Fifty Two

+ + +

NAOMI DIDN'T KNOW HOW SHE got there. She was told they would never be able to return. The town was destroyed with Pan's curse. It did not exist anymore. But here she was, lying awake in her bed, staring up at the ceiling of her studio apartment.

She was told it didn't exist, but here she was. Everything was put together, just as ever before. So clearly it was still in existence. 

It was like waking up from one long, ten month dream. 

The only reason she knew that was the date on her phone. Ten months had passed from the last time she fell asleep to now. Ten months? She was ten months older. By the date shown on her phone, her nineteenth birthday was in weeks. 

Traffic zoomed along just outside of her window. Nothing had ever changed. So clearly, Regina was wrong about the nature of the curse. Storybrooke was still standing, as where they. No problem. 

Well, one problem. One tiny problem. 

Ten months had passed. She was ten months older. Ten months of time could hold millions of memories. So many new experiences and interesting conversations; new friends or foes. People were sure to have memorable moments over that span of time. 

So where were they? 

Why couldn't she remember getting a new job, or shopping for new clothes, or possible dates she could have been on? None of it was there. Common sense told her something had to be there. She hadn't been in a coma. 

A missing year was what it was. One year of memories wiped clean from her brain. 

Her first phone call was to Snow, now Mary Margaret. It picked up on the second ring. 

"Naomi? Oh my god! You have no idea how good it is to know you're here! We were just about to call ourselves," Mary Margaret answered. She sounded tired. Naomi could hear it in her voice. 

"Yeah yeah, hi. What the hell happened?" Naomi shouted into the receiver. "Please tell me I'm not insane. This town isn't supposed to exist. Why am I here? Did I get sick and go comatose? Was I imagining the last 19 physical years of my life? Are we in an alternate reality? What?"

Silence on the other end of the line. Naomi had finally done it. She finally scared Mary Margaret away. 

David spoke next. "We're just as confused as you are. How about you come by for lunch? There's something we... um, we just want you to be the first to see it. Tell us what you think," he suggested. 

Naomi gratefully accepted and hung up the call without another word. At least she wasn't the only crazy one in town. 

Naomi let herself into their apartment after they didn't answer the door after three sets of knocks. She set her keys on the door side table and threw her jacket across the back of the couch. 

"I'm here!" She shouted, studying the apartment for any obvious differences. 

"Just a moment!" David responded from the bathroom. 

She made herself a glass of water and took a seat at the bar counter. She began humming to the tune of an interesting rock song she remembered hearing on the jukebox at Granny's countless times. Something about a radio. The chorus was repetitive, easy to remember. She quite liked it. What she saw once the bathroom door opened made her spew water. 

Mary Margaret and David walked out of the bathroom together. He was helping her adjust with her nine month pregnancy belly. 

"Hi!" Mary Margaret exclaimed. Her smile was so wide Naomi worried her cheeks may rip. 

Naomi threw her glass into the sink and ran forward to give them hugs. "Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god!" She squealed, throwing her arms around the both of them. She made sure to keep a safe distance and lean more towards David, as not to hurt the baby. They both laughed and returned the hug. 

"You're ready to pop! How- I mean- wow. Wow! Congratulations!"

"Thank you, sweetie," Mary Margaret kissed her cheek. "Yeah, it was news; waking up the morning and..." she mimed the belly's growth at an unnaturally rapid pace. Naomi laughed. 

She took several steps back and ran a hand through her hair. This was all too much to take in at one time. She could only imagine what it was like for them. Better to just ignore the things not meant to be understood. 

"This is great, guys, really. But how? I mean, I know how. But how? I don't understand the how part of the how," she said. 

David shrugged. "Your guess is as good as ours."

"Lovely," she rolled her eyes, reclaiming her seat at the bar. "You know, if it's a girl you have to name her Naomi. It's the law."

"Oh, is it?" Mary Margaret laughed, carefully sitting next to her. David smiled. Naomi nodded innocently. "We'll see about it."

+ + +

For once, Naomi ate her dinner with the camp. She sat with her peers, surrounded by the voices and laughter of people she had grown to... tolerate. Like. She liked a few of them. 

Her and the Merry Men had given these people their meal. They spent a solid hour shooting down birds and squirrels to feed the entire camp. The camp that now consisted of the Merry Men, their wives, and the traveling party of former Storybrooke citizens. Almost two hundred people were going to call this place a home for the next couple of days. 

