As David comes home and the Swan family plots, things between him and Mary Margaret tumble further and further, and with everyone pulling them in different directions, David finally makes a decision on what he wants to do.

***

Emma watched David make the rounds inside the Nolan house with trepidation on his face, though he worked hard to try and conceal it. "Now I know why Lucius has tried so hard to ram into my skull that masks can be important," she murmured to Newt.

Harry giggled from her other side, but Newt chuckled as he leaned against the staircase rail. "Theseus has them, too."

"Uncle Theseus did amazing at Hogwarts," Harry nodded in agreement.

Queenie made her way through the throng of people with a small smile on her face, Henry bounding after her. "Henry was telling me more about David's situation," she told them as she sat on the bench.

"Oh?" Emma raised an eyebrow, adjusting her seat and patting the bench next to her. "What are we working with, Henry?"

"OK," Henry plopped down next to her, and Harry inclined his head to hear better. "You know why he doesn't remember? The curse isn't working on him yet."

Emma frowned. "But David has amnesia."

"Which is preventing the curse from replacing his fairy tale story with fake memories," Henry nodded.

"Ah," Queenie nodded and crossed one leg over the other. "That explains the leak."

"The leak?" Emma blinked at her in surprise.

"That's what I'm calling what happened," Queenie nodded. "A few of the fairy tale memories 'leaking' through the amnesia. They're fighting in his head."

"So the fake stories are preventing everyone from remembering who they really are," Harry deduced.

"Exactly!" Henry grinned. "And now is our chance to help him. We just have to get him to remember that he's - "

"He's Prince Charming," Emma finished. And my father, she added silently, still . . . not sure how she felt about that detail.

"We just have to jog his memory by getting him and Ms. Blanchard together," Henry finished.

Harry blinked. "But we tried that already."

"And it woke him up," Henry pointed out smugly.

Newt laughed and ruffled Henry's hair. "Good point, lad!"

"Hey!" The voice made the family look up, and David smiled tentatively at them as he joined them. "You're the ones who saved me, right?"

"Oh!" Emma jumped to her feet, smiling and nodding as Henry did the same. "Yeah, I guess."

"And, uh . . . " David looked around sheepishly. "You're also the only ones I know here."

"You can hide with us!" Harry chirped with a grin.

"Fantastic," David sighed in relief, then he brightened when someone arrived with a food tray. "Thank you," he said, taking a toothpick and stabbing it into a carrot.

Henry watched with interest as David twirled the toothpick, then he asked, "So, you ever use a sword?"

David let out a startled laugh, looking at Henry in surprise. "I'm sorry?"

"Mum knows!" Harry grinned.

"Harry!" Emma blushed.

"So does Uncle Newt," Harry pointed, making the man blink. "Well, he's usually better with knives." He tilted his head in consideration. "Must be a family thing."

"It's a family hobby," Emma nodded, rolling with the plan as she patted Harry's shoulder.

David looked intrigued, making Henry elbow Harry and grin. "And Queenie," David gestured to the other blonde, who tilted her head. "Thank you for the sweets the other day."

"Oh, you're very welcome," Queenie beamed.

"I don't know if you've actually met the last member of the family," Emma gestured, and Newt pushed away from the staircase. "David Nolan, Newt Scamander."

"Pleasure," David smiled, reaching for Newt's hand.

"Likewise," Newt nodded, shaking the offered hand. "Welcome home."

"Yeah," David's smile turned strained as he looked around. "Thanks." He shook his head, then turned back to Emma. "Emma, you're friends with Mary Margaret, right? You know if she's coming tonight?"

"No," Emma shook her head. "She couldn't make it."

"Oh," David mumbled, looking forlornly down at the carrot on a toothpick.

***

Regina found Kathryn in the kitchen, the woman taking fruit out of a bowl to arrange it on a platter. "You should go out there," she said. Kathryn ignored her, and Regina finally plucked the bowl from her hand. "There's plenty of food," she told her. "Go. Be with your husband."

Kathryn sighed, drying her hands on a paper towel. "I lost him once, now I have him back . . . but it's like I still don't have him back." She shook her head in frustration. "You have no idea how that feels."

Regina pursed her lips. "Actually, I do," she revealed. "I lost someone, too."

Kathryn looked up in surprise. "Really?"

"Yes," Regina nodded. "But the love I lost, there's no bringing him back. You have a chance here. Go to him."

Kathryn took a deep breath. "You're right," she nodded and walked to the doorway to the living area. "And Regina?" she turned around. "Thank you. Thank you for being such a good friend. It's been so lonely . . . I'm not used to having one."

Regina smiled kindly. "Neither am I."

"Well," Kathryn chuckled lightly, "like it or not, you have one now." She found Emma and her family with Dr. Whale, the man nodding attentively as he listened to whatever Harry was saying. She looked around the room for her husband, and when she didn't find him, she joined the small group. "Have you seen David?" she asked worriedly.

"Um, he," Emma began to point in the direction she had last seen him, and she blinked when she didn't find him. "Huh."

