Chapter Sixteen: Of Pure and Broken Hearts

Snow raised an eyebrow when she saw Emma heading down the stairs with Charming. "I thought we agreed she should rest."

"She can rest down here," her husband replied, pointing to the couch and making sure Emma laid down. He grabbed the quilt that was draped over the top of it and put it over her. Snow couldn't help but smile at them.

"I guess she can," she said. She walked over to them and handed Emma the juice and toast.

Emma made a face. "I don't think I can eat this," she said. "My stomach feels terrible."

"It'll help, trust me. I have a few modern hangover cures from my Mary Margaret memories." Charming looked her up and down. "Don't look so surprised. Red and I went out a few times. She was a bit of a wild one."

"That curse sounds terrible," Emma wrinkled her nose. "I mean, Ella was pregnant for 16 years. That had to suck."

Charming laughed. "I thought 8 months was bad enough with your mother."

Snow's eyes narrowed. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You were a little moody."

"You try preparing to practically push a watermelon…"

"Hey, guys," Emma waved her toast in the air. "I thought he goal was for me not to puke my guts out."

Snow smiled a bit and sat next to her feet. "Sorry, honey."

Charming settled into the chair by the couch with his own toast that Snow had brought in for him. They ate for a bit, Emma managing to get down half of it along with some juice. Her stomach was feeling a little better, so she was pretty certain that she wasn't going to throw up. She looked around and realized despite the illness, she was happy. Snow and harming were having a quiet conversation, she had realized that they had these weird eye conversations. It was peaceful. For a minute, there was no curse, no separation, no wicked sisters out there to try to hurt them. She didn't want it to end.

"So…what are we doing today?"

"Well, you're relaxing," Snow said.

"I know, but can't we do something here?" She was going to get restless if she just had to lay on a couch. "Like, watch one of those, what are they? Movies?"

Charming went to instantly say yes, but Snow put up her hand. "You're grounded, remember?"

Emma sighed. "Yes, but I'm sick. It's not like I can really do anything else. Please."

Snow looked at her big green eyes and let out a sigh of her own. "Alright, just one."

"Thank you." Before Emma knew it, she was sitting up so she could kiss her cheek. That caught her mother so off guard, she paused for a minute and Emma worried that she overstepped until she smiled.

"I'll go get the box."

Regina had set her up with a ton of movies with the curse. Snow realized that was probably to symbolize that she spent most of her nights alone. Even her girls nights out with "Ruby" were few and far between. She noticed in her possession were a bunch of the Disney versions of everyone's stories. She carried it over and set it on the coffee table. Emma began going through the box, letting out a laugh when she stumbled across the cover of Pinocchio.

"Oh my God, August is going to hate this one," she mumbled, setting it to the side. Digging further, she found a copy of Snow White. "Um, I picked one."

Snow looked over and made a face. "Oh come on."

"I've never seen it. I don't think Charming has either."

"It's horribly inaccurate."

"I still vote we watch it." She looked over at Charming, who was clearly hesitant. On the one hand, he trusted his wife. On the other, he was interested in seeing just how this Mr. Disney handled them.

"I'm with Emma on this one," he announced.

Snow scoffed, but stood up, tape in hand. She crossed over to the VCR and put it in. She settled back down next to Emma and watched the movie begin. She could see her daughter and husband's eyes still lit up with amazement at the T.V in front of them. It was kind of amazing to see, she was so used to these inventions but they were still adjusting.

It didn't take long for Charming to take issue with the movie. For one, of course he thought that the real Snow was prettier. The prince looked nothing like him, that was definitely not an outfit he would be caught in. He also seemed to be so separated from the story. He did have to laugh at the portrayal of the dwarves.

"Tell me we can show this to your brothers," he said. "Especially Grumpy."

Snow smiled. "Something tells me he'd destroy it with his axe."

"What do they do with those diamonds?" Emma asked.

"Well in the real story, they were mining for pixie dust," Snow explained. "They help the fairies out."

"Oh, right. I think I remember Tink telling me that."

"Tink?"

