Boston

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Summary: Emma and August had lived a life together where August hadn't left Emma and they started a family. They had Henry, well, Emma had Henry but August was raising him like his own and they had two more children. But then somehow it all became erased and they were forced to live their lives again with the result we can see on the show. This is a companion piece, or rather a prequel to my other story, "Neverland", and it shows how Emma and August come to forget about this life.

And yes, Billy is Henry but I figured if Emma had got to keep him, the boy wouldn't be called Henry as he clearly got his name after Regina's father. So, I call him Billy here.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End

August pushed the locker door closed and with a satisfied grin he listened to the metallic sound as it snapped closed.

"See ya, guys," he called to his colleagues and started for the door.

"Hey, August," one of them – a large older man with a funny mustache – called after him. "We're going out for a drink, wanna come?"

"Nah, man," he gave the man a small smile. "I've got plans."

"Yeah, for sure," another man, roughly the same age as August, scoffed. "Bet the missus ordered you to be at home in time to take the kids to school," he chuckled. "Man, what are you doing playing house? You should be out chasing skirts."

"Well, at least I've got a 'missus' who's waiting for me. Don't think Mary Lou has her panties in a knot to see you again, Freddie," he winked at the man. "Bet she's just too happy screwing a new client at the moment." At that a roar of laughter erupted among the occupants of the locker room and the man, who spoke up earlier, clapped Freddie on the shoulders.

"Have fun," he called to his colleagues then turned to leave.

Following a long line of night-shift workers, August finally got on a bus that took him into the City where he would take another one that would drop him off in a walking distance from his apartment.

Usually there wasn't much talk on the bus – night-shift drained everyone out – and in the early morning dusk he quickly found himself drifting off as it occurred to him that maybe he would only make this journey one more time and then he was done with being a security guard.

Yes, his life was turning around – his family's life was turning around.

He expected the apartment to be empty with the kids in school or daycare and Emma working, but then he remembered that Emma had taken the day off because Benji seemed to have a stomach-bug and he was up all night wailing. That was why he hated working two jobs – most of the time he only heard about the events in his kids life through the phone and he felt useless when Emma needed help with them, like now with his baby boy sick.

August found his wife hunched over a stack of paper with a pencil in hand, deep in concentration. He only started to move towards her when she finally threw the pencil on the table and straightened. She turned to him then, and the smile that was playing on her lips took his breath away.

"Hey there," he leant down to kiss her. "What's that smile for?"

"Hey," she hummed as their lips lingered. "I've just finished arranging the bills."

"That never made you smile before."

"Well, we didn't manage to pay all the bills in time before," she informed him grinning and his lips turned into a smile, too.

"And we did now?" he arched an eyebrow.

She nodded.

"Well, that certainly calls for celebration," August said as he went to the kitchen.

"How is Benji?" he asked from the other room.

"Fine, thank God," Emma answered putting away the papers. "He ate like a wolf in the morning and I finally managed to get him to sleep after that. I don't know what it was that made him so fussy but it's gone. Thanks," she said when August returned from the kitchen with two glasses of whiskey he had got from his boss at the bookstore for last Christmas and offered one of them to her.

"That's good to hear," he said relieved. "Cheers," he raised his glass and they clinked them then downed the liquid. The bitter liquid made August's empty stomach churn but he didn't care.

"I'll go and take a look at him," he said after putting down his glass then turned to go to the kids' room to see with his own eyes that the boy was indeed okay. The only problem was that Benji wasn't in his bed. Emma followed her husband and when she noticed the puzzled look on his face, she gently guided him to the next room, their room.

"I see the little guy likes space," he observed chuckling when he noticed that the toddler was snuggling comfortably in the middle of their bed surrounded by pillows.

"Don't even start," Emma rolled her eyes. "It took me hours to get him to sleep. So if he wants the bed, he'll get it."

"I'm sorry I wasn't here to help," August looked at her guiltily.

"Don't start it again," Emma warned him. "I'm too tired for this crap."

"I love you," August told her, pulling her close and pressing a kiss into her hair.

