accidentally making yet another wip because i have no time and nothing else to do

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Emma was in a bad mood. She had been in a bad mood for days, nearly a week in fact, since Henry had recovered his memories and she had told him that she still wanted to go back to New York, what followed was the biggest fight they had ever gotten in and Henry had decided to move back into the Mills' house and began to split his time between catching up with Regina and with Neal, who had an apartment which had been gifted to him by his father.

Emma hadn't expected his memories to return so soon, she hadn't expected them to come back at all, she had hoped they could defeat the Wicked Witch without that curse breaking.

But they had defeated her, Henry remembered all and was mad at her, and she was back in the loft with David and a very pregnant Mary Margaret, who now went by Snow, apparently. It was the sight of her mother, pregnant, moving on, having another chance, which had made her so anxious to leave.

The return of Henry's memories had also resulted in the last of her fake memories of raising him disappearing, along with any fake abilities, which was largely her ability to cook anything. She was angry and unsettled, she felt like a tiger in a too small cage, condemned to only being able to pace, to not even be able to properly rage.

She settled on smaller destructions inside of the loft, when she got distracted and had practically cremated her poptart inside of the toaster she dismantled the entire toaster in order to scrub it off, the toaster was now broken but neither Snow nor David had said a word.
She was trying her best not to lose it at her parents, she didn't know what for; because she had lost Henry? Because she was now trapped in the town? If she left she would be alone? None of these were actually her parents fault, but the last reason was- because they were expecting a new baby, and she hadn't had enough time with them on her own.

Night time was when it was worse, night time made the roads out of time seem closer, and she found herself getting into her car and driving to the spray painted line warning of the crossing. It was at night where Mary- no, Snow, seemed to talk more about the new baby, David watched her more, she hated every second of it.

She had told her parents that she was helping out at the station, although David was once again the sheriff he was currently taking maternity leave, other people like Prince Thomas has taken on the role of deputies, Emma hadn't even bothered to go in and pretend to help out, it was an excuse to keep Snow from worrying, should she realise that Emma wasn't home most nights.

Instead she had first driven to bars, places where Snow and David's friends wouldn't even thought about existing, sure she had been the sheriff, but she was also the same runaway she had been a decade earlier.

Regina had told her that she was too busy between spending time with Henry and with her boyfriend (and the new Storybrooke park ranger) Robin to teach her at the moment, and there was no threat which made her learning urgent.

But there were plenty of magic users in the town, and soon she had found herself being drafted into a sort of magical Fight Club, she had always found that she learnt best through doing it. So night after night she would drive to the forest clearing along with a variety of other magicians, who were dressed in any sort of clothing from pyjamas, to goth, to punk, to millennial pink Kawaii style, it was a group of outcasts, and Emma felt as though she might actually have found someplace she could fit in.

But she wasn't looking for a place to fit in so much as a place where she could unleash her anger. Her magic was tied so closely to her emotions that by unleashing it she could actually win the battle and would be able to survive until the next restless night.

Wednesday night was no different.

Her parents had spent literally hours debating what would be better for the baby, disposable or cloth diapers, both had tried to involve her but not for her actual opinion just because she was there, she had escaped to her room, but as her parents had switched rooms with her before she had even come home she was only divided from the living quarters with a curtain, she could still clearly hear the conversation, even when she blasted music into her ears with her headphones on.

She hadn't been able to take it, she left for her 'shift' hours earlier than usual, she had driven to the Rabbit Hole, downed several Jacks and cokes, then followed a familiar group to the clearing and waited to the umpire to match her with someone to fight.

It was ten at night by the time she finally got matched, she shrugged off her leather jacket then stood rolling her shoulders and evaluating her opponent. He was a solid looking man a little shorter than her father, he had a head which would have been shinning bald had it not been for the fuchsia Mohawk so tall that it had to have been held up by magic, he was in leath so worn it was no longer shiny but looked dusty and almost like suade, he was covered in tattoos and piercings, and looked as though he should have spent several life terms in prison, but he was smiley, laughed every single time Emma had seen him, and he seemed to be genuinely nice. Emma didn't blame him for cultivating his appearance in order to put off people from talking to him. She decided that she liked him a lot.

Despite liking him she would still end up hurting him, she was wound so tight, the magic danced in her blood like fire licking a hand, she needed to unleash it. And they all knew the risks of being involved in this club, there were magic users there who could heal nearly any spell anyway, so it wasn't like she would really hurt him, okay she would, but not for very long.

She let him fire off a few spells first, she held her hands up throwing up shields so effective that she had knocked him down without even meaning to. She then began to fire off spells, it was like a boxing match, small jabs and hard swings, only instead of fists Emma was using her magic. She knew she shouldn't be using quite so much magic, she had outdone herself the first few times she had done this and had ended up having to sleep into her car, but she was just so mad, at everything, at the facts that this was her life. None of it was fair.

