Snow White vs. Mary Margaret

"Earth to Snow White," Red waved her hand in front of Snow's face.

"Huh?" she looked up at her friend who was sitting in the booth across the table from her. "Sorry, I'm a little distracted today."

"Is this about Emma?" Red asked. Three months and a whole lot of craziness had passed in Storybrooke since the curse had been broken. Only two nights ago, Red had hosted an intervention on her friend's behalf. Granny, Archie, and Grumpy had all tried to convince their friend to give their other friend, Emma, some space. Everyone was handling post-curse Storybrooke in their own way, which wasn't a problem until two very different people, such as Emma and Snow White, had to figure out a way to work through their mutual issues.

"I don't know why she won't talk to me," Snow said. "It so frustrating. One moment she's fine and the next moment she's shouting at me saying that I need to leave her alone. I don't get it."

"Snow," Red tried to sound sympathetic, "I can't imagine what either of you are going through, but you have to remember that Emma is grieving the loss of both her best friend and her parents."

"But I'm right here!"

Talking in the diner ceased while everyone stopped and looked over at their table.

"Nothing to see, people. Mind your own business." Red waved dismissively at them, and the other guests went back their conversations.

"I'm right here," Snow repeated now on the verge of tears.

Red took her hand. "Emma knows that, but she also knows that your relationship can never be the same. The two of you aren't just friends anymore. You're more than that, which is wonderful, but it also complicates things. As for losing her parents, well, you of all people should understand that. Don't you feel like, in some ways, you lost your daughter?"

As if on cue, Ella walked through the door with her baby girl. Snow stared at the two of them with longing. "I missed so much, Red, and I can't ever get that time back." Tears started to roll down her face.

"It's okay, Snow," Red told her. "It's going to be okay. You've been through way worse than this. And look on the bright side, at least when you woke up from the curse your daughter was alive. I woke up and had to remember..."

Snow squeezed Red's hand. "I know. I'm so sorry, Red."

"I'm going to be okay, Snow. We're all going to be okay."

"Are we?" Snow asked. "How could you possibly know that?"

"Because I know you," Red told her firmly. "I have faith that you will bug the crap out of Emma until every last wall she has comes crashing down."

Snow White laughed and said, "Glad you have faith in me."

"I do. You want to know why Emma keeps pushing you away? It's because she knows you have that ability, and it scares her."

"She has nothing to be scared of," Snow said.

Someone cleared her throat behind them. It was Emma. Snow looked at Emma and then at Red. "How long was she standing there?" she asked Red.

"Long enough," Emma answered. "Ruby, will you give us a minute?"

"Sure," Red said with a grin and slid out of the booth. "See you two later!"

"Traitor," Snow mumbled.

"Huh?" Emma asked.

"Nothing, listen, I'm sorry you had to hear all that. I just needed to talk to someone, and-"

"It's fine," Emma interrupted. "You don't need to apologize. I get that you need to talk to someone, and it's not like you can talk to me about, well, me."

"Is she jealous of Red?" Snow wondered but quickly pushed the thought aside. Surely, Emma knew that if given the choice, Snow would spend every waking moment with her, not Red.

"No, it's not fine, Emma," Snow told her. "I understand why you didn't want to live together anymore, and I understand your need for space. I just don't get why we can't talk like we used to."

"You mean when you were Mary Margaret?" Emma clarified.

"Yes," Snow said. "She's still me, or I'm still her or...whatever."

Emma shook her head. "No, you're not. You have her memories, her face, and her voice, but you aren't her."

Snow swallowed hard. She didn't want to ask Emma what she was about to ask her, but she had to - for both of their sakes. "Who do you want more - your mother or your friend?"

Emma gave Snow a look and said, "That's not fair."

The small part of Snow that was still Mary Margaret told her to be patient and to let Emma come to her, but wasn't it Mary Margaret who had gotten her into this mess? Mary Margaret was the one who had spent twenty-eight years wallowing in a self-deprecating pity party while her daughter grew up alone. Mary Margaret was the one who she had to compete with every day. Snow White hated Mary Margaret.

"You want to know what's not fair?" Snow asked. She was done being patient, and she was done listening to that shell of a person who had inhabited her for so long. "I'll tell you what's not fair. Hundreds of people died the night you were born. Did you know that? They died so that your father and I would have the chance to make the hardest decision we ever had to make. Look over there," Snow pointed at Ella. "Every time I see her. Every time I see what she has, I remember how unfair life is."

"Then have a baby," Emma told her. Snow could almost hear her daughter shutting down emotionally. "No one's stopping you."

"I already have a child."

Emma slammed her hand down on the table. "I am not a child."

"Then why are you acting like one?" Snow whispered.

"Her," Emma said.

"What?"

"I want her, not you. There! Are you happy now?" Emma looked shocked by her own confession.

"Fine," Snow grabbed Emma's keys from the table, "you can have her."

"What are you doing?" Emma asked. "You don't even know how to drive."

Snow was almost out the door when she said, "I'll figure it out. Mary Margaret was the one afraid of new things, not me."

"Where are you going to go?" she called out to Snow and then mumbled to herself. "It's not like she can leave Storybrooke...Oh, shit!"

Emma bolted from the table. "Ruby! I need the keys to your car right now!"

Ruby rushed out of the kitchen. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"It's Mary Margaret - I mean Snow. I think she's about to do something crazy."

"What?"

"I think she's going to try to cross the border."

"But Snow knows that if she does -" Red's eyes grew wide in fear.

"She'll turn back into Mary Margaret for good," Emma finished. "You know her better than I do. Would Snow do something this rash just to prove a point?"

"No," Red told her, "not to prove a point, but she might do it for another reason."

"What reason?"

"To avoid pain, to be noble, to help someone she loves...She drank Rumplestiltskin's potion to forget the pain of loving your father. She was willing to let the huntsman rip out her heart so that the kingdom would have peace. She took a bite out of that stupid apple on the off chance that her step-mother would let her true love live. 'Rash' doesn't even begin to describe how far she would go for a person...especially you."

"Oh hell," Emma said. "She's going to do it. I have to stop her!"

Red dug her keys out of her pocket and handed them to Emma. "Here," she said, "you can take my car, but I'm coming with you."

"Agreed," Emma said, and the two women raced out of the diner. Emma prayed she wouldn't be too late.

"You stupid, stubborn woman," Emma shouted in her mind, though she wasn't sure who she was referring to - Snow White or herself.