Chapter Text
Mulan was exhausted. Lately, she just couldn’t sleep. So, she traded her bed for the gym most nights, hoping the burn of her muscles would somehow keep those spiraling insomniac thoughts at bay. It didn’t, and she was just left moving through the hospital with an aching body and only a few hours of restless sleep under her belt. Most of her days were spent coming up with new, elaborate plans to avoid running into Aurora. She just couldn’t bear how she looked at her since that party, that fucking party where she’d decided to confess her very unrequited feelings. Things had changed, and she could see it in the blue of her eyes.
She would have loved for things to go differently, for her feelings for Aurora to disappear just as her hope for a future with her had, for the air to not get caught in her throat every time she was around, but that wasn’t the case. Her mind had gotten the message: nothing would ever happen between them—but her heart? It was still hopelessly, entirely devoted to loving her. And the simple sight of that nurse made her feel like someone was ripping her heart out of her chest, again, and again, and again.
Right now, all she wanted was to finish her stitches and swing by the locker room before she could run into Aurora there too. David interrupted her thoughts—and her suture—by bursting into the exam room.
“Mulan! Got a pleural puncture for you!” he announced on the fly before disappearing back into the hall.
She mechanically ran after him like the well-trained dog she’d become. She barely remembered that she still had to successfully complete two pleural punctures to validate her internship, but David did. She hated to admit it, but her studies had taken a hit lately, and she wasn’t as focused as she should have been.
When she arrived in the room where the volunteer patient was, David and the two nurses there had already prepared everything for her to do the procedure. The only thing left to do was put in the drain as quickly as she could, before her patient drowned in the fluid gathering in his lung.
She wasn’t scared; she wasn't even really thinking about it. She’d done it successfully before, and David was there anyway, watching over her shoulder to supervise.
She approached the bed, mentally repeating the protocol she’d spent so much time learning by heart. She helped the patient sit up and grabbed the syringe of anesthetic a nurse handed her. She jabbed and waited a few seconds for the area to get numb. She took the drain she needed to place into his lung and got ready to poke. Right before she could insert the needle under the rib, David’s hand slipped over hers, gently pushing it away.
Mulan looked up at him, immediately very aware of what she’d done wrong. She hadn’t done the mandatory percussion. Even a first-year med student wouldn’t have made that mistake. Thankfully, her supervisor didn’t say anything out loud.
She did the percussion and inserted the drain as quickly as she could, trying her best to ignore the way those two nurses looked at her. As soon as the procedure was done, she took off her gloves and ran out of the room. David immediately followed.
“Mulan!” he yelled, jogging to catch up to her.
He grabbed her arm to force her to turn around. She looked back at him without saying a word. He’d never seen her look like this—so pitiful, so exhausted. Of course, he knew why she was like this. His wife had felt so bad for encouraging her to confess, she’d told him all about it. He loved Mulan. She was by far the best intern he’d ever supervised. He felt for her—but still, he was her chief, and he needed to act like it.
“What’s going on with you?” he scolded. “Missing a percussion? You could have punctured the neurovascular bundle!”
She didn’t answer. Of course, she knew that already. She just kept staring at him with painfully empty eyes. He released his grip on her arm.
“I can’t validate the procedure,” he sighed. ‘It’s the third one this week, Mulan. You really need to get back into it…”
Finally, something in her seemed to stir. She looked down at her feet. She was so ashamed she’d let her feelings get in the way of her work, making her distracted and weak. That wasn’t the way she’d been raised; it wasn’t the person she wanted to be. She desperately needed to forget about Aurora.
“You’re right,” she admitted. “I’ll do better.”
She looked up at her friend, and her eyes were no longer empty. They were just cold.
XXX
Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.
Emma couldn’t do anything else besides repeating that to herself again and again. For some unknown reason, she’d been anxious all day. When she left Henry and Regina at home for her shift, hugged and kissed them at the door, her stomach had turned into a tight knot that still wouldn’t untie several hours later. The shift was pretty uneventful so far, but still, she couldn’t get rid of the bad feeling. So, she just tried to stay as busy as she could.
It wasn’t easy to do—today was an uncharacteristically quiet day in the ER. Emma sat at the break room table, desperately trying to focus on her paperwork while she waited for her next page. She reassured herself by picturing what was waiting for her at home: Henry and Regina in their pj’s, waiting for her to come home to eat dinner and go to bed. Soon enough she’d be back in their arms.
