Chapter 1

Little Emma sat as tall as she could, so she could peak out of the window as the car drove on and on to her new home. She was in a booster seat since she was only five and small for her age, but it was still hard to see more than just all the trees. At first it was buildings, then nothing but sky, and now there were so many trees she wondered if they were going to the Hundred Acre Woods. She sighed and sat back, resting her head on the back of the booster seat and trying not to kick her feet. She had already been yelled at for that and didn't want to be yelled at again.

Emma looked up at her social worker through the rear-view mirror as she chewed on her lip. She had been in foster care for two years and was already on her fourth social worker. This one seemed nice, but really didn't like Emma kicking the seat with her dirty shoes. She really wanted to ask if they were almost there, wanted to tell the woman that she really needed to pee, and wanted to get out of the car. She didn't do any of those because she didn't want to upset her new social worker. She knew already that if your social worker liked you, you got sent to better homes.

As if reading her mind, the woman looked to Emma through the mirror and smiled warmly. "We're almost there, Emma. Do you have any questions about your new home?"

Emma shrugged and then sat up. "Will they have a bathroom?"

The woman chuckled and then made a face. "Emma, do you have to use the bathroom? I told you to tell me if you did because there's not many places to stop."

Emma looked down like she did something wrong. "Sorry." She mumbled.

"Hey honey, look at me." Once Emma's eyes found hers, the woman smiled. "It's okay. You don't have a reason to be sorry." She looked around. "Oh look, we can use the bathroom here, and if you're hungry, we can get something to eat." The woman pulled over into a diner/gas station combination and got out, opening the door for Emma.

Emma scrambled out and crossed her legs, holding her hands between them. "I really gots ta pee!"

The woman chuckled and picked Emma up, rushing into the store. "We need your bathroom." She said to the woman working the counter.

"Back through those doors." She said, pointing the way.

At the restroom doors, the woman let Emma down and helped her into the bathroom. "You don't gotta stay lady." Emma said as she went into the stall.

"Honey, my name is Jenny and I'll stay right outside this door." She said, holding the stall door closed as she knew Emma couldn't reach the lock. After Emma did her business, Jenny could hear her having a hard time with her jeans. "Emma? Do you need some help?"

"The damn button won't work. This is why I like snaps."

"Emma, please don't say damn." Jenny said but couldn't hide her smile. This little one was adorable, and she didn't understand why she hadn't been adopted out yet. Although, knowing what she did of her previous home, she was glad she hadn't been adopted by them. It was hard to pick this little one up from the hospital where she had been alone for a week as she recovered. Her last social worker didn't have time to see her, and Jenny was glad she was able to take over the case. She worked hard to find her a home, she passed on some that maybe would have been good, but she wanted to be sure Emma was put into a safe home. She came in and knelt down to help Emma. When the girls' shirt rose a bit, she could see bruises on her stomach. "Honey do your jeans hurt your tummy?"

Emma shook her head and looked down. "It only hurts when I touch it."

Jenny buttoned her jeans and tapped Emma's nose. "Are you hungry, Emma?"

Emma nodded and reached to take Jenny's hand. After washing Emma's hands, the two then walked out and sat at a booth in the diner. Emma ordered chicken nuggets and fries and as they ate, Jenny tried to get her to open up. "Remember what I told you, Emma? Your new house has two mommies and another little girl the same age as you."

"No daddy?" She asked, dunking her nuggets into the honey.

"No daddy. Two mommies are pretty special."

Emma thought a bit. "Yeah. Daddy's are mean and hurt you. I don't want a daddy ever again."

Jenny swallowed. "Honey, not all daddies are mean. Most daddies are very nice and loving. I know your last daddy was mean, but honey, that won't happen again." She knew she shouldn't be saying that, but when she had talked to both Mal and Regina, she had a feeling this would be Emma's last foster home. She had high hopes that the women would adopt her as they claimed they wanted to do.

"Will they be nice?" Emma asked so quietly that Jenny almost missed her question.

"Yes, honey. I've talked to them a few times and they are very nice. They're names are Regina and Mal."

Emma looked at her. "Mal? That's kinda funny."

