A Piece Of My Life (Captain Swan)

Chapter 13 Part 2

She quickly explained to Henry what was going on and then brought him to her parents house. Upon arriving she tried to offer a brief explanation with Ana right beside her giving input, and then hurried to the hospital in the familiar yellow bug.

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They arrived and Dr. Whale found them straight away.

"He's down the hall and to the left in isolation. Before you go in you have to put on a mask and gloves. His fever reached 104.6 this morning," he flung information at Emma quickly and she didn't process much of it.

Ana led her down the hall and to a small closet where she handed her a mask which covered her mouth, white gloves, and a light blue plastic gown that tied twice in the back.

Ana turned to her, "Alright, it's two rooms down. The doors and walls facing out are glass so you can see in." She nodded and pointed in the direction of the room and then followed right behind her.

Looking inside the glass room was heart wrenching, he looked so awful. Ana punched in a code, 7910, and the door slid open to another small room. "Go in there, this door will close behind you and then the other one will open and you can go in."

Emma nodded slowly, the mask causing her warm breath to heat up her face, and then walked inside the room.

The first thing she noticed once the next door open was that his breathing was shallow, the next was the look of pain on his features, even though his eyes were closed. The next was that the feeding tube was still in. Emma shuffled forward slowly to the side of the bed and put a gloved hand to his forehead only to pull back quickly because of the heat. Killian's eyes opened to halfway and tried to focus on Emma, but he was unable to hold one focus point for more than a few seconds.

He coughed once and reached a shaky hand out, almost like he wanted to touch her, but then dropped his hand in what seemed like exhaustion. "You didn't.." He coughed again, "have to come," he finished in a whisper.

She shook her head, "I should have come sooner, I'm sorry, I was trying to be a good mother." Tears filled her eyes, making it hard to see.

"You don't need to..see me..like this," he told her softly while coughing in between. His cheeks reddened a bit and he tried to turn his head away from her.

Emma took his hand in hers, "Don't start that, I'm not leaving."

He mumbled something she couldn't understand and then his eyes closed and his breathing slowed.

She watched him for a while to make sure he was okay and was about to go get some coffee when he started moaning. Upon survey, she concluded that he was still asleep, but looked to be having a nightmare.

"Emma..no, please, stay," he mumbled out and tossed in the bed a little. She stood up from the chair beside the hospital bed and took his hand.

"I'm right here, Killian," she murmured, trying to get from the dream, but also not wake him up.

He started panting and sweat beaded on his bald head. "Please..I'm sorry," he thrashed in the bed and Emma put her hands on his shoulders to stop him, it was easier than she would've hoped.

"Killian, wake up," she shook his shoulders, throwing the keeping him sleeping idea out the window. The mask muffled her voice a little which was annoying. He didn't respond. "It's just a nightmare, I'm right here," she shook him again and then he gasped, eyes again half open, and tears started to pour down his face. Had this been a different time, when he didn't have a very high fever and wasn't on so many drugs, she was sure he never would've let her see him so vulnerable. He was gasping for breath as the tears rolled down his cheeks and Emma felt uncomfortable.

Trying to push past that, she took the hospital bed controller in her hand and raised the bed up so that he was sort of sitting up, and then she gently put her arms around his thin body and held him to her chest as he cried into her shoulder. "Shhh," she murmured and rubbed his back, "I'm right here. You're okay." He put his arms around her feebly and continued to fight to get breath in. "Breathe," she whispered, "you're going to make yourself sick." She continued to rub his back as he calmed down and eventually started to hiccup.

"Do you want me to lay back down the bed so you can sleep, or do you want to stay like this for a little while?"

He clutched the back of her tee-shirt like a child, "Stay.."

She caught sight of a cloth on the bedside table. "Just lay back for a moment," she said and helped him down and then stood up. Emma took the cloth and headed to the bathroom to run cold water on it before returning and sitting back down on the bed. Folding the cloth, she wiped the sweat off his forehead and then set it back down.

"You know you can't give up, right?" She whispered, almost afraid of the answer.

He coughed a few times before answering. "I'm not sure how much..more I have in me, Swan." He raised his arm just a few inches and then dropped it in exhaustion to prove his point. He saw her tear filled eyes and went to go back on what he said when horror filled his eyes. Emma, having seen the expression before, reached for a small grey bin and put it under his mouth.

Killian gagged and spit up bile, but nothing more came up, he just kept heaving though. She rubbed his back as he heaved again. Feeling his ribs through the hospital gown was frightening and she was almost afraid to see him without a shirt on, where she usually wished maybe she could. They had been dancing on that weird line ever since Neverland. Dancing around it some more, she maneuvered her hand through the fold of his gown and touched bare skin. He shivered for a moment when she began to rub his back, but then heaved once more.

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He got sick a few more times over the course of the day and the one time he actually threw up, he got it all over himself so Emma stepped out while they cleaned him up. After that, he had refused to look at her and closed his eyes against her gaze. She continued to sit with him, even though he was either ignoring her or sleeping.

Around seven at night she knew she would have to leave soon. Standing up and coming closer to the bed, she put a hand on the side of his face. His eyes open just a bit and she knew he was worse than this morning. She felt stupid that she didn't notice earlier, his breathing was shallow, his face was pale, his eyes were lost, and he was shaking. A look of pain crossed his delicate features. "What hurts?" Emma asked almost frantically. Killian shook his head, mumbled something she couldn't understand, and then moaned. Not knowing what was going on, she pressed the nurse call button and Monica came in a few seconds later.

Upon arriving, she took his vitals and looked at all the monitors. Monica looked at Emma with sadness. "This might be it," she said softly, "I'm sorry. You might want to say your goodbyes now because visiting hours for the isolation ward are almost over. We'll call you if anything happens." She glanced once more to Hook and then left the room.

Emma, tears already flowing down her face, sat down on the bed and then laid on her side next to Killian. There was just enough room for both of them to fit. Her hand sat on his chest and she nuzzled her nose to his neck. "Please don't leave me," she whispered brokenly, "you're the one person I can always count on. I can't lose you."

His head turned toward her just a few inches and he laid his cheek on the top of her head. "Em.." Killian was trying with all his might to get her to hear what he had to say, but words just wouldn't form. The only thing he could manage was caressing her arm just a little every few seconds.

Emma looked at the clock and saw she only had five more minutes. She clutched at his hospital gown like it was the only thing keeping her from falling apart. Sniffling, she knew she had to let go and finally sat up. There was a certain thing she wanted to say, but couldn't. She settled for leaning in close and doing the one thing she was sure she wasn't supposed to do, pulling the mask down. First, she kissed his cheek, and then the other one, next came his forehead, then his adorable nose, and finally she pressed a feather-light kiss to the corner of his lips. Caressing his cheek on last time, she turned around and ran out of the hospital, making it to the parking lot just in time to lose it.