Feeling their pain from having lived through the same experience, Emma, with David's help, desperately tries to help two homeless children find their birth father before they're separated and put into the foster care system.

***

"Whatcha reading?"

Henry jumped at the girl's voice and spun around to face her. "The Hulk vs. Wolverine," he answered. He was at the Dark Star Pharmacy reading the comics for sale, debating on if he wanted to buy one or not. He was also watching the people of Storybrooke, trying to figure out what they did to his mother and why she punished them. They were good people.

"I'm Ava," the blonde girl introduced herself with a pleasant smile, her green eyes bright. "I think I've seen you around school. You're in Miss Blanchard's class, right?" Harry smiled in return and nodded.

"You almost ready, Ava?" Henry jumped for the second time when a brunette boy with brown eyes appeared next to him, moving closer to Ava.

Ava nodded to the boy. "This is my brother, Nicholas," she explained to Henry.

"Hi," Nicholas greeted, and Henry smiled at him. "Come on, let's go," Nicholas told Ava, gently tugging on her hand.

"You wanna come hang out?" Ava asked as she turned to follow her brother.

"Sure," Henry nodded, picking up his backpack and shrugging it on.

Ava beamed and led him after Nicholas, who went to open the door. Before he could tug it open, Mr. Clark, the man running the pharmacy, pushed the door back into place and stood in front of the three children. "Where the hell do you think you're going?" he demanded. He sneezed before he could continue, and as the kids grimaced, the pharmacist looked at Henry. "Open up your bag," he demanded. "Now."

Henry blinked. "What?"

Mr. Clark looked at him through narrowed eyes. "Don't think I didn't see you rob me. Open your bag."

Henry's eyes widened; next to him and out of the corner of his eye, he could see the look that Ava and Nicholas shared. "But I didn't take anything!" he argued.

Mr. Clark grabbed Henry's bag off of his shoulder and examined its contents. He scoffed after a moment and pulled out a fistful of candy. "And a liar, too," he muttered angrily.

Henry stared at the candy he had never touched, then he whipped to Ava, who looked like a deer in headlights. "That's why you were talking to me," he accused. "So your brother could put that stuff in there!"

Mr. Clark shook his head, running a hand over his temple. "Henry, I'm shocked," he told him, and Henry wilted as Mr. Clark turned to Ava and Nicholas. "And you two . . . just who do you think you are?"

***

"I'm sorry, Madam Mayor," Mr. Clark spoke to Regina later, Henry hovering anxiously at her side, "but your son was shoplifting."

Regina raised an eyebrow then looked expectantly at Henry. "Were you?"

Henry quietly shook his head, but Mr. Clark gestured towards Henry's backpack. "Well, look for yourself!"

He pointed over to a bench, and Regina examined the contents next to Henry's backpack: toothpaste, chocolate bars, and Graham crackers. She picked up one of the candy bars then sniffed in disdain. "My son doesn't eat candy, and he knows better than to steal," she told the physician. She took Henry's backpack and zipped it back up, handing it to him. "It was obviously those two," she glared at Ava and Nicholas. "We're going."

She wrapped an arm around Henry's shoulder and led him to the door, only to stop as David opened the door for Emma. The blonde stopped short in the doorway in surprise when she saw them. "Henry, what happened?" she asked.

Regina huffed. "Miss Swan, must I remind you that genetics mean nothing? You are not his mother and it's all taken care of."

David went to say something, but Emma held up her hand. "I'm here because I'm the sheriff," she reminded the mayor, pointedly tapping the badge on her belt.

Regina's face soured. "Oh, that's right. Go on, do your job." She led Henry out the door, throwing a glare at Emma and David as they walked past her. "Take care of those miscreants!"

David glared after her, but Emma's attention turned to the twins. "Did you call their parents?" she asked Mr. Clark.

Mr. Clark shook his head. "The number they gave me was disconnected," he explained.

Emma hummed thoughtfully, and she looked at the twins as Mr. Clark returned behind the counter. "Did you guys give Mr. Clark a fake number?" she asked. Ava and Nicholas shook their heads, and the blonde folded her arms. "Then why is it disconnected?"

Big, round, dark green eyes met emerald green. "'Cause our parents couldn't pay the bill," Ava answered quietly.

David perused the items left on the counter, and he held up a box for Emma to see. She sighed when she saw the toothpaste. "You guys are just trying to help out, huh?" she asked, feeling her heart stir. She remembered that she had gone through this too. She'd had to steal just to have clothes, food and a lot of her other necessities, like toothbrushes and toothpaste . . . just like what the Zimmers had on the counter.

