So... I made The Things We Have into a series because it seems like you guys seem to like those a lot. You should go check it out!
Now, this one is one I wrote a long time ago so it might not be very good, but I don't have any requests to complete at the moment and my giant list of prompts on Google Docs isn't satisfying right now. Enjoy!
Emma never thought that she would cry when she first saw him again. Punch him, maybe but not break down sobbing. This whole trip was screwing her up beyond belief. She had to get on a plane and then get on an elevator at the airport and now she was running into Henry's father on the streets of New York after finding out that he was her enemy's son.
Their whole family tree was beyond screwed up, she had to admit. She had run straight into him and done all she would've been able to do to stop him; knock him down. "Emma?" he whispered right after she stood and looked up at him. Her mind flooded with questions and accusations and swear words but mostly confusion. That was all it took. Just a little more being scared and confused.
She opened her mouth but no words were able to come out. He looked different than she had remembered but just the same. Her mind must have altered the way he looked to go with how the anger inside her was. The second she saw him, though, she knew it was him. There was no way she would've forgotten about him. She started shaking, not saying a single word. He remembered her. Of course he did, obviously but he actually knew who she was and everything.
The whole world felt like it was closing in on her and she really just wanted to undo the past 48 hours and redo them in her favor. The tears started prickling in her eyes and she cursed her freaking emotions. She was supposed to be angry and slap him or something, not just sit here and cry. "What are you doing here?" he asked, leading her to sit down on the curb to calm down some before returning to wherever she came from.
She shook her head, not really knowing how to tell him that she brought his father, the only man he truly hated with a fiery, burning passion, into New York to bring him home with them. He put a hand on her back but she didn't know why. Why was he being nice to her? He had left her for dead in the middle of an alley while she was pregnant with his son. It really wasn't fair to blame him for that, since he didn't know, though. "Gold- Rumplestiltskin, your father brought me and Henry here," she told him, making a face that showed that she hadn't meant to mention the young boy's name.
Neal looked over at her, letting her try to calm herself down a little bit before he made her continue. "Who's Henry?" he asked, smiling. He had to be someone that she cared about, the way that her breathing calmed a little bit when she spoke of him. Maybe a boyfriend? Husband? Brother? Whoever he was, he was happy she found someone new that she could call her family. Someone that hadn't left her yet.
She bit her lip and he knew automatically that it wasn't a brother, father, or her husband. He should've guessed since she wasn't wearing a wedding ring. He had checked when she had her hands covering her face a minute ago. "Our son," she whispered and Neal eyes automatically became guilty and concerned. "I didn't know either, not until I was already locked up. It's not your fault. I know you wouldn't've done it if you had known," she told him, trying to talk quietly. She didn't need everybody within a mile radius knowing that she did jail time.
He took his hand off of her back to rub a hand over his face. Crap. Just crap. He didn't know that he had a son but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that he knew she got eleven months. Assuming that she stayed in jail for the entire eleven months, that would mean that she had his son in prison. Now he felt like more of a jerk than before. "I'm so sorry," he apologized, sincerely. It sounded like he actually meant it and Emma was realizing a few things that she didn't want to be realizing.
She used to hate him, thinking of all the awful things that happened while he was gone, how they wouldn't have happened if he had stayed. Maybe he wasn't as much of a terrible person as she thought she remembered him to be. "It's okay. I'm fine now," she whispered, resting her head on his shoulder. He didn't expect her to be so opened up to him already. He thought that she would still be in the process of trying to beat him up. "There is something you could do to make my life last a little longer, though," she told him, picking her head up and smiling at him, tilting her head down. He knew that this would be an offer that he wouldn't be able to resist, especially if it would help her.
He nodded, raising an eyebrow. He had an awful feeling brewing in the pit of his stomach. "I need to take you to your dad so he doesn't murder my entire family," she whispered, trying to keep her voice down a little bit so that nobody would know that a creepy old man had threatened her with mass murder. Neal opened his mouth but realized he had no words for that. He sighed and gestured with his hand for her to lead the way.
She smiled and stood, taking his hand and helping him up. They walked down the street to get back to the front of Neal's apartment. "So, what've you been up to?" she asked, just missing someone's shoulder as they walked. He shrugged. "Not much, huh? Me neither," she chuckled. It was weird, how they could just say what was different with them and it was like they were right back where they left off.
Neal smiled at her, taking her hand as they crossed the street, just like they always did -or do, apparently. She was still pretty much the same. "So, I should tell you about Henry," she told him and Neal nodded, keeping a tight grip on her hand but still loose enough that she could let go if she wanted. "He was adopted by the mayor… that's how I got there, actually," she said, praying that he would finally ask a question so she wouldn't have to keep throwing out random facts about her life to him.
