Forever
A/N: (mostly) post-Neverland (I know it hasn't happened yet, all I'm really going to assume about it is that they are successful). The rescue party returns to Storybrooke shortly after Bae/Neal, Aurora, Phillip, and Mulan make it there from the Enchanted Forest. Emma faces a difficult decision in regards to her love life and discovers Storybrooke's best kept secret. Gremma, with hints of Captain Swan and Swantheif/Swanfire (for drama, not as serious possibilities). (The name of this fic, "Forever," also happens to be the name of a Rascal Flatts song that gives me all sorts of Gremma feels. Seriously, go look up the lyrics if you don't know it.) THIS IS ONLY PART ONE. THERE ARE MORE PARTS TO COME, INCLUDING ONE THAT IS KILLIAN-CENTRIC BECAUSE I KNOW I HAVEN'T DONE HIM JUSTICE IN THIS PART. So don't get mad. Please.
Disclaimer: If I owned Once Upon a Time, Graham never would have died in the first place, and he and Emma would probably be married by now, and Neal and Bae would not be the same person, and did you see that time Tamara killed Pinocchio, who was made out of wood, with electricity? Yeah, that wouldn't have happened because it was stupid. Also Robin Hood's role would have been worthy of all that advertising before Lacey and I would have moved heaven and earth to have him played by Jonas Armstrong. But since none of the above statements are true, you can clearly see that I don't own it. Sadly.
May, 2012, The Forest, Storybrooke, Maine
His return to consciousness is swift, but he does not wish to open his eyes. He has not dreamt in a very long time – since before, even, he was tasked with the murder he could not commit – but he prefers sleeping to waking. When he is awake, the Queen does unspeakable things to him.
But then a familiar wet nose is pressed into his hand, a tongue licking him lazily.
His brother?
Impossible. He has not seen his brother since… Since the Queen's men brought him to her.
He opens his eyes and finds he is in a forest he does not recognize.
A near impossibility in and of itself, since he knows all the forests of the kingdom like the back of his hand.
His heart is beating a mile a… His heart?
With the realization that he has his heart back, he bolts upright. Save his brother, he recognizes nothing around him.
His brother stands and waits for him to do the same. He is a little unsteady on his feet.
His brother leads him through the forest and shows him to a nearby town. The signs say "Storybrooke." He hides in the shadows, watching. The people are in a bit of a frenzy. He sees and recognizes Snow – whose hair is far too short, for some reason – and her prince. They both look very different.
With them is a blonde woman and a child and his heart thumps harder though he cannot even see her face, does not know who she might be.
His brother nudges him, as though encouraging him to go to them, but he cannot do that. He does not know why… He does not know why he wants to go to her, be close to this woman he doesn't recognize, but he does and that frightens him.
He returns to the forest.
Present Day, Jolly Roger, Storybrooke Harbor, Storybrooke, Maine
As the little town grows larger and larger in Emma's field of vision, a familiar arm wraps around her waist. Her parents had not been happy about her "relationship" with Captain Hook – if it could even be called that – but they'd reluctantly accepted that she was a grown woman.
"Swan," he whispers, placing a kiss on her neck, "Stay with me, love."
Emma freezes. She understands what he is asking. Forever.
She isn't sure she is ready to give him that. Commitment… Commitment has never been her strong suit. There have only ever been two men in her life she's seen herself committing to like that… She shuts that train of thought down quickly. One had left her willingly, the other not so much, and then the first had come back into her life only to leave her once more. If either were to come back now – something she is sure is impossible – only the second might she still consider "forever" with and be as sure about as before his untimely death.
No, she is not ready to contemplate forever in regards to Killian Jones. It brings back too many memories of the other man with blue eyes and an Irish accent that she lost right when she realized he could be forever.
"Give me time to think about it?" she requests, thankful her voice has not left her totally.
"Aye, lass. All the time you need," he says, giving her another kiss and then heading back to the helm, where Henry has been steering, just like the last time they sailed into port on this ship.
