Author's note: A little over 2 wks till new Once episodes. March needs to come faster.

Chapter 6

"She doesn't remember anything beyond packing to leave Storybrooke." Mary Margaret confirmed as she exited Emma's room, her face a mask of worry. "Right before Henry ate the turnover and she believed in the curse."

"So she doesn't have any memories of the past three years?" David turned to look at his wife. "The curse breaking, Neverland, us?

Mary Margaret shook her head slowly. "No."

Hook cursed loudly. "So she doesn't remember Ava? Or…" His voice cracked.

"She has no idea who you are." Mary Margaret said softly. "I'm sorry."

David turned to Whale. "Memory loss? Is this possible?"

"Evidently." Whale responded. "It's rare, but it's possible." He sighed. "When the brain is deprived of oxygen for a certain amount of time, there are side effects. Memory loss is one of them." He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"So what do we do?" Mary Margaret asked.

"Well, I can run more tests but I'm certain they will come back inconclusive. There's really nothing we can do except wait for her to regain her memories. "

"How long does that take?"

"It's unclear." Whale answered. "It can takes days, months, or even years."

"You're kidding." David boomed, banging on the wall next to him. "Years?!"

"I'm sorry." Whale said.

"What can we do?" Hook piped in. "To help her?"

"For now? Try your best to jog her memory but do not push her. I cannot stress this enough. From what I know, Emma is stubborn. She will not believe that she's lost her memory. If you put too much pressure on her it could only cause more problems. Go along with what she says while trying to help her remember."

Freshly out of the shower, Emma padded into her room, hair twisted up in a large towel, a similar colored one around her body as she perused her closet, one hand tapping her chin, a silent internal debate raging on inside as to what to wear.

Date. Emma Swan was about to go out on an actual date, her first real one in so many years, one that did not involve chasing down criminals.

So it came to no one's surprise that she was nervous. Actual nervous, complete with heart pounding and sweaty palms.

She'd spent a ridiculously long time in the bathroom, so long that Henry had given up knocking on the door and just decided to go at the park. It was so unlike her, obsessing over eye shadow colors and various lip glosses. Usually she just grabbed the first thing she found and slapped it on.

But then again there was nothing normal about this night. Hook had called two nights ago, simply stating that he'd pick her up at 7. How he'd obtained her number, let alone learned to use a phone, she had no idea.

Emma thumbed through her closet, growing more and more frustrated as she did so. As exciting as a surprise was, it was difficult outfit wise. Should she go with casual, her usual jeans and leather jacket? Or pull out all the stops and do formal?

In the end, she settled on closing her eyes and picking whatever her hand landed on first. Which happened to be...the pink dress she'd worn on the night her life changed forever. The night she met Henry.

Oh, the irony of ironies. This was the dress she usually wore to her fake dates. And now she was planning to wear it on an actual date.

Oh well. Emma shrugged as she pulled it off the hanger. Maybe it was time to make some new memories with this dress.

There was a knock on the door. It was showtime. Pulling on a pair of chunky black heels, she exited her room, fastening a pair of hoop earrings on the way out.

"Hey." She said breathlessly as she swung the door open. She was momentarily flustered at the site of Hook. He was plenty attractive in his usual leather garb. And there was little to nothing that fazed Emma. But in a dress shirt and tie, even she was rendered speechless. Only for a moment of course. "You look... nice."

"Ah, just nice?" He teased. "And here I spent a good part of my day obtaining clothing suitable for your land."

"Really?" She raised an eyebrow. "How?" In her mind she pictured him shopping at Macy's, wrinkling his nose at clothes while making sarcastic comments, and she had to stifle a giggle.

"Let's just say your lad knows a lot more about clothing than one would originally imagine." Hook answered smoothly.

"Henry?" Really? But then again it didn't surprise her. Ever since they got back, he'd been all about Hook, talking about the pirate like he was the best thing since sliced bread.

"Aye." He held his arm out. "Shall we?"

Emma looped her arm through his, a feeling of excitement and anticipation spreading inside. Tonight was going to be a night she'd never forget; she was sure of it.

Beautiful. She was so beautiful when she was sleeping. Her light hair fanned out over the pillow, head turned to the side as her chest rose and fell rhythmically. Her expression was a bit more troubled than Hook liked, but he attributed that to the pain she was undoubtedly in. He thought vaguely that if only he'd somehow prevented her from taking the bullet meant for him, she wouldn't be in this position right now.