She was just raising her hands to fire off another spell, when the bells chimed through the clearing, alerting them all to the intruders who would be there any minute, that didn't stop her from throwing her back into the spell.

She heard both Thomas and Robin along with some voices she didn't recognise, but her eyes were on her opponent, as she let out her magic from her fingertips she felt like a blown fuse, like she had over done it, she should have just slumped to the ground, or felt exhausted, but instead she was thrown the ground, skidding in the dirt on her back until her head finally hit a rock. It was then that she knew something was seriously wrong.

Then she passed out.

David yawned as he poured himself the dregs of the coffee from the maker, he heaped in spoons of sugar, then added enough creamer that it would be consumable. He had not grown up with coffee, only tea was available to people as poor as himself and his mother, and even now decades later and a world away he couldn't stand the bitter taste on its own.

He took a sip and let out a content sigh. He felt two arms slip around his waist, he needn't have turned his head to know it was his wife, he turned to see her anyway. She was frowning a little at the fact that she could not hug him as close as usual with the prominent bump protruding from her front. He couldn't help but give a little smirk of a smile, he turned and kissed her frown away.

"I didn't hear you getting out of the bath, you should have let me know I could have helped you out."

"I'm pregnant, not injured, I can get out of the tub myself… Just." She added the last bit under her breath but David heard it anyway, he let out a laugh and she narrowed her eyes playfully. She glanced at the coffee mug in his hand, then her eyes flickered to the several files on the kitchen table, before returning her gaze to him. "You should come to bed."

"I will soon."

"You're on paternity leave, you shouldn't have to do paperwork."

"Some of the probies have no idea how to write up paperwork, it's almost as bad as when Emma's bothers to." Not that she had been handing any in recently, he kept meaning to talk to either her or Thomas about that but the idea gave him an uneasy feeling like there was something off about it, he didn't know why but it made him put it off. "If I do it now it means I don't have to do any when the baby gets here, and even less when I go back to work." He kissed her forehead where her frown line lay, it smoothed once again.

"Promise me you'll come to bed soon?"

"I promise." He pulled her into a kiss, melting into her as he didn't.

It was maybe ten minutes after Snow went up to bed and David had settled back to his paperwork that his cellphone rang. As soon as he saw Thomas' name he knew that he was about to break his promise to Snow.

"Thomas?" He didn't bother with pleasantries, it was too late and he was already regretting picking up the phone as it was, he wasn't about to drag it on any longer than

"David, stay calm, but I'm going to need you to get down to the hospital."

David stood up so quickly that his chair scraped loudly across the wooden floor. "Don't tell me to stay calm, what is it? Is it Emma? Did something happen on duty?" He could hear his own voice getting louder and more panicked but he was powerless to stop it.

"David-"

"Thomas," David growled into the cell as he looked around trying to find his boots so he could get to the hospital.

"It's Emma - but she's okay! I promise David, she's okay, it's just, I can't explain over the phone-"

David realised he was met with a choice: either he could continue trying to grill an answer from Thomas or just heading to the hospital that very second.

He scooped up his car keys and headed out the door.

It was a mere ten minutes later that he had made it to the hospital, parked his truck, and was being led from the entrance through the hospital by a very nervous looking probie who was refusing to tell him what was going on.

Thomas walked out from a private room into David's path.

"I swear to god, Thomas, if you don't tell me what's going on with my daughter you're going to end up needing a bed here." He growled, keeping his voice low, though he doubted anyone would care about a prince being threatened by another prince.

Thomas held up his hands in a placating gesture. "She's okay, I promise, she's right there, but… she's changed a little, there's a doctor and Mr Gold looking her over now."

David didn't wait any longer, he pushed passed Thomas, barging him with his shoulder so hard that Thomas had to take a step back so he wouldn't be pushed into the wall.

David halted in his steps by the time he was halfway inside of the room, standing on the other side of the room was Mr Gold and carefully watching him was Robin in his brand new park ranger's uniform. He could feel Thomas following close behind, he almost turned to the other man to ask where the hell his daughter was, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the hospital bed.

There was a young girl, a toddler, in the hospital bed wearing a hospital robe with some cartoon dogs printed all over it. She had light blonde hair and an angry expression on her face, she was glaring at Gold with her arms crossed over her chest, and her bottom lip ever so slightly protruding which took away from the heat in her eyes. She looked….

He managed to tear his eyes away from the girl to the Dark One who was staring at him as though waiting for him to put something together. David narrowed his eyes at him then looked back at the girl who was still glaring so hard at Gold that she hadn't noticed David staring at her. He heard Thomas try to talk to him but he didn't hear the words, he was too busy watching the girl as she turned to look at David, her eyes wide, the anger faded and was replaced with fear and vulnerability.

