Arthritis

hailsara1973 asked for a oneshot of Emma being diagnosed with arthritis and not telling anyone. They notice she seems to be in a lot of pain and eventually after falling chasing down a perp Emma breaks down and tells them she hasn't been taking her meds because she doesn't want them to slow her down.

There had been little tell-tale signs here and there. The way she became very stiff after a particularly gruelling chase with her dad. The way she dodged her mom teaching her how to sow like the plague. In fact, her hatred for anything that involved intricate finger movements. But those were all on days when she'd been taking her meds. Now she wasn't, because the side effects slowed her down and made her a liability to the station and therefore the whole town. She thought she would be able to cope with the ache in all her joints, just chug down some painkillers and carry on. But it wasn't that simple.

She woke up in agony that day. And it was just Emma's luck that there had been a burglary in Mr Bloom's shop, and the robber was damn fast. Emma could feel the swelling in her knees pulsing through her, her whole body in fiery agony. She did her best to keep up with her dad, but eventually she tumbled over her own feet and crashed to the ground.

"Motherfucker!" Emma yelled out in frustration as she fell.

"Emma!" Charming called, running back to her. "Are you alright?"

"Don't worry about me! Go get that little asshole!"

"Emma, he didn't actually manage to steal anything, it's not worth it." Emma what's going on? You've not been yourself for days." Emma started to cry tears of pain and frustration."

"I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when I was a child." Emma told him. "It's controllable with medication, but I was given new meds recently and they slow me down a lot. I didn't want to let anyone down." Charming took a moment for the news to settle in. He couldn't believe it. He didn't even know young people could get arthritis. But more than that he couldn't believe Emma had stopped taking important medication.

"Emma what were you thinking?" Charming sighed, helping her to her feet. "You have a medical condition than must be very painful at times. The only way to help you control that is through your medication. Stopping taking them is not the answer."

"But-"

"No buts." Charming told her. "I will get extra help at the station if necessary. Your health is far more important." Charming supported Emma back to the cruiser. He would make sure Emma took her meds if he had to give her a cocktail full of them himself.