Chapter 3: The Promise

Emma was awakened to a regular beeping sound coming from besides her. It was the electrocardiograph, beeping in rhythm with her heart. With everything that happened the day before, she hadn't noticed until then all the tubes connecting her to the machine.

"Mum! You're awake!" Henry rushed towards her, looking happy and excited. "How are you? Are you ready to meet your brother? They're here, they were waiting for you to wake up, can I tell them you're awake now?"

"Yes, of course, bring them in."

A weak smile appeared on Emma's face. Henry ran outside. She tried to think about what had happened, but couldn't manage; everything was still blurry, this was worrying.

Her son came back, followed by Snow, who was carrying a bundle of blankets, and Charming.

"Emma! How are you?"

"I've felt better."

"I'm so sorry I couldn't come yesterday. Charming told me you didn't remember your brother's birth. But it's okay, Emma, just don't lose hope. And while waiting for your memories to come back, we can introduce you to your brother again. If you want, of course."

"Of course, I want." Emma had her eyes glittering with tears, staring at the bundle of blankets. Charming smiled, took the baby from Snow and sat next to his daughter, close enough so she could see the little boy, who was fast asleep.

"Emma, here is your brother, Neal." The baby opened his eyes and looked back at Emma. His eyes were the same blue as his father's. Although he just woke up, he was already smiling, fidgeting his arms over his blanket. Despite all the medical equipment, Emma managed to pull out her arm and grab her brother's hand.

"Hello Neal," she whispered, with a smile filled with emotion, the first smile since the accident.

Almost two hours passed as they talked about the three days Emma had missed, about how it was since Neal had arrived in their life, about how he was preventing them to sleep at night and how he was smiling at them all day. Soon, it was already time to leave.

"We have to go, but we will come back soon, Emma. And don't forget, never lose hope!" Snow smiled, pressing her daughter's hand while holding the baby, and left.

"She's right, mum, you have to believe," Henry said before hugging her.

"I know. I haven't given up yet." She faked a smile, and whispered in the boy's ear, "bring Regina."

Henry looked at her, curious, then nodded and followed Snow out. Charming, standing by the door, was the only one left in the room. Emma wanted to ask him about something, but she hesitated. Her hesitation was apparently obvious.

"Is there anything you want to know?"

"Actually, yes…" She bit her lip, still hesitant. "Have you seen Hook?" If Charming had looked concerned just a few seconds before, he seemed now relieved, and even quite satisfied with the question.

"Yes, I've seen him. But he… wasn't able to come this morning." Not able to come… She remembered the look on his face when he had left her room the day before, and the thought of him alone, on the Jolly Roger, consoling himself with rum, came to her mind. She felt guilty.

"That's because of how I reacted yesterday, right?" Charming went to sit beside her.

"Honestly, that's possible. And understandable too. You know, you were quite close a few days ago, even if you don't remember it. But you shouldn't feel bad about it, your reaction is understandable too, and I'm sure he realises that. He just needs some time to put up with that." It was silent for a moment. "He needs time, but that didn't prevent him from talking about you. He said to me, 'just tell her I miss her smile.' This is what he wanted me to say."

Emma was biting her lip again, trying to prevent the tears from rolling down. Snow had come back and was now waiting, just behind the glass.

"I should go," Charming said. "And remember what your mum told you, you have to keep believing, don't lose hope, and at some point everything will go back to normal."

He kissed her on the forehead and left the room. Emma felt lost and lonely again. She tried to remember, but was still unable to recover her memories. She was tired of being there, of this situation. She had cried so much in just a few hours, that was not her, she wasn't this kind of girl who cries whenever something is wrong. But she needed her memories back, she needed to remember what had happened with Hook. She needed to remember what had happened before the accident, with Regina. A knocking on the door brought her back from her thoughts. The Mayor entered the room.

"Henry said you wanted to see me?" Standing in a corner of the room, Regina seemed surprised.

"Yes, that's right, I asked him to bring you here, I had some questions for you."

Regina pinched her lips together. "Ask away, then."

"It's nothing to worry about. Come and have a seat, that may be quite long."

Regina stared at her, clearly wondering what she was up to. "What do you want from me?"

"I need your help."

"My help?" She sounded astonished, as if nobody could need her help. She finally sat next to Emma.

"Your help, yes. There are things I need to know. Like, when I woke up yesterday, you were there, and you left, why did you leave like that?"

"Oh. Why did I leave? Wasn't it obvious? I wasn't welcome here. Because that's all my fault."

Emma was startled.

"Your fault? What do you mean? They told me it was a car accident, how can you be responsible? Were you the one driving?"

"The one driving? No! A guy I barely know, whose name's Edward I think, was driving. But…"

"How can it be your fault then?" Emma asked, without waiting for Regina to end her sentence. "Why would you be responsible for a car accident if you were not driving?" This was all so confusing. Panic was striking again.

"Calm down, Miss Swan, let me explain. You wanted to talk to me, you came to my house, don't you remember? That wasn't a really nice discussion. Anyway, I told you to clear off, you got hit by a car, and now your pirate holds me for responsible."

"My pirate?" Emma repeated, insisting on the first word. "This is the problem, Regina, I don't remember any of this. I don't remember coming to your house, I don't remember the accident, I don't remember what happened with Zelena, and I don't remember anything that would make Hook mine. That's why I need your help."

"I'm sorry, but I don't think that's possible." She truly was.

"What? Why? All those times you manipulated memories, how's that not possible now?"

