A/N: So… Every time a new episode airs this gets more and more AU… Just so we're clear, only the first two episodes of Wonderland happened as they actually did, the third goes off canon with what they saw in the Forget-Me-Knot, and the Anastasia thing. BUT… Contains dialogue from 1x04 The Serpent. Dialogue, and a little bit of situation, I mean. (1x04 The Serpent was painful though, I cannot keep it too close to canon; I just can't)

Also the timeline changes to accommodate Graham's rescue and where I want to interrupt OUAT canon might be a little wonky, I'm not sure. In this version, it takes longer for Jafar to tell the Queen to get rid of the Knave. Because I mean that "great deal of trouble" line, like, what's he done in canon besides help get rid of the Bandersnatch? Walked around and kept her company? That's not trouble. Saved her from the Cheshire Cat? Technically that helped them because they need her alive and if the cat had eaten her…

Disclaimer's in the prologue.

Emma's eyes flutter open and she looks to the clock. 4:30. A little too early to be up yet. Absently, she touches the shoelace she wears on her wrist. It came from his boot. She'd told Gold she hadn't wanted his things but the man had left the jacket in the station and secretly given the box to Mary Margaret so she could go through it at her leisure. When she'd seen his boots… Something inside her had clicked, and she'd taken the lace.

God, that dream had been wonderful, but it had been torture at the same time. Why had she dreamt him promising to come home? She knows it can't be. The dead don't come back.

Well, apparently the only doctor in town is Frankenstein, but from what David and Henry told her, he isn't really any good at bringing people back, so she isn't about to hire him for it.

She turns back to her pillow and lets out a scream. She thought she had stopped dreaming about him ages ago. Not loving him, she would never stop loving him, but the dreams had been so consistent at first and they had eventually died out.

The scream turns to tears, remembering the look on his face as he told her never to blame herself, and then the feel of his lips. She had loved him so damn much, even if she'd never admitted it, still loves him so damn much, and he's gone, out of her grasp forever. And he had been there in that wonderful awful dream looking at her like he felt the exact same way and promising to come home and it was just too much.

The creak of her door is quiet, but obvious, and she looks up to see David.

"It sounded like you were crying," her father says awkwardly, "I came to see if you were alright."

Oh, this is so weird, but she shakes her head no, not trusting herself not to break down even more if she tries to speak and he quickly sits next to her and wraps his arms around her, letting her cry into his chest.

It's awkward. She's uncomfortable. But it's 4:30 in the morning and she dreamed about her dead almost-boyfriend telling her he was coming home and she doesn't give a crap how awkward it is because she needs to let this out and if David wants to be there for her… He is her father. She needs to start letting him in sometime.

He breaks the silence after a few minutes.

"Why?" he says. That's all. One simple word.

"Graham," she whispers, "He was there and he… He told me… He told me he was coming back to Storybrooke. Back to me."

"You and Graham… You were together?" he asks, the confusion obvious in his voice. He hadn't been part of her life yet then, not really. He wasn't even seeing Mary Margaret at the time.

"Not technically," she shakes her head, "we kissed twice… He remembered who he really was."

Somehow that detail is all the more painful to admit to her father. Like it would be one thing to say she had loved Graham… And it was another to admit that love had broken a curse.

David clearly stiffens when that hits him.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," is all he offers, after a too-long moment, with a kiss in her hair topping it off, "Graham was a good man. He saved our whole family. I would've been proud to call him my son-in-law."

"Our whole family?" she asks with a sniffle, ignoring the son-in-law comment. Love able to break curses or not, she had not been at the point where she was ready to consider marrying him.

"Yeah," David confirms, and she can almost hear him nodding, "he was hired to kill Mary Margaret, but he let her go. Then when Regina put her under the sleeping curse, she was going to have me executed, but he helped me escape so I could save your- uh, so I could save Mary Margaret. If it wasn't for him, we never would've been able to have you, and, by extension, you never would've had Henry. So yeah, he saved all of us."

