Moments in Time

Nightmares were the absolute worst.

Pinocchio was a sufferer of nightmares, she knew that now. She wasn't sure much about the boy before he'd left from the Enchanted Forest, what he was like. Oh she knew the story, how a boy made of wood had given his life to save his father and been turned into a real boy via fairy magic. She knew of Gepetto as well, she knew that he had built the wardrobe that had allowed Emma to escape into this world. She still wasn't sure how Pinocchio had gotten here. As far as she was aware, the rumor that the wardrobe could only hold one was well known. She knew that Snow had planned to enter the wardrobe the moment it was complete, to go to this land with her baby, with Emma, and have her here, to raise her to be the 'Savior' that the curse called for and to bring her to wherever the others were when the time was right.

But that had all fallen apart when Snow had gone into labor before the wardrobe was complete. That had left only Emma with a chance to go through the wardrobe and be lost here somewhere. She still didn't understand where though. She still didn't understand how Pinocchio was there, how he had appeared in this world with Emma, as he'd mentioned only a short while ago, yet he was the second person when the wardrobe was meant for just one. She had asked him about it, but the boy remained silent, not wanting to say, all he could do was repeat that he'd promised not to tell.

Bur now was not the time to think of that because he'd woken her with such frantic screaming that she'd feared someone had come to murder him in his sleep. So she'd run from her room to his, just across the small hall from hers, and into the bedroom to see him, thrashing on his bed, crying.

"Pinocchio," she murmured, kneeling beside him and reaching out to gently wake him, "Pinocchio wake up, it is alright, you are safe…"

Pinocchio woke with a gasp, looked up at her for a single moment, before he launched himself into her arms. For that one moment she was afraid that he would look at her and, like he had when he'd learned she was the Pied Piper, cower back from her, but instead he'd just thrown himself at her and was hugging her for dear life, crying into her neck and shaking.

"Shhh," she soothed, rubbing his back just a mite stiffly.

She…wasn't around children much, oh she spent plenty of time in the markets, entertaining them in the Enchanted Forest. The small village that Rumpelstiltskin would have her gather straw from had been a bit wary of her at first, first as she was the Dark One's new caretaker…and then again when they learned she was the Piper. But she had proven herself good with the children, though she rarely used her magic around them. She would play a song here or there to entertain them, to make the birds sing along or to make the dogs dance. She knew that many of the people there, the parents, were wary around her when she'd start to hum or pull her pipe so she refrained from doing so unless Rumpelstiltskin was with her, because one sharp look from him would stop any protest from the parents. They had…grown to accept her after a time, grown to accept that she had no interest in doing deals with them or stealing their children away. She interacted with those children, but nothing like this.

"Dear boy, it is ok," she murmured, patting his back, "It was merely a nightmare."

Pinocchio sniffled, "It was bad."

"Would you care to tell me about it?" she inquired, "Sometimes it helps to speak of them."

She knew that all too well. She…she had started to have her nightmares again, of the burning room, the room that was a result of the sleeping curse. She hadn't dreamt of the room when she was in Rumpelstiltskin's arms, but now that she was on her own…she was always there. She'd hoped that, because this was a land without magic, that she'd be freed from that room, but she was wrong, it was still there just…the flames didn't burn her now. She still felt the heat, felt the flames licking her skin, felt like she was being burned, but she didn't wake up with physical burns any longer.

Pinocchio nodded after a moment, "Papa…he was mad at me."

"What for?" she frowned, Gepetto was a very mild mannered and docile man from what she'd heard.

"I broke my promise to him," he curled a hand on the t-shirt she wore over her pajama pants.

"To watch out for Emma?" she guessed, thinking of what he'd said when she'd found him and he'd woken in her bed after he'd collapsed.

He nodded, "It wasn't just him though. The Princess was mad too."

"Emma?"

He shook his head, "Snow White."

"Why would Snow be upset?"

"Cos she found out papa's secret."

"What secret?"

He bit his lip, hesitating to tell her, "The wardrobe papa was building…it was supposed to take 2, not 1. But papa made the Blue Fairy promise not to tell the princess so that I could go through."

Piper nodded along at that, understanding now how he came to be in this world and reaffirming her dislike of the Blue Fairy. For a source of good, that little sparkling gnat lied an awful lot, "And your Snow White was mad that she could not go with Emma?" she wagered.

