Characters; Emma Swan. Neal Cassidy. Snow White. Pinocchio.
Notes; Characters will be added as they are introduced to the story.
She is in agony as she falls out of the tree. It hurts. Her entire body hurts and oh, she's fairly certain that she's having the baby right now. The scream that she lets out echoes through the trees and she wonders if there's anybody out there, anybody who can help her. Perhaps she's in a world all of her own. What a curse that would be. "Hello?" the voice is timid, obviously a child, and she struggles to open her eyes.
When she sees him she gasps, shaking her head because she's sure that she must be seeing things. "Pinocchio? Pinocchio! What are you doing here?" It's a silly question and she realizes it the second that she says it. "How did you get here?"
"Please don't be mad."
Pinocchio looks close to tears and Snow shakes her head again, this time for a different reason, her hand clutching her stomach, her fingers digging in as the pain rips through her. She can barely speak, out of breath, clutching and trying so hard to breathe. "No, Pinocchio. I'm not… upset. I just need help."
Looking around, Snow takes a deep breath, struggling to stand. Immediately, Pinocchio moves to help her stand, his body tiny but trying so hard to help support her. Normally, she wouldn't let herself lean on him, knowing the weight is too much but she can't stand by herself. "It's going to be okay, Snow," he says, trying to sound comforting and she doesn't let herself laugh, knowing there's nothing humorous in the situation.
They walk for what seems like days but Snow knows that it isn't that long. She imagines that she feels Emma already pushing out of her but she knows that that can't be true. They reach an odd road and Snow collapses, unable to walk further. She hears Pinocchio, begging her to get up and then another voice and more that she doesn't recognize. She tries to open her eyes, tries to stand up, tries to comfort Pinocchio but she can't. Her eyes stay shut and eventually she stops hearing the voices.
When she wakes up again, she feels all sorts of odd things. There's something inside of her nose and her eyes wrench open. She's in a room that she doesn't recognize. There's so much white as she looks around and she lets out a breath, reaching out, hearing something rip, feeling pain but not caring as she looks inside the bassinet. Her baby is sleeping soundly in there and Snow lets out a breath, slowly becoming aware of the sound coming out of one of the odd boxes next to her bed.
A woman comes rushing in, smiling softly at her. "You're awake. Oh, you've ripped out your IV. You need to be more careful. Let me just fix this for you and I'll get the social worker in to talk to you. The little boy you were with won't give us any answers. Just keeps saying that he's Pinocchio."
So Pinocchio is alright, Snow is relieved at that. "My daughter?"
"She's perfectly healthy. You were awake off and on during the birth but you were in a lot of pain. The doctor gave you quite a bit of medication. You shouldn't have been in the woods so close to giving birth. You're lucky you made it to the road." Snow sits back, not sure what's happening, watching as the woman touched the box. There were numbers on what looked like a screen and Snow squints. She is in an odd place. The woman pricks her hand as she put a needle back into it and Snow gasps. "Sorry. I'm your nurse, Marlene by the way. I'll be right back with the social worker."
Snow's head is spinning as she looks down at the droplet of blood on her hand from the needle. She can still hear Emma's quiet breathing and she wants to reach out, to grab her but she's not sure about ripping the needle out again. She doesn't know why the needle is in her hand. The door is pushed open again and a different woman comes in, this one looking sterner and Snow forces herself to sit up straighter. "Good evening, Miss. I'm Joanne Wilson."
"Hello," Snow says, watching carefully as the woman brings a chair to sit down next to her. "I'm Snow White."
Joanne's smile looks forced as she looks at Snow and Snow stares back. She's not one to back down. Joanne takes a breath that Snow recognizes as for show and clears her throat. "Ma'am, I'm not sure what's going on right now but I will find out. It seems that the little boy you were with genuinely believes that he's Pinocchio. Do you really believe that you're Snow White?" Before Snow can continue, Joanne goes on. "Snow White is a fairy tale character. As is Pinocchio. Would you care to tell me who you really are? I will find out."
Snow forces herself to think through the headache. A fairy tale character? She can see that Joanne isn't happy about her answer. Letting out a slow breath, Snow looks down. For now, she knows that she should play along. She has to see what this world is truly like before she makes any rash decisions. "I'm sorry. I told him to… pretend. It's… my husband."
"Leaving him?"
"We had to," Snow says, forming the words slowly, trying so hard to think. She gets a flash and tries to put on a sympathetic expression. "He's… abusive, you see. Towards me and my… cousin. My name is Ma-Mary… Margaret. My cousin's name is…" Drawing a blank, Snow tries to look around, seeing a paper on the wall with some numbers and a word… "August. His name is August… Wood. Mine is Mary Margaret Blank… Blanch-ard. Blanchard. I was pregnant. And I knew that I had to leave. It explains the bruises that I have."
Looking her over, Joanne nods, writing something down on the clipboard that she holds. Snow holds her expression, not letting Joanne see the lies in her eyes, silently apologizing to James for even implying that he would touch her in a cruel way. She needs to get to Pinocchio. She needs to get to Pinocchio and leave. "Miss Blanchard, I want to help you, especially if your story is true. But you need to be honest with me. The boy, your cousin, you say? He is very confused and very upset. I would like to let him see you but only if you're being truthful."
Snow pulls every ounce of strength, every little bit of innocence that she once held, to look Joanne straight in the eyes. "I'm telling you the truth."
"Very well. The boy is desperate to see you," Joanne says, standing up.
When Joanne leaves, Snow sinks back into the pillows. She doesn't think that Joanne believes her and she wonders what Pinocchio has said to her. When he comes in, she holds out her arms and he runs into them. "Snow, I'm so scared," he whispers, burying his face against her shoulder.
"It's going to be okay," she says softly, pressing her face to his hair. She can see Joanne in the doorway, coming close and she whispers fast. "Listen to me, Pinocchio. I don't know where we are. I don't know what kind of place this is. But you need to go along with what I say, do you understand? We might be lying, we might be doing the wrong thing. But I need you to trust me and do everything I say. Most of all, we need to listen to what they say, do you understand?"
Snow pushes Pinocchio back so that she can look at him carefully, looking deep into his eyes and he looks back at her. He whispers. "I promise, Snow."
"First things first. My name is Mary Margaret and yours is August."
