when she was doing something sneaky or bitchy, it was because she thought she was protecting him. Regina trusted Emma to protect Henry too. To protect the whole town. What a fat lot of good she'd done.

"This is my fault."

Emma scrubbed her busted knuckles over her face.

"If I was better at all this-"

Everything. Being the sheriff, the savior, a girlfriend, a mother, a functional adult. She was just generally a shitty person.

"-stuff then she wouldn't be like this."

She leaned on the bed rail and rested her hand over Regina's.

"They aren't even sure how bad off she is. Is she hurting? Is there going to be permanent damage? Is her magic strong enough to heal her? The doctors are never around and the nurses are nice, but I don't need empty platitudes about her being tough. I want her to wake up. I want her to be okay."

She felt tears on her cheeks, hot and furious. It wasn't fair! Regina had done everything she could to help, to fight, to make Storybrooke safe. Now she was in ICU and there were people actively hoping she'd die. How was that right? How was that fair? How did these people call themselves the good guys when they thought like that?

"It isn't fair."

Esmeralda sighed.

"Life has never been fair. Not for most people. Especially not for her."

Emma turned and saw there were tears swimming in Esmeralda's emerald eyes. The older woman rubbed her temples and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I have regrets. Things I cannot undo. I missed so much of her life. Was not there for so many decisions. Then instead of stopping Cora before she could arrive, I let her come here to wreak havoc."

Emma blinked. She'd always seen Esmeralda as a confident woman. She was mysterious but had a lot of comment sense. It was weird to see her so down on herself.

"Then I lost my temper. I was so wrapped up in stopping Cora. So focused on killing her that I almost destroyed my-"

She choked, her voice cracked, and tears started to fall.

"Then I made her heal far beyond what I've trained her to do. I knew better. I knew she was going to fight too. She's so hot-headed!"

Esmeralda shook her head.

"And now she is here."

Yeah, now she is here. They were up, awake, and moving around and Regina was there in the bed, almost dead.

"Regina is not going to be happy about being in the hospital. When she wakes up we are in for it. She's gonna kill me, then you, and then me again."

Esmeralda cracked a small smile.

"Wait until she finds out that I left Little Henry with Snow White. I think I will have to move in with Eugenia."

Emma wrapped her fingers around Regina's.

"Yeah. I might have to join you at the Inn. I sort of outed us to Snow."

Emma shook her head.

"And everyone else in the hospital waiting room."

Esmeralda didn't look surprised. She'd probably heard the gossip already.

"You are good for each other. A swan and a nightingale. You are stronger together than you could ever be apart. Henry would like you."

That felt like the highest praise in the world. She knew how important Regina's father had been to her.

"I wish I got to meet him. Henry too."

Esmeralda smiled and wiped a tear from her cheek.

Emma wanted to comfort the woman, but wasn't exactly sure how. She wasn't great at comforting. So she put her hand on Esmeralda's shoulder. The woman let her upper body relax against Emma, literally leaning on her.

So there they were. Waiting, wondering, and worrying, together.