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Chapter Text

Snow still couldn’t get over the video Emma had shown them. Her daughter had been so little. Yes, she was a teenager, but she seemed so tiny. She was just a baby back then, bouncing from home to home. Then she somehow ended up with the Snow Queen of all people. Emma couldn’t remember her time with her, but had found a folder full of artwork and letters that Ingrid had saved, including a card that the then teen had signed “Love, Emma”. Snow felt jealousy over this woman. She seemed to be so evil but she clearly had been loving to her daughter, a mother to her.

When she sent Emma through that wardrobe, she didn’t know what was going to happen. Adoption was a thing in the Enchanted Forest and she did wonder if that’s what would happen. She just didn’t picture her being alone for all that time. And then she wasn’t, for at least a good chunk of her early teens. Clearly something had happened, though. Emma had never been adopted, just a few short years later she would’ve met Neal. Emma’s main focus was how to take down the woman, but Snow wanted questions answered before that.

“Mom?” Snow looked up and saw Emma standing there. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, fine.” She faked a smile and stood up.

“You know I can tell when you’re lying,” her daughter reminded her.

“I really am okay. Where’s Elsa?”

“Upstairs, sleeping.”

“I think I’ll head to bed as well,” Snow said, kissing her cheek. “I love you, sweetie.”

“Love you too…” Emma trailed off as she watched her mother walk off. Something was up with her, she had been acting off since they were all at the station. They had made so much progress, she didn’t want to ruin it now with more secrets.

The savior decided it would be best for her to just go to bed as well. Given all she had been through lately; she was a little sleep deprived so she fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Hours later, Ingrid appeared in the room. She looked lovingly at her niece and former foster daughter. It was only going to take a little time before they would be her sisters, everything could be complete again. But she had come to realize, possibly the only way to get them to agree would be to turn back the clock. When she was a teenager, Elsa had been locked away, feeling unloved and unwanted. She had yet to realize how much Anna loved and wanted her. At 13, Emma was at the height of resenting her birth parents. She wasn’t privy to who she really was, a princess who’s life had been in danger. She had no clue that it was their only option to keep her safe.

Emma would be first, to Ingrid it almost seemed like she needed it more. She moved her hands to cast the spell, but the light woke Elsa.

“What…” She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and shot up. Before she could move, her new friend went from being a tall 29-year-old to a petite teenager. Her eyes glanced up to Ingrid. “What did you just do?!?”

“Elsa,” Ingrid was caught off guard. “Just go back to sleep, darling, it’ll…”

“SNOW! DAVID!” Elsa screamed. “THE SNOW QUEEN IS HERE!”

Ingrid found herself in a jam. Their footsteps were increasing, damn those people could run fast. With turning back the clock, Emma would remember her before she rushed into everything. She’d want Ingrid and would go looking for her. Elsa could wait. She moved her magic to poof out of the room just as Snow and David stormed into the room.

“What’s going on? Where is she?” David demanded.

“She poofed herself out of here. I woke up and she was casting a spell on Emma, now…” The queen pointed to the bed beside her and the parents gasped.

It was Emma, there was no mistaking that. But it wasn’t the Emma they had gotten to know over the past few years, it was the one from the video. She had to be 13. Snow felt just as in awe as she did over the video. Her daughter, her little girl…an actual little girl once again. Of course she had slept through all of it, teenager or adult, once Emma was asleep, she was dead to the world. David had the same feelings as his wife. She seemed so tiny, she always did in her sleep. Typically, she could pass for a teenager, but as an actual teenager, she looked even smaller.

“I don’t…I don’t understand,” he murmured. He so badly wanted to walk over and scoop her up into his arms, but didn’t want to scare her if that woke her up.

“We need to call Regina,” Snow decided. “It’s late but this can’t wait.”

Neither parent moved, so Elsa volunteered to call the former mayor. David and Snow sat on either side of their daughter, taking her in.

“Why would the Snow Queen do this?” David asked.

“I don’t know. Clearly Emma is of more used to her as a teenager.”

“She’s not getting her. We’ll see to that.”

Snow took his hand. “Of course.”

It didn’t take long for Regina to poof into the room. She was in her pajamas and looking very annoyed.

“What do you two want at this hour?” She seethed.

“Didn’t Elsa explain?” Snow questioned.

Elsa walked back up. “I tried, she wouldn’t let me.”

Regina looked at Emma and raised an eyebrow.

“Am I still exhausted or is Swan a teenager?”

“The Snow Queen did it,” Elsa told her, quietly. “And then she poofed away.”

“She turned back the clock,” Regina explained. “Impressive move.”

David gave her a Look. “What does that even mean? Turning back the clock?”

“Not only did she make Emma a teenager again, but all her memories as an adult have been erased. All she’ll remember is the first 13 or 14 years of her life.”

“Which means her happy life with the Snow Queen,” David said, slowly.

“Probably before Dairy Queen screwed it up or whatever happened to separate them. When Emma wakes up, she’ll think she’s supposed to be with her. She won’t know why she was given up or even remember Henry.” This made her frown.

“Well, can you fix it?” Snow asked.

“I’m afraid I don’t know how to,” Regina admitted. “Turning back the clock normally isn’t reversed, people who use it tend to not want to go forward. I’m sure I could find it eventually, but our number one priority should be to get that icy wench out of here.”

Snow nodded, a selfish part of her feeling a little happy that it couldn’t be turned back right away. Of course she loved Emma the way that she originally was, but it would be nice to care for her, actually get to act like a mother. “Maybe you’re right.”

“Elsa, I’m going to assume that she’d come after you next. If she turns back the clock, you’ll be a teenager, which was before you learned to control your powers, correct?” Elsa nodded. “You’d be a danger to everyone.”

“I’ll do whatever we need to keep the town safe,” she told her. Everyone had been so kind to her. Plus, she couldn’t very well find Anna as a teenager, either.

“What about Emma? And her powers?” David asked.

“She didn’t come into them until after she moved to Storybrooke, so I’m going to guess that she won’t have any. Which is also I’m sure what the queen is counting on. You two need to keep a close eye on her.”

They didn’t have to be told twice. Regina lead Elsa out, taking her back to her place where Henry was still soundly sleeping. Emma hadn’t woken up despite all of the commotion.

“We should get to bed,” David said, softly. “I have a feeling that tomorrow is going to be a long day.”

“I don’t want to leave her,” Snow whispered.

“I know, but if she doesn’t remember who we are, it might be creepy to wake up and find you here.”

Snow sighed, knowing he was right. “Maybe we shouldn’t try to convince her of what her life really is. That’s just going to confuse and scare her further. We’ll come up with something.”

“Agreed.” He kissed the top of Emma’s head before standing up, leading his wife downstairs.

Emma woke up the next morning, feeling different. She blinked and looked around the room, it wasn’t her room. There were just two beds and it seemed to be in an almost attic. She got out of bed and walked to the window. The view below was not her neighborhood, it was a street view. Panic filled her. The last thing she remembered was saying goodnight to Ingrid and heading to bed. Had she been moved in the middle of the night? Abducted? Her baby blanket was on the bed and she hadn’t been tied to it or anything. Did she just block out something traumatic?

She ran to the door and flung it open, speeding down the steps. The area was an open space and she could see into the kitchen. A blonde man was making breakfast, while a brunette woman was feeding a baby. She couldn’t help but notice a vague resemblance between the three of them. She had seen that chin in the mirror, same with those eyes…

“What the hell is going on?” She demanded.

Snow and David looked up, seeing Emma standing there. They took a deep breath and slowly walked over to her.

“Emma, my name is David,” he said, gently.

“And I’m…people call me Snow, as a nickname,” Snow added.

“Where am I? Where’s Ingrid? Did you kidnap me or something? Was I sent back?”

“Please, sweetheart…”

“Sweetheart?” Emma slowly backed up. “Who are you? And where is Ingrid?!? Did she put me back into the system? I thought she was going to adopt me!”

Snow felt a pang in her heart. That woman had promised to adopt her daughter?

“Emma,” David tried to stay calm. “We’re your biological parents.”

Emma’s brow furrowed as she looked deep into his eyes. 13 years in the system had taught her who was lying and who wasn’t. This guy…he fell in the latter.

“You know I’m telling the truth, right?”

“Yes…but if that’s the case…who the hell do you think you are?!? You abandoned me when I was a baby! I want Ingrid, she’s my family!”

Both of them were trying so hard not to break down. Their daughter forgot who they were, thought that they just threw her away. She didn’t want Snow…she wanted another woman. “We didn’t abandon you,” Snow told her, gently. “At least not in the way that you think. We had to put you in the system to give you a better life.”

Once again, Emma could tell she was being honest, but still… “Well it didn’t work! Do you even know what the system is like?!? I didn’t know what a home felt like until they put me with Ingrid.”

Tears clouded Snow’s eyes. “I understand, but we had to keep you safe. I know all of this is very overwhelming, but we’re going to help you…”

“Screw this! I have no interest in getting to know either of you. From the looks of it, you already replaced me.” She gestured to Neal.

“No, sweetie, no.” David attempted to cup his daughter’s face, but she pulled away. “We didn’t want to replace you, not even a little bit. Neal was a bit of a surprise…”

“As I’m sure I was. I guess he better be careful or he’ll end up like me. I’m out of here.”

Emma stormed towards the door, but David blocked it.

“Move!”

“I can’t do that.”

“I don’t want to be here! I want Ingrid! She’s my family!”

“Ingrid’s been lying to you, she’s not who she says that she is. She is trying to turn you against your mother and I…”

“You don’t need Ingrid to do that. I’ve hated both of you for years anyway!”

David drew in a deep breath, trying not to let her words get to him. “I know and I get it. All of this is so confusing and hard on you. But you have to believe me when I say that Ingrid is not the woman that you think she is. I cannot let you see her. She is dangerous, very dangerous.”

Emma stared at him, taking in his words. She could tell he was telling the truth about Ingrid and that was a whole other can of words, though it didn’t really surprise her. No one had ever been honest with her in her life. She had been stupid enough to think that woman was different. But she wasn’t just going to jump into these people’s arms and call them “Mommy” and “Daddy” either.

“Now, as I said, I know you hate us. So, if you don’t want to be around us, you are free to go back up to your room. But you are not leaving the loft without one of us.”

The teen drew a deep breath. She didn’t want to stay with them, but she didn’t even know where she was. It didn’t seem to be Minnesota and if Ingrid wasn’t who she claimed to be, then she didn’t want to find her either. She would find a way to leave this place, she always found a way to escape situations. These people couldn’t just waltz in 13 years later and try to protect her. Where were they when she really needed protecting?

She turned on her heel and stormed back up into the room she had woken up in.

David sighed and leaned against the door, shutting his eyes. Snow settled the baby down into his Moses basket before walking over, wrapping her arms around his waist.

“We’ll protect her,” she whispered. “She believes us that Ingrid isn’t safe.”

“Yeah but she doesn’t necessarily think that we are, either.”

Chapter Text

David went back to cooking and Snow finished up with Neal. Once the pancakes were done, Snow decided to go up to Emma’s room and at least try to get her to eat. She slowly knocked on the door.

“Emma? Can I come in?”

There was no response, so she opened it and found Emma attempting to open the window. Adult Emma had made it so it couldn’t, to keep out the unusual cool weather coming from the queen.

“Emma,” she said softly. The teen turned around and glared at her.

“Did you seal it shut to keep me prisoner?”

“No, the window’s just broken. Where were you thinking about going?”

“What do you care?”

“You’re my daughter, of course I care about you.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “Right.”

“Look, I know this is going to take some time, but I hope in time…”

“Why should I trust you? The only person who I thought I could, ended up being someone I couldn’t.”

Snow sighed. There had been so much progress made between her and Emma and now it was gone. “I understand it’ll be hard. And I won’t push you into anything, but this is your home now.”

Emma refused to meet her eye, not wanting to know if she was being honest or not. Clearly her detector didn’t always work, it hadn’t with Ingrid.

“Your father made pancakes, come eat.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You have to eat something.”

“I’m pretty used to skipping meals. Before Ingrid, in most homes you were lucky if the free lunch you got at school was all you got.”

That sent a pang into her mother’s heart. Even Adult Emma hadn’t confided in her about that. She had a feeling that Teen Emma was going to be filling her in on more of the hard aspects of her life.

“I’m sorry to hear that, that was definitely not right. But you should try to eat now, food here is never going to be a problem.”

“I’m not…”

“I know you’re hungry, you’re rubbing your thumb over your knuckles.” The words flew out of her mouth before she could stop them. It had been something she had picked up before the first curse broke, just a seemingly nervous trait. Snow had always wondered if it was to stop herself from reaching to eat out of bad memories.

Emma cocked an eyebrow. “How would you know that?”

“Oh um, I do the same thing,” Snow lied. “Come on, just a little bit.”

Emma looked over at her backpack. Ingrid had conjured that up with the age back, to make it look more realistic. The queen was just noticing it for the first time. The teen was hungry and in her mind, after she found a way out it’d probably be awhile until her next meal, so she might as well enjoy it.

“Let me change,” she said.

Snow smiled. “Great. I’ll be right downstairs.”

She headed back down and found the table filled with pancakes and bacon.

“She’s agreed to come down and eat.”

“Small progress,” David smiled.

“I don’t know about that, I almost slipped up that I knew about one of her ticks.”

“How are we going to explain everything? I don’t want to lie to her.”

Snow gnawed on her lip. “We’ll just tell her a “this world” version of the truth. We were high in power, someone wanted to hurt us and her, our only way to keep her safe was to send her away.”

“And everything else? I mean, what if Ingrid shows up?”

“This Emma didn’t know about Ingrid’s powers or at least we don’t think so. I doubt she’d want to scare her off. Plus, I talked to Regina, she placed a protection spell on the loft so the ice witch can’t get in.”

“And Henry?”

“She’s explained it to him, he gets it. Though he’s convinced that he can get Emma to remember.”

David cocked an eyebrow. “We’ll have to be careful when they’re around each other.”

“Yeah. We don’t want her anymore freaked out than she already is. I also asked for them to explain it to the town, they’re used to stretching the truth by this point.”

Emma came down a few minutes later. David couldn’t help but stare at his beautiful daughter. She was just so tiny! If she had been this small as a teenager, he wondered just how little she was when she was a little girl. Her sense of style seemed to be the same, she was wearing a red and white plaid button down and jeans, a black knit beanie on her head.

“I made pancakes,” he said, stopping himself from saying he knew they were her favorite. She simply nodded and sat down, making herself a plate. She glanced up after a minute, feeling their eyes on her.

“Um, if you guys took a picture, it’d last longer,” she told them, annoyance showing through her voice.

They quickly sat down and began eating. There was some awkward silence for a bit and Snow decided to break it. “So, I was thinking maybe we could go shopping today.”

Emma looked at her like she had three heads. “Shopping?”

“Well, I’m sure you don’t have many outfits, that backpack is quite small…”

“I’m not going to be your freaking Barbie doll. If you wanted a daughter to dress up, then maybe…”

“Emma,” Snow placed a hand on her arm, almost surprised that she didn’t pull away. “I’m not trying to do anything outside just buy you a few outfits.”

Emma stabbed her fork into the pancake. “I’m not going to be here long, anyway.”

“Yes, you are.”

“People say that all the time.”

Snow frowned. “Well, I mean it.”

“Forgive me for trusting the woman who left me in the middle of the woods.”

Snow and David winced. So clearly their daughter had known her story that young.

“Maybe you’d like to hear our side. I know it won’t change how you feel,” David spoke up. “But at the very least, it’ll be out in the open.”

“I don’t have time for excuses,” Emma grumbled.

“They’re not excuses, it’s just the truth. And you’ll be able to tell that we’re telling it.”

“How do you even know about that?” She snapped.

“I have it too,” he told her, honestly. “I got it from my mother. It’s a family thing.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “If it’ll make you feel better than go ahead. It won’t change anything.”

“I’m sure it won’t. You had such a rough childhood and nothing can fix that. We didn’t think when we did what we did that you’d be alone. We assumed you’d be adopted by a good family.”

“Had one ‘til I was 3. Then they had a real kid and sent me back.”

They had known that little piece of information, but they realized just how bad it must have looked for her to “meet” her parents when they had just had a new baby.

“I believe your social worker told us about that. Anyway, your mother and I, we were of some power.”

“Like government?”

David had to hide a smirk, that was pretty close. But in this world, a quick Google would prove that neither of them had ever held political office in their current world. “Not exactly, let’s just say we were of high society,” he explained, carefully. He had to be completely honest or else it would all far apart. “But with power, comes enemies. Your mother and I had done no wrong but we had people out for us and once they found out that we were expecting, they didn’t take too well to it. Someone threatened to hurt not only us, but our friends, family…you. The only way to prevent this was to give you up.”

Emma slowly nodded. The story seemed a little weird, but it was believable. She was beginning to think maybe they had some sort of mob connections like in The Godfather. “That all make sense, I guess. But then wouldn’t you try to find me a family instead of just leaving me in the woods?”

“We didn’t know you’d end up in the woods,” Snow cut in. “We sent you off, thinking you’d be safe.” Again, truth. They had no clue just where that wardrobe would take her. “We wanted you, Emma. More than anything, we tried to find a way to keep you. There just wasn’t one and in the end, we made the only choice we could. We had no way of knowing that our sweet baby girl would face so much pain.”

Emma knew they were being honest, she could tell they were. But she had trusted others before, she had thought that her “superpower” worked, only to get a knife stuck in her back. Even if they were telling the truth, what had suddenly changed to make her not in danger?

“Your blanket,” Snow continued. “We had it made for you when I was still pregnant, we insisted that it only be the best. It was made from love.”

The teen just continued eating. “It’s a nice story, but it changes nothing.”

David and Snow felt their hearts sink. They had known it was a long shot, but they had to try. There was more silence for a while, this time broken by Emma.

“And if I was in so much danger 13 years ago, what’s changed?”

“The person that wanted to hurt all of us isn’t a threat anymore,” David told her.

“So, the system let you take me back, just like that?”

“It was um, more complicated than that,” he tried to explain.

“You said Ingrid was dangerous. Where is she? And exactly how is she dangerous?”

David’s brow furrowed. Even Teen Emma had her interrogation skills down. “I don’t know where she is. She just wants to hurt your mother and I, turn you against us or more than you already are.”

“What does she have against you?”

“She’s upset with us for taking you back and revealing that she wanted to do cruel things to you, Snow said, giving her husband a break. “That’s why it’s very important that you’re protected.”

Emma scoffed. “I can take care of myself.”

“You’ve had to in the past, but not anymore.”

The blonde teenager was getting more frustrated by the minute.  They had an answer for everything! And the girl thought she was the one that was supposed to have them all. “Well, I hope you don’t think that I’m just going to start calling you Mommy and Daddy and act like a perfect little daughter.”

“We don’t expect anything, Emma,” her mother told her, softly. “Outside treating us with a little respect. I know this is hard on you, we don’t want you to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”

“Whatever,” Emma mumbled.

No one bothered to speak for the rest of breakfast. Once it was done, Emma fell into her typical foster daughter role. Even if she didn’t like these people, some things never went away. She grabbed the dishes and carried them to the sink. David and Snow exchanged a confused look, but let it pass.

Snow eventually grabbed her jacket. “Alright Em, let’s go.”

“I told you I don’t want to go shopping.”

“I know you don’t, but we need to. Come on.”

“I don’t want to go shopping with you!” Emma exploded. “God, Snow!” She stormed back up the stairs to her room, slamming the door shut.

Snow bit down on her lip. It had taken Adult Emma so long to finally call her “Mom” on a regular basis. They had made so much progress and it was all gone. David tried to comfort his wife, but she pushed him away.

“I get it, it’s not our Emma, not really. We’ll get her there,” she faked a smile, but he didn’t buy it.

“I’ll go tell her…”

“No, David. Forcing her to do anything isn’t going to do any good. I caught a glimpse at her tags last night while she was sleeping, I know what sizes to buy.” Snow hated the thought of leaving both of her babies, but she had to do it. “Can you keep an eye on them both?”

“Of course.”

“And please, whatever you do, don’t try to make her come around. Just let her be a pissed off teenager. After all she’s been through, she deserves it.”

She grabbed her purse and headed out, trying to ignore the pain in her chest. Once outside, she felt a blast of cool air.

“Ingrid,” she said, sharply, turning around. Sure enough, there she was.

“Now, now, you’re a royal, you should know the importance of titles. It’s your majesty.”

“What do you want?”

“How’s my Emma?”

Snow’s eyes narrowed. “She is not your Emma, she is my Emma.”

Ingrid rolled her eyes. “I’m very surprised that your little mayor friend hasn’t changed her back.”

“We have more pressing matters to deal with.”

“Oh, so you don’t want Emma how she used to be? That just goes to show you only ever wanted a child…”

“Stop!” Snow got right up in her face. “I know what you’re doing and I’m not going to fall for it. I know that for whatever reason, you want my baby. But I won’t let you lay a hand on her.”

“Be careful or things could get very chilly, Snow,” Ingrid sneered.

“Oh, go ahead. Freeze my heart, do whatever you want. But Emma no longer trusts you, so don’t just think she’ll go riding off with you into the sunset…or snow storm.”

Ingrid’s eyebrows knitted. “Emma loves me, this version of her knows that and that I wish to adopt her…”

“Even without her magic, my daughter has one superpower the ability to see a lie. We told her that you are not to not be trusted, that you’re dangerous.” Snow smirked. “You see, while she may not like me or my husband right now, she’ll soon be able to see that she can trust us and that we truly love her. With you, she won’t feel safe.”

All of the power within Ingrid rose, her anger building more and more by the minute. Snow knew she was baiting her and she wouldn’t have done so if she hadn’t also seen Regina in her peripheral vision (most opponents, she had no issue facing but this one had powers that her bow and arrow wouldn’t be able to fix). The Snow Queen lunged forward, ready to unleash her wrath when Regina jumped in front of her step-daughter, creating a fireball which melted the ice flowing from the witch’s hands. Ingrid gave them a patient smile as she cooled down.

“This isn’t over. Emma may not trust me, but I can make her do so again.”

“She doesn’t even know that magic exists, so if you try anything, she’ll think that you’re crazy.”

Flashbacks hit Ingrid, of what had gone down 16 years prior. Emma running off, losing her, all because she went too quickly. Maybe Snow was right, maybe there was another way to deal with it. “We’ll see.” And with that, she disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

“What were you thinking, taking her on alone?” Regina snapped. “You know, Emma may not know who you are right now, but I guarantee…”

“I saw you lurking nearby,” Snow assured her. “I wouldn’t have baited her otherwise.”

“You need to be careful about her,” the former evil one continued to rant. “She’s not like George or even what like I once was. A frozen heart is a hell of a thing to overcome.”

Snow smiled, cheekily. “You know Regina, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you actually care about me.”

Regina flushed but quickly recovered, fixing her hair. “I just don’t want to get an earful from Swan when she goes back to normal that I didn’t protect her precious mommy and that Neal had to grow up without one. Plus, Henry’s pretty fond of you and he’s lost enough people.”

“Uh huh.” But, the queen knew better than to push. Regina, new leaf or not, could still crush her heart if annoyed.  “How is Henry doing anyway?”

“He wants to see Emma.”

“David and I are willing to arrange that, but he can’t try to get her to remember.”

“I’m trying to explain how this spell works, but you know Henry. He’s Emma child.”

“That he is. And any knowledge of how to stop the Snow Queen?”

“Elsa’s looking, I have Belle looking out for her and they’re searching the library once again.”

“Alright. You’ll call us with any news?”

“Yes. And when I feel Henry is ready to see Emma.”

“It may be good for her to be around someone her own age,” Snow mused.

The two went their separate ways, Regina to try to find a way to stop Ingrid, Snow to get to shop for her daughter for the first time.

David tended to Neal, rocked him and let him have a little floor time. But all he could honestly think about was Emma. He knew that she didn’t remember anything, that’s not really what bothered him. Already he could see just how broken his daughter was by such a young age. His life certainly hadn’t been perfect by that point, but he was happy for the most part. His father had long since passed, but he had his mother, his friends. Emma just seemed so miserable. So many people had let his baby girl down and he felt like he was one of them. He couldn’t even blame her for her little outbursts.

He remembered something Snow had confided in him back in Neverland, what really got the map working, Emma’s heartbreaking truth. That she was just a lost little girl who didn’t matter and didn’t think she ever would, how she used to cry herself to sleep at night because she wanted her parents and didn’t know why they had given her up. How she felt like an orphan. And they had fixed it, in their own way or they were at least trying to before Ingrid showed up. She was calling them “Mom” and “Dad”, opening up more and more. She had called Storybrooke, the loft, her home.

But now she was back to feeling like that lost little girl. Her first chance at a real home since the Swans, had taken her 10 years to get to. He didn’t even understand how that was possible. He had just been watching a documentary on infertile couples with Snow the other night, all expressing the wanting to adopt. There were waiting lists for healthy babies. Did no one want older kids, too? Emma had tried to gently explain it to them, but they just hadn’t gotten it.

He decided to at least try to reach out to her again, calmly. After settling Neal down, he hit up the bathroom and then headed up to Emma’s room. He knocked, but no reply. After pushing it open, he saw that the room was empty. Trying not to panic, he ran down the stairs and searched the rest of the loft, only to come up empty. He had only been in the bathroom for 3 minutes! The girl was too sneaky for her own good.

