A/N: So I'm really liking the reactions to this story a lot! I've had quite a few people follow it and favorite it and it's really just helped my muse for this second chapter. What I hope to do is get a little more into Charming's personality because I personally never see enough of that in the ff's I've read, and I'm hoping you all just keep enjoying! By no means do I own OUAT, the characters, or anything except my own imagination. Hope y'all enjoy!

Emma's POV-

It's not like she wanted to hide for the rest of her life. None of this was forever, it really wasn't. She just needed to collect herself- to gather her thoughts and figure out whether or not she wants a part in this messed up life. Her parents were her age. Her parents were two people that she's come to know and love as friends, two people that she trusted as companions. How was she supposed to just accept that?

And then there was the entire thing about her being a princess.

Most children grow up listening to these fairytales; the one about Cinderella losing her glass slipper, about Pinocchio's nose growing every time he told a lie, about snow white…ugh, she can't even begin to think about that one. The point was that most children knew this, they wanted to live these fantasies- the girls craved to be the princesses, the damsels in distress, and the boys were constantly fighting to be the hero that gets the girl- but never Emma. See, Emma was the kid who rolled her eyes at that kind of junk. Fairytales weren't supposed to be real, they were just silly stories told to children to keep them entertained and help them learn lessons. Tales. They were just meant to be tales and to be quite frank, Emma never cared for them. She was too busy going from foster home to foster home, being tossed around like she was some kind of object, to care about stupid fantasies. A few weeks ago she slayed a fire breathing dragon and she still doesn't believe it, it just doesn't make any sense to her.

So the first chance she got, she picked up her kid and ran away. And she knows it's her thing, it's her bad habit to just turn from her problems and pretend they don't exist- she did it with Henry when she had him, she did it with just about every relationship she's ever been in, and she's doing it now with Storybrooke. But this was a little more complicated than that. Maybe Disneyland wasn't the best place to take a kid who grew up in a town where real fairytale characters lived. Henry spent half the time overdosing on candy and confronting the actors about how the real characters should act. Emma usually just stood behind and pretended not to know him until the day that they ran into Snow White who wanted to sing for them- that was where she drew the line. She pointed out every little thing that was wrong with her, from the fact that she in no way represented a strong, brave woman like Snow White really should, to the fact that singing to animals was not going to solve anyones problems. And as the poor girl cried and ran away from them, Emma realized it might just be time to go home.

As the drive home progressed, Emma began to feel the pressure surround her more and more. She stalled as much as possible, stopping in cool museums, telling Henry she didn't feel well enough to drive, they spent about two weeks on the road before they even reached Maine. And now that she was sitting here, in front of the home that she'd become so used to, Emma wasn't sure why she didn't spend more time getting here. Storybrooke wasn't safe for Henry anymore. Magic was back and it was more than clear. Emma frowns and watches people as they roamed about, dressed in clothes that you would only see in some kind of play or movie, fairies were flying about, and she's pretty sure she saw someone riding a unicorn which probably scared her the most. No, she wasn't sure she wanted Henry around here, especially after he nearly died because of magic. He just couldn't get mixed up in this life, especially since he had a choice. He could still be a normal kid, go to school, make something of himself, and Emma was determined to get him to see that.

Her head snaps up at the sound of someone tapping on her window and her eyes open as she realizes who it is.

"David? Um…I…"

"Emma…"

She could see the look in his eyes, almost as if he were proud and mournful at the same time. She wondered what she looked like in that moment. It felt like she wasn't putting up any kind of emotion, but that was nearly impossible for Emma. She had his eyes- his stupid, expressive, blue eyes.

"Yes?" She asks, raising an eyebrow.

He snaps out of it as soon as she speaks and he clears his throat, standing up straight. "Henry is inside. Sn-…Mary Margret is baking him cookies."

"Damn cookies." Emma glares in the direction of the house before leaning back against her seat and sighing. "I can wait then."

"Or you can stop being so stubborn and come inside." He crosses his arms over his chest and for a second Emma hesitates, feeling like a child who's being told what to do, before frowning.

"Woah, wait a minute- you don't tell me what to do. You might be a…a prince or whatever, you could be Jesus himself, if I don't want to go inside then I'm not going inside."

"How about I'm your father?" Emma looks away from him when he says that, trying to avoid the confrontation that she knew was coming. "Look, Emma, she's really upset okay? All she's done since you left is worry about you, worry about your relationship. You don't have to like me, that's fine, but please don't ignore her."

Emma closes her eyes and groans "Oh, this is so complicated." She shakes her head before leaning it back against the seat, still refusing to look at David…Prince James…Her father? Oh whatever. She felt guilty enough about leaving Mary Margret just like that. They'd developed this close relationship, almost like sisters, and she just doesn't want to deal with the truth of it all. How would their relationship change now? Would they still be friends? Would she try to act like her mother, make up for the terribly shitty childhood that she had? Emma had too much baggage, she couldn't deal with this. "I don't hate you, you know." She says, her eyes finally moving to look at him. "I'm confused as hell, and I don't even want to think about the whole parents thing, but I don't hate you."

He smiles, kneeling down a little to look into the car and at her, as if he was trying to remember her face or something. "Good. You don't know how glad I am to hear that, Emma." His smile grows and that proud look returns to his face. Emma doesn't know when or how, but her expression appears to have softened as well and when he speaks, she can't help but laugh. "I'm glad you weren't a boy."

"Yeah? Well I'm still one tough bitch, so I guess you kinda got the best of both worlds." They share a laugh before he looks up and stops. Emma frowns "David? What is i-"

Emma's eyes widen when a large dark cloud appears ahead of them, as if it was approaching them and preparing to attach. "Here we go." She groans as she gets out of the car quickly. "Go inside and make sure Henry is safe!" She screams out, looking up at the cloud and trying to figure out what to do.

"You're insane." Emma hears before she's picked up against her will and is taken into the house. "You take care of your kid and I'll take care of mine."

Snow walks into the room, Henry running not far behind her, and frowns "Charming? What's going on?" Henry runs right into Emma's arms and Charming looks out the window, shaking his head as he tries to move everyone away from the door.

"It's her, isn't it?...she's back." Emma looks down at Henry and kneels down, pulling him into her arms as she looks up at Charming, a concerned look on her face.

No one said a word, it wasn't necessary at all. They all knew the truth- The queen was back and she was going to seek revenge.