Emma swung the loft door closed, made her way over to the sofa and dropped unceremoniously into the cushions. David looked up.

"Busy day?" he asked

"No, not really" Emma said into a pillow "which is worse"

David folded his newspaper and put it down.

"Wanna talk about it?" He asked

Emma looked up at him for a moment. "My boring day?" She asked

"Yeah, did you make any progress with the case?" he asked.

"I spoke to Gold and left with more questions than I had when I got there" she said, remembering how unhelpful Gold had been in the investigation of things stolen from his own shop, and how he enjoyed watching her squirm when she asked him about True Love's Kiss.

Henry dropped his bag on the floor and sat on the Emma's legs.

"Hi" he said with a grin.

"What are you so happy about?" Emma asked

"I'm going to mom's, remember?" He said happily

"Oh yeah" she said, putting her head back down on the cushion.

"It's just going to be us. She even said I can choose the movie" he grinned again.

"Wow, she must have missed you!" Emma laughed. "Hey I'm sorry I haven't seen you all week" she propped herself up as much as she could with his weight pinning her legs down. "We'll do something tomorrow, right? I'll pick you up from Regina's and we can do something?"

"Yeah" Henry said.

She smiled and lay back down. Henry and David looked at each other.

"You wanna come tonight?" Henry asked

"You just said it was just you two" Emma replied

"Yeah but" he shrugged "I don't think she'll mind"

Emma laughed "I beg to differ"

She could just imagine Regina's face if she crashed their night in, unamused and sitting through X-Men.

"Come on" David said, getting up "I'll take you, don't want you to be late"

Emma heard David and Snow exchange a quiet word before he headed out. It wasn't long before Snow came to sit with her and she was suspicious.

"What do you want for dinner?" Snow asked cheerfully

"I don't know" Emma replied "I'm not hungry"

"Henry looked excited" Snow said, changing tack in an instant.

"Yeah, he never lost hope that we'd get her back" Emma smiled, proud of her son's tenacity.

"Yeah" Snow said, facing the kitchen, but keeping an eye on Emma.

"You never told us how exactly Robin brought her round. You were there weren't you?" She asked, seamlessly looking away just before Emma looked at her.

She sat up "yeah, yeah I was, he er, he kissed her and there was this light and then...she woke up"

"Huh" Snow said "funny" though it wasn't funny at all "how come that didn't work before?" She asked.

Emma pressed her lips together and shrugged. Snow nodded knowingly at her daughter.

"Well" she stood suddenly "I guess magic is weird like that, come and help me make dinner"

"Ugh, I had a long day" Emma said shoving her face into the cushions again.

"I just heard you tell David you did nothing" Snow said as she walked away.

There was a pause while Emma tried (and failed) to think of another reason not to help with dinner.

"Yeah ok" she sat up "let me get changed"

Emma spent so long getting changed that David returned without Henry before she had made her way to the kitchen. Her mind kept drifting away from what she was doing.

"So" Snow said when she finally came to help "what did you do at work today? David said you were at Gold's shop"

"I can't talk to you about investigations, mom" Emma said, picking up a piece of pepper to crunch on.

"Since when?" Snow asked, putting her knife down. Emma didn't reply,

"You always tell me what you're working on." Snow continued. She gasped dramatically "am I a suspect?"

"A suspect in what?" David appeared and also took a piece of pepper.

"In the ongoing investigation into the death of my privacy" Emma snapped.

David looked hurt. He went to say something but caught Snow's eye. She shook her head slightly and he sighed. He went back to the sofa and the newspaper he had been reading.

"Emma" Snow said quietly

"I know, I'm sorry" she replied in the same tone. "I'll go apologise"

"Wait" Snow said "since I'm already implicated, you want to tell me what has been up with you lately?"

Emma stood stock-still and stared at her mother. Would she understand? Did Emma even understand?

