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CHAPTER FIFTY
MEMORIES
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A LOT HAPPENED AFTER ZELENA GAVE BIRTH TO HER AND ROBIN'S BABY GIRL. While Teresa had stayed back with Robin and his new baby at the hospital, Regina had left with Snow and David, to Emma's house. They had found Zelena — after being taken by Emma — long gone. But not only was Zelena gone, Emma was there, and on her wrist was the same cuff that was on Zelena's wrist. According to Emma, Hook had placed it there after taking some of her memories.

Yes, that's right. Hook.

It turns out that while they were in Camelot, Emma had used Excalibur to turn a dying Killian Jones into the Dark One, thus making the both of them a Dark One.

Teresa knew as soon as she heard it, that Dark Hook was not going to be pleasant at all. He despised the Dark One for hundreds of years, and now with himself being one, things could only end up bad. Teresa feared what Hook has in store for them.

"Well once a pirate, always a pirate," Teresa said, releasing a sigh as she leaned back in her chair.

Around the table, early in the morning, she sat with Regina, Snow, David, Gold and Belle. Then, much to her dismay, Emma stood in the room.

Teresa will always be thankful to both Emma and Hook for bringing her to Storybrooke through Zelena's portal, but since she learned of Emma's twisted plan to break her heart, she couldn't help but hate the new Emma. The sooner they got rid of the darkness the better.

"As a man, Hook spent centuries trying to kill me. It makes sense that revenge would be on his mind."

"Why wipe my memory if he was going to announce his plan anyway? There must be more to it," Emma said.

"Yeah, well, even if there is, we only have until noon to stop him. And to save you." Belle brought her hands up from underneath the table to hold Gold's.

"What about Merlin's message?" Teresa said. "He said this Nimue person is the key to stopping the Dark One. Could she help us?"

"Nimue was Merlin's true love," Emma said.

"And she was also the first Dark One."

"I know. How do we find out more about her?"

"Start your search with the Dark One chronicles. There are many texts that can help us."

Teresa raised an eyebrow and fought back a snarky remark. Dark One Chronicles?

"As much as I appreciate devotion to scholarship, there is an easier way. I am still a Dark One. I can protect you, Gold. You just have to take off the cuff." Gold chuckled, causing Emma's face to drop. "You don't trust me.

"Well, if the situations were reversed, would you trust me?"

Emma then turned to Teresa, who sat next to Snow. "Teresa, I saved your life, I brought you to this realm — let me save us again."

Teresa scoffed. "Screw you, Emma."

"Teresa!" Snow exclaimed from beside her.

"No, I'm sorry, Snow, but this Emma isn't your Emma. Not anymore. She ripped out an innocent girls heart just to break mine."

Emma's eyes widened, she hadn't known that Teresa knew.

After seeing her expression of shock, Teresa only grew angrier. "Yea, I know, Henry told me. The only reason I am sitting in this room, is because I actually care about the pirate; he's a good man, and a great friend. And because of you, Dark One, he has become the very thing he hates the most."

"I didn't have a choice in doing that to you."

Teresa scoffed. "Yes, you did. Everyone had a choice, and you chose wrong."

"So it's true." All eyes glanced behind Emma as Henry walked in from having taken a walk. "You're here."

"Henry. I need you to tell them it's okay to take off this cuff. It's the only way to figure it all out."

Teresa stared at Henry for a long moment, waiting for his response. When he finally did response, she was relieved to hear his answer.

"No."

"What?"

"You lied to us...about Hook, about everything. Why should we trust you now?"

"Henry, I'm your mother..."

Henry scoffed. "Are you? Because the mom I knew wouldn't keep things from me."

"I thought you were the one person who would understand..."

"I thought you were the one person I could trust."

A hurt expression was now plastered on Emma's pale face. "So you can forgive Regina and Gold for everything they've done, but not me?"

"They've changed. They showed me they changed."

"So did I."

There was now a thick tension in the room, as everyone remained silent, listening to the mother and son. Teresa could practically feel how angry and hurt Henry felt at the moment; her hand was twitching underneath the table, wanting to reach over and grasp his just to sooth his emotions.

Henry nodded. "When we first met, yeah. But the minute things got tough, you didn't come to anybody. You decided that you would figure it out on your own. We were a team."

A faint smile appeared on Emma's lips. "Operation Cobra. I remember."

