Author's Notes/Rantings: Okay first of all this is something I have never done before. I've had multiple people however ask me to begin to post this here so I am. It's VERY DARK! It contains mentions of child abuse, sexual abuse, mental and physical abuse, incest and a variety of things in between. Please don't read this if you aren't of age. It's not for the faint of heart either even if you are of age. This was something that popped into my head that has been posted on Tumblr so I'm sure others have read it over there as well but to those of you that are reading this for the first time welcome and I hope you enjoy even though it's dark as hell. This may contain some triggers for people that have suffered through abuse though it is glossed over fair warning. Other than that I think everything will be fine if you heed my advice and don't read this if you cannot handle it.

Helpless

Chapter 1:

Emma blew the candle out on top of her little cupcake. It wasn't one of those store bought ones either it was one from a really nice bakery down the street from her Boston high rise apartment. She opened her eyes feeling depression set in when nothing happened until all of a sudden there was a knock at her door. Blinking she walked over to it and pulled the door open looking out and then down when a small voice spoke.

"Hi there; are you Emma Swan?"

"Who wants to know?"

"I'm Henry. I'm your son."

"What?"

"Do you have any juice?"

"Hey kid didn't anyone ever tell you it's dangerous to go into a stranger's house not to mention going through their fridge. Hey!" Emma watched as he pulled a carton of orange juice from her refrigerator and took a glass from one of the lower cabinets.

"You're not a stranger, you're my Mom. Well one of my Moms." Henry smiled cutely at her.

"HENRY!" A beautiful woman in a very tasteful grey dress shot out the door the moment Henry and Emma stepped onto the beautiful brick walkway leading up to the large white house.

Emma swallowed when the dark haired beauty knelt down cupping Henry's cheeks and pulling him close a moment later. Henry allowed her to hold him for a moment before he tensed up. Emma arched a brow watching as a rather strict harsh looking woman with light reddish brown hair pulled back in a severe bun walked out of the house followed by a scruffy looking man in a leather jacket.

"Henry, you've returned thank goodness."

Emma glanced at the woman kneeling down seeing the look of fear cross her face. She was unable to see Henry's based on the angle he was positioned at but she could see his body tense. She watched as the woman turned to look at the scruffy looking man.

"Thank you Sheriff. I appreciate you coming down here to help us with this problem tonight. Henry, go inside and wash up. You have school in the morning." The older woman looked over at the dark haired beauty who was now biting her lip and looking down. "Regina inside now," The woman flinched and Emma felt her brows furrow as she watched the beautiful woman stand up taking Henry's hand.

She noticed the way they both shied away from the older woman who walked down the walkway towards Emma.

"And you are?" She finally asked arching a brow.

"Hi, um I'm Henry's birth mother. I'm Emma. Emma Swan."

"Well Miss Swan I'm very sorry this has caused you to come down here. As you can see Henry is a…spirited child."

"Yes I'm sure he is." Emma wouldn't comment on how quiet the little boy had seemed to her once he had confessed to her that his life as he'd put it sucked. He wouldn't tell her the exact reasons but he'd highly implied that he and his Mom while close had to deal with some sort of other circumstances. She was beginning to wonder if this was it.

"Thank you very much for bringing him back to us. We would've been devastated without him."

"I'm sure you would've been." Emma gave her a tight smile.

The woman's eyes seemed to sparkle with some sort of darkness before she managed to get out in between gritted teeth. "Where did he find you at?"

"Internet; kids are brilliant nowadays. I live in Boston."

"That's quite a long ways away."

Emma shrugged, "I'll deal."

"I'm sure you will."

Emma slowly backed up not sure she wanted to put her back to the severe looking older woman who she assumed was Henry's adopted grandmother. No wonder the kid hadn't wanted to come back if that's what he was dealing with, she wouldn't have either.

She watched as the woman turned on her heels and walked inside not even offering her name or anything. She glanced up in time to see Henry looking down on her with sad eyes from his window. She gave him a weak smile her mind already slightly made up.

"I'd like a room." She spoke to the older woman behind the counter who was writing in some sort of old fashioned ledger. She pulled her small square framed glasses from her face allowing them to fall down her body held there by a slender chain.

The bed and breakfast was a quaint, a phrase Emma thought she'd never use no matter where she was. She didn't like small towns she preferred the bustle of bigger cities to that of small town America. People were too nosy in small towns, in big cities they kept their noses down and their eyes from prying. She was satisfied with that. The woman eyed her even as she took her credit card after Emma took the strange looking key that resembled an old skeleton key along with the odd bird looking keychain on the end. It was big and bulky she supposed so it wouldn't get lost.

"Welcome to Storybrooke." The woman gave her a small smile, her blue eyes studying her.

Emma smiled back taking the key.

"You stayed!" Henry grinned as he ran towards her. She smiled back at him. Children of all ages poured out of the school smiling and laughing talking with their friends. The little school was quite cute. A brick building with high arches and windows; she wouldn't have minded coming to school there every day.

"Yeah; I'm here for a week. Then I'm heading back to Boston."

Henry frowned when he heard her words, "But you have to stay."

Emma blinked, "Kid I don't have to do anything."

Henry turned shifting his back pack on his shoulders. "My Mom will be here to pick me up soon."

"Oh, guess I should go huh? She didn't seem too fond of me."

Henry's brow furrowed, "You mean my grandmother. She was the one you were talking to. My Mom never said a word to you."

"So that was your grandmother. Do you and your Mom live with her?"

Henry frowned and nodded, "Yeah, she's the mayor. Mom is her secretary so it's easier if we stay with her according to my grandmother anyways."

