Missing Year

Recovery Road

While Emma stayed overnight in the recovery room with Hope, she had a bad dream of delivering Henry in the prison hospital room alone. She wakes up shaking and sees Hope still fast asleep in her incubator. Back at home, Killian was sleeping until he got a phone call from Emma at 2:00 in the morning."Emma? Is it Hope?" He can hear crying on the other end, not Hope. "No, Hope is alright. She is sleeping...i-it...just...I...I n-need to hear your voice." "Emma, what is it? I know you are crying." Emma had a teary smile knowing how much Killian is concerned of her and knows when something was wrong. "I..I-I had a bad dream of being alone...in a hospital...in prison. I-I need to hear your voice.""Emma, even though I am not in the recovery room with you and our little lass, I am still in the same city and realm as you, love. I have not abandoned you. I am home with our son and you are with our daughter who loves her Mommy. You are not in that awful prison, swan. You are being an amazing Mommy from the very beginning to our daughter." Emma sniffles and smiles. "Am I making you feel better?""Yes. You always cheer me up.""Aye, I am doing my job right as your husband." Emma chuckles. Hope wakes up crying. "Hope is awake. Hold on." She holds her daughter in her arms. "Hi, baby.I love you, sweetie. Dada is on the phone." Hope cried more. "Sweetie, are you cold? Do you want a warm onesie on?" She places Hope on the bed. Killian loves hearing Emma baby talk to Hope."Killian, I am going to put my iPhone on speaker next to Hope so she can hear you and you can talk to her while I put a onesie on her." "Aye, love." Emma turns on the speaker on her iPhone and places it next to their daughter. "Killian, you are on speaker, next to Hope.""Hope, little pirate princess." Hope turns her head, faces the iPhone and babbles."It is Dada." "Dada is on my iPhone, baby girl.""Dada can hear you, little love. Swan, can she hear me?"Emma giggles. "Yes, she can hear your voice. She turned her head to my iPhone, wondering why I can hear my Dada but cannot see him?" Killian smiles. "Emma, I will call you right back." Emma changes Hope into her onesie with pirate ships pattern without zippering the buttons on since she had wires on. Killian calls Emma back but on Facetime call. Emma held Hope in her free arm. "There are my two loves." Hope hears her Daddy and babbles. Emma faces her iPhone to Hope."Little pirate princess, Dada loves you so much." Hope smiles."Killian, you are making her smile.""Aye, she is very happy to see me." Hope moves around. "Aye, it is very late, Henry is sleeping, little love. He misses you. I miss you, little love." Emma loves watching Killian and Hope conversation, their daddy-daughter relationship, Hope was so happy to see her Daddy. Hope reaches for her Mommy's iPhone which made them both chuckle. "Dada is coming in the morning, little love to see you and Mommy after I drop off Henry at school." Hope smiles and kicks her legs. "Killian, she is looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.""Aye, I thought she was happy when I mentioned her big brother." Emma smiles. "I am pretty sure Hope wants to see her big brother. Right, Hopey?" She kisses Hope on the head. Hope babbles. "You will play with Henry tomorrow when he comes here to play with you." Hope fell back to sleep. "You give the best snuggles." "Is Hope alright love?""I think she wanted me to hold her.""Love, Hope loves sleeping with you.""Yes, even when she was in the NICU she did not like sleeping in the incubator, she loves sleeping with me. She feels safe in my arms." She kisses Hope gently on the head."Aye, she feels safe in her Mommy's arms." "When you come tomorrow, we can snuggle together.""Aye, I am looking forward to that." "Me too." "Love, are you feeling better?"Emma smiles. "Yes." "I love your smile, love.""You always make me smile, Killian.""Aye, it is my job to make you smile. I love your smile. You always make me smile since our beanstalk."Emma smiles. "I can never forget our beanstalk adventure.""Aye, you mean when we climbed up the beanstalk together or how you left me with the giant.""I had my heart walled up.""Aye, I knew I was going to be the one to tear your walls down, Emma." Emma blushes. "I love you, Killian.""I love you, Emma." Hope wakes up making noises. "Hope, I love you too, little love.""We both love you so much, baby girl." She kisses Hope on the head who began to cry. "Sweetie, are you hungry for milk? I will feed you." Hope latches on right away. "Killian, I am feeling better.""You are?""Yes, I am. I have you, even if we are in separate parts of Manhattan you are still there for me. I can call you and you will pick up." "Aye, I do miss my two loves when you two are not home with Henry and I. I miss my two loves in our room, it is empty without you next to me.""Hope and I will be home soon." She burps Hope and puts Hope on her chest. "I know that I am not alone anymore, I have our little girl who loves to snuggle. She loves me so much as I love her." She kisses Hope on the head. Killian smiles. He loves Emma being an amazing Mommy to their little lass. A day later, Hope was off the sleep apnea monitor for good