Warning: Some languages.

Thanks as usual to the awesome RainMirror to beta this chapter for me. Thanks also for the reviews and favorites.

They arrived at an Italian restaurant. When Neal said he would go for a pizza, Emma just thought of a corner store pizza, not a proper restaurant. Certainly not from the casual way he dressed.

Elaine was already seated when they arrived. She rose and Neal gave her a quick peck on both sides of her cheeks. At least it is not a kiss. Emma promptly asked her mind to shut up.

Elaine shook her hand. "You must be Emma. I wonder why Neal never mentioned that he knows such a beauty. Nice to meet you."

Such a brownnoser. "Nice to meet you too," she managed as both she and Neal got seated. He was seated next to Elaine, Emma sat opposite her.

To her annoyance, Elaine looked like the lovechild between Uma Thurman and Cameron Diaz. She had long wavy blond hair. Just exactly Neal's type. She also noticed her slim feminine figure despite her formal three piece suit. She looked very elegant with her simple diamond ear rings. Way to get overdressed for a simple lunch.

"Neal, I was serious. How come you never told me about Emma?"

Emma silently smiled. I'm not the only one feeling jealous. She quickly added to herself. No, I'm not jealous. I'm with Killian, he is always there for me, quite literally actually. Neal doesn't even know me. That thought surprisingly didn't give her any comfort at all.

Neal shrugged. "Well, she is a sheriff in the town where I had my accident. I'm thankful that she told me about my life in New York. Otherwise I would just be stuck in that small town without knowing anything about my past. She is Henry's mother." Emma was surprised that he had told her about Henry. "She just literally dropped in when I was on the way here so I invited her for lunch. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not, any friend of yours is mine." Elaine reached for his hand and held it. "Perhaps she could shed light on your mysterious past." She then turned and smiled at Emma. "How do you know Neal?"

She quickly browsed through the menu. "I'm famished. I could eat an elephant. Can I just order the whole pizza for myself or do you want to share?" She noticed the exchanged puzzled glances between them and ignored them.

The next few minutes were dedicated for choosing food. For such a slim figure, Elaine certainly could eat a lot. Emma didn't expect that. Normally women like her eat like rabbits, she thought ruefully.

I may as well do my duty and make sure Neal doesn't date another Tamara.

"So how did you two meet?" I'm 1000% certain it's not over the backseat of a stolen car. Nobody can top that!

Elaine looked up in surprise as she was still perusing the dessert menu with Neal. She ordered a green tea tiramisu and to no one's surprise he ordered a pumpkin pie. I guess some things never change.

Elaine answered, "You haven't told us how you know Neal."

Emma gave a casual shrug. "Well, just like Neal said, I'm a sheriff in the town where he had his accident." That was not a lie either.

"A strange accident indeed. The one where he ended up in coma and completely forgot about his past. Why was he in that town when he lived in New York? The circumstances of his amnesia are also very strange. I've tried different techniques including aromatherapy and hypnosis but he couldn't recall anything at all, not even a slightest image or sound. He said it was all just dark. It never happened with any patient before." Elaine gave Neal reassuring squeeze on his shoulder as he grew uncomfortable as they talked about his condition.

Neal gave a rehearsed smile that didn't reach his eyes. "That's OK. I'm over it. I was not meant to remember."

Emma would have felt more sympathy for him but she was more surprised with what she said. "Patient? Your techniques?"

Elaine smiled. "Well, now I guess I can answer your question about how we met. Neal was my ex-patient. I was his therapist. He came to look for me to find the cure for his amnesia."

Emma suddenly felt irrationally angry. She glared at Neal. "I see that now you have upped your method. First, you picked up girls in the back of a car. Then at a stranger who threw her coffee at you. And now you go for therapists. Well done, Neal. Moving up the social ladder."

Neal looked like a completely lost puppy but she ignored it. She knew this look. This was his puppy dog eyes look. Don't fall for it! "I really don't know what you are talking about. What car? What coffee?"

She felt like slapping herself as she completely forgot the amnesia part when they talked about it just a minute ago. To add insult to injury, Elaine added, "It was me who asked him out. Before you accuse me of acting non-professionally, I only asked him out after I released him from my care. So no conflict of interest."

Now Emma turned her glare at her. Apparently her anger hadn't resided. "Do you ask all your ex-patients out? Perhaps you just make them more vulnerable than they already are and you take advantage of that."

"How dare you!" Elaine raised her hand but Neal was quick to catch it before she managed to slap Emma.

He shook his head and smiled his lopsided smile at Elaine. Apparently the smile worked on other girls too, Emma thought as Elaine seemed to deflate. "Should we cancel lunch now? I would rather eat in peace in my own apartment." Neal asked.

