Paulaa90: oh, wow. I didn't think of that. It was at the end of the episode in canon and I decided to leave it in. Maybe I should change Snow's part to that if I ever get that far. I think I'm going to get stuck on the next episode.
MorningSun: thanks! I hadn't realised that I had everyone more active. I had change a lot to make up for the missing Mary Margaret and David scenes, especially with the current chapter. It's interesting how so many people in Storybrooke ended up worse off than Snow. This chapter covers the episode where David found the windmill so you'll find out soon.
baratta. jennifer: thanks!
A green sign with flowers drawn on it hung outside the home of Kathryn and David Nolan, it read WELCOME HOME DAVID in bubble letters. Kathryn and David stood outside on the side walk.
The house was a faded blue with the blue window trimmings and there was a miniature fence on the lawn that read The Nolans in cute lettering, there was a pot of flowers next to it. It looked homely but nothing about it felt like it was his. Something felt wrong about the entire situation but David couldn't figure out what it was.
Perhaps, David thought, I've been counting too hard on something jogging my memory.
"You know," Kathryn said, "you had the same look on your face before we bought it, too. You couldn't see past the ugly windmill on the lawn. And said you'd never buy an old lady house. Do you remember what made you change your mind?"
David looked around, desperately trying to come up with something. "I see the windmill's gone."
"Come on." He looked at Kathryn. "Everyone's waiting." She took his arm and they walked towards the house.
"Who's everyone?"
Everyone clapped and cheered when they entered. He looked around. Kathryn started introducing- or he guessed reintroducing -people to him. Soon they made their way over to Dr. Whale. Kathryn and Dr. Whale shook hands and everyone took turns greeting each other.
"Look," Dr. Whale said, "I know this is a lot, but it's good for you. The smallest things can trigger your memories. Just try and have fun."
"Thank you Doctor Whale." He let out a large sigh and glanced over at Kathryn. "I'll do my best."
Henry and Emma sat on a bench against the side of the stairs.
"You know why he doesn't remember? The curse isn't working on him yet."
"Henry," Emma said patiently, "David has amnesia."
"Which is preventing the curse from replacing his fairy tale story with fake memories."
"Right, because everyone here has fake stories that prevent them from remembering who they really are." She had hoped that Henry wouldn't bring this up tonight.
"Right, and now is our chance to help him. We just have to get him to remember that he's—"
"He's Prince Charming."
"We just have to jog his memory by keeping you and him together. He nearly died saving you. He's your father. You're his best chance at remembering."
"I've already spent plenty of time with him."
"And it woke him up."
"Hey," a voice said before Emma could think of a counter argument. They looked up and saw David. "You're the ones who saved me, right?"
Emma and Henry stood up. "Oh. Yeah, I guess."
"And, uh," David looked behind, "you're also the only one's I know here."
"You can hide with us," Emma said.
"Fantastic. Thank you." He took a mini carrot from the tray of a waiter that had come up to them. He stabbed the carrot with a toothpick and twirled it around.
"So, you ever use a sword?" Henry asked.
David chuckled. "I'm sorry?" He looked at Emma and said "You live with uh... Lacey, right? Is she here too?"
"She's around here somewhere."
As if she could tell she was being talked about Lacey came over, carrying a plate of food and a cup of punch. "Hi, David. Lovely party."
"I'm glad you're having a good time," David said.
Meanwhile Regina was in the kitchen with Kathryn who was taking food out a bowl and putting it onto a tray.
"You should go out there," Regina said. "There's plenty of food." She took the bowl from her. "Go." She set the bowl aside. "Be with your husband." She gave her a stern look.
Kathryn was barely looking at her, her eyes downcast. "I lost him once. Now I have him back." She took a sharp breath. "But it's like I still don't have him back. You have no idea how that feels." She shook her head.
"Actually, I do. I lost someone once too."
"Really?" Kathryn turned to look at Regina fully.
"Yes. But the love I lost, there's no bringing him back. You have a chance here. Go to him." She stepped forward.
Kathryn nodded. "You're right." She moved to the doorway of the kitchen but then looked back at her. "And, Regina, thank you. Thank you for being such a good friend. It's been so lonely. I'm not used to having one."
"Neither am I."
She fiddled with her hands and smiled. "Well like it or not you have one now."
Kathryn walked up to Emma, Lacey, Henry and David. "Do you guys mind if I borrow David?"
"Not at all," Emma said. Her, Henry and Lacey watched David and Kathryn walk off.
