Alright guys, I'm going to be honest with you. I have this story pretty much mapped out…except for the ending. I really am struggling whether or not to have Emma turn back. I have decided that I am going to leave it up to you guys. I'm putting up a poll in my profile. I know either way, some readers are going to be disappointed because the reviews have been split. I also struggle with the moral choice of it all. But in the end, I have an idea for how to end it if she did and if she didn't. So, once you're done reading, go vote! This way, no one can complain because it's a fair and balanced election. Anyway, thanks for reading my little rant! Onto the chapter…

Chapter Eleven: Best Chance

Daddy.

The only time David had ever heard those words escape Emma's lips were in his dream during the missing year. They had been dancing in her childhood nursery until she was sucked away from him…again. He had accepted that would be the only time anyone would call him that until Neal learned how to talk.

Now here she was, his little girl, sobbing his arms, pleading to her daddy to not let her go through all that pain. His heart was breaking. Emma really had been through so much and that had always bothered him. If she had gotten to grow up with them, she would've had the perfect childhood. She would've been tucked in every night, received a million hugs and kisses, had more toys than she knew what to do with. But that wasn't all. She would've been taught her worth, just how special she was. When she got to dating age (which David was sure he would've deemed 40, while Snow would try to convince him when the girl was a teenager), she would've been taught the importance of waiting for the right man, that her virtue was something to be respected, not given away because there's nothing better to do. She wouldn't have felt she needed to run away, because she would know she was loved. Would there have been fights? Of course, all parents and children fought. But Emma would not have experienced the same kind of pain.

In reality, if the timeline went as planned his daughter was set up for a lifetime of hurt. Even after she was reunited with her parents at 28, the pain kept coming. First losing her first true love, then having to be separated again and let her wall down enough to consider becoming engaged. Only to have that perspective fiancé turn out to be a flying monkey. It was a wonder Adult Emma wasn't having weekly sessions with Archie (and if she was more of an open person, she probably would have, but she still had some walls up). How could he sentence her back to all that?

Yes, this Emma was already a teenager. She had been through so much pain, being bounced around from home to crappy home. She had a family for 3 years, one she had some fond memories of, only to be sent back when they had a child of their own. But, they could work with her on the pain. She could have normal teen years, loving, albeit overprotective parents, who looked out for her and taught her right from wrong.

Then there was Henry. It was an unspoken thing that if not for him, Emma probably would have considered turning back the clock once they knew it was an option. Snow and David would never have asked her to, but they had a feeling she would've offered. But the reality was: Henry existed. David loved his grandson, he was an amazing kid. He saw so much of every family member in him. He couldn't imagine his life without him, just as he couldn't without Snow, Emma or Neal. They were a family, all of them. He had a feeling that his grandson would say he was okay with it, that he wanted his mom to be happy. But lose another parent? That may have been too much for his fragile heart to take. He and Emma wouldn't have a parent/child relationship. It wasn't like Snow and David with Emma, they were all adults. A 13-year-old doesn't want to have to worry about parenting a 12-year-old, no should they have to.

Not to mention what Adult Emma would want. She was gone, temporarily. But deep down, she wouldn't want to leave Henry down a parent. She had a life that she had built since both curses, not just with a job, but with her family. David did miss his older daughter, the aspects of that relationship. There was the matter of Killian. While he wasn't in a hurry to change Emma back so they would be together, he couldn't deny the pirate brought his daughter happiness. They had a chance at a real happy ending. If Emma had the clock turned back with her adult mindset, none of this would be happening.

At the same time, David wondered how much of this Adult Emma would remember. What if she felt betrayed that her parents had chosen to move things forward? What if she assumed they loved Neal more after all? Worried she had been too much of a burden during her teen time? He felt it was a lose, lose situation.

David couldn't think about this on his own and he didn't want to upset his daughter further, so he just soothed her to sleep, rubbing her back and slowly rocking her, just as he would Neal. She was his baby, no matter how old she would be. He even hummed the same lullaby his mother had once with him. It seemed to first calm the teenager down and soon, she was out like a light.

The shepherd turned prince gently tucked her in and kissed the top of her head before heading downstairs. Snow was just finishing up preparing food when she saw her husband's face.

"What's wrong?"

"Emma just told me something…I think you need to sit down."

The two took seats side by side at the table while he filled her in on Emma's confession along with her meltdown. Snow had tears in her eyes by the end.

