Mary Margaret was twelve years old when her father first brought Emma home. Her father worked as a social worker and he had fallen head over heels in love with the ten year old little girl who already had seen more pain than she should have in a lifetime.

She was thirteen when Emma was formally adopted, and Emma officially became her little sister. That hadn't mattered to Mary Margaret though. She had loved the little girl from the moment she saw her. She was so small and fragile, and she needed a big sister. So Mary Margaret had been there every step of the way.

On her first day at her new school, she had walked Emma to class, and made sure that she knew she was safe and that she was just on the other side of the school if something happened. The first time Emma had come home crying, Mary Margret had beaten up the guy who teased her. She was overly protective and she knew that, but she also knew that nothing should ever happen to her sister. And everyone should know that if you messed with Emma Swan-Blanchard, her sister would come after you.

When Emma was eleven she broke her leg, and Mary Margaret stayed with her through everything, never letting go of her hand. She never left her side, not even after they had put the cast on. That was the day Mary Margaret promised herself that she would always look after her little sister and no matter what happened she would always stand by her side.

Mary Margaret loved her sister more than anything on this planet, so when Emma knocked on her door late one night, about a month after she had turned 16; Mary Margaret was ready to cut a bitch for whatever had happened to her.

"Come in, Em. " Mary Margaret said as she heard the knock on her door, and the blonde girl stepped into the room.

"How did you know it was me, Double M?" Emma said. Emma had given her the nickname a few months after she had arrived, and it had stuck.

Mary Margaret laughed and said, "Who else would it be?" before seeing the worried look on her sister's face. "Hey, is something wrong? Did you break up with Brian? Did he do something?"

"No..." Emma paused. "I mean, yeah, we broke up, but…" Emma sat down on Mary Margaret's bed and said, "Do you love me?"

"What? Of course I love you, Em. I've loved you since the moment dad brought you home. You know that." Mary Margaret suddenly froze, and her voice became panicked. "Oh my god. Are you pregnant? Is this what this is about? Because no matter what you do I will love you, don't you know that?" Mary Margaret embraced her little sister, "Always. No matter what."

"Thank you..." Emma said, and wiped a tear that Mary Margaret hadn't noticed she was crying.

"So you are pregnant? Is that why Brian broke up with you, because if he got you pregnant and is just leaving you…" Mary Margaret let the threat trail off as she felt her blood boil – no one hurts her sister. Especially not like that.

"God no, Double M, I didn't even sleep with him..." Emma said. "I'm not pregnant, I'm just..."

"Em, tell me, please. You can trust me."

"You promise not to tell dad?" Emma looked at her, pleading, "I just don't want him to know..."

"Emma, you know he loves you too..."

"Promise, please, Mary Margaret." Emma rarely used her full name unless something was seriously wrong.

"Hey, hey. I won't, okay," Mary Margaret promised. "You can trust me. Just please tell me. I am starting to get worried here."

Emma stood up from the bed, and started pacing. She looked really worried and scared and Mary Margaret just wanted to make it better, but she couldn't – not unless Emma told her what was wrong.

"I'm gay…" Emma finally blurted out in a rush of air, so quickly and quietly Mary Margaret almost missed it. "I'm gay," she repeated.

Mary Margaret was so relieved she could have laughed. "That's it? Honey, you scared me half to death!" Mary Margaret stood up from her bed, and went to embrace her sister. "I love you, okay? I just want you to be happy, no matter who you love."

"Really?" Emma whispered as she snuggled her head farther into Mary Margaret's shoulder, obviously relieved that she finally told someone.

"I love you. I love you," Mary Margaret repeated. "I love you."

"Thank you. I'm just so scared." Emma admitted, as the two sisters moved back onto the bed, "I'm terrified of what Dad will think, and everyone else. Why can't I just be normal?"

Mary Margaret frowned. "Em, listen to me. You are normal; there is nothing wrong with being gay. You didn't choose this and Dad will understand. He loves you."

"He didn't sign up for this; he took in a sweet blonde ten year old girl, not a gay teenager…" Mary Margaret could hear the worry in Emma's voice.

"He adopted you because he loves you, Em. He always has, just as I do. You made us whole again. Maybe he will be taken a back at first, be a little surprised. I mean, I can't say that I saw it coming but I love you. And so does he."

"Just like that?" Emma said uncertainly. "You're not gonna to try to change me? Or try to convince me it's just a phase?"

"Is it? Just a phase, I mean?" Mary Margaret asked. She had no problem with it if her sister was gay, but she had to admit she was worried for her. She knew her sister's life would be harder, and she had spent so much time trying to protect Emma. This was the one thing she couldn't protect her from. This wasn't what she wanted for her, but she didn't want her to hide either. In the end, all she wanted was for her to be happy.

"No, when you were my age you knew you liked boys, right? You dated that guy, what's his name, Josh?" Emma said, steadier than before.

"Jamie," Mary Margaret corrected, "and yes, I knew. Long before that actually. So you know then? That you like girls? What about Brian?" Mary Margaret asked. She just wanted to know, or maybe she needed to.

