Author's Note: I thank all of you for waiting and supporting me. As you can imagine my mind has been a little preoccupied. Hopefully everyone enjoys this next chapter.

Sarah had not walked very far when she felt the fear from the connection she had with her sister overwhelm her.

Under normal circumstances she would avoid using magic to transport herself to where her sister was, but before she could use her own magic she found herself wrapped in purple fog.

One second she was walking back towards the town, and the next she was between four people. It took her a few seconds to realize that she wasn't seeing double.

"What just happened?" Sarah asked Princess Emma.

Princess Emma gave her famous smirk and responded to her Aunt in the same tone as the question was asked.

"Mom lost it on us. You know...the usual."

Mary Maragret and Snow rolled their eyes at the comment. Mary Margaret realized that Princess Emma most definitely had been influenced by Sarah over the years by the way she responded to the question.

Sarah looked between Snow and Mary Margaret, her eyes stopping and shifting back to Snow's.

"Do you want to explain why you two were crying?" Sarah asked with raised brows.

"No," both Mary Margaret and Snow responded.

Sarah rolled her eyes and realized that she was in Granny's diner.

"Is there a reason why you went nuts in my absence? Obviously something happened..." Sarah tried to pry it out of her sister, but quickly turned to look at Mary Margaret. When both exchanged a look, Sarah confirmed in her mind that the two had fought about her. Why? She didn't know, but for sure it was about her.

Emma had no reservations about telling her, though. "They were fighting about you."

Princess Emma, Snow, and Mary Margaret turned angry eyes on Emma.

Sarah smiled. "Aww. They do love me." Moving towards Emma Sarah grinned further. "What about me were they fighting about?"

Emma was about to respond when she saw her other self make motions with her hands towards her throat, indicating not to say anything. "Um..."

Sarah knew that her niece was behind her trying to get Emma to stop, but her niece knew better than to give up what her mother had been saying. On the other hand, the woman in front of her had never had to worry about hurting her feelings. But Sarah knew that this Emma was not that different from the Emma she knew. They might have seemed different... but Sarah suspected that if she could pull back the armor exterior, inside was the insecure little girl that craved family and friends' approval.

And looking into Emma's eyes, Sarah could see pain. Pain that she had only seen in Snow's eyes.

Pain that Sarah hoped was not caused by what had caused Snow's pain.

All in all, she knew that she didn't have to fear Emma.

"Um...how you shouldn't have talked so badly about yourself." Emma said quickly, knowing she wasn't covering up well, and really not caring that she wasn't.

"Wow...even an older version of you can't lie. You really are your mother's daughter," Sarah said scrunching her forehead and shaking her head.

Emma's face erupted with hurt shock. "HEY!"

Sarah smiled widely in Emma's face. Moving towards Emma, Sarah grabbed her chin and looked straight in her eyes.

"Don't take it as an insult. I've only known you since your birth. So I know you. Better than most people do...or ever will." With that Sarah moved her hand from under Emma's chin when she saw Emma straightening her stance and clench her jaw.

"Listen lady...you might know that teenager behind you...but you don't know me. I didn't grow up a princess with my every whim catered too. So don't assume anything," Emma said with an angry look in her eyes.

Sarah just smiled and stepped closer to Emma to whisper in her ear so no one else in the diner would hear her. "Emma...I know you all the way down to the mole on your inner thigh. I know things about you that you would never be able to look at your mother or grandmother in the eye ever again if they knew."

Emma's eyes widened comically at the words, which was shared with Princess Emma at the whispered words. Princess Emma imagined what her Aunt Sarah would say to shock her other self after such strong words.

Pulling back from Emma she smiled softly at Emma. "It doesn't matter what things you've been through...in the end I know the real you. I know your character. I know your heart. And when you know those things...you know the person. And I know all of you Emma. And I couldn't be more proud of the woman I see in front of me if you had been my own daughter."

Emma didn't know why her eyes were suddenly filling up with tears as Sarah cupped her cheek. All she knew was that the words had touched something inside her that she had kept hidden.

