Author's Note: Hello All! So this took a little longer than expected to get out, sorry about that...life just sort of happened. On the bright side I am working on forty nine now, so that shouldn't take as long. That episode tonight though...oh my god! Just oh. my. god! I can't even... Anyway, enjoy chapter forty eight!
Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time
Forty Eight
When Henry noticed his mother just steps behind him as he walked up the sidewalk towards the school, he looked confused. "What are you doing?" He questioned. "Aren't you and Nathan going to Granny's?"
"Oh, you thought I would just let you walk into school on your own? After the stunt you pulled this morning? Yea…no. You're just lucky I'm not making you hold my hand. Now, let's go. You're late enough as it is." The fourth grader sulked as his mother walked with him. "Nathan can wait for me."
Just as the two reached the classroom door she stopped him. "Just for the record, if you ever scare me like that again," She scolded quietly. "I will make sure that as soon as this curse is broken you're fed to a dragon. Got it?"
"Yes, Mom." He answered.
"Good." Emma kissed him on the forehead once more. "I love you, Henry." She told her son then sent him into class.
Henry froze two steps into the room and turned around. "I love you too, Mom." He smiled at her, making her heart just a little bit warmer.
OUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUAT
"I swear, that child is going to be the death of me one day soo-" Emma stopped mid sentence when she found her fiancé, instead of sitting alone, sitting across from her mother at Granny's. "Hi, Mary Margaret."
"Hello, Emma." She gave a rather annoyed look to her forgotten daughter. "Nathan told me you found Henry. I'm so glad he is okay."
"Oh, crap." The blonde exhaled when she realized her mistake. "I'm so sorry. I should have called you when I found him. I was just so worried that it…slipped my mind."
"I don't know if you have realized this, but I have grown very close to you and Henry ever since the two of you moved to Storybrooke. I know you were worried about him, but I was worried about him too, Emma."
"I'm really sorry." She tried to apologize to her mother again.
Nathan fought the urge to laugh as he watched his fiancée transform from a grown adult into a child being scolded by her mother.
"While, yes, it started out as Henry being a student of mine, then you needing a place to stay, and then him needing somewhere to stay too, this whole situation has changed, Emma. The three of us… I think of you two as…well, I consider you to be sort of…family. " Her voice quieted as she said the word 'family' but that didn't change the meaning of it for Emma. Mary Margaret tried to rack her brain for something else to say, but she came up short. "So…you should be sorry for not telling me you found him."
The two women stared at each other rather awkwardly for a few seconds.
"Now, if you will excuse me," Miss Blanchard stood up from the booth. She tried to hide the fact that her eyes had teared up during her little monologue. "I need to use the restroom."
Emma waited until Mary Margaret disappeared around the corner towards the bathroom before sliding herself into the booth next to Nathan.
"Thanks for the help." Her voice was very low and sarcastic as they spoke.
"How was I supposed to know she would scold you like that?" Nathan admitted. "Look, don't get mad. I didn't think you would mind you mother joining us. She and I have had a nice talk while we waited for you. Besides, I've never really had a conversation with your mother."
"So you thought that talking with her while she is-" She stopped herself and took a deep breath before starting over again. "You know what? Never mind. I can't be mad with you right now. You dropped everything this morning to drive up here and help me." Emma slid her hand into Nathan's fingers between them.
"Just call me Prince Charming." He joked quietly.
Emma shook her head as she pulled her hand away. "I will not call you that. Ever." The look on his face showed how confused he was. "Trust me, I realize how hard it is to believe this but let's remember, my father," She moved her face closer to his so she could explain at an almost nonexistent volume. "Is literally the Prince Charming."
Nathan hung his head in shame. "I should have remembered that. I'm sorry, Em. I wasn't thinking when I said that."
"I know." Emma intertwined their fingers again just as Mary Margaret slid back into the other side of the booth.
"So where was he?" The school teacher asked as she got herself situated again. "Henry, I mean."
"Oddly enough," Emma made sure to make eye contact with her mother as she spoke. "He decided that he needed to see Mr. Gold first thing this morning. So I spent an hour driving around searching the town, only to find him coming out of the pawn shop."
"Hmmm," The Savior noticed her mother twisting a ring around her left hand middle finger. "I wonder what he needed to talk to Mr. Gold about so badly."
Nathan piped in. "All we could get out of him was that it was extremely important."
