Author's Note: Once again I wouldn't be able to do this without Marphisa! The more reviews...the faster the update guys! Hint, Hint!

**********************Fairy Tale Land Alternate Dimension**********************************

(In The Past)

After David had told his mother that Rumplestiltskin had been the one to tell him about who he really was, Cora had slowly begun to tell him how it had all come to pass, the deals that she had made, the risks that she had taken to keep them all alive.

David listened to every word. Not once did he interrupt her. All he did was listen to what had happened in the past, and all he really wanted to ask her was about any kind of future.

But after sneaking into the castle, meeting his sister without realizing it, and almost getting caught by his mother with a magical fireball, he was scared of the idea of never speaking with her or Regina ever again, of never meeting his niece or his step niece. In the very short time that he had spent with his sister he had felt a connection to someone that he had never felt before.

Belonging—he felt, as weird as it sounded, like he belonged by Regina's side. Sneaking through the castle, having an adventure, having each other's backs. Not knowing that Gina was his sister and feeling that way, it only proved that he was suppose to be by her side, if only to protect her from other's who would try and do what they had done.

He wanted to roll his eyes at himself as he realized now how Gina was able to navigate the corridors so stealthily into the castle. Still, something in him didn't like the idea that she was able to do so.

"You haven't listened to one word I've said have you. I've overwhelmed you," Cora said as she saw the far off look in David's eyes.

David finally snapped back to see the small smile on his mother's face.

His mother. It hadn't taken that long to think of her like that.

"I admit, it's a bit much to take in at one time," David said with his classic smirk.

Oddly, the smirk that Cora gave him in return made him realize exactly where he inherited the gesture.

"I can see that." The smart-alecky response she gave him made him laugh outright.

Hearing David laughing made Cora smile brightly; and with an instinct that she had only recently let herself allow to take over, she moved forward and hugged David to her.

David had thought there would be awkwardness between them after everything she had told him, but there wasn't. He crushed his mother to him in a tight squeeze that made him almost feel like a little boy considering how much the emotions coursing through him made him want to cry.

Pulling back, he pressed a kiss to her forehead; then he rested his chin on her head and closed his eyes and said something that she had not been expecting.

"Thank you for loving me."

Cora could say nothing to those words. At the time she had decided to save her children she had truly and literally been heartless. The things she had done were not out of love; but somewhere inside her, something had kept her from harming her children.

Leaning her head onto his chest she listened to his heart beat and let out a sigh.

Both jumped as they heard the door suddenly slam shut, swiveling their heads in the direction of the sound.

Regina looked as if she had been slapped in the face. There was her mother being held lovingly by David, and she had never expected to hear Davis say something like that to her mother.

"How could you!" Regina said with a scowl on her face and venom in her voice.

Her eyes were on David.

David slowly pulled away from his mother and stood.

"I can—"

Regina moved forward quickly, raising her hand as if she wanted to strangle him. "Don't even try!"

Cora moved between the two, blocking Regina from truly hurting David.

"I can explain!" Cora shook her head, trying to get Regina to focus on her.

Regina's eyes seemed to blaze with accusation at her mother.

"How can you say that? How can you say that after what I walked in on? How you two were holding each other? How he THANKED you for loving him!" Regina shook her head and fought back the tears at such a betrayal.

"How could you do this to Daddy? How—" Regina shook her head, letting a tear fall, completely misunderstanding everything, leaving both Cora and David to grimace.

"Oh, for goodness sakes, Regina, I'm not having an affair with David." Cora grimaced as if she had sucked on a lemon.

David had the exact same look on his face.

Regina's anger ebbed almost immediately at the looks of disgust on both of their faces.

"I don't understand." Regina shook her head as her eyes bounced from one face to the other.

Looking into Regina's eyes, Cora knew that what she was about to say would change the way her daughter looked at her. Even after all of the horrible things she had done to her daughter, Cora knew that this would be the biggest blow. Taking a huge breath, she let her cards fall where they may.

"He's your brother."

***********************Back to the Mainworld*******************************

They had reached Regina's house in no time flat in the car. That didn't mean that they couldn't have gotten there sooner. Sarah had made sure to annoy Mary Margaret with every question she could imagine about her car.

Mary Margaret had always considered herself to be a very level-headed patient, caring person. How quickly she had learned that it only took an annoying little sister to show her she was most definitely not as level-headed and patient as she thought herself to be.

"Sarah, I swear—one more question and I'm never letting you touch my car! EVER!"

Sarah turned and looked at Henry in the back seat.

