Participated in the following meme on tumblr:
"send me "Librarian!" and a page number and I'll grab the closest book, flip to that page number, and write a ficlet based on a random line of text from said page."
Prompt: Librarian! + 7 - narniangriff23
"He had been her boyfriend and he had died for her." - The 39 Clues: Unstoppable, Book One - Nowhere to Run, Jude Watson
A/N: AU where instead of dying at the end of episode seven, Graham lived. But, he's the one who took the turnover instead of Henry.
There was a time when Emma hadn't known who she was. That time was, sadly, only a few hours before. She knows now – knows that she's a princess and that there'd been a curse and… Everything that Henry had said all along, that Graham had said when she'd told him that she was leaving – it was all real.
The magical poison that had felled her Sheriff was meant for her. And she'd tried, she'd tried so hard to make it right, going after the potion that Gold had said would fix the problem and fighting a dragon, and dammit, it wasn't supposed to be like this. She was supposed to be the Savior, but so far she had failed.
Henry doesn't know yet, but she doesn't imagine Regina will waste any time telling the boy that Graham is gone. After all, the witch seems to delight in telling Henry anything that might drive him from Emma. That the man who should have been his father, if the world had been fair, was gone because of her? That would probably be the worst yet.
She barely even thinks as she pulls out of Mary Margaret's comforting grip, going to his side, taking his hand in hers one last time. Her fault – all this is her fault. She has to apologize.
"I'm sorry," she whispers, "I love you." With that, she leans in, pressing her lips to Graham's.
She thinks she's imagining that his hand tightens around hers, but then she's pulling away and his eyes are fluttering open. The rest of the room is staring, stunned, as he pushes himself onto his elbows.
She can hear Whale and the nurses muttering about how Graham had flatlined, been gone. But she can't focus on that. He woke up – he's alive.
"I love you too, Em," he whispers in her ear as she wraps her arms around him tightly. Maybe the town is still cursed, and maybe she'll have to deal with that. But for now, it can wait until another day.