Just like the old times. 

Regina returned Naomi's dagger to her. She pulled it out of thin air. Regina told her that only one of them needed to mope around after the loss of one of their most prized possessions. Naomi felt that she could actually hug her. And she did. After which, Regina promptly walked away. No smacking or shoving off a cliff. 

Progress. 

It felt good to help people. It felt good to be the one putting the smiles on people's faces, and them thanking her for her good deeds. She was proud of herself. 

Too bad she could only partially feel it. She could only partially feel the pride in what she was doing. She could not feel anything else. Partial numbness. There was no other way to describe it. Only half of her was feeling how good she should feel at that time, and the rest just... didn't. It didn't feel. There was nothing there. 

The best way she would have described it was half of herself. Only half of herself was present. 

It sounded crazy. Absolutely insane. That's why she wasn't planning on telling anyone. 

But Naomi wasn't prepared to let this mood affect how she would behave for the next few days. She was with her old friends. Her partial numbness would have to wait. 

It wasn't until she was halfway through with her squirrel when Robin came to sit by her. She looked up at him with a tiny smile, patting the space on the mossy ground right beside her. He sat, branding his own dinner. 

"I did tell you you would have to explain where you went. Go ahead," he cut straight to the point. 

Naomi swallowed and nodded. "Yes, of course. Are you comfortable? It's a story."

"I have time."

She stared into the light haze of smoke that had filled the campsite since their arrival. Where to start?

"I went south. That's what I had intended. If I went far enough south, I would reach the ocean. That was the end goal of my plan, I remember. I wanted freedom at sea. Somehow along the way I lost track and began a westward journey. That led me straight into the clutches of the Queen. I did a lot of damage between the start and end of my journey. More WANTED posters went up in my name. Larger sums were added to the rewards for my capture. I reverted back to my former bandit life for about six months before being thrown into prison. The curse hit not long after."

Robin put his hand on his knee. "Why were you arrested? Who's heirloom did you steal?"

"No one's! The Queen arrested me herself on charges that I wouldn't kill Snow White for her. She attempted a bargain, and I explained my end of the trade. I don't do people's dirty work. It did not meet up to her royal expectations," Naomi defended herself. "I had actually been good that week."

He thought this over for a minute. For a moment, Naomi worried she had overshared. Or maybe she was remembering things incorrectly. It had been a very long time ago, and a memory wipe had occurred along the way. 

This entire story may have been a complete lie. She wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. 

"Bixby found you before you left. He tipped us off about your departure. Did you know he followed you afterwards? We wouldn't send our own guards to search, so he went himself. Two days he stayed with us, and then began following your trail on his own," Robin told her. 

She nodded slowly. "Yeah, I know about that," she muttered, biting her lip. 

"God, Naomi, did you even think? What did you expect would happen after you left? Did you think we would just shrug it off and go about our merry ways?" Robin demanded, raising his voice only slightly. Naomi wouldn't have noticed if she didn't know him well. 

"You may have had enemies with the Merry Men, but there were many of us who did care about your well being. We had grown quite fond of you. So many jumped to the conclusion you were dead. Why- Little John spent many nights crying over you. The only reason we didn't send search teams for you was because we couldn't afford it! You know what time you left. You know what was happening. Our lands were on the brink of a war. Bixby was the only one willing to abandon his post and find you."

It amazed her how Robin was able to remain calm for this. She would have lost her temper before the conversation even started. 

She wasn't even going to try to defend herself. It would be wasted breath. A part of her knew there was no making up for the stress she had caused. No matter how little she thought she deserved it. They mattered to her. They had deserved a good bye. 

"Speaking of which, where is that boy? Bixby disappeared entirely after the curse. I assumed he went to that town I keep hearing of with you," Robin asked, looking around the camp ground for his old comrade. 

Naomi bit the inside of her cheek. Not now. Please, of all times to bring him up, not now. 

"Bixby is dead," she told him. Robin looked directly at her, astounded. "It happened about two years ago. Roughly."

He took a deep breath, staring at her shoes for a second. "He was a good man. Very welcoming and brave. He will be remembered," Robin said. Naomi nodded, staring lazily into the flames of the fire. He didn't get choked up or hesitate in his words. That was one of the things Naomi always admired about him. He knew what needed to be said. 

