A Little More Conversation

Captain Swan. A series of much needed conversations following Neal's death. [Hook & David, Emma & Snow, David & Snow, Hook & Emma]

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Emma & Snow

"David! We need to go!"

Emma's voice rings through the loft as she calls out for her father.

"David?" She tries again after seeing some movement in the bathroom.

The door opens to reveal Mary Margaret.

"Emma!" She says, greeting her daughter with a smile.

"Mary Margaret," Emma replies, her eyes take in the sight of the pregnant woman but that's all they do. "Have you seen David? He was supposed to meet me at the Sheriff's station. And he's not answering his phone."

"Oh. He left his phone at the bar last night, so he went to look for it."

More pregnant than ever, Mary Margaret waddles over to the sink where she fills a kettle. "Tea?"

"No, thanks." Emma replies surprised by her mother's answer. "He was at a bar? Last night? I didn't even know David drank."

"He took Hook out for a drink. He thought he needed a friend after Neal's death." Mary Margaret says as she sets the kettle on the stove.

"Oh. Ok." Emma says, processing the information. The idea of Hook and her father hanging out together seems strange, but it makes sense after what happened in Neverland. Besides, she thinks they've developed a soft spot for one another, as evidenced in their patrols in the woods. "When he gets back, can you tell him to meet me at the station?"

Emma smiles and turns to leave.

"Emma wait!" Mary Margaret calls out.

"Is everything alright?" Emma asks, concerned. "Is it the baby?"

"No... I just... We haven't really had a chance to talk since you got back. And I thought, maybe you could stay and wait for David here."

Emma doesn't have the heart to say no to the hopeful expression on her mother's face. "Umm. Sure."

She pulls up a chair at the table, as she does she remembers all the breakfasts she's shared with Mary Margaret when she'd been cursed, before she'd discovered the truth. There had been an easy camaraderie then they never seemed to have gotten back.

"So, tell me about New York?" Mary Margaret asks, eager to hear about her daughter's life during the curse. "Were you happy?"

"Yeah..." Emma responds, smiling as her memories of the time flash through her mind. "Henry was happy – he was doing well in school and he had a lot of friends. It was good."

"What about you?" Mary Margaret asks, zeroing in on what she really wants to hear about."

"I was good too..." Emma replies, leaving it at that.

A look of hurt flashes through Mary Margaret's eyes at her short response. But she smiles nonetheless. "Your father mentioned you

almost got married."

"Oh. Yeah." Emma says, nodding, a sardonic smile gracing her face. "But he turned out to be a flying monster so obviously that didn't

work out."

She snorts in amusement at the absurdity of it all. It's funny but given how her life had turned out, that would be something that would happen to her.

"Oh Emma, I'm so sorry." Mary Margaret says, reaching out to squeeze her hand.

Emma shakes her head at the sentiment. "Given my luck with men, I'm not really that surprised."

"Just because you lost Neal, doesn't mean you need to give up on love." Mary Margaret says knowingly.

"I know. I haven't." Emma replies, falling silent. She pulls her hand away and puts it in her lap.

Mary Margaret just nods, tears springing to her eyes. Lately she's been more prone to crying, but right now she can't figure out which child

is making her cry – the one in her womb or the one sitting in front of her.

"Emma, are you mad at me?" She asks.

Emma looks surprised that she would even ask. "No... I just... I don't really want to talk about it. He's gone."

They lapse into another awkward silence that is broken up only by Mary Margaret's sniffles.

Feeling bad, Emma tries to explain. "He wasn't my true love."

Seeing that she has Mary Margaret's instant attention, she continues hesitantly.

"Neal wasn't my true love. I mean, there's a part of me that will always love him, but that's because he was my first love and he gave me

Henry. But for years, that's all he was - Henry's father, the man that left me in prison. Not my true love."

Now that she's finally admitted it, Emma finds that she can't keep quiet. But she looks away as she says the next part. "He didn't find

me. He had all those chances and he never came looking for me. That's not True Love."

When she looks up, Emma has tears in her eyes. Tears she never got to shed for the life she never got to have.

Mary Margaret doesn't know what to process first. The fact that the father of her grandson abandoned her young, pregnant daughter in prison, or her daughter's words and the guilt they inspire in her – not unlike the time Emma had asked her why they'd chosen to give

her up for the curse instead of allowing it to take her as well, keeping them all together. Looking at her now, she sees nothing but a little

girl who has had a very tough life and was denied two chances at a happy ending.

Embarrassed by her tears, Emma quickly wipes them off her face. "But that doesn't matter. Once we figure out what Zelena wants and how to stop her, Henry and I will return to New York and I'll have my happy ending again."

Her words shock Mary Margaret and it's apparent on her face. "You're returning to New York? But you only just got home!"

"It's just..." Emma starts, searching for the least hurtful way of saying what she wants to. "There's nothing really keeping me here.

Henry and I have lives back in New York. Lives we put on hold to come here."

