Chapter 1:

Hi everyone! Here's a new story that I have been working on. I will still continue with my story The Other Daughter (please check it out if you haven't yet!) I just had to get this one out to you too! I really hope you like it. Please give me some feedback so I know whether or not it's a good idea and if I should continue! Thanks :)

Welcome to Storybrooke. That is what the sign in front of five-year-old Emma Swan read. She knew this was the right place. She could feel it. Emma had only two clues when she made the decision to go find her parents. One was clutched tightly in her hands. Emma had come across the newspaper article a few months ago when she was waiting in her social worker's office during one of the many times she was being transferred to another home. She snuck a look in her file and found the article inside. Since then, she had read the article more times than she could count. It said that she was found on the side of the road near a diner. Emma found the diner and used it as a starting point for her mission to find her parents and break the curse that the Evil Queen had put on everyone in the Enchanted Forest. The second clue was the storybook that she had zipped up safely in her backpack. A boy had given it to her in the park one day. He told her to read it and that every story in this book actually happened. He told her it would lead her to her parents. When Emma finally got to the end of the giant book and saw her actual baby blanket with her name on it, she finally put everything together. She was the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. She was the one who had to break the curse in which they were all trapped. Emma had been walking for what felt like hours, but now here she stood, about to enter a town. Hoping it was the right one. Hoping she would find her mommy and daddy and finally have the family she had always wanted.

Emma made her way into Storybrooke. It was late in the evening and she was starting to get tired. She didn't know where she should go or what she should do. She started to get scared. It was dark out and Emma didn't like the dark. Up ahead she saw the light of the different shops that were still open. She started to walk faster, hoping to hide out there before deciding what to do next. She was walking so fast that she didn't realize that she was about to bump into somebody.

"Woah easy there," the man said as he put his hands out to slow down the little girl in front of him.

"I'm sorry," Emma said as she looked up at the stranger she had just ran into. She quickly looked down when she saw his sheriff's badge. He would find out she ran away and make her go back to her last family. She wouldn't do that. She thought about how scary that place was and never wanted to go back. She turned to run the other way, but the sheriff quickly grabbed her by the arm. "Ow," Emma said as she winced in pain and quickly cradled her arm, holding it tightly to her chest.

"I'm sorry," he told her quickly. He definitely had not grabbed her arm hard enough to cause that much pain. "Are you hurt?" he asked her.

Emma continued to look down, afraid to answer his question. If she told him she was hurt, he would ask how and she couldn't tell him that. If she did tell and she was sent back to the same foster family they would find out and she would be in even more trouble. She thought back to this morning when she had received the injury.

Emma had spilled her cereal during breakfast and was trying to clean it up quickly before he came downstairs. Unfortunately she wasn't fast enough. "What did you do?" he screamed when he walked into the kitchen. The first thing Emma had learned about him was that he didn't like messes. Hearing his voice made Emma jump and she quickly stood up clutching the towel in her hands. "I…I'm sorry I didn't mean to. I'll clean it up I…I promise," Emma said quickly, hoping he wouldn't get too mean and scary like the last time. Emma kneeled down on the floor and started to clean up the mess as he continued to yell. He went on about how he was tired of cleaning up after all of these kids and how they were all just a bunch of brats destroying his house. "Are you listening to me?" he yelled when he noticed Emma wasn't looking at him, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her up from the floor. "You look at me when I'm talking to you, understand?" he yelled as he clutched her wrist tighter. Emma just nodded her head, trying to hold in her tears. She knew he didn't like it when the kids cried, but her wrist hurt really bad. "Clean up this mess," he demanded as he threw her back down to the ground. Emma waited until he had left the room before letting her tears fall. She cleaned up her cereal and made her way back up to her bedroom. She packed her backpack with all of her favorite things, which only included the newspaper article, the storybook, and her baby blanket. She decided that today was going to be the day that she ran away and found her parents.

"My name is Graham," the sheriff said as he knelt down in front of the little girl. "Do you think you could tell me your name?" He could tell that she clearly did not want to talk about what had happened to her wrist, so he thought he would start with something a little easier to gain her trust.

Emma just continued to look down. She couldn't tell him anything. He would find out who she was. He would send her back. She couldn't let that happen. She had come too far and she had to find her mommy and daddy.

"How about you come with me," Graham said with a smile as he led her down the street towards the hospital.

Emma really didn't want to go with him, but she didn't think she had a choice. Running away from him didn't work and she was pretty sure he could catch her anyway. At least he didn't know what her name was, so he couldn't figure out where she had come from. Emma thought if she just stayed quiet and didn't say anything then no one would be able to send her back.

Emma found herself sitting in the waiting room of the hospital. She didn't like hospitals or doctors. They were scary and bad things always happened here. She sat in her chair and began to think of all the bad things they might do to her while she was here. She didn't like it when they listened to her heart and had her breathe in and out a bunch of times. She really didn't like it when the doctor looked into her ears, up her nose, and into her mouth. She hated the X-ray machine and Emma absolutely did not like it when they gave her shots. They hurt really bad. The worst part about being in the hospital was that she was always left there alone. The foster families never liked to stick around when one of the kids was sick. When it was time for her to leave, she would always be going to live with a new family. The doctors and the nurses were nice enough, but Emma was always so lonely.

Emma looked up at Sheriff Graham, who was sitting in the chair next to her, and wondered what he was going to do. He had talked to the nurse at the front desk for a few minutes, while he left her sitting in the chair. Emma tried really hard to listen to what they were talking about, but she couldn't hear. They were too far away and she was afraid to get out of her chair and go over to them. She really hoped they didn't figure out who she was and call her social worker. Graham didn't tell her anything when he came back. He only told her that the doctor would be ready to see her really soon. Didn't he know she didn't like doctors? Why would he make her see one? Emma thought about telling him that, but she decided not to. Graham seemed nice enough, but she didn't want him to figure out who she was and if she talked, he might. Emma knew she couldn't let that happen. She just had to figure a way out of here and find her mommy and daddy.

