[Sorry you guys had to wait a little while for this chapter! It's a bit longer than the others and I hope you enjoy reading it! Thank you for following and faving me and my fic!]

[Emma's thoughs: -...-

Regina's thoughts: *...*]

Chapter 3: 8:16 P.M.

A whistle caused Emma to widen her eyes and finally wake up. She found herself laying on a bed inside a cell. -Where the hell am I?! ...Ouch!- The blonde furrowed her eyebrows in slight pain and confusion as she rubbed her head and noticed she was still wearing her wig. -Ugh..- She lifted herself up, to see who was whistling.

"What are you looking at, bro?" A grumpy, not so tall guy, who was sitting on the bed of the other cell, said to the blonde.

"Ey, Leroy, manners. We have a guest!" An old man, who was preparing himself some coffee, said to the grumpy guy. "So, you are, eh, Henry's uncle. How lovely for him, to have you back in his life." He added with a gentle smile.

Emma cleared her voice gently and started to speak as Emmanuel. "Actually, I was just dropping him off." She said frowning.

"Tzz, I don't blame ya. They're all brats. Who needs them?" Leroy rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Well, I'd give anything for one. My wife and I, we tried, for many years, but-uh.. it was not meant to be." The older man with an italian accent, said before he took a sip of his coffee.

"Well cry me a river." The grumpy guy said.

"Leroy! I'm gonna let you out, you have to behave.-" The sheriff appeared and walked to him, to let him free. "-Put on a smile and stay out of trouble." He added as he opened the cell door and took small steps back, to let him out.

The grumpy guy walked out of the cell, sarcastically faking a bright smile for the sheriff.

Graham just shook his head and closed the cell door, once the other man was gone.

Emmanuel leaned against the cell door, hanging his head between the prison bars and slightly out of the cell. "Seriously?" He arched his eyebrow at the other man.

"Regina's drinks. A little stronger than we thought." The sheriff walked slowly to him.

"I wasn't drunk. There was a wolf, standing in the middle of the road." Emmanuel said with an annoyed tone in his voice.

"A wolf. Right." The sheriff pursed his lips and nodded his head once. Not really believing the other man.

"Graham! Henry has ran away again, we have to-" In that instant, the madam mayor walked in and paused herself in shock, as she saw the man in red leather jacket inside the cell.

*Mr. Swan?! But-..*

"-What is /he/ doing here?" Regina asked the sheriff, but before he could answer, "Do you know where my son is?" She asked the blonde as she walked closer to him.

"Honey, I haven't seen him, since I dropped him in your house and-" Emmanuel motioned to the prison bars. "-pretty good alibi." He shrugged softly and offered the brunette a gentle grin.

"Yeah, well, he wasn't in his room this morning." Regina answered with a serious tone in her voice.

"You tried his friends?" Emmanuel smiled gently at her.

"He /doesn't/ really have any. He's kind of a loner." The mayor replied while she looked right into the hazel eyes of Emmanuel.

"Every kid has friends." The blonde tilted his head in thought. "You checked his computer? If he's close to someone, he'd be emailing them."

"And you know this, /how/?" The mayor crossed her arms and quirked an eyebrow at the blonde.

"Finding people is what I do. Here's a deal. How about, you guys let me out and I-help you find him?" Emmanuel offered both of them an innocent smile.

And with that, the brunette motioned to the sheriff, to let the blonde out. Once all of them walked out of the sheriff station, Emmanuel followed Regina, who was climbing into her Mercedes, but the sheriff was fast enough to grab the guy by his arm, gently.

"Uh-uh. You're coming with me, mate." He said as he shook his head and chuckled softly.

-What the-?! Dude, this is one hot mayor right there and you're forbidding me to get into her car?!..- Emmanuel furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and anger at the same time, as he pulled his arm back, so the sheriff lets go of him.

"Belive me. She wouldn't have let you in, anyway." Graham couldn't help but to laugh softly at the blonde.

-/Right/. Her lover..- Emmanuel rolled his eyes and climbed into the passenger's seat of the patrol car.

-Wow. Wow. Wow. Hold on.. Em.. you're a /woman/.. Why the hell are you behaving like this?! Aren't you supposed to be crushing on the good looking sheriff?!-

"You alright?" Graham asked the blonde, sensing something wrong in him.

"Yeah. Totally. Let's go find that boy!" Emmanuel nodded his head and grinned sheepishly at the sheriff.

"Ookay!" The former huntsman started the engine and drove off, following the mayor, on his way to her mansion.

Later in Regina's mansion, in Henry's room.

