Orphan no more

Claudia asked for a oneshot of Snow asking Emma if she still feels like an orphan. Set just before Emma becomes the Dark One).

Emma couldn't help but keep looking back at Lily. She knew how she was feeling. She too, once, hadn't known who her father was. She had spent so much of her childhood imagining what he was like, and her mother. Now she had them both. Lily only had her mom. She had a right to know who her father was, but she might never find out. Emma couldn't help but still feel guilty for that. Emma would always now feel to blame for the ordeals Lily endured. A soft hand encompassing hers brought Emma out of her thoughts. She turned to see her mom looking at her, clearly wondering if she was ok.

"I'm fine." Emma assured her, smiling lightly. "Just…Lily." Snow understood. She wished she could go back in time and not take Maleficent's egg, but it would always be a burden she and Charming would bear. Snow squeezed her daughter's hand lightly.

"I know." She said. She understood what Emma was thinking, how she was feeling. A conversation she had with Emma in Neverland sprung to Snow's mind as Emma's gaze wondered back to her old friend. She saw Emma looking at Lily in the same way she had looked at that Lost Boy. The same sad empathy in her eyes.

"You-you don't…still feel like an orphan, do you?" Snow blurted out. Emma turned back and looked at her mom again. Snow was biting her bottom lip nervously. "In Neverland, you told me that you were an orphan. Seeing you watching Lily…you're looking at her the same way you looked at the Lost Boy that day. I told you it was my job to change you feeling like an orphan. What I'm really getting at is…how am I doing?" Snow asked her subtly. Emma smiled at her mom. She hadn't thought about being an orphan for a long time now.

"I'm not an orphan. Not anymore." Emma assured her mom. Snow beamed at her before pulling Emma into her arms.

"We're going to help Lily feel the same way." Snow promised her daughter as she held her in her arms. "We're going to find her father. We owe her that much. Emma, I'm so glad you don't feel like an orphan any more. I'm sorry you ever felt that way in the first place." Emma gently squeezed her mom before pulling out of the hug. She shrugged, smiling lightly.

"Everything happens for a reason. At the end of the day, I came back home." Emma said. Snow's eyes filled to the brim with tears as she framed her daughter's face with her hands. She gently pulled Emma's head down and pressed a small kiss against her daughter's forehead. Emma was right, she was home, and Snow and Charming would never let her leave again.