Hurting hard

Elizabeth asked for a oneshot of…a read and see story. Contains spoilers for the end of season 5b! Australia, where you at with that?

Coming back from the Underworld without Hook…it was hard for Emma. Anyone with half a brain could see that. But her parents were able to see more than just the obvious pain it was causing their daughter. They were able to see all the layers of hurt she was going through right now. It was killing them. She wasn't doing anything. She hardly spoke. She only moved her food around the plate before throwing it in the trash. She didn't even see much of Henry or Neal, which was very odd for Emma. She loved those boys, but right now, there was no light in Emma's life. Nothing could give her joy. Snow and Charming just didn't know what to do or say. How could they get through this with her? But when they saw her sitting on the couch, lifeless, for the third day in a row, they knew that they had to try. So together, they approached their daughter.

"Emma?" Snow asked. Nothing. Snow sat at the foot of the couch and reached out, placing her hand on Emma's foot. "We know it's hard right now, but we promise you it will get easier." Snow said, she had to believe Emma wouldn't be in this much pain forever.

"Your mom's right Emma." Charming said gently. He crouched down beside them both. "It won't be easy, but you'll be able to move on with time. When you do, you'll find happiness again…" Something about this awoke Emma. She sat up, her eyes snapping to her parents.

"Move on?" She hissed. She pointed an accusing finger at Snow. "So when you had Regina rip your own heart out and split it in half that was you just moving on from losing the love of your life, was it?" Snow and Charming stayed silent. They hadn't thought about it that way. "No, I didn't think so. I have just lost the man that I loved and your advice is to move on? No! You really think that's possible? I can't believe you two sometimes!" Emma got up from the couch and headed for the front door.

"Emma, wait…"

"NO!" Emma screamed. "I'm going home. I thought you two might have understood." She snapped bitterly before slamming the front door behind her. Snow and Charming just stared at the front door hopelessly. What were they meant to do? Going after her just now would be useless, Emma clearly didn't want to talk to them…but they hated leaving her so upset, but what choice did they have? So, as much as it pained them, Snow and Charming decided to wait. Emma would come back to them. Hopefully.

Later that night as the pair lay tossing and turning in bed, Charming awoke to the sound of sniffles. As a former shepherd, it never took much sound to wake him. He followed the sound through to the living room, where he found Emma curled up on their couch. Crying again. Feeling it would be best to deal with this together, Charming carefully crept back to his bedroom and woke Snow up, explaining the situation. Together, they then went back through to the living room.

"Emma?" Charming whispered. Emma stopped sniffling and looked up to her parents. Her eyes were red raw. "Emma sweetheart, it's ok…"

"It's not." Emma wailed. "I was awful to you earlier. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lashed out at you like that. I know it's not your fault. I know you're trying your best. I just…I just…I miss him so much." With that, Emma could speak no longer. Once again, she burst into tears. Charming couldn't take it anymore. He moved to sit beside Emma on the couch and pulled her into his arms so she was sobbing into his shoulder. "I-I shouldn't have woke you both up." Emma said through her tears. "I hoped you'd sleep through. I'm sorry…I just couldn't be alone."

"Shh." Charming said, kissing her forehead. "Emma, you don't need to be sorry for waking us up. We don't want you crying on your own." Charming told her. "We're sorry we were tactless earlier with what we said. Of course it isn't as simple as just moving on. Right now, you're in pain, and what you need to do right now is let that pain out. So I'm going to be right here with you until you do. It's ok Emma. Let it all out." So Emma did. She just kept crying and crying and crying. As she did, Snow slotted herself onto the other side so Emma was between her parents. Snow wrapped her arms right over so they were around both Charming and Emma, holding her family together in their grief.