Mary Margaret's face was whiter than usual; eerily so.
"Mom, why don't you sit down," Emma suggested calmly. Inside she was boiling. Something was off about the Evil Queen and it wasn't just her desire to see Snow White's head on a plate. No, she was doing something to Henry. And Emma couldn't stand it much longer.
Surprisingly, Mary Margaret sank into the booth without so much as a half-hearted protest. Emma waved Ruby over.
"Two coffees please, Ruby."
"Right away, Miss Swan."
The waitress flounced off to the kitchen while Emma sank to her haunches to look her mother in the eye. "She didn't see your face. It's okay."
Mary Margaret took a shaky breath. "I know."
Emma rocked back and forth from her heels to her toes contemplating her next move. David was remembering, according to Mary Margaret, but Regina seemed to be threatening Henry in some sort of way. Why this seemed like the more immediate problem to Emma, she wasn't quite sure. The kid had gotten under her skin, she knew that.
Then there was the possibility that Henry was the key to saving Storybrooke. She couldn't ignore that.
Mary Margaret took another deep inhale and leaned back against the cushioned seat. Emma furrowed her brow. Her mom was in no shape to go work her magic on David again tonight. Besides the poor guy was probably confused as it was. He might do better if they gave him the night to think things over.
"Mom..."
"Hmm?" Mary Margaret hummed without opening her eyes.
"I think you need to head back up to the room and get some rest."
Mary Margaret opened her eyes and turned to face her daughter. "But... David..."
"You're going to need to be fully alert if you want another chance at helping him remember tomorrow."
Mary Margaret shook her head vehemently. "Emma, I've waited twenty-eight years to get my husband back. I'm not waiting another second if I don't have to."
Emma searched her mother's eyes, seeing the desperation shining past the exhaustion. The warrior overtaking the tired, single mom.
Emma stood and fished in her pocket for money to pay the bill.
"What are you doing?"
Emma smiled and plunked a wad of cash down on the table. "We're going after my dad."
Mary Margaret stood just as Ruby walked over with two steaming to-go cups. "We need to hurry. I don't know how much Regina heard us saying."
Emma accepted her coffee. "Thanks, Ruby. How did..."
"It kind of looked like you were about to head out," Ruby said with a smile and a smack of her gum. "Enjoy, ladies."
Mary Margaret hadn't actually had time to process what she would say when a frantic looking Kathryn answered the front door. She'd been far too busy replaying the sound of his confused voice...
"... a memory..."
He had been so lost and scared. Her prince was lost without her and she was here sipping coffee. So she really didn't think twice before marching up the front door of the cozy Nolan house and rapping urgently on the door.
However, Kathryn's appearance threw her off and she froze. "Umm..."
"You!" Kathryn latched onto her wrist with a claw-like grip. "Where is he?"
"Excuse me?"
"He hasn't come home yet. It's been eight hours. Eight hours. Where is he?"
"I don't... he didn't come home?!"
Kathryn's face contorted and she shook Mary Margaret's arm so suddenly it almost threw her off her feet. "Are you deaf too? I just said he's not here! What did you do with him?"
Emma was suddenly between the two, somehow sliding Kathryn's vise-like grip from her mother's wrist. "Calm down, Kathryn. What's going on here?"
Kathryn took a step back, red-faced and breathing hard. Mary Margaret noted the puffiness under her eyes.
"David hasn't come home yet. I left him at Granny's after our lunch date... with your mother." She shot a burning glance at Mary Margaret before continuing. "After a few hours I figured he had just got caught up in a conversation about his mom. After six hours I got very concerned. And now it's nearly nine o'clock at night and my husband is nowhere to be found."
Emma reached behind her and squeezed Mary Margaret's hand, keeping her from speaking up. "We had no idea that he wasn't home, Kathryn. In fact, we were coming over to check on him. My mom told me that he seemed quite confused when he left her to head home. We were worried."
Kathryn's brow creased with worry again. "Confused?"
Emma gestured to the inside of the house. "Is it alright if we step inside? Maybe we can figure this out together."
Kathryn bit her lip for a few seconds before backing up and holding the door open for the two women. "I'm sorry. I'm just a little... on edge."
