Disorder had become the norm in Storybrooke ever since Helena and Henry arrived, for no one was this more true for than Dr. Archie Hopper. For twenty-eight years he had unknowingly treated the same patients week in and week out with the recent exception of Kayla Gold, whom he managed to keep up with only by taking very detailed notes during and after each appointment. He knew that she probably had issues having to do with the fact that she was adopted and had recently met her birthfather, and that right now, fairytales were her way of interpreting and expressing the world she lived in. Especially given that she was only eleven, it wasn't that bizarre. But the fact that he was now treating two adults with the exact same issue was. And what unnerved him more than anything was the fact that they had all "identified" a lot of the people in town as the same fairy tale characters. The fact that Henry and Kayla had come to similar conclusions on that front could be explained by the amount of time they'd spent together and their shared storybook. But the woman who called herself Aurora was another matter.

"Something on your mind, Dr. Hopper?" asked Granny cheerfully as she set a steaming mug of tea in front of him.

He smiled. "I was just thinking about how nice it is that you managed to put the diner back together so quickly."

Granny beamed. "Well, I had a little help from Ruby, and of course some of the chairs and plates still need to be replaced. At least the window is fixed."

In a booth a few feet away, Helena was having her morning coffee with the sheriff and discreetly observing the scene.

"What are you looking at?" asked Graham.

"There's something I need to speak to Dr. Hopper about," said Helena quietly. "But I guess I shouldn't bother him outside of the office."

"Is Henry alright?"

"Yeah, I just had a routine question. Henry's fine. He seems to be feeling a bit better, actually."

"That's good to hear," said Graham. He glanced at the clock on the wall. "I have to get going. You know where I am if you need me."

"I do." Graham and Helena exchanged a smile, then both glanced away after a few seconds.

"Bye," said Helena.

"Good luck." The sheriff exited the diner followed by Dr. Hopper, who nodded politely in Helena's direction on his way out. The only thing disturbing the peace now was the sound of a woman crying and mumbling about how stupid she was and how much everyone hated her. When Helena glanced in her direction to see if she maybe knew her, she saw that the man sitting on the barstool next to her had just bought her a beverage and was leaning close, listening to her intently. More curiously, that man was Leroy.

"Don't be so hard on yourself," said Leroy gently. "From what I've heard, she's only treating you the way she treats everyone."

"You don't understand. She treats me this way all the time. She makes me feel useless."

"Well, that ain't right," said Leroy. "You're young. You're just doing the best you can. She should know that."

Helena looked away and tried not to pay attention to their conversation. She wasn't normally one to eavesdrop, but it was hard to ignore them since they were sitting so close to her. For some reason, seeing this level of empathy in the town drunk was comforting. If there was hope for him, there had to be hope for the rest of this town.

"I have to get going. If I'm not back by 8:30 I'll be in even bigger trouble." The woman stood up. "Thanks for everything, Leroy."

Helena happened to glance at the pair out of the corner of her eye, and to her dismay, the look on Leroy's face when the nun wrapped her arms around him in a fleeting embrace suggested a different kind of hopefulness entirely.

"You know where I am if you need me, Sister Astrid," said Leroy as she walked away. She smiled sweetly on her way out.

"Pardon me," said Helena. "But if Mayor Mills did something to your friend, I might be able to help."

"It was Mother Superior," said Leroy gruffly. "She's been hard on her lately. What's it to you?"

Helena cringed. "I know this is none of my business, but I saw the way you looked at her. You couldn't find anyone less available?"

"Oh, yeah?" Leroy snapped, voice suddenly rising. "How is the fact that I'm acting on my feelings for someone I can't have any stupider than the fact that you're not acting on your feelings for someone right in front of you?"

"I…what?"

"You know, you and the sheriff."

"Excuse me, there is nothing going on between Graham and me."

"Only because he knows everything that's going on with your brother and he's trying not to be a dick and complicate things. And apparently something is holding you back as well, sister."

Helena opened her mouth to protest, but was distracted by Granny's taunting smile from the other side of the counter.

"I was right," said Granny. "It's obvious to everyone except apparently you."

Helena closed her mouth and finished her coffee in silence while trying not to think about how ridiculous everyone was being.

With little effort, Dr. Hopper had managed to persuade Dr. Aras to let him treat the patient with amnesia as well as Henry.

"I'll be seeing your friend twice a week for the time being, right after our Wednesday and Friday sessions," Dr. Hopper explained to Henry carefully. "As long as I'm treating him, I'm going to need you to avoid talking to him about anything having to do with the past. You said yourself that you could be wrong about him being your father and, just in case that's true, his mind needs to be a complete blank slate going into his sessions with me. Do you understand?"

"Of course," said Henry.

"Good. I'll explain everything to him, too."

"I didn't tell him that I think he's my father," said Henry quickly. "I only told him his name and a few details about his life. Nothing having to do with magic or the curse."

"I see," said the doctor. "Why would you leave out those particular details?"

"Because if I tell him that stuff he'll think I'm crazy, like you do."

