AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter contains some references to characters from the TV show Fringe as part of Emma's back-story. It contains slight spoilers for the last aired episode of that show, so if you're a fan of that show and you haven't seen the last aired episode, consider yourself warned. Beyond that, no knowledge of Fringe is necessary and I have no plans to bring the characters to Storybrooke as anything other than part of Emma's past. So on with the story.
Four days later, Henry was living in Mary's apartment. Emma had given Henry her room, over his objections, and she was sleeping on the couch. Emma didn't want Henry to know that the attack on Regina was pre-mediated, but since the attack was the biggest story in Storybrooke at least since she'd been living there, he found out about it in hours.
The investigation had stalled. Graham had investigated most of the people in town, but he was no closer to finding a suspect. He sent the bomb to the state crime lab and they did find some DNA on it. The lab was due to call in later today to see if they had a match to any known criminals on file, though Emma really didn't expect much.
On the John Templeton and Kathryn Nolan (whose real last name was Price) front. Upon waking up, Kathryn had immediately insisted on filing charges against Mary. John had replied that he could file charges against her for impersonating his wife. Upon hearing that, she immediately changed her mind and gave up everything she knew about the medical firm. Emma went upstate to the medical firm and after several hours of investigation, had managed to rule out anyone at the medical research company as suspects. She had also gave the firm a stern warning that she would be checking in on them from time to time to make sure they never did anything like this again.
John was now living at Granny's inn. Kathryn had paid for his room in exchange for him not pressing charges against her. John said he was attracted to Mary for some unknown reason, but told her he didn't want to pursue a relationship until he had a chance to process everything he had learned about his past.
Well I could always tell him that what Kathryn told him was a lie too and he's actually the king of a fairy tale kingdom, Emma thinks. After her conversation with Mary four days ago, Emma's head has been in a tailspin. She can't deny that there were several similarities between Storybrooke and Henry's storybook, but she also can't believe that she is really considering that Henry's story is true.
"Maybe we're both crazy," Emma mutters out-loud.
"You're not crazy," Henry says.
"Henry!" Emma exclaims. "How long were you standing there?"
"Awhile now," Henry says. "I know you were deep in thought. You looked as if you were finally considering that what I told you was true."
"I..." Emma says.
"I knew that it would take you longer than a few days to really accept what I told you," Henry says. "I just wanted you to keep your mind open, so you would see the truth."
"Um..." Emma stammers.
"But anyway, I now know how to break the curse," Henry says excitedly. "I had it all wrong before, I thought we had to defeat the evil queen, but that wasn't it. We have to redeem the evil queen, turn her good, so she'll break the curse willingly. I saw it on an episode of Power Rangers."
"Okay," Emma says, thinking it over. Even if the curse was complete nonsense, helping Henry and Regina reconnect could be a good thing.
Henry then takes out his book and points to the castle. "And then once it breaks, we'll all be transported back to the fairy tale world," he continues. "We'll live in this castle, and you'll be a princess. Maybe Regina could become a duchess or something. Oh, wait, you're my mother and you're a princess, does that make me a prince?"
"Henry..." Emma begins.
"Hey I wonder if the people will still have their memories of this world," Henry continues. "Do you think they'll bring computers and stuff over to that world with them? That would be weird, wouldn't it? I mean computers in a fairy tale?"
"Henry, listen..." Emma tries again, but Henry interrupts her once more.
"Maybe now that mom's, I mean my other mom's, heart is beginning to thaw, the curse could be weakening. We should start trying to bring people's memories back."
"Listen Henry, I know you think I'm the 'savior'," Emma says a little testily, grabbing the book from him, "but I can't just pick up this book, point to someone and say in a deep voice 'Snow White, I command the curse be lifted and that you remember who you really are.'"
As she says this, the book begins glowing, causing Emma to drop it in fright. The entire book begins glowing, the brightest gold Emma had ever seen, and then a beam of energy shoots into the other room where Mary Margaret is making breakfast and enters her body. The beam glows with blinding intensity forcing Emma and Henry to close their eyes. When they open them, they see that Mary's hair has grown to full-length and she is now dressed in a white nightgown. The same nightgown she had been wearing in Emma's dream.
