Chapter 2

It's been a few days since I asked Emma to stay in Storybrooke and I've never seen Henry happier once we found out that she did stay. I haven't been to see Emma yet but she and Henry have been up to something related to Henry's curse theory and he left early this morning to meet with Emma and Mary Margaret "for next steps" as Henry explained when begging me to join him and Emma. I'll do anything for Henry to be happy but I haven't forced myself to get to know Emma for him yet, so I told him I had to get ready for school and wouldn't be ready early. I can already hear my Mom moving around downstairs and smell the coffee brewing before I get down the stairs and into the kitchen. With how stressed my mom has been with Henry and Emma, I try to force myself to be chipper and as normal as possible, "Hi Mom. Henry left before I was ready, do you think you could drive me?"

Mom doesn't answer me and I see the slightest twitch in her face when I mention Henry and realize she must know that he left early to meet with Emma so I don't wait for an answer before trying to rush past the elephant in the room, "I'm ahead in history and that's my first class, could we do breakfast first? Just the two of us?"

Mom smiles slightly as she pours a second cup of coffee and slides it over to me, "I don't think it looks very good for the mayor's daughter to be truant. But maybe just this..."

Before she can finish her sentence, Mom's phone rings, and her face falls instantly as she answers it and responds to whoever is on the other side of the call before hanging up and turning back to me, "I have to go. Why don't you come and wait in the car, I'll bring you to school after that."

I silently nod in defeat and grab my bag before quickly following my mom to the car, where neither of us say a word until we pull up to the hospital. Mom is storming into the building and that is only made worse when we turn a corner and see Henry is here with Emma and Mary Margaret.

"Henry!" I whisper while motioning for him to come over to me while all the adults are preoccupied bickering.

Henry practically jumps into me with a grin that is so wide it takes over his whole face, "He's Prince Charming! Mary Margaret read the book to him and he woke up!"

"Shh. You can't let Mom hear you talk about that book..." I whisper pulling him into me for just a minute to hide the "I knew it!" grin on his face but quickly let go of him when I look up to see Emma watching the two of us interact.

Mom snaps at the sheriff and others to go find the missing man and yanks on Henry, "Let's go. We're going home."

Mom spends the entire drive in silence and I can't quite read the expression on her face as I watch her pull into the driveway and march Henry and I into the house, "Stay put. We'll talk about this when I get back." Mom turns her attention from Henry to me, "Please watch your brother and make sure he doesn't run away. Again."

I nod, of course, "But where are you going Mom?"

Mom doesn't answer me as I follow her to the door and watch her get into her car before turning around and seeing Henry kneeling on the couch and staring out the window. I can't help but sigh and lean my head against the door behind me, "You aren't seriously going to try and leave as soon as she pulls out of the driveway, right?"

Henry just grins at me, a knowing grin because he knows that I would cover for him no matter what he's doing, "I need to help them find him. He's looking for Snow White!"

"Wouldn't that mean he'll find her then?"

Henry's eyes go wide and I can't help but smile at the excitement behind his expression, "Iz, you're right! Are you coming to help?"

"Buddy, I want... I want to but..." I'm trying to believe what Henry needs me to, that this is a fairytale land and that we are supposed to work together and with Emma to break a curse and make everyone happy but it hurts me. My reality is that Emma is the one who left us and Regina is the one who saved me, who wanted Henry and me.

Henry tugs on my arm, his backpack already on and a grin on his face that makes me realize I've already lost this fight, "Come on Iz, they're our family."

Before I can argue, Henry has my hand and we're on our way out the backdoor into the woods and Henry is excitedly chattering about me being in on the operation as I mindlessly nod. Somehow, Henry knows exactly where to go to find everyone and we burst through an area of brush in front of Emma and Mary Margaret.

"Henry! Izzy!" Emma exclaims, "What are you doing your mother is going to kill me, and then you, and then probably me again."

Henry excitedly explains my earlier comment about the missing man wanting to find Snow White so we should stand still but I still haven't managed to look up and make eye contact with Emma since we got here. Before I can force myself to say anything the sheriff calls out and everyone goes running in that direction to help. We come up on the riverbank and Emma and Mary Margaret run ahead to the motionless man who is face down in the river. I grab for Henry's hand but I'm otherwise frozen as I watch in horror wondering if we're watching them move a person or a body. Emma must process that idea at the same time because she runs over and grabs onto Henry, pulling him into her and whispering, "Don't look."

Emma tries to do the same with me, pulling me into her but I can't take my eyes away from the scene in front of me, even when I process that my birth mom is holding me for the first time in ten years. I watch as Mary Margaret is attempting CPR and it's not working until she almost pauses a minute too long, almost like a kiss and the man suddenly wakes up. Finally, I feel like I can look away just in time to notice Emma pulling Henry and me in closer and I try not to fight it. Finally, an ambulance shows up and I suddenly jolt away from Emma and start walking away as quickly as I can without it seeming like I'm running. I don't look back but I can feel Emma and Henry walking a few steps behind me as we make our way out of the woods. Henry finally runs up beside me and tugs on my arm to get my attention, "You just hugged our mom!"

