SORRY IT'S TAKEN ME SO LONG TO UPDATE. I WAS IN THE HOSPITAL AGAIN FOR A FEW DAYS AND MY LAPTOP WAS AT HOME, SO I COULDN'T WRITE.

DON'T OWN IT.

"Mom." Henry whispered in the doorway to the kitchen.

"Henry, what are you doing up?" Emma turned around as best she could on the stool.

"I could ask the same of you." The blonde was about to chastise her son, but then she realized the wording; it was probably something he had picked up from Regina, as well as the sass. The kid meant no harm. He wasn't trying to be disrespectful. His word choice wasn't the best sometimes, but Emma knew he got it from her.

"Couldn't sleep." Emma answered, returning her attention to her glass of milk. "Even though she's small, your sister's got one hell of a foot."

"You think she'll play soccer?"

"Oh, I don't know." Emma chuckled. "I think… I think that she's going to be awesome." Emma smiled. "Just like her big brother." Henry walks to the blonde and hugs her.

"I know you and Mom are kind of upset about me growing up. And don't deny it, cause I know. I know Mom was crying at the party today, and I'm pretty sure you were too, and I know you guys wish I didn't have to grow up. I know it's especially hard for you because you missed ten years of my life… you only got a few minutes with me before I was taken out of your arms. You've told me you don't want me to end up like you. I agree with part of it; I don't want to have a baby at eighteen. Johanna and I, we're not doing anything. I still think that's kinda gross and just… no. I'm not going to steal, either. But everything else, I want to be like you. I know you think your… wall or whatever is bad, but it's not. It keeps you from trusting the wrong people, and trusting the wrong people can get you killed or hurt. It also keeps you from jumping into something until you know you're ready for it and it's really what you want. Like with my sister. You waited to make sure you were really ready to have another baby. I might be growing up, but that doesn't mean I'm leaving you. In fact, I have no intention of leaving the castle ever. There's like, five different wings. When I get married and stuff, we can just stay in a different wing. I don't know if I'm right about this, but don't most parents miss their kids being little cause things were simpler and happier back then? Well, for you, I don't think being in jail and having to give me up was simpler or happier. Weren't you much happier when I was ten and brought you to Storybrooke?"

"Yeah." Emma could only force one word out. She was thankful for the relative darkness so that Henry could not see the tears that were on her cheeks.

"I know I'm still a lot older than I was then, but… I guess, just think about the fact that we're gonna make a lot of happier memories now and in the future."

"Yeah." She said again, then got up to put her glass in the sink and pretend to check out the front windows. In reality, she just wanted a moment to regain control before being forced into a conversation. After a moment, she said, "You're a smart kid, Henry." Then, because she really couldn't do a mushy conversation, said, "Why are you up?"

"I don't know. I guess that fourth piece of cake was a little too much sugar."

"Who let you have four!?" The blonde whisper-yelled.

"You said I could have two, Ruby another one, and Daniel a fourth."

"Oh my God." Emma groaned, having returned to her stool, and placed her head on the counter. "And you didn't think to say 'no'?"

"It was good!" The teenager defended himself. "Besides, you had three."

"You had four, and I'm eating for your sister, too. Look, Kid, you have to make good decisions. I understand you were having fun, but four pieces of cake is not okay. At all. You're a good kid, Henry, and I hate that I have to do the sucky part of parenting, but you know that that was the wrong decision, right?"

"Yeah." Henry stared at his feet.

"So why'd you do it?" She asked softly.

"Cause I wanted to." He mumbled.

"Okay…" She sighed. "You can't see Johanna for a week."

"What?" At this, Henry's head snapped up.

"You heard me." Emma figured that if he didn't seem happy about it, then she was doing the discipline thing right. "I'm not going to take away horse lessons or sword lessons because those are necessary in my book. You need to know how to defend yourself. Seeing your girlfriend? Not so much."

"You can't do that!" Henry's voice was an octave higher than usual, and he once again sounded like the precocious ten tear old he used to be. "You of all people should know how important relationships and being with people you love are."

"Not at sixteen, Henry." She did her best to keep the wavering out of her voice. The guilt was already consuming her, but she knew she couldn't back down. Nobody said parenting was easy.

"I think a sixteen year old you would say differently."

"That's because that was different!" Finally, Emma lost her temper. "At sixteen, I had no one! No one loved me! No one cared about me! No one wanted me! Not even a single person! You have seven people who love you and care about you and want you! Do you know what I would have given for one of them!? What you and Johanna have, Henry, it isn't love. She was your first crush and now she's your first girlfriend. She's just a novelty. In a month you'll get bored of each other and break up. Then onto the next." By now, the rest of the Charming Family was up and downstairs.

"That's because you're a cynical pessimist!" With that, Henry stomped up the stairs. Snow, James, and Graham stood with their mouths agape. Graham was the first to react, closing the distance between him and Emma and wrapping her in a hug. Snow was the second, and she turned the lights on. James still stood there, dumbstruck.

"How much of that did you guys hear?" Emma asked, eerily in control and calm.