Mulan and Aurora entered the break room and the sound of the door opening made Emma jump. What the hell was wrong with her today?
“Hi, Em’!” the nurse cheerfully greeted.
“Hi, Aurora,” she answered, her heart still beating very fast in her chest.
“Are you okay?” the young woman worried. “You don’t look great…”
“Just a little stressed,” she lied, straightening up.
Emma couldn’t help but notice the way Mulan stood a few steps away from Aurora. Usually, they were almost glued at the hip. The intern noticed her friend raise an eyebrow and discreetly shook her head. Emma understood she couldn’t explain right now—her questions would have to wait.
“We were heading up to grab a coffee with Mary. Wanna join?” Aurora seemed fully oblivious to Mulan’s unease.
Emma hesitated for a second. Maybe some coffee could make her feel better. Plus, there was nothing to do around here anyway. The pleading look Mulan was giving her convinced her to agree.
“Yeah, why not,” she accepted the proposal, putting her files away.
“Great!” Aurora smiled wide.
They stepped out of the break room and headed towards the elevator to go to the third floor. Aurora happily skipped a few steps in front of Mulan and Emma, her ponytail swinging with each of her steps. Emma took the opportunity to lean in the intern’s direction.
“Will you tell me what the hell’s going on between you two?” She whispered quietly enough that the nurse wouldn’t hear.
“Not now,” Mulan refused. “But just know you’re saving me from a world of embarrassment right now.”
Emma frowned at the very unsatisfying answer, but didn’t push any further. The pediatric ward was bustling with life, and Mary-Margaret was working her ass off at the nurses’ station—as always. The familiar noise relaxed Emma, just a little bit.
“Hi, girls!” The head nurse greeted with a big smile between two quick signatures.
“Ready for coffee?” Aurora crossed her arms over the desk.
“Almost! Just have to take care of this and I’m all yours,” she promised, pointing at a big pile of documents. “I’m waiting on Ariel. I just sent her down to the ER for a chart—she shouldn’t be much longer.”
Mary-Margaret felt horrible ever since she’d pushed Mulan to confess her feelings to Aurora, and she hoped their coffee date could be an opportunity to bring some peace to the whole situation. But first, she needed that damn chart. She finally noticed Emma was there too.
Her surprise was cut short by the crackle of the PA system turning on. The emergency alarm went off for a few seconds, making everybody look up. Gold’s voice quickly replaced the shrill sound, and his announcement rang like the trumpets of the Apocalypse:
“Your attention, please. The hospital’s perimeter is under police control for the foreseeable future. Leaving the room you are currently in is strictly prohibited. I will ask everyone to please remain calm and stay put. Hospital personnel are invited to wait for further instruction. Thank you.”
A smile tugged at Emma’s lips in spite of the situation. Her instincts were never wrong, and they were headed straight for a shitstorm.
XXX
Ariel skipped down the hall to the ER. She was in a good mood today, and that was a relief. She’d always been a chipper girl, full of energy and optimism, and she liked it this way. Her recent break-up with Eric had put a damper on that for a while, but finally, she was starting to feel like herself again. Things were looking up—she’d started going out, seeing her friends, and she was done grieving the relationship. And she was skipping down the halls again, even though she was tasked with the annoying mission to get a chart from the ER.
“Hi, Belle!” she smiled, leaning over the admissions desk. “I’m looking for file 21-03-444. Know where it might be?”
“Not here, anyway,” Belle shrugged, quickly looking up the chart on the computer. “Last it was heard from, Dr. Jones had it… He’s in consult room 7 if you want to go get it.”
Ariel thanked the young woman and headed for the room she’d pointed out. She knocked politely and waited until she was invited to enter. Killian was busy writing a prescription for his last patient.
“Oh, hi, Ariel!” He was always very enthusiastic to see her—she wasn’t. “Just have to finish this—I’ll be all yours in a sec.”
He quickly finished the prescription and gave it to his patient with a few additional recommendations before closing the door behind him. He turned around with the eternally over confident grin Ariel always saw him wear.
“So, what brings the pretty lady in here?” he asked, leaning on the exam table.
“Just a chart,” she immediately cut off his flirting attempt. “21-03-444.”
“It’s right there,” he confirmed, picking up the file from a table. “Just wanted to add a few things to my report.”
