Archie woke up with Emma's head resting on his chest just under his chin. She had an arm hugging him around the waist as she slept. He, for his part, had one arm circling her waist while the other lightly lay on her elbow. He took a selfish moment to take it all in, to feel her warmth against him, before he started to shift away but before he could move more than his hand she startled him by sleepily warning, "You better not move any further than that. I still intend on sleeping a little longer." She shifted enough to look up at him with a slightly playful glare before returning to her previous position, adding, "And stop thinking so loud, Pongo can probably hear you from down stairs."
Unable to hold in a slight chuckle, Archie assured her, "I won't move a muscle until you're ready to wake up then." His heart glowed as Emma let out a content sigh before snuggling a little closer, and he added, "And I'll tell my thoughts they must be quieter." This time it was Emma who chuckled.
After far too short a time for their liking there was a knock on the open door frame. They both looked to the sound to see Henry and Pongo standing there, the former with a wide grin on him face, a grin Emma could read whether she remembered the kid or not. That was why, not for the first time, Emma found herself contemplating what exactly her relationship with the doctor had been before her memory was wiped. She knew what everybody said it was but that didn't mean they knew how she had actually felt. She couldn't ponder it too long though because before long Henry was telling them the others were already there.
The adults got dressed quickly before following Henry down stairs, where to both of their surprise there were dozens of people gathered on the bottom floor of Archie's small home. When they had heard what was happening they had all insisted on trying to help. Plus it gave them a chance to check in on the Doc.
After far too many introductions, and poorly hidden disappointed look when they were necessary, everybody was filled in on what was known up to that point. After that people were able to help piece together Emma's night a little leading up to the attack. Basically, it sounded like Emma had in fact gone out for another late night stroll when she must have been lured into the park by The Queen, who had been pretending to be Regina, which Grannie confirmed. She had seen the two shortly before they knew Emma had run into Archie and Regina confirmed it had not been her. Emma still tensed a little when she looked at her. All she saw was the woman who attacked her, even if she was dressed normally now, though she knew it was a different woman, if not because of behaviour because Archie had told her so.
For the next few hours ideas were thrown around about how to fix it, how to get her memory back. After a few failed attempts Archie even tried some of the therapeutic techniques he used with patients. Around lunch time everybody agreed it was time for a break. They would all meet at Grannie's for dinner later to try again. In the meantime people could go and do some research, see if they could find anything else.
After most people where gone it was Snow and Charming, Hook, Regina and Henry who remained. They spent the next few hours filling Emma in more on her life in Storybrooke. Emma was still struggling with the idea that Regina was also Henry's mom, though she could see how much the woman loved her son, their son, with a glance. Surprisingly, she wasn't struggling with the magic thing as much, at least as much as she had been initially. She found in oddly plausible as the others talked about other realms, other worlds. She could tell there was still more they weren't talking about though. It had been apparent a few times with the gathering that there was a topic people were steering clear of, or more so, a time. From what Emma could tell there was a large chunk of her timeline people wouldn't even mention, though there were a few slight slip-ups. She didn't even want to imagine why that was.
Emma was enjoying being around these people, starting to feel that familial bond, even if she couldn't remember them; though she still stuck close to Archie. He made her feel more comfortable than the others, except Henry. Whenever Archie wasn't beside her she was beside Henry.
As they were headed toward the diner, split between multiple cars, Emma found herself alone with Archie and Henry once again as she drove her yellow bug. Henry was smiling wide in the backseat practically vibrating with excitement before it became too much and he announced, "I think I know what will break the spell." He waited until Archie was turned in his seat looking back at him and Emma was looking in the rear-view mirror before blurting, "We haven't tried the most obvious solution yet you guys, come on!"
Emma and Archie didn't have time to ask him to explain further before they were parking in front of Grannie's. Instead they exchanged a silent curious look before following Henry inside. The boy found Belle sitting at the counter and instantly got absorbed in what appeared to be a deep conversation so they let him be, instead finding a booth to sit in before things got crazy again.
Before long everybody was there and things were starting to swing into action. Emma swallowed a few gross mixes that did nothing but give her mouth a bad taste, at which point she was grateful when Archie slip a hot chocolate in front of her. Then people said some strange things at her, a lady waved a stick at her that emitted a blue light, while Regina and Mr. Gold tried their own magic. When nothing worked in the least people began to grow disheartened. That was when Belle and Henry both stood up in the middle of the diner and announced they had an idea.
