A/N – So yeah, it's been years since I've written anything, but I just felt kind of inspired. I know it's not very good. I'm not really good at description, but I gave it my best shot. Feel free to throw in some constructive criticism, since I'll be writing more chapters and I don't want them to suck butt.

I changed the ending scene of 3x11 a little bit bc I didn't want Emma to be in any rush to get to the Enchanted Forest, and I figured her parents being in danger would be good cause for her to haul ass. So I took that out.

Emma woke with a start, chest heaving as the alarm clock beside her beeped loudly.

Dammit, that's not supposed to ring on Saturdays!

Without looking, she tapped the snooze button, rubbing her eyes as she recalled her latest nightmare. It was the same one every night for as long as she could remember—a cloud of purple smoke following her car down a road in the middle of nowhere, only this time, she saw a figure—a woman's figure—shrouded in the odd -colored fog.

She couldn't explain why she was dreaming about purple clouds straight out of a Disney movie, and she was a little freaked out about actually seeing someone being enveloped by these clouds this time around, but she tried her best not to think too much of it. The last thing she needed was another thing to stress about. Unable to calm herself and go back to sleep, she looked over at the clock.

8:15am. Looks like you're not sleeping in today.

Emma sighed, wiping the sweat from her forehead. This was not how she wanted to start her Saturday morning.

Slowly, she crept from her bedroom and into the kitchen, trying her hardest not to wake Henry. If her floorboards weren't so damn noisy, she might have even succeeded.

CREAK.

CREAK.

CR—

"Mom?" Emma turned around to find Henry's head peering out from behind his bedroom door. He rubbed his eyes wearily, looking as if he hadn't gotten much sleep that evening. "You're never awake this early on Saturday."

"Yeah. I, uh, just wanted to get up early so I could run some errands and stuff today. Don't mind me, you should go back to bed."

Henry practically leapt out of his doorway, any signs of tiredness quickly disappearing. "I'll go with you, then!"

"Henry, I don't—"

"Unless you weren't actually going out at all and you just don't want to tell me what's really wrong." Henry cocked an eyebrow and Emma sighed. Darn him for inheriting my sixth sense of lie detecting.

"I'm fine, kid. Let's just have some breakfast, alright? Why don't you water the plants while I cook?" She smiled, deflecting his accusation completely. Turning on her heel, she made her way across their squeaky apartment floor and into the kitchen.

Henry opened his mouth to object, but he knew he wouldn't get anywhere with his mother—at least not until they had breakfast. Picking up the watering can, he carried on with the chore he was assigned, simultaneously trying to formulate a plan to find out what was really going on with her, thinking that maybe she was having the same problem he was having.

Once Emma had breakfast finished, she called Henry to the table, placing two plates of eggs and pancakes on the table. As part of their morning routine, she slid a cup of hot chocolate towards him, not noticing when he eyed it as if it were a foreign object.

"Mom. You forgot something." Henry was now absolutely sure that something was off. There was no way she would forget the best part of their hot chocolate.

"Right. Cinnamon." She tried to play it off as if it were normal for her to forget things like that, reaching for the cinnamon and handing it to Henry. "Here you go."

They tapped their mugs together before hearing a loud bang at the door. Emma scrunched her eyebrows together, finding it odd that someone was at the door when neither of them were expecting company. It couldn't be anyone with a package either, since it was a Saturday.

Emma got up and opened the door, startled when an oddly-dressed man with an absolutely unnecessary amount of guyliner stood on the other side.

"Swan." The man's face lit up and he tried to make his way into the apartment before she shot out a hand to stop him.

"Woah! Do I know you?" As if she wasn't confused enough, the look of recognition in the man's eyes made her feel strange. She was sure she had never seen this guy before, and if his current wardrobe was any indication of his usual dress, she definitely wouldn't forget meeting this guy.

"Look, I've been searching for you for months. After we separated, everyone searched for ways to reunite you with everyone, and we've finally found a way to bring you to them, to your family—"

Emma was growing increasingly frustrated with the suspicious man, angered that he was talking about her family like he knew them. Not that she had any family, save for Henry. "My family's right here. Who are you?"

"An old friend." The man searched her eyes for any sign that she remembered who he was, but there was none. "Look, I know you can't remember me, but I can make you."

Emma barely had time to register her surprise when the man leaned in and kissed her. Shocked by his unwelcomed advance on her, she kneed him in the groin and shoved him out of her apartment. "What the hell are you doing?!"

Pained, the man managed to get out a response. "A long shot. I had to try. I was hoping you felt as I did."

"All you're gonna feel is the handcuffs when I call the cops."

"Look, I know this seems crazy, but you have to listen to me! You have to remem—" Emma didn't even bother to listen to his explanation, slamming the door in his face.

What the actual hell is going on?

She was relieved that the man wasn't persistent, hoping he had left after being rejected, but she couldn't help the nagging feeling in the back of her head that she had kissed those lips before. That couldn't be possible. She had never met the man, let alone kissed him, and with all that guyliner on, she wasn't sure if he was even interested in kissing a woman.

"Who was that?" Henry questioned, taking Emma from her thoughts.

"No idea. Someone must've left the door open downstairs. Come on, let's eat." She answered, sitting back down at the breakfast table so they could finish their meal.

Really, all Emma wanted was a normal Saturday, but now she's dreaming about people getting swallowed by ominous purple smoke and strange men are appearing at her door. And what did that man mean by her "family"? She had never known her family, other than Henry. Even if there was some way she could be reunited with her birth parents, she had no interest in being with the people who had abandoned her when she was just a baby.

I have a bad feeling about this…

"Hey mom, can I tell you something?" Henry looked distressed as he asked the question.

"Sure, kid. What's up?"

"Well," he said as he stared at his plate. "I've been having these weird dreams lately and I'm kind of freaked out. I haven't really been sleeping well because of them."

Emma stared at him, surprised that he had been having strange dreams as well. She wondered if they were the same—if he saw the purple clouds, or even the strange figure in the smoke. "W—what were these dreams about?"

"It's usually just me standing in the middle of this big house—like a mansion. But last night, I saw a woman in my dreams, at the top of the staircase in the house."

"Did you recognize her?" Maybe this is the same woman I saw in my dream.

"No. I…she—she didn't have a face, but…" Henry took in a shaky breath, obviously distressed by whatever he had experienced in his dream. "But she seemed like she recognized me. She talked to me and I felt really calm listening to her voice. I kind of felt sad that I didn't recognize her. I felt like I should have."

Emma couldn't explain why she was so curious about this woman—this woman who may not even exist, but she was compelled to ask Henry more. "What did she look like?"

"She was tall, kind of around your height, and she had short dark hair. Even though she didn't have a face, it seemed like she was permanently sad, like she lost something precious to her."

"Did you catch her name?"

"Yeah, I did, but it wasn't familiar. I don't think you would know it either." Henry was getting more and more uncomfortable and he wasn't sure why, deciding that bringing it up was a bad idea. He hoped that his mother would drop the subject, but he knew she wouldn't when she gave him a look that indicated that she wanted him to continue. So he did.

"She said…she said her name was Regina Mills."

A/N: Trust me, it'll get better once I get into the future chapters. I'm still kind of figuring out where I'm going with this. Once again, PLEASE leave your comments. I don't want to write a shitty story, so I'm welcome to any sort of comments, as long as you're not an asshole. Thanks!~