[Disclaimer] I don't anything OUAT

[A/N] This story would have never been written if it wasn't for my dear fiancée who is a huge fan of this pairing. It's a challenging and fun project for me. I hope you'll enjoy reading.

Chapter 1

Emma knew she had screwed up. Things couldn't get worse. She had gotten herself into shit before, but this was hitting rock bottom.

Her left hand held on to the tissue between her fingers. Perspiration trickled down her neck. It was sticky inside the room. Emma felt like she couldn't breathe. A heavy weight seemed to press down on her chest. If she could only cry, she thought. Tears would help. They would make her feel lighter. Crying would also hopefully stir some kind of pity in the police officer in front of her.

"Your lawyer will be here any minute."

The young woman stretched her back and yawned. She was tired. The waiting was pulling on her nerves. They weren't at her strongest now. Maybe she'd get away with a suspended sentence. A girl could always dream, couldn't she? Only, that Emma Swan had stopped with believing in dreams a long time ago.

Her life was a never ending spiral of failures. Abandoned by her birth mother, pushed from one foster family to the next one and finally getting knocked up at eighteen.

She loved her son. Henry was her pride, her heart and everything in between. Whatever Emma did, it was for the boy. Without a school degree it was impossible to get a job above the minimum wage. Money was always tight. The pile of bills was constantly getting higher.

It was a stupid idea.

Emma knew it was a stupid idea right from the beginning. Still, she had let herself talk into it. She alone was responsible for her actions. The price to pay this time would be too high. If they'd send her to jail, she would lose Henry. He'd go into the system like his loser mother before him. Pain cramped in Emma's chest.

"Ms. Swan?"

Emma looked up. The duty solicitor who the state of Maine had been forced to hire for her was finally here. He held out his hand to shake hers and introduced himself as Mr. August W. Booth.

"Things don't look too good for your client." The police officer slurped on his coffee before giving Emma's lawyer a brief summary of why she'd been arrested.

The jewelry store she cleaned at in the early morning hours had reported a couple of stolen watches. Emma had never stolen a single dime in her life. But she had let the thieves in through the back door of the shop. Unfortunately, Emma had forgotten about the cameras in the store.

"I am sorry."

I am sorry always worked, didn't it? I am sorry, worked when Henry had puked in the car again because he never managed to warn his mother on time. I am sorry, worked when Emma couldn't manage to get enough money for a decent Thanksgiving meal together. I am sorry, wouldn't be enough now.

"I am really sorry." Emma's voice broke. Her throat was dry. With a trembling hand she reached for the cup of water in front of her. "I don't know how I could do something so stupid."

The lawyer placed his hand on her forearm. He was young. Probably just out of law school a couple months ago. Only the worst students ended up as duty solicitor. Everyone knew that.

He read through the folder on the table. Now and then, he scratched his unshaved cheek and sighed. His front teeth left little marks on the pen between his lips. Mr. Booth reminded Emma of Henry when he was guessing the right answers on his math homework.

"Are we open for a deal should my client decide to plead guilty and confess?"

Emma chewed on her lower lip. A deal was something good, wasn't it? Her hopes were shattered immediately.

"No deal, Mr. Booth. We have video evidence of your client. Plus, she was stupid enough to keep one of the stolen watches."

The tears came. Like a sudden spring rain in April they poured down Emma's red glowing cheeks. They were tears of shame, desperation and fear of the things yet to come.

For the first time in her life Emma felt truly sorry for herself. She was going to jail. The custody for Henry would be handed over to the state since she had stated his father as "unknown" on the boy's birth certificate.

The door was opened again. Emma noticed it by the wave of cold wind blowing in her back. It was followed by feet stepping closer on the linoleum floor. It sounded like feminine, small tripping steps on heels and a second pair of stomping male footsteps right behind them.

"FBI, special agent Nolan. This is my partner, Ms. Blanchard."

The sound of the man's voice made Emma jump in her chair. Crap, why the hell was the FBI after her now? Didn't they have better things to do then snoop around in minor crime activities?

Emma lifted her head. She straightened her back and tried to look as if she wasn't scared shitless. The cop who had arrested her whined. He ducked his head like a dog feared to get struck and left.

Now, she was alone with her low-life lawyer and the FBI agents. The guy was tall, with short-cropped light brown hair and watery blue eyes that pierced right through Emma's soul. He flexed his arms, exposing pale, muscular underarms when he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt.

The woman was dainty. She could have been pretty, if it wasn't for the sour frown on the heart shaped face. The jet black hair was cropped into a very short pixie cut. Around her neck was a thin pearl necklace.

"I don't understand this." Mr. Booth stuttered. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why is the FBI involved in this?"

Ms. Blanchard smiled, exposing tiny, perfect straight teeth against a red tinted mouth. "Do you want your lawyer to stay while we talk?"