Pinocchio nodded, "She was mad at me too, cos I didn't stay with her and I didn't protect her like I promised to. She was really mad and yelling and crying and shouting and…" he started to sniffle again, "And she wanted to punish me like the bad step mothers."

"Snow White will never yell at you Pinocchio," Piper promised, "I can promise you that. No one will ever harm you. Least of all Snow White, you leave her to me if she even tries. She would not harm me and she would have to get through me to get to you."

Pinocchio frowned at that and peeked up at her, "Why wouldn't she hurt you?"

"Well…" Piper took a breath, debating whether she should answer, whether she should tell him. There…really wasn't a reason not to. She and Pinocchio were the only ones, besides Emma and Baelfire, to escape the curse so there should be no reason to keep it from him, "Snow White…is my cousin."

Pinocchio's eyes widened, "Really?!"

She nodded, "Really."

"But…" he frowned, his face scrunching in confusion and concentration, as though he were trying to recall something, "That makes you…Rose Red!"

"I supposed it does," she smiled.

"You're a princess!" he pointed at her, almost as though it were accusing her of lying to him.

"I am," she agreed, "And…if…if we go through with the adoption," she began gently, having broached the topic with him just the other night and given him time to think of it, it would give her more of a way to protect him and care for him if she adopted him, "You would be a prince then."

"Really!?" he stared at her, repeating himself.

She gave a small laugh, "Really."

"And…you would be my mother?"

"Yes, I would," she nodded, "And Snow White would be your…auntie. So she would never ever hurt you."

"But…what about papa?" he shook his head, "Mamas and papas are supposed to be together."

She let out a breath, "In this world there are many forms of families," was all she could say about it, "I will keep my promise to you Pinocchio, if you wish to leave me, I will let you go, and if you wish to stay you may as well. If…when we find the others, you wish to return to your papa…I will let you go. I DO return the children remember?"

He nodded slowly at that, "What if…what if I want both of you?" he hesitated to ask. It had only been a short while with Piper but…she was a good person and he did like her a little. She took care of him very well and did protect him, even from the nightmares.

"Then you can have both of us," she told him, "In this world there are some mothers and fathers who are not together and they share their children so that they get both parents even if the parents are separated."

Pinocchio thought long and hard about that, "Ok," he looked at her, "We…we can do it."

"The adoption?" she wanted to be clear, not sure if he just meant the sharing part.

"Yeah," he took a breath, "I always wanted a mother and…I want someone till we find papa."

She smiled and nodded, "Then we shall see about the adoption tomorrow," she promised, "For now, you need sleep."

He sighed but got off her lap and began to snuggle back into his bed, "Will you stay?" he asked her quietly, "Till…till I fall asleep?"

"Of course," she moved to crouch on the floor beside his bed, reaching out to hold his hand as she sat there, waiting for him to drift off, softly humming an old lullaby under her breath as she watched him slowly fall asleep with a little smile on both their faces.

~8~

Were first dates supposed to last this long?

Piper couldn't help but wonder that as she paced the length of the small apartment she and Pinocchio, or Key, as she had come to call him, had rented for their time in this place. She realized rather quickly that the education system in this world was rather wonderful and that she wanted that little boy she'd found so long ago to be able to get the most of it. He understood why though, after every year, they moved to a different state, why they took vacations to other countries during holidays, to try and spread out, to find their families. Every year they moved, every year he was in another school, but he was there long enough to finish the year out. He was ok with it, he got to see new places, meet new people and she could spend the time he was in school searching for signs of Emma or Baelfire or where the others were.

He really was a sweet boy, so understanding, well…he wasn't so much a boy any longer as a young man. Just turned 17 and was going on his first…date. First date ever actually. He'd never really seemed interested in other girls and she had once teased him that, if he were interested in other boys she would not bat an eyelash at it, till he'd started to stutter that he liked girls he just…wasn't currently interested in dating.

This girl though, she was…nice. She really couldn't give a firmer word than that, she'd only met the girl just before the two of them headed out for the night. It was simple, he'd told her, just dinner, maybe a pizza, and a movie. He was obsessed with the movies of this world, how they told a story with moving pictures, how you got to actually SEE a storyline developing instead of having to read every description of it. He loved writing as well, most of his creative writing assignments were marked highly even though she knew that they were more memories of his own life in the Enchanted Forest and the tales of others. His teachers appreciated his unique spin on the classic tales, which made both of them smirk and share a secret laugh about it. The girl he was trying to date seemed to appreciate it, was fond of his stories as well, felt it meant he had an open mind.

