Chapter Text
Skye had never been a woods person, but she had grown up in Storybrooke. Following her idiot brother to see where he was running off to without him noticing wasn’t hard. He’d always had a laser focus and missed anything that wasn’t what he was paying attention to. And Skye would give Emma that at least the woman sounded surprised when Henry came crashing out of the woods and into her. “Henry.” So at least the sneaking out hadn’t been a group effort.
Henry’s voice chirped excitedly. “Did you find him yet?”
“No, not yet. You shouldn’t be here.” The blonde in the red jacket replied in the dark of twilight of the rapidly darkening woods.
Henry, because he was Henry, absolutely ignored that. “I can help! I know where he’s going.”
“And where is that?” Mary Margaret asked gently, confusion in her voice.
“He’s looking for you.” Henry said like that was obvious.
Skye wasn’t sure if it was obvious. But she’d eavesdropped enough. She turned on her flashlight, startling all of them. “So this is where you went.”
“Who are you?” Emma exclaimed, hand blocking her eyes from the light that might have been passively aggressively aimed at her.
“Rats.” Henry muttered.
“Skye?” Mary Margaret asked, surprised.
Skye walked down from where she’d been shadowing her brother, crashing through the woods, her eyes not leaving Emma. “The sister.”
Emma paused and then looked down at Henry. “You have a sister?”
That was sharply painful, that her brother had managed a week of knowing his bio-mom and managed to completely avoid mentioning her. “Really feeling the love, Henry.” She stopped as she reached them and gripped the flashlight instead of holding out her hand. “Skye Mills.”
“Emma Swan.” There was obvious question on the woman’s face.
Skye wasn’t dealing with that. “So, we’re hunting down the escaped coma guy then?”
“We are.” Mary Margaret said, voice annoyingly soft and expression frustratingly observant.
“Were you following me!?” Henry asked accusingly, glaring up at her.
Skye whacked the back of his head. “Would you rather have had me tell mom? You’re ten, of course, I followed you into the woods, at night, you twerp.”
Henry’s jaw tightened. “You’ll just tell Regina everything.”
“Sneaking out into the woods to chase strange men with your birth mom and homeroom teacher? Of course, I’ll tell mom that. That’s not who broke the vase in her office.”
“You can’t take me home! I know how to find him.” Henry protested.
Emma’s hand dropped onto Henry like she had a right to. “You shouldn’t be out here, kid. Go home with your sister.”
“No! I can find him!” Henry protested.
It probably wasn’t the most mature choice. Skye hooked her arm over Henry’s shoulders, pulling him against her. “We’re already here. You get one place to check before I’m taking you home.” She shot an annoyed look at Emma.
“You’re sure your mom isn’t going to kill me. And then you two. And then me again?” Emma asked, looking at her with the expression of someone expecting their mom to kill them.
“It’ll be great! We’re going to find him.” Henry was practically vibrating with excitement.
Skye shrugged one shoulder. She really didn’t care if Emma managed to escape their mom’s wrath or not.
“Comforting.” Emma sighed. “Look, we should get both of you home. Immediately.”
That was absolutely not happening. Skye might be her mother’s daughter.
Graham’s voice called from further up the path. “Guys!?”
They all turned and took off at a quick clip for him. His voice had been distressed. Skye stuck to Henry, letting Emma blaze ahead in the lead.
Coming around a corner, they found Graham crouched in the barely lit darkening woods.
Emma and Mary crowded over him. Mary’s voice was hesitant. “Is that?”
“Blood.” Emma finished for her.
So maybe Skye absolutely should have listened to the birth mom and not taken that as a challenge. Too late now, they needed to find John Doe, and they needed to do it now.
Graham frowned as he looked up, “Skye?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m here.” Skye kept a hold on Henry to keep him from running off.
Graham frowned, but looked down again, shining his flashlight on the ground. “This way.”
So off to tracking into the woods. Skye was pretty sure Graham was just a bit of a freak, considering he seemed to be the only one sure-footed and confident as they moved by the flickering lights from their flashlights.
It was pitch black, twilight having fully fled into the creeping darkness as they searched by flashlight that illuminated less and less as it had gotten darker. They came crashing out after Graham at the water line as they came stumbling out into the creek.
“The trail dies at the water line.” Graham said as he searched along the line for more clues.
They all turned, flashlights searching for something along the banks or in the water.
“Oh, my God!” Mary shouted as she took off through the water. “Oh, my God! Oh, my God!”
Graham had his radio out as he took off after her. “I need an ambulance at the old toll bridge as soon as possible.”
Skye didn’t hesitate, splashing through freezing cold water, and heading straight for the collapsed male body in the water. She grabbed a leg, Mary and Graham both already had an arm each.
“I’m falling, falling, falling, falling, falling.” Mary panicked muttered as she slipped over rocks as the four of them heaved the guy to shore. “Keep going.”
