I can't believe it's been a year since I've last updated. Yikes! I'm an asshole-seriously. If any of you guys following this story have been here from the beginning I would like to say: 1) You're the best. I mean it, you are truly amazing. And 2) Follow other stories as well just in case this annual updating persists. It'll distract you from my shitty update timing.

As you'll see, I've been playing around a bit with the dimensions. I like the way the show switches between the two and will attempt to do the same in this story. Let me know what you think of it.

But enough of my babbling on… let's go…

Storybrooke, Maine

"Who is she?" Regina asks, staring intently at the small woman in the bed covered in bandages. She had cuts and scrapes littered across her body. She was extremely thin. Her skin was unnaturally pale and stretched across her face unattractively.

Robin shrugged. "I found her like this in the forest when I was walking with Ro." He notices the way she's leaning in closer to the woman. "What's wrong? And where is everyone?" He asks finally look around the empty room.

Regina clears her throat and takes a step back composing herself. "I decided it was in everyone's best interests that I see what was going on first before involving them."

Robin smirked at her, eyes flickering over flawless skin and perfectly coiffed hair. She notices the staring and narrows her eyes.

"What?"

His smirk softens into a smile. "Nothing, I just remembered I forgot to tell you how beautiful you looked today."

Regina turns away trying (and failing) to hold back a smile. "You didn't forget. You told me four times this morning."

"I meant to tell you five times this morning." Regina laughs and pushes Robin playfully. "And I know you didn't tell everyone because you didn't want them crowding the waiting room."

Regina huffs and shoos a stray strand out of her eye. "Every time something's going on, the whole town wants to put their nosey butts into it. We need to keep this on the hush until we figure out who she is and return her."

Robin grimaces. "Well there might be a problem with that plan."

Regina frowns, "What did you do?" She looks around. "And where is Roland anyway?"

Robin pauses and laughs nervously. "Okay, two problems." Regina doesn't laugh along and he continues. "Well, I called David because he's the sheriff and he's the one we usually call in these situations."

Regina gives him a look. "Great. He'll tell his blabbermouth wife and the whole town'll know by tomorrow morning." She crosses her arms tightly. "And two?"

"I dropped Roland off at Emma's so Henry could babysit until we finished handling this."

"Forget what I said about morning. I expect them to be here, one, maybe two hours tops."

Enchanted Forest

"See," The small girl pointed to the large pearly gates that guarded the castle and the dozens of large men that guarded the gates.

Regina tightened her grip on the horse's lead.

The tiny mop of dark curls marched without a care up to the gates, garnering the attention of the men. With recognition, and very little amusement, they opened up the gates.

"...and that's Regina. She's good. She rescued me today." Regina hears coming out of her thoughts.

The guards look at her warily. But one steps forward in slightly different garb than the others. Regina recognizes him as the head guard. He looks her over thoroughly before turning and kneeling in front of Morgan.

"Your parents have been worried sick, Captain." He smiles charmingly at her.

Morgan straightens her spine. "I will speak to to them lieutenant." She relaxes and then smiles brightly while shrugging. "Mommy and Daddy usually only stay mad until I give them the eyes."

He laughs deeply at her demonstration before swinging her onto his backs. At her loud giggles, Regina can't help but to let out a breath she wasn't aware that she was holding. He turns to look back at Regina. "They're gonna want to meet you, Ma'am."

Regina shakes her head and tries to hand him the lead. "I really must be going. My family-"

"Trust me, ma'am. I'm sure your family will understand."

She glares at him and looks at his nametag. "Well, Baelfire. You can explain to my husband and son why I was late for dinner."

He smiles again disarmingly, before bowing slightly. "Happy to oblige your highness."

Morgan erupts into a fit of giggles at the title and the affronted look on Regina's face.

"Regina isn't a highness, silly. She's just Regina."

Baelfire's eyes glints at Regina, making her frown, and responded to Morgan. "Of course, my mistake."

Storybrooke, Maine

"...and then daddy told me to call Gina 'cuz Gina always knows what to do." Roland finished taking in a gulp of air.

