Chapter Text
It was a warm autumn evening, Emma was just tucking her daughter Hope into bed when she asked the inevitable question.
“Mommy, when can we go home?”
A simple, yet impossible request. Hope asked the question almost every night and still every night it broke Emma’s heart.
Home hadn’t existed for a long time.
5 months.
That’s how long it had been since Emma Swans life got turned upside down.
There home was destroyed in a fire and it took her chance at true love away from her.
Everyday was a battle, a challenge waiting to be faced. Some days she felt cursed like she was just a magnet for bad luck.
And yet amongst the darkness there was a small element of light.
She still had Henry and Hope.
They shone brightly against the darkness of the rest of her world.
That’s why it killed her to have this conversation with Hope. Loads of times she had tried to explain to Hope that they couldn’t go home anymore. That home didn’t exist anymore and neither did her father. But no matter how gently Emma tried to say it.
Hope just didn’t understand.
Hope was convinced her dad was still alive.
But he wasn’t.
Walsh died in the same fire that destroyed their apartment.
Emma stared into her big deep blue eyes trying to imagine what words she could say that might magically inspire Hope to at least try and go to Sleep.
It was already almost an hour past Hope’s bedtime. Yet the child was still wide awake. Emma had already read 3 different stories and made her a mug of warm milk but Hope was still as energetic as ever.
Tonight Hope’s current argument against sleep was that her mom wasn’t good enough at that particular characters voice and that her Dad needed to come and read the story properly.
Emma sighed heavily, placing a hand on her daughter’s shoulder.
“Let me make you a deal - if you go to sleep now, we can go to the aquarium tomorrow!”
“The aqwarium! Really? Oooh! Can we see the big fishies? Please mommy? Please.”
“Yes but only if you’ll be a good girl now and go to sleep.”
“Ok. Good night mommy.” Hope responded hurriedly, rushing under the covers, suddenly trying to get to sleep.
Despite her earlier protests Hope was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Carefully Emma left Hope’s room, being cautious not to make a sound, though not before planting a quick kiss on her daughter’s forehead and wishing her a good night.
After leaving Hope’s room she went to check on Henry.
Although the apartment wasn’t exactly huge, there was still enough space for both Henry and Hope to each have their own room.
She found Henry lying in bed, texting someone on his phone.
“Alright kid bedtime” Emma said sternly from the door of his room.
“No fair, Hope only just went to bed, I’m like 12 years older than her- how is that even close to being fair?”
“Technically Hope was supposed to be asleep an hour ago and more importantly you have that History exam tomorrow, so it’s still time for you to go to bed.”
Henry let out an exasperated sigh before finally giving in and hopefully going to sleep.
When Emma finally made it to bed the time on her clock read 12:46 it was later than ideal but ok. Recently she had also been off the idea of sleep, after being plagued by dreams of dragons, sword fights and for some reason: pirates.
The first few times she had gotten these dreams she brushed it off as just something from one of Henry’s sci-fi shows.
But they had been persistent. It was always the same characters. More than that it was one in particular that always filled her heart with longing.
A pirate captain with messy black hair, a long leaver jacket and hook for a hand.
She could never quite picture quite what he looked like. She always felt like she had met him somewhere before - but that was stupid right? It was probably just a figment of her imagination, due to the lack of sleep caused by Hope’s nightmares and the early mornings from work.
She sighed mentally at even the thought of waking at 6, she had never been a morning person. She knew she had to go to sleep soon otherwise she wouldn’t get any with Hope’s night terrors.
Against her better judgement Emma Swan closed her eyes, before she even had a moment to process things she was asleep.
The cries sent a sudden jolt of terror through her bones. A singe thought rushed through her head - Hope.
Quickly clambering out of bed, disregarding the duvet onto the floor in the process, Emma sprinted into Hope’s room.
The room was faintly illuminated the soft glowing of Hope’s unicorn night light. Upon the bed sat the young girl. Even from the doorway Emma could see the tears in Hopes eyes. She was curled up on her bed, looking absolutely terrified.
Emma swiftly made her way over to where Hope was and sat down beside her. Gently she wrapped her arms around her precious little girl. Pulling her into a tight embrace.
“Oh baby, what happened?” Emma asked softly as she brushed hopes golden curls out of her tear stained eyes.
“I-I had a b-bad d-dream again”Hope responded shakily, her voice quivering on every word.
“Do you want to tell me about it?”
Hope shook her head, she was still scared from what ever torture she was just in.
“Do you want to come sleep in momma’s bed tonight?”
That earned a little nod.
Carefully she scooped the little one into her arms, as well as a small stuffed bunny and a fluffy blanket. Hope couldn’t survive without her bunny and her blanket.
On the short walk to Emma’s room Hope had finally gained enough courage to tell her what had happened in her dream.
“Momma?” Hope spoke softly as if trying to picture the best way to word things.
“The bad lady came back.” Hope mumbled. “She’s the one that made daddy forget me.”
As they reached Emma’s room, She sat down onto the bed with Hope still in her arms.
In the moment Emma was lost for words, she knew she had to be there for Hope but Hopes dreams about her dad were practically her breaking point.
He was gone.
Permanently.
She hesitated still pondering what to say as Hope clung to her tighter. It was moments like this that made her reflect on her own childhood, she needed to make sure Hope never felt the way she had.
Looking down at her daughter’s sad eyes and worried expression, she delicately ran her fingers through Hope’s silky hair, trying to comfort her.
“Don’t worry baby everything will be ok.” She finally responded, in a tone she hoped came across as reassuring. She was just trying to imagine what someone could have said to a 4 year old version of herself to comfort her.
Honestly it sucked. Emma often felt clueless at times like this - maybe if someone conformed her when she was younger, she would have a better idea how to handle Hope’s nightmares.
Emma planted a soft kiss on Hopes forehead, silently praying that she would never feel the way Emma felt as a child.
“Everything will be ok.” She whispered more to herself than the almost asleep child resting in her arms. “It’ll work out.”
