Chapter 7
David was getting ready for his date. "I mean it Emma. You need to stay here. I don't want you going anywhere."
Emma rolled her eyes. "Dad. We've been here for three days and Regina hasn't made herself known to us." David gave her a stern look. "Fine. Geez, I was just saying."
David smiled at her. "Good." He nodded. "Tomorrow, we move our things into the new house. I'll be waking you up at around 9."
Emma snorted. "Good luck with that."
David rolled his eyes and came out of the bathroom. "Yeah, yeah. I'm about ready to go. Are you sure you'll be okay on your own?"
It was Emma's turn to roll her eyes. "Remind me dad, how old am I?" He gave her an amused look. "I will be fine. I promise. I have my inhaler and I don't plan on going anywhere."
He came over and kissed the top of her head. "I love you princess. Bye." And with that, he left.
Emma had been sitting in the room, watching TV for about half an hour when there was a light knock on the door. Curious, Emma went over and opened the door, only to find a 7 year old girl with a bright smile on her face waiting for her.
"Hi! You're Emma, right?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Maybe. Who are you?"
"I'm Angel Taylor! And I'm coming in!" She pushed her way inside.
Emma stared at the little girl with wide eyes. "Whoa. Kid. What are you doing?"
"I'm telling you a story!" She took Emma's hand and dragged her over to the couch. "As you already know, all these stories are true!"
Emma slowly picked the book up and stared at it with wide eyes. "Whoa… kid, where did you get this?"
"Our mom volunteers at the orphanage and she gave it to me a few months ago."
Emma's heart broke for this little girl, she was a foster kid… wait. Did she just say our mom? "Our mom?"
The girl nodded eagerly and flipped to the end of the book.
17 years ago…
Snow White had just given birth to her daughter Emma and sent her husband Charming off to send her through the magical wardrobe. She was laying there and she was in pain, obviously. "Snow-" Doc started.
"Doc, I'm sorry. Whatever it is, it has to wait until the curse is broken. I need to check on Charming." And before he could protest, she was limping towards the nursery. She saw her husband lying lifeless on the floor. "No." She went over and tried kissing him awake. "No, no, no! Charming!"
"That won't work dear." Regina taunting. "Don't fret. Where we're going, you won't even know him, let alone mourne him!"
It was then that Snow had a… contraction? But she already gave birth to her child. She let out a loud, ear-piercing scream.
Curious, Regina froze everything around them, including the curse and with a wave of her hand, put her step-daughter to sleep. She examined her and was shocked. Twins? She was able to birth the baby, without waking Snow. "If the curse ever breaks, dear Snow," She started, holding the crying infant in her arms. "You shall never be reunited with your other daughter."
Although, she couldn't help but name the child something she knew Snow would love. Angel Eva. She knew that the curse would provide her with a surname. Although, she knew that she couldn't keep this child along with her son Daniel Jr. She had found out about her pregnancy just after her beloved Daniel's death, but hid him away to make sure her mother never found out.
Present Time…
"Oh. My. God." She has a sister? "This is… a lot. You're my sister?"
Angel nodded eagerly. "I only wish I could stay here. I know I can't, but I wish I could. The sisters are nice and all, but… I still hate it at the orphanage. Do you think our dad will still want me?"
"Of course he will!" She could sense that Angel wasn't convinced. "You know, I thought the same thing when I was little." Angel just looked confused. "I was in foster care since I was a little baby, but our dad found me when I was 10."
"So he did escape the curse?" Angel questioned. "I still don't understand how I'm getting older. No one else does." She shrugged.
Emma smiled. "I think I have a hunch." The little girl looked at her expectantly. She explained the story of their parents waking up from the curse just over seven years ago with pixie dust and whatnot, eventually she got to the part where Snow sacrificed the chance to see her daughter grow up and stayed, but David didn't. "So, what I'm thinking is, when they were awake, it somehow weakened the curse and in turn either weakened or broke your curse. Are you still with me?" She asked the young girl.
"I think. So, seven years ago, fairy magic woke our parents and woke me? Even though I wasn't anywhere near them?"
Emma nodded with a smile. "True love works in many ways Angel."
"Can you walk me home?"
Emma looked at the clock and saw that her dad shouldn't be there for another hour or so. "Sure kid." She lifted the storybook up. "Can I keep this? To explain everything to our dad?"
"Yeah. Of course!" She walked her sister to the orphanage reluctantly. "Okay. We're here." Angel said sadly.
"I know." Emma sighed. "I'm sorry kid, I wish you could stay with us." The little girl merely shrugged her shoulders. "Soon though. I promise. I'll tell dad tonight. Then he'll try to get custody soon. It'll be hard because of Regina, but dad doesn't give up, especially on his kids."
Angel hugged Emma, surprising even herself. "Thank you Emma."
She started walking away, but Emma stopped her, she knew what orphanages were like, they were overcrowded and not everyone was treated the same. "Wait, kid." Angel turned around with her big innocent eyes. "They feed you here right? 3 meals a day? They treat you right?"