He handed her the chart and their hands slightly brushed in the process. It sent a shiver up Ariel’s arm, and it wasn’t entirely from disgust for the arrogant young doctor. She was about to leave, but the emergency alarm stopped her in her tracks.
“Your attention, please. The hospital’s perimeter is under police control for the foreseeable future. Leaving the room you are currently in is strictly prohibited. I will ask everyone to please remain calm and stay put. Hospital personnel are invited to wait for further instruction. Thank you.”
Ariel sighed. Of course—that was exactly what she needed. She looked over at Killian, and he was grinning from ear to ear. The universe seemed determined to take her newfound happiness right back from her.
“Well, I suppose Mary-Margaret will have to wait for her file a little longer…” Ariel just gave up, collapsing on the exam table. “I can’t believe it. Out of all the people I could have gotten stuck with, it just had to be you. ”
She shook her head, and it hurt Killian a little bit more than he cared to admit. He turned his back to her to finish cleaning up the supplies he’d used to treat his last patient.
“Is the idea of spending a little time alone with me that unbearable to you?” he chuckled, but there was a hint of offense peeking through his confidence.
“Not what I said,” the redhead had picked up that he was a bit upset by her remark. “I just don’t know if I can endure your sarcasm for more than thirty minutes. My patience for your pushing and prodding isn’t limitless.”
“So, is that what you think of me? That I’m only ever capable of making rude comments and distasteful jokes?” he mocked. “Well, in that case, I will say nothing at all!”
“See? You’re already starting,” Ariel pointed out.
He didn’t answer, just threw his hands up. He pulled out a chair and sat on the other side of the tiny exam room, crossing his arms in silence.
“Really?” she scoffed. “You’re really going to stop speaking altogether?”
He just nodded with a smile and propped his feet up on a nearby cart. Ariel scoffed again. That man reached new summits of immaturity every day. But for some reason, she didn’t feel like letting him win this game today. It wasn’t like she had anything better to do than play anyway.
She laid back on the exam table, crossing her hands behind her neck. She might be here for a while, so she might as well get comfortable. She quickly realized that ignoring him was going to be harder than she’d expected. She’d always been chatty, and the silence was already weighing on her. She saw a glimmer of hope when the PA system turned on again, but immediately went back to despair when she heard Gold announce that the intra-ward movement that had just been authorized by police did not apply to the ER or the maternity ward. She sighed and looked back at the ceiling.
After what felt like hours of staring at the drywall, Ariel finally gave in to the boredom. She threw a quick glance at Killian. He was still sitting comfortably in his chair, balancing it on two legs while flipping through an old magazine he’d found abandoned in the exam room. He didn’t seem bothered by the silence at all.
Ariel really didn’t know what to think of him. One minute he was sweet to her, and the next he was back to being the annoying little kid she first met. Her eyes wandered over his face—the long eyelashes, the beard that spread over the strong jaw… He was really handsome—that much she could admit. But those delicate features and occasional niceness did not compensate for the cockiness and endless inappropriate comments.
He still didn’t seem to notice she was staring, too absorbed by his magazine. The nurse turned around to lie on her belly, propping her chin up on her hands. She was surprised to find herself analyzing every inch of his face, from the slightly furrowed brows to the little scar on his cheek.
“What are you thinking about?” she finally caved—the boredom was just too strong.
“One hour, 47 minutes and 43 seconds,” he counted, glancing at his watch. “Honestly, I’m impressed; I didn’t think you could hold out for that long.”
“I’m bored,” she admitted her defeat. “It doesn’t seem like we’re getting out of here anytime soon, so we might as well chat, no?”
Killian immediately threw his magazine on a nearby piece of furniture to look her way with a satisfied smile. He just knew she would cave in eventually.
“What do you want to talk about?” he grinned.
“I don’t know,” Ariel sighed. To be honest, she just wanted to get out of here. “Got an idea?”
“How about we start planning our date?” he suggested, leaning forward.
“See, here you go again!” she groaned. “If you’re gonna be like this, I’d rather we just stay silent.”
“God, you’re susceptible!” he rolled his eyes. “You keep putting so much effort into rejecting me—wouldn’t it be easier to just agree to spend an evening with me and get it over with? I’m sure you’d have a great time.”
“I doubt that,” she scoffed. “I don’t think you and I have the same conception of a romantic date.”