"So you and Robin found an unconscious body in the woods and then called my mom?" Henry clarified and then looked at Emma. Emma stood up and grabbed her leather jacket from the back of the chair it was hanging on.

"Come on kids." She grabbed her car keys and fixed her hair out of the inside of her jacket.

Henry stood, helping Roland down from the high stool by the kitchen counter. He jogged quickly upstairs to grab his jacket and hesitated a second before throwing the book inside his bookbag, before running down the stairs.

Henry looked around. "Where's Killian?"

Emma looked up from tying Roland's shoes. "He said that he got a call from David-Dad, and that he'll be back soon. I'll let him know where we're going. Let's go." She finished and then stood up with her arms folded.

"Let's see what Regina and Robin are up to, hm?" She smiled at Roland who nodded happily.

She reached out for him to grab her hand and followed Henry out the door, and headed for the Bug.

"Buckle up, Buckaroo," she turned in her seat to face Roland, who sat in the back. Henry pulled on his seatbelt beside her.

Roland giggled, pulling the seatbelt across his shoulders and over his lap.

"Alright." Emma started the car and drove straight to the hospital. They pulled into the small Hospital Parking lot not ten minutes later and parked before exiting. "Henry, hold Ro's hand."

Henry helped Roland out the car and started towards the entrance when he noticed Emma wasn't following him. Turning around, he noticed that she was stood beside her driver's door, staring at the building with a far look in her eyes, and a hand near her stomach.

"Mom? Are you feeling okay?"

Emma shook her head, and looked at him grimacing. "I'm just feeling a bit weird. I think something big is happening, kid. And I'm willing to bet that whoever Robin found in the woods this morning have something to do with it."

She caught with him and they continued on.

Henry shrugged as they walked past the sliding doors and to the reception desk, "It could be a good something big."

Emma smirked at her son, "Yes, because that would be just our luck, huh?" She asked sarcastically. Henry smiled. Emma turned to the blonde receptionist who was typing away at her desk. "We're looking for-"

The receptionist pointed to the right without looking away from her computer screen, "Upstairs in the ICU, room 206."

Emma gave the woman a weird look, "I didn't even tell you who I was looking for."

The blonde woman sighed and looked up bored. "With your family, there's only one guess. Strange, comatose patient found in the woods. No ID, nobody recognizes her, and an outsider who couldn't have possibly come here. Your family deals with the freakies this town gets." And then she turned back to her screen and continued typing.

Emma, Henry, and Roland turned to the right, in the direction of the elevators without another word.

Emma frowned. "Freakies?" she mutter to herself.

"Mom," Henry said reproachfully.

Emma, "What? I'm just saying." She shrugged. "And what was she typing so intently on her computer anyway? It's not like the people here do a lot or work. This town is small and there's no one in the waiting room," Emma looked back.

Roland leaned up on his toes and pressed the button for the elevator.

"It's not like she's wrong. Strange and freaky is what we do. It's in our blood." Henry smiled.

Emma quirked an eyebrow at him and one corner of her mouth turned up into a half smile. They got into the elevator and the pressed the button for the next floor. "You should not look that happy when you're saying that, Kid."

"I'm kind of proud of it, you know? It makes us unique."

Emma looked away, "That's not always a good thing you know? When you're unique, it makes it harder for you to blend in."

They stepped off the elevator.

"You mean hide," he amended her.

"You make it sound like that's a bad thing. Hiding keeps you safe."

"Safe from what?"

"Kid, as much as you've been exposed to, and it has been plenty, you've still led a pretty safe life. You have a big family that looks out for you-moms with powers-not everybody gets that. So when someone gets the opportunity to blend in and not bring attention to themselves, it can be a good thing. It can be for their protection." She looked at Henry seriously.

Henry thought over what she said as they reached the door. Regina caught his eye and she threw her hands up in exasperation, frowning.

She turned to Robin, "What did I say?" Robin turned to face the group and smiled guiltily at Regina.

"Roland is kind of a gossip." Robin nodded to his son who smiled at the mention of himself.

Enchanted Forest

"The King and Queen shall be down shortly," Baelfire walked into the dining hall where the dark haired woman waited. She sat in her chair anxiously, eyes darting around.

