Chapter Text
Emma pushed the glass doors of the hospital’s main hall and shook her head to get rid of the snowflakes that had invaded her blonde hair. She glanced at her watch, for once, she was early, which was highly unusual for her. She waved towards Belle, but she was too busy with the files pilling up at the front desk to wave back. She headed to the locker room. She flung the door to her locker open with a little more force than she planned to. She started storing her bag, coat, sweater, second sweater, beanie, and scarf in it. She’d always tended to run cold, and winter approaching didn’t make it any better.
She grabbed her white coat, slipped it on, repositioned her crooked badge and started to pull her hair up in a ponytail. Her blonde locks were so dampened by the snow outside that the strands of hair refused to bend to her will and cooperate with her, instead poking out everywhere. She grunted, looking at her pathetic attempt at a ponytail in the mirror. She hated when days started like this, it wasn’t even 9 a.m. yet, and she was already beyond annoyed. The hair tie she was battling with broke under her exasperated strength, she sighed.
“Relax Swan,” reassured a familiar voice over her shoulder, “I’ve got one right here.”
“Thanks Ruby…”
Emma smiled at the tall brunette holding another hair tie out to her. She finally managed to pull her hair up in a decent hairstyle under the green gaze of her friend. From her 5.7 feet tall height on top of which she usually added 4 inches heels, Ruby Lucas tended to impress most of her patients, whether it’d be because of her height, striking beauty or barely decent outfits. However, all of this couldn’t even compare to her qualities as an emergency doctor.
“You’re welcome,” she resumed, “You’re pretty early… That’s weird…”, she noticed, raising an eyebrow.
“I probably set my alarm clock an hour early by mistake,” Emma supposed after glancing at her watch once more.
“You look exhausted… Had a long night?” her friend asked with an intentionally loaded look.
“I wish…” she smiled. She’d spent the night filling out intervention reports, nothing fascinating.
“When are you going to get someone in your life for god’s sake?” the brunette leaned against the lockers, “At least someone to have sex with. You see me, for example, I spent the night with this new girl I told you about… And she also brought a friend of hers and…”
“Please Ruby, I don’t want to hear about your night so early in the morning,” Emma begged, “I’m afraid if you keep going my breakfast is going to come back up.”
“You’ll end up in a convent,” Ruby assured.
Emma rolled her eyes and sighed, but ultimately chose to ignore the cutting remark. She wasn’t wrong after all; it had been a long time since she’d had someone in her life.
“And what are you doing here so early?” the blonde resumed to stir the conversation away from her disastrous love life.
“Had to come back in around 5 a.m.,” she explained while digging into her messy locker, looking for something she obviously wasn’t about to find, “Hadison was sick, someone needed to pick up the shift.”
“When are they going to hire someone new for fuck’s sake?” the doctor groaned. They were swamped all the time, and she was getting tired of having to run around all day to compensate for the staff shortage.
“Go to the dean of medicine if you really want to ask,” Ruby shrugged, “Personally he scares the shit out of me…”
The tall brunette’s pager started ringing. She gave up on finding whatever she was looking for in her mess of a locker.
“Sorry Emma, gotta go,” she explained, frowning at the perspective of the mountain of work that was waiting for her, “Car accident.”
“Want me to take your place?” Emma suggested.
“Nah, don’t worry,” she reassured with a big smile, she was used to it, as they all were around here, “Meet me in ten for coffee before I take my last breath?”
“See you later Ruby,” she smiled back.
She watched as her friend skipped down the hall towards her next consultation. Emma finished getting ready and headed towards the coffee machine in the main hall. She could have gone for the free coffee in the breakroom, but it wasn’t as good, it wasn’t worth the trip. Plus, she needed to save her strength if she wanted to hold up until the end of the day. She then headed down to the emergency room’s admission desk, warming up her still freezing hands on the paper cup. She leaned over the desk, noticing the young brunette with perfectly curled hair she saw coming in was still there, signing papers at the speed of light.
“Hi Belle!” she waved to get her attention, “How are you this lovely morning?”
