Summary: Emma decides to keep Henry. She knows about the curse and breaks it at 18. She is an orphan no more. Eventual Gremma. Charming Family Feels. Short and not really specific. Sorry. If you can come up with a better title. Let me know.

Chapter 1

She was screaming. God it was so painful, she wants her parents. The lights flickered. That's when she heard the cries. This was killing her.

"Congratulations Emma! It's a boy!" The doctor cheered. She couldn't let herself make eye contact. "Do you want to hold him?" She turned her head away. "Emma?" The social services nurse came over and whispered something into the doctor's ear. "Are you sure Emma? You can change your mind."

She doesn't know what happened. Suddenly she was turning her head to face her doctor and son. "Can I hold him?"

Her doctor smiled. "Of course you can." He handed the infant to his mother.

She was holding her beautiful baby boy, and she just knew, she knew she couldn't give him up. "I can keep him?" Her doctor nodded. "I wanna keep him. I'll take good care of him." She promised.

"I'll let the agency know." The social services nurse said and left the room.

"What's his name?" Her doctor asked.

Emma smiled. "Henry. Henry David Swan." The doctor smiled and left the room, the the nurse came back in the room. "What's gonna happen to him while I serve out the remainder of my sentence?"

"He'll be placed in foster care, but only for a little while."

XXX

Two months later, Emma found herself in the office of her assigned parole officer. "You're doing well Miss Swan. You've got a job- huh. Interning at the police station?" Emma nodded, with a bit of a shy smile on her face. "You've got an okay apartment too. I'll see to it that I contact Henry's social worker, sometime this week."

Emma made her way home and pulled her book- that she's had since she was an infant- from her closet and held it close to her chest. "I'll find you mom and dad. I promise, I will."

XXX

Emma spent the next week making sure that her apartment was in the best possible shape, she didn't plan on giving them any reason to keep her son from her.

Ten days after her parole meeting, she was granted full custody of her son. She wasn't allowed to leave the state for at least another six months, terms of her parole- she was sentenced to one year, but got it reduced to eleven months for good behavior. But on April 18th, they could leave Phoenix and find her parents.

XXX

"Congratulations Emma! You're officially free of me." Her parole officer told her six months later. "I wish you the best of luck."

Emma shook her hand. "Thank you officer." She left the building with a smile on her face.

The first place she went after her meeting, was to her neighbors house to pick up her son. "Thanks for watching him Angela." She lifted the baby into her arms. "Did you miss mama?"

The eight month old boy responded by wrapping his little arms around her neck. Emma and Angela laughed. "So, yes?" She turned back to her neighbor. "Bye Ang." She took her son to the neighboring apartment that she was renting and went straight to her storybook to read the note carved on the inside of the cover.

Dearest Emma Ruth,

Our sweet, sweet girl, we love you so much baby, you have to know that. I know this may be hard for you to believe, but everything in this book is real, it's all true. We wouldn't have sent you away if we had any other choice. We're sorry and we love you.

Love,

Mom and Dad

Everytime she reads it, it brings tears to her eyes She didn't believe it at first, she thought it was a load of crap. But when she met Neal at sixteen, he would tell her all these stories, and they sounded like such a similar setting to the Enchanted Forest. When she asked him about it, he immediately paled and changed the subject.

She shook herself back into reality and turned to her babbling son. "What are you babbling about kid?"

"Ma-ma!"

Emma smiled, he started saying it when he was about six months, she'll never get tired of the sound. "Yeah kid. I'm your mama." Henry just grinned at her and she mirrored his smile. They were quiet for a few moments, Emma was rocking him in her arms and they were both content. "What do you say about getting these boxes to the car?" When she didn't hear a babbling response, she looked over at her son and saw him fast asleep on her shoulder.

After getting her few boxes and her book bag- which held her closest possessions, like her storybook, her baby blanket, and Henry's stuffed dinosaur- in her car, her and Henry drove in the direction of Maine. She knows it's a few days drive, but that's where she was found as an infant, so it only makes sense that it's where her family was cursed.

XXX

They've been driving on and off for over three days, normally it would only take about two, but it's not like she can just pull over and crash in her car, she has Henry to think about, but they've arrived in Maine. The two were driving down a long stretch of road, looking for any sign of life, she thought she saw something in the distance, when her car gave out. "Seriously?" She groaned and pulled her phone out of her pocket and saw a blinking 'no service' icon. "Great." She muttered.

She got out of the car, grabbing her bag on the way out and got Henry's stroller out of the trunk, she opened it outside Henry's window, and the moment he saw it, he threw a fit. "No mama! No!"

