Thanks to swanheartthief for her medical advice in this chapter! Thanks to RainMirror for betaing this chapter for me!

After the events of Quiet Minds, I'm not sure whether to continue this story. I may or may not continue this story, please read the last chapter for more info.

All the mistakes, medical or otherwise are mine.

Warning: Emma's language.

"You can't hold both of us!"

"I'm not letting go of you." Emma tried to pull harder but it was difficult with only one hand. She heard some movement behind her but couldn't afford to turn her head to see who it was. Too risky!

"You have to."

Damn Neal with his stubbornness. "No, you're shot," she insisted. "If you fall through that portal, you'll die no matter what world you land in."

She could see how much pain he was in, and not all of it was physical. Holding his hand on the injured side must really hurt like a bitch. She could sense the movement behind her getting closer. She hoped the uninvited guest was friendly, otherwise they were really done.

"No, Emma," he stubbornly said. "Henry needs you! He can't lose both of us. Don't make him grow up like we did!"

She heard a sharp intake of breath with Neal's last statement, so she had a good idea who their guest was. She hoped she was right as she needed all the help she could get to pull him up. She needed to focus on the task at hand for now. "Then don't let go!" She still saw him being stubborn so she needed to say more. "I need you." He seemed a bit hopeful with that so she added hesitantly, "I love you."

She didn't expect him to say, "I love you, too," so she was pleasantly surprised to hear the words, despite their precarious situation. Her happiness was short-lived though, as she felt Neal release his hand from her grip. She was about to cry out, then she saw that David had caught Neal's hand just in time.

The portal was still open though. She guessed something had to go through before it could close. "David, please hold on a bit longer!" She scanned her surroundings and saw her gun nearby. She tossed it through the portal and the green vortex swirled more violently before finally closing. David struggled with Neal's weight so she quickly helped pull him up.

The three of them lied in a tangle of limbs. Emma immediately realized that Neal's position was critical. She knew a thing or two about gunshot wounds. She arranged his body to stay flat to keep the blood flowing to his heart. She removed his scarf to allow the air to flow more freely. She applied pressure on his wound to stop the bleeding.

David dialed 911. Neal seemed to be in a lot of pain but he kept looking at David and struggled to open his mouth. "Save your energy for now!" said Emma.

As usual, Neal was being stubborn. When David finally looked in his direction, he managed to say, "T..Thanks! So… sorry about leaving Em..Emma!" Then he lost consciousness.

David raised his eyebrows questioningly at Emma as he didn't know what he meant. Thankfully, the call went through so he was busy explaining their situation to the emergency personnel without Emma needing to explain.

Emma remembered her ABCDE of treating a gunshot wound. She felt her heart freeze when she didn't detect any breath or pulse. She stopped pressing the wound to perform CPR. She just focused on performing the 30 chest compression followed by 2 mouth-to-mouth. Everything was in slow motion and she didn't care. Just repeat the count, 30 then 2, 30 then 2, 30 then 2. She kept doing that even though her vision was blurry because of all the tears. She hadn't even realize she had cried through this entire ordeal. After what felt like an eternity, the medic finally arrived. They needed to pry her away from him to give him professional help.

She felt so helpless with nothing left to do as she had always been a girl with a plan. Thankfully, David hugged her. She put her head on his shoulder while he murmured placating sentences. They watched as the medic removed Neal's clothes to apply a defibrillator to his chest, alternating between the defibrillator and CPR. She watched with a strange detachment as his heart finally started again. Suddenly, everything went back to normal speed. They now applied pressure to his wound to stop the bleeding while someone quickly covered him up with blanket as he went into shock.

After managing to stop the bleeding temporarily, they lifted him onto a stretcher. They were going to carry him into an ambulance. "Are you coming?" they asked.

Emma quickly followed but she didn't forget about David. She turned back and said, "Thanks, Dad!" That surprised both of them. Before David had a chance to reply, she quickly added, "Call Henry, Mom, and Gold! Meet us at the hospital!"

Notes:

-I'm not a medic so all these medical treatments were based on discussion and research. Please forgive me for any mistakes. Now I wish he can be healed using magic so I don't need all these medical mumbo jumbo but all magic comes with a price!

-Next chapter: In the hospital plus Hook warned Emma about Tamara and Greg's plan.

-I was debating whether to leave the chapter at a cliffhanger then I decided not to, trying to be not too evil (yet). Please tell me what you think as this is the first time I write in this genre.