"Oh David…"

"It was so heartbreaking, Snow. She seemed so little. She's our little girl, but she seemed like a real little girl. She was begging me, her daddy, to not let her go through pain." He bit down on his lip. "How am I supposed to make her?"

Snow had all the same thoughts David had at the moments, but she had to be the strong one in the moment. "I understand, but we have to think about Adult Emma."

"Of course I've thought about Adult Emma and what she would want. At the same time, what if we made her change back and it's not what she really wanted? What if she realizes that she could've had a chance at least half a happy childhood and we ripped it from her? We agreed to give her, her best chance. Before, while it hasn't been easy to do, we knew what that was. I don't know what her best chance is this time."

His wife grabbed hold of his hand, rubbing her thumb over his knuckles. "I see your side."

"Do you agree?"

"I don't know. I know that being a hero means doing what's right, not what's easy. However, like you said, I don't know what's right here. I wish we had a sign, a sign from the Adult Emma about what she would want. I know it affects more than just her, like Henry, but at the end of the day it's her body. It's her choice."

"I thought the same thing about Henry. You know he'd pretend to be okay with it, he'd just want to see his mom happy. But he would essentially lose her. Maybe gain a friend if he felt comfortable in doing so, though I don't see that happening."

"Who knows? We're the same age as Adult Emma and we settled into an unconventional but still parent/child relationship."

"We're also adult," David pointed out. "While I'm sure for Emma it's awkward when we go all parental, for us it's just second nature. We remember your pregnancy, the excitement of becoming parents. We remember the love we felt for her. She doesn't remember her love for Henry, she doesn't remember him growing inside of her or the choice she made, the progress they've made since then. If you were 13, would you want to be a motherly figure to someone just a year younger than you?"

Snow didn't have to think about it. She could remember being that age very clearly. She was more concerned with riding and becoming ruler one day. If someone had suddenly plopped a 12-year-old by her side and said "Here, be a parent", she would've felt very overwhelmed.

"So…what do we do?" The queen whispered, clearly feeling lost.

David was silent for several minutes. The clock ticked in the background, a few loose drops of water dripped from the sink, Neal was cooing contently in his swing. The pair's respective half of heart ached in their chests.

"I think we need to do what we've been doing," Snow answered her own question, breaking the silence.

David got confused. "What does that mean?"

"Work on defeating Ingrid and then have Regina start looking for a way to make the clock move forward. In the meantime, Emma may get her memories back."

"The usual ways haven't. For Henry, it was when Emma asked him to believe in her and in the book. Emma believes everything, she's gotten true love's kisses. Nothing."

"Blue said something like this might happen," Snow said. "Ingrid's memory wipe was strong. She may be the only one who can restore them."

"Well, she won't do that."

"No, but if we defeat her, we'll have access to her cave, which most likely has all her magical possessions."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"We just take it one day at a time, as we have been doing. If Regina can't find a way to move the clock forward, then it's on no one. It'll be heartbreaking, but out of our hands. If she does, then we go from there. The right thing comes to us Charming, it always does." She picked up his hand, kissing it.

David gave her a sad smile. His wife, always the one with the hope. He leaned forward, pressing his lips against hers. "We'll get through, it together."

"Just as we always do."

The next couple of days, Snow and David pretended to forget all about Emma's little outburst. Since they didn't comment on it, neither did she. She figured maybe it was a good sign, maybe they could stay a family. She was finally better, her fever broken and gone. She was feeling a hundred percent, so she knew just what she had to do. Her parents were going to be mad, she may even get grounded. But she had to do this, she had to save everyone. Ingrid was after her, after all. So, one afternoon while David and Snow got Neal up from I nap, she decided to try out some more magic.

When she was scared that "Regina" was hurting her parents, her magic had allowed her to save them. She wondered if she focused hard enough, she could get the broken window to open. It had worked in Harry Potter. She raised her hands to the glass, praying it didn't break and focused as hard as she could. Her hands glowed and she aimed it towards the window. To her delight, it lifted in front of her very eyes.

"Maybe this magic stuff won't be so bad after all," she mumbled to herself. She had already written a note, she didn't want to worry her parents more than they were going to be and think that Ingrid had taken her. The stationary she had swiped from Snow was propped up on her pillow. The next step was to make it down the fire escape, which she did with much success.

David had said that Regina left the station to go pick up Henry every day around 2:15, meaning Elsa, Anna and Kristoff would be alone waiting for her to drop him with Ruby before going back to strategize. Emma took off for the station and when she arrived, she was surprised to see just Elsa standing there.

