I dropped my bag on the kitchen counter unzipping it so Ailis could come out. After opening the bag I heard someone coming down the stairs. My heart jumped in my chest as I pushed Ailis back into my back. I had decided to come see my mother after classes today before she left for her next business trip.

"Sweetie is that you?" I hear my mother's voice in the living room. I pulled my school bag back over my shoulder before heading towards her.

"Yeah it is, what's up. I thought you were supposed to be out with Miles?" I questioned carefully taking a seat next to her. Something seemed off as she was laying on the couch slumped up under a blanket watching television. I hadn't seen her like this since I was rather young. Around the same time my father had left. She didn't seem as happy as she normally was or as stressed out as she used to be.

"Who is Miles?" I was a little taken aback by what my mother had asked. What did she mean who was Miles? Doesn't she mean the man she was replacing my father with? What about the man she was all over yesterday when we went dress shopping? Had Miles just disappeared off the face of the earth?

"Uh, mother... We went dress shopping yesterday and you introduced him to me. You know, the man you are going to marry in a few months?" My bag hung heavily off my shoulder and I could feel Ailis shifting around between my books.

"Honey, I don't even know a Miles." My mother stood heading towards the kitchen. She grabbed herself a glass of water before quickly making her way back to the couch. I took a seat on the glass coffee table in front of her. Only after we made eye contact did I begin to speak.

"Yesterday mother, do you really not remember?" She shook her head almost immediately.

"Yesterday I worked late and grabbed chinese takeout on my way home, you can even check the trash for the containers if you don't believe me." I jumped from the table and practically ran straight for the garbage can, Ailis bouncing against my back as my backpack flailed with me. I flung the lid open on the black can only to see my mother was telling the truth. Two empty containers of what would have been fried rice sat depressingly in the trash can. I closed the lid as my brain rushed a thousand miles per hour.

We went dress shopping yesterday and I knew that. I still had the dress in my room. I met Miles yesterday and I also knew that. There was no way this was all just a dream, I needed to figure out what was going on. I felt panicked as I searched the room for any escape.

"I'll be right back." I muttered before rushing up the stairs to my bedroom. I needed to check to make sure the dress was still there. I dropped my bag on the floor after slamming the door shut behind me. Ailis let out a loud grunt before opening the zipper to jump out.

"Easy dare, yer cud 'av really 'urt me." Ailis grumbled brushing off his little suit.

"It's still here." I shouted after fumbling through a few of the clothes I had hung up in my closet. There it was, the purple dress my mother had purchased for me yesterday to wear at her wedding. I quickly grabbed the garment bag rushing back down the stairs leaving Ailis alone in my room.

"Mother--" I gasped out of breath from running down the stairs. I rushed into the living room holding the dress out for her to see. "Look, where do you think I would have gotten this if we didn't go shopping for it yesterday? I have no use for a dress like this." I unzipped the bag removing the dress. My mother's eyes lit up, I knew she would remember once she saw it. I began to calm down as things began to fall back into place.

"That's a very pretty dress, but I have definitely never seen that before in my life." My heart stopped, she had loved this dress so much and now she had no clue it even existed. I stomped my feet on the ground letting out a frustrated yelp before turning on my heel to retreat back to my room.

The trek up the stairs seemed to take forever as the thoughts in my head were crashing down on my body. What was going on, why had everything changed in such a short period of time. Did Miles break up with my mother and this was her way of coping, pretending that literally everything was different. My mother didn't just come home and watch tv after work so why was she doing that today. She seemed so lonely and just hurt. I was greeted by a frustrated leprechaun once I entered my room once more.

"Waaat chucker yer tink yer are doin' throwin' me on de groun' an' rushin' oyt av 'ere loike dat." I shook my head slumping down onto the floor against my door. I didn't know what he was saying to me. He looked like a frustrated tourist in a country that he didn't speak the correct language for. Like he was trying to find the restroom and people just kept walking past ignoring his cries.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled. I wasn't really sure what he expected me to say. He threw his hands up and the found their place in my mangled hair. He pulled his hat off looking like an entirely different person. After placing the clothing on the ground he took a seat on the top of it, shockingly it held its shape.

"Emerson what is wrong?" Ailis stood from his makeshift seat before closing the distance between us. He crawled up onto my legs sitting down on my knee. His green eyes looked up at me giving me some comfort in all of my confusion.

"I just don't know what is going on." Ailis shook his head pondering for a moment.

"Why ye so confused, yer hav'n't figured oyt whaat 'appened yet?" Of course I hadn't figured out what had happened yet. I wouldn't be sitting on my bedroom floor unsure of what to do if I had.

"Does it look like I figured out what happened? What changed in the eight hours I was at school?" Ailis shook his head before jumping off of the spot he resided on my legs.

