Author's Note: Thanks to Anika (BaronessBlixen) for writing "A Place in This Home." Since I read it, I've toyed with the idea of continuing it. When I realized the idea wouldn't go away, I figured I had to just go ahead and do it. I hope this lives up to the original!

"Hey, are you sure you're all right?" Mary Margaret poked her head in Emma's bedroom door. The conversation, if one could call it that, which had occurred downstairs just a few minutes ago had left the schoolteacher a bit uneasy.

"Sure," Emma replied automatically. But of course it was a lie. How could anyone be OK after finding out their parents are storybook characters and fighting a dragon to break an evil curse?

"You know, we're really glad you found us," Mary Margaret continued, pretending she didn't know her daughter was lying.

"I know," Emma replied. As much as she loved her friend/newfound mom, she wished Mary Margaret would just leave her alone. She was exhausted, but still, she couldn't quite bring herself to tell Snow White to go away. "I'm glad everything worked out. You know, with the curse and all. And going back there." She smiled nervously, not wanting to relive the time she'd spent in the Enchanted Forest.

Mary Margaret smiled. "I always knew you'd save us, but I didn't really know what that would mean. We really didn't have much time to think at all. I mean, once the curse hit -" She laughed, trying her best to lighten the moment.

Suddenly, as she looked at Mary Margaret, Emma softened. She recalled the room they'd seen in the other world – the remnants of the wardrobe Snow White and Prince Charming had put their only child into, in a desperate attempt to free her from the impending curse. All her life, Emma had wrestled with the whys: why did my parents give me up, why didn't they want me? Over the years, a number of scenarios had crossed her mind, but never this one. "I get it now," she said, in a voice so small even she barely heard it.

"Get what?"

"Why you did it. Why you sent me away. You and David must've been so scared."

Tears formed in Mary Margaret's eyes as she nodded. "If there had been any other way..."

Despite all of her instincts telling her not to, Emma got out of bed and walked over to where her mother stood. Without a word, she embraced her. They stayed like that, holding each other for a long moment.

As she pulled away, Emma thought of Henry, sound asleep just a few feet away. She loved him. She'd tried to deny it at first, but now there was no hiding it. For so long, Emma Swan had avoided having any type of emotional ties. But now she was attached to Henry in a way that seemed to defy all reason. As she looked at her mother's face, now streaked with tears, she realized they had this in common.

"We're not that different," Mary Margaret said, seemingly reading Emma's mind.

Emma thought of what she'd seen back in the fairytale world. Snow White had shot arrows arrows and fought right alongside Mulan. It was a kind of strength Emma had never before seen in Storybrooke's beloved schoolteacher. "No," she smiled. "We're not."

The End