"Smart kid." Emmanuel smirked. "Cleared his inbox. I'm smart too, a little hard disk recovery utility I like to use."

"I'm a bit more old-fashioned, in my techniques. Pounding the pavement, knocking on doors, that sort of thing." Graham shrugged softly.

"You're on salary; I get paid for delivery. Pounding pavement is not a luxury that I get." Emmanuel said and tilted his head lightly to the side and furrowed his eyebrows lightly in thought. "Ha! Here's a receipt for a website: ' '. It's expensive. He has a credit card?"

"Agh, he's /10/." Regina said with an annoyed tone in her voice as she made a face and crossed her arms.

"Well, he used one. Let's pull up a transaction record." The blonde shrugged. "Mary Margaret Blanchard. Who's Mary Margaret Blanchard?" Then he glanced at the brunette.

"Henry's teacher." Regina said, as if she would have expected that, somehow.

"Then we should go find her." Emmanuel suggested, as he looked at Regina.

*We?! Pfff.. I bet he just wants to win my son over. UH-UH. Not gonna happen.*

The brunette turned her head to Graham and offered him a gentle smile. "Sheriff, thank you for your help. From now on, I will continue this by myself."

The sheriff nodded his head once and walked out of the room, on his way, back to the station.

"Regina, let me help." Emmanuel looked up at the brunette, in hope that she would say yes.

"It's still /madam mayor/ to you, Mr. Swan and I don't need your help anymore." Regina said very sure about herself.

-Madam mayor.. whatever.-

"But we made a deal. And besides this, I won't be calm, as long as I don't know, where that kid is." Emmanuel said with a serious tone in his voice and shrugged softly.

*Or maybe he's just really concerned about Henry and wants him to be back with me again. Where he belongs.*

"/Fine/." Regina rolled her eyes in annoyance and nodded her head softly.

Emmanuel turned around and shut down Henry's computer, while a victorious but soft smile appeared on his face.

After that, both walked out the boy's room and made their way out of Regina's mansion. The brunette climbed into her blue Mercedes.

The blonde looked confused at her, not sure if he should get in as well.

-Should I get into her car?.. But what if she says no?..-

"Mr. Swan?" Regina said with a questioning face, motioning to him to get into her car.

*Ugh, idiot.*

"I-uh.. yah!" Emmanuel nodded his head softly and walked to the car, finally climbing in.

There was a big silence during the short drive.

Emma was so nervous and she wondered why. Was it because of her identity or was it because she was sitting in the mayor's car. Right next to her.

Probably both.

-Chillax, Em.. everything is gonna be fine. You'll find that boy and then you'll drive back to your apartment in Boston.-

Regina cast a side glance over at the blonde and there she caught him, looking at her.

-She is so beautiful. Gosh, is that woman even real?..-

In that instant, the brunette felt a tickle in her stomach and inhaled deeply, hoping that Emmanuel wouldn't notice the light blush that was to be seen on her cheeks.

*He was looking at me!*

-Is that a blush on her cheeks? Yeah! It is!-

Emma smirked. She obviously noticed the blush on Regina's cheeks. And she thought it was cute.

*Ugh.. finally there!*

Both arrived to Henry's school, where they would surprise his teacher.

Meanwhile in Storybrooke Elementary School, Mary Margaret was teaching her class, like usually.

"As we build our bird houses, remember, what we're making is a home, not a cage. The bird is free and it will do what it will. This is for them, not us. They're loyal creatures." She explained to the kids, while she held a small blue bird in her hands and walked to the open window.

"If you love them, and they love you, they will /always/ find you." The raven black haired woman smiled and carefully opened her hands, letting the bird fly away.

Suddenly the school bell ringed and all the kids made their way out of the classroom.

"We'll pick this up after recess. No running!" Mary Margaret said as she walked back to her desk.

And in that moment, when all kids ran out of the classroom, the madam mayor walked in, followed by the blonde stranger.

"Miss Mills, what are you doing here?" She furrowed her eyebrows lightly in confusion.

"Where is my son?!" Regina asked with a serious tone in her voice.

"Henry. I assumed he was home, sick, with you." Mary Margaret shrugged softly, not really knowing where the boy was.

"You think I'd be here, if he was?!" She walked closer to the teacher. "Did you give him your credit card, so he could find /him/?!" The brunette gestured towords the blonde, who was standing inside the doorway.

Mary Margaret tilted her head lightly to the side in thought as she looked to the blonde. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"I am-I'm his-" Emmanuel tried to reply to her, but as he didn't make it to speak a phrase out, the mayor replied for him.

