A/N: I don't know. I think it's a little bit fluffy. What do you think?

A couple of days later, Emma was sitting at the counter in the diner. She had just finished a delicious club sandwich for lunch when Ruby stepped up to her.

"You know there's a last piece of your favorite cherry pie in the kitchen. Think you have some room for it left?"

"I really shouldn't, you know. Between you and my mom feeding me, I'm bound to get fat," Emma answered but smiled.

"Well, I could just leave the whipped cream," Ruby suggested.

"Don't you dare," Emma told her and they laughed.

The bell over the door chimed to announce another customer and Ruby's attention shifted. She frowned at the newcomer.

"Uh-oh, someone's having a bad day," she murmured and Emma turned to watch Regina make her way through the crowded room to her favorite table in the corner. She wasn't looking very happy, in fact, she looked annoyed. Fortunately, the table was empty - it usually was at this time of day since the inhabitants of Storybrooke had adjusted to the mayor's schedule a long time ago - and she let herself practially fall onto the chair. That was when her purse slipped from her fingers and landed on the floor, spilling its contents.

"Goddammit," the mayor cursed and a few heads turned as she ducked under the table to retrieve her items.

Nobody got up to help, everybody seemed eager to turn away again so that Regina didn't see them stare at her.

Emma frowned.

"I'll better get over there with some coffee. She seems to need it," Ruby said and walked away from the sheriff.

Emma watched from her place as Ruby served Regina the coffee but saw the mayor shake her head in question if she wanted anything else. She rarely did. When Ruby returned to the counter Emma waved her over.

"The pie," Ruby said remembering but Emma shook her head. Ruby looked at her questioningly.

"Would you.. serve Regina that piece of pie?"

"Regina? But..."

"I think she needs it more than I do right now," Emma said lifting her eyebrows meaningfully.

"I'm doubtful that she'll except it, though."

"Let's just try," the blonde asked of her friend who then nodded.

Ruby left Emma for the kitchen and emerged a moment later with a generous piece of pie crowned by an equally generous amount of whipped cream on top. She walked over to Regina's table and put it before her. Regina looked at the treat for a moment, then up at Ruby.

"I didn't order this," she said.

"I know. The sheriff asked me to give it to you. She thought... you might like it," Ruby said.

Regina had still been busy rearranging her things in her purse but she now simply shoved everything into it and put the purse down on the table. Her expression darkened.

"I wasn't aware that this was the kind of place where people picked other people up by ordering pie for them. If I had been..."

"Hello, Regina," Emma interrupted her as she appeared next to Ruby. "Thanks, Ruby," she said and the waitress left the table quickly. For a moment she had thought that she would have to endure the shame of Regina's little speech. She wasn't prepared to take the blame for anything as harmless and inconsequential as Emma being nice to Regina.

At the table she had just left Emma smiled down at Regina.

"I'm not sure what you're trying to accomplish here, sheriff," Regina said. "I don't think..."

"Listen, Regina. I...," Emma interrupted. She lowered her voice as she noticed some other patrons looking over curiously. She leaned down, placing her hand on the table. "It's good pie, you looked like you were having a bad day, so I thought you could use it. If you don't want it, I'll have Ruby box it and take it to the station with me. No big deal."

They looked at each other for a long moment. Then Regina looked at the pie again.

"It's good?" she asked and Emma nodded.

"Best one they got," she told the mayor.

Regina picked up the fork and pushed the cream off the pie. Then she put just the smallest amount of pie on the fork and ate it. She took her time, all the while looking contemplative.

"You were right, this is good pie... and I am having a bad day," she admitted. "Thank you."

"You should try it with cream, it's even better," Emma suggested, grinning.

"Let's not go overboard now," Regina warned but Emma could see the smallest hint of a smile working on the corners of Regina's mouth. She shook her head amusedly.

"Well, I hope your day'll get better and I see you tomorrow. Madam Mayor," the blonde said and nodded at Regina.

"Sheriff Swan," she answered in way of goodbye and Emma left her table and then the diner.

Regina looked after her and then shook her head. She smiled mischievously as she put some cream and more pie on her fork and ate it. It was indeed 'even better,' and she enjoyed the rest of it, leaving only a little bit of cream on the plate to show some sort of resistance to the sheriff's charms. She wasn't sure what Emma meant to accomplish with this gesture, she was far from trusting it but it had been nice to see that somebody cared that she was having a bad day, that Emma had wanted to make her feel better. Maybe... but Regina didn't want to speculate over things that may happen and she wasn't going to encourage any kind of confidentialities between herself and Emma.

When Emma came home that same evening, she found her parents in the kitchen... canoodling - her mind refused to call it anything other than that. Emma sighed dramatically as they hadn't noticed her yet and they pulled away from each other. David grinned sheepishly while Snow tried to look busy preparing dinner.

"Yeah," Emma said. "We really need to talk."

"Oh, come on, Emma, it can't be that big of a deal. I mean... you haven't walked in on us since that one time and..."

"That's not... I mean, it is only part of what's going on. I really want to talk to you," Emma said.

She was glad Henry was at Regina's that day. He seemed to have found his own schedule of alternating between his two living spaces and Emma had been okay with it for the last week as long as he told her where he would be. She couldn't blame him that he sometimes felt the need to... escape the apartment. She herself would have liked to do so these past couple of weeks since they'd been back.

