A/N: Hi everyone! Much of the inspiration, as well as the title, for this fic came from the Taylor Swift song "Out Of The Woods". This story is AU, so no magic. It's my first time writing a fic so please let me know what you think. Any feedback is appreciated! Hope you all enjoy! :)

Chapter One

Boston's Public Garden. It was the most beautiful place in the whole city. That's what Emma thought anyway. It had every kind of flower you could think of, but the weeping willows that surrounded the pond were always Emma's favorite. The way that their frail branches hung over and fell towards the ground made them seem sad. It was a beautiful kind of sadness though. It was something the blonde could relate to, which is perhaps why she found solace in sitting beneath them.

This day was particularly beautiful. It was early May and the first day of the year that it was warm enough for Emma to wear her favorite skinny jeans and cutoff t shirt. Spring was in full effect. Butterflies were flittering around everywhere, and the pond was full of swans and ducks with their newly hatched babies following behind them. Alongside were couples taking a romantic ride in the swan boats. It was such a difference from just a couple of months prior when the pond was frozen solid and there was no sign of life aside from the ever-falling snow. Emma swore at one point that it was going to snow forever.

Adding to the day's significance was that at nine o'clock that morning, Emma was walking across a stage to accept the diploma for the college degree she spent the last four years earning. It was a bittersweet feeling. She knew what an accomplishment this was, but there would be no celebration or party in her honor since she had no family to share it with. So she came to the one place where she always found peace, this sanctuary that had provided an escape from the hustle and bustle of the city that surrounded it on all sides.

Most would probably consider today a miracle, considering all the challenges Emma faced while growing up. She very rarely let anyone close enough to learn about her past though. To say she put up walls would be an understatement. It was more like an entire fortress that was constructed in a way that made it impossible for anyone to penetrate. But who could blame her? Everyone she had ever trusted had let her down in some way.

She tried not to dwell too much on the past. But on days like today it was impossible not to reflect on all of the struggles that brought her to this point. It was still so baffling to her that someone was capable of leaving their newborn baby on the side of the road next to a hole-in-the-wall diner. Her parents didn't even have the decency to bring her to a nearby hospital or fire station. She was less than a day old. She was found by a young boy who was eating lunch at the diner with his father. Emma would always be grateful for the stranger who saved her life.

As if being abandoned by her parents wasn't difficult enough to swallow, Emma had been in more foster homes than she could remember. For a long time she held onto the hope that one day she would be adopted. But it seemed to be the same thing time and time again. The family she was staying with would miraculously have their own baby and Emma became nothing more than a burden, so she was placed back into the foster system and was forced to start all over again with a new family.

After a while, the constant moving and uprooting of her life began to take a toll on her. As a young girl she suffered from abuse at the hands of many of the foster fathers that she was forced to live with. At first she tried to tell someone, anyone who she thought would listen. But nobody did. The people whom she told were either in denial or didn't believe that a kid who grew up like Emma was capable of telling the truth about anything. She eventually started to rebel, making it difficult for any foster parent she was placed with. If they were only in it for the money then she was going to make sure she made their lives a living hell until they decided they couldn't deal with her anymore.

At sixteen years old, Emma decided that she had had enough disappointment at the hands of other people. She made a choice to take control of her own destiny so she ran away to escape life as a foster child. Figuring that it couldn't be any worse than some of the places she'd already lived, she was willing to take her chances living on the street.

Emma discovered that her newfound independence came with an entirely different set of challenges than she was used to facing. Hunger became a very familiar feeling. For fear that she would be found by child protective services, she tried to avoid the shelters and food kitchens as much as possible. She had to rely on spare change from strangers for most of her meals. On the nights when she had no money and the pangs of hunger became too much to bear, she lingered near the backdoors of restaurants, waiting to rummage through the wasted food from that evening's dinner service.

