Chapter 11

Henry stifled a yawn as he looked around their room at Granny's. "Where's my mom?"

Mia looked up from the book she was reading and shrugged. "Not here."

"I never heard her come in last night. Did you?" Henry sounded worried.

"No…"

"Do – do you think she's okay?"

If Emma hadn't come home in New York…well, Mia still wouldn't be worried because it just wasn't that unusual for the adults in her life to be missing in action, but she would understand why Henry was worried. But they were in Storybrooke…

"Yes. We're in Storybrooke," was all Mia said. She didn't think she needed to say anything else.

"But the mayor said bad things happen here…"

Mia stared. "The same mayor you think is hiding a secret kid away somewhere?"

"She is! I can prove it," Henry insisted.

Mia continued to stare. "We're not breaking into the mayor's house."

Henry paused. It looked like the thought hadn't occurred to him but he thought it was a brilliant idea to break into the mayor's house.

Mia stifled a groan. "No."

Emma paused outside the door to her room in Granny's, trying to juggle hot cocoas, bagels, and her room key.

"No." Emma heard Mia's voice through the door. That was different…Emma didn't think the girl had ever said no to Henry before. She wondered what they were talking about.

"No what?" Emma asked as she opened the door.

Both kids turned to her with guilty expressions. "Nothing," they said in unison.

Emma arched an eyebrow in disbelief. So this was what it was like to have two kids…

They were obviously lying to her, but Emma could tell they had come to some kind of silent agreement not to tell her what they were up to…because it sure looked like they were up to something…she just didn't know what yet. That was okay…they wouldn't be doing anything except fishing, at least not that day.

But still…Emma wasn't sure she liked this. It had been her and Henry against the world since the day he brought her to Storybrooke. Even when she didn't believe in the curse or magic, Emma was a part of Operation Cobra. Henry told her his secrets and plans. In their curse-free life in New York, it was still the two of them against the world. And now Henry had secrets with Mia – secrets neither of them seemed to be in the mood to share…at least not with her. She felt a pang of hurt.

Even though she knew Leroy would put a cramp in any plans they'd made, Emma didn't like that they even had plans that didn't include her. She was all for Henry and Mia bonding…she just didn't like that they were bonding without her. She knew it was silly, but she couldn't help it. She knew she had a special bond with Henry...and she would have plenty of time to bond with Mia – after she broke the curse and saved everyone from the Wicked Witch of the West.

Emma sat down in the armchair facing the couch Henry and Mia were sitting on and set their breakfast down on the coffee table.

Henry stared at her. "Were you out all night?"

Emma swallowed back guilt. She didn't want Henry worried about her. Mia didn't look worried…she looked almost speculative.

"Were you with Killian?" Mia asked in a tone that suggested Emma had been doing a lot more than just working on a case with him. Emma did not like her twelve year old daughter thinking that.

Henry made a face. "Oh, gross."

"I was working," Emma said a bit more sharply than she intended. "But I got you guys breakfast because I am supermom. Some cocoa and bagels."

Henry looked in the bag and was clearly unimpressed with the bagels. "That's a bagel?"

"Sorry, kid. We're not in Manhattan anymore."

"Supermom can't fly to Manhattan?" Mia said dryly.

"I left my cape at home."

"When are we going home?" Henry was looking at her expectantly.

Emma hesitated. She didn't know if they were going home. She wanted to take them back to New York where they could have a normal life without a seemingly endless rotation of evil villains, but she also knew Henry wouldn't want to leave once he remembered that Storybrooke was his home. And then there was Mia…it would be easier for her to have Mia live with her here in Storybrooke than to try to get custody of the daughter she gave up in New York. She had no legal rights to Mia, but she had a feeling no one in the town created by Regina's curse would care that her daughter wasn't hers legally.

"I don't know…I'm still working on the case," Emma hedged.

"Are you going back out?"

"I've got to, yeah. You guys remember Leroy, right? He's going fishing with some buddies today. You guys want to go?" They were going, whether they wanted to or not, but Emma didn't want to force them unless she absolutely had to.

Henry exchanged a look with Mia. "I'll go…because I love fishing…not because I believe you," he said pointedly.

Emma froze. "What?"

"You know you're not fooling us, right? Something's up," Henry accused.

"I'm working a case. You know how I get focused." Emma kept her tone even.

