Thank you to everyone who reviewed and decided to follow and/or favorite this story. You made my week! I accept constructive criticism as well. I love writing dialogue and tend to get carried away with it. If it's gets out of hand please let me know. I always had this little dream of being a screenwriter but alas, I sit behind a desk typing and stuffing envelopes which is far more glamorous than the life of a screenwriter.

CHAPTER 2

Emma

"What was that?" Henry touched Emma's hand after she shut the door on Neal.

"I have no clue." She looked down at their hands. His small hands shook a bit as if scared of what she could do. "We have to leave, kid. Whatever that was, I didn't have any control of it. I am so angry at him and if I don't leave…I promise he will follow us."

"You can't promise that." Henry snatched his bag from the floor in a huff.

"I can. Neal would never abandon you. Please, just…we need to go."

Emma continued with their packing. Whatever it was that just came out of her, it was fueled by her anger at Neal. There was no control on her part. That terrified her. She did want to give Henry more time with his father, but at this point she needed her parents to hopefully make sense of all of this. Rumplestiltskin gave her an idea of the magic she had but she couldn't very well go to him. He was after all the Dark One. Maybe Mother Superior could help her? Or she could ignore it and just go home and see if Neal would follow them.

"I don't like this mom. It's not fair." Henry pouted as they drove the rental car home. "You didn't even tell Mr. Gold we were leaving."

"Life isn't fair, kid. And I upheld my end of the deal with Mr. Gold. He can find his own way home."

They were quiet the rest of the ride. The ride was a lot longer than when she had driven from Boston to Storybrooke but thankfully it was early morning when she made her escape. They would be home by 7 she tried to calculate. She didn't call Mary Margaret or David to let them she was coming home. She didn't want to talk to anyone yet. Neal called her a few times then the calls stopped. Gold must have given him the number. She felt relief wash over her as she drove in to Storybrooke.

Henry still didn't say a word to her as they walked up the stairs to the loft. She was about to open the door but didn't want to risk walking in on her parents again. They weren't expecting them home just yet. She knocked and steadied herself to face her parents. David was the one to open the door. Henry pushed his way through and rushed up to his and Emma's room. Emma gave her father a weak smile.

"Emma?" David led her in the loft and to the couch.

"Henry hates me. I almost killed Neal." She was not going to fall apart. Where was Mary Margaret. She couldn't do this with David. It was awkward. "Where's –"

"She followed Henry the minute he rushed in. She's upstairs." He looked in to her eyes. "You can talk to me."

"I don't want to talk about it." She had her head lowered. David sat on the arm of the couch.

"I'll go get your mother," he said sadly as he patted her shoulder. Emma grabbed his hand and pulled in down next to her.

"He just left me. He promised we'd be together forever. That we would take care of each other," Emma spewed out. Why was she opening up to him? She was exhausted. That was why. It had nothing to do with the fact that her heart was breaking and she wanted to know what it felt like to have her father tend to it. "He set me up for his crime. I went to jail for him. I really thought he'd be waiting for me, you know? I thought when they locked me up that I just needed to do my time and he'd be there."

David didn't say anything. Emma continued. "I figured he fenced his stolen watches and he'd be waiting with the money and we'd start our life. I found out I was pregnant the same day a prison guard came and told me I got mail. A package from Phuket. Car keys. A damn set of keys to the car we both stole. That's when I knew. He wasn't waiting. He took the money and left me. I gave up Henry to have a better life and he had to nerve to be angry with me for that?"

She felt fat tears fall down her face. She felt David's strong arms wrap around her. Then she felt his hand on her head, soothing her. She felt a droplet of water touch the top of her head. Was he crying too? She cried hard. She sobbed. She didn't care about the walls she carefully built or that she always felt awkward and unsure around her father. Right now, in this moment, she was a little girl in her father's arms. She felt the world go away and for the first time in a long time, she felt safe.

Emma knew she had fallen asleep in her father's arms. She didn't want to wake up. She heard voices and knew Mary Margaret and David were talking about her. He was running his hands through her hair. She imagined as a child she would have enjoyed falling asleep to that. Why couldn't she open her eyes? She needed to speak to Henry.

