That One Second

Chapter 12

She woke up with an empty spot beside her. A soft groan left her lips as she was reminded of the tension in the room when they went to sleep. Regina hadn't woken her up and Emma didn't know whether she appreciated it, or was annoyed by it.

When she checked the time on her phone, she saw that she had several missed calls of Regina. Her wife had left messages and she played them as she got out of bed.

"Emma, I guess you'll hear this when you wake up. I dropped off Hope at school and am on my way to the hospital. I wanted to let you sleep, because you looked exhausted and I thought you needed it."

"It's been an hour, I don't know when you'll wake up, but when you do, please meet me at the hospital."

"I wish I'd woken you up, because I really need you here, Emma. The doctors said if Henry doesn't wake up in the following days, they'll have to change their procedure, because chances are low he'll survive."

"Please, Emma. I know these voicemails don't work, but I just want you to somehow wake up and come here. It's ten o'clock and Henry's still in the same condition as yesterday."

Regina never pleaded, but she sounded desperate on the phone. Emma started worrying greatly about the things Regina had shared and the way she'd spoken, so she hurried out of bed and rushed to the bathroom.

Though she felt the situation was urgent, she really needed a shower. In the hospital, she'd barely had the energy to do anything but stay beside Henry's bedside and put on a smile for Hope.

As she felt the water drops cascade down her body, she felt the stress of the last few days finally leave her body and disappear into the drain along with the water. Her hands trembled when she reached out to grab the shampoo and tears escaped her eyes and rolled down her body.

She started sobbing heavily, releasing all the pent up emotions that had been bothering her for so long, hoping that they would never return. Regina hadn't left a positive message and the thought alone of losing her son was slowly taking over her body. She knew she couldn't lose hope, she knew everyone had to remain positive, but that was too hard in this specific moment. This moment where she was alone in the bathroom, with only the sound of water clattering down to accompany her.

When she got out of the shower, she'd missed another of Regina's calls, and this one finally got her to hurry up as well as she could. She quickly put on some clean clothes, brushed her hair to make sure it wasn't a complete mess when it dried, and tied it into a bun. Fifteen minutes later, she was in het car driving towards the hospital.

As the building came into view, she realized she didn't want to get inside. She wanted to stay in her car forever and pretend everything in life was going well. The hospital reminded her of nothing but bad things and she never wanted to set foot in the brightly lit, overly white building ever again.

But she had no choice and she wanted to be there for her wife and son, so she gathered her courage and opened the car door.

"Let's go," she breathed out, to no one but herself and entered the suffocating hospital.

She'd quickly made her way to Regina and Henry, and her heart clenched when she saw that Henry was still lying there, just like the day before. Regina, however, immediately turned her head towards Emma and got out of her chair. She approached her and Emma was surprised to receive a hug from her wife.

"I can't take this anymore," Regina whispered. "Not alone, I can't. Sitting here in silence for the past hours was torture."

"You should've woken me up."

"You deserved some sleep."

Emma kept quiet. She wished she could've been there for Regina and Henry, but she also appreciated the way Regina looked out for her. She clearly cared and Emma somehow needed that.