Chapter 4

Thanks guys, for the review and follows. They make my day! I hope you like this chapter. I found it really hard to write, I even wrote different versions, so let me know what you think.

Now that he left Emma the flowers, the only thing he could do was wait. Wait till Emma would come to him. He decided he wouldn't bother Emma until she was ready to come to him, although he didn't really like that. He stayed away from her for 11 years, so now he wanted to be with her. One problem, she didn't want to be with him.

Neal was wandering around town. He had no idea of where he was and where he was going, but somehow he ended up at the local school. There he saw a familiar face, Emma's mother. She was sitting on a bench eating a sandwich.

'Hey Neal.' She noticed him.

'Mary Mar-, Snow White right?What name do you prefer?'

'To be honest, I prefer Snow White.' She patted on the bench. 'Come sit.'

Neal sat next to her. 'But Emma calls you Mary Margaret.'

'That's her choice. Mary Margaret is the person she knows me to be. I'm her mother, but it is not fair to walk into her life after 28 years and ask her to change for me. I send her away, so for now I'll be the one changing for her. When she ready she can call me Snow or even better mom, but I don't think we'll get there soon.'

'I get that.' They were silent for a while.

'Do you love my daughter?'

'Yes, I love her. So much..' He sighed. He wondered if Emma still loved him.

She nodded. 'Than keep fighting. I know that she wants to forgive you, she's just really stubborn.'

He smiled. 'I know.'

'I've to go Neal. School's starting again in a few. I hope to see you around.' She stood up and started walking towards the school building.

'Snow, can I ask you one thing?'

'What is it?'

'Why are you the only one that's actually nice to me? You have not even heard the real story yet.'

'Don't get me wrong Neal, I hate you for what you did to Emma all those years ago, but as you just said, there's more to story than I know. Somehow, I think that back then you thought you were doing the right thing for her and you're not the only one who had some problems in their love life. One day I'll tell you what Charming and I had to fight before we could be together.'

'Thank you, for being so nice to me.'

She nodded. 'Bye Neal.'

When he had finally found his way back to, he spent the rest of his day in his room at Granny's Inn. He read the local newspaper, finished a book and started a new one. Something he read in the local newspaper surprised him. There was an article about the family reunions in Storybrooke after the curse was broken. The article also mentioned Emma's family and in the article Emma was referred to as the town's Sheriff. How ironic is that? The girl that used to commit crimes to survive was now the girl that fought crime to survive. At the beginning of the evening he went to the dinner to eat something and then went back to his room.

He was reading his book when he was startled by a knock on the door.

'Neal, open up.'

Wow, Emma was here. He hadn't expect her here this soon.

He opened the door. 'Hey Sheriff.' He said jokingly.

Emma gave him a cold look.

'What? I was just joking.'

'I don't see what's funny about it.'

'Oh come on Em. Don't be like that. It's just, once you were a thief and now you're putting thieves behind bars. I think that's funny.' He sat down on the bed. 'If I could offer you something to drink, I would.'

Emma rolled her eyes. 'I'm not here for a nice chat with you. You know that. Tell me your story Neal.'

'Okay. Sit down.' He made some room for her on the bed and then sighed. 'Let's start with me leaving to sell the watches. A few minutes after I left you at the car, I noticed that I was being followed. I thought it was a cop so I started running, but I didn't make it far. He caught up with me . Then I found out he wasn't a cop. He told me his name was August Booth, your "guardian angel".' He looked at Emma and saw that she recognised the name. 'You know the guy?'

'Yeah. He came to Storybrooke a while ago.'

'I really need to talk to him.'

'Later. Continue your story.'

'What August then told me sounded ridiculous at first, till he showed me something.' Neal took Emma's hand in his, but she directly pulled it back. 'He explained to me where you came from, who your parents were and what your destiny was. Your de-'

'You have to be kidding me. You set me up with the cops and left me, because of my destiny.' He apparently was the first one to mention her destiny.