"Tinkerbell. She was this fairy I used to know. Well, she had lost her wings by the time we met," Emma tried to explain. "I think she knew Blue."

"She doesn't sound familiar," Snow pondered. She thought she knew all the fairies, but if she had lost her wings, that would explain it.

"She and August were a thing."

Charming looked a little confused. "Really?"

"Yeah. They were totally in love, he would sneak off to the woods to visit her," she wrinkled her nose, not wanting to think about just what they were doing in that treehouse.

"What happened to her?"

Emma bit her lip. "I don't know. She went missing right before my parents died. August doesn't like to talk about it."

They resumed watching the movie, Snow rolling her eyes more often than not. She did have to admit that she was pretty happy that this had been the first princess movie made by Disney, but that was it. By the time her movie counterpart was tricked into eating the poisonous apple-which found completely idiotic-she had zoned out. Suddenly, she felt a head rest upon her shoulder. She glanced down to see it was Emma. He heart skipped a beat as she wrapped an arm around her. It was the first time she had been able to properly cuddle with her daughter. She didn't say anything though, she didn't want to ruin the moment. Emma felt comfortable with her and that's what was important.

Charming was getting more irritated with the animated film by the second and was going to suggest they burn it, until he glanced up and saw his girls. A smile spread across his face. Emma's eyes were fixated on the screen, but she seemed to cuddle up more against her mom when Snow wrapped a quilt around them. Maybe a part of her was getting more comfortable. Maybe all of it was working.

Maybe she really believed that they wanted this to work.

There was no way he was getting rid of that movie. As horribly inaccurate as it was, it had lead to a first in their family.

Emma wasn't exactly sure what made her do it. One minute, she was listening to her parents point out everything wrong with it and laughing and the next…she just felt something in her chest. It hadn't been something to occur in quite some time and it took her a minute to place it, but once she did it just made sense. That overwhelming sensation of needing a hug of some kind. When she was younger, she was more than willing to give her other parents or siblings cuddles and kisses. She'd just walk right up to Odette and hug her. If they were having a rare quiet family moment in the sitting room, a fire going, the boys reading and Alise chatting with their mother about some ball or whatever, Emma would feel a little left out. So, she'd put her head on the queen's chest and feel like she was on top of the world when she had her delicate arms wrapped around her.

Snow's arms were different. They were made from a little more muscle, clearly from her days as a bandit. Even so, they were comfortable. She felt safe in them, warm. Nothing else mattered, she was in her mother's arms. She felt guilty for thinking of her as her mom, but she was starting to. She didn't want the moment to end, heck, she wished that Charming would join them, so they could finally be a family.

Before she could hit anything, a flash of green light appeared through the window in Snow and Charming's bedroom.

Back to reality, where there had been a curse, Emma had been raised by different parents and they were being threatened by a woman who had deceived them all.

"What the hell was that?" Emma asked, pulling away from her mother and crossing to the window. On the sidewalk, she could see Zelena and August, the former of the two being forced up against a brick wall.

Moments Earlier

August knew he should've called first, but he was just so worried about Emma. He couldn't shake the thought that something bad was going to happen and he had to stop it. Just as he started to approach the building, he heard a familiar voice.

"You look absolutely ridiculous."

He froze in place. That was one he hadn't heard in over a year, one he had nearly given up on ever hearing again. A smile spread across his face.

"Tink," he whispered.

He turned around and his face fell at the sight in front of him, it wasn't her. It was Zelena. In her hands was a dreamcatcher, a bright light producing an image on it. He felt his stomach twist as he saw himself and Tink on it. He could see him showing her some dance he had to do at a future ball and she was laughing at him. He saw himself get a smirk across his face as he pulled her to her feet and they started to dance. They had stared so deeply into one another's eyes as they moved to nothing but the rustling of the leaves in the tree house. That was a moment he held deep in his heart. The moment he had fallen in love with the former fairy.

He nearly forgot all about who was showing him the memory in the first place until the manicured hands flicked the thread and a new memory appeared. This one wasn't as happy. Unlike the previous, he had tried so hard to forget about it.

