Title: A Family's Faith

Disclaimer: Once Upon A Time and its characters belong to Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and are owned by ABC. Not Mine!

Warning: K+ (For future content – not necessarily in this chapter)

Author's Note: Chapter 1! Just to let any of my followers of Love is Strength story know that I haven't abandoned it, but will just be writing these two stories simultaneously! :) This is a new idea I had and I am not quite sure where I am going with it just yet, but I hope you like it so far! Any reviews or ideas are welcomed!

Premise: This story takes place post the Wicked Witch of West storyline and everyone is back in Storybrooke. Charming and Emma are once again working together as the Storybrooke's police. It's been about a month after everyone was reunited and things have been a bit crazy for the residents of Storybrooke (like normal). Charming and Emma have been working hard at solving all the problems caused by the Wicked Witch of the West. They were just starting to get things back to normal, when someone turns up to try to destroy their happiness once again.

"Wherever you are, I will always find you." –Prince Charming

"I told you I would find you. No matter what you do. I will always find you." – Prince Charming

"If you need anything." – Prince Charming

"You'll find me." –Snow White

"Always." - Prince Charming

Separated

"Emma!"

Emma wasn't sure why her father was yelling her name so fiercely, but it sounded like he was worried. She just wanted to sleep a while longer especially because she has a terrible headache.

"Emma. You need to wake up now."

She could feel him trying to shake her awake and that's when she realized that she wasn't on her comfy bed, but on something rough and rather uncomfortable, almost like she was laying on the ground. She slowly opens her eyes to see David, staring anxiously down at her.

"What's going on?" Emma said as she starts to take in her surroundings, seeing that they are in some kind of a forest with a bunch of debris around them. This wasn't Storybrooke. "Where are we?" Emma asked in a weary voice, hoping that she was wrong and this was just the forest in Storybrooke.

"The Enchanted Forest." Charming said, for once sounding rather old and tired. For once he wouldn't mind not having to search for his family or have to try to get back to his family, but here he was again, having to find his way back to his family.

It all was coming back to her, King George had been hiding for weeks after being brought back to Storybrooke by the curse from the Wicked Witch of the West. They were able to overcome the Witch. King George was the least of their worries since they got back, but he decided to show up today with another way to cause her father to suffer the same pain he went through. King George had pulled out a magic bean and threw it at Emma's feet. Emma believes that he might have been trying to just send her through the portal, but her father of course went to help her. She started to fall, but David was able to grab her and drag her away from the portal, but not before the floor underneath her fell. David caught her hand and almost had her to safety when King George knocked David so that he would either let go of Emma or fall in with her. They both ended up falling through the portal.

Emma could see that her father was just as disappointed as she was about being separated from their family again. After everything their family has been through, you would think that at some point they could just be with each other and not have to worry about being separated.

"Are you okay?" Charming asked, looking Emma over for any injuries. He could tell that she was remembering all that had happen and realizing that they once again had to find their family again.

"Yeah, yeah. I am fine." Emma said even though her head was pounding and her body felt sore from the fall. They had more important things to worry about.

Charming nodded and helped Emma up. Charming could tell that she was not telling the truth because over the last few years he has gotten to know his daughter pretty well to know when she is telling the truth or not. This time he lets it go because besides hitting her head, she seemed like she was fine.

"What are we going to do?" Emma asked as she looked around seeing nothing, but the forest.

"First, we need to figure out where we are in the Enchanted Forest and then we need to set up camp. It is going to get dark in a couple of hours." Charming responded confidently.

"Okay. Lead the way." Emma said feeling rather glad that her father had come with her through the portal because if the last time was any example, she didn't do very well in the Enchanted Forest. It was foreign to her in many aspects, but luckily for her the last time she had her mother and this time her father. She would never openly admit that she needed them, but she really didn't know this place even if she had been born in it. It was a comfort to her that her father seemed to know what to do. She just wished she could be of some help, but she really had no clue where they were and how they were going to set up camp when they had nothing to set up.

Charming gave Emma a soft smile, knowing that she felt uncomfortable and out of her element when it came to the Enchanted Forest. "It's okay, Emma. We will get back to them." Charming said and then they started to walk through the forest. He had his daughter to take care of and a family to get back to. If there was one thing he knew how to do, it was to find his family.

Emma nodded. It was still hard for her come to terms with the fact that their family always finds each other, but they have always found each other so maybe this time would be the same. Oddly enough, Emma was beginning to have faith in their little motto of always finding each other, but it was still hard to be that positive. Mostly she trusted her parents' faith. "I know." Emma said.

"When we do get back to your mother and Henry, your mom is going to be a little angry that we missed her big dinner she was planning for tonight." Charming said with a humorless chuckled as he tried to lighten the mood.

"Oh, why did you have to bring that up? I am starving." Emma said as she groaned. She really hoped that Chimera wasn't on the menu during this excursion in the Enchanted Forest. She didn't care for whatever food that was.

Charming chuckled at Emma's expression. If there was one thing that wasn't a secret, it was that Emma loved food and the food in the Enchanted Forest didn't quite compare to the food at home. Charming put his arm around Emma as they walked. "I am truly sorry that you are missing such a great meal, but I might be able to find you some Chimera." Charming said with a mischievous grin, which turned into a laugh as he saw Emma's horrified expression at the mention of Chimera, her least favorite food from the Enchanted Forest.

"Seriously? You know how I hate that stuff, whatever it is." Emma complained as she gave Charming an annoyed glare.

"It is part lion, part serpent, and part goat. It's actually not that bad." Charming teased Emma as he tried to control his laughter.

