Prologue

"Emma?" a tentative, small voice spoke out of the cold, dark night. I woke with a start, fearing the worst. "Henry!" escaped my lips before I could stifle the demented-sounding scream. My eyes searched for the voice. There, standing just inside my bedroom door, was my son.

"Hey, Kid. Are you okay?" I try to calm my erratic breathing and scoot upright, sitting against my pillows. After a moment of hesitating, Henry clambers up onto my bed and lays down, pulling the covers over his face. I wish he would have let me sleep on the couch, but the kid wouldn't have it. I guess he gets his stubbornness from me. "Henry?" I poke him a couple times unsure of what to do.

"I had a nightmare. She…she broke in here and I just…don't want to leave you. She's evil…she's the evil queen and you have to know that now. You broke the curse…she-" "Shh, Henry, hey. You're okay, Kid. It was just a dream." I try to wrestle him out from under the covers but he won't budge. I sit there contemplating for a minute. Before I have the chance to wrap him up in my arms and comfort him, Mary Margaret and David appear in my doorway, looking alarmed. "What's happened, Emma?" Mary Margret asks looking at the lump under my sheets and eyeing me cautiously.

"It's Henry…" I murmur back with a little too much disdain. I try to look sympathetic, she is my…mom. But calling her…mom or even Snow? This is just too weird for me. I push the thought back. "We heard yells from your room. Is he okay?" David interjects. I can't call him Dad or Charming either. How do I call my own dad "Charming"? Before I have the time to knock the thought back, Henry enters the conversation again from his hiding place. "I'm fine. Emma, can I sleep in here with you? The living room is big…and dark and…"

"Yeah, Kid. You can bunk in here with me but you should know that I hog the blankets…" Henry laughs his cute, innocent laugh. What I wouldn't give to make him laugh or smile. Mary Margret is visibly happy with my decision and Henry's laughter. David smiles down on us and I feel a pang deep down in my belly. Why does that keep happening? "Goodnight, Emma. Sweet dreams, Henry'' Chirps Mary Margret from the doorway. She wants to say something else, I can tell, but she turns her face to David. "Goodnight" he pipes in.

He seems oddly distracted, but I don't have enough energy to investigate, so I drop it even if they are acting…different. "Goodnight. Oh, and sorry for waking you both up." I reply, lying back down. I can hear the steady breathing of Henry sleeping. My eyelids are heavy and I turn over to fall asleep. "I…we…" Mary Margret stammers and I look up at her quizzically. She smiles sweetly, "Goodnight" she whispers and eases the door closed. I want to know what she was going to say, but my exhausted body wins me over before I can protest.