What happened at the river

CharmingsDaughter asked for a oneshot of Snowing and Emma hanging out together after being in the Underworld. Charming lets slip to Snow the whole situation with James. Snow gets upset. Emma jumps in and tries to say she's an adult but Snow doesn't listen and gets annoyingly over-protective. Warning to CS shippers I'm not really a major CS shipper, so Hook remained in the Underworld for this one.

Crab: I'm not quite sure how that would work?

Things became calmer after the family returned from the Underworld. Of course, it took Emma a good amount of time to adjust to life as it would be from now on, but with her family's support, she was getting there. She needed them to help her get back to normal, so had moved back home. Of course, she wasn't the only member of her family to have lost someone in the Underworld. Even though her dad wasn't particularly close to his twin, seeing him be taken by the river of lost souls was bound to affect him. He seemed to be coping remarkably well. He had Emma to focus on, that was Charming's main priority. But eventually, Snow (having figured out James was no more) asked about his death.

"I did what I had to do." Charming said sadly. Snow looked at him, confused.

"What do you mean?" She asked him. "You had something to do with his death?" She asked for clarity. Charming ran a hand through his hair. He was hoping he would never had to tell Snow this story.

"James mascaraed as me." Charming began to explain. "He took Emma and Robin to the river of lost souls. He was going to throw Emma in there to get to me." Charming told her. Snow felt like someone had squeezed her heart.

"Excuse me?" She asked. "He did what?"

"Mom." Emma sighed. "It's fine. Dad got to me in time. I wasn't even that close to the edge…"

"That's telling me that you were that close." Snow countered. Emma bit her lip. She couldn't really deny that. "Did he hurt you?" Snow asked. Emma shook her head. Despite it being months ago, Snow still got up and came over to check Emma over.

"Mom." Emma complained. "I'm fine. James didn't hurt me. Dad dealt with it. It's over." Snow sighed. She ran a hand through her hair.

"I knew I shouldn't have left you." She said quietly. "What if things hadn't turned out ok? I would never have forgiven myself. Well, I won't let it happen again. Storybrooke has cell service, unlike Underbrooke. Make sure you've always got your cell when your dad or I aren't with you. Storybrooke still has plenty of villains. Your magic doesn't make you invincible, Emma. We came far too close to losing you. I won't let that happen again, you hear?" Snow said, framing Emma's face. Emma sighed, swivelling her eyes to search out her dad.

"You just had to tell her, didn't you?" She grumbled. Charming smiled warmly.

"She had a right to know. Besides, she's right. It was far too close. She's just asking that you make sure you carry your cell, which you do anyway. No big deal." Charming pointed out. Emma frowned.

"I don't need you keeping tabs on me. I can look after myself. I can't see dad having many more lookalikes." Emma pointed out.

"Not biologically, no, but magic works in its own special way." Charming reminded her. "You can never be too careful. That's all we're saying." He said gently. Emma sighed. She was just never going to win this one.