Here's the last chapter! I hope you all like it, I'd love to know your thoughts at the end. Thank you for the amazing response to this story :)

Following Emma's confession, not much was said between the members of the Charming family. Emma was taking a nap upstairs while David and Snow sat in silence, lost in their own thoughts, while a documentary on woodland creatures played quietly from the television in the background.

Snow was still picturing the moment that Emma was having a nightmare in the Enchanted Forest. The look of pure fear on her daughter's face was permanently etched into her mind and had been haunting her own dreams. She couldn't help but feel that all the pain in her daughter's past could have been avoided if she had made different choices before the curse. All the opportunities she'd had to save Emma had managed to pass her by, whether it was by her fault or the fault of those around her. No matter who was responsible for bringing the curse and separating Snow from her daughter, the young woman still felt like the blame fell entirely on her. What surprised her was how this thought didn't seem to have crossed Emma's mind since the curse broke or, at least if it had, she hadn't mentioned it.

Looking at the clock through her still tear-filled eyes, Snow noticed that it was time to collect Henry from school. Sensing his wife's movement as she began to get up off of the couch, David also checked the time. He volunteered to collect Henry from the bus stop and offered to take him to Granny's diner to give Snow a chance to check up on Emma and let her know that her son would be on his way home.

Once David had left, Snow made her way quietly up the stairs to the loft, hoping not to startle her daughter in her vulnerable state. She inwardly cursed as she reached the stair that always creaked when stood on, wishing that she had thought to skip it, but carried on nonetheless. She knocked gently on Emma's bedroom door. Upon getting no response she pushed the door open and walked over to the bed. It seemed that Emma had sensed her presence as the young blonde opened her eyes to look up at her mother.

"Hi sweetheart." Snow greeted; her voice barely above a whisper. "How are you feeling?"

Emma let out a quiet groan as she started to sit up in her bed.

"Exhausted." Came an equally quiet reply.

Snow moved closer to Emma and wrapped her daughter in a gentle hug, stroking her long hair slowly. It was as if both women were afraid that any sudden movements or loud noises would shatter the safety of the moment.

"You've had a difficult day." Snow said.

"I'm sorry for breaking down like that again."

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Emma honey. What you did was very difficult and very brave. No one expects you to be able to be strong all the time, especially not about..." She paused, not quite sure how to continue.

"It's ok to say it, Mare. We both know what happened." Emma replied, trying to reassure her mother that she was ok, when inside she felt like she was falling apart at the seams.

"I can't..." She hesitated, before a fresh wave of tears hit her so strongly that all she could do was grip hold of her daughter even tighter, as if she would never let her go. As long as Emma didn't push her away, Snow didn't think she ever would be able to part from the embrace. Snow could barely handle the thought of what Eric had done to her daughter and, even after hearing the story for a second time, she still couldn't repeat what had happened to her young girl out loud. Somehow she doubted that she ever would.

Emma welcomed her mother's tighter hug, resting her head on her shoulder as Snow continued to run delicate hands through her messy locks.

It wasn't even a year ago that Emma was living on her own in Boston, not allowing anyone to get close to her. In her profession that was a useful trait to have, and one that she had been practicing and perfecting ever since Neal betrayed her. Yet here she was now, trying her hardest not to break down, after telling her deepest and darkest secret to her recently-found parents, and she couldn't help but wonder where her walls had disappeared to. After all those years building the foundations around her delicate heart, one woman – her best friend who had just become her long-lost mother – had been able to break every single one down.

Something inside of Emma was telling her to run, to flee from this situation that was causing her such pain and never look back. Fortunately, an even bigger part of her wanted nothing more than to lean further into her mother's arms and never let go from their strong embrace. This part of her just wanted to be around her family in hope that they would help her survive the impossible few hours, days, and months to follow.

After both women's tears seemed to have subsided, however temporarily, Snow leaned back slightly from the hug to look her daughter in the eyes.