"The brother of the woman who gave Henry up for adoption." The brunette answered coldly.

"You don't know anything about this, do you?" Emmanuel crossed his arms and asked the raven-black haired woman.

"No.. unfortunately not." Mary Margaret shook her head softly and searched for her credit card, in her purse. But she couldn't find it. "Hah, clever boy. I should have never gave him that book." She chuckled slightly.

Regina grit her teeth together, furiously as the teacher mentioned the book. "What in the hell, is this book I keep hearing about?!" She raised her voice.

"Just some old stories I gave him, as you-well know, Henry is a special boy. So smart. So creative-and as you might be aware-/lonely/. He needed it." Mary Margaret said with a small and soft smile.

"What he needs is a dose of /reality/. This is a waste of time." And with a huff, Regina walked out of the room, knocking over a stack of books on the way. "Have a nice trip back to Boston." She said to the blonde as she looked right into his hazel eyes.

Emmanuel, immediately walked over, to help Mary Margaret, pick up the books. "Sorry to bother you." He said as he handed her a few books.

"No, it's-" Mary Margaret furrowed her eyebrows in thought for a short moment. She felt something as she looked into the 'man's' eyes. "-it's okay. I fear this is partially my fault." She chuckled softly.

"How's the book supposed to help?" Emmanuel asked with a confused tone in his voice.

"What do you think stories are for?" Mary Margaret asked him, as she placed the books onto a table. " They're a way for us to deal with our world. A world that doesn't always make sense. See, Henry hasn't had the easiest life.." She made her way out of the classroom, motioning to him to come with her.

"Yeah, she's kind of a hard-ass." Emmanuel agreed to the raven-black haired woman and walked with her.

"You know, it's more than her. He's like any adopted child.-" Mary Margaret shook her head and talked with a concerned tone in her voice. "He wrestles with that most basic question: 'Why would anyone give me away.'-"

Emmanuel gasped softly and stopped walking, as he heard that question. And then, Mary Margaret realized that Emmanuel was Henry's uncle.

"-I am so sorry-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean in any way to judge your sister." The teacher regretted to have said such thing.

Henry's 'uncle' just nodded his head slightly and said with a soft tone in his voice, almost whispering. "..it's okay.."

"Look, I gave the book to him, because I want Henry to have, the most important thing anyone can have: Hope. Believing in even the possibility of a happy ending, is a very powerful thing."

"You know where he is, don't you?" Emmanuel looked right into her eyes.

"You might want to check his castle." Mary Margaret offered him a weak smile.

-Castle?.. Really?.. This town is all about fairy tales..-

"Aaand where is that?" Emmanuel asked with a confused look on his face.

"It's at the docks. When you walk out of this building, you walk down the street, to your right and there you'll see his castle." Mary Margaret smiled gently.

"Okay, thanks." He nodded his head softly and made his way out of the school.

"Sure. Good luck!" The teacher said to him, almost shouting, as she watched him go.

Before Emma made her way to the docks, she went to the sheriff station, to pick up her keys for her yellow bug, which was parked at the sheriff station.

"Hey, can I get my car keys back?" Emmanuel said to the sheriff, as he walked in.

"Oh right. Here they are. Have you found Henry?" Graham handed him the keys and tilted his head lightly in thought.

"Thanks. No, but I'm on my way." The blonde said with a soft smirk on his face, as he made his way out of the station.

"Wait! You might want to take this back too!" Graham gestured to the book, before he handed it to him.

-Henry's fairy tale book!-

"Yeah, thanks!" He smiled gently at the sheriff, before he walked out of the station and climbed into his bug, making his way to the docks.

Once Emmanuel arrived to Henry's castle, he grabbed the book, that he had placed on the passenger's seat. Quietly, he climbed up to the boy's castle, but he had already seen and heard him.

"You left this in my car." Emmanuel took a seat right next to the boy and handed him the book.

The boy accepted the book, without moving his gaze from the clock tower and the blonde noticed it.

"Still hasn't moved, huh?" He asked, as he too glanced at it.

"I was hoping that when I bring Emma back.. things would change here." Henry looked down and his voice slowly became quieter.

"No, they wouldn't." Emmanuel shook his head softly while he pursed his lips into a line.

"How do you know?! It was her destiny. She was supposed to bring back all the happy endings." Henry said with a serious tone in his voice and looked at him, with a knowing look.

"Agh, can you cut it with the book crap?" Emmanuel looked annoyed at the boy.

