–[Fairy Tale World]–

(The camera pans to show a castle, then a large forest. Prince Charming’s carriage is traveling along a path through the forest. He sits with a woman.)

Prince Charming: What do you think of the view, my dear?

Abigail: I’ve seen better. This is taking forever. I told you the Troll Road would’ve been quicker. And far less bumpy. Are you even listening to me?

Prince Charming: Yes, of course I am.

Driver: Whoa, whoa!

Abigail: Now what?

(The carriage stops. The prince gets out to investigate, leaving behind a bag on the seat.)

Prince Charming: Worry not – it’s but a fallen tree. Fellas? Shall we?

(Someone jumps on top of the carriage. Prince Charming looks at the base of the tree.)

Guard: My Lord? What is it?

Prince Charming: These markings. This tree didn’t fall – it’s been cut. It’s an ambush.

(The person on the carriage jumps down and takes the bag that the prince left in the carriage. The woman screams and Prince Charming rushes back.)

Guards: Sir!

Abigail: Guards! Stop, thief! Help me!

(Prince Charming gets on a horse and chases after the thief. When he catches up to them, he tackles them to the ground.)

Prince Charming: Show your face, you coward! You’re…a girl.

Snow White: Woman.

(Snow White grabs a rock a hits Prince Charming in the face. She gets back onto her horse and rides off.)

Prince Charming: You can’t hide from me! Wherever you are, I will find you!

–[Real World]–

(Mary Margaret and Dr. Whale are on a date in Granny’s Diner.)

Dr. Whale: Um, where were we? Something about you wanting fifteen kids?

MMB: No! Good lord, no. I meant in my class where I teach. You’ll meet them tomorrow. They’re coming to the hospital as part of the volunteer Outreach Program.

Dr. Whale: Oh, yeah. That is a great program.

MMB: I mean, obviously I don’t want fifteen kids of my own. Um, I mean, not that I don’t want kids. I do. I want kids, marriage, true love – I want it all. But that of course is…

(Dr. Whale is ogling Ruby, who is clearing a table.)

MMB: …Wildly inappropriate for me to discuss on a first date.

Dr. Whale: Hm?

MMB: Ruby!

Ruby: Yes, Mary Margaret?

MMB: Cheque, please.

———–

(Mary Margaret is walking down the street. She comes across Emma, who is reading in her car.)

MMB: Hey. You okay?

Emma: Oh, in the world of tight spots I’ve been in, crashing in my car doesn’t even rank in the top ten.

MMB: You’re sleeping here?

Emma: Til I find a place.

MMB: You decided to stay. For Henry.

Emma: Yeah, I guess. This town doesn’t seem to have any vacancies. None, actually. Is that normal?

MMB: Must be the curse.

Emma: Why are you out so late?

MMB: Well, I’m a teacher, not a nun. I had a date.

Emma: From the looks of things, it went well.

MMB: As well as they ever do.

Emma: Tell me he at least paid.

MMB: Mm-mm.

Emma: Ew.

MMB: Well, guess if true love was easy, we’d all have it. You know, if things get cramped, I do have a spare room.

Emma: Thanks. I’m not really the roommate type. It’s just not my thing. I do better on my own.

MMB: Well, goodnight. Good luck with Henry.

Emma: Yeah…

———–

(At the hospital, the kids from Mary Margaret’s class are running around. Mary Margaret notices Henry in the room with John Doe. He’s about to touch his face when Mary Margaret walks in.)

MMB: Henry. We could really use your help with the decorations.

Henry: Is Mr. Doe going to be okay, Miss Blanchard?

MMB: His name’s not John Doe, honey. That’s just what they call people when they don’t know who they are.

Henry: Do you know who he is?

MMB: Nope. Just bring him flowers on my rounds.

Henry: What’s wrong with him?

MMB: I don’t know. He’s been like this as long as I’ve been volunteering.

Henry: Does he have any family or friends?

MMB: No one’s claimed him.

Henry: So, he’s all alone.

MMB: Yeah… It’s quite sad.

