Graham sat in the diner booth, angled to the corner allowing him to lean back comfortably. His stare fell straight ahead, landing somewhere between the floor and a seat of a barstool at the counter. He wasn't focused on anything in particular, fully aware he more than likely looked zoned out. And he was glad for that, because that usually kept people from approaching him, allowing himself time with his thoughts.

Thoughts that were currently occupied by the strange feeling he hadn't' been able to shake the fast few weeks since the Swan kids had returned. A feeling that memories were slightly off, and not just with himself, but throughout the entire town. It had become a large area of concern for him, one that had started to occupy more and more of his time simply because he wasn't sure where to begin asking why or how.

Without realizing, his gaze passed over Emma, Noah, and Kate, each of them in different parts of the diner. He knew deep down that they were a part of this realization, yet he still couldn't piece it all together. He'd be lying if he didn't admit, at least to himself, that that feeling was a partial reason he'd volunteered to watch the three while David and Mary Margaret had their date night. Of course he would have been happy to watch them regardless of this idea floating in his head, but he hoped spending some extra time with them would trigger something. Give him something to go on.

He'd become lost in those thoughts, so much so that he missed the small body that had quietly crept into the booth seat across from him. Only being pulled from them at the sound of his name.

"Mr. Graham?"

After a split second of confusion, he couldn't help a small chuckle that escaped him. He recalled how many times he had told her it was okay to simply call him Graham instead of the other monikers she had addressed him by. Names that included Mr. Sherriff, Sherriff Humbert, Sherriff Graham. He realized this was probably as informal as she was going to be, and so he responded.

"Yes Kate?"

"Why are you so sad?"

The question took Graham aback a little. It wasn't what he was expecting.

"I'm not sad," he replied, trying to sound as up beat as possible to convince her what he said was the truth.

The answer only caused Kate to narrow her eyes, as if she were trying to determine if it was in fact true. After another moment of silence, Kate resumed their brief conversation.

"Is it because you miss your wolf friend?" she asked, clearly not believing his answer to her question.

"I… wha… my wolf friend?" he managed to get out, confused by the question and shocked by her disregard for his previous reply.

"Yeah, the one with the two different colored eyes."

Instantly he knew what she was referring to. His mind bringing up the memory of the encounter he had with it in the woods and the almost instant remembrance the animal had caused about discovering Emma all those years prior.

"Oh, Kate. He's not my friend. He's just a wolf."

For the third time in a span of five minutes Kate essentially ignored his response.

"Does he have a name?"

"Umm, I'm not sure," he replied, giving in to her.

"Can we name him?"

"Of course we can. Do you have any ideas?"

Kate's answer was instant.

"Harry," she started. "Because he's a wolf, so he's hairy, but he's also magical just like Harry Potter."

"It sounds like you've put a lot of thought into this."

Kate nodded excitedly.

"Well I think Harry is a great name," he said.

"Me too," she said proudly, earning a grin from Graham.

A lull fell between them for a few moments before Graham started up the conversation once again.

"So, Miss Kate. Why is it that you think this wolf, Harry, is my friend?"

"Because you traveled everywhere together in the Enchanted Forrest," she replied, not missing a beat.

"The Enchanted Forrest?" he questioned.

Instead of answering, he watched as Kate scurried over to the edge of the seat, reaching down into the backpack Noah had carried in with him and pulling out a large, hardcover book. Once back to where she had been seated before, Kate precisely flipped open to a page, evidence she had all but memorized it, and proceeded to slide it across the table.

"The Enchanted Forrest," she exclaimed simply.

Graham pulled the book closer to himself, his eyes transfixed on the illustration. He knew that the text more than likely held more details to what he wanted to know, but for now the picture would do. Because it was clear to him how the little girl would draw the conclusion that she had. It looked strikingly like him. And there next to the man was the exact wolf he had seen months ago. The two of them standing in thick woods.

He hadn't realized how quiet he had become until Kate spoke up again.

"I think you will be happier once you find him again. He's your best friend. You are meant to be with each other."

"I see," he managed before fully collecting his thoughts. "Well, do you have any ideas for how I can find him again?"

"Emma breaks the curse and then you and everyone else fin those that they love."

