So, this chapter will have Emma face Ingrid and find out what Regina had indicated about her. And will also bring Emma a step closer to David.

...

Chapter 10

"It's really nice here. I can understand why you live here.", David exclaimed happily as he sat with Emma in the park close to Emma's apartment in late August. David was there on a visit to see where his daughter lived and to meet her friends and family.

Emma had been a bit nervous about this, but when she saw how great David got along with Lily, Graham and Neal, she was relieved. He had even urged her friends to join in on her next visit to Storybrooke, which would be in a week when he himself got back.

She had only known her father for about three months, but it was as if he had always been in her life. Their relationship was so easy. She was always delighted to learn about things they had in common or hear another story about him as a child or her grandmother Ruth. The only shadow on his visit was him meeting Ingrid.

Emma and Killian had invited Emma's family over for dinner to meet David. Anna and Elsa had been absolutely excited and eager to meet him, but Ingrid had only given Emma an icy glance at the invitation. Since Emma had first told her mother about David, their relationship had cooled down a bit and neither of them had brought up the topic again. But she wished her mother would give David a chance. Her whole life she had wished for a mother and a father. Now that she had both, she would like nothing more than to be happy about it and have both of them in her life, together. They didn't have to love each other, just being in the same room at the same time without one of them wanting to kill the other would be nice. Her birthday was in October and it would be a perfect day, if she could celebrate it with her whole family.

It had been quite mortifying for Emma to tell her father that Ingrid didn't want to see him. But with his positive nature, he was sure as soon as he met her this whole thing could be fixed. Sadly, Emma didn't have his confidence about it.

"I don't know, I'm not so fond of living in a big city. It was during college, but now with Henry growing up… I think I would prefer a quieter life. But when you raise a child with its father and a boyfriend, the decision of where you live is not entirely up to you.", Emma responded.

"Growing up in a small town was nice, I have to say. But once you were a teenager and every stupid thing you and your friends did were reported to your parents before you even got home, it was not so nice anymore." At David's comment, they both laughed. "Emma, are you planning to have more children in the future?"

Emma thought for a moment. "I know Henry would love it. But I'm not so sure about Killian. He didn't even ask for this child. And I know that Killian is pretty old fashioned and would want to be married before we have more kids. So, I'm afraid the ball is his to play. I don't even know if he wants to get married."

David's first impulse was to laugh at that. He hadn't known Killian and Emma for too long, but everyone who watched them for two minutes could see, that they deeply, madly and truly loved each other. But the insecure look in Emma's eyes made him wrap his arm around his daughter instead. "I'm sure he would like nothing more than to marry you. He would be a fool if he didn't."

That cheered Emma up a bit. "Please, you're only saying that because you're my…"

But Emma was cut off by her phone ringing. She looked down at it and a mix of anger and despair flashed over her face. Before David could ask what was wrong, she told him she had to leave right away. She gave David the spare keys to her apartment so he could wait inside and assured him she would be back soon and that he had nothing to worry about. David didn't really look convinced, but he didn't want to worry her any further or keep her from what she had to do.

Emma angrily slammed the door as she arrived at her mother's house.

"I would be happy if you would be more gentle with my door, sweetheart." Ingrid's voice was icy. That only fueled Emma's anger.

"What is this about you not coming to family dinner? David has never done anything to you. You don't even know him. What is going on with you lately?" Emma stood in front of Ingrid, but her mother just turned away from her.

"What is going on with me? The better question is what your problem is." Now she turned to face her daughter, showing her red eyes. She had obviously been crying. But in her current state, that didn't touch Emma. "Emma, we were happy all these years. I am your mother. You and I, that is all you need to be happy. I don't want you to see them. They only want to take you away from me!"

Emma angrily shook her head and stepped away from Ingrid. "Do you have any idea what you sound like? No one is trying to take me away from you."

"They already tried once!" Ingrid yelled at the top of her lungs. She had never yelled at Emma like this.

Ingrid's eyes grew wide as she realized what she had just done. She reached out to take Emma's hand, but she just stepped further away from her.

A million thoughts ran through Emma's head at once and tears gathered in her eyes, but she couldn't let her emotions overtake her. She had to use this moment to find out the truth.

Her voice was weak, but determined at the same time. "Mary Margaret, she tried to get me back?"

When Ingrid didn't answer, Emma went on. "If you don't want to lose me forever, you better answer now!", she demanded.

Ingrid swallowed heavily a few times and then sank down in her couch. She motioned for Emma to sit down, but Emma only shook her head and gave her an intense stare, urging her to start.

