There was a soft rapping sound from outside, before its source slid the door slightly open and peered her wide, sympathetic eyes inside.

"Can I come in?" Emma asked.

Snow could not bear to look her daughter in the eye, so she just hugged her knees a little closer, staring in front of her, and nodded slightly, trying to keep her tears at bay. Emma came in and shut the door behind her. She gently sat opposite her mother and friend on the bed.

"Red told me what happened," Emma started. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

Snow's lip quivered and she bit it tightly and looked away. That only made her feel worse. She felt a few light tears leak from her eyes and stream down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry you had to live through it," she said, swallowing.

"But I did live through it," Emma said, her voice softer than Snow had known it to be. "That's what's important, isn't it? I'm here, I'm right here, and I'm fine." Snow still couldn't bring herself to look at her daughter. "Has it really changed your view of me so much that you can't even look at me?"

The last part came out in a vulnerable, shaky whisper that made Snow snap her eyes to her daughter, shame filling her. Was that what she thought this was about? Suddenly she felt a strong need to be holding her daughter in her arms. She extracted herself from her small, self-shielding ball and crawled forward, embracing her friend.

"Of course not!" she wept, trying and failing to maintain a shred of composure. "I'm sorry, Emma, I'm just so sorry for everything, so disappointed in myself for not being able to protect you."

Emma allowed herself to be cradled for a moment, feeling hesitant warm tears leak from the corners of her own eyes and bury themselves in the shoulder of her mother's sweater.

"Is there any way you can see this as a bonding experience?" she suggested with a watery chuckle. "I was forced to leave by my foster father at gun point, you were sent into the woods by your stepmother with a huntsman meant to kill you. I lived out of the back of a car I stole, and you lived in a hide out in the woods and stole jewels."

"I never took you for a bright side kind of girl," Snow hiccupped, leaning back and taking her daughter's face in her pale hands. "I never wanted that life for you, Emma. If I'd known what I was sending you to, I never would have put you in that wardrobe."

"Well then I guess it's a good thing you didn't know," Emma said, "or I would still be a one-day-old baby, David would still be in a comma, and we would all be cursed to the end of our days. And hey, for outcasts with rotten families, we turned out alright, didn't we? In the end?"

Snow nostalgically brought her hand up to her daughter's face and brushed a persistent teardrop from her cheek.

"Just fine," was all she managed to choke out through quivering lips. Emma gave her a watery smile.

Emma allowed her mother a few more moments of nostalgia and another embrace before she suggested that they migrate to include David in this sad little love-fest. He was sitting at the counter of the kitchenette, sipping a beer and twirling his finger around the rim of the glass gloomily. When the two women emerged from Snow's room, he looked up expectantly.

"Everything ok?" he asked, standing as they approached.

"We talked it out," Emma said. David moved to join them, wrapping his arm around Snow and placing a kiss on her cheek. "But I owe both of you an apology. I shouldn't have pushed you away so much and been so secretive about my past."

"No, Emma," Charming said, "we shouldn't have pried. It wasn't any of our business, and we're so sorry we breeched your privacy."

"I'm not," Emma persisted. "Because it is your business. I'm your daughter, and I can complete understand why it would mean so much to you both to know what my childhood was like. I guess I was trying to protect you from it, but we are a family, and families should share with each other. I guess I'm still getting used to that. I mean, honestly most of it I've spent my whole adult life trying to forget, so it's weird now to have you guys wanting me to remember."

Snow sniffed, and Emma was surprised to see even her father looking at her with glossy eyes. He paused for a moment, on the verge of saying something, but as if he wasn't sure if he should.

"What is it?" Emma prodded him gently. Snow looked up into his pained face.

"It's just," he breathed. "Can I… just…"

He reached out gently, stepping forward, and at first Emma didn't know where this was going. Then, she felt herself enveloped in his strong embrace. He held her very tightly and protectively, and as Emma allowed herself to rest her head on his shoulder, she sense that he had been wanting to this for quite a while now. For the first time in her life, she felt like she had a father. The power of the emotion brought tears to her eyes, which she let slide silently onto his sweater.

Eventually Snow joined the embrace, and the family stood together for a long moment, grieving the past and appreciating the present. When they broke apart, Emma lightly swept a few tears from her cheeks and looked at both her parents.

"But no more secrets, and no more running away," she promised them. "You both have a right to know how I grew up, and honestly, I have a right to talk about it, as much as that might scare me." She walked her way over to the table as she spoke and sat down. Snow and Charming followed her and sat opposite her. She looked at them both.

"So," she said with a deep breath. "What do you want to know?"


Hey Readers,

Just wanted to let everyone know that this is as far as I intended to go with this story, it was always going to be fairly short. But I know I've had a lot of responses saying I should keep going, which is why I ended it this way. Feel free to pick where I've left off, and write stories about the kinds of memories you think Emma would have from growing up in the system. Maybe Emma, Snow and Charming can visit some of her memories together and she can commentate on them. Or feel free to use the same concept to explore other memories, like when Emma meets Neal, etc. Sorry to disappoint!