"Because, first, manipulating memories is not the same as helping to get them back. By the way, I didn't manipulate memories so many times. And, secondly, haven't I taught you anything? Can be undone with magic only what has been done with magic. I'm sorry, Emma, your accident had nothing to do with it, I wish I could help, but I just can't."

They stared at each other, Emma trying to breathe deeply and to calm down.

"What am I supposed to do? Just wait, hoping my memories would come back by themselves? What about Gold, do you think he could help me?"

"He has left with Belle for their honeymoon, I think they have planned to stay there for quite a long time. But even if he was here, I'm not sure he could have done anything. I never thought I'd say that, but it's not magic you need, it's science."

"I couldn't have said it better myself!"

They both jumped and turned around to look at Whale.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I just wanted to check on you." He went to look at the medical equipment. "Well, everything seems in order. You'll be able to go out soon. Not today, but soon. And about your memories, Regina's right, magic won't do anything. Just know that the brain is unpredictable, maybe your memories will come back by themselves, or maybe you will need to go and see Archie. But for now just be patient."

They watched him leaving the room.

"Do you think he's right? That my memories can come back like this?"

Regina smirked. "I'm not the doctor, he is. But yes, I think it's possible. Sometimes, some little details are enough, and memories just come back, you can't control it."

"Okay, if you say so, then I'll just wait." Emma sighed. "Maybe you can bring me up to date? If that's okay for you. Let's start with the most recent events, why did I come to you, before the accident?"

Regina thought about Robin, about Marian who had ruined her life just a few days before, about Emma coming to apologize. She didn't want to talk about this at the moment, and Emma was already troubled enough.

"That's not important, it's nothing that matters now anyway. All you should know is that you came to talk to me, and it went like half our conversations are going; we ended up arguing. Is there anything else you want to know? What do you remember?"

Emma hesitated, she was suddenly feeling so tired.

"Hmm yes. Zelena, she was after you, what happened?"

"Zelena is gone, we removed her powers. Remember that necklace she had? Without it, she didn't have magic anymore. You helped taking it from her, she was powerless. I wanted to give her a second chance, but she refused, and disappeared."

Emma needed some time; it was a lot to take in.

"Okay so, Zelena's not here anymore. I had no idea about that. Talking about memories, did you get yours back? From the missing year?"

"Yes we got them back, all of us. But are you sure you want to talk about it now? You look exhausted, you should probably get some rest."

"I guess you're right. You take care of Henry, right?"

"Of course! When he's with me at least. He spends quite a lot of time with the Charmings or the pirate. But don't worry about him, he's fine."

"Good. You should probably go now."

Emma was struggling to keep her eyes open, it was so hard to resist. Regina got up.

"Regina?"

Already by the door, Regina looked back. "Yes?"

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

When she opened her eyes again, she wasn't alone, someone was sitting by her side.

"Hello, Hook."

She had called him Hook again. He tried to get over it.

"How are you feeling, love?"

He had called her love again. She tried to stay calm, not to hurt his feelings like she had the day before.

"I'm fine. But I could hurt you again, I still don't remember, you should go away, don't stay with me."

"I have no intention of leaving you now." He knew she had asked Charming about him; she still cared about him, and knowing that, nothing could hurt him. "I'm staying. And I fear you can't do anything about it."

Being teased like this, she sat up straight in her bed, and suddenly felt a sharp pain.

"Don't move too fast, love! You're going to hurt yourself. Didn't the doctor tell you that you have a few ribs broken?"

She opened her eyes widely. "A few ribs broken?"

"Seems like he forgot to tell you. Or maybe you were already asleep. But yes, that's why you need to have some rest. Don't sigh, love. It's boring, I know, I know it too well, remember?"

Emma indeed remembered these days; it seemed to be such a long time ago, these days when she was by his side while he was lying there, maybe in this very bed.

"Yes, I remember quite well."

"Oh, Swan, I thought I'd never see one of those again."

"You thought you'd never see what?"

"Your smile."

She was about to reply, but they got interrupted by a knock on the door. Whale was there again, holding a tray.

"Time for dinner!"

While Emma was looking at the burger and the chips, Hook chuckled.

"Seriously, do they try this on everyone?" He wasn't looking at the burger. He was looking at something else on the tray. Jell-O. Emma giggled.

"Does that bring back bad memories?"

"Not good memories indeed, when they brought me that, I thought it was a joke."

"Yes, I remember. You thought it was a hallucination." Emma laughed again. "By the way, had you eaten it?"

"No! It's one of the worst things I've ever been given on a plate. Except from this thing they forced me to eat in New York, bologna." He was staring at the Jell-O. "It really doesn't look tasty, how can you eat this? Do you actually plan on eating it?"

"Of course! And you will eat some too!" She laughed at the expression of disgust and amusement that appeared on his face. "Help yourself with some chips if you want, I won't eat all of it."

Emma forgot about her loss of memories, simply laughing and enjoying the present time. Seeing her like this, the pirate was beaming.

"Now the question is, will you eat some Jell-O?"

"I feel like you really want me to try this thing. Go for it, then. But try first, in case that's an attempt to poison me." He smirked.

"Oh, you really think I'd do that?"

"Can you blame me for being uncertain?"

Following Hook's request, Emma ate some Jell-O first. He then tried, and found it just as disgusting as it looked, but he didn't regret it; his love didn't have her memories back, but this day had showed they still were able to share a good time together. When the time came to say goodbye, he stood up and brushed her cheek with the back of his hand, hand she seized to push it back.

"I'm sorry, Hook, but I'm still confused because of this accident, I still don't have my memories back. I'm not ready yet, I can't handle this, at least for now."

"I know, and I can't blame you for this. But I promise you, Emma, I once won it, and I will win your heart again."