Graham glanced back down to the book, now recognizing the elegant script of the text and whimsy of the illustration, and realized it was a book of fairytales. There was sure to be mention of magic and curses. He looked back up to find a pair of eager eyes fixed on him, and so deciding to humor her he asked.

"The curse?"

Those two words triggered a wave of explanation like he'd never experienced before. Kate spoke faster than he though humanly possible. But he managed to pick up on the key parts. The Evil Queen and her hatred of Snow White. A curse to ruin everyone's happiness. Storybrooke was a town full of characters that didn't know who they really were, himself included.

But the two points that stuck with him most were that Snow White and Prince Charming had a daughter named Emma. And that Kate was quite certain Mary Margaret and David were their Storybrooke counterparts.

"So if Emma breaks this curse, then everyone gets their happiness back?"

Kate nodded in reply.

"You seem to be the expert," he said, earning him a small smile from Kate. "Do you know how she can break it?"

"By believing," she said simply.

"Believing that Mary Margaret and David are her parents?" he asked.

Kate shook her head. "I think somewhere inside she already believes that. She needs to believe in everything else. The Enchanted Forrest, the cures, magic. She needs know they actually exist."

The two of them fell silent, Graham having focused once again on the picture that looked so much like him. He wouldn't go as far as to say he believed what the little girl had told him was the truth, but there was something about it that made him feel as if this was the spark he had been searching for. The launching point for discovering what was off about their small town.

"Kate, can I borrow this for a little bit?" he asked, hand resting on the book between them.

"Sure," she replied enthusiastically. "I'm going to go back over by Noah."

Graham smiled as he watched her race back over to her brother, the two taking no time to start scheming something from the looks of it. His gaze traveled over to the countertop, resting on Emma. The girl in deep conversation with Ruby.

He couldn't help but bring up all of their conversations from the past. What if all he told her, all he had assured her couldn't possibly be true about Mary Margaret and David actually was. He wasn't sure he'd be able to forgive himself if he was the reason she hadn't fully reunited with her parents.

"Graham!" The shout from Noah enough to pull him from his thoughts and he turned towards the energized boy racing over to the booth. "Will you teach us how to play darts?"

"Not a chance!" came the reply before Graham could even answer, Granny's voice booming from behind the counter, her back turned to them still fully engaged in a different activity.

Noah couldn't help the small blush that appeared on his cheeks. But seeing that Granny's back remained turned away from them, he looked back over to Graham.

"Please?" he whispered.

This time Graham shook his head. "I'm inclined to agree with Granny. And your parents would probably kill me."

He finished just as Kate raced over to the table.

"But it's practically like learning to shoot a bow and arrow," she chipped in.

Graham recognized she was trying to make the point that Mary Margaret wouldn't mind since she was actually Snow White, an apparent bandit that could wield a bow and arrow like no other in the book.

"Then Mary Margaret can teach you," he replied, earning small frowns from them both. "How about we get ice cream instead?"

"Yes!" they both exclaimed, disappointment over darts vanishing. Noah scooped up his pack and the pair raced over to tell Emma the plan.

Graham slowly moved out from the booth to join them at the door. The book felt heavy in his arms as he scooped it up, as if it held the answers to everything. And he could only hope that in some way it did.

David set his napkin on the table as Mary Margaret took the last sip of her wine. The dinner portion of their date night coming to an end. He couldn't help the smile that filled his face as he watched his wife enjoy the last of their meal, knowing he would never tire of relishing the small moments they had with one another.

They had needed this. A night to themselves, away from the wonderfully full, yet sometimes chaotic and stressful, life they now shared with Emma, Noah, and Kate. The time together had been relaxing and allowed them to reminisce and connect without little ears around. And while David was confident they had never lost it, the date had reassured him that the spark between them was still there. That they loved each other even more now than before, if that was even possible. Absolute true love.

Mary Margaret set her glass down and met his gaze. Almost instantaneously her expression changed, one David had seen many times before when she was trying to figure out what he was thinking. A questioning look she had perfected, that made him spill almost every thought he had, each and every time.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Us," he replied, giving a brief pause before continuing. "Our lives. Everything that got us to where we are right now."

