Chapter 23

Graham was at Emma's bedside yet again, clutching her right hand in both of his, smoothing his thumb over her the back of her hand. It looked so small and pale compared to his.

"Em…it's been three days still no change. Whale wants to take you off the ventilator, but of course your parents said no. It's a good thing they have some real power around here." He began. Tears began coursing down his cheeks as the thought that Emma might die hit him full force. Even if she didn't love him back, all he wanted was for her to wake up. It would be painful as hell to see her around town, but he could handle it.

"You have to wake up, Em." He sniffled. "If not for me, then for your parents and Henry. They're out there sobbing right now. It's not a pretty sight." He sighed. Even his jokes lacked their usual spark. "In fact the whole town's out there. Emma, we all love you. Please come back to us." He sobbed, burying his face in her baby blanket. It smelled like her, which made him cry even harder. "Come back to me…"He trailed off, overcome with sobs. His shoulders shook as he cried for what seemed like hours.

Suddenly, the door flew open. Graham looked up, only slightly embarrassed at his red rimmed eyes. "Henry? It's almost midnight. Aren't you supposed to be home?"

"Yeah, but I made Grandma drive me back." Henry's eyes gleamed with excitement, something Graham hadn't seen for days. "I have a great idea!"

"And what would that be?" Graham decided to humor the ten year old.

"True love's kiss!" Henry practically shouted.

"Henry," Graham crossed the room to Emma's son. He placed his hands on the kid's shoulders. "We already went over this, remember? Rumpelstilskin took the last bit of true love's magic and used it to bring magic here. There's no more."

"No! That's not what I meant." Henry protested. "True love's kiss!" He said again. "You have to kiss her! It's the most powerful magic!"

"Henry…" As much as Graham wanted this to be true, he knew in his heart that it wouldn't work. Emma didn't love him.

"It's how Emma saved me and broke the curse. True love's kiss!" Henry argued. "It works. It has to work!"

"Ok." Graham said, resigned. It wouldn't hurt to try, right? He stood up. "Ok, I'll do it."

Henry smiled happily as he exited the room, practically skipping towards the waiting area where he knew Snow was. There was a certain something in his step that Graham hadn't seen in so long. Hope.

Graham crossed the room to Emma, where he sat down in the chair and grabbed her hand again. "So, I don't know if you heard what Henry just said. But he wants me to, um, kiss you." He scratched his head awkwardly. "Yeah. He thinks true love's kiss will wake you up, just like how it broke the curse and saved him." He began to ramble. "I don't know if it's gonna work or not, cuz I love you and you don't…" He trailed off, not wanting to say the inevitable. "But hey, at this point I'm willing to try anything and it couldn't hurt right?"

Graham carefully leaned over, not wanting to crush her with his body. Slowly, he pressed his lips to hers, pretending that she'd kissed back and everything would be ok. But of course he knew that wasn't true.

"I love you, Emma." He said in a broken voice as he kissed her again for good measure and then sat back down, resigned.

He started to cry again, burying his face in her blanket again, breathing in the familiar scent. Her scent. He was so busy crying that he almost didn't feel it. The soft flutter in his hand. He immediately looked up, confused. Graham shook his head. He just deciding that it was just a hallucination brought on by lack of sleep when there it was again. A slight, stronger pressure on his hand.

Graham looked down to see Emma's eyes fluttering.

Author's note: Another cliffhanger! Dont hate, just review!