Beane Odette - Reawakened - A Once Upon A Time Tale

— Hey, Sheriff, — she said. — You look stressed. Can I have a second?

He glanced up and saw her standing in front of his car, arms crossed.

— Not now, Emma, — he said, continuing. — I’m busy. You should be at the station.

— I’m trying to help.

— You’re not.

— Hey, stop, — she said, coming toward him. She put a hand on his arm and told him that he needed some rest, that it was no good to listen to a ten-year-old. Graham, frustrated, told her that Henry was the only one who seemed to make any sense. He tried to tell her about the wolf — to tell her that it somehow fit, that he couldn’t feel anymore; he hadn’t felt much in a long time.

— I have no heart, — he said. — I can’t say it any other way.

— You do, — Emma said, shaking her head at him. How had he descended into this much of a tailspin after one awkward interaction on the street? Sure, he’d crossed a line, but it was just one bad moment. They could fix it. She didn’t understand what had happened to him.

— Graham, come on, — she said, stepping close. She took his hand and put it on his own chest, held it there. — Feel.

He closed his eyes, breathed in.

— That’s just the curse, — he said. — It’s not real.

— No, — Emma said. — It’s not. That’s you. That’s your heart. You’re fine.

Looking over Emma’s shoulder, Graham said, — Am I?

She frowned at this, twisted, and turned to look. She gasped.

The wolf. The wolf was there, standing on the sidewalk not ten feet from them.

— I’ve seen that wolf before, — Emma said.

Her first evening here. In the middle of the road, when she had tried to leave Storybrooke. Graham had made fun of her. And now here he was, chasing it.

What in the hell is happening? Emma thought.

— That makes two of us, — Graham said. — Come on.

They followed the wolf into the woods. Graham retold Emma the story he’d heard from Henry — that in the other world, the Queen had taken his heart — and he said that it had occurred to him that the wolf was taking them back to his heart.

— This wolf was my companion at one point, — he insisted. — I think it’s trying to show me where to find it.

— You have it, Graham, — Emma said.

He shook his head.

— No. And I have to get my heart back, Emma, — he said. — I have to.

— Do I need to again point out how insane you sound?

— Not necessary, — Graham said, distracted. — Look.

They were at the edge of the cemetery, and the wolf had trotted up to a large crypt and stopped, nosing at the door, looking back at them. Emma had to admit — it looked a whole lot like the wolf she’d seen the first time she’d tried to leave Storybrooke.

— In there, — Graham said. — My heart is in there.

He rushed to the crypt. Emma followed him in.

The inside of the crypt was relatively clean, considering, and Graham started to feel along the walls and the floor of the small stone room, clearly intent on finding a secret panel, something. Anything. Emma just watched, unsure what to do. Could she find a way to snap him back to reality? Or was this something bigger, something that would require… a hospital?

His brief search revealed nothing.

He looked around again. Then let his eyes rest on the coffin itself.

— No. You are not digging up some grave, Graham, — Emma said. — Stop for a second. Think about this. The law aside, you’re not well. You’re…

— What are you two doing here?

Emma and Graham both turned, startled at a third voice.

Regina, holding flowers, stood outside of the crypt, a few feet away, a look of legitimate shock on her face.

— Police work, — Emma said, stepping out into the grass. — What are you doing here?

— Putting flowers on my father’s grave, — she said, — like I do every week.

Bullshit, Emma thought, looking at Regina with great skepticism. It was her father’s grave? It was nothing if not suspicious. That word didn’t even do it justice.

— We’re looking for something, — Graham said to Regina.

— You don’t look well at all, dear, — Regina said, her face softening now that she’d seen Graham. — Let’s take you home.

— No.

Regina, tense, looked back and forth between them. Eventually she raised her chin and nodded.

— I see. You and she.

— It has nothing to do with that, — Graham said firmly. — It’s about you. I don’t love you and I don’t want to be with you. Not anymore, Regina. It doesn’t feel right. — He shook his head and looked down, frustrated. He tried again: — I don’t feel anything when I’m with you. I want the chance to feel… something.

Regina took this in a new rage building in her eyes. Emma saw Graham bracing himself for some standard Regina-style verbal abuse, but her eyes snapped to Emma.

— This is your fault, — she said. — You can’t stay away from what I love, can you?

— They keep coming to me, Regina, — Emma said. — Maybe you should ask yourself why people keep running away from you.

It felt good to say that.

— Regina, it’s not…

But Regina ignored Graham’s words as she took a quick step toward Emma, dropped her flowers, and — to everyone’s surprise — punched Emma square in the mouth.

Her head snapped back as a circle of pain opened up around her mouth, but she didn’t fall, and she held herself steady by reaching for the coffin. She saw as Graham lunged to restrain Regina before she could strike again.

Emma stared at Regina for another moment, rubbing her jaw.

Then, without another word, she walked away. She heard the last of their conversation as she headed back to town. She wasn’t going to do this now.

— Graham, — Regina tried. Her voice had softened.

— Don’t talk to me, — Graham said. — Don’t talk to me anymore. We’re done. Forever.

Emma smiled.

Later, Graham dabbed hydrogen peroxide near the small cut on Emma’s jaw. She protested, but she let him. She liked being close to him, she liked the care he was taking. She liked what he had said back at the crypt. For Emma, this was the beginning of a new story. A new love story, maybe, even though Emma would never have called it that.

— I don’t understand any of it, — Graham was saying. — The wolf, any of it. I think — I think so much of it has been Regina. You almost start to feel insane when you’re in the wrong relationship.

— Tell me about it, — Emma said.

— I don’t know how I went so far down that road with her in the first place.

— I know why we do that, — she said, thinking of all the times it had happened to her. — It’s sate. And being alone is terrible. Ow! — He’d dabbed the peroxide over the open cut and it stung. He smiled apologetically, touched her hand.

— All better, — Graham said.

— Getting there, — Emma said, and she leaned forward and kissed him. It felt right.

It was nice, and brief. A little breach in the wall, Emma thought.

He pulled away from her after a moment. He smiled at her strangely.

— What? — Emma said. — What’s wrong?

— I remember, — he said.

— You remember what?

— The first time we kissed, I had a flash of it, — Graham said. — Just a flash. That’s what set it off. And now — now I can remember everything. — He was getting excited. He took her hand. — She is the Evil Queen, Emma. She…

Graham’s legs suddenly buckled, and Emma reached for him, concerned.

— You okay? — she said.

As his eyes rolled back into his head, he tried to muster a sound, but Emma couldn’t make it out.