Chapter 6: More than a Dream, More than a Memory

In the safe confines of her room, door closed, Emma looked over at her dresser and saw the dream catcher placed. She looked at it with distain as if it were some animal that she couldn't get along with.

'Get a grip Swan,' she said to herself. 'It's meaningless.'

But Emma knew it wasn't meaningless at all. It had only been once that her old nightmare had been brought to her mind but all ready it was making her life miserable.

Emma ignored the dream catcher for a while as she got ready for bed. She turned off the top light and turned on the lamp on her nightstand.

Getting under her covers, Emma placed her hands beneath her head and looked up at the ceiling. She wished she could just rest, even for a little while.

Emma loved being a full time mom to Henry but the new life was still an adjustment. His nightmares had been difficult to deal with but she had done so, proud even over the simple fact that despite her eleven year old son she was still able to sooth him at night. Last night though he hadn't needed her to be there, the dream catcher seemed to have helped. Emma wanted to be there for him tonight and she would have been if not for her own troubles with the dream catcher. She was certain though that despite whatever personal issues she was having, she would be there for Henry if he called out.

Emma diverted her eyes to her dresser. Sighing heavily she got out of her bed and walked over to the dresser picking up the dream catcher.

Sitting on her bed, legs crossed, Emma held the dream catcher in her hands. She was afraid of what she was about to do but the risk not to do it was too great. She feared the coming night with the dream catcher in the same room and though she would face that nightmare it was better now when she had control than when she was sucked into the dream world that the human mind often journeyed to in sleep where there was no control at all.

Emma ran the dream catcher over her body the way she had seen Gold do with Archie's dog, Pongo. It wasn't long before the dream catcher came to life and it was a jumbled mess.

Sighing, Emma looked at the glowing net. 'Let's just get this over with' she said.

Emma began to focus on the dream catcher, began to will the memories inside. There was a lot to sift through, twenty eight years worth but somehow the dream catcher knew which memories to show her. They had been all of the memories she had thought of not too long ago while in the Enchanted Forest. It made the most sense as those were the memories that were most prevalent in her mind, memories that she could never really let go of as hard as she tried.

After going through several memories, Emma came to the last happy memory she had of Neal. The night they were in the car with the stolen watches. They had been one step closer to finally getting a fresh start. Emma watched as Neal left the car, walking away; away from the life they were ready to have, away from the child that she hadn't been aware that she was carrying, away from her.

Emma turned away and placed the dream catcher down. It was one thing to see the memories play out in her head where they were slightly blurred, another to see them like a homemade movie on a television.

Emma hadn't realized that she'd begun to breathe heavily, a mixture of tears and anger across her face. From the corner of her eye the dream catcher was glowing, this time a shade of black and grays. Emma wasn't even touching it and it was acting as if by its own power. Emma wanted nothing more to do with the dream catcher. It had caused her enough grief. Soon a new color was added to the palate, a navy blue.

Emma's nightmare began to come to life in the ring. At first she didn't understand what was going on. The image got clearer. The more she wanted it to stop the clearer the images appeared. Her emotions. That's what it was. Though Emma had stopped willing her memories to come, it had been her emotions to trigger the nightmare into focus. Gold had said that she needed to figure out on her own how to extract the dream from the catcher and now she had.

Hesitantly Emma picked up the dream catcher. As her breathing slowed and her anger faded, the dream catcher stopped playing the memory. In place were shades of purple and a new image emerged.

It was Neal though not in the way Emma had last seen him. He was different now, sadder, older. Emma watched as the older man walked into a small apartment complex. She could see frustration in his eyes as he made his way to the open window, sighing, lowering his head as if bothered by something but Emma didn't understand what.

Quickly Emma tossed the dream catcher to the far side of the room where it landed near her closet. No, she didn't want to know. That part of her life was over, she was done with him. Let him be sad and miserable, she wanted no part of him other than those which she all ready had, but the rest, she didn't care.

Emma walked back to her bed and turned on her side, forcing sleep to come.

Not far from the town line, a blue beat up Honda passed the 'Welcome to Storybrooke' sign. Neal Cassidy glanced to the passenger seat that was occupied by a worn postcard that had the word 'Broken'.

In the back seat, underneath an overnight bag lay the yellow dream catcher glowing in purple shades.