Finding Her Way Home

By: Lord-of-Dragons2007

A/N: I do not own the characters, concepts, and so on. This is an AU where Emma grew up in the Storybrooke orphanage, free from the curse and where David wasn't in a coma and wasn't married to Abigail or whatever her name was.

"Emma, dinner is ready!" Mary-Margret called for her to come and eat, it hadn't taken her long to make Emma's favorite meal. As Emma sat there thinking she could smell the beautiful aroma and felt her stomach starting to growl and rumble that she was hungry. When she was called she quickly came down the stairs to the kitchen where two plates and bowls were waiting for her, one was for her and the other was for Mary-Margret next both dishes were cups of hot chocolate with whip cream and cinnamon on top. Emma came over and took a seat at one of the identical settings and she looked at the cup of hot chocolate,

"Cinnamon?" Emma asked Mary-Margret curiously,

"Hey, don't knock it until you try it. I love it this way, I thought you would too. If you don't like it you don't have to drink it." Mary-Margret explained lightly, Emma took the mug and took a hesitant sip of the drink. Her brows rose in surprise,

"I love it!" Emma exclaimed to Mary-Margret happily who in turn laughed at the girl, Emma's brows knitted in confusion,

"Hey! What's so funny?" Emma asked with a miffed tone in her voice,

"I'm sorry sweetie, it's just you have all of this whip cream all over your nose." Mary Margret said trying to stop laughing,

"Come here kiddo." Mary-Margret said as she took a clean napkin and started to gently pat Emma's nose clean,

"Why thank you." Emma said still with a little bit of a pout in her voice after Mary-Margret had finished getting all the cream off Emma's nose,

"I'm sorry sweetie, you were just too adorable I couldn't help myself. I'm sure you'll catch me being a little dork that you'll laugh at too." Mary-Margret apologized gently and tried to make Emma feel better,

"Its ok, I guess." Emma said with a smile on her face now, Emma's smile put Mary-Margret at ease now,

"Ok, let's eat. This isn't good cold and it's not as good when you reheat it." Mary-Margret said as she dove into her sandwich and took a big bite of it, however the cheese in the sandwich was still much too hot and it burned a little in her mouth. Mary-Margret made a show of it, she made a few little squeak noses and made a show of she didn't know if she should spit it out or swallow it quickly. This elicited a little chuckle from Emma who didn't think she would see Mary-Margret making a dork out of herself so quickly, feeling bad for her adoptive mother she went around and got a glass of cool water and handed to Mary-Margret. She took a big gulp of the cool water and let out a large sigh,

"Take it easy mom." Emma said with a chuckle and an adorable smile on her face,

"Sorry, guess I'm a little too hungry." Mary-Margret said sheepishly, Emma shook her head slightly,

"I couldn't tell." Emma joked with a giggle in her voice, Mary-Margret was falling in love with the little girl, and her little giggles were music to her ears. It was a sound she wished to hear more and more,

"Alright smarty pants, eat your dinner before it gets cold." Mary-Margret said in feigned annoyance but gave her a warm gentle smile, the two ate their meal without any further incident and in peaceful silence. When they both finished their meal, Mary-Margret took the dishes and put them in the sink and then turned to Emma,

"So did you do your homework yet?" Mary-Margret asked Emma curiously,

"Ummm, yes." Emma said hoping to pull one over on her,

"Emma?" Mary-Margret called her firmly and pointedly, Emma slumped her shoulders against the chair. It was foolish trying to hide homework from the person who had assigned it in the first place,

"This is going to be a problem isn't it? I mean you assigned the homework so I can't hide it from you and everything." Emma said stating the fact of the matter to which Mary-Margret just smiled and looked up for a moment and then cast her gaze back on her adoptive daughter,

"I'm afraid it is, all throughout your school career I'm going to know every bit of homework and school function you have." She replied with a lightness in her voice, she was going to make friends with all of Emma's teachers so she could get the scoop of how she was doing, what homework she had to do and what fun things were going on so she could push Emma into socializing and making friends. Emma just shook her head with a smile on her face,

"Ok I'll get on it." Emma said with an over exaggerated sigh and she went for her book bag.