"Your dad has gone to collect Henry from school." She explained. "He's taken him to Granny's and told me to text him when you're ready for him to come back."

"Has he said anything?" Emma asked.

"Of course not. No one is going to tell Henry without your permission, Emma." Snow reassured her. Emma muttered a 'thanks' before lying back down on her bed. "Do you want me to keep him downstairs when he gets back?" She asked.

"No, it's ok. I think I'll go have a shower and I should be ready to come back downstairs and be with you guys." Emma replied, trying her hardest to put on a brave face.

"If that's what you want." Snow smiled. Emma nodded. "Do you want me to get you anything? Hot cocoa? Toast? Ice cream? Chocolate?"

Emma was able to let out a small laugh. "You know all my comfort foods?" She asked.

"Of course I do." Snow replied, a small feeling of pride rushing through her at the thought of knowing something about her daughter's habits that she felt a mother should know. It was little things like that which proved to her that her family were growing closer together and getting to know each other better with each passing day. "I also know that it might be best if I prepare the toast this time. I think my old broken toaster is proof enough that I shouldn't let you near our new one in the future." Emma chuckled again at this, feeling a little bit more relaxed around her mother now that the conversation had turned slightly lighter again.

"How about all of the above? I have a feeling we all just need to eat crap and watch happy films today." Emma replied. "And you should be thanking me for breaking your toaster really." She smirked. Snow raised a questioning eyebrow at her daughter. "Now you have one that cooks four slices of bread at a time rather than that ancient thing you had."

"It's definitely more helpful now that it's not just me living here." She said. "Why don't you go and take your shower and I'll text David and make us some hot cocoa?" Emma nodded and pushed herself off of the bed. While she was starting to feel more relaxed and was talking about normal things with Snow, her body was still drained from the emotional day that she'd had.

After her shower, Emma came downstairs to find the rest of her family looking through their shared DVD collection.

"Mom!" Henry yelled as she came down the stairs. "Are you feeling better now? Grandma said you've been poorly today."

"Yeah, kid, I'm feeling a bit better." She said, managing to show him a genuine smile. "How was school today?"

Henry started to tell his mom all about his day at school and what had happened in all his classes. Snow looked over at her daughter's smiling face and could tell that she was treasuring every little piece of information that Henry was sharing with her. She herself had worn the same look when Emma told her stories about her day or happy memories from her childhood.

Eventually, the Charming family settled on a film to watch and sat on the couch, each with a bowl of ice cream and a mug of hot cocoa with cinnamon, with the exception of David who had made himself a mug of coffee.

After watching the film, Emma told Henry to work on his homework and David left to go to the Sherriff's station and pick up some paperwork. He and Emma both felt guilty that they hadn't managed to get through half as much work as they'd hoped and, despite Snow's protests, agreed that they would try and do a bit from home while Henry was doing homework and Snow was cooking dinner. Everyone agreed that they would go to sleep early that night after the emotional day that all three adults had had.

Henry woke up to the sound of crying coming from his mom's side of the bed. He shook her shoulder slightly and called her name a few times, but the only response that he got was a piercing scream, followed by some quiet whimpers. It was obvious that Emma was still asleep, stuck in some terrible nightmare.

"Grandma!" He yelled from the door to his bedroom, hoping to wake Snow up. He didn't know what to do as his attempts to wake his mother hadn't helped.

"What is it, Henry?" Snow asked as she came running up the stairs in her nightdress, followed by her husband.

"I think she's having a nightmare."

David stepped it, having a good idea what his daughter's nightmare would be about and knowing that she wouldn't want Henry to know about it. "Why don't we go downstairs, kid? Let's leave your grandma up here to help Emma and you can sleep in our bed with me."

"I don't want to leave her." Henry replied, looking over at his sleeping mother who was still making small whimpering noises.

"Henry, I'll look after her." Snow said, in an attempt to reassure her frightened grandson. "You need to get some rest for your math test at school tomorrow." Henry reluctantly agreed and followed David back downstairs, leaving Snow and Emma alone.

