THUD!

The woods shook as the 'whatever it was' struck the forest floor.

Emma Swan sat up, her attention suddenly yanked away from her catatonic paperwork, "What the hell?" She asked the empty office. She ran to the window and saw it. Purple clouds.

"Son of a bitch!" she swore. Was it too much to have the day off? She holstered her gun, grabbed her badge from the desk and headed to the door. As she swished through she felt her second sharp 'thud' of the day when her skull collided with another. "Ow, watch it!" She rubbed her head and then it slowly dawned on her through the sharp pain who she had collided with.

"Want me to kiss it better love?" the tall darkness of the thing she had bumped into came into view. She smiled, "I wish I could, but I gotta go"

"Ahh, would this have anything to do with the rather large purple cloud over yonder?" he smiled that half smirk of his, pointing his shiny hook towards the window.

"You saw it too?" He nodded. She frowned, "It's probably Gold again"

"Aye love, I came to the same conclusion. The Crocodile likes to visit the Well, and by my reckoning that puff of purple mist is right over it. It's Gold alright."

Emma rolled her eyes, they were wasting time. "Well, what are we waiting for? Less talking, more moving!"

The yellow bug raced into the woods, screeching to a halt when they had arrived. Emma sprinted towards the well with Captain Hook in tow.

"C'mon. You're slowing me down old man!" she quipped. She loved to tease him. In truth, she was glad he was with her. She pondered as she ran. What could Gold be up to this time? He was like one of those bad TV villains that just kept coming back.

But, to her surprise, when they arrived at the Well there was no sign of Rumpelstiltskin.

All that was there was a rather large crater and what was left of the well. Blocks scattered in every direction and a hole where the Well used to be. They daren't go any closer though, for directly above the well whirled a large portal. As the smoke cleared, Emma gained a better view of the portal. It was strangely familiar.

"Like Jefferson's hat," she mumbled

"What's that love?" Hook shouted from behind

"The portal. It looks just like the one made by Jefferson's hat. But that's impossible, the hat was destroyed"

"Look closer Emma," Hook pointed, "It looks more like a big dirty hole than the insides of a hat." She looked again.

Hook was right. It looked like a dirty hole or, she thought, a rabbit hole.

"That's all I need, a rabbit-hole in the sky," Emma sighed as she watched the portal slow, then get smaller and finally close. They waited until it had closed completely before making a move.

Hook looked around before he would let Emma closer, raising his hook arm protectively in case something should jump out. "Alright love, what now?"

"Explore the crater I guess", Emma replied. She climbed into the crater and walked down. The soil within the parameter of the crater had been turned a shade of bright purple by the portal. She grabbed her pocket flashlight and shone it towards the hole.

"How much do you wanna bet…?" Emma started, but before she could finish they both saw that she had won the bet before she had even placed it. At the bottom of the well, there was someone.

"Hey, can you hear me?" she shouted down, "Hold on, help is on the way".

Whoever the person was, they didn't reply. She noticed something unusual. Besides the bricks being blown apart, the water from the well had all but dried up. 'Well at least whoever that is won't have drowned down there,' she thought.

What seemed like hours passed before 'help' arrived. Grumpy jumped out of the truck first, followed by Happy and Doc. They pulled some rope and a ladder off the back and headed towards the hole. Grumpy was immediately skeptical.

"So, we're just going to rescue this…whatever it is and hope that it doesn't kill us all?"

"C'mon Leroy. It's not a what, it's a person. We gotta help them."

He grumbled for a moment then nodded to the rest of the team.

The dwarves had a crane on their truck, so they lowered Grumpy down into the hole. He came back up holding what looked like a dirty haystack.

"Anyone order a mound of dirt?" he asked, sarcastically.

They turned over the dirty pile to discover that there was a person under it, a woman. She was vastly unconscious though. Emma checked her pulse and determined that she was alive, but didn't show any signs of waking up.

"We best get her to the hospital." Emma announced, "We'll figure out the rest when she's awake and clean."

