Chapter 18: Heart in Denial

Emma fiddled with the keys in her hand as she made her way out of the woods. By the looks of things she had been out there longer than she thought. As she got in her car she looked at the clock. The time didn't seem right but she was certain it was.

Had she really been gone from Storybrooke since 10 AM? It had taken her an hour drive to arrive and would take an hour to get back. She would barely make it back to Henry having told him she would pick him up from the stables in the afternoon.

Though Emma had been in Storybrooke for months she hadn't known where the stables were until recently.

She made her way up the dirt road where Henry was standing in front of one of the buildings.

"I was getting ready to call David," Henry said when he got in the car.

"Sorry about that Henry. I lost track of time."

"Have you seen Neal?"

"Not since this morning, why," Emma asked.

"He came looking for you earlier."

Emma sighed. Of course he would go looking. They hadn't exactly left things on the best of terms.

"Your parents came looking for you too," said Henry.

"I'll talk to them when we get home."

"Are you okay, you seem kind of…off," Henry said noticing her demeanor.

"It's just been a long day that's all."

"Does it have anything to do with Neal?"

"Henry, what exactly did Neal say to you?"

"Not much, he was kind of vague. Just that you were pretty mad when you left him at the station this morning. What happened?"

Emma sighed. She wasn't going to get into this with Henry at least not into the specifics.

"Your dad and I just have different ways of dealing with things that's all."

Henry nodded. He would take that answer for now but he knew there was something else going on.

The door to the apartment opened. David stood up from the table quickly as did Mary Margaret who crossed her arms in front of her.

"Am I in trouble," Henry asked as he and Emma walked into the apartment.

Emma sighed, "No kid, I think I am. Why don't you go upstairs and work on some homework for tomorrow. I'll be up to check it in a while."

"Fine I get the hint, I'm going."

Emma smiled as she watched Henry retreat upstairs to his room. Her smile quickly faded as she turned to face her parents.

"Where've you been," Mary Margaret asked. "We tried calling, we tried texting."

"I went for drive, tossed the phone in the backseat," Emma answered as she made her way over to the kitchen. "I needed to clear my head."

She grabbed a glass from the cupboard and was going to go for a bottle of whiskey but then opted out and instead turned to the sink, filling her cup with water.

"Where, clearly not in town since no one saw you or your car."

Emma froze and looked at her parents and then toward the stairs. In her short talk with Henry she had forgotten to ask Henry about the car. She turned back to Mary Margaret and David.

"You didn't mention to anyone what kind of…what kind of car it was did you?"

"Anyone," Mary Margaret asked, "Anyone like Neal?"

Emma looked down.

"He came looking for you but no we didn't say anything." Mary Margaret got back on the subject. "Where did you go?"

"Just this place an hour outside of town." Emma saw that her parents were waiting for a more concrete answer. "It was the tree that brought me here. I thought being there could help."

David and Mary Margaret looked at each other. They would get to that part later.

"You ran," said Mary Margaret.

"I didn't-," Emma said raising her voice for a moment but then looked down and brought her voice down to a normal level, "Okay I guess I did."

"Emma-," said Mary Margaret.

She looked up, "It seemed like the right thing to do. It's what I'm used to."

"But things are supposed to be different now," said David. "You don't have to run anymore."

"That's just it," Emma said pleading in hopes they could somehow understand even though she knew that no matter how hard she tried, they never could.

"Things are different. I can handle the way my life is now. I can handle being a daughter and a mom and the savior but I can't handle my ex coming back into my life as if the past eleven years didn't matter. It's been over twenty four hours and he's managed to work his way in just like the first time. Only difference is that now there's all this added confusion because of the time we've spent apart. I don't want this, I don't want him."

"There must be a part of you that wants it," said Mary Margaret. "Emma the way you were kissing him this morning-,"

"Was a mistake!" Emma stressed, "He caught me off guard."

"It didn't look like a mistake to me," Mary Margaret said.

Emma shook her head, "We shouldn't even be talking about this."

"Oh but its okay to talk about my…personal life," asked Mary Margaret.

Emma winced. "I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Emma," said Mary Margaret, "You can't run from this."

Emma began walking toward the stairs to Henry's room. "I can try," she called over her shoulder.