"All in all is done. You are here now. You're home. That is all that matters," he stated, smiling. He grabbed her hand gently. "You're home, Naomi. This is where you belong."

"Thank you, Robin. Truly."

Naomi looked around the faces for a moment, not searching for anything in particular. Her gaze soon focused on Baelfire staring at them from the other end of the campfire. The two locked eyes for a second. Naomi gave him a tiny smile and waved. Baelfire turned away to converse more with Belle. 

Robin tilted his head slightly. "You know each other?"

It took her a moment before responding."Yes. Quite well, actually. He was my best friend," she whispered, gazing into the flames. 

"Was?"

Naomi nodded, stabbing her knife into the dirt. "Yeah, was. I messed up, Robin. I really messed up."

He readjusted his sitting position to face her more fully. "Perhaps I can help?" He suggested. 

"Thanks, but I don't think there's much you can do to help us now," she admitted, biting the inside of her cheek. "Like I said, I screwed up. I didn't understand it at the time, but I think I'm starting to. I betrayed their trust in a way I am not proud. I thought- dammit, I thought I was doing the right thing! Nothing made sense. I was scared and confused and manipulated. I was really messed up. He hasn't spoken to me since."

Robin looked back to where Baelfire sat as she continued. "Can't really say I blame him, though. I would've resented the person for the rest of the time both of us were left breathing if I were in his position. He's within his right, as far as I'm concerned."

"Do you think that is what he's doing? He'll resent you forever?" Robin asked. Naomi nodded again. "And I assume you have tried to talk again, but he won't hear you out?" Naomi nodded. 

More like he wouldn't step within twenty feet of her. 

He sighed, throwing a stick into the fire. "Well, I don't know what advice I can offer. This is between you and him, and whoever decides to make the first move... Just don't overthink it, Naomi. We all make mistakes. It is up to you whether or not you'll let it get in the way of your own progress. It is down to him whether or not he wishes to heal your broken bonds."

She picked up her blade from the dirt and wiped it off on her pants. "Thank you, Robin. I've missed you."

"As have I," he smiled, gently patting her arm. "And you are very welcome, my dear."

Her mind was set on saying something else when her wandering eyes focused on someone else. Someone she hadn't seen in almost two years. 

"Excuse me. I think that's an old acquaintance over there...." She stood up with a smile, peering through the smoke at the man's face. "I'll see you later, okay, Robin?"

"I'll be looking forward to it."

Naomi made her way through the camp, slowing down a tiny bit when she saw the little girl in his arms. He got his daughter back. Emma had told her about his mission to get back to his daughter. 

The smile fell off her face. She didn't know why she was smiling. Their last and only visit had not been friendly. 

"Jefferson?" Naomi called out. 

He looked around for where his name had come from. She held up a waving hand. He waved her forward, which she promptly did so. A few bystanders sent her odd looks as she voluntarily approached the Mad Hatter. 

Jefferson kissed his daughter's cheek and set her on the ground. He whispered something in her ear with a grin. The little girl nodded and ran off in the direction of the other children, who were playing together by the stream. 

"It was Naomi, right?" He muttered. 

She nodded, but just before punching him in the jaw. It was dumb luck he had let his girl play. Naomi wouldn't have done that in front of her. 

"That's for my wrist," she shouted. 

Jefferson reached up and felt at his jaw that was sure to be bruised in the morning. "I know I deserve that."

She was surprised he still remembered that. She would definitely not forget it. At least not for a while. That poor wrist went through so much within that one summer. 

"I don't remember you being so feisty," he admitted, replacing the hat she knocked off. 

"People change." Naomi leaned against a nearby tree, smiling. "So, that's the infamous lost daughter I kept hearing about for days on end. What's her name?"

"Grace. Good to see you too, Wright."

Naomi played tricks with her knife between her fingers. "Actually, it's Jones. Naomi Jones. Wright was my Storybrooke name."

"Of course, I forgot."

Naomi watched Grace play around with some of the younger children. She recognized them from the foster care system. And there were even a few Lost Boys swimming in the deeper parts. She would need to remind herself to talk with them too. 

"Why aren't you playing with her? Wasn't the entire point of getting back to her spending time together? Don't you want to make up for lost time?" She asked. Jefferson shook his head, almost amused. 