"David."

That was all it took for David to realise that the little girl was Emma.

It took only a couple of strides for him to reach her, he pulled her into his arms and cradled the back of her head, his hand had always been able to cradle her head but now it greatly dwarfed it. They stayed like that for minutes, tears stung his blue eyes as he held her, closing his eyes at the same time for fear that if he opened them he would find that he was dreaming.

He finally opened them, and when he looked down at the little girl clinging to him he found that it was still Emma. He had never seen a picture of her as a child but it was so clear to him that's who she was, she always looked like a mix between him and Snow, but even more so now she was so young, before she had grown into her own face.

He didn't want to but he had to let go of her, he kept his hands on her shoulders as he looked her over, she had a few scrapes, she looked a little singed without being burnt, and she looked exhausted, maybe a little ashen as though she was sick. But she was okay.

He turned his head to look at Gold while keeping his hands on Emma's shoulders. The glee on his face and the confusion over what had happened filled David's veins with anger. "What the hell's going on? Did you do this?"

Gold raised his eyebrows. "No, don't try to blame me for your daughter's stupid mistake, that's thanks to your genes."

Had David's hands been free they would have curled into fists and either been held stiffly at his side or would have punched the man. "What the hell are you on about?"

The man stared at David and Emma with a challenge in his eyes, David could see the truth in his eyes.

He turned his face to his daughter instead. "Emma?"

Emma looked away from David, her eyes were trained on the stupid gown they had put her in because her other clothes no longer fit. She could feel everyone's eyes on her and thanks to the change in her body she was about a second away from crying. She chose to become angry instead.
"He won't turn me back!" She shouted, her hand pointing at Gold, she tried not to wince when she realised how childish that sounded, everything had sounded childish in the stupid child's voice which matched this body, but the accusation came out as a particularly childish thing.

David frowned looking down at his daughter who wouldn't meet his eyes.

"We've been investigating a group of people using the forest to practice dangerous magic, Gina tracked it and we put together a group of park rangers and cops to take it down." Robin told David.

"It was a kind of magical fight club." Thomas interjected. "We got there just in time to see your daughter facing off against a biker - she fired a spell off and, I don't know, she got a blowback or something, the other guy didn't do a thing, it was." The prince shrugged.

"She blew a fuse. Literally." Gold was examining his finger nails trying his best to look unaffected and uncaring, but was too interested in the pure aberration of magic which had just happened. "I'm guessing she's been using her magic too much for too long and…" He gestured towards Emma with a vague hand gesture.

"So just turn me back." Emma was staring up at Gold once more, she was glaring but there were tears shining in her eyes.

"It's not that simple and it's not even slightly possible, dearie."

"You just said it was like I blew a fuse, you can change fuses!" She raised her voice again.

"I said it was like changing a fuse, you can't do the same for a human."

David sucked in a breath, he let go of Emma , crossing his arms over his chest. He watched Gold, the man was tricky but he was not lying, and David didn't know what the hell else to do now.

"Now, as you're clearly not in any need of magical help which I or anyone else can provide I will be going home to my bed, I suggest you all do the same." He started out of the door but stopped when he reached it he turned to look back at the room for a second. "Though Miss Swan will be needing a much smaller bed."

Emma stood up on the bed and was about to launch herself off of it at The Dark One when a

"Sit down, you'll badly hurt yourself if you fall from this height." David told her sounding distracted which was exactly what he was. "And I doubt that you want to spend the night stuck in here with a bump on the head." He placed her back onto the bed once Gold had left.

"I've talked to Regina, she said she'll go to your place tomorrow to talk to you all, she'll see if there's anything she can do but..." Robin tailed off with a shrug.

"Why can't she do it now? I'm not going to spend the night like this!"

David scrubbed his hand over his face. God he was tired. "It's late, we can go over this tomorrow." He told the rest of the room.

"But-"

David held his hand up and he must have looked tired enough that it actually stopped Emma from talking. "-We'll figure this out tomorrow. Emma, what…?" He shook his head this time at himself. "No, Emma none of us know anything about this right now, people need time to figure out what's going on, and it's the middle of the night. We all need sleep, you included."

"David-"

"Emma. For once just listen to your father, please?" He tried his best to add humour to his voice but he sounded too tired and weary for it to work.

Emma sank back against the hospital bed. She wrapped her arms around herself.

David stared at her for a second. "I'm going to talk to a doctor, see if you can come home. Tom." He nodded his head towards the door to lead his friend out.

"David I swear I didn't know how to tell you this over the phone."

