I don't own these characters; Disney/ABC does.
14: Cut Out The Bad Parts
Day Two of going to work with reporters outside of the Sheriff's station was worse than yesterday. Emma rubbed her eyes, certain she was seeing things, but the image did not change once her vision cleared. There were so much more of them, like a full on mob of nosy asses. They're so going to get me fired. They all shouted at her as she pushed through them, but she could not understand the questions. It was just too much all at once. But then, one came through loud and clear.
"What do you have to say about your father's statement?"
Emma paused, hand on the front door. "My father's statement?" Are they talking about Leopold? Why would they call him my father then? Is there some asshole out there now claiming to be my actual father? I don't need any more.
"Leopold White made a statement this morning."
Emma frowned. "And you called him my father." Since when? Was this some kind of trick?
"You haven't seen the statement? He calls himself your father."
If Emma scowled any harder, her jaw would fall off. She tore into the station. Mulan already had the thing cued up for her, Leopold sitting up in a chair, almost like it was a throne, in one of his best gray suits. He looked like the brilliant businessman and nobleman he was. Emma fought the urge to roll her eyes as she sat on the edge of her desk as Mulan hit play. Graham bolted out of his office as if he needed to see her reaction to this whole stupid thing.
"This is the beginning," Mulan said.
"Good morning," Leopold started in his damn fake voice. "I'm speaking today because I want to clear up a matter that has sparked a lot of controversy in the past few days. There are all of these slanderous articles and videos and posts coming up about Emma Swan, my daughter. Yes, Emma Swan is my daughter and I am her father…"
Emma sucked her teeth. "It's news to me." Never mind the fact that he was not even using her correct name.
"To all of us," Graham concurred.
"Shhh!" Mulan waved her hand at them. They both rolled their eyes and folded their arms across their chests.
"…This whole thing has been a huge misunderstanding…" Leopold droned on.
"Oh, yeah, my whole existence is a misunderstanding," Emma said.
"There were lab results that were mixed up and a close friend of mine thought he was defending my honor when these claims first came out. But, the important thing is that Emma Swan is not a con artist. She has not swindled me out of any money. She is my daughter, pure and simple. I have to assume these other allegations about her are false as well, people trying to capitalize on her misery…"
"Oh, like you," Emma hissed, glaring at the image. Mulan glanced at her, but then patted her arm instead of scolding her.
"People trying to take advantage of confusion…"
Emma frowned. "This fucking sucks, you know?"
Graham's brow wrinkled. "Why? This is the start to clearing your name and if he's sincere, he'll probably make sure media outlets try to clear your name. Hell, he has the money to actually clear your name, not just hope it happens."
"But, see, this is the thing, I don't want to owe him," Emma replied.
"Owe him?" Graham practically bellowed in disbelief and looked at her as if she had lost her mind. "After all the shit he just put you through, he'd have some fucking nerve to act like you owe him!"
"Seriously," Mulan agreed. "I don't usually swear, but this is bullshit and he started it. He owes you. Owes you a lot after all of this. Hell, owes you a lot before this considering he had the gall to say you weren't his daughter when he knows you are and he didn't take responsibility for you until now."
"And this isn't even taking responsibility!" Graham's face was red as he motioned to the screen. "This is him just saying the facts!" He was pissed, on her behalf. It was flattering. Just one more person who cared about her more than her so-called father did.
Emma rubbed between her eyes. "I really just want him to go away. I don't want anything from him." She never did and, yet, he was like a virus that resurfaced every couple of months to make her life miserable.
Graham scowled. "Emma, if this dude is your father and hasn't been around and then pulled this shit with you, he owes you the damn world."
Mulan nodded. "My father apologized to me while he was dying of cancer because he was leaving me and couldn't be there for me anymore and this man does this to you. He shouldn't even be allowed to call himself a father. He owes you blood, sweat, and tears."
"But, I don't want that." Emma shook her head. She never wanted anything from him. "I don't want this. I don't want to be his daughter."