“Are you sure about that?” he raised an eyebrow.
“Positive,” she laughed. From what she’d gathered, his ideal evening probably just involved lots of rum and very little clothing.
“So, tell me about it,” he suggested. “What’s your idea of a romantic date?”
“So, you can make fun of me again?” Ariel was very much aware she had a pretty idealistic view of love and relationships, and she would have rather liked to not give him more ammunition.
“I won’t.”
The nurse looked for any trace of mockery on his face, but for once, there was none. Just an earnest smile, and that insistent look.
“You promise?” She could feel a little bit of heat growing in her cheek. God, how she hated to blush that easily.
“I promise,” he answered, leaning back into his chair. “Would even shake on it if you weren’t left-handed…”
She laughed at the self-deprecating joke as he waved his lack of a left hand around. If there was one thing she couldn’t criticize about him, it was how funny he could be. She was still a bit wary about telling him about her rose-colored view of the ideal date, but for once, he seemed so genuine…
“Okay,” she finally agreed, looking away so he wouldn’t see just how embarrassed she was. “Well, first of all, we’d go dancing. I—I was homeschooled all throughout high school and I missed out on prom and—I don’t know, I’d like to make up for it one day.”
“Well, up to this point, I think I can manage that,” Killian seemed really confident about it.
“You dance?” Ariel chuckled. There was no way that was true.
“Oh, so you don’t believe me?” he smirked.
“I’m having a hard time,” she laughed, shoulders shaking as she sat up slightly.
He stood and slowly approached the exam table Ariel was still lying on. He held a hand out for her to take.
“Are you serious?” she scoffed, her eyes alternating between his offered hand and the smirk on his face.
“Dead serious, love,” he confirmed. “Come on, let me prove to you I can do something else besides bad jokes…”
She still hesitated, but there was something so compelling about that look of his. She sat up and grabbed his hand before jumping from the exam table. Killian slowly interlocked fingers with her and wrapped an arm around her waist, gently pulling her closer until their bodies brushed. Slowly, they started dancing.
Of course, there was no music, and the tiny exam room was very far from the fairytale ballroom Ariel had always pictured, but still, there was something nice to the way he led her movements. He was so gentle, guiding her back and forth with controlled movements. The nurse never would have imagined he could be such a good dancer. She suddenly became very aware of how warm the exam room had gotten. Of course, it might have been Killian’s body against hers, or the pressure of his arm around her lower back, but she refused to admit that. Killian was just another annoying doctor, that’s all.
“Keep going,” he resumed, his voice only a whisper.
“What?” Ariel struggled to step away from her own thoughts and come back to reality.
“Your ideal date,” he smiled down at her as they kept slowly swaying.
“Oh, that,” she’d somehow forgotten. “Well… After dancing, we’d go somewhere to eat—nothing fancy, just somewhere we feel good and… And then we’d head to the beach, take off our shoes, get our feet in the water—find a quiet place, sit in the sand, look at the sea, and…”
Her words trailed off. She’d never told anyone about that magical evening she’d been imagining since she was a little girl, and that would for sure remain just a dream.
“And?” Killian pushed, once again, just a whisper.
Their eyes met. Without really knowing what she was doing, Ariel moved closer to him. Their lips were about to meet when he gently pushed her away.
“I—I’m sorry, I can’t do this,” he apologized, holding her at arm’s length with a slight smile. “Not after you told me all of this.”
“What do you mean?” she frowned, a little vexed and very confused.
“You deserve better than this,” he assured. “You deserve that evening. You deserve a guy who will take the time to offer that to you.”
Killian himself was surprised by his own words. He wasn’t the most romantic man, but seeing that girl in front of him—the prettiest, nicest, most selfless woman he’d met in a long time—he just wanted to try.
“Please, let me try to be that guy,” he begged her. “Let me take you out on a proper date…”
“I accept,” Ariel finally agreed with a smile.
For the first time since she’d met him, that victorious smile of his didn’t annoy her.
XXX
Ruby wasn’t having a great day—but then again, she hadn’t had a great day in a while. She was hungover again, and her whole body ached with regrets. She moved through the ER like a ghost, trying her best to ignore anyone who might want to talk to her. She had a job to do, and that was all she would do today.
The doctor pushed the door to her next exam room as she read the chart. Two unaccompanied minors—Ava and Nicholas Zimmer, both twelve. One broken leg, a few scrapes and bruises that might need stitching up. That’s all she needed to know.