"We don't blame you," Emma replied, ushering her mother through. The warmth of the house swallowed Mary Margaret, but she was already itching to turn around and run out the door into the woods.
"David ended up showing my mother around town this afternoon, since I was busy talking to the sheriff and sorting out our car business. My mom said he was very kind and obliging to escort her around. They parted ways at the park maybe an hour and a half ago and she said he was very... out of it."
"Out of it," Kathryn repeated.
"He seemed to be hallucinating," Mary Margaret said softly. She kept a close eye on Kathryn's face. "Has this ever happened to him before?"
"No never!" Kathryn twisted a strand of her hair around her finger and yanked at it distractedly. "The park isn't far from here. He should have been home ages ago."
Mary Margaret took a deep breath and squared her shoulders ready to suggest heading out to look for him when Emma spoke up.
"Why don't we call the sheriff?"
Mary Margaret whipped her head around to stare at her daughter.
Kathryn blinked. "Do you think that's necessary?"
Emma shrugged. "If David was hallucinating, he was probably confused... he could be lost and wandering a neighborhood not far from here. Having the sheriff out with us to just drive the streets could be useful."
Mary Margaret reached for Emma's hand, in an attempt to communicate her disapproval of involving Graham, but Emma neatly tucked her fingers into her pocket.
Kathryn twisted the strand of hair the other way. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt. I'm just afraid it will all be a bit silly..."
Emma shook her head and gave a warm smile. "It's never silly to trust your gut, Kathryn. Let's find your husband."
Mary Margaret glared daggers at the back of her daughter's head. Emma shifted uncomfortably and gave a slight cough.
"Why don't you call the station, Kathryn? I'm sure Sheriff Graham would be happy to help set your mind at ease."
Kathryn paused for one more second before nodding quickly. "Alright. I'll be right back." She stepped into the other room as she pulled her phone out of her pocket.
"What are you doing?" Mary Margaret hissed. "We shouldn't be getting Graham involved with this Emma! We just need to go out ourselves."
Emma didn't make eye contact with her mother. "Mom, you're very tired..."
"When did this become about me?!"
"I'm just trying to protect you."
"Since when can I not protect myself, Emma?!"
Emma turned to meet her gaze and Mary Margaret could see the apologetic sadness in her eyes.
"Mom..."
"No, Em. This was not your call to make. This is between me and David."
"I'm just trying to..."
"Then stop trying!"
Emma fell silent and Mary Margaret almost took the words back, but her insides were crawling in a way that wouldn't let her speak. She turned away and crossed her arms, trying not to puke.
It only took Kathryn a matter of seconds. She stepped back into the room fiddling with her phone. "Graham will be here in ten minutes."
"Okay," Emma said softly. "Then all we can do is wait."
Mary Margaret bit her tongue so hard it bled.
By the time Graham's car pulled up in front of the house, the three women had moved to sit on the front porch, hugging themselves to keep warm in the damp autumn air. Emma jumped to her feet as Graham doused his lights and opened the door, a feeling of relief flooding her. That's when Regina stepped out from the passenger side.
"What's going on?" the mayor demanded stalking up the sidewalk. "Is David okay?"
Graham came hurriedly jogging up behind the irate queen. "Regina..."
"What the hell are you doing here?" Regina directed towards Emma.
"Me?" Emma growled. "What are you doing here? What did you do?"
"You think I had something to do with this?!" Regina laughed.
"I think it's curious that the mayor is here," Emma spat back.
"Emma." Both women turned to look at Kathryn. "She's here because I asked for her. She's a close friend."
Emma glanced back at Regina. "You know them?"
Regina sighed and clasped her hands in front of her. "I found David in a coma years ago. On the side of the road with no ID. I brought him to the hospital and worked very hard to identify him and find his wife."
"Regina saved his life," Kathryn said softly. Regina took another step towards the trembling woman and laid a hand on her shoulder. Kathryn swallowed and looked pleadingly at Graham.
"Will he be okay?"
Graham tilted his head. "We don't know anything about what's happening right now, Mrs. Nolan. He could have just gotten turned around somewhere in the dark. Just let me do my job and find him, okay?"
Kathryn swallowed hard again and nodded.
Emma stepped forward. "Well then, let's quit yapping and start looking."
