Hey guys I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while but I just moved and I will be starting my new classes soon so posting is not going to be as regular. I promise I will try and post a new chapter each week though at least.
Snow Falls:
There is a town in Main
Where every storybook character you've ever know...
Is trapped between two worlds...
Victims of a powerful curse...
That can only be broken by one person.
Mary Margaret walks down main street after that horrible date with Dr Whale when she passes Buffy's car. Buffy is sitting in the front seat holding a flashlight while she reads the newspaper, Mary Margaret leans her head closer to the blonde "Hey. You okay?" She asks concerned.
Buffy turns to face the brunette "Oh, in the world of tight spots I've been in, crashing in my car isn't so bad. Trust me I have woken up in worse place." Buffy can't help but shiver at the memory of clawing herself out of her own grave.
"You're sleeping here?" Mary Margaret asks appaled at the idea that Buffy has to sleep in her car.
"Turn's out Regina informed Granny that 'criminals' are not welcome. So yeah, till I find a place."
"You decided to stay. For Henry."
"Yeah. I guess." Buffy opens the car door and starts to get out "This town doesn't seem to have many vacancies. None, actually." Buffy shuts the car door behind her and leans her back against the car "is that normal?"
Mary Margaret looks at the paper then at Buffy "Must be the curse."
Buffy sighs "Why are you out so late?"
"Well, I'm a teacher, not a nun. I had a date."
Buffy notices the miserable expression cross over the teacher's face "from the looks of things, it went well."
Mary Margaret sighed "As well as they ever do."
"Tell me he at least paid." Mary Margaret shakes her head "Ew."
"Well...Guess if true love was easy, we'd all have it." Buffy's mind quickly fills with images of Angel and other guys she has dated over the years. Buffy had given up on the idea of true love the moment she stuck that sword through Angel's heart. She then focuses back on the brunette "You know, if things get cramped, I do have a spare room."
Buffy stares stunned "Thanks. I'm not... Really the roommate type. It's just not my thing." After living with 30 odd girls for months on end, in a one bathroom house Buffy had decided that she would never do the roommates thing again. Plus sharing space with someone puts Buffy at more risk of being hurt like last time. "I do better on my own." Mary Margaret nods sadly but also in understanding "Well...good night. Good luck with Henry."
"Yeah." Buffy watches as Mary Margaret heads home and feels a sad expression cross her face before climbing back into her car.
The next day Buffy and Henry are sitting at his castle on the beach when he pulls out the book "I found your fa—umm, I mean I found Prince Charming." Buffy looks at Henry curiously wondering what he was going to say before, but shakes it off and continues to listen "He's in the hospital in a coma. See the scar? He has one, too."
Buffy looks unconvinced and shrugs "So? Lots of people have scars."
"In the same place." Henry informs her "Don't you see what this means?" Buffy shakes her head, Henry sighs then explains "The curse is keeping them apart with the coma. Now they're stuck without each other. We have to tell Ms. Blanchard we found her Prince Charming."
Buffy looks at Henry skeptically and sighs "Okay, kid. Telling someone their...soulmate is in a coma is probably not helpful. Not having a happy ending is painful enough, but...giving someone unrealistic hope is far worse."
"But what if I'm right? We know who they are. Now they have to know."
"And how do you intend to make that happen?"
"By reminding him. We have to get her to read their story to John Doe, then maybe he'll remember who he is."
Buffy has an idea so leans forward slightly looking at Henry "Okay."
"Okay?" Henry asks surprised that she agreed so quickly.
"Yeah. We'll do it, but we'll do it my way. Let me ask her."
Later Buffy is sitting in Mary Margaret's apartment waiting for her response "You want me to read to a coma patient?"
She hands Buffy a cup of hot chocolate "Henry thinks it will help him remember who he was."
"And who does he think he was?" Mary Margaret asks curiously.
"Prince Charming."
Realisation hits Mary Margaret as she remembers who Henry thinks she is "And if I'm Snow White, He thinks...me...and him." Buffy nods and smiles slightly as she picks up her cup "He has a very active imagination, which is the point. I can't talk him out of his beliefs, so we need to show him. Play along. Do what he says, and then maybe, just maybe—"
Mary Margaret interrupts now understanding the situation "He'll see that fairy tales are just that. That there's no such thing as love at first sight or first kiss. He'll see reality."
Buffy smiles "Something like that."
