Chapter III

Home Sweet Home

Emma Swan, a former convict turned sheriff and fairy tale savior was in love. Deep, heartfelt, all-encompassing love. She was finally ready to commit to a lifetime relationship. She had never thought she could truly commit, but then she'd been trapped in the Enchanted Forest. The separation had been acute and painful. She hadn't realized how deeply in love she'd been in until they'd been separated. She ran her fingers across the cool marble surface under her fingers. It was an oddly reverent movement, almost like worship.

"God I love you."

She had never been so happy to use a toilet in her life. She knew that her family and friends were waiting outside, but she wasn't sure she was ready to leave it yet. It was a real porcelain with water inside it, honest to God toilet. She had almost cried when she walked into the ladies' room at Granny's. It was sitting there, beautiful and white with a whole roll of toilet paper. The little things in life truly made a difference. Her adventure, as Henry called it, in the other world had been rough. She hadn't really considered how different the two worlds were until it was unmistakable. She was a city girl, a hardened survivor of the concrete jungle. She had conned her way half way across the country. She had survived being a ward of the state. She had been a Southie bounty hunter, for Christ's sake. In the fairy-tale forest she had quickly realized that three days of Brownie Scouts didn't cut it. She had been like Babes in the Woods. They were back now, though, and she was never ever going back. She preferred modern conveniences like air conditioning, cars, and hot chocolate. She washed her hands, with real soap and warm water. Wonderful mechanically heated water that came out of a tap and had chlorine and fluoride and lead in it. She dried her hands on one of the rough brown paper towels and shot the damp and crumpled remains into the trashcan. She was never, ever, going anywhere where she couldn't get to a functional bathroom within five minutes.

More importantly, she paused at the bathroom door, she was never, ever, going anywhere where Henry was more than five minutes or a phone call away from her. She had missed The Kid so damn much it was mind-blowing. She, Emma Swan, loved and had missed her son. The best thing was that he had missed her too and loved her back. All she had wanted to do while she was gone was get back to him-to get back to her family. She had, for the first time in her life, had a home to come home to. She was going to sit beside her son and eat another grilled cheese sandwich and wonderfully greasy fries. She and Henry were going to split a very large banana split. She was going to joke and flirt with Ruby. She was going to wink at Granny, who always hated the way they flirted. She was going to watch her parents be disgustingly, over-the-top, cute and cuddly with each other. She was going to relax and enjoy the feeling of being at home.

She walked out of the bathroom and stopped mid-stride. Mulan and Aurora, two people who had been in the Enchanted Forest only an hour ago, were standing in the middle of the diner. Emma blinked, and hoped that she had fallen asleep on her beloved toilet. Aurora, clad in the same ragged dress, was hugging Henry. Mulan, still covered in armor and leather, stood stiffly in the middle of the room. Her almond shaped eyes darted to every face, looking for a threat.

Mary Margr-Snow, was happily introducing the two women. Emma couldn't quite process the scene. It seemed far away and out of focus, like she was looking through binoculars with Vaseline smeared over the lenses.

"How the hell did you two get here?" She blurted it out without thinking, but it was a valid question.

Mulan, hands resting on the hilt, or was it the pommel (she didn't quite have sword parts figured out yet) and scowled. "The same way Cora did, on Hook's ship."

Emma dropped onto the nearest stool, she had been happy for all of half a freaking hour. They'd had half a freaking hour of peace. Damn it.

"Oh."

What a freaking bummer.

"Did anyone else come with you?"

She was almost afraid to know. Cora and Hook were bad enough. Emma absent mindedly rubbed her chest. Her chest that Cora had shoved her hand into. They hadn't exactly made lots of friends during their journey through Fairy Tale Land. Well there had been ogres and a giant, chimeras, zombie peasants and every other horror movie creature that were going to hunt her in her nightmares for the rest of forever.

"Just a Gypsy woman."

Cora stared at Storybrooke, Maine as she had since their arrival. The town was spread out in front of them, and though she could not see her, she knew that her daughter was out there somewhere. She could see the small village from the deck of Hook's vessel and she wondered where Regina was. Cora breathed in, basking in the sunlight and promise of a new world. She would find her daughter. Her Regina was bigger than this town, these peons. They both were. She was going to remind the people exactly who they were. Their knees would crack and their hearts would crumble in her grasp. She would destroy Snow White, and especially Emma Swan. She would take pleasure from bringing down Eva's descendants. She and Regina would dance in the swirls of dust that their hearts would make. She would just have to remind her errant daughter that her place was at her side. It would not be hard. Regina had always been stubborn, but at the end of the day she was her father's daughter-weak and malleable.

"So this is the land my daughter created."

Hook was thoroughly unimpressed. He had sailed between worlds and explored places that were on no map. This Kingdom of Maine looked bland and lifeless. He leaned against the ship's main mast, legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at his ankles.

"It looks boring."

"Looks can be deceiving, Capitan."

He looked down at his hook, "You do know that they will run to them and tell them of our arrival." His voice carried a hint of venom to it.

Cora chuckled, "Of course. A gypsy spell may have fooled me once, but I am too powerful to be fooled by the likes of her now."

Hook rubbed his flesh and blood hand across the black scruff beard on his chin, "Then why, exactly, couldn't I use them as chum or at least played with them a little? The China Woman would have put up a ferocious fight." He paused, "And I've never had a Gypsy either. A man has needs and hobbies.

A murderous glint passed through Cora's eyes and Hook felt any amorous feelings in him curl up and die.

"You leave that woman to me. You're only here for your crocodile, remember that."

Hook held up his hand and his hook in a quick sign of surrender, "Understood, love. I would hate to be on your bad side. I almost feel for the wench."

Cora's lips quirked into an ice cold smile, "No one crosses me and gets away with it, Killian. Esmeralda has been living on borrowed time for far too long."