A/N: All characters and Once Upon a Time property of ABC and the show's creators, Adam and Eddy.

Henry was not getting dessert tonight, of that Emma was sure. What she wasn't sure of was where he was hiding. He was at the stage where everything was a game and "stay here, don't move" might as well have been a phrase in another language. But really, of all the places he chose to play hide and seek did he have to choose her workplace?

Emma cursed herself for not shutting her office door as she hurried down the hallway looking for the familiar brown head of hair. A hospital had way too many rooms for a four year old to hide in, making her task very difficult. She wasn't even supposed to be at work today- it was Sunday for crying out loud- so she had had no babysitter to leave him with. But a little girl had been found at a bus station that morning without ID and looking a little worse for wear. As the hospital's case worker Emma had been called in. She'd found out that the girl was a foster care system kid when she'd arrived, Henry on her hip, a box of donuts in her hand. The poor girl had run away from her house when she found out she was being shipped off to a new one. Not even the donuts Emma had brought could placate her. The girl's story was a familiar one and left Emma in a funk. Hence the open door.

She cursed her own weakness as she rounded the corner by the nurses' station. Ruby raised a hand from behind the desk and pointed at a room across the hall. "He ran in there," she laughed, clicking away at the computer. "I was just about to call you."

Emma allowed herself a deep breath before hurrying to the door. She peered inside, praying for an empty room. No such luck. Lying on the bed was a man in his late twenties. He was asleep, his messy black hair splayed over a forehead of half healed cuts and bruises. A deeper cut on his cheek was closed with butterfly bandages. Scruffy facial hair covered his chin, surrounding a mouth that was pinched in pain, even though he was asleep.

He was undeniably handsome but Emma didn't have time to think about that before she spied a pair of power ranger sneakers peeking out from underneath the curtain. She crept forward, the beeping of the heart monitor masking the sound of her footsteps. Just as she pulled back the curtain Henry let out a squeal of delight and bounced into her arms. Dammit. So close.

"Can I help you?" A quiet, accented voice made her spin on her heel. The man was awake, an amused smirk creeping up his face as Emma blushed hot. The smile didn't reach his eyes though. They were as lifeless as the Arctic ice they shared their colour with.

"Henry, go see Ruby. Now" Henry nodded and scurried out of the room, squealing for his favourite person. At four he just wanted attention, he didn't care who from. Emma glanced back up at the man. "Look, I'm sorry. My kid doesn't understand the meaning of privacy."

"Do you often let him run around a hospital unattended?"

"I'm not a bad mother, if that's what you're asking." Embarrassment made Emma quick to snap.

"I do believe I asked about his supervision, not your own personal skill." There was a bit more amusement to his expression now despite Emma's anger. It made him look even more handsome. What Emma? Really? She shook her head at him.

"I got called into work and had no other choice but to take him with me."

"Don't trust your husband?" Don't trust anybody.

"Trust doesn't really matter when you don't have one in the first place." His eyes softened at that.

"Sorry, lass." Why was he apologizing? It was Emma's non-existent love life. It's not like he was interested in that.

"No, I'm sorry that my kid bothered you. I'll let you get back to sleep." Emma turned with a nod. She didn't need to be in this room with a man who made her inexplicably wish she had a love life for the first time in four years.

"Hey, wait. I didn't get your name."

Emma looked back over her shoulder at the man. If she didn't know better she'd swear he looked disappointed that she was leaving. But that also might have been the shadows of the dark room playing over his features. "Emma. Emma Swan."

"I'm Killian Jones."

"Get some rest Killian." Emma called as she left his room, shutting the door behind her.

Ruby was leaning against the desk, Henry occupying her chair, when Emma reappeared in the hallway. She raised a perfectly manicured brow. "Cute huh?"

"That's not my business or yours nurse."

Ruby pouted at her and Emma rolled her eyes. She grasped Henry's hand and pulled him off the chair. They'd been at the hospital long enough. With Emma working through the week, sometimes very long hours, she didn't get enough time with Henry as it was. She'd missed the first year of his life. She didn't want to miss anymore.

"You're the first person he's talked to." Ruby's tone was curious, wondering.

"Excuse me?"

"He won't talk to the nurses or the doctors. He just sits there and nods. What did you say to him?"

"He talked first," Emma replied, glancing at the closed door. "What happened to him?"

Ruby gave her a tight lipped smile, more sad than anything. "He was mugged pretty badly. They wanted his boat I guess. It was violent. He lost his hand in the fight."

Emma felt her chest grow heavy. She hadn't noticed anything but his face. How could people be so awful? Was taking someone's hand really worth getting a boat? Where did these people come from? But that wasn't a question she should have been asking herself. She'd been at the mercy of one too many drunks, one too many people trying to play the system she depended on as a child. She knew firsthand what the underbelly of society looked like.

You didn't have to deserve what you got. Or at least she had to believe that to keep her sanity. Killian seemed like a perfectly normal person, sad and beautiful, but otherwise average. But normal was what people saw when they looked at Emma too. They saw a young mom, harried and a little jaded. They didn't see the two years spent in jail in Phoenix or the years bouncing from house to house to orphanage in a vicious and eighteen yearlong cycle.

That anonimity kept her safe from those who had hurt her. Maybe it was keeping Killian safe from something too.