"Yer made a wish last noight, oi granted it." Ailis took a few steps away from me heading towards the computer desk. "Oi wus jist tryin' ter make yer 'appy."

"What wish did you make?" My brain rushed through everything I had said last night. I couldn't remember much other than talking to Ailis about my father. I had wished for my father's return but that couldn't have been the correct answer, my father wasn't anywhere to be seen. I couldn't wait for him to respond. I rushed down the stairs for what felt like the umpteeth time.

"Mother!" I shouted once more startling her.

"What is it now Eme, I don't remember going dress shopping yesterday. I really don't think we did, I do remember sitting here eating chinese food while you were out with some Nathan boy." How did she know about Nathan? I hadn't told her about him.

"No, where is dad?" Her eyes froze on me as she shot me icy daggers of hatred. I didn't know why that was such a bad question. If Ailis had wished for my father's return then he should have been here by now.

"Why would you ask a thing like that?" Her tone was rather frightening as she sat up on the couch once more. "I will not have any talk of him in this house, it hasn't been long enough for us to heal.

Did that mean my father had walked out on us again. That Ailis got my hopes up that I would finally have a father only to rip them apart when he didn't want anything to do with me once more. I saw a single tear fall from my mother's eyes as she tried to hide her face from me. My heart was shattering into a million pieces as I realized what pain my stupid wish had put her through once more. It was like she was losing my father all over again.

"No, momma I'm so sorry." I couldn't stop myself from crying with her, especially after realizing I had put her through this another time. I hated my father for leaving us like he had. Leaving us without saying goodbye.

"Eme, there is something you need to know." My mother's tears were now matching the intensity of mine. We both sat silent on the couch bawling our eyes out for a moment before she wrapped her arms around me but then as if she could read my mind she said the words I wasn't expecting and didn't realize I needed so badly.

"Your father never walked out on us honey, he was killed in a car accident. There was a drunk driver. I wasn't ever sure how to tell you. I wanted you to always have the hope that he would come back but I only realize now that, that is the worst thing I could have ever done because not only are you losing your father now, but you lost your father every birthday, graduation, special event in your life. He was never there and I knew you always hoped he was. I just, how do you tell a six year old that their best friend is never coming back because someone else was too self absorbed to realize what he was doing and that he took that away from her. That poor six year old who grew up to be a stunning woman." My heart had slowed to a near deadly speed. My body was in such shock it had shut down, my brain trying to comprehend the words coming from my mother but they couldn't. Everything was shutting down and I wasn't sure how to react. My mother began crying twice as hard as she wrapped her arms around me even tighter, pulling me into her heaving chest.

The only thing running through my mind was my father had been dead my entire life. My mind scouring every detail trying to convince me that I had known this the entire time. A sense of relief washing over my body now knowing the truth. I didn't blame my mother for never telling me. I felt better and worse knowing he was dead, at least he didn't just leave me on purpose. It wasn't his fault, my best friend didn't abandon me by his own doing. He didn't leave my mother and I. I knew that now and I would be able to move on.

I wrapped my arms tighter around my mother allowing her to release all of her pain as my body froze, not sure what emotions to feel. Tears still streaming down my face as my face held a blank expression. I was hurting inside but I couldn't deny the relief. Maybe what they said was true, the truth will set you free.

~*~

Meanwhile Emerson was learning of her past Ailis knocks on the large wood door that stood awfully tall for how small the faeries inside were. A few muffled whispers were coming from the other side before they all were shushed rapidly. Ailis was tired of the games they played here.

"Password?" A strong female voice echoed from the opposing side. Ailis rolls his eyes before making a series of clicking noises in just the right order. Obviously whoever was on the other side of the door was pleased with his response as the locks on the door began to undo themselves. The door slowly opened to reveal a group of fairies all scattered around the poker table Ailis remember so well. It hadn't been long since the last time he was here and he knew they were going to question him. He wasn't prepared for the ridiculing he was going to get about already wasting all the gold he had earned the first time he was here.

"There's the bastard who can't seem to keep his gold." Rumple chuckled under his breath before allowing Ailis to take a seat at the table. Ailis does so getting comfortable in the wooden chairs. Rumple quickly deals a hand, Ailis waits for him to finish before he picks up the cards holding them tightly in his hands. Ailis's heart was racing as he only came with enough gold for a single buy in. He had to win. As it was the only gold he had left to fix what he had already ruined for Emerson.

"Let de games begin." Rumple let out another cackle as he took the gold placing it between his teeth. After checking to see if it was real he handed Ailis his poker chips and they began their game. "What brings you back so early?"

"Oi really screwed things up an' oi nade ter fix dem."