Chapter 9: Return to Storybrooke

The group of four stood in the lobby at the airport. Gold had been fully recovered a day before.

"So you're really moving to Storybrooke," Henry asked.

Neal smiled, "That's the plan."

"Is Tamara coming too?"

'Great,' Emma thought, 'Being replaced by the father's fiancé'.

The look on Emma's face didn't go unnoticed by Neal or Gold. Henry though seemed oblivious to it.

"I don't know, maybe," said Neal, "We still need to talk about it."

"At least you're coming," Henry said.

About fifteen minutes later Emma was standing near the window when Neal came up to her. Henry was nearby playing one of the video games that was in the room.

"You ready to go home," Neal asked.

"Yeah, it will be good to see my parents again."

"So that's worked out for you then?" Neal said feeling slightly proud that he had a hand in it. He wasn't sure Emma would see it that way though so he remained silent.

"Surprisingly it has. I was angry at them at first but that kind of changed once I saw just how much they gave up."

"And you came around to forgiving them. "

"Yeah," said Emma.

"So then there's still a chance you can forgive me."

Emma looked up at him, "Neal-,"

"I'm not saying right away."

"I don't know, I guess we'll see. It's different."

"How so?" Neal asked, "We were trying to give you the kind of life you needed."

Emma smiled sadly at him, "But not the kind of life I wanted, not the kind of life I deserved." She took a deep breath. "The difference between you and them is that I remember what you did to me. I've had flashes of what my parents did but I don't remember directly."

"Emma-,"

"Look we'll just take it a day at a time okay? The fact that you're moving to Storybrooke is a start and I'm grateful for that. I think it will be good for Henry to have you in his life provided you don't eventually wreak it."

"I won't."

"And it will be complicated. There's magic there."

"Are you purposely trying to find excuses to keep me away?"

"No of course not, I just want you to know what you're getting yourself into. It's not…normal by any means but it is for us, it's home."

"Emma you've given me a chance to know my son, I want to be a part of his life completely now so if I have to face my father or magic or whatever else there is to be with him then I will."

Emma looked at Neal. She could see that he meant every word.

She smiled at him, "Okay," she answered just as the announcement was made to start boarding the flight.

"Hey kid," Emma called out, "You good to go?"

Henry grabbed his bag from the floor and walked toward his parents. "Ready," he said.

Neal placed his arm around Henry's shoulder, "I'll see you in a few days okay buddy," he said. "Call me when you get home."

"I will," he replied.

"And Henry," said Neal moving the two of them off to the side and leaning into a whisper which Emma could still hear. "Try not to be too hard on your mom okay? I did hurt her and she was only trying to protect the two of you from that. That's why she lied. She's nothing like your adoptive mom, I promise."

Henry nodded, "I know."

Neal smiled, "Good man."

Gold walked over to the family and smiled at Neal. Emma looked at the two men and took Henry's hand.

"Come on Henry, let's give your dad and grandpa a minute."

The two of them walked away.

"Baelfire," Gold simply said.

Neal just nodded, "I'll see you around pop."

"Bae, please-,"

Neal shook his head, "No don't even try I'm not interested but just so we're clear on one thing if you try to threaten or hurt Emma or Henry or even her parents in any way you'll wish that I had stopped Emma from saving your life."

"No harm will come to them, I give you my word."

"Your word is meaningless. I'll trust it when I see it. The only reason I'm moving to Storybrooke is because of my son. It has nothing to do with you. You should go, don't want to miss your flight."

Gold simply nodded knowing that there would be no more words exchanged between them and so he left; Neal watching as Emma and his son made their way to board the plane. It pained them that they were leaving but he knew he would see his boy soon enough.

Emma placed some of the bags down as she stood outside of the apartment and fumbled to get her keys. The door was soon opened and she and Henry made their way inside.

"Welcome home," Mary Margaret said coming to hug her daughter and then grandson. David did the same.

"Did you enjoy the trip," David asked Henry.

"It was awesome." Henry turned to Emma, "Mom can I call dad?"

"Kid we just got home," Emma answered feeling a little disappointed that in such a short time he was all ready more anxious to spend time with his father than her.

"But I told him I'd call when we got here," Henry slightly complained.

Emma sighed, "Fine, five minutes but then I want you right back here helping me take some of your stuff upstairs okay?"

"Thanks mom," Henry said smiling making a rush to David and Mary Margaret's room where the main phone was.

"Kid's wasting no time is he," said David when Henry was slightly out of the room.

"He hates me," Emma said.

Mary Margaret placed a hand on Emma's arm, "Now I'm sure that's not true. He'll come around. Kids are resilient that way. Just give him time. How are you holding up?"

Emma walked over and took a seat at the kitchen table, "You mean other than the fact that my ex-boyfriend is the son of Rumpelstiltskin, I'm doing fine."

David and Mary Margaret took a seat at the table as well. "And the entire time you never knew," Mary Margaret asked.

"No, I didn't even know who I was either. I knew Neal had some problems with his father, he said as much but we never got into the specifics- just that he was running from his past and I never knew mine."

David looked at his daughter, "How did you two meet anyways?"

Emma looked down and then up, "I kind of stole his car."

"You stole dad's car," Henry said coming to the dining area. "Neal didn't tell me that."

Emma sighed, "Guess that story was bound to come out eventually. Yeah kid, I did." Emma took a deep breath. "Henry you once asked me if I had anything of your dad's something you could see, something that I could remember him by."

"I know," said Henry, "You lied to me. Was there more to it than that?"

"Just a little bit but not because I didn't want to tell you, I just didn't know how and a lot of times the memories are still kind of difficult. I've tried to make myself forget but with your dad back in the picture that's a little harder than it used to be."

