Contrary to what the movies said, sponge baths were nowhere near as fun or as sexy in real life as they were always portrayed. After being pushed and pulled around for so long, Emma was sore and thoroughly exhausted by the time the nurses had left her room. So while she waited for her friends to arrive, she decided to close her eyes for just a few moments.

She must have drifted back to sleep, however, as when she opened them once again, it was with a sudden start. Something had penetrated through the fog of her brain to bring her back to reality. Emma wasn't entirely sure what that something was… until the snick of the door handle being depressed met her ears. She turned her head slowly to see who was interrupting her sleep this time and was met with the concerned gaze of a person she hadn't seen for months.

"Regina?"

"Hey," Regina whispered. "It's not a bad time, is it? We can come back later if you need us too."

Emma was already shaking her head before her friend had finished speaking. She hadn't realized just how much she'd missed Regina, until that very moment.

"No, it's fine," she assured the other woman.

Blinking away sleep, she watched as Regina pushed the door open wider to reveal Belle standing just behind her, half-hidden under a bouquet of flowers and a bunch of balloons.

As the two women made their way into the room, Emma cast a quick look down her body to check that the frame around her hips was still covered by the bedsheets. She then gently eased the small table beside her bed down to hover over the area too, just to be certain it was completely out of sight. She knew it wasn't pretty to look at, and the last thing she wanted to do was disgust her friends when they'd made the effort to come out and see her.

"Could you uh… could you just ask one of the nurses to come through and give me a hand?" she called out, before Regina could close the door once again. Emma still hadn't managed to regain the full use of her right arm and after the exhausting sponge bath earlier that morning, she needed a little help getting herself situated more comfortably in bed.

"Can we help at all?" Belle offered. She dropped everything in her arms to the top of the cabinet that rested under the window, looking out over the hospital grounds, and then turned eagerly to face her injured friend.

"I just need someone to help pull me up a little," Emma explained, looking between the two women. "It might be easier for one of the nurses to do that. They know how hard to pull and where."

Regina and Belle exchanged a small, conflicted glance before Regina poked her head outside of the room and said, rather loudly, "Could we get a little help in here, please?"

One of the nurses that had helped with her sponge bath earlier that day came hurrying back into the room, offering Emma a small smile the instant she noticed the awkward position her patient had somehow managed to twist herself into.

"Is that man of yours not here to help out?" she teased gently.

"No. He's uh… he's taking his mom to the airport," Emma explained, as she used her good arm to push herself up a little straighter while the nurse gently maneuvered her body into a more upright position.

"I'm sure he'll be back soon," she soothed, smoothing the sheets around Emma's waist as she cast a quick look over the machines beside the bed. "Do you need anything more for the pain, Sweetie?"

"No. No, I'm fine," Emma assured her.

If she were being brutally honest with herself, Emma wasn't exactly comfortable. Her last dose of medication was wearing off and the sponge bath had definitely taken its toll. But she knew that if she took the offer of pain medication right then, she'd fall asleep before she could even speak with her friends. She didn't want them to have made the journey to see her just to watch her sleep all day, so Emma pushed aside her discomfort to offer the nurse a slightly strained smile.

"Okay, well… you call if you need anything," the nurse told her, before offering Emma's visitors a small smile and slipping out of the room once again.

A slightly awkward silence seemed to settle over the three women, now that they were alone. Belle was the one to eventually break it. "You um… you look good," she offered. "At least, better than I was expecting."

Regina nodded her agreement to the statement and Emma found herself chuckling bitterly. Sponge baths didn't compare to the effects of an actual shower. While she felt cleaner, she knew that the two other women in the room had never seen her look worse than she did at that moment. But she could appreciate the kindness behind their sentiments.

"Yeah, I guess I do," she finally agreed. "You should have seen me when I first came out of surgery. Ruby said it was like something out of a horror movie."

Emma had been expecting her friends to laugh along with her, but instead of doing so, Belle and Regina just looked uncomfortable.

"Sorry. That was perhaps a little too much information," she conceded.

"It's okay," Regina offered. "It's just uh… well… you almost died, Emma. It's kind of a lot to take in, you know?"

Emma wanted to laugh again at her friend's question. Belle and Regina had absolutely no idea how hard it had been for her to take it all in since she'd woken from her coma. She wasn't sure anyone would ever fully understand it all. There were still moments where her brain simply refused to think about it and just shut down instead. She knew it wasn't the most healthy way of coping with everything, but she also knew she didn't have the energy to survive prodding her mind back into life during her darkest moments. It was easier just to let it all go…

Instead of telling her friends that, Emma simply whispered, "Yeah," as she dropped her eyes down to her lap. Suddenly, everything about their visit had just become ten times more awkward than the mere thought of it had felt before. "Yeah, I know."