Slowly she manoeuvred Hope into a comfortable position on her bed, tucking her in with her blanket, then the duvet and then finally placing the bunny stuffy in the little girls arms.
“Good night princess.” Emma whispered, as she got into bed herself.
Tomorrow really would be a good day or at least that’s what she told herself.
Mornings in the Swan household were always hectic.
As expected, today was no exception.
Henry frantically burst in to his mom’s room.
“Mom! Henry yelled in a panic. “We’re late!”
“Henry calm down, it’s only-“ Emma started as she glanced at the clock on her bedside table. “ 6:52!”
Damn it, she overslept. (Again)
Quickly dismissing any signs of sleep, Emma was instantly in mom mode.
“Ok, Shower, clothes, teeth. I’ll get your sister up.”
“Got it.” Replied Henry as he rushed to get on with his morning.
In the mean time, Emma frantically got dressed. A simple pair of black jeans that were left laying around from the previous night. A grey tee-shirt, and her red leather jacket that always just felt right.
She decided to let Hope sleep in for a few more minutes as she had a late night. She quickly rushed into the kitchen and packed Hopes lunch (Henry had recently started having school dinners) and quickly made sandwiches as a quick breakfast to eat in the car.
Then she promptly rushed into Hopes room and grabbed a quick outfit ready for Hopes day at Preschool. She then ran back into her room and started getting Hope dressed. Hope was still asleep and probably would remain so until they reached the preschool. It was just quicker on days like this for Emma to get Hope dressed while she remained asleep. So she didn’t have to deal with the battle of Hope deciding she was old enough to get her self dressed. (Which normally consisted of missed matched socks and inside out tops.)
“C’mon Mom!” Henry yelled from the kitchen.
“Coming kid!”
She scooped Hope up onto her side and carried her out into the kitchen.
Upon reaching the kitchen she noticed Hopes lunchbox sitting on the counter.
“Do you have everything?”
“I think so.”
“Good Enough, here take a sandwich and get Hope into the car.” Emma responded quickly before passing a sleepy Hope into Henry’s arms and then handing him 2 sandwiches.
As Henry went to leave Emma called out from being him. “Hey kid, love you - oh and keys!” Emma said as she quickly picked them up off the table and passed them to him.
“Thanks mom.” Henry said over his shoulder as he left the apartment and headed to the car.
After Emma watched the last of the kids head out of the door, she quickly rushed to Hopes room, grabbed her backpack, and shoved her matching lunchbox inside. Then quickly went to Henry’s room to check if he had left something obvious inside.
After a quick glance, she was satisfied that Henry had managed to get everything. Then went to lock up the apartment and meet the kids at the car.
When she arrived downstairs Henry had managed to get Hope into her car seat and was waiting in the front passenger seat, reading a revision guide, while waiting for Emma to arrive.
After a quick knock on the window Henry let her into the car.
Once seated, she checked if both of her kids had their seatbelt on - they did, then they were ready. As she turned the key she stole a brief glance at the clock 7:14.
16 mins to get Henry to school.
This was possible. Albeit he would be slightly late.
On the 18 minute drive Emma asked Henry practice questions ready for his exam today.
When they arrived at school Emma wished Henry luck with the test today and they bid their farewells.
Once Henry left Emma drove Hope to Preschool.
At a red light she looked up at Hope still peacefully sleeping in the rearview mirror of the car.
Hope’s nightmares were getting worse.
Ever since the fire Hope’s dreams had been plagued with night terrors.
Her limited medical experience told her it was a trauma response from loosing her father and home.
Her mind continued to fill with worries about Hope as she drove up to the Preschool. Once again glancing at the clock she was relieved to find out that they still had a few more minutes before Hope had to be inside.
After they parked she went and sat in the back of the car and started trying to get Hope up for the day.
“C’mon baby, it’s morning.” Emma said calmly as she gently tried to shake Hope awake.
“N-no I wanna Sweep.” Emma smiled to herself at her daughter’s cute way of saying things. She had made a mental promise to herself years ago to never take her kids for granted.
She tried shaking her again and watched as Hopes eyes screwed shut fighting for the last few moments of sleep.
As always Hope was a fairly light sleeper, (something she probably got from her dad, as Henry and Herself could practically sleep through anything) but she hated mornings- which was undoubtably something from her mother.
Emma sighed to herself she was going to have to give in to the ultimate way to wake Hope up. Cautiously she reached down and grabbed Hopes precious toy bunny from the girls arms.
“Noooo, give her back!” Hope said angrily, now suddenly awake, as a soft pout appeared on her face.
“Here you go baby.” Emma said warmly passing the stuffy back to Hope as if she hadn’t just taken it from her a few moments prior.
Hope immediately wrapped her arms around the bunny, gently kissing its fluffy grey forehead.
“Ok kiddo, it’s time for school.”
“No fair- you said we could go to the aquarium.”
This kid normally had a memory of a goldfish except for when it was something she wanted.
“Yes we can go to the aquarium but only after school.” Emma said in her best don’t argue with me voice.
It didn’t work.
“But I wanna go now.” Hope whined.
“We can baby- just later.”
Hope looked like she was about to cry.
“I’ll get you ice cream later.”
Finally the young girl was convinced.
“Oki momma.” Hope smiled mischievously.
She had just been played by a 4 year old.
Work was boring.
Nothing eventful happened today - it happens. Despite having a job that is supposedly more exciting than average. There are still dull days filled with paperwork.
As it was a slow day she was able to get off work on time to pick up Hope.
When she arrived at the Preschool she waited anxiously for Hope. Recently Hope had been struggling to go to sleep at nap times and had been disrupting the other kids. Meaning that sometimes the staff had to call her in to pick Hope up early.
Today thankfully, Hope had lasted the whole day. She just hoped that her little angel hadn’t caused too much trouble.
When the crowd of kids erupted from the front of school she was easily able to spot Hope’s blonde hair.
