A/N: Hey guys! Well, I guess by now it´s kind of obvious that I update this fic every almost two months or so, huh? I do try to update quickly, but I never seem to be able to for some reason. But look at that, this chapter is actually a little longer than the other ones, 1.000 words more than my usual I guess. As always, a HUGE thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorite or followed the story. I´m so glad that you all seem to like it! Ok, disclaimer is in the prologue, I´m sorry for this big author's note and any grammar mistakes (but please don´t hesitate to point them for me, ok?), further information at the end of the chapter and I hope you all enjoy the read! Ah! And the song this time is Your Love is a Song by Swicthfoot.

Chapter Four: Keeping my hopes unbroken.

I hear you breathing in

Another day begins

The stars are falling out
My dreams are fading now, fading ou

tI've been keeping my eyes wide open
I've been keeping my eyes wide open

Sometimes things don´t go as planned, that is something Emma Swan had know for quite a while now(Tallahassee anyone?) and something she was mostly ok with it. Emma had always been pretty good at improvising after all. But sometimes, there are things that you desperately need to go as it was planned. On the grand scheme of things, the visit that she was planning isn´t that important. Sure, it would probably make things easier, but the important thing right now is finding Belle.

She should go to the mansion on the hill today and have, what she hopes to be, a very illuminating talk with its owner. That was the plan. Of course, yesterday the plan was to go to bed earlier, so she would be rested for the confrontation that it's sure to follow her little visit. Judging by the way she´s with her head resting between her folded arms in her new/old deputy table, you can see how well that plan went.

At the beginning of the day things were going well. She had breakfast with Henry and Graham at Granny´s like always. Then they walked the kid to school and went to the station together for the first time this time around. The sheriff was supposed to explain to his deputy what exactly her new job entitled. Of course, the thing is Emma already knew how things work. She knows how to do the paperwork, how to deal with Leroy and to ignore Miss Ginger´s calls about Pongo. Not the she would tell that to her boss.

So, what happened was that the blonde passed the day pretending that all the information that Graham was telling her was actually something new. Not that she minded exactly, since she spent the day paying attention to Graham. She didn´t listen to his words, but she did pay attention to the cadence of his voice and his accent. She really loves the way he says her name.

She loves his eyes too, and dedicated a big part of the morning to watch them. What color was that anyway? It should be illegal for someone to have eyes like that. They seemed to be blue, but there was times she could swore they were green. The expression 'ocean eyes' seems to fit them well.

Graham´s addicted voice and ocean eyes weren't the only parts of the sheriff´s body that she happily ogled that day. There were his hands too and his well toned arms. On the afternoon, after a lunch of Indian food, there was his very kissable mouth, his curly hair (that she resisted the urge to mess it), and his backside. Basically, her first day on the job was spent ogling the boss. Not very classy, to be honest, but inevitable when you are working with someone that looks like Graham does. Besides, when she will have another chance like that?

By the end of the afternoon though, she was exhausted. The lack of a good night of sleep had finally caught up with her, and she groaned aloud at the thought of going to have that illuminating little chat with Jefferson. You need energy when dealing with the crazy after all. Energy that a good night of sleep, like one she hasn't be able to have in awhile, would give you.

She tried. She really, really tried. But the nightmares didn´t stopped just because now Graham´s heart is in a clearly more safe location. They did get more creative though (Like Regina taking Emma´s heart instead, and forcing her to kill Graham, Mary Margaret and David).

Emma could say that the nightmares are a side effect of the time travelling, but it´s something she really doesn´t believe in it. In the last year, nightmares became practically a daily occurrence in her life, to the point she found herself considering buying a dream catcher (even with the definitely not so great memories attached to the object) just to see if they would stopped it. At the beginning, all her nightmares involved Graham´s death, but with time she starts dreaming about horrible fates to Mary Margaret as well. The heart in the box that Ruby found it was Mare´s and not Kathryn´s, Emma would fail to prove the school teacher´s innocence and once she dreamed that Jefferson had killed her best friend when he kidnapped her.

In other words, Emma was used to function with as little sleep as possible. But even if she can´t say that the source of her nightmares is her trip to the past, that doesn´t mean that the whole thing didn´t increase the frequency of them. Quite actually, judging by Mary Margaret´s actions, she appears to be an insomniac. Her mother started to ask her if she would like warm milk before going to bed, complemented Chopin´s work in conversation and casually commented how is said that his music is so relaxing, and even offered her tea on breakfast instead of coffee. And she wasn´t the only one who noticed Emma´s tiredness.

Even if she was, technically speaking, taking a nap on her desk, the moment that she heard soft steps, Emma opened her eyes.

"Are you sure that you are Snow White´s daughter?" Graham had a shirt folded in his right arm and a mug on his left hand, when he got out of his office.

"According to Henry, yes I am." The blonde adjusted herself better in her chair. "Why? Don´t you think that I can only be the daughter of the fairest of them all?"

"Well, something tells me that you should be Sleeping Beauty´s daughter instead."