“Hi, I’m Dr. Lucas,” she greeted. “You can call me Ruby,” she added. She always suggested kids call her by her first name.
“Where’s our mom?” the little blonde girl immediately asked.
Ruby held back a sigh. This wasn’t going to be an easy consult, and she was so tired already. She looked at the twins sitting next to one another on the exam table. They were so young, and they looked so scared—the boy especially, half hidden behind his sister. She glanced at the girl’s x-ray. Clean tibia fracture—she really needed that cast.
“I don’t know where your mom is,” Ruby admitted, sitting on a stool. “But I promise I’ll find out later. For now—Ava, is it? I really need to take a look at your leg.”
Ruby pulled the supplies she needed out of a cart and tried to get to work, but the young girl didn’t seem ready to back down. Ava pulled her leg away as she tried to grab it.
“We got into an accident, and we got separated,” the little girl explained, tightly holding her brother’s hand, “Where is she?”
The doctor was getting exasperated. She’d never been that great with kids, and especially not lately. She got that they were scared, but all she wanted to do right now was her job.
“Gotta take care of you two first,” she tried her best to remain as calm as she could, ignoring the pounding headache this whole situation was giving her. “Then we’ll check on mom.”
The twins looked at each other. As most twins did, they didn’t need words to communicate.
“Fine,” Ava turned back to Ruby. “But make it quick.”
The doctor nodded. That was the least she could do for them. The girl winced in pain as Ruby started working on her leg.
“They didn’t give you any pain meds?” Ruby raised an eyebrow—the kid should have been completely numbed by now.
“I didn’t take them,” she admitted. “The nurse said they could make me a little loopy, and I have to watch over Nicholas.”
“Well, that’s very brave of you, Ava.”
The little girl could play tough all she wanted—Ruby could clearly see she was just as terrified as her brother was, and in a lot of pain. Looking at the injuries, the doctor could tell the accident had been serious. Cuts from a broken window, hematoma from the seatbelt—wounds she’d seen way too often in the ER. It made her chest tight; they were only children, for god’s sake. She rushed through the cast and sped up the assessment of their other injuries, just so she could get out of there.
“All done,” she announced, unable to look them in the eyes.
“So, where’s mom?” Ava insisted, her voice cracking a little bit. She’d been patient enough.
“I’ll check,” Ruby sighed. For some reason, she didn’t want to, but she’d made a promise.
She took the chart and dug deeper into it until she found the incident report the police had filed. Two-car pileup. Three injured and taken to the hospital, one pronounced dead at the scene. Dory Zimmer, 38, mother of Ava and Nicholas Zimmer, 12.
Ruby’s vision suddenly became blurry. This incident report read so much like the one she’d only seen once, before her grandmother had hidden it away forever. The one from the car crash on the interstate. The one that read: Ruby Lucas, 2, transported to the hospital. Anita Lucas, 31, pronounced dead on site.
Her heartbeat became so fast it was the only thing she could hear, drowning out the sound of the kids’ voices calling her while she blankly stared at their file. No, she didn’t want to remember it again. She didn’t have many memories from that night—she was so young—but the few she had, she would have given anything to erase. The shards of glass on the pavement, the blue and red lights of the ambulance, the policemen’s arms taking her away, and the blood. All that blood. Like it too often did, air caught in Ruby’s throat as her mind echoed with screams and police sirens that were her earliest memory.
“So?” Ava’s shaky voice cut through the spiral she was heading down towards, “Where’s our mom?”
“I—It’s not in the file,” Ruby lied, choking on her own words. “I’ll go check—”
She didn’t give them any time to respond, bolting out of the room and taking off towards the main hall. She leaned against a wall, her head spinning and her breath short. God. How could mere memories do this to her, every time?
By some stroke of grace, Belle appeared at the turn of the corridor, and she immediately noticed her.
“God, Rub’!” she rushed over, leaning forward to grab her shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“The kids in there—” Ruby ignored the question, struggling to get her breathing back to normal.
“I know, I’ve read the file,” Belle immediately picked up on what was going on. “Social services are on the way… Hey, look at me.”
She cupped the doctor’s face, forcing her to meet her eyes. Belle was the only one that could possibly understand. She was the only person Ruby had ever told more than a few words about that part of her life. The only one she ever felt comfortable enough to let her know just how deep that wound ran. The administrator slipped a hand in hers.