Being the survivor that she was, Emma was almost always able to find somewhere to sleep in which she had a roof over her head. The good thing about Boston was that most of the homes had basements, and the teenager quickly learned how to determine which of those were abandoned. Picking locks, along with hotwiring cars, became second nature to her.

Several months passed by. Each day was exactly like the one before. Emma realized she couldn't continue living her life this way. The reason she escaped, after all, was to make something more of herself, so she made up her mind that that's exactly what she would do.

Emma decided that her first step was to get her GED so that she could start applying to colleges. Having above average intelligence helped her to pass the test fairly easily. She then spent most of her days in the public library researching different colleges and applying for every scholarship and grant possible. Boston University was her top choice, and it didn't take long for her to receive her acceptance letter. Against all odds she actually did it. This was the beginning of a new life. A better life. For the first time since she was a little girl, Emma had hope.

Fast forward four years and here she was, a college graduate, with a degree in criminal justice. Emma didn't know exactly what she wanted her career to be, but she had some time to figure it out. She was fortunate enough to not only have her tuition paid for with scholarships, but she also received enough money in grants to cover all of her living expenses. This allowed her to save nearly all of the money that she earned from her waitressing job she'd had since her freshman year, and it was more than enough to get by till she could find a job.

Emma didn't realize how long she'd been laying in her favorite spot under the tree until she noticed that the sun was starting to set. Time to go home, she thought. This would be the last night in her dorm and she still had some stuff left to pack.

"Lily, you here?" Emma called to her roommate once she walked into their dorm.

"Yeah Em in the bathroom!" Lily came out a few seconds later to greet Emma with a hug.

Emma was surprised to see that Lily was dressed in sweats rather than typical Friday night club attire. "Where are your leather pants? Are you actually staying home on a Friday night?" Emma asked sarcastically.

"You don't really think I'd leave you home alone on our last night together, do you?"

"Well you have become quite the social butterfly lately so I thought you would be too cool to hang out with little old me."

Emma couldn't blame Lily for wanting to get out and meet new people. Nor could she blame anyone for wanting to be friends with Lily. Not only was her energetic personality infectious, but she was absolutely gorgeous. She had long brown hair, perfect skin, and a toned body, not to mention a smile that could light up any room. How was it possible for someone to be so naturally and effortlessly beautiful? Emma quickly snapped out of the daze she was in just in time to see the pillow that was flying across the room towards her head. She swatted it down to the floor just in time.

Lily just winked and with a smirk on her face said, "Stop Em, you know you're still my favorite."

The two girls met during their sophomore year and had an immediate connection. On the surface, their upbringings seemed to be vastly different. Lily's family was very wealthy. To someone on the outside looking in it would appear that her life was perfect. Money wasn't everything though, and Lily knew this better than anyone.

Unbeknownst to a lot of people, Lily was adopted. When she was thirteen years old, she was rummaging through her father's home office. She just wanted to find some old family photos for a school project and then there they were, the adoption papers. She stared at them for what felt like an eternity before the numbness subsided. And then the feeling of betrayal set in. But she also felt somewhat relieved, surprisingly. Everything suddenly made more sense at that point. Now she knew why she never really felt like she belonged. Emma understood this feeling all too well.

Emma and Lily always believed it was fate that brought them together. They hit it off so well that they even tried dating for some time. As in most relationships, the beginning was a whirlwind of emotions and they were both on cloud nine. However, their lack of experience in the relationship department made things very volatile at times. The sex was great, but the baggage each of them carried around, along with their inability to effectively communicate, was too much to handle. So the girls made the mutual decision to be friends, and they had remained such ever since. Such good friends in fact that they opted to live together for the remainder of college.

"I can't believe I won't be sharing a room with you after tonight." Water was filling Emma's eyes and as much as she tried to blink it away, a single tear escaped and fell down her cheek.

"You know Em, you don't always have to be so strong. I'm sad too. Really sad actually. You're the only person who's ever truly understood me." Lily was now sniffling too, trying to hold back the tears. The attempt to not cry was just as useless for her as it was for the blonde sitting on the bed across from her.

