She was five years older than Skye, at the age of sixteen, but Skye could have sworn that they were the same person. Not that they looked alike at all. No. She had long blonde hair and beautiful green eyes, a stark contrast to Skye's brown hair and brown eyes. But when she smiled it didn't reach all the way to her eyes. She was broken. She had been tossed around the foster system just like Skye. She had built up a wall that nobody could climb or dismantle just as Skye had, and just like with Skye nobody tried. Skye knew from the moment that she entered the room that Emma Swan was just like her.

Skye dropped her bag on the floor of the small cluttered room and glanced at the bunk bed stuffed in to the corner. The bottom bunk already had a resident, who was currently sprawled on the bed, a book stuffed in to her hands. Skye picked up her bag and tossed it on the top bunk.

"Hey," came a voice from the bottom bunk.

"Hey," Skye said, sticking her foot in to the headboard of the bottom bunk and swinging a leg over. A blonde head popped up from the bottom bunk. A second later the other girl was on Skye's bed with her.

"What's your name?" asked the girl.

"Skye," Skye said, taking out a bag of chips, "You?"

"Emma," the girl said. She pointed to the chips. "Don't let them catch you with those."

"I'm not planning on it," Skye said with a smile at Emma. For some reason, the girl smiled back. She looked good with a smile, Skye decided. "How old are you?" Skye asked, beginning to warm up to her new roommate.

"Sixteen," Emma said.

"How long have you been in the system?"

"Since I was born," Emma said in a perfectly normal voice. To anyone else it would have seemed like Emma didn't care that her parents had abandoned her but Skye knew better. You adopted a tone of indifference after you were asked about something enough times. It was better that way. "You?" Emma asked Skye a moment later.

"Same," the younger girl said with a shrug, "And I'm eleven."

"Cool," Emma said then paused as if she had no idea what else to say. In all truth, Skye didn't know what to say either. She had never gotten this far with a roommate before. It usually stopped after 'what's your name'.

"Nice key chain." Emma said.

"Thanks," Skye looked down at the braided key chains that she had made. It had become a hobby of hers at one of the other foster homes. She glanced at the girl, still not knowing what to do.

"Do you guys have a computer?" Skye asked.

"Yeah," Emma said, "It's just down the hall and to the left. Although one of the boys is probably on it."

"Thanks," Skye said as she shouldered her pack and jumped off the bed.

Skye leaned against the bunk bed. "Are they always on that computer?"

Emma glanced up from the book that she was reading. It was the same book that she had been reading for the past three days that Skye had been in the foster home. "Pretty much."

"That's great," Skye heaved a sigh and jumped up to her bunk.

"Why do you care so much?"

Skye paused for a moment, wondering if telling Emma the truth was really a good idea. The girl was nice. Heck, Emma was the nicest person Skye had run in to in the foster system. Plus she would understand why she was doing it.

"Computers store imformation," Skye said after a moment, "The government keeps information stored in computers. They keep records of who was born when and to who. And I'm good with computers so I-"

"You're looking for information on your parents," Emma finished for her.

"Yeah," Skye said, "How'd you know?"

Emma shrugged. "We all want to know more about where we come from. Sometimes you just hope that they're out there. That they're searching for you. That they didn't just abandon you."

"Yeah," Skye agreed, nodding, "Where'd your parents drop you off?"

Emma heaved a sigh. "They didn't," she said, "They left me on the side of the road."

Skye felt as if a window had been opened, if only for just a second. Now the hard wall, the facade of not caring that Emma put on, made more sense. Emma hadn't even been dropped at a orphanage or left at a hospital. She had been left on the side of the road, probably to die.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Emma shrugged it off.

"Mine left me on the steps of an orphanage," Skye said, "I keep telling myself that they could be out there. Living normal lives. With families of their own. Or they could be dead. Killed in a bloody massacre. You have no idea what I've imagined."

"I think I do," Emma said so quietly that Skye wasn't sure that she heard her.

"I've been meaning to ask you," said Skye, flopping down on Emma's bed, "what's the book?"

Emma flipped the book over so that Skye could read the title. Skye raise an eyebrow. "Grimm's book of fairy tales?"

"Yeah."

"Fairy tales?"

"It's a nice break from reality."

Skye laughed.

"What?"

"I never thought that you were the fairy tale type."

"I'm not," Emma said, "but they're a stark contrast to reality. I mean the good guys always win."

"So," Skye said, propping herself on to her elbows, "who's your favorite?"

