A/N: I have a touch of writer's block but hopefully I'll get over it soon. In case I don't update for a little while: Happy Holidays, all!
The angry rumble of thunder outside was no match for Emma's cries inside. Snow paced up and down the length of the tiny room and the hall with the wailing infant, trying her best to soothe her, but she only stopped crying to catch her breath so that she could cry louder. Emma's constant crying kept Snow's brain stuck in "mommy mode", leaving her little time to think about the threat of Regina looming over them—perhaps quite literally if she was the cause of the storm—or the ache that was not being near Charming.
She bounced in place as Emma's cries began to tamper off, joining Lauren and Katie at the window where they watched the storm. It wasn't very different from the storms that came occasionally to the Enchanted Forest: heavy rains that hammered against every surface, swaying trees, and dark, threatening clouds that swallowed up every ounce of color until the world was full of only shades of gray and black.
"I'm sorry our trip is so boring." She apologized to the girls, pitching her voice low so as not to set Emma off crying again. "I'd offer to go somewhere, but I don't want to take Emma out in the storm." And she didn't want them to go out alone exploring a strange town. "Maybe the front desk has a few board games or something." She suggested, and Lauren turned away from the window to smile at her.
"Maybe." She agreed.
"I'll go check." She dared to peek at the baby in her arms. She was asleep, red faced and exhausted from crying. Snow placed her carefully in her car seat without buckling her in, not wanting to use risk placing her on the bed when she wasn't there. "Keep an eye on Emma?" She asked and both girls nodded enthusiastically. She could hear them begin to quietly bicker about who should be the one to comfort Emma if she woke as she shut the door behind her.
She headed down the hall, interested in the décor of the place. Sconces hung on the walls and woven carpets softened her footsteps, faintly reminding her the castle that had once been her and Charming's home. She sighed softly, thinking of the nursery they had left behind, so lovingly decorated, and everything else that she had loved about her former home. She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice one of the doors swing open and a woman step out until the two nearly collided.
"Oh!" Snow exclaimed, stopping just shy of crashing into the woman. "I'm so sorry!"
The woman laughed. "No, it's fine. At least we both didn't end up on the ground."
Snow smiled in relief and gave a small laugh of her own. "That's true." She said, studying the woman. She looked young, about Snow's own age, with sad blue-gray eyes and blonde hair that curled about her shoulders. "I'm Mary Margaret." She introduced herself, her tongue nearly tripping over the still unfamiliar name.
"Katherine. Well, it was nice to meet you, Mary Margaret, but I have to go."
Snow wrinkled her nose. "Into the storm?"
Katherine's smile seemed to widen, her eyes brightening. "Yes. My husband, David, just woke up from a coma."
Snow blinked. "Your…husband, David? From a coma?" She didn't mean to parrot back Katherine's words but thoughts of Charming from the previous day filled her mind. He'd introduced himself as David, and the huntsman had mentioned his being in a coma. She hadn't wanted to dwell on what happened to him that made him go into the coma, she assumed it had something to do with the curse, like everything else. But this…this was different.
"Yes." Katherine said, already moving away from Snow and toward the stairs. "Nice meeting you again." She said and before Snow could say anything else, she was gone.
Snow stared after her, rooted in place by shock and confusion as her mind raced, light years ahead of her. It was this town, she decided. No one remembered who they had been—Granny and Red ran and a diner and an inn and she'd seen fairies in nurse's uniforms at the hospital—and Charming hadn't remembered anything at all. But waking up must've given him false memories and, along with them, a fake wife. He wouldn't remember anything about her or Emma or their life together.
Her face flushed and tears stung her eyes as memories of their life together flashed behind her eyelids. Fighting together on the troll bridge, Charming's kiss waking her from Regina's spell, their wedding, when they had found out that she was pregnant with Emma. All of it existed now in her memory alone; it could have all been a part of her imagination if she didn't have Emma, a physical reminder of the love she and Charming had shared once. And would share again, she told herself, wiping away her tears. She'd stopped Regina before and she would do it again. She had to.