The guards ripping them apart from one another, him being pulled into a firm grasp. If he shut his eyes hard enough, he could still remember the bruise that was left behind and feel the tears that streamed down his face as he watched them take away his true love. When his eyes flickered open, he saw that sadistic smile that had been on Derek's face. The last "I love you's" he exchanged with his love could be heard, before she disappeared forever. The final scene on the dreamcatcher was once again his father.

"You needed to be punished."

It faded to black and August blinked the tears away. His eyes flew up to Zelena's, her smirk mirrored the one his father once had.

"Why would you show me that?" He growled.

"Just a little reminder of what I know."

August cleared his throat. "Just leave my sister alone."

"I can't imagine how hard that must be," she said, circling around him and tucking the dreamcatcher into the pocket on her dress. "I've never been in love like that. Your heart, I'm surprised it's still intact."

Some days, he was too. Not that he would ever say that aloud. "If you came here to make me feel terrible, it's too late."

"I realized something," Zelena said, ignoring him completely, still pacing. "I kept asking you for help but it's not you I need."

"Do you ever just say what you mean and not speak in riddles?"

"The Blue Fairy, when she made you into a boy, what was it she said? What did you have to be?" August didn't respond, of course he knew, the words were practically tattooed to his brain, but he wasn't going to give her the satisfaction. "Oh, that's right. Selfless, brave and true."

"I've been all those things," it was his turn to interrupt. He wasn't going to let her ruin all his hard work.

"Oh, I know, darling. You gave up your entire life for your sister, selfless, you're a knight, brave," she ticked off the list on her fingers. "And true…you never tell a lie."

"And this has to do with what?"

"I need to set a spell and I need a few things. One is a heart, but not just any heart, no," she smiled. "A pure heart. Which is something you have."

Before August could say anything more, she used her magic to push him against the wall, causing a green light to shine out. He tried to move, but he was stuck with magic. Zelena walked closer to him, until she heard a door slam shut behind her. Spinning around, she found Emma, Snow and Charming standing there.

"Well look who decided to come for the show," Zelena said. She looked over at Charming. "Say, you spent some time in the hospital, what do you know about heart surgery?" Her hand lunged for August's chest and something inside of Emma snapped. Any hangover she had left was gone, almost like magic and she sped in front of the wicked witch's hand, which instead went into her chest.

A gasp escaped Snow's lips. "No!" She shouted out. She went to stop the woman, but found herself frozen in place.

Zelena laughed. "Oh, you foolish girl," she said. "But I guess the savior's heart would be a better bet."

Emma braced herself, unsure of what was to come. She shut her eyes and felt a tug, then another, but nothing happened. Her eyelashes flickered open and she saw Zelena looked a mixture of agitated and confused.

"That's not going to work, sis," Regina's voice suddenly fell all over all of them. No one had seen her approach the scene.

"Go away! I don't need your help!" Zelena insisted.

Regina rolled her eyes. "Her heart's protected, she's the product of true love. It can't be removed or crushed."

Zelena's nostrils flared and her hand flew out of the savior's chest. Emma took a few deep breaths and put a hand over her it. Zelena looked behind her to August.

"She just saved your life, I'd tell her the truth about your daddy now."

She flicked her wrist, unfreezing the royal couple and August before poofing away in a cloud of green smoke. Snow and Charming ran over to their daughter, pulling her into a tight hug. She was still in a little shock, her hand still over her chest. They pulled off just a bit, each cupping her cheek.

"How did you know about that?" Snow asked.

"I didn't," Emma admitted. "I just…I couldn't let her hurt August."

"You were going to let her kill you?" August asked.

"I didn't really know what she was going to do," Emma looked him up and down. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He pulled his sister into his arms, kissing the top of her head as he did.

Snow and Charming slowly turned to Regina. She was keeping her distance and smiling, but unlike Zelena's, it seemed genuine.

"You helped us," Snow said, it coming out a little surprised.

"Not really, Zelena couldn't hurt her," Regina informed her, that same blasé tone. "Well, at least not like that."

"How did you know about the heart thing?" Charming asked.