"Hey Elsa. Where's Anna and Kristoff?"

"They took a walk on the beach, trying to clear their heads. This whole thing has been so hard on them." That's when it hit the queen. David and Snow had made it clear that Emma would not be leaving the loft with Ingrid on the loose. "Wait a minute, do your parents know you're here?"

"Not important. Listen, I have a plan."

"A plan?"

"On how to defeat Ingrid."

"But your parents said…"

"I don't really care what they said. Just listen to me. Ingrid wants us, right?"

"Well, yeah."

"We go there and trick her into thinking we're agreeing to go with her willingly. We say the one condition is that she leaves our families alone, that we'll follow her everywhere," Emma explained. She could see the apprehension on the Arendelle resident's face. "But, then we use our magic to overpower her. You can freeze her until I can get my dad down there to arrest her."

"Emma, I can't use my powers for dark magic," Elsa tried to say it as gently as possible. "I worked far too hard to train myself."

"But it's just one time and it's for the greater good…"

"I'm sorry, this is just something I cannot risk. Eventually, I must return home to my kingdom and be its ruler. My people are still not entirely comfortable with all I've done. Sure, I'm good for an ice skating rink, but I can tell some are still afraid. It doesn't bother me, I know I can control it. But I cannot risk going back. Now, I'm going to call your parents to come pick you up. Let me see if I remember what Regina taught me about these strange phones…"

Before Emma could say anything else, the doors to the station burst open, Anna running inside looking happier than usual. Kristoff was doing his best to keep up with his peppy fiancé.

"You look a lot better," Elsa stated, happily surprised.

"You will too in a minute, look what I found!" Anna held up a tiny scroll, wrapped up. Elsa took it, opening it up, quickly scanning it. She yelped with joy and hugged her sister tightly.

"Where did you find this?"

"The beach. It washed up in a bottle, like magic or something."

"What is it?" Emma asked. Elsa broke out of the tight hug to give it to the teen.

The blonde read it over, a little confused. It seemed to be a letter from Elsa and Anna's mother, addressed to Anna. In it, she explained about how she had a sister she had wrongfully hurt. She explained that the sister had powers similar to Elsa's and that it was a mistake to conceal both women. She expressed deep love for her sister and said when they returned, they would be letting Ingrid return and no longer holding back Elsa's magic

"This is a very sweet letter and I'm glad your mother realized her mistakes, but what does this mean?"

"Don't you see? If Ingrid knows that my mother really did love her and knew she was wrong to fear her, she may not feel the need to make us her sisters as replacement," Elsa told her. "We have to go show this to her."

"This may just work," Emma said.

"Wait, you stay here with Kristoff…"

"No, Ingrid wants me too. I'm going."

"Emma…"

"If you don't let me, I'll just go anyway."

Elsa sighed. She had a feeling Snow and David may be upset with her, but there wasn't much she could do.

"Alright, fine. But if anything happens, allow me to be the one who keeps you safe," Elsa said.

"I'm coming too," Anna added. "I'm the one who found the letter and she's my aunt, too. Kristoff, you stay here for when David and Snow eventually show up looking for Emma."

"Just be safe," he told her. Like Elsa with Emma, he knew it was no use telling her not to go. That hadn't worked in Arendelle, it wasn't going to work in this strange new land.

"Let's go, quickly," Elsa said, leading her sister and Emma out the door.

Meanwhile at the loft, Snow and David were growing a little suspicious. Emma had said she wanted to go upstairs for some quiet time, to read the comics Henry had sent over. But that was over an hour ago. Henry hadn't sent over that many or even ones that were very long. They knew Emma couldn't escape, but worried about her safety. Snow opted to be the one to go up the stairs and check on her, only to gasp at the empty room with the window ajar.

"How did she…" Snow trailed off when she saw familiar stationary, her own. She picked it up, reading it.

Dear Mom and Dad,

I know you two are probably going to be really mad at me. You'll probably ground me for life, but it's a risk I'm willing to take. I'm going to the station to brainstorm with Elsa. I have a plan in mind already, so I just have to convince her it's a good idea. Once we do that, Ingrid won't be a problem anymore. I stole Mom's cell phone and I'll call you when it's over. Again, I expect you to be pissed off by this. I just hope you can one day understand.

Love, Emma

Snow dropped the letter, her eyes growing wide. "DAVID!"

Emma is in trouble now. Will the girls be able to stop the Snow Queen? Hope to have the next installment up soon and don't forget to vote in the poll on my profile!