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Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT

Chapter 7: Dinner

"You're parents are seriously Snow White and Prince Charming? And you're telling me that that – I'll agree extremely perfect couple – are those two people? And they are JUST AS OLD AS WE ARE?!"

Emma flinched a little at her friend's outburst. She knew it wasn't meant to be mean, and it didn't sound it either, but she had honestly been hoping that she would take it better. I mean, she'd accepted that they were all fairy tale characters from a place called the Enchanted Forest, how hard could it be to accept this?

"Emma, do you have any idea how crazy that sounds. It's just…damn girl! Are you really telling me the truth here?"

"Yes, Anna, I promise you, I am. I know it sounds weird but I already explained to you that the curse made them relive the same day for 28 years. So no time ever really passed for them. So as crazy as it sounds, they really are my parents."

Anna sighed, and looked at Emma with a small smile. "It's fine Emma, don't worry about it. I just wish you'd told me sooner before I actually started flirting with your dad. " A sheepish smile spread across her face and Emma couldn't help but laugh. "What? He's a good looking man, your dad is. I couldn't help myself."

"Yeah, I thought I'd let you stew in that one for a while."

The pair smiled at each other and it was just like old times. Emma felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, especially since Anna had already witnessed the awkwardness between her and Hook and, to top it all off, they had run into Neal yesterday at the hotel as they were getting a room for Anna. It had been an excruciating encounter, which mostly consisted of Emma stammering at the side lines while Anna was her usual friendly self and charmed the socks off Neal, the same way she did with most men. And even though Emma had realized that she'd been jealous when Hook had been flirting with her friend, she'd been surprised to find that she had also been jealous as Neal and Anna were getting acquainted with one another. It was hard, having her feelings split between these two men. One she had so much history with, and the other that had shown her what kind of man he could be for her if and when the time came. But then she remember what Neal had told her that Hook had said, that he would back off for Henry's sake, and she'd get confused all over again. She knew that there had been a moment between the two of them yesterday. That tingling sensation she had gotten in the pit of her stomach returned even when she just thought of his arm brushing against hers again. But she was stronger than this, and she knew that sooner or later she was going to have to pick one of them before she exploded. Thankfully, Anna was there, and Emma was counting on her to help her make this decision.

"So, what are our plans for today? Got any other stores that are decent enough to actually take a look at?"

"Actually, I've got work today. And then later Henry is coming by to have dinner. He's been staying over at Regina's the past few days."

"Okay, let me see if I get this right. Regina is Henry's adoptive mother, who is also the evil queen, who is also technically his step-grandmother because she married Snow White's dad?"

"Yep, that's about it."

"Emma, honey, you're family tree is insane. Imagine how we used to think we didn't even have proper families." Anna winked at her, and Emma smiled.

"I know it's crazy, but it's good crazy. I really feel like I belong here, you know?"

Anna sighed, and absent-mindedly stirred her coffee. "Okay, well I'll just navigate the town by myself then."

"You sure? I can get Mary Margaret to hang out with you if you want-"

"No, Emma, seriously. I'll be fine. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Alright, call me if you need anything."

With that, the pair hugged, and Anna grabbed her coat and left the loft. Looking at the clock, Emma realized she was going to be late for her meeting with her deputy, David, her father, it sounded crazy to her ears now as well, so she grabbed her own coat and keys and hurried out the door.

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After a long day at work, Emma was ready to spend some quality time with Henry. She had missed her son while he'd been spending his time at Regina's, but she didn't blame him, and frankly, she had needed the time to catch up with Anna. Realizing that they had absolutely nothing in the fridge and neither of them had felt like going over to the market, they had decided to eat at Granny's. It was a nice night out, a cool breeze flowing in the air around them as they walked over to the diner together.

"How was school this week, learn anything new?" Emma asked, curious as to what Henry had been up to.

"Nothing really. Snow thought it was important for us to remember and learn more about the Enchanted Forest so she gave us a few lessons on that. It was really cool actually, we got to hear stories about dragons and ogres and stuff and then –"

"Whoa, catch your breath there kid. You don't want to hyperventalite before we get to have dinner, do you?"

Henry smiled up at his mom, and she ruffled his hair as they turned onto the walk up to the diner. She could see that it wasn't very busy inside, and as they walked in she let Henry pick out their table. He immediately ran towards one of the booths on the side, and she smiled as she slid in across from him. As she looked over at Henry, she finally noticed who was sitting behind her and she gasped in surprise. Noticing his mom's strange reaction, Henry looked behind him and saw his dad sitting there with Anna.