The little one raced towards her engulfing her with a hug.
“Did you have a good day sweetie?” Emma asked as she bent down to Hopes eye level.
“Yep! Aquarium time!!” Hope said excitedly.
“Ok baby let’s go.”
As reluctant as she was to take Hope to the aquarium, she had promised the girl and she knew it would be a bad message to install in her that you could go back on a promise.
And after everything that had happened Hope needed a break.
With everything going on, Emma had basically given in to all the girls demands. She knew that this was not a great message to send to her but the girl had just lost her father - if a day at the aquarium made her feel better then that’s what they’d do.
For some reason Hope absolutely loved the aquarium. She loved looking at all the fishes and marvelled at all the amazing other creatures. The only creature she didn’t like were the crocodiles.
For some reason completely unknown to Emma, Hope despised the crocodile attraction.
They spent a few hours looking at all the fish and then as they went to leave they stopped by the gift shop.
Emma hated how they always put the gift shop by the exit. This meant that Hope got a chance to look around and would probably beg her for some overpriced trinket that she would play with once and then forget about forever.
As Hope browsed the shelves for something to purchase, Emma wondered how Henry had done in his History exam. Henry was one of those kids who was practically perfect at everything he tried. This meant that all the best colleges would want him and he deserved to go somewhere nice. Which meant more money that Emma didn’t have. Living in New York was expensive enough without adding on the extra cost of college tuitions.
Before she managed to get too bummed out about the cost of raising 2 kids in a busy city Hope returned with her chosen item and held it up in front of her mother’s face. (Or as high as a 4 year old could reach)
Emma stared at the object taking it in, it was an unusual object for a child to pick out. It was very detailed, looked fairly well made- therefore expensive.
The object of choice was a pirate ship in a bottle.
She then looked at the price tag that was tied round the neck of the bottle using faded string.
$15, not too bad but not exactly cheep.
She looked down at Hopes big blue eyes that were pleading with her to let her buy it.
“Pwease momma.” Hope said absolutely adorably.
This kid had her wrapped around her finger.
They excited the aquarium, pirate ship in hand and Emma slightly wanting to kill Henry for teaching Hope puppy dog eyes.
The gift shop lead out onto the harbour where a stream of boats sprawled out for what could have been infinitely.
Hope of course wanted to look at them.
As they made their way past all the boats of different sizes Hope meticulously studied all of them.
“You looking for something kid?” Emma asked rhetorically not actually expecting an answer.
“I’m looking for Daddy’s boat.” Hope responded in all seriousness.
“Hope, your daddy doesn’t own a boat.” Emma said kindly, thinking of the mental image of Walsh owning any form of boat- that guy hated water.
“Yes he does!” Hope said gesturing to the ship in a bottle Emma was holding. “It looks like that one- it’s just way bigger!” Hope said in protest.
Emma signed. They would probably need to go pick up Henry soon.
Just as Emma started to respond to Hopes madness, she felt her phone vibrate from her pocket.
She passed the ship in a bottle to Hope so she could answer her phone and also keep ahold of her daughter.
The phone call was work.
Apparently she would have to come in later for an ‘ emergency ’.
After hanging up and returning the phone to her pocket she returned her focus to Hope who was still fixated on the different boats.
“C’mon baby, it’s time to go pick up your brother.”
“Fine.” Hope said reluctantly as Emma practically dragged her away from the boats.
On the way back to the car, something in one of the shops, that lined the street, had caught Hope’s eye. Instinctively the young girl stopped and stared at it.
Emma turned to look at Hope when she realised that she had stopped moving.
“Kiddo, where going to have to keep moving if we want to get your brother on time.”
Hope’s feet remained firmly planted in the ground.
Emma followed Hope’s eyeline to what she was staring at.
In the thrift store window, sat the item of Hope’s interest. It was a necklace, a rather pretty one at that. It was silver and had a blue gemstone, it was actually rather nice. Emma saw why it had captivated Hope’s attention.
She bent down and to look at Hope so they were eye level. And carefully explained to her that they couldn’t get it as Hope had already gotten the ship in a bottle toady.
Hope looked at her with big baby doll eyes, as well her bright blue orbs started welling up with tears.
Emma felt bad about having to go to work later.
As expected they left the shop with the necklace in tow. Hope was babbling about how pretty it was. Emma was just relieved it was only $5- that could have been so much worse.
When they reached the car Hope was ecstatic. Whereas Emma was exhausted, on days like today she wished she had some help with Hope’s antics. Then maybe she would have had the emotional energy to resist all of Hope’s requests. As Emma buckled Hope into her car seat she took notice of the sliver necklace that Hope was wearing, it really was incredibly beautiful, the gemstone even matched Hopes eyes perfectly.
As Emma got into the drivers set Hope was still rambling about their day at the aquarium. Then Hope’s expression changed.
“Momma when are we going to see Daddy again?” Hope asked sadly. “I wanna give him the pwesent.”
“What present is that baby?” Emma asked as it was easier than facing the first part of the question.
“The piwat ship!” Hope said as if it was obvious.
“Sweetheart, is that why you got it?” Emma asked, a twinge of sadness tugging at her vocal cords.
“Yep! When can I give it to him?”
Emma felt horrible, she was proud of how thoughtful her daughter could be but was still weighed down by the fact Hope still believed her father could come back.
“Let’s just start by getting your brother.” If they didn’t get going soon they would be late picking up Henry. Emma added, trying to avoid thinking about what Hope just said.
The drive was fortunately uneventful.
Emma still felt bad every time she looked in her review mirror and saw a sad looking Hope, but they made it to Henry’s school without her making too much of a fuss.
Henry instantly spotted the yellow bug, it was easily distinguishable from the other assortment of cars.
He got in to the front passenger seat, and was greeted by Hope proudly showing off her new purchases and Emma asking how his exam went.
His exam went well, he said he’d struggled with the last question slightly but told her it should be fine.
