Family counselling

A guest and GrantL1991 asked for similar oneshots that I'm combining together to make a read and see story.

"I didn't agree to this." Emma said bitterly. "I don't need a stupid counselling session. Let me out of this damn room."

"It's not an individual session, Emma." Archie reminded her. "It's a family session. I'm just here to help the three of you open up. It's just…your parents feel like you've been closed off lately. Well, ever since-"

"I said I didn't agree to this session." Emma interrupted him.

"Well tough Emma, because it's happening." Charming told her. "Emma, Archie's right. You've closed yourself right off from us ever since we got back and Neal was born." Emma winced at that. "See!" Charming said, pointing at her. "You can't even here us talk about it. Emma, please, don't turn your back on us."

"I wasn't the one who turned my back." Emma snarled. She stopped, feeling like she had said too much.

"No, go on Emma." Archie encouraged her. "This is progress." Emma sighed. She couldn't keep it in any longer.

"I came back after a whole year of you being gone. The first thing I wanted to do when Hook got me back to Storybrooke was find you both. Then when I find you, you were pregnant. You must have only waited a couple of months before you decided you could have a fresh start." Emma spat. "You forgot all about Henry and me." Snow and Charming felt dreadful. Is that what Emma thought of them?

"Emma, that simply isn't true." Snow told her. "We never stopped thinking about Henry or you for a second." Emma snorted. Clearly, they had. "It's true, Emma." Snow defended herself. "We thought we were never going to see either of you again. All that gave us comfort was knowing that you were happy. Knowing that you couldn't feel the pain of remembering like we could."

"So you gave up all hope of finding us?" Emma asked her. Snow and Charming looked at each other, lost for the right words.

"No, Emma. We never gave up on wanting you back in our lives. We just knew it might not be fair pulling you away from a happy life." Charming told her.

"Yet, you did it. As soon as my magic would be handy it was fine if I got hurt." Emma said, all her pain coming out now. "Things can't ever be the same, not now. Not now he's here. I thought I had found something special here. Turns out, it was another disappointment. Once again, a baby has thrown a spanner in the works. We both know how this ends. You stop having time for me. It all becomes about Neal. Believe it or not, I get it, but there was no point in spilling it all out. It would just upset you. Besides, you don't seem to get me. Growing up in the system is no easy life. You keep pushing me to share with you guys but it's not that simple. Sharing feelings in some homes was a deadly mistake you learned not to make twice. I can't just open up whenever I feel like." Emma tried her best to explain. Snow and Charming did their best to take it all in. This was all important information. Snow and Charming were now, finally, beginning to see things from Emma's perspective.

"So really, you would have preferred if we were able to include you in the decision making of us having another child." Snow tried her best to sum up. "You feel like you were given too big a surprise and, given the unique situation, you didn't have enough time to adjust before Neal arrived." Emma stayed silent, which in this situation was her way of saying yes. Snow and Charming felt so stupid. Of course Emma would have wanted some warning she was going to be a big sister given her start in life.

"Emma, we are truly sorry Neal was such a shock to you. We never wanted it to be that way." Charming said honestly. "Also, this is not like before Em. We won't let it be that way. Neal is not here to replace you. You are not being pushed out of this family. If you feel like you aren't getting enough time with us, then we'll do whatever we have to in order to make time." Charming promised her.

"And we can understand you not always feeling able to talk us through how you're feeling. Do you think we can work out another system then? We just don't ever want things to get this bad again." Snow explained. Emma went silent for a moment, thinking. Then, she slowly nodded.

"I'll try and work something out." She promised them. Snow and Charming were satisfied with that. Archie smiled at the family.

"I can see we've made some really good progress here today." He praised them. He opened the door to let them out. "I hope you enjoy the rest of your day." Emma zoomed straight out the door. Snow and Charming made no attempts to catch up to her. They understood she needed some space. This was going to be a long process, and that was ok with them. Just as long as progress kept being made.