1

The wind gently blew through her hair, encouraging it to fly with it as it danced through the town ahead. It felt refreshing, having something natural blow through the hair that had been scraped back into a ponytail for weeks and probably stank of chemicals. Walking between the hospital and the manor was long, but a journey Esme savoured; there was no one to comfort, no one questioning her, no one relying on her. The streets were a mixture of black tarmac and orange leaves, a beautiful combination even in the its rain soaked state, and it calmed Esme. Wrapped up in the scarf and coat Granny had gifted her, Esme began her journey to pick up Henry and Roland, who were at the house being looked after by Snow and Charming. It had been 6 weeks since Regina and Robin were hospitalised. Following Esme and Henry breaking the compelling they were placed under years ago, they were both overcome by seemingly unbearable pain in their brains and had to be sedated; something the doctor called a medically induced coma. They were scanned constantly and today was the doctors fourth attempt to bring them out but, much like the previous three, this attempt failed. Although all of their scans showed normal brain activity, and the initial signs when they were waking up seemed positive, the pain returned and both Robin and Regina had to sedated again. The boys had been present the first time the doctors tried to bring round Robin, but he didn't react well and Esme made the decision that Roland and Henry shouldn't be there anymore; it raised their hopes too much and she hated seeing the looks on their little faces when it didn't work. This first act as big sister didn't go down particularly well to begin with - Henry and her argued over whether or not she had the right to stop him seeing his mom and Roland was constantly upset. But after a couple of weeks, Henry began to realise Esme was merely trying to protect him and they both forgot about the angry words that were said, and Roland was appeased when Esme promised to bring him to see his father and 'Gina' every morning before school and after dinner.

As she walked into the centre of Storybrooke, Esme watched people go about their daily lives and found herself quite jealous; people were chatting, laughing, shopping and working while she was trying to juggle ten different things. The news that she had found her long lost father and mother still seemed almost comical to her; she hadn't even been looking for them, prior to her arrival here, yet she ended up in the same town as them both. Had they been conscious, talking to them and living with them may have made her feel differently but with the situation as it was, she still viewed them as strangers; lovely strangers, who had helped and cared for her, but nevertheless, they were strangers. This made it awkward when people asked her about Regina and Robin. Storybrooke was a small town, and although the people were generally kind and warm, they were insatiable gossips, so news of the scandal broke relatively quickly; within days, it was common knowledge. Some people said, 'How are Regina and Robin?' which Esme could answer without hesitation. It was when they asked, 'How are your parents?' when she stumbled because, in her head, she didn't have any.

The complexity of her situation grew even more intricate when people asked, 'How are Roland and Henry?' because to Esme, they were her brothers. Prior to the revelation, although they had got on, she remained a visitor in their lives; someone to play with, joke with, make up stories with but not form a lasting relationship with as she was merely temporary. However, following Regina and Robin's hospitalisation, Esme got together with Will, Snow and Charming and made an argument that the boys should stay with her, and she would live in Regina's house with them. Although there were some valid reasons against this, primarily her being a relatively new persons in their lives, it was agreed that while their parents situation was uncertain, they would maintain as much normality as possible; this meant staying in their own home and going to school while the others focussed on Emma. Thus within a couple of months, Esme had gone from being isolated and horribly alone, to being the sole carer of her two younger brothers; and she revelled in it. She loved making them breakfast, playing games with them, helping them with their homework, making packed lunches and al of the mundane things that everyone else seemed to take for granted. She loved how they looked at her like she was some sort of saviour, completely unaware that it was actually them who had saved her. For years, she was so used to being alone that she became disassociated with her own emotions - there was no use feeling sad if no one was there to help, no point in being happy when there is no one there to share that with - and the boys, her brothers, had helped her reconnect with the land of the living. Henry had helped her realise they were actually siblings, but the pair disagreed over whether or not to tell Roland. Esme felt he was too young and that with everything with his mother, she didn't want to disrupt his life further but Henry thought he would be happy to gain a sister; he was right. Every morning, she was woken up by Roland jumping on her sofa shouting 'wake up sissy!", a phrase he picked up from a joke Henry made. 'Sissy' was now their favoured name for her and, although she pretended otherwise, she didn't particularly mind; it felt nice to belong to someone, somewhere.

As she walked through the town and turned the corner, she saw them both playing in Regina's front yard, blissfully unaware of the failed attempt at waking their parents up. Roland saw her first and came running down the path and sidewalk.

"Sissy! Sissy!" He ran and jumped into her arms.

