Chapter 5
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"Shh…shh…" There was soft boyish giggles coming from somewhere just beyond consciousness. Emma heard the sound and smiled softly in her sleep as she turned on her side. A gasp registered at her movement and all sound in the room was silent.
"Okay…go on."
Mmm…Emma knew that voice. She kept her eyes closed as suddenly her mind began imagining the sight of girlfriend. She heard the soft giggles again and realized that Regina was not alone in the room. Peeking open an eye slowly she noticed, thanks to the alarm clock on her night table, that it was still early. Far too early to be getting up on the weekend or on…Emma felt her breath hitch in her chest. Mother's day. Today was mother's day.
"SURPRISE!" Henry screamed as he pounced up on top of Emma, pushing all the air out of her lungs. Emma gasped and rolled onto her back, allowing Henry to fall onto her stomach. She smiled at the three year old little boy and grabbed him around his waist and started tickling him.
"You certainly surprised me." Emma breathed out in sincerity when she quit tickling Henry, who was now laying on his back a little flushed but still laughing to himself. Emma looked to the side of the bed and saw Regina standing there in her pajamas…which the older woman hadn't been wearing when they fell asleep last night if Emma's memories served her correctly.
"What's all this?" Emma indicated the tray that Regina was still holding. There was a soft blush on her cheeks. This wasn't the first mother's day that had been celebrated together. But it was the first mother's day where they were a couple. There was a significance to it that was different than all the other ones.
"Breakfast. We made breakfast." Henry sat up and jumped off the bed to stand beside Regina.
"You guys did? What'd you make?" Emma asked, her eyes moving between Henry and Regina.
"Apple pancakes."
"Your favorite." Regina whispered, still standing at the side of the bed as if she were afraid to sit on the bed. Regina always became a little nervous when Henry was in the bed with them. She hadn't wanted to inform Henry about their relationship. As Emma recalled Regina didn't want to test the waters at all, but had otherwise been convinced when her jealousy got the best of her after Emma had accepted a dinner invitation.
"Do you except me to stay home and be your babysitter!?" she had hissed. Emma knew she'd wanted to yell but Henry was sleeping on the couch only a few feet away from them.
"I didn't except that no. I was going to see if I could get a friend of mine to babysit."
"So you will have a stranger in our home taking care of Henry while I am still here?"
"Regina that's not it! That's not what I'd thought would happen. I figured you could go out with your friends. I feel like we keep you from having a life. This way we both can enjoy some time out."
Regina's glare was deadly, "I do not want you seeing this man."
Emma straightened her shoulders, "Well that's not up to you, Regina. I'm a twenty one year old and I can do as I damn well please."
"You're too young! And he's…he's…"
"He's what?" Emma asked, pressing to find out why Regina was so upset about this.
Regina crossed her arms, "He's far too old for you."
Emma laughed, "Regina, he's your age. He's not nearly too old for me."
Regina's mouth hung open at that, and merely blinked several times. "He's a good man. Kind and sweet. He has a kid of his own and he's been understanding of my past and the living arrangements we have here. Not to mention he's rather attractive."
"He only wants you for sex…" Regina hissed as her eyes tracked to the couch to make sure Henry was still sound asleep.
"Why?" Emma tilted her head to the side. She wouldn't pretend that Regina's words hadn't hurt. They did. "He can't find me attractive outside of my body? Do I have nothing else to offer someone? Is that how you see me Regina? As some whore?" Instead of getting angrier than she already was, she reached a level of contained rage. She was calm as she held Regina's eyes and dared the older woman to say anything else.
"You know that's not what I mean! Damn it, Emma. Why can't you just…ugh!" Regina turned her back to Emma, unable to see the fury directed at her within Emma's eyes. Her hands were shaking and she felt like she was about to ruin something that had become so very precious to her.
"Why can't I what, Regina?" Emma pressed, stepping closer to the older woman, so when Regina spun around to tell her just what she wanted, they were within a hairs breath of each other.
