The primary characters in this story will be Mary Margaret/Snow White, David/James, Ryan, Emma, and Henry. The other characters from the show will be in this story, too, and I will introduce some new characters, but the focus will be on the Charming family both before the curse is broken and after. I have a few chapters written and will continue if you like it. Please let me know what you think.

Chapter One: Ryan James Nolan

Fairy Tale Land

"The child?" Regina said expectantly.

Regina sounded almost bored. Snow White was bent over her unconscious husband, pleading with him to come back to her. He wouldn't. And when he did, she wouldn't remember she knew him. Snow might as well give up now. Regina was going to win. There was no question in her mind. The only thing that could save Snow now was the newborn baby…the savior who, according to Rumplestiltskin, was going to save everyone when she was twenty-eight. Too bad for Snow the princess wouldn't make it to her twenty-eighth birthday. Not if Regina could help it.

"Gone," was the guard's reply. "It was in the wardrobe and then it was gone. It's nowhere to be found."

"Where is she?" Regina demanded.

Regina was anxious for the first time since she set foot in the castle. Not that you could tell by looking at her. She had long ago learned to hide her emotions. Emotions were weakness. It was a lesson she'd learned the hard way from her mother. She had been the picture of a blushing bride when she was dying inside. She had played the role of loving mother to a stepdaughter that she despised. Now, it was easy to hide the bubbling anxiety and maintain the façade of calm confidence.

Snow lifted her chin. "She got away. You're going to lose. I know that now. Good will always win."

Snow's confidence wasn't the calm confidence that Regina possessed. It was more of a true belief that good would always triumph over evil. She was passionate in her belief. And then there was a sense of pride that her daughter would save them from whatever Regina had in store for them. Snow was smug.

"We'll see about that," Regina said.

Regina would have twenty-eight years to figure out what to do. Meanwhile Snow White wouldn't even know her daughter, the savior, when she saw her. Regina had won this battle even if she'd lost the savior.

As a twister tore through the room, the ceiling collapsed and the windows shattered.

"Where are we going?" Snow asked.

Regina smirked. "Somewhere horrible. Absolutely horrible. A place where the only happy ending will be mine."

Though she would never let Snow see, Regina was worried. The savior would break the curse in twenty-eight years and then there would be nothing to stop Snow and James from living happily ever after. She couldn't let that happen. If Regina couldn't have Daniel, Snow couldn't have James. Regina needed a back-up plan.

Looking at the man lying unconscious on the floor, Regina knew James would do anything for his family. He would have died trying to protect his daughter. So, she would give him a family-a family that did not include Snow. Regina poured all her magic into one last spell.

"He will have a family. He will be married to Princess Abigail and they will have a son. When the savior returns, she will be twenty-eight. She won't need him anymore. His son will. His son will be a boy who needs his father," Regina muttered.

Regina couldn't tell if the spell worked or not. She was exhausted from the effort. She didn't have the time or the energy to try again. Dark smoke filled the room. The room faded away.

Storybrooke, Maine

"I don't know. M?" Mary Margaret guessed.

"Mmhmm. Two of them. Get it yet?" David wrote two Ms in the spaces he'd left for them and then looked up from the notebook. His blue eyes glittered with amusement.

Mary Margaret studied the sheet in the notebook.

M _ _ _ M e t

"Yes. And I'm completely mortified. I almost hanged on my own name," Mary Margaret realized with a glance at the stick figure that David had been adding to every time she guessed wrong.

"Don't worry. I would never let you hang. I would've added toes, a hat, maybe a horse," David told her with an easy grin.

"Is this a game you played a lot, uh, before?" Mary Margaret asked.

"I don't know," David answered.

David didn't remember anything. Not one thing. He didn't know who he was, what he did, where he was from. He had a wife that he didn't remember. He hadn't even known his own name. His name felt unfamiliar. It wasn't natural for him to answer to it.

Mary Margaret was the first person he knew and the only person he felt like he really knew. Her voice sounded familiar, comforting.

If it had been anyone else asking questions about his past, it would've made David uncomfortable. He knew they wanted him to remember, but he couldn't. It was different with Mary Margaret. He felt like he could talk to her. No pressure. Just talk.

"It'll come back. They're sending you home in a week. They have to think you're progressing, don't they?" Mary Margaret tried to reassure him while trying not to think about what it would mean for her, for them when he remembered.

"Physically," David said.

"Well, you're making new memories just fine," Mary Margaret pointed out.

"Maybe I'll like these better," David said.

"Okay, play again?" Mary Margaret suggested with a small smile.

Before David could agree, Kathryn walked into the room with a box. She smiled at them. "Can I guess, too?"

