Thanks for the reviews, likes and favorites guys! I'm glad yall liked it, so here's the same chapter in Snow's POV. I do not own Once Upon A time.

Chapter 2

It's only now as I find myself jumping head first into the unknown that I've come to realize how many life changing decisions are made in a blink of an eye, some change us for the better and some have consequences that leave scars on not only us but everyone involved. The day that I robbed James of his jewels was one of those instances that left me changed for the better, his love, our love made me whole and I didn't believe for a second that I could've been happier than I was the moment that he made me his wife. Later on when I found out I was expecting proved to me just how wrong I was, this was absolutely the best news I could imagine but of course this leads me to another of those blink of an eye decisions with an entirely different ending. I gave birth to my sweet girl at the moment that my step-mother unleashed a curse and looking in those eyes I knew at exactly that moment what I had to do, I had to do everything in my power to save her, to give her her best chance. Handing my Emma to James, I insisted that he take her to the wardrobe that would take her away from us possibly forever was the most painful decision of my life. As fate would have it we've been given another chance, twenty-eight years later our daughter has returned to us and broken the curse, but like most things in life you can't pick up where you left off and pretend that nothing has changed. I once again knew the joy of holding my daughter in my arms, but the baby that I let go was now a woman, a woman that has lived a lifetime of hurt and pain with only the knowledge that her parents sent her away, that she was alone. The look in her eyes, a mixture of pain, betrayal, hurt and longing as she asked me which curse was worse, growing up alone or cursed together, was enough to make me question whether I made my decision for Emma or for myself. Only a few hours later I'm faced with losing my daughter again and as I saw her being pulled into Jefferson's hat I knew that as much as I love my husband and grandson that I would not survive losing her again so I did the only thing I could do I jump. I jump for me but I also jump for Emma, she needs to know that I will never leave her alone again, that I can be the mother that she so desperately needs. After what feels like forever in a downward spiral I see her, I reach out and I somehow manage to grab her jacket, when she turns her head and sees that I am there, conflicting feelings cross her face and she looks as if she's going to say something…..

I awake to my roommate, she's speaking to me but I can't quite understand what she's saying, I was dreaming, what a strange dream but I had a family, I'm not sure I want to wake up but Emma is relentless.

"Um…Emma, I've had the craziest but most amazing dream."

"Afraid not Snow…unless we're trapped in the same nightmare." Emma tells me with a knowing smirk on her face. And then I remember, it's not a dream, this is my life, I am not Mary-Margaret Blanchard, I'm Snow White and I've just jumped in a hat so I could be with my daughter. My daughter…Emma…my Emma…I sat up looking into the face that I could never get tired of.

"Emma, sweetheart are you alright?" I search her face looking for signs of discomfort, pain.

"I'm fine Mary…Snow, I'm sorry." My daughter answers looking anywhere except at me.

"It's okay honey; I'm not entirely sure who I am anymore, it's strange having two sets of memories, but I have to believe it'll get easier with time." I try to reassure her although all I want to do is take her in my arms and never let her go but my Mary-Margaret persona knows Emma and all I will accomplish is raising those damn walls of hers even higher.

"I hope so but for now could you just explain to me how you ended up in the hat? What about Henry and David?" Emma questioned, I think she's gone into sheriff mode.

"Henry and your…James are still in Storybrook, I jumped in the hat before it could close." I answered holding Emma's gaze, I want her to see that I have no regrets, that my love for her is real.

"You…did…what?" It hurts me to hear the shock in her voice, the shock that only comes from one that's never known the meaning of being put first in someone life but I'm going to change that one way or another.

"I…"

"There they are, they are the reason that our Prince is dead, they caused this and should die as punishment." I turn at the interruption and notice the two women standing a few feet from us.

"I got this Emma, don't worry about it." I say maneuvering myself between my daughter and the woman with the sword, deciding quickly that this situation could become deadly at any moment.

"Wait a minute Mulan, I want to hear what they have to say for themselves." Mulan's companion says while coming closer and I can tell she is the one in charge from the way she holds herself. "Who are you and what are you doing here? Why have you brought the Wraith here?"