"Guess I should be used to that by now, you wanting to forget."

Emma looked at her parents and then at Henry, "Yeah. Henry I'm sorry. There's just a lot in my past that I'm not particularly proud of. And after everything your dad put me through- it's just really hard to deal with even if the situations have changed."

"I guess. I just don't want you to lie to me anymore. Regina did the same thing and look how badly that turned out."

Emma could feel the sting to his words but she knew her son was right.

"I don't want to lose you too," Henry said his eyes pleading with her.

Emma took Henry's hand. "I promise kid, no more lies okay? The ones from my past, those were the big ones but I swear I've never lied to you about anything else and I won't."

Henry smiled, "So can you tell me how you stole dad's car?"

Mary Margaret was halfway to a standing position, "Maybe we should let you talk."

Emma looked at her mother, "No it's okay. It is time get things out in the open. And since Neal is moving to Storybrooke things about my life are bound to come out eventually."

"He's moving here," said David.

"Not for me," Emma was quick to say, "He's moving here for Henry."

David just nodded and let Emma begin her story. She told them how the yellow bug out front had originally belonged to Neal. How she had stolen it but that Neal had been the original thief behind it. Emma apologized to Henry saying that being a thief ran in the family. Henry had shrugged it off and found to actually be cool despite the point and lesson Emma was trying to make.

She told them about some of their Bonnie and Clyde adventures as painful as it was to remember especially now that Neal had moved on with his life and had a fiancé.

She told them about the dream catcher that she had found in Neal's apartment, the very one that Henry had seen her hold, the very one Gold had asked about. Emma told them how they had found it in an unoccupied motel room and had decided to keep it.

Emma would occasionally see the look in Mary Margaret's eyes and she could sense that her mother felt terrible. Not so much as with Emma's adventures with Neal but the difficult life she had led with stealing and living out of a car. And Emma hadn't even talked about her time in the foster care system, that was a whole other life all together and one that she wasn't ready to discuss.

"So what happened," Henry asked, "Why did you two break up?"

Emma took a deep breath. She had known they would get to this part of the story eventually but as hard as she tried there was really no preparing herself for it.

Emma had to fight the tears that she could feel were coming. Not being able to face this part of the conversation Emma got up and distracted herself in the kitchen by making some cocoa. She knew that would help calm her down.

"He abandoned me Henry," Emma said to him not being able to look at her son or her parents. "Neal was the one who got me arrested."

"Dad threw you in jail," Henry said sounding surprised.

"Yeah," said Emma. "That's why this is so hard for me kid."

"But he must have had a reason."

This time Emma did look up, "What makes you think that?"

"You don't just walk away from someone you love," Henry said stating the obvious.

Now Emma started to get uncomfortable.

"What makes you think I loved him?"

Mary Margaret laughed, "Please Emma, it's written all over your face. You're not as discreet as you may think."

"Okay can we change the subject," Emma asked. "I think that I've covered just about everything."

"Not everything," said Henry still curious. "Why did Neal leave you?"

Emma sighed. She knew there wasn't going to be a way around this subject. Once Henry's mind got rolling there was usually no stopping it until you satisfied his young curiosity.

"At the time I thought he was being an ass and just needed someone to take the fall for him. That's why I hated him all these years. That's what I always thought. It wasn't until we were in New York that he told me the whole story. That night he left he ran into August. He told him who I was and everything I had to do."

"So let me get this straight," said David, "Your boyfriend-,"

"Ex-boyfriend," Emma corrected harshly.

"Neal," said David, "Got you sent to jail because of some story that he was told."

Henry smiled, "So dad basically saved your life."

"If you call me being sentenced to jail for eleven months then sure," Emma said feeling the hostility rise.

"But if he hadn't," said Henry, "Then who knows where you would've ended up, you might not have gotten to Storybrooke."

Emma looked at Henry sadly.

Emma had thought of that every day since the moment Neal had abandoned her. She came over and stood in front of her son.

"We would've been together," she said to him. "And I'm sure we could've figured out my whole destiny thing as a family. Henry I found out I was pregnant with you two months into my incarceration. Had Neal not abandoned me, abandoned us, then maybe things would've been different."

Henry nodded, "But what about your parents?"

Emma looked up at Mary Margaret and David and smiled. "I would've found them either way," she said to all three of them.

"You really believe that," Henry asked.

Emma looked down at her son and took his face in her hands, "I do. I always find the people I'm looking for. And finding people we care about runs in our family."

Henry went in and hugged his mom tightly. She hugged him back.

"I'm sorry I've been so mad at you," Henry said.

"Don't worry about it Henry. I would've been mad too."

Henry looked up at her. "So I just have one more question: Do you still love Neal," he asked with a huge smile.

This time Emma could think of nothing to say. She wanted to deny it but she couldn't trust her own poker face. She couldn't love Neal. There was just no way. She was still upset at what he had done despite the circumstances and new evidence that had led to the reasons behind him leaving and not to mention that he had moved on. He had a fiancé. Emma had been involved with married men before, even men who were engaged and those scenarios had never fared well for her.

Emma continued to hold her son in silence not trusting herself to say a word in fear that either that or her facial expressions might give away her hidden thoughts.

Author's Note: I do apologize for the delay in updates. Lately school has been taking a toll and I've been dealing with some personal matters as well. I have by no means abandoned this story though. I love it and I love where it's headed and trust me it will get even more interesting as time goes. So thanks for being patient and I hope to have your continued support even if RL becomes a problem sometimes. Just please bear with me that's all I ask. Enjoy!