Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine.

A/N: AHHH a huge thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. A special shout-out to bejaymamazing for being the author of my 400th review and to Mjeeby for being the 150th user to follow this story. I honestly cannot believe I am reaching these kind of numbers, thank you so much to everyone who made it possible. You are all so amazing and I am thrilled to have such loyal readers, reviewers, and followers!

This chapter is longer than the last one, which I'm sure will make you all happy. I hope you enjoy!

Many thanks to Melissa for betaing and being generally amazing.

Snow gasped. She didn't know if James had read the book over her shoulder or if he had suddenly remembered. Her heart hammered. "What – what did you say?"

She felt James' hand on her cheek and when she looked at him, she saw his eyes were filled with tears. "It's me," he repeated. "You found me." She began to cry as he kissed her. She could feel his tears landing on her cheeks and she wrapped her arms around him, holding on for dear life. It was as though her emotional dam had broken, and once she started crying, she simply couldn't stop. She finally pulled away from him, wiping her eyes.

"I found you," Snow murmured. She was stunned. For as much as she'd wanted to believe that Henry was right, she hadn't been entirely convinced that reading the book would help.

James took her hand. "Did you ever doubt you would?"

Snow smiled guiltily. "Truthfully?" James nodded. "The curse gave me pause."

"The curse…"

"Do you remember it?" Snow asked tentatively. She didn't want to bombard him with details, especially if his memory was still fragile.

But James nodded again. "Yes. I remember everything…" His eyes widened. "Emma! Is she all right? Where is she?"

"She's all right," Snow replied. "She's here, in Storybrooke – that's the name of the town," Snow explained, when James gave her a questioning look.

"What is this place?"

"I don't know, exactly," Snow said. "I mean, it's a town, but…" She hesitated, wondering if it would be too burdensome to tell him everything now, when he'd just regained his memories. On the other hand, she might not have time later, and she did have to tell him what was going on. She couldn't risk him running into Regina or Rumpelstiltskin without proper warning. "The town is the curse," she explained. "Everyone here is someone from our world, but they don't know who they truly are. Like Red, her name is Ruby now, and she works at the diner. She has no idea who I am."

James frowned. "So they're not like me? They have some identity, it's just not who they used to be?"

"That sounds right," Snow said. "To be honest, I still don't understand exactly how this curse was supposed to work. Regina and Rumpelstiltskin are here, too, but they do know who they are. They've been trying to get me to get Emma to break the curse."

"But you don't want the curse broken?"

"They only want the curse broken to bring magic into this world," Snow replied. "If the curse is broken, they'll be powerful again."

"But if the curse isn't broken, our friends will suffer anyway," James pointed out. "Their lives are still cursed."

"I know that," Snow said, nodding. "But it's not that simple. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't get Emma to break the curse." She paused, gathering the courage to tell him about Emma. How could she say that he'd missed out on so much of their daughter's life?

"Why not?" James prompted her quietly, when Snow didn't continue.

She swallowed. "She can't break the curse because…she doesn't know about it. She doesn't know about our world. She doesn't even know who I am."

James frowned. "How could she not know who you are?"

Snow felt her eyes filling with tears again. Her heart was heavy with the weight of the promise she had broken. "I – I'm so sorry," she whispered, as the tears began to fall again. "I lost her."

James reached for her hand. "What do you mean? I thought you said she was here in Storybrooke."

"She is," Snow replied. "And I've spent a lot of time with her. But, James…" She paused to swallow the lump that was building in her throat. "She's already turned twenty-eight."

For a moment, he was silent as her words sank in. "Twenty-eight?" he repeated, his tone filled with disbelief. "I've – I've been like this for twenty-eight years? How could that be?" He studied her carefully. "You don't look any different – I mean, your hair is shorter, but that's it. You don't look twenty-eight years older. Do I?"

"No." Snow shook her head. "That's the other part of the curse. Everyone in this town that we know…they're all the same age they were when the curse hit. Even Regina is the same. It's just Emma who's older." Our baby girl is all grown up.

"But how could Emma not notice that?" James asked. "How could she not notice you staying the same while she grew up?"

Snow bit her lip. "Because," she began quietly, "I only raised her until she was six years old."

She'd stunned him into silence. Snow could remember feeling the same mix of shock, sadness, and indignation when she'd realized that she'd missed out on so much of her daughter's life. The story sounded even more absurd now that she'd said it aloud. If James couldn't understand it, what chance did that leave for Emma?

"It was Regina," Snow continued, when James had been quiet for nearly a minute. "Emma and I lived together for six years. I raised her in this world. It was hard, but she was happy. I wrote this book about our world so that someday I could explain to her what had happened. We weren't living in Storybrooke. I didn't see anyone from our world there, until I saw Regina. She came to the house, she threatened Emma and me. She had another apple."

James' eyes widened. "And you bit it?"

"I had to," Snow said. "She said it was either me, or Emma, and I couldn't let her do that to our daughter. She promised she'd raise Emma in my place, which she did."

