Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot and any other unrecognizable characters and dialogue.
I'm glad you seem to like the rewrite so far!
So, one detail I changed was when Lily remembered. In the original, it said that Gold knew the entire time and he made Lily remember eight years before the Curse broke. Now, I have her remembering after Gold heard Emma's name, which is when the producers say he remembered in the actual show.
Thanks for the reviews, follows and faves so far!
Her eyes shot open with a gasp and, taking in her surroundings with wide eyes, Lily quickly realized she wasn't in her bedroom at Granny's.
She was in a jungle. A very familiar jungle.
Breathing hard, she looked around wildly sitting up and pulling myself off the ground with jerky, tense movements. Lily stepped back a few steps and, as a soft chattering sound came from around her, making her breathing and heartbeat accelerated.
She moved back, away from the sound and hit a tree, still staring around wildly, panting harshly. At the sound of a stick cracking, she whirled around and smothered a shriek with her hand at the sight of the Shadow in front of me.
Shaking, Lily stepped away from it and swallowed thickly when it chuckled darkly.
"You still aren't used to coming here every night, are you?" It tilted its head, eyes glowing in the dim light and she shivered when it came closer. "Even though you finally have your memories." She could hear the smirk in its voice, knowing that if it had a mouth, it would be mocking her with the expression. "He won't be pleased."
"Why do you torture me like this? It's always the same, you invade my dreams to torment me with him." Lily hissed out, trying to control the trembling of her voice. If this was the real world and she was in Neverland, she'd have her magic and wouldn't exactly be scared of the Shadow but, she had no control over what happened in this dream. "Why can't you leave me alone!" She yelled, freezing when a voice came from behind her, the low, husky tone so familiar.
"Leave us." The voice commanded and the Shadow obediently took flight, leaving her alone with him.
Suddenly, she really wanted the Shadow to come back.
Lily remained where she was, stiffening when hands gently touched her shoulder, though she couldn't hold back a shiver when cool lips gently brushed the side of her neck. With a dark chuckle, the hands on her shoulders spun her around and she looked up to meet the bright green eyes of the boy she'd left behind.
"I told you I'd find you, Lily."
Lily shot up from my bed, a scream dying in her throat as she took in the darkened surroundings with wild eyes.
Panting and gasping, she brought my knees up to my chest and rested her forehead against her knees. After a few minutes, her heartbeat and breathing began to slow and she fell back against my pillows. Staring at the ceiling and keeping her gaze there even when footsteps came pounding down the hall, she winced when the door was flung open, allowing dim light from the hall to spill in.
"Really, Lils." A groggy Ruby asked, failing to smother a yawn with her hand before she stepped into the room and motioned with her hands at the other woman. "Alright, scoot over."
Lily obliged her demands and, minutes later, they were both curled in the bed, facing each other.
"You gonna tell me what that was all about?"
She shrugged, playing with the edges of the blanket, earning a groan from the older girl.
"Bad dreams." Lily muttered, not going into more detail than that, though she was dying to confide the subject of her dreams. Especially because he had finally appeared in them, after several years of absence.
Muttering darkly under her breath, Ruby turned away from her with a soft 'goodnight' and was snoring away within minutes.
Lily laid awake for hours, turning her necklace over in her hands and wondering if it was the cause of his reappearance in the dreams. Before her memories had returned, he'd appeared in them almost every night but, for the last few years, only the Shadow had appeared and half the time, even it wasn't in the dreams. In those dreams, she was left by herself in the once familiar jungle, running and searching for something, anything.
She blinked when her alarm went off, slamming a hand down on the clock before it could wake Ruby. With a sigh, Lily pulled herself out of the bed and stalked to her bathroom, catching a glance of herself in the mirror before she jumped into the waiting shower.
Bloodshot blue eyes and dark shadows under them was becoming quite common for her and she held back a groan. Henry had decided to volunteer her to help Mary Margaret chaperone his class trip to the hospital. Well, that put a bit of a damper on her plans to crash at the Paw Shop.
With a snort, she jumped out of the shower, knowing that if she was even a minute late, Regina would kill her.
"Lillian, are you okay?"
She opened her tired eyes and nodded at a concerned Mary Margaret, glancing around the ward for Henry. She caught sight of him in a room off from the rest of the ward, with a single man and Lily swallowed, holding back a rush of pity when she realized that Henry was currently staring at Charming.