“Come on,” she gently whispered. “Let’s step outside for a minute…”
Ruby let herself be led through the hall and out a service door as her mind went completely blank. They sat on a bench. The sunlight hitting her face and Belle’s fingers tightly wrapped around hers slowly brought her back to reality, her rushing blood settling in her veins.
“Are you feeling better?” Belle asked after a minute of silence.
“A little,” Ruby sighed, shaking her head to get rid of the remaining panic.
Her mind turned back to the kids she left in the room. Alone, scared, confused.
“How are they supposed to survive this?” The words slipped from her lips as she stared at the ground.
“Just like you did.” Belle held her hand a little tighter, resting her chin on Ruby’s shoulder.
“I—I can’t tell them,” Ruby’s eyes were welling up with tears, and she had to fight to keep them from running down her cheeks. “I—I just can’t…”
“You’re the only one that can,” her former lover stroked the back of her hand. “They’re going to need someone that understands. They’re going to need you .”
Ruby looked up from the ground to look at Belle. She hated the very idea of someone needing her. She just couldn’t do it. She was unreliable, a mess of a woman that never got over that part of her life and kept doing everything in the book to forget about the pain. How could she ever help in this situation? But Belle looked at her so softly, with so much confidence, that she saw in her eyes the reflection of a woman stronger than she was.
She’d do it, because Belle believed she could.
She was about to get up when they heard the emergency alarm. Gold’s voice echoed through the outdoor speakers, and her chest tightened again. Then they heard the police cars gathering at the front of the hospital. They both jumped up and ran towards the noise, hands still tightly clasped around each other. When they approached the front entrance, what seemed like hundreds of agents were marking the perimeter with police tape.
“What the hell is going on?” Belle stomped towards the first policeman she spotted.
“Ma’am, please step back,” he held out a hand to stop her in her tracks. “This hospital is under lockdown for the time being. That is all the information I can give you. Nobody’s going in or out.”
“What? Why?” Ruby chimed in. “I’ve got kids in there, man! I need to go back.”
“Nobody goes in or out,” the agent repeated. “I really can’t give you any more information.”
“I’m the head administrator,” Belle pulled out her badge to shove it in his face. “As far as you’re concerned, this is my hospital, and I demand you tell me what’s going on!”
“Oh, well—” he stammered a little, realizing who he was speaking to. “My chief will probably want to see you, then…”
He lifted the tape and Belle slid under it, finally letting go of Ruby’s hands. She gave her one last look as she disappeared towards the temporary command center. The doctor waited for her in stunned silence, arms clenched over her chest. The administrator reappeared a few minutes later. She joined Ruby back on the other side of the dreaded yellow tape.
“A baby was taken from the maternity ward,” Belle explained, trying her best to remain calm through the sudden panic. “Suspect’s armed, and he’s somewhere in there.”
“What?” Ruby exclaimed. Now it was certain, this day couldn’t get any worse.
She thought back to Nicholas and Ava’s faces. Those kids were already scared enough when she left them, and now this? A wave of adrenaline crashed over her. She needed to get to them, right now.
“I need to get back in,” she started walking off to the doors, but Belle grabbed her wrist to keep her from advancing further.
“Ruby, you can’t!” she scolded, making her turn around. “The whole hospital is sealed off. There’s no way they’re letting you back in!”
“I have to!” the doctor yelled back.
She just couldn’t leave them, no matter how dangerous it was. She didn’t care. But Belle did.
“Belle,” Ruby whispered, all the weight of their love poured into the single name. “I need to get in.”
The administrator looked deep into the green eyes of the woman before her. Of course, there was no fear in them. No hesitation. Just resolve and that glimmer of despair that always remained there. Ruby needed to act, because she didn’t know how to do anything else. With or without her support, she’d get back into that hospital. Maybe if Belle helped, she could at least not die in the process.
“Southside entrance,” Belle exhaled. “The whole ward’s under construction, but you can probably slip under the fence.”
Ruby had to bite her lower lip to keep her from saying just how much she loved her. She grabbed her hand instead, and they ran to the south wing, frantically looking all around them to make sure they weren’t being followed. Thankfully, the whole scene was so chaotic that the police had neglected the construction site. They slipped under the fence and headed for the forgotten door. Belle unlocked the chain with one of the numerous keys she always dragged everywhere with her.