Yeah, there goes the hope that Graham didn´t noticed her taking a nap.

"It must be the blonde hair."

"Actually I wasn´t thinking of the resemblances." Emma lifted one eyebrow when she heard that, silently prompting the sheriff to continue his line of thinking. "It would just be more fitting, if you take in account the whole curse thing. You being Sleeping Beauty´s daughter would be extremely ironic."

Right. Time to change gears.

"What is this?" The blonde points to the folded shirt, even if she already has an idea.

Graham sighs softly when she clearly changes the direction of the conversation, but responds any way. "It´s a uniform." He throws the shirt in her direction, just when Emma is standing up.

The blonde catches and unfolds the shirt. "Certainly not mine." She makes a small ball of the shirt and throws at the desk.

"At least I tried." The sheriff says in a resigned tone to no one in particularly, before taking a badge from his pocket. "Now this you gonna have to use it."

"It doesn´t offend my feminist convictions, so I don´t have a problem with that." She grins while taking the badge. At the same time, Graham gives her the mug he was holding and she holds it with her other hand.

"It´s for you." The grin on the sheriff´s face makes Emma´s heartbeats double in speed. "And let me guess, your feminist convictions are that you don´t need to dress a woman as a man to give her authority."

The blonde is about to take a sip of what appear to be tea that Graham give her, when she hears the words and freeze.

"What?" The sheriff furrows his eyebrows at her concerned. "Is it too hot or something?"

"No, it´s not that." The shaking of her head makes her curls bounce. "How do you know I would say that?"

"Because I know you." He shrugs trying to sound nonchalant, but Emma still sees the pleased smirk he tries to hide. "Besides, I think that you can get people to do what you want in that red coat anyway, so you won´t need the uniform. As long as you wear the badge of course."

Emma just stares at him blinking rather stupidly. That was weird. Way too weird. And Graham couldn´t know her that well, right?

"I hope you enjoy your tea." The sheriff says walking back to his office. He´s still smirking.

When she hears the door closing, the blonde takes a deep breath. It was nothing after all, just a freak occurrence. She leans on her desk, and traces with her fingers her deputy badge, still on her desk next to the balled up shirt. It´s official now. The moment she puts that badge, she will be Storybrooke´s deputy (again). And then the earth will shake and something will collapse on the mines.

The blonde sighs and takes her right hand back. She blinks and looks at the mug that she´s still holding. Graham normally gives her hot cocoa and not tea. Intrigued, and deciding to finish the tea before she puts her badge on, Emma takes a sip.

It´s chamomile.

\-/

"Everyone! Step back please!"

Regina´s voice is assured and authoritative like always. Distantly, Emma can hear the murmurs of the cursed fairy tales characters. It must have been quite a shock for them. For years, nothing changed in this small town and suddenly the clock is ticking again, coma patients are waking up and mines are collapsing.

(And that is just the beginning.)

"Sheriff, set up a police perimeter." Emma´s hands clench at her side. She hates to see Regina ordering Graham around, but she has to control her gut reaction to punch the woman on the face. Graham´s heart may be safe and it might look like the Queen has no idea of what happened. Still, there´s too much at stake at the moment for the blonde to risk at all just because of her deep desire to punch the woman. "Marco, why don´t you help with the fire department? Miss Swan, this is now town business. You´re free to go."

"Actually, Madam Mayor, I work for the town now." She has tried to conceal her smirk (ok, maybe she hadn´t tried that hard), but it was a lost cause.

Because here comes the moment that Emma has been waiting for all day long.

(It is one of her fondest memories of her early days on town.)

"She´s my new deputy." Graham´s accent is thicker when he says the words, and even if she has already heard the words before, it still manages to give Emma a giddy feeling.

(She doesn´t know it, but she´s grinning at the sheriff in a way that she hasn´t grin at a man before in more than 10 years.)

Regina´s voice breaks her little happy girlish bubble. "They said the Mayor is always the last to know."

Well, that must be because Mayors aren´t supposed to know everything that happens in their town. And they´re not supposed to be in power for decades either.

"It´s in my budget."

"Indeed." Lips turned downward, a barely visible frown. Regina may have tried, but her displeasure about the blonde´s new job is more than obvious. "Deputy, why don´t you make yourself useful and help with crowd control?"

So, that´s how it´s going to be. The Mayor will pretend that everything is all right. Well, it was what she has done the first time around, besides pretending should be as natural for Regina as breathing.

(She played that game with an entire town for about 28 years after all.)

Still, Emma does what she was told anyway (of course only after Graham nodded at her in agreement). The Queen is addressing the people present, trying to assure them that a mine collapsing is nothing. The words wash over the deputy´s ears like waves on the shore, she has heard them before and she has long ago learned that everything that comes from that woman´s mouth are lies. Until Henry emerges from the crowd, then she´s suddenly very interested in what Regina says.