Of course he did, she thinks, almost half-laughing to herself. Henry had told her about the Mary Margaret thing back when he died ("Graham was the Huntsman. She took his heart when he didn't kill Snow White. Emma! She must've crushed it 'cause he was starting to remember!" he'd said, when he heard it was a heart attack. She'd lost track of how many times in the following two weeks he'd said something to similar effect; he'd only finally stopped with the accusations of murder once she'd won the election). Just her luck. She falls in love with the most wonderful man she's ever met, who it turns out is apparently a brave and selfless hero, and he dies in her arms before they really even get a chance to start.

"He said he was coming home," she tells him again, somehow, against all her instincts, burrowing further into David's embrace, "He kept saying he was coming home. Why would I dream that?"

David doesn't say anything to that. She's glad. He's not offering false comfort saying that maybe there's some magic they don't know about, not apologizing – he's just there. And that's exactly what she needs.

The next time they pass one of the trees with their many wanted posters for the Knave of Hearts, Will is surprised to see a second poster, with Graham's face, right next to the one with his own.

The two men step up to the tree and take down the other's poster to look at.

Wanted: The Huntsman, the poster in Will's hand reads, Attacks on the Queen of Hearts' men, fugitive from justice, crossing realms without a permit, and various crimes committed in the name of Queen Regina of the Enchanted Forest. Preferably with head.

"Public Nudity?" Graham reads aloud from the poster in his hands, "Apparently you were tame in Storybrooke."

"He claims that one was not his fault," Alice laughs behind them, "That he was tied to a tree and stripped."

"Oh, I'm not complaining that I never had to deal with that," Graham says, sounding as dead serious as Will's ever heard him, then looks back at the poster, "Wanted with or without head? My, you made enemies."

"Yours says 'preferably with head,'" Will informs him, "Good to know you're more valuable alive than I am."

They place the posters back. There's nothing they can do about them.

"So you were saying the Red Queen has Cyrus' bottle?" Graham prompts them as their group of three continues walking. Alice had been explaining everything that they'd gone through on their quest so far when they'd come across the posters.

"Yes," Alice says, "I think we should find a way into the palace, but the Knave thinks it would be suicide."

If Will's not mistaken, he catches Graham flinch when Alice calls him the Knave. Did that unwanted title business really mean that much to the other man?

"I think," Graham starts, "the best bet would be for one of us to go in, and the others to stay back. So I'll do it. I'll go in to try and get the bottle. If I fail, you two can go on without me."

"Sheriff," Will protests, "You've got to get back to Storybrooke, to Emma. If you fail in that castle, you're likely to end up right back in the cell we found you in."

Graham smiles, and he figures it's from the concern. When you've been heartless, having someone express concern for your well-being is rare. Especially someone who barely knows you.

"Emma thinks I'm dead," Graham says, "Much as I want to get home to her, my getting recaptured is not the worst setback in the world. I might be able to get home to her even if I do; I'm sure my imprisonment had something to do with either using me against Regina or giving me back to her, and she's in Storybrooke. I should be the one to try and get the bottle. I've been dying to act against an evil queen, no pretense of being on her side for my own well-being, for years now. Any one is as good as another."

"You," Will says, "Are either very brave or very stupid. I'm not sure which. You're making a lot of assumptions about why you were in that cage."

"No I'm not," Graham shakes his head, "I was interrogated my first day in there, about how I got here from the Land Without Magic, and I'm not valuable as my own person, not to anyone but Emma. I'm just the Queen's Huntsman to these people. Getting at her is the only reason they'd want me."

Will laughs at that.

"Oh, come on, Sheriff, I told you, people in Storybrooke did value you. Maybe you just didn't see it about anyone but Emma, but it's true. I bet no one even knows I'm gone."

"Even if you're right, this isn't Storybrooke," Graham points out, "Here in Wonderland, I'm not the beloved Sheriff. I'm just the Huntsman. Only valuable for my connection to Regina."

