Chapter 3
Summary: Snow and Emma are now back from the Enchanted Forest and Emma wants to discuss a part of her family's future.
Note: Ok, so I sort of came up with this after watching the episode when Snow and Emma get back to Storybrooke and I sorta wondered why they hadn't discussed going back as a family (though if they had, sorry if this differs much from it).
Sorry if this is a bit flat, but I guess it could be sort of a filler chapter. I'm trying to write a fourth at the moment.
It wasn't that Emma hadn't liked being in the Enchanted Forest, she actually had. After all, it had been the place she was born and would have grown up in if Regina hadn't ruined everything. But, the fear she felt running from Ogres and Cora, climbing up a beanstalk with a flirting pirate that annoyed the crap out of her and planned to double cross them, and almost losing her mother to Cora had been enough for her to be grateful they were home. Well, that and the fact that she now would be able to spend more time with her son and her parents.
Emma smiled as she thought of it: her parents. She had found her parents, just as her Dad had found her Mom countless times, and now they could be a family. But something bugged her, well two somethings actually. One, she didn't know how to be a real family with her parents and son. She wasn't used to having a family even if she's just spent the last year here with Henry and living with her mother as well. And the second thing, she wasn't sure the threat was over. Something about this seemed…off. Especially Archie's…death. Though they'd now found out that he hadn't really died, that it had just been a trick to give Regina enough of a reason to want to run into her mother's open arms, it still bugged her. Why would a mother go to that much trouble to get her daughter back? Then she remembered what her mother had done to protect her from the curse and what she herself had done for Henry, giving him up to what she had hoped to be a better home.
"Emma?" Snow asked, knocking on her door.
Emma looked away from the window, turning her head towards the door from where she sat leaning against the rustic footboard of the bed, and smiled, "Hey, Mom," she said, untangling her arms from around her legs and stretching out.
Snow walked over to Emma's bed and wrapped one arm around her daughter's shoulder, pulling her close, "We're home," she said happily, rubbing her hand up and down her daughter's arm.
Emma smiled, nodding, "We're home," she muttered, laying her head on Snow's shoulder.
Snow looked at Emma and saw the slight slump to her body, the way she seemed to want to fold into Snow's arms and the way she was now biting her lip, "Emma, what's wrong?" she asked, squeezing her tighter.
Emma shook her head, "Nothing, I'm fine," she promised.
Snow sighed, pulling Emma's chin up so her daughter was looking at her, "Emma Swan, I know you better than that. I've seen when you were angry at your father when he broke my heart before the curse was broken, I've seen you upset when Graham died, and I've seen you happy when Henry called you Mom when we crawled out of that well. I've seen it all and I know something is wrong," she said, giving Emma a look that dared Emma to argue with her.
Emma shook her head, laughing slightly, "I was thinking of what happened over in our world and…what Cora's done to drive Regina back to her. It made me wonder how a mother could do that, twist and break her own daughter, but I realized…she was doing it because in her own twisted way, she was trying to help Regina. To be a mother to her in the best way she could," she said, "And…it made me think that if we could I…I want to go back. To our world I mean. We could try rebuilding, try fixing everything Regina and the Curse destroyed and start over again like we were supposed to."
Snow smiled, her bottom lip trembling slightly as she reached over and hugged Emma tightly, "You really want to go back?" she asked.
Emma nodded, "That was your and Dad's home for so long and I'd like to be able to see it without running form Ogres and crazy women who can change into other people," she said, burying her head in her mother's neck.
"Alright then, I promise if we can, we'll go home," she promised.
Emma smiled and hugged her tightly.
OUAT
When Henry and James got back to the apartment, Emma and Snow were in the kitchen, laughing and seeming both truly excited. "Hey, Mom," Henry said, dropping his backpack quickly and rushing over to his mother who picked him up and held him tightly. He hadn't liked being away from his mother and grandmother after they had been separated for those weeks when Emma and Snow were back in their world.
"Hey, kid," she said, kissing the top of his head.
"Why do you two look so excited?" James teased, walking over to Snow's side and wrapping an arm around his waist.
Emma and Snow exchanged a look and smirked. Snow nodded for Emma to tell them and her daughter's smile widened, "Dad, Henry," she said, looking between the two, "how would you…like to go back to our world?" she asked.
James and Henry's eyes both widened, "You mean we can go back to the Enchanted Forest?" Henry asked, "All four of us this time?"
Snow and Emma both nodded, "If you both want," Snow said, "We've already discussed it, it was Emma's idea, and we said we could rebuild and restart, fixing what Regina and the Curse destroyed, and we could start our lives back," Snow further explained.
James and Henry both smiled. They seemed to be thinking about it for a moment, drawing it out enough to make Emma and Snow doubt their idea, before they nodded, "I guess, if we ever find a way, we'll be going home," James said.
Snow and Emma both smiled widely as Henry hugged his mother tightly again and James kissed the top of Snow's head, reaching out for Emma's hand. Henry and James then decided to help Snow and Emma finish making dinner before they sat around the table and ate, Emma and Snow telling them every little thing they'd seen back home.
OUAT
Regina looked in her mirror at the small family, her eyes narrowed. Why the hell did Emma Swan get her happy family? Why did Snow get to be the doting mother and her own son, well adopted son, not want anything to do with her?
She waved her hand over the mirror and the image faded as a throat cleared behind her. Regina turned to see her mother standing there in a pair of black dress pants and a dark purple button up top, her spikey heels of her shoes clicking on the linoleum floor. "Mother," she said, nodding.
"Regina, what's the matter?" her mother asked, looking the picture of a concerned mother.
"Nothing," she said, waving her hand as if brushing away an annoying fly buzzing around her. Cora seemed not to believe her and, upon noticing the mirror's slight afterglow of Regina's magic, she waved her hand and saw the image in the mirror of Snow White and her family.
Cora looked at the image and straightened, her hands clenching in a fist, "Oh Regina, why do you continue to torture yourself with this?" she asked, shaking her head.
Regina shook her head, "I'm worried about Henry," was her excuse, looking down at the top of the desk and twiddling her thumbs absentmindedly.
Cora walked over to her daughter and placed her hand on her shoulders, squeezing them gently, "I know, sweetheart, but it won't be long now until you have Henry back. I promise," she said, smirking.
Regina nodded, reaching up to awkwardly pat her mother's hand before getting up and walking out of the office, wanting some fresh air.
Cora took her daughter's absented seat, turning towards the window and looking out at the small town, "Soon, my dear, soon we will have it all," she promised.