Complete The Incomplete | CS AU

20. Begging

"[...]" in this chap means that there are words that are spoken but that can't be clearly heard.

He didn't want to do it.

He was looking at her, brushing his teeth while she combed her hair, both getting ready to go to bed while Rose was in his bedroom changing.

And he couldn't do it.

Henry started crying before Emma could even finish her task and so she left the hairbrush on top of the sink and went to his nursery in a rush.

"Does he cry a lot?" Rose appeared, leaning against the doorway. "I'm a light sleeper."

"So am I."

He hadn't been always.
He doesn't remember what a good night of sleep feels like since his teenage years.
Liam dying with terminal cancer and starting working night shifts took that away from him.

"Well I'm sure I'll be way too exhausted after our... activities tonight." She smirked at him and walked away before she could see Killian gagging in his toothbrush.

---

"Everything okay?" He asked when he saw her passing by him in the corridor towards the stairs with Henry in her arms.

"I called my mom. I think he has a cold. So Mary Margaret told me it would be better if I called a doctor. He's on his way."

"Wha- but what are you going to do now?"

"Go to sleep. It's okay. This will probably take some time. We'll be downstairs so we don't make any noise."

"No, it's okay. I'll wait with you."

They were in the kitchen now, Henry's cries silencing into sobs and wheezes as she prepared a pot with boiled water.

"It's gonna be alright, baby. I'm here." She said to him as she kissed his little cheek, encouraging herself not to panic with his first illness.

"I'll go grab a towel, love. Be right back."

"Bring the nasal spray too, please?"

"Already counted on it."

---

After 10 minutes of Henry on her lap, the steam helping him loosen the congestion and Killian and Rose just staring at them - Rose in a more when-can-we-go-to-bed posture - Emma finally pulled Henry away from it and wiped away his small nose.
His eyes were semi-closed now, he was just about to fall asleep when the door rang, which meant the doctor had arrived.

The doctor checked his nails and lips' color, asking his mother if he had been having trouble breathing or fever.
They ended up concluding that Henry wasn't that bad, this being just the start of a cold which could be avoided if they did the steaming before bed and that a nasal aspirator would do some good.

"I'm so sorry for overreacting."

"I have to confess I was waiting for a lot worse after I heard you on the phone." Doctor Whale, younger than she'd expect from when she heard him on the phone, told her. "But you did good on calling me. Henry's barely 4 months old. All care is good. And you did great while I wasn't here."

Emma smiled, receiving the compliment that she didn't even know she so needed it.

Killian told her that she was a great mom all the time, but he was Killian.
Just like Mary Margaret or David.