The girl was polite to her, when she'd met her, about a head shorter than Pinocchio, with brown hair, brown eyes, a bit of a button nose, wore an appropriate green dress that went to her knees and some flats, and seemed nice enough. But she knew better than anyone that looks were most certainly deceiving and she was just very concerned. She didn't want him to get his heart broken by someone, especially when she doubted they'd take the truth of who he was very well or even believe him and that was a large part of who he was. He WAS Pinocchio, that would never change, and to not be able to share that with someone…to share that whole part of you was disheartening. She'd tried to ask him to wait till they found the others, but she knew it would be unfair of him to do that. In the worst case scenario, like Rumpelstiltskin had implied, and it took 28 years to see it broken and to return to the others, she couldn't ask her son to be alone like that for nearly 3 decades, it wasn't fair.

But she was still worried, this was his first date, the first girl he was interested in seeing and she was nervous and worried and scared and so many other things she honestly wasn't sure where they were coming from.

She looked over when she heard the door open and shut, so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't even realized that he'd arrived home at barely 10:30 when the curfew she'd set was 11 for his first date. She frowned, seeing his own frown, and walked over to him. She had only just opened her mouth to ask what was wrong when he stepped towards her and just hugged her, startling her.

"I take it the first date notion was overrated?" she started.

He let out a long breath, "Would it be childish to say I was hoping for True Love on the first go?" he mumbled, "With someone not from the Enchanted Forest?"

"Childish by this world's standards perhaps," she rubbed his back a moment before pulling away and touching his face, "But by our standard's…not at all. We all want True Love, Key, it is…" she smiled softly, "One of the most thrilling of emotions and the strongest of loves."

"You've felt it?" he asked. There was always a small niggle in his head that his mother had experienced True Love and, he knew, it hurt her to recall that her true love was likely hidden away and affected by a curse and wouldn't even remember her when he saw her next, if he saw her again. He tried not to bring it up. She'd start to talk about it at times, and then just stop and he always feared it was because it was hard for her to discuss.

"I have," she took a breath, "Come," and took his hand to lead him over to a small couch, "My true love, Key…was never someone I imagined I would find. Not just because I was unsure I would find true love but also that the man I loved could experience it himself."

"But he could," he frowned, "He DID love you, right?"

If the man didn't, he'd punch him!

"Many would be surprised to find the Dark One did."

…ok, perhaps he wouldn't punch him but rather flee.

His eyes widened as he looked at her, "The…the Dark One?" he repeated, "Rumpelstiltskin was your true love?!"

She nodded, "He IS my True Love, yes."

"But…but he's…"

"Choose your words carefully, Key, and remember who your mother is."

He let out a very long breath at that, she did have a point. He couldn't call the man a monster without recalling some things SHE had done herself. He couldn't say that the man's black heart couldn't feel love without recalling her own hardened heart. He couldn't even say that those with darkness in them couldn't feel love without reminding himself that she was part Siren and part dark herself and she loved him as her son, she really did.

"How…did you know?"

"Well, he succeeded in bottling our true love," she began, "He also broke a sleeping curse on me. But mostly it was the care he showed me, the trust he put in me," her gaze flickered to her boots, the boots she always wore no matter what, knowing that his dagger was resting in one and not even Pinocchio knew it, "The small things he did for me," she tilted her head, "True Love, Key, it comes about in different ways," she smiled, "My cousin struck her Charming prince with a rock the first time she met him and look where they ended up, married and happy for a time. Sometimes it happens instantly, love at first sight, but other times it is harder to realize that what we feel is the first stirrings of love. There are times we deny it, times we push another away because of what it could mean…"

"Why would anyone push their true love away?" he frowned.

"It is…hard, dangerous even, to open your heart like that," she tried to phrase it, "It means putting your heart in someone else's hands. It means exposing yourself to them in a way where you have to trust that they will not use what they know of you to harm you. It can be incredibly difficult to open up, for some people, and give another the power to harm you as well as build you up. The stronger and higher they build you, the farther and harder you can fall from it should they hurt you."

"Has…has the Dark One ever hurt you?" he asked quietly.