"She's our birth mom Henry, I've told you this already. I was in shock, that's all." I snap and keep my eyes focused straight ahead as I walk. I quickly glance at my brother and instantly feel guilty for my tone, knowing my anger shouldn't be directed at Henry so I take a breath and ask, "Henry, is a kiss magic? In your book?"

"True loves kiss is the most powerful magic! You saw it too! Snow White's kiss saved Prince Charming. Do you believe me now?"

"Honestly, I don't know anymore. Maybe."

My brother is smiling at me, as if I don't feel like I'm going crazy for believing in his magic theory, "Now, we need Emma to believe me too."

We're at the hospital for just a few minutes when Mom comes in, another woman with her blows past everyone and runs into the hospital room, "It's his wife." I look at Mom and she has almost too much of a grin on her face as she looks at Mary Margaret.

"And you two are grounded." Mom says leaving no room for debate looking between Henry and I, "Iz, I thought you weren't a part of this. Car. Now."

Henry grabs my hand and squeezes it, almost as an apology as we make our way across the room to head to the car and I have to force a smile so my little brother doesn't feel guilty. As we walk by her, Mom puts a guiding hand on our shoulders and puts us in front of her before shooting a glare at Emma and turning around to say something that I can't hear but imagine isn't friendly.

"I'm so dead," I whisper sinking into the front seat of Mom's car as we wait for her. Henry is somehow already asleep in the backseat when Mom gets in the car and gives us both a hard look. "I'm sorry," I mumble quietly.

"Isabella, I asked you to watch him, not to join him on some delusion running through the woods at night with that woman!" Mom still hasn't looked away from me or started the car and I can't help but wiggle in my seat, I'm not used to making my mom upset and don't know what to say so I wait for her to continue, "I thought you wanted nothing to do with her but now I have to worry about you both running away."

"I wasn't running away!" I feel like crying or exploding all at once but I force myself to hold it together in front of my mom, "I just wanted to see what it's like to believe in the good in people. In Emma like Henry does. Like I do with you."

Mom stares at me for a minute before turning away from me, turning the car on and silently driving home and going straight into her office, and locking the door. Henry and I are both clearly grounded so we go upstairs to our rooms but I can't fall asleep because I can't shake the feeling that something about tonight's events doesn't add up.

A couple of tense days have passed since Henry and I ran off into the woods and Mom has been trying to make things normal and back to acting the way she usually does with Henry and I, even if she is still on edge every time the topic of Emma comes up. Henry left early today, again meeting Emma at Grannys before school so I decided I should try again with our mom since I haven't really talked to her since admitting I wanted to see the good in Emma.

"Hi Mom!" I go to pour myself coffee so I can pretend I'm focusing on something, "Do you have a lot of important mayor stuff today?"

Mom briefly looks up from the papers she was reading, "Isabella, get to it, what are you asking?"

"We never got to have breakfast together the other day."

"And?" Mom's usually not short with me and I pause trying to convince myself that Henry's Evil Queen theory is just getting in my head.

"And... I was wondering if we could spend some time together today." I pause and swirl the coffee in my cup, "I kind of need it. I know I made you mad when I went into the woods with Henry and Emma but... But I love you and need time with you."

I stop rambling as my mom puts her hands on both of my shoulders and kisses the top of my head. Her whole presence changes, as it usually does with Henry and I, she somehow is softer, "Okay, let's go Iz."

We go to get coffee and something to eat at Granny's before school and I'm so grateful for things to seem comfortable between my mom and I again. Mom spends the whole time glancing around or intensely watching me but I pretend not to notice so I glance out the window and Mom follows my gaze. Henry and Emma are walking across the stress and for just a second I notice a twitch of anger across her face before she regains her usual Regina composure.

"Why don't you go with your brother to get to know Miss Swan?"

"What?" I'm convinced Mom has lost it at this point, "I don't want to!"

"Well it might not be long before she leaves, she doesn't have a record of staying around." Mom has a slight smile on her face and it's clear she knows something I don't, "Just in case you have any questions, later on."

"I won't. I've got a Mom, I'm good."

Mom smiles slowly, "Finish your drink. We have to get you to school."

Author's Note:

Hello! I'm so glad to be writing this story, I've been working on it for a while in various notebooks and it actually started with some later scenes where Isabella and Regina's relationship is so much more honest and developed but we have to get started somewhere!

I think that there are moments in the show where Henry is harsh to his mother and it always upset me so here's a character that fully believes in Regina, her daughter, Isabella! I promise I'll focus more on Iz and Emma soon but I think that she holds more anger toward Emma than Henry because she doesn't believe in the "savior" and "she had to give you up" argument just yet!

I love interacting with y'all and this is the first story I've written in a while so feel free to leave reviews and I'll make sure to read them!