Regina scoffed. "That's what we're doing? Just stay out of this, dear." She slipped her arm under Kathryn's elbow. "Come inside, Kathryn. The sheriff will find David."
The two women brushed past Mary Margaret who stood frozen at the bottom of the steps. Emma reached back and grabbed her mom's hand, squeezing briefly.
"Ms. Swan, how long ago was it that you last saw, Mr. Nolan?" Graham asked.
Mary Margaret squeezed Emma's hand in return. "Two hours or so."
Graham smiled. "That's not too much time to account for. Let's see what we can find." He gave Emma a sidelong glance. "I suppose I can't keep you out of this?"
"Not on your life."
Graham sighed. "Why am I not surprised?"
The first grey light of dawn was beginning to slither between the alleyways and over the treetops when Mary Margaret started to think that it was hopeless. Between the three of them, the searchers had combed the Nolan's side of town ruthlessly. Mary Margaret had even been impressed with Graham's dedication. But now, her hope was fading with the shadows. David was nowhere to be found.
Emma jogged up beside her. "Hey."
"Em, I don't want to talk right now," Mary Margaret said between gritted teeth. She scanned the street in front of them, looking for any movement.
Emma panted for a few more seconds. "I think we might be going about this the wrong way."
"You think?" Mary Margaret snapped. She watched Emma's face pale and closed her eyes. "Sorry, Emma. I'm sorry. I'm just... I don't know, I'm sorry."
Emma squeezed her shoulder. "We will find him, Mom. I promise. But I need you to listen to me."
Mary Margaret opened her eyes slowly. "What?"
Emma hesitated. "Well, we should know where he would be going, don't you think? I mean, there has to be a clue in that storybook somewhere. Something about his real self is confusing him, drawing him somewhere else. That 's why he wandered off. We just need to figure out exactly what his memory was about."
Mary Margaret reached down into her satchel and ran her fingers over the spine of the book. "He was remembering the forest from when we first met. He trapped me and then I agreed to take him to the Troll Bridge to retrieve his ring."
"Okay, this is good," Emma said. She turned back down the street. "Graham! Come here!"
"Emma, I don't know how this helps us."
"It helps, Mom," Emma said. "It means that we've been looking in the wrong place. David was searching for the forest, not something in town."
Graham rushed around the corner. "What is it? Did you find him?"
"No, but I think I know where to look."
Mary Margaret hadn't been back in the forest in years. It was just easier raising Emma in the city, close to her job. She took a deep breath, the smell of pine flooding her senses.
"You good, Mom?"
Mary Margaret gave a small nod. "Yeah, I'm good."
The two wandered slowly behind Graham, who was moving forward in a crouch, examining the trail they had picked up. Mary Margaret had known that her tracking skills had probably gone a bit dormant in the twenty-eight years she'd taken away from the forests, but Graham was still finding tracks that she would never have noticed at her peak. She supposed that being raised by wolves would do that to you, even if he couldn't remember yet.
Suddenly he stopped and held up a hand.
"What is it?" Emma asked.
"The trail runs out here."
Mary Margaret's heart jumped into her throat. "You're sure? I thought tracking was one of your skills."
Graham cast an annoyed glance back at her. "Just give me a second. This is my world. I got it."
"Right," Mary Margaret murmured. "Sorry."
Emma reached for her hand. "Finding people is what we do. Remember?"
"I remember." Mary Margaret clung to Emma's hand as they began moving again, picking their way painstakingly downhill. Slipping silently through the trees, bits and pieces of memory began to seep back into her mind's eye. The rough bark of a tree against her back as a dark knight slammed her against the trunk. The whistle of David's arrow and the weight of the knight's body toppling him to the ground. The rush of water from the river that led to the Troll Bridge...
"He's looking for me."
Emma stared at Mary Margaret questioningly.
"He still loves me, Emma. And he's looking for me. He said he would always find me."
"Guys!" Graham pointed ahead into a tangle of broken bushes. Emma flicked her flashlight across the branches, clearly illuminating a shiny spattering among the leaves.
Mary Margaret tightened her grasp on Emma's fingers. "Is that..."
"Blood," Emma finished.
Mary Margaret quivered in fear for a second and then bolted past Graham, sprinting through the undergrowth.
"Mom! Mom, wait!"
