Disclaimer: Even after all this time, nothing you recognize belongs to me.

A/N: Here it is, the final chapter. I apologize profusely for the delay in getting this posted. I had intended to post it earlier last week, but this week was rough - computer problems, then I got sick, and got super behind in real life stuff. Anyway, I'm posting now, to consolidate the feels on one night before you watch Manhattan.

Thank you so, so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I am so thrilled by the awesome response. I really love this story, and I'm glad that so many of you do as well. I hope you enjoy the last chapter!

Many thousands of thanks to my twin soul for everything. I couldn't have done it without you!

"Mama."

Snow opened her eyes. Six-year-old Emma smiled. "It's time to get up now."

"What do you mean?" Snow sat up and Emma snuggled up to her side. "What time is it?"

"Time to get up," Emma repeated. "Look, it's light outside! You have to take me to school."

School?

"Emma, what-?" Snow ran her hand through her hair, confused. When she pulled her hand back, she saw a long strand of hair between her fingers. Had it all been a dream?

"Let's go outside!" Emma exclaimed. She was no longer sitting by Snow, but standing at the window. "Come see, everyone is playing."

Snow swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. Her body felt weak, like she was recovering from a long illness. Slowly, she made her way over to where Emma was standing and looked outside.

She saw Henry wielding a wooden sword, while James looked on with admiration. Every so often, he would step in and correct Henry's form. Snow leaned against the window, taking in the moment. She always imagined James would teach sword-fighting to Emma.

"What are they doing here?" Snow asked. Her daughter didn't answer. Snow turned around, but Emma was no longer standing next to her. She frowned. "Emma?"

"I'm here, Mom."

Emma was standing in the doorway. The six-year-old was gone. Snow blinked. How could twenty years have passed so quickly?

"Come on, Mom," Emma said, extending her hand. "Let's go outside. Everyone's waiting for you."

"Waiting for me?" Snow repeated. "But I'm – I'm not dressed."

"Yes, you are," Emma replied patiently. "You look fine." Snow glanced down. Emma was right. Frowning, Snow brought her hand up to her head again. This time, her hair was short.

"Don't look so worried," Emma said, smiling. "Everything's going to be fine. Come with me, you'll see."

Snow smiled back hesitantly. She took a step toward Emma, but had to stop. She placed her hand on the wall for support. It felt like her legs would give out any minute.

"Do you need help?" Emma asked. Her daughter was suddenly at her side.

"Yes, please," Snow said, wrapping her arm around her daughter's shoulder. "I don't know why it's so hard for me to stand."

"You've been asleep for a long time," Emma answered, as she began to lead Snow from the room and down the hall. "But it's okay. You'll get your strength back."

"Wait, wait," Snow said, stopping Emma when they reached the top of a staircase. "Emma, what happened to me? Where are we?"

"I don't know," Emma replied. "Aren't we inside your head?"

Inside my head?

"Emma, what do you…?" Snow trailed off as Emma started shaking her head.

"Just come with me," Emma said. "I promise all your questions will be answered. Just come with me now."

Snow hesitated, but Emma's encouraging smile won her over and she allowed Emma to lead her down the stairs. At the bottom of the staircase, they reached a door. Emma turned the knob and pushed it open. Instantly, the hallway was flooded with light. Snow stepped back, shielding her eyes.

"Aren't you coming?" Emma called. Snow could see she was already outside. "Come on, there's no time to lose! We're all waiting for you to join us."

Snow took a breath, and stepped out into the blinding light.

She blinked several times; the light was so bright it hurt. Snow tried to raise her hand to block the light, but found her arm was too heavy to move. She could feel a hand on her cheek and turned toward it, hoping it would offer some relief.

"Snow."

She opened her eyes. The light wasn't so bright this time. James was staring back at her. His eyes were dry now, but she could tell he had been crying. He smiled. "Welcome back."

"Back?" Snow repeated. Her throat was so dry, her voice was barely more than a whisper. She struggled to sit up, but James gently pushed her back.

"It's okay," he murmured. "Just rest."

"But what happened?" Snow asked. "You said 'back.' Does that mean – did I-" James didn't say anything, but she could read the answer in his expression. "But you saved me?"

James shook his head, though there was a trace of a smile on his face. "Not me," he replied. "It was Emma."

"Emma?" The memories suddenly came flooding back. Everything Emma had said – it hadn't been a dream. She knew about the book, knew what the stories meant; she'd remembered their life together. She must have. Snow knew it was the only way she could still be here. "Is she here?" Snow asked.

"She's here," James responded. "She's just outside. Henry's here, too."

"Can I see them?"

James smiled. "Of course." He turned around and waved to someone Snow couldn't see. A few moments later, the door burst open. Snow heard running footsteps and then a joyful shout of, "Grandma!"

Henry was standing next to the bed, grinning. She smiled back and he leaned over to hug her. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear. "For helping Emma to believe."

Henry moved aside and Snow finally saw her daughter. Emma's expression was wary and her arms were folded across her chest. She looked scared.

"Emma." Just saying her daughter's name brought tears to her eyes. Snow reached for her, but Emma backed away.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I just – need a minute. It's – a lot to take in."

"Of course," Snow murmured, exchanging a look with James. She could see Emma was completely overwhelmed, and didn't want to make anything worse. Even if everything Emma had said while she was in a coma was true, that she did have these memories, Snow could tell that her daughter still hadn't truly accepted the fact that the images in her head were memories. That somehow, her mother really hadn't died in childbirth, and had in fact raised her for six years, and now looked the same as she had on her sixth birthday. Snow remembered the feeling of utter shock and sadness upon discovering that Emma was twenty years older. She could see Emma was trying to process similar feelings, seeing her mother twenty years younger than she was supposed to be.