Henry: You sure you don’t know him?

MMB: Course I’m sure. Come on. You shouldn’t be in here.

———–

(Emma and Henry are at Henry’s ‘castle’.)

Henry: I found your father – Prince Charming.

Emma: Henry…

Henry: He’s in the hospital, in a coma. See the scar? He has one, too.

Emma: So? Lots of people have scars.

Henry: In the same place? Don’t you see what this means? The curse is keeping them apart with the coma. Now they’re stuck without each other. We have to tell Miss Blanchard we found her Prince Charming.

Emma: Okay, kid. Telling someone their soulmate is in a coma is probably not helpful. Not having a happy ending is painful enough, but giving someone unrealistic hope is far worse.

Henry: But what if I’m right? We know who they are. Now they have to know.

Emma: And how do you intend to make that happen?

Henry: By reminding him. We have to get her to read their story to John Doe. Then, maybe, he’ll remember who he is.

Emma: Okay.

Henry: Okay?

Emma: Yeah, we’ll do it. But we’ll do it my way. Let me ask her.

———–

(Mary Margaret makes cocoa for herself and Emma. They sit and talk.)

MMB: You want me to read to a coma patient?

Emma: Henry thinks it will help him remember who he was.

MMB: And, who does he think he was?

Emma: Prince Charming.

MMB: And if I’m Snow White, he thinks me…and him…

Emma: He has a very active imagination, which is the point. I can’t talk him out of his beliefs, so we need to show him. Play along, do what he says and maybe, just maybe.

MMB: He’ll see that fairy tales are just that. That there’s no such thing as love at first sight or first kiss. He’ll see reality.

Emma: Something like that.

MMB: Well, sadly this plan is rather genius. We get him to the truth without hurting him.

Emma: I told him that we will all meet tomorrow for breakfast at Granny’s. And you will give a full report.

MMB: Well, I suppose I’ll get ready for my date. I guess I’ll have to do all the talking.

———–

(Mary Margaret sits with John Doe in his room. She has Henry’s book.)

MMB: Look, I know this is odd, but I’m doing it for a friend. So please, just bear with me.

(Mary Margaret starts reading to John Doe. She reads the story about Snow White and Prince Charming. Near the end of the story, John Doe reaches out and grabs her hand.)

———–

(Mary Margaret and Dr. Whale walk back into John Doe’s room.)

MMB: No, I’m sure he’s waking up. He… He grabbed my hand.

Dr. Whale: Everything’s steady. The same as it’s always been. What were you doing in here?

MMB: Oh, I was just reading h-him a story.

Dr. Whale: Oh. Well perhaps you, um, dozed off. Perhaps you imagined it.

MMB: No, I didn’t imagine anything.

Dr. Whale: Miss Blanchard, I can only tell you what I see, which is nothing. Sometimes there are minor fluctuations in readings. Perhaps you heard the machine register something and misunderstood? Look, why don’t you go home, get some rest. If anything changes, I’ll call you, okay?

(Mary Margaret leaves. Dr. Whale calls someone.)

Regina: Yes?

Dr. Whale: It’s Dr. Whale. You told me to call you if there was ever a change in a John Doe. Something’s happened.

Regina: What?

Dr. Whale: One of our volunteers said he grabbed her. And there was a slight fluctuation in brain activity.

Regina: And who was this volunteer?

Dr. Whale: Mary Margaret Blanchard.

———–

(Mary Margaret sits on her bed, flipping through the book. The illustration of Snow White zooms into the fairy tale world.)

–[Fairy Tale World]–

(Snow White gathers various things and puts them into a bag. Also, she puts a necklace with a bottle around her neck. She slings the bag over her shoulder and heads outside. She walks a short distance and is caught in a net. Prince Charming comes out of hiding, laughing.)

Prince Charming: I told you I’d find you. No matter what you do, I will always find you.

Snow White: Is this the only way you can catch a woman? By entrapping her?

Prince Charming: It’s the only way to catch thieving scum.

Snow White: Aren’t you a real ‘prince charming’.

