Real to her

Marina Ka-Fai asked for a oneshot of this chapter will contain spoilers from the second last episode of OITNB season 4. Snowing finding Emma upset because a character from a show she follows died in the latest episode. She feels horrible for having been caught weeping over a fictional character. This is in no way based on my own experience having watched the episode in question…

Guest: that has been too closely covered.

When Snow and Charming arrived home to hearing Emma making heartfelt sobs, they knew something must be seriously wrong. Emma didn't just cry over nothing. They rushed into the living room to find her on the couch, looking forlornly at the TV.

"Emma, what's wrong?!" Snow asked, worried. Emma suddenly jumped. She had been so caught up in the show that she hadn't heard her parents return home.

"Nothing." She croaked as she grabbed the remote and paused the episode. "I'm fine." She lied as she hastily wiped her eyes. Not that there was any point in doing that. It was obvious she had been bawling her eyes out. They were red and puffy around the edges, and despite her hasty wipe, still wet. Snow and Charming's brows furrowed. What could cause such a dramatic reaction? Charming looked at the screen and saw the name of the show Emma had been watching was at the bottom of the screen since she had paused it: Orange Is The New Black.

"Ohhhhh." He said in understanding. "I know what this is about."

"What?" Snow asked, wanting to know what was wrong with their daughter who was clearly not fine.

"Well, I was looking at the news whilst I was at the station the other day. It was talking about this episode from the show Emma's been watching. Apparently one of the main characters, Poussey, died. She's not the only one to be so heartbroken…"

"Oh please. I'm not heartbroken. I just…have allergies." Emma snapped. She switched the TV off completely and got up, looking her parents dead in the eye. "I'm not stupid enough to cry over a fictional character. Who even does that? Not me, anyway. I'm gonna…go upstairs and read for a bit."

"Uh huh." Charming said, amused, as Emma breezed past them both. He and Snow then shared a look before quietly laughing together. They both knew she was crying over that character, but they wouldn't make her admit it. Not if it was going to hurt her pride that badly.