So sorry for the very late update!
Chapter 8
"Really, Henry? A house in the middle of the woods?" Emma asked incredulously, pushing aside yet another branch as she struggled to keep pace with her son. Henry was much ahead of her, hands on hips impatiently, looking uncannily like David. She sighed, almost tripping over a root.
"I already don't like this place," she grumbled as she reached him, making him roll his eyes.
"You haven't even seen the house," Henry pointed out, moving a branch out of her way. "Robin said it's very quaint," he added.
Emma glanced up at him, " Robin, huh? You guys hit it off, I take it?" she asked, mildly curious about the outlaw she didn't get the opportunity to know better.
"Yeah, I guess. I mean, he makes my mom- Regina," he mended, "happy. And it's nice having a little brother. Plus, he knew dad briefly."
The mention of Neal made Emma's heart constrict, the day he died in her arms still clear on her mind, urging her to find her happy ending. To stop running. To let go of the past. And she finally had. She gave her son a small smile, "That's nice," she agreed.
Just then they both stepped into the clearing that the house rested in, surrounded by the woods and creating a rather peaceful ambiance. It was much smaller than what actually classified as a house, more a cottage really. Very homey, smack down in the middle of mother nature. And it made Emma very uneasy. "Really? You want to live here?" she asked, exasperated.
"Why? What's wrong with the house?" Henry asked, turning away from admiring the warp around porch.
"There's nothing...wrong with it. It's just-Do we really need a house? For just the two of us?" she asked, leaning against the hood of the bug, her arms crossing across her chest.
Henry's brows furrowed as he turned fully to face his mother. "But it won't be just the two of us. Killian can move in with us," he said, as if it were so simple.
And it probably would have been, had she stayed. But they were going slow now, because he couldn't trust her. Because she broke his trust, his faith in her. She couldn't ask him to take such a big leap, not when he'd specifically wanted them to not to rush things this time. She sighed, "Henry...it's not that simple. Killian-We just settled our differences. We want to take things slow, and moving in together doesn't exactly categorise as slow," she explained.
"You mean you want to take things slow," he replied dryly, his head tilted to the side. "You always do this mom, try to...I don't know, slow down things so that they don't move forward."
"Henry, it's not-"
"How do you expect me to believe that you want to stay, when you are too afraid to make any permanent changes?" he demanded, frown still in place, his hands stuffed into his coat pockets.
Emma's face fell as her son's words. Knowing that he had trouble trusting her and hearing him say it are two different things. She felt her heartbreak as Henry moved past her and got into the Bug, leaving her frozen, leaning against her car. She closed her eyes against the onslaught of emotions, her head tilted slightly up. Sniffling loudly, she silently got into the driver's seat, driving towards the Mayor's manor.
The tension in the car was so thick you could cut it with a knife, with Henry starting to feel guilty and Emma refusing to meet his eyes or say a word. "I didn't mean that," he said finally.
Emma smiled a small, sad smile. "Yeah, you did. And it's okay, because you're right. But I'm not that person anymore. I don't want to be. Henry, you have to try and trust me when I say I'm done running. I know I have no right to ask that of you after... leaving like I did, but I am. Because I want to try again. Be a family, with you, with mom and dad and Leo. And Killian too, if he wants it."
"Of course he does! He loves you," he replied petulantly.
She cracked a smile, "I know he does, kid. I love him, too. But he needs to trust that I won't run, just like you do, and that takes time. Maybe, a few months from now he could move in with us. In our new home," she added, smiling slightly.
It took him a moment to understand what she meant, but when he did, he turned so quickly and grabbed her arm that she almost crashed the car. "Really?!" he exclaimed cheerily, oblivious to the mini-heart attack he just gave his mother as she righted their path.
She shot him an almost amused look, struggling to seem reprimanding. She shook her head, smiling. "Yeah. I think you were right. Maybe it's time we finally get a house, but not in the woods."