"So it was true," Emma said finally. "All of it."

Snow nodded. "Yes."

Emma stepped closer, and this time, she allowed Snow to take her hand. "I can't believe it," she murmured. Snow patted the bed and Emma sat down next to her. "I – even when I started to remember things, I couldn't – it just didn't seem possible. It's kind of crazy, you know?"

Snow smiled. "I know." She glanced at James, and then back at Emma. "Would it be okay if – I mean, we have before – it's just different now that-"

"I understand." Emma shifted closer. "And yes, it's okay." Snow wrapped her arms around her, and pulled her close to her chest. She began to cry, feeling Emma's cheek pressed against hers. Every emotion she had felt while listening to Emma recount her memories erupted in her chest. When she pulled back, she could see Emma was crying, too. She cupped her daughter's face and brushed away the tears on her face.

"I love you," she whispered. "I always have. And I'm so happy you remember that."

"Oh." Emma looked down. "You – you heard me say everything while you were-?"

"Yes." Snow tilted Emma's chin up to meet her daughter's eyes. "Emma, that's how you saved me. Because you remembered."

"Of course she did!" Henry exclaimed. "Because she's the savior! You said so in your book."

Emma drew back. "But I'm not – a savior? I don't understand."

"I don't understand it all either," Snow admitted. "But we will explain everything we know to you. And the rest, we'll figure out together."

"It's all in the book," Henry said, opening the book to the end and laying it on the bed. "Regina cast a powerful curse and sent us all to this world. But you're the savior," he said, looking at Emma admiringly. "You're supposed to be able to break the curse."

"What curse?" Emma asked. She looked at Snow. "This – what was happening to you, the headaches and blackouts – that was all a curse?"

"Yes," Snow answered, "they were all related to the curse that sent us here in the first place. When I came here with you, I was supposed to tell you about the magic world, and eventually about the curse. We were told that you would return when you turned twenty-eight and that you would be able to break it."

"But then we were separated," Emma said. "When I was six."

"Yes," Snow said, nodding. "And by the time I found you again, you were already twenty-eight – or, well, you turned twenty-eight just after I arrived. And then the headaches and blackouts started. Some sort of punishment for not getting you to believe in time."

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Emma asked. "All the time I spent in your house – all those times we talked about your daughter, and your mother – why didn't you just say something?"

"Would you have believed me?" Snow replied. "I wanted to tell you, Emma. But I knew you would never believe it. And the one time I tried to tell you, I just couldn't get the words out. Literally. I found out that part of the curse was that I couldn't tell you I was your mother. You had to figure it out for yourself."

Emma nodded slowly, taking it all in. "And now that I know? What happens to the curse now?"

Snow looked at James. "I don't know," she answered. "I think it's over." She saw him breathe the same sigh of relief.

"Over?" Emma repeated. "So – what? We're not in Storybrooke anymore?"

"I think we're still here," Henry put in. "Everything looks the same."

"This definitely isn't the magic world," Snow confirmed. "But I don't know what the end of the curse looks like. I don't know if we are supposed to go back, or what."

James opened the door and looked out into the hall. "There's no one there," he announced. "But that doesn't mean anything."

"We have to find Rumpelstiltskin," Snow said quietly. "He would be able to tell us for sure."

James walked back over to the bed and wrapped his arm around Snow's shoulders. He reached for Emma with his other hand and Snow couldn't help but smile when she took it. Henry sat down next to Emma on the bed and hesitantly placed his hand on his mother's knee.

"It doesn't matter," James began. "Whatever world is out there, waiting for us when we leave this hospital – whether it's this world still, maybe our world, or a new world entirely – whatever world is out there, it won't make a difference. What matters is what's right here, the four of us, together. A family. We'll face it together." He glanced around at all of them. "All right?"

Henry grinned. "Cool."

But Snow's eyes found Emma. Her daughter still looked a little shell-shocked, but Snow's heart swelled when she saw her nodding along with Henry, agreeing with what James had said. They were a family, and nothing would be able to change that. It was hard to believe that just one week earlier they had been living four completely separate lives.

It wouldn't be easy. She could tell just from the unsure expression on Emma's face that things wouldn't simply fall into place. Her daughter had gone from having no one to having a mother, father, and son all in one week. Snow knew she had twenty years to make up for, and James had even more. But as she glanced at everyone around her, she knew that this, her family, this was everything. It would be worth every awkward conversation, every fight, everything to be together now that they'd found each other.

"Most of all, let's promise to fight to the death to never, ever leave her."

Snow swallowed, and the tears slid down her face as she added, "And if we do leave her, then we must fight like hell to find her again."

-end-

A/N: *sniff* I can't believe it's over. I'm planning on updating my profile page to answer several questions I've received (yes, including whether or not there will be a sequel) so I'll keep this short. I want to sincerely thank everyone who has read and reviewed this story, whether you left me one review or forty. You guys have been so amazing and this experience wouldn't have been what it has been without you. If you're reading this now, even if you haven't left me any other reviews, even if it's five years after this story was finished, please consider leaving just one on this chapter because I truly love hearing what you have to say. To my anonymous reviewers,to whom I won't be able to personally respond, I thank you in advance. To everyone who has encouraged me to continue, you're the best. Enjoy the new episode tonight, everyone, and thank you, thank you, thank you!