Chapter 14

Mia didn't know how long she'd been lying awake in the bed in the loft bedroom at Mary Margaret's apartment, but it felt like a long time. She would have gone out the window, but it was behind the bed. She couldn't get to the security locks on the window with the bed pushed up against the window and she couldn't move the bed…she already tried.

Mia heard footsteps and recognized the distinctive sound of Emma's boots on the metal stairs. Mary Margaret had come up to check on her earlier and her footsteps were lighter. Mia rolled over so she was facing away from the stairwell and closed her eyes. The footsteps approached the foot of the bed and then stopped. She could feel the woman staring at her. She tried to stay still.

"I know you're not asleep. You're faking because you don't want to talk to me."

Mia shut her eyes even tighter and held her breath, hoping the woman would leave her alone if she didn't acknowledge her. No such luck. She felt the bed shift under the woman's weight and stiffened next to her.

"You don't have to talk to me, but maybe you can just listen?" Mia would have rolled her eyes if they were open. "I was seventeen when I found out I was pregnant…eighteen when I had you and Henry. And I was in prison. Not exactly prime parent material."

Mia knew that already…she didn't know why Emma was telling her what Neal had already told her at the hospital.

"The only thing I had when I got out of prison was my car. I didn't think your best shot was living with me in the backseat of a car…I thought you deserved more than that – more than me. I didn't have parents. I was afraid…I didn't know how to be a parent. I was a screw up, not a mother." But that wasn't true…Emma had been a mother to Henry – a pretty good one.

"About what you said at the hospital…about me not being there for you when you were with Trey or any of the other foster parents that hurt you? You're right - I wasn't there and I should have been. I never wanted you to grow up like I did…I never wanted you to be alone."

Mia had to blink back tears. She could feel the intensity of Emma's gaze on her. Well, if there had been any doubt before, the woman knew she was awake now. She rolled onto her back and reluctantly looked up at the woman. Emma's eyes were begging her to understand, but she didn't understand…she didn't understand at all.

"You say you didn't want me to be alone, but you knew what it was like in the system. How could you give me up to nothing when you knew? You knew…" Mia hated how her voice cracked.

"I…didn't think I was giving you up to nothing. They told me they had a great family for you…a family that could take much better care of you than I could have back then. I believed them. I had to believe them. I couldn't even take care of myself…much less two kids. That's right – two kids. You were wrong about one thing back at the hospital – I didn't keep Henry and give you up."

Mia frowned. "Yes, you did."

"No, I didn't. I gave you both up to give you guys your best shot. Henry found me when he was ten. His adoptive mom and I kind of share him now."

Mia tried to process that, but it just created more confusion…and more questions – questions she wanted to ask, but was too afraid to. She rolled back over onto her side so she was facing away from her birth mom. "I don't want to talk to you. Just - leave me alone."

Mia rolled away from her. "I don't want to talk to you. Just – leave me alone."

Emma felt her heart breaking for her daughter. She swallowed back her own hurt. "I'm not going to do that…but I won't push you to talk if you don't want to." She was going to tell Mia more…she was going to tell her everything she told Henry, but Mia wasn't ready for any of that.

They stayed there in silence as thick as the quilt covering the bed for a little while. They were lying next to each other on the bed, but it felt like they couldn't be any further apart. The uncomfortable silence was only broken when the girl's stomach growled.

"You hungry?" Emma got no response. "How about we get some dinner from Granny's? I promise…no talking about this – us."

Mia sat up a little in the bed and eyed her warily. "No talking."

"I'll take that as a yes," Emma muttered under her breath.

Emma said a quick goodbye to David and Mary Margaret and then ushered Mia out. They walked to Granny's and slid into the booth across from each other without a word.

Emma wished Henry was there. This was going to be a really long night if Mia continued giving her the silent treatment. That was apparently what she got for telling her that she wouldn't push her to talk, but the girl wouldn't even look at her. Instead, the girl stared at her menu until Ruby came over to take their order. Emma stifled a small smile when her daughter ordered her favorite…grilled cheese and onion rings. Mia shot her an annoyed look when she ordered the same thing…like the kid thought she was just ordering the same thing to try to bond with her or something.

"What? I've been having grilled cheese and onion rings since before you were born."

"What happened to no talking?"

"That's not exactly what I said. I said no talking about us. I didn't know I wasn't allowed to talk about food."