Ava bit her lip and nodded. "Please, please don't arrest us," she begged. "It'll just make things worse for our parents!"

Emma glanced at David, and the prince shrugged. "Your call, Sheriff."

***

Emma parked the police cruiser in front of a nondescript house, albeit one that looked more run down than some she had seen around Storybrooke, and she looked back at the twins. "This it?" she asked.

Ava nodded in confirmation, and she and Nicholas unfastened their seat belts. Emma and David started to do the same, but Ava gasped and shook her head. "Please, no! If our parents see you, they'll be so embarrassed."

Nicholas nodded in agreement, and David looked at Emma with a raised eyebrow. Emma closed the car door, just as David did, and the woman twisted to look at the twins. "Did Henry tell you about my superpower?" she asked.

Ava shook her head, her confusion and Nicholas's evident. "We just met him."

David grinned at Emma, and she smirked, letting him answer. "She has the ability to tell when anybody is lying," he said, a note of pride in his voice. "You can tell her the truth. Aside from money problems, is everything OK at home?"

Nicholas nodded, and Ava answered. "Yeah, we're great. Can we go?"

Emma looked at them long and hard, then she nodded. "Alright," she agreed.

Ava and Nicholas quickly got out of the car, and Emma revved the engine. "And superpower says?" David asked.

Emma pursed her lips. "Yes and no."

David blinked. "Yes and no?"

Ava waved from the steps to the door, and Emma drove away from the house. "She certainly thinks she's telling the truth."

"But you don't think so."

He blinked in surprise when Emma parked behind bushes further down the road. "I don't think so," Emma shook her head, turning off the cruiser and quietly opening her door. "I know so." David followed Emma's lead and quietly shut his door behind him, and he followed Emma to the house. "I mean, look at this place," she gestured. "There's no movement inside. Not only that, it doesn't look like the house is at all lived in. The yard is overgrown, the porch looks even worse, and look there." She pointed along the side of the house, and David saw trampled grass and weeds. "Even though the twins should have gone into the front door, they clearly went through the backyard. That shouldn't be how you get into your own house."

She carefully made her way up the rickety steps towards the front door and quietly tested the doorknob. The door opened effortlessly, and Emma and David looked at each other in surprise. "Not locked," David realized worriedly. "Yeah, that's definitely not normal, not even back in the Forest."

Emma led the way inside, and David ran a hand over the first countertop he saw. He grimaced and held up his hand, showing the dust that coated his hand. Every surface was covered in a similar, thick layer of dust, and there was no sign of life whatsoever. The couches and chairs left in the house had holes big enough to fit rodents like rats and mice, and Emma sniffed the air, smelling the old air in the house, further proving the house wasn't lived in.

The creak of a door sounded nearby, and Emma held up a hand for David to remain still. She walked through the sitting room to the kitchen and found the twins standing near a trapdoor and looking around cautiously. "Why did you guys lie to me?" She must have startled them, as they turned to face Emma, frightened looks on their faces. "Where are your parents?"

Ava gulped nervously. "We don't have any," she admitted as Nicholas took her hand.

***

"Here we go, dears," Queenie smiled gently and distributed plates of food to Ava and Nicholas. "Eat up."

"Thank you," Ava made sure to thank the woman before diving into her food with gusto.

Nicholas followed suit, showing just how hungry he was. "Poor kids," David murmured, shaking his head sadly as he leaned against Mary Margaret's kitchen counter.

"Do you know them?" Emma asked Mary Margaret, the three watching the children as Queenie sat with them to keep them occupied. "Do they go to your school?"

"I've seen them, but I had no idea," Mary Margaret admitted. "None of us did."

Emma flipped open the folder in her hands. "Ava and Nicholas Zimmer," she said. "They said their mother was a woman named Dory Zimmer. She died a few years ago." Mary Margaret shook her head, and Emma closed the folder with a pointed look at David. "No one seems to know her or remember her."

David grimaced; that was the curse talking. "And the father?" Mary Margaret asked.

Emma glanced down into the folder. "There isn't one. At least, not one that they know."

"What does Social Services say?"

Emma fidgeted at the question, and David blinked. "You didn't report them," he realized.

"I report them, I can't help them," Emma whispered. "They go into the system."

"The system that's supposed to help," Mary Margaret pointed out.

"Yeah," Emma scowled. "Says the woman who wasn't in it for sixteen years. Do you know what happens? They get thrown into homes where they are a meal ticket, nothing more. These families get paid for these kids, and as soon as they're too much work, they get tossed out, and it all starts over again."

