7:15 AM AU - Things go a bit differently in the cabin during 7:15 AM. With memories returned, how will this change things?
Thanks for the amazing response to this story. It's a lot of fun. I'm glad everyone is enjoying the twists and turns. Season 1 can be very fun to play with. Enjoy this latest and keep reviewing! Here are individual responses to reviews:
Ghostwriter: Yep, time to deal with the secrets and lies that were told. Glad you're enjoying it!
Jennifer Baratta: Thanks! Glad you're enjoying it!
AnonSnowing: They did, but if you remember, Regina arrived and then they never really got back to dealing with it. Now they're going to really actually deal with it. Yeah, cursing them somewhere warm would have been nice and since that's not what the curse was supposed to be, that would have been a perk. Yeah, she didn't slap her this time, fortunately. Yes, I think they were able to plant some seeds of doubt in Kathryn about the whole thing, especially Regina's actions and motives. Yeah, even though she snapped at Mary Margaret for the suggested "dating advice", I think she eventually might find herself running into that certain gym teacher. Yeah, they're not sure who Sidney is yet. Yep, no tact for Emma and David. Yeah, Regina has a lot of nerve bringing up Neal and Emma's past compared to what she's done. Yep, they got visitation! I know, Emma is being so stubborn. Yeah, she's seen that look in their eyes now and she doesn't know how to deal with it. Glad you're enjoying it!
Guest: Yep, Blue and Geppetto are exposed and Snow and David are going to face what they did. Yeah, I'm always torn about August too. I tend to blame Geppetto more than August. As for Blue, I totally agree. She is the worst and I still think they missed the mark by not making her the big bad in season six instead of the black fairy. She was definitely should have been classified or outed as a villain. Hope you continue to enjoy! :)
Number Ten: Yep, David and Mary Margaret managed to sow some seeds of doubt in Kathryn. I'm glad they got visitation too. I'm also glad Neal is going to bat for Emma's parents too. I know, Emma is deep in denial here. Ha, thanks for trying to chase that persistent SW fan off. :)
Grace5231973: Yep, time to deal with the lies. Yeah, Regina was terrible for him in season 1 and season 2. I like that she eventually changed, most of the time. I just don't always like how so many allowances were made for how terrible she was. I agree...she got better, but it shouldn't have erased all she did in the early seasons. :)
Sexystarwarslover: I know, those pesky cliffhangers. Yeah, they found out in New York, but never dealt with their lies. Now they will be revisiting that. Yeah, no luxury curse, lol. Yep, David will keep her warm. Yeah, Mary Margaret had nothing to do with it and I think they managed to plant some seeds of doubt in Kathryn about the whole situation. Sidney is a creep for sure. But there is doubt now and even Granny has decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. Yep, Emma and Neal got visitation! Yeah and Neal is slowly coming around for his father. Yep, time to deal with the lies. Glad you're enjoying it!
Clarity
Chapter 16: Truth and Dissent
"You've seen the book. You saw that nursery they made...for you. Parents that don't want their kid don't do that, Emma and you know it," Neal said, as neither of them noticed David and Mary Margaret coming out of the diner.
"Why do you care so much!?" Emma cried in exasperation.
"Because we know the truth! You were cheated out of having them and they were cheated out of having you! First, because of the curse...but ultimately, because of a lie told by people that were supposed to be their friends!" he said.
"What?" Mary Margaret asked and he suddenly realized they were there. He froze and turned to them. This was not a conversation that he wanted to come back to, but clearly there was no washing it away. New York had not allowed for any time to deal with it and maybe now was the time.
"What...what do you mean when you say we were lied to?" David asked, with an edge in his voice. Neal sighed.
"Is this about Blue and Geppetto? The wardrobe and what you told us in New York?" she questioned.
"Uh yeah...I know you probably haven't had a lot of time to process it with everything going on, but it was August that told me that," Neal replied.
"Then maybe it's time we revisit this conversation," David suggested.
"We can go back to the loft," Mary Margaret suggested.
"Papa...are you coming?" Neal asked.
"If you want me to," Gold replied. Neal nodded.
"I do," he said and while Gold's expression didn't change, the look of relief and mirth in his eyes could not be mistaken. They started walking and Neal noticed that Emma was still standing on the sidewalk.
"Emma...come on," he urged. She rolled her eyes, crossed her arms over her chest, but then reluctantly followed them.
