A/N: Okay, sorry this is late, I had a crazy day yesterday and by the time I realized I hadn't posted this or edited it, it was time for me to get to bed so I could be up at 5:30 for work this morning. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this update, there is a character mentioned in here who will become a much larger part of the story the further we get into it, so don't worry too much about not having any idea who he is when he's mentioned.

Dedicated as always to the Squad, I swear I don't know what I'd do without you (it's possible I'd write less angst, but that is neither here nor there)! I love you guys!

Thanks to my beta IUsed2bcool for looking over this when you did. You're awesome!

Chapter Five

A little over half an hour later, Emma sat down at a table in Granny's with a newspaper and Regina's apple in her hand. While she read the article Sidney Glass had written about her, she twirled the apple mindlessly. As she finished reading the article, Ruby came over to her table and set down a mug of hot cocoa topped with whipped cream and cinnamon. "Here you go."

Emma stared at the mug in confusion, "Thank you, but I did not order that."

Ruby smiled cheerfully, "Yeah, I know. You have an admirer."

Emma looked around for someone who might have sent her the cocoa and saw Sheriff Graham sitting at another table nearby. Standing up with the apple and hot cocoa, Emma walked over to Graham's table and set the mug down in front of him. Graham smiled at her, "Ah, so you decided to stay."

"Observant," Emma said sarcastically, "Important for a cop."

"It's good news for our tourist business; bad news for our local signage." Graham replied with a smile, clarifying, unnecessarily, when Emma just stared at him, "It's…it's a joke. It's because you ran over our sign."

"Look, the cocoa was a nice gesture, and I'm impressed that you guessed I like cinnamon on my chocolate, because most people don't," Emma refused to let the Sheriff's charm affect her, "but I'm not here to flirt. So, thank you, but no thank you."

"I didn't send it," Graham replied, slightly confused.

"I did," Henry poked his head around the edge of the booth behind Graham's and smiled at Emma, "I like cinnamon too, and so does Mom."

Emma looked at Henry calculatingly, "Don't you have school?"

"Duh," Henry said, jumping out of the booth and coming to stand by Emma's side, "I'm ten. Walk me."

"Kid, I can't," Emma said regretfully, "I'm meeting your mom here in a few minutes and…"

"Good, then she can walk me too," Henry grinned and walked out the door, leaving Emma no choice but to follow him. Once outside, Henry scanned the sidewalk eagerly, bouncing up and down slightly on his toes, "Do you know where she is?"

"No, I don't," Emma said, "sorry kid. She said she'd meet me here about forty minutes ago, but it's possible she'll be later than…"

"There she is!" Henry exclaimed, taking off towards Ellery, "Mom!"

"Hey, Monkey," Ellery said in amusement as Henry reached her and threw his arms around her, Emma following close behind him, "Why aren't you at school already?"

"I still have a few minutes before the bell rings," Henry defended, "And I was kind of hoping you'd change your mind about letting me skip school and telling Nan to not tell Regina…."

"Good try," Ellery mock glared at her son, "But, not going to happen. You skipped yesterday; I'm not letting you skip again today. Now, come on, Emma and I'll walk you to school."

Henry took Ellery's hand and the three of them started out in the direction of the school. Wanting to go ahead and talk to Ellery about the custody case somewhere Ellery wouldn't, or couldn't, talk about the curse, Emma spoke up, "So, what's the deal with you guys and Regina?"

"It's not about us, it's about her curse," Henry piped up and Ellery shot Emma an amused look, she knew what Emma was trying to do and it had backfired spectacularly. Henry didn't see the look; he was too excited about what he was explaining. "We have to break it. Luckily, I have a plan. Step one: identification. I call it, Operation Cobra."

"Cobra?" Emma asked, "That has nothing to do with fairy tales."

"Exactly," Henry beamed, "It's a code name to throw the Queen off the trail."

"Henry, we've talked about this," Ellery sighed, "Regina isn't a Queen, Evil or otherwise, and we can't hide things from her. That'll only end badly for us."

"So you're going to tell her that you walked me to school today?" Henry challenged.

"No," Ellery acquiesced, "but I'll tell Olivia and she'll tell Regina I'm sure. Hey to change the subject, Monkey, before we get to school, you do remember what day it is, right?"