"I'm sorry for my behavior. I was being rude to both of you. I'd rather we stay and eat. I'll pay," Emma said. She could feel her cheeks redden for the third or fourth time today. She lost count.

"I'm sorry that I lost my control and nearly slapped you. I guess we are lucky that Neal's hands are very quick. It's OK, I'll pay."

"You have no idea how quick his hands are," Emma thought. Outwardly, she said, "No, I insist."

"Can we just split before we have another war?" Neal looked at both of them pleadingly.

"Sure."

"Sure."

Lunch was relatively safe albeit awkwardly as they talked about weather, football, and the Oscar snubs.

After lunch, Emma excused herself to go to the bathroom. She couldn't stand looking at how Neal looked at Elaine adoringly. That look was reserved for me. I guess I didn't appreciate what I had and I just regret when I lost it again.

She was washing her hands and looked up in surprise to see Elaine walk into the bathroom.

Elaine stood next to her and opened her purse to take out her powder and lipstick. "I know you and Neal have history, no matter how much you avoided talking about it. I'm a psychiatrist, remember? "

"I think everybody can deduce it from my less than sterling behavior."

Elaine smiled. "At least you realized that so there is hope for you. I don't know what your intentions toward Neal are but I don't want him to get hurt."

Emma scoffed. "Me hurting him? I was more worried about you hurting him." She then remembered what she had done so far since she saw Neal today and realized that perhaps Elaine had a point.

Elaine looked at her quizzically. "I really don't know why you suddenly turned up here. You had your chance when Neal was in Storybrooke."

"You thought I wanted Neal back. No, no, I don't want that." She laughed and waived her hand as if Elaine told her a bad joke. "I just want to help restore his memory. Then he can go on with his life and I can go on with mine."

"Well, your behavior doesn't seem to reflect you don't want him back. It doesn't matter. He is a big boy, he can choose. What I wonder is how you are going to restore his memory. I'm his ex-therapist and I failed. That was my first and only failure."

"Is that the reason you date him? To feel less guilty?"

"For a person who claimed not to be interested, you certainly are really interested in the nature of my relationship with him."

Emma shrugged weakly. "I just don't want him to get hurt."

"Well, I didn't ask him out because I couldn't cure him. I asked him out because he seemed to be a very nice guy who wanted only simple things in life. I don't see many of those in New York or anywhere else. Besides, I don't get the chance to meet many new guys given I'm usually very busy with my work. When I saw Neal, I just grabbed my chance. Wouldn't you with the cute smile of his? I guess in a way, I'm lucky that he is single and he practically has no other family in his life."

Hearing her last statement made Emma feel guilty again. "I think he is lucky to meet you rather than some other girls who take advantage of lonely guys. As for my method you asked, I think it's unconventional. I planned to simulate the situations that we had been together and hopefully one of them might trigger his memory."

To her credit, Elaine didn't dismiss her idea and gave it a deep thought instead. "I think that might work. Well, it's better to try something new because I'm really puzzled with his situation. It's as if something magical or supernatural is preventing him from remembering. Well, that doesn't make sense and I may sound like a lunatic to you but I don't have any other explanation."

Well, lady, your answer is closer to the truth that you expected. "I guess there is no harm in trying my methods then."

"OK, I'll let you do what you need even if you plan to take him away from me." Emma didn't know how to respond to that as she herself didn't know what to think or feel about Neal. Elaine continued, "As long as you don't put him in harm's way, physically, mentally and psychologically. The poor guy has had enough. He might look outwardly like he had no care in the world but he is actually insecure. He thinks he might be a terrible guy or a bad guy and that was the reason he had the accident. He thinks his amnesia is the way his conscience represses those memories so he won't feel bad. I told him I knew people's characters based on their daily behaviors but he was not convinced. I guess getting his memory back is the only way to make him feel secure."

Emma swallowed hard. Such a big task for her. It was also ironic that he died a hero but he came back alive thinking he did something wrong. Typical Neal. "I'll try my best then. Thanks for the tips and information!"

The therapist was putting back her makeup kits which Emma realized she didn't use at all. "Sure, no matter what happen between Neal and I romantically, I still consider him my friend. It's really hard to find a good guy like him. That's why I'm so protective of him. I think he is too naïve for his own good."

"I agree about that. I'll talk to him when we get back to his apartment. Sorry again about my rudeness earlier."

"That's fine. As long as you don't mean harm. Now I must hurry to get back to my practice. I'm already running behind. Bye."

Emma waved her goodbye and thought of the Herculean tasks ahead of her.

Note:

-As usual, please tell me what you think.