It had taken him time to convince the others, but Graham stands at a servants' entrance to the Red Queen's castle, about to head inside to try and find Cyrus' bottle. Alice had provided him with a detailed description, so he knows what he's looking for.

"Jack," he addresses the other man, needing to get this out before he goes in, "If something goes wrong in there, if I get captured… When you get back to Storybrooke, tell Emma I'm alive, tell her I'm in Wonderland, and tell her I'm never going to stop fighting to get back to her."

"You're kidding me, right? She'll kill me sooner than believe me. And if she does believe me, she's just going to drag me back here to get you herself."

"Please, promise me you'll tell her."

"Alright, I promise," Jack nods. They shake hands and Graham knows that Jack is telling the truth. He will tell Emma. If she believes, that's another story.

He heads inside.

It would have been nice, Graham realizes quickly, if they'd managed to find a map before he'd come in here. Not that he'd be looking for a giant "x marks the spot" – just, castles are often full of twists and turns and odd passages. He hadn't even learned all the ones in Regina's palace and he'd been caged there for years.

He keeps to the shadows, though, and after what feels like an eternity, finds the throne room, coming in a side entrance. It's not empty, the Queen is there, and so are some servants, and he manages to hide himself behind some of the drapery.

Who knows? Perhaps she'll say something and give away the location of the bottle.

He can't see, but he can hear, and when the Queen says, "There's a thing called the front door, darling. You really must try it sometime," he's worried that she somehow sensed him.

"I thought making our interactions secret would be more to your liking," Jafar's familiar voice says before he can even mentally curse himself out, let alone move from his hiding spot like an idiot. Apparently she was not addressing him. That's good.

"After all, secrets seem to be a habit of yours," the sorcerer continues.

The Queen murmurs something he can't quite make out, and he hears the servants retreat.

"There's nothing more important, between two people, than honesty," Jafar says, "Wouldn't you agree?"

Graham closes his eyes. His enemy, the man who had him caged, and Alice's enemy, the one who has Cyrus' bottle, and most likely Cyrus himself, are working together. This is good to know, but will make things infinitely harder.

"What's this about?" he barely hears the Queen whisper.

"Why didn't you tell me Alice brought a friend to Wonderland?" Jafar asks, "This Knave of Hearts?"

"Because it was an inconsequential detail. He's nothing but a cowardly thief. He's of very little concern to us."

"Actually, he's caused a great deal of trouble, so I'd say his presence is of great concern. Why did you bring him?"

"Because it wasn't quite as simple as sending Alice an invitation. Otherwise you'd have done it yourself. I needed someone that Alice trusted. That someone happened to be the Knave; he's served his purpose."

"And now his purpose is done."

"Precisely."

"Then there's no issue. Eliminate him. Remove him from the playing field."

Graham gathers multiple things from the conversation, and he's not sure which is most important.

First, they know he's escaped (the wanted posters are proof of that), but they don't know he's working with Alice and Jack.

Second, somehow, Jack was tricked into bringing Alice to Wonderland – "cowardly thief"? Graham knows the man is more than that just from the years spent under the curse, and they'd had the same interactions every day for 28 years – and he's seen the friendship between these two up close for days now; he knows that the man would not have brought Alice into a trap if he'd known it was a trap.

Third, they want Jack out of the way, which means they want Alice to be on her own, in her quest.

He knows he was supposed to try and find the bottle, but this information presses on him. He has to warn them.

He manages to retrace his steps to the exit of the castle and makes a run for the spot where they'd agreed to meet.

"Jafar and the Queen, they're working together," Graham pants, resting his hands on his knees. Alice pulls out a canteen and gives him water, which he gladly drinks.

"You're sure?" she asks. When the man had come running to the meeting spot like there was a fire at his heels, she'd thought for sure he'd managed to find Cyrus' bottle. If he had, he hasn't produced it yet.

"I was in the throne room, I overheard them talking," he explains, lowering the canteen from his lips after a long gulp, "They're definitely working together. And Jafar wants the Queen to eliminate Jack from the equation," he nods towards the Knave.

"He wants me to get desperate and use my wishes," Alice says.

