A/N: So I got this idea for Once Upon a Time during the season finale of season and I've been thinking about it ever since. I thought it was finally time to share it. If this ends up flopping I'm just going to delete it and if you like it I'll keep writing. Thanks for reading!

Mary Margret and I were at the town bar, The Rabbit Hole. I hadn't turned twenty one long ago and all I wanted to do was have a glass of wine with my roommate. My phone rang and I pulled it out. "Who is it?" She inquired.

"The evil queen." I joked. She smiled and I answered the call. "Hello?"

"Rose, have you seen Henry?"

"No, why?"

"Then he's missing."

"What?!"

"Get over here now."

"But-"

"Now!"

I sighed. "Yes mother."

I hung up and Mary Margret looked at me worriedly. "What's going on?"

"My brother, I just have to go." I put the money on the table for the drinks and we walked out. When I turned to close the door I saw a man with a dark jacket at the bar. Something told me to go talk to him, but I had no idea who he was so I walked outside and pulled my jacket closer to me.

"I'll call you a cab." Mary Margret pulled out her phone and I waited. Henry had been telling me he was looking for his biological mother, but I didn't think he would seriously do it. This was bad. This was going to be really bad.

I got to my mother's house and Sheriff Graham was now there. "How do you know Henry is missing?"

"He wasn't at school all day. You and your roommate don't know that?" She spat at me.

"Regina." Sheriff Graham cautioned. I rolled my eyes. This is why I moved out in the first place; at least that's what I think it was that made me move out. It all seemed kind of foggy.

Mom went to look out the window. "Henry!" She ran out the door. "Henry!" She hugged him as Sheriff Graham and I followed. "Are you okay?" She pulled away from him. "Where have you been?" There was some blonde woman with Henry and she had on a red leather jacket. "What happened?"

"I found my real mom." Henry broke away from her and ran to me.

I held on to him and looked up at the blonde woman. "You're Henry's birth mother?" Mom asked.

"Hi." She said slightly uncomfortable.

"I'll just," Sheriff Graham began. "Take Henry into his room and see if he's okay."

I got down on my knees to get eye level with him. "Go with the Sheriff. I'll be there in a minute." I combed his hair with my fingers and smiled at him. I pushed him towards the Sheriff and they walked inside so I closed the door after them.

"Would you like a glass of the best apple cider you've ever tasted?" Mom asked.

The blonde woman looked confused and cautious. "You got anything stronger?"

I chuckled. We walked in the house and I stayed by the blonde woman as my mother went to get the drinks. I learned her name was Emma Swan. "How did he find me?"

"No idea." I had no idea either and Henry told me everything. "When I adopted him he was only three weeks old, records were sealed. I was told the birth mother didn't want any contact."

"You were told right."

"And the father?"

"There was one."

"Do I need to be worried about him?"

"Nope. He doesn't even know."

"Do I need to be worried about you Ms. Swan?"

"Absolutely not." Mom had this funny way of scaring the hell out of people while being polite. Which is why she hasn't even met my boyfriend.

"Madame mayor," Sheriff Graham called from the stairs he was coming down. "You can relax, other than being a tired little boy Henry is fine."

"Thank you sheriff."

"I'm going to go talk to Henry." I told my mom. I climbed up the stairs and knocked on Henry's door. When I opened it and saw it was me he ran to go hug me. I shut the door behind me and pulled his arms off of me. "Don't even try to suck up."

"But Rose-"

"No, I thought you got over this obsession."

"It's not an obsession."

"I know." Henry was crazed about this wild idea. "Everyone in this town is a fairy tale character."

"Including you."

"Including me." I repeated. I looked at him quizzically. "So who is Emma then?"

"She's Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter. But you have to talk to her. You have to schedule to meet with her before she leaves."

"She's leaving right now Henry. I can't stop her."

"Please Rose!" He sat on his bed with the puppy dog look. I always said yes to the puppy dog look, but not now. I was too tired.

"Not this time." I pet his head. "Go to sleep."

"Rose-"

"Bed, now."

He threw the covers over himself and he looked at me. "Can you sing to me?"

I nodded and pet his head. "I know you; I walked with you once upon a dream. I know you the gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam. Yes I know it's true that visions are seldom all they seem. But if I know you, I'll know what you'll do. You'll love me at once the way you did once upon a dream." Henry closed his eyes shortly after I was done singing. I didn't know why that song felt so at home to me, but it did. I got a vague image of someone with dark hair and pretty blue eyes whenever I sang it. And my boyfriend only matched the description of pretty blue eyes.

