Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything but the idea. I do NOT own any of the Once Upon a Time characters. I repeat: I own NOTHING - all characters belong to Disney, ABC, and the Grimm Brothers.

Warning: Spoilers!

Summary: After the curse broke, things didn't go as excepted.

[A rewrite of OUAT starting with season 2.]

REVIEWS WELCOME!

Chapter 5

Neal heard a knocking on his window. When he looked up, a white dove was perched on the sill, a postcard in its beak. Curious, he set down his book and opened the window. The bird barely reacted to him as it dropped the card and slowly flew away.

He picked it up to find the image of a picturesque little seaside town with the name STORYBROOKE printed in dainty white letters along the bottom. He flipped it over to read BROKEN. COME GET HER. -AUGUST written sloppily on the back.

"Emma." He gasped as he stumbled backwards.

He reread that card eleven times before running to his closet and yanking out his trunk.

"Damn you, August." He cursed.

It took him an hour to pack up his entire New York apartment and haul the trunk down the many flights of stairs to his beat-up old car. As soon as he was in, he sped down the road. He couldn't get out of New York fast enough.

Neal Cassidy had a horrible last ten years. He was adopted at only a month old by a loving family and raised in a warm home. After graduating from high school he moved and became a firefighter in Portland, Oregon.

There he fell in love with a smart, spunky blonde woman. Her name was Emma. They met the first night he had a late shift. He was getting off and decided to grab a bite at the diner down the street. While she took his order, they flirted and that was it. Over the next few months, they fell in love. Deeply in love. No matter what happened, they were able to stand together and support each other at the end of the day.

Six months into their relationship, Emma told him that she was pregnant, and he couldn't have been happier. They went ring shopping the next day before their night shifts. After dropping Emma off at the diner, he was stopped by a man with a black leather jacket.

He tried to convince Neal to leave Emma, but Neal refused and pushed on.

There was a fire an hour later and Neal went into the warehouse to help get people out. That same man was there and demanded Neal abandon Emma. Again, Neal refused. The man was beyond mad and knocked him out.

Neal woke in tied to a chair, burns along the back of his neck, and alone. A newspaper article was taped to a box next to his head. It was about him. Apparently, he had perished in the warehouse fire. Below that, was a story about Emma being arrested for past crimes. On a sticky note, was a handwritten message from a man named August telling him to forget about Emma.

Neal managed to escape his confinements and get to the hospital for his infected injuries. They informed him he had been missing for a month and was in need of advanced medical treatment. It took some time, but as soon as he was able, he went after Emma. He couldn't find her. She had been passed around by law enforcement, and no one could tell him where she ended up. Each time he would get a lead on her, it would cut off. It was as if someone was interfering with his investigation.

As he drove, Neal squeezed the steering wheel. He never stopped looking for Emma or their child. Not for the past ten years did he ever stop looking. Now he was finally going to see her. He didn't know how their reunion would go. He hoped for the best outcome.

"I'm coming, Emma."

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Hello.

Yes, I'm alive. Sorry, I'm so bad at keeping on a release schedule. Work is a lot. But, hey, this time, I have a good reason for the delay. I decided to split Neal and Baelfire into two different characters, so I needed to rework some things.

I remembered Emma told a fake story about Henry's father being a firefighter, so I gave this new Neal that backstory. In addition, he is the son of Prince Phillip and Princess Aurora (also a product of True Love and he will get a power of his own). I'm still working on how, but they also managed to send their baby to our world before the curse hit. This Neal is a month older than Emma. Yes, I know it's a little clunky, and I'm sorry.

As for Baelfire, you'll have to wait to see what I did to him. Don't worry. He's fine.

And this marks the end of the re-introductions! Now, I'm running forward with plot. Thank you for sticking with me this far. I'm excited to keep working on this. Thank you for reading and I hope you have a good day.