Title: Every Time She Smiles
Summary: Emma and Daddy Charming bonding and Daddy Charming approval of Captain Swan (because I just love when Emma and her dad get a moment)
Disclaimer: They just don't belong to me!
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Charming smiles as Emma enters the room. They are finally all back together again. It was a long, hard road but he had faith in his family, especially in his daughter. She sits next to him and bumps his shoulder with her own.
"So I have a question for you. Hook said that you insisted that he be the one to find Henry and I. I would just like to know, why." Emma was trying to play this casual but he could see it in her green eyes, this was important. So David sighed, wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her temple.
"Because whoever we sent, you needed to be able to trust them and Emma, you trust Hook. I don't know exactly when it started or why but it's there. I watched it grow in Neverland and with that trust came genuine feelings for him. And I knew that as far as the trust his, the rest of us can't claim the same thing with you." Emma opened her mouth to argue but David just gave her a gentle squeeze and kept talking.
"No, no, just let me finish. Your mom and I, we love you Emma, we love you so much and we know that you love us but the fact is, this is the second time we've been separated from you, been forced to let you live a life without us in it. That kind of..." Emma watches him swallow as he forces the next word out. "Abandonment creates trust issues Emma, issues that we can finally start to deal with as a family and heal. As for Neal, well I didn't think you would just welcome him back into your life or Henry's, at least not right away. And I knew you wouldn't just blindly trust him enough to take a vial of glowing purple liquid that's supposed to restore you memories and drink it at his say so."
"So it was process of elimination?"
"No. It was about deciding who was best for the job and some part of me knew, just knew that if there was one person that could get through to you, get you to trust him, it would be Hook. Or more accurately, Killian. I didn't like it at first but I accepted it because if it meant getting you back, I'd send a million pirates." Silence settled between them for a while but it's not uncomfortable until finally Emma sighs.
"In Neverland, that's when I knew I was going to have to make a choice eventually, Neal or Killian. I just thought, I don't know, I expected it to take longer and be more difficult. I didn't expect to basically have the choice taken from me."
"That's how love works Emma. You can't choose logically, you can't choose at all. It's either true love, or its not. The only choice we get to make is to be brave enough to go after our love, to fight for it and to hold onto it no matter what."
"I think I've let him do enough fighting on his own. I think I'm ready to fight along side him."
"Well then, daughter of mine, go fight." Another kiss is pressed to her temple and David releases her from his embrace. He watches her walk to the door with determination in her steps. Just as she reaches the door she turns around and smiles, it's not guarded in any way, it's simply a daughter smiling at her father.
Not for the first time and probably not for the last time, he's so very grateful that Killian Jones came into their lives and opened up his daughter's heart. He'll never, ever say it out loud but he'll think it, every time she smiles.