Sidney breathed a sigh of relief, as he returned to his office after the interruption. He sat back down at his computer and continued working on the retraction story. But what David had said rang true. The waters had been muddied now and a retraction story wouldn't get people to stop questioning the truth. But he continued on at Regina's request or rather order as it was. It was strange though. Lately, when he was putting together the stories for the paper, he had an incredible sense of Deja Vu. And it wasn't so much that he had put the paper together a million times, but rather it seemed like some of the stories were the same as the day before and the day before that. But that couldn't be right. New things were happening every day, though David and Mary Margaret's affair had certainly made his paper more interesting as of late, as well as the arrivals of outsiders like Neal Cassidy and Emma Swan. Still, something felt off and he felt it in the back of his mind. He stood up and looked into the mirror on the wall, but his reverie was interrupted by his phone ringing. It was the Mayor and he had to take it.
The blonde woman hung up the phone and set it down on her desk. She stood up and looked out her office window, right at the magnificent view of Time Square and remained deep in thought about the information she had been given so far by her employee.
It was finally time.
"Jocelyn…" she said, as she pressed a button on her phone.
"Yes, Ma'am?" her receptionist answered.
"Book me a flight to Portland, Maine. The soonest flight there is and set up a rental car to be waiting for me when I land," the woman ordered.
"Yes Ma'am," she answered. The woman gathered her things and intended to go pack. Storybrooke, Maine awaited her...
David and Mary Margaret's minds were swirling with questions by the time they arrived at the loft The Wardrobe. The lies. August...they remembered the name now, but so much had happened in New York that they never really dealt with that layer. Perhaps they had purposely avoided it, but that obviously wasn't an option any longer.
Everyone removed their coats and found seats where they could. And all attention turned to Neal.
"I guess there isn't really a gentle way to say any of this," Neal began.
"You said we were lied to by people that were supposed to be our friends. I'm assuming you mean what you told us in New York?" David asked bluntly. Neal sighed.
"And this August told you?" Mary Margaret asked anxiously.
"Yes," Neal replied.
"I guess that makes sense since you told us he's Pinocchio," David stated. Neal nodded.
"I...I think I wanted to forget that part," Mary Margaret murmured and David squeezed her hand.
"I get that. Things could have been very different if Geppetto hadn't done what he did in desperation. August was found with Emma that night...but he left her soon after," Neal explained.
"What the hell was he even thinking? How did Geppetto expect a little boy to take care of an infant?" David said in frustration.
"He...he wasn't thinking. He just wanted to protect his son, just like we wanted to protect our daughter," Mary Margaret said in a choked voice.
"You're being really understanding," David mentioned. She shrugged.
"I'm trying," she admitted.
"If our lying friend did leave Emma at the orphanage...how did he even know where she was?" Gold questioned. Neal shrugged.
"That's a question I still don't have an answer to. Somehow, he must have kept tabs on Emma over the years," Neal said, as he shared an uncomfortable look with the blonde.
"Anyway, he found me in Portland. I had every intention of running away to Canada with Emma...but he told me everything and convinced me that if I did, I would be interfering with Emma's destiny to break the curse," Neal said, as he looked at her rigid expression.
"I was stupid enough to listen to him and it was the biggest mistake of my life," Neal said, pleading with her. She scoffed.
"It was Emma...I was scared that my father would find me if I stayed with you and that I would get sucked back into this world," he confessed.
"But yet here you are anyway," she countered.
"Because of Henry. I would have never abandoned you if I had known. Hell, I would have never abandoned you if I hadn't let August terrify the hell out of me," Neal said.
"So August is trying to make sure the curse is broken?" David asked.
"Uh yeah...but don't think he's doing it for the good of everyone," Neal replied.
"What does that mean?" Rumple asked.
"He was turning to wood again...because Emma was off track. He showed me his leg," Neal replied.
"Ah...turning back into a puppet, so he made sure Emma was put back on her path to Storybrooke to save himself. It comes as no surprise that the stupid gnat was in on the whole thing," he growled.
"I still can't believe Blue betrayed us…" David hissed.
"Believe it...and never trust a fairy," Gold warned. David sighed and looked at his wife, whose expression broke his heart. She looked utterly broken now.
