"Everyone! Step back, please!" It was Regina, and she was yelling at the gathered townspeople at the entrance of the collapsing mine.

"Is that a crater?" Ruby, Red, asked, but before Regina could begrudgingly address her a man stepped in who Emma recognized as Geppetto from the storybook.

"No, there were tunnels- old mines. Something collapsed."

"Sheriff, set up a police perimeter. Marco, why don't you go help the fire department? Miss Swan, this is now official government business. You're free to go."

Looked like Regina didn't get the memo. Or Graham was just too scared to tell her.

"Well, actually, I work for the town now." Emma enjoyed the quick look of shock and anger that flashed across the major's face.

"She's my new deputy."

Regina sneered at them, "You already have a deputy, sheriff, or has Jones been slacking?"

"No, we just had room in the budget for another one and I thought we could use the extra set of hands." Graham insisted.

"Indeed. Well, they say the mayor's the last to know. Deputies, why don't you go help with crowd control?"

Stepping back, Regina began to address the crowd as Emma and James moved to push them back. "People of Storybrooke, don't be alarmed. We've always known this area was honeycombed with old mining tunnels. But fear not. I'm going to undertake a project to make this area safe–to rehabilitate it for city use. We will bulldoze it, collapse it, pave it."

Emma's phone started to ring, it was Mary Margaret. Emma ignored her, but Mary Margaret refused to stop.

Annoyed, she finally picked up. "What is it? In case you didn't know there was an earthquake and I'm kinda busy."

"Emma, Henry's missing. Again."

That is when Henry decided he had done enough hiding and jumped out of the crowd to interrogate his mother, "Pave it? What if there's something down there?" Emma had to admit, the thought crossed her mind too. Is there something down there?"

Emma let out a long breath before responding to Mary Margaret, "Yeah, nevermind that. The kid just popped out of the crowd like magic. I've got it, don't worry." She didn't wait for her to respond before hanging up.

"Henry? What are you doing here?" Regina was bending to his height, clearly trying to have a private conversation in front of a large crowd.

Henry wasn't having it, "What's down there?"

"Nothing." But Henry had seen her pick up the same piece of glass Emma caught sight of her doing earlier.

"What's that? What did you pick up?" Before he could continue with his line of questioning the mayor ordered the sheriff to remove him from the site. Graham handed him over to Emma, telling her to take him to the patrol car. They could hear Regina's voice calling over the crowd.

"Emmmmaaa, there's something down there. We have to get in there."

"Henry, listen to me. Do not go into those tunnels."

"I wasn't–" He was making that face. Her face. The face she knows she makes when she's thinking about doing something totally stupid but possibly worth it. The face she makes when she plans on going in on something alone, no matter what the cost. It was like looking in a mirror.

And it terrified her.

"What did I say about playing games?"

"That I needed to be honest with you."

"Exactly, so do you want to try again?"

"I was just thinking that if we could get down there we might find something."

She leaned on the ground before him, similar to the first night they arrived in Storybrooke. Vaguely she could hear Regina still giving orders in the distance, "Henry, I agree that there might be something down there, but it isn't worth it."

"But," God, she wanted to interrupt him. She wanted to just make him understand and not listen to him, but she knew that it would only make it worse. Besides, too many people already don't listen to him. "What if it is worth it?"

"Here, in this instance, it isn't. It is too dangerous Henry. This entrance is collapsing, and if you get stuck down there there is no coming out." He was pouting at her, but she could see he was wavering. "Listen, this is a mine entrance, right? Marco said that there are tunnels all over the place, I bet I can find an old map that in the station or courthouse that will show us where everything is and we can go about this safely. I just need you to be patient, can you do that?"

He nodded at her as she saw Regina and Archie approaching them over his shoulder.

"One last thing: Remember, we need to placate your mother. That means don't start fights with her." Standing up and stepping back from Henry she greeted Regina.

Regina didn't even look at her. At least Archie smiled, but she nodded in return.

