AN: A quick little drabble based off of Emma and Regina's discussion about fate in 4x19. Thanks for reading!
Each day seems to result in more and more proof that her life has never been her own, and she doesn't think she'll ever get used to that. Everything she's done -from being adopted by Ingrid to befriending Lily to meeting Neal- had been decided for her long before she was around to choose otherwise. She hates the knowledge that someone else made her who she is; that everyone she ever cared about was placed on her path for very specific reasons. Everyone, except-
Except for him.
He didn't drift into her life at fate's hands; he came into her life -crashing into it, setting everything ablaze- all on his own.
(All she really knows is that one day he was there, and then he was never anywhere else).
And when it comes to him, she wants to believe in something stronger than fate. She wants to believe in free will, in the power for them to decide who they will be, and how they will fit, and whether it will work.
(She wants to believe in him).
So when she can't help but feel that the rest of her world is outside of her control, she thinks of the Author and Rumplestiltskin and her parents, and that despite all of their great big plans, she is with him.
She is with him, and so she believes it when he tells her that this -them- is all their own doing. He tells her that it was their choices, good or bad, but completely theirs, that brought them together. He tells her that she came crashing into his life, setting everything ablaze, and that he got caught up in something larger than himself. He tells her that he chose to follow her; that he will continue to choose her, destiny be damned.
(She can't deny she likes the sound of that).