Mary Margaret puts her mug down and nods "Well...sadly, the plan is rather genius. We get him to the truth without hurting him."
Buffy grins then reaches for her bag and pulls out the book and places it in front of Mary Margaret "I told him that we will all meet tomorrow for breakfast at Granny's, and you will give a full report."
Mary Margaret stares at the book "Well, I suppose I'll get ready for my date. I guess I'll have to do all the talking."
Willow and Dawn are sitting in the library together waiting for Xander to tell him that Faith may know where Buffy is. The only problem was Faith had refused to give any details, then before they could push she got called about a demon problem in Texas turns out that the two slayer's stationed there were struggling and needed the help. Faith had jumped at the opportunity to get away from Cleveland and from the scoobies questioning.
A few minuets later Xander walked in "Hey guy what's the what. You guys call me and tell me to get my ass over here, I had to get a plane 12 hour plane ride from Japan while sitting in the middle seat, with a kid who likes to kick behind me and two old ladies next to me who kept falling asleep on me." He stared at the two girls who were looking at their hands. "Will, Dawnie what's wrong?"
Willow looks at Xander "We may have a lead...On Buffy." Xander looked at the red head shocked after four years of not finding any trace of Buffy what was different now. Xander suddenly felt very faint and lowered himself carefully to one of the seats "How?" he said in almost a whisper.
It was Dawn who answered "Faith. She's been in contact with her this whole time." Xander was angry now after Buffy had disappeared things had almost fallen apart but Faith would sometimes give ideas which seemed very Buffy. Now Xander realised that Buffy had most probably given Faith those ideas during their talks.
"Where is Faith?" Xander hissed, the girls informed him of the job in Texas and how she had refused to talk.
Willow looked at Xander "I may have an idea of tracking her, it wou—"
Dawn interrupted "She said she had a son."
"What!?" Xander yelled in shock.
"When we were listening to the conversation, Faith was asking Buffy what her son was like. Xander, if that's true should we really track her down and drag her back into this. Who knows maybe that's why Buffy left, what if she was pregnant and just wanted to protect her kid."
Xander wouldn't hear it "No Dawn that doesn't matter, Buffy left her responsibilities and now it is time she comes back." Dawn nodded sadly even though she did not agree. Xander turned to Willow "How can you track her?"
"Well it's more complicated that that. She has powerful magic cloaking her, but I may be able to find the person cloaking her and then get them to lower the spell."
Xander nodded "Do it."
Buffy comes out of the bathroom at Granny's wearing a silver silk shirt that Henry gave her. She goes to sit down at their booth "Thanks for the shirt. Hey, is this your mother's?" Buffy asks as she sits across from him.
Henry nods "She'll never notice."
"Where does she think you are, anyway?'
"Playing whac-a-mole."
"And she bought that?"
"She wants to believe it, so she does."
Buffy smiles "Oh imagine that. Kind of sounds like my mum when I was a teenager, lets just say I got into trouble a lot and would make up the most ridiculous excuses."
Henry smiles sadly he felt bad that Buffy did not know the truth about her parents, but he knew she wasn't ready. Henry kind of wished he had met his grandmother though.
"Can you tell me about her your mum?" Henry asks, Buffy looks at him stunned by the question but before she can answer the doorbell rings and Henry turns to look at the door "She's here." Henry tells Buffy.
Buffy leans forward and looks at Henry "Hey...don't get your hope up. We're just getting started, okay?" Henry nods as Mary Margaret come up to their booth and sits next to Henry. Buffy smiles but then it instantly falls when Mary Margaret speaks "He woke up."
"What?" Buffy asks stunned.
"I knew it." Announces Henry with a large grin on his face.
Mary Margaret explains "I mean, he didn't wake up, wake up, but he grabbed my hand."
"He's remembering" Henry says to Mary Margaret.
"What did the doctor say?" Buffy asks still stunned.
"That I imagined it" Mary Margaret tells her "But I'm not crazy. I know it happened."
Henry looks at the two women "We have to go back. You have to read to him again."
Mary Margaret nods at Henry "Let's go."
Buffy realises what is happening "Wait, wait." She gets up from her seat "What?"
Mary Margaret turns around to face Buffy "If I got through to him, if we made a connection—"
"You don't believe—"
"That he's prince charming. Of course not. Somehow, some way, I touched him." Mary Margaret then turns around exiting the diner, Buffy stares after her in disbelief then rolls her eyes and follows.
