Disclaimer: I own neither the characters nor the rights to Once Upon a Time.

Note: This chapter contains a scene from 1x21 An Apple Red as Blood. I have described and added on to the original dialogue as I see it.

Chapter One - Hopeless

Emma hurried down the stairs to grab her suitcase and was halted by a knocking at the door. She opened it to reveal Henry.

"Hey, Emma. Everything okay? You sounded strange over the walkie."

"Oh, I um, I'm OK." Emma closed the door behind the boy. She wasn't sure how to say this, let alone want to say this. "Just, um, yesterday when I tried to take you away you were right. I can't take you out of Storybrooke, but I can't stay either."

"What?" said Henry.

"I have to go."

"Go? You mean, leave Storybrooke?"

"Yeah, I spoke to Regina. We made a deal. I'm still going to be able to see you, just not every day."

"No! No, you can't trust her!" the boy spat out in frustration.

"I have to, it's my only choice. It's what's best for you, Henry. Every time I fight her someone else gets hurt."

"No, no, no! You're just scared. This happens to all heroes. It's just the low moment before you fight back."

Emma got down on her knees and grasped desperately at Henry's jacket to emphasize her point, "Henry! This isn't a story! This is reality. Things have to change. You can't skip school, you can't run away, and… you can't believe in curses."

"Y-you really don't believe?"

Through tear stained eyes Emma gazed up at her boy, "I… this is how it has to be for a while. I made a deal and I used my superpower. She's telling the truth and she's going to take really good care of you."

"Yes, but she wants you dead!" Henry didn't understand how Emma could not see it.

"Come on, Henry!"

"You're the only one that can stop her."

Emma stood up and crossed her arms, unable to get at what Henry was trying to tell her. "Stop her from what? All she's ever done is fight for you. I just, got out of hand. I'm sorry."

Henry was hit with the realization that this woman really was going to leave. If the Evil Queen got her way (which was always) he might never see Emma again. He lunged, wrapping his arms around his birth mother. "You can't leave me! Just when I've found you. Just when we were starting to be a family. Don't you want to be my mother?"

"Of course I do!" Emma broke Henry's desperate embrace. "Don't ever think you mean nothing to me, Henry. But I can't stay. Regina is your mother, too, and she loves you. She would do anything for you. Give her a chance."

Henry simply stared dumbfounded at Emma. His world was coming apart. "This isn't supposed to happen! This is not how it's supposed to be!"

Henry turned and ran from the apartment despite Emma's shout to come back. Emma agreed with Henry about one thing: This was not how it was supposed to be.

Since day one she had indulged in Henry's fantasy, fearing it would break his heart if she didn't. Regina was right, though. Pretending in Operation Cobra would just make Henry further believe in a make-believe world. For a normal child this would be fine, but in Henry's case it was unhealthy. He believed in that fairytale book so deeply that he was losing sense of what was real. He was skipping school and leaving Storybrooke to knock on the doors of complete strangers. Most important of all, he couldn't see that his adoptive mother loved him. Henry needed a strong parental figure who could give him everything a young boy needs. Emma saw now that she was not capable of this. She was to blame. She was the one who broke the closed adoption and pandered to a kid who believed in curses. Regina did not. If Emma left, maybe Henry would see that.

She shoved her arms through the jacket. Carrying the suitcase in one hand and grabbing the door knob in the other Emma Swan exited Mary Margaret's and left Storybrooke the way it was before she arrived that fateful night.

Hopeless.

The street lamps cast a glow on the damp side streets. The air was cold and carried an eerie scent of smoke but Henry Mills ran as fast as his legs would carry him. He would not stop until he got Emma back.

Storybrooke was different, its people were starting to wake up. Emma's mere presence had transformed the town and, in turn, the town had transformed her. Now it was his fault that she left. He shouldn't have pushed so hard. Maybe the curse wasn't as bad as the book made it seem. He didn't want to be wrong about Operation Cobra, but if believing in it caused his biological mother to leave he had to end this game… or put it on hold for a while.

There was only one problem; he didn't know where she would run off to. Last time it was as simple as looking through a few Google searches. A lot had changed since then. Emma Swan had changed. Henry suddenly had the sinking feeling she wouldn't return to Boston. She didn't want to be found this time.

With sneakers slapping furiously at the ground Henry crossed the empty street at ten o'clock. He was desperate and he knew of only one person who could help him. He wasn't thrilled at the prospect but if he wanted to get Emma back there was only one who had the power to find her.