"I am Snow White and this is my…daughter Emma, this is, was our home but we were sent away from it 28 years ago when my step-mother enacted a curse to keep us from our happy endings. We were told that our homeland was destroyed and that sending the creature here was the only way to keep it at bay. I am truly sorry that your Prince is dead but we'll do everything in our power to make it right." I tell the women as sincerely as I can, I only hope they believe me and we can get out of here and find our way back to our family.

"Silence," Mulan said, "I do not trust them, let me put an end to the lies now and be on our way back to camp." I may die in this moment but if I can fight long enough to get Emma out safely than my death will be worth it.

"No, we will take them with us and decide from there what needs to be done, I will not make hasty decisions on someone's fate while I am only beginning to understand what's happening myself." Turning back to us she said, "I am Aurora, you will go with us but please do not make me regret my decision to spare your lives."

"We will go with you." I answered, begging Emma with my eyes to please go along and do as I say. Emma kept her mouth shut but I could tell she was fighting it with everything she had.

As we were lead away, our lives in the hands of these two women, one which I knew wanted our blood my mind searched for ways to escape or at least my daughter's. As we made it to the camp we say that running was our only option so with everything I have, I reared back and caught Mulan in the stomach all the while screaming for Emma to run. I feel freedom is up ahead but then a sharp pain radiates in my back and I see the ground rushing toward my face.

I'm not sure of what's happened or if we got away, all I know is that when I open my eyes I realize that I'm in the arms of my daughter and even though she is crying I can't make myself let her know that I'm awake because I don't want to lose this feeling. After what feels like only seconds, she pulls away and lays me down in her lap but when she realizes I'm awake I can feel her pull away.

"Um, you're awake. Are you okay?" She asked while looking at the ground.

"Yeah, other than my back hurting some, I'll be fine, Did they hurt you?" I asked, worried that Emma was hurt while I was unconscious.

"No they didn't, I stopped when you fell so they didn't…"

"Why?" I asked before she could continue.

"Why what?" Emma asked incredulously.

"Why did you come back? I wanted you to get away, I wanted to save you."

"So you wanted to send me away again? Too bad I'm not as easy to get rid of this time around." Talking to my daughter should not be this difficult, it should be the most natural thing in the world and yet I find myself constantly saying the wrong things.

"No Emma, that's not what I was doing either time, I only wanted to give you your best shot." Thank the heavens for Mary-Margaret's patience because as my daughter starts pacing I want nothing more than to throw my arms around her neck and make her realize that letting her go was the hardest decision of my life.

"You keep saying that, maybe one day we'll both believe it."

"It's the truth Emma and you'd know that if you'd just talk to me, open yourself up and allow your heart to hear." If I thought begging would work I would be on my hands and knees now but I think that would make matters worse.

"So why did you jump if you were only going to try and send me away again?" Emma turned on me, anger flaring in her eyes.

"Because I couldn't lose you again Emma, you are the most important person in my life and if I have to follow you into oblivion to make you realize it then so be it." I'm crying now and my daughter is looking at me with something between pure hatred and curiosity.

"You had your chance and you choose your Prince over me, so why now, to ease our guilty conscience, you shouldn't have bothered I'm not worth it. You and David could've started over with Henry, he's young, doesn't have the walls built up that I do or have a baby, you're both still young enough for it." Chose my Prince? Can she honestly believe I had a choice and I chose to send her away alone? God no wonder my daughter hates me, I would hate me too, I've got to make this right, please let me make this right.

"Emma I wanted to come with you, I was meant to come with you…"

"Then why the hell didn't you mother, why did you send a boy to do your job?"

I don't understand what she's saying, what boy, I search my mind but I can't figure out where Emma is going. "What are you saying Emma? What boy?"

"You didn't know?" And then I know but I don't want to know.

"Know what? What the hell are you telling me, that you didn't go through alone?" I have to hear it from her mouth, I refuse to believe it any other way.

"No…August, well Pinocchio I guess." And with that one sentence my entire world has crumbled, my baby, I could've been with her, I can't breathe.

"I missed your first words, your first steps, every damn aspect of your life and you're telling me I didn't have to, I could've been there to protect you, I'm going to kill someone when we get home…" I don't know what I should be feeling, I want to beg my daughter for forgiveness, I want to curl up on the floor and pretend this conversation never took place and I want to kill someone with my bare hands, the emotions are overwhelming and I find myself slipping away from reality.