Mia rolled her eyes. "Where's Henry?"

Emma was startled by the question. She wasn't allowed to talk, but apparently Mia was. "He's…with his…other mom," she said a little awkwardly.

Mia raised her eyebrows. "Two moms that want to spend time with him? Lucky him. Does he…know?"

"That you're my daughter…his sister? Yes."

"How long has he known?" Mia stared at her with a stone-cold expression…almost like she was daring her to say the wrong thing.

"I told him after I told you." Emma didn't think Mia could find anything wrong with that, but she did…

Mia scoffed. "You told me? Really? Because I could have sworn Neal told me when he told me about the stupid watches. I still wouldn't know if it were up to you. I mean…were you ever going to tell me, Emma?"

Okay, apparently they were talking about it… "Yes, of course. It just…would have been easier once this case is solved."

Mia snorted in disbelief. "Right…the case. How is Killian?"

Emma narrowed her eyes. "I did not come here for Killian. I came here for the case."

"Yeah, the case you're helping Killian with..."

Emma eyed Mia, not sure she liked the smirk on her face. "You have a problem with Killian?"

"No…not with Killian."

Just with her then. Emma sighed…this was going to be a really long night. "Okay, do you want to talk about what's going on with us or not? Because I am ready to have that conversation whenever you are."

"I'm not," Mia said flatly.

"Could have fooled me," Emma muttered under her breath. The few times Mia had opened her mouth it was to take shots at her – shots she couldn't even try to defend herself against…not without talking about things Mia didn't want to talk about.

They went back to sitting in complete and total silence. Mia was studying her fingernails and avoiding eye contact at all costs. It was a relief when Ruby brought their food over, but Mia just picked at hers.

Emma cleared her throat. "I thought you were hungry?"

"Yeah, well…I'm not." Mia pushed her plate away and stood up. "I'm just going to go back to the room."

Emma stood, too, and stepped in front of her kid. "Uh, not by yourself you're not."

Mia stared. "Seriously? Overprotective much? We're in Granny's. No one's going to get me in between here and the room."

"Maybe not, but in the five minutes it'll take me to pay, you could run out on me. I would find you and bring you back," Emma said matter-of-factly. "But I won't need to do that if you stay put."

"For someone who's so good at finding people, you've never been interested in finding me before," Mia muttered, but she grudgingly sat back down in a big huff.

Emma slid back into the booth across from Mia and tried to explain…without mentioning the curses or evil villains that had pretty much been a constant since Henry found her. "I didn't think that finding you was what was best for you. Henry was adopted. I thought it was weird that you guys weren't together, but I had no reason to think you weren't adopted, too. They had a family for you and there were these waiting lists with families that wanted to adopt newborns."

"You were never adopted," Mia mumbled quietly. Okay, clearly she wasn't accepting that explanation.

Emma took a deep breath and tried to stay strong and unemotional. "I was actually. I was adopted and I had a family until I was three, but then they had their own kid so they sent me back. Mia, if you had a family…if you were happy, I didn't want to screw that up for you."

Mia met her gaze. "You could have checked."

Emma sighed. "I could have done a lot of things different – better - where you're concerned, but I didn't. I'm sorry. Just don't push me away. I promise I'm not going to hurt you."

"You already did," Mia whispered, lowering her gaze to the table. "I don't know if I can let you in."

Great…her daughter had walls up to keep her out - the same kind of walls she had, but David and Mary Margaret got past her walls…she would get past Mia's somehow.

Regina looked over Henry's shoulder at the photo album and smiled fondly. "That was taken on your tenth birthday. You wanted to go camping. We did…in the living room. We made s'mores."

"Cool," Henry said. "So I grew up here? I lived here until I was ten?"

"Eleven actually. That's when the curse hit. How do you feel about…all of this?"

"It's weird," Henry said after a moment. "Not remembering any of it. But I always thought it would be nice to have a bigger family and now I do."

"You always wanted a sibling."

Henry looked at her curiously. "Can I ask you something?"

"You can ask me anything, Henry."

"You adopted me, right?"

Regina nodded, unsure where he was going with this.

"Why didn't you adopt my sister, too?"

Regina let out a breath she hadn't even realized she was holding. "The adoption agency didn't tell me you were a twin. Otherwise I would have."

