AN: OOC, let me know if you would like more chapters. Read and Review.
Emma couldn't stop crying; she couldn't remember the last time that she broke down like this. Maybe never? Being in the foster care system made a person grow up faster than anyone would like. She never had a person to lean on like this, never had someone given her a shoulder to cry on without wanting something in return. Emma knew that if she had the opportunity to grow up with her parents she would have been a daddy's girl through and through. Of course she loved her mom, if Emma aloud it she was sure they would have a strong mother-daughter bond, but somehow she felt that she would have gravitated towards her dad more than her mom. Charming had a protective side that he didn't know how to turn off and Emma secretly loved that about her dad. She would never admit it out loud, but having her dad there was one of the only nice things about being on this island. Being strong all the time was becoming harder and harder to do. She would always be strong for Henry, she never wanted him to see her break down and admit that she did have weaknesses. For now though, she would allow her dad to hold her and comfort her, she didn't have to be the strong one and it felt great.
Charming held Emma as she sobbed for her son, for her lost childhood, for the heartache Neal inflicted on her, for the years of abandonment and for the family she didn't know how to accept. His heart ached for his baby girl, how could anyone not want her? He silently vowed that his daughter would never be alone again; he wouldn't allow her to feel unwanted another minute. Sure they would fight and sometimes they wouldn't speak with one another, but they would always be there for one another. The rage he felt towards Neal in that moment was overwhelming, he wanted nothing more than to have five minutes alone with him. If Neal thought for one minute that he could treat Emma like that and get away with it, he had another thing coming. He hoped that Emma would open up to him or to Snow about her past with Neal, Charming wasn't buying that Emma only held resentment towards Neal because of him putting her in jail. Charming just had a feeling that Neal and Emma had more history than they were saying, and when he found out what that history was, Neal was a dead man. He was sure Snow was on his side and so was the drunken pirate. Charming held back a groan; that damn pirate didn't listen to a word he said! Somehow when he said 'stay away from Emma' the idiot translated that into 'go ahead and kiss my daughter whenever you feel like it'.
As Emma's sobs quieted, Charming pulled back slightly to wipe away her stray tears, "I'm not going to leave you princess, I'm not going anywhere. I promise."
"But you are!" screamed Emma "You are leaving me! Don't you see that? Even if by some miracle we get off this island in one piece, you can't come with us! You are stuck here because the water that was used to cure you! So yeah dad it seems like one way or another we'll never get a chance at being a family! You should probably call Pan and ask about real estate options."
Emma tried to pull free from her dads grasp but he wouldn't budge, "No, you don't get to run away from your problems anymore. You're done running Emma, you are not alone anymore, and you have to understand that princess. Before we call Pan about a beachfront house, we're going to find away for me to get off the island. There has to be away, Gold must have some idea of how to go about it, you just have to have some faith. Once you stop having faith, Pan wins. That's what he wants and we cannot allow him to win this fight, we have to keep our family together."
"Did they teach you that in the land of puppy dogs and rainbows where you obviously if not lived but spent your summers as a child?" shouted Emma, "We're in the real world now dad! Well technically not, but that's another thing all together. Not everything happens the way we want it to, we have to accept that bad things are going to happen to us and sometimes family just isn't going to pull through!"
Charming narrowed his eyes, "Stop. You need to calm down right now before you pull yourself into a panic attack. I need to have faith Emma, I can't think about not getting off this island. I can't think about how if I don't I'm never going to see my only grandson grow up. The thought of never seeing your mother again makes me want to fall to me knees and cry, she's the love of my life and I may have to live the rest of mine without her by my side. More importantly, I can't think about never seeing my daughter again. That there could be a chance that I won't get to walk you down the isle, that we will never share a father daughter dance at your wedding. I may never be able to threaten guys that are hitting on you at a get together. One day I'm not going to be there Emma, I'm going to die someday and I won't be able to protect you anymore but I always thought that I would be there for years to come. Now I'm facing a reality that I may lose out on everything much sooner than I ever would have hoped. I'm sorry princess, but right now I need to have faith that I am going to make it off the island with my family."
"I'm afraid," whispered Emma, the very thought of saying it out loud terrified her to no end, "if you stay on the island what happens to our family daddy? Do we just move on like nothing happened? Do we forget about what happened here and never talk about it again? Or do we come here on holidays to see what's new with you and the lost boys? I don't know if I can have the kind of faith you do, I don't know how daddy. I just don't know how."
"You just have to trust me princess, you have to trust me and your mom. We're family and we always come together; nothing is going to keep us apart. Trust me, I have no idea how we're going to get out of this lovely mess, but we're going to. We just have to focus on one thing at a time and right now, we have to focus on getting Henry back and your relationship with the pirate."
Emma gave her dad a big smile, "I love you daddy, and you know that right? And like you said, no matter what happens or how old I get, I'll always be your baby girl."
"But its Hook!" groaned Charming, "Of all the people you could fall for, you fall for an alcoholic pirate?"
"I'm pretty sure all pirates are alcoholics at one time or another. And what's wrong with Hook? He's everything that I want in a man and a father figure to my son. I'm not saying that he doesn't have flaws because he does but they don't matter to me. For once the bad doesn't out weigh the good and I'm happy. I know that when we get Henry back, we're going to be a family, a dysfunctional family but a family." Emma smiled at the look her father gave her.