'Yes and no. Yes, I did what I did because I was the one keeping you from your destiny. There was a whole town waiting for you to show up. No, it was not the only thing Emma. Your parents were in this town, also cursed. You had been looking for them your whole life and if I left, you could finally find him. It would be selfish to keep you from finding your family. That's how I saw it back then.'

'So you thought you could make this decision for me. That you could just decide what I should be doing with my life.' He could see the anger and frustration in her eyes.

'What was I supposed to do? Emma, I know how sceptical you were and still are. You would have never believed me, you know that.'

She remained silent.

'Emma, I'm really sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing.'

'Yes, you thought.' Emma stood up and started pacing. 'You thought. It wasn't your choice to make Neal! It was my life!' Her voice getting louder. 'My life, not yours!'

'I know, I know. Everytime I look at you I see the mistakes I made and I'm sorry. I don't know how many times I can tell you that. I'm sorry.'

'You know what I did when I came out of jail?' Neal was now also standing and she took a step towards him. 'I looked for you Neal. I wanted you back so badly, hoping that it had all been a mistake.' Tears were welling up in her eyes, so she turned away. She took a few deep breathes and then faced him again. 'You just left me Neal. I had never been so alone in my whole life.'

He didn't know what else to say. 'I'm sorry that my decisions –mistakes- , messed with your life.'

'My life is not the only life your mistakes inflicted on.'

He was confused. 'What do you mean?'

'I ha-, we have a son, Henry.'

'We have what?'

'A so. You know, like a little human being.'

He tried to put the pieces together. He had a son. A son. Why didn't she tell him? He could feel the anger racing through his body. She should have told him. 'And you didn't think of mentioning that?'

'And how does it feel when you don't get the full story?'

'This is not the same Emma. This boy, my son, grew up without his father.'

'Yeah, he also grew up without his mother.'

'How?' She was with him now right?

'I gave him up for adoption.'

'You what?' He raised his voice. 'Why would you do that?'

'Maybe, Neal, because I had absolutely nothing. I was still in jail when I had Henry and when I would get out of jail, there was no where I could go. I had absolutely nothing Neal.' She looked at him.

He knew where she was going, but he was too irritated to avoid the confrontation. 'So that's my fault?'

'You want to say it's mine?'

'Must be easy to blame everything one me.' He was furious. She was blaming everything on him, but he had not known about Henry. That stupid puppet never told him. That puppet was going to pay for this.

'I don't have to blame you Neal, the blame is already on you.'

'And you get away clear.'

'I gave him up to give him his best chance at a good life. At that time it wasn't with me.'

'And that's all my fault. Cause I, of course, knew that you were pregnant and that all of this would happen.' He took a step closer to her. 'But what I don't understand is what you did with the money I left you.'

'What money? I never got any money?' She really didn't know anything about it.

'Of course Pinocchio. Shouldn't have trusted him.' That puppet was going to burn.

They were so close. He just had to lean forward to kiss her. He didn't. 'I want to see my son. I know he's here in Storybrooke. I heard you talk about him.'

'You don't get to.'

'Yes, I do. He's my son.'

'He doesn't know. I told him his father is dead.'

'You told him I was dead…' That hurt.

'To me Neal, you were.'

She really hurt him and she knew that. He could see it in her eyes. 'I want to see him Emma. I've the right to see him.'

'No Neal. If you want to get to him, you'll have to pass me first and I won't let you. I don't want to see you again and don't even think about contacting Henry. Got it Neal?'

Everything he said or did made her angry. Emma gave him one last look and slammed the door behind her as she left his room.

Neal dropped on the bed. He.. He didn't know what to do. Every word he said, Emma used against him. He was tired of fighting. He tried.. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes and he didn't stop them. Maybe it was best if he just left. No, no. He had a son here and he wouldn't leave before he met him. And he had to talk to August, that stupid, stupid puppet. There was only one thing that he thought to be appropriate for the situation. Lots and lots of alcohol, so he left for the dinner.