"At least you have a family to go home to, Lil."

"You're more my family than they are. You know that. Want me to ask my dad if you can stay with us for a while?"

While she was appreciative that Lily was sincerely trying to help, the suggestion made Emma chuckle. "No thanks. I love you for offering. I really do. But you and I both know your dad wouldn't be too thrilled about that. If you feel like an outcast there, can you imagine how I'd feel? Ha."

"Touché. But let's promise to stay friends, okay? No matter what, there won't be anything we can't come back from."

Emma couldn't help but smile at the brunette. "Okay, yeah. Promise." And with that, the two girls settled down next to each other on Emma's bed to watch 50 First Dates until they both fell asleep.

Emma looked at the clock. Was it really only 3am? She had been tossing and turning for what felt like hours. How was she supposed to sleep when she had no clue where she would even be going once she left her dorm in the morning? And then an idea hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Lily wake up!"

Lily was so frazzled at being awoken so suddenly that she nearly fell out of the bed. "What the hell, Em? Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry but I know where I'm gonna go and I just had to tell you. Do you remember the time I found the newspaper article about where I was found?"

"Yeah. What about it?" Lily was still attempting to rub the sleep out of her eyes.

"Well I didn't tell you at the time, but I did some more research and found out that there's a small town not too far from the diner. I wanna go there."

"Oh no, are you still trying to find your parents? We both tried that, remember? I don't want you to be disappointed again."

"No, nothing like that. I want to see if I can find out more information about the boy who found me. Maybe he lives in that town, Lil. It's not like I have anywhere else to go. And I've never been to Maine except when I was a baby, so why the hell not?"

"Well if that's what you're dead set on doing, then I support you. Now can I go back to sleep?"

"Sure. I just wanted to wake you up now cause, well, I'm gonna start loading my stuff into the bug. It's four hours from here and I'd like to get there early since I have no idea what to expect."

"Damn it. Okay give me a sec to wake up and I'll help you. You're completely insane by the way." Lily slowly dragged herself out of the bed that she had been sharing with Emma. Once she stretched she quickly pulled on a hoodie and announced that she was ready to get started.

By the time all of Emma's belongings were placed in her car it was nearly 5am. Emma didn't have a lot of stuff but trying to fit it all into her yellow, two door VW bug had still presented quite the challenge. After she threw the last of her bags onto her front seat she turned toward Lily. Just seeing the look of sadness on her best friend's face was enough to make her totally lose it.

Lily had been the one constant in her life and the only person whom she could depend on. And now it was time to say goodbye. This time she didn't try to stop the tears from flowing, as it would have been a pointless attempt. The two friends embraced each other so tightly that it made it hard to breathe. But neither cared. They wanted to hold onto this moment for as long as they could. Minutes had passed when Emma finally willed herself to pull away.

Lily was the first to be able to speak. "You should go before I drag you back upstairs and tie you to a chair so you can't leave."

This made Emma laugh a little despite the fact that she was still crying. "I guess you're right. It's not like this is goodbye forever, anyways."

"You bet your ass it's not. Friends. No matter what."

"Right. No matter what." After one final hug Emma got into her car. It took her a minute before turning the key to start the ignition. With one last glance and smile at her friend, she pulled out of her parking spot and began her drive to Maine.

Emma had been driving for over three and a half hours now. The only stop she made was at a Dunkin Donuts an hour into her trip to get a much needed coffee and a bear claw. It was the breakfast of champions as far as she was concerned.

Where the hell could this town be? She felt like she had to be close but all she saw on either side of the two-lane highway were trees, without any sign of nearby civilization. Just as she was about to pull over to make sure her phone was leading her in the right direction she saw a sign in the distance. Once she was close enough to see the sign clearly, it confirmed that she had made it to her destination. She breathed a sigh of relief upon reading the three words.

"Welcome To Storybrooke."