Moving back home

A guestasked for a oneshot of…a read and see story.

Snow and Charming were deeply worried about Emma. Of course they knew losing Killian would be hard on her; who wouldn't be traumatised by losing their true love? But they had hoped Emma would begin to accept Killian's loss and move on over the next few months. But it seemed six months down the line, that Emma had made little to no progress. She refused to leave the house Killian had bought for her. She rattled around alone at night, except for the nights Henry stayed with her (which were few and far between since Emma was hardly able to take care of herself let alone Henry whilst still grieving). During the days, however, Henry was often with Emma while she spent most of her time at her parents' loft apartment. She couldn't bear to fully leave the home Killian had intended for them to start their lives together, but nor could she spend much time in it either. Snow and Charming were worried what her attachment to the house was doing. She would never be able to move on if she continued living there. They had been trying for at least a month to convince Emma to move back in with them. That way she would no longer be attached to the house, and they could keep a closer eye on her until she was ready to move on by herself. No matter how many times they asked, though, she kept rejecting them. Snow and Charming were sure it wasn't because she didn't want to move back in with them. It wasn't just their egos talking, but they were almost certain Emma definitely wanted to come back home. There just seemed to be something holding her back. It took them at least two more months of badgering to get to the bottom of it. Emma didn't think she deserved to come home.

"I was so terrible to you, all of you, when I was the Dark One." Emma had admitted. "I shoved you all out. I didn't let any of you help me. Because of that, I lost Killian for good. Now, I don't deserve any of you. I'm being selfish coming round here as often as I do anyway. You deserve better than me. Neal is your second chance. I want you to take it-"

"Emma." Charming interrupted her. He and Snow couldn't bear to hear Emma talking about herself like this. "Emma, we forgave you ages ago for your behaviour as the Dark One. Not that there was much to forgive. You only took on that role to protect all of us. Killian knew that as well." Emma winced at the mention of his name from someone else. Her parents had clearly been avoiding mentioning him since his death.

"Emma, no matter what you do, we'll always be here for you." Snow added to what Charming had told their daughter. "Parents always stick by their children. Please Emma, come back home. Let us look after you while you're healing." Snow pleaded with her. Seeing Emma so clearly still broken inside what breaking both of her parents' hearts. Emma sighed. She knew they were right. She had to leave that house if she was to have any chance of moving on with her life. Killian would always be with her, Emma knew that. She didn't need a house to prove that. Moving back home would allow her to at least try and move on from losing Killian, as well as repairing the damage she had done to her relationships with her family. At least those relationships could be fixed.