"What´s down there?" Her son´s voice is anxious and Emma is reminded of what happened the first time around. Something that will not happen again. Because she has talked to Henry and the kid isn´t desperate for someone to believe in him (She believes in him).

"Nothing. Now step back." More lies. The blonde isn´t sure what exactly is hidden in the mines, but she knows that it´s definitely something. "In fact, everyone! Please, please step back. Thank you."

Emma frowns when she sees the Mayor picking up something from the ground (a piece of glass?), the first time she didn´t noticed the woman doing this. What was inside the mines anyway? After the curse was broken, she heard the dwarves were thinking of working on them again, but she´s not entirely sure.

She´s not the only one to notice it though. Henry immediately turns to her and whispers "What was that?" She has only time to shrug in response when Regina appears and makes Henry waits in the car (not that he´ll actually stay there for very long).

"Deputy Swan, Sheriff – cord off the area." And then the Mayor goes to the left to do God knows what (look for more glass pieces or whatever it is that she wants to hides it?).

It´s when Graham and Emma are taking the cord out that they hear Henry anxiously whisper. "Hey, Archie! Over here!" He makes a gesture for the sheriff and the deputy to follow him as well.

"This requires all of Operation Cobra. The tree of you." Henry says in a hushed voice and it has different and similar reactions on the adults.

Emma blinks a little owlish in her son´s direction. That was not how things went before, but the fact that the kid clearly cares about Graham does funny things to her heart. The sheriff is really touched and surprised with the fact that Henry counts him as part of his little Operation. There seems to be a lump in his throat that makes quite difficult for him to find the will to speak anything. And Archie appears to be as touched and surprised by Henry´s statement as Graham.

"I didn´t realized I was in Operation Cobra." The shrink says in a soft voice, the incredulously over the fact apparent in his face.

"Of course you are. You know everything." The boy sounds surprised when he says that, because it was something so obvious and adults are really dumb sometimes. "We can´t let her do this. What if there´s something down there?" Even if the question was supposedly to be for all three of them, Emma was certain the kid looked at her when he asked it.

"They´re just some old tunnels." Graham´s voice is calm and soothing, but for his deputy it sounded hollow. Like an echo.

Because she was the one who said these words before, right? But maybe she hadn't worded exactly like that.

(She had.)

"That just happened to collapse right after Emma gets here? She´s changing things. She´s weakening the curse."

Dr. Hopper cuts the defense of his theory though. "Henry…"

The boy though, turns to his biological mother and tries again. "Did you do anything different today? Cause something made that happens."

She sees Graham looking at her badge and she opens her mouth to say something (she´s not really sure what she would say exactly.), but Regina walks up to them before she´s able to.

"Henry, I told you to wait in the car." Yeah, like he would actually do that and not try to find out what the Evil Queen is hiding in the mines.

While her son is walking away Emma resolves to have another talk with him. She really doesn´t want him risking his life that way again.

"Deputy, Sheriff, do your job." The Mayor´s voice is cold and stiff and it reminded Emma of a storm brewing for some reason.

Of course, when she turns and sees the Queen talking with the shrink, she realizes why her voice reminded her of a storm brewing.

Maybe she should talk with Archie first, and then she would talk with Henry.

\-/

"Mary Margaret."

The woman in question groans when she hears Emma says the name. She hides her face in her hands because she doesn´t need David´s nod to realize that the blonde guessed right.

"Oh my God, I can´t believe I didn´t guessed my own name." The school teacher is not hiding her face in her hands anymore, and it´s quite clear that she´s embarrassed by what happened. "I would have hanged on my own name."

"Well, to be fair, Emma guessed pretty quickly. And I´m sure you would have guessed eventually." David´s smile is warm when he looks at the women. He has no idea why they make him feel so happy and in peace, he also has no name to the feeling on his heart when he sees them smiling at him like that.

"Yeah, Mare. I´m sure I would take a while to guess too. I´m just luck that I chose 'M'." Emma shrugs while smiling at her roommate. She´s not lying exactly, the blonde is pretty sure that she wouldn´t have guessed so quickly if she didn´t knew that Mary Margaret is David´s true love.

"Quite actually you seem to be pretty good at this." Her father says while pointing at their punctuation annotated on the paper. Emma won half of the rounds. "Did you play this game a lot?" There´s honest curiosity in his voice when he looks at her, but Emma´s smile freezes on her face.

She´s remembering wanting to play games (any game) with the kids, but not being able to because no one wanted to play with the girl who had no family. She´s remembering playing games with her best friend, whose name was Jen and who liked peanut butter sandwiches and rollerblades.

(She was imaginary.)

"Not much." She did play this game a lot during recess on her second grade. With her teacher. "And you? Is this a game you played a lot before?"

What kind of games existed on the Enchanted Forest anyway?

"I don´t know."

"It´ll come back." Mary Margaret´s voice is earnest and soothing at the same time. "They´re sending you home in a week. They have to think you´re progressing don´t they?"

