Hey guys! I got some great reviews on the last chapter and I have an idea of where I'm gonna take this. This chapter doesn't include Neal, at least not in person, but I felt like writing this. There hasn't really been a moment where the Charming family actually got to discuss this whole situation with Neal. In my story David knows practically nothing, just so you know.
Let me know what you think of it this chapter! Reviews are always appreciated, as are followers and favourites
Emma closed the door behind Neal, her cheeks red. She let her head rest against the door. The amount of feelings floating through her were conflicting. Her thoughts were interrupted by her mother.
'Emma, you're okay?' Mary Margaret rubbed her back.
No, I'm not. 'Yes, I'm fine.' She turned around to face her father and mother. The looks on their face made her want to run. She was so going to avoid this talk. With her hand she pointed to the stairs. 'I'm just gonna-'
'No, Emma, you're not.' Mary Margaret spoke with an authoritarian voice. 'Sit.' That tone was new and it surprised Emma.
'I don't have to take orders from you.'
'Yes, you do, I'm your mother.' The brunette waved to the table. 'Sit and talk. Now.'
'You decide that now, you're going to be the parent.' This was annoying.
'Yes. Will you now, please, sit down Emma.' Mary Margaret's tone was now more pleading.
'Listen to your mother Emma.' David joined the conversation. He was sitting at the table with a steaming mug in front of him.
Emma let out a frustrated sigh and plopped down on the nearest chair. 'I don't want to talk about it, you know that right?'
'Yes, we know Emma, but we really liked it if you'd tell us about Neal.' David took a sip of his coffee. 'I know nothing about the guy and what happened between you two.'
'You know he's Henry's father and that he's Rumpelstiltstkin's sun..' Emma was playing with the keychain. And that is enough…
'Just start from the top. How did you guys meet?' Mary Margaret did another attempt at getting her daughter to tell the story.
Ugh.. Whatever. Emma decided that she should just tell them the whole story. Mary Margaret would keep asking questions anyway, and fighting with her new found parents didn't seem like a good plan. 'I'll tell you..-' Her mother's face lit up. '-on one condition. No, and I repeat no, interruptions. Agreed?'
Mary Margaret and David exchanged a quick look and both nodded in agreement.
'So….' Where should she start? Especially if she wanted to avoid hurting her parents. 'I just got out of the system and I needed some kind of transport. One day I was walking around and I saw this cute little car. I came back the next day with the equipment I needed to open the door and get the engine started. It all went pretty smooth.. So far. The moment I drove away someone popped up in the back of the car. He told me I could have just asked him for the keys. His name was Neal Cassidy. Then-'
'Wait a second, Emma. You stole a car?' The brunette looked pretty shocked.
'Yes, and it gets better.' She couldn't help, smiling at the memory. 'But I thought we agreed on the "no interruptions".'
'Go on, Emma.' Her father gave her a quick nod, while grabbing his wife's hand.
'Okay.. Uhm.. Because I was shocked, I didn't watch the signs and I drove through a stop sign. The police noticed and had us pull over. Somehow Neal talked us out of it. When I drove away he said that we got lucky.'
'We?'
'Yes, I had stolen a stolen car.' She had to admitted it was a good story.
David apparently agreed with her and laughed. 'You were stealing.' He shook his head. 'Like mother like daughter.'
Emma frowned at the comment. It was weird when he said that. Mary Margaret was her mother.. They shared certain similarities.. 'I think Henry told me something about that..' Something about Snow White stealing from the Evil Queen.
'It's not about me right now. That's a story for another time. What happened after that?'
She decided to skip the whole first date, first kiss and so. That would be way too embarrassing, especially with David here. 'We went on a couple of dates and became.. A couple, a team.. Partners.' She shrugged. 'We had to steal to survive and most of the time we lived in the bug. If we were lucky we could take a shower at a motel room, right before someone would come to clean it.' She had to admit that she had been incredibly happy back then. It had not mattered that they lived in a car, that they had to steal, that they had no income, they had each other, and that was enough. At least back then. 'One day we were at this motel and Neal suggested getting a real home, together.' Emma quickly looked up at her parents. It was hard to read her parents' faces. 'He took a map of America and told me to pick a spot. I picked Tallahassee.' Her hands were busy with the keychain.
'Emma, what is it with the necklace?' Mary Margaret had noticed the small silver necklace in Emma's hands.
'It was a gift from Neal. It's actually a keychain. Neal stole it for me.' A sheepish smile appeared on her face. Oh no! These stupid memories had awaken the butterflies in her stomach.
'I'm lost here. If you were going to settle down, how did Henry end up with neither of his parents?'
Ouch. 'Cause we didn't get to the settling down part. Neal left me.'
'Why?'