This can't be happening, Emma thinks in a daze. Any minute now, I am going to wake up in my bed and this will just be a weird dream.
"You did it," Henry says, running over to hug his mother. "You broke the curse."
"Where am I?" Snow White asks, looking around in confusion. "The last thing I remember was the queen casting her curse and James, where is James?"
"Mary?" Emma asks, breaking free of Henry's grasp.
"Mary?" Snow asks, still confused. "I recall being called that, but I can't remember why."
"This can't be happening," Emma says out-loud.
"I remember," Snow says, shaking off the confusion. "The queen's curse brought us here and I forgot who I was. I was Mary Margaret a school teacher." She turns to Emma, with eyes so full of love it makes Emma's heart stop. "My beautiful baby girl," she says, running to envelop Emma in a tight hug. "I knew you'd come for us."
"Um, yeah," Emma says, still in shock over what's happening.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Snow says, reluctantly breaking away from her daughter. "This world doesn't believe in magic, does it and you were having a hard time in believing in the curse, weren't you?"
"Yeah," Emma says sitting in the nearest chair. "This can't be happening. This just can't be happening."
"Mom, are you going to be okay?" Henry asks.
"Is everyone okay?" Mr. Gold asks, rushing into the house.
"Mr. Gold," Emma and Henry exclaim at the same time while Snow shouts, "Rumplestiltskin!" grabs a nearby umbrella and hits Mr. Gold over the head, knocking him unconscious.
"Mary!" Emma exclaims. "Why did you attack him?"
"Rumplestiltskin," Henry exclaims, "so that's who Mr. Gold is."
"Mary-Snow-Mom," Emma says not sure what she should call the woman who has just turned into a fairy tale princess and who is apparently her mother. "You can't just go around attacking people in this world, no matter who they were in the fairy tale world."
"But this is Rumplestiltskin, the most dangerous creature in all the realms," Snow says, before Ashley, Ruby, and Sean run into the apartment and interrupt her.
"Are you all right?" they ask in unison.
"Yeah, we're fine," Emma answers. "Why do you ask?"
"What do you mean?" Ruby demands. ""Didn't you see it? There was a giant gold flash of light from this building. It was visible to half the town."
"What happened to Mr. Gold?" Ashley asks.
"He rushed in to check on us and startled Mary," Emma answers. "She reflexively attacked him. No harm done."
"Speak for yourself," Mr. Gold grunts, getting up. "This is the second time this month I've been hit over the head, and I don't very much appreciate it."
Emma opens up her mouth to respond, but is interrupted by her phone ringing.
"This is Emma," she responds, then listens for a moment before her face turns white. "Are you sure?" another pause. "Okay, we'll be right there."
"What's going on?" Ashley asks.
"That was Graham," Emma answers. "The lab report just came back. The DNA profile on the suspect matches one of three prisoners that escaped from a Florida maximum security jail."
"Why would an escaped convict want to kill Regina?" Sean asks.
"They don't think he did," Emma says taking a deep breath. "The convict was a person I helped to catch. He killed his wife after she left him and abducted their infant son. He vowed revenge on me as they took him away, so the sheriff thinks his real target was Henry."
"Someone's trying to kill me?" Henry asks, scared. "Does that mean he'll try again?"
"I don't think so," Emma says. "The sheriff thinks he fled town after setting the bomb. If he knew his plan had failed, he'd probably have tried again by now."
"Well that's good," Sean says.
"Returning to our original topic of conversation," Mr. Gold interrupts. "What was that giant gold spire of light that came from the building? Why did Mary call me Rumplestiltskin and when did she grow all that hair?" he adds as he notices Mary's hair.
"It was Emma; she broke the curse on Snow White," Henry says.
"What?" Sean asks confused.