"She doesn't need to be seen with me. I want her to make friends as herself, not as my daughter. I'm a little mad, remember?" Jefferson told her, tipping his hat slightly. He too was smiling at this point. So no hard feelings. 

He was joking around, but she didn't feel it. She wanted to be serious for just one minute. 

"Actually, I don't think so," Naomi admitted. Jefferson cocked an eyebrow in disbelief. "Not anymore, at least. I don't see you running around with 4 different bowlers muttering about feathers and magic geese. You're not what they described you as in the story books. I personally think they exaggerated when labeling you as the Mad Hatter."

"What are you getting at?" He asked, crossing his arms. 

"Why are you so insistent on being the village crazy guy?" Naomi demanded. "When people poke fun at me I fight back."

He shook his head with a tiny chuckle, as if she were ignorant to all the secrets of the world. "You didn't know me in Wonderland. Trust me. What I did to you back in Storybrooke was toned down."

"You did things with your life as a prisoner. Most people can't say that. It doesn't make you insane," she told him. Her voice was very sincere. 

Jefferson rolled his eyes and leaned against the tree opposite her. "Whatever you say. Maybe I have calmed down. But my change would be equalized by theirs. It's already visible as day. That damned town changed each and every one of us."

"Good. It keeps things interesting." Naomi shrugged simply. 

"You don't understand my point."

"And you don't understand mine."

He stared at her for a moment. Was he studying her? Or just thinking? 

"Well, thank you," he finally said. Naomi smiled again. "But that doesn't mean I need to be out there... it'd just become a circus."

"For who? You or those half wits?"

Jefferson grinned, chuckling. He slid his hands into the pockets of his suit. "You are a strange girl, Jones. I like that."

"Thank you," she smiled back. "Thank you very much."

He held out his hand to her with a straight face. "Okay, Naomi, no hard feelings? I am sorry for kidnapping you. Forgive and forget?" He offered. 

Naomi shook his hand with a nod. "Agreed. No hard feelings. Besides, kidnapping is hardly the worst thing that's happened to me," she admitted. He smiled warmly. 

"Dad!" Grace screamed from the creek. She giggled and shrieked as she played around with Elliott. Jefferson whipped around and watched as they pulled each other into the crystal clear water. He laughed and made his way down the hill. 

"I'm sorry about them. They haven't seen girls their age in hundreds of years," Naomi told him, covering up her laugh with a hand. Jefferson waved it away and jogged to meet up with his daughter. 

+ + +

"Henry's asleep upstairs. Windows and doors are locked," Emma announced, walking into the living room of their rented home and sitting on the couch. "So, what happened. Other than the obvious?" She motioned to Mary Margaret's belly. 

Emma had returned to town two nights later. Henry was with her. They had been affected by whatever was going on as well. Last Naomi checked, that was the entire point of them leaving town together. So they could live the rest of their lives together, completely unbothered by their past.

She had memories of their past, but not him. Henry remained ignorant. David explained to Naomi everything they knew so far on the phone. Henry was already asleep when they arrived, and carrying him to the house woke him enough to ask questions. As far as he knew, the people in their living room were old friends. Like a reunion. 

"We don't know. That's the thing," Mary Margaret told her. 

"Regina cast her spell to take us all back to the Enchanted Forest, and then... darkness. The next thing we remember is waking up as if it were any other day in Storybrooke," David explained, leaning against the back of her chair. 

Naomi walked into the room with a mug of hot coffee in her hand. "It clearly wasn't," she chuckled. 

They hadn't told her Killian was with Emma. The two siblings just stared at each other for a second. The last memories they had of each other was her collapse post death of Pan. She wasn't ready to talk to him again. But Naomi was the first to speak. 

"Oh. You're here. Hi." She awkwardly sat next to Emma as the conversation continued. 

Emma opted to shake Naomi's hand. This was their first meeting since the "blip". "It has to have been at least a year. I've been in New York all this time."

"Only a few days for us." David shrugged. 

"It's almost harvest time and you can't remember the planting. Back luck, mate," Killian smirked. Naomi sipped her coffee, rolling her eyes. 

David sighed and touched his forehead as if he had a headache. "We wouldn't know. We don't even know if we left Storybrooke."

"Aye. You did," Killian told them. 

Naomi almost spilled the coffee on her pants. "Do you remember anything?"