Kathryn turned to Dr. Whale, but the man shook his head. "No."

***

"Did you not get the invite?"

Mary Margaret yelped and almost toppled off the stepladder she stood on, and she looked away from attempting to hang a birdhouse. She found David at the fence, a fond smile on his face as he watched her. "David," she swallowed hard.

He chuckled and launched himself over the fence. "Here," he held out his hand for the birdhouse. Mary Margaret slowly handed it to him and accepted his help down from the stepladder. David climbed it instead, and he reached into the tree branches to hang the birdhouse. "So . . . I heard you resigned from the hospital. Was it me?" He looked down at her as he finished hanging the house. "Because of what I told you? About how I felt about you?" Mary Margaret averted her gaze, and David sighed as he stepped back down onto solid ground. "Come on, don't tell me it's one-sided."

"You're married," Mary Margaret reminded him. "It should be no-sided."

"What it should be doesn't matter," David shook his head. "Whoever married Kathryn, it's not me. I didn't choose her. I'm choosing you. Now I know you feel it. I can tell."

Mary Margaret swallowed and took a few steps away. "I know you think that we have this connection . . . but maybe it's because I happen to be the person who saved your life?" David opened his mouth, but Mary Margaret shook her head and collected the stepladder. "So, why don't we leave it at that?"

David sighed and watched Mary Margaret leave. In his pocket, he absently touched the card that had been in the bag left by Queenie.

***

"Come in!"

The borderline biting shout made Emma chuckle quietly as she stepped into Mary Margaret's loft. She watched the brunette scrub away at her dishes, hard enough that she worried the plate might break in her hands. "You might want to ease up, or that Brillo Pad's going to press charges," she japed.

Mary Margaret gritted her teeth. "The dishes were just piling up."

"This have anything to do with David stopping by?" Emma asked, making Mary Margaret look up in surprise. "I saw him sulking away as I pulled up."

"We just," Mary Margaret stammered. "Um . . . he just - "

"Yeah, I know what you both 'just,'" Emma told her, sitting at the counter. "And you did the right thing."

Mary Margaret sighed, returning to lightly scrubbing the dishes. "He made a pretty compelling case."

"But he's still married," Emma finished for her. "I know. I was just at the party."

Mary Margaret slumped, abandoning her work. "What do I do?" she asked.

"You need to stop cleaning," Emma answered. "And have a drink." She pointed to the whiskey on the counter, and Mary Margaret nodded as she turned off the sink. Pleased, Emma grabbed the bottle and two glasses and took them over to the table. "Here's the thing," she said as she poured their drinks. "I don't know a lot about relationships . . . other than having many that failed. But generally speaking, if you think something you want to do is wrong, it is. So, you got to stay strong, and he has to figure out his life." She held up her glass. "Cheers."

Mary Margaret's face set with determination, and she clinked her glass against Emma's.

***

Something screamed inside David as he flipped through the photographs Kathryn had set out on the coffee table, and he only looked up when he heard Kathryn. "You look different," she told him as she sat next to him on the couch. "Your hair, it's longer." David nodded as he looked down at his haircut in the pictures, and he felt Kathryn run her fingers through his hair. "You used to always have a buzz cut. You used to complain that long hair was itchy. And hard to take care of."

"I guess it grew while I was in there," David shrugged, squinting at the photographs, internally begging for anything to come back.

But nothing did, and Kathryn moved her hand to place it on his back. "So, I was going to go to bed," she told him. "Do you want to join me?"

David turned to her. "Do you mean 'go to bed' go to bed? Or . . . go to bed?"

Kathryn smiled softly. "Whatever you want," she answered.

David hesitated, then he looked back down at the pictures. "Why don't we just sit and talk some more?" he asked.

Kathryn suddenly reached for him and kissed him, and David froze in his seat. After a moment, he reached up and touched Kathryn's cheek, leaning into the kiss -

NO.

The abrupt feeling of wrongwrongWRONG made David gasp and lurch away, making Kathryn blink at him in shock. "This," he sputtered, pulling his hand away from Kathryn. "This isn't right."

***

Mary Margaret cradled a mug of coffee in her hands as she read from the morning paper, then a chuckle behind her made her jump. "I'm a hell of a doctor, huh?" Dr. Whale smirked as he rounded her table. "No way he wakes up on someone else's watch."

Mary Margaret gave a strained smile. "Hello, Dr. Whale."

"So," Dr. Whale placed his hands on the back of the chair. "I heard that you resigned from the hospital. I hope it wasn't because of me."

Mary Margaret blinked. "Why would it be because of you?"

"Well, our . . . date," Dr. Whale winced. "If we can call it that, after I royally screwed up. I'm sorry about that again, by the way. I don't think I apologized enough after that happened."

Mary Margaret's smile relaxed. "Thank you, Dr. Whale," she nodded to him. "I forgive you. Besides," she nodded to where Ruby was pretending not to watch and doing a rather poor job of it. "You seemed to have a better time afterwards."

