AN: Welcome to my new story, Emily Danielson: Deputy Mayor of Storybrooke. I felt my previous story, Emma and Her Sisters, was turning out to be just a copy of Twice Upon a Time. So, then I hit upon this idea. This idea, I think will be a more challenging story than Twice, which I gladly take on. Emily will be played by Dove Cameron. She is connected to someone in the Enchanted Forest. Can you figure out who? Now on with our show…

Once Upon a Time

It was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives. Snow White and Prince Charming had finally defeated Queen Regina and her right hand woman, Lady Emily, and they were getting married. Snow and Charming were surrounded by just about the entire population of the Enchanted Forest. The priest said, "Do you Prince James, promise to take this woman to be your wife, and love her for all eternity?"

"I do," said Charming.

"And do you, Snow White, promise to take this man to be your husband, and love him for all eternity?"

"I do," said Snow.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," said the priest.

There was a thunderous round of applause. Snow and Charming were about to kiss but stopped when they heard the doors of the room fly open. They turned and saw Queen Regina and Lady Emily. Queen Regina was dressed in a black one-piece suit. Lady Emily, was wearing a long dark purple dress and her blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail, "Sorry we're late," said Lady Emily. The two women walked toward Snow and Charming. Two guards tried to stop them but Queen Regina just waved her hand and they were pushed out of the way.

"It's the Queen. Run!" said Doc.

Snow pulled out Charming's sword and pointed at the two women, "She's not the Queen anymore. She's nothing more than an evil witch."

"No, no, no," said Charming, "Don't stoop to their level. There's no need." He took the sword from Snow and continued, "You're wasting your time. You've already lost. And I will not let you ruin this wedding."

"Oh, we haven't come here to ruin anything," said Queen Regina, "On the contrary, dear, we've come to give you a gift."

"We want nothing from you," said Snow.

"But you shall have it!" said Lady Emily.

"Our gift to you is this happy, happy day. But tomorrow, our real work begins. You've made your vows, now I make mine. Soon, everything you love, everything all of you love, will be taken from you. Forever. And out of your suffering, will rise my victory. I shall destroy your happiness, if it is the last thing I do."

Then, Queen Regina and Lady Emily turned and walked to the door. Then, Charming called after her, "Hey!" They turned and Charming threw his sword at them but the two women just disappeared and cloud of purple smoke.

Regina Mills, Mayor of the Town of Storybrooke, Maine, was pacing the floor in the living room her home. Her adopted son, Henry, had gone missing and she was worried sick. Sitting on the couch and watching here was her Deputy Mayor and best friend, Emily Danielson. Emily was worried as well. She had helped Regina raise Henry since he was just a baby. She felt like she was a second mother to the boy. Regina was wearing a gray dress with black stockings and heels. Emily was wearing a blue blouse and black skirt. The Sheriff of Storybrooke, Graham, was questioning them about Henry. "When was the last time either of you saw him," he asked.

"This morning," said Regina, "He went to school and we headed to work."

"We didn't know he was gone until we got a call from Dr. Hopper telling us that Henry missed his appointment with him," said Emily.

Graham scribbled down some notes, "And what was Henry wearing?" he asked.

Emily thought for a moment, "A black jacket, Black sweater vest, red and white checked shirt, gray and red stripped scarf, blue jeans and white sneakers."

Regina sighed, "Where could he be… Storybrooke might be big but it's not that big."

Emily stood up and put her hands on her older friend's shoulders, "Don't worry, Regina… He'll show up…"

"I know," said Regina, with a sniff to hold back the tears, "I just feel so helpless…"

Just then they heard a car pull up outside and come to a stop, and couple of doors close. The two women walked up to the window and peeked through the curtains. They saw Henry and a blond haired woman in a red leather jacket, that they had never seen before, "Henry," they said together. Then, they made a bee line for the door with Graham behind.

Regina opened the door, and together they said, "Henry." and she and Emily dashed out of the house toward Henry and the woman.

"Henry!" said Regina, as she and Emily, pulled him into a hug.

"Henry," said Regina, "Are you okay?"

"Where have you been?" asked Emily.

"What happened?" asked Regina as she looked at Henry and the woman.

"I found my real mom!" shouted Henry, as he ran in the house.

Regina and Emily were in shock as they looked at the woman. There was a moment of silence then Emily asked, "You're Henry's birth mother?"

"Hi," said the woman.