"So, uh… did you, um… did you hear the big news?" Belle asked suddenly, slapping a somewhat-forced smile onto her face as she took a seat in one of the chairs beside Emma's bed.

"I doubt it," she chuckled. "My sources of information are fairly limited in here."

Belle's smile fell a little but she quickly fixed it back in place before leaning forward in her seat, almost like she was about to reveal a big secret. "Killian Jones hasn't been seen on the set of Fairytales for months now! Some of the fans think this means Hook's been killed off, but others are saying he had a family emergency and he won't be in the rest of this season! Either way, something's going on and I'm not sure I like it."

Emma's tummy gave a painful lurch as she took in the excited faces of two of her friends. They'd clearly been waiting a while to discuss this with her, and yet, she already knew exactly what was going on.

"They can't kill off Hook," Regina offered. "I'm sure I read somewhere that he still has time left on his contract and they haven't really set up any kind of exit strategy for him. So I'm leaning towards the family emergency theory more myself. What do you think, Emma?"

Emma allowed her eyes to slam shut as she drew in a few deep breaths. While the machines beside her head had been turned down, she could still hear the soft beeps that had become a steady background noise to her recovery, so she noticed the instant the pattern sped up.

This was it. This was the perfect moment to explain everything. She just had absolutely no idea how she was going to do so.

"I uh… I'd um… I knew about that," she finally said, keeping her eyes squeezed tightly shut as she balled her hands into fists.

"Of course you did," Regina chuckled, and her voice sounded closer now. Emma assumed she'd taken the free seat next to her friend, but she couldn't bring herself to open her eyes and check. "Even a near-death experience wouldn't keep you from news about that man."

Emma wanted to laugh along with her friends. She wanted to relax back into the bed and unclench every muscle that had tightened painfully to prepare her body for what she knew was coming. But she couldn't seem to force herself to move.

"I wonder what kind of family emergency he must have had?" Belle mused, either completely unaware of Emma's current state of tension, or as a way to try and break her out of it. "I mean, his brother's been posting to Instagram so it can't be anything too bad, right?"

"Maybe it wasn't his family who had an emergency. Maybe it was a friend? Or a girlfriend?" Regina suggested.

Belle hummed a little in agreement before she finally said, "That would make more sense. What do you think, Emma?"

Emma thought that at that very moment, she'd rather be anywhere but there – trapped in a hospital bed with no ability to escape what was coming, facing a conversation she knew would never end well.

She couldn't say all of that, however. Even if she could find the courage to put her thoughts and feelings into words, Emma wasn't certain her suddenly-dry throat would be able to squeeze them all out. Instead, she pulled in another couple of deep and steadying breaths before she said, "It was his girlfriend."

"And how do you know that? Have you got some kind of super-secret source feeding you information even while you're in the hospital?" Regina teased.

Another deep breath in… and out…

"It's me."

The words were barely audible even to her own ears, but Emma could tell by the stillness to her left that her friends had heard what she'd said.

"You can't be the source, Emma. You don't have any first-hand knowledge," Belle explained, reaching out to rest her hand over her friend's clenched fist.

Emma flinched at the contact. Even with her eyes still screwed shut, she knew that Regina and Belle would be wearing identical looks of sympathy on their faces. They'd completely misunderstood what she'd been trying to say and must have thought she was still suffering from memory problems as a result of the attack.

"I'm not… I'm not the source," she explained.

Another deep breath in… and out…

"I'm his girlfriend."

Everything seemed to freeze the instant the words left her mouth. Emma couldn't bring herself to open her eyes and see how her friends had reacted to the news. Instead, she tried to focus on keeping her breathing steady. The last thing she needed was a bunch of nurses rushing into the room because the monitors had alerted them to a panic attack. She didn't want to disappoint Killian either. She'd promised him that she wouldn't allow the visit to set back her recovery, and she was determined to keep that promise.

The silence seemed to stretch between the three women for what felt like an eternity. Emma wasn't sure what was happening, but the lack of anything from her friends wasn't exactly promising.

And then someone moved. The table covering her hips was rolled away and the side of the bed dipped slightly as someone took a careful seat next to her knees.

"Emma, Honey, your um… you're not… I mean… I think you might be a little confused," Regina said slowly. Emma was sure she'd meant to keep her tone soft and reassuring, but to her ears, it sounded rather patronizing. Almost like Regina thought she was telling a young child that Santa Claus wasn't real.

"You met Killian at a convention," she went on to explain. "A couple of them, actually. You paid to have your pictures taken with him, remember? He's not your boyfriend, Honey."

