Author's Note: Hi. So, I've written a Once and Wonderland Crossover, but this is my first plain Once story (not to say some Wonderland Characters might not show up at some point. I haven't decided yet). The ships are SwanThief, Snowing, probably Rumpelle, maybe some others. I don't know. I'm making this up as I go along. There will be a longer author's note at the end.

It Starts With a Family

Prologue,

Henry grunted in frustration as he stared at the blank poster board.

"What's up, Kid?"

Henry turned, the anger falling from his face. He wasn't angry with his mom, though she was just about the only one, "Family Tree assignment for school." He said. Emma nodded in understanding. They'd had this conversation before. "I mean, I just don't get it. People don't just appear out of thin air."

Emma sighed, "Not everyone wants to talk about their pasts. I know that better than anyone."

"You, I get. The foster system isn't exactly supposed to be pleasant, and you don't know who your parents are. That's not your fault. But it mean, even you've told me a couple foster system horror stories. Dad and Grandpa though …" He trailed off in desperation.

"Your dad hasn't had the easiest life. Neither has your grandpa. Sometimes people just aren't ready."

"When will he be ready? When I'm forty? I could have a grandmother out there, for all I know." Emma shook her head, increasing Henry's frustration, "How can you be so okay with it?"

Emma looked down, "I love him, kid." She said quietly. She kissed Henry's forehead and headed out of the kitchen, leaving Henry to brood on his project.

Emma felt ready to collapse. She didn't know how long she had been running. She didn't even know where she was. She couldn't look back though. She wouldn't go back. She was sick of the foster homes. Nobody was going to adopt her; that was plain at this point. The only person crazy enough to want her was Ingrid. Ingrid. Just thinking her name made Emma's skin crawl. She had seemed so nice and normal. Emma thought she could be like a real mother, but the woman was batshitcrazy. There was no sugarcoating it. It still stung though. What was wrong with her that she would trust someone like that? After years of foster parents didn't give a shit about her unless they were being inspected, not to mention the incident with Lily, Emma thought she had done a good job of building up her walls. Ingrid had broken through them though. She had started small, slowly pulling away the curtains and barriers around Emma's heart. Now she was back where she started. She was just some vulnerable kid nobody wanted. She had been running so fast that her legs felt like they might fall off. She relented, collapsing as she tried to block out the memories. She couldn't though; she could feel them bubbling up inside her. Desperately, she tried to push them back down, but they bested her. And then, they were on the pavement. Maybe it hadn't just been emotional pain.

"Are you okay?" A boy's voice asked.

She kept starring at the ground, willing it all to come up now and be done with, "I'm hacking my guts out on a sidewalk. Does that answer your question?"

She felt a hand on her back, trying to steady her. She shrugged him off. "Maybe I can help."

"No thanks."

"You just said-"

"I said I'm not okay. Not that I wanted help." She spat before heaving for what seemed to be the final time. When she didn't hear footsteps disappearing, she decided to finally look at the nosy boy.

He looked nice, genuinely concerned, but Emma had been fooled by seemingly genuine concern before. His hair was dark and curly, and his eyes looked honest. But, again, honesty could be faked.

"You should sit down." He said, "My Papa and I -"

"Your Papa?" Emma asked, not bothering to stifle her laugh.

The boy rolled his eyes, "We live nearby. I could take you-"

"What do I look like to you? Some kind of moron? You're a complete stranger. You could be a pervert. Or a murderer."

"I'm a fifteen-year-old boy, hardly a recipe for hardened criminal."

"Well, your Papa could be."

He rolled his eyes again, "At least let me take you to the drug store. Get you something to eat, and something to help keep it down." Emma started to protest, "What do you think I'm going to do to you in front of a pharmacist, cashier, and a drug store full of people? If you think I can pull something off publically, unarmed, by myself, at fifteen, you must have either a pretty high opinion of me, or a pretty low one of yourself."

Emma looked down at her shoes, which were, of course, covered with the former contents of her stomach, and weighed her options. She had no money. She would need some things. And this boy was willing to buy them for her. That left her with one question, "What's in it for you?"

"Why does their have to be something in it for me?" He asked.

"Because nobody gives stuff away for free. People are selfish and everybody has a motive."

"You want to know my motive. I've been in bad places before. I've been sick, and I've been miserable, but the one thing I've never been is on my own. I've always had someone to look after me."