"You don't have to be hostile. I know you like me, I can tell. You're just-pushing me away, because I probably make you feel bad for Emma. It's okay." Henry smiled weakly at him.

"I know why she gave me away." His weak smile turned into a reassuring one.

"She wanted to give me my best chance." He added.

Emmanuel couldn't get any words out. Just a soft gasp in shock escaped through his pale lips as he glanced away.

-Shh.. just-breathe in and out and stay cool, Em.-

"How do you know that?" He said with a slight confused tone in his voice, but still serious.

"It's the same reason why Snow White gave you both away." The boy said while his gaze was still on him.

"Listen to me, kid. She's not in any book. She was a real person. And she was no savior. You were right about one thing, though.-" Emmanuel paused to inhale and exhale softly, trying to stay strong. "-She wanted you to have your best chance, but it wouldn't have been with her." He felt how tears were forming in his eyes and so he suggested to bring the boy back home. "C'mon let's go." The blonde jumped down of the castle and walked to his car.

"Please, don't take me back there. Just stay with me for one week, that's all I ask. /One week/ and you'll see I'm /not/ crazy!" The boy whined softly as he got down of his castle as fast as possible, to try to stop the blonde.

"I have to get you back to your mom." Emmanuel said with a trembling voice. He was still fighting against his tears and the painful lump in his throat.

"You don't know what it's like with her, my life /sucks/." The boy started to cry in front of him as he spoke his words with a furious tone in his voice.

And that sentence was the shutter release, for Emmanuel to cry.

"Oh, you know what /sucking/ is?! Being left, abandoned, on the side of a freeway. My parents didn't even bother to drop me-and Emma off at a hospital. We ended up in a foster system and had a family until we were /three/ and then they had their own kids and they sent us back." He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breathe, to calm down himself.

Then, he bent down to the boy's height and looked him in the eyes. "Look. Your mom, is trying her /best/. I know it's hard and I know you think, sometimes she doesn't love you. But at least she /wants/ you."

"Your parents didn't want to leave you on the side of a freeway. That's were you and Emma came through." The boy still believed that Emmanuel and Emma were Snow White's and Prince Charming's children.

"What?!" Emmanuel looked confused at him.

-Oh, this kid...-

"The wardrobe. When you went through the wardrobe, you appeared on the street. Your parents were trying to safe you from the curse."

"Sure they were." Emmanuel laughed softly and wiped his tears away. "C'mon, Henry." He gestured to Henry, to follow him.

The boy obeyed and followed him, speeding his pace, just to hold the blonde's hand.

Emmanuel startled lightly at the unexpected action of the boy, but he just smiled softly and walked him to his car. As soon as both were seated in the bug, he started the engine and drove off to the mansion.

A few minutes later, both arrived to the mayor's mansion. It was no need of Emmanuel nor Henry, to knock or ring the door bell. Regina was watching them through the curtains of the window next to the door, since she heard the sound of the only bug in this town for now.

The brunette opened the door, with an expecting small smirk and a perfect arched brow.

Henry just ran into the mansion, without saying 'goodbye' to Emmanuel, nor a 'hello' to his adoptive mother.

Regina wanted to follow her son, to scold him, because he had ran away for the second time and for walking in without greeting her. But then she looked back at the blonde who was standing outside, at her porch. "Thank you." She slowly walked to her porch.

"No problem." Emmanuel said with a soft tone in his voice.

"He seems to have taken quite a shine to you." Regina offered the man a gentle smile as she placed her hands into her jacket pockets and stopped right in front of him.

Emmanuel laughed gently and shrugged softly. "You know it seems kind of crazy. Yesterday was my birthday. And-when I blew out the candle on this cupcake I bought myself, I actually made a wish. That I didn't have to be alone on my birthday. And then Henry showed up..-"

*No.. No, no, no. He obviously wants to win /my/ son over!*

Regina smirked as she interrupted him. "I hope there's no misunderstanding here."

"I'm sorry?" Emmanuel grinned confused.

"Don't mistake all of this as an invitation back into his life." Regina placed both of her hands on her waist.

"Oh.." And again, Emmanuel was speechless.

"Mr. Swan, your sister made a decision ten years ago. And in the last decade, while she has been-" Regina said with a very serious tone in her voice and then she shrugged. "-well; who knows what she's been doing; I've changed /every/ diaper, soothed /every/ fever, endured /every/ tantrum. She may have given birth to him, but he is /my/ son."

"I was not-" Emmanuel wanted to explain that he didn't have the intention of taking Henry away from her, but again, he got interrupted by the mayor.