"I don't know what you've been through sweetheart. But I know you are a strong capable woman that has had life try to beat her down...but because of who you are...you won't let it. No matter how bad it's been. And it's been bad - hasn't it Em?" Sarah asked softly.

Emma felt the tears falling and couldn't help but give a slight nod.

Sarah didn't wait another second after the slight nod to take Emma into her arms and embrace her tightly. She tucked Emma's head in the crook of her neck, holding her the way that she use to hold her when she was just a little girl and she was frightened by something.

Snow and Mary Margaret watched in wonderment as Emma the woman receded and Emma the lost little girl emerged.

Princess Emma just smirked at the scene. Aunt Sarah always had a way of breaking her down. Aunt Sarah had been her confidant when there were things that she couldn't possibly say or ask her mother or Nanna. And there was no way she was asking her Grammy. That would have been extremely weird. Which left her Aunt Sarah.

Over the years she had wondered why her Aunt had never had her own children or tried to marry. In the end Sarah had been like an extension of her own mother.

And from the looks of it, this older version of herself had not had that in her life. Not by the looks of the tight embrace she had engulfed Sarah in.

Sarah moved them into a booth and rocked Emma in her arms like her own mother would do at times.

Sarah kissed Emma's forehead, whispering comforting words as Mary Margaret approached the two, feeling like an outsider even though Emma was her daughter. But she shouldn't have worried.

The second she was within reach, Sarah yanked her down and shoved Emma into Mary Margaret's hold. Embracing Emma and Mary Margaret at the same time, she whispered words that Emma had not been able to explain to a soul. Words that she could never get out of her mouth to explain the ache she had always felt inside.

But Sarah managed to express the feeling that left her crying in her mother's hold.

"It doesn't matter where you've been Emma. Because you're home now. This is home. In the arms of the people who love you and would die for you. You're home now...you're not alone. You're not alone."

Mary Margaret began to let the tears fall as Emma began to sob against her chest. Her instincts made her rock her daughter as if she was a child, as if time had not passed and she was still a newborn child.

The frightened scream burst from Regina's lips as she quickly scanned the small park for Henry.

She could hear her heart thumping loudly against her chest. Fear told her that something terrible had happened.

Then…suddenly...

"MOM!"

Henry's yell made Regina run toward the sound without a second thought, followed closely by the Queen. But they didn't make it far when Henry came running towards them.

Regina was so relieved at the sight of Henry being alright that she didn't notice that Little Snow was nowhere to be seen. She was so relieved that Henry seemed fine that she didn't notice the sound of crying in the distance that continued.

"Mom! I tried to stop them…but it was…" Henry tried to get out what had happened but Regina yanked him to her to take a look and see if he was ok.

Queen Regina knew the sound of that crying, though- and was ready to go searching for her little girl when Regina used her magic to transport all three of them back to the diner. The panic Queen Regina felt came bursting from her mouth as she materialized in front of her grown daughters.

"WAIT!"

The purple fog that filled the diner made Snow and Princess Emma step back, and soon Queen Regina, Regina, and Henry stood.

Sarah had felt the magic permeate the air before anyone else, and slowly moved away from Mary Margaret and Emma.

She knew something was wrong before hearing her mother yell out 'Wait.'

It was confirmed a moment later when Henry pulled away from Regina frantically.

"NO! WE HAVE TO GO BACK!"

Everyone was shocked at Henry's outburst. He had never yelled like this before. Never had anyone heard him yell at Regina before. The sound of Henry yelling immediately made Emma jump out of Mary Margaret's hold.

Quickly Emma wiped her tears away, trying to settle herself.

Henry needed her.

"What's going on?" Emma asked.

Henry whirled around wildly, "Snow needs me!"

Regina had never heard Henry react so wildly. Immediately she was concerned for her son.

"We need to go back right now!" Queen Regina said. The fear in her face was visible to everyone as she grabbed Regina's arm.

