Chapter Text
“Roman,” Emma said, voice remarkably steady. “Would you stop harassing those nice people and come here? I need you to sit next to me, buddy.”
The four year old froze in his tracks and turned slowly, his large, brown eyes fixating on her as if he were a deer and she were an oncoming semi. Then, incrementally, his lips peeled back over his teeth, and mischief filled his eyes. Please, Emma begged silently, just this once--please behave. The moment her prayer was completed, he dashed off through the waiting room.
She couldn’t get up to chase him, but she could watch as he dodged past a plethora of injured people. He nearly crashed into someone who looked a moment away from passing out; she winced. If it weren’t ten at night, and if there were literally anyone else she could have called, she wouldn’t have brought her little charge with her. As things stood, she was stuck with the little terror. He’s spirited, Ruby told her. He’s wild, just the way children should be. Emma shook her head; she loved Roman dearly, but sometimes, the kid was just too much to handle.
“Want me ta go get him?”
She glanced down at the little boy sitting next to her. He had a mop of soft brown hair and gentle eyes. When he smiled, the expression was gap-toothed as he was missing several of his lower teeth. He was only a year old than Roman, but he was calm and manageable. Emma didn’t want to make any assumptions, but Henry was her kid, and Roman Ruby’s--so her bet was that it came down to upbringing.
“Would you mind?”
He shook his head. “May I run?”
“Walk fast?”
“Okay.” He eased down off the chair and set off after his best friend. Why the two got along so well, Emma wasn’t sure. She hoped Henry taught Roman more than Roman did Henry, as she really didn’t need her own offspring growing a trouble making-streak.
Emma glanced at the clock and wondered when she’d finally get in to see a doctor. She wasn’t in danger of dying or anything, but she was probably in worse shape than some of the other people waiting around. She kept her fingers pressed to her side, afraid that any change in pressure would release a spurt of blood.
“He’s sorry.” Henry dragged Roman over. “He won’t do it again.”
Roman laughed and tried to get free once again. It was way past their bedtimes, Emma bemoaned, so why couldn’t he just slow down and take a nap? Henry stared solemnly at him until he folded his arms over his tiny chest and plopped to the ground. Good enough, Emma determined. He was nearby, and he wasn’t wrecking anything, both of which were vast improvements.
“Are you gonna be okay?”
She managed a smile. “Don’t worry about me, Henry. Did I ever tell you about the time I almost lost a toe?”
His eyes widened. “No, Momma.”
“You want to hear it, too, Rommie?”
“Yeah.” Roman scooted closer. “You gots to tell us.”
“When I was four, just like you, I went to the beach with my parents. Grandpa warned me that there were all sorts of animals out in the water, and I was to be super careful when I went swimming. I laughed because I thought he was joking.”
“But he wasn’t?” Henry set a hand on her knee. She ruffled his hair.
“I went out into the water and started swimming around, when all of the sudden I felt something brush against my leg.”
“Oh no!”
“I got really scared then – what if it was a shark?”
Roman giggled. “Did he eat you?”
“She’s still alive, Rommie.” Henry shot him a look that bordered on disdain. “Acourse she didn’t get eated.”
“Good deductive reasoning, buddy.”
He beamed. “I got good ducktive reas’ning.”
“You sure do. Anyway. I knew it probably wasn’t safe to keep swimming, so I started paddling back to shore. That’s when it happened.” She leaned down as much as the pain in her side would allow. “Something grabbed onto my big toe!”
“A shark!”
“Come on, Roman, please don’t yell.”
“Shark!”
Henry clapped his hand over Roman’s mouth. “What happens next?”
“I screamed. I thought I was gonna die, but then Grandpa came out of the water next to me.”
“Did he fight the aminal?”
“He was the animal. He thought it would be funny to play a trick on your dear old mom. I was so angry, I didn’t talk to him for almost an hour.”
Henry smiled. “I’m glad you din’t lose your toe, Momma.”
“Me, too.”
Roman grabbed her shoe and tried to lift it up. “Wanna do it?”
“Do what?” She didn’t let him move her foot, no matter how much effort he put into it.
“Take off the toe!”
“I like my toes, but thanks, Roman. That’s really nice of you to offer.”
“We can--”
“Swan?”
Emma jumped gratefully to her feet. Henry took her hand and then took Roman’s, aware that she was keeping her other hand pressed to her wound. They followed the nurse back to an examination room where Emma gingerly sat on the table.
“Don’t go in the drawers.” Emma took a few deep breaths to push the pain away again. “Henry, keep an eye on him.”
“Okay, Momma.”
The door swung open, and a dark haired doctor walked in, her eyes on Emma’s paperwork. She nudged the door shut before looking up.
“You’re here because you got stabbed?”
“Yeah.”
The doctor glanced at the kids. “And you brought your children to the emergency room?”
“Yeah.”
“How exactly did you get stabbed?”
Emma flushed. “We were playing doctor.”
“Oh?”
“I was the patient, and Roman was the doctor. He knocked me out with laughing gas, so I laughed for him and closed my eyes. Next thing I knew he was trying to remove my appendix. With a real knife.” Emma tried to keep her voice steady. “I came here with them because I’m just babysitting Roman. I couldn’t just leave him alone, and there was nobody else around.”
“You’re remarkably calm.”