"There's more," Graham says, holding up a hand, "Jack, what convinced you to come help Alice?"

"The White Rabbit," the Knave answers automatically, "He told me Cyrus was alive and Alice was in trouble and we needed to bring her to Wonderland so that… Wait, why are you asking me that?"

A pained expression crosses Graham's face and Alice watches in shock as he turns and punches the nearest tree.

"Graham, what's wrong?" Alice asks, "The Rabbit is my friend."

"Your friend or not, he's working for the Queen," Graham growls, "She got the Rabbit to get him so that someone you trusted would get you. It was a trap to get you into Wonderland."

"Bloody hell," the Knave says beside her, "Alice, if I'd known-"

"It doesn't matter," she interrupts his apology, "It's better this way anyway. When you rescued me, I was about to go through a procedure that would have erased my memories of Cyrus and Wonderland. Even if it was a trap, you did me a favor. I know that Cyrus is alive now, and I won't stop fighting for him. And if it wasn't for us, Graham would still be in that cage, instead of on his way to finding his way home. We just have to be more careful."

"That Rabbit was going to be our ride back to Storybrooke," the Knave gestures between himself and the other man, "Now we've got nothing."

She bites her lip. If Jafar and the Red Queen are after the Knave for helping her, they'll go after Graham as well. She won't, she can't be responsible for either one getting hurt.

"You don't have to stay," she says, reluctantly, "I'll continue this journey on my own; the two of you find the Rabbit and get him to take you home."

The two men exchange a look.

"No," Graham says, "You got me out of that cage, I owe you. I'm not deserting you, no matter how much I want to get back to Emma. You'll find loyalty is important to wolves."

"I'm not leaving either, Alice. You're my best friend," the Knave says, "And I would be too guilty to enjoy any of Storybrooke if I just left you all alone in Wonderland. Wouldn't even be able to look at a s'more."

"Or your Care Bears collection?" she teases.

"That's not complete anyway," the Knave shrugs, "Never did manage to get Funshine."

"Did you ever think about paying for it?" Graham suggests.

"Why would I do that? The other nine came free with the curse. It wouldn't be fair to pay for one."

Alice laughs at that, and the two men join her. Graham's discoveries certainly make their hopes bleaker, but at least they're prepared, now. They know that there will be attacks on the Knave coming.

"Sheriff?" Will asks. The two of them had split off from Alice to lead the Collectors away. Now, they were on their way back to meet her after just barely avoiding capture. He'd heard the Collectors drop, but Graham had stopped him from backtracking to see if it was Alice who'd done stopped them, with the reasoning that Alice knew the meeting place and hadn't been behind them.

"What?"

"What were you talking about loyalty and wolves for, earlier? How was it relevant?"

"The reason I didn't have a name in the old world," Graham says, "is because I was raised by wolves. The humans who gave birth to me left me to die in the woods."

"You're joking," he says, but Graham quickly shakes his head.

"There was a human couple I lived with some winters, my mother took me to them when it got too cold for me to be in the woods, but they… They were murdered when I was about seven," Graham says.

"So the reason you keep saying that no one but Emma cares-"

"Is because that's all I've ever known. It's the truth of my existence – the boy raised by wolves doesn't even count as a human. Pathetic for crying over my kills, for caring more about the pure animals of the forest, who die in honor so I may live, than about the members of my own species, the other humans. Little more than an animal myself. I saved Snow and James both and was still left at Regina's mercy right up until the curse took the land. I don't know if they thought about rescuing me and decided it wasn't worth the risk or wasn't possible or if they just completely forgot I existed, but I know what it felt like. I was nobody again. Rather… I was still just nobody. Until her."

"You're saying not once, between the couple who took you in in winters, and Emma Swan arriving in Storybrooke, did anyone care about you?"

"No… That's not quite true," Graham says.

"Boy," the woodsman's wife calls, "You know you're always welcome to stay. You don't have to keep going back to the woods just because the weather is warmer. We could give you a name, start teaching you a craft… Take care of you."