"But now you just want your dark magic back so you can do it alone. And I've seen what you do with dark magic." With that being said, Henry brushed past his dark mother and retreated up the stairs, heading for his room.

Teresa sighed, her eyes watching his retreating back until she could no longer see him.

"He needs time, Emma."

"We should really get to the library," Belle suggested, rising from the table. "We've got a lot to do."

"I have a stop to make first," Regina announced as she wrapped herself in her coat. "I'll meet you there."

"Let me guess...I'm not invited."

"You'd be correct," Teresa snapped, glaring at the back of Emma's head. She then turned to Belle. "I'll meet you there."

Teresa turned and brushed past Emma, being sure to purposely pump her shoulder on her way by. She then began climbing the stairs, where she stopped at the end of the hall, at Henry's room.

She knocked softly. "Henry," she called. "It's Teresa, can I come in?"

The door opened, revealing Henry, who sighed. "What?"

Teresa bit her lip. "This is going to sound completely stupid...but are you okay?"

Henry shook his head, causing a frown to form on her lips. She stepped forward, feeling a need to comfort him, and wrapped her arms around him in comforting — she hoped — embrace.

Henry let out a sigh as he wrapped his arms around her in return, his heart racing. He let his eyes close as he leaned his cheek against the side of head. A faint smile pulled onto his lips as the scent of the woods hit his nostrils. She somehow always smelled like the woods, even if she wasn't in it that day.

It seemed like forever until they pulled apart. "We're going to the library, care to join?"

Henry shrugged. "Sure."

➳

It seemed like they were in the library for hours, when in reality, it had only been maybe an hour and a few minutes. After going through what felt like his fiftieth book, Henry closed it and set it aside before rising to gather more books.

As he walked toward one of the shelves, his name was suddenly whispersd. He whipped around and his eyes widened when he seen his dark mother standing and leaning against the wall.

"Mom. You escaped?" He stepped closer toward her, out of sight from those sitting at the table in the other rook.

"And for good reason. I know how to figure this all out. I need your help. I need you to trust me."

"I told you..."

"I know, I know, and I heard you. I really heard you. And Teresa...she can certainly you an earful. I am not asking you to remove my cuff."

Henry furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Then how are you gonna do it without magic?"

"I'm gonna do it with help. With you." Despite being angry with her, a faint smile pulled onto his lips. "Hook stole the dreamcatchers. He took my memories, too, which means I must know something. If we can get it back, I can help everyone. And, kid...no one was ever better at figuring out how to break a spell than you. Operation Cobra, remember?"

Henry glanced into the next room. After seeing that the others were still occupied with the books placed in front of them, he turned back to his birth mother. "A locator spell. There's one at Grandpa's shop. All I need is the stuff you used to make the dreamcatchers. It will take us to the others."

Emma smiled. "So you will help me?"

"I just need one more thing," he whispered.

"What's that?"

"A name."

Emma thought for a moment, though she already knew the perfect name. "Operation Cobra, part II?"

Henry nodded, his eyes boring into hers. In that moment, he began to think that maybe, just maybe, his birth mother could return.

"That'll do."

➳

THREE WEEKS AGO
CAMELOT

"They should be back already..." Henry stressed. Out behind Granny's Diner, Henry and Teresa were laying side-by-side on the ground.

The pair were unable to sleep, the two of them having wanted to stay up and wait for Regina, Snow and David to return with Emma and Hook, so they had decided to lay down on the ground underneath the blanket of stars above.

Teresa had to admit, she was just as concerned as Henry. Both of the people that were currently missing and they were trying to find, had literally saved her life. Granit, Emma was the reason she was shot in the first place, if they hadn't brought her through Zelena's portal and to Storybrooke, she would have died from the infected arrow wound...and she wouldn't have met her family. Even though she only ended up losing her mother again, this time forever, Teresa couldn't be more thankful that she at least got to see her after many years of being apart. She was even more thankful to learn that her father was still alive and out in the world somewhere.

One of the nights she had been held up in the ice cave by her mother, Ingrid had told her everything about him; his appearance, the way he carried himself, his personality, his likes and dislikes, even his name.

Sherlock Holmes.

Teresa had kept her father to herself, as telling it to everyone would only make them look at her with more pity because she had lost not only her mother, but didn't have her father. She didn't need more pity than what she already received after losing her mother. Teresa vowed that one day she would find him — her father — for she needed to meet him.

