Hey people! Happy Valentine's Day!

Thank you all who took the time to read this. I'm really not a writer so a appreciate all the follows and reviews =) I just got tired of waiting for someone to put this on paper.

Once again sorry for my mistakes and on with the story:

Chapter 2

When Emma awoke that morning, she kept her eyes closed for a second and said a quiet pray wishing she was still in her bed in Storybrook and that the last days had been nothing but a bad dream. No such luck. Her eyes, opened now, looked at her son sound asleep on the floor. He had refused to sleep on the bed saying he now was a knight, and therefore, had to act as such.

Torn between letting the kid sleep in and waking him up for breakfast, the blonde kneeled by his side watching the young boy for a while. "How are we gonna get out of this kid?" she whispered. Could they really trust the fairy they barely knew? She didn't think it was going to be as easy to find the pixie as imagined the "true believer". She should give the kid credit after all, he had been right every time, but life experience said she should not let go of her realist personality. It was what kept her alive her whole life. But now she had no choice. She could not stay in this land forever, even less now she had Henry with her.

"I can almost hear you thinking Ma." Said the boy with a yawn.

"I was just trying to put some sense into this crazy thing. Maybe you're right and Tinker Bell is our best chance. Now change so we can grab breakfast." Said the blonde while standing up and turning around to give her preteen some privacy. Once they were both ready they went down to the tavern carrying all they possessed.

"Here is the key, but don't rent the room too fast, we might come back." Emma said with a smile.

"We'll see. Breakfast?" Grunted the owner who in the morning light reminded her a lot of Grumpy. Minus the beard, she thought. Maybe they're related. Nonsense, dwarves don't have families. They come from eggs…?

"Ma, you zoned out again." Henry whispered to her. "Yes please nice man." he said this time at the tavern keeper. The man just nodded at that and went back to get their meal.

###

"Man this porridge sucks!" Henry said mixing the tasteless food.

"That's what we have for today, kid." The mother spoke also just playing with her oatmeal. "By the way, I think I have to find a job or something so we can get a place to stay for now. What else do you have on your backpack that we can trade?"

"Flashlight, our phones, a hoodie, comic books, a lighter, a pocket knife and my fairytale book." Spoke the boy in a low voice whilst he went through his bag.

"Ok, just things we might need or stuff that could make us be burnt as witches if we decided to show them. I guess work it is..." She had barely spoke those words when they heard very loud music coming from outside.

"What the… Kid, wait here while I'll see what's going on." Said the woman standing up. "And finish your porridge."

"But mom…" The blond gave him her best "mom look" and without a word Henry went back to his plate.

##

Outside the establishment Emma saw what looked like a circus caravan.

"Who are they?" she asked a man holding his little daughter to better see the new comers.

"They're the gypsies. They come once a year and stay for 3 days, then they go North till they get to the White palace for the princess' name day."

"So they go around the land the whole year and end up in the White palace for Snow's birthday?" Despite the oddness of the woman's speech and her intimacy with the future Queen the man smiled and nodded. "Thank you."

###

"Hey kiddo, can you do anything artsy?" Asked the blond while sitting back in front of him at their table.

The boy just looked at her stopping a spoon half way from his mouth: "I am a good drawer…" he said nonchalant before putting the last spoonful into his mouth.

"I meant something like trapeze." Henry just raised one of his eyebrows, exactly like his brunette mom would do when Emma said something she thought stupid. "Well, I can kinda juggle…" He answered with his mouth full.

"Maybe we can work with that." She declared still thinking about how gorgeous Regina looked when she raised her perfect eyebrow. Sometimes she would say something witless just so the woman would give her that look or call her Miss Swan like in the old days. She loved and waited a long time for the former Mayor call her by her first name, but every single time Regina went back to Miss Swan in a playful way, Emma could feel all the hair in the back of her neck rise.

"Mom you're doing it again." Whined the kid waving his hand in front of her face.

"Sorry… I can do some magic tricks." She announced at the question look her son shot at her. "Oh I forgot to tell you, the gypsies are in town. I thought we could get a "ride" to the palace. They are heading that way. Maybe if we show some skills they let us join them!" she exclaimed wiggling her eyebrows.

"So you don't believe we can get Tink here?" he asked sadly scraping off some dirty on the table.

"No… I mean, of course I do. I'm not so sure she could just take us there, like puff all of us there." She reassured him.

"Why do we even have to go there? Won't that make it harder not to interfere?" He reasoned now looking into her eyes.

"Maybe, but I have a gut feeling that we have to be at least closer to the palace than we are now. I can't quite explain, but I can almost feel something pulling us there." She had a big frown when she finished her statement, like she had just realized that herself. What could possibly be calling her that way? Her parents love did not exist yet, so could not be the true love magic she "came from".

"Do you think is your magic?" Asked the always enthusiastic boy.

"I don't think so; my parents don't know each other so the essence of my magic does not exist yet right? It can't be that." She replied not so sure herself. "I can't really answer that kid, sorry. But let's go and talk to the caravan and find out if we can join the circus" she exclaimed trying to give the boy some excitement.

