AN: Hey guys. As promised here's chapter 3 out of 7. Hope you guys enjoy it


Two weeks earlier

Although it was a sunny day, Sofia found that she could not enjoy it. While most kids would play outside and have fun, she was not one of them. None of the kids wanted to play with her, because she was a bastard child, or so she heard adults and children alike call her. Despite only being 11 years old she knew a lot more than people gave her credit for. She knew her mom's husband, never cared for her, didn't see her as his. She never understood why. She had her mother's eyes, dark hair that would curl, tan skin. Yet he claimed she wasn't his, despite her mother saying she never cheated. She never felt his if she was honest. She felt a connection with her mother, a similar connection she felt with her grandparents and uncle. But she never felt that connection with anyone else. It was hard to explain. It was as if they were a part of her, so she should technically feel that for Hook, but she didn't.

And so she was all alone, on a bench, looking over the school yard where other kids would play around and longing she could be one of them. She, often times, found herself wishing she was somewhere else, with someone who actually loved her. Not that her mom didn't love her. She did. She was just a bit distant, sometimes too concerned with pleasing Hook, to care too much for Sofia, herself. She found that she resented her mom and her family for that. She knew she had a brother out there somewhere and she often dreamt of running to him, to ask him to take her in. Has he run away for the same reasons? She asked her grandmother once, if she knew where her brother was, and she only said he went on an adventure. That usually meant he was dead, except that when she made that comment her grandmother looked shocked and said no way Regina would let that happen. She later found out Regina was Henry's mom too. She sometimes wished she had another parent out there. One that loved her, one that would look out for her.

Today was one of those days and she looked at a dandelion in her hands and exhaled, feeling quite dejected and upset. It was a common occurrence. She blew on the flower and looked at the stems blowing in the wind. She left out a sigh. There was not much she could do. She had nowhere to run, no one to run to. But when she's old enough she will leave this place and never turn back. Just like her brother did. No wonder he never came back. No wonder Henry's other mom never came back either. This place sucked.

"Hey, there. How come you're not playing with the other kids?" someone asks her and Sofia looks up to see Astrid sit next to her on the bench. Astrid is nice. She's friendly and bubbly and sometimes that rubs off on Sofia. She wishes Astrid could take her in, but that would cause so many issues with her mom, she doesn't want to make Astrid suffer like this.

"They won't play with me."

"What do you say you come over to the Convent after school? Sister Bertha made this amazing cake. Thought you might like a slice so we saved you a slice."

"Okay."

"Cool, I'll see you after?"

"Yeah," and Sofia smiles for the first time that day.


That afternoon finds Sofia at the Convent. Her mom is at work, so she can make a slight detour on her way home. Cake is always worth it. They don't have that at home. Not the good cakes anyway, like the ones sister Bertha makes, only what he likes. Her mom almost never makes anything else. She's like a slave to his wishes, almost like a robot, without autonomy. She only breaks from under that spell whenever things get too close for comfort against Sofia, but then she shrinks right back in. It's weird and she can't explain it.

But thoughts of her miserable life at home, flee from her mind when she gets to taste the cake that Astrid saved for her. She starts to look around the scarcely decorated room and then she sees something that looks like a snow globe. She goes to it and picks it up. When she does, it changes and the image in the globe changes to one of a white mansion. She knows that mansion. According to her grandma it belonged to Regina and Henry. She looks at it and sees her mom, with Henry, Regina and herself. They're building a snowman together and the minuscule version of themselves seem to be happy.

A hand on her shoulder breaks her up from the trance she's in watching that picture, seeing her heart's desire play before her very eyes.

"Sofia?"

"I'm sorry, I'll just…" she puts the snow globe back down on the table and steps away from it. She feel empty and cold all of a sudden. Astrid looks at her with surprise in her eyes. Sofia backs away and is about to run when Astrid calls her name.

"Sofia, wait…"

And Sofia stops at the door.

"Please, come back."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have touched that globe."

"That is okay. Please come back in, and close the door."

Sofia complies with the request and comes back into the room closing the door behind her.

Astrid picks up the globe, it's the same plain old snow globe with the Storybrooke main street and clock tower. The fairy hands the globe to Sofia and the brunette picks it up. The image shifts again to what it was before. Astrid watches with rapt attention the images playing there.