"They'll find them soon," Teresa replied, not knowing what else to say but that. Truth be told, she didn't know what was going to happen, if Emma and Hook were going to come back at all.

Hook was dying the last time she seen him, and if Emma hadn't gotten to do what she wanted to save him, she could only imagine what Emma was doing if he had truly died. The thoughts were horrifying to even keep in mind.

Deciding to change the subject to hopefully get Henry's mind off the immense worry that was flowing through his veins, Teresa said, "You know I used to do this a lot when I was a kid."

"What?" Henry asked, glancing away from the stars to look at the side of her face. The moonlight that was shining down on her face made his heart race. "Stargaze?"

Teresa nodded. "Almost every night, I would lay out on the terrace, just to watch the stars until I fell asleep." A smile pulled onto her lips. "I would wake in my bed the next morning, my mother having moved me."

Henry's lips pulled back into a sad smile. It bad been a long time since Teresa mentioned her mother. He knew it was hard for her to talk about Ingrid, so he never brought it up when they spoke to each other, but now that she was openly speaking about her mother, Henry was going to be right there for her, to comfort her, just like he had when her mother first died and he found her in the woods.

Henry reached across the small space between them and placed his hand over hers. "I'm sorry."

Teresa felt her heart race as his hand touched hers, and turned away from the stars to meet his gaze. She bit her lip before asking after Neal. "What was your father like?"

Before Henry could answer, the pair were pulled into the darkness, their minds going black, and their eyes closing.

Their unconcious bodies were then teleported onto the floor of Granny's Diner, where not only they laid unconcious, but everyone else — Regina, Robin, Hook, Snow, David, Baby Neal, Zelena, Granny and the dwarves — as well. The only one standing and not unconscious was Emma, who then used a dreamcatcher to wipe away their memories before enacting a new curse that would wipe away all their memories from Camelot.

➳

PRESENT DAY
STORYBROOKE

"This is it," Henry said, walking up the steps of the clock tower, his mother not far behind. "He put them here."

Just as they reached the top of the steps, they were able to see all the dreamcatchers hanging in tower.

"Makes no sense," Emma said. "Why would Hook keep the dreamcatchers where we could so easily get to them?"

"Because we can't get to them."

"He knew I wouldn't have magic. He's toying with me, tormenting me."

Henry smirked and retrieved the bottle of squid ink from within his jacket. "Good thing the locator spell wasn't the only thing I took from Gold's shop. Call me an optimist, but I was hoping I'd have to use it."

"Henry, are you sure?"

Henry nodded. "You didn't have to include me in this operation, but you did. You didn't try and do it alone. If you're willing to take that first step back, so am I." He stepped forward and poured a single drop onto his mothers wrist, where the cuff laid.

He was then able to remove it; an astonishing smile pulled onto Emma's lips. "I will make it up to you."

"You want to start by saving the day?"

➳

"And we're supposed to just believe that you're gonna give back our memories...just like that?" Teresa said, her eyes trained on Emma as she stood with her arms folded over her chest. Henry had texted not only her, but Regina, Robin, Snow and David to meet them at Regina's office; Emma and him had brought along Merida as well.

"We can trust her," Henry reassured her.

"Can we?" Regina asked.

"Yes."

After a long moment, Regina sighed. "Okay..."

Teresa let out a sigh as she held up her dreamcatcher. With a wave of her hand, Emma conjured their memories back into their minds.

Teresa's eyes widened as she watched every moment from Camelot play in her mind like a movie; the moment they arrived, dancing with Henry at the ball, the hunts, the archery practice, meeting Violet, the letter from Henry, the heartbreak, Merlin — Teresa remembered everything. Including the most important one of them all; the one memory that made her heart race and face flush.

Henry had kisssed her.

After all the memories were returned to them, the room remained silent as everyone took everything in. Eventually, Teresa's eyes rose and she met Henry's. The teenage boy with the heart of the truest believer gave her a nervous smile, one which she returned.

"Emma," David said in concern, his eyes staring at his daughter that was staring at her dreamcatcher in utter shock. "What's wrong?"

"I remember. I know what he's doing. I know what they are doing."

A/N: THEY REMEMBER!!! And they're just too damn cute!!! 😍