A/N: Hello everyone, I'm sorry for the nearly 7 month hiatus. I tried all day yesterday to update but nothing would upload to FF, but here it is now! I'm sure some people have long given up on this story but I know there are a few who do want to see more so I am updating for you guys! A special thank you to SecretLoveCara for giving me the motivation to work on this again xx I skipped over writing a few scenes in this story that were on the show itself that will be mentioned in this chapter.

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New York City: Present

Emma's mind was reeling as she made her way home that night. She had not been prepared for any of the surprises she had just been faced with. Walsh proposed to her, a stranger with a dashing accent dressed in outlandish clothing was stalking her and trying to convince her that everything she knew of her life was false, and finally, her son was still acting so peculiar and distant... Her former opinion of her life in New York was that it was absolutely perfect, but now, everything seemed to be collapsing around her. Everything that had previously been good about her new life was now creating stress and uncertainty. Nothing seemed right and, quite frustratingly so, she began to wonder if the black leather clad foreigner with the false hand was on any degree telling the truth; because all things aside, the stranger was right. Yes, Emma felt like something was off. He had given her an address which he claimed that if she visited, she would then see that he was telling the truth. Her common sense was telling her that this was a bad idea, that this man was probably crazy and if she were to go to this address she would likely be walking into a trap, but something else inside her told her she had to go. And so, against her better judgement, she decided to take a chance.

The Next Day:

Her heart was pounding. Could it really be true? Was it possible that all of her memories could truly be false? Emma had gone to that address and was taken quite by surprise to learn that it was the apartment of Henry's biological father. What was most disconcerting however, was what she had found there: plane tickets with hers and Henry's names on them for a flight which she had no recollection of taking, and a camera that had her son's name stitched onto the shoulder strap. Neal was not even supposed to be aware of Henry's existence, but here was evidence suggesting they had at least visited him at one point in the last year.

Maybe it is possible. Emma thought. Maybe there was an important section of her life blocked out in her mind... maybe she had a family beyond herself and Henry after all.

The stranger who had sent her to this apartment had asked her to meet him in Central Park after her visit. Prior to seeing the apartment she had already told herself she would not go, but now after these new discoveries, she decided she needed more answers. She was curious to see what photos were stored within the non-digital camera but she would have the film developed later. First she needed to see what other information the stranger had for her.

Emma soon left Neal's apartment and it was as if she were on autopilot. Before she knew it she had taken the subway and found herself at the entrance to Central Park. She had purposely exited the subway on the west side of the park, forcing herself to walk either around the park to Fifth Avenue, or directly through it to get to the zoo. She was close enough that either option was feasible and not overly time consuming, but she decided to go through the park, hoping the walk would allow her mind to calm down a little. She meandered a bit, not always taking the fastest route, and at one point admittedly getting a little turned around, but soon she found herself walking by the children's play park and she was able to regain her bearings. She paid little attention to the people around her as her thoughts continued to race. However as she was approaching the other end of the children's park, her eye was caught by two people sitting together on a bench. They had yet to notice her, and she had to wonder, if she didn't initiate contact with them, would they even notice she was there? They seemed so deep in conversation.

At first she was struck by surprise upon seeing them, but then, she quickly became upset as the reality of the situation sank in.

Emma didn't quite know where her sudden level of anger had come from, but without really thinking her actions through, she stormed up to the pair of them.

"Henry?!" Emma's loud voice caused both Henry and the brunette he was sitting with to jump.

"Mom!" Henry said in surprise, his eyes growing wide with fear. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? What are you doing here? You should be at school!"

"I know but–"

"And you!" Emma rounded on the brunette whose eyes flashed in surprise as well. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Me?" She asked, looking both offended and worried. "I'm not doing anything, I'm simply just–"

"Not doing anything, are you kidding me?! First of all, what makes you think it's okay to let someone else's son skip school to what... go on a day trip with you?!" Emma guessed. "And second, why the hell are you even here... with my son? Who are you?"

"Mom she's the one we were talking to on the street by The Plaza that day, she's the woman I mistook for someone else."

"Yes Henry I know, I kind of meant beyond that." Emma snapped.

"I'm um–" the woman stumbled over her words, her face flushed a little at the outburst. "My name is Regina, and it's not what you think. We didn't meet here on purpose, our path's just happened to cross that's all."

"Just happened to cross." Emma repeated, her tone dripping with disbelief.

"It's true," Henry insisted. "Okay yeah... maybe I am skipping school, but I had no idea Regina would be here today. We just ran into each other and started talking."

