AN: This chapter is where the differences between Cora's curse and the cannon Dark Curse become noticeable. Please let me know what you think of these changes with a review. I hope you all enjoy!

Present Day

Storybrooke, Maine

Emma spent the remainder of her morning and early afternoon at Granny's Diner. Ruby was good company and Emma had decided it would be easier to stay put until she signed the paperwork Graham had promised to bring. Plus, she had texted Mary Margaret and agreed to meet her at Granny's after school to see if Emma would be able to stay in Mary Margaret's spare room afterall.

A little after noon, Graham showed up with forms for Emma to sign acknowledging that she would be liable for the cost of repairing the Storybrooke sign. In addition to this paperwork, Graham had provided Emma with two brochures. One was about safe driving in rural Maine and the other was on the dangers of drinking and driving.

"This is still a little too soon," Emma had told him. But Graham had just smirked at her and left with the folder of signed papers.

As the afternoon progressed, Emma had read a book she had found stashed in her yellow bug but had become uninterested in the story very quickly… maybe she should have asked Henry to borrow his story book. She shook her head at that idea. It had been nice to talk to Henry about other things besides the fairy tales and this curse today because this obsession with this book was so strange to her. Sure, when Emma had been younger and had read Harry Potter for the first time she had wished that someday someone would come tell her that she was actually a wizard and that they would escort her away from her horrible foster family and off to a magic school. But, no matter how much she had wanted that to happen, Emma had never truly believed in magic. Afterall, that was crazy… wasn't it?

"You must be Emma!" A cheerful voice greeted Emma. She looked up and saw a pretty woman with dark hair in a stylish pixie cut, just slightly older than herself standing by her booth.

"Yeah, hi," Emma said, standing up to shake the other woman's offered hand. "And you must be Mary Margaret."

"Henry spent nearly the entire second half of today talking about you and Ruby has also sent her compliments," Mary Margaret told Emma with a smile as both of the women sat back down in the booth. "I feel like I already know you."

"Well, then I'm at a disadvantage," Emma laughed. "The only thing Henry told me is that, according to his story book, you're Snow White."

"Oh, well I don't suppose that's very helpful information," Mary Margaret agreed. She launched into her life story without any prompting.

Emma noted that this was definitely a woman who had never spent any time in foster care or private detective work. No one outside of Storybrooke had ever been this open with their life story. But Mary Margaret didn't shy away from the details of her life. She told Emma how she was a teacher and that she loved working with children and really hoped to have several of her own but that her current relationship status was so messy that it seemed highly unlikely that would be happening any time soon. Especially because her own parents had such a strong relationship and Mary Margaret just didn't think it was fair to have kids before you had a solid partner to stand by your side. By the end of the story, Emma was very confident that Mary Margaret was not a murderer who was only offering her the spare room in order to kill her and toss her remains in the Storybrooke harbor.

"Sorry, I have a tendency to ramble," Mary Margaret apologized with a smile. "I haven't asked you anything about yourself."

"There's not a whole lot to tell, honestly," Emma sighed. "I assume you know I'm Henry's birth mother but that was added to my identity less than 24 hours ago so it doesn't tell you a whole lot about me. I work in bail bonds out of Boston at the moment but I like to move around so it doesn't leave a lot of opportunity to put down roots and grow a life story."

"Everyone has a life story, but I respect that you might not feel comfortable sharing yours," Mary Margaret said politely. "But, I would be thrilled if you came and stayed with me for as long as you're in town. The loft can get pretty lonely all by myself."

"That's amazing," Emma exclaimed. "Thank you so much!"

—

Regina spent the remainder of her day at work unable to concentrate. Instead of her usual productive power lunch and afternoon of phone calls with various town officials, she limped her way to the end three measly financial reports and one request to begin work at one of the old Storybrooke mines. Her mind was focused on Emma Swan and the danger that this woman posed to her relationship with Henry.

To make matters worse, it seemed that Cora had heard about the scene at Granny's because Regina had received several phone calls that she had sent to voicemail. She was dreading the reaction her mother would have to the news of more Mills family drama unfolding in public and, now, her anger at being ignored for an entire afternoon. Regina felt sure that the only thing stopping Cora from marching into the Mayor's office to yell at Regina was that it would be the second public scene involving the Mills family that day and that was unthinkable to Cora Mills.

