Emma sat across from her parents, she had known this was an inevitable discussion but truthfully she knew she'd never completely be ready for it. "What's this about, Emma?" Snow asked as she watched her daughter.
The blonde folded her arms on the table and wished with all her heart that she had accepted her lover's offer to accompany her to this discussion. She had known however and she still knew that her lover being there would only make things worse. "There's something I have to tell you guys," she said meeting their eyes.
"What is it, honey?" David questioned, "You know you can tell us anything."
"I know I can tell you anything," Emma said, "I just, I don't know how the two of you are going to take this."
Snow reached across the table, "Just tell us, honey."
Drawing in a deep breath Emma closed her eyes tightly, "I'm seeing someone," she said quietly.
A wide grin spread across Snow's face, "Oh, honey, that's wonderful. Who is it?" she gushed.
The younger woman curled her hand around the new necklace at her throat and spoke confidently to her mother and father, "Regina," she said, "Regina and I are dating, we have been since our return from Neverland."
Before Emma could even finish speaking her mother was shaking her head, "No, you will not be with her."
The blonde sighed, "Its too late, Snow, we already are and I'm not leaving her."
"You will," David said, "you will leave her if you want to live here."
Emma stared at her father, "Are you kicking me out?" she questioned, shocked at her father's reaction.
"If you're going to be with her," Snow said, in line with her husband's thinking instantly, "then you can't live here. You have to pick a side, Emma," she said, "hers or ours."
Standing from her seat Emma moved up the stairs to her room without a word, "We did the right thing," James said to his wife as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "she'll thank us one day."
Twenty minutes later Emma descends the stairs with a duffle bag over one shoulder, a black plastic trash bag in one hand and a box under her arm. "There are a few more things in my room," she said as she moved toward the door, a scowl painted across her features, "I'll come by on my lunch break tomorrow and pick them up. The key will be left on the counter."
"What are you doing?" David demanded.
"If I'm going to be with Regina I can't live here, right?" she questioned and her parents nodded. "I'm choosing her," she said simply.
"You can't," Snow said.
"I can," Emma retorted. "For twenty-eight years I was an orphan who took care of herself and survived without you guys," she shrugged, "I've finally found someone who makes me happy, who makes me feel loved and has given me a family. I had hoped the two of you would be a part of that," she shrugged, "but you're making me choose and I'm choosing Regina and Henry." She moved out of the front door without looking back at them.
The drive across town to the Mayoral Mansion was silent. In the driveway Emma snatched the duffle bag she'd packed from the front seat, leaving everything else behind as she made her way up the walk. She used her key and slipped into the warmth of the place she'd come to accept as truly being her home. "Emma," her lover's voice drifted to her ears. The blonde didn't answer as she placed her leather jacket on the hook by the door. She heard the Regina's stocking clad feet as the crossed the floor but she didn't look to the older woman, "Em?" Slowly Emma turned to face her girlfriend and watched as the brunette's features crumpled, "Oh, Em," Regina whispered as she moved forward and gathered the already crying blonde into her arms.
"T-they," Emma started, "they told me I-I couldn't live there," she said, "that I couldn't l-live there if-if I was gonna be-be with you." Slowly Regina eased them to the floor right there in the entry hall, leaning back against the wall under her family's coats as she pulled Emma nearly completely into her lap. "T-they said I-I h-had to ch-choose between y-you and t-them." Emma buried her face against Regina's neck, "I-I told them th-that I had l-lived without th-them for twenty-eight years a-and that y-you made me h-happy."
Regina pulled Emma even closer to her and placed a kiss upon the crown of the blonde's head, "I'm so sorry, Emma, I'm so very sorry." Running her hand gently up and down Emma's back, Regina rocked them slowly back and forth as she had for Henry when he was tiny and sought her affection. Slowly, after long minutes and heart wrenching sobs, Emma began to quieten until finally Regina glanced down to find the blonde dozing lightly in her arms. With a wave of her hand the two of them were moved from the entry way and to their bed upstairs both in their pajamas. Regina moved down the bed so that she could wrap Emma up tightly in her arms, the blonde's head coming to rest just over her beating heart. "I'm sorry they don't know how much they hurt you, Emma," she whispered, "I'm sorry that I can't take the pain away." She leaned down to kiss the blonde's forehead, "But I promise you that no matter what happens, my love, no matter if they come around or not, and I hope they will, I promise you're never going to be alone again." She tightened her hold on the blonde, "I love you, Emma."