Chapter 9: True north/7:15 a.m.
Emma was having a rough time with the case of the orphan twins. It was reminding her of her own past, and she didn't like thinking about it. She didn't want them to go to the system. She knew that once there, they were going to be separated. And at their age, it would be hard that they would be adopted. Their only choice was to find the father and convince him to keep them.
Emma brought them to the apartment and asked Rose and Mary-Margaret if they knew about them. Both women nodded. They were in their classes, but they didn't know much about them. When Mary-Margaret mentioned social services, Emma got defensive. The kind teacher told her that she couldn't generalize based on what had happened to her. Rose had a frown on her face and sighed.
"Emma, I know that my experience with the system is different from yours, but if you can't find their father, there is nothing you can do but contact social services."
Mary-Margaret looked at Rose surprised. They had talked about the redhead's parents, so she assumed that they were her biological family. It seems that there was something that Rose hadn't mentioned.
"That's exactly what I'm going to do. If they go to the system, you know that there is a big chance that they are going to be." Emma wasn't able to finish the sentence because Ava had listened and guessed what was to come.
Emma promised that she would do everything in her power to keep them together. With that, she left to see if she could find anything about their father.
Once Emma left, Mary-Margaret looked at Rose curiously. Rose saw the look on her friend's face and sighed.
"My parents were really my adoptive parents." Rose started to explain. "I was actually born here in the States. I don't know my real parents, never found out who they are, but I never needed to. I had two loving parents that choose me. They gave me a home, love and support."
Mary-Margaret nodded and smiled softly. It looked like Rose had indeed had a better experience in the system than Emma.
"I was left at an orphanage by the cops, when a hiker found me in the middle of the woods. I was just a baby; the doctors believed that I was barely a few hours old. So they assumed that my biological mother went to the wood to give birth and abandon me there." Mary-Margaret frowned at that, how could someone do that to an innocent baby?
"But I wasn't in the orphanage for long. Not even a month later, Alfred and Martha Kingsley came to the orphanage. They asked specifically for me. They had read on the newspaper about a baby being abandoned in the woods, and since they couldn't have children of their own, they decided to take me in."
Rose smiled fondly at the memory of her parents telling her that story a thousand times. How they said that it was love at first sight. That she wasn't their biological daughter, but fate wanted them to be a family.
"They said that once they saw me, they knew I was their daughter." She smiled at Mary-Margaret, who grabbed her hands and squeezed them in support. "They never hid that I was adopted, but they also showed me how much they loved me every day."
Rose looked at the siblings that were huddled together on the couch and sighed.
"I know I was lucky. And Emma was right. It's most likely that if they end up in the system, they are going to be separated."
Both women sighed and hoped that Emma was able to find the father and convince him to keep the children.
Henry came by the apartment to tell Rose about his theory that the siblings were really Hansel and Gretel. Once he arrived, he saw that they were going to bake some cookies and decided to join them. After a while, Emma called Rose and told her to come down with Mary-Margaret, but to not tell the kids.
Once on the street, Emma told them what happened with the children's father. How he didn't want them. Mary-Margaret told Emma that she should tell them the truth like how she told Henry about his father being dead. At that Rose looked at Emma with a raised eyebrow.
"You told him what?" Mary-Margaret was confused.
Emma told Mary-Margaret the truth about how Henry's father was alive and not a hero. Mary-Margaret told Emma that maybe it was time to call social services, but before she could finish Regina appeared.
After she scolded Emma about doing her job, Mary-Margaret went up to the apartment and Rose stayed behind with Emma.
"You have to tell him the truth, Emma." Rose said to her friend with a frown on her face.
"It's better if he doesn't know." She said stubbornly.
"No, Emma. Once he finds out the truth, he is going to be hurt. He is going to be angry at you. Just tell him the truth. It will be better in the long run."
Emma shook her head. She normally sided with Rose's logic, but not this time. She wasn't going to tell Henry the truth about his father any time soon.
Emma came back from supposedly taking the kids to Boston, but it was much too early. Rose and Mary-Margaret looked at Emma expectantly, waiting for her to tell them what happened. She told them how the father had come for the kids and decided to keep them.
