An update for any new readers who stumble across this, I have rewritten this story under Welcome to Storybrooke Rewrite so please read that version instead, I'm hoping it's better :)
A/N Just a random idea I had :) there will be t/w's for abuse and general angst, but I can guarantee a happy ending :)
Chapter one
Emma leaned her head against the car window and looked out into the rainy Maine day. She had found it more than strange when her social worker had told her that he had found her a family willing to foster her in some obscure town named Storybrooke. She knew that what she had been through in her last foster home had been on the news for while, but she didn't really think that someone would care enough about a news report to actually take action. At first, she had assumed that it was some politician trying to get some good publicity for taking in the poor little somewhat famous orphan child. But when she had found out more about Henry and Cora Mills, it turned out that she had only been half right. Cora Mills was indeed the mayor of this small town, but it seemed as though her reputation didn't actually need something like this to make her look good. She was always involved in charity work and had three children of her own who didn't appear to have ever done anything to bring her bad press. Plus, there was the fact that she was they mayor of such a small town that it didn't really make sense that she would need to take in a sixteen-year-old foster child from New York.
However, after so many years of hidden agendas and being moved around, she couldn't help but feel as though this woman wasn't really doing this out of the goodness of her heart. If she really did want to make a move from small town politics to something in the city, then this would certainly be a good first step to get people in New York to recognise her if she ever wanted to run for office. Her social worker had assured her over and over that this wasn't why the Mills family were taking her in and that there was a good chance that this would be the last home she would be sent to before she turned eighteen, but it was difficult after all these years not to be cynical.
Absentmindedly, she ran a hand over the cast on her left arm and she heard the man in the front seat clear his throat audibly.
"You're not supposed to touch that, Swan," August said, looking at her through the mirror before turning his attention back to the road.
Emma sighed and rolled her eyes at her social worker, replying, "it's itchy."
"The doctor said no touching, so no touching," he shot back and smirked slightly when the blonde dramatically against the car seat. She was usually very mature, but every-so-often, she would show glimpses of the child that she actually was and he was so relieved that was still possible after she had been through. He just hoped that finally being with a family that would take care of her well would make her happier than she had been probably since she could remember.
"He isn't my doctor anymore..." she tried.
"I'm sure that Dr Whale will say the same thing to you later. Mrs Mills said that she would take you to your appointment as soon as you've settled."
"She does know that 'settling in' for me is just putting my duffel bag in my room?" Emma sighed.
"You can take the stuff out of the bag, you know?"
The blonde shrugged and replied, "I'm sure all of the closet space will be taken up by her kids."
"Did I mention that the Mills family live in the mayoral mansion?" he asked, allowing himself to smirk once again when he saw the blank expression consume her face and added, "you'll be getting your own room, Swan."
Emma nodded slowly, with a small grin shining through her previously stormy expression. The last time that she'd had her own room was before her parents' death and it wasn't exactly as though she remembered much about living with them considering that she was only five at the time. Bringing her arm without a cast on, her fingers lightly brushed against the locket around her neck as it did any time her thoughts turned to her parents.
The pair fell into a silence for the next few moments, and Emma's head lolled towards the window again and she noticed that the highway was beginning to give way into the greenery and gradually, she was noticing more trees coming into view than she had seen in a long time.
August smiled at just how fascinated she looked and when he looked back towards to the road he saw the sign he had been waiting hours to see and said, "welcome to Storybrooke Emma."
"I think that she should have your room," Zelena commented casually, pretending to be interested in the magazine in her hand, though she hadn't really been paying attention to it since her sister had come into her room.
"We have four guest rooms…." Regina shot back while rolling her eyes, "why would she get my room?"
"Because it's decorated. Mom said that she wants her to feel as at home as possible…would you really want your room to be a guest room?"
"It would be her room…it's not like mom and dad can't afford to decorate it for her…" the brunette replied, "why are we talking about this anyway?"
"Because you came into my room and randomly sat at my desk, I thought that it would be nice to talk about something…maybe we can talk about the fact that you don't want this girl to live here?"
Regina clenched her jaw and thought to say that she was wrong, but her older sister always knew what was bothering her, especially when it was so selfish that she would never mention it to her parents.
"You don't want to have to look after her at school, right?" the red-head asked, taking the younger girl's silence as confirmation, "come on, Gina, have a little bit of compassion."
"But…what if she's…" Regina began, trying to pick the correct word, though she knew exactly what her word choice would be if she were at school with the other cheerleaders.
"A dork?"
The brunette just shrugged in confirmation and watched as her sister shook her head, almost in disappointment, though she knew that the expression would have been far worse if she had voiced her worries to her mother.