The sheriff pulled out his phone and furiously dialed Snow’s number. Before she could say anything, he did.

“She’s gone.”

“What?”

“Emma. I went into the bathroom for just a minute and when I went to check on her, she’s gone.”

Snow bit down on her lip. “Alright, let’s try to stay calm. She can’t leave town, Ingrid has put some kind of block on the border.

“But what if she gets to her somehow?!?”

“David, calm down. I’ll go looking…”

“No, you come home and watch Neal. If she’s gotten hurt, I’ll be able to carry her home.”

“I’ll be just 10 minutes, I’ve just checked out.”

It didn’t take Snow that long to get back to the apartment. She dropped the bags and kissed his cheek.

“I’ve got Neal, you know she can’t get in here.”

“I’m going to find her,” he promised her, knowing she was trying to put on a front for him.

He would always find his girls.

Emma wasn’t sure which way was out of the town, but she figured if she kept walking, she’d figure it out. As she made her way past a diner, a boy a little younger than her seemed to pause. He studied her for a moment, like he had seen her somewhere.

“Um, can I help you?”

“Sorry, you just look really familiar.” The kid continued to look awestruck. Emma wondered if he had a crush on her, maybe she could use that to her advantage.

“Say, would you be able to help me?”

“Help you?”

“I’m trying to get out of here, but I don’t know the way.” She flashed him a smile, the one she had unknowingly inherited from her father. “My name’s Emma.”

“Um, yeah. Sure.” The boy pulled out his cell phone. “Let me just tell my mom I’m going to be late for our lunch.” Emma waited patiently while he sent out a text, though she didn’t really understand how that worked. It must have been something for rich kids. “Alright, let’s go.”

As he began to lead the way, she hiked her backpack up further on her shoulder. “So, what’s your name?”

“Henry.”

Chapter Text

Henry had thought it was his mother when he saw her walking along Main Street. She had shown him pictures of her when she was around her age not long ago. Add that in with the fact that his other mother told him what the Snow Queen had been up to, it all made sense. Her name confirmed it all. Regina had said that Emma may try to run away, since she had no memory of who her parents truly were. Henry had no intention of actually helping her leave and that “text to his mom”, had really been a text to his grandfather. It was weird seeing his birth mother so young, even weirder to think that in just a few years’ time, she’d be pregnant with him and probably looking about the same age. He couldn’t imagine having a kid so young.

Keeping in mind that Emma had no clue what Storybrooke actually was or even who she was, he tried to find other things to discuss. “So…why are you leaving town?”

“It’s just what I do, I never stay in one place for long,” Emma explained.

“Don’t your parents care?”

“I don’t have parents.”

“Everyone has parents.”

Emma rolled her eyes. This kid was kind of annoying.

“They abandoned me when I was a baby,” she explained. “Now they came back around and expect me to act like we’re the perfect happy family.”

“Yeah, that’s gotta suck.” Henry thought about how she had eased her way into being a parental figure, Neal had done the same. “I get it…kinda.”

“You just said you were texting your mom.”

“Well, yeah. But I was adopted.”

Emma scoffed. “You don’t know how lucky you’ve got it. At least your real mom cared enough to find a place for you to go.”

“Who are your real parents, anyway?”

“David and Snow,” she snickered. “What the hell kind of name is that?”

“It’s a nickname,” Henry thought on his feet. “You know, ‘cause she’s so pale. Her real name is Mary Margaret.”

At that moment, he got a text from his grandpa.

Take her to the edge of the woods. Don’t move from there. I’ll be there in 5 minutes.

“Your mom?” Emma asked.

Henry knew she could tell a lie, so he just shoved the phone back in his pocket. “Hey, there’s a shortcut if we go by the woods.” That was the truth so Emma followed him in the other direction. “You don’t think they deserve a chance, your parents? I mean, maybe they had a good reason.”

“They gave me an excuse and it was plausible, but still.” The wind picked up and she adjusted her beanie so her hair didn’t get in her face. “If I had a kid, I wouldn’t just give them away. I’d do everything I could to keep them.”

Just wait 4 or so years…, Henry thought to himself. He wasn’t upset with her for giving him up, he understood why. It was just a little weird hearing those words escape her lips.

“My mom gave me up to give me my best chance, she had been in prison for something she didn’t do, didn’t tell my father. She could’ve kept me, I would’ve had to spend my first month in the system,” he shrugged. “But it all turned out okay.”

“So there was a way, but she didn’t take it.”

“Life’s not always that black and white.”

Emma scoffed and continued to follow him to where he went. As they reached the edge of the woods, she spotted a police cruiser. She glared at the boy.

“You set me up?!?”

“No, I swear,” he told her. “This really is a shortcut. Your parents must’ve called the police.”

Emma turned to run in the opposite direction, when someone grabbed hold of her arm. She looked up and saw David.

“You have got to be kidding me,” she grunted. “You’re a cop?”

“Sheriff,” he corrected her. David saw the look of fear in Henry’s eyes and could tell he was worried. If Teen Emma didn’t trust him, then he wouldn’t have any chance of getting to hang out with his mom until it was fixed. He decided to cut him a break. “Henry Mills, what were you thinking? Your mother is the mayor and you’re helping a runaway?” His grandson gave him a small smile behind his mom’s back. “Go home to her, now. Before I call her and you’re in a boat load of trouble, always mixing into other people’s troubles.”

“Sorry sir, didn’t know she was your daughter,” Henry told him. “Good luck, Emma.” God it felt weird to call her that again. With that, he took off.

Emma continued to struggle against David, but he had a firm grip. He made sure he couldn’t hurt her, while also making sure she couldn’t escape.

“Let me go! You did it once; it shouldn’t be that hard to do it again!” The teen shouted.

“I am not letting you go anywhere. I don’t care how upset you are; you’re staying with us.”

“My social worker won’t let you do this!”

“We’re your birth parents, Emma. We have full legal custody, it’s not up to you.”

“I don’t want you! I don’t want anyone! I can survive on my own!”

“David, you clearly don’t know how to handle a runaway,” a voice said from behind them. It was a shock enough to let David release his grip, but Emma didn’t run. She knew that voice. When she turned around, she saw Ingrid standing there. She gave her former foster daughter a warm smile. “She remembers how I got her to stay, don’t you Emma?”

“What are you doing here?” Emma asked.

“I’m here to see you, silly.” Ingrid smiled as she stepped closer, though every time she would, David shielded his daughter more and more.

“You lied to me,” the teenager shakily told her. “You didn’t really want to adopt me!”

“Oh Emma, yes I did. I know you can tell I’m telling the truth.”

Emma could, but she still shook her head. “Even if you did, your intentions weren’t good.”

“Are you going to trust him? The man you gave you away? You hate him, don’t you remember? You used to tell me all the time how much you hated them. How you wanted to find them and make them feel all the pain you did. That’s when I knew it Emma, that we were destined to be sisters,” Ingrid held out her hand. “Now come on, we need to go.”

“You’re not going anywhere with her,” David grunted.

“Don’t you think that choice should be left up to Emma? I mean, she’s hardly a baby. She’s 13 years old, such a formative age. This is an awfully big decision and if you really loved her, it’d be one you’d let her make on her own.”

“I do love her and I know what’s best for her,” he replied, his tone not dropping. “And I know that if she goes with you, she’s not safe.”

“We’re a family,” Ingrid put a lot of emphasis on the word. “I know everything about you, darling. Your biggest fear, your brightest dreams. What do these people know? That 13 years ago they couldn’t be bothered to raise you but now they have a new baby.”

David stepped closer to his daughter’s former foster mother. “Stop it!” Ingrid couldn’t use magic without scaring Emma. But who needs magic when you have manipulation?

“What am I doing outside offering your daughter what she truly wants?”

Emma felt very, very overwhelmed. Until Ingrid, she never had anyone to care about her. Now she had two people fighting for her. But there was something about David…something about the way he was handling the battle. While Ingrid was using manipulation and pretending to give her choices, he simply stated that it wasn’t going to happen. He was determined that Emma would go home with him and him alone. She knew he had told the truth; Ingrid didn’t want her to be a family. He wanted her for something worse. For what, she didn’t know. She had heard horror stories, kids experiencing worse than she ever did. Foster parents would adopt children and use them as drug mules or traffic them…even worse than that sometimes, because believe it or not there was a worse.

No matter how much she didn’t want to go back to her birth parents, she knew that both them and Ingrid would track her down. She’d have to make a choice eventually, at least until she could figure out a way to lose the three of them for good.

“I’m not going with you,” Emma told Ingrid, firmly. David glanced back at her, in semi-shock. He wasn’t going to let his daughter go, but he was afraid her manipulations would get through to her.

“Emma,” Ingrid began to say.

“As you said, I’m 13. I’m old enough to decide who to go with and if I have to pick between the two of you, I guess he’s the lesser of two evils.”

David placed a hand on Emma’s shoulder. It wasn’t exactly a heartfelt speech, but she chose him. That had to count for something. “Goodbye, Ingrid.”

“This isn’t over.” She nearly poofed herself away, only to remember and instead walked out of sight to do so.

Emma jerked away from David and headed to the cruiser. The sheriff followed not far behind.

“Emma, thank you…”

“I didn’t do it for you or Snow, I did it for myself. You said she wanted to do something with me, something bad. I’m not going to subject myself to that.”

He sighed and drove off with her.

“You can’t do that, runaway. Your mother and I were worried sick.”

“Sure you were,” Emma mumbled.

“We were,” his voice turned stern. “What if I hadn’t shown up before Ingrid? What if she took you?”

“I can defend myself.”

“You’re just a child…”

“I am not a child! I am 13 years old!”

David drew in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “13 doesn’t mean that you’re ready to take on the world by yourself. You still have a lot to learn.”

“Right.”

“Think what you want.”

“I will.”

“Of course.”

“Whatever.”

He had to refrain himself from continuing, knowing she was just trying to drive him crazy by driving in the last word. Emma didn’t know just how dangerous Ingrid was but she couldn’t. There was no way she’d ever believe the powers that the Snow Queen possessed, that she was the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. But how were they meant to protect her without her knowing? He was going to have to figure something out before she got herself hurt.

Once back at the loft, the two got out and were headed inside when David heard a familiar accent.

“Dave?”

Oh…that’s who I forgot to tell Regina to tell…

“Killian,” he looked down at Emma. “Um, Emma, can you go wait by stairs. I’ll be able to see you if you run.”

“Emma?” Killian stared at the teenager and then it hit him. The videos, the one Emma had shown him from her memory box. “Holy crap, what happened to you?”

The teen took in the man standing in front of her. He looked almost horrified. She couldn’t help but think he was incredibly hot…but why did he have a hook for a hand? “What do you mean?”

“Emma. Inside,” David told her, giving her a Look. She rolled her eyes but walked inside.

“Why is she a teenager? And why did she look at me like she didn’t know who I was?!?” Killian demanded.

“Because she kind of doesn’t.” The blonde sighed. “The Snow Queen, she turned back the clock, made her 13 again. But with it, it took her memories of her adult life. Last she remembers is being under Ingrid’s care.”

Killian’s blue eyes turned to worry. “So, she…she doesn’t know about any of it?”

“No.” In this one particular instance, David was sort of glad Emma couldn’t remember. Though, he did know deep down that his adult daughter had feelings for the pirate.

“Well we have to make her remember, obviously. True love’s kiss, won’t that work?”

“She hasn’t been cursed, her age has been reversed.”

“So, you’re just accepting that your daughter doesn’t know who she is? And for what? So, you two can relive your chance at raising her?!?”

“No!” David thundered back. “Believe it or not, I do want the old Emma back, I love every version of my daughter! And even if I didn’t want to change her back, without her memories of all she’s been through with us since the curse, she doesn’t exactly like me or my wife,” he laughed in spite of himself. “Actually, she hates us.” Killian sighed and looked down. “But, right now, we need to worry about getting the Snow Queen out. Maybe defeating her will help reverse any damage she’s done.” He looked back at the door. Through the window, he could see Emma watching, obviously intrigued by the conversation. “I have to go…deal with all this.”

“Wait…I’m sorry.” David raised an eyebrow. He never thought he’d hear those words come out of his mouth. “I just…I care quite deeply for your daughter.”

David rolled his eyes. “So, I’ve caught on.”

“Well clearly I’m not going to go after a child. I’ll give you all some space to work this out…just let me know if I can help with the dreaded ice machine.”

“Will do. Thanks.”

He walked inside and Emma cocked her head, curious.

“Who was that?”

“Killian, Killian Jones.”

“Friend of yours?”

“No, he’s anything but a friend.”

“Why did he ask what happened to me?”

“He confused you for someone else.”

Emma knew he was lying but didn’t push further. She followed him back up to the apartment. The instant they walked in, Snow threw her arms around her. Uncomfortable, she wormed her way out of the hug.

“I was so worried!” Snow told her, panic clearly in her eyes. “Where did you even go?”

“I was trying to leave.”

“You can’t just do that, Emma! This is your home, we need to make sure you’re safe.”

“Yeah because you did a great job of that the first time,” Emma replied with an eye roll.

Snow let out a frustrated sigh. “I understand that you are angry with us, but we need to set some ground rules. You can sit up in your room and pout for all I care. But if we tell you that you’re coming with one of us, you come. If we tell you to stay, then you stay.”

“What am I, a dog?”

“I didn’t mean it like that and you know it. I need to know where you are at all times.”

“Are you supposed to be my mother or my warden?”

Snow shut her eyes and counted back from 10. “Go to your room.”

“I was going there anyway!” Emma stormed up the steps and slammed the door shut behind her.

David was doing his best to hide a smile, but it wasn’t working. Snow turned to him and glared.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, just imagining how much fun it would’ve been to raise a teen Emma in the Enchanted Forest,” he said. “I have a feeling that would be happening a lot more.”

“Oh yes, many a dress fitting would end like that,” she shook her head. “Where’d you find her?”

“I didn’t, actually. Henry did and he texted me, I convinced him to set her up. Not that it took much arm twisting. And then…Ingrid showed up.”

Snow’s eyes widened. “What? Did she hurt Emma? Try to take her?”

“No, she tried another tactic, manipulation. But it didn’t work.”

“What do you mean?”

“Emma essentially chose us.”

Snow couldn’t help but smile. “She chose us.”

“As she put it, we’re the lesser of two evils. She doesn’t trust us or Ingrid, but she knows we’re not after her for some ulterior motive.” He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “It was going to be a lot easier to keep her safe when Emma knew the dangers of this town.”

“Well what are we supposed to say?” Snow whispered harshly. “Oh, hey honey, so I know you woke up in some strange place with the people you thought left you in the woods for dead and found out the woman who was going to adopt you really wasn’t who you thought. As if that weren’t enough, you’re also the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. You’re the savior for this whole town and you have a 12-year-old son. Happy belated 13^th birthday!”

“What, that’s not a believable story?” David teased. His wife groaned and buried her hands. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her head. “We’ll figure it out. Hopefully we can just keep her safe until we defeat Ingrid. If we need to tell her, we’ll find proof. I mean, Henry got her to believe before.”

“That took a year.”

“For someone who refuses to give up, you sure sound defeated.”

Snow took a deep breath and pulled away from him. He was right. She was Snow White. The epitome of hope. Hope had gotten her through battling Regina, losing her child, reconnecting with her and nearly losing her, Henry and David for good all over again.

“Hope. I’ll find it,” she mumbled.

“We’ll get her through this. We just need to keep an eye on her. To start, I’ll call Leroy and ask him to pick us up an alarm for the door, that way we’ll hear her if she walks out again.” Snow nodded and kissed his lips for a moment. He deepened it, a little caught off guard before pulling off. “What was that for?”

“Finding our daughter.”

David smiled. “I’ll always find you, covers her and Neal too.”

Snow gave him a full smile back for once and they walked over to Neal, who had slept through the entire thing.

“He’s not under a sleeping curse, is he?” David joked.

“Not funny. Regina said something about it possibly being magic. Like he has the ability to sleep through anything. Except the night.”

“All magic comes with a price.”

“And we have to pay it,” she gave him a light smile and turned to the pile of shopping bags she had discarded. She saw David’s raised eyebrow. “What? We don’t know how long she’ll be like this.”

“Yeah but I think that’s more clothes than a regular teen would need in their whole life…”

“I never got to have seamstresses make her clothes or heck, even if I had gone through the wardrobe with her, at least I would’ve gotten to buy her clothes. Finally have my chance. So I may have gone a tad overboard…”

“A tad?” David smirked and Snow rolled her eyes.

“All of it will go the less fortunate. Keep an eye on the baby.”

She lifted the bags up and went up the stairs, knocking on Emma’s door.

“Can I come in?”

“If I don’t, you’re going to anyway.”

Snow sighed and walked in. Emma was sprawled out on her bed, going through her backpack.

“Peace offering.” Snow held out her arms containing the bags.

Emma looked up at her. “You bought all that for me?”

“Well, you didn’t look like you had a lot of stuff.”

Emma didn’t understand. She had been so rude to Snow when she offered to take her shopping. Why was she being so nice.

“Anything you don’t like, I can return. But I um, just took a wild guess at what you’d like.” She set the stuff down. Emma didn’t move, so Snow took the hint. “Lunch will be ready soon.”

Once she was gone and her footsteps had gone down the stairs, Emma got up and walked over to the bags, going through them. It was mostly all stuff that she would wear: plaid, t-shirts, jeans. There were a few pink items and a dress or two, but that could be excused. At the bottom of one bag, there was a red leather jacket. She had never owned anything leather before, but something about it spoke to her.

How did this woman know what she liked? That overwhelming feeling filled her again. This woman gave her away. Emma was being so mean to her. Why was she being so nice? Why did David go looking for her? Defend her against Ingrid?

And why did Henry and Killian, two people she had never met before, look at her like they had seen a ghost?

Chapter Text

The next few days passed by slowly. Emma didn’t seem to be any more open to her parents and found the town extremely strange. Everyone sort of acted how Henry and Killian did, especially a waitress at the diner that went by Ruby. She somehow knew that Emma’s favorite food was grilled cheese and just how she liked her cocoa. She claimed that she was just good at reading people, but Emma didn’t buy it. Still, there was no real explanation. She didn’t even think that Snow and David knew her that well.

That was a whole other thing. While at home, they tended to leave her alone. But when they were out, they seemed to subtly always be near her. Ingrid hadn’t been spotted since the incident and she began to wonder if she had left for Minnesota again. If she was gone, then Emma began to believe that she had a real chance. She stuffed her backpack with as many clothes as she could fit and threw on her new jacket.

The only person she was sort of going to miss, was the baby. He was cute. And sure, she felt like he was her replacement but that wasn’t his fault. He seemed very mellow. He would grow up safe and protected. Unless they had the sudden need to send him off…but she had a feeling they wouldn’t make that mistake with him.

She carefully crept down the stairs and right for the door. Snow was putting the baby down, David at the station. Her one chance…

But the moment she touched the door, a loud alarm sounded. She jumped back, shocked as Neal started crying. Mary walked over, rocking him slowly. She didn’t seem fazed by any of it, she simply flipped up a little panel and punched in a few numbers, the noise stopped.

“Did you…” Emma didn’t know if she should be impressed or mad.

“We change the code every night, set it when we’re home with you.”

“So, I really am like a prisoner.”

“No, Emma. We just need to keep you safe.”

“I can handle life on my own, I don’t need anyone.”

Snow sighed and walked back to the basinet, setting the baby down.

“Do you want some cocoa?” She asked Emma, walking back over.

“What? I just tried to run away and you’re offering me cocoa?”

Snow gave her a soft smile. “I figured we should talk.”

“Have you not realized that I don’t want to?”

“Fine, I’ll talk, you can listen.”

Emma knew she should just go back to her room, but she followed her mother into the kitchen anyway, sitting at the counter. Snow went about the kitchen, making the cocoa and fixing it how they liked before sitting down next to her.

“I ran away,” she told her. “When I was younger.”

Emma scoffed. “Poor little rich girl ran away from home. What happened, Daddy didn’t buy you the right sports car?”

Snow pursed her lips, reminding herself which Emma she was dealing with. “I had to, my step-mother, she wanted to hurt me.”

That seemed to make the teen lose at least some of her attitude. “Why didn’t your dad do anything?”

“He was dead by that point, my mother died when I was quite young. My father, he only married again because he thought I needed a new one.”

“He never tried to stop her from hurting you?”

“She didn’t try until he was gone, he never would’ve allowed it otherwise.” Snow stirred her cocoa a bit. “So, I was on the run for a bit.”

A few beats passed.

“What was it like?” Emma asked.

“Hard. I didn’t exactly live somewhere that I could find a house to crash in. I spent many a night in the woods, just trying to find a place to sleep. Ate what I could.” Snow’s past didn’t bother her, not anymore. Being a bandit had changed her, she went from a weak little princess to a brave warrior. But it would forever bother her that Emma had to go through it as well. Even if it made her daughter an eventual warrior. Teen Emma was not exactly that warrior yet.

“You got out of it though,” the blonde mused.

“I did. I actually met your father while out there. He came from humble beginnings and was sort of forced into high society.”

“So, what was he, your prince charming?”

Oh, if only you knew…

“You could say that,” she said, softly. “Eventually I did find a place, with some friends. Leroy was one of them, you met him the other day, until I could finally be with your father, until I could get back to the legacy that my mother and father had left behind.”

Emma reflected on the short man she had met the other day. When she saw him from afar, he seemed very loud and in control, but he clammed up the moment she stepped foot in front of him and couldn’t begin to understand why.  “So, you got a family.”

“Yes, but it took time. I didn’t know who I could trust. But when I let my guard down, it happened to be the best thing I ever did.”

The teen slowly nodded, knowing what she was trying to do.

“We’re not the same.”

“I can see why it’d seem that way,” Snow said. “But I am older, I had more time to find my happy ending.”

“Which means if you let me go, I’d be so much closer to finding it.”

“What’s out there for you, Emma? What’s the plan?”

Emma was a little taken off guard. “What?”

“Well, you say you’ll be fine on your own, that you don’t need anyone. So, tell me the big plan. Where are you going to go?”

The teen shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know, I never really think about it. I just go where I can, until social services shows up.”

“That’ll only work for so long. Do you have a long-term plan? Do you intend to get a job? A place to live?”

“I steal what I need, nothing big...” She wondered if admitting this to the sheriff’s wife was the brightest idea but then again, she doubted David was going to lock her off.

“That’ll only last so long. Then what? What if you…what if you ended up in jail?”

“For petty theft? I’d get a couple months in juvie at the most.”

But Snow knew what Emma’s future had in store. She’d get caught up with another “petty thief”, who’d let her take the fall. She harbored no harsh feelings towards Neal, he had turned out to be more than met the eye. And without him, there’d be no Henry and no Henry may have meant that Emma never returned to Storybrooke. Still, as soon as she knew the full story, she couldn’t help but know how different things would’ve been if she had raised Emma. She never would’ve been on the streets to begin with, she never would’ve started stealing and wouldn’t have stolen the bug. She wouldn’t have been caught up with other petty thieves. She had an opportunity to be a mother, to show her daughter that the world wasn’t as simple as she thought. That actions had serious consequences.

“And if you did more than that?”

“I never steal more than what I need. Like, no jewelry or anything.”

“Okay, I trust that you wouldn’t. But…no one is ever really alone. You could end up with someone who could set you up.”

“Why are you bringing all this up?” Emma was starting to feel really uncomfortable. She had never overthought running away like that. It had always had consequences for her in the past, but they were never big. She had gotten sent back into the system, big whoop. She could always escape again.

“I’m just trying to get a view of what exactly you expect to happen.”

Emma stared down at the hot drink in front of her. She wanted to say something snappy back, anything. But she just couldn’t think of it.

“I know you don’t trust us, Emma,” Snow continued, softly. “But maybe, just maybe, being here would be better than the streets.”

“I don’t…I don’t want anyone to take care of me.”

“You’re 13, you still need someone.”

“Did you think you needed someone when you ran away?”

“I wished I had someone out there who cared about me, who would come find me. I used to dream of my parents coming back to life and bringing me home.”

“And am I supposed to have that here?”

“You’ve attempted to run away twice now and both times we’ve stopped you. What do you think?”

“Ingrid stopped me from running away.”

Snow’s breath caught. Was Emma really going to open up to her?

“She um, more like manipulated me into staying. There was this kid, he would pick on me and he told me if I stuck around, he’d make my life hell.”

The queen’s mind flashed back to the video, the chubby kid that had stolen Emma’s camera. Kevin, she thought his name was. “Children can be very cruel.”

“Well, anyway, I wasn’t one to get walked over. So, I tried to leave, Ingrid said she could tell I was a runner. She told me a way to get back at the kid, in her own special way.”

Not the tactic Snow would’ve gone with, but it kept her daughter safe…or as safe as she actually was with the Snow Queen. “That’s…interesting.”

“I stayed…things were good, great actually. Best foster home I was in since the Swans.” Snow merely nodded, trying to ignore the pain in her heart. “But it was all a lie, clearly. She wanted me for something bigger.”

“This…this isn’t a lie, Emma,” Snow said, softly. “We want you.”