He smiles wide and runs back to hug her. The Blackwoods have been nothing but kind to him. He thinks maybe he can find a way to be a family both with them and the wolves. He doesn't want to leave the wolves, not forever.

His mother's familiar howl sounds from the forest and he lets go of Mrs. Blackwood's skirts.

"I'll come back tomorrow," he smiles up at her, "But mom's worried that I'm not home yet."

"Alright," she smiles back, ruffling his hair.

In the morning, he comes out of the woods only to find a large crowd of the townsfolk gathered outside the Blackwood home. He stays at the edge, wondering what's going on.

After a few moments, a girl, with pretty brown curls and intelligent blue eyes, spots him. She is dressed as a noble, in a frilly pale blue gown.

"Did you know them?" she asks. He nods. The Blackwoods are the only humans he's every actually spoken to and he's scared. This girl's accent is funny. Different from theirs.

"I don't recognize you," she says, "Where are your parents? Are you new here in Avonlea? It's my uncle's kingdom, but I'm here a lot."

"My family," he starts, tentatively, "is out in the woods. We move around a lot… We're around here every winter. Why… Why is everyone here?" It's not normal for wolves to be nomadic, but his family is. He doesn't know why.

"The woodsman," the girl says, "He was found dead this morning, Mama says he was stabbed. And his wife's missing but there's a lot of blood."

He blinks, trying to understand. He was just here yesterday. They were fine. They were going to take care of him.

"But…" he lets out, "they were fine yesterday."

"Well, it's not like they got sick," the girl says, "Some horrible person did this to them. You don't look well – I'll get my mother," she turns to leave but then seems to think better of it, turning back towards him, "I'm Belle, by the way. I'll be right back with my Mama to make sure you're alright. Don't go anywhere."

The girl leaves, and he runs back into the woods before she can return. Whoever had hurt the woodsman and his wife was a monster – how could humans do that to each other? His heart hardens. He's better off with the wolves.

"Guard her with your life, Huntsman," Regina hisses as she leaves the cell. After the pirate incident, the Queen was apparently not taking any chances with this prisoner.

He turns to look at her. Something about her blue eyes and dark hair is familiar.

"You're that boy," she says, after staring at him a good long while. Her accent strikes him.

"Belle?" he asks, remembering the little girl who'd told him about the deaths of the only humans he'd ever cared about.

"Yes," she nods, "I never got your name. You ran off. I told you not to run off."

"I… I'm sorry," he smiles at her, "You'd just told me that two of the people I'd cared about most in the world were gone. I ran."

"And now we're both prisoners of the Queen," she sighs, sadly. He wonders how she knows that he is not here of his own free will.

He does not say anything, only nods.

"Could you…" she starts to ask, "Does this castle have a library? I was hoping maybe you could bring me books."

"I don't know," he tells her, honestly. If there is one, he's never seen it.

They are both quiet after that, for what feels like a long time.

"My mama looked for you," she whispers finally, "Some of the other children said that you were a… A wilding. I'd never seen her so determined as she was to find you after she heard that. I think she wanted to take you in. Maybe if she had, neither of us would be in this mess."

"Maybe," he agrees, "but I think… If I was not in this mess, the world out there would be in more of one. Queen Regina would have more power."

He knows it's true – if he hadn't spared Snow… And who else would have? Those other huntsmen, they wouldn't have cared that she was pure, honorable, like the animals. They would have seen Regina's offer and taken whatever they wanted. At least, though he wasn't taken in by Belle's family, he knows some good came from that twist of fate.

"That makes no sense," the young woman says.

"Because you don't know my story," he leans up against the wall, "Nor do I know yours. What use does Regina have for you?"

"She wants to use me against my love," Belle starts.

"Regina had a prisoner, a princess named Belle," Graham tells him, "She was always kind to me. I don't know where she was in Storybrooke, but before the curse, she was my only friend."

"Well," Will says, "maybe when you get back to Emma you'll be able to find her too."

"Maybe," Graham nods.