Present

Sneaking around Lilly was easy for Vada. The hard part was sneaking around Emma. Emma paid attention to everything that Vada did while she was at home. Vada did love the attention. Her mom was the best. But right now she was more interested in who her dad was. It must have been a really juicy secret for her mother not to tell her, they shared everything.

Emma was in her room napping at the time. Vada smiled as she went through her mother's work files that she had laid upon the coffee table. She couldn't read that well, only at a 2nd grade level, but she knew a what she was looking for. An old looking piece of paper that was from before she was born. She would have to look at all the dates. She'd find what she was looking for. She just knew it.

8 years ago, Regina's manor

When Regina got downstairs she could see people littering her lawn. She magically unlocked all the steel doors in the house, the only purpose for that was to get Daniel out before everything became violent. And it would.

"Daniel, you need to get out of here now!" Regina shouted.

Daniel was in Regina's library when he heard Regina and came rushing to her side. "What's wrong Regina?"

"You need to leave Daniel. There are people outside, who are coming in any minute, to kill me. Don't be around for that" Regina states sadly.

"What? I'm not going to let anyone hurt you Regina. I'm standing by your side" Daniel states.

"You shouldn't Daniel. You still don't know everything. I was called the evil queen for a reason. I earned that title" Regina warns. Daniel doesn't understand who she truly is. It's touching, but at the same time it's sad, because he will learn. Soon. "You need to run. NOW!" She orders. But it's not the same. It's not as authoritative as the evil Queen. And honestly, Regina tries to channel her. She needs to protect Daniel. She hopes it's not to late for him when the door slams open and in rushes Snow White and her prince Charming.

"Where is our daughter Regina?" David demands, Sword aimed at her throat.

"Daniel?" Snow asks as she looks upon the man she hadn't seen in a long time. He was alive. Her bow and arrow drooped low, If it fired it would have missed Target because she was distracted. People returning from the dead was impossible.

Daniel Remained silent.

"Snow" Regina started but David cut her off.

"Shut up you witch" He glared at Regina. "Where is my daughter?"

Regina swallowed hard. Not because she was afraid of the strangers in her home, but because they were about to learn the truth about their daughter. She was dead, and now Regina was going to have to admit it out loud for all these people to hear.

"Answer me" David shouted.

Daniel stepped in front of Regina protectively. He had, had enough. "Leave Regina alone"

Regina was touched. But she deserved everything that was happening to her right now. "Emma's dead" Regina whispered fat tears running down her face. The only people who seemed to hear was Ruby and her Grandmother, who gasped.

"What did you say witch?" David asked poked Regina in the shoulder with the sword even though Daniel was trying to protect her. Daniel stepped forward and knocked the sword from Davids hand. It was a lucky hit really. Daniel had no ideal how to sword fight, and David was just not prepared for the guy who looked like a dear in headlights to do anything. He quickly moved forward to attack Daniel but was met by the force of Regina's magic who blasted him back. The snow queen did her job and blasted Regina with a serge of raw Snow magic, effectively freezing her hands.

Regina would have laughed if not for given circumstances. Did the the woman with the ice magic not know that her magical element was fire like hers was ice. They cancel each other out. They had a better chance at using actual metal handcuffs than Ice. Regina raised her hands up in surrender as she felt her magic slowly melting the ice cuffs. "I'm not trying to fight. Emma is dead" Regina states, tears still staining her face.

Everyone heard that time. Everything was happening so fast. "What do you mean she's dead?" Snow asked in disbelief. "Where's my daughter?" She asked a little weakly.

"Emma killed herself a month ago. She couldn't handle being locked in that room. She couldn't handle being traded for the lives of others" Regina admits crying freely now.

Snow dropped her bow and arrow. She stares at Regina wide eyed as she watch her cry over her daughter. She snaps. "You bitch!" Snow states as she punches Regina in the face. Regina just stands there as another one lands on her face. Regina's prepared for a third one but Daniel steps in front of her.

"Stop" He states. He looks around. The man with the sword looks as if he wants to kill Regina, but he is now consoling his sobbing friend who had the bow and arrow. Daniel isn't sure who any of these people are. But he can imagine that everyone is mourning the lost of the teen. Everyone in the room is either crying, or has their weapons aimed at Regina, who is also crying. Except one person he notes. There is one woman in a white dress which appears to be made with crystals, she has magically conjured a snow flake which also looks like a crystal and is glancing into it. She smiles briefly then schools her features. No one else notices this but Daniel. He is the only person in the room whose sole attention is not aimed at Regina. What seems like hours, is only seconds.

The snow queen walks in front of where David and Snow is standing. She looks down at Regina. "You will pay for what you have done. We will be back" She threatens. She raises and hand and everyone inside except Daniel and Regina vanishes.

Regina still crying turns to look at Daniel. "Daniel, you have to run. You need to get far away from me"

"No Regina, I'm not leaving you" Daniel shakes his head. Regina does the same, but he pulls her close.