"No, it's more than that. It's this town…all these old friends you've never mentioned…"

"You mean your mom never mentioned her cellmate…the bandit?" Mia sounded amused.

"And people staring at us and whispering around us all the time," Henry continued, exchanging another look with Mia. "There's something you're not telling us."

Okay, Henry and Mia had clearly talked about this…a lot.

"It's a dirty business being a bail bondsperson. I don't want to soil your sweet head." Emma glanced at Mia and quickly corrected herself. "Heads."

"I'm not offended. I'm not sweet," Mia said flatly.

It was true…Mia wasn't sweet, at least not like Henry was. He was the sweetest kid in the world. He always saw the best in everyone and wanted to help everyone. Mia…well, Mia saw people as marks to pickpocket or take money off of at pool. But Mia could be sweet - when she really wanted to be. She'd had her moments since Emma met her. The rest of the time…well, Mia was bitter…more bitter than any twelve year old should be. But she had a reason for being that way…a reason Emma understood better than anyone. Emma could even understand the stealing…though she hated that her daughter felt like she had to steal. Emma would make damn sure Mia never felt like she had to do that again.

Emma let out a short laugh because at the end of the day Mia was just a kid, not a big bad like the Wicked Witch, Peter Pan or even Trey. "Oh, honey, some of the perps I've seen in my job make you look like a kitten."

Mia looked indignant. "The only way I'm like a kitten is that the claws come out when they need to."

Emma stifled a grin. Her cell phone rang, saving her from a response that would probably have only further irritated the little girl that liked to think she was tough.

"Hello?"

Any trace of a grin was wiped off her face as Emma listed to David. Apparently they found Neal and he was in the hospital. Emma hated to leave when Henry clearly did not want her to, but she knew she had to go…it was Neal...and Neal was Henry and Mia's dad.

"I gotta go."

"You're not getting off that easy. What's really going on? If you can't tell me the truth, then I want to go home…back to New York," Henry demanded.

Mia looked taken aback and like she might not agree with Henry on this one. Interesting…maybe the girl didn't want to go back to New York.

"You got me, okay? Something is up. And it just got even more complicated so for now can you just trust that I'm doing what's best and I'll fill you in later?" Emma pleaded.

Henry nodded. "I trust you."

Emma gave him a small smile. He didn't trust her with whatever secret he and Mia were keeping, but he did trust her when it came down to it. "Thanks, Henry." She kissed the top of his head. "Love you."

"Love you, too," Henry said automatically.

Emma ruffled Mia's hair and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "See you later, kid."

"I'm not a kid!"

This time Emma didn't bother to hide her grin because her back was to the girl.

Just like David and Mary Margaret, Neal didn't remember anything from the last year. The last thing he remembered was Emma leaving Storybrooke a year ago.

Neal didn't know his dad was back – if Gold really was back…they still hadn't found him if he was. He didn't know how he got the strange mark on the palm of his hand that Belle went off to research. And he didn't know that Henry didn't remember anything - including him - until Emma told him.

"My memories came back, but his - he doesn't remember anything…the curse…his old life…you."

"What does he know about his father?"

"What I knew until about a week ago, which was that you let me go to jail and never came back for us." Emma was apologetic…even though everything Henry knew was still true. She just knew more about why Neal did what he did than she had a week ago.

"I didn't have a choice. You know that."

"I do know that now, but I didn't during that whole year," Emma told him.

"So my son has no clue who I really am? He just thinks I'm the jerk that abandoned him."

Emma did not want to tell Neal about Mia…not now, but she knew she had to - everyone else already knew…and Mia was his daughter. He deserved to hear it from her. "It's not…just Henry." She winced. "Neal, I didn't just have Henry. I had twins."

"Twins?" Neal's eyes widened in shock. "I have two kids?"

There was no going back now… "Yeah, that's what twins means. You have a daughter."

Neal ran his unmarked hand down his face as he processed it. "Look, I get why you didn't tell me about them when you were pregnant. But how could you not tell me this last year?"

Emma looked away from him. "Because you would have wanted to find her."

"You didn't?" Neal was incredulous.

"No, okay?" Emma admitted reluctantly. "You're Rumplestiltskin's son. I'm-"

"Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter."

"Well, yeah, but I was going to say the savior. We're always in danger from some villain here…Cora, Tamara, Peter Pan, and now the Wicked Witch of the West. Henry's life was here, but hers…wasn't. I wanted her to have a normal life somewhere in the real world…but she didn't. I'm sorry. I should have told you. Maybe if I had…"

"What? Maybe if you had what?"