In spite of herself, Emma gave a wistful smile, "Must be nice." She muttered, refusing to let her eyes water again.

"There are two kinds of people in this world. There are people like my mother, who think of themselves, and leave you behind for their own selfish reasons. And then there are people like my Papa, who do whatever they have to to make sure you don't get left behind, regardless of what they have to sacrifice. Those are the examples I have to choose from, and I know which one I want to be." Emma looked up at him, too stunned to even laugh at his use of the word Papa this time, "So that's my motive. And you're right, it is completely selfish. I'm taking advantage of an opportunity to be the kind of man I want to be."

He waited a minute, and Emma played his words over in her head, "Well," she finally said, "I guess I could help you with that. I mean, if it's that important to you."

He shot her a smile, and she tried not to let herself feel warm. This wasn't caving. This wasn't letting somebody else in. He could do his good deed, and she would be on her way. She would forget him completely.

The two of them headed to the drug store together. The silence was killing her, so she finally said, "I'm Emma."

"Neal."

"What's wrong?" Neal asked, putting down the bookcase he was struggling to assemble and turning to face her.

"I just entered the room." Emma said with a laugh.

"Yeah, but I know when your upset. The air changes, and nature bows, knowing it should never have pissed you off."

Emma chuckled awkwardly, "You know me well." Her husband nodded, "I guess I just wish … that I knew you a little better."

Neal sighed. This wasn't the first time they'd had this conversation. He knew it wouldn't be the last either, "Emma-" He started in his most placating voice. She cut him off before he could get going.

"Henry's doing a family tree project for school. He wants to know if he has a grandmother somewhere out there-"

"He doesn't." Neal interjected, hoping it would help, knowing it wouldn't.

"But how am I to know that? How am I to explain to our son something I don't understand myself?" she sighed, "I get talking about your past is painful. Believe me, I get that. And I get that maybe Henry is too young to hear some of what you went through, but I've known you half my life, and I still don't know where you were born, or anything about you before we met. And you and your dad, I mean, I'd met some wackos in the foster system, don't get me wrong, but you guys were plain weird. Good weird, which is why I stayed, but weird nonetheless. You never talk about where you came from, your past, your mother … I just, I just don't get it."

"My life started when I met you. Nothing before that matters."

Emma rolled her eyes, "You've fed me that line before."

"And I recall you finding it charming."

"We were naked. It doesn't count."

"So nothing you say when we're naked counts?"

"Neal-"

"Look, what do you want me to say?" He said, pacing, "There's not much to tell. Our lives were boring, ordinary, and as for my mother," He paused, looking defeated. It was the same way he always looked when his mother came up. Sadly, he sat on the bed, "I barely even remember her." He finished.

Emma sat down on the bed next to him and took his hand, stroking it as a means of comfort, "You could tell me what you do remember." She said.

"No, I couldn't." Neal replied, shaking his head.

Frustrated, Emma stood, "We can't keep going like this forever."

"You knew this about me when we got married. You knew when we got involved-"

"I knew you weren't ready to share. I gave you time. I gave you space. I figured eventually, you'd let me in. I get putting up walls, Neal, better than most. It took a long time for me to trust you, but I did. I trusted you with my whole heart. I just wish you could trust me with yours."

Shaking her head, she walked out of their bedroom, only to run into Henry. He was staring at her shocked. "Henry-" She started, but he cut her off.

"He's never told you either?" Emma shook her head, seeing no point in hiding it, "Mom, I'm sorry. I … don't want you guys to fight because of me."

"We weren't-" She started, but he shot her a knowing look, "It wasn't because of you." She amended.

"It's a stupid assignment anyway." Henry said. "Hey, you know what we should do? We should get away. I have a break in school coming up, and it's almost your birthday. We should go somewhere, just the four of us." He looked at her hopefully. Emma sighed. There wasn't much she could deny Henry when he looked at her like that, "I'll talk to your father and grandfather about it. Now, get back to your homework."

Henry nodded, running off excited. He was such a hopeful kid, thinking a trip away could fix everything. Emma knew it wasn't that simple though. Then again, you never knew.

Author's Note: So, obviously, there will be more flashbacks as we go along. And there will be an explanation for how the curse came to be.

And yes, for those who caught it, the you could be a pervert line was a reference to how they met in the show. I had to go to Once wikis to get the exact quote.

Please let me know what you think, if anything confuses you, if you want me to continue, etc.

Have a nice day.