I see that not a lot of you are interested in the Regina/Rose relationship. I'll keep that in mind. But I think you all will enjoy this chapter. There's definitely some family moments.

Emma threw down the material and let out a grunt of frustration. "I can't make you a hat! Look, I'm not crafty. You want someone beat up or how to cheat at card games, I'm your girl. I am not a crafty kid."

Jefferson slammed his hands down on the tabled, but by now Emma didn't flinch. She was fairly sure this wacko wasn't going to hurt her. "I have to get home!" he shouted at her. "Do you not understand! I have to take my daughter home!"

"I'm sorry," Emma replied with an irritable sight. "But I can't help you and my parents are going to be looking for me soon. Besides, I really don't think you need to add a second count of kidnapping to your record."

He lunged at her, landing with his hands on either side of the chair glaring. "She's my daughter. The queen cast a curse-"

"And sent all the fairy tale characters to this land. I know. My sister and I are suppose to break the curse, blah blah blah. Sorry, but I have no idea how to use magic to break the curse, much less make a hat!"

Jefferson spun around. "Sister?"

Emma could have slapped herself. Crap.

Suddenly he was off rambling, pacing back and forth as his sanity level seemed to dissipate. "Maybe their magic only works if they're together. So I get them together! Her parents would come looking for her.. Perhaps her sister too? They certainly wouldn't leave her alone... Probably with her mother..."

"No!" Emma snapped wishing her legs weren't still tied to the chair. "Give me a second." She picked up the material again and the scissors. "I can get this to work. Look, I'm making a hat."

But Jefferson just laughed madly, and not because she most certainly could not make a hat. "Nice try. But I think I'd better my chances with two saviors instead of one."

The chair was yanked back away from the table and into the room across the hall. When she struggled against him as he retied the restraints around her wrists, he pulled the gun out from the back of his pants and held it up for her to see. "We're not going to play this game again are we?"

"If you kill me, you'll never get back to your daughter," Emma countered, completely unafraid.

The man just laughed. "I wouldn't kill you. Gun are good for other things."

Emma raised her eyebrow. "Like wha-"

He swung the gun at the side of her head knocking her out cold. "Like sedation!" Again he laughed as he finished tying the restraints but left the gag out of her mouth. She wouldn't be making any sounds any time soon.

When David told her to stay at home when the girl didn't come home fairly quickly, Snow was angry. She argued that she was just as capable of searching for them as he was and that's exactly what she should be doing. Then he gave her one of his looks. The one that always told her that he must have been born with far more patience than she had, because he could put up with her spit fire moments quite well, and told her that someone needed to be at the apartment in case Rose or Emma did come home.

So she agreed. Not exactly happily, but still agreed. But now, she was thinking differently.

"Please, we have to go look for Emma," Rose begged looking out nervously at the dark sky.

"Rose, David and Graham are perfectly capable of finding her," Snow tried to reason, putting her own concerns aside to comfort her daughter. "Dare I say how many times your father found me? And Graham is a huntsmen. He's an excellent tracker."

But Rose was too anxious. She paced the floor, twirling her dark hair in front of her face as she thought. She looked like the fretting mother, and she was too young to turn grey. Finally, Snow had enough. She caught Rose's hand and pulled her toward the couch. "Why don't we talk?" she offered, watching as Rose visibly stiffened.

"What about?" Rose asked quickly from the other side of the couch.

"Anything," Snow replied easily, trying her best to smile when Rose seemed like she was on pins and needles just for being near her. "How's school going?"

"Fine," Rose said slowly, looking at her like she wasn't sure what she wanted to hear.

"Good... And do you like school?" Snow was not going to give up. She was going to hold a real conversation with her daughter.

"Sure..." Again, Rose seemed unsure of how to answer.

Snow sighed and gave her daughter a little smile. "You see, I don't really find this fair. You get a whole book about me and all I get is what I learned in the last couple months." Rose seemed to be loosening up the more Snow talked. Her shoulders relaxed from their stiff position and she was watching Snow with interest. "You know how your father and I met, you know about my mother and Regina, but you've tried really hard to keep your past a secret." Rose suddenly looked sad as she looked at her lap. Snow tilted her chin up and gave the girl one of her soft smiles. "But I know you hate cucumbers, which I can honestly say you get from your father, and you're a tough nut to crack, which you get from me. Don't tell your father I said that."

Rose laughed a little, and Snow noticed that she wasn't as far away. "We both like cinnamon in our hot chocolate," she offered making Snow smile.

"Which I can make for us while we wait on your father to come home with your sister," Snow offered. The smile on her daughter's face was an answer enough.