The hospital was unusually quiet, probably due to the lack of drama in town lately, Emma thought. Dr Whale examined the woman and found no real problems with her, apart from a few cuts and scrapes, and the fact that she was unconscious.

"What is she doing here then?" Emma thought aloud

"That portal was mighty familiar lass, don't you think?" Hook raised his hand up to his face and tapped his lip thoughtfully, "I'd say it's a pretty accurate conclusion that whoever this dusty miss is, she came from Wonderland."

"That's what I was thinking too. Something must have happened to bring her here like this. It'd be great if we could find someone who might know her." She paused for a moment.

"Well love, I can't say that's much of a head scratcher either. Does the Mad Hatter still live in the neighborhood?"

Emma shook her head, "He does but…no Killian, I can't go to him"

"Why in heaven's name not?"

"Because I promised him after the curse was lifted that I wouldn't involve him in anything again. He just wants to live a quiet life. He wouldn't help us even if I asked him."

"Well, what about Scarlet? He knows Wonderland doesn't he?"

"Good point, I'll call Belle. See if she knows where he is."

Several hours later, and after she had been cleaned up, Emma got a better look at the still unconscious girl. She had long strawberry blond hair, freckles across her nose and a very round natural pout. Her most distinguishing feature though was a small heart tattoo on her collarbone, right below her neck.

Just then, the girl began to stir, her brow furrowed. She was dreaming, and not a very nice dream by the looks of it. She began to mumble, and move slightly in her sleep. Emma listened intently, and then heard two very clear words, "I'm late".

Her phone beeped with a text:

"BEEN TO GRANNIES, GOLD'S AND ROBIN'S. CAN'T FIND SCARLET ANYWHERE - DAD"

"Crap", Emma swore to herself. She didn't know what else to do. "Gonna have to ask him, the worst thing he can do is say no" she said to the now quietly sleeping girl.

"So, which one of those mad creatures has come to Storybrooke?" Grace asked sarcastically.

"It's not really that. A girl fell through a portal this morning…a portal that looks a lot like a rabbit hole." Grace's eyes widened.

"Ahh ok, so you think she's from Wonderland huh? Well, I can tell you right now if you're plan was to grab my Dad at my school then you probably would've just got one of his usual looks and a few words. Listen, I know my Dad better than you so I think I know how I can get him to help you." Emma wasn't convinced, nor did she really want to get on Jefferson's bad side, but she agreed to trust her. From the brief time they'd spent with each other, she could tell that she would like this girl. She reminded her a lot of herself.

After much persuasion on Grace's part, Emma brought Grace to the hospital. Grace peered through the window at the sleeping girl in the hospital bed behind them. She moved slightly, her brow still furrowing and her body twitching with stress. Grace checked her phone, having sent a quick text to her father on the drive over.

"You sure this is gonna work kid?" Emma looked skeptical. Grace's plan was good, for sure, but it might just bring a very angry not-quite-rational man onto the ward.

"Yeah, it'll work. I told him I'd gone with Henry to check out a case that you're working on. He'll be…." She looked at her phone, "Yep, he's mad, and he's on his way."

Twenty minutes later a tall man strode into the hospital, with a look of thunder on his face. The corners of his mouth turned into a look that definitely didn't scream, "so nice to see you again Emma". The Saviour braced herself.

"What the hell are you doing Emma? I told you, I told you NEVER involve me and my daughter in any of your…heroics" the last word he threw like a dagger. The Saviour quickly caught it.

"Look, Jefferson, I wouldn't have if it wasn't necessary. We need…." She was interrupted by the girl to her left,

"It's my fault papa, I asked to come. Look, I need to show you something." She grabbed his hand and led him into the room. "This girl came from Wonderland".


Author's note: this chapter was pretty fun to write as my first Emma POV chapter. First major change from the canon (besides the glaringly obvious sidestep from the S4 finale), I know that the rabbit hole portal comes out of the ground, but I couldn't resist making it a little more visual. Purely aesthetic choice but hope you enjoyed.