since she can breathe normally at night since her open heart surgery fixed her breathing issues. Hope was given the okay to go home. Hope's doctor and nurses told Emma and Killian what Hope can or cannot do and her medicine schedule. The nurse took Hope's wires off of her, Hope was wailing. Emma comforts her daughter. "Hopey, you are okay. We are going home, sweetie." She calmed down Hope until she stopped crying. She cleaned Hope off the stickiness of her monitors and changed Hope in a new diaper and onesie, "I am a little pirate princess." Killian brings in Hope's stroller which had the car seat ready for Hope. Killian packed Emma and Hope's overnight bags. He smiles at his little lass, Hope was moving around. "Emma, our little lass is very happy to go home."Emma smiles. "Yes, our daughter is tired of the hospital right Hope?" She gave Hope kisses on her belly. Hope grabbed Emma's hair. "Hopey." She takes Hope on her chest. "We are going bye-bye.""Hope, your stroller is ready for you, little love." Emma puts Hope in her carseat and wraps her in her baby blanket. Hope fusses. "Little love, do you want your duckling doll?" He put Hope's duckling doll in Hope's car seat, Hope was smiling. "You love your duckling doll. Dada chose you the right first toy. Right?" He gave Hope kisses on her cheek. "Dada is the best."Emma loves Killian's baby talk to Hope. "Killian, she loves holding her duckling doll and wants her duckling doll by her when she is sleeping. You chose Hope's first toy.""Aye, I knew Hope will have her little friend with her during her surgeries and keep her company always.""I have a feeling she will always sleep with it and it is very special to her since it is from her Daddy." Hope grips her duckling doll. Killian carried the overnight bags and wrapped his hook arm around his wife. "Let's go home, Emma.""Yes, we can all go home." "Aye, Hope, we are going home." They walked out of the hospital together, Emma pushing Hope's stroller with Killian on her side. Killian got the yellow bug. "Hope, Dada brought our yellow bug car." Emma put Hope's carseat and buckled the carseat in, Hope was babbling. "Yes, my duckling. We are going home." Emma kisses Hope on the cheek. Killian drove his family home. "Yay, we are home.""Aye, we are finally home." Hope was fast asleep, Emma took the car seat with sleeping Hope into the apartment as Killian brought up their overnight bags. "We are home, Emma.""Yes, we are all home." Emma places the car seat on the floor. Hope woke up from her nap crying. She takes Hope from her car seat. "Hopey, we are home baby girl." Hope makes a lot of poop. "Can you run a bath for Hope?""Aye, love one bath time for our little pirate princess." He runs Hope a bath while Emma changes Hope out of her onesie and poop covered diaper. "Hopey, you are going to be clean." She cleans Hope's poop up and carries Hope to the bathroom. "Hope, your bubble bath is ready, little pirate." He puts Hope in the bath seat, Emma helps Killian give their daughter a bubble bath. She stopped crying and kicked her legs in the water. "You love the water, my little pirate princess." Hope babbled. "Yes...water..." Hope splashes her Daddy which made him smile big and Hope smiles back at him, Emma took the picture of the daddy-daughter moment which she adored. "When it gets warmer outside, I will take you by the docks, so we can enjoy the ocean. Would you like that?" Hope splashes him. Killian chuckles. "I will take that as a yes from you." Hope began to cry."Little love, bathtime is over for you, little pirate." He wraps Hope up in a towel. "You are nice and warm. Did you have fun in your bath time? Yes, I had fun with you." He kisses Hope on the cheek.Emma smiles."She loves the water just like you.""Aye, she stopped crying when she was getting and loves splashing me. My little pirate." He gives Hope to Emma, she does Hope's after-bath routine and changes her into a clean diaper. Hope moves around. Emma sets Hope on her tummy time mat and lets Hope do tummy time. Hope was moving around. As her Mommy was lying down facing her. "Hold your head up sweetie. You need to get your muscles stronger." Hope babbles.Killian kneels down to his little lass. "Emma, I think our little lass is trying to say, "Yes, Mommy. I am doing my best." Emma chuckles. "I know you are doing your best, baby girl." Hope began to cry. Emma puts Hope on her back, which made Hope stop crying, she was kicking her toys. "Kick it, little love." She reaches for her Daddy's scruffy cheek. "Aww, you like pulling daddy's cheek.""Aye, I do not mind, love." Hope reaches her hands out to try to pull her daddy's scruff which Killian did not mind at all. Emma took pictures capturing the daddy-daughter moment she knew Hope and Killian missed each other when he was not with them at the hospital. Emma takes a shower while Killian plays with Hope. When Emma is getting out of the shower, she sees Hope sleeping on Killian. She gets a phone call from her boss. "Yes, I can work tonight...Where?" She wrote it down. "I got it...My daughter had health issues...Yes, I am on the case." She hangs up. "You are working tonight love?""Yes, they have a case for me in midtown.""While you work, I am going