Mary Margaret didn't know why she was surprised to see Kathryn Nolan. She shouldn't be. Kathryn was David's wife. It was just that it was still weird to her that he had a wife. Mary Margaret felt a wave of guilt. However weird it was to her, Kathryn was his wife and Kathryn had been nothing but nice to her. And that just made her feel even worse.

"Oh, Mrs. Nolan, I…uh…it's noon already. I didn't realize. I should go," Mary Margaret said, an apologetic note in her voice.

"Good day, Miss Blanchard," Kathryn said as Mary Margaret passed her on her way out. Kathryn sat down in the chair Mary Margaret vacated and put the box down on the floor. There were several pictures in the box. "Honey, I brought some pictures. Maybe it'll jog something. Our dog, Ajax. Remember?"

David glanced at the picture of a golden retriever. He didn't remember, but he could see the hope written all over Kathryn's face as she looked at him expectantly.

"Yeah, yeah…Ajax," David lied.

Kathryn hesitated for a second. She had been debating with herself whether she should show him the pictures of Ryan or not. She wanted to. She wanted him to remember them…her and Ryan. She wanted her husband back. She just didn't want to overwhelm him. Regina and Dr. Whale seemed to think it would be good for him. And, if he remembered the dog, he had to remember their son. Didn't he? Kathryn took a deep breath and pulled the next picture out of the box. "And this is our son."

Their son? He had a son. How could he not remember his own son? What kind of a father was he?

"I…we have a son?" David said, completely shocked.

Kathryn nodded. "Ryan."

"Ryan," David repeated the name. He liked the name, but it didn't mean anything to him.

Kathryn smiled, encouraged. "Ryan James Nolan."

James. Now that name sounded familiar. It sounded right.

"I like that," David said thoughtfully.

"You should. You picked it," Kathryn told him.

David reached out slowly to take the picture. When Kathryn told him they had a son, he imagined a little boy in his head. The boy in the picture looked to be about the same age as Henry, maybe a year or two older. It was a school picture. The boy was wearing a school uniform. A white polo shirt and a navy sweater with the school crest on it. The boy had dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. David stared at the picture, trying to remember. He was trying so hard and nothing.

"He looks like you," Kathryn pointed out.

"How old is he?" David asked.

"That picture was taken around the time you left. He's fifteen now," Kathryn answered.

David didn't remember anything from the first fourteen years of his son's life. He didn't remember his first word, first steps, first day of school. He looked down, feeling guilty for something that wasn't his fault, something that he had no control over.

Kathryn looked down, obviously disappointed. "You don't remember. I thought you would. You were so happy when you found out I was pregnant. You went out and bought this little blue and white striped baseball jersey. You were so sure it would be a boy."

"I was right," David said.

"Sometimes…" Kathryn hesitated, shook her head. "I was actually jealous of how much time you two spent together. You were his hero."

David looked up, at a point over Kathryn's shoulder. He wasn't a bad father, then. He sure felt like one now.

"Where is he?" David asked. "I want to see him."

"You can't," Kathryn said.

David frowned. Maybe his son didn't want to see him.

"He's not here," Kathryn explained. "He's…he's in Boston."

"Our son is in Boston?" David said slowly, not really understanding why their son would be in Boston if they were there.

"With Scott, my, uh, ex-boyfriend," Kathryn said quietly, nervous about how David would react.

A few years ago David left. She thought he left town for good. It had been years since she'd seen him or heard from him. She shouldn't feel guilty for moving on, but, still, David was her husband.

David wasn't angry. He wasn't even jealous. He felt nothing when he thought about his wife with another man. But he still didn't understand why their son was in Boston with her ex-boyfriend. Shouldn't their son be with them?

David cocked an eyebrow. "I don't understand. Our son is with your ex-boyfriend?" David said flatly with no emotion in his voice.

"He, um, had a hard time when you left. He was so angry all the time. He started getting in trouble. Maybe it was my fault. I felt like he had a right to be angry. I knew it was my fault you left. At first it was little things like not doing his homework and I didn't want to come down too hard on him, but then he started getting in fights. When he got suspended, I told him he was grounded. He left. I couldn't stop him. He's taller than me. I told him if he walked out that door, not to come back," Kathryn said guiltily.

Anger flared for a brief moment in David's blue eyes. "You what?"

Kathryn sighed. "I didn't mean it. I was angry. A few hours later Scott called me to let me know that Ryan showed up in Boston asking if he could stay with him. I thought maybe it was what he needed. I didn't know what to do with him anymore and Ryan didn't get in trouble when Scott was living with us."

"Call him. I want our son here, with us," David said.