"Never," Piper told him, squeezing the hand she was still holding, "He always cared for me and protected me. Has done…so much to help me. I…" she took a breath, "I know he would never ever harm me, that he would protect my heart to his dying breath."

"How can you be sure though? I…I don't want you to get hurt mama…"

"Because he did hold my heart once," she told him, "I gave it to him, literally, I put it in his hands to do with as he wished, I gave it to him for a reason, to see something," she smiled, "He kissed it and gave it back to me. I knew then, I knew that he did love me, more than any other might have guessed. He had the power over me in that moment, he could have killed me, harmed me, made me do anything, he could have used truly dark magic, but he chose not to. He chose to keep it safe and see it returned to me. He chose me over darkness and power," she looked at him, "But ours was a…unique situation, Key. True Love, in general, it merely means there is someone that you fight for, someone you think of constantly, someone you would do anything for. It means loving them so much that you only want what is best for them and that you accept them, fully, as they are, every piece of them."

He let out a breath, "Shannon isn't my true love," he muttered, "The girl, that…that I had a date with. I…I thought…but she's not. She's nothing like what you said mama. I wanted to go see one of the Fairytale movies," she nodded, having expected that, he loved reading the different versions of the fairytales, seeing them play out in movie adaptations, "She was actually angry I didn't want to see some sort of action flick or monster movie," he shook his head, "She called me a pansy for liking the Disney versions and said I was just an immature little boy that had to grow up."

"Well…I do agree with growing up," she gave him a soft smile, "No one wants to be Peter Pan."

He shivered at that, knowing the tales of the man both from her and from rumors in their land, "No," he agreed.

"But what you are, Key, what you enjoy, what you love…your true love will accept. All that you are and have to offer will be more than enough for them and," she reached out to brush some of his semi-shaggy hair out of his eyes, "When you meet her, she will truly be a lucky woman, to hold your heart and to have you hold hers. Sometimes it takes patience, but it is always worth the wait. YOU are worth the wait."

He smiled at her and leaned in, hugging her tightly, "Thank you mama," he whispered, giving her an extra squeeze as she returned the hug and smile as well…

And wondered if she might be able to use her music to make a girl's hair fall out…

~8~

28 years.

It had been 28 years since she had appeared in this world. She knew, Rumpelstiltskin had told her, that it would take this long for the curse to break, for Emma to start to break it. She hadn't thought that it would mean that it would take 28 years before she or Pinocchio would even be able to find the town that the others had been hidden away in. She and Pinocchio had searched and searched and searched, all over the world, all over the planet, for 28 years, trying to find one single town. They had searched around the area where Pinocchio had remembered appearing in this world, had been down every road for miles and miles until they started to fear that, perhaps, they had appeared on the other side of the country from where the others were, or perhaps the other side of the world. They'd tried their hardest to find their families again, had made a family of their own in the process, with her as the mother and Pinocchio as her son. They had tried to find Emma, had even tried to keep an eye out for Baelfire, but there was nothing, no sign at all of them, of any of them.

It had broken her heart terribly, to think that her cousin was under Regina's thumb for 28 years, that her happy ending had been taken from her. She had no idea what Regina could be doing to her, but she had to believe that Snow would be alright. Because Rumpelstiltskin had promised her, had sworn to her, that he would take care of her family when the curse happened. It was the only reason she had agreed to help him with it, to allow him to enact it, he had promised her that, in the end, her family would be well and happy and safe, that they'd be reunited again, that they both would get their families again…it would just take patience. So she tried, she tried so hard to be patient, to wait the 28 years but she still hoped that she'd be able to find her true love and her cousin.

She should have been able to, in the last moments before the curse struck, Rumpelstiltskin had helped unite them both in a way that would always allow the other to know if they were in danger or harmed, to lead them to each other, similar to the enchantment that he'd put on Charmin's ring to lead him to Snow, it was a way to find each other. But it appeared, in a land without magic, that that wasn't the case. She had tried to find him, but he was gone and she hoped beyond hope that his failsafes in the curse would still allow him to remember her. If she found him and he had no idea who she was…

She didn't even want to think of that.

