Their earlier disagreement about secrets and his reasoning had become clear to her as they exited Echo Cave. "And sometimes secrets protect the people we love. " She was furious with him for hiding the dreamshade poisoning. She could understand his motives, but he had played a dangerous game with his life by hiding the wound. Somehow Hook had figured it out and offered a solution. For that she was thankful, but she was not going to pretend to be okay with the fact that he was now cursed to stay in this land.
As she pondered over their fractured fairytale and all the messy details that helped shape the current state of it, she was overwhelmed by sadness. Maybe it was their fate to always be kept apart. Hadn't they spent more time separated than together? They had lost so much already. And Emma. Her beautiful broken lost girl. Her daughter that she had to give up had given up so much herself. It had cost her the same loss of parting with Henry when he was just a baby.
Snow's guilt about wanting another baby led to anger at herself for being so selfish. How could she be so blind to her daughter's fear and pain? Charming was so besot with his own guilt, that he assumed all of her anger was expressly for him. Needing time to process all that had happened, she did not stop him as he hurried to catch up to Emma.
So she found herself in conversation with Neal about his journey, his words barely really registering anything than a needed audible distraction. Neal had hung back from following Emma. Snow saw that he seemed visibly uncomfortable, and she wondered what Emma had said to him to free him.
There was a time when her cursed self would have been able to have conversation with Emma about what happened and it would not have been one-sided. But that was when she was Mary Margaret and not Snow White. Emma never opened up to Snow White. But on the way to rescue Neal she had confide to her "I kissed him. " She had immediately assumed that Emma was feeling guilty about what had occurred with Hook because of Neal. One of the rare times her daughter had shared something with her and she projected her own desires for Emma's happy ending because more than anything she wanted for them all to be a happy family.
Emma had looked anything but happy in Echo Cave upon seeing Neal. There was no easy magic to free him. No. They had to lay bare their souls. So when Hook's confession began about the kiss he shared with Emma, Snow did not really expect what all was to follow. "That is until I met you. " How had she missed it? He was in love with her daughter. She had wondered what his agenda was when he offered to take them to Neverland. From what she had come to know about Hook, was that he only seemed to be interested in self-preservation. So she was not sure of what to make about his willingness to be of assistance. Sure she noticed that his gaze lingered on Emma, and she just assumed that he wanted to make her a conquest. He was a pirate after all. But he had proven to be a man of honor in recent days as well and had stood beside them in their quest.
Snow had been in such a rush to tell her own secret that she hand not even considered Emma's reaction to Hook's words. In hindsight, the slightly puzzled look on Emma's face was telling. Snow had noticed how she had moved toward him after his admission. And when the bridge of truth had breached the distance to Neal, Emma had cast a glance back at him. She was staring at Hook. Not her or Charming.
There was no True Love's kiss reunion between Emma and Neal in the cave. The only real emotion that Snow could discern from looking at her daughter's face was pain. Her own wish for a second chance made her feel like a terrible mother. If anyone deserved a second chance at anything, it was Emma. And Snow realized that in that moment that perhaps Emma's second chance at a family did not have to be with Neal. That Henry's father was alive, she was grateful. But she did not want it to come at an expense to Emma's happiness.
Awash in her storm of emotions, she barely caught what he said "And Mulan, Aurora and Phillip saved my life and nursed me back to health." Snow was stunned. Phillip was dead. His soul had been consumed by a wraith.
"You said that Mulan, Aurora, and Phillip rescued you. But how exactly did they restore Phillip's soul? ", Snow asked. She had just assumed that Cora was trying to play Aurora when she told her there might be a way to save him.
"I am not sure. All I know is that I owe them all a debt for helping me get here to Neverland. Aurora even tried to contact you in a dream state." Neal replied.
True Love, Snow thought. Good always defeats evil. She suddenly had an idea about how to save Henry and manage to get Charming off this island alive. She needed to contact Aurora, but most importantly she needed to have a chat with Regina and Rumplestilkin. Her heart felt lighter as she realized that they could win this battle. As she and Neal finally caught up with the others, she was amused to see her husband engaged in what looked to be a friendly conversation with Hook. Emma was at the stream with her backed turned to them and for the first time in months, Snow saw her with her walls down. She had a small smile playing at her lips and her eyes were bright. And fixated on a pirate.