"Um, the day you let me skip school so we can run away together forever?" Henry hedged in a way that clued Emma into the fact that he knew exactly what Ellery was talking about, even if Emma herself had no idea.

"Try again," Ellery laughed, nudging Henry playfully.

"Can't I keep it for another week?" Henry begged, "One week isn't enough. I'm not ready to switch."

"I mean, if you really don't want to switch, I guess that's fine," Ellery responded faux-reluctantly, "but the longer you keep it, the less it'll smell like me."

"Does mine smell like you now?" Henry asked, leaning his head on Ellery's arm and breathing deeply.

"Yeah, of course, I've been using it every night, just like always." Ellery reassured her son, smoothing his hair down with the hand not holding his, "Do you have it with you?"

Henry nodded reluctantly, "It's in my backpack. Do you have mine?"

"No, but Nan does." Ellery replied, "I sent it with her like always. She'll give it to you after school. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay." Henry smiled, "Time's not frozen anymore, Mom, because Emma's here."

"Yeah, about that," Emma interjected after a moment, seeing that Ellery wasn't exactly sure how to respond to Henry, "So, everyone here is a fairy tale and they just don't know it?"

"That's the curse," Henry said, turning to look at Emma, who was closely inspecting the apple and trying to figure out if it was cursed or not, "Hey! Where'd you get that?"

"Regina," Emma answered, wondering what Henry was thinking since the apple just looked like a normal piece of fruit.

"Don't eat that!" Henry shouted in alarm, snatching the apple from Emma and throwing it over his shoulder quickly to the amusement of the twins.

"Okay, uh…" Emma said, trying to think of something else to say, "Alright, what about their pasts?"

Ellery glared at Emma as if she should have come up with another subject to discuss with Henry, but with his one track mind, it probably wouldn't have done any good. He answered knowledgably, "They don't know. It's a haze to them. Ask anyone anything, and you'll see."

"So, for decades, people have been wandering around in a haze, not aging, with screwed up memories, stuck in a cursed town that kept them oblivious." Emma stated, not having to question the information that she was beginning to admit to herself must be true. But she didn't feel guilty or responsible for them still walking around in that haze. At least, that's what she kept telling herself.

"I knew you'd get it," Henry said, beaming proudly, "That's why we need you. You're the only one who can stop her curse. And mom and I need you because you're the only one who can convince the judge to give me back."

"Because I'm the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming?" Not for the first time Emma wondered why it was her and not Ellery who would break the curse and why Rumplestilskin hadn't seen both of them.

"Yes. And right now, we have the advantage," Henry explained, pulling a stack of papers out of his coat, "Regina doesn't know that. I took out the end, the part with you in it. See? Your mom is Snow White."

"Kid…" Emma didn't know what to say in response to that.

"What about me, Henry," Ellery asked, clearly knowing how to gently help dissuade her son, even if everything he said was true, "I'm Emma's twin sister. Am I in the book?"

"No, but I think Snow White kept you a secret to keep you safe. I don't know how you got to this world safely like Emma did because the wardrobe only took one, but somehow you did," Emma and Ellery looked at each other in shock, Henry had clearly thought through everything having to do with the curse and was much closer to the truth than he realized. Henry saw the way they looked at each other and misread the looks, "I know the hero never believes at first. If they did, it wouldn't be a very good story. If you need proof, take the pages. Read them. But whatever you do, don't let Regina see those pages. They're dangerous. If she finds out who you are, that would be bad."

They approached the school as the bell began to ring and Ellery gave Henry a hug, silencing his diatribe, "Alright, Monkey, hand it over and head inside before Nan gets on to me for letting you arrive late."

Henry tightened his arms around Ellery and buried his face in her stomach, "You get it, I'm not letting go of you."

Ellery dug through Henry's backpack and pulled out a baby blanket that matched Emma's in every way except for the name embroidered on the bottom and the lavender ribbon instead of a royal purple one. Placing a kiss on his forehead, Ellery detached herself from Henry's arms and gave him a light push in the direction of the school, "I'll talk to you tonight."

"I gotta go," Henry said pushing the storybook pages into Emma's hands and addressing her as if she hadn't heard him talking to his mother right there, "But I'll find you later and we can get started. I knew you'd believe me."