Sarah moved quickly and grabbed Henry, turning him to look at her. "Henry what happened? Why does Snow need you?"

Before Henry could respond Regina quickly grabbed Sarah's arm. "Don't hurt him!"

The firm grip on Sarah's arm startled her for just a second, before Sarah looked up with an incredulous look on her face.

"Why would I hurt him? And even if I did...you wouldn't hurt me! You can't!"

Regina let Sarah's arm go at the confidence behind her words.

"Oh really?" Regina said with astonishment in her voice.

Emma and Mary Margaret were suddenly up and wide eyed as they witnessed Sarah challenge Regina. Both feared something horrible was about to happen.

On the other hand, Snow and Princess Emma were smirking. Both had witnessed something similar to this before.

"Mom. As big and bad as you've let people think you are...you...are...pathetic. You couldn't hurt me even if you wanted to."

Regina's mouth dropped open even more at those words. No one, no one had ever spoken to her like that.

Emma made her way over to Sarah quickly, suddenly very worried for her safety.

Placing her hand on Sarah, Emma tried to pull her away from Regina's reach. "Sarah I don't think..."

Sarah, though, moved Emma's hand from her arm and was about to talk to her mother again when her eyes looked behind her mother to the window front. Her eyes saw Little Snow in the distance running towards them. The instant she saw her she knew why Henry wanted to get back to Little Snow as fast as possible.

"No. Please let her continue. I want to hear this." Regina said as she tried to reign in her anger at Sarah's words.

Sarah looked back at her mother, seeing the anger pointed at her and just had to laugh.

"Mom who are you kidding? You know I wouldn't hurt Henry. He's my great nephew. I love him. Just like you love me and Snow."

The words made Regina's face harden.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Regina said, and for the first time a sliver of doubt entered Sarah's head. That is until she saw Little Snow nearing the diner.

"Mom...please. You are pathetic. As much as you keep insinuating that you hate Snow, everything you do points to the exact opposite."

"What?"

"Exuse Me?"

"Are you crazy?"

Sarah rolled her eyes at the outbursts.

"Henry told me all about the curse and why you cast it," Sarah explained.

"What's your..." Regina began.

"My point is that the only reason you brought everyone here is that you couldn't hurt her in our lands. So...what's stopped you from actually killing her in this land if you hate her so much?"

Regina opened her mouth to try and respond, to explain that watching Snow suffering was more satisfying, when Sarah continued to question her.

"And don't give me the whole watching her suffering was satisfying because if you've been here long enough that Emma is my age, and Henry is almost a teenager, it would have gotten beyond boring by now. It would have driven you insane by now...so my thinking... my thinking is that you can't do it. That beyond all of the 'EVIL Queen' act is the mother I know. I think if something happened to Snow you would be the first person to hurt the person that hurt her."

Queen Regina said nothing as she watched Sarah manipulate her other self. And though she was proud of her daughter, she suddenly realized just how well her daughter knew how to play her.

It was disturbing to watch, but what Sarah was saying was more than true. It was a fact.

Regina tried to respond to the absurdity that was coming out of Sarah's mouth when Sarah turned and grabbed Mary Margaret and pulled her close to Regina.

"Here. Kill her."

Regina and Mary Margaret locked eyes. Regina's bewildered, and Mary Margaret's wide with fear.

"Come on, Mom. Kill Snow! Kill her!" Sarah coaxed, grabbing Regina's hand and raising it to Snow's chest.

Emma was about to launch herself between the two but stopped as she watched Regina's face. She watched all the emotions play over her face.

Sarah watched them too. Knowing her mother like she did, she watched her fight herself.

A full minute passed, and Regina had done nothing.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "God I TOLD YOU that you were pathetic and you just proved it." With that she yanked Mary Margaret away from Regina.

"I don't know what the hell happened to make you so angry at her, but the sad truth is you love her and would kill anyone who would try to hurt her."

Regina was about to respond to that absurdity when the door to the diner finally opened.