Even under her concern and worry, Emma felt her anger building. Was it really so unrealistic for him to have chosen someone like her?

"I'm aware of that," she snapped. "My pelvis is broken, not my brain."

Her eyes flashed open to look between her friends and she found the two of them busy exchanging concerned glances. She tried to remind herself that Regina and Belle didn't deserve her ire. They were worried about her, and they didn't have all the facts the way Ruby did. But the anger bubbling inside of her was hard to control. It had been simmering away under the surface for so long, just begging for an outlet, and now – it had finally found one.

Deep breath in… and out…

"I'm not imagining things," she said, as she swallowed down all of the hurtful statements that had been desperately trying to climb their way out of her throat. "Killian's not on set right now because he's here, with me. Ruby called him the day I was found and he caught the first flight over. He's been here ever since."

Regina and Belle exchanged more confused looks and that anger began bubbling away again.

"Is it really so hard to believe that someone like Killian Jones would be interested in someone like me?" she finally barked out, and instantly regretted it when Belle quickly withdrew her hand.

"Ho– Whe– When did this happen?" Regina demanded.

"A few months ago," Emma sighed. "I um… I ran into him before that first convention and we've sort of been… something ever since."

"Before the first convention? That… that was months ago, Emma. Why didn't you say anything?"

Emma shifted uncomfortably on the bed. She wasn't sure what hurt most at that moment – her hips, or the look of betrayal in her friends' eyes.

"I didn't think you'd believe me," she whispered into her lap. "Besides, it's not like we started dating right away. We had some stuff to work through first and once we did… I guess I just wasn't ready to share that news with anyone right then."

"You mean you didn't want to share him with us!"

"That's not fair, Regina," Belle chided.

"How can you sit there and defend her? She was probably laughing at us behind our backs." Regina's gaze flew from Belle over to Emma, and left Emma cowering a little under the intensity of it. "What, did you think it was funny to listen to us fangirl over your boyfriend? Did you go back to him and report everything we'd said? Is this some kind of twisted game he likes to play with his fans?"

"No. No… of course not," she choked out, as tears began clouding her vision. "I would never tell him that stuff."

"So why didn't you tell us the truth, Emma?"

"I didn't tell anyone," she sobbed. "Ruby was the only person that knew, and that was only because she saw us together. Nobody else knew anything. You can ask my friend Mary-Margaret. She only found out when Killian arrived at the hospital that first night."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Regina demanded, pushing herself to her feet to pace beside the bed. "All that tells me is that you don't value your friends at all if you can lie to them about something like this."

"Regina," Belle whispered again, reaching for her friend's arm. Regina snatched it away the moment the tops of Belle's fingers made contact.

"It wasn't like that," Emma protested. "I didn't do this to hurt you. I just… I didn't want to say anything until I knew there was something to talk about. And then when I did, I wanted to tell you guys in person. I wanted you to hear it from me, not through an instant message. I didn't do this because I don't respect you or because I thought it was some kind of twisted joke. You have to believe me, I never intended to hurt you."

"Yeah… well… you did," Regina admitted quietly, before grabbing her purse from where she'd left it beside the chair.

"You don't need to go. You can uh… you can stay. Killian should be back soon, if you want to meet him properly?"

"Yeah, I think I'll pass on that," Regina snapped. She softened her gaze a little as she turned her eyes from Emma to Belle, and then asked, "Are you coming?"

Belle had remained mostly silent during Emma's revelation, but when she turned to look at the woman lying in the hospital bed, Emma could see the betrayal that was hiding behind her silently falling tears.

"Okay," she finally whispered, pushing the chair back with a loud, jarring scrape.

She took her time rising to her feet, but Emma couldn't stand to watch as her friends gathered their belongings, ready to leave the room. She knew this might be the last time she ever saw Belle and Regina, but she didn't want to remember them this way – angry with her because she'd fallen in love with a man they admired and she'd chosen to keep it from them. She didn't want the pain in their eyes to haunt her dreams – Emma already had enough nightmare-material to last her a lifetime. So she squeezed her eyes shut tightly as she listened to their footsteps make their way around the bed, and then the sound of the door handle being pushed down. There was a long pause that almost had her opening her eyes to see what was going on – but she didn't.

Deep breath in… and out…

Emma kept her eyes squeezed shut even as Belle whispered, "Take care," into the room, and then long after the door had closed softly behind her former friends.

"Oh, hey, Killian. Did your mom get away okay?" Ruby asked, as she hoisted her bag onto her shoulder and pushed the car door shut.

