THE TIME IS DRAWING NEARER!

The moment you've all been waiting for is getting closer! I really truly hope it lives up to everyone's expectations. :)

Coming up in the next chapter is a little surprise. For one chapter, and one chapter only, you'll get to see things from another point of view! (Take a wild guess at who!) But for now, Mary Margaret is confused. Enjoy, and thanks for the continued love!

I left the shop in a daze, anxious and afraid. Henry, bless his little heart, was doing everything he could to make Emma believe, and I knew it was frustrating for him, his own mother not believing in him.

Yet he persevered, never wavered. And me? I was nothing but a coward. I'd spent so long "protecting" her from the truth that I had no idea how to finally let her in completely. We were so close, and yet she had no idea who her mother really was. How did this happen? How had twenty-nine years flown by so fast? I wanted more than anything for Emma to be five years old again so that I could wrap her in my arms and shield her from all the hurt.

I was so lost in thought and self-pity that I wasn't looking where I was going, and bumped into someone. I muttered an apology, moving to step around him, when his hands clutched my upper arms, warm even through my sweater and coat.

"Mary Margaret," he said in breathless surprise.

"David," I blinked up at him. He was the last person I wanted to see.

"Please, Mary Margaret, I'm sorry I…"

"David stop," I interrupted, holding up a hand. "This has to stop."

"But I…"

"I know, David, I know you're sorry but it doesn't change anything," I brushed past him.

"Mary Margaret, please listen."

I stopped and turned to him, showing him I was listening, however unwillingly.

My resolve wavered slightly at the hopeful smile on his face, but I pushed it back. "I was so wrong, about you, about me, about…everything. I didn't believe in you and I wish I had a good reason why it's just…it's like I keep making these wrong decisions and I just…you're the only thing that has made any sense since I woke up, Mary Margaret. I'm in love with you!"

I looked away, groaning inwardly. "David…"

He wouldn't let me finish. "Kathryn put a down payment on an apartment in Boston, she isn't going to use it. But I am."

My eyebrows raised, that hadn't been what I was expecting.

"Unless…" he continued in the same break, still with that smile. "Unless you can give me a reason to stay."

I shook my head sadly. In another life, maybe twenty years ago, he would have been just what I wanted. But unfortunately, he wasn't. "I can't," I said, hating the way his face fell. "You should find someone your own age, David."

I'd crushed him, I could tell, but it was for the best. I walked away then, hoping against hope that he really would go to Boston and I wouldn't have to see him again and feel the way I did then.

"What happened?"

I glanced down to find Henry at my side, jogging to catch up to me and looking up at me worriedly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Henry," I said unconvincingly. "Really."

"But why are you acting so mad at David?"

I shook my head. "It's nothing for you to worry about."

"But he's your Prince Charming!"

I chuckled derisively. "He's no one's Prince Charming, sweetheart."

Henry missed a step and frowned. "What are you talking about, Nana? Come on, you know he's cursed, it isn't his fault!"

I turned and faced him fully, smiling sadly. "Oh, the curse. Henry it's not…wait…why did you call me Nana?"

Henry's eyes widened, and my heart lurched when he looked like he might cry if he hadn't choked it back so resolutely. "You don't…Nana, don't you remember?"

"Remember what?" I spoke more softly, worried and confused as to why he was getting so upset.

"The curse! It's getting to you! Nana, you're Snow White!"

"Snow White…Henry I'm not…" I trailed off then gasped, straightening up and taking a staggering step back. "I'm…oh no…"

"Nana! What is it?"

I shook my head, trying to clear it, but it felt like it was being invaded by smog. My senses were dulling, my brain felt bogged down. "I am Snow White…" I whispered sharply. "I am Snow White…"

Henry took my arm and pulled me until we were in an alleyway. I was breathing heavily, near hyperventilation. "What's happening?" he asked, demanded really.

I hated to scare him more than I already had, but I knew well and good that hiding things from Henry Swan was a losing battle. "The curse is trying to claim me, Henry. I don't know how much longer I can stop it!"

"We have to break the curse! Now!"

I nodded. "Come on, let's go find your mom."

"Henry!" Paige ran up to us, gasping for breath, cheeks red from running. "Ms. Swan!"

"What's up?" Henry asked.