"I never said I did," Emma called as Henry began running for the school.

He stopped for just a second to turn and call back, "Why else would you be here?"

Emma and Ellery watched as he then took off towards the school again. Emma noticed that her sister had tears glistening in her eyes and she pulled Ellery into a one-armed hug, "Don't worry, I'll get him back to you."

Ellery smiled sadly and brought the blanket up to her nose to inhale her son's scent, "I know you will; one way or another. If you'll excuse me, I need to go let Olivia know I walked him to school with you."

Emma nodded and Ellery walked a few feet away as Mary Margaret, who'd been monitoring the children outside, approached, "It's good to see his smile back. And hope in her eyes."

"I didn't do anything," Emma insisted.

"You stayed," Mary Margaret smiled, "So, does the Mayor know you're still here?" "Oh, she knows," Emma said, thinking of Regina's early morning visit. Glancing over to where Ellery was still talking on the phone, Emma continued speaking with her mother, "What is Regina's deal? She'd not a great people person. How did she get elected?"

"She's been mayor for as long as I can remember," Mary Margaret said distractedly, and Emma realized with a shudder that the curse was working to keep her mother from thinking about how strange that was, "No one's ever been brave enough to run against her. She inspires quite a bit of, well, fear. I'm afraid I only made that worse by bringing the book to Henry. Now he thinks she's the Evil Queen."

"Who does he think you are?" Emma asked, hating to see her mother that way.

"Oh, it's silly," Mary Margaret laughed in embarrassment.

"I just got five minutes of silly," Emma laughed, trying to reassure Mary Margaret, "Lay it on me."

"Snow White," Mary Margaret admitted, looking slightly pleased, "Who does he think you are?"

"I'm not in the book. Does he think Ellery is or something?" Emma couldn't admit her identity and have Mary Margaret make something about their supposed connection when Mary Margaret wasn't the mother Emma remembered.

"I don't know," Mary Margaret admitted, shrugging, "He's never said anything about it to me, and neither has she."

"Can I ask you a favor?" Emma asked as Ellery finished up her phone call and the yard outside of the school cleared. Mary Margaret nodded and Emma continued, "Regina mentioned the kid's in therapy. Do you know where I can find the doctor?"

"I'll take you," Ellery said, walking back over to join them. "I have to talk to Archie about Henry anyway."

"I'll see you at home tonight," Mary Margaret addressed Ellery as she turned to go into the school, "It was good seeing you again, Emma. I'm so glad you decided to stay."

"Bye, Mare, see you tonight," Ellery waved and Emma smiled in response to Mary Margaret as their mother walked inside to start her class. The twin stood in silence for a minute, both thinking how much they wished Snow White would remember. Finally, Ellery turned to Emma, "You ready?"

"Don't you have to work?" Emma asked as she and Ellery began walking back the way they came.

"The great thing about my store is that even though I get maybe four customers a day who walk in and maybe one sale a week, I can always count on my online sales. Everything's run out of Augusta and Liam takes care of the day to day details." Ellery explained and Emma stared at her in confusion. Ellery hadn't exactly answered the question; something Emma suddenly remembered her sister being very good at when they were children, especially when it had been their mother questioning Ellery about some mishap or another. Ellery laughed, "I don't open until ten on Thursdays."

"I didn't know you had an online store," Emma finally picked up on the piece of information her sister had given, "How does that work exactly?"

"Well, I have a warehouse in Augusta that I visit quarterly and Liam takes care of everything else," Ellery shrugged, "It's not too hard and gives me the freedom to take care of things here."

"How is Liam?" Emma asked, "I don't think I've spoken to him since he set up my new identity right after Phoenix."

"He's doing well I think," Ellery answered, "I haven't really talked to him about anything other than work in over three years since he got married."

"He's married?" Emma exclaimed, "I thought he was never going to lose his crush on me."

"Oh, he never did," Ellery assured her, "But he's got an almost three year old, so I'm fairly certain that's why he got married."

"What?" Emma asked jokingly, "You weren't his Best Woman?"

"No, I was, but I was a little preoccupied at the time." Ellery rolled her eyes, "His wedding was less than a month after Henry was removed from my custody and I wasn't quite in my right mind then."