"Yeah, she did. She cried a little more at the airport but she seems to be excited to get back home to Dad," he explained, pushing away from the side of his rental to fall into step beside her.

"Of course she is," Ruby chuckled. "I've seen pictures of your dad. He's hot. I'd be excited to get back to him too."

Killian shot Ruby a disgusted look before he asked, "Does Victor know you have a… thing… for my dad?"

"Victor knows I have a thing for many people, Killian. He also knows I'd never act on them, so your dad's safe… for now." She shot him a cheeky wink and then chuckled loudly at the look of horror that crossed Killian's face, as the two of them made their way through the parking lot and into the hospital together.

Ruby had borrowed Victor's car, after dropping him at work, to make the long drive out to Boston to see her friend that afternoon. While she'd been spending most of her time at Victor's place since Emma had left Storybrooke, she hadn't yet managed to shake that feeling of loneliness that had been left behind when Emma was transferred out of the town. Ruby had gotten used to seeing her best friend every morning when she stopped by Granny's for a coffee before work, and then again every few days for lunch. She was used to always having Emma only a phone call away whenever she needed to talk about something, or just wanted to forget a particularly bad shift. While Mary-Margaret had provided her with some much-needed girl time since the hospital transfer had taken place, it just hadn't been the same. So Ruby had decided to take the day off work and visit her best friend, while Regina and Belle were also making the trip out to the hospital. It had been months since the four of them had last been together, and Ruby was looking forward to reuniting with two women she never would have met, had it not been for the man walking beside her.

"Do you want a coffee or anything?" Killian asked, slowing his long strides to a halt just in front of the entrance to the small cafe on site.

"I uh…" Ruby's brow creased a little in confusion when something caught her eye just behind where Killian was standing. It took her a moment to make sense of it all, but when she did, she shifted her bag a little higher and said, "I'll be right back," before pushing straight past the actor.

It only took her another couple of steps to confirm that the two women she'd spotted were indeed her friends, and then one more to realize that although they were speaking quietly, they were clearly arguing about something.

"Do you guys need some help finding Emma's room?" she teased, making her presence known as she stopped just a few steps away from where they were currently standing.

Both women's heads shot up and after exchanging a brief glance, they turned worried eyes Ruby's way.

"Look, I know it's a little scary seeing her that way," she explained, "But Emma's gonna be okay. Now that she's here they're gonna get her walking again – hopefully before the frame comes off. And they've already started working on her arm. It's not perfect, but considering how long it's been since she's last used it, she's –"

"How long did she lie to you for?"

"Huh?"

"How long did she lie to you for?" Regina demanded, folding her arms across her chest.

"About what?"

"Don't play dumb," the other woman spat out. "How long did she lie to you about him?"

Ruby cast a nervous glance over her shoulder to where Killian was leaning against the wall beside the coffee shop, fiddling with his phone, before she turned back to her friends. They'd clearly followed her gaze to see what she was looking at it, as their eyes appeared to be glued to the actor's lithe form.

"Does it matter?" she finally asked, pulling their gazes away from Killian and back to her stony face.

"What do you mean, 'does it matter?'"

"I mean, 'does it matter?'" Ruby demanded, dropping her hands down to her hips. "In the grand scheme of things, given where we're stood right now and why – Does. It. Matter? Because it didn't matter to our friend Mary-Margaret. She cared more about the fact that her best friend was fighting for her life because some psychopath had shot her, than who she was dating. So I'm asking you both if it really matters? Because if it does – If the idea of Emma keeping this to herself for a few months while she tried to find a way to move past her breakup and then establish a long-distance relationship really matters more to you than the fact that your friend is currently lying in a hospital bed with metal rods sticking out of her pelvis to try and hold her bones in place – then you should both leave now and never come back. Emma doesn't need fake friends like that in her life. Not when she has people who truly care about her here, eager to spend time with her."

Ruby finished her tirade and then seemed to droop a little. She hadn't realized just how worked up she'd gotten until she'd finally let it all go. She cast another quick look over her shoulder and found Killian staring in her direction. When their eyes made contact, he seemed to ask if she was okay. Ruby gave him a brief nod before raising her voice to call out, "You should go up and see Emma. I'm sure she misses you. I'll bring the coffee with me."

Killian pushed himself away from the wall to make his way over to where Ruby was standing, and then asked, "Are you sure everything's okay?"

"It will be. Go and make sure Emma's alright. I have a feeling that she needs you more than she needs me right now."

Killian looked between the three women for a moment before he nodded his head at Ruby and said, "Okay. We'll see you in a little bit."