Emma looked around at the party guests. She didn't know why she was encouraging him but she still asked what she had been wondering for a while. "Did you figure out who Snow White is?"
Henry scrunched up his face in concentration. "No. I was hoping that I'd finally see her tonight but she doesn't seem to be here. I think Regina's hiding her somehow or maybe Snow White wasn't brought over by the curse. Perhaps staying behind without her husband or baby was supposed to be Snow's punishment."
Kathryn lead David to the bedroom. They sat down on the bed.
"I was just wondering how you've been holding up," Kathryn said. "We haven't really talked much tonight."
David looked down at his feet. "The party is nice. Did we have a lot of parties?"
"Neither of us had friends. That's changing now."
David nodded. "Regina seems nice. I'm happy for you."
"Thank you."
David's thoughts went back to Emma and Henry. Somehow talking to the two of them had been a moment he had felt more grounded. Every time he wasn't around Emma felt more uncertain, like he was in a dream and needed to wake up.
"Do you remember anything else?" Kathryn asked. At his blank stare she added, "Aside from Ajax."
"Not yet. Dr Whale is confident that my memories could come back at any time." Saying those words just felt redundant. She knew what Dr Whale said just as well as he did, and they both knew that David may never remember. Maybe he shouldn't have lied to her. Was he just giving her false hope by pretending to remember Ajax? "Maybe we should go back to the party." He hoped that Emma and Henry hadn't gone home yet.
"Sure. If that's what you want."
David stood up and offered Kathryn his hand. "Sure it is." She took his hand.
At the Sheriff's Department Emma sat with her feet up on her desk as she read a file.
Graham entered and held out a box of donuts. He opened the box. "Sometimes the cliches are true."
He looks cute. Standing there with donuts and that sorry look. Emma closed the file and set it down. "Okay. What do you want?"
"Remember when I said no night shifts? I need you to work tonight. Just this once."
"Why?"
"I volunteered at an animal shelter, and the supervisor is sick, and someone needs to feed the dogs."
"Very lucky you brought a bear claw." She took the bear claw from the box and took a bit.
David walked in. He looked around uncertainly. "Emma, can I talk to you for a minute?"
"I'll just go patrol my office," Graham said. He closed the box and set it down on the desk before going to his office.
"Thanks," Emma called after him. Emma turned her attention to David, bear claw lay forgotten on her desk. "Are you okay?"
"No." He rubbed his head. "This is something that people usually go to Dr Hopper for but I don't know him, I know you."
"Do you want to take a seat?"
"I don't love Kathryn and I'm afraid that I'll never remember loving her. I don't remember anything about my past."
"What about Ajax? I overheard you and Kathryn, sorry about that."
"It's fine, don't worry about it." David waved the comment away with his hand. "I lied to save her feelings."
"Leaving her is going to hurt her much more than that could have."
David gave her a wide eyed stare. "How did you know I was planning that?"
"I know how to read people." Emma stood up to meet David's eyes. "Do you really want to know what I think?"
"Of course I do."
"I don't know if you'll regain your memories but I know that Kathryn loves you and is willing to help you every step of the way."
"She deserves someone who loves her back."
"There's never a guarantee of a happy ending in this world and if you're going to leave her, you better be sure that that's what you want to do. You have been given a second chance and you might not get a third."
David looked thoughtful. "Thanks, Emma. You've given me a lot to think about."
Emma smiled. "Anytime." She just wished that she could shake off the feeling that she was missing a piece of the story.
Lacey was sitting at a booth in Granny's with a cup of coffee cooling beside her as she read a book. Dr Whale came in and sat beside her.
"I'm a hell of a doctor, huh?" he said. "No way he wakes up on someone else's watch."
"Hello Dr. Whale," Lacey said, making sure to keep her tone polite. She stuck a bookmark in and closed her book, getting the feeling that this conversation might last a while.
"So I heard that you resigned from the hospital. I hope it wasn't because of me..."
"No. It's just that I open the library after I'm done teaching and in hindsight I don't think I should volunteer on top of that." Barely anyone went to her library but she didn't want to give up hope. Lacey blinked. "Why do you think that you made me leave?"
"Well, our date. I never called you after. Yeah, I know, I know. It's not classy, and I'm sorry, but if you could find a way to get over it, you know where to find me. Have a good day." Dr. Whale got up and left as Mr. Gold came in.