Regina's eyes narrowed in on Emma's lips, her breath stilled within her chest. She licked her lips unconsciously before she slowly forced her eyes to meet Emma's. "Go out with me." Regina whispered, "Date me." Emma's eyes widened and she faltered a little by taking a half step backwards. Regina at this point had put it all on the line and followed her, so that they were pressed up against each other. She raised her hand up to Emma's cheek and pushed some of the blonde's hair behind her ear. "Want me."
"But you said you didn't want to risk…"
Regina tilted her head to the side and leaned in till she was centimeters away from Emma's lips, and stared up into the blonde's eyes, "Forget what I said."
Emma nodded her head in small rapid gestures, leaning forward to finally, finally….taste Regina's lips.
Emma blinked away that memory of their first kiss. She met Regina's eyes, charmed that her girlfriend would be doing something so sweet for her. The last two years they had merely gone out to brunch together with Regina's parents when they were in town. This year it looked like they had made a homemade breakfast.
Henry motioned for Regina to bend down a little so that he could reach what laid on the tray. He picked up a card and a thorn less rose. With both in hand he jumped back up onto the bed and crawled over to Emma, eagerly handing her both.
"Happy mowtha's day, Ma." He gushed, bouncing in his seat as he waited for Emma to open her card.
Emma looked down at the card that had scribbles on the front of it that she assumed were supposed to be 'mom'. With a grin she leaned down into Henry's ear and whispered, "Why don't you go get the other card you made."
Henry smiled brightly and nodded his head. He was off the bed and running out of the room at the speed of light. Leaving Emma alone with Regina. Putting Henry's card aside for the moment she crawled to the edge of the bed and took the tray of food from her girlfriend. She put it on the night stand and turned back to the older woman. "Good morning." She whispered as she leaned into kiss her.
Regina smiled against her lips, "Good morning, stinky breath."
Emma chuckled as she pulled away and gestured for Regina to sit on the bed. "Thank you. They look delicious. You didn't have to…"
"I thought it would be special if we all shared today, together. Like this." Regina couldn't hold Emma's eyes as she admitted such a thing. So Emma let her look away.
"Well, it is special. Thank you." She kissed Regina's cheek before moving to lean against the headboard at the top of the bed.
"Where has Henry gone off to?" Regina asked as she picked up her cup of coffee from the tray and began sipping at it.
Emma smiled conspiratorially. "You'll see."
Regina's eyes scrunched with scrutiny, but she didn't have time to ask Emma anything more before Henry came running into the room. In his hand was a small mother's day bear no bigger than Emma's palm that had a heart in the center that read 'Best 2nd Mom Ever'. He also had another card that he eagerly handed to Regina and after hiding the bear behind his back for a few moments as Regina looked at Emma for an explanation, thrust out the bear with a nervous shift of his weight from one foot to the other.
"Happy Mowtha's day."
Emma heard Regina's gasp from her seat at the top of the bed and watched as Regina's hands began to tremble as she saw the bear. Regina turned slowly to look at her, as if asking for clarification or maybe permission to be as happy as she was over this.
Emma gave her both as she smiled at her girlfriend, "Happy mother's day, Regina."
Regina's first tear fell as Emma moved to pick up Henry and put him between them. "And it was all his idea." She gave Henry the credit he deserved and tickled him making him smile and laugh as Regina took the time she needed to absorb what this meant for her.
-.-.-.-.-Present-.-.-.-.-
The night was slowly turning to day as Emma sat in the uncomfortable arm chair by the window of the same room she had rented three years ago the first time she had come to this cursed town. Her eyes were unseeing as she tried to think about what she was going to do. She was exhausted. She knew that she should at least try and sleep. But how could she go to sleep at a time like this? Her whole life was a mess of double memories that she was trying to wheedle through to come up with the truth.
Sleep? Ha. She was used to running on only a few hours of sleep. Those nightmares she was having for months made a hell of a lot more sense now that she recalled her 'real' life. And the diagnosis of PTSD suddenly made a lot more sense as well. Except there was no addition of, 'of abandonment' needed. She just suffered from clean cut PTSD. After the hell she had gone through in the last two years—had REALLY gone through, it certainly made sense. It just took her thinking she had a normal life to realize that she was suffering from a psychological disorder that should have been treated two years ago.