She came back a short time later with her backpack and took out the subject matter books to which she had homework in and piled it on the counter so she could work,

"Why do you assign so much?" Emma complained as she finished piling all the books up,

"Because young minds have lots and lots of learning to do." Mary-Margret replied in feigned incredulousness, she couldn't believe that Emma had said such a thing. In all honesty it wasn't that much homework that needed to be done, Emma was just being a big baby about having to do math homework and needing to read a chapter of her history book and answer a few questions. The way the school worked was that the students had four class subjects a day but the classes were an hour and a half, today Emma had history and math homework from those classes tomorrow she was almost certain that she was going to have homework in science and English. Emma set on working on her homework while Mary-Margret started to straighten up the apartment a little bit and then started to work on grading papers and getting lesson plans together.

It was about a quarter after eight when Emma finished her homework, despite what anyone else and Emma would believe, she was actually very smart and got her homework done fairly quickly and accurately,

"Done." Emma said proudly as she snapped her book shut and started to gather everything together to put away,

"Good." Mary-Margret said with a happy smile as she looked up from the stack of papers she was grading, she wasn't going to be done with work for another couple of hours,

"Ummm Mary-Margret? Can we watch a movie together?" Emma asked shyly, she hoped she would agree. Emma wanted to spend some time and bond with Mary-Margret, maybe if when she was done grading papers that she would want to snuggle with Emma,

"Sure, but bedtime at ten ok." Mary-Margret answered with a warm smile on her face, Emma smiled, maybe she would want to snuggle and bond with Emma, the little girl was very hopeful that this day would only get better from here, Mary-Margret moved her work over to the couch and sat down,

"So what do you want to watch?" Mary-Margret asked Emma curiously,

"Do you by any chance have Snow White and the seven dwarves?" Emma asked her hopefully,

"I do, it's one of my favorites." Mary-Margret said with a smile, this was great they both had the same taste in movies,

"Umm bottom cabinet, that's where the movies are at." Mary-Margret added directing the girl where the movies where at and where she could find the movie she wanted to see, Emma went where Mary-Margret directed and rummaged around the movies. She noticed that she had all the Disney movies that had ever come out, she must have been a huge Disney fan. Emma was alright with that, she hadn't seen most of them but wanted to see them, tonight however was for Snow White. She found the movie and pulled it out,

"Good." Mary-Margret said with a smile before she got up and took the movie from Emma, she turned on the TV and VCR and popped the movie in. Mary-Margret came back to her seat and went back to grading papers, the movie started and Emma went quiet becoming fully engrossed in the movie. She wasn't worried about fitting in, wasn't worried about not being loved, wasn't even worried about upsetting her new adoptive mother, Emma was just a quiet observer of the story being told on the TV. She felt truly at peace now. The movie was about half way over when Mary-Margret had finished grading papers, she laid back and sighed, so much work for one teacher,

"Umm, Mary-Margret?" Emma asked her nervously,

"Emma? What is it?" Mary-Margret answered nervously wondering what was wrong judging by Emma's voice,

"Nothing, it's just. I wanted to ask you something." Emma replied nervously, she didn't know how to word this or even if she should ask her if she could,

"You can ask me anything sweetheart." Mary-Margret said giving her a warm encouraging smile,

"Well ummm, feel free to say no if you don't feel like it, but I was wondering if I could lay my head in your lap and snuggled against you?" Emma asked nervously and then half prepared to get yelled at and possibly punished and sent back to the orphanage. Mary-Margret was taken a little bit by surprise by Emma's request, but she softened when she saw how much she wanted the close contact and the vulnerability in her eyes. Mary-Margret smiled warmly,

"Of course you can come on over." Mary-Margret answered and gently patted her lap, Emma let out a mental sigh of relief and then smiled as she quickly took off her sneakers and scooted closer to her adoptive mother. She put her feet up on the couch and gingerly laid her head on Mary-Margret's lap, she got settled and enjoyed the warmth from her adoptive mother's lap. This just felt…Right, it was very soothing and relaxing, and she looked up into Mary-Margret's face and saw her looking down at her with a megawatt smile that could be as bright if not brighter than the sun. Emma smiled back at her feeling safe and warm in her lap and then turned to focus on the movie. Emma had been watching the movie again for a few moments before she felt something she had never felt before, Mary-Margret was gently running her fingers though Emma's golden locks. The touch was so soft and gentle, it was so relaxing and loving, something she had never felt or experienced before. Emma hummed contently and closed her eyes for a moment enjoying the soft moment with her adoptive mother, she had never thought in a million years that she would be this happy, feel this safe, feel this loved. The two stayed liked this for the rest of the movie, in this long moment of loving tenderness.

