"You're Belle. Nose-stuck-in-a-book, friends with a candelabra, a tea cup and his mother a tea pot and clock Belle," Emma said as she stared in shock.

"Well… Rumpelstiltskin didn't have any talking objects in his house, but yes. I am Belle," the brunette replied with a shrug. "Although he did keep the chipped cup I broke my first night in his castle…"

Emma wasn't sure she wanted to know at this point. All she had wanted to do was graduate high school, think about college, and be with her parents and boyfriend. She hadn't wanted to break a curse or discover that her parents and the people in her town were characters in a storybook… and that she was a lost princess.

But still… at least her father had just been cursed instead of killed by that apple tart. Emma would always be grateful for that.

"Okay so… I broke a curse, which returned the memories of fairy tale characters to them. This town is filled with them… and you two knew this whole time?" Emma asked, staring at Neal and Ingrid, who were sitting on the couch in the small apartment. Her friends would be here soon she knew, but she wanted to get this straight in her head first.

"Why else would I have pushed you in front of a car, Emma? I wanted to see your magic working on something that wasn't a ridiculous claw game," Ingrid replied.

Emma stared at her. "I'm sorry, what? The only reason I won that teddy bear was because of magic?"

"You don't remember the burst of light that came out of the game just as you pressed the button to lower it down?" Ingrid asked.

Emma didn't respond to that as she looked at Neal. "And you?"

"My father is Rumpelstiltskin, also known as the Dark One. When I was thirteen years old, I wanted to get a fresh start in a land without magic, the thing that was corrupting him. But… when I found a way to this world, instead of coming with me he…" Neal cut off, and Emma could see the pain in his face. "He let me go. He dropped me down a portal to a world that I didn't know."

"This world…" Emma whispered.

"Yes. But… I wasn't here for very long at first. I sacrificed myself for the people that took me in, and went to Neverland. It's not what you think it is. At all. But then I managed to escape it and that's when I ended up in Chicago. I didn't have a name, social security number… nothing. So I lied and made up a whole new identity. I couldn't find a job because I didn't have any education so that's why… that's why I went to stealing. It was the only way I could figure out how to survive."

Emma could only stare as Neal told his heartbreaking tale. "So… what… what's your name?"

"Baelfire. The name I had back in the Enchanted Forest was Baelfire. That's why you'll hear my father call me 'Bae' sometimes."

That explained it.

"And you both knew the entire time that I was this savior?" she asked.

Neal and Ingrid nodded.

"Why didn't you guys tell me?" Emma asked, frowning at the two of them. She felt partially betrayed, but she supposed she couldn't be too angry she supposed. at least she was here, reunited with her family.

"You weren't exactly happy to see Ingrid when she first arrived to town, and to be fair, how would it sound if I told you that you were the savior to a bunch of fairy tale characters, and that Snow White and Prince Charming were your birth parents, and not two idiots who left you on the side of the road?" Neal questioned, shrugging casually.

She frowned a little. He was right. It would have sounded ridiculous.

"Okay. So now Mom wants me to enjoy the day like I haven't done all that," Emma said with a sigh.

"You don't have to do that if you feel uncomfortable with it, Emma. When people start showing up I'll tell them to head back home…" Neal offered with a small frown.

Looking up, Emma could only smile a little. "Really?"

Neal nodded.

"Thanks Neal…"

He reached for her hand, and she let him take it, squeezing it gently. "You aren't going to go through this alone, Emma."

A knock broke her from her thoughts. Taking a deep breath, Emma opened it to find Sierra and Victoria standing there.

"Oh Emma! We're so glad you're okay! We weren't sure what happened when we got all our memories back!" Sierra said with a large sigh of relief.

"Uh. About that," Emma said, pulling out of the hug Victoria had pulled her into. "It broke… because of me."

Sierra stared, and Emma could see a subtle change in her face, like she'd done with her mother. It must have been her fairy tale persona shining through.

"You're Snow's daughter."

Emma could only nod, dumbfounded.