Mulan nodded. "Then make that clear to him because he doesn't have a right to you. If he doesn't listen to you, go through the media since he was so comfortable trying to use it to tear you down. You use his weapon right back on him. Let people know he was no father to you and you don't want him to be, so you don't have to deal with him being fake to your face."
Emma pursed her lips. "How'd you get so smart, Mulan?"
"You run away to join the army, you learn a few things by the time you leave the army," Mulan replied with a shrug.
"I'm glad you did. And I'm sorry about your dad," Emma said.
Mulan sighed. "I'm more sorry about your dad. I had twenty-three wonderful years with him. I feel like you haven't had twenty-three wonderful minutes with this one."
Emma nodded. "Yeah, it really has been that bad." She never realized it, but every moment she had known Leopold was a stabbing sort of agony. "Lemme call Regina and tell her to watch this shit." Emma reached into her pocket.
"I already emailed it to her and I'm sure she paid attention to it as it played," Mulan said.
Emma arched an eyebrow. "Emailed it to her? You guys hit it off enough for her to give you her email?"
Mulan shrugged. "I have a way with women."
Emma laughed. "You stay away from my wife!" She took her phone out anyway. "I should still call her. Let her know I saw it."
"But, didn't listen to it," Mulan added.
A scoff escaped Emma. "You think that woman expects me to listen to anything? She knows me!" She sat down while Graham moved closer to Mulan's desk, probably to actually pay attention to Leopold's stupid video. She dialed Regina. "Hey, babe."
"Yes, Emma?"
"You opened Mulan's link yet?"
"No, I just got back in from dropping Henry. Is it bad?"
"No, it's un-be-fucking-lievble. Okay, you watch it. I'm gonna call Snow and see if she saw it yet. Love you."
"I love you, too."
Call disconnected. Next call went to her sister. She was not sure how Snow would react if she had seen the video. It was possible she would buy it because Leopold used to mean so much to her, but there was also the possibility that it was too little too late. She would find out if Snow picked up the phone, but it kept ringing. Just as Emma was about to hang up, Snow answered. Snow sounded groggy when she answered.
"Nolan not sleeping well?" Emma asked. It was possible the last few days had just taken their toll on Snow and that was why she sounded so out of it.
"No, that's not it, but you better get in your sleep while you can before Regina has that baby. When Nolan is really fussy, it's like he knows it's four in the morning every night and he just wants to scream for four hours," Snow replied.
"Is it weird I look forward to it?" She really did. She wanted sleepless nights and crying and teething.
"Not at all. I love the little guy despite all that. I'd much rather take him keeping me up than… everything else."
"I bet you would." Is it weird that I feel worse for her than for myself? The funny thing was how this was the one time Snow could make something about herself, but did not. Maybe she was growing as a person from this horrible experience.
"So, why are you calling so early?"
Emma sighed. "Leopold dropped a bombshell this morning. According to a video he did, I am his daughter."
Snow yelped. "He did?" She sounded much more alert, but now confused. "Okay, let me see if I can find it…" She went silent for a moment. "This thing is barely two minutes long! He spent who knows how much money, time, and effort dragging you through the mud and he thinks two minutes will clear everything up!"
"It's more than I expected," Emma said.
"But, way less than you deserve. I can't believe this man. How the hell did my mother marry him?"
Emma was not sure what to say to that. Was it a rhetorical question? "Love is blind?"
"Yes, it really is. He can't possibly think this makes up for everything he did to you. I'm calling him."
"I thought you weren't talking to him."
"Oh, I won't be talking to him. I'll be screaming at him!" Snow snarled.
"Are you sure you want to do that? I mean… what if he disowns you?" Emma's stomach twisted. Would Snow be able to survive without Leopold? Dude, she fought in a war. She'll be fine. You have to stop acting like she's so naive or helpless.
"Even if he did, I'd be fine, Emma. When my mother died, her fortune went into a trust for me. Her investments and everything. I don't need Leopold. I want him. Or at least I did, but he's doing things like this. He has a lot of nerve. If I ever start acting like him, please slap me."
"I don't think you'd ever act like him. This is high levels of narcissism."
"Thanks for not thinking of me as a high level narcissist."