When the movie ended Mary-Margret set the video to rewind and then turned off the tv, she looked at the clock that hung on the wall and saw that it was a little before ten,

"Alright kiddo it's time for bed." Emma pouted when the moment came to an end and real life started to resume,

"Are you sure? It still feels early and I'm not that tired." Emma asked as she started to fuss about going to sleep so early,

"Come on, Emma, today was a big day and we got to get up early tomorrow sweetie. Besides tomorrow is Friday and you can stay up later tomorrow and Saturday." Mary-Margret replied trying to get her adoptive daughter to go to bed, Emma let out a little yawn,

"I guess you're right." Emma said semi-begrudgingly, she slowly sat up with a little bit of a groan,

"Oh come on, your bed is going to be nice and comfy." Mary-Margret said as she got up after Emma sat up, Emma left her shoes where they were and followed Mary-Margret to the bathroom where she could wash her face and brush her teeth. The two performed their own nightly rituals together in the little bathroom, after a few moments the two finished and exited the bathroom,

"Ok well my room is right over there, if you need anything don't be shy to go in and wake me up, ok." Mary-Margret said gently,

"Ok will do. Thanks again Mary-Margret." Emma said with a slight blush on her face and a smile as well, to which Mary-Margret knit her brows in confusion,

"You know for giving me a home, and being so sweet and nice. For being a mom." Emma clarified shyly trying not to blush and embarrass herself so much to which Mary-Margret just smiled at her,

"Thank you for being the beautiful ray of sunlight that you are." Mary-Margret responded with a smile before she kissed Emma on the forehead tenderly,

"Would you like me to tuck you in?" Mary-Margret asked her gently, she knew Emma was too old for something like that, but given that she wanted to snuggle up to her on the couch during the movie and everything she had a feeling she would say yes. Emma struggled with the question, on the one hand she had never had anyone that treated her so tenderly and lovingly and wanted that in her life at least every now and then. Then on the other hand she felt like she was too old to enjoy something a five year old would want. It was clear to Mary-Margret that Emma was torn between herself to answer the question, she just smiled at her,

"Come on kiddo, I'll go tuck you in." Mary-Margret said gently as she started to usher Emma inter her room, Emma was glad that she was pushed into it because she was sure she would have passed up something great. Emma crawled into bed and got comfortable, once she was comfortable in it Mary-Margret got the covers and covered Emma up and gently tucked the covers under Emma. Once she was finished Mary-Margret smiled at Emma and didn't say a word she just took in how beautiful and adorable she was before she placed another gentle kiss on her forehead,

"Goodnight, Emma, sweet dreams." Mary-Margret said gently with a smile and then stood up headed towards the door, Emma rolled over onto her side and sighed contently. Mary-Margret stopped at the door and turned around and took one last look at her little angel asleep in her bed, she turned out the light and before she left, she heard Emma speak up one last time,

"Goodnight mom." Emma said sleepily before falling completely asleep, this little action caused Mary-Margret to smile the biggest she had today, she hoped for more days like today. Mary-Margret gently closed her door a bit leaving a bit of a crack to give Emma some privacy and let her know that she didn't have to stay in the room all night, shortly after that she went to her own bedroom and left her door open in case Emma need her at all during the night. She crawled into bed and turned out the lamp on her bedside table, and she looked up at the ceiling and thanked her lucky stars for Emma before she fell asleep herself.

A/N: Wow thank you guys so much for the wonderful reviews and words of encouragement on this story, I really didn't think I'd get that many requests to continue this one. Well you spoke and I heard so here we here's the new chapter and I hope it was good and gave you guys all kinds of feels, I'll try to update my other stories this weekend when I can. Thank you guys for being fans and reading and following my work, it doesn't go unnoticed or underappreciated. Thank you all so much! =)