Twice Upon A Tale

S1E1

Pilot

Emma Swan had prepared herself for many things in life. At the ripe age of twenty eight, she had prepared herself to spend her life alone after a tumultuous childhood that had left her nothing short of traumatized.

She had prepared herself to be tossed out of every foster home and group home she'd ever been in, she had prepared herself to never know her biological parents or why they'd abandoned her, and she'd prepared herself to give her baby up for adoption when she came to the conclusion that while she had to prepare for a life of suffering, she did not want her child to have to prepare for anything.

Kicking off the high heels that bit at the soles of her feet, she grimaced as the ache set in. This was exactly why she didn't wear heels. It was boots or bust for Emma because boots didn't made her feet blow up like swollen little hams.

But of course, she'd prepared for this. The same way she'd prepared for everything else in life. Without giving it a second thought, she popped an Advil and headed to the fridge to grab a beer and the little birthday treat she'd bought herself.

A little cupcake that she'd picked up from the grocery store solely because it had a red sale sticker on it.

What she had not prepared for, after blowing out the sole candle on her sad birthday cupcake, was for a knock at the door to sound out and change her entire life trajectory.

A child stood at the door, no older than ten or eleven, dressed in an expensive coat and an even more expensive pair of shoes. He looked well cared for, well groomed, and healthy.

She knew without asking who he was, but still she played dumb. The shock engulfed her in a way she hadn't been expecting, and when he spoke her heart sunk.

Her son, now a child and far from the tiny baby he was when she'd last laid eyes on him, stood in front of her wearing the same smile his Dad used to. It made her heart lurch in a way she hadn't known possible; here in front of her, stood her own flesh and blood.

The first person she'd ever met who shared the same DNA as her.

Her son, Henry, had come to find her to help him break a 'curse'. He claimed he had a book that told all the stories of all the townspeople of the small Maine town he lived in, only it was their stories from a different life. He told Emma stories of how this life was not their real one, how he knew the truth, and how his Mother (his adoptive Mother) was the Evil Queen who'd tried to kill Snow White.

She'd be lying if she said she hadn't been mildly concerned for his mental well-being after he'd told her all of that.

"I'm calling the cops" she'd said, picking up the phone to start dialling so someone would pick him up and bring him home.

He was wearing a pair of boots that probably cost a hundred bucks or more, his cheeks were pink and his eyes sparkled. Emma knew logically, he was well-cared for. Nothing about his appearance made her think he was anything but loved by his Mom.

The kid smirked, a shit eating grin that reminded Emma all too much of her own self, and replied; "I'll tell them you kidnapped me"

Game and match. Emma couldn't call the cops after that.

So, that's how she found herself standing in front of the biggest house she'd ever been on the porch of while her now ten-year-old son stood at her side, begging her not to leave him with his adoptive Mother, the mayor of the small hole in the wall town in the middle of nowhere, Maine.

"So it's just you and your Mom, huh?" Emma asked him, as she eyed the huge house in front of her; the manicured lawn, the perfectly painted fence, the shiny windows. It was the perfect place to raise a family.