"Snow, sometimes you lose sight of the fact that things happen to other people, but you're nowhere near this guy. Never think that."
"Thank you. I'll call you back after I jump down his throat."
"Call me back even if you don't."
They said their farewells and then hung up. Emma then had a morning of fielding phone calls and emails from any and everybody who wanted to know about this latest development. She really wished they would just leave her alone.
-8-8-8-8-
Regina could hardly believe her eyes or ears as she watched Leopold's video for at least the hundredth time. Her laptop sat on the coffee table, as she was supposed to be working from home. Working was all but impossible right now. Maleficent and Kathryn both already called her, trying to figure out what this meant. Was the whole thing over just as quickly as it started? Well, no. Leopold had uncorked the bottle. The contents would be forever spilled before them.
He could not possibly believe this would make everything better. Regina would not allow him to think this made things better. No, now was the time to use some pull and speak directly to the devil, to bite his head off in honor of her beloved. After that, she would talk Emma into suing whoever the hell Kathryn wanted to sue and they would make it public every single time they won a case.
"Hello," Leopold answered her call.
"You've got fucking nerve you know," Regina growled, the flames of hell burning in her stomach. If she could breathe fire on him, she would.
"Who is this?"
Is he serious? "The whore! The one your new daughter married. Or the old daughter who is suddenly your daughter again. You know what the hell you did and you know this won't make it better!"
"I'm going to handle it. You have no right to speak to me this way." Emma probably would have paid money to hear Leopold bark at her as he was, no fake voice this time.
"I have every right!" Regina hissed into the phone, resisting the urge to beat her fist against her sofa. "All Emma wants to do is live a simple life and you've gone out of your way to ruin it on multiple occasions because you're not just an awful person, but an awful parent. You've done nothing but tear her life apart whenever you touch it and you think you have the right to do that because you have money and you made the poor decision of not wearing a condom, like the asshole you are. I know you don't think this is true and you probably won't believe me, but you're a terrible person and I should know because I have a lot of experience with terrible people."
He sighed, as if he was pained. "I'm handling it…"
"You can't handle this!" She roared. "People will always come out of the woodworks now, trying to get money from her, telling lies about her life, making others look at her tilt. I know you can't understand this because you think you can control the universe, but she doesn't want you in her life and you don't have a right to come in and out of it as you please to ruin it or remake it. This is torture and you're a monster for doing it."
"How was I supposed to know she was mine?" He hollered right back. "Her mother said she had a girl!"
"She is a girl, you moron! Her dick doesn't define her. Why is that so hard for you to understand? You know why, because she's out of your control. You've never had control of Emma and it drives you crazy. So crazy, you ruined your own reputation trying to ruin hers. Good luck in cleaning this up, you asshole." Regina ended the call. Fuck him. She just needed him to know he was a dumb bastard.
With that out of the way, she tried to clear her mind and be productive for the day. That was shot, though. So, instead, she called Maleficent back.
"I'm currently shoring up allies for when Cora wants to act out of line. I think if we work this properly, we could actually just have her cut off from the nobility she loves so much. They're all quite sick of her and would love to be done with her," Maleficent said.
"But, you still want to make the business deals?"
"Of course. Those will just be better for the company in general. Hold on, I want to dial Kathryn in because she was saying something very interesting when we were going through some legal matters…" Maleficent paused for a moment.
"Hello," Kathryn said.
"Hey, Kathryn. Regina's on the call. Tell her what you were trying to hash out earlier," Maleficent replied.
"Oh, yes! I was going to call you, Regina, once I was able to make sense of this. So, still have lawyers looking into suing Leopold over slander and such for Emma, but then we got to talking about inheritance laws here," Kathryn said.
Regina groaned and rubbed her forehead. "Kathryn, not this again."
"Yes, this again, but from a different angle. I can now accept being wrong about the other thing because we have this. If you want, we can actually sue Cora for over fifty percent of your father's estate based on the sheer fact that you're his legal heir due to noble bloodline laws. You wouldn't get a title since technically he's not from here, but you do get an inheritance. That's just how the Enchanted Forest works, especially for its citizens. I knew I wasn't crazy."