Angel nodded. "Mostly. If I get in trouble, Astra usually sneaks me up some food if she can. She says I can just call her Astra when it's just us, but when Mother Superior or the others are around, I have to call her Sister Astra." She informed Emma. Angel noticed how worried Emma looked and she couldn't help but smile. "I'll be okay Emma. I promise."
She watched as her sister went through the alleyway and climbed into the first floor window. She sighed, she knows what it's like and it sucks. She's just about to head home when she hears her father's voice, like directly behind her. "Emma?"
She froze. Crap. Crap. Crap. She was supposed to stay at the Inn. She slowly turned around with a sheepish, yet charming smile on her face. "Hi…" He looked like he was going to explode, but he kept his cool in front of his date. "Look dad, it's not my fault! I had to walk Angel home. It's dark. I couldn't let a seven year old girl walk home by herself."
"Angel?" Mary Margaret questioned. "Angel Taylor?" Emma nodded. "She must have snuck out. She's been telling everyone that'll listen of her theory. Did she rope you in too?"
Emma nodded. "Uh-huh." She turned to her dad. "Sorry? I'll just, uh.. Leave now. Bye dad. Bye Mary Margaret."
She went home and about 10 minutes later David walked through the door and Emma was sleeping on her bed with the book in hand. The sound of the door closing woke Emma. "Hey Em. It's okay. You can go back to sleep princess."
Emma shook her head. "No. I have to show you. Sit down." He obliged as she showed him the storybook with stories about everyone from Storybrooke.
"Rumple must have created it with the curse. Wow."
Emma smiled. "Just wait dad." She turned to the last few pages of the book. "Read this. It's the most important part."
As he was reading she saw his face pale. He was fuming. "I'm going to kill her." He slammed the book shut. "Not only did she cause me to miss out on the first 10 years of your life, but now I learn that she caused me to miss out on 7 years of Angel's life?" He sighed and took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Snow's always loves the name Angel, you know."
Emma hugged her father. "How are we gonna get her out of there. She hates it. It's not like you can just declare that you're her dad and take her."
An idea came to David. "I have an idea." He declared. "We have to get her to publicly insist that I'm her father and I'll offer a DNA test to prove her wrong, but really, I'll be proving her right. I'll tell them I had no clue of her existence- which I didn't- and tell them that I want custody."
Emma smiled. "Mary Margaret said she's been telling everyone about her theory- which is the whole curse thing- so, I'll ask her to say something at like Granny's about you being her father because of the curse! It has to work dad!"
XXX
The next day was a really busy day, a sinkhole created by old mines appeared in town, but David, of course, made time for his girls today.
Emma and David were sitting at Granny's for dinner, Emma had told Angel about the plan earlier that day. Angel ran in nervously, she was pretty nervous about meeting her father. "Uh… Mr. Nolan?"
"Yeah?" He said nonchalantly.
She scratched behind her ear. "I'm your daughter!" She blurted out.
He didn't expect for it to come out so bluntly, he nearly choked on his coffee. "Pardon?"
"It's in the book!" She insisted.
At this point, everyone in the diner was staring at them, including Regina. "Tell you what kid. I'll prove it to you. We can take a test and prove it." He said after his little act of playing dumb.
Regina's eyes widened in anger, she quickly made her way over. "I hardly think that that's appropriate deputy! It'll only encourage her delusions."
Angel looked genuinely hurt by Regina's words. "Leave her alone." Emma said, not even thinking about what Regina would think. "She's seven. She's allowed to have an imagination."
"It couldn't possibly hurt anything, Madam Mayor. What's the problem?"
She gritted her teeth. "Nothing, it seems."
XXX
After the scene at the diner, Regina was livid. She went to go see Dr. Hopper, to tell him to break down the poor girl's spirits. "Dr. Hopper!"
"Ah. Madam Mayor! What can I do for you?"
Regina rolled her eyes at the doctor's enthusiasm. "I want you getting those delusions out of that child's head. I am paying for her sessions out-of-pocket! I refuse to have her parading around town, spewing off her fairytale nonsense." She could see that he was about to object. "Keep in mind Dr. Hopper, I can ruin you, and I don't have one problem doing it."
XXX
"Can you walk me to see Archie?" Angel asked Emma shyly.
Emma tilted her head in confusion. "Isn't Archie the therapist?" Angel nodded. "Why are you seeing him? I doubt you'll be sent to therapy for having an active imagination at 7."
"Astra says that Regina insisted it, so Mother Superior agreed and Regina pays Archie lots of money to see me everyday. Archie doesn't believe me, but he doesn't call me crazy like Regina."
Emma knelt down so she and her sister were eye level. "Don't listen to her kid. You're not crazy. Later today, we'll get that blood test done and we'll get this all sorted out." They began walking together to the office of Archibald Hopper. They'd been walking for a while so Emma was running out of breath. She pulled her inhaler out of he pocket and took a few puffs.
Angel stared at her with curious eyes. "What's that?"
Emma shoved the inhaler back into her pocket. "That, little sister, is an inhaler. Sometimes I have a hard time breathing, I need it to help me. It's my medicine."
"But why?"
