Kiss me like you wanna be loved
You wanna be loved
You wanna be loved
This feels like falling in love
Falling in love
We're falling in love.
-Ed Sheeran: Kiss Me
Emma had barely gotten Henry through the door of the police station before he was swooped out of her arms by James.
"Hey little man!" James laughed, tossing Henry in the air a couple feet before catching him again.
"One of these days I am gonna drop dead of a heart attack you know," Emma scolded, trying to resist the urge to pull her baby back into her arms.
"No mama, it's fun!" Henry laughed, clapping his hands for James to toss him again.
"Yeah, mama it's fun." James was smirking as David approached. He was followed by Graham, who seemed to be carrying a whole cabinet worth of files.
"What's he done now?" David asked, seeing the look on Emma's face.
"Oh the usual, throwing my child about like a football." Emma shook her head as James walked Henry over to his desk where he had hidden some toys from his last visit. "We just came by to ask about John Doe."
"No good news from the doctor I take it." Graham asked.
"Not unless you call still being asleep good news." Emma had yet to take her eyes off Henry, and before Graham could answer she overheard Henry's small voice telling James all about the Doctor's office.
"You went to see Dr. Whale, huh. Well did you hear-"James then dropped his voice lower and Emma knew she needed to act.
"David please God stop him. Dr. Whale is creepy enough as it is, I don't need any more trouble getting Henry to go see him than I already do."
"On it." David chuckled, rushing over to swoop Henry straight out of James arms. David then preceded to run straight out of the room with James running after him with a shout.
"Well now that that's settled, please tell me you have some good news." Emma turned to Graham then, with a hopeful expression.
"Well good news and bad." He replied with a sheepish smile. "Which one do you want first?"
Emma gave a dramatic sigh before her answer, "Just lay the bad news on me." They walked into Graham's office. It was the only office in the station, as the entire force was made up of Graham as the sheriff, and James and David as his two deputies. Graham walked around to his chair, placing the large stack of files on his desk as he sat, gesturing for Emma to take the other seat.
"Well the bad news is that his entire car went up in flames, even the license plate was melted down."
"Which means you still have no idea who he is." And I'm still his contact for the hospital. The thought should have scared her, being responsible for this virtual stranger, but what actually frightened her was the fact that it didn't. It felt right.
"Unfortunately." He sighed.
"And the good news?"
"His car was expensive." Graham smiled.
"How is an expensive car going up in flames good news?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at the sheriff.
"Expensive cars belong to rich people, and rich people don't go missing without someone looking for them." He then pulled the file on the top of his stack toward him. Opening it, he handed it to Emma.
The file held a lot the Emma didn't understand, even after years of her brothers working in the field. "So you think someone will come to claim him?" The idea sat deep in her stomach, like a cold rock.
"Eventually, the car was unique. Special features you don't normally see- well from what the mechanic could make out after the fire was stopped." Graham told her, gesturing to parts of the file as he spoke.
"So the hope of finding this guys' family rests on Tillman's?" She had nothing against Michael, but since his ex-wife dropped his kids at his door and he gained full custody Emma couldn't help but notice that every repair seemed to take more than a little longer than it should.
"Storybrooke has had worse odd before and still found their mark." He shrugged.
"I guess so." Emma said. She turned her head to look out the window, hoping against hope that he didn't see her reaction to his words.
"Hey. I didn't- what I meant was –"he paused, running one hand through his hair before continuing. "Are you going to be okay to do this? I can always have the hospital put someone else down as his emergency contact."
"I'm fine." Emma said quickly. "Just tell me what we do next."
"Really, Em. I know that road brings up a lot of-"
"I said I'm fine." She couldn't stop herself from snapping. Just like he couldn't stop himself from asking. She thought bitterly to herself. "What's next?"
"We get the report from Tillman. We put out an alert with the car and a description of him, and we check missing person reports. Hope something turns up." He replied after a moment, studying her carefully.
"And what do I need to do?" She asked tensely.
"There's nothing much you can do. Just the waiting game now." He said softly.
"Alright, I can do that from home. Call me if you find something." She stood quickly, leaving no room for debate as she left the office in search of her son and brothers.
It was only noon by the time Emma had dropped Henry off at day care with Aurora and returned to the ranch. It was yet another beautiful day, but she doubted that she would have any time for another trail ride. Not to mention the last one had pushed forward memories and thoughts she would rather forget. No, it was best to focus on work. Which is what she was doing now, as she led Marco's old gelding into his new pasture.