Mary Margaret swallowed hard. "But they're not all like that."

"All the ones I was in," Emma muttered in distaste.

She saw David flinch and look down at the counter, and her heart ached for her father. While he knew she had never found a place to call home until she found Harry, Newt, and Queenie, she had never shared further details with him. This wasn't at all how she had wanted him to find out; all she had wanted was to drive the point home that Ava and Nicholas could not be reported yet. "What," Mary Margaret eyed Ava and Nicholas, "we're just gonna adopt them?"

Emma shook her head. "I want to look for their father," she corrected. "They don't know him. He may not know they exist."

"And you think if he knows, he'll want them?"

"I don't know," Emma shrugged. "But what I do know is that it's hard enough finding foster families to take one kid that isn't theirs, let alone two. It's their best shot, or - "

"We're gonna be separated?"

Ava's broken voice came from behind her, and Emma quickly turned to see the girl looking at her with tear-filled eyes. "No," Emma shook her head, seeing Queenie look apologetically at her from where she sat with Nicholas. "That's not gonna happen."

"Please," Ava begged, "please don't let it."

Nicholas's lower lip trembled, and Emma turned to look pointedly at Mary Margaret.

***

"It can be that bad for kids without parents?"

David's voice was quiet as they entered the building, and Emma sighed, rubbing her forehead as she walked through the door her father held open. "Yes," she said honestly. "It can be. I bounced so many times that I gave up on calling a family my own."

"Until Harry."

"Until Harry," Emma smiled. "And then Dumbledore tried to take him away from me, and I got Newt and Queenie, too." She giggled. "And then there came Tina and Theseus and the Malfoys and the Grangers and . . . " She sighed. "I hope you can meet all of them one day."

"One day," David agreed. "When the curse is broken."

Emma held out her hand. "Shake on it?"

David laughed and shook her hand. "Alright, deal." Emma nodded and walked towards the main desk, and David coughed. "I'm sorry."

"There's no way you could've known," Emma waved his apology away. "We'll talk about it more later." David acquiesced with a nod, and Emma stopped at the desk. "Excuse me, Mr. . . . " She grimaced and tried to pronounce the name. "Ku-sas-ki?"

The man's face said he was used to his name being butchered. "It's Krzyszkowski," he corrected, standing and walking up to her. "Everyone calls me K."

"Mr. K," Emma nodded. "I'm Sheriff Swan. I'm hoping to look at the birth certificates of Ava and Nicholas Zimmer."

Mr. K nodded and dug through a pile of papers. "Well, just fill out these forms . . . in triplicate."

He stamped the three forms, and Emma cautiously picked up the pen on the desk. "OK."

As she started to fill out the forms, Mr. K dug through one of the file cabinets. "I'm sorry," he frowned and looked up at her. "Those documents have been recently removed."

Emma blinked. "By who?"

***

"Don't worry, Miss Swan," Regina told Emma, sitting behind her desk in the town hall. "I've contacted Social Services. Turns out these kids are on their own. They need help."

"Which is exactly what I'm trying to do," Emma frowned. "I'm trying to find their father."

"Well," Regina reached for the folders on her desk, "he doesn't exist."

Emma did a double take and took the folders. "He has to!"

"Of course, biologically, he exists," Regina allowed, watching as Emma flipped open the top folder to find no name listed as the father. "But there's no record of him, which means we have no choice. These children need a home, so they will be put into the foster system."

Emma looked at her dubiously. "Storybrooke has a foster system?"

"No, but I've contacted the state," Regina replied, and Emma balked. "Maine's group homes, unfortunately, are filled. But they put us in touch in two homes in Boston. Boys' home and a girls'."

Dread bubbled in Emma's stomach. "They're separating them?" she asked hoarsely.

"I don't like it, either," Regina said as she poured herself a drink. "But we've got no choice. You need to have them in Boston tonight."

Emma's jaw dropped. "Me?"

"Well, you wanted to be sheriff," Regina shrugged, giving her an iron look. "This is what sheriffs do. Yes, you're taking them."

"No," Emma shook her head fervently. "I promised them they wouldn't be separated!"

"Well, then." Regina had the ghost of a smirk on her face. "You should stop making promises you can't keep. These children need a home. I'm just trying to find the best one."

***

Emma sighed as she distributed folders among the people in her office. "Thank you for coming in, Remus. Sorry to pull you away from your tour with Ruby and Whale."

