Emma Swan stood in front of her father and Hook, both men looking at her with wide eyes. She shook her head, terrified. She did not just accidently sent a huge fireball in their direction. She did not just miss it by inches. She did not almost kill the most important men in her life. She did not.

She weighed her options. She was not going to stay there, in the middle of Main Street, and stare at her terrified father. She was not going to stay there and face terrified Hook. So with a sharp breath, Emma turned around on her heels and started running the opposite way. She had to run away. She couldn't face the disappointed men, the men she just almost accidently killed. The men she loved.

She ran as fast as she could, her legs burning under the speed. She couldn't stop. She had no idea where she was running to, but she just kept going. She ignored her father's voice calling her name, Hook's voice calling her father. She ignored the cars beeping as she crossed the street, not even bothering to look both ways before she did. What would it matter if she got ran over and died anyways, if she almost killed family?

She ran like the wind, ran on and on, until her legs failed her. She didn't stop until she fell hard on the ground, her legs refusing to keep going, her body refusing to get up. She sat on the hard floor in the middle of a hidden alley, her knees bloody and her face wet with tears she couldn't hold in anymore. And that was when she stopped ignoring her father's voice as he called her name, because now he had caught up with her.

"Emma?" she heard him say, as he fell to the ground by her side. She didn't dare to move, too afraid to hurt him again. She felt his arm wrap around her body and she was pulled back into a semi-laying position, her head resting just under his chest, her whole body weight on both his legs of stomach. She moved her eyes slowly, looking up at him, as his strong hands wiped her face gently, clearing the tears away.

"Why did you run?" he asked, almost sounding hurt in her ears. Of course he's hurt, you almost killed him you worthless idiot, she reminded herself. She didn't open her mouth, scared that her voice would betray her. She didn't want to start crying again, but it all felt wrong. How could she let him hold her like that, when she almost killed him a few seconds ago?

"Emma," he started again, but this time she shook her head at the sound of her name.

"You should go," she said, trying to get up. But with her body still exhausted both from using magic and running away, and with her father holding her tighter so she won't get up, she was stuck there.

"I'm not going anywhere," he answered, determined. "Not with you like this".

"Like this?" she snapped, giving a humourless laugh. "Like this how exactly? Dangerous? Out to kill my own family?"

She watched as he shook his head aggressively. "It was an accident, you and I both know it Emma. And you don't get to run and deal with it by yourself, do you hear me?" It was a tone she had never before heard her father use, aggressive, determined, like his life depended on what he was saying to her.

"How does it matter if it was an accident?" she shouted. "Because I don't think your wife would ever forgive me if you were dead, let alone you son who would have to grow up without his father!"

He wanted to cry, she could see it on his face. Something in her told he was aching because she was reversing, referring her mother as his wife, her brother as his son. But that small voice of logic was ignored by her, because a louder voice was shouting stronger. He wants to cry because his daughter betrayed him.

"Your mother," he said, emphasising every word, "and your brother, would be as hurt if they lost you. And they're not going to lose any of us, do you understand me? It was an accident Emma. Accidents happen. I'm here, and I'm safe, and you're safe as well, and I am not going to let you run away".

She was choking on her tears. In mere seconds her face was wet again and tears were streaming down her face and on her neck. He pulled her closer, holding her in his arms. She cried hard, breaking under the pressure she was holding in for the fifteen minutes they were there in the street, and she hoped to god that there was no one outside to see her like that. And then he started rocking her back and forth, like a hysterical baby. Like his hysterical baby.

"Shh, focus on my breathing," he soothed, "concentrate on them and mimic them. Whenever I breathe in, you breathe in. Whenever I breathe out, you breathe out. Okay, baby girl?"

She wanted to shout at him that she was not a baby, let alone his baby. She almost killed him, for crying out loud. But it was working, she noted. She was starting to feel more relaxed, she finally had her breath under control, and though she would never admit it out loud, she felt safe in her father's arms.

"Good girl," he encouraged as her breath evened. "Relax baby girl, I'm right here".

She started to get convinced that he was not angry at her. She started to get her logic back, to understand that, yes, she might have almost accidently killed Hook and him, but it was an accident, and they were both fine.

"I'm so, so sorry, Daddy," she barely whispered. And she felt him tense. At first she was confused, had she said something wrong? But then she remembered. It was the first time ever she called him that. She let out a soft sob, almost falling to hysteria again.

"Shh, baby girl. Everything's okay, I've got you. Daddy's got you".

His hand raised to her hair, pulling it back and away from her face as he pulled her impossibly closer. He held her as tight as he could, and he didn't let go. He didn't let go until he heard her breath even again, and a glance at her face showed that she'd fallen asleep.

"I love you so much," he whispered softly, picking her up and standing up. "And you're going to be just fine". And with that he headed back to his car, where he would place her gently in the back and take her back home.