She disembarks quickly, probably too quickly granted that she still has sea legs, but she's so glad to be back in Storybrooke, because it's home. And then Red is there with Dr. Whale and hugging her and something that the woman says stops her short.
"You'll never believe it!" Red smiles, "Neal didn't die when he fell down the portal, and Aurora and Phillip and Mulan rescued him and they all just got here from the Enchanted Forest!"
Everyone looks surprised at the announcement, and none look happier than Henry, and then Neal is running up to them and he takes her in his arms and says "Emma Swan, will you marry me?"
Snow and David exchange a panicked look, Regina barely suppresses a laugh, Hook hides his anger quite well, and Emma, confronted by two offers of forever in ten minutes, wrenches herself from his grasp and flees.
Her sea legs don't prevent her from finding the Sheriff's office and locking the door, sinking to the floor and hyperventilating.
Her eyes land on the worn leather jacket that she'd tried to refuse when Gold offered it to her. He had apparently snuck in and hung it on the coat rack shortly afterwards, and she'd never had the heart to get rid of it.
She stands when she has calmed significantly and walks over to the jacket, shrugging it on. If he was still around, if he had given her an offer of forever to compete with these two others, she knows she would say yes to it.
She would say yes to it in an instant.
She ducks out of the office the back way, still wearing his jacket, and heads for the Storybrooke cemetery, quickly finding the grave that simply reads "Graham Humbert, Beloved Sheriff" and sinking down in front of it.
"I love you, Graham," she whispers, tracing the letters of his name, "God, I love you. Forever."
She looks up over the tombstone only to meet the eyes of that wolf, that wolf that led them to Regina's family mausoleum, that wolf that made her crash into the Storybrooke sign, that wolf with one black and one red eye.
The wolf makes a small bark, then turns and starts walking to the woods. Emma follows, curious.
She nearly loses him a few times, but it is when she reaches the t(r)oll bridge clearing that she comes to a stop.
A familiar figure is hunched down, giving the wolf a good scratching behind the ears.
"Where have you been, brother?" he asks, and his voice is so much the same that she dares to believe, for a moment, that she isn't hallucinating.
She steps into the clearing, and a branch cracks underfoot.
He looks up at her and there is no recognition in his eyes. And why should she have expected there to be? Surely, if he remembered her, he wouldn't have banished himself to the forest.
He looks back down to the wolf, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
"Brother," he says, "Did you lead her here?"
"He did," Emma answers for the wolf.
"He has tried leading me to you before," he admits, "You are friends with Snow White and her prince?"
"Well… I mean… They're my parents," Emma replies, not sure he will believe her. Sometimes she still has a hard time believing it herself and he clearly doesn't remember Storybrooke.
He stands and comes closer, looking her over.
"Yes, I see the resemblance," he says after a moment, "You have your mother's chin. And her eyes."
"You saved her life," Emma says, "Right? I was told… You gave up your heart for hers."
"I did," he nods, "somehow it is back now."
"Why do you stay out here in the woods?" Emma asks, "You would be more than welcome in town. Well, everyone but Regina would welcome you in town and her opinion doesn't really matter all that much anymore…"
"This is my world," he says, and Emma recalls in an instant their search for her father while the curse was still in place, "What is that place? It is like no town I have ever seen before."
"Regina cast a curse," Emma explains, "Everyone from the Enchanted Forest was brought here, without their memories, and frozen in time for 28 years. I broke her curse a while back. Almost two years, now."
"That's when I woke up here in the forest with my heart back," he says, stepping into her personal space, their faces so close all she would have to do to kiss him is tilt her head a little and lean in.
"I remember her talking about a curse," he continues, breath tickling her face, "but nothing between her casting it and waking up in the forest with my heart back. Why?"
"I don't know much about how magic works," Emma says, not wanting to tell him that he died in her arms.
"And why does my brother keep trying to lead us together?" he asks.