"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to stir all of this up again," Neal offered. David gave him a nod. He knew it wasn't Neal's fault. He had made a mistake and had hurt Emma, which he hated. But he was young and pressured into it, as he now knew. David had made his own mistakes with Mary Margaret when cursed. Like himself, Mary Margaret, and Emma...it seemed he was a victim as well. And it was becoming more clear by the day that they had put their trust in liars.
"Thank you for telling us the rest of it anyway. We didn't really deal with it before," David offered. Neal nodded.
"Do you know why he's here now? Or why would he try to help us by writing that article?" David asked. Neal shook his head.
"He's been careful to avoid me. I wouldn't even know he was here if he hadn't published that article. But before Blue put him in the wardrobe, she told him that he had to be selfless, brave, and true. And he hasn't been...far from it," Neal said.
"He's turning to wood again," Gold surmised.
"Which means he's probably trying to accelerate the curse being broken," Neal said.
"To save himself," David said bitterly.
"None of this makes any sense," Emma muttered.
"It would if you'd stop being in denial," Neal replied.
"Don't start with me," she snapped.
"No, I am going to start with you! Dammit Emma...this all gets easier if you just accept reality," Neal said in frustration.
"This...this isn't my reality," Emma refuted, as she stood up.
"You just told me that you left me, because Pinocchio told you to! What the hell am I supposed to do with that!?" Emma cried.
"Deal with it and stop running! That's what you do with it!" Neal shouted back.
"You and your parents got royally screwed! I got royally screwed and it sucks! But if we tear ourselves apart...Regina will win and she'll take our son away," he warned and Emma took a sobering breath.
"And I don't want that...but you're asking me to believe…" Emma said, but trailed off when she saw Mary Margaret stand up and stare her straight in the eyes.
"Nine months…" she said in an unsteady voice.
"What?" Emma asked.
"Nine months...I carried you, planned for you, and then prepared myself to leave your father behind and walk into the unknown through that wardrobe," Mary Margaret replied.
"I…" Emma started to say, but then words failed her.
"I was terrified, but your father told me that I had to go. I had to for you, even though he had no idea what would happen to him or if he would even survive. So I was going to do it...but then you came early and they told us that it only took one," she explained and swallowed thickly.
"So I told your father that he had to put you in the wardrobe," she said, as tears streamed down her cheeks and David was still haunted by her gut wrenching sobs as he took Emma away.
"He didn't want to...but I knew he had to. To give you your best chance," she continued.
"If..if you had ended up in Storybrooke, Regina would have never let me have you. She would have made sure you could never break the curse," she said sadly. Emma was still resisting the belief in all of this, but the pain in Mary Margaret's eyes was so palpable that it was undeniable. There was no faking this kind of pain; that she knew for certain and from experience. But she wasn't ready...she didn't know if she'd ever be ready.
"I...I gotta go," Emma stammered, as she fled the apartment as fast as she could. With another sting of what Mary Margaret could only take as rejection, she fled to her bedroom behind the curtain and they heard sobs. David followed her in an attempt to comfort her, while Neal and Gold quietly let themselves out. The younger of the two sighed.
"What is it going to take?" Neal asked.
"Her cognitive dissonance is worse than I originally feared," Gold replied.
"What do we do?" Neal questioned, finally seeking his advice.
"I'm not sure we will need to do anything. It seems like we may never get through to her, but things are not always as they appear," Gold replied.
"Papa...you know I don't appreciate the cryptic phrases," Neal said.
"I only mean that Emma likely already knows it's all very true, but she runs, because she's not ready to handle it. However, the time will come when she can no longer run and she will face either accepting her destiny or losing everything," Gold replied.
"Losing everything?" Neal asked in alarm.
"Everything will come to a head. Emma does break the curse, but I cannot see how or why. But it will not be an easy path and Regina will not sit still for it. If she is faced with losing them or Henry...she will do what she must," Gold replied. Neal sighed again.
"I hope you're right, because I know Emma and right now, she's probably itching to blow this town," he warned.
"But she won't and for now, we prepare for the one thing keeping her here. The trial," Gold said. Neal nodded and looked back at the door, before following his father.
"You're fond of them," Gold said.
"I barely know them...but they're Emma's parents. Henry's grandparents. They're good people," Neal replied.
"They are and they will be fine. Not even the curse could destroy their true love. Regina will lose," he assured him.
"Yeah...but what do we have to endure until then?" Neal asked. Gold looked at him, as they exited the building.
"Even I don't know the answer to that," he replied, as they walked back to his shop where his car was parked.