"She said the same thing about her bow and arrow when I was your age. Now I'm the second best shot nextto her!" Sarah stated, then stuck her tongue out between her teeth and smiled with suppressed laughter.

Henry, of course, giggled.

Mary Margaret, of course, used one hand to keep the wheel steady and the other to slap Sarah's closest arm. Sarah's mouth dropped open, which looked like she wanted to say "Ah," but no sound seemed to come out.

Sarah rubbed her arm, making Henry cover his mouth and stifle more giggles.

Mary Margaret sighed as they pulled up to the sidewalk of Regina's home.

"We're here."

Everyone exited the car and moved towards the house.

"Mary, where's the outhouse?" Sarah said as they approached the door.

Henry's face scrunched up. "What's an outhouse?"

Mary Margaret laughed. "They don't have outhouses here."

"So, where do people…" Sarah's face scrunched up in slight disgust.

"It's actually in the house," Mary Margaret said with a little smile, then she made a curious face. "You've been here a few days now. Where were—"

"Wait! People….IN the house?" Sarah said with a horrified face.

Mary Margaret laughed so hard at Sarah's face that it bent her over laughing. Standing up with her usual cheeky smile, she patted Sarah's shoulder.

"I'll show you."

Opening the door and entering the house, they stopped short at the sight of David and Cora sitting close to each other while David cried.

"Are you alright?" Sarah immediately asked, walking towards her uncle.

David gave a little smile and a nod, and looked down at his hand which was wrapped in his mother's. Cora had seen him crying, and it was still too new to her – to give comfort and in essence ask for forgiveness.

If David knew why that scar was so important, she doubted he would truly ever think her a good person. So she offered the only comfort she could.

But for David, the gesture was huge. It meant that she really did care for him.

Mary Margaret approached her husband and knelt down to wrap him in a hug, her eyes stealing for a second to Cora and then behind David's back so as not to look at her.

"Is everything alright?" Mary asked again because he hadn't answered Sarah. She held him tightly to her.

David sniffled and laughed. "Yeah, everything is alright."

Pulling back from the hug, David held Mary's arm and looked into her eyes.

"She—she told me everything. And—and it's true." David said the last words slowly.

Mary just stared at David as she tried to understand but then turned to look at Cora and noticed how David had not let go of her hand.

"It's true," Mary said with a bewildered look.

"I'm sorry."

Mary and David looked up at Cora as those words left her mouth.

"I know it'll never be enough. I know I can't take what I've done back. What I've taken from you both—"

Cora's eyes shone with tears as she tried to express her remorse.

"I can only say the words a million times and hope that you know I mean them." Cora let a tear fall and sniffled.

Mary Margaret held her anger and hate for Cora back as she saw David squeeze Cora's hand.

Sarah saw the look on Mary's face and knew that she had to step in before Mary did something she'd regret.

"Um—about that outhouse Mary. Can you please explain where it is?" Sarah asked and bounced a little to show the urgency of her request.

Mary Margaret spun and shook her head as if trying to clear it. "Of course."

David let her arm slide out of his hand as she got up to look for the bathroom for Sarah. David watched the two walk away and slowly turned to look at Henry.

"Hey, Henry." A smile emerged on David's face. "Bet you never expected something like this to happen...right?"

Henry gave his grandfather a huge smile.

"It's not fighting dragons and riding horses... but Sarah's really fun." He stuck his hands in his pocket as he answered.

David and Cora laughed.

"Seems that she's very attached to you. I'm happy that you two are close." Cora said the words to Henry.

But Mary Margaret was not far from them when she did, and stiffened and froze at the words.

"Well, she's technically my sister; and she actually talks with me and hangs out with me. She doesn't use magic against me like some people," Henry said with a frown and lowered his head.

Cora's heart tightened, and she had to struggle to not cry as the words brought memories of how she had treated her daughter, and how Henry was now referring to her in such a way.

"It's—It's not her fault," Cora said with a slight shake of her head.

Henry looked up with furrowed eyebrows at Cora.

"I—I used magic against her—her whole life. She—she hated it with everything in her."

Everyone listened in fascination as Cora revealed things that none of them had known.

Cora's eyes had been on Henry but moved to look at Mary Margaret, who had turned around at those last words.

"She would beg me not to use it. Beg me to just let her be free; but I couldn't," Cora said with a shake of her head.

Mary Margaret's mouth was open as she listened, not believing Cora was telling them the truth of what she had done to her daughter.

"I couldn't." Cora's eyes lowered as she reflected inwardly.

