A/N: I'm sorry this is so late. I was packing for our move across country, as well as working. Anyways enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own ABC, Once Upon A Time or any of its characters.
In Storybrooke, we were hoping Henry would remember as we crossed the town line, but from her car, I could tell Emma knew he didn't. I was in my own car with Killian holding my hand the whole ride down.
"How come Amaya remembers you?" I asked.
"I'm not sure love. Maybe she was too young for Regina to change her memories. Either way, I'm thankful we don't have to be introduced all over again." He said as Emma stopped across the street from Granny's Diner.
"It's really back." She said as we all got out and looked around, "We're really back."
"As quaint and homey as you remember?" Killian said, wrapping an arm around my waist.
"Last time, the curse took away everyone's memories. This time?" Emma asked, as Killian looked around too.
"We don't know what it did," he said, as I saw my house down the street.
"Then we'll find out." I said, nodding at Emma. Grabbing Amaya from her car seat, I asked Killian if he would take her and Henry back to my place. He agreed to watching them while we found our parents. We walked over to the apartments, nervous for what we found.
As Emma knocked, I found myself shaking with nerves. What if they didn't remember us? What if this curse made them hate us?
"Hi," Emma said as my father answered the door. My eyes welled up as he took a step back, in what seemed to be shock.
"Don't close the door, I'm Emma and this is Ar-"
"Aria, Emma." He said, happily.
"David?" Emma asked, and I said, "Dad?"
"You remember." He said, as he hugged us tightly.
"You remember?" Emma asked as we walked into the apartment a ways.
"Of course. What are you doing here?"
"Killian found us, he brought us here. He said you were cursed," I said, noticing the loft still looked the same.
"We're back, or we never left, but we don't know. But we're trapped again."
"But you know who you are?" Emma asked, getting all the clues.
"We do. We don't know who did it or why. All we know is our last year has been wiped away."
"Wiped away?" I said, confused.
"All we remember is saying goodbye to you girls. It feels like yesterday." He said as I heard a movement from upstairs.
"How do you know it's been a year?" I asked, before I heard my mother say, "Emma? Aria?"
"As you can see, a lot has happened." My Dad said, smiling at us. I was still in shock over my mother's belly.
"We just don't know what. The whole year is gone," Our mother said, before hugging me sweetly.
"Who the hell could have done this?" Emma asked, and I said, "I need to go see someone."
Running as fast as I could, I approached the large white house and knocked loudly. Regina answered, looking surprised.
"Did you cast this curse?" I asked softly. Her eyes softened and she shook her head, "I would have needed the heart of the thing I love most. And Henry wasn't with me."
"I missed you," I said, hugging her tightly.
"I missed you too," Se said quietly, hugging me back.
"Now, we need to figure out who did this." I said, as she grabbed her coat and followed me to my house.
As everyone sat down in the living room to talk about this, I piped up, "I know it wasn't Regina."
"I agree," My mother said, smiling at her stepmother.
"We don't even know where the hell we were, we don't even know if we left Storybrooke," My Dad said, and Killian said, "Aye, you did. I was with you."
"In the Enchanted Forest?" My mother said, excited by this news.
"Regina's spell brought us back. We spent a brief time with the Prince and Princess, named Phillip and Aurora. But I wasn't feeling the community spirit, not when I had promised Aria I would find her and Amaya. So I ventured out on my own to find a memory potion and a way back. Last I saw of you lot, you were making your way to the Queen's castle."
"Well, this is just great," Emma said, mad about hitting a dead end.
"How did you know about the curse?" My father asked.
"As I was sailing the realm, a bird landed on my ships wheel. With it note instructing me to retrieve Emma and Aria, and bring them back here. I assumed because it said Storybrooke, that there was another curse coming. With the note was two small vials of memory potion tied to its legs. I had the way to bring Aria and Emma back, so I got a bean and you know the rest."
"Who sent it?" My mother said, as Regina looked to be thinking.
"I assumed it was you," Killian said as I leaned back into his chest.
"Message via bird, does sound like you," David said, looking at his wife.
