AN: Hey everyone. I'm sorry it has been so long. Grad school is a time consuming beast, but now it's break so hopefully more updates. So while I have been gone for quite sometime, this picks up a day or two after the last chapter. We are getting into the good stuff, only a handful (5-6) chapters left, I think. So enjoy. Happy holidays and happy reading.

Emma sat on her bed, propped against the headboard with a book in her lap. Kate was sprawled across the middle, her feet just dangling over the edge as she lay on her stomach, the storybook in front of her. The morning had been quiet, especially since Noah had offered to show his new best friend Neal his favorite spots in town. Each time she flipped a page in her book she could hear Kate do the same with hers. It was the only bit of noise in the room until Kate spoke up.

"Do you think giants are bigger than ogres?"

"What?" Emma asked back, trying to take in the question that seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Giants or ogres, which do you think are bigger?" she asked again, still looking down at the open pages in front of her.

"Umm having never seen either one I'm not sure, but I would think giants."

"Me too," Kate said nodding.

Emma smirked as her sister seemed pleased with the answer and she went back to reading, but only for a few moments before she was presented another question.

"If you had to choose between a bow and arrow or a sword, which one would you take?"

Before she answered, Emma mulled it over. They were both interesting and awesome and she knew she would love to learn how to use either of them.

"Both," Emma replied.

Kate laughed softly. "I knew you were going to say that."

"Oh you did; well why did you ask then?" Emma said back playfully.

"I just had to check," was her reply and Emma could tell there was more to that question than she knew about.

The comfortable silence fell back between them along with the regular rhythm of pages turning and Kate's feet kicking.

"Hey Emma?"

"Yeah," Emma responded, not looking up this time as her eyes continued to race over each word. She had forgotten how curious Kate was. How many questions she tended to ask. When she wasn't met with anything Emma looked up to see Kate had turned to face her completely, her eyes soft and wide.

"Kate what is it?" she asked coaxingly.

The little girl stayed quiet a moment longer, gathering all that she wanted to say.

"Are Mom and Dad ever coming back?"

Emma took in a deep breath. They had gone over this before, back when Kate still wasn't speaking, but she knew her sister had understood then. Just like she still understood now.

"Kate, you already know the answer to that," Emma said softly.

Kate just nodded and dropped her eyes slightly so they fell to a set of photos on Emma's bedside table. Both captured the smiling faces of five people. In one it was the three of them and their parents, and the other was of them with Mary Margaret and David. Emma followed her gaze and remained quiet, knowing there was more Kate wanted to say.

"I think Mom and Dad were really good friends with Mary Margaret and David," Kate said looking back up.

A grin grew on Emma's face as she thought about how similar they were to her parents, "Me too."

"So do you think… do you think Mom and Dad would be okay with it if we called Mary Margaret and David that? Mom and Dad?" she asked.

Emma stayed silent as she processed the question. It caught her off guard and she could have never anticipated this was where the conversation would have headed based off of Kate's initial questions. Multiple times she had wondered the same thing, and each time she came up with the same answer. Yes, they would be okay with it. Her parents would have loved that they had two people special enough in their lives to also hold those titles.

"Emma?" Kate asked, getting her sister's attention once again.

"I know they would be okay with it," she started. "I also know that Mary Margaret and David would love it if you or Noah wanted to call them that."

A giant smile grew on Kate's face but a moment later she scrunched it slightly as she picked up on the omission in her sister's answer.

"What about you? Don't you want to call them that?"

Emma looked into Kate's curious, brown eyes. She knew Kate was going to pick up on her choice of words. Knew she would want an explanation even though Emma really didn't have a good one besides she simply was afraid to. An invisible hurdle that kept her from actually doing it. She thought about what it would feel like and how Mary Margaret and David would react. She herself had considered calling them that weeks before, but there was always this feeling she got whenever she came close, one that she couldn't shake off. She had already lost a set of parents and been given away by another, she knew it was irrational, but every person those titles had belonged to were somehow gone from her life, and she was afraid to call Mary Margaret and David that because she didn't want lose them too.

"Maybe someday," she finally answered.

"But they're your parents," Kate explained, clearly unhappy with her reason.

"They are all of our parents," she said.