"I don't know," Emma says, knowing that he would never believe her saying they were True Love, "I've seen your brother before. He made me stay in town when I first came here. And then I saw him again today and it seemed like he wanted me to follow him and he led me to you."
"Three times he has tried to lead me to you," he says, "And today he leads you to me?"
"Do you have a name?" she tries changing the subject.
"No," he says, "Those of us raised by wolves tend not to have names. But you must have one, Princess."
"Emma," she breathes, feeling silly introducing herself to the man she loves more than anyone except her child – her parents included.
"Emma," he repeats after her, and the sound of her name in his accent goes straight to her head and she presses her lips to his firmly.
One of his arms wraps around her waist, pulling her in and molding her to him as he deepens the kiss, clearly acting on instinct. His free hand tangles in her hair as she wraps her arms around his shoulders.
"Graham?" she squeaks hopefully when he breaks the kiss and the look in his eyes is exactly like that night in the station, so full of love and awe, because she remembers all too well that he had remembered when she kissed him that night – she remembers every single detail of that night, it's seared into her brain far too painfully.
"I remember," he says again, just like that night, then his eyebrows furrow in confusion, "How is this possible? I was dead."
"I really have no idea," Emma smiles widely, "But I'm glad it is."
"I am too," he agrees, taking her hand in his.
"Let's go home," Emma suggests, resting her head on his shoulder as they start walking back towards the town.
"Home?" he says, "Emma, you are my home."
Her smile grows even wider on her face, something she thought impossible.
"That may be," she says, "but I have two other guys to break up with, and Henry has missed you, and I haven't had a decent meal in months because I've been in Neverland. Granny's is calling my name."
They emerge from the woods near the hospital, where Emma is surprised to see most everyone she left at the docks. She lifts her head from Graham's shoulder but does not drop his hand.
"Sheriff!" Henry calls, clearly excited, then runs and crushes Graham in a hug. Emma sees that Hook and Neal are both glaring at the man by her side, and she does drop his hand momentarily to allow him to hug Henry back.
"Hey, buddy," Graham says, "Good to see you."
Emma walks over to the other two men in her life, regretting only that she has to hurt them.
"Em, what's going on?" Neal asks, and she wonders briefly if Hook mentioned their relationship, which would make this even more awkward.
"I love him," she says, cutting to the chase, "I could never admit it, but I have loved him from the moment I met him. I thought he was dead – he has a grave out in the cemetery and everything. You…" she is addressing both of them, and from the looks of it they both understand, "You asked me for forever, and I panicked and I went to his grave. And there was a wolf there, a wolf that I hadn't seen since the day I thought he died, and it lead me to him. And I have a second chance with him, a miracle second chance with him, and I just can't give that up. When I kissed him, before, he remembered his life from before the curse…"
"True Love's Kiss," Hook interrupts, his voice cold.
Neal looks pained when Hook says it and for a moment she thinks it was a mistake not breaking it off with them in a more private fashion, rather than both at once, but she hadn't anticipated seeing them so soon.
"Okay," Neal says, surprising her, "Em, all I want is to know you're happy, and if he's your happiness… You shouldn't feel bad about being with him instead of me. I kind of screwed you over, I don't deserve you. I mean, I held out hope, all this time, and then when you said you loved me and I wasn't dead I thought, you know, if I ever got back to you I might have a shot, but, obviously, I was wrong."
Hook says nothing, and she is grateful.
She turns and sees her parents and son talking to Graham and smiles at the sight. Regina is, thankfully, staying back, away from him (she's almost positive that if Regina goes near Graham, ever again, she will kill the Queen). He does not appear entirely comfortable, surrounded by everyone, and she knows the feeling. She returns to his side quickly and when she takes his hand she feels him relax.
