AN: This is my first AU, so let me know if I'm doing it horribly wrong. It's going to be a Captain Swan college AU, but the prologue is all backstory. I'm sorry if it is really dense, I just had it brewing in my mind and wanted to get it down on paper. I hope you enjoy it, despite its clear lack of Captain Swan so far (it'll come next chapter, I promise).

DISCLAIMER: I, unfortunately, do not own these beautiful characters.

Emma was in agonizing pain and covered in sweat. She took a breath and tried to ignore the almost-stranger standing in the corner watching her intently and the doctor with his hands in a not-so-comfortable area shouting for her to push. Her only comfort was her brother standing next to her, holding her hand and wiping her forehead.

With a final push, and a flickering of the hospital's power, the baby was out. She closed her eyes and turned away, but still heard the doctor announce that it was a boy. She would have preferred if it had remained an it- an object rather than a human.

"Emma," the doctor hesitated. "Would you like to hold him once before-"

"No. He's hers," Emma cried as her brother gave her hand a squeeze.

"Thank you, Miss Swan," the woman in the corner said before clearing her throat and taking her son.

Emma had met the woman once before—a month ago. Emma had picked her out of the stack of applicants looking to adopt her—the baby. Her name was Regina Mills and she was some sort of politician and a professor at one of the local universities. She had been Ivy League educated, had more doctorates than Emma could count, an annual income of a hundred thousand, as well as a summer house on some fancy island. She was widowed, but otherwise the happy ending her—the baby deserved.

When Emma selected her, she asked to meet Regina at the teahouse down the road from her school. Emma had been spending a lot of time there lately doing homework, reading books, or just avoiding the mess she made of her life. Sometimes she went alone but often she went with her brother.

She couldn't bare going to any of her old hangouts anymore, not since the incident (as she, her brother, and mom called it). She couldn't handle seeing all the kids from her old school as they looked on with judgmental snickers or pity. So, she decided that Mad Hatter's Teahouse, her new home-away-from-home, would be the best place to meet the person who would be the baby's savior.

'We are meeting on my turf. I have the upper hand here,' Emma thought to herself as she entered the teahouse 30 minutes early to prepare for the meeting. She had planned to go over the questions she had prepared for the lady, but was too nervous and instead preoccupied herself with her law and ethics paper.

Emma identified Regina the moment she entered the teahouse. She walked with an air of power and wisdom that Emma had never seen. She was beautiful too, in a regal way. Her hair was cropped short and she made the pantsuit she wore look fashionable. Regina's eyes scanned the room and landed on her. Being the only pregnant seventeen year old there made it a dead giveaway.

Regina walked, or more like glided, toward her with a composed face covering most of her nervousness. "Miss Swan?"

"Uh-hi," Emma stuttered as she quickly stood up offering her hand to Regina, while supporting her big belly with the other.

Regina took Emma's hand gently, before smiling and glancing down at her bump.

"Please, take a seat," Emma squeaked out as she motioned across from her.

A waiter came over to take Regina's order. Emma noted the traditional black coffee Regina ordered and waited for the waiter to leave again before asking Regina to tell her more about herself and the type of mother she wants to be.

Regina talked for about 20 minutes and after her 'strict but loving mother' speech, Regina hesitated before asking, "Miss Swan, I hate to bring this up, but are you sure you want to do this? Give up your baby, I mean. I had another mother once, but she decided to keep the baby at the last minute and I'm not really sure I can handle that again."

"Yes, Ms.—Professor Mills."

"Regina."

"Regina—I am not at a point in my life where I am fit to be a mother. I know that. I know it was irresponsible for me to get pregnant. It was a mistake. It would also be a mistake for me to keep the baby—one that would not only ruin my life, but the baby's as well. After reading and hearing about you, I know you would be the perfect mother and you deserve a baby way more than I do."

"Thank you. Thank you so much, Miss Swan."

"I- I also want you to know that even though we are meeting, we are meeting here for a reason and that specific details for either of us have not been disclosed. After the birth, this is to act like a closed adoption. No further contact. That is why I have used the adoption agency to get in touch with you, and will use it again to contact you when I go into labor. It's better if the baby doesn't know anything about me and I very little about you. It deserves its best chance and that is without me."

"I understand."

Emma finished her tea before excusing herself.

Emma heard the baby crying in the woman's hands and began crying herself.

"Hey, hey, Emma," her brother comforted her. "It's all over. We can forget about it now.