"It's kind of amazing, isn't it?"

"Yeah it is."

Mary Margaret tilted her head slightly as they fell silent, aware that David had more running around in his mind.

"A penny for your thoughts."

David let out a small chuckle. "Is that all they're worth?"

"How about for a kiss later, then?"

"I like that option much better," he replied. David glanced around the table, confirming they were all finished and the bill had been paid before starting again. "Tell you on the way out?"

Mary Margaret nodded and David quickly made his way over to her, offering his arm as she stood. She accepted it with a loving smile and stepped closer to his side as they started to weave through the small restaurant. Both finding additional comfort in the extra contact.

The brief delay since his wife's initial question had given him the opportunity to figure out how he wanted to answer. All he really wanted to do was tell her everything then and there. No holding back. But that he had planned for later, when they were completely on their own. No potential for interruptions that could influence what these feelings and memories or visions, he still wasn't sure which exactly, actually meant. Instead, he opted to bring up the other, lighter, thing that had been on his mind since he had been forced to close the animal shelter.

"Have I ever told you about the dog I had as a kid?"

Mary Margaret shook her head in reply, slightly surprised that at this point in their marriage she hadn't heard of a pet before. David felt the motion on his shoulder and continued.

"Some of my fondest childhood memories are with that dog," he started to explain, though he couldn't seem to recall anything more than the dog itself. "She was a shepherd and was so good at herding."

"Herding? You make it sound like you grew up on a farm," Mary Margaret joked.

David let out something that could be described as a mix between a laugh and a sigh. There it was again. That conflicting feeling that he had indeed done that, grown up on a farm, cultivated the land, raised animals. And yet he couldn't seem to find any concrete memories. He wasn't sure where it was coming from but he continued.

"Well, I think when I was younger my mother would have said I was an animal, so maybe she was just good at herding me around," he joked back. David didn't need to look at his wife to know she was smiling at the response.

They had made it to the front of the restaurant and David held the door open as they exited. The cool, crisp air making Mary Margaret move even closer to him. David immediately responded to her, pulling his arm away from her grasp only to wrap it around her shoulder, pulling her flush against his side.

The short silence they had fallen into was comfortable, both knowing the conversation would pick up where they had left off in a moment. So it shocked David, when instead of starting with the segue he had come up with to make the point in his story, Mary Margaret started instead.

"Yes."

"What?"

"My answer," she elaborated. "It's yes."

David stopped in his tracks and his brow furrowed involuntarily.

"I haven't asked you anything," he said, still puzzled.

Mary Margaret had taken a few steps further before she felt she was no longer nestled into David's side. A smile crept to her face as she turned and took in his expression.

"But you were going to, right? About getting a dog. And while I think we should speak with the kids about it, my opinion is yes."

"How did…" he trailed off.

"We've been married for how long David?" she replied in a jesting tone. "I'd like to think I know you pretty well by now. Although apparently I don't know everything about you since this is the first I've heard of a childhood pet."

David forced a smile, pulling Mary Margaret back to his side as they resumed their walk. He recalled the reason that was. It wasn't that he purposefully held it from his wife, but that he himself had only remembered the previous day. He had watched Archie and Pongo cross the street and then suddenly he had flashes of himself as a kid, do beside him. And though Mary Margaret had been joking when she suggested it, he couldn't help but now place the background noises as probably farm animals.

Mary Margaret noticed her husband's continued silence.

"Unless that wasn't it, then…"

"No, no. It was. I just… you surprised me is all."

And it wasn't that he was actually surprised his wife had read him so easily, but rather was slightly thrown off that his plan to stretch out his story to their next destination had been dashed. Caught up in that idea, he didn't realize they had reached the corner of the block until he felt Mary Margaret tug gently on his arm in the direction back to their house.

He gave her a slight tug back in the opposite direction.

"Let's go this way."

"This is the shorter way home," she replied.

"I know, but I think we should take this route," he said with a small grin.

Mary Margaret narrowed her eyes slightly. "What do you have up your sleeve?"

"It's a surprise."

Mary Margaret slipped easily back under his arm and David pressed a kiss to the crown of her head as they continued in the direction of their mystery destination.