"What do you have in mind?" he asked suspiciously as he noted the sly grin on Emma's face.
"If I told you, I wouldn't be a surprise, now would it?" she asked, humming slightly when he huffed in annoyance. She reached over and ruffled his hair, making him swat at her hands.
"C'mon mom," he whined, "just tell me!"
Emma let him sit in frustration for a while, glaring at her. Finally she relented, the angry look too cute to ignore on her quickly growing boy. "I was thinking we find a place near the docks," she started.
Henry quickly realised where she was heading, grinning widely. "I think I know someone who can help."
"Who?" Emma raised an eyebrow curiously.
"Grandpa."
"David?"
"No, Mr. Gold."
Emma slammed to a stop, making Henry buckle forward against his seatbelt with a painful groan. "What did you just call him?" she asked, eye wide in surprise.
"Grandpa? He is my dad's dad," he sassed.
"Since when do you call him that?" she questioned as she started the car again.
"Since I started helping him out at the Pawnshop."
When Emma shot him a look, he continued, rolling his eyes. "I thought it would be nice to get to know him. He did help in saving my life. Twice. And he's family," her kid piped up.
"Oh, wow. I-That sounds nice," she mumbled, her hands gripping the steering wheel tighter.
Henry gave a look which said 'clearly you don't think so' and she sighed, stopping outside Regina's.
"Do you not approve or something?" he asked, eyebrow raised in question, clearly something he picked up from a certain pirate. Damn.
"It's not that. I mean, I just want you to be safe..."
"..and you don't think being around Grandpa is," he finished for her.
When she remained quiet, he shook his head. "You don't know him like I've come to. He'd changed, mom. Maybe you should start letting go of your past animosity. Killian clearly has," he added, getting out of the car and shuffling inside.
It seems like one step forward and two steps back with Henry now, making her feel completely out of the loop. She'd never had trouble with Henry not trusting her, not even when he was angry with her for lying about Neal. This is just...weird, difficult, even. A constant reminder of what a screw up she is. She willed the tears back, forcing herself to drive away.
She drove to the loft without a second thought, needing her mother's strong advice now. Not bothering to knock, in case Leo was asleep, she quietly let herself in. She was mildly surprised to see her mother dozing on the couch, a baby monitor abandoned near the foot of it. When she heard the slight click of the lock, Mary Margret startled awake, her eyes flying wildly in search of danger, only to find her daughter standing sheepishly by the door.
"Sorry," Emma mumbled, walking over to the couch, before plopping down unceremoniously next to her mother.
Mary Margret for her part, pats her daughters hand affectionately, waiting for her to begin talking. Emma sighs, regretting that her mother knew her so well (while her heart flutters because her mother knew her so well).
"Henry found a house," she grumbles, making her mother's eyebrow raise in mild curiosity. "In the woods!" as if that were an explanation for her incredulity.
"And you don't approve, clearly," her mother nodded, sounding almost amused. Emma scowled at her, before continuing.
"Who wants to live in a forest anyway?" making Mary Margret huff to hide her laugh. Emma rolled her eyes, "Oh, very clever. It's not like you chose to live in a forest, you were forced to. Nobody chooses to live in a forest."
"I think Tink would disagree, and all the other Lost Boys, and Robin and his Merry Men. But do go on," her mother teased.
"Can we please get back to Henry wanting to live in a forest? I mean, shouldn't he not want to, considering what went down in Neverland?"
"Is this really about the house in the forest or simply just the house part?" she asked wisely.
Emma's face fell, her eyes downcast as she pulled at a loose string on the blanket cover her mother's legs. "It's not that I don't want to be a family with Henry. I just-It seems so permanent. So...this is it. And I-I don't know, I guess I'm too-"
"Lost?" she asked, rubbing her shoulder consolingly.