"Henry has this fantasy that everyone in town is a fairy tale character living under a curse with no memory of who they were," Ruby explains. "He thinks his adopted mother is the evil queen and Mary is Snow White."
"And I thought I had issues with my parents," Sean says. "So who does he think you are?"
"Little Red Riding Hood," Ruby says.
"Let me guess, with an evil stepmother and two spoiled stepsisters, he thinks I'm Cinderella," Ashley comments.
"Wait, does that make me a prince," Sean asks, "and is Emma her fairy godmother?"
"This is all very entertaining," Mr. Gold interrupts again, "but what was that flash of gold light?"
"Henry's science project," Emma says, thinking quickly. "He's working on a rescue flare for ships lost at sea. As for why Mary attacked you, the thing malfunctioned and startled her. Before it went off Henry was talking about the fairy tale curse and I think the light disoriented her."
"All right," Mr. Gold says. "Well if no one is in danger, I think I'll go put some ice on my head. Good day."
"Let me help you Mr. Gold," Ruby says and the two of them leave.
"And we really should be getting back to little Alexandra," Ashley says.
The two of them leave and Emma turns back to Henry and Mary-Snow-her mother. Okay, this is going to get some taking used to, she thinks.
"Why did you tell them that light was a science project?" Henry asks.
"Because we need to plan our next move," Emma says, collapsing onto the couch. "From the looks of it the curse was only lifted on Mary-Snow and I'm still trying to wrap my head around this whole curse being real. I need time to think."
"Emma, are you all right?" Snow asks, sitting next to her daughter and taking her hand. "I know from my memories of this world, that it is far from what my own was like and that your life has been far from perfect. But I want you to know that I'm proud of the woman you've become and that I love you."
That's when it really hits her. Henry's story is true. Fairy tale characters really do fill the town and this woman standing before her is her mother. She stares at her for several long minutes taking it all in.
"What is it?" Snow eventually asks.
"Henry was right," Emma says in disbelief. "You really are my mother."
"Yes I am," Snow answers.
As she comes to this realization, she breaks down crying. She hasn't really cried since she was five after her adopted parents returned her to the foster system and she found out that her birth parents abandoned her on the side of the road. Her mom—and the thought of finally having a mom was weird—just held onto her as she cried for what felt like forever.
"It's okay, sweetie. It's okay. I promise I'll never leave you again," Snow says trying to comfort her daughter. When Emma has finally cried herself out, Snow lets her go. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"I don't know where to begin. I had such a rough childhood," Emma says. "After the people who adopted me returned me to the system and I found out I was abandoned, I just closed down emotionally. I kept bouncing from foster home to foster home, changing schools every six months. I never managed to make friends and was always known as the freak new girl."
"Oh my poor baby," Snow says, listening to her story.
"I never let it bother me," Emma says. "I kept to myself and studied hard, vowing to one day make something of my life. When I was sixteen, they finally placed me with a woman in New York who agreed to keep me until I turned eighteen, so I was able to attend the same high school for two years. It was there I made my first real friends Olivia and her younger sister Rachel."
"Olivia was tough like me and had a troubled past," Emma says. "Come to think of it, she may have been like you in some respects. Her stepfather tried to kill her mother when she was twelve, but Olivia managed to kill him before she could succeed."
Snow gasps.
"Anyway their mother died of cancer when she was sixteen and someone close to her family took her in," Emma continues. "She never really said how they met; only that she was connected with her real father's work. She and her sister became my first real friends and helped me come out of my shell a little. That was when I met Kevin."
"Kevin?" Snow asks with interest.
"Kevin was the first man I loved," Emma says. "Come to think of it, he was the only man I ever really seriously dated."
"Is he my father?" Henry asks, startling Emma, who had forgotten he was there.
"Um...um..." Emma stammers. "Maybe I should finish telling this story later."
"Come on, I want to hear," Henry says eagerly.
"You may as well tell him," Snow nudges gently. "He has a right to know."
Emma sighs and opens her mouth to continue with her story when the door opens again and Regina walks in.