Well everyone, here we are: the next multi-chapter installment of The Lost Get Found verse. Probably one of the most frequent questions I get is: "When will Henry show up?" This is finally it. Though, he won't be appearing until much later. As always, this story is first and foremost Charming family but there will be some Swanfire. I'll be using "Times Like These" to show you guys exactly what lead to the issues they have right now. As for the logistics of this story, it's been 4 years since Mary and David dropped Emma off at college. She's officially back home now. She's 22 and Neal is 8. While this story is not going to focus completely on Emma's past, there will be mentions to it. So, possible triggers will include mentions of past abuse, depression and PTSD.

Chapter One: Family Business

"This is so boring," Neal whined, kicking his legs a bit. Mary sighed, putting a hand on his back.

"Just a few more minutes," she told him. She was trying to focus completely on the ceremony herself. It seemed like just yesterday she had been the one standing up by a podium while Emma stood nearby. Now, it was David's turn.

Emma looked so serious. She was wearing a dark blue blouse and khakis, her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. There was no denying that she was in her early 20s now. Mary couldn't believe that she was the mother of a college graduate or that her baby girl was going to be joining her father as the latest rookie in the Storybrooke Police Department.

She was nervous about that, a lot. Over the years, she had adjusted to being the wife of the sheriff. There had been scary moments (the school shooting fiasco being one of the biggest), but overall she was okay with it. Now, her daughter was becoming one. She was scared shitless. Storybrooke was a fairly quiet town, she just didn't know what to expect.

On the other hand, she was extremely proud of Emma. She had worked her butt off in college and the progress definitely showed. She had spent 6 months at the police academy as well, which she also had to train a lot for. Mary found herself bragging about Emma constantly to just about anyone that would listen. As scared as she was about her baby's most recent profession, she would never tell her that. She would just continue to be immensely proud.

David had the same feeling as he attempted to stay professional through the ceremony. He kept slipping a smile, which would also go across Emma's face, though then she'd go back to being pensive. Graham was doing his best not to laugh at his spot next to the sheriff. There were a couple of other new rookies being inducted and they had already received their pins. Finally, David turned to his daughter.

"Emma, please raise your right hand," he instructed. Emma obliged. "This is the oath of affirmation and allegiance for the Storybrooke Police Department. Please repeat after me, I, state your name."

"I, Emma Nolan…"

"Do solemnly swear…"

"Do solemnly swear…"

"That I will support and defend the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of Maine…."

Emma repeated everything that her father asked of her, doing the best to fight a smile on her face. This was the day she had been working so hard for over the past 4 and a half years. Finally, she had finished the entire oath and David finally let a complete smile break through.

"It is my honor to welcome you as a member of the Storybrooke Police Department and present you with this badge." He grabbed the badge from the podium and walked over to her, placing it in her palm while they shook hands. "Congratulations Miss Nolan."

Emma smirked a bit. "Thank you, Sheriff."

Out in the audience, they could see Mary snapping a million pictures. Emma couldn't help but laugh at that, completely breaking the stony look she had on her face the entire face.

There was no doubting that she was home.

Later that night, Emma stood in her room, looking around it. There were still some boxes to be unpacked, though nothing important. Pictures of Regina and Elsa hung up on her wall. While Elsa had returned to New York for work, Regina had moved to Storybrooke when she got an internship at the mayor's office. Emma couldn't be happier about that. The two had become very close over their college years. She also got along really well with Lily and Ruby, who were also back in town.

Emma's eyes glanced over to another picture that hung from her mirror. It wasn't a new one, in fact it had been there since before she left for college. It was one of those from a photo booth at the mall. She always forgot it was there and then when she saw it, she was hit with a million different emotions.

She and Bae had just been acting silly in the booth, making different faces. The one near the bottom was her kissing his cheek and the final was the two's lips connected. She sighed, lifting it out and examining it. It seemed like a whole other lifetime ago. The two had seen each other since they broke up, they were still best friends. Just best friends. That's what they had been since they met and that's what they would always be.

Even if she wished it could be more than that.

"You alright, sweets?"

Emma turned around and saw her mom, smiling a bit. After she finished up the police academy, she had offered to find an apartment in town. Her parents had told her it wasn't necessary. They had missed having her under their roof on a permanent basis. She wasn't sure how much longer she'd be living with them, but she liked the idea of it. As much as they had missed her, she had missed them just as much. Three hours wasn't a terribly long distance, but it felt like forever. They had all grown so close, being far apart wasn't easy. She found herself loving coming home for holidays and breaks. She wouldn't change the experiences she had for the world but it was good to finally be home.

"Completely fine, I don't know why I still keep this around," she said, holding up the photo strip.

Mary gave her a sympathetic smile and walked over, looking over it. "When Neal and Gideon had their playdate yesterday, Belle said he was coming home."

