So, what's up?
1. Rumple never becomes the Dark One, but is kept immortal due to a foolish wish granted by guess who!
2. He still has magic, but it is light magic.
3. Bae is taken against his will to Neverland, and Rumple spends centuries trying to get him back.
4. Everything else story-line-wise stays the same, except instead of Rumple making all the deals, it's the other Dark One.
5. The Dark One doesn't get the curse complete for Regina (who manipulated him into making it) until Emma is 10, but she is still sort-of the savior - she can return memories, but only Regina can unfreeze time.
6. Regina casts the curse, but instead of wiping everyone's memories, she just makes them think they went willingly to Storybrooke, and changes only Snow's, Emma's, and Charming's memories to torment them.
7. Rumple (who has Belle, BTW) wants to take advantage of Emma's magic, which began showing in the EF. He tells her the truth, and she kisses her parents on the cheek, returning their memories and her own. Time is still frozen.
8. After a while, they convince Regina to undo her curse. Emma grows up, and Rumple trains her in magic. They become sort of magical cops (but rarely work together).
9. When Emma is a bit older, she sneaks away from Storybrooke and goes into the real world a lot. She meets Bae, who has escaped Neverland. They are together for about a month, during which Henry is conceived. She then must return to Storybrooke, and asks Bae to come with her. He agrees, and he and Rumple are delighted to be reunited.
10. A while later, Henry is born. Emma wants him to have a normal life, and convinces everyone not to tell him about magic until he is older. A little over 10 years pass, and it is Emma's 28th birthday.
"Emma, Happy birthday!", yelled Snow and David when Emma walked in to her parent's apartment. It was late, as Emma had been working on a particularly difficult case.
"Thanks, guys."
Henry bounded in. "Happy Birthday, Mom!"
"Thanks, kid." Then to her parents, "You let him stay up?"
"It's your birthday!"
"And he needs sleep!"
They all shared the cake. Emma smiled, then said, "You get to sleep, or no more sleepovers with your grandparents."
"But they're cool grandparents!"
"Really?"
"Yeah! Bandits are awesome! And royalty... that's cool too."
Emma chuckled. It had been hard to tell Henry their family history without mentioning magic, but they had managed.
"Then get to bed."
He did, and Emma said goodbye to her parents before going back to the apartment she lived in with Henry and Neal. It would soon have another member, though, Emma thought as she patted her stomach.