Prince Charming: I have a name, you know.

Snow White: Don’t care. Charming suits you. Now cut me down, Charming.

Prince Charming: I’ll release you, when you return the leather pouch you stole with my jewels.

Snow White: Not the jewelry type.

Prince Charming: Indeed. I noticed.

Snow White: What is that supposed to mean? Are you insulting me?

Prince Charming: No, quite right. My apologies. How dare I cast aspersions at the person who robbed me? Where are my jewels?

Snow White: I sold them.

Prince Charming: What?

Snow White: what do you care? Don’t you have a palace full of treasures somewhere?

Prince Charming: These were special. Among them was a ring that belonged to my mother. A ring I was about to give-

Snow White: The nag with the bad attitude? That’s what this is about?

Prince Charming: She’s my fiancée.

Snow White: Good luck with that. You must be getting something impressive to have agreed to that union.

Prince Charming: Excuse me?

Snow White: I know how this works. True love? It doesn’t exist. It’s all arranged marriages and business transactions. There’s no such thing as love at first sight or first kiss. Let me guess – her kingdom wants to take over yours and this is, what, a last ditch effort to avoid war?

Prince Charming: This is not a takeover. It’s a merger, and quite frankly, it’s none of your business. Now, this is what’s going to happen.

Snow White: Mmhmm?

Prince Charming: I’m going to cut you down and you will take me to whoever has my jewels and then, you’re going to get my ring back.

Snow White: Mm-mm. Why would I do that?

Prince Charming: Because you don’t want me to tell anyone who you really are.

(The prince takes out a piece of paper. It’s a wanted poster for Snow White.)

Prince Charming: Snow White. Help me get my ring back, or I turn you over to the Queen’s forces. And I have a feeling the Queen’s not as ‘charming’ as I am.

Snow White: Well, I wouldn’t want to stand in the way of your getting true love.

(The prince cuts Snow White down.)

–[Real World]–

(Henry and Emma are sitting in Granny’s diner. Emma has just changed her shirt.)

Emma: Thanks for the shirt. Hey, is this your mother’s?

Henry: She’ll never notice.

Emma: Where does she think you are, anyway?

Henry: Playing Whac-A-Mole.

Emma: And she bought that?

Henry: She wants to believe it, so she does.

Emma: Oh, imagine that.

(Mary Margaret enters the diner.)

Henry: She’s here.

Emma: Hey, don’t get your hopes up. We’re just getting started, okay?

MMB: He woke up.

Emma: What?

Henry: I knew it.

MMB: I mean, he didn’t ‘wake up’ wake up, but he grabbed my hand.

Henry: He’s remembering!

Emma: What did the doctor say?

MMB: That I imagined it, but I’m not crazy. I know it happened.

Henry: We have to go back. You have to read to him again.

MMB: Let’s go.

Emma: Wait, wait what?

MMB: If I got through to him, if we made a connection

Emma: You don’t believe…

MBB: That he’s Prince Charming? Of course not. Somehow, some way, I touched him.

———–

(Emma, Henry, and Mary Margaret arrive at the hospital.)

Henry: You’re right – he’s waking up.

Graham: Henry, you should stay back.

MMB: What’s going on? Is it John Doe? Is he okay?

Graham: He’s missing.

(The three notice that Regina is in John Doe’s room. Regina sees them, and approaches them.)

Regina: What the hell are you doing here? And you – I thought you were at the arcade. Now you’re lying to me?

MMB: What happened to John Doe? Did someone take him?

Graham: We don’t know yet. His IVs were ripped out but there’s no sign for sure there’s a struggle.

Henry: What did you do?

Regina: You think I had something to do with this?

Emma: It is curious that the Mayor is here.

Regina: I’m here because I’m his emergency contact.

MMB: You know him?

Regina: I found him. On the side of the road years ago with no ID. I brought him here.

Dr. Whale: Mayor Mills saved his life.

MMB: Will he be okay?

Dr. Whale: Okay? The man’s been on feeding tubes for years on constant supervision. He needs to get back here right away or, quite honestly, ‘okay’ might be a pipe dream.