With a large breath out, Regina set her forehead against the cool surface of her desk. She either needed one very strong drink or several aspirins. Life had been complicated enough with Henry being distant and rude to her, his therapy sessions seemed be getting more frequent at Dr. Hopper's urging, and his recent insistence that she was some Evil Queen did not make her feel like a successful mother by any definition. But, Regina thought, all of that would be manageable if she didn't have to also worry about some blonde woman breaking her way into the town and stealing her son from her. Usually Cora ignored Regina's relationship with Henry as it didn't typically result in public scandal. But the entrance of Ms. Swan had also introduced a new wave of parental advice and criticism from the elder Mills woman.

Deciding that there was no use sitting in her office doing no work, Regina decided that she was going to make one important stop before she headed to pick Henry up from school. So, she grabbed her purse and her keys and headed out of the office. She stopped to lock up and tell her secretary that she might as well leave for the day as well. A short walk later, Regina was pulling open the door to the town pawn shop.

"Well, well, well, to what do I owe the pleasure, Madame Mayor," Mr. Gold asked from behind the counter. The shop was, as usual, empty but he stood behind the counter as if he had expected her.

"I'm sure you've heard the news that Henry's birth mother has come to town," Regina said, receiving a nod of acknowledgement. "Well, it seems there is a distinct possibility that Ms. Swan is going to try and cause problems. I don't know whether or not she has any intention of trying to fight me for custody, but seeing as you are the one who arranged Henry's adoption…"

"You want to know if there's any room in the contract for her to fight you legally?" Mr. Gold filled in the words that Regina was unable to find.

"Yes, I want to know if there's anything that can be manipulated to her advantage," Regina confirmed. "I want to know if there are any loopholes that someone as crafty as Emma Swan can use to take Henry away from me."

Mr. Gold paused. His eyes seemed to light up at the sound of Regina's words. At first she was worried it was anger at her challenge of his contract. But when he spoke, there was no malice in his voice."I'm insulted, Dearie. My contracts have a reputation. No one breaks deals with Mr. Gold. Or, rather," he paused for a moment, "no one breaks deals with Mr. Gold and enjoys the results."

Regina let out a breath she hadn't been aware she was holding. She had spent so much of her day worried that she would lose her son that it was reassuring to hear that there were no legal loopholes that would become complications.

"Thank you," Regina said, truly meaning it. "This was reassuring." She turned to leave the pawnshop.

"Dearie, I will offer you one last piece of information," Mr. Gold called after her, freezing Regina in her place.

"And what would that information cost me?" Regina inquired, not interested in opening new deals with the man.

"Oh, nothing. You may not realize, but you've just given me something that is far more valuable than anything I could ask for," Gold answered much to Regina's confusion. "This piece of information will cost you nothing."

Regina studied the man, he was smiling now and the gleam remained in his eyes. He looked triumphant, but Regina had no clue what had prompted such a reaction. However, it seemed foolish to turn down free information. "Go on."

"If you're worried about someone taking your son away from you, there are far more likely actors than Emma Swan," Gold declared. "Someone much closer to you than Ms. Swan. I won't say more than that, dearie, you'll see the signs with some time."

—

After their chat over coffee, Emma had gone with Mary Margaret to look at the bedroom she would be staying in. The loft was huge in comparison to the Boston apartments that Emma was used to and also far more tidy, but Mary Margaret kept apologizing for the cramped quarters and the mess.

"This place is so nice. Have you lived in Storybrooke your entire life?" Emma asked later as Mary Margaret moved through the kitchen fixing them both hot chocolate.

"I've lived here as long as I can remember," Mary Margaret told her. This struck Emma as an odd way of answering the question but she brushed past it.

"So, do your parents live in the area?" Emma asked. Somehow, despite Mary Margaret's description of her parent's epic love earlier, she had left out any information about whether she was still close to them.

"Actually, my parents have both passed away," Mary Margaret replied, her hand frozen halfway to the whipped cream can.

"I'm so sorry," Emma cursed herself for being so tactless. "I didn't mean to bring up any painful memories."

"No, it's fine. I've had plenty of time to process both of their deaths," Mary Margaret brushed off Emma's apology and topped off both cups of hot chocolate with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon. "My mother died when I was rather young. Her death was awful for me, we had been so close. And her death ended up pushing my father and I apart."

"Oh?" Emma asked, trying to find a segway to a less painful subject but unable to think of any.