Jenny smiled. "I think her full name is Malory, but all her friends call her Mal. She has blonde hair like you."

"She does? What abut the other one? Gina?"

"Regina. I think she has brown hair and brown eyes."

"Oh, okay. And they have another little girl?"

"Yes. Her name is Lilly. I think she has brown hair and blue eyes."

"Is she little like me? Everyone says I'm too little."

Jenny gave a shrug. "She may be taller than you, but Emma, you're not too little. You were born little but one day, you'll grow so tall."

Emma put her food down and looked at the women. "If they do hurt me, will you come see me at the hospital? I didn't like being all alone." Her little blue/green eyes filled with tears and Jenny reached over, putting her hand on Emma's.

"Emma, if you're ever in the hospital again, I promise you won't be alone. I promise I'll be here for you when ever you need me. I'll check on you, sometimes by phone and sometimes in person, and I'll make sure you're okay."

Emma gave a little nod. "Thank you, Jenny." She took a drink of her juice. "I'm full now. Can we go meet my new family?"

Jenny smiled and nodded. "Yes, we should be there in about a half hour."

Emma helped throw everything away and skipped out to the car, holding Jenny's hand. She got up in her seat and let Jenny buckle her in, wincing a bit as Jenny's hand pushed on her stomach while she was buckling her. "I'm sorry, Emma. I didn't mean to hurt you. I forgot about your tummy."

"It's okay. You hadded to get the belt done up." The little one said with a shrug.

Jenny tapped Emma's nose and then closed the door, going to her door. "Okay, let's go."

About five minutes later, Jenny looked in the mirror and smiled at the sight. Emma had fallen asleep, her head against the window. She was glad that Emma seemed to be excited for this new life. As an only child herself, she couldn't imagine being so young and being shifted from home to home. She couldn't imagine not having people to love you as a child should be loved. This was why she became a social worker, she wanted to make that difference.

"Emma honey? We're here." Jenny called, gently stroking Emma's cheek to wake her up. "You want me to carry you?"

Emma shook her head and rubbed her eyes. "I can walk. You gots my stuff?" Emma didn't have much, but what she did have, she treasured.

"I do. It's in the new back pack I bought you, remember?"

Emma smiled at that. Before, she had just a plastic grocery bag for her things, but Jenny said that wasn't special enough, so she bought Emma a purple and green back pack. Those were her favorite colors and Emma loved it. "Yes! I remember." That woke her up, and she jumped out of the car, looking around. "This is a house? It's so big!"

Jenny laughed as she closed the door and helped Emma put her back pack on. "Yes honey, this is your new house." She put her hand out and Emma took it. "You ready?"

Emma took a deep breath and nodded. "Ready."

"Regina. I want to help you." Maleficent said, panting to catch her breath after changing from her dragon form.

"Maleficent? I…what are you doing here?" The Queen asked, waiving her guards away.

"They took her. They took my baby and I not only want to find her, but I want revenge too." Maleficent said, her eyes determined.

Regina knew Maleficent had a baby, though she didn't ask too much about her pregnancy at the time. "Who took your baby?"

"The Charmings. They just took her and sent her to another realm, the realm you're cursing everyone to." Maleficent gave a sad sigh. "Regina, she's our baby. Yours and mine. You put her inside me. I didn't tell you because…well because I didn't want to risk you leaving us."

Regina wasn't in complete shock, she wondered who else Maleficent would have been sleeping with. She knew they had let the magic go too far from time to time. "I understand." Regina said, for she really did understand. She went to Maleficent and held her. "We can do this together, we can get our daughter back."

Maleficent held Regina. "And we can get their little spawn. We can find her and destroy her, Regina, and then no one can break the curse."

Regina smirked. "Destroy her? As in corrupt her and bend her to our will or get rid of her?"

Maleficent shrugged. "Either way, but I think if we get rid of her, that eliminates all chances of the curse breaking."

Once they were in Storybrooke, they easily found Lilly and were able to take her and raise her. The three were happy, but Regina still wanted to find the Savior. Maleficent's thirst for revenge wasn't as high as before, but she still wanted what Regina wanted.