Snow walked over to Henry's side of the bed and sat down next to her daughter, stroking her hair gently and whispering comforting words to her.

Emma woke suddenly, a look of panic on her face as she imagined that she was back in her old room at Eric and Alison's house. Looking up to see her mother's worried face, Emma immediately calmed down. She was safe. She was at home with her family. She had nothing to fear; nothing to worry about. These were the words that Emma kept repeating to herself in her head as Snow coached her into calming down and taking deep breaths to stop herself from hyperventilating. After a while she was able to breathe normally once more and turned to face Snow again.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, feeling bad both for waking her mother up in the middle of the night and for her having to see her daughter in that state.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, dear. It's ok. It was just a nightmare, he's not here. You're safe with us."

"Henry..." Emma started with panic in her voice, worried about what her son had witnessed.

"He's fine. He's downstairs with your dad. He woke us up when he saw you were having a nightmare and we figured you wouldn't want him around so it's just me here now."

"Thank you." She said. "I don't want him to know what happened. Ever."

"I understand. You want to protect him from that pain." Emma nodded. "I just wish I could've done the same for you." Snow said; her voice barely a whisper.

"You did what you had to do." Emma replied. "What happened to me wasn't your fault."

"You shouldn't have had to grow up here with those horrible people."

"Not all of them were like that." She assured her mother. "Most of the foster families that I stayed with were lovely."

Snow gave Emma a small smile at this. It wasn't often that the young woman opened up about her childhood, especially not to her mother, but hearing that she had been under the care of nice people helped to ease Snow's guilt slightly. It didn't stop her from feeling jealous that these people had been able to watch her young girl grow up while she was stuck in time in Storybrooke.

"I can't help but blame myself for what he did Emma. You were right about what you said when the curse broke. We could've still been together. You wouldn't have had to grow up alone."

"You did the right thing Mare... Mom." Emma corrected herself. "I'm sorry that I said that. I was still a bit in shock, and I was angry at Gold. I... I didn't mean it."

"You really don't blame me?" Snow asked.

"No I don't. It's taken me a long time but I can't blame you for what he did to me." Emma stated. Snow knew her daughter well, however, as she picked up on the fact that there was more to her answer that she wasn't sharing.

"It wasn't your fault either Emma. You do know that, right?" She asked warily. Emma hesitated and Snow could see in her eyes that she still felt that she could've done something to stop Eric. "You were just a child and he took advantage of you. He hurt you for his own twisted gain and, Emma, you didn't deserve that."

"I wasn't exactly a good child all the time though. He must've done it for a reason." Emma said quietly, as if she was afraid for her mother to hear her. She almost wished she hadn't heard.

"Emma, sweetheart, look at me." Snow asked, placing two fingers gently under her daughter's chin and guiding her to meet her eyes.

The intensity of the emotion that greeted Emma shocked her so much that she was taken aback slightly. She could see that Snow was holding back tears for what her daughter had suffered through but her eyes told so much more of a story than words ever could. The guilt that she had noticed earlier was still very much present in her mother's eyes, but now it was accompanied by something akin to longing - a longing for Emma to understand what she knew to be true. Most prominently though, were sadness for what had happened to the young girl in front of her and the most intense look of love that was only present between a parent and their child, amplified tenfold by all the other feelings being brought to the surface in their emotional situation.

"That..." Snow struggled to find a suitable word. "That monster had no reason to do what he did to you. The thought of what he did makes me sick. But please know that none of it was your fault. You were eight years old! There is no way you could have stopped him. I can't believe that he made you think that it was something you deserved for twenty years. Emma, no one should have to go through what you did. To hurt a child like that – it's unforgivable!"

Emma couldn't help it. She looked away from her mother and broke down into a fresh wave of tears. She could see from her mother's face, her actions, that she was telling the truth and that overwhelmed the young woman. She wasn't used to people acting like this around her, having grown up believing that her parents didn't care enough to keep her, and she didn't know how to react to the strong feelings and words coming from Snow.

