A/N: As usual, thanks to my amazing beta shopowner93, she is full of awesome! I hope you all enjoy this chapter!
Emma stood awkwardly outside of Archie's office. The light inside the office was on and Emma could hear him bustling around from the door. Her hand clenched in a fist, ready to knock on the door. Her nose wrinkled as she tried to pinpoint why exactly she felt so unnerved about what she was about to do. It had been her choice, her decision to start sessions with Archie, so why was it bothering her so badly?
With a sigh, Emma shook her head, before knocking loudly. Three raps later, she heard him call out that he was coming. Standing away from the door, Emma threw most of her weight into her left leg, while her right perched out in front of her and her arms crossed over her chest. It didn't dawn on her just how defensive her stance was, until Archie opened the door and peered at her through his small, round glasses.
"Ah, Miss Swan, please come in." Archie smiled softly at her, gesturing with his left arm.
Emma nodded stiffly, before entering the office. She took a quick look around, before coming to the decision that the room didn't really give off the psychiatrist vibe. There was no desk that separated the patient from the doctor, and though the room was lined with shelves that held numerous different varieties of books, nothing really stood out to her that proved that the man behind her was indeed what he claimed to be.
"Emma, please have a seat." Archie spoke from behind her, causing her to jump slightly.
Sighing, Emma shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket, before settling down on the large couch. She perched herself on the edge, as her fight or flight instinct kicked into overdrive; right now it was screaming at her to stand up and walk in the opposite direction until there was plenty of distance between her and the doctor before her. Swallowing thickly, Emma eyed the floor carefully, as Archie finally settled down in the chair beside the couch.
He cleared his throat, and waited for a moment, though Archie wasn't typically the type of person to wait for the patient to start talking. Usually he would poke and prod with questions about what was going on, what prompted their visit, things along those lines. However, this was not a typical situation, and this was not a typical patient. Archie had many run-ins with Emma Swan prior to the curse being broken, and though he hadn't really had many dealings with the sheriff after the curse broke, he had a feeling that much of her personality hadn't changed. What made things worse was Emma's memory loss, which typically heightened parts of an individual's personality, especially their hostility. Prior to her memory loss, Emma had enough hostility to go around, he could only imagine how much worse that had gotten since her memory loss. Archie was fairly certain in this situation it would be best to let Emma come to him. One thing that Archie had noticed about the prior sheriff was her inability to stand prolonged silence, which, he decided, was something he should look into.
He watched the clock, and saw that a couple of minutes had ticked by, when she cleared her throat. Archie met her eyes, and he could tell that she had figured out his plan.
"Nice." she mumbled, before looking down as her hands played with the zipper on her jacket. "Look, I'm not exactly comfortable right now. I clearly have no idea if that is something that is normal for me or not, but I just—I want answers. I figured, who better to ask than a psychiatrist?"
Archie nodded, as he pulled his glasses off and wiped them off before placing them back onto his face. "What kind of answers are you seeking, Emma?" Archie asked, and fought the urge to bite his lip while he waited for her answer to his question.
She sighed, irritation clear in the sound, before looking up at him. "I've had two dreams in the past three days. The first one, was awful—do I have to tell you about it?" she found herself asking, her face scrunching up at the thought of having to say the words again. When Archie shook his head no, she continued. "The second one was about Graham-" she paused for a moment as realization crossed his face, before she pushed forward. "Neither dream was actually a dream. After relaying the information to Snow and Graham, they both explained how the dreams were actually memories..." she trailed off, as she ran her hands over her face. There wasn't a need to tell the doctor how Snow had broken her trust by lying to her about them at first. That would only send this visit in a direction that Emma honestly knew she couldn't handle. As it was, it was taking all of her effort to sit here and talk to him. There was no reason to add to the pressure. "I can't keep having my sleep interrupted. Henry, my son, he's been sick the past few days, so I haven't been sleeping well as it is, and these dreams..."
Archie threw up a hand to stop her. He didn't normally interrupt his patients, and he most definitely wouldn't normally interrupt Emma, but he needed additional information. "I just—I have a couple of questions before you continue, if you don't mind?"
Emma eyed him carefully, "Is that one of the questions?" Archie chuckled, but shook his head no. "Do I have a choice?" Again, he shook his head, a smile on his face. She sighed, "Then sure, why not."
Archie leaned forward, his forearms on his knees. "You said that your son, Henry was sick, correct?" Emma nodded, unsure where exactly this line of questioning was headed. "So then, even though you don't actually remember him, you accept him as your son. As your flesh and blood?"
Emma quirked her eyebrow slightly, wondering what exactly he was getting at. What kind of information was he seeking, to ask her something as stupid and lame-brained as if she accepted her son as her son. Hadn't she just said that? Sighing, a scowl on her face, Emma nodded curtly, "Of course I do."
Archie peered down at the clipboard in his hand. He jotted down a few notes, before looking back up and peering at Emma through his glasses. "Good. My next question then, and this one might be harder for you, Emma, is do you recognize and accept Snow and James as your parents?"
Emma sighed. She definitely shouldn't have given him the okay to question her. It was obviously a bad move, and Emma didn't understand what importance any of this had with her memories coming to her in her dreams. "Do I recognize it? I didn't, but they don't really give me a chance to not accept it. I don't call them mom and dad, if that's what you're asking."
Archie nodded, as he jotted some more notes on his clipboard before looking back up, "So, you accept Henry, without having to be prodded into it, but are nearly unwilling to accept Snow and James?"
Emma swallowed. Well shit, she thought. She had set herself up for this line of questioning, without even realizing it. "Yes." Her throat felt like it was closing in. The word practically choked her on the way out. Her hands were shaking, and her breathing started to hitch slightly.