It was about 10 minutes more, most of which was spent in comfortable silence, before they reached the bridge. Mary Margaret couldn't help the small gasp that escaped her lips as she took in the sight. White Christmas lights were wrapped around the top rail of the railing, and although they were still a distance away, there appeared to be a thermos of what she assumed was hot chocolate on the ledge directly in the middle of the bridge.

"David, what is this?"

He couldn't help the grin that popped to his face as they reached the spot where the hot chocolate rested and he poured them each a mug.

"I thought we could have dessert in a slightly more scenic spot," he replied simply.

"It's lovely."

Mary Margaret leaned forward, her elbows resting on the rail, bent in a way that kept the steaming mug close to her face. David settled directly on her right, his left arm wrapping around her waist, holding her close as the both gazed into the surrounding woods.

"Do you remember the last time we were here?" David asked.

Mary Margaret immediately nodded. "Yes. When Jean first called about Rachel and Brian passing and about their wishes for the kids."

David nodded, mostly to himself since he knew his wife couldn't see him, and gathered his thoughts. He was about to start with the topic he had wanted to broach the entire night. The reason he had brought them out there.

"This may sound like an odd question, but do you remember anything else? About the night, the call, us? Anything at all?"

Mary Margaret looked up at him, noticing the swirl of emotions behind his eyes. She didn't answer right away, doing her best to recall as much of that evening, before her memory stumbled across something she had brushed aside back then.

"It sounds strange," she started quietly. "But I remember not really understanding everything that Jean was explaining on the phone…"

"As if we were expected to know something, have memories with them, but not being able to recall anything?"

"Yes," Mary Margaret replied. "At least… at least until Jean mentioned Emma's name. Then it seemed as though it all came rushing forward."

At this they both fell quiet as the events they had both recently experienced independently consumed them. Mary Margaret recalling the whole confusing moment with the handwriting on the condolences cards. David thinking to the previous day and the vivid scene that played before him upon noticing a small scar. Both realizing Emma played a vital role in each of the moments. And as the silence continued, they realized those weren't the only times that had happened to them since the three Swans had come to live with them.

"I have to tell you something about Emma," they both exclaimed at the same time. Earning a shocked expression from the other.

"I… you… you have something to say about Emma?" David stammered out.

"Yes, and… and you do too?" Mary Margaret replied. It was a question that didn't really need to be asked, but she too was just managing to sort through the shock that maybe these odd flashes and feelings she had experienced were actually shared by them both.

David nodded. "You go first."

"I… well it's nothing bad of course," she started, still unsure of how she wanted to word what she needed to say. "It's just, ever since the three of them came to live with us, I can't help but feel as though everything I think I know is wrong. Like the memories I have are lies. And slowly, piece by piece, it feels like I'm figuring out what is actually true.

"And every time that… that," she paused, searching for the right word. "… clarity comes to me, it's… this is going to sound crazy, but it's because of Emma."

She stopped and looked back up to David, her eyes finding an expression on his face that she could only describe is astonishment. He looked almost bewildered, like she had taken the words right out of his mouth.

"I know it doesn't seem possible…" she started to explain but was cut off.

"No, no. You're right. I mean I agree it doesn't seem possible, but I also know exactly what you are talking about."

Mary Margaret's grew slightly wider at the statement and David continued.

"The other day I had a flash, I don't know what else to call it, of an entirely different life. Of a moment I am certain happened, and yet doesn't line up with any memory I've ever had. And with it I got this feeling that I can't shake, that this other thought what I should believe. And it came to me after I noticed a small scar on Emma's finger."

They both remained quiet after David finished. Each processing the other's story and comparing it to their own moment.

"So, what does this mean?" Mary Margaret asked, the concern in her tone making the question feel heavy.

"I'm not sure," David answered with a small sigh. It was clear to the both of them that they wished they could come up with an answer to explain it all. "I think we should talk to Emma though."

Mary Margaret nodded in agreement.

"There's something else," she started. David looked at her, his gaze curious but reassuring. "The other day Emma and I were talking and she asked if she could somehow be our Emma and… and I don't know. With all of this, I just don't know," she trailed off.