“Why? You have that kid over there.”

“We want both of you. I wish…I wish with all my heart that I could’ve raised you the way I can Neal. I’m sorry that I couldn’t, I’m sorry that you were alone for so long. But I want to be there for you now, I know you’re not a baby, but you are…you’re my baby. I want you, because you’re my child, I want you safe…with me.”

Emma looked up at her. She was telling the truth. She wanted her…no other motive. She wanted her safe. No one had ever actually apologized to her before.

“I know this isn’t easy. And I know that you don’t think of me as your mom, but I want to be that for you. Please just don’t try to leave. Let me prove to you that I can be what you deserve.”

Emma looked at her backpack and then back to Snow. “I’ll go unpack.”

A sense of relief rushed over the brunette. “Do you want help?”

“No…I’m good.”

Emma stood up and headed for the stairs, only to have Snow call back to her. She turned around and found her mother looking at her in a way no one ever had, not even Ingrid. She couldn’t place it...it wasn’t a familiar one. She hadn’t ever seen someone with that much love.

“I love you,” Snow told her. “We love you, your father and I.”

Emma bit her lip. She had only ever told someone that she loved them once before. Ingrid. And it had turned out terribly. But she could tell that Snow did love her and that she was right about David. These people loved her…but how?

The teen didn’t know what to say in response, so she just went back into her room. She slid down the door, tears streaming down her face. All of it was too much. No one had ever cared enough to talk to her like that. Even her former foster mother, they never had talks like that. Ingrid was all about reverse psychology and manipulation. Snow cared, she was proving it. She had wanted to keep her, Emma believed that. But how could she trust these people? How could she let them in? What if they just turned around and hurt her?

David walked through the door and found Snow cleaning up some mugs. She looked up, a little shocked.

“You’re home early.”

“We still weren’t getting anywhere. Ingrid is nowhere to be found and Elsa’s still trying to find Anna on top of everything.”

“I sympathize with the girl, being away from the one you love…” She sighed. “It isn’t easy.”

“She’ll find her.” He leaned over, pecking her lips. “How are the kids?”

“Neal was fine, as usual. Emma tried to run away again, but the alarm system Leroy installed works just fine.”

David sighed. “Should I try talking to her?”

“I did…and I think I got through to her?”

David raised an eyebrow. “How?”

“Told her about my bandit days.”

“Oh that’s a great idea, give her more ideas on how to survive as a runaway.”

Snow rolled her eyes. “I didn’t make it like that. I basically asked what her plan was and pointed out the harsh realities she could get into…the ones Adult Emma did. I mean…” Snow sighed. “I love Henry, he’s our grandson and I wouldn’t trade him for the world but if she had our influence that she wouldn’t have been running away, stealing cars to have a dry place to sleep…”

“So, no Neal,” it all dawned on David.

“Yeah, which would mean no jailtime. And again, I love Henry but...”

“No, it’s good. She should have someone to point it all out to her. When we figure out how to fix it, it won’t matter anyhow. It’ll already have happened. But in the meantime, maybe it’ll stick with her. Like, the fact that someone cared enough to try to tell her.”

Snow gave him a small smile. “I think it worked. She didn’t really say anything snarky…I think she can tell that we really do want her here. I told her that I loved her.”

David grinned. “And?”

“And she went up to her room to unpack. Which is more than I thought she’d do.”

“Has she come down since?”

“That was about 10 minutes ago.”

“I can’t believe you started to get through to her.

“I was scared,” Snow admitted. “I mean it could’ve gone either way.”

“But you did it.” He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close.

“Just tread lightly. You know how Emma’s walls are. It’s like a booby trap. One false move…”

“And they’ll go shooting up.”

“Exactly.”

Emma didn’t come out of her room for another hour. When she finally made it down, she found David sitting on the couch with Neal. The baby seemed so happy in his arms, he wasn’t crying. Just a father and his son. The way it was supposed to be. Emma couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy, one she hadn’t felt in ages. She could still remember that little girl being adopted from her group home. The way those parents looked at their new foster daughter.

“No one’s ever going to look at me like that,” she had told her “friend”, Lily. “I’m too old.”

“Princess?”

The word slipped out of David’s mouth before he could help it. He hadn’t ever called Adult Emma that, out of fear she’d deck him or the walls would go up. But around this Emma…it just came out naturally. At first, when she stared at him like a deer caught in headlights, he worried she’d run back up to her room, but then she seemed to calm down.

“You gave me a name…Emma…let’s stick with that.”

He gave her a small smile. “Alright.” They’d work on it.

“Is there something you wanted?”

“You just seemed lost in thought.”

“I’m fine.” She hesitated and then sat beside him on the couch. It was the closest she had willingly agreed to be near him since she had been aged back.

“You know…you probably don’t know you have a middle name.”

Emma gave him a weird look. “What?”

“I mean, the only way they knew your name was Emma was that blanket, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, we did have a middle name picked out. Ruth. Emma Ruth.”

“Oh.” Emma sat there, unsure of what else to say.

“Ruth was my mother’s name, Neal’s middle name is Leopold, after your mother’s father.”

“Good thing you didn’t make that his first name, he would’ve gotten teased.”

David smirked. “I said the same thing. Your mother’s excuse was that her father never got made fun of.”

“Well wasn’t he someone high in power? Who was going to make fun of him?”

“That was my point too. There aren’t many ways Neal could go wrong.”

“David’s pretty solid too.” She was quiet for a minute. “Emma…lots of fun ways that can go wrong.”

“Oh?”

“Emma Phlegma,” she pointed out.

David made a face. “Suppose that is pretty bad…but Emma was your mother’s call. It’s still a beautiful name. No one should ever make fun of you.”

Emma didn’t respond, she just stared at the baby.

“Do you um, want to hold him?”

Emma looked a little shocked. “You want me to?”

“Well he is your baby brother.”

“Well, um, sure.” She held out her arms and David placed Neal in them. He went to guide her how to hold him, but she seemed to know just what to do.

“Hi Neal,” she said, softly. He simply gurgled up at her and kicked his little legs.

“You’re pretty good with him.”

“Foster home,” Emma replied, her eyes not leaving Neal’s. “There was a baby…the family was just fostering him until relatives could take him. So, since they couldn’t keep him, they didn’t want to get attached. There were a few older kids, we sort of took on the responsibility.”

David frowned at the thought of children having to take care of the baby. But he could also see happiness in her eyes, something he hadn’t since she aged back. “That was very grown up of all of you.”

Snow made her way into the living room and froze. There her family sat, Emma next to David, Neal in Emma’s arms. For the first time since she had turned back into a teenager, her daughter looked happy. David was beaming proudly at their kids.

Had they gotten a chance to properly raise Emma, there probably wouldn’t have been a 13-year age gap, more like two, three at the most. But, it was still a moment that made her heart melt. Her daughter, still a child, was bonding with her baby brother and father. She loved Emma, no matter her age. She missed Adult Emma and that relationship.

But she couldn’t lie. If she could freeze time and have things stay the way they were (minus the raging Snow Queen)….she’d do it.

Chapter Text

Regina stood in the station with Elsa and David. “Well, are we any closer to figuring out this ice monster out?”

“She wants me and Emma to be her sisters,” Elsa explained. “But what she wants to do with us, I don’t know.”

“I don’t understand why you let her go in the woods,” the mayor snapped to the town’s lone sheriff. “We could’ve at least had her locked up in here.”

“Oh a lot of good that would’ve done, she can create an ice wall around the town, she’d probably be able to blast her way out of the station!”

“David has a point,” Elsa said, calmly. “It wouldn’t take much to put a hole in the wall.”

“All I know is, this is getting a tad ridiculous. How do we know that you’re not working with her?” She accused the queen from Arendelle.

“Because I’m here looking for Anna!” Elsa fired back. “Plus, if I was helping her, wouldn’t I be out there with her?”

“Maybe you’re reporting back to her at night.”

“I am at your house every night! Where would I be sneaking off to?”

David could see Elsa’s hands glowing, so he gently placed a hand on her arm. “Deep breaths, calm down. Regina, quit getting her all worked up.” He watched as Elsa slowly calmed down and her magic tittered out. “Ingrid has a spell to turn us all against each other, let’s not beat her to it.”

“How is Emma doing anyway?” Elsa asked.

“Coming around some, she’s not trying to run away anymore. But it’s weird…having her like this.”

“Would’ve thought you and Snow would jump at the chance to re-raise her,” Regina muttered not so quietly.

David shot her a look. “Of course, we would’ve loved to have raised Emma. But not like this. Not when she has a life to get back to and especially not with her having no good memories of us.”

“This is getting us nowhere. Belle has her nose stuck in a book, we have nuns working on a spell to reverse the other, but without Emma…” Regina let out a long, exasperated sigh. “I never thought I’d say this but we need Swan.”

“We can’t very well have her help when she’s like this. She doesn’t know a thing about her powers or what this town really is.”

“Henry got her to believe before Maybe…”

“Regina, our number one priority needs to be finding Anna and stopping Ingrid,” David interrupted. “Now, I have to go patrolling. You two are more than welcome to stay here while you continue to figure stuff out.”

He was walking out the door just as Killian came in.

“Not now Guyliner,” Regina said. “The grownups are talking.”

Killian rolled his eyes. “I’m not here about the blasted snow queen. I’m here to ask how the efforts are going to change Emma back.”

“Right now, our main focus is finding my sister and stopping Ingrid,” Elsa explained.

“But wouldn’t that be easier if we had Emma back?”

“I understand how hard this must be on you,” she said, softly. “You and Emma seemed to quite like each other.”

“It’s not just for me. This whole town needs her.”

“Oh please,” Regina rolled her eyes. “We all know you don’t give a damn about this town. You just want Emma to sail off with you into the sunset.”

“If I didn’t give a damn about this town, why would I have brought her back to save it in the first place?” He stepped closer. “Maybe you just like having Henry all to yourself.”

The former mayor laughed, bitterly.  “What?”

“Now that Emma is a teenager, she can’t be his mother. And you’re still upset with her over bringing Marian back. How do we know that even when all this is over that you won’t just leave Emma as is?”

“You know I may not be Miss Swan’s biggest fan right now, but I do care about my son. And I know that without her, he’s not happy.” Regina stepped closer to him. “I don’t appreciate being accused of things, so I suggest you turn back around and head back to your ship before I blast you back there.”

Killian rolled his eyes but backed up. “The minute we get this Ingrid mess sorted, you better be working on a cure.” And with that, he left.

Elsa gave Regina a patient smile as she started to straighten up.

“Love makes people do crazy things,” she mused.

“I don’t know if Guyliner really loves Swan, not sure he’s capable of loving anyone but himself. Anyway, while we may not be able to focus on changing Emma back, perhaps at the very least we could get her memories back while she’s in this aged back state.”

“But how? I thought memory potions were hard to come by, we don’t have that kind of time to track down the ingredients.”

“True, but the first time Henry got Emma to believe, it was with his book.”

“David and Snow said that they didn’t want to try to jog Emma’s memory, it could freak her out.”

“Well sometimes I know a bit more than the Charmings.” She dug out her phone and dialed a number. “Henry, hi sweetie…yes, I was wondering if you’d like to help out with the mission...”

Emma sat on the couch, holding Neal. She was smiling down at him, for whatever reason whenever she was around him she felt that much happier.  He was just so cute. Growing up, the closest thing she ever had to siblings, were the foster type. Yet, they shared DNA. None of what happened was his fault.

“Thanks sweetie,” Snow’s voice broke her thoughts. Emma snapped out of it, instantly tensing a little. The whole nickname thing was going to take some getting used to. For the first time though, she allowed a smile to stay.

“No problem.” She was about to give the baby back, when there was a knock at the door. As usual, Snow insisted upon answering it. Emma didn’t understand how they could say she was a member of the family when she couldn’t even open the door. Of course, the real reason was in case it was a town emergency. Leroy had the tendency to just scream what he had to say and David feared Emma would open it to find him shouting “THE SNOW QUEEN’S TAKING OVER!”, essentially scarring the poor girl for life.”

Snow’s eyebrows raised when she saw her grandson standing there.

“Henry, what are you doing here?

“I um, wanted to see Emma.” He knew his mother could hear, plus his plan couldn’t be revealed to his grandmother. “It was fun getting to know her the other day…just wanted to hang out for a bit.”

“Is that the best idea?” Snow asked, trying to keep her voice light.

“I can handle it,” he assured her.

Emma stood up from the couch, walking over. “Why can’t I hang out with kids my age?”

“Emma…” Snow felt suddenly caught off guard.

“I mean it’s bad enough I’m trapped in here with you and David all day and that I have to stay by your side when we leave. God forbid I actually make some friends, right?”

Henry had to purse his lips from laughing. His mom was a very sassy teenager. He so had to remember all of this to when she was back to normal and reminding him about being respectful.

Snow sighed. She knew teenage Emma needed interaction with other peers her age. And while she of course loved Henry to bits, she worried that he may say or do the wrong thing, he was only a kid after all. “However, she was beginning to realize maybe she didn’t have much of a choice. “Alright, you two can go hang out in Emma’s room. Just for a little bit, though.”

Emma beamed and handed the baby off, leading the kid up to her bedroom. Henry hadn’t been back up there in quite some time. Between moving in Regina so she wouldn’t be alone and Elsa taking up residency in his bed to the now current situation, he hadn’t spent too much time at the loft.

“So, what did you want to do?” She asked, sitting on her bed. “I doubt we’d be able to convince her to let us leave and they have more security here then prison.”

“That’s fine. Do you like comic books?”

“Yeah, they’re pretty cool.”

“I got this new Spiderman one, maybe you’d like to check it out.”

The two poured over the comics, Teen Emma’s mind clearly not caught up with the stories of the modern world. She just shrugged it off as not being able to have the right access. She was a foster kid after all.

Eventually, Henry pulled out the storybook. The teenager eyed it curiously.

“Once Upon A Time? What is that?”

“It’s a uh, graphic novel kinda. Filled with spins of fairytales,” he explained, flipping it open. “See Snow White and Prince Charming.”

Emma started reading it. “Wow, yeah, Snow White is actually likeable here and kind of a badass. And the prince’s character is developed.” Henry watched, anxiously as she went through the pages. He kept hoping something about it would speak out to her, especially when she got to the part about the wardrobe. “Well, she was likeable until she put her baby through the wardrobe. I mean, who does that?”

“She had a good reason, she wanted to protect her daughter from the curse,” the pre-teen explained. “I mean, she could’ve been killed by the Evil Queen.”

“Should’ve done more to protect her.” Emma slammed the book shut. Why was the kid showing her this? Didn’t he know what she had been through? Or had all of this been arranged so she felt even worse for Snow and David?

“Don’t the names sound familiar. I mean, Snow…”

“It’s an iconic fairytale.”

“Right, but it’s your mother’s name.”

“No, her name is Mary Margaret. Snow is just a nickname, since she’s so pale.”

“The baby, her name was Emma.”

“Yeah, so? It’s a popular name.”

“None of this makes you remember anything?”

Emma raised an eyebrow. She knew the people in this town were strange, but what was this kid getting at? “Uh no….is it supposed to?”

“You’re the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming!”

Emma started laughing. “I’m not a fairytale character. My parents are just two old socialites..”

“No, they’re royalty. Don’t you think the pictures at least look like them?”

“I mean, kind of. But that doesn’t mean anything. Fairytales aren’t real, trust me, I would know.”

“This is who you are,” he flipped back open to the picture of Snow holding her when she was a baby. “That’s you, Emma. Your parents put you in the wardrobe, so you’d become the savior, to save everyone. You have magic, Emma.”

He saw the look on his mom’s face, something was going on in her brain. It was almost like…she was remembering.

“Stop the car,” Ingrid told her. They were standing in the middle of the road, a car barreling towards them. Her foster mother had a tight grip on her hand.

“What?!?” Emma exclaimed. Was this woman insane? How was she meant to stop a car!

“Trust your instincts, stop the car.” Her voice was so calm. How was her voice so freakishly calm with a car speeding towards them?

“Let go of me!” The teen managed to pull away and run back to the side of the road, just in time.

“Emma!”

The car swerved to miss both of them and that’s when she saw panic fill Ingrid’s eyes.

“I’m sorry…” She tried saying.

“Are you crazy?!?” Emma shouted. “You almost killed me!”

“I made a mistake. When I was younger, I…I had a traumatic experience that I…that I didn’t even know that I had!” She was walking closer to Emma, trying to touch her, but the younger blonde wouldn’t allow it.

“What are you talking about?”

“I thought that the arcade was a sign, that you were coming into your own.”

“You think…you think I have powers?!?” Emma knew that Ingrid was a little eccentric, she didn’t think she was completely normal but this was a new level of whacko. She had been placed in homes that were part of intense religious cults that suddenly seemed saner then this. “Like Harry Potter?”

“No, Emma, that’s fiction! What you have is more real and more powerful than you could possibly imagine!”

Emma stared into her eyes. Ingrid actually believed the nonsense that she was spewing. “Great, I should’ve known the only person willing to adopt me would turn out to be a nut job!”

Hurt filled Ingrid’s face. “No…Emma…” She reached out to touch her, but the teen pulled away again.

“Don’t touch me!” Tears filled her eyes. She had trusted this woman, thought they could be a real family. How could she have been so foolish? So she did, the one thing she always did…she ran.

“Emma, wait,” Ingrid tried calling after her, running as fast as her feet could carry, but Emma outdid her. As she disappeared into the night, she could still hear the crazy woman’s voice calling her name.

Emma snapped out of her memory, staring at the pre-teen in front of her.

“Did you…did you remember?” He whispered, feeling the hope rising.

“Oh yeah, I did…” Tears were filling her eyes. “I remember being in a great home that was suddenly ruined because some psycho thought that I had magical powers! And now here you are, trying to say the same thing!”

Henry’s eyes widened. So, she had remembered something…just not what he was hoping for.

“Emma…” He tried stepping closer.

“Don’t touch me! God, I try to get a real mother and she turns out to be a nut job! Then my only friend in this place is one too?!? Are you with Ingrid?!? Are you her new foster kid or something?”

“No…I told you I was adopted remember!”

Tears spilled down her face. “Just get out!”

“Emma…”

The door opened and Snow walked in. She saw her daughter crying and Henry’s shocked expression. Before she could ask what happened, she saw the storybook opened on the bed. Her jaw clenched. She should’ve known better than to allow Henry to come up with Emma. “Henry, leave.”

“But…”

“Get out of here now, we will discuss this later.”

The pre-teen sighed, but gathered up his things and slowly left. She turned to Emma, her heartbreaking.

“Sweetie…”

“He’s crazy! He…he started spewing all this crap about me having magic! Only…only one person ever said that before!”

Snow raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

“Ingrid! Him showing me that…it made me remember why I left Ingrid. She…she pushed me out in front of a car, told me to stop it with my magic!”

As if Snow didn’t hate the woman enough…this crazy lady had attempted to make Emma go into her powers when she was so young? She nearly killed her! And for what? To prove that they were meant to be sisters? “Oh Emma…”

“Every time I think I can get close to someone, they prove me wrong! Though Ingrid could be my family, thought that kid to be my friend…” Tears continued spilling down her face and Snow just couldn’t take it anymore. She pulled her daughter into her arms, hugging her tight. Emma, of course, tried to push her away, but she wouldn’t allow it. “Let me go!”

“No,” Snow told her, firmly. “I want you Emma, your father wants you. We want you to be a part of this family. No ulterior motive.” She knew that Henry really had just been trying to help, but she couldn’t very well explain that, not without further making Emma’s trust issues worse.

“How am I supposed to trust that?”

“You’re just going to have to. I love you. You are safe here, you’re loved. We’re not going to hurt you.”

“I want to believe you,” Emma sobbed. “I want to…I just…I can’t.”

“I understand. You’ve been hurt so badly, baby. But I won’t let anything hurt you ever again.” Emma didn’t resist against her anymore, she just allowed Snow to hug her as she cried. “Shhh…it’s going to be okay. It’s alright, I’m here now.” She gently rubbed circles on her back, her heart breaking for her poor daughter. How could she have been through so much at such a young age?

Emma cried in her mother’s arms for what seemed like forever. Typically, it’s not something she would’ve done, but something about it felt safe. She wanted to believe this woman, so badly. Her lie detector was telling her that she was honest, her mother’s actions were proving it. Every part of her wanted to let down her walls and just let her in. Maybe she could have a family…maybe they wouldn’t be like Ingrid.

So, as a start, she slowly wrapped her arms around Snow’s torso, allowing the hug to continue. She felt a kiss touch the top of her head and that made another tear fall.

Snow had wondered if the kiss would bring anything back. It hadn’t been her sole reason for giving it, but it was worth a shot. Alas, Emma didn’t seem to change in anyway. And that was fine. Her daughter needed her. Maybe when Emma turned back, this would somehow transfer over. Maybe it’d continue to allow her walls to come down. She’d do anything to help her daughter.

Eventually, Emma pulled apart from her and Snow wiped her tears with her thumb. She saw the girl give an awkward smile, the same one she had given when Snow had done the same thing back in the Enchanted Forest after their talk in the nursery. Back then she could tell that Emma’s walls were beginning to lower. Maybe this was a good sign.

“I um, I need a minute alone,” Emma said.

Snow nodded. “Alright, baby. I’m just downstairs.”

“Thanks.”

The queen made her way back down and found that David was home.

“Well, Emma just had more of a breakthrough…at a cost.”

She explained the whole thing to him and by the end, he was shaking his head.

“I don’t know who to be more pissed at, Ingrid or Regina,” David mumbled, angrily. “You know she was behind Henry trying this.”

“What did they think was going to happen?”

“Probably that it would spark memories. When she first believed that the curse was real, she touched the book and she was hit by visons of us.”

“She was hit by a vison of something alright, just of her childhood.”

David sighed. “At least that fills in one mystery, why she got out of Ingrid’s care.”

“I can’t believe that woman. I mean, I get she has some weird prophecy but Emma was 13, 13, how could she have been showing signs?”

“Ingrid obviously jumped the gun.”

“Well now she doesn’t trust Henry, her one friend in this place,” Snow said. “You should’ve seen her face when he showed up today. She was so excited, like she actually had a good thing around here. And then it got ripped out from under her like everything else.”

“Our poor baby,” he whispered.

“She wants to believe us, that’s what she said. I think we’re close.”

“Good. If she’s stuck like this for a while, I’d rather her trust us. To have at least something good in her childhood.”

Snow nodded. “How’s the efforts to stop the curse going?”

“They’re trying to find a way to stop it, they’ve discovered most of the ingredients, but they seem to be spilled over different books.”

“Is Regina still at the station?”

“No, I was just there to let Ruby take over. She said she went back home.”

“Good. I need to have a little chat with her.”

“Snow, I want to prevent something like this happening again, but she’s still so stressed about Robin on top of everything else. Is that safe?”

“I’ll be careful.” She kissed him. “Plus, I should talk to Henry too. I sort of snapped at him.”

“I’m sure he understands, you walked up there and he had made her cry.”

“The kid was just following orders and he’s just that…a kid. He wants his mom back as much as all of us.”

David gave her a small smile. “Just be safe.”

“Always. Look after our babies.”

“Always.”

Chapter Text

Snow walked up the path to Regina’s mansion, finding Henry on the front step. His face about broke his heart. He was sitting there, flipping through a scrapbook, looking like the saddest kid on earth. She sighed, finishing her walk up to him.

“Hi,” she said, softly.

Henry’s head snapped up and his sadness was replaced by fear. “Grandma…”

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to yell at you. Can I have a seat?”

The boy nodded and slid over a little bit. “I’m sorry.”

Snow sat down. “I’m not mad at you.”

“You’re not?”

“A little disappointed, but I can’t even be that too much. I’m guessing your mother asked you to do this?”

“Yeah but it’s not like she had to convince me.” Henry looked back down at the book in his lap, causing his grandmother to do the same. It was pictures of him and Emma from over the past few years.

“I know you miss your mom,” she whispered. “I do too.”

“I just thought the book would make her remember, like before. It helped me believe too, after we got separated.”

“I get that. And during that whole time you were without your memories was just as hard on me and your grandfather as it was Regina.”

Henry looked up at her. “Really?”

“We love you buddy, so much. I kept wanting to give you a big hug and talk like old times. It’s really hard to remember when the person you love can’t.”

He nodded, shutting the scrapbook. “How is Mom anyway?”

“She calmed down. But…I’m not sure if you two seeing each other for a while would do much good.” Snow wanted to cry at the look that went across his face. “I’m not saying it because of what you did. She just thinks…”

“That I’m crazy. Like my other mom used to.”

“You have to look at it from her point of view. And there’s more to it…”

“Ingrid tried to tell her she had magic too.”

“She told you about that?”

Henry nodded. “Yeah.”

“We’re going to fix this, we’re going to get the old Emma back, I promise you. We don’t give up in this family, remember?” She was met with yet another nod. “We’ll work on her being able to see you again. Just try to be patient. I know it’s not easy.”

“Being around her like that is weird anyway,” Henry said, his voice suddenly clipped. Snow did her best not to wince. Some of Emma was showing through here, her walls, her defensiveness. And just like Emma, she knew how to deal with it. “So maybe this is all for the best.”