"Okay, the doctor is ready for you," Graham told Emma when he saw the nurse motion for him.

Emma looked up at him with panic in her eyes. She didn't want to see the doctor. He would be scary and he would find out who she was. She would get sent back and get in big trouble. Emma glanced at the door and thought about running right out and away from this scary place.

"How about if I come with you?" Graham suggested when he saw her scared eyes look towards the door. He knew she was thinking about making a run for it.

Emma nodded her head and stood up to go with him. She knew she wouldn't make it out of here if she tried to run for it, so she went willingly. As Emma walked down the hallway and into the exam room, she decided that she would not talk to anybody and she would not let them give her a shot. Those hurt way too much.

Emma sat on the white crinkly paper and waited for the doctor. The nurse had already been in and weighed her and made her stand up against the wall to see how tall she was. She also did all of the other stuff Emma didn't like. She listened to her heart and looked into her ears. She tried to look at her wrist, but Emma pulled it away quickly, remembering how bad it hurt when Graham had touched it.

"How about we just let the doctor look at your wrist then," the nurse said with a smile.

Emma just looked down at her lap as she cradled her wrist. She was not going to let anybody touch it, not even the doctor. Emma knew it would get better on it's own. She had this happen to her wrist before, she had also broken it before. Emma knew the difference and it wasn't broken. It would get better soon as long as the grown-ups stopped touching it.

"The nurses and doctors are really nice you know. They're just trying to help you," Graham told Emma with a smile. "We're not going to let anybody hurt you."

Emma didn't respond to what Sheriff Graham had told her, she was listening, but she didn't believe him. People always told her that the doctors were just trying to help, but that wasn't true. They did things that hurt, like give you shots and then they always send you away to another mean family that hurt you again. Emma did not like it here and the doctors and nurses were not trying to help her.

Emma jumped a little when the door opened after several minutes of sitting in silence. She peeked up just for a second at the man who had just walked into the room.

"Hello there, my name is Dr. Whale and what is your name?" he asked came over to Emma.

Emma just sat there and continued to cradle her wrist. She wasn't going to answer him no matter how friendly he tried to sound.

"Stubborn one isn't she?" Dr. Whale said with a laugh.

"Just a little shy," Graham told him.

Emma didn't think she liked this Dr. Whale very much.

"Okay, let's take a look then shall we?" Dr. Whale said as he started in on his examination. He tried to ask Emma a few questions like how old she was and when she had eaten last.

Emma didn't answer him. She didn't want him to know how old she was because then he might be able to figure out who she was. Emma had no idea why he wanted to know when she had eaten. That was a silly question, but it did make her tummy growl. Emma thought back to when she had actually eaten last though. It was breakfast this morning. She didn't even get to eat all of her cereal though because she spilled half of it on the floor. She didn't go to school, so she didn't have any lunch and she had no money to buy anything, so she hadn't eaten any dinner either. Emma really wished he hadn't asked her that question, because now it made her really hungry.

"How about we take a look at that wrist then," Dr Whale said. He was saving this part for last. The nurse had warned him about how Emma had reacted when she tried to look at it. He thought maybe if he waited until the end of the examination she would have warmed up to him by then and would let him look at it. He knew Emma wasn't anywhere near warmed up to him, but he had to take a look at her wrist, so they could treat it properly.

Emma just clutched her wrist tighter to her chest. He was not going to touch it. When he reached his hand out, Emma turned and pulled it away from him.

"It's okay. Dr. Whale is going to make it all better," Graham told her.

"I have to look at it so I know how to fix it. Do you think you could show it to me?" Dr. Whale said as he tried to coax Emma into letting him see it.

The two men tried for several minutes to convince Emma to let Dr. Whale see her wrist, but she wouldn't budge. This wasn't going the way they had hoped. The stepped aside and were talking quietly in the corner about what to do when the nurse walked in. She walked over to them, trying to help them decide what the best course of action would be.

While the grown-ups were talking, Emma noticed that the nurse had left the door open. The adults were on the other side of the room. This was her chance. All she had to do was quickly hop down from the table and run out of the door. Then she could find her mommy and daddy. Emma looked back and forth between the grown-ups and the door. Then she quickly put her plan into motion. She jumped down from the table and ran out into the hallway.

Emma could hear Sheriff Graham, Dr. Whale, and the nurse calling for her as she ran down the hallway, but she didn't stop. She just wanted out of this scary place. Emma ran as fast as she could. She looked back for a second to see how close they were, she couldn't see them, but knew they weren't far behind. When Emma turned around, she ran right into somebody. Emma fell to the ground, but held onto her wrist, careful not to injure it even more. Emma knew it was a woman that she had run into, she could see her ballet flats and her skirt. She watched as the women bent down to help her up.

"Hey there little one. Are you alright?" the concerned woman asked as she reached out her hand to help Emma.

Emma reached out to the hand of the woman who was helping her off of the ground, but then froze when she looked up into her eyes. Those eyes. She had seen those eyes before. Those bright green eyes. Emma had seen them when she looked at herself in the mirror, but that's not the only place. Emma had seen those eyes in the special storybook that told her all about her parents. She looked different. Her hair was shorter, but it was her. It was the woman from the storybook. It was Snow White. It was her mommy. Emma quickly jumped up and threw herself into the woman's arms and burst into tears. She had done it. After searching all day long, she had found her. She had found her mommy.