Emma gave him a disgusted look. "That's gross. Why would I want to eat it after knowing what was in it? I believe that is why I didn't try it in the first place."

"Okay. I guess Chimera is off the menu." Charming said with a smirk.

"Good." Emma said with a small grin as they continued to walk through the forest with her father's arm around her shoulders.

They walked for about 2 hours, but to Emma it seemed like it was much longer. Her legs were sore from the trek and wondered how her parents use to do this all the time. Walking or riding horses instead of being able to use cars must have been rough. She was following her father who was about 15 feet ahead of her. He seemed like he had an idea of where they were going, but she was beginning to wonder as the time passed. You would think they would have been somewhere by now, but they were still in the middle of the forest. She wasn't sure if she could do this much longer, when her dad stopped and turned around to face her.

"I am going to climb one of these trees to see if I can see where we are. Just wait here for me." Charming said not wanting Emma to get lost in the woods especially knowing that she didn't have much of a sense of direction. Plus he wasn't sure what was in these woods and he wanted her to be close to him so that he could jump down and help her if she needed it. He wished he had his sword as well because the guns they had weren't going to do them much good here especially if there were any ogres around.

"I'll be fine." Emma said annoyed at her father's overprotectiveness.

"Just don't wander off." Charming said in a tired, yet firm voice.

"I can take care of myself." Emma replied, not liking what he was implying.

"I know you can, but we don't know what are in these woods. Anyway, it would be better if we didn't lose each other in this forest." Charming argued with a no nonsense expression that he knew Emma wouldn't try to challenge.

"Ok. I'll stay here, not like there is anywhere else to go anyway." Emma reluctantly agreed, knowing that her father had a good point, but hating feeling dependent on someone else. Although, she had gotten more use to it since she had found her family, it was still something that she had to get use to. She was glad to have her parents back in her life once again because it was nice to have someone to watch out for her, but at times it was just down right annoying.

"Good. I'll be right back." Charming said with a small smile at his victory. He knew that Emma was out of her element, but she tended to try to act like she didn't need help in any situation. He could tell from her eyes that she was uncomfortable about being in the Enchanted Forest and he could tell that she was a little afraid of what they might find.

At this time, Emma had finally caught up with Charming and he could see that she looked really worn out by the hike. "Why don't you rest while I climb the tree? We probably will have to still go a little ways before we make camp." Charming said as he put his hands on each of her arms looking at her concerned.

"How far is a 'little ways?'" Emma asked, her head was still hurting from the fall and she was sore from the walk. She was also afraid that if she sat down, she wouldn't be able to get up again.

Charming just chuckled as started to climb up the tree.

That can't be good if he won't tell me how long that is. Emma thinks as she lowers herself to the ground to lean against the tree that her father is climbing. She doesn't understand how he still has energy when she has hardly any left. She wanted to close her eyes, but she figured that she should be keeping watch in case anything comes out of the forest. She really hoped there weren't any ogres hanging out in the forest. Although, she did know that she needs to shot them in the eye because her mother taught her that after a close encounter the last time she was in the Enchanted Forest. Then again, the last time the ogre took the gun out of her hand and crumpled it. She really hoped her dad would hurry up and get back down; she was starting to freak herself out. Plus she was trying really hard to stay awake, but she kept having to force her eyes back open every once in a while.

Charming was able to figure out the general area of where they were and where they needed to head from seeing the land from the top of the tree. He carefully climbed back down the tree. He hadn't heard Emma at all so he assumed that everything must be fine. He jumped down to the ground and found his daughter asleep against the tree. She had been working long hours for the last couple of weeks and had been overly tired that morning so he isn't surprised that she fell asleep once she sat down. He hates to have to wake her up, but they need to get going again. They only have about an hour to an hour and half left of daylight.

"Emma, honey. We have to get going." Charming said as he gently rubbed the sides of Emma's arms up and down.

"I am awake." Emma said as she jerked awake. Crap I fell asleep.

Charming smiled and helped her to her feet. "I found out where we are which, if I'm right, we are about one day away from our old place. If we can get to it we may be able to get some supplies, but tonight we will have to make due with what we have and what we can find." Charming said mostly to himself because Emma was still half-asleep.

"More walking?" Emma complained to Charming.

Charming nodded and started walking again, but then called back to Emma. "Only a little bit more tonight."

Emma groaned, but started to follow David through the forest. As they walked, Emma started to wake up more, but then felt the burn in her legs as she continued to walk. She kept thinking that they would stop soon, but they kept going and going.

"Are we stopping soon?" Emma asked knowing that it was coming out a lot whinier then she had planned it to come out, but in all fairness her head was ponding, her legs were beyond sore at this point, and she was exhausted so she deserved to be whiny.

Charming chuckled quietly to himself at the way she was acting like a little kid Then he looked back to see Emma, who had fallen back about 30 feet and was actually looking a little pale. "We are almost there." He waited for her to get caught up with him, which took longer than figured it would. She had slowed down quite a bit. "Are you feeling okay?" Charming asked, as she got closer.

"Yeah, I am fine." Emma lied.

"You don't look fine." Charming said with a frown, but then continued walking as Emma got to him.

They continued to walk side by side for the next ten minutes with David shooting Emma glances every once in a while to make sure she was okay. Just about when Emma thought they would never stop, they got to the edge of the forest.

"We will camp just inside the tree line tonight and then tomorrow we will head to the castle. It will take all day on foot, but we should get there by nightfall." Charming said confidently.

Emma nodded, which she regretted when it caused her headache to get worse. She was glad to be done walking for the day, but she wasn't looking forward to a full day of walking tomorrow.

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