Fuck him.

"Henry, how are you here? You're supposed to be in school? Does Ms. Blanchard actually work?"

"We took a field trip to the hospital, I snuck out when the quake happened."

"They should fire that woman. Henry you're going with Archie for now, deputy get back to work." She stormed off quickly, leaving the three of them huddled around the patrol car. Emma didn't want to leave Henry, so she lingered.

Henry turned to her, "Did you do anything different today?"

She showed him her badge, "I put this on."

"That's it! That's why this happened. You put on the badge. Everytime you made a series decision something physical happens with the town. Like when you told me you were going to stay and the clock tower rang. Emma, that clock has never worked until that moment."

She had to admit, Henry had a point.

Archie picked that point to clear his throat, "Excuse me, Henry, but I think it's best we get going."

Henry looked around himself quickly, and must have decided it was safe because he lunged forward into Emma's torse. He hugged her tightly and briefly before pulling away, "Bye, Emma. I'll see you tomorrow at Granny's?"

"Yep, I'll be there, Henry." She reached out her hand, but paused half stretched out. She wanted to ruffle his hair, to show some kind of affection like he had, but they had already toed the line with their hug. She dropped her hand. "Goodbye, kid."

She watched as they walked away and started to turn herself when Henry yelled out, "Wait!" He ran up to her and pulled her down so he could whisper close to her, "We found your dad today at the hospital. Ask Ms. Blanchard about the coma guy."

Her father. Emma didn't expect the flood of relief and excitement coursing through her, but she revelled in it.

They said their goodbyes again and Emma finally got back to work, but they didn't leave before she saw a quick and heated exchange between the therapist and the mayor. She only caught snippets of their conversation.

"Everything I do… horrible plot… thinking I'm hiding something… logical…"

"... amazing imagination…"

"...you let run rampant…"

"...wrong to rip away… he's constructed…"

"...I can fire you… my town…"

"... have me do?"

"... take that delusion… and you crush it… or I will–"

"... do your worst?... I will always do my best…"

"... test me…"

"... custody battle… they'll ask an expert… fit parent?... Emma has been better to him than you...do it the way my conscious tells me to... "

Their conversation dissipated quickly after that, but it looked like Archie came away with the upperhand.

Maybe the guy has a backbone after all.

Hours passed as they cleared the site, set up perimeters, and organized with the fire department and construction crews.

They worked in silence for the most part, some people giving Emma space and muttering under their breaths as they eyed her. She did her best to ignore them.

A few people came up and introduced themselves, like Marco, and others she spoke to as they came into proximity, trying to meet new townspeople. For the most part though she stayed with James, working next to him was calming and reassuring. She new he wasn't going to pay attention to the whispers and the gossip going around them.

In between bouts of silence they chatted or he hummed an unfamiliar melody.

Until James suddenly stopped what he was doing and cocked his head.

Emma turned to him, "What are you doing Jones?"

"It's just… the crickets. Do you hear them?"

Emma watched as everyone around them stopped to listen to the song the crickets were chirping like they've never heard it before. It reminded her of cool nights around a campfire with her friends and fellow soldiers. The music felt like the memory of laughter and friendship, of storytelling and shared experience. Emma looked at James, and wondered somewhere, in the distances of his mind, if the memory of their first night surrounding a campfire all those years ago was fighting to make itself free.

Marco broke the silence with a soft, "I don't remember the last time I heard them. The crickets chirping."

Emma saw as they all continued to listen in wonder and attempted to place the sensations she was feeling in a memory that they could not recall.

Things were changing.

[Deployment 2002]

Emma and Killian had shared some fighting, a lot of curses, but mostly confusion and frustration on their first day together on the Tanzanian and Pride Land border. When Killian learned Emma had never heard of the Kingdom of Misthaven or their Navy, he realized just how far away from home he was.

He had tried to march away from her, thoughtlessly calling her useless in his fear that had manifested in unfair anger.

