Mixed up relations- part 3

sofiasked for a oneshot of a third and final instalment to Ch2055 "Mixed up relations" (part 2) where Emma sits with Snowing and they answer her questions.

Lesley: all chapters must have interaction or connections between at least 2 members of the Charming family.

It took weeks before Emma was ready to address the subject. Snow and Charming had been desperate to talk about it with her. They knew they had no hope of having any proper relationship with Emma until the subject was broached. So when Emma asked them to talk with her one evening after Neal and Rosie were put to bed they jumped at the chance. They were, of course, nervous. There was no telling how this would go. But they had to give it their best shot.

Snow and Charming did their best to smile warmly when Emma entered the room. She was obviously nervous too.

"Ok. Here's how this is going to work." Emma said firmly. She didn't even sit down. She was too nervous. Instead, she paced the length of the room repeatedly. "I'll ask questions, you give straight answers. No more lies. No avoiding the question. Refer to who I thought were my parents as the King and Queen to avoid any confusion."

"Agreed." Both Snow and Charming said together. The last thing they wanted to do was lie to Emma again. Emma nodded. She stopped pacing and looked at them.

"The first thing I want to know is the most important. Why did you allow this to happen in the first place?" Snow and Charming both tensed. It was still a hard subject for them both to discuss. Charming had given Emma a rough answer when she first found out, but she deserved a fuller version of events.

"We were both young, Emma. Only-"

"Fifteen." Emma cut in. "I worked out the maths." Charming nodded before continuing.

"Exactly. You can imagine how your- the King and Queen reacted." Charming quickly corrected himself. "They were worried about the reaction of other kingdoms we had to trade with. We, of course, didn't care. We knew we'd still love you. The problem was, they decided to keep both of us apart. We were still determined to keep you, of course. But then at your birth, things went wrong. Snow became ill. Nobody was sure if she was going to make it. I didn't even know you had been born until a couple of weeks later when Red let it slip. Nobody would let me in to see either of you though." Charming hated talking about this. He hated that they had lost Emma for so long.

"I had no idea what was going on, Emma. But while I was ill, the King and Queen announced your birth…but announced that you were Regina's. When I was more stable of course I was horrified and tried to demand that they give you back to me, but it was too late. If I tried to make it public, then I would be made to look mentally unstable. They told me it was either this or have you sent away. The thought of that was too much to bear so I had no choice but to go along with it or risk losing you altogether to some boarding school."

"When I was eventually allowed back in the palace, all be it always with a guard following me, I faced the same problem. We either had to pretend you were Snow's sister, or risk losing you forever." Emma nodded slowly. Hearing these revelations about her family was hard to swallow. She loved who she thought were her parents dearly, and knew they had loved her, but hated that they had done this to her. There were still things that Emma wanted to know.

"Who named me?" She asked. Both Snow and Charming smiled.

"That was us." Snow answered. "I had Granny knit that blanket before you were born. Charming's mom had a ring that told me you were going to be a girl."

"Every year on my birthday I always found you crying somewhere. Is this why?" Emma asked Snow. Snow's smile faded.

"Yes." She answered simply. Since Emma had found out, she suspected as much. Growing up, she always wondered if it was just the spoiled only child coming out in her "big sister", but now she understood. "It should have been us giving you presents. Us throwing you parties. Us with you as you blew out the candles on your cake. It was heart wrenching watching the King and Queen do it instead." Snow admitted. She had loved her father dearly, and was very fond of Regina. But neither she nor Charming could ever really forgive them for this. However much they knew that Leopold and Regina had done it with good intentions, wanting to spare Snow the shame others might cast her in. Emma decided to move on with her questions.

"A few years ago when I had my first proper Ball you insisted on being the one to escort me. That wasn't just out of "brotherly concern", was it?"

"No." Charming admitted. "Every so often, if Snow or I fought hard enough, we got our way and were allowed to have some form of parental type moment with you. Even if it was under a rouse. I won that time." Emma gave a brisk nod, finally able to sit down." She looked up at Snow and Charming.

"Did you ever want to tell me sooner?" She asked. That was an easy question for them to answer.

"Every day." Charming replied gently. "But we knew it wouldn't be fair on you."

"We wanted to be your parents so bad." Snow added on. "No matter who you called mom and dad, deep down we knew you were our girl. I had to be careful most of the time, especially around the King and Queen. But when you were little and you were frightened in the night and you would sneak into my bed for someone to hold you, that's when I would let my guard down. Or we, after Charming and I got married. You wouldn't know it because you were sound asleep, but we would tell you how much mommy and daddy loved you, and just enjoy the short amount of time we had to hold you without being constantly watched." Snow smiled slightly at the fond memories. "A few years ago, your…the Queen and I really weren't getting along. We were sick of being your sister and brother-in-law. She could see we were getting antsy. That's when the talks of you moving to the boarding school she attended started, and of course that's when you and I took a spontaneous trip to Red's for a weekend. You thought it was so you could calm down and get away from it all because you hated the idea as much as I did. Of course that was part of the reason, but it was also a bit of a warning to the King and Queen that we weren't letting you go anywhere. You felt too far away as it was already. We weren't letting you out of our sight." Emma felt the tears building up again, but she held them back.

"We know this is an awful lot to take in." Charming said gently. "Like Snow said earlier, we'll take this in whatever direction you want. Nobody's forcing you to make any decisions. We'll do whatever makes you happy."

"I'm not sure I know what that is yet." Emma admitted. "Right now, I think we need to get to know each other again. But not as sisters or in-laws, but as…well, you know…" Snow and Charming nodded, they did know indeed. They didn't force Emma to say the word parents. But the fact that's clearly what she was referring to gave them hope that in time, she would accept them as her parents. Which is all they had wanted for years.