David pulled her close to chest, running his hand up and down her back in an attempt to comfort his wife.

"Hey, we will figure this out. We will find the truth."

"That's what I'm scared of. What if she is ours, biologically? What if she's been alive all this time and we thought… we thought," her voice caught in her throat, unable to finish the sentence. Tears ran down her cheeks and David could feel the sobs she was trying to hold in.

He pressed a lingering kiss to her head. It was an action not only to calm his wife, but himself as well. The idea caused his eyes to become misty as well, the thought of all that lost time almost more than he could bear.

"No matter what we discover, we'll get through it like we always do. Together, as a family. The five of us we will make it. I promise."

They both fell silent again. Both frightened and hurting, but also shockingly hopeful as to what everything could mean.

"We need to speak with Emma."

"Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow."

Neal stood in the alleyway, back flush to the bricks of one of the buildings, allowing the wall to hold him up for the moment. His heart beat hard and fast against his chest. And while he understood that some of his nervous energy was due to anxiety from the papers in his hand, papers that didn't belong to him but he couldn't help but feel ownership for, some of the feeling he couldn't place.

All he could figure was that deep down, somewhere he knew that showing someone else this information… uncovering some unspoken truth… would bring about an immense change. Change which, again for some unknown reason, he knew would affect more than just he and Emma. But rather everyone in Storybrooke.

Taking a deep breath in and out, Neal forced himself away from the wall, taking the few steps around the corner. He walked in what felt like slow motion down the block, ending up around 3/4ths of the way down at a door that appeared rundown and overused. He paused briefly, one palm against the metal bar that served as the handle and the other slightly clenching around the papers in the inner breast pocket of his jacket.

He pulled against the door, gently at first but gave it a sharper tug as he found it heavy, but was met with an equally sharp resistance. Locked. This was his luck. It always had been. Neal gave the door one more tug, knowing it would do nothing but hoping it wasn't the case. But as expected, he was met with firm resistance.

A large sigh escaped his lips as he gently set his head against the smooth glass of the door. So caught up in his thoughts, in coming up with what he was going to do next, he missed the sharp clap of heels on pavement approach from behind him.

"Can I help you with something?"

The voice startled him into standing up straight. It cut through all the noise within him and sent a chill down his spine. He found himself conflicted between the pull to turn around quickly, as if responding to a command, and the overwhelming feeling, fear maybe, to put off facing whomever was now behind him.

Opting for something in between, he turned, immediately feeling intimidated upon meeting the woman's eyes. Everything about her was sharp and cold and unsettling.

"I um… I was… I'm fine. Just looking for the sheriff."

Regina let out a small scoff.

"Yes I gathered as much," she started, the disdain she held for obvious statements evident in her tone. Neal inwardly cursed at himself, aware that she was looking him over in detail, almost as if she were trying to determine who he was. "Well, good luck. Lately he, and his bumbling deputy, have taken it upon themselves to help with every trivial concern the people of this town have. So who knows when, or even if, he'll be back. And he's never been very reliable."

Not sure of how to respond Neal nodded slightly, turning his gaze back to the door before looking over to the woman once again. Recognizing that her piercing stare hadn't left him. Growing exponentially more uncomfortable by the second, he started to move away from the door in an attempt to get away from her.

Regina noticed the movement and stepped directly in his path, preventing him from getting any further.

"I don't believe we've met. You are?"

"Oh uh Neal Cassidy," he replied.

Regina ran the name through her head a few times over, not recognizing it until it dawned on her why. The man in front of her was Gold's son. The corner of her lip turned up wickedly at the realization.

"Pleasure. Are you sure there isn't anything I can help you with?"

"Oh no it's okay. I'll just come back later," Neal replied.

He didn't trust her in the slightest and that thought caused him to unconsciously set his hand over his jacket, patting down gently to ensure the pages were still there. Regina didn't miss the movement, and knowing who he was, she had a growing feeling that whatever he was holding onto would give her the power she needed or be her downfall. Either way she needed to get her hands on whatever the man had.

"Really it isn't a problem," she said, stepping past Neal to unlock the door. "If you have something you need to drop off, please do so. I'll make sure he knows you've been by."

