AN: Sorry it's been forever!

"I found her!" Henry gasped out. "I found your mother, Alice!" He'd run all the way to the forest, where Grace was waiting impatiently, her little feet digging a small trench with her pacing.

The blond girl almost tackled the prince in her excitement. "You did! Where is she- let's go now! It's been so long-" She was practically bouncing.

Henry caught her sleeve, already feeling guilty. "No. No, that's why you can't. She may not remember you- and if we try and get her to remember you and she doesn't... she'll think we're crazy. And then everything'll be ruined. No I think we need to find your father first- she knows what he looks like. If we can her to remember him we'll have a better chance." Grace yanked herself away from him, a sob building in her chest.

"My mother." She breathed. "Mother, I need help."

...Once Upon a Time...

Our World, Marseilles, France, 1872

"Mother!" Alice cried sitting up, breathing deeply, head spinning with images of magic potions and men with top hats. She sighed, pulling her linen nightgown over her shoulder where it had fallen during her nightmare. "Fool." She whispered to herself, slipping from the bed and walking to her balcony, where a cool France breeze was waiting to refresh her.

The nightmares were getting worse, as were her headaches. She would have chalked it up to annoyance at her sisters continued dalliance with the Prince, but in her heart she knew it was more serious. The relaxation of Europe had been her doctors prescription, but she could see it was his way of putting off his annoyance at not knowing a solution for her misery. A tumor, the specialist from Germany had said. Something pressing in her head against her brain and eye. Her mother had forced her to see the doctor before she left, annoyed at her refusing to get up for supper. The light was worse than anything, those last days at home and her mother's harping did little to soothe the ache. Not that her mother knew. Alice hadn't told anyone, had kept this pain secret, as she always did. The odd of her making it home alive were... low, or so the doctor told her, and she hadn't wanted to spoil the days or be forbidden to go.

No, if she was to die, she was glad it would be here, in France where it was warm and beautiful and she could hear life around her, rather than the stodgy fall of the Welsh countryside. Another pain hit her and she stumbled to the vanity, where her hands scrambled for the pain tonic the doctor had given her in bulk. "To make you more comfortable." She took a gulp and collapsed, allowing it to wash over her.

Tonic. She rolled the glass bottle in her hand. Poison. That's what it was, really. A poison that would kill her slowly, until she was dulled so much that it no longer mattered that her brain was slowly rotting inside her head. She held it up in the faint light, watching the amber liquid shimmer inside. Perhaps... maybe it would best.

Temporarily restored she stood, grabbing the pen and parchment closest to her. She'd make a list for the boy downstairs. If she could just get all the ingredients right... and this was France, surely they had all nature of dangerous things.

Her days in the chemistry building, whiling away time while her father worked may not have been as useless as she thought.

...Once Upon a Time...

Storybrook, Present

Garrett Evans did not like animals. It wasn't his fault really, he just didn't enjoy the jumping and licking that accompanied them. So why was it that had a sudden urge for a farm? Lately he felt like every dream he had was about cows, which was strange because he'd never even seen a cow. Right?

He couldn't remember ever having seen one, up close, alive but when he slept he could feel it, warm and hard, yet soft and strangely comforting under his hand.

And that was the other thing- the sleeping.

He was always tired lately. Always just on the edge of dozing off or once even really falling asleep in his history book. Ms. Mary Margaret had made him go to the quiet corner for that, like he was one of the babies in first grade and then made him stay after to make sure everything was okay. And it was- he was just tired. All the time.

"Garrett!" His mother called up the stairs. "Time for your lessons honey!" He groaned and rolled out of bed, where he'd been napping. It was with disgust that he grabbed the small case next to his desk. He hated music lessons and especially hated the trumpet. It was a stupid instrument. Everyone else got to play cool instruments like the guitar or the drums- but no, he was stuck with his dad's old trumpet. He pounded down the stairs sulkily, practically throwing himself down on the last step to wait for his mom to put her coat on and open the door. He leaned against the banister, intending to get a few minutes of a nap in when his mom clucked at him. "Make sure you have everything Garrett- I'm not going to come back to this house if you forgot your mouthpiece again."

Rolling his eyes Garrett opened the case, sure everything was there- he hadn't bothered to practice so everything would be in its place. His fingers ghosted over the tarnished brass of the instrument. And Bo, more widely known as Little Boy Blue, yanked his hand back, gasping as his head was flooded with images. "Ready?" A voice above him questioned.