"I know, he e-mailed me."

"It's good you're still friends."

Emma nodded. "It's what we started out as, we agreed no matter what happened, it'd be how we always were."

Mary watched Emma tuck the picture back in its spot and lower herself onto the bed. She looked around the room. While some of it had remained the same over the past 9 years, a lot had also changed. There were more pictures of the family and Emma's friends. One thing that had stayed the same was Emma's baby blanket. It was folded up and put on the corner of the bed. Mary had no clue had that thing had stayed in such good shape over the years.

"You ready to start work on Monday?" Mary asked, absentmindedly picking up some of the clothes that Emma had discarded on the floor.

"Yeah, I'm pretty excited about it actually." Emma smiled over at her badge. "I've been looking forward to this day for a long time."

"I think your father is pretty stoke about it too," Mary told her.

"I just hope he refrains from the "princess" nickname in front of everyone. Might take away my credibility if I have my daddy fussing over me while I arrest a perp."

Mary chuckled. "Well, I wasn't so bad when I was your vice principal, was I?"

"I guess not," Emma teased.

Mary settled herself on the bed beside her, pushing some hair out of her face. "When did you get so grown up?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "Mama."

"Seriously. Look at my big girl, a badge and everything. I guess I just thought you'd stay that cute little teenager that loved baking with me forever."

"Oh, so I'm not cute anymore, is that it?"

"You'll always be cute," Mary told her, kissing her cheek, which made her daughter smile yet again.

"And FYI, I still like baking. Even if I suck at it…I'm never too old to lick the bowl. Unless Neal has taken that spot away from me."

"He's gotten used to it, but I'm pretty sure he can share."

As if on cue, the little boy in question appeared in the doorway of the bedroom wearing Spiderman pajamas. Emma found herself mirroring her parents in being sad at how fast he grew up. He was getting pretty tall and she suspected by the time he hit puberty, he'd tower above her (she had only ended up at 5"5). The two didn't look much alike in terms of hair and eyes. While Emma had light blonde curls and big green eyes, Neal had darker locks and bright baby blues. The one thing they did seem to have in common was their chin and smile.

"Can I help you?" Emma asked, that smirk coming back upon her lips.

Neal shifted from one foot to another. "Can you please come read to me?"

"I would love to. Just say night to Mom first."

Neal walked over to their mom and threw his arms around her. Mary smiled and hugged him tighter.

"Night Nealy, love you" she said.

"Night Mommy. I love you too."

Neal took hold of his older sister's hand and they headed into his bedroom.

"Brushed your teeth?" Emma asked.

Neal rolled his eyes. "Emma," he whined.

"Go, unless you want all your teeth to fall out."

While he scoffed and stomped out in the hall to go to the bathroom, Emma scanned the shelf for a book. She found the Roald Dahl book "Matilda" and plucked it off the shelf before settling down on the Iron Man sheets to wait for him. He returned a couple of minutes later.

"Finish up with everything?"

"Yes, you're worse than Mommy and Daddy," he informed her as he walked over, sitting next to her.

"Hey, that is about the meanest thing you ever said to me," Emma told him, pretending to be hurt.

Neal just laughed and sat beside her, curling up into her side. She wrapped her arm around him and kissed the top of his head while she started to read the book. Neal could read himself, but whenever she was home, she got roped into doing it. Not that she minded, she loved getting to spend time with the little bugger.

"It's a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful. Some parents go further. They become so blinded by adoration they manage to convince themselves their child has qualities of genius," Emma read aloud. She remembered loving the book at her brother's age. She found herself relating to Matilda, a lot.

She had wished for her own Miss Honey and within a few years, she would get one.

By the end of the second chapter, Neal's eyes were closing. Emma felt as though he had practically melted into her side. She decided she would stay for a little bit longer, just to make sure he fell asleep okay. Her own eyes began to grow heavy herself. Despite the bed only being meant for the smallest member of the Nolan family, Emma found herself falling asleep in it too.

David had been doing some repairs around the house and had missed a chance to say goodnight to Neal. He poked his head in and found his two kids curled up together in the twin size bed. A smile formed across his face as he took a picture with a phone (purely to share with Mary Margaret, he knew better than to post it on the internet). With the larger gap between the two children, it was sometimes harder for them to have traditional sibling moments. Little things like this seemed to make up for all that.

David walked over and grabbed a quilt that his wife kept on the top shelf of the closet during the winter. He carefully draped it over his sleeping babies, kissing the top of each of their heads. Neal was a quiet sleeper. When he was a baby, Mary used to get nervous because she couldn't tell if he was breathing or not.