"Excuse me?" Regina was not quite following what was going on.
"Basically, you have a right to your father's estate because you're his noble heir, which I knew had to mean something. Cora can't be his noble heir because she's only a noble through marriage, not blood. The fact that he didn't disown you means you still count as his heir. And even if you didn't, Henry would. Blood is blood, or so the law says."
Regina blew out a breath. "I'm sorry, but I don't… I'm not quite sure I understand." Kathryn's plan could actually work? But, it would only upset Cora more. She wanted nothing more than power, which came from the money and her noble status. But, Maleficent is ready to all but take the noble status from her. They're about to declaw Cora Mills. You can't just cower away from it. Stand firm, like you've seen Emma do with Leopold. Her stomach twisted, but only for a second. Cora would not, could not control her anymore. It was time to live her life in the light.
"That makes two of us for right now. I'm still trying to piece together why my idea before wasn't quite right but this one is, but I've got a ton of people explaining it to me. We'll talk more once we get everything sorted out, but it seems like we can get your mother from several angles. It'll be all but impossible for her to bite back when we're done."
"That would be a plus." She did not want to live her life waiting for the moment that Cora popped back up and tried yet again to destroy everything to teach her a lesson. Of course, it was bizarre to her that Cora could be out of her life.
"Okay, details coming soon. How's the budget looking for next quarter?" Kathryn asked.
Regina sighed. "I don't have the brain power to deal with it today. It'll be done next week."
"We know it will. Take some time for yourself," Maleficent said. "You've been working very hard and there's always something."
Regina did not argue that. She wanted to just turn her brain off for a moment now. Let the rest of the world fall away. She put her hand on her baby bump and put her head down on the back of the couch.
"Hopefully, you'll come into a world that makes sense," Regina could only pray for that.
Her phone sounded off through the morning, but if it was not Emma, she did not answer. Until Henry's school called anyway. Henry had been in a fight!
"Is he hurt?" Regina asked in a shaky tone. Who would dare fight Henry? He was the sweetest little boy on the planet.
"No, ma'am," Principal Nova reported in a very gentle tone. "A group of kids were picking on him on the playground and he pushed someone. The kids then circled him and pushed him back. I'm sure he'll tell you the story. Things were broken up before they got serious, but he's very upset."
"I'll be there soon."
Regina had to put on proper clothing. She called Emma, wanting Emma to meet her at the school. By the time Regina got there, Henry was already sobbing in Emma's arms.
"The kids were talking about me, telling him…" Emma shook her head. "They were talking about me…"
"It's not your fault." Regina caressed Emma's cheek and then rubbed the top of Henry's head. "Did you talk to the principal already?"
Emma shook her head. They stepped into the principal's office. Principal Astrid Nova smiled at them and apologized as she motioned for them to sit down in front of her desk. Henry curled up in Emma's lap.
"First, I want to assure you both that Henry's not in any trouble. We are concerned about how these things in the media might affect him in the long run, though," Principal Nova said.
"We've been trying to make sure he doesn't hear any of it," Regina replied.
Principal Nova gave her a sad smile. "Unfortunately, we can't control what other parents allow their children to hear. We all know how involved you are with Henry, but you can't shield him from this. I think you should discuss it with him. He needs to understand what's happening around him."
Emma sighed and Regina reached for her hand with no thought. Emma gave her hand a squeeze. "How do we even go about talking about this without exposing him to more of it and doing more damage?"
"I think it would be best done with a professional in the room. You're familiar with Doctor Hopper," Principal Nova said.
"I only run down his dog every other day and his dog only charges Regina every other day," Emma replied.
Principal Nova chuckled a little. "I don't know if you're aware, but he specializes in children and families. I just think he might be able to help you navigate this better. I understand you're worried about what is appropriate and what isn't and making sure you say the right thing. I think this might be the best way to handle it."
"Thank you," Regina said.
Principal Nova waved her off. "We're all concerned for not just Henry, but you as well. We all know you're a wonderful family. You're a big part of our school community and we know Henry very well. Unfortunately, we also know sometimes children are cruel and repeat things they don't understand."