"Henry, why would you think that I see you as crazy?"

Henry just stared at the other man long beat, wondering if this was a trick question.

"Well, I know you don't see me as normal."

The doctor seemed to hesitate. "I don't really like the term 'normal'."

"Of course you don't. If everyone were normal, you wouldn't have any patients."

Dr. Hopper shook his head. "The problem with labeling a person or a choice 'normal' is that it implies that there's a set way that we're supposed to go about life, or cope with the things that life throws at us. You were dealt a difficult hand from a young age, Henry. The fact that you've constructed and maintained a reality that explains exactly why you've had to go through everything you have… I don't see that as crazy at all."

"Constructed reality," Henry reiterated. "So you don't believe me. About the curse or anything else."

"I never said that. I'm sure that the curse you speak of is very real. I just don't believe that it is what you think it is."

"But you don't believe in magic," Henry pressed.

Dr. Hopper shrugged. "Well, you said it yourself, didn't you? I'm cursed. How could I believe you?"

Henry wasn't sure how to respond to that. He wasn't sure what the doctor was trying to pull anymore.

"What would you say to me if you thought you could make me believe you?" Dr. Hopper asked.

"That if you really wanted to help the people of Storybrooke you'd find a way to sneak me out of here."

"So that you could be the savior and help all of them?"

"Exactly."

"I understand," said Dr. Hopper. "I think we can end today's session a few minutes early, in the interest of leaving off on a positive note." Besides, he had a lot of notes to take down between Henry and Daniel's appointments. Why was it so important to Henry to believe that he was everyone's savior? And then again, what man wouldn't want to be?

"So you understand, sir, in order to give the hypnosis its best chance of working, you must clear your mind of anything but your own memories," Dr. Hopper explained once he was alone with the other man. "You need to put everything that Henry has said to you out of your head for now. Even your name."

"I can do that," said Daniel.

"Are you nervous?"

"Maybe a little. Not so much about the process itself as about learning who I am."

"Try not to think about that right now," said Dr. Hopper. "Lay down and close your eyes."

As Dr. Hopper methodically talked his patient into a hypnotic state, he wondered if he'd done the right thing in telling "Daniel" to ignore everything that Henry had said without actually implying that Henry was wrong. The doctor knew that the two men were each other's only friend and companion, and he didn't want to take that away from them. But was that the best thing for Daniel right now?

"Listen very closely. Can you hear me?"

"Yes."

"Good. Okay, I want you to go back in your memory. Back to the last time that you were outside of this hospital. Where are you?"

"I'm…I'm outside. It's an open field with buildings in it."

"What kind of buildings?" asked the doctor.

"I'm not…I'm not really sure. Old-fashioned looking buildings. And I think one of them is a stable. There's a horse looking out of one of the windows. A black mare."

"Can you tell me anything else about the inside of the stable?"

"Easy, Nickers," said Daniel softly to the pregnant mare as he fed her a handful of oats over the pasture fence. She was only a few weeks away from giving birth, and he had reason to suspect that this foaling would be a difficult one. The risk of losing the mare was very high. He wondered if he should tell Regina, with all that she already had to fear. He opted to wait until she brought it up to say anything.

He walked around the corner and entered the barn, his leather boots kicking up dirt as he walked, and was slightly startled to see Regina sitting next to Rocinante's stall on a rickety stool.

"Are you sure you should be out of bed, Regina?"

"Open your eyes!"

Daniel's eyes flew open to the sight of the doctor leaning over him, hands on his shoulders. "I'm sorry, I had to wake you. You were getting too deep into hypnosis. What did you see?"

"My wife."

"I saw her, Henry," said Daniel. "Regina. We were in a barn with our horses."

"What did the barn look like? Tell me everything."

"It looked…I don't know…like something built in the 1800's, dark brown wood, about twelve stalls, there was this wooden rack thing with rope halters hanging off of it…" Daniel paused for a second, realizing that he didn't remember learning what a halter was but suddenly knew.

"And Regina. What did she look like?"

"I only saw her face. Beautiful brown eyes, extremely dark brown almost black hair in a long braid down her back. She was…" Daniel paused. "She looked sort of like you, actually. Only female. And gorgeous."

Henry looked away. "Did you see anyone else there, besides Regina and the horses?"

"No," said Daniel. "Were you there?" The other man didn't respond. "Wait a minute, are you her brother?"

Henry hesitated. "Something like that."

"What do you mean something like that? Why can't you give me a straight answer?"

"Dr. Hopper said that you need to figure specifics out on your own." Henry turned away, indicating he didn't want to talk anymore. He hated the unexpected jealousy that had come from his father remembering his mother and not him. This was a massive step in the right direction. He should be nothing but thrilled right now.

Regina. Mid twenties. Attractive. Long dark hair and brown eyes. Loves horses.

The description Henry had given the doctor of his mother matched the description Daniel had given of his wife to a T.