"No, you don't get to speak. /You/ don't get to do /anything/. Your sister gave up that right when she tossed him away. Do you know what a closed adoption is?" She walked down of her porch and closer to him. "It's what she asked for. You have absolutely no legal right to Henry, and you're gonna be held to that. So I suggest you get in your car, and you leave this town. Because if you don't, I /will/ destroy you, if it is the /last/ thing I do." She looked right into his hazel eyes as she warned him.

-/Destroy me/?!-

"Goodbye, Mr. Swan." Regina walked back into her mansion.

But before she entered, Emmanuel asked her with a slight shaking voice. "Do you love him?"

"/Excuse me/?" Regina raised her eyebrows in confusion but also surprised. She thought that the blonde was talking about sheriff Graham.

"/Henry/. Do you love him?" He asked with trembling lips.

"Of course I love him." Regina said with a soft and low tone in her voice.

Emmanuel watched her slam the door, before he walked back into his car and drove off to the heart of the town.

The day was almost over and it was getting dark.

While Emma was in her car, in front of 'Granny's Bed & Breakfast', thinking about what Regina had said to her and how Henry begged her not to bring him back there, she remembered also that the boy had asked her to stay there for a week.

"What can happen in a week." She shrugged and chuckled softly as she talked to herself. "Tzz.. she wants to 'destroy' me. Yeah, try it, babe."

She sighed softly. "Alright. Let's do this." Emma climbed out of her car and locked it, before she walked into the building.

"You're out all night, and now you're going out again!?" An elderly and female voice grumbled in the stairways.

Followed by a young female one. "I should've moved to Boston!"

"I'm sorry that my heart attack interfered with your plans to sleep your way down the Eastern Seaboard!" Granny said as she was about to follow the young brunette.

"Excuse me? I would-like a room?" Emmanuel rubbed the back of his neck softly as he interrupted both of them.

Ruby peeked in, with a surprised expression on her face, while she put on her scarf.

"/Really/?" Granny said with an astonished and surprised tone in her voice.

Emmanuel just nodded his head.

Granny fetched a ledger to sign the stranger in. "Would you like a forest view or a square view? Normally there's an upgrade fee for the square, but as the rent is due, I'll wave it."

Ruby watched them while she crossed her arms, scanning the blonde guy with her big green eyes.

"Square is fine." Emmanuel chuckled gently.

"Now. What's the name?" Granny asked him, as he was about to write his name into the ledger.

"Swan. Emmanuel Swan." The blonde said his name and in that moment, Mr. Gold appeared behind him.

"Emmanuel..? What a nice name." The old man said as he offered him a gentle smile.

"Uh.. thanks..?" Emmanuel smiled lightly confused, hoping that the man didn't recognize that he's actually a woman.

Granny grabbed the roll of cash from the drawer and handed it to Mr. Gold. "It's all here."

Mr. Gold accepted the money, without counting it. "Yes, yes, of course it is, dear. Thank you." He then, glanced at the blonde. "Enjoy your stay, /Emmanuel/." And smirked before he exited the building.

-Shit.. does he know I'm a woman?... I hope not..-

Emmanuel raised his eyebrows lightly in confusion. "Who's that?" He asked Granny and Ruby.

Ruby watched Gold through the curtains as she told him the name of the man who was there. "Mr. Gold. He owns this place."

"The inn?"

"No. The town." Granny said with a serious and frightened tone in her voice, at the same time.

-But.. Regina?! I thought she..-

"So, how long will you be with us?" Granny interrupted Emma's thoughts.

"A week. Just-a week." The blonde answered with a soft but gentle smile.

"Great." Granny returned the gentle smile and handed Emmanuel, an old-fashioned key, with a swan keychain. "Welcome to Storybrooke."

And as Emmanuel reached for the key and held it into his hands, the clock needle moved. It was no longer 8:15. Now it was 8:16 pm.

Henry was looking out of his window and a bright smile appeared on his face as he saw the clock needle move. "But.. how? Emma isn't here? ..Emmanuel?! He-he stood!" The boy said to himself.

Emma searched for the room. "1.. 2.. 3.. and 4!" She opened the door of the room and let a sigh out as soon as she closed the door.

"Where have I gotten into?" Emma frowned in thought and took off her leather jacket, letting it fall on the floor.

It's been a lot for today and so she walked to the bed and let herself fall onto it. "Mmm.. so comfy.." A tired smile appeared on her face.

She took off her biker boots, jeans and threw the ball of stockings on the floor, before she snuggled into the blankets.

Emma finally closed her eyes and soon she fell asleep.