Emma asked if he could watch Hope as she had to work late. Henry obliged as he didn’t have much choice, but managed to convince Emma that they should have pizza for dinner.
Emma dropped the kids off at the apartment said her goodbyes and headed off to work.
Henry was used to watching Hope when their mother had to work. Today he had permission to let her watch Tv and order a pizza so he was definitely winning.
He got Hope settled in the couch and opened Disney+.
“What do you want to watch today?”
“Hmmmmmm.” Hope contemplated it, like it was the biggest decision In the world. “Can we watch the one with the piwats?”
“Hmm, the one with the pirates?” Henry repeated mockingly pretending he didn’t know what movie Hope was referring to.
“Yess, the one with the flying boat!” Hope said exasperatedly.
Henry went on to Hope’s profile and selected the movie from her continue watching section (which the movie literally never left) and the pressed play from beginning button.
The movie in question was Tinkerbell and the pirate fairy, Hope had seen it an obnoxious amount of times. To the point everyone was sick of it except for Hope.
Henry then went and sat down in the kitchen, ordered a pizza, then got to work on his homework.
A few moments later Henry heard a noise coming from the couch “When is food going to be done?” Said Hope loudly.
“The food will be done when it’s done.” Henry yelled back.
“But I’m boooored” said Hope flopping back onto the couch.
Henry chose to ignore her in favour of continuing to work on his homework.
Until he heard the padding of little feet running across the wooden floor, then felt the familiar feeling of Hope tugging on his jumper to get his attention.
“Yes?” Henry asked reluctantly.
“I’m hungry.”
“Yes, well we have to wait for the pizza delivery guy.”
“But he’s taking fowever.”
“Why don’t we do something while we wait?”
“Can we do colouring?”
“Sure.”
Henry turned off the tv and went to help Hope get her colouring stuff set up on the table. He put a few sheets of paper down underneath the main one Hope was planning to draw on. Emma nearly killed him last time Hope had gotten maker on the table- thankfully they were able to get most of it off.
Hope sat opposite him at the table and started drawing. Hope was remarkably talented at drawing for a 4 year old.
She had moved past the basics of stick figures and crayons. Instead preferring colouring pencils and markers - and on a rare occasion: paint.
Hope always got super focused on whatever she was drawing. Her tongue was poking out the corner of her mouth, like it did whenever she was concentrating especially hard on something.
“What are you drawing?” Henry asked somewhat intrigued.
“Secwet.”
“Are you really not going to tell your own brother?” Henry asked pretending to be offended.
“Nope.”
Henry grabbed the paper off of Hope.
“Give it back!”
Henry studied the picture, trying to work out what the little characters were. The one with long yellow spaghetti looking hair was definitely mom, the little one with similar shorter blonde hair was Hope and he was able to recognise himself as he had seen enough of Hope’s drawings.
But what he didn’t understand were all the other people. There were an additional 5 people Henry had no idea about.
On the left side near Emma, there were 2 people stood together, one with short back hair and one with short brown hair, as well a small child stood between them.
On the right near Henry there was a woman dressed in all black with black hair.
And finally next to Emma there was someone who Hope had clearly spent the most time on. It looked like one of the characters from her movies.
He had black hair and his hand was scribbled in grey.
The drawing was confusing despite the clear time had spent on it.
“Do you like it?” Hope asked, she was staring at Henry impatiently from the opposite side of the table.
“Yea it’s great Hope, but who are these people.”
Hope snatched the drawing back and started listening the different people.
“That one is grandma, that one grandpa, that’s uncle Neal. Then that one’s Mommy, daddy’s next to her, then it’s me and you. Then it’s auntie Regina.”
“Hope who are these people?”
“That one is grandma, that one is gran-“
“Hope that’s not what I meant.”
“Oh.” Hope sighed. “What did you mean then?”
“Hope, we don’t know half of these people.” Henry said calmly.
“Yes we do.”
“No we don’t.”
“Yes we do.”
“We don’t.”
“Do!”
“Don’t!”
“We do! We do! We do!”
“We don’t.”
“We do!” Hope practically yelled. “They live in Storybrooke.”
“Do you mean inside your storybook?”
“No it’s real, it’s where home is! Hope was basically in tears at this point. “It’s where Daddy is!”
“Hope your Dad is dead!” Henry yelled back frustrated.
“No!” Screamed Hope, before chucking the drawing on the table and running off to her room.
“Hope, wait, I-I didn’t mean.” Henry sighed in frustration, that was not what he meant. He looked again at the picture- then in moment of realisation he wondered if this could be related to Hope’s dreams? He knew about Hope’s dreams, as he was in the room next door, when Mom was out he often had to deal with them himself.
His thoughts were interrupted by the familiar ringing of the doorbell.
Great timing, couldn’t this have been before he yelled at Hope?
He grabbed a couple of 20s off of the counter, which mom had left for situations like this.
Then went to collect the pizza.
After retrieving the pizza, he sat it down on the table, carefully brushing his homework and Hope’s art supplies to the side. Then went to go find and apologise to his sister.
He found her curled up on her bed, cuddling her bunny.
“Hope, foods here.”
“Not hungry.” Hope said through sniffles.
Henry went and sat beside her.
“Look Hope, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped like that.” Henry said apologetically.
“I wanna go home.” Hope cried.
Henry was fighting the urge to call Emma and get her to calm Hope down.
“Hope, c’mon let’s go eat pizza.”
“No.”
“Hope, I know you’re mad at me but why don’t you come and eat something.”
“No.”
“Hope.”
“I want Mom.”
“Mom’s at work.”
“I want Mom.” Hope repeated.
“Let’s go eat something.”
“I want Mom.”
“Hope, Mom is at work, let’s go eat some pizza before it gets cold- I know you’re hungry.”
Hope said nothing in reply just buried her face in her hands.
“If we go now, I’ll take you home later.” As much as Henry knew lying was wrong, this was the only way the could think of to convince Hope. Besides she would probably forget about this after dinner.