"I thought you weren't a rescue." Mary Margret's voice floated across the grass field as Emma walked back through the gate, and away from the gelding who was now happily grazing with the other older horse of Misthaven.
"I'm not." Emma knew this discussion was coming, but she had expected it to be David to bring it up.
"Really, because that's three more in the last month." Mary Margret laughed.
"And four rehomed in the last two. Anyways, who can say no to that face?" Emma smiled as she leaned against the fence, watching as an old mare meandered up to the fence in search of treats.
"Don't you mean 'how could you say no to Marco?'" Mary Margret teased. It was true, Emma never could say no to the kind old man. Not after he had adopted her childhood best friend when she was only eight.
"Fair point." She chuckled.
"How is August? I barely saw him when he brought Bug home last night." Mary Margret followed Emma to the barn.
"He's good," Emma began, placing her halter and lead on a hook to one of the stalls before heading to the tack room. "He's planning on staying in town a little longer this time." August had grown up in Storybrooke with Emma, but unlike her he had left the second his high school diploma had been placed in his hand. Since then he had become a world traveler. Not more than a couple days ever went by on his trips without Emma receiving a post card, letter, or skype call. Even from thousands of miles away he was still her best friend.
"That's wonderful!" Mary Margret exclaimed. "We all need to do something! Maybe have a nice dinner in the city." Emma could already see the party wheels turning in her head.
"Or a nice trail ride." Emma said with a smirk. It was something of a low blow, but she could resist seeing the look on her sister-in-law's face.
"Not funny." Mary Margret said glumly.
"Oh come on. You have to get back on a horse sometime."
It was common knowledge in Storybrooke that Mary Margret Blanchard and horses did not mix. She had grown up in a two bedroom apartment on Main Street living with only her father after her mothers had passed. It wasn't until her first date with David that she had ever even gotten close to a horse. The date had ended in disaster, with Mary Margret throwing her riding helmet at David's head – and catching him in the jaw in the process- and promising that she would never go out with him again.
"I think one near death experience is enough for a life time." Mary Margret replied, eyeing the horse in the stall closest to her with suspicion.
"You forget I was there. You in no way almost died, but you did almost take David's head off with that helmet." Emma pulled a beautiful dark roan out of the stall, causing Mary Margret to take several steps back as she hooked him up to the cross ties.
"I barely grazed him." Mary Margret retorted.
"He still has a scar." Emma laughed. "Either way, one mishap from David not tightening the girth and putting you on the wrong horse shouldn't stop you from riding forever." Emma couldn't imagine her life without horses. At least not now… It was best to stop that train of thought there.
"You might like hanging off the side of a horses who running at full pace, but I certainly don't." She had Emma there. Not many people in Storybrooke understood why she trained trick riding and liberty horses when she could be training cutting horses like David and James' mother Ruth had done.
"Speaking or which, I gotta get Rufio here out into the arena for some work." Emma said with a pat to the roan's neck. "His owner wants to follow the Rodeo circuit south this winter." Rufio's owner, Tina Bell, was a popular trick rider, but he didn't seem to respond to the girl's training methods quite like her other horses. When Tina heard about Misthaven from a friend she drove straight to Storybrooke and demanded that Emma help her train him.
"Alright, alright, I'll let you get to work. But talk to August, see what he wants to do." Mary Margret left Emma to saddle Rufio then.
"Okay boy, let's see why your owner thinks you're so lost in your training." Emma said softly to Rufio as she led him to the arena.
Emma was surprised at how much and little her life seemed to have changed since the crash. Her morning routine was thrown for. Normally she spent long mornings with Henry after feeding the horses and before dropping him off at day care. Now though, each morning was dedicated to visiting John Doe. After each visit her day seemed to pick up where it usually was though. Between her client horses and her house being full with her brothers Emma kept busy. Most nights in the last two weeks she had spent with August. He either came by for dinner with everyone or invited Emma and Henry over to dinner with his father. She loved to be able to talk to August in person again.
