Authors Note: Hey guys so no update from yesterday, Emma was being a little high maintenance (very long story) and I was suffering from weird i'm kind of dizzy moments so I decided not to keep going with the chapter. But anyway I'm back today, and again I'm crazy flattered by all of the reviews and of course by the follows and favorites. Thanks to all of those who are reading and I hope I don't disappoint. So yes, please read and review.

Chapter 10- Returning home

The drive back to Storybrooke was awkwardly quiet, Henry tried his best to make small talk but the tension in the car was really just too thick. After a little while, he fell asleep in the back seat, as he had on the ride to New York.

She watched from the rear view mirror as he somehow managed to land himself on Neal's shoulder, and Neal was just sitting so still because it looked like he didn't want to wake Henry up. She tried not to let that get to her as she kept driving, they just needed to get home and then everything would be fine. She couldn't help but feel like Neal was just burning his gaze on her the whole ride, as if he was trying to tell her something. Longest eight hours of her life, and they had only been on the road for two hours.

She only lasted another twenty minutes, that was when she just HAD to pull over because being in a car with Neal, with him in the back seat, it was just getting to her. She got out of the car, and she just started to pace, and she could feel the eyes of the two men in the car just following her.

"Get a grip, Emma. Get a grip" she kept on muttering to herself.

This was just the oddest situation of her life, she had gone on this stupid trip to find Gold's son, and stupid twisted fate made that son Neal. The only person she had ever fallen in love with, and he was connected to this other aspect of her life that was completely twisted. She could feel something making her feel constricted, and really how much was she going to get screwed over now? How was it possible that out of all the freaking people she could have met, and fallen in love with, it had to be Mr. Gold's son. She let out a few breaths, as she could tell that Neal wanted out of the car, but he didn't want to wake up Henry.

Henry. The one thing that made sense in her mess of a life. That's who she needed to focus on, and that's how it was supposed to be. She needed to get into that car, and just deal with the remaining five hours it would take them to return to Storybrooke.

She got back into the car, and she could feel that they all wanted to ask her what was going on but she just ignored them as she turned the car back on. Thankfully Henry was still fast asleep, probably from the fact he had gotten up pretty early and he had been up late the night before.

"No one says anything, unless it is about the weather or some sort of sport" she said as Mr. Gold opened his mouth to say something.

It seemed that whatever Gold had been planning to say had nothing to do with either of those topics so he closed his mouth again. With a satisfied smile, she merged back into moving traffic and kept driving. She knew they would have to stop at some point for food, but she wasn't worried because Henry was the only one who would be truly hungry. But he was fast asleep, so she kept driving until he woke up. They were nearing the Maine border, and it would only be about an hour or so until they got back home. While Henry had been sleeping, Neal had asked questions about the weather in Storybrooke, keeping true to Emma's terms, which Gold had answered and Emma was pretty sure that was as much bonding as the two were going to do this trip.

"Would you like to stop for a late lunch, Henry? Or just wait until we get home?" Emma asked.

"I'm okay, Mr. Gold let me get some snacks before we went back to the motel. So I can just wait until we get home"

"Well then, let's get home" Emma said as she kept down the familiar road.

It was weird because the last time she had made this trek, it had been to drop off Henry and then it had been her plan to return to Boston. But Storybrooke was her home now, and she was returning to it, and hopefully she wasn't leaving it anytime soon. Henry started to ask Neal questions then, mostly harmless ones about sports and things like that. She was pretty sure he'd save the probing questions for when they were alone.

Hearing their chatter helped her relax a little, and she threw a look at Gold who looked like he was asleep, but Emma could tell that he was listening to his son and to his grandson. Holy crap that was really weird. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally saw the sign, the one welcoming to Storybrooke and she felt like she could breathe a little better. She wasn't sure where she was driving them, so she decided to go with Gold's shop first, and probably Granny's so that Neal would have a place to stay.

"Okay so this is what it's looking like, Mr Gold I'll drop you off at your shop first, and then Neal, I'm dropping you off at the bed and breakfast. Then kid, you and I are going home so you can have a chat with your grandparents about why you left, and of course to get the homework you missed"

She made all of these sound like statements, not questions because she was not ready to even begin to deal with the idea that she had to let Regina know that Neal was in town, and to let Snow and Charming in on the fact that her son was Gold's grandson. She just needed a little time to process, and then she was going to tell everyone everything. When no one answered she kept down the road to Gold's shop, and when she pulled up to it, she saw that Belle was waiting for him.

"Seems like you have company" Emma commented.

"Thank you Miss Swan" Mr. Gold replied as he opened the door, and headed out to meet Belle who looked very worried.

Emma wanted to stay, but she knew that she needed to get Neal out of her car, and then just go home. So her next stop was Granny's, hopefully no one would be too curious as to what Neal was doing there, and if they were, he'd probably come up with something. Finally after she had dropped him off at the bed and breakfast after promising that she'd meet him for breakfast the next day, she drove home. It was getting dark and she was glad when she finally spotted the loft. She parked in her space, and then she and Henry made their way up the stairs.

"Emma!" she heard Snow exclaim as she felt herself being wrapped into a hug.

She had barely opened the door, and this was how she was greeted. Henry only smiled at his grandma who released Emma to hug him, and she could see Charming standing in the background. After Snow released Henry, he went over to hug his Grandfather, and then Emma walked inside as Snow closed the door.

"So how did it go?" asked Snow.

"Okay I guess" Emma asked.

"Did you guys find Mr. Gold's son?" Charming asked as Henry plopped down on the couch.

"Yeah we did" Emma said.

"Emma, sweetheart you are going to have to say more than three words. What happened?" Snow said.

Emma looked over at Henry who just gave his mother a shrug, making it obvious that her parents were not hearing the story from him. She took a breath, unsure of where to begin.

"It's kind of a long story, why don't we just have dinner, and I'll tell you after?" Emma asked.

Snow looked like she wanted to ask again, but Charming just gave her a gentle squeeze of shoulders and she relented. But then she turned her attention on Henry who had been watching the adults.

"And you young man, what were you thinking sneaking off with your mother, on a school day?"