Maybe then Trey never would have touched Mia. Emma stared straight ahead, lost in thoughts of what could have been. She hated herself for not being there to protect her daughter. "I don't know…she went through some really hard stuff in the system. Her last foster family was…bad."

"She's okay, right? Emma? Tell me she's okay."

Emma snapped out of her thoughts. "Yes, she's fine. She's here. Her name is Mia. She looks like Henry, but she's a lot like you - a lot like we both were when we met. She's stubborn. She has these walls up."

"That's all you."

Emma shot him a look and continued. "She runs when she's scared." They had both spent a lot of time running – some of that time together. She gave him a small smile. "And she has your skill at pool. She's pretty good."

"No? She beat you?" Neal sounded scandalized. "I taught you to play and you let a kid beat you?"

Emma laughed a little. "No, but give her a couple years and she might. She's a little hustler. She's a smart kid. She likes to read."

"I want to meet her."

"She doesn't know about you - or me…who we are. She thinks I'm trying to find her parents."

Neal stared at her. "How can you – how can you let her think that?"

"I was trying to find her birth parents before my memories came back and I realized I'm her birth mom," Emma said defensively. "But Henry doesn't remember his old life…he thinks he's always been with me…and Mia knows she's been in the system for twelve years."

Neal studied her. "Who are you really trying to protect here, Emma? Our daughter or yourself?"

"What?" Emma recoiled a little.

"I don't know…I just think…maybe you're trying to protect yourself a little, too. They both think I'm the jerk that abandoned them…maybe you don't want our daughter to think of you as the jerk that abandoned her."

"That's a low blow and you know it."

"I'm sorry. We both messed up. I mean…I know it wasn't just you. I left you…all of you. I had to, but…I would have come back if I had known. I would never have done to them what my father did to me. You know that, right?"

"I didn't back then, but now…yeah, I know you would have. If I wasn't alone..." Emma stopped because she didn't know what she would have done. She wanted to believe she would have kept Henry and Mia, but she didn't know…she couldn't really know. That wasn't how it played out.

"We would have been together…a family. Maybe we would've made it to Tallahassee."

Emma smiled sadly. "I guess that just wasn't meant to be."

"Maybe not then, but now maybe we can be. Everything happens for a reason. You coming back now with our kids…maybe something good can come of it."

"What's wrong? You don't like fishing?"

Mia glanced at Henry and gave him a small smile. She had discarded the fishing pole Leroy gave her and was just looking out at the sea. "I don't want to catch Nemo."

"What do you think my mom's doing?"

Mia snickered. "Killian."

Henry shot her a look. "Still gross."

"Sorry," Mia muttered. "But she was out all night."

"She was working."

"On what? The perp was probably sleeping…"

"You think she was lying."

Mia hesitated, not wanting to cause problems between Emma and her son. "I think…it's none of my business."

"If she's lying, she's lying to both of us."

"But she's not my mom."

David glanced at Emma. "So how was Neal?"

"It was hard. Henry and Mia make it complicated. It's not just about me. He's hoping Gold can help bring back Henry's memories and we can be a family…all of us."

"You could be. Unless you don't want to?"

"Last week Henry, Mia and I were playing video games and eating pizza and ice cream. Now I am chasing after the Dark One, hoping he can help me find the Wicked Witch of the West."

They heard screaming that sounded vaguely like Gold up ahead and ran toward it – or more accurately him. It was, in fact, Gold…and he was a mess.

"Gold! Are you all right?" Emma asked.

"No. No, no, no. Not all right! Not all right! It's…I can't quiet the voices."

Emma exchanged a look with David…there were no voices. She turned back to Gold. "We know that you were held captive by the witch. Do you know where she is?"

"She's…ah! There's no room! No room! There are too many voices!" Gold was yelling over and over again. He sounded crazy.

A flying monkey attacked and Gold ran off before they could get any straight answers out of him. It seemed like he wanted to tell them where the witch was...he just couldn't.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading and reviewing! Neal is the last person Emma will tell about Mia. Well, except for Mia and Henry, but that will be a little different. I know her telling everyone is probably getting old, but I thought she needed to be the one to tell the people she's told, especially Neal. Mia will find out Emma's her mom in the next chapter.