Neverland had changed things, maybe they had all grown up a little. Some illusions about how their lives should be had been left behind on that island and Emma found it impossible to pretend that everything was as it had been before. She couldn't be the child her parents so desperately wanted and they couldn't be the parents she had once needed. They were all adults and the apartment was too tight a space to have them all live together and still have their privacy. And now that Henry was growing into a teen, it was time for them to face the reality that they all needed more space, more privacy.

"So..." David said as he sat down at the counter. Snow was still standing in the kitchen but she was ready to listen, too. Emma came over and sat next to David.

"I've been thinking," Emma hadn't planned on having this talk just now, she had actually first wanted to talk to Regina to see if there was even space to move into before she dumped this on Snow and David. But she felt that if there wasn't space already she would make some because she desperately needed some for herself. "I think I should get my own place, an apartment, a house. I'm not sure what's available but I think it's time."

She watched David look at his wife, her mother's eyes lower as she fought to not look sad or disappointed, Emma wasn't sure which would be the more dominant emotion.

"Emma, we're sorry if we've embarrassed you... with displaying our... love...," David stammered awkwardly but Emma interrupted.

"It's not about that, not just about that. I mean... I know you guys want another baby and I'm... happy for you. I think you should... I mean I would like... a brother or sister. It's... We're all adults, right? I mean I know I am. And I know that you guys are and... god, this is... You need time alone. You haven't been married for a long time and I know you're in love and all that. You should have more time alone. And you shouldn't feel bad about that," Emma finally found her words. "And I shouldn't feel bad about wanting my own place. I know you like having me around and I like being around but I don't think it's very healthy for three adults to live in such small quarters. And when you add a growing teen, it just gets crowded."

"It's not like we don't know, it's just... like you said, we want to have you around as much as possible. You're our daughter," Snow said.

"And I'll always be your daughter, even if I live... I don't know... down the street, or two streets over. Storybrooke isn't that big, you know."

"We know, Emma, it's just... you won't be here," David said.

"That sounds pathetic but... we love you and we'll miss you," Snow agreed.

"I'll miss you, too. Sometimes. But at the moment, it's really hard for me... I've always lived alone, from the moment I was allowed to, that is. Before that I had to share a room with two or three girls at foster homes. You see it was either a lot of people or me alone and I think I would like to see how it is to... live in a... home. With Henry. To have something... enough space for two people without us being strangers. I know you want me as part of your family, and I'll always be that, but... I also need my own family, a home for Henry and me."

Snow and David looked at each other. Emma knew that they understood but that they were still hurt. This wasn't easy, for either one of them. They tried to be a family but Emma's past kind of got in the way, the fact that she had a past, the fact that she was old enough to have one.

"I wanted you to know that I'm looking for a place for myself and Henry," she finally said.

"That's... good, Emma. We want that for you, you know. We want you to be happy," David said.

"I am happy, dad. I have a family now and that makes me happy," Emma told him. "Happiness isn't the issue here. It's got more to do with sanity. We all have lived our own lives before and we need to do that again. You're part of my life now but... I still need to be able to be an adult, to be Henry's mother. I can't just be your daughter."

"We know," Snow said. "I'm sorry that we're... acting like you have to explain... I guess we didn't really see this coming, or we didn't want to. We don't want you to feel like... we're trying to replace you with a new baby... or..."

"I know, mom. You don't have to worry about that. I think we all have... our issues with... my childhood. We all wished we could have been together then but... wishing won't make it so. I want you to be happy and to have a family, maybe half a dozen children, maybe even more... I don't know what you had planned but... well, I'll always be your first-born and, of course, I'll expect you to leave anything valuable you may own to me," Emma said and grinned.

"You want my collection of Hummel figurines, don't you?" David asked and grinned.

"That's right," Emma agreed. They laughed. "I love you guys and that's never gonna change again."

"We love you, too, Emma," her father said and rose from his stool.

He hugged Emma and Snow came around the kitchen counter to wrap her arms around husband and daughter. They stood like that for awhile, a whle longer than Emma was comfortable with, actually, but she resigned herself to the fact that her parents would always hold on to her a little tigher than she may be comfortable with. They had lost her once, and she knew how that felt - in a way. She found that she could live with that love, that it was special and that she needed it, too. She also found that she would have to be the one to draw bounderies or her parents might just smother her with that love.

"Okay, that's... enough," she said and her parents slowly let go of her. "It's okay. I won't move out tomorrow or even the day after. I still have to find a place. You guys can help me," Emma suggested.

She watched her parents look at each other again, then David shook his head.

"Sorry, sweetheart, but that's not gonna happen. Your mother and I agree that you need to learn to take responsibility for yourself, we can't always be there for you. It's time for you to stand on your own two feet," he lectured her in a wiser-than-thou deep father's voice.

Emma had to laugh.

"Thanks, dad... yeah, right," she shook her head.

"We'll be keeping our eyes and ears open but... if you really want to move out in less than say 16 years you should probably not count on us," Snow told her, smiling.

"You're not going to make this easy on me, are you?"

"No," David answered for them both.

Emma nodded.

"It's still gonna happen. I appreciate you not wanting to let me go, though," she told her parents and then hugged them again individually.