Apologies for how long this took! I fought with it for the longest time. I'm getting ready to story on the next chapter though, so hopefully it won't be so long this time.


Emma watched as Henry entered James' room, and smiled sadly as the young boy climbed onto the hospital bed. Her chest clenched uncomfortably when Henry buried his head into James' chest. Even from a distance, she could see his small frame shake, and she didn't miss James rubbing soothing circles on his back. A sob caught in her throat, and Emma bit her lip to keep it from coming out.

"He'll be okay. Henry's a strong boy."

Emma turned her glassy eyes onto Graham, who put a hand on her shoulder. "I wish I could say the same about me."

Graham offered her a small, crooked smile. "But you are. You don't even see it!" he sighed as he shook his head. "That's how I know you're still in there—somewhere." he searched her eyes before continuing. "You've been like this, for as long as I've known you. Never realizing just how strong and special you really are. It's kind of heartbreaking, Emma Swan."

Emma hung her head. "Special? I don't think so. Someone special wouldn't hurt people the way I do. That little boy-" she heaved a sigh, before meeting Graham's eyes again, "my little boy, is in that room crying because I can't be his mother."

Graham pulled Emma into his arms. He waited for a moment, expecting her to fight back, before stroking her hair. "You are a very special person, Emma Swan. You are loved and you are needed." He paused, as he kissed her hair. "Henry needs you, so much. I know that it scares you—that isn't anything new either—but it's the truth. It's fine to be scared, Emma. I would be worried if you weren't terrified, but you have got to stop shutting everyone out. You need to let your family in. They want to help you—they need to, and you need to let them."

Emma nodded against his chest, as she wrapped her arms around him. Her heart swelled slightly, and she knew that she was starting to fall in love with this man. For a moment she wondered if she had loved him before—but the warmth in her heart answered that. Emma could tell that she wasn't the type to fall in love easily—so if she was already feeling such strong feelings without remembering Graham—then she had to have loved him before.

"I need you—promise you won't leave."

He chuckled lightly, as a smile crossed his lips. "Never." He pulled away and looked her in the eye. "You're kind of stuck with me."

Emma returned his smile, before winking at him. "I guess you're stuck with me too, then."

She turned back toward the window, and was relieved to see Henry laughing with James. It caused the small smile on her face to grow. For the first time since she had woken up five months earlier, she felt truly happy. James was awake—and fairly healthy. Now all they needed was for Snow to come out of surgery. Emma could deal with her having a broken ankle, but she didn't think she could take any more drastic changes in her life. Snow needed to come out of that surgery, and be all right.

"Ms. Swan." Emma heard. Cringing slightly, Emma turned in unison with Graham and faced the doctor. "Your mother is out of surgery. I need to speak to you." Those were not words that Emma wanted to hear. Looking up at Graham, he nodded before nudging her shoulder. Pinching the bridge of her nose, Emma followed the doctor, all the while praying that her mother was going to be all right.

Graham shoved the door to James' room open. Peering inside, he watched as Emma's father smiled softly at him. Graham noted the young boy sound asleep, curled up against James' right side. He felt so bad for Henry, everything going on was a lot for anyone to adjust to, but it was almost impossible to ask an almost 11-year-old to just go with the flow. Especially when said young boy has already been through so much already.

James carefully gestured Graham into the room, all the while trying to not jostle Henry. Graham sat in the chair that Emma has occupied only minutes earlier. He groaned out quietly as his back protested the uncomfortable chair. After he was situated, Graham looked up at James.

Prince James was a man that Graham had respected. To be fair, Graham hadn't known James very well in Fairytale Land, but what he did know made him respect the man that he was. Graham had always seen James as the strong-willed, sword-wielding man that he was. Even thinking back of James time spent as David, or at least as much of it that Graham had witnessed, he still saw hints of the man that James was. Even if James wasn't a king, he would still command respect. It was something that just seemed flow off of him constantly. So, seeing him laid up in a hospital bed was a little disconcerting for Graham, but he didn't want to make James uncomfortable. Especially since he wasn't even sure how James would feel about the fact that he and Emma had some sort of odd relationship, even if it had been for a short time.

"Thank you." James spoke up first.

Graham's neck popped at the speed his head whipped around. He stared at James, and knew after a few moments of his scrutinizing gaze, Graham realized that James was fidgeting uncomfortably. It caused Graham to smile, because it was something that Emma did when she was uncomfortable. "Sorry. Didn't mean to stare—it's just—" Graham sighed, as he ran a hand through his hair. "Why are you thanking me?"