"No, that's not what I mean," Kate replied with a small huff.

Emma waited for more of an explanation, clearly confused by the vague and somewhat cryptic reply, but Kate flipped back to her stomach and gave all her attention back to the pictures of the book. As much as she wanted to get back to her own book as well, Emma's thoughts had started to run in all different directions, and she couldn't get back into the story. Lost in thought she barely heard her sister.

"You look funny as a baby Emma," Kate said with a giggle.

"Hmm," Emma replied, once again confused by another of Kate's statements.

"As a baby, your face is scrunched."

Emma tried to look over Kate's shoulder to see if there was some photo she was looking at, but could only see the illustrations on the pages of Kate's book.

"How do you know what I looked like back then?" she asked, honestly intrigued.

"You're in this book," Kate answered matter of factly. Pointing to the picture as she did.

Emma let out a small breath. It didn't matter that she had pretty much given up looking into her past, any time she thought she may have stumbled onto something, her heart stopped. And it just then. Just for a split second when she thought her sister may have discovered something she hadn't.

Kate scooted closer and placed the book across their laps. Emma looked closely at the page. It was a beautiful illustration of a baby in the arms of a young couple. The woman's long, black hair partially falling into her face as she looked downward. The man had his arms wrapped around the both of them as if protecting the two things that mattered the most to him.

"That's me?"

Kate nodded.

"And those are my parents?" she asked.

"Yeah. Snow White and Prince Charming."

Emma could see that Kate was serious about her theory. Of all the possibilities and scenarios she had run through her mind, fairytale characters being her biological parents had never been one of them. There was an obvious difference between the tales in Kate's book and what she had in her mind. Emma had read some of the stories and enjoyed the twists they held, but hadn't gotten far enough to read that Snow White and Prince Charming had a kid.

"Hmm. You're sure?" she asked, convinced it was all make believe and coincidence, but wanting to show her sister interest.

"Yeah. Every character in this book is real. Every story actually happened. And Snow White and Prince Charming are your parents."

"Well, if I'm in that book, how is it that I'm here?"

Kate glanced up, an expression of disbelief on her face that Emma didn't already know this.

"The evil queen cast a curse and sent everyone away from the Enchanted Forrest to ruin their happy endings," she started to explain, pausing only to flip a couple of pages. She stopped and pointed to a picture of purple smoke engulfing a castle. "See."

Emma looked at the picture. "So if she sent them all away, where did they all end up?"

"Here, in Storybrooke. But none of them can remember who they really are. They are all stuck here while the evil queen watches and makes sure no one gets a happy ending."

"And who is the evil queen?"

"The mayor," Kate answered softly.

Emma held back a chuckle. She could see where Kate could draw similarities. The woman was a little scary, often with a stern look across her face. And she could be harsh with people, but by no means did that make her an evil queen. However, in the back of her mind, Emma still held on to the memory of that secret room filled with odd items and a darkness, which was enough to keep her uneasy.

"Please tell me you've never called her that," Emma joked, yet was slightly serious because she could see Kate letting something like that slip out.

Kate shook her head fervently, "You can't say anything either. It would let her know we were on to her. Promise?"

"I promise," Emma replied, much to Kate's relief.

She watched her sister flip a few pages ahead and wondered how many characters Kate had assigned to the people of this little town. It was true that she hadn't actually seen anyone ever leave. Not for vacation or to head into the city for something they needed. And she, Noah, and Kate were the only ones to enter Storybrooke and stay for an extended period of time. Well, and now Neal.

"So Kate," she spoke up. "If everyone is supposed to be stuck here, how come I wasn't?"

The little girl mulled the question over and Emma prepared herself for an elaborately thought out answer. And she was partly shocked by the simple one she received.

"I'm not sure yet," she began. "Maybe you were meant to bring us back with you."

Emma tossed the idea around in her head. It was crazy. This all was crazy, and yet she couldn't cast any of it aside as easily as she initially planned. She thought about it a little further in depth. Her siblings hadn't even been born yet when this supposed curse had been cast, a theory she had not yet been convinced of but seemed to be getting steadily closer to doing so. How could a plan revolve around something that hadn't happened yet? That there was no absolute certainty of ever happening?