"It was close to Ruby's shift time at the diner, anyway," Remus shrugged, picking up the folder handed to him. "I'm happy to help."

"Besides, if Henry's belief about no one coming in or out of Storybrooke is true, then there's no way you can get the Zimmers out of the town," Newt added.

"The Queen certainly made it sound like we would be confined to one place," David confirmed, flipping through his own folder. "And from what you told me about what happened to Ashley, it sounds like it's true."

"Great," Emma sighed and glanced at the clock on the wall. "Then we have until evening to find their father, or I have to explain to Regina why I can't take Ava and Nicholas across the town line."

Newt snickered. "That would be a conversation."

Emma glowered at him. "I would need Lucius's tongue and Theseus's patience to have that conversation."

Newt burst out laughing. "You really would!"

There was a knock on the door, then Harry poked his head into the office. "Ruby sent me and Henry with lunch," he said.

"She did?" Emma asked in surprise, beckoning for the boys to enter.

"Yeah," Harry nodded, he and Henry setting takeout bags on the desk. "I think she's trying to apologize for stealing all of Uncle Moony's time so far."

Remus laughed and peered through the bags until he found his lunch. "I really should start preparing you for second year material soon."

"Brilliant!" Harry cheered.

Henry found his own lunch and watched Emma absently take a bite of her grilled cheese as she looked through her materials. "Any luck?" he asked.

"No," Emma shook her head in frustration.

Henry reached down, opened his backpack, and plopped his book on her desk. "I know who they are," he announced, getting the adults' attention. "Brother and sister, lost, no parents."

Emma looked at the page Henry flipped to, and she felt like smacking herself in the forehead when she saw the gingerbread house looming behind the painted picture of two children who looked just like Ava and Nicholas. "Hansel and Gretel," she identified. "Does your storybook say anything about their dad?"

Henry shook his head. "Just that he abandoned them."

"Right," Emma sighed. "Because any information would make this job way too easy. Why can't everything be as simple as getting someone to read to their comatose true love?"

David choked on his burger. "Wouldn't that be nice?" he coughed weakly, reaching for his drink as Newt clapped him on the back.

"Well, at least we know he's stuck here," Remus pointed out.

"Exactly," Emma rubbed her hands together. "And we're gonna find him."

Henry nodded absently, and silence fell upon the room as the family ate and searched through files. Harry, finally, noticed his brother shuffling his feet anxiously. "What is it?" he asked.

Henry took a deep breath. "Can you tell me about him?"

Emma didn't look up from her work. "I don't know anything yet."

"Not their father," Henry shook his head. "Mine." Emma froze, and while David lifted his head, curiosity piqued, Newt was the one to look at Emma in concern. "I told you about your parents," Henry pointed out. "Now you have your dad back, and we're on our way to getting your mom back."

Emma swallowed hard. "Henry . . . "

"Please," Henry begged.

Emma's resolve wavered, and she glanced helplessly at Newt. He and Queenie were the only ones who had even an idea about her time with Neal, and she knew that was something Henry wouldn't want to hear. Newt scribbled something down on the pad of paper next to him then flashed it quickly to Emma, making sure she was the only one who could see: No lies, but enough truth you're comfortable with. Emma sat back in her chair and worried her lip as she thought about what to say. "Mum?" Harry asked quietly.

"I was pretty young," Emma said slowly. "I just got out of the foster system, and I was working on finding a way to make ends meet. That's how I met your dad. We ran into each other while trying to get the same job, and we just . . . stuck together after that. But it didn't last forever, kid. Life dealt me a hand, and I got into some trouble."

"And went to jail," Henry nodded.

"Yeah," Emma nodded. "I didn't know I was pregnant with you until I was locked up."

"Did you try to contact him when you got out?"

"I didn't," Emma shook her head. "I figured he was long gone by then . . . and I was back to square one, where I always was, by myself. So I plowed on ahead and tried to put that part of my life behind me. I didn't even think about a family for years." She smiled at Harry. "Not until I walked past a popular bakery and heard a Head Auror mention a name I will forever despise." Harry grinned in return, and Emma gestured to her office with a flourish. "And you know the rest of the story from there. Here we are now in the present day."

Henry nodded thoughtfully. "Can you tell me one more thing?" Emma nodded, and Henry took a deep breath. "Was he a good man?"

Newt's pen made an ominous creak in his hand, making David look at him in surprise. Emma's face was impossible to read with the mask she quickly threw on it, and she looked down at her fries. "I thought he was," she whispered.