She'd forgotten he was a coma patient at the hospital, and a John Doe on top of that. While glad that he hadn't actually died from the stab wound, Lily knew that his current predicament wasn't all that better. Mary Margaret followed her gaze and took off, opening the door just as Henry reached for Charming's face.
"Henry, we could really use your help with the decorations." Mary Margaret said softly as Lily joined her by the door.
"Is Mr. Doe gonna be okay, Ms. Blanchard?" Henry asked in a small voice.
Lily smiled softly at his innocence, grateful that he'd managed to hold onto his far longer than she had.
"His name's not John Doe, honey." His teacher corrected, her eyes sad. "That's just what they call people who they don't know who they are."
"Do you know who he is?" Henry questioned again, his voice still innocent and Lily narrowed her eyes, stifling a yawn.
"No, I just bring him flowers on my rounds." Mary Margaret soothed, looking sadly at the still man on the bed.
"What's wrong with him?" Henry asked, clearly drawing his own conclusion as to who this man was.
"I don't know. He's been like this as long as I've been voluntering."
"Does he have any family or friends?"
"No one's claimed him." She shrugged, keeping her eyes on the man's face.
"So...he's all alone." Henry ventured and she nodded, her face a mask of sadness.
"Yeah. It's quite sad."
"You sure you don't know him?" Henry pushed, clearly not letting this go.
"Of course I'm sure." Mary Margaret chuckled lightly before she reached forward for her student. "Come on, you shouldn't be in here."
Henry obediently walked out of the room and Lily nudged him towards his classmates, unsurprised that when she looked behind her, Mary Margaret was staring at the man in the bed, her brow furrowed.
Lily sighed inwardly as cold fury once again welled inside her towards both Regina and Gold for the predicament they were all in. As Henry caught her eye, she silently resolved to assure Henry that his storybook 'theories' weren't make-believe.
Hours later, instead of taking Henry home and sleeping for a few hours on their couch, Lily was currently leaning against the inside of the wall to Henry's castle, while he and Emma sat on the top of the wall, talking.
"I found your father, Prince Charming." Henry told Emma, the book open on his lap to, most likely, a picture of Charming.
"Henry..." Emma started, voice tired and she glanced down at Lily, though the teen was in sleep-deprived haze and did nothing more that give her a look in response.
"He's in the hospital, in a coma." He continued, ignoring his mother, and tapped hard on the page. "See the scar? He has one too."
Lily smirked at that, remembering Snow's tale of exactly how that scar came to be and the flustered look on Charming's face when she first teased him about it.
"So?" Emma asked. "Lot's of people have scars."
"In the same place?" Lily asked skeptically.
"Don't you see what this means? The curse is keeping them apart with the coma, and now they're stuck without each other. We have to tell Ms. Blanchard." Henry nearly bounced with excitement.
"Tell her what?" Lily asked, desperately trying to stop her eyes from staying shut. Henry nudged her with his foot and she turned to glare up at him.
"We have to tell her we found her Prince Charming."
"Okay, kid." Emma began as Lily snorted, twisting around so she wasn't leaning against the wood anymore and was looking up at them. "Telling someone their..." She stopped, clearly struggling for the right word. "Soulmate, is in a coma is probably not helpful." Her expression was pained as she continued. "Not having a happy ending is painful enough but...giving someone unrealistic hope is far worse."
"But what if I'm right?" Henry argued. "We know who they are, now they have to know."
"And, how do you intend to make that happen?" Emma asked, skeptic as ever.
"By reminding him." Henry said, proudly displaying his storybook. "We have to get her to read their story to John Doe, then maybe he'll remember who he is."
Emma inhaled deeply and Lily looked at her in surprise when she agreed.
"Okay."
Henry clearly shared my surprise as he repeated her answer, his face filling with excitement. "Okay?"
"Yeah, we'll do it. But, we'll do it my way. Let me ask her." Henry nodded and Lily sighed, sinking back against the wood.
"I don't like the sound of that."
Lily jerked awake, wide-eyed and looked around, biting her tongue to stop from screaming at the surroundings. Slowly, she righted herself and pulled her knees up to her chest, not wanting to deal with that damned Shadow tormenting her again.
She already did it to herself every day, thank you very much.