"Yeah." David sighed. He suddenly didn't feel quite so pissed that Thomas had refused to tell him what was going on.

"David. I think The Dark One was telling the truth."

"Thom-"

"David. I know both you and my cousin are always believing in the impossible… but I really think that he was telling the truth."

"I know!" He looked around at the nurses who were staring at him and realised that he had raised his voice, he lowered it again and looked apologetically at his friend. "I know, I just," he sighed yet again, "we just need to know what happened, we need time. This all happened so suddenly." He looked through the door window at Emma who looked so young and so small in the hospital bed.

"She was in a fight club?" His eyebrows were

"A magical fight club."

David gave a loud sigh then a sardonic chuckle. "At least she's small enough that I can actually ground her now."

"If Snow doesn't kill her."

"She won't, she might kill you though."

"I didn't do anything!"

"You're her cousin and you were there." David smirked. "Speaking of, I need you to ring her, tell her what happened while I'm signing Emma out and taking her home, I'm guessing she doesn't need to stay?"

"Doctor Whale said she didn't need to- why am I being blamed, I was barely there, and I couldn't have done anything!"

"Try telling your very pregnant cousin that." He watched Thomas roll his eyes. "Please call her for me, I can't spring this on her, she didn't even know I left the loft, and if she sees Emma like this there's a possibility she'll freak out or she'll overreact and Emma will react badly."
He loved his wife but he knew that she could be rather full on, and Emma didn't react well to that, she hadn't when the first curse had broken, and he doubted she would now. Thomas hesitated but nodded and headed towards the exit to make the phone call, and David headed to the nurse's desk to talk to them and make sure he actually could take her home.

Emma didn't know how long she was alone in the room with Robin, he must have picked up on the fact that she didn't feel like talking because he didn't try to talk to her or try to pressure her to speak.

She found herself staring at her hands, they looked nearly the same as they had the day before, to her they didn't look any smaller but that made sense she guessed, the difference was that there were no longer lines where they had recently been, there was a cut on her hand which had faded to a tiny scar a long time ago, and her tattoo which she had inked on her since she was barely an adult was gone, which meant she wasn't simply shrunk, she really had been forced into her three year old self's body, just like Gold said.

Which meant he could be right about her not being able to turn back. And that it was all her fault.

She heard the footsteps as Robin left the room, and despite the fact they hadn't spoken she felt very alone, in this too big room.

"A nurse said that you can have these, they have spares."

Emma looked up at David's voice, she finally noticed that he was looking tired, his hair mussed as it always was at the end of the night, he was holding up a pair of white cotton pyjamas with simple rainbows they looked impossibly small in his hands, there was no way that she would fit into. He was speaking softly, kindly, as he had been for weeks. He hadn't yet said a single thing about her causing this.
"I can go?"

"Yeah, they said I should keep an eye on you through the night, make sure you don't have a concussion, but otherwise you're free to go. You've got to come back in a week or so for a checkup."

"Why?... I don't, I won't... " She bit her lip hard to stop the tears which had suddenly formed from rolling down her cheeks. Her voice lowered and broke. "You think I'm going to be still like this next week?"

David sat down on the bed by her feet, letting the pyjamas drop onto his lap as he did, he reached out and brushed a stray tear from her cheek with the pad of his thumb. "I don't know, kiddo, I really don't. But we're going to try, I swear, and if we can't then we'll burn that bridge when we get to it."

She gave a little laugh as she looked up and saw his sincerity but also the serious look on his face which told her that he was trying to make her laugh. "'Kay." She mumbled, she had already gone nine rounds with Gold before David had gotten there, she was too tired to fight anymore. At least not tonight.

David handed her the pyjamas. "I'm going to stay in the room in case you need any help."

"I'm twenty nine."

"I know, but this new body might not be so good at fine motor skills, I'm here if you need me."

Emma slipped the pyjamas pants on before she ran into a problem. "Erm… David?"

He turned from where he was pretending to read posters tacked onto the walls. He found Emma with the pyjama pants on under the gown, she had the shirt stuck as she had tried to pull it over her head. "Ah, yeah, here we go." He undid the back of the gown taking it off of her, then carefully pulled the shirt over her head.

As soon as it was over her blonde curls sprung up like coils. He couldn't help but smile at that. Now that the shock was over he was able to take in his daughter as a young child for the first time, he desperately wanted to pull her in for another hug but that was stepping over that line she had drawn, and he didn't think that they were there just yet. "Let's go home."

"Mary- Snow's going to…" Emma shook her head, she didn't actually know what Snow would do or say, how she'd react.

"Your mom will be okay, Thomas is telling her what happened, and we'll have a talk tomorrow," he checked the clock on the wall, "today, I guess. We just all need to get some sleep."