to watch our little lass." Emma sits next to her husband and daughter."Are you sure? Hope is still recovering from open-heart surgery.""Emma, I love spending time with my children. I promised you when you were going back to work after maternity relief that I will be home with our children. I know how to take care of our little lass. I will not let anything bad happen to our Hope."Emma sighs and looks down at her sleeping daughter. "I just did not want to miss anything with Hope.""Emma, you are not going to miss any of Hope's milestones. You are going out for a few hours. Hope has her Daddy and big brother with her. When she wakes up in the morning, she is going to be so happy to see you when she sees you." He kisses her on the cheek."You are right. I am just going to miss our little duckling so much even for a few hours.""Aye, I know Hope is going to miss her Mommy. As Hope's Mommy you need to sleep. You need to rest before work."Emma playfully rolled her eyes. "Okay. Only if you and Hope join me in bed.""Aye, we will." They go into their room. Killian snuggled with both of his two loves who were both sleeping on him which he loved. "I love my love and little love, my family." He was so happy to have his family home. When Henry returned home from school, his Dad was cooking dinner while his Mom and sister were on the couch. "Hi, Dad.""Hi, Son." They hug. "Do you want to help me cook dinner?""Yes, after I play with Hope for a little bit." He washes his hands and goes to his sister and his Mom. "Hi, Mom.""Hey, kid. Hopey, Henry is home." Hope babbles who was sitting up on her Mommy's lap wearing only a diaper. "Hi, baby sis. I am so happy that you are home." He gave Hope kisses on her cheeks making her smile. He holds Hope on his lap. "Mom, how is she?""She is good. She did some tummy time and took a bubble bath when we brought her home." Hope smiles. "You are just happy to be home with dada and Henry, right little duckling?" Hope holds Henry's finger. "Mom, Hope is very happy to be home.""Yes, Henry, she is very happy to be home." Hope chews on Henry's finger.""Hope!" Emma chuckles. "Fine, you chew on my finger. You do not have any teeth, yet." "Henry, I have to tell you something.""What is it, Mom?""I am going back to work tonight. I have got a case in midtown.""Mom, you can kick butt tonight. Dad and I will be with Hope." Hope began to cry. "Hopey. Mom, she wants you."Emma takes Hope from Henry. "Hopey...Hopey..." Hope stops crying."Yes I was right!"Emma chuckles. "You know your sister, Henry.""Of course, I do. Hope loves being with you, Mom." He faces Hope. "Baby sis, I know you love being with our Mommy right?" Hope smiles. "Yes, our Mommy is the best." He kisses her belly. "Let's show your brother raspberries." Emma gave Hope raspberries which made Hope laugh. Emma was in awe, love hearing Hope's laugh. She continued giving Hope raspberries. Henry and Killian were surprised, he took videos on his iPhone of his two loves. Emma laughs with Hope. "Swan, let me try." He gave Hope raspberries which made Hope laugh louder. Emma and Henry were both laughing with Hope. Killian smiled "Little sis, is Dad's beard tickling you more?""Lad, you can try." Henry tickles his sister, who was still laughing."Killian, Hope is laughing.""Aye, our little love is laughing. You got Hope to laugh, a milestone.""Yes, I did." She smiles down at Hope and gives Hope more raspberries. She loves making Hope laugh. Killian and Henry cooked dinner letting Emma play with Hope since they both know she is working tonight and love being sort of Hope's newest milestone. Hope began to cry. "Playtime is over for Hope." She takes home into their room and sits on the rocking chair. She puts Hope on her chest, who just wanted to nurse. Hope nursed on one breast while Emma pumped in the other breast, for Killian to feed Hope while she was working. She burps Hope. "Hopey, Mommy has to catch bad guys for work. Are you going to be a good girl for Daddy and Henry tonight?" Hope babbles and pats her Mommy's chest. Emma smiles. "You are going to miss me? I am going to miss you but I know you are going to be herewith Dada and Henry." Hope smiles. "When I get home we are going to snuggle." She kisses Hope on the head. Hope falls asleep. "I love you so much, Hope." She puts Hope in her crib and tucked Hope in and pumps more milk for her daughter. Emma got ready for work, she did not feel comfortable in her old dresses since she still had her baby weight from Hope but her boobs were bigger from nursing Hope. She got her hair and makeup done and ready for back to work. "Hope, I will see you later. I love you." She puts Hope's duckling doll next to Hope. Emma steps out of her room, Killian sees her almost dropping the drained pasta, he was in shock. "Whoa..." Emma chuckles. "My swan is very very...whoa... Emma blushes as Killian wraps his arms around his swan. "You are beautiful, Emma.""Thank you. I am literally squeezing in this dress, it is tight.." She sighs. "My body is not the same.""You are still the same Emma, my strong beautiful wife. I know you are going to catch the guy tonight.""Thank you." They kiss. She looks back at their room at their daughter. "Hope is going to be