"Oh…"

"Is pizza still your favorite?" Regina changed the subject.

Henry nodded. "But New York has the best pizza."

"Well, it may not be the big city, but you always used to like making homemade pizza."

Henry blinked in surprise. "I'm…not much of a cook. I almost burned our apartment in New York down when I tried to bake a cake for my mom's birthday," he admitted sheepishly.

Regina arched her eyebrows. "Almost?"

"The smoke detector went off, but there was no fire," Henry explained.

Mia went straight into the bathroom. Emma flinched ever-so-slightly when the door slammed shut behind her. She texted Henry to see if he still wanted to stay at Regina's, hoping he would come back to Granny's instead because at least Mia didn't hate him. She pushed her disappointment aside when he responded that he'd see her tomorrow.

Mia banged around in the bathroom for a little over ten minutes. She was wearing the t-shirt and yoga pants she had borrowed from Emma to sleep in when she finally emerged. She had pulled her hair back into a messy ponytail and Emma caught a faint minty smell. She walked past Emma without a word and got into bed.

"Goodnight," Emma muttered.

Emma wasn't surprised when she got no response. She got up with a sigh and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

Mia was already sleeping – for real this time – when Emma finished in the bathroom.

Emma decided to take Henry's bed for the night instead of the couch. The bed was a little more comfortable, but she still couldn't sleep. She was too worried about Mia and Henry.

Emma had finally started drifting off and wasn't really in a deep sleep yet when something woke her. It took her a second to realize it was Mia…and Mia was having a nightmare…again. She frowned, wondering if the girl had been having nightmares every night. She didn't know…she'd been out looking for the wicked witch almost every night since they got there.

"Mia?" Emma called gently. Nothing. "Mia? Mia!"

Mia came out of her nightmare slowly. She blinked and then scrunched her face up in confusion, looking around the room before struggling upright into a sitting position. She sat there, breathing heavily.

"Nightmare?" Emma prompted.

"No, I just-" Mia must have realized Emma wasn't buying it because she sighed. "Yeah."

"Trey's in jail…in New York. He can't hurt you."

"It wasn't about that, okay?"

"Okay," Emma said quietly…even though she knew Mia was lying.

Mia shook her head and huffed angrily.

"What?"

"I just…I never would have told you that if I knew who you were."

"If you don't want to talk to me about it, maybe it would help to talk to someone else," Emma said tentatively.

Mia stared. "Like who? Like a shrink? I'm not crazy!"

"I didn't say you were…I don't think you are," Emma assured her. "I just hate that you're still having these nightmares and I don't know how to help you."

"Not by sending me to some stupid shrink!"

"Okay, okay. We'll find another way."

"There's no we. I didn't ask for your help…I don't want your help."

"Well, you've got it…whether you want it or not."

Author's Note: Thanks for reading and reviewing! Some of you asked why Regina didn't adopt Mia in reviews for earlier chapters. I started thinking about how it would have played out if Regina had adopted Mia and…well, the result is below. If you're not interested, you won't miss anything by not reading.

"Come with me. Please," Henry begged. "I know you don't believe me about the curse, but she's still our mom."

Mia looked at her brother sadly, knowing he was just going to get hurt. "She's not…our mom. She didn't want us when we were born. Why would she want us now? She's just going to hurt you."

"You want to meet her…I can tell. You're just scared."

Mia bristled a little. "I'm not scared. I'm just…not interested."

Henry looked like he was resigning himself to going alone. "It's okay…she's going to come back here with me. You can meet her then. You're going to cover for me with Ms. Blanchard, aren't you?"

"Well, yeah…you might not be her favorite anymore if she knew you stole her credit card and skipped school to go on an unauthorized field trip to Boston."

Henry ignored her sarcasm. "Just tell her I'm home sick."

"I know. We have done this before…just – usually the roles are reversed. You're supposed to be the good twin. I finally corrupted you." Mia smiled proudly.

"We're both good," Henry said earnestly.

Mia scoffed. "I think Mom and Ms. Blanchard and, oh, Principal Daly might disagree."

"I know you're good. And so is our mom."

Mia blinked. "I thought she was the Evil Queen?"

"Not her!" Henry said irritably. "Our real mom."

"You don't know her," Mia said flatly. "She might not be good. She could be a total psycho or a serial killer for all we know."

"She's a bail bondsperson." Mia gave him a questioning look and he shrugged. "I Googled her."