"Not much. I was with you. We made it safely to the forest and spent a short amount of time with Prince Phillip and his wife, Aurora," he reported. The three women shared smiles. "But I wasn't feeling the community spirit, so I went my own way. Last I saw of you, you were starting your journey to Regina's castle. She was offering it up as a sanctuary for the time being."

"And now you're cursed. Why doesn't that surprise me?" Emma muttered, shaking her head. 

Naomi set her mug down, crossing her legs on the couch. "When I spoke to her earlier this morning, she seemed just as clueless as the rest of us. She came to me looking for Henry. I think she... it doesn't matter. She would have to be a incredible actress for her to have been faking the panic I saw on her face," she pointed out. 

"Or that's what she wants you to think."

David looked to Killian. "This doesn't make sense. If you left the Forest before this curse hit, how would you know to come looking for Emma?" He asked. 

"As I sailed the seas, a bird landed on my ship's wheel," Killian explained. "A note came with it, instructing me to find Emma and return her here. A small vile of memory potion was attached to its leg." 

"Who sent it?" Mary Margaret demanded in a shrill voice. 

"I assumed you did."

"A note by bird. That does sound like you," Naomi muttered, scratching her temple. 

So what they had gathered so far: roughly a year had passed, Killian was the only one who remembered a bit, Mary Margaret was ready to pop, and somewhere out there was a Snow White 2.0. 

The door was practically kicked down by Leroy and one of the miners. "We lost another one! We're down to five already!" He shouted. 

"Actually, four. Bashful's not answering," his friend reported, holding up his cell phone. 

"What the hell? What is- huh?" Emma jumped up. 

"Thank god you're here, sister," Leroy said to her. 

Mary Margaret shook her head in despair. "This should have been our first topic of discussion. Since we've come back, our memories aren't the only thing disappearing."

"We keep losing people left and right. They just... disappear," Naomi said quietly. "Whatever it is, it got one of the Lost Boys an hour ago."

Leroy scooted onto the couch next to Naomi. She moved away as far as possible, but it was a small couch. "Whoever cursed us has been picking us off one by one!"

"Well... who exactly is missing? Do we have a count?" Emma demanded, looking out the window at the night highway. 

"Imagine trying to keep track of that-" Naomi muttered. 

"There's been a lot of confusion over the past few days. No one can know for sure, but we're loosing numbers rapidly," David hastily spoke up in her place. 

Emma began pacing the room. "Is Neal here?"

David sighed. "We haven't been able to find him yet," Mary Margaret told her. 

"So he may have been taken already..."

"Smart money's on yes," Leroy commented. 

"Leroy!" Mary Margaret scolded. 

"Hey!" Naomi whacked him on the arm. 

Killian kept his eyes focused outside the window. "He'll turn up, Swan. He always does," he assured her. 

"Some folks have set up camp at the town border. Maybe he's out there," David pointed out. 

"Or he may not have gotten swept up in the curse at all," Mary Margaret said, assuring her daughter Neal was okay. This didn't seem to help Emma at all. 

She placed her hands on her hips. "There's only one way to do this, right? We need to get your memories back."

"And how exactly are we going to do that?" Naomi asked, raising her eyebrows. At the rate the rest of the town was going, everyone in that room would be gone before the week was up. 

"By figuring out who took them in the first place," Emma announced confidently. 

Naomi laughed out loud and stood up. She laughed louder out loud than she had ever allowed herself to in a room full of people. Mary Margaret closed her eyes, already fed up with the teen's antics. 

"Good luck with that. I'll be babysitting my children to make sure none go over the town line and turn into stone. But tell me how this all works out!" She told them, grabbing her full mug and making her way to the open door. 

"Wait, no, we have to fight! We have to beat this!" Emma argued, holding a hand in front of the door in protest. 

"And I'm sure you will all do amazing jobs. I'm officially retiring from this life." Naomi smacked Emma's hand and slipped through the doorway. "Send me a postcard!"

The teen was already halfway down the sidewalk when Emma ran out behind her. "That's my mug!"

"Not anymore!"

Mary Margaret assured Leroy she wasn't usually like that. He scoffed in utter and complete doubt. Killian chuckled. 

Emma reentered the living room with a tired expression. "I've missed her. Good to know she hasn't changed."

+ + +

this chapter was so confusing to write for absolutely no reason

last edited July 1, 2021