Emma, on the other hand, still snored. It was a cute, soft one, but it was there nonetheless. It had become something David didn't realize he was going to miss when Emma left for college. When he had to work the rare night shift, he'd come home and do the rounds, checking in on Mary before changing into pajamas and going into Neal's room. He'd go into Emma's next and for a moment panic until he remembered.

Having her home for good was a great thing. He wasn't stupid, he knew there was potential for her to move out once she had saved up enough, but for now he would just live in the moment. His sessions with Archie had taught him to do that much. Plus, he was blessed to get to work with Emma. He knew he had to be professional but it would still be a great thing. Emma didn't seemed to be turned off at the thought of him being her boss, if anything she was a bit excited about that.

Yes, Emma was home, she was happy. He wasn't expecting things to be like a fairytale, but things had been good. Emma still had to deal with her mental illness, but seemed to have it handled. She had sessions with Archie periodically and took her medication. Her nightmares seemed to be few and far in between.

The next day, David had to work the morning shift at the station while training one of the other new rookies. Mary had planned to spend the day with Emma and Neal, but at the last minute got called into a meeting.

"Are you sure you don't mind watching your brother?" Mary asked Emma as she packed up her bag.

"Mama, we'll be fine, you hang out with Neal all the time. I'm pretty sure he's sick of you by now," Emma replied as she sat on her parents' bed. It felt like old times almost, Mary rushing around to get ready while she just chilled out on their comfortable mattress.

Mary rolled her eyes. "Well thank you, smart one," she replied, sarcastically "I meant in your case. You start work Monday. You wouldn't rather be doing something with your friends?"

"I already planned on spending the day with you and Nealy anyway. I'm going out with Regina, Lily and Ruby tomorrow. After I finish helping Regina unpack that is."

"Does she need any more help?"

Emma smiled. Her parents had become sort of surrogate ones for her friend. Her father traveled a lot for business and they didn't get to see each other as much as they liked. Her mother was not the type of person that Regina wanted in her life. Emma suspected that Mary related a lot to Regina, she hadn't spoken to her own father since her grandmother passed years ago. He didn't even know about Neal.

"I'll make sure to ask, I'm sure she'll appreciate it."

"Great." Mary zipped up her purse and Emma followed her downstairs to where Emma was playing. "Nealy, I'm going now. Your sister's in charge, be good for her."

"I'm always good," he replied, cheekily.

"Uh huh." She kissed the top of his head and then Emma's cheek.

"I was thinking I would take him to Granny's and get some hot chocolate," her oldest told her.

"With cinnamon?" Neal asked, hopefully.

"Is there any other way?" Emma answered with a wink.

"Awesome! I'll go get my shoes!"

He scampered out of the room, causing Mary to giggle a bit. "I guess I can see why you're his favorite babysitter."

"Sorry, I'm just that awesome."

Mary laughed again and gave Emma a hug before heading out. Emma grabbed her own purse and coat, helping Neal into his. The weather outside was growing colder, so she made sure to get their beanies as well. They made their way to Emma's pride and joy, her yellow bug. The thing was getting up there in years. It had been her first car and if she had it her way, it'd be her last. She had a lot of great memories in that thing.

The drive to Granny's was fairly short, with Neal chattering in the back about what he was up to in school. Emma nodded along, listening to the tales of a third grader. He seemed to be making lots of friends, which was a huge relief to her. One thing she wanted for him was to have more than she did at his age. He already did in terms of parents.

Once they got to the diner, they were greeted by Ruby. Neal perked up even more. "Hiya Ruby!"

Ruby grinned in return. "Hey Nealy," she ruffled his hair once he removed his beanie. "What brings you two here?"

"Emma's getting me hot chocolate."

"Why am I not surprised? You two are Nolans after all."

Emma chuckled. "You know me too well."

Ruby lead the siblings to their usual booth and they slid in. She headed to the back to put in the order. Granny waved from her spot from behind the register. She had been told to take it easier lately and Ruby had insisted she was ready to take on more responsibility, but her grandmother was just too stubborn to accept that.

Once they got their hot chocolates, Emma and Neal took big sips, letting the smell of the cinnamon waver up into their nostrils.

"Yummy," Neal said. "Though not as good as Daddy's."

Emma nodded in agreement. "Make sure not to tell Ruby that, though."

"I won't. You know Christmas is coming up."

"Is that a hint? Are you expecting presents from me."

Neal's cheeky smile returned. "Maybe."

"I might have gotten you a few things and if you don't completely annoy me, I'll give them to you."

"I never annoy you."

"Uh huh, sure."

"I told Mommy and Daddy I want a bike."

"Maybe Santa will bring it to you."

Neal made a face. He had confided in her the year prior that he didn't believe in Santa anymore, but he didn't want to tell their parents. She had promised it would be their little secret. "Emma," he complained.

"Just a joke kid, lighten up."

"What are you going to ask them for?"