"You were, understandably," Snow continued "a ball of nerves and stress when Regina was cursed. I thought you would be happy now she's back but you seem worse. You're tired and grumpy and not talking to people…to me. Did something happen?"

Emma wanted to tell her. She wanted Snow to reassure her and tell he what to do, but she didn't know how to explain it herself without making it sound like she was in love with Regina, which was a pretty explosive idea and, she told herself, not even true. Her stomach clenched again.

"I can't talk about it, mom" she said

Snow watched her face. She watched the wrinkle appear on her forehead and the way she scrunched her mouth to one side, like something was struggling to get out.

"Ok" Snow replied "but when you can, I'll be here"

Emma looked into her mothers face for the first time since she had been home. It was kind and understanding, there was nothing assuming in her expression, only a look of concern in her eyes. She wanted to tell her, to vocalise the thoughts that needled at her all day, to have her fears put to rest.

'I kissed Regina!' she wanted to say 'And I thought that meant I was in love with her, but Gold said it doesn't necessarily and I want her to be happy with Robin, who is now lying about who kissed Regina, kind of like I just did to you…'

She couldn't say it.

"You know" she said "there's someone I need to talk to, I'm not going to stay for dinner"

Snow nodded, Emma could see she was disappointed but said nothing.

"Hey, sorry I snapped to you" she said to David as she picked up her jacket.

He shrugged and smiled "don't worry about it."

Emma smiled in relief and left.

"Just the man I wanted to see" she said, sliding into a bar stool at the Rabbit Hole.

Robin looked up and smiled.

"Hey" he said. He caught the eye of the bartender "whatever she's having is on me"

"Thanks" Emma smiled. "Look I think we should talk. I know it's not important but it's really bothering me" she stopped as he held up a hand.

"Do you mind if we don't sit at the bar for this?" he asked. She followed him to a booth where they were less likely to be overheard. He shifted in his seat to get comfortable, leant on the table and faced her.

"Emma, I've tried to tell her, but there is never a good time. I'm concerned it would sound odd now" he said, peeling the corner of beer mat up.

"You're the one who said wait!" Emma almost laughed. The bad feeling got a little worse but she was trying to remain optimistic, certain she could convince him to tell the tryth.

"Look" she began again "I'm not looking for glory here. We've saved each other's lives enough times now that I've lost count. It's not because it's me"

"It's that it wasn't me" he sat back and took a swig of beer

"No" Emma said, that wasn't what she had meant at all. Things weren't going her way. "it's that you won't tell her" she said trying to recapture his attention. She lowered voice as people passed them and watched them sit further away. It felt sordid. All she could think of was how Regina might react when she found out they had let her believe that it was Robin. Would Regina still trust her? Still care about her as much? Sometimes Emma felt their friendship teeter on a knife-edge. Could this push it over?

"Robin, she's happy! I know you know what a big deal that is." She said. His downcast expression turned him into a little boy under the stubble. She was reminded of when Henry was sad that he didn't have magic and understood Robin's frustration.

"Look" she said, putting a hand on his arm "she thinks it was True Love's Kiss, that means she loves you and she thinks you love her too"

"I do!" He protested

"Awesome" Emma said "more of that, shout it from the roof tops. What possible reason could you have for not telling her?" She held his gaze

"Because I haven't yet" he said quietly.

"The longer you wait to worse it will be." Emma said, trying to capitalise on his honesty and good nature. "It is always better to be told this kind of thing than to find out yourself, Robin." She squeezed his arm in sympathy.

There was a pause and Emma used the opportunity to scan the rest of the bar. She was surprised to see so many people that she didn't really know.

"I'm not telling her, Emma" he said quietly.

"Robin!" Emma loosed his arm and stared back at him. He took another drink. She read his tone, his body language, the look in his eye. No amount of drink or sympathy was going to change his mind.

"If you think you can, be my guest, but I don't know what you think you'll get out of it. And to be clear, I never lied" he said

"Not telling the truth is as good as" she stood and glared down at him for a moment before leaving the stifling bar.