HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEGAN! So I decided to do something special for you since this is technically your first birthday that I've been friends with you so, with a lot of help from some friends, we wrote you a bunch of mini fics to one shots to ficlets on a whole range of your favorite Once characters. Have an absolutely fantastic, amazing, awesome, hilarious magical birthday you lovely lady. You absolutely deserve it you Emma Swan you ;) Hope you like them!

18. Emma is patching things up with Neal. They're going slow, but its like they picked up right where they left off. But then a familar face starts walking around town; Graham. What will Emma do?

Written by: Saskia

It was not possible.

She had seen him in her arms all those years ago. Dying, using his last breath to tell her that she loved him. And yet here he was, sure as the earth that she walked on every day to go work at the sheriff station they had worked at together. Where the only feelings Graham had ever felt in Storybrooke came to life.

"Emma, I- Wait, who's this?" Graham's voice grew shaky as he turned to Neal. The man blew out a long breath before extending his arm towards Graham, who took it and smiled while shaking it.

"Graham this is Neal. My fiancé," Emma answered, and Graham's heart sunk into his stomach as he saw a ring that bore a great resemblance to Snow's on Emma's fourth finger. Neal smiled down at their clasped hands and tried to pull Emma along towards Granny's Diner. She gave him the I'll be there in a few stares and he smiled, patted Graham on the back and continued on his way.

Emma watched him go before turning back to Graham, who was watching her with longing eyes.

"What the hell happened Graham? I saw you, I held you when you-" she cuts off because even his eyes are growing misty as rain begins to softly coat their jackets.

"I don't really know. One minute I was taking what felt like my last breath and the next I was back in the enchanted forest. I tried desperately for so long to get back to the town when a man sold me a magic bean to portal out of there and well," he smiles as he looks around the town, "here I am!"

Emma frowns down at her boots. She wants to tell him what's in her heart so badly, it physically hurts her. She's having trouble breathing as he cups her face in his hands. Emma pushes her away and she can feel her heart shatter, just as much as she can see his break right before her eyes.

"Graham I, I can't. I've built an entire life with Neal. I've lived him since I was 18, and I will never stop loving him. Until I learned that he had abandoned me and I swear when I got to town the only man in my eyes was you. I did love you," Emma choked out, as Graham choked out:

"What changed?"

"Everything," Emma replied, allowing herself to give in and locking her eyes onto his, leaning forward and pressing her lips to his. Graham craves more, and he slides a hand behind her neck as their salty tears mix with the rain water coating their faces. Emma smiles but she can tell from the way he kisses her with desperation that this will be the hardest thing she has ever had to do. Graham pulls away.

He knew there would be someone else. A beautiful woman like Emma could not end up never being married or at least engaged to someone. He knows he has to give her up, but sure as his steady heartbeat that he knows now is real, he knows he will never stop loving her. Even if she doesn't return the feelings. Emma presses one last kiss to his lips, holds out his hand, and turns away. Graham feels his fingers slide out of her own and watches as she begins to walk away before speaking.

"I'll miss you Ugly Duckling."

That was their nickname, one he made up for Emma the moment he discovered her last name. He had groaned when she dubbed him wolf boy, but the names stuck until the end.

Emma does not turn around, because she knows that if she does she will run right back into his arms. But she does love Neal, now and forever. However, there will always be a small part of her heart that she will reserve for the curly haired, huntsman with an accent that still makes her smile. She disappears from Graham's view just as she did the last time he saw her so many years ago in the Sheriff Station as he thought he lay dying. He casts one long look at the diner before turning on his heel and walking away in the opposite direction.

But as he walks away, Graham cannot help but smile at how his Ugly Duckling became a beautiful swan.