prompt: The parents meeting the boyfriend situation (I asked for clarification, as this was in response to a fluff which involved Noelle; Snow and Charming post-curse breaking was meant, not Graham and Emma with Noelle's boyfriend)
prompted by: skagengiirl
"Mmm, nope," she disagrees, shaking her head, "David doesn't get to object to my boyfriend. It's not allowed. Nope. We're staying right here."
"Emma, come on," Graham sighs, "It's your first night with parents… Their first night with you. We should get out of bed so you can have dinner with them, at least."
She defiantly snuggles closer to him.
"Henry will be worried," he reminds her. Emma feels herself starting to pout, but she knows he's right. She has to go… Face her parents.
"I'll get up if you agree to come with me," she says after a moment.
"I… Emma, I don't want to intrude on…"
"Then you'd better be prepared to stay right here," she threatens, "You're my boyfriend. You have to face them eventually. I'm not going without you."
"I'm also your boss," he teases, "And I think the whole curse-breaking thing might require me to go into the station."
"So help me Graham, either you come with me or… I won't laugh at any of your stupid jokes for a month. Don't tell me you're afraid of David Nolan?"
"David Nolan, no," Graham says, "King James? When I'm involved with his daughter? A little."
"You are coming with me or I am not getting out of this bed and that's final," Emma orders, rolling her eyes at him.
He groans, resigned to his fate, and they dress quickly. She doesn't bother knocking when they arrive at the loft, not this time, and Graham hangs back, nervously waiting by the doorframe, as Mary Margaret wraps her in an awkward hug.
They all sit for dinner, Graham on one side of her and Henry on the other, and David is staring at Graham unnervingly.
"We met before the curse," David says, finally.
"Yes, your majesty," Graham nods, "Once."
"Graham, you don't have to be so formal," Mary Margaret smiles, "We're still friends, aren't we?"
"You worked for Regina," David accuses.
"I did," Graham says, quietly. Emma takes his hand and squeezes it reassuringly. He'd explained some of it in the car on the way over. How Regina had hired him to kill Mary Margaret and then taken his heart, forcing him to be her slave. She won't let David and Mary Margaret hold that against him.
"How did you escape her influence?" David asks, "The curse should have kept you loyal to her."
"David," Mary Margaret scolds gently, "It doesn't matter how he did it. All that matters is that he did."
"What's your real name?" David changes the course of his interrogation. Graham stills. Emma squeezes his hand again. She is here for him, she needs him to understand that.
"The only name I ever had back then… Was my title," Graham offers after a moment, "Huntsman."
"Emma," David says, standing, "Can your mother and I speak with you for a moment?"
"David," Mary Margaret says before she can respond, "You need to think about what you're saying. If you are about to try and ban Emma from seeing Graham, you are not involving me in that."
"But Snow, everything he did-"
"Is in the past. And did you forget that among those actions was saving both of us at great risk to his own life? Emma is a grown woman, Charming, if she wants to be with him, we are not going to stop her."
Emma gives Mary Margaret the most grateful look she can manage. She's not sure how she would've dealt with it if neither of them approved of her with Graham (she wouldn't actually care, but she can tell that he does). But her best friend… Her mother… Had stepped in and been on her side. And that means so much to her.