Chapter 2.


"He grew pretty fast in a year," Neal said to Emma as they made their way across town to her apartment.

"You act like you've seen him before, you just met him," said Emma.

Neal just nodded and let out a small laugh. He didn't say anything until they got back to Emma's place. As he looked around Neal could still hear the words that Regina had said to Emma a year ago when Emma said that the memories Regina would give them wouldn't be real. 'Well your past won't,' Regina had said to them, 'but your future will,' so everything that had happened from the moment Emma and Henry had crossed the town line had all been their doing and not some catalyst of their false memories.

Emma made some coffee and the two of them sat at the table. The two sat in silence for a moment. Emma wasn't sure what to say or do. There was so much she wanted to say to Neal, tell him how angry she was for him leaving but she couldn't find the words.

"Ask away Emma," Neal said opening their conversation, "What do you want to know?"

Emma tried to keep her composure, "Why now? After twelve years why did you have to show up now?"

"I told you, I came to find you, to bring you back to your family. Your parents need you Emma and so do I."

"I don't even know who my parents are so how could you know them?"

"Because I met them over a year ago when we came back to Storybrooke together."

"Have you looked on any maps lately because there is no place called Storybrooke. For all I know the things you're saying could be just made up stories. You're using my son to swindle your way back into my life. You're playing me."

"I'm not playing you Emma. Your parents really are Snow White and Prince Charming. Regina replaced your memories so she wouldn't leave you and Henry as blank slates when the curse hit. The curse was going to erase your memories of Storybrooke, of all of us. We were going to just go back being stories to you."

Emma shook her head and placed her hand on her forehead. "You sound like Henry."

"He's a smart kid. You should really listen to him."

Emma's mind was racing and she got up not being able to sit any longer. She walked to the window near the red couch.

"This is ridiculous. Everything you're saying is absolutely crazy."

Neal stood and walked over to Emma. He reached over his neck and unclasped something which had been hidden under his shirt.

"Then how do you explain this," Neal said to her holding the swan keychain.

This stopped Emma in her mid-pace. She hesitated and then reached out for it.

"I thought I lost this." She looked up to him, her anger subsiding, "Where did you find it?"

"I didn't find it. You gave it to me a year ago when we ran into each other in New York. You were so shattered. We went to a bar and we talked. I asked why you still kept the keychain and you-,"

"Took it off and placed it on the table. I think I said that was to remind myself never to trust anyone again the way I trusted you."

Neal smiled at Emma's recollection but she just shook her head. "It was just a dream, it was only a dream," she whispered over and over.

"Now you know it wasn't. How else do you explain me having it?"

"You could have found it anywhere, for all I know you're lying to me now," she said trying to find a logical explanation.


Along with the dreams Emma had had about being the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, she had had dreams of Neal in New York where she was chasing someone for a reason she couldn't remember and every time she jumped him it was always Neal under the hood. Before she could hear anything from their conversation the dream had transported the two of them to a local bar where Neal told her things, things she couldn't remember except that there were a few things about him getting her home whatever that meant.

Now that those thoughts of the dreams were there Emma couldn't let them go.

"Our walk on some beach," Emma said to Neal, "You said something like you regretted leaving, that you wanted to go jail for me." Emma was now on the verge of tears, "Please tell me that was just a dream too because it would make this all so much easier if it was."

Neal took a step forward, "It wasn't a dream Emma it was real. Regina had gone missing and we went looking for her. When it was just the two of us I told you all those things. I did want to go to jail for you and I regretted leaving you."

Emma wanted to continue not believing Neal but it was hard when the evidence was staring right in her hands and right into her eyes. Emma had not shared her dreams with anyone, not even Henry so how could Neal possibly know things only in her mind when no one else did.

"It doesn't seem real," Emma admitted through some tears, "They feel like dreams. Henry's had them too, he tells me every morning when he does. I've never said a word. If that makes the dreams real then what does that say about the life Henry and I have? Are those just the false memories that Regina planted in our heads."

Neal could only nod at Emma's confirmation. He knew more than anything that Emma wanted her life with Henry to be real, to have never given him up and while on one strand she never did there was the other strand in which she had.

Emma could no longer hold back the tears. Everything she knew had all been a lie at least everything before the past year she had figured because it had been within that time frame that her life felt like hers and not like some puppet master playing around with the strings, she could never explain that sensation before but now she could.

Neal went to her and held her tight, "Shh," he whispered into her ear, "It's gonna be okay."

"How," Emma asked softly, "I don't know what's real and what's not anymore."

"I know. I'm gonna help you and Henry get your memories back, I promise. You just have to hang in there for me okay. We'll figure this out together, all three of us and then we'll go home." Neal smirked and looked at Emma, "You have a baby sister by the way."

Emma looked up at him, "Now probably isn't the time to be telling me stuff like that. The world I know and a world I don't are kind of clashing at the moment if you haven't noticed."

"Trust me once you get your memories back you'll be happy about it. You and your parents had finally found solid ground with each other and they even talked about having another baby."

"I still don't want to believe any of this you know."

"I know and you don't have to but it doesn't change anything."

Emma rested her head back on Neal's chest. "It changes everything."