Finally Hope looked up meeting Henry’s eyes.
“Really?” Hope said with a mix of surprise, sadness and eagerness.
“Sure.”
Hope instantly ran into the kitchen and took her seat at the table. Henry followed behind, slowly realising that Hope may not forget about the promise so easily after all.
That was going to have to be a problem for future Henry. Right now he was just glad Hope was actually going to eat something.
After dinner Henry put the leftover pizza slices in the fridge, ready for when Mom got Home.
Hope was getting really excited about the trip and to Henry’s dismay she hadn’t forgotten about it at all. She spent all of diner gushing about how much fun it was going to be.
During diner Emma had texted saying that she would be back around 1 and asked Henry to please handle Hope’s bedtime, promising him $20 if he was able to get her to actually go to sleep at a fairly resonance hour.
So Henry’s current plan of action was to convince Hope to put on her pyjamas by saying that they would only go once she had gotten changed. Then after that he would say that it was to late to go now. And that they would leave first thing in the morning. Hopefully she would have forgotten about that by then or at the very least Mom would be there to deal with Hope.
“Henry. Henry. Henry!” Hope yelled impatiently from next to Henry. “Can we go now?”
Henry looked down at Hope, she was dressed like she was about to go out, she had her purple hoodie over her pale green teeshirt and black leggings, she had also her shoes on.
This wasn’t part of the plan.
“Yes, but only after you’ve got your pyjamas on.” Henry said responding to Hopes question, trying to remind himself that this was not actually a real trip.
“But I don’t wanna.” Hope sighed. “I Wanna go now.”
“We can go soon” Henry explained. “But only after you’ve gotten changed.”
“I wanna go now!”
“Hope.”
“I want to see my dad!” Hope yelled.
Hope was frustrated. It felt like all the grown ups around her were oblivious. She was sad she hadn’t seen her dad in 5 months. And whenever she asked about him people just avoided the topic.
“I wish to see my dad!” Hope yelled. As tears started to flow out of her eyes.
Just then the silver necklace she was still wearing started to glow.
It was faint to start but the gemstone slowly began to glow brighter until it illuminated the whole room. Engulfing Hope completely.
Henry watched on in terror, before he had to cover his eyes from the light.
When he finally removed his hands Hope was gone.
It was like she had vanished.
What the hell?
“Hope?” Henry asked.
“Hope!” Henry called out again.
“HOPE!” Henry yelled in a panic.
He frantically looked around for Hope, praying that this was just some elaborate game of hide and seek to her.
Then he saw it.
In place of where Hope had stood was the necklace.
Henry picked it up. Staring at it, he looked at the once blue gemstone which was now a dusty white colour.
“Where have you taken my sister!” He yelled at it.
He sounded insane.
He felt insane.
Hope was missing and it was all his fault.
His mind tried to remember exactly what happened only a few seconds ago.
The necklace had taken Hope.
How the hell do you explain that to the cops?
How the hell was he going to explain that to Mom?
Shit. Mom. She was going to kill him.
She would be home in like 3 hours. What would he even say?
That Hope was missing?
That she got eaten by the necklace?
This was insane.
This was the type of thing that happened in books or films - not in real life. Right?
He tried retracing his steps.
Hope was yelling. Then she wanted her dad.
“I wish to see my dad!”
Did the necklace respond to Hope’s wish?
That was crazy.
Even if it did Hope’s dad was dead, so where would she even go?
Henry pushed the thought away as quickly as it appeared.
Hope was alive - she had to be.
He tried looking around the apartment.
He searched the living room, kitchen, bathroom and all the bedrooms. Then he checked again. This time slower. He searched all the rooms in detail.
Nothing.
It’s like she disappeared.
Maybe she had run off or something? Henry thought as a final rationalisation trying to make sense of what had just happened. She could have just left the apartment or something - right?
Mom would be home in around 3 hours meaning he had less than that to find Hope, bring her back, and get her to bed. Then everything would be fine, Mom wouldn’t have to know.
Henry quickly grabbed his coat and flashlight and went off in search of Hope.
He checked all the floors of the apartment building and finally the roof, unsurprisingly no sign of Hope, this most likely meant that she had wondered off into the city. A whole new wave of worry washed over Henry, thinking about all the kinds of horrible things that could have happened to her in his absence.
Henry was unsure of where exactly Hope would go to find her father or even if that’s where she had gone in the first place. That’s why he started his search in the park across the road. Knowing how much his sister loved that place made it an easy first choice on where to look. But still no Hope.
As Henry’s torch slowly lit up the equipment showing no further sign of Hope, Henry slowly lost faith in finding Hope. Once satisfied that the park was empty Henry started wondering the streets looking for Hope.
He didn’t really have much of an idea where Hope would have gone, other than the longer it took for him to search the further she could have gone.
He worried that Hope could have crossed the road on her own, been taken or some other worse fate. He needed to find his sister.
Hope had never been allowed out on her own, so it made it difficult to predict where exactly she would have gone, even if Henry knew where she was headed, she still could have gotten lost or have gone the wrong way.
This was bad. Very bad.
What if he’d gone the wrong way, what if Hope had wondered off down some alley? She had been missing for just over an hour now - in that time she could be miles away by now or asleep on some random bench just waiting for someone to find her. It was that final thought that made Henry keep searching… that undeniable feeling that Hope was just around some corner.
That she would be safe.
He just had to keep looking.
Emma Swan was exhausted. It was 1:30 in the morning when she finally managed to catch the guy and she was ready to go straight to sleep.
She hoped that both her kids were soundly asleep and that Hope hadn’t been too much trouble for Henry.
She also hoped that he wasn’t up waiting for her. It would be like 2 am before she finally got home.
Her worst case scenario was either that Hope had kept Henry up waiting for her or that Hope had woken up from another nightmare and Henry had been unable to comfort her.
As she pulled up to the apartment building she was filled with a sense of impending dread. Although she couldn’t put her finger on why.
