Chapter 10: Just Go
"I got your message," Tamara said walking into Neal's apartment a couple days later.
As she looked up she saw that more than half of Neal's apartment was boxed up.
Neal emerged from his bedroom and could see a stern look on his fiancé's face.
"Neal, what's going on?"
"I'm sorry I hadn't gotten a chance to tell you."
"Tell me what?"
"Well it's not like you've been around. I've tried to call you."
"And I needed time, I told you that."
"Not in so many words," said Neal.
"So are you going to tell me what's going on or do I even have to ask?"
Neal placed his hands in his pockets. "I'm moving to Storybrooke."
Tamara just nodded, "God Neal," she said taking a seat on the couch. "Were you even gonna tell me about this or was I supposed to just wake up one morning, come by and find you gone? You did it to Emma right?"
"That is not fair."
"Doesn't make it any less true. Why, why leave?"
"For Henry, he's the only reason I'm doing this."
"Why not just have shared custody? Divorced parents do it all the time."
"We agreed that staying in Storybrooke is what's best for Henry. The kid deserves some kind of normalcy and his life, it's anything but normal. He's got Rumpelstiltskin as his grandfather, the Evil Queen as his adoptive mother, Snow White and Prince Charming as his other grandparents all the while we're living in this world. Henry at least deserves some kind of normal home. It's not fair to him to be sent back and forth between there and here."
"And you were never gonna let me have a say in this were you? You just made up your mind, you and Emma."
"Can we stop bringing Emma into this?"
"No Neal we can't," she said getting agitated from sitting so she moved to another part of the room, "because like it or not you did get her knocked up. It no longer feels like you and me anymore. Now all of a sudden I'm having to share you with a whole other life that I didn't even know about until a few days ago. I mean honestly how did you expect me to handle something like this?"
"Hey, I've wanted to talk to you. I've wanted to work things out but it's difficult when you won't return my calls or e-mails or texts. Whose fault is that?"
"Do not turn this around on me! I am not the one who has lied for the past four years."
"Would you have believed me if I told you where I was from?"
"Probably not but at least then I would've known what I was getting into. And you could've at least told me about Emma."
"It was a long time ago. I tried to make myself forget, I tried to move on."
"And have you, moved on?"
Neal took a step closer to Tamara. "What kind of question is that of course I have," he said to her. "I love you, I want to marry you."
Tamara took a step back, "No you don't," she said shaking her head. "I've always been second best. I'm not the girl you've really wanted, it's Emma."
"What are you talking about?"
"I thought I could do this Neal, I did but I can't. Who you are, it's amazing. I never believed in other worlds until now but you know what's also amazing- is that in each one of those fairytales once those characters find true love nothing and no one can get in the way of that. You and Emma are from the same world as those characters, she's your true love."
"Emma is-,"
Tamara reached in her pocket and pulled out a small gray velvet box. Neal froze. "I came by a few days ago but you must have all ready taken them to the airport. I was going to leave you a note on your dresser when I found this," she said handing the box to him.
Neal opened it but he didn't need to see what it was that was placed in it having placed it there later that evening the day she found him.
"I don't have to be told, I know its Emma's," said Tamara. "Why else would there be a swan on it if it wasn't meant for her?"
"It doesn't mean anything," said Neal. "I gave this to her a long time ago and she gave it back the day we ran into each other."
"But you still kept it even days after so it does mean something. And the fact that she kept it all these years shows it still meant something to her too. I told Emma that her being around wouldn't change anything. That I do love you and that I want to marry you."
"Okay so what's the problem?"
"The problem is I lied. I saw the way she looked when she talked about you. I can't compete with her."
"There's no competition," said Neal.
"Whether you two want to admit it or not, yes there is. You still love her. And don't tell me you don't because the way you talk about her Neal, I've never seen that look on your face when you talk to me." Tamara took off her engagement ring and placed it in Neal's other free hand. "So go, go to Storybrooke. Go be with your family. It's what you want."
"You don't know what I want," Neal said trying to plead with her.
"Sure I do, I'm just seeing it before you do. Trust me, you'll thank me for this one day. Better now than when we're married and you resent me for the life you should have had. I won't tell anyone the truth about you but this is not the kind of life I want for myself. I don't want to share your heart with someone else. It's just too painful."
Tamara reached up and placed a kiss on Neal's cheek, "Goodbye Neal."