“I didn’t want them to panic.”
“How did he get a knife?”
“I have no idea. Before I closed my eyes, he had one of those plastic silverware sets sitting next to him. I guess I’m really lucky he’s not too strong yet, so it’s a shallow wound, but I thought I should probably get it stitched up.”
The doctor bent closer, so she removed her hand from her side. After a moment, the doctor nodded. “I’ll need to clean the area and apply sutures, but you should be out of here in no time.”
“Thanks, doc.” Emma focused her eyes on the doctor’s coat. “Doc Mills, huh?”
“Yes.”
“Got a first name?”
“Why?”
“I like to know the people who have their fingers in me.” Emma blushed. “I mean, well, uh. You know. Uh.”
“Regina.”
“Cool, cool.” Emma hissed as Regina washed the area clean; the cleanse wasn’t necessarily painful so much as shocking. She braced herself for the stitches and kept her eyes on the children playing near her feet. “You been a doctor long?”
“Four years.”
“Don’t say much, do you?”
“I say as much as is required.” Regina paused. “I’ve been told my bedside manner is lacking.”
“I think you’re pretty enough to make up for it.”
“Thank you.”
Emma decided that while she was already embarrassing herself, she might as well go big. The pain was making her a bit daffy, so she’d use the excuse now in order to avoid regret later. ‘Ah, that wasn’t my fault,’ she’d say, ‘I was just in so much pain I couldn’t stop myself.’
“Would you want to get a coffee sometime?”
“What?” Regina looked up from her work.
“You, me, either hot or cold caffeinated beverages?”
“Ms. Swan, you came into my E.R. with a stab wound you received from a three year old.”
“Actually, he’s four.”
“What part of this scenario makes you think I’d be interested in a date?”
“Isn’t the mysterious part?” Emma lifted her eyebrows. “Aren’t you just dying to know what could possibly be worth going on one date with me? What wonders I might show you?”
“I normally prescribe some sort of pain medication, but I think anything stronger than an Aspirin will simply increase your delusions.”
“Okay, okay.” Emma lifted her hands, and then froze when she realized she was shifting the area on which Regina was working.
Regina finished up quickly and taped a bandage over the site. The wound wasn’t deep, which meant her job was easy. She washed her hands at the sink while Emma poked gently at the bandage. Henry stood and tugged on Regina’s coat.
“Mrs. Doctor, will Momma be okay?”
Regina stared down at him and felt her cold façade melting. “Your mother will be fine.”
“She not gonna die, right?”
“Right.”
“Okay, that’s good.”
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Henry David Swan. I’m five years old.” He lifted a hand to show her how many fingers that was. “What’s yours?”
“My name is Regina Elizabeth Mills.” He waited expectantly. “You should know, Mr. Swan, that you should never ask a lady her age.”
“Momma don’t care. Momma’s twenty-five. She’s super old.”
According to the paperwork, Regina calculated that Emma had been twenty five for a good five or so years. She smiled at the happy child at her side, unwilling to break his illusion of his mother.
“Twenty-five is super old? How old are your grandparents, then?”
“Super duper trooper old.” He wrinkled his nose. “I think maybe thirty.”
“Wow. That is old.”
“Super duper trooper old,” he corrected without a hint of reproach.
“Yes, indeed.” She pulled her prescription pad from her pocket and scrawled her number down. Don’t be stupid, she told herself. She shouldn’t go on a date with a strange woman just because her son was entirely too charming. This had nothing to do with her foregoing a family to pursue her work. Absolutely nothing at all. She frowned at her thoughts before slipping the paper into Emma’s waiting hands. “I trust you’ll follow these directions, Ms. Swan.”
“Thanks. I already feel a lot better.”
“Your green hue says otherwise.” Regina walked to the door and shot Emma a final look. The blonde was attractive enough, she decided. Going on one date wouldn’t be too disastrous. “Try to keep the little one away from sharp objects. I’d hate to have to stitch him back together next.”
Emma smirked. “Whatever you say, Doc.”
When Regina was gone, Emma looked down at the prescription. In the neatest handwriting she’d seen from a doctor was a list of three steps.
1. If in any pain, take a Tylenol. 2. Replace the bandage as needed. 3. Call me.
At the bottom, by Regina’s signature, Emma found ten digits, which she immediately plugged into her phone. Whatever it was that had changed Regina’s mind, she wasn’t going to take it for granted. She grabbed Henry’s hand, and Henry grabbed Roman’s hand, and together, they tromped back to the waiting room and out to the car.
Before driving away, Emma twisted around to look Roman in the face. “Roman, I can say this now that I’m not bleeding everywhere. You are never to use a real knife on someone ever again. Do you understand me?”
Roman frowned deeply, his eyes filled with moisture, and giant tears dribbled down his cheeks. “I din’t mean to,” he wailed. “You hate me!”
“Roman.”
His cries turned unintelligible, leaving Emma to wonder if he’d actually understood her message whatsoever, or if he ignored the scolding in favor of sobbing. Whatever, she decided. She’d let Ruby deal with his tantrum. She was tired, achy, and ready for bed. Henry, for his part, was sitting patiently in the backseat. She’d definitely have to get him some ice cream later. For now, she would settle for getting them all back to her apartment and safely into bed. Please, she begged for the tenth time that evening, let Roman behave, just this once.