Mr. Gold locked eyes with her. The moment stretched on for what felt like forever.
"Hello Mr. Gold," Lacey greeted.
He looked away and went to the counter, to order a coffee to go. Lacey watched him as he waited for his coffee, wondering what was up with him lately. He had never been the friendliest of people but being asked for the rent and encountering him on the street had an air of awkwardness and she couldn't think of any reason why. She longed to find out what was going on but found that she couldn't work up the nerve to ask him.
She would come back to Rumpelstiltskin one day, she had promised herself. She didn't know why he wouldn't believe she loved him but she knew that the dark curse over him had started to break.
Belle had dreamed of adventure her whole life and she couldn't go back home now. Even if Gaston would take her back, she didn't want him. If she went back she might never have a chance of adventuring again, she would just be stuck wasting her life away inside the castle.
Belle walked down the path from the Dark Castle. She looked back for a moment, hoping that he would change his mind and let her back in. But of course the doors remained close.
At least he had given her some gold to help her on her way. She could work odd jobs when money started to wear thin, somehow even the thought of that felt exciting. She had never had a job, aside from cleaning the Dark Castle.
"Come on," Belle whispered as she stared at the door. She took a breath and turned around. She couldn't say how but she knew that someday she'd her way into his heart again.
Blood ran down from Abigail's lips. She had tried and tried but Frederick was still a gold statue. She cried, knowing that she could not help her true love.
Abigail had kissed him for ages. It made no difference. She knew that it never would.
Emma was driving the police cruiser down the street at night when she saw someone climbing out the window of Regina's house. She pulled over and got out of the car, striking the figure in the stomach as they walked by. In the faint light of the street, Emma saw that the figure was Graham. He lay on the ground, clutching his stomach.
"This is volunteering?" Emma demanded. Any relief she might have felt about knowing there was no danger was replaced by anger. She had trusted Graham and he had lied to her. And for what? A night with Regina?
"Plans changed," Graham said, starting to get up. "Regina needed me to-"
"Sleep with her?"
"No."
"Why were you sneaking out the window?"
"Because she didn't want Henry to know."
"You did this with Henry in the house?" What would the kid have thought if he saw Graham climbing out the window?
"He's sleeping. He doesn't know."
Emma threw her hands up. "Oh my god. I wish I was Henry right now. This is disgusting."
"I really do work at an animal shelter."
"You can finish my shift. I'm done working nights." She tossed the police cruiser keys to him and walked away. God, I need a drink.
Lacey found Emma at Granny's. Emma was drinking at one of the stools.
"Rough night?" Lacey asked.
"Yeah."
Lacey took the seat next to hers. "I thought you were patrolling tonight."
"Uh, something came up."
Ruby entered from the back room. "Can I get you anything?"
"An ice tea," Lacey said.
"What about you?" she asked Emma. "Another drink?"
Emma looked down at the glasses before her. "Just the check."
"Okay," Ruby said. She walked away.
"I don't suppose you want to tell me why you've been drinking away your troubles."
Emma looked to see that Ruby was really gone. She lowered her voice. "Graham and Regina." There was David wanting to run out on his wife as well but she couldn't tell Lacey about that. David had trusted her and she wasn't going to go babbling his secrets around town.
"What? Why are we whispering?"
"I caught him sneaking out of Regina's window and found out they're sleeping together. He told me that he was volunteering at the animal shelter tonight."
Lacey gasped. "Sheriff Graham always seemed like such an honourable man."
That's an old fashioned way to put it. "I would have thought so too." Emma snorted.
Ruby came back with Lacey's ice tea and Emma's check. Emma gave Ruby the money. Ruby took the money and went back to the cash register.
"Maybe we weren't wrong. He has a good heart, I can tell. Though I can't think of an excuse for this."
"Don't try to make excuses for him."
Ruby came back with Emma's change. She set the change on the table and Emma pocketed it. Ruby smiled. "Make excuses for who?"
"Err, no one. I'm going to go clear my head." Emma slide off her stool and started towards the door. Lacey followed after her. Emma held a hand out. "I'll be fine. You haven't even touched your drink."
Lacey sat back down. "You have my number. Don't hesitate to call me if you get in trouble."
Emma smiled. She didn't think petite nervous Lacey was going to fight someone for her. But it still sweet. It had been a while since Emma had a friend. "I promise. I'll see you back home."
Lacey smiled back. "Alright."
Emma smiled as she walked out. The cool night air hit her face.