David is pretty set on going back to their world but even if Mary Margaret wants to go back... well... family is the only thing she will base her decision on. Mary Margaret explains things to Emma which causes her to harbor some intense feelings towards her father. Not your average "Charming family" story here.

** After watching Episode 2X13 "Tiny" I was left sort of angry and frustrated. Mostly the discussion between Charming and Mary Margaret about wanting to go back to their own world is what bothered me. This is not the story I intended. I had an idea, talked it out in text, and now it's something else entirely but maybe worth the read. Who knows... but here it is anyway.

Also... I normally provide a timeline but for this one just use your imagination if you please. :)**

Leaving

Emma was very aware of the fact that her parents were not speaking to one another. The very few times she had seen them together lately they were very quick to greet and separate. It was a big change in her mind. To go from the epitome of true love to what resembled the onset of a marital separation. She decided that her parents were more than capable of working out their issues like adults and made no mention of it but walking in to the apartment now and finding Mary Margaret appearing to have an inner battle of sorts was too much to take in. It was time to get some answers.

"Okay, I give up." Emma says as she walks across the room to take a seat next to a very quiet and visibly depressed Mary Margaret. "What's going on?"

"What do you mean?" Mary Margaret says flatly as she stares off into space.

"Something's bothering you... what is it?" Emma asks as she turns to face the other woman. "Is it because of David? "

"No. I'm just..." She sighs, "I'm tired. I should probably take a nap." She starts to make a motion with the intension of standing but Emma grabs at her upper arm and keeps her in place.

"No no... " Emma presses. "You've been like this for days now. You've never been this quiet... at least not around me and I don't like it."

"I'm sorry. It... it has nothing to do with... well... maybe it might..."

"To do with what? Me?" Her tone takes on a note of panic. "Did... I do something?" She asks suddenly feeling responsible for Mary Margaret's behavior.

"Oh no Emma..." Mary Margaret rushes to console, her eyes widening at the pang of guilt she feels for worrying her daughter. "You haven't done anything. It's just your father..."

"What did he do?"

"No..." She sighs in frustration. She does not want to explain what is bothering her, not to her own daughter, but the way Emma is taking things she is going to have to clear this up now. "He didn't do anything." She takes a deep breath while she tries to think of how to approach this conversation. "Emma when you were gone with Gold some things happened. We... uh... well there was the Giant that ran amuck in town and he got into a argument with your father thinking he was actually your fathers twin brother. After that situation was cleared up the giant told us he had a seedling to grow some magic beans. Somehow..." She clings harder to the pillow she had been sitting with, "Somehow we started talking about going back home to our world. Your father... he... well he really wants to go back. I mean it wasn't the first time David brought up the subject but it was the first time the possibility was there... that we might be able to go back."

It was Emma who now stared off into space as she tried to wrap her head around what Mary Margaret was trying to explain. "So... so you want to go back then?" Emma finally asks.

"When David first brought it up... it was when I suggested we move to a new home. He would find something wrong with every house we looked at. Finally he broke down and told me... how he felt we didn't belong here and he wanted to go back to what he knows."

Emma pulls a leg up underneath her as she turns to face Mary Margaret and asks once again, "... but do you want to go back?"

"I... when the giant Anton... I mean Tiny, as the dwarves have taken to call him, when he said that if he grew these beans and that it might get us back home your fathers eyes lit up at that revelation. When we were alone together and I told him how it was fun for me to have a new adventure he mentioned that we could have adventures like that back home like we use to. He's been pushing and pushing and..."

"What did you say to him?" Emma changes her question in an attempt to finally get an answer to it.

Mary Margaret reaches out to take Emma's hand and squeeze it between her own two hands. "I... I told him that we belong with our family. Wherever they are is where we need to be."

Emma takes a deep breath. She is frustrated with how Mary Margaret is avoiding answering her question. She doesn't want to get angry. She doesn't want to lash out so she stays silent for a few minutes before she turns and sees that Mary Margaret has been watching her this whole time. "Well... what did he say?" She asks instead.

"He..." Don't do this, Mary Margaret thought to herself. If She finished this statement she knew Emma would feel guilty. The fact of the matter was the only reason she was saying no was because of Emma. She didn't want to be back home if Emma wasn't there but she also knew how Charming felt. What do I say to her?

"Just say whatever it is you're NOT saying, or at the very least answer my question." Emma says with an exasperated tone.

"Emma..." She lets out another one of those frustrated sighs. "I told him that I didn't want to go back because I didn't think you would want to come. I wasn't about to leave... not after I finally found you. He was upset that I was worried about you and he said that you could take care of yourself..."

"Well he's right!" Emma shouts as she stands up and looks down at Mary Margaret. "I'm a grown woman! You don't have to worry about me! Why do you think that keeping things to yourself is what's best? Just tell me... just answer me... do you want to go back?!" She didn't mean to get angry but she couldn't hold it in.

"Emma..." Mary Margaret quietly pleads.

"Do you?" Emma asks in a low voice clearly trying to compose herself.

"No." She whispers.

"Liar." Emma says almost in a growl.

"Emma I'm not..." Mary Margaret says shaking her head.

"Liar." She says again.

"Why are you so angry?! Where is this coming from?"

"I... I don't know." She says hunching her shoulders and shutting her eyes. "I just... I don't want you and David to fight because of me. If you want to go back... well you should." She says with a shrug but her voice is a quiet whisper. "I just... I don't know if that's the kind of world I want to live in."

"Well I don't want to leave you here. If you stay I want to stay."

"... and then what? You lose your prince charming and your happy ending because of me?" She asks with a pained look. "You already know the first chance he gets he's leaving. His mind is made up and from what I've learned about this family is that once our mind is made up there is not a big chance of changing it." She says with a sad smile. "You can't pick me over him. You can't."

Mary Margaret leans forward and takes Emma by the hand. She pulls her to sit back down next to her and when she does she places her arm around her shoulder. She doesn't say anything for a few seconds because she wants Emma to feel comforted. "I have picked you over him so many times already Emma... and you're right. Once we make up our minds there's not much of a chance of changing it. You let me worry about your father. As for me... while yes I would like to go back home I belong where you and Henry are. I don't need to have a run in with Ogres, have death defying adventures, or battle an Evil Queen but I do need my family. That subject is not up for debate." She says definitively waiting to see if Emma is going to accept this answer.

Emma doesn't say anything at all. She simply tilts her head to lean on Mary Margaret's shoulder as Mary Margaret rests her head atop hers returning the gesture.

**I messed up somewhere. This wasn't really the story I intended so now I'm stuck and don't know where to go. Ha ha... how embarrassing... but let me try something with a new chapter. **