Emma: Well then, let’s quit yapping and start looking.

Regina: That’s what we’re doing? Just stay out of this, dear. And since I clearly can’t keep you away from my son, I guess I’m just going to have to keep my son away from you. Enjoy my shirt, because that’s all you’re getting. Sheriff, find John Doe. You heard Dr. Whale. Time is precious.

(Regina and Henry leave.)

Graham: Doctor, how long between your rounds since you last saw him?

Dr. Whale: Twelve hours or so.

Graham: Then that’s what we need to account for.

———–

(Everyone heads to the security room. Walter and Leroy are both there.)

Graham: You two were the only employees on the floor last night. And you saw nothing.

Walter: Not a thing.

Emma: Did anyone walk by?

Leroy: I didn’t see nothin’.

Graham: Miss Blanchard, was there anything unusual you saw during your trip with your class?

MMB: I don’t think so.

Emma: We’re looking at the wrong tape. This is the ward where Henry’s class put up decorations. If this was really the tape from last night, we’d see the banners the kids hung.

Leroy: Tch, you fell asleep again.

Walter: You selling me out?

Leroy: I ain’t getting fired for this.

Walter: At least I don’t drink on the job.

Graham: Gentlemen, enough. Where’s the real tape?

(The tape is switched. They see John Doe get up and walk out the door.)

MMB: He walked out alone. He’s okay.

Emma: Four hours ago. Where does this door lead?

Leroy: The woods.

–[Fairy Tale World]–

(Prince Charming and Snow White are traveling through the forest.)

Prince Charming: I thought you weren’t the jewelry type. What’s that around your neck?

Snow White: Don’t worry about it.

(The prince takes the necklace from Snow White’s neck.)

Snow White: Careful! It’s a weapon.

Prince Charming: Dust? What kind of weapon is dust?

Snow White: Fairy dust.

Prince Charming: I thought that was a good thing?

Snow White: When it comes from a good fairy. This stuff? Is deadly. It transforms the most fearsome of adversaries into a form that’s easily squashed.

Prince Charming: Then why didn’t you use it on me?

Snow White: Cause you’re not worth it. It’s very hard to come by. I’m saving it for a special someone.

Prince Charming: Ah, the Queen. You got a lot of anger there, don’t you, Snow?

Snow White: The charges on her posters are lies. It didn’t stop her from sending her huntsman to rip out my heart.

Prince Charming: What happened?

Snow White: Well, not everyone is a soulless royal. He took pity on me and let me go. I’ve been hiding in the forest ever since. Trying to amass enough fortune to leave this place. Escape to another realm. Somewhere isolated. Where I can never be hurt.

Prince Charming: Sounds lonely.

Snow White: No lonelier than an arranged marriage.

Prince Charming: At least I don’t prey on the innocent.

Snow White: Up until now, I’ve only ever stolen from the Queen. I thought your carriage was one of hers. No one else ever uses that road.

Prince Charming: I took the scenic route.

Snow White: Well, lucky for me. All I’m doing, Charming, is what it takes to survive. She wants me dead.

Prince Charming: So, what did you do to incur that much wrath?

Snow White: She blames me for ruining her life.

Prince Charming: Did you?

Snow White: Yes.

(They continue on until they come to a river.)

Snow White: I’m thirsty. May I?

Prince Charming: Sure. Make it quick.

(They both take a drink from the river. While Prince Charming has his back turned, Snow White hits him and then pushes him into the river. She digs through the bag to find the pouch. Snow White runs back into the forest until she gets to the road. There, she encounters the Evil Queen’s guards. They surround her.)

Guard: Huh. Look who we found. There’s nowhere to hide. The Queen wants your heart. And we’re not going to disappoint her.

–[Real World]–

(Emma, Graham and Mary Margaret are in the woods searching for John Doe.)

Emma: What is it?

Graham: The trail runs out here.

Emma: You sure? Because I thought tracking was one of your skills.

Graham: Just give me a second. This is my world. I got it.

Emma: Right. Sorry.