She couldn't wait.
She could hear the flowing water drawing closer. It hadn't just been in her memories than. He was looking for her. Going back to the bridge where it all began.
"I will find you," she whispered.
Abruptly, the stream came into view. The sun was just rising, throwing glints of silver off of the rushing shallows. Mary Margaret skidded to a stop and cast about for a trail of some kind. She could see the bridge looming nearby and slowly worked her way towards it. Surely, he was somewhere...
"David!" The scream tore from her throat involuntarily. His body lay prone in the shallows just a little farther down the waterline, head submerged in water.
She splashed through the water nearly tripping over herself. She had his head propped up on her knees in second, squatting in the cold water with tears running down her face.
"Help me!" she screamed. "Emma, Graham... help!"
The two came bursting through the trees, breathing hard. Emma didn't waste anytime hooking her arms under David's shoulders. "Graham, come on!"
Between the three of them, they managed to hoist him the few feet to solid ground and lay him gently down. Graham shakily reached for his radio.
"I need an ambulance! At the old Toll Bridge, as soon as possible!"
Mary Margaret remained kneeling over David's still face. "No, no, no, no, no! No, no, no! I found you!"
Emma tried to grab Mary Margaret's shoulders. "It's going to be okay..."
Mary Margaret shrugged her off. "Come back to us. Come back to me."
She placed her hands squarely on his chest and started to push up and down, CPR training rushing back into her head.
Graham tried to move in, but Emma intercepted.
Mary Margaret kept pumping, imagining David's heart under her hands contracting over and over. Then with all the warmth and life she could summon she leaned over and pinched his nose shut, sealing his open mouth against her's and breathed into him.
Instantly, a spasm ran through David and he coughed up water, letting it spill over his chin. Mary Margaret gasped and cradled his face between her hands.
David blinked and slowly opened his eyes, squinting against the sunlight. He gradually focused on Mary Margaret, biting her lip.
"You saved me," he whispered.
She laughed, feeling the tears start to slide down her cheeks.
David reached up and carefully wiped one from her cheek with his thumb and she reached up to grasp his wrist gratefully. "Thank you," he said.
"Do you remember?" Mary Margaret choked out.
David blinked. "I don't know."
Mary Margaret cupped his cheek in her hand again. "It's okay. You're going to be okay."
"Watch your back! Coming through!"
The hospital was a bustle of activity as the paramedics wheeled David straight through the ward and into a prepared area behind a wall of glass. Mary Margaret had been recklessly holding his hand and keeping pace with the gurney until the attending doctor gently removed her and ushered her off to the side.
"We got it from here, ma'am."
The glass doors closed and Mary Margaret noted Kathryn's anxious face among the crowd of doctors and nurses surrounding the bed. She sighed and rested her head on Emma's shoulder.
"You did it, Mom," Emma whispered. "You saved him."
"Yes." She didn't have the energy to say more.
Kathryn stepped outside of the room, letting the door swing gently closed behind her.
"Thank you," she said. "Thank you for finding my David."
Mary Margaret could see the tear stains on Kathryn's cheeks, matching the trails down her own and suddenly she stepped forward and put her arms around the other woman. It didn't matter who loved who right now. They had saved David and that was all that mattered. She stepped back and Kathryn laughed a little bit, wiping the fresh tears from under her eyes.
"Thank you. Thank you so much."
The excitement in the private room had stilled a bit and the doctor stepped outside to join the ladies. Before he could say anything, Kathryn turned on him.
"Doctor Whale, is he okay?"
"Ah, physically he's on the mend, um... his memory is another issue. He seems very confused. Says he can't remember what he was doing or why. It may take time, if at all."
"Can I see him?" Kathryn asked.
"Yeah, of course." Dr. Whale ushered her into the room where she seated herself at the side of David's bed and reached for his hand. Mary Margaret turned away.
This time it was Emma's arms that initiated the embrace. "He was looking for you. The forest, the Toll Bridge? That was all you. He'll come back to you."
Mary Margaret nodded into her shoulder and continued to hold her daughter tight. Emma stroked her mother's hair softly, whispering encouragement and watching through the glass wall as David confusedly reunited with Kathryn. And she knew it wasn't her imagination that his stare kept returning to meet her own.