"Grammy," Sarah said sadly as she realized what her grandmother was trying to say.

Cora just starred into space and allowed the tears to fall.

"The things I did to her, the things I said—how could she possibly love me?" The words were said with such pain.

"Grammy, you didn't know what you were doing! You took out your heart so you wouldn't love Rum, so you wouldn't kneel to anyone after King Xavior embarrassed you. As wrong as it was, it lead to mom being born; and none of us—not a single one of us—would be here at this very moment if it wasn't for her. Everything happens for a reason, Grammy! You've always said that to me! As bad as it seems, things are always darkest before the dawn. You're out of the darkness now, and that's all you'll see behind you. But you have to look in front of you, and let the past be the past." As Sarah finished her speech with passion in her voice, everyone turned and looked at her with shock.

Sarah looked from her grandmother to the other faces staring at her with a huge amount of bewilderment.

"Believe me, it wouldn't shock you if you realized just how much I know about this subject," Sarah answered to the looks.

With that Sarah grabbed Mary's arm. "Outhouse, PLEASE!"

Mary Margaret quickly located the bathroom's open door, shoved Sarah into the room, and closed the door behind her.

"SNOW!" The yell expressed, without saying, that she had no clue where to actually 'go.'

"THERE'S A WHITE CHAIR!" Mary Margaret screamed back.

Seconds passed as Mary Margaret waited by the door, not knowing if she should leave and let Sarah figure everything out by herself or not.

Then came the sound of the toilet flushing, and Sarah screamed out, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I'M NEVER GOING TO AN OUTHOUSE AGAIN!" Mary laughed and watched as the door swung open.

"And you want to break the curse to go back to our lands? Are you crazy?" Sarah barely kept herself from screaming into her sister's face.

Mary Margaret grimaced. She had forgotten all about the small detail of having no indoor bathrooms. The castle's toilets lined the outside of the castle and were the coldest places in the winter, and the most disgusting place to be near in the summer.

There were small details of her land that she really had forgotten about.

"It's—It's complicated." Mary Margaret tried not to stutter the words out. The truth was that she really didn't want to get Sarah started on the whole 'my mom's not evil' song and dance.

However differently Regina acted in Sarah's dimension, the Regina that Mary Margaret knew had killed innocent people and done things that she wished she could forget.

Sarah could see the struggle in Mary Margaret's eyes. Sarah knew her sister, knew her better than anyone in the world, even better than David did. It was the privilege of being a sister. You form a bond that most people can't understand, a connection that most people never get. And looking into Mary Margaret's eyes in that moment, Sarah knew that she was keeping something big from her.

"It may be complicated Mary, but we both know that Henry or Emma are not prepared for our lands if they grew up here." Sarah motioned with her hand back into the bathroom.

Mary Margaret flinched as she realized how very true that was.

Sarah shook her head with a sad look on her face. "Neither Emma nor Henry knows what it's like to live without these things. They don't know what it's like to be responsible for people's lives, to rule a kingdom, to bare the judgement of those around them and the consequences of decisions that they make for people in our kingdom."

The diplomacy with which Sarah explained how Emma and Henry didn't really belong in their lands struck Mary Margaret with the blunt truth.

Sarah knew she had hit a nerve by the way Mary flinched.

Sarah reached up and lifted Mary's dropped face.

Mary Margaret felt Sarah's soft hand on her cheek as she lifted her head to look up into Sarah's eyes.

The look of sadness and love in Sarah's eyes made Mary Margaret more open to listen to the truth Sarah was making her confront.

"I love you, Snow. I only want the best for all our—for your family. And I don't think the Enchanted Forest is the right place for Emma or Henry. And something tells me that you've thought it too."

Before Sarah could pull away her hand Mary Margaret grabbed it.

"I have thought it. But what's best for our family needs to be decided by all of us." Mary Margaret gave Sarah a small smile.

Sarah gave Mary a smirk.

"See? I knew you were still my Snow, even if you never had me as a sister."

The smile on Mary Margaret's face fell immediately at the words; and without thought and only on instinct, she wrapped Sarah in a tight hug.

Trying to hold back the tears, Mary Margaret could say nothing as Sarah let out a little laugh.

"It's alright, Snow. Mom and you may think I didn't notice, but I did. All I can say is thank you for liking me." Sarah squeezed Snow back and snuggled into her shoulder.

"You are my sister. I can't explain it. But I know you belong to me. And I don't like you." Snow struggled to talk, her tears clogging her throat.

Sarah didn't even get a chance to think badly on the last words as Mary Margaret said four words to her that Sarah hadn't expected her to say so soon.