"Physically." David´s face shows that he can´t really believe in what the brunette is saying. It makes something in Emma´s stomach turns, from the book and her three days when the curse was broken, it had been obvious that Charming is an optimist. One of these people who are just so certain that everything will turn out ok in the end.

David Nolan doesn´t appear to be an optimist.

"Well, you´re making new memories just fine."

That´s probably because he´s not an amnesiac patient in the normal sense of the word, Mare. He lost his memory, just like everyone else in this cursed town, but the difference is that he doesn´t have fake memories like the rest of you.

"Maybe I´ll like this better." Even if David said that while looking at both of them, he did gaze at Mary Margaret a little longer than normal (even for him).

"So, let´s play again?" Emma is already taking the paper from David´s hand while he and Mary Margaret continue to gaze at each other.

God, somehow when she thought of finding her parents again, Emma never imagined that they would act like star crossed lovers around each other. Seriously, she´s starting to feel like she´s in one of these romantic comedies that she used to scoff at.

Of course, as much as she wanted them to stopping acting all lovey dovey, that doesn´t mean she wants anything to interrupt this time she´s spending with her parents.

Or anyone.

"Can I guess, too?" Kathryn's voice is kind and she´s holding a box while she smiles at the trio.

The deputy wants to groan at the sight.

"Oh, Mrs. Nolan. I, uh..." The school teacher´s anxiety is visible to her roommate, but the daughter of King Midas doesn´t appear to found stranger (maybe it´s the curse?). "Oh, it´s noon already. I didn´t realize. I should go."

"Really, it´s already noon? Shoot! I need to patrol the city."Emma stands up along with her mother. It´s not that she doesn´t like Kathryn, but it´s one thing to see her parents acting all lovesick with each other, and it´s another thing entirely to watch someone else acting all lovesick around her father.

"Good day, Miss Blanchard and Deputy Swan."

The women smile at each other. Kathryn Nolan´s smile is sincere; Emma´s is too, along with being more than a little awkward, but Mary Margaret's is too small and too sad.

While walking away, the blonde squeezes the school teacher´s shoulder in sympathy. She can still hear the Nolan's´ voice. It looks like Kathryn bought photos in an attempt to make her husband remembers something.

"It´s our old dog, Ajax. Remember?"

On the corridor, Emma Swan frowns. Who the hell would name their dog Ajax?

\-/

The mansion is huge and Emma takes a deep breath when she sees it. Flashes of what happened the last time she was there passes on her mind, and when she realizes that she told Jefferson that he must have a huge family, she cringes.

Of course, she would probably feel more sorry for the faux pas if he hadn´t kidnapped her and Mary Margaret. And let´s not forget the whole drugging and tying her up thing.

Emma´s yellow bug is parked one mile from the mansion and she hopes no one notices her knocking on the mansion. The blonde decided to use her new habit of taking a run to her advantage after all. She´s pretty sure Regina knows that even if sometimes she takes a run on early mornings, her running at night it´s pretty much a ritual.

(She has learned that she sleeps better if she´s exhausted.)

"Hello? Is anybody in there?"

The thing is, in all her careful planning to not let Regina suspect a thing; she never counted that the failure of the plan would be because of the mad man himself. Ok, she understands that he´s a recluse, but she was so sure that the lure of the Savior would make, at the very least, he open the damn door.

She´s so busy with her thoughts, that she doesn´t hear the door opens. And even when the manor´s owner step in, she´s still lost in thought, her narrows eyes fixed on some point on the wall next to the door.

"Hello." Jefferson´s calm, but clearly surprised, voice interrupts her mentally swearing at the man in question, and stops her from gazing at the wall. "Can I help you?"

Uh. So she was right after all. Good to know.

"Yes, I´m looking for a lost dog. I was wondering if you have seen him."

Okay, maybe that was the excuse she used last time, but it was the only thing she could think of. Besides, he´ll learn pretty fast that there is no dog.

"Ah, then maybe that would make you the new Deputy?"

Oh yeah, like you don´t know that already, she thinks to herself, like you haven´t been spying me since God knows how long.

She smiles at him in what she hopes is not a nervous manner. "The name is Emma."

"I´m Jefferson." They shake hands. "Sorry, I don´t think I saw the dog." Emma sighs and makes a move to go back. She´s positive that even without planning Jefferson won´t be able to let the opportunity pass. She´s right again. "Why don´t you come in? I´m a bit of an amateur cartographer, mapping the area is a hobby. Maybe I´ll have something that will help you track down the dog."

"Well, I guess it´s worth a try."

The Hatter is closing the door behind him, when Emma´s foot grazes the hidden knife on her boot. She´s determined to not be tied up this time.

"Here" Jefferson smiles and points at the white sofa in the luxurious living room. "Why don´t you rest a little? I´ll bring you the map to help the search for the dog."

"Actually, there is no dog." There´s a brief pause and the fact that she can´t see any amount of surprise on his eyes, makes Emma smirk a little. "But you already know that."

