Hook's Daughter

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

Disclaimer: rights to ABC and Odette Beane.

I did not know the details, what had happened between Mary Margaret and David, that Mary Margaret had headed for the bar, that she had more to drink than she had had in the last six months combined, and that Dr. Whale was talking in her ear. As Emma and I patrolled the town, though, I sensed a new tension in the air. "Storybrooke did not seem so sleepy anymore," I commented to Emma. "Agreed. Affairs! Intrigue! Definitely not what it first was." "If we were to ask Henry, he would probably say that it is your presence pulling apart the status quo," I said. "Which is why I won't ask." We both laughed. "What in the...?" I said out loud. Emma stopped the car. Case in point. We were on the corner of Mifflin and Main and I could swear--swear--I had just seen someone jump out of the second-story window of Regina's mansion. "Did you see that?" Emma asked. "Yes..." Emma grabbed her nightstick, and we crept toward the gap in Regina's hedge, both of us knowing that would be the spot someone would try and get through. "Someone is coming," Emma whispered as quietly as she could. I nodded, letting her know I heard it also. Emma took a quick breath, and slashed downward when she saw the dark figure. The stick connected, and the figure went to the ground. After a groan, I heard a familiar voice say, "Ow." "Graham?" I asked in disbelief. "What the hell are you going here?" Emma asked. Realizing the answer, she helped him up and brushed him off. "Ah. I get it. Well, sorry. You okay?" Emma asked. "The mayor needed me to--" "--sleep with her?" I said. We all stared at each other, and then Graham tried to explain. Emma and I, a little grossed out by him, did not want to hear it. We went back to the car and drove off.

A few days later, Emma and Mary Margaret invited me over for breakfast, which I gladly agreed to.
        "You do realize," Mary Margaret said, "that those were mine. Right?" Emma looked across the kitchen at the shattered vase and pile of dripping flowers in the corner. "Sorry," Emma apologized, "I-I thought they were from Graham." I had to agree with Emma. If I had been in Emma's spot, Graham giving me flowers after sleeping with the Mayor, then I would have also destroyed them. Only I probably would have destroyed them on top of Graham's head. "They were from Dr. Whale." "Oh," Emma said, going to the closet for the dustpan. "Oh." As Emma cleaned up, Mary Margaret told us about her one night stand with Dr. Whale. "That's good you're getting over David," Emma said. "Maybe," Mary Margaret said, "I guess so. But do you know what's also good?" "What?" "Admitting you have feelings about somebody," Mary Margaret said. "For example: you admitting you have some feelings for Graham." Emma screwed up her face. "What are you talking about?" "It's obvious, Emma," I said, smiling mischievously, "everyone can tell. You don't have to be smashing vases for it to be obvious." "The guy gets under my skin, that's all," Emma said, "can't I be irritable without people gossiping?" "Emma," Mary Margaret said, "come on." "What?" "The wall," Mary Margaret said, "this wall you have up around your heart. You think it protects you. And it probably does. But there's a cost to that." Emma had a look of sadness go across her face. Mary Margaret continued, "It makes it hard to love when you're defended so well."