"I've found her." Regina said one night, five years later, as Maleficent came into the study. "I've found her, and I've applied for us to be her foster parents. They won't let us just adopt her, but if things 'work out' then she will be ours. We just have to pretend until she's ours and then we get rid of her."

Maleficent sat on a chair. "What if Lilly get's close to her? Can we really kill her and lie to our daughter?"

Regina shrugged. "It would only be a lie until she got older, then we can tell her the truth."

Maleficent looked over the information Regina had on the little one. "Emma Swan. She's…god she's kind of cute." She kept reading and looked at Regina. "She's been through a lot."

Regina sighed. "Don't get soft on me now, Maleficent. Her parents took our child."

"You're right. Okay, let's do this."

"She'll be here in a few days."

Over the next couple days, Regina and Mal worked on preparing Lilly for a new child and got the room ready for Emma. Regina worried a bit about Mal because the woman seemed to actually be excited to have another little one in their family. Revenge didn't seem to last as long for her as it did for Regina.

"Mommy! Mamma! They're here!" Lilly called excitedly from the living room. She came running out to the hall and smiled wide. "Oh, she's so cute!"

Maleficent chuckled and cupped Lilly's cheeks. "Will you play with her while mommy, the lady, and I all talk in the office? Make her feel happy to be here?"

Regina raised a brow, not sure why Mal would care if Emma were happy or not. Mal gave her a look. "We have to make it look real." She whispered.

When the door bell rang, Regina stepped forward and opened the door. She smiled a winning smile and stepped back. "Hello. Please come in." She said, reaching a hand out to the social worker. "I'm Regina, and this is my wife, Mal."

Jenny took her hand. "Nice to meet you face to face. I'm Jenny." She said as they walked in.

Mal smiled and knelt down. "You must be Emma. We're so happy to meet you, Emma." She put her arm around Lilly's back. "And this is Lilly."

Emma shyly looked at them all and then gave a little smile to Lilly. "Hi."

Lilly smiled wide. "Hi. Your room is right next to mine, Emma. I'm so excited to have you here! Wait until you see the play room!"

Regina chuckled and put her hands on Lilly's shoulders. "She is not shy in the least." She said, looking at Jenny. "Please, come in and make yourself comfortable. Would you like something to drink?"

Jenny shook her head and slipped her shoes off. "No thanks." She grabbed her brief case. "I know you're both new to foster care, but basically what I need to do before I go is go through the paperwork and see her room. It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that many times in the past, we'd be told the child has a room when in reality, they didn't."

"Of course. Gosh, that's awful that people will do that to children. We can either talk in the living room or the office." Regina said, pointing to each room.

Jenny looked down at Emma who still gripped her hand. "Maybe the living room? I think Emma isn't quite ready to explore."

"No problem." Mal said, leading the way. Jenny came in and sat on the sofa, Emma wiggling up beside her. Mal sat down and pulled Lilly up onto her lap.

"Okay, so there's not really much to go over. Luckily Emma doesn't have any allergies or medical issues to worry about." Emma pulled on Jenny's sleeve and whispered into her ear. Jenny gave a nod and looked at Regina and Mal. "Emma would like me to tell you that she doesn't like broccoli, but she'll eat just about anything else."

Mal couldn't stop her chuckle at that. "That's okay, Lilly doesn't like broccoli either."

The women talked for a bit and then Jenny looked at Emma. "Do you think you can go and check out the play room with Lilly? I have to talk to Regina and Mal about boring grown up stuff a bit and then we can look at your room."

Emma gave a small nod, her thumb in her mouth. Lilly smiled and got off her mom's lap and reached for Emma's hand. "Come on, Emma." The two girls left, and Jenny let out a sigh.

"I'm going to be honest, she's been through a lot recently. She has bruises all over her body, so if you do have to carry her, be careful, especially around her stomach area." Jenny looked at the women. "She was kicked there a few times. She also has a long scar on her back that is healing." She reached into her brief case and pulled out a couple prescriptions. "She needs this antibiotic cream on it every night with the bandage changed. She has pain pills if she needs them as well. One every six hours, but she hasn't had any today, so she may not need more." Jenny looked through her notes. "She has nightmares, apparently. She also wet the bed a few times when she was in the hospital. It's probably just a set back from the abuse, so I think it's best that it's not something that is made into a big deal."