"And I love you," Emma replied, melting into him. "And I love that you're a great dad," she shared and smiled when August, as an answered, pulled her a little closer. "All right," she pulled away after a little while. "You go and get a shower and I'll make you some breakfast." At that August nodded kissing her once again before she left for the kitchen.

By the time Emma came to look for him, he was sprawled on the bed in his briefs, lying on his stomach with one hand on his son's belly and snoring silently.

It was late in the afternoon by the time he emerged from the bedroom.

"Hey there, Sleeping Beauty," Emma greeted him cheerfully as August stretched in the doorway.

"Sorry for falling asleep on you," he said after a healthy yawn.

"No need to apologize. You worked almost twenty hours in a row. You used the hours of peace and calm wisely," sitting on the floor with crossed legs with Benji sleeping next to her on his playing-mat, she smiled up at him from above the pile of cloths she was folding.

"Speaking of which… It's awfully quiet in here," August observed, his eyes resting on the sleeping form of his son, who, he assumed, having been fed, had fallen asleep again. "Where are the kids?"

"It's Thursday. Billy is in book club and Franny is at violin practice," Emma explained gathering some folded cloths into her arms and standing up.

"So we've got the apartment to ourselves?" he asked with wiggling eyebrows, conveniently forgetting about his sleeping son, who was a good sleeper anyway. As far as Benji was concerned, World War Three could break out.

August enjoyed the sound of Emma's laughter that followed his question.

"You just wish," she rolled her eyes, pressing past him into their room and putting the clothes down on her dresser. "I've got about…" she looked at the clock behind her on the nightstand and her eyes widened. "Oh my God," she exclaimed. "I had to get going ten minutes ago."

"Let's go then," August offered. "We can grab some dinner, too… to celebrate."

"You do realize that paying the bills on time doesn't mean that we've got money."

"Come on, we won't go bankrupt because of dinner. And anyway, tomorrow's your birthday," he added in a low voice as he sneaked his arms around her waist from behind, as Emma had pressed past him once again, and, stopping her, he pressed his mouth close to her ear. "Let me treat you to dinner and don't worry about the money."

Emma turned in his embrace and looked up at him with narrowed eyes. "There's something you're not telling me."

"Well…" August gave her an enigmatic smile. "Claire may have called," he trailed off as apprehension set on Emma's features at the mention of his publisher. "We've got the first installment of the money," he beamed at her and caught her when she practically jumped into his neck.

"How much?" Emma asked when she stopped squeezing the life out of him.

"We can talk about that later," August told her then pecked her lips. "But we can start looking for a house."

"And you can give up your security guard job," Emma added hopefully.

"I kind of like it," August shrugged with a playful smile. "I like the peace and the quiet..."

"And we like having you here at night."

"Don't worry. I'll talk to my boss tomorrow then I'll spend all my nights with you. But now let's get moving before the kids think that we forgot about them."

"God, I love doing this," August said looking around him with a goofy grin after climbing out of the car.

Emma's head emerged from behind the other side of the car as she took Benji out of his seat and put him on the sidewalk, looking at the man questioningly. "What?" she asked.

"This," he indicated around them where children were running up and down after being let out of school. "Picking up the kids from school. It's nice."

"You're strange," Emma chuckled. August just shrugged then they started towards the entrance to look for their children.

"Daddy!" they could hear the excited scream of their daughter even before she would have emerged from the sea of kids.

"Hey there, Princess," August caught the little girl as she threw herself into his arms. The six-year-old clung to him and August grinned into her red locks.

If Benji and Billy were the spitting images of their mother – only Billy's eyes reminding him of the boy's biological father –, Franny was his mini self with Emma's green eyes. He wished her red locks wouldn't turn into brown like his did.

"Hey, Mommy," Franny turned to Emma when his father put her down. "Hey, Benji," she greeted her baby brother, too, when the little boy got hold of her hand and grinned up at her.

"Hey there, Pumpkin," Emma ruffled her hair and watched with a smile when the little girl scrunched up her nose in disdain. "Where's your brother?"

As an answer the adults got an exasperated sigh from the girl and exchanged an amused look because she just looked too adorable going all 'he's doing it again' regarding her older brother.

"They started reading Alice in Wonderland at book club and he ran off to the library to get the book."