Except it wasn't, because she had still been in the midst of a life or death situation, there was always something going on. Never time to really think about everything she was going through until it was being used against her by the evil trying to destroy their lives. Maybe it was a good thing she had been diagnosed with this, even if it was passed down to her from a man that wasn't even a human and probably not even a real doctor.
Blinking her eyes, Emma focused on Henry's sleeping form. He was curled up in bed getting as much sleep as he could. Emma had told him he would need his rest if he was going to help her on this very sensitive case. He hadn't wanted to do so at first but as they stumbled into the room she was 'renting' from Granny he'd fallen onto the bed and sighed before falling back to sleep.
Thinking of Granny, Emma didn't know what to say or do about the elder woman or her granddaughter. Emma didn't know what to say as she stood in front of Granny Lucas and Ruby. They had looked at her as if they didn't know how to react to her either.
The two Lucas women had been great to her in the past and that hadn't changed. As soon as Hook told them that he had brought Emma back, after testing their memories of the blonde and him first, they had come running.
They weren't cursed like they had been when she first met them. They could both remember their lives here in Storybrooke and their lives in the Enchanted Forest. Apparently, what they couldn't remember was the year that they had been back in the Enchanted Forest. Or so Hook had told her just before Granny and Ruby came rushing out of the Inn to help Emma bring in her things.
It was disconcerting to see Granny standing guard with her crossbow, giving them cover fire, as Ruby and Hook helped her unload the car. Everyone was careful not to wake Henry, who'd fallen back to sleep. They had succeeded until they'd closed the trunk, the shuffle and noise finally waking Henry. He'd shot up in his sleep, eyes alert and body tense.
"Mom…mom!" He called out, panicked when he saw he was alone in the car. Emma moved to the window, waving Granny and Ruby to the Inn as she calmed Henry. The last thing she needed at the moment was to try and explain to Ruby and Granny why Henry could remember them but not completely, not the way they would think he would if he recalled them.
She opened the door so he could see her, and touched his shoulder. "I'm here, Henry. Was trying to get the things unpacked without waking you." She truthfully told him, watching as he seemed to calm down at the sight of her.
"Where are we?" Henry asked, trying to peer out into the night, but his eyes were still blurry with sleep.
"We're stopping for the night at an Inn." Emma didn't want to test what Henry would remember now that they were in Storybrooke. She wondered if his memories of their fake life were going to be stronger now that they were back in Storybrooke, much like hers had become.
This was going to be more complicated. She hadn't realized how complicated it was going to be until she had seen Ruby and recalled how in her fake life she would often come home after a date night with Regina to see Ruby on the couch or somewhere in Regina's home—which had been their home in the memories—and they'd chat amicably before Ruby would leave so that Emma could have private time (sexy times) with her wife.
Henry would now have memories of Ruby babysitting him that the werewolf didn't have. Emma herself had memories of working as a waitress at Granny's and having the oldest Lucas woman as a boss. A rather cut throat type of boss that was not shared with Granny or Ruby for that matter.
How was Emma going to handle this? Henry would remember David and Mary Margaret as his grandparents, but as he remembered them, they were Regina's parents and had left the country months ago, abandoning them as much as Regina had. What was worse was that they were all going to remember her and Henry as well. Regina was going to remember them but not the way that Emma remembered her.
"God…" Emma sat up, suddenly unable to get comfortable. She ran her hand through her hair as her eyes peered out the window. The sun would be up in an hour or two. Maybe it was time that she went to talk to Ruby and Granny herself. She had let Hook be liaison between them as she was just too tired to deal with everyone and everything so soon.
She knew that she wouldn't have a choice come day break. She would need to go and see Mary Margaret and David and talk to them about what was happening. But first she was going to see if she could get any answers about whatever she was dealing with from the Lucas women.
Quietly exiting the room Emma walked down the stairs, following the sound of voices. Voices she found conversing in the sitting room of the Inn.
"What does she remember exactly?" That was Granny.
"Everything. At least, that's what the potion was meant to do." Hook.
"How did you come into possession of the potion?" Ruby.
"It was delivered to me by a blue bird of some kind. It warned me of the curse and told me I needed to get this potion to Emma, that it would restore her memories. I assumed it was the doing of Snow White as it was not signed."