She sighed. Henry hates strollers. Absolutely hates them. She opened his door and picked him up from his car seat. "Come on kid. Not today. Please, just not now baby." After a few minutes he calmed down and Emma let out a sigh of relief. She strapped him in the stroller, then gave him a baggie of gerber cereal. After just over five minutes of walking, they came across a sign that read 'Welcome to Storybrooke' and Emma smiled. This had to be it, the name it was too ironic. "Looks like we're going to Storybrooke kid."

XXX

They stayed at Granny's inn, it didn't take Emma long to realize who Granny and Ruby were in the storybook. The next day, Granny offered to watch Henry, so Emma could borrow some tools from Mr Tillman to fix her car up. It didn't take her long, it was a simple fix, she was gone maybe half an hour.

"Thank you so much Mrs Lucas!"

Granny smiled. "Not a problem, and please dear, call me Granny."

"Thank you Granny. I would've taken him, but the kid just seems to hate strollers." She said looking lovingly at her baby, who was playing with his stuffed dinosaur.

Henry smiled at his mother. "Mama! Di-saur!"

Emma mirrored her son's smile. "That's right baby, your dinosaur."

Granny watched the pair with a smile. "He's quite adorable." She commented, then lead them downstairs to the diner. "Go on and sit down, I'll send Ruby over to take your order."

After a few seconds, someone was hovering over their booth, Emma looked up, expecting to see Ruby, but instead saw a woman in a pantsuit. "Uh… can I help you?"

"Who are you?" She asked, none too politely.

Emma resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Emma Swan. What's it to you?"

"I'm the mayor, Regina Mills! I have a right to know who is in my town."

Emma's blood ran cold. Regina is the name of her mother's step-mother. The one that cursed everyone. The one that separated Emma from her parents. The Evil Queen. Maybe she should be a little frightened, she is sitting before the Evil Freaking Queen, but she can only bring herself to be angry.

The Mayor's eyes drifted to Henry. "Who's that?"

Emma stroked Henry's hair. "This is my son."

"Aren't you a little… young? How old are you? 16? 17?"

This time Emma just let the eyeroll happen. "Not that it's any of your business Madam Mayor, but I'm 18."

Ruby came over and rolled her eyes at the sight of the Mayor. "Madam Mayor." She greeted coolly.

"Miss Lucas." She turned back to Emma and Henry. "Goodbye Miss Swan."

After Regina left, Emma raised an eyebrow at Ruby. "What's the story there?"

"She makes my best friends life absolute hell, for no reason whatsoever." At that sentence, Emma felt a lump in her throat. Snow White is Red's best friend. Regina spent years making Snow's life hell. "What can I get you?" Ruby asked, bringing Emma from her thoughts.

XXX

Emma took Henry for a walk after leaving the diner. They were on their way to the park, when a woman with a pixie cut and raven black hair bumped into them. "I'm so sorry! I should really pay better attention to where I'm going."

"It's fine. Really."

The woman smiled and held her hand out. "Mary Margaret."

Emma knew exactly who this woman was. When Snow was on the run, it was the alias she used with Red. This woman was her mother. Emma held her hand out and shook her mother's hand. "Emma Swan."

"Emma." Someone breathed out from behind her, and she spun around, holding her son closer to her, there was something about this man she didn't trust. "What a lovely name."

"Uh… thanks." The man walked, or rather limped off. "That was weird."

Mary Margaret chuckled. "He's a weird man." She agreed. "Who's this little guy?" She asked, playing with her unknown grandson's hand.

"This is Henry, he's my son."

In all honesty, Emma was expecting to see a look of judgement, but was surprised to see a genuine smile on her face. "He's beautiful."

"Mama! Park!"

Emma and Mary Margaret both laughed. "I guess that's my cue to leave."

XXX

The next morning, Emma was getting ready for the day, when there was a knock at the door, she went to answer it and saw the Mayor standing there with a basket of apples.

"Did you know the honeycrisp tree is the most vigorous and hardy of all apple trees? It can survive temperatures as low as forty below and keep growing. It can weather any storm. I have one that I've tended to since I was a little girl. And to this day, I have yet to taste anything more delicious than the fruit it offers." Regina hand an apple to Emma and she takes it. "I hope you'll enjoy them on your way home."

Emma offered the mayor a fake smile. "We're actually staying for a while."

"I don't think that's such a good idea. Our little town has been quite nice without you."

Emma couldn't help but chuckle. "Look lady, the fact that you're threatening me right now, is only adding to my decision to stay."

"Since when we're apples a threat?"

She rolled her eyes. "I can read between the lines Madam Mayor. Goodbye now. I have a son to take care of."

XXX

Emma was sitting at Granny's while Henry was in daycare, she'd been job hunting all day and stopped for a break.

