A/N: I hadn't planned on it taking this long to get the first chapter of the sequel written, but I got super busy and every starting off point I came up with just didn't feel right. I started working on this draft of the chapter a few days ago, and am fairly happy with the way it turned out. I don't have absolute specifics about what's going to happen in this one, but I do know that there will be grand amounts of fluff, drama, angst, hurt/comfort and much much more. As the characters are forced to come to terms to what happened to them in the Enchanted Forest, and as the citizens of Storybrooke deal with the fact that they'll never fully understand the unique bond between Emma, Graham, and Nikolai.

Emma awoke with a start. The last thing she remembered was grabbing hold of Graham and Nikolai's hands and jumping feet first into the swirling mass of purple smoke. The fear in her chest causing her heart to thump. It wasn't merely the fact that she jumped into the portal without a care of if it would actually work. Of course that added to the fear and tension she had been feeling, but it wasn't the source. The source of her fear occurred the moment that Emma's fist plunged straight into Cora's chest, ripping the glowing, red heart from inside her. Seeing the look of sheer hatred on Graham's face as he crushed Cora's heart to dust.

She shuddered slightly from the memory, as she took in her surroundings. Her back was laying against the hard, uncomfortable ground of a forest. Not particularly helpful in letting her know if the portal actually worked. One forest looked just like all the others. On her left lay Graham, his shoulder wound had started to bleed again, which caused a flurry of worry to bubble to the surface, mixing with the fear from earlier.

On her right lay Nikolai, the blood on the side of his head had caked dry in his curly brown hair but the wound itself had stopped oozing blood a while ago from the looks of it. At that moment, Emma realized that her own head was pounding. Not that she was sure what to expect with portal jumping. She had only witnessed it once before, and she felt much the same when she had awoke the first time around.

"Emma!"

Her head snapped around, as she recognized the voice. David Nolan, a voice in her head said, causing her to shake her head slightly. Spots clouded her vision, as her head spun from the added movement. After a few seconds, Emma is able to think correctly again, and corrects the voice in her head. The man calling for her isn't David Nolan. David was a meek, spineless man. This man's voice while familiar, held an obvious different tone to it. It was strong, confident, and demanded respect. That was the voice of her father. Prince James. Her father was a prince. Her mother was Snow White. Emma groaned, her life was seriously screwed up.

"Mom!"

The next voice caused Emma's heart to leap into her throat. Her son. Henry. Tears clouded her vision, as she made a move to stand up. "Over here!" She called, not entirely sure which direction the voices had drifted from.

The sudden movement and the noise caused both Graham and Nikolai to groan and stir. Emma eyed them both carefully, and noted that Graham's wound was still leaking blood. She had to find James and Henry … Graham needed a hospital and from the look on Nikolai's face, he did too.

"Grandpa! She's over here!" Henry called loudly, before busting through the foliage in front of her.

Emma's knees weakened, as she crumpled to the ground. She honestly never thought she'd see her son again. Even if she never voiced her concerns out-loud, Emma had feared that she would die over there. That she would never get the chance to hold her son ever again. That she wouldn't ever have another chance to tell him that she loved him.

"Henry!" Emma cried, the tears slipping from her eyes quickly, as Henry flung his small body into Emma's open arms.

"Mom! I missed you so much." Henry cried, as he hugged her tightly, ignoring the pain that flared in his wrist.

"Emma-" James stopped short, as he took in the added company. Only one of the extra men was sitting up. He looked worse for wear, with dried up blood caking into his curly brown hair. James had a sense of deja vu flutter over him, as he swore he knew the man before him. The other man was still laying down, a small, soft whimper fluttered up from the ground where he lay.

"I missed you too," Emma kissed the top of Henry's head, before prying his small arms from around her neck. She didn't miss the look of disappointment on his face, as she stood up. Trying to make the look disappear from her son's face, she took his hand in her's before looking up at James. "I need help. These two need medical attention."

James nodded, he had figured as much. He just hoped that whoever they were that they would be able to walk themselves to the truck. It was quite a hike through the thick underbrush of the Storybrooke forest, but he would never be able to get the truck to this spot. Not with the forestry surrounding the small opening on every side. "Can they walk?"

Emma shrugged, before turning to Nikolai. "Nikolai, can you walk?" She asked, as she waited for him to answer her. Slowly, his head lifted, and Emma didn't miss the glassy look in his eyes. Softly, his head nodded up and down. Turning slightly, Emma looked at Henry. "Henry, can you help Nikolai stand up, I have to go check on Graham."