Ruby looked thoughtfully between her grandmother and Hook, "That does sound like something Snow would do." Ruby looked up before anyone else; her eyes peeled at the doorway seconds before Emma even came close enough to see.
"Yes it does. At least if the Disney movie is to be believed." Emma leaned against the doorframe as she crossed her arms and stared at the three friends. "Though that doesn't really answer how you were able to escape the curse." Emma directed the question to Hook. "And who cast it."
"Emma…" Ruby smiled softly at her and made her way over to hug her.
Emma sighed softly into Ruby's neck as she returned the hug, though did so stiffly. Once they had hugged she smiled and nodded her head at Granny, not really in the mood to be touched more so than she already was.
"Those need to be looked at." Granny stared from the other side of the room, her eyes on the cuts along Emma's neck. They couldn't do anything about the bruising—that made it clear someone's hands had been wrapped around the area, but they could at least clean and bandage the deeper of the cuts.
"I'll get the first aid kit." Ruby offered as she left the room.
Emma didn't want there to be big fuss, but now that the injuries were out in the open there was nothing she could do to stop them. Emma rubbed at her temple, her head still aching with a deft pain since the attack. She was talking about curses and magic and Snow White sending singing blue birds as carrier pigeons again, and a part of her hated it. Hated that she had allowed herself to be pulled back into this kind of mess. The other recognized that there was no escape. The life she was living with Henry not supplied by the spell Regina cast was breaking apart, making her crazy, both literally and figuratively.
When Ruby came back she sat Emma down in one of the arm chairs and kneeled in front of her friend.
"Go get the girl some ice packs." Granny instructed of Hook. "They're in the freezer."
Killian met Emma's eyes before he followed Granny's instruction and left to get the ice packs.
"Now…" Granny started as she sat across from Emma, "…how exactly did you receive those?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I…" Emma stopped what she was saying all together as she realized that yes, they would believe her if she told them. They were used to these types of things. After all the woman gently patching up her neck was a werewolf. "My physiatrist tried to kill me. Turned into a freaking flying monkey. Because you know, those are actually real too."
Emma laughed to herself, feeling like she was seconds away from breaking apart at the seams. She continued to laugh, unable to stop now that she had started. She laughed hard enough that it became impossible for Ruby to continue and laughed long enough that the tears came on their own.
Ruby and Granny looked at Emma sympathetically. Unsure how to help the woman who was once again pulled into a world she was unfamiliar with. Ruby and Granny had aged in a world where magic was real. Emma had only been introduced to it after she was well into living her life. Whether she was born in their world or not, she hadn't grown up in it. She had grown up where magic was a thing of fantasy and werewolves like them were things of horror movies. Now she was just given a crash course in the actuality of such things. They didn't think less of her for reacting as she was.
"Sorry…sorry." Emma hiccupped another laugh before she pulled herself together. She wiped at her cheeks.
"Nothing to be sorry for." Ruby promised as she squeezed Emma's knee.
Emma reacted immediately, nearly yelling in pain as she pulled her leg as far away from Ruby's hand as she could manage. "Damn…" Emma groaned as she clutched at her leg around her knee.
"Can I?" Ruby asked as she indicated her knee.
Emma nodded her head and hissed as Ruby rolled up her pant leg over her knee. She didn't even need to look at it to know that it was sprained. It was probably swollen to.
"That is definitely sprained." Granny said from her spot. "I'll go get some of the birch bark and barberry salve to help with the pain and swelling."
"Thank you." Emma stated as Granny left, leaving her alone with Ruby.
"So…a flying monkey huh?" Ruby asked with a smirk.
Emma rolled her eyes, unable to stop herself from smirking as well. "Yeah, like right out of the Wizard of Oz."
"Well you always had a thing for green skinned witches. Maybe you'll find one for real." Ruby joked, knowing Emma's fondness of the Oz book series by L. Frank Baum and Gregory McGuire's spin-off.
Emma laughed softly, shaking her head at the absurdity of this all. "Yeah, well let's deal with figuring out who cursed you all again before we try and set me up with a green skinned witch."
