Chapter 5

I know that a lot of you are looking forward to the point where Neal and Henry meet. I'll promise, I'm working on it. That chapter will be up soon .

Thanks for all the reviews and follows. You keep me writing! I hope you'll like this one.

That went… Horrible. It went even worse than she had expected. She had really like the roses and notes Neal had left her this morning. It was almost like she was a teenager again. She had really liked the gesture, but the moment she saw him, she put her walls up. She didn't really mean to, this way it was just easier to handle the pain.

Deep in her heart she knew she shouldn't be angry with him. He just tried to do the right thing, he had never had the intention to hurt her this way. Nobody could have known it would become such a mess.

When he told her he wanted to see Henry, she immediately knew that he had the right to, but she didn't want him to. At least not till she had told Henry the truth. She was already afraid of what he might think of her. She told him a huge lie.

She walked to her car and seated behind the steering wheel. The dreamcatcher. She took the feathers in her hand. Back then, she was so incredibly happy. They were thieves and living in a car, but it was the first time in her life that she felt loved. They had their future all planed out, their whole life's ahead of them, together. She knew that now, she had a change to get it all back, and still she kept throwing it away. She had to forgive him, she just wasn't ready yet.

The ringing of her phoned startled her. She looked at her phone and then answered the call.

'Mary Margaret.' Since Mary Margaret remembered she was her mother, she called multiple times a day just to check if she was still alive. Emma always made it sound like she didn't like it, but secretly she did. They cared for her and that was something new in her life.

'Emma, where are you? I thought you'd be home by now.' She sounded really worried.

Emma looked at her watch. Was it already so late? She had totally lost track of time. It had been the beginning of the evening when she had left to meet Neal. She didn't directly go to Neal. She drove around and ate at the dinner, just to prepare herself. It took a while before she got herself to knock at his door.

'I totally lost track of time. I'm sorry. I'll be home in a few.'

'Okay, that's fine.' Mary Margaret yawned. 'How did it go with Neal?'

'Horrible..'

'Emma, what did you do?' The way she said it.. Argh, that part of having a mother, she didn't really like.

'What did I do? What did he do!'

'Emma, you're not the only one that was hurt by what happened.' She really sounded like a mother. Emma fought the urge to argue with her. She could do that when she was home.

'I'll be home in a sec.' And she hung up.

A few minutes later she opened the door to the apartment.

'Hey David, Mary Margaret.' They were sitting on the couch watching tv, well David was. David's arm was around Mary Margaret's shoulders, her head on his chest, asleep.

David looked up at her. 'Hey Emma. How are you?'

'Fine.. I think.'

He looked at her with concern. Mary Margaret had clearly kept him up to date. 'I think Henry's waiting for you.' He didn't mention Neal.

She smiled at him. 'I'll go see him.'

'Emma, when Henry's asleep, I'd like to talk to you.' He was mentioning it.

Fine, she would talk to him, but first Henry. She nodded to David and went upstairs.

'Hey kid, you're still awake?' She quietly entered their bedroom.

'Hey Emma, where were you? I haven't seen you all day..' He switched the light on.

'I had to take care of something and it took a bit longer than I'd expected.' She lay down next to her son.

'I missed you.'

'I missed you too, kid.' She stroke his hair. 'How was your day with David? You had fun at the stables?'

A huge smile appeared on her son's face. 'I had so much fun! At first I had to clean the stall, which wasn't so great, but then Gramps thought me some sword fighting. Gramps is really good! He's also a really good teacher. Gramps says he's going to teach me everything the son of a king should know.'

'That's sounds great kid.' She was glad that her son had such a good bond with David. Henry yawned. 'I think it's time to go to sleep, kid. I'll see you in the morning.'

'Fine. Goodnight Emma.'

'Goodnight Henry.' She kissed his forehead, switched off the lights and closed the door behind her as she left the room. Now she had to talk to her father.

'David?' She asked as she went down the stairs.

'Just a minute.' His voice came from behind the curtains, that separated the room in a living room and a bedroom.

She went over to the fridge and grabbed a beer. 'David, you want a beer?'

'Yes.' Then she heard him say a few words to the sleeping Mary Margaret.

She grabbed another beer and dropped on the couch.

'You're mother is asleep.' He sat next to her and took his beer.

She took a sip from her beer.

'So, how did it go with Neal?'

'I'm guessing Mary Margaret already told you about it.'

'But I want to hear it from you.'

'It went horrible.'

'Why that?'

She let out a deep sigh. 'It's just, I get angry as soon as I see him. The only thing I can think about is how badly he hurt me.'

'You can't stay angry with him forever, Emma, he's trying really heard.'

'You're on his side now?' She couldn't help, but sounding a bit angry.

'No, Emma, of course not. One of the things I feel when he is around is hatred. He hurt you really bad, but I can't stay angry with him. You know, it felt really good when I hit him in the face yesterday.'

She smiled at him. 'I liked it.'

David laughed at her comment. 'I know you did.' He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it lightly. 'But Emma, you can't stay angry with him forever. I also have to face the fact that he's trying really hard to win back my daughter. I have to put my hatred and anger aside to give him a chance.'

'I know.' Of course she knew. 'I just don't know how.'

'First, stop fighting him.'

'I'll try.'

'I know you will.'

She smiled at him. 'I haven't even told you Neal's story yet.'

'You want to tell me?' David was so nice. He didn't ask anything from her, he always gave her an option.

She took a huge gulp of her beer and told him the story Neal told her earlier this evening.

'He was trying to do the right thing.'

'Yeah, I know, that's when I got angry with him.'

'Because he made this decision for you.'

'You know me well.'

'You're my daughter.' He took a hold of her hand. 'I know you like to have control of your own life.'

That was true. 'What frustrated me most, was that he stayed calm, until..'

'Until what?'

'Until I mentioned Henry to provoke him.'

'That's mean, Emma. This was not the right way to tell him.'

'I was angry, because he stayed so calm..'

'And now you regret telling him, right?'

'Right.'

'Now he knows, you should also tell Henry. He deserves to know the truth.'

'I know, I'll tell him in the morning.' She was worried about that. Telling Henry the truth.

'Don't worry, Emma, he'll forgive you. He loves you no matter what.'

'I doubt that.'

'He'll forgive you, trust me.'

Emma smiled at David's pep talk.

David finished his beer and took the empty bottles to the kitchen. 'I'm off to bed and you should too.' He placed a kiss on her head. 'I love you, Emma, goodnight.' He didn't expect her to answer him.

'Goodnight David. Thanks for the talk.'

Emma sat on the couch for a little while longer. Thinking about how lucky she was with these two great people as her parents and a smart, friendly boy as her son. There was only one thing that could make her life even better.