Chapter 1

Father's day.

Emma Swan glanced at the calendar as if her frown and stern look would make the words vanish from the piece of paper hanging in her living room.

Father's day. There was no day in the world Emma despised more than this one. Happy families everywhere, enjoying their time together.

It was not that Emma's childhood had been completely horrible.

She had been placed in an orphanage on the day she was born. Due to a heart problem that had requested many surgeries in her first years of life, she had been four years old before she could even be placed in a foster home. It had been told to her many times that due her age and medical record, it was unlikely she would ever get adopted. But even then, she had envied all the children with parents.

But after being shoved back and forth from foster families and to group homes, Emma had found a permanent home at the age of seven, and the best mother she could ever wish for. But no father. So despite being happy with her life, her growing family and her friends, she still harboured hatred for that day.

However her wrath had been very hard to keep up in the last four years.

A knock on the door ripped her away from her unpleasant thoughts.

"Henry, get ready!" She called in the direction of her four years old son's bedroom as she made her way to the door.

She opened the door of her apartment and was greeted by Neal, Henry's father.

"Hey Ems. " He greeted her with a smile and hugged her shortly.

Most people found it weird that Emma was close friends with her son's father without the two of them having romantic feelings for each other. But the truth was, what Neal and Emma had, has never been romantic love. They had met in college and became close very fast. They started dating eventually and had one single night of sex together.
After that night, they both awkwardly admitted to each other they had no such feelings for each other and ended their relationship. At least the relationship in that way. They were still the closest friends.

Once Emma had found out she was pregnant, Neal had stood by her and they decided to raise their child together. So now they were living in the same building, spending most days together with Henry in Emma's apartment.

And who had thought that wasn't weird enough, was blown away by the fact that Neal had fixed up Emma with his best friend and childhood companion, Killian Jones. And Emma couldn't be happier about it.

"Hey Neal. Come in, Henry is just getting ready for your big long weekend away. " Emma explained as she waved Neal in to follow her to the living room, where Killian was sitting on the couch.

As she walked in, she caught Neal intensively staring at her hand.
She looked at him in confusion. "Neal, is there something on my hand?"

Neal tried to hide a frown. "No, Emma. There is indeed nothing on your hand." At the ladder statement, he sent a glance to Killian and the two men exchanged a look.

Emma raised her eyebrow at the both of them, but when no explanation came, she decided to just let it go for the moment. Both men couldn't keep secrets for long anyway, especially from her. So she decided to get up and check on her son.

"Hey buddy, your dad is here. Are you ready to go?" She asked gently when she got to Henry's room. She found her son looking through a stack of paper on his small desk. His room looked like a tornado had passed through it. He was clearly looking for something.

His green eyes lit up in delight as he had obviously found what he had been looking for.
"Yes, mommy. But I have to do something first before we can go. It's very important." Emma chuckled and ruffled his dark brown hair in affection.
Nobody would assume he was only four years old when hearing him talk.

The little guy rushed out of his room, a piece of paper in each hand, and made his way to the living room with Emma behind him carrying his backpack.

In the living room, Killian and Neal had obviously been discussing a very secret matter, as they instantly fell silent when Henry and Emma entered the room.

Henry rushed to greet his father and gave him one of the two pictures.
"Happy father's day, papa!" Henry exclaimed.
Neal was delighted at the painting of him and Henry and hugged his son.

But Henry didn't remain with him for long and made his way to Killian, proudly giving him the other picture. It showed Killian and Henry on Killian's boat.

Killian was so touched by the gesture that words failed him and instead pulled the boy in for a tight hug.

Killian had first met Emma when she was six months pregnant. Neal had wanted to introduce his two friends for some time, but Emma had refused it constantly. She was well aware that Neal wanted to set her up with his attractive friend, but she didn't want any man to meet her when she looked like she had swallowed a watermelon, as she had said. Besides, she didn't think any man would want to stick around with her when she was in this strange situation.

But one day, when Emma was hanging out at Neal's newly rented apartment, Neal had "accidently" told Killian to come by, too. Neither Killian nor Emma had believed in the concept of love at first sight, but there was no other description for what had happened between the two of them when Emma had opened the door and found Killian on the other side.

Four and a half years later, they were still madly in love. After Henry had turned one, Killian had officially moved in with them, though he had practically lived with them already before that.

And Killian had not just fallen in love with Emma instantly. Emma's heart swelled every time she watched her boyfriend and son together. Their bound was so deep, they had a connection neither Neal nor Emma had with Henry. Henry might not call Killian "dad", but that was just what he was to Henry.

She watched the three most important men in her life in joy, but couldn't deny a tiny part of her envied her son as he had two fathers, who loved him with all their hearts, and she had none.

Later that day, she was sitting together with her best friend Lily in a café.
"Have you ever wondered who your father is?" Emma suddenly asked her friend.
Lily looked at her in confusion, clearly not expecting this question.

Lily and Emma had met when they were five and both living in the same group home. Lily had been taken away from her mother as she had been a drug addict. Lily had been given back to her mother Mal two years later and Emma had been sent to her final foster home, but the two had always stayed in touch and had been best friends since then.

"No, I guess not. But why should I? I have my mom. She is all the family I need. Plus you and your guys, of course. Why are you asking, Emma? Is father's day bugging you again?"

Emma was still absentminded. "I think so. It's just… I don't even know if he knows about me. If he is dead or alive. If he is looking for me or if he is oblivious to my existence . I don't know anything. This day has always made it worse. But now that I get to see Henry with Neal and Killian… I don't know, I just wonder. I feel… kind of incomplete."

Lily sighed. "Well, you work as a private investigator. If you wanted to know your father, I'm sure you could locate him."

"You have been so sad all day, my love. Everything alright?" Killian asked later as he and Emma got ready for bed that night.

"It's just ... Father's day is getting to me." She muttered.

Killian wrapped his arms around her and kissed her head. "Ah yes, I normally dislike that day, too. It is a yearly occasion for my brother to beg me to speak to our bastard of a father again. But this year, the lad made it all better. I think I will hang the picture into my office tomorrow. I don't care if my brother will mock me about it, I love it." When the mention of her son couldn't get Emma to smile, he went on. "Emma, don't let that day have such power over you. It's just a stupid day. Neal and I both know our fathers and they are both horrible and abandoned us. Having a father doesn't mean you have a good father. And from my experience I can tell you I would rather have no father at all than the one I am biologically cursed with."

"I have been thinking about finding mine. I agree with you that some fathers are horrible. But I have to find out about mine. This will always haunt me if I don't. And I don't want that. I want closure on this. One way or another. " Emma explained, determined. She looked into her boyfriend's eyes, waiting for the disapproval. But instead she found love and support.

"If this is what you need to do, I will be with you every step of the way. I don't want you to get hurt, but if it hurts you constantly not to know, I will help you find closure. And if he is stupid enough to not want you, I will tell him just what an amazing woman you are. And then I would probably punch him."

For the first time that day, Emma burst out in laughter. No matter what would happen, she would have her friends and family with her. And it didn't matter if her birth parents loved her, there were enough people who did.