"Okey!"

It worked she thought smiling.

##

The caravan wasn't in the center of the village when they went outside. They were probably setting up camp on the outskirts of the village, so mother and son followed some peasants' indications to the place. Once in the clearing, where the caravan should be, they saw the "troupe" discharging the contents of the carts. Loads of colored equipment were being taken out while some of the gypsies raised their, also full of color, huts.

Looking for that who should be the leader Emma approached the camp making her presence noticed. None of them appeared to rule, they looked pretty much equals from where she was standing. She noticed then a beautiful brunette by a pile of wood starting a fire. She saw how everyone paused what they were doing to watch the outsiders and grasped her son's hand tighter. Henry on the other hand took a deep breath and put on his best "I'm a man" face.

"Excuse me ma'am. May I have a word with you?" the blond murmured with her eyes still on the crowd.

The woman, who easily managed to light the fire, pulled her hair in a ponytail while turning her head to the blond: "I'm Esmeralda. In our culture is extremely rude to direct a word to anyone without introducing yourself." Her green eyes now locked to Emma's in an almost hypnotizing way.

"I… I'm sorry." She stuttered. But remembering she had to be strong for both her and her son continued: "My name is Emma Swan and this is my son Henry."

The serious look on the gypsy warmed and she smiled. "Now we can have a proper conversation. Tell me what you need or want and I'll say if I can and want to help. But first let me put water to boil. The kid looks hungry and it will take a while for this rabbit- she lifted the dead animal- to get juice enough for our stewed."

"Why is she being so nice to us?" Whispered the boy in his mother's year.

"She is being nice – began Esmeralda- because she knows what is like to be an outsider. I can tell you are not from here. If your clothes and speech would not give you away, the decision to come to us would. You see – she began coming closer to the boy who stiffened a bit when she touched his hair- nobody comes to us. They see our show, our act is good enough for them, but we never are. They don't speak to us; they never come to our camp. Without our masks and makeup we are invisible."

"Why do they do that?" The incredulous preteen asked.

"They think we are witches. Worshippers of the devil." She clarified.

"Are you?"

"Henry!"

"Hahaha. Curious boy I see." She waved her hand at Emma as to say it was alright. "We are not. We don't worship any deity, we just ask the help of the spirits of the forest and our ancestors, to guide us in our path and choices."

"That sounds reasonable, right kid?" The woman looked at her son as to plead him to quit the inquisition.

"I guess… but why they think you are witches?" the boy continued ignoring his mom. Emma just rolled her eyes hoping the kid wouldn't hit a nerve.

"Well, let's just say that when we ask with our hearts and intentions pure, we get our answers." The woman said with and mystic tone. "Before you ask, no, we don't hear our answers. At least not with our ears. We get a feeling inside guiding us in the right direction, a kind of hunch." She finished and began to peel some potatoes indicating two knives with her own.

They didn't need her to ask and began peeling the vegetables as well. "Mom! That's it! That's what you felt when you said we should go to the White castle!"

"But I'm not a gypsy… is that what you call yourselves, I don't mean to be rude or anything… I just.." she apologized.

"We are the Romani people, but gypsy is just fine. It's not offensive." She smiled at the blonde's awkwardness. These two were good people, she could feel it. Maybe they could help the cause. She had a feeling they would. Or even more, perhaps they were the ones the prophesy spoke of: the strangers who would lead completely into victory. She made a note to search more about the so old verses that told the story of the "Whole rulers in passing".

Her thoughts were interrupted by a gasp coming from the kid. "Ouch! That stings!"

"What happened kid?" Emma asked worried.

"I cut my finger…" he whined holding his bloody finger.

"Let me take care of that." Suggested the gypsy. "Just wash and put this on the cut."

"Thank you ma'am."

"Call me Esme, dear." The boy grinned at her.

"So…" Emma began "Do you think the kid and I can get a lift to the White palace? We can work for you guys. I can do some magic tricks and Henry here says he can juggle." She asked hopefully.

"I can't make the decision on my own. But I'll take the offer to the council. For now, you are my guests as long as we stay in this village." She said standing up. "Be a dear and mix the stewed while I'll talk to my comrades about the two of you."

"Do you think she can help us mom? Back home they always say gypsies have an agenda." He stated after he was sure she could no longer hear them.

"I don't know kid. But she hasn't lied so far. I'd know. If she has an agenda or not, this is the easiest way to get where we want. We just have to be careful, not share much and stick to our plan. We need to find Tink as soon as possible."

"That we do. Tonight before going to bed." He smelled the smoke coming from the pot and closed his eyes showing his pleasure. "This smells awesome! By the way, have you noticed how much does Esmeralda looks like the one in the hunchback animation? Even the purple skirt and huge earing!"

"yeah kid I did. Never ceases to amaze me how spot on Disney was."

"Maybe he time/space jumped like we did." He said shrugging.

"Maybe indeed."

And that's it for today =) Let me know what you think.