A Fight to Remember

Once Upon a Time Pt. 1

A/N: How about some MerDer to offset yesterday? Yes? Yes.

Enjoy!

Derek

I have a thing for Ferryboats.

I know a place where we can watch the sunrise over the Ferryboats...

The ferryboat departed while the sun rose, causing the water to spark gold and amber off the deep blue of the bay. I have a wife, Meredith. Since I first saw her in North Cove, I felt a connection, and when I first kissed her? I was pulled into a different world. This one.

I have a son, I thought as I handed him the box of Lucky Charms, Bailey. He looked like his mother, especially when his eyes flashed with mischief. But he also seemed to have a deep intelligence and sensitivity that belied his charm. I have two daughters, Ellis and Zola. Ellis, who... had my hair and eyes, but her mother's hands and smile. And Zola, our adopted African beauty who had her mother's strength and her father's ambition.

I forced myself to be patient. It was a gift, I'd been told. This time of lucidity was a gift, and as much as I wanted her to myself I knew there was things for them to resolve. Bailey, Zola and Ellis had taken care of their mother for four years, they deserved some time.

Frankly, I was still processing it all. A few short hours ago, I'd opened my motel room door and stared right into my daughter's eyes.

Since then, I'd been trying to make sense of everything.

I tossed and turned on the lumpy bed between sleep and wakefulness. I'd just trekked through a mountain pass, my body ached, my mind... turned off. As I drifted, I kept seeing her. Meredith. I imagined knocking on the door, and...

What? What would I say? What would I do? It had been ten years. Would she remember me? She didn't before... or did she? I groaned. Why was this so hard? But rejection was a cruel punishment. I closed my eyes. I just... needed... My eyelids closed. Blackness. Peace.

I jolted awake. Was someone knocking? Who the hell... what did they want?

I sat up and forced my weary body to move. Prepared to tell'em to fuck off.

When I swung the door open however...

It wasn't anyone I'd ever expected.

It was my daughter. I recognized her from the documentary I watched.

Confused, I stared. How did she find me?

Ellis stared back at me, eyes wide, mouth open... a deer in the headlights look. I probably did'nt look how she expected.

"Um..." I stammered. What do you say when your long lost daughter arrives at your door?

And then she bolted down the hallway, pushing past the guy standing behind her.

The two of us guys stared at each other, equally confused, before chasing her down the stairs. "Ellis!" I called after her.

Sock-footed, I stumbled down the stairs and across the parking lot. My body ached with pain and stiffness but I didn't care. Ellis. My daughter. She found me. Where was she going? Ahead there was a line of trees, and a huge bank of snow. "Ellis!" I called again, hearing the thump of boots behind me as her friend, boyfriend? Followed me.

I was close, within reaching distance, and then...

There are moments sometimes... when I can sense... when I know what's going to happen next. In this case my body knew what would happen before my mind did. I stretched out my arm.