Before she could fully turn, the crying that she had heard earlier resounded in the diner. Regina was greeted with the sight of a bloodied face Little Snow White.

Regina felt a surge of anger and outrage as she saw Little Snow's nose spilling red blood. Eyes that were constantly wide with excitement had been dulled with pain and sadness. Moving towards Little Snow, Regina's fingers quickly moved to wipe away the fallen blood from Little Snow's face as the child looked up at Regina with huge drops of tears still welling in her eyes.

Wiping away the blood and watching as more fell caused a pure surge of anger at whoever had caused this damage.

"Who did this?" Regina asked over the the vocally crying little girl. She turned her head to look at Henry as she kept Little Snow's head tilted back. Little Snow's whimpering combined with her labored breathing as she continued to cry caused the anger to mount on itself in Regina as she waited for Henry to answer her.

"I tried to tell you! It was John and Gideon. I don't know what they were saying to her, but Snow pushed John down and then Gideon hit her," Henry quickly told his mother.

But Regina was once more distracted by Little Snow as blood had dripped onto her hand and Snow continued to cry.

"It's ok, sweetheart. You're going to be just fine," Queen Regina said trying to comfort the little girl. She tore off a part of her gown and gave the piece of cloth to Regina.

"Calm down, Snow," Regina urged as a stream of blood again began to make it's way down Snow's upper lip. She quickly wiped the blood away.

"They…" Snow gasped in a breath and shuddered as she tried to do as she was told. "They said some very mean things. And…they…they were lying to me." With those words, tears began to fall down Snow's face once more.

"So I pushed him…." She contined to gasp as she explained why she had pushed John away. "That's when Gideon said….that If I was dead everyone would be happier…and he…he punched me." The crying became sobs and she once more dove into Regina's hold.

And Regina didn't know why she responded by holding onto Snow as tightly as the little girl grabbed onto her. She didn't understand why someone else saying that to Snow made her so angry as to want to lash out at this little boy that had hurt Snow. But there it was. The emotion and need to hold, comfort, and protect Snow. It surged through Regina after hearing those words.

"Ok…before I deal with those boys, we need to go and get you cleaned up. But I promise you Snow…they will never ever hurt you again," Regina said and once more pulled back from Little Snow and tilted the blood smeared girl's face up towards her. "I promise."

Little Snow looked up into Regina's eyes and saw that she wasn't angry at her. Those mean boys had been wrong; Regina did love her. Regina was going to be her mother. They were liars.

Snow nodded her head, and once again hugged Regina tightly.

Sarah tilted her head to an open mouthed Mary Margaret and Emma as they watched the scene. Sarah smirked. "Told yah."

Mary Margret didn't know what to think as she saw Regina take Little Snow towards the bar, grabbing napkins and dipping into a glass that had water in it, wiping at Snow's nose and upper lip. Watching as she carefully pressed the napkins to Little Snow's injury.

"Ok...I never thought I'd say this...but maybe Aunt Sarah's right." Emma said as she stared at the sight of Regina caring for Little Snow.

Mary Margaret's shocked face began to form into a smile still staring ahead at the scene. "You do realize you just called her your Aunt...don't you?"

Emma rolled her eyes and shrugged as she also just stared ahead at the scene. "Yeah...well...she kind of grew on me."

"Yeah...like moss." Snow quipped as she came to stand next to Emma and Mary Margaret.

Mary Margaret pursed her lips and smacked her lips open. "Yep. She's definitely clingy."

She said this as Sarah made her way over to her and slipped her arm under hers and gave her a half hug.

"I love you too," Sarah said as she leaned her head on Mary Margaret's shoulder. Mary Margaret just smiled at Sarah's words.

Both watched as Little Snow pushed herself into Regina's hold and watched Regina struggle with how to handle the situation of Little Snow's closeness.

"This is definitely going to be interesting." Princess Emma said as she watched the awkwardness in front of them.

They had no idea how accurate those words would be.

Author's note: Please review! Reviews let me know I'm not so crazy for writing this!