"Henry is sleeping just as soundly as Emma," Mary Margaret said as if reading her mind. "You've been like this with her all evening. Why don't you carry her to bed?"

"I think I'd like to enjoy this a little longer."

Emma did as well. One of them kissed the top of her head. She fell back asleep. Safe again. She started to drift out of her sleep at the sound of a knock at the door and her mother's voice. David stirred a bit but Mary Margaret's voice was muffled. Then she raised it.

"This is the real reason she had to rush back here, isn't?" she heard his voice. "Not because of her parents, but because of a boyfriend?"

"Bae." Was that Gold?

"You two really need to leave," came Mary Margaret's hushed voice.

Emma jumped at the same time David did. Standing above them was Neal and Gold. Mary Margaret was trying to keep the peace. Emma was trying to make sense of the fact that Neal was here so quickly and with his father. And her father, oh her father. He looked like a man ready to murder. She somewhat pitied Neal. He was going to meet her father the Prince. Not the mild mannered David Nolan. From the stories she heard, the Prince was a fierce warrior.

"Is it? Did you rush off because of him?" Neal pointed to David. Was that jealousy? Emma tried to hold in a laugh realizing he had no clue that David was her father and not a boyfriend. "You can't keep Henry from me and let him raise him."

"Bae, really. Stop," Gold tried to talk to his son.

"No, you stay out of this." He glanced at his father who simply shrugged and took a seat as if ready for a show.

"So this is Henry's father?" David questioned. "This is the piece of – " he stopped.

Everything happened so fast. David grabbed Neal by the shirt and pushed him up against the wall. He had one arm pushed up against his throat and the other was searching for his sword that was just next to them. Emma wasn't sure if he was just trying to scare him or if he'd hurt him. He pushed back and now the end of his sword was pointed at Neal's heart. Gold stood up and Mary Margaret tried to tell him to sit down.

"Hey man," Neal stuttered. "Look, this is about my kid. Not you and Emma." He looked over at Emma. "Who is this guy? A sword?"

"David, don't. Put it down," her mother said softly.

"Fine," he said grumpily and dropped his sword. He looked at Emma then pulled his arm back and slugged Neal. He moved to slug him again when Emma caught his hand. He kept his eyes trained on Neal's.

"David," Emma said softly. "Please don't." He didn't budge. Neal was looking worried. Gold however, remained in his seat. "David." Oh come on. "DAD!" David snapped his head around to Emma and smiled. She pushed him to the couch.

"She called me dad," he whispered to Mary Margaret as she came out with ice. He was grinning like a fool.

"You called him dad." Neal stayed up against the wall.

"Neal, meet my mom and dad. David and Mary Margaret. Some people know them as Snow White and Prince Charming." Emma had a feeling he knew who her parents were just didn't realize they would be her age."

Neal didn't budge. He glanced over to Mr. Gold who simply shrugged. She loved watching him squirm under her father's glare and the fact that his own father stood and watched everything happen was even better. It was almost like Gold was letting Neal make an idiot of himself in retaliation of his rejection from the other day. Whatever the reason, Emma didn't care. It was amusing to watch.

Neal

"Can we please talk in private?" Neal looked softly at Emma.

Both her parents and his father were watching them. They really needed to discuss things and having parents around was not conducive to that. That and Prince Charming really did appear to want to kill him. Being far away from that would be fantastic, Neal thought.

"She's not going anywhere with you," Prince Charming growled. "You and your father can slither back to whatever hole you came out of." Yep, if looks could kill Neal would be dead. Prince Charming wasn't all that charming.

"David!" Snow White and Emma both cried.

Emma pushed her father out the way and shot him, what Neal thought was a 'thank you' look. She grabbed her coat and opened the door. That was easier than he thought it would be.

"Careful out there. Cora and Hook…," Snow trailed off.

Neal paused at hearing the name Hook.

