Emma Swan gripped the steering wheel as she approached the upcoming green and white of the approaching Storybrooke sign. The sun beat down on the back of her yellow bug as she slowed approaching it, not sure whether or not she was truly ready to cross over town line and get back to the town she had been away from for the past five years and she hadn't exactly left it happy. Left for good reasons yes, to attend a college that would help her further her love of art, even if it did happen to be on the other side of the country. But the leaving part had been the hardest, and even thinking about it now made her want to turn around and drive to any other possible place that wasn't Storybrooke and that didn't have its ghosts.

She accelerated as she finally got to sign, hoping that it would be enough to push her finally over the edge, if she could she would have squeezed her eyes shut but he didn't want to run into the welcome to Storybrooke sign …. Again. She had spent a good chunk of money getting it repaired and had to spend some time in the hospital but she had had Re- no no she wasn't going to go down that road. It would only be worse. She couldn't even imagine what it would be like seeing her again, if it would bring everything back, though if she was being honest it had never left. Countless girlfriends, boyfriends, one night stands and yet none of them had ever lasted, none of them had ever filled the void that Regina had left. None of them had ever made her heart feel whole again.

She wasn't even sure why she had agreed to come back, but yet she did. Her foster parents, Mary Margret and David, the people in her life she was most thankful for had finally had their own child and they wanted Emma to come and meet her brother. And she'd agreed because she owed them so much, so so much that sometimes she was worried she would never be able to thank them properly because they saved her. They brought her to Storybrooke when she was fourteen and they gave her a home, a family, everything that she had ever wanted and needed and craved. They had given it to her, they had even helped with paying her college tuition, something she said she would finish paying off now that they had a new baby to worry about.

Though maybe the new baby, baby Neal, was also something, aside from Regina, that was making her anxious to come back to Storybrooke, he was her brother yes even if not by blood and maybe that's what she was worried about. Neal was her parents' blood and she wasn't and now maybe that they had a baby of their own now that they'd forget about the temporary one, her. At the same time she knew that she was being ridiculous, her parents loved her, but still it didn't make her any less nervous.

She hadn't even been back to visit her parents in the five years that she had been away, sure she skyped and texted them a lot when she could but she was just too nervous about coming back to Storybrooke, to coming back to the place that had housed her greatest and her worst memories.

It didn't take long before she pulled up in front of her parents' apartment. Storybrooke was a small town after all, which was both a pro and con. Emma wasn't going to lie, it took her awhile to calm down when she saw the building, she didn't want to go in and confront her past. She took a deep breath, sighed and slammed the door behind her as she got out of the car.

Mary Margret drew open the white linen curtains when she heard the car roll up, holding Neal in her arms, she looked down and smiled at her little bundle of joy. So amazed that she could have made something as perfect and as adorable as him.

"Ready to meet your sister, my love?" she cooed.

"Emma's here?" David asked, as he walked down the stairs, he had just been up in Emma's old room, making sure that everything was perfect for her arrival. He had to admit he was a little nervous, not as nervous as Mary Margret, but he was. Emma hadn't been home in a long time and as much as he wanted her to spread her wings and find her own way, he missed his daughter and wanted her to come back to Storybrooke for more than just a visit.

"Are we finally going to stop lying to our daughter?" He asked his wife before planting a kiss on his son's forehead.

"We're not lying David, we just aren't telling her something that will hurt her."

"She deserves to know."

"She's the one who told us not to bring up Regina."

Before the argument could proceed any further they heard a knock at the door. David and Mary Margret shared a look. Their daughter had finally come home.

Emma drew back her hand from the door right before it opened revealing her parents, and her new little brother. She could barely get a greeting in before her father had wrapped his arms around her. While Emma had never really considered herself the hugging type, or the affectionate type – with anyone but Regina, oh god, Regina – she let herself fully relax into his hug. Her own arms coming up around her father. She'd missed him, a lot, and seeing him in person was greater than she could have expected.

"This is your baby brother," Mary Margret said when David finally pulled away from Emma.

Emma smiled, a real smile, as she reached for Neal's hand and let out a small gasp when his hand curled around her finger.

"See? He loves his big sister already," Mary Margret said, her eyes teary. Having her daughter back in front of her was more emotional than she thought it would be, Emma may not have been hers biologically but that didn't change the fact that she was her daughter and she loved her with everything she had.

David took Neal from his wife so that mother and daughter could finally embrace. Emma's arms tightened around her mother as a tear made its way down her face. She was flooded with emotion, her parents, her old apartment and the smells that brought back so many memories. So many memories with Regina, talking, laughing, kissing. She knew it would be difficult to come back and face it all, remember it all, but she didn't truly realize how hard until all the memories were flooding her senses.

"I really missed you guys, like I know we kept in touch but still," Emma said, pulling away from her mother.

"We missed you too Emma, so much and we can only imagine how difficult or weird it must be to be back after so long," Mary Margret said.

