Emma just seemed to really look to David a lot in the last few episodes of season two and honestly what Mother wouldn't feel a little hurt by that right? So here is a conversation between David and Mary Margaret... a.k.a. our very own Snow White and Prince Charming. She simply needs some encouragement.

Where She Keeps It

"Mary Margaret?" David calls to her as she sits down on board the Jolly Roger. She does not acknowledge him so he makes his way over to sit down beside her. "You alright?" He asks her as he takes one of her now cold hands into his.

"I'm fine… I'm just… tired." She says with a sigh and a small shrug.

"Hey… I really think you need to have a talk with Emma." He says quietly.

"What? I mean… why?" She asks somewhat stunned by his suggestion.

"She seems a little lost. I know she's worried about Henry but I think she's also still grieving over… Neal." He says with a tilt of his head.

"Well why don't you go talk to her then? I'm sure you have more than enough words of wisdom to share with her." She offers meekly.

"I… I don't think I'm the one she needs right now." He says as he turns to try and get some eye contact with his wife. "At least that's not how I'm seeing it."

"She's been more responsive to you lately. I don't see what she needs me for at the moment." She says simply with a shrug of her arm.

David lets out a slight chuckle. "You sound a bit jealous and I don't think you have reason to be. She needs you more than you know she's just… well… she's quite proud and stubborn really. Not a good combination especially being that she is our daughter." He offers with a smile.

"David... Stop trying to make me feel better. She doesn't NEED me. She keeps turning to you every time something comes up. When Henry ran off from her and Neil she had you while I was… locked away in the apartment trying to get over tricking Regina in to killing Cora." She frowns feeling a bit helpless. "When she came to me with her concerns about Tamara I didn't even stand by her... in fact I did the opposite and discouraged her. Every time she comes to me with something I respond the wrong way." She pulls away from him slightly. "I'm completely lost here. I'm trying to… to be the best person I can be for her and I am ruining every chance that I get with her. Even back at the diner when I tried to get her to understand how doing the hard thing was the right thing. She didn't even accept my answer. Before she was able to come up with a response she looked to you David. It was like it didn't even matter what I thought anymore. She only agreed to go to try and help Regina after she looked at you. So tell me… what good am I to her?" The woman says as tears start to flow from her eyes.

David let's out another breathy chuckle at hearing this. "Do you know why she looks at me?"

"No…" She responds in an annoyed but broken voice. "Why?"

"You are her weakness." He says as he looks his wife over.

"What?" She whispers in confusion.

"I am where she finds her strength but you… you are the place that she keeps her heart. You don't see that?" He asks with a shake of his head.

"I don't understand." She grumbles shaking her head and turning away from him.

"When she turns away from you it's because she's trying to fight her heart. She's trying to fight her reaction to her emotions so when she's conflicted she can't bear to look at you. It's the same reaction I have to you. You have this ability to wear your emotions on your sleeve. You are terrible at hiding how you feel while she… she struggles to hide what she feels. When she looks at you and you so easily convey your love, your care, you kind heartedness she is almost compelled to feel the same way and from what I have gathered it makes her angry, no doubt angry with herself. To me it's a tell-tale sign that she thinks this to be a weakness." He says all of this as if it is the most obvious of explanations.

"How do you know this? I've spent far more time with her than you have…" She begins to say.

"That was 'all you' when we first met." He says with a hearty chuckle. "You tried so hard to hide who you were, how you felt, about anything and everything. Even how you felt about me. Do you remember? You rambled on about how you wanted to be in a place that was secluded where you could never get hurt. Remember all that?" He asks with a smile while nudging her playfully with his elbow. "It wasn't until we finally declared our feelings for one another that you didn't care about that anymore. If you were in pain you cried, if you were in love you smiled, and when you were happy it just spread around until you made everyone else happy." He shakes his head to clear his thoughts before he finally adds. "Emma needs to let go and she won't do that with me. She'll do that with you."

"She let you comfort her when she told us about Neil getting killed." Mary Margaret offers. "I'm sure she'll be responsive if you just go to her…"

"No I tried that already. She doesn't want that from me. She wants to let go though I can tell… just not with me. She'll let me hold her yes. She'll let me get close to her now and that's huge, but she is not going to let go with me." When he sees that her mouth is open ready to argue he continues. "You say that you have spent far more time with her than I have. Tell me now, before the curse broke, did you ever see her let go with anyone?"

"Before the curse?" She stops to think. "Well… no. I mean anytime things got to be too much she… well she always left the apartment. I never saw her try to talk to anyone. I don't think I ever saw her cry… not… not before the curse." She remains quiet and then realizes, "There was one time… she... almost did."

"When?" He asks curiously.

"When I… oh…" She laughs at what she is about to reveal to her husband. "When I ran away from jail." She says with a grimace.

"What?" He asks in surprise.

"Shush…" She says as she looks around anxiously. "That's all in the past now. The point is she… well she was… she was offering me a chance to make a run for it or go back and face things together. It was actually the first time she ever insinuated that I was like family to her. She… she told me that no one had ever been there for her before except… me." She says quite stunned.

"Well there you go." He says now. "So even before the curse she looked to you… and what about after?" He pushes.

"Once." She says as she stares ahead and sighs heavily. "When we went to our castle to find the wardrobe, she caught me off guard actually. She was trying to apologize to me about something trivial, burning the wardrobe down. Out of nowhere she just fell apart before my eyes and she let me hold her." She says with a smile. "I mean afterwards she pulled away… I think she felt a little embarrassed by it."

"She felt weak. You see? She does that." He says with a knowing smile. "I'm right."

"Don't let it go to your head okay." She says rolling her eyes at him.

"My point is that she trusts you enough to let you see her at her worst. She won't do that with me… at least not yet and if she doesn't do that if she doesn't let go then she's just going to let all of this fester and we both know she never functions well when she's driven by emotion. Getting Henry back is going to take all of us and right now I don't think we have… her. Like I said she's lost." He says with a sad smile.

"She's been good at avoiding us since we set foot on this ship though. I don't think…"

"Stop." He says standing up and reaching down to offer her a hand up. "Stop making excuses. You have been waiting for the chance to be her mother. I know you have and now she needs you."

Mary Margaret stares at her husband now and she can't help but smile. He smiles as well before wrapping her up in his arms. When she pulls away her smile is still there on her face. "I guess I'll go talk to our daughter then."

"You do that. I'll be out here… enjoying the scenery." He says with a smile as he clasps his hands behind his head.

**There can be more... but it will turn in to a mother daughter situation. I'm shrugging my shoulders over here.

Drop me a review. ;) Thanks for reading.**