"I don't think Cora can hurt me and Hook would rather…," she smirked. "We will be careful." She nodded to the sword. "Want me to take that with me?"

"I'm not going to answer that because I know you are kidding." Charming had his arms crossed.

Neal could tell Emma enjoyed her father's protectiveness over her. He was also pretty sure she enjoyed watching her father punch him in the face. Neal supposed he deserved it. There was a day he was that person to Emma and anyone who hurt her would have to endure Neal's wrath. He lost that place in her life years ago. Realizing this now added even more pain to this whole situation. Just like the pain he felt when Emma told him nothing good came from their relationship. Thinking on it now, he figured out she lied to keep him from knowing about the greatest thing ever…Henry.

He followed her outside and around the corner to where he saw the unmistakable yellow bug. He felt it best not to comment. Why did his life have to be so complicated right now? Signs pointed to Emma still holding on to feelings for him? At this point in time? He shook his head. Why? They rode to their destination in silence.

"The Sheriff's station? You gonna have me arrested?" He joked following her to the doors. When she produced a set of keys his eyes widened just a bit.

"I could if I wanted. But I'd be the one locking you up."

Neal cocked his head to the side but followed her in to a back office. She took a seat behind the desk and pushed some papers to the side. He could see a photo of Emma and Henry. So, she was the Sheriff? Again, he kept his comments to himself even though he really wanted to joke about a petty thief being a Sheriff.

"You wanted to talk." Emma pointed to the chair across the desk. "I'm just really not sure what else there is to talk about."

"There is plenty to say." Neal closed his eyes. "I flew here with my father – my father, Emma, because you ran off. Sure, I could have waited but I didn't like how we left things.

"I'm fine with how we left things. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I told you I didn't want to talk you." Emma leaned back and kicked her feet on her desk. "I just didn't want you waking up Henry. That is why you are here."

"So we are just going to sit here, not talking then?" Neal tried to read Emma. He could always read her. Not this time. "Ok, don't talk. Just listen."

She didn't respond but fixed an icy stare on him. He already told her why he left her. To get her home and she didn't care. And he made the mistake of opening his mouth this morning…wow was it really just this morning… and angering her. He shouldn't have questioned her decision to give Henry up. He had no right. And why did she act like he never left her any money? Probably because August kept it.

"I left you. I called the police on you. You did time for my crime. I own up to that. I hurt you. Betrayed you." Neal rubbed his face and sighed. He felt a knot in his stomach and all he wanted to do was feel her in his arms. "You can believe me or not, but the choice to do that – to lose the most important thing in my life…it killed me." He leaned forward and looked in her eyes. She was looking ahead, past him. "A little after you were locked up I met up with August. Looking at it now, I shouldn't have trusted him. He promised he'd look after you for me. I made the car clean for you and I did give him all the money from the watches after I fenced them for you."

"You don't give large sums of money to Pinnochio," she grunted.

"I know that now. But I had no clue he was Pinnochio, I mean his nose didn't grow when he said he'd give you the money." He laughed slightly. "I wanted to know you'd be fine. I asked him to let me know once you were free. Once you broke the curse." Neal pulled up a now tattered post-card and handed it to her. "I've had it for a while now. I just couldn't get the courage to face you or my father."

With shaky hands she picked up the post card that simply said "broken". He could see she was trying not to cry. She succeeded. Emma handed it back to him before pushing her chair back, her feet thumping on the floor. She took a seat on the end of the desk, now mere inches from Neal. He was really hoping she didn't slap him.

"While I appreciate the explanation, it changes nothing. That card proves one thing…you are even more a coward than I thought." Her eyes bore in to his. "If it killed you to leave me and you wanted to know when the curse was lifted…you knew it would be 11 years. You didn't come for me right away. So, one of two things happened. You never cared like you claim or you gave up and moved on."

He tried not to show the hurt her words caused him. Of course he cared. He loved her still. And he wasn't sure if giving up was the right word choice. Why was life so complicated? She was waiting for his response and really didn't want the words to slip off his tongue. And she was looking at him…waiting….