Emma smiled, "Yeah, but I wouldn't miss meeting Neal for all the weirdness in the world."

David looked pointedly at Mary Margret, and she narrowed her eyes at him and shook her head slightly. Emma looked between the both of them, she wasn't an idiot, her parents were the most carefree and relaxed people she knew. Tension between them was unusual, and right now the tension in the room was starting to become unbearable.

"What's wrong guys?" Emma asked tentatively, not a hundred percent certain she wanted to know the answer.

"We'll talk with dinner," Mary Margret said, as she walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge scanning its contents for dinner, "actually speaking of dinner. David could you run down to the store and pick up a few things? We're running a bit low and I've been so busy looking after Neal that I haven't had a chance to catch up on the shopping."

"Anything for you, my love," David said, reaching for his jacket on the coat hanger.

"Can I come?" Emma asked, "I think I might feel more settled if I see the town a bit."

Emma wasn't actually certain if seeing more of Storybrooke would help or hurt her, but she had friends and other people she knew and loved here besides Regina and it would be good to see them. California had been fun and she had met a lot of good and interesting people there but it still never felt like home the way Storybrooke did and Emma was doubtful anything would feel like home besides Storybrooke. She had grown up in so many different places, so many different foster homes before David and Mary Margret had taken her in. And maybe that's why she was so hesitant to return, feeling like she didn't have a home was more natural to her than feeling like she did and with everything that had happened before she left Storybrooke she didn't even know if it would feel like home anymore.

"Of course, I'll be glad to have the company," David said, as he put his arm around Emma's back and they walked out the door.

The store wasn't too far from home, and they didn't have a lot to get so they decided to walk there. At first they kept the conversation simple, California and how the very long drive up to Storybrooke was. Emma's mind was still on earlier however, she couldn't stop thinking about what her parents weren't telling her. Her mother could ever keep secrets and neither of them liked to lie to her so it must have been something pretty big.

"What are you guys hiding from me?" Emma asked suddenly, unable to keep the question in any longer, she had always been pretty impatient.

David looked at her, then towards the ground and then back at her again before sighing and running his hand through his hair. He didn't know what to say, he wanted to respect Mary Margret's wishes but he also wanted to give his daughter the truth, or rather the knowledge, that she so rightfully deserved.

"Emma, as much as I want to tell you, believe me I do. Right here, right now isn't the right place for it. A less public area would be a lot better, where you're surrounded by people who care about you such as your mother and myself."

Emma kicked the pebble in front of her into the road, she knew it would be unreasonable to whine, gods she wasn't a toddler anymore, but she hated not knowing, she hated feeling like the people she loved most were keeping something from her. A million thoughts raced through her head, but she said none of them, it would only end up causing a fight and that was the last thing she wanted.

"I know you're upset with that answer Emma," David said, desperately searching for something to say that might at least tide Emma over until dinner tonight, but he was drawing a blank. He could only imagine what it felt like to be in her position right now. "But I promise you, we'll explain everything to you later."

"You better have a damn good explanation for keeping something from me this long," Emma said, pulling open the door to the shop and getting a blast of cold air, before stepping inside. She had barely stepped in the door before she realized how little anything had changed, in fact the shop was almost exactly as she had left it. She wondered if anything had changed in her absence from Storybrooke, besides her being absent from Storybrooke

"It hasn't changed at all," Emma said softly. She wasn't sure why she was so shocked, Storybrooke was Storybrooke, a small town, she doubt it changed much in the past fifty years much less the last five. She knew that she wasn't such a huge part of Storybrooke that it would crumble after she left, she was just the sheriff's daughter, but so much had changed for her that it just felt strange that this part of the world hadn't changed in the slightest.

"Which is great because it means that you can take half of this list because you can remember where everything is, and save your father some time," David said chuckling, before grabbing a basket and heading off to get his half of the grocery list completed.

Emma grabbed her own basket before going off in search of pasta, it was in aisle seven if she remembered correctly. Her boots slapped against the dark wooden floors as she made her way there, already settling back into the familiarity of this place. She'd have to ask to parents if they wanted to go out to lunch tomorrow at Granny's because gods she had missed that woman's cooking.

It didn't take her long to find what she was looking for but just as she was going to put it in her bag her phone rang, startling her and caused her to drop it. Good going Emma, she thought, she was always such a klutz. She didn't even check to see who it was that had called her, instead going straight for the food. Another example of classic Emma, food over everything. But she soon saw that someone had beaten her to it.

"Thanks," Emma said before looking at the person. When she finally decided to look up her breath caught in her throat, "R-Regina?"

Regina's eyes narrowed slightly as she looked the blonde up and down, as if she was trying to place her, "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

Emma's heart dropped.

Hey guys, I really hope you enjoyed this first chapter or that maybe it piqued your interest. I know it left off at a cliffhanger and you may be confused but I promise answers are coming :)

-Abbie

xoxo