Dr. Whale cringed. "Still not classy of me," he muttered. "But thank you, Ms. Blanchard. I appreciate it. Have a good day."

"And you," Mary Margaret smiled.

Dr. Whale dipped his head and waved to Ruby before heading for the door. Mary Margaret turned back to her paper, only to look up when the chair in front of her screeched. "Ms. Blanchard," Regina dropped into the chair, a tight look on her face. "May I have a word?"

Mary Margaret cleared her throat, folding her paper. It seemed like she wasn't going to get much reading done this morning. "Of course."

"I wanted to talk to you about my friend Kathryn," Regina told her, blood red lips pressed tightly together. "But more specifically, I wanted to talk to you about her husband David." Mary Margaret's heart dropped into her stomach as Regina leaned forward. "You don't belong together," she hissed. "He's not yours. He's taken. Find somebody else."

"I haven't done anything!" Mary Margaret protested.

"Really?" Regina drawled suspiciously. "So he just up and left his wife on a whim?"

Mary Margaret's heart flip-flopped in her stomach. "He did what?" she breathed in shock.

Regina's eyes narrowed. "You don't know." Stunned, Mary Margaret could only shake her head. "Well, I suppose you soon will. So listen carefully, dear, because it's in your best interest," Regina sniffed, crossing her arms on the table. "Stay away. He's in a fragile state. He doesn't know who he is or what he's doing, and you're this close - " She pinched her fingers a centimeter apart. " - to wrecking multiple lives. So before you do something that can't be undone, let him remember who he was."

Mary Margaret swallowed hard, watching Regina leave the diner, too many thoughts swirling around in her head.

***

Queenie hummed to herself as she sorted through the potion vials she had on the floor next to her, able to hear Newt rummaging in his case next to her. "We better find a house to stay here soon," she said as she found what she was looking for. "We're running out of some of these potions."

"We aren't picky, are we?" Newt poked his head out of his case, his hair standing up like he had been electrocuted. "I mean, all we need is a house with space for all of us. We can do the renovating on our own."

"Yes, but it would have to be slow," Queenie pointed out as she handed him the potions she held. "It would be suspicious if we had a fixer-upper one day and a pristine house the next, yes?"

Newt snorted. "We'd probably be the only ones to see it before we bought it, and the only ones who would visit would probably be Henry and Mary Margaret . . . and one of them wouldn't bat an eye."

Queenie giggled. "You enjoy having a new nephew, don't you?"

"What's not to love?" Newt grinned in excitement as he dropped back down into the suitcase, his voice echoing up into their room. "And Harry doesn't have to hide!"

Queenie giggled as she peered at the rest of the potions, then hasty knocking at the door caught her attention. She quickly shut the case, making Newt yelp in surprise, but she rapped twice, four times, then thrice in succession on top of the case. Newt quieted, and Queenie scooped the vials off the floor and hid them in her dresser. "Coming!" she called and headed for the door. When she opened it, she found a panicked-looking David outside, a duffel bag in his hand. "David?" she blinked in surprise.

"I didn't know who else to talk to," David let out in a rush, eyes blown wide. "Whatever happened to me . . . it's not who Kathryn knew, and I can't pretend to be that person. Hell, I don't know enough about that person to even try and pretend."

"David," Queenie held up her hands, watching his breathing with concern. "Take it easy."

David took a deep breath, attempting to calm down his breathing. "When I was still in the hospital, you said memories were one of your specialties," he told her, looking at her hopefully. "Is that true?"

Queenie's eyes widened, and she quickly smoothed her expression. "They are," she confirmed, folding her arms and giving David a considering look. "As long as the person with them is willing to behave."

David swallowed hard. "Something's in there," he whispered. "I know something is, but no matter what I do, I get nothing. All I know is . . . it isn't Kathryn."

Queenie nodded slowly. "It's Mary Margaret."

David nodded. "Whatever price you ask for, I'll pay it," he promised. "But if there is anything you can do that will help . . . please, help me."

Queenie tilted her head, practically able to taste the desperation rolling off of David in waves. "There's no price when it's for a friend," she told him. "Meet me back here in an hour."

David's mind exploded with thanks-happiness-relief, and he slumped with a smile. "Thank you," he said fervently.

Queenie giggled. "I will see you soon, David."

He nodded and hurried down the hall, and Queenie shut the door with a click. The moment it latched, the suitcase popped open and Newt appeared with a wide-eyed look. "Does that mean - ?"

"This is the opening I need," Queenie grinned widely, clapping her hands in excitement. "Newt . . . I get to see if I can bring his memories back!"

***

Queenie, you absolute treasure, we do not deserve you. A manipulative treasure for getting that far, but a treasure nonetheless.

So, now it's a race to see who makes which memories win . . . Regina with David Nolan's, or Queenie's with Prince Charming's. We'll find out in . . . *checks watch* Just a few minutes! :) Double update, coming up!

~ Miss Moffat