In the elevator these feelings only escalated. She tried to rationalise them.
It didn’t work.
As she turned the key in the lock, nothing could have prepared her for what was about to happen.
The apartment was in pure darkness and the air smelled faintly like pizza. She switched on the light switch by the door and was relieved to not see either of her kids, meaning they were both asleep.
She dumped her coat and bags by the door and went do go check on her daughter first.
Hopes room was only visible through the thin slit of light coming through the door, Emma avoided turning on the light to avoid the risk of waking the sleeping child so it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness.
She was slightly worried when she didn’t see Hope immediately, quickly turning on the light to make sure she was certain that her daughter definitely wasn’t here.
No sign of Hope.
Quickly looking around the room, she didn’t see any trace of her daughter.
Ok, so Hope wasn’t in her room. She could just be in Henry’s room with her brother or something - in case she had a bad dream. Emma thought trying to justify this. There was no need for unnecessary panic, right?
She swiftly made her way into Henry’s room believing that she would find both her kids asleep.
That didn’t happen.
Instead, Henry’s room was just as empty as Hopes. Emma’s panic levels started to rise, could something have happened to her kids?
She was only gone a few hours, they should be fine.
Emma went to check her own room next choosing to believe that maybe they were asleep in her room because Hope missed her or something similar.
Still nothing.
The silence of the apartment just started to become spooky, a place where just a few hours ago was filled with excitement was now dead silent. This never happened.
Finally Emma gave up and called Henry.
That kid always had his phone on him, at least now he could offer some form of explanation. She was willing to waver any threats of grounding him as a punishment she would just be happy knowing they were safe.
She headed Henry’s phone ringing from the other room.
She never thought she would be relieved to think her kids were hiding in the lounge to jump out and scare her.
When she got closer to the lounge she called out. “Ok, very funny you can come out now.”
Nothing.
90% of the time in hide and seek Hope lets out a small giggle revealing her hiding spot.
Silence.
After turning on the lounge light she was able to see that Henry had abandoned his phone on the coffee table.
Damn.
Thankfully, that meant they were hiding around here.
At least that’s what she told herself as she searched the entire room. She really thought she would found them when she saw the bulge in the curtain- nope just one of Hopes toys.
They could still be hiding around here sometimes though.
Instinctively she went to Hopes room to check it again, to see if she miraculously appeared in there, she knew in her gut Hope wasn’t there but it didn’t hurt to try again.
As expected Hopes room was empty. The only trace of Hope was her little bunny that was still on the bed from where she had abandoned it earlier.
Emma delicately scooped up the bunny and held it close to her heart. As a single tear spilled down her cheek. She wiped it off quickly with her sleeve. Tears wouldn’t bring her kids back.
For the next half an hour Emma searched the whole apartment top to bottom without finding anything.
Fortunately her search was interrupted when she heard the sound of the door.
Making her way back into the kitchen she saw a very disheveled looking Henry sit down at the table with a look of absolute defeat plastered over his face.
“Henry? Emma asked with a mix of sympathy and concern. “Where’s Hope?”
“Mom…” Henry started not ready to meet her eyes, as if he was absolutely terrified of what he was about to say next. “Hope is missing.”
“What?” Emma asked, not being able to process this information straight away, despite having almost come to this realisation herself.
“Hope is missing.” Henry repeated in the calmest voice he could muster.
“How did this even happen?”Emma asked, only now just realising the gravity of what Henry had just said.
“I don’t know!” Henry snapped back out of exhaustion. “She was here then she went- I don’t know, I was just out looking for her. I’m really worried about her Mom. I think that weird necklace thing took her.”
“Henry-“
“I know what this sounds like - I’m not crazy!” Henry shouted.
“I-I don’t think you’re crazy.” Emma replied, she didn’t know what to think but her superpower told her Henry was telling the truth.
Hope was missing? That was a lot to take in. Even that was in understatement. Emma’s mind was racing, frantically trying to guess what had happened.
“Henry, what happened?” Emma asked in the calmest voice she could muster.
Henry began to recount the day’s events, he even showed her the drawing and the white necklace.
When he was finished Emma felt numb. Hope, her baby, was missing. She had no idea what to do.
“Have you called the police yet?”
“No.”
“Why don’t you head to bed and I’ll call them?” Emma tried her best to be reassuring, she was still impeccably worried for Hope and Henry clearly was too.
“I can’t go to sleep until I know Hope is safe.” Henry replied.
“I know kid, but at least try.”
Henry eventually conceded, he was too tired for this.
After Henry went to bed, Emma phoned 911 and an officer came round, after what felt like hours later - in reality it was less than 10 minutes but to Emma it could have been years.
She told the officer everything she knew, what Hope was wearing, showed him photos of her, Hopes drawing and the necklace. Literally anything she could think of that could be of any use to him, to help bring her daughter back.
In response she was told that they would look for her, to not worry and that they would call her if anything changed.
Emma felt powerless.
The police had been useless.
After the officer had gone she collapsed into a pile of tears on the kitchen floor. Crying was normally something she avoided at all costs. It was pointless and wouldn’t help find Hope. But after everything that happened the tears just won’t stop.
It wasn’t just that Hope was missing, it was like all the pain she had felt over her life just overflowed.
She wasn’t sure how long she sat there crying.
Eventually she built up the strength to go check on Henry, unsurprisingly he was still awake.
She filled him on what the police had said.
A short while later she forced herself to go to bed, knowing that in her sleep deprived state she would be useless at finding Hope.
For some reason she kept expecting Hope to burst into her room with another nightmare or to suddenly get her crying out. That didn’t happen.
After just over an hour of lying in bed not sleeping, she gave up on the idea entirely.
She needed to find Hope.
Her clock said it was 4:30am and the early morning sun rays peaking into her room confirmed this.
She quickly pulled on a jacket over her pyjamas and left Henry a note saying that she would be back soon.
She began her search at the park.
