Twice Upon A Time {reader x once upon a time}

True North

Friday, December 13

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New York

After having gone through The Dragon's notes, August was finally ready to go find Emma, but first, he needed to make one more stop. He needed to talk to Neal, the man that had broken Emma's heart in the past.

They were talking on the street; August was getting ready to drive over to Storybrooke, promising Neal to send him a postcard when Emma fulfilled her destiny, but unknown to the both of them, they were being watched by a woman.

When August finally got on his motorbike and drove away, the woman approached Neal. She pretended to bump into him and spilled her coffee on herself. Feeling sorry for her, Neal offered to help her and introduced himself, in return, she told him her name: Tamara

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Storybrooke

Henry was looking through some comics at the convenience store when a girl started talking to him. While he was distracted, her brother put some candy & toothpaste in Henry's backpack. When the three of them were about to leave, Mr. Clark, the employee, stopped them, having seen they were stealing.

Emma arrived at the store as Regina was about to leave with Henry. Upon seeing what the siblings were stealing, Emma paid for it and took them home, only to find out that they were actually orphans living on their own in an abandoned house.

After learning this, Emma took them to her and Mary Margaret's place until she could figure out how to help them. She found a file about them and asked her roommate about them

"Do you know them?" the blond asked the teacher "Do they go to your school?"

"I've seen them, but... I had no idea" Mary Margaret confessed "None of us did"

Emma opened the file and read the information out loud "Ava and Nicholas Zimmer. Their mother was a woman named Dory Zimmer. She died a few years ago" she then looked at her friend "No one seems to know her or remember her"

"And the father?" wondered Mary Margaret

"There isn't one. At least not one they know" the blond explained

"What does Social Services say?" Mary Margaret asked softly, but then she saw Emma's face "You didn't report them"

"I report them; I can't help them" Emma justified "They go into the system"

"The system that's supposed to help" Mary Margaret countered

"Yeah, the system that separated Angie and I and in which we both were for sixteen years. Do you know what happens? They get thrown into homes where they are a meal ticket, nothing more. These families get paid for these kids and as soon as they're too much work, they get tossed out and it all starts over again" Emma said

"But they're not all like that" Mary Margaret pointed out

"All the ones Angie and I were in" Emma countered

"So what? We're just going to adopt them?" Mary Margaret wondered

"I want to look for their father" Emma explained "They don't know him. He may not know they exist"

"And you think if he knows, he'll want them?" Mary Margaret asked

"I don't know" Emma confessed "But what I do know, is it's hard enough finding foster families to take one kid that isn't theirs, let alone two. It's their best shot, or-"