"But how do you two even know each other? You ran after her that one time on Fifth Avenue I know... and you acted like you didn't know each other, but... that's not true is it?" She said, looking between them. "You do know each other, don't you?" Emma's voice was a little hurt as she wondered if her son had been lying to her all this time. She had seen the way they had been talking, this definitely wasn't the first time they had met since that one brief moment in time.

"No, we don't." Henry immediately replied. "Not really, we only just met."

"What have you got him involved in?!" Emma rounded on the brunette again. "And Henry! How long have you been lying to me?!"

"Mom stop! She didn't do anything." Henry argued. "I didn't know Regina would be here and she was already sitting here when I got to the park. I was the one who came up to her."

Emma was breathing heavily. "Why? Because she reminds you of that woman from your dreams?" She stated without thinking.

"What?" Regina asked, feeling a little uneasy as she turned to the boy in surprise. "What kind of dreams?"

Henry's face quickly turned red, in that moment he hated his mother for embarrassing him and possibly ruining his friendship with the first person he had truly connected with in New York.

Emma felt a little bad then, she knew Henry was self-conscious about that, but she couldn't think of any other reason Henry would want to bother this complete stranger again. The only logical explanation was that they had probably been meeting up with each other for a lot longer than they were saying.

"No..." Henry's voice was small. He sounded angry, betrayed, but also a little afraid. He turned to the brunette. "It's not what it sounds like, they were nothing really... the dreams. It was just this random woman I saw a couple of times in a dream, she was just trying to find me... or something like that. She felt familiar... I don't know. That was all it was."

"And she looks like me?" Regina asked in soft wonder.

"Well it was before I knew you... but yeah I guess a little."

"Henry you don't even know her! You don't know anything about her!" Emma tried desperately to reason with him. "Why didn't you at least tell me you were here?"

Henry braved another sideways glance at Regina. Her arms were wrapped around herself and her brow was furrowed in thought but she also looked a little uncomfortable. Luckily for him she did not seem to be disgusted by him, but rather it seemed like she thought she was intruding on his and Emma's quarrel.

"I know that she's nice to me!" Henry responded to Emma. "That's why I wanted to talk to her again! She's new here too, she understands what it's been like for me." He looked at Regina again. "She's my friend." He said, earning a soft smile from the brunette.

Now Emma felt a little sick. "She understands you? She's your friend? Just how many times have you guys seen each other?"

"This is only the third time–" Regina began to say.

"Lady, I wasn't asking you I was asking my kid." Emma snapped, not taking her eyes from the boy.

"She's right it's only the third time..." Henry affirmed. "The first time we ever spoke was that day at The Plaza when you were there too... and then that day you let me come here when you had a meeting... we ran into each other by accident. There was nowhere to sit but then I saw a spot on a bench and the person sitting there happened to be Regina. I didn't know she was going to be here then either."

"And what about you?" Emma asked Regina. "Have you been following us? Is that why you seemed familiar to Henry? What do you want from him?"

"No," Regina defended, her voice shaking a little at the accusations. "I had never seen him or you before, prior to that day on Fifth Avenue. And may I remind you that he was the one who followed me that day, before he reached out to me I had no idea you two were even there."

"What about here at the park? Did you know he comes here? Is that why you always happen to be here?"

"Well, I come here almost every day and I have only run into him twice now." Regina replied haughtily. "And if you must know I come here to read, not to prey on innocent children which is what you seem to be accusing me of."

Emma's eyes drifted to the book lying on the bench beside the brunette. "If you're really here to read then why do you come to one of the noisiest areas of the park? Why not somewhere quieter?"

Emma noticed a slight change in Regina's expression, the question seemed to bother her quite a bit.

"I like the noise." Regina replied, there was an emotional catch in her voice. "It makes me feel like I'm not alone."

Regina closed her eyes briefly before turning her head away from the other two. Once again. Emma felt a little ashamed. She had calmed down enough to pay more attention to her superpower, and she could now tell that the woman was telling the truth, Regina didn't mean any harm towards Henry. However for some reason Emma still felt threatened by her. Perhaps it was because she knew Henry was opening up to this woman in a way that he had been refusing to with Emma as of late.

"I believe you..." Emma sighed through her words. She shook her head, folding her arms. "But all the same... I think you should go." She said in a calmer tone that before. "I'm sure you're not a bad person but I'm not comfortable with you being around my son. I don't want to ever see you two together again."