Emma had the other leg as they managed to get him fully out of the water and start half stumbling as they headed for shore.
“Hold on.” Mary was calling orders in a panicked voice, seemingly unable to stop babbling orders to herself, them, and coma guy. “I feel we need to slow down. Slow down. Slow down.”
They got him to the ground, lowering him onto the dirt. Mary instantly at his head. “No, no, no, no, no. I found you! You’re going to be ok!”
“Help’s coming.” Graham tried to calm things down.
But Skye was pretty sure coma guy wasn’t breathing and his leg had been so cold. Oh god, had they just moved a body? Fuck, why couldn’t they have found him faster?!
“Is he okay? Is he going to be okay?” Henry’s high pitched voice called from where he was standing.
“Henry, don’t look, okay? Don’t look.” Emma had grabbed him, pulling his head away from them.
Skye aimed the flashlight at coma guy as Mary shook the body.
Mary ducked down, pressing her ear to the guy’s mouth. “Come back to us.” her voice losing air. “Come back to me.”
“CPR? Graham, don’t you know CPR?” Skye looked at the sheriff, and her mom’s sometimes hook-up partner.
Mary Margaret apparently didn’t care if the sheriff knew it or not. She just had her hands on coma guy’s chest and pressed down, hard. A grunt leaving her lips with every compression.
Looking up, Skye saw her brother. Emma had him clutched to her, her hand holding his head to her, hand covering the side of his face to ensure he couldn’t see anything else.
There was a spluttering sound.
Skye’s shoulders slumped as she realized coma guy was sorta puking/coughing up water.
He looked up at where Mary was hovering over him, voice hoarse and half drunk sounding. “You saved me.”
Henry’s voice answered. “She did. She woke him up.”
Skye looked at her brother. What on earth was that wording?
“Yeah kid, she did.” Emma replied from where she was still holding him, but had let him turn around, to see what was going on. A disbelieving, confused relief to her.
“Thank you.” Coma guy breathed, just staring up at Mary.
“Who are you?” And wow, yeah, Mary was as locked onto the guy as he was on her.
Skye raised a brow as she kept the light on them.
“I don’t know?” Coma guy’s voice was weak and breathy.
“It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.” Mary assured him as the sound of sirens reached them.
Skye looked up, squinting at where she knew the road was. “Graham, I’m going to go make sure they can find us.” She shot a look at where Emma still had Henry protectively held. That was…she’d worry about that later. Half dead guy took priority.
“Good idea.” Graham gave her a nod.
She jogged up the hill toward the road. It was going to be a bitch to get a stretcher down here.
Skye hadn’t expected much from getting coma guy to the hospital. Well besides pre-writing her funeral speech for when her mom realized she’d let Henry tromp around in the woods instead of just dragging him home. A panicked Kathryn Nolan rushing in hadn’t been on the list. Or her mom arriving?
Still, it wasn’t surprising how instantly her mom was just in charge of the room.
“His name is David Nolan. And that’s his wife, Kathryn.” Regina explained with a smile on her face. Her mom had always liked knowing things Mary didn’t. “And the joy on her face? Well, it’s put me in quite the forgiving mood.”
Regina’s gaze fell on Emma till the grown woman squirmed slightly, before flicking to Henry and her. “Do I want to know what insubordination led to both of you being involved in this?”
“I’m sorry?” Skye offered.
Her mom gave her the look that clearly meant ‘We’re talking about this later’.
Skye winced slightly.
Their mom turned her eyes to Henry. “Do you know what insubordination means?”
Henry shook his head, a distinct lack of worry considering he’d decided their mom was evil. It was a mean thought, and Skye tried to push it away.
“It means unless your sister has a very good explanation, you’re grounded.”
Henry slumped into her. He looked up at her as everyone’s attention turned to Kathryn coming out for the thank you tour. “Help?”
Skye shrugged one shoulder, giving an apologetic look. She was pretty sure, ‘Emma annoyed me so I joined my brother in hunting strange, injured men in the forest at night’ was not going to do much to keep Henry from losing tv and desert rights for a night, or her from a lecture and basically the same.
Henry slumped with a slight groan in resignation, no rescue from trouble was coming his way.
////
Emma was going to need to buy groceries now that she was living with Mary Margaret. Eating every meal at the diner wasn’t sustainable. It clearly was impossible to have a meal here without a Mills finding her. Because that was Skye Mills heading into the diner to interrupt her dinner.
Which, Skye Mills was a conundrum. One Emma had questions about that were probably about to be answered. Henry’s sister was certainly her mother’s daughter. A certain perfect smoothness to the cut of her high-end clothing, a closeness of posture and gait, the same sharp intelligence in dark eyes. But the college-aged Mills was softer, less rigid, and more evaluating than aggressive.
Skye entered with a confident belonging. She waved at Ruby, as she walked straight for Emma.
