"Emma? Can you come down here for a second please?" Mary Margaret Nolan called to her 17-year-old daughter

"Sure Mama, one sec" Emma called back as she pulled on her black-framed glasses and scraped her hair into a messy high ponytail, her feet clumsily pushed into her comfiest old bedroom slippers and began to climb down the stairs.

"Emma, this is addressed to you," Mary said as she handed Emma the thick envelope complete with the crest of Harvard Law School in the right-hand corner.

"Mama, it was supposed to be a surprise. I don't even think I've gotten a place, they only accept the best of the best." Emma said, hardly daring to hope that she might be one of the lucky few girls who got a place.

Emma and her parents lived in a small loft on the very edge of Storybrooke, almost in the woods. Emma loved it there, as she could play and walk through the woods to her heart's content. Sure it was annoying when the power went out or when there was really heavy snow and their road wasn't cleared for them to go to school or work, but the house was warm, the mortgage was cheap, and Emma wouldn't change that for the world. Her parents had married right out of college when they were 22 and never quite managed to crawl out of their student loan debts. When Emma came along at 28, the pair had really struggled, even having to live with David's mother until their credit score improved. Eventually, they paid off the final amounts with some help from David's mother Ruth, who also helped the young family find and then get settled in the house that they now lived in. When Ruth had died when Emma was 12, she found that Ruth had started a trust fund for her and had left her life savings to help pay for Emma to go to college or get a good job. Emma promised that she was going to go to college and worked as hard as she could to get the right grades to get into Harvard. And now there was a letter from Harvard that was addressed to her.

"Emma, open it" Mary whispered, her blue eyes shining.

Emma took a deep breath, counted silently to ten, and opened the letter

"Dear Miss Emma Swan Nolan.

Congratulations! You have been accepted to Harvard Law School on a full scholarship. You have chosen to study Law with a minor in History and criminology. You must accept this offer within seven working days otherwise your offer will be transferred to another applicant.

At Harvard School of Law, you will be given a dormitory unless you apply to live in an off-campus apartment with at least two housemates both of whom study at Harvard already.
We also have a strict policy on behavior within these dormitories. You will learn more about this should you be assigned one.
As a scholarship recipient you are entitled to free meals in your dormitory canteen, educational equipment such as a laptop, printer, etc should you require it, and monthly money that will be loaded onto your school account to spend on tuition, food, books, equipment, etc. You are also eligible for a funding package that will cover any further expenses that may incur subject to conditions, and these conditions are that you must remain above a C- in all classes.

We look forward to hearing from you

Sincerely,
Harvard Admissions Team"

Emma gasped and felt her eyes fill with happy tears that spilled out of her emerald eyes and her mouth stretched into the largest smile she had ever given.

"I got in"

"Oh Emma, did you ever doubt that you would? You're a bright girl, you work hard, and this is the reward for all your years of hard work. Congratulations Baby girl!" Mary said as she pulled her daughter into a tight hug and kissed the top of her head.

They could hardly wait to tell Emma's father David who was at work as the town sheriff, but Emma wanted to tell him face-to-face instead of over the phone, so she and her mother sat impatiently and waited until they heard the tell-tale whisper of his feet on the stairs up to their loft.

"Where are my two favorite girls?" he called as he always did when he came home from work. Emma would run down the stairs into his arms and Mary would usually emerge from the kitchen covered in flour and he would pull both of his girls into his arms and give them a large bear hug.

"In here Daddy! Come here! Quickly" Emma called from the sitting room and David followed the sound of his daughter's voice.

"where's the fire Princess?" he joked as he flopped into the sofa next to his wife and she automatically cuddled into him.

"Daddy look!" Emma said excitedly as she handed him the envelope and he opened it and read the letter.

"Oh Princess, well done! You're going to Harvard Law! Emma you have no idea how proud we are of you, all those years of working so hard have finally paid off." David whispered as he pulled his daughter in for another hug and kissed her forehead, his own green eyes shining.

The family spent the next few minutes feverishly discussing Emma's scholarship and how this would change her life. She wouldn't even have to take out a student loan or get a part-time job as they still had Ruth's savings to help Emma pay for anything that she might need.

"Emma, your mother and I bought you a surprise, just because you've been working so hard the past few months and now that you've gotten into Harvard, you have definitely earned it" David said as he got up and produced a box wrapped in silver paper. Emma took it silently and carefully unwrapped the box with shaking hands; it was the latest iPhone that came with new Airpods, and a year's contract already paid for.

"daddy this was way too much. My old phone was perfectly fine." Emma said but her father shook his head at her fondly

"No sweetheart, you've gone without so much over the years and you've never asked for anything and you've never once complained. You work harder than any other teenager I've ever met, and you are the most deserving little girl I know. You take the phone sweetheart, we can always sell your old one."

"Em, how do you want to celebrate tonight? We could invite Lilly and go out for dinner?" Mary suggested while David nodded

"can we ask Lilly to come here and get a takeout? That would be awesome" Emma grinned.

"Of course, we can. What do you feel like? It's up to you Princess"

"Chinese food?" asked Emma, texting Lilly on her new phone

"Whatever you want, ask Lilly as well and I'll go into the town to pick up Lilly and the food," David said, thinking they might be able to save some money if he collected the food instead of getting it delivered.

"Em, why don't you ask Lilly if she wants to stay here for a few days? Her mom said this morning that she's going out of town for a couple of days"

"Sure Mama, can I get noodles and chicken rolls? Lilly wants orange chicken and rice. She says she's packing her bags now" Emma said, reading the text to her parents.

"Of course, tell Lilly that I'll pick her up in about half an hour" David said

"Will do daddy, and yes Mama, my room is clean for Lilly coming" Emma smiled cheekily, and her mother pretended to swat at her, but she was laughing all the while.

The Nolan family may not have many material possessions, but the love that they shared was worth any amount of money. David and Mary worked as hard as they could as the town sheriff and an elementary teacher to ensure that Emma had everything she needed but consequently, she often went without the things she wanted. Not that Emma was the least bit bothered, she was happy at her school with her few friends and had everything that she needed at home with her mom and dad. She knew that when she was away that she would miss them, but she knew that she would be home at every opportunity.

After David came home with the food and Emma's childhood best friend Lilly, the family all sat and ate their dinner in the sitting room with their favorite movie on, Grease. Emma and Lilly laughed at all the corny lines, and everyone sang along to their favorite songs, and Emma knew that this would be the thing she would miss the most when she moved to Harvard, just sitting watching movies with her family. That night, once they had all gone to bed, Mary crept into Emma's bedroom and tucked both girls in. She paused over Emma who looked so peaceful and happy while she was sleeping and gave her a kiss on her forehead.

"I love you, Emma. You make me proud to be your mother every day. You're going to do so much better than I ever did. You're going to soar at Harvard" Mary whispered, wiping a single tear from her eye.

Emma smiled to herself when she heard her mother say those things, she knew then that would have to work her ass off to make sure that she would make her parents even more proud if that was even possible. Emma wanted to work as hard as she could so that one day, her parents wouldn't need to worry about money, and could live like the King and Queen that Emma always thought they were.

"One day Mama, you wait and see. I'll work so hard that you and Daddy won't ever struggle for money again. I promise" Emma whispered, her voice catching with excitement.