"We need to assume that whoever it was is here. And they don't want us to remember anything," Regina said looking to Emma.
"And now we have the upper hand." Emma smirked.
"Am I missing something?" My Dad said.
"It's an old bail bonds trick. You smoke out the perp by making them think you're on to them." Emma explained.
"We make them think we have a memory potion and we're making more." Regina said, as Emma handed her the vials we took in New York.
"We need to tell the whole town then. Should we post something in the paper?"
"Bad news, we lost another one," Grumpy said, coming through the door, "We're down to five now."
"Four, Bashful's not answering." Happy said, looking at his phone.
"Wait, what is going on?" Emma asked.
"Thank god you're back sisters." Grumpy said, sounding relieved.
"It's not just our memories that are missing. Ever since we woke up, people have begun disappearing."
"Whoever cast this curse is picking us off, one by one."
"Who exactly is missing?"
"Aside from those dwarves, we're not sure. There's been a lot of confusion over the last few days. It's hard to keep track of everyone."
"Wait, Neal. Is he here?" Emma asked, hopefully as I squeezed her hand.
"Well, we haven't found him yet. He and Gold have been missing since we got back."
"Wait, Gold is missing?" Emma said, not buying it.
"The Dark One is missing. This person either has the dagger and is controlling him, or we are dealing with someone who is more powerful than Rumplestiltskin."
"We'll find him Emma," I said softly, putting my hand on her shoulder. My mother gasped, and held her hand over her mouth, staring at my ring. My father's eyes narrowed on Killian's form and I said, "Technically, we didn't know if you remembered us."
"So, you're engaged. When did that happen?" David asked.
"In New York. Last night," I said, giving a guilty smile.
"Oh Aria, I'm so happy for you!" My mother exclaimed getting up to hug me.
"While I'm not happy you're a pirate, you're a pirate that loves my daughter," My Dad said, shaking Killian's hand firmly.
"With all my heart. She and Amaya will never want for anything. I can assure you I will get a respectable job. My year in the Enchanted Forest wasn't wasted on rum and thievery."
"I believe you. But if you ever hurt her or my granddaughter-"
"You have every right to draw and quarter me." Killian said seriously.
"I wouldn't go that far. But I would beat the daylights out of you."
"Grumpy," Emma said getting the dwarf's attention, "We were just talking about how Regina was going to make a memory retrieval potion with the last little bit we had left."
"How do we know it's not poison, or that she didn't cast it?" He asked, eyeing Regina.
"Because both Emma and I believe her." I said, staring him square in the eyes.
"Grumpy, we trust you'll be discreet?" Snow said softly.
"No, everyone deserves to know!" He said rushing out of the house.
"Great, you told the biggest gossip in town." Killian said and Regina and I smiled.
"Exactly," Regina smirked.
"Until we know who it is, none of this leaves this circle," Regina said, "We don't know who they are, but we can bet they have the ability to take another's form."
"Now, we need our rest, and you two," I said pointing to Regina and Emma, "need to catch the perp."
Regina disappeared in a fog of purple smoke and returned only to grab Emma. My parents took that as their cue to leave, saying goodnight and that they would be over in the morning to take us to breakfast at Granny's to celebrate.
"So," I said, once the door was locked.
"We're all alone, our first night back home," I said, moving to straddle his lap on the couch. He smirked, wide eyed as he got my train of thought.
"We're nearly married," He said, wrapping an arm around my waist.
"And we don't know when Emma will be back." I said quietly.
"I guess we should take advantage of the fact Henry's room is two floors below us," He said standing, taking me upstairs quietly. I was still wrapped around his waist when he opened the bedroom door. Depositing me on the bed, he took no extra time to undress me.
"Killian, slowly. I haven't been with you in a year," I smiled as he undressed us both at breakneck speeds.
"I know love, I just missed the sight of your body. My imagination did not do you justice while I was away from you." He said, as I felt his arousal against my thigh.
"Make love to me Captain Jones," I said, moaning as he played my body like an instrument. He was soft, gentle and determined to make me sing. I was in bliss as he worked me over the edge, multiple times. And when we ran out of energy, we laid there, holding each other.