After several minutes of nothing happening, she slowly pulled rose to her feet and warily looked around.
"It's not here."
I whirled around and froze at the sight of him leaning against the tree, his arms crossed over his chest. He pushed off the tree and I backed away, still convinced that this was a cruel trick of the Shadow. She grabbed at her head, still backing away from him.
"This isn't real...wake up..." Lily muttered, repeating the words like a mantra. After several moments of nothing happening, she reigned in the sob building in her chest. "Stop tormenting me." She pleaded brokenly, falling to her knees.
"Lily." She blinked when long arms encircled her and looked up to meet bright green eyes. He simply smiled. "This is real."
Lily shook her head again, unwilling to believe and tried to push away from his grip. "This is a dream. It's not real." She looked up to meet his eyes. "You aren't really here."
He shook his head once. "Neverland is a place for children to visit in their dreams. And you, were once a very special inhabitant of this land." He cooed before leaning forward and pressing a soft kiss to her forehead.
"Peter..." She whispered, gripping his face and tangling her fingers in his hair.
He gently cradled her against his chest and tilted her chin up so she could meet his gaze.
"Please come back to me, Lily."
Lily nearly stumbled down the stairs, rubbing at her sore eyes and ran into Ruby, who steadied the younger girl before proceeding to smother her like a mother wolf. After another sleepless night, Lily knew she was starting to look like the dead walking.
"You still aren't sleeping." Ruby commented, pulling Lily back up the stairs to the bathroom and forced her to perch myself on the counter while she rummaged around in her make-up bag.
Wit ha triumphant 'ah-ha!' Ruby attacked Lily with make-up and, after about five minutes of hell, she turned her to face the mirror and Lily had to smile at what she'd done. The dark circles underneath her eyes were barely noticeable and Ruby had line her eyes with black liner, clearly trying to draw away from how bloodshot they were.
She hopped of the counter and hugged Ruby tightly before she allowed older girl to plait her hair quickly. After another hug, they both ran down the stairs as Granny would go ballistic if she knew Ruby had abandoned her post, even if it was to help Lily.
"Thanks, Rube."
She nodded, sending Lily a wink before she went back to flirting with the man at the counter. Lily rolled her eyes and crossed the room, sitting next to Henry just as Emma came walking from the public restroom, in a pale lavender shirt that was clearly Regina's.
"Thanks for the shirt." She adjusted the sleeves and, at the sight of Lily's amused expression, gave Henry an irritated look. "Hey, is this your mother's?"
"She'll never know." Henry promised, almost evilly and his baby-sitter sighed, nudging him playfully before she looked across the table at Emma.
"Where does she think you are anyway?" She looked at the teen. "With Lily?"
"Nope." Lily shrugged. "I don't usually watch him until after noon on the weekends."
"Playin' Whac-a-mole." Henry answered her, smug smirk in place and Lily rolled her eyes, knowing that Regina had, most likely, bought that excuse.
"And she bought that?" Emma dryly asked.
"She wants to believe it, so she does." Henry shrugged, still smirking.
"Oh, imagine that." Emma said, sending Henry a pointed look, that he ignored. Lily held in a chuckle when he pursed his lips at her and nodded, his attention going to the door when the bell jingled. "She's here!"
"Hey, don't get your hopes up." Emma warned as Mary Margaret joined us, sitting next to Emma. "We're just starting-"
"He woke up."
"What?" Emma asked flatly, staring at the black-haired woman with wide eyes.
"I knew it!" Henry cheered.
"I mean, he didn't wake up, wake up." Mary Margaret corrected. "But, he grabbed my hand."
Lily slumped in my seat, though Henry seemed overjoyed by that simple reaction. He was vibarating like he was on a sugar high, something that the entire town had come to dread.
"He's remembering!"
"What did the doctor say?" Lily asked softly.
"That I imagined it, but I'm not crazy." Mary Margaret shook her head, her voice firm. "I know it happened."
"We have to go back, you have to read to him again." Henry announced. To Lily and Emma's shock, his teacher readily agreed with him.
"Let's go."
Lily traded a bewildered glanced with Emma before she scooted out of the booth, allowing Henry to get out.
Mary Margaret followed him and Emma jumped up after her.
"Wait, wait, wait."