"Oh – I'm sorry, I'm sure this is all really overwhelming for you. My husband's parents sent troops to help her when she was fighting Queen Regina and King George."

"Husband? You're married?" Emma asked, eyes widening.

"Mhm. His name is Naveen. He wanted to come with me but he's also trying to track down our subjects."

Royalty talk was all a foreign language to Emma, so she simply nodded as if she understood. "So… what's your name then?"

"Tiana. And Charlotte," she added, gesturing to the blonde.

"Charlotte La Bouff at your service!" Charlotte chirped.

"Okay.." Emma said. "What story are you from then?"

"Oh…" Sierra – Tiana, whatever her name was – said, frowning a little as she tried to think. "I guess it'd be The Princess and the Frog. But the story here is about as right as the story of your parents. Lost cut out and missing. And that's not important anyhow, Emma. What is important is that you're safe."

"Yeah, for one, they're missing the most important person of all. Me," Victoria – Charlotte – whatever it was – said with a wide smile.

Emma returned the smile. "How could someone leave you out of a story?" she said with a laugh, slowly relaxing. It seemed that just because they were fairy tale characters, things didn't have to change with their relationship.

"Exactly! See Tia? I knew Emma would understand!" Charlotte said, ribbing Tiana with a wide grin.

"That's because she doesn't know the full story, Lotte," Tiana shot back as she dropped into a chair, before her face turned into a small frown. "It's weird to think that if there hadn't been a curse, I would be closer to your mom's age than yours."

"Don't remind me," Emma said with a small smile.

"Are you doing alright Emma? I'm sure this is all a huge change for you," Tiana said. "I mean, everyone's trying to find their loved ones and we're all… fairy tale characters."

Emma exhaled a little and nodded a little. "Yeah, I'm okay," she said. "You're right, it's a huge change, especially considering how quickly it's all happened but… I'm okay. I have my parents, I have Neal. I have you guys. And I mean… it's nice to know that my parents didn't dump me on the side of the road because they didn't want me. They did, but a curse was going to rip us apart anyway… they did what they thought was best."

"That probably saved your life…" Charlotte said. "Who knows what Regina would do to you. She hated Snow so badly. Even I was a victim of her cruelty."

"You what?!" Tiana asked.

"Why do you think I wasn't wiring to you after I left Orleans, Tia? Regina kidnapped me, but I was broken out before the curse hit."

"Kidnapped?"

Charlotte nodded. "And I wasn't the only one. There was another girl there. Her name was Belle. We were both saved by a man named Killian Jones."

"Jones. Jones was the one that helped you?" Neal suddenly said from the couch. When Emma caught his gaze, his normally calm eyes were wide with a mix of rage and fear, and she could see his chest rising and falling as his breathing increased.

"Well… yeah. It was so sweet of him to break us out of there."

Neal seemed to get pale, something that had Emma alarmed.

"Neal, what's wrong?"

"I just… I need to take a walk by myself. I'll be back later Emma, I promise."

Emma could only stare as he walked out the door.

Hook was here. Hook was here.

Though Neal knew he was over 300 years old, the pain of what Hook had done to him was still fresh in his mind. It was all Hook's fault that his mother was dead. Hook had sold him out to Pan. Hook had prevented him from being able to get out of Neverland until six years ago.

Now Hook was back here, and it sent fear and anger down Neal's spine.

He didn't know where to find him, but Neal had a feeling that he would be near water, so he made his way down to the docks.

"Can I help you, lad?"

The voice sent chills down his spine. Neal spun on his heels, locking eyes with the man who had ruined his life. Hook (although he was lacking a hook and had an actual prosthetic hand in this world) was looking at him in confusion.

"You haven't changed a bit," Neal replied with a scowl.

Hook frowned, his eyes searching for a hint, a whisper, of familiarity in Neal's face. "Sorry, do I know you?"

Neal stood tall, fists clenched much like they were all those years ago when Hook sold him to a demon who refused to grow up. "Name's Neal. But I used to be called Baelfire."