Charming bit his lip, "What if he doesn't want to settle down with you in Storybrook or even in the enchanted forest? What if what he wants is to travel the seas like he's been doing and only coming to our world once in a blue moon? Is that what you want? Is that what you want for Henry? I'm not trying to pick a fight with you but I don't want to see you sacrifice your own happiness for another person. That's not love princess, that's just being a doormat."
"He wouldn't do that," murmured Emma "I know it's going to sound stupid and juvenile, but with Hook I'm not worried about tomorrow. For some reason, I just know that we're going to make this work somehow and it'll be the best experience if my life. I know that wherever we live, it'll be right for us because we'll be together, the three of us, being a family like we should be."
Before Charming could think of a reply a voice spoke up, "Now that sounds like true love to me." Snow smiled at the look her husband was giving her, Charming knew she was right; it would take time for him to accept that though.
"I don't want to be with Neal," stated Emma "we bring out the worst in each other. And yeah we may have a kid together, but that doesn't mean we belong together. If I were to be with Neal, we wouldn't be happy, we're just two different people and we had our time together and there are reasons why we didn't work. You can't just expect me to fall into his arms because he's alive and somewhat well. Please don't push me to be with him."
"Of course not Emma, I would never force something like that on you and I'm sorry if I made you feel that way. The only reason why I wanted you to find Neal was because of Henry and I know you Emma, if something were to have happened to Neal you would have blamed yourself. I didn't want you to do something that you would regret later on; I should have allowed you to make your own decision. I'm sorry sweetheart; I just want to protect you from feeling more pain. You're an adult and I shouldn't have treated you like a child and taken the decision away from you." Snow looked at her daughter hoping and praying she hadn't pushed her daughter away.
Emma wanted to stay mad at her mom, she wanted to yell at her, to tell her that she was an adult and her treating her like a child was unacceptable. But the little girl that was buried deep inside her desperately wanted her dive into her mom's arms and pretend that nothing had happened between them, that the last twenty-nine years were just a bad dream, but she did have one more thing she needed to ask before she moved past this.
"Are you trying to replace me?" Emma knew what her dad said, but this was her mom and she needed to hear it from both no matter how childish she sounded.
Snow pulled Emma into a hug, "Never! Never could I ever want or need to replace you! Yes I do wish we had been there for your first steps, your first words and even your first date. But if I were being honest, I wouldn't want to be there for them because I know that you would have been in danger and we would have been horrible parents for being so selfish. Please don't think I want another baby to replace you, you hold a place in my heart that no one will ever be able to fill. If we never have another baby that's fine because we have you and you're our baby even if you are an adult." Emma burrowed her head into her moms shoulder, tears of relief fell while her mom soothed her, she could handle being a daughter as long as her parents continued to help her along the path.
"What past do you and Neal share exactly?" asked Charming "I was just wondering what he did to you besides the jail thing, which I will be kicking his ass for later on."
"Please tell us," said Snow "we just want to know a little more about you."
Emma looked at her parents and nodded her head, they had a right to know, "Neal and I were in a pretty difficult relationship. I was younger than him and he always felt that he was in the right; I just listened to him because I felt wanted for once. But Neal also had a temper and when he didn't get what he wanted he would become like a different person. I was just out of the foster care system and it was hard to know how to stand up for myself or to come off as I could handle my own against a guy who could put my six feet under without trying."
"I swear to God," growled Charming holding onto Snows hand "I will kill him and pay the consequences later. Did he hit you Emma? Tell me."
"He didn't hit me, he just talked down to me a lot and it was when he was drunk, I don't think Neal has it in him to actually hit me. Well, that's not true, I don't even know him that well." Emma bit her lip, she was pretty sure Neal was a dead man even if he didn't put a hand on her.
Snow glared at a rock as if it had offended her, "We should head back to the camp and have a little chat with our grandsons father. He obviously needs to learn some respect."
Emma rolled her eyes at her parents, but it felt nice to know that they were going to defend her eve if it was over something that happened years ago. Walking the short distance back to the camp, Emma could see Neal standing by a tree while Hook paced like a caged animal. She couldn't help but smile; he was adorable when he was worried about Emma.
"He loves you," smiled Swan "when you were talking to your dad he kept looking back and wouldn't sit still. He's good for you sweetheart and I think you're good for him."
Emma blushed, "Can we town down the love talk mom? We haven't even got that far yet and who knows if that's even true."
Before Snow could say anything there was a sickening crack heard around the campsite. Neal fell to the ground holding his now broken nose while Charming stood over him breathing heavily, "That's for putting my daughter in jail!"
"I love your father," smirked Hook wrapping an arm around Emma "he's my new best friend."
Charming picked Neal up by the shirt and slammed him into the nearest tree, "Come near my daughter again and I'll make sure you never walk again. Stay away from her and so help me God if you ever hurt my grandson, your going to want to jump off a cliff or a building because I will find you and make you wish you had jumped." Neal nodded reluctantly and sat down on the log by the fire, he knew that when it came to his daughter Charming meant business.