“Hi Emma,” she barely looked up from her files, “I’m good, how are you?”
“Just a little tired,” she answered truthfully, “What’s up?”
“Well not much… One of our donators withdrew, I’m currently missing the quarterly meeting, I haven’t eaten since yesterday’s lunch and we are almost out of suture kits, so please refrain from using them as much as you can,” she frantically enumerated, still struggling with the piles of papers, “What about you, what’s up?”
“Well, I… I was thinking about going to the movies this week-end…” Emma mumbled, not too sure of what to respond to the endless list of problems Belle was facing per usual, “Want me to get you a bagel from the cafeteria?” she suggested, eager to help as much as she could.
“Thanks, but don’t worry, I don’t have time anyway,” she politely refused, “I really have to get to this meeting, see you later Emma!” she waved goodbye without waiting for a response, already on her way.
“See ya !” she yelled back while her friend disappeared into the crowded hallway.
“I see hurricane Belle is still in full swing…” noticed a voice behind her shoulder.
“Oh, hi David,” Emma smiled as she saw her friend walking towards her.
The tall young man had just came in through the front doors, covered in snow just as was everyone else. He’d barely had time to catch a glimpse of Belle before she disappeared. It wasn’t new, she was always like this. She was the administrative manager of the better part of the hospital, they knew she had no time to relax, less again stay and gossip with her colleagues.
“Hi Em’, you’re here already?” the chief of emergency medicine noticed, a little surprised. Punctuality wasn’t one of his employee’s strong suits.
“Set my alarm clock wrong,” she confessed, “Do you have time for coffee with me and Ruby before your shift?”
“Just let me change and I’m coming,” he accepted.
Emma followed him to the locker room and waited sitting on a bench for him to put on his sterile scrubs. They’d been working together for years at Boston General Hospital; him, her and Ruby had become somewhat of an inseparable trio, it felt great working with your best friends. Once ready, his stethoscope flung around his neck, David and Emma went back to the main hall to wait for their friend. It wasn’t long before she came in running with a suspicious smile on her face and red cheeks from the exercise.
“You won’t believe what just happened,” she announced with full conviction as she reached them.
“How’s your patient?” asked Emma, who seemed to be the only one that remembered why Ruby left in the first place.
“Who? Oh yeah him,” she finally remembered, “He’ll live, who cares,” she dismissed.
“Sometimes I wonder why you’re a doctor…” the blonde sighed.
“Money, status, getting chicks and I look great in a white coat, we’ve been over this before,” she enumerated, “Anyway that’s not the point. Patient was haemorrhaging big time, I had to transfer him to surgery, and that’s when I saw it…”
“The self-respect you lost somewhere along the way?” David smirked at his own joke, he loved Ruby, but her priorities didn’t seem to always be in the right place.
“Do you want to hear the rest of the story or do you want to keep making fun of me?” she asked, starting to get impatient.
“Go on,” Emma urged.
“Okay so, that’s when I saw her, the new trauma surgeon everyone’s been talking about.”
Emma vaguely remembered hearing some nurses gossip about it, but she’d quickly forget. Lots of people were coming and going in this hospital, and she couldn’t possibly remember them all, nor care about them.
“And?” the chief of the ER asked, uncertain as to why the arrival of a new surgeon would get Ruby so excited.
“And?” she repeated, visibly taking offense at his lack of interest, “Bombshell, solid twelve out of ten, I almost fainted when she looked at me. Type of cold beauty you know? Will freeze you with a look but super-hot in bed…” she described with her usual enthusiasm for beautiful women.
David and Emma both rolled their eyes. They absolutely adored Ruby, of course, but she tended to focus on people’s body before anything else. She wasn’t the best person to ask if you wanted to inquire about someone’s character, on the other hand, she could probably draw a perfect picture of the new surgeon’s breasts if asked.
“And do you at least remember the name of our ice queen?” David inquired, he figured that if she’d made such an impression on his employee, it’d be good for him to know how to refer to the new surgeon.