MMB: What does he mean, ‘His world’? Isn’t finding people your thing, too?

Emma: Sure. Just, people I find usually run places like Vegas. Not a lot hit the woods.

MMB: That’s an interesting job – finding people. How’d you fall into it?

Emma: Looking for people is just what I’ve done. As long as I can remember.

MMB: What made you start? Your parents? Henry told me that your… Th-that you were from a similar situation to his own. Did you ever find them?

Emma: Depends who you ask.

(They hear a crack behind them. They turn around as Henry runs down a hill.)

MMB: Henry!

Henry: Did you find him yet?

Emma: No, not yet. You shouldn’t be here.

Henry: I can help. I know where he’s going.

MMB: And where’s that?

Henry: He’s looking for you.

–[Fairy Tale World]–

(Snow White is slammed against a tree by a guard. Another guard takes out a dagger and approaches her.)

Guard: Hold her still.

(The guard raises the dagger above Snow White’s chest, but is suddenly hit a knife from behind and collapses. Prince

Charming emerges from behind a tree and begins a fight with the other guard. Snow White runs towards the fallen guard’s horse, which has a weapon, but she is grabbed by another guard on horseback. The prince defeats the guard he was fighting, then notices the retreating guard and Snow White. He takes a bow and an arrow and shoots the guard off the horse.)

Prince Charming: Are you alright?

Snow White: You… You saved me.

Prince Charming: Seemed like the honourable thing to do. Are you ready?

Snow White: For what?

Prince Charming: My jewels.

Snow White: Right, you’ve got a wedding to get to. The trolls I sold them to are just beyond the next ridge. We need to be careful.

Prince Charming: What? Of trolls?

Snow White: You’ve clearly never met one.

Prince Charming: Aren’t they just little people?

Snow White: You’re thinking of dwarves. Show a little respect. They’ll cut your hand off sooner than they’ll shake it.

Prince Charming: Well, then let’s get this over with.

Snow White: Yes, we’ve both got places to be. So, let’s go.

Prince Charming: You have your lonely little corner of solitude to find?

Snow White: And you have a ringless fiancée to appease.

–[Real World]–

(Emma, Graham, Mary Margaret and Henry and still searching for John Doe.)

Henry: You’re the one who woke him up. You’re the last one he saw. He wants to find you!

MMB: Henry, it’s not about me. I just… I think he’s lost and confused. He’s been in a coma a long time.

Henry: But he loves you! You need to stop chasing him, and let him find you.

Emma: Kid. You need to go home. Where’s your mom? She’s going to kill me and then you…and then me again.

Henry: She dropped me at the house. Then, went right out.

Emma: Well, we need to get you back immediately.

Henry: No!

Graham: Guys!

(John Doe’s bloody hospital bracelet is found on the ground.)

MMB: Is that…

Emma: Blood.

–[Fairy Tale World]–

(Prince Charming and Snow White come to a bridge on horseback. They get off, and Snow White sends the horse away.)

Snow White: Trolls don’t like horses. We walk from here. Follow me and keep quiet.

Prince Charming: Where are they?

Snow White: Oh, they’re here.

(Snow White leaves a pile of gold coins on the edge of the bridge. Several trolls then climb up the side of the bridge and confront her and the prince.)

Snow White: It’s fine. I know them.

Troll: Why’re you here? I thought we were done.

Snow White: I want to make another trade.

Troll: I’m not talking in front of him. Who is this guy?

Snow White: No, he’s with me.

Troll: Oh, that’s good. With you. That makes it all fine.

Snow White: He’s no one. Look, I want to buy back the jewels I sold you.

Troll: Who is he?

Snow White: I said don’t worry about it. Look, I’ll give you back all your money. Just give me the ring. You can keep everything else.

(Another troll takes out the pouch and goes to give it to the prince.)

Prince Charming: Thank you. We appreciate the help.

Troll: He’s too eager. This is a setup.

Snow White: It’s not!

Troll: He’s a royal!

(The troll grabs Snow White. Prince Charming draws his sword.)