Ruby was about to launch in, but Belle grabbed her wrist. She just couldn’t let her go like this, not when she might never see her alive again. She needed to do something she would never do again, no matter the outcome of this whole mess. She spun the doctor around, making her stumble forward until their lips met—quick, raw, desperate.
“You’d better not die in there,” Belle whispered to her, heart beating so fast it made her dizzy.
“I won’t,” she promised.
“Be careful,” she added even though it made no sense.
Letting go of her hand was the hardest thing she had ever done. She watched her disappear into the empty hallway. Ruby wouldn’t be careful—Belle knew that. Ruby would be reckless, untamed, and wild, as she always was. She asked her to be careful because that’s all she could do, because she couldn’t say “ come back to me, because if you die, I will too.”
XXX
As hard as she tried, Emma just couldn’t get her leg to stop shaking. As usual, Mary-Margaret had immediately stepped into leader mode. She had asked her to watch over the nurses’ station and sent Mulan and Aurora to check on every patient and visitor that had gotten stuck with them in the pediatrics department main hall. Meanwhile, the head nurse had taken it upon herself to go talk to the policemen that had been stationed at the ward’s doors.
Emma could see from where she was standing behind the desk that the discussion wasn’t going very well. Even though Mary-Margaret was genuinely the nicest woman she’d ever met, she could be terrifying when she wanted to be, and Emma would have hated to be the agent she was currently yelling at. She finally turned around and gestured for Mulan and Aurora to come gather at the nurses’ station.
“So, what do we got?” she asked the only other health worker present.
“Visitor having a panic attack and a baby running a slight fever,” the intern summed up her round of the unfortunate few that had been confined with them. “Nothing we can’t handle for now…”
“Good,” the nurse sighed, running a hand through her short hair. Now wasn’t the time for a medical emergency with the reduced staff she had available.
“What did the cop say?” Aurora just couldn’t hide her nervousness despite her arms tightly crossed around her chest to conceal the shake of her hands.
“A baby was taken from the maternity ward,” Mary-Margaret explained. “The guy that has the kid probably has a gun too, and police think he’s still somewhere in the hospital…”
“What?” Aurora started to fully panic now.
“Quiet!” Mary-Margaret ordered. Luckily, no one seemed to have noticed. “Last thing we need is everyone panicking, so please stay calm. Cop says Gold is waiting on the incident commander’s greenlight to authorize movements inside departments. Half of my team is stuck outside the ward, so when it comes through, I’ll need you three to help me run the whole department until everything goes back to normal. Can you do that, girls?”
They all agreed silently. Emma was honestly impressed by the way Mary-Margaret managed to keep it all together. Even though it showed less than in Aurora, she herself was starting to grow more and more anxious. She didn't like confined spaces—even less so now that she knew there was a madman somewhere in this hospital wielding a gun. She got a hold of herself. She was the only licensed doctor here and soon she’d have a lot of work on her hands. Better to prepare for it than give in to panic.
Gold’s second announcement—the one that authorized personnel to move inside wards—rang like the starting shot of a race, and everyone took off. Mary-Margaret grabbed Aurora to help her round out all her nurses, leaving Mulan and Emma to deal with the mess of the pediatrics’ ward reception.
It was easier said than done. Everybody was growing more and more panicked as time passed without new information coming in. Emma and Mulan kept putting out fire after fire, barely managing to keep everyone calm while filing every chart and call that kept coming in. It felt weird to realize that even in the deepest of crises, a hospital just had to keep running. Sick people didn’t care about the circumstances, and they still needed care. It was well over an hour before they found enough time to huddle back up around the admissions desk.
“So, what have you got?” Emma shot at Mulan, not looking up from the files she was sorting.
“Slight tachycardia in a visitor—we did some breathing exercises together—also that baby’s fever is coming down,” the intern summed up in a sigh. The lack of personnel and supplies felt like they were working in a warzone. “Any news from the cops, or Gold?”
“Nothing,” Emma despaired.
Mulan groaned, shifting her weight back and forth between her legs, both feet steadily planted on the ground. She was starting to suffocate here, in this enclosed hall, with all those people who kept looking at her like she somehow could do anything. She wanted to do something, but she just couldn’t. The only thing left to do was pace around like a wild animal in its cage.