“Argh, I saw it on her badge… I wasn’t really focusing…” she desperately tried to remember for an instant before being struck with a burst of lucidity, “Regina! Regina Mills…”
XXX
The little break everyone managed to take mid-morning was a welcome island of peace in the chaos of the day. The breakroom was small and terribly lit, the windows dirty, and it smelled like horribly burnt coffee, but it was still nice, with the old couch that offered a great respite to Emma’s aching back.
Belle had finally taken a break to make herself some tea, Ruby was sitting on the counter like some kind of gremlin, David was fighting against the half broken vending machine, it was a day like any other day after all.
“You know Emma,” Ruby casually broke the comfortable silence with a sly grin, “I had a very nice patient today. Super cute. Lawyer too so you know he makes good money. You want me to introduce you?"
“Hard pass,” she deadpan refused without even looking up from her coffee, “Can’t date, gotta get my sleep in.”
“You never know Emma!” Belle chimed in, looking up from her files, she was a gentle soul, and never missed an occasion to talk about love, “Maybe you'll meet someone special without even trying!"
“No Emma, you’re right,” David took her side, shaking the vending machine to try to get his bag of chips out, “Special? Around here? We’ve got enough of that with the guy who keeps proposing to the nurses.”
“Isn’t that the same one that thinks he’s a vampire?” Belle asked, she didn’t get to see the patients much.
“That’s the one,” David resolved to hit the vending machine, hoping that would do something.
“C’mon!” Ruby laughed, “don't you want a little excitement? A little bite?"
“Honestly if anyone bites me today, I’m quitting,” she answered, taking a sip of her coffee.
Ruby, undeterred, swung her legs off the counter and leaned in. "I'm just saying, you could do worse than a cute, gainfully employed guy. Let me set you up!”
“Yes Emma!” Belle joined in, “You never know when it could be true love!”
Over the years, they had all noticed that Emma's love life was practically non-existent. It wasn’t something she made a point of hiding, but it was hard not to see the pattern — no boyfriends, no dates, no mentions of anything beyond her work and the occasional awkward encounter. It made the others a little sad, especially because they all knew she deserved someone who could match her sharp wit and quiet strength. But every time they brought it up, Emma would just shrug it off, as if she didn’t care. Maybe she didn’t, but they all couldn’t help but wonder if there wasn’t something else going on.
"If true love's smart, it'll stay at least five feet away from me," she bit back. She’d never had the best luck with guys, and she’d given up on finding the love of her life a long time ago.
David finally managed to wrestles his chips free, even getting an extra one that fell with it. He threw the prize to Emma.
“For what it’s worth, I’m on your side,” he sat next to her, “Nothing good can ever come out of romance at work.”
“Didn’t you meet your wife here?”
“We’re the exception, and that’s because we’re so cute,” he smiled before stuffing his mouth with chips.
"Guess I'll just settle for chips and bad coffee. Way less drama," Emma smirked into her coffee.
“You're no fun, Swan,” Ruby threw a napkin at her, “If you keep rejecting love like this, it’ll never find you!”
“Or maybe it’s going to fall onto you like a pile of bricks!” Belle laughed; she was a hopeless romantic at heart.
“Or maybe I’m going to run away from this conversation…” Emma got up and headed for the door with her coffee and snack still in hand.
“Good luck, Swan! Love’s got a way of tracking you down!” Ruby shouted after her.
"Not if I run faster!” Emma grinned as she slipped out of the room.
XXX
Emma’s day was starting to drag out. She’d spent it pulling lego bricks out of screaming children’s noses and stitching up the brow bones of patient that thought climbing up a ladder to paint their own ceilings was a great idea. The only thing she wanted to do was go home and go to bed.
Another patient had just come in, nauseous and with growing stomach pain. She was helping the paramedics install him onto a bed when he threw up a mix of vomit and blood all over her scrubs.
Even though she would never do that, she had to refrain from slapping him in the face. She’d already had a very rough day, filled with unbearable patients and that was her last straw. She took a deep breath, she knew none of this was the patient’s fault and she had to try to remain calm enough to act as a good doctor. So, she did and acted as any good doctor would: she yelled out to a nurse she saw passing along in the hall.