Henry's eyes lit up. Had he really just heard his mother correctly? Did she say...Graham? "Y-yeah." He stuttered out, hoping that she planned on explaining what exactly happened while she was gone.

Emma smiled softly at her son, who knelt down in front of Nikolai. His small hand reached out toward Graham's brother, as he waited for Nikolai to return the handshake. She most definitely would never understand where Henry got his kind, caring, compassionate heart. His trusting ways. It was all quite foreign to her. In fact, at this very moment, there were only three people she trusted, and as much as she hated to admit it, her parents were not on that list. Not yet. It wasn't going to be easy to trust them, even if they sent her away to protect her. She just couldn't forget the twenty-eight years of believing her biological parents hated her. That they didn't even love her enough to take her someplace, but rather dump her on the side of the road. That kind of hurt didn't just disappear.

No, right now, all Emma trusted were the three men in her life. Henry, Graham, and Nikolai. Right now one of those men needed her to help him. Even if she was concerned about some of the things that had happened over in the Enchanted Forest, Emma wasn't about to turn her back on Graham when he needed her.

"Hey." She whispered softly to him. Her hand brushed back an errant curl from his forehead. She eyed his still bandaged shoulder, causing her nose to wrinkle. The white bandage was now completely covered with sticky, red blood.

"Hello, beautiful." Graham smirked weakly. "Did we make it?"

Emma smiled back softly, "We did. We're back in Storybrooke, Graham. James and Henry are going to help us get you to the hospital, okay?"

Graham nodded as he made a move to set up.

"Here, let me help." James said, as he knelt down beside Graham. Suddenly it made sense. Why Nikolai looked familiar, when James had never even met him. Nikolai looked eerily like Graham … which could only mean one thing...

Graham let James heft most of his weight into a standing position. It was only after James got Graham upright that he saw the bleeding shoulder wound.

"Graham, honey, can you walk?" Emma asked, as she immediately fluttered to his injured shoulder.

"I can try." He spoke weakly, his eyes drooping even as he spoke.

"I'll help him, Emma." Nikolai spoke. He didn't appear quite as fragile as he had, but his legs were wavering slightly under his weight.

"I'll help Graham," James spoke up, "Henry, would you mind helping our new friend, Nikolai?"

"Sure thing, Grandpa." Henry spoke up, as he clasped his hand around Nikolai's. "Don't worry, Nikolai. I won't let you fall down."

Nikolai smiled softly at the young boy, "Thank you, Henry."

Henry merely nodded, as he tugged on Nikolai's hand, pulling him forward. James pulled Graham's good arm over his shoulder and hoisted most of the other man's weight onto his shoulders. Emma brought up the rear, with a hand against her still throbbing head, she realized that she had a lot of explaining to do. She just hoped that explanation time could wait until she could at least swallow down some Tylenol and a huge glass of water.

Snow clutched her cellphone tightly in her hand, as her legs carried her forward as fast as possible. The drive to the hospital had been the longest ten minutes in her life. The text message had been vague: Emma made it back. Meet us at the hospital. At that moment, Snow felt like she could strangle her husband, if only for not giving out more information. How badly was Emma injured? Would she need to ready herself for bad news?

After what felt like a lifetime of walking, Snow strode into the waiting room. An audible sigh of relief expelled itself from her lungs as she saw her daughter sitting in one of the chairs. Without a second thought, Snow practically ran forward, her arms wrapping her daughter up in a tight hug. After a mere few seconds, Snow reluctantly released her daughter when she felt Emma trying to pull herself from her mother's grasp.

Snow attempted to hide the hurt from her face. Glancing around the waiting area, Snow's hand clasped over her mouth. Emma was sitting as far away from her father as she could get, and Henry was nowhere to be seen. It suddenly hit her. Regina or Gold did something to her grandson. Snow felt the anger bubbling up inside of her at the thought, as her hands clenched into tight fists.

"Snow." James whispered, grabbing his wife's attention. He motioned for her to join him. Almost in a robotic gesture, Snow walked forward, and let herself collapse into the uncomfortable chair. She stared straight ahead, as James clasped his hand around hers. "It's not what you think." James whispered softly.

Snow's head slowly turned toward her husband, before she jerked her hand from his grasp. "How would I know what to think...with the lackluster amount of details in your text!" Snow growled out, her voice low. "I thought our daughter was seriously injured … possibly dead. Do you know what that felt like James?" Snow fought to keep her voice low as she continued. The anger she felt bubbling up to the surface.

