Author's Note:

Hi all! This is my first fan fiction, well any type of writing really so any feedback would be appreciated. The first few chapters will have some flashbacks, wether it be in this world or the Enchanted Forest. Those sections will be italicized. More recognizable characters like Snow/David/Gold/Regina will appear in later chapters. Thanks and I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own OUAT or any of the characters you recognize from it.

Sad. Distraught. Confused. Angry. She tried to come up the best word she could for how she was feeling until it suddenly came to her. Lost. For the first time in her life she didn't know who she was or where to turn.

"Emma… Emma… Are you still with me?" Jean asked, clearly startling Emma out of her thoughts.

"Umm, yes sorry. You were talking about the couple we are going to be staying with, something about them in my parents' will." She replied as her mind began to wander again.

Her parents, is that who they still were to her. Of course they still were, they raised her and loved her, but they also lied to her. Everyday. She had so many questions that she wouldn't be able to ask them, so much of the truth to still discover.

"Correct. According to their will, a Mary Margaret and David Nolan have been appointed guardianship over you, your brother and sister in the event something should ever have happened to them." Jean said. "Do you know the relationship between them and your parents?"

Silence was the response and Jean glanced up from the paperwork to look at Emma and could tell the young girl was physically and emotionally exhausted. Emma hadn't said anything about not sleeping over the past couple of nights she had been under her care, but she could tell not much sleep had been had over the past few days. Her hair was braided but still a mess and bags had started to form under her lovely green eyes.

"How about we take a break and make some hot chocolate for everyone before we begin to pack up the rest of your things?" she asked.

"Sure," Emma simply replied. "I'll go get Noah and Kate."

She rose from the table slowly, as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. The social worker couldn't help but feel for the girl. Her entire world had been turned upside down in the blink of an eye only a few days ago. The deaths of both parents and life altering news would be difficult for anyone to handle, let alone a twelve year old.

Emma entered Noah's room, where he and Kate drew pictures on some paper with markers. The art supplies were some of the few items that weren't packed away for the trip in the morning.

"Hey," Emma said as she cleared her throat. "Jean is making hot chocolate, do you guys want some?"

"Will there be cinnamon in mine?" Noah asked. "Just because you like it in yours doesn't mean that I like it in mine."

"You don't have to add it if you don't want to" she answered with a chuckle.

"Ok fine, I'll take some," he replied after he gave it a little bit of thought and placed the final touches on his drawing. He jumped up from the table and bumped it, which caused a marker to roll onto the floor.

"How about you Kate? Hot chocolate?" Emma asked warmly.

The girl just smiled and silently nodded. She got up and followed Noah to the kitchen. Kate hadn't spoken a word since the accident. After Jean told Emma that it was her way of dealing with her parents' deaths, she just accepted it. She knew that Kate would eventually open up when she was ready.

"I'll be right there," Emma said over her shoulder as she bent down to pick up the purple marker that had fallen earlier. As she placed it back down on the table she noticed Noah's drawing. It was a picture of their family, all five of them dressed like they were ready to go ice-skating. She swallowed back tears as she thought of the family activity that was planned for when their parents had gotten back from the store. It never happened.

She continued to stare at the innocent piece of art. The five figures were each drawn in a single color, their Mom was red, their Dad blue, Emma was purple, Kate was pink, and Noah had drawn himself in green. Emma recognized they were drawn in their favorite colors. The drawing brought up so many questions for her. Who was she really? Where was she from? Why hadn't they told her the truth?

She was pulled from her thoughts by her brother's shouts.

"Emma! Hurry up, it's getting cold!" Noah shouted, a slight tone in his voice that made her realize they had decided to wait for her so they could have their drinks together.

"I'm coming," she quickly replied and wiped away the tears that had formed in her eyes.

She stood up from the table and took a glance around the room. All of their things had been packed up in boxes. Boxes similar to the one she found day's prior, the box that up ended her world even more than her parent's deaths.

Three Days Earlier

She snuck off in the reception after the funeral. There were so many people she didn't know, people who were sorry. Sorry their parents had died. Sorry for their lack of relatives to take them in. Sorry they couldn't do more to help. It was noisy and she wanted silence.

Emma found herself in her parents' room. It was untouched. Her dad's socks were near the bedside table, scrunched into two balls. Her mom's pearl necklace lay across the dresser, unclasped, ready to be worn. She turned and turned in one spot and took everything in. Warm tears threatened to spill over when she heard sniffled sobs from the closet.

She gently opened the door and discovered Noah and Kate huddled against each other along the back wall. She slid to the floor and nudged her way between the two. Her arms wrapped around them and she began to hum the chorus of Angels by Robbie Williams, the song their mom would sing to them after a bad dream. They stayed there in the comfort of each other's embrace for a long while before they were discovered.

A gentle knock on the open closet door alerted them to Jean's presence. The three looked up with red, puffy eyes and her heart broke.

Noah found his voice first, "It smells like our mom in here. I wish we could stay here forever."

Jean blinked back her tears, "I know, but people are leaving and wish to pay their final respects. I think it would be best if you all came out to thank them."

The three nodded. Noah was the first up and helped Kate to her feet. Kate grabbed one of her mother's favorite scarves and wrapped it around her neck before she left the closet with Noah. Emma started to get up when a small brown box, not too much larger than a shoebox caught her eye in the corner of the closet. Written in block letters in black marker was EMMA.

"Emma, I know this is difficult but you are the oldest and you need to be out there as well." Jean said in her warmest and gentlest tone.

Emma looked up at her and responded with a nod; most of her focus still on the unknown box a few feet away from her. She stood up and exited her parents' room. She turned around suddenly and startled the social worker, "I need to use the bathroom, I'll be right down. I promise."

"Ok, but don't be too long" said Jean.

She sidestepped the women and headed in the direction of the bathroom. With a quick glance over her shoulder she determined that the woman had gone back downstairs and she slipped back into her parents' bedroom.

She hesitantly reached out for the box and picked it up. Gently she placed it on the bed, while her fingers curled around the edge of the lid, her imagination gone wild. She carefully opened the box and stared at the contents, her brain took its time to process what it saw.

She picked up the soft, white fabric and let it unfurl onto the bed. She ran her fingers along the purple, satin ribbon and turned it over to discover her name embroidered in cursive along the edge. She picked it up, held it to her face and took a deep breath in. It smelled like the rest of the closet, like her mom, but there was also a subtle hint of pine needles.

Her attention returned to the box, which only contained a collection of papers. The first were clippings of newspaper articles paper clipped together. Emma noticed the subject of all of them seemed to be about a 2-½ year old girl abandoned by the side of the road near Maine. She tossed them to the side and hoped she could read them later because Jean expected her down soon.

Emma pulled her gaze from the articles and focused on two pieces of paper clipped together. She stared at them puzzled. Why were there two? She easily recognized them as birth certificates, but one was for a Jane Doe with Jane and John Doe as the parents, while the other was for her. Emma Swan with her parents, Rachel and Brian Swan. She continued to compare the two. She recognized multiple similarities in dates and places. She placed the papers outside the box along with the other contents.

She glanced into the box and picked up the final piece of paper. Her brilliant green eyes widened, her breath caught in her throat, and her fingers tightened the paper, clenched on for dear life. The information clicked and three words on that paper stood out in her mind over and over, Certificate of Adoption.

Adopted. Adopted. Adopted. She realized that she was adopted; her parents had hidden this from her. Questions clouded her mind and she started to cry. The last bit of sense in her life crashed down around her.