"My favorite?"

"Yeah. Who's your favorite princess?"

"Cinderella," Emma said without a second of hesitation, "You?"

"I've never really been in to the whole fairy tale scene, but if I had to pick one it would probably be Peter Pan."

"Peter Pan's not a fairy tale."

"Yes it is."

"It's not a Grimm's fairy tale," Emma opened up the book and flipped through the table of contents, "See?"

Skye shrugged. "Well it's a Disney movie and that's all that matters."

"Just because it's a Disney movie doesn't mean that it's a fairy tale."

"Whatever," Skye said with a roll of her eyes. She shook her head. "I still can't believe that you like fairy tales," she said earning her a smack on the head.

"What's you dream guy?"

Skye rolled over in her bunk where she had been trying to fall asleep. "Why?" she asked after a moment.

"Raphael keeps asking me out," Emma said, naming one of the boys that resided with them in the foster home.

"And you want to know what my dream guy is like because?"

"I don't know." Skye could hear Emma shrug in the bottom bunk. "I guess I keep thinking about it. Raphael's nice and relatively new to the system, but he's...you know?"

Skye did know. Even though she was only eleven she could read people almost as well as Emma. Raphael was different. He was a little bit nerdy and didn't quite fit in or understand the other boys.

"So Raphael's not your type. Who is? Leo?"

"Hardly," Emma laughed, "My type doesn't reside in this foster home."

"So, she goes after the kind of guy that has parents?"

"I didn't say that," Emma defended herself, "I just like a more manly kind of guy. Like Joey."

"Joey from Friends?"

"Bad example," Emma said, "All I'm saying is that I don't go for nerds. You?"

"What about me?"

Emma sighed. "What kind of guy do you want?"

"I'm eleven."

"Just answer the question."

Skye sighed. "I go for the ones that aren't total jerky bad guys."

Below her Emma let out a "well duh".

Skye dropped her bag on the ground and heard it land with a splat followed by Emma saying, "Skye, you could have taken my head off."

Skye snorted. "I doubt that," she said as she crawled down from the top bunk. She dropped down before the blonde girl.

"I guess this is it," Emma said with a sad smile, making it seem like a cheesy movie, "This is the last that we'll ever see of each other."

Skye shrugged. "I might come back here again."

"That wouldn't matter," Emma said, "I'm leaving not long after you."

"Where are you headed?"

"Away."

"Well," Skye said, "I hope that it's a nice place."

"Me too," Emma sighed before looking back at Skye, "I hope that I'll see you one day."

"Me too," Skye said as she headed towards the door and away from her only friend. She paused at the doorframe and pulled a key chain off of her bag. Turning around she tossed it at Emma.

"What's this for?" Emma asked as she caught it out of the air.

"You're the first friend that I've had in a long time," Skye said, "I just wanted you to have something to remember me by."

"Thanks," Emma said. She picked a newspaper wrapped package off of her bed and handed it to Skye. "This is for you," she said.

"Thanks," Skye said as her name was called from the bottom of the stairs. She stood there for a second before making up her mind. She hugged Emma and with a quick "bye" ran down the stairs. She could hear Emma yell "bye" after her.

14 years later

Skye leaned against the side of The Bus and felt it shake ever so slightly against her side. She glanced down at the book in her hand. A worn down copy of Grimm's Book of Fairy Tales that had been given to her a long time ago. A long time before The Bus or S.H.I.E.L.D. or any of the craziness that was going on right now. She could still hear Emma, her first real friend, yell bye after her. That was the last Skye ever saw of her.

Skye pulled her laptop out and started a search for Emma Swan. It had been a long time since she'd even thought of her. She had only looked her up once before, to find out that she was in jail.

Skye smiled to herself as the results appeared. Emma Swan currently lived in Maine in some little town called Storybrook. She had a son and she was the sheriff. She had done rather well for herself. She had made a life for herself. She had a family, which was something that Skye had believed that people like them could not have. Not until recently. But Emma had proved Skye wrong. Proved that people like them could have families

"Emma," Skye muttered under her breath as she searched through different files and pulled up a picture of Emma and her son with a group of other people that Skye had never seen. One of them even appeared to have his hand around her waist. "Looks like you found your Joey."

Skye glanced from her laptop to the fairy tale book in front of her. She opened it up and flipped through a couple of pages, finding the one that Emma had marked.

Peter Pan is not a fairy tale.

~ E.S.

Skye couldn't help but smile.