"Henry?" Emma looked up at the soft smoky voice that spoke from down the sidewalk. The overcast weather had the beautiful woman wearing a smartly cut dove grey pea coat and black skirt and maroon colored blouse. Her dark hair which was obviously quite long was braided down her back simply but beautifully. She was quite lovely even with the…Emma frowned. Underneath the make-up the woman had obviously tried to cover with a dark bruise on her left cheek could be seen. The cheek was even swollen a bit giving away what happened. She'd seen battered women before, in her line of work as a bail bonds person she'd had to deal with them once or twice but she'd never seen one quite like this before.

There was no fire in the woman's eyes unlike her mother's. Instead they appeared almost dead welling with deep sadness and sorrow the likes of which Emma had never seen.

She seemed to fold in on herself when she saw Emma's earnest gaze focusing on her cheek which she turned trying to hide a bit. Emma turned to Henry whom she realized had a similar look on his face at the sight. He was used to it, the look said but that didn't mean he was happy to see it.

"Hey Mom," He greeted, "I was just telling Emma you were going to be picking me up today." He gave her a weak smile.

Regina looked down refusing to meet anyone's eyes. Emma had never seen someone look so utterly…defeated. "I'm sorry if he disturbed you…umm…."

"Swan, Emma Swan. And it's perfectly okay…"

"Regina Mills," The woman offered quietly.

"Ms. Mills," Emma gave her a smile, "Are you two free right now? Maybe we could go get some ice cream over at the diner or something?" She offered.

Regina shifted even as Henry looked very excited at the prospect of spending time with them both. "I don't….I can't….I…my mother is expecting us very soon and I…" Regina stuttered out.

Emma nodded, "Of course it was very last minute maybe some other time?"

Regina nodded still not meeting Emma's eyes. Instead she seemed to focus on her mouth and nose. "Yes that will be fine. Come on Henry. I'll help you with your homework until your grandmother is ready to go."

"Yes ma'am." Henry allowed his mother to take his hand leading him up the street. He looked back over his shoulder at Emma with a sad frown and then he turned back around following his mother back the way she'd come.

"Here you go Emma." Ruby smiled as she set a cheeseburger and fries down in front of Emma. Emma smiled back at the flirty waitress.

If she wasn't so afraid of commitment she'd be tempted to ask the brunette out for a night of drinking and having a bit of fun later on in the bedroom. She was her type too. Brunette with pretty eyes; she also had a rocking body. But there was something holding Emma back from doing like she always had and she wasn't sure if it was the little boy that had sought her out and brought her here or his beautiful broken mother. She couldn't seem to keep either of them out of her head. The week was almost up and she was still no closer to figuring out if she should stay or go.

"Hey Ruby?" Emma called figuring she'd best gather some intel before she made up her mind.

"What's up?" The pretty waitress in the red hot pants popped back over to her.

"Do you have a second?"

"Sure. As long as no one else starts vying for my attention," Ruby gave her a smirk licking her bottom lip almost accidentally…almost.

Emma would've risen to the bait in Boston but here she didn't even blink. "I was wondering what you could tell me about Regina Mills and Henry."

Ruby frowned and sighed, "That's a loaded question."

"Just tell me what you can."

"Well as far as Henry goes that's his teacher right there." She pointed to a pretty brunette hidden behind a book. "She'll probably be the better of the two of us to talk to about him. As far as Regina goes well there's not too much to tell. Mayor Mills keeps her under lock and key so we don't see her that often."

"I could tell. Mayor Mills seems rather harsh."

"She is but she's been Mayor for as long as anyone remembers and she does a good job even if she's a bit hard."

"Yeah seems like she does a really good job." Emma muttered darkly thinking back to the bruising she'd just seen on Regina's cheek. "Why doesn't Regina just take Henry and leave? I mean surely she could."

Ruby frowned, "You don't cross the mayor."

Emma sighed watching the waitress flit off when someone called her name. She slid to her feet deciding maybe the way to learn more was to find out about Henry. She approached the short dark haired woman smiling at her. "Hi. I'm Emma Swan. I uh is this seat taken?" She motioned to the empty booth across from the woman.

"Uh…no." Green eyes met eyes of the same color with an easy smile. "I'm Mary Margaret Blanchard. It's nice to meet you Emma Swan."

"Mary Margaret. You're Henry's teacher right?"

"I am. How do you know Henry?"

"Long story; I'm his birth mother and he sought me out. Kid looked kinda miserable when I brought him home so I thought I'd stick around to check on him." Emma wasn't sure why she was explaining this to a total stranger but she felt oddly comfortable with this woman.

"He is. But he's a sweet boy and he's very intelligent."

"What do you mean by that? He's miserable? No one will tell me much about what is going on."

Mary Margaret frowned, "Well he's the mayor's grandson so he's had to deal with that. His grandmother is a…harsh woman…his mother is very sweet though. She tries to do her best for him."

"I could see that about her. They seem to love each other a lot. That's why I can't figure out why he'd seek me out."

"I can't really say either way but he obviously believes he needs you and well Storybrooke is a small town but it's a nice place to live."

"You sound like you're trying to sell me on staying." Emma pointed out.

"Maybe; maybe I'm hoping with you here Henry will come out of his shell a little."

Emma nodded, "Maybe. Thanks for the information on him. I'll let you get back to your reading. I'm sure my food is cold by now."

Mary Margaret gave her a small smile watching Emma return to her seat. There was something oddly familiar about the blonde woman but she couldn't place it. She shook her head, focusing on picking up her book and continuing her reading.