Later that evening, once they were back at Neal's apartment, Emma finally agreed to answer any questions that Henry had. Neal was taking a shower and Emma and Henry were sitting on the couch. Emma had made her son a mug of hot cocoa and poured herself a glass of wine. After the insane day that she'd had she didn't feel that hot cocoa would be strong enough.
Henry was sat with his legs curled up under himself, facing his mother, while Emma seemed to adopt a position that made her feel a lot more like professional Allison Cameron than Emma Swan. She sat with a straight back and her legs on the floor, but shifted her position slightly to face Henry. This confused Henry slightly. He was not accustomed to seeing his mother acting so stiff and professional.
After a couple of minutes of silence, Henry brought up the thoughts that had been going through his mind since they arrived at the hospital. Now that the shock had worn off and there was no one around to hear them in case he mentioned magic, he decided just to tell Emma what he thought.
"You should've told me you were a doctor." Henry started. "I wanted to get to know you and you kept half of your life from me. You lied about my dad. I really thought you were different from her."
Those words hurt Emma more than Henry could have known, and no less than they had when he first said them to her a few hours earlier. It wasn't like she didn't expect him to be angry at her for lying, but the fact that she compared her to the Evil Queen made her feel as if she couldn't have possibly failed him more as a parent.
"I'm sorry Henry. I know I should've told you. It was selfish of me not to, on both counts. Both times, things ended badly for me and I didn't want to bring it up again or burden you with that."
"Why should I believe you?"
"I know you have no reason to trust me, Henry, but I'll tell you everything now, if you want me to. I promise I won't lie to you kid. Not again." Emma could feel tears starting to form in her eyes, but pushed them down as best she could. Henry didn't need to see her cry on top of everything else. "I can't lose you Henry. You are the best thing that's ever happened to me and I love you."
"I love you too mom." He replied.
"So, where do you want to start?" She asked Henry. She wasn't really sure about what to say, but was willing to try anything to earn her son's trust back.
She had done as much as was possible to distance herself from her old life and all the pain that it had caused her that she never even considered that someone would find out she'd lied. Hell, when she'd left PPTH she hadn't even considered that the son she'd given up for adoption eleven years ago would suddenly come back into her life. Everything that had happened since then, well, she was still having to pinch herself to make sure that it wasn't all some crazy and elaborate dream.
"You're a doctor?" He clarified. Emma just nodded. She wasn't really sure what else she could say to that. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"When I left the hospital, I left on pretty bad terms with some of the people I worked with. I just wanted to do all I could to forget about it." She paused, taking a breath. "I tried working at another hospital for a month or two but I couldn't do it. I guess it was just too different from Princeton Plainsboro, the hospital we were at today. It was both the best and the worst place I've ever worked."
"Why?" Henry asked.
"When I worked with Dr House I loved my job. I loved my colleagues and the excitement that came with finding out what was wrong. I loved the satisfaction gained from saving someone's life and seeing them and their families so happy."
"So what changed to make you hate it so badly?"
"After I quit Houses team and started working in the ER, I got married to Dr Chase. The Australian doctor who you met earlier?" She asked, trying to refresh his memory. Henry nodded as he recognised who his mother was talking about.
"You were married?"
"It... it didn't end well. I found out that he'd killed one of our patients on purpose. I couldn't stay with him after that. He'd changed too much since I first met him. House had changed him. I left a couple of days after I learned the truth. That's when I moved to Boston and changed my name. I started trying to find my parents, which is sort of how I became a bail bondsperson."
"And that's when I found you." He finished. Emma nodded. "If Dr Chase killed someone, why hasn't he been arrested?"
"No one ever found out. He faked a test result so that he would be put on the wrong treatment. They covered it up and he didn't tell me for over a month. I still wish I didn't know."
Henry moved over on the couch to hug his mother. She was slightly shocked at the gesture, given how angry he had just been, but she wrapped her arms around him anyway, relishing at the comfort she got from the embrace with her son. She had been so worried that she would lose him again to Regina or Neal but she breathed a sigh of relief at the warm gesture. He doesn't hate me, she thought happily.
Before she could stop herself, Emma was crying. Tears of joy ran down her face at the thought of being accepted by her son again, even after all the lies she had told him, but they were accompanied by so many other emotions that she needed to release. Going back to Princeton Plainsboro had brought up a lot of buried feelings: guilt for leaving a job where she could really help save lives; hatred towards House for everything he had done, and towards Chase for what he had become; sadness at the thought of all the good friends she had left behind there; and most prominently strong feelings of love for House. Despite everything that had happened, and as much as she hater herself for it, she still loved him. To her there was no question: it had always been him.
Henry looked up as he felt Emma's body shaking with the tears.
"Mom, are you ok?"
"Yeah kid, I'm fine." She said, wiping her eyes. "It's just been an emotional day."
Henry immediately pulled her back into the embrace and Emma couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face.
Neither of them noticed that Neal had finished in the shower and was looking on at the pair with a smile. For the first time in so long he finally felt like he had a family. Even if things were rocky between him and Emma, he had always loved her and wanted to do whatever he could to win her back.