'I'll first tell you what I thought that happened.' Which was not going to be pretty. 'Before Neal met me, he had stolen a bunch of expensive watches. These watches were stored in a locker at a train station. When we went there, Neal found out he was wanted for this crime. He told me he had to leave me, that he had to go to Canada. Without me. I wouldn't let him, and offered to pick up the watches myself. We made a plan and I went to get the watches. I met Neal in the car with the watches. I handed him the watches, so he could sell them.' Emma paused. This was the hardest part. 'We said goodbye to each other and he left me with one of the watches. I would meet him in an hour at a parking lot.' She took a deep breath. Thinking about that one moment, it still hurt. 'Neal never showed up. Never. Instead of him a police men appeared, arresting me for possession of stolen goods and telling me "my boy" would be in Canada right now.' Emma tightened her fist with the keychain in it.
'So, if I'm understanding this right, then that man, send you off to prison!' David's voice was filled with anger. 'If he dares to show his face around here ever again..'
'David..' Mary Margaret took her husband's hand in hers and squeezed it, trying to calm him down.
'That's why I thought that happened until recently. Apparently Neal left me for a reason.' She looked her parents in the eye. 'August told him to.'
'How did August get involved in this?' David was totally lost.
'Mary Margaret, you told him right?'
'Told me what?'
'That August came through the wardrobe together with Emma.'
'Ah, that.' David was still angry.
'Marco told the young August to take care of me, but when I was still a baby, August ran away with some other kids.'
'But how.. Neal and August?'
'I guess that at a certain point August decided to pick up his task again. He found me and saw that I was with Neal. August thought this kept me from fulfilling my destiny and convinced Neal to leave me.'
'If August hadn't been a kid, I would have punched him in the face after punching Neal.' David was way too overprotective. Although she had to admit it was nice having someone that cared for her.
'When did you find out you were pregnant?'
'In jail.'
Mary Margaret nodded. 'And you never saw Neal again.'
'Not until a few weeks ago, but..' She sighed.
'But what?'
'When I got out of jail, I waited for him..' She swallowed. 'For two years.. In Tallahassee. ' She was close to crying, so she shook her head. Trying to get it back together. 'So, that's it.'
Looking at her parents, she saw that Mary Margaret's cheeks were wet and that David was furious.
David stood up abruptly. 'If he ever, ever,-'
'David, stop. You know his Henry's father right? He's going to be here.' And I want him around. She was not going to say that out loud.
'I can still-'
'No, you can't. Please, let it be.'
'You ask me to do.. Nothing?'
'Yes.' Although she had to admit David hitting Neal, would be hilarious to see, she just didn't want to explain to the whole world, why her father had hit him.. That would be really awkward..
David shook his head in disagreement.
Mary Margaret was still sitting at the table, eyeing her daughter with care. 'Emma.'
'Yeah?' She didn't like the way Mary Margaret was looking at her.
'Do you still have feelings for Neal?'
Yes! 'No. Of course not.' Just deny it.
'Emma, I can see it.'
Way to observant. 'Come on, I don't have feelings for Neal!'
Mary Margaret smiled. 'Of course, Emma.'
'Emma?' David was checking.
'I told you, I don't have feelings for Neal! Now can we stop with the interrogation!' I don't have feelings for Neal? If they only knew…
'Good.' David looked relieved. 'Anyone want another cup of coffee?' He walked to the kitchen.
'Yes, I'd love one.' Mary Margaret smiled lovingly at her husband.
'I'm just going to my room to.. do stuff.' She stood up and walked to the stairs. 'Thanks for listening.' Emma gave her parents a quick smile and went up the stairs.
In her room she let herself fall on the bed. She just laid there, staring at the ceiling. Thinking. Thinking about Neal, about Henry, about her parents, about August, about Neal.. More and more thinking about Neal. She didn't know what to do next.
Voices from downstairs reached her. Mary Margaret and David were discussing everything they just heard. She tried to catch every word they said.
'David, are you blind?'
'What?'
'Our daughter is falling for that guy.'
'Oh no, no she isn't. She said it herself.'
'And you believe her?'
'Why wouldn't I?'
'Men.'
'I don't want her involved with Neal. At least not more than necessary. He's just going to hurt her again.'
'You don't know that and don't you want her to have her happy ending?'
Emma rolled her eyes. A Happy Ending. Only people from a world like the Enchanted Forest, could speak about things like that.
Her father's answer shocked her. 'Not if it's with him.'
'Charming, you have to give him a chance. Everyone deserves at least one.'
'I don't feel like giving him one.'
Emma could hear Mary Margaret standing up and walking towards, probably, David. 'Just try, okay? For Emma.'
'I'll try.'
Then the talking stopped and she heard some laughter and footsteps, so she focused on something else. She grabbed a pillow and covered her face with it. I'm in so much trouble… There was no denying her feelings for Neal, at least not to herself, but to the rest of the world she had to. There were to specific reasons for not telling anyone about her feelings for Neal. First, Neal is with Tamara and they are engaged. Second, her father is not very font of Neal..
Emma felt like screaming. This is a mess…
Thanks for reading! Reviews and suggestions are more than welcome