He stays by her side as they all go through the health checks that apparently Dr. Whale insisted the entire group fresh back from Neverland take (though Rumplestiltskin had apparently refused steadfastly and went straight to his shop to find Belle), and she can feel everyone's eyes on them every time he sneaks a kiss. Her father seems just as upset as he had been when it was Hook she was with, even if her mother is so much happier; Regina and Neal both seem to be envious, for whatever reason – she understands in Neal's case, sort of, and in Regina's she assumes it has something to do with the fact that Graham is alive after having his heart crushed to dust and Daniel, whose story she's heard bits and pieces of, is not; Henry is the happiest she's ever seen him, and Hook is silently fuming in anger.
She hates that she didn't listen to her head and not get involved with the pirate, because she hates hurting him like this, but given the choice she will always choose Graham – he is the first man who ever chose her.
…
Emma and Graham are walking towards Granny's when the glare finally leaves David's face. Hook has gone back to his ship, Neal has taken Henry back to Granny's with him, and Regina has gone who knows where. His wife is by his side and his daughter is going on a date with a man he thought was dead and the only reason he is smiling is that she is not headed to the ship with the pirate.
"She's an adult, Charming, we had this conversation," Snow elbows him gently.
"And I've never seen someone change their mind about who they want to be with so quickly."
"Change her mind? No. She didn't change her mind. If she'd known before today that Graham was alive, Hook wouldn't have been able to touch her with a ten-foot pole. You weren't there for her when he died, but I was. Their connection was so undeniable and then he died in her arms. It was bad. She wouldn't admit it, but half the reason that she wanted to be Sheriff is because he picked her to be deputy and that meant he would've wanted her to be Sheriff in his absence."
"You said she and Hook were obviously attracted to each other from the start," David points out, and Snow sighs.
"Yes, they were. But attraction… What she and Graham have runs so much deeper than attraction. They're like us. True Love."
"Snow, you can't be sure they're True Love," David says.
"Yes, I can," Snow shakes her head at her husband, "The day he died, he came to me asking about past lives, and if we might know each other from one and if he'd ever hurt me. He started remembering because he kissed her. And she told me that right before he died, she kissed him and he said two things. 'I remember' and 'Thank you.' So I can be sure that they're True Love, because True Love's Kiss broke his curse."
…
Silence. That's what greets Emma and Graham when they walk into Granny's Diner. Quite a few of the townspeople are there, and they are all staring. Maybe taking a dead guy out on a date without preparing the rest of the town isn't the best idea, because Granny has dropped her pen and Red very nearly drops a tray full of food on the dwarves.
The two of them take an empty booth, and Red comes over as soon as she's delivered the food she'd nearly dropped.
"Good to see you, Sheriff," Red says, "Uh… I mean… Graham. Uh… I don't know your real name."
"Graham is fine," he says, reaching across the table for Emma's hand. Even though she is not usually one for PDA, she takes it. She feels silly, like she hasn't kept her hands off him for five minutes since they kissed in the forest, and truth be told she probably hasn't, but she allows herself some leeway because as far as she'd known until just this afternoon, he was dead.
"Um, you guys can have a room at the Bed and Breakfast, if… If you need," Red offers, "I mean the loft has to be kind of crowded, right? So, tell me when you pay and I'll get everything set up for you."
"No," Graham says quickly, shaking his head, not wanting to be with Emma in the same place he'd used to have to bow to Regina's whims, "That won't be necessary. We're just here for dinner."
"Grilled Cheeses?" Red asks, remembering when they'd come in together as friends and co-workers a few times before… Whatever it was that got Emma so upset with him. She thought Emma had said something about him "leaving the mayor," but she hoped for his sake she'd heard wrong.
"That sounds perfect to me," Emma smiles, and Graham nods along.
When Red leaves their table, Granny comes up with a sheet of paper.
"So, I don't really know why we kept this," the older woman says, "But Emma, it looks like your mother won the bet. Seems on the day we all thought he died, she came in that morning and put ten dollars on 'Emma's walls are so high, at the rate they're going it will be two and a half more years.'"
"You had a bet going on when Graham and I would get together?" Emma asks.
