A/N: Whoo this is long. Not sure that's a bad thing. We're coming up to a turning point in the story... I would love to hear any unanswered questions y'all have, if you've got them that is.
~Emma~
Emma felt bizarre, simultaneously weak and tingly. She had woken feeling a rush of energy she dare not attempt to describe, as well as the feeling of her skin flushing all over.
Had she been dreaming? She must have, remembering the strange memory fragments of an odd world as they were rapidly vanishing from her mind, as if they never existed in the first place.
She felt a comforting hand on hers, giving her a slight squeeze, startling her to the fact that she was not alone. She wondered who was on the other end of that squeeze, straining to blink open her eyes to look, but instantly regretted it. With a groan, her lids snapped shut.
She didn't have long to wonder.
"Emma, stay still, love."
She covered her eyes with one hand, groaning at the pain in her head as much as who was here with her. "What are you doing here, Jones?" She hated how weak her voice sounded. She tried to clear her throat, but that only agitated the pain in her head.
"I'd like to know that as well." Papa? What is going on here?
The door creaked open, and a gasp came from someone she knew all too well.
"Emma, honey, how do you feel?" She felt the bed shift as her mother sat near her legs at the foot of the bed. She felt her mothers calming hand rub at her ankle. It was a gesture of love.
"I'm fine." She nearly choked on her words as they came out raspy, her voice small. "I just have a headache-"
"Not if I have anything to say about it." Hearing Regina's voice cinched it. Something was definitely going on.
Emma felt a cold hand move her own off her eyes before a set of cold hands were placed on either side of her head, the thumbs resting on her forehead. In seconds, a warmth swept through her mind with a small squeeze almost like a hug, releasing the pain that had been there. The hands, having done their job, disappeared.
Emma, unsure if she should trust this new calm in her mind, slowly tested it by blinking, eventually opening her eyes fully. She was surrounded.
She first noticed Captain Killian Jones, sitting in the chair he must have moved to her bedside. His eyes expressed shock despite the pleased glint there, and the beginnings of a smirk rested on his lips.
She had to tear her eyes from him, finally noticing Regina to the right of him, her arms crossed. She looked to be cross herself, but she was intently focused on Emma. Which made the young princess uneasy, yet grateful when realizing Regina must have been the one to heal the pain in her head. Magick has its own rewards.
Emma sat up carefully, feeling her muscles tighten, scooching back toward the headboard. On the other side of the Captain stood her father, a genuine smile on his face, his hand resting on the shoulder of her mother. Snow was sitting at the edge of the bed, one hand on Emma, the other wiping away happy tears. But when mother and daughter locked eyes, Emma saw a haunting there that surprised, and terrified her.
Regina pulled her attention. "Here, Emma, drink this." the sorceress was holding out a glass of water for her to take. Where had that come from?
Emma took it gently, the motion of which reminded her that her right hand was held captive by the only hand of the pirate. She distracted herself from this realization by taking a sip as she glanced from face to face.
She noticed the gentle scraping sound from the corner of the room, her curiosity taking over as she leaned to look around her mother, spotting Roland as he knelt, drawing. His knees came up to his chest, his sketch pad balancing precariously on them, his eyes constantly shooting up to absorb the scene before him, then back down to his page.
Emma couldn't stop the small chuckle as she shook her head and sat back upright. She took a large gulp before finally noticing the last person in the room, which nearly made her spew the water back out in surprise. A guard, standing by the closed door to her room.
"Since when is a guard watching me as I sleep? No offence, Reginald." She called to him, making him smile and nod in response. She noticed he looked almost giddy, but forced that curious notion from her mind to focus on more important things.
But she realized that no one was even going to pretend to answer her question, any of them. Instead, most were shuffling uncomfortably, so she set her face in a look of seriousness no one could question.
"Someone tell me what's going on, and please explain to me why I'm famished."
She was startled at the lack of response. Instead, Regina pointed a look at Roland, making him do a double take and setting his face in a look of guilt. He swallowed hard, before standing and making his way out the door, not once halting his hand from its job of artistry. Regina then turned her attention to the guard and asked him to please bring Belle.
Emma hid her smile at the mention of Belle's name, in favor of the stern expression she had set.
"Is Belle actually going to answer my questions?" She asked, allowing the sarcasm to seep into her words.
The hand on hers squeezed, slightly, startling her. She'd forgotten he was holding it. She couldn't help but to look down at their joined hands, the sight giving her butterflies which was not something she wanted to feel in front of her parents, before raising her eyes to pierce his.
His ocean blues were full of meaning, the most obvious clearly reading patience. She didn't want to have patience, this whole situation was boggling her mind.
She averted her gaze as she gently slipped her hand out of his, knowing if she looked, she'd see a bit of disappointment. As much as the romantic part of her wanted a moment with the pirate, in private, she knew she'd cause a scene if she looked at him just now. And she couldn't allow that.
Emma cocked her head when her mother spoke.
"Honey, what do you remember last?"
"What does that have to do with-"
"Indulge us." Regina interjected in a flat tone.
Emma scanned the room quickly, avoiding Captain Jones, noticing that each person began holding their breath.
Staring down at her glass, her eyes picked up red, and she took in a new fact.