"Your mom," she said. "She was just at my house."

"What?" I placed my hand on the girl's shoulder. "Why was Emma at your house?"

"Talking to my mom," she explained. "I tried to listen in, but I couldn't hear much. They weren't yelling, but it sounded like they were making a deal. When she left, I snuck out so I could tell you."

An uneasy feeling gnawed its way into my gut, the same way it did when one of my children was in trouble. Mother's intuition. "Let's go," I said and we took off for home.

We found Emma there, thankfully, but she was pacing the floor anxiously. "Hey," she breathed, feigning casualness. Her eyes narrowed when Paige walked through the door. "Paige, what are you doing here?"

"Why were you talking to my mom?" Paige asked, evading the question.

Emma looked at me, and I dismissed the children up to Henry's room, where I had no doubt they would listen in. Not that it mattered this time.

"What's going on?"

"I'm leaving," she blurted, and it was the absolute last thing I expected her to say.

For a moment all I could do was open my mouth and shut it again, completely thrown. "Leaving? Emma, what…"

"I made a deal with Regina."

"A horrible idea, Emma-honey."

"Probably," she agreed. "But it was the only way to make her back off from you, from us. She has enough to bring down our whole family. She can have Grampa, and possibly you, thrown in prison for what he did for you."

I bowed my head guiltily. "If only I'd known the severity of what he was doing at the time."

"It isn't your fault. Mom, please, if there anything you can tell me that can help?" her eyes widened and she gestured widely. "Witness protection, is that it? Because that would make sense! I won't have to…"

I held up a hand to stop her. "I'm not in Witness Protection."

Her shoulder slumped. "I know, can't we just pretend you are?"

I chuckled humorlessly. "No, Emma, I can't pretend anymore. You deserve the whole truth this time."

I took a hesitant step toward her, then another, until I could rest my hands on her shoulders. "When did you get to be taller than me?" I murmured, and she smiled.

"Emma, honey, you know I love you, right?"

"Of course, Mama…"

"We just wanted you to have your best chance," I said, my heart thundering, my hands trembling slightly. "Maybe I made a mistake in not telling you sooner, but I just wanted you to have as normal a life as you could while you could."

Emma's eyes were wide and pleading, the way they looked when she just wanted her mom to wrap her in her arms and tell her everything would be okay. "Tell me what?"

I sighed. "Emma. We're not from here, sweetie. We're from…another land…"

Just like that, Emma's wall flew right up. "Another land, Mom? Seriously? Please don't tell me you're going to launch into Henry's ideas."

"They're true Emma," I said, giving her a gentle shake. "I know it's hard for you to grasp, I know that in the world we live in it makes no sense, but it's true. All of it! Regina cast a curse, a curse that was going to send us…"

Emma broke away, throwing up her hands, and I had a silly image in my head of her sticking her fingers in her ears and singing to block me out, but I followed her, speaking louder. "…To send us to a land without magic! As punishment for what I did to her! Rumplestiltskin told us…"

"Arrgh!" Emma growled. "Stop it! Mom, you're talking crazy!"

"I know, I know, Emma! Please, just listen! Rumplestiltskin told us that the only way to break the curse…"

"Stop! Please! Don't do this!" she was pacing like a caged animal, dying to escape the small apartment. I stood near the door in case she bolted.

"Damn it, Emma! How can you be so stubborn?! Henry has told you, August has told you, for God's sake Jefferson told you! Stop being a child and listen!" I hadn't meant to lose my temper, but I couldn't help it. "If I don't tell you this now, if you don't start believing, I may never get another chance!"

That got her attention and she looked at me at last. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I'm becoming cursed, too! If you don't break it soon, honey, I'll lose everything! Including you! Auggie will too, I know you couldn't see it but he's changing back, Emma! He's going to be a wooden puppet again and without magic in this land to keep him alive…"

Emma shook her head and her eyes blazed. From the corner of my eye I saw Henry and Paige sitting at the top of the stairs, holding hands.

"Emma, please believe me! I am Snow White!"

