A/N:

Hey guys!

From me to you on this wonderful Christmas day (although it isn't actually Christmas for me anymore), an update! I hope you are all having a great time doing whatever you are doing to celebrate, and if you aren't then i hope this will make things slightly better!

This chapter is a bit shorted than the last but i wanted this and the next one to be separate, so in return i will try to update again on Monday :) Thank you to all who have read, favourited or reviewed!

Merry Christmas, enjoy!

Rosie xx

As always no copyright intended!

NYC 2014

The high-rise buildings towered over her on either side as she walked through Midtown on her way to work. The one thing she liked most about New York was also the one thing she despised it most for. It was never quiet. On some days, the honking horns and people yelling served their purpose; they distracted her from her thoughts. But there was one thing that she simply couldn't get off her mind. The visitor this morning had not only brought up feelings about the uncertainty of her place in life, but had reminded her of an encounter that was very similar to the one she had yesterday, only in her dreams.

Still to this day Emma remembered the dark haired woman as vividly as she had when she had woken up that morning, and she couldn't help but think that there was something strange happening. The woman in her dream had expected Emma to know who she was and the man this morning had clearly been hoping the same. She didn't want to derive too much of her evidence from this dream, because it was only that, a dream, but it had been so real that she recollected it as she would something that had happened in reality.

Glancing at the people around her, she turned to walk into Starbucks, really, really, hoping that the weird pirate man hadn't decided it would be a good idea to follow her. She couldn't deal with that shit today. After grabbing her usual cinnamon hot chocolate she exited the coffee shop and continued down the busy New York street.

His clothing made him stand out immediately to the blonde's eyes. Over the throng of people she spied his dark, oily hair and the shoulders of his long leather coat. Before she even had the chance to run into a doorway or duck or turn around he noticed her and began making his way swiftly through the crowd. She thought about running, but there were too many people, and part of her was just a tiny bit intrigued as to who this man was and what the hell he wanted from her.

"Emma!" he shouted over the dull roar everything happening around them.

She put on her best 'fuck off' face and met him on the edge of the sidewalk.

"Okay, what the hell do you want with me? Because I don't know about you, but where I come from its bad manners to be sent away from someone's door and then stalk them," she emphasised for good measure.

"Swan, I just need to-"

His face dropped as she interrupted him. "No, you don't need to do anything. The only thing you need to do is stay away from me." She tried to walk away, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back in front of him. The cloudy look on her face darkened into thunder but before she could reprimand him once more he began to speak.

"Its important Swan. You're the only hope. Your parents are in danger. I know you don't know me, but you do, I promise. How else would I know your name or that you have a son, called Henry?"

"Stay away from my son you fucking creep, and I don't have any parents, so now I know you're spewing bullshit" she said, wrenching her arm out of his grasp and checking her phone for the time "You're making me late for work, so fuck off and hopefully I'll see you never." This time he let her go. She made it four steps before his voice made her turn around again.

"Regina sent me," he said almost hopefully, even thought it was coupled with the knowledge that she wouldn't know whom he was talking about. But she did, she'd heard that name before. The beautiful, sad, intriguing woman in her dream had been called Regina, and this made her stop in her tracks.

She walked back up to him slowly with a quizzical look on her face. Okay pirate, she thought, now you have my attention.

"Meet me outside that building," she pointed along the street to a tall glass structure that glittered blue in the wintery sunlight, "at four pm sharp. I'll give you five minutes," she said as she turned away from him.

Emma left work at 3:59 precisely. She had never been one for keeping to a schedule but she had been thinking about the pirate and Regina all day. Regina, Regina, Regina. She felt an inexplicable connection to this woman that she didn't even know existed, but who apparently might actually be real.

True to his word, the man was waiting outside for Emma, sitting on one of the smokers' ledges that lined the front of the building. She walked up and sat down next to him, wary to remain at least two feet away. She didn't really know why but although this man was creepy and stalky, she didn't feel all that threatened by him.

A smirk covered his face, the same as the one he had worn this morning before he so disgustingly kissed her on her own doorstep.

"So Swan, what made you change your mind," he said cheekily.

She didn't really know how to reply, even though she knew exactly what had made him worth listening to.

She let her thoughts centre for a second before she said quietly, "Regina," simply because there was no other reason., and it seemed stupid to lie.

"You remember her?" he asked, seemingly confused by the sentiment.

"No, I don't know who she is. But I had a dream. Someone called Regina. She knew me but I didn't know her, just like you seem to know me. I don't understand."

The pirate looked up at her then with sincerity in his previously glinting eyes. He reached into his coat and pulled out some pictures and handed them to Emma. They were pictures of her and Henry in a town called Storybrooke.