It was completely empty given the early hour, which made it easier to tell that Hope clearly wasn’t there. She had already presumed that Henry had checked here last night but it didn’t hurt to recheck especially since Hope could have shown up in the few hours since Henry was there.
As expected nothing.
For the next couple hours she looked around the nearby streets. She didn’t find Hope:
Her next idea was the harbour.
She wasn’t quite sure how Hope would have gotten to the harbour knowing her daughter had absolutely no idea how to get there but assumed that the police checked all the areas directly around their apartment.
She drove the short distance to the harbour, and parked in the same place as yesterday. Emma passed all the same shops, it felt weird being here without Hope. She remembered how Hope had begged her for that necklace yesterday, according to Henry it was that necklace that had taken her. That was nonsense right? Hope had just wondered off.
Without Hope, the harbour just felt empty, despite the early morning sailors or fishermen tending to their boat.
Whenever Hope was here she was always looking for something, Hope mentioned yesterday that it was her father’s boat but Emma was clueless about why she thought her dad owned a boat.
Emma looked around for the boat that looked the most like a pirate ship - assuming that Hope would been drawn to such a boat.
Much to Emma’s disappointment there weren’t any boats that looked much like a pirate ship or anything like a pirate ship for that matter.
So Emma left the harbour missing her baby even more than before.
It wasn’t like Hope to just run off.
Hope had never done anything close to this before.
Emma tried to think of where Hope would run off to. She knew her daughter liked the aquarium, park and harbour that was about it. Hope wasn’t the hugest fan of New York.
Hope much preferred where they lived before.
Could she have gone back?
No- that was impossible, how would a 4 year old get to Boston.
If Hope was so desperate to find her father it wasn’t too much of a stretch to think she wanted to go to Boston. However it was so hard to believe that Hope had actually made it to Boston.
Boston was 4 hours away no way Hope made it there.
So where could Hope go, that would make her think she could go to Boston.
She was far too young for getting a bus or a taxi. And if she spent too long wondering around the streets she would enviably be found by the police. Unless something happened. The last one was the main reason Emma was out searching. She knew her daughter. She knew where she would go. Or at least she thought she did.
Hope wasn’t anywhere.
And she hadn’t heard anything back for the police yet.
Reluctantly she went home. She needed to check on Henry and now it was a more reasonable hour she could ask the neighbours if they’d seen or heard anything.
She found Henry hidden under his duvet surprisingly asleep.
Henry still had school today. Despite everything going wrong, life continued.
She really didn’t want to have to send Henry to school today. He probably only had an hour of sleep. She looked again at her sleeping son, he still looked so tired.
She made the decision a few moments later to not send Henry into school.
Honestly, between the long night and worry for Hope, she wasn’t in a fit state to drive him anyway.
She called his school and told them there was a family emergency and Henry wouldn’t be in today. She also called Hopes preschool and said the same thing. The second call nearly broke her to make.
With Henry still asleep Emma went to question the neighbours.
Henry awoke a couple hours later, he had slept poorly and had been waking up suddenly every few hours in a panic. He had probably only slept for around 4 hours total.
As he made is way into the kitchen, he found the note Emma had left saying she had gone out to look for Hope.
And given the fact she wasn’t back yet it meant she was still missing.
Great.
Henry blamed himself for what happened.
If he had just taken better care of her then all of this could have been avoided. If he had just… no placing blame didn’t bring Hope back. He searched his memory for what felt like the infinite time reliving that terrible moment. Hope had just vanished.
He needed to go out and search for her. He needed to do something.
Just as he was about to leave he ran into Emma who was just returning from questioning the neighbours.
“Anything?” Henry asked already expecting her to say no.
She just shook her head in response.
“Have you eaten anything yet?” Emma asked.
“No. But we need to go find Hope.”
“Burning your self out isn’t going to help us find Hope.”
Henry slumped down into one of the kitchen chairs.
Emma joined him in the kitchen, they both sat in silence, clueless about what to say.
“I’m sorry.” Henry said in a shaky voice finally breaking the silence.
“I know kid.” Emma replied in a fairly tired voice. “But this was not your fault.” She finished while she placed her hand over his.
“We will find her.”
The next day nothing had changed.
Hope was still missing.
Emma had forced Henry to go to school despite neither of them getting much sleep and she had gone out in the night to do another search.
The police had been less than helpful, the only thing she had heard back was that they had expanded the search area or in other words they hadn’t found anything.
Despite her skills at finding people Emma hadn’t found anything either. Wherever Hope was she wouldn’t be easy to find.
Which is why Emma insisted on sending Henry into school so she could test out her last possible idea of where Hope could be.
Boston.
She didn’t know how a 4 year old would have made it all the way to their old house but she knew that’s where Hope would be headed. Hope was determined to get home she had been asking about it every night.
So with Henry safe at school Emma drove the 4 hours to Boston.
As she approached her old apartment building she just started to realise how crazy this was. Hope wouldn’t be here that would be impossible. She should be at home looking for her or doing something helpful. Here even if the police manage to find Hope it would be at least 4 hours before they would be reunited. And Emma knew how much it sucked waiting in police stations, from the amount of time she spent in them as a child.
Still it didn’t hurt to check out the place while she was here.
She hadn’t stepped foot in Boston since the fire. She didn’t even know if the building was still there. Luckily from the looks of things the apartment complex where she used to live was still there. Also it showed no signs of fire damage, meaning they likely rebuilt.
Emma was nervous as she made her way to her old apartment despite knowing Hope wouldn’t be there. This place reminded her too much of the past. She carried the pain of loosing her husband with her everyday. This was just a reminder of that.
The apartment looked identical to how she remembered as if the fire had never happened. More than before she wanted to turn back, to go back and check somewhere closer to home but against her better judgment she knocked on the door.
A young woman answered the door - she looked to be in around her early 20s and had dark brown hair tied up onto a pony tail. “Can I help you?” She asked.
