Too many realities
A guest asked for a oneshot of… a read and see story. Contains season 6 spoilers!
At first, Snow found it all rather endearing. Cute, even. Emma would sometimes forget she hadn't been raised in the Enchanted Forest by her and Charming. She would try and remind either of them of an event that hadn't actually happened, but that they both dearly wished had. It provides the parents with some level of comfort that Emma had these memories from the wish realm of a happier childhood filled with love and laughter. But it didn't take long for Snow to become worried over Emma's memory lapses. Of course, the wish realm wasn't Emma's only false memories. She had the ones given to her by Regina when she and Henry went to New York to avoid the curse. They were clearly still floating around there somewhere. Alongside the Emma who didn't know anything about her real family or Storybrooke at all. Sometimes, Snow was sure, for just a moment, she didn't recognise her, or whoever it was in their family that was speaking to her. Sometimes, Snow would notice, when Emma was reminded of an event that had happened, Snow was sure she was only pretending to remember. No, something wasn't right. Snow carefully took Emma aside one day and that's when Snow's suspicions were confirmed. Emma was struggling with too many realities in her head. She wept as she explained to Snow what was going on.
"My head's too full." Emma explained. "All these memories…they're all from different realities that are equally real, but all totally different. I can't cope any longer. What if…what if I completely forget one of you, one day? What if I can't remember that you're my mom, or dad's my dad?" Snow could see Emma beginning to meltdown. She gathered her panicked daughter into her arms, holding her close.
"I'm not going to let that happen." Snow promised her. "I know all these realities are scary, Em. I know they are all real in some way, but I promise, working out which one is properly real becomes easier over time. Sure, your dad and I only have one extra reality to deal with, but I know you'll cope. Here's what we're going to do. I'm going to speak to Archie. We'll set you up with a few appointments and we'll walk this out. Ok?" Emma nodded, but she still felt the farthest thing from ok. Snow knew that, but she also knew this wasn't going to be a straightforward case of her being able to fix everything in two seconds flat. No, this would take time.