"I'll.. just.. go check the lad, make sure he's okay," said Graham, as he went inside.

The three woman stood there looking at each other. Then, Regina asked, "How would you like a glass of the best apple cider you've ever tasted?

"Got anything stronger?" asked the woman.

The three of them went in the house then Regina and Emily went in the kitchen. They walked out with some glasses then the woman, who introduced herself as Emma Swan asked, "How did he find me?"

"No idea," said Regina as she poured each of them a glass of brandy, "When I adopted him, he was only three weeks old. Records were sealed, I was told the birth mother didn't want to have any contact." The woman brought over to glasses of cider.

"You were told right."

"And the father?" asked Emily.

"There was one."

"Do I need to be worried about him?" asked Regina.

"Nope. He doesn't even know," said Emma.

"Do we need to be worried about you, Miss Swan?" asked Emily, as she and Regina walked over to her. Regina handed her a glass."

"Absolutely not."

Just then Graham came down the stairs and said, "Madam Mayor, Madam Deputy Mayor, you can relax. Other than being a tired little boy, Henry's fine."

"Thank you, Sheriff," said Regina. The sheriff left and the three women walked into the study, "I'm sorry he dragged you out of your life. I really don't know what's gotten into him," said Regina, as they sat down.

"The kid's having a rough time," said Emma, "It happens."

"You have to understand," said Emily, "Ever since Regina became mayor and I became her Deputy Mayor, balancing things have been tricky."

"You have a job, I assume?" asked Regina.

"Uh, I keep busy, yeah," said Emma.

"Imagine having another one on top of it. That's being a single mom. Even with Emily's help it's still a challenge. So we push for order. Are we strict? I suppose."

"But we do it for his own good," said Emily, "We want Henry to excel in life. I don't think that makes us evil, do you?"

"I'm sure he's just saying that because of the fairy tale thing," said Emma.

"What fairy tale thing?" asked Regina.

"Oh, you know. His book. How he thinks everyone's a cartoon character from it. Like his shrink is Jiminy Cricket."

"I'm sorry. I really have no idea what you're talking about."

"You know what? It's none of my business. He's your kid. And I really should be heading back."

"Of course," said Emily. She and Regina stood up and they showed Emma out.

Once Emma was outside, Regina looked at Emily, "What book is she talking about? And how could Henry know that Hopper is that annoying cricket."

"I have no idea," said Emily, "Besides schoolbooks they only other books I ever see him read are comic books."

"Tomorrow, we search Henry's room and see if we can find this book."

Emily nodded.

The next morning, Regina and Emily got up and they saw that Henry was gone again. The two woman rushed to the Sheriff's station. They went inside and Regina called out, "Graham! Henry's run away again. We have to…" They walked into the office and they saw Graham standing at the cells with Emma in one of them, "What is she doing here?" asked Regina as she and Emily walked up to them,

"Do you know where he is?" asked Emily.

"Lady, I haven't seen him since I dropped him at your house," said Emma, "And, I have a pretty good alibi."

"Yeah, well, he wasn't in his room this morning," said Regina.

"Did you try his friends?"

"He doesn't really have any. He's kind of a loner," said Emily.

"Every kid has friends," said Emma, "Did you check his computer? If he's close to someone, he'd be emailing them."

"And you know this how?" asked Regina.

"Finding people is what I do. Here's an idea. How about you guys let me out and I'll help you find him."

Regina and Emily took Emma and Graham back to their house. They went up to Henry's room and Emma started to search Henry's computer, "Smart kid," said Emma, "he cleared his inbox. I'm smart too. A little hard disk recovery utility I like to use…" she said as she pulled it into the computer.

"I'm a bit more old fashioned in my techniques," said Graham, as he watched "Pounding the pavement, knocking on doors, that sort of thing."

"You're on salary. I get paid for delivery. Pounding the pavement is not a luxury that I get." She got some results from her program, "Huh. His receipt for a website – . It's expensive. He has a credit card?"

"He's ten," said Regina.

"Well, he used one," said Emma, "Let's pull up a transaction record." Emma brought it up and said, "Mary Margaret Blanchard… Who's Mary Margaret Blanchard?

"Henry's teacher," said Emily.

Regina and Emily took Emma to Henry's school. They walked into Mary Margaret's classroom as the bell rang. Mary Margaret looked like a very friendly woman. She had very short black hair and looked to be same age as Emma, "Miss Mills, Miss Danielson, what are you doing here?" asked the teacher.