Emma was beyond confused now. "What are these? I've never seen these pictures before…we've never been to a place called Storybrooke. How can this be possible? They must be photo shopped."

"They're photo-what love?" he said, perplexed.

"Photo-shopped," Emma replied curiously, "you know…like faked?"

Hook now looked less confused. "Even if they were forgeries, why would I have them? You must admit that something doesn't quite feel right here, that something feels missing?"

"I guess so, I guess I've been feeling that for a while now, I guess for my whole life. But life doesn't always happen the way you want it to, you don't always get everything you want."

"Your paren-" he started before she interrupted for the third time that day.

"Now you're just talking crap…" she started.

"Because you think you're an orphan?"

"I am an orphan," Emma stated resolutely, nodding to herself as if to affirm the statement in her own mind.

"What if I told you differently? What if I told you that you have family, parents, friends that you don't remember? What if I told you that there's a whole year of your life that you're missing?" he pointed at the pictures then, "this was taken a year ago, in Storybrooke."

"A year ago I was here, in New York, we had just moved here from Boston."

"Wow," he said emphatically, "Regina really did do a good job."

"Now this Regina again, who is she? You sound like a crazy person." Emma was really beginning to have enough of this man. Telling her she had parents was one thing, but telling her that a year ago she was in some place she had never even heard of? Emma called bullshit.

"I actually prefer dazzling rapscallion," he replied, raising his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

Emma looked at him imploringly; with each open of his mouth he proved himself to be even more of an asshole. The blonde's dislike for him was growing with every second.

"This is crazy. How could I have forgotten an entire year? This doesn't even make sense. No. This is ridiculous. Your time is up. I'm done here," she moved to get up as she spoke, picking up the pictures and staring at them one more time.

"Emma wait. I know you have no reason to trust me…"

"No, you know what, I really don't. You should give me one reason not to punch you in the face."

"Just listen. You have no reason to trust me, but I also have no reason to lie. Use your superpower. Yes, I know about that. Use it and tell me that I'm lying."

Emma's mouth hung open. "How…?" she was speechless. Okay, this man might have been able to know her name, and Henry's name, but there is no possible way of him knowing about her superpower. The only person who knew about that was Henry, so what the hell was happening here? She stared at the man. His body language was open; he was sitting still; none of the telltale signs of lying showed on his face. She determined that he was probably telling the truth, which she really didn't want to think about because it opened up a whole, endless can of worms for her.

"Am I lying?" he asked confidently.

"No… I mean I don't think so. But still, this is ridiculous. It's bizarre. How could this even be true?"

"Just trust me, Swan. I want you to do one thing for me," he said as he reached into his pocket again and pulled out the two wrapped up vials of potion. "I promise you there's an explanation."

"Not one that makes sense," she said, slightly aggressively.

"It will if you drink this," he said, holding one of the blue bottles in front of her.

"If what you're saying is true, if… then everything is going to change, and I'm not sure I'm okay with that. I like my life," she said with conviction.

"But what if you liked the life you left behind more? You're missing out Swan, on your life, and Henry's, with the people you love. Follow your gut, Swan, it'll tell you what to do."

"Henry always says that," she said with an anxious expression on her face. She had already made her decision. She owed it to herself, and to Henry to at least see if this borderline maniac was telling the truth. And the woman, Regina, was still on her mind. She had told Emma to tell Henry she loved him. She was someone from this old life - whatever that meant - someone who obviously loved Henry a lot, and it might be that she even owed it to Regina. This woman had sent the pirate here to find her, that had to count for something.

He was still holding the potion in his outstretched hand when Emma made her decision. She reach out and plucked the small vial from his fingers. The cork slipped easily from the bottle and she touched it to her mouth, draining the sweet liquid in one gulp. Her eyes turned gold.

Suddenly, in her mind's eye images began flashing just like in her dreams. Only this time she understood them. She saw her bug, the clock tower in Storybrooke, Regina. There was her mother and father and lots and lots of purple smoke and more Regina. She remembered Gold and Ruby and everyone else and she recalled Neverland and Pan's curse and everything that had truly happened in her life. The last thing she saw before she opened her eyes was the road, the road from her dream. The last thing she remembered was driving away from Storybrooke and seeing Regina's grief stricken face in her rear view mirror; emotion pouring from her face as it was from Emma's. She remembered wanting to turn around and pull the woman into a fierce embrace, but knowing she couldn't. She opened he eyes, the pirate appearing through the sea of tears.

"Hook," she gasped, feeling as if everything had just fallen into place but simultaneously flown completely up into the air.