"Maybe." Another pause. For an outsider, it may look like they´re two opponents in some unknown battle, mentally measuring each other up. "What really brings you here, Deputy? It´s not official town business I suspect."

"In a way, it is town business." A heavy pause. Dealing with the Mad Hatter it´s different from dealing with Rumpelstiltskin or the Evil Queen. "The curse. Isn´t that what you expect me to say?"

"And what does an outsider knows about the curse?" While speaking, Jefferson has moved closer to Emma, and by the end of his question, Emma can smells black tea on his breath.

Dear God, doesn´t the man understands the conceit of personal space? Or he´s trying to intimidate her?

Tough luck, buddy.

"I´m not really an outsider and you know that. And the real question is what you know about the curse, Jefferson?"

"I don´t know how to break it, so if that´s what you want to know…"

"It isn´t." The man raises one of his eyebrows. A silent question. "I already know how to do it."

"You do?" There´s a hush of black tea smelling breath, and in less than a second the man is painfully holding her arms and talking from a clenched jaw. "Then what are you waiting for?"

Ah, so there is the mad man that she briefly meets the first time.

There is the Mad Hatter.

Hello, Jefferson. It´s been a while.

"Because I would have to risk my son and that´s off limits." Emma takes a deep breath and looks straight into his eyes. "You can understand that, can´t you?"

"Yes. Yes I can."

Jefferson´s eyes are perturbed, and he let go of Emma and takes a step back.

(There will be bruises on her arms come morning)

More steps back.

A hand tugging at his hair and a bitter laugh.

"She will win. She will win in the end, even after all she´s done."

"No, she won´t." Emma takes the hand that is pulling his hair. Some strands fall on the expensive carpet. "I won´t let her win. I will break the curse." She let go of his hand and takes a step back as well. "There´s got to be another way."

The last phrase is said in a very soft, almost childlike, voice and for awhile there´s the only sound in the manor.

"If you can´t break the curse..." Jefferson´s voice sounds loud and raspy. "…then I need to get away from here. I need to go back home."

There´s a calculating glint in his eyes and he´s trembling a little. The movement that his hands makes, reminds Emma of him sharpening that pair of scissors the first time. She knows what he´s planning to do.

The thing is, she can´t really hates him for it. He´s desperate and she can understand that, can even relates to it. He´s not the only one trying to get his family back.

(If she´s not careful, she may end up like him after all.)

"I could help you. I could get it to work."

And she really could. After the curse was broken, Jefferson visited her on the station. He wanted to thank her and also to say sorry. He was sorry not only for the drugging and kidnapping, but also for believing Regina again and getting that poisoned apple for her.

This is how she found out that she made the hat work (and that´s how she´s sure she can make it work a second time, even if she doesn´t know how). Also, this is how she knows that Jefferson won´t care enough to make questions, because if he was desperate enough to believe even in the Evil Queen a second time, he will believe in her.

"But?" The Hatter´s eyes are narrowed; even then she can still see the small trace of hope in them.

"I need you to help me with something."

\-/

She bit her lip while she concentrated. She can do this; of course she can do this. It´s no biggie and, after all, she´s Emma Swan, she broke a 28 years old curse before and killed a dragon. This should be easy.

The dart flews fast, speeding towards its mark and Emma watches as it bounces into the floor.

Maybe not so easy then. Maybe just a little bit harder than she thought.

A deep chuckle makes her turn around. The sheriff is laughing openly, his hands on his knees, and even if the sight warms her heart, and the sound of his laughter makes her heart beats faster, she still feels like strangling the man.

"I´m sorry it´s just that…" It seems like Graham has recognized the danger since he tries to apologize, it also seems like he´s not very afraid of her since he can´t stop laughing. "Your face… You looked so concentrated and so sure that it…that it would hit the mark."

"Yeah, well, you promised that you would teach me, so who´s on fault here, uh?" Emma´s hands are on her hips and she looks like a mix between frustration and embarrassment.

"Did I?" Graham straights himself and smiles at her. "I don´t remember that."

And of course he doesn´t. Because it wasn´t him that promised, well it was him, but it was before, during a time that the smiling man in front of her don´t remember. A few days before she would catch him sneaking out of Regina´s house, to be more precise. She would be playing throwing darts with him (and losing spectacularly) while they drink beer, and he would end up promising to teach her when she has less alcohol on her system.

He would break his promise some time later and she would never try to throw darts again. At least, until she somehow travel to the past and end up being his deputy again.

"Hey, are you ok?" His voice, sounding concerned, reaches her ears and stops her train of thought.

Even if she breaks the curse and keeps him alive, these moments are lost forever, because he´ll never remember them.

"Yeah, Yeah I am."

From the way her boss is looking at her, it´s pretty clear that she wasn´t very convincing in reassuring him.

"Well, if you do want I can teach you how to play darts." Graham goes and takes the fallen dart from the floor. "Who knows? Maybe next time you even manage to actually hit the target."

"I know that I said that you should work on your jokes, sheriff, but I don´t see any improvements." Emma´s arms are crossed and her face shows her lack of amusement.

