Ten Years- Once Upon A Time- ON HOLD

I'm Proud Of You

Neal unlocked the door to his and Emma's room at Granny's to see her sitting on the bed with a sleeping Henry in her arms. She looked up when she heard the door close behind him.

"Hey," She said, "Did you talk to him?"

"Yeah."

"And?" Emma stood up and walked over to the crib in the corner of the room, "How did it go?"

"Alright, I guess," Neal said as he watched Emma carefully put Henry in the crib, "I didn't really get to yell at him as much as I'd hoped."

"Pity," Emma laughed, "What happened?"

"Nothing. We were just talking and then he got a call from Regina-"

"The mayor?!"

"Do we know any other Reginas?" Neal asked, "Anyway, it sounded pretty important so I left."

Emma smiled at him and he couldn't help but return it. She walked up to him and hugged him tightly.

"I'm proud of you," She whispered, "I'm not sure I could've done it if it were my dad."

"Hey, you were the one pushing me to see him in the first place!" Neal said, letting go.

"Come on, tell me you wouldn't have regretted it if you hadn't!" Emma said, laughing again.

Neal couldn't remember the last time Emma had laughed so much. Had she really been that miserable over the last few months?

He couldn't help but grin back at her, but for some reason it felt forced. Emma could see he looked like he was about to collapse all of a sudden and her laughter stopped.

"Neal?" She said, worriedly, "Neal, what's wrong?"

But before he could answer, he was on the floor, out cold.

"Neal!" Emma screamed.

She fell to her knees next to him, trying to shake him awake.

"Neal! Wake up, please wake up!" She sobbed.

"Emma? You okay?" A faint voice called from down the hall.

It was Ruby.

"Ruby! Call an ambulance!" Emma yelled back.

Ruby opened the door and gasped when she saw the scene.

"Oh my god! What happened?" She exclaimed.

"I don't know, he just collapsed!" Emma cried, "Please, you have to help me!"

"I'll call the ambulance," Ruby said, "Should I take Henry?"

Emma nodded, tears streaming down her face as she tried to get Neal to wake up. Ruby went to the crib and took Henry, who was now bawling his head off, and left the room, getting her phone out of her pocket.

"Stay with me, Neal." Emma whispered.

The ambulance only took a few minutes, but this was long enough for Emma to start panicking. Several times, she thought he'd stopped breathing, but he managed to make it until the ambulance arrived.

Emma could hear two men's footsteps running down the hall before they ran into the room. One of them had to lead her away to the corner of the room.

"What is it? What's wrong with him?" She asked, frantically, her voice shaking.

"We don't know yet," The paramedic said, "Has this ever happened before?"

Emma shook her head, trying to look around him and at Neal. He now had an oxygen mask on and was shaking violently; it looked like he was choking. She struggled to get past the paramedic but he stood in her way, stopping her from getting to Neal. All she could do was watch, helpless, as Neal was dying.

And, suddenly, he was still. Emma couldn't tell if he was breathing normally or gone.

"Neal!" She screamed.

She finally managed to push the paramedic out of the way and get to Neal. She crouched next to him to find that her worst fear had come true.

"No. Come on, Neal. Don't be dead. Please, don't be dead."

Emma closed her eyes, about to give up on Neal, when she heard him gasp for air. She opened her eyes just in time to see him open his and manage to smile at her.

"Hey." He said.

Emma lent forwards and hugged him, laughing with relief.

"It's ok. You're ok." She whispered.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Neal asked.

"Neal! I thought you'd died!" Emma cried, leaning back and hitting him on the shoulder, "You weren't breathing, you idiot!"

"That's not my fault!"

Emma laughed again, "Damn you! You had me terrified!"

Neal just grinned at her.

~~~~

Ok, I honestly didn't mean for this to happen in the same week as (spoiler alert if you haven't been watching 3B) Neal's death! That was a very unhappy coincidence! I just watched it on YouTube because Channel 5 cancelled it in the UK and I cried!

Anyway, I've had this chapter planned for absolutely ages and it didn't quite turn out the way I expected it to and I don't know if that's a good thing or not. So comments would be much appreciated :)