Emma hated that the harsh words of a stranger stung, and a part of her wanted to let him walk away, but she knew she shouldn't do that.

He was only scared, but she was still angry.

So she fought with him and cursed at him, and he at her, until they both calmed down.

"I think I know someone who can help you, but it's going to take a month to get to him."

"I don't want to wait a month before seeing my brother. I need to find him." Emma had never felt the pangs of familial loyalty and love that Killian was obviously experiencing, but just because she didn't have it herself doesn't mean she shouldn't help Killian back to his brother.

"It's your best chance, Lieutenant Jones. I don't know another magician."

He took a deep, calming breath, "Which way is it?"

"What?"

"Which way are they? The magician? So I can start walking."

"Oh, that isn't going to work. You don't know this land or it's dangers. Let me guide you."

He shook his head, "I can't pay you."

"I didn't ask for payment, I'll do it for free."

He eyed her for a moment, uncertain about whether or not he should a strange girl in strange land. Especially someone who reminded him so much of himself.

Killian couldn't miss her intelligent eyes in her hunger paned face, the way her uniform kind of draped over her body, or the way she fought like she was losing time.

She reminded him too much of himself, and he didn't trust himself.

He needed his brother.

But still, he stuck out his hand, "Then you must be my best chance."

She reached out and took it, "I guess I am."

"It's a deal then."

They walked for several hours, stopping only for short breaks before setting up camp right before nightfall. Emma planned to take them to the coast and use a ship to go further south. It would be quicker.

They sat in silence as the night surrounded them, the fire blazing as Emma pulled out maps, books, and notes, and Killian sat in silence watching her work.

After several minutes Emma saw him look out at the grassland surrounding them and heard him whisper, "Crickets?"

"Uh, yeah."

In wonder he said lowly, "I've never heard them like this before. Usually there's one or two stuck on a ship and it's bloody obnoxious. But here, with all of them chirping like this, it's almost like music."

"Glad you're getting to experience this. Maybe it will change your life."

He looked at her over the campfire, his blue eyes brilliant over the blaze, and he gave his first real smile that day. It was beautiful.

"Maybe."

"Hey Mary Margaret," Emma greeted her new roommate, her mother, as she walked in. Mary Margaret nodded at her and waved as she sipped her tea, "Crazy about that earthquake today, huh?" Again, Emma got the bare minimum response from her. She tried again, "I can't believe Henry made it all the way to the site of the collapse. Kid really gets around."

Mary Margaret only gave her a weak and absentminded, "Yeah."

Emma felt a little discouraged. Reasonably she knew the Mary Margaret had a rough day, going on a field trip to the hospital and losing Henry. She was probably down from the stress.

And, Emma realized, possibly the coma guy.

But Emma had gone her entire life without a mother and now that she found her, she wanted to talk to her. Mary Margaret didn't even know that it was her lost daughter who was standing before her. Emma wondered, when the curse broke would Mary Margaret be excited to see her? Or would twenty-eight years weigh too heavy between them? Could Emma even be someone's daughter? She had spent so many years being nothing.

She's trying for Henry, it's time to do the same for her mother.

And there's no time like the present.

Pushing her insecurities aside, Emma tried a new tactic.

She took a mug and set it down unnecessarily hard so it made a loud noise that startled Mary Margaret.

A bit uncouth, but effective.

"Woops," she turned around to the still warm teapot on the stove and poured herself a cup. "But now that I have your attention, what's up with you? Upset over losing Henry earlier?"

"What? Oh no. I mean, I am, but it's Henry. If he's run away you two always seem to find each other."

For a moment pages of the storybook flashed across Emma's mind. Pages that read an oft vowed phrase by her parents, "I will always find you."

Apparently a family habit.

"Then what is it?"

"I just keep thinking about this patient in the hospital. He's been in a coma for years, and Dr. Whale said that no one has ever visited him. He's been alone all this time."