Giving Rose's leg a soft pat, Snow rose from the couch and headed into the kitchen. She worked in silence, not even noticing that Rose had followed her and made herself comfortable at the bar. She loved watching her mother. It was weird how some of the little things she did, the way she shifted weight between her feet when she was waiting for something or the way she would tilt her head when she was really listening. It was just like her and her sister...

It was true. Rose knew much more about her parent's past than they knew about hers and her sisters. They wanted to know more, and not so they could hurt them, but so they could help them. No other people in her life had ever looked at her the way her parents did. She was intimidated by what that meant at first, but she was beginning to learn that is was the most wonderful thing she had ever experienced.

"In the third grade I broke my wrist," Rose started slowly making Snow turn around and give her full attention to her. "Emma broke her collar bone the same year." She purposefully left out how exactly they happened and that they happened at the same time. "Emma's and my first kiss was with the same person, but I don't think she knows that I know that. In the first grade I got in trouble because I liked to take things home in my pockets, like frogs and the occasional garden snake. Emma got in trouble also because she put one of the garden snakes in our foster brothers bed."

Rose laughed at the memory and it made Snow chuckle as well. "She used to beat up anyone who made fun of my hearing aids even and as many times as I tried to tell her it really didn't bother me, she would just tell me that they weren't going to pick on her sister."

Those hazel eyes looked up at Snow and she gave her a thoughtful look. "Even before she knew that she was the older sister, she was the older sister. I always wanted to be as tough as her, but I'm not."

There was another pause as Rose searched her mind for something else to share, and suddenly her face turned a little red as a weak smile cracked on her lips. "And I never actually like Snow White, at least in the Disney movie. All she did was sing and clean, then she bit into an apple because the witch wanted to be 'the fairest of them all' and fell asleep. Then some stranger comes up, kisses a dead body and is dubbed Prince Charming. They totally screwed up the truth!"

Snow laughed lightly at Rose's enthusiasm. "And what is the truth?"

Rose gave her mother a look. "The truth is that Snow White was a badass princess who fought against the evil queen, who was actually trying to get revenge for what happened to her true love, and along the way Snow found her true love and they fought for each other. It's not really a story, more like an epic, but way better than the movie!"

She was so passionate and proud that it made Snow beam. Then Rose sat a little straighter and smiled a little bigger. "Plus, in this version, the sequel begins with me and Emma."

Snow refused to let her emotional side take over as tears burned in her eyes. "How's the story been so far?"

Rose's smiled faded slightly as she thought about the answer. "Not ideal. But then it's really starting to turn around." She looked into her hot chocolate Snow placed in front of her. "I really like that we have a mom and a dad, and I especially like that they're you."

She gave a shy smile and Snow wiped her eyes and held her own hot chocolate in her hands. "You know, you may not think you're as tough as Emma, but you sure can make me cry, Rose," Snow said with a chuckled as she and Rose moved to the couch. She was surprised when Rose curled right up against her. Snow ran her hands though Rose's dark hair as the hot chocolates sat on the coffee table. She press her nose into her hair and inhaled. "I love you, you know that?" she told her daughter as she rested her head on top of hers.

Rose nodded. "I really do, Mom."

Snow was barely able to hold back more tears as she pulled her daughter closer and closed her eyes. Suddenly she had another thought.

"Just out of curiosity," Snow began, leaning back a little to look at Rose. "Who was your favorite fairytale character?"

"Red Riding Hood," she replied simply rubbing her eyes and relaxing more into her mother.

Snow laughed lightly and rolled her eyes. "Of course. Red's going to love that. That's what I get for naming you after your Godmother."

Rose didn't respond only snuggled closer. Snow held her, finally getting to experience what it was like for her child to fall asleep in her arms.

David kept driving, his worry growing by the minute. They had searched everywhere in town and now patrolled the outer roads in the forest. Snow was probably sick with worry and Rose was maybe even worse. But he was going to find his daughter.

He kept driving until he saw a large estate far deeper in the woods than any homes that he had come across before. There was this feeling, one that he couldn't quite explain, but it made him park his car and go up to the door only to find it slightly crack open.

Giving it a little push, he looked inside. "Hello?" he called taking his first step onto the hardwood floors. "Hello?"

Emma's head a throbbing as she slowly came too. "Hello? Is anyone home?" At first she assumed it was her headache playing tricks on her. If you wanted to hear something so bad, you mind would tell let you think you were when you were just coming back into consciousness.

"Hello?" This time it was closer.

The voice brought Emma to attention much more quickly than she had been coming to on her own as she began to really hope it wasn't her imagination. Spots were dancing in her vision as she searched for words.

