Chapter eight

"You would really be okay if I married Walsh?" Emma asked casually not looking away from the TV screen as she and her son battled a dragon.

Henry shrugged, "I think so."

"How can you 'think so'?" she asked with a small nervous laugh.

"I think he's great, it's just..." Henry trailed off and paused the game and turned to his mother, "I feel like you should be with someone else."

Emma placed the controller on the coffee table and turned to face her son, and with a tilted head she asked, "who?"

Henry shrugged again and replied, "you told me about the woman from your dreams."

"It was just a dream," she smiled sadly, "she doesn't exist."

"Then why do you dream about her every night?"

"She's just a figment of my imagination, kid, Walsh is real."

"But if you wanted to marry him, would you really be dreaming about someone else?" he asked.

Emma rolled her eyes and fell back against the couch. She had sincerely hoped that dating someone would stop the painful dreams. Of course during them she was more than happy, it was the waking up and finding that the nameless woman was not beside her that hurt the most.

"I dreamed about her before I met Walsh," she answered rather petulantly.

"But, if she did exist, don't you think it would be so romantic if you found her and fell in love for real, it would be like true love or something."

"So your argument is that I should say no on the off chance that this woman is magically real, this isn't a fairytale kid," she laughed.

Henry furrowed his brow for a moment at her wording, before he finally shook his head and sighed, "I guess you're right, fine marry Walsh."

"Please try to contain your excitement," Emma replied sardonically.

Henry shrugged one more time and grabbed his controller, Emma was about to do the same before a knock at the door caught her attention.

The blonde quickly ruffled her son's hair and made her way over to the front door.

With a stretch and a yawn, she yanked it open, quickly taking a step back at the sight she was met with.

The one handed man looked somewhat familiar, with his leather overcoat and hook, she couldn't help but think of him as Captain Hook. When she considered this to be correct for a moment, she quickly shook her head, and inspected the envelope in his hand.

"Who are you?" she asked cautiously, looking back to make sure that her son was still safely on the couch enjoying his game.

Hook took a moment to look at his friend, who he very obviously had deeper feelings for but had agreed to put them aside in order to maintain their friendship. Honestly the feelings weren't as painful since Emma's suggestion of asking out Tinkerbell, even if Pan's curse had prevented their actual date, he still had something to look forward to when they got back to Storybrooke besides pining over the very unavailable blonde.

"Killain Jones," he replied politely, "I have a very important message." He punctuated his point by handing her the envelope.

Emma looked at him sceptically, before the curiosity got the better of her and she tore the seal. It didn't take long to realise that the contents was a pile of photographs.

She raised her eyebrow at the man looking at her expectantly, and turned them over. Immediately, her doubt fell away and her eyes widened as she saw her in the photos. There was image after image of herself, Henry and the mystery woman, looking very happy almost as if they were some kind of family.

"She is real," Emma whispered to herself, looking back up to Hook she asked accusatorily, "where is she?"

He dug into his pocket and brought out a phial of blue liquid, "this will help you remember everything."

"Take the liquid from the crazy man, no thank you," she replied instantly realising how foolish she was being, she took a step back to close the door.

The man instantly put his foot in the way and whispered, "it's the only way that you can remember Regina."

At the name, the blonde threw caution to the wind and downed the potion after promptly grabbing it.

Everything flashed before her, and for a moment she felt completely overwhelmed by the conflicting memories. However, it soon became clear that as good as the fake ones were, the real ones had a much happier ending.

"Hook," she breathed, which earned her a look of relief.

She quickly shot a look over her shoulder to see Henry looking at her curiously, though he didn't seem to have seen her drink the potion, so she took a deep breath and announced, "come on, kid, we're going on a road trip."

Emma stretched, feeling her shoulder crack slightly where the Hydra had thrown her against the tree and simply rolled her eyes.

Sitting up slightly, she brought the sleeping child closer to her body and looking over at the sleeping adult in the bed next to her plastic chair.

"Hey Tamsin," she smiled as she saw the child finally opening her sleepy eyes.

The baby gurgled happily when she saw her mother and began making little grabs for the blonde locks.

Emma sighed, wishing that Regina would just open her eyes and see how adorable this was, but instead she just grabbed a bottle from her bag and heated it up with her magic, Regina's words still running through her mind as she did so.

Tamsin instantly latched onto the bottle and began to happily take mouthfuls of the milk, after a few minutes she finally finished and Emma wiped her face with one of the many wet wipes her mother had packed in the stroller.

Bringing her up, she lightly patted her back, the baby emitted a small burping noise a few seconds later, and Emma smiled sadly.

"You're missing this, Regina," she sighed with tears shimmering in her eyes, wishing that her love could see this precious time in their child's life.

Of course, the saviour didn't feel the hand on her shoulder, nor did she hear the reply, "I haven't missed a moment."

A/N Hope you guys liked the chapter XD

Just to let you guys know I was challenged by PerditusFic to see how fast I can write, so I'll be updating three fics today XD so I need to thank QueenApples for her usual help as my beta and also I need to thank Quindecim for helping out today

Reviews would be much appreciated XD