“Okay,” she slowly replied. “Well, your grandfather and I still want to see you, Neal too. So, maybe…”

“I have homework to do. I’ll see you later, Grandma.” He kissed her cheek and went inside.

Snow drew a deep breath, standing up. She had never more wanted to throttle the Snow Queen. It was bad enough she was hurting her daughter in all of this. Now, she was hurting her grandbaby. That poor had been through so much. Archie was going to become a very rich man with all the therapy he was going to require as an adult.

Henry had left the door open, so she walked inside. “Regina?” She called out.

The former mayor appeared in the room a moment later. “Letting yourself in?”

“Henry left the door open. We need to have a chat.”

“How did the mission go? Henry wouldn’t say anything when he came home…”

“Oh, it went swell. She is now convinced that Henry is completely nuts and that the only friend that she managed to make in this town only wanted to be friends with her because they believed she had magic.”

Regina rolled her eyes. “Guess even teenaged Swan was dramatic.”

Snow’s nostrils flared in frustration. “This isn’t funny, Regina! Do you want to know why she was separated from Ingrid? The psycho was convinced that she was coming into her powers and pushed her out in front of a car, telling her to stop it! So, the one person she thought loved her, the one person that she loved, was only using her because they thought she was of use to them. Do you not understand how much this all hurt her?”

The queen wasn’t one to typically be flustered, but as dark as her heart may have been, she still had one. She hadn’t known all of this about Emma’s past. “Well, it’s not as if I knew…”

“Of course you didn’t, but it was still a dirty trick, using Henry like that! That boy has been through so much and you knew he’d do anything to get Emma back. You got his hopes up and for what?”

“Don’t go around telling me how to parent my son!”

“I will when your parenting hurts my daughter! Not to mention, he’s still my grandson and I care about him too! I will say this once Regina, if Emma gets her memories back on her own, that’s great. If we have to slip a potion into her drink, then we’ll do that. But there will be no more trying to convince her of who she is! No more hurting her, no more using Henry! Because at the end of the day, all of this is your fault!”

“My fault?” Regina scoffed. “I fail to see how this ice witch trying to kill of us and take your daughter is my fault!”

“Because if you hadn’t set the curse in the first place then Emma would’ve been raised by us and she never would’ve met Ingrid in the first place. I have moved on from it, I have accepted it as much as a mother can. But the least you can do is try to keep her pain as minimal as possible.”

Regina glared at her step-daughter. No one told her what to do, no one. She was doing all she could to protect all of them from this other queen. To her, her methods hadn’t been so bad.

“We need Emma for this,” she said, finally. “We have Elsa and that’s great. But Emma’s magic, it’s powerful. If she could just remember…”

“I know that. But we don’t know what’s going to work. You used to brag about how powerful you are, combine forces with Elsa and try that way. You remember how badly Emma tried to protect Henry a few months ago, you agreed then it was best. That’s what David and I have to do right now. I need to know that you’re not going to pull a stunt like this again.”

Regina sighed, irritated. “Fine. For now, all my efforts are going to stopping the Snow Queen,” her voice came out monotone. “I will not try to get Miss Swan to remember anything nor will I use Henry to.  Happy?”

Snow rolled her eyes. “I want to skip and sing.” She headed for the door.

“Snow.” The woman turned back around. “What about Henry and Emma?”

Snow sighed. “Right now, Emma doesn’t trust him. I let him know that for now, they can’t see each other.”

That hit Regina hard. She knew how much Henry loved his other mother. Maybe all of this hadn’t been worth it after all.

“I didn’t think…”

“Of course not, you never do.” And with that, she walked out the door.

David was settling Neal down when his wife returned. She looked around.

“No Emma?”

“I knocked a little while ago, she was reading but said she’d come down later.”

“Alright.” Snow threw her jacket up and rubbed her temples.

“Something tells me your little talks did not go well.”

“Henry is completely crushed and I can’t even blame him. We remember what it’s like to have him not remembering us.”

David frowned. “Yeah. But did you tell him we still want to see him?”

“I tried, he’s just so hurt.”

“And Regina?”

“I laid into her. I’m surprised she didn’t rip my heart out of my chest and crush it. I think she realizes she screwed up, though. She promised she wouldn’t try to convince Emma of anything.”

David sighed, walking over and kissing her forehead. “It’s going to be okay.”

“Is it?” Tears clouded her eyes. “Our grandson is building walls of his own, our daughter has been through complete hell and nothing we can do can fix it. Oh, and there’s a snow queen out there trying to destroy our family.”

“We have been through curses and spells like this before. We always prevail. Come here.” He adjusted Neal into one arm and wrapped another around her, pulling her close. Snow buried her head into his shoulder, letting his strength rub off on her. “We’re so close to stopping Ingrid, I can feel it.”

Snow nodded. “I’m just glad I have you.”

“Always.” He leaned down and kissed her. She deepened it for a moment until Neal began fussing again. She pulled off, laughing lightly.

“I’m sorry bub, are we ignoring you?” She gently took him from her husband. “I think he’s hungry.”

“You take care of him. I’ll see if Emma wants to go on a Granny’s run with me. I don’t think being cooped up in the loft all day is good for her.”

“I’d suggest you taking her to work tomorrow, but that’s not possible.”

“We’ll find a way.”

He headed upstairs, knocking on the door.

“Emma?”

“You can come in.”

He smiled, she hadn’t actually invited him into her room. Baby steps, he told himself. He entered the room and found her sprawled out on her bed, reading the same book she had been before.

“Do you want to come with me to Granny’s to pick up some food?”

Emma’s face instantly brightened. “You mean I could actually get to leave?”

David chuckled. “Yes, come on. Get your jacket.”

He had never seen even Adult Emma run that fast to get her jacket. Once out of the loft, he offered her his arm and to his surprise, she looped her own through it. He did his best not to do a jig of glee as they headed down the sidewalk.

“So uh, can I ask you something?” Emma asked.

“You just did,” David teased.

She shot him a look. “How old are you?”

David was quiet for a minute. He and Snow hadn’t thought about that. They had Emma at 28 and then were cursed for another 28 years. Before, it was just a weird thing between the three of them. But now, what was he to say? Emma could spot a lie, but then she would think they were teen parents. “30,” he replied, honestly. A part of him did feel 58, with all he had been through, but it was easier to define himself as 30.

Emma did the math quickly in her head. “So…you were 17 when you had me?”

“We were young,” he said. 28 was young to some, wasn’t it? In their current realm, anyway. In the Enchanted Forest, it was actually probably a little old, considering most were courted off and married by mid-20s, having their first baby not long after since birth control didn’t really exist.

“Is that really why you gave me up? Because you were so young?”

“No. Our reasons for giving you up were what we told you.”

“So, you were going to keep me?”

“We had a nursery made up and everything.”

The thought sort of stunned Emma. “A nursery?”

“The best money could buy. Your mother was determined to have it fit for a princess.” He smiled at the memory of it.

“Um, what happened to it?”

David bit his lip. “It was destroyed shortly after you were born, by the people who tried to hurt you. Our whole…” He had to stop himself from saying castle. “House was. That’s why we’re here.”

Emma looked up into his eyes. He suddenly looked very heartbroken and not over having to live in a small loft. They had wanted her, they had all these plans for her. They had really sent her away for her best chance. And all of it hadn’t just done a number on her, but them too. She looked down at her shoes, gnawing on her bottom lip.

They made it to the diner and David picked up the order he had phoned in. On their way out, Regina was just coming in. Emma didn’t recognize her, but David pulled her closer.

“David,” Regina’s voice was kind for once.

“What do you want Regina?”

Her eyes flew to the confused Emma and she gave her a gentle smile. “I just wanted to meet our newest resident. I’m Regina Mills…former mayor.”

“Former?”

“Your um, mother beat me in the last election.”

Emma suddenly remembered Snow saying something about being the town’s mayor. “Oh. I’m Emma.”

“So, I’ve heard.”

“We better go,” David said, suddenly. “The food’s going to get cold.”

“If you need anything Emma, anything at all, just let me know.” Regina told her, before walking further inside.

Emma followed her father out of the diner.

“Why were you so mean to her?” She asked. “She seemed so nice.”

“She’s more than what meets the eye. Trust me, that’s not how she typically acts.” David knew that wasn’t completely fair. Regina was actually a huge help to them, he was just a little bitter given what she had caused that afternoon.

“So, is she someone to avoid?”

David sighed. “No. Just…be careful. Well, you won’t have to worry about being careful, your mother and I will protect you.”

Emma rolled her eyes but didn’t say more. When they arrived back at the loft, she looked over at Snow. Her whole face had seemed to light up once they returned home.

“Look Nealy, Daddy and Emma are back!”

“We were gone for 20 minutes, not like we went off to war or anything.”

“We don’t like being away from the people we love,” she said, kissing the top of her head. Emma lightly smiled. “I was thinking, maybe after we eat, we could have a movie night.”

“Sounds good.”

Snow raised an eyebrow. She hadn’t expected Emma to agree to it so easily. She looked over at David, wondering what he might have said but he looked just as surprised as she. They certainly weren’t going to fight it, so they set out the food and began eating. Once they were done, Snow put Neal down for the night and turned to Emma.

“What movie would you like to watch?”

“Um, what do you have?”

“Let me show you.”

They had decided while Emma may have adapted to some new modern technology like smaller cell phones that could text, their best bet would to be hide anything too new, so their DVD player had to be put away, along with their laptops and Apple devices. Luckily, since they had all been transported to Storybrooke in the 80s, they had a VHS player and tapes. Emma dug through the box and found Snow White.

“This was my favorite movie when I was little,” she said, holding it up.

Snow had to hold back her excitement. She had never known that about her daughter. It made sense why Adult Emma wouldn’t share this information, for several reasons. As inaccurate as it was, she did like that her little girl at least had a part of her childhood with her. “We could watch it, if you want.”

Emma thought about it. It was a kid’s movie after all…but she hadn’t seen it in forever. “Alright.”

David walked back in the room and saw the tape in his daughter’s hand. Without thinking, he groaned.

“Really?” Sadness filled Emma’s face and she wondered if she had screwed up. David picked up on her thoughts, suddenly realizing he had just screwed up. “Oh, I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I’m just a guy, you know…princesses aren’t really my thing.”

“We don’t have to watch it…”

“No, it’s fine. Totally. I’m going to go pop some popcorn.”

He headed into the kitchen, Snow following close behind him.

“Nice save,” she mumbled.

“Sorry,” he whispered back, grabbing the corn from the cabinet. “I forgot.”

“Just try to keep some of your usual comments to yourself.”

“I will, I will.”

They returned a few minutes later with popcorn and hot chocolate. Emma gratefully accepted her mug and couldn’t help but smile as her parents sat on either side of her. The movie started and already David was having to keep his comments to himself. But, he did it, best he could. The movie was cute, he supposed. He just would gratefully take the real version of things over Mr. Disney’s.

About halfway through the movie, Snow felt a head lightly fall against her chest. She looked down, realizing it was Emma, who was falling asleep. Her heart soared and she wrapped an arm around her. She hadn’t even gotten to do this with Adult Emma. The fact that Teen Emma felt comfortable doing it, even if it was just because she was tired, meant the world. David smiled at the two, they really did look so sweet together.

Snow reached down and kissed Emma’s forehead. Her happiness drained and worry filled it.

“David,” she whispered harshly. “She’s burning up.”

“What?” His head snapped back over to them.

“I think she has a fever.” She slowly shook Emma awake. “Emma, sweetie…”

“Mmm…” The girl’s green eyes blinked back closed.

“No, baby, I need you to stay awake. Does anything hurt?”

“I just, I feel really hot.”

Only then did David realize that little sparks were fluttering from Emma’s hands. The teen was so out of it, she didn’t notice it. Snow gulped, pulling Emma closer to her, slowly rubbing her back. The sparks slowly tittered out, but the fever remained.

“Princess,” David said, softly. “I’m going to carry you up to bed, okay?” Emma mumbled something incoherent in response, so he gently lifted her into his arms and carried her up the stairs. Snow fumbled for her phone, frantically calling Regina.

Chapter Text

After phoning Regina, Snow made a call to Doc, knowing Whale didn’t make house calls. Plus, she knew her husband trusted the dwarf over her former one night stand. She then gathered a cool wash cloth and the thermometer before going upstairs. Emma was laying on top of her covers with her eyes shut, a worried David sitting beside her.

“I called Regina and Doc, they’re on their way,” she explained. She ran the thermometer over Emma’s forehead. “103.” She gently replaced the thermometer with one of the cool cloth.

“I’m scared,” David muttered.

“She’s going to be okay.” Though, Snow wasn’t so convinced of this herself.

Regina and Elsa arrived first, heading straight up.

“I left Henry with Ruby,” Regina explained quickly, walking towards the teen’s bedside. “Tell me exactly what happened?”

“We were watching a movie and she suddenly got very tired, leaning on me. I noticed she had a fever and then these sparks were flying from her hands. I rubbed her back and managed to calm her down,” Snow told her. “Her fever is 103 degrees.”

“Well, first off, here,” Elsa created an ice pack to replace the cool cloth. Emma stirred from the sudden icy feeling, but didn’t wake up.

“Thank you, Elsa,” David said, quietly.

“All magic comes with a price,” Regina mused. “I’m guessing that this is an affect of turning back the clock.”

“But when August got turned back to Pinocchio he didn’t get sick,” Snow spoke up.

“Yes, but August was turned back by Blue, she only uses light magic. Ingrid practices dark. Same spell, but the intentions were different so the results vary.”

“And the sparks?”

“My guess is she’s coming back into her magic again.”

“But originally that didn’t happen until she was 28.”

“Yes, but that’s because she didn’t come to Storybrooke until then. Now she’s back and the town is under threat. The savior part of her is doing what it does best, preparing for battle.”

Snow and David exchanged a worried look. The pair weren’t fearful of Emma’s magic, but this teenager sure would be. Adult Emma had adjusted to her powers, to who she was meant to be. This version of her had been through so much, there was no way she could handle it.

“But she’s so young, she can’t fight any battles,” Snow said.

“Her body doesn’t sense that. All it knows is that we need her help. I can probably do something to put it off for a while, but eventually she’s going to have to learn to use it again. I’d say we could put a cuff on her, but that’ll only make her weaker.”

“We don’t want that.” David sighed. “Well, do what you can to put it off, please.”

“Alright. But you are going to have to find a way to explain it to her, her magic’s coming out one way or another.”

“That’s fine, but even when she gets her powers, she’s not fighting,” Snow insisted. “I know she’s the savior, but she’s in the body of a teenager.”

“I have to agree with Snow,” Elsa piped up. “Back when I first came into my powers, I was out of control and while I learned to tame them, I was in no way prepared to fight any battles.”

“We’ll cross this bridge when we come to it,” Regina told them both as the door opened and Doc walked in. “What is he doing here?”

“In all fairness, you are not a doctor,” Snow replied, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. “We just want to make sure there’s nothing else going on outside the fever.”

“Alright, let me do my work and Dopey over here can do his.”

“It’s Doc,” the dwarf said.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I really work on memorizing all your names,” Regina snapped back, sarcastically. She set a spell over Emma before turning to Elsa. “Dairy Queen Jr., let’s go.”

“Thank you for all your help,” David told them as they left.

“I need the princess to be awake while I examine her,” Doc softly said.

David gently shook Emma awake and her green eyes flickered open.

“Mmm…”

“Sweetheart, this is our friend, he’s a doctor and he just needs you to stay awake long enough so you could be examined,” David cooed.

“’m fine,” she mumbled.

“No honey, you’re not. You have a high fever.”

Emma simply leaned against him, folding her eyes stubbornly. She managed to stay at least half awake while Doc checked her over, opening her mouth when asked. She was too tired to make any sarcastic remarks.

“It doesn’t look like she has any other ailments. As long as her fever stays where it is, she won’t need to go the hospital. I’d give her a fever reducer and do what you can to keep her cool,” he informed them once he was finished.

“Alright, thank you Doc,” Snow replied, feeling a little bit better.

“Anytime. Let me know if anything changes.” He gave his sister and brother-in-law a quick hug before leaving.

“David, can you get her medicine? I’m going to change her into lighter clothes.”

“Actually, what might help is a cool bath first. Then she can put on her pajamas.”

Snow smiled. “What would I do without you?”

“Go nuts. Here, I’ll help her downstairs and then you can take over.”

“I can walk,” Emma whined.

“Baby, you’re probably really dizzy. Just let me carry you.”

He scooped her back up and carried her downstairs. Snow gathered a light tank top and sleep shorts before heading to the bathroom. David lowered his daughter onto the ground and left the girls be. Snow helped Emma undress and started a cool bath, though she made sure it wasn’t too cold. Emma winced a little getting in, but was otherwise fine.

“This will help you feel better baby,” Snow assured her, soothingly. She remembered her mom giving her similar baths when she was ill as a small child. In this world, she had read on the internet that they weren’t always recommended, but the water wasn’t that cold and they had always worked on her.

“I feel like I should be protesting you doing this,” Emma mumbled. “But I don’t have the energy.”

Snow giggled. “Well, don’t worry. This is what mothers do.”

She carefully washed Emma’s hair, realizing it was the first time she had done something like this. She thought of all the times they should’ve had together. Not just the baths and helping her with her hair, but getting her ready for balls and otherwise tending to her when she was sick as a small child. But, Emma was young again. Sure, she wasn’t exactly a little girl but she was still Snow’s little girl. And as much as she hated seeing her sick, she was going to take what she could from the situation and care from her in the best way possible.

She didn’t want her temperature dropping too much, so the bath was cut short. She drained the tub and draped a towel around Emma, putting another around her hair to keep her warm. She kept he one around her head on after helping her into pajamas and lead her back upstairs. Emma didn’t fight laying back down in bed, though she made a face when David came in with her medicine.

“It’s not the greatest tasting in the world but it’s going to make you feel better,” he told her. He had to bite his tongue from pointing out that Doc’s potions from the Enchanted Forest were ten times worse.

“Ugh.” She opened her mouth and allowed him to put in the spoonful. That’s when Neal started crying downstairs.

“I’ll go get him,” David told his wife, knowing how badly she wanted to take care of Emma.

“Sweetie, would you like me to braid your hair? It’ll keep your hair out of your face.” That and she had waited forever to play with her daughter’s hair.

“Knock yourself out,” Emma told her, wearily.

Snow smiled brightly and unwrapped her hair. She grabbed a brush and hair tie from nearby, running the brush through her damp blonde locks. “You have such pretty hair, baby,” she told her.

Emma’s cheeks flushed. “Thanks…no one’s ever done my hair before.”

“Really?” Snow asked. “Not even Ingrid?”

“She wasn’t really the girly type.”

“Well I am honored to be the first.” She managed to get out all the little tangles and started braiding.

“Mrs. Swan wasn’t really into it either.”

Snow’s eyebrows perked up a little. She had never heard Emma talk about her time with the Swans and she was fairly certain if not for the fever, she never would. “Oh?”

“I don’t remember a lot about them…but I do that. She always said my hair was too tangly.”

“It’s perfect. You get your curls from me, you know.”

“Your hair’s so short.”

Snow reflected on her curls from the Enchanted Forest. She never would quite understand why Regina made her lose them during the curse. She happened to actually like it shorter, she never would’ve cut it otherwise, it wasn’t exactly princessy. “I used to have long curls, back when I was pregnant with you actually.”

“Why’d you cut them?”

“I guess I just needed a change.” She continued braiding, wondering if she should really ask her next question. “Do you remember a lot about the Swans?”

“Just that they seemed to change overnight. One minute, there was a lot of cuddles and stuff. Then I was told to stop, because Mama…I mean Mrs. Swan was pregnant.”

Snow bit her lip. She had asked…she had to accept the response. Of course Emma had started calling them Mama and Daddy. They had been her parents for the first three years of her life. “I’m sorry.”

Emma shrugged. “Not your fault.”

But her mother felt like it was. If she had done more to defeat Regina, if she had found another way. If she had somehow been able to tell that they were lying about the wardrobe only taking one…her daughter wouldn’t have had to go to the Swans, she wouldn’t have been given back. “A mother doesn’t want that for her child.”

“I went back not long after that. Before the baby was born.”

“That’s not going to happen here,” Snow told her. “We have Neal, but we would never send you back.”

Emma was quiet for a minute. “I know,” she said, softly. She wasn’t sure how much she really meant that, she just felt very hot and her mom’s braiding was soothing.

Snow smiled, kissing the side of her head. “Alright, there we go. You’re all done. Do you want me to get you a lighter blanket? I know your dad took the comforter but the sheet might not…”

“Everything’s fine, Mama,” Emma muttered, her eyes shutting again.

Snow’s heart skipped a beat. She could remember the first time Adult Emma called her “Mom”. It had been the most bittersweet moment of her life. The second time, had been definitely just sweet. It was also the moment she learned her baby girl wasn’t going anywhere, that she felt at home. It had been a couple weeks since she had even gotten a “Mom”, but she had never even received a “Mama”. Not that she cared what Emma called her and she knew it was probably from the fever, but she’d take it.

“I’m right here baby,” she whispered. Emma snuggled into her side and Snow wrapped her arms around her little body. “Mama’s here.” Soon, she was back asleep. David came up a little later, Neal in his arms.

“I managed to calm him down but I uh, don’t have the parts to make it last.”

Snow chuckled. “Bring him here,” she whispered, releasing one of her arms from Emma’s grasp. She opened her blouse and allowed Neal to eat. David sat on the other side, smiling down at his princess.

“She looks like an angel when she sleeps. Well actually, she looks like one all the time, but especially when she’s not awake.”

“I know.” Snow beamed brighter. “She called me Mama.”

David’s smile widened, though then he pretended to be offended. “You always get her saying Mom first.”

His wife lightly laughed. “Guess I do, huh? Maybe she really is a Mama’s girl after all.”

“Oh please, totally Daddy’s girl. She linked arms with me on the way to Granny’s, so ha.”

“I’m sorry, your little gesture is being washed out by the word Mama.”

David rolled his baby blues. “She’s still a Daddy’s Girl.” He thought about it some more. “Well, guess Neal’s first word will just have to be Dada.”

“No, it’ll be Mama. As it should be. I only carry them inside of me for 9 months.”

“You can’t use that card forever.”

“I fully intend to.”

“Well who helped create them?”

“5 minutes verses 9 months.”

“Hey, it was not 5 minutes!” David fired back, offended.

“Shhh…if you wake her up so help me,” Snow grumbled.

The ever-charming prince gave one of his famous smiles. “Sorry.” He pecked her lips and she rolled her eyes.

“You fully live up to your nickname.”

“I try, darling.”

Emma stood in the middle of Main Street, but something felt different. She felt different. A quick reflection in a shop mirror revealed her to be older, at least twice her age. That kid Henry was standing nearby, but he looked the same age as he had the day before, actually he looked a little younger. A few feet in front of her were her parents, hugging various people. Again, they looked the same age and her mom was a lot skinnier. How was that possible?

“So, what do we do now?” Ruby asked.

“Now, now I find my daughter,” her best friend replied.

“So, it’s true,” the words flooded out of Emma’s mouth before she could even think.

Snow and David turned to face her, both looked on the brink of tears. Her mother was stepping closer, partially in shock, partially ecstatic. Her dad seemed as if he was seeing her for the first time. The brunette cupped her face before breaking down into tears and pulling her into a big hug.

“You found us,” Snow croaked out. Emma was in shock, she didn’t know what to do. Hadn’t she found them at 13? Why were they acting as if they had never seen her before? She didn’t know what to say as David stepped forward, cradling the back of her head, letting out a little content sigh as they stayed enveloped in a family hug.

Suddenly, she heard Henry’s voice.

“Grandpa?”

Snow began laughing in spite of her tears. Good God, did everyone finally realize how nuts this kid was? But then her parents pulled away from her and David was saying “I guess so” as he wrapped his arms around the boy. Emma felt like she wanted to pass out.

“She saved us,” Henry said.

“She saved all of us,” Snow confirmed with a smile.

Emma shot up in bed, her head spinning. Her eyes darted around the room, the sun was peaking in through the window. She was back in her room, at the loft. Snow was beside her, fast asleep. She fumbled to grab the mirror that was on her nightstand. Her face still showed her teenaged self.

“It was just a dream,” she mumbled.

But it had been a vivid dream. She suddenly felt like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, wanting to declare that everyone had been there. Could she have somehow seen the future? No, that was insane. Plus, if it were the future, if she was so much older, why were they all still the same age? How could Henry be younger? Why the hell was he calling David “Grandpa”?

This was all insane. She had a fever, she wasn’t thinking clearly. The night prior she had even called Snow “Mama”. That wasn’t planned, she only said it because she was so tired. She still felt a little out of it. Clearly her mind was playing tricks on her, yes, that’s what it was. She had just been reunited with her parents a couple weeks prior. That crazy Henry kid was still on her mind after what he had tried to convince her the day before.

“Emma?” Snow’s sleepy floated up. Emma glanced down and saw she was awake. “Are you alright, baby?”

“Yeah, just woke up.”

“Here, let’s check your temperature.” Her mother seemed to swing right into action, grabbing for the thermometer and checking her temperature. “It’s gone down to 102. A little improvement.”

“That’s good.”

