Protecting him
hailsara1973 asked for a oneshot of Emma and Neal being in a nasty car accident. Emma uses her magic to protect him and ends up with a spinal injury because she was unable to protect them both.
Faces and objects blurred together as Emma was wheeled through the corridors in the hospital on a stretcher with blocks velcroed around her neck preventing her from moving.
"I need to know that my brother's ok!" She cried out.
"Our priority is you, ma'am. Another team are dealing with your little brother. We need to get you sorted before we can give you an update on him." Emma was answered. Emma tried several more times to get information, but she was given none. Emma was wheeled straight to triage where she was assessed. She was aware of the doctor speaking to her, but she was so in shock she just nodded along. Before Emma knew what was happening there was something being injected into her arm and she was becoming very sleepy…
Emma felt herself coming to. She could hear the beeps of various machines, and familiar voices murmuring anxiously near her.
"Mom?" She croaked out. "Dad?"
"She's awake. Snow she's awake." Charming said, immensely relieved. Next thing Emma knew her parents were standing over her looking both frightened and relieved. Emma tried to sit up, but her parents quickly reached out and kept her down.
"Don't sit up. You've just had surgery, remember?" Her dad said gently.
"What happened?" Emma croaked, her voice very dry. It wasn't lost on Emma how worried her parents looked that she had no memory thus far of why she was here.
"Honey, you were in a car accident." Snow said gently. This triggered something with Emma. She remembered.
"Neal." She said, terrified. If she had gotten this banged up what would have happened to his little body? She had tried to create a force field to shield them both, but in the panic of the situation she couldn't get her magic to work properly. Where was he now? He wasn't…was he?
"Neal's fine." Charming assured her. There was a visible dip on the heart monitor when Emma was told her brother was safe. "He told us you shielded him with a force field."
"It worked." Emma said, relieved. "He really is ok."
"Emma, why didn't you shield you both?" Snow asked her.
"I didn't have enough magic for both, I didn't even know I'd had enough for one." Emma told her. "I just aimed at Neal and hoped for the best. I had to try and protect him." Snow slipped her hand into Emma's, her eyes teary.
"I'm grateful that you saved your brother, but that doesn't take away that we could have lost you." Snow said. "Your spine…it got injured in the accident Emma. They performed emergency surgery on you." Snow wasn't able to speak anymore. The whole ordeal had just been so traumatic.
"They have high hopes you'll make a good recovery Emma, but it is a waiting game." Charming told her honestly. "But whatever happens, we'll be right here with you. We'll look after you throughout." He promised her, taking her free hand. Emma was in shock, she didn't know what to say. It was a lot of information to take on. All she was really focusing on was that Neal was safe. As long as he hadn't been injured, her spine was a price worth paying.