Pandora's Box

"No, just let her be!" Neal yelled as Snow, David, and Henry marched out of the club and on to the pavement, "I've known her longer than any of you have and when she gets like this, it is best to leave her alone." He finished softly as they turned and looked at him.

"Now see here. I do not give a shit that you are the son of the Dark One," David began as Neal flinched and clenched his hands into fists, "you hurt her. Therefore I should punch your skull in or rather than that, impale you with my sword."

Neal looked David square in the eye, "Believe me when I say that nothing you threaten me with will fit the crime that I committed. Hell even being attacked by a wraith would not even cover it or better yet not even make one of the sick deals with the Dark One would amount to the pain and suffering I caused Emma." David was taken aback at Neal's voice and speech as he continued, "I could not even begin to imagine the pain and suffering that Emma has gone through. Not a day goes by when I wish I could turn back time and stop myself from leaving, or when I wish that I never stole those watches, or when I wish I could have turned myself in instead…" His voice trailed off at the end and he looked at the dirt, "I should have never listened to August."

Henry couldn't help himself. He wiggled out of Snow's grasp and stood between his grandfather and father, "What happened?"

Neal sighed and walked to a bench and sat down. Henry sat next to him and David stood with his arms crossed and Snow sat on Neal's opposite side half offering comfort and half protecting him from David's wrath. Finally gathering up his nerve Neal started off, "You have to understand, Emma's life before Storybrooke was not pretty. It was downright horrible. I do not know how much she has told you about-"

"Hardly nothing," Snow intervened when she saw David about to ask where this was going, "She just mentioned bits and pieces about the system."

Neal gulped and shot a sideways glance at Henry who pretended not to know what was going on when he did…, "Then I will spare you the details…that is her story to tell…not mine. However I will tell you that we both were in similar situations. We stole to get by and broke into motel rooms to shower and we lived out of the bug…we were a real Bonnie and Clyde," Neal paused and smiled as he remembered their 'heists'.

David eased up a bit as he looked at the man in front of him. He, along with Snow, could not understand why Neal would want to marry another woman when clearly he still loved their daughter. Neal shook his head and started the story again, "We were in some hotel when I made the decision that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Emma. I told her to choose a town and that was where we would settle down…she chose Tallahassee. We had everything planned out for the trip until one day part of my past came back to haunt me…" Neal paused and stiffened as he explained, "Before I met Emma I was a janitor in Phoenix – this high-end jewelry place. The manager was a drunk. He would forget to lock the case to the expensive watches."

Henry knew all as he read the story in Emma's journal; however he kept listening to his father. He saw Snow and David looking at Neal with slight interest as he continued, "I resisted twice. The third time, this guy's just asking for it. So I… I grabbed a couple cases of watches, and I hopped on a train to Portland. I figured the store had insurance and I had stashed them in a locker at the train station. I had thought I had gotten away clean and the heat died until one day I saw my face on a wanted poster in the post office. So I told Emma this and that Tallahassee was out. I got to go to Canada alone. But she would not hear of it. She wanted to come with me, but I kept refusing, after all if I got caught, I did not want her to get caught either. But she came up with the idea to steal the watches for me."

Henry could tell that this was hard for his father, but he placed a hand on his shoulder. Neal gave him a grateful look and he sighed, "Emma succeeded and we met in the bug. I told her I would go fence them and that I would catch up at our rendezvous point. As I was going to sell the watches I was being followed…I thought it was the feds and I ran, until the person tackled me to the ground…it was August Booth."

"August? You mean Pinocchio?" David asked stunned.

"Yea, he told me that he was Emma's 'guardian'," Neal scoffed, "He knew who I really was and told me everything about the curse…he told me to leave Emma otherwise she would not follow her destiny to break the curse…" Neal sighed again, "Long story short I followed his advice, called the cops with all the information, and left her serving my sentence in the Phoenix prison."

"Wait, wait, wait…" Snow stuttered as she got up from her seat and faced Neal, "You followed the advice of Pinocchio to send my daughter to prison, who was eighteen and pregnant with your son?!"

"Ok hold the phone here," Neal said as he too stood up and faced Snow, "I did not know she was pregnant! If I have had known I would not have done that."

David pulled Snow aside and stepped closer to Neal and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, "Either way you left her! Why couldn't you have led her here yourself? Change the plans or something?! Why did you leave her alone?!"

"I was scared ok?!" Neal finally shouted, "I couldn't face my father. I ran away from all that for a reason…he was supposed to come with me." Neal managed to get out. David loosened his grip, "He and I made a deal that if I found away to relieve him of the Dark One's power he would take it. I did and he let me go through that damn portal alone."

Henry was silent and he got up from his seat, "Did you know who she was when you met?"

Neal looked down at his son and said softly, "Kid if I did then you would not be here." Henry winced and backed away from his father. Neal then knew how that came out, "Wait Henry I-"

Henry shook his head and he took off, "Henry!" the three adults called after him.

David glared at Neal and said, "You know what? I suggest you figure yourself out first and decide what you want before coming near this family…otherwise I do not care if you are the father of my grandson I will kill you…do I make myself perfectly clear?"

Neal nodded and David took off in the direction where Henry went. Snow sighed and looked at Neal as well and before she spoke he said, "If you are threatening bodily harm, safe your breath."

"No actually I was going to say that in David's case, death is too easy…however you forget one ting…you hurt Henry so I suggest you not only watch your back because of David, myself, and Emma…but you also watch your back for Regina and the others here…" She leaned in close and whispered, "Especially Regina…take it from me…"

Neal now visibly gulped as Snow took off in the direction of her husband and grandson, leaving Neal to sit on the bench cursing his rotten night.