Emma frowned, she of course does not remember her three months spent in a coma after being caught in an IED blast, but she remembers the pure joy she felt when she woke up enough to realize that she wasn't alone.

Her friends, her fellow soldiers, had visited her often.

She made a quick decision.

"You hungry?"

Mary Margaret nodded slightly, a little off guard from the sudden change in topic. "I could eat."

"Good. Let's order take out from Granny's and take it to the hospital. We'll have a dinner date with coma patient."

"Really? Why? Why do you want to go to the hospital?"

Emma shrugged, "I know when I woke up from my coma I was so happy when I learned that I hadn't been alone that I cried."

Mary Margaret clearly wanted to know more, but before she could ask Emma threw her cell phone at her. "Order. I want a grilled cheese and onion rings, with a hot chocolate to go."

She should not be surprised. Emma should not be fucking surprised.

Really. Truly. Henry had told her. She should have prepared herself for this.

But she hadn't.

And now she is staring at her father.

In a hospital bed.

In a coma.

Hi dad.

Her and Mary Margaret sat down in the spare chairs in the room, holding their styrofoam containers in their laps. They placed the third meal at the foot of the bed, planning to share it later.

On impulse they decided it would be rude to not bring the man anything to eat, even if he couldn't enjoy it.

They also thought it would be a little fun.

It was.

They ate their dinner in silence for a while, but when they finished they weren't in a hurry to go away.

"So," Emma was leaning back in her chair, one leg propped against the bed railing. "No one has claimed him this entire time?"

"That's what Dr. Whale said."

"How long has he been here?"

"I don't know. Whale only said that he had been here for as long as he could remember, and that he had always been his patient." Emma was getting really tired of the phrase, "for as long as he/she/I could remember."

"How old is Whale?"

"Not very, about our age."

"Then how could he always have been his patient if he's always been here? It's just like with you and Regina. Things can't have always been. People can't have always been, Mary Margaret. They age, they change, but you all are treating things, treating people, like they've been the same from the beginning of time. No wait, excuse me, from the middle of time because you all can't seem to remember the beginning."

"That's not true."

"It's not, is it? Well then Mary Margaret, tell me something that has happened from the beginning." Her mother made to speak, her hand floating in the air as it pointed at Emma, but Emma spotted the glint in her eyes first and cut her off. "Something that doesn't involve me, or Henry."

Mary Margaret stopped then and leaned back, grasping at thoughts that she didn't have.

For Mary Margaret Blanchard there was no beginning. She had always been.

Emma leaned forward, her elbows on her knees with her hands clasped in front of her. "Start with something simple, like when you first started teaching."

Mary Margaret started shaking her head back-and-forth, back-and-forth. Slowly and in a small voice she said, "I don't remember."

"Okay, something easier. Where did you go to college? You had to go to be a teacher, right?"

She sat in silence, still shaking her head back-and-forth, back-and-forth. "How is this possible? How can I not know this?"

"Mary Margaret, look at me." Emma stared into green eyes so much like her own. She could see herself in her mother. Her green eyes. The set of her jaw. Her cheeks.

But she could also find herself in her father. The shape of her brow. Her hair color. The broadness of her shoulders.

"Mary Margaret, maybe it's time that you start taking Henry seriously."

"Maybe you're right."

"Excuse me, but visiting hours are over." The nurse that had knocked at the door startled both of them. They left quickly and quietly.

They didn't speak until they got back to the safety of the loft.

It was Mary Margaret who broke the silence, "Emma, what do we do? If Henry's right, and Regina is the Evil Queen, she runs this town. She has always run this town." Her hand came up to cover her mouth, "Oh my God, this can't be real. It's crazy. We're crazy."

Emma felt for her, she really did, but Mary Margaret was so close to believing her and Henry that she couldn't let it slide. "Just because something sounds improbable doesn't make it impossible. Listen," She reached forward and grabbed Mary Margaret's hand, "how do you feel about what you've heard? Not what you think, but what you feel. The curse messes with your mind, but I don't think it can mess with your gut. So, how do you feel Mary Margaret?"