"It was a while after Gerda and Hendrik had died. Anna and Elsa were away for the weekend to visit their grandparents, so it was just you and me. When I opened the door, I thought she was just a saleswoman or something like that. But one look into her eyes was enough to know who she was."

Emma frowned. David had already told her she had Mary Margaret's eyes.

"I wanted to shut the door right into her face, but she begged me to give her a moment. I was sure if I didn't, she would just come back."

*Flashback*

Desperation shone in Mary Margaret Blanchard's eyes. "Please, I just want a moment of your time. I guess you are Ingrid Swan."

Ingrid nodded and gave the younger woman an icy glare.

"My name is Mary Margaret Blanchard and I'm…Emma's mother."

Anger burst out of Ingrid. "No, I am Emma's mother! You are just some stupid, reckless girl who threw her away like a piece of garbage."

Mary Margaret flinched at Ingrid's yelling. "I was just a teenager when I had her. My father was sick and my stepmother wouldn't support me. But I regret this decision every single day of my life." Then, she straightened her back and mustered her courage to look Ingrid straight into the eyes. "But now I have my life in order. I'm a teacher and I moved into my own apartment. I'm independent now; I can give Emma what she needs. I can take care of her."

A superior grin spread over Ingrid's face. "I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I am Emma's mother now. By law!"

"I know that. Believe me; I don't want to take Emma away from you. I just want a part in her life. We can both be her mothers. They didn't really give me a choice for an open adoption, but…"

They were interrupted by a little blond seven year old girl sneaking up behind Ingrid. "Mommy, why are you yelling?", little Emma asked curiously.

Mary Margaret's eyes watered and her lip trembled as she looked at the little girl, a perfect mixture of her and David. Before she could speak, Ingrid ordered Emma to leave.

She was still looking after the little girl, when Ingrid spoke again. "Emma is my daughter and no one else's. So if you dare to ever come close to her again, I will call the police. Leave her alone!"

Then, Ingrid slammed the door into Mary Margaret's shocked and crying face.

*Flashback ends*

When Ingrid was finished with her story, Emma wiped away her tears. So this is why Mary Margaret had looked so familiar. She had seen her before.

"I just can't believe you. All my life, I lived with the belief she wanted nothing to do with me. That she never loved me. And for seventeen years, you knew that was not true and you just kept it from me. How could you do this? You just only thought about yourself and never about me in this. Even if you didn't want to confuse me as a child, I am a grown up now. You had a million opportunities to tell me!"

Ingrid stepped towards her again and tried to comfort her daughter, but this time Emma slapped her hand away. "No! Stay away from me! I don't want to see you anymore!" And with that, she stormed out, ignoring Ingrid desperately calling after her.

…

David didn't have much to do, so he wandered around the living room and looked at the family pictures. He was chuckling at a Halloween picture in which Emma, Killian, Henry and Emma's friends were dressed up as Harry Potter characters, when he heard the front door of the apartment forcefully being shut. When he walked towards the hall, he heard sobbing, so he quickened his steps. He found Emma sunken down next to the door, crying heavily.

"Sweetheart, what is going on?", David asked carefully.

That's when she noticed his presence. Her tear-filled eyes widened for a moment. Then, she threw herself into his arms. When she was safely in his arms, she weakly sobbed. "Daddy," she sobbed weakly when she was safely in his arms.

But David didn't give himself time to savor the feeling of her calling him that for the first time, and gently caressed her back with one hand and cradled the back of her head with the other.

...

So, I hope you see I never wanted to suggest Mary Margaret was a monster, I just wanted to give it time to unreval the real story behind it. Here it is. In the next chapter, we will see Emma is shaken by Ingrid hiding this from here for so long and she will really, really lose it. So if you are not up for it, then maybe you shouldn't read it. This will be very tough for Captain Swan.

Also in the next chapter, Emma's friends will come to town with love sparking for them; and Henry will question David about his feelings for Mary Margaret.

There are three more chapters left of this story, who will be all posted till the new episode airs this sunday, thanks to my amazing beta musicalfreak22, who did all four chapters in one go.

I wanted to make this story longer and explore the side ships more and the Snowing love story, but so many people hated the story, so that really killed my muse. So I decided to wrap it up and finish it. I am really happy with how it turned out (though I am sure a great number of people will still hate something) and I think I brought it to a good end.

So keep your eyes open for the chapters over the week.

And thanks for everyone, who is reading and actually liking this story and for all the nice comments I got. They really made me happy.