That was actually kind of cool, but Mia tried to act unimpressed. "So she's a bail bondsperson…that doesn't mean she's good."

"She literally catches bad guys. She's going to save everyone."

"From what? Dying of boredom? Henry, she didn't want us. She's not going to save us from anything."

"She is. You'll see," Henry said insistently.

"I just don't want her to hurt you," Mia said softly.

"She's not gonna," Henry said confidently. "She's our mom."

It was late and the only light came from the streetlights. Mia stood in a dark alleyway where she could peek around the corner to see anyone that got off the idling bus, but they wouldn't be able see her. The only problem was that no one was actually getting off the bus.

Storybrooke was a small town with one bed-and-breakfast and no tourist attractions. They didn't have a movie theater or a mall…or, well, much of anything. Mia knew it wouldn't exactly be a popular stop, but there should have been at least one person getting off there…her brother. It was the last bus back from Boston for the night.

Henry was so sure their birth mother would come back to Storybrooke with him. Mia wasn't.

Mia watched helplessly as the engine turned over loudly and the bus pulled away from the stop at a slow creep. Where was Henry? Was he alone in Boston? She should have gone with him…he asked her to go with him – several times in fact.

Mia could imagine her overly optimistic brother who always saw the best in everyone getting in the car with a complete stranger. She should have been there to stop him from doing something stupid. She just should have been there…the way Henry was always there for her.

Mia started the short walk home, hoping her brother would be there. She hadn't gone home after school because she didn't want to face Regina's wrath alone. Even though she wasn't the one that hopped a bus to Boston, she knew that wouldn't stop Regina from taking her anger out on her. Regina took her anger out on her a lot lately…or maybe she was really just that angry at her…still – for something that had happened months ago…something that she hadn't meant to do…something that would never have even happened if Regina hadn't been lying to them for ten years.

"Watch for Mom and let me know if she's coming back. I'm going to find my Gameboy."

Henry looked hesitant. "Maybe you shouldn't. She's already mad."

"At me, not you. Just, like, whistle or something if you see her, okay?"

Henry nodded reluctantly and turned to the door to the mayor's office. Regina was in a city council meeting. They weren't allowed to stay home by themselves for that long and their mom had fired yet another babysitter. It sucked being grounded at home, but it was even worse being grounded in Regina's office where there was absolutely nothing to do without her favorite electronics.

Mia started going through Regina's desk drawers, looking for the Gameboy her mom had taken away earlier. When she came up empty-handed, she moved over to the filing cabinet. It was locked, but Regina left her purse under her desk. Mia rummaged through the designer leather handbag until she found her mom's keys in a side pocket. There was only one key on the key ring that was small enough to be a possibility.

Mia inserted the key into the lock on the filing cabinet and turned it, grinning triumphantly when she heard it click open. She returned her mom's keys to exactly where she found them and then went back to the now-unlocked cabinet, feeling good about the chances she'd find her Gameboy hidden in the bottom.

As she searched the filing cabinet, her eyes automatically went to a file folder with her name on it. She wondered what was in it and reached for it almost on autopilot. Her birth certificate was the first thing in the folder. She picked it up and looked at it curiously. Huh…the space where their father's name should be was blank.

Regina never talked about their dad - even though Henry had asked about him at least a hundred times. Mia had never been interested in the man that clearly didn't want anything to do with them, but maybe she could give her brother the answer he needed. She turned back to the folder to see what else was in it…maybe there would be something on their dad in it.

The next thing in the folder was a…Certificate of Adoption. For just a moment, Mia didn't understand. She wasn't adopted. But the certificate had her name and her birthday. It had her mom's name and signature at the very bottom. She almost couldn't believe her eyes.

Mia just sat there on the floor of Regina's office, reeling with shock as she tried to process this. It was right there in front of her in black-and-white…she was adopted. Everything she thought she knew was a lie. Why hadn't her mom told her? Was it just her – or was it both of them? Was Henry even really her twin?

Henry…she heard him whistling in the hallway. It sounded so far away, but she knew it wasn't. She heard her mom – no, not her mom…Regina? – ask Henry what he was doing in the hallway and where she was. It didn't seem important to put the file folder away before they saw her anymore. She couldn't un-see the Certificate of Adoption or pretend like she didn't know so she just sat there numbly, waiting for it.

