AN/ Hi, I'm new. This is my very first fanfic -ever! English is not my first language.
I decided to write this story because last night I couldn't sleep and what I tend to do then is to imagine and make up my own scenarios of how things might happen (I call it pre-sleep-dreaming;). Initially I just wanted to make a one shot. But I feel I might be able to continue, I feel very self-conscious and not sure I can pull off a multi-chapter story right off the bat. But here's a start, I took the first step. Now I will anxiously await reviews (please leave one for me) and take it from there. Thanks! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Chapter 1

There she was, the physical pain forgotten and replaced by bliss. I hadn't taken my eyes off her since Doc held her up for me to see. My heart was fluttering like a butterfly and I sucked in an unsteady breath of air, watching him cut the cord and wipe her clean with a piece of linen. She didn't really scream, she whimpered and shivered from the chill air, eyes shut and crinkled.

Doc grabbed her blanket and wrapped her up gently. I saw her little face relax as he handed her to me. It didn't take long for Doc to do this, but it felt like forever and I reached out eagerly and pulled her close to me. She felt light as a feather and in that moment we melted into one. I'm a mother.

"Emma" I whisper softly. She opens her eyes and my eyes well up, a silent tear run down my cheek. I feel Charming wiping it away with his finger.

"She's beautiful", he says reverently. I glance up at him and I see his joy and his tears. He leans in for a kiss and it's warm, gentle and words cannot describe the feelings stirring behind it, we are a family.

He breaks the kiss and looks down at Emma, cupping her head in his palm, leans down and kisses her forehead. With my eyes back on Emma I feel a sense of dread creeping up my spine.

"The wardrobe…" I whisper. "We have to get to the wardrobe!" Charming shoots me a look of panic.

"What…" he can't seem to get the words out so I continue, "You have to help me get in the wardrobe with Emma".

Lines crease his forehead, "but it only takes one" he says with confusion, "how…?"

"We have to try, I can't let her go alone!" desperation taking over me, "she's so tiny, maybe if I hold her close it will be like she's still part of me". I felt convinced because it's the truth, me and Emma are one, we belong together and I simply refuse to let her go. It felt physically impossible to part from her.

Emma squirmed in my arms sensing the emotional turmoil and she started to cry. I tore my eyes from Charming's distraught face and I gently shifted Emma in my arms to calm her, but I couldn't stop shaking.

Doc runs into the chamber, "the Queens guards have entered the castle you need to get Emma to safety…hurry!" I throw my legs over the edge of the bed.

"Wait, wait!" Charming puts his hands on my shoulders and I look at him, I can see his grief, his fear and his love, it makes my heart ache and all I want is for us to lie back down and for him to wrap his arms around me and Emma, but there is no time.

"Charming… we have to do this", I say and I see the shift in his eyes, resolve and action takes over.

"Come, I'll help you up." I stand up on unsteady legs, I can feel the soreness and suddenly the pain is no longer forgotten. Charming wraps his arm around me, supporting me while I take a few steps. 'I can do this', I think to myself.

"Hold on a second", Charming says as he grabs his sword and my cloak, wrapping it around my shoulders. "It might be cold on the other side" he says with sadness in his voice, and my eyes well up as I smile at him lovingly.

Holding Emma close with my right arm and grabbing my left around Charming's waist we make our way out of the bedroom chamber and down the hall. I hear a commotion up ahead and watch as three of the Queens men head straight for us.

My knees go out and I sink to the floor, Charming takes a defensive stance in front of me and Emma, he pulls out his sword and as the first guard attacks he takes a swing and the blade strikes the other sword. I crouch over trying to keep Emma safe and for a minute all I hear is the sounds of the struggle and then a loud thud, which makes my head jerk up and I see two of the guards on the floor, one dead, pinning down another who's trying to get the dead weight off him. I glance up at my husband who just then thrusts his sword into the third guards' side making him gasp and slowly fall against the wall. Before the remaining guard manages to wiggle out from beneath the body Charming knocks him out cold. He then turns around and I can see stains of red across his chest and I gasp, reaching out to him he walks up to me and grabs my arm, pulling us up.