When they get to the hospital Henry runs off when he sees Graham "You're right. He's waking up."
Graham turns too see Henry running towards them "Henry, you should stay back."
Mary Margaret walks over to Graham "What's going on? Is it John Doe? Is he ok?"
Graham looks at the three "he's missing." Graham steps aside to reveal John Doe's room where the bed is now empty while Regina stands there with the doctors. Buffy watches as Regina comes out of the room "What the hell are you doing here?" She demanded before grabbing Henry's arm "And you." As Regina grabbed Henry Buffy fist clenched as she held back from throwing the mayor through the window. "I thought you were at the arcade. Now you're lying to me?" Regina continued to glare at Henry while Mary Margaret was still staring at the empty bed "What happened to John Doe? Did someone take him?"
Graham shakes his head "We don't know but there's no sign for sure there was a struggle."
Henry glares at his mother "What did you do?"
Regina looks at Henry "You think I had something to do with this?"
Buffy watches the exchange before interrupting "It is curious that the mayor is here."
Regina turns her focus to Buffy and sighs "I'm here because I'm his emergency contact." She informs the group.
Mary Margaret looks at Regina surprised "You know him?"
Regina nods "I found him on the side of the road years ago with no I.D. I brought him here."
At that point Doctor Whale walks over to the group "Mayor Mills saved his life."
"Will he be ok?" Mary Margaret asked clearly worried.
Dr Whale turns to face her "The man's been on feeding tubes for years, under constant supervision. He needs to get back here right away, or quite honestly, "Okay" might be a pipe dream."
Buffy looks at the group "Well, then let's quit yapping and start looking" Buffy heads towards the door when Regina's voice stops her "That's what we're doing. Just stay out of this, dear. And since I clearly can't keep you away from my son...I guess I'm just gonna have to keep my son away from you." Regina takes Henry's hand and walks up to Buffy "Enjoy my shirt, because that's all you're getting. Sheriff?" Graham turns to look at them "Find John Doe. You heard Dr. Whale. Time is precious." Regina then walks off dragging Henry with her.
Graham turns to Whale "Doctor, how long between your rounds since you last saw him?"
"12 hours or so."
Graham nods "Then that's what we need to account for."
Buffy looks around the room and spots a camera, she points a finger at it causing everyone to look before turning to the doctor. "Whale where are all the tapes from the camera's kept."
Buffy, Graham and Mary Margaret are standing in the security room where all the tapes are kept. Graham address the workers "You two were the only employees on the floor last night...and you saw nothing."
The guard sitting in the chair yawns "Not a thing."
Buffy looked at the two "Did anyone walk by?"
Leory who is standing off to the side answers "I didn't see nothin'."
Graham sighs then turns to Mary Margaret "Ms. Blanchard, was there anything unusual you saw during your trip with your class?"
She shakes her head "I don't think so."
Buffy who is watching the tape intently realises something and goes over to the T.V to show the others "We're looking at the wrong tape. This is the ward where Henry's class put up decorations. If this was really the tape from last night, we'd see the banners the kids hung."
Leroy scoffs and looks at his co-worker "You fell asleep again."
"You selling me out?" The guard asks
"I ain't getting fired for this."
"At least I don't drink on the job."
Graham is getting fed up so interrupts "Where's the real tape?"
At that moment Buffy puts in the real tape and moves out of the way so everyone else can see. They watch the tape and see John Doe walk out alone through the exit. Mary Margaret gives out a relieved breath "Oh, he walked out alone. He's okay."
Buffy points at the time stamp "Four hours ago. Where does this door lead?"
Leroy answers "the woods."
Graham, Buffy and Mary Margaret are all out looking in the woods for John Doe, Graham bends down to the ground "What is it?" Mary Margaret asks.
"The trail runs out here." He tells them.
Buffy tilts her head "You sure? 'cause I thought tracking was one of your skills."
Graham stands "Just give me a second. This is my world. I got it."
Buffy watches him wander further into the woods "Right. Sorry."
Mary Margaret turns to Buffy "Isn't finding people your thing, too?"
"Sure. Just...People I usually find run to places like Vegas, while the others prefer sewer systems. Wandering in a sewer I can do, tracking in the wood is something I haven't done in a long time."
Mary Margaret nods "It's an interesting job—finding people. How'd you fall into it?"