Mary Margaret turned back to face her, clearly set in her decision. "If I got through to him, if we made a connection-"
"You don't believe-"
"That he's Prince Charming?" Mary Margaret asked, shaking her head. "Of course not." Her face lit up, the expression hopeful. "Somehow, some way, I touched him."
With that, all four of them all but ran to the hospital. They rushed past the flustered nurse and when they reached the ward, Henry caught sight of the many doctors in the room the John Doe had been in and got excited all over again.
"You're right! He's waking up."
Lily blinked when she realized that Graham was standing at the doors and, at the sound of Henry's voice, the Sheriff turned around and held out his hands.
"Henry, you should stay back!"
Lily caught him, pulling him into her embrace as Mary Margaret questioned Graham, her words tense.
"What is it? Is it John Doe? Is he okay?"
Graham grimaced at her questions and looked around at all of us. "He's missing." The man admitted.
Lily looked past his shoulder, frowning when the doctors shifted and revealed that Regina was in the room. The Mayor turned her head and caught sight of them, her face twisting with annoyance.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Regina spat at Emma when she stalked out of the room. "And you," she looked down at Henry and grabbed his arm, yanking him from Lily's arms. The blue-eyed teen glared at her, Emma following suit. "I thought you were at the arcade. Now you're lying to me?" She asked, clearly unsettled by Henry's actions.
"What happened to John Doe, did someone take him?" Mary Margaret asked, somewhat defusing the tension.
"We don't know yet, his IVs were ripped out but there's no sign for sure there was a struggle." Graham offered and Henry turned accusing eyes onto Regina.
"What did you do?"
"You think I had something to do with this?" Regina asked incredulously.
"It is curious that the Mayor is here." Emma commented, staring hard at the other woman.
"I'm here because I'm his emergency contact." Regina snapped at the blonde.
"So you know him."
Regina shook her head at Mary Margaret's words. "I found him on the side of the road years ago, with no ID. I brought him here."
Graham nodded at us and Lily rolled her eyes, aware that he was still Regina's dutiful lap dog. "Mayor Mills saved his life."
Dr. Whale came from the room, standing next to Regina and Mary Margaret addressed him, still worried sick about John Doe.
"Will he be okay?"
"Okay?" The doctor echoed and Lily resisted the urge to smack him. "The man's been on feeding tubes for years, under constant supervision. He needs to get back here right away or, quite honestly, 'okay' might be a pipe dream."
"You could be a bit less of an ass, Whale." Lily hissed out, ignoring the look from all adults present. She continued to glare at him as Mary Margaret's face fell. The teacher turned to Emma, who clearly decided to take charge.
"Well, then let's quite yappin' and start lookin'." She turned to go, only to stop and turn around when Regina spoke.
"That's what we're doing. Just keep out of this, dear." She ordered sweetly. "And, since I clearly can't keep you away from my son...I guess I'm just gonna have to keep my son away from you." She snapped, grabbing Henry's hand and pulling him with her. "Enjoy my shirt." She added when she passed Emma, who simply raised an eyebrow at her. "Because that's all you're going to get."
Regina turned her head to look at Graham, who was looking at the two women with a worried expression. "Sheriff. Find John Doe." Her voice softened and Lily sighed at the fake concern she put in her voice. "You heard Dr. Whale, time is precious."
With that, she stormed out of the ward, dragging a reluctant Henry with her. After several tense moments, Graham spoke, addressing Whale.
"Doctor, how long between your rounds since you last saw him?"
"Around twelve hours or so."
Lily snorted, drawing the attention of everyone present. She sneered up at the doctor. "That's so helpful, Doc."
Whale bristled but, Graham intervened, shooting Lily a dirty look that she ignored.
"Then that's what we need to account for." With that, he headed out of the ward and, after shrugging at Emma, Lily followed behind Graham, Emma and Mary Margaret at her heels. They ended up in the security room, where Leroy and Walter were.
"You two were the only employees on the floor last night." Walter yawned deeply, smacking his lips, clearly unconcerned. "And you saw nothing?"
"Not a thing." Walter said and Graham looked over at Leroy, who was leaning on his broom.
Emma glanced between the two men. "Did anyone walk by?" She directed the question at Leroy, as Walter looked ready to fall over in his seat.
The burly man shrugged one, leaning more on his broom. "I didn't see nothin'."
