Chapter 25

Graham leaned heavily against the wall, his head in his hands. He couldn't get that look out of his head. When he'd looked into Emma's eyes, all he saw was deep, dark, raw fear. Fear of him.

He should've known that would happen. That the second Emma saw him she'd immediately freak out. After all, it was his body that tried to kill her. His hands that'd given her those ugly bruises on her neck and his hands that'd broken her ribs and shot a bullet at her heart. He looked down at his hands in disgust. He knew that it had all been Regina's doing, but he couldn't help but feel partially responsible.

Above all, the feeling that Emma was that afraid of him hurt like crazy. It made him so overwhelmingly guilty that he could barely breathe. Regina was damn good at revenge. She'd destroyed any chance at happiness for him.

A part of him wanted to just get the hell out of Storybrooke and start a new life elsewhere. But he wouldn't leave, no. He'd promised Emma that he'd stay by her side. And even if she was too scared of him, at least he could stay in the hospital to protect her. Even if she thought he was the enemy.

"Hey." Mary Margaret gently closed the door to Emma's room. "Are you ok?"

Graham looked up from the floor, where he'd curled into a ball. He shrugged. "How is she?" His voice sounded broken and empty.

"She's sleeping now." Mary Margaret said as she sat down next to him. "Managed to calm her down."

Graham nodded. "Do you think it'd be better if I just left?"

Emma's mother shook her head violently. "Of course not!"

"But you saw the way she freaked out back there. She's scared of me."

"We just need to explain what happened," Mary Margaret replied. "She loves you, Graham. Emma loves you. I see it in the way she looks at you."

"But she said…"

"To hell with what she said." Emma's mother insisted. "Emma loves you. All we have to do is explain the truth about what happened."

~The New Normal~

Several days passed uneventfully. Graham steered clear of Emma's room, and so she remained relatively calm, save for a couple nightmares. She had a steady stream of visitors again, all bearing flowers, teddy bears, and get well cards.

Staying true to his promise, Graham practically slept in the hospital waiting area which was just down the hall from Emma's room. He kept a constant lookout for Regina, in case she heard that Emma was awake and healing and wanted to come finish her off. But strangely, the evil queen stayed out of sight.

"Hey." Henry shook him awake one night. Graham was curled up in a chair, trying to sleep.

"Henry?" He said sleepily. Those damn chairs weren't the comfiest things ever.

"Emma's asking for you." The ten year old said.

Graham sat up, feeling very alert all of a sudden. The name Emma seemed to pierce his heart like a knife. "What are you talking about?"

"I was just in there with Grandma and Grandpa, and they explained everything about what happened with the evil queen." Henry felt funny calling his adoptive mother that, even though it was so true. "And then she told me to fetch you. Said she needed to talk to you."

Graham rubbed his eyes. "Henry, it's late, I'm sure she doesn't want to see me."

But Henry wasn't budging. "Yes she does." He said stubbornly. "Just go!"

Graham couldn't say no to the look Henry was giving him. So he stood up and walked slowly down the hall to Emma's room. He just hoped that she wouldn't freak out that badly this time. When he approached the slightly open door, he peeked inside cautiously. Emma looked better than she had in days. She was sitting up in bed, talking to her parents and her eyes looked more lucid than they had in days. With her hair tied back and some color back in her cheeks, she looked much more like herself.

He knocked on the door, hoping that this would be as painless as possible, and then entered.

Snow and James immediately headed out. "We'll give you some privacy." They closed the door behind them. Great. Now if Emma started to scream again people would think he was attacking her.

Tentatively, he approached her. She was just staring at him blatantly.

"Hey." He said softly, hoping he wouldn't scare her again.

"Hey." Emma replied.

There was an awkward silence.

Every part of Graham wanted to wrap his arms around her thin frame, to feel her beneath his arms, and above all to kiss her and tell her how much he loved her. But of course he couldn't do that, no matter how beautiful she looked. So he clasped his hands behind his back.

"I'm sorry." She began. "You know, for freaking out on you."

Graham hovered near the end of her bed. "It's fine."

