Note: GUEST reviewers, please have the courtesy to at least make up a name, will you? Just using "Guest" is lazy as fuck.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

THE RETURN

Henry comes forward and hugs Emma, saying nothing.

And then the strangest thing happens.

A chilly wind comes up, though the windows are all shut, and the flames in the hearth and wall sconces are all snuffed out.

For a moment all is quiet.

Then the flames roar back and Emma lets out a gasping, "Neal?"

He's standing by the door to the balcony dressed as he was when the enchantment on the Vault of the Dark One first tried to rip out his soul.

Henry runs to him first, slipping away from Emma who stands paralyzed in disbelief as father and son embrace, Henry now standing several inches taller, which is an odd sight.

It's Neal who comes to her, when Henry finally lets go, and she almost dares not touch him, afraid he will vanish again. But he is sold and his heart beats beneath her palm.

"How?" Emma trembles. "I lost you on the ship. You... you were just a boy and you disappeared."

Neal shakes his head faintly. "I don't know. But that wasn't real, not really. I was aware of it, and yet not. It's hard to explain, but Wayland is a realm of shades, of snapshots of a soul taken from a specific moment or time, not souls themselves."

"You receive the soul you need," Snow interjects with unexpected wisdom, reflecting on her possession by a young Cora, "not the one you expect to find."

From his jacket pocket then, Neal pulls out the swan necklace, bringing Emma to tears. "I saved this to give back to you."

"It's not mine anymore," she tells him, voice breaking, "it's your daughter's." Then she amends with an almost laugh, "It kind of is your daughter, if it worked."

Fingers entwining, they move to Charley's bedside and place the chain around the pale girl's neck. At first it seems that it's failed, the soul once trapped in the charm lost, but as Neal brushes his lips over her forehead, there's another gust of wind, this one with a rainbow flash of light that first banishes the glamour cast shortly after her birth, and then-

Charley sucks in a breath and her eyelids flutter open, revealing her father's deep brown.

The little girl looks confused, inquiring, "Mommy? Why are you crying?"

"Because I'm happy, Baby," Emma chokes out, hugging her tightly while her gaze meets Neal's.

There is so much to talk to about. So much that has changed. And so much that hasn't changed as much as she once thought. She doesn't know how aware he's been of their lives since his death, and they'll need to discuss it all. But for the first time in a very long time, she feels like she can breath without a weight on her chest.

As Whale rushes in, late to the party and grumbling about the problems with magic while poking and prodding his patient, Henry staying at his sister's bedside lest the eccentric and sometimes alcoholic doctor frighten her, Emma steps off to the side a with Neal who remarks, "You know, you're older than me now."

"Does that bother you?" she asks, only a bit worried given his light, teasing tone.

"Nah, my old man might go for half his age plus seven, but I've got a thing for cougars."

Emma snorts back a laugh at the ridiculous comeback. And then she kisses him and doesn't stop until Charley proclaims, "Gross! Cooties!"

They part laughing, foreheads resting together a moment, taking in the insanity that has been their relationship.

Though it's still uncertain, Tallahassee seems once again possible. And right now, in this moment, it's enough.

END OF STORY

END NOTE: Glad that angsty shit is out of my system! Definitely no sequel for this hot mess! (Don't worry, Charley isn't paralyzed like Bran in Game of Thrones.)