"It's kinda just happened. I was trying to escape from my past and learnt how to cover my tracks and spot other people's, it's how I found my dad."
"Why were you running? Your friends?" Buffy's head shot around to face the teacher as Mary Margaret explained "Henry told me that you gave up a lot to protect people and that they betrayed you."
Buffy looks away but before she can respond both woman her a branch snap behind them and turn to see Henry running towards them "Henry!" Mary Margaret exclaims in shock. "Did you find him yet?" Henry asks his teacher.
Buffy answers the question "No, not yet. You shouldn't be here."
"I can help" argues Henry "I know where he's going."
Mary Margaret looks at Henry confused "And where's that?"
"He's looking for you."
The three catch up with Graham and continue to look through the woods as Henry continued to try and justify his case "You're the one who woke him up. You're the last one he saw. He wants to find you."
Mary Margaret stops and turns to face the young boy "Henry, It's not about me. It just—I think he's lost and confused. He's been in a coma a long time."
Henry doesn't give up "But he loves you. You need to stop chasing him and let him find you."
Buffy stares at the persistent Henry "Kid, you need to go home. Where's your mom? She's gonna kill me and then you and then me again. Trust me I have died before, it's not fun." Mary Margaret and Henry both gave Buffy a weird look at her statement, causing Buffy to roll her eyes "it's a long story."
Henry then explains " She dropped me at the house then went right out."
"Well, we need to get you back immediately."
"No!" Henry screams.
At that moment they hear Graham "Guys?" The three run to catch up to Graham who is now couched on the floor Buffy crouches next to him she looks at what Graham has found "Blood." She looks around and sees Mary Margaret's worried face.
They keep following the trail and end up by the river next to the Toll Bridge "Oh, gosh." Mary Margaret exclaims "Where is he? Can you see him?"
Graham shakes his head "The trail dies at the water line." A moment later Mary Margaret is running "Oh, my god! Oh, my god!" Buffy turns to see John Doe's body living on the edge of the river and runs over along with Graham who is getting his walkie talky out "I need an ambulance at the old toll bridge. As soon as possible." The three lift his body carefully up and bring him onto the path Mary Margaret is panicking when Buffy hears Henry "Is he ok? Is he gonna be okay?"
Buffy wraps her arms around Henry turning him away from the scene "Henry, don't look, okay? Don't look." Buffy watches as Mary Margaret performs C.P.R then suddenly she flashes back to that night in the Master's cave. The first time she died. Buffy's body goes ridged as she relives one of the worst moments in her life all over again.
Suddenly John Doe coughs up water and looks at Mary Margaret "You saved me."
Henry smiles "She did it. She did it. She woke him up."
Buffy is still frozen and doesn't respond when the ambulance shows up Mary Margaret finally sees Buffy "Buffy?" she places an arm on Buffy's arm effectively causing the blonde to come back into reality "What is it?"
Buffy shakes her head "Nothing, doesn't matter come on let's get John Doe to the hospital." Mary Margaret nods and they all get in the ambulance and head to the hospital.
"Watch your backs coming through. Thanks guys. We've got it from here." Dr. Whale says as he is rolls John Doe into the emergency room.
Buffy, Mary Margaret, Henry and Graham all watch from behind the glass doors as the doctors and nurses work on John Doe. A moment later a blonde woman comes running towards them "David! David, is that you?" She walks straight past the four of them and goes straight into the room. Dr. Whale looks up at the blonde woman "Excuse me, Ma'am? Ma'am, you can't be in here, please. You can't be here right now." But the woman doesn't listen she just walks up to John Doe "David." She says one more time before Whale drags her away "You can't be here, Ma'am. Will you wait over here for a second, okay?"
The four at the doorway continue to watch confused by the appearance of the mystery woman "Who is that?" Mary Margaret asks, Buffy shrugs having no idea.
"His wife." Says a voice from behind the group, Buffy turns around to see it was Regina "His name is David Nolan, and that's his wife Kathryn." Regina explains to the group. "And the joy on her face-well...it's put me in quite the forgiving mood." Regina says as she glares at Buffy who is now sitting in one of the hospital chairs, she then turns her attention to Henry "We'll talk about your insubordination later. Do you know what insubordination means?" Henry shakes his head "It means you're grounded."
A moment later Kathryn comes steps into the waiting room "Thank you." She says looking at Mary Margaret "Thank you for finding my David."