"Once your daughter showed up, I started doing some research about the savior," she said. "I had to be prepared in case you idiots showed up guns a blazing, I'm not privy to that type of magic. What I did learn, is that as a product of true love, blondie here is protected from heart snatching."

Snow and Charming were unsure of what to say. Regina didn't have to speak up then, Zelena could've done far worse once she realized that she couldn't take Emma's heart. With the presence of the queen, she had vanished.

"Thank you," Snow finally said, quietly.

Regina didn't respond to that, she simply turned to Emma, who's brother had his arm wrapped tightly around her. "Just be careful. I can't be bothered showing up to save you all the time." She walked away, her heels clicking all the while.

August kissed the top of Emma's head. "Come on, between this and last night, I think you need to lay down."

Snow and Charming wanted more than anything to go with their daughter up to her room, but let August do it, they could tell they needed some time. Neither had missed Zelena's comment and were sure Emma hadn't either.

August helped Emma lay down and pushed some of the hair out of her face. "You're going to give me premature grey hair."

Emma smirked. "They don't call me the savior for nothing."

"Yeah, well, next time let her take my heart. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you."

"And I can't live without my big brother."

August let out a small sigh of frustration. "You're so stubborn."

Emma shrugged. "You knew that already."

He shut his eyes, chuckling a bit. "Guess I did."

Emma tipped her head back against her pillow, placing her hand back on her chest, just to feel her heart beating. Protected by true love, that was an interesting bit of information. At least she didn't have to worry about becoming someone's puppet, or worse have it turned to dust.

Her thoughts floated to what Zelena had said before she disappeared.

"What did Zelena mean?"

August had gotten distracted by the whittling Emma had put on her nightstand, the one that he had given her for her birthday. "Huh?"

"She said that you should tell me the truth about Dad. What did she mean?"

August's hand stayed in place on the small wood carving. She had heard that, he had hoped like hell the shock of the events would've stopped that.

"Uh…"

"August." From the look in his eyes, she could tell that Zelena hadn't been talking out of her ass. "What did she mean?"

"Look, just don't worry about it. You nearly lost your heart."

"I don't care about that. What does she know?"

"It's…" He couldn't say nothing, that was a lie. "Like I said, don't worry about it."

Emma felt her eyes narrow and she swallowed. He was keeping something from her, just as he had for 16 years.

"So, I guess the adoption wasn't the only thing," she said.

August bit his lip. "Em…"

"Don't. I understood that, that wasn't your secret to tell, you had to look out for yourself," Emma shook her head. "But whatever this is, it's not just about you."

"I'm just trying to protect you…"

"Oh for the love of…" Emma threw her hands up in the air. "I am not a baby anymore, August! I don't need you to protect me! What are you keeping me and why won't you tell me?"

Because you deserve to remember better of him. Because I hate talking about it. Because there's a chance you won't believe me and that'll hurt worse than anything he ever did, August thought to himself. The words were all on the tip of his tongue, but he didn't say them. Instead, he just stayed quiet, trying not to see the pain in her.

"You know what? Maybe you should just leave."

August's head snapped up. "Emma."

"Get out. Now."

The two stared at each other. She didn't want him to go, she didn't. She was just hurt. In any other circumstance, maybe she would've realized why he was being so tight lipped. But she was tired of secrets, tired of being the last to know. There was no way for her to tell that the truth was not what she needed to hear, not after she had just nearly had her heart ripped out. Not after she was finally opening up to her parents.

August didn't want to go. He got the sudden urge to just tell her anyway, but that wasn't even what she wanted at that point. She just wanted him gone, something that he wasn't used to her from her.

But he had always done what was best for Emma. So, he dropped the carving onto the nightstand turned around, walking down the stairs and out the door to the loft. The sound of the door shutting made Emma feel like Zelena might as well have ripped her heart out after all.

So…there's that, haha. I have the full scene of Tink/August's separation written out but you guys won't see it for a bit. Next chapter, we'll get lots more Charming family feels as Snowing tries to help Emma. Anyway, let me know what you think and of course, what you want to see. Until next time, friends. =)