Here's a little Charming family for everyone. Be warned, it doesn't come without some emotional angst. But I hope you all like it anyway. Thank you all for the reviews. Keep them coming. I am so appreciative and elated that you are all enjoying the story. Happy Monday, everyone!

Chapter 6

I heard Neal crying as I approached the apartment door. I knew his I'm hungry cry, his change me cry, and his I want attention cry. But this cry was different. This was more like an 'I'm scared' cry. Suddenly I knew why. My father's voice sounded out above the cries. "Give him to me. You need to put him down. He is picking up on your fear."

"No" was all that she had said to him. Contempt had filled her voice. That one word sounded like venom. I opened the door and I poked my head through just in time to see her pull my brother away from my father's reach; something that she had done before. It was the day that my magic was spinning out of control and I accidentally boiled the milk in the bottle. It was a simple act of caution that felt like a knife going threw my heart.

They must have heard the door close behind me because they both looked in my direction as soon as I entered. Again, my mother never made eye contact and quickly looked down to the floor. My face fell. David didn't miss her reaction either. He sent me an apologetic look. He released a heavy sigh, but quickly he realized that this was he chance. He plucked Neal from Mary Margaret's arms and held him out in my direction. She reached out her arms as if she was going to grab him, but she pulled back with a grunt when I approached to take him. "Emma, please take your brother upstairs and give him a bath."

Settling Neal in my arms, I pointed to the only bathroom that was in the apartment, behind David. "Dad, the bathro…" And there was the look, "Um…yeah…right. Come on baby bro, have you ever had a baby wipe bath before?" I spun around hooking the diaper bag, which was sitting on the coffee table, with my arm in the process. I stole one more glance at my parents as I exited up the stairs with Neal in tow. My mother was glaring at my father. He was standing by the island with his arms crossed.

I purposely left the door to my bedroom open so that I could hear the ensuing conversation downstairs. Judging by their demeanor when I left the room, it wasn't going to be quiet. I laid Neal on my bed and quickly placed my pillows all around him. He was always rolling over on his own to crawl away and the last thing that I need was for him to roll off of my bed and hit the floor.

It was still quiet downstairs; too quiet, really. I pulled the baby wipes from the bag then undressed the little squirt. The name was kind of ironic, as soon as I took off his diaper, that's what he did. "Oh, damn it, Neal! I swear as soon as cold air hits that thing it goes off like a squirt gun." I was quick to cover him with a fresh diaper, so nothing hit my bed. It wasn't the first time that he tried to give me that special shower. Of course, he giggled. Was he too young for me to roll my eyes at him?

"I'm telling you now, little brother, as long as I am around, peeing is the only thing you better be using that thing for. If you think Dad is overprotective, he's got nothing on me." His little laugh was infectious. I used my index fingers to tickle his little sides and giggled harder.

"I am NOT afraid of my children!" I jumped when I heard my mother scream at my father.

"Snow, I didn't say that you were." He was surprisingly calm towards her. "All I'm saying is that Neal was picking up on your emotional state. He feels what you feel and he was reacting to you."

"You have no idea what I feel." She shot back. I closed my eyes. I did this to them, I told them that horrible story. This was why I kept the truth from them. I knew that it would be too much to for them handle. They knew that my life had been hard, but until today I was able to shelter them from just how hard.

Neal started to whimper. I picked him up and cradled him close to my body. I heard my father start again, "I do know. And you know what else? You can't shut her out."

"I'm not shutting anyone out." The shouting was getting louder. I was suddenly taken back to my youth when I would hear my foster parents argue about me. So many times I would come home from school only to hear them arguing about paying the bills and still being able to buy food. If they didn't have an extra mouth to feed they wouldn't have a problem. I remembered shouts. I remember overhearing the phone calls to the social workers for them to come pick me up, "we don't want her anymore" is what they would say, "We can't keep her."

"You are, Snow. It was extremely hard for her to tell you that story, and you haven't even looked at her since she finished it. Damn it, Snow! She is our daughter. She needs us to love her now more than ever."

I looked down at my little brother in my arms. I tried to cover his ears so that he didn't have to hear them. "I'm sorry, Neal." Tears were stinging my eyes. "I'll fix it. I promise, I'll fix it." I laid him down on my bed between the pillows just long enough to allow myself the time to pack a small overnight bag. I quickly descended the stairs with Neal in my arms. I walked straight to my mother and placed him in hers. I gave her a sad smile and turned to the door.