Prince Charming: Let her go!

Snow White: No! You can trust me. Look, you can trust me. If I wanted to set you up, I would have done it the first time.

Troll: The time for dealing is done. Seize him!

(The trolls check Prince Charming’s bag and pat him down. They take the necklace of fairy dust and throw it aside. They find the wanted poster for Snow White.)

Troll: Snow White. Quite a reward. Take her.

(The prince picks his sword off the ground and attacks the trolls. Snow White gets away.)

Prince Charming: Go! I’m right behind you.

(Snow White runs, but grabs the fairy dust on the way. Prince Charming fights off the trolls and manages to kick one off the bridge. A troll trips the prince and the others drag him back. Snow White is running through the forest.)

Snow White: Follow me! They don’t know the forest like I do.

(She realizes that the trolls have the prince. They are about to kill Prince Charming.)

Troll: Royal blood is the sweetest of all.

(Snow White uses the fairy dust to transform the trolls into bugs.)

Prince Charming: You… You saved me.

Snow White: It’s the honourable thing to do.

Prince Charming: What about your special someone?

Snow White: I’ll think of something else.

Prince Charming: Thank you.

Snow White: Anyway, how could I let Prince Charming die?

Prince Charming: I told you – I have a name. It’s James.

Snow White: It’s nice to meet you, James. We should go. There may be more of them coming.

–[Real World]–

(The four are still searching the woods. They come to the Toll Bridge.)

MMB: Where is he? Can you see him?

Graham: The trail dies at the water line.

(They spot John Doe lying in the water.)

MMB: Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!

Graham: I need an ambulance! At the old Toll Bridge, as soon as possible.

(Emma, Graham and Mary Margaret drag John Doe to the shore.)

MMB: No, no, no, no, no! No, no, no! I found you!

Emma: It’s going to be okay.

Graham: Help’s coming.

Henry: Is he okay?

Emma: Henry…

Henry: Is he going to be okay?

Emma: Henry, don’t look. Okay? Don’t look.

MMB: Come back to us. Come back to me.

(Mary Margaret starts CPR. When she puts her mouth on his, he starts breathing again and coughs up water.)

John Doe: You saved me.

Henry: She did it. She did it! She woke him up.

Emma: Yeah, kid. She did.

John Doe: Thank you.

MMB: Who are you?

John Doe: I don’t know.

MMB: It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.

———–

(John Doe is brought in. Everyone is back at the hospital.)

Nurse: Watch your back. Coming through!

Dr. Whale: We got it from here.

(The four watch through the glass as he is being treated by doctors. Kathryn, his wife, bursts into the room where John Doe is being treated and rushes to his side.)

Kathryn: David! David, is that you?

Dr. Whale: Excuse me, ma’am?

Kathryn: Oh my god…

Dr. Whale: Ma’am, you can’t be in here. Please, you can’t be here right now.

Kathryn: David…

Dr. Whale: You can’t be here, ma’am. Can you wait over here for a second, okay?

MMB: Who is that?

(Regina walks up behind them.)

Regina: His wife.

–[Fairy Tale World]–

(Snow White and Prince Charming are walking through the forest.)

Prince Charming: So… Well, you probably want this.

Snow White: Right, the gold. Thank you. And, um, you can’t get married without this.

(She gives him back the pouch with his jewels and the ring. He takes out the ring.)

Prince Charming: Ah. I know – not your style.

Snow White: Well, there’s only one way to find out.

(Snow White tries on the ring.)

Snow White: Yeah, not me at all. I’m sure your fiancée will love it.

(She gives the ring back.)

Prince Charming: Yeah. Yeah, if you need more, you can have the rest. The ring is all I require.

Snow White: Oh, no. I’m good, thanks. We both got what we wanted.

Prince Charming: Well, wherever you’re going, be careful. If… If you need anything-

Snow White: You’ll find me.

Prince Charming: Always.

Snow White: I almost believe that.

Prince Charming: Well, goodbye, Snow White.

Snow White: Goodbye, Prince Charming.