Mary Margaret looks at the woman still slightly confused "Um, I don't—I don't understand. You didn't – You didn't know that he was here in a coma?"
Kathryn looks down at the ground clearly upset as she explains "A few years ago, David and I were...not getting along. It was my fault. I know that now. I was different and unsupportive. I told him if he didn't like things, he could leave, and he did, and I didn't stop him. It was the worst mistake I ever made."
Buffy leans forwards resting her arms on her knees as she addresses Kathryn "You didn't go look for him?"
She shook her head "I assumed he'd left town all this time. Now I know why I never heard from him. Now I get to do what I've wanted to do forever—say 'I'm sorry'. Now we get a second chance."
She smiles at the group before looking back at Mary Margaret "That's...wonderful."
Dr. Whale comes out of the room "Well, it's something of a miracle."
"He's okay?" Kathryn asks.
Whale nods "Physically, he's on the mend. Um, his memory is another issue. It may take time, if at all."
"What brought him back?" Mary Margaret asks.
"That's the thing. There's no explanation. Something just clicked in him."
Buffy looked at the doctor skeptical "He just got up and decided to go for a stroll?"
"He woke up and he was delirious, and...his first instinct was to go find something, I guess." Dr. Whale explains.
Henry interjects "Someone."
Kathryn looks at the doctor "Can I see him?"
Whale nods "Yeah, of course." He leads Kathryn into the hospital room where David is. Buffy frowns still in a state of disbelief when she hears Regina "Henry, let's go."
Henry slowly gets up from his seat and starts to follow his mother when he stops "Wait. My backpack." He grabs the bag then looks at Mary Margaret and in a lowered voice speaks to her "Don't believe him. You're the one he was looking for."
Mary Margaret sighs as she looks at the boy "Henry."
But Henry keeps going "He was going to the troll bridge. It's like the end of the story."
"Henry, he was going there because it's the last thing I read to him."
"No, it's because you belong together."
"Henry." Regina calls getting impatient, Henry goes over to Regina and the two leave the room. Buffy frowns and then gets up and runs after them "Madame Mayor?" she calls when she sees Regina and Henry "Wait by the car?" Regina tells Henry before turning around to face Buffy. Ms. Summers, I let you off the hook back there, don't press it."
"I'm sorry, but Mrs. Nolan—kinda feels like her story could be a load of crap. All this time, there's a john doe lying around in a coma and nobody puts it in the news? Nobody goes looking? Something's not right here."
"Well, what else would make sense to you? Why would Ms. Nolan lie? Oh, do you think I cast a spell on her?" Regina smiles slightly at her own joke.
Buffy thinks about it briefly but she would be able to tell if Regina was supernatural "I just think it's rather strange you've been his emergency contact all these years, and you only found her now."
"Well, this town is bigger than you know. It's entirely possible to get lost here. It's entirely possible for bad things to happen."
Buffy shrugs "And just when it's convenient, you manage to solve the mystery?"
Regina smirks at Buffy "Thanks to you. That tape you found—that was a stroke of genius. So we went back and looked at past tapes. Turns out Mr. Doe's been talking in his sleep. He's been calling out for a 'Kathryn.' After that, it wasn't hard to put the pieces together."
Buffy was slightly stunned but continued to listen "And here I thought you and Mary Margaret would be pleased. True love won out. So bask in the moment, dear. Were it not for you two, they would have lived their lives completely alone. That's why I'm willing to forgive your incessant rudeness" Buffy raises an eyebrow at the mayor as she goes on "Because...all this has reminded me of something oh so very important...how grateful I am to have Henry. Because not having someone...well...that's the worst curse imaginable."
Buffy watches as Regina leaves and then heads back to her car as she walks she can't help but think about what Regina said 'not having someone, that's the worst curse imaginable.' Buffy thinks of all the people she has lost over the years her mom, Angel, Spike her friends, her sister and hell she hasn't even spoken to her father since she tracked him down after she left talahasse. Faith was really the only friend Buffy had left but she was god knows where while Buffy was here. Alone. At that thought Buffy made a decision, she got into her car and drove over to Mary Margaret's.
Buffy knocked on the door waiting for Mary Margaret to answer, then the door opened "Buffy."
Buffy looked at the dark haired woman slightly nervous "Sorry to bother you so late. Is that...spare room still available?" Mary Margaret breaks into a smile and nods allowing Buffy to enter the house she then closed the door behind her.