Title: Love is Strength

Disclaimer: Once Upon A Time and its characters belong to Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and are owned by ABC. Not Mine!

Author's Note: This is another idea that I have been thinking of lately. Let me know what you think!

5:30 Sharp

It had been one of those boring days at the sheriff's station. No calls. Just paperwork, which had piled up since the curse broke so Charming and Emma were stuck doing paperwork.

"Ahh if I have to look at one more file I might just scream!" Emma complained and put her head down on her desk.

"Little dramatic are we?" Charming chuckled. Leave to Emma to complain in such a dramatic way.

"It's not dramatic. Paperwork will be the death of me, it's worst fate anyone could have." Emma said very seriously.

Charming sighed and just gave her look that clearly said "Seriously."

"I just have to finish this one up and then we probably should make our rounds. You know Snow is expecting us home at 5:30 sharp or else she is going to have our heads." Charming said with a slight chuckle.

"Oh yeah. What's that about anyway? Why is tonight so special? I mean it is a Tuesday, there isn't a holiday around and its no one's birthday. I just don't understand." Emma rambled; obviously the long day of paperwork has made her slightly grumpy. No offense to Grumpy.

Charming chuckles at her rant. "I think she just wants us to have some family time." It has become a regular thing for the Charmings to have family meals and other family activities.

"Well, I guess that's alright." Emma replied nonchalantly, but she would not mind having some more family time. She liked it more than she would ever admit.

"Why don't you go do the rounds while I finish up this file and then we can head home a little early. I wouldn't want to chance getting your mother upset so we better be safe by getting home early." Charming says.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to ensue the wrath of Mom." Emma replies. Ah crap, I can't believe I just said that OUTLOUD. Emma thinks with a grimace. "So I'll meet up with you in a little bit!"

Emma quickly makes her exit before Charming can say anything.

Charming just smiles and thinks about how Snow will like to hear about that slip. He is actually looking forward to tonight. Everything seems to be settling down in Storybrooke and he is ready for some family time. It is nice not to have to be searching for loved ones for once and just be able to have a normal life.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It is a cold and slightly windy night in Storybrooke, as Emma makes her rounds around town. She wraps her red leather jacket around her tighter as the wind picks up. She is lost in thought as she makes her rounds that have become so routine that she hardly has to think about it. She likes being able to do this part of the job because it is normally quiet and gives her a break from her family. She likes having them around, but she still likes to have some alone time now and again. Although, it has been a couple of months since the curse broke, she still has a lot to come to terms with. For one, she has a family now. Also she is still coming to terms with the fact that all those fairytale characters that she thought to be fictional are in fact real. Including her parents that are Prince Charming and Snow White. Yeah, it is a lot to take in.

Emma is so lost in thought that she is taken off guard when two men grab her and pull her into the alley next to the flower shop. Emma isn't one to go down with out a fight so she starts to fight them off.

Emma grabs her gun, but one of the men kicks it out of her hand.

She uses all she has to fight them off and does a pretty good job at punching and kicking the daylights out of them, but she knows that she won't be able to keep them off for good. So she makes a maneuver to make a run for it when one of the men grabs her coat and she manages to shrug out of it.

She starts to run, but the other man trips her. She gets up as fast as she can but the both men are there again. She punches one of them and then continues to kick the other one. It is then that she notices an older gentleman standing behind them in the alley. She can't quite place him, but something about him gives her the chills.

In her distraction, one of the men use her gun to hit her over the head.

She feels a blinding pain and falls to ground. Right before she blacks out, she thinks, Oh crap, Snow is going to kill me….