She could handle her cousin not knowing her, it would hurt but she hadn't seen Snow in so many years, not up close, she hadn't spoken to her since she'd escaped the Evil Queen. She could bear it if her cousin looked through her for a short time but if her Rummy did the same…it would break her. And then she was quite sure she'd do something foolish, like try to kill Regina, and then they'd be in quite the pickle. So she tried to calm down, tried to think of something else as she sat in a small café in Florida, looking down at a small map she had open before her. It was only one of many. She and Pinocchio both had a series of maps of their own and one large collection that she kept that they crossed off different areas that they had searched and found no sign of the others in. Her gaze travelled up the coast of America and towards Maine.

Pinocchio had come to see her a short while ago, only a few days really, with a terrible limp and she had seen it…his leg was turning to wood. And while it was terrible, she knew what it meant, the curse was starting to weaken, Emma had found her family. He had insisted he go back to where he'd found Emma, that he could try and search the area once more. They had both suspected that there was more at play with the places they went, that it was hidden by magic and therefore would be pointless to even search for where the others were. But they did try. And, more often than not, their travels had slowly become about finding Emma and Baelfire on the way. But he was insistent that, if the curse was breaking, then maybe the magic that hid the others from them would too. He wanted to try and find them just once more, hoping he'd be able to find something about them before he turned entirely into wood.

She'd let him go first, that, if it was there, she'd come join him and right now she was just waiting to hear from her son.

She smiled as her phone rang, speak of the devil, and answered it, "Key?"

"Mama…" she could hear the smile in his voice, "I found them!"

She let out a long breath at that, feeling herself smiling as well, before she closed her eyes a moment, just…taking that news in, "Where are you?"

"Storybrooke, Maine," he said, "Not on any maps, but if you go to the next town over, I'll text you the name cos hell if I can pronounce it, I can pick you up and take you here."

"It is really there?" she spoke quietly, "All of them?"

"Yeah," he laughed, "Papa's here too, and Snow, but she goes by Mary Margaret now, and Emma's here…she has a son mama. Henry."

"Henry?" she frowned at that.

"He's um…Regina's adoptive son," he added.

She nodded solemnly at that, that complicated things, "And Rummy?"

"He's here too," he reassured her, "I…I can't tell if he remembers or not though, I'm sorry. The curse gave them all new lives and names and histories. I'll try and see, but…I'd rather you be here with me incase he does remember."

"I understand," she told him, getting up and leaving her money on the table as she gathered her things, starting to head out, "What cover name are you using this time?" it always took her a few days to get used to not calling him 'Key' so the sooner that he told her, the better.

"August Wayne Booth."

She paused at that, "Might I ask why?" he always had a reason behind every name he used.

Legally, he was Keith Lynn, which explained why she called him Key and, of course, he had to take her last name, but everywhere he went, he used a new name. He'd actually asked her once, why his last name had to be Lynn when it couldn't be something cooler, why did she choose that name and she'd just laughed that she hadn't. Rumpelstiltskin had, the irony wasn't lost on her either for her name. Hannah Piper Lynn. And, as she preferred to be called Piper, that could be seen as Piper Hannah Lynn, which could, in some ways, sound like Piper of Hamelin, the title she had best been known for in the Enchanted Forest.

"You found me in August," he spoke, pulling her from her thoughts, making him smile, "Your house, the first house we stayed in, was on Wayne Road. And…we were sitting in a booth at that restaurant the first time you introduced me as your son. Seemed fitting to use that when we're back home."

Piper was silent at that, feeling tears in her eyes at that, that he'd pick such a meaningful name, "Sounds brilliant," she told him, "But I am keeping my name."

"That's fine, could just be my pen name," he joked.

"I shall see you soon Key," she told him, "I will call when I am closer to Maine yes?"

"Sure," he laughed, "See you then!"

She smiled as she hung up, only a block away from the small room she'd rented, and walking faster so she could pack and head to Maine. She missed her true love, yes…but she missed her son as well.

