It's been several seasons and a brand new ship later, but these Gremma feels just won't die.
It was sickly ironic that Graham died in the same way that Daniel had. That Regina would do to Emma what was done to her. That she would do to anyone else what ended her life as she knew it.
No, Emma and Graham didn't love each other like Daniel and Regina did, but it wouldn't have taken very much for them to. Just a nudge and these two, so desperate for love, would have found what they wanted, needed, in the other. But it was not to be.
He was waking up. He kissed her and he was waking up. He remembered, not much but just enough, to know that whatever he had with Regina was wrong. He was becoming his own person for the first time in ages and he wanted away from her. He wouldn't obey anymore. She was losing her pet, and to the enemy no less.
And, so, he made his decision. He left. Past life or not, there was more that he wanted right now. And maybe fierce, broken, beautiful Emma was that something more.
Emma, for her part, made her own decision. She opened her heart, just a little, and let something of the all the love she had to give out.
She kissed him and he woke up. He remembered and, regardless of his missing heart, he was whole. An entire lifetime of fog was lifted and standing before him was the sun that had made it possible. He had been stumbling through life knowing something was off but never quite figuring out what. Now, things were incredibly clear. And with that clarity came a certain lightness. She had made him happy and it showed. It shone through in his thanks, his hands, his smile, and his eyes.
Emma was happy, too, but a tentative kind of happy. People didn't look at her like she was special or take care of her like he was right then. That sort of thing was foreign to her. She didn't believe in happy endings because she had never seen one. But, as he held her close, she thought maybe she could. But it was not to be.
He collapsed and died in her arms as she called desperately for him. This was not what was supposed to happen. This was a sick joke.
They said it was a heart attack, which was true. Someone had attacked his heart and shut hers even tighter in the process.
And then everyone forgot him.
But not Emma, never Emma. She couldn't. She fought Regina and Glass to, among other things, keep his memory and position from being tainted. She fought for him in her own small way, in a way Regina never had for Daniel. And then nearly every day she would walk into the Sherriff's station wearing his badge and his bootlace on her wrist and see his jacket hanging in the corner and do his job, all right where he died. She would never forget.
I'd like to thank my sister and live-in beta, Pat the saurus, for teasing me mercilessly while helping me make this significantly less crappy.
Anyhoo, this is my first fic so feel free to tear me a new one. If I have bad grammar, the pacing's wrong, or you don't like the wording, tell me about it. Also, if you like something, point it out. Please, help me become a better writer.
Thanks for reading!