“I’m looking for my daughter, her name is Hope. She’s 4, blond hair, last seen wearing a purple hoodie. Have you seen her.”
“No, sorry I haven’t seen anyone.”
“Oh, sorry for bothering you.”
“No problem, do you want me to call you if I see anything?”
“Don’t worry, it was a long shot her being here anyway, it was just that we used to live here, that’s all.”
“Ah, how long ago was that, because I’ve lived here pretty much since the building was built.”
“5 months ago.”
“5 months, are you sure? Because I’ve been living here for just over a year. Did you maybe get the wrong apartment number?”
Emma double checked the apartment number, yep this was definitely the place from her memories.
“Well, sorry again for bothering you.”
As Emma made her way to the car she was confused as hell. That was the apartment from her memories but the timeline just didn’t match up. She had lived there for years before the fire and yet the person who lived there now claims to have lived there longer.
The building didn’t show any signs of fire damage either. The person hadn’t been lying either, Emma had used her superpower.
This is was strange.
Once she was in her car she sent a text to Henry saying she would be late picking him up and she hadn’t heard anything about Hope yet.
She would be like an hour late by the time she reached New York.
Henry most likely wouldn’t see the text until after school because of the no phone rule so it wasn’t surprising when her message didn’t send.
This whole trip had been a waste of time.
4 hours later Emma arrived at Henry’s school. Normally when Emma’s running late she sends Henry a text an and he’ll hang out in the school library until she’s able to pick him up. Emma checked her phone, strange, he still hadn’t seen her message. Presuming he’d gone to the library anyway she sent him a text saying she was outside.
Not delivered.
She tried calling him.
You’ve reached Henry’s voicemail leave a me-
He probably still had his phone on silent.
Next she tried calling the school, to see if they could get a message to him.
The school office picked up the phone almost immediately, “Hello this is (school name here)’s reception, how can I help you?”
“Hi I was wondering if you could get a message to Henry Swan, tell him I’m waiting outside.”
“Henry Swan.” She heard the receptionist repeat to herself as she typed something into her computer. “Oh, I’m sorry that student never arrived in school today, perhaps I’ve gotten the name wrong- it was Henry Swan right?”
“Yes that’s his name, what do you mean he never arrived? I dropped him off earlier today.”
“I’m sorry but he’s not on our registers for today.”
And with that the office lady hung up the phone.
Emma tried calling Henry’s phone again.
This wasn’t like him.
Once again he didn’t pick up.
He could have just gone home right? Or back out to search for Hope?
He was probably fine.
The drive back to the apartment felt like it could have gone on for years. Henry had to be at home. He just had to be.
Emma quickly parked the car and raced up the stairs to the apartment. Bursting down the door and calling out for Henry.
Silence.
She called out again. Still nothing.
Closing the door behind her she rushed into Henry’s room finding it identical to how he’d left it earlier.
Just as she had yesterday she checked all the rooms for her son.
He wasn’t here.
Again she tried calling his phone only to be met with his voicemail. Wherever he was he clearly didn’t want to be found.
Emma knew that Henry would be out searching for Hope. What she didn’t know is why he’d turned his phone on silent. Emma would understand it if he’d just done it to ditch school- she’d be mad but would understand- but he had just vanished.
She had gone out to search for Henry and Hope thinking that she would most likely run into him while he was out searching for Hope.
Also she had probably sent him a dozen or so texts and calls trying to find him.
Unlike with Hope, Emma hadn’t reported Henry’s disappearance to the police for 2 main reasons. 1) she didn’t want to believe he was actually missing, if she reported it then it would suddenly become real instead of just Henry doing typical teenage stuff. 2) She knew that if both her kids were reported missing less than 24 after each other then she may risk getting a visit from cps. And she did not want any chance of her kids ending up in the system.
Besides Henry had only been missing for like an hour. (Not including the 8 hours before that, when he was supposed to be in school.) If Henry wasn’t back in the morning then she would inform the police, but until then Emma remained focused on the idea that she would find her kids.
At 7:30 pm Emma returned to the apartment. Exhausted. She had been out looking for her kids, and had found nothing in the process. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had slept.
And she had to stay awake because what if the police called and she didn’t wake up to hear the phone or what if Henry suddenly came back?
Emma made her way to the coffee machine where she made her at least fifth cup of coffee that day.
Where she couldn’t help but wonder if this would always be her fate.
To wind up alone.
Everyone she’d ever loved had left her.
Her parents.
Dozens of foster family’s.
Neal.
Her husband.
Now her kids.
It wasn’t fair.
No. Her kids hadn’t abandoned her, they were out there. Possibly alone and scared. She would find them.
At 10:30 Emma reluctantly returned to the apartment.
Emma had slept maybe a total of 5 minutes since Hopes disappearance and still hadn’t heard anything back from Henry.
She still hasn’t heard anything back from the police.
Hope had been missing for almost 2 whole days.
And Henry had been missing for just over 14 hours.
Not knowing anything and feeling powerless was slowly killing Emma.
She forced herself to eat something, after a very short meal and 2 cups of coffee Emma was just about to head back out and continue searching.
That’s when the doorbell rang.
For the first time in days Emma was suddenly filled with a burst of energy she practically flew to the door. Eagerly anticipating to find either of her kids on the other side of the door.
After a brief moment of fumbling with the lock, the door opened.
She looked around for a few seconds before finally setting eyes on Hope.
She instantly bent down before enveloping her little girl in a humongous hug.
“Momma!!” Hope screamed out of excitement. “I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too baby.” Emma said as tears of joy trickled down her cheek, she didn’t care to wipe them, she was just thrilled to have her daughter back.
When Hope got tired of the hug, Emma carefully analysed her, checking for any bruises or scratches. Then finally, once satisfied that her girl was safe, she placed a string of kisses all around her face, which just caused Hope to laugh.
“Momma?” Hope asked, instantly captivating her mom’s attention.
“Yes sweetheart?”
“I found my Dad.”