"Mia! What are you doing?"

"I'm adopted?" Mia struggled to form the words that were so strange to her.

"What?!" Henry shrieked.

Her mom hadn't been…well, her mom since that day – and not just biologically. Regina hadn't been herself. She was colder somehow. She'd always been strict, but she'd also been fiercely protective and loving. Now sometimes Mia thought Regina hated her.

Mia let out a long-suffering sigh as she turned onto Mifflin Street. There was an old, beat up yellow Volkswagen Bug parked in front of her house. She stopped walking and stared at it. Unease washed over her when she saw the Massachusetts license plate…their birth mother lived in Boston.

"Mia, your mom will be glad to see you."

Mia recognized the voice and turned to Sheriff Graham with a sinking feeling in her stomach. Regina called the freaking sheriff. She scoffed slightly. Of course she had - or maybe he was already there. It didn't really matter. He was standing there on the front porch, looking her over carefully for any sign that she was hurt.

Mia wanted to turn and run, but she just kind of froze. And then it was too late…he had a hand on her shoulder and was guiding her toward the house. She shrugged his hand off, but reluctantly went in with Graham right behind her.

"Madam Mayor?" Graham called out quietly from just inside the doorway. That was a little formal for the guy she'd seen sneaking out of Regina's bedroom earlier that week. Mia just shook her head and made a small disgusted sound. "Mia's home."

Mia heard the distinctive click of heels on the hardwood floor and then Regina was in front of her. "Mia! Are you okay? Where have you been?"

"Didn't you get my note? I left you a note," Mia said, already feeling defensive.

"Ah, yes…a note telling me you were going to a friend's house." Regina was calm, but Mia knew it was the calm before the storm. "You do not tell me what you are doing."

Graham was still standing behind her and Mia could feel the startling intensity of another gaze on her. That was when she saw the blonde woman standing a few feet behind Regina. The woman was just standing there, watching intently as Regina lectured her. This wasn't awkward at all…

Mia met the blonde woman's gaze for a second and then quickly looked away. She could feel her cheeks flushing. She hated that Regina was scolding in front of other people…especially these people – her adoptive mom's…boyfriend or whatever the hell he was and the woman that she knew somehow was her birth mother. It was embarrassing.

"You're ten. You do nothing without my permission," Regina continued, not seeming to care how uncomfortable Mia was.

"Nothing? Really? I need to ask you if I can go to the bathroom now?"

Regina's expression hardened. "This isn't going to the bathroom, and I think you know that. Unless you have my permission to do otherwise, you come straight home from school."

"Do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars," Mia muttered under her breath, but Regina heard anyway and narrowed her eyes.

"Is that clear?" Regina said sharply.

"Crystal." Mia turned to leave.

"Not so fast, young lady." Regina stopped her. "Did you know what your brother was doing?"

Mia shifted uncomfortably…she knew Regina would blame her. "No…"

"You really expect me to believe that you had no idea that Henry ran away to Boston to find this woman?" Regina gestured toward the blonde woman, actually acknowledging her for the first time.

"I don't even know who she is," Mia said flatly.

The blonde woman looked uncomfortable. "I'm…I'm…"

"The woman who gave you up for adoption," Regina cut her off.

Her adoptive mom and her birth mother both seemed to be waiting for a reaction, but Mia wasn't going to give them one. She kept her face expressionless. "I'm really tired. Can you finish yelling at me tomorrow?"

"I'm sure you are," Regina said without a bit of sympathy. "It's way past your bedtime. All right, go to your room, not Henry's, and straight to bed. We'll discuss your insolence tomorrow."

Mia went to the stairs, forcing herself not to look back. Henry was waiting for her in her room. Well, technically Regina had only said she couldn't go to Henry's room, not the other way around. Mia dropped her backpack on the floor and flopped down next to her brother on her bed.

Henry turned to her. "Where were you?"

Mia stared. "Seriously? I'm not the one that went to Boston. You first."

Author's Note: That wouldn't be the whole first chapter. It would just part of it. There would be some of Emma's point of view thrown in and a little more of the storyline from the pilot. I don't know if I like it or not. Please let me know if you like this idea or if it's just been done too many times. If you guys like it, I might turn it into a new story. Mia would still be Mia with the same personality, but there would be some differences because she wouldn't have grown up in the system.