Emma leaned back in her seat. Round two of the day with a Mills. At least there wasn’t hot chocolate for her to spill down her front this time. “Hi?”
“Hi.” Skye came to a stop near her and gestured at the seat opposite her. “May I?”
She stared at her. “I didn’t know anyone in your family asked.”
Skye huffed, an amused look on her face. “What can I say, Henry takes after Mom that way.”
Emma waved at the seat. “I’m guessing you being here isn’t a coincidence?”
“I didn’t arrange to spend two weeks away from my classes just to never talk to you.” Skye sat casually across from her.
“Here to tell me to leave town too?” Emma would rather get the threats over with before Ruby brought out her dinner.
Skye’s grin was lopsided with amusement. “I think Mom has the threats under control.”
And that was, so this probably wasn’t going to just be threats. “So why did you want to talk if you don’t want to threaten me?”
“You’re Henry’s birth mom. So you mean a lot to him.” There was something about her face that read as…sad.
“How old were you when Regina adopted you?” Emma had a feeling Skye hadn’t been a baby.
Skye hummed. “I was nine, late adoption, I know. Regina showed up for Henry and insisted on bringing me back with her too.” Her expression was soft. “I’m not sure why she decided to bring me home, but she did.”
“That’s an older adoption.” Emma felt a slight pang at that. It was the kind of thing they all dreamed about, mostly had given up hope of in the system by that age. “How long were you in the system?”
“Nine years.” Skye didn’t flinch from it. “Got dumped on some church steps as a baby. So, no blood relatives of mine to threaten things.” She was looking at her critically. “You have no idea what you’re doing here, do you?”
“That’s not-”
“So you have a plan?” Skye cut her off, faint disbelief in her voice. “Have a timetable of how long you intend to stay?”
Emma sighed. “You really are Regina’s daughter.”
“Thanks.” Skye smiled at that, clearly taking it as a compliment.
She leaned forward, folding her hands together on top of the table. “Look, I don’t want to take your brother away from you. I just want to know him.”
“You know what happens if you change your mind. What happens to Henry.” There was a flintiness in Skye’s face, a vaguely challenging tilt to her chin. “And once you start on that path, there’s no going back. I think it’s safe to say we’ve both seen what happens to kids when that happens.”
“You’re not wrong.” Emma didn’t need it broken down for her to know how damaging it could get once custody arrangements started getting fought over. The damage to kids. And if she changed her mind and ran after damaging Regina’s custody, it wasn’t impossible Henry could end up in foster care. Not for long with how far Regina was clearly willing to go. But it didn’t take long for kids to be hurt. “I would never do anything to hurt him.”
Skye didn’t argue or attack as Regina would have. “Then figure out what you want.” She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and passed it over. Neatly written numbers on it. “Once you know what you want, we can talk.”
Emma paused as her fingers touched the folded sheet of paper. “Are you planning on helping me? Not going to try and run me off?”
“Did you look for your parents?” Skye asked instead of answering.
“I did. Never found them. Yours left you at a church, mine left me on the side of the road.” Emma wouldn’t be surprised if Skye already knew that. There certainly wasn’t surprise on Skye’s face. “You?”
“Never found anything.” That was a lie, which was interesting. “But I get why getting to know you is important to Henry. When you figure out what you want, tell me. If it's not bad for him, I can talk our mom into at least not getting you arrested every other day.”
Emma wouldn’t have expected that, maybe she should have. “You like plans don’t you?”
“I’m triple-majoring at university. Organizing time and classes is…maybe kind of intense.” Skye brushed some hair behind one ear.
Which, Emma kinda felt like choking. “You’re triple majoring? You’re what, nineteen?”
Skye nodded. “Yeah, and I did the computer engineering classes via correspondence in high school and all of the pre-reqs. I’m just taking the upper-level courses for the degrees in economics and politics. It’s not as crazy as it sounds.”
“Jesus, that’s really impressive kid.” Just, even with the fact there was no way Regina Mills was making her daughter work to put herself through college, and Skye probably could devote all of her time to school, it was still impressive as hell.
“Not a kid.” Skye rolled her eyes but stood up. “And figure out what you’re doing here. I’d recommend doing it fast. Our mom isn’t going to do nothing while you decide on what to do.”
Emma considered Henry’s sister, and she was his sister. “You want me to stay.”
Skye raised a brow. “Don’t fuck with my family. Sidney’s not totally incompetent, I’m better.”
“Wait,” Emma stood up, ready to catch the girl’s arm to keep her from walking away if needed. She didn’t need to, Skye pausing as she looked at her. “I’m not here to break up your family. I just want to make sure the kid is in a good home.”
“He is.” Skye wasn’t lying. She believed that completely. “I’ve been in twenty-three of them. Our mom wants us.”
Emma wanted to believe her. “Thank you, for actually talking to me.” She was hoping this wasn’t going to turn on her as fast as it had with Regina. She didn’t think it would. But also…how hard did Regina push her kids?