The only other people that had arrived in Storybrooke with her were Jean, who Emma was positive wasn't a part of anything, and Neal. Emma stopped at the thought. Neal. He had been adopted too, with little information on his past as well, and had been the person to actually get them back here after she had reached out. It couldn't all be possible somehow, could it?

"Kate, does anyone in that book look like Neal?"

Without hesitation Kate shook her head. "Neal is from the city; he can't be part of the book. No one else can leave Storybrooke."

"Right," Emma replied having forgotten that part. And as the word left her lips she began to shake her head. How had she let herself get so caught up? Let the idea run as wild as it had? She needed to let Kate know it was all just a story.

"Kate…" she started, but didn't get any farther as she watched Kate flip the page one more time and her eyes locked on a picture. "Snow White and Prince Charming," Emma said softly to herself.

She continued to watch as Kate traced her finger over their features and suddenly she was hit by a flash. Long stone corridors with torches to light it. Pattering of bare feet, her little bare feet. And then them. Snow White and Prince Charming, but as they raced to her she recognized them as someone else.

"Mary Margaret and David?" she said aloud, snapping out of wherever she had gone to.

Kate perked up at the mention of their names. "Do you remember?"

Emma shook her head to try and clear her thoughts. It wasn't possible. She couldn't deny she had remembered something, but it wasn't what Kate thought. The woman had had long hair and the man had some scruff to his face, not exactly what Mary Margaret and David looked like now. Although she could see there was some was some type of resemblance.

"Kate," she spoke up finally. "As much as I want to believe you…"

"You can't," Kate finished for her.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay if you don't believe now. You will."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because things are changing. Can't you feel it? Now that we're back people are happy again, and it's only a matter of time before the curse continues to crack and everyone remembers. You are going to make them remember. You'll see," she replied.

Emma sat there almost stunned by the answer. Kate had so much faith. Believed so much in this idea. Believed in her. And Emma wished she could do the same.

"I'm going to get a snack. Want to come?" she asked.

The question jostled Emma from her thoughts.

"Maybe a little later," she said.

"Okay," Kate said, scurrying off the bed and just before disappearing out into the hall Emma called out.

"Wait, Kate," she said, stopping the little girl in the doorway. She prepared herself to ask a question she was pretty sure she already knew the answer to. "Who are Snow White and Prince Charming here in Storybrooke?"

"Mary Margaret and David," Kate said with a big grin before skipping away to the kitchen.

Emma nodded and let the answer sink in. All of Kate's earlier questions beginning to make more sense. She reopened the book, as Kate had closed it on her way out, and aimlessly flipped through the pages. It was honestly crazy. Her supposed biological parents were downstairs, but couldn't remember who they were or that they were from a different world because the evil queen had cursed them, and she was somehow going to make everyone remember. It was something only a five-year old would think was possible, but as she continued to browse she could understand how Kate had drawn connections and once again found herself on the cusp of believing.

She searched for pages that focused on Snow White and Prince Charming. Lingering on them well after she had read the corresponding text that went with the pictures. Her focus went back and forth from comparing Snow White and Prince Charming to Mary Margaret and David, and as crazy as it sounded, comparing the little girl in the book to herself.

Finding that a majority of their story was towards the back of the book, Emma flipped through that section until she came across the last page. Instantly she could see that the book was unfinished, the story cut short. There was nothing after the purple cloud engulfed everyone. Nothing on what happened to the characters. None of usual happy endings fairytales normally have. She thought she understood why Kate had come up with her own theory, it had a much better ending. But upon further inspection, Emma noticed an alteration in the binding. She had been around her fair share of older books and recognized the reason the ending felt so abrupt was because there actually was more to the story.

And she found herself not only wondering what happened next, but why someone had gone through the trouble of making the book look like it ended where it did. Had the author changed their mind about the ending and simply removed it? Or maybe the book had been damaged before it became theirs? Whatever the reason, her attention had been captured, and as she ran her finger over the binding she felt a tingling, like gentle electricity, run through the tips of them.

I also just wanted to briefly say that the book in my story isn't exactly like the book in canon. There is no author, it kind of just writes itself because when I started this the author character hadn't been established yet and it doesn't really fit in my plan. Hope you liked the chapter.