"Really, I really don't need to-"

Baelfire turned away from Regina's stuttering at the sound of approaching feet.

"And here they are." He bowed, lowering his head.

A tall man entered the room first, a man that made Regina pause. This man, who entered swaggering more than strolling elegantly in, was not the King. At least, he wasn't king when she was last in the the Enchanted Forest.

This man had black hair, and a beard that matched. His eyes were shaded in kohl, causing the light blues of his eyes to stand out. He had an arrogant sort of smile on his face, which didn't seem out of place, for him, but there was a stiffness in his gait that Regina detected. As though, he did not feel entirely comfortable in the setting.

He felt her eyes roam over her quickly, before he stopped and looked backwards towards the woman who was following after. She carried Morgan on her hip, but that was the only thing that offset her royal appearance. Everything from the gentle blonde curls of her hair that fell ever-so right over her dainty shoulders, which were properly up, down to the methodically measured steps she took, belied her status. She was a Queen, born and bred.

And although Regina was taken off-guard, again, by this woman who she did not expect to see as Queen, this woman was not wholly unfamiliar. Regina narrowed her eyes and stood at the pointed cough of Baelfire.

She bowed low, lowering her eyes as the Royal family approached the table, knowing it inappropriate for her to look them in the eyes.

"No need for that, Miss," The deep, rich baritone of the King spoke. She lifted her head quickly and noted his amused look. She fought to give him a puzzled look, and her eyes kept darting to the woman beside him who was staring at her intently.

"Her name is Gina, daddy," Morgan whispered lightly, twisting out of her mother's arms and ran to his side. She cupped her hand around her mouth but spoke loud enough for all in the room to hear. "She's the one that rescued me today. You have to thank her, remember?"

She gave her father a pointed look and put her hands on her hips. The King smiled at her, and instead of berating her for her outspoken nature as Regina would have expected, he picked her up and tossed her in the air before swinging her onto his back.

"Right, of course Princess. How could I ever forget." He turned to Regina and smiled. There was no mistaken the light in his eyes that his daughter put there. "Thank you, Miss Gina, for bringing our Princess back. She's a bit a of rascally, lass, but she keep us on our toes."

Baelfire joined him in chuckling. Regina gave him a small smile and shook her head. She darted her eyes to the Queen quickly before responding. "It was no trouble, truly, your highness. Anybody would have helped her."

"Ah, yes, but as the guards relayed back to us, you were the only one who made a move to actually help her." He smirked at her puzzled look, that was now written blatantly across her face.

"The Princess is a sneaky one, no doubt. But she is not as good as she thinks." His hand disappeared behind him and Morgan gave out a tinkling laugh, that warmed Regina. "We have plenty of guards watching her at all times, even when she is not aware. And her personal guards are always close, even if they don't appear so. They saw the whole scene, and if it were not for your quickly handling of her steed, I don't believe her guards would have gotten to her in time."

Regina looked down and fought the warmth she felt growing in her cheeks. "All the same, your Highness, it was no trouble."

"We would like to personally thank you nonetheless."

"I don't require-"

"We insist," the Queen spoke for the first time since entering. Her soft green eyes pierced Regina in such a way that her breath caught momentarily. A memory dragged itself the forefront of her mind and hit her just as two more people entered the room. The very people she initially anticipated.

"Regina?" Snow gasped. She brought a hand to her throat and tears sprang to her eyes. David wrapped around her, but he was just as taken aback by the appearance of the older woman. Snow through decorum away and jogged to Regina, throwing an arm around her.

Morgan turned to Killian, confused. "Why is Grandma hugging Gina? Gina didn't save her."

But the Queen, Emma, answered. "She's your grandmother's best friend. And my godmother."

"Well, why wasn't she here before?" the small trio watched as David joined the two woman and put his arms around them both.

"I don't know, pumpkin." She looked at her daughter's puzzled face. Emma swore that if she had not gone through such a long labor, she could be convinced that she had nothing to do with Morgan's genes. Morgan had her father's coloring, with the dark curly hair and green-blue eyes, and her father's mannerisms. Even the small smattering of freckles that danced across her nose and over to her cheekbones.