"It's not fair if I have to spend all of my time with her, I have a reputation to uphold and that's going to be difficult when I have some random girl following me around…"
"Well I'm sure that if you're going to act like this, mom will just get her a different buddy. In fact, she knows you so well that she probably already has…"
"Are you calling me selfish?" Regina asked with narrowed eyes.
"You're oddly perceptive for a cheerleader," Zelena laughed, causing her younger sibling to narrow her eyes further.
Before the brunette could even think of a defence, she heard the faint sound of her father calling each of his children's names and she sighed heavily when she recognised what that meant.
Silently, both sisters stood up and made their way towards the stairs.
A few moments later, they each stepped down into the foyer and Zelena couldn't help but smirk when she saw her mother messing with Henry Jr's hair as she always did when she was nervous. The boy never used to mind it so much, but considering that he was thirteen now, he was trying as hard as possible to try and move out of arms reach.
Finally, the woman noticed that her other two children had finally come down and she moved away from her youngest, "she will be here any second now…"
"Calm down, dear," Henry Sr. chuckled, coming over to place his arm around his wife's shoulder, "it will all be okay."
"But what if she doesn't like lasagne? I should have asked if she likes lasagne…"
The oldest Henry chuckled again and squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, "you have nothing to worry about, we have hours until dinner, and who doesn't like lasagne?"
"I bet she wasn't even this nervous when she found out she was pregnant," Zelena mumbled as she went over to lean against the nearest wall.
"There is a whole genre of books for babies," Cora shot back, causing her eldest child to roll her eyes dramatically.
"I'm sure that if you hadn't decided to do this so quickly, you would have had time to find a book," the red-head replied, crossing her arms over her chest.
Cora shook her head in exasperation. She knew that her children were not exactly ecstatic about the prospect of having a stranger live in their house for the foreseeable future. It wasn't that they didn't care about what the girl had been through, it was just that she knew that children naturally did not like change and this was one hell of a change to have thrust upon them. She had honestly been surprised when her husband had agreed to what she had proposed after she had been unable to stop thinking about what had happened to that poor girl. None of her children generally watched the news, so she doubted that they could understand why she had been so insistent to do this, but she did fear that seeing this poor girl would show them exactly why she had to do this. If Emma wanted to share what had happened with the Mills children, then she could, but she refused to tell them and it didn't seem that any of them had bothered to Google it yet.
Before the mother could even think about scolding Zelena, the doorbell rang out and she quickly turned back to her youngest child to try and fix his hair, but he was already far out of reach and sighed deeply, trying to relax. She didn't want to make a bad first impression with the girl and she certainly didn't want to feel like she wasn't welcome here, which she certainly would by the expressions on her children's faces.
Clearing her throat loudly, she motioned for them to do what she wanted them to do and all three of them groaned as they pushed themselves off the wall and made themselves look presentable.
Cora looked at each of them in turn and decided that was probably the best it was going to get and took a deep breath before walking towards the door.
Her husband followed her and they exchanged a look, before she reached forward to clasp the door handle. After a brief hesitation, she turned it and pulled the door open.
As she did so, two familiar faces came into view and the male of the pair returned the smile, while the teenage blonde clutched the strap of her duffel closer to her body and stared adamantly at the ground. Her eyes instantly fell to the cast on her left arm and she felt her stomach clench as she imagined how she must have looked before she had spent a couple of months at the hospital, she also couldn't help that she still looked rather on the skinny side.
"Hello Mr Booth," she said, before turning her attention to the blonde, "Miss Swan…Emma."
Emma just nodded without looking up and let go of her bag strap to push her glasses further up her nose, "hello Mr and Mrs Mills," she mumbled.
"Please, dear, call us Henry and Cora," Henry Sr. said, offering her a smile that she still didn't look up to see.
Cora and Henry exchanged a look again, as the awkwardness of the moment started to become oppressive and they both looked up to August pleadingly.
The social worker offered them a look that silently said this was completely normal and he minutely nudged Emma, who finally looked up, gave them a forced smile, before she looked back down at the ground.
August looked at her for a moment, knowing that was more than he could expect from her and said, "I'll be back in a few weeks to check up on you, Em," he assured, and smiled when he saw her relax. It always made him happy just how much she trusted him, but he only wished that he hadn't been taking a leave of absence during her time in her last foster home. She claimed that he had every right to get married and go on his honeymoon, but he still couldn't stop the guilt he felt, so he wished desperately that this home would work out.
"Okay," Emma mumbled and allowed the man to pull her into a quick side hug, before she tentatively stepped over the threshold as Cora and Henry took a step back to allow her to their home.
"Thank you, Mr. Booth, feel free to contact us at any time," Cora said, heavily sensing that he was reluctant to leave.
August relaxed slightly and nodded, offering Emma a quick wave before he turned on his heels and made his way back towards his car.
