Author's Note: And we've come to another end. Thank you all so much for your reviews and follows and favorite. The kind words mean the world to me. Hope you've enjoyed this little daddy/daughter story! I've definitely enjoyed writing it. :)

A breakfast of berries and eggs was not exactly Emma's idea of the perfect morning meal. She would have killed for a side of bacon or a nice towering plate of chocolate chip pancakes smothered in maple syrup. Foraging for her meals had gotten old in the Enchanted Forest, and now here she was, in another magical land, once again eating whatever they could find.

There was certainly something to be said for supermarkets and restaurants and delivery.

Still, berries and eggs were much better than nothing. They managed to take the edge off her hunger long enough to keep her going for a little while, anyway.

Everyone ate breakfast in silence. The simmering anxiety level of the whole group was palpable. Emma and Regina were both acutely aware of the minutes ticking by, all those minutes that Henry was out there somewhere with Pan. Hook alternated between listening for sounds in the jungle and darting his gaze to Emma in an effort to make sure she was handling everything as well as could be expected. And as for Snow and David … well, they were concerned about both Henry and Emma.

Emma finished first and very carefully started to stand. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught both David and Hook starting to get up as well. She rolled her eyes and shook her head at them. She could damn well stand up on her own, thank you very much.

They must have gotten the hint because they both stayed put. Emma limped back over to the comfortable little nook her mother had set up for her the previous night. She needed to unwrap her ankle and put on her newly made splint, and she wanted to do so in peace.

Which would have been a fantastic plan if David hadn't tied off the vine with such a tight knot. She picked at it and poked at it to no avail. She was just about to try breaking the damn vine when David stepped up to her. "Do you want some help?"

Emma opened her mouth to insist that she could most definitely unwrap her own ankle without help. What came out instead surprised both her and David. "Sure."

What the hell? She'd already been far too dependent on David for her liking. She wasn't a little kid, and this wasn't the first time she'd sprained an ankle. She was an adult who'd been through this once or twice before, an adult who'd learned at a very young age that the only person she could depend on was herself. Plus, the last thing she needed was for Regina and Hook to think that she needed help getting a damn splint on her injury. She was leading this friggin' mission, and she needed them to take her seriously. She knew how to take care of herself. She'd had to do it her whole damn life; she certainly didn't need someone taking care of her now.

You may not need it but you desperately want it, a little voice inside her whispered as she watched David make quick work of the knot. He tenderly removed the palm fronds from her ankle, one by one and careful not to jostle her leg too much.

That little voice was more correct than Emma wanted to admit. Part of her did want this. Part of her wanted someone to take care of her, wanted someone to help bear the weight. Handling things on her own was exhausting … but on the other hand, relying on other people had never gone well for her. It was so hard to open herself up again, so hard to open herself up to the possibility of this love and this affection. Because although she wanted it more than words could express, this love and affection could go away, too … just like it always had.

She didn't think her parents would leave her, but she didn't think Neal would leave her, either, and look where that got her. But it didn't even have to be that simple. Something completely beyond anyone's control could always take them away from her. Look at what had happened with Henry. She and Regina had saved the damn town, gotten knocked out for their troubles, and when they came to, the kid was gone. Who was to say something similar couldn't happen to her parents?

What if she let them in only to lose them again? She honestly didn't think she'd be able to bear it.

And yet, there was something so nice about having David take care of her. Something so nice and comforting, something that gave her a sense of belonging so foreign to her but also so very heartwarming. She'd longed for this all her life and now here it was, finally within her reach.

In an effort to calm her tumbling thoughts, she tore her eyes off of David and instead darted her gaze over to the other side of their camp. Regina and Snow had begun to pack up their belongings so they could continue as soon as Emma was set with her splint. Hook, who was probably supposed to be helping Snow and Regina, had instead been watching her and David. He only turned away when he saw Emma look in his direction.

It hit Emma then that he'd been just as willing to help as David had been. He'd deferred to David, obviously, but he'd helped gather the materials for both the wrap and the splint, and he somehow managed to weave the webbing for the splint with only a hand and a hook. He'd been watching her, too, and he'd been trying to make sure that she was comfortable.

The attention was … unexpected. And, if she was being honest with herself, kind of nice.

"Emma?"

Her father's voice broke through her thoughts. She blinked at him. "Huh?"

"You spaced out on me," he said, attempting to smile through a worried expression. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, fine." She shook her head in an effort to regain her focus. "Did you ask me something?"

"I asked if we could test your range of motion before I put the splint on."

Emma wrinkled her nose. Testing range of motion had hurt like hell yesterday. She wasn't exactly looking forward to doing it again but she knew it was important to check if her injury had improved with the treatment her father had given her.

She drew both knees to her chest and lifted her right foot off the ground. David repositioned himself in front of her so he could get a closer look at her ankle. At his nod, she moved her foot first up until it hurt and then moved it down. Pointing her toes to the right was okay but pointing them to the left made her hiss in pain.