James laughed lightly, careful to not rouse Henry. "Because, it seems that you are always saving the women in my life. Snow—Emma. Where I'm from, that is enough reason to thank a man."

Graham bowed his head. Even if he wasn't the man he had been back in Fairytale Land, he still wasn't used to having someone actually be thankful for him. Especially not someone like Prince James. He tried to offer a smile, but Graham was fairly certain that it came out more of a grimace. "No thanks needed, but you're welcome."

"Of course there is, Graham. You are such a brave man. I'm not just talking about now—and everything you've been through here. I'm talking about all of it. You directly disobeyed Regina's orders to kill Snow. You did so, knowing that she would take your life from you instead, but that didn't deter you from going forward. From saving my wife, and ultimately my daughter-" James sighed. He wished that he could make Graham look at him, but fear of waking his grandson left him unmoving. Instead, he quietly cleared his throat, and waited. After a few moments, Graham's head lifted slightly. "I want you to know that I am so sorry."

Graham's eyebrow lifted slightly, a look of confusion lit up his face. "Why are you sorry? I should be apologizing to you."

This time, James' eyebrow shot up. "I'm sorry, because I feel partially to blame for you dying-" he paused, his brow furrowed slightly as he frowned before continuing, "why are you sorry?"

Graham nodded, as he let the information sink in, before opening his mouth to speak. "Because I never should have let Emma talk me into staying at the hospital. I should have gone with you. If I had, maybe you wouldn't be-" he paused, as he gestured to the hospital bed before continuing, "here."

James chuckled. "Emma would have never let you come. She would have strapped you to the bed herself, if she thought you'd chase after us. Besides, Graham, look at us. One of us was in a coma for five months, the other was shot so severely that they almost died—and ended up with amenisa. I think it's safe to assume that something even worse would have happened to you. As much as it would have pained Emma, if she knew who I was, to see me in a coma, she would have been utterly devastated if she lost you again." James ran his free hand over his face. "Snow told me about what happened. How you and Emma-" James groaned. He didn't understand why he was finding it so hard to find the right words. "How Emma was there—when-"

"When I died." Graham's face held a solemn expression. His jaw was tight, and his lips were set in a firm line. "From what I remember, which isn't a lot, she was there, yes." Graham nodded.

"What I'm trying to say, is that moment broke her heart. Emma doesn't allow herself to be heartbroken, not easily. So the fact that your death had such a profound impact on her and her life, shows that you had found a way to break through her walls. Even if just a little bit. The moment you walked back into her life, the walls that she had been building back up were knocked back down. I saw it the moment she saw your face. That scared and confused look on her face—it was because she was still trying to move past your death. It was hiding what she was really feeling. Something that I firmly believe that she still feels now—she just doesn't know that she's feeling it. She loves you, Graham, and that is enough for me."

Graham eyed James carefully. This was not the direction he was expecting the conversation to go. Hell, Graham wasn't even sure what direction this was. "Enough for what?" he asked quietly.

James smiled softly at Graham. "Enough to date her."

A grin broke out on Graham's face, as he attempted to hold in the laughter that bubbled up his throat. "You do know that if Emma finds out that you just gave me permission to date her-"

"She'll take a swing at me? Oh, yeah. I know that. In fact, I'm betting on it. My little girl is still in there. I'm fairly certain if I piss her off enough, she'll make an appearance."

Graham couldn't stop himself. He barked out a laugh, as Henry moaned from the bed. He clamped his mouth shut, a little too late as Henry sat up, rubbing his eyes. "What did I miss?" he asked sleepily.

Emma sat with her arms perched on her knees as they bounced in anticipation. Dr. Whale had explained that Snow's surgery had gone according to plan. That she would be on crutches for an undisclosed amount of time. According to Whale, it would be until he saw her ankle could start holding her weight. At which point she would still need to use the crutches, so she didn't overwhelm her ankle, until he saw fit. Then, with therapy, she could continue on without the crutches. It seemed like a lot of work, but Emma had personally promised that she would make sure that Snow followed his orders. She then proceeded to promise herself that she would take care of Snow, and that she would help her with her physical therapy when the time came.

His last explanation had been that she should be waking up anytime now, and that Emma was free to sit with her until she did. Once that happened, he had explained that she was to retrieve him so that he could explain it all over again to Snow. Emma had forced herself to not roll her eyes at him, but she couldn't hide the glower that overtook her face.