The sheriff is still smiling when he approaches Emma and puts his hands on her shoulders, gently moving her, so her back end up resting on his chest.

"What are you doing?" The blonde´s voice is low and raspy.

"You want to learn how to play darts, right?" His voice is way too close to her ear, and she has to suppress the shivers that it causes.

There´s a small pause while he waits for her response. The thing is, his close proximity is doing no good to her mental faculties and all she can manage to do is nod.

"Well, no time like the present." His accent is even more notable and it has the same effect as always on Emma.

"Ok, you throw with your right hand, so your right foot needs to be perpendicular with an imaginable line. And your left foot needs to be in a location that you can distribute your weight easily."

"I´m sorry, but are you still speaking English?"

His chuckle sounds to close and Emma has to bit her lip. Somehow she never imagined that throwing darts could be that….sexy. Or maybe it´s just Graham. She has the distinctive impression that if it was Ruby or David teaching her, she wouldn´t be feeling like that.

(It is just Graham)

"Right." He takes his hands away from her shoulders, and for a moment she misses it more than she probably should. That is, until he leans down a little and his hand go to her right leg, effortless moving her feet in the right position. "Like that. See?"

"Uh huh."

"Stand up straight, shoulders back." Graham´s hands are lightly holding her shoulders again. Emma almost let a content sigh at the movement. Almost. "And in line with the center of the board."

"So, your grip shouldn´t be too tight or too loosely either. And it´s better if you hold the dart with three fingers." The sheriff´s hand adjusts the position of Emma´s fingers on the dart. Like always happen when their hands touch, there are sparks and the blonde takes a deep breath.

"Now aim for the board." Suddenly, Graham´s check is resting against her and even if they are just playing darts, she´s pretty positive that the scene wouldn´t be classified PG anymore.

Dear God, who knew that learning how to play darts, would end up being one of the most erotic moments in all of her life?

Jesus Christ.

Graham´s hand is still holding her right one, his cheek still pressed again her, his breath temptingly close and his left hand is lightly grazing her waist. Emma´s sure if she doesn´t throw the dart now, she is going to either explode or turn around and literally jump on her boss.

"So, what´s next?" She wants to cringe at how her voice sounded. There goes her hope of the sheriff not noticing the effect he has on her.

"You throw."

She throws the dart just as he let go of her hand. They both watch as it flew in the air and land softly on the board.

Sure, it wasn´t on the center, to be honest it looks like she almost didn´t manage to hit the board at all, but who cares? Certainly not Emma, if the smile on her face is any indication.

"I did it. Did you see it?" The deputy´s excited voice and the way her hand, instinctively it seems, grab Graham´s arm, is enough to make the sheriff smile.

"Yes, Yes I did." He leans back a little, which means that his cheek is not resting on hers anymore, his grip tightens on her waist and his voice is closer to her ear when he speaks again. "Good job, Deputy."

How long they would stay like that no one knows, because at this moment the sheriff´s gaze landed on his deputy´s exposed arms.

"Emma." Graham´s tight voice captures very quickly her attention. "What the hell happened?"

The blonde turns around, her hand still resting on his arm.

"What do you mean?"

Graham´s jaw is clenched, his eyes stormy and she thinks that she has never see him like this before. The closer she has come was weeks ago, when they both broke in the hospital searching for a videotape. Emma has never understood, not really, how Regina could ever think that the dorky sheriff was the perfect man to kill Snow White.

(She thinks she understand better now)

"Your arms. What happened?"

She follows his meaningful gaze and stares at her arms. Her bruised arms.

Oh, hell.

Did Jefferson really need to grip her so hard? And why didn´t she noticed it sooner?

"Emma." Graham´s voice is still tight, and as much as a part of Emma loves the fact that he´s so concerned about her (this has to mean that he cares about her, may even have romantic feelings for her), another part of her wants him to just let go.

"It is nothing." The blonde pass from him, walking in the direction of her desk. "I haven´t even noticed."

She pauses behind her desk, makes a conscious effort to not cross her arms, and grabs a file. The sheriff is walking on her direction, jaw still clenched, eyes still stormy.

"It doesn´t look like nothing."

She sighs. Really, she should know that he wouldn´t let go that easily.

"I probably just hit my arm on the kitchen table or something."

"Both?" One of his eyebrows is up, and she knows him enough to gather that he´s not amused.

"I am really clumsy." There´s a pause. "Look, can we just go back to work? I was meaning to ask if you already got the results from the analysis of the tape."

This is not a lie. She has been meaning to ask him that, quite actually she only threw the dart, which manages to impressively hit the floor, because she was bored waiting for her boss´s return from saving a cat from a tree (such are the perils of a town like Storybrooke.). Emma has wondered what the specialists from Portland managed to discover.

For a long while, Graham just looks at her, and the blonde has to resist the urge to shiver. Even if she will never admit, not even to herself, the reason why the she feels so cold so suddenly is because she misses his warmth. Not only the warmth of his body, but the ever present warmth on his eyes as well.

