You can't take words back

Kimberly asked for a oneshot of Neal getting into a fight with Charming and saying that he wishes he had a different father. Afterwards, Snow talks to Neal and says that wasn't a nice thing to say. That Charming grew up without his father. Neal feels bad and apologises to Charming.

"I hate you, and I wish I had a different father!" I bellowed. I didn't really mean it. Deep down I knew that, but I also knew it would cause a great effect. I stomped up the stairs and into my bedroom, slamming the door behind me. That would teach him for telling me that I couldn't go out and play with the other boys in my class in the forest. He could be so stupid sometimes. There was nothing there that was going to hurt us! All he'd done was made me look like a scaredy-cat in front of my friends. They would all tease me for days and say I was scared of monsters in the forest and it was all his fault. I lay down on my bed and folded my arms tightly across my chest. I wasn't going downstairs. I wasn't going downstairs ever again. I didn't want to see him.

About half an hour after our fight had ended, somebody knocked on my door.

"I don't want to talk to you!" I shouted, thinking it was my dad. The door opened anyway. I was about to yell at him when I saw it wasn't dad at all, it was mom. I still stayed cross on my bed. She hadn't allowed me out either, after all. Mom looked pretty calm, which surprised me. I thought she would be on dad's side, she always was, but she didn't look like she was about to give me into trouble. Instead, she came over and sat on the edge of my bed.

"I'm not here to fight with you." She said calmly. "But we need to talk about what you just said to your dad." I stayed silent. I didn't think we needed to talk about it at all. Mom sighed. "Well, if you're not going to talk, you can just listen. Neal, I know you were cross that your dad said you couldn't go and play with your friends, but he was right to. You and the other boys might think there's nothing scary in the forest, but trust us, you're wrong. Even if you take into account Storybrooke is different from most places around here and werewolves and the like could be running around, your Auntie Red has before, there are all the normal animals in there you need to be concerned about. Normal wolves, that unlike Auntie Red can't control themselves. It's not just wolves, there are bears, snakes and even a moose can be aggressive if you catch it at the wrong time. You all didn't think about the wildlife though. Did you?" Without looking at mom, I shook my head. The other boys hadn't mentioned the animals in the woods as a problem at all. I wasn't going to admit it, but I knew mom and dad were right. I didn't want to get eaten by a bear, and occasionally people in Storybrooke were attacked. "Well, it's good to know that you realise you've been a bit silly when your dad was right. Now we need to talk about what you said to him before you stormed off. You know a bit about your dad's childhood, right? You know his dad died when he was younger than you are now?" I nodded. I hadn't thought about it, but I did know that. "Exactly. When you were a baby, your dad was constantly saying he wanted you to have a proper father in your life right up to when you're all grown up. Something he never got to have. So what you said has really upset him." Mom got up from the bed. I didn't look at her. I felt awful. "I'll leave you to think about that, and how you're going to make it right." I heard her shut the door on her way out. I sighed. Me and my big mouth.

It didn't take me long to know what I had to do. Even though I was worried he would shout at me, I knew I had to go and say sorry to my dad. Taking a deep breath and trying to feel brave, I quietly got up from my bed and left my room. I went downstairs and found my dad sitting in the living room with my mom. Seeing him just made me feel worse, he looked really sad.

"Dad?" I said quietly from the doorway. Him and mom turned round. I saw mom smile encouragingly before I looked back down at my feet. I clasped my hands behind my back and twisted my foot into the carpet. "I'm really sorry for what I said to you. It wasn't nice." I said. "You were right. It would be dangerous playing in the forest, and I shouldn't have said that I wished you weren't my dad. I didn't mean it." I sniffed, feeling the tears coming. I heard my dad stand up. I looked up, still worried he was going to be really mad at me. Instead, he bent down and held his arms out.

"Come here." He said to me. I didn't need told twice. I ran into my dad's arms, and allowed him to hug me.

"It's ok." He said into my ear. "It's all forgotten. I'm just glad you didn't mean it, because I do love you, very much."

"I love you too, dad." I replied. Over dad's shoulder, mom smiled at me and gave me a thumbs up. I smiled back, glad I had made things right.