"What is this?"

"This? It's from our home world. It shows the immediate family of any particular individual."

"Immediate family?" she looks at the globe and notices a particular person completely missing from the photo.

"Yes."

"Like… blood related, or?"

"Yes. The Enchanted Forest put a great emphasis on biological children, as you know."

Oh she knew that. Her life was miserable because her mom's husband thought she wasn't his child. If the globe was right, then, she wasn't.

"Does this mean..." she lets it linger because she has no idea what it even means.

"It seems the globe picked up Regina and Henry alongside Emma as your immediate family. The globe only pics parents and siblings."

"Oh," she moves away from Astrid and sits down. Maybe she has a place to run to, someone to run to. "Do you know where Regina is?"

"No, I am sorry. She went with Henry. She never came back with your mother."

Sofia feels dejected. So her other mom never bothered to come back. Never bothered to be with her. This was worse than anything she expected. Any joy she had at finding out she had another parent left to run to, evaporated.

"I see," she puts the globe away "Thank you for the cake. It was lovely," with that she makes her way home feeling more dejected than ever.


A week after the incident at Astrid's, Sofia slips into proper depression and Emma, notices it.

"Sofia, is everything okay?" the brunette only shrugs her shoulders and moves away from her mom. Hook watches them from the couch, bottle of rum in hand. She spares them a glance then goes to her room. A soft knock comes a few seconds later. "Sofia, please"

"It's open."

That's all the invitation Emma needs as she makes her way inside.

"My darling, what's going on?"

"Nothing, just a lot of stuff on my mind."

Emma knows there's more than that. She wants to comfort her daughter and she's battling an inner instinct to go make sure Hook is okay and all settled before anything else. But she fights that instinct, her daughter needs her, and what's wrong with her? As a mother her child should come first, yet she struggles so much.

"Does Henry know he has a sister?"

Emma is taken aback by that question.

"He knew I was pregnant with you but not the gender."

"Where is he?"

"Last I saw him he was in another realm."

"Why?"

"He was looking for his happy ending."

"Did he find it?"

"I don't know."

"Did you speak with him recently?"

"I haven't spoken with him in a long time." and then she's appalled at herself that she let almost 11 years pass, 11 years in which she never checked in with her son, or Regina. What was wrong with her?

"Did you speak with Regina?"

"Regina?" and Emma was baffled. Why was Sofia mentioning Regina of all people? "No I haven't spoken with her."

"Did she know you were pregnant?"

"I assume. Killian said he told her."

Sofia narrows her eyes at that. It was bizarre, but maybe… Now that she said it, Emma also found it odd. All of a sudden Regina decided to stay with Henry, despite the fact that her life, the town she created were back in Storybrooke. So were all her friends and her sister and niece. Despite it all, Regina not only didn't convince Henry to not come back, but also chose to stay with him herself, breaking any contact with Storybrooke and more importantly, Emma, herself. That hurt, now that she thought about it.

"Honey, what's with these questions?"

"Nothing, just curious is all."

"I see," Emma gets up to go and Sofia lets her. She has things to think about.


She does a lot of thinking. She even makes a list. She soon reaches the conclusion that it is possible Regina doesn't know she has a daughter. But then how couldn't her mom know either? She knows of Mr Gold's shop, his son Gideon takes care of it now. She makes her way there intend on finding answers. She stumbles upon a globe. She knows about it from her mom's stories. That's how they found out where Henry was taken to. She makes it work, she knows how to, after all, and the globe activates and shines in two places. One is easy to identify as Storybrooke. That's where her mom is. The second one is in what looks to be Seattle. She takes her phone out and takes a picture, while Gideon is still busy with a customer.

She spends the next two days planning a trip. She knows where she needs to go, but she has no idea how to find what she's looking for. Seattle is a big city, it's like looking for the needle in the haystack. She runs to what is Regina's mansion and looks around for anything that would help her find out where her other mom lives. She can't find anything, except photos. She picks one up. It's of Regina, Henry and Emma. They look so good together, like a real family. She wants that. She wants a real family and a mom that loves her and for that she needs to find Regina.


AN: Reviews are much appreciated. I literally squeal with joy at work when my phone shows me one.