"Snow. Emma is fine." James gestured with his hand, "So is Henry for that matter. He went to grab us all some drinks."

Snow glared at him, "You let him go alone … with Regina lingering around?"

James swallowed thickly. "He tried to get Emma to go with him, but she was still a little unsteady on her feet. She has a slight concussion, nothing serious, but I didn't trust her to not fall down while walking around with Henry. He should be back shortly."

Snow sighed, the anger deflating from her. Emma was mostly unscathed, and Henry was fine. She just didn't understand why they were at the hospital still, if Emma was fine. For the first time since her arrival, Snow stared at her daughter. She took in Emma's appearance. Dirt smudged her cheeks, her hair was matted from sleeping on the ground, and she seemed to have fairly superficial scrapes on her face and arms. It was the tear stains on her cheeks that alarmed Snow.

"She didn't come back alone, Snow."

This caused Snow's head to jerk at neck-break speed toward James. Her eyes large as she took in his words. "Who?"

James offered a small smile. He had always been fond of the man that had risked his own welfare … his own life to save, not only his own life, but his wife and daughter's as well. Did that mean that he was happy about the way that Emma had looked at him? Not at all. Then again, James was fairly certain that he wouldn't be happy with Emma looking at any man like that. She was his baby girl after all, and even if he had only technically known he was a father for a few days, that didn't mean that he didn't have the fatherly instincts.

"Graham." He whispered.

Snow's eyes lit up. James knew that Snow kept a special place in her heart for the huntsman that lost his heart in order to protect her own. Snow had spent countless days, nights, months, and years searching for the young man that had spared her life. Though neither of them had ever seen him as the huntsman again before the curse sat in, James was happy to know that Snow had been able to be friends with the man that had saved her life, for twenty-eight years. Now, she was getting a second chance to get to know the man that had given his life for hers.

"How?"

James shrugged, "Well, I assume that only Graham and Emma are privy to that information. Emma hasn't uttered more than a few words since we found them in the forest."

Snow nodded, "So..." then it hit her like a ton of bricks. Why they were at the hospital. Why Emma looked like her life was about to crumble down around her. Granted, Snow had only saw Emma after his death, she did have to admit that the look on Emma's face at the moment was much like a calmer version that Emma's face held when Graham's heart had stopped. "Oh, God." She mumbled softly.

"It's not too bad. Apparently he got shot in the shoulder with an arrow. Emma did her best to keep the infection away, but it didn't help too much. Dr. Whale is surgically repairing the damage now. He expects a full recovery." Snow sighed in relief, as James held up a hand. "That's not all."

Of course it wasn't. She just couldn't tell from the peculiar look on her husband's face if what he was about to say was good news or bad news.

"There was one more person with them when they came through." Snow's eyes closed, hoping with everything inside of her that it wasn't Cora. "I swear, Snow, the man looks almost exactly like Graham."

Snow's head cocked sideways, "Older or younger?"

James tapped his chin for a moment before speaking. "Younger, I believe."

"Brother?"

"It's the only thing that makes sense … right?"

A groan sounded to their left. "Oh for God's sake!" Emma growled. "Nikolai is Graham's brother, but neither of them had any idea that they had a brother. Now, can we stop with all the damn whispering?" Emma barked.

Both of her parents mouths clamped close, as they nodded. Just as Emma leaned her head back and let her eyes drift close, two people sauntered into the waiting room. Snow gasped, one of them she knew...very well, the other one was like she was staring at a ghost.

"Grandma!" Henry squealed, as he ran forward. His arms wrapped around her neck. "That's Nikolai. He's Graham's younger brother. He is so awesome. Kind of like Graham, but different. It's so weird."

Emma chuckled lightly, and shook her head softly. "Hey." She whispered, as Nikolai took a seat beside her.

"Hey. Any word?" He asked, as Emma shook her head.

"How's the head?" She asked, pointing to his forehead that was currently wrapped in thick white gauze.

Nikolai shrugged, "I'm from the Enchanted Forest, Emma. I've had much worse than a bump on the head."

Emma barked out a laugh. "That was no bump on the head, Nikolai. Cora threw you against a tree!"

Nikolai shrugged again, "And yet, she was no match for you." He grinned softly.

Neither of them noticed the three people at the far end of the waiting room staring at them with wide eyes. They had fought with Cora? Emma had beaten Cora? James and Snow both hoped that Whale would show up with information on Graham soon, because neither of them could wait to get information on what exactly went on in the Enchanted Forest.