Emma watched him go for a moment, wishing that he could stay for a bit longer like he usually did, but she knew that he didn't actually have time to take her here but had insisted on doing so. He needed to get back to New York for his next appointment and she would hate for some kid to not have the chance to have him as their social worker.
Timidly, she sidestepped out of the way of the door in order to allow Henry Sr. to close it and she couldn't stop herself from taking in a deep breath of shock as she looked around the foyer. She was pretty sure that it was bigger than most of the houses she had been in, so she was sure that she couldn't even imagine what the rest of the house must look like.
Once her mind had finally processed what she was seeing, she allowed her eyes to roam over the three other people she realised she didn't know.
The three of them seemed to be standing in age order and, for reasons that she didn't really understand, she looked from the red-head to the youngest brunette first, before looking back to the girl in the middle.
Swallowing hard, her mind short circuited and she continued to stare at her for a moment. The girl was utterly beautiful and after a moment, she made a conscious effort to avert her eyes.
Regina blinked a few times as the emerald eyes looked away from her and she could practically feel Zelena smirking at her even though she refused to look at her. She had not expected this girl to be quite so breath taking and adorable at the same time. For a moment, she forgot about her worries about having to look after the girl at school, since all she could think was that it would mean she would get to spend more time with her. But then she remembered that she still didn't know anything about her and there was still a very strong chance that she would be a complete and utter dork.
Cora watched the moment curiously for a moment, but quickly disregarded it as nothing to worry about and said, "Emma, I would like you to meet my children. This is Zelena, Regina and Henry Jr."
Emma nodded, before she furrowed her brow and looked between the two Henrys.
"You can call me Hen," the younger Henry answered the question that she didn't ask.
The blonde nodded again and said, "okay."
The foyer fell into an awkward silence and Emma began letting rubbing the cast on her arm, which seemed to remind the matriarch of the day's to-do list and said, "would you like to go and pick your room?"
Emma frowned as she worked through the woman's words, seemingly trying to figure out if this was some kind of trick and finally she asked, "pick?"
Cora smiled sadly at her and replied, "we have four spare rooms, you are welcome to claim whichever one you wish as your own."
"I think that Regina should show her where they are, so you can check on the lasagne, mom," Zelena announced, which earned her a death glare from her younger sister.
Emma watched the exchange and felt her throat constrict. She wasn't shocked to discover that their children were not excited about the prospect of having her here and she was certainly used to be sent away after a few weeks for that very reason.
Henry Sr. inspected the newcomer's expression and turned his attention to his two daughters, giving them a warning look and they each looked at him apologetically when they realised just what they had done.
"I don't mind which room..." the blonde said.
Regina silently berated herself and replied, "the biggest one is the room next to mine…and it has the most closet space…I'll show you where it is if you want…"
Emma just nodded, not bothering to mention that she really didn't need a closet at all, since she had thought that Regina wouldn't really want her in the room next to hers. Even if she was doing it just not get in trouble with her parents, she was shocked that she had suggested it.
"Sure…thanks…"
The brunette teen motioned towards the stairs and the blonde looked over to the oldest pair in the room, who seemed just as shocked as she felt the Regina had been the one to extend an olive branch.
The blonde offered them a small smile and then walked forward to follow Regina.
The pair ascended the stairs in silence, and Emma's eyebrows shot up when she saw just how many doors there was. She had no idea how long it would take for her to get used to the idea of living in a mansion, in fact, she had a nagging feeling that she wouldn't actually live here long enough to find out.
Regina continued to lead the way in silence and walked up to the door next to her room and opened it, walking into the room.
Emma's mouth fell open and tried to take in the sight of the massive room that she didn't have to share. She was sure that in a group home, at least four people would be able to comfortably share in here, so it was hard to absorb the idea that it was all for her.
"You can stick stuff on the wall if you want…" Regina said awkwardly, wishing that she knew what she was supposed to say.
The blonde nodded and reached into her bag as she walked over to the bed and pulled a framed picture to place on the bedside table.
Regina watched the motion and cast a quick look at the image of the unfamiliar blond and brunette with a blonde girl between them. A lump rose in her stomach as it hit her just who they were and she asked, "your parents?"
Emma looked up at her, registering the tone of sympathy that she was very much used to and replied, "yeah, Mary Margaret and David Swan…"
The brunette nodded and said awkwardly, "you were a cute kid…"
The blonde tilted her head when she noticed a hue of blush adorn the girl's cheeks, but she just figured that any attraction the girl felt would disappear once she got to know just how socially awkward she was.
It was for this reason that she decided to just change the topic and said, "August said that I need to go to the hospital for an appointment…"
"Yeah…your appointment is in about half an hour…mom will take you..." Regina replied and looked at the cast on her arm. Instantly, she realised that she had no idea what had happened to the poor girl to have made her news-worthy. "The bathroom is just across the hall if you want the freshen up before you go…someone will call you down when it's time to go…"
"Thanks…" Emma said, placing the bag onto the bed before turning to offer the other girl a genuine smile.