Please, she wants to say, Please, Graham. Just go with me. I don´t want you to know what I´m planning. I don´t want to risk you getting hurt.

"You would tell me if you´re in trouble?"

"I…" Emma bits her lip. She´s not in trouble, per see, at least not yet. But she´ll be in deep trouble later, she´s sure of it. She also knows that the sheriff won´t let this go, unless she promises him this. And she doesn´t want to lie to him. "I promise I´ll tell you."

Graham gives a barely imperceptible nod and closes his eyes briefly. When he opens again, his jaw is not clenched and even if his eyes are not as warm as before, they are not stormy either.

"Well, it appears that David did spoke in his sleep. He just never spoke Kathryn´s name, someone doctorate the tape so it looked like he did."

Emma smiles gracefully at Graham while putting the file back to her desk. She then let out a deep breath.

"So what was he saying?"

"Snow."

Of course.

"Besides that, that doesn´t give us much, except perhaps, that he loves snow and his favorite season must be winter…" She smirks listening to Graham´s reasoning. She doesn´t know what is her father´s favorite season, but he definitely loves snow. "…he only said another phrase a couple of times, that doesn´t seem to clarify much either."

"What did he said?" Emma´s brow is furrowed. Did he say anything that could be linked to the Enchanted Forest? Maybe talked about Red, the dwarves or magic?

"Find us."

\-/

"So, how did your meeting with the Mad Hatter go?"

They´re at the castle again. It´s their unofficial meeting point, where they go to talk about Operation Cobra, their own little corner in this cursed town. Emma loves these moments. Not only she gets to spend time with Henry, just the two of them, but it´s also the one time where she doesn´t need to think so careful about what she says since her son knows about her future knowledge.

Of course, there are times when she needs to think about what she´s going to say anyway. Now is a very good example.

"It went well." No talking about the bruises on her arms that freaked out Graham, and that are now covered in her trustful red leather jacket. "He agreed to help me getting Belle to Gold, as long as I make his hat."

"But if you´re gonna break the curse, why does he need the hat?" Henry´s confusion is quite clear on his face and in his voice.

"I don´t know." She does know. Jefferson wants to have a plan B since she has no idea how to break the curse without endangering Henry. The kid thinks that it was killing the dragon with her father´s sword that broke the curse, Emma doesn´t really wants to clarify things for him. "But he is the Mad Hatter after all."

Henry´s laugh sounds like music to her ears. It may be just her impression, but it seems like he´s laughing much more this second time around. Not only that, but he smiles more and seems more…well, carefree she supposes. It´s like having Emma believing in him, knowing that the curse can definitely be broken and that it really does exist, end up lifting an incredible heavy burden from his shoulders.

It makes Emma want to cry, but it also makes her wanting to kick Regina´s ass so freaking much.

A sound behind them, makes they turn around and look into a very strange pair of eyes coming from the brushes. One eye is blue and the other one is red.

"Hey there." Emma smiles at Graham´s wolf while the animal languidly walks in their direction. "The perimeter is safe then?"

The wolf barks once and wags his tail, in a gesture that the blonde learned to indentify as yes. Henry is already getting out of the castle and walking to the wolf in order to pet him.

And that´s the reason why they can talk so freely while in the castle. At the beginning, Emma was wary of talking with her son in the castle, the memory of the photos that Sydney took of her and Henry too fresh on her mind. But the kid was really attached to the place, and the day after taking Graham´s heart from the vault they found the sheriff´s wolf brother. It didn´t took long for them to figure out, that while they talked the wolf was circulating the area looking for any potential danger.

If Sydney ever try to take these pictures like before, he´s in for a very nasty surprise. One that will teach him to not even try to do that ever again.

"Hey, miss us, boy?" Henry cringes while patting the wolf and turns to look at his mother, who is coming into their direction to greet properly the animal too. "We really need to give him a name."

"He probably already has one, we just don´t know it yet." Emma´s smiling at the picture in front of her. There is her kid crouching down in order to scuff the wolf´s belly, and there is said wolf with his tongue out, exposed belly and wagging tail laid down on the ground.

"If Graham remembered he could told us." He sighs dramatically. "How did you manage to break his curse anyway?"

Emma is petting the wolf behind his ears that has sit up straight when he noticed her approach, when she hears the question and her hand freezes for a moment.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you told me that the reason that…that the Queen killed him was because he was starting to remember." Henry stands up and gives his mother a very piercing stare. "So, what did you do to make him start remember?"

Oh, boy.

Sure, she have realized that Henry would question how the sheriff started remembering his other life, she just thought (more like wished really) that it would take him longer to ask her about that.

"Well, I´m not sure exactly…" There is not a lie. Emma has a hunch, a very probable hunch true, but a hunch nonetheless. It´s not like she could go to Rumpelstiltskin and ask him what managed to break Graham´s curse, right? "But I think it could be because I…kissed him."