Thank God he did, because Emma was going to hit him and tell him to say something if he didn't on his own. "Who was she? In the Enchanted Forest?" he asked and Emma bit her lip. That was the wrong question to be asking. It would either be something that he didn't really care about, or something that he would take the kid away from her for. "Who? The Wicked Witch? Evil Queen?" he chuckled, looking down.
She didn't respond, just looked at the ground and squeezed his hand. He inhaled sharply, closing his eyes for a second. "Seriously? The Evil Queen is Henry's adoptive mother?" he asked and Emma nodded, squeezing his hand again. She needed some emotional support when she found that out, she was sure he would, too.
He sighed as Henry and Gold came into view and Emma pulled Henry aside to talk to him. "Hey, you remember when I told you your dad was a firefighter?" she whispered, sitting him on one of the benches outside Neal's apartment. Emma didn't know what else to say but she knew that she shouldn't just say that she lied.
Henry sighed, letting his mom take his hand. Before she could say anything else, he nodded and interrupted. "Let me guess, you lied to protect me, right?" he whispered, not sounding too upset about it. Emma nodded, making a face that showed she felt bad. "Is that him?" Henry asked, keeping his voice low in case Emma didn't want the man to know. Emma nodded, putting a hand on Henry's shoulder. "Did you tell him?" he asked. Emma nodded, smiling at the young boy and leading him to Gold and Neal.
Neal raised his eyebrows at Emma, sighing. He was just having a conversation with Gold. She understood how he felt. "Is this Henry?" Neal asked and the young boy nodded before Emma had a chance to respond. "Hi, I'm-" Neal was interrupted by Henry. The boy was one that would spend time with his dad but would waste no time with small talk.
Henry put his hands behind his back, looking very much like he did when he showed up at Emma's door in Boston about a year ago. "Hi. My name's Henry. I'm your son," Emma chuckled, figuring that it was now just a little bit of a tradition. The exact same thing that he said to her when he appeared at her door.
Neal smiled at the little boy, looking into his eyes. "Hi. My name's Neal. I'm your dad," he told the boy, who smiled at him. Henry wrapped his arms around Neal, who smiled at Emma. They missed watching this kid grow up. Was it bad that Neal was just happy that they would get to see him for the rest of the time he was around? Neal looked at Emma, "Can I go back with you guys?" he mouthed and Emma looked to Gold, who nodded. Emma's eyes lit up, stealing a hug from Neal once Henry let go.
Maybe it was for Henry but part of her thought that maybe, just maybe, he was also going back for her, too. "We have a plane ride tomorrow at 4:00 am," she whispered into his ear. He chuckled, taking her hand back. Gold and Henry went ahead to get pizza but Neal and Emma stayed back outside. "Why do you keep grabbing my hand? Not that I don't like it," she asked, feeling the need to add the last part so that he wouldn't let go of it. This kind of felt like a high school crush but there was no way she was ending it.
He sighed, smiling at her and sitting her down on a bench so that they could talk without Henry right there the whole time. "Because I really want a second chance with you, and I kind of feel guilty about asking for one," he told her, being completely honest and truthful. The reaction he got out of her was the opposite of what he was expecting, honestly.
She smiled from ear to ear, looking happier than he had ever seen her before. "I'll give you a second chance," she whispered, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek, making him smile brightly, too. It was like her happiness was contagious. Henry walked out just as she was leaning back so that she was in her personal space bubble.
He just looked at them for a second, silently asking what Emma was dying to say. She sighed, looking at Neal, who squeezed her hand. "Yes, we're together, okay? Stop looking at me like that," she said the first part clearly but mumbled the last part. Her son was looking at her like she had done something horribly wrong and she hated it.
The boy looked away, following Gold back to the hotel after Neal suggested that they went back there to pack things up and head back to his place to sleep, since it was already almost 7:00, they had a 4:00 flight and Emma was pissed at how unorganized all of their luggage was and wanted to rearrange things. Neal took her hand as they went up the elevator, knowing that she was dying a little bit more inside each time that they had to go on one.
They grabbed everything, getting a cab to take them back to his apartment, where they unpacked and repacked everything, Neal putting a few things with Emma and Henry. After a while, it felt normal, sitting on the floor in his apartment and organizing clothes together, ending up throwing rolls of socks at each other. They did end up cleaning that, having everything neatly packed up in their suitcases and going to bed at around 9:00.
