Chapter 1: Stubborn


"At least talk to him," Mary Margaret said as she and Emma walked down the sidewalk.

Emma shook her head, "Not interested."

"You're going to have to at some point."

"Well it's not today I can tell you that."

"He's not going away Emma. He's made it pretty clear he wants to stay."

Emma stopped and turned to Mary Margaret. "Why do you even care?"

"Hey, what kind of question is that? You're my daughter, of course I care not to mention the fact that he's my grandson's father and Henry seems to want him around."

Emma crossed her arms in front of her. "That's what I've always been afraid of. It's not good for Henry that he's here."

"It's not good for Henry or it's not good for you?" Emma looked at Mary Margaret with sharpness in her eyes. "He's not such a bad guy. Not as bad as you made him seem anyway. You just have to give him a chance."

"And what are you basing that on?"

Emma knew it was a rhetorical question. She had been gone from the apartment an hour before Mary Margaret came looking for her.

"Oh my god you actually let him stay after I left? You actually talked to him," Emma said feeling slightly betrayed.

There was a small part that wished her parents would stay out of her business but Mary Margaret was very good when it came to meddling. Usually that ended up working better than Emma sometimes wanted to admit but this was one situation that she wished she could handle, or not handle, on her own.

"Emma if you would just listen, you'll come to find it was just a big misunderstanding."

"He misunderstood his own directions to meet me like he said he would, yeah I can see how that can be misconstrued."

"He left you so he could help you."

"Right," Emma said not believing Mary Margaret, "He left me alone, pregnant, and in jail, yeah that's really helping me."

"You don't know the story."

"But I suppose you do right, I mean what you had an hour with him and all ready you're taking sides."

"I'm not taking sides; I just see things from his perspective that's all. You're the savior-,"

"I know I don't have to be reminded of that."

Mary Margaret ignored Emma's comment, "Have you ever wondered what it was that got you to this point, who helped you here other than Henry?"

Emma put her hands up, "I don't want to know. I don't care what Neal has do with any of this, if he has anything to do with it. I'm not ready to deal with it. I'm not ready to deal with him. I just need some space from him."

"You've had eleven years."

"Doesn't feel like enough right now," Emma said as she turned her back and walked away from her mother.