"Thank you," Regina repeated. She wanted to get Emma and Henry home as soon as possible, so this nightmare could end. They left Emma's car parked at the school. They could come back for it later. She would definitely make an appointment with Doctor Hopper, too.
-8-8-8-8-
Emma was not too sure how to start the talk with Henry. She wanted to follow Regina's lead, but Regina seemed intent on just making them comfortable. They all changed into their pajamas. Regina made a big pan of Mac and cheese and corn bread for… whatever meal was eaten at two in the afternoon… and they watched musicals while playing board games. Henry was the one who said something, in the middle of a game of Trouble.
"I wanted to hurt those kids," Henry said, his Trouble pieces forgotten.
"Oh, bud." Emma rubbed his knee.
"They already talk about our family. They want me to think it's weird to have two moms or they always tell me you're not my real mom, Ma." Henry scowled and shook his head.
"Henry," Regina said with the same concern that Emma felt. Was Henry getting bullied at school and just never said anything?
"I don't care about what they say because I love this family. We're great and I know that because I've seen how some other families act, how other people act. They're not nice, but our family is nice. It's nice you both want to hang out with me and talk about my day and help me with stuff or take me to do stuff. Sometimes, moms seem mad just because they have to come pick up their child from school. You guys are never like that with me. And we go to so many cool places together. I know a lot of kids don't do that," Henry said.
"And we'll always go to cool places," Emma insisted. "This family is special. It's amazing. You're amazing, kid."
Henry pursed his lips. "And, my friend, Grace, she thinks it's cool I have two moms and whenever we share lunch, she always wants to trade because she likes the fruit cups you pack me. Her dad always gives her chips and I trade, even when she has chips I don't like because it makes her happy. You make people happy. You make me happy and you're good…" He took a deep breath.
"Take your time." Regina rubbed his back.
"So, when those boys… when they started saying just mean stuff about Ma… all these lies about Ma… I hated it. I hated them!" His little hands were balled into fists and tears wet his eyes. "You both make people happy that you don't even know, so they don't have a right to say bad stuff about you!"
Emma wrapped him up in a hug. "You're absolutely right, but you shouldn't allow their words to upset you so much. They can't hurt me, so I don't want them to hurt you. It's good for you to stand up for people and for yourself, but don't let them get you so out of sorts, okay? I don't want anybody to have the power to change who you are because they said awful stuff. Just keep being the great, upstanding, smart little guy you are, okay?"
He nodded into her shoulder, but did not say anything. Then, he sort of slumped against her. Just like that, he was asleep. She rubbed his back.
"He's out. I'm gonna carry him to his bed," Emma said.
"I'll start the clean up."
Emma had no problem carrying Henry up to his bed. She tucked him in and kissed his forehead. Okay, she had to fight these stories about her if only for his sake. The rumors might never go away, but she could not afford having a majority of people ever believe what was said about her. She had to stand up for herself for her family's sake. But, what more can I do than tell the truth? Well, first and foremost, she had to talk to the son of a bitch who started this.
After making sure Henry was good, she stepped into the hallway and called Snow. "Hey, do you want to sit down and talk with Leopold with me?"
"You sure you want to do that?"
"Yeah. I need this over and I need this man out of my life. I can't let him hurt my kids."
"What happened? Is Henry okay?" Snow's voice broke.
Emma sighed. "He's physically fine. Some kids tried to tease him about me and he almost got into a fight about it. He said he's so angry. I don't want him growing up like that. So, I can't let Leopold do stuff like this and think his little BS video can fix it."
"You're absolutely right. I want to meet him somewhere out in the open just for the pictures, but I also want to scream in his face at the mere thought of him, so my house?"
"An hour?" This needed to be right now. Hell, it needed to be yesterday, last month, last year.
"Yes."
"Thank you. Please, remember that no matter what happens with him, you're my sister and I love you."
"I love you, too, Emma."
The call was disconnected and Emma stepped downstairs, finding Regina soaking their dishes. She came up behind her and hugged her, hands just below their baby. She kissed the side of Regina's head.
"You okay?" Regina asked.