Ruby nodded solemnly.
"Ice packs as ordered and some wicked smelling salve that smells worse than rotting fish." Killian scrunched up his face as he held the jar of salve out to Ruby.
"Great…" Emma frowned, "Just what I need. To smell like rotting fish."
"Oh hush. That salve will heal your knee in two days' time, maybe three. Better to smell like rotting fish for three days than have this injury for a few weeks, don't you think?" Granny asked as she came into the room with a medical wrap.
Emma couldn't argue with that. "No…" She stated, properly chastised. "Especially when we still don't know what's going on here."
Granny hummed as she shooed Ruby up so that she could put the salve onto Emma's leg. It was cold and had Emma unable to sit still as it was spread over the swollen area.
"Need you to sit still so I can disinfect these cuts, Em." Ruby frowned as Emma hissed in pain as she used the disinfectant on the cuts. "Almost done. I promise."
"Distract me." Emma told Killian, who was standing to the side, uselessly.
"With tales of my escapades? Oh Swan I thought you'd never ask." His accent was thick as he spoke and his smile teasing.
Emma rolled her eyes, "How did you escape the curse?"
"Why, I outran it with the Jolly Roger of course."
Emma hummed as Granny started to tighten the wrap around her knee. "Of course…how did you find me?"
"That I am afraid to say was merely Lady luck shining on me."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ruby asked, curious as she looked over Emma's shoulder at Hook.
"The last city outside of this lovely little town I saw Emma was New York. I thought I might be able to track her from there. I was lucky to find her already living there." Emma took that as a logical step to take. It was something she would have done as well.
"New York, huh?" Ruby asked envious, Emma recalled how cursed Ruby had wanted to travel.
"Yep."
Ruby went back to looking at the cuts on her neck, placing small butterfly bandages over them.
"How long have you guys been back in Storybrooke?"
"Two, almost three weeks." Granny answered from her place in front of Emma.
"What happened to the time before that?" Emma looked at Granny and then strained her sore neck to meet Ruby's eyes.
"We don't know."
"Is it possible that you never left Storybrooke?"
Ruby looked pained as she thought of an appropriate answer to give Emma. "It's possible, but…"
Hook shook his head, "No. I'm afraid we all traveled back to the Enchanted Forest. I was with you all for a bit of time before I left to be on my way. Last I heard you were regrouping with those you could find and heading to Regina's castle to start over and for safety."
"Safety from what?" Emma asked, seeing as how both Ruby and Granny needed time to absorb what he had just said. And Emma personally knew how disconcerting it was to be going without detailed memories of the past.
It would appear that they hadn't been in Storybrooke for more than three weeks, but that still left everyone in Storybrooke with almost a full year of missing memories.
"You recall what the Enchanted Forest was like the last time…" Hook admonished. "It still needed to be rebuilt as the Ogres were just beginning to be pushed back by the people unaffected by Regina's original curse."
"Right…ogres, zombies, giants, a back stabbing pirate," Hook flinched only slightly at the observation Emma could now make of his character. He had hoped she would recall all the good he had done for her and her family in Neverland and forgive him for his previous erroneous actions against her.
"…and chimera." Emma shuddered at the type of food she had been forced to eat when stuck in the enchanted forest with Mary Margaret. The fake memory that had been planted over that one was of Emma going camping with Henry, Regina, David and Mary Margaret and having to eat rabbit. She had not been fond of that, and neither had Henry.
"There are also more people here this time. So those who weren't caught in the first curse were in the second." Granny explained as she fastened the wrap around Emma securely before standing. "There. Now you'll need to replace the wrap and salve every twelve hours for the next few days. I suggest no strenuous activity on it, if you can help it." Which, the older woman knew might not be possible, but she'd give her instructions nonetheless.
"Thank you….both." Emma looked at both Granny and Ruby as they packed up the supplies they'd used to help her.
"Here. Keep these around your neck to keep the swelling and bruising down." Granny handed Emma the ice packs wrapped in cloth that Hook had brought in. "You should try and get some rest. Your parents will be expecting you."
"Sleep is a good idea, Swan. You've been through a lot today."