"Ms. Blanchard, was there anything unusual you saw during your trip with you class?" Graham asked Mary Margaret, as the two men were clearly no help whatsoever.
She shook her head before looking to Lily. "I don't think so, did you Lily?"
The teen shook her head as well, giving Graham a shrug when she saw the expression on his face. "Honestly, I was practically comatose myself."
"We're looking at the wrong tape." Emma stated, suddenly and she moved forward towards the monitors. "This is the ward where Henry's class put up decorations." She seated herself in the chair next to Walter and pointed at the screen in front of her as the rest of us crowded behind her. "If this was really the tape from last night, we'd see the banner the kids hung."
"You fell asleep again." Leroy scoffed at his co-worker, who immediately bristled.
"You sellin' me out?"
"I ain't gettin' fired for this." Leroy shot back, glaring at Walter.
"At least I don't drink on the job."
"Gentleman!" Graham said, holding his hands up between them before their little fight could escalate further. Lily ignored them and moved closer to Emma, pushing Walter out of the way and ignored his annoyed grunt. "Enough, where's the real tape?"
Lily pushed several tapes out of the way until she found one marked yesterday's date and handed it off to Emma, who placed it in the VCR. The entire room was silent and they all watched the VCR whir, the screen filling with static before the picture popped up.
John Doe opened the doors to his section of the wing and stumbled out the exit door. Lily smiled softly while Mary Margaret let out a relieved sigh.
"Oh, he walked out alone. He's okay."
"Four hours ago." Emma muttered, looking over her shoulder at Leroy. "Where does this door lead?"
It was Lily who answered, her blood running cold. "The woods."
Lily walked alongside Graham, leaving Emma and Mary Margaret to follow while she glared up at the Sheriff. he blinked at her ire before adopting an affronted look.
"What did I do?" He asked resignedly. Lily only huffed and crossed her arms, looking away from him. "Fine, don't tell me." He sighed out before he picked up his pace.
Lily rolled her eyes and followed him down the small slope, catching his anxiety when he rushed towards a spot at the end of the slope.
"What is it?" Mary Margaret followed Emma down the slope to where Graham was crouched down, touching the disturbed dirt.
"The trail runs out here." Graham admitted, earning a scoff from Emma.
"You sure? 'Cause, I thought tracking was one of your skills." She dryly teased and he sent her an irritated glare.
"Just give me a second." He raised his hands, gesturing towards the woods. "This is my world, I got it." He stalked away from them and Lily rolled her eyes. She glanced around the area to see if he'd missed anything, as he hadn't been tracking in a while.
"Right, sorry." Emma offered, clearly not all that sorry. The two women began to talk and Lily ignored the conversation. She silently wished that she had her magic, though she knew it was only a matter of time.
She whirled around when a branch snapped, followed by footsteps. Her eyes snapped shut, the dream from the night before still too fresh in her mind.
"Henry!" Mary Margaret gasped, making Lily let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Shaking her head, she stepped towards Henry, who was carrying a flashlight bugger than his head.
"Did you find him yet?" He asked, ignoring the look he was receiving from all three of the women surrounding him.
"No, not yet." Emma admitted, turning into 'mother-mode', as Henry had decided to call it. "You shouldn't be here."
"I can help. I know where he's going." Henry protested.
Lily, ignoring Emma's pleading look, simply moved to stand next to him and placed an arm around him. She also silently resigned herself to catching more hell from Regina.
"And where is that?"
Henry smiled up at his teacher, his expression gleeful. "He's looking for you."
Hours later and, after much complaining from Henry, the group of five had been trudging through the almost pitch black forest.
"You're the one who woke him up, you're the last person he saw. He wants to find you." Lily winced when she caught sight of the irritation creeping onto Mary's otherwise patient face.
While tolerable at first, at least for Emma and Mary Margaret, Henry's optimism had slowly been grating throughout the night. Clearly unable to take it, Mary Margaret stopped and turned to face Henry, her voice surprisingly calm.
"Henry, it's not about me it's just...I think he's lost and confused. He's been in a coma for a long time." She said, clearly trying to pacify Henry.
Unsurprisingly, he wasn't having any of that. Lily groaned, longingly looking to where Graham had disappeared.
"But, he loves you. You need to stop chasing him and let him find you."