Every fiber of his being was shouting at him to decline. He could see that she had some ulterior motive behind her offer. And the information these pages held wasn't something that could just be explained by a simple note. It needed to be done in person. But he found himself giving her a silent nod as he stepped through the door and into the station.

Regina guided them over to Graham's desk and Neal hesitantly pulled the envelope of pages from the inside of his jacket. Gently he set them down and used a pen to scribble down his phone number and a quick note urging the Sherriff to call him to discuss what they meant. It wasn't how he would have liked to leave them, so out in the open and exposed, but the feeling of the woman's eyes on his back had him wanting to escape as quickly as possible.

"Uh thanks," he said upon finishing the note and moving away from the desk and back to the door.

Regina barely heard the words of his reluctant gratitude, her eyes finding something much more interesting on the Sherriff's desk. On the opposite end to where Neal set the envelope of pages, under a pile of paperwork, sat a large hardcover book. The title enough let Regina know that the stories inside were those of the people of the Enchanted Forrest. The same people that now filled Storybrooke.

"Ma'am?"

"Oh," Regina initially replied, her eyes finally pulled from the book at the end of the desk. "Of course."

Regina held out her arm, pointing towards the front door as she ushered them both out. Taking only a few steps, glancing back once more before the two finally made their way out of the station and she locked the front door once again.

"I'll make sure to let Sherriff Graham know that you've dropped off something for him. He answers when I call," Regina started, causing Neal's eyes to widen at her authoritative tone. "If he knows what's good for him."

"I appreciate it," Neal managed.

"Please let me know if there is anything else you need during your stay here in Storybrooke," Regina continued, a tone of forced hospitality dripping from each word.

Neal only nodded. There was something insincere about her entire demeanor and he just wanted to get away. He could only hope that the pages would actually make it to the Sherriff. That they would bring about the change that he knew they could.

Regina watched as the man continued to walk away from the station. There was a satisfaction bubbling inside her knowing that she had managed to keep this man away from his father for as long as she had. That Gold had spent all this time trying to find him and yet once he had, there was no recollection.

But Regina knew that this would all be coming to a crashing end. That the façade would soon be discovered. That each and every person in Storybrooke would have their happiness restored, but that didn't matter. She could care less about almost every person in Storybrooke, so long as she could continue to destroy the happiness of Snow White. And she knew she would. That the book on Graham's desk would allow her to do so.

Once Neal was out of sight, Regina turned back to the door and made her way inside. Papers scattered across the floor as she grabbed the book with complete disregard for anything else. She chuckled to herself as she flipped through the pages, while the stories were more accurate than what was currently floating around in this world, they still made her out to be a much bigger villain than she currently was.

But all that was beside the point. What mattered was the feeling she had once she picked up the book. That of almost electricity that surged through every part of her. It was a feeling she hadn't experienced since the Enchanted Forrest. One that had almost become a part of her back then. When magic flowed freely.

That feeling soared even further once she took in what Neal had left behind for Graham. She instantly recognized them as missing pages to the book. And holding them in her fingers, she could feel the energy coursing through her. More powerful than anything she had felt before. They were pure magic. The missing pieces to the girl's past. And since she was a product of true love, they held some of the purest magic known in all the realms.

Regina ran her fingers over the pages a few more times, basking in the shocks they sent up her arms. There was enough magic in these pages and book to carry out what she needed. Just enough to break the curse and bring more magic to the realm than ever been seen before. She was willing return everyone's happiness in order to have magic here. Magic that would destroy Snow White.

With a flick of her wrist she bound the pages inside the book, the story of Emma Swan now complete, aside from the last page. That page she needed. The final piece of evidence that would make the girl believe in it all. Everything that young Kate had been trying to convince her of. It would all come flooding Emma. And with that realization, Regina knew the magic would come flooding as well.

And that was what she cared about. Because once she had that, she could rip out the heart of Snow White's most truly beloved and impart the heartache she herself had felt all these years. Holding the book close to her chest, Regina walked out of the station, determined to find the one person that would set this all in motion. Emma.

I hope you enjoyed. The next chapter is it, what everyone has been waiting for! I'm so excited to share it with all of you!