"What about when he gets his memory back?" Mary Margaret tries not to show how much pain Emma's comment has caused her - that's the last thing her daughter needs right now.

"I'm not sure I want him to get his memory back." Emma reasons.

And it's true. She doesn't want to take away all these years of happiness away from her son and remind him just how sad his life was once. How he'd had to leave Storybrooke and seek out his birth mother because he'd believed his birth mother was the Evil Queen from a fairy tale. She didn't want to remind him that there was a period of his life where he had almost no hope, until his favourite teacher gave him a book filled with stories that sparked the ability to trust and believe that is now buried deep into his bones. Most of all she doesn't want to reveal that all the happy moments they'd shared together hadn't existed, because now she herself regrets that they never had the chance to share them for real.

But she doesn't know how to tell Mary Margaret all this, so she simply says, "He's happy there, and he has friends. This town has nothing but bad memories for him."

Mary Margaret's eyes are now filled with tears. She quietly asks "And you?"

Emma sighs as she tries to figure out how she feels.

"There's been some good ones," she says, smiling at Mary Margaret. "Some really, really good ones. But there have also been some really bad ones. And coming back here is just a reminder that as long as I'm here, as long as I'm the Saviour, things are never going to be just good."

She pauses to take a break before continuing.

"David once told me that I need to learn to make the most of the good moments." Mary Margaret's eyes brighten up at the mention of her husband. "And New York was a good moment. A long, really good moment. And that's what I need right now."

It feels good to have admitted that.

Mary Margaret nods. She knows that more than anything her daughter deserves a break. At the realisation she feels an odd sensation – something she hasn't felt in years. Not since she'd been carrying Emma. She looks at her belly in surprise.

Emma's expression immediately turns to worry. "What happened? Is everything okay?"

"Oh, it's just the baby," Mary Margaret replies wiping the tears from her eyes – this time her second child is responsible for them. She

smiles as she looks up at Emma. "Your little brother or sister kicked. Do you want to feel it?"

Emma stares back as she looks at her expectantly. She hasn't even really thought about her parents having a second child. Somehow her

brain had filed it away as her friend Mary Margaret having a child. Not her mother, Snow White having a second baby.

"Umm. Sure..." She says reaching out to touch her mother's stomach. But when she does there's nothing.

"Give it a moment..." Mary Margaret says excitedly. However there is nothing.

"Maybe it doesn't like me," Emma jokes, removing her hand and sitting back.

A different kind of awkward silence settles over the room. Mary Margaret's expression becomes somber. "I'm sure it does..."

She eyes Emma's face, pain in her eyes. "Emma, did I... Are you upset about the baby?"

"Upset?" Emma asks, confused.

"It's just, I haven't really seen you in the past couple of days and," she smiles sadly at her daughter. "It feels like you're avoiding me. Even now you just wanted to leave."

"I..." If she thought telling her mother she was going back to New York was hard, putting this into words is infinitely harder. "I'm not upset. I just... I don't know. I never had this. I never really had you guys when I was growing up, so I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be missing out on, you know?"

Mary Margaret nods, accepting what Emma's telling her. Seeing that she isn't crying Emma continues.

"Besides I have Henry to worry about. And..." She stops to think about it. "You know how you feel like you have to make up for all these things you missed out on in my life? Well, I get it. If I give Henry back his memories he loses that. He loses eleven years of me being there for him… How can I do that to him, when I wouldn't want anyone to do that to me?"

That, Emma realises after she says it out loud, is part of why she's hesitant to remind of him of his previous life. More than anything, he's always wanted a life with her. Now that he has that, she can't rip it away. Looking up at Mary Margaret, she's reminded of how she'd gotten her to open up almost within a few days of knowing her. Suddenly it's like her best friend is back.

"I wish I could give you that," Mary Margaret says sadly. "More than anything I wish you had happy memories of your father and I. Not just 'maybes' and 'could-have-beens'."

"Maybe it's not about the memories we could have had, but the memories we can have," Emma says with a gentle smile, Henry's words about moving on still ringing in her ears. As usal her son is right. "You know, before I left, you said you'd always be my mother. Well mothering isn't just 'being a mother', it's being a friend. And what I need now isn't my mother, it's my friend. My best friend."

Mary Margaret gives her a curious look. So Emma continues. "Before I broke the first curse, you and I were friends. Remember? I miss that."

Surprisingly Mary Margaret laughs. This time it's Emma's turn to look confused.

"I never thought my daughter would be giving me mothering advice," Mary Margaret explains with a smile.

"Trust me, I never thought I'd be doing this either." Emma says, with a matching smile.

"You know... That sounded like something your father would say."

She's surprised to see Emma blush slightly. She grins at that. She'd always known her daughter would grow up to be a daddy's girl, and she's pleased to see that this is still the case even now as an adult. As she thinks of her husband, she's hit with a realization.