"Hey, little man! What have you two been doing?" Esme said, returning his squeeze before placing him on her hip. He was almost too big for her to carry now, but he didn't seem to know.

"We were playing catch but I lost." Roland hated to lose, so Esme couldn't help but laugh as he put on his best sad face and snuggled his head into her neck.

"Hey!" Henry said, running over to her.

"Hey bud! You ready to go see your mom later?"

"Definitely. Any change?" Henry asked her this every day, and although she hated giving him the same answer, she couldn't lie to him.

"No, hun, i'm sorry," replied Esme, stroking his face before using her free arm to support Roland. She put Roland back on the ground, took his hand and put her arm around Henry's shoulders as the walked up to the house to thank Snow and Charming.

"Hey! Thanks for watching them again," Esme said, returning Snow and Charming's hugs.

"Our pleasure! How did things go at the hospital?" Snow asked, as Charming ran after Neal, who seemed to be delighted to be walking. Esme checked to ensure that the boys were out of earshot and so were pleased when she saw them run around with Neal.

"The same. The doctors just can't figure out what's happening; their scans are all coming back normal. Belle's been helping me search for more information on compelling and its side effects but we can't find much. All we know is that it must have been someone powerful but that doesn't help Robin and Regina." Esme was getting frustrated; not at Regina and Robin, as this wasn't their fault, but at the whole situation; the lack of answers, the multiplication of questions and the limited resources.

"And how are you, sweetie?" Snow said, compassionately rubbing Esme's arm. Esme had enjoyed spending more time with both Snow and Charming, they truly were lovely people, but she always felt some sort of guilt; it was Regina, her mom technically, who had caused them to miss out on being involved in the life of their only daughter and they were now dealing with their own problems with Emma. So this question made her uncomfortable; she didn't want to lie to her, but she also didn't want to dump all of her emotions on the woman who had already helped her enough.

"Ummmm.. you know, i'm doing good," Esme said, purposely keeping her answer short. Snow didn't seem to buy the act, but didn't push the matter any further.

"Okay, well if you need anything, you let me know okay?"

"Okay," Esme said smiling. "Thank you. Same time tomorrow okay?" Esme said, hugging Snow goodbye.

"Of course," Snow said, reassuringly rubbing her back before calling David.

The boys ran over to hug both Snow and Charming goodbye and they stood at the gate and watched as they held baby Neal's hand as he walked down the street. Esme had a great deal of admiration for them both - they had their own problems but never let it affect anyone else - and everyday, they were a reminder to Esme on how she wanted to behave with her brothers.

"Can we go see mom and Robin now?" Henry said. Although he tried to act like he was okay, he had never spent so long away from his mom and he missed her desperately; whatever anyone else said, she had always been there for him. It was her who nursed him when he was sick, she always cut the crusts off his toast, she knew his favourite everything and did everything in her power to make sure he was, and remained, happy and safe. He did, however, love Esme, and enjoyed getting to know her more, so that eased the sting slightly.

"Now? We need dinner squirt and-"

"But we didn't get to see them this morning," Roland complained. He was still to young to really understand the severity of the situation his father was in, but Henry wasn't and he knew that he missed his visit with his mom because the doctors were trying to wake his mom up. It clearly hadn't worked, or Esme would have told him, and so he wanted to see if there was any difference at all with his mom. Esme paused before answering them, but their hopeful eyes were glaring at her and so she eventually relented.

"Eugh okay. But when I say it's time to go, no arguments okay?"

"Okay!" Roland said before jumping, grabbing her hand and pulling her down the sidewalk with Henry beside him.

"Wait I need to lock the house!" she said, running up to the door, locking it and then returning to Roland and Henry. The boys ran almost the whole way, only stopping when Esme called on them to stop. When they arrived at the hospital, Esme took Roland's hand, to ensure that he didn't run around like an insane person, and placed her arm reassuringly around Henry's shoulder. She tried to keep them as calm as possible, but it was ultimately for nothing, because when they turned the corner to go to Regina and Robin's joined room, they were greeted by madness. Doctors and nurses were rushing in and out of the room and crowded around Regina and Robin. Esme lost her grip of both boys and they ran immediately into the room, only to be ushered out by the nurses. Esme rushed up to them both and hugged them close to her.

"What's happening?" Esme questioned the nurse.

"At the moment we cannot be certain exactly-"

"Well roughly then. What is happening?!" Esme said, losing her temper.

"We believe they are waking up."