"Remind me why we are doing this again?"
Snow peered from behind the tower of shoe boxes. "Because this house is already too crowded, and we definitely don't need all these documents anymore".
He sat straight on the bed, looking over at his wife, who was now sitting between old newspapers and school documents. "So why don't you just throw those out?"
"Because, there might be something we actually need in here. Come on, Charming, if you actually helped me it would be much faster". She picked up an old newspaper from the 'Throw Away' pile and chucked it at his head.
He caught it, laughing softlu. "Okay, okay, I'm helping". He sent his hand in her general direction and picked three newspapers up from the floor. "A storm to hit Storybrooke," he read aloud. "Throw away or keep?"
"Definitely throw away".
He placed the paper gently in throw away pile, before moving back to read the next headline. He started reading, his eyes growing wild. "Is this—?"
"Oh my god!"
Snow looked up to see her daughter sitting by Charming's side, the newspaper wrinkled in her hand. Charming was staring at the wall, not even acknowledging his daughter.
"I can't believe you saved that!" Emma was practically shouting.
Having no idea what Emma was talking about, Snow got up slowly and reached for her hand. With a gentle touch she made Emma open the fist that was now protecting the newspaper and straight it back until she could read the headline.
Ex-Jailbird: Emma Swan Birthed Babe Behind Bars.
Snow shuddered and gave Emma a sorry look. "I had no idea it was here Emma," she whispered softly, sitting by her husband's side.
Charming, finally out of the shock, gave Emma a questioning look. "Why is it in the Storybrooke Daily Mirror?"
Emma shot her hand and grabbed the newspaper from her mother, her fist protecting it once again. "Regina was trying to get back at me. I have no idea how she got it. It's a juvie record". She turned back to Snow, shooting her an angry look. "Why the hell did you save that?"
Snow shook her head desperately. "I must have thrown it in here when it was published. So you could stop staring at it and ruin your life".
"You think staring at it would have destroyed my life? I think actually being in jail would," she spat. She knew Snow didn't do it on purpose, surely not once she realised she was her own daughter, but Emma could just not forget the look her father head once he read the title.
"Please don't say that".
Shocked that her father had opened his mouth, Emma sat back down and looked at him quietly. "I was seventeen, in jail and pregnant. Don't you think it's definitely a life ruined?"
He looked up and sent her a small smile. "I think that you're a thirty year old who've found her parents, has a great ten year old boy and a beautiful baby brother. I'd say your life turned out okay".
His voice was hopeful, and he gave her a look of utter love. She wanted to shake him, to prove him wrong. She was finally getting used to them being her parents, finally letting them in, and then moments like this made her remember all that she'd been through.
"By four I'd broken bones six times, by ten I had scars from cigarette burns and belts, by fourteen I had a tattoo done by an unlicensed kid who claimed to be my friend". She stopped just for a second. She was hurting them, she could see that, but she had to go on. "I was sixteen when I stole a car, barely seventeen when got caught with stolen watches worth almost twenty thousand dollars. I was sent to jail right before seventeen".
Both Snow and David were listening to her now, swallowing any information she was willing to give them while fighting for tears of anger and frustration at how miserable their daughter was her whole life.
"I wasn't in jail for two weeks when I had that pregnancy test. And when it came positive, everything was ruined. I went to doctor appointments escorted by a warden, and I gave birth cuffed to a hospital bed". She took a deep breath. She was going to say that.
"Cuffed to a hospital bed, with a warden by my side and another one behind the door, instead of my mum and dad".
And like a lightning they were both by her side, holding her tight. "I'm sorry I kept that Emma," Snow whispered soothingly.
"I know," she answered, burying her head in the crook of her father's neck. "And I'm sorry I spat it all out like that".
"It okay," David said, his hand pulling her closer, "we're glad you told us your story. And we're terribly, terribly sorry that you had to go through all of this".
"It's fine. It's just, I keep thinking… If I'm so embarrassed about being in that place, what you two must think of me".
Snow smiled at her husband, and he replied with an encouraging nod, so she went on. "We're proud of you for growing into that amazing woman you are, jail or no jail involved, and we're happy for the chance you're giving us, to be there for you and for your amazing son".
Emma looked up and dramatically rolled her eyes. "Always the cheesy smarty-pants," she smiled.
"That's Mum and Dad for you," David replied with a soft chuckle.