"Please, Emma, stay calm." Archie placed a hand on Emma's forearm.
She took a couple of deep breaths, until it was fairly easy for her to inhale and exhale. "Why?" she forced the question out, unsure if she actually wanted the answer.
"I just want to understand why you are willing to let Henry in, to call him family, but are so unnerved by Snow and James that you cast them aside."
Emma's upper lip pulled back over her teeth, as she growled. "Well, let's see here, doc." Emma spat, forcing herself to remain seated as her flight instinct kicked into high gear all over again. "My 10-year-old son, is easy to accept as my son, because I've had a dream about being pregnant with him. Snow and James are practically my age, see where my issue might be with accepting them as my parents!?"
Archie sat back in the chair, regretting his decision to travel down this line of questioning. He threw his hands up in surrender. "Okay, I get it. I understand. Let's get back to what you were saying. Your dreams are really memories." Archie prodded her back into safer topic discussion.
Sighing, Emma took a moment to compose herself. "I'm sorry I yelled." She said, sadly, before pushing forward. "I was just wondering if there was any treatment that could help pull the memories out, so that I am able to sleep through the night without having these weird nightmare memories that makes sleep practically impossible after I have them."
Archie tapped his chin with the end of his pen as he thought. "There are a couple of options, Emma, and I would be glad to try them if you want-" she opened her mouth, but Archie held up a hand to signify he wasn't quite finished. "We can try them, but I cannot and will not promise that it will stop the memories from coming in your dreams. I also cannot promise that either of these treatments will provoke any memories to the surface. The choice is yours, Emma."
Emma nodded, as she took in the information. She thought about it for a moment, even though her mind had been long since made up. Emma had decided the moment that Snow had told her that she had made her an appointment with Archie that she would try anything that the doctor suggested. "What are my options?"
Archie nodded, "Well there is the basic option of talk therapy-" Emma shook her head vehemently back and forth at that option. Archie knew immediately that would be the automatic last option, "or, hypnosis. It's proved very helpful in the past, in fact I used it on your father when he was dealing with his own memory loss."
Sighing, Emma nodded her head. "Let's do it!"
Emma moaned, her hands curling into fists for a second before uncurling only to restart the process all over again. Archie was guiding her through the hypnosis process, but was starting to get worried by Emma's worsening agitation.
"Emma, listen to my voice. You're safe. Follow my directions, and on the count of three you will wake up."
Emma groaned; her arms flailed around for a moment before settling down again. Archie didn't want to wait any longer. "One. Two. Three." He called out, and waited as her eyes snapped open.
"Dammit!" Emma cursed, as she flung herself into a sitting position and immediately regretted the decision. Her vision swam as her body swayed uncertainly from side to side. Archie reached out a steadying hand, and waited until Emma shooed him away with her hand.
"Why'd you wake me up!?" She questioned him, her index finger pointing at him harshly.
Archie was easily able to read the anger on her face, it was all part of the mask that Emma had put in place many years before. However, it took some skill or knowing where to look, to see what the blonde was really feeling, and Archie was able to see just that. Seeing straight through the angry mask that Emma showed the world outside, he saw fear, hurt, and potential happiness. It was a wide arrange of emotions that nearly threw Archie.
"You were becoming distressed, Emma. You could have harmed yourself. I did what I needed to do. Would you care to share what you saw?"
Emma bit her lip. "Numerous things, more like little flashes here and there. Meeting Garrett, finding out I was pregnant, Henry showing up at my apartment, meeting Graham-" Emma's voice trailed off, as she sighed. "They weren't full-blown memories, just glimpses. It's something though, right?" Emma asked; her voice held just the slightest hint of hope in it.
"Yes, Emma! This was a great first session. In fact, I feel that if we have at least two sessions a week, we'll have your memories recovered in no time." Archie said, enthusiasm evident in his voice.
"Two sessions?" Emma made a face as Archie nodded, she sighed before continuing. "Fine, I suppose. How long is 'no time'?" she asked, praying that it meant no more than a hand full of sessions.
Archie shrugged, "Each person is different. Every case of memory loss is different as well. I can't pinpoint anything specific, but I'd say a few months?"
Emma groaned, "A few months!? Uh uh, doctor, I didn't sign up for months of treatment."
Archie frowned, deeply. "I feel that if you really commit to your sessions with me, Emma, and you allow the people around you tell you stories of your past, that your memory will return within a few months. This is great news, Emma."
A sigh, and she stood. "Alright. Set me up for my next appointment I guess, but I'm only giving you two months to make progress, or I'm out."
Archie nodded, "I think I can handle that." Though he didn't typically enjoy ultimatums, this was one he couldn't pass on. Emma wasn't just the savior, she was the daughter of two of his closest friends and he truly felt like he owed it, not only to Snow and James but Emma as well, to do his best to help Emma regain her memory. It was the least he could do after what he allowed Gepetto do.
He wrote down a time for two days later on a slip of paper, and handed it to Emma. "I'll see you in two days, Emma. Let the people around you, help you. It's what they want, and it will be good for you. Trust me."
Emma nodded, "Sure." She shrugged her shoulders, before stuffing the paper into her jacket pocket and walking from the room. It might not have been a full-blown memory, but at least it was start.
A/N: So, was it good? Was it horrible? Tell me, I want to know! Here is something for you guys to look forward to for the next chapter. Another Archie session (will there be a breakthrough?) and some fluff related material, since this story has really been lacking on the fluff front. Fluff to be included, may involve one Irish accented ex-sheriff going on a date with one memory loss related ex-sheriff...Not sure if those clues are good enough, but let's just say that I hope I don't let the Gremma shippers down!