The plane ride home had been the most awkward experience of Emma's life. She had sat between Neal and Rumplestiltskin – Henry's grandfather, she inwardly cringed at the thought – and the only words that had been spoken were Mr Go-Rumplestiltskin trying to apologise repeatedly to his son. Once again, Emma had pulled her book out, praying for the flight to end quickly.

'Emma,' Neal had said, as they entered the parking garage and he saw Emma's little yellow bug sitting in the parking space they were heading towards. 'Is that -?'

'Say a word more and you'll wish you were never born,' she had warned and he looked taken aback at her tone but had let it pass, knowing she said he'd have to wait for forgiveness, and shut up.

The trio had then fallen into silence at that point but it hadn't seemed as bad to Emma as she focused on getting them back to Storybrooke. She hadn't left it since she had entered with Henry on her 28th birthday so she had been slightly wary about the roads and where they led.

"Welcome to Storybrooke."

The sign greeted them and Emma felt herself flop with relief, Gold in the back seemed relieved as well while Neal, beside her, seemed to tense further.

'I think we all need a drink,' she suggested looking at her two companions as they drove into the city limits.

She received no reply but headed in the direction of Granny's, praying to get out of the car as soon as possible. When they pulled up, she almost jumped out, breathing in the fresh air as she waited for the two men to join her.

'Emma!' Red beamed, as they walked in the door, walking over to swiftly hug her. 'You're back! Henry'll be ecstatic, he's over there.'

Red then nodded to Rumplestiltskin and Neal before disappearing back behind the counter. Nothing else could happen before a blur leaped out of the seat Red had pointed to and pelted toward them.

'Mom!' Henry grinned as he sped toward, banging into her and hugging her round the waist.

'Hey, kid,' Emma beamed, reaching down to hug him in return, noticing her parents heading slowly over from the same booth.

'Emma,' Mar- her mother grinned, extending her name out in a sigh as she and Dav-Emma's father came level with them.

Henry let go of his mother and greeted Mr G-Rumplestiltskin in his usual polite manor as Emma hugged her parents.

'How's the horse buying going?' she asked as she hugged her father and felt him chuckle silently.

'Good,' he replied, pressing a kiss to her hair before, reluctantly, letting her go.

Emma suddenly felt eyes burning on her back and remembered she had left Neal standing there awkwardly but before she could do anything, Ruby called her.

'Emma, here,' she said, holding out a mug. 'You look like you need it.'

'Thanks, Ru-Aunt Red,' Emma smiled as the aroma of chocolate and cinnamon reached her nose.

As she took the mug and held it to her chest savouring the warmth, she caught sight of Neal rolling his eyes: he had never understood her like for having cinnamon in her hot chocolate.

'Mary-Mar – Mom,' she said forcefully, reminding herself that that was who Mary-Margaret was to her now, 'Dad, can I talk to you two for a second.'

With wide smiles that Emma knew would be wiped off in a few seconds, they headed over to her. Her mother telling Ru-Red to watch Henry.

'So you found -?' Snow started, her statement sounding like a question but Emma interrupted her.

'Neal is Henry's father.'

'Who's Neal?' David asked surprisingly calm.

'Baelfire!' Emma said exasperatedly as though he should have known that bit of information already.

'Rumplestiltskin's son is Henry's father?' Snow breathed, glancing back at Neal who was standing awkwardly with Henry chattering away to him, from the uncomfortable look on his face Emma guessed he was asking about his life as Baelfire, 'and that's him?'

'Yeah, so no freaking out okay,' without waiting for a reply, Emma spun away from her parents leaving them standing with their eyebrows almost into the hairline.

'Henry,' she said as she stood at his side. Although Neal had already known this was Henry, he seemed to become more nervous at his name. 'You remember when you asked me about your dad …'

Henry turned to look at her slowly and behind him Neal/Baelfire, whoever he was right at that moment, tensed.

'… I lied.'

Henry's eyes flashed with betrayal as he jumped down for the bar stool and stared up at her.

'Why?' he asked and looking up for a second Emma could see Neal wondering the same thing.

'Because I wanted to protect you,' Emma told him as honestly as she could, hoping her words wouldn't make her hate him, 'and I didn't want to talk about myself. It was still too fresh, even after eleven years.'

Henry eyed her warily but she could tell him wasn't too mad at her, a little hurt that she had lied to him about such an important thing in his life but not mad because he could see that she felt terribly sorry and guilty already.

'So what's the real story?' he asked imploringly.

Emma didn't answer but instead looked up at Neal and Henry seemed to understand what she was saying. His mouth dropped a little and he turned to face the man he only knew as Baelfire.

'Why don't you let your dad tell you,' she said softly, 'because there are something's that I still don't understand about what happened back then.'

'You're my dad?' Henry gaped up at Neal who smiled awkwardly down at him.

'I swear I didn't know about you,' he said and Henry nodded, throwing his arms around his father's waist.

Neal froze and Emma smiled up at him. Slowly, he moved one hand to his son's head and one had to his back and hugged Henry tightly. It was surreal to find out that he had an eleven year old son and now he was hugging that same boy who was acting a little like he had always been there.

'So what's the story, Dad?' Henry asked him when he pulled back and Neal felt something pull at his heart. Looking around he realised that everyone, even Emma surprisingly enough, had moved away to give them some privacy.

Emma tried her best not to eavesdrop on the two of them but when the man who stole you're heart only to break it into a thousand pieces reappears after 11 years still loving you and is sitting with what is probably the most important thing in your world it was pretty damn impossible for her not to.

Henry practically pulled his father into one of the booths and Red was already bringing him a drink.

"Baelfire, can I get you anything?" her tone wasn't friendly and Henry bit his lip. Neal just sighed, of course no one was going to trust him when they knew who's son he was.

"Nah, thanks, I'm good," he didn't look away from Henry as he spoke but looking at his son reminded him that his own father was still hovering awkwardly. "Henry, I will explain but I just need five minutes?"

Saying his son's name to him for the first time was amazing, this kid was amazing and Neal knew something about him. Henry seemed disappointed to wait but his excitement wasn't curved for long and he nodded quickly. How weird was it that Neal was asking his son's permission to leave; he didn't, however, want Henry to think he was chickening out ... or his mother for that matter. Neal knew Emma: she was eavesdropping.