"I'm going to go talk to Leopold to stop this shit," Emma replied.
"Oh, let me change. I'll come, too. I'm sure Tink—"
"It's okay," Emma cut in. "Me and Snow are going to sit down with him. Stay here with Henry. If he wakes up, he's gonna need one of us here."
Regina nodded. "You're right."
"I'll be back soon." Emma kissed the side of her head once more. "Oh… gotta take your car. You're cool with that?"
"Yes, I actually prefer that to you driving that yellow death trap all the way to Mist Haven."
Emma grinned and grabbed Regina's keys. She went to change, just throwing on some sweats and a hoodie. She slipped on her sneakers and was gone. Halfway through her trip, Snow let her know that Leopold arrived at the house. David had taken Nolan to hang out with his friends. They would be alone.
Emma walked into the house to hear Snow sobbing already. The second Snow saw her, she threw herself into Emma's arms. Leopold turned to see her and had the nerve to look exhausted. Emma held Snow to her. She did not often feel like the big sister between them, but she definitely felt it now.
"What did you say to her?" Emma demanded, glaring at Leopold with all of the hatred she could muster. He was still in that stupid suit.
"I just want to make things right," he replied, in that damn voice!
"You can't!" Snow bawled and turned, giving him a glower that surely would have shaken the heavens had she done it outside. "How can you not understand that? There is no way to make this right! It's not just this whole smear campaign for the past week! It's everything! You knew about Emma since she was born, at least, and did nothing. Why? Because no one was watching! That's who you really are. At the end of the day, you're the man who abandoned your daughter because no one was watching. And then, when I was watching, you tried, but you really couldn't. You hate Emma and it's because of who you are, not who she is."
"I don't hate Emma," Leopold said.
"You did this, even though you knew your test was a lie!" Snow made a wild, sweeping hand gesture.
"I didn't! Rumple acted before I could stop him!" Leopold replied.
"The fact that you hired him speaks volumes! You went into this with the intent of absolutely destroying Emma!"
"I thought she was lying! I thought… I thought…" He could not say the words.
"That my genitals defined me," Emma said for him. "You assumed my junk made me who I was and that wasn't who you thought I was. You met me at my mom's fucking funeral. You met her friends, who all told you who I was. But, the second you thought you had a loophole to drop me, you took it. What you fail to understand is I don't want you in the first place. I've never actually wondered where my dad was. I knew who my mother was and just accepted I was some accident and she probably didn't know the guy. Yeah, I might have imagined a dad up every now and then, but never once actually gave a damn about who you might be.
"Even when all this bullshit started, all I wanted to do was ignore it. I don't care. I don't care about you or your opinion or what lies you want to tell the world. I've heard all this bullshit before. I've been dragged many times before you. But, the problem is, my kid has to live through this and hear it and I care about my kid. I love my kid. I know you might not grasp this, but I love Henry with all my heart and soul and I don't want him hurt or upset because of lies.
"Not to mention, my sister has to live through it and I care about my sister." Emma held Snow just a little tighter. "So, now I have to worry about every creep I've ever met in my life selling a story that somehow I was the problem and then I have to pick apart every lie to let everyone on the damn planet know I'm not some asshole because my kid has to be able to go outside and my sister has to be able to converse with people. Or I could be an asshole like you and not care about any of that. Either way, I need you to understand and hear me, I'm completely done with you. After today, I'm never going to think about you again, except maybe in the context of the pain you caused my kid, my wife, and my sister."
Leopold had the nerve to gape at her, like he was shocked. "I care about Snow…"
"Do you?" Snow snapped, pulling away just a little, enough to lean in and glare even more. "You didn't even stop to talk to me about this stupid plan of yours. You just barreled ahead, not caring how this would affect any of us, like you were the only one who mattered." She let loose such a wail. "I feel like I want to throw up…"
Emma could not believe she found herself hugging Snow even tighter and she glared at Leopold with even more venom. "Did you think Snow would just be okay with this? You thought once you proved me a liar, she'd go along with you? It didn't even occur to you that you could be wrong, did it?"
"I can fix this," he insisted.