"Where's my son?" asked Regina.

"Henry... I assumed he was home with you."

"You think we'd be here if he was?" asked Emily, "Did you give him your credit card so he can find her?" she pointed at Emma, as she stood just in the doorway.

Mary Margaret looked at Emma, "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"I'm—I'm his-" Emma stuttered to find the right words.

"The woman who gave him up for adoption," Regina finished for Emma.

Mary Margaret set her purse down and stared to look through it, "You don't know anything about this, do you?" asked Emma.

"No, unfortunately not," said Mary Margaret. She opened he wallet and saw her credit card missing, "Clever boy. I should never have given him that book."

"What in the hell is this book I keep hearing about?" said Regina.

"Just some old stories I gave him. As you well know, Henry is a special boy: so smart, so creative, and as you might be aware, lonely. He needed it."

"What he needs is dose of reality. This is a waste of time," she and Emily turned and started walking out of the room, Regina knocked over a stack of books on their way out.

"Have a nice trip back to Boston," said Emily, to Emma as she and Regina left.

In the Enchanted Forest, Queen Regina had just enacted the dark curse. She and Lady Emily were heading to the castle of Snow White and Prince Charming, in their carriage, as their knights rode in front and behind them. When they reached the castle, the knights went first to take care of Snow and Charming's knights and the dwarfs. Once it was clear, Queen Regina and Lady Emily went inside. They went up to what was supposed to be the nursery for Snow and Charming's child. The found Charming on the floor dead and Snow kissing him trying to revive him, "Oh, don't worry, dear. In a few moments, you won't remember you knew him, let alone loved him," said Queen Regina.

"Why did you do this?" asked Snow.

Queen Regina bent down and said, "Because this is my happy ending."

Just then two knights entered, "Did you find the child?" asked Lady Emily.

"No," said one of the knights, "It was in the wardrobe, and then it was gone. It's nowhere to be found."

She looked at Snow, "Where is she?

Snow smiled, "She got away…" She looked up at the Queen, "You're going to lose. I know that now. Good will always win."

"We'll see about that," said Queen Regina. She and Lady Emily started to laugh as the ceiling of the nursery started to break up. A twister of magic started to form in the room.

"Where are we going?" asked Snow.

"Somewhere horrible," said Lady Emily, as the windows started to break, "Absolutely horrible."

"A place where the only happy endings will be mine and Emily's."

Then the smoke of the Dark Curse entered the room and took them away.

In Storybrooke, Emma had found Henry and brought him back to Regina and Emily's house. Regina opened the door as Emma and Henry were walking up the front walk. Henry ran past his adoptive mother and her friend. They watched him run inside and go upstairs. Then they turned and looked at Emma, "Thank you," said Regina.

"No problem."

"He's seems to have taken quite a liking to you," said Emily.

Emma laughed a little, "You know what's kind of crazy? Yesterday was my birthday and when I blew out the candle on this cupcake I bought myself, I actually made a wish. That I didn't have to be alone on my birthday. And then, Henry showed up."

"I hope there's no misunderstanding here," said Regina.

"I'm sorry?"

"Don't mistake all this as invitation back into his life."

"Oh…"

"Miss Swan, you made a decision ten years ago. And in the last decade, while you've been… Well, who knows what you've been doing. Emily and I've changed every diaper. Soothed every fever. Endured every tantrum. You may have given birth to him, but he is my son."

"I was not…"

"No!" said Emily, "You don't get to speak. You don't get to do anything. You gave up that right when you tossed him away."

"Do you know what a closed adoption is?" asked Regina, as she stepped up to Emma, "It's what you asked for. You have no legal right to Henry and you're going to be held to that. So, I suggest you get in your car, and you leave this town. Because if you don't, I will destroy you if it is the last thing I do. Goodbye, Miss Swan," Then Regina and Emily turned and started to walk in the house.

Emma called to the women, "Do you love him?"

"Excuse me?" asked Emily, as she and Regina turned back around.

"Henry. Do you love him?"

"Of course I love him," said Regina. Then, she wand Emily went inside.

Regina went up to Henry's room and got the storybook. Regina went back downstairs and downstairs. Emily heard her coming down, "Did you get it?"

"Yes," said Regina, as she showed her the book. It was quite large and looked fairly old. The title was embossed in gold on the cover, Once Upon a Time.

AN: If you want to see this story continue, then Review, Favorite and Follow. If I see interest in this story, I might consider continuing it.