Chapter Text
“He who has health, has hope; he who has hope, has everything,” - Thomas Carlyle
“This is taking too long. We should have heard something by now,” Emma Swan muttered as she walked over to the drawn curtain of the exam room and peered out into the hallway. It was empty. Just as it had been the last twelve times she’d checked.
“Perhaps they’re just busy, love,” Killian offered halfheartedly from where he sat, perched on the edge of the exam table, his legs swinging idly.
“I doubt it,” Emma said over her shoulder. The ER waiting room had been completely empty when they’d first arrived, and there had been only one other occupant in the exam rooms they’d been led past. The delay wasn’t because the ER was busy. It was because Dr. Whale had taken one good look at Killian as he stopped into the room, lost all the color in his face, then ordered them to hang tonight while the lab ran a bunch of blood tests.
Killian kept unconsciously rubbing at the spot where they’d drawn all the blood. She imagined needles were not something the Neverland pirate was all that used to.
Emma let the curtain fall closed again. There wasn’t much else to do but continue her pacing across the floor.
Killian went back to ignoring her and staring dejectedly at the hand he had folded over his hook in his lap. He was still angry at her for bringing him here. Emma couldn’t really fault him for it. Neither of them had had the best experiences in the Storybrooke hospital. But when an already sick Killian had woken this morning with a strange rash at his hairline, she’d insisted they come in and get it checked out. The pirate was convinced it was just a cold. Emma wasn’t so sure. Killian had been running a high fever for days. He was listless and out of sorts, and then there was the persistent cough and now the rash. Emma had never seen him like this before and was definitely not regretting her decision to bring him in, even if it had been kicking and screaming. And especially not after the way Whale had taken one look at him and then rushed out of the exam room before Emma could even start interrogating him.
“How are you doing?” she asked quietly when a shudder intense enough to shake the entire bed ran through Killian. He looked up at her with watery, red-rimmed eyes. There were tiny pinpricks of pink dotting his face where the rash had begun to spread.
“I just want to go home.”
“I know,” Emma soothed. “And you can…”
Killian perked up as soon as she said it and it broke her heart to continue.
“...Just as soon as they come back and tell us what the heck’s going on.”
The pirate’s shoulders slumped back down as he cast his eyes to the floor again. “I’m perfectly fine, Swan. I don’t need to be here.”
“Don’t want to be here , is more like it,” Emma thought to herself. “Just humor me, ok?” she replied instead, brushing back some of the errant strands of his dark hair that had fallen over his forehead. She could practically feel the heat emanating from his skin, see the perspiration dotting his brow. Killian closed his eyes and leaned into her touch. He was trembling every so slightly but Emma didn’t dare suggest he lie back down on the exam table. She’d tried that tactic earlier and the pirate had vehemently refused. Even now he was tense and uneasy. It made Emma wonder if there would ever be a day when Killian Jones would feel safe here with her, or be able to fully let down his guard. His life had been so difficult for so long… maybe it wasn’t possible.
Shuddering again, Killian reached for Emma. His arms came up to encircle her waist and pull her in closer. She went willingly, wishing she could do something more to help him. Carding her fingers into his sweat-dampened hair, she massaged at the base of his skull, rocking him ever so slightly and hushing soft, soothing nothings into the top of his head. She hated seeing him like this. Killian never got sick, no one in Storybrook ever did, at least not like this, and she was beginning to realize just how much she’d been taking that for granted.
The tension seemed to ease from Killian’s shoulders as they held each other, and his congested breaths evened out into a more natural rhythm. Emma had never been much good at that whole giving comfort thing, but it was always so easy with Killian. Like with most things involving her Neverland pirate, it felt like second nature, the easiest thing in the world. Because it was.
“You know, I’ve been thinking...” Emma mused as she pressed a kiss into his hair.
“A dangerous pastime, I hear,” Killian rumbled beneath her chin.
Emma smiled. ”I bet if I called over to Granny’s right now I could get her to whip up a batch of that world famous chicken soup of hers. Would you like that?”
She could tell Killian had cracked a smile. “As much as I adore that woman’s cooking, food doesn’t exactly sound all that appealing at the moment.”
“You’ve got to eat something, Killian. It’s been...”
She’d been about to say it had been days since the pirate had had a decent meal, but she never got the chance. The curtain to their small exam room was thrown wide as three nurses dressed in hazmat suits all tried to push into the room at once.
Emma instantly took up a defensive position in front of Killian. If she’d been carrying her gun, she would have drawn it.
It was instinct, pure and simple. Protect at all costs. Protect him .
The three nurses, all male, stopped dead in their tracks.
“Someone had better tell me what in the hell is going on.”