"Oh, my god, no you can't!" Snow threw her hands up. "Don't you get it? You broke our family! You broke the trust and you did it a long time ago!"
And, it finally clicked in Emma's head. "You had doubts about Leopold since you found out about me."
Snow shook her head. "It was a starting point, but it's been bothering me so much more for a while now. Maybe since I had Nolan. One day, I asked David if he thought he could walk away from Nolan and never look back and he looked at me like I was crazy. David told me the only way he would ever leave Nolan is if it somehow saved Nolan. And, I look at Dad…" She turned to actually look at him. "You abandoned Emma to save yourself. And you did it twice."
"Snow…" He whimpered.
"You can't fix this. You broke it too long ago. No amount of money will send you back in time to make sure Emma has a good childhood or let us meet each other as infants and grow up together or protect Emma from the world. You broke this so long ago." Snow sighed, sounding so defeated.
"I'm sorry you feel like this," Emma whispered to her poor, heartbroken sister. She meant every word. While this was all directed at her, it hurt those around her so much more. The best takeaway from this, though, was finding out how many people cared so deeply for her.
Snow shook her head. "It's not your fault. It's his and I still don't think he gets it." She focused on Leopold. "So, let me say this plainly, I can't handle you not being the father Emma needs and deserves. I can't deal with this." She made another hand gesture as she whimpered.
Leopold reached out for her. "Snow, you can't do this. I am your father. You can't—"
Snow jumped right in. "Cut you out of my life like you did with Emma? I can because until you can truly love Emma, I'll never believe you truly love anyone beyond yourself. You can have a relationship with Nolan. I won't deny him a grandfather, but other than that, I'm done. I'm just tired of this…" Snow frowned as she motioned vaguely to Leopold with both hands.
"You can't mean that." Leopold climbed to his feet and his eyes actually watered.
"Oh, but I do." Snow nodded with conviction. "Just like you meant it when you started this whole thing. So, I'm going to step outside with my sister and when we come back in, I expect you to be gone."
Leopold took a step closer, pressing his hands together as he looked between them. "I can fix this."
"Emma, do you need to say anything?" Snow asked.
"I said all I need to say. I'm done." Emma put her hands up and then she led Snow outside. They got into Regina's car and drove around in silence for almost an hour. Emma just wanted to make sure when she took Snow home, Leopold would not be there. Then, she stayed with Snow until David came back.
"No matter what happens, you're a good sister," Snow said.
Emma smiled. "You, too. Not to mention, you're a good mom and David's a good dad, a good guy. It's not an act." She never wanted Snow to think David was anything like Leopold.
Snow smiled back. "I know."
Emma hugged Snow and then got back to Regina, who waited up for her. They collapsed into bed together and Emma held Regina close.
"I think Snow disowned Leopold tonight. I know I did. Tomorrow, I'm going to make my own statement and really fight this thing," Emma said in a low tone.
Regina hugged her. "I'll help. You're not alone. Remember, Kathryn always wants to sue everybody."
"I'm ready to let her. If she thinks she can win, let's sue any and everyone who tries to come after us."
Regina nodded, quiet for a long moment. "She thinks she can take Cora to court as well."
"Do you want to do that?" Emma hoped Regina was ready to fight back against her mother. They had to stop letting these people try to ruin their lives. They had kids to think about.
"I want you to stand full force against Leopold and knowing how I feel for you, I imagine this is what you feel every time my mother shows up. It's a bit hypocritical of me to cower in Cora's wake while urging you to fight this."
Emma kissed the top of her head. "I don't want you to do anything until you're ready. You see I didn't really act on this until Henry. He deserves the best. I know you'll show Cora who's boss the second you're ready to. You're not the same desperate kid she wanted to teach a lesson to."
There was that quiet again and then Regina switched gears. "How was Snow?"
"A wreck. David's there for her, but we should probably have them over for, like, the rest of the month."
Regina let loose a dramatic sigh. "If we must."
There was a quiet moment. "We're gonna be all right, right?"
"In your words, hell, yeah. We'll be fine."
Emma grinned. She believed that.
-8-8-8-8-
Next time: the end.