"No, it's not." She said. "I should've known that Regina was behind that. Should've known that you'd never do something like that." She sniffled, looking around awkwardly. "I'm not very good at this."

"Hey. Don't cry." Graham said, handing her a Kleenex. "You'll just hurt yourself."

Emma laughed, and winced, clutching her ribs in pain. "Yeah." She agreed.

Sensing that she wasn't going have another panic attack, he edged closer, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"And I'm sorry about everything else too." She continued. "I mean, you told me that you loved me and I slapped you." She snorted, sounding very much like her old self. "It's something Henry would do. How immature is that?"

Emma rambled on. She was so obviously not good at expressing her emotions. "You were right. I was hurt in the past. And that shouldn't interfere with the rest of my life." She sniffled again. "God you must hate me…" She was cut off, for Graham chose that moment to press his lips against hers, effectively silencing her.

Instantly, he felt her body relax beneath his. He wrapped his arms around her thin body, and rubbed his arms up and down her back. The kiss grew deeper, his hands tangling themselves in her blonde curls, which had come undone from its ponytail. He pressed closer to her, kissing the bandage on her head and then down to the bruises on her neck (the bruises that his hands had inflicted but he tried to ignore that fact), needing to feel her body against his. It lasted a wonderful several minutes before she pulled away, gasping for air.

"I could never hate you." He whispered tenderly in her ear as he stroked her cheek gently. He felt her shiver in delight at his touch.

"I love you." She said, pulling away and staring straight into his eyes. It made her so scared to admit this out loud, especially since the last time this happened was right before she went to jail.

At the sound of those words, he felt tears come to his eyes. It was so surreal. Just about a week ago, she was lying in this very bed on the brink of death. And now, save for the stiff way she held herself and the bruises/bandages, it was like the attack had never happened.

"I love you too." He wrapped his arms tightly around her, loosening them slightly when he felt her gasp in pain.

Just then, she noticed his bruised and scarred knuckles. "Hey. What happened?" She lightly kissed his hand.

Graham looked down, embarrassed at his loss of control. "Punched a wall." He admitted, making Emma laugh. It was such a beautiful sound.

"God, I was so scared." He breathed. "I mean, just seeing you lying on the ground like that, and then knowing that I was somehow responsible…" He trailed off, not wanting to dredge up those repressed memories.

"Hey." Emma said. "It wasn't your fault. Mary Margaret and David told me everything. About how Regina, used your body or whatever." Magic was such a strange concept to her.

"Possessed." Graham corrected her.

"Right." She rolled her eyes. "Sounds like something out of a cartoon." She yawned. For the first time, Graham noticed the dark circles beneath her eyes that stood out starkly on her pale skin. It was obvious that she was still in pain and probably still having nightmares, unable to sleep. He didn't blame her, for he'd re-watched the security footage from the station and was horrified at how scary he'd been. He felt a stab of guilt again.

"You should get some sleep." Graham said, but he didn't want to leave her. Not when he'd just gotten her back. He stood up to leave, but Emma stopped him with a hand on his wrist.

Sliding over in the bed, she pulled him closer. "Come here."

Graham wanted to protest, to say that this wasn't allowed and if a nurse came in they'd surely be in trouble, but the bed looked so inviting, and he knew he could never say no to her. So he slid in bed next to her, wrapping an arm around her waist, being careful to not squeeze too hard.

Emma snuggled into his chest, and he breathed in her familiar scent, overwhelmingly happy. He began to drift off into slumber, but was interrupted.

"Promise me something." She murmured sleepily as he stroked her back in gentle circles.

"What's that?"

"Don't try and take revenge on Regina."

At the sound of the evil queen's name, Graham's heart began to pound and anger rose, but he managed to keep himself calm.

"Why?"

"You saw what she did to me. I don't want this happening to you too." She pulled away and stared deep into his eyes. "Promise me."

When Graham didn't say anything, she stared him down. "Graham. I'm serious."

"Alright, I promise." Graham said reluctantly. This answer seemed to satisfy Emma and within seconds she was asleep.

As he listened to Emma snore softly, Graham knew that this was one promise he could not keep.

Author's note: This is the last ch till Jan so Happy New Year in advance! As always, REVIEW!