"Yeah. Gave everyone a refund after the announcement… Well, you know. But I suppose Snow should know she won as a point of pride type thing."
Graham chuckles at how red Emma's cheeks get.
"Snow didn't technically win," he says, giving Emma's hand a squeeze, "I did die, but if I hadn't, your bet would've been over then."
Granny shakes her head.
"That makes Sidney our winner and no one has seen him since he confessed to kidnapping Kathryn. So, Snow wins. We can tell her."
"I'm going to kill her for placing that bet," Emma mutters, "Friends don't do that."
"No, you're not," Graham shakes his head, laughing, "If I couldn't kill her, you certainly won't be able to bring yourself to do it."
"She wasn't betting on your love life!"
Graham raises an eyebrow.
"When you were supposed to kill her," Emma clarifies, "She wasn't betting on your love life when you were supposed to kill her."
"No, when I was supposed to kill her I didn't have a love life. And I hated all human beings. You don't have that advantage."
…
Emma and Graham arrive back at the loft to find a note taped to the door.
"We let Regina and Neal fight over who would have Henry for the night; we are staying at Granny's. You two have the place to yourself. Snow," it reads, and Emma groans, remembering walking in on her parents and wondering if they were trying to prevent that happening again, only with Graham walking in on it too – or if they were trying to prevent the opposite, themselves walking in on her and Graham.
"Never would've expected James to be so open to his baby girl being alone with a man," Graham chuckles upon reading the note.
"Trust me, he is sitting in their room at Granny's pouting over this arrangement," Emma says, "This will all be Snow's doing."
"Am I sensing a story here that has something to do with what you said about 'two other guys to break up with'?"
"Just one of them," Emma says with a shrug, "I thought the other one was dead until I got off the boat from Neverland and he proposed. I took care of that problem while we were at the hospital, though, you're the only guy who has my attention. Promise."
She unlocks the door and he glances at the extra lock that August installed.
"That's new," he says.
"Pinocchio installed it before the curse broke," she explains, "Regina framed Mary Margaret… Snow… Well, I mean, she was cursed, so Mary Margaret – for murdering Kathryn Nolan. She has these keys that can get her in anywhere and Pinocchio put that in for some extra security."
She makes sure all the locks are closed behind them and then pulls Graham into another kiss.
…Six Months Later…
There is a chill in the autumn air as Graham carries Emma through the forest, blindfold tight over her eyes. He has been working on this surprise for her for months. He thinks it will be good for all of them. And since she told him last night that she was pregnant, since she is giving him a child, a family, he wants to give her this.
He reaches the deep clearing and sets his fiancée down. He had proposed two weeks ago, but he had been searching for the right ring from the morning after she had come back to him.
Ultimately, he had needed the help of the Blue Fairy and the dwarves to create the right ring, but it had turned out perfectly. A simple gold band, a ruby in the shape of a heart, and a small diamond to either side. The engraving "With you, I feel again."
"Are you ready?" he whispers in her ear, one hand ready to remove the blindfold, the other resting on her still-flat stomach as his mind wanders to what their child might look like.
"I don't know what I'm ready for, but yeah, I'm ready," Emma laughs.
He takes the blindfold off and watches as her eyes widen in wonder, taking in the sight before her.
He has had a lot of help, building the cabin in front of them. Help from the dwarves, from the former giant, from Gepetto and Pinocchio, from her father, from Michael Tillman… Half the town, it seems, has pitched in, and they've all agreed to help again should additions ever need to be built. He will have to start making calls later. There isn't a nursery.
"It's beautiful," she smiles.
"It's not quite done," he says, giving her a squeeze, "but it's ours. There's a room for Henry, and all the modern conveniences… The woods are my world, Emma, and it was cramped in the loft so I thought… Maybe this could be home."
"It's perfect," Emma shakes her head, tears in her eyes, "I love it."
She kisses him quickly.
"And for the record, Graham, you're my home," she says, "Forever."