Gold was on the couch, since his leg was feeling okay but not okay enough to sleep on the armchair in the corner. Henry thought that would be a fun experience, so he curled up on there after Emma gave him a hug. Emma and Neal cuddled up on his bed, her head on his chest for the first time in 11 years. "I think you'll like Storybrooke. It's really quiet -well, when we're not being attacked- but it's really good," she whispered in order not to wake Henry and Gold up, since they had gone to bed about a half hour before them.
Neal nodded, playing with her hair, which was lying neatly against her back. "I'll like it, just as long as you're there," he whispered, making Emma smile. This was kind of ridiculous, being so stuck right here with him but it was good. It made her happy, knowing that someone loved her out there, especially that he was right beside her. He put his hand on her side, holding her there.
The alarm went off at around 2:00 am, earlier than they really needed to be there but they had coffee so it was fine. They all boarded the plane, Neal gripping Emma's hand tightly. She still was just the same. He could still tell when she was about to cry just as well as before, so he made Henry go to the bathroom before the takeoff. "It'll be fine. It's only a little while," he whispered, putting a hand on her shoulder pulling her to him in a hug but letting go as Henry walked out, not wanting to make her uncomfortable by exposing her fear to their son.
Neal was right. He held her hand the whole time, even while they were eating. The plane ride went by quicker than Emma thought it would. She was also certain they would die but that didn't happen either. They drove the rest of the hour to Storybrooke, where everyone welcomed Neal with open arms, the opposite of what she thought everyone would do.
The only thing she thought that they would do when they found out who he was and what happened with them was hit him but they instead hugged him and welcomed him into their family more than she was yet. That was actually kind of upsetting to her, since they were still hesitant about her but not about the man who just landed twenty minutes ago. "This is so weird," he whispered, going to sit beside her in their booth at Granny's. It was another one of those weird unspoken of accomplishment parties that were kind of fun but Emma wouldn't admit it.
She knew what he meant, though. Everyone had gathered up at the local diner to eat dinner and listen to music and have conversations with everyone there but Neal didn't know anybody besides her and her whole family. "I know. It's like everyone here is telepathic," she told him, looking over at her parents and Regina. "I thought we were just coming to dinner," she mumbled, making him laugh and almost spit out his drink. He didn't entirely believe that she didn't know about this but it was okay because she was being funny.
Emma took his hand as everyone started to leave to go home and to bed. "You should come stay with us," she mumbled, resting her head on his shoulder. He nodded, turning his head to kiss her's before they got up and started walking home.
Emma opened the door, taking some of Neal's stuff upstairs while Henry sat on the couch beside him and showed him the storybook. Emma went over to them, "Time for bed," she told the boy, making him sigh and ask for five more minutes. Normally, she would've said yes and let him continue for a hour but she wanted to sleep and nobody else was awake beside Neal, who was coming upstairs with her.
She shook her head, smiling at him sarcastically. He sighed, hugging Neal goodnight before going upstairs to go to sleep. Emma took Neal's hand and led him upstairs, grabbing some clothes out of the dresser and going to change in the bathroom but not before going over to him and kissing him on the cheek.
When she came out of the bathroom, Neal went in, giving her a short kiss on the cheek before closing the door. She smiled to herself, going to sit down on the bed while she waited for him so she could turn off the lights. The second the door opened, she was up and going to the lightswitch to turn them off, eager to actually get some sleep for the first time in two days.
Neal smiled at her as she shut them off, walking over to her bed and laying down beside her before she cuddled up next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. "You know, I really like your family," he said after a few minutes of silence, getting no response from her, not even a hum or her nodding her head. He looked down at her, seeing that she's already dead asleep on his arm.
He smiled, picking her head up with one hand while moving the other out from under it. He moved it over to his chest so that he could actually hold onto her before he fell asleep as well, not caring who walked into the room and found them like that, because he hoped that anybody who did would be happy that the lost girl and the lost boy had finally been reunited.
Also if the guest reviewer on The Things We Have is reading these stories, I'm replying on here because I can't reply directly (make an account, really) and I haven't even started another chapter for that series yet. Regina would not necessarily be happy letting Henry go but she knows that it's Emma and Neal's kid and she wants them to have him back if they want him. She's probably thought long and hard about it and has come to a realization that if she keeps that kid even if his parents want him, how badly is that going to affect him? He'll spend his life wondering why they gave him away in the first place if they could've had him and she doesn't want that for him even if he is her son legally and she doesn't have to give him away. Sure, she'd love it if he was staying with her because she loves him but if he's going to spend his life hurting because of that, she doesn't want to force that upon him. I think in this story I'm trying to make Regina less of a villain than in Season One of ONCE and I'm trying to show that she just wants what's best for Henry, not herself and if that's being with Emma and Neal, then it's being with Emma and Neal.
I hope that explained it. If not, once you make an account you can PM me and I can try to explain a little bit better.