"I can't... I can't do this anymore." She whispered through her tears.

Snow rested a hand on Emma's shaking knee. "What do you mean?"

"I can't sit here listening to you saying all of this. It's too much and... I don't know... how to... deal with it." She replied through laboured breaths. Snow stayed silent, giving Emma the opportunity to explain. It took the blonde woman a couple of minutes to calm herself down enough to talk again. "My whole life I've spent closed off to people. As a child I knew that I wouldn't ever stay in the same house for long so I learnt not to let anyone in and in turn no one let me in. When I had just got out of the foster system I met Neal, Henry's dad. I thought that I loved him and he was the first person I really ever let get close to me until he betrayed me and left me in jail. After that I just stopped trusting myself to let the right people in and, in turn, stopped trusting everyone else as well. And now here you are and you're saying all these things and I just don't know anymore what I'm supposed to do." She finished.

"Oh, Emma. I'm so sorry if I've made you uncomfortable. I just wanted you to understand that none of this was your fault and I wanted to show you how much I love you."

"You don't need to apologise, Snow. It's just something that I'm not used to. I don't know how to be a daughter and I don't know how to let people in."

"It's going to be difficult for all of us to adjust." Snow stated. "But we will find a way to help each other through this and come out of it as a family, so long as that's what you want."

Emma reached up a hand to wipe away a couple of stray tears. "More than anything." She replied. "It's all I've wanted my entire life."

Snow smiled at her daughter, happy with the knowledge that she still wanted to be a part of their unconventional family.

"Why don't we try and get some sleep?" She suggested. "My bet is that Henry and David are fast asleep in my bed so I'll stay up here with you for tonight." Emma nodded as she settled back into a comfortable position in the double bed.

"Thank you for staying with me." Emma whispered once they were both comfortable and had turned the light on her nightstand off. "I'm sorry you had to be woken up in the middle of the night."

"It's ok, Emma. I'm your mother and I only want to make sure that you are alright. Everything else in my life comes second to you if you need me. I've told you this before. I'm always going to put you first so you're going to have to get used to it."

Emma allowed a small smile to grace her face before the two women drifted off into what they hoped would be a peaceful sleep.

When Emma awoke the next morning, she was surprised to see light shining through the curtains, meaning that she had been able to sleep through the rest of the night without any more nightmares. Over the years it had become easier for her to forget about what happened but recently, now that everything was out in the open, the nightmares had become more frequent. She could only hope that they would go away soon. She wasn't sure that she could deal with the emotional rollercoaster that she was riding for much longer. It almost made her wish that she still kept herself guarded off from everyone because at least then she had a safety net; a metaphorical emergency stop button that she could press to shut herself off. Right now she was sure that the only thing stopping her from reverting back to the woman that she used to be was her family: her son and her parents. They were all she had ever wanted and, she hoped, all that she needed to get through this.

She looked over her shoulder to the other side of her bed to find that, unsurprisingly, her mom was already up. Emma yawned and stretched her tired muscles before getting out of bed to find her family. Grabbing her robe from the back of the door, she made her way downstairs to the kitchen where Snow and Henry were making pancakes and David was setting plates and glasses out on the table for everyone.

"Morning Emma." He said, looking up to see his daughter walking down the stairs still rubbing her tired eyes.

"Mom!" Henry exclaimed as he left the pan full of pancake mix on the stove and ran over to greet Emma. "We're making pancakes."

"I can see that kid." She laughed at her son's antics. "But it looks more like Snow's making them at the moment." With that, Henry walked back over to the stove where Snow was tending to their breakfast. Emma decided to help her father by setting out the fillings on the table for everyone to use.

"The first one is ready." She announced. "Who wants it?"

Once breakfast was finished, Emma and David set about tidying up the mess that Henry had made while preparing the pancake mix, leaving Snow and Henry to get ready to go to school. David took this opportunity to find out how his daughter was coping, having not really had a chance to talk to her properly since her confession the day before.