Emma noticed that Ellery had begun wringing her blanket through her hands as she spoke, even vaguely, about whatever had caused Henry to get removed from Ellery's custody. Emma changed the subject, "So, what was the deal with the blankets?"

"Well," Ellery laughed, she realized what Emma was doing and was grateful, even if she wouldn't acknowledge it, "I made Henry a blanket almost exactly like ours when we first moved to Storybrooke and he used it nonstop until he turned two and discovered mine, which I still keep under my pillow."

"So do I," Emma admitted, "Though, mine is still in Boston right now."

"We really are more alike than we ever wanted to be," Ellery mused and then continued her story, "Anyway, Henry got it into his head that my blanket was his too. We used to play this game where we'd both hide the blanket during the day and the last one to hide the blanket without it being found got it for the night. When he moved in with Regina we started trading the blankets back and forth every week so he always has one that smells like me. But he still likes mine better and always tries to wheedle more time with it out of me."

"It's really kind of adorable," Emma said smiling and Ellery returned her grin.

"I know, that's why I've let it continue this long," Ellery laughed, waving at a woman on the street as they passed. The woman waved back and glanced curiously at Emma as they walked on, but her glance didn't involve the double take both girls were used to seeing when other people saw them both standing side by side.

"It's curious how no one is shocked by our appearances here," Emma commented.

Ellery nodded, "I don't think anyone knows we're twins except people who know me fairly well, like Mom and Olivia. Even Regina has never recognized me and she found Mom when we were looking for you. At that point your picture was plastered all over the television and newspapers, which means she at the very least should know who I am. But she's never seen me as anything more than someone who has befriended Mom and makes her happy. I think the curse protects me"

"That doesn't make any sense," Emma's brow furrowed, "She's not affected by the curse, why would the curse hide you from her?"

"I'm not 100% certain of this," Ellery began, stopping and turning to her sister, "but my theory is that the curse is sentient. Very sentient actually, it has to be to maintain the day to day business of the curse. Regina couldn't handle all of it. I think the curse is confused by me, because I was born here and I left, but now I'm back. I think the curse hasn't quite figured out what I am or what role I'm supposed to play in breaking it, so it's protecting me until it figures it out."

"Wait, are you trying to say that the curse wants to be broken?" Emma asked as they began to walk again.

"Of course," Ellery shrugged as if that was the most obvious thing in the world, "Rumplestilskin created this curse to get here so he could find his son. He can't find his son if he doesn't remember who he is and if he can't leave the town."

"I guess that makes sense," Emma nodded, "We'll just have to be careful to keep Regina from finding out who you are. You know, just in case my being here makes the curse lax or something."

Ellery grinned and nodded, "That sounds like a good plan."

They stopped in front of Archie Hopper's office and Ellery's grin faded. She looked at Emma seriously, "Look, I'm going to tell Dr. Hopper to divulge all information regarding Henry and his sessions to you. Which means you will have full access to his files and he'll be free to talk to you whenever you have questions."

"Okay," Emma answered slowly, "so what's with the serious face?"

"Henry's files have details relating to why he's in custody," Ellery said nervously, "which means you'll have a fairly good picture of what happened. A good bit of the information is fabricated of course, but I'm not ready to tell you everything yet. So, you need to be prepared to not trust everything you read."

Emma nodded, "Of course. And I am willing to wait for the story."

"I know sis," Ellery smiled again, "Thanks. Now, let's go talk to Dr. Hopper."

A little over two hours later, Emma was back in her room at Granny's with Henry's file spread out on the bed in front of her. Archie had been a little reluctant to hand over the file, but, since Ellery had insisted, he'd done so eventually. Archie had cautioned both of the twins against destroying Henry's supposed fantasy because he needed it right now. Emma and Ellery had discussed Archie's advice as they walked back to Granny's to grab some breakfast and they'd decided that, in order to best execute any game plan, Ellery would need to continue to try and keep Henry quiet about the curse while Emma would play along and allow Henry to try and convince her that the curse was real.

With all of that decided, Ellery had described what she thought Emma might have to do once the trial finally rolled around. She also hesitantly broached the possibility of Emma needing to be willing to claim custody of Henry if the judge decided she was still unfit.

