A/N: A huge thank you to my beta, Stephanie, who you can find on YouTube, Just4FunVids925. You have been doing a wonderful job with this story and I appreciate all the time and effort that you have put in to try to make this a better story. And another thank you to aimeeloren, who tries to help beta and lend insight when she can. Also, there are some characters mentioned in the fairy tales that Emma finds contained within a storybook. If you look up the names and Italian Fairy Tales you will be able to find their stories. Sorry for posting so late in the weekend, but I have been battling a really bad cold all week.

Disclaimer: I do not own the major characters contained within this story. They belong to the franchise of Once Upon A Time.

Chapter 14:

Emma slammed her bedroom door shut behind her as she entered the room. How could her parents have kept things from her? This wasn't like them. The two of them had been trying to grow closer to her for years after being separated for most of Emma's life. And as hard as it was for Emma to trust and love, she had begun to open her heart to the two of them. Especially Mary-Margaret, who Emma considered a friend as much as a mother. Maybe Emma hadn't opened up to them quite as much as she had Killian, but he had always seemed to know where she was coming from. His own life was much like her own, despite living in a world so much different from the one Emma grew up in. Her parents, as hard as they said their lives were, still lived in a world of fantasy, as far as Emma was concerned. Hope and love conquering all.

Frustrated by the whole situation, Emma dialed her mother's cell phone number. It was Saturday and Mary-Margaret shouldn't be anywhere important, unless she was at another Mommy and Me class. Emma's teeth gnashed together at the thought. She hated to admit it but she was still somewhat bitter over the fact that her mother was acting like a first-time mom. It wasn't fair. Emma never had the chance to have that. Not once. Not when she herself was a baby. And not even when Henry was one either.

Right before Mary-Margaret's phone was about to go to voicemail, she answered. "Hello?"

She sounded breathless and Emma wondered what her mother had been doing before she answered her phone. "Hi, Mom."

"Emma," Mary-Margaret exclaimed in surprise.

Okay, that wasn't quite the response Emma had been expecting. Obviously, Mary-Margaret had answered the phone without looking at the caller id.

"What's going on?" Emma asked.

"Nothing. Why?"

Mary-Margaret sounded anxious and Emma's bullshit meter was lighting up strongly. She suspected that someone was there with her mother, probably her dad, as they seemed to be joined at the hip lately.

"I heard Robin say August was found."

"Yes. Gold has him. We believe it's so he can question him about the author, who we discovered was different from the sorcerer. Blue explained it to Henry and Regina several weeks ago when they were released."

"So, we don't know for sure that is what Gold needs him for? Regina didn't tell you that was the plan because she's working with him now?" Emma hated to sound accusatory but if her parents weren't going to impart the information freely, she'd have to rely on interrogation techniques to get it out of them.

"We meant to tell you…"

"So, you've been lying to me?"

"No, of course not," Mary-Margaret tried to assure her.

"Then why is my lie detector going off right now?"

"Emma, there are things…"

"What? What things? What's going on, Mom?"

"We don't want to lose you," Mary-Margaret said pleadingly.

"Lying is the best way to start doing that. Why don't we begin with the truth? Why is Regina really helping Gold?"

"I asked her to."

"But why?" Emma sat heavily on her bed. She suspected that she wasn't going to like what she was about to hear.

"Your father and I…We did something…"

"What did you do? Just tell me."

"Remember Maleficent?"

"The dragon I killed in the basement of the library?"

"Yes. We did something to her. We didn't mean to…hurt her. We were only to trying to ensure…"

"Ensure what? What did you do? I thought she was dead. I assumed I killed her."

"Gold brought her back. She's working with him, Ursula, Cruella and, now, Regina. They think between all of them they can find the author and make him rewrite the stories to make the villains have their happy endings."

Emma knew that meant trouble. Apparently, since leaving Storybrooke things had progressed quickly and not for the better. Feeling even more frustrated than she had previously over the whole Killian situation, Emma wished she could head home so she could help. But that would mean she would have to abandon Killian and she wasn't quite ready to do that yet. She had already sacrificed leaving her family to save the man she loved, but could she continue to do so if her family was in danger?

"Mom, do I need to come back?"

"No. Not yet. Your father, Regina and I are trying our best to take care of the issues over here," Mary-Margaret assured Emma too quickly for her own liking.

"I need you to start telling me everything. I need to know you're not lying to me. I need to be able to trust you."

"Emma, we are so sorry. We'll start telling you what is happening." Despite Mary-Margaret's words, Emma still suspected her mother was holding things back. Something that Emma wanted to know because it was important enough for them to lie to her, in which case it had to be big.

Not wanting to get into a fight with her mother after the already sucky morning she had with Killian, Emma let it go. Agreeing to talk to her mother again later, they hung up.

Emerging from her room, Emma bypassed dinner at Signora Assante's table and went for a walk. Right now she wasn't very hungry and the last thing she wanted to do was put a smile on her face and pretend that everything was okay. What she wouldn't give right now for Killian and his ever present flask of rum.

Emma wondered where Killian was. He hadn't returned to the boarding house. She didn't get a glimpse of him at Signora Assante's table as she passed. No, he was somewhere but it seemed he was making it a point to be far away from her.

Remembering how Killian's past self's mouth had fallen open slightly when she approached him in her bar wench outfit, Emma smiled. She also remembered when they had met for the first time in the Enchanted Forest and both of them had kept having their eyes stray to the other. Emma had even promised to never take her eyes off of him for a second and honestly, she thought she probably hadn't when he was in her company. She remembered seeing Killian for the first time in New York after Regina changed her past memories. How Emma had been stunned by the gorgeous male specimen that had bothered to knock on her door spouting nonsense about saving her family, a family that she had no idea existed. In all those instances they had never really run from each other. It may have happened later or they pushed the other away, but the reality she lived in now… Well, it seemed more like running scared rather than running away.