"Yeah, I am sure. Brian was just a last resort," Emma explained. "I wanted to see if he could make me feel like everyone says I should feel, but it's just nothing there. And don't say it's just because he is not the right guy, please. When I look at… " Emma stopped as if suddenly realizing she had said too much.

"At who?" Mary Margaret pressed. "You like someone? Tell me! Come on, Em. I won't tell. Is it Ruby?"

Emma shook her head. "God, no! Ruby is my best friend! Just, no."

"So who is it? Come on, tell me."

"Double M, its stupid okay? She'll never be interested in me anyway. Besides, I am pretty sure she is into guys." Emma sighed.

"How will you know if you don't ask her? Come on, just tell me who it is!"

"Fine, if it makes you shut up. It's Regina," Emma said, so fast that Mary Margaret barely caught the name.

"Wait, Regina? As in senior student president Regina?"

Mary Margaret had to say that she was surprised. Regina Mills was senior student president, as well as president for about half the clubs at school, editor of the school paper, chief yearbook editor and held about every other position of power at the school. Her mom was some big shot lawyer and Regina obviously took after her.

"Yes, Regina," Emma said weakly. "Every time I see her walk down the hall, I just get butterflies in my stomach. But she doesn't even know who I am." Emma dropped back onto the bed and groaned.

"Oh, Em. Have you tried talking to her? And are you sure she is straight? I can't ever remember seeing her with a boyfriend."

"Of course I haven't talked to her! She is a senior, MM. I am a sophomore. She is everything, and I am nothing. Besides, I only just told you I am gay, I am not about to make a fool out of myself and make myself the laughing stock of the school by asking Regina Mills out on a date," she scoffed. "It's a suicide mission."

"I wasn't exactly talking about taking her out on a date," Mary Margaret said. "Why don't you join the yearbook staff or the paper? Or one of the hundred other clubs Regina is the president of?"

"Because that means I would have to talk to her, and that's really hard when I blush when she so much as looks my way in the hall."

"Wow, you really have it bad for her don't you?" Mary Margaret laughed; it was a long time since she had something she could joke about with Emma. Sure, she had teased her so much when she had started dating Brian but she had never seemed to care, so it wasn't that fun.

"It's not funny!"

"Oh, yeah. It's totally funny. You have a crush on Regina Mills!" Mary Margaret almost rolled around laughing.

"Seriously, how did I end up in this? I came here to tell you something deeply personal and now you are just sitting here laughing at me. I am never telling you anything ever again!" Emma said, but Mary Margaret could tell that she was more relieved than mad.

"I'm sorry, Em. Do you want to talk about it some more?"

"About what? How Regina will never notice me or that I will eventually have to tell dad that I'm gay?"

The tone of Emma's voice changed again, it was clear that she was still worried about how their dad would react to the news of her being gay.

"One step at a time, Em. You told me, and I am really glad that you did. You can tell me anything and I will support you. And when you do choose to tell dad, I will be right there with you okay?"

"I love you," Emma said, and hugged her sister.

"I love you too. So you haven't told anyone else?"

"No, you were the first." Emma smiled.

"You haven't even told Ruby?"

"No. She might be my best friend, but…"

"You were scared." Mary Margaret finished her sentence. "I am pretty sure Ruby won't mind, she doesn't exactly seem like the homophobic type."

"I know." Emma took a breath, "But I was more scared of myself than her, I think. Scared to admit it. To say it out loud."

"Do you feel better now? Now that you've said it?"

"Actually I do," Emma realized. "I was so scared everything would change." Emma smiled weakly.

"Never," Mary Margaret said. She hugged her little sister. "You know, Regina is in most of my AP classes. I could always find out if she is gay."

Emma playfully hit her older sister. "Don't! Just leave it okay? I don't have a chance, besides I don't think I am ready to date anyone yet. I have just started to accept who I am myself; I am not ready to put my heart out there."

"If you say so, but know that I am always here. No matter what. It doesn't matter. I love you, and you will always be my baby sister. No matter if you have a crazy crush on president Mills."

"I hate you, I really do," Emma said, and hugged her sister, "but thank you, for always being there for me. And for understanding. I don't know what I would do without you."

"Hey, you'll never have to figure it out, because I will always be here." She got out of her bed and walked out over to dresser where she found a picture of the two of them. "You remember this?"

"Yeah, it's from two years ago right? You had just started dating Josh."

"Jamie!"

"Whatever, and I was scared you would leave me."

"Yeah, remember what I told you?" Mary Margaret prompted.

"That I was your sister no matter what happened, no matter who you or I would date. That would never change and we would always be there for each other," Emma recited, but there was emotion in her voice.

"Exactly, and I still mean that." She put the picture down again. "So, you wanna bunk in here tonight? For old times' sake?"

"Yeah, that'd be nice. Thank you."

"Crawl in." Mary Margaret said, before turning the lights off.

"Goodnight, Double M, I love you."

"Goodnight. I love you too, Emma."