Still, somehow, it was better than being forced into the conversation she was so carefully trying to avoid with Aurora and Mary-Margaret. She knew very well why the head nurse had invited them both for coffee—she hadn’t been that slick about it. The very idea of talking through her awkward confession of love to Aurora made her nauseous. But she had run out of excuses, and had had to cave in to Mary’s request eventually.
Said nurse appeared at the turn of the hall, out of breath and a little sweaty. She jogged to join them at the desk.
“How are your kids?” Emma inquired.
“Every patient’s safe and accounted for,” Mary-Margaret sighed, relieved. She grabbed a water bottle from under the counter. “How about you?”
“We’re hanging on,” Emma reassured her with a faint smile.
“Good, thanks for holding down the fort,” she answered between two long sips of the cold water. “Got any new files?”
“A few,” the doctor pointed to a pile of charts on her left.
“Great, can you give me a summary?” she requested, leaning over the desk, visibly exhausted. “I have maybe 5 minutes left before I gotta give this kid his chemo. I asked Aurora to go get me the supplies in the far-end closet, but she’s been gone for half an hour and I’m still waiting on them…”
“I can go check on her,” Mulan suggested. Her legs were getting restless, and she needed to take any opportunity to move.
“That’d be awesome, thank you, dear,” the nurse accepted.
The intern disappeared into the corridor, full of nervous energy. Emma quickly summed up the new files that had come through while the head nurse was gone.
“Thanks, Em’,” she sighed once the report was given. “Really, thank you for everything—you’ve been amazing today.”
“Are you kidding me?” her friend scoffed. “You’re the one who has been wearing the superhero cape all day!”
The doctor couldn’t help but notice the weariness in the way her best friend leaned over the desk for support.
“Hey, Mary, you should probably sit down for a second,” she suggested. “Last I heard, you were still pregnant…”
“Can’t,” the head nurse flat-out refused, taking yet another sip from her water bottle. “Still got work to do. Besides, how could I even rest when there’s still a guy with a gun running around?” she added, lowering her voice so the conversation wouldn’t cause a panic.
“Yeah, and I’m sure if you leave the baby a note explaining the situation, he’ll agree with you,” Emma mocked. “Might even come out early to help place some IVs.”
“How can you even think of still making fun of me right now?” Mary-Margaret softly smiled.
“Well, someone has to lighten up the mood,” the doctor chuckled through the nervousness that remained anchored in her stomach. “Now please sit down. David would kill me if he knew that I let you run around all day.”
“I promise I’m fine, Emma,” she looked her right in the eyes as if to prove her point. “Also, I still have a shit ton of stuff to do, starting with going to get those supplies I asked from Aurora myself.”
Emma glanced at her watch and estimated that Aurora had been gone for at least half an hour. She should have been able to go back and forth from that supply closet at least a dozen times by now. And there was no sign of Mulan coming back either. She looked back at her friend and the slight little bump that she could see under her uniform. There was no convincing Mary-Margaret to stop working right now.
“Will you at least let me come with you?” Emma sighed, because she knew that was all she could get.
Mary-Margaret reluctantly accepted, and they headed out the hall together, leaving another nurse to deal with the mess there.
As they walked towards the supply closet on the far end of the ward, Emma felt a wave of cold wash over her. Only personnel were authorized to move inside departments, and those usually crowded halls were now eerily, painfully empty. The unfamiliar quietness seemed to seep deeper into her bones with each step. Suddenly, being away from the chaos of the reception just made everything feel more real.
The twominute journey seemed to stretch for hours before they finally saw the door at the end of the corridor. Without reason, Emma suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to just grab Mary-Margaret’s hand and run the other way. She tried to set her mind straight—what she was feeling was just the sum of an entire day’s worth of stress brought on by this whole situation, some understandable paranoia, nothing more. Still, she couldn’t bring herself to ignore that primal and instinctive fear that had taken over her body in a way it hadn’t since she was a young child.
She pushed the door open, barely containing the shake in her hand. The lights were off, and the light filtering through the small, dust-covered window wasn’t enough to brighten the room. It was dim in there, so dim Emma didn’t immediately notice the two silhouettes at the very back of the small room. She reached for the light switch, but her movement was stopped by the feeling of cold, unforgiving metal pressed against her temple. A masculine voice arose from the darkness.
“Don’t move or I’ll shoot.”