"Um… since you started yelling. You don't exactly have an indoor voice." Snow said, throwing in a joke to keep her daughter's calmness for as long as possible.

"So you heard…" The blonde paled, slumping back onto the stool she hadn't even realized she had vacated.

"Yeah." James nodded in the affirmative. "We heard about you at sixteen."

"I'm so sorry you had to hear it." They of the hurricane seemed to pass. Emma put a hand over her mouth to stifle the sobs. Graham pulled her in for another hug.

"Let's go for a walk." Graham whispered, gently leading her to the living room. James grabbed the nearest coat he could find, his, and draped it over her. Graham brought her outside.

"Stay here." Snow said quietly to her husband while she followed Graham and Emma. James wanted nothing more than to go with them, but he knew that someone needed to watch Henry for a freak out. Graham would have been the optimal choice, but his presence was more demanded with Emma.

Once outside and a safe distance from the castle, Emma finally let a sob out. She had Graham's t-shirt bunched up in her fist.

"I didn't want to hurt him, but he needs to make good choices. Bad ones in the future, when they're serious, can get him killed." She got out between sobs.

"I know, Ems, I know." Graham rubbed soothing circles on her back, exchanging a worried glance with Snow.

"You did the right thing, Emma." Snow said. "He needs to learn these things. This is the first real time you've disciplined him. Most kids get punished from an early age. It's normal for him to react badly."

"That wasn't a bad reaction." Emma laughed humorlessly, pulling herself together. "That was… that was a whole other level of bad."

"Emma?" Graham asked.

"What?"

"Are you okay?" It was a stupid question, but a sinking feeling in his gut told him that she was putting up temporary walls again, like when she told Graham about how Henry was conceived. He was praying he was wrong.

"I'm fine." She pushed herself off of a random log she was sitting on, miraculously, in one try. "People fight, it happens." Instead of walking back to the castle, though, she just stood there. Graham took this as a silent cue to leave.

"I'll go check on Henry." He said quietly, leaving mother and daughter. The blonde slumped back down onto the log.

"Did I do the right thing?" She asked, her voice sounding small and child-like. It broke Snow's heart. "I know you already told me I did, but…"

"You need to hear it again." Snow finished softly, sitting next to her daughter. "I'm not going to lie to you, Emma. I don't really know. I've never had to discipline you. But my instincts tell me you were right. If I had to choose between never making you angry with me but you getting hurt or killed because of it, or making you angry but keeping you safe, I would choose the latter. Henry's a smart boy, Emma. I'm sure that come tomorrow, he'll see that you only have his best interests in mind. Did your conversation hurt him? Yes. But I know that when he's still alive in a few years, he'll be thankful you had it. It's like back in Storybrooke, when you tried to take off with him. I scolded you, and you were upset and you were hurt, but because you didn't run off with him, you now have your father and I, and Graham. And I think that's a much happier ending."

"It is." The blonde sighed, leaning her head on Snow's shoulder. "There's just so many mistakes I've made with him. I know eventually he'll ask who his father is –really ask, and not just let it drop after I ask him to. I don't want to tell him that his father… you know… I know he's old enough to understand what happened. I know he's not naïve or innocent, I just, if he finds out that he was created by such an evil act, I don't… the kid's been through Hell and back, Mom. How much more is he supposed to take? How much more can he take?" After mulling over her answer, Snow finally said,

"I think that's a conversation for you and him to have at some point, yes. If he asks, Emma. He might not." The brunette could picture her daughter's oh please look, so the darkness didn't matter. "Alright, so he probably will. The thing you need to understand is that you can't protect your child from everything."

"That sucks." Emma deadpanned.

"Majorly." Snow agreed. "I know we've had this conversation nearly a dozen times, but I just… I wish I could have protected you from everything you went through. It's just, parents can't do that. They can't keep their child safe forever. And as much as it hurts and sucks, you have to understand that we do the best we can and that's all we can do. From the very moment you knew you were having him, you did everything you could to protect him. You even went as far as to give him up so that he could have the best life he could have. I know I'm rambling, but my point is, in a nutshell, you can't feel bad about what happened in the past because you did everything you could." Emma turned to face the smaller woman.

"Oh, come on. You can't tell me that you don't feel bad about me."

"Fine." Snow sighed. "There are some days I hate myself, but I've come to realize that I wouldn't have changed my mind about sending you through the wardrobe if I had another chance. You gave us Henry. Most importantly, though, I love you. I love who you are now and I wouldn't have you any other way. As much as I hate the fact that you had to go through so much pain… and please don't take this the wrong way, but it's made you who you are and if I hadn't had Charming send you through the wardrobe, I wouldn't know who you are now. I wouldn't know you. And I have a strange feeling that you wouldn't want anything to have changed, even if you'd still get Henry."

"How can you know that?" Emma stared at her mother, amazed.

"Simple." The brunette stood up, and smoothed her nightgown. She offered a hand to the princess, who gladly accepted the help up. "You're just like me and I don't wish for a second that Regina hadn't put me through all of that crap because I can't imagine me any other way." With that, the two headed back to the castle.