'Wait our Backpacks'

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by alongdance

by alongdance

(John Doe is brought in. Everyone is back at the hospital.)

Nurse: Watch your back. Coming through!

Dr. Whale: We got it from here.

(The four watch through the glass as he is being treated by doctors. Kathryn, his wife, bursts into the room where John Doe is being treated and rushes to his side.)

Kathryn: David! David, is that you?

Dr. Whale: Excuse me, ma'am?

Kathryn: Oh my god...

Dr. Whale: Ma'am, you can't be in here. Please, you can't be here right now.

Kathryn: David...

Dr. Whale: You can't be here, ma'am. Can you wait over here for a second, okay?

MMB: Who is that?

(Regina walks up behind them.)

Regina: His wife.

(At the hospital, Kathryn and David are in the room together. Emma, Regina, Henry, Celest and Mary Margaret and outside David's room.)

Regina: His name is David Nolan. And that's his wife, Kathryn. And the joy on her face, well, it's put me in quite a forgiving mood. We'll talk about your insubordination later. Do you know what insubordination means? It means you're grounded.

(Kathryn exits David's room.)

Kathryn: Thank you. Thank you for finding my David.

MMB: Um, I-I don't understand. You didn't... You didn't know that he was here in a coma?

Kathryn: A few years ago, David and I were not getting along. It was my fault, I know that now. I was difficult and unsupportive. I told him if he didn't like things, he could leave. And he did. And I didn't stop him. It was the worst mistake I ever made.

Emma: You didn't go look for him?

Kathryn: I assumed he'd left town all this time. And now I know why I never heard from him. Now I get to do what I've wanted to do forever – say I'm sorry. Now we get a second chance.

MMB: That's wonderful.

(Dr. Whale enters.)

Dr. Whale: Well, it's something of a miracle.

Kathryn: He's okay?

Dr. Whale: Ah, physically, he's on the mend, um, his memory is another issue. It may take time, if at all.

MMB: What brought him back?

Dr. Whale: That's the thing. There's no explanation. Something just clicked in him.

Emma: He just got up and decided to go for a stroll?

Dr. Whale: He woke up and he was delirious and his first instinct was to go find something, I guess.

Henry: Someone.

Kathryn: Can I see him?

Dr. Whale: Yeah, of course.

(Kathryn goes back into David's room.)

Regina: Henry, Celest, let's go.

Celest: Wait, our backpacks.

(they go back to grab their backpacks and whisper to Mary Margaret.)

Celest: Don't believe them. You're the one he was looking for.

MMB: Celest...

Henry: He was going to the Troll Bridge. It's like the end of the story.

MMB: Henry, he was going there because it's the last thing I read to him.

Henry: No, it's because you belong together.

Regina: Henry.

(Regina, Henry and Celest leave.)

———–

(Emma catches up to Regina, Henry and Celest, who are leaving the entrance of the hospital.)

Emma: Madam Mayor!

Regina: Wait by the car.

(Henry and Celest leaves the two alone.)

Regina: Miss Swan, I let you off the hook back there. Don't press it.

Emma: I'm sorry, but Mrs. Nolan? Kind of feels like her story could be a load of crap. All this time, there's a John Doe lying around in a coma and nobody puts it in the news, nobody goes looking. Something's not right here.

Regina: Well, what else would make sense to you? Why would Miss Nolan lie? Do you think I cast a spell on her?

Emma: I think it's rather strange you've been his emergency contact all these years and you only found her now.

Regina: Well, this town is bigger than you know. It's entirely possible to get lost here. It's entirely possible for bad things to happen.

Emma: And just when it's convenient you manage to solve the mystery?

Regina: Thanks to you. That tape you found was a stroke of genius. So, we went back and looked at past tapes. Turns out Mr. Doe's been talking in his sleep. He's been calling out for a Kathryn. After that, it wasn't hard to put the pieces together. And here I thought you and Mary Margaret would be pleased. True love won out. So bask in the moment, dear. Were it not for you two, they would have lived their lives completely alone. That's why I'm willing to forgive your incessant rudeness. Because all this has reminded me of something oh-so very important. How grateful I am to have Henry. Because not having someone? Well, that's the worst curse imaginable.