Realization seemed to strike then, and Hook's blue eyes widened with horror.

"Baelfire. You're alive." Hook seemed genuinely amazed at this news, and Neal couldn't help but be slightly offended.

"I am. No thanks to you." He couldn't believe the son of a bitch was here.

"How? How did you escape Neverland? Pan never lets anyone off the island, you know that as well as I."

Neal scoffed. "I could ask the same of you. Or perhaps not considering you were Pan's lapdog after you sold me out to him. I wouldn't be surprised if you managed to worm your way out of Neverland."

"Baelfire, I know – "

"It's Neal."

He'd slowly warmed up to his father calling him Baelfire again, but he'd be damned if Hook was going to call him that.

Hook sighed. "Neal. I know I've made a mistake with you. But I've changed."

"Changed. How much can a pirate change? Saving women one time can't be the only good thing you do. Especially after you abandoned me. I am Milah's son. I thought you loved my mother. I thought you would have accepted me when my father didn't. But I was wrong, Hook. You left me to fend for myself for Pan of all people, after I said one bad thing when I was fourteen. I didn't think it could get any worse with what my father did, but where I ended up after my father dropped me down a portal was nothing compared to where I ended up after you sold me out to Pan. I swear to God if I see you around Emma, you're getting tossed in that water with a dumbbell attached to your ankle," Neal said.

He was grateful that his father's girlfriend was no longer locked up in some cage somewhere, but still, Hook saving her didn't mean anything to him.

"Neal… I know I messed up. Please, tell me what I can do it make it up to you."

"I don't know what you can do, Hook. Okay? Just show me personally that you've changed.'' He didn't know what that meant but…

"Whenever you figure out what that is, I want you to let me know, okay? Whatever it is, I'll do it and prove to you how much I've changed," Hook said with a sigh.

Neal could only shrug as he felt his cell phone beginning to go off. Emma's number. Heart sinking, he lifted the phone to his ear, hearing frantic chatter in the background before he could even speak.

"Emma, what's the matter?" he asked.

"No, it's not Emma. It's Tiana. But I'm calling about Emma."

His heart stopped. Someone else using Emma's phone while there was chaos in the background could not be a good thing. He noticed a look of alarm on Hook's face, but he ignored it for the moment.

"What's the matter? Where's Emma?" he asked, his own voice taking on a worried tone.

"She's in the bathroom. Ingrid is with her. She got sick almost as soon as you left, but she hasn't really gotten better. Charlotte ran to the store to get her some medication but she wanted me to call you to let you know what had happened."

"Did you call her parents?" he asked with a frown.

"Yes. They're on their way."

"Okay. Okay. I'll be there soon."

"We'll see you soon. Bye."

Neal hung up the phone with shaking hands. How could Emma have gotten so sick so quickly? It didn't make any sense to him.

"Let me give you a ride to where this Emma lives. You're in no condition to drive yourself," Hook said quietly.

"I didn't drive here. I walked," Neal replied, not looking at him.

"Regardless, Neal. Let me drive you. Driving is much faster than walking."

Neal exhaled, shaking a little. The thought of Emma being ill was something that scared him, but the thought of Hook being anywhere near her scared him too. Still… what choice did he have at this point?

"Fine. Where's your car?"

Hook led him to the car, and in what felt like an instant, they were back at Emma's parents apartment. Neal saw the shadows of her parents rushing up the stairs, and quickly followed. He didn't care that he could hear Hook behind him.

When he burst into the apartment, he saw Ingrid, looking a little pale, and Belle standing next to Tiana and Charlotte, all three of whom looked worried.

"Emma, what happened?" he could hear Snow ask from the loft bedroom.

"I… I want Neal first," Emma's small voice came from the bed.

"I'm here, Emma," he said as he rushed upstairs, spotting Snow rubbing Emma's hair, Charming standing dutifully next to the bed.

Neal rushed over to the bed and sat next to her, taking her hand in his. "Oh Emma… what is it? What's wrong?"

"I… I'm pregnant."

Neal went white.