“Ashley!” she called out to her, “Call surgery and an anaesthesiologist, stat! Stomach hemorrhage, probably something he swallowed,” she summed up, “Come on let’s pick it up quick, he’s not going to last all day!”
The nurse shook her head as confirmation and disappeared in the corridor. The blonde doctor picked up an ultrasound machine and wasn’t long to localise the object that had perforated her patient’s stomach. She held out an emesis bag to him, but he was already too weak to pick it up, proving to her that the case was progressing quickly. Without waiting for the surgical block’s response, she grabbed the side of the bed and started pulling it down the hall, yelling out to passer-by to make way. With the help of two nurses, she pushed the bed into an elevator and pressed the second-floor button. She ran to the operating room’s door where the surgical team was already waiting for them. A woman with shoulder-length hair ran to meet her.
Everything around Emma suddenly disappeared, her patient, the surgical team, the whole hospital. The only thing that was left was her, her jet-black hair, and her brown eyes. Her hands were perfectly manicured, which was pretty rare for a surgeon, and she had very tasteful makeup on. She had a face that seemed to be carved in marble, and curves she couldn’t help but stare at, visible even under her sterile scrubs. Ruby hadn’t exaggerated one bit when she’d described her, she looked heavenly. Emma finally snapped back to reality when she realised the dark-haired angel was talking to her.
“Doctor? Doctor!” she urged her with a hand gesture, “Diagnosis please!”
“Yes! Hm…” she stuttered, trying desperately to get back on her feet, “Something he swallowed, maybe a toothpick or something like that, big enough to cause a significant perforation. He must have left it get worse for a while; there’s a lot of blood coming out of everywhere. I would have liked to get an x-ray, but we clearly don’t have the time!”
“Good, thank you doctor…”
It took Emma a while to realize that the end of the phrase that was floating in the air was an invitation from the surgeon to introduce herself.
“Yes! Me! I’m…” she stuttered again, pressured by the piercing gaze of the woman that wouldn’t look away from her.
“Covered in vomit…” she observed with a smirk, seemingly amused by the ER doctor’s embarrassment.
“Shit!” she exclaimed looking down to her soiled clothes, “Emma! I’m Emma Swan,” she finally blurted out.
“Dr. Regina Mills,” she introduced herself back to her, “Nice to meet you, Miss Swan…”
She turned around and headed towards the operating room with one last amused smile for the blonde. Emma stayed still for a minute, her arms hanging pathetically down her sides in the middle of the hall. She finally headed back downstairs to the locker room. There, she found Ruby changing so she could head home after her shift. She fell heavily on the bench, seemingly drained of all strength.
“Are you okay?” her best friend asked, noticing her staring into the void.
“Regina Mills…” she answered, finally releasing the breath she’d been holding since she’d left the surgical department.
“This was kind of a “yes or no” question…” Ruby pointed out.
“God, I fucked up…” Emma sighed, closing her eyes tightly for an instant.
“Already?” the tall girl mocked, slipping a tank top over her black underwear, “That’s gotta be some kind of new record…”
“You lied when you said she was a bombshell…” Ruby sat down next to her, fully invested in the story, “She’s like, a nuclear grade weapon.”
“So you like her huh?” she asked with a raise of her eyebrow.
“That’s not what I said,” Emma defended herself, pointing a finger at her colleague.
“That’s kind of exactly what you said,” Ruby chuckled, “Anyway, keep going. What happened that she put you in such a state?”
“I stuttered, I froze, I even think I stared at her breast a little too much…” the blonde listed running a hand over her hair, exasperated by her very own behaviour, “Oh and also I was covered in vomit…”
“Well, we’ve seen better first meeting with the love of your life…” admitted her friend.
“I’m not gay Ruby,” Emma assured with a little less conviction that she would have wanted.