I said goodbye to my mother and went home. Mary Margret was already asleep so I went to my room falling asleep thinking about that vague image of a man I always dreamed of.

The Next Day:

I woke up to chocolate chip pancakes. "Hey." I said when I saw Mary Margret at the stove.

"Hey." She gave me a plate. "Eat your breakfast. We should get to work soon." I was already dressed in a pink dress and a thin black belt. My blonde hair was tied into a slick ponytail and after I was done eating we headed to the school.

I worked with Mary Margret as her TA (teaching assistant) at the elementary school and when I didn't see Henry in class today I got worried. Maybe mom made him stay home so she could get a better eye on him. I tried to ignore it because the kids were making bird houses today and I wanted to help. "Remember," Mary Margret began. "What we're making is a home, not a cage. The bird is free and will do what it will. This is for them, not us. They're loyal creatures. If you love them and they love you they will always find you." She had a way of being so good. I looked up to her. The bell rang and all the kids stood up. "We'll pick this up after recess. No running!"

One of our students, Grace, came up to give Mary Margret an apple and she gave me a rose. "Thank you." We both said. We both got our purses to go to lunch when my mother walked in. "Ms. Mills," Mary Margret began. "What are you doing here?"

She slammed her purse down on her desk. "Where is my son?"

"We assumed he was home sick with you." I said.

"Don't defend her Briar Rose Mills." I hated it when she used my full name. She turned back to Mary Margret. "Did you give him your credit card to find her?"

What was Emma still doing here? "Who are you?" Mary Margret asked confused.

"I'm Henry's-"

"The woman who gave him up for adoption." My mother answered. I rolled my eyes at her.

Mary Margret began looking through her purse. "You don't know anything about this do you?" Emma asked.

"Unfortunately no." She looked through her wallet and her credit card wasn't there. "That clever boy." She whispered. "I should have never given him that book."

"What the hell is this book I keep hearing about?"

"It's just some old stories I gave him." She tried to explain herself quickly. "As you well know, Henry is a special boy. So smart, so creative and, as you might be aware, lonely. He needed it."

"What he needs is a dose of reality." I shook my head. I could be a better parent at twenty-one. "This is a waste of time." She stormed out knocking one of the kid's stuff down. "Have a nice trip back to Boston." She said nastily before heading out the door.

Emma, Mary Margret and I all bent down to pick up the things she knocked over. "Sorry to bother you." Emma said looking guilty.

"No, it's okay." Mary Margret was always so nice even when people treated her badly. "I feel like this is partially my fault."

"It is not your fault." I reassured her. "My mother is just insane."

"How is the book supposed to help?" Emma asked.

I smiled at her. "What do you think stories are for?"

"These stories," Mary Margret continued. "The classics. There's a reason we all know them. They are a way for us to deal with our world." We all began to walk out the door.

"Henry doesn't have the easiest life." I told Emma.

"Yeah, your mom is kind of a hard ass."

"Well yeah, but it's more than her. He's like any adopted child. He wrestles with that most basic question. Why would anyone want to give me away?" I realized what I said and turned to her. "I am so sorry. I didn't mean in any way to judge you."

"It's okay." She looked kind of depressed and I felt beyond guilty.

"We gave the book to Henry because we wanted him to have the most important thing anyone could have." Emma waited for Mary Margret to finish. "Hope. Believing in even the possibility of a happy ending is a very powerful thing."

"You know where he is don't you?"

I smiled. "You might want to check his castle." Mary Margret and I went off.

"How did you know he would be there?"

I smiled at her. "Because I know my brother."

After school Mary Margret and I carpooled home and then to the hospital. She volunteered there and I had a date tonight. I walked to my boyfriend, Victor Whale, who was the head doctor at the hospital. "Hey."

"Hey." He kissed me. "Let me just get out of these clothes and then we can go." I nodded and he came back shortly. "Ready to go?"

I grabbed his hand we began to walk to Granny's diner. He began talking about his day and I looked up. The clock started moving. That clock hadn't moved for as long as I could remember. "Vick." He stopped talking and turned to me. "Look." I pointed at the clock.

He looked up. "Huh, that's interesting."

"Yeah." We continued to walk and he continued to talk, but I couldn't help but think about how something was changing and I felt like it was all changing for good.