Time apart
A guest asked for a oneshot of Charming going through the wardrobe with Emma and raising her. When she's 17, they have a falling out and she runs away. He eventually tracks her down. She's living out her bug, having already been abandoned by Neal. He convinces her he's not mad and that he still loves her. Emma agrees to come home.
He had been searching for her for around a month now. She wasn't staying with any of her friends, she hadn't even been to school. Charming was becoming frantic. Where was his little girl?
The pair had an argument over Emma's slipping grades in school. She was refusing to tell her dad what the problem was. She kept denying there was one in the first place, but Charming didn't believe her. He knew Emma better than that. After they had a massive argument over how disappointed Charming was that Emma was keeping secrets from him, things got out of hand. Emma retorted that she had learned from the best. After all, her dad was clearly keeping from her what really happened with her mother. She wasn't a baby anymore. She wasn't going to believe his nonsense about them being from the Enchanted Forest. So either he was a liar, or he was crazy. That, of course, hurt Charming. He had never once lied to Emma, and he was certainly not crazy. He didn't have a chance to talk things through with her though. She stormed out the house and into her little second hand VW she'd saved up so hard for and sped off. Charming didn't bother following after her. She clearly needed time to cool off. How he wished he had chased her down. It had been three and a half weeks since he'd last seen his precious girl and he was sick to his stomach. Every day now he was looking for her. He had flyers pinned up all over town. He had called all of Emma's friends, none of them had seen her since the argument. Although one was able to give Charming answers to some of his questions.
Emma had apparently been seeing an older boy for months. Some guy called Neal Cassidy. Her friend Jennifer had gone to a house party at the guy's house after Emma invited her. She was able to give Charming the address. He went straight over there. He didn't know who this guy was, but if he had hurt his little girl in any way, Charming was going to kill him.
Charming arrived at the tower block Jennifer had directed him to. It was in a shady part of town. The buzzer system on the front door didn't work, so Charming was able to go right in and straight up to number six. He pounded on the door.
"Neal Cassidy!" He bellowed. "Get out here!"
"I don't know what that guy owed you, man, but you ain't getting it back any time soon." Came a voice from across the hall. Charming turned around to see that Neal's neighbour had come out to see what all the commotion was about. "He's long gone. Police came by about a week ago. I don't know what shit he got himself involved in, but he was smart enough to clear out before the trail caught up with him." Charming fought to calm himself.
"Have you seen this girl?" Charming asked, taking Emma's picture out his wallet and showing it to the neighbour. He looked for a moment before nodding.
"Yeah, I've seen her round here with Neal. She doesn't come inside anymore, but I see her car out front a lot. You don't see many bright yellow bugs these days. She must be hoping he'll come back for her. Poor girl." That was all Charming had to hear.
"Thanks." He said, putting his wallet back in his pocket and heading back down the stairs. Emma clearly sat outside the building in her car a lot. If Charming was patient and bided his time, he knew he'd see Emma again.
Charming was rewarded for his patience a few hours later. He saw her coming round the corner. His heart sped up. It was her. She was ok. He hid behind a nearby push until she was stationary. His heart broke for her. She just looked so lost. Charming didn't even know what this Neal guy looked like, but if he ever found out he would kill him. Now wasn't the time to think about him though. Now was the time for Charming to reunite with his daughter.
He was careful the way he did it. He snuck up behind the car, making sure to stick to blind spots. Before Emma even realised he was there, Charming had opened the passenger side door and got in. Her eyes lit up for a moment, hoping it was Neal. Her expression changed to one of pure shock when she realised it was her dad.
"I keep telling you to lock the door when you're stationary." He told her. Charming turned and smiled at her. "Hi Em."
"Dad?" Emma croaked. He nodded. "How did you even find me?"
"I've been looking for you since the day you left." He told her. "I wasn't ever going to stop until I found you." Emma looked away, feeling dreadful. She had no right to be found. She'd been horrible to him. "Please come home, Em." Charming begged her. "I can't cope knowing you're out here on your own."
"I don't deserve to come home." Emma said quietly. "I was so mean to you. I should have just told you the truth. I should have just told you about Neal. You would have seen what a jerk he was right from the off. Now I've lost both of you…"
"Hey." Charming said, he couldn't stand it anymore. He reached across and pulled Emma into a hug. "You haven't lost me. You could never lose me. I'm not mad Em. You're my baby girl. I love you to the moon and back. Please, just tell me you'll come home." Emma burst into tears against his chest. She'd been so stupid. Charming just let Emma cry, holding her. He was just so grateful to have her back again.
"Yes." Emma sniffed eventually. "Yes, I'll come home." Charming smiled, relieved. He kissed the top of Emma's head. He vowed there and then that he would never lose her like that again, however old she got.