"Yes, in the years following my mother's death my father made some decisions I just couldn't agree with and he died not long after she did," Mary Margaret continued her story, once again demonstrating a comfortability with vulnerability that Emma would never have been able to manage. "But, I'm sure Ruby caught you up on most of that."

"Uh… no. Ruby didn't mention anything about your father. Why would she have?" Emma asked, accepting the offered cup of hot chocolate.

"Well, given that it involves Regina, I just assumed Ruby would have told you. She, unfortunately, would have considered it prime gossip, so I'm honestly surprised it never came up," Mary Margaret explained.

Emma was getting increasingly confused but she waited for Mary Margaret to continue. There was a small silence as Mary Margaret seemed to gather her thoughts. Emma took a sip of the hot chocolate and waited patiently.

"You see, a few years after my mother died, my father became obsessed with finding someone to be my new mother. He felt that every young girl should have some feminine figure in their life to explain the world of womanhood… or something like that," Mary Margaret rolled her eyes but continued in the same even tone. "I see where he was coming from. And I don't think it would have driven us apart if he had taken his time and fallen in love with a new woman who did fill that role. But, instead of waiting for love, my father found himself in a marriage of convenience and that's how Regina became my stepmother."

"What?!" Emma practically spit out her cocoa at this statement. Her mind reeling from what Mary Margaret had just said. "Regina's your stepmother? Is she even old enough to be a stepmother?"

"In my opinion," Mary Margaret said, sadly, "no. And you've pinpointed exactly why my relationship with my father became strained. Instead of finding a respectable woman his age, he married a 17 year old girl."

"SHE WAS 17!" Emma nearly exploded, again. "How was that legal?"

"Regina's parents agreed to it which made it legal here in Maine," Mary Margaret explained.

"Why would they do that?" Emma asked, horrified by what she was learning.

"Well, my family has always been fairly wealthy and my father had plenty of heart problems that everyone here in town knew about. So, my only real explanation is that they were after an easy fortune."

"That's awful," Emma remarked.

"It really was. I don't think anyone besides Cora was happy about any of it. My father never truly seemed content with his decision. The marriage brought out a mean side of him that I never saw when he was with my mother. I left the house as soon as I turned 18 and my father died the same year," Mary Magaret paused to take a long sip of her own mug of hot chocolate. "I don't think he ever recovered from my mother's death. Even though it was four years later, I think he died of a broken heart. The horrible irony of it was that my father left barely any money to Regina. So, Cora still didn't get what she wanted."

"Holy shit," Emma was floored by this story. While she was shocked that Regina had been married to a man old enough to be her father, she was also not at all shocked that Cora had arranged the whole thing. From her brief interactions with the woman, she felt it made complete sense.

"He left her just enough for Regina to pay for law school and the adoption fees to find Henry," Mary Margaret finished her story. "The rest of the money is in a trust in my name. I think that's why Cora hates me. I got all of my father's money and Regina used all of the money she was given. There was nothing there for Cora to pick over. So, she's tried her very best to make my life miserable ever since."

After this rather sad story, Mary Margaret finished her hot chocolate and said good night. Emma rinsed out their mugs, needing to do something with her hands to distract her from the wealth of information that had just been dropped on her. In the back of her mind, Emma wondered if Henry knew this story. Unfortunately, she thought his one take away would be that Regina was in fact Mary Margaret's stepmother just like the Evil Queen was to Snow White.

Emma had also noticed that in her story, Mary Margaret hadn't said much about Regina at all. She had explained the marriage in terms of Cora forcing Regina to do it and then Cora's disappointment at the distribution of death benefits. But not once had Mary Margaret mentioned Regina's feelings or attitude about any of it. Emma couldn't imagine what it would be like to have your parents force you to marry a man that much older than you. The only benefit to growing up an orphan was that Emma had been the one to make all of her own decisons.

Deciding it was time to go to bed, Emma finished a bottle of water she had started earlier and moved to throw it in the recycling bin. but when Emma opened the lid to the recycling bin, she noticed that there were a multitude of empty liquor bottles already in the bin. This struck her as odd because Mary Margaret didn't seem the type to throw big parties or even the type to drink very much. But, Emma decided, the story she had just heard had reinforced more than anything that not everything was predictable. So, Emma decided she would try to make sense of the many bottles tomorrow, after she had time to process her own day.