“Oh yeah, because starring at the new surgeon’s boobs for five minutes screams straight girl…” Ruby laughed, picking up her bag from the floor, “I’ve gotta go, but we’ll definitely talk about this tomorrow. I’d hug you but you’re still covered in a stranger’s stomach contents so…”
“See you tomorrow,” she sighed, still dwelling on her catastrophic first interaction with the new surgeon. She’d always been a little socially awkward, but she’d reached brand new heights tonight.
“See ya!” the brunette looked at her soiled scrubs up and down one last time, “But like, seriously Emma, go take a shower. You stink,” she advised before leaving.
A few minutes after Ruby had left, Emma finally found the courage to get up, throw her clothes in a bunch in laundry basket and jump in the shower. She let the lukewarm water relax the tense muscles in her shoulders and neck while thinking about her short conversation with Dr. Mills again. She could still hear her voice, warm and low. She shook her head to get out of her daydream. What gave her the right to think about her like that? Sure, the surgeon knew how to make an impression, but the only thing she should allow herself to fantasise about right now was a nice meal and her bed.
She got out of the shower and threw a towel around her body before putting her civilian clothes back on and gathering her things to finally head home. When she stepped out of the hospital, the cold wind biting into her skin almost seemed nicer than the suffocating air of the emergency room. She walked towards the parking lot and drove her little yellow bug just a little over the speed limits, she was eager to get home. She climbed the stairs to the last floor of her very small apartment building that almost seemed to be squished by Boston’s high buildings surrounding it. She put the keys in the rusty lock and pushed the old wooden door.
“Henry?” she called out, “I’m home!”
“Mom!” a childish voice answered from the kitchen.
“Hi angel,” she hugged her ten-year-old son, planting a kiss on top of his mess of brown hair.
She paid the sitter and immediately went to look for something to eat in the fridge. The little boy climbed up on a stool, watching her from the other side of the kitchen counter.
“How was your day kiddo?” his mother asked, turning on the gas stove-top.
“Not too bad! You?”
“As good as a day in the hospital can be…” she answered evasively; Henry was only 10, he didn’t need to know all of the gross details, “What do you want to eat? We have some pasta left or… some more pasta.” It had been some time since she’d last went to the grocery store.
“Hm…” he feigned pondering his choice, “Pasta please!”
“Want some tomato sauce with that?” she suggested, knowing well that was the only thing left in the cupboards anyways. She really needed to run some errands soon.
“Yup!” he nodded enthusiastically, “Can we watch a movie after diner?”
“No Henry,” the blonde refused in voice she hoped was firm enough, “It’s already late, you have school tomorrow.”
“Three quarters of a movie?” he started negotiating.
“No.”
The boy looked at his mother with his best puppy-dog eyes.
“Half a movie,” she caved in.
“Can I get some ice-cream with it?” he kept negotiating with a smile.
“Fine,” she agreed, her son drove a hard bargain, “Go set the table.”
They ate one-on-one at the table, Emma listening to her son go on and on about his day, and especially Violet, a girl from school she suspected he had a crush on. Once diner finished and the dishes put away in the sink, they sat down on the couch and put on a dumb super-hero movie. After barely fifteen minutes, Henry was already sleeping, his head falling on his mom’s shoulder. She lifted him up and put him to bed, kissing him on the forehead again. She stayed sitting next to him for a moment, stroking his hair.
When she’d discovered she was pregnant, she was barely 18. Everyone had told her that it was a mistake to keep him, that it was impossible for a young orphaned student to raise a child, yet somehow, she did. She had thought about giving him up, about how much easier it would have been for her to keep studying and become a doctor, but she could never bring herself to it. And everyday she was grateful she didn’t, because that boy was her entire heart. She finally left the room after tucking him in one last time.
She took a second shower to get rid of the hospital smell that was still sticking to her skin and slipped into her own bed. She stared at the ceiling for a while, still thinking about the young surgeons and how she could fix her clumsy mistakes. No. No. Absolutely not, she scolded herself. Go to sleep, you idiot. She ended up falling asleep, exhausted by yet another long day.