A/N: My sister is an evil genius. An evil, evil genius who I am currently afraid might be a female incarnation of the Master now :( ...and she's very, very bitter. She's taking an accounting course and she wanted me to look over her homework, despite me telling her that, even though I have a Bachelor's/Master's in the subject, I hate it, I loathe it, I retained NOTHING of it (except 'for every debit there is a credit') and warning her that I might be wrong in checking some of her mistakes. For the most part it seemed like she did everything right, so I gave it back to her...and then she got about half of it wrong and blamed me for not catching her mistakes. She firmly believed I did it on purpose so she got onto my computer (and every single computer in our house) and went to the security settings and made the log-in page for fanfiction restricted/blocked :( I spent the last 2 days thinking that the site was glitching, but wondering why other pages were opening until she finally told me before she went to work today because, apparently, she forgot she'd done it to me and that she was mad at me (she may possibly be getting a new boyfriend so she's a little less witchy-with-a-b right now :( I'm so mad! I couldn't log in at all for the last 2 days! :( I finally went in and unblocked the site so I'm so sorry there weren't chapters the last 2 days :( Grrr... :(

As for this chapter, aww :') I really just wanted to do one last homage to August, to show some of their key moments in the past :') Sort of a farewell to August :'(

Quick note though, to anyone who's read my Doctor Who 'Lunar Cycle' Series, I do a sort of tumblr takeover day where the OC has control of my tumblr and you can talk to her/ask questions and the OC responds. Tomorrow (July 15th) is the Takeover Day for Evy Daniels if anyone is interested. So in about...7 hours from posting this ;)

Some notes on reviews...

Piper will have a hard time, especially if she sees August/Pinocchio around town, but Snow and Rummy will definitely be there for her :) And that's awesome, I hope you have a good vacation! :)

Oh Piper and Gold will so trust the Blue Fairy even less than they already did }:) I can say that I have a small theory for Blue and, if I'm wrong or if my theory isn't even mentioned/resolved in the show before it officially ends, we might just get an original sequel story/season for this series ;) And no worries, I'm like the only one in my family that doesn't curse so I hear a lot of it ;)

We'll see a bit of Rumple comforting Piper at the start of the next chapter ;)

It will harden her heart a little yup, the loss of her son :( It won't harden it as much as if Pinocchio had consciously chosen to forget her, but it will harden her a little :'(

True, Regina does come off as selfish when it comes to Henry. I sort of feel like it stems from never having had anyone who loved her stay with her and not wanting to lose him, especially to Emma. I mean...her son ran off to find his 'real' mother and with the curse broken it wouldn't be just Emma trying to keep Henry from her but the entire town who might (to her) try turning her son completely against her, I think she went about 'protecting' him and herself the very wrong way :( Perhaps if she'd remembered that she knew who Henry was (that the curse would break because of him) she would have been less focused on keeping the curse going :( I never quite got the feeling that Rumple was truly and deeply remorseful though, but that's just my opinion, I mean, in the brink of death he was a little, but I think Regina was a tiny bit more in how randomly through the seasons she would try and be civil and helpful and apologetic. I say that for Rumple only because he proposes...and then murders someone in revenge and doesn't tell his wife about it or his dagger switch :/ I do think he made unselfish sacrifices though, like with Pan and helping Henry :') I think that's my trouble with trying to fully accept Regina, we really don't know who she really is deep inside. As equally as evil tried to manipulate her life, so did good :( I think the darkness, in itself, is a sort of control, like he said about Regina, once the darkness has a taste of you it won't let you go, which could be argued that it's as possessing and consuming as something like the Dark One's power. I'm not arguing that, just playing Devil's advocate ;) I think it's a double edged sword too for Rumple, without his curse he wouldn't have lost his son so he wouldn't have done anything that made the others what they were (without him Cora wouldn't have learned magic, nor Regina likely been born, nor Hook end up hunting him down)...and Bae would likely have died in the Ogre Wars :( I think I'd like Rumple's redemption more if it was more a choice of his than Belle constantly guilting/threatening to leave him that makes him act good, but that's just my interpretation of the Rumbelle relationship :) I have some issues with Hook as well, I do think it was good of him to try and back off when Neal was back, but some comments he makes and the way he talks to Emma, at times, makes my skin crawl at the innuendo and, in very extreme moments, makes me feel like we really see how broken Emma is by the relationships she's had in the past that she accepts Hook and his love for her almost like that's what she's used to, the less than honorable men who aren't real 'heroes' or possibly even good for her. But that's the very extreme moments, overall I like that he supports her (though I was very deeply annoyed that he used Pan's curse being stopped and defeating Zelena as Emma's achievements when it was Regina's to try and cheer her up in the finale :( ) but I think Emma can make her own decisions and if a relationship goes well or ends badly it's on her and she can learn from it :)

Not quite kill...just soulfully maim lol ;)