The Charming's & the Snow Queen

"Take us back" David demanded as soon as he realized that he was no longer in Regina's living room. He was going to kill Regina for killing his daughter. David does not ever remember crying, well he does, when his mother passed away. And now again when he learned of his daughters death. At first, it was just shocking. Emma couldn't be dead. She just couldn't be. They were going to save her. She was coming home.

"Relax. Emma is fine" The Snow Queen Smiled.

"What?" Almost everyone asked simultaneously.

"Emma is fine. See for yourself" The snow queen conjured up another Snow Flake and the image of Emma and another girl riding in a truck or some kind of vehicle popped up.

"But I don't understand" Snow cried. "Regina just said that Emma was dead. She was devastated" That couldn't had been just a show.

"I thought something was off when Regina stated that Emma had been dead for about a month. After the first image of Emma I conjured up for you I kept an eye on her just to make sure she was safe. Sometimes I am able to get a clear picture of her, sometimes, I can't, it's just darkness. Maybe Emma found a way to free herself and Regina really believe that Emma is dead. Maybe that is for the best" The Snow Queen states.

"But I want my daughter back" Snow cries. "I want my little girl" She turned herself into Charming.

"You can't contact Emma. You can't even mention her name. If Regina find out that Emma is still alive, she will look for her. She will find her. I can't protect Emma outside of Storybrooke. It's better this way" The snow queen states calmly. She knows the truth. She knows Emma's future. Emma will return in due time. The stroll says so. It's prophecy says so.

"But how can we go on pretending Emma is dead when she's not. How can I pretend that my daughter is not out there somewhere needing me? How can I forget my child?" Snow asked. David nodded his head in agreement. It couldn't be done.

"You need to put the curse back into place. It wasn't meant to be broken for another 11 years. Things are going to go wrong, until you fix it" The Snow queen states.

"How do you know so much about the curse. How do you know so much about Emma?"

"Emma and I are a lot a like. We were born with a special gift. Emma and I have a connection" There was a moment of silence so the Snow queen continued. "I must take my leave now. Remember what I said. The dark curse must be reenacted for Emma to stay safe" With that the Snow queen disappeared.

Present

Vada looked upon the mess she made. All her mother's papers were thrown across the whole living room. Maybe she got a little carried away. "Oh oh" Vada states.

"Oh oh is right"

Vada heard her mother's voice from behind her, she jumped. "Oh...heeey mommy" Vada smiled and waved at Emma.

Emma sighed and bent down to gather her paper work. "What are you doing Vada? I think you know not to play with my papers from work"

Vada shrugged. "I was looking for something" She states. She knows not to lie to her mother. Emma could always tell when she was lying. It was just best to tell the truth anyway. Just not the whole truth.

"And what was you looking for?" Emma asked wondering what her little girl was up too. She used to have this problem all the time when Vada was around the age of 5. She would always get into her paperwork whenever she was playing "mommy" trying to be like Emma. She would find crayon markings all over her things. Emma doubted Vada even knew what she did at work. Which was good.

8 years ago

Emma and Lilly had been in New York for a month now. Emma was lucky enough to find a job as a bartender, Lilly, not so much. Lilly had three jobs so far during their time in New York. And she either quit, or was fired. Emma didn't know what her problem was. They were going half N half on the rent, which wasn't too bad. A two bed room apartment on the shitty side of town wasn't that much a month. Emma was just glad that she no longer had to sleep in the woman's shelter. As for her baby, she was dying to know what she was having. Emma was still a little sad that she wasn't even showing yet. She now had a new ultra sound and it joined the other in her wallet. The picture of her baby, still kept her going. The baby was bigger now. Bigger than a Lima bean that's for sure. Emma still didn't think that the baby looked like a baby yet. She was excited and nervous at the same time.

"Lilly" Emma interrupted yet another one of Lilly's rants about her ex boyfriend. The guy was long gone, but Lilly still brought him up almost every hour of every day. "I think that I am going to go back to school and get my high school diploma. I know that this school year is almost over, but maybe I could take some classes at the local college"

Lilly laughed. "What do you need school for Emma. Look at us. Here we are, you are 17, I am 18 and we have...you have a job, and we have our own apartment and everything. What do you need a high school diploma for?" Lilly asked rolling her eyes.

"I don't want my son or my daughter to have a mother who didn't even finish high school. What kind of example am I setting?" Emma asked.

Lilly shrugged. "Hmmm...you may be right Em. I hear that if a child has two dumb parents, they are most likely to grow up stupid"

Emma rolled her eyes. Sometimes she wondered about Lilly.

"So Emma, that begs the question...is the little one's donor smart, or stupid?"

Regina...Regina was really smart. She was a mayor after all, but then again, she made herself the mayor with the curse, but before that she was queen, of an entire kingdom, she might as well had been the president. Thinking about Regina made Emma sad. She pulled out her wallet thoughtlessly.

"Oh damn, it's that bad huh?" Lilly questioned.

Emma looked up. "What?"

"When ever you are upset about something you look at the ultrasound. So whoever this donor was he must have been a total douche. But don't worry Em. You don't need him, not when you got me" Lilly states.

Sweet Emma thinks. But Lilly would never be a substitute for Regina. There would never be a substitute for Regina.