"Where are you going?" David snagged my arm as I walked past him. I looked back at my mother who was smiling down on Neal; happy to be holding her little boy again.

I tried to swallow the lump that had formed in my throat. "You guys don't need me here tonight. I'll see you at the station in the morning." I couldn't look him in the eye.

"But where are you going?"

"Granny's," I choked. "I'll spend the night at Killian's."

"No you won't." Oh this was not the time for him to pulled overprotective daddy mode on me. I yanked my arm from his hold. "Dad, she doesn't want me." Was it a Freudian slip that I left the "here" off of that last sentence? Was it how I really felt? I didn't think that it was how I felt, but now I wasn't so sure. I couldn't hold the tears back anymore. "Look at her," now I was screaming at him. "She can't even look at me. She hasn't said two words to me in the last four hours." I cocked my head to the side and gave him a pleading look tears were streaming down my face. I didn't bother to wipe them away. "I can't take it any more, Dad." I hoped that he had understood what, exactly, I was saying. That I was telling him that I loved him and that I was saying goodbye for now. I leaned in to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I only know one way to fix it."

I grabbed my coat and left. I hurried down the stairs and I didn't look back. I heard his voice crack as he called my name begging me to come back into the apartment and talk it out. I picked up my pace. I heard the apartment door open and close from the bottom of the stairs. I knew that he would come after me, but I didn't stop.

I stepped out into the snow storm. I willed my legs to move faster, but the fresh fallen snow, deep on the sidewalk slowed me down. I heard the call. "Emma, Emma."I expected it to be David but it wasn't, it was Mary Margaret. I just kept walking. "There has never been a day in my life or yours that I have not wanted you." That admission stopped me dead in my tracks.

I stopped but I did not turn around. "Emma, please come back in."

I threw my head back, looking up to the sky. "Please, Emma," she said again.

"I think it's best if I just go away for a while." I was still refusing to turn around. I couldn't look at her. I couldn't bare the sight of any more disappointment on her face.

"Best for whom? You? Because you think that if you pull away from us it will fix everything? Or me? Because you think that's what I want." By the sound of her voice, she was closing the gap between us.

I didn't answer; I didn't say anything until I felt her hands run down the sides of my arms. "I didn't want you to know just how broken I really was." I finally squeaked out. "I wanted to keep it to myself. It was behind me and I wanted to keep it there."

"Oh, honey, is that what this is about? You couldn't be more wrong." She held my shoulders and turned me around to face her. She cupped my cheeks in her hands forcing me to look her in the eyes. "Do you know what I see when I look at you?"

I shook my head.

"Every time I look at your sweet face, I see the strongest most beautiful woman that I have ever met in my entire life. I see my wonderful, courageous daughter who overcame the worst odds. I see someone who went through something horrible and did it with grace and bravery. I look at you and I just can't believe that you are mine. I can't believe that I created this most perfect person that is standing here before me."

"I didn't know how to defend myself. I didn't know what to do. I wasn't the strong daughter of Snow White. I was weak." Her thumbs moved across my cheeks wiping away my tears.

"Sweetheart, there hasn't been a day in your life that you have been weak."

I pulled my face from her hands, fervently shaking my head. "No, no." I tried to turn around and walk away again. She grabbed my shoulders holding me in place.

"Listen," I pulled back but she cupped my face again. "Listen to me. Emma, honey, I'm so, so sorry. I never meant to shut you out or make you feel like I didn't want you. That couldn't be further from the truth." I tried to look away but her hold on me was too powerful. "This was never about whether or not I wanted you; because I did and I do with every fiber of my being; it was about you not wanting me."

I furrowed my brow. A look of disbelief had washed over my face. Did she just tell me that she thought I didn't want her?

"I'm your mother; it was" she shook her head in correction "it is my job to protect you. I had just found out that my baby, whom I was trying to protect and who was supposed to be taken care of by these people, was beaten within an inch of her life. And knowing that I was the one who put you there, it was all too much for me to handle and I hit a wall. I couldn't understand why you would ever want me in your life when I was sole reason for every bit of hell that you went through. Anger and doubt consumed every bit of my being. I was ashamed of myself. I was ashamed to even look at you. I was afraid to talk to you because I had it in my head that anything that you had to say to me would have been filled with poison. And I couldn't take it. I didn't realize, what my actions had actually meant to you."