"I love you, Sarah. And you remind me so much of Regina that it hurts me to—but I do. I love you."

Sarah pulled away from a tearful Mary Margaret.

"Don't say that, Snow. Mom loves you. I don't know who made her into the person she is now, but I can't imagine her always being like this when you were little!"

Mary Margaret shook her head. "She wasn't. She—she changed. She became like this."

Sarah's face froze as something popped into her head.

Without another word Sarah walked back down the hallway to where Henry, David, and Cora sat waiting.

"Grammy?"

Cora looked up from where David's and her hands were intertwined in her lap. "Yes, sweetheart?"

"When did you start teaching mom magic?" Sarah asked with a furrowed brow.

Cora's brow was then the one that furrowed. "I didn't."

"What?" Sarah asked with an even more creased brow.

Cora shook her head. "I never taught Regina magic. The first time I saw her use magic was to send me through the looking glass."

"Wait. Then who taught mom magic?" Sarah asked and turned to look at Mary Margaret.

Mary Margaret shrugged her shoulder's, not having considered the question in all the years she had spent running from her stepmother.

Sarah turned back to Cora, and she too shrugged her shoulders.

That's when the wheels in Sarah's head began to turn.

"There's only one person I know who could have ever had enough power to make a curse to transport all of us to a new world." Sarah looked into her Grandmother's eyes and saw the moment of realization in them.

"He wouldn't have—not without a—"

"Price? I don't know. Maybe being able to go after the son he lost to a world without magic was payment enough?" Sarah said the words knowingly. Rum had confessed that he had been searching for a way for hundred's of years to get to Bae.

Mary Margaret and David shared a look.

"How could you possibly—" David began to ask.

Sarah rolled her eyes and then explained. "Because that's the only reason Rum would ever teach mom magic. He's the only one powerful enough to create this kind of curse. I don't care how powerful you think mom is. She never could have done this by herself. There's no way."

Cora nodded her head in agreement. "She's right. I couldn't create a curse like this. The only reason I was able to keep the encampment under protection from the curse was the magic that Rumple taught me."

Sarah rubbed her closed eyes with the palms of her hands. "So, if mom had no reason to cast the curse, Rumple would never have been able to get to this world." Sarah shook her head at the realization of how Rumple had truly manipulated her mother.

Mary Margaret had followed until that moment and connected the dots Sarah was exposing. "You're saying that Rumple's the reason she hates me?"

Sliding her palms down and covering her mouth, Sarah tilted her head back then removed her hands from her mouth. "I'm saying that it's the only way she can go from saving your life and not wanting anything to do with magic to becoming the Evil Queen who uses black magic."

Mary Margaret's eyes suddenly gleamed with something in that moment. "So, the only—" stopping she lowered her head as a tear fell even as she smiled. "The only reason she hates me is because he's manipulated her?"

Sarah turned and looked at David and nodded her head slowly. "It's the only thing that makes sense. Uncle David, you always tell me that mom has the biggest heart of anyone you've ever known. Henry proves just how big a heart she has! What I want to know is what Rum's done to keep her this way! If she was able to love Henry, it's proof that something in her is still fighting against whatever Rumple did to her."

David shared another look with his wife, both for the first time putting together why Regina had never been able to redeem herself.

"So my mom's not really evil? She's under a spell?" Henry asked after remaining quiet the whole time.

Both Cora and Sarah shook their heads.

"It's not a spell. Spell's wear off; they're only for limited times. Whatever he's done has lasted years," Sarah explained to a concerned looking Henry.

"He cursed her." Cora's voice was laced with hate as she, like Sarah, concluded what Rumple had done.

David didn't know what to think. Let alone what to say. He rocked back and forth for a second as it all hit him. Regina was his sister.

His sister had been cursed by Rumpelstiltskin. Rumpelstiltskin was the reason both his sister and wife had lost everyone they loved and why both of them had led such miserable lives.

Looking at his wife now, he tried to imagine her as a young child with a loving Regina as her mother. The idea that after all these years, his sister could have actually loved Snow if it wasn't for a curse—it made him say something that would answer any doubt in his mind if that was true.

"If this is true. And Regina really loved you when you were little, and that's really hard for me to picture after everything - let me tell you," David paused shaking his head at the notion that what Sarah was saying to be possible. "Then ...I wish I could see it."

Author's Notes: Here's another hint for you guys. Something really huge is going to happen in the next chapter. Anyone have any ideas as to what it could possibly be? REVIEW REVIEW!