"Thanks, mom…" Emma stressed the feminine parental role as she stared at Hook. "I know exactly what I've been through. What I also know is that I won't be able to sleep without night terrors and can't afford to take the sleep medicine I've been given because then I'll be knocked out for at least eight hours. I also don't know if those pills are even real or if they're poisoned because the doctor who prescribed them to me is the same man who tried to kill me and turned into a flying monkey. So, as good of an idea you think it might be, it isn't." Emma had no real reason to be this angry with Hook. He was just someone she could place her frustration on who could take it, and maybe who deserved it, or had at one point.
"I am only trying to look out for you." He said so very softly, that Emma believed him.
Emma nodded once, "Go get some sleep for yourself. You look like crap."
"Impossible. I always look good."
Emma rolled her eyes at his vanity, happy that he left to go get some rest. Granny left as well but when she turned to Ruby as if expecting her to leave the younger woman raised an eyebrow, looking insulted that Emma would think she'd leave.
"I'm staying with you. I'm a creature of the night. I can go without sleep longer than you can."
Emma tried to smile at what she knew was meant as a joke, but just couldn't manage it. Not when all she could think about was how this was all going to blow up in her face come morning. Henry was going to recognize the town and the people but not remember anything about magic or the last two years he lived here. He was going to know Mary Margaret and David but not really know them. Just like he was going to recognize Regina, know her in a way that was going to devastate everyone involved.
Emma sighed as she thought of David and Mary Margaret. "I don't know how they're going to handle this." Emma rubbed at her forehead already fearful of the stressful situation she was going to be walking into tomorrow when she explained to her parents that their grandson thought they were Regina's parents.
"Why would you say that? They'll be thrilled that you're back." Ruby admonished, thinking Emma feared they wouldn't want her back here with them.
"There's a lot that you still don't know, Rubes."
"Well, tell me. I've got nowhere else to be."
"You're not going to like it." Emma hedged.
"Let me see about that."
Emma smiled, "Don't say I didn't warn you."
So Emma told her everything she could remember. How the memories that Regina gave her were both a blessing and a curse because now she had memories of this great life with a woman she loved and who loved her and she'd have to see Regina tomorrow and see the disgust and annoyance in her eyes. She shared how worried she was about Henry and how he would remember everyone but not how they remembered him. How she was afraid someone would slip up about magic and fairytales around Henry that she'd be forced to either lie or tell him the truth.
"Okay…so, let me get this straight." Ruby began, finally able to register what Emma had just told her. "Your fake memories had you and Regina married. Like really actually married."
"Yes."
"And the memories had you raising Henry together, here in Storybrooke, together, as a couple together."
Emma sighed, knowing that the shock was causing these repetitive questions, but still finding it disheartening. If Ruby was reacting like this she could only imagine how her parents would.
"They also had Snow and David as Regina's parents?"
"Yep."
"So he remembers them, as his grandparents, he just remembers them as Regina's parents." Emma nodded. "He also remembers me as his babysitter?" Again Emma nodded. "Well, Ems that's not so different than what really happened. I used to babysit for him even before the curse broke and you left him with me. Ashley babysat for him too."
Emma pinched the bridge of her nose. "Great. So it's possible some of his memories are memories he'll share with you. Just lacking me in the picture of the original memories. That's great. Then anyone could be reassured that he knows them and has his real memories when he doesn't." Emma shook her head. She knew that there were a lot of things to worry about, like the curse being cast on her friends and family again, but what she was most worried about was Henry. Especially Henry in regards to Regina.
"We've got to get his memories back." Ruby took the words right out of her mouth.
"Agreed." Emma looked towards the window and saw that the sun had risen and light was beginning to seep into the room.
Dawn had broken and brought with it a new day. Tomorrow was here and she had a lot of work to do.
-.-.-.-.-
Flying over the town just as the sun began to shine over the large wooded area of the town, Walsh landed roughly in the dirt. Hissing in pain he grasped his bleeding shoulder and slowly stood. He made his way towards the cottage that housed his mistress. Knowing that he was going to be delivering news she was not happy with.
Not that the Wicked Witch of the West was ever really very happy to begin with.
End Chapter Five