Henry appeared satisfied as he dug into his burger, hearing exactly what Emma had wanted him to hear. Newt, though, had heard what Emma meant underneath. While Henry thought she was still thinking of his father in the past, Newt knew she was talking of what she now thought of Neal after all he had done. Still, he had to commend her: she had given Henry the basic truth without going into detail that could truly damage his vision of what he likely believed his father was like.

"Do you have anything of his?" Henry asked. "Something you can remember him by? Something I can see?"

Emma shook her head. "I - " A thought occurred to her, and she sat up straight. "I don't," she said slowly, and she grinned, quickly tossing her trash into the bin. "I'm sorry, I gotta go." She jumped to her feet with a laugh. "I may know how to find this guy!"

David scrambled to run after her, and as Henry and Harry finished their lunches, amber eyes watched Newt's stony expression as the magizoologist stared at a random spot on the wall. Remus finally leaned forward, glancing at the backpack Harry had brought with him. "Did you bring any of your books with you, Harry?" he asked.

Harry quickly swallowed his fries and nodded. "I did."

"How about you get set up out in the bullpen?" Remus nodded out the window. "Let's see what Newt has taught you and what you've retained from Hogwarts."

"Can I stay?" Henry perked up in excitement.

"Of course," Remus chuckled. "Go. I'll be out there in a moment."

"Thanks, Uncle Moony!" Harry cheered, grabbing his stuff and running out the door.

Henry was right behind him, and Remus turned to Newt, who hadn't budged from his position. "How much of that was the truth?" he finally asked.

"All of it," Newt answered tensely.

Remus nodded slowly. "And yet she didn't tell him exactly what happened, did she?"

"No," Newt shook his head. "No, she didn't."

Remus narrowed his eyes. "Is this something Moony needs to handle?"

Newt forced out a laugh and tossed his wrapper into the trash bin with more force than necessary. "Moony won't need to handle it. Queenie and I called dibs when we first started to piece things together."

***

After a quick stop by Granny's to dig through her belongings, Emma walked into Mary Margaret's apartment, where Ava and Nicholas were gnawing on some of Queenie's homemade cookies. "I want to show you guys something," she told them.

The twins turned to her curiously, and Nicholas blinked as Emma pulled a bundle out of a box. "What's that?" asked.

"It's my baby blanket," Emma answered, showing them the royal purple ribbon that spelled her name. "It's something I've held on to my whole life. It's the only thing that I have from my parents." She looked between the twins, who were holding on to her every word. "I've spent a lot of time with a lot of kids in your situation, and all of them, all of us, we hold on to stuff. I want to find your father, but I need your help. Is there anything of his you've held on to?"

Ava slowly chewed the rest of her cookie. "I might have something," she replied. "But if I give it to you, you'll make sure we stay together, right?"

"Right," Emma nodded, tucking her blanket carefully back into its box.

As she did that, Ava reached into her pocket and withdrew an item that made Emma raise an eyebrow. "A compass?" she asked, taking the compass and the chain it was attached to.

"Our mom kept it," Ava explained. "She said it was our dad's."

Emma grinned; this was exactly what she needed. "Thank you," she told them, carefully tucking the compass away in her jacket.

"Did you find them?" Ava asked.

Emma blinked as she picked up her box. "Who?"

"Your parents."

Emma paused on her way to the door. "Not yet," she finally said. "But I'm gonna find yours."

***

Sorry for the absence, folks! It's been a bit crazy the last few weeks and months, and it took a bit to coax me away from a very fun computer game to get me back in the writing mood. Turns out Baldur's Gate 3 is extremely addicting and it gave me an idea for a "First Responders" AU that is way too tempting XD

I'll be honest, I wasn't sure how excited I would be about this episode, but once I really started diving into it, it basically wrote itself. Miss Singer and I had discussed originally how Emma's answer to Henry's question may change, given Emma's adoption of Harry, so I hope everyone finds the adapted story acceptable. I was pretty happy with it . . . and hey, we got protective brother Newt!

We wanted to get the episode completely finished to figure out where to split it, so . . . expect part 2 shortly!

***

Aaaaaaaaand we're back! Hello! Nice to see you guys! It's taken us a hot minute, but we got it here! I'm at the beach right now, and it's so beautiful here! I've been on shopping sprees and been walking miles and miles! I love it here!

Anywho, we hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you enjoy the next one! Since the next one is right after this one, I'm only going to do one of these!

As always, stay cool, stay hydrated, and stay safe! xx

P.S. Our wonderful sign-off graphics for this series were designed by the wonderful and amazing marvelity . . . and if you need any graphics, we highly recommend her!