Emma shrugged. "I don't really ever ask them for anything." That was one thing that still hadn't really changed. (Though, neither had her parents going all out for every occasion.)

"You never do," Neal agreed, making another face. "Why?"

"I guess because I didn't grow up getting to. It's still kinda weird for me to have people that want to buy me things."

"Oh." Neal stared down at the cocoa for a minute and then his eyes matched hers. "I forgot you were in the foster system."

"It's alright," Emma gave him a reassuring smile. "I got out of it, eventually. Mommy and Daddy are the best parents I could ask for. And then when they found out about you, they were able to adopt you."

"Why?"

"Well because they loved you…"

"No, I mean, why'd you end up in the foster system?"

Emma paused, her mug inches away from her face. Slowly, she lowered it down and looked around them. It was a busy day in the diner and not too many people were paying attention to them.

"I told you buddy, the people I was living with…they weren't very nice to me."

"Your biological mom died, right?" Emma nodded. "What about your biological dad? Isnt he mine too?"

"Yes. But he's not our dad. You know who our daddy is, don't you?"

Neal nodded. "But we don't have the same blood as him."

"You know that's not what makes a family."

"Will I ever see our biological dad again?"

"No, absolutely not."

"But why?"

"Because he's a very bad man, Neal," she told him, her voice catching a bit. "He did very bad things."

"What kind of bad things?"

"I…just bad things."

Neal frowned. "That's what you always say. You never tell me. I'm not a baby anymore, you know. I'm eight years old."

Emma sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. Neal was right, in a way. He was getting older. Mary and David had always been up front with him about being adopted and telling him his story. They explained his biological mom hadn't been ready and wanted to give him his best chance, so she let people who could take care of him raise him. They stressed that DNA didn't make a family and that they didn't love him and Emma any less. Ed wasn't brought up a lot, all they said was just what Emma had. He was a bad man, who did terrible things. That had been enough for Neal when he was younger. He looked at him like a villain, no different than Scar or The Joker.

Maybe he was old enough to know the truth. Mary and David had always left that up to Emma. It was her story to tell, just as Neal's was his own. Even so, she figured she should talk to them about it first.

Both her parents were home by that evening. Emma had managed to distract Neal with movies and games. He had gone to Gideon's for a sleepover when she went into the kitchen. Mary and David were cleaning the dishes. David's arms wrapped around his wife's waist, kissing her cheek. The two were still sickingly sweet as ever.

"Save it for the bedroom, guys," Emma said, leaning against the doorframe.

David pulled away, playfully rolling his eyes. "My apologies officer, please arrest me for loving my wife."

"I don't have my handcuffs yet," she pointed out. Her smile faded after a few moments and he picked up on that.

"What's wrong, Princess?"

"Can I um, talk to you guys about something?"

Mary wiped her hands on a rag. "Of course. Come, sit."

Together, they walked over to the table and sat around it. Emma looked up at both of them, unsure how to really start the conversation. David reached over, squeezing her hand.

"You don't have to be afraid to tell us, Em," he said. "Whatever it is, you know we're here for you."

Emma nodded. "Today, when Neal and I were out getting hot chocolate, we started talking about my childhood. He was asking me about foster care and all that. Then he asked about why I was put in there. I gave the typical answer, that Ed was a bad man, but he got frustrated when I wouldn't elaborate."

Mary and David shared a look. They knew this day was coming and had meant to prepare Emma more for it. Gideon had recently learned that his older brother had a biological mother and learned all about Milah. Ever since, Neal had been wondering about his own past. As usual, though, they wanted Emma to decide when she was ready for him to know.

"I think it's time to tell him," Emma said, softly.

"Are you sure you're ready?" Mary asked.

She nodded. "Like I said, it's time."

"You know it's your story," David told her. "You don't have to tell it."

"I want to. He's old enough, at least I think, I don't know. You guys are his parents."

"He's old enough to understand. It may upset him, but he's 8."

"I just don't want to hurt him," Emma whispered. "I don't want him to get upset."

"I know you want to protect him," Mary said. "We all do. The truth is, we can't forever. If you want, your father and I could be the ones to tell him."

Emma shook her head. "No, no. It should be me. You two should probably be there, though."

"Of course," David told her.

He squeezed her hand and Emma met his glance. He was giving her a smile, one he seemed to only give his kids and Mary. It was one that was filled with all the love in the world and it made Emma feel safe, secure. She gripped his hand in return. It hadn't been too hard for her to open up to David and at the time, that confused her. Now she knew, though. He was always meant to be her father. He would always support her.

Which was a good thing, because outside having to talk to Neal, she was about to be hit with something bigger than she had ever expected to deal with.

I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter! As always, let me know what you think and tell me what you want to see with the story. I love getting feedback from you all. Until next time, friends. =)