"Yeah," Emma slumped. "I don't know how to do this. Settle down, you know? I mean, even in our implanted memories, we were always living in cities, apartment. Nothing to final, too solid. And now, he wants that and I don't know how to give him a home, the kind he wants at least."
"Emma, you're his home," Mary Margret replies, as if it were so obvious. "He just wants you to find a place to call your own, be it a house in the woods or a tiny loft like this one," she gesticulates. "He wants what you've always wanted, a place to call home. And other people who do the same with him."
Emma's bottom lip quivered, making Mary Margret smile sadly, pulling her daughter into her warm embrace. "It's okay to not know, honey. But you have it now, you'll always have it."
Emma rests her chin on her mother's shoulder, "He wants Killian to move in with us," she adds quietly, continuing before her mother could say anything else. "And I want that, too. But I know Killian doesn't because he said he wants to take things slow. I get why he wants that, I would do the same if I were him. Heck," she pulled back, wiping under her eyes. "I'd have not even agreed to give us another try. So, I don't know if I should ask him or if I shouldn't. I want to though, very much so," she admitted.
"I think you should wait," she replied, after a moment. "He's had a rough couple of months and so have you. I mean, you can't simply jump from reuniting after three months to moving in together." When Emma opened her mouth to protest, her mother halted her with a raised hand, continuing. "However much you love him and he loves you, it's still too early and too...fragile. You can't push him when he's pulling away. It will only make him retreat more. Give it some time," she smiled. "Then, maybe you should talk to him about it."
"Okay. Yeah, okay, you're right," Emma agreed, smiling gratefully at her mother, who smiled back. Just then they both heard a shrill cry sound from the baby monitor. When Mary Margret moved to get him, Emma stopped her, offering to go soothe her brother. Her mother simply smiled as she heard her children interacting.
David walked in to a very lovely sight, his wife and daughter cooking (Emma more or less pretending to) and his son happily gurgling from his place at the high chair. Emma and Mary Margret were laughing at something, matching eyes sparkling in mirth.
Emma laughed harder as his wife said something, holding onto the counter for support. It made his heart squeeze in his chest to see his daughter so happy, his own face brightening up. When his women saw him enter, they both perked up, greeting him heartily. This, this was all he ever wanted. A family, a happy one to come home to. To hug his wife, to cradle his children. He felt tears sting his eyes, but he stubbornly pushed them back.
"Hey, what are mother and daughter up to?" he greeted, kissing his wife on the cheek.
"Nothing," they both echoed, even as Emma avoided eye contact with him while trying (and failing) to stifle her giggles. "I should go get changed," she added.
"Al-right...Is everything okay?" he questioned, confusion clear from his expression.
"Don't worry, dad. It's not I'll get lost in my own home. Unlike someone else here," she snorted, before running up the stairs.
David's eyes widened in horror as he turned to his wife in betrayal. " You did not!" he gasped, every bit of the drama-queen his mate deemed him to be.
"Oh, c'mon, Charming. Our daughter ought to know about her father's antics," she teased, tickling Leo under his chin, making him squeal a bit. "Isn't that right, baby? Do you want to know how daddy got lost in our castle back home? That's right," she smirked as Leo looked between his parents with a blank stare. "Daddy is so silly, isn't he?" she nuzzled his nose.
David shook his head, his heart too full of love to say anything else. Just then Emma came down the stairs, her phone clutched in her hand and worry marring her face. Gone was the previous mirth. David sighed, because there would obviously be another crisis, just as things were getting back to normal.
"What is it?" Mary Margret asked warily, cradling Leo closer.
"Killian called. Ariel's missing," she conveyed. "Deputy position still open?" she asked, eyebrow raised.
"Better yet," he called, moving to grab his badge. "Welcome back, Sheriff."
YUS, our sheriff's back! Reviews actually do make me speed up the writing process.
A/N: Although I can't promise an update until next weekend. Exams all of next week, unfortunately. And my developmental psych textbook is giving me THAT look.