"You're hurt!" I say with horror.

"It's just a scratch, I'll be alright. Come on we have to get to the nursery" he says with urgency, obviously his adrenaline was running wild in his veins.

There was no time to worry but I felt all of the colour drain from my face and I felt faint but I staggered along the remaining distance to the nursery. While Charming ran to the wardrobe and pulled open its doors I looked at Emma and was amazed at how calm she seemed, my grip on her never faltered and I wondered if she felt safe in my arms. Breaking my reverie Charming beckons me to him. There's commotion down the hall and we both whip our heads towards the door and then face each other, reading each other's expression and realising that this is it, we kiss.

It's an urgent kiss but all of our love for each other is concentrated into that single second and with tears streaming down our faces I suddenly realise that he hasn't had the chance to hold his daughter yet. So I hand her over, watching his expression turn into one of awe, he traces her cheek with his finger and Emma grabs hold of it. He glances up at me and the love I see in his eyes is indescribable, more tears spill from his eyes as he leans down to give her one last kiss

"I love you Emma. Look after your mother for me, ok", he says as he gives her a broken smile.

I hunch down and place myself into the tiny space, which feels so claustrophobic I feel the panic and the need to get out. Charming kneels down and places Emma back in my arms, and instantly I feel the panic recede, she's my centre. With her in my arms I regain my sense of purpose. I open the blanket so that I can bring her closer to my chest, laying her on her tummy against my chest and I rearrange the blanket over her. This is the only way I can bring her as close to me as possible, thinking it will be just like she was still inside me.

During this Charming never takes his hands off me and when I look at him for the last time, there are no words, we are both too choked up to say anything. He kisses my forehead and wipes the tears off my cheek.

"Charming…" I whimper.

He swallows back a sob and says "I know Snow".

Then we both mouth the words 'I love you'. He looks down and shuts the wardrobe doors and the last thing I see is someone entering the nursery behind him.

It all goes dark very quickly and I hold Emma as close as I can, feeling her warm little body against mine, I can even feel her little fingers grasping at my skin. I feel weightless and something pulling me, there is a loud crack and then a flash of light as a breeze of cold air hits my face. As my eyes adjust to the piercing light I begin to make out trees and I notice the smell of earth and nature.

Feeling very disoriented I make my way out and put my bare feet on the ground, there's a thick layer of pine needles and my feet sink into the earth.

"We got away", I mutter in disbelief. I peek underneath the blanket to see a sleeping Emma with her ear pressed to my heart, "we're safe honey" I whisper softly.

I look behind me to see where we came through, it was a big tree and it looked like something had blasted a hole right in it. Turning around I tried to get a grip on where we might be but all I see is trees and shrubs and pine needles.

The air is chilly and my memories flash back to Charming draping the cloak over me, I can still hear him say 'it might be cold on the other side', my chest constricts and sobs make my body convulse. I stagger back to the hole in the tree and crawl back into it.

Emma wakes up by the sudden movements and by the pitiful sounds that seem to have taken control over my body. She lets out a muffled cry and her little legs starts to kick. This brings me back to the here and now and I'm glad I have her to bring back my focus and purpose.

"Shh, shh baby. I'm sorry", I say with a trembling voice.

I try to make myself comfortable, luckily there's more room here than there was in the wardrobe and I cross my legs and lean back. My body is aching and the soreness from the birth is throbbing painfully.

Emma stopped crying and was busy turning her head back and forth, her mouth opening and closing; nuzzling my skin. At first I didn't realise what she was doing because it looked so peculiar, but then it hit me. She was hungry and she was searching for something to latch on to.

Suddenly I got anxious. I've never done this before. All kinds of scary scenarios flew across my mind but I had to try, otherwise we'd both be in trouble. So I lowered her down and undid my nightgown, I think she knew what was coming because she looked all excited with her mouth opening and closing and her head swaying around to find her meal, as I watched I laughed a small laugh to myself because it looked so funny, bless hear heart.