The trio broke apart, her mother and father releasing Regina. Her mother wiped away the tears that had escaped and smiled. She grabbed the woman's hands with the both of hers and walked her over to them. David following closely behind, with an equally bright smile.

Regina, although her eyes shone with unshed tears, had an uncomfortable grin on her face.

"Emma, Killian, little Princess, " she made a silly face at Morgan, causing her to giggle, "I want you to meet Regina. She's family, and your godmother, Emma."

"I know, mom. I remember," Emma rolled her eyes but smiled softly. "I wasn't that young when she left."

"I'm-well, things were really complicated," Regina looked away uncomfortably and Emma waved her hand.

"No need to explain, really. Trust me, I completely understand how...complicated things can get around here and the need to just get away from it all." Emma walked closer to Regina and put a soft hand on her arm.

Killian snorted and Emma ignored the shared look between her parents.

Regina's body sagged a little more, and she let out a barely audible chuckle."Yes, this space can be quite suffocating, even for a castle."

Snow stepped forward. "Come, come. We have to catch up on everything. Starting from where you went. And you are to tell me of this husband I heard you mention. Oh! I have to tell you about how Emma and Killian met! It's such a fun story to tell, even compared to David and I's." She chattered about dragging Regina along.

Killian followed behind them, carrying Morgan on his hip, whispering to her, no doubt another story. And David put a comforting arm around Emma.

"Dad?"

"Yes, Emma?"

"I have a feeling things around here are going to get a bit more interesting."

David looked at his daughter and returned the same smile. "I think I sense the same thing, little one."

Storybrooke, Maine

"Who is she?" Emma studied the unconscious woman in the bed. The gown seemed to swallow her figure. Different bruises and scrapes littered the young woman's face, relaying that she had been in some sort of fight, and perhaps did not win.

Regina rolled her eyes. "Do you think if I knew who she was that you'd all be here?" Regina looked pointedly at the small gathering in the room, that included Hook and David, who arrived just after Emma and the boys.

"To be fair, when mysterious people arrive in town, they usually have some sort of connection or vendetta against you." David shrugged and gave her an apologetic look.

Regina looked at David affronted, "Excuse me, but shall I remind you about Elsa, Bae, Bae's fiance, Robin, and his Merry Crew, and all of Camelot, had nothing to do with me?"

"Actually," Killian began but Henry interrupted her.

"Wait!" He reached hurriedly into his backpack and pulled out the new storybook. He quickly paged through the book before placing the open book gently at the foot of the bed. The book was open to the close-up portrait of a young girl smiling down from an open window, staring at something out of the frame.

Emma leaned forward and gasped, looking back at the young woman in the bed.

"That's-" Henry started to say.

"My daughter." Emma finished. Her eyes met Killian's over the bed. Both of them filled with question, bewilderness, and just the tiniest bit of happiness. But , mostly that.

"Our daughter." Hook came closer to the bed, looking down at the young woman, who pale face lay unmoving.

Regina thumbed through the book and looked back the girl. "I don't know how this is possible, or what this means, but I have a feeling that if she's here, she's not the only one that came from this book."

Regina grabbed the book quickly, ignoring Henry's protests. "I'm going to take this book back to my office and reading it over carefully. I'm going to see which of the characters in this story are different from the original so that we can prepare ourselves for the other arrivals."

"I'll come with you. It looks like a lot of reading," Robin suggested with a smile, grabbing Roland's hand. The three left the room together, leaving the two new parents still staring at the girl and a frozen David.

"I-I…"

Henry walked over to him and gave him a pat on the back. "Come on, let's go tell grandma. She's gonna be upset that she was the last one to know about this."

He walked the befuddled man out of the room, leaving only Emma and Killian with the bedridden patient.

"Swan…"

"Killian…"

They started at the same time and laughed awkwardly. Killian scratched behind his ear and looked up at the ceiling while Emma avoided eye contact.

"Well," Killian cleared his throat. "I can't say I didn't hope or dream to have a family together. Not that I don't consider Henry a son, but-"

"I know. I...I can't lie and say that the idea hadn't crossed my mind a time or two. Us buying the house, and living with Henry, things felt really...stable. You know? Like the next step wasn't far off from us." She continued to avoid the gaze she felt searing her cheek.