"I feel like this is… wrong. That my entire life has been wrong up until this moment. That believing you. Believing Henry, will be the first right thing I've done in a long time. But Emma, what do we do?"

"The purpose of the curse is to make everyone suffer, to make everyone alone. I have a theory that the curse is held together by emotional isolation. Have you noticed that no one is really friends with each other? They get along, but they never really see other outside of their daily routines. And people who should be together are separated. Like Granny and Ruby. They live together and they work together, but the curse has twisted their characters and personalities to the point that they might as well be alone."

"So what do we do?"

"We try to bring people together."

"How do we do that?"

"Honestly? I think the best way to do that is just by being kind. Regina didn't build this curse for people to be kind. She built it for them to be submissive and to not question or think about anything. I mean, none of you ever gave a second thought to the fact that Regina is the only mayor you've ever known. No one said a word to Archie about how he was violating client-patient confidentiality with Henry. And now that I have?" She waved her arms at Mary Margaret. "Look at you, having an existential crisis and believing in fairytales. And Archie! I literally heard Archie stand up to Regina about what she was making him do to Henry." She stopped her waving about with her arms and pointed at her roommate, "But what you need to do," Emma started ruffling around in her bag, "Is to go back to the hospital tomorrow morning and read to John Doe the Coma Guy." She was handing Mary Margaret the storybook, the only key to any of this.

"Why? Who is he?" By her face she already knew.

"He's Prince Charming."

"And I'm Snow White."

And I'm your daughter. But Emma didn't tell her that.

"Well, I guess I better get my beauty sleep if I'm remeeting my true love tomorrow."

That night Mary Margaret dreamed of a war and a little girl.

Emma.

An innocent life caught in the middle of decades old grief and anger.

Emma.

She was giving birth, the blurryface of a man hovering above her, his features she just could not make out. His voice was muffled and she was crying and screaming.

She knew she had a daughter, a daughter she might never see.

Find us.

She never even got to hold her daughter.

Emma.

She was gone.

I'm so sorry, baby.

Emma woke up that Saturday morning to find an extra set of clothing on the stairs that led to her bedroom. The note read, Leaving for the hospital. Meet you at Granny's. Bet your tired of wearing the same outfit. I think these will fit you. XOXO MM.

Four days. It has only been four days and Emma was so far in that she couldn't imagine getting out.

The shirt was tight on the shoulders, but Emma teared up looking at herself in the mirror.

She was wearing her mother's clothing.

She had stopped dreaming a long time ago of ever having the opportunity.

Four days have changed her entire life.

Henry lied to his mother about going to the arcade so he could have a late breakfast with Emma at Granny's and learn first hand how Mary Margaret's date with John Doe the Coma Patient went.

"She bought that you went to the arcade?"

He shrugged, "She believes what she wants."

Emma suspected that Regina didn't want to have to think about the possibility of her world starting to crumble around her.

She listened as Henry talked about his day. Her's had been largely monotonous. Graham had sent her on patrol alone earlier that morning while he and Jones took care of paperwork from the quake yesterday. When she got back James was gone, but he had left a bear claw for her on her desk and a note telling her that they planned to grab lunch as a group tomorrow.

She looked forward to it.

"She's here."

"We're just getting started, Henry. Try not to get your hopes up."

Mary Margaret breathlessly broke in, "He woke up."

Emma's "What?" was met with Henry's "I knew it."

"Well, he didn't wake up and start talking to me, but he grabbed my hand."

"He's remembering! He has to be!"

"What did the doctor say?"

"That I imagined it, but I know what happened. I'm not crazy. He grabbed my hand."

"We have to go back. You have to read to him again."

It was then that Emma's phone started to ring.

It was James.

"Helloooo Swan, I hope you had a peaceful morning with your lad because you are about to have a stressful afternoon."

"What's going on, Jones?"

"Some guy that's been in a coma forever has walked off."

Shit.