"You kissed Graham?" Henry scrunches his face.

"Actually, he kissed me first when we were fighting on the street. Then, I kissed him at the station after we kind of made up, I guess."

"So, your kisses were what broke the curse?"

"Look, I know that it sounds a little crazy." The blonde stops petting the wolf and turns to face her son. "But after I kissed him, he looked at me and he said 'I remember' and 'Thank you' and he looked so…happy."

It was weird. No one, not even Neal, had looked at Emma the same way that Graham did that night. Happy can´t even exactly describe how he looked in that moment. He looked…found is one word that comes to her mind, followed very close by loved.

Sometimes she wondered what he saw in her at that moment too. Emma herself can hardly recur all that she was feeling at the time. Most of her memory of that night was tainted with what happened after, the all consuming numbness and that hopeless sensation that appeared to crush her heart in the most painful way.

From the little she can remember though, those few precious minutes, when Graham was still oh so alive and real, are some of the happiest moments of her entire life.

"Well, you two do have a special connection." Her son´s voice interrupts her musings.

"What do you mean?"

"You owe him your life since he spared Snow White and helped Charming." Graham´s wolf appear to have sensed that the two humans are having an important conversation, he lay down on the ground again and close his eyes. Henry pats his head twice. "And when the curse is broken, you will have saved his life as well, by breaking the curse and by restoring him his heart."

"I…haven´t thought about that way before."

It almost looks like a story from Henry´s book. A fairytale. The Huntsman end up assuring the life of the princess who will give his heart back.

Full circle.

"And there´s the fact that True Love´s kiss can break any curse."

Wait, what?

"What?"

"True Love´s kiss. You know, the reason why Graham´s curse was broken?" Henry appears genuinely confused by his mother.

"Whoa, kid. I think you far from the truth here."

True Love´s kiss.

True Love´s kiss?

No way.

(People like her don´t find their true love.)

"Really? Then what do you think broke his curse?" His arms are crossed, one of his eyebrows are up, and he looks like he´s merely amusing her.

"Well, I´m the Savior, right? That´s probably why." Even as she says, it doesn´t sound that believable to her. "I´m the product of True Love. I have magic. That´s why."

"Then all you needed to do was kiss everyone in town for the curse to break."

Emma huffs, but the kid only smirks at her, calm at the knowledge that he is right. And his mother is in denial.

"Ok, look, Mary Margaret and David kissed before and nothing happened, ok? They kissed, but they continued cursed till I broke the curse."

She may have admitted to herself that she loves Graham, that she´ll do anything for him and that she´ll keep him alive this time at all costs. She may have admitted that if he wants she´ll start a relationship with him, without any second guesses or lingering doubts. But admit that the sheriff is her True Love? That it´s different.

Emma has barely acknowledged that True Love does exist; something that she never believed in, never thought it would be in the cards for her. Besides, according to Gold, True Love is something so rare and precious that very few people have ever had it.

(How can she be someone´s True Love?)

"But grandma and grandpa didn´t remembered each other. They were cursed, that´s why it didn´t work with them."

The blonde opens her mouth to rebut, to say something, but nothing comes to her mind. She closes her eyes to stop the sting of tears that wants to come (she will not cry in front of her son) and takes a deep breath. When she opens her eyes again, Henry is looking at her with a solemn expression on his face.

"I´ve been watching you two, you know? You love Graham and he loves you. He´s your True Love." He then takes a few steps and hugs Emma. "Don´t worry Mom, you´ll save him and break the curse and we´ll all live happily ever after."

Emma closes her eyes, tears finally streaming down because of what Henry said.

(It´s the first time since she travelled back that he calls her Mom.)

Happily ever after.

She wants to laugh, because that had always sounded so unrealistic to her, even when she was a little girl.

You can´t live happily ever after, but you can try to and maybe, just maybe, that´ll be enough. You won´t be happy all the time, but the times that you´ll do will be more than worth.

Happiness is not a station, but a way of travelling, right?

"God, I hope so, kid." She hugs her son just as fiercely when she feels dampness on her hand. It´s Graham´s wolf. She smiles and extends an arm so she´s hugging him too. "I really hope so."

\-/

A/N: So, finally the fourth chapter is here, what did you guys thought? Like I said, this one end up being longer and it has more Gremma than the usual too. I would really love to hear your opinions on the chapter, how the story is progressing, if Jefferson is in character and any grammar mistakes I managed to make. Also, I´ve decided to edit the chapters as I post, and when I finish I will edit the others 3 chapters and the prologue. Again, English is not my mother language so if you see any mistakes please let me know. And thank you to everyone who wished me good luck on my finals, everything end up ok in the end, but I really appreciated the wishes.

On another note, I guess I can say that you all can expect an update in 2 to 3 months. School is starting again on Monday and I´m having some health problems. I´ve been doing a lot of exams lately (I´ve never done so much exams in so short time in my entire life), but there´s still some other exams to make so I can found out what´s wrong with me.

And sorry for the long author´s notes.