And Emma did forget about the baby, but never the man who did this to her—who helped her ruin the life she tried so hard to build up for herself.

She was an orphan. Some boy had found her abandoned on the side of a highway and she went into foster care immediately. When she was two months old, a couple adopted her. She lived with them until she was three, but then the couple got a divorce and blamed it on her. From there she went back into foster care and was passed around a series of foster parents, each more abusive than the next.

When she was seven, her foster dad had beaten her almost unconscious until her foster mom came home and stopped him. Emma grabbed her backpack of things and ran as far as she could, covered in blood and barely able to stay awake. She had made it a town over before she fell down, unconscious.

When she came to, a boy her age was cradling her head. He asked if she was okay and she started crying. He held her tighter and wiped her tears.

"Where are your mommy and daddy?"

"I don't have them."

Emma's head started spinning again.

"It's okay. I do. I'm gonna get her. Okay? I'll be right back. I promise."

Emma blacked out again. When she woke up again, she was in the hospital. She knew that because she heard the same beeping as on the doctor soap opera her foster mom watched. She kept her eyes closed but she heard the grown-ups talking about her.

"The blanket in her bag says Emma, but that's all I know. My son, David, said he found her in the alley down the street from us. She told him she didn't have parents."

"She might be a run away. Those cuts and bruises are definitely from abuse. She has internal bleeding. She's very lucky your son found her."

"What's going to happen to her?"

"Well, Child Protective Services has already been called. They're going to investigate. If she has a family, she will probably be given to one of them if they decide to take her, otherwise she will most likely end up in the foster system."

Emma began crying, making sure to keep it silent, like she had to around her foster dad. He didn't tolerate crying. She really didn't want to go back to foster care.

"Oh, God. That is an awful fate."

"Yes, but much better than staying with whoever was hurting her."

"There is nothing else that can be done?"

"In cases of child abuse, there is a very strict protocol to follow."

"I don't know anything about her but I know she doesn't deserve that life. And I don't have much, but I have a spare room and always more than enough to eat. If she doesn't have any family, what would be the process of becoming a foster parent?

"Hey," Emma heard a whisper right next to her ear. "Don't cry. They're gonna take care of you, Emma."

Emma opened her eyes to look up at the boy and more tears spilled out. "I can't go back to the system. It's awful. Please, don't let them do it."

The boy looked concerned before whispering, "I'll try my hardest, I promise."

He held up his pinky and Emma took it in hers. It was a pinky promise and to a seven year old, that is sacred. The boy smiled and said, "I'm David, by the way. I'm seven years old and I'm gonna be in the F.B.I. when I grow up!"

"I'm Emma," she smiled for the first time since she could remember. "I'm seven too and I'm gonna be a detective!"

"Cool! Maybe you'll find my dad. He went to work one day and got lost so he couldn't find his way back."

"Yeah. I'll find my mom and dad too."

"David?"

The boy looked up at his mom.

"Honey, is Emma awake?"

"Yes. Mommy, she's gonna be a detective when she grows up!"

"Yeah? Emma, honey, I'm David's mom, Mrs. Nolan. I brought you into the hospital because you were hurt really badly."

The boy's mom took Emma's hand in hers. "The doctor and some people from Child Protective Services need to talk to you, okay? You need to tell them the truth. They just want to help you."

Emma's smile disappeared but she nodded in response, grasping her hand back in return. "Please, ma'am, don't let them take me. They don't care and the people they give me to don't care either."

"Sweetheart, we'll do our best to make sure you're okay."

After two months of paperwork, interviews, home check-ups, string pulling, and other annoying protocol, Emma was finally moving in with the Nolans, her new foster family.

Mrs. Nolan even took her to Ikea to pick out her perfect room as well as a trip to the mall to pick out clothes, toys, and school supplies. Not only had she found a new family, one that actually cared about her, but she had also found a best friend in David. They were inseparable.

Emma had been moved into a temporary foster family in the same city as the Nolans to start school there before she moved in with them to make the process easier. As luck would have it, she had been placed in David's class. They would help each other with their homework, share lunches, spend recess together, and even have play dates at David's house. David was the first stable person in her life.

Around this time, the strange coincidences that occurred in Emma's life began to happen more often. When she was little, things seemed to 'magically' happen around her. If her foster parents were being mean, vases would magically shatter or rugs would magically curl up around their feet and trip them. If something made her happy, sometimes a warm chocolate chip cookie would appear on her bed or a rainbow would appear with no sign of rain.

