Mary Margaret didn't even bat an eye when she opened the door.
"Morning! Come on in. I'll make some hot cocoa."
Once Emma had stopped crying that night at her apartment, she found herself in sort of a manic state. She packed up everything she could, googled the nearest U-Haul on her laptop, limped her way to the place to pick up the truck she reserved, went back to her apartment, threw everything she had into it, drove to where she'd left her Bug, hooked it up to the back after replacing the back two tires the skip had slashed, and just left.
It was close to midnight when she left, so by the time she'd pulled up in front of Mary Margaret's house, it was about three in the morning. Not wanting to wake the house that early, she'd just curled up in the front seat and tried to sleep. By seven, she couldn't take the waiting anymore, the voices in her head getting too loud and too convincing. So she'd trudged up the stairs, wincing with every step, hoping her friend wouldn't be too surprised to see her.
But as the woman in question bustled around the kitchen, Emma chastised herself. She should have known better. Of course Mary Margaret would be ready to welcome her at the door. It's the way she's been since the beginning.
She knew that the kitchen noise was to give her time to get comfortable. Mary Margaret had seen how Emma reacted when she was cornered. She also knew that Mary Margaret was dying to find out what had brought her to their door at seven in the morning. So she'd go about trying to get the information, Mary Margaret style.
Emma was still trying to figure out how to tell her friend what was going on when she heard David's heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. "Oh hey Emma. Has Mary Margaret gotten you cocoa yet? Or coffee?"
"You dare impugn my honor, husband?" came Mary Margaret's offended question. Her body followed her voice out of the kitchen. "Of course I have hot cocoa! AND COFFEE!" The woman breezed over to where Emma was sitting. "I present…. the mocha!" before offering the mug in her hand to Emma with a flourish.
Emma took the cup with a small, but grateful smile, letting the seemingly perpetual homey comfort of the Nolan's loft seep into her bones. It was like being draped in a warm blanket. She took a sip of the mocha, savoring the piping hot drink as it burned down her throat. Then she cleared her throat, preparing herself for the barrage.
But it never came. Mary Margaret just flopped back into the lazy boy across from her and picked up the book from the side table next to her and David just wandered over, dropped a kiss to his wife's head, ruffled her hair as he walked past, and called out "See ya!" as he walked out the door.
Emma was a little disconcerted, and eyed Mary Margaret warily over the rim of her mug, waiting for the woman to start. But Mary Margaret just continued to read, and eventually the warm brew now filling her up relaxed her until she was having trouble keeping her eyes open.
She was just debating on having to get up to put her mug away, when Mary Margaret stood up and came over. She grabbed the mug from her fingers as she pulled the blanket down from the back fo the couch.
"Why don't you rest a bit? We'll all be here when you're ready."
As Emma tipped sideways to lay out on the couch, practically over the threshold into sleep before she was even fully horizontal, she felt those words settle over her with the same comfort as the blanket Mary Margaret kept fussing with.
She slowly came back into awareness to the sound of a pan sizzling and quiet murmurs coming from the kitchen. She blinked her eyes open, squinting against the half light as she tried to drag her consciousness into full wakefulness. She could see that the shades had been drawn across the window, but that beyond, night had fallen.
She sat up, feeling the exhaustion that came with sleeping for too long, before pushing herself to her feet and slowing wandering over to the kitchen.
She had to blink a couple of times against the brightened light as she took in David standing at the stove, a pan with something delicious sizzling in it, and Mary Margaret leaning against the counter next to him, a glass of wine in her hand. Mary Margaret caught sight of her and gave her an easy smile.
"Just in time for dinner. I was going to wake you in a little bit if you hadn't gotten up."
Emma just nodded, eyes wandering over the kitchen, trying to order her thoughts.
She finally managed to pick out what was probably the most important one, "Hey can I use your phone?"
"Sure!" David reached behind Mary Margaret to grab the phone that had been laying there and turned, tossing it to her. Emma was glad that David had been doing that their entire acquaintance so she was expecting it. Otherwise she probably would have dropped it. As it was, it was a close call.