"My mother died when I was young, and then my father married Regina – and we all know how that went..." Mary Margaret explains. "So I never really learned how to be a parent to an adult."

Emma's brow furrows at the admission. "It's funny. That's in the story. I just... never thought about it like that."

Looking up she sees her mother in a new light. She sees the twelve year old girl that had stood over her mother's bed crying as she said her final goodbye. She sees the young girl that had to flee into the forest because her stepmother was after her heart. And now she sees a young woman with child, plagued with uncertainty and doubt as to her skills as a mother. And suddenly, she understands her. After all, almost twelve years ago she'd worn the same shoes.

Emma reaches out and squeezes Mary Margaret's hand. Her mother looks confused at the unexpected show of affection. Emma just smiles.

"When I was pregnant with Henry, he never kicked for other people either." She offers, gesturing at her mother's belly.

"Really?" Mary Margaret asks. With everything that's happened since that curse broke she'd never had a chance to discuss Emma's past life with her. There's still so much she doesn't know about her daughter. But looking at her face now she realises, that will come in time, and that this is just the first step towards that. And what's more? Emma is the one that initiated it.

Just then, the baby kicks again. Seeing her mother's expression, Emma immediately reaches out and lays a hand on her stomach. This time she feels a strong kick. Almost like she's being acknowledged.

"I felt it!" She announces, delighted at being able to share this moment with her mother. Mary Margaret puts her hand on Emma's as the baby kicks once more. "You know, you're going to enjoy this now, but give it a few days and you're going to have to pee every other minute."

"Don't remind me..." Mary Margaret groans. "I went through that with you."

"So I've always been a kicker," Emma jokes. "Good to know."

Mary Margaret laughs again. "You should be, you get that from David as well."

"Seems like I get a lot from David. Maybe I should only say I'm Prince Charming's daughter then." Emma quips.

Mary Margaret smacks her arm. "This attitude? You get it from me."

Emma grins and takes her hand back, leaning comfortably into her chair.

A much more comfortable silence settles over the room this time.

A moment later Emma stands up reluctantly, giving her mother a warm smile. "I should really go find David – and Hook. We need to get moving. "

At the mention of the pirate, Mary Margaret is hit with a thought. "You said he never found you."

"What?" Emma asks, confused.

"Neal. You said he never found you. He had all those chances but he never found and that's how you know it's not True Love." Mary Margaret explains.

"Yeah... So?" Emma's still not following along.

"What about Hook?" Mary Margaret asks. She then takes a deep breath. "Maybe he's your True Love."

"Hook?"

"He found you," Mary Margaret points out. "He brought you back here, to Storybrooke."

"I thought you didn't like Hook." Emma argues, surprised by her mother's change of heart.

"I may not be fond of the fact that he's a pirate," Mary Margaret explains. "But he clearly has feelings for you – deep feelings. I can't just ignore that."

"Thanks?" Emma says, with a confused smile.

"Besides, he saved your father's life and I think you may have feelings for him too. So there must be a good man in there."

"I don't have feelings for Hook!" Emma protests, getting flustered, her cheeks turning a bright pink.

"You told me about his kiss. You said it made you feel good." Mary Margaret points out with a grin.

"You don't remember a whole year, but THAT you remember?" Emma asks incredulously.

"Emma, you can't run away from your feelings." Mary Margaret brushes off her daughter's sarcasm. "You owe it to yourself to see if your happy ending truly lies with him."

"I really need to go find David," Emma says turning towards the door in avoidance of the subject at hand.

Mary Margaret grins. Her daughter's reluctance to speak about the pirate only confirms that she may well feel something for him as well. But given that this is Emma, she decides not to push her any more. She'd acknowledge her feelings for him on her own time. If anything, he'd be the one to make her evaluate them.

So she just gives Emma a big grin. "So will you and Henry be coming over for dinner later?"

"Yes." Emma says as she begins walking towards the door.

"Maybe you could invite Hook."

Emma turns and glares at Mary Margaret, but her mother looks the picture of innocence – except for the twinkle of mischief in her eye. Emma glares at her, shakes her head and turns back towards the door.

If Mary Margaret's teasing is any indication, maybe it was a bad idea to wish for her best friend back.

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A/N: Overall, I'm happy with how this chapter turned out. It's a conversation I was very excited to write mostly because we haven't really gotten the chance to see Snow's reactions to any of the big events in Emma's life (something I hope changes very soon) and it was fun to get into her shoes and try and think how she does – especially since I miss both sassy Snow and best friend Mary Margaret. I think I was mostly successful on being able to blend all of them into the Snow we have now. I debated having her suddenly root for Hook like that, but I think she'd always root for Emma, and that if she saw that her daughter had feelings for this man she would definitely support Emma taking a chance on love. So yeah.

If you have any thoughts, comments, questions or concerns, let me know! Again, my other stuff is up on tumblr, and AO3, so if you enjoyed this feel free to go read those! Thanks for reading!