"Alice in Wonderland, that's a good story," August shared.

"I don't like it," Franny stated with conviction.

"And why is that?" her father asked.

"It's scary," was the simple answer.

"Look, there's Billy," Emma interrupted their conversation and looked relieved at the approaching figure of her son. She knew that going into details about the story would end ugly. Without even mentioning the fact that Franny bursts into tears every time she sees the huge caterpillar talking to Alice, her little girl had been afraid of white rabbits ever since she first watch the movie. Yep, not a good topic for conversation.

Emma herself wasn't too fond of that story. Something in the Mad Hatter just irked her and every time Billy made her watch the movie, her palms itched to punch some sense into that moron.

"I like Peter Pan," Benji shared. "Can I learn to fly?" he asked his mother.

"That's too dangerous," Emma answered. "And I don't want anything to happen to you," she smiled flipping his nose playfully with her index finger.

"But I want to fly," Benji insisted, his voice taking on a pitch that told Emma there would be tears coming soon if she didn't come up with a satisfying answer.

"I tell you what – when you get older, I'll take you flying. Say... we can fly to Florida," she offered. "That's a nice place."

"But old people not fly," Benji protested and Emma looked at August for help.

"Hey, buddy, mommy didn't say old, she said older. Big difference."

"Yeah," Franny agreed. "And you'll be a little boy for a long time," she played along with her parents.

"Hey, kid," August greeted Billy when he finally got to them. "We were just talking about…"

"… about going out for dinner tonight," Emma cut him off. It seemed that talking about tales was not a good idea.

"Really?" Billy and Benji asked in unison.

"Let's go to the beach and eat hot-dog," Franny offered at the same time.

"Well, I thought about something fancier…" August observed.

"Don't complain," Emma smirked, bumping her shoulder into his. "They're low cost children."

August shook his head with a bemused expression as he took in his children's excited look then sighed. "Hot-dog it is," he agreed finally, putting a hand on each of the older kids' shoulder and guiding them towards the car, picking up Franny's backpack and her violin case on the way.

The afternoon quickly turned into evening and soon Emma and August found themselves putting the kids into bed.

"What are you thinking of?" Emma sneaked an arm around his waist and joined him watching the kids sleep in the doorway to their room.

"About that boy with that stack of money," August replied still being far away in his thoughts.

"Who ran away from our first foster family?"

"Yeah," August finally turned his head to look at her over his shoulder. "I hope it worked out for him."

Emma nodded then tightened her hold on him just a little bit. "Did it work out for you…" she asked, pressing her cheek against his arm, "… staying?"

"Are you asking me whether I regret staying?" August looked at his wife with an incredulous look. Emma shrugged sheepishly.

She knew the answer.

Did he regret all those years spent in the system being tossed from one family to another? Did he regret all the harsh words and beatings he got after he'd been caught sneaking back into the house after spending time with Emma who'd always been with another family? Seeing her mingling with the wrong crowd and sinking lower and lower and not being able to do anything against it but taking her late-night calls and picking her up wherever she happened to get wasted? Seeing her heart break when Billy's father left her, all the while realizing that his feelings had changed for the free-spirited young girl he'd once hold in his arms as a baby?

Did he regret being the one who picked up the pieces after Emma's world turned upside down? Or taking up all the responsibility of a man and a father when he could have had a free, carefree life where his priority was himself and not a woman and three kids?

No, he didn't regret a single thing. Not even the hard times because those were the moments that had shaped him into the man he was today.

"I love you," he told her finally and he could feel Emma smile into his back.

"Love you, too," she murmured before letting go of him. "But before we get too mushy, let's go to sleep. I'm beat," she smiled.

"I hear you," August agreed chuckling as he turned and guided Emma towards their room. "I've spent half the day asleep but the kids managed to drain me under an hour."

That night August went to bed with that thought that life was good and he'd never change a thing about it for anything.

Exactly at midnight, though, when searing pain shot through his leg, he had to realize that change was inevitable. He was reminded then that he'd come to this world with a task – a task he had only partly achieved.

It was time to correct his negligence or pay the price for it.

TBC

Thanks for reading!