Grabbing a cup of coffee and suppli from a local vendor, Emma walked over to the park where she could see the Vatican lit up. It was beautiful at night. Sitting on an empty bench, she enjoyed her snack. Ragu and mozzarella cheese dripped from her mouth and Emma swiped it away with a napkin. She wasn't normally one to pray. God had never listened to her prayers as a child and she doubted He had much say in her future. There seemed to be some other force out there ruling people from whatever kind of existence she originally hailed from. The author or sorcerer or whatever else driving force there might be, they might be the ones she needed to talk to for answers.

Finishing her snack, Emma cleaned up and grabbed her coffee. Hopefully, walking around for a while would clear her mind, otherwise she'd never be able to sleep tonight.

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Emma spent the next two days at the library or wandering the city. Neither presented any answers to her problems. She still hadn't discovered what her parents were hiding from her. And they were hiding something. There had been no new information on the ring or on Tiziana. Emma was actually getting sick of reading the same accountings just in different words from multiple people. It was almost as if they had all read the same exact story and then had to summarize it in their own words. And Emma hadn't gotten any further in her campaign to get Killian to remember who he was. Of course, it was hard to get someone to remember anything when you've seen them a total of thirty minutes in two days.

Robin seemed to be making a little more headway in that direction, which was some sort of progress, so Emma hadn't completely lost hope. They weren't good friends, more like nodding acquaintances. Emma chuckled to herself. Her and hope and her and Killian had the same relationship apparently.

"Signorina Swan," the librarian called as Emma gathered her things to leave for the evening. "Please, wait."

Emma finished packing and smiled at the older woman who had tried to be so helpful during all of Emma's visits. "Si?"

"I finally was able to get approval for you to take the book."

Emma gave her a confused look. "Which book?"

The older woman pulled the story book out from the cart that she had been pushing. It was the leather bound book that looked like a replica of Henry's. "This one, Signorina. Do you still wish to check it out?"

"Si. Yes," Emma told her excited for the first time in over a month.

"If you follow me, we can do all the proper paperwork and you can take it with you this evening."

Emma followed her to the circulation desk. It took about a half hour to complete all the proper documents and have her license and passport copied, but when Emma left, she was the proud possessor of the story book for the next couple of weeks.

It had been the first time since she had last saw it that she could even touch it. Emma couldn't wait to get to Signora Assante's so she could begin reading the stories contained within. The only issue looming in front of her was the translation of the script.

"What has you so chipper this evening?" a young cleric from Australia who had moved into Signora Assante's boarding house the previous week asked. He held the door to the front of the house open as Emma entered.

"Finally had something go right today," Emma informed him. "How are your classes?"

"Religious."

The both laughed. Every time since they first met Emma had always asked about his classes and he gave the same reply. It became their thing. If it was the only laugh that Emma would get each day, she'd take it.

"Have a nice evening, Miss Swan," he told her as he left the building.

"You too."

Emma went to her room and set her stuff on the bed and removed the book from her bag. Dinner would be in about an hour and Signora Assante was probably busy in the kitchen. If Emma helped maybe Signora Assante would agree to spend the rest of her evening translating the book.

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"You found this at the library?" Signora Assante asked in awe. Her hand traced lovingly over the leather cover.

"Yes."

"Amazing."

Emma watched the older woman leaf carefully through the parchment papers. "I was sure they'd tell me I had to wear gloves each time I touched it."

Signora Assante looked up in shock. "Should we?"

"They didn't say."

Signora Assante rose from the couch and placed the book where she once sat. She sauntered over to a small desk tucked into a corner of the parlor. Emma watched her pull something from inside and return. Signora Assante handed Emma a pair of satin evening gloves. Not sure what to do with them, Emma watched Signora Assante put on a pair of her own and Emma followed suit. The gloves seemed as if they should go up to her elbows but Emma bunched up the remaining fabric around her wrists.

"There. That's better. Rather be safe," Signora Assante proclaimed as she picked up the book and resumed her seat. "Now where shall we start?"

"As much as I want to know about the ring, I think it is best we start at the beginning," Emma told her.

"The beginning it is."

Emma sat there and listened for hours as Signora Assante read the stories. Princes and princesses. Castles and curses. Good versus evil. It was much like Henry's book. However, all the characters were different. Instead of Cinderella and Snow White and Rumplestiltskin, there was Prunella and Bella Venzia and Corvetto. Emma had never heard stories like these. She wondered if these were people who lived in the Enchanted Forest long before her parents, or even grandparents, were even born. If Killian was in his right mind, Emma might have even been tempted to ask him if he had heard tales of any of these people.

The hour grew late and Signora Assante grew tired. They weren't quite a third of the way through the book and they hadn't gotten to any of the stories that involved the ring or any of the people associated with it either.

"I read more tomorrow," Signora Assante assured Emma with a pat to her cheek. "Can I take this to bed with me?"

"Of course," Emma agreed. Rising and stretching from her long stay on the couch, Emma wished the older woman good night. Emma slipped off the gloves and set them on top of the desk that he proprietress had obtained them from.

It had felt nice to sit and listen to someone read to her. It was a memory that she had missed from her childhood. The last time Emma had anyone do so was a very far and distant memory, almost sitting non-existent on the edge of her brain except for the niggling feeling that it had happened at least once.

Yawning, Emma wandered off to her room. It was then she realized that Killian still had yet to return to the boarding house that night. Silently, Emma prayed to a god she didn't quite believe in that he was okay.