"How are you holding up?" He asked.

"I've been better." She admitted, surprising herself with her honesty. "It just seems like all of a sudden it's all I can think about. I'll be ok though. I've got you all to help me through it and Snow's been amazing since I told her."

David rested a soapy hand on Emma's arm as she dried one of the dishes. He gave her a soft smile, which she returned. That was all Emma needed to reassure herself that everything would be alright eventually. She had her family around her and with their help she had the strength that she needed to move on.

"She's always been good at that." David said. "I've never been that great with words but Snow, she always has the right thing to say to make everything seem better."

What neither of them noticed was that Snow had appeared downstairs and heard what her husband was saying. She smiled at his words but didn't say anything, not wanting to interrupt the precious moment between father and daughter.

Quietly, she decided to go back upstairs and check on Henry, making sure that he was ready to leave for school and leaving David and Emma alone again.

The conversation turned more casual as David started telling Emma tales from the Enchanted Forest. He described how excited they both were as they decorated Emma's nursery in the castle and how they both went around finding the perfect place for everything, including the numerous gifts that Snow had been given at her baby shower. Emma was trying to imagine how it had looked when they'd finished with it from her father's descriptions and what she'd seen when she herself was in the Enchanted Forest. It made her happy to think that her parents really had wanted to keep her and watch her grow up, something that she hadn't believed until very recently when the curse broke.

Once the kitchen was clean Emma and David headed upstairs to get ready to go to the Sherriff's station. Emma passed Snow on her way out of the door with Henry and hung back a moment to speak to her daughter.

"Promise me you won't push yourself to hard today Emma. You know your dad will understand if you want to go home at any point."

"I'll be fine." She said, flashing her mom an encouraging smile as she tried to convince both Snow and herself. "Have a good day at work and stop worrying about me." Emma teased. "David will be there with me all day. I'll be alright."

"Ok. Have a lovely day." Snow said before leaving the apartment and following Henry out of their building and down the street. She couldn't help but worry about Emma but tried to push it to the back of her mind. She was dealing with everything really well and Snow could tell that just being around her was helping Emma to face up to her problems and fight off the demons that had haunted her since her childhood. She wasn't alone anymore. With that thought, Snow turned her mind back to her class and what she would teach them at school today.

Emma and David spent the day at the station catching up on paperwork as it was a quiet day. At Emma's request the pair didn't mention the events that had happened yesterday and, after about half an hour of small talk they settled into a comfortable silence, meaning that they were able to finish what they were working on and be completely up to date with paperwork by lunch time. Emma was glad that their day had been able to pass uneventfully, grateful that everything was still happening like normal, well as normal as anything ever was in Storybrooke. It reassured her slightly to know that the world was still the same after yesterday and gave her hope that she would be able to move on from everything.

Later that evening, the Charming family were sitting round the table playing a card game together. Henry had no work to do and Snow had been able to catch up on some marking while her class were sitting their math test, meaning that the whole family were free to spend the evening relaxing and just enjoying finally being around each other. They had ordered a take-away so that no one had to cook and sat around the table playing games for the majority of the evening.

Once the game had been cleared away and Henry declared the winner, 'beginner's luck' according to Emma and David, who had secretly been going easy on the young boy as it made them happy to see how excited he got over winning, they sat down and turned on the television. As they were sitting around watching some talent contest, Emma leaned her head on Snow's shoulder.

"Thank you for everything, mom." She whispered. "I don't know how I would've got through everything without you."

Snow smiled and placed a kiss on her daughter's hair. "You don't need to thank me, Emma. I'm just glad you're ok."

"I know it wasn't my fault." Emma said quietly and Snow enveloped her in a hug as both women tried to hold back a few tears. David looked over at them and smiled, while Henry's eyes were focused ahead on the dancing dog act that was being shown. "I love you mom."

"I love you too Emma." Snow replied.

The End.