"What? Mom!" Henry protested.

"It's okay," Regina softly stopped him. "I understand." She said to Emma. "He's your son, of course you only want to protect him. I'm sorry this was kept a secret from you."

Emma felt another surge of guilt as she saw the brunette actually blinking back tears as she gathered her things. Even so, Henry had kept this from her, and that she really did not like.

"I won't come here anymore," Regina said, her voice shaking. Her face was a little flushed and she was avoiding eye contact with them as much as possible.

"You don't have to do that," Henry said, feeling incredibly guilty. "This is your favorite spot isn't it?"

"It's really okay," Regina said in an almost whisper as she gave him an apologetic look. "This city is enormous, I'm sure I'll find someplace else. Thank you for keeping me company Henry. It was nice to have someone to talk to." She gave him a small, sad smile, before quickly glancing at Emma and then beginning to walk away.

"Wait! Regina..." Henry said.

She stopped and turned around to face him again. He wanted to say something to her, anything, but he couldn't think of a single thing to say.

Regina gave him another sad, but understanding smile. "I wish you well, both of you." She said. "You have my word, you won't see me here again." She said with a tone of finality as her eyes flicked towards Emma.

Emma only nodded in response.

The brunette turned again and this time she really did leave. Henry watched her with a heavy heart, he didn't want her to go. He wanted to run after her like he did the first time they had me. He wanted to tell her she could have the park, he would never come back here again if it meant she could not visit it. He had never meant to ruin anything for her. However his mother's hand on his arm stopped him from going after her.

"Why did you do that? She's a good person!" Henry angrily turned on Emma once Regina was out of earshot.

Emma sighed. "I'm sorry kid, I've just been under a lot of stress lately."

"So you're taking it out on her? She didn't do anything wrong!"

"I'm sorry... But it's true, we don't know anything about her. I'm all for you making new friends Henry but I would rather you do it at school with people your own age. And preferably not during class hours."

Henry shook his head, not listening. "You ruined everything, she was my friend. You weren't even supposed to be here today!"

"Oh you want to talk about that?" Emma responded, her anger rising up a again. "Henry you're supposed to be in math class right now! What's going on there? I thought you liked your new school."

"I did... at first. But now I feel like... I don't know. I just feel like I don't belong there."

"But I thought you were making lots of new friends?"

"I am... but I guess it's not the same. I miss Boston. I miss home."

Emma sighed, her expression was a little defeated. "I know kid. But this is our home now. We just have to make the best of it."

Henry nodded, but he did not look like he truly believed that. Emma wrapped an arm around his shoulders, forgetting about the original reason she had come to the park that day.

"Come on," she said softly.

"Are you taking me back to school?" He mumbled grumpily.

"No. I think it would be pointless... you would be too distracted. I think we should go grab some lunch..."

Henry looked up at her in surprise.

"And maybe have a talk about a few things... sound good?" She finished.

"Okay..." Henry agreed.

Emma rubbed his arm reassuringly and began to guide him out of the park. He trudged beside her as she guided him in the opposite direction from where Regina had gone. Emma knew she had overreacted just a little bit, but she had not been able to help herself.

It didn't escape Emma when Henry glanced behind them, obviously looking for Regina. He gave up quickly though, he knew she wasn't coming back.

Storybrooke: One Day Later

"Snow I know you're worried, but we can't just leave Storybrooke to go look for Regina without a plan. Remember what the dwarves said, there are flying monkeys monitoring the town line now."

"All the more reason to look for her!" Snow argued. "If she doesn't know who she is, what this town is, where she came from... then there's absolutely nothing to prepare her for being swooped up by what she believes is a creature from fiction. If The Wicked Witch finds her first she could kill her before she even gets the chance to remember who she is or what she did for all of us."

David placed his hands on his hips as he thought. There was a grim look on his face. "Okay..." He sighed through his words.

"We'll go look for her then?" Snow asked hopefully.

"I will go look for her." He countered. "You will stay here and rest. All this stress is bad for the baby."

"But you can't go by yourself, it's dangerous!"

"All the more reason for you to stay here. I will bring the dwarves with me, we'll be safer in a group. Okay?"

Snow slumped back into her cushion on the sofa. "Okay..." She said in defeat.

His expression softened. He moved forward and took a seat beside her, wrapping a comforting arm around her as he did.

