Protecting Her Heart

Chapter Seven

Meanwhile…

After they returned to their apartment from seeing their daughter and Regina come home, Mary Margaret pushed the door open in frustration, allowing it to swing wide, and stormed inside, then she threw her purse and coat down on the couch before finally settling in the chair nearby, not saying another word to David as he walked into the loft behind her with their son within his arms, sensing his wife's obvious anger as he did so.

He laid the sleeping baby down in his crib, then he turned to the woman he loved and spoke up saying sadly, "Mary Margaret, you knew that Emma would still be upset when she got back and you also know how long it takes for her to let go of her anger when someone wrongs her. You can't keep trying to push her into forgiving you, forgiving us, until she's ready to. If you do, then she will keep on resisting."

She quickly wiped tears away as they threatened to fall with the back of her hand and then responded in frustration, "Yeah, I know it. A part of me just hoped is all."

"So much has happened in such a short amount of time," David continued calmly. "First with the villains' coming to our town and resurrecting Maleficent, with Gold's own return to Storybrooke and all of them waging war against us, Cruella kidnapping Henry and Emma having to kill her to save him, then finally her having to leave to bring her childhood friend, whom she had pushed away a long time ago when she too had disappointed her, back to Maleficent… Our daughter needs time to process everything. Hell, we all still need time to process everything. In time, Emma will forgive us. I'm sure of it."

"Yes, but when?" Snow asked as she finally turned her head to look up at her husband sadly. "How long will she hold this against us this time? I know we deserve it, but do you remember when Emma truly forgave us and finally accepted us as her parents? It wasn't until after she returned from her time travel mishap to our past, David; almost three years. What if it takes her just as long to forgive us this time? I don't think I can handle that, not again. This is tearing me apart and there's nothing you or I can do about it."

The Prince was about to say something more to try to comfort her until a knock came to the door as Mary Margaret swiftly walked around him to open it, finding Maleficent standing there and then she immediately called out nervously, "David?"

The sorceress quickly said assuredly, "I'm not here to kill you."

"Okay," David stated, seeming to appear skeptical of the villain's intentions.

"I just... I just want my daughter," the woman continued on as she still remained within the doorway.

David looked at her in confusion as he asked, "Lily isn't with you?"

Maleficent looked just as Mary Margaret realized she must have back when she had learned of Emma's intentions of leaving Storybrooke to go back to New York as the sorceress answered, "She's leaving."

"And you think we can help," Snow replied sincerely as she motioned for her to enter their apartment. "Come in."

"You cast the second curse," the woman responded swiftly as she did as her former enemy had offered and stepped inside the loft. "Can you... Is there a way for you to seal the borders the way Regina did?"

Mary Margaret shook her head regretfully as she answered, "I don't know how to do what you want. But that wouldn't be the right way, anyway. If she's upset, you have to get to the heart of what's wrong."

The dragon sorceress replied in frustration and worry, "I don't know what's wrong. I don't know her."

"Well, she's acting a lot like Emma did when she first came here," David responded honestly. "She had these... Her walls were always up."

"She was afraid that if she opened herself up to me, I would let her down like everyone else had," Snow White continued for her husband. "And... Ultimately, I did."

Maleficent looked pleadingly between the two people who had once stolen her daughter from her as she answered, "If you have any way to help... You didn't give her back to me then, but please, if you can help, do it now."

Mary Margaret knew that she needed to do this, if only to try to correct the wrong which she regretted more than anything else in her life aside from not being able to see her own daughter grow up, and so she looked at the villain as she replied in sincerity, "Yes. Come on, David. Let's find her."