Regina allowed her eyes to linger on that perfect smile for a moment, before she nodded and turned on her heels to go and inform her parents that one of them needed to let her know when they were ready to go.
Emma bounced her knee up and down as she had every other time she had ever been in a hospital. She had thought that after all of the times she had seen the same clinical white walls, she would no longer feel nervous whenever she had to go to a hospital. However, being in a place like this usually meant that she would be going to a new family because the old one did something horrible to her.
This time was completely different though, because it wasn't August sitting next to her as she waited for the doctor to return with whatever news they had. This time it was Cora Mills who seemed intent on shooting her a reassuring smile at regular intervals.
"It's okay, dear," she said after she felt the silence become too much, "Dr Whale may not have the most sensitive exterior, but he is an excellent doctor…"
The blonde nodded and tried to smile back at the woman who was really trying, but she found that it came off as too forced, so she just looked back down at her cast.
The mayor managed to stop herself from blowing out a breath of frustration and tried to remind herself that this was only the first day that she had met the girl. It wasn't as if she could expect their relationship to be instantly what it was like with her children. She knew literally everything about Zelena, Regina and Henry Jr, but the new addition to their family was almost a blank slate. All she truly knew about the girl was the horrifying stories of what had happened to her and it wasn't as if she had every detail either. She didn't know her favourite colour, what she liked to do in her spare time. Hell, she hardly even knew the sound of her voice considering she had only heard her utter a few words.
The brunette silently wished that she knew what she could say to the girl to make sure she knew that she would do anything to make her part of her family, but she supposed that actions spoke louder than words. She couldn't imagine how many times Emma had believed that she would be staying with a family forever, only to be sent away to the next one. She had been informed that the longest she had ever gotten to stay somewhere was eight months and she would make it her personal mission to make sure that she got to stay with the Mills family for as long as she needed.
Cora was about to open her mouth to once again try and break the ice, but she was interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps. Looking up, she offered Whale a professional nod and looked at him expectantly.
The doctor looked between the pair for a moment, before he said, "we've ran all of your blood work, Miss Swan and everything appears to be normal…the x-ray on your arm shows that it is healing nicely and you should be able to have the cast off in about two weeks. I would suggest a couple sessions of physiotherapy afterwards to ensure that it is at one hundred percent, but other than that I would say that you're more than ready to go back to school as soon as madam mayor deems to be appropriate."
The blonde clenched her jaw slightly at the word 'school', which caused Cora to quirk an eyebrow, but other than that the girl just nodded to tell him that she understood.
Whale continued to look at her for a moment, before he looked over to the woman next to her to confirm that he probably wouldn't be getting a verbal response.
When Cora nodded, he returned the nod and took as permission to take his leave.
"It was very nice meeting you, Miss Swan, I'll have someone call your…er…I'll have someone call Mrs Mills to arrange another check-up in about a fortnight…"
Emma just nodded again and he turned on his heels to walk over to the nurses' station.
The blonde moved her hand over to her cast in an attempt to scratch a very persistent itch, but she was stopped by a hand lightly being placed on her arm.
Cora frowned when the girl flinched and she instantly felt guilty for being so thoughtless, "do you not want to go to school?" she asked softly.
Emma took in a deep breath and replied, "I…no it's fine…"
"I hear that you have been doing all of your work by yourself rather successfully…I see no reason why you cannot continue to do so while you get settled in town. You will have to go once your cast is off…" she said.
The blonde blinked a few times as she tried to work through the woman's words. She was so used to being told that she had to go to school almost as soon as she came to a new foster home that she had never thought that she would be allowed to study from home until she would be more comfortable. People didn't usually care all that much about her comfort.
"I..." Emma began, though she had no idea what she could say to show the woman just how considerate she was being, so she decided to just go with, "thank you."
"I will need to have a meeting with Principle Gold to organise it and I'm sure that he would still want to meet you before you officially start your classes. But I can't really see him objecting considering your perfect GPA."
Emma just nodded her agreement. She had been expecting to be sent to a new school tomorrow and she had to admit that she was very much relieved that she wouldn't have to. Even if she was more than used to starting a new school, that didn't mean that she would ever enjoy the experience. Even more so now that people may have heard about her on the news, at least without the cast on she would be far less conspicuous.
Cora smiled at her before a thought occurred to her and she said, "can I ask you a question?"
The teen cringed slightly as she inspected the slightly worried expression on the mayor's face. In that moment, she couldn't stop the thought that there was something bothering the woman, which usually meant that it was only a matter of time before she decided to reconsider her rash decision to foster a child.
"Yeah…" she said cautiously.
"Do you like lasagne?"
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