"How strange." The school teacher remarked. As she studied her mother's face for a moment, Emma faintly recognized that suspecting look of her mother's.
Everybody seemed to be caught in their own thoughts for a minute before the food arrived.
"Uh…thanks, Ruby?" Emma was confused when a meal she didn't order was placed down on the table in front of her.
"Oh, we ordered before you got here, babe." Nathan cleared up the confusion. "Mary Margaret said that's what you always get here. We just thought-"
"It is! Thank you." She quickly agreed when she saw the nervous looks on Mary Margaret and Nathan's faces. "It just caught me off guard, that's all."
Nathan made sure to make meaningless small talk as they ate. Emma found it amusing to watch her mother converse with her fiancé about her. The circumstances this conversation was finally happening under were strange, but she enjoyed it nonetheless.
"I think I must be going." Mary Margaret inconspicuously bid farewell when the three managed to find their way outside. "With my return to school on Monday, I have to get my things together and I was hoping to get a head start on that today so I don't have to worry about it Sunday night. Thank you for lunch. I'll see you later, Emma."
"Thank you so much for keeping me company while I waited for your roommate to show up. I can't bear to think of how awkward that would have been without someone else sitting across from me." Nathan smiled as he said goodbye. "I hope to see you again soon."
As soon as she was out of ear shot Emma turned to the man currently holding her to his side. "Trying to score brownie points with the future mother in law, I see." She teased before getting serious again. "So, I need to go talk to a man about not reporting a truant child to the sheriff or the school."
"This should be good." He teased back. "Lead the way Sheriff Swan."
"You're hilarious." Emma shot quickly at the way he said her title before leading the couple down the street to Mr. Gold's Pawn Shop. She stopped them just before the door. "Can you do me a favor?"
"What is it?" He was intrigued by the random time for the question.
"Could you just…" She felt terrible for asking.
Nathan could see the worry and fear running through his fiancée's eyes. "I'll meet you at your car, how about that?" His offer was greatly appreciated as the two shared a quick kiss before splitting up again.
"Mr. Gold!" Emma yelled when she opened the door.
The sound of a cane with footsteps could be heard from the back room just before the man entered his shop. "Ah, hello Miss Swan. I just had a chat with your boy earlier this morning. What is it that I can do for the other Swan of Storybrooke this morning?"
"That's what we need to talk about." Her voice sounded kind, but stern at the same time, which slightly mesmerized the man as to how she could do that. "I wondered why you didn't think to call anyone when a boy—who obviously should have been in school—walked into your shop?"
"He told me that you had allowed him to stop by on his way." Rumplestiltskin looked genuine as he replied. "If I had known that was not the case, and that your boy was committing truancy, I assure you Sheriff Swan, I would have made a call."
"Okay…" Emma felt her lungs fill with a deep breath of anger towards her son as she stood there. It was quickly repressed when she sought out more answers she wanted to know. "I also wanted to know what did you mean when you told Henry that the answer I need is often right in front of me?"
"My apologies, Miss Swan, but I don't know what you're talking about." He answered calmly.
"I know you are aware of the curse, Gold." Emma looked him straight in the eyes. "And I'm sure you want it broken just as badly as I do, so please, help me. You and I both know that I am supposed to be the Savior."
"I'm sorry, Miss Swan." The man shook his head in denial.
"Fine." She threw her head back and sighed in exasperation. "Next time my son comes in here when he should be in school, no matter what he tells you, call me, please."
"I will make sure to do that." Gold nodded his head. "Have a nice day." He added as she left the shop.
Emma strolled to where her car was parked a few buildings down from the diner. The cryptic words Gold told Henry this morning kept running through her thoughts.
"Emma." Nathan's voice called out before she had even gotten to the car. She could hear a worry in his voice, but her mind wasn't ready to pull itself from the haze it was currently in. "Emma." She finally pulled out of the haze.
"What's wrong, Nathan?" She looked at him. Her eyes noticed how they were four cars around from the beetle.
"I decided to wait for you."The Savior watched as her fiancé's eyes traveled to somebody leaning on the back of the car.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Emma breathed out. She would recognize the back of that head anywhere.
So...? Thoughts? Opinions? Did you like it? Do you wish something had been done differently? Do you think I need to correct my grammar? Who do you think is sitting on Emma's beloved yellow vw bug? What do you think they want? Let me know! I love reading what you all think! :)