Mal nodded, feeling a lump in her throat. She knew she shouldn't, but she felt sorry for the little mite. "Is she in school? I know she just recently turned five, but pre-school?"

Jenny shook her head. "No, she was in the hospital when school started. If Lilly is in school and you want to enroll Emma, that would be just fine. Just let me know if there's any forms the school would need from me. I'd suggest waiting at least a week though just to be sure she's over the pain."

"Lilly does go to a 4k school, but we can wait to enroll Emma. You're right, we don't want her in class if she's in pain." Regina said, and Mal didn't know if Regina's concern was real or not. "Does she have any comfort items? I saw her sucking her thumb, I wonder if she still has a pacifier or something? Those are hard habits to break."

Jenny shook her head. "No pacifier, the thumb sucking is something that again, just recently started. She does have a blanket that she's very attached to. Also, I'm so sorry but she has basically no clothes. Her last foster parents…well they didn't exactly have a chance to get anything to the hospital for her."

"Oh, that's no problem. We'll get her clothes right away, we already have some for her, but she's smaller than I pictured her to be." Mal stated.

"Yes, apparently she was premature and not very well taken care of when they first found her." Jenny checked to make sure Emma wasn't listening. "She was found by the side of a road in Maine at only hours old. Poor thing hasn't had much love in her life."

"Well we're here to change that." Regina said, and again, Mal couldn't tell if she was serious or not.

Jenny smiled. "I have this great feeling about you. All of you. I think this is going to be great for everyone."

They discussed the money and payments and once all the papers were sighed, Jenny zipped up her briefcase and smiled. "All I need now is to see her room."

"Right this way." Regina said, standing. "Lilly? Honey, bring Emma here please."

The two little ones came out from the play room, smiling and holding hands. "Yes, Mommy?"

"We're going to show Emma and Jenny Emma's bedroom."

Lilly smiled. "Come on, Emma!"

"I'm coming!"

Mal chuckled as the two went up the stairs, the adults following.

"It's right here next to my room!" Lilly said, going to the door and smiling. "I made a sign, so you know what room yours is."

Emma looked and smiled. "That's my name!" The picture had Emma's name on it and was purple with butterflies. "Thanks, Lilly!"

"You're welcome."

Maleficent opened the door and stepped back. "We heard you like purple and green. I hope we heard right."

Emma's eyes got big as she saw her room. It was decked out in purple and green and had a four-poster bed in the corner. It was bright and cheerful, and Emma loved it. She looked up at Regina and Mal with grateful tears in her eyes. "This is for me?" She asked, her voice full of astonishment.

Mal smiled and gently stroked Emma's cheek. "Yes, ducky. This is your room. We still have to get you some more clothes, but everything in here is for you." Mal pointed to some hooks on the wall. "Why don't you hang up your bag and we can unpack it later?"

Emma nodded and carefully hung her bag up. She then looked around again before going to Regina, hugging her leg. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

Regina was taken by surprise, but she put her hand on the little blonde head. "You're very welcome, my dear."

Jenny smiled and got down on a knee. "Emma? You'll be okay here?"

Emma nodded and went to hug Jenny as well. "Thank you for finding me this family."

Jenny had to blink back her own tears. "You're welcome, Emma. You're okay if I go now?"

"Yes." Emma said, giving her one more hug.

"Okay, I'll be back in a few weeks for a visit." She looked at Mal and Regina. "It's standard to come at least once a month."

"Of course." Regina said, but she knew they wouldn't be seeing Jenny again. "Let us walk you to the door." She looked at Emma. "You can stay in here if you want, Emma."

"Come see my room!" Lilly said and took Emma's hand, pulling her.

Mal knelt down and gently took Lilly's hand. "Lilly honey don't pull Emma. You ask her if she wants to see your room. She isn't your doll, she can do what she wants."

Lilly nodded. "Sorry, Emma. Do you want to see my room?"

