These Simple Moments

Henry now sat on the bed. His jacket and scarf hung over the railing and he sat with his feet tucked under him, his shoes tossed on the floor. Emma picked them up and placed them to the side of the bed. She was good with the occasional mess every now and then but she was still learning the whole mom thing and sometimes that meant tidiness.

Emma continued to clean up and make their room slightly more comfortable.

"Hey mom," said Henry looking through pages of his book.

Emma turned. Henry had not called her mom in several days. "What is it kid," she asked.

"Can you tell me about him?"

"About your dad?"

Henry nodded. "I've read the story he has in here but there's only so much this story tells."

"What do you want to know?"

"I'm not sure where to start. I kind of have a lot of questions," he said slightly unsure if she would give him the answers.

Emma sighed. She wasn't sure she was ready for this but the one thing she knew she was sure of was that she was done lying to him. It had always been about protecting herself and protecting Henry to an extent but if he needed answers then Emma knew she had to be the one to give them to him.

"Okay," she said, "I'll answer them."

"Really," Henry asked sounding very surprised.

"Really," she said with a smile. She sat on her heels in front of him. "I meant what I said. I won't lie to you anymore so whatever questions you have then I'll try to answer them. I can't promise I'll tell you everything because there's a lot that you shouldn't know quite yet, a lot that I'm still not comfortable sharing but I can at least try."

"Then we'll start with something simple," he said smiling.

Emma smiled and brought over the chair that was in the room, taking a seat. "Okay ask away," she said to him.

"How did you and dad meet?"

Emma looked at Henry and thought of a fun way to start. "Remember how you helped me with Ashley, how you surprised me from hiding in the back of my car?" Henry nodded. "That's how your dad and I met. You're a lot more like him than you know."

"So dad surprised you in your car?"

"Not exactly," said Emma. "I wasn't exactly the best person of myself back then, not like you know me now. Henry, your dad wasn't the only thief. I was one too. That's kind of how I met him. I was stealing a car and your dad happened to be living in it. It wasn't even his car either."

"You stole a stolen car!"

"Yeah," Emma said looking up at him.

"So stealing runs in the family and not just on your side."

"Sorry about that Henry."

"Did you know who dad was? Did you know where he was from?"

"No, that I didn't find out until I chased him in New York. The only thing he told me was that his father was a bad man and that he was trying to run away from that."

"Did he know who you were?"

"Not at the time."

"But he found out," Henry said picking up on Emma's tone. "How?"

Emma took a deep breath. "Can I tell you some other time? I'm still having a hard time processing that one."

Henry nodded, "I guess that's okay. What can you tell me about him?"

"There's really not much to tell. We were both just trying to get by. One thing led to another and before you knew it we were in love."

"So then why did you stop being together? People in love always find a way to stay with each other."

Emma sighed knowing that she was bound to get to this question eventually. It was only natural for a kid to want to know what went wrong with their parents. She had seen it countless times before in the system and with families she was placed with, kids wondering why their parents stopped loving them, why their parents split and if it was their fault.

"I loved your dad Henry, very much but he hurt me. I trusted him and he betrayed that. Henry the reason your dad and I stopped being together was because he's the one who got me arrested. He's the reason I was sent to jail."

"But why would he do that if he loved you? He couldn't."

"At the time I thought he was just using me. I thought he needed someone to take the fall for some of the things he stole but it wasn't like that at all."

"Then what was it?"

"That's another thing I'm still trying to deal with."

"So you're not going to tell me."

"Not yet and not because I don't want to," she admitted. "I just need some time to figure it out, to let what he told me sink in. It hasn't yet since there's been a lot going on around here. I will tell you Henry but when I'm ready so please just trust me on that."

Henry nodded. "I will," he answered. "So, do you think you'll get back together?"

Emma couldn't help but laugh, "Henry he's engaged to someone else."

"So? David was married to Katherine but that didn't stop him and Mary Margaret from getting together."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Okay kid I think story time is over. Come on let's go downstairs," she said standing up.

Henry got off the bed.

"Hey mom," he said, "Thanks for telling me."

Emma smiled, "I love you," she said, "You know that."

"I love you two."

Emma hugged her boy tightly and the two made their way downstairs where David was all ready busy in the kitchen looking for something to fix up for dinner. Emma and Mary Margaret smiled at each other and Mary Margaret placed a hand on Emma's arm.

Their family was going to be all right now and that was more than enough.

~END~