August didn't ask about John Doe or the accident the way everyone else seemed to. Mary Margret always asked with a tightly wound concern for the poor man lying in the hospital bed, and a well-meaning but felt condescending concern for Emma. David asked with a protective air, as if he wanted the answer only so he could protect her from it. James asked about him in the way he asked about everything, with a sense of humor. Emma couldn't help but hate answer Graham every morning. She couldn't explain why, but she felt almost guilty every time she had to tell the deputy that no, he wasn't awake yet and no, she could tell him where to find his family. August asked with understanding. He didn't ask to see if she was okay with all the memories that were being thrown her way. He didn't ask to see if she was handling everything. He asked, well he asked just to ask. Just to let her talk about this man lying in the hospital bed.
And Emma did want to talk about him. She wanted to talk about how Henry had started bringing fairy tales for her to read to him after talking to Dr. Whale. She wanted to talk about how Henry hugged him goodbye after every visit. She wanted to talk about his black leather jacket, which the blood had washed off nicely and was the only surviving article of his wardrobe after the crash. She wanted to talk about how despite the wash, sitting next to his jacket she could smell salt water and sunshine. She wanted to talk about the slowly fading tan line on his left ring finger. At least, what she could see of it in the cast. She wanted to talk about the scar on his cheek and wonder how he got it. Mostly though, she wanted to talk about how every time she walked Henry out the door, she wanted to turn back around and embrace him as Henry had. If only to give him some small comfort that he wasn't as alone as everyone in the town now thought.
She wanted to talk about all of this. Yet even with August, she didn't. She would tell him anything Dr. Whale had told her, any updates from the police station, and anything Henry had said. And as the best friend she knew him to be, he heard all the things she wanted to say, but left unsaid. She didn't know what she was going to do when he left today. She had told Henry that he wouldn't be going to day care today so that they could see him off after their daily visit to John Doe.
John Doe's room is where she now sat, reading Henry's story book to said man while Henry leaned against her leg.
"Momma?" Henry asked her suddenly.
"Yeah kid?" She asked, running her fingers through his hair.
"What if he hasn't met his princess yet?" He asked with wide eyes looking up at her.
"What princess baby?" Emma asked, eyebrows pulling together in confusion.
"His princess, to wake him up from the curse! What if he hasn't seen her yet? Maybe she's here, maybe that's why the curse got 'em when he came here!" He bounced in the chair with each progressing thought.
"Henry…" Emma didn't want to have to tell her son that this wasn't magic. That this wasn't an easy fix, a fairy tale world where only good things happened and princess and princes lived happily ever after. Emma had known that her whole life. She wanted to keep that pain from her son, but the last thing she wanted to do was give him false hope, only to yank the rug out from under him. "It's time to go." A problem delayed is a problem denied. She hoped at least.
"Already?" He pouted, sticking out his lower lip and giving her his best puppy dog eyes.
"Don't you want to spend one last day with Uncle August before he goes." She asked, knowing full well the answer.
"Yeah," he said with a dramatic sigh. "But I gotta say goodbye to Mr. Doe first." With that Henry was up and by John Doe's bed side, stepping on the chair to wrap his small arms around the unconscious man.
"Okay baby lets go." Emma said, holding out her hand for Henry to take.
A devious smile had crept upon Henry's face while she waited for him to take her hand.
Oh this is gonna be good. She thought to herself watching her boy.
"But Momma, you gotta say bye to Mr. Doe." Henry whined, still smiling like the cat that got the canary.
Emma eyed him before joining him at John Doe's bed side. She lightly squeezed the man's shoulder before muttering a quite good bye. "Alrighty Henry, we gotta move." She started to walk away before a small hand wrapped around her's holding her in place.
"Momma! Henry complained. "He needs a real bye, like the bye's Uncle August get!"
Uncle August – oh. Oh I see. Emma thought to herself. Emma never let August leave without a kiss to his cheek for good luck on his travels, a tradition they had started long ago. Henry thinks John Doe needs True Love's kiss, and that his True Love is in Storybrooke. What better way to find it then to have random people start kissing this poor comatose man. A thought occurred to Emma then. She may not have to tell Henry that all these fantasies were just that, a fantasy. She could show him, little by little, what the real world was without crushing him. John Doe would wake up eventually, and when he did Henry would see it as it was; a medical condition, not a sleeping curse.
"Oh how silly of me," Emma said playing along.
With a silent apology to her – no not her - John Doe, Emma leaned down slowly and placed her lips softly to John Doe's cheek.