Ruby came over to her with cocoa in hand. "Here you go."

"Thanks Ruby. But I didn't order it."

She smirked and set the cocoa down in front of Emma. "I know. You have an admirer."

Emma turned around and saw a cute guy about her age, with short curly brown hair, with a badge. She picked up her cocoa and made her way over to him.

"Graham Humbert." He greeted.

Emma smiled politely. "Thanks for the cocoa, but i'm not interested in flirting, although I'm a bit impressed that you guessed that I like cinnamon in it, but the point is I don't have time for flirting."

"Just a nice gesture, welcoming you to town." He shrugged.

Then a man around thirty sat across from him and smiled at Emma. "Sheriff Nolan." He held his hand out and Emma shook it. "But most people call me David."

Was this her father? Would Regina really give him his real name? She guesses it makes sense. Not many people know that David is his name in the Enchanted Forest. So it does make sense.

"Emma Swan."

He smiled politely. "I know." Emma raised an eyebrow at the man. "You're in the newspaper."

"What?" He handed her the copy of his newspaper that was tucked under his arm. The second she saw the cover it made her blood boil. "I seriously hate that woman."

"Don't take it too hard. Apparently just about everyone Sidney interviewed over the phone, told him it was an obvious framing. So anyone that actually reads it, will know it wasn't your fault."

"So, um… you're staying in town for a while?" Graham asked casually.

Emma smirked. "Yes deputy. My son and I are staying in town."

She left the diner and made her way to the hardware store. "What can I do for you miss?"

"Do you have a chainsaw?" The man blinked a few times to process what she had just said. "Well… do you?" The man nodded and came back a few minutes later with a boxed up chainsaw. Emma responded by handing him her card. "Thanks."

XXX

Nearly an hour later, Emma found herself in the backyard of the mayor's house, cutting of a branch of the mayor's famous honeycrisp tree.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Emma dropped the chainsaw with a smirk on her face. "Nothing madam mayor. Just picking apples."

The mayor stared at her for a moment. "You're out of your mind!"

"No. You are out of your mind if you think letting everyone know of my past is gonna scare me off. If you come after me again, I'm coming back for the rest of this tree, because you have no idea what I am capable of." And with that she left the mansion on mifflin street.

XXX

"She destroyed city property! I want her arrested!"

Graham resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Is that really necessary madam mayor? The tree looks fine to me. No one's going to miss one meesely branch."

"It seems to me that your little schoolboy crush is getting in the way of your judgement." Graham held his ground. "Fine don't arrest her, but keep in mind, I allowed the sheriff to deputize you, I can just as easily have you fired."

XXX

Emma was on a walk with Henry, talking with Mary Margaret, when the sheriff approached them. "David… hi." Mary Margaret greeted with a blush.

"Hi." He said with a smile, the he turned to Emma holding her baby and his face went grim. "I'm terribly sorry for this Emma, but I have to arrest you."

Emma couldn't help the groan that escaped her lips. "Let me guess, for a tree branch?"

He nodded. "I'm not gonna cuff you, but do you mind coming with me?"

"I'm coming too." Mary Margaret said. "I'll bail her out too." She said climbing in the truck, next to Emma and Henry.

Emma turned to her newfound friend/mother. "You will?" Mary Margaret nodded. "Why?"

"I… trust you."

XXX

Emma was never place in a cell, Mary Margaret placed her bail the moment they entered the station.

A few hours later, Henry was with Granny and Emma went to Mary Margaret's house to pay her back and thank her. "Thank you for earlier and uh… here." She handed Mary Margaret the money for her bail, then sighed.

"You look like you need to talk. Wanna come in?" Emma nodded and went inside the cozy apartment. She was given cocoa and cookies and it made her wonder if this is what it would've been like… having talks with your mother. "What's bothering you sweetie?"

"It seems the mayor has added me to her kill list. It won't be long until she finds a way to get me kicked out of Granny's." She sighed. "There also happens to be, like no vacancies in this damn town."

Mary Margaret smiled sympathetically at the woman. "I'm sorry. I know what it's like. She's a terrible woman, I never quite understood it. And uh, if you need a place to stay, there's a loft upstairs." She said pointing up in the direction to said loft.

"What? I couldn't accept that. I don't want to impose."

She smiled at her. "You wouldn't be. I promise. I want you to stay."

Was her mother really inviting her to stay with her? This couldn't be real. It has to be some sort of trick. No. She wouldn't do that. Maybe it would be good. She can get to know her mother, but starting as a friend. "Okay." She relented. "Thank you Mary Margaret. When do you want me to-"

"I can help you move your stuff in today, if you'd like."

Please Review...