But when she moved in with the Nolans, it did grow stronger. Her lanterns would flicker, flowers would spring up right around her, she would find that the peas she had dread eating would turn into M&M's. One time, when David and her had gotten into particularly bad trouble with the recess proctor, they magically appeared on the other end of the playground and it had caused such confusion that no one ended up in trouble at all. Though, no one thought anything of it or connected it to her until she was much older.

Emma had never been so happy in her life. That is, until the last day of elementary school when Mrs. Nolan asked Emma if she would like to be adopted and officially part of the Nolan family. Of course, Emma agreed, with the stipulation that she got to call Mrs. Nolan mom and David her brother.

With much discussion and thought, Emma decided to keep her last name, Swan. The first family who adopted her had given it to her. Emma decided that she would keep it as a reminder of where she came from and how you can always improve your life.

That year had proved to be very significant in Emma's life. She had been adopted by the first real family she ever had, she decided she no longer cared about finding her own parents, she went to her first concert, went to camp (with David of course) for the first time, started her period, started middle school, and met the boy who she would share her first kiss, first date, and her first time with—the boy who would ultimately bring her to her lowest since meeting the Nolans. His name was Neal.

Neal was also an orphan. His mom had died and his dad abandoned him two years prior, giving him up to the state. Neal was placed in the home that Emma had stayed in until the Nolans took her in. Emma and David met him in their second hour history class. They all became very close friends. They were the kind of trio you see in Disney movies, except they managed to get into too much trouble for a kids movie.

The first time Emma kissed him was in a game of truth or dare at a party in seventh grade. It was just a quick kiss, but it was enough to put the thought on both of their minds. The next time the trio had a camp out in the Nolan's backyard, Neal waited until David fell asleep and kissed Emma again, for real this time.

For the next couple years, they would occasionally kiss and then pretend it didn't happen. Finally, in the summer after eighth grade, Neal asked Emma out on a proper date. He took her out to the pizzeria downtown. After they finished they played on the pinball machine before heading to a movie that Emma would never remember because she was too busy being nervous about him holding her hand and maybe kissing her again.

By high school they were actually dating. Except instead of sneaking in for an innocent kiss, he was sneaking in and slowly stealing her innocence. They were, as far as they were concerned, completely in love. Their junior year, Neal made a new friend that neither Emma nor David met. He went by August.

Slowly, Neal started getting into trouble when he wasn't with them. First, it was small stuff- graffiti and petty theft. He got off with community service. But then it got worse. They assaulted some guys and spent a night in jail. Another time they got MIPed and spent the night in jail.

One night in May, Neal finally invited Emma to hang out with him and August. Though she knew August was trouble, her curiosity got the best of her and she accepted. They headed over to the school and August had them break in while he waited outside. Emma thought they were just going to hang out in the gym. Kids broke in all the time to do that. But she was surprised when Neal led her towards the library.

He pushed a cart towards her and told her it was a bunch of cake for the school's basketball state champion victory. They were going to steal the cakes and smear them on the basketball team's cars. Her job was to take the cart to the back door. He was going to find August and meet her there.

When she got to the back door she walked outside and there were cop cars waiting for her. A janitor had been around and saw some kids heading off with the laptops and called the cops. Two boys had taken off with the stolen driver's ed car—an old Volkswagen Bug.

Emma confessed to what happened and though no legal action was taken, she was expelled from her school. The laptops were returned, but the driver's ed car never was. Neal and August were never caught. It was presumed they headed for Canada.

Mrs. Nolan, upset with the school district, pulled David from it as well. Despite the mishap and that they would be incredibly behind in lessons, they were both accepted into a prep school that was a 45 minute drive away. And a week after that, Emma learned she was pregnant.

Mrs. Nolan left the choice of what to do with the baby up to Emma. Emma decided to give it up to a good home and continue with school. Both she and David attended a summer program to bring them up to the school's standards. The school was tolerant of Emma's situation, using her as an example of reform possibilities.

After the birth of the baby the December of her senior year, Emma picked up her life even more. She was determined to make it up to her mom. She was determined to make something of her life. She decided to become a lawyer that fights for child advocates and children in general. Though, her love life was a complete mess. She distracted herself from Neal through a series of random flings throughout the year, never allowing herself to get attached to anyone else.

Both David and she were accepted into their first choice college, an hour and a half from home. Emma decided that this was her chance to once again change her life for the better and she was grateful that she would continue to do that with her brother by her side.

AN: It's very Captain Swan from here on out. Please review. I really appreciate it!