Emma finally turned around to address Henry. "Kid, you need to go back home. Where's your mom? She's gonna kill me and then you," a grimace found its way onto her face and Lily smirked sardonically at her. "And then me again."
"And me too, since I'm here allowing him to cavort with you." The teen shot at Emma, only to receive a flat look in return. Emma turned her attention back to Henry.
"She dropped me off at the house and then went right out." He supplied. "Lily is usually with me this late on Saturdays."
Said girl just shrugged at the look Emma sent her. "Regina didn't have me follow so I assumed I wasn't needed tonight."
Emma just shook her head. "Well, we need to get you back immediately."
"No!" Henry nearly yelled, though his loud refusal was overshadowed when Graham called to them, his voice almost frantic.
"Guys?!" They all turned and went towards him, stopping dead when they all caugth sight of what his flashlight was aimed at. The medical bracelet rested innocently on a plant, though that wasn't what caused icy dread to form in Lily's stomach.
"Is that-" Mary Margaret began shakily.
"Blood." Lily finished.
She glanced around, feeling Henry tense when a wolf howled in the distance and cursed silently. Lily knew that she probably should have taken him back to town before it got dark outside but, it was too late to do anything now.
The trail Graham followed led them to the small creek next to the old troll bridge. Lily stopped by the waters edge with Henry as the others spread out to look.
"Where is he? Can you see him?" Clearly reaching the end of her rope, Lily had a feeling Mary Margaret was going to have a mini-breakdown at any time.
"The trail dies at the waterline." Graham said, turning around to check the area. He stopped when Mary Margaret suddenly began to yell.
"Oh my God! Oh my God, oh my God!" She ran into the stream and Lily gasped when she saw a body laying in it.
Graham began to yell into his radio while Emma rushed into the stream to help Mary Margaret. Lily pulled Henry into her embrace, hoping that he wasn't about to see his first dead body.
"I need an ambulance at the old Troll Bridge as soon as possible!" After yelling instructions, Graham rushed into the water to help Emma and Mary Margaret, though the latter was already taking charge of the situation.
"Careful!"
"Hang on, hang on! I got him, I got him."
Lily watched, still holding onto Henry as Graham grabbed the legs, Emma and Mary Margaret each grabbing an arm.
"I'm falling, I'm falling!" Clearly freaking out, Mary Margaret nearly dropped him as they carried him onto the shore. "Hold one, we need to slow down. Slow down." She repeated and, as they set him on the shore, she cupped his face. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no." She repeated the word like a mantra while Emma stared at her like she was crazy.
"I found you, it's gonna be okay." Mary Margaret promised, keeping her eyes on his face even when Graham spoke.
"Help's coming."
"Is he okay?" At Henry's voice, Emma reacted, though Lily quickly pulled him into her embrace and turned him away from the body. Ignoring Emma's attempts to take him from her.
"Henry, don't look, okay?" Lily whispered, soothing his hair and darting looks over her shoulder at the still body next to Mary Margaret. Lily turned back to the boy in her arms and tightened her grip. "Just, please don't look."
.Mary Margaret whispered something to the unconscious man and suddenly began doing chest compressions, grunting with the effort, Graham and Emma watching helplessly.
Henry tried once again to turn in Lily's grip, only for her to tighten it. "It's going to be fine, Henry." She soothed, her voice shaking as she realized that there was a very large possibility that it wasn't going to be fine.
Mary Margaret was now doing mouth to mouth and nearly sobbing as she did so. After she seemed to give up, the man beneath her began to sputter, water flying from his mouth before he began to cough and wheeze.
Wide-eyed, Henry and Lily turned around as Mary Margaret stared down at the man, her eyes filled with wonder and her lips curling into a smile.
"You saved me." He whispered up at her, earning himself a wide smile as Mary Margaret exhaled shakily.
"She did it. She woke him up." Henry cheered, looking up at Lily with such a wide smile that she returned it. "She woke him up." He repeated, leaning against his baby-sitter.
"Yeah, kid. She did." Emma muttered, staring at the scene with wide-eyes.
"Thank you." Charming whispered, his voice hoarse.
Mary Margaret simply shook her head. "Who are you?"
He blinked, a confused expression sliding onto his face at her question. "I dont' know."
"It's okay." She whispered, pressing her cheek against his as sirens filled the air. "You're gonna be okay."