She broke me with her words. "I'm sorry, mom. I'm so very, very sorry."

She pulled me into a tight hug and held me for a minute before pulling back. "You have no reason to be sorry. You did not do anything wrong. Do you understand me?"

I nodded my head and she wiped away what was left of the tears on my face. "Come on, let's go back inside. I think that it is time that I make my baby her favorite dinner. How does that sound?"

I smiled as I put my arm around her waist and laid my head on her shoulder. Much like did with my father at the docks this morning. "Can I help?"

"Are you kidding me?" I didn't look at her face, but I knew she was showing a smile that stretched to her ears. "I would want nothing less."

"Mom?" My voice was full of hope.

"Yes, baby."

"I really am ok, you know."

"I know sweetheart. I know." I smiled at her words and held her just a bit tighter, but I felt her tense up a bit before she stopped and lifted my chin so that my eyes met hers. She studied them for a second. "Emma, what is it? Something else is bothering you."

I tried to shake it off with just the swaying of my head and a quiet "nothing, I'm ok." But it didn't work. She didn't move from her stop or let my chin go.

"Emma…" She started but I quickly interrupted her.

"He's out. That is why JC was here. He came to warn me that Mr. Cooper is out of jail."

"Is he…" the stutter that was in her voice made her fear obvious.

"Looking for me?" I finished. "JC doesn't seem to think so. But he wanted to me to be aware."

We reached the top of the landing and the apartment door flew open. David was standing there with two blankets. He wrapped one around Mary Margaret and then the other around my shoulders pulling me into a hug. "Don't you ever run out on me like that again, do you understand me?"

I held my father tight, tighter than I think that I have ever held him. "I understand."

We spent rest of the afternoon cooking dinner. My mother was teaching me her recipe for Macaroni and Cheese. I absolutely loved my mother's cooking. And you know what else, I absolutely loved being able to call her my mother.

She handed me a block of super sharp cheddar cheese and a grater, instructing me to grate 1 packed cup of the cheese. As I did, I watched my father bounce my little brother on his knee. Oh that little giggle was infectious. I hated to bring the down the good mood that it had taken all day to bring up, but I had to get it off my chest and tell my father.

"Dad?" finally having the courage to bring it up, my mother knew what I was about to tell him and she placed her hand on top of mine.

"Yeah, baby?" I shot a sideways glance to my mother. They were both calling me baby now; I let out a sigh, choosing to let them have their moments today.

"I found out why, JC was here."

"Oh yeah, why is that?" He continued to bounce Neal on his knee.

He only looked up at me when I finished my next sentence. "He came to warn me that Mr. Cooper was out of jail."

"He's what?" My father shifted his hard look to my mother when she started to speak.

"As far as we know, this guy is not looking for Emma. JC just thought that she needed to know. And the rest of this day is for our daughter, we do not need to think about this man anymore today. The two of you can go back to the station tomorrow and you will figure it out then."

I had to laugh when my father crossed the room and locked door, including the lock that August had installed when Mary Margaret was framed for killing the not dead Kathryn. He set Neal down on his play blanket as he made his way back to the kitchen. He came up behind the two of us, snaking his right arm around my mother's waist and his left around mine. I let out a groan when he turned and gave my mother a passionate kiss.

He suddenly turned back to me, "If you kiss me like that, I'm going to kick you." I tried to make the cheese in my hand look very threatening.

He let out a laugh. He started by giving me rapid little pecks all over the side of my face and before I knew it had both hands wrapped around my waist from behind, tickling me. "Dad," I screamed. My only defense was to fall dead weight to the floor, "Dad, stop." Unfortunately I took all of the grated cheese with me. I was laughing so hard, I didn't care that I had cheese everywhere.

"Dad, please." He only stopped when I started coughing from laughing so hard. He gave me one more peck to the cheek, before he rose and held out a hand to help me up.

My mother, with a huge grin on her face, handed me another block of cheese and my father the dustpan and broom. Yeah, this was my family. And I loved them.