I cradled her in my left arm and used my right hand to direct my breast so that she could latch on. She latched on immediately and started sucking for her dear life, and it was like no feeling I had ever felt before, it was so unique and wonderful and my heart melted.

Emma's eyes conveyed pure satisfaction, she blinked slowly and the sound of her breathing heavily from eating so fast was the most endearing sound I'd ever heard.

"Slow down honey, you don't have to eat so fast." As if she understood she slowed down a little, but not much, she must be really hungry, poor thing.

As she was eating I opened the blanket little by little so that I could explore this wonder that was my baby girl. I traced my fingers on her silken skin, caressing her shoulder and down her back, her legs were curled up against my stomach and her little toes were wiggling against my skin.

As I wrap the blanket over her again so that the cold won't get to her I say, "You are perfect. You are a miracle and I love you more than life itself. I am so happy that I could come with you. I don't dare to think about what would have happened if we had had to send you here all alone. My heart would have broken into millions of pieces if you had been taken from me."

I wipe a stray tear from the corner of my eye and I grab her little arm and she wraps her fingers around my thumb. I kiss her tiny fingers and then place both our hands above my heart.

I am starting to feel the exhaustion come over me and I am struggling to keep my eyes open, and I see that Emma has beat me to it. Eyes closed and even though she's let go of my breast her mouth still does the sucking motion. I smile lovingly at her as I cover myself up again and I place her on my chest again and start rubbing her back until I hear a little burp. I can't stay awake much longer so I scoot down in a foetal position with my back towards the opening wanting to shield Emma from the cold breeze as much as possible. Wrapping my cloak over us both, thankful again that I had it with me. There we were in the middle of an unknown forest in a new world… I didn't even have the strength to worry because I slipped into unconsciousness as soon as I laid down my head.

Something woke me with a start, my eyes flew open and I tensed. I hadn't jostled Emma as I saw that she was still sleeping sweetly against my chest. My brain struggled to register what exactly had woken me up when I hear a sniffing sound and something that sounded like an animal right outside. Oh no, what if it's a wolf! My heart starts to pound and sweat beads on my forehead. I slowly move my head to glance over my shoulder, but what I saw was no wolf, it was this chestnut coloured dog that was standing on its hind legs to peek up at me. It had such a goofy grin that all my worries faded away instantly. I smiled as I sat up, careful not to wake Emma. The dog wagged its tail like it couldn't have been happier to have found me, so I reached out and petted it whereby it started licking my hand, which made me let out a small giggle.

"Maverick! Here boy! *whistling*… where did you run off to?!" The dog quickly turned his head around and let out a bark. Emma was startled by the sudden noise and began to wail.

With my anxiety levels rising again I made my way out of the tree, I felt so stiff and sore that it took me a minute. I tried to look around me to see if anyone was approaching but I didn't see anyone, the dog had run off to who knows where. Emma's cries grew louder and I started to rock her back and forth while speaking softly to her that all was well, she responded by not only quieting down but by looking me straight in the eye and the corner of her mouth drew up in a little crooked smile.

Grinning back at her I said "Hi princess, did the dog scare you. It's okay I'm sure he didn't mean to."

I hear a shuffle behind me and a voice say, "Hello?"

I spin around facing a woman, who looked like she was seeing a ghost, which I don't really blame her for. Here I was in the middle of nowhere, dressed only in my nightgown, having bare feet and I am sure my face looks like a total disaster having been an emotional wreck for the past 24 hours.

She stares at me with big eyes. The dog was running circles around us, proud to be showing his master his findings.

"Are you alright?" she asks.

Searching my brain for words, how do I explain, I don't know this world and what would be appropriate to tell her, but I think it's best to keep it short and simple until I know more.

"I, I… I got lost. I was trying to get away from someone and I don't know where I am", I say hesitantly.

Emma stirs in my arms, I suspect she's hungry but I can't be sure since I don't know how long I was out, I look down and stroke her cheek.

"Is that a baby?! How did you get here with a baby?" she says with even more shock layering her voice.

