Thanks as usual for RainMirror to beta this chapter for me. This story was a request by legend fanatic who asked for a Swanfire ending for "A Chance at the Second Chance." Reading that story first will definitely help.
Emma remembered the first time she came here with Gold and Henry. She stared at the numbers. She knew by heart which one she needed to press but that didn't make it any easier. It was a big mistake. She shouldn't have come. She shouldn't have listened to her parents. They found her letter for him. She would like to know she had some privacy but apparently that was not the case with her parents. In a way, she was glad because she missed the stage of her parents snooping around checking on the boys she dated when she grew up. But that didn't make it any easier. Not with her parents' constant talk about true love and the need to fight for it. It was easy for them because none of them kept dying. OK, she shouldn't discount their sleeping curses.
Henry didn't help at all by hinting how great it was to spend time with Neal and Gold in New York. He said it was a different experience with his memory intact and he knew his father loved him and didn't abandon him.
Well, that was the problem, Neal didn't have his memory. At least nothing that happened after he got resurrected so actually he didn't have much memory at all. It was different from the false memory she and Henry got from Regina. At least she had the good memory of raising Henry although sometime she was struggling with both sets of memories. Neal started with a blank slate.
Perhaps it was better that way. He didn't need to remember about being abandoned, Neverland, dying and all his heartaches. He could start anew, meet new women, fall in love, and have his family. She made a mistake. She needed to go back to Storybrooke as soon as possible. Her family needed her.
She swallowed a big lump. Neal's family was in Storybrooke too. He would like to be with his family if he could remember. But he could have a new one here without his nightmares. She was having this back and forth argument in her mind so she jumped when she heard his voice, "Sheriff Swan, what are you doing here?"
Neal was on his way out wearing his hoodie and jeans, his hands were on the gate.
"I came to… Henry missed you. So did Gold."
"I know, I just talked to Henry. He said I was in for a big surprise. I guess he meant you. I wonder what you want to talk to me about. Do you want to come in? Or do you want to get pizza with me? I was going to get lunch."
Emma thought of him asking for a date then she slapped herself mentally. He didn't know her that well and it was a spur of the moment request. "I could use some lunch. I've been famished."
Neal locked up his gate. "Let's go!"
She didn't like waiting. It was now or never, only one way to find out. When he turned, she grabbed his hoodie, pulled it toward her, and kissed him.
Author's Note:
-Please let me know what you think. I was hesitant to write Swanfire given the way the show was written in 3B and 4A but after the request from legend fanatic, I got the plot bunny that wouldn't stop biting my mind ankle until I wrote this.