"Hey dad! Mom and I didn't even notice you there!"

"Hey buddy, that's okay, don't worry about it. No food in the fridge, eh, Emma?" Neal smiled his infectious smile again and Emma tried not to react to it.

"You caught me,' she said sheepishly 'Hey Anna. Wasn't expecting to see you here."

"I wasn't expecting to see you here either! So I take it this is Henry. Hi Henry, I'm Anna, it's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too. You're my mom's old friend, right?"

"Ah, I see my reputation precedes me. Thanks Emma."

Emma smiled a shy smile. "No worries."

"So listen, why don't you guys join us over here? There's plenty of room and we haven't even ordered yet." Neal directed his question at Henry, but he was looking at Emma for approval.

"Sure! Can we mom?"

Emma didn't really want to put herself in that awkward situation, but Henry seemed so excited. And Neal was his dad after all, it couldn't hurt. There was strength in numbers, they said. She just hoped that was true for tonight as well.

"If you want to Henry, it's fine with me."

Neal beamed, first at Henry, then at Emma, and Emma couldn't help but smile back at him. His grin was still as comforting as it used to be to her. She had always felt special when he gave her that smile before. It just felt different now, as if it was a more indirect sense of pleasure that she derived from it. She couldn't quite put her finger on why.

They all stood up and rearranged seats. Unfortunately for Emma, this meant that she ended up sitting right across from Neal. It was harder to focus her attention on someone other than him, and she was worried of the way she might react tonight. As they finally settled down and Granny had taken their orders, an awkward silence descended upon the group. It lasted for a few minutes, until Neal finally asked Henry how his week had been, and Henry delved into another one of his long tales about school. With their attention focused on each other, Anna turned towards Emma.

"Are you okay with this? I promise, it wasn't a date, but I was sitting here by myself and Neal came in and just asked if he could sit next to me. It was nice to have some company. But I promise, Emma, that's all that it was."

Emma looked at Anna and could tell her friend was being sincere. Sure, Emma was feeling a little bit agitated about it, but she shoved her feelings aside, because that was what she normally did.

"Don't worry about it. It's fine. I don't mind, Neal's a great guy."

"Sure, I agree with you, I guess. But I'm not going to try anything with him,' Emma looked at her friend quizzically 'Don't look at me like that, of course I'm not. You've got so much history with the guy and –' She checked to see if the boys weren't listening, and whispered: 'he's the father of your kid. I'm not about to get inbetween that."

Emma smiled gratefully at her friend, all the while trying not to give away too much of what she was feeling. "Thanks, Anna."

After the air had been cleared, the food came and they ate their meals with easy going conversation between the four of them. Emma was actually having a good time, and she didn't even feel uncomfortable around Neal anymore. It was more like old times, with two people who actually knew her best in the world. All was going fine, until Henry decided he needed to go to the bathroom, and Anna's phone went off. The pair were left alone in the booth, and as a second awkward silence descended on where they were sitting, Neal broke the ice first.

"Thanks for eating with us. I feel like it's been a while since I got to see Henry."

"Yeah, he's been spending time at Regina's this week. I should have told you, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it, I get it."

Emma smiled at him, and started fidgeting with the corner of her napkin. She wasn't really sure what she should say anymore, and she was hoping that Henry or Anna would come back before she'd have the chance to say something that would betray the nerves that were coming back into her system.

"Listen, Emma, about the other day –"

"It's okay, we had that talk already. Don't really need to hear it again!" Emma tried to sound as cheerful and as nonchalant as she could, but she wasn't even buying her own indifferce.

"No, I know we already had that talk. I'm just glad that we can still hang out like this. I meant what I said the other day. I still want to try, you know, us again, for Henry's sake. But I'm just glad that this is okay. Us, hanging out with our kid and a friend without it becoming weird. So, you know, thanks."

He smiled his familiar smile again, and Emma could feel herself reacting to it. But as he placed his hand on top of hers, she didn't feel as much energy as she was expecting to. In fact, she barely felt anything it all. It was more comforting and familiar than anything else, and Emma was surprised to find herself remeniscing about Hook kissing her palm and brushing against her fingers yesterday. The difference in sensation was immense, and she couldn't help but wonder what that meant. She quickly pulled her hand away as she saw Henry coming from the bathroom, and smiled one more time at Neal as she let Henry slide in beside his father. When Anna came back the group ordered dessert, and as they enjoyed their ice cream in silence she couldn't shake the feeling that a pair of eyes was watching her from the opposite corner in the diner.