I had promised Henry that day that I would discuss his book after school, so I was in the hall outside of Henry's class when Graham walked inside of the school. He caught my eye and looked over. "Ashton, I-" "You don't need to apologize to me, Graham. Whatever, you had an affair with the mayor, okay? But Emma? Emma and I saw you that night, and then you kiss Emma? She told me about it. What kind of person does that?" "A very confused one. I came to talk to Mary Margaret because-" Just then, the bell rang and Henry's class came out into the hall. Henry was the last one to come out, walking beside Mary Margaret and asking her about Snow White. Graham walked to Mary Margaret and started out his conversation with, "You know that I'm a good person, don't you, Mary Margaret?" "Ready to go?" I asked Henry. "Hold on," Henry said, "I wanna listen." "It's not nice to eavesdrop." "Aren't you curious?" "No, not really," I said. "Well, I am." Mary Margaret looked at Graham with a tender concern in her eyes before saying, "Of course, Graham, of course. And you--are you okay? You're covered in sweat and as white as a sheet. Have you not been sleeping?" Mary Margaret touched his cheek, "You're burning up! What have you been doing all night?" "I've just been having this feeling that you and I know each other," he said. "In some kind of--in some kind of other life." Henry looked at me, smiled, and whispered, "Graham is the hunter for the Evil Queen who was supposed to kill Snow White. He had a change of heart and decided not to kill her. He's remembering!" Graham continued, "I don't know. It sounds crazy." He shook his head. "I'm sorry for coming here." He started to walk away. "Why do you think that?" Mary Margaret asked. "Last night," he said, "when I kissed Emma, I saw this whole vision. Of...of something. Another world. And you were there, and we knew each other. Somehow. I-I was attacking you. With a knife. I think? I don't know. I don't know why I would be doing that." "Let's go, Henry," I insisted. Henry followed me out of the school. "We have to go tell Emma!" Henry said, "Graham is remembering!" We headed to the police station.

        "Emma! Emma!" Henry cried, running into the police station, his backpack flopping behind him. I was a few feet behing him. Henry, panting, pulled the backpack from his back and dumped it on the floor. "It's Graham," he said, "I think he;s starting to remember!" "Remember what, kid?" Emma asked, "sit down. Catch your breath." Emma got Henry some water, and he eventually sat down at her desk and gathered himself. "Graham came to see me and he asked about my book!" It was true, it had taken an abnormally long time to get to the station because Graham had caught up to us and Henry had explained all about Graham's life in the Enchanted Forest. Long story quick: Graham was the Huntsman, the guy who was hired by the Evil Queen to kill Snow White. He didn't kill her though because he had a change of heart and instead took an animal's heart to the queen. When the queen figured out about the fake heart, she took the Huntsman's heart and controlled him. According to Henry's theory, Regina probably still had his heart and was controlling him. Which would explain his feelings for Emma while having an affair with Regina.
        "What did you tell him?" Emma asked. Henry looked down. "Henry?" "I tolg him what I thought had to be true," Henry said, "I told him that he was the Huntsman, and that those flashes he saw when he kissed you were flashes of him remembering that time." "He told you about that?" Emma asked, blushing fiercely. Henry shrugged. "Yeah, but I head about it anyways." "Where did you send Graham?" Emma asked Henry. "I didn't send him anywhere, I just told him about how the Queen trapped him into a bargain to kill Snow White." Emma furrowed her brow. I knew what she was thinking: In Henry's book world, Regina was the Evil Queen and Mary Margaret was Snow White. "And why did she do that?" Emma questioned. "Because the Queen killed Snow White's father, and she knew that she had to get rid of Snow White as well. But she couldn't do it herself because she couldn't risk being found out. So she went looking around the countryside and found the Huntsman." "Okay." "That's where the wolf thing comes from," Henry said, "the Huntsman loved them, and he had one as a friend. And Regina knew that, and she promised to protect the wolves if he helped her kill Snow White." "And so what happened?" "He dressed up as one of Snow White's guards," Henry said, "and almost killed her, but she ran away. While he was chasing her, he realized he didn't want to do it." "How good of him," Emma said, leaning back in her chair. She looked over at his backpack. "You really know these stories, don't you? You don't even need the book." Henry smiled slightly, "I know them all. "So where did he go when you were done?" "I don't know," Henry said. "Wait," I said, "Graham seemed very upset when Henry told him that the Queen stole his heart when she found out he didn't kill Snow. And, he mentioned something that might help." "What, Ashton?" "He said he had to find the wolf before it was too late." Emma's eyebrows shot up. "It can't be the same wolf, Emma." "Yes, it can." "What wolf?" Henry asked. "The wolf that is pretty much the reason I am still here. The one I swerved so I wouldn't hit it and ended up in jail. I have to find the wolf."