"Don't let me go, hold me in your beating heart. I won't let go, forever is not enough. Let me lay my head down, on the shadows by your side. Don't let me go, hold me in your beating heart," I sang softly as he drifted off to sleep. His grip tightened around me and I sighed peacefully. One way or another, we were going to be okay.
"Here you go, He- young man. Nice hot cocoa." Ruby said, nearly slipping.
"Hey, cinnamon? How'd you know?" Henry asked the waitress.
"Lucky guess. You've got a cinnamon kind of face." She said awkwardly. Killian smiled into his coffee and I kicked his foot under the table.
"Oh Henry," Emma started, "This is David and Mary Margaret."
"Are you helping my mom with the case? Or are they the ones who jumped bail?" Henry whispered the last part to Emma. I just laughed and said, "No, they are just old friends of ours."
"Emma and Mary Margaret knew each other in Phoenix. They were cellmates," I supplied, making my mother give me a look.
"Really? What were you in for?" Henry asked, curiously.
"Petty theft," I mouth and she repeated in a normal voice.
"People make mistakes. The important thing is to find a way to keep moving on," Mary Margaret said looking at my father.
"Did you know my Dad?' Henry asked, and I gave him a pointed look.
"I think we're ready to order!" David said awkwardly breaking the silence. A cup breaking on the floor made us look up and I sighed as Henry locked eyes with his forgotten mother.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." She said, clearly holding back her emotions.
"That's okay," Henry said, before looking down at the menu. Emma got up from the table to take Regina into the back hallway, and Amaya reached across Killian for her grandmother.
"Miss Amaya, how are you?" She smiled at her granddaughter.
"Grandma, I missed you," She said quietly, and Henry didn't seem to clue in, but Killian spoke quietly to her.
"Little Princess, let's play a game. One where we can't use words like grandma and grandpa. Let's make funny names instead. Does that sound good pumpkin?" He said to the little girl as I got up to go speak to Regina.
"Pumpkin!" She cheered as I walked away.
"I forgot to ask you something last night." I interrupted. Regina and Emma stopped and waited for me to say, "Amaya remembers everything."
"What? How?" Emma asked, confused.
"She was too young to change her memories as drastically like I did yours. She was only here a month at best. If I did that to a child smaller than 5, it can cause damage. I thought she would just forget, think it was a game or a figment of her imagination."
"Well now she could say something like Grandma in front of Henry and he would start to ask questions. And guess what, she just did!" I stage whispered.
"How do we explain Killian to Henry?" Emma said, as I remembered my ring.
"Until Henry remembers, I'll ask him to pretend we met before Adam, and that we were just picking up where we left off." I suggested.
"But what about Amaya?"
"Regina," I smirked
"She's the only one not affected by either curse," I said, once I had her attention.
"She… she has magic." Regina said, a slow smile gracing her lips.
"As much as I don't want my daughter to be a guinea pig, I have this strange feeling we could use her for the memory retrieval potion." I said, and Emma suggested, "Dreamcatchers?"
"Wow, did we just figure out the solution to our problem?" I said quietly.
"Tonight, we go down to my vault and get a select few memories back." Regina said, smiling triumpantly as we continued whispering.
"High five ladies. Who says a man will save us? We just saved ourselves." I smiled, as we all laughed in victory.
"I'll stick close to my mom today, and I'll ask Killian to take Henry fishing or something. Keeps him away from town."
"Good idea. We don't know what this person wants yet. We need to search places that only cropped up in this last curse, they may be hiding out." Emma said, as my Dad joined us.
"Henry doesn't want to come on patrol with me, but we just got word from one of the encampments in the forest. A winged beast took one of their men." David said as I heard Amaya calling for me.
"Amaya, stay with Daddy," I said across the Diner and froze. Killian, and Henry looked up at me in surprise and my mother gave me a look.
"I'm sorry Killian. It's a natural response," I said, but he knew I was only saying it for Henry's sake.
"Don't worry love. No harm done," Killian said as Amaya tucked herself into his side, chatting away.