He glanced up into the strangers eyes and smiled. "I'm always ready to play my horn."

...Once Upon a Time...

Across town, Alexandria was getting frustrated. The pie she'd been trying to make for her parents was turning out just as awful as the last three. She hadn't seen the couple in years, but she was sure, she just knew, that if she could bake this pie then they would come home, come back to her and her grandfather, and leave Boston forever.

She could barely remember their faces, but she was as sure of them as she was of her friends or her bike or the blue sky outside. "ребёнок." Her grandfather called into their large house, coming home from work as loudly as ever. "I home now!" She smiled at him as he walked into the kitchen, requesting he turn on the oven. She was never allowed to touch to stove unless he was home and honestly, she preferred it that way. She always felt safer when his large presence filled the empty house.

Her grandfather was a bear of a man, broad and dark haired, with a large beard that tickled when he kissed her cheek. He had an accent that was so thick most of the town couldn't understand him, and even Alexandria sometimes had trouble with the Russian he sometimes spouted. He patted her on the head as he slipped the pie into the oven, promising to return in an hour to remove it. "When I come back we'll have a little seat and a pie to eat." He teased her, before trudging from the room.

Mashenka sat frozen, hand on her rolling pin as she stared after him. "I see you." She whispered.

When her grandfather returned she was still sitting there, gazing out into space. "Ребёнок?" He questioned.

"Oh I'm fine my bear." She smiled up at him. "I'm fine now."

...Once Upon a Time...

Our World, Marseilles, France, 1872

Two days later Alice was sitting under a tree in her favorite park, lazily watching the day pass her by. "A fine day Dinah." She commented to the stray cat who'd taken residence in the sun beside her. "Do you like that? Dinah? I've never had a pet- we had a nanny who was called that- I've always felt she had a very feline way about her."

Alice pulled the tonic from her dress pocket and laid it on the blue material. It most likely wouldn't work, but she was determined to try something. He head had been worse than ever, the pressure building in waves of pain. She uncorked the bottle and raised it to her lips silently toasting the cat that gazed on her condescendingly. Someone stumbled through the bushes, an older man in a rumpled coat. "Oh I am sorry! I was just looking for a bean. I don't suppose you- Alice!"

The woman was so startled she accidently inhaled some of her potion, choking as she tried to swallow and stand. "Dobson! Is it really you?"

She rushed forward to hug him, but lately her coordination was terrible and she ended up almost running into him. Funny man that he was, he grabbed her and then quickly let her go, propping her up against a tree. Her old friend stared at her in wonder and anxiety. "Alice it is you? Have you been drinking my dear? That poison is terrible for you, you know."

"Poison?" She chuckled. "Believe me, my wonderful story man, my own body will turn on me quicker than spirits."

"Alice." Dobson reached out, nose twitching, white hair tufting up in the wind. "What's wrong?"

"I'm dying. I've decided to kill myself- but I'm dying from an illness of the brain all the same." She glanced down to avoid his pity. "Oh look! Is this your bean?" She bent to pick up the strange looking seed at her feet. But as she did, the potion and her head both seemed to rebel and she fell, spilling the rest of her concoction on the ground.

And the bean.

"Oh dear," she said faintly, "I've ruined it all again haven't I?" She glanced up, but Dobson was backing away, nose twitching once more, fear on his face. "Dobson?" She cried out, feeling the ground shift beneath her.

"Remember the stories!" She heard him cry. "Remember Alice! It's the only way to return!"

And then she was falling. And then she was flying. And then she hit the ground.

And it was black.

AN: So yea, I gave Alice a brain tumor- betcha didn't see that coming! But it's going to allow for lots of nice angst with Jefferson and Grace as well as explain a few other things I have planned. Alice Lidwell's father did work at a university but I have no idea if she spent time in the chemistry department- I'd say no considering that she was a girl and it was the 1800s, but let's take some creative license and say she was plucky and was spying on them. Also, in the early 1900s doctors and pharmacists did literally give people poison and drugs to make them feel better- I have a disturbing amount of cyanide in my attic from my grandfathers pharmacy.

Mashenka and the Bear is a Russian fairytale about a girl whose stolen away from her family by a lonely bear. Ребёнок means child in Russian.

Little Boy Blue is not officially Bo but I've heard versions where that's his name... So squeal! Other kids are remembering!