“I still want you in bed.”

“But…”

“You have a fever, young lady. I don’t want to hear it.”

“I can’t be sick,” she insisted.

“Well, you are.”

“No, you don’t get it. I can’t be sick…I…I like it here,” she admitted.

Snow raised an eyebrow. “What does that have to do with you being sick?”

“Because if I’m sick, then I get sent back.”

Her mother felt her heart break. “Oh baby,” she pushed hair out of her face. “We’re not sending you back.”

“You’re not?” Emma felt confused.

“Of course not, we only just got you back into our lives. Why would we ever let our little girl go again?”

Emma blushed. “I’m not a little girl.”

“Our little girl.” She kissed her forehead, just as David came up.

“Good morning. How’s our girl feeling?” He asked.

“Her fever went down some, but it’s still there. Can you stay with her while I feed Neal? I’ll make some breakfast while I’m down there too.”

Before the teen could protest that she’d be fine alone, her mother had gone downstairs. David sat beside her, stroking her hair.

“How’d you sleep?”

Emma thought of her dream. It was stupid, a product of her fever. Still, she didn’t want them to think she was some sort of freak.

“Fine,” she replied.

David studied her face. “You know you get that superpower from someone.”

“I have a fever, I always get weird dreams when I’m sick.”

“I love silly dreams. Tell me.”

“This one was just too silly, I was all grown up and it was just weird.”

David tensed up. “Uh, what happened in it?”

“What does it matter? It was just a stupid dream.”

David wanted to press, but knew better. To Emma, it was just a stupid dream, brought on by feverish hysteria. But it was most likely a memory, a memory of her adult life trying to seep through. She had already remembered what all went on with Ingrid, clearly something that occurred after she was the age she had been sent back to. Now this. Before he could say anything further, his phone buzzed. He removed it from his pocket and saw a text from Snow.

Come downstairs, shut the door. There’s been an update.

“Oh, looks like your mom needs some help with breakfast. I’ll be right back, Princess,” he told her, kissing the top of her head.

“Alright…Dad.”

He smiled brightly and pressed another kiss to her head. Emma blushed again, she just wanted to try it out…calling Snow “Mama” had been sort of nice.

“I’ll be right back,” he repeated before going downstairs. He felt like he could fly.

“Why do you look so happy?” Snow asked from her spot on the couch.

“Emma just called me Dad!” His wife gave him a pained half-smile. Alright, something was clearly wrong. That normally would’ve been met with a whoop of joy. “What’s wrong?”

“I just got a call from Regina.”

“And?”

“Elsa found her sister’s necklace, it was buried under some snow at the border. They were trying to bring it down, but no luck.”

“That doesn’t sound necessarily bad. If we can never find Anna, at least she’ll have something of hers.”

“Well, Regina put a locator spell on it and they followed it to the library…”

“Belle checked that place a million times.”

“They found a secret passageway and it lead them to a beach, this chest washed upon shore. Anna was inside with her fiancé, both alive and well.”

“Again, all this sounds like great news.”

 “Well, on the way back, they ran into Ingrid. She was not pleased. She tried saying that Anna didn’t really love Elsa, that she feared her. Luckily Elsa didn’t buy it, but Ingrid said that she knew that Emma was coming into her powers again. She could sense it. And she says she’s going to get her, that once it’s all out, we won’t be able to protect her.” Snow’s voice was shaking. “Even Regina seemed a little afraid. Regina, David.”

He rushed to her side, sitting down. “We won’t let her get to Emma. There’s a protection spell around the apartment, she can’t get in here.”

“What if she releases the shattered sight spell? They still haven’t created the one to reverse it! Plus, we can only protect Emma in here!”

David bit his lip. “Maybe…maybe she doesn’t leave the loft then.”

“What?”

“Look, I know it’s going to drive her nuts. But she’s sick anyway, that’s our excuse for now.  After that…we’ll just tell her it’s not safe.”

“She’s not going to buy that, David.” Snow shook her head. “This is getting crazy. How long are we supposed to keep this a secret?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I think she had a dream about her past last night.”

“What do you mean?”

“She said she had this crazy dream, that she was an adult in it but wouldn’t go further than that. She’s blaming it off to her fever, but I think it’s more than she realizes.”

“So, what do we do? Do we try to tell her?”

David sighed. “No. Not yet, I mean, she can play them off as the fever…for now. And Regina’s spell should tide her powers over.”

“For only so long. If she finds out we’ve been keeping stuff from her, she may just revert.”

“And if we try telling her about all of this, she’ll think we’re as crazy as Ingrid and Henry and not trust us anymore.”

The couple felt at a loss. They were damned if they did, damned if they didn’t. They could tell Emma and have her flip out on them or wait and see, leading to whatever resulted from that.

“Alright, here’s what we’re going to do,” David announced after some uncomfortable silence. “We get her through this fever. She shouldn’t leave bed during it anyway. We deal with whatever comes after that. One day at a time, like we always do.”

Snow slowly nodded as she began to burp Neal. “I guess that’s our best bet.”

“I’m going to go make her something to eat.” He kissed Snow for a moment and when he went to pull away, she grabbed his hand.

“Are we really doing the right thing?”

“I don’t know. They didn’t exactly have a chapter for this in What To Expect When Expecting.”

Snow gave him a sad smile. “What To Expect When Your Daughter’s Evil Ex-Foster Mother Tries To Kidnap Her And Kill You.”

“I’ll have to write in and ask they had that in,” he teased, though the frown didn’t leave his face. Instead, he got up and started to fix the breakfast. He really had no clue if he was doing the right thing, but he had to do what he thought was best. For now, Emma was safe with them. He would die before he let anything change that.

Chapter Text

David finished making the toast for Emma, making sure to spread apple sauce and cinnamon on top. He remembered Adult Emma making it once for Henry when he was ill, saying she had a foster parent make it for her many years ago. He poured her a glass of orange juice and it took it up to her room.

“Breakfast is ready!” He tried to keep his voice as chipper as possible. She had no clue what was going on and he wanted to keep it that way.

“You’re way too peppy,” she replied.

David smiled. “How can I not be happy? I get to take care of my little girl.” Before Emma could say anything about not being a little girl, he placed the tray before her and raised an eyebrow.

“How did you know?”

“Know what?”

“Applesauce and cinnamon on toast…I was in a home when I was about 5, I had a foster mother make this for me almost every morning.”

David shrugged. “I just like this, I figured you might too.”

Emma studied his face, not totally buying it. But she hadn’t told him about it and she knew it wasn’t something that’d end up in her file, so she ate the toast without much complaint.

“So, do I really have to stay in bed all day?”

“Afraid so, Princess.” He gave her a small smile. “But don’t worry, I won’t let you get bored.”

“It’s kind of hard to not be bored when you’re trapped in bed.”

“We could play a game. You, me and your mother.”

“Doesn’t Mom have to worry about Neal?”

“Neal’s a pretty easy baby. He’ll be up with us.”

Emma was quiet for a minute as she continued to nibble. “Did you even hold me after I was born?”

David sat next to her, giving her a smile. “I did.”

“Really?”

“Yup. Your mother held you first, but I had to bring you…to the person who was supposed to keep you safe.” Not a total lie, the wardrobe was meant to keep her safe.

“Oh.”

“You were very tiny. I had never seen anything that small. I just wanted to stop and look at you forever.”

Emma glanced up at him, curiously. “Really?”

“Of course. You’re my baby girl, I was so in love with you already. You weren’t even crying, already such a brave little warrior.” He stroked her cheek, happy when she didn’t pull away. It still felt like yesterday, despite being 30 years ago. He would do anything to go back to that moment, to get to hold his sweet baby girl one more time. “I thought about turning back, but I couldn’t. I had to make sure you were safe.”

“You really were doing what you thought was best, weren’t you?”

“We were. We needed to give you your best chance, even if it wasn’t with us.” He sighed, feeling his heart break all over again. “We won’t let you get taken away from us again, Em. I promise you.”

Emma gave him a half-smile. “I believe you.” And she did, something in her let her know that he so badly wanted to protect her.

“Good. Now, eat your toast.” He watched her eat, noticing how quickly she seemed to devour it. “You know, it’s not going anywhere, right?” Emma blushed. David had noticed how quickly even Adult Emma ate her meals. She seemed to get them down quicker than Henry, a pre-teen boy.

“Sorry.” She grabbed a napkin, wiping her mouth. That’s when her father took in just how skinny she was. She had always seemed tiny since her transformation and she wasn’t malnourished by any means, but she was probably lighter than most would be at her age. “Food’s just uh, something to get used to.”

David winced. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know this, but he did want to know more about his daughter and that fell under that. “Did Ingrid…”

“Oh, not her. Heck, ice cream was never in short supply.” She bit her lip. “But even there, she’d comment on my eating too. Before there, food was used as a punishment, if there was any at all. As a foster kid, you get free lunch at school, but sometimes that was it. Sometimes, there was only so much food and you had to eat fast or the bigger kids ate it first.”

“Don’t foster parents get money? To feed and clothe the kids?”

Emma had to stop herself from laughing, especially when she saw her father’s eyes. He looked so confused, so lost. He truly had no clue what the system was really like. He knew it wasn’t perfect, Emma had made that much clear throughout the time he had known her. But this just seemed to be a new level. While his family was broke and many nights, there wasn’t much, there was always at least something. He had always wanted more for his kids, so to think that Emma had even less broke his heart.

“They get money, yes. It’s not exactly a lot and some of the foster parents don’t use it on the kids. It just goes to themselves.”

“But that’s illegal.”

Emma gave him a patient smile. “That’s the system. You get used to saving what you can, enjoying when you do get to eat.”

This version of Emma was 13. 13 years old and she was talking like a wise old woman. David moved closer to her and pulled her into his arms, ignoring the warm feeling on her skin. He pressed a kiss to her head. She sighed, allowing him to hold her as close as he wanted. It did sort of feel nice. What she couldn’t see were the tears in his eyes.

“You’ll never have to go through that again,” he promised her, doing his best to keep his voice from cracking.

“I know,” she whispered and she did. Since she had ended up with them, food hadn’t been an issue. It was never in short supply and she seemed to have free range of the kitchen. There were three meals a day, she hadn’t gone hungry. It wasn’t something she had experienced since before her time with Ingrid. But it was still a hard habit to break. It was just survival instinct, something that would likely be a part of her for a while, if not forever.

She couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of guilt for exposing this to David, though. Before, she hadn’t cared about what she revealed. She had wanted to hurt them with the past, let them know exactly what abandoning her had done to her. But now, it just seemed cruel. She knew now that they had wanted her, that they had sent her away for her best chance. They had really thought she’d be safe and protected. It wasn’t their fault what had happened, not really. If the Swans had just kept her, she wouldn’t have had to face the pain that she had.

It was a vow Adult Emma had made to herself, once she had come to the same realization. She didn’t want them to feel guilt for her time in the system, so she refused to talk about anything that wasn’t positive, which hadn’t been much. Even then she had been careful, in case they felt jealousy of the few people that had been kind to her. Of course, in her current state, Emma couldn’t remember that she had already decided this, so she recreated the vow. She would try her hardest not to talk about her past, it didn’t matter anymore. These people seemed to be her future and she wasn’t going to ruin that.

When it became clear that David wasn’t letting go-literally-she wormed her way out of his grasp. He realized that she still probably wasn’t going to be overly comfortable with long displays of affection, so he grabbed her medicine from the bedside table, removing the now empty tray and putting it on the floor. He held out the medicine towards her lips and she allowed him to feed it to her.

“There we go,” he said, softly. In that small moment, he could turn back the clock even further, to all the times he should’ve been able to feed her. It just would’ve been baby food and not Tylenol.

“That stuff is so gross.”

“But it’ll help you feel better.”

Emma made a face. “Still gross.”

“You know, where I come from, the stuff is worse.”

“Where you come from?”

“A lot of the medicine is homemade. It’s just as effective, if not more so. But it’s ten times more disgusting.”

“If I had grown up with you, would I have had to take it?”

David chuckled. “Oh, yeah.”

“I’ll stick with the Tylenol.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Snow came up a little bit later with Neal and the monopoly game. David groaned.

“Oh, come on, Snow. Monopoly? Really?”

“What’s wrong with Monopoly?”

“You get way too competitive.”

“You’re just mad because you always lose.”

“Not true. I’ve won a couple times, Henry too.”

Emma cocked an eyebrow. “You guys have played with Henry?”

Snow shot her husband a look. They were trying their best to not freak their daughter out and these little slip ups weren’t helping. David felt bad, it was just hard! He was so used to being able to talk about his grandson. He had been a big part of their lives after all.

“We babysit a lot,” Snow clarified. “Or we used to. When his mom was busy.”

“Oh. She used to be the mayor, right?” Emma asked.

“That’s right.”

“And now you are?”

“Yes.”

“Shouldn’t you be like…handling the town?”

The truth was, with all going on, the town didn’t really need a mayor. Regina was still doing her job, without it officially being her job. Snow was debating just asking her if she wanted it back. Her heartbreak over what happened with Robin had been taken over the Snow Queen’s looming threats.

“I have someone covering for me, it’s complicated,” Snow said. “Now, which piece do you want to be?”

They set up the game on the bed, Snow managing to play with Neal in her arms, though David took him when he started to get bored. Despite being sick, Emma seemed to get her competitive edge from her mother.

“I believe that’s $400,” she informed David when he landed on Park Place. The blonde sheriff grumbled as he handed over his money. He now had a pitiful amount left.

“Little low there, Dave,” Snow teased.

“Hush, Snow. I hate to remind you that you’re in 2^nd place.”

“I’m only letting Emma win because she’s sick.”

“Hey!” Emma protested. “That’s not fair.”

“Oh? So, you want me to play fairly?”

“Yes, don’t do me any favors.”

“As you wish, baby girl.”

Emma would later regret those words. David was quickly knocked out of the game not long after that, but Snow was no longer having any mercy. Emma was bankrupt not 15 minutes later. The teen folded her arms over her chest and Snow chuckled with glee.

“They say this game has been destroying families for years,” she said as she collected the money.

“You’re not a very gracious winner,” Emma grumbled.

“Oh please, I know all about graciously winning.”

“Clearly not.”

“I used to compete in archery competitions,” she told her. That caught Emma’s attention.

“Archery? Like with a bow and arrow?”

“Yes.”

“Do you still do that?”

“Not much since I had you.”

“That seems like so much fun.” Emma’s eyes were filled with excitement. “When I get better, can you teach me?”

Snow beamed. She had always hoped that Emma would ask her. She had been planning on getting her, her very first bow and arrows for Christmas anyway. “Sure.”

“I could teach you how to sword fight,” David offered.

“I don’t think so,” Snow replied at the same time Emma exclaimed, “Sword fighting?!?”

David chuckled. “Yeah. Fencing’s for wimps.”

“Fencing’s a whole lot safer than sword fighting,” Snow told him.

“I think it’d be fun,” Emma said. David wrapped an arm around her.

“I’ll convince your mother.”

Snow rolled her eyes and cleaned up the game. She had a feeling his charming smile would get through to her on the subject at some point. She leaned over, kissing him. Emma pretended to gag.

“Get a room.”

Snow giggled, thinking about the kiss that Adult Emma and Killian had outside the diner once they had returned from making sure the past stayed secured. If only she could tell her that in just 17 short years, she would be feeling a hell of a lot differently.

“One day, you may meet a boy who changes all of that,” she simply said.

David glared at his wife. Didn’t she realize one of the perks of this was that Emma wasn’t anywhere near the stupid pirate? Why was she encouraging more boys? Sure, he knew that in a few years time, Emma would’ve been pregnant with Henry and all that, but he didn’t want to think about that. “Uh, try not.”

“Who says you get a say?” Emma asked.

“As your father, it is my job to protect you from everything. Including boys.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

“Do not whatever me, young lady.”

“Whatever, old man.”

David gasped. “I am not old!”

“Kinda are. Don’t you require a cane?”

Snow just laughed more. Teen Emma had more sass and she absolutely loved it, especially when it wasn’t directed towards her.

“We’ve found it, the last ingredient!” Blue announced as she rushed into the station, which had quickly become headquarters for Regina, Elsa, Anna and Kristoff. “A lock of Anna’s hair.”

“Simple enough!” Anna announced. She went to grab for some scissors, but Regina simply snapped her fingers, causing a ginger lock to fall into her palm.

“Easier that way,” the former mayor informed her.

Elsa merely grinned and handed the lock over to Blue. “So, what now?”

“Well, when Ingrid attempts to set the curse, we’ll just set the spell to counteract it. She won’t win. And the ingredients are easy enough to access, that we’d be able to stop it many times.”

“Let’s just hope it works the first time, I quite like my hair,” Anna said with a smile.

Blue left and they all seemed to relax a bit.

“This will be easier to defeat her, won’t it?” Kristoff asked.

“It just seems too easy,” Regina replied, skeptically. “She has to know that this was a possibility. Every curse can be broken, and most can be stopped before impact.”

“You sure know a lot about curses,” Anna piped up.

“You don’t know the story of this town, do you?”

Suddenly, an icy chill filled the room. Elsa hadn’t caused it, so they knew just who it was.

“What do you want, Ingrid?” Elsa asked, stepping in front of her sister.

Ingrid smiled. “Now, now, let’s not be rude. It’s Aunt Ingrid.”

“I thought you wanted them to be your sisters? Now you’re playing auntie.” Regina scoffed.

“Even without the curse, you’re not much of a peach, are you?” Ingrid snickered.

“You don’t need to worry about the curse,” Kristoff said, firmly. “We have a spell to counteract it.”

Ingrid’s eyebrows knitted. “You what?”

“You should know that every curse can be broken,” Regina told her. “Or are you just stupid?”

“I don’t take well to unkind words.” The Snow Queen stepped closer.

“I’m so scared.”

“You should be.”

“Face it Ingrid, you’ve lost,” Elsa spoke up once again. “We can stop the curse, Anna and Kristoff are alive and well. And Emma is protected from you.”

“Oh, right, Emma.” Ingrid shook her head. “Yes, she’s protected so long as she’s in the loft, isn’t she?”

“Even when she’s outside of it, you won’t be able to touch her.”

“And all of you can stop me? Elsa, sweetheart, you are still coming into your powers in many ways. You could still freak out and freeze her.”

“No, I won’t let that happen again.”

“It’s hard to control. I know you better than anyone.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Anna said, putting a hand on her sister’s arm. “You know you can control yourself. You’re good, Elsa.”

“Where was all this when you trapped her in an urn?” Ingrid asked, coolly.

“I was cursed, I didn’t know what I was doing!”

“Even if Dairy Queen Jr. over here loses control, I have many, many years of practice under my belt.” Regina stepped even closer to her rival. “I don’t make mistakes with my magic.”

“Tell me darling,” Ingrid smirked. “How’s your little boyfriend?”

Rage filled Regina’s eyes. “You don’t know a damn thing about the situation.”

“I know it’s broken you. You’re not even the mayor anymore, are you? No, that title goes to Snow White. And you want to hurt Emma.”

“I have no intention of hurting her.”

“But she’s the reason why you can’t be with your true love, isn’t she? You know what, the more I think about it, the bigger a threat you are to her.” Before Regina could move, Ingrid snapped her fingers and a cuff went over the raven-haired woman’s wrist.

“What the hell have you just done?!?” Regina thundered.

“You’re coming with me. You may have been able to stop the curse, but you can’t stop this. Your vengeance is going to come in handy.”

“Ingrid stop!” Elsa exclaimed. “She has a son, she’s the only mother Henry has left!”

“I won’t hurt her, don’t worry. Henry will get his precious mommy back. After, I’m done with her that is.” With a flick of her wrist, Regina had been whisked away in a whirl of ice, along with Ingrid. Leaving the Arendelle residents feeling completely hopeless and afraid.

When Regina came to, she was in the Snow Queen’s cave. Her wrist that did not contain the bracelet was chained to a wall. She glared up at Ingrid, her anger radiating.

“Let me go!”

“Regina, the sooner you agree to help me, the sooner you can go home to your son.”

“I’m not going to help you with a damn thing!”

“Oh but you are, especially if you want to see your precious Henry again. He’s at school right now, no? It’d be a shame if anything happened to him.”

“You won’t hurt him,” Regina seethed.

“How do you know?”

“Because when Emma gets her memories back, when she realizes that you hurt her son, she will never forgive you!”

“Emma will know that I did what I had to, to save our family. For all you know, I could continue to make sure she has no memory that Henry ever existed.”

Regina knew she was right, she didn’t want to admit it, but Ingrid was ruthless. She’d hurt anyone to get what she wanted. She had to at least pretend to work with her, it was the only way.

“What do you want?”

“You are going to get Emma to expose her powers.”

“What?”

“I know Emma has come into her powers. I can’t get into the loft, not with the protection spell you cast. But you can. You go in, trigger her, do something, anything to get her to show who she truly is. I know what magic does to people, her family will be scared. She’ll run and I’ll be there to comfort her. The only person who truly understands.”

Regina stared at the woman, her words washing over her. Before she could respond, Ingrid spoke yet again.

“Think carefully Regina. Who means more to you? The son you raised, the son that Emma tried to take away from you, after she stole everything else? Or that very girl, the one that hurt you so badly? The one who will never understand your pain, because she seems to have gotten everything she ever wanted. You have 5 minutes, if you can’t decide, the choice will be made for you.”

Chapter Text

“Alright, fine,” Regina snapped. She knew what she had to do. When they got Emma back to normal, and she knew they would, there was no way that she would forgive her for putting her safety over Henry’s. “I’ll help Emma go into her powers.”

A smile spread across Ingrid’s face and she walked over to Regina.

“It’s very good to know what you’d choose.”

“What do you mean what I’d choose?”

“You really think I’d let you go just yet? How can I know that I can trust you? No, you’ll stay here.”

“But without me, you can’t get to Emma. So aren’t you just back at square one?”

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.”

Regina yanked against the chain, trying to get free. “Your nieces won’t let you get away with this!”

“Oh, they can’t do anything. They’re trapped at the station.” Ingrid smirked. “It’s for their own good, really. I put a magic lock on the door and put the power out. They can’t contact anyone and the only person who knows where they are…is trapped here.”

“You vindictive little…”

“Toodles.” With that, Ingrid disappeared in a cloud of ice.

Meanwhile, back at the loft, Emma was growing bored. The game was fun, but she hated laying in bed. Snow allowed her to shower and when she was done, she made her way to the couch.

“Emma,” Snow began to say.

“Mom, come on.” Emma pouted. “Are you really going to force me to be stuck up in bed all day? I’m getting bored! Can’t I watch just one movie?”

David saw the look on his daughter’s face and felt his heart melting. “She’s got a point, Snow.”

“David.” His wife sent him a glare as he wrapped an arm around their daughter.

“Just one movie and then she’ll go lay down. Right, Princess?”

Emma didn’t even fight the nickname, she just nodded. “Of course.”

Snow sighed. “Alright, fine.” She rolled her eyes as she passed her husband, patting his arm. “She’s got you wrapped around her finger.”

“That’s not a bad thing, now is it?” David replied as he lead his daughter to the couch, sitting down with her.

“Whatever you say, Charming.” She bent down to pick a movie from the box.

Emma raised an eyebrow. “Charming?”

“My nickname for your father. When we met, he was anything but.”

The teen giggled. “How’d you meet?”

David smiled. He wished he could go into the real version, but he had to improvise. “Let’s just say, your mother tried to steal from me…”

“I would like to point out that I was a runaway and that stealing is wrong,” Snow interrupted harshly. Emma rolled her eyes and gestured for her father to continue.

“And so, I detained her.”

“That’s just how we met,” Snow added after sliding in the tape. “It’s not how we fell in love.”

Emma smiled. “Interesting story.”

“I guess he’s alright,” her mother teased, kissing her father. The teen gagged.

“Alright, alright, I asked for the story, not actual reenactments.”

Snow and David laughed. Some things would never change for their daughter, adult or teenager. Before Snow could sit down, she heard a knock at the door. She raised an eyebrow, that was odd. Everyone had agreed to call before stopping by, simply because Emma couldn’t remember anyone. She went to the door, punching in the code to keep the alarm off before opening it. Regina stood there.

“Regina, uh…now’s not a good time.”

The queen shook her head. “I have to see Emma, now. It’s important.” She pushed past her step-daughter and walked right into the loft. Snow hurried closely behind. Emma looked up, a little confused.

“You’re Miss Mills, right?”

“Oh Emma, come on. Don’t you know who you are?”

David glared at Regina. “Maybe you should leave.”

“I can’t do that, David. I have to remind Emma exactly who she is.” She sighed when Emma just stared at her, confused. “Alright, fine. I’m sorry I have to do this, Emma.”

With that, she turned around to face Snow and without even touching her, she was able to choke her with her magic. The fairest of them all dropped to her knees, gasping for air. David, due to sharing a heart, had the same happening to him. Emma watched in horror.

“What…what are you doing?!?” She asked. She had never seen anything like it. The woman wasn’t even touching them and yet they were on the verge of death. Terror was filling her more and more by the second. “Stop!”

“I can’t stop anything, only you can,” Regina responded, coolly.

