Unhappy anniversary

A guestasked for a oneshot of…a read and see story. This will contain some strong language.

Emma hated this day. This was the day that cemented her life as an orphan. This was the day that little three-year-old Emma was driven into San Jose by the Swans from their beachside house because they were going to have their own baby. Emma probably wouldn't have remembered the exact date had it not have been for it being brought up at every single meeting she had to attend about her. She hated it. It was the worst day of her entire childhood. It was a day that Emma was always in a bad mood and liked to be alone. So when her parents insisted that she accompany them to the store so she could help bag the big shop, she wasn't impressed. She could have, of course, just told her parents why she would rather be left alone, but that would involve talking about it. So instead, Emma accompanied them in a very surly mood.

Emma was a ticking time bomb by that point. So it wasn't going to take much to set her off and upset her. The incident that it ended up being: she stubbed her toe.

"Son of a bitch!" Emma yelled out, right in the middle of the store. She started hopping up and down, extremities just pouring out of her mouth while Snow and Charming stood there, red faced. "Could this day get any fucking worse?! I mean, come on! Stupid shitty shoes can't even work! I swear God is just fucking with me today and wants to see me lose my shit for his own damn pleasure. Well here you are then, bastard! Hope you have a good laugh, asshole!"

"Emma." Snow hissed. "That's enough." Emma completely ignored her mom, continuing her rant. Unfortunately for Emma, one of the more traditional members of the community in Storybrooke was shopping there at the same time.

"Good gracious!" Mrs Fredericks called out, horrified. "There are children in this store, including your own son! Just because you didn't raise her doesn't mean you can't teach that child of yours some proper manners befitting of a member of a royal house." Emma stopped cursing and swearing. Her eyes zoomed in on Mrs Fredericks. She had picked the wrong topic to bring up with Emma today.

"You're right, you old cow. My parents didn't raise me, so yeah, I developed a potty mouth. Know what? I don't give a damn! It's none of your fucking business how I choose to speak. You got that?" Emma snapped.

"Right. Enough." Charming called out. He apologised to an obviously horrified Mrs Fredericks before grabbing Emma's forearm to haul her out. By this point the entire shop had gone quiet and watched as the Charming family left in disgrace. Emma knew everyone was staring, and knew that her parents were furious with her. But at that point, she couldn't give a rat's ass. They shouldn't have made her go in the first place.

Charming dragged Emma all the way over to their car. He held onto her- just in case she ran off- as he opened the door to the backseat.

"Get in." He said quietly. Emma stood firm. She didn't want to go home. She wanted to be alone. "Emma, don't make me ask again. Otherwise I will put you in there myself. Get in." Charming warned her. With a furious glare to her father, Emma got into the car and buckled her belt whilst Snow got Neal in his car seat. Snow and Charming didn't know what had gotten into Emma. This wasn't like her at all.

"We'll talk about this at home." Snow said as they drove off, and those were the only words spoken in the entire journey.

When they arrived back home, Snow and Charming flanked Emma on either side until she was inside the house, again, to make sure she didn't run off. Once inside, it became apartment that Emma was about to charge upstairs.

"Sit down." Snow said calmly. "You're talking about what just happened."

"Oh am I?" Emma snapped. She continued to head up the stairs. "If you go up there, your father and I will follow you and have the same conversation with you but with much more drastic consequences. Don't think we can't put you on desk duty for months on end. Now, sit down." Snow repeated. Emma was physically shaking. She was so furious. She needed to be left alone, but her arm had been twisted behind her back. So she turned around and stomped downstairs, sitting as far away from either of her parents as possible. Snow and Charming stayed calm. They both knew something was wrong here.

"What was that about, Emma?" Charming asked. Because it sure wasn't about stubbing your toe or Mrs Fredericks being rude-"

"She pissed me off and I'm the one getting a lecture?!" Emma shouted.

"Watch your language. Where has this cursing come from? Emma, cut it out. We both know this runs deeper than a stubbed toe and a rude old lady. What's wrong?"

"I'm fine." Emma said through gritted teeth. "Maybe I just don't like getting the third degree over not bending over to some old bat trying to dictate to me."

"Emma." Snow pressed. "Let's leave Mrs Fredericks to one side for just now. What's got you so upset?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Emma snapped. Snow and Charming felt like this was at least a step in the right direction. Emma had admitted there was a deeper rooted problem.

"Emma." Charming sighed. "We're your parents. You can trust us. We can help you out whatever this is…"

"Oh you can, can you?" Emma snapped sarcastically. "You can go back in time twenty-seven years to the day and stop the Swans from giving me up? In fact, why not go the whole hog and go back and not put your baby through a stupid fucking wardrobe so she grows up a damn orphan!" Emma broke down in tears. Now Snow and Charming understood. This must be the anniversary of Emma getting put back into the system. They walked over to her. Snow sat down on the arm of Emma's chair and pulled Emma over to her so she was crying into Snow's chest. Charming rubbed soothing circles on his daughter's back.

"No, I don't suppose we can do all that, huh?" Snow said sympathetically.

"Emma, we're sorry today is sucky for you. If you had told us earlier we would have left you be or would have been able to talk it through with you. It would have been better than this, surely." Emma didn't respond. She was too busy crying. Snow pressed a small kiss to the top of Emma's head.

"Let it all out." She said gently. "You're ok now. Emma, we wish we hadn't put you through that wardrobe either. It was the most painful thing either of us have ever had to do. We can't go back and change that, but we can go forward from today. You aren't an orphan, Emma. You are someone's child. You are our child. I know today can't be easy, and we can't take away the pain of the past. But you are in control of how you let it affect your future. You can be happy, Emma. You have a family who love you to the moon and back. Yes, maybe you were an orphan in the past because of what happened twenty-seven years ago, but not anymore."

"Not ever again." Charming added, kissing the crown of Emma's head. Emma didn't say anything; it was still too painful. She just allowed herself to feel content in the love that she had now that she didn't have then.