Oh crap, oh crap, she thought, her eyes immediately searching David's. The calm smile on his face relaxed her in an instant. "You did very well," he told her before reaching into Snow's backpack to find something to use as a cushion underneath the splint. "Your range of motion is much better today compared to yesterday."

"But I can't go left."

"Going left uses the muscles and tendons you wrenched the most. That was always going to be the motion that hurt worst. The splint will keep your ankle straight so you shouldn't have to worry about turning your foot to the left anyway. I was mostly concerned with the up and down motions."

Emma stared at her father, her jaw slightly open in amazement. How in the hell did he know all this stuff? Was he a battlefield medic in a past life or something?

Although, with what she knew about her parents' history, his being a battlefield medic may have not been far off the mark.

David grinned at her, amusement dancing in his eyes. He gently placed her right foot on his lap and wrapped an extra t-shirt of his that he'd dug out of the backpack around her ankle. Then he grabbed the splint and held it out to his daughter. "Ready for the trial run?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Emma nodded. She accepted the splint and placed the webbing underneath the sole of her foot. Then, with a deep breath, she grasped the two sides and held them in place on either side of her leg. Even the pressure of her holding the splint against her ankle eased the pain a bit.

Her relief must have shown on her face because David smiled gently as he secured the splint around her leg with the vines. "How's that?"

"It feels really nice," she replied honestly.

Maybe it was the little girl within her who longed for her daddy to take care of her or maybe it was the adult within her who understood that he'd already seen her vulnerable so there was no harm in allowing another little bit of vulnerability, but she held out her hand for him to help pull her to her feet. A touched smile curled on his lips as he did so.

She stood, making sure to put most of her weight on her left foot. Then she let go of her father's hand and took a deep breath in preparation for the next couple of steps forward.

She felt utterly ridiculous. She was just going to walk, for crying out loud, something she'd been doing for literally as long as she could remember. It was as natural and automatic as breathing now, and yet, she was really freakin' nervous.

What if she couldn't walk even with the splint? What if she had to stay in hiding while everyone else searched for Henry?

No. That was not an option.

Emma took a hesitant step forward on her right foot and then on her left. The splint did provide her with a good amount of stability. It held her ankle still and the tied-together sticks were strong enough to help bear a bit of her weight. It wasn't a smooth, seamless walk by any stretch of the imagination but it wasn't a limp while leaning against someone for support, either.

"You look good, kiddo."

She turned around, eyebrows raised in surprise. Kiddo? Since when did David call her kiddo? She was about to say something to that effect when she caught the love and pride swimming in his eyes. All right, maybe she could live with one instance of him calling her kiddo. As long as it was only once and as long as no one else heard it, of course.

"Thank you, David," she said, her voice soft. She wasn't just thanking him for the compliment, of course. She was thanking him for everything.

Judging from the tender expression on his face, he knew. He stepped up to her and ran his thumb over her cheek, a smile born of pure love lighting his eyes. "Like I said earlier, no thanks necessary."

Emma smiled back at him before turning and making her way back to her little nook. After watching her struggle with attempting to get her boot on over her splint, David stepped over to help her with that, too.

This time she stood up on her own and helped David pack up their meager belongings. Then she made her way over to the middle of the clearing, where the other three members of the rescue squad were waiting. She caught her mother's eye and gave her a small smile before addressing Hook. "Where to now?"

"The last known place of Pan's compound," Hook replied. He handed her the cutlass with a wink. "Follow me."

Everyone traipsed off into the jungle after him. After a long moment, Emma sped up as much as her injured ankle would allow. When she caught up with Hook, she whispered, "Thank you for helping David … for helping me."

"No worries, love," he replied, shooting her a smile. "You need to be able to find your lad, and I need to make sure you're all right. Helping seemed to be the least I could do."

He sounded very sincere, more sincere than Emma was expecting. Her defenses shot straight up in response. "And just why do you need to make sure I'm all right?"

Hook glanced at her as if trying to determine whether to reply seriously or with a joke. He must have decided on the joke, because a lascivious grin curled on his lips as he said, "Well, we can't have you injured when we ..." He trailed off but waggled his eyebrows, letting the rest of the sentence speak for itself.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Yeah, keep dreaming."

"Oh, I shall."

She groaned. The man was most definitely impossible. He chuckled, winked at her, and then faced forward to focus on the path ahead of them.

Emma hung back and within a minute or two, her mother had caught up with her. "How are you doing?"

"All right," Emma shrugged. Granted, she was moving slower than normal but she was doing pretty damn well for her injury, if she did say so herself. "Did you know David was so good with the makeshift medical stuff?"

Snow smiled gently at her, eyes sparkling with love for both her husband and her daughter. "I did. I'm pretty handy at it, too, but ..." She let out a soft breath. "Thank you, Emma."

Emma frowned. "For what?"

Her eyes darted to her husband ahead of them on the path and then back to her daughter. "For giving him a chance to be your father."

A sudden lump formed in Emma's throat. She had given him a chance to be her father, hadn't she? Without even realizing it, she'd given him that chance, and he'd responded in kind, giving her the chance to be his daughter. They'd both given each other the same wonderful gift: the chance to be a family.