Well, it's been a while but I'm back with a new story. And a story in a new category. How exciting.
This story takes place right after Emma and gang leave the beanstalk with Hook still hanging out with the giant. It really focuses on Emma and Snow's relationship (since that is such a complex one).
A special thanks to my beta, Laura, who even though she is hundreds of miles away from me will still continue to go through my stories with a fine tooth comb. Love ya, girlie and I can't wait to see you on Christmas!
She'd always had an issue with trust. It just didn't come easily to her. All her life she would meet someone (a perfectly nice someone) and she would keep herself closed off. She blamed her childhood, first and foremost. She was moved around so much between foster families, promised that this time was the last, promised that she was loved and would never be given up. And each and every time, that trust she gave, that belief she allowed herself to feel, was broken. And not just broken but stomped on and ground into the floor with glee.
So, she learned. She learned to take anything said to her with a grain of salt, especially if they were promises or pleas for her to trust them. And after what happened 11 years ago, well that certainly made her even more wary.
"Emma?"
The voice was her mother's. The person who used to be her best friend. But was now the person who gave her up all those years ago and started her trust issues.
"Yeah?"
A huff came from beside her, be it a huff of frustration or a huff from trying to catch up with her fast pace, Emma didn't know.
"What happened up there?" Snow asked, her hair still disheveled from her struggle with Mulan.
"Fought a giant, made peace with a giant, got the compass, and came back." All of this was said without even a glance toward the other woman.
"But what about Hook?" her mother asked, still trying to keep up with Emma's long strides.
"He's being detained."
"Being- what do you mean by that?"
Emma glanced over at Snow and gave a slight smirk at the shocked expression on her mother's face.
"I mean that we have a little bit of time to get to where we need to be. He won't be bothering us."
"How? I mean, why?"
"Why?" Emma asked. "Are you really asking me why I left him up there?"
Snow shrugged as she grabbed her daughter's leather clad arm. It slowed Emma down enough so that Snow wasn't using so much energy trying to keep up. "It seems so…cold. There's a giant up there!"
Emma shrugged Snow's hand off her arm but kept her pace slower. Snow shot her a slight look of gratitude, which Emma replied to with a slight grin. "I find it interesting that you feel bad for a man you just met and don't even trust yourself."
"But to leave him up there! With a giant!"
"Who owed me a favor." At Snow's raised eyebrow, Emma explained. "I didn't kill him."
"Oh…" Snow bit her lower lip. "Okay. Well, that was certainly nice of you."
"Yeah, well, my heart just breaks at a big pair of puppy eyes."
Snow grinned.
"I asked him to watch Hook after I locked him up."
"You locked Hook up?"
"Yeah, so he wouldn't follow us."
Snow gave a growl of frustration. "I swear, it is like pulling teeth!"
Emma smirked. "I don't trust Hook. So, I left him."
Snow opened her mouth to continue pulling the story from her daughter when Mulan's voice interrupted.
"I hear a stream nearby," the female warrior stated, veering off to the left.
Emma glanced at Snow with raised eyebrows. Her mother just shrugged and followed Mulan and Aurora towards the sound of gently moving water.
As the four ladies knelt next to the stream to fill up their waterskins, Snow looked over at her daughter. She was beautiful. Getting her blonde hair and height from her father made her into a very desirable young woman. But as Mary Margaret stated not long ago, Emma had walls built around her. She rarely let anyone past those walls - Henry and Mary Margaret being the exceptions. Of course, now that Mary Margaret was suddenly her mother, that had changed. Emma didn't seem to smile as widely and her eyes held a hint of hesitation as well as a little fear when she looked at Snow.
And that hurt.
"You have issues with trust, don't you?"
The question came out without her permission. And she knew it showed on her face that she certainly didn't mean to blurt that out.
"What?" Emma asked, whipping her head around to stare wide-eyed at her mother.
Snow decided she was already knee-deep in, she may as well dive in the rest of the way. "Trust," she said very matter-of-factly. "You don't do it well."
"Oh, I trust well enough," Emma stated, looking back at her waterskin as it slowly filled with water. "I just don't give it out freely."
"Try not at all," Snow muttered.
"Hey!" Emma exclaimed. "I trust people! They just have to earn it!"
"It must take a lot," Snow said as they stood up.
"Why do you say that?"
Snow scratched the side of her nose. "Well, I think the only one you really trust is Henry."
"That's not true!" Emma proclaimed as she brought the waterskin to her mouth to take a sip. "I trust you." She then took a large gulp of the water.
"You trust me?" Snow asked, her eyes wide and full of hope.
"Of course! You're-"
Whatever Emma was about to say was cut off by a sharp pain radiating out from her stomach. She gasped and dropped the waterskin, her arms automatically wrapping around her middle as she fell to the ground.
"Emma?!" Snow shouted, dropping beside her daughter.
Snow White's scream prompted Mulan and Aurora to come running.
"What is it?" Mulan asked, dropping to her knees on the other side of the blonde.
"I don't know," Snow said as she pulled Emma into her arms. Emma gave a slight struggle as another hot stab of pain went through her. Tears were rolling down her cheeks and her green eyes were squeezed shut.
Mulan suddenly stood up and strode over to the stream. Aurora quickly took her place beside Emma and offered moral support to the mother frantically trying to comfort her daughter.
"It's the water," Mulan said as she came back to the trio.
"The water?" Aurora asked right as Emma gave a loud groan of pain and buried her face into Snow's shoulder.
"It's enchanted."
"Enchanted?" Snow asked sharply. "With what?"
"I don't know," Mulan said, her face plainly showing how upset she was about this.
Before Snow could throw a sharp retort towards Mulan, Emma suddenly pushed away from Snow and fell to her back, her arms still wrapped around her stomach.
Right as she hit the ground, a thick cloud engulfed her and a bright flash of light caused the other women to shield their eyes.
A couple of seconds passed before a shuffling sound from where Emma had fallen prompted Snow to open her eyes. And she gasped at what she saw.
There on the ground where her daughter should have been was a small, blonde girl who looked to be between the ages of 5 or 6. She was curled into a ball with her face buried in her arms.
"Who is that?" Aurora asked.
At the sound of her voice, the little girl lifted her head, her green eyes wide and full of fear. And at the sight of those eyes, Snow gave another gasp.
"Emma?"
To be continued…
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