Emma was still thinking about that possibility as she began flipping through Henry's file. The things she read shocked her, especially the information regarding the circumstances behind his being removed from Ellery's custody. She couldn't quite tell what was real and what had been fabricated, but knowing her sister she had a good idea of what was probably true. More than wishing she knew what was true, Emma wished she'd been around three years ago to help her sister and son/nephew. Emma also wished Ellery was ready to tell her what had really happened, but she had promised she'd wait and so wait she would.

There was a knock at the door and Emma put down the file so she could answer it. She was slightly surprised to see Sheriff Graham standing there with a slightly sheepish look on his face. Confused as to the reason for his visit, Emma greeted him with a joke, "Hey, there. If you're concerned about the 'do not disturb' signs, don't worry. I've left them alone."

"Actually, I'm here about Dr. Archibald Hopper," Graham said, confusing Emma even more, "He mentioned you got into a row with him earlier?"

"No…" Emma said, trailing off as she realized that Regina must have gotten to Archie and made him call Graham on her.

"I was shocked too." Graham replied sarcastically, "And given your shy, delicate sensibilities… He says you demanded to see Henry's files and when he refused, you came back and stole them."

"I went with Ellery, Henry's mother, and she gave Dr. Hopper permission to let me see the files," Emma stated, a pit of dread settling in her stomach, "He gave them to me."

"Alas, he's telling a different tale, Graham said and Emma silently cursed Regina for being a conniving, Evil bitch. "May I check your room? Or, must I get a search warrant?"

Deciding to be cooperative even though she knew that was going to bite her in the ass, Emma opened her door all the way and motioned to the file spread out over her bed, "Is this what you're looking for?

"Well, you're very accommodating." Graham said as he pulled out his handcuffs, "I'm afraid, Miss Swan, you're under arrest, again."

"You know I'm being set up, don't you?" Emma asked as she allowed Graham to handcuff her and begin leading her out of her room.

"And whom, may I ask, is setting you up?" Graham asked, shutting the door behind them.

Emma didn't answer, she knew exactly who was setting her up, but she also knew Graham would never believe her. She remained silent on the ride to the station, brooding over this latest attempt by Regina to get her to leave. What Regina didn't realize, of course, was that the harder Regina tried to hurt Emma, the more concerned for her family Emma became and the more adamant she was that staying was the right decision.

When they arrived at the station, Graham led her over to take her mugshot and Emma broke her silence as the camera flashed, "You know the shrink is lying, right? I did go in with Ellery."

"To the right please," Graham requested as he changed out the film. Emma did as she was told as he continued, "I plan on speaking to Miss White as soon as I've booked you. But tell me this, why would Dr. Hopper lie?"

"The Mayor put him up to this," Emma said hotly as the camera flashed again, so much for not blaming Regina. Well, as long as she'd already blamed her for one thing… "She's got to have something on him. He's terrified of her like everyone else in this town."

"To the left," Graham instructed and Emma once again did as he requested, "Regina maybe a touch…intimidating, but I don't think she'd go so far as a frame job."

"How far would she go?" Emma challenged as Graham snapped the last picture, but she knew the answer to that question, and the next one she asked, "What does she have her hands in?"

"Well, she's the Mayor. She has her hands in everything," Graham said unconcernedly and Emma once again could almost see the curse working on him.

"Including the police force?" She challenged.

Graham was kept from answering when Henry ran into the Sheriff's station followed by Mary Margaret, "Hey!"

"Henry!" Graham exclaimed, obviously nervous that Henry was in the station in the middle of the day, "Henry, what are you doing here?"

Regina told him what happened," Mary Margaret explained protectively and Emma saw a tiny bit of the Snow White she knew peeking through.

"Of course she did," Emma sighed, "Henry, I don't know what she told you…"

"You're a genius," Henry said excitedly.

"What?" Emma was confused.

"I know what you were up to," Henry smiled, "You were gathering intel for Operation Cobra."

If only he knew how close he was to the truth, Emma thought. But we agreed not to let him know the truth, at least not yet.

"I'm sorry," Graham interjected, keeping Henry from realizing that Emma hadn't responded, "I'm a bit lost."