"NO!" she screamed, stopping and whirling on me so fast I almost thought for a moment that she wanted to hit me. "I don't believe you! I am so sorry if whatever happened to you in your past is so terrible that you had to make up this fantasy, and if it helps you to believe it then fine, but not when you're sucking my son into your delusions! You've already done it to Auggie! You honestly think I believe for a second that Henry came up with his ideas on his own? That I don't recognize August's drawings in that book? I've heard you and Auggie talking for years. I've heard you say freaky things about curses and my twenty-eighth birthday, but I ignored it because it scared me and I love you and I don't want to be scared of you. But damn it, Mom, if I have to take my son and get as far away from all this as I can then I will. I don't want to, but I will. I love you, I will always love you, but he comes first."

What had I done? I was finally telling her the truth and she genuinely believed I was crazy. What hurt the most, though, was the knowledge that she'd known the truth for years…and thought that her mother was insane that entire time. "Where are you going to go?" I whispered dejectedly.

She sighed. "I don't know yet. Maybe back to Augusta, or maybe down to Tallahassee to be with Granma and Grampa. Maybe somewhere else entirely," this time she was the one taking my shoulders in her hands. "You can come, Mama. I want you to. Come and get away from this insane town and that insane woman, put your past behind you for good and forget it. But only if you do that. Only if you can promise me this madness will stop for good," her voice started to waiver with emotion. "Please, Mommy, please don't make me leave you, don't make me take Henry away from you."

Crying, I yanked my baby girl into my arms, pulling her head to rest on my shoulder. She curled into me, like she always did, gripping handfuls of my sweater. Her pleas were devastating. In a way I almost wished I could give in and just go away with her. And if it would only ever affect me, I might have done it. I could have lived with the heartache of leaving Charming, knowing that he was alive and well, but it wasn't just me at all. There was an entire kingdom of people depending on Emma to break the curse. Her own brother's life depended on it. But I was at a loss.

"Mom…" Henry spoke quietly, coming down the stairs.

Emma pulled away from me, wiping her eyes. "Kid…"

"We can't leave!" he shouted, startling Emma and I both. "Don't you get it? If we leave, everything will be lost! Everyone needs you!"

Emma shot me a look as if to say, "see what you've done?" and knelt to face him. "Henry, I know you don't want to leave, but Kid, I promise you this is for the best. I made a deal with Regina. If I get out of town now, she'll leave Nana alone forever. I have to do this."

"No, no, no! You're just scared! This always happens to the hero in the lone moment before she fights back!"

"This isn't a story!" Emma sobbed. "This is real life. And you can't do this, Henry, you can't believe in curses!"

His face fell, light draining out of his eyes, and my heart shattered. "You really don't believe?"

Emma shook her head. "This is the way it has to be for now."

Henry lunged forward, wrapping his arms around her middle. Meanwhile, Paige had tip-toed out of hiding, and was staring at something on the counter.

"Where did you get that?"

Emma twisted around suddenly, seeming to have forgotten Paige was even there. "Regina gave it to me."

The girl sniffed at the turnover. "Apples!"

Henry gasped. "You can't eat that!" Henry exclaimed.

Emma rolled her eyes up to me, but my mind was beginning to feel foggy again. A sense of panic welled up inside of me, and something in me howled, "NOT NOW!"

"Why?" Emma asked. I knew why she shouldn't eat the pastry…but I couldn't quite dredge up the reason.

"It's poison!" Henry exclaimed. "Nana, tell her!"

Emma glanced at me, not noticing my inner turmoil. "Why would Regina poison an apple turnover?"

Henry and Paige looked at one another in horror.

"It's not poisoned," Emma said sternly. "Here, I'll prove it."

She reached for the turnover, but Henry snatched it away, darting to the other side of the room. "No!"

"Henry! Don't!" Paige screamed.

Something inside of me screamed too. No! Do something, damn it! Don't let him eat that! But I couldn't move. It was just a pastry…wasn't it?

"You may not believe in the curse, or in Nana, or in me," Henry said to Emma, who looked at him sadly. "But I believe in you."

He took a large bite of the turnover and Paige's hands flew to her mouth as she gasped.

Henry stood there, chewing the dessert, a concentrated, fearful look on his face.

Emma sighed tiredly. "See? Now do you want some ice cream with that?"

But Henry's eyes were rolling to the back of his head. My heart stopped and I watched in frozen terror as he collapsed, the turnover falling from his upturned hand.