"Oh, Swan." He sighed. Why did she have to be so stubborn, so self sacrificing? Didn't she see that her life was worth ten of his?

He had no idea if this would work. Theoretically, it should, since they were each other's true loves. Hook felt ridiculous about what he was about to do, but he was desperate. He needed her to remember, not just for him, but for their daughter. There was no way he could just sit by idly and wait for her memories to return. No way he could live without her.

He tiptoed into her room towards her sleeping figure, being sure to keep quiet, though there really wasn't any point since she was still pretty heavily sedated. Slowly, he placed his hand on the side of her pillow for support and leaned down until his face was inches from hers, lightly touching his lips against hers, reveling in her scent, which despite the antiseptic hospital odor permeating the air, still lingered on her.

He wasn't sure what he expected would happen. It wasn't like he was attempting to wake her up like her father had awoken her mother, or like how she'd awoken Henry and broken the curse. Maybe a flash of light?

What he hadn't been expecting was for her to start, plain shock and disgust written on her face as her eyes fluttered open. "What…" She blinked blearily at him as she took in the dark figure looming over her, partially shrouded by the dimness of the room. "What are you doing?" Confusion was laced through her sleepy voice.

Hook backed up in surprise; he'd foolishly believed that the sedatives would be enough to keep her from waking up and panicking. Disappointment flared, forming a hard pit in his stomach. It hadn't worked. Judging by the hard look in her eyes, she still had no idea who he was.

No. I can't just give up. Maybe he hadn't kissed her hard enough. On impulse, Hook lunged straight at her and pressed his lips firmly against hers.

"Mmmph!" Emma squirmed underneath him, violently twisting her body in all different directions in an attempt to separate herself from him. "MMMPH!" Her fists beat against him, but still he remained frozen, his lips planted against hers, pinning her down with his body despite her protests in desperate hopes that this would work, that she'd miraculously remember, that their love would be enough to retrieve her memories.

Somehow, Emma wrenched herself away, gaping up at him. "What the hell was that!?" She screeched, a note of terror in her voice as she perused him. As she tried to sit up, her arms immediately clutched around her chest. She bit back a scream; it felt as though her chest was being ripped open by a pack of vicious beasts with sharp claws.

Blood rushed through his ears as he took in her pained expression. She brought her hand to her chest and her eyes widened as it came back bloody.

"What is it?" He asked urgently. "What's wrong?" He reached a hand out to examine, to help, but it was immediately slapped away.

"Stop!" She snapped, backing up. "What do you think you're doing?"

He cringed at her horrified expression and the pain in her eyes, the pain that he should be experiencing, not her. "You're bleeding, love." With his hook he indicated at the red staining the front of her shirt. "Let me see."

"STOP! I don't even know you!" Emma protested as he fought against her, attempting to pull back the collar of her shirt. Normally she probably would've been able to fight him off but in her drugged, weakened state he almost immediately overpowered her.

"Emma I'm trying to help you," He tried to explain, but Emma wasn't listening as she fought against him once more, kicking her legs and yelling incoherently and calling him things that even he, a pirate, cringed at.

"YOU DIRTY PERVERT!" She shrieked. "LET ME GO! GET OFF!"

Suddenly, she brought her knee up between his legs. At the same time, Mary Margaret rushed in, closely followed by David and a couple security guards.

"What is going on here?" David demanded as he burst into the room. His eyes widened as he took in Hook, who towered over Emma, one hand on the collar of her shirt. The blankets were a tangled mess around her; she was pressed up against the railing on the side of the bed.

"All right, that's it. We warned you last time, buddy." The two security guards each grabbed Hook, effectively pulling him off of Emma. "This is the second time you've assaulted a patient." They hauled him towards the door, closely followed by David, who gave Mary Margaret a look that Emma couldn't exactly read.

Mary Margaret turned her attention to Emma. "Oh my God, you're bleeding." She noticed for the first time.

"I think I pulled my stitches." Emma grimaced, looking up at Mary Margaret. Trying to get away from the creep.

As Emma watched Hook leave, she couldn't help but be deeply struck by the haunted look of defeat in his hollowed blue eyes.

Only question was, why did she care?

Author's note: Hmm. True Love's Kiss didn't work. What's gonna happen now?