"No Snow, I'm sorry I shouldn't have said anything, I didn't mean to hurt you, let's just forget it and find a way out of here before it's too late." I can see the regret in Emma's eyes and know that she's uncomfortable with where this talk has taken us but I won't let her run, we have to finish this, no matter how much it hurts.

"You can't run Emma, and I'm not done here so you're going to listen to me." I tell her, pulling it together the best I can for her sake.

"When I found out I was pregnant with you it was the happiest day of my life, but also the scariest because my step-mother was always in the back of my mind, she was determined she was going to take away my happy ending if it was the last thing in either world. When the Blue Fairy came to us and told us of the enchanted tree, we commissioned Gepetto to construct the wardrobe that was to take us away, to save you but then we were told it would only carry one. Only one, so it was decided that I would leave the Enchanted Forest while I still carried you but on the day that the construction was finished I was already in labor with you and it was too late. The curse was released at the time of your birth and the queen's soldiers had already broken into the castle, James he told me we were too late but all I could think was that she would kill you, I couldn't let that happen so I made him take you to the wardrobe, it was my decision Emma, mine, not his so please don't hold it against him. If it is destined for you to hate me then so be it but do not hold my decision over his head as well, but Emma know this if I was given the chance to do it all over I would, if I have to live knowing that you hate me then I can handle that much better than not ever having the chance of knowing my dead daughter."

"When I jumped into the hat, there was no way I was losing you again, I made the mistake once sending you away alone, I'll be damned if I do it again. I chose you that time too even though fate had other ideas, I will always choose you over anyone, you are my daughter and that trumps everything else whether you believe me or not. Emma I love you and nothing you say or do will change that, I've always loved you, even when I didn't know you were my daughter, the connection was always there and you felt it too, you loved Mary-Margaret and I have to believe that that love is still there."

"I…" Emma tries to interrupt but I'm going to have my say, I'm going to finish this in case I never get another shot.

"I'm not finished Emma, I want you to listen very carefully to what I'm going to say next." I carefully take her chin and turn her eyes to mine, if this is my last chance I want my daughter to see the truth. "Don't you ever think that I could replace you with either my grandson or another child, no one could ever take your place in my life, in my heart. I suppose it is possible that another child could join our family but they would also join you in my heart, you're there sweetheart for forever. I'm sorry for sending you away, sorrier than you'll ever know, I know it's not been easy but I hope that you'll give me a chance to be there for you now, to at least be your friend. You don't think you need a mother and maybe you don't and if being your friend is all I can be I'll have to accept that because I'm not leaving you again." I've so much more I want to say but I don't want to push my baby to far, I pray I haven't already. All I can do now is wait and see, hope that I haven't lost her completely. I'm scared, if she turns and walks away I'm not sure I'll survive, I'm not sure I want to.

"The thing is, I don't know how to be a daughter, Mary-Margaret was the first person I ever felt any connection with other than Henry, but I guess deep down I found what I'd been looking for my whole life in her, I found you. I can't promise it'll be easy, I have a lot of issues, hell my issues have issues but if you're willing to try than so am I."

"Oh Emma…" is all I manage to get out before my arms are around her neck and even though I feel her tense up I can't let her go, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to.

"Whoa, I didn't mean to get all mushy, ah the hell with it, go ahead and get it out of your system so we can find a way out of here and get back home." She smiles at me with that beautiful smile and I want to tell her I'll never get it out of my system especially when her arms come around my waist and for the first time in my life I am hugged by my daughter.

"I do love you Emma!" It's amazing the joy I feel from being able to say that oh so simple phrase that we so often take for granted.

"I know and well, thank you for choosing me." It's not an I love you back but it's close enough for me, I'll hold out hope for love but cherish what I have now.

"Always my darling, always." And I mean that with every breath I have, and I try to convey that to her as I continue to hold her in my arms. I know that Emma wasn't joking about her issues but I hope that one day she will open up about that part of her life and allow me the opportunity to be the mother that she deserves, allow me to try and help her move on just as I hope to be able to share with her my life. I don't know what fate has in store for us and I know the road will be rocky but I feel as though we have reached a turning point in our lives, because I have my daughter back where she belongs.

Okay guys I hope yall liked it, I went more toward 1st person with the Snow POV and I hope it worked. Thanks for reading, leave a review if you'd like, I'd appreciate it!