James' final tale
avc.382asked for a oneshot of *5b spoilers!* Emma telling her mom what happened with her, James and Cruella down in the Underworld. That it was gross seeing her "dad" kissing another woman. Snow goes into mama bear mode even though they'll never see the pair again.
Snow hated it when Charming wouldn't talk to her about something. That was when she knew he was really hurting. So when he avoided giving out most of the details about what went down between him and his brother in the Underworld, she knew something awful had happened. All she knew was that James had ended up in the river of lost souls, that's all Charming was prepared to give her. So Emma went to one of the other witnesses of the event to ask what really went down: Emma.
Emma too seemed hesitant to talk about everything that had happened that day. She wasn't sure her mom would appreciate some of the finer details. But in the end, Snow wore Emma down and Emma began to explain the whole thing.
"I should have known from the minute he stepped in the door that afternoon." Emma admitted. "He looked like dad, even had his outfit on, but he wasn't acting like dad. I had that picture of you guys that was framed down there. I had been looking at it before he came in because, well, because I was missing you." Snow smiled slightly at that. If there had been one slight advantage to their separation it was that Emma seemed slightly more open to admitting her love for her. "Anyway, he came with me into the woods to bring Robin the supplies for the baby. He slapped a magic prevention cuff on my wrist and said Cruella had told him to. That's when I knew it was James. I think the worst bit of the whole thing was seeing James and Cruella make out. Seeing someone with dad's face kissing Cruella…let's just say it was unpleasant." Emma said, gagging just at the memory of it all. "I'd rather Cruella punched me a hundred times over again than see that…"
"Wait, Cruella punched you?" Emma nodded, it was such a minor detail to her. Snow's hands balled into fists. It was just as well that bitch was in the Underworld.
"Cruella basically wanted revenge for me killing her and James was helping her. I guess hurting me hurt dad so he got just as much out of it. James was just about to throw me into the river of lost souls went dad showed up and saved me."
"Wait, they tried to toss you in there?" Snow confirmed. Emma nodded. Snow had never felt so livid in all her life. She understood that Charming was hurting over all of this because James was his brother. But she now equally understood why he did it in the first place.
"I swear if I could go back down there for just a few minutes and find that bitch I would chop her into tiny pieces and throw each in that damn river." Snow growled. Emma smiled slightly.
"Well, we can't. She's stuck down here and we get to move on with our lives. I feel kinda sorry for her, really…"
"Well I don't." Snow cut in. "I don't feel sorry for anyone who tries to hurt my daughter. She can rot down there for all I care."
"You can be scary when you're mad. You know that, right?" Emma pointed out. Snow raised her eyebrows.
"Good. Let that be a lesson to the next person who tries to come at you." Snow pointed out. "Sorry Emma, but this whole parenting thing? Kind of a lifetime commitment to me and your dad as shadows." Snow teased. Emma laughed.
"Yeah, I'm gathering that." She jokes. Sure, sometimes her parents could be a little overbearing, but since she'd grown up without any at all, so she'd take overbearing.