"It's need to know, Sheriff," Henry declared seriously, "And all you need to know is that Nan's going to bail her out."

"You are?" Emma looked at her mother in shock. Sure, Emma's mother had always had her daughters' backs, but Mary Margaret wasn't her mother, not really. "Why?"

"I, uh, trust you," Mary Margaret seemed just as confused as Emma was, but for different reasons, "And so does Ellery. That's good enough for me."

"Well, if you can uncuff me," Emma demanded, offering her bound hands to Graham, "I have something to do."

Graham accepted the cash Mary Margaret offered him for Emma's bail and uncuffed Emma's hands. She smiled gratefully at Mary Margaret and ruffled Henry's hair as she walked purposefully out of the police station. Regina had no idea what she'd just done by framing Emma, but she was about to find out.

Emma's temper had always caused her to do things in the heat of the moment that she later admitted to herself had probably not been the best choices she'd ever made. Today was no different, though she suspected she'd stand by this decision even when she cooled down. When she'd first left the station, she hadn't had an exact plan for retaliating against Regina, she just knew Regina had to pay. As she'd stormed towards Regina's house, however, Emma had seen a chainsaw lying in Regina's front yard and an idea had formed instantaneously.

Walking purposefully to Regina's backyard, Emma went up to the apple tree Regina had bragged about earlier that day and cranked the chainsaw. She waited until she saw Regina's face appear at an upstairs window to begin sawing through one of the branches and was pleased when Regina's face became panicked before disappearing from the window altogether.

Regina appeared outside very quickly thereafter, yelling as she ran across the yard, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Picking apples," Emma said as the branch fell and she turned off the chainsaw.

"You're out of your mind," Regina shouted incredulously as she stared at her tree in shock.

"No, you are if you think a shoddy frame job's enough to scare me off." Emma said, panting in anger and with the exertion of cutting the branch, "You're going to have to do better than that. You come after me one more time, I'm coming back for the rest of this tree. Because, sister, you have no idea what I am capable of. Your move."

This time, Emma stalked away without giving Regina a chance to respond. She dropped the chainsaw where she'd found it, still boiling mad at the Evil Queen. As she walked back towards Granny's, her phone rang and Emma answered it angrily without checking the number, "What?"

"So, what'd you do?" Ellery's voice broke through Emma's anger, "Mary Margaret called and told me she bailed you out and that you left pretty fast."

"Chopped a branch off her precious apple tree," Emma growled, still slightly angry and not ready to let go of her anger. "She framed me and had me arrested.

"Yeah, I know," Ellery acknowledged, "I've been there. Don't worry, I already chewed Archie out and he and I are going down to the station tomorrow morning to get the charges dropped."

"You don't have to do that," Emma said, "I don't want her to hate you even more and have even more reason to go after you."

"She already hates me because I make Mom happy and I refuse to leave no matter how she threatens or bribes," Ellery pointed out with a sigh, "Going to Graham and clearing your name isn't going to change things. So, did you get to read the file?"

"Enough of it," Emma admitted. "Why didn't you call me, El? I would have dropped everything and come to help you, you have to know that."

"I wasn't sure you would," Ellery admitted, "And I was…embarrassed. A lot of the story isn't in his file and a lot of what is, well, it's fabricated."

"Yeah," Emma replied seriously, "you said that earlier and I could kind of tell anyway. I just really wish I could have been there for you. And you don't have to tell me anything until you're ready."

"Thanks," Ellery said, "And I wish I'd had the courage to call you then, it would have been nice to have my sister here. Why don't you come by my shop tonight about 8, we should talk about all those things we've missed in each other's lives over the years. And you can help me paint."

"Paint what?" Emma asked with a laugh.

"I have an apartment above my shop that I'm fixing up so that I can have it ready and approved by Henry's trial." Ellery answered, "I finished priming it last night, but I have to start painting the walls so it's done in time."

"I'll be there," Emma said, "I love you, sis."

"I'll see you tonight," Ellery responded, "Bye."

Ellery hung up without returning Emma's "I love you" and Emma wondered just whether Ellery had just missed the statement or if she'd ignored it on purpose. She suspected though that it was the latter reason and it made her wonder just what had happened to make her formerly open sister so guarded.

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