A/N: I am back with a new story! I needed a bit of time to relax after TLT, but hopefully this is going to be my new multi-chapter fic, though it probably will not be as long. We'll play it all by ear. This story came about from a request. It is another AU and kind of ties into one of my one shot holiday fics. Many thanks to the lovely my-gosh-its-snowing (on tumblr) for reading this over for me! So please enjoy and let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: None of these characters are my own, I am merely borrowing them.


The first time he met her he was 14 and she was eight, though really he was much older than that after years spent in Neverland. He had finally found a way to escape the island and did not know where he had landed. Looking around all he noticed were trees, which did not give him any clues as to where he landed.

Suddenly a small girl burst through the trees and ran right into him causing both of them to tumble.

"I'm sorry." She quickly apologized rolling off of him.

"It's okay just watch where you are going next time." He shrugged and offered her a hand to help her stand up. "What are you doing here anyway, and where is here?"

"I'm training with my Papa and we're in the Enchanted Forest of course. Are you new?"

"Something like that." he mumbled, he was afraid that. The Enchanted Forest was the last place he wanted to end up in. This was the place he had originally left from and had no plans of ever coming back.

"I'm Emma." She smiled at him oblivious to the conflict he was feeling.

"I'm Bea…I'm…I'm… "

"Do you not know your name?"

"No it's not that, it's just complicated."

"Do you not trust me?"

"It's not that either, it's other people I don't trust and don't want to find me or hurt you." It was true he did trust this little girl, there was something about her but he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

"Well I need something to call you."

He tried to think of a name when they heard a man's voice call out for her.

"That's my papa." She explained but made no movements to leave.

"You better get going before you get into trouble."

"You're probably right. Bye!" she turned around and ran towards the voice, but stopped before heading into the trees. "You never gave me a name to call you."

"Right, well then I guess you can call me…Neal." He didn't know where Neal came from, but now that he said it he knew it would be the perfect new name.

"Goodbye Neal, until next time." With that she ran off into the woods he blonde curls bouncing behind her.

He did not expect there to be a next time. The Enchanted Forest was a big place, one where a person could easily get lost in and forgotten about. He was sure that Emma would soon forget about him, which was probably for the best.

Which is why only a few days later he was surprised to see her again. She had a big smile on her face as if she had won the biggest game imaginable. He couldn't deny that he was happy to see her too. It was lonely in the forest plus he had no place to live and little food to eat.

When she learned this she immediately set to work finding him a place to live and promised him that she would be back tomorrow with a month's worth of food. She was off again before he could protest. He jogged to catch up with her and tried to ask her more about where they were going, but she ignored him and kept moving.

"We're here." she said as they stopped in front of a small cabin.

"How do you know about this place?" he asked, looking around to see if anyone else was there.

"I found it one day when I was wandering the forest on my own."

"You wonder the forest on your own?"

"Well not really. My parents are usually with me or they send a guard, but I always sneak away. Which is how I found this place."

"Are you sure no one lives here?"

"Yes I am positive. Come on let's go inside."

She took his hand in hers and pulled him into the cabin. Once inside he could see that it had been years since anyone had lived here. There was a layer of dust over everything on the inside, but that didn't bother him. He could easily clean this place up and make it livable again.

"Thank you for showing me this."

"That's what friends do, and I couldn't have you living outside, it's not safe."

"Friends?" he asked surprised, he hadn't really had a friend before.

"Yes of course we're friends. Now will you be okay here until tomorrow? I need to get back before they notice I am missing."

"I'll be fine, I'll probably start cleaning this place up."

"Great. I will see you tomorrow then with food too so you don't have to worry about that either."

"But won't your parents notice you taking a whole month's worth of food?"

"No we have a lot of food and as long as I'm careful I shouldn't get caught."

"How do you have that much food?"

She looked down at her feet suddenly nervous, "I'm kind of the princess of this kingdom."

"You're what?" He had expected her to be rich, but not royalty.

"I'm the princess." She grumbled again. "Please don't be mad."

"I'm not mad at you, I'm just shocked you don't act like a princess."

"That's because I'm not your normal princess. I would much rather be riding horses and sword fighting then taking etiquette lessons."

"And your parents don't mind?"

She shook her head no, "Not at all. They say it is important that I am true to myself, plus my mother feels the same way as I do."

He stood in front of her speechless. He wondered what it would be like to have parents like that, ones that put their child's interests before their own and not forcing them to change to fit their needs.

He shook himself out of his thoughts, "You better get going before someone comes looking."

"You're right. Until tomorrow Neal."

She gave him a hug, something else that left him speechless, before running through the front door and off to her castle.

True to her word she was back the next day with a basket filled to the brim with food. They spent the day cleaning up the cabin and sharing stories of their lives. At the end of the day she was forced to go home, but with the promise of coming back soon.

So their secret meetings continued, surprising him each time that she kept her promise. They had agreed to meet in the clearing where they first saw each other so no one would learn of the cabin he lived in. They continued to share stories about their lives, including the one of who his father was. He had expected that would scare her off, but she only gave him a hug and promised to never desert him.

The years went on and they continued to meet. She had learned from her mother how to communicate with bluebirds to send him messages. A day did not go back without him seeing or hearing from one another. Their friendship only grew stronger as the years went on, until the moment when they became more.