Belle did the talking as she said, "We have to consider who we're dealing with here. This is The Evil Queen. We've all dealt with her and we know how she thinks." She looked at Regina as she asked a question as if she knew the answer, "Regina, when you were her, The Evil Queen, you had a favorite, didn't you, a favorite type of curse?"
Regina thought for a second but nodded. "Yes, I did. It wasn't so much the curse though as the cure to break it." The light seemed to go off in her head as she went on with more enthusiasm, "There was only one thing my curses were vulnerable too, true loves kiss." It was Regina who looked to Emma and said, "You need true loves kiss."
Standing up, Leroy was the one who offered up the idea, "What about Henry? Emma's love for him broke The Dark Curse, why couldn't it break this one?" There was a murmur of agreement that went around the room.
It was Belle though who said it wouldn't work, saying, "That magic was used up then. I doubt it would work again." Still, it was worth a try, so Henry had walked up to his mother and kissed her on the forehead, but like Belle had guessed, nothing happened.
Dr. Whale was the first one to yell, "Hook, kiss your girlfriend already."
Hook and Emma had both looked a little uncomfortable at that. Though Emma knew she had more than kissed this man before she couldn't remember it and she'd essentially be kissing a complete stranger. Hook, for his part, could feel the hesitance in Emma, the fact she was uncomfortable, and that was the last thing he wanted. Still, awkwardly, he bent down and kissed her chastely. No one could really say whether or not they were surprised when nothing happened, but they were all disappointed, none more than Hook. Though Archie felt a selfish joy course through him when nothing happened. He hated himself for it but it was there. There was a part of him that was happy Hook was not Emma's true love.
With a similar thinking to Henry, Grannie had suggested her parents try as well, so Mary Margaret kissed Emma on the temple while David kissed the top of her head. Something did happen then, but not enough. Emma felt like she could just grasp hazy memories but couldn't bring them into focus.
A disappointed sigh echoed in the room as Regina informed them with a frustrated growl, "There was a counter spell. The Evil Queen took precaution against familial love." She glared at Mr. Gold as she said, "You taught us that one after The Dark Curse." The man simply shrugged in response which started a murmur of disapproval, which grew louder and louder until people were yelling their frustration. Emma inched a little closer to Archie who was sitting next to her in a booth as it got to be a little too much for her.
It was Henry who silenced everyone as he threw his ever present "Once Upon a Time" book down on the diner counter. Everybody looked at him with a start as he drew himself up to his full height, clearly trying to look confidant as he announced, "There's still someone we haven't tried." More than one set of eyes shifted from Henry to Archie and Emma sitting in the booth. Archie assumed they were looking only at Emma but when Henry took a step toward them he was clearly looking at him as he asked, "Dr. Hopper, do you love my Mom?"
He could feel his face heating up as his mind went blank with the white noise of to many thoughts. His mouth was opening and closing like a fish as he tried to look anywhere but into another person's eyes, especially Emma's or Henry's. It was only when Emma gently put her hand under his chin and pulled so he was looking at her that he managed to speak, rasping out a faint, "Yes."
The smile that filled Emma's face at his quiet confession was enough to take his breath away. It even drowned out the loud mix of reactions that were going around the diner. A small smile formed on his own face without him even realising.
When Emma leaned forward with only a few inches separating them, stopping just short of kissing him, he couldn't stop himself from making the final move. Placing one hand on her elbow and bringing the other up to her cheek he closed the remaining distance, kissing her with a barely contained passion. He could swear he felt his heart stop as she kissed him back, pushing closer as her hand found its way to his neck.
For a moment the room went completely silent as everybody held their breath. Then there was a bright wave of magic that coursed through the room and sent a chill up everybody's spines. When Emma pulled back and opened her eyes all she said was, "I hope I didn't break your lucky umbrella when I knocked you down last night." When Archie responded with a broad grin and a laugh there was a collective sigh of relief.
Then there was a collective laugh as Henry high-five'd Belle as he loudly exclaimed, "See, I knew it."
