I. Inhale

"Go if you'd like," Snow said, standing at the edge of the portal next to her husband. He continued to try to meet her eyes, to beg her to come with him. She would refuse, and he knew, but he wanted to try. The amount of hurt in her eyes was killing him. It broke his heart to know that he was doing this to her.

He had promised that he would never leave.

But he had to know what was going on in the Enchanted Forest. He needed to know what was going on at home, and he was grateful that he wasn't the only one that was leaving. A few people had already gone through, but Snow refused to leave their daughter behind since she wasn't going. She wasn't leaving Emma again.

"I love you, Snow." He grabbed her hand, fully prepared and waiting for her to pull away. She didn't. He turned her small body towards him, met her eyes, and pulled her into a long, hard kiss, taking in every last bit of her because he didn't know how long it would be until he'd get to do it again. Worse than that, he didn't know if he would ever get to do it again. He pulled away, holding her face in his hands. She inhaled so much that she felt her lungs fill, and she held her breath.

"I will always find you." And with that, she watched him leave, and the portal closed behind him.

The asphalt of the street where the portal had been seconds before looked virtually unchanged. She stood there, studying it. It was the spot where her husband had left with a promise to find her one day, the same promise he had made countless times and not broken once. She didn't care that there were people watching, none of whom dared come near their princess at such a difficult time. But she could feel her state of mind declining, like she was losing her sanity about as quickly as a well-shot arrow travels. She knew that she couldn't take it any longer.

She was a mess of sobs and tears as she sunk to her knees in the spot where he had said goodbye to her. Her cries echoed through the quiet streets, but she heard the quickened clicks of high heels somewhere behind her getting closer and closer.

"Mom."

Emma.

She felt her daughter wrap her arms around her as she continued to break down in the middle of Main Street, where the remaining members of the community of Storybrooke stood at a distance, not even bothering to pretend that they weren't looking at Snow White, their princess known for being rock solid, who was breaking down.

Snow was so wrapped up in her own thoughts of her husband that it took her a really long time to realize that that was the first time Emma had ever called her "Mom."

"Baby, I'm so sorry…" Snow said into her daughter's shoulder. Emma pulled back and wiped a few stray tears away from her mother's face, which, even after a good ten minutes of just crying and sobbing, was still the most beautiful that Emma had ever seen.

"Mom, why are you apologizing to me?"

"I let him go. You just got your father back, and Henry just got his grandfather—."

"And you only just got your husband back. And that to me seems a hell of a lot worse."

Snow looked at her daughter, realizing just how proud she was of her, before disappearing into her arms again, the sobs worse this time than they were before.

Emma held on.

She held on for her mom.

Hey you guys. I really don't know what exactly this is. I got really bored the other day when I was supposed to be studying so I wrote this. If it comes out the way I want it to, this will probably end up being a two-shot. I ask for constructive criticism and positive feedback, as my self-esteem when it comes to my writing is low as it is. LOL Thanks guys.

-Emma