A/N: I borrowed some lines from OUAT s3e7. I thought they proved the point Killian and Snow were trying to make. It's taken me a bit longer to get to the main action than I had anticipated. It's getting there, soon, I promise.

Snow knew something was wrong with Emma before she even opened the door. She could hear it in her steps on her way up the stairs. When she walked in, Snow knew it was bad, really bad. Emma had the same look on her face Snow had seen her wearing when she explained that she was an orphan in Neverland. It was a mix of hurt and disappointment and heartbreak.

"Emma! What on earth is wrong?"

"Well, he rejected me," she mumbled quickly.

"He did what?!" shouted David. "Where does he get off rejecting you? After months of pining for you, he changed his mind?"

Emma grimaced hearing David.

"Charming, as much as I love how passionate you are about our daughter's happiness, be quiet and let her talk before you jump to any conclusions about Killian." She gave him a pointed look, before continuing. "Emma, what do you mean he rejected you? I can't for the life of me understand how that could even happen. He has true feelings for you, anyone can see that."

Emma sighed, looked at her parents and shared the basics of the conversation she had just had with Killian. Snow knew how hard it was to have this conversation for her. She knew something had changed in Emma the second she had walked into Granny's earlier that evening. Emma wasn't someone who shared things openly, but here she was spilling her guts to her parents about heartbreak. Heartbreak she realized that needn't be. She couldn't help herself as she split into a grin.

Emma and Charming stared at her, and she realized what she was doing.

"Oh Emma, don't take that the wrong way. I'm not smiling at your pain. I know it looks that way, but I'm not. He loves you and I think you misunderstood what he was saying," Snow started.

"You know I am not a fan of the idea of you and the Pirate," Charming cut her off, "but he does love you. He was not rejecting you exactly. He wants you to know that you are not obligated to try a relationship with him just because he loves you. Based on what you say you said to him, that is kind of what it sounded like. Yes you trust him, we have all grown to trust him, even me, a little, but that is not enough to make a relationship. It pains me to admit, but I would probably have reacted the same way as him."

Snow stared at her husband, in awe. She remembered their conversations back in the Enchanted Forest about Prince Charles and Princess Leia. He had always regretted not keeping in touch with Charles. He had said that he wanted to know how their story ended, whether or not Charles ever got the approval of Leia's family or Leia admitted to her feelings for him because anyone with eyes could see she felt the same way as him. After all, he had gone through so much to save her from the Evil Queen at a time when she was truly at her worst. How could Leia and her family not see how much he truly cared for her? It made Charming very sad. Now that he knew Charles was actually Killian, she wondered if he was thinking about that. She looked at him knowingly and smiled at him. "Tell her."

David sighed and told her of the conversation he had with Prince Charles.

"I was sad for Charles," he said. "Here he was completely besotted with this woman, willing to go up against Regina to get her back when her family disapproved and he didn't even know if she felt the same way about him. I remember thinking he was a good man and I still feel that way now, even knowing who he was."

Snow looked at her daughter, who looked miserable. She still wasn't getting it.

"Emma, Killian has been there for you through some very traumatic events in your life. I think he knows that you may be confused about how you feel about him. He doesn't want you to jump into something with him because you feel like you should. He wants you to want to be with him because of who he is."

All of a sudden screaming filled the room and they all jumped ready to leap into action. Snow laughed realizing it was just Neal waking up. She looked at Charming and nodded in the baby's direction. He took the hint and quickly moved to the other room to take care of his son.

Snow focused on Emma again, "When I win your heart Emma, and I will win it, it will not be because of any trickery, it will be because you want me," she whispered. At the look on Emma's face, Snow thought she might be starting to get it. "When you told me he said that to you, I thought he was just being arrogant, but everyone wants to be wanted for who they actually are not for what they offer. Emma, you have come so far in such a short time, and I know that was our fault for abandoning you.."

"Mom, I know.."

Snow cut her off with a wave of her hand, and kept going, "we did abandon you, and you had to pay that price for 28 years. You've never had someone to trust, to lean on, and lets be honest, you've never had any real friends or relationships. You built up this giant wall around yourself because of that and Killian has broken through little by little in a way that your father and I never could. You trust him, and you feel like that is enough, but it is not enough. He does not know how you feel Emma because you keep it all bottled up inside except on very rare instances. Instances that always involve him, might I add. You smile so much more when you are around him, did you know that?"

Emma just sat there looking at her. Snow wasn't sure if she had been saying the right things or not. She just wanted her daughter to have a chance at true happiness, not just peaceful moments here and there. No matter what treachery they were in the middle of, Snow always knew she had Charming, and that made all the difference in the world. She knew that Hook was that for Emma. She wouldn't say that, at least not to Emma, not yet anyway. The way those two looked at each other, the way they sought each other out whenever anything bad was going on, the way Emma listened to what he had to say and took his advice to heart, even when everyone else wasn't listening to him, that was all she needed to see to know that it would work. She just had to make Emma see it.

"Yea, I had noticed that," she said grimly. "What if I don't know if I love him?"

Snow paused, thinking for a moment. "I think," she began, "that you should talk to him. Tell him that, and see where it goes from there. You don't have to love him right now Emma, but if there is a possibility that those feelings could develop, don't you think he would want to know?"

Emma stood up and hugged her mother. Then she walked to the door.

"Where are you going?" Snow asked.

"I do care about him. It goes beyond just trusting him, and he needs to know it. Thanks Mom, and tell dad that I'll talk to him tomorrow, and not to hunt down Killian before I can talk to him."

Snow stood and walked to Neal's room, where David was trying a little too hard to pretend he hadn't been listening to what the two women in his life were discussing. She looked at him and smiled.

"Did he really say that to her? The bit about winning her heart?"

"Yes, does that bother you?"

"I feel like it should, but it just means that he's really serious about her doesn't it? He's been serious about her since Neverland hasn't he?"

"Oh he most definitely is. He has been for a while, maybe even since the beanstalk, which really says something since she left him chained up there with a giant," she grinned a little thinking about it. "I think it says more that she struck a deal with Anton to set him free later. She knew then that there was something about him, but couldn't admit it. They fit together you know?"

"Unfortunately, I am beginning to see that," he mumbled.

Snow looked at him, pecked him on the cheek, and replied, "Good! It's about time you started to see that he is more than just 'a pirate'."