"I'll give Leroy a call, we'll start planning a search route... But Snow, we don't know if Regina is even out there. We can't know for sure that she was even trying to direct that portal to Storybrooke in the first place. But even if she was thinking of here when she fell through it... this town didn't exist yet. She could be lost somewhere, maybe she went somewhere else in the world, maybe she's ended up somewhere back in the Enchanted Forest, or maybe she ended up in a void between these two worlds."

"David don't say that." Snow whispered. "Regina is out there somewhere, we just have to find her."

David nodded in agreement. "We'll do our best." He pulled out his phone with the intention of calling Leroy, but stopped as a knock sounded at the door to the apartment.

He and Snow shared a look before he went to see who their visitor was. He opened the door and was surprised at who he was met with.

"Hook!"

The newcomer nodded once in greeting. "Miss me?" He asked with a grin.

"We thought you were still back in the Enchanted Forest!" Snow said. "Did you get swept up in the curse too?"

The Captain shook his head. "I wasn't about to be caught up in all that nonsense. I quite enjoy remembering who I am thank you very much. Which leads me to the reason I'm here... You all still have your memories–"

"It was Regina," Snow said. "She protected us. Zelena sent her through a portal to try to stop her but she was too late. Regina had already started taking in the entire forgetting potion that Zelena slipped into the cauldron containing the curse."

"Yes yes I know all that, as I was about to say–"

"Wait, what? How do you already know?"

"If you would just stop and listen to me for a second," Hook growled in annoyance, "I was still in the Enchanted Forest when you lot disappeared. I escaped to just outside the reach of the curse and I found my own way back to this world, but before I did I heard of what happened. I know where Emma and Henry are, and I also know where Her Majesty is. Interestingly enough I found her quite by accident, but I found her all the same."

"Where are they?" David asked eagerly.

"New York."

"And Regina?"

Hook lifted his hand, as though David had asked something stupid. "New York." He repeated.

"What? How is that possible?"

"Regina must have been thinking about Henry." Snow smiled. "The portal brought her to him."

"Does that mean she remembers him?" David asked. "Did she reach out to Henry and Emma? Are they all together?"

Hook shook his head. "No... Emma and Henry are still living false lives. I tried to reach out to her but she just won't trust me. She was supposed to meet me yesterday and I believed that with the proof I had already given her she would have realized that I've been telling the truth, but she never showed. And Regina on the other hand... somehow Her Majesty landed herself a glamorous new home and identity. I haven't tried to make contact with her yet."

Snow and David shared a confused look, both wondering how that could have happened.

"It must have been the curse..." Snow surmised thoughtfully. "Regina brewed this new curse herself, she made it just the same as she did thirty years ago. This must have something to do with how she originally created Storybrooke, she gave everyone new identities, new lives. The curse was probably trying to mimic whatever life she was supposed to have here in Storybrooke."

"But with Zelena's forgetting potion mixed in, things got a little turned around..." David said. "It's a reach..." He shook his head.

"But it's possible. And from what it sounds like, it's probably what happened."

"Her Majesty is living in a tiny pocket of Storybrooke in New York City?" Hook asked in disbelief.

"Or something like it..." David responded. He looked back up at Hook, suddenly wondering something. "Why did you come back here? Why not keep trying to wake Emma up?"

The pirate rubbed his nose with the round part of his hook as he thought. "You only sent me enough potion for one person... but that person doesn't trust me yet, and so unfortunately she won't drink a mysterious liquid from a complete stranger. I came here to see if you lot would have a better way... or perhaps another few helpings of the potion for Henry and Regina. I still don't know how to administer the damn stuff, short of force-feeding it to them all, but I can figure out that part later."

"What do you mean we only sent you enough for one?" David asked in confusion.

Hook looked annoyed. He reached into the pocket of his jacket and withdrew a small bottle, that of which he had tried convincing Emma to drink a couple of days previously.

"Hook we didn't send you this." David said, taking the bottle from him and examining it curiously.

"Well then where the hell did it come from?"

David handed the bottle to Snow who also studied it in detail. "I don't know..." She said. "But maybe..." She took in a deep breath, looking back up at the other two. It's like you said, maybe we can get some more of this to send back with you. David, let's go see Blue, maybe she can recreate whatever potion this is, or better yet... maybe she knows who would have sent this to Hook in the first place."

"She can also tell us if it's dangerous." David nodded in agreement. "If we don't know where this stuff came from, we might not want to use it on Emma before making absolutely sure we know what it is first. For all we know it could be from Zelena."

A/N: Thank you for reading, please leave a review xx