Dr. Hopper sighed. He should have known that Henry would have rubbed off on Daniel too much in their time alone together for this process to be easy. He made a note to consider speaking to Dr. Aras about giving Daniel a new roommate. Then he mentally kicked himself for the fact that he was still thinking of the man as Daniel. In his defense, it felt more natural than thinking of him in pronouns or as "the guy who doesn't remember his name".

The doctor interrupted his thoughts to answer a knock on his door. "What can I do for you, Helena? I only have a few minutes before my session with Eleanor."

"I just wanted to talk to you about how Henry's treatment is going. Is that possible?"

"Yes, of course." He couldn't tell her specifics, but considering Henry's overall situation, talking to his closest relative at least in general terms made sense. "I think your brother is starting to trust me a little more with each session, even though he still doesn't seem to like me very much. As I've explained before, my treatment plan for Henry is basically to try-within his own reality-to help him come to terms with the real world."

"Do you know if he'll ever fully realize that his memories are fake? And impossible?"

"That's the goal. But it's a gradual process, Ms. Stable. Trying to convince him straight up would destroy his confidence in me and possibly in himself."

"I understand," said Helena. "For whatever it's worth, he and Kayla both seem to think that the book is concrete proof that the curse really happened."

"Of course," said Dr. Hopper. "Hey…if you still have that book, would you mind bringing it by sometime?"

"Sure. I'll bring it over in a few hours. You can borrow it for as long as you like."

"Of course I understand now that magic isn't real," Eleanor insisted. "I don't know why I ever said it was. I was probably just confused after waking up from my sleeping-from that thing."

"Eleanor." The doctor smiled. "You spoke of the "sleeping curse" that Maleficent put you under publicly for several days after you woke up, continue to call yourself Aurora on occasion, and are having trouble recognizing modern appliances." He was smart enough to know that she hadn't actually ceased to believe in the curse overnight, despite the number of sessions she had spent arguing this point with him. "I also know that you're the one who tried to distract Helena long enough for Henry to defeat the evil witch." Eleanor didn't respond. "Tell me the truth. Do you really think that Mayor Mills is Maleficent?"

"Of course not," said Eleanor.

"And why is that? And don't tell me that it's because you don't believe in magic."

"Because Maleficent is trapped at the bottom of the abandoned mine in her dragon form."

"Huh. I see." Dr. Hopper checked his notes. "The abandoned mine that Henry explored before the area was condemned?"

"How did you know about that?" Eleanor countered.

"I'm afraid I can't disclose that information," said the doctor. He'd heard about the incident from both Helena and Kayla within days of Henry's hospitalization. "Did Henry tell you that he saw a dragon at the bottom of the mine?"

"He did. And he told me that it was purplish with dark wings and shiny claws, which I know is what Maleficent looked like in dragon form."

"Did you ever see her in dragon form before?"

"Yes. She tried to kill me in that form when I was a child."

"Why don't you tell me what that was like?"

"I was only a little girl," said Eleanor, sounding more like a petulant teenager with every word. "I don't remember very much. I was outside playing in the garden by myself when I saw her swoop down out of nowhere, wings spread out, and claws ready to tear me to pieces. Once she drew closer I couldn't anything because of the purple smoke. The next thing I remember after that was my father taking me in his arms and ordering the guards to shut the gates."

"There was purple smoke?"

"Of course. All magic produces purple smoke. How much depends on how powerful the magic is. The most powerful magic produces purple smoke so thick it's more like a cloud. Or a fog."

"Why do you sound so irritated right now?" Dr. Hopper finally asked. "We're finally getting somewhere."

"No, we're not," Eleanor finally snapped. "Because you don't believe a word I'm saying and are never going to."

"Why do you think it's impossible for me to believe you? I know that you've dealt with a lot of people in the past few weeks who've probably looked at you strangely, but you should know by now that I'm only here to help you."

"The fact that you want to help me doesn't mean you believe me. You can't believe me."

"Because I'm cursed?"

"No. Because the only world that you remember ever having lived in is a world where magic doesn't exist, so you will never believe it does until the curse breaks or I find something that I can use to prove to you that I'm telling the truth. Which I can't, unless risking getting trapped in a mine shaft and eaten by a monster sounds like an attractive option to you."

Dr. Hopper nodded. He wasn't sure how to respond to that. Eleanor shifted into a more relaxed position on his couch and glanced at the clock.

For people with such warped views of the world, Henry and Eleanor were both shockingly astute. They both realized that Dr. Hopper-and everyone else-wasn't going to believe them, and they felt like they understood why the rest of the world considered their memories radical. Kayla was holding onto the hope that she could convince them, but that had as much to do with her desperate need to be believed as it had to do with the fact that she was only a child. Not to mention that her father was going along with her story as well.

"Are you going to institutionalize me like Henry?" Eleanor finally asked.

"What? No, of course not. Henry was only locked up because he went so far as to pull a gun on someone."

"You mean because the savior went so far as to pull a gun on Mayor Mills," Eleanor mumbled.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. I have to go now. I'll be late for my hair appointment."

She rose to leave. This time, he didn't try to stop her.