"Um… I… I just had her, I was running but then my water broke and I…"

The utter shock on the woman's face was verging on comical.

"Y..you mean you gave birth here, alone? In the woods?"

I don't know what else to say so I just nod. The woman takes a deep breath as if to collect herself.

"Uh... well okay, we need to get you two looked after, my cabin is not far from here, do you think you can walk?"

Again I just nod but add an appreciative smile.

She walks up to me and smiles back, "My name is Sophie."

There's this pause and she raises her eyebrow…

"Oh! I apologize. My name is… Mary." Thankful that that name was close at hand, having used it before. I miss Red, my face falls and sadness takes over.

Sophie looks concerned, "Hey, let me help you." She grabs me by the arm and we start walking. It's slow going and I really hope the cabin is close even though Emma seems to be okay for the moment I know it won't last forever and every step I take hurts.

Darkness falls like the drop of a hat but I can finally see the cabin through the trees, there's a lantern hanging by the door but otherwise it's all dark. This makes me want to ask "Are you out here alone too?"

Sophie seems a little surprised that I broke the silence. We hadn't really spoken since she found me. She clears her throat, "Yeah, it used to be me and my husband but he passed away last year…"

"I'm sorry Sophie." I can tell the wound is still fresh and she struggle a bit to keep it together. Having just been separated from Charming I know precisely what she's feeling. I can only hope he survived the battle I saw looming behind those wardrobe doors. I close my eyes feeling tears burning behind my eyelids and draw a breath to collect myself. I turn my focus back to Sophie.

"It's okay, you didn't know." There's a pause before she continues. "This was our special place where we'd get away from the world and just enjoy each other's company and get close to nature. This is the first time I'm here since he died. Back in the city it all felt so empty and he was just gone. I couldn't take it anymore so I came here to see if he was here. I mean his presence of course, I know it sounds crazy but I can feel that he is looking over me in some way, and this is where I feel closest to him."

We reached the cabin and she helped me up the steps and opened the door. As I entered she apologized, she said she didn't mean to spill her life story like that. I told her it was okay. She lit a lantern on the table and helped me sit down on the sofa.

There was an awkward silence before she says, "You can trust me you know… I can read people pretty well and I can tell you are a good person. I can also see that you are in some sort of trouble and I don't know if I can help you, but I believe we were meant to cross paths today and for what it's worth I will do my best to help you find what you are looking for." Her kind words make my eyes well up and I give her a weak smile while nodding my head.

"I know you're tired and we can talk more later after you've rested and settled in but I just wanted to reassure you that you are safe here. No one will hurt you here." She goes to a cupboard and pulls out some linens and towels and put them next to me on the sofa. I reach out and grab her by the hand.

"Thank you", I whisper. She only smiles and squeeze my hand.

A few minutes later she says, "I'm going to get some fire wood so that I can start a fire, you make yourself comfortable okay?" I nod my head and smile at her.

"Maverick will keep you company. Won't you boy?" she pats him on his back and he wags his tail.

The door closes and he comes over to me and lies down by my feet. I sigh and lean back, sinking back onto soft pillows. I can't express how good it feels, it soothes all my aching muscles. Emma has been awake for a while, she had cried out a little on the walk here but it was like she knew she had to bide her time. However, her patience was now up and she started to fuss. I switched arms so that she could take the other side. I could feel my breast ache and that was another sign that it was time for a feeding.

"Alright sweetie, dinner is coming."

I grab a pillow and stuff it under my arm so that it supports her. I open up the blanket so that it won't get in the way and pull her closer. It was just like the first time, same feeling of wonder. This time she took her time and didn't rush.

"Good girl Emma, you're so bright." With her hand once again in mine above my heart I gaze at her as my eyelids fall.

"We will be okay, we'll be okay… I trust Sophie. You and I shall never part", I manage to whisper before I drift off.

A shout out to Msynergy whose daily minifics and charming feels on my dash gave me the motivation to write down my own ideas. Thank you!

I'll try to update as soon as possible. Thanks for the reviews, favs and follows. They make me very happy and boost my self confidence xxx