Prince Charming: I told you – it’s James.

Snow White: Nah, still like Charming better.

(Snow White and Prince Charming part ways.)

–[Real World]–

(At the hospital, Kathryn and David are in the room together. Emma, Regina, Henry and Mary Margaret and outside David’s room.)

Regina: His name is David Nolan. And that’s his wife, Kathryn. And the joy on her face, well, it’s put me in quite the forgiving mood. We’ll talk about your insubordination later. Do you know what insubordination means? It means you’re grounded.

(Kathryn exits David’s room.)

Kathryn: Thank you. Thank you for finding my David.

MMB: Um, I-I don’t understand. You didn’t… You didn’t know that he was here in a coma?

Kathryn: A few years ago, David and I were not getting along. It was my fault, I know that now. I was difficult and unsupportive. I told him if he didn’t like things, he could leave. And he did. And I didn’t stop him. It was the worst mistake I ever made.

Emma: You didn’t go look for him?

Kathryn: I assumed he’d left town all this time. And now I know why I never heard from him. Now I get to do what I’ve wanted to do forever – say I’m sorry. Now we get a second chance.

MMB: That’s wonderful.

(Dr. Whale enters.)

Dr. Whale: Well, it’s something of a miracle.

Kathryn: He’s okay?

Dr. Whale: Ah, physically, he’s on the mend, um, his memory is another issue. It may take time, if at all.

MMB: What brought him back?

Dr. Whale: That’s the thing. There’s no explanation. Something just clicked in him.

Emma: He just got up and decided to go for a stroll?

Dr. Whale: He woke up and he was delirious and his first instinct was to go find something, I guess.

Henry: Someone.

Kathryn: Can I see him?

Dr. Whale: Yeah, of course.

(Kathryn goes back into David’s room.)

Regina: Henry, let’s go.

Henry: Wait, my backpack.

(Henry goes back to grab his backpack and whispers to Mary Margaret.)

Henry: Don’t believe them. You’re the one he was looking for.

MMB: Henry…

Henry: He was going to the Troll Bridge. It’s like the end of the story.

MMB: Henry, he was going there because it’s the last thing I read to him.

Henry: No, it’s because you belong together.

Regina: Henry.

(Regina and Henry leave.)

———–

(Emma catches up to Regina and Henry, who are leaving the entrance of the hospital.)

Emma: Madam Mayor!

Regina: Wait by the car.

(Henry leaves the two alone.)

Regina: Miss Swan, I let you off the hook back there. Don’t press it.

Emma: I’m sorry, but Mrs. Nolan? Kind of feels like her story could be a load of crap. All this time, there’s a John Doe lying around in a coma and nobody puts it in the news, nobody goes looking. Something’s not right here.

Regina: Well, what else would make sense to you? Why would Miss Nolan lie? Do you think I cast a spell on her?

Emma: I think it’s rather strange you’ve been his emergency contact all these years and you only found her now.

Regina: Well, this town is bigger than you know. It’s entirely possible to get lost here. It’s entirely possible for bad things to happen.

Emma: And just when it’s convenient you manage to solve the mystery?

Regina: Thanks to you. That tape you found was a stroke of genius. So, we went back and looked at past tapes. Turns out Mr. Doe’s been talking in his sleep. He’s been calling out for a Kathryn. After that, it wasn’t hard to put the pieces together. And here I thought you and Mary Margaret would be pleased. True love won out. So bask in the moment, dear. Were it not for you two, they would have lived their lives completely alone. That’s why I’m willing to forgive your incessant rudeness. Because all this has reminded me of something oh-so very important. How grateful I am to have Henry. Because not having someone? Well, that’s the worst curse imaginable.

———–

(Mary Margaret watches David and Kathryn hug in his room. She looks down to her hand and fiddles with her ring – the same ring that Prince Charming was going to give to his fiancée. Mary Margaret is sitting at home. There’s a knock on the door.)

MMB: Emma.

Emma: Sorry to bother you so late. Is that spare room still available?

(Mary Margaret nods and lets Emma in.)

–[End]–