"Up here!" she screamed as loud as she could, panic mixing with relief as she instinctively pulled against her restraints.

"Hello?" the voice called again, this time closer and Emma recognized it.

"David! David, I'm up here!" Emma was now screaming as loud as she could get her dry throat to muster.

His heart was slamming into his chest as he heard the sound of his daughter's voice calling for him. She was terrified, and his heard broke at the sound but his legs moved faster up the steps.

"Emma? Where are you?" he called as he threw open the door to every room on his way.

"In here! I'm in here!" she cried. David threw open the door to see Emma sitting, tied to a chair and terrified tears running down her cheeks. Normally Emma came across as a small adult, but as she stared at them, she looked every bit of the little girl she really was.

David wasted no time untying the restraints, cutting them instead with a knife he had in his pocket. "He's looking for Rose. He said that two saviors were better than one and he wanted magic and for us to make him a hat..." Emma felt like she was rambling but she needed to tell him.

He could see the nasty bruise growing on her forehead and gently pushed her hair away to get a better look as she stood up. She stood just up to his chest and he just realized how tiny her body was as she shook. "Are you hurt, other than the bruise?" David asked looking down to see her bluish green eyes watching him.

She shook her head. "But Rose-"

"Rose is with your mother. I promise nothing is going to happen to her," David told his daughter softly.

The look on her face, the scared child look that seemed very alien to Emma's features, turned back into her strong stony expression. "I just want to go home," she said firmly, hating herself for the slight waver in her voice.

David nodded, but pulled Emma into him and held her close. She was stiff for a moment but then wrapped her arms around his torso and hugged him just as tightly. Her never let them see you cry rule had been broken days ago and now she had broken her second rule of "don't get too attached." Maybe it was time to get a little attached.

Jefferson stood in the hallway, the gun in his hand, but he made no motion to attack. He had saw the car going toward his home and ran back as fast as he could. But he couldn't do it. He could keep another father from his daughter.

When he two of them separated, Jefferson slid into one of the rooms, completely unnoticed as David walked his daughter down the steps and out to his truck. Emma acted completely unfazed by what had happened, but David noticed she kept glancing at him. He had called Graham and told him where he had found Emma and Graham assured David that they'd find the guy, and Snow sounded so relieved that she just asked David to bring her home.

As Emma hopped out of the truck and onto the side walk in front of their apartment, she looked over at David. "Thank you," she told him, somewhat awkwardly.

"Thank you?" he laughed. "For what?"

Emma shifted on her feet. "Well, for... what you did... ya know." She was trying very hard to sound brave.

David frowned a little and stepped in front of Emma to stop her from going anywhere. "I know you're not used to people caring or taking care of you, but your mother and I are here now and it's our job." When she looked down, he gently guided her eyes back up to his. "And I will always find you and your sister and your mother. Because I love you and we're a family."

He was surprised when Emma threw herself back into his stomach and held him tight. All she ever wanted was a family and now she had one. Her dad was standing right there and he loved her. He would protect her and save her no matter what... and she loved that feeling. This wasn't to say she was knocking down all her walls to let these two new people in, but she was slowly allowing them to remove the walls, brick by brick.

This was her family.

When she let go, she grinned at him before racing up the steps to the apartment. As she threw open the door, she was her mother standing there. Snow smiled at her but as just as surprised as her husband when Emma wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and held her. Snow made questioning eye contact over Emma's shoulder as she returned the hug. David just smiled.

"I'm glad your okay," Snow told her, running a hand down her long blond hair. "I'm glad you're home."

Emma smiled at her mother. "I'm glad to be home."

Before Snow could say anything else, Emma looked over at her sister sleeping on the couch. She leaned over the top of it, before completely hopping over and crashing down on her sister who gave a shocked yelp.

"Well, good morning," Emma teased.

"It's night actually. So good night," Rose yawned rubbing her eyes. When everything came into focus, she frowned at the bruise on her sister's head. "What happened?" she asked immediately poking it.

"Ow!" Emma swatted her hand away and rubbed the side of her face. She could tell Rose was still not actually awake so she leaned in closer. "I'll tell you if you get up."

"But I'm tired," Rose complained.

"Okay, Grumpy," Emma shot back with a knowing smile.

"I'm Sleepy," Rose groaned before she realized what she said. "Hey!"

Emma laughed and elbowed her sister in her side. "I'm Happy."

Rose yawned and scooted over just enough for her sister to fall in beside her. "Welcome to Snow White's apartment, Happy. I don't think I've seen you for years." The dark haired sister finally smiled. "I'm glad your home," she said more seriously.

Emma looked at her sister then glanced at her parents who were pretending to not pay attention. "That's why I'm Happy."