Title: When You Wish Upon A Candle
Chapter One: You Get A Curse
Rating: K+
Summary: When Emma's birthday comes around in Storybrooke she makes a wish that will change everything. Two Shot. SwanQueen.
Disclaimer: I don't own Regina Mills, Emma Swan, Snow White, Charming, Henry Mills, Rumpelstiltskin, Neal or anything from Once Upon a Time; they are property of Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz and ABC.
A/N: I don't really know how this popped into my head. I was thinking back about the first episode and then on how the curse broke. Then my mind jumped to how overwhelming everything must be for Emma…that's how I came up with the idea I guess. All mistakes are mine. Enjoy!
Emma's day turned out to be quite boring. She started out by taking Henry to school then answered a call about Leroy. She thought her day might get interesting when she went to keep an eye on the outsiders but even watching the two new people was boring. One went hiking and the other was with her ex.
Throughout the day she thought about the many different events that have happened over the past couple of weeks. She even thought about Regina but that train of thought was disrupted by a call about Pongo. He got loose again. After Emma had caught Pongo she headed back to the station she needed to catch up on paperwork.
As she began to fill out paperwork her mind began to wander again. This time though Emma began to worry about all of her responsibilities. She wasn't used to being depended on. Earlier Snow had volunteered her to come up with ways to keep outsiders from coming into Storybrooke. She loved her family but sometimes they can be a bit too much.
That was specifically why she didn't tell her family that today was her birthday. She didn't want to make a big deal out of it. She didn't want anyone else knowing about her birthday.
So that was one reason why she had spent the remaining hours of the day filling out paperwork. She didn't quite understand why they had to fill out paperwork though. They didn't really have a mayor anymore so who was looking at it anyway? She sighed as she realized she just wasted half of her day. She could have been eating bear claws or getting hot cocoa…
When she made her way home she noticed a small box outside their apartment. She carefully picked it up and inspected it. It didn't have anything written on it or a note that she could see so she carefully opened it.
Inside she saw that there was a cupcake with a star candle next to it. Emma instantly knew who it was from or she at least she suspected who it was from. There was only one person in town that could possibly know her birthday besides herself: Regina. Regina had enough dirt on her it made sense.
She looked back down at the cupcake and smiled. She quickly closed the box and before she went inside she grabbed her phone out of her pocket and texted Regina: "Thank you."
She put the phone back into her pocket and headed inside. Emma couldn't keep the smile from her face as she walked through the apartment. Snow White looked at her daughter and wondered aloud, "What's got her smiling?"
David looked up from the vegetables he was cutting and shrugged. Henry watched his other mother suspiciously from his seat. Emma ignored Snow and walked to the fridge to grab a glass of milk to go with her cupcake. Emma's smile grew when she felt a vibration in her pocket signaling a text from Regina. She hurryingly got the glass and started upstairs but before she got to the stairs Snow called out, "Emma, wait!"
Emma turned around the smile was gone from her face, "What MM?"
She visibly watched as Snow flinched at the nickname but she couldn't quite get used to calling her Snow or mom quite yet. Snow recovered quickly and said, "More people from the outside are starting to come into Storybrooke."
"Yeah, I know. You told me," Emma replied.
Snow bristled at her response, "We need to come up with a solution. We need your help!"
Emma angrily replied, "I don't know what you want me to do! I didn't ask for this!"
Emma stormed up to her room. She took out her phone and looked at the text. Regina had replied: "Don't mention it. Ever."
Typical Regina behavior. Emma took the cupcake out of the box and set it on her dresser. She then set the candle in it and lite it. She stared at the small flame for a while. She couldn't believe she was thinking this but she missed the time when the curse was intact.
Emma got closer to the flame and closed her eyes. She thought of the time she first brought Henry home and when she first met Regina. Those were the most exciting times of her life. She sighed and blew out the candle, "I wish things were like how they were before the curse."
She knew it was a silly wish. She loved her family and she loved the town but she needed a break. As she watched the smoke rise from the candle she thought 'Perhaps I should have just wished for a vacation.'
The Next Day
Emma woke up feeling better but she thought back about what she said to Snow and realized that she should apologize. So she got ready and headed downstairs. When she saw that Snow was in the kitchen she called out, "Hey Snow."
It was weird to call her Snow but she realized she needed to get used to it. When Snow turned and looked at her she gave her a funny look, "Are you reading Henry's book again? You know my name's Mary Margaret."
Emma stopped in her tracks and looked for David, "Where's David? And Henry?"
Mary Margaret look at her confused, "Who? And I suppose Henry is with his mother."
Emma paled and realized that her wish must have come true. 'What have I done?'
She quickly grabbed her coat and ran out of the apartment leaving a confused Mary Margaret behind. She was freaking out all the way to Regina's house. She made her way up to the ex-mayor's door and began pounding on it, "Regina! Regina! I think we have a problem!"
Emma could hear hurried footsteps come from inside the house, "Miss Swan! Why are you pounding on my door at this time of day?"
"Where's Henry?" Emma looked at her pleadingly.
Regina became alarmed, "He should be with you. You did take him from me after all."
Emma then did something she normally would never do. She launched herself at Regina and wrapped her in a fierce hug, "Oh thank god you remember!"
Regina instantly stiffened in the embrace but didn't move to break it, "What do you mean? Of course I remember!"
Emma suddenly realized what she was doing and let go. She missed the contact but began to explain, "Well, I think I might have done something to the town…"
Regina raised an eyebrow.
"I wished that everything would go back to the way it was…before the curse." Emma said as she looked down.
"What? Why would you want that?" Regina asked in surprise.
Emma replied sheepishly, "I missed the way things were. The way we talked and the way the town was. I'm not used to having people depend on me."
"I missed that too," Regina's look softened as she ushered Emma inside, "but we can't let this…second curse go on. Lord knows Snow will find a way to blame me."
Emma had already made her way into the kitchen when a panicked Henry made his way down the stairs and looked straight at Regina, "What did you do?"
Regina's eyes glazed over with tears as she answered Henry, "Nothing, I'm trying to help-"
Henry stomped his foot on the landing and glared at her, "I don't believe you! Why do you have to mess everything up! I hate you!'
With that Regina couldn't quite hold back a sob. Emma walked back into the room and Henry instantly lite up, "Emma! You'll save us!" and he launched himself at her.
She hadn't heard everything but she heard enough. Emma stopped his hug and looked down at him, "Henry, you need to apologize to your mother right now."
He looked over to Regina, "But she's ev-"
"No she's not! Do you even know what happened?" Emma quickly cut him off.
Henry shook his head.
"I wished for this and she was only going to try and help fix it. She was doing 'good' Henry. Why can't you see that?"
Henry tried to explain, "But if she isn't the villain, who is?"
Emma looked at her son with sad eyes, "Henry the world is not like the fairytales you've read. It isn't black and white. People do not fit into good and evil. There is a lot of middle ground. Even fairytales were biased. There are always two sides to every story."
"I think I get it. I want to." Henry stood in thought.
He turned around to Regina, "I'm sorry mom."
Regina looked at her son. It was the first time he called her mom in a long time and she smiled a teary smile, "It's okay."
Henry shook his head and hugged her, "No it's not. I'm really sorry."
Emma watched mother and son hug but soon moved her gaze to the window. What else was different in Storybrooke and how were they going to fix it?
A/N 2: I think right here is a good place to stop. Hmm…Why are only certain people remembering? What else has changed in Storybrooke? Why was the curse 'recast'? Don't worry everything will be answered in the next chapter! I will get it up as soon as I can.