"Can I come back here later?" Emma asked, looking at Mal. "This really is my room, right?"

Mal was confused at that statement. "Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be?"

"At my last home, they showed me a room but when my social lady left, they said it really wasn't my room and that I had to sleep in the closet instead."

Mal took both of Emma's hands. "Honey, this is your room. I promise. Even when Jenny leaves, this will still be your room."

Emma nodded and then followed Lilly to her room. Regina and Mal went downstairs with Jenny and went to the door. Jenny looked at them and smiled. "Please call me if you need anything, okay?"

"We will. Thank you for bringing her to us. I think she's going to be a wonderful addition to our family." Regina stated as she opened the door.

Once Jenny was in her car, Regina used her magic and did a spell to make Jenny forget all about Emma and she looked over at Mal. Mal held up Emma's file, showing she got it and they both grinned as it burned to a crisp, magic making it so her file would be deleted from any computer system as well.

"She's ours." Regina said, going over to Mal and hugging her close, kissing her passionately.

Maleficent kissed her back and smiled. "All ours."

Emma felt something rush through her, but being so young, she figured it was just the thought of being in a new place. Sure, she had been to more than her fair share of foster homes, but she still felt nervous when it was new. Everyone had different rules she had to learn, and she was always scared she'd be punished for breaking a rule that she didn't even know about yet.

"Emma? Are you okay?" Lilly asked, looking over her book at her. "You look scared."

Emma looked over at her. "I am a little scared. It's scary going into a new home. I don't know the rules, I don't know what I gotta do to make sure everyone likes me. It's scary."

Lilly reached over and took Emma's hand. She may not have understood what Emma was talking about, but she didn't want her new sister to be scared. "Just be you, Emma, that's all you gotta do."

Downstairs, Mal went to the kitchen to start making supper and Regina followed her. "You know, Regina, it's a bit different when she's actually here. Or is it just me?"

Regina poured two glasses of wine. "Different, how?"

"Different as in she's real." Mal said, taking a sip of her wine. "Before, she was just an idea, but now, she's here, she's real, she's adorable, and she's been through so much."

"She's getting to you already, isn't she?" Regina asked with a sigh. "I knew you were a big ole softly, but I thought the idea of those people's child being in reach would still appeal to you."

"Maybe that's the problem, Regina. Maybe she's innocent in all this and it wasn't until I saw her that I realized that. She didn't take Lilly, she didn't send our daughter to this realm."

"No, but her parents did. They took our innocent child and sent her away. Look, I get it. She is adorable and she has gone through a lot and gods, she pulls at your heart, but she's still their daughter."

"What if we go with plan B then. We raise her, love her, and make sure she knows who we are. Make her think her parents gave her up and we're the ones here for her. That way, when and if the curse does break, she will be on our side."

"Because we don't know if that will work, baby. What if we do that, she breaks the curse, and flips on us?"

"But what if she doesn't? What if she isn't like the others and doesn't see black and white? What if she…"

"What if she what, Mal? What if she kills us? What if she runs to her parents the moment the curse breaks?" Regina sighed and went behind Mal, wrapping her arms around her. "If you change your mind, then we won't kill her. I just worry about you getting too close. That wasn't part of the plan."

Mal stirred the mac and cheese she was making and gave her own sigh. "It's just…Regina, she's five and she's already been neglected, beaten, let down, and worse. Is it so wrong to look at her and see a child who just needs a chance instead of a monster?"

Regina kissed the back of Mal's neck. "It's not wrong; it's you. Look, we'll talk about this later, okay?"

"Okay, but I want us to make a real decision. If we are going to kill her, I want to know before I get too attached." Mal said, turning in Regina's arms.

"Isn't it already too late for that?" Regina asked, stroking Mal's cheek. "You can be honest with me."

"Probably." She answered honestly. "She's just so cute."

Regina couldn't stop her eye roll. "My tough dragon." She said with a chuckle. "Okay, so no discussion needed. We go to Plan B."

Mal smiled slightly. "Thank you."

Regina huffed. "Thank me when she's twenty-eight and turns into a traitor."

"And you can thank me when that doesn't happen."