She sighed. "Well, when I was born, I was sent through the wardrobe, but it was really cold outside. I was out there all alone for about an hour or so, plus I was born early, it sort of messed with my breathing. But, that's what the inhaler is for. It helps me breathe."
Angel hugged Emma. "Oh. Well, I have to go see Archie now, Emma. Bye."
"Bye kid. Things will be okay soon. I promise. You'll be with dad and I, in no time."
Angel smiled. "And by the way. We're twins. We were born on the same day, you're only like a few minutes older than me." She said and walked into her therapists office.
She saw him talking to Marco, AKA Gepetto. "Hey Archie. Are you recruiting Gepetto for Operation cobra?"
Marco took that as his cue to leave. "You think Marco's Gepetto?"
"Sure. He's Jiminy's best friend, and he's yours."
Archie sighed. "Angel. Angel, we really need to talk about this."
"I know that you don't totally believe, but I have a plan." She insisted and pulled her book bag of of her bag and opened it.
Archie viewed the objects inside. "What is this? A flashlight? Candy bars?" Then he realized what the child was up to. "Wait, Angel. Angel, you don't want to go down there."
"Emma's here. My sister. And my dad. They're here. Stuff's happening. I have to look at it."
He sighed, he did not want to do this. "Angel. Stop. Stop. There's no proof. Look at all this. It's all a delusion. Do you know what a delusion is?"
Angel looked down. "Yeah."
"It's something that's not real. And... and not healthy. And... and I thought you'd outgrow this but Angel, it's seem to have turned into a psychosis." He sighed, he was breaking her heart, he saw the tears pouring down her face. "Do you know what this is?" He continued. "It's when you can't tell if something's real or not. If this continues… Angel, I don't want to have to, but I might have to lock you away. Angel, look. This has to stop, for your own good. You have to wake up. This nonsense must end."
And just like that, Angel picked her bag up and ran out of his office and straight to the B&B to see her father and sister. She rapidly knocked on the door.
XXX
David and Emma were getting their things together, ready to go to their new home, when the heard an urgent knock on the door.
David answered it and saw his seven year old daughter crying. "Angel? Come in kiddo."
The sobs caught Emma's attention immediately. "What happened Ang?"
She sniffed. "Archie said delusions, like Regina said." Hiccup. "And he said psycho- something." Hiccup. "He said nonsense too." Hiccup. "Then.. then he said- he said he has to lock me up if I don't stop." Hiccup. "He's- he's supposed to be the only one," hiccup. "Besides you guys," hiccup. "That think I'm not crazy."
David was fuming, he knows it was because of Regina, but… just wow. You don't say those kinds of things to a 7-year old girl. He didn't think twice when he brought the crying girl into his arms, while Emma was rubbing circles into her back.
Emma subtly stopped rubbing the circles into Angel's back and quietly made her way out of the inn and to Archie's office. "Archie! Archie!" She yelled, entering the room. "What's your problem dude? She's seven, she's allowed to have a damn imagination!"
"When a course of therapy stops working, you adjust it."
Emma scoffed. "Yeah right. It was her, wasn't it? Regina made you do it. What could she have possibly said to cause you to say something like that to a child?"
"I do not need to defend my professional decisions to you, okay? You're just a child yourself. Where is your father?"
As if on cue her phone started ringing. She groaned. "Hello? What do you mean? No. I don't know where she is dad."
Archie sighed. "I think I do."
XXX
Angel noticed Emma sneaking past their father, but decided to wait until it would work for her. "Where'd she go?" Angel asked, looking around the room.
David groaned. She's doing what he had planned on doing. "Probably off to see Archie. Let's go find her."
"Actually, uh… you go. I have to get back to the orphanage. Bye David."
About 10 minutes later, he called Mother Superior to make sure that she got there safely, he didn't know what to think, so he called Emma.
"Hello?"
David sighed, at least he knew one of his children were safe. "Emma! Angel, she… I can't find her!"
"What do you mean?" Came a worried response.
"She said she was going back to the orphanage, then Astra called and asked if she was with me. Is she with you? Do you know where she is?"
He could hear her breath quickening. "No. I don't know where she is dad."
Then he heard a faint. "I think I do."
"Dad. I'll call you back."
XXX
Within the hour, the three were outside the sinkhole. "Angel! Angel!"
"She's gone in." Archie realised, then Emma ran in. Before David could go after them, it caved in, trapping both his daughter's in. This was bad, really bad. He knows that Emma's been using her inhaler a lot more than she has before, so she- no doubt- was running low. He doesn't even know how Angel acts when she's scared. This is bad. His daughter's are in danger and there's nothing he could do about it.
It took about two hours, but they finally found a way in, through an air shaft. He was lowered down and carried both his girls up, worry filling his heart, when he realised how little of medication Emma had left in her inhaler. "Are you guys okay?" He asked when they were alone.
"I'm fine." Both girls said in unison. David shot them both an unamused look. "That may have been cute, but you're not okay. Neither of you."
XXX
David reluctantly took Angel back to the home, the results would be in tomorrow, then he could bring her home. He took Emma to the pharmacy to get a new supply of inhalers. Then finally, they went to the inn and gathered their things, and- at last- took them to the farmhouse.
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