alright, love.""Is it too soon? Hope just got home from open-heart surgery. She is in recovery, she needs me.""Emma, you are going to be out only for a few hours. Hope has her Daddy and big brother to take care of her.""You are right." She hugs him. "I pumped a few bottles for Hope. If you run out of breastmilk, I have extra breastmilk in the refrigerator. If she gets fussy...""Emma, I know how to take care of Hope. She is going to be with me and Henry.""You are right, I am worried that is all, being part of a new Mommy.""Mom, you are always worried for the both of us." He hugs his Mom. "Hope is going to be in good hands with Dad and me.""Swan, I know you are going to catch the bad guy tonight.""I will." She hugs them both. "I have to go, I will see you both tonight. Henry, don't go to bed too late even if it is the weekend." "Yes, Mom." Emma leaves for work while Henry and Killian play video games. Emma drove her yellow bug to her destination to a fancy restaurant in midtown. The man who she was supposed to catch was not there yet. She pumped milk for Hope and checked her phone for texts from Killian updates on Hope, Killian texted her a picture of Henry and Hope snuggling on the couch. She smiles knowing when she is going home from work, her family is there waiting for her. Emma turns off her iPhone and sees the man she was supposed to arrest. She waits for a few moments and locks the back of the car so he won't escape later. She enters the restaurant, seeing the man who she was meeting a tall man with light brown hair and blue eyes. "John?"He smiles. "Emma?""Yes, that is me?""Hi, I thought you weren't going to make it.""Sorry, I am a little late." She joins him at the table."So, where do you want to start? I am...""Oh wait, let me guess, you are running from the government from fraud and escaping bail.""Oh, shit!" He knocks down the table and runs out of the restaurant. Emma calmly walked out of the restaurant and finds him screaming in the car. "You are not going nowhere." She stays by the door and calls the police. "What the hell?""You are breaking the law!""What are you going to do about it?" He tries to escape, she pushes him against his car and handcuffs him, luckily being former sheriff tricks comes in handy as a bail bondswoman. "You are not going anywhere." The cops came and arrested him. One of the cops paid her for arresting him. She watched the man being taken to the police station and returned to her car and drove home exhausted but felt good to be back at work. When she returned to her apartment she couldn't wait to get out of her tight dress and see her family. Emma enters the apartment finding Hope wailing in Killian's arms in their bedroom. "Killian?""Emma, Hope has been crying for a long time.""She must be in pain from her surgery." She takes off her dress and takes Hope from Killian. "Hopey, Mommy is home." She puts Hope on her chest. "Are you in pain?" She kisses Hope on the head. "Did she take her medicine?""Not since you left." Emma sighs."No wonder why she is crying. Dada forgot to give you your medicine. You will get your medicine now." Killian spoonfed Hope her medicine. "Good little love." He kisses Hope on the head. Hope snuggles with her Mommy. "She missed you, swan." Emma smiles. "Yes, I missed her too." She was enjoying skin to skin with Hope."Emma, I know you are mad.""I forgot to tell you about her medicine. How could I forget that?!" Emma began to cry. Killian hugged his wife. "I am a bad Mom...""No...no...no...you are an amazing mother to Hope and Henry,Emma. You were very busy taking care of our little lass in the hospital when she was having her open heart surgery. You barely had slept and went to work. It is my fault for not thinking of her medicine. Not your fault." He faces his sleeping lass, "I am sorry Hope for not giving your medicine on time. Dada is so sorry." Emma knows Killian is sorry. "Killian, I have an idea, we can write a schedule for when Hope needs to take her medicine so we will know when to give it to her.""Aye, we do need a schedule. I do not want our little lass to be in pain again. Even before she was in pain she was crying for you, Emma?""Really?" "Yes, she knew you weren't home when she woke up and wondered where you went. Henry calmed her down for a little bit but she cried a lot." Killian smiles. "When I see Hope with you now, she is so happy. It makes me so happy.""I am very happy to be home. I miss my family." Killian wrapped his arm around his two loves."Aye, we miss you, swan. How was work today?""I caught the man and got him arrested. It felt good working again. Did Hope eat from the bottle?""Aye, yes she did. She was being stubborn at first like someone I know." Emma chuckles. "I got her to drink her milk.""She is definitely my mini-me. She is enjoying skin to skin with me." She kisses Hope on the head."Aye, she calmed down doing skin to skin with you.""Yes and I'm loving my extra bonding time with my little duckling." Killian smiles enjoy watching his Emma being an amazing Mommy to Hope. They snuggled together until Emma fell asleep in her husband's arms with Hope on her, feeling so happy that Hope was home and their family was back sleeping under the same roof.