Neither of them said the word aloud that they were both thinking, both not wanting to freak the other out.

"Yeah…" was all Killian could say.

Emma huffed out a breath, fed up with the awkwardness. "Okay, this is ridiculous. This is our-our daughter." She choked out the last word. "I'm not sure how she got here or why she's here but…" she trailed off.

"Swan, are you upset?" Killian asked with an unreadable tone in his voice. Emma's head jerked to his.

"No. Not upset. Upset isn't the right word. But I'm, I don't know. Confused. If we had a child in that other storybook, where things were supposed to be 'perfect', why is she in this world where everything is-well…"

"A little screwy." Killian finished her sentence with a quiet laugh.

Emma shrugged and laughed. "Yeah, I guess. I just don't get it. I feel like we're being tested or something. If this was the plan all along, then why now? Is she supposed to be some type of warning to us that we need to start having kids. Is this Fate's way of fucking with us that this is what we could've had, if we had just-" Emma broke off, tears choking her up. Killian moved over to wrap his arms around her quickly.

"Perhaps, she's our reward for saving the world's ass more times than we can count. Or maybe, just maybe," he took Emma's face in his hands and used his thumbs to wipe away her tear. She leaned into him, "maybe, this just happened for no grand reason at all. She's here Swan. A girl whose a mixture of you and I from an alternate dimension." he rolled his eyes at that last part.

"I say we just see where this leads us. Okay? I think things will be a bit more interesting this time, but in a good way. At least, entertaining. I have no idea what to do with a daughter, Swan." he laughed, but his eyes were a bit panicked.

Emma hearing it in his voice laughed this time and backed up a bit.

"Henry is boy, soon to be a man. He's easy. But a girl. Who probably has your temper and your tendency to get into trouble."

"My temper and tendency to get into trouble?" Emma asked incredulously. "Need I remind you which one of us was a pirate for three hundred years?" She quirked a golden eyebrow at him.

"No, no, no Swan. Let's not bring up the past. Because we can talk about which one of us has been arrested before, twice."

Emma scoffed and pushed in a bit. "One of those times I was set up, and the other was when Regina still hated me. But I've arrested you before too."

"But who has been the Dark One before?" He quirked an eyebrow at her and rubbed his lip.

"Both of us!" She snorted.

"Oh right," he wrinkled his brow at that. "Welp, I guess our daughter really never had much of a chance to begin with."

She smiled up at him. "No, I guess she really didn't did she. Not with us as parents anyway. But Henry is a good boy, and he had me and Neal as parents, as screwed up as the boy of us were." she grimaced a bit at the end.

"Yes, but he was had Mary Margaret as a teacher and a storybook that he convinced himself was really."

"It was real, though."

"Yes, but the child was a bit odd, you must admit." Emma laughed but pinched his side for that comment. Killian grabbed her hand and squeeze it softly before bringing it up to his lips to kiss it.

"No matter, we'll have everyone behind us as support. Your parents, Henry, Regina and Robin. The whole town really. How hard can it be to raise a teenage girl?" Killian scoffed.

Emma snorted again, "Famous last words, Killian." She laid a hand on the sleeping girl's head and brushed back the dark curls revealing a long scar just beneath her hairline.

"I don't think she came from that Storybook, Killian. Look how badly she's hurt."

Killian's eye catalogued the scars and cuts with the same blend of sadness and anger that Emma was. He also bemusedly took in her thinness that the hospital gown was barely hiding.

"I think you might be right about that Swan. If that world was perfect, or was supposed to be if we did things the right way, why would she be hurt like this?"

Emma ran her hands gently through the young woman's curls. Killian hated the pained look that crossed her face and hated to think what could have hurt their daughter. He just hoped Emma wasn't blaming herself.

He wrapped both of his arms around her waist and kissed her forehead, pouring his love into the gesture. She leaned into it, closing her eyes but never pulled her hand away from their daughter.

Not until they heard a gasp and they both opened their eyes to see teal ones staring straight at them.