"Watch your backs, he's coming through!"
"Thanks guys, we got it from here." Whale said, pulling the gurney into the room and shut the door, blocking us from the room. Lily stood between Henry and Graham, staring into the room and blinked when an almost hysterical shout came from behind us.
The teen turned in time to jump out of the way as a pretty blond woman came running towards them, yelling at the top of her lungs.
"David! David, is that you?!"
She pushed her way into the room and was immediately pushed away from the bed by a doctor, though they didn't eject her from the room.
"Who is that?"
Regina answered Mary Margaret's question, her voice smug. "His wife."
Lily blinked at that, looking from Mary Margaret's now devastated face to Regina's viciously smug one. She glanced down at Henry and sighed, resting her chin on his head.
Lily had a horrible, sinking feeling, that she wasn't going to be sleeping for a while.
Henry and Lily sat down on the nearest chairs, Emma seating herself across from them while Regina and Mary Margaret remained where they were.
"His name is David Nolan and that's his wife Kathryn." Regina supplied, her voice dripping with sweetness. "And the joy on her face, well, it's put me in quite the forgiving mood." She chuckled, a smile adorning her red lips.
Emma sighed deeply, leaning back against her chair while Regina turned her attention to Henry and Lily.
"We'll talk about your insubordination later." She titled her head at Henry's confused look. "Do you know what insubordination means?"
His response was a shake of his head.
"It means you're grounded." Lily answered, her voice dry as she realized that if Henry was grounded, then she wasn't going to be doing much of anything for the next few weeks when she was with him. Henry slumped into his chair and Lily followed suit, glaring darkly at the Mayor. Her attention was drawn away from Regina when Kathryn walked out of the room.
"Thank you." She addressed a stunned Mary Margaret. "Thank you, for fixing my David."
"Um, I don't...I don't understand. You didn't...you didn't know he was in a coma?" Mary Margaret asked in disbelief and Kathryn sighed, guilt clouding over her features.
"A few years ago, David and I were...not getting along." She admitted, crossing her arms. "It was my fault, I know that now. I was difficult and unsupportive. I told him if he didn't like things, he could leave. And he did and I didn't stop him." She blinked back tears, clearing her throat. "It was the worst mistake I ever made."
"You didn't go look for him?" Emma asked, not bothering to keep the disbelief and accusation out of her voice.
"I assumed he'd left town all this time." Kathryn smiled blandly. "Now I know why I never heard from him. Now, I get to do what I've wanted to do forever-say 'I'm sorry'." She looked at Emma with a genuine smile. "Now we get a second chance."
Emma simply nodded, leaning forward onto her knees before shooting a concerned look at Mary Margaret, who was still standing rigidly.
"That's...wonderful." She offered to the blond, who smiled and nodded, turning when the door opened and Whale came out.
"Well, it's something of a miracle." The doctor announced to the room, looking oddly puzzled.
"He's okay?" Kathryn asked, turning around to face the man, who nodded.
"Physically, he's on the mend. Um, his memory's another issue, it may take time, if at all."
"What brought him back?" Lily asked, looking from Mary Margaret to Henry. The latter looked like he was about to explode.
"That's the thing, there's no explanation." Whale admitted. "Something just clicked in him."
"He just got up and decided to go for a stroll?" Emma asked, her voice skeptical.
"He woke up and he was delirious and...his first instinct was to go find something, I guess." The doctor shrugged, clearly at a loss for the reason behind the events.
"Someone." Henry piped up from beside Lily, who simply smirked at his smugness.
"Can I see him?" Kathryn asked and Whale nodded, opening the door for her.
"Yeah, of course." He shut the door behind her and walked past Regina, heading for the main part of the hospital.
"Henry, let's go." Regina commanded, looking from her son to the teen beside him. "Lily, we'll see you at noon tomorrow."
Lily nodded, wanting nothing more than to go home and try to sleep. She stood up, hugging Henry goodbye before she waved to Emma. When Lily passed her, she gently touched Mary Margaret's shoulder, though she barely responded.
Lily passed Regina, giving her an odd stare that she simply smiled innocently at before calling for her son again. Shaking her head, Lily simply stalked out of the hospital with a breath of relief.
It was time to go back to Granny's and, hopefully, not go through another sleepless night.
Thoughts? Comments? Questions?