A/N before Henry gets taken to Neverland

I had been a long day at the sheriff's office when they got the call from Ruby. Apparently both Ruby and Archie had been taking Pongo on a walk when they saw the flames already alight on one of the apartment building not far from their own home.

Emma could hear Archie in the background calling for the Ambulance and some onlookers had called the fire department already but hadn't done much else to assist.

With a sprint out the door, Emma and David had gone to offer their assistance and hopefully keep order to what was expected to be chaos.

As soon as they arrived on scene Emma knew even before she unlocked the door that she could have tune out the whole world if she wanted to. She knew Ruby, and her face told a thousand words; some people had already died.

Past Ruby and Archie the sheriff could see bodies, dead bodies, being carried out amongst those lucky few who had survived. Onlookers were still staring at the burning building, staying back from the flames but otherwise not much help.

David had run straight from the patrol car as they exited the vehicle, giving orders about where to put those living before the firemen ran back in and giving reassuring words to anyone who needed them that help as on its way.

Snow and Regina had surprisingly come at the same time not long after the sheriff arrived with Henry in tow. Emma would have questioned it more if a loud cry hadn't shot through her consciousness.

Without hesitation, something she had obviously got from her father, Emma rushed out from where she was still standing by the patrol car and raced past the crowd. Her only thought was on saving the owner of that scream, a scream that sounded distinctly like a frightened little girl.

In the back of her mind, Emma could hear their voices; Henry's and her parents telling her to wait and to let the firemen do their jobs. But this was her job now wasn't it? To save lives of anyone who needed help when people were too afraid to stand up and save another life.

Judging by the way she rushed past the flames, Emma guessed it was.

Emma found the owner of the scream moments later, hiding under her bed, eyes rimmed with unshed tears. The wall to Emma's right was burning with a fire so fierce that she knew that there had to have been a point of origin not too far away. The sheriff could also see a pyjama clad foot peeking out from under the bad and tangled amongst a blanket.

Emma couldn't remember much after that. She didn't' remember getting to the girl or their way down to the crowd outside. She could only remember the girl. The little girl that seemed scared out of her mind, hiding under her blanket with a Superman doll clutched in her hands.

Emma clutched the girl tighter.

Henry brought her back to the present, bank to earth.

He was the first to approach as he flung his body at her and wrapped them in a hug. A hug that made her all too aware of how close she had come to possibly not being around for him if she hadn't moved so quickly to get out. Emma gave a sigh of relief and inhaled the scent of the little girl's apple shampoo as she tucked her head back under Emma's chin.

Emma's moment of content was soon interrupted as a paramedic attempted to pull both children away from her.

That was a moment Emma will never forget.

Not because she could smell the ash and the dead body odour that was slightly masked by the apple shampoo. Not because her parents had also chosen that exact moment to approach her as well, as they tried to look her over for any injuries. And it almost definitely wasn't because her eyes had fluttered open and found Regina's staring back at her with a look of warmth, compassion and relief.

No it wasn't any of those things, because those things could be rationalised and Emma as still in her moment of not being rational by any means.

Emma had felt fear. Pure, unbiased fear.

What was running through her mind at that exact moment was every psychologist's birthday wish: something entirely different.

Emma's mind had thought of the one thing that she was more worried about, more than Regina being consumed by dark magic again or Cora coming back from the dead.

She was afraid someone was going to take her children.

Being afraid that someone was going to take her son away was something she could understand, but the girl wasn't hers. And the feeling didn't leave her as she started to realise that the girl should probably get cleaned and checked over before the night was over.

As the paramedic finally untangled the trio, Emma could see the reason why she felt that she was somehow connected to the little girl she had never met. Emma could see a smaller version of herself staring straight back with bright blue eyes. The girl's long blonde curls cascading past her blue blanket, her pink Supergirl pyjamas sticking out from under it as her doll was pulled closer to her body and she rattled a noise of protest.

Emma shakes her head as the girl was taken away, allowing all thoughts to come spiralling back as she focused on Snow's face.

Emma could hear the voices clearer now, no longer distant.

David was still giving orders about what to do with the dead, while running a hand over her back. Emma knew that he was trying to be soothing, but she didn't need that right now. She needed something else, someone else.

And that's when she looked up to the spot she had just seen Regina. Although she wasn't standing there now. Archie and Ruby were still there, they had been with the former mayor since she had arrived. But the shrink and the wolf were no longer talking to each other; instead they were choosing to look at the Ambulance where Regina and the paramedic sat with the little girl.

Emma couldn't help the way her nerves dropped all sense of fear that they were riddled with only moments ago. Now they felt warm and had a sense of contentment at the sight. The girl was sitting in Regina's lap making a disgruntled face as the paramedic tried to clean her up. She could practically feel Regina's laugh as the girl tried to turn away from the paramedic. And the feeling was only amplified as she felt Henry hold on to her tighter.

For his part, Henry had seen the look on his adoptive mother's face as she ran her hands though the little girl's hair in an effort to sooth. He knew that face, which was the face she usually wore when it involved him when he was younger.

Henry briefly wondered if he was being replaced. Quickly as the thought came it was gone. His adoptive mother loved him; he knew that now without question. So Henry hugged his birth mother tighter and was grateful that his brunette mother had someone else to fuss over, even if it was for just a little while.

A/N please let me know what you think so far, I'll update depending on that.