Emma nodded. Booth was the only help she had right now. It wasn't much, but all she had and so it had to be enough.

"I want him to stay."

Nolan crossed his arms in front of his broad chest.

"Your choice, Ms. Swan, your choice, or may, I call you Emma?"

"You can call me whatever you like. I don't care. Emma Swan is not even my real name. The first foster family I lived with gave it to me because they needed a fucking name to be put on the checks."

"Emma," Ms. Blanchard's voice spoke her name in a gentle whisper. "We know life hasn't been easy for you. I read your record. "

Nolan coughed. He tapped on the table as if he was playing invisible piano keys. His eyes narrowed.

"You aren't stupid, Emma. What you did was very stupid though."

"I know. Will I go to jail?"

She turned to Booth for an answer but it was the ebony-haired FBI officer who responded.

"Most likely, yes. That is should you decide to not cooperate with us."

Booth cleared his voice. This was his first week as a duty solicitor. He wouldn't mess up his first important case. There was a reason, why he had chosen to work for those who couldn't afford spending money on juristic support. Like Emma he had been orphaned at a young age too. Only that he had been adopted by the kindest, most warm-hearted elderly couple one could imagine.

The man's wife had died in a car accident shortly after. The driver, who had caused it, had gotten away with only a black eye. It was all, because Booth's Papa couldn't hire a lawyer.

"My client isn't going to jail. This is her first encounter with the law."

Again, he pinched the sides of his nose as if he was in pain somehow. Booth's head was throbbing. He realized that he had no clue about what to do. Things looked bad for Emma. If the guys from the FBI were after her, things were even more fucked up then he had assumed in the beginning.

"We are talking three to five years here. Two, if you get a judge who takes pity in you and your sad life story."

Emma sucked in her breath, trying to swallow back more tears. Crying wouldn't help her one tiny bit with Nolan. Maybe with the woman though. She seemed like there was still a heart hidden beneath that hard façade.

"Look, I knew, I screwed up. You don't know how it is like to be me. How it's like to always tell your son, no, when he asks for a new videogame or whatever it is his friend's parents are buying them."

Nolan leaned over the table. "Well, Emma, life's not a fairytale. It's better for your son if he learns that early in life."

"Fuck you."

Emma felt tempted to spit into the Officer's face. Her nerves were tense. She had learned to control her emotions but right now, she was struggling. How dare this asshole of an agent tell her how to raise her son? He knew nothing about her and even less about Henry or what was good for the boy.

"Why are you here? I doubt the FBI is interested in stolen watches. I know it was dumb. I thought it was easy money."

Ms. Blanchard played with her pearl necklace. For an endless moment there was nothing but breathing to be heard in the room. In her head, Emma counted the breaths she took. When she had reached seven, Blanchard finally spoke up.

"We are here to offer you a deal. One that is a bit…shall we say…unconventional."

"My partner is right. Should you be interested, then what we discuss needs to stay within these walls. You can't talk about it to anyone. Not even your son."

"About what kind of deal are we talking here?" Booth asked, scrawling something down on the front page in the folder. "It is legal, isn't it?"

"Mr. Booth, I assure you it is. The thing is that the FBI would love to hire Ms. Swan to help us work in an undercover job. We need a fresh face. Someone who looks young enough to be fit the profile we are searching for."

Emma crocked an eyebrow. She had always been a curious person. It was part of her nature. Maybe it was because her thirst for knowledge had never been saturated properly.

"What's in for me? Why should I help you?"

Nolan sighed. He fished for something in the pocket of his brown leather jacket. Then he placed the picture on the table. It was from the last fall. Henry in the knight costume, Emma had made him for Halloween.

"Your son should be reason enough, don't you think, Emma?"

Emma's soul crumbled. She could physically feel like she was falling apart. Henry was her strength. He was also her weak spot and Nolan seemed to be very much aware of this.

"Okay,"

Emma exhaled her breathe through slightly parted dry lips.

"Count me in. But I want it to be written down, that I won't go to jail if I help you. Oh, and I want your word, I keep custody for Henry. Mr. Booth can you arrange that?"

The lawyer coughed a yes. He didn't like the way this was going. But, if it meant for Ms. Swan to get away without a prison sentence? Wouldn't that justify unusual methods?

Agent Blanchard smiled again. It was the smile of a doll mouth in the face of an adult woman. Emma felt the fine hairs on her lower arms pimple into gooseflesh.

"I am in." She whispered. "Now, can you give me a bit more input? What am I supposed to do for you?"

For the first time since the two FBI agents entered the room, Nolan smiled. His smile was warm, making fine laugh lines around the eyes grow deeper.

"Yourself, Emma." He responded. "We want you to be yourself, just a bit younger." He laughed. "This Monday, we would like for you to go back to school for us."