Then Emma started to think about her own parents. She asked Mary-Margaret her opinion on the matter, she already knew that Rose believed that there was a reason that she hadn't found out anything about her parents. When Mary-Margaret said the same, Emma sighed and jokingly brought up Henry's theory that Mary-Margaret was supposedly her mother.
Emma decided to take stroll to get some air and Rose decided to go with her. She was meeting Ruby at Granny's to chat for a while. Once on the street the two friends parted ways. When she reached Granny's, she sat at the counter and Ruby brought her a beer. The two friends started to talk, when a man came in. The two young women looked at each other with a curious look. Neither had seen the man before. The man asked for a room and Granny was happy to show him to the Inn.
The next morning Emma and Rose were having breakfast, when Mary-Margaret came running from the bathroom saying she was late. She said that she was helping some children's from the school with a science project. She made a quick exit. Emma looked at Rose with a raised eyebrow.
"What was that about?" Rose shrugged her shoulders.
"All I know is that there is no volcano project for science class."
Both women looked at each other and decided to follow their friend. They saw her go into Granny's and have a small chat with David. They approached her, and she told them that for the last few days, she had been doing this to see David, even if it was just for a little while. They talked about how Mary-Margaret was stalking David a little and how love sucks when it's not reciprocated.
Rumpelstiltskin had just made a deal with Snow White, a potion to make her forget about the one she loves in exchange for one strand of her hair. He walked away from the pier, disappearing in the mist when he bumped into someone.
"Is that really what you think about love?"
The Dark One looked at the young princess in wonder. He still couldn't figure out how she always managed to sneak up on him.
"Why, yes my darling. Love is a sickness, love makes you weak." He said dismissing her frown at his words.
"I'll admit that love can be a great weakness. You have someone for whom you would do anything, even the most evil of deeds. And people will try to take advantage of that." Rumple looked at Rose. He had heard her talk about that before, but not to him. "But love can also be great power. Because that person would do the same for you. It makes you fight your hardest to make them happy. Because when you love someone, their happiness, their strength is yours."
She smiled at the imp and turned around. She started to make her way to the castle, when she turned her head to give him a side glance.
"You should try to look at thing from their positive side. After all, everything needs balance. Focus too much on one side of things, and they won't end well."
With those words, she kept walking without looking back again. Rumple looked after her until she disappeared in the mist and laughed. She was a very interesting one.
Rose entered Granny's in a hurry. She just wanted to grab a coco to go and arrive home before the storm really kicked in. Ruby smiled at her and went to prepare her order. Rose turned to look outside the windows, when she saw the stranger drinking coffee in a booth.
Rose looked at him in curiosity. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she had the feeling that she had seen him before. The man looked at her and almost chocked on his coffee, when he saw her looking at him. Rose gasped and sat down in front of him with a big grin on her face.
"Ahoy, matey." She told him. He looked at her with surprise. "How's the leg?"
The man started to open his mouth, but hesitated on what to say.
"We met in Japan around 10 years ago." She told him, seeing if he remembered her. "I was in an expedition with my godfather. I was walking around Kyoto and you just stumbled in front of me, because of your wooden leg?"
"Yeah. I, I remember." He couldn't believe that she was here.
At that moment, Ruby called her to pick up her coco. She apologized to the man, picked up her cup and left.
August looked after her. So it had been really Rose all those years ago. When he had seen her, he hadn't believed it. He thought it was just a weird coincidence to find someone that looked like the lost princess, and he was more shocked that someone had seen his wooden leg. But if she was here, at the same time as Emma, there was no other option, she was Rose Red.
The next morning, Emma, Rose and Mary-Margaret sat at the table having breakfast. Mary-Margaret was looking intensely at the clock. It was 7:16 a.m. and she wasn't at Granny's to see David. Emma and Rose each grabbed a hand of the sad woman in comfort. She smiled at them in gratitude. She needed them to support her, just in case she caved.
Later that day, Rose was making her way to school when she stopped in front of Granny's. She watched with wide eyes how Mary-Margaret and David started to kiss in the middle of the street. When she recovered from the surprise, she saw that she hadn't been the only one to see the display of affection. There was Regina's car, and the Mayor had seen everything.
Rose knew that Mary-Margaret was going to be in trouble. She just hopped that her friend would be okay.