Emma felt tears prickle to her eyes. She had only just gotten her parents back and now she was at risk of losing them! Suddenly, her hands felt very hot. She looked down and saw sparks fluttering out. She screamed and without thinking, thrust them towards the scary lady. Regina was sent flying against the wall, causing the choking to stop. Neal was now crying loudly from his bassinet. Emma stared at her hands, feeling absolutely terrified.

“How…how did I just…”

Snow jumped up and saw her daughter. That look in her eyes, the fear, the devastation. She hadn’t seen it in Emma since she had reverted back into a teen. “Emma, it’s okay.”

“Stay away from me! I…I don’t want to hurt you!”

“You’re not going to hurt me…”

“Don’t come near me!” The teen raced out the door before her father could grab her.

“Emma!” Snow called out after her daughter. She turned to Regina, who was getting up, dusting herself off. Rage filled her eyes. “What the hell is wrong with you?!?”

“I did what I had to do.”

“You set the spell yourself to stop her powers!” David thundered. “Why would you do this?”

“Maybe because I’m not Regina.”

David and Snow exchanged a confused look. The woman flickered wrist and a cloud of smoke enveloped her. When it cleared, Regina wasn’t there anymore…it was Ingrid. The pair gasped.

“You…how did you…” David couldn’t even finish his thought.

“That protection spell, it kept me out as me. But as Regina,” she smirked. “Well, it was almost too easy. Now, if you excuse me, I have my daughter to find.” Another flick of the wrist and she was gone.

Snow didn’t have time to think, she merely jumped into action, grabbing her jacket and heading for the door.

“Come on, we’ll drop Neal off at Granny’s. We have to find her before Ingrid does.”

David didn’t argue. He picked up the crying baby and grabbed his keys, following his wife out the door. He had lost his daughter too many times, he wasn’t about to let it happen again.

“Stand back!” Elsa shouted to her sister and future brother-in-law. Anna and Kristoff stepped back and watched as Elsa sent a huge icy blast. The magic ended up being enough to finally break Ingrid’s and the door came crashing down.

“We have to warn David and Snow,” Anna said. She had yet to be reunited with her old friend, but was excited to. That’s when Killian came running towards them.

“Emma’s missing!”

“What?” Elsa frowned.

“The bloody Ice Queen masqueraded as Regina and got her to use her magic. She took off, frightened. The Ice Queen hasn’t been seen either.”

“She did kidnap Regina,” Anna remembered.

“Alright, I think I know where she’d take her. She put a cuff on her. Here.” Elsa focused and conjured up a pair of scissors. “Be very careful, these are powerful.” She put them in Killian’s hand. She trusted her sister, but felt they were in better hands with the pirate. “Go to the layer, you should be able to cut off the magic cuff with these. Anna, Kristoff go with him.”

“Elsa, where are you going?” Her sister asked.

“I have to find Emma. I know what she’s going through right now.” With that, she took off.

She didn’t make it far, before she found David’s strange carriage zooming down the street. Not knowing what else to do, she jumped in front of it. David slammed on his breaks and she jumped inside.

“Elsa, what the hell are you doing?” Snow asked, instantly moving over to make room.

“Ingrid, she kidnapped Regina and is holding her captive. I have Killian, Kristoff and Anna handling it, but the pirate let me know what happened. I have to go with you.”

“With all due respect, this is our daughter…” David began to say.

“Yes, but there are only two people who understand her right now. Me and Ingrid, who would you rather have in your corner?”

David sighed. “Just buckle up. We have to find her and quick.”

“We should try the woods,” Mary pointed out. “It’s where she ran away to last time.”

The sheriff zoomed down the road, his heart pounding in his chest. Snow wrapped her arms around his bicep, both of them thinking the exact same thing. They’d find Emma, they always found her. It was just a matter of doing it before Ingrid did.

Emma sat against a trunk, magic radiating from her palms. She didn’t understand what was going on. Magic wasn’t real! It didn’t exist! And yet that scary woman had used it on her parents and she had used it to save them. Ingrid’s words from their last night together, radiated in her head. She had told her she had magic. But how had she known? Did she have it too?

“Oh Emma, Emma, Emma…”

Emma jumped, finding Ingrid standing there, giving her a soft smile.

“I told you honey, you have magic. And it’s beautiful.” Ingrid tried to step closer to her, but Emma retreated.

“Stay away from me!”

“I know you’re scared and I understand why. But you don’t have to be! I can teach you, we can finally be a family.”

“You knew…you always knew, didn’t you?”

“Of course I did, I knew you were special Emma, just like me. And now…”

“So, you were just using me! Using me for my…whatever this is!”

“No! I told you, I want to be your family. We can have it all, it can be us. I even have a sister for you.”

“What are you, pregnant?”

Ingrid laughed. “Of course not Emma, but she’s like you. Just like you. And together, the three of us will be sisters. We’ll be so happy.”

“I don’t want this! I don’t want to have magic! I don’t want to be a freak!”

“You’re not a freak. Accept your magic, accept who you are.”

The sparks flew out and hit a tree, causing it to collapse. Luckily, it was nowhere near either of them. Emma screamed, but her former foster mother just smiled.

“I can teach you all I know.”

“Emma!” Snow was racing towards her, David not far behind with some blonde woman wearing a long blue dress. Suddenly, the teen felt very overwhelmed, causing her magic to go even more out of control.

“All of you get away from me!”

“Emma, it’s okay,” David assured her. “You can control this, you just need to take deep breaths to calm down.”

“They don’t understand you,” Ingrid said, manipulatively. “They don’t have what we do, they’re going to try to take it away from you.”

“That’s not true,” Snow told her daughter, ignoring the woman standing near her. “We love you, Emma, every part of you. Nothing you do could make us stop, we can help you more than she can.”

“Your mother’s right, just let us help you,” David said, his eyes full of love and kindness.

Emma looked between her three parents, her breath growing heavy as the tears spilled down her face. It was too much, all of it was just too overwhelming! She didn’t know what to do, so she just kept backing away. That’s when the blonde who was hanging back, stepped forward.

“Emma,” she said softly. “My name is Elsa. I know you may think right now that your parents don’t understand. And I’m sure Ingrid being here is overwhelming. But I promise you, she’s not the only one who gets you. I do too.”

“Are you trying to say you’ve got this too?!?” Emma had thought all of this stuff was a myth, a fairytale just an hour ago. Now, she knew at least three other people with it.

“Yes. And I know how scary it is when you first come into it. But Ingrid, she doesn’t want to help you…”

“I do Elsa,” Ingrid interrupted. “I want to help you both.”

Elsa ignored her. “I can help you. Your powers are what makes you, you, that’s true. However, you do need to calm down. You don’t need to conceal who you are, you just need to learn to control it.”

“Real magic doesn’t need to be controlled. Real magic shouldn’t be feared,” Ingrid replied.

“We’re not scared of you, Emma,” Snow said. “We just need you to calm down so you don’t hurt yourself.”

“I can help you.” Elsa reached her hand out to Emma. The teen shook her head, the tears falling faster and faster.

“I’m just going to hurt you!”

“No, you’re not. Just take my hand. You can trust me. Look me in the eye, use your superpower.”

Emma drew a deep breath, looking into the woman’s eyes. She was telling the truth. Carefully, she reached out and grabbed Elsa’s outstretched hand. She expected the magic to send her flying back, but to her surprise, it fizzled out on her touch. Even Ingrid looked surprised. Snow and David raced to their daughter, pulling her into a tight hug. She just stood in it, still crying, her mind reeling at all that had just occurred.

Elsa turned to her aunt. “Get out of here Ingrid, I won’t let you take her!”

Ingrid looked from her, to the Charming family hug that was occurring. She drew a deep breath and her manipulative smile formed again. “Fine. I’m done…for now. But Emma is coming into her powers. Which means you both will need me. This isn’t over.” She soon disappeared.

Snow laid a kiss to her daughter’s head. “Shhh, you’re okay baby.”

“What…what is going on,” Emma sobbed, pulling away from them. “You two didn’t seem surprised when all of this was going on. What is this place? And who are you? This whole time, I’ve known you were telling the truth but leaving something out. I want answers!”

David and Snow exchanged a glance. This was it. They had to at least try to explain it to her.

“Alright, come on. Let’s go back to the loft and we’ll explain it all,” David told her.

Emma sniffled. “You promise?”

“You may not believe it.”

“I just had freaking firecrackers explode from my hands. I’m pretty sure I’ll believe anything.”

Snow wrapped an arm around her daughter, leading her out of the woods. As they reached David’s truck, Regina, Anna, Killian and Kristoff came running over. Emma screamed at the sight of Regina, instantly retreating behind her mother. Snow quickly pulled her back into her grip.

“Sweetie, no, she’s not an evil person.”

“She almost killed you!”

“We can explain it all, just trust us.” Snow looked to Regina. “School should be letting out. Get Henry and bring him by the loft.”

“Henry? That crazy kid?” Emma asked.

“He’s not crazy, Em. You’ll see that soon.”

They rode back to the loft in pretty much silence. Regina had whisked the Arendelle and Killian residents away with her to go get Henry. They didn’t take long to return to the loft. Emma clung to Snow’s arm, the only place she felt safe at the moment. Henry drew a deep breath, removing the book from his pack.

“That book?” Emma asked, quietly.

“It’s more than just stories,” David replied. “Here, sit down.” He guided her onto the couch, he and his wife sitting on other either side of her. Regina walked closer, giving her unknowing co-parent a small smile.

“I guess it’s important to start at the beginning. Many years ago, in another land, I was horseback riding, when your mother was falling from hers…”

Chapter Text

The next hour was spent with the entire story being told. Everyone jumped in at different points to explain their versions of their own stories. David fixed hot chocolate for everyone, knowing if Adult Emma was back, she’d be requesting something stronger. Snow brought out pictures of their time together, Regina poofed in Henry’s scrapbook. There was no denying it. The older her, the one from her dreams, had been with these people, while they were this age. It was all starting to make sense. While overwhelming, she couldn’t deny it was no crazier than the fact that mere hours ago, she was shooting firecrackers from her palms.

“So, you…” Emma looked over at her parents. “Are Snow White and Prince Charming?”

Snow nodded. “That’s right, baby.”

“And you had to put me through a magical wardrobe because she, the Evil Queen/your step-mom,” Emma pointed to Regina, who winced at being referred to evil again. “Was cursing the lands.” David nodded. “I grew up in the system, that much I remember, but you’re telling me in a few years I end up pregnant with…” She looked at Henry, who was sitting beside her. “You.”

Henry smiled. “Yes.”

“I have a kid. Wow.” Emma paused for a minute. “Wait, but you said you were adopted…” She bit her lip. “Why would I give you up? I swore if I had kids, I wouldn’t do that to them. They wouldn’t grow up like I did.”

“I didn’t,” Henry assured her. “I had a mom. And she wasn’t all that bad, she’s really great now. You did it to give me my best chance, you were in prison for a crime someone set you up for.”

Emma still didn’t feel so happy about it. No matter what, she had never wanted any kid she had to be raised by someone else. She looked back at Regina. “And you, my step-grandmother, adopted him?”

Regina nodded. “We co-parent quite well, actually. Or we try to.”

The teen glanced over at Killian. “You’re Captain Hook, my new boyfriend, sort of.”

“Aye, lass.”

“Are we in love?”

“We care very deeply for one another.” David rolled his eyes at that sentiment. “Your father is still coming to grips with it.”

Emma smiled, in spite of herself. “And are you, Henry’s father?”

“No.” Killian reached into his satchel and pulled out his memory box. “Perhaps this may help a bit. You showed this to me before the Snow Queen turned back the clock.”

Emma carefully opened it and found a picture of a her that was obviously a few years older with a young man. He had Henry’s hair and some scruff. All in all, he was handsome.

“His name was Neal,” Henry explained. He saw his mom look over at the baby in her mother’s arms (Ruby had dropped him off half-way through the story telling). “Your parents named your brother after him.”

“So does that mean, he’s…dead?” Everyone fell somber and Emma bit her lip. She, herself, felt nothing for this man, nor Killian. She couldn’t remember falling in love with either of them. Yet, she felt bad for her older self and more importantly for Henry. She placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry to hear that, kid.”

“Thanks,” he gave her a small smile. “He was a good guy, he died a hero.”

“That’s good.” Though, she did still find it weird that her parents would name her baby brother after a boyfriend of hers. “Were we together when he died?”

“No, that was during the last curse.”

“The one where we forgot who we were?” Henry nodded. “How do you guys keep track of it all?”

Snow lightly laughed. “It’s not easy, that’s for sure.”

Emma continued to go through the box. There was a keychain with a little swan on it, some shoelaces and a pair of bulky glasses. She didn’t wear glasses, so she only assumed that was something to come.

“Does any of this help you remember?” Elsa spoke up. She had been fairly quiet through the whole thing, only really speaking when it came to explaining Ingrid and their whole role in everything.

“No,” Emma said, honestly. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, honey,” Snow sat next to her and rubbed her back. “It’s not your fault.”

“I just…I believe you. I know all of this is real…it’s just a lot to digest.”

“We understand.”

Emma lifted the shoelaces back up. “Why did I have these in a memory box?”

“You met this man, Graham, when you first came to Storybrooke before the curse broke.”

“Did we break up?” More silence. “Or did he die?”

“It was quite horrible,” Snow muttered.

Emma drew back a deep breath. If she was being honest, her adult life seemed to suck. In a few years-time she’d meet someone who would not only get her pregnant, but set her up for a crime she didn’t commit. She’d be forced to give away her son, spend so many years alone and then end up in a town where she’d find her parents, after everything was far too late. There’d be more battles, separating them all again. And then when she finally did get a normal, happy life, she’d have to return (after her boyfriend turned into a flying monkey). So far, it seemed she had four boyfriends in her life: two dead, one an evil villain and one that seemed nice enough, though he had a shady past.

The only people she really felt connected to were her parents and Neal. She felt bad, but the kid sitting beside her, she had only just then realized he wasn’t crazy. Even then…she didn’t feel like a mom. Especially not to a kid that was just a year younger than her.

“So…what happens now?”

“We have to find a way to defeat the Snow Queen,” Regina explained. “We already stopped the curse, but she’s still hell bent on making you and Elsa her sisters.”

“We’re doing all we can to protect you,” Elsa assured her.

“But, before this whole age back thing, I was working with you?” Emma asked.

Snow knew where her daughter was going with. Adult or teenager, she always wanted to help. “Yes, but you’re not going to do that.”

“Mom…”

“For one, you still have a fever, Emma. Don’t think we’ve forgotten about that.”

“Yes, and that will break. Then I can help.”

“No, you’re not.”

“I’m the savior. That’s what I’ve gotten from this whole story, I’m supposed to help people.”

“Right now, we’ve got it handled,” Elsa said. “You just need to focus on feeling better.”

“I can help you control your magic,” Regina added. “It’s a lifestyle, but a livable one.”

“Don’t you hate me? I thought I separated you and your lover, Robin Hood. Or am I mixing up stories here?”

Regina gave her a soft smile. She had been mad at Emma Swan for a while. Yet deep down, she knew she couldn’t hold another 20-year grudge. Much like Snow, Emma really had been trying to do the right thing and it was a little different. She didn’t know what she was doing by saving Marian. “I’m working on moving past it. We do have a son, after all.”

Emma looked back at Henry. Once again, she tried to feel some sort of motherly feelings towards him. Was she supposed to tell him to eat his vegetables or something? Maybe do his homework? What was the dynamic like between a mother and the son she gave up for adoption? Sure, Snow and her had seemed to go through something similar, but it felt different. At least Snow knew who she was and remembered giving her up.

“I think Emma’s been through a lot today,” Snow told everyone. “She really should head back up to bed.”

“That may be for the best,” Regina said, looking over at Henry. The boy pouted slightly. His mom was finally learning about who she was and he had to go? It didn’t seem fair.

“Maybe we could uh, hang out again? Once I’m better?” Emma spoke up. Now that she knew the kid wasn’t crazy, she figured maybe they could be friends. Eventually segway into mother/son. If they even could. Henry beamed.

“Okay.” He gave her a quick hug, catching her off guard. “Bye, Mom.”

“Mom?” Emma couldn’t help it, she had to laugh. She was 13!

“Right. Maybe we should stick to Emma?”

“Might be best.”

Henry left with Regina, leaving the book behind. Elsa, Kristoff and Anna left as well, since they were all staying with the former mayor. Killian seemed to linger, staring at her.

“Um, can I help you with something?” She asked.

“You really can’t remember anything?”

Emma gave him a sad smile. “Sorry.”

The pirate let out a small sigh. She could see the pain in his blue eyes and in that moment, she wished she could say she did remember, for him. No one had ever looked at her in such a way, with so much heartbreak. “I’ll see you around.” With that, he was gone.

“Alright Princess, I think you better get back up to bed,” David said.

“I’m fine.”

“You had a magical meltdown and just found out you’re royalty and a mom…again.” He gave her a smile and nodded towards the stairs.

Emma sighed, there was no arguing with these people. She got up and headed up to her room, them following closely behind her. She climbed under the covers and allowed her father to tuck her in nice and tight.

“How are you feeling?” Snow asked, stroking her hair as she sat next to her.

“Overwhelmed. I mean, how would you feel if you had all this dumped on you?”

“We’re sorry we didn’t tell you when you first aged back. We just knew you wouldn’t believe us,” her mother whispered.

Emma shrugged. That wasn’t really bothering her. “You’re right, I wouldn’t have. You saw how I handled Henry trying to tell me. You were just trying to protect me.”

“We want you to be safe, Emma,” David told her, sitting on the other side of her. “We’re not going to let anything hurt you, not again.”

“We’ll have Regina update the protection spell, maybe we can make it so even the cloaking spell is somehow…” Emma cut off her mother, quickly.

“I know you two don’t want me getting involved in this, but I have to. Ingrid doesn’t want any of you, she wants me. And today she proved she’ll go far just to get me.”

“We won’t let her around you.”

“That’s really sweet but let’s face it you two haven’t done a very good job of it in the past. She’s nearly taken me a few times and she apparently sent me from being an adult back into a teenager.”

Pain struck David’s face. “That’s not fair,” he said, feeling a little offended.

“I don’t mean it in a bad way. I don’t blame you, not even a little. You two just don’t have magic. I do.”

“Magic you can’t control,” Snow reminded her, gently.

“Regina said she can help me.”

“We’re not letting you go up against her.”

“If I hadn’t been aged back, would you have let the other me do this?”

“That’s different.”

“How?”

“Because the other you was a grown woman. While yes, we were still your parents and we still loved you all the same, we couldn’t stop you from doing what you wanted to. Plus, you had fought battles before.”

“Well, I’m not just going to let Elsa and Regina fight this alone. Clearly Ingrid is going to stop at nothing and I won’t let people who aren’t even involved get hurt.”

“It’s too dangerous,” David tried his best to explain. “There’s a reason Ingrid made you 13 again. She knew you’d be too weak…”

“Weak?!?” Emma sat up straight. “I am not weak!”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” David realized the mistake in his words and wanted to rectify it. “I just…”

“Do you two have any idea what I’ve been through?”

“We do, or at least a pretty good picture. And older you has been through ten times worse. Older you, could handle this. But you just can’t, not like this, Emma.”

“It’s not really your choice, now is it?”

“Actually it is,” Snow told her, a little more firmly. “We’re your parents and as of right now, you’re a child.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “You can’t stop me.”

“We can. We don’t want to make you a prisoner here, but if you won’t listen to us, we’ll have no choice but to.”

“So, you’d rather let this ice menace terrorize the town? Some king and queen you are,” Emma scoffed.

“Alright, that’s enough!” David told her, so loud that it caught even Snow off guard. Emma retreated a bit in her bed. “We are your parents and you will treat us with some respect. I know that you don’t think we’re doing the right thing, but it is our choice to make. As long as you are a child, we will decide these things.”

Emma just stared up at him. She had been yelled at plenty of times by foster parents, but this felt different. All those other times, it had been out of frustration or anger. This was out of love. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do just yet. She knew that she couldn’t let Regina and Elsa take on Ingrid alone, but she didn’t have to harp on it now. She’d have to develop a plan. One that didn’t require her pushing away the only two people who had ever showed that they cared so much about her.

“Okay,” she said, softly.

David and Snow were a little shocked. Emma wasn’t one to back down. “Okay?” David repeated, slowly.

“If that’s what you think is best, fine.”

“Are you yanking my chain?”

“No. I guess I still need to get used to people putting me first.” That part was true, at least.

David wasn’t sure if he believed her, Snow wasn’t either. But, neither wanted to keep arguing with her. It had been a long enough day as it is. So, the brunette gently placed the baby into David’s arms.

“Let’s check your temperature and get some medicine in you.” She took Emma’s temp and it had not so surprisingly gone back up a degree. “Your fever is now worse.” She wanted to track down Ingrid and strangle her. The list of reasons why was just becoming far too long. Snow grabbed the medicine and poured it out for Emma, who surprisingly took it with little protest. “I’ll go make you something to eat.”

“I’m not really hungry.”

“Best not to argue with your mother, Em,” David said with a smirk. “As you’ll soon learn.”

Snow rolled her eyes and left the room, leaving Emma to stare at her father. She didn’t want to go back into the whole Ingrid thing, so she brought something else up.

“So, am I stuck like this?”

“Your fever will break soon and then you’ll get out of bed…”

“No, I mean…as a teenager?”

David sat there for a moment, reflecting. “Well, I’ve only ever seen one other person have the clock turned back. He’s bee aging, but how one normally would. I think he just celebrated his 8^th birthday.”

“This was August, the kid who was sent to protect me?”

“Yes.”

“So, I’ll keep aging, all over again?”

“Well, Regina says once we handle this whole Ingrid nonsense, she’s going to look for a cure. She hasn’t heard of the clock being moved forward again, but she assumes it’s possible.”

The clock being moved forward again.

They wanted her to go back to her adult life. The one that seemed to have caused her so much pain. Sure, the past 10 years of her life had been hell, but things were different now. She had a chance to have a good rest of her childhood. She could be raised by her parents, have her little brother. Things could be great.

“What if I…what if I couldn’t change back? What if I was stuck like this, to just age back normally?”

David looked down at her, stroking her cheek. “Emma, your mother and I love you. No matter how old you are, you’ll always be our daughter. So, if Regina couldn’t find a way to fix it, that’d be okay. We would gladly accept the opportunity to get to raise you.” Emma smiled, so they would. “But Regina has a lot of faith that she can fix this.”

Emma sighed, folding her arms and biting her lip. David couldn’t help but be a little shocked at the sudden change in behavior. He adjusted Neal so he could pull his daughter closer to him.

“Em, what’s wrong?”

“What if I don’t want to change back?”

David eyed her for a minute. “Emma…”

“I can’t even remember 17 years of my life. And to be honest, they sound like they suck. I go through so much pain, so much loss…”

“But you have a son.”

“I don’t feel anything for him.” Tears sprung to Emma’s eyes, half out of frustration and half from the fever. “I feel terrible about that, but I don’t even remember getting pregnant. And it’s not as if he’d be alone, he has his adoptive mother. Plus, me doing this doesn’t affect the timeline of things. Henry would still be born. Everything that adult me already did already happened. I’m just not going to remember going through all of that and maybe that’s for the best.”

David felt speechless as his daughter started to cry. He knew he should be telling Emma it was okay, that yes, her life hadn’t been easy. But that a lot of good came out of it. That she was a stronger person as a result. That the adult version of her would want her to return to who she was. Yet, something told him that it wasn’t what she wanted to hear. He wrapped an arm around her and she buried her head in his shoulder.

“I…I’ve already been through so much,” she sobbed. “I don’t want to remember any more pain. Please Daddy, don’t make me. Don’t make me have to go back to all of that.”

Chapter Text

Daddy.

The only time David had ever heard those words escape Emma’s lips were in his dream during the missing year. They had been dancing in her childhood nursery until she was sucked away from him…again. He had accepted that would be the only time anyone would call him that until Neal learned how to talk.

Now here she was, his little girl, sobbing his arms, pleading to her daddy to not let her go through all that pain. His heart was breaking. Emma really had been through so much and that had always bothered him. If she had gotten to grow up with them, she would’ve had the perfect childhood. She would’ve been tucked in every night, received a million hugs and kisses, had more toys than she knew what to do with. But that wasn’t all. She would’ve been taught her worth, just how special she was. When she got to dating age (which David was sure he would’ve deemed 40, while Snow would try to convince him when the girl was a teenager), she would’ve been taught the importance of waiting for the right man, that her virtue was something to be respected, not given away because there’s nothing better to do. She wouldn’t have felt she needed to run away, because she would know she was loved. Would there have been fights? Of course, all parents and children fought. But Emma would not have experienced the same kind of pain.

In reality, if the timeline went as planned his daughter was set up for a lifetime of hurt. Even after she was reunited with her parents at 28, the pain kept coming. First losing her first true love, then having to be separated again and let her wall down enough to consider becoming engaged. Only to have that perspective fiancé turn out to be a flying monkey. It was a wonder Adult Emma wasn’t having weekly sessions with Archie (and if she was more of an open person, she probably would have, but she still had some walls up). How could he sentence her back to all that?

Yes, this Emma was already a teenager. She had been through so much pain, being bounced around from home to crappy home. She had a family for 3 years, one she had some fond memories of, only to be sent back when they had a child of their own. But, they could work with her on the pain. She could have normal teen years, loving, albeit overprotective parents, who looked out for her and taught her right from wrong.