"But how did the curse end?" James asked. "Only true love's kiss can end that curse-"

"Rumpelstiltskin did it," Snow replied. "He had some potion – true love potion, I have no idea how he got it. I made a deal with him: he'd save my life if I got Emma to believe and break the curse. At the time, I didn't know anything about the curse, I didn't know that breaking it would bring magic into this world. I didn't know he was working with Regina. And I didn't know that more than twenty years had passed. I thought that I'd be able to end the curse, that there was still time, but now…"

"You said she's already twenty-eight," James said. Snow nodded. "And Rumpelstiltskin told us that she'd return on her twenty-eighth birthday…"

"I know," Snow said. "But that's already passed and the curse isn't broken. It's because Emma doesn't know anything about our world. I failed her. I failed all of us."

"No," James said, pulling her toward him so that her head was resting on his shoulder. "It's not your fault. You saved her. If Regina had given her the apple, things would have been much, much worse. Rumpelstiltskin only said she would return on her birthday, not that the curse would be broken. We might still have time. Maybe she has returned, to you. You can still get her to believe."

Snow closed her eyes and wished more than anything that were true. She didn't want to tell him what was happening to her, not after they had just found each other again, but she knew she had to. She opened her eyes and sat up straight, so she could meet his eyes. "James, there's something else you have to know."

His gaze didn't waver as he asked, "What is it?"

Snow swallowed hard. "Something's – happening to me. Rumpelstiltskin says it's because I haven't gotten Emma to believe yet."

"What's happening?" James wanted to know.

"I'm…" She couldn't bring herself to say dying. "I have these strange symptoms. Constant headaches, blackouts, hallucinations. They started after I woke up in Storybrooke. I thought at first they were a side effect of using magic in this world, or maybe just being under the apple's spell for so long, but Rumpelstiltskin says – and I'm afraid he's right – that it's connected to the other curse. And yesterday," she pressed on, figuring she might as well tell him everything, "I was asleep for almost twenty-four hours. I think I scared Emma half to death. She said she couldn't wake me."

James exhaled. "And Rumpelstiltskin said this is connected to Regina's curse and Emma not breaking it?" Snow nodded. "And you don't think he's just saying it to get you to break the curse?"

"No, I don't," Snow answered. "I think it makes sense. I was sent to this world with Emma to protect her, to teach her about our world so that she would be the savior. I failed at that, and this is my punishment."

"No," James said firmly. "Do not punish yourself or blame yourself for what happened, Snow. You did everything you could." He ran a hand through his hair. "Are these symptoms permanent?"

"Yes," she answered. "And he said they'd keep getting worse until…"

"Until what?" James prompted her.

Snow couldn't look at him as she whispered, "Until I die."

She felt James' hand under her chin as he tilted her head up to meet his eyes. "I promise you, Snow. That will never happen. I won't allow it."

Snow smiled sadly. "Don't make promises you can't keep. I don't think you can stop this. It's already started."

"So we stop it," James said simply. "We go with our best chance. You have to convince Emma about the curse. Don't worry about her breaking it. Just get her to believe. You made this book about our world, right?" James gestured to the memory book. "Get her to read it."

"You sound just like Henry," Snow replied. "He wants me to use the book, too."

"Who's Henry?"

"Oh…" Snow smiled, imagining James' reaction. "He's Emma's son."

"Our daughter has a son?" James exclaimed. "But she's – I'm-"

"She's twenty-eight," Snow reminded him gently. "And you've been cursed."

James could only shake his head. "I can't believe this," he groaned.

"I know," Snow said. "It's a lot to take in. But Henry's been wonderful. He knows about the curse, about us, magic, everything. He's been a real-" She suddenly froze. "Someone's coming."

"So?"

"So you're supposed to be a John Doe with no memory of his life. And I'm just some volunteer. No one knows who I am, remember? It'll look suspicious if someone sees us together." Snow slid off the bed and walked over to the glass door. "There's a nurse coming down the hall," she reported. "It looks like she's checking all the rooms."

James nodded. "She does that every hour."

"I should go," Snow said, looking at the clock. "Emma might get worried if I'm gone too long. She lives with me now – long story."

James waved her over and took her hand. "We need a plan, Snow. You go home to Emma. You have to convince her about our world as soon as possible. We don't know how much time we have, but I refuse to lose you again."

Snow squeezed his hand. "I refuse to lose you, too."

"I'll stay here and pretend not to know anything. It's for the best," he added, before Snow could protest. "Regina and Rumpelstiltskin won't think I'm a threat if I don't remember anything. I don't want you to be distracted by me. You need to focus on Emma."

"Okay," Snow replied. She could see the nurse was coming closer. "I really should go," she said. She tried to pull away but James stopped her.

"Kiss me."

She did, and wished that one moment could have lasted forever.

A/N: Look, no cliffhanger this time! I'm making headway on the remaining chapters, of which there are four - I can't believe this story is coming to an end. My goal is to finish writing by the end of the weekend - we'll see how well that goes. While you're waiting for Sunday's new episode, muse and I would love a review. Thanks in advance for the smile your review will bring to my face!