"Why am I still wearing my ballgown?" She didn't bother looking up, assuming the silence would simply continue. Killian surprised her, with a gentle voice she had not heard from his lips before.
"I'd tell you, but I don't think I'd make it out of this room alive."
The joke made her smile a bit. She still couldn't look at him, though. She nodded, sighed, feeling frustrated. If she indulged them, perhaps they would finally tell her something. She'd take anything at this point.
She took another gulp before answering, her cheeks blushing. "The last thing I remember, the Captain here had offered to walk me to my room after the ball. It was quite late, and I accepted the company." She absolutely left out the kissing part, blissfully unaware that everyone already knew what had transpired. "I must have fainted from the exhaustion of the day."
Belle entered at that moment. "Hey." She said lightly, crossing the room and making her way around the bed to sit on the other side of Emma.
"Everyone here is being tight-lipped." Emma tilted her head in the general direction of the others. "Please tell me what's going on. I'm going mad not knowing."
Belle looked guilty as she glanced to Regina, Snow, and finally Killian. Emma suddenly realized that Jones may have only been half joking.
Belle took a breath. "Emma, you collapsed. Hook carried you to your room. You've been asleep almost a full day."
Emma was surprised. But she did vaguely recall Killian carrying her. But that memory couldn't be right.. She distinctly remembered the stars as he carried her, but they were already inside when they kissed - when she assumed she lost consciousness.
Another memory struck her. Happily ever after. She shook her head, willing the memories to clear themselves.
"Asleep a full day? See, mama, I told you that ball was a bad idea." She regretted those words as soon as they left her lips. Snow looked as if each word had pierced her heart. "Mama-"
"It's okay, Emma."
Emma felt guilty. Confused. There was more to this than a simple fainting spell, that much she knew. She snapped. "Someone had better tell me what the hell is going on."
"We're just worried." Her mother said, though that lie detector was pinging. It was way more than just worry.
Emma looked to Hook, who had never told her a lie. She wondered if now would be his first.
"Talk, Pirate."
He did not hesitate, and she mentally kicked herself for allowing their eyes to lock. "It's about the missing day." He waited a moment for that to sink in. "Everyone is waiting to see what you remember, or if you remember much of anything, that is."
Emma couldn't move her eyes from his gaze if she tried. She waited, patiently, for those familiar pangs of deceit to hit her, but they never came. Leave it to the Pirate to be up front with her. Though his honesty did earn him glares from both David and Regina, he earned another bit of respect from Emma.
She finally forced herself to break his gaze, blinking down at that glass in her hands before looking up at each individual in the room, leaving Jones for last.
"Does everyone else remember that day?" she asked quietly.
No one spoke, save one.
"Yes, love. Everyone."
She realized he was moving to hold her hand once more, and she ignored it, silently allowing it as she closed her eyes, searching her memories over the last few days. Her spare fingers gently rubbing circles into her temples.
She finally gave up the search, her memories landing on the second kiss between herself, and Killian. She felt her cheeks heating up as she remembered it. He gave her hand a small squeeze as if knowing she needed it.
It had been a passionate kiss, full of substance, and just as pure and magickal as their first had been. It felt like time had stood still. She almost felt as if he loved her in that moment. Did he? How could he?
She was no expert on kissing of any kind, or romantic love for that matter, but she would have been willing to bet by that kiss alone, that his feelings went many kilometers above what she had assumed.
She realized the moment of their kiss released the memories from the missing day. She just couldn't find them where they belonged since the memories had been misplaced.
It was not at all a special day. If anything, it was boringly normal aside from the various attempts she made to convince her mother that the ball was a horrible idea, even feigning an illness that Regina saw right through. She had, again, gone to mounted archery, sword lessons, tutoring with Belle as well as her normal tutors.. though not in that order. She had conspired to avoid the captain by changing her routine around completely. Everyone a part of her schedule had not been eager about her changes, and she vowed never to do such a thing again. Especially for a man.
The whole thing made her feel like a child playing hide and seek, though, which she had been fond of… up until she had been cornered by a maid, who handed her a rose and a note rather unexpectedly. Unsurprisingly, it had been from the Captain. The note spoke of how her absence made him long for her even more, which both thrilled and terrified her. She suspected that was the effect he intended.
Right before dinner, she had been waiting in the hall outside the dining room doors for Smee to appear. It was the one place she could be sure he'd be, and she had eventually been right. She asked him, plainly, if he would meet her after dinner, going so far as providing directions to her favorite tree, the one directly West of the stables and North of the stranded Jolly Roger.
He likely would have had to pass it anyways on the way back to the ship.
Dinner had been uneventful, as her attention was lost to the questions she thought about asking Smee. But afterwards, she remembered going outside, keeping an eye out for his red cap-
And that was it. That was all she had regained.
"I do remember that day." She finally admitted. "But I seem to be missing a large chunk of it, right after dinner." She opened her eyes just in time to witness the vanishing relief on the faces surrounding her.
Regina held out her hand, palm up, and a plate of food somehow materialized there.
"Here, eat." She pointed to the glass still in Emma's hand, and she watched as the water filled to an acceptable position. "Let's give the princess some room, people."
Thank you for reading!