Then there was Henry. It was an unspoken thing that if not for him, Emma probably would have considered turning back the clock once they knew it was an option. Snow and David would never have asked her to, but they had a feeling she would’ve offered. But the reality was: Henry existed. David loved his grandson, he was an amazing kid. He saw so much of every family member in him. He couldn’t imagine his life without him, just as he couldn’t without Snow, Emma or Neal. They were a family, all of them. He had a feeling that his grandson would say he was okay with it, that he wanted his mom to be happy. But lose another parent? That may have been too much for his fragile heart to take. He and Emma wouldn’t have a parent/child relationship. It wasn’t like Snow and David with Emma, they were all adults. A 13-year-old doesn’t want to have to worry about parenting a 12-year-old, no should they have to.

Not to mention what Adult Emma would want. She was gone, temporarily. But deep down, she wouldn’t want to leave Henry down a parent. She had a life that she had built since both curses, not just with a job, but with her family. David did miss his older daughter, the aspects of that relationship. There was the matter of Killian. While he wasn’t in a hurry to change Emma back so they would be together, he couldn’t deny the pirate brought his daughter happiness. They had a chance at a real happy ending. If Emma had the clock turned back with her adult mindset, none of this would be happening.

At the same time, David wondered how much of this Adult Emma would remember. What if she felt betrayed that her parents had chosen to move things forward? What if she assumed they loved Neal more after all? Worried she had been too much of a burden during her teen time? He felt it was a lose, lose situation.

David couldn’t think about this on his own and he didn’t want to upset his daughter further, so he just soothed her to sleep, rubbing her back and slowly rocking her, just as he would Neal. She was his baby, no matter how old she would be. He even hummed the same lullaby his mother had once with him. It seemed to first calm the teenager down and soon, she was out like a light.

The shepherd turned prince gently tucked her in and kissed the top of her head before heading downstairs. Snow was just finishing up preparing food when she saw her husband’s face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Emma just told me something…I think you need to sit down.”

The two took seats side by side at the table while he filled her in on Emma’s confession along with her meltdown. Snow had tears in her eyes by the end.

“Oh David…”

“It was so heartbreaking, Snow. She seemed so little. She’s our little girl, but she seemed like a real little girl. She was begging me, her daddy, to not let her go through pain.” He bit down on his lip. “How am I supposed to make her?”

Snow had all the same thoughts David had at the moments, but she had to be the strong one in the moment. “I understand, but we have to think about Adult Emma.”

“Of course I’ve thought about Adult Emma and what she would want. At the same time, what if we made her change back and it’s not what she really wanted? What if she realizes that she could’ve had a chance at least half a happy childhood and we ripped it from her? We agreed to give her, her best chance. Before, while it hasn’t been easy to do, we knew what that was. I don’t know what her best chance is this time.”

His wife grabbed hold of his hand, rubbing her thumb over his knuckles. “I see your side.”

“Do you agree?”

“I don’t know. I know that being a hero means doing what’s right, not what’s easy. However, like you said, I don’t know what’s right here. I wish we had a sign, a sign from the Adult Emma about what she would want. I know it affects more than just her, like Henry, but at the end of the day it’s her body. It’s her choice.”

“I thought the same thing about Henry. You know he’d pretend to be okay with it, he’d just want to see his mom happy. But he would essentially lose her. Maybe gain a friend if he felt comfortable in doing so, though I don’t see that happening.”

“Who knows? We’re the same age as Adult Emma and we settled into an unconventional but still parent/child relationship.”

“We’re also adult,” David pointed out. “While I’m sure for Emma it’s awkward when we go all parental, for us it’s just second nature. We remember your pregnancy, the excitement of becoming parents. We remember the love we felt for her. She doesn’t remember her love for Henry, she doesn’t remember him growing inside of her or the choice she made, the progress they’ve made since then. If you were 13, would you want to be a motherly figure to someone just a year younger than you?”

Snow didn’t have to think about it. She could remember being that age very clearly. She was more concerned with riding and becoming ruler one day. If someone had suddenly plopped a 12-year-old by her side and said “Here, be a parent”, she would’ve felt very overwhelmed.

“So…what do we do?” The queen whispered, clearly feeling lost.

David was silent for several minutes. The clock ticked in the background, a few loose drops of water dripped from the sink, Neal was cooing contently in his swing. The pair’s respective half of heart ached in their chests.

“I think we need to do what we’ve been doing,” Snow answered her own question, breaking the silence.

David got confused. “What does that mean?”

“Work on defeating Ingrid and then have Regina start looking for a way to make the clock move forward. In the meantime, Emma may get her memories back.”

“The usual ways haven’t. For Henry, it was when Emma asked him to believe in her and in the book. Emma believes everything, she’s gotten true love’s kisses. Nothing.”

“Blue said something like this might happen,” Snow said. “Ingrid’s memory wipe was strong. She may be the only one who can restore them.”

“Well, she won’t do that.”

“No, but if we defeat her, we’ll have access to her cave, which most likely has all her magical possessions.”

“And if that doesn’t work?”

“We just take it one day at a time, as we have been doing. If Regina can’t find a way to move the clock forward, then it’s on no one. It’ll be heartbreaking, but out of our hands. If she does, then we go from there. The right thing comes to us Charming, it always does.” She picked up his hand, kissing it.

David gave her a sad smile. His wife, always the one with the hope. He leaned forward, pressing his lips against hers. “We’ll get through, it together.”

“Just as we always do.”

The next couple of days, Snow and David pretended to forget all about Emma’s little outburst. Since they didn’t comment on it, neither did she. She figured maybe it was a good sign, maybe they could stay a family. She was finally better, her fever broken and gone. She was feeling a hundred percent, so she knew just what she had to do. Her parents were going to be mad, she may even get grounded. But she had to do this, she had to save everyone. Ingrid was after her, after all. So, one afternoon while David and Snow got Neal up from I nap, she decided to try out some more magic.

When she was scared that “Regina” was hurting her parents, her magic had allowed her to save them. She wondered if she focused hard enough, she could get the broken window to open. It had worked in Harry Potter. She raised her hands to the glass, praying it didn’t break and focused as hard as she could. Her hands glowed and she aimed it towards the window. To her delight, it lifted in front of her very eyes.

“Maybe this magic stuff won’t be so bad after all,” she mumbled to herself. She had already written a note, she didn’t want to worry her parents more than they were going to be and think that Ingrid had taken her.  The stationary she had swiped from Snow was propped up on her pillow. The next step was to make it down the fire escape, which she did with much success.

David had said that Regina left the station to go pick up Henry every day around 2:15, meaning Elsa, Anna and Kristoff would be alone waiting for her to drop him with Ruby before going back to strategize. Emma took off for the station and when she arrived, she was surprised to see just Elsa standing there.

“Hey Elsa. Where’s Anna and Kristoff?”

“They took a walk on the beach, trying to clear their heads. This whole thing has been so hard on them.” That’s when it hit the queen. David and Snow had made it clear that Emma would not be leaving the loft with Ingrid on the loose. “Wait a minute, do your parents know you’re here?”

“Not important. Listen, I have a plan.”

“A plan?”

“On how to defeat Ingrid.”

“But your parents said…”

“I don’t really care what they said. Just listen to me. Ingrid wants us, right?”

“Well, yeah.”

“We go there and trick her into thinking we’re agreeing to go with her willingly. We say the one condition is that she leaves our families alone, that we’ll follow her everywhere,” Emma explained. She could see the apprehension on the Arendelle resident’s face. “But, then we use our magic to overpower her. You can freeze her until I can get my dad down there to arrest her.”

“Emma, I can’t use my powers for dark magic,” Elsa tried to say it as gently as possible. “I worked far too hard to train myself.”

“But it’s just one time and it’s for the greater good…”

“I’m sorry, this is just something I cannot risk. Eventually, I must return home to my kingdom and be its ruler. My people are still not entirely comfortable with all I’ve done. Sure, I’m good for an ice skating rink, but I can tell some are still afraid. It doesn’t bother me, I know I can control it. But I cannot risk going back. Now, I’m going to call your parents to come pick you up. Let me see if I remember what Regina taught me about these strange phones…”

Before Emma could say anything else, the doors to the station burst open, Anna running inside looking happier than usual. Kristoff was doing his best to keep up with his peppy fiancé.

“You look a lot better,” Elsa stated, happily surprised.

“You will too in a minute, look what I found!” Anna held up a tiny scroll, wrapped up.  Elsa took it, opening it up, quickly scanning it. She yelped with joy and hugged her sister tightly.

“Where did you find this?”

“The beach. It washed up in a bottle, like magic or something.”

“What is it?” Emma asked. Elsa broke out of the tight hug to give it to the teen.

The blonde read it over, a little confused. It seemed to be a letter from Elsa and Anna’s mother, addressed to Anna. In it, she explained about how she had a sister she had wrongfully hurt. She explained that the sister had powers similar to Elsa’s and that it was a mistake to conceal both women. She expressed deep love for her sister and said when they returned, they would be letting Ingrid return and no longer holding back Elsa’s magic

“This is a very sweet letter and I’m glad your mother realized her mistakes, but what does this mean?”

“Don’t you see? If Ingrid knows that my mother really did love her and knew she was wrong to fear her, she may not feel the need to make us her sisters as replacement,” Elsa told her. “We have to go show this to her.”

“This may just work,” Emma said.

“Wait, you stay here with Kristoff…”

“No, Ingrid wants me too. I’m going.”

“Emma…”

“If you don’t let me, I’ll just go anyway.”

Elsa sighed. She had a feeling Snow and David may be upset with her, but there wasn’t much she could do.

“Alright, fine. But if anything happens, allow me to be the one who keeps you safe,” Elsa said.

“I’m coming too,” Anna added. “I’m the one who found the letter and she’s my aunt, too. Kristoff, you stay here for when David and Snow eventually show up looking for Emma.”

“Just be safe,” he told her. Like Elsa with Emma, he knew it was no use telling her not to go. That hadn’t worked in Arendelle, it wasn’t going to work in this strange new land.

“Let’s go, quickly,” Elsa said, leading her sister and Emma out the door.

Meanwhile at the loft, Snow and David were growing a little suspicious. Emma had said she wanted to go upstairs for some quiet time, to read the comics Henry had sent over. But that was over an hour ago. Henry hadn’t sent over that many or even ones that were very long. They knew Emma couldn’t escape, but worried about her safety. Snow opted to be the one to go up the stairs and check on her, only to gasp at the empty room with the window ajar.

“How did she…” Snow trailed off when she saw familiar stationary, her own. She picked it up, reading it.

Dear Mom and Dad,

I know you two are probably going to be really mad at me. You’ll probably ground me for life, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take. I’m going to the station to brainstorm with Elsa. I have a plan in mind already, so I just have to convince her it’s a good idea. Once we do that, Ingrid won’t be a problem anymore. I stole Mom’s cell phone and I’ll call you when it’s over. Again, I expect you to be pissed off by this. I just hope you can one day understand.

Love, Emma

Snow dropped the letter, her eyes growing wide. “DAVID!”

Chapter Text

Emma, Elsa and Anna made their way into the ice cave, which they found surprisingly empty.

“Ingrid?” Elsa called out. “Are you here?”

There was a gust of ice and the Snow Queen appeared. She saw the two blondes and grinned.

“Emma, Elsa, you’re here! Finally, we can…” She trailed off when she saw Anna and her eyes narrowed. “What is she doing here?”

“You’re my aunt too,” Anna said, stepping forward.

“You don’t understand, me or them. Especially not Elsa, you trapped her in an urn…”

“We’re not here to try to defeat you,” Elsa spoke up. “We’re here because we want to bring you with us to Arendelle.”

“I can’t return there,” Ingrid seethed.

“Because of our mother,” Anna told her. “We know.”

“You know nothing about anything!” Ingrid put out her hand, forcing Anna to fall against the wall. Elsa ran to her side, making sure she was okay. “Don’t worry about her Elsa, our lives are going to be so much better off without her in it.”

“Is this really how you want us?” Emma asked. “Going with you against our will? Elsa and Anna have something to offer you.”

“I’m not naïve, this is a trap!”

“It’s not,” Anna whimpered, holding her head. “We can be a family, like our mother wanted.”

“Your mother didn’t want me,” Ingrid said. “She didn’t believe in me, she couldn’t trust me. She saw my magic and she was afraid!”

“She regretted it.” She motioned for her sister to grab the scroll from her pocket and Elsa did it. She tossed it to Emma who slowly walked forward, handing it over.

“Emma, don’t let this girl fool you, she’s trying to take away your powers…”

“Read it.” Emma saw Ingrid’s hesitance. “Read it, for me. And if you still feel how you do, then I’ll stop fighting and I’ll just go with you.”

“Emma!” Elsa exclaimed.

“It’s what she wants. If we can end this, then we should. But we’re not going to give up on you Ingrid,” Emma told her. “You told me you wanted to be a family, well families trust each other. Just, read it.”

Ingrid studied her former foster daughter’s face and saw something there that she hadn’t ever seen…hope. She bit down on her lip and opened the scroll, carefully reading it. In the meantime, Elsa determined that Anna was alright and helped her up, leading her gently over to where Emma was. Ingrid had tears streaming down her face as she made it to the end of Gerda’s letter. With each passing word, she could remember everything. Playing with her sisters when they were children, them making her laugh that night when she was so upset. Everything, the good and the bad. But one thing was clear, her sister did love her. But sometimes people have moments of weakness, they do things they regret.

Gerda didn’t fear her, she had wanted her back in Arendelle, to be a part of their family.

Ingrid lowered the letter, staring at the scene in front of her. A frightened Anna and Elsa, a teenaged Emma. She had separated sisters, just as she had been separated from her own. She had taken Emma, the real Emma, the beautiful woman she had turned out to be, away from her family. Away from her son.

“What have I done?” Ingrid whispered.

“It’s nothing that can’t be undone,” Elsa told her. “We know why you did it now. We know you’re not evil, you were just scared. But we can help you, teach you to control your magic. We love you Ingrid. But that’s not enough, you have to learn to love yourself.”

Ingrid smiled through her tears, stepping forward to cup Elsa’s cheeks, kissing her forehead before turning to Anna.

“I am so very sorry for what I did to you,” she whispered. “I separated the two of you…just as I was from my own sisters.”

“I forgive you,” Anna said.

“How?”

“Because we’re a family. And a family never gives up on each other.”

Ingrid nodded and conjured up the stone. She used it to restore her nieces’ memories before turning to Emma. She drew back a deep breath.

“All this time Emma, you told me you were looking for a family…you already had one. You just didn’t know it yet. And I selfishly took you away from that, from your son. When I lost you, I felt a pain so deep.”

Emma looked up at her. She saw true remorse in Ingrid’s eyes. She really was sorry, she really had loved her. What she did, it wasn’t okay. But choosing to be angry had always just hurt her, more than it really hurt others around her. Maybe for once, she could choose forgiveness. “I know. And I’m sorry I ran away from you.”

“I wish…I wish I could give you your memories back,” Ingrid said. “But I can’t. I removed them with the age back spell and I’m afraid I don’t know how to reverse it.”

“That’s okay.” Emma didn’t want to go back to her adult life and if she couldn’t remember it, that was okay with her.

Before anyone could say anything else, David, Snow and Regina appeared in the ice cave. Snow had her bow and arrow, David had his gun and Regina looked about ready to throw out a fire ball at a moment’s notice.

“Step away from my daughter,” Snow barked.

“Mom, it’s okay,” Emma said. “She’s not going to hurt anyone else.”

“Emma, get away from her, she’s just going to hurt you…”

“No, she’s not!” Emma exclaimed. “I know you two are scared, but you have to trust me, trust us. It’s over.”

“Emma’s right,” Elsa said. “Ingrid’s agreed to come back with us to Arendelle.”

“How can we believe you?” Regina asked. “On top of being a Dairy Queen, you’re a master of manipulation. How do we know you’re not fooling these girls?”

Ingrid stepped forward, holding out her wrist.

“Put a cuff on me, stop my magic until I can get back to Arendelle. If you think I don’t even deserve to go back there, then you can even arrest me.” Ingrid offered up her other wrist as well. “I surrender.”

David exchanged a look with his wife and step-mother-in-law. They had to act fast, in case it really was a trick. Regina conjured up a cuff and zapped it on Ingrid’s wrist without being able to go near her. David then stepped forward and handcuffed her.

“Dad,” Emma whimpered.

“It’s okay, Emma,” Ingrid said, soothingly. “I deserve this. I hurt a lot of people.”

“We’ll take you to the station and decide if we can trust you,” David said. He lead the Snow Queen out the door, with Elsa quickly following along with her sister. Hopefully the two of them could talk some sense into the sheriff and allow them to handle it.

Snow rushed over to Emma, pulling her into a tight hug. Emma wrapped her arms around her mother’s torso, burying her head in her chest.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “But I had to do it.”

“I could’ve lost you!” Snow told her, she pulled out of the hug enough to cup Emma’s face. “I already have numerous times, I can’t let that happen again!” It was then Emma saw the tears streaming down her mother’s face. “You and your brother are the most important thing on this Earth to me. I need to make sure you’re safe.”

“I didn’t want to worry you,” Emma told her. “But we did it, we stopped her. She gave Elsa and Anna their memories back.”

Snow sniffled, raising an eyebrow. “She did?”

“Yes. She said she would do the same for me but in order to that, she’d have to reverse the age back spell and she doesn’t know how. Mom, you know I can spot a liar from a mile away. She’s telling the truth, she’s sorry. You don’t understand what she’s been through. She’s not evil, she just has a broken heart.”

Snow had never heard Emma talk about anyone like this. She had never had this much hope in someone, except for maybe Henry. Even then, she was also a skeptic, always the first to say that something wasn’t right. With Tamara, when the whole town practically told her she was just a jealous ex-girlfriend, she insisted there was more. Emma was a teenager now and they are known for being naïve, but something about this spoke to Snow. Her daughter had hope. Something she had rarely seen in her.

“You are still in so much trouble for sneaking out, but just come with me and Regina, explain everything.”

Ingrid sat in a cell at the station, watching David pace in front of it. Snow had texted saying Emma could explain all of it, so he was waiting to hear back about whether or not they could release her. He had Elsa, Anna and Kristoff wait in his office, just in case.

“I am sorry,” she said.

“Please don’t talk.”

“I do really care about Emma. I didn’t just want her for her magic, I did grow to love her.”

“I said don’t talk.”

Ingrid was quiet for a few more minutes.

“She is a really special girl and I know that you and Snow are the right parents for her.”

David looked back and saw the sincerity in her eyes. He wanted to keep a wall up, in case she was manipulating him. But she was behind bars, a cuff on her wrist. What could he do?

“Thank you,” he said quietly. “And thank you for giving her a good home when we couldn’t.”

“I screwed up, I moved too quickly.”

David bit his tongue from screaming at her for pushing his daughter in front of that car. She was trying to actually be nice, he could be too. “After Emma was removed from the Swans, she had a hellish childhood. Heartbreak after heartbreak. You were her longest stretch. For 6 months she felt loved and wanted, probably for the first time since she was a toddler. It was too short a time, but it’s good she had that nonetheless. She has you to thank for that.”

“I just wanted her to have what I didn’t.”

The sheriff sighed. He had learned by now that most villains have a story. They’re not just evil for no reason. Even if their vengeance isn’t the right course of action, no one does anything “just because”.

“What happened to you?”

“I came into my powers and wasn’t taught that I could be loved because of them. Well, except with my sisters. An accident occurred and one of them died, not intentionally, but as a result of my magic. My other sister lost faith in me, she was afraid.”

Suddenly, Ingrid’s words made sense. She once said people are scared of what they can’t understand. David realized just how much pain she had been through.

“That can’t have been easy, I imagine.”

“You saw what it did.”

“And yet you willingly gave yourself up.”

“I need to take responsibility for my actions.”

“If we let you go back to Arendelle, would you stay there?”

Ingrid nodded. “I want to make it up to my nieces, I want to be a good aunt to them. Especially Anna. I thought she was just like her mother, but maybe that’s not so bad after all.”

The door to the station opened and Snow walked in, an arm around Emma, Regina trailing close behind. David looked back at her and Snow gave him a small smile, but she didn’t speak. Instead, Regina did.

“We’re going to remove the cuff on the grounds that you remove the ice wall,” the former mayor explained, diplomatically. “We will then find a way to get the four of you back to Arendelle, I think I know how to create a portal. You are to stay there with your family. If you dare to return and cause havock we will not be this nice.”

Ingrid beamed, spotting Emma who was also smiling. She couldn’t believe after all she had done to the girl, that she had helped her out.

“I dearly appreciate it, thank you,” the Snow Queen told them.

“David, let her out, please. I’m creating the portal now.”

The sheriff complied and Ingrid walked out. Emma broke away from her mother and rushed over to her former foster mother, hugging her. David protectively hovered nearby, just in case. But, he was willing to allow a goodbye between the two. Ingrid hugged her back, kissing her head.

“I am sorry Emma, for all I’ve done.”

“It’s not okay, but you’re going to be better now, right?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you…for giving me a home.”

Ingrid smiled, kissing the top of her head once more. “And thank you, for being my family.”

Regina had gone to fetch the other Arendelle residents and returned with them. Snow and David said goodbye to their old friends first, promising to visit if/when they could, especially David now that he knew the real alias of “Joan”. Emma said her goodbyes to them next, thanking Elsa and Anna for their help. Ingrid gave her one last hug before leaving with her family. The tears filled Emma’s eyes and she sunk down into the chair at (unknowingly) her desk. She began to cry, another person lost, even if it was for the best.

Snow walked over and crouched down in front of her daughter, hugging her tight. Emma tried to stop crying, tried to pull away, but her mother soothingly rubbed her back. In that moment, it didn’t matter how she felt about the Snow Queen. All that did, was that her baby was hurting.

“Let it all out baby, it’s okay to cry. I’ve got you. I know how hard all of this has been for you.”

Emma buried her head in her mother’s shoulder, continuing to cry. David walked over and knelt beside his wife, slowly stroking Emma’s curls. They would get her through this, no matter what. She wasn’t out of the woods for sneaking out, but that could wait. For now, they would gratefully accept the opportunity to comfort their daughter. Who knew how often that would occur?

Chapter Text

When Emma finally calmed down, she rose to her feet, wiping at her eyes to get rid of any stray tears. Snow helped out, using her thumb to clear them up. She then cupped her daughter’s face and kissed her forehead.

“Let’s go home, baby.”

Emma sniffled and leaned against David. He wrapped his arms around her and gently lead her out of the station, Snow following close behind. They made a quick stop at Granny’s to pick up Neal before heading back to the loft. David set with Emma on the couch while Snow settled into the armchair, slowly rocking Neal.

“We do need to talk about what you did,” Snow said, gently. “I know you’re upset right now, but it’s important.”

“I know I shouldn’t have snuck out, but there’s no way that you would’ve let me go otherwise,” Emma replied, softly.

“Exactly our point,” David told her, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her hair. “Princess, if anything happened to you, we would go crazy. We already lost you so many times, we can’t again.”

“But I was fine. Ingrid surrendered.”

“Because Anna had that letter from her mom. She said you didn’t know about that before you snuck out. What was your plan?”

Emma bit her lip. She figured she was in enough trouble, so she might as well be honest. “To trick Ingrid into thinking that we would go with her and then Elsa would freeze her.”

“So, you were going to risk Ingrid putting some sort of spell on you…again…and turning Elsa back to doing dark magic.”

Now that the blonde thought about it, it was a pretty dumb plan.

“When you put it like that…”

“Emma, I know you wanted to be the one to bring her down, but Elsa and Anna could’ve done it on their own,” Snow said, her voice stern. “You didn’t need to be there.”

“She was my foster mother, she wanted me. I wasn’t going to let Anna fight my fight and Elsa shouldn’t have to do it alone. I am the savior, aren’t I? It’s my job to keep the town safe.”

“You may be the savior, but you are a teenager too. You still have to learn how to control your magic. You were no match for Ingrid today and even Elsa is still learning herself. It wasn’t long ago that she had you trapped in an ice cave.”

“Well, I’m sorry that I worried you guys, but I’m not sorry that I did it. At least I got to say goodbye.”

David and Snow sighed, pretty much in sync. They knew that was the best they were going to get out of Emma. At least for now.

“This can’t happen again. If we tell you to stay put, then you stay put. If you really disagree with us, then come talk to us about it respectively,” David continued for his wife.

Emma nodded, she supposed she could agree to that. Then something else came to mind. “So, does this mean I’m not changing back?”

“Right now, we’re waiting to see what Regina can do.”

“I don’t want to go back.”

Snow got up, moving so she sitting beside her daughter. “I know, Emma. And we’re still deciding what the best thing is. For now, we’re going to let Regina see if she can find a cure. No matter what, we’re going to love you and we’re still going to be your parents.”

“If you can’t change back or we decide it would be a good idea for you stay this age, we’ll be okay with that. We would love a chance to raise you, we just have to do what’s best for you.”

“But this could be what’s best for me,” Emma said, her voice quiet again.