A groan coming from her left, brought Emma out of her internal rambling. Twisting her head, she watched as Snow blinked her eyes. Though she couldn't see them well, Emma could tell that they held a slightly glassy look to them.

"Emma?" Snow called out, her hand reaching out for Emma's hand.

Emma clasped it tightly, before standing up so Snow could see her. "Hey. How are you feeling?"

Snow blinked her eyes again, trying to remove the remaining blur from her vision. "Like I've been drugged." A slow lazy smile crossed her lips.

"No pain?" Emma asked, her eyebrow arched slightly.

Snow shook her head, causing the blurring to return to her vision. "Nope." she popped the 'P' loudly, before giggling.

Emma couldn't help herself. She chuckled along with Snow. "Wow, they must have you on the good stuff."

Snow tried to sober herself, before attempting to scoot herself into a sitting position. It failed miserably, as her arms practically flailed around like they weren't actually connected to her body. Groaning, Snow glared at her arms, before turning her pouting face to Emma. "Help your mother out?" she asked, before giggling again.

Emma fought against the cringe that formed at the word mother, and simply rolled her eyes before readjusting the bed so that Snow was sitting up. "Better?"

Snow nodded slowly, as she pinched her eyes closed. When she opened them again, Emma noted the change in her facial expression. "We need to talk."

Emma groaned, and moved the chair so that she was sitting a bit closer to Snow's bed. There was no way she was going to refuse her mother anything at this moment, and if she was going to be forced to talk she was at least going to be within earshot. "Shoot."

Snow sighed, as she played with the edge of her hospital blanket. While she attempted to gather her thoughts in her muddled, drug-laced brain, she remembered both of the times that her daughter was in one of these beds. Neither time was particularly pleasant, but the latter was the worst. Not only had Emma been on the brink of death, but she had awoken to a room full of strangers.

"About what happened-"

"I am so sorry." Emma said, her voice breaking, as she pinched her eyes closed. She refused to allow tears to fall. She had already decided that all her crying wasn't helping anyone, and it was only serving to piss her the hell off.

"No, Emma. I did not bring this up for you to apologize. You have nothing to apologize for."

Emma's eyes snapped open as she stared at Snow. "Of course I do! Look at you. You have a freaking metal plate holding your ankle together because I decided that I couldn't handle my emotions. How is that fair?"

Snow nodded. "It's not, Emma. To be honest, I was more worried about finding you than I was about paying attention to what was around me. I fell because I wasn't watching where I was going close enough. That is my fault. Not yours."

Emma laughed, mirthlessly. "Yeah. Right. If I hadn't run off to begin with-"

Snow held up her hand. "You were doing what you always do, Emma. No one can fault you for that. I shouldn't have pushed you so hard to go see James. It was obviously too much, too fast."

Emma shook her head. "No." her voice was merely a whisper. "I'm glad I came. I'm glad I talked to him-"

Snow smiled brightly. "He's awake?" Emma merely nodded. "Oh that is fantastic news!"

"Didn't you see him—y'know, wake up?"

Snow nodded slightly. "I saw his eyes were open, and then what Graham told you. I just assumed that he hadn't woken back up."

Emma smiled softly. "He did. We talked." her smile grew slightly as she thought back on her talk with her father. "He wants to help me remember."

"He is a good person for that. James went through a similar experience."

"Yeah, he tried to tell me about it—but it kind of freaked me out." Emma bowed her head. "Is that normal for me? To freak out about stuff?"

Snow laughed lightly. "Yes, sweetheart. As long as I've known you, you've never been great at dealing with your emotions. Especially when they are overwhelming. I can only imagine that is intensified right now. You don't have to feel bad about that. All we want from you is an attempt. For you to try. To stop withdrawing from us, and to try to become apart of this family—again. You were able to do it once, I have faith you can do it again."

Emma smiled. "I am supposed to be making you feel better. Not the other way around."

Snow reached out and grabbed Emma's hand. She smiled softly, when Emma didn't recoil from the touch. "I'm your mother, Emma. My number one priority is to always make you feel better—no matter how I might be feeling."

Emma fought against the cringe again. She really wanted to try to accept this woman as her mother, whether she remembered her or not, but hearing the word had her heart racing. "I have to go get the doctor. He has explicit orders for you, and I promised to enforce them."

Snow rolled her eyes. "I won't use crutches." she called as Emma disappeared. A smile crossed her lips. Her daughter was trying, that much Snow could tell. She couldn't ask for more—not right now.