"See you soon," she called after him, and then remained perfectly still and silent until he'd turned down a corridor and out of her sight. Once she was sure he was gone, she turned her attention back to the two people she'd once considered her friends. "Have a nice life," she told them, hitching her bag up a little higher before she turned to head for the entrance to the small coffee shop.

Ruby wasn't sure what else was said between them. She kept her full focus on the menu boards she could see above the counter as she tried to work out what to order for Emma and Killian. She'd said all that she needed to say. There was no point dragging things out now. Not when she had a true friend to see. One who probably missed her, just as much as she missed Emma.

Ruby was paying for her order and about to try and work out how to juggle all three drinks at once, when another hand reached out to grab the one with Emma's name written on the side of it. Ruby's eyes trailed up the person's arm before coming to settle on Belle's somewhat-tearful face.

"I want to help," was all she said.

There was a moment of strained silence between the two women. Finally, Ruby nodded her head in agreement and then turned to leave the shop.

"I'm sorry," Belle tried again, as the two women made their way down the corridors and towards the bank of elevators that would take them up to Emma's floor. "You're right, it doesn't matter. Not with everything else that's happening right now."

"I'm glad you think so," Ruby stated, as calmly as she possibly could. "But I'm not the one you owe the apology to."

"I know. I'll be sure to give it to Emma as soon as we get up to her room," Belle assured her.

"And what about Regina?"

"Regina?" Belle sighed. "She uh… she can be a little hot-headed at times, but she'll come around. I know she will. Once her anger dies down she'll realize that Emma wasn't trying to hurt her. She might even come to the conclusion that she'd probably have done the same thing in Emma's position."

"Right now, I'll settle for just the apology," Ruby chuckled. "I'm hoping for way too many miracles that involve my best friend's recovery over the next few months. I don't want to tempt fate by asking for too much all at once."

Belle chuckled a little as they left the elevators on Emma's floor and headed down yet another sterile corridor. "Is uh… is it still that bad?" she whispered.

"Yeah, it is. Emma looks better than she did, and she can hold a conversation now – which is more than she could do a few weeks back. But she's still got a long way to go. She hasn't moved her legs in so long that getting her out of bed is going to take weeks of work. She still needs another surgery to remove the frame on her pelvis, and it's possible she may need more after that, depending upon how the bones set. Then she'll have more weeks of physical therapy to help her walk again, without the frame. And that's without touching on her mental state. At the moment, her mind seems to have completely blacked out what happened that night. But I've been talking to a friend of mine, back in Storybrooke, who's a therapist, and he said there's still a chance that those memories may come back to her. If that happens, she'll need help to deal with all of that. It's just… I dunno, Belle. She's never gonna be the same Emma she was before. I know that and I know it's unreasonable to expect that she will be. I just… I just hope she comes through all of this okay. She deserves to be happy. She was so happy before the attack. All I want is to see her happy again and some days… some days it feels like that might never happen."

Belle shifted the cup of coffee in her hand over to her left and then wrapped her free arm around Ruby's waist. "It'll be okay, Ruby. Emma's tough. I'm sure she'll come through this eventually."

Ruby nodded her head stiffly before she began moving again, leading the way down to Emma's room. She didn't want to think about all of the challenges her best friend had ahead of her, on her road to recovery, because it terrified her to think about what Emma was going to have to go through. The only bright part in it all was the knowledge that Emma wouldn't have to go through it alone.

That idea was emphasized to her the moment she pushed open the door to her best friend's room and found Killian Jones stretched out precariously along the very edge of Emma's bed, telling her a story about his childhood. She lingered for a couple of long minutes, just long enough for Killian to finish his story, before she knocked loudly to announce her arrival.

"Never fear, for I am here," she called out, as Killian rolled elegantly off the side of the bed and Emma turned startled eyes her way. "I bring gifts too. I found this one wandering the halls so I decided to take pity on her and brought her along with me."

Ruby stepped fully into the room and inclined her head back to where Belle was lingering in the doorway. Emma's eyes seemed to widen briefly as she met her friend's gaze, and then flicked down to stare into her lap.

Killian, sensing the mounting tension in the room, quickly stepped forward to offer the newcomer his hand. "Killian Jones," he introduced. "Emma's fiancé."

"Fiancé?" Belle choked out.

"Oh, yeah. Long story," Ruby dismissed easily, handing the man his coffee. "I'd sit down if I were you. He's an actor, he gets easily distracted."

"Hey, I do not," Killian protested good-naturedly.

Ruby shared a look with her best friend and was relieved to see a touch of humor creeping into Emma's sad eyes.

"You do so," she threw back at him, before taking a seat at the very foot of Emma's bed, leaving the spare chair free for Belle.

Thanks for reading and reviewing.

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