Snow’s heart was breaking. She wished she could just break down, call Regina and tell her to forget all of it, but she couldn’t. If her step-mother couldn’t find a cure, that would be fine. There’d be no guilt on any side, because there was truly nothing to be done. But if there was a way…her and David had to talk about it. 30 years ag, they made a choice to give Emma her best chance and now they had to do it again, no matter what it might have been.

“For now, let’s just enjoy the time we have. Though, I think that should start tomorrow,” Snow said, finally. “I’ll make something quick for dinner and then I think you could benefit from early bedtime. You look exhausted, baby.”

Emma didn’t protest, she simply curled into David’s side. He wrapped his arms back around her and kissed the top of her head. Snow lowered Neal into his swig and reheated some leftover soup for them. They ate it in mostly content silence, Emma clearly growing more tired by the minute. She had used a lot of magic that day and had to say goodbye to someone that she deeply cared about. But it wasn’t forever. If Regina could perfect a portal, then they could all visit Arendelle again and vice versa. Snow and David weren’t sure how comfortable they felt with visiting Ingrid, but they would do it, for Emma. In the end, she turned out to be a good person. Plus, they had grown close with Elsa and David still felt very attached to his friendships with Kristoff and Anna.

When everyone had finished and the dishes were cleared, Emma still didn’t move from her father’s side and she seemed apprehensive whenever Snow moved. Clearly scared of losing them, just as she had everyone else.

“Why don’t you sleep in our bed tonight?” David suggested. No protests were made there. Emma changed into pajamas and laid in the middle of the bed. With her parents on either side, she was able to fall asleep.

Snow stroked her daughter’s hair, thinking just how beautiful she truly was. She was a perfect blend of them both: David’s locks, Snow’s eyes and chin. But it didn’t stop at looks: she was brave, strong, stubborn and something new: she had hope. All of these traits were in Adult Emma as well. She began to think of her older daughter. Sure, when they first met she didn’t seem happy, but it had grown. She had finally accepted Storybrooke as home, her parents as her family. She was falling in love, she had even let Henry in all the way.

A big part of her didn’t want to turn her back. She wanted her to stay 13, to grow up with them. To have a real chance at a happy childhood. To never again feel the pain that she did.

But it wasn’t fair, not to the woman Emma had become. Snow had thought it was selfish and evil to turn the blonde back into a teenager. They would be doing the same allowing her to remain the way she was. Even though Adult Emma would technically never know that she had done this, could never get mad about it, she existed. And sure, in 17 years, she’d have that Emma back. But would she be the same? Stubborn, tough, yes, of course. But she had learned so much in adulthood, things that she probably wouldn’t have had to without the curse. Snow would never, ever think that it was a good thing that it had been set, that her daughter had to grow up alone. But that’s what fate had decided for her daughter and by then the queen had learned one thing…you can’t cheat face.

David could see the look on his wife’s face, the clear and obvious pain it. They shared a heart, he could feel what she did. Sure, they didn’t always agree but in that moment, they truly were thinking the same thing. He reached over, grabbing her hand. She looked up at him, a tear spilling down her cheek. David was quick to wipe it away with his thumb.

“Charming,” she whispered.

David nodded, resting his forehead against hers. He was on the verge of crying himself.

“I know, I know.”

It would be the hardest thing they ever did, but they both knew what they had to do.

Emma deserved her best chance.

The next few weeks were spent as a family, well as much of a family as they could be without Henry. With the Snow Queen’s wall now lowered, they could go over the town line. They took a drive through the countryside, they went shopping, they saw movies. They laughed and had the most fun that they had in a while. Emma was smiling, a real genuine smile. They had picnics and several meals at Granny’s. They even went to a fair in a nearby town and Emma fell asleep after eating so much cotton candy, that David had to carry her back to the car. Snow followed, a sleeping Neal in her own grasp, smiling proudly at her husband and daughter. Lots of pictures were taken, enough to fill at least a dozen photo albums.

Then, Regina called Snow, asking if they could meet up. Emma didn’t know their choice, they weren’t going to tell her. It was just better that way. They hadn’t wanted the little time they had left with her like that to be hard on her. They were making it the best. The couple had promised her a trip to the beach now that the town had recovered from their premature winter. Snow just told Emma to pick from one of the dozen bathing suits she had picked out and help her father get Neal ready and that she’d be back soon.

The queen met up with her step-mother at her vault.

“Well?” Snow asked.

“I just need one final ingredient. It’s super cheesy, but it is for your family after all,” Regina replied with a playful eyeroll.

“What is it?”

“Love.”

“Well, how do we get that?”

“You see, Ingrid’s spell was cast out of selfishness. This needs to be a selfless act of love.”

“Again, I repeat, how do we put that in ingredient form?” The tears began to fall yet again. She hated crying in front of Regina, she knew she wasn’t a feelings person, but she couldn’t help it. She was making a potion to change her baby girl back. Emma would probably go back to just how she been. No more cuddles, no more anything.

Regina suddenly held the test tube to her step-daughter’s cheek. A few tears dropped in and it glowed, turning from brown to pink. Snow batted away the remainder, confused.

“What was that?”

“Your tears, they’re a product of you doing what you know is best for Emma, instead of what’s best for you.” She gave her a pained smile. “I understand this is hard, Snow but you really are doing the right thing.”

“I know. David does too. We just have to hope that Emma doesn’t hate us for it. We’re ripping away her chance at a happy childhood.”

“But to return her to the happy adult life that she has.”

Snow nodded and watched as Regina transported the potion into a little bottle, putting a cork in it. She carefully handed it to her.

“You can slip this into a drink or something. The effects will be immediate.”

“All magic comes with a price. Will this harm her?”

“Emma is paying the price of the potion. As you said, this is taking away a happy childhood. There won’t be a bigger price than that, I checked.”

Snow sniffled. “Thank you, Regina.”

“You’re welcome. When are you doing it?”

“Tonight. We’re taking her to the beach today, I guess it’s our one last day with her like this. We should be back around 6…you should bring Henry. He deserves to see his mom like this.”

Regina nodded. “I’ll do that and bring a lasagna, you can’t have copious amounts of chocolate without real food first.” She ended her rant to warmly smile at the woman before her. “Have a good day with your baby.”

Snow headed back to the loft, the potion safely tucked away in her purse. When she got back, David was pulling on a shirt, already wearing swim trunks.

“Where’s Emma?”

“She took Neal upstairs with her so I could get ready. They’re already changed.”

“It’s ready,” Snow whispered.

David nodded, moving closer and wrapping her in a big hug. “When do you want to do it?”

“Tonight. We’ll have one last day with her like this. Regina will be bringing Henry by around 6. We’ll tell Emma it’s for a hot chocolate and movie night. We can slip it into that.”

They didn’t say anything else, they just stayed in each other’s embrace. They had to get their tears out then, Emma couldn’t see them. She couldn’t know that anything about this day was off. It had to be the perfect one. In a way, they felt like they were acting like she was dying. But a part of her sort of was, they would never get this side of her back.

When they finally pulled apart, Snow hid the potion and quickly changed while David went to get their kids. She made a call into Granny’s, they would have a picnic lunch with all their favorites. When Emma came bounding down, she was wearing a pink tankini, a white button down cover up on top.

“Couldn’t you have picked one of the one piece numbers your mother bought?” David was complaining as he held the baby. “Neal’s wearing a bodysuit.”

“Neal’s a baby. That’s the only way they make them.”

Snow decided not to introduce Emma into the baby bikinis she had seen Ashley buy for Alexandra. “You look beautiful, angel.”

“Of course she looks beautiful,” David grumbled. “I just don’t want her catching the attention of teen boys.”

“I doubt anyone will be at the beach anyway,” Snow gently reminded him. “It’s a school day.”

“When am I going to have to go to school?” Emma asked. She understood that before they weren’t sure how long this was going to last, but as far as she knew, no cure had been found. While her adult self may have gotten a GED, she still hadn’t learned everything.

“Most kids would love the chance to ditch!” Her mother replied, clearly not answering the question. They hadn’t talked about the cure or any of that since the day Ingrid, Elsa, Anna and Kristoff headed back. “Let’s head out.”

They stopped by Granny’s to pick up the takeout and then drove down to the beach. David and Emma set up the rather large blanket and umbrella while Snow fussed over Neal, making sure he was protected from the sun (David had already made Emma put on sunblock).

“I want to go swimming before we eat,” Emma announced.

“You sure?” David asked.

“Yeah, I never get to go swimming, I rarely live near a beach!”

David grinned. “Then what my princess wants, my princess gets.” He picked her up by the waist, spinning her around and then running in with her into the ocean. Her infectious giggles filled his ears and it was his favorite sound in the entire world. He lowered her down and let her splash him a bit. “You’re a beautiful girl, Emma and you deserve the best.”

Emma looked at him oddly. “Okay?”

“I’m being serious. Never sell yourself short.” He wasn’t sure what Emma would remember of her time as a teen, but he had to say it. Adult Emma would never let him talk to her in such a fatherly way, so he had to take his opportunities as they came. Maybe it would seep in and come in handy when she no doubt reunited with Hook.

They soon resumed being silly, playing in the water and having fun. Snow eventually joined with Neal, bending down so his little toes could touch the water. He squealed with delight, clearly enjoying every minute of it. Emma laughed along with him, tickling his tummy. That was one thing David and Snow really hoped that stuck. As a teen, she had really bonded with her baby brother. Any sibling jealousy that she had, seemed to fade away.

After that, they finally went and ate, all that playing had left them absolutely famished. David told Emma more stories about when he was a boy and Snow threw in ones from her childhood as well.

“I still can’t believe you went horseback riding after you nearly died on one,” Emma said after Snow had repeated the story of how her and Regina met.

Snow smiled. “You can’t get up, you just have to get right back on the horse.”

“Do you think you could teach me?”

The queen beamed brighter, nearly forgetting what today was. “Of course.” David stayed silent, sipping his ice tea. There was no sense in ruining the mood for his wife. “Your father gave Henry a horse, but we have one for you. It’s just in between curses and all, we haven’t had time to give it to you.”

“What’s her name? Or is it a boy?”

“It’s a girl. Her name is Daffodil.”

Emma smiled. “I like that.”

After lunch, they built sand castles and sunbathed. The beach was pretty much empty, barring a few of the older residents of Storybrooke who were already “retired” and walking around. Out of all of the days they had as a family since getting Ingrid to surrender, this had by far been the best one.

No one wanted it to end, but Snow realized just how chilly it was getting. The sun was going down, it was almost time for Henry and Regina to swing by for cocoa. David and Emma had gone back in the water, so it was just mother and son on the blanket. The brunette nuzzled her son’s cheek.

“This is so hard, Nealy. But it’s what’s best for sissy, right?” The baby gurgled up at her, reaching for her face. “I do wish you and Emmy could’ve grown up together, but she’ll still be the best big sister ever!” She stood up and walked to the ocean’s edge. “We should head home guys.”

Emma groaned. “But Mama!”

“We’ll come back another day. We have Henry and Regina coming over soon, we’ll have dinner and then hot chocolate.” The teen seemed to perk up at the thought of Henry. At the very least, she wanted them to be friends. David put an arm around his daughter as they got back out and dried off. They showered in the showers provided in the little hut before driving home. Snow kept glancing back in the rearview mirror at her daughter, watching her makes faces at Neal. God, this was getting harder by the minute.

They got back to the loft and soon, Regina and Henry had arrived. The mayor (she was taking back her title, not that Snow minded one bit) had brought her famous lasagna. Henry knew what was going down, but was told a million times not to tell Emma. He understood why his grandparents weren’t going to let her know. He didn’t want to mess up his shot at getting his mom back.

“This is really good,” Emma said as she tucked into the food. It was Teen Emma’s first time having it.

Regina smiled. “Thank you. I use chili flakes for extra flavor.”

“Interesting.”

The mayor would never admit it, but she was sort of glad that she was getting her co-parent back soon. She missed Emma. They had really become friends. Did she miss Robin now that he was in New York with Marian and Roland? Every day. But she had learned one thing from this family, hope can get you through even the most terrible of times.

After they were done, Regina and Henry took Neal into the living room while David fixed the hot chocolate and Emma helped her mother with the dishes. Her dad paused when the hot chocolates were just about ready. Emma’s needed one last thing. Snow caught his glance and cupped her daughter’s face. She studied every part of it.

“I love you, my baby, never forget that,” Snow whispered, stroking Emma’s cheek with her thumb. Emma smiled.

“I love you too, Mama. Are you okay?”

“Just fine.” She kissed her forehead and turned away, under the guise of continuing to wash the dishes, but really it was to cry again.

David hugged his daughter, kissing her temple. He couldn’t be too emotional, that would just worry her. Plus, he had said what he needed to before. “Why don’t you go sit with our guests? Make sure Regina isn’t planning on setting a curse to kidnap Neal or something,” he managed to joke. Emma laughed and headed into the other room.

Snow dug through the cupboard and found the potion, handing it over to David. He uncorked it and took a deep breath before pouring it in. Snow rubbed his back as she disposed of the bottle.

“Ready?” She whispered. Her husband nodded.

“We’ll be seeing the real Emma in a moment. This is a good thing.”

They entered the living room, carefully balancing the tray. David delegated who got what cup before sitting very close to Emma. He didn’t want her spilling the cup on herself once she changed back. The teen sipped it and instantly, could tell something was different about it. Had her dad put in too much cinnamon?

Suddenly, she felt weak. David could tell what was going on and took the mug from her. Emma blacked out, but her family saw a forcefield go over her. Snow clenched onto her husband’s shoulder, clearly nervous. When the light faded, there was Emma.

30-year-old Emma.

“Mom!” Henry cried out, throwing her arms around her, a huge grin across his face.

Emma laughed, hugging him back. “Hey kid.”

Snow and David felt a sense of relief. She seemed okay. They would be calling Doc later to check her over, but for now, the reunions could take place. They were happy she was back, it was the right decision. They just weren’t sure if Emma was feigning her happiness for Henry’s sake.

Emma looked up and saw her parents, seeing their faces. “Are you two alright?”

“We’re fine,” Snow lied. She talked quickly before Emma could spot a lie. “Do you remember what happened?”

“Yeah. The Snow Queen changed me into a teenager. I just couldn’t remember who I was.”

“Welcome back Miss Swan,” Regina said, no sense of sarcasm in her voice.

Emma smiled at her. “Thanks Regina. I trust you took good care of the kid while I was off pulling a 17 Again?”

“Always will.”

There was a knock at the door. Snow and David looked at each other confused, they hadn’t told anyone else about what was going on.

“That should be Killian,” Henry explained. “I didn’t tell him what was going on, just that he should swing by.”

Emma blushed slightly and got up from her spot, heading towards the door, opening it. Killian saw her and did a double take.

“Swan,” he breathed.

“Don’t look like you haven’t seen before pirate,” she smirked.

Killian pulled her into a hug, there was more they both would clearly want to do, but her parents, kid and the mayor were sitting nearby. So, the embrace would do for the moment.

David wrapped his arm around his wife, in return she rested her head on his shoulder, stroking Neal's soft hair. All they could hope for was that they truly had made the right decision. Only time would tell on that front.

Chapter Text

More weeks went by and Storybrooke returned to normal, or as normal as it could, given that it was well, Storybrooke. Emma got a clean bill of health from both Doc and Blue, the latter of whom said that her magic would not be affected by the change. She was back to having more control of it and her lessons with Regina had resumed. She had also taken back her role as co-sheriff.

Her parents seemed to be walking on eggshells around her and she couldn’t understand why. They were finally a family again. Yet, Snow was always making her favorite meals, David insisted she could leave the station early, as if they were trying to butter her up. They didn’t even seem to make a fuss when she went out with Killian. Something was up, she didn’t like this relationship. Yes, they were doing nice things but they wouldn’t even banter with her anymore. They were acting as if she was going to blow her lid at any minute.

She would learn the truth after a magic lesson with Regina.

“You alright, Emma, you seem distracted?” The mayor asked. That had been another thing had changed. Regina was being nicer to her, they were actually getting along. Almost as if they were actually friends. Emma realized she had probably missed her more than she thought she would.

“It’s just my parents,” Emma admitted.

It was nice to have someone to talk to about it, without word getting back to her parents. Ruby and Ashley had once been confidants, but once the first curse broke and the two went back to being Snow’s friend, she felt weird telling them stuff, worried they would turn around and tell her mom (who had been her only best friend since Lily before the curse broke). She didn’t have to worry about that with Regina.

“They’ve been walking on eggshells around me,” the savior continued. “Like I might explode or something. I expected them to be overprotective, but I didn’t think much would change.”

Regina sat beside her. “Emma, how much do you remember of your time as a teenager?”

“Everything. It’s like I knew what was going on the whole time, even though I didn’t. But it was good, it was nice. It almost made up for my childhood memories.”

“That’s the point. Turning you back was the hardest thing they ever did.”

“Why? Because they don’t want me like this?”

“No. Emma, the one thing you need to know is that your parents love you, unconditionally. I think they actually even missed you like this.”

“Then it makes no sense why they’re acting the way they are.”

“You say your memory shows you what went on during that time. What did you beg them not to do?”

Emma was confused for a minute but then it clicked. “I said I didn’t want to turn back.”

“Exactly.” Regina sipped her water.

“But, they did the right thing. Me staying a teenager, it wasn’t right. While yes, it would’ve been nice to have more happy childhood memories, what I went through, it made me the person I am, it made me a mother. I wouldn’t give that up for anything.”

“Which is why they didn’t listen to teen you. They knew that your best chance was going back to how things were. However, teen you begged them not to and they had to trick you into it. They’re worried that you resent them.”

Emma sighed. “I have to talk to them.”

“I would recommend it.”

It had almost been a month since she turned back and Henry had been spending most of his time with her, to make up for what they lost. He saw Regina almost every day, only to spend the night back at the loft. But now, Emma knew it was time to work out a custody schedule.

“So, I was thinking…maybe we could work out how Henry will work?”

“What do you mean?”

“I know he was with you, even before I got turned into a teenager. Now, he’s back with me. I know he wants to help us out and he should get to choose who he lives, but maybe it’s time to make it equal.”

“You mean work out custody?” Emma nodded and Regina smiled. “Sounds great.”

“I was thinking I’ll send him here and he can stay until next Sunday? Of course we can still see him during the other’s time, it’s a small town.”

“I like that.”

They shook hands on it (a hug still seemed like a stretch for their newfound friendship) and she headed back to the loft. Henry was alone, playing video games. Emma dropped next to him, pulling him closer. Henry smiled and paused the game. Ever since he got her back, she had been a lot more touchy feely. There were more hugs and kisses. He knew she felt bad for how her teenaged self had treated him.

“You know I’m not mad at you, right?” He asked.

“I was terrible to you.”

“You didn’t know who I was. It’s fine, trust me.”

“Just get used to the extra hugs for now. I have a lot to make up on.”

Henry smiled. “I guess I can get used to that.”

“Good.” She kissed his cheek. “Now, I was talking to your mom and we think that maybe our custody arrangement should be a little more equal.”

The pre-teen would be lying if he said he hadn’t missed spending time alone with Regina, that he hadn’t missed his old room. He didn’t mind sharing with his mom, but it was nice to have his own. Still, he didn’t want to leave Emma when she needed him. “Don’t you need me?”

“Kid, I have you. Just because you don’t live here every single day doesn’t change that. We’ll still see each other during your time with Regina, just like you can see her during your time with me. We are a family after all. You don’t have to take care of me, I’m the mom, it’s my job to take care of you.”

“We take care of each other.”

Emma smiled. “I could get used to that. Now, go pack up your stuff, you’re spending the week there starting tonight. If that’s okay, that is. We want you to have a say too, it’s your time after all.”

“No, that sounds good. You need to talk to Grandma and Grandpa anyway.”

“You can tell?”

“I’m 12, not a moron.”

Emma laughed. “Where are they?”

“Grandpa was at the station and Grandma went to the store with Neal, though she’s going to pick up Gramps when she’s done.”

Henry went upstairs and got his things, while Emma went to work in the kitchen. She wasn’t a culinary master, but she knew a few simple dishes. She whipped up one of her father’s favorite comfort foods and bid her goodbyes to Henry when Regina came around to pick him up. Needless to say, Snow and David were shocked to find mac and cheese, garlic bread and salad spread out on the table that night. Emma even had out David’s favorite beer and had made virgin daquiris for her and Snow (who still couldn’t drink since she was breast feeding).

“What’s all this?” Snow asked as she lowered Neal into his swing.

“I wanted us to have dinner together. Henry’s spending the night at Regina’s, so it’s just us.”

David and Snow exchanged a look but settled down at the table, helping themselves to everything. Emma lowered down into her chair, right by Snow.

“I admit I had an ulterior motive while making this,” Emma admitted halfway through the meal.

“Oh?” Snow asked, dabbing her mouth with a napkin. She feared this was it. Emma was announcing that she was moving out, she was just too hurt by what they had done. David squeezed her hand, having the same fear.

“I need you guys to stop how you’re acting.” Well that just confused them. “I’m not mad at you two.”

“You’re not?” Snow asked.

“Have I acted as if I was since I stopped being pubescent?”

“Well…no.”

“It’s just…we know you can…well…” David didn’t want to offend his daughter.

“Bottle things up?” Their silence said it all. “I get it, I do. But really, I’m not mad. You two did the right thing. I know it couldn’t have been easy. If Henry somehow got turned back into a toddler, I guarantee a selfish part of me would want to keep him that way so I could properly raise him, have real memories.”

Snow took her daughter’s hand. “We wanted to raise you, we did. We thought about taking the opportunity but…”

“You had to give me my best chance and that’s just what you did.” Emma smiled. “I had a couple months of a good childhood, where there was no other motive, to get me for magic or whatever.” She knew now that Ingrid had grown to love her, but still, her intentions for seeking her out hadn’t been pure. “I was happy and it was great. I will treasure those memories. I’m sure it wasn’t easy dealing with a teenage me.”

“We wouldn’t trade that time for the word,” David told her, sincerely. “We loved getting to take care of you, getting to be closer to you.”

“I know. But I realize something now, things don’t have to change. I mean, obviously I’m older, I can take care of myself. Still, I felt comfortable opening up to you guys, to looking at you like real parents. I don’t want to go back to how things were before. I want to move forward, so long as everything’s okay with it.”

Snow leaned over and hugged her tight. David hopped up, running over and joining the hug, cradling the back of her head.

“Oh.” Emma smiled, hugging them both back. “I’m assuming that’s a yes?”

Snow kissed her cheek. “You have no idea how happy that would make us.”

They stayed like that for a moment, savoring it. They hadn’t had one like it since Emma aged back.

“So, does this mean we can tell you to not save the town and you just stay home with your mother all day?” David half-teased.

Emma rolled her eyes, pulling out of the hug. “I am still 30 years old, so no. I’m still co-sheriff and I can help take down the bad guys. No more bedtimes either. But….maybe I’ll wait for back up from now on.”

David smiled. “That’s my girl.”

They finished up dinner and Emma helped her father with the dishes while Snow settled Neal down in a crib.

“So, since I’m me again and I know about modern technology and all, how about we watch a DVD?” Emma asked.

“Sounds like a plan, Princess.” David wrapped an arm around her. “Can the nickname be something we keep?”

“In private. I don’t need perps taking me less seriously because my daddy is calling me princess.”

“Deal.”

They went into the living room and Emma looked through the DVDs, selecting Forest Gump. It had some action for her and David with the combat scenes and fluff and cheese for Snow (and Emma, who secretly liked that). After sliding it in, she sat between her parents, letting it begin. She remembered watching movies with them as her teen self, she would cuddle with Snow. Somehow, this movie night didn’t seem complete without it. So, she slid down a bit, resting her head on her mom’s chest. Snow felt her heart soar as she wrapped her arms around her daughter, kissing the top of her head. David smiled, softly stroking Emma’s curls just as he had done a few short weeks ago.

“Mama?” Emma asked.

Snow felt her heart skip a beat. If Emma continued to call her that as an adult, she would be floating on air daily. “Yes, baby?”

“I believe you promised to teach me to ride a horse. I know I’m not as cute as I was before, but a deal is a deal.”

Snow snuggled Emma closer. “Emma, you will always be the cutest girl in the world to me, 13, 30 or 300.” Emma smiled, wrapping her arms around her mom’s torso. “We’ll start this weekend.”

Things couldn’t be the same as they were when she was a teenager, not completely. She had to be an adult and go on with her life. She worked, took care of her son and spent time with friends (Killian included). But other things didn’t have to change. They could be closer, they could have a parent-child relationship. What Snow said in Neverland was right, it was unique. And none would change it.

They would always wish that Emma could’ve grown up properly with them. That she took her steps across the palace’s nursery floors, that they got to battle for her first words. All the balls, bedtime stories and birthday celebrations planned but never executed. Snow having to talk David into allowing her to date. One day, she could’ve even been queen. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be and they wouldn’t accept that. Not a day would go by in which David and Snow didn’t have regret in their heart for how Emma grew up. Just as she would never stop wondering about the what-ifs.

Even so, their wounds could heal. With time, they would, they had already started to. Yes, fate had cheated them out of being a family from the beginning but it was giving them a chance now. They would rebuild, all of them: Snow, David, Emma, Henry and Neal.

From the ground up.