Once she had gotten her fumbling under control, she opened the phone up- which didn't have a passcode because Mary Margaret believed in everyone- and dialed Graham's number.
"Hello, who is this?" He sounded angry.
"Hey Graham, it's me."
"EMMA? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? WHERE ARE YOU?" He sounded frantic.
"Geez, calm down. I'm up in Storybrooke. I de-"
"Emma the police have been looking for you since yesterday!"
Now Emma was fully awake, "Wait what?"
"They got an anonymous phone call that requested a Health and Safety Check on your unit, because they thought there might be a chance that you might be in danger of some sort of domestic violence. When no one answered the door, they broke it down. Your place was ransacked, nothing was left, your phone was shattered. I got a call from the front desk at the station trying to figure out what was going on. We couldn't reach you. Had no idea where you could have gone. And I knew that Walsh had taken you out on a date…."
"Ok relax Graham. I'm ok. I'm fine," she soothed, trying to calm him down. "I just decided that since I was gonna be out of the game for a while with my leg, that I should take some time to come up and visit. That's all."
Graham let out a long breath, before asking quietly, "Then why was your place trashed? What happened?"
Emma had no desire to explain what had happened to the man who still actively pined after her. "I don't want to talk about it. Tell the police no crime has been committed, I am fine, nothing was stolen, ok?"
She didn't give him a chance to say anything, hanging up the phone quickly. The police? Who would have called the cops? None of her neighbors cared enough, it was one of the reasons she'd rented that apartment to begin with. She stared down at the phone in her hand, trying to make sense of what Graham had told her.
"Emma?" she jerked around. "Everything alright?"
Mary Margaret was standing with two plates in her hands, head cocked to the side as she studied Emma.
She cleared her throat, "Yeah, sorry, everything's fine. Just a mix up at work."
Mary Margaret continued to study her for a moment longer, before she resumed putting the dishes down on the table, "Ok. I'm glad it wasn't anything too serious." But her tone told Emma that Mary Margaret wasn't buying the bullshit she was trying to sell. "Now- how hungry are you?"
Emma felt the unfamiliar warmth that only Mary Margaret and David seemed to be able to kindle within her as she nodded and settled herself down at the table. She allowed the comfort of her friends witty back and forth over their meal as they each discussed their day and the daily trials and tribulations of being a principle and a sheriff, the same loving bickering they'd had since the beginning.
She was standing across the street from the large white mansion that resided at the address she'd been given. That Henry had given her. Her son. It had taken her 24 hours to decide to come to see him. 24 sleepless hours that were the most agonizing of her life, save the day she gave him up and the day she was arrested. She was constantly arguing herself into and then out of going to see him.
She had called in sick because she knew that she wouldn't be able to get anything done with the storm in her mind, and so she'd wandered the streets until she'd ended up in a park, sitting on a bench, watching life happening all around her.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice anyone approaching until she felt something wet press against her knee. She startled, jerking away, only to see a chocolate lab sitting in front of her, the animal's wide brown eyes seeming to look saddened by her sudden retreat from its nose.
"Umm," she glanced around searching for the creature's owner, but there didn't appear to be anyone in sight seeking it out. Her eyes flicked back to it when the dog made a pathetic whining sound, dancing a bit on its paws before abruptly dropping to sit, its tail frantically swishing across the grass under it.
She still wasn't sure about the creature, never having had pets and really never wanting one. But the next moment, the dog shuffled forward just a little bit and dropped its head onto her bent knee, looking up at her pathetically.
And she just….gave in, reaching out to pet the animal. As soon as her hand made contact with its fur, the dog's head popped up and it opened its mouth in a happy pant, eyes closing in pleasure as she gave its ear a good scratch. The dog was so clearly in some sort of furry nirvana that she couldn't help but smile.
And it was in that moment, grinning down at the happy dog, that Emma had a kind of epiphany. That it was ok to take pleasure in little things. It was ok to ...ask to be pet, because chances are, the person being asked wants to be giving affection as much as you want to be receiving it. And then she wondered if Henry's smile was as happy and carefree as the one before her.
She realized she absolutely needed to know.
However, a loud shout of, "Merlin there you are you naughty dog!" pulled her from her musings. A handsome man about her age was jogging towards her, a book clutched in his hand. As the owner approached, she couldn't help but note how perfectly matched the dog and owner were. Both black with soulful brown eyes that seemed to radiate a calmness and tranquility.
"My apologies."
She shook her head, "No, I should thank you. It was… just what I needed."
As the dog and his man walked away, Emma felt her resolve harden, and she immediately had gone home to pack.
But now, here she was, not fifty feet from where she wanted to be, and she was terrified to take another step. She practically jumped out of her skin when she heard a woman ask from behind her, "You must be Henry's mother."
Emma whipped around to see a couple standing arm in arm approaching her on the sidewalk, both with easy and curious smiles on their faces.
"Unfortunately, Henry's on a school trip overnight, and he won't be back until tomorrow!" The woman seemed to have no concern volunteering this information to a stranger who had given no confirmation of her identity. Something of her incredulity and concern must have shown on her face, because the woman hurriedly spoke again. "Oh I'm Henry's teacher, he told me that he'd found you. And you do that same little shuffle that he does when he's deciding on whether or not to say something."
Emma's heart clenched at the idea that Henry might have some trait from her. She liked that thought. But then she realized that she would have to figure out what to do until he returned from his trip.
Then the man spoke up, "Hey why don't you join us for dinner this evening?"
Emma didn't even have a chance to respond before the woman gasped, "What a wonderful idea, David! Yes you come by at seven, that'll give me time to get everything ready. Here, give me your number." And without ceremony, the woman pulled out her phone, unlocked it, and offered it to her. "I'll text you our address. Can't wait to see you this evening!"
And just like that, the couple moved on, leaving Emma stunned in their wake.
She is brought back from her reminiscing when Mary Margaret clears her throat, "Emma?"
She gives herself a slight shake, "Yes ma'am?"
"Since we weren't expecting you, David and I had planned a little siore here to celebrate the start of the new school year."
"The theme is 'In the Mourning'," David cut in in with a grin. "Get it? Cause they are teachers so they're there in the morning, but it's a new school year so they are all in mourning. Get it, get it?"
"Oh quiet David." The smug grin he gives his wife makes Emma's lips twitch. "Now as I was saying, we arranged a little siore here at the house tomorrow night. I assume that you are planning on staying with us again, so I just wanted to give you a heads up." She wasn't quite sure what to make to the look Mary Margaret was giving her.
Emma had actively avoided getting to know anyone in town other than the couple before her and her son's adoptive mother, Regina. She generally had Henry come down and stay with her when Regina had deigned to allow it. But when she did come up to visit, she stayed with Mary Margaret and David, and kept Henry's company all to herself. She'd seen the judgemental looks that some of the townsfolk would send her way and she didn't feel the need to spend her time convincing them otherwise. She'd even managed to avoid any meetings with even Mary Margaret's and David's coworkers.
And suddenly, Emma came to a decision. It was time for her to stop running. Emma had realized that the things that she had always wanted as a child were there for her to take if she wanted to. And she was done being afraid that if she got to have them, that they would be less than everything her heart had hoped that they would be. So if she ran away from them, then she would never have the opportunity to be disappointed.
But the list of her regrets was getting longer with each passing day. So she decided, no more running away. She needed to start running towards what she wanted, what she was searching for.
"Actually, that's probably a pretty